The sound of metal colliding a distance away pulled Drew’s attention from the man and the Dodge Charger. He ran towards the side of the bus where Harry was. The bus driver was desperately trying to free his leg from the deep hole that lay hidden in the train track. Drew immediately went to Harry’s assistance in a desperate effort to pull him out. He glanced past the bus driver and noticed that the smoke was coming from behind the bus at a nearby apartment complex.
The fire quickly spread as people fled by foot and others by jumping into automobiles. Drew witnessed a family of four have their vehicle taken away from them by two men holding rifles. The man of the household had one of the guns aimed at his head. Drew overheard the wife as she fell to her knees begging the men to take whatever they had but not their van. The two small children wept bitterly as the men hopped into the van without any remorse.
This would never happen in Wiggins…. This was the start of Drew’s real fear. Should I be afraid of the Eaters? Or ourselves?
“Drew…. DREW!”
Drew snapped out of his trance. He could not believe what he had just seen.
The bus driver shook his head. “I have been calling—“
“Did… Did you just see what happened in broad daylight?” Drew whispered. He pointed towards the burning apartment complex. The family of four had mysteriously disappeared.
Harry looked up at Drew with eyes of regret. “There is worse to come when man has no law and order. No different than what happened during Katrina.” The old bus driver pointed to his twisted leg. “Not going to work. This old leg ain’t going anywhere.”
“I can help you, Mr. Harry!”
“Shh!” Harry brought his jittery finger to his mouth. “They will hear you. Keep your voice low.”
Drew nodded his head.
“Now, I want you to listen and listen to me good. Alright?”
“Yes sir.”
Harry looked up into the heavens for what seemed like minutes before bringing his attention back to Drew. “I want you to go and get a few big boys to help you push this here bus. Don’t tell Mrs. Bond that I am stuck out here. She will try to come out here and help and get us all killed.”
“But—“
“No BUTS!” Harry tried to keep his voice down. He looked around anxiously. His voiced appeared softer. “I will be fine. We don’t have much time. Now Go!” He directed.
Drew sprinted like he was running to home base when he played baseball. He made it to the front of the bus and beat on the doors to be let in. Mrs. Bond opened the doors quickly. Her eyes were as big as buttons like she had seen a ghost.
“Where is Harry?”
“Mr. Harry is…” Drew swallowed hard. He despised being dishonest. That was what his mother represented and he wanted to be nothing like her. Of course it was no secret that it was his mouth and attitude that got him into trouble often at school but lying was different. Drew faced the students on the bus, ignoring Mrs. Bond’s question.
“Mr. Harry wants a few guys to help push the bus. He can’t do it by himself,” Drew firmly stated.
No one moved an inch.
Drew pointed outside the window. “C’mon y’all. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we are catfish bait on this bus if we don’t get off this track and to the Fairgrounds Center.”
All the students began to stir and look at one another. A boy, with blond matted hair, who stood at six feet easily, towered like a giant in the aisle. He yanked up two other boys that were sitting with him. All three boys were visibly shaken and scared. Drew recognized the biggest of the boys as Austin Hickman, the lineman for the middle school’s football team.
“Any one else care to help us?” Drew asked.
Silence loomed in the air with the exception of sniffles and whimpering from the younger students. Mater stepped forward followed by Sue Ellen.
“You guys can’t go!” Drew shrieked.
“Says who?” Sue Ellen snapped.
“I’m asking for male volunteers,” Drew said.
Mater walked past Drew and Sue Ellen. “Mr. Harry needs our help and I don’t plan on turning into zombie food like my sister. So lets go.”
Everyone followed Mater off the bus as Mrs. Bond kept the bus engine going. Harry was grunting and fighting with the hole as he tried to remove his leg. He had sunk deeper into the abyss all the way up to the knee. A car rolled up behind the bus and began to loudly blow the horn.
“Oh my God! Mr. Harry is stuck in something!” Mater yelled. She ran to his assistance in an attempt to help him. Mr. Harry pushed her away.
