"Why don't one of you guys just go ahead and shoot the crazy sonuvabitch and get it over with? Or at the very least you could push him out a window or something if it's a matter of you wanting to save on the ammo."
"Tara, do the words 'cold-blooded murder' mean anything to you?" Thomas asked in bemusement.
"Yea, I totally get what that means, but come on, he's nuts! I mean, hello, he kinda wants to kill us all. We should get him before he gets us. And it's not like anyone is gonna arrest us or something for doing it. I say what's one more dead body out there. The streets are already crawling with them. Literally even."
"Just because the world's in chaos out there, it doesn't give us the right to just turn our backs on the fundamental foundation of our civilization."
"Okay, and now you just lost me. How is killing a crazy fat man, who wants us all dead, gonna be a collapse of civilization?" the teen asked in confusion. "We don't have no civilization anymore."
"It's against the ten commandments, thou shalt not kill. And that was a double negative."
"Um...hello, self-defense. Duh. People almost always got off using that kind of defense on TV. And what's a double negative?"
"What?"
"That double negative thingy. What's that?"
"No, I mean, what the hell are you talking about self-defense and television."
"You know, like Law and Order, and all those courty, lawyery kinda shows. They always had people claiming self-defense when they killed other people and a bunch of them got off."
"That was television Tara, this is real life."
"Yea, and if you're trying to scare me about breaking the ten commandments and eternal damnation and all that Pat Robertson shit it's not gonna work. Take a look outside. I don't know about you, but I'm about as close to eternal damnation as it's possible to get right now, and I gotta tell ya, I'm not liking it so much."
"Not to take sides, but she's definitely got the right idea about that," Aaron said from the doorway of the security office. He stood there, arms loaded with foodstuffs they were slowly moving into the cramped security office.
"Thank you," Tara said, flashing him a beaming smile. Aaron shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.
"So, where'd Emily disappear to?" he asked, clearing his throat and trying to focus Tara's attention on something other than him.
"Up on the roof...with Matthew," the teen queen declared mischievously.
"On the roof?"
"Yes."
"With Matthew."
"Uh, yea. What part of 'on the roof with Matthew' didn't you get the first time I said it?"
"What are they up there for?" the soldier asked darkly.
"Maybe they're just having a good time," she purred, enjoying the look of jealousy on his face. He'd be the perfect ally.
"Emily's up there with some binoculars," Thomas interjected, trying to put an end to Tara's teasing.
"She still thinks there's someone else left alive out there, doesn't she?" Aaron commented, not really expecting an answer.
"We all need something to give us a little bit of hope. If this works for her, than so be it," the guard replied anyway. "In the meantime, we've got work of our own to do."
"Yea, right," Aaron muttered as Thomas left the room. "All the more reason for little Mattie to have his ass down here."
"Don't worry so much, Barry's with them.You can trust me when I tell you that he won't let Matthew try to cock block you. At least not much, unless it cuts into his entertainment out of the whole situation."
"Tara, you're a fucking ray of sunshine today. Really. It's almost got me wishing we'd left your ass on top of that elevator car."
"That's not very nice. And with me here, ready to help you with your little...problem."
"Just what in the hell do you have in mind little girl. I don't do jail bait."
"Again with the harsh words. Look, the way I see it, we both have the same kind of problem here and it's gonna be to our advantage to work together instead of against each other."
"Huh?"
"You want Emily. I want Matthew. It's that easy. I help keep him away from her, and you do the same. Simple."
"Everybody wins. Is that what you think?"
"Absol..."
"There's people on the streets!" Barry shouted, bursting through the door.
"We know, and they're all dead," huffed Tara.
"No. It's a bus! I mean, someone is driving one of those big ass charter bus things down the goddamn street! And they're heading this way even!"
"What's all the commotion?" Thomas demanded from the doorway, almost getting knocked down by Aaron in the latter's rush to get to the roof.
"There's a bus coming this way," he uttered, pushing his way by.
"Barry, stay here with Tara. Lock the door, don't open it until we get back," Thomas ordered.
"But.."
"Just do it!" he commanded, bolting after Aaron.
Up on the rooftop, Matthew and Emily stood, talking excitedly to each other. They no longer needed the binoculars they had carelessly perched atop the roof's edge as they watched the bus move progressively closer to the building, driving over any of the dead in its path. A herd of other dead were moving in a pack behind the bus.
"There's got to be a way toget on that bus," insisted Emily. "This is the chance to get out of here that we've all been waiting for."
"And then what? Do you think the fuel tank on that thing is limitless? We don't even know where they came from, how long they've been on the run, nothing. The best thing to do would be to try and get them up here."
The noise of Aaron bursting onto the rooftop prevented Emily from answering. "What's the news?" he asked without preamble.
"Looks like some kind of charter bus, other than that, not much to tell," Matthew said stiffly.
"Thomas is gonna try to raise them on the CB radio, it shouldn't take too long once he gets back to the office. We were half way up here before we even thought about it."
"So then what?" Matthew asked, feeling territorial with the way Aaron came up and wrapped an arm around Emily.
"I think we should get out of here while we have the chance," Emily told them.
