The Living Dead Boy (6 page)

Chapter 9

Josh briefly saw Corina dart past the end of the bus before vanishing from view again.  Nearby, a man climbed out of his truck and reached back into the cab to grab his hunting rifle. He began firing at the advancing figures.  The bloody people jerked as the bullets tore through their flesh as they kept advancing.

“The head!  The head!” Troy yelled at the guy. “Shoot ‘em in the head!”

Other kids picked up the chant.

Another man and a woman also grabbed guns out of their cars and began to fire at the creatures.  Covered in blood, the undead bodies jerked and stumbled as they tried to walk toward the buses. They looked exactly like the monsters in the movies.

It was a scene out of Josh’s worst nightmares.  It couldn’t be real. He rubbed his eyes before looking out the back windows again.

The zombies were still there.

“Go! Go! Go!”  Arturo shouted at the bus driver.

Josh turned to look toward his mother’s car.  The blue vehicle was still stuck in line to get out of the parking lot.  Brad’s motorcycle, with Corina clinging to him, swerved in and out of the buses and cars clogging the bus lane.

“Go! Go! Go!” some of the children began to chant, while the others shouted, “Shoot ‘em in the head!”

Josh looked back to see another mangled figure fall to the ground before climbing back to its feet.  The teachers, driver and coaches herded the remaining students onto the last bus. Parents grabbed up their children and ran for their cars.

“The head! The head!”  Sam yelled. “Shoot ‘em in the head!”

A mud splattered truck roared through the group of staggering zombies, knocking them aside. It sped past the last of the buses and children, driving over the sidewalk as it tried to escape.

The driver of their bus continued to try to load the last of the students onto his vehicle. The children were already crammed into the narrow aisle and falling over onto those already seated.

“We need to go now!” Arturo shouted at the driver.

The first of the zombies reached out toward a father carrying his child to his car.  It made a mad grab for him, looking almost comical as it missed and fell to the ground.

“Maybe they are
Night of the Living Dead
zombies,” Troy said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“I want Dad!”  Roger cried out suddenly.  He began to
get out of his seat. “I want Dad!”

“Dude, no!  Calm down!  We gotta get out of here,” Josh said quickly, trying to push Roger back into his seat.

“No, no! I want Dad!  I want my dad!”  Roger pushed against Troy as the other boy tried to hold him back.

“No, bro, no!  We gotta stay on the bus!”

“I want my dad!”  Roger shrieked, his face flushed red and his eyes streaming tears.

“He’s losing it!”  Sam exclaimed.

“Shut up!”  Arturo punched Sam in the arm.

Josh tried to help Troy keep Roger from crawling over the back of the seat in front of them.  As he struggled with the other boy, he saw fast movement outside the bus windows.

“Running zombies!”  Josh gasped.

“Oh, man. That is totally the
Dawn of the Dead
remake!” Arturo wailed.

The new arrivals didn’t have the horrible disfigurement of the first group of zombies.  They did have blood on them, but their legs weren’t broken or severely damaged, so they were fast.

Terrifyingly fast.

Josh’s heart beat so hard in his chest it actually hurt.  The edges of his vision blurred as he turned to look for his mom’s car.  It took a few seconds for him to find it near the edge of the parking lot.  His mother was trying to edge between two parked cars and up onto the sidewalk.  The world grew dimmer and slower as he saw running zombies pouring into the parking lot.

“Mom,” he whispered.

“I want my dad!” Roger screamed just before he managed to vault himself over the back of the seat onto the kids seated before him.

Troy scrambled after him.  “Roger!”

“Oh, man!” Sam exclaimed.  “They got someone!”

There was a pack of the zombies gathering around someone on the ground.

“This isn’t real,” Arturo said, clenching his eyes shut. “This isn’t real!”

Josh turned to look toward his mom’s car again. The things were swarming it, beating on the windows, growling at her.

“Mom,” Josh murmured, his throat constricting with fear.

A massive truck slammed into one of the parked cars blocking his Mom’s car, the squeal of tires and warping metal filling the air.  The truck kept ramming the car until it finally gave way and was shoved up onto the sidewalk.  The truck pushed through as the zombies beat on the sides of it. To Josh’s relief, his mom’s car followed.  He lost sight of her car as she managed to get onto the main road behind the treeline.

Finally, their bus began to move as the running creatures drew near.  Josh could see the zombies smashing their hands and even their heads, against the glass of the cars still trying to escape the pandemonium in the parking lot and bus lane. All around him, other students tried to close the windows, though there was little chance of the zombies managing to reach that high.  Roger and Troy struggled with each other, falling into the other kids, who shoved them away.

