Twelve TwelveKenny stood upon the flat car watching as the workers repaired the railroad. The new steel rails gleamed in the sunlight. He glanced out at the sandy expanse. What a miserable place. Since the day Kenny arrived, he had counted down the days to when he could go home.
“We are ready to test it,” said one of the workers.
“Very well,” said Kenny.
“Do you wish to move to the closed car?”
“No,” replied Kenny. “I will remain on the flatcar with you. I can see everything much better this way.”
“Yes, sir.”
The man hollered to the engineer to start up the train. “Start the engine!”
The engine roared to life. Gradually, the train moved forward, picking up speed as it went. Kenny watched dispassionately as it moved toward the new track. The workers nervously waited to see if their repairs would hold. Every time he looked at one of them, they jumped nervously. Such is the way of things, thought Kenny.
The train sped up even more. A huge lurch alerted him that something was terribly wrong. “What was that?” he asked.
“Not sure,” said the worker.
The train jumped a second time. This time, everyone panicked.
“Pull the brake,” yelled the worker next to Kenny.
Someone yanked on the lever. It snapped and the train continued to race down the tracks. A sinking feeling filled Kenny as he realized they weren’t slowing down.
Dana looked down the hill as the trading caravan rode along the rail. They had seen the workers on the tracks and decided to take another way back to Libre, not wanting to alert them to their presence. The squealing wheels of the train alerted her to their distress. Stopping, she pulled out her binoculars and peered through them.
Kenny stood on one of the cars. Dana nearly dropped the binoculars in shock. What was he doing here? She focused them again and studied the movement of the train as it gathered more speed. Instantly, she realized that it was a runaway train.
Dana looked further ahead. One of the rails had come undone and off the railroad ties. Dana knew that if the train hit that area, it would derail and kill everyone aboard.
“What is it?” asked Sampson.
Dana handed him the binoculars. He looked through them. “They don’t have a prayer.”
Dana took back the binoculars, taking one more glance at Kenny as he and the others tried to stop the train. The car jerked, knocking one man off. For a fleeting second, she considered just letting him suffer his fate. Quickly, she pushed the thought away.
“We have to help them,” she said.
“How? It’s too dangerous.”
“We have to do something.”
“Dana—”
Dana cracked the reins of her horse, speeding off down the hillside toward the train. She had no plan, other than to somehow pull Kenny off the flatcar before the train derailed.
Poboy snorted heavily as she raced for the speeding train. Clouds of dust billowed behind her. Shouts and yells filtered through the commotion, but Dana ignored them. She couldn’t just let a friend die. Her conscience would not allow it.
Once on the bottom, Dana steered Poboy in the same direction as the train. She felt the animal’s muscles strain under the effort. Pushing onward, she sped up until she reached the flat car.
“Kenny!” yelled Dana.
Kenny looked over. “Dana?” He stared at her stupidly as though he saw a ghost. “What are you doing here?”
“No time! Take my hand.”
The train lurched again, causing another man to lose his balance and tumble over. Dana refused to focus on it. Her mind lay only with saving Kenny, and the others if possible.
“Take my hand!” she shouted again over the thundering wheels.
Carefully, Kenny hung onto a guardrail and reached out. He brushed fingers with Dana. She steered her horse a little closer, but didn’t dare to go further.
“Jump!” yelled Dana.
“I can’t!”
Dana glanced ahead. They were too close to the missing section of the track.
“You have to jump!” she shouted again.
Kenny looked at the ground as it sped past. “This is impossible!”
“Kenny, you spineless—Jump!”
A man came up behind Kenny. He noted the missing track as well. Taking one glance at Dana, they locked eyes a moment. Suddenly, the man pushed Kenny off the car and towards Dana’s outstretched hand.
Dana and Kenny grasped arms. She heaved him onto her horse and steered it away from the train just as it hit the missing rail. Instantly, 
the train leapt off the tracks, turning over. Cars separated as debris flew everywhere. Not daring to look back, Dana kicked Poboy and galloped away from there.
Once she determined they were a safe distance away, she slowed. Turning back around, she and Kenny watched as the train scattered over the desert like a tumbled stack of matchsticks. Clouds of sand formed with each new impact.
