Chapter 11: Safe

Azie's POV

"Are you okay?! You're bleeding!" I heard Arius ask worriedly. I just nod at him while catching my breath.

"Yes!" I glanced at the guy beside me.

"You alright?" He just nodded and sigh heavily.

I bite my lower lip in frustration. That was a fucking close call!

"What the hell, Dearil?!" Sigaw ko habang naka silip sa direksyon ni Dearil. Muntik na kasi akong mahulog sa bus dahil sa ginawa nya.

I saw Kaliya still shooting.

"I'm sorry! Never saw that coming!" Napa irap na lang ako. Ngumiti lang ito at tumango saka ibinalik ang tingin sa daan.

Ipinagpatuloy ko na lang ang ginagawa hanggang sa dalawa na lang ang natira. Si Chelsea at ang nag mamaneho ng bus nila.

I'm with Chelsea at the rooftop helping her reach for Arius hands which she immediately grasp when suddenly the bus swerved for the second time making me almost lost my footing and bang both my arms and head. I saw one of the tire were gone and the back part of the bus were smoking.

"Dwarf/Azie!" Parehong sigaw nina Arius at Gifflet sa direksyon ko habang naka luhod at naka hawak sa steel bar.

Bloody hell!

"I-I'm fine.... I'm fine." I assured placing one of my hands on my head and hissed. Shit, this banging thingy will surely leave bruises all over my body.

"You're freaking bleeding again!" Sigaw naman ni Arius kaya inis na napa tingin ako dito.

Tangina yan, ilang untog pa ba ang kailangan kong danasin para lang makapagligtas ng tao?

"Shut up! I know!" I started untying the rope on my waist even though my left arm was throbbing and placed it on the edge of the steel bar.

"Keep a steady drive Dearil!" I shouted in annoyance.

"Hey Dwarf!" Arius called out.

"I'll be back. Stay on your place." Baling ko kay Arius saka tumalikod. Tumingin muna ako sa harapan namin kung may infected ba saka dahan dahan at maingat na bumaba sa steel stairs na naka kabit sa gilid ng bukana ng bus.

"Drake!" My eyes widen when a familiar face surprised me. It's Drake Walter, the president of student union.

"Hi! You're bleeding." He greeted nervously, throwing me a quick glance before setting his eyes straight ahead.

"Yeah." Beads of sweat are starting to form on Drake's forehead.

"Shit. We don't have brakes, do we?" Tumango tango ito habang ang mga mata ay nasa harap.

Darn this. Our bus doesn't have brakes and is on fire.

Agad akong pumunta sa likod ng bus saka nag hanap ng pwedeng gamiting pang apak pansamantala sa gas habang lilipat kami mamaya sa kabila.

Luckily, I found a crow bar. I dash towards the driver's seat coughing. I can hear Arius and others shouting outside as the smoke grew heavier. The bus running past the speed limit.

"Okay... look. You go up there first while I'll take your spot. How about that?" He looked at me for the moment before looking at my hand.

Without any question, his hand slowly reached for the seatbelt while the other one still holding the steering wheel. I looked at Dearil when he honks too many times.

"You two have to get out now!" Sigaw nya kaya napa tingin ako sa harapan namin.

"Oh shit." Mura ko ng makitang sobrang daming infected ang papunta sa direksyon namin.

There's still one intersection left before this bus hits the infected crowd. And if ever we won't make it, it's definitely our end.

"Hurry!"

He slowly and carefully stood up from his seat while I'm holding the crow bar on the gas pedal. 

"That should be fine." He said after we made sure the crow bar won't left its place.

Nauna sya sa pag akyat sa metal na hagdan at ng masigurado ko na nasa taas na sya ay agad akong sumunod. I saw him jumped on the other bus hastily and so I never waste time and did the same.

I landed exactly on Arius arms after knowing he's been waiting for my jump. I get a hold of his hand when the bus made a little swerve and saw that Dearil turn to the side of the road where you can only see tall grass.

"Damn this." I muttered. Arius gave me a worried look, specifically on my bleeding forehead. He took a hold of it.

"Never do that again." He said. I looked at him confused.

"Huh?" I saw him opening his mouth and was about to talk when he was interrupted by my gun shots. I immediately fired four shots behind him when I saw four infected follow and sneakily made it's way on our bus.

