Chapter 10 #2
Les joined her in shepherding the group onto his bus.
It had been a fairly comfortable ride before, with plenty of room but now the bus was full of people and possessions they’d gathered at various stops along the way.
Everyone was quiet as Les closed the door and pulled out.
The drone had vanished so he kept going in the original direction and about five minutes later the ride smoothed out and the tires hummed on regular pavement.
Devora went through the bus, checking for injuries and reported back to him. “Nothing serious. A few singed pieces of clothing and maybe a couple of first degree burns but we were really lucky.”
“We deserve some luck,” he said in relief. “Can the burns wait till we get to Glastine?”
“I think so,” she said. “I don’t think anyone wants to stop now.”
“Man, what happened?” Les asked Ethan, who was sitting in the stairwell.
“I guess our patch on the hydraulic lines came off. That plus the wear and tear going over the foothills was too much for the old girl. I didn’t get any warning—she stalled out and next thing I know there’s fire everywhere under the bus.
” Ethan’s voice was a bit shaky but otherwise he was in control. “Lucky we got this far, I guess.”
The miles rolled by smoothly but the back of Les’s neck was tingling again and he kept a sharp eye on the vids. “Two miles to Glastine,” he announced to cheers from the passengers as the bus passed the marker.
“Boss, what’s that ahead?” Ethan asked, pointing a finger at the forward vidscreen.
Les stared at the center of the screen and his stomach tied itself in knot. “A swarm of infected.”
“What—what are we going to do?” Devora asked.
“Nowhere else to go but through,” he said, pushing the acceleration controls.
“We could turn around, go back and wait them out maybe,” Ethan offered.
“I’m sure they aren’t going anywhere.” Les voiced his biggest objection.
“The swarm must be constantly trying to break into the camp. Can’t be many other groups of uninfected left anywhere on the planet by now.
Besides, we have injured and we’re low on rations.
And the situation hasn’t changed as regards Ruger or Millerville.
” He eyed his passengers in the internal vidscreen.
They looked terrified, grim, determined…
all the emotions he was feeling right now.
“Hang on tight, folks. I want my people with weapons in the window seats in case any of the infected manage to break in.”
There was shuffling as people moved to obey.
Les pushed the bus to even greater speeds. The crowd of infected ahead was massive, lurching toward him, covering both sides of the freeway. “Hang on!” he yelled.
The bus hit the frontline of the shambling, moaning creatures like a battering ram, scattering bits and pieces across the highway.
Despite his best efforts, the bus slowed as it got further into the crowd.
Despite the powerful engine, it was like fighting the power of the ocean.
The infected had no instinct to do anything but attack and infect more people so the carnage Les was creating with the bus had no effect on the other infected, who pressed close and grabbed at the bus.
He was at a walking speed now, unable to go any faster as the heart of the infected swarm made a wall of resistance.
The tires were having trouble gaining traction on the roadway as a carpet of the infected he’d struck covered the surface and jammed the wheel wells.
Clawed hands tore at the bus as it inched forward, battering, grasping, clawing…
the noise was unearthly and constant. Infected swarmed over the hood of the bus and pounded their heads against his front windshield.
He heard footsteps on the roof as others climbed on top.
“The window’s going to break,” a woman screamed from the back.
“They’re prying the back door open,” yelled a man. In the internal vid Les saw the refugees hacking at the probing fingers with knives and burning the edges of the door with low intensity blaster fire. The rear exit wasn’t going to keep the enemy out much longer.
Les took out his gun and checked the ammo. Modern guns carried a significant number of projectiles. He had more than enough to take care of Devora, Jenny and himself. Once the infected got into the bus there was no hope.
“Hide her eyes,” he said to Devora as he prepared to deal with the last moments of this trip. She bit her lip and nodded, holding Jenny close, face pressed to her side.
“Do what you have to do,” she whispered. “I love you.”
Sirens pierced the air, causing him to hesitate.
Many of the infected whipped around and ran in the direction of the new noise.
Les took advantage of the distraction to coax more acceleration from the engine and tried to steer a violent zigzag course in hopes of throwing off the infected clinging to the bus frame and roof.
