Princessa 

Chapter 7 Trainwreck 

He lights a cigarette and looks out the window at the blackness of the night. Then sets his lighter down on the little fold-out shelf below the window. For some reason the lighter starts to dance and clatter around by itself. Something’s wrong. A slight tremor shakes the train from the rear and then to the front. The lighter jumps up and falls off onto the floor. Andy opens the door and looks out out into the hall but the shuddering intensifies now, shaking the compartment and rattling the windows. “What’s wrong” asks the girl, not frightened just wondering what’s going on.

They hear the muffled sound of the explosion, distant, from somewhere back by the end cars. The huge heavy train totters from side to side on the tracks like an unsteady skater on the ice. Then skips off the tracks, screeching, jamming together, coming to a dead stop in the soft grassy turf. Then slowly like in slow-motion, topples over onto its side throwing Andy on top of the girl.

A young kid in dark clothes and black-hooded sweatshirt plunges in through the doors and falls down on top of them. Quickly he kicks himself upright and starts screaming at the top of his lungs; an Uzi aimed point blank at the two of them. “Hands up! In the air! Nobody move! Now!”

Andy looks up at the kid’s face “Zoltep? Is that you?” “Fuck it…oh fuck oh goddamn goddamnit” the kid keeps repeating stammering cursing in a frenzy of fear and confusion. “Andre sir goddammit goddamn what the fuck what am I gonna do now huh. There’re gonna kill my ass. They’re gonna kill me for sure. Goddammit.”

He sees Maria “my God…you’re a pretty girl. Goddammit goddamn what am I gonna do huh!” “Well don’t panic, boy” says Andy. “Okay, okay” he says, trying to get a grip. And then like he’s quickly figured it all out “I know…I’ll shoot you, and take the girl.” “Zoltep, put the gun down, okay. Please, you’re scaring me.” The kid doesn’t realize he still has it pointed at them “yeah sure okay, but what am I gonna do? I’m supposed to get her” nodding at the girl with a quick smile “and take her…and…they’re waiting for me, outside. What, huh? What am I gonna do?” “Just relax” says Andy “calm down.”

“You could come with us” says Maria to the boy. “Yeah…okay” he says, handing the gun to Andy, like finally here’s an idea that makes sense. “Who’s out there waiting?” asks Andy. The kid, all relaxed now and helping the girl to her feet, turns to him in the cramped little on its side compartment. And like he’s reciting a battlefield report now “two of them, in a white car, at the crossing; got automatics, pistols too…that’s about it.”

“Okay…good” says Andy handing him back the Uzi “you stay here, with her; guard her, okay. I’ll be right back.” “Yes sir” says the boy, then quickly adds “oh shit, wait, hey wait. They’re gonna attack the palace too, We gotta do something, we gotta warn them.” “Yeah, okay” says Andy. “Here” says the girl, grabbing into her purse “here’s my phone” she dials 9 twice and hands it to him.

Andy listens for the ring and asks the girl “who…” “The king” she says. “Hello!” the voice says into the phone “where are you!” “Uh, king” says Andy “listen, the palace is going to be attacked at any moment.” “Who’s this!” he demands in a loud voice “where’s Maria!” “Listen, just shut up and listen. This is Andy Korzene, Maria’s okay. My inside-man tells me the palace is gonna be hit by terrorists …any minute now. Now get somebody on each window, somebody up on each rooftop; get all the civilians…to shelter. And do it right now.”

“Okay…”says the king, and in a forceful monarch’s voice “stay on the line.” Andy hands the phone to Maria and climbs out of the compartment. Jumping up to grab hold of the wooden frame of the door, he pulls himself up and through. Then balancing on top the doorway, reaches for the window across the aisle which is facing upward and at an angle.

Pushes the window down, feeling the rush of cold air on his face, then pulls himself up and clear, outside now. Holding on, then sliding down the cold dirty metal to the ground. Other passengers are trying to do the same, to get windows open. He sees their heads pop out, like jack in the box, as he runs down toward the back end of the train.

Seems like forever, running alongside the big steel monster now all overthrown and lying there on its side, groaning of death as creatures inside clack back the windows and poke out their heads. Some of them see him running alongside in the shadows and smoke and the eerie yellowish light, and they call out to him, thinking he must know what happened, or what they’re supposed to do.

