Thus far, through the cooperative efforts of Chad and Ashley, the group had maneged to avoid any larger roads and neighborhoods, and were still making quite good time. Ashley estimated that they would be to her relatives house within twenty or so minutes. It would feel like forever.
Meanwhile, the insane "humans", if they could even be called human, where still a common sight. Though the bus easily outran them, and any of them that actually got in the way of the bus weren't much of a threat moments later. The group still wasn't at all sure what to refer to these creatures as, but so far, Nick's "zombie" theory seemed pretty plausible.
"Dude, anyone see 'Black Hawk Down'?", Chad asked, eyes, of course, kept on the road ahead, as he broke a silence that had lasted maybe thirty seconds tops. The group was communicating pretty well considering.
"Yeah, I did.", Mike spoke up from his seat, a still asleep Molly still nestled against his huge frame. His 870 shotgun slung in a comfortable way on his right. Ready to be whipped out at a moments notice, but not quite in the way.
"Yeah, I think I saw that one.", Tracy said, sitting in the seat right behind Chad next to Ashley, who was still directing the appointed driver to the desired destination.
"Was that any good?", Ashley added, eyes darting from Tracy to Chad.
"Fuckin' A, it was. Saw it at Nick's house. He owns it. Anyway, we should call those fuckers "Skinnies". Just like the fuckin' movie. I mean, why the hell not?"
Nick let out a small laugh, "Hate to break it to ya, man, but there's a slight difference between Somalians and what we're dealing with here."
"Fuck you, man. Ill call 'em what I want.", Chad replied, smiling. "Oh look, skinny on the left.", he reported, as one of the crazed people hopelessly pursued the bus, only to be lost to sight moments later.
Nick smiled, as he rolled his eyes in a mock sarcastic way.
It had been only about fifteen to twenty minutes since Molly's rescue, but it had felt like several eternities had passed. No one really knew what would happen when the they reached their next stop, but at the moment, no one seemed to care.
Nick considered this a good thing, as this could be the last break the group might have for a while.
"That was a good movie.", Mike spoke up.
"Great movie.", Chad corrected, "Where now, Ash?", he asked, not glancing back at all.
Ashley looked around quickly, familiarizing herself with the immediate surroundings, "Just keep following this road. We make a turn in a couple minutes, but not for a little while."
"Gotcha.", Chad confirmed with a slight nod, "What do we do when we get there?", Chad asked Nick, hoping the answer would be good.
Nick, in fact, did have enough time to come up with at least an adequate one, "We get there, and we wait, see how many of them show up. If it's not a lot, we waste 'em, and secure the house by going through a second floor window. We need the bus pretty close, as close as Chad can get it, so we can get the fuck out fast if we need to."
"What if there are a lot of them there?", Tracy addressed what everyone was thinking.
Nick was silent for a moment, "I dunno." he said, "We'll need to think of something else."
"Well, fuck that shit. We'd better hope it's fuckin' secure." Chad muttered.
"Fuck yeah.", Mike agreed.
Nick nodded, "Right. Is everyone ready?"
"As ready as we're gonna get." Ashley muttered, "Take this left turn, Chad."
"Got it."
Chad swerved the bus down the surprisingly empty and quiet suburb street. There wasn't a single "skinny" in sight.
"It's gettin' quiet, man." Chad said, "I dunno 'bout y'all, but Im thinkin' the things are heading towards the city. That's what Ive noticed at least."
"That would make sense.", Nick agreed, "That's where the meat is."
"Dude, you think they can smell us, or something?", Chad asked, thinking the situation through.
Nick shrugged, "Dunno."
"Maybe they can hear, and they're drawn to the city, because that's where most of the gunfire is coming from.", Tracy observed.
"I wouldn't be surprised.", Nick said simply, shrugging again, "Let's just be as quiet as we can."
Though everyone knew that a bus wasn't exactly the most silent mode of transportation.
"Well, fuck.", Mike muttered as he turned his head and looked out to his right. He had the window seat on the right side of the bus, which made viewing in that direction very easy. Molly was still curled up, fast asleep, next to him. No one had any idea how she had just fallen asleep so fast. Maybe it was because she wasn't feeling very well. No one really cared about the reason for her nearly instantaneous slumber. All the group knew is that besides being a bit sick, she seemed alright. And, of course, there were far more pressing matters at hand.
