Cady wakes up. She can not remember what time it is but it seems that the night is still young. She can not remember how she gets to the table nor how she placed her head on it to take a nap. As she goes back to her senses, she looks around and notices people are drinking yet some are already quite exhausted from all the partying.
She notices Ronald and Murdoch on their chairs, partly awake. Celery is lying against Michael's chest, hugging him. Kathleen is flirting with Jasper and surprisingly Latoya is also at there table, apparently trying to cuddle Hunter which he does not seem to reciprocate too but neither is he bothered by her actions.
"Cady, you're awake. Michael and the group are just talking about going back to school." Hayden tells her.
"Is the party already over?" Cady ask, wondering why the music is still playing.
"Not yet actually, people are still dancing and playing some casino games." Hayden responds to her.
"So are we going already or not?" Michael tells the group impatiently.
"Oh yes, I just got a reply from our driver that our bus is good to go." Latoya answers as she caresses Hunters's face with her hand.
"Alright, lets go then!" Michael tells everyone as he claps his hands to startle his group to follow his lead.
"Is this everyone?" Cady asks as she is expecting more people to join in.
"Relax girl, our bus service is special, I already told Gloria about it and she said she has the staff at hand to take care of the party." Latoya answers Cady confidently.
Latoya leads the group to the room that she and Cady used to enter the party. In the process, Latoya hands Hunter a knapsack, which he is willing to carry for her.
Cady looks around the place which sort of gives her a chill on the fact that they would pass by Gloria's dressing room again. As they pass by the hallway, they arrive at the elevator. Latoya presses the down button and the group waits for the elevator door to open.
Michael, Jasper and Hunter start to pretend they're soldiers and they form a gun with their hands. At first, their childish actions seem to be ridiculous to Cady and the group start to giggle and laugh but knowing that the three boys are just imitating their favorite compiter game 'Cradle of Fear'. Hayden, Ronald and Murdoch start to play along. All the guys seem to be in sync as pretend heroic soldiers. The girls continue to giggle around and soon the girls start to play along and they become soldiers as well. Latoya on the other hand insists that she is a damsel in distress that they have to rescue, even if it is not a game character.
The elevator opens up and everyone gets in. Latoya begins to moan and scream as she starts to play a role of some sort of psychotic damsel in distress. Everyone starts to laugh at how Latoya plays her role. It seems to be the happiest and noisiest elevator ride ever. With all the silliness Latoya is doing, she adds even more drama by jumping up and clinging on Hunter's body. The elevator moves up and down a bit with this action and everyone continues to laugh.
They reach the basement and the elevator opens. Everyone start to get off and with that Latoya acts more responsible as she calls the bus driver to fetch them. It is not long until the bus passes by and opens it's doors. Everyone gets in the bus. By then, most of the group has already stopped playing their soldier game. The bus is noisy, as some of the boys are still joking around. Cady observes their new bus driver. He seems to be very serious and tired as he has to drive that very morning.
"Carlos, drive us back to Delta" Latoya tells the driver.
With Latoya's instructions, the bus driver hits the accelerator and they begin their journey home. The bus ride is relaxing. Soon everyone start to calm down. As they leave the city, everything seems to be in a quiet slumber, it is slightly dark and all they can see are the street lights that guided the bus out of the inner city. Moving to the outer ring, the people there seem to have a different way of living. There are neon lights everywhere. Kids of all ages are still awake and very active. Women with the most prerogative clothes are standing along every corner of the road.
"It's a different city at night, isn't it? I read in some article that in the outer ring, this is the red light district and the black market for a lot of goods. Drugs, sex, gambling and other crimes are rampant in this part." Ronald tells Cady as he is sitting beside her.
"Oh, it must be dangerous outside then." Cady replies.
Not long, everyone in the bus starts to get quiet. The driver turns of his head lights and speeds up to pass a small opening of the gates out of the city. Cady experiences something very different that early morning. She is so use to all the gun shootings and loud noises every time they leave the city, but for this night, there are barely any lights, soldiers are quiet and are wearing some kind of suit with night vision masks, there is just a faint light coming from somewhere to guide the bus out of the city. Some of the soldiers are killing the Decays with short range weapons.
