The Reaper Virus (Novella): Sarcophagus (3 page)

Chapter Five

“Coming
up on the Expressway, folks!” The driver happily announced from his station,
“the lead bus is about to hit the on-ramp right now.”

Sighs of
relief sounded from throughout the cabin. Even with the announcement, the
tension that was felt in the group remained palpable. Jessica gripped her
armrest as everything began to shift to the left with the sharp right hand turn
for the onramp. Ava looked up from her book with a hint of panic.

“It’s
alright hon.
We
’re just getting onto the highway,” she
reassured the little one. Ava’s eyes lit up leading Jessica to preemptively
answer her unspoken question, “yes we can read now. I can’t wait to hear what
the ponies have in store for us!” Inside she was thankful that sarcasm hadn’t
been added to one of her daughter’s many talents.

Traffic
was dense yet still moving. The two-bus caravan weaved towards the lane second
from the left on the four-lane expressway. A black Volkswagen cut between the
church vehicles and remained in the lane. From her seat, Jessica could see the
pile of luggage towering above the car as it tailgated the lead bus. It was far
from the only car loaded up for the long haul. Evidence of the unmistakable fear
that infected the city could be seen all over the traffic, from full truck beds
to loaded back seats, and cars over-occupied with passengers. The consensus
appeared to be that Richmond was a powder keg waiting to ignite. She thought of
the desperate infected man at the church then wondered if the ignition has
already occurred.

Ava
picked up on her mom’s distraction and let out an audible grumble in response.
Jessica snapped out of it then teased, “don’t you grumble at me little Miss
Thing. We have all the time in the world to read.” The little girl giggled then
they both focused on the book. Its pages regaled them both with fairy tale
adventures; it was the perfect thing to distract from the harshness of outside.

They
travelled at a third of what the speed limit would have allowed. The bus tapped
the brakes forcefully enough to jostle everyone inside. Mild panic could be
heard once again from the retreat members. The old man behind the wheel tried
to keep everyone calm, “just some traffic. Nothing to be worried about, folks.”
Another jerking motion came, negating his reassurance. He added, “It’s getting
a little thicker the farther south we go. I’m sure it’ll slow down some more
before it gets better. Ya’ll should keep your seatbelts buckled just to be safe
and try to avoid any trips to the facilities in the back until we’re over the
James River.”

He got on
his radio then with the lead bus. It was muffled enough that Jessica couldn’t
make out what the voice on the other end was saying. She wondered if the roller
coaster of panic was also being felt in the other retreat members. The others
on the first bus had a better vantage point of the traffic ahead. All the
second bus could see in front of them was the black Volkswagen riding the tail
of the first bus. Once the radio stopped she tried to focus on the words the
driver responded with, “Yes Pastor. I understand. No matter what.”

“
No matter what
?!
”
Her mind raced with possible explanations, “the hell does that mean?
What are they seeing that we’re not?”
She so badly wanted to go speak to the driver but saw no way of doing it
without alarming Ava and the other passengers. Ava had finally reached some
level of contentment as she sat happily scrutinizing every detail of an
illustration on their current page.

Jessica
used the moment of freedom from her reading duties to observe the surroundings
beyond the immediate traffic. She’d been through here hundreds of times, but
always as the driver. Focusing on the road makes it easy to miss how much of a
marvelous conduit the Downtown Expressway actually is. It’s a trench cut
through the city lines that traverses as a sunken pathway surrounded by
concrete walls and fences. Above the walls the city of Richmond carries on with
little regard for the massive line dug to the river crossing.
 

Dual rail
lines separate north and southbound traffic. They run parallel to the
expressway isolated from the chaotic travel lanes by a tall fence atop a Jersey
wall. Racing a train going the same direction or seeing one zip by going the
opposite direction had never failed to create a moment of excitement in their
prior travels along this stretch. Of course, with the President shutting down
rail travel a few days before, Jessica knew there wouldn’t be train races on
this trip.

“Do you
see any trains, Mommy?” Ava sweetly inquired after noticing her mother staring
out the window. A frown was all she could muster in response to the innocent
question. Jessica wondered if the trains would ever run through the River City
again. Ava cheerfully added, “do you remember the time when we raced the silver
train from here all the way to the river?”

The
railroad tracks break their joined path with a bridge passing above northbound
traffic that then leads to a separate parallel bridge that’s just for trains.
It’s an ornate-looking construction of arching pillars that carry trains high
above the rapids. Commuters using the ordinary highway bridge, the same bridge
the buses were headed towards, are treated to an unexpected highlight of scenic
delight. Ever since they moved to this city the railway bridge over the James
River stuck out as one of her favorite sites. Jess always imagined the bridge
belonging in Gotham City rather than Richmond, Virginia.

“It was
exciting! I remember it well. Today, though, I don’t know if we’ll see anything
on the train bridge. Sorry sweetie…” she said watching the little one conceal
her disappointment like a professional.

“Do you
think one day we can ride a train across that pretty bridge?” Ava asked in a
testament to innocence.

