Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel(24)

“I’ll bet,” said Nick. “We all owe you for keeping us safe. I think we can stretch our legs for a little while now and take a breather. Then perhaps we can check out the surrounding area.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Dave pressed a button on the dashboard and the bus’s pneumatic doors opened. Everyone got to their feet and started piling out. There were multiple sighs of relief as they each stretched their muscles and took deep breaths of the crisp country air. The temperature was a little low for comfort, so Nick fastened his coat around himself before joining them outside. He winced as the garment brushed his various injuries.

“You okay?” Eve asked him. “Your face still looks pretty bad.”

“Just a little sore.” He prodding at the slick wound on his cheek. “But I’ll live.”

Mark limped off the bus behind Nick, his cast sinking into the mud as he landed awkwardly. “Hey,” he said. “Do we have any water or snack food? I’m starting to feel lightheaded, man.”

“Me too,” added one of the old ladies.

“We’ll just have to make do for now,” said Dave, taking on an air of authority that he probably felt was rightfully his as driver of the bus. “We can look to see if there are any shops around here later, once we’ve all had a rest.”

“Bad idea,” said Pauline. “We’re safer to just stay put.”

Mark hopped on his one good leg over to the side of the bus and leant up against a wheel arch. “We’ll need to eat something eventually, lady. So how long do we plan on staying here?”

“I don’t know,” said Dave.

“Well, don’t you think we should have a plan?” asked Pauline.

Dave huffed. “If you have one, then I’m all ears. Until then, just keep quiet.”

“Look,” said Nick. “For now, let’s just enjoy doing nothing. We don’t know enough to make any sort of plan, which is why we just need to take things one moment at a time. Let’s just be glad that we’re off the road.”

Everyone seemed to grumble in agreement, before breaking off into their own little patches of space. The supermarket manager, Kathryn, went and sat on a nearby picnic table and began shaping her long red fingernails with a file from her handbag. The two elderly women sat on another bench just a few feet away. Eve stood around aimlessly next to Dave, who had decided to check the oil level of the bus. Nick thought it was pointless seeing as they were out of petrol anyway. Jake stayed on the bus, still feeling unwell. Carl chatted to Cassie nearby, and Mark remained leaning against the bus, taking the weight off his cast.

Nick chose to approach Cassie and Carl. He hadn’t spoken to them much yet and thought it was wise to know everybody he was with. “You folks okay?” he asked them both.

Carl laughed. “As well as can be expected. Can’t say I’m a big fan of sticking here indefinitely, though. We’ve all got families to get home to.”

“I know,” Nick agreed, but deep down he knew that it was no longer true for him. “Ideally we’ll be able to find some help soon, but for now we just need to be safe. We all saw what’s happening to people.”

“It’s like they’ve all gone crazy,” Cassie said meekly. She seemed like a shy girl.

Nick nodded. “I think it’s a virus or something. My son was feeling ill last night and then this morning…” He didn’t need or want to finish the sentence. Everyone had been through their own personal torments and that meant that they understood each other’s losses without having to hear them explained. It was almost like being part of a club.

“I don’t know if it’s something that can be cured,” Nick said. “Right now, our best bet is to just stick together.”

“Safety in numbers, huh?” said Carl.

“I’m glad you people found me,” Cassie said. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t. I watched my best friend get ripped to shreds by her own father – gutted like an animal. Then she got up and came after me.”

Nick scratched his chin. “She got up and came after you?”

Cassie nodded. “Like five minutes after her dad attacked her. We managed to hole up in the bathroom, but Michelle was hurt bad. I mean real bad. Her neck and stomach were gushing and the floor tiles were covered in blood. Then she just stopped breathing and I knew she was dead. But two minutes later she was back on her feet again, coming after me just like her dad did. Only she was different than him, she was-”

“Slower,” said Nick, remembering how Mr Curtis had first been fast and agile until his throat got cut on the fish tanks, and then afterwards had moved very slow and drunkenly.

“People don’t come back from the dead,” Carl scoffed, wiping his hands on his jeans. “It’s crazy.”

Nick shrugged. “I think crazy got invited to the party today. Whatever virus is turning people insane is doing something else to them when they get badly injured. It still makes them want to kill us, but they get clumsy and slow.”

“Like walking corpses?” Carl scoffed, still unwilling to grasp such a concept.

“Maybe it’s something in their blood,” Cassie suggested. “Maybe when they get injured and lose enough blood, the virus leaks out and makes them weaker.” She shook her head and sighed. “Or maybe they really are just dead and this is the end of the world.”