The impact broke one of the headlights, and Jade grabbed a hold of the seats as she moved quickly forward through the lurching bus to get Mace back under control.
“Please, baby, we have to keep it together.”
Mace kept driving, looking forward, remaining silent.
“Mace! I’m talking to you! Mace!”
She began weeping as he ignored her, and she could see the fierce look of hatred and hurt on his face. He slammed his fist into the dash panel and she jumped back, startled. He started talking to himself. “Jason. Not Jason. Anybody but Jason!” He looked up at Jade and screamed at her, “What the fuck does he want from me? I just shot that kid in the face! I loved that kid!” He punched the dashboard again and hit the gas, sideswiping a parked car and nearly tipping the bus over.
Jade slumped down onto the floor next to the driver seat, holding onto the railing behind the seat; feeling thoroughly used up and drained. Jason’s death had taken any reserve strength she had, and she looked up at him and pleaded with him once more. “I can’t do this without you. I need you.” She looked around at the shocked members of their entourage, who were staring with fright at her and Mace as they held on tight to their seats. “We all do.”
Mace didn’t look at her, but started slowing down the bus. The infected had fallen far behind and were almost out of view. He drove a few more blocks through demolished neighborhoods before making a right hand turn and stopping the bus. He got out of the driver’s seat, leaned down and helped Jade up, then addressed the crowd on the bus, directly, seriously, and bitterly. “We are all most likely going to die. The sooner you come to terms with that the better.”
As he looked at them, he could feel himself starting to come together from the state he was in.
“I don’t know what you expected out of me, but I had planned on getting us all the hell out of here. I had planned to use this bus to get some provisions before hijacking a boat and getting out on the water.”
“Apparently,” he nodded towards Father McCann, “we have the only antidote to whatever the hell this plague is. We’ve been asked to forgo any attempt at escape to help whoever might still be alive and stop the spread of infection.” He looked at them all individually, and could sense the shock of their reactions to the words he had spoken. “There is no use in waiting for rescue. By now, God only knows how far the infection has spread.” He got a small smirk on his face when he mentioned God. To him, there was no longer any God. The moment he had been forced to shoot Jason was the moment God died to him.
“We need to decide what we are going to do right now. If you want to go for a boat, or some other form of escape, I’ll drop you off and let you attempt it on your own. Otherwise, we are going to try to create more antidote. I don’t know how, but we’ll figure out a way.”
Father McCann looked at Mace with such intense compassion and fatherly love that he thought his heart would explode. His own heart broke at the loss of Jason, and his eyes were no longer dry, but this thing that needed to be done was larger than all of them, and he was grateful for Mace’s assistance. The dark night would consume the entire earth if left untouched and he knew that it would only get worse before it got better. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and silently prayed for strength. Daylight was a long way off. The dark night raged on.
Mace saw the look on Father McCann’s face and turned away. He wasn’t doing this to help him or to save the world. He was doing it to forget about Jason. He needed to do something to keep him from dwelling on it.
The Asian man that they had picked up raised his hand and slowly stood, trying to gather the words that he needed to say. “Yesterday afternoon, we were driving to a friend’s house when we got attacked. We lost Tom when they pulled him from the car. We were able to make it to that house we were in, but they stormed it and killed the owner. If it hadn’t been for him, we never would have survived. He opened the door and yelled for us to come in. Anyway, we were able to slip into one of the bedrooms closets and jam it shut, and they never found us.” He looked at them and took a deep breath. “Once we thought it was safe, we came out and turned the TV on low to find out what was happening.” He paused again, staring at Mace, unsure how to continue.
“The power went out a few hours before we saw you. Before it did, though, it became clear that this wasn’t an isolated event. Attacks have been happening all over the United States.”
He looked wearily at Mace and sighed, “I don’t know if there’ll be anyone left to save.”
Chapter 17
Mace seemed unperturbed by the news although Rob and Yvette both gasped, while Lisa clutched Chelsea tighter to her. Chelsea just stared blankly at Buster, which is what Lisa had named the dog, who licked her fingers as they dangled by his face.
Jade was in shock, and looked alternately from Mace to Father McCann, who held Christy’s hand tighter as she began sobbing again. He seemed just as unperturbed by the news as Mace had, and she silently waited for their response.
Mace shook his head and spoke again. “We’ve all survived so far, and so have you. There have got to be thousands who are still alive, hiding in bedroom closets or attics around the city, just like us. We need to form a plan of action: First of all, how to create and distribute the antidote, and second, how to destroy those already infected. Life is just too dangerous with them running loose.”
Jade looked at Mace and started feeling better. The thought of trying to survive was terrifying enough; the thought of doing it without Mace was beyond comprehension. Jade gathered her thoughts and turned to Father McCann. “Father Jack, if you have the antidote, what do we need to do?”
Father McCann was impressed by the calmness in her demeanor. “We need to get to a hospital. We need to get some help in creating more.”
She gave him a quizzical look and probed him further. “What blood type are you?”
He realized where she was going and shook his head. “I am not going to receive the antidote. At least not until you are all protected.”
