Juliana startled at the double crack of thunder as lightning flashed close enough to reverberate through the tracks. She pressed her cheek against the window to see if the strike left. Lightning mixed with the high winds was not a good combination. They needed a deluge to get the forest good and soaked.
The conductor came on board. “Sorry, folks, schedule change means everybody off.” A groan ran through the car. “We gotta head down the valley and pick up folks at Avery. They got a wildfire startin’. Everybody off.”
Grouchy and grumbling workers, who’d been breathing smoke from surrounding fires for weeks except when underground in cold, damp conditions, stumbled and shuffled off the train, their fatigue evident. This night crew wouldn’t get back to their bunks for a while.
Juliana caught the conductor’s attention. “Mr. Kelly, I have to make the deliveries to the camps.” She pointed to the hundred loaves, more than double her normal quota since they’d added the fire camps. She’d been contemplating hiring a boy to deliver if this volume kept up. “Can’t I stay?”
“Sorry, Mrs. Hayes, we don’t got the time for the extra stops. See the smoke comin’ up down yonder?” He pointed at a distant dark plume that thickened as they spoke. “They got a bunch o’ lightnin’ strikes south of Avery today. We got a telegraph sayin’ they’re closin’ the tracks except fer firefighters after this here train. The wind is winnin’ down at St. Joe City, and the fire looks to be headin’ this way into the valley.”
“I understand.” Juliana shivered, whether at the unexpected chill from the overcast skies, or fear, she couldn’t tell. “What about all that bread?”
“Since we ain’t stoppin’, just leave the bread. If the fire stays back, I’ll get the baggage men at Stetson and Kyle depots to help unload on the way back. We’ll pick you up once we got the folks at Avery out of danger. But we ain’t takin’ anybody closer to it.” He leaned out the door, keeping an eye on his work. “Best bet’s gonna be an hour or two. We’ll lay her out and make it a quick trip. Might as well get a good meal down ya. I think they’re gonna work ya to the bone after this.”
Juliana smiled at him as she took the steps down toward the platform. She turned back. “Just come back safe, Mr. Kelly. What you’re doing is heroic. I’ll keep you all in my prayers.” She waved at his salute as the train pulled out. Hot food hadn’t held any interest most of the summer. She ate to keep up her strength. But with the cooler day, she took the conductor’s advice and headed over to the Falcon dining room while lightning and thunder flashed and boomed down the valley. She ate to keep her mind off the howling winds, increasing lightning strikes, and the threat.
Strong gusts weren’t unusual through the winding valley. This, though, was somehow a different kind of blast, carrying heat from miles away, ending the mild cooling with a suffocating pall.
Lukas arrived at Rowland, three long whistles alerting the town and depot workers. The telegraph operator ran to the engine, waving a sheet of paper the wind tried to yank away. “Johnnie, you gotta go back now!”
The engineer, Johnnie Mackedon, shouted out his window, “What’s wrong?”
“They’re shutting down all the mines and log camps. The fire converged and blew up at Avery.” The operator climbed up far enough to hand off the full message.
Lukas jumped off the steps and ran toward the railroaders to better hear the emergency. He had men in camps all along the line—and Juliana, where was she? Had she gone down past Stetson to Avery, or did she get warned in time and stay in Falcon?
“We got word that the wind has fanned embers into a massive fire back southwest of Avery. Hurricane-force winds blasted through St. Joe City into the backcountry. A wall of fire is headed this way.”
“Get the passengers off and unhitch those full freight cars. Let’s turn her around and get as many out of there as possible!”
“There should be a slew of people heading up toward Falcon. The tracks closed about thirty minutes ago downline from there.”
Lukas grabbed the telegraph operator’s arm as the man jumped down. “Send a message. Tell everyone to get to the depot platform. We’ll get them from there.”
Panic bit his belly, spreading the poison of terror.
“Johnnie, I’m with you! The Angel of Adair is down there.”
The engineer agreed by pointing Lukas to the coupling.
He signaled back he understood. Adrenaline poured into his bloodstream as he raced to assist. He bounded on the first car as they put all the full freight cars in the hole on the side track. With the forest service out of the threatened area this last week, Juliana’s regular delivery, from Adair to the small camp town of Falcon, took a deadly turn. Could he find her and get his men out before the wall of fire did?
