Summary: Fox McCloud is on a prison bus after murdering someone else in cold, vindictive blood. When the strange, murderous beings conquer the bus, Fox must liberate himself before those things get him.

OCs as Justin, Danny, Clyde, Bennett, Crabtree, and Jerry.

!

The full moon hung high in the sky as mist and clouds loomed over and under it, making it a real-life painting. Fox McCloud stood in the darkened bedroom of the apartment, his gun trained on the target under his nose.

"C'mon, buddy, I told you like twenty times—" the target pleaded, holding one hand up at Fox, "I don't know anyone named Krys–!"

BANG!

Time was still for a bit. As Fox felt the walls slowly close in on him, he fled the apartment as fast as he could.

Someone heard the loud gunshot and quickly called the police.

Fox turned to his right, running past a shop as police sirens and lights slowly closed in on his location. Fox stopped in an alley, the gun still in his hand. Fox quickly deposited the weapon inside a trash can before zooming down the alley as fast as his canine legs could carry him. Two streets later, the vulpine paused before a brick wall, plastering himself against it, catching his breath; sadly, it was futile, as three patrol cars stopped before him, their lights swarming all over him like bugs on candy.

"Stay right there!" One officer barked at Fox.

"Put your hands in the air!" A second officer demanded, sounding less aggressive than the first.

"You have the right to remain silent!" A third officer called to Fox, as Fox subconsciously already had his hands up.

!

Fox McCloud sat in the middle section of the prison bus, watching a cop car zoom past the bus through the barred-up window. When the judge slammed his gavel, Fox knew his life was over. As the guards let the handcuffed Fox away, his friends–former friends–either looked at him with sheer disdain or could not at all. Falco folded his arms and shook his head disapprovingly; Slippy quickly looked away from Fox's figure, shielding his vision with a hand; Peppy–on the other hand—stared at Fox emotionlessly, arms folded on his chest like a disappointed father. Even though they were all silent, Fox could hear Peppy silently lecture him from afar.

"You should have left it to the pros, Fox."

FOX

2 Days In

Before Fox was an older-looking, gray-haired, bearded male Hylian; behind Fox was an iguana-like being whose spikes were dyed pure sapphire blue. The gray-haired man–Thrush–smirked to himself, yanking the chain that kept his fellow prisoners connected forward. Fox was sent forward a tad, but he remained stony. However, the sapphire blue-spiked iguana–Jaime–carped, "Come on, man."

Fox stared at the chain keeping them together, "Tied down to a bus full of suckers."

Thrush teased, "Come on, we know you love us, Foxy."

Thrush pulled on the chains again, making Jaime gripe at him, "What the hell, fool?"

"What?" Thrush inquired as if he never teased his fellow prisoners.

"You know," Jaime gritted his teeth, yanking the chain and getting back at Thrush. Jaime–annoyed—demanded, "Cut it out."

"Damn it, guys…" Fox groaned, thoroughly annoyed.

"Make me." Thrush's eyes narrowed slightly, sounding like a naughty second grader.

"Fuck yeah," Jaime huffed, sounding like a troublesome teenager.

"Yo, McCould, Jaime's gon' make me," Thrush informed Fox, sounding as if about to pull a massive prank.

"It's too hot for this…" Jaime carped, letting out a huge sigh.

"Yo, Foxy, I'm making him hot now." Thrush bragged, feeling all sorts of pride in his veins.

Jaime rolled his eyes. "No, you ain't."

"Tell that to my past flings." Thrush boasted, before continuing, "The ladies dig my heat, babe."

Fox sighed sadly, putting his chin on cuffed hands. "Settle down, you dunderheads."

Jaime clucked his tongue, "Tell that to chain-tugger!"

"Hey, can you open up a window? It's hot!" called a female prisoner–Nika–with a twangy accent, hair cropped worse than dying grass.

