Chapter 21
The bus was loaded and ready to go. Years of practice engrained in the children, and even with missing buddies, they still managed to get everything together quickly, despite the chaos. Lucy did a headcount- they were still missing eleven kids. Eighteen of their own, in the caves somewhere, a few stranded on the walls or captured, maybe escaped in the woods. She was stuck – if they tried to find all of them, they might all perish. If they left, they'd be abandoning their own.
The sound of the padlock from the caves echoed in her mind. Click. Click. Click. Like a clock, ticking down time.
"Are we going now?"
Whoever asked it seemed far away, tinny – a thin voice she should recognize and yet she barely registered. Lucy's vision went funny- fading around the edges and she could only see in front of her. Her feet froze to the ground, yet her head was spinning.
"Hang on…" she gasped. She reached out for something to grip onto, but felt only small hands and shoulders.
Alone, alone, alone. You're all alone, baby.
The air in the garage grew thick, almost solid, and she struggled to fill her lungs. Was it gas? Some sort of chemical weapon? No, no, no – that's beyond the Coven you silly girl. When she looked around with her fading vision, the kids weren't struggling – they only looked at her with big, scared eyes. They said words, their mouths moved, but the words were garbled. Hands pushed her forward, momentum.
We. Us. Family. Isn't that what she always taught them? Help those who can't help themselves, and boy howdy, could she use a little help right now.
She was eight years old again, standing in front of the entire school in a silly costume in a silly play, and all her lines erased from memory. She was twelve, in the passenger side of her dad's truck after they were T-boned in an intersection, her dad slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious but alive. She was a teenager, hollering at her now ex-boyfriend and shaking the confession letter that was slipped into her locker that urged her to get tested. She was a new teacher, ready to sculpt the minds of young learners but instead nagging them to set up their tents when the radio starting blaring an emergency alert.
Not alone, you have them. Get up, get up, you silly girl. Get up and survive, get up and LIVE-
Lucy took a few deep breaths, shaky and slow. Gradually the blood pumping in her ears faded, the sounds of scared, children came back. But these kids did not wait idly by, helpless – they were loading the bus, checking each other for injuries, eyeing her nervously. Her legs were shaking, not just trembling but a knock-kneed quaking, but she pushed on. No time for this: escape first, panic later.
"Get in the bus," she croaked out. "NOW!" One of the older kids, it sounded like Nathan (Ethan?) began corralling the kids onto the bus.
"The door-" she pointed to the switch and one of the twins – she still couldn't see well enough to place which one, "When I give the signal, flip it and then run towards the bus. It will take a minute to start up, but can't have this thing running indoors or-"
"Got it."
No need to explain further. No need to let the other kids know there was also a possibility of poisoning them all.
"Keys aren't in the bus!" Stark called from inside the bus cab.
"SHIT!" The keys were always hidden in the bus for a quick getaway – where could they be? She spun through the rolodex of memories, a vague indication that the keys were in her office after the last maintenance inspection. She'd forgotten to put them back, so tired, exhausted.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
She bolted through the garage door towards her office, trying and failing to push out the sounds of gunfire (who was firing?) and tinkling glass and screams. Her office was a mess, she tossed papers until the telltale jingle of keys heralded her triumph.
Distant crashing from near the front door – no time – she ran back towards the garage.
"Bitch!"
Lucy stopped. At the end of the hallway, a figure in the dark stood at the end. The voice was raspy, but feminine. A knife glinted in the faint moonlight, something dark dripping from the tip. Lucy reached for her own knife, although it felt paltry when she saw the length of the other blade.
"Good. I'll get to gut the bitch that runs this shithole," the figure spat and strode down the hallway. Lucy moved forward, the door to the garage so close, only a few feet ahead of her. But if any of the kids came out…
She backed up a few feet, luring the figure closer to her down the hall.
"Come and get me, then."
The figure laughed with poison. As she rushed forward, Lucy noted how much bigger the figure was than she anticipated. At least six inches or so on Lucy, and some sort of strange headdress made of bone and twisted wire. Demonic.
Lucy feinted backwards as the figure darted into a lunge, stabbing empty air. A rasping call of rage, then she tracked Lucy around the hallway and-
The kitchen door swung open, hard, and cracked the figure right in the nose.
"FUCK!"
Lucy stumbled backwards herself, and more figures emerged and dove on the rasping figure until she grew quiet. A strong hand yanked her up, not gently but not too hard. She looked up.
It was Negan. The leather-clad, salt-and-pepper bearded angel of vengeance, here in the flesh.
"Well, well, well. I've been looking for you, dollface."
