TOUCHED

TOUCHED - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I felt a moment of panic as I reached for the palm pad that would open the door. It was a long shot but I had to try. I placed my left hand against the glass, holding my sleeve up with my other hand to hide it, hoping I was wrong. I checked the street again for anyone coming to help. There was no one.

The door beeped an error and started flashing warning messages. No luck then. I ran to the next closest vehicle, it’s driver’s side door still half open from the last person who had rustled through it. I pulled the lever that popped the trunk and raced to the back. It was empty except for what I needed. I grabbed the tire iron and ran back to the bus. I had to break out the entire pad before the door finally lost power and released the lock. The door opened a few inches and stalled. I forced my hands into the crack and shoved with all of my strength.

Smoke billowed out as I took the steps two at a time, ducking under the noxious clouds of black. On the inside I knelt, checking the driver first. I saw the vacant eyes and blood oozing from his mouth and knew what the Guardian on his wrist was already blinking, he was past help. I turned down the wide center isle to search for survivors.

It was a long range bus, designed to carry passengers for days at a time. A single seat, at an angle, towards the isle, with a small lounge area was provided for each person with smart glass and metal bars separating each seat from the one behind it. I estimated twenty of the pods down each side for a possible forty passengers. I was going to have to look inside each one for a survivor.

Of the first ten pods, only half were occupied but not by the living. Each seemed to have just fallen asleep but were in awkward and contorted positions, their Guardians flashing a black plus sign on a red background like the driver’s had. I checked for pulses anyways but found nothing. I moved as quickly as I could, my eyes watering in the heat until I could barely see. I wasn’t surprised when I tripped on what I thought was luggage that had spilled out into the isle.

It moaned; some poor soul trying to crawl for the door or thrown by the accident I guessed. I rubbed my eyes and knelt again to get under the smoke to better assess the situation. The Guardian on his wrist was turning red but there wasn’t a black plus sign yet. Through the haze of heat and smoke I thought I saw more movement just beyond the bend halfway down the bus. Shards of broken glass and twisted metal filled the path.

Swearing loudly, I pulled myself up and grabbed the battered male at my feet. I pulled and shoved until he was back to his hands and knees. If I was going to help anyone else, I needed him out of my way first. I estimated that he was over a head taller and clearly couldn’t hold his own weight for long. With no other signs of a major injury I crawled under him. Before he could fall again I got into position to lift with my legs.

I slipped my bare hand up his sleeves, reaching past his gloves and up under the thin Second Skin until my bare hands firmly gripped the bare skin on his wrists. I was acutely aware of everything. His pulse thudded under my fingertips while my palm felt the coarse hair of his arms shift under my grip. The slight twitch I hadn’t noticed until that moment ceased at my touch. There was no time to wonder about it. A surge of strength swept through me and I pushed up from the hot floor, my pulse thudding in my ears.

As soon as I was up I released his wrists and grabbed for his thighs, pulling them around my hips to center the weight. He was heavier than I had judged but it was the best I could do. I staggered toward the bus door. The man I was carrying coughed so hard he made me stumble, but made no move to assist or resist my efforts. His body draped over mine felt uncomfortably intimate but I knew it was a necessary evil.

As I reached the exit a voice screamed from the back of the bus “Wait, we need help! Don’t go! Please!”

I looked back. I could just make out someone waving from deeper back in the wreck. “I’ll be right back! Hold on!” My voice was muffled from the effort and the buff over my face but I was sure it carried.

I staggered down the steps of the bus and turned confidently back toward the lobby I had been hiding in. Once inside I backed up to one of the couches and dropped my burden unceremoniously onto it. I heard a grunt but I was already turning to dig through a pile of trash nearby. I didn’t look at my rescue as he worked to pull himself up into a sitting position, coughing terribly. I shared his pain. My lungs were on fire, a pain matched only by the burn in my muscles.

“Here, you’re going to need this…” I said coughing and uncovering a first aid kit. I tossed over the back of the couch so it landed next to the groaning man.

“Stop some of that bleeding” I wheezed through more of my own coughs, “and I’ll know if you’re worth my time when I get back.”

I disappeared out the door again without waiting for an answer.