Jade shook her head back. “If we inject ourselves, we could create antidotes from our own blood. We would just have to supply them to people with the same blood type. That’s why I’m asking.”
Rob wasn’t understanding the conversation. “What are you talking about? How much antidote is there?”
Father McCann turned in his seat to face Rob. “I’m afraid there is only enough for six people. We need to create more.”
Rob started getting excited. “Well, if there is only enough for six, then I want some. I was one of the first one’s here. It should go by who was here first.”
Mace could see this would get out of hand quickly. “Nobody is getting any antidote right now. We’ll worry about all of that once we have figured out how to create more.” He turned to Jade. “Are you sure about the transfusion thing?”
She looked slightly uncomfortable and bit her lip. “Pretty sure. I mean, I’m no doctor, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t. You’d just have to be the same blood type.”
Rob was getting agitated in the back of the bus. “What does this all mean? What if you’re the wrong blood type?”
Jade answered quickly. “Then you’ll have to wait until the antigens can be removed from the blood. If you have the wrong blood type, your body would reject the antidote. It could also be quite dangerous.”
Lisa spoke up from the middle aisle, cradling Chelsea. “So we need to find a hospital, right? What about those things running around?”
Mace thought about it and answered. “The Kaiser in South City is fairly isolated. We need to make a stop for ammunition and there’s a place not far from there on Grand Ave. we could hit. If we can get through without getting jammed up, we might end up in pretty good shape.”
Greg, the male of the new trio, looked towards the front panel of the bus and nodded. “How much gas do we have? If we run out, we’re gonna be stuck on our feet.”
Mace answered without looking. “Over a quarter of a tank. We�
�ve got three large gas cans in the back, and I’m betting that we can find a gas station that still has its pumps turned on. It should keep us going for awhile.”
Greg looked a little perplexed. “What do we do once that changes?”
“Worry about it then. We’ve got enough on our plate right now.”
The infected they had left behind were catching up. They could hear a shriek from around the corner, followed by a gunshot.
Mace looked at Greg and gave a small smile. “As far as I can tell those things don’t know how to shoot off guns. Don’t worry, we’ll find survivors. Our biggest challenge will be to keep them from shooting us.”
From the back Rob shouted, “They’re coming!”
Mace pulled out his reserve gun from behind his back, checked to make sure the safety was on, and slid it across the aisle floor to Rob.
“Take out any that come too close.”
He looked at everyone before climbing back into the driver’s seat. “If anyone wants out of this, let me know now.”
They all remained silent. The antidote had taken their minds off the new reality, and they pondered its significance. Mace fired up the bus and pulled it forward, feeling like he was gaining back a little of the control he had lost. He could still see Jason’s face in his mind’s eye, and he tried to choke it down. He turned an angry thought towards God then thought about the words of Father McCann.
There’s no fairness in who lives and dies.
That had just been proven to him in a matter of great personal anguish. He’d even the score. As far as he was concerned, this had just become a war.
Chapter 18
The closer they got to the freeway, the heavier the congestion of abandoned cars, and the more dead bodies they encountered. Lisa continued to hold Chelsea tight in her arms, fearful of what could happen. She had overcome quite a bit of her initial fear over the course of the last day, but was feeling timid and claustrophobic as the walls of her defense began crashing down around her. Fatigue and the awesome responsibility of caring for Chelsea in such insane circumstances were taking a toll, and she gripped Chelsea close as she tried to regain her composure, unable to bring it forth.
Fear wrapped around her like a blanket as she looked out the bus window at the overwhelming destruction of the city. The air was thick with smoke as fires burned out of control, and dead bodies and abandoned cars were scattered everywhere. She tried not to look at the bodies they passed, since many were bloodied badly or dismembered. She couldn’t help herself as they passed the body of a young girl lying face up in the street, and she looked away quickly when she saw her left eye popped out of the socket and a huge gash slicing from her forehead to her chin.
Mace was trying to get on Hwy 101 off Caesar Chavez St., but the onramp was cluttered with cars they wouldn’t be able to clear. He scanned the area around them, and then slowed the bus to a crawl. He looked in the rear view mirror and shouted to the others. “We’re going to have to clear the cars to get on the freeway. I’m going to stop and run to the top of the ramp to see how it looks up there.”
Mace pulled the bus to a stop and whooshed the door open. Jade looked at the situation in front of them and silently moved up from behind him to cover the driver’s seat. As he got up they caught each other’s eyes, and she gave him an uneasy smile that he could read through easily enough. He stopped and said quietly, “We’ll be fine. I have a feeling it will be pretty clear up there. We’ve just got to clear a few cars.”
She barely nodded and moved behind the wheel as Greg popped up and moved forward with Rob following close behind. Greg looked from Jade to Mace, and then said, “I’ll come with you. You should have someone covering your back.”
Greg’s hands were visibly shaking and fear registered in his eyes, and Mace could hear one of the young women he had arrived with start to cry at his words. Mace nodded in agreement and looked out the open door of the bus. “We’ll make it quick. If it’s clear up there we’ll move a few of these cars out. I have a feeling the keys will still be in the ignitions.”
