Chronicles of the Fall- #1- Empty Night

Chapter 5: Destination Unknown

The bus is very quiet, save for the whispers of among the different factions of the group. Everybody, even if they weren't exactly sitting with Tripp, has now shifted their seats away from his, giving him a four or five foot wide circle of new personal space. Nobody wishes to sit near Tripp, for fear of what he could do to them in a fit of rage.

Laken feels his pain. She too, barely hours ago, has lost one of her family members to the virus. She does not, however, feel his anger. Laken knows that that kind of rage comes from somebody of a different breed than her; she doesn't have it in her.

The bus drifts on, it's driver and passengers unsure of where they are going.

"Why didn't the military come to the school?" Todd asks, the first time he has spoken to the whole group for several hours. "All this could've been avoided if the military actually cared, or did their job correctly. I mean, who just leaves a school full of kids on an evacuation mission?"

"Yeah! Todd has a point! That's messed up!" Jackson pipes up from his spot beside Todd.

"Our school is out of the way for an entire military convoy!" DJ yells to the back of the bus. She narrows her eyes at the road, sensing tension building among the people. "They're in the city. We can get there once we recuperate from the, uh, excitement." DJ hopes that neither Tripp nor Laken get any PTSD from her words. To her relief, neither of the two emotionally compromised teens speak or make any moves.

"If we had a Commander-in-Chief that actually cared about-"

Todd is interrupted by Tripp, whose voice is ragged and raw from screaming.

"The military isn't in the wrong here. They know exactly what they're doing, and they'll fix it," he spits, turning his gaze to the skinnier boy. Todd opens his mouth to send back words of retaliation, however, he finds that the sentence dies in his throat. The murderous look in Tripp's eyes sends a terrifying tremor down Todd's spine.

Jackson feels uncomfortable, and tries to lighten the mood. "They should send in the SEALs! I bet they could work some of their magic," he suggests, giving a slight grin. His joke isn't taken nearly as well as he thought; instead, everybody looks at him with varying degrees of annoyance, anger, and condescension. He huffs out an awkward laugh, his freckled face darkened a shade of embarrassment.

"The SEALs are probably dead," Cora pipes up. Everyone is surprised to hear her interact with them, but with the events that have transpired, nobody thinks much of it.

From the huge rear-view mirror, DJ sees Tripp stiffen. His jaw muscles clench, causing them to bulge and flutter along his cheeks and temples. To DJ, the action is terrifying, especially now that she knows what Tripp is capable of. He looks up, his blue eyes burning.

They lock eyes through the mirror, and DJ slowly shakes her head.

'I'll kill every single one of those bastards,' Tripp thinks. He tightens his fist so hard that he feels his knuckles pop. 'Every God-forsaken one of them.' Whether he is thinking about the group or the infected is unknown, even to him...

DJ looks over her shoulder to see Faith lying in one of the seats behind her, sleeping peacefully, slightly bumping as the bus travels over potholes. Her gaze falls on Laken who is staring out the window, unable to pull herself out of her grief.

In her mind, Laken feels nothing, and everything all at the same time. All in all, she just feels empty. A thud hits the seat next to her, and she looks over to see Lucas. He looks at her the way that you would look at a kicked puppy, and that sets a fire of rage inside her. His blue eyes stare into her, full of pity and a need to help in some way.