Alive and Injured

4) Michael Jones

Michael rolled his eyes as he came back down the carriage with a coffee in hand.

"Will you quit it?"He waved his hand at his nine year old son, Peter. Peter groaned.

"But Dad!"

"What?!"

"She has my train!"Michael swooped in on Peter and Katie, taking the train off his eight year old daughter and giving it to Peter then taking the doll off Peter and giving it to Katie.

"There. Sorted.Everyone happy?" There was less arguing so Michael took the chatter for a yes and went to the seats behind his children.

"Thank you." Lily said, accepting the coffee.

"Who said it was for you?" Michael winked at his wife as he took a sip of the coffee.Lily rolled her eyes and snatched the coffee, somehow succeeding in squeezing the cup enough to pop the lid off and pour the hot coffee over the window and over her.

"OUCH!"

"That cost me two quid." Lily smacked Michael's arm.

"Yes I'm fine, thanks for asking. Go get me some napkins."

"Where's your purse?You're paying for my replacement coffee."

"You can go get the kids a juice box each while you're at it. And some napkins."

"Will do." Michael stood up then gasped as the train screeched and flipped over. Michael was thrown to one side then the other then the other. He heard the screams of his wife, his children and the other passengers. Some screams were cut off quickly. His wife's and children's included.

The train came to a stop and all passengers were thrown to the side again. Michael stayed put for a second.

The birth of his firstborn, Tiffany. How she cried. How she stopped when he held her.How exhausted Lily was. How his children were growing up so quickly.Tiffany was sixteen now...Growing so-

Michael blinked a few times, trying to gather his thoughts. He then sat up carefully,wiggling his limbs to see if anything was broken. He had a stinging pain on his forehead and a small cut on his arm but he seemed alright. He looked around. Groans as other people started to come to and cries and screams.

"Are you alright?" A man came over, bent double to avoid what looked like broken chairs and sticking out pieces of the luggage racks. He held out his hand and Michael took it.

"I'm fine. I need to find my children and my wife..." Michael started to look around but the man shook his head pulling at Michael's arm.

"We need to get people out. There's smoke in the first two carriages. It's coming round quickly."

"Shit. Okay. What can I do?"

"Use this to break a window." The man shoved a crowbar into Michael's hand. Michael looked around. They were on the side of the train so one side of windows was laid and smashed out against the grass. The other side of windows was the ceiling now. A few windows were already broken.

"Okay give me a second." Michael used the fallen seats to climb up and smash out the rest of the window. He used his free arm to cover his face from the fallen shards which cut his other arm as they fell. Michael grabbed the sides of the window and pulled himself up, thanking his thirty pound monthly gym membership for his ease at upper body strength. He stayed on the top of the train as he cast a look around.A few other men and women were coming up now. Michael helped them all up so they could slide down and wait for the injured victims. The forest they had landed in was flattened. The train had snapped down trees and had rolled quite some distance from the line. And a fire was coming from the first carriage. Michael had to breathe deeply to ensure he didn't vomit.

"Okay let's get some people out."

Michael was passed people, children, elderly, some men, some women, teenagers, train staff. He gasped when he saw his son being passed up to him. Peter was quiet but awake and there was something about his scared manner that sent fear through the chest of Michael.

"It's my son." He explained to the woman he passed Peter down to.

"I'll look after him."She promised.

His wife was next. Lily was dazed but awake. They hugged quickly.

"I think Katie is still there." She mumbled.

"I'll get her."Michael promised as he helped her down the train. An elderly woman was next. She was very limp and this frightened Michael but he helped to lift her up and down the train into the arms of a man waiting. An elderly man was next. He kept mumbling something and almost collapsed when he landed on the ground but a woman rushed to help him. Katie was passed up and she was still knocked out cold but there was a flush of colour in her cheeks that made him feel a lot better. She was handed down. A young woman was passed up and she too was still knocked out.

"Is that everyone?"

"No! We have a young girl here! She's fitting." A man called out from still in the train. Michael slipped back down into the train.

"Where?"

"Bathroom." Another man called out.

Michael picked his way down the train carriage to the bathroom. Smoke was starting to fill the carriage now.

"Start chucking up luggage. We can use it for first aid supplies." Michael instructed.Several men started doing this while Michael peered into the bathroom.

"My names Jerry Foster, I'm a doctor." The man that Michael had come to first was knelt by the girl who was indeed fitting and it was a horror. The bathroom was streaked in her blood and she was fitting so badly in such a cramped room that it was hard to help.

"We have to get her out and deal with her there." Michael said.

"Moving her isn't ideal." Jerry said.

"Neither is leaving her here to burn into a crisp." Jerry hesitated then nodded.

"You take her. I need to check the rest of the carriages." Michael nodded and with some difficulty took the girl in his arms where she continued to fit,attempting automatically to get out of the grip. He managed to lift her up through the window where another man took her.

Jerry hurried back with a briefcase.

"It's lucky I was on my way to my work I suppose." He said.

 "I'll give you a leg up." Jerry nodded and Michael help Jerry through the window then with a quick glance around also went through the window.