“It’s either that or dig through them,” Paul said.
Everyone’s face betrayed their reluctance to try to make their escape from the front side.
“Well, we won’t know till we try,” Walt said as he tried to squeeze through one of the small rectangles behind him.
He got his head and one shoulder through before he became lodged tight and had to withdraw. Nicole turned and looked to the front of the bus. The Dead had surrounded them on three sides, the heaviest concentration being from the long side perpendicular to the road. She went up to the windshield and looked out. It was largely clear, most of the dead had come down the road and hit them broadside, sweeping down the length of the bus to the back. The wreckage from the decimated cars had prevented the Dead much of an opportunity for attack from the driver side.
“I think this is our best bet, if we can break out this windshield,” she said. Nicole looked to Walt. “Sorry about your bus, Walt, but it means doing a little more damage.”
Walt climbed over to Nicole. He ejected his empty magazine and handed it to Nicole. Walt then turned and looked back at Jordan.
“Hey sweet girl, toss me a fresh one,” he said.
Jordan tossed Walt a full magazine. Walt caught it and jammed it home, then held the rifle at his hip. He squeezed the trigger and raked the barrel back and forth across the big windshield. The rounds pierced the glass, creating spider web cracks all across it. When the gun clicked empty, Walt turned and smiled.
“I was gonna quote Scarface, but I thought it might have been a bit cliché for the situation, you know what I’m saying,” he said.
Walt turned and with the butt of the gun began banging on the shattered windshield. Nicole shook her head and then climbed up and with her own rifle began to help Walt break the glass free. In a few minutes they had cleared away the last of the glass. Nicole turned to the others.
“It’s quiet, but we should check it out before we all go out there. Walt, Sam, you game for a little reconnaissance?” She asked.
“The final frontier, man. Let’s go,” Walt said.
He held up his hand and Jordan tossed him another magazine. She and Ruby loaded up two more and handed them to Nicole and Sam. The three hauled themselves through the windshield and disappeared. The others waited inside, listening for any telltale signs. In a minute there were two gunshots. These were followed every couple of seconds by more two round bursts. After several minutes, Walt popped his head back inside, a big smile on his face.
“Hey shipmates. Leave has been approved. All ashore that’s going ashore.”
Ruby sat alone in the bus. She had watched the others all climb out through the empty windshield and when it came to be her turn, she told them flat out that she was past her days of such gymnastics, and the time she would be hauled around like a sack of potatoes had never come. Nicole, Paul, Walt, Sam, Billy, and Jordan stood in front of the bus by the side of the road and tried to figure out what to do.
“The only other vehicle that is in any shape to drive and that we know for a fact actually runs, is Walt’s bus,” Paul said.
All eyes turned to the bus. The evidence of their battle was piled to the roof and extended some feet away from it down the highway. As the Dead had assailed them and were dispatched by gunfire, they dropped where they fell. Those still coming had simply climbed their remains like a ramp. The Dead that weren’t trampled, were clawed and shoved away by the newcomers until their ruined bodies were stretched three and four deep fifteen yards down the highway.
“Well, Momma ain’t coming out of that bus any, ‘less it’s out the door, man, sooo…” Walt’s words trailed off.
“So, that means we have to clear… them away from the bus. Even if Ruby would come out through the windshield, we would be on foot. There’s no telling what we are going to find down the road, but anyway you look at it, on foot is no way to be,” Sam said.
Nicole nodded and the others indicated their agreement.
“That means clearing away the Dead and getting that bus back on its wheels. Another thing about the bus, it’s big. We can push debris out of our way,” Nicole said.
Walt snorted. “Yeah, man. It’s not like we have to worry about scratching the paint, do we?”
Everyone chuckled. Nicole looked at Walt.
“Again, Walt. Sorry about your bus,” she said.
Walt smiled back at her. “Ah, it’s like the Dude said, You can’t be worried about that shit, man. Life goes on, you know?” he said.
Nicole smirked. “I suggest we try to find some plastic or blankets or anything we can use to cover our hands,” she said.