Johnnie leaned out the window and yelled, “Aboard or not, we’re pulling out!” He pulled several short whistles—signaling emergency—and set the train on its rescue mission, Lukas hanging on the side. He slipped behind the fuel load as the smoke darkened, getting heavier as they rode down the track. Coughing, Lukas tied his kerchief over his face. The winds built, slamming into them, slowing the progress of the powerful engine. Lord be with us; we’re riding into the beast.
They passed Adair in record time, Johnnie laying on the whistle sounding the emergency.
An hour in, full tables waited for the train with nowhere to go when the hurricane winds hit Falcon. The wooden dining hall creaked under the onslaught. Noise, so loud people covered their ears, seemed as palpable as the trees bending.
“Fire!”
She had no idea who yelled out the warning, but Juliana rose in the ensuing panic and fought to get to the door. As soon as the first person swung it wide, the door was ripped off its hinges and flung into the storm. Sparks and ash fell like a fine mist.
A cook ran in from the stoves. “Help! My babies are in the school. My babies!”
An off-duty mine foreman took charge. “Crew Three, get the kids out of the school! Crew Four, go through the town. Tell ‘em all to get to the depot.”
“They’re so little the wind will blow them away!”
“Tie ‘em to you, then. Whatever you have to do, but get the kids to the depot. Their folks can meet them there.” He bellowed out, “Move!”
The crews that had been groggy, waiting to get to their bunks, shot into action. In less than fifteen minutes the entire town and unexpected guests, over a hundred men, women, and children, banded together on the Falcon platform, straining to hear a train whistle over the roaring winds. Trees exploded, sending fireballs into the sky like Roman rockets as the fire raced up the canyon. Then a tornado of fire and wind whipped up, heading right for Falcon.
Juliana’s scream ripped out of her throat, stolen, as the spinning monster took out a line of trees at the edge of town. The dining hall went up in flames along with the school and several bunkhouses. The smoke thickened until everyone coughed, eyes watered, and rivulets of ash mixed with tears trickled down cheeks. Massive chunks of burning wood landed all around them. Juliana kicked at them to send them into the dirt like she saw the others doing. The roof on the depot caught and flamed one log after another, like a candelabra. The smoke and ash forced her to cover her mouth and nose, breathing through her shawl.
The train was nearly on top of them before anyone at Falcon could hear or see it through the smoke. Flames licked at the dry wood platform as the engine backed onto the side track. The crowd ran for it only to discover no cars.
Engineer Johnnie Mackedon leaped from the front, shouting to someone to help hook up the empty logging flatbed.
A shadow moved through the smoke, assisting, then disappeared to appear again on the platform. “Let’s go! Get on and get down!” he yelled through a wet red kerchief tied to cover his nose and mouth. “Juliana! Juliana, are you here? Ju-li-an-a!”
She vaguely heard her name over the gale. Lukas? She ran to him. “Lukas!”
He threw his arms around her, shouting over the din. “I’m here. Let’s go!”
The entire crowd clambered off the burning railway platform onto the flatcar.
Juliana helped him hand children up to outstretched arms. When all were aboard, Lukas lifted Juliana and then jumped up after her.
“Down! Everyone lie down!” He pushed as many on their bellies as he could reach, motioning for them to do the same all the way up the flatbed as Johnnie rolled the train out of the station, heading for safety.
Juliana lay on the very edge, inches to spare. Lukas covered her body with his, holding tight to the side as the car swayed back and forth, buffeting in the sixty-plus-mile-an-hour winds. As far as she could tell, they’d saved everyone from Falcon. But the wall of flames licked up the mountainsides like a hungry wolf coming after them, with a ferocity through thick undergrowth and trees so dry from the drought that the furnace could rival Hades.
Johnnie seemed to be gaining ground as they approached Tunnel 28. The hurricane winds battered the passengers with debris. Tree branches, falling trunks, pieces of tent material flew into the crowd. As fast as they could, burning their hands, they threw pieces off the train and off one another.
A chunk of burning wood landed on Juliana’s skirt. Lukas lifted up on his elbow and kicked it off her, keeping it from burning through as the engine chugged into the tunnel. Water dripping from the tunnel ceiling wet the clothing of all exposed. The tunnel hadn’t yet lost its cold, fresh air to the vortex sucking the life out of everything in its path. For a few moments, Juliana and Lukas gulped in oxygen.
The hot mega gust hit them coming out the other side as the train raced uphill to the trestle ahead that crossed a tributary into Loop Creek. Lukas lost his grip. In a tangle of skirts, he and Juliana flew off the end of the flatcar into the underbrush. Her scream echoed back from the tunnel.