by Wood, J N
‘What is going on?’ a voice hissed from behind the bus.
I poked my head out and looked to my right. My torch lit up a squinting Steve, one of Ali’s cousins.
‘Hi Steve,’ I said, in a hushed tone. I was genuinely happy to see him again. ‘How are you doing? I’m just going for a shit.’
He spun around, mumbling something inaudible. I just about heard him telling the rest of his family we’d stopped for a bathroom break.
He still hates me then.
‘Do you want me to come?’ Gee asked.
‘No, obviously not, I’m going for a shit,’ I quickly responded.
‘Hey, there will probably be bears coming out of hibernation around about now,’ Jack said. ‘So you better keep an eye out for them.’
‘Not this close to the road though,’ I replied.
‘It’s the apocalypse Chris,’ Jack said. ‘All the humans have died.’
‘Very true. But there won’t be any bears around. Not while I’m here.’ I stepped off the bus, and into the woods.
Armed with a torch, a roll of toilet tissues, and some hand sanitiser, I looked for a suitable place to have a much needed shit.
Fuck, I’m breaking the promise to myself to only shit somewhere with walls and a ceiling. Forgot about that. Probably a very good rule.
After I felt I’d gone far enough, I pulled my jeans down and squatted. Before I could relax and let go, I heard voices and saw torch lights, much too close to me. It sounded like the Rodriguez brothers.
Fuck’s sake.
I pulled my jeans back up and walked further into the woods.
It turned out to be a textbook turd, very little wiping was required. Ideal in this particular situation. I took the little plastic bottle of sanitiser out of my pocket, and squeezed some into my hand. The smell was strong, like pure alcohol.
I could just about see the headlights of the bus through the thick underbrush, directly in front of me. A low rumbling noise made me point my torch to the left, but all I could see were more trees.
It sounded like Gee’s fucking snoring.
After finally convincing myself that nothing was going to jump out and attack me, I started walking back to the road. I only got two paces when the low rumbling noise started again. It soon turned into loud heavy grunts, the sound of snapping branches joined them, filling the woods and terrifying me. I tracked my torch upwards across a large dark mass, about nine or ten feet in front of me. I stopped when the beam of light reached a bear’s open snout. It towered over me. The torch light illuminated the bear’s hot and misty breath.
Panicking, I lifted my arms up and frantically waved them, trying to make myself look as big as possible. The bear dropped down onto all four legs and turned away from me.
Yes! The making yourself look big thing actually works.
The bear must have decided that technique didn’t work, because it suddenly directed its attention back to me.
Fuck.
I very briefly considered pulling the axe out from my belt. Instead, I threw the toilet roll at the bear’s head, spun around and ran in the opposite direction, as quickly as I could.
Why didn’t I bring my gun?
Branches and twigs thwacked into my aching face and body. The fear coursing through me meant only running directly into a tree trunk was gonna slow me down. I could hear the big animal bounding through the trees behind me.
The whipping branches abruptly ended and I was out in the open.
Shite. Bears are supposed to be really fast runners, definitely faster than me.
There was some kind farm of building not far from me in the field, just visible in the moonlight. I quickly changed direction and headed for it. I didn’t want to look, but I assumed the bear was still chasing me.
A group of about twenty zombies were sleeping by the building.
Zombies or bear?
Definitely zombies.
I started screaming as loudly as I could. ‘Wake up zombies! Wake the fuck up!’
They certainly did wake up. Within a couple of seconds they were all sprinting towards me. I decided to risk a quick glance behind.
My heart rate jumped to a ridiculous speed, almost taking what little breath I had left away from me. The bear was really fucking close. I somehow found an extra gear within me, and started running directly for the zombies.
Please let this work.
The sound of the bear’s breathing was so close I thought I could almost smell its breath. I started shouting, not for any practical reason, just through utter terror.
I took a sharp right turn when I was about six feet from the zombies. I could almost feel the air being moved by the huge animal as it passed close behind me. The sound of undead bodies slamming into the meaty body of the bear reverberated around the enclosed field. Then followed a loud roar, and the sound of flesh being torn apart.
