“Yes. Pauline Ross. Wish I could say it’s a pleasure, but…well, you know?”
Nick nodded and tried to smile. He knew how the she was feeling. While he had been running on adrenaline for the past couple hours, too panicked to properly grieve his losses, this woman had been sitting on this bus, alone with her grief. The reality of the situation was crushing her and Nick knew that once he took the time to slow down and think, his grief would crush him also.
Just the thought of thinking about it is making me afraid.
He looked around the bus at some of the other passengers, trying not to dwell on things that could wait for later. There was a grimy-looking man in navy-blue work overalls at the rear of the bus. He had thick dreadlocks and was staring at the floor while picking at callouses on his hands. In front of him, a couple rows ahead, was a teenaged boy in a bulbous, yellow jacket. Like Eve, he was gazing out of the window and watching the world whiz by.
Lastly, there were two older ladies, sitting together in the middle rows and nattering to one another as if they were on an ordinary journey on an ordinary day. Acting that way was probably their way of staying calm; the stiff upper lip of the older generation. Nick did not blame them at all.
Better to fake sanity than to accept insanity.
The vibrations of the bus’s diesel engine started to lull Nick into a restful daze. Now that he was finally safe his entire body began to throb. His blood felt like crude oil in his veins, pooling at his feet and making them swell. Through the window, he watched the countryside break apart as they passed by a small industrial estate. The various factories and workshops were all dormant, their workers not managing to make it in today.
“Looks like things are going to get a tad rough up ahead,” Dave shouted back from the front of the bus. “Everybody hold on to their arses.”
Nick got up from his seat and stumbled his way to the front. When he got there, Dave’s expression was impassive, staring dead ahead. Nick peered through the windscreen to see what was up ahead.
More car wrecks littered the road and there were pedestrians everywhere. There was a motorway service station, just off the upcoming island, that was currently ablaze. Nick could only assume what had happened there. An outbreak – of whatever was making people crazy – must have occurred at the rest stop, and the weary travellers trying to grab a quick burger or make use of the restrooms would have been taken by surprise. Those who had managed to flee had found their way back onto the roads, which only caused cars to swerve and crash around them, or mow them down completely. The whole scene was a disaster-zone as the healthy fought desperately against the sick and burning husks of automobiles continued to pile up like twisted sculptures.
“Think we can make it through?” Nick asked Dave.
“I don’t know. The motorway entrance is totally blocked, but I might be able to stay on the island and get round onto the A road.”
“Do your best. If we get stalled then we won’t be able to get moving again. Those crazies will be all over us.”
Dave took a deep breath and held it. He stamped down on the accelerator, choosing speed over caution. If any of the people out there on the road managed to get caught up in the bus’s wheels they would grind to a halt and have no escape. Speed was their best option.
Dave steered to the right as a body flew out in front of them, arms flailing in the air. Nick could not tell if it was one of the crazies or someone normal pleading to be picked up. They couldn’t afford to slow down and find out.
A woman clutched her bloody arm against her chest, up ahead; it was missing a hand. She screamed at the bus to help her as it sped by, but there was no way to do anything for her. Nick looked back helplessly as a mob of crazy people engulfed her.