I Escaped Egypt’s Deadliest Train Disaster: A Train Fire Survival Story by Peters Scott & Wyshynski Susan

Author:Peters, Scott & Wyshynski, Susan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Best Day Books For Young Readers
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

She nodded and reached her arms and shoulders outside. Like a gymnast, she pulled herself through the gap and was gone. A moment later, her face reappeared.

“Hand me the chickens, Sam!”

The first struggled in Sam’s grip. It was surprisingly light, a big ball of feathers and frightened squawking. Somehow, he got it up to her. She was gone a moment before appearing again.

The second chicken seemed resigned to her fate. She nestled against Sam a moment, all soft and warm, before he handed her up.

Below, the frenzy had grown to mammoth proportions. People had nowhere to go. He cupped his mouth and shouted into the din.

“Up here!” he called from the rack. “Climb up here! Through the hatch!”

No one paid him any mind.

“Sam,” Zahara shouted. “Come on!”

“Hold on.” He couldn’t just leave these people. He dropped onto a seat. Frantic, he grabbed a woman’s shoulder and pointed upward. She smacked his face and shrieked at him, shoving him to the floor.

He barely avoided being crushed. Righting himself, he tried again with a businessman carrying a briefcase. The businessman elbowed him in the jaw, barely registering Sam’s face. Sam staggered and nearly fell.

Above, Zahara was screaming. “Sam, Sam!”

The blow had him seeing stars. Before he got hit again, he clambered back up onto the luggage rack. Zahara stuck a hand through the hatch to help him. A moment later, he crawled outside. Together, they lay panting in the rushing air.

The train roof was a platform of rough, grimy metal. He lay on his belly, afraid that if he got up on all fours, he’d be ripped away by the insane wind. The hot, speeding air took his breath away, and the clatter was deafening.

His eyes stung in the fierce heat and smoke. Sparks flashed over him, spewing from the snake of burning cars. Here and there, flames shot from open windows—from the cars where he’d just been! If he’d stayed, he’d be a goner. But this one wasn’t safe either; the flames were rushing backward at an alarming rate. They’d reach this car soon.

He looked down and realized with stomach-churning fear that it was too high to leap off, even if the train was stopped. They’d never survive the jump at this speed.

Below, a rural cluster of mudbrick buildings raced past, glowing orange in the light of the flaming locomotive. A pair of skinny dogs ran barking next to the tracks.

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