Josh’s training kicked in immediately. He surveyed the carriage to assess the situation. ‘Okay, everyone keep calm,’ he ordered and ran over to the prone form of the man he had seen flying across the carriage.
He was lying on his front, one arm and one leg twisted under him, each limb clearly broken. Josh crouched down and searched for a pulse. He thought he found a weak trace but it went as he held the man’s wrist. He turned the body over carefully so he was face-up. As soon as he saw the wound in the man’s forehead, he knew he was beyond help.
Josh straightened and walked over to Louis Chabon who was picking himself up from where he had landed. He was wincing and rubbing at his leg. His trousers were ripped and Josh could see a line of blood running down his shin.
‘Sit down, Louis,’ he said, then strode back along the aisle of the carriage.
There had been nine of them in the dining car. He looked around to see if he could account for everyone. A middle-aged couple had managed to stay at their table, the husband was now cradling his wife’s head and she was sobbing loudly.
Adam Franklin at the bar had been sent sprawling across the floor. He was picking himself up, dusting himself down. ‘Nothing broken,’ he said grimly.
Two tables away from the bar, a young woman in a trouser suit had managed to slip under the table and grip the support as the train had convulsed. She was now pulling herself out, her face as pale as death, the sleeve of her jacket had ripped along a seam. Behind the bar, the steward Gabir and the barman had held on and kept their balance throughout but they were clearly shaken.
‘Is everyone all right?’ Josh looked around.
‘What about the chap over there?’ Adam Franklin asked and nodded towards the prone form in the gangway.
‘I’m afraid he’s dead.’
The middle-aged lady at the table close to Josh gasped and her husband consoled her with a muted, ‘Shush, honey.’
‘I’m going to go outside to see if there’s anything I can do,’ Josh said.
‘I’ll come with you,’ Franklin replied immediately.
‘Me too,’ Louis Chabon added.
‘You’re injured.’
‘It’s just a scratch –’
‘I must escort you,’ Gabir interrupted. ‘Regulations, sir.’
‘So must I,’ Angus Faulks piped up.
Josh indicated that the two men should go ahead of him and watched Gabir push the button to release the carriage door. Then he followed the stewards out into the connecting bay. Gabir yanked a key from his pocket and opened a metal box on the wall. Reaching inside, he pulled out a couple of torches. He held one out to Josh and flicked on the other, opened the outer door and took three steps down and jumped the remaining metre to the tunnel floor.
They realised immediately that they did not need the torches. The emergency lights had come on, flooding the confined space inside the tunnel with a sickly yellow light. Josh looked to his right, the northwest-facing end of the train. Flames licked the top of the Eurostar and slithered along its gently arching roof. In the light from the flames, he could see the tangled mess of a shattered carriage. Part of its roof had sliced open and peeled back like the serrated edge of a tin can.
Peering down, Josh could see pellets of glass underfoot. Then glancing back up, he saw the air was thick with flakes and embers. A hot shard of debris landed on his exposed forearm making him recoil in pain. He could hear a ghastly grinding and the groaning of metal from the carriage ahead of first class. Beyond that sound came the impatient crackle of fire just a few carriages on. Then there was the sound of people crying out, moaning, a baby crying. Josh ran towards the heart of the chaos, the other four men close behind him.
‘What do we do?’ Franklin asked, catching up with Josh.
‘The emergency services will have been alerted straight away. There are probably cameras all along the tunnel,’ Josh replied. ‘In the meantime, we have to just try to do everything we can for the injured.’
He stopped for a moment to allow Gabir to catch up. Behind him came the steward and Louis Chabon close by to his left. Josh could see people climbing out of their carriages at the rear end of the train. Reaching the tunnel itself, they looked lost, not knowing what to do next. They simply stood in a huddle turning this way and that, confused.
Josh was about to turn back to find the door to the next carriage when he saw one of the passengers close to the rear of the train collapse on the floor. Then a second, a woman in a short skirt and jacket, dropped to the ground. A man slightly ahead of her fell forwards flat on his face.
Realisation hit Josh like a steam hammer. ‘Run!’ he screamed.
The four men next to him were so startled, they froze.
‘It’s a bio-attack!’ Josh yelled and grabbed Gabir, pro- pelling him forwards towards the opposite, north-end of the train.
‘WHAT? NO!’ Adam Franklin bellowed, throwing himself after Josh and Gabir. Louis came up behind them and some way back stumbled the big barman, Angus Faulks.
It took only a few seconds to reach the horrific wreck of the exploded carriage. Human remains lay in a random mess on the side of the tunnel and there were sticky lumps of red and grey flesh attached to the wall. It was ferociously hot and the air was filled with the stench of burning bodies and plastic. Josh pushed his left palm against his mouth and nose and held his breath.
A sheet of metal flew out from a carriage to his right and slammed to the floor of the tunnel a couple of inches in front of him. He dodged it, crashed into the side of the wrecked carriage and felt the searing heat of the steel burn into his arm. He stifled a yell and pulled back, just managing to keep upright as he stumbled over a pile of twisted metal. He flicked a glance back along the tunnel. All those who had been standing outside the carriage beyond first class were now sprawled out on the floor of the tunnel, limbs contorted like swimmers frozen in mid-stroke.
Josh beckoned to the others to hurry, then turned back to face the front of the train. The tunnel was completely blocked from floor to ceiling. Twisted metal sheets, piles of rock, sand and clay from a fissure in the tunnel lining had formed an impenetrable wall around the driver’s cabin.
Josh felt his heart skip a beat, a blind panic he had not felt for a long time shot through him. He was shocked and gawping at the horrendous sight. Gabir arrived, stopping beside him. Next came Adam, then Louis. Josh could see Angus running towards them, panting heavily.
‘Sainte mère . . .’ Louis cried.
Josh looked around him, assessing the situation, searching desperately for a clue to get them out of the tunnel. He was trying to control his breathing, but even so the fumes clawed at his throat. Gabir started coughing convulsively.
‘What can we do?’ Adam gasped, the panic bubbling up in his throat.
For a moment, Josh had no answer for him, but then he saw it. He pointed to a hatchway, frantically nodding to the others, making them run towards it.
‘Where? I don’t see it.’
‘There, 10 metres back,’ Josh hollered. ‘Now! RUN!’ And he bolted along the side of the tunnel, back towards the approaching bio-agent.
‘But Josh . . .’ Adam Franklin yelled, realising the danger. He felt Gabir and Louis spring forwards beside him and went with them.
Josh reached the hatch, his left hand still over his mouth and nose, trying not to breathe, his mind frantically analysing the situation. He knew the bio-agent might get into the body through the skin but there was nothing he could do about that. He reached for the hatch handle, gripped it and offered a silent prayer to a God he didn’t believe in. He twisted it.
It did not budge. He felt vomit rise up in his throat and yanked the handle around the other way. Now it turned. He pushed the door inwards.
The others were standing beside him. He shoved Gabir in first. Louis was itching to clamber into the opening and half-fell through the hole. Adam pushed his long body into the aperture, crashing to the floor the other side. Angus had just made it to the door and was gasping for breath. Josh grabbed him and helped him into the opening. Then he leapt through the hatchway. In one controlled movement, he pulled on the door and twisted the handle shut.