At the sound of the man’s primal scream, the children responded in kind, shrieking in fear as they looked back towards their principal. Some of them froze in place, only to be yanked forward by the chain of clasped hands, which remarkably had remained strong. Perhaps holding a classmate’s hand was all the security they had in that moment. Perhaps they were just following their teacher’s directions, the only person they trusted in that moment.
Either way, it was helping.
Nielsen dragged the children forward as they rounded the corner. Sarah followed closely behind them, keeping her son next to her as she moved in short, quick steps, desperately trying not to trip the children in front of her.
Fifty yards away, at the end of the hallway, Rudolph broke into a run, charging towards them at full speed. Spit flew from his mouth and he surged, snarling and grunting as the leather soles of his shoes slapped on the tiled floor.
Looking ahead, Sarah saw the corner of the hallway less than twenty feet ahead. The first children in their group were rounding the corner, heading towards the building’s administration offices and ultimately the front entrance to the school.
Glancing back over her shoulder, she was dismayed to see the big man had closed to within fifteen feet.
‘How can he be so fast?’ She asked herself as she pushed herself harder. Mister Randolph was tall, with long legs and arms, but he was far from young (at least in his mid-fifties, she estimated) and carried a lot of extra weight in his midsection.
Nevertheless, he was there, closing in, his long arms stretched out in front of him as his hands reached for both her and Jason. She could hear his heavy breathing and rabid snarling loudly in her ears now as the man closed in, making it clear they wouldn’t escape.
Out of desperation, she grabbed the loose end of a colored poster that hung from the wall and tossed it behind her, knowing it was a ridiculously pathetic attempt to stop a man of that size.
James Rudolph’s growl was thundering in her ears when it changed pitch suddenly before being cut off.
Surging forward, arms outstretched, the man’s left foot came down on the poster, which slipped out from under him on the polished surface of the tiled floor. Running full speed, the man landed hard on his hip, sliding sideways as his momentum carried him into a glass display case on the opposite wall. Glass exploded in a massive shower, sending fragments flying in all directions as the big man’s right leg and the right side of his torso slid along the razor sharp edges of the broken glass, ripping his clothing and cutting deep into his skin.
The man roared in anger as Sarah raced away. At this point she was essentially dragging her son, the boy’s feet barely touching the ground as he was pulled forward.
Up ahead at the end of the hall she saw the front doors to the school fly open as Nielsen and the children made their way outside. Within seconds, Sarah and Jason rushed through the doors out into the open air, squinting in the bright, midday sun.
The crazed rush of bodies that had been inside when she’d arrive was now outside, with hundreds of adults and children racing one way or another as they tried to get away from the school. Car horns blared as frustrated drivers struggled to work their way out of the parking lot, some of them leaning out of the window of their vehicles to shout at other drivers, demanding movement, regardless of the impossibility or difficulty associated with it.
Rushing to her SUV, Sarah pulled the FOB from her pocket and hit the button, unlocking the doors. Wasting no time, she threw open the door and literally tossed Jason inside, telling him to put on his seatbelt ‘like a big boy.’ Ignoring Olivia’s wailing, she slammed the door and moved to the driver’s side. Opening the door, she jumped in the driver’s seat and quickly pulled the door closed behind her before sliding the key into the ignition. Starting the vehicle, she hit the button to lock the doors before putting the SUV in Drive.
‘Now what?’ She wondered, looking around the traffic jammed parking lot.
There was nowhere to go.
She moved forward anyway, hoping the other vehicles in the lot would start moving, but when she glanced towards the exit, she saw a crazed person half-in, half-out of the lead vehicle, attacking the driver within.
The line wouldn’t be moving any time soon.
“Fuck this,” she muttered, reaching down and sliding the SUV into four wheel drive.
“Mommy…”
Focused on her efforts, she leaned forward to look over the front end of the vehicle as she spoke to her son. “I know, Jason, I’m sorry, I said a bad word.”
“No, Mommy, that’s not it,” the boy protested. “You need to put on your seatbelt.”
Realizing her son was right, and that it would indeed be needed, since things were about to get really bumpy, she reached up and grabbed the buckle and pulled it down, sliding the metal end into the socket. “Thank you, Honey.”
Taking a deep breath, she added, “Hold on, kids.” Pressing down on the gas, she drove the SUV forward and up onto the sidewalk in front of the main school building. The engine revved loudly in response, but handled the small climb without trouble. Honking, she shooed people out of her way as she travelled across the section of sidewalk between her and the sloped grass area that led down towards the street. She drove onto the grass, then down the small hill until she reached the hedges at the edge of the sidewalk.
“I’ll pay the bill,” she said under her breath as she guided the Pathfinder into the hedge, wincing as she heard the branches dig deep gouges in the silver paint of the vehicle. Her left front tire caught on something, forcing them to stop momentarily, but she pushed the gas pedal down harder, causing the hybrid all-terrain tires to climb up and over the hedge, flattening it in the process as she reached the sidewalk along the street. A second later, the front end dropped down off the curb of the sidewalk, reaching the street. The rear end dropped down immediately afterward, rocking the vehicle as it did. Not bothering to return the gear to two-wheel drive, Sarah sped away, heading for home.
