The humidity was palpitating. Glancing outside the window, one could see the scenery slowly passing by as the bus cruised down the road.The heat was so overwhelming, one could almost touch it.
The green scenery was beautiful (the only perk from riding the bus). There was no air conditioning and the bus driver refused to play any music except country.
The blond sitting in the first row, rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. “This is hell”, Penny thought, having never ridden the bus before; it truly was hell for Penny.
She had grown in extravagant surroundings and lacked nothing in life. She always flew first class, so riding the bus was a huge step-down for her. Why her father suddenly had decided to cut her off, she would never know.
His only reason: You’ll thank me some day.
Like hell she would!
She swatted a fly away from her ear, then glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of a man sitting near the window. Her gaze turned appreciative and raked up and down his form. He was a beautiful specimen:handsome face with a square jaw, eyes the colour of a thunderstorm, wide shoulders and bulging muscles. Basically, he was hot.
Adam kept staring at his own reflection in the window. Outside he could see the edge of a forest with a sign that says only 60 miles per hour, but he kept studying his own reflection none the less.
He was headed to Pretoria, because he had gotten the weekend off from training and wanted to spend it with his family. His training was almost over. He looked forward to that day, it meant he’d finally begin his sniper training.
Briefly he glanced at the back of the bus driver’s head. The man was acting strangely. He was sweating and coughing profusely. A few times, the coughs were so bad that he lost sight of the road and the bus almost veered off the road.(No one else seemed to notice) Except the girl in front of him.
She had pink short hair with streaks of black. She seemed to like black, because all her clothes were also black.
Willow threw a few worried glances towards the driver. The overly large man with the red cap seemed too sick to drive. She was starting to get worried. Her gut was telling her to get the hell off the bus, but her mind warred against it. They would make a pit stop in a few minutes. Maybe she could de-bus and call a friend to come pick her up. Or maybe she was just overreacting.
There was a sudden cackle to her right and her head whipped around. The guy with the dreadlocks had startled her. She gave him a silent glare and his cheeks quickly changed colour. He ducked his head and whispered something to the black guy next to him. The other guy gave him a small shrug and kept looking at his phone.
Unfortunately, Willow’s glare wasn’t enough to stop dreadlocks from telling another joke and laughing until his entire body was shaking.
Tim could easily see that the punk-rock chick didn’t like him, but he was used to it. Very few people liked his jokes, but that didn’t stop him.
“Okay Carl, I’ve got another one for you: A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says, ‘Ugh that’s the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen!’ The woman walks to the rear of the bus and sits down. She says to the man next to her, ‘The driver just insulted me!’ The man says, ‘You go up there and tell him off. Go on, I’ll hold your monkey for you.’”
Carl cracked a smile, but that still didn’t stop Tim from laughing out loud.
Carl gave an internal sigh. The guy next to him was really funny, but he was getting tired of the guy’s jokes. He just wanted to read his messages in peace. He knew when the bus arrived in town he wouldn’t be able to pick up his phone. He was the best man after all. He would be too busy organizing the bachelor party and writing his toast for the day after tomorrow.
The bus gave another jolt as it went over a bump in the road. The passengers around him were very quiet, except of course for Tim.
“Today at the bank, an old lady asked me to check her balance. So I pushed her over.” Tim screeched in laughter and at some point, even slammed his hand against the chair as he laughed.
The Goth chick gave Tim multiple glares while army dude gave the driver, for some in explainable reason, glares and the Barbie chick in front looked uncomfortable. It must be her first bus ride. He had more experience. He had spent most of his life riding on the bus back and forth from his mom’s house to his dad’s. They lived in different towns, which made the commute so much longer.
Unexpectedly, the bus swerved off the road. The driver grabbed the wheel and swung the bus back to the direction of the road. A few passengers started screaming. For Carl,it was as if time had slowed down. In slow motion, the bus swung in the opposite direction, which caused the bus to ultimately flip on its side. Unfortunately the bus’s turning onto its side didn’t stop the bus from sliding across the road to the other side, down a hill and then towards a giant tree. People kept screaming. Carl grabbed his seatbelt and braced for impact. Barbie was screeching at a high pitch which made Carl’s ears bleed. They were about eight people, including the driver, on the bus.
