Serpentine
Page 3
He looked over at Tom, whose face was ashen. “Brace yourself, buddy. This ain’t gonna be pretty.”
Tom swallowed hard and struggled to speak through a mouth that felt like sandpaper. “Do you think we’ll be able to do anything?”
Nate grimaced. “We’re sure as fuck gonna try.”
*****
Shelby felt like she was in suspended animation for a few seconds. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the train tumbling away from her—down, down. She was aware of the awkward movements and screams of the passengers as the Black Mamba took them on the last thrill ride of their lives. And, strangely, she also noticed that it was a bright sunny day.
Then everything sped up. Shelby was falling in cadence with the train, and she felt the crushing panic as the ground began to rush up to meet her. Shelby knew this feeling well—she was an expert skydiver. But when she jumped out of planes, she had the security of a parachute, knowing she could pull the chord at any moment her heart desired. Knowing she could enjoy the thrill of a freefall while having the canopy as her savior once she’d had enough.
This time, there was no canopy. No savior.
She swung her arms wildly, banging into several pieces of metal as she began her fall. It hurt like hell, but she didn’t have time to be in pain. In addition to being a skydiver, Shelby had also been a gymnast in college and she instinctively used both skills to her advantage right then. She twisted her body, stretched out and then sent herself into a tight tuck. The result was a forward somersault, which gave her some control as she fell parallel to the superstructure. She suddenly stopped the roll and stretched her arms out as far as she could. She collided with another piece of metal and bounced away from the trestle. Thinking on autopilot, she immediately created another somersault to bring herself back in the direction she wanted.
When Shelby ended the somersault she was on her back parallel to the ground, deciding to use her legs this time instead of her arms. She slammed into a vertical piece of steel, but just before bouncing away again she managed to wrap both strong legs around it. The rest of her body kept going—crashing down and backwards into the metal wall that was underneath the trestle.
She had stopped her descent, but was now upside down. Shelby strained with her thighs and abdomen and managed to pull herself up into a sitting position, legs still wrapped around the trestle. She quickly brought one hand up and grabbed onto the top part of it. The other hand couldn’t make it—she could tell that her upper right arm was broken, probably at the shoulder joint. Must have happened on one of her collisions with the superstructure.
Shelby kept her legs wrapped tight and her left hand holding on for dear life. Her right arm dangled uselessly by her side and was starting to throb. Now that she was safe for the moment her brain was allowing her to experience pain. Up until then she had been experiencing only terror. There had been no room for pain.
Shelby started to think. Started to remember. And then she started to cry. Resting her head against the hot steel, she wondered if she would wake up in a few minutes. Surely this was a nightmare. This couldn’t really have happened, could it?
She opened her eyes and allowed herself a glance downward. Then upward. She hadn’t fallen very far—maybe only about 100 feet. There were another 150 or so feet below her.
Shelby was astounded at how silent it was. From the happy screams and shrieking laughter of just a few seconds ago, to the spooky stillness that existed now. The contrast was weird. It felt like death. Was she dead?
She could feel a slight breeze against her face, which was a nice relief from the stifling heat. She forced herself to look down again—this time to see where the train had landed.
She saw it—a crumpled mess of black steel, peppered with red jackets. A shudder ran through her body and she started to become lightheaded. A familiar feeling that she’d had many many times before. Oh, no, not now! Dear Lord, don’t let me faint now!
She pulled herself in as close to the metal bar as she could and wrapped her arm completely around it. Grasped onto her crippled right shoulder with her left hand and locked herself in place as tightly as possible.
A second later she heard the ambulance siren. And, for the first time since the nightmare had begun, Shelby screamed. Like a banshee.
*****
Nate slammed on the brakes and shoved the ambulance into ‘park.’ He and Tom jumped out and ran over to the wreckage. Then they stopped dead in their tracks.
Nate started gagging and thrust his hand up in front of his mouth. Tom couldn’t control it—he leaned over and retched.
Neither of them said anything for a few seconds. There was nothing to say.
Then Nate asked what seemed now to be a fruitless question. “Are you up to checking for pulses?”
Tom wiped his sleeve across his mouth, and whispered, “Is there any point?”
Nate shook his head. “Probably not. But we have to.” He looked around and saw crowds of people up against the perimeter fence a quarter of a mile away. And he also saw cameras held aloft, lots of cameras. “Still no fucking paramedics! Where the hell are they?”
Tom started walking towards the bodies. “Okay, let’s get started, Nate.”
Nate followed. “Start with the ones who are still whole.”
Tom nodded and bent down at the first body he came to. It was a woman, about forty years of age. She was lying face down on the cement, her face pancaked. Tom knew there was no hope, but he put his fingers to her wrist anyway.
Nate went to what once was the front seat section. It looked bent at the joint, buckled from the rest of the train. He made a mental note of this. There were two riders in the front seat, trapped by the lap bars that had been crunched into them on impact—impact with something, probably on the way down. Their torsos appeared to be almost severed by the crushing pressure of the bars. He knew it was a moot point, but he checked anyway for their pulses, and then sadly moved on to the next seat.
