Due to an awesome reader I was notified that there was no easy way to get to the beginning of the novel.

So I just added a Menu to address this issue.

This Menu does not allow me to add all the posts, which is unfortunate.  I still have to fix this.  But check out the menu and let me know if it works.

https://cityofzombiesblog.wordpress.com/

The deer stood above Erik, its guts dangling over him like a chandelier in an expensive house.  Its blood poured over Erik’s T-shirt and jeans.  It bayed, took a heavy breath, then walked slowly over him.  Erik laid staring upward at the blue, empty sky.  His beer buzz was gone and so was all the bravado he had built up.  He was second-guessing this whole zombie suicide affair.  Problem was he was in a deep load of crap now.  A zombie, that had been hiding behind a car above his head, grabbed the deer and bit into the softer flesh just behind its ears.  A second zombie appeared near Erik’s legs and Erik managed to move them before the zombie grabbed them.  Erik scuttled back against the passenger door of the Red Prius.  The zombie, that had tried to grab him, stumbled forward toward Erik.  It’s face was mangled and bruised like it has been pummelled by a bat.  Within the one eye, that was not swollen, Erik noticed that it was white.  The zombie was blind and Erik took full advantage of that.  He quietly moved toward the rear wheel of the Prius while the zombie stepped forward and groped for him.  He watched as the zombie searched with his hands.  Erik’s heart beat loudly and his breath was shallow.  Fear rippled through him.  Being this close to death was not as satisfying as he initially thought.  What he really needed was a little whiskey and Coke to calm his nerves.

Erik jumped when he heard the noise.  It was the stomp..slide of another zombie approaching from behind the Prius.  He had to stand and run but that would alert the zombie that stood only a foot from him.  “Could he crawl away?  Possibly,” he thought as he slowly moved to his knees.  When he was in a squat position and about to fall to his knees a little girl screamed from within the Prius.  That small scream surprised Erik and the hungry zombie beside him.  Erik stood motionless, afraid to make the slightest gesture, but the zombie straightened up and paused for a minute.  It then began to slam its big, meaty hands against the glass on the Prius.  The screaming continued and Erik knew he had to move now.  He stood and ran.  He headed straight for his baseball bat lying in the road and turned around.  The zombie had busted the glass protecting a small blond-headed girl in the back seat of the Prius.

Ewww!  Growl! 

I am shorter then the average tree.  I stare at the evergreen and the maple and wonder what makes them so tall.  My lowly stature starving below these monsters.  What to I have to give with my tiny shadow length but fruit? 

The humans, smaller then I, stand under my branches at pick at the fruit.  It doesn’t hurt.  I look at it as a way to pacify the strange warriors.  They chop at all the other trees.  They cut them to pieces and carry the pieces away but I stand here year after year.  I feed them with my bulbous fruit so they will leave me alone.

In the winter, as I sleep, they trim away the dead branches and the extra weight.  Its horrible pain but the attention gives me great pleasure.  I am important unlike those other trees.  They seem to be a nucence at times, except for when something hangs from one of the branches. 

My branches are far too weak to hang from. 

I guess I’m not so bad…

The vampires walked, in their smooth methodical way, over the steel floors of the sewer.  Bartow was in the lead followed by the orator, and a couple younger ones.  Newly converted Maggie, a 9 year old beast of a creature held on to Anna as she trailed behind. 

“Why had she let Chris and his companion go?” 

She really had no answers.  She understood the anger coming from the others.  They were all suffering.  Before the crisis above the vampires could get away with taking a street walker or runaway.  Now all the humans were infected.  No one dared try to siphon the blood from the walking dead.  The side effects were unknown.  Anna also struggled with strange feelings of wants and desires.  Feelings that she hadn’t felt in hundred’s of years.  What was it about Chris, the human, that made her risk her neck for him?