The
phrase ‘
one day
’ perforated Jessica
like a knife twisted into her gut. She envied her daughter’s ability to dream
of future adventures. It was a question that lacked any fear or trepidation
towards the death that seethed around them. The Reaper Virus didn’t simply
raise the dead; it infected every aspect of being. No matter where the troubled
mother looked she saw reasons to lose hope. From random rust-colored blots
painting recent violence on a sidewalk to homes abandoned like a panicked
snapshot in time, the wretched cues that ‘
one
day
’ would never come were abundant.

“I…” a
scream from the first row of seats cut her reply short and diverted their
attention. Jessica knew something was happening outside so she ordered the
little girl to keep her eyes focused on the book like they had been watching a
kid’s movie with a sudden inclusion of adult content.

She
arched herself up to peak over the tall seat ahead. Directly behind the
driver’s seat on their side a man sat with his face pressed against the glass
to look out. The woman next to him had her face covered, she sobbed about how
she didn’t want to see. After shooting a glance back to make sure Ava wasn’t
looking, Jessica turned to investigate what new horror was playing out.

Seconds
ahead in the northbound lanes things turned sour in a flash. Cars swerved,
collided and spun. Luggage was launched from their hastily secured rooftop
positions onto the pavement. A plume of white shirts erupted from a suitcase
that split upon impact with the fence guarding the railroad tracks. The roar of
a dozen blaring horns gained enough volume to pierce their soundproof bubble.
Jessica called back to her daughter, “cover your ears and close your eyes,
now!” She couldn’t check if the girl complied because the madness on the other
side of the tracks instantly hypnotized.

The
ripple of traffic accidents was so sudden and violent that Jessica almost
missed what caused the mess in the first place. In the second before it
travelled from her view she saw human figures wandering from a northbound
onramp. Just past the ramp was a color-drained grass hill that had a playground
at its peak. She counted six crimson stained people erratically spilling from
the access point. How many entered the highway before the cars mowed them down
was a preferred mystery.

The last
detail she saw before the gaps ceased in an endless wall of connected vehicles
hollowed her inside. A shorter figure was last on the hill; it was clad in all
purple neck to foot. As a mother, she easily recognized the design as that of a
little girl’s footie pajamas. Not even the horrid stain of red covering the
figure’s midsection could have spared her from this realization.

Chapter Six

Passing
the tragedy of the northbound lanes ended any semblance of fragile calm that
existed inside the second bus. Panic rippled from the outer seats facing the
railroad tracks to the opposite side in seconds. Even if the passengers
couldn’t bring themselves to look at the carnage that violently erupted on the
opposite side of the highway, the reactions of those who could see was more
than enough to end any peace in the vehicle.

Jessica
was in shock. Ava could hear everything through her little
earmuffed
hands. “What’s happening, Mommy?” she said in a tiny voice that was nearly lost
amongst the clatter around them. “Can I open my eyes?”

Ava
sounded scared and her mother naturally wanted to sooth her. Placing her own
hand over the girl’s eyes she answered, “no baby girl... keep them closed.” It
was her job to comfort the girl yet her own fear made it a futile task; no one
could be shielded from the rapidly deteriorating world.

She
couldn’t bring herself to look back out the window so instead she peered over
the few rows ahead of them, then beyond the driver’s seat. The fully loaded
black car still buffered the two buses leaving dangerously little space between
its front bumper and the massive rear of the first chartered behemoth. Beyond
the convoy she could make out an overpass with an oversized sign for the exit
to Cary Street and Grove Avenue. A pit formed in Jessica’s stomach as she
looked forward with the unshakable sense that something was tremendously wrong.

The same
overpass that she’d seen a hundred times now looked disheveled. Normally it was
a typical scene consisting of a pedestrian fence border outlined with lampposts
and highway signs mounted towards the expressway passing below. Where there
would normally be a flawless barrier separating the foot or street traffic from
a river of commuters was now a broken fence. Sometime before their approach the
rear bed of a flatbed tow truck had backed up enough to pierce through the
fence and nearly dislodge the lamp next to the left side of the large exit
sign. Debris that was pinned between the fence and the truck in the collision
dangled in the breeze.

Squinting
towards the damaged overpass, Jessica finally made out the detail that was
eating at her. It was a person that had been pinned by the truck. This mangled
effigy of a man flailed about, robbed of death’s release after the Reaper Virus
severed its ties. In the pinnacle of bad timing, the motions of the undead
piñata released it from the overpass as the first bus approached. One second
sooner or one second later would have changed everything. If the dangling dead
man had freed himself a second before then he would have met the concrete and a
final end under the weight of bus tires; had he fallen a second later he would
have bounced off the top. Guided by fate’s sadistic hand he managed a collision
with the windshield of the bus containing Pastor Doug, Nurse Sue, Todd and so
many of their friends.

Jessica
witnessed these tragic seconds unfold from her seat on the second bus. Her
right hand instinctively shot across to secure Ava, who still sat cupping her
little hands over both ears. She wanted to curl up in a ball around what was
precious to her and wait for this hellacious dream to pass. Instead she saw
proof that they would never wake from these new nightmares.