Turning the corner, she realized she’d been breathing in rapid, shallow breaths since reaching the school. Slowly and softly, she drew in breaths, keeping the noise from her breathing to a minimum. As much as she wanted to pull over and rest her head in her hands while she allowed her mind to process everything she’d seen and experienced at the school, she forced herself to keep going. She needed to get her children home.
To safety.
The drive home was a blur as she sped down the small residential streets that led to the condo she and John owned. Hearing sirens coming from all directions, she wondered if there were simply too many incidents for the first responders to handle. She would later realize that was exactly the case.
Arriving at their condo complex, she drove through the parking lot rapidly, swerving wildly to avoid speed bumps. As she neared their assigned parking spot, she slowed her vehicle, turning her head from left to right as she checked to make sure the way to their condo was clear. The lot was devoid of people, something she was thankful for after what she’d been through at the school.
Once she parked, she jumped out, opened the rear driver’s side door, and quickly got Jason out of his seatbelt. Holding the boy’s hand, she led him to the other side of the car instead of letting him go ahead the way she usually did. She retrieved Olivia from the back seat, picking the girl up and resting her weight on her hip, then led her son to the stairs and up into their condo.
Inside, she locked the door and deadbolt before leaving the children in the living room and heading to the bedroom she shared with her husband. Calmly and quietly, she closed the door to the room behind her, then fell face first on the bed, where she alternated between crying and screaming into a pillow. Her emotions flowed through her, spinning and churning like a flock of Starlings dancing in the sky.
She was devastated at the loss of her husband.
She was rattled from the experience at the school.
She was terrified of everything outside the door to their condom
inium.
When her eyes were dry and her pillow was moist, she slowly rose from the bed and made her way to the master bathroom, where she washed her face, refusing to look at John’s toothbrush, razor, or shaving cream that he kept on the counter. There would be more time to grieve later.
Right now she had to be a Mom.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Van Nuys, California
Firing his gun in short, measured bursts, Serrano moved to the left, working around the edge of the stalled tour bus that blocked the better part of three Northbound lanes of the I-5 Freeway. He moved with quick, precise movements, seeming to glide forward as he squeezed the trigger on his MP-4. Bodies of the infected shook as the bullets impacted their bodies, knocking them sideways or backwards.
Eventually, they all fell under the barrage of gunfire he unleashed.
Behind him, Phillip and Aaron followed, watching his blindspots, providing a second ‘tap’ on any infected that hadn’t been killed by Serrano’s initial shots.
While they cleared the area around the bus, Richard Singletary and his granddaughter Jennifer kept watch on the freeway behind where they’d been forced to stop, ensuring no one would sneak up on them. Resting his high-powered sniper rifle on the top edge of the truck’s gate, Richard softly chewed a piece of gum as he peered through the scope, scanning slowly as he looked for threats in the distance. Occasionally his mouth would stop chewing and he would bite down on the gum, setting his jaw. Within seconds, the rifle would bark, sending a bullet towards a target somewhere behind them.
A second shot was never required.
Serrano stepped between the dead bodies on the road as he moved towards the open door to the bus. With a wrecked SUV, sitting partially atop a small car, blocking the shoulder and fourth lane of the freeway, the bus needed to be moved, and with any luck, he’d be able to start the vehicle and maneuver it to the side of the road.
A window on the bus exploded outward as a body flew outward and down towards Serrano. As attacks go, it was poorly planned. Serrano slid to his right in the blink of an eye, moving out from under the falling man. The man, dressed in a torn and bloodied business suit, landed heavily on the ground, slamming his face into the concrete of the roadway. A bullet to the back of the head ensured the man didn’t get back up.
Moving to the door, Serrano sidestepped in an effort to gain a line of sight into the bus. The tinted windows rendered the inside of the bus dim in the morning sun, leaving numerous shadows within the dozens of rows of seats.
“Fuck this,” he said, stepping away. He told the other two to remain where they were while he moved to the other side of the bus, which mostly faced south. Aiming his gun, he shot out every other window, shattering four of the eight large glass surfaces, flooding the interior of the people mover with light.
Returning to the door, he peered inside again before stepping onto the bottom step and peering under the rows of seats, looking for the presence of people. There were several dark shapes in the seating area, three on the right side, four on the left. Lifting his balaclava up over his mouth and nose, he slowly climbed the steps sideways, keeping his gun trained towards the rows of seats as he did, watching for movement.
He paused at the top of the steps, listening. Other than the sound of the wind coming through the windows, the interior of the bus was silent. Another crack of Richard’s rifle indicated he’d put down another threat.
‘Damn, it’s good to have that man watching our backs,’ Serrano thought, stepping forward. He moved slowly, swinging his rifle from side to side as he cleared each seat area. Halfway down the row, he saw the first dead body on the left side of the bus: an old black woman whose light colored blouse was stained with the blood that spilled from a gaping hole in her neck. The woman lay slumped in her seat, her head against the window frame, her arms holding a large black purse. Serrano watched the woman closely for nearly a minute before moving on.