“Annabelle, we grow weary of your games,” the tall, dark orator says as he stands above her.  Ann sits in a hard wooden chair with built in leather restraints.  The leather is treated with human blood which prevents her from escaping. “She is not going to tell us where she took them.”  A thin, malnourished vampire stands just behind the orator.  “We need a heathy sample of blood to renourish our fallen.” “I understand that, Jeremiah,” said the orator.  “We cannot wait here forever and die.””The human blood will seep into the beast inside her and drive her into a frenzy.  We have only to wait till that happens.  She will take us to them.”  “I will not continue to be like you,” Ann spat upon the orator.  He slapped her hard with the back of his hand.  She took the blow then struggled to free herself.  “Enough of this,” another voice erupted from behind the two vampires.  Bartow stood in the dark entryway.  He stepped slowly into the room.  “She took them out of the city.”  “We cannot go outside the city, your Highness,” stated the malnourished Jeremiah.  “We are going to have to start.”  “What about the treaty?”  The orator asked.  “We are going to have to risk it if we are going to survive as a race.”

Please…please…please could I have some input on my novel beginnings.
I very rarely beg for support but I’ve done so much this month.  If any of you writers need anything just ask and I will get to you…
I’ve gotten up to 4 Chapters of new stuff.  All I need is a Yea or Nay.  I really want some critiques but I’ll take anything…

Than you so much

Matt

Kingsboro_Sept Copy

Dr. Daniel Stein sat within his Cadillac.  The underground parking lot is dark but for the halogen lamps which lights small circles of asphalt.  The Cadillac’s doors are locked, and he watches as patients, doctors and everyone else appear and disappear through the small circles.  They pass his car, without noticing him sitting, watching.

He opened up the Kingsboro Times, bravely fending off his fear, and began to read.

Kingsboro Research Facility Under Investigation read a headline on the first page.    Alex Castle is being sought for questioning on embezzling charges, says the local sheriff.

Someone lept onto the hood of his Cadillac but Dr. Stein nervously ignored it.

It is thought that Castle embezzled close to 5 million dollar from the company in 3 years as CEO of the largest employer in the city.  The city manager and the board are furious, says an administrator.

A woman screamed and Dr. Stein threw the paper down.  He stared as monsters continued to stumble after victims.  The fleeing patients closest to the monsters screamed as they became lunch one by one.  The thirteen year hospital veteran watched as victim after victim fell around him.  He knew that soon his own life would also be taken.

Mercy Hospital had six floors.  It was a metropolitan hospital located in the center of town.  The ER was on the 2nd floor, Maternity 3rd floor, Geriatric 4th and the Psychotic ward was on the 5th floor.  Dr. Stein was assigned to this ward.  A hellish place to work but it was a job.

“Dr. Stein, would you like to grab some lunch?”  An old friend offered as he approached from behind.

“It would be rude to refuse Andy.  How’s it going?”

“A few rough spots here and there but nothing I can’t take care off,” Andy said with a smile.  The elevator sat in the center of the ward.  Both men walked briskly so that they could escape the ward before something odd happened, as it often did.  As they passed the nurses station they were stopped by an attractive nurse.  Andy straightened up immediately.  Dr. Stein smiled when he noticed.  “Elizabeth, can I help you?”

“There is a big problem in room 501.  Ralan has lost it again.  He claims he is going to rule the world again.  He really wants to speak to you.”

Dr. Stein sighed.  Ralen had been a thorn in his side since he show up high and suicidal 2 weeks ago.  He had grown attached to the only doctor that would talk to him.  “Tell him he is going to have to be a big boy and wait till my lunch is over.”

“Doctor, please,” said the nurse, “I don’t want to do that.  No one wants to talk to Ralen.  He is beyond anything this hospital has ever seen.”

“I’m sorry Elizabeth but I’m going to eat luch.”

The cafeteria was four floors down under the ER but they had a small stand in the ER waiting room.  Due to the fact that Dr. Stein had to return so quickly to the 5th floor he and Andy decided to order food from the stand and walk back to the elevator.

The two men stood beside the food stand and talked candidly.  “Can you believe they are going to force me out.”

“I’m so sorry they are treating you like this Daniel,” Andy said.

“I just don’t understand why? I’ve been here 13 years and you are barely a doctor.” Dr. Stein paused,  “No offense, of course.”