“What the hell were you thinking?” demanded Sampson as he rode up with the others.
“I wasn’t,” admitted Dana.
“Well that is pretty evident. You—idiotic—of all the things—” Sampson didn’t finish his statement. He didn’t need to. Dana knew what he thought.
“Here,” Malcolm handed Kenny a canister of water. Unsure of the people before him, Kenny took it, glad to have a drink. His hands shook so badly that Dana had to help him hold the canteen.
“Sorry,” Dana apologized to Sampson again. “I just reacted.”
“Yeah, well people tend to do that. The heroes are the ones lucky enough to survive their rash decisions.”
Dana glanced at her saddle.
“Don’t ever do that again,” said Sampson.
“Yes, Sampson.”
“Boy, you will ride with Malcolm,” said Sampson to Kenny.
Kenny didn’t argue. He switched horses, still wondering about the trustworthiness of these people.
“Well, we got a ways to go before we reach town,” said Sampson, “Best get going.”
Night fell before they reached Libre, so Malcolm had them set up camp. His men made a small fire and posted lookouts. Kenny just watched as everyone went about their business oblivious to his presence.
One of the men showed up with a couple of rabbits he had just caught. Dana took one, grabbed her knife, and set about skinning it. Minny had taught her how. After doing it several times, it no longer disgusted her. Her hunger always overrode her sentiments.
“Ugh,” said Kenny as he watched.
“What?” asked Dana as she sliced off bits of meat and placed them on the fire.
“What you’re doing,” Kenny replied.
Dana didn’t understand his statement.
“Where do you think your food comes from?” asked Sampson as he walked by.
Kenny glared at him with dislike. He didn’t like being talked down to. “I don’t like him.”
“Who?” asked Dana. “Sampson? He’s a good man.”
“I’m the First Councilman’s son and he treats me like everyone else.”
“Because out here, nobody cares about your parentage.” Dana handed him some of the cooked rabbit.
Kenny looked at it doubtfully.
“I’m sorry if we can’t offer you more luxurious accommodations,” said Dana without sympathy, “but that’s all we have to eat out here. If you’re hungry, just bite and chew.”
Kenny’s grumbling stomach overrode his sensibilities. He nibbled on the rabbit meat, surprised that it didn’t taste that bad. “Dana? How’d you end up out here?”
“Complete accident,” replied Dana. “I hopped off the train I was on and ended up wandering around here lost before I ran into Sampson. He and his wife took me in.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” Dana sat next to him with her supper. She ate big chunks and drank from her canteen with no shred of ladylike grace.
“Why did you save me?” asked Kenny. The question had gnawed at him all afternoon.
Dana stopped eating and looked at him. “Because you’re my friend.”
Her matter-of-fact tone startled Kenny. He had expected her to hold a grudge after what his father had done. “I didn’t know,” he said, “I didn’t know about your parents.”
“I know.” Dana rested a reassuring hand on his.
Kenny noticed a book sticking out of Dana’s pack. He pulled it out and read the cover as the firelight danced on it. “What’s this?”
“A book,” said Dana.
“Yes, but its contraband.”
“Not out here. I found it and plan on reading it.”
“But Patrick Henry was a bigoted, white racist who only cared about himself.”
Dana snatched the book from him. “You’re just repeating what you have always been told. I am going to read this book and form my own opinion. And not you or anyone else is going to force me to do otherwise.”
“Dana, I would never force you to do anything,” said Kenny.
“Sometimes I wonder about you, Kenny. In so many ways, you are like your father, but in other ways, you are different. I just wonder what it is you will choose to be.”
“Dana—”
“You should finish eating and get some sleep. We have an early start in the morning.”
Dana stood up and walked over to Poboy. Kenny watched as she petted his muzzle while cooing to him. She nuzzled into the horse’s fur before settling down for the night. Kenny didn’t understand Dana’s newfound independence, or why she loved that horse. It’s just a filthy animal, he thought. He rolled onto his side and drifted to sleep, despite the pockets of conversation among the traders that lasted well into the night.