CHAPTER 1 — The Eagle That Refused to Leave
Mark had driven through the Rocky Mountains more than eight hundred times.
Snowstorms.
Rockslides.
Lightning.
Even bears wandering onto the tracks.
Nothing had ever frightened him the way that eagle did.
The moment the train finally stopped, an unnatural silence settled over the mountains.
The giant bald eagle stopped pecking.
It simply remained on the cracked windshield, breathing heavily, its golden eyes fixed somewhere beyond the train—not at Mark.
Behind him, confused voices echoed through the passenger cars.
"Why did we stop?"
"Is something wrong with the engine?"
"Are we stuck?"
Dispatch crackled over the radio.
"Train 407, report your status."
Mark wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Large bird attack... windshield damaged... investigating now."
There was a long pause.
Then the dispatcher laughed nervously.
"A bird?"
"I know how it sounds."
Mark didn't laugh.
His hands were still shaking.
The eagle slowly turned its head.
Instead of looking at him...
It stared toward the mountain ahead.
Again.
And again.
Almost as if it desperately wanted him to notice something.
A strange feeling crawled down Mark's spine.
The bird wasn't acting like an animal defending territory.
It looked...
Terrified.
Mark carefully opened the cab door.
The freezing mountain wind rushed inside.
The eagle immediately jumped from the windshield.
Instead of flying away, it landed on the track only twenty meters ahead.
Then it looked back.
Waiting.
Mark frowned.
"What... are you trying to show me?"
The bird spread its enormous wings.
It screamed once.
Then hopped farther along the rails.
Again it stopped.
Again it looked back.
Passengers had begun pressing against the windows.
Many filmed everything with their phones.
Some laughed.
"It's leading him!"
"That's impossible."
"It's probably injured."
An elderly passenger suddenly whispered,
"No..."
"I've seen eagles behave like that only once."
His granddaughter looked at him.
"When?"
"When they're trying to protect something."
The words sent chills through Mark.
Ignoring dispatch's repeated calls, he grabbed a flashlight and started walking after the bird.
The eagle never flew far.
Every thirty meters it waited.
Watching him.
Making sure he kept following.
The higher he climbed along the track, the quieter the mountains became.
No birds.
No wind.
No sounds.
Only silence.
That silence frightened him more than the eagle ever had.
Then...
He noticed something strange.
Fresh stones lay scattered between the rails.
Tiny at first.
Then larger.
He knelt.
One rock was still warm.
His heartbeat accelerated.
Warm?
In freezing temperatures?
He looked toward the towering cliff above.
Tiny grains of dirt trickled down the mountainside.
More.
And more.
His face turned pale.
Rockslides always began like this.
He grabbed his radio.
"Dispatch!"
No signal.
The mountain blocked everything.
The eagle suddenly screamed again.
Louder than before.
It flew past him...
Straight toward the cliff.
Then disappeared behind a massive boulder.
Mark hurried after it.
As he rounded the curve...
His blood froze.
Half the mountain was moving.
Thousands of tons of rock had cracked loose.
Huge boulders leaned forward as if balanced by nothing.
One more vibration...
One more passing train...
And the entire mountainside would collapse directly onto the railway.
Mark stumbled backward.
"Oh my God..."
At that exact moment...
A single pebble rolled down.
Then another.
Then fifty.
The mountain had begun to break.
And the eagle was still screaming.
Not at him.
May you like
At the mountain itself.
As if begging it to stop.