There was the sound of blaster fire and the infected in front of him disappeared as if melted.
The paint on the bus exterior caught fire but Les wasn’t worried about that right now.
Whoever was coming to their rescue was slicing a path open for them through the swarm, using a combination of blasters and gunfire.
His com crackled into life. “Attention, bus driver, you’re one eighth of a mile away from our force field holding pen. Drive inside and park and my men will clean off the remaining infected. Stay in the bus until given orders to exit.”
“Happy to obey, sir,” he said, getting more speed from the engine and ignoring all the glaring red gauges and indicators. His bus was on its last legs for sure.
The last stubborn infected trying to batter its way through the windshield convulsed and fell off as a shot went through its skull from the side, where an armored vehicle was now pacing the bus, picking off individual infected.
Les saw the glow of a force field ahead and drove the bus into the containment area, braking hard once he realized how small the space was.
The bus skidded to a stop with a screeching of the brakes.
Several voices clamored to be let off the bus.
“The man said to wait, so we’re waiting,” he said, rising to block the aisle.. “There are still active infected out there.”
Now the vidscreens showed soldiers in battle armor walking around the bus killing the infected who’d come inside the enclosure clinging to the vehicle.
One infected fell or jumped off the roof onto a soldier, who immediately stabbed it in the eye with a knife and threw the carcass aside, crisping it with a shot from his blaster.
The soldier gave a thumbs up to his companions and walked on to find his next quarry.
The air inside the bus grew hot and fetid from the smell of the scorched paint and the burning of infected. Someone threw up noisily in the rear of the bus.
“Driver, you can open your door safely now,” said the crisp voice on the com. “Exit one at a time and walk straight to the processing area ahead. Comply with any instruction or order you may be given. My men have orders to shoot first and ask questions later if anyone deviates from my orders.”
“Acknowledged,” Les said. He looked at Devora. “We’ll go last, together.”
“Absolutely.”
“All right, you heard the man on the com just now. I’m going to open the door but don’t rush the exit and don’t try leaving through one of the emergency exits.
My guess is these guys are hyper alert and also don’t give a damn.
Life is cheap nowadays. They’ll shoot you as easily as they shot the infected. Understand?”
Les waited until he saw heads nodding and then he opened the bus door.
The wave of cooler air which swept in was refreshing.
He sat, reaching to hold Devora’s hand as all his passengers left the bus, carrying their few possessions.
Many thanked him but others merely rushed down the steps, anxious to be somewhere safer.
Finally he and Devora rose and she gathered Jenny’s things into the backpack while Les held the child.
He went first, Devora and Jenny right behind, to find himself standing in between a line of grim-faced soldiers with weapons ready. “I’m the driver,” he said. “This is my wife and child. There’s no one else on the bus.”
“Walk forward to the processing area, sir,” said the nearest soldier, gesturing with his weapon.
They had to go single file and although the officer allowed Devora to continue holding Jenny. There was a lengthy, thorough eye scan with handheld sensors, after which the men around them relaxed significantly.
“No sign of infection in you or your family, sir,” said the tech. “Proceed to the next room.”
In the next room their names and place of origin were recorded.
Les felt a little funny giving Rosewater as his home but it was where the current trip had started after all.
The clerk handed them each a small green card with a code on it.
“This is your camp ID,” he said. “You’ll need it to get food or any other services so don’t lose it.
The code is cross referenced to your arrival date, health clearance and place of origin.
Once you have your work assignments, the information will also be in the database, as far as other entitlements. ”
“Whoops, I’d better hold onto Jenny’s for her then,” Devora said, taking the card from the child’s hand.
“You can move on to the next station.”
A bored medtech in white waited for them, seating at a table, with gleaming containers of ruby blood in a huge rack beside her elbow. “Blood sample,” she said, holding up her med device. “I’ll need to scan your cards first..”
“Why take a sample? You already scanned us and we’re not infected,” Les said even as he was rolling up his sleeve.
“Standard procedure here,” she said. “Give us a sample or don’t get inside the camp, simple as that. We take your card and put you out the front gate. I don’t make the rules.”