“All of ya…. Get to the bus and push! Now! Hurry!” He said in a pained filled panic. Harry was not looking good. He was sweating profusely and his breathing had to turned to panting. He grabbed his chest as continued to point at the bus. “One of you wave, to Mrs. Bond to give her some gas!”
Drew ran to the side of the bus and began jumping up and down waving. Mrs. Bond gave the bus some gas as all of the kids, including Drew, pushed the bus with all the strength that they had. The car continued to blow the horn loudly. Harry motioned his arm at the car to take a different route but the driver would not let off the buzzer. Austin, the tallest of the group, turned around and put his back into the bus and pushed up with his feet.
“Get out of here! The bus is stuck!” Harry yelled waving at the car.
“That looks like my Coach!” Austin said as he continued to push. His beet red jaws looked like a blowfish.
“Would be nice if he would come over… and… help… push…” Drew managed to say in between grunts.
The bus swayed back and forth as everyone pushed their weight into the long yellow hearse. A car door opened and closed as the football coach for the middle school ran over to Mr. Harry who directed him to the bus. The coach’s white shirt and shorts looked like rust, which flaked away in the wind as he neared the students. The wind lifted the strong scent of copper from his clothes and body giving away what he must have endured earlier. The coach charged the bus like a bull. With the assistance of his energy the bus wedged free. As Mrs. Bond pulled the clunker over the track, the train ripped into the bus removing a large piece of metal from the side.
“You kids get back on the bus!” The coach directed.
“We gotta help Mr. Harry! He is stuck!” Drew shouted.
“I will take care of him, get on the bus! We will meet you at the Fairgrounds—“
Before the coach could say anything else, a loud buzzing sound that sounded like a chainsaw interrupted the conversation. Glass shattered.
What now? Drew wondered.
All eyes fell towards the front of the bus. The students shifted to the side where the sounds were coming from and noticed a man pulling two small girls out of a window of a car. He quickly put the two girls on the roof. Drew instantly remembered the man from the silver Dodge Charger that he had seen only a few moments before. The man and his daughters were surrounded by a group of preschool Eaters that had reaped havoc on the trailer park just minutes earlier.
The roaring chain saw drowned out the screams of the terrified young girls as they danced on top of the car from the tiny Eater’s mutilated hands. The blood drained from Drew’s face as he witnessed the chain saw fly up towards the sky and along with it small limbs, which graced the air. The man shouted insults at the miniature zombies while he continued to plow them down with his chainsaw. One of the girls fell down, hitting her chin, as she yelled out for her father. The Eaters had managed to pile up on one another until one of the zombies was able to bite into the girl’s ankle.
“Daddy!”
The older sister yelled as she tried to help pull her younger sister back onto the top of the car. Upon hearing his daughter’s cry, the man lost his concentration and fell backwards into the car. The youngest of the girls disappeared into the Eater’s haven on the other side of the unknown. The father yelped out in pain from bites as he tried to grab a hold to the other daughter who was hysterically crying on top of
the car. She held her bloody hand out towards her father. Apparently her fingers had been bitten off in the process of trying to help her baby sister.
Drew pulled his knife and moved forward but was quickly pulled back by Sue Ellen and Mater.
“Where are you going?” Mater cried.
“They are going to die if we don’t help them!” Drew shouted back.
“They are already dead! Now. Get. On. That. Bus!” The coach demanded.
Sue Ellen grabbed Mater’s hand and dashed towards the bus. Drew looked back at the bus driver, Harry, afraid.
“Go, on. Get on the bus!” Harry directed towards Drew as he turned his attention to the coach. “The coach here is going to help me.”
Drew and the others watched on in horror as the man, by the Dodge Charger, disappeared underneath a muster of pint size Eaters. The last activity that was seen from the man was jerking movements throughout his lower extremities. Neither of his daughters were nowhere to be seen. The low grumble of the chain saw continued on the ground as the Eaters dined away.
Drew began walking towards the entrance of the bus. Austin stood still in shock from the scene that had just unfolded right before them.
