Threnody (039).

(This is a 500-word-a-day novel project.)

They didn’t expect anything more than the engine to nearly catch, cruelly elevating their hopes, and then stall. But instead, the engine came instantly to life. They watched the red gas needled creep to just over a fourth of a tank.

They hit them before they got very far, Ryan said. Bad for them. Good for us.

He flipped on the lights, and this time they screamed in unison for the world was alive before them, and the things had been listening, had been creeping closer and closer, silent and smart, now were exposed by the headlights. They screeched and mewled and fluttered about as they tried to escape the bright circles, trampling over one another in their obscene haste. More eyes, more claws, and teeth, always teeth, filled with blood.

Ryan pulled the bus into gear and pressed slowly on the gas. The bus immediately started forward, wrenching against the massive tree that had brought it to a stop in the first place, rocking from side to side as he guided the vehicle back on the road. The demons scattered before them, but not all were lucky. A few were caught beneath the tires, and the human passengers grimly shared a moment of enjoyment as they heard the snapping of their appendages and heads. They rolled forward, not moving very fast, but glad to have the bus’ skin around them. It was a short-lived moment, for as the demons melted back into the night, they began to drop onto the roof – and began reaching in through the broke windows.

The gun! Give me the gun! Jesse pushed the boy down to the floor by her feet, letting go of him as she took the weapon from Ryan, who did not look away from the road ahead of them. She hadn’t wanted the gun when he had offered it to her, hadn’t wanted to responsibility of protecting them, of having to kill to save them. But now it was as if she was possessed, and she pulled on the trigger, shrieking when the gun jumped in her hand, ripping a hole through the seat right next to her. She had aimed too low.

There’s not that many bullets left! Ryan cried.

She raised it higher this time, pointing it at the first head that poked through the window, a bright red thing with tusks like a seal. She blew its head off, gagging when she was sprayed with liquid that smelled like urine and burned her skin.

Another one came, this time from the other side. It looked normal, with just the face of a man, and for a moment Jesse thought that it might be a survivor who had been hiding – until it turned its head and she saw rows and rows of shark’s eyes that glared at her malevolently, and the forked tongue that ran delicately along its jaw. She shot it in the side of the throat, and laughed as it slid off the roof and fell.