The black wall of the tree line was ahead of me. I ran towards it, desperately hoping the bear wouldn’t change its mind, and go for some fresher meat. I had a very quick glance behind me. The bear looked like it was tearing the zombies to pieces. They didn’t seem to be concerned with me at all, and just clambered over the hungry animal.
I couldn’t hold back the laughter. It almost erupted out of me. It really didn’t help, because I was struggling to breathe from the exertion.
I had no idea where the bus would be, but I figured I’d hit the road at some point. I slowed slightly before entering the woods. Now the panic had eased a bit, I realised I didn’t want to impale myself on a sharp and pointy branch. My face was really beginning to hurt and I wasn’t looking forward to running through the underbrush again.
Twenty seconds later, with a stinging face, I snagged my foot on something, lost my balance, and fell down onto tarmac. I heard my name being shouted and looked in the direction of the voices. Multiple beams of light were being pointed into the trees.
After getting back to my feet, I called to them and started running. The beams of light turned to point at me, making me cover my eyes with my hand.
When I was almost there, I shouted to everyone to get back into the vehicles. I was surprised to see everyone immediately turn, either to climb back aboard the bus or run back to the two Dodge’s behind.
I jumped up the stairs, and Gee pressed the button to close the doors. My breathing was really laboured and sweat poured down my face.
‘Good shit?’ Jack asked.
Between deep breaths I managed to say, ‘Bear, and zombies.’
The bus started to move forwards.
‘Bollocks,’ Jack said, seemingly not believing me. Although I noted a slight uncertainty in his voice.
The state I was in made it obvious something had happened.
‘What happened?’ Shannon asked.
I sat on one of the seats and tried to calm down. I was just about to answer, when I noticed Gilberto, Ali, Sandra and two of the kids sat at the back of the bus.
Shannon noticed me looking. ‘One of their vehicles was running low on gas, so we decided it was safer to leave it behind.’
‘What happened in the woods?’ Jack asked impatiently.
It was still hard to breathe, but I managed to say, ‘Honestly. Chased by bear. Zombies saved me. They distracted the bear. I legged it.’
‘I did warn you there might be bears around here,’ Jack said.
‘I’m still alive, and I finally saw a bear,’ I jubilantly said, adrenaline still pounding through me. ‘I’m well happy with that.’
Jack handed me a can of Diet Pepsi, saying, ‘You need to be more careful. We all need to be more careful. Even if it’s to go for a shit, we need to stay in pairs.’
‘Pervert,’ I said.
‘Jack is right,’ Shannon said. ‘Until we’re safely in Canada, we need to be ultra-vigilant. We should always pair up, no matter what we’re doing.’
‘Even if I’m having a–,’ I started.
‘No,’ Jack interrupted. ‘You can do that on your own. Unle
ss Gee would like to join you.’
‘What you talking about?’ Gee asked from the driver’s seat.
‘They’re not talking about anything Gee,’ Shannon answered. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
Gee shrugged his shoulders. ‘I not worry.’
‘Good,’ Shannon said.
Ali left her family members and walked down the bus towards us, sitting down on the row opposite me.
‘Hi,’ she said brightly. ‘Apart from getting chased by bears, what have you been up to since you left us?’ She looked to me, and then at Jack.
I hadn’t quite got my breath back, so I let Jack tell his story. Once he’d finished, I filled her in on what I’d done after losing Jack in Austin.
‘How about you?’ I asked. ‘Why are you all the way over here in Washington State?’
‘After you left, the swarms continued getting bigger,’ she replied. ‘One afternoon, we looked out and the entire fence on one side of the warehouse was lying flat on the floor. The concrete posts had been ripped out of the ground. It wasn’t hard to convince the rest of them we should leave.’ She glanced over to the back row of the bus, before lowering her voice slightly. ‘We drove towards Salt Lake City, to see if we could find Dale and Sophia.’