“We may never understand—,”  A large crash interrupted Andy before he could finish.  Soon, from behind a white curtain in the ER triage, something burst and left a dark stain upon the curtain. An irate patient, covered in blood, quickly stepped from the curtain.  He looked toward Dr. Stein, his expression was blank, emotionless.  He thrust his arms forward, like he was blind and searched for something.  A heavy wooden chair sat outside the white curtain and was within his gasp in seconds. He tossed it blindly.  Two men, standing against the opposite wall, fell to the floor. The chair missed both of them and shattered.  The strength of the throw left a hole in the hospital wall.  The two men stood slowly and quickly ran toward the front door. Suddenly three men, in suits, burst threw a door behind Dr. Stein and Andy.  They ran quickly and grabbed the enraged patient.  The patient grabbed an IV line, with pole attached and thrust it through one of the men.  The impaled men fell backward cluching the pole with his hands.  The patient then pulled the pole from the man and swung it at the other two.  They ducked, fell to the ground then ran from him.  Several people, staff, patients and security converged and surrounded the man. They managed to disarm him but they could not restrain him.  He brushed them off like tiny flies and walked over to the nurse’s station.  He fumbled blindly for something small to throw.  When he couldn’t find anything he liked he began throwing portions of the wooden desk over his head. An office chair sitting behind the desk found its way into the irate patients hands and he threw it toward Dr. Stein and Andy.  The chair hit Andy in the face and chest and knocked him to the ground.  Dr. Stein fell to his knees and quickly realized the chair had killed his best friend.  He stood, shock bled throughout his system.

Paper and computer equipment flew across the room. A flat screen computer monitor hit a surgeon in scrubs and broke his neck. The disturbing noise of the large crack sent shivers up the doctor’s spine.

“What do I care,” he finally said,  The crazed patient stopped throwing things and seemed to be listening.  “What the fuck do I care if you destroy this Goddamn hospital.”

“What do I care if you are bleeding from your ears?”

“Bleeding from the ears…hemorrhage,” the doctor in him thought then he realized what was about to happen.  “I know what’s wrong with him,” he shouted.  “You are going to die.  I can help you.”

The crazed patient fell to the ground.  Dr. Stein looked around the hallway for anyone to help him.  The two black suited men stood against a hallway wall shaking in fear.  For having black suits and acting bravely they were oddly afraid.  Everyone else in the hallway disappeared.  The hallway was empty except for Dr. Stein, two men in suits and bodies’ dead or unconscious.
“Someone get me a gurney,” he shouted. A nurse appeared from a far room and grabbed the first one she could find. She quickly pushed it up to Dr. Stein.  Dr. Stein and the nurse attempted to lift the unconscious patient but he was too heavy.

“A little help here,” he screamed and the two suited men rushed over.

“He’s had an anurisim with a psycotic break.  We need to treat him now if we are going to save his life.”

One of the suited men let go of the patient and the weight of him forced the others to drop him.

“Your not going to treat him,” said the man.

“I’m not?,” Dr. Stein stood over the patient.

“Your going to leave him on the floor and not touch him.”

“And you are?”  Dr. Stein asked.

“FDIC”

“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation”

“No… dick head… a federal research and development company with the same initials.  This is our hospital now and I said leave him.”

The other man in a suit stepped up and said, “Eric, can we talk over here?”

They stepped out of ear-shot and argued.  Dr. Stein knelt down and looked the patient over.  He was dead, his skin was clammy and he was cold to the touch.  A little too cold too fast, Dr. Stein thought.  The patient had also lost all control of his bladder which was obvious by the damp circle in his pants.  The tips of the patients fingers were pale, but not the blue color that would normally come with death.  The patients eyes were not dilated but minute.

“What is this?”  He asked as he flashed his small flashlight over the patients right eye.  “Looks like some sort of melanoma of the eye.  I haven’t known melanoma to cause an aneurysm.  He stood then lost his balance when the nurse shoved him backward.  The dead patient slowly stood up and stumbled across the floor to the wall.  He leaned against the wall for several seconds then began to walk toward Dr. Stein and the nurse.

“Are you alright,” Dr. Stein asked eventhough the obvious answer had to be no.

