Chapter Ten.
The first few days, night for Seras, in The Bus mainly consisted of Integra taking stock of their supplies, as she didn't trust any information that had been given to them regarding the matter.
As it happened, their supply cash had been over-estimated. "Well, I think someone said we'd have to forage at least once," Ashley said.
"We need to start foraging now," Integra said, looking over her own list. "We'll be lucky if we reach Ohio with this. I can't even guess how poorly they judged the fuel consumption."
Seras had been sitting in the back living area, glad she wasn't a drain on their regular rations. Integra's stock-taking had raised a question in Seras's mind about her own food source. It didn't take the five of them to operate The Bus, although having a spare was a plus. While there were plenty of practical reasons for Umbrella to have trained three people to run it, Seras had the sneaking suspicion that at least one of them had been sent along for another, unspoken, purpose.
Opening an atlas, she found a large map of the United States to distract her. If her mind got on the subject she had been skirting, it might show on her face and sooner or later her human friends would be thinking about it as well. The map didn't comfort her in the slightest. Despite having been in America once before, her geographical sense of the place was a little off. It was a long way to where Alice was suspected to be, meaning there was plenty of time for bad things to happen.
Their first call from Wesker came during a downpour while heading down a fairly clear stretch of highway. Clear save for the zombies at least. Each one was following the other, making a chain all the way back to the city they had left.
The computer screen at the center of The Bus took the call as it was being manned by Jill. "Status report," he said.
"The food count is off," Jill said. "We'll have to risk foraging a lot more than you had estimated."
The screen was blank, only Wesker's voice was coming through. Seras resisted the urge to look around for the hidden cameras she felt sure were there, allowing Wesker to read their emotions while keeping his own face hidden.
"You'll have to deal with it," Wesker said. "You left before you were scheduled, so there are some added difficulties no one could foresee."
"What about the fuel?" Jill asked. "The meters say we're in good shape. Are they defective as well?"
"Not to my knowledge," Wesker said. "I'll remind you that you're far better off than you could be."
"And I'll remind you that we were essentially press-ganged into this insane scheme," Jill said.
As they bantered back and forth, Seras looked at Integra and wondered if they hadn't both made a mistake. Maybe there were better ways to spend their post-apocalypse days than this, ideas they hadn't thought of.
No, she decided, there weren't. Seras stopped musing to herself upon hearing Jill and Wesker argue about why they hadn't been flown into Nevada and were driving. It had something to do with The Bus being needed to find Alice, and there being no jet fuel to spare.
"None to spare?" Jill said. "We're supposed to be finding a cure for the T-virus and you can't spring for some jet fuel?"
"What little fuel we have on hand is…"
Seras had tuned out again. If Wesker had something vital to tell them, he would have mentioned it by now. With little else to do, Seras turned her mind to their first foraging trip. Most places had likely been picked clean, but she bet there would be a few houses with something extra, or maybe even a bomb shelter. She had always heard about paranoid Americans building shelters near their houses in case of the Armageddon, maybe they would be lucky and stumble across one.
"Well that was useless," Jill said.
Seras realized the conversation was over and looked up. "When the rain stops, I'm going to go sit on the roof and look for likely spots to go scavenging," Seras said.
"That might not be for a while," Leon said, looking up at the sky though the windshield.
"Four hours, give or take," Ashley said from the passengers seat. Her monitor showed what looked to be a weather radar map.
It was shaping up to be that her worst enemy was boredom. She tried losing herself in thought as The Bus rolled along, half wishing the cord beneath would come unplugged again and she would have something to do with herself.
Something landed on The Bus's hood, making Ashley scream. Seras looked to the front to see what had happened in time to spot something crawl up over the windshield and onto the roof. "What was that?" Jill said. Footsteps on the roof, belong to something with four legs, made their way down the length of The Bus.
"It looked like a…a licker but different," Leon said.
The image of the hideous licker creatures she had run across in Raccoon City flashed before Seras's mind. It occurred to her suddenly that they hadn't asked Wesker about the strange zombie they had encountered, but this was more pressing, as she suspected whatever had leapt into The Bus was still on the roof.
"I'll go kill it," Seras said, standing up. "You all stay here."
"Wait," Integra said. "Leon, keep driving. Seras, you don't know how many there are or what they're capable of."
Seras stopped, used to obeying Integra. The sound of the creature shifting on the roof could be heard in the cabin. Something thudded against the side as Jill began tapping on her keyboard, calling up images from the cameras mounted outside. "Look at this," Jill said.