"Too risky. We've got the wounded girl to think about. Even if there was a way to safely get us down to the street and onto the bus, I don't think she'd make it."
"He's right Emily. I didn't even think about that."
Emily's face fell, escape had seemed so close just minutes before, now it appeared to be just another dream. "So what's the use of contacting them?"
"To get them into the building," Thomas said as he joined them. "I managed to raise the driver on the radio, he said they're low on fuel, need a place to hole up."
"Okay, I'll bite. How?" Aaron asked skeptically.
"They said the bus has an emergency exit in the roof, they should be able to pull right up under the fire escape and climb to safety."
"What's going to keep those things from getting in here then?" the soldier replied.
"You really think those things can climb up the side of a bus?"
"It's not outside the realm of possibility," Emily said softly. "And some of those buses do have those ladder things, like on a mobile home, they let you get up onto the roof."
"We'll worry about that when the time comes. Meantime, I think Aaron and I should get into position on the fire escape, provide some cover fire for them," Thomas declared, unslinging the pair of rifles he'd brought up to the roof with him.
"I can help too."
"Emily, no, I know you said you know how to shoot, but this is different."
"How? And think real carefully before you answer Thomas, I never would have pegged you as a sexist."
"It's not that..." he stammered, trying unsuccessfully to avoid her eyes. "Okay... It's... I just don't want any more deaths on my hands. Not a woman. Not if I can prevent it," he murmured.
"You haven't caused anyone to die Thomas," she said, reaching out a hand towards him, confusion written all over her face.
"I could have done more to try to save people. That first day. It's been taking me back to 'Nam. There was this village..."
"Okay, not to detract from this little bleeding heart tale, but if we're gonna save a busload of people we need to move. Now."
As if punctuating his statement, Aaron briskly grabbed one of the rifles from Thomas' grasp, along with some extra ammunition from his belt, and strode towards the fire escape. The guard ran a shaky hand over his face, sighing. "He's right. We don't have time for this. Emily, do whatever you feel you have to."
The bus was so close they could hear the hiss of the air breaks as it slowed and prepared to turn into the ally. Aaron had already positioned himself on the fire escape, carefully taking aim as the bus at last came to a stop, its roof exit already open, and a young girl being hefted out. Thomas and Emily took up firing positions as well, and the three of them worked to keep as many of the charging dead at bay as they could. The terrified girl tried climbing back into the bus when the shots first rang out, but was blocked by the emergence of an equally young boy. Emily called out to them, trying to coax them towards the fire escape, but it wasn't until yet a third person appeared on the roof of the bus that the kids finally began to ascend the steps.
In short order, the eight people from the bus stood on the roof, looking down at the bus and the swarming dead. "There's really just the eight of you?" Emily asked hesitantly. It just seemed so unfair, so few survivors.
"Yea. We had a few more of us, back the last time we tried to stop for fuel. They didn't make it," Allen, the bus' driver explained.
"Is anyone injured?" Matthew asked, stepping into his EMT mode again. Somehow it was easier to deal with everything when he could give himself a purpose.
"Vicki over there, one of those things managed to get a hold of her arm, cut her up a bit," the bus driver said.
"It's just a little scratch. That's all," the woman said, brushing off their concern.
"Ma, you should have it looked at," a surly teen, who couldn't have been much older than Tara, chided. "It was really bleeding earlier, I didn't think it was ever gonna stop."
"Justin, I've told you before, I'm all right. Jesse and Jamie are the ones to worry about. They really need some food and some rest, this has all been so hard for them," she said, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around the two kids that had been the first off the bus. The girl, Jamie, hid her face in the woman's shoulder. Jesse squirmed and tried to move away, wanting to appear as tough as he imagined Justin did.
"I'm just glad to be off that fucking bus," blurted out the remaining female passenger. "Even this fucking roof is an improvement over that thing. God, the smell coming from the crapper alone was enough to make you want to puke."
"Natalie," snapped Vicki. "There are children here!" The younger woman just rolled her eyes, a cigarette seemingly materializing in her hand in the process. She gave the older woman an icy stare as she lit up, casually blowing the smoke in her direction.
The final person from the bus had caught Aaron's attention. He was roughly the same age as the soldier, seemed to be keeping his distance from the others, and despite the warmth of the afternoon, he persisted in wearing a light jacket. It was his face that stood out the most, a jagged scar slanting down beneath his left eye, beginning just above the cheekbone and ending beneath his jawline somewhere. The scar was puckered and pink, indicating it was a fairly new wound. The two men met each other's eyes.
"Well I'll be goddamned," the stranger muttered. "You're a sight for sore eyes here Sarge."
"Good to see you too LT. Never heard what happened to you...after the medevac..." he trailed of, gesturing weakly towards the scar.
"Yea, I know. Prettier than ever. Trust me, the rest of it looks much worse," he said with a grin. At Emily's questioning look he supplied, "First Lieutenant Sean Malloy. The Sarge here, he saved my ass in Iraq about4 months ago. I was just on my way to Ft. Pastor when this hit. It was going to be my first duty station since they finally let me go from Walter Reed."
"So Aaron's been a pretty busy boy saving your ass," she replied. "That's good. Now let's hope he can keep it safe a little longer."