“C’mon, man!” Drew shrieked. “If we don’t get on that bus, we are dead meat!”
“Nah,” Austin shortly replied with bulging eyes, “I’m catching a ride with the coach. I suggest you do the same.”
Before Drew sprinted towards the bus he looked back for the last time at the bus driver. The coach was down on his knees trying to wriggle Harry free from the hole. Austin had walked up to the coach and mumbled something. The coach shook his head no but Austin persisted. The coach finally gave in with Austin proceeding to get into the coach’s car, which sunk down to the bottom when the big football player got in.
“Where is Harry?” Mrs. Bond asked as Drew boarded the bus. Drew appeared puzzled. “Where is the bus driver?” She asked again.
“He is in the back. He is um—“
“Mr. Harry is stuck in a hole up to the knee and the coach is trying to free him,” Sue Ellen interrupted.
Drew squinted his eyes. Sue Ellen will you ever know when to keep you mouth closed?
“What?” Mrs. Bond shrieked. Her hand moved towards the ignition to turn off the bus.
Drew abruptly placed his hand on Mrs. Bond’s. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warned.
Mrs. Bond glanced up at Drew with strained, tired eyes. “What are you talking about?”
Drew pointed toward the blood soaked Dodge Charger. Only a pile of clothes with remnants of body parts was visibly displayed on the ground. The Eaters were nowhere to be seen.
“The Eaters,” Drew nervously whispered, “They are here….”
Chapter 11
Drew Jacks and his classmates sat on a wall
Drew Jacks and his classmates had a big fall
All of the doctors and all of his men
Could not sew Drew Jacks back together again
Sounds of hoarse groaning became louder and closer. A strong force, like a head on collision, hit the bus from the front. The students jostled back and went into an uproar.
“What is that? What is that? What is th—“
Mrs. Bond’s leg was shaking so bad that she jumped off the brake causing the bus to jerk forward. The pre-school Eaters appeared at the door banging their heads and bodies at the window in an attempt to break in. These breed of Eaters were very violent and appeared hungrier than the other Eaters that Drew had seen. One of the Eaters, a girl with the bottom half of her face missing, struck the entryway so hard that her head became embedded in the door.
“Holy smokes!” Drew yelled jumping back.
Mater rushed to a window and leaned over three terrified students crammed into a seat. “Oh my God! They are here!” She shouted back towards Drew and Sue Ellen.
Beetle weakly opened his eyes. “I don’t want to die like this….”
Tarynn moved away the damp hair from Beetle’s forehead. His broken glasses dangled to the side of his face leaving a red mark on the side of his nose. He strained to look through his shattered frames as he feebly fixed his glasses to see. Tarynn readjusted Beetle’s tools and forced a smile with chapped dry lips. Her eyes anxiously bounced back and forth from the window where Beetle sat, expecting anything to happen at any moment. Tarynn rested her hand on Beetle’s shoulder. She breathed in deeply and did what she only knew best.
“Our Father which art in heaven, sweet Jesus… Hallowed be thy name….”
A loud cry prompted Drew to snap his head towards the back of the bus. Mr. Harry! He pushed through Sue Ellen and Mater who were huddled together near Beetle and Tarynn.
“Why isn’t she driving?” Mater yelled as another powerful hit rocked the bus. The students yelled out in sheer terror as the Eaters swarmed the bus like flies on garbage. Mrs. Bond threw pencils and paper at the small Eater whose head perforated the school bus door. The undead girl, with the bottom half of her face missing, rotated her neck in the glass causing it to sever. Spurts of blood squirted into the air barely missing Mrs. Bond. The Eater continued to clap its skeletal jaws together at the horrified librarian.
“Agh!” Mrs. Bond yelled as she snatched the little fan off the dashboard and hurled it at the small Eater. It landed on the Eater’s forehead with a loud wham. The Eater seemed unaffected by the blow and continued to growl at Mrs. Bond.
“Where is Harry? We must leave now!” Mrs. Bond yelled as more Eaters piled on top of the little zombie whose head was stuck in the bus’s door.
