Chronicles of the Fall- #1- Empty Night

Chapter 6: Fight Fire with Fire

The bus makes frequent stops until each house of each teen has been visited. Hampton returns with a handful of pocket knives and a bag of supplies, and no one mentions the fresh blood on his bat. Cora enters alone, and returns empty handed. Lucas accompanies Todd, but the two return just as sullen as the rest. The same for Jackson and William. The bus is even quieter than before, if that is even possible.

    It seems now that everyone is staring quietly out the windows, all sitting in rows by themselves, feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders.

    "Gas is running low," DJ mutters to Hampton who, is sitting beside her.

"Then stop for gas," he says, slightly tapping the bat on the floor of the bus.

"No shit, Sherlock," she answers and returns her eyes to the road.

She soon spots a small gas station ahead, and pulls into the parking lot. "Pit stop everyone! Gather what supplies you can; gonna need a few people to help me gas up the bus. Stay close," she calls over her shoulder before parking the bus and slipping the key into her breast pocket.

    Slowly but surely the gang begins piling off the bus.

"Faith, come on. You've got to move around," Laken says, pulling the girl up and tugging her along.

    "I won't be any help, it's safer if I just-" Faith rambles, but Laken holds a tight grip on Faith's wrist.

    The air outside is eerily quiet, just the whistling of the wind and the footsteps of the rag-tag team.

    "Hampton, help me clear it first," DJ says, placing her hand on the door.
    "I got it," Tripp says, stepping past Hampton with a heavy jerk of his shoulder, almost bulldozing his way to the front. He locks eyes with DJ for a moment, a silent challenge. She narrows her eyes and then nods, pushing the door open.

    The air is stagnant as DJ shuffles through the dark store, praying that her eyes re-focus quickly. There is a quiet shallow breathing, almost hoarse. She knows immediately that there is an infected somewhere. Tripp moves instinctively to the other side of her, and follows the sound.

    Behind the register, they find a teenage boy with his hair sticking out at every angle. His name tag reads Jason, his eyes are sunken and hazed over. Before DJ has time to act, a gunshot, horrifyingly loud, rings through the air and the boys launches backwards, blood spraying the wall behind him. DJ jerks violently, hissing as the noise hurt her ears. The boy falls to the floor slowly and lands with a thud. Tripp's jaw is set, the gun still clutched between his white knuckles.

    Hampton and Lucas immediately burst through the door, their eyes wide. Both sigh with relief when they see Tripp and DJ standing in front of them unharmed.

    "I'll check the back, tell them it's fine," Tripp says before heading down the aisles. His strides are long, his shoulders straight back, his eyes focused ahead.

"Grab what you can," DJ says, before heading behind the register. She steps gingerly over the body of the boy and the rest of the group begins to shuffle through the door.

"Does anyone know how to work this thing?" she asks, staring at the buttons. Nobody answers her the first time.

"Which one makes it pump gas?" she asks again, looking towards Hampton, to which he shrugs. She looks to William. The short blonde boy is picking up painkillers from off a shelf. "Come on William, you ever read a gas station manual for fun? A little light reading?"

"Your jokes are somewhat harsh," he replies, before pushing past her to press a few buttons. "Go try it now." DJ heads outside to pump gas into the bus.