Jordan looked at Nicole apprehensively. “You think we could get infected?” she asked.
Nicole smiled at her. “No, honey. I don’t think it works that way. I was just thinking of how nasty it is going to be pulling those things away from the bus. The thought of touching them really freaks me out,” Nicole said.
She gave Jordan a big smile and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. Jordan smiled.
“Yeah, me too. I’ll help you look,” she said.
Nicole nodded. Walt walked back to the front of the bus.
“I’ll tell Miss Ruby what the plan is,” he said.
Nicole and Jordan set off after Paul, Sam, and Billy, down the highway.
“I’ll tell you what, Jordan. We’ll make it a game. Girls against the guys,” she said.
Jordan puffed up at this thought. She turned and shouted at Billy, her father, and Sam who had moved down the road and were looking in cars and on the sides of the road.
“It’s girls against the guys and I bet we win!” Jordan shouted.
Sam, Paul, and Billy looked over at Jordan, confused. As Jordan and Nicole started searching for anything to make moving the Dead easier, Nicole turned to Jordan.
“You know there are four of them and only two of us. The odds are slightly in their favor,” she said.
Jordan smiled up at Nicole. “Doesn’t matter. They don’t want to lose to a couple of girls, so now they are going to work twice as hard which means we can take it twice as easy,” she said.
Nicole beamed down at Jordan. She slid her finger down her nose and pointed at Jordan.
“You, Jordan, are a smart girl,” she said.
Both shared a laugh as they began searching the debris field of mangled machinery.
Forty-Two
Sweat dripped from Paul’s face. His jaw hung slack and he stared at a point on the ground about six feet in front of him. His arms were extended behind him and he bent at the waist. His breathing was labored, coming in almost desperate gasps as he trudged forward. Clutched in his hands was the corner of a blue nylon tarp. Beside him, Walt, in a similar position and breathing only slightly less heavy, clutched the other corner. They had not found much to make pleasant the arduous task of clearing away hundreds of rotting corpses.
Behind Walt and Paul, Sam and Nicole heaved another of the Dead onto their own tarp. Just off the side of the road, Jordan and Billy struggled to pull their blanket out from under two rotting messes of their own. They tromped up from the ditch and back onto the road, just as Paul and Walt approached. Nobody said anything as they went through the motions of loading and unloading. Two by two they moved from the bus, to the ditches by the sides of the highway.
As Paul and Walt approached, they waited for Sam and Nicole to finish loading a body into their tarp. Billy and Jordan stood waiting too, not speaking, lost in their own thoughts of being anywhere but there. A bead of sweat dripped from Paul’s brow and he wiped his arm across his forehead. The sweat was replaced by a dark swath.
From inside the bus, Ruby waited patiently. Unable to assist in any physical way, she helped in the only way she knew how. The words to an old hymn sounded from inside the bus as Ruby sang.
“This is my story, This is my song. Praising my Savior, All the day long…”
As Nicole and Sam approached, Nicole took a look at Paul. Seeing the dark swath across his
head, she lowered her corner of the tarp and pulled out a rag from her back pocket. She handed it to Paul, motioning across her own head. Walt caught his breath as Paul wiped the filth and offal away. Paul finished and went to hand the rag back to Nicole. Nicole smiled.
“Keep it,” she said.
Paul snorted, “Yeah, right,” he said.
Walt closed his eyes and smiled up at the sky as Ruby sang. “She sure does have a pretty voice,” he said.
Paul looked around. “Yeah, but do you think she should be singing quite so loud? What if more of the Dead hear her?” He asked.
Nicole adjusted her rifle on her back.
“I think we’ll be okay. If there were anymore Dead around here, they would have come when they heard us shooting these down,” she said.
Walt looked to the ditch by the side of the road. “Besides, it seems appropriate somehow, her singing hymns like that. What we’re dumping in the gullies used to be people, you know? People who will never get a proper burial, man. Never get any righteous words read over them. They didn’t choose this anymore than we did,” he said.