"Decays are a lot more active at night." Ronald tells Cady in a faint voice.
"Why is that?"
"Well, one of my professors told me that decays have a colder blood temperature than us. Thus, they have to be more active at night to get their blood temperature warmer and regulated."
Cady is quiet at this moment. She begins to think about her close encounter with Decays. She tries to compare the Decays she saw during the day and the Decays she saw that night in the girl's dormitory. For a few moments she thinks about it but comes to no conclusion and makes her mind up that Decays are all the same. Cady looks outside the bus and notices that it is still very dark. The only lights they have to guide their way are the beautiful stars up above. Cady begins to look at the front row of the bus because of some conversation Latoya, Michael and Hunter are having with the bus driver. It is not long until Michael stands up and walks in front of the whole group. He begins telling his plan to the them, which is that they would be playing a game which involves killing some Dacays. A few of them react shockingly about this idea but Lotaya intervens stating that Alpha's play this game all the time. She begins to assure them that nothing will go wrong and that the driver is okay with it. Instantly the driver gives a thumbs up. To make things easier for everybody, Michael says that everyone will be paired into a team of two. He points out that the people in the bus who are seat mates are the groups that will be competing. Him and Celery, Cady and Ronald, Hayden and Murdoch, Latoya and Hunter and lastly Kathleen and Jasper would be the teams.
Michael continues that they will be driving to different locations, for each location each team will have to go up to the rooftop and shot as many decays as they can for fifteen minutes. The team with the lowest killings will be the losers and that they will have to stay outside the bus for fifteen minutes. He tells them that they could do anything they want to attract the decays towards the bus except for using the first gunshot as bait as it is a guarantee to attract a lot. If a team uses it in this manner they automatically lose. The first shot must be intentionally used to kill a decay.
Cady, Hayden, Murdoch and Ronald are strongly opposed to this idea however after the peer pressure coming from the cool kids, they reluctantly agree. Already Cady can see the tension in Hayden's and Murdoch's faces. It seems that they are almost ready to attack Michael but are still reluctant to do it. It is very obvious that the groups are now divided. The cool kids on one side versus Cady and her boy friends on the other. Latoya begins to ask Hunter to hand the knapsack to her. She opens it quickly and reveals a huge bottle of wine and a huge bottle of beer. The cool kids begin to scream and shout and start to play some music on Latoya's phone. She begins to take out several shot glasses and passes it around for everyone to drink, she moves to Cady. Cady is a little frustrated and begins to talk some sense to Latoya that their all crazy to play this game. Latoya begins to reassure her that yes, there will be Decay killings but the fifteen minute penalty outside the bus for the losers is just a practical joke for newbies to get scared. Latoya also tells her not to tell any of her companions about this so as not to ruin the prank. Cady is still slightly upset that the cool kids can be so cruel but then again she is also relieved that no one can risk their lives by being outside.
After a few moments, Michael starts to stand up and drink a huge gulp of beer straight out of the huge bottle.
"Alright, me and my baby will be going first." Michael tells everyone as he hold Celery to lock lips with her.
The cool kids begin to clap and cheer as the first team starts to go up the hatch that opens to the rooftop of the bus. Latoya shuts the music of her phone and with that she starts to set a fifteen minite timer on it.
"Watch and learn." Celery shouts crazily from the rooftop as if she played this game for a few times.
Everyone inside the bus start to become quiet and observe the pitch black surroundings from the protective windows.
"Alright, start now!" Jasper belts out in a deep voice as he checks Latoya's timer from her phone.
In that very second, Cady and the others see a flying molotov cocktail which hits the ground on Cady's side of the bus. In just a few seconds, a Decay is spotted running towards the fire. BANG! A gun shot is fired, Cady can see that the bullet hits the Decay straight into its forehead and it falls to the ground. After a few more seconds, more and more Decays start to come from every direction and charges straight towards the bus. BANG! BANG! BANG! Three more decays fall into the ground. As time passes by, more gun shots are being fired. It seems to Cady that both Michael and Celery are great at shooting because for every gun shot she hears a Decay falls down on to the ground.