I leaned in towards Michael and Shannon, who were sat on the row in front of Ali. ‘Sandra’s husband and daughter,’ I whispered.
‘We couldn’t find them,’ Ali said, her eyes glistening, but her voice steady. ‘We left a letter for them in the warehouse, detailing our plans. We’re so far off that plan now, they’ll never find us. We just have to hope they went north a long time ago. Sandra is devastated. We all are, but she’s staying strong for the kids.’
She leaned back and let out a long sigh, only taking a few seconds to compose herself. ‘Salt Lake City was bad,’ she continued. ‘The east side of Great Salt Lake looked like an atomic bomb had been dropped on it. And the zombies seemed to be endless. So we decided to go west, with the intention of getting back on track later. We’d written in the letter that we were going to try and get into Canada via Sweet Grass, Montana. Every time we tried to go back east something would block us. The roads would be gone, or huge swarms would stop us.’ Ali’s head suddenly perked up. ‘Hey, you guys seen the swarms moving around at night?’
‘Yes,’ we all answered in unison.
Ali actually leaned away away from us, literally taken aback.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Well, we met up with Richard, Chris and Maya just after crossing into Oregon. It was Richard that suggested we shouldn’t worry about where we cross the border, just as long as we did actually cross it. Then we could drive through Canada to the other side of Sweet Grass.’
‘When did Maya get bitten?’ Michael asked her.
‘Just before going into the Costco. She woke up a sleeping zombie by accident, then killed it and ran into the shop.’
‘Probably best Gee killed that Chris guy,’ I said. ‘There isn’t room for two people called Chris in this story.’
‘Chris,’ Shannon exclaimed, her brow furrowed. ‘You should never wish anybody dead, even if they were planning on killing you.’
‘That doesn’t make any sense,’ I replied. ‘And I thought you said you didn’t want to be the mother figure in the group?’
Shannon shook her head, giving her husband a frustrated glance. Michael pretended not to see the look, making Shannon even more infuriated.
‘And then we met you lot,’ Ali said, probably trying to change the subject. ‘Obviously not the best introduction, but it is the end of the world, so these things seem to happen quite often now.’
‘Michael,’ Gee called out. ‘I think we leave 90 road now.’
‘Sorry Gee,’ Michael replied, spinning around in his seat to face forwards. ‘Yes next right. Once we’re around Seattle we’ll stop for the day just south of Snohomish. I’m guessing there’ll be a lot of swarms, as we now seem to be calling them, around Seattle. So we’re probably best not attempting our day time driving again.’
‘You drove in the day light?’ Ali asked, wide eyed.
‘Yes, a definite error on our part,’ Shannon replied. ‘We were cleaning all the blood off the front of the bus just before we met you and your family.’
Ali stood up, saying, ‘Talking of family. I better keep an eye on my cousins behind us.’
‘Ramrod isn’t driving is he?’ I asked her.
‘No, Pete will be doing the driving. And Steve seems to have given up on wanting to be called Ramrod.’
‘Good,’ I said.
‘Yes, very good,’ Shannon agreed. ‘Ramrod? It sounds too…sexual.’
‘Sexual?’ Jack asked. ‘Maybe to you Shannon.’
Smiling, Ali walked to the back of the bus. Shannon let out an exasperated sigh and swivelled on her seat to face forward. I grinned at Jack before turning to look out of the window next to me. The pitch black night meant all I could see was my own battered reflection, and the reflection of a very disgruntled looking Shannon on the other side of the bus.
There was a very deep and distracting ache in the right side of my head.
Chapter 5: River Of Blood
There was a good chance I may have nodded off. Screams from the back of the bus dragged me back to consciousness. My head quickly shot upright. I could hear metal crunching and tyres screeching from behind us. The Rodriguez’s were all shouting to stop. The bus started to slow down.
Jack looked as startled as me, so I guessed he may have also been asleep. We both climbed to our feet and headed towards the back of the bus.
‘What is it?’ Shannon asked from close behind me.