“Children, calm down!  We’re getting away!”  Mrs. Adkins shouted from the front of the bus.  She stood behind the driver’s seat, holding onto the pole.  Her face was swollen, but she managed to still get the attention of the kids.

The driver swore as he tried to get past a car blocking his way.  There was no sign of the driver. Screams, growls, and moans assaulted Josh’s ears along with the gunning of engines and the sharp squeal of brakes.  He looked down into the bus lane to see a father and son fighting off two of the zombies.  The father was swinging his now empty rifle at the creatures as his child used his backpack like a shield. The bus managed to get past the stalled car and Josh lost sight of the two as the bus rolled on.  Smoke was rising from a car that had crashed into another. Flames licked along the edges of the hood.  The zombies  gathered around both cars, reaching in to bite and tear at the people inside.

“Thisisn’trealthisisn’trealthisisn’treal...” Arturo chanted, his eyes still closed as he rocked in his seat.

Sam watched with his mouth hanging open, a tiny bit of drool collecting in each corner.

“Mr. Inmon is coming!  So is Mr. Johnson!”  a little girl called out from the other side of the bus.

“Dad!”  Roger stopped fighting with his brother and scrambled over a few older boys to look out the window.

Josh stood up on his seat, steadying himself with one hand on the window frame.  This couldn’t be good. He had seen the wounds on Mr. Johnson.  Over the tops of the heads of the others on the bus, he could see Mr. Inmon running toward the bus, yelling for the driver to open the doors.  Behind him, Mr. Johnson ran in pursuit, blood pouring out of his mouth.

“Don’t let Mr. Johnson in!  Don’t let him in!”  Josh shouted.

“You need to stop for my dad!” Roger tried to push his way through the crowded aisle, but his brother managed to hold onto his hoodie and keep him back.

Mr. Inmon reached out frantically toward the bus as he ran.  Blood stained his shirt.

Josh felt his stomach knot with fear.  “I don’t think we should let Mr. Inmon in!  He might be infected!”

“I want my dad!  Let him on the bus!”  Roger shouted.

“No, you can’t!  He’s infected!”

“You shut up, Josh! You shut up!”

The bus was slowing down as it maneuvered down the cluttered bus lane.  Josh’s heart beat loudly in his ears. He could see some zombies running alongside the bus out of the corner of his eye.

“Don’t stop!”  Josh yelled again, but his voice was drowned out by the others.

Mr. Inmon’s skinny frame picked up speed as he drew closer to the bus.  Josh saw Mrs. Adkins pulling the lever that opened the doors.  Returning his gaze to Mr. Inmon, Josh drew in a sharp breath that hurt all the way down to his ribs.

He saw a bite on Mr. Inmon’s neck.

Mr. Johnson continued his chase, his hands slashing out to grab Mr. Inmon.  The school nurse also followed, her neck a mass of ruined flesh.

“...this isn’t real...” Arturo continued to chant.

Mrs. Adkins stumbled backward as Mr. Inmon leaped onto the bus.  He fell across the steps and out of view as the passengers all screamed for Mrs. Adkins to shut the door.

“Dad! Dad! Dad!”  Roger shouted, fighting to get away from Troy.

The bus accelerated as Mr. Johnson leaped for the doorway.  Josh started to scream along with the other students for Mrs. Adkins to shut the door, but instead she bent down to help Mr. Inmon.  Mr. Johnson’s bloodied hands grabbed the edge of the doorway and his huge frame filled the doorway.  Mrs. Adkins cried out as he lashed out, grabbing her by her hair.

The bus driver swore loudly, grabbing the lever to shut the door.  With a loud growl, Mr. Johnson yanked Mrs. Adkins into his arms before they both tumbled out of the bus.

The students fell into a terrified silence as the teacher and principal disappeared from view.  Tears flowing down his cheeks, Josh turned to watch the school nurse join Mr. Johnson as he tore at Mrs. Adkins.  Behind the bus, the other ravaged zombies followed. Some ran, but most shambled.

Hardly able to catch his breath, Josh looked back toward the front of the bus.

“Get up!  Get up!”  the bus driver shouted at Mr. Inmon.  “I have to shut the door!”

The bus rumbled out onto the main road. The students looked back toward the school in shock.  The zombies feasted on their victims as cars burned in the parking lot.  A few people ran on foot from the school toward the parking lot with zombies following close behind.  A huge fireball burst out of one of the burning cars, tossing it over onto another car.  Smoke billowed into the blue sky as the last bus rode out of the school grounds behind them.