"Time!" Jasper shouts loudly and begins to bang his hand against the walls of the bus causing a loud metal sound.
Cady observes Jasper and notices that he together with Hunter and Kathleen are actually tallying the number of Decays killed. Michael and Celery go down the hatch, he then tells the driver to drive to another location.
"Okay. What's our total?" Michael asks proudly.
"Fourth two" Jasper replies.
"Beat that sissies!" Michael teases the group as he again gulps beer straight from the huge bottle.
Celery is so proud of Michael and gives him a kiss after he drinks and they both begin to smooch even more. After all their kissing, Celery asks the group who will be next to play. She begins to wave around the guns. She and Michael are excited to see who the next people are.
"We're next!" Hunter says confidently as he drinks beer from a filled shot glass.
Hunter grabs the two handguns from Celery and hands one to Latoya who is not to happy to hold a gun. She insists that Hunter play the game with two guns and that she wants to be the damsel in distress. Michael does not want any of Latoya's antics and bullies her to grab the gun. Latoya grabs the gun reluctantly and begins to climb up the rooftop.
"Isn't this exciting?" Kathleen tells Cady.
"I think this is crazy, we should just go." Cady reasons with her.
"Cady, relax. Come on, you're a popular girl. This is what popular girls do."
"Well I think this is crazy" Cady replies to her as she looks out her window to avoid talking to Kathleen who is beginning to bug her.
"By the way, I use to date..." Kathleen otters something but Ronald stops her.
Cady, thinks about what Kathleen has to say. She is going to ask Kathleen to complete her sentence, but by then Jasper announces that the time is about to start and with that the game continues. Not even making any attempt to makes sounds, the first gun shot is heard, with that a Decay falls dead on the ground. Continous gun shots are heard from the rooftop. One after another, Decays seem to plop down exactly like how Michael and Celery played the game. After fifteen minutes, Jasper tells Latoya and Hunter to come down.
"Forty four" Jasper announces.
Hearing this, Michael begins to lash out at the air, saying that the numbers aren't true. He is defiantly already intoxicated. Celery tries to calm him down but he gets furious and asks her to go away. He begins to blame her for not shooting properly and says that he could have won if he had a better partner. Celery goes to the back end of the bus where Murdoch is and start to break down and cry. Murdoch comforts her because of this. Michael sees him and gets jealous but lays down on one of the seats to cool down.
The bus moves to another location and with that, Jasper and Kathleen go up the rooftop.
"Begin" Michael screams.
All of a sudden, the group hears a sees a light of a dimly light flair being tossed onto the ground, towards an open area. Cady can already see a situate of a Decay approaching the light of the flare. "Bang!" a gunshot is heard. Michael begins to laugh hysterically as he sees a gunshot missing its target. The furious Decay starts to charge towards the bus. As it runs towards it, it jumps as high as it can knowingly that it was provoked. As it jumps, it gets impaled by one of the sharp objects attached to the bus. It dies quickly as it gets shot in the head by one of the teenagers on top.
"Cheap shot" Michael yells as he drinks another gulp of alcohol.
"Time" Hunter yells out.
Jasper and Kathleen go down from the rooftop and quickly ask for their scores. Hunter tally's the score and says that they only killed twenty one Decays. Michael stands up and asks for Hunter to subtract one point as he feels that the Decay that got stuck on the bus but then got shot should not be included in the total score. Cady can tell that the cool kids are already getting bothered by Michael's behavior, but for some reason, Hunter and Jasper follow his orders and remove a point from the total score.
"Next" Hunter begins to yell.
Jasper hands Hayden and Murdoch a pair of guns and they go straight up. He tells them that the guns are not loaded. They have to load their guns quickly from the supplies provided on the rooftop.
Celery on the other hand is still at the back seats, still sad about what happened. Cady goes to her and tries to comfort her.
"Hey, are you okay?" Cady asks Celery.
"He is always like this. For every small detail. It's always my mistake." Celery tells her.
"His drunk, he'll get sober."
