by Scott Shoyer
“Let’s go!” screamed Greg.
Stewart put the bus into gear and rolled forward.
*****
“How the fuck are we gonna get on the bus?” asked Paula. She and Riker, Braden, Hector, and Teagan watched as a horde of zombies surrounded the bus and tore Frye apart. They stood there in horror, but everyone knew that if they tried to help Frye, they’d all be dead as well.
“Those things are everywhere,” Braden said nervously.
“And the bus has no room to maneuver,” Riker added. “It’s either forward or backward. If they stop rolling back and forth, they’ll be overrun with zombies.”
The five of them had used a grouping of trees for cover and were hunched underneath a weeping willow tree, using its long, dangling branches and leaves for cover.
“Well, at least we were lucky enough to find a weeping willow for cover,” Hector said. “These trees don’t grow well in Central Texas.”
“That’s it,” Riker almost shouted.
“What’s ‘it,’ Riker?” Hector asked.
“The trees,” Riker answered. “We can climb these trees and the bus can drive right under us.”
“Yes!” Paula shouted as she cut Riker off. “There’s a huge moonroof on the top of the bus we can use to get inside.”
“First, we need to get whoever is driving the bus’s attention,” Braden added.
“Teagan,” Riker said as he turned to her. “Take the others and climb this tree.” Riker nodded to the tree behind him. He had no idea what kind it was, but it looked sturdy and had nice thick branches to hold them all. “Just make sure you climb up higher than the bus.”
“What are you going to do, Riker?” asked Teagan.
“I’m gonna get the bus’s attention,” Riker said as he slapped a fresh magazine into his carbine.
*****
Stewart began to think the others hadn’t made it. He saw no sign of anyone else and the situation was becoming so critical that they needed to get out of the trailer park. Everyone on the bus kept the windows shut and scanned the property for any sign of their friends. It was dark, though, and besides the light coming from the moon and stars, nothing else illuminated the trailer park.
“I think we need to consider that the others didn’t make it,” Noonan said to Stewart. “Those things are all over the bus and more keep coming.”
“We’ve got to be absolutely sure before we drive off,” said Kimberly.
“Then be my guest,” Noonan said as he walked down the aisle of the bus toward Kimberly. “Go out there and look for them.”
“You’re a fucking guest on this bus,” Kimberly said as she stood, not intimidated by the man. “So knock off the macho bullshit.”
Noonan stared at Kimberly and sized her up. She was young and looked meek, but Noonan detected a strength about her. Kimberly was the kind of woman who didn’t back down easily once she determined something was worth fighting for.
Noonan got in her face and waited for her to flinch, but she stood her ground. Noonan felt the eyes of everyone else on her.
“Okay, okay,” Noonan said as he put his hands up. “We’ll stay and wait longer for them and endanger us all.” Noonan walked backward down the aisle, not breaking eye contact with Kimberly.
“What the fuck is that over there?” Stewart yelled from the driver’s seat.
Everyone looked out the windshield and saw a small fire consuming a bush. Then, over by a grouping of trees, someone stood alone and fired a gun in the air.
“Unless those fuckers spouted wings,” Greg said, “I think we just found the others.”
“Good thing we didn’t leave,” Kimberly said in an even tone. “Isn’t it, Noonan?”
“Enough you two,” Greg interrupted before Noonan could say anything. “Let’s focus on how the hell we’re going to get them onto the bus.”
“Yes!” Stewart shouted. Greg and the others ran to the front of the tour bus and saw what Stewart was looking at. “They’re using the trees.”
Stewart put the bus in drive and began to roll toward the grouping of trees and the flashes of light that came from someone firing their carbine from the trees.
“Okay, they’re in the trees. So what?” Emily said. “How the hell are they going to get on the bus? We’re surrounded by those things.”
“Just watch,” Stewart said, and he pressed on the gas pedal and moved the bus toward the other survivors.
*****
Riker’s plan worked. He’d run off to the side and found a dried-out bush, not a difficult task in Central Texas. He’d lit it on fire and ran back to the trees where the others were. The bush attracted the attention of both the nearby zombies and apparently those on the bus. When the yellow-eyed creatures ran to the bush, Riker stepped out from the trees and fired his carbine in the air to alert the bus where they were.
As the zombies raced toward them from the bush, Teagan easily picked them off from her position in the trees. The muzzle flashes would let whoever was driving the bus know where they were.
Riker slung the carbine over his shoulder and joined the others in the trees. They were up high enough so the bus could park underneath them and they could all safely get onto the roof.
“Come on, you big beautiful beast,” Riker said out loud as he watched the bus roll toward them.
The bus approached the group of trees they were in. They watched as it rolled over any zombies that got in their way. Some of the creatures’ spines were crushed by the weight of the bus and couldn’t get back up, but most of the zombies got up almost immediately.
As the bus neared the trees, Riker could see how many creatures surrounded the bus. There were at least forty of the bastards pounding against the side of the bus. As strong as they were, not even they could tip Thunder Struck over.
“They’re almost under us,” Riker said to the others. “Paula, you’re first. You know where the latch is on the roof.”