All eyes turned to Walt and a solemn acknowledgment was exchanged between them. They rested a moment more, listening to Ruby sing, before resuming their gruesome work.
☣
Three hours later, the bulk of the Dead had been cleared away from the bus. Ruby had stopped singing and was resting quietly inside and trying to breath through her mouth. In place of her singing, a metal grinding noise began to emanate from the bus.
Nicole, Sam, Walt, and Paul stood back and watched it. Billy and Jordan approached from the gully. They both hung their heads and dragged their blanket behind them. Fatigue overwhelmed them and they moved towards the bus on auto-pilot, not sensing that the others had stopped and were staring at the bus. Paul reached out for his daughter and stopped her. Billy kept walking, but when the blanket went taut, he stopped and turned to look at Jordan. When he saw Paul with his hands on her shoulders he stopped too. Now more aware, he turned to look at what had caught the other’s attention.
“I think she’s gonna drop!” Nicole shouted.
Walt trotted over to the front of the bus and called to Ruby.
“Hey momma! You better hold on to something, I think—” Walt’s words were cut short as the bus’s creaking reached a crescendo.
Though in no real danger, Walt jumped back just as the bus righted itself from its shallow incline. From inside, Ruby let out a squeal as the bus’s passenger side wheels struck the ground. The bus bounced and rocked back and forth for several seconds, as inside Ruby hooted and hollered. Everyone watched in anxious anticipation as the bus settled itself and once again sat motionless across the road. Walt ran to the sliding doors as the others rushed over. He pushed against the doors.
“Open the doors, momma!” Walt called.
There was no answer from inside.
“Ruby, are you okay?!” Nicole called.
There was still no answer from Ruby and everyone looked at each other concerned. Walt started to climb the front of the bus and was reaching for the windshield, when the sliding door opened. Walt hopped down and bounded up the steps and inside, followed by everyone else. They all looked at Ruby, expecting the worst. What they saw was Ruby slouched back in one of the seats, gasping.
“Momma!” Walt shouted as Ruby found her breath and let out another belly roll of a laugh.
“It’s a wild ride you got here, Hippy! More fun than my harvester by a long shot!” Ruby said as another wave of laughter hit her.
Ruby’s joy was contagious as, standing in a bullet riddled bus that was fairly slathered in the remains of the Dead, everyone began to laugh along with her.
Forty-Three
With the bus back in driving condition, Nicole had brought the GTO around and pointed it down the highway. No one wanted to ride in Walt’s bus, not even Ruby. If they squeezed in tight, they all fit in the GTO, and the pros and cons of this had been discussed. They had all piled in, with Walt being the last. With the doors shut, they were squeezed in tighter than sardines. Walt had voiced his opinion that sure the bus stank a little but, it was still in good condition mechanically wise. At the end of his persuasion, the others had cast furtive looks at the bullet ridden bus and could not get past the remains, that though cleaned up immensely, still made their presence known, chiefly by the pervasive smell of decay. Walt caved, and they had all piled into the GTO. Seven bodies, even in a full size car like the GTO, made for a very uncomfortable ride. Not to mention, if they ran into trouble there was no room to maneuver, let alone use their guns. When it was further pointed out that there were a lot of much needed supplies in the bus that would not fit in the trunk, all eyes turned to Walt, jammed into the back seat next to Paul. Walt sighed.
“Let me out, momma. Someone’s got to drive my bus, and that someone ought to be me, man,” Walt said.
Ruby opened her door and heaved herself out. She stood by the hood as Walt squeezed out from the back seat.
Walt’s absence made all the difference. Paul, Billy and Jordan made themselves comfortable in the back seat. With his absence, there was just enough room for the others to sit comfortably and still manage a defense should the need arise.
Walt walked back to the bus with a decidedly downcast appearance. Ruby stood by the car and watched Walt go.
“You ready, Ruby?” Nicole asked as Ruby made no move to get back in.
Ruby did not answer as she stared back down the Road. As Walt neared the bus, Ruby started after him, her steps only as fast as her arthritic hips could carry her.
“Hippy! Come help an old woman, now!” Ruby called.