"No, he has always been like this. Even if his not drunk. Anyway, I want to go home."
"Lets call this game off then and call it a night." Cady tells Celery.
Celery informs Cady not to bother Michael as he can be very violent when he is drunk. By this time, Cady strongly wants to take control of the bus to convince everyone that they should head home, even though knowing that her group is clearly overpowered. As the two girls talk, They hear Jasper informing Hayden and Murdoch to begin. They are all very quiet, but for some reason, Kathleen keeps giggling. It seems like five minutes has passed by but nothing is happening upstairs. Cady can hear the boys on the rooftop searching for stuff. For some reason, Cady is feeling that something is not right. She's worried about what is happening to her friends. At this point, Kathleen is still trying to control her laughter.
"What's going on with you? You crazy or something? I know you're not drunk as you can't drink to save your life." Latoya asks Kathleen what her problem is.
"Well, I know who might be staying outside the bus for fifteen minutes." Kathleen tells the group as she opens her palm to reveal a hand full of handgun bullets which she drop to the floor.
The Alpha boys laugh and begin to cheer her on. They begin to imagine how funny Hayden and Murdoch will look outside the bus. Ronald is ready to confront Kathleen on what she has done, but then she tells him that she will only keep her secret if he just stays quiet. Ronald does what she asks but Cady can see that he is really bothered. The cool kids continue to laugh around and drink.
"Celery, what are they talking about? I thought no one really goes outside?" Cady asks.
"What? Who told you that? The consequences are real." Celery replies while drying up her tears.
Cady gets furious about this news and stands up. She goes to the front of the bus and yells at Latoya. She then asks the cool kids if the consequences are real or not. The Alpha boys confirm that it's real. Latoya on the other hand goes to Cady and tries to apologize. She tries to explain that it was not real during the first time she played the game. Cady is not listening to what Latoya has to say and then begins to ask Kathleen to help her gather the bullets from the floor. Kathleen begins to give Cady a stink eye. Making it feel that there is no way she'll be picking up anything from the floor.
"Come on, bend over. I know you're an expert on that." Cady says trying to tease Kathleen.
The boys begin to laugh at Kathleen.
"Why should I? This is perfect practice for you anyway." Kathleen replies.
Cady is about to hit her, but then Kathleen backs up and asks Jasper to hand Cady a few boxes full of handgun bullets. After receiving the boxes, Cady quickly throws the bullets up the hatch. Not long after a firecracker is heard from all sides of the bus and soon a couple of Decays approach the bus again. BANG! BANG! BANG! Hayden and Murdoch begin to fire.
"We're extending their time for another fifteen minutes." Cady begins to say with much conviction.
The cool kids start to stare her down. Even though Cady knows that she would lose if ever they would fight her, she is not ready to back down. Kathleen is about to lunge at her but as she is about to slap Cady, Michael holds her hands and agrees with Cady.
"Fine, I'm giving them just five more minutes"
Cady moves backwards as Michael stares at her. It is strange to Cady, but for an instant, she thought that Michael could be the hooded figure she saw earlier. She begins to sit beside Celery and just waits for her turn.
"Time" Hunter shouts.
Hayden and Murdoch go down the hatch. They are obviously beaten up that they did not get too many kills. Cady welcomes them back and explains that Kathleen cheated on them. By this time, the bus is driving to another location. Michael then explains that it is her and Ronald's turn and that they better hurry up. Cady wants so badly to use the guns to scare Michael off, but she has a feeling that it can go terribly wrong. Hayden begins to approach her, informing her that he placed all the materials they had inside a neon orange box, with that Hunter announces that their score is only twenty three. Cady is happy to hear that their score is above Kathleen's. Cady only has to kill more than twenty decays to make Kathleen and Jasper lose.
Cady is very determined. She goes up the hatch and is charged with so much adrenaline. The cold air makes her a little cold and Ronald instantly hands her his coat. Cady believes that they have no chance of losing as the air is very pungent with the smell of rotting flesh. A key sign that there are a lot of Decays in the area. Not long, just when Cady is looking for the small orange box, Jasper yells out that it is time for them to begin. Cady and Ronald quickly open the small orange box. In it are two flashlights, three pieces of fireworks and the boxes of handgun bullets. They try to scan around the place with their flashlights, hoping that it would gain some attention, but there are no Decays around.
