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I hit the door with my shoulder, hard, turning the knob at the same time, and it felt like I was exploding into the night.  Suddenly the air was fresh, and the lights were clean and white, and the sky was dark blue with stars.  Bridget hurried out after me and I started to run at the bridge, but she hissed “wait” and I turned around.  She was leaning, her ear against the door, her hand on the knob, holding it open just enough that it wouldn’t catch closed.  I could hear cursing inside, and then some heavy footfalls on the stairs, the sound of which changed when they reached the concrete floor.  I was about to try to get her to run when

she flung the door open.  He had obviously expected to hit it with his shoulder as I’d done, and run after us, but he flew like a cartoon character defying gravity, his right hand still reaching for the knob, his left shoulder still anticipating the impact.  When his feet had left the building, reaching for something solid, Bridget began to move in the same direction, letting go of the door.  His hip hit the edge of the platform and he tumbled onto the tracks head-first, falling against the rail and the gravel hard.

Bridget jumped down right as he was getting up and kicked his ribs twice.  His arms buckled and she straddled his back like she was on a horse.  Her right hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head up, and her left hand reached around under his neck and grabbed his collar.  She pushed his head down again and pulled the collar and I realized she was using his shirt to cut off his windpipe.  He first tried to push up against her weight, then flailed to try to grab one of her legs, but she’d wedged her knees into his armpits and he couldn’t reach around.  He ended up just thrashing.

I realized I’d been holding my breath, too, and I gasped in at the same time as Bridget let his collar go.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” I asked.  She shrugged and got up.  I helped her onto the platform and we ran back across the bridge, limping the staccato against the ties, then down the stairs and back to our cars.

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