The patient approached and grabbed him.  The nurse screamed and Dr. Stein searched for any help at all.  The patient threw him through the white curtain and luckily onto the bed that sat behind it.  Dr. Stein quickly wrestled out of the curtain and fell to the floor.  Someone laid unconscious on the floor beside him but the curtain covered the body.  He scooted sideways and attempted to hide under the hospital bed.  Blood was pooled all over the floor.  He heard the patient approach then watched as he tossed the bed aside with ease.  The patient stood over him and raised a meaty fist to bring down upon him. From somewhere near, Dr. Stein could hear footsteps sprinting toward him then a grunt and a crash.

A large man stood over the patient and was wrestling with him.  The man seemed to be smaller then the patient but was holding his own.  Dr. Stein stood and walked over to the wrestling match.

“Get out of here!” shouted the man after he landed a crushing blow to the patient’s face.

“Can I help you,” shouted Dr. Stein.

“No, get out of the hospital. Go…” the man said.  Dr. Stein turned and walked toward the elevators.  He turned again and noticed the patient was on his belly and the man held the patients arms under his own. The man stepped upon the interns back like a mountaineer at the peak of a mountain.

“Go, damnit,” he demanded as he noticed Dr. Stein standing, watching.

Dr. Stein turned again and began toward the elevator.  He stopped when an awful crack and groan made his stomach wretch.  He wanted to turn back but didn’t.

The sound of the bones snapping echoed through his ears as he quickly walked from the ER and toward the elevator 300 feet away.  He pressed the elevator button several times and stared out into the lobby.  It was relatively empty compared to regular nights.  With this monster terrorizing the emergency room he was not surprised.

“You should just walk out the front door…,” he thought.

…but his car was below on the car deck three floors down.

“Think about the day you’ve had…  Weird patients, irate staff and supposed walking dead…”

The elevator dinged and the door would open within seconds.  Within those seconds a tall man stumbled into the lobby and grabbed one of the nurses.  He pulled her backward and out of view.  The other nurse stood, in shock by the suddenness of it all.  She then screamed and ran out the door.

The elevator opened and two men stood within it.  One on the left side and one on the right side of the elevator.  They wore the same black suits as the men that tried to apprehend the monster in the ER.

“Ralen would like to see you,” said the man on the left.
“Ralen who?”  Dr. Stein said at first then realized…

“Why does Ralen want to see me?  I’m going home.”

“You can go home after you see him.”

“Fine.”

“Told you he wouldn’t be a problem,” said the man on the right.

“Why would I be a problem?”

“Let’s go…” the man on the left said strongly.

“Great, stand between two men in black suits and go see a psychotic patient.  That decision would be a good move… I think I’ll take the stairs.”

Dr. Stein turned toward the front door and shook all over.  The tall man, that had snatched the female nurse stood bloodied in front of him.  He held bloodied meat in one hand and long clawed fingernails in the other.

“Dr. Stein?”

“I’m coming.”

“The elevator slid upward slowly.  Dr. Stein was growing increasingly concerned that he would never make it out of the hospital.  What does Ralen have in store for him?  What crazed world has he created now?  The thought made him shake.

Floor 5 — Psychotics

At least that’s what he was thinking when the elevator doors opened.  The two suited men stepped out first.  Dr. Stein didn’t follow right away but soon felt he had no other choice.  He walked reluctantly behind the two men.  Bodies were strewn throughout the chaotic hallways.  Bones broken and blood pooled in the center of the floor.  He stepped over a large pool of blood then followed to the right.

“You know these hall walls used to be white,”  He joked anxiously.

He stepped over a body, which had been mauled by something vicious and came to the end of the hall.  A window sat in the center giving the viewer a good glimpse of the city.

“Wait here,” one of the men said.  Dr. Stein walked over to the window and looked out.  Kingsboro was still there.  City hall stood in the center of town along with the Brookings building across the street.  The other smaller buildings stood around the two taller ones like they had always done.  He looked down upon the parking lot of the hospital and this is were it looked different.  Like the hallway up here bodies lay scattered over the black top.  Victims that could get away ran here and there.  Monsters, stumbled after whoever moved in front of them.