"What- how?" She was breathless, her elbow smarted from where it cracked against the floor. She peered around him and spotted a man she didn't recognize patting down the now-dead figure in the hallway.
Ghost stomped over, unconcerned over the reunion. "Where is everyone?"
"Oh, Ghost!" She pulled him towards her and squeezed him in a too-tight hug. He struggled at first, like a kitten in a child's clutches, but accepted his fate and went limp.
"MMmhggfff?" His question was lost in the folds of fabric and his partially mushed face.
Lucy tried to control her tears. "Most of the kids are in the garage, loaded in the bus." She let him go, tears freely flowing now. "The others…"
"What happened?" said the stranger. Lucy couldn't make out his features in the dark, but his low was low, comforting.
Negan held up a hand. "If one motherfucker got in, there's more to follow. We better fuckin' boogie."
"Can the others be saved?" the stranger asked.
Lucy shook her head. "Not quickly enough – they're in the caverns. In the woods – maybe captured… I…don't know if they-" Her voice hitched and she shook her head again.
Negan put his hand on her back. "C'mon. Tick fuckin' tock."
She led them robotically to the garage, the rest was a blur. Ghost told her something about staying behind, and she didn't have the energy to protest. If anyone could protect himself, if anyone could save the others or lead them to safety, it was Ghost. The bus was silent, aside from sniffling, the children didn't even seem to register the two new strangers.
It was all a dream, it was all a bad dream, one child was saying to another. We'll wake up tomorrow and everything will be okay.
Lucy put the keys in the ignition. Nothing would ever be okay again.
/ / / / /
Navigating through the winding wooded road was hard enough without trying to not steal glances at Negan and his crew (she now knew the stranger's name to be Rick) in the mirror. Their escape had been narrow enough – the garage door rattled noisily, enough to draw the Coven from wherever they lurked, and the children- those who could still function- threw Molotovs and swatted at any that lurked too close to the bus with sharpened broom handles meant for spearing walker heads.
The bus was solid, reinforced with metal sheeting and slits that could be opened and closed at will. It was her greatest achievement in ensuring their safety, and had taken every ounce of the rusty skills she had helping her father build and experiment in his workshop. Simpler times – they were building things for recreation then, not survival.
Negan had motioned for her to slow down not far from the settlement, and a man emerged from the woods – she recognized him from their previous visit. She idled the bus, not wanting to risk a dead engine if she shut it off. A faint smile threatened his lips when he stepped onto the bus, but other than that, he sat down with a silent nod towards Lucy.
Distant whoops and hollers carried in the darkness, and something smacked against the back of the bus – a mud clot. A child screamed, someone shushed them. Glancing in the side mirror, all she saw were flames. Home was burning.
"They won," she said quietly.
"Not yet," Rick said, and put a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened and put the bus in drive as more mud clots smacked the bus. The Coven was catching up – the bus wasn't particularly fast to begin with, and now was weighed down with the extra armor.
The bus pushed forward at an excruciatingly slow pace, she was practically flooring it. The Coven were running with ease towards the crawling bus, and soon could overtake it. Maybe fifteen, twenty of them gaining speed.
"They're coming!" a shrill voice shrieked from the back.
Lucy glanced out the mirror and saw shadows outlined in the fire burning behind them. The kids were right – the Coven was slowly closing the distance between the slow-moving bus. The littlest children were pushed in the middle of the bus, while the older children cracked the windows down and began firing handguns, slingshots, thrusting down sticks - whatever they had at the approaching swarm. Negan, Rick and Daryl positioned themselves towards the back, and used their superior rifles to take down some of the fastest runners.
The bus groaned and the dial agonizingly, excruciatingly, crawled upwards. Ahead, the uphill road would meet with the main road, and they could swing downhill out of the mountains.
Ethan shoved his way to the front. "We'll pick up speed here!"
Lucy nodded. "Yeah, but then the road gets windy – if we go too fast, this beast will tip over."
"We'll be fine if we can get it up to 20 at least. Those guys can't run faster than 15 mph, probably."
Lucy smiled. "Well, at least now I know you are sometimes paying attention during your lessons when you look half-asleep."
Ethan smirked. "Just sometimes. Don't get used to it"
It worked. They picked up enough speed, and with some careful breaking they made it far enough down the hill for Lucy to breathe a little easier. Judging by the cheers in the back, they'd lost the Coven a half-mile back, but she didn't want to risk it. They'd lay waiting along the roads maybe, or there could be a blockade. Her mind reeled with all the potential hazards, she didn't notice Negan settle in the seat behind her.
"Nice fuckin' driving, slick."
She raised an eyebrow. "So, you showed up to rescue us. What's your plan?"
Negan smiled. "Thought you'd never fuckin' ask!"