Chapter 11 - The Subterranean Run
The muffled sound of the gunshot hit Hannah like a physical blow. The icy mountain water rushed past her knees, threatening to sweep her off her feet, but she braced herself against the slimy stone wall of the drainage flume.
“Julian...” she whimpered.
Leo let out a distressed cry in the pitch darkness. Hannah immediately pressed him closer, burying her face into his damp woolen swaddle. “Shh, baby, shh. Mommy’s here. I’ve got you.”
She had no time to grieve, no time to fall apart. If Julian had sacrificed his life, every second she wasted was an insult to his sacrifice. She clicked on the small penlight Julian had given her, keeping the beam pointed strictly at her feet to avoid casting light outward toward the tunnel's exit.
The flume narrowed as it sloped downward. Jagged rocks tore at her bare shins, and the freezing runoff numbed her toes until she could no longer feel the ground. She slipped twice, catching herself with her injured, bandaged wrists. The agony was blinding, white-hot fire shooting up her arms, but she held Leo high above the churning water, refusing to let a single droplet touch his face.
After what felt like an eternity, the roar of the water changed pitch. The tunnel opened up into the crisp, biting air of the ravine.
She crawled out through the rusted iron grating of the culvert into the rain. Above her, high on the embankment, ran the twin steel ribbons of the freight railway line.
She climbed the gravel slope on her hands and knees, fingernails splitting as she dug into the wet crushed stone. Just as she hauled herself over the wooden railroad ties, the mournful horn of a distant locomotive echoed down the valley.
Around the bend, a single white headlight cut through the heavy downpour. It was a massive freight train, moving slowly uphill through the mountain pass, its long chain of rust-colored boxcars clanking rhythmically.
Hannah looked back toward the ridge. Flashlight beams were already dancing through the trees atop the hill. Dennis and his men had found the flume exit.
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“There she is!” a harsh voice shouted through the wind, followed by the crack of a rifle bullet striking a nearby pine tree.
With no options left, Hannah threw herself toward the approaching train.
