Orin Vale saw the covered body sit up and wrapped both arms around the clinic cart's brake. The body pulled the other way, one bare foot striking the stones between the food stalls before the second found enough purchase to drag Orin and the cart toward the freight line.
Denna recognized the porter's green sleeves from the locomotive cab.
"That man carried my sister through her fever last winter."
She reached across Palla for the route brake. Palla caught her forearm while the funeral engine rolled past the first clinic branch.
"Brake now and the returns close behind us. The tank loses both pumps."
"Orin dies first. I know which body I can reach."
Denna drove her elbow into Palla's jaw and reached again. Jade trapped Denna's wrist against the control frame before the fight cost them the throttle.
"Show me a way down that keeps this engine moving."