Finally at the end of the long string of cars, he sees a dark crossroad in the dust and smoke; and in the distance, the vague outline of a vehicle. Runs toward it, and as he nears to within almost being able to see it clearly, he begins to sway and stagger from side to side, clutching at his forehead. The driver steps out of the car and yells at him, waving his arms for him to get out of the way; heart is pounding with fear, waiting for the boy, and their prize.

He thinks Andy might be a cop, maybe the boy’s been caught, maybe he’s gonna be next. The train wreck wasn’t supposed to happen; and that’s a big deal, even for a good cause. But just to get the train stopped was all, to get the girl, drive away, get back home, and everything be all right then.

Andy drops to a knee, draws his pistol and aims at the man “don’t move!” he yells “it’s over.” More than anything, the other man fears failure, wasting in jail, being of no use. He grabs for his gun, feels everything stop around him dead still, and fires at the man in front of him. Then falls backward as a shot hits him in the chest and then another, and he can relax now, and pray. It’s all over, like the man had said.

Andy jumps up and sprints toward the car, the man on the other side watching from his open door jumps back in and slides over behind the wheel trying to get the car started. Turns the key in the ignition, hands shaking, heart pounding. Looks up and sees this other man with the gun and the fancy clothes and then gone as the car starts. Andy dives down alongside the door and fires two shots through it as the car lunges forward. Then spins around on his knees and carefully aims at the slowly moving vehicle; two three four more shots at a target somewhere inside. The car slowly stops and just sits there.

Andy turns behind him, puts a final shot into the man on the ground, then runs over to the car. The dead man’s face is slumped against the window of the door streaked in blood. He falls forward and onto the ground when Andy opens the door. He watches him fall there, down by his feet, like a sack of groceries tumbling over, then he reaches in and switches off the ignition.

They’re very poorly prepared, he thinks. Indecisive in everything they do, every move; whether to shoot or wait and see who’s running toward you; whether to back up your partner or watch what’s going on, hoping it’s just some injured passenger looking for help; whether to stay and fight or drive away, one hand on the steering wheel, pistol in the other…everything; and it costs them their lives.

He looks at the face of the man in the darkness, a young face. They’re college students maybe, all full of causes and courage; and no idea what they’re doing. He gets the man’s gun and throws it into the back seat of the car, not wanting to think he might have explosives on his body. Just, isn’t any time for bomb squads or anything, just hope for the best or not think about it. But it’s a shaky feeling, just the same; and feeling so sorry for the poor young stupid college boys at the same time.

Maria and Zoltep run up beside him. “That was pretty stupid, don’t you think” she says to him, angry, shaking with fear. “Get in” says Andy, like giving orders, thinking of nothing now but being in charge, getting things done. Maria looks in at the blood on the seat and Andy pulls off his coat and throws it over to cover it up.

She crawls in, mindful of keeping the coat in place as Zoltep jumps in the back. No one wants to go around the other side, the black void of night. They know what’s on this side here, and that’s better than not knowing. Andy gets in, starts up the engine and turns the car around, driving past the other man, lying there motionless on the ground. It hurts to see him there in the darkness, illumined by the headlights, all alone and cold and lifeless now; and what was that for.

You just react to that, and do what your side thinks is right; and however it finally comes out, whoever survives in that instant, is the one who is right for now. And the lives and the deaths of the people caught in between just don’t seem to matter much.

“Zoltep, where’s this road go.” “Hell, I don’t know” says the kid “it’s just a road; where do any roads go?”  “What’s the status?” he asks Maria. “There’s nothing, going on at the palace. They’re all ready, I guess, all prepared; but… so far, nothing.” Then she adds “one of the guards, Freddi, is keeping me updated. Gonna call, if there’s, anything new.”

“Freddi, huh” he looks over and smiles, instinctively expressing the outward appearance that tells you nothing of what’s going on in his mind. The others feel the same way he does; happy, guilty, confused, not dead or seriously wounded. But like the lid’s been blown off the pressure cooker and all that steam and tension is suddenly released and gone and you don’t know why but it feels so terribly good just to be alive when in the split seconds of gunfire, others aren’t so lucky.