"It's a prison bus, skank," retorted another female prisoner- Sandra—one far portlier and with long, curly hair. Both female prisoners were on the opposite side of the bus, near the door.

"Jaime, you see the guy in that van?" Thrush began, motioning to the scratched-up, white van that stood silently on the highway. "He probably lives in that van now. You probably cremated his house and his valuables! I bet you made off with his mailbox. You steal his mailbox, bro?"

"No. At least I didn't traffic people." Jaime retorted haughtily.

Thrush admonished Jaime, "Dude, how often do I have to tell you?"

Jaime huffed, staring out the window. "Here we go again."

"I was falsely accused, seriously!" Thrush defended himself, shaking his head lightly.

"How old were those people?" Jaime inquired before he leaned closer to Thrush, probing, "Fifteen to fifty?"

"It wasn't like that, at all!" Thrush asserted.

"You're saying you didn't have a star witness in your eighteen-wheeler?" Jaime probed before gasping and patting his chest like a shocked woman. "Shocker!"

"We're all here now," Fox began, looking at his two fellow prisoners. "What's the point of arguing now?"

"Y'know, I miss my son, Pipit," Thrush admitted, facing forward and shaking his head in shame.

"He's super pissed at you, isn't he?" Jaime probed, sticking his tongue at the last word.

"It's worse: he won't talk to me. I hadn't heard from him for four months. It's been hurting me." Thrush shook his head, sounding somber.

"Let him go. He deserves better." Jaime gently demanded Thrush.

"I want him back," Thrush admitted like a saddened child.

"Yeah, you should let him go. He's not worth the guilt," Fox added, agreeing with Jaime.

"Wish I could, Foxy." Thrush admitted, "Really."

"Yo, Thrush, clearly you don't know because you are you, but you wrecked a lot of families, ya' dingus." Jaime cocked himself to the side, leaning towards him.

Thrush silently snorted, smirking at Jaime, "Big talk from flamey-pants over there; how many lives did you cremate, kid?"

Jaime clucked his tongue, looking away from Thrush, "Who cares."

"It's getting fuckin' hot in here," Nika demanded. "Can we get some water?"

As Nika argued with the female guard who stood by the driver, Fox asked Jaime, "I heard you cried your eyes out on the stand. That you came from a broken home and had zero clue what you were doing?"

Jaime huffed, boasting, "I lied. I'm quite the actor."

Thrush's brows were up. "I could never lie on the stand."

Jaime probed, "Against your beliefs?"

"No," Thrush answered.

"You watch court shows?" Fox probed, sounding bored.

"Nooope." Thrush popped the last syllable.

"Then what?" Jaime probed, looking at Thrush.

"It just isn't right," Thrush admitted.

"Tch. Give me a break." Jaime griped, looking out the window.

Fox looked at the iguana. "Jaime, you should've been a man about it."

Jaime half-smirked, "Can't believe convicts are kickin' morals in me. Crazy thing is, I don't regret any of my arsons. The homeowners were those 'kid touchers'; when the owner left home, I set it ablaze."

Fox raised a brow, asking, "How did you live with yourself, after?"

Jaime responded, chin on Fox's seat, "Easy. I don't think about it after."

Thrush whistled, sounding impressed with his fellow convict's misdeeds. "Goddamn, son. When we leave here, we three gotta go into business, you know what I am saying?"

Jaime asked Fox, "I don't know anything about you, McCloud. What are you in for?"

Fox simply answered, "I helped out a girl I knew."

"Whooooa. They arrest you for being a gentleman now?" Jaime inquired, sounding half surprised and half impressed.

Fox sighed, remembering Krystal lying on the hospital bed in a coma. "She needed justice. I gave it to her."

"Knew it was full of bullshit," Jaime huffed, looking out the window.

"Do you regret it? If you restored a gal's honor, I respect you. It's a big thing to do." Thrush told Fox.

Fox inhaled deeply, remembering his former friends' disappointed looks. "Yeah, now I do."