They checked them all one by one. Some bodies were scattered well away from the wreckage. No one was alive. That had been obvious just by looking at them before they’d even checked for signs of life, but they had forced themselves to go through the motions anyway.
Nate was kneeling beside the last body, that of a young man who looked no older than eighteen. He looked up and started scanning the mangled skeleton of hill number two.
“This is number twenty-five. There’s one missing, Tom.”
Chapter 3
Tom followed Nate’s eyes. Lifted his hand above his forehead to shield his gaze from the strong afternoon sun.
“Maybe the person fell out earlier? Around the first hill?”
Nate scratched his forehead. “Maybe. Let’s go check.”
The two friends jogged over to the first hill of the structure and began scouring the area surrounding it. Nate heard sirens off in the distance.
He motioned for Tom to follow him along the base of the superstructure down towards the second hill. He looked from side to side. Suddenly, he held up his hand signaling Tom to stop.
“What did you…”
“Shh!”
Nate cocked his head in the direction of the structure. “Did you hear that?”
“No…I didn’t hear anything.”
“There! There it is again!”
Nate looked up. He felt a sudden surge of adrenaline through his body. “Jesus Christ, Tom! Look!” He pointed.
There she was, clinging to the trestle, about two-thirds of the way up the height of the second hill.
Tom just stared, not believing what he was seeing. Nate shook him by the shoulders. “We have to go up and get her!”
Tom paused before replying. “I hear the ambulances, Nate. Maybe we should wait for the pros.”
She noticed them and started screaming again. Louder this time. Nate could see that she was hanging on with one arm, the other one dangling by her side.
Nate started running. “You can wait if you want. I’m going up there!
”
Tom hesitated again and then reluctantly followed his friend. He yelled, “What’s the plan?”
“Just follow me! We’ll figure it out when we get to her!”
The coaster had steps along the side of the track for each of its hills. Totally unprotected, no railings—just narrow steps. Not great, but it was a way to get to the top in an emergency.
Nate started to climb. One step at a time, bent over in a hunch, hands in front for support on the steps ahead of him. Tom was right behind him. They were moving fast.
Nate’s feet started to slip on the metal—the steps were narrow and he was wearing slippery-soled oxford dress shoes. He turned around slowly and eased himself down into a half-sitting position on the narrow gangway. They were already about fifty feet off the ground.
“Tom, it looks like you have the same type of shoes on as me. Take ‘em off. We’re going to slip to our deaths in these things.”
The interruption caused Tom to cast his eyes to the ground. Then he slowly lowered himself onto his chest and started panting hard.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Tom’s breathing was getting more labored by the second. His hands grasped the sides of the gangway and clenched until his fingers were stone white.
“Tom!”
“I…can’t…move.”
“Why?”
Nate could see that his friend’s face was soaked with sweat. It was hot in the afternoon sun…but not that hot. He started moving down towards him.
“No! Don’t…touch…me!”
Nate looked up and off to the side, and could see that his objective was still clinging bravely to the side of the trestle. He turned his attention back to Tom.
“Is it your heart? Let me help you!”
“No! It’s just…a…fear…of heights. I’ll…be okay…in a few minutes.”
“Christ! A fear of heights?!! You’re fucking with me, right?!”
Tom looked up at him. “I thought…I could do it. Thought…I could…force myself. Go on…without me…Nate.”
Nate threw his shoes into the air and cautiously twisted himself back around, facing upward again. “Tom, just hold on tight. Help will be here soon. If not, I’ll see you on the way down.”
He resumed his climb, one careful step at a time. This reminded him of when he was down in Mexico years ago, climbing the ancient Mayan pyramid at Chichen Itza. The narrow steps, the steep incline, the feeling that one false step could send him tumbling to a certain death. And he couldn’t help thinking of the irony of his best friend, a rollercoaster designer, being afraid of heights.
*****
Shelby had never screamed so much in her life. Her frightened mind told her that no one would hear her, but she screamed anyway. It helped release the tension and, most importantly, she was convinced that it was keeping her from fainting. If she fainted way up here, she was doomed.
Fainting had been a problem for her since she was a young child. Sometimes, without any warning whatsoever, it happened. Not often, but usually at the worst times. And this was as worse a time as any. At other times, the lightheadedness was the only warning signal. She was determined that she would fight it off, and so far the screaming seemed to be working. The lightness in her head had disappeared and her mind was as sharp as a razor. She thought to herself that maybe this was the solution to her fainting—just start screaming. And then she thought that it was amazing she was even thinking of that at a time like this.
Her left arm was getting stiff and tired wrapped around the metal rod, but she knew that she couldn’t make any adjustments. The right arm was useless right now, so it wasn’t able to give her other arm relief. She glanced down at her bare thighs—she’d worn sexy little red shorts today to match her red jacket. But wished now that she hadn’t. The skin on her legs was blistered and torn from the collisions with the trestle. Blood had also stained her white socks and cute little pink Adidas. She couldn’t reach up and touch her forehead, but she knew it was bleeding too. She’d had to rub her eyes against her shoulders several times already to keep the blood from blinding her vision.