Ronald begins to light the first firecracker but as it hit the sandy ground, it dies out. Cady tries to light another one but again it dies as it lands on the ground. It is not looking good for them. She knows that they have only one more firecracker and that if this does not work, they would have to look for other ways to attract the Decays. Just when Ronald is about the light the last firecracker, Cady insists that he should throw it at the other direction, as the bus is covering that part from the winds. He follows her instructions and with that he throws it at the direction Cady points to. The firecracker seems to be the light of hope for them. Cady is so happy that it light up but imminently when it hit the sand, it dies. Ronald and her become desperate and start to scramble around the top, looking for something to make sound with. He tries to use some metal materials to tap it and make sound, but it is no use. The place seems to be deserted. Cady begins looking around, thinking of something to do. "What is loud enough to make around?" Cady asks herself. Then she begins to think of an idea. She grabs her phone and sets the alarm, she grabs some rope from the things they managed to gather and secure it in place. She kisses her phone then throws it to the sand. "Come one, it's your time to shine." Cady tells herself. RING! RING! The phone begins to ring loudly as it light up and makes a lot of noise, Cady starts to slowly reel it in. She sees one Decay running towards the bus and instantly, Ronald shouts it down.
"Smart thinking Cady" Ronald replies as he helps her get her phone back.
Cady manages to get her phone back. She grabs her flashlight then she begins to shine it on some of the Decays that got attracted to the sound. She starts shooting them with her gun. Bang! Cady shoots one but misses the Decay's head. The Decay spots her and begins to focus its attention to her and starts to charge at the bus. Bang! Thia time Ronald shoots it and it kills the Decay instantly. 'I guess this is harder than I thought' Cady tells herself. She begins to focus more and is determined to beat Kathleen and Jasper's score. All of a sudden more decays start charging in and it seems like there are a lot more decays in the area then expected. Cady and Ronald continue shooting them down, this time Cady is getting the hang of shooting and is doing good at shooting at them. All of a sudden a loud growl is heard that seems to be very different from the rest of the Decays which is heard from the distance. It slightly bothers Cady how the thing sounds like. Ronald and Cady begin to look around quickly with their lights, with all the Decays going towards the bus, they can not locate which one made the sound. All of a sudden, a heavy bump is heard, Ronald freaks out and alerts Cady imminently at what he sees. She looks at what he is pointing to and she too gets shocked to see that a large muscular Decay is on top of the rooftop with them. The Decay is horrifying, it looks more alert, still very human like and seems to have fed on some animal recently as a lot of blood is dripping out of its mouth. Cady and Ronald are about to shoot it when the bus starts moving and everyone and everything on the rooftop starts to fall out of balance. Ronald and Cady lose their balance and fall on the metal surface. They try to hold on to anything that is steady enough to keep them in place. The speed of the bus against the rocky sand dune of a terrain does not help them at all. With everything happening, Ronald is not able to hang on properly rolling over to where the Decay is. The Decay is trying to get its bearing as well but is a lot more focused on its possible easy meal. It growls at Ronald, causing him to scream for his life. It just so happens that the Decay is standing up which becomes an easy target for Cady to shoot down. She manages to shoot it straight on its leg and it falls off the rooftop instantly. Ronald manages to hold on to something and begins to look at Cady. His eyes are a little puffy. He begins to deeply breathe then repeatedly thanks her. Cady reciprocates and tells him that it is nothing. A few minutes later the bus begins to slow down, tossing Cady and Ronald to a corner.
"Are you alright?" Cady asks Ronald.
"I almost died. I swear, I thought I saw my life flash through my eyes." Ronald begins to shout.
"It's not your time yet partner!"
"Ya, that thing looks crazy. It's eyes look blood red. Its the first time I saw a Decay's eyes blood red. Well at least now we don't have to worry about that Decay." Ronald tells her.
