5: Aftermath
After leaving the woman applying pressure to the old lady's head wound, Debbie ventured further down the corridor, holding tightly to the walls to avoid tripping over unknown obstacles in the dark. She could hear a woman crying from further down the carriage, and there was someone groaning in pain. She shone her torch into the next compartment, which seemed to be empty, then took a few unsteady steps and looked into the next one along. There was a man, lying still against the far wall, with one of his trouser legs crazily pulled up, showing his hairy calf and a long brown sock.
"Sir?" Debbie said, pushing aside the compartment door to check if he was okay. He didn't respond, so Debbie shuffled over to him, taking hold of his wrist to look for a pulse. She couldn't feel one and felt a rush of fear. They'd learnt about CPR in first aid training, but it was still a new idea and she wasn't sure if it really worked. She knew she had to move him into a better position for chest compressions, though, but as she tried to shift him, she felt a rush of liquid coming from his side. When she shone her torch down, there was a lump of wood the length of her arm sticking into his chest, under his ribcage, and his white shirt was stained red. Debbie gently let go of his wrist and let his arm rest on his side, stepping back as she felt sobs coming. He looked like he was asleep, his moustache neatly trimmed, and Debbie wondered how old he was. He didn't have grey hair or anything, and as she turned to leave the compartment, she had to fight back the urge to just sit and cry. This was tough, but Cherubs are tougher.
She was shaking uncontrollably as she moved down the corridor again, wiping her tears on her thickly padded sleeve. Realising her hands were soaked in blood, she did her best to wipe them off as she passed another empty compartment, then came to the one with the crying woman, who was huddled on the floor in the corner, her arm wrapped tightly around a young boy who was as white as a sheet, his terrified eyes reflecting Debbie's torchlight.
"Ma'am?" Debbie asked through the broken glass of the compartment door, which was wedged shut. "Can you hear me?"
The woman nodded, but as she moved slightly, Debbie could see her ankle lying at an angle that made it clear it was broken.
"Just stay where you are, the police are on their way," Debbie reassured her. "They'll get you out."
The woman tried to nod again, but broke into a fresh set of tears, squeezing her son even more tightly.
"I'll make sure they come and get you straight away," Debbie promised. "I need to go and see who else is injured, though, sorry."
As she moved along, Debbie felt a wave of nausea and almost threw up, but she choked it back and took more deep breaths, willing herself to keep going. There might be more people who needed her.
She was just about to keep moving when she heard the hinges of the door she'd come in through squealing and someone stuck their head into the carriage.
"Debbie, is that you?" a voice asked, and when Debbie shone her torch back in that direction, she saw that it was the head of Instructor Bivott.
"Yes," she shouted back, trying to sound strong.
"There's an ambulance that has just arrived and we're clearing a path for it. Can anyone be evacuated?" Bivott asked, trying to wiggle through the gap but finding that it was too narrow.
"There's an old woman, a-and, um, a lady hereā¦" Debbie said, fighting back tears. "I haven't got to everyone yet."
"The fire from the engine is spreading, so anyone who can be evacuated should try and escape," Bivott said. "Takada is dragging people out of the first carriage but it's a slow process."
"I'll see what I can do," Debbie said, making her hands into fists to try and get a grip on herself. "Some people can't walk, though."
"We've got some stretchers from the ambulance," Bivott told her. "Let me get a few more people together and we'll help."
It took more than two hours for the team of Cherubs to dig a path through the snow to allow an ambulance through, which took away the most serious patients. The passengers at the back of Debbie's carriage were mostly just shaken with cuts and bruises, so they were able to climb out of a window when a team of Cherub boys arrived to help pull them through. A fireman came through the window the other way and used his axe to cut free the woman and the boy, then gave her a fireman's lift to the window to evacuate her. Paramedics were waiting outside on the tracks to help her and the elderly woman, who had come round but was very confused.
With the carriage empty, Debbie left to join the digging effort, which was now trying to shore up the patches where an ambulance had got stuck and widen the track to allow a fire engine through. Even with the engine burning, the temperature had dropped well below freezing and some of the boys had been sent back to campus to warm up and avoid getting hypothermia. Debbie, in her cold weather clothes, was holding up okay, and after a few mouthfuls of hot soup handed out by an ambulance crew, she got back to digging. The fire had spread right through the first carriage, but Takada and Bivott together had managed to evacuate everyone and were leading the digging team, both of them wearing blackened clothes, faces and arms covered in gashes and cuts, but they refused any attention from the medical crews.
As midnight came and went, the firemen had got their fire engine through and were using the headlights to illuminate the scene. They'd extinguished the burning engine and cut a way into all the carriages which had derailed, allowing the final injured passengers to be taken away. Debbie tried not to look at the procession of walking wounded who passed her up the cleared path, arms around ambulance crews or policemen, with many more on stretchers. Finally, when the last of the well passengers had been evacuated to the safety of the nearest village hall, Takada started rounding up Cherubs.
"Back to campus," he said, grabbing Debbie's shoulder to make sure she'd heard him over the wailing sirens. "There are hot drinks. Follow the path."
She nodded to show she'd understood, numbly noticing the raw, inflamed burns on Takada's arms. She'd long since lost track of Elaine or any of her other friends, so she trudged home across the snow on her own, her torchlight fading as the batteries were running flat. She shivered occasionally when the wind blew straight through her protective clothes, but the snow on the path had been trodden hard by hundreds of people coming and going and it was easy to follow. The training exercise seemed like a million years ago when she walked through the main gate of campus, where all the lights were still on and everything seemed to be in uproar.