Greg gestured nervously. “Okay.”
Rob was standing behind Greg, wide eyed, and excited. “Don’t think you’re going without me. I’m ready for anything.”
Mace looked from Greg to Rob, and felt better having Greg there. Rob was a loose cannon and he thought he’d be unpredictable if anything came down, but he didn’t want to leave him behind on the bus. He wanted him where he could keep an eye on him.
Mace put his hand out towards Rob. “I need the gun, Rob.”
Rob looked deflated, paused a second then reluctantly handed it to him. Mace took it and handed it to Greg. “Do you know how to use one?”
Rob was instantly offended. “Hey! That’s not right! I know what I’m doing!”
Mace nodded quickly. “I know Rob, but I want you with me, and we need someone to watch our backs. I also want two guns left on the bus.”
Rob calmed down, feeling somewhat reassured. “Okay.”
Mace turned his attention back to Greg. “Well?”
“Just aim and shoot, right?” Greg was looking at the gun in his hands.
Mace took it back and showed Greg the safety. “Keep this on until you need to fire. Click it this way to release it.”
Greg nodded in understanding. “Okay.”
Mace looked back at Rob before heading down the stairs. “Alright, let’s go. But stay next to me.”
Jade’s stomach turned as she witnessed the twisted grin on Rob’s face as he exited the bus.
The streets seemed surreal in the swirling of the smoke, the abandoned cars and the dead bodies, and to Mace it seemed more like the streets of Iraq than of San Francisco. Mace ducked a little as he ran up the embankment with Rob following close behind. Greg turned and watched the street, backing up slowly as he scanned from side to side for any sign of infected. He almost tripped over his feet from nerves and kept talking to himself, “Keep it together. You’ll be out of here in no time. Keep it together.”
Jade sat in the driver’s seat and watched as Mace crested the onramp embankment, then looked around at their environment. A small smile appeared at the sight of Greg tripping, but her smile quickly disappeared as she scanned the foreboding landscape around them. Her thoughts were centered on the latest news, and she was having trouble freeing herself from their weight.
Attacks have been happening all over the United States. There won’t be anyone left to save.
She looked back at Father McCann, who was holding Christy in his arms as she wept quietly. He could sense her staring at him and glanced up, giving a gentle smile. She thought it strange that a small smile from him could be enough to ease her nerves, but it had. She smiled back, feeling a bit relieved of the stifling tension of the New World in which they found themselves.
She looked back up the onramp to see Mace moving quickly back down and jumping in the first vehicle he came to, and she knew the keys must have been in it by the speed with which he moved it. He drove it up and out of sight, then quickly appeared again, heading towards the next car in line.
Rob ran all the way back down the onramp, quietly mouthing something to Greg, who handed him the gun and ran to the nearest car at the bottom. Rob took his spot as sentry and Greg jumped in the car. Greg immediately jumped out, his scream piercing the relative quiet of their escape attempt. The remains of a passenger were dispersed all over the vehicle in bloody fragments, and he turned away in disgust as the smell and sight made him retch at the side of the vehicle.
From somewhere in the near distance they heard a shriek, and they knew that the infected would be on them in a matter of minutes. Rob looked back up towards Mace, who was running towards the last of the vehicles before Greg’s and Rob took off in the direction of the shriek. The shriek, in turn, had put Greg in high motion, and he jumped in the vehicle and threw it in reverse, squealing the tires as he whipped it out of the way of the bus.
Mace appeared at the top of the embankment, waving for
Jade to come up just as Greg jumped on the stairs of the bus. He looked around quickly, saying, “Where’s Rob?” before heading to the seat where his girlfriend and coworker were sitting. His girlfriend grabbed him and hugged him, and he let out a little sob as he held her back, happy to be back on the bus.
Jade searched the area through the windows before taking a chance and blowing the horn, and then she slowly started moving the bus forward, leaving the front door open.
Yvette came running up from the back, screaming at her to wait. “You have to wait for Robbie! You can’t just leave!”
They could hear the shots before they caught sight of Rob, but when they did; they could see a horde of infected trailing behind him. He had a wild grin from ear to ear, and he would occasionally turn to fire off a round before turning back to run towards the bus. The closer he got, the more Jade sped up, not wanting the infected to be able to catch up and board.
Rob hopped aboard, grinning madly as he tried to catch his breath. “I wasted at least six of those bastards. They were coming fast.”
Jade looked in the rear view mirror and saw that they were right on their ass. “Sit down, we’ve got to move.”
She pushed down harder on the gas and the psychedelic bus slowly gained speed, but a few infected were already clawing at the back, causing Yvette to scream as she saw their hellish faces shrieking through the back windows.
Rob smiled harder as he ran down the center aisle, pointing his weapon at the back door and yelling for Yvette to get out of the way. He reached the rear of the bus and fired several shots through the glass into the heads of the infected that had made it to the back. They immediately stumbled and fell, and he laughed with wicked glee at the sight. “Do you see what you get, fuckers? Do you see what you get when you mess with me?”
Mace of the Apocalypse Page 9
