Degeneration (34 page)

The bus sat motionless
on the sidewalk
while its dead engine smoldered.

18

R
ichard
coughe
d violently and spat blood. He covered with
glass shards
from the shattered windshield
.
His whole body ached. The dashboard of the bus had been shoved forwa
rd in the accident and pinned down his legs. Thick smoke seeped in through the vents and he
heard flames
crackling underneath the hood
.

Groaning
, he pushed up on the dashboard with all the strength he co
uld muster in his dazzled state.

The dash
resisted at first, but
finally rose a few centimeters. I
t was just enough clearance for Richard to slide his legs out from under
neath
it.

Richard slid out of the driver
’s seat and let go of the dashboard, allowing it crash
aga
inst the floorboard.

He staggered into the center aisle of the smoke-
inundated bus, coughing, and clumsil
y grabbed the bent door
leve
r. He gave the lever a push.

Oil shot out of the badly damaged hydraulic mechanism and dribbled down the
shattered
folding doors.
The doors didn’t fold open.

He
tur
ned towards the rear of the bus and limped
toward
s the open emergency exit door.

In the distance, he saw the i
nfected trudging towards the
direction of the wrecked bus. They were
following the
path that the bus had cleared.

Ric
hard stood at the open rear door and stared out at the i
nfected. Behi
nd him, he heard the roar of two approaching jets. He looked up at the roof of the enflamed hospital and spotted a group of six CDC white-suits were waving dirtied sheets over their heads, trying to flag down the jets. Two of the white-suits held up a large hand-painted sign that read ‘
Not sick – Suits low on O2 – Need airlift’.

T
he
jet
fighters flew low
over t
he parking lot and sent car alarms wailing as they screeched past. The i
nfected
stopped walking and
looked up to
wards the sky at the jets as they flew past.

Both planes made a beeline directly towar
ds the engulfed hospital and then quickly veered off in
opposite directions
, narrowly missing the structure
.

The CDC white-suits on the roof stared in confusion and dismay as four fast objects, fired from the jets,
whistled towards the
hospital.

Creating
a resounding explosion, the missiles struck the
hospital and four orange blossoms bloomed along
the center of the
building. The shockwave
rippled
out
across the parking l
ot, knocked the infected to the ground
, an
d flung Richard backwards into the bus
.

T
he ground
shook as
the
flame-ravaged hospital
collapsed
in on itself and threw out a massive plume of ash
h
igh into the air. The plume spread
outwards and inundated the entire city block
in seconds in a dense cloud of
soot and ash.

Richard staggered back on his feet
and struggled
to
b
reath
e in the dirtied air. Tinnitus
muffled
his hearing and ash blurred his vision
. He
rubbed
his
stinging eyes as they welted with tears.
Coughing, he stum
bled out of the bus onto the pavement. H
is vis
ibility was shot, so kept his head low and stared at the ground.

As the ringing stopped and his hearing slowly returned, he heard the i
nfected gr
oaning nearby and heard them blindly stumble against vehicles. He knew that he had to be out of sight
before the dust settled or else they would s
pot
him.

The ash sent him
into a coughi
ng spasm and, in the distance, the infected snarled in response
.

They may not be able to see you, but they can hear you, stupid shit.

Andy’s intrusive voice
was
as loud as ever
.

Richard
reached
his hand
out
blindly
and pressed
it against the bus and felt
his way t
owards the front–

He stumbled
over the curb at the edge of the parking lot and landed on
his hands and knees in
the street, kicking up a thick plume o
f soot
. He erupted in a spasm of violent coughs
as he struggled to breathe in the polluted air
.

Closer in the distance, the infected gave their
response.

You better shut up, b
efore you lead them right to us
, Richie!

Richard c
rawled along
the street, staring down at the pavement, wheezing, coughing.
He heard
the
i
nfected
closing in, honing in on his coughs.

Suddenly, he saw lights approaching out of his peripheral vision.

He turned his he
ad and was immediately blinded by the approaching headlights. He
raised an arm and
shielded his eyes as
the vehicle approached, speed unabated.

Richard stood up and weaved his arms over his head, desperately trying to signal the driver.

