Dust

Chapter five - ginger kid and snakebite boy

They had been driving for twelve hours straight now and Gwendolyn was getting bored. She closed the comic she was reading, swung her legs over the edge of her bunk - and fell on her face when the bus shook slightly.
"I am majestic as fuck." She mumbled to herself and gripped onto the bunks for support. Damn. She sighed and walked to the front, to the drivers seat. Dan was driving.
"Still awake?" She asked, flicking her head. Her flaming red hair didn't cooperate.
Dan nodded. "For twenty six hours now. Not hard... For me."
She sat down on the ground next to him since Micky sat on the passengers seat, but said nothing. Probably asleep, too. She was actually wearing a real bra for once, wow, no binder!
Dan yawned next to her.
"Tired, huh?" She smirked.
He shot her a glare. "No!" And yawned again.
Gwen giggled. "Go to sleep, I'll drive."
He shook his head. "No it's fine, really. And I doubt that you have a license, Gwen. How old are you, seventeen?"
She snorted. "I'm twenty three, thanks though. And now - go the fuck to sle..." She was cut off by the van violently shaking. The must have driven over a rock or something. Mickey fell of the passengers seat, but didn't wake up, she just continued sleeping on the floor.
"-ep!" Gwen said. "Go to sleep and make her -" she flicked her head into mickeys direction, "go, too!"
Dam sighed and hit the brakes. The bus stopped and Dan got up from the seat, his knees cracking loudly. He cringed. Gwen giggled, adjusted herself on the seat and watched how Dan grabbed mickeys ankles and pulled her back into the bunk area. Gwen giggled one last time when she heard some (probably mickeys head, it sounded kind of hollow) hit the wall and Dan grumbled a really inappropriate word.
-<>-
Dan was woken up by the bus stopping. But, why?
"Gwen, what the fuck?!" He yelled through the entire bus. She didn't answer. He groaned, flicked the tip of his Mohawk-like hair out of his face and got out of the bunk.
"Gwendolyn Robinson, I swear to god, if you've fallen asleep on the wheel, I'll..." He trailed off. Gwen was standing on the spot next to the drivers seat, Chris was sitting on it. They were both staring at something in the distance. Dan narrowed his eyes and tried to see it, too. Whatever it was, was hard to see, it was early in the morning and really misty.
"Okay guys, I give up, i can't see it, tell me." He grumbled and ran a hand through his tangled hair. Chris nudged his arm and pointed at the muddy street in front of them. Now Dan could see it. Or them. Footprints. Of two humans. They could not be zombie's, the looked different, much more coordinated and in a straighter direction. Someone opened the door of the bus. Dan didn't even notice her until she jumped out of the bus. He flicked his head once more and followed her.
And Mickey had followed the footprints to a certain point where she kneeled down and examined the ground. Dan jogged up to her.
"Well, Pocahontas, what do you see?" He joked.
"Funny. One of them is hurt. Pretty bad, I think." She looked worried.
"Well, where did they go? I guess they need help." Dan suggested.
Mickey stood up and pointed into the direction of a group of houses.
"They probably hide in there. I'll get the bus, if one of them is hurt, I bet they shouldn't walk."
Dan nodded, still staring at the houses.
"You coming dude?" Mickey had already started walking back to the bus.
"I'll walk. To tell them who we are and shit. K?"
She shrugged. "Can't stop you anyway."
"Damn right!" He snorted and started following the footprints.
-<>-
He found them in the forth house from the left. Two boys, both about 17 - 20 years old. They flinched hard and the smaller squealed when he opened the door.
Dan put his hands up.
"Calm down dude, I'm not a zombie, I'm a human." He scratched his head. "Or at least I think I am."
The smaller boy stood up. He pointed at the other person lying on the ground.
"He's hurt." He said and shook his red hair with the pink tips. Weird hair, weird boy.
Dan stepped closer, raising his hand to brush his hair out of his eyes.
"How bad is it?"
"Are you a doctor?" Ginger boy frowned.
"Nah, but I once stitched up a friends leg." Dan kneeled down beside the other boy.
"And?" Ginger boy dropped to his bony knees as well.
"He died. But it wasn't because of the leg. I think. Dunno. Don't care."
He examined the kid on the ground.
He had messy black hair, snakebite piercings, was kinda skinny and had a huge, bleeding wound on his neck. It looked pretty bad.
"You got a tissue, ginger head?" Dan asked.
Ginger kid shook his weird hair. Dan sighed, grabbed his shirt and ripped a long strip from it. He carefully dipped it into the wound, kinda cleaning it and then wrapped another strip around the kids neck to stop it from bleeding.
The snakebite dude hadn't moved during the whole process, but Dan could feel his pulse so he was only unconscious.
A bang in the door made everyone flinch (except for the unconscious guy).
"Dan?" Mickey called out.
"In here!" Dan shouted back.
The ginger kid looked a bit scared.
"Who is that?" He whispered.
"Don't worry, she's okay." Dan grinned and checked the guys pulse again.
Mickey entered the room, together with Chris and Gwen. The ginger kid looked even more scared and whimpered a bit. Dan ignored him and picked the unconscious guy up bridal style. He got blood all over his shirt, but he didn't seem to care.
He and Chris left the room. Mickey followed. Ginger kid was still sitting on the ground. Gwendolyn went over to him. She kneeled down and took his hand, pulling him to his feet.
"Come on," she said, putting an arm around his small shoulders.
"I'm Gwendolyn, what's your name?"
And for the first time, ginger kid smiled.
"I'm Sasha."