Upon
impact the lead bus veered to the right without any hesitation for the flow of
other vehicles attempting to flee the city. It tore through the other lanes
like a tree falling across a flooded stream. The tailgating Volkswagen didn’t
stand a chance at escape; it slammed into the rear of the diverted bus then fishtailed
in the opposite direction.

The old
man driving the second bus reacted quickly by forcing the large steering wheel
away from the crash. They turned sharply into the leftmost lane and missed
sideswiping a pickup truck by inches. Momentum took them out of the lane all
the way into the shoulder. Metal shrieked as the side with Ava and Jessica
clapped against the chain-link-topped Jersey Wall that protected the train
tracks. Screams from the passengers couldn’t top the chaotic chorus that lasted
for several eternal seconds.

Then the
driver regained control of the monolith. He found the left lane again as the terror
in the seat rows behind him continued. A new gap in the traffic that formed
with the sudden disruption allowed
their
path to
resume without running anyone else off the road. The old man called back,
“we’re okay people! Please calm down!”

A man in
the second row on the right side stood trying to pry the window open that
wouldn’t budge by design. Pressing his face against the glass in an attempt to
see behind them he grew vocally frustrated before he jumped from the row and
ran up towards the driver’s seat. “What about the others
?!
”
he hollered.

“Mister,”
the driver pleaded, “please stay in your seat. No need to get everyone more
scared than they already are. I’m worried about the people on the first bus
too.”

On the
inside he was more anxious than he wanted anyone to know but he appeared far
too irate to be calmed, “Tell us what the hell do you see in your mirrors?” The
driver’s lack of verbal response added fuel to the fire. “I don’t give a shit
that we’re here with a church, old man,” the man threatened, “I’ll still knock
you out if you don’t start talking.”

Silence
returned in the cabin. With the exception of bits of subdued sobbing, all attention
was focused on the two men at the front. The driver mumbled something
undiscernibly.

Anger was
the easiest outlet as rage nearly bubbled over in the man. He shouted at the
driver, “what did you say
?!
”

This
pushed the driver over the edge in a different way. He resigned any sensitive
attempt to spare the group from reality. “I said that the bus
flipped
. It turned hard then flipped
onto its side. If we hadn’t side swiped the wall on the left then we
woulda
been clipped in the process. Traffic all but stopped
behind us because when the bus wrecked it walled off the highway.”

Stunned
silence had never been so loud. Dumbfounded and depressed, the aggressive man
returned to his seat without a word. After a minute without anyone speaking,
the driver added, “I’m sorry folks but there’s no turning back. The pastor told
me to keep going no matter what and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Even if
I wanted to turn back and help the other bus, I don’t think I could without
causin
’ another wreck. We
gotta
keep going. We have to make it to the retreat
spot. That’s what every soul on that bus we just lost would have wanted for us.
There
ain’t
any other way now.”

Jessica
felt a little sting on her right hand. She looked to see Ava with her hands no
longer over her ears. It was a mystery how much the little girl had heard of
what just transpired in the bus, but the sweet hint of confusion in her face
indicated she had heard enough. Ava pinched the top of her mom’s hand because
it was the only exposed skin she could reach. The pinch was all she could think
to do to get Jessica’s attention.

“Mommy,”
her little voice said, “your arm is pushing down
kinda
hard.”

She
pulled it away feeling terrible for pressing so hard in her attempt to secure
the girl while expecting them to crash. “I’m so sorry sweetheart. I wasn’t
trying to hurt you,” Jessica apologized at the brink of tears. “Everything is
going to be alright. I promise.”

Ava’s
expression indicated more curiosity than fear. “It’s okay Mommy, I know.”

They sat
there for a few minutes without speaking again. Jessica had no idea what to say
to the girl about what happened or would happen. Truthfully, she herself wished
for the answers to those questions. She gazed upon the little angel that stared
forward as thoughts clearly turned through her curly head in contemplation.

“Did they
die?” Ava questioned with a remarkable level of cognition, “The other bus we
were following. Are they… are those people dead?”

The words
dropped her mother’s jaw. Jessica didn’t know how to answer. She marveled at
how astute Ava had become. It’s a prideful feeling that she hated experiencing
under the current circumstances. Fairy tales and magical ponies are what her
daughter should be thinking about. This was supposed to be a vacation for her,
an adventure that they would experience together. Any prevalence of death has
no place in such fairy tales.

She
hesitated. Ava instantly looked frustrated. There was no sugar coating the
truth anymore, not even with a five year old. “I’m not sure sweetie.” She said
seeing the little brow furrow back. “But with what our driver said had happened
to their bus, I don’t think they had a very good chance to walk away from it.”

“I hope
it didn’t hurt,” Ava said sadly.

Tears
lightly streaked across Jessica’s cheek. Struggling to keep the sorrow out of
her words she agreed, “Me either, baby. Hopefully they’ve found some peace.”

The
little girl pondered that for a moment before saying, “are we going to die?”

Hearing
this hollowed Jessica. She battled to sound strong because her daughter
deserved to hear strength in her mom. “No,
hun
,” more
warm lines traced their way down her face, “we’re not done here yet…. not
today.”