"How did they catch you?" Thrush asked Fox.

"I threw the gun in a can; when I stopped just a few blocks away, the cops were instantly all over me," Fox explained.

Thrush released a minor laugh. "You are bad luck, Fox." A light bulb emerged over his head. "Bad Luck Fox! Ha! That ain't bad, huh, Jaime?"

At that point, the two female prisoners, Nika and Sandra, became heated like cats fighting over territory. Nika turned around, however, Sandra looped her cuffs around Nika's neck with a heavy purpose, strangling her.

"Oh crap!" Fox swore, eyes widening at the sudden catfight.

"Oh, Hylia!" Thrush fret, watching the madness.

Thrush stood up slightly, ordering Anna, "Get in there!"

"Sit down!" Anna ordered Thrush.

"What you got? Is that all you got? You got nothin', baby!" Sandra maliciously teased Nika, a crazed smile on her face.

"Anyone know Nika?" Fox beckoned his fellow male prisoners.

"Nah." the iguana shrugged.

"No way." the trafficker answered.

"Sandra, you put her down!" Dylan, the driver, barked at Sandra, but Sandra did not give a fuck.

"Don't make me come back there!" Anna warned the two female prisoners, holding a gun in her hands.

"She's gonna kill her, Fox!" Thrush hissed through grit teeth.

"Let the guards handle it, guys," Jaime ordered, appearing annoyed as Anna walked through the cage door.

"Fuck that, we gotta intervene!" Thrush countered, frowning at the iguana.

"You do not want to get in that, bro," the iguana notified, sternly.

"Dude, we gotta do somethin'. This ain't right." Thrush voiced, sounding slightly desperate.

"I'm not doing any more time to save some fools." the iguana voiced, looking out the window.

"Where's your empathy?" Thrush fiercely demanded.

"Where is your common sense?!" Jaime fired back.

"We can't do anything with these chains on." Fox pointed out, tugging on the chains slightly.

"What's that? Speak up, girlie, I can't hear you." Sandra chided Nika, smirking like a madwoman on speed.

"Damn chain is too short!" Fox griped, tugging it forward slightly.

"LAST WARNING!" Anna bellowed, aiming her gun at the foolhardy female prisoners.

"DO SOME–" Fox shouted, but–

BANG! Sandra's head exploded like a watermelon after Anna fired at her, with blood, brain matter, and bones splattering all over the interior. All the men appeared shocked.

"What was that?" Jaime quietly implored, appearing stunned.

"Shit…" Thrush whispered to himself.

"What happened? What did you do? Answer me, sis!" Dylan demanded his younger sister, pounding the steering wheel.

"She's still alive! Get those cuffs off!" Thrush demanded.

Anna quickly removed Nika's cuffs, making Sandra slump over. Anna placed two fingers on the latter's neck, but Sandra was unresponsive.

Jaime groaned. "What the hell was that?"

Anna stuttered, the gun in her hands shaking like a leaf. "Crazed thing made a move on me! I..I don't know!"

"She moved on you? Or you don't know? Which one!?" Jaime interrogated Anna, frowning at her.

"I don't know! I swear!" Anna fret, holding a hand up.

"You don't know? For spirits' sake…" Thrush spat, shaking his head, staring out the window.

"No one had to die…" Fox breathed.

Jaime boomed, pointing at Anna, "THIS is what happens when you give guns to BRATS."

However, Anna tried not to care, checking over Sandra's body as soon as Jaime lambasted her. Anna stuttered again, "She's uh…"

"Shittin' SHIT." Thrush began, scared slightly, "You need to call someone, girl."

Anna snapped her head at the restrained trafficker, eyes wide open, "What?"

Dylan grabbed the radio. "I'm calling this in."

"What, dude, no! Just hold on, will ya'?! I need a minute!" Anna demanded her elder brother, holding her hand as if falling from a cliff.