A young man, somewhere around 30, grabbed his shoulder making him jump.  “Dr. Stein let’s go.”

“Kid,” Dr. Stein said quietly as he began to follow, “what’s your name?”

“My name’s Dell Conner.  I work for Ralen.”

“Nice to meet you Dell.  What’s going on around here?”

“New world order, I think.”

“You think?”

“No one really knows what Ralen has planned… but we have ideas.”

“We?”

“Yea, we…”

The young man took him to a room on the right and opened the door.  The room was huge.  Large chunks of the room walls sat hanging of the ceiling.  It looked like a war zone.  Not unlike outside the hospital, he thought.  The young man walked around two men working on what was left of the wall.  Ralan was sitting upon a gurney.

“Dr. Stein,” Ralen said with a large smile.  He stood and stepped forward.  “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I’m glad you are happy to see me,” said Dr. Stein.

“I’m not only happy to see you I am thrilled.”

“What do you want from me.  I really want to get home.”

Ralan laughed and stopped a few feet in front of him.  “You have no home.  My zombie’s have destroyed it.”

“Really?”

“Yep, they ate it up.”

“They ate it.  Really Ralan I have no time for this.”

Ralan stood, his jaw fallen.  “I figured you would want to help me.  I am going to rule the world with my zombie’s.”

“You think you created this?”

“I did create these zombies and other monsters.”

“Ralan, you have gone nowhere.  You have been here, in this hospital for 5 years.  How did you create this mess?”

Ralen’s pupils narrowed and his pale skin blushed.  “Mess!  You call this a mess.  This is your new world order and I am your king!”

Dr. Stein stepped back and began for the door.  The man that saved him from being torn to shreds in the ER stood in the doorway.

“Great your a part of this too,”  He spat.

“I’m not a part of my brother’s plans.  I am here to stop them.”  Ralen’s brother stepped into the room only to be quicly restrainted.

“Brother, you disappoint me.”  Ralen said coldly.

“Disappoint you,” his brother shot back, “think about what you did to Mom so many fuck’n years ago.  I can’t believe you are still walking around.  I thought the guilt of it all would of boxed your nuts by now.”

“I have no guilt for what I did.  Mom was dying and I needed a body.”

Ralen’s brother broke free of one of Ralen’s men only to be restrained by two more.   Dr. Stein stood watching in disbelief.  “All this time,” he thought.  “All this time I’ve been treating a psycopath….”

“You are a cold-heartless psycopath.”  Ralen’s brother shouted.  “I wish I would of found you years ago.  I would of killed you.”

“Would of is the key words here, brother.”  Ralan turned and walked back toward his makeshift throne.  He passed the 20-some kid that led Dr. Stein into the room.  The kid suddenly dropped his head and fell backward against the wall.  “Holy crap,” Ralan said as he stepped back several feet.  “How’d he get infected.  Get me out of here, now.”  He ordered.

“We need to get out of here before the rage kicks in.”  Ralan’s brother said as he tugged on Dr. Stein’s white coat.

“Sure, ok.  Let’s go.”  It was ashame that someone so young was e oom.

“You can’t doctor.  It’s too late.”

The two men rushed through the hall leaping over bodies and struggling to push through the crowded hall.  All of Ralen’s men left the room.  They all attempted to leave at the same time.   Dr. Stein and Ralen’s brother reached the elevator and found most of Ralen’s men waiting for the elevator.  A loud growl erupted from down the hall and everyone looked.  The 20-year old stood in front of the hallway window and peered at the pile up in the hallway.  He immediately rushed toward them and everyone scattered.  Dr. Stein and Ralen’s brother pushed through the hallway and quickly entered an open room.  The room was a storage area, a closet.  Within it stood brooms, mops and cleaning materials.

“We have to brace this door,” Ralan’s brother said.  Both men searched for several seconds but could not find anything heavy or strong enough to stop a homicidal monster from entering.  They listened to the heavy footsteps as they stood vunerable in the closet.  A dozen footsteps raced past the door followed by heavier footsteps.  He passed the door and both men breathed a little easier.  After several quiet moments the men stepped out into the hallway only to fall back when they found several others stumbling through the halls.

