Warm Bodies: Awakening

The Last Bus

So they ended up on the last bus. What a surprise. Of course, his dad was not happy. But it wasn't his fault, for once. Brandon had decided to change his jacket at the last minute and ran back into the shelter before their father could stop him.

When their bus finally pulled up, he waited in line with everyone else to get on. Doing a quick headcount, he realized that they probably wouldn't fill the whole bus. Which meant they were the dregs of the group. How appropriate.

It would have all felt so normal if it wasn't for the soldiers watching them, armed to the teeth, talking back and forth through the coms on their vests. He could almost imagine he was back in high school, years ago, about to go out on a field trip to some stuffy museum, excited to be getting away. The sky was a vivid blue, it was sunny but not too cool. A perfect fall day. He closed his eyes and tried to replace the anxious silence around him with the memory of his friends' laughter, the exasperated yelling of a teacher. It almost worked.

A gunshot shattered the moment, and he felt Brandon jump in front of him. He opened his eyes, resting a hand gently on his little brother's shoulder, and turned with everyone else to see who'd fired the shot. Voices were starting to rise in volume around them, some a little more frantic than most, stirring the energy of the rest of the group. Beyond the end of their bus, and the improvised wall built around the school, two soldiers stood on a platform made out of scaffolding. One was just lowering his rifle while another pointed further down the road.

"Let's move it folks!" yelled one of the soldiers nearby, "Everything's fine, just keep moving."

There were two more shots from behind them, one quickly after the other, and a few wide eyed faces turned to look past him as those in front turned to see what was happening. Someone shoved him from behind and he almost fell over.

"Watch it!" he snapped over his shoulder, into the terrified face of an elderly man who must have been in his eighties. He immediately felt like a prick and mumbled an apology, but the man wasn't hearing him and kept stumbling by, so he pulled Brandon to the side to let the man pass.

"Sorry about that," a lady with wild red hair apologized as she nudged past to support the man, "Dad can't handle gunfire."

He smiled and nodded, "That's okay. I don't like it much either."

She returned his smile, and he was caught for a moment by her eyes. Bright green, keenly hopeful, but puffy, as if she'd been crying for a long while. She turned away and helped her father into the bus.

They finally stepped on and he saw he was right, the bus was maybe half full at most. His dad and brother found a seat together towards the front, but he moved further down, sitting opposite the lady and her father. The elderly man was hunched over, head resting on the seat in front, his knobby fingers twisting the cheap vinyl covering. His daughter whispered to him in comforting tones and rubbed him gently on the back.

Feeling intrusive, he turned away from them both towards the window. The barricade rose the height of the bus and wasn't much to look at, but a flash of color and movement through a gap caught his eye. He focused on it and swallowed hard.

Lurching, grey corpses, black mouths gaping, were pressing up against the barricade. He could see maybe ten, no... twelve out there, but in the distance more were coming.

Jesus.

There was another crack of gunfire, and the head of one of the zombies disappeared in a spray of gore.

Jerking back from the window in shock, he glanced around the bus, looking to connect with someone who'd seen the same thing. Nobody was looking, nobody had. He stared back out, and more dead were now filling the spot where the other had fallen.

How could there be so many? Why weren't the soldiers just mowing them down? He'd never seen so many gathered before, and it was really, really creepy. Unsettling. Were they going to move soon? How long was it to the airport? He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and started flicking the rubber bands on his wrist, nervous energy threading through his gut.

Heavy footfalls caught his attention and a tall, burly soldier cradling a rifle in his arms climbed on board and leaned over to talked to the driver. They nodded to each other, and the soldier clapped the driver on the back, then walked slowly down the center of the bus. The man's gaze took in everyone quickly, then singled out a few people to stare out at length.

As the soldier's eyes fell on him, he found himself shifting uncomfortably in his seat. The look was hard, very serious, made all the more intimidating by the man's heavy brow, and standard issue buzz cut. The gun helped too. There was a guy who clearly wouldn't hesitate to do what was necessary to get a job done. He was sure they'd get along just awesomely.

As the armor clad figure walked by him he found himself looking down the black barrel of the rifle as it passed inches from his face. The image of the zombie's head exploding flickered in his mind, and he turned away, resting his forehead on the seat in front. Wanting to just not see anything for a while. Wanting to imagine again that they were on the field trip. Somewhere normal. Somewhere safe. Reaching into his hoodie for his ipod without thinking, he swore when he remembered he'd had to leave it behind, and pulled out the photo instead.

As the engine rumbled into life and the bus pulled away from the shelter, he kept his head down and stared at the smiling faces in his hand. Machine gun fire exploded in a staccato burst from somewhere nearby, answered by a trembling moan from the old man to his left. He didn't look up. His mom kept smiling, and he could imagine her saying everything was okay. Everything would turn out okay. She used to say that a lot, in the early days of being sick. Everything's fine honey, don't worry. Everything will be okay.

Everything was not okay. He shoved the photo back into his pocket and closed his eyes.

Julie.

Sounds shifted in a strange hiccup of space. The rumble of the bus engine changed to a raspy hiss, punctuated evenly by a metallic click, the low chatter of the other passengers melded into beeps and hums, and his chest... breathing was... wrong, something in his throat-

Julie. Her hand... falling.

Blinking in confusion and pain, he reacted on instinct, snatching out for her, his hand clasping around her arm. The sudden weight sparked a bright flare of vivid agony in his chest and he tried to scream but couldn't - something was choking him, something horrible was stuck in his throat! Holding Julie, he tried to reach to his mouth with his other hand, but his arm was tangled in something, pulling, tearing...

"Oh shit!" came a man's voice, stark through his muzzy pain, and he tracked a white blur moving to his side. Towards Julie. It scared him and he tried to shield her from whoever it was. The movement brought fresh agony and he groaned.

"R!" It was Julie's voice, "Oh god, R! Stop moving, it's okay! I'm okay!" She sounded terrified, he blinked rapidly, trying to see her clearly, just wanting to see her face. Her hand held his own again, and she raised cool fingers against his forehead. The touch brought a moment of calm.

"Jesus, he shouldn't be able to move, this is not good!" the white blur said again at his side. Frightened, he tried to track what the man was doing, but couldn't, and his body spasmed with coughing as the thing in his throat shifted, his chest felt squeezed, and he couldn't breathe properly. Icy panic flooded through his body and he ripped his other arm free, reaching for whatever was stuck in his throat.

"R, STOP!" Julie yelled, and grabbed his other hand, trying to hold it away from his face. Why was she doing that?! He needed to breathe! He fought back, his body overriding any desire to listen.

"Oh no you don't! Say goodnight kid!" the man shouted, and as soon as he spoke, R felt himself grow immensely heavy. Numbness spread from his neck, down his chest, his legs, his arms, bringing welcome release from the pain, but more panic. He tried desperately to see Julie, to speak to her, but felt himself falling backwards, and the blurry world around him faded quickly to black.