Chapter 8
THE COLLAPSED BRIDGE
The blinding flash of lightning turned the night into daylight.
A deafening crack of thunder shook the entire valley floor.
Directly ahead of them, the main highway bridge groaned loudly.
Huge concrete pillars snapped like dry twigs under the flash flood.
The entire structure plunged violently into the swirling river below.
Bastian slammed on the ATV’s brakes with all his might.
The heavy tires skidded violently across the slick mud.
They stopped barely twenty yards from the jagged drop-off.
Water rushed furiously where the asphalt bridge used to be.
"Damn it!" Bastian cursed, slamming his fist on the steering wheel.
"The main access route to the airstrip is completely gone."
"We’re cut off."
Mira’s heart plummeted like a stone in her chest.
She looked down at Evan.
The little boy’s breathing had grown dangerously shallow.
His skin was ice cold, his lips tinged with a faint blue hue.
"We can't stop here, Mr. Calder," Mira insisted urgently.
"There has to be another way across the gorge."
"Think! What about the old logging railway bridge upstream?"
Bastian’s eyes widened as her words clicked in his mind.
"The suspension trestle," Bastian said, shaking his head.
"It was condemned twenty years ago, Mira."
"The wooden planks are rotted through."
"It won't hold the weight of an ATV."
"Then we go on foot!" Mira shouted over the howling wind.
"I’ll carry Evan! You clear the path!"
Bastian looked at the brave housemaid with absolute awe.
Without a single moment of hesitation, he nodded.
"Take my waterproof jacket, Mira," Bastian commanded.
He stripped off his heavy coat and wrapped it around Evan.
Then he hoisted his son carefully into Mira’s trembling arms.
"Follow me closely," Bastian instructed, drawing his hunting knife.
They abandoned the ATV on the muddy ridge.
They plunged into the thick, storm-drenched pine forest.
Rain hammered down on them like millions of tiny bullets.
Mud sucked at their boots with every agonizing step they took.
Mira held Evan tightly against her chest, whispering reassurances.
"Hold on, sweet boy. We’re almost there," she repeated over and over.
Evan didn't answer; his eyes were barely cracked open.
After twenty minutes of brutal hiking through the dense brush, they reached it.
The old iron railway trestle loomed out of the fog.
It hung precariously high above the roaring, churning river below.
Rusted steel girders groaned in the fierce mountain wind.
Many of the wooden ties were missing or splintered away.
It looked like a structure straight out of a nightmare.
"Stay right behind me," Bastian shouted over the storm.
He stepped onto the first rusted metal beam of the bridge.
His boots tested the structural integrity before shifting weight.
Mira stepped forward right behind him, carrying the precious cargo.
She looked down through the gaps in the railway ties.
The raging white water below rushed past with terrifying speed.
A single misstep meant certain death in the freezing rapids.
They were halfway across the span when the wind hit hardest.
A massive gust slammed into them like an invisible wall.
Bastian lost his footing for a terrifying second, slipping sideways.
"Dad!" Evan whimpered weakly from Mira’s arms.
Bastian caught himself on a rusted steel railing, panting hard.
"I’ve got it! Keep moving!" Bastian yelled back.
They pushed forward, ignoring the burning pain in their muscles.
Finally, the solid earth of the opposite bank appeared through the rain.
They scrambled up the muddy embankment, gasping for breath.
May you like
The private airfield’s perimeter fence loomed ahead of them.
[Cliffhanger: Through the chain-link fence, they see Rosalyn boarding her private jet, its engines whining loudly as it prepares for takeoff.]