“Dad! Dad!” Roger cried out.

“Josh, my dad!”  Troy reached out to grip Josh’s wrist, looking up at him.  “My dad...did you see?”

“Yeah,” Josh answered.  Sweat was pouring into his eyes, making it hard to see.  His hands shook as he tried to brace himself as he stood on his seat.  “Yeah, I saw.”

“Get up! I gotta close the doors,” the driver again shouted at Mr. Inmon.  His face was slick with sweat and as he spoke spittle flew from his thin lips.  “Get up!”

“In the movies, this is always a bad moment,” Josh said to Troy.

Troy’s dark skin had taken on a gray appearance as he swallowed hard.  “I know.  My dad, Josh...my dad...We gotta get outta here.”

“I want my dad!” Roger kept trying to break free from his brother.

The bus turned down a side road where old trailers and dilapidated houses listed in tall grasses as the driver tried to get away from the cars beginning to clog the street.

Tears ran down Troy’s face as he began to push other kids aside, trying to get to the back door.  He dragged Roger behind him. Josh leaned over and smacked Arturo in the head and his friend’s eyes flew open.

“We need to get out here!  Mr. Inmon was bitten!”

“That’s bad, right?  That’s bad?”  Sam looked terrified.

A terrifying shriek from the front of the bus sent icy chills over Josh’s scalp and down his spine.  He looked over his shoulder to see Mr. Inmon rise up and grab the driver’s head between his hands.  With another awful shriek, Mr. Inmon whipped his head forward and drove his teeth into the man’s face.

Chapter 10

The steering wheel spun in the driver’s hands as he flailed about in his seat trying to fight off his attacker. The bus veered off the road, bouncing over the uneven terrain and through a fence. Josh fell into the seat in front of him as the bus crashed through bushes and the low hanging branches of trees bordering the property of a dilapidated, burned out trailer listing in tall grass. It slammed into the side of a mobile home, knocking it completely off its cement block foundation. Finally, the bus came to a brutal stop as it buried itself into the twisted metal and fiberglass.

“Get Josh! Get him!”  Troy shouted at his brother, scrabbling to get a grip on Josh.

Elbows and hands dug into him as the young people Josh had fallen into tried to push him off them.  The screams, shouts, and cries of the terrified students filled the bus and drowned out the sounds of flesh tearing as Mr. Inmon devoured the driver’s face.

Arturo and Troy managed to get a good grip on Josh’s jeans and yanked him over the back of the seat.

Josh immediately twisted around, pulling his backpack straps tighter.  “We need to get out of here now!”

“I want my dad,” Roger sobbed softly, his gaze unfocused as he stared toward the front of the bus.

The remains of the mobile home enshrouded the driver’s seat and first few rows in darkness.

“We can’t save dad!” Troy shouted at his brother. “We gotta save ourselves!”

An older boy pushed aside some of the younger kids crowded around the emergency door to try to open it while others struggled to get their windows down. The students in the front of the bus scrambled to the back of the bus, climbing over seats and other passengers.  The crush of bodies at the rear of the bus was almost unbearable as Josh joined Troy, Roger, Arturo and Sam in their cramped seat.  Screams filled the cramped space.

“Open the door!”

“I’m trying,” the older boy shouted in reply. “It’s jammed!”

Josh dared to look toward the front of the bus.  It was so dark he could barely make out the form of Mr. Inmon leaning over the bus driver, tearing at him like a lion eating a gazelle in a documentary.

Another boy grabbed the lever and helped pull.  It gave way with a moan and the door swung open.  The first boy leaped down, then reached up to help the others down.

“Hurry! Hurry!” was the chant of the students trapped inside the bus as they surged forward.

Josh and the other boys pushed as hard as they could to get out of their seat and into the aisle, but the onslaught from the front was steady.  Smaller children cried out in agony as they were smashed into seats.

“Stop pushing! Stop pushing!” someone shouted.

The two bigger boys quickly helped the children down, but the pushing from the students trapped in the front of the bus was relentless.

A blood curdling scream ripped through the cries of the other children.   It was the most terrifying sound Josh had ever heard.  Glancing over his shoulder to see what was happening, he  only saw the terrified faces of his classmates as the pressure from the front grew unbearable.  He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t move and his feet were twisted around someone else’s.

“They got Mary!  They got her!  They got her!”  a voice rose in a terrified screech from the front.