The bus and the tree crashed together in a giant collision. The bus almost split in half.
The bus finally stopped. The adrenaline still rushed through Carl’s veins. He sat there in silence, shocked. He looked at everyone around him. They also seemed to be shocked into silence.
“Shit,” muttered Tim next to him. Everyone unbuckled their seatbelts, not wanting to sit sideways in the bus.
A deep, guttural snarl ripped through the air. Simultaneously, everyone looked at the driver.
Carl’s shock turned into rage and then… confusion. The driver had a giant piece of glass sticking out of his neck, but didn’t even seem to mind. Red liquid oozed from the wound. The piece of glass had pierced the skin and now showed a hint of red, raw flesh. The driver kept snarling. The wound didn’t seem to bother him. His skin was a pale grey and he kept sniffing the air. When he caught sight of Penny, who was two seats away, he lunged. Penny’s screams rent the air as she plastered herself into a corner of the bus away from the driver. Luckily for her, the driver still had his seatbelt on. He kept lunging with no success.
Everyone was struck by the realization that the driver was not okay. He was inhumane. He acted like a beast. No one knew what he was, but they knew he was out for blood.
“What the hell is that?” Carl had a small cut above his eye and blood gently dripped from the wound.
No one answered until Adam spoke, “I don’t know, but we should probably get out of here.”
Helooked at the window above his head, smashed it and then crawled out of the wreck. He called the rest of the passengers and one by one, he helped them through the window and down the side of the bus. Penny still sat in her seat, frozen and horrified. Tim was the last one to crawl through the window, but he quickly stopped when he saw Penny not moving. Climbing over all of the seats, he finally made it to her side. A tentative hand was placed on her shoulder, but she ignored it.
Wide-eyed she kept staring at the driver. He refused to give up. The seatbelt was starting to tear through his skin.
Tim tried to comfort her, “Hey it’s okay. It’ll be alright.” Noresponse. “What’s your name?”
Faintly, like a feather caressing your skin,she murmured, “Penny.”
“Hey, Penny. I’m Tim. We should probably get out of here, yeah?” He asked hopefully, but was greeted with silence.
“Penny, please come on.” Tim glanced at the driver. His upper body was slowly tearing from his lower body which brought him closer to Penny.
In that moment Tim knew what he had to do. He rarely raised his voice but there were times when he had to, especially in his work environment, where he worked as a chef in a five star restaurant.
“Penny! Penny look at me!” Baby blue eyes turned to him and for a moment he was struck by the clear, sky-blue eyes. “We have to get out of here! Come on!” He gave her an encouraging tug and at last Penny slipped out of her trance and followed Tim. He gave her a push through the window and quickly followed.
Adam stood next to the overturned bus and helped them down. They were surrounded by trees and bushes. No road in sight.
Around them stood the seven survivors of the crash. Some had minor bruises and others had small cuts, but no one was severely injured. Luckily.
After a moment of stunned silence, everyone dug out their phones and tried calling for help. No signal. Penny looked like a child about to throw a tantrum.
“Damn it”, thought Adam. No one who passed by would be able to see them because they were clearly out of sight from the road and now they had no signal to call for help.
As if reading his thoughts, Willow appeared next to him and murmured, “There’s a gas station about two miles away. I think it’s called the Rose.”
Although she had barely spoken the words, everyone had heard her.
“Well let’s go then!” Shouted someone in the back. The man was thin and lanky. He had black-rimmed glasses and a university T-shirt on.
“What about the driver?” Tim asked.
Penny quickly interjected, “And what about my bags? We can’t leave them here!”
“We’ll leave him here and go get help, but we should probably take our bags with us.” Adam gave an affirmative nod.
In chorus, everyone agreed. Adam, who had military training, naturally took the lead by opening the bus’s compartment and handing out bags. Penny had too many bags to carry.