Shelby started screaming again. Would anyone hear her? Ever? Would they look up here? She heard more sirens and started screaming again. The metal that she was wrapped around was hot as hell—the afternoon sun was having its effect. It burned her skin, but she willed the pain away.
Then she saw them. One of the men was pointing at her. She could see through the metal braces of the trestle structure that there were two of them. They didn’t look like paramedics—dressed too spiffy. Shelby didn’t care who they were. She’d been seen! Help was on its way!
She watched them run to the lower section of the track an
d begin their climb up the gangway. They’re coming for me! Shelby could feel the blood rush to her face and she started to cry. Then she screamed again. Raised her face to the sky and just let it rip. There’s no fucking way I’m going to allow myself to faint now!
*****
Nate was totally on his own. He knew that it would have been easier to rescue the woman with Tom at his side, but he had no choice. He climbed as fast as he could along the metal gangway. The metal was hot and his socks were getting soaked with sweat. They were starting to bunch up under the soles of his feet and becoming almost as cumbersome as his shoes had been. They had to go.
He carefully lifted his right foot into the air and yanked off the sock. Then the other foot. He resumed his climb. The metal burned into the soles of his feet, but Nate gritted his teeth and focused on what he was doing. He glanced down the side of the gangway and saw the woman hanging on for dear life. He was close enough now that he could make out some of her features. She was blonde and slender, athletic looking—muscular in a feminine way; the finely toned muscles of her left arm were bulging under the strain of hanging onto the beam. Nate figured she was no older than thirty, which was a good thing. She’d be easier to rescue than someone in their senior years.
She looked straight at him. Even at a distance, he could see a pleading in her eyes. Then he saw her slip. Her left hand, which had been clasped to her right shoulder, lost its grip. It slipped back, but she caught herself at the last second and managed to grip her hand around the bar. She started to lean back and he could tell she was trying desperately to get her arm back to where it had been. She let go with her hand and flung her arm desperately around the bar—her hand grabbed onto her right shoulder once again, but it didn’t hold.
Her upper torso fell backwards and her back slammed down against the metal wall. She was upside down now, with only her legs keeping her from plummeting to her death.
The steel wall extended from her prone figure all the way to the ground, a distance of about 170 feet. It was a unique feature of The Black Mamba. Each of the coaster’s hills had these walls, which swooped up and down in their design in line with inclines and declines of the track. This particular wall actually followed the lines of the second hill right down to the underground tunnel’s entrance.
Each wall was decorated with murals of the Black Mamba and, even though the trestle structure extended all the way to the anchors in the ground, the wall served to completely cover the exterior of the trestles for the lower two-thirds of the structure.
So, if the woman’s legs lost their grip, she would face a certain death spiral because there were no remaining trestles accessible for her to grab onto.
Nate yelled. “Hold on! I’m coming!”
He felt panic in his heart. Nate needed to save this woman. Someone had to survive this disaster and she was his last hope.
He threw caution to the wind and ran up the gangway until he was right above the spot where she was hanging. Laid down on his chest and leaned his head over the edge. She was clinging to life only about eighty feet below him. Because she was upside down and vertical now, all he could see were her legs clinging to the bar. They were bloodstained and the muscles were clenched and pulsating. He could tell her strength was fading fast.
The woman responded by bending herself at the waist, with her left hand reaching desperately for the bar—she got halfway and then fell back again, banging her head on the metal wall. He could tell she was exhausted.
“Okay, okay—don’t try that again! I’m coming down!” The way she tried to reach for the bar with just her left hand told Nate that her right arm was probably broken. Making things even more difficult for him.
No matter. He held on to the top of the gangway and swung his body over the edge, finding purchase on the trestle for his feet. This thing was like a ladder—vertical bars crossed with horizontal bars.
The hot metal burned into the skin of his feet as he worked his way down to her. Nate moved fast—he calculated that she couldn’t hang on much longer with just her legs and the blood must be rushing down to her head in a torrent.
He eased over by crisscrossing several bars and then went down again until he was right next to her. He slid his right hand under her back and hoisted her up until she was able once more to grab onto the bar with her left hand. She was slow to react, but she managed to grab it.
She didn’t say a word, but looked right into his eyes; her gaze saying much more than any words possibly could. He could see that her eyes were blue, just like his.
Suddenly, her eyeballs began to roll. Nate removed his right hand from behind her back and held onto the trestle bar. He brought his left hand around and slapped her hard across the face. Then again.
It worked. She shook her head and he could tell she was beginning to focus again.
“Listen to me carefully. Let go of the bar and wrap your left arm around my neck. I’m going to climb us back up.”
She nodded.
“Are you sure you understand? When you let go of that bar you’ll have to wrap around my neck fast, or you’re going to be upside down again. We’ll only get one shot at this.”
She nodded again.
Nate smiled. “You’re going to be okay. Don’t worry—I have a strong neck.”