Chapter 5:
On This Lonely Road
The Following Morning...
The white sun peeked over the branches of the trees. The roads from front to back were empty from any signs of life or death. Patches of blue sky peaked through the thin blankets of clouds. Frost covered the dirt and the windows of the bus, making the inside a freezing chamber. Birds chirped blissfully, the wind whistled through leaves; they could hear creek water in the distance running. It feels like only a few minutes have passed since night had fallen, but now it's already morning.
Duncan groaned in his sleep as his eyes twitched. Though he'd been asleep for a couple of hours it felt like he'd only had his eyes closed for five minutes. What woke him up however was his growling stomach.
His eyes slowly opened; out of reflex he stretched, quickly grabbing at his sore ribs when he did it. In that instant of yawing, he'd forgotten that the world had ended yesterday. He was about ready to hop off an imaginary bed and get ready for school before he realized he was on a bus with six other teens. His back hurt from the uncomfortable position he'd slept in against the steel wall. His head throbbed and he was freezing. On top of that, it felt like his stomach was turning inside out. He then remembered the last time he'd eaten a legit meal was his dinner from the other night.
Duncan sneezed, his nose now throbbing from when he fell down the stairs. It seemed like everything was in pain at the moment. Things won't get better until we find some place safe to stay, he thought.
Near the front of the bus, he could hear voices talking to one another in a low tone. Stretching and popping his knee caps a bit, Duncan sat up from his seat, looking down the aisle. He could see that just about everyone was awake, just sitting in their seats. Digging in his pocket, Duncan pulled his cellphone out so he could check the time. He sighed when he saw that it was ten in the morning.
"Hey," Duncan suddenly said, "Who's still asleep?" His question was practically answered when everyone's head turned to the back of the bus. "Everyone's awake," Celeste said.
"What's the holdup then?" he asked.
"The holdup," Ian began, "is that we seriously need a game plan. We've gotten out of the school and we've made it a guaranteed checkpoint that we're going to McChord but what are we going to do while getting there? The base is all the way in Lakewood; on a good normal day it takes about 45 minutes to get from where we are to there. But now the zombies are around. The freeway is probably packed with tons of cars, and if we decide to go that route it'll take us at least three to four hours to get there."
"Why not the streets then?" David asked.
"Right, we can take the streets if you don't want to take the freeway. It'll probably be faster but the roads are unpredictable. We don't know how many of Them there are and we don't know how hostile some of the survivors might be. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if there were soldiers out there shooting whatever moves in their sight," Ian explained.
"Then let's take the freeway," Duncan said, "Better safe than sorry."
"I agree with you," Ian said, "But to make matters more difficult: We're all hungry. We're gonna need to stop and get some food and water. A change of clothes would be nice too, as well as better weapons if we can get them. So regardless of what we do, we're gonna have to cut through the city. Hopefully not all of it, but the route leads to it unfortunately. We've all come to an agreement that if this whole group isn't a democracy then you're the leader Duncan, so what do you say we do?"
Duncan didn't like having all of this power over the group. He didn't really like making the decisions and didn't know why Ian just didn't take over instead. He sighed, scratching the back of his head as he sat back down in his seat. "Our main objective is McChord, but what's most important is food. So the first store we stop by, whether it is a corner store or a Walmart is where we'll get our food. Weapons and a change of clothes are an optional route if we have the time, being we already have some weapons. After that we head straight to I-5; by then we should be seeing people and soldiers. Any questions?"
He assumed everyone's silence meant they all agreed with the plan. "Alright then, let's get this show on the road."
David stood up from his seat, combing his messy ginger colored hair to the right as he slightly jogged over to the driver's seat, starting everything up. Duncan continued to sit in the back, while Liana went to sit next to Daisy and make sure she was OK. Celeste sat beside Ian at the very front seat, Carlos three seats behind them.
After a couple minutes of waiting, the bus slowly started rolling down the road. They were off.
Before long, the trees they drove through slowly vanished and the city of Seattle was now visible in the distance but was also a long ways away. The sky scrapers and the space needle still looked in good condition from a distance, but they could all assume it was much worse than it looked. Every now and then they could see black clouds of smoke float into the air, each member of the bus flinching a bit when they saw something explode. Their homes were as good as gone.
Most of them didn't want to look at it, but it wasn't much of a surprise to them; it wasn't anything they weren't already expecting.
