The teenager nodded, but the beads of sweat on his forehead made it clear he was beginning to tire. “Whatever you’re doing, mate, you better do it quick.”
Nick thrust the scarf over the girl’s mangled face and quickly began wrapping it around her head, trying to cover her bleeding eyes and ruined mouth. After wrapping it as tightly as he could, he then tied a double knot at the back with the frayed ends of the scarf.
The little girl stopped thrashing.
The teenager stared at Nick with astonishment. “She’s stopped fighting me.”
Nick shrugged. It was bizarre, but it was as if the little girl had shut down. Her attack mode had been switched off. His intention had only been to disorientate her, but it seemed the result was even better.
Nick waved a hand in front of the girl’s face, trying to tempt a reaction. There was none. After thinking for a few moments, he came up with a suggestion. “Try letting her go.”
The teenager balked. “What? No way.”
“It’s okay. I’m ready to grab her again if she tries anything. Go on, just let go of her, slowly.”
The teenager didn’t seem happy about it, but he obliged anyway. He slowly pulled his arms away from the little girl.
She stood there motionless. Everyone on the bus seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief. Nick took the moment to examine the child. Her hands hung limply at her sides, fingernails caked in blood. One of those fingers pointed outward at an unnatural angle that suggested a break or dislocation. She was also missing a shoe; dirt and stones were imbedded in her bare foot.
Looking at the girl, one thing in particular was clear to Nick. She needed help they could not provide her.
“How we looking, Dave?” he shouted over to the front of the bus.”
“I got us back onto the main road, but there are pile-ups everywhere. It’s like the whole country started trying to get somewhere in a hurry but forgot how to drive. I can’t say how long until we get into difficulty again.”
“Is it safe to stop for a second?”
“Safer than it was earlier.”
Nick looked at the little girl with sadness. “Okay,” he said. “Stop the bus. We’re dropping off a passenger.”
The bus began slowing down. Nick took a hold of the little girl’s arm and began pulling her towards the front of the bus.
“What are you going to do?” Pauline asked him as he passed.
“Taking her outside.”
“We can’t leave her. She’s just a little girl.”
Pauline was right of course, but Nick had the feeling it would be a bad idea to let the little girl stay with them. “It’s not safe,” he said. “She’s…infected, for want of a better word. We can’t risk having her near us.”
“We can’t just leave her outside on her own, blindfolded. She’ll get hit by a car. She’s just a little girl.”
“A little girl that almost took my bastard thumb off,” said the teenager from the rear of the bus.
Pauline could see she was fighting a losing battle, but pleaded anyway. “Still…”
“I’ll take off her blindfold,” Nick conceded.
The teenager shook his head. “What? No way. She’ll come right at you again.”
“I’ll do it outside. I’ll do it quick.”
“Your funeral, mate.”
Nick took the girl to the front of the bus and then guided her down the steps to the road. She was completely docile, completely willing to go wherever he guided her.
“I’m sorry to do this,” Nick whispered to the girl. “Whatever is happening to you, I hope it isn’t permanent.”
He manoeuvred her into the treeline, hoping she would wonder off into the countryside rather than onto the motorway. He faced her away from him, towards the trees, and then glanced back at the bus. The door was hanging wide open for him to run back on board. Hopefully he could do so before the little girl launched another attack.
He took a deep breath and began to shove the blindfold up and over the girl’s head. A vein in the side of her head seemed to pulse like a drumbeat as the scarf began to fall away.