He managed to gain another mile toward the summit and Les was feeling encouraged when all of the sudden his point man held up a hand and shook his head. The bus came to a grinding halt and les swung down from the steps to meet the man.
“Landslide up ahead,” he reported breathlessly. “A couple of boulders.”
“Is the road gone?” Les asked.
“No but it’s blocked.”
“Show me.”
Les and the guard jogged ahead to survey the obstacle and to his relief Les thought if he got enough people working on the problem, they could shove the big rocks over the cliff edge and clear the path. He rousted everyone from his bus and Ethan’s and the team struggled to dislodge the boulders for a few hours. Devora couldn’t get to the cargo compartment due to the narrowness of the road but she did collect whatever water and drink bottles anyone had left on the buses and brought those to the crew.
“Any progress?” she asked as Les took a deep drink and wiped his face.
“Got rid of the two smaller boulders, sent them crashing into the ravine,” he said. “I think we’re nearly ready to try moving the big one and then we can drive through. Hand labor isn’t as efficient as robo diggers but put enough of us on the task and we do prevail.”
It took another hour to finish clearing the way forward and then Les got behind the controls and inched the bus past the point where the blockage had been, Ethan’s bus following a few yards behind. From there he made good time to the summit and with great relief pointed the bus at the incline and began the descent.
The bus’s brakes protested and emitted a burning smell as the drop was so steep but Les didn’t dare let the bus build up too much speed as there were curves to be dealt with. He had the stress headache of all time by the moment his bus reached the point where the ground flattened out. His passengers cheered as he steered into the ruts again and accelerated toward the horizon. “The freeway should be close at hand now,” he said to Devora.
And then the ruts ended.
Abruptly.
Les hit the brakes, which screamed and brought the bus to a shuddering halt. He flung open the door with more force than normal and jumped down the steps to get outside. Scratching his head he pivoted 360 degrees, trying to catch a glimpse of the highway anywhere. If he picked the wrong direction they could be wandering out here aimlessly for a long time.
“Should we take a break and let people eat and rehydrate?” Devora asked, joining him.
“Might as well, until Ethan and I figure out what to do next.” Les was foul tempered and his head pounded. “Was there any headclear in the box of meds we found? I’ve got the mother of all headaches right now.”
“I’ll check.” Devora ran to the bus to fetch Jenny and then he opened the cargo compartment so she and Sandy could pass out the refreshments. The refugees looked as exhausted and stressed as he felt, Les noted. The trip through the foothills had been harrowing for them too. At least he’d had the illusion of control, being the driver.
His wife brought him a medinject and he accepted it gratefully, slapping the dose into his arm and leaning his head back to take a deep breath. “One of the longest days I ever had to get through,” he told her.
“We’ll find the road—I’m confident,” she replied.
“Hey, what’s that?” Ethan yelled, pointing at the sky.
A black speck was circling overhead, high in the sky and as they watched it dove in their direction. The group scattered, screaming, but Les stood his ground, projectile gun in hand. “It’s a drone,” he called out. “Probably the damn rancher laughing his head off at us stranded here.” He shook his fist at the drone and gave it the finger yelling, “Where’s the damn highway?”
The drone made a lazy circle above his head and then shot off to the east, pausing abruptly and bouncing up and down in the air.
“Do we follow it?” Ethan asked.
“Got no choice, do we?” Les shook his head. “Back on the buses, quickly. Seems we have a new guide.”
“Can the buses make it across open country?” Devora asked, eyeing the terrain. “They sure weren’t built for it.”
Les shrugged. “Maybe there’s a vestige of a road we didn’t see. Who knows.” He kept his eye on the drone and did his best to steer the bus away from the obstacles he could see. The ground was fairly hard packed but the scrubby bushes had surprisingly strong stems and were nearly impossible to drive over. Maybe there was a faint track but he couldn’t be sure. Ahead he finally caught the glint of sunlight on the surface of a modern road and heaved a huge sigh of relief. “Almost there,” he said to the passengers and over the com to Ethan.
There was a loud banging and grinding sound behind him and when he checked the rear vids he saw Ethan’s bus stopped in the middle of a cloud of dust and smoke. Flames were licking out from the undercarriage, threatening to set the nearby bushes alight.
“Ethan, man, you’re on fire,” he yelled into the com. “Get those people off the bus!” He slammed on the brakes and turned to Devora. “Get us a few hundred yards away so if she blows up we’re not hit.” Grabbing the fire extinguisher from its bracket on the bus wall, he opened the door and jumped to the ground, racing to the other bus. Desperately he directed the stream of neutralizing rays at the biggest flames and tried to keep the fire away from the exits. All the hatches had popped open and screaming people were falling and jumping from the bus, clutching their meager possessions.
“Run to the other bus,” he yelled, making big gestures with his free hand. “This one might explode.”
Ethan joined him, fire extinguisher in his hand and they worked in tandem, including putting out the blaze when an unlucky passenger fell directly into a flareup. Nearby bushes were catching fire and it was obvious to Les the situation had gotten completely out of hand. Grabbing Ethan by the shoulder, he yanked his friend in the direction of the other bus. “We have to go now,” he said.
“I gotta make sure no one is left on the bus, couldn’t take a head count,” Ethan shouted. He took the first step into the bus and disappeared from view but Les watched him running down the aisle so he sprinted to the rear of the burning vehicle and sprayed the rays at the frame of the rear emergency exit. Ethan leaped clear and hit the ground running so Les dropped his depleted fire extinguisher and chased after him.
