Without warning he began screaming and holding his head as though in pain.
"Amanda! You fucking bitch! This is all your motherfucking fault! You'll never be happy without me, you fucking twisted motherfucking bitch! I’ll kill the bastard! I’ll make sure you fucking regret leaving me!" The snarl was like that of a dog and George’s father didn't even have the time to cover his ears to prevent him hearing the vile language spewing forth from this man’s mouth.
Seconds after the man had begun his furious unexplained rant, he leapt from the car bonnet down onto the man in front and began ripping into his face, digging into his eye sockets with his fingers, tearing at his skin like a wild animal.
The woman accompanying the man being assaulted, rushed to his aid, pouncing on the assailant and hitting him with her handbag, but she was cast aside as though she meant nothing, slamming her into a car.
George’s father wasted no further time and pulled George away from the scene before they saw anything else they wouldn’t be able to un-see.
What was that? Who was that?
George’s heart pounded in his little chest, overwhelmed with unbelievable fear. Never had he witnessed anything like that, never! Not even in his most violent games.
They ran into Pelham Place and turned onto Pelham Crescent, a usually quiet area not known for trouble and now filled with confused and curious people who had heard the explosion and gunfire.
George and his father had no time to stop and explain to them what was going on, they had to move and they had to move fast.
They rounded a corner to the right and found themselves on a busy Fulham Road. The sound of gunshots and sirens seemed everlasting, almost surrounding them. It was difficult to determine where and where not to run with the sounds echoing everywhere.
It was just as they were coming to the road leading into Onslow Square Road that George’s father spotted another bus. It really didn't matter at this point which bus they took, so long as it could offer a means of refuge and escape from this chaos.
George’s father stopped at the doors to the bus and began thumping at the door with his fists for the driver to let them in. They shouldn't have been surprised at the fact that they were rewarded with the dirtiest look possible and completely ignored, they were attempting to board at a time when the bus couldn't be further away from a bus stop. It was only as George's father attempted to prise the door open did the driver open it.
As the door opened, George’s father grabbed his wrist and ushered him up onto the bus.
"What the fuck, man? Have you lost your shit? There are cameras all over the bus!" The bus driver snapped.
"You have to get out of here, drive!" George’s father replied. The look of bewilderment that the driver gave him said everything that needed to be said.
"Drive where? Did you miss the long fucking line of traffic ahead? You have lost your shit! Get off my damn bus!”
“Please, you have to drive to safety, for our sake and the sake of all your passengers. I can't explain entirely because I don't know the full details, but there may have been…”
“Get off of my fucking bus! No one wants to hear your bullshit, man!”
“For fuck sake!" George’s father turned to the curious passengers on the bus. “Something serious is going on up the road! If we don't get moving, your bus driver could be risking your lives!”
His statement was met with startled gasps and yelps from some of the passengers.
"It's a war zone up at South Kensington, if we don't make a move we'll end up caught in the crossfire!"
"Get off, you nutter!" One teenaged girl shouted and an old man immediately agreed.
"I'm not crazy! My son and I just ran from Pelham Road where gunfire was going off and people were attacking each other!"
"Oh my God", an old lady replied.
“Who do you think you are fooling, you drunkard? Anyone can see you're just trying to get free rides, but what's more disgraceful is that you've brought an innocent kid into this!” Another man shouted.
George wished these people would take his father seriously, what he had witnessed couldn't be further from a joke, his heart was still racing.
He would need to do no further explaining or convincing, for no sooner did they doubt his credibility and sanity, a surge of panicked people running towards the bus caught their eyes. Some of those panicked individuals leapt onto the bus, forcing the bus driver to shut the doors to prevent any others taking advantage.
"What the fuck? What's going on? Are you guys taking the piss?" His attention averted to people outside clambering over the bonnets of vehicles, to which the irritable or confused owners of said vehicles stepped out to investigate or vent their disapproval, but as they stepped out, they were attacked by other people, much to the horror of the ignorant.
Attempting to differentiate the fleeing from the assailants proved impossible a feat, since it appeared as though just about anyone could be considered an assailant, from a man wearing business attire to an old lady. It was as though people had simply lost their minds, making this much more than just a simple black and white situation.
Curious onlookers had the wind knocked out of them as they were tackled to the ground without warning by crazed people, before being beaten and mauled until they moved no more.
The assailants too had certainly seen better days, some of them were bleeding heavily and missing eyes and limbs amongst other things, yet seemed unperturbed by their horrific injuries and more intent on unleashing a torrent of unyielding hell upon anyone they could lay their hands upon
“Don’t look”, George’s father ordered, covering George’s eyes, but what George had seen already was more than enough to traumatise.
“What the fuck!” The bus driver shouted and mere seconds after he said that, there was a vibrating slam from the side of the bus, as though someone had run straight into it, followed by the startling shatter of glass coming from right behind George.