The way they make screeching noise, sends chills on my spine.

"Let's get down." I said after realising that we're getting far from the city.

"Sure."

***

"I think we can stay here for the night." Wika ni Kaliya. Napatingin naman ako sa paligid namin at tumango. Malayong malayo na kami sa city at nakaparada sa gitna ng sa tingin ko ay isang abandonadong daan na pinapalibutan ng mga puno.

"Are we safe here?" My eyes shifted on Flora's direction. She's seating three chairs away from me. She's that first girl that we've transferred here.

Flora, Rodrick- that nerdy one, Alby- the buff guy, Helen and Roxanne, Chelsea and Drake.

"We'll be safe here as long as we don't make sounds." I stated. They all nodded. We silently hopped out of the bus and inspect the surroundings.

Strong wind alongside the scent of nature blew past us. I shudder knowing that the world we're looking at right now is not the same anymore.

I think the wind made us all terrified as we fell into deep and deafening silence. Everyone thinking how this happen in just a blink of an eye. The bustling sounds of one of the busiest city of the country and the people living on it turned into ravish monsters and a complete destruction and a nightmare in just a day.

"This..... this is unbelievable.." Helen slumped on the concrete cement and started crying.

"As far as I can remember... all of us we're having... having a fun time and... and this just.." Dinaluhan naman sya ni Roxanne.

Flora, Roxanne and Chelsea started sobbing as well. While all of the boys remained silent and avoiding each other's eyes.

"How did you managed to escape?" Arius asked.

"Except for Rodrick, all six of us and one other student from eleventh grade were inside the activity hall to arrange and decorate the room for the upcoming event which suppose to happen next week, we heard someone screaming and breaking so we tried to look where it came from and then we saw one student tried to attack Rodrick so we helped him out and..." Drake paused.

"And we saw.. we saw it attacked Ericka... she.." Mas lalo pang lumakas ang hagulgol ni Flora.

I bit my lower lip and blinked the tears out of my eyes.

"The five of us we're inside the detention room when it happened.." Kaliya started, remembering what happened earlier.

"All we saw was that, there's one student on the school ground that was showered on her own blood and went from being dead to biting people out of nowhere." I forced my eyes shut.

"We need to stay alive so we can figure this out." Arius said breaking the silence. I glanced at my broken wrist watch and saw it's quarter to three in the afternoon.

"Let's make a fire first..." I started, snapping all of them from their thoughts.

"We've managed to get some foods and it's inside our bags. Now, let's look for something that can help us get past tonight's cold." I instructed.

"I'll look for some firewood there." I nodded at Rodrick.

"I'll come with you." Sambit ni Alby na tinanguan lamang ni Rodrick.

"You guys be careful." Pahabol naman ni Chelsea.

"How's our gas?" Tanong ko kay Dearil.

"We're running out of it to be honest. I don't even think it'll last for an hour.. I'm afraid once we try to use and run it again..." I puckered my lips and heaved a sigh.

"Maybe there's a gas station near here." That's Helen. I nodded.

I saw Rodrick and Alby came back with a bunch of firewood while Flora helped them create a fire. Kaliya, Drake and Chelsea started cooking some canned foods I took with me while we're inside that secret room.

"Well. I'll go look—"

"No you're not." Putol ni Arius sa sasabihin ko saka nilapag ang bag nya. I looked at him with my brows shot up.

"Yes I am." I said firmly and step inside the bus, took two of my guns, bow and arrows and my sword. Sinuot ko sa likod ko ang espada na naka lagay sa lagayan nito habang ang isang baril naman ay nasa bandang bewang ko.

"I told you already, you don't do dangerous—" I cut him off.

"If you wanted to come, you're free to come. But I'll go no matter what." I snapped and turn my back at him.

Lumapit ako sa pwesto ni Flora saka inabot ang bow and arrows sa kanya.

"I think I saw you once used this. This is yours now." Hindi ko na hinintay ang sagot nya saka tumalikod at bumalik sa pwesto ni Dearil na hawak hawak ang dalawang puting galloon.

"Azie..." I throw Arius a displeasing look.

"I'm set." I replied. I heard him heaved a heavy sigh.

"Be careful on your way guys." Says Flora. I nodded at her and gave Drake the other gun which he immediately took in my hand.

"In case of emergency." I said.

"We'll be back as fast as we can."