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The sweep of a nearby three-​wheeler was her only answer, not co it with enough a too tall The whole car stank of gunpowder and ashes, and the sweat of frightened men

Cyrus Berry turned from his position at hisbeside Morris Comstock He said, "Not here, riped tiredly

"Not no passenger car, no But there is a next car Go on The captain’s been sniped and I think Fenwick is oner Please, will you? Next car up They’ll let you in, I swear it"

The ine proper--was the very focus of half of this nore the fact that she ht find her answers inside whether or not the captain felt like dishing them out; and she tried to steel herself as she fumbled for the forward door’s slick, chilly latch

"Ma’a away from his"Be careful, and move fast!" He pumped the bolt on the rifle and aimed with one eye shut, and one eye narrowed

She could scarcely see hiuns had h the open s "I will," she promised, but she didn’t think he could hear her She seized the slippery latch and gave it a tug, then gave the door a shove with her shoulder

Alht lashed around her In the few slier car and mystery car, the air was sharp with bullets and loud with the clank of artillery and the grudging, straining pu the wheels over and over and over, drawing the train along the tracks and farther into the sunset--chasing it, doo for just a few ht

Off to her left, so immediate and close that it nearly stopped her heart, Mercy saw one of the three-​wheeled e She could see, on the other side of the scratched, thick windshield, that there were twobut the ovals of their faces and the dark pits of their eyes

She wondered how they could see at all, then realized that the low from within She didn’t know if they had lanterns, or soical as a jar of fireflies inside the craft But there was enough for them to see and work the controls; that much was clear

Mercy stood, paralyzed by the wind and the nearness of the danger, in the spot between the passenger car and theair and the engine fuer car’s front coupler until her fingers were numb and her knuckles were as white as if they’d succuain, and the h that she could see their black eyeholes seeing her--an easy target between the cars--and conferring It suddenly occurred to her, They could shoot ht kill ht was on watch, and whether or not the three-​wheeler had intended to take the easy shot, it did not, for a searing stripe of bullets went scorching along the earth, the live aht at the edge of the Rebels’ line of attack Off to Mercy’s right, out of her line of sight on the other side of the train, so flew into bits with a crash and a ball of fire that temporarily warmed her, even as it horrified her One of the three-​wheelers was down, most definitely

Off to the left, the three-​wheeler that had been very near had gone someplace she couldn’t see She wanted to believe they’d seen she was a woman and had opted to leave her be; but she suspected it was uns, and the men in the next car up, who defended the train with the ferocity of lions

Reaching the mystery car required a literal leap of faith, or at least a few steps of contrition

Knowing that she’d never get a peacefuljump to the other car, Mercy counted to three and threw herself at the other platforers, and was therefore without the rails, gates, and other safety es eable on the rest of the train She wavered as she landed, but caught herself by tangling her hands into the rungs of a ladder that had been welded into place against the car’s body Thusly braced, she used her other hand to grab the latch and jiggle it open

The door flapped outward into her face, but she dodged it, and swung herself around it, and drew it shut behind her This motion took fewer than three seconds, and it landed her in the midst of a shuttered car so dark that she could see her own feet only with the aid of a lantern held close to the floor, back in the corner

She said, "Captain?" since she didn’t see hiainst the wall, seated, with a rag of so beside hinore the whistle of a only feet, or so herself down into the corner, she took the lantern and turned to Durboraw first, since he wasn’t

With a flutter and a racket accompanied by renewed firepower fro porter ca two more torches and a box of matches He said, "I’"

"Don’t worry about it," said Captain MacGruder, his words only slightly estured for the ht the the other to the captain

Then the captain said, "I think we’re too late for Fenwick If he isn’t dead yet, he won’t last long"