Adam made her choose, which was torture for Penny.
Finally, she chose her gigantic pink bag with glitter spelling her name on the side, which rolled on wheels.
Adam kept handing out bags and after a few, he accidently-dropped one. The entire contents of the bag spilled across the floor.
“Oh. My. Gosh!” Everyone stopped and looked at the bag in horror.
Duct tape. Rope. Knives. And three guns. “Shit this looks like a serial killer’s bags,” whispers Penny.
“What the hell? Whose bag is this?” No one answered. Adam looked furious.
Unsteadily Tim stepped forward, “Guys… weren’t we seven people? I only see six of us…”
Everyone’s heads quickly swivelled from side to side. Nothing. Just trees and streaks of sunlight.
“That’s kind of creepy…” Penny said.
Adam quickly asked, “Does anyone remember who the seventh person was?”
“Let’s just get out of here.” Tim grabbed his bag and tried to motivate everyone to follow. No one budged.
“Is there a serial killer among us?” Penny was hysterical. She jumped at every sound and kept eyeing everyone suspiciously.
“What if there’s a serial killer out there?” She grabbed Willow’s shoulders and shook her like a leaf. Willow grabbed her wrists and threw them off of her shoulders. She gave Penny a death glare.
Penny gave a sheepish smile and mouthed, “Sorry.”
After that, everyone agreed to leave the wreck behind and they quickly hiked out of the forest onto the highway. Unfortunately, the highway was deadly silent. Willow knew about the gas station ahead, so she took the lead and kept walking.
The road was eerily quiet, which was strange seeing as it was the N4 which was usually a busy road.
It was an ominous sign, which Willow tried to ignore.
Clouds slowly overtook the sky, causing it to turn an ash grey. Penny, who was already agitated about the possible killer, became even more uneasy and scared. She kept glancing around her, expecting a man with an axe to appear. Charles, with his black glasses, rolled his eyes and kept walking. Clearly, he didn’t like her.
The gas station came into view and everyone gave an audible sigh, but what they hadn’t expected was for the place to be empty. The entire parking lot was deserted.
The only movement in the place was the television screen. It was muted, but everyone could clearly see that there was something wrong in the city. A news reporter appeared on the screen and seemed to be talking while people ran past him and the camera.
“Hey, somebody turn that up!”
Tim spotted the remote and jumped over the counter to get it, but something caused him to stand frozen. His coffee-coloured skin turned into a lighter coffee shade and his eyes were wide open. His back was to the group, but they could clearly see that something was wrong.
“Uhm, guys I think you should see this.” He had scarcely whispered the words when Adam leaned over the counter and saw what had made Tim freeze.
A dead body lay on the ground. He had a uniform on and the man looked like he’d been strangled. Purple marks marred the skin of his neck. The man had died with his eyes wide open and a terrified expression on his face. Charles, who was in medical school and had seen plenty of dead bodies, jumped over the counter and examined the body. He handled the body with care and an impassive face.
“Definitely strangled.”
“Who the hell would do this?” Tim was disgusted by the sight in front of him. He turned with searching eyes towards the group, but no one gave him an answer.
“Oh my gosh!” Penny suddenly piped up, “It’s the serial killer!” She jumped onto a chair and looked down at the group with horrified eyes as if a mouse were about to run under her chair.
Charles rolled his eyes, “Stop overreacting. It could have been a robbery gone wrong.”
“I doubt it.” Carl’s voice echoed from another room, but everyone ignored him.
“It wasn’t a serial killer. I’m sure that the bag and this dead body all have reasonable explanations,” Adam chipped in. He didn’t want panic in the group, and they were already rattled by the bus accident and the weird behaviour of the driver.
“Yeah, there is a reasonable explanation…” Carl’s face appeared through an open door, which looked like a back office,while he opened the door wider. On the floor of the other room was a foot attached to a leg and the rest of the body was out-of-view behind a desk. Penny gave an agonized groan, “Not another one.”
