Stargazing With Beilah

Bitch, Bus, Fear

Bella and Lucas practically shook as they gazed out the windows, viewing the oncoming onslaught of terrifying, undead creatures. They bled and oozed puss, their limbs were twisted and hanging crookedly, their eyes grey and unfeeling- completely stone-cold. The closer they drew to the bus, the smaller it felt. The more frail and fragile the metal cage the students were trapped in felt. The metal wasn't strong enough. The glass of the windows wasn't thick enough. They weren't safe- not against an entire army of rampaging, angry creatures, storming closer. Every student regardless of age or size was suddenly dwarfed by the overwhelming fear of the situation- reduced to tiny, terrified, helpless five-year-olds. 

That was how it all started. The day everything ended was a day that was supposed to be fun and exciting for the two best friends. Life isn't that perfect, though, and it's foolish to believe that it is. The day had started with the two best friends stuffed side-by-side in the bus alongside dozens of other children. It ended with half of their classmates dying. 

Days melted into weeks, each day panic growing more and more within the students. It was quite the rag-tag team. Some smart, some strong, some resourceful, some... utterly useless to the cause (though most of the people who fell under that umbrella died early on). Resources ran low and it was harder and harder to stay safe. The safe-haven of the school crumbled as the days wore on. There was food in the school, but not nearly enough to go around to all of the students who had survived the initial attack on the school buses. There weren't enough weapons to protect every student and administrator in the school. 

They knew that they wouldn't last long trapped inside the concrete prison full of other struggling people. 

These fears were confirmed the first day they saw what they would end up referring to as a "special infected"- subtype "bitch". 

Swaying in the middle of the hallway was a figure familiar to many of the students who saw her. Long, filthy hair hung in the figure's face, partially blocking her nearly glowing eyes from the others around. Her body shook as sobs wracked her body, tiny sniffles escaping her as she hung her head, further hiding the features of her face as she cried in the hallway. 

The small group of students down the hall from her glanced at one another as if attempting to discern who she was and silently daring one another to move forward to comfort her. It wasn't infrequent for people to cry in that school since the breakout- hell, it was normal for people to have full-on break-downs. 

Eventually, one broke from the group, moving forward to comfort the crying girl. "Hey, it's okay," they reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder, but before they could even finish doing so, she snapped herself from her stupor and lunged. 

Bella and Lucas didn't stick around to see what happened next- they didn't have to. They knew that the person was a goner and they would be, too, if they stayed around to watch what happened. The school wasn't safe and they knew they only had a short amount of time before the school would be overflowing with corpses and other infected creatures. 

It didn't take long for several of the survivors to pile into different busses in the lot outside the school. People grabbed what resources they could but otherwise didn't bother sparing the school nor the people within it a second glance. The three buses that departed from the school sped away in different directions. Every passenger knew that they were leaving behind innocent souls to die and suffer within the school, but it was no longer safe there. The bus drivers needed to protect the students above all- even if it meant letting others die because of it. 

So, for many days, they lived in the bus. 

Berry- the man driving the particular bus that Luca and Bella resided in- drove far from the school before parking the bus in what they all hoped to be a safe place. From there, they set up a bit of a camp. The slept inside the bus on the floor and seats to stay safe and left the bus only on dire and rare occasion- always taking what they could for protection along with them. 

For a while, everything fell into a peaceful lull. There were a few tensions within the group- there were bound to be due to the size of the group and the situation they were in, but, for the most part, everything was alright. Berry kept the children fighting at bay and was a level-headed, compassionate voice of reason that many of the students needed. Despite the many people disliking one another, they knew they needed to cooperate to survive and didn't bother putting forth the effort to start too many petty conflicts. 

One day, though, a fight broke out. No one could remember what it was over, the knowledge surrounding that was completely lost in the commotion of the fight. No one cared, though. What everyone was worried about wasn't the fight, though, it was the item that was thrown during it. the object that hit a wrong button. The thing that set off the alarm that alerted the hordes. 

They managed to shut off the alarm after a time, but it was too late. The horde was setting in and there was no way to simply avoid them. As the infecteds pried at the doors and struggled with the windows in attempts to get inside, everyone fled to the roof of the bus, locking the hatch behind them as they went. They threw things in an attempt to kill them or lure them away or anything, but no avail. The horde was barely thinning, despite their best efforts. They simply didn't have the resources necessary for the attack.

Twelve people stood atop the bus. 

Then ten. 

Then six. 

Bella pulled Lucas away from the edge as they watched yet another peer fall victim to the creatures clawing up the sides of the bus. There were five of them left- less than half of the people they had started the day off with and they were nearly out of options. Panic closed over the group, hanging over them like a dark cloud seconds away from bursting into a raging storm. 

That's when the battle truly began. 

"Why don't we just throw the useless people off of the bus and distract them? We don't need those three!"

"Hey, what the hell is your problem?" Lucas snapped. 

"You are! I'm the only one here who has a chance to survive! I only need Berry because he knows how to drive the bus! You," he prodded his finger at the three others, disgusted, "I don't need."

"You're only saying that because you're too stupid to know that you're wrong!" Bella defended, "You couldn't last a day out there!"

His eyes narrowed as he drew closer to her, "You want to say that again?"

"You're. A. Moron." 

He stormed forward, reaching out to grab her by her shoulders to do God knows what. Before he could get close enough, though, Sage stepped in front of Bella, arms spread in a protective manner. 

"Outta my way, twig!"

"If you want to hurt anyone else on here, you'll have to get through me."

He took the challenge literally. 

In a split second, he changed his plans. He shoved Sage aside, watching with stony, uncaring eyes as his fellow student tumbled screaming and flailing into the overflowing sea of creatures. 

Lucas snapped. 

Within a second, he bolted forward and shoved the blundering fool from the top of the bus, letting out an angered, indignant screech as he did so. With narrowed eyes and gritted teeth, he watched the jock's body join the others and get lost in the tsunami of corpses and undead creatures. 

He only pried his eyes from the scene when Berry and Bella stepped forward to pull him away from the edge. 

The outbreak changed them. All of them.