Col
.
Mathis saw
something through the dust-filled air
as he sped down the street. He leaned over the steering wheel in
side
his soiled white-suit and sa
w a man waving him down. His eyes widened as he
saw the improbable: a survivor.

He
slammed on the brakes.

The FEMA van
skidded to a stop with its
bumper only a few inches away from Richard’
s face.

Richard stopped waving
and
grip
ed his bit shoulder with his bandaged
hand.
He stared at the white-suit sitting behind the steering wheel of the van.

Mathis switched the lights
off, swung the driver’s door open, and stepped out
holding an assault rifle
.

“Thank God!”
Richard cried, elated. “Please, help me. They’re coming! They’re all around the hospital!
”

Mathis quickly
noticed the wounded shoulder and
the bandaged wrist. He pointed the rifle
at Richard
.
“How long ago
since you were first
bitten?”

Richard startled and stepped back.

“I don’t know…
thirty minutes? P
ro
bably close to an–
”

“Thirty minutes and
you’re
still conscious?
H
ow long have you
been breathing without a respirator?
”
Mathis asked, flabbergasted.

“Since I was- I don’t know! Ever since I wo
ke up in the hospital! Does it matter? Look, we have to get out of here!
”
Richard screamed
.

Mathis slowly lowered his w
eapon and ran to Richard as he heard the infected approaching
the edge of the parking lot.

“Put your hands together,” he
quickly
ordered.

“Why?” Richard asked, stepping
away
.

“
If you want me to get you out of here, p
ut your hands tog
ether!”

Richard hesitantly
folded his hands together.

Mathis slung his M-16 over his shoulder, dug out a pair of plastic zip-tie cuffs from one of the cargo pockets
on his white-suit, and zipped
the cuffs
tightly
around Richard’s wrists.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Richard yelled,
tearing
away from Mathis. He threw a panicked glanc
e over towards the parking lot. T
he dust was starting to settle and he could see
a multitude of silhouetted figures rapidly approach. “
They’re fucking coming! I need my hands to defend myself!”

Mathis pointed the
rifle
at
him
.

“Move
to the back of the van!
Now
!”

“Those things are
coming! We don’t have time for–
”

“Then hurry up and MOVE! NOW!
”

Mathis pressed the barrel of the gun against
Richard’s
chest.

Richard, defeated, hurried
to
wards
the doors at the
back
of the white van. There were no windows on the doors, only the Homeland Security emblem and ‘FEMA’
etched in blue lettering.

Mathis swung open the doors and Richard noticed that the inside looked like a prisoner transport van
.

“GET IN!”
Mathis shouted. He
shoved Richard into the van, slammed the door
shut, and ran towards the
open driver’s side door.

A
scalded
man
charged
fro
m the parking lot towards Mathis
, screaming.

Mathis aimed the
rifle
at the man but then quickly lowered it when he remembered that the gun didn’t have a single
usable round
left in it.

The infected man lunged towards him
.

Mathis turned the
rifle
around
a
nd swung
it like a bat.

The stock of the weapon struck the man hard in the head and sent him
collapsing
to the ground
, gurgling on his own blood.

Before the man had a chance to recover,
Mathis jumped into the driver
seat
and sped off.

Infected staggered out
from the
ash laden
parking lot but the van
knocked through them effortlessly. It
swerved
between burnt
wreckage that clogged the road, crashed through aluminum police barricade
, and careened
through an
intersection that was littered with
abandoned vehicles.

Within seconds,
the pursing horde was left far
behind.

Mathis reduced his speed as he navigated the
cluttered street with an air of calculated caution
.
It both amazed and frightened him
how quickly such a w
ell-organized plan had fallen apart.

The downtown streets
had become a maze littered with
burnt vehicles
,
countless charcoaled human remains,
and
heaps of
rubble.
Every nearby building, violated earlier by looting during the onset of the crisis, had been gutted by flames
.
Trashed
ATMs had been pulled free from their housing and
charred
money blew freely
across the street. The i
nfected stopped aimless
ly
shuff
ling as the van passed and chased after it
.

M
athis knew he had to make his escape, but m
any of
the streets had been rendered
i
mpassable
. G
etting out of downtown was
proving to be rather difficult.