“Thy Kingdom come…. Thy will be done as it is on this ruined earth…” Tarynn continued.
Drew continued past Beetle and Tarynn. He realized that Beetle was really sick. His frail, pale body resembled a structure of bones. Drew knew that if it was not for Beetle coming to their aide, he and the others would have surely been one of the doomed by now.
“We are headed to the Fairgrounds Center buddy. Just got to get Mr. Harry,” Drew said to Beetle, in passing, who slowly shook his head. “Something is not right…” Drew mumbled.
“You’re right, something is not right! We are being attacked by a smaller version of dead baby zombies!” Sue Ellen shouted. The whites of her big brown puppy eyes were placed with red bulging lines. Mater rubbed Sue Ellen’s back to comfort her as she tried to calm the rest of the students.
As Drew continued to navigate his way to the back he stopped cold in his tracks when he neared the emergency door. The first image he saw was the coach backing up and speeding away in his white car. The sound of rubber melted into the highways with a screech. The car headed towards the direction of Highway 57, which was an alternate route to the Fairgrounds Center. What shocked Drew to his core was the blood curdling screams that erupted from Mr. Harry as the Eaters transcended upon him. He fought the best he could swinging his fists with endless blows at the tireless little monsters. They crawled upon him like ants cover a mound that was brutally disturbed.
Bright red sprinkles replaced the once clear drizzle that Hurricane Angel brought down. The wind blew the blood in the air like sound waves. Mr. Harry’s shirt became a fountain of red as his vital fluid ran down his face from his torn scalp. Mr. Harry continued his screams like a rock star, while the tiny Eaters tore at him with their razor sharp teeth. Bits and pieces of flesh fell from the bus driver as what was left of his body fell to the ground. The picture of the sweet older lady flew up high in the hair before settling near Mr. Harry’s body. The only thing left visible of the bus driver was the leg that was still stuck in the hole. The traumatism caused Drew to stumble back and fall into another student. He covered his mouth as he felt the strong urge in his belly to give away its contents. Drew’s mouth was very watery as he pushed past the other students, the tears stinging his eyes.
Fight or Flight. Fight or Flight. Fight or Flight.
FLIGHT! Drew concluded.
“GO! Mrs. Bond! GO! Mr. Harry is dead!”
“Oh my G
—“
“They got him! Go! Please!”
Mrs. Bond pulled the rear view mirror down and saw the army of Eaters taking down what was left of Harry, the bus driver. She uttered a guttural cry and pressed the pedal as far as it could go. The bus bolted forward causing all of the students standing up to fall into the aisle. Drew crawled on his hands and knees towards the frightened librarian as she flew down the road.
The students whooped and hollered as the big yellow bus sailed through the air. Mrs. Bond ran through a stop sign narrowly missing a van. The van full of people swerved and hit a ditch. The bus trailed on by the wrecked van as if it was never there. Mrs. Bond carried on with her mission uninterrupted fueled by shock, the unknowing, and fear. The librarian continued on the slick wet roads on a mission to make it to Highway 26. The rain had stopped but the wind carried on swirling debris and swaying the bus as it fought hard against it. Along the way, businesses were being looted and folks were getting robbed. People desperately ran in out of the stores with emergency supplies, water, and can goods in their arms. The look on their faces was intent on survival at all costs. Drew was in awe that these events were happening right here in his small town. He could not imagine what must have been occurring in larger metropolitan cities such as Los Angeles or New York.
As Mrs. Bond neared the road that led to Highway 26, sirens blasted and more gunshots sounded. She decided to take a detour and turned the bus so sharply that it almost flipped over. Drew stood next to Mrs. Bond and held his weight between to the two front seats.
“Where are we going?” Drew asked. His heart was pumping and his adrenaline was high.
“Shortcut, honey,” Mrs. Bond quickly said as she veered onto the nearby packed Highway 49.
Drew turned and looked south of Highway 49, which was the four-lane highway that led to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Vehicles were filling the highway as far back as he could see.
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