“I can’t believe this.  I can’t fuck’n believe this,” said Ralan’s brother.  “Someone made some fuck’n zombies.  Fuck’n zombies on top of the monsters that showed up several days ago.”

“What do you know about this…these monsters?”

Ralan’s brother stepped back away from the door.  He grabbed several brooms and braced the door with them.

“The research company on Axley Street, down by the dump…”

“I know the place.”

“Apparently, there was a storm and it busted the building up.”

“I remember that storm it really did a number on the whole town.”

“Yea, well it opened a big hole in the research building and everything fuck’n thing escaped through it.  They recaptured all but the biggest and badest monsters.  Soldier volunteers that agreed to be reborn.”

“Your joking.”

“Nah, I’ve seen it myself.  I was a security guard in the hellish place.”

“So that’s why you tore up that patient downstairs.”

“Yea, I’ve done that a dozen times since the storm.”

“A dozen,” Dr. Stein’s heart fell several beats then continued to fall when someone slammed into the door.  That someone moaned loudly then slammed into the door again.  The brooms fell from the door and the door caved with each blast.

“What the hell we going to do?”  Dr. Stein asked.  The door broke but did not open.  It was going to go in the next few moments.

“Grab these brooms and break them.  We can use them as spears.”  Both men snatched a broom and busted off the end.  They stood back and waited.

The door bowed again and then fell in.  A small nurse stood in the doorway.  She was pale and blind.  Her right shoulder was missing but she stepped over the broken door and toward the two men.  She moaned as she slowly approached.

“Stab her,” Dr. Stein shouted, not wanting to do it himself.

“And if I miss will you finish her off?”

Dr. Stein hesitated.  The nurse stepped ahead and stumbled because the door beneath her moved.  She fell on Dr. Stein and he was forced to thrust the broom spear through her gut.  The gut wound bled by the gallon but didn’t stop her from trying to rip a mouthful of neck from him.  He fell back against the closet wall and knocked over all of the cleaning product off the shelf that sat on the wall.  He struggled to protect himself while the nurse struggled to eat him.  Suddenly, blood fell over his face and the nurse tumbled off him.  Ralan’s brother stood over him still holding the broom spear.

“Let’s go,” he said as he offered a hand to the fallen doctor.

“Thanks.”

An explosion rocks the office of Edward Chillion.  Immediately he leapt from his chair, grabbed a pre-made suitcase and took off.  The office door shattered as he flew through it.

“Kerry, what the fuck is going on?”

“Isn’t it apparent.  The whole operation has went to crap.”

“I told you this idea was a bad one.  Creating reanimated soldiers.  How could you let them do this?”

“What did you want me to do?  I’ll just go get myself fired by telling them that experimenting on people is wrong.”

“At least you would of stood up and let them know someone was against it.”

“You think I’m the only one that knew about this.  You never said a goddamn word and you have been investigating the project for months.”

“I’m sorry… I thought my best friend and CFO of the company would get off his ass and say something.  No leave it up to a computer nerd to figure it out.  Do you have any idea the kind of experiments they have been doing?  They have created a whole new world downstairs and now thanks to a fuck’n storm they are all going to get out.”

“They are not all going to get out.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.  Just project Excaliber.  That’s not so bad.”

“Shut up.  What do you want me to do about it now?”

“Report it to the Fed’s”

“What are they going to do?  They arn’t going to save us all.  They will probably nuke the whole goddamn town.”

Edward stood in front of Kerry fuming but really what is anyone going to do now, he thought.

“Where is Castle?  Where is the CEO?”

“Castle shot himself a couple hours ago.  It was the bravest thing he’d ever done.  In my opinion.”

“My point exactly then.”

“What?”

“You are now the CEO.  Get off your ass and do something.”

“Ok… let me wave my magic wand and fix everything.”

A gurney rolled quickly down the hallway.  Appearing and disappearing outside the office door.

“Great… the monsters have reached the executive hallway.  What the fuck are we going to do now.”