"Hot drinks in the gym," someone shouted at her from the darkness, but she couldn't see who. As she stumbled the last short stretch to the gym, she was relieved to recognise Elaine standing just inside the door.
"Elaine!" she shouted, her legs feeling like lead. Elaine looked up at her and gave her a weak smile, and Debbie noticed blood spattered all over Elaine's coat. Her hands, too, looked painful and swollen.
"What-" Debbie started to say, bursting into tears again, but Boo hurried over and put an arm around her.
"Come with me, girls," she said in a soothing voice, smelling strongly of perfume. "Let's get you a warm drink."
Three Days Later
"The sooner they get rid of those awful huts, the better," Debbie complained, vigorously shaking a bottle of milk and hearing chunks of ice chinking against the glass. "Who's to say we don't have more winters like this?"
Elaine laughed. "Just think of the Cherubs living here in fifty years: they'll be sleeping in heated rooms with a choice of seven breakfast options and someone to make their beds for them."
Debbie snorted. "They'll probably still be in the huts, more like. When was the last time CHERUB had any money to spend on improvements?" She poured the milk as best she could onto Elaine's porridge. Elaine had got burns on both of her hands and they were swathed in bandages, so Debbie had been helping her out with day to day tasks, although she'd drawn the line at helping her wipe her arse. Elaine reckoned she could manage herself, anyway.
"Thanks," Elaine said, stirring the porridge round with a spoon wedged in a gap in her bandages.
"Girls," Jennifer said, walking over with a look on her face like she'd just caught a whiff of a dog turd, Sally backing her up, their black t-shirts stretched on top of jumpers. "I noticed a few minor issues with the cleanliness of the hut this morning, but don't worry, I've let Madame Bechard know," she grinned, her face twisted.
"Bitch," Debbie muttered as Jennifer walked away. "That'll mean extra cleaning duty again."
"She can't have much longer left at CHERUB," Elaine said, trying to be positive. "In a year or so, she'll be out of our lives forever."
"Can't come soon enough," Debbie added, spooning porridge into her mouth as quickly as she could. "Ever since June beat her up in the exercise she's been so nasty to us."
The girls were just chasing the last few spoonfuls of porridge around their bowls when Chairwoman McAfferty hurried over to their table, wearing a thick knitted jumper in tartan colours.
"How are your hands, Elaine?" she asked, crouching down so she'd be at the same height as the girls.
"Healing," Elaine said, brightly. "The doctor says they're doing well and should be back to normal in a week or so."
McAfferty smiled secretively. "So you'd be okay to go on a mission?"
Elaine's face lit up. "Definitely," she said confidently.
"Oh no," Debbie said, looking devastated. "How am I gonna survive here if you're away on a mission?"
The chairwoman looked at Debbie for a second. "There's room for one more on the mission, and I suppose-"
"Yes!" Debbie said, taking her chance. "Count me in."
McAfferty laughed. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. The first meeting's at ten in the admin building." She paused for a second, looking around to see who else could overhear them. Because of Elaine's injuries, she was slower than usual at getting ready in the morning, so they were almost the last Cherubs in the dining room.
"Debbie, dear, I've made an appointment for you to go and see a doctor off-campus," she said, gently resting her hand on Debbie's wrist. "I think it will help."
Debbie frowned. She could feel her pulse quickening just at the thought of it. She'd been having nightmares about the dead man, mostly where she desperately tried to wake him but couldn't as flames crept closer and closer.
"There's nothing wrong with me, Ma'am," Debbie protested. "I don't need to see a doctor."
McAfferty smiled sympathetically. "I know how you feel, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, but it was a very traumatic experience and speaking to a professional will help, I promise."
"Anyway," Debbie went on, "I won't be able to say anything because we're not allowed to reveal the existence of CHERUB."
The chairwoman nodded. "Well, that's normally true, but this doctor routinely works with the security services. I'm just waiting for approval from the government to tell him about CHERUB before your appointment. In truth, I want to get a trained psychiatrist to work full-time on campus."
Elaine looked at Debbie. "I think you should go," she said. "I'll go with you, if you want."
McAfferty looked at Elaine for a second. "Of course, that's a great idea," she said enthusiastically.
Debbie sighed. "Okay, I suppose," she mumbled, looking down at her bowl.
"Thank you," McAfferty said, patting Debbie's arm. "There's going to be a short service at the chapel on Sunday, too, if you feel able to attend."
"Okay," Elaine giggled, waving her bandaged hands around. "So long as I don't have to hold a heavy hymn book."
As the chairwoman walked away, Debbie glanced at Elaine with a slight smile.
"Do you reckon this doctor is in London?" she asked, in a low voice. "We might be able to play the sympathy card and get the rest of the day to go shopping."
Elaine lit up. "There's that new Elvis single I haven't got yet."
Debbie rolled her eyes. "You and your Elvis," she tutted. "I want to get that new song by Cliff Richard."
"That one's always on the radio," Elaine complained. "I never get a chance to put Elvis on in the rec room."
"That's because nobody wants to listen to it," Debbie shrugged.
"How can you not like Elvis? Have you seen him?" Elaine said, shocked.
"If Elvis came to campus, you know I'd be running after him and screaming with every other girl here," Debbie told her, grinning. "But until that happens, you can keep your Elvis records to yourself."