Paula watched the bus come to a stop. The noise from the zombies was deafening, and it wasn’t long until those bastards saw them up in the trees. Riker saw Teagan line up a shot, but stopped her.
“Hold your fire, Teagan!” Riker shouted. “We don’t want to blow out any of the bus’s windows. We’re safe enough up here for now. There’s nothing on the side of the bus those things can use for leverage.”
“But they can climb the trees!” Hector shouted.
The creatures were already in the trees. Teagan shot at the zombies through the branches, but there were too many objects that deflected her shots.
“Save your ammo, Teagan!” Riker yelled. “Let’s focus on getting on top of the bus!”
The bus came to a halt and Paula didn’t hesitate as she jumped on the roof. It was only a two-foot drop onto the bus and it was relatively flat, so they didn’t have to worry about falling off.
Paula made her way to the moonroof.
“Come on, girl,” Kimberly said as she poked her head through the unlatched moonroof. “Get your ass in here!”
Paula slipped through the moonroof and was quickly followed by Braden and Hector. Teagan jumped next. She turned to see two zombies coming toward her.
“Get down!” a voice yelled.
Teagan backed up and lay down on her belly. As she looked up, she saw a pair of sneakers strike one of the zombies in the chest. The creature lost its balance and fell off the top of the bus. The second zombie wrapped its arms around the newcomer. The zombie’s eye suddenly rolled up into the back of its head and its mouth opened. No sound came from the creature as it fell off the bus.
Teagan saw Riker and Toxic standing before her. Toxic was the one who jumped out of the trees and knocked the first zombie off the bus. Riker, then, saved Toxic.
“It is good to see you, Toxic,” Riker said.
Riker noticed something was different about Toxic. The man was usually cocky and always had something flip to say. The fact that he’d just saved a cop would’ve usually had him bragging and going on about it.
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“You okay, Toxic?” Riker asked.
“I… I’m fine,” Toxic replied. “I saw something out there…”
“Come on, you guys!” Greg yelled from the opening in the roof. “What the fuck are you talking about? Get your asses in here!”
“Later,” Toxic said as he ran to the opening on the bus.
After Teagan and Toxic jumped through the roof’s opening, the bus started moving in reverse as Riker slipped through the opening.
“Damn are we glad to see you all,” Brian said as he hugged Paula. “We didn’t know where the hell you were.”
“I was hoping you’d make your way into the trees,” Stewart said.
Murphy was behind the wheel and backed the tour bus through the main gates of the trailer park. Hundreds of the creatures had flooded into the park and now chased the bus as it picked up speed.
“Where the hell are we going!” Murphy yelled from the driver’s seat.
Riker looked around at all the faces on the bus.
“You’ve been up and down the east coast, right?” Riker asked. “Let’s try someplace new. Let’s head west.”
“Why the hell not?” Murphy said.
“Do you have a road map in this rig?” Riker asked.
Murphy reached under his seat, pulled out the map, and handed to Riker.
“Austin is west from us and I don’t think we wanna get anywhere near the city,” Riker said as he looked on the map. “Here,” Riker continued as he pointed on the map. “Head up this way a few more miles and jump onto I-45 North and 190 West. This route will keep us out of the bigger cities.”
“Sounds good to me,” Murphy said. “Everyone keep their eyes peeled for a gas station or a huge bus stop area. We can raid the fuel tanks to keep this beast running.”
Everyone grabbed some water and what little food was left on the bus. They sat back in the comfy bus chairs and stared out the windows. They all knew they were lucky to have gotten out of the trailer park in one piece.
Riker stood on the stairs that led into the bus and navigated for Murphy. As he looked over his shoulder, he saw Toxic in one of the seats close to the front of the bus. Toxic didn’t look around. He stared at the seat in front of him and retreated into his head.
What the fuck happened to him out there? Riker thought. He looks like he’s in shock. Riker decided that as soon as the bus was on the main highway, he’d talk to Toxic. Riker’s gut told him Toxic had something important to tell him.
3
Brazos and 6th Street
Austin, Texas
The man opened his eyes. He had woken up on the bed in the same position he’d fallen unconscious in a few days ago. Instead of the milky white fog that’d covered his eyes before, the man clearly saw the ceiling. He saw where fresh paint had touched up various spots on the ceiling and even saw the tiniest flecks of dirt.
The man leaned up on his elbows and watched as little shards of glass rolled off his chest. He remembered being flung through the balcony’s glass door, but he couldn’t remember who or what had thrown him.
He placed his hands against the bed and pushed himself up. As he swung his legs to the floor, he felt a piece of glass slice his right palm. It wasn’t so much a sharp pain as it was pressure against his skin. He sat with his feet on the floor and looked at his palm. A two-inch piece of glass stuck out of his palm, but he didn’t feel any pain.
With his other hand, he slowly pulled the shard of glass out of his palm and looked at the invader. There was no blood on the glass.
In fact, there was no blood anywhere.
He watched as the cut on his hand slowly sealed itself while it grew warm. After the wound healed itself, his entire arm felt warm. He could tell that the warmth radiated from the point of injury.
