Buzzkill (A Lesbian Story)

4: I Hate Buses

I dropped the bat and launched forward to wrap Steve in a hug. "Oh thank god!"

He hugged me back. "Holy shit, Max! Where have you been?"

We broke away from each other and he hugged Ashley, which surprised both of us. I got over that and answered his question. "We were locked in Craft's office, then stuck in a janitor's closet while Craft-patient-zero was sniffing around outside."

"Oh god." Steve sighed and held Ashley at arm's length. His face was contorted into a mixture of terror and anger.

Ashley put a hand on his arm. "What happened out there, Steve? At the pep rally."

Steve slouched onto the bench. "It just happened so fast. Everyone was piling into the gym for the rally, then a few kids and teachers just started going rabid. Craft came running in and we thought that she was going to break it up, but no. She sunk her teeth into some poor sophomore. Me and the guys tried to get as many people as we could out, but..." He shook his head. "So many people were changing and there was so much blood." He sat his head in his hands. That was the first time I noticed red stains on his hands and the sleeves of his Letterman jacket.

I sat down next to him. "What the fuck is happening, man?"

Ashley sat down on the bench across from us. "Rabies?"

Steve rubbed his face and ran his hands through his hair. "Something like it maybe..." Suddenly his body went stiff. He sat straight up and faced me with wide eyes. "Max! Max, what if this is the zombie apocalypse?"

Are you kidding me? "What?"

"It makes sense, man!" He shook my shoulder. "There's been that flu going around, everyone started going batshit crazy at the rally, Craft tore into that kid, and I tried to call the police station, but the damn line was full."

"This is crazy." I shook my head and stood. "I know that I wish a zombie apocalypse to happen on the daily to get out of Calculus, but I didn't think this would actually happen."

Ashley was on her phone. Her eyebrows were creased as she put it to her ear and stayed quiet. After a beat she groaned and put her phone down. "My mom's not answering."

"We need to get to our neighborhood." I passed by Ashley to get to my backpack in my locker. I searched around for my keys. "I mean, with this happening, isn't it safest to board up the windows and chill in a house?"

"What about getting out and finding help?" Ashley asked as I took my keys out and shouldered my backpack. "The hospital might be a safe haven."

Steve snorted. "Are you joking? The hospital would be ground zero! Everyone who was sick went to the hospital. It has to be crawling with zombies."

I turned around and picked up my bat. "Can we please not drop the z-word until we're absolutely sure?"

Steve stood with me and followed me to the back door, a neon yellow bat in his hand. "What more evidence do you need?"

"Can we just leave?" Ashley was right behind us.

"For once, I actually agree with Ashley." I opened the back door. The softball field was spread out infront of us. To the right was the back parking lot. Everything seemed to be calm. I waved them on and we all cautiously headed towards the parking lot. Our feet hit the black pavement as we merged to the right, keeping close to the fence. I could see my blue jeep two rows away.

Steve put out his arm to stop me from going any further. "Do you hear that?"

Hear what? I stayed quiet and looked around. Then I heard it, soft growling and something dragging on the pavement. A head appeared by a red range rover, then the rest of the body. Blood stained cheerleading uniform, blonde ponytail, and white shoes. Blood covered her arms and her mouth when she turned to us. It was Vanessa.

Ashley gasped loudly and I quickly put a hand over her mouth as a sob broke free. Vanessa was swaying right infront of my car. A small pack of other infected students behind her.

"Well there goes my car." I breathe as we start backing up. "Okay. New plan-"

A sharp metal on concrete sound pierced the air. I jerked my head around to see Steve scrambling to pick the bat up from off the ground. A roar erupted from behind us. We were spotted. Students appeared from behind cars to our left and infront. Only way out is right.

My hand went away from Ashley's mouth and grabbed her arm. I started pulling her in her still shocked state along with me. Steve was right behind us with his bat at the ready.

"Fucking hell Steve!" I exclaimed and led them into the back parking lot. There should be another gate after the bus parking lot. That's a way out. "Follow me!"

We ran the length of the fence and arrived in the bus parking lot. The buses were parked like a maze, making us zig zag around them. Out of the maze of buses, the gate to the front of the school was right ahead. However, it was closed. I dropped Ashley's arm, put my bat in the holder if my backpack, and clutched the fence. I tried opening it, but it was locked. I thought about climbing over but a group of infects were starting to swarm from the other side.

Suddenly, Steve grabbed our arms and started to pull us back to the buses. An infect broke free from the maze and shambled towards us. Steve pushed us into the nearest bus and tried to close the door. The infect threw himself against the doors. He was a big guy so it made the bus shake. That put Steve's football skills to the test as he rammed his shoulder into the door.

"Hot wire the bus, Max!" He exclaimed to me.

I swept my eyes across the bus then checked around the driver's seat for any spare keys. Of course there weren't any. I sat down in the driver's seat, took out my keys for the lil mini pocket knife, and looked under the console. I popped off the tumble case by the ignition hole to get to the wires. I stripped the ignition and battery wires then twisted them together.

There was another blow from the door, making me fall out of the seat. I looked over to see Steve with his legs on the stairs and his back pressed against the doors. Ashley was in the seat right behind him, shocked and frozen.

"Max! Hurry!" Steve yelled.

Jumping up, I got back in the seat. "Almost there!" I carefully stripped the starter wires and touched them together. Once. Twice. Third times the charm! The engine roared to life.

"Woohoo!" I hollered as I buckled the seat belt. "Listen to this baby purr!"

"Drive!" Steve yelled.

"Geez. Okay." I put the bus in drive and hit the gas. Steve gave the door one last push and the infects were off. I steered the bus towards the gate and the swarm of infects.

Only way out is through that gate. There are things by the gate. If I hit the gate, I hit them. Those people. My used-to-be classmates and teachers.

"They aren't people, Max." Steve sensed my hesitation as he pulled himself up and sat in the seat behind me. "If they don't get us, they'll get someone else."

"Brace yourselves." I floored it towards the gate. We picked up a lot of speed for a school bus and plowed into the gate. There were many bumps and I tried to get that out of my head. I then swung us onto the main road and we were on our way to safety.

Hopefully.

Author's Note: Well Max keeps surprising us with her abilities. Sorry for the last chapters being boring AF. It'll get more exciting.
Xoxo- Awkwardles