Chapter 2 - Three Seconds of Air
“Rosa!”
“I know!”
The car picked up speed.
Grace clawed at the dashboard as the rail crossing tilted behind them. The train filled the rear window now, its horn tearing through the cabin.
Rosa shoved herself between the seats and grabbed the steering wheel.
“You can’t steer on rails!” Grace yelled.
“No, but we don’t need the rails.”
Ahead, twenty yards behind the crossing, the track curved beside a drainage ditch. One tire was already bouncing along the wooden ties.
Rosa jerked the wheel hard.
Nothing.
Again.
The sedan shuddered sideways.
Grace heard metal scrape stone.
Then the front wheel dropped off the rail.
The car twisted violently, spun, and slid nose-first into the ditch.
Grace’s shoulder slammed the door. Rosa crashed against the center console.
The train exploded past them.
For three seconds there was no world—only thunder, hot wind, gravel striking glass, and the blur of black wheels taller than Grace’s body.
She curled over her stomach.
“Baby. Baby, please.”
Rosa covered Grace’s head with both arms.
The last freight car passed.
Silence came badly.
Not quiet. Just a ringing emptiness.
Grace lifted her head.
The sedan sat tilted in mud, inches from the tracks. The plank had snapped loose during the slide.
Rosa whispered, “Move.”
Grace tried the door.
It opened.
She almost fell into the ditch.
Rosa caught her coat and hauled her upright.
“Can you walk?”
“I don’t know.”
“Good enough.”
They stumbled through dead grass toward the tree line.
Grace looked uphill.
Daniel and Victoria were gone.
A white pickup appeared at the road crossing. A railroad worker jumped out, waving both arms.
“You two! Stay there!”
Grace tried to answer, but a tight pain rolled across her stomach and stole the air from her lungs.
Rosa’s face changed.
“No. No, no, no.”
Grace doubled over.
“Is it the baby?” the worker shouted, running toward them.
Grace looked down.
A dark wet patch was spreading across the front of her dress.
Rosa went pale.
The worker reached for his radio.
Grace gripped Rosa’s sleeve.
“Don’t let Daniel near me.”
Rosa nodded too quickly.
Then Grace saw something beyond the worker’s shoulder.
At the far end of the road, a black SUV turned around and disappeared behind the trees.
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Daniel hadn’t gone home.
He had stayed long enough to make sure the train arrived.
