Snippet #1370880

Nettie felt the cars rumble ominously seconds before the crash hit her. She was in one of the cars near the back, and the lead cars had accordioned up on each other. She heard the screams of steel and death before it hit her. Clutching Hana in terror, Nettie threw herself on the floor under her seat, covering her daughter with her own body. She saw nothing as the car hit the one in front of it and started to skid sideways. Her head and shoulders hit the seats and she was jostled around, but she clutched Hana and remained firmly wedged in her tiny safe spot. Overhead, she heard her window break and smelled pine and smoke.

Once the train car had skidded to a stop, Nettie tried to stand. She was blocked in by a large pine limb coming through her window. Still clutching Hana, she soldier-crawled her way across the floor - harder now, because the car had been slung around and peoples' satchels were spilled willy-nilly. Finally breaking through into a bit of sunlight, she frantically checked over Hana. The babe seemed safe enough, although she was screaming uncontrollably. Nettie did her best to soothe the child, but was quickly screaming herself.

"Rose! Rose!" Her friend had been sitting behind her, but Nettie saw nothing but pine boughs now. "Rose, where are you?" She felt warmth oozing down her back and right shoulder, and she glanced back to realize that her gown had been torn and the pine limb had scored a nasty gash down her right side. She was dizzy as well, and suspected that she'd hit her head harder than she realized. She coughed, waving at the dust in the air. "Rose! Please, where are you?"

Hana still screamed, but Nettie could only think of finding Rose. She began rummaging through the debris, looking for her friend. The car shifted again, shaking, and Nettie finally realized that it might not be safe. The fact that they'd crashed began to sink in. She wanted to cry, but refused to. "Rose?" she called weakly, one last time, before trying to clear her way to the nearest door.