Authors: Bobby Akart
Because the lights were off in the Cross Country Café, Dom had clear visibility through the tall Georgia pines of the approaching truck headlights approaching the train. They were growing larger as their illumination focused on the lounge car in front of him—the car carrying his Melissa.
Chapter 5
September 3, 2016
9:13 p.m.
Cisco, Georgia
Kayla Gold lived in a mobile home on Brush Town Road in the small, close-knit community of Cisco, Georgia. This is the kind of town where everyone knows everyone’s business. In a rural community, the sound of trains and highway traffic are commonplace. An explosion is not. She remembered when a methamphetamine lab exploded over on Halls Chapel road. That was a mile away and it nearly shook her trailer off its blocks.
This was different. Just a few minutes before, she was watching television when the power went off after she heard an explosion in the distance. The sound resembled the meth house destruction.
However, a minute later, a second massive blast shook her trailer violently. She immediately looked out of her windows and saw the ball of fire in the sky near the highway. The next — and last—thing she saw was a locomotive sliding on its side along the railroad embankment towards her.
***
Experts say chlorine gas is arguably the most essential chemical in use. It’s produced in large volumes because it is easily combined with other elements and synthesized into plastics, drugs, microchips and other products.
However, chlorine gas is particularly insidious. Small exposures can trigger coughing, choking and burning eyes. Inhaling large amounts constricts the airways by inflaming the lining of the throat and airways. During the ingestion of the gas, fluid accumulates in the lungs, making it doubly hard to breathe. People drown in their own body fluids. At even higher exposures, a few deep breaths can be instantly lethal.
Myrna Navarro, who lived across the way from Kayla Gold, watched the derailed locomotive destroy Kayla’s trailer as it careened down the embankment. She immediately crossed herself in a silent prayer for Kayla and to thank God for sparing the Navarro family from the catastrophe.
In the darkness, Myrna couldn’t see the giant, greenish-yellow cloud of chlorine gas which filled the air. At first she began to gasp for air.
I can’t breathe. I’m being strangled
. Her children came on the front porch to see what happened. She desperately motioned to them to go back inside.
Run. Run. Cover your faces!
Death came too soon for Myrna Navarro and her family. It was just beginning.
Table of Contents
About The Loyal Nine and the Boston Brahmin Series