George’s father reacted quickly and moved him out of the way before he even had the chance to spin around and find out what created the noise and a good thing too, for by the time George did turn around, a woman leaned right the way through a shattered hole in the bus door of which she had seemingly created with just her head, if the blood streaming down her face and glass shards protruding from her head were any indication. She didn't look particularly dressed to be a harbinger of terror, but her crazed behaviour told a different tale. She screamed, hurled obscenities and outstretched her arms to grab them, all whilst disregarding the glass cutting into her stomach, the mindset and actions of no sane person.
“Dad!” George screamed, panicking.
“Stay where you are!” His father instructed. Then came the sound of another glass pane shattering from the back of the bus, followed by the shrill screams of a girl.
George turned to see what was happening. A blonde girl who had been sitting beside one of the windows towards the back of the bus had had her hair grabbed through the shattered window by one of those crazed people. Helplessly, she clung onto the man next to her and screamed out for help, but instead, all those within her vicinity very quickly separated themselves from her.
The man she clung to, began hitting her and demanding she let go.
“Get the fuck off me!” He shouted, becoming alarmingly and increasingly aggressive towards her instead of helpful and then without warning or just cause, he began thumping at her in unrestrained anger, that even despite others screaming at him to stop. Where had this burst of aggression come from? Fear? Needless to say, his unrelenting violence rendered her stunned and unable to defend herself in her daze, freeing him, but ultimately submitting her to a grisly fate. Her head was pulled through the glass window, the protruding shards cutting into her throat as she gurgled and choked on her own blood. Try as she might to pull away, more crazed people grabbed at her hair, making for a battle she could not possibly win. She could even scream in pain before her head was severed from her shoulders
and her headless corpse dropped down between the seats.
Everyone on board erupted into mass hysteria.
Two women began crying, one man began shouting erratically and others begun holding hands and praying.
The crazed people attacked drivers, smashing through their car windows and pulling them out or climbing in. Some drivers, realising the danger of the situation and impossibility of escaping the traffic in time, attempted to flee their vehicles, others managed to mount the curb, running over anyone that happened to be in the way, crazed or not.
This was humanity, these were the real human instincts, selfishness and lack of remorse.
“Do you fucking believe me now? Put your damn foot down! I have a son and daughter to protect!” George's father snapped at the bus driver.
The driver didn't have to be told twice, he slammed his foot on the accelerator, ramming the bus into the back of a car and throwing all passengers on board forward like ragdolls.
Parting the cars stuck in traffic like Noah an ocean and mowing down any and all posing an obstacle, the bus driver was determined to get as far away from the scene as possible.
George clung unto the handle pole for dear life, praying that wherever they ended up was safer than here. They were coming to Sumner Place road on the right and George’s father then ordered the driver to turn right.
"What the hell for?" The driver snapped.
"I have to rescue my little girl, she's at South Kensington".
"Them things were coming from that direction! Fuck that!"
"I have to save her!" George’s father shouted, banging on the door as they passed right on by the road towards South Kensington.
"No offence, but seriously, fuck you and fuck your daughter! I ain't putting my life at risk for you!"
"Bastard! Stop this bus! Stop this fucking bus now!"
"Fuck you!"
George’s father tried pulling at the door to the driver's seat and when he had failed at that, he tried his luck with the main doors, but before he could press the emergency button, the reckless bus driver swerved sharply left into Old Church Street, throwing everyone violently to one side.
They pelted down that road, forcing drivers who knew nothing of the commotion they left behind, off the road, whilst colliding with others with enough force to flip their cars upside down.
George was almost certain that this bus driver had single-handedly killed or injured more people in this short journey than those crazed people had. Blood, likely from that girl's headless corpse had trickled along the bus floor towards the front, almost reaching him and given the driver's recklessness, moving away to avoid it wasn't an option.
George didn't even have the time to reflect on what he had witnessed, to be sickened by his memories of the horrific events that had occurred today, he didn't even have the time to be traumatised, everything seemed to be in a constant state of fast forward since that train came to a stop, this was all far too real and he wasn't mentally prepared for it, he couldn't process any of the complexities of what was happening, it seemed his role to simply accept his perpetual state of mixed feelings and confusion.
They swung on to King's Road and just as George’s father was about to try for the emergency lever to release the door locking mechanism, his mobile rang.
George couldn't see who it was but he suspected it was probably his mother. They had lost Ria and there was all this chaos, what was his dad going to tell her?
“Ria! You’re okay! Thank god! Where are you?” His father asked, having answered the phone.
Ria? But how? Did she borrow someone else's phone? George thought.
“Clapham Junction? What the heck are you doing all the way there? No, never mind, at least you are safe. I wouldn’t have wanted you anywhere near South Kensington, it’s…” He stopped as the bus jerked again, narrowly missing a woman and her daughter stepping onto the road at a zebra crossing.
“Don’t worry, stay exactly where you are and keep your phone on, we’ll try to get to you, we’re on King’s Road”, he continued. “What terrorists?”