Dylan spoke over the radio, "Dispatch, come in."

"Call for help, girl," Fox ordered Anna like a strict teacher.

"I only need a minute to think." Anna countered.

"You don't have anything!" Thrush scolded.

"Cram it, ya' hear? Just cram it!" the female guard ordered, approaching and raising her gun at Thrush.

"Alright, Alright. Just relax, will ya?" Jaime attempted to soothe the female guard, however…

"I'll relax when you stop talking!" Anna barked, though she sounded slightly scared.

"Everything is fine, just fucking breathe, will ya'?" Jaime demanded.

"We all need to calm down. The situation is bad enough as it is." Fox asserted.

"He's right. Let's all just take it easy." the iguana added.

Anna ominously approached the trio, but Thrush stood straight up, looking at her with terror, mayhem, and destruction in his eyes. "You know you can't pull that trigger again, doll." Thrush admonished, sounding like an authoritarian father. At that point, Anna looked down to the ground and thought, lowering her gun.

Jaime sighed, breathing to Thrush, "Thank you."

At that point, screaming emerged outside the bus. Jaime, Fox, and Thrush looked out the window and noticed strange, monstrous beings attacking a few individuals in the middle of the highway. A blue blur sped away from them; a pink ball hurriedly floated in the air as a murderous being chased him like a stray balloon in the sky. A monster tackled a bald man in a white shirt and dark blue pants, tearing into him like meat. Beside him, a young man helped a younger girl onto her feet before they ran for their lives. A spiky-haired young man sliced and diced any monster that tried to kill him with a large sword.

"What the hell?" Thrush pondered to himself, frowning at what he was viewing.

"You see that shit?" Jaime implored his fellow prisoners.

"Saw it," Thrush answered, somewhat somberly.

"Yeah," Fox breathed, looking straight at nothing.

"Hey, you gotta get us out of here, buds," Thrush demanded the two guards watching them.

"We're not leaving here," Anna stated, frowning at him.

"Screw that; move this bus! Yo, DRIVER! HOP-ASS, BUDDY!" Thrush bellowed at Dylan, but–

"We're staying right here! We're safe here! Nothing's gonna—" Anna began, aiming her gun at the trafficker, but—

Sandra's reanimated body emerged; she bit into Anna's neck, tearing a fat, bloody, and juicy chunk from it. Anna shrieked at the top of her lungs, calling to her older brother, "DYLAAAAAN!"

Dylan's heart dropped, shattered, and imploded at the sight of his sister's demise. Dylan's jaw was on the floor as he clutched onto the metal grate. "ANNA!"

Thrush's jaw dropped, bellowing, "Holy shit!"

Anna held onto her affected neck, staggering forward, holding her arm out as if the trio would aid her, but fell flat on her gun. Fox side-eyed her corpse in sheer terror, as Jaime called out to Dylan, "Crap… Hey! HEY, dude, call someone! You hear me!?"

However, Dylan only had a thousand-yard stare aimed at his sister's corpse. Shame, anger, and sadness were draped all over his body. He could not protect his little sister. Dylan silently and emotionlessly lifted a gun to his temple and immediately—BANG! Dylan fell forward, blood pooling onto the stairs of the bus, the weapon falling onto the first step.

"He killed himself…" Jaime gasped, anxiety conquering him.

"What the hell, man?!" Thrush griped, just disgusted by the whole shitstorm. Suddenly, Sandra's reanimated body lunged at them, wanting a piece of each of them next.

"Back up!" Jaime warned, eyes enlarged.

"Fuck me!" Thrush cursed like a man on fire as he, Fox, and Jaime backed up against the window. Sandra's cuffs and chain held her back.

"She can't get us." Jaime breathed, soundingly somewhat relieved.

"You sure about that?!" Thrush countered through gritted teeth.

"Her ankle gon' give." Fox realized, watching Sandra wanting to eat them.