All sense of order was lost.  Josh felt himself being shoved toward the back door, his feet no longer under him. He was held upright by the bodies of the other terrified children.

Troy and Roger hit the doorway, both of them managing to jump at the last moment.  Josh couldn’t catch himself fast enough and tumbled out.  He landed in a soft patch of earth and grass, his backpack smacking him in the back of the head.  Another kid landed near him, crying out as he landed on his knees.

Crawling away as fast as he could, Josh’s fingers sank into the soil.  Terror pulled at his rational mind, spurring him to panic, but he fought against it.  He had to keep his wits about him.  Someone grabbed his arm and dragged him to his feet.

“Thanks, man,” Josh gasped, seeing it was Arturo.

Arturo wasn’t looking at him though.  His gaze was on the bus.

Josh turned to see that several windows toward the midsection of the bus were covered in thick red blood and darker, meatier globs.

“Dude, they’re eating us,” Arturo whispered.

The first big group of kids to evacuate the bus ran down the road, their footfalls pounding against the asphalt.  The two older boys remained to help the last of the kids out of the bus.

“You need to close the door as soon as they’re out,” Josh told the boys.  “You need to keep those things trapped in there!”

A little girl, her brown curls in disarray around her face, reached down for help.  Her pink tunic top was covered in pretty flowers and splashes of fresh blood.  Her white leggings and pink shoes were also stained with blood.  One of the boys grabbed her and dragged her down to the ground.  Taking a deep breath, the little girl let out a whimper.

A group of boys were next, casting terrified looks over their shoulder.  They, too, had blood splatter on them.

“Josh, let’s go,” Arturo said, grabbing his arm. “C’mon!”

The little girl stumbled over to a battered lawn chair and sat down, tears streaming down her face.  She was shivering and pale.

“We need to help her,” Josh decided, hurrying over to the girl.  He saw Troy and Sam dragging Roger away toward the street. Roger fought them, crying out for his father.

“We’re the last ones,” a girl, an eighth grader that was a friend of Corina’s, said as she reached down to the boys. “They got four of us kids.  Hurry!”

The two helpers grabbed hold of her arms and started to help her down.  Behind her, another boy grabbed hold of the doorjamb, ready to leap out.

“C’mon,” Josh said to the little girl, gripping her hand. “We need to go.”

“They ate Mary,” the little girl answered him, fumbling with her pocket.  She was wheezing loudly, her tiny fingers sweaty in his hand.

“I know. But c’mon.”

Josh pulled her to her feet as she drew an inhaler from her pocket.  She couldn’t be older than six. Dragging her behind him, he ran past the end of the bus.  His brain felt mushy and he was having trouble moving.  It was like being in a bad dream where your feet were like concrete slabs and you could barely run.

Just as the older female student landed on the ground, the boy behind her gasped in pain.  Two sets of small hands grabbed his sides and tugged him backwards.  He fell into the darkness of the bus.

“Shut the door!” Josh shouted.

“My brother!” Corina’s friend screamed.

One of the boys grabbed the door and tried to slam it shut, but it bounced off the bloodied, torn hands thrusting out toward them.  Josh continued to run, trying to watch where he was going while still keeping an eye on the bus. The little girl stumbled after him as she tried to run while taking a quick hit on her inhaler at the same time.

“Close it!”  one of the older boys cried out.  “Hurry!”

The shouts behind him continued as the two boys struggled to shut the door and someone inside, either a zombie or wounded person, fought to push it open. Finally, the door latched, blood seeping out beneath the nearly severed fingers poking out from beneath the edge of it.  The older kids ran past Josh and the little girl, shouting at each other to hurry.

“Pick up the pace, shorty!”  one of the boys huffed as he passed Josh.

Up ahead, the children ran to the main road, making far too much noise in Josh’s opinion.  They were going to attract attention with all the screaming and yelling they were doing. His own friends were toward the back of the pack, Sam falling further behind every second.

“Stop, Roger!  Stop, Troy! Arturo!  We’re going the wrong way!”  Josh cried out.  “Come back!”

Josh stopped, trying to calm his panicked nerves. He held tightly to the little girl’s hand. She didn’t fight with him, staring blankly ahead.  Taking deep breaths, Josh tried to organize his thoughts.

The neighborhood around him was silent.  It was a work day and most of the people in this poor section of town were at their jobs.  Also, a lot of the houses were derelict.  The world around them was nearly silent except for the pounding on the back door of the bus, the ticking of the bus engine cooling off, and the birds in the trees.  In the far distance, he could hear horns honking and the sound of guns firing.