Cady for a moment tries to remember if she has ever seen a Decay's eyes red before. From what she remembers, they are always gray.
"Well we're not out of danger yet. We still need to hold on until the bus completely stops." Cady tells him.
It is not long until the bus completely stops.
Ronald recovers from his state of panic and eventually stands up. Cady drops her gun and together, the two teenagers go down the hatch and begin to question what is happening.
"What's going on?" Cady asks.
"Thank god you're alright." Hayden tells her as he gives her a hug and gives a Ronald a tap in the shoulder as well.
"Yes, we're both fine, What happened down here?" Cady begins to ask again.
"Well it seems that the location we stopped on was a horde passing by. We were barely lucky to get away from it. If the bus had stayed any longer, everyone here is sure to have gotten killed." Hayden tells her.
"Okay, by the way, we just saw one Decay on top of the roof. It looked very different from anything I saw before" Cady informs him.
Just when the two are in the middle of talking, Michael begins to yell out loud, saying that they're stuck. Everyone around seems to be getting bothered by him. Cady looks around the bus and notices that the bus driver is knocked unconscious. Apparently, Michael got upset at the driver for stopping near an unexpected horde's path and began to beat him up before taking over the bus and driving it away from harm. The bus did stop, but now it cannot move and everyone in the bus are beginning to discuss what was happening.
"Cady, can I talk to you for a minute?" Ronald asks.
"Of course"
"I think we may have some engine problems or something is stuck under our wheels. I don't know for sure, but I believe I can fix it from the outside. If ever we are the losing team, I will volunteer myself alone, and that you can stay here inside." Ronald tells her.
Cady refuses his idea, she believes that they have won, and if they did lose, she is willing to help him. Michael begins to announce to everyone that Cady and Ronald had thirteen kills, the lowest score and that they should go outside. As he has also concluded that something is wrong with the engine. Some of the cool kids begin to look at Cady and Ronald. They seem to agree with the idea that they should check what is going on. Hayden begins to get furious and starts to explain that everyone should do their part and that they should look for other ways. He begins to propose that they radio for help and wait for an Alpha rescue team to help them out. Hearing this idea, Michael and the other Alpha boys begin to refuse and state that their reputations can be lost because of this foolishness. An argument between the Alpha boys versus Hayden and Murdoch start to heat up. Hayden begins to go to the front of the bus where he can see the radio phone to call for help. All of a sudden, Michael hits him on the face and the boy falls down on the ground. Michael continues to beat him up. Murdoch, seeing this tries to help by lunging towards Michael but his action is instantly stopped by Jasper. Jasper twists Murdoch' head and he falls down, unconscious. Ronald too is about to move forward when Cady hold's his arms informing him that they are outnumbered. Cady volunteers to go outside. She wants this thing done and the bus fixed imminently. Michael hears her and stops beating Hayden. Hunter begins to have a change of heart and volunteers himself. He wants to help Cady and Ronald, as he is a good shooter and that he can protect them if they needed help.
"What are you doing deepshit?" Michael calls Hunter.
"I think I gotta help. Sir." Hunter replies.
"Fine, risk your life while your at it." Michael warns Hunter.
Hearing that Hunter volunteered to help, Latoya volunteers as well.
Michael instructs everyone what to do. He informs Cady, Latoya, Ronald and Hunter to go down the bus. While he, Kathleen and Jasper would go up the rooftop to shot Decays if ever they come near the bus. He then instructs Celery, who is slightly inured by the reckless driving, to sit on the driver's seat and assist the group with all the buttons.
"You can start radioing for help." Michael tells her.
This is the first sensible idea Micheal thought off. Although the action of calling soldiers for help can ruin his reputation as an Alpha, he would rather lose his reputation than his own life. As for the injured Hayden, the unconscious bus driver and Murdoch, Michael instructs Celery to take care of them inside the bus while everything gets fixed. Everyone starts to get guns and flashlights distributed by Michael. It seems that there is an emergency glove compartment in the front of the bus that has all these firearms. He inform everyone to use it very wisely as the horde is just around the corner. Hayden, though beaten up, volunteers as well and is given nothing but a flashlight.
