There were several small explosions but the main engine maintained its integrity, at least for now and Les and Ethan joined the group of refugees beside the former’s bus to watch the fire progress.
“Lucky the wind is blowing away from us,” Les said as the flames from the bus spread and began racing through the dry brush, with sparks flying everywhere to ignite new blazes.
Devora pulled at his arm. “We’ve got to go,” she said. “The wind could shift at any second and we can’t outrun a fire. I don’t think our bus is any more fireproof than Ethan’s was.”
Les joined her in shepherding the group onto his bus. It had been a fairly comfortable ride before, with plenty of room but now the bus was full of people and possessions they’d gathered at various stops along the way. Everyone was quiet as Les closed the door and pulled out. The drone had vanished so he kept going in the original direction and about five minutes later the ride smoothed out and the tires hummed on regular pavement.
Devora went through the bus, checking for injuries and reported back to him. “Nothing serious. A few singed pieces of clothing and maybe a couple of first degree burns but we were really lucky.”
“We deserve some luck,” he said in relief. “Can the burns wait till we get to Glastine?”
“I think so,” she said. “I don’t think anyone wants to stop now.”
“Man, what happened?” Les asked Ethan, who was sitting in the stairwell.
“I guess our patch on the hydraulic lines came off. That plus the wear and tear going over the foothills was too much for the old girl. I didn’t get any warning—she stalled out and next thing I know there’s fire everywhere under the bus.” Ethan’s voice was a bit shaky but otherwise he was in control. “Lucky we got this far, I guess.”
The miles rolled by smoothly but the back of Les’s neck was tingling again and he kept a sharp eye on the vids. “Two miles to Glastine,” he announced to cheers from the passengers as the bus passed the marker.
“Boss, what’s that ahead?” Ethan asked, pointing a finger at the forward vidscreen.
Les stared at the center of the screen and his stomach tied itself in knot. “A swarm of infected.”
“What—what are we going to do?” Devora asked.
“Nowhere else to go but through,” he said, pushing the acceleration controls.
“We could turn around, go back and wait them out maybe,” Ethan offered.
“I’m sure they aren’t going anywhere.” Les voiced his biggest objection. “The swarm must be constantly trying to break into the camp. Can’t be many other groups of uninfected left anywhere on the planet by now. Besides, we have injured and we’re low on rations. And the situation hasn’t changed as regards Ruger or Millerville.” He eyed his passengers in the internal vidscreen. They looked terrified, grim, determined…all the emotions he was feeling right now. “Hang on tight, folks. I want my people with weapons in the window seats in case any of the infected manage to break in.”
There was shuffling as people moved to obey.
Les pushed the bus to even greater speeds. The crowd of infected ahead was massive, lurching toward him, covering both sides of the freeway. “Hang on!” he yelled.
The bus hit the frontline of the shambling, moaning creatures like a battering ram, scattering bits and pieces across the highway. Despite his best efforts, the bus slowed as it got further into the crowd. Despite the powerful engine, it was like fighting the power of the ocean. The infected had no instinct to do anything but attack and infect more people so the carnage Les was creating with the bus had no effect on the other infected, who pressed close and grabbed at the bus.
He was at a walking speed now, unable to go any faster as the heart of the infected swarm made a wall of resistance. The tires were having trouble gaining traction on the roadway as a carpet of the infected he’d struck covered the surface and jammed the wheel wells. Clawed hands tore at the bus as it inched forward, battering, grasping, clawing…the noise was unearthly and constant. Infected swarmed over the hood of the bus and pounded their heads against his front windshield. He heard footsteps on the roof as others climbed on top.
“The window’s going to break,” a woman screamed from the back.
“They’re prying the back door open,” yelled a man. In the internal vid Les saw the refugees hacking at the probing fingers with knives and burning the edges of the door with low intensity blaster fire. The rear exit wasn’t going to keep the enemy out much longer.
Les took out his gun and checked the ammo. Modern guns carried a significant number of projectiles. He had more than enough to take care of Devora, Jenny and himself. Once the infected got into the bus there was no hope.
“Hide her eyes,” he said to Devora as he prepared to deal with the last moments of this trip. She bit her lip and nodded, holding Jenny close, face pressed to her side.
“Do what you have to do,” she whispered. “I love you.”
Sirens pierced the air, causing him to hesitate. Many of the infected whipped around and ran in the direction of the new noise. Les took advantage of the distraction to coax more acceleration from the engine and tried to steer a violent zigzag course in hopes of throwing off the infected clinging to the bus frame and roof. There was the sound of blaster fire and the infected in front of him disappeared as if melted. The paint on the bus exterior caught fire but Les wasn’t worried about that right now. Whoever was coming to their rescue was slicing a path open for them through the swarm, using a combination of blasters and gunfire.
His com crackled into life. “Attention, bus driver, you’re one eighth of a mile away from our force field holding pen. Drive inside and park and my men will clean off the remaining infected. Stay in the bus until given orders to exit.”
“Happy to obey, sir,” he said, getting more speed from the engine and ignoring all the glaring red gauges and indicators. His bus was on its last legs for sure.
The last stubborn infected trying to batter its way through the windshield convulsed and fell off as a shot went through its skull from the side, where an armored vehicle was now pacing the bus, picking off individual infected. Les saw the glow of a force field ahead and drove the bus into the containment area, braking hard once he realized how small the space was. The bus skidded to a stop with a screeching of the brakes.
Several voices clamored to be let off the bus.