Kerry stood.  “I guess were just going to have to run.”

Edward began toward the door when his cellphone rang.

“Shut that up!  shut it up!”

“I know…I will,” Edward fumbled through his pockets till his found the small phone.  He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it.

“What are you doing?”  Kerry mouthed.

“I can’t talk right now Maryanne.  A lot is going on.  I’ll have to call you …”

“What?  You sure?”  The phone went dead and Edward dropped it.  Another gurney appeared and disappeared outside the door.  It was followed closely by a group of frightened researchers.  The last one stopped before he passed and opened the door.

“Run…run,” he stammered then disappeared.  A window shattered and Kerry turned from the door.  Edward had thrown an office chair at the window.  He cleared the remaining glass around the window and looked out.  Without another thought Edward leapt out the window and landed hard on his ankle.  He got up and leaned against the building.  He waited for Kerry to follow but when he didn’t he began to hobble toward the parking lot.  At the corner of building he stopped and peered around the corner.  Nothing seemed out of place so he began toward his car sitting in the front row.  A window burst behind him but he didn’t look back.

“Edward!  Edward!  Don’t leave me!”  Shouted a frightened Kerry as he cleared the class from the window.  “Stop!”

Edward couldn’t look back.  He had to get home.

Maryanne Chillion stood in her kitchen sobbing as the receiver laid hanging off the wall mounted phone.  Sara, her only daughter, had walked out to the street to retrieve the mail and never returned.  Maryanne instantly thought the worse.  Living in a Research Complex had it’s perks.  The swimming pool, lunch with her husband but it also had terrifying cons.  The worse of them all is the thought of one of the subjects escaping and capturing a 14 year old girl.  Maryanne knew she should of left with Sara the night of the storm but Edward couldn’t go.  He had to save the company.  He had to stay.  Damn him…damn Edward and this job.

A car pulled into the drive minutes after.  Edward walked into the house and embraced Maryanne.

“Where is she?”  He asked.  Immediatly Maryanne broke down and sobbed, “I don’t know…. I don’t know.”

“Ok… this is what were going to do,” he said as he lefted her chin.  “Grab the deer rifle from under our bed.  I’ll grab one of the largest knives in the kitchen and we will find her.”

Maryanne ran upstairs and across the floor to the bedroom.  Edward ran into the bedroom and scoured the drawers for any knives.

For Christ’s Sake, he swore as he dumped several drawers on the floor.

“Here it is.”

A scream leaps from bench to bench inside the Leslie High School bus.  It drills painfully into Andrea’s right ear.

“What the hell,” she shouts as she turns toward the back of the bus.  Arin Turner, in her short dress, falls from the bus seat and laughs.  Eric Brooks stands and smiles.

“Sit down deaf-mute,” he says as he throws a pencil toward the front of the bus.  Andrea ducks and watches as the pencil strikes the bus driver in the head.  Within seconds the bus becomes quiet as they wait for the driver to retaliate.  But he doesn’t.  He continues to drive as if nothing happened.

The bus erupts in laughter this time and Andrea is forced to hold her ears.  She has a condition called Acute Tinnitus that causes her ears to ring with loud noises.  Well actually just one ear.  She lost the hearing in her left ear when she was a child.  A tramatic accident that took the life of her father and brother.  The laughter dies and the students talk modestly amonst themselves.  It’s likely they will again get loud within minutes.

Andrea uncovers her ears and looks ahead.  The city of Kingsboro bears right ahead 300 feet, a sign said.  She sighs relieved that the bus trip is almost over.  Why she even agreed to go on this trip is still a mystery.  She was so not a partisipary member of the school.  Mom said she wanted her out of the house for a couple days.  “It would be good for her,” she said.

“Good for me, my ass…”   Andrea spat as another pencil knicked her ear and missed the driver wide right.  The bus erupted in laughter and her ear rang again.  “I can’t wait to get out of this bus.”

Pencils litter the aisle way and front of the bus and Andrea cowers behind the seat.