"You shouldn't go down. You're hurt. I can do this." Cady assures Hayden.
"My father thought me a lot of things about buses like these. I think I can really help."
Even if Hayden is hurt, he strongly insists that he should go. He begins to stand up. It is obvious to Cady that he is hiding his pain but she allows him to join them even if she knows he is very foolish.
Cady, Hayden, Latoya, Ronald and Hunter start to gear up. With a click of a button by Celery, the bus door opens and they stealthy go down the open area. Hunter is the first one down. He is very alert and is already aiming his shotgun at every direction. Hayden and Ronald are next, with only flashlights, a knife and an instruction manual of the bus on their hands. Cady and Latoya are the last to come out with handguns and flashlights. They begin to escort Hayden and Ronald to the front of the bus.
Celery is instructed to press a button, in which the sharp protrusions of the bus start to retract. Hayden and Ronald start opening the hood of the bus and begin to check the problem. Latoya begins to talk to Cady.
"Cady, I am so sorry. I didn't think this would happen." Latoya tries to apologize.
"The damage has been done. Lets just focus on what we have to do now." Cady tells Latoya. Her tone is mildly pointed.
"Cady, uhm... There will be a Echo sorority soon and I believe Gloria is choosing you to be part of it. It's a great opportunity for you to migrate to Echo if you want to have a career in the arts." Latoya tells her, trying to bribe Cady's good graces.
"Let's talk about this once we fix the bus, okay?"
Hayden and Ronald begin to tell their small group that the engine is fine but the bad news is that there are some decays stuck on the wheels of the back of the bus and they need some help to pull these creatures out. They all begin to move at the back part of the bus where they see three Decays all crushed by a wheel, though one of them is still very active and continues making sounds, as it looks at them like some delicious meal.
"This is for you." Hayden says softly with much disgust on his face as he stabs the Decays forehead with his knife.
Instantly it dies, Hayden and Ronald begin to pull it out but to no avail. Cady starts to step in and they manage to pull it out. Cady is really surprised how heavy a dead body actually weighs. Not only is it heave but it fells really weird, cold and dry. It also gives off a very pungent smell that can make anyone vomit.
"Okay guys, this side is clear. Let's go to the other side." Hayden tells everyone.
As Hayden and Ronald inspect the other tire, Hunter aims at something from the distance. Cady and Latoya are alert and keep quiet. Hayden and Ronald try to pull out a Decay pinned down on the wheel, like the other Decays on the other wheel, this one is just as difficult to pull out.
"Hunter, can you help us out?" Ronald asks Hunter as he and Hayden attempt to pull out the Decay.
As Hunter helps the boys, Cady and Latoya are the only ones guarding them. They ate slightly cold to each other, not really talking much but they have every intention to protecting their group. All of a sudden, Cady notices something moving from a distance.
"Hey. Did you see that?" Cady asks.
"Girl, what-chu talking about? You better not be scaring me." Latoya replies.
"No, I swear I saw something."
Cady quickly searches for the object with the beam from her flashlight. It is not long until she spots two feet. She quickly turns off her flashlight hoping that the thing would not find her but as soon as she closes the light, a loud scream fills the air and soon after angry screams are heard from every direction. Those sounds are followed by the quick reactions of the people from the top of the roof of the bus, who begin shooting Decays from every directions. At this time, Celery has already put on the emergency lights with makes the bus' front lights turn on for the people on top of the roof to have a clear view of the Decays to shoot.
"We got to get out of here guys!" Cady yells out.
"Not yet, We just need to pull this thing out." Hunter yells back.
Bang! Bang! Cady shoots a Decay. It seems that a horde is approaching them.
"Cady watch out!" Latoya yells out as she shoots a Decay inches from behind Cady.
Hayden quickly grabs Cady and he drags her towards the doorway of the bus. The bus door opens and Celery begins to scream, signaling them to get in. Hayden tells Cady to go inside as he grabs her gun from her hand and runs back to the back wheel of the bus.
"Cady, get it!" Celery yells out.