Two rows behind her, a pair of bodies were tangled together, each one’s arms wrapped around the other person. Apparently they’d been sitting side by side before the infection took over. They’d died there on the seats of the bus, their eyes gazing into nowhere as they succumbed from the multiple wounds each one had inflicted on the other.
Serrano waited, then continued on.
By the time he reached the back of the bus, he’d found ten dead people in all. Six of the ten had become infected before dying at the hands of another infected. The other four had become victims of the infected, unable to defend themselves against the savagery that found them.
With the bus cleared of threats, he returned to the front of the vehicle and slid into the driver’s seat. Looking down, he saw the keys were still in the ignition.
‘No way this will still start,’ he thought, reaching for the key.
The starter turned slowly, working with the speed of molasses as it struggled to put the engine in motion. Whirring and groaning came from the engine compartment as the motor worked desperately, trying to answer the order received. The fact that it turned over at all was a surprise to Serrano, but if it didn’t start the engine, he had no idea how they’d move the massive behemoth of a vehicle. With the two other wrecked vehicles directly in front of the bus, they couldn’t bring the truck into position to jump start the bus. Aside from that, he wasn’t sure they even had jumper cables.
‘Come on, you bastard…’
The engine sputtered once, twice, then kicked into motion, churning as it expelled a massive black cloud from its exhaust.
“Yes!” Carefully putting the vehicle into first gear, he disengaged the parking brake and gave the engine a bit of gas as he slowly released the clutch. His experience with driving large engine vehicles with manual transmissions was limited to Humvees, and even that had been over ten years ago. Even so, a stick shift was a stick shift. Give a little gas, release the clutch slowly. Ease it into motion. He didn’t need to go far.
With a lurch, the tour bus moved forward, rocking side to side slightly as it did so. Serrano pulled the wheel to the right, forcing the big vehicle in that direction, towards the side of the road. There was an abandoned Mini Cooper sitting in the slow lane, but it would be a non-issue for the fifteen ton vehicle. Increasing the pressure on the gas pedal, Serrano pointed the front end of the massive vehicle towards the back end of the small car. The bus collided with the left rear bumper of the Mini Cooper, forcing it inwards while causing the car to slowly spin sideways, its tires sliding across the pavement as the bus forged ahead. The Mini Cooper passed by under the windshield as Serrano focused on getting to the side of the road. As he reached the shoulder, he heard a tapping sound coming from somewhere under the bus.
‘Good thing I’m already done,’ he thought, stopping the vehicle and engaging the parking brake. Turning off the ignition, he leaned back in the driver’s seat for a second, looking off to his left to where Phillip and Aaron stood. The two alternated between watching him and keeping watch. When Aaron saw him looking at them, he raised his hand and gave Serrano a thumbs up.
Serrano nodded, then stood from the seat and grabbed his rifle from the dash of the vehicle.
The tapping sound came from under the bus again.
‘The fuck?’
Stepping onto the first step, he paused and listened again.
Nothing.
Shaking his head, he descended the remaining steps and was stepping from the last one to the ground when he heard it once more.
Tap tap tap
Phillip and Aaron came over, motioning for Richard and Jennifer to bring the truck.
“Nice job, Chief.”
Serrano ignored the young black man, looking back towards the side of the bus quizzically.
“What is it, Chili?” Phillip asked, his gaze following the other man’s.
Serrano held up a finger, indicating silence was required. Nodding, Phillip turned and motioned for his sister and grandfather to remain where they were.
Tap tap tap
; It was coming from one of the luggage compartments on the lower side of the tour bus. Stepping closer, Serrano kept his rifle up as he approached the aluminum sided metal compartment. Reaching forward, he kicked the compartment door with his boot.
Almost immediately, the tapping sound returned.
“Shit,” Aaron said from behind him.
Stepping back, Serrano kept his eyes on the compartment as he spoke to the young Marine. “You want to open or provide cover?”
Looking down at his rifle, then over at Serrano, Aaron had to admit the SEAL would probably be more capable of not only neutralizing a threat but also ensuring the other person didn’t get hit with any stray bullets. The way the SEAL moved, the manner in which he fired his weapon with controlled precision was not only awe-inspiring, but trust-inspiring as well.
“I’ll open the compartment.”
“The compartment door looks like it comes out a bit, then slides upward. Unlatch it and keep it in place, then give me a count of three before pulling it out and throwing it up. Move to the left - the left - and away quickly.”
“Got it.”
Aaron Dennard approached the compartment slowly, jumping a bit when the tapping sound came again from the inner wall of the space. Stopping in front of it, he looped his left arm inside the strap for his rifle and pushed it back behind him. Grabbing the latch, he unclasped it, then grabbed the handle with both hands before looking back at Serrano.
Maintaining eye contact, he mouthed, “One...Two ...Three!”
Surviving Rage | Book 2 Page 16