The rail cutter's saw threw the first strip of iron into the street below.
The funeral engine struck the damaged section in three hundred feet.
Palla pulled the warning horn twice. The masked forewoman ahead answered by driving her saw deeper into the left rail.
Her voice came through a bridge speaker above the cab.
"Keeper Palla, stop the condemned engine before we remove both rails."
Jade pushed Palla aside from the speaking tube without taking the controls from her.
"This train carries a living patient who dies if we stop."
The forewoman looked past the cab toward the tank and the bodies fighting across the roofs.
"Your patient brought an execution outbreak onto a living freight line."
"We sounded your warning before we entered the city. Clear the bridge."
The forewoman raised one hand. Her cutters moved to the right rail.
Palla shoved Jade away from the tube and locked the engine throttle forward.