Cady enters the doorway with hesitation and as the door begins to close, a Decay gets pinned in between the doorway. Celery screams and rushes towards the back. Cady starts to kick it out carefully not to allow its hand to touch her, fearful that her dress might get stained, unaware that her dress has already been stained with earth and blood. With three powerful kicks, Cady manages to push the Decay off and it falls back first to the ground outside. The bus door closes completely, yet it does not stop the Decay from gettin back on its feet and to start pounding on the door with all its might.
"Celery, help me find a weapon." Cady asks.
Celery begins to rush towards her with a hammer she managed to find. Everywhere things where happening. People shooting left and right and Decays running around.
"Celery, open the door and activate the spikes." Cady yells out with much adrenaline flowing through her body.
As soon as Cady heads out, she sees Hayden and Ronald running back. Bang! Hayden shoots a Decay straight into its forehead. Cady assists them by swinging her hammer around cutting through a few Decays on the way. They do fall to the ground but are still very much alive. Cady, Hayden and Ronald arrive near the doorway which Celery opens very quickly for them. As soon as three of them enter, Celery manages to drive the bus a few feet forward, crushing and impaling a lot of Decays on the way.
"Celery, we can't go yet. Latoya and Hunter are still outside." Cady tells her.
Celery is very much willing to drive the bus to safety but her conscience brings her back to her senses and she quickly stops the bus.
"What are you waiting for baby? Drive the bus!" Michael orders her as he climbs down the hatch.
"Don't listen to him." Cady orders her.
By this time, Celery is shaking. She does not know who to follow until she slightly tears up.
"I'm not driving this thing until they come back." Celery tells Michael.
"You do that and I swear I will shoot the bus driver." Michael starts intimidating Celery as he points his gun at the driver who is still unconscious and lying on the floor.
Hayden tries to intervene to convince Michael to lower his gun. Michael does not want to hear what Hayden has to say and begins to aim the gun at him instead.
"You don't have to do this Michael. Just lower the gun." Hayden asks Michael as he raises both his hands.
"Ain't gonna happen bro." Michael tells him as he maintains his gun pointed at Hayden. Michael continues to force Celery to follow his decision.
Celery has no other choice but to follow his orders. As soon as she starts the bus again, Latoya starts knocking on the bus' door. Cady quickly presses a button to open the door. Bang! Bang! Latoya shoots at one Decay as she runs inside the bus. Cady closes the door again, just in time before a whole horde rushes towards the door, with that Celery closes the bus' lights and drives a few meters away.
"It's stuck." Celery tells the group.
"What do you mean it's stuck?" Michael asks as he pushes Hayden aside and walks towards the front.
He begins to start the bus but to no vail.
"No! No! No!" Michael shouts out as he punches the the horn making all sorts of sounds.
Jasper and Kathleen carries him to his seat behind the driver's. They both try to calm him down. Latoya on the other hand is crying hysterically.
"Latoya, where's Hunter?" Cady asks.
"I... I don't know." Latoya answers Cady as she tries to control herself.
After a few minutes, everyone is in a state of panic. The bus seems to be moving in all sorts of directions as a lot of Decays come from all sides. Though stranded the group is not ready to give up. They start to brainstorm on a way to escape. Hayden tells everyone to keep as quiet as possible. He tells them that he is working on a theory that if you keep totally quiet hiding inside a protected area even if the Decys see you or not, they would eventually forget that you existed and go off on their way. They all follow his suggestion and the whole group sit on the floor, quiet as can be. At first, all they can hear are the sounds of the Decays trying to break in the bus but after an hour, they begin to circle the bus, no longer eager to get inside. Everyone inside the bus has their own problems, either they wanted to talk, stretch their legs, get something to drink or urinate despite these still minor problems, they have a strong determination to stay alive and they keep it to themselves. Cady can not tell the time but she assumes it is already six in the morning as the sun is starting to brighten up the dark sky. All of a sudden, the earth start to tremble and gunshots are heard outside. Some of them peak through the windows, a blast on the the bus' door open it up. Not long after, a soldier rushes inside and command everyone to follow him.