Then Came War Read Online Free Page A

other end of the train car and Ben could see people getting out. At least six people rose from the mounds and made their way from the wreckage. But Ben couldn’t go. Not yet. He could still hear moans and he prayed one of them was his wife.
    Granted the last couple years of their marriage were rough. He couldn’t wait to get away from her controlling bitchy ways. But after decades of marriage, he still loved her and having her die at the bottom of a heap following a train wreck was not how he saw their marriage ending.
    She was somewhere. She had to be. There were only about forty people in that particular car. She couldn’t be far from where he landed. There weren’t many bodies there.
    But what was there was horrendous.
    Crushed skulls, twisted bodies broken in more places than one could count. It was dark, too dark. The strobe effect of the emergency lights made it harder to see and eerie.
    Then he spotted it. Hours earlier it was a major irritation and now it was a salvation. It was that hideous nail polish on those perfect nails.
    And the nails weren’t broke.
    It had to be Lana.
    She was completely covered by a body except for her hand that extended out.
    But Lana didn’t move.
    Calling out, “Lana,” Ben dropped to his knees and grabbed her hand. It was limp, but warm and it only took a second for her fingers to grasp his.
    “Oh, my God, you’re alive. I’ll get you out of here. I’ll get you out.”
    Where to move the bodies?
    There were two bodies that buried her and Ben moved them like a man on a mission. He moved them as best as he could, uncovering Lana, whose legs were still under someone.
    She gasped, catching her breath and then coughed.
    Ben sighed in relief and then reached for her, slipping his hand under her head. Her face was dirty and there was blood on it, although he didn’t know where it all came from. He was certain that the gash on her head supplied some of it. It was deep. “I’ll get you out.” He prepared to move her.
    Lana then did something Ben couldn’t recall seeing her do in over ten years.
    She cried.
    Lana’s body shook and she audibly sobbed.
    “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll get you out.”
    She shook her head, crying harder.
    “What is it, Baby, what is it?”
    “My arm and I … I peed myself.”
    Ben couldn’t help it. Perhaps it was the emotions. He was positive it had to be because he laughed. He laughed in relief and in gratefulness. He cupped her face, staring intently at her. “Baby, if that’s the worst that happened to you, then I am so grateful to God. It’ll be all right.” He planted his lips on her forehead. “It’ll be all right.”
    Then Ben began to lift her out of there.
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    It was a circle of protection, or at least a half circle of protection. That was Abby’s initial thought after emerging from car two. It was close, almost touching the wall of the tunnel, while the other train cars, smashed and overturned, surrounded it.
    They over lapped.
    The lead train car was compressed like a soda can and the last car was ripped apart. It and another car blocked the other end of tunnel completely.
    She couldn’t even see the locomotive.
    About 280 passengers were onboard the train, and from where Abby stood in a clearing amongst the wreckage, she counted maybe 30 people. In the hour or so since the crash only 30 people had come from the wreckage.
    All of them were scared, moaning and crying. Some were hurt.
    She felt helpless and didn’t know what to do.
     
     
    He was trying not to cry and Harry knew it. Tyler stood by car two just staring at the overturned car, his little shoulders bouncing and the occasional sniffle emerging.
    There was so much confusion. People were trying to see if they could get out. Others were going to wait patiently for the rescue crews.
    But Harry focused on Tyler and he approached him from behind, laying a hand on his shoulder.
    “Maybe he’ll be out, huh?” Tyler said.
    “That what you’re waiting