“Sorry to disappoint you…”
Adam pushed everyone out of the way while trying to reach the second body. Whereas the first one had been strangled, this one was more gruesome. It looked like the victim had tried to get away from the killer. The head had been bashed in with a brick. Blood and brains were everywhere. Penny gasped in the background while Tim choked down his bile.
Adam, who was clearly too calm, closed the eyes of both victims then grabbed the remote and turned up the sound on the television.
As one, they all turned their attention to the screen, “As you can see, chaos has erupted in the city, people are attacking each other while others have turned to cannibalism. There is no explanation except a virus that has broken out. Over the past few days there have been reports of people eating raw meat and today they are eating each other. Police are trying to control the chaos, but to no avail…”
Suddenly a woman attacked the news reporter and the signal was lost. All six survivors stood in horror and stared at the dead screen.
“That bus driver must have the virus and maybe someone with the virus attacked these people?” whispered Charles.
Adam shook his head, “I don’t think so. These people weren’t even eaten.”
“What should we do now? Because I don’t think the police or an ambulance is going to come for us… And then there’s a killer out there…” Penny’s eyes filled with tears. Silently, Willow walked to Penny and placed her arms around her shoulders.
After the crash and finding the murder scene, everyone was exhausted. They all slumped to the ground.
“I need a drink.” Carl said these words with longing, because what the group didn’t know was that Carl was a recovering alcoholic.
Charles stared at his feet, Adam pulled out a knife, Penny hugged herself, Willow stared at the dead screen and Carl kept looking at everyone, studying them.
For a moment, it was silent, and then Tim stepped forward and introduced himself.
“I’m Tim by the way.” His dreadlocks swayed with the movement of his head and his soccer T-shirt almost swallowed him whole. He wore sneakers and pants that basically consisted of pockets.
“I’m Penny.” She hugged herself even tighter as she spoke. Her designer jeans had dirt on them and her perfect blond hair was in disarray, while her make-up was smeared across her face.
Carl, who wore slacks and a button-up shirt with loafers, seemed like he wasn’t going to talk or share anything.
“Oh that’s Carl.” Tim added, pointing at him.
“Adam.” Adam gave a slight nod and then kept staring at his knife. His green shirt stretched tight across his chest, defining his abs and he wore camouflage pants. He had a buzz cut and looked like a typical soldier ready for combat.
Although Penny found Adam very attractive, she didn’t like him. He had made her choose between all of her possessions, which was impossible. She gave him a glare.
Charles saw the glare directed towards Adam, but ignored it. He didn’t care. “Charles, I’m a med student.” He said this with pride. He had his black-rimmed glasses and university T-shirt with converse sneakers on.
As one, they all turned to the quiet girl with pink hair and black highlights, leather jacket and army boots. She had multiple piercings. Her brown, almost black eyes surveyed the group. Like a whisper in the wind she said, “Willow.”
Everyone nodded their heads, and then they all fell back into silence.
Tim, who couldn’t take the silence, tried to fill it with jokes.
“What’s the world’s fastest fruit?” He waited for an answer...
After a long time, Tim gave up and answered, “A tomato, nothing else can ketchup!” He burst out laughing. No one else laughed.
“Okay I think I have a better one... My boss told me to have a good day. So I went home!”
No one even cracked a smile. Again he tried: “A thief broke into my house last night… He started searching for money, so I woke up and searched with him.” His entire body shook as he laughed, but he was the only one. Everyone was in their own world.
Tim gave a deep sigh and tried something else. He started rambling about his life, hoping someone would join in.
“I work in a kitchen and on the weekends I spend my time watching old movies and eating pizza from that little place on Broad Street…”
“Who the hell cares!? It’s the damn apocalypse. Why would you make jokes? Nothing matters anymore and above all, there’s a serial killer out there!” Charles had reached his limit; he sprang to his feet and erratically gestured with his arms while gasping for air. It looked like he was trying to fly.
“We’re all going to die and there’s nothing we can do about it, but you spend your last moments making jokes.” He kept trying to fly while he shouted these words. He also had difficulty breathing.