Mike surveyed the city: Skyscrapers visible in the distance, dozens of helicopters buzzing around them like agitated wasps from a hive. Mike noted that one of the buildings appeared to be on fire., and another had no power. But visibility was limited at this distance, and he couldn't really see much more then that. The slight fog that blanketed the whole area wasn't helping visibility all that much either.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mike saw Nick turn towards him, and he turned to meet his stare.
Nick was occupying the front seat, opposite the side of the driver. He had the whole seat to himself, and was layed out along it's length, taking up the whole thing. His back pressed against the side of the bus, M4 relaxed in his lap. Mike and Molly sat in the seat just behind him, or, the second seat on the passenger side of the bus.
Mike and Nick locked eyes.
"Mike, I need you to wake Molly up. I need to give her a weapon, and we need to cut her hair.", Nick said, as he adjusted position to retrieve his backpack. He grabbed the black bag and unzipped it, and rummaged around inside for several moments.
"Kay, man.", Mike said.
He shook Molly gently, and she stirred, eyes snapping open. She looked more then a little bit groggy.
"What..?", she muttered in a very tiny, tired voice.
"Babe, I'm sorry. You need to wake up now.", Mike said somberly, as Nick finished retrieving the items he had been looking for from his bag: The Glock 17 and holster, the two extra clips that with with it, and a pair of heavy-duty scissors.
"Where are we?". Molly asked, waking up more with each passing moment, as she glanced around quickly, realization of her predicament once again setting in with about as much subtlety as a collapsing building.
"We're on our way to a safe place.", Mike said, hoping like hell he was telling the truth.
"Where?", Molly looked up at him.
"I dunno. Never been there. But it's outside the city, and it should be pretty cool." Mike said using the most assuring voice he could muster. He just wished he could assure himself.
Nick, who had watched this exchange in a polite, quiet manner, cleared his throat, and sat up higher in the seat, "Molly, we need to cut your hair. These things grab on to anything they can. We're also gonna give you this.", he said, passing the Glock and clips to Mike, followed closely by the scissors.
Mike accepted the items.
Molly was quiet. She, like the other girls, didn't really want to part with her hair, but Mike and everyone else had gotten this far using the same precautions, and Molly was willing to bit the bullet here, and not complain.
"Okay.", she said softly, nodding faintly several times.
"Mike, would you cut her hair. At least shorter then shoulder length, and teach her how to use that, would you?", Nick asked, referring to the Glock. It wasn't quite an order, but it might as well have been one. Nick was at least being polite and respective with his position of command.
Nick nodded, "Thank you, Molly."
She smiled, "No problem." She turned to Mike, "Okay, let's do this.", she said, giving a disarming smile.
Mike smiled back, "Kay, babe. Could you lean forward please?"
"On the road again.", Chad muttered, as he avoided an abandoned sedan, and seeing another "skinny" run past.
"I can't wait to get on the road again."
Tracy giggled slightly, something completely out of place in this situation. But hey, Chad had that effect on people.
Chad smiled even wider. He was already counting his blessings on being alive to begin with. He wasn't going to fuck this up. This group was going to survive. Chad knew that everyone here was going to try their hardest to make survival a reality.
Chad glanced in the overhead mirror, and was just able to see everyone at once. Mike and Molly seeming to be alright, as Mike delicately cut Molly's very long, dark hair, to what would be considered a "safe" length. Then there was Nick, who's back was faced to the outside, as though he could care less what was going on out there. His face was set in a deep concentration way, and his eyes stared off into space, as he planned what was to be done next. Chad's eyes then flashed back to the road for a moment, and then back to the mirror, where he saw Ali, who was in a similar trance as Nick, though she was staring out the window, as the end of the world unfolded before her.
The tiny girl had so far proved to be practically unreadable, and Chad could only guess where her mind was at this moment. She hadn't said more then three sentences this whole day, and she was only emphisizing that point further with her current silence.
Chad's eyes then settled on the last two members of this rag-tag under aged group: Ashley and Tracy, who were chatting amongst themselves, as only best friends can. Chad wasn't really paying much attention to them, even though they were right behind him. His driving was taking up much of his attention. And rightfully so.
Chad looked back to the road. It was surprisingly empty. There were barely any abandoned cars left in the road at all, and the one's that were there were incredibly easy to avoid.