The driver seems to be oblivious to everything, Andrea thought as she covered her ears for another round of raucous laughter.  They have to be out of pencils by now. They were out of pencils and Eric Brooks, leader of the pencil throwers talked Arin into collecting them.  Of course every time she bent down they would cat call and Andrea would grimice.  Andrea wasn’t a prize but she wasn’t ugly either.  She had an acne problem but when she could take care of it she always caught the boys eyes.  Arin knew this but, according to Buck (Andrea’s best friend), who sat in the back with the boys, it was Arin’s job to keep Andrea honest.  Hell she wasn’t popular and would never be.  That’s why when Arin passed Andrea to collect the pencils near the driver she bent over to reveal her naked ass.  This caused the boys to scream like no other… then laugh.

It was enough to drive someone nuts.  But the ringing in the ear made it worse.  Arin wagged her naked ass in front of Andrea, she acted as if she was in one of those frick’n peep shows downtown.  Finally, when Arin began to get closer and the pounding in Andrea head got worse Andrea kicked Arin out of her seat and into the long vertical bar just before the stairs.  Arin pushed herself off the bar and into the driver.  The driver fell to the left and so did the bus.  The bus wiggled dangerously and Arin struggled to stand.  The driver laid unconscious against the driver-side window.

“Grab the wheel,” screamed Andrea as Arin held tightly to the vertical pole.

“I can’t,” said Arin as she clung on for dear life.

“Grab the wheel…your closer then me.  Do it damn it!”

“Alright.”  Arin slowly let go of the pole and brace herself against to driver’s seat.  The steering wheel wiggled left and right violently as the kids in the seat continued to scream.

“Grab the frick’n wheel Arin!”

“Shut up…shut up.”

Arin attempted to grab the wheel and missed.  She fumbled around falling on the driver again.  She straighted herself then grabbed it with both hands.  With all the might she had Arin pulled the wheel straight and everyone sighed.  The bus continued forward at a good speed.  The driver still had his foot on the gas but it was barely there.  Arin kicked the driver’s leg and he released the petal…but it also woke him from his unconscious slumber.  He sat up slowly, his head fallen, his chin upon his chest.  The driver sat staring at the floor as Arin attempted to drive the bus till it would stop.  She was about to release the wheel when the driver snapped at her.  Now this wasn’t a… What the fuck are you doing?  snap.  It was a… I want to be an alligator and take out your arm snap.  Arin just missed being the driver’s lunch as she released the wheel and fell down the bus steps and into the door.  The driver stood, albeit very unsteady, and walked over to Arin.  He was locked on to the delicious morsel cowering below him.  The bus was slowing but began to wiggle again.  The driver struggled to stay on his feet and the bus passengers began to scream again.  The screaming seemed to distract the driver but only slightly.  Eye on the prize, is what he had.

Andrea sat in the first seat behind the driver’s wheel.  She sat with her hands on her ears.  Her head pounded mercilessly as she watched her feet and smacked into the back of the driver’s seat several times.  She couldn’t help Arin and she couldn’t drive the bus.  She couldn’t move a muscle the pain was so severe.  Someone had to stop this bus.  Someone had to stop the driver from killing Arin.

The bus had slowed a great deal, but it was still wiggling dangerously.  Arin fought off the driver as best she could as the boys sat and watched from the back of the bus.  You would think, Andrea began to think just as Buck passed her seat.  That Buck would save the day as he most often did…

Buck looked down at Andrea and put a hand on her shoulder.  He then grabbed the driver, who had managed to bite a chunk off Arin’s hand, and pulled.  The driver chewed on his bloody prize as he fell back upon his seat.  Buck quickly grabbed Arin and attempted to lift her from the stairway when a car appeared just outside the door.  Buck dropped her and ran back toward the rear of the bus.  The car hit the bus hard and sent it to it’s side.  The bus slid along Main Street with all the children on board.  It stopped just short of the Kingsboro Medical ER entrance.

Dr Stein raced forward from the underground parking area.  His Cadillac flew through the gate, busting it to pieces.  The entrance to the street was feet away when the bus appeared out of nowhere.  He hit it hard and saw it flip on it’s side.  The Cadillac flipped a couple times and then everything went black.