Nevertheless, his screaming was pushing Penny’s patience. “Shut up, Charles. We’re not going to die and also you’re not a damn chicken, so stop flailing your arms about.” She spoke the words viciously, not caring that Charles was having a breakdown.
Charles slowly lowered his arms, turned around and gave her a deathly glare, “I’m sorry. Is my freak -out inconvenient for you? Is the apocalypse coming at a bad time for you? Because everything has to be about Penny Worthington, doesn’t it?!”
For a moment, Penny looked shocked. “Yeah, that’s right. I know who you are! I remember you from People’s magazine. Daddy is a billionaire so you never have to worry about anything, right Princess?”
Charles spat the words and Penny took a deep breath.
Then all hell broke loose.
Suddenly she snapped and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her words rang through the shop, “Shut up! Just shut up, you freak! You’re just jealous…” She got to her feet and stepped into Charles’ space.
Charles quickly interrupted her, “Of what? All that money you can’t even use right now?! Sure, I’m green with envy! But you know what, that money got you out of some tough situations, but right now Daddy isn’t here to save you, so grow up!” Before he could even finished his sentence, his nose connected with her fist. Or more like: her fist connected with his nose.
For a moment, the entire group stared in shock as Charles fell to the ground. Blood spurted from his nose and the only sound rendering through the air was his agonizing scream. Although Charles had yelled at Tim as well, Tim still ran to Charles’ side.
Carl spoke over the screams, “Why the hell did you do that?”
“Because he got on my last nerve! He deserved it! He’s judging me for my family’s money when he doesn’t know a thing about me!” Penny glowered at Charles as he was curled up in a ball on the floor.
“It still wasn’t necessary!” Carl was baffled by her rage. For such a delicate and small girl, she was pretty violent.
The screaming continued while Penny and Carl argued and Tim tried to calm Charles down.
Adam, who’d had enough, shot to his feet, looking furious, “Enough!” He bellowed. Everyone turned as one and stared at him. Charles stopped screaming. “What is wrong with you people?” He stormed through the door, heading outside. He wasn’t going to wait for anyone. Willow gave Ashley a disapproving look and quickly followed Adam.
“What? He started it!” She said to Willow’s back.
Soon they both disappeared behind the side of the garage. Carl hoisted his bag onto his back and followed.
Tim helped Charles to his feet and checked for broken bones. After he was cleared Tim grabbed his bag and ran, yelling, “Guys, wait up!”
Charles gave Ashley a wounded look, but kept quiet. Ashley wasn’t complaining, she didn’t want to talk as well. Charles’ nose was still bleeding, but he got up, grabbed his bag and followed Tim out the door with Penny a few feet behind him.
They quickly caught up with the rest of the group where Tim was already making jokes, still not being able to take the silence.
“What does it take to become a zombie?” Carl was the only one of the group humouring Tim. “I don’t know…”
Tim grinned from ear to ear when he said, “DEADication.”
Carl cracked a small smile then spoke, “Where are we going?”
Penny and Charles sulked in the back while Adam led the group. Carl asked this question carefully not wanting to upset Adam any further.
“The manager had a key to a cabin which is somewhere nearby. I got it out of his office, before we turned the TV’s sound on. He also had a map on his desk showing me where the cabin is. So it’s either hiding out there or going to the city and getting killed, your choice.”
“Hey, man I didn’t mean it like that. I was just curious.” Carl raised his hands, palms upward. He didn’t want any trouble.
They kept walking until they were deep, deep in the forest again. The rest of the group followed. No one knew what Adam did for a living, but they knew he had the personality of a leader. No one questioned him. After half an hour, most of them were breathing heavily and gasping for air.
Adam refused to stop; he wanted to get to the cabin and regroup.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”Penny asked in an annoying voice. Adam ignored her, but Charles scoffed. She whirled around and gave him a glare. He quickly grew quiet. She continued asking, “Are you in the army?”
Silence.