There were, however, many cars that had crashed off the road into walls, buildings, trees, bushes, and other objects that a car couldn't pass through, of which there are many.
And Chad wasn't quite sure over the roar of the engine, but he could swear he could hear gunfire. It was as comforting as it was disconcerting. One the one hand, gunfire meant that the things were out there. One the other it also meant that there were people still out there. People who were still... people. It gave Chad comfort knowing that they weren't alone.
It was several minutes of casual banter from some members of the group, and complete silence from others, when Ashley directed Chad to take another turn.
She reported that they were maybe five minutes away from their destination, and Nick ordered that everyone prepare themselves.
Chad noted that he hadn't seen a single skinny in nearly a half mile.
After about seven minutes of driving down increasingly winding roads in the middle of seemingly nowhere, though Chad knew full well they were right in the middle of the suburbs, that they came to a street, on which many houses sat.
Unlike Molly's street, the houses of this street were placed farther apart, and there were more trees, and other foliage in between them. It was much more scenic, and more out of the way. Also, the houses didn't all look exactly the same, but were obviously different from every other house there. It would have been a nice place in which to live.
Nick's voice shook Chad out of his mind, and back to reality, "Ashley, which house?"
"The one at the end of the street.", Ashley pointed to a dull grey house that was just visible behind some hedges about two hundred yards away.
"Right. Everyone look around, and let me know if you see any of those things."
"Skinnies.", Chad corrected.
"Not now, Chad.", Nick took a breath, "Get as close to the house as you possibly can without destroying it."
"You got it.", Chad muttered as the distance between house and bus decreased quickly. Chad lined up the mammoth vehicle to get it as close as he could to the house.
They drew close enough to the two story, grey house to make out more of the features.
"You see that window?", Nick pointed up, as he jumped out of his seat and took a standing position next to Chad, making sure to keep his balance.
"I see it.", Chad said. He slowed the bus, and pulled it off the road onto the front yard, edging it up slowly and carefully. He pulled it without about two and a half feet of the house, before shuddering to a stop.
"Shit, son... Kay, I can't get any closer, or a might hit the house.", Chad reported, craning his head to look up at the window which was the group's target for entry into the grey building.
The window was lower down then the second floor. It seemed to be caught in the middle of the first and second floor, and Chad guessed that it was the window of a staircase, where a landing was. It was maybe a little less then two feet above the bus, and about three feet tall, and four feet wide. Easy to get to and get through if the group avoided the thirty-some inch gap between the bus and the house.
The bus itself wasn't even nearly lined up perfectly, but the front itself was close enough to the target window that Nick decided the plan would be a go.
"Alright, Chad, kill the bus.", Nick said softly.
Chad did so with a quick the turn of the key, and the bus shuddered slightly into silence.
"Everyone look around.", Nick said, following his own order, as he readied his M4.
"Im not seeing anything.", a now wide-awake Molly said, as she stared out the window, holding her new Glock in the way Mike had instructed her. Her black hair now cropped short, the locks that had been cut lied at her feet on the bus floor.
"Im not seein' shit, either.", Mike said from beside his girlfriend, looking around as well.
Give it a couple minutes.", Nick said sharply, "Everyone just relax. If any of those things followed us here, they'll be here soon."
Nick made the group search the area like hawks for a silent two minutes and forty-seven seconds, before being completely satisfied that there were no skinnies in the area. In fact, there were no sounds at all. No screams, no gunshots. Nothing.
The search actually felt more like several, silent hours.
And the brief breather that the group had relished had come to a close.
"Well, where the fuck are they?", Chad asked, a tad nervously.
"Fuck if I know. Not here, I guess.", Mike shrugged, as he clutched his 870.
"Okay,", Nick began, silencing everyone, "I'm going in first. Mike, you're coming with me. Chad, stay were you are, right there. And the rest of you just stay here, and get ready. No one bring your packs, just leave them here, we won't need them inside."
And with that, Nick jumped onto the tops of the seats, and once again popped the forward most top hatch of the bus open.
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Well this chapter turned out about 1200 words longer then I was planning...Oh well. Hope your all still interested, and yes, there is more action, coming up. In the next chapter, actually. So stay tuned. This story is actually really, really slow, so I admire you all for your admirable patience. And thanks again to all, your support and comments are always welcomed.