Walt turned and when he saw Ruby, he ran back to her. From inside the car, the others turned and watched Walt put his right hand on Ruby’s shoulder and with the other hand gently grab her hand. Ruby looked up at Walt and said something the others couldn’t hear. They watched as Walt smiled and carefully led her back to the bus.
The show over, Paul, Jordan, and Billy faced front. Sam continued to stare out the back window, watching as Walt helped Ruby up inside the bus.
“Get the door, Sam,” Nicole said.
Sam looked over at Nicole.
“What? Yeah, sure,” he said.
Nicole started the GTO as the passenger side door slammed shut. She smiled to herself as she dropped it into drive and steered her car through the endless maze of wreckage.
On the short stretches where they could get their vehicles up to speed, it wasn’t so bad. But more often than not, Nicole and Walt had to slow down to a crawl to negotiate the flotsam and jetsam of wreckage that was all pointed away from the direction they were headed. It was during these times, when the wind did not blow through open windows, that Nicole and the others in the GTO realized it was not just the bus that reeked of the Dead.
“Hey Sam, call back to Walt. Tell him we need to find a place to clean up, maybe find a better vehicle than his bus if we can,” Nicole said, as she steered the GTO around a bombed out station wagon.
Sam picked up the radio from the seat and relayed the message back to Walt.
“Roger that, man,” Walt called back.
☣
Two hours later, They rolled past the Green Tree city limits sign. Nicole picked up the radio.
“Hey, Walt. Looks like there is a town up ahead. I think we should stop,” she said.
“Sounds good to me, man. I don’t think it’s just this bus that is stinking, man. I think some of that foulness might be coming off me, too. It’ll be good to wash up if we can, you know,” Walt said.
Nicole chuckled and looked at the others in the back seat. They all shared a smile at Walt’s conclusion.
As Nicole and Walt steered towards the city square of Green Tree, Colorado, the scene that met them was not one of wreckage but of abandonment. Nicole circled the square and parked, hood out, in front of the Green Tree motel. Walt pulled up, opened the sliding door and looked at Nicole. Ruby was in the seat just behin
d him. She had a handkerchief in one hand and kept it close to her face.
“What are you thinking, man?” Walt asked Nicole.
Nicole got out and looked around the abandoned square. There were not any cars, or signs that anybody had been there in a long time. She mounted the first step of the bus and poked her head in.
“I’m thinking we see if that hotel still has running water, as in a shower and maybe a couple of laundry machines. It’s getting late, so if it seems safe, maybe we even stop for the night. Park the bus close for now, pointed out, and we’ll take a look around, make sure there aren’t any surprises,” Nicole said.
Walt nodded as Nicole looked at Ruby.
“Miss Ruby, you gonna be okay?” she asked.
Ruby smiled over her obvious nausea.
“Right as rain, darling, though a hot bath and some clothes washin’ does sound pretty good about now,” Ruby said.
Nicole smiled then exited the bus. The others got out of the GTO as Walt parked the bus.
They searched the motel without incident. It was agreed that Ruby should stay in one of the front rooms by the street and lock the door while the others reconnoitered the buildings around the square.
An hour later they got back to the motel without encountering any signs of the Dead.
“Hey, listen… I know we didn’t see any signs of… trouble, but do you think we all should really just pick a room and take a shower? I mean, I know we want to get cleaned up but… I mean I’ll take first watch, I just think we ought to all stay together,” Billy said. His words were faltering and betrayed his latent fear.
“No, that’s a good idea,” Paul agreed.
“I think that’s a really smart idea. I don’t care if those things are three towns away, that’s still too close for me,” Jordan said.
Nicole shifted her rifle on her shoulder. “I like it. What do you say, gentlemen? Ladies first?”
Walt, Sam, Paul, and Billy all nodded, none willing to let their eagerness for a possible hot shower trump their gentlemanly gesture. Nicole put her arm around Jordan and the two headed towards the motel.
Human Extinction Level Loss (Book 1): Nicole's Odyssey Page 21
