Full clench mode: activated.

Dr. James DouglasNext time someone asks "WWJD?" feel free to answer, "Dynamite train."

The young worker had a lot of options: running, screaming, hiding, taking cover, accepting the inevitable and making last-minute confessions, etc. Instead, he sprang into action, leaped onto that train, threw her into reverse, and sped away. No one can say for certain how far he intended to take this, but the consensus is that he was going do a parachute roll and run like hell at the last minute. What we do know is that his one goal was to get the train and its flaming cargo as far away from the town as possible.

He got about four miles before the train exploded, killing 13 people, including himself ... instead of the thousands who would have died had he been any less amazing. He could have jumped sooner, saved his own life, and heroically saved a chunk of the town, but hundreds or more would still have died. Without an engineer, he knew, the train might well have started sliding back to town. Nope, he rode that goddamn locomotive straight to Valhalla.

Popular MechanicsThey got the spirit of the thing, at least, and isn't that what counts most?

All that was ever found of him was a single boot, as if to signify: "This is the boot of Jesus Garcia -- he used it to kick the ass of reality itself."

When Marina and Adam aren't being research heroes, you can find them on Twitter.

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