TOUCHED

TOUCHED - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rushing back to the street, I adjusted my makeshift mask and climbed into the bus a second time. The smoke was thicker and visibility was down to a few feet. I didn’t know how long I had before the fuel cells exploded.

I hesitated only until I heard a muffled cry for help.

Ducking under the worst of it, I half crawled my way through bent seats and the separating posts that ran floor to ceiling. I passed two more people, both of them still convulsing. I didn’t need to see the black plus signs on their Guardians to know that the mutation had already claimed them. Once I was past the bend where the bus had impacted I saw who had been waiting for me.

The heat of the fire saturated me, making sweat drip into my eyes. I had to keep using my sleeve to wipe away the moisture and clear my vision. As I reached the back seats five sets of eyes greeted me.

“You came back!” Choked a dark skinned youth huddled in his seat. A blond, heavily freckled girl lay unconscious on the seat across from him. I just nodded as a coughing fit tickled the back of my throat.

The other eyes belonged to an older man on the other side of the isle, two women in their late thirties and a young soldier I could just make out by the back door. Shock and despair was on every face, each looking at me like I wasn’t real.

I went to the two women closest to me first. The one on my right was in shock but starting to come out it, her large features and dark wrinkled skin contorting in agony. The seat in front of her had punched back through the glass. Her reclining chair halfway extended, she had been pinned down when the bus bent around the car in front of the pole. A luggage rack from the car puncturing the bus and her side, she coughed blood, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Help please! I can’t move.”

“I-“ I couldn’t help her. The realization twisted through me. “I won’t let you burn to death. I promise.” She nodded.

“Close your eyes. Picture yourself in your favorite place and wait for me.” I instructed. She whimpered and closed her eyes.

I turned to the other woman. She was trapped by the collapsed compartments to either side of hers but she seemed otherwise unharmed. She was however, becoming hysterical. I handed her one of the handrails that had popped out of the glass.

“Calm down!” I shouted. ”Use this as a lever to wedge an opening for yourself. I will be back!” She wept loudly as a shaking hand took the handrail and started to work.

A few empty seats down I saw that the older man was pinned by the seat in front of him. I saw no way to extricate him quickly but reached for him anyways.

“What are you doing?” He spat, fear consuming his face. “Don’t touch me!”

“No one else is coming; you have to get out now!” I yelled back over the roar of the flames.

“Lead the kid out! I can take care of myself!” He ordered.

There wasn’t time to argue. I figured a few more minutes might make him see sense and accept my help. I turned to the youth across the isle.

“Come on, I’ll show you the way. Can you walk?” I asked.

“I won’t leave without her!” He shouted and gestured to the blond girl. “I can’t leave her, she’s pregnant!”

I looked at him in confusion. Were they together or something? Even if they were partners I almost never saw that kind of devotion. The blond was unconscious in a sea of pillows and bags. I rubbed my eyes and looked closer. Sure enough, one of the “pillows” was attached to her. Shit.