The man held his arm up and opened and closed his fist. There was no pain from the wound. In fact, there was no pain anywhere in his body. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been unconscious on the bed, but he thought he’d have felt some kind of pain after being thrown through a glass door.
He sat on the bed and tried to remember what had happened when he saw the sunlight gleam off some of the shards of glass on the bed.
The light, he thought as he suddenly remembered. There was a beam of light from the sky that tossed me through the glass door and onto the bed.
The man carefully stood and was surprised at how strong he felt.
Maybe I was only out for a few minutes, he thought. A few hours at most, he reasoned.
He walked toward the balcony and heard the glass crunch under his feet. The sun had started to set, but he still felt its warmth on his skin. He felt even more of his strength come back as he stood in the fading sunlight.
He scanned the sky, but the source of the light that had knocked him out was gone.
Gone, or not wanting to reveal itself.
He looked down to the street and saw the creatures walking about. He knew they weren’t aimlessly roaming around. They were searching for human survivors, and they searched everywhere. He was seven floors above the street, but saw every tiny detail of the creatures. He saw the looks on their faces as they searched, he saw the various healed wounds from when they’d been originally attacked, and he saw their yellow eyes.
The eyes.
His eyes.
The man remembered that, before the pulse of light had shot from the sky and knocked him unconscious, he’d caught a glimpse of his eyes in a mirror. They weren’t yellow like the creatures below him.
They were blue.
His entire eyeball had turned a bright shade of blue.
He ran to the mirror and saw that his eyeballs were still blue. It gave him a sense of relief. At least I’m not one of those creatures down there, he thought. But as he turned away from the mirror, another thought crossed his mind.
But what am I?
He walked back onto the balcony and once again felt the slight warmth of the setting sun. He also felt the urge to leave his hotel room. It wasn’t that he felt unsafe or in any kind of danger. As he watched the sun set, he felt its pull on him.
No. It wasn’t the sun that beckoned him--it was something in the west. He knew he needed to leave his hotel room and go west. Like a metal object being gradually pulled by a magnet that was far away, the man knew he needed to travel.
He emptied the mini-bar of all its food and water and left his hotel room. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he was confident he’d know it when he got there.
4
Sub-Level Facility, Schoepke Springs
Spicewood, Texas
“So our cameras and monitors are down, we have absolutely no contact with the outside world, and you still want to go up there?” Josef asked Wilder. “Do I have that right?”
“You can all stay down here if you want,” Wilder said in a calm, firm voice. “But something is happening up there and we need to know what it is.”
“And what if you do find out what’s happening up there, Wilder,” Rickard said from the wall of dead monitors, “then what? How is that information going to help us down here?”
It suddenly became clear to Wilder what was going on in the bunker.
“None of you are doing a goddamn thing down here, are you?” Wilder asked. “You’re not down here trying to find a weakness in those creatures up there. You’re just biding your time as the world slowly dies.”
Wilder looked at Josef, Rickard, and the other scientists and knew he was right. None of them could look him in the eye and tell him otherwise.
“We fought these things hand to hand for the last two years,” Wilder said as he walked over to Steele and Cheryl. “They can die. They aren’t invincible. Nothing in the world is indestructible. Everything has a weakness.”
“But you just said it yourself,” Josef finally said. “‘Nothing in the world.’ But those things up there aren’t from this world, are they? You said so yourselves that every time you thought of a way to kill them that they adapted. The antipsychotic dr
ugs, the massive blast from the EMP bomb. Those things worked one time, and then those things adapted--or mutated, as you put it--and became impervious to those weapons.”
“So we give up?” Wilder asked. “We just live out the rest of our days down here and let what remains of the human race slowly die?” The scientists stared at the ground.
“You’re all looking at this the wrong way,” Cheryl said. “Those bastards up there have weaknesses. We’ve all seen that,” she said as she motioned to Wilder and Steele. “We just need to find the one weakness they can’t adapt to.”
“The last thing Jennie and I saw before the last monitor died were all the creatures falling to the ground,” Wilder said as he tried to motivate everyone. He knew if they were to survive that he needed everyone’s help.
“They were all covered in some kind of fluid and dropped like flies,” Wilder continued. “Now would be a good time to go up there and see if we can grab that object. Like we discussed before, that is probably the source of the infection, and might be the best chance at finding either a cure or a way to fight those things.”
“But how do we know those things are still out cold on the ground?” Rickard asked. “For all we know, they could’ve mutated into something even stronger and deadlier.”
“We don’t know,” Wilder said. “But I’ll be damned if I’m gonna just sit down here and watch the human race go extinct.” He looked around the room and saw that some of the scientists had looked up and were nodding in agreement.
“Don’t worry, Rickard,” Wilder continued. “I’m not forcing anyone to help me or to do the right thing.”
“I’m with you, Wilder,” Cheryl said as she stepped forward, Stevie firmly in her hands.
“I’m with you too,” Steele said.
“I’ll work on these damn monitors and try to give us some eyes up there,” Howard said.
Stefan and Jennie stood and offered their help as well.
“I want to go up there with you,” Stacey said. “I’ve got a background in biology, and if those things are unconscious, then this could be my best chance at studying one up close.”