Above the town, the sky was growing dark with thick rain clouds.  Without the sun, the day felt colder and he shivered in his hoodie.  His friends argued as the other students ran toward the main street, leaving them far behind. Roger pulled at his hair as Troy and Arturo yelled at each other.  Sam was the first to turn back. He trudged toward Josh, his big body heaving with exertion.  Finally, the three members of the Zombie Hunter Club turned back, running as fast as they could.

Josh kept an eye on the bus as his friends sprinted toward him.  He could feel the muscles in his back tensing as another shiver of fear flowed over him. Looking around at the neighborhood, he made his plan.

“Dude, what are we doing?  Everyone ran that way! And zombies are in that bus!”  Troy said, pointing at the bus and the figures moving inside of it.

“I know. But they’re running toward the main road. The zombies that came off the highway are over there! They’re not thinking straight.  We need to take these back roads to the community center.  Everyone is at work right now. People aren’t at home.  Less zombies this way.”  Josh pointed down the long strip of road leading to a slow curve lined on both sides with juniper trees and old, battered homes.

“I think we should stick with the older kids,” Arturo answered.  “They’re stronger than us and maybe the can get a car for us.”

“For a busload of kids?”  Josh looked at him incredulously.

“Whatever we’re gonna do, we gotta do it soon. Those zombies can see us and they want to eat us.  So let’s go,” Troy said firmly.

“I want dad,” Roger mumbled, wiping his eyes.

“Your dad wants you for dinner,” Sam yelled at him. “Shut up!

Arturo slugged Sam in the stomach.  “No, you shut up!”

“Ow!  Josh, he hit me!”

“Let’s get out of here,” Josh ordered.  “You two cut it out!  Stop fighting.  Roger, we can’t save your dad.”

“Who’s the girl, Josh?” Troy asked, noticing the wheezing child for the first time.

“Yessica,” the girl answered. She sniffled loudly.

“We need to take care of her,” Josh answered. “She’s got no one else.”

Troy glanced over his shoulder at the kids disappearing around the corner.  A few were straggling behind, out of breath.  “Okay, fine.  Let’s move.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t go with the older kids?” Arturo also looked back toward the main road.

Josh was about to answer when the first running zombie made its appearance.  It sprinted across the mouth of the road after the last of the students.

Without a word, the Zombie Hunters began to run in the opposite direction.  Josh held to Yessica’s hand, feeling her slick fingers gripping his tightly.  Troy ran a little ahead of them, Roger keeping pace with Josh. Arturo and Sam took up the rear, Sam breathing heavily. Josh was worried about him and Yessica falling behind.  He was determined not to lose anyone.

Troy veered off the road into a yard.  He snatched up an aluminum baseball bat discarded near some outdoor toys.  Arturo and Sam followed, each looking around for a weapon.  Scanning the yard, Josh felt his heart beating faster.  He needed a weapon and soon. Seeing a stick lying in a pile of branches piled up near the road for the city to pick up, he pulled Yessica behind him. The stick was still green in the center and when he whacked it against another branch, it made a satisfying thwacking sound.

“I want my dad,” Roger wailed as he waited for his brother.

“Snap out of it, Rog!”  Troy smacked the mailbox with the bat on the way over to his brother.  “Dad is dead and now he wants to eat us.”

Roger sobbed harder, his whole body shaking. “Don’t say that!”

“Well, it’s true.” Sam swung a battered tennis racket back and forth in front of him.  “He wants to eat us.”

“No,” Roger answered.  “You take that back!”

“But it’s true!” Sam protested. “He wants to eat us!”

Josh looked back toward the bus imbedded in the side of the trailer.  They were only a half block away from it. Looking toward the end of the road, he saw more of the fast zombies running after the students who had been foolish enough to head down the main road.  Luckily, none of the monsters looked their way.

“We need to go now.”  Josh’s voice was firm.  It drew everyone’s attention to him.  “Now.  No more fighting.  Do you want to end up eaten like those kids on the bus?  Or at the school?  I don’t. So let’s go!”

Without looking back to see if they were following, Josh began to run toward the long curve in the road ahead.  He knew it would skirt around the edge of town before meeting up with some of the neighborhood roads south of town.

Yessica ran beside him, clutching her inhaler.  She still looked pale and frightened. He wondered if she was in shock.  He heard the footfalls of his friends behind him and their lowered voices as they kept arguing.  His brain felt clearer now.  He drank in deep breaths of cool spring air, trying to get a plan formed in his mind.