“Or are you one of those wannabes that never got into the army and is now overcompensating?” Still nothing. Penny gave up. She didn’t have time to keep asking him, because the pain in her feet was becoming unbearable. Her boots were made for fashion, not hiking.
Another hour later they found the cabin deep in the woods.
The place was bare with no furniture except a table and two chairs and a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.
They all threw their bags down, panted from all the hiking and fell to the ground. Penny sank to the floor, ripping off her boots and rubbing her feet. “I wish we had satellite! I’m starting to miss Instagram,” moaned Penny.
This time Charles rolled his eyes, making sure that Penny didn’t see him.
Barely anyone slept through the night. The only sound they heard was the rumbling of stomachs.
Adam’s anger had dissipated and with it his confidence. He didn’t know what to do; his training hadn’t prepared him for this. He felt useless, powerless and disorientated.
The sun had barely risen when the entire group roused.
Penny and Charles were still having their silent glowering match.
Willow kept silent, as she usually did, and Carl and Tim were speaking in hushed tones, until Tim turned around and spoke, “Soooo what do we do now?”
Slowly all eyes turned to Adam.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked incredulously.
Carl stepped forward and spoke, “Well… You’re the military man, I think. What do you think we should do?”
Adam looked like a deer struck by headlights. “Uhm… well… maybe we could…? No, that won’t work… Uhm.”
Penny groaned in agony, “We’re doomed.”
“Shut up,” grumbled Charles.
“Don’t start with me.” Penny’s voice was oddly low as she threatened him with her eyes.
For the first time, Willow spoke, “We’ll take it day by day. So today we need food. That’s it.” There was silence. Willow’s voice was soft, but firm with a hint of authority.
“Well you heard the woman!” Let’s get some food!” Tim jumped to his feet, always being the optimist.
Willow’s words revived the entire group, because soon there was chatter as everyone shared their ideas. While everyone was busy talking,Penny went outside to relieve herself, but the minute she walked out the door,her scream rent the air.
Adam hastily grabbed his knife and ran out the door. The rest quickly followed him.
A man was trying to grab Penny, but every time she ran out of his reach.She kept running in circles, realizing that the man wasn’t smart enough to catch her.
The man was a bit slower, but that wasn’t what made Penny scream. It was the fact that the man had grey, rotting skin that was slowly peeling from his body. He didn’t say anything; he only snarled and groaned.
For a second Penny, was too slow and he grabbed her arm,bringing it closer to his mouth. He was obviously trying to bite her. She screamed for help, which caused Adam, who was at first paralyzed by the sight, to jump into action; he grabbed the man and ripped him away from her.
Penny stumbled towards the group, crying. Willow immediately folded her into her arms.
Silently, without anyone realizing it, Willow had taken the role of mother for the group.
Adam tried to reason with the man, but nothing worked. He refused to speak. After another attempt to bite, Adam sliced the man’s cheek, hoping to scare him off, but he kept coming.
Again Adam sliced the man, but this time in the throat. Black blood oozed from the wound, but he still kept coming. Horrified Tim shouted, “Stab him in the head!”
Adam did as Tim said and immediately the man fell to the ground, motionless. Adam stumbled a few steps away and stared in horror at the man and then at his hands. He had killed a man, but it wasn’t a man. It was... Hell, he didn’t know what he’d just killed.
“How... how did you know to stab him in the head?” Penny still had tears running down her face as she looked to Tim, while being held by Willow.
He shrugged, “That’s how they kill zombies in the movies.”
“Zombies? It would make sense, because that thing didn’t die from a slice to the neck.” Carl humoured the thought.
“Those things aren’t zombies. Those things are way scarier than zombies.” Adam had composed himself and walked towards the group, leaving the body behind.
“Then what do you suggest we call it?” Penny sniffled and wiped her tears away.
“Feral. They’re ferals, because they act like animals.”
Scared that another one of those things might attack them,Adam, Carl and Charles hiked back to the bus to get weapons. Hopefully the bag full of knives and guns were still there.
ns 15.158.61.46da2