‘The headlights behind us,’ Gilberto said in a panic. ‘They disappeared. Then we heard a loud crashing noise.’
‘Gee,’ Michael called out. ‘Back us up. Let’s see where they’ve gone.’
Incredibly loud beeps sounded out as the bus started reversing. I tried to look out of the crowded back window. Our reverse lights illuminated a small patch of road behind us.
A few people gasped as shapes appeared from out of the darkness. For a split second I thought it would be the Rodriguez brothers with the young orphan boy.
I have no idea what that kid is called.
It wasn’t the brothers, or the boy with no name. The shapes were zombies. They started to sprint towards us, soon slamming into the back of the bus.
Sandra was repeating the word, ‘No.’
Gee must have heard the banging, because he shouted over his shoulder, ‘What happening?’
‘Keep going,’ Shannon instructed. ‘There are zombies here. We’ll tell you when to stop.’
Gee obediently carried on driving.
More and more of the sprinting dead were in the road. We were dragging them away from whatever they’d been interested in.
I hope they haven’t made it into their vehicle. These night time swarms are really pissing me off.
A few seconds later and the bottom of a Dodge Caravan came into view. It was lying on its side, looking battered and bruised, like it had rolled a few times. The road between us and the Dodge was filled with a huge mass of dead creatures, all trying to gain access to the humans inside.
‘Gee!’ Shannon shouted. ‘I need you to go straight back. I’ll tell you when to stop. Go faster.’
What is she thinking? If we drive straight back we’ll smash into the crashed vehicle.
Ali, Sandra and Gilberto all turned and gave Shannon very concerned looks. It was too late for Shannon to explain her plan, as the bus was already hurtling towards the Dodge.
Bodies were bouncing off the back of the bus, clearing a path through the dead.
‘Stop!’ Shannon shouted.
The bus screeched to a halt, stopping incredibly close to the Dodge. We must have crushed a lot of the zombies between the two vehicles.
‘Can you see their van?’ Shannon asked Gee. He shouted back that he could, so Shannon continued. ‘Move us so we’re side by side. I want our fr
ont doors as close to the van as possible.’
‘Okay,’ Gee said.
Shannon turned to look at us while Gee manoeuvred the bus into position. ‘We clear a path to the van,’ she said. ‘Michael, Gee, Chris, Ali and I create a perimeter, using the bus and the van to shield two sides of us. Then Jack, Sandra and Gilberto get everyone out of the van. Okay?’
The bus suddenly stopped. We were in place. If anyone had any questions, or didn’t agree with Shannon, they didn’t say anything.
Everyone quickly made their way down to the front. I could hear Sandra trying to console her two kids behind me.
‘Everyone, collect your weapons,’ Shannon ordered. ‘Slight change of plan. Gee, make sure nothing gets on the bus, protect the children.’
Gee’s considerable frame seemed to look bigger than ever. I couldn’t stop myself from smirking as I passed him. His shoulders were pulled back and his chest was puffed out.
I was stood at the doors, with nobody in front of me.
How the fuck am I right at the front?
I quickly checked my gun. I’d reloaded it in the security office of the car park, so it was ready to go. The lights from the bus barely reached outside, but I could see the zombies hadn’t filled the space yet. There were a lot of squashed ones squirming around on the ground, but none on their feet.
‘Chris and Ali go left,’ Shannon said, with authority in her voice. ‘Michael and I go right.’
I gripped my axe in my hand. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.
The doors opened, and fuck knows why, I rushed out into the night.
I’m blaming peer pressure.
My feet squelched into the mushy dead bodies beneath us.
I’m gonna need some new walking boots.
An arm stretched out for me, so I brought the blunt end of my axe down onto the head that the arm belonged to. The thing’s forehead caved in, and the arm fell limply down. I quickly stamped my heel onto another’s head, as it was trying to rise up.
Ali stood by my side, carrying some kind of assault rifle in her hands. It much more aggressive looking than the rifle she had when I first met her.
‘Where the fuck did that come from?’ I asked, nodding to the gun.