The bus drive seemed long and silent as they drove through trashed out neighborhoods. Some of the houses were already broken into, a few of them up in flames. Every now and then there were cars that would speed pass them and into the city; sometimes they'd even see people running away. No one bothered to stop and pick up stragglers in the neighborhood though. This isn't the school, David thought, we don't know what any of these people will do if we let them on.
Every couple of minutes, a jet or a black hawk would come soaring through the sky, heading towards the city. Though the bus wasn't facing any problems, it was hard for anyone to really settle down and feel safe.
Liana looked over at Daisy who was sitting silently in her seat. Liana smiled at her new companion. "Hi," she said, "So you're Daisy Sasori right? I think I had some classes with you before. I'm Liana, but some people call me Ana," she greeted, putting a hand out for her to shake. Daisy, smiling at her friendly introduction shook her hand. "Nice to meet you," Daisy said.
"So how are you holding up?" Liana asked.
"My ribs hurt and I'm hungry, but hey I'm not dead," she answered. Liana laughed a bit, looking out the window when she saw two more jets fly over their heads. "Man," Liana began, "I'm not really sure if I want to go through the city. Who knows what's in it. From this view it doesn't look that bad but from how our lucks been I wouldn't bet on it."
Before long, the bus exited the suburbs and reached a small town in Northwest Seattle. Unlike the city of Seattle, Northwest Seattle was much like Tacoma and Lakewood; basically a large town. As they drove down, they kept a look out for any signs of Them. The streets were surprisingly empty, which made the group nervous. Singular cars would speed down the road every now and then, but there were no signs of life or death on the sidewalks. House windows were smashed in; some cars were crashed into building where they found some of Them gnawing on corpses.
Duncan could only guess that survivors were probably evacuated away from the town, either heading to base, the city, or another state.
"Hey," Ian pointed towards the front of the bus, "There's a mini mart right over there."
David drove into the small parking lot, parking the bus. Once everything was still, he looked at the side and rear view mirrors, making sure none of Them were near. "OK, we're clear for now," he said. Duncan grabbed the backpack full of medicine, dumping it out on one of the seats. "Alright," he said, "Do any of you guys have your cellphones with you?"
Celeste and David raised their hands. "Alright, Celeste already has my number, and David you can get it from her. I'll go in and get some food and drinks, text me if you see any of Them coming near the store-"
"Wait, you're not going in there alone are you?" Celeste asked.
"Good point, Carlos come with me," Duncan asked.
Carlos, swearing below his breath, picked up his baseball bat as he walked over to the door. Duncan put the backpack on his back, picking his baseball bat up as well. The two of them stood near the exit, looking back at the other students sitting on the bus. "Be careful Duncan," Ian said, "You too Carlos."
Duncan thumbed her up and Carlos said, "Whatever," under his breath as they stepped out of the bus. The Mini Mart was like a corner store, connected to smaller buildings like hair salons, comic book stores and coffee shops. The two boys walked over to the main entrance as they peered through the glass door covered in advertisements and propaganda posters. The lights in the store were on, thankfully, but they could see blood trails on the floors and a knocked over cash register on the ground.
"Do you think one of Them came in there?" Duncan asked.
"That's what she said," Carlos responded. Duncan looked at him with a serious expression on his face. "Dude, now's not the time for that."
"OK, OK. I don't know though, probably," he answered.
"That's comforting."
Duncan pushed the door open, flinching a bit when a small bell at the corner of the door rang, letting whoever may be in the building know that someone just entered. Carlos entered after Duncan, his nose scrunching a bit. "Smells like shit in here," he commented. "Well we won't be in here long, help me gather any sort of food and water you can find," Duncan said, rushing through the mini mart. He stepped over the blood on the floor, trying not to slip in it as he went to the back of the small store near the freezers. Opening them, he grabbed just about any drink he could get his hands on. Meanwhile, Carlos stood near the cash register, gathering any bits of money he could get. Duncan literally emptied the freezer, looking back at Carlos.
"Really?" he said.
"Hey, you never know when it might come in handy," Carlos shrugged.
Duncan started through the aisles now, grabbing bags of chips, fruit cans, and anything else that wouldn't spoil if they had to stay out longer than they needed to. Once Duncan had gotten to the final aisle, he found the store clerk's dead corpse lying on the ground. Hesitating, Duncan stopped at its feet. "Holy Shit," he said.
