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….”
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.