"Fuck, dude, we need a weapon!" Jaime notified his fellow inmates, not wanting to die today.

"Yeah, the GUN! Where is it?" Thrush implored, searching the gore-infested floor for it.

"She fell on it! It's under her!" Fox pointed out, noticing the firearm under the dead lady.

"Aw, screw me!" Thrush groaned, throwing his head back. The trio pulled Anna's corpse backward, revealing her gun. Fox quickly grabbed the gun from the ground and shot Sandra's head, making her fall sloppily onto a seat. Blood and brain matter emerged, spilling all over the floor like beans. Jaime doubled over and vomited, making Thrush gripe, "Ugh! Nasty."

Jaime shot him a nasty look, "Piss off."

"Guys! We gotta get out of here!" Fox boomed before he bent down and checked Anna's body.

Thrush inquired, "The hell are you doing?"

"We can't leave until we leave these chains." Fox explained, but when he realized Anna did not have any keys, he rose, and cursed, "Shit, no shit on her."

"Then where are the keys?" the trafficker frantically demanded.

"Must be with the driver." Fox groaned, his life becoming worse and worse by the minute.

They heard a human-like entity moan, crouching over Dylan's corpse as if looking for something.

"Guys, I think we got a break! 'Ey, buddy!" Thrush called out to the person crouched over Dylan's body.

However, when the person looked up, they had blood falling from their mouth like an evil waterfall, purple skin, and sharp claws for nails. The being growled at Thrush, banging on the metal barrier.

"Holy Hylia!" Thrush howled.

"Well played." Jaime sarcastically complimented, currently disliking the trafficker.

Before Thrush could fire back at Jaime, Fox declared, "We gotta escape before that thing gets us!"

And just his luck, more of those… beings entered, pounding on the cage door and wall like angry and hungry dogs. Quickly, Fox fired at the creature that stumbled into the bus, only for it to get back up!

"Dude, you just pissed it off!" Jaime hissed.

"Save the shells! How are we gonna escape?" Thrush insisted.

The arsonist iguana looked down at the chains. "You think we can shoot off the chains?"

Fox shook his head, "Nah, no way."

Thrush implored, "What about the cuff? If we shoot one off, the chain'll come out!"

Jaime jaw-dropped in sheer disbelief, "You nuts? What's gonna happen if you shoot a shotgun close to someone's foot?!"

"What's gonna happen if we don't fucking escape? Fox, gimme the gun, we have to do this!" Thrush reached out for the gun, but Fox aimed it at him.

"Back up!" the vulpine warned. Fox then aimed the gun at Jaime.

Jaime jolted, arguing with his hands up in defense, "You gon' shoot me and not this trafficker FUCK?"

Fox aimed his gun at Thrush, who argued while frightened, "Fox, I know I fucked up, but Hylia! I still have a son!"

"I'm sorry, pal," Fox told Thrush, feeling anything but sorry as Jaime and Fox yanked Thrush's ankle toward them.

"Fuck you, McCloud! Jaime's jus' gon' slow you down! " Thrush barked, but neither animal cared.

Fox shot Thrush's ankle, blood spraying from it as he saw the slightest bit of bone. Thrush cried, "G'YAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Again!" Jaime ordered Fox, lightly pushing the vulpine pilot's back.

Fox fired at Thrush's ankle again, this time completely destroying it.

"Let's go!" Jaime hollered, pulling the chain from his and Fox's ankle cuffs.

With that, Fox and Jaime jumped out of the bus's back door. Thrush lay on the ground, groaning in sheer agony, holding his arm out as if it would save him from his demise. Fox watched him for a tad, shotgun still in his arms, but remorselessly ran behind Jaime after.

All that was left were innocent people's screams and enormous amounts of smoke flying into the air…

Next chapter: After fleeing two unsavory individuals, Snake and Isabelle take refuge in an abandoned hotel. Things are stable until an earthquake takes their one night of tranquility away…