Terrorists? Was this the work of terrorists?
“Is that speculation or was that confirmed?” He asked. “Where? When? Did you see who they shot?” He went silent for a moment as he listened.
“Okay, well I'm glad you are safe. I tried calling your mother, but it went to her voicemail. Just stay where you are, I’m coming. Promise me you won’t move”.
George began to ponder whether or not having Ria with them would have had different results. They wouldn't have needed to take that bus to end up in the middle of a shootout, that's for sure.
“I’ll explain when I get there. Promise me you won't move!” His father demanded. “Dammit! Promise me, Ria!”
Suddenly they came to a roadblock, the Metropolitan police had already started to cordon the roads ahead in attempt to regain control over the situation, but at the speed they were going towards it, both George and his father had every reason to fret.
“I have to go now”, George's father informed his sister, as they raced towards the blockade of police vans. He put down the phone abruptly and returned to slamming on the driver's door.
"Slow down! We're going to crash!"
"I'm going right fucking through them!" The driver replied.
"What! You'll kill us all, you fucking lunatic!"
"I'm willing to take that chance! I'm not letting them get to me like they did that girl and those other people!"
"You'll kill yourself before that happens!"
"Shut the fuck up!" The driver yelled at him.
Seconds before impact, George’s father turned and dived to shield his son, as the police and civilians on the road leapt out of the way, before it smashed into the van.
The impact was so powerful that glass shattered everywhere, the bus lost traction and flipped onto its side, sliding several meters down the road, before coming to a stop. There it would remain, silent and still.
CHAPTER 7 - NATASHA: 11:45am - Outbreak
Natasha Riley, once having shared the surname of her ex, sat towards the back end of a meeting table surrounded by her colleagues and staring up at the screen the chairman of the company based in California spoke from. Communicating over Babbadoo video messaging, they were supposed to be discussing changes made to terms and conditioning, changes that would significantly impact their clientele and business processes overall, emphasis put on supposed to be because somehow they had deviated onto topics of contractors and pilot schemes, giving Natasha ample private time to resume her irritation at her ex-husband.
She knew all too well that Terry would let the kids down again, just as he had a habit of doing in recent years, but she had hoped that for a change he would surprise her, instead he met her expectations.
He’d been using his business collapse as a pathetic excuse to give up on just about anything meaningful. His enthusiasm for life had nosedived and he showed no signs of wanting to get back on his feet. Businesses collapsed every single fucking day, it was nothing new and he certainly wasn't the end of it. If everyone who lost a business was to wallow in self-pity as much as he, what would the world be?
Honestly, she didn't want to hate him, but he made it so difficult not to. This was the man she used to be unconditionally head over heels in love with, a man she still loved, but could no longer stand to watch destroying himself and share his rapidly sinking ship.
Take today as prime example, six thirty she was up and by seven fifteen she was ready and waiting for the kids to finish getting ready. By seven thirty-seven, they too were ready and waiting. How fucking hard was it to organise just yourself?
Even after their divorce she found herself still mothering him, she already had two children and she certainly didn't want another big kid on her hands. If it wasn't problems with his solicitor or someone else, it was money, she was always loaning money to him. She swore, if he wasn't the father of her children she probably wouldn't have anything more to do with him.
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br /> What went so drastically wrong? They were once hopelessly in love. They met in secondary school and had been together ever since, she had never had eyes for another until this point. Even after the business collapsed, she had tried to remain committed to him, for the sake of her love for him, her morals and her kids, but he couldn't help but be an arsehole.
She began dating Daniel after rejecting his advances continuously for 3 years, purely because due to loneliness, ironically not loneliness stemming from the need to be with someone, but loneliness as a side effect of having to both handle the kids as they took steps towards adulthood and keep her ex from being a detriment to himself, exhaustive loneliness was the easiest way to describe it.
Frustration drove her towards Daniel and away from Terry. She wanted a reaction out of Terry, she wanted him to shape up, wake up and come to get her, but alas, he didn't react for a while and when he finally did, he made a complete fool of himself, he seemed prone to that these days. A broken nose and trip to the hospital only served to further damage any remaining dignity and pride she had left, not because he lost, but because the fight - if you could even call it that - was entirely unnecessary.
Honestly, the whole debacle and the events to follow were like watching an animal suffer and wanting to put it out of its misery as a kindness.
Daniel was a sweet man and before a lover, a good friend, a friend she could confide in, a friend who actually listened to her rather than burden her with more problems than she needed. He did his best by the kids despite having no relation to them and always seemed to be on her wavelength.
There was a certain charm to him that she couldn't explain, maybe it was ability to take charge of a situation, his manliness, his authority, his dependability or perhaps his kind spirit. She wasn't sure what it was, but she was glad he was nothing like Terry.
Cryptophobia (Book 1): Outbreak [Fear The Unknown] Page 6