Carlos ran over to Duncan, stopping behind him when they saw the body. "Is he still alive?" Carlos asked, poking the body with the end of his bat. They were a bit relieved when they saw that it didn't move. "Someone else must have taken care of him before we came in," Duncan said, find two bullet holes, one in his left knee and another straight through the forehead. "Hey, it saved us the trouble of having to do the dirty work," Carlos smiled, "Did you get all the food?"
"Just about. It's a bunch of junk food though, other than some water bottles I managed to get and a couple cans of fruit."
"Well we won't be out here for long; there's probably plenty of food on base anyways. Now let's go, I'm starving."
...
The bus sat parked in the mini mart's parking lot as the teenagers ate. The hunger in their guts slowly subsided once they ate a satisfying amount of food, washing it down with water and soda. Besides eating though, the teenagers began to bond. They learned from Liana that she is allergic to dogs and oranges, and she really likes anything to do with nature. Ian is allergic to penicillin and has an older brother in college. Celeste's father is abusive, lost her mother at a young age and she based her band "Dreamer" on daily problems. David's a real happy-go-lucky guy, and knows a lot about hand guns and assault rifles. Carlos is one of those cool, popular kids with a foul mouth and has a crude sense of humor but overall is a good guy. Daisy was born in Japan, knows how to make medicine from scratch and knows archery. Duncan's dad was a Major in the USMC and he planned on joining the Navy SEAL's when he graduated.
They all sat together, conversing and eating their food, making sure not to eat all of it. The atmosphere was at last calm after the storm, with no sign of Them but at the same time no sign of living people either, which was quite strange; but all the same, they were happy they didn't have to worry about their lives for a remainder of their time.
Before long, almost two hours of sitting in the parking lot went by. The teenagers were done eating; now conversing with each other or thinking to themselves about what lies ahead. Liana, seeing that the weather was nice for once in Seattle, decided to get some fresh air. Best breathe it in now before I'm trapped in the bus for another couple hours, she thought as she stepped out of the bus.
Immediately after stepping out, a gust of warm air blew on her, giving her goosebumps. She inhaled it in like a drug, stretching her arms up as she smiled, sighing in relief. "Feels good to be free," she said to herself. "Hey, what are you doing?" she heard Duncan say at the door behind her. Liana turned to look at him, twirling a finger through her hair. "Just getting some fresh air; don't wanna stay in the bus all day ya know?" Duncan nodded, looking off to the side as he was about to take a seat.
"Come out with me," Liana suddenly said. Duncan looked down at her, a bit confused. "You look like you could use some fresh air too," she smiled.
Duncan, contemplating whether or not he really wanted to leave the bus was cut off when Liana grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. "Come on, don't be such a stick in the mud," she teased, bringing him outside. They stopped near the back of the bus, standing still like statues. Liana stretched her arms out, sighing once more. "Don't you just love the breeze?" she asked, her big blue eyes observing him, seeing that emotionless expression again.
"Not really," he responded.
"You're such a norm," she said, laughing a bit. She paused when she saw that Duncan was awkwardly half laughing at it, not finding her comment all that funny. Leaning against the bus, she looked up at the clouds, pointing out the shapes in her head as she looked over at Duncan. She'd be lying if she said she didn't think he was cute. He's so close-guarded though, she thought.
"I'm really glad we can relax a bit today," she suddenly said, "After all that stuff that happened yesterday."
"I'm honestly kinda nervous," Duncan suddenly said. "Why is that?" Liana asked.
"It's been really quiet. You'd think that the town would be in complete and utter chaos after everything that's happened. It could all just be in the city but I'm still-"
His fears all came true when suddenly a loud scream filled the air.. "What the hell is that?!" Duncan said, looking over at her. "It's a girl," Liana said, pointing near the alleyway between one of the building. The girl stood in the alleyway, waving her arms around as she screamed. "HELP ME!"
When Liana said, "Feels good to be free," I kinda wanted to say, "That's 'cause you're in America!"
Well that was extremely dramatic and a slight twist of endings. I felt like things were going too calm so BAM! Here's a problem. It gets worse in the next chapter. I have another poll on my profile and IT'S IMPORTANT, so you should check it out. Please review, hope you enjoyed, stay tune!