The image was grainy and grey, the rain not helping much either. Clinging to the side of The Bus was what Seras thought was a giant eyeless frog with its limbs having the musculature of a human. The mouth on the monster seemed wide, making her wonder if concealed a long, lashing tongue or just sharp teeth. "Are there cameras on the roof?" Seras asked.
"The gun turret has a targeting camera. I could deploy it and shoot the one on the roof," Jill said.
"We might need the bullets later," Integra said. "We should wait until we need it."
The frog creature began thumping the side of The Bus and was followed by the one on the roof. Its feet had suction cups on them, but it seemed to be able to ball its front paw into a fist and use it as a bludgeon.
"What are they doing?" Ashley said. "They can't get in, can they?"
"No, but they can break sensor equipment we won't be able to fix," Leon said. "They're not falling off, so we might want to stop and take care of them."
Everyone except for Leon looked to Seras. "What? I said I wanted to go out and kill them," Seras said.
"Be careful," Integra said. "Leon, stop the vehicle."
"Aye, aye, Captain," Leon muttered, applying the break. The Bus slowed to a stop and the creature's began moving. The one from the side moved up on the roof and began pounding as if hoping the hull would crack open.
Seras kept the machete at her side but picked up one of the assault rifles she and Integra had taken from the dead Umbrella guards on the boat ride over from England. "Shut the door behind me," Seras said, "Opening it and jumping out into the highway in the rain.
She turned in time to see it shut and the two frog monsters clamor over and stop at the edge of The Bus's roof. They sat on their haunches like frogs and didn't move. Seras couldn't see any eyes on the creatures and wondered how they were able to see.
A moan caught her attention briefly and she realized there were at least a dozen zombies in the area where they had stopped. Only two were close enough to be a potential problem and so she didn't worry about them.
When her attention returned to the roof she saw that one frog creature was gone. "Quick little buggers," she said, aiming the rifle at the one remaining in view. She fired, puncturing its grey, pebbled skin. It backed away out of sight, not making a sound. "Missed the brain," she said, walking around towards the back of The Bus where she would be able to see them both better. She raised the rifle and fired at the two approaching zombies, downing them both.
Seras spotted the top of one of the monsters as it headed towards the front of The Bus. Neither had come down onto the ground and seemed to be hiding from her. Looking behind her to see how close the zombies were, she decided she could wait the frog monsters out for a little bit. If they didn't make their move soon, she decided to jump up to the roof where the only place for them to hide would be under the vehicle.
Something wet and sticky struck her hard in the shin, knocking her off balance. It tugged her leg forward, causing her to fall onto her back. Looking down at her leg, she saw that one of the creatures had crawled under The Bus and shot its long tongue out at her. Now she saw the width of its mouth and it was indeed lined with sharp teeth.
She fired into the mouth, this time hitting the brain and making the creature die. As it expired, it didn't retract its tongue. Instead, the sticky wad of pink flesh went limp and held tight to her leg. While reaching to draw her machete, she barely had time to throw her forearm up and catch the tongue of the second creature that had crawled out from around the right hand side.
It pulled her forearm away and began dragging her towards its mouth. Using her left hand, she awkwardly tried to shoot the creature, but the shot went wide and nearly hit The Bus's rear wheel. Thinking about the damage the creature's teeth would do to her and how hungry she would get from healing it, she started to become angry. Gritting her teeth she kept trying to draw a bead on the monster with her gun but it was shuffling from side to side and moving backwards, jerking her arm while the first monster's tongue was still hampering her leg.
Gunfire from the top of The Bus pelted the monster and made it stop moving. Seras looked up to see Integra holding her assault rifle. "Get inside, it's wet out here," Integra said, disappearing back down the roof hatch.
Using her machete to severe the tongues and pry them off her body, Seras got up before the few zombies that had been attracted by the commotion got near her. Wet and a little humiliated, she climbed up onto the roof and knocked on the hatch. It opened and she saw Integra standing at the bottom of the ladder back far enough to keep out of the rain. "I'm going to stay up here and keep a watch," Seras said. "I'm already soaked."
"I suppose you won't catch your death of a cold," Integra called back up. "Suit yourself."
Seras shut the hatch and checked her rifle. She took a seat on the top of the vehicle where she wouldn't fall as Leon began driving forward. With the rain on her face and the dead countryside to look at, she wondered where the frog creatures had come from, and what other sorts of mutants the T-virus had spawned in nature.
To be continued…