Chapter 12

The bite hurt like hell. Eileen winced as she squeezed the red handkerchief to her left hand. He'd broken the skin in two semicircles, nearly tearing off a chunk of her palm. The blood soaked through quickly, dripping onto the floor.

Two benches in front of her, Bobbi-Jo worked franticly, trying to stop the flow from Cynthia's neck. Across the isle Larry, the skinny boy from the trailer park, held a too small bandage to Darrel's arm, his cousin Darrel, not his little brother. He had his hands over his eyes, and kept saying 'It's not real, It's not real'. Over and over again. Larry ignored him and squeezed their cousin's arm tight. Blood dripped between his fingers.

The bus started moving again. Alex hurried back, practically jumping over Chuck and Froggie. The two of them sat on the boy who'd gone crazy. Each of them had one of his shoes, and they were pulling the laces out. Alex leaned close to Bobbi-Jo's ear. "Your sister-in-law is on the radio, go talk to her, I'll take care of Missy." He slid his hands over hers, holding the bandage in place, then when she moved pressed hard. His eyes followed Bobbi-Jo for a moment, but he shook his head and smiled at the terrified girl. "You're going to be okay Missy. We're going back to the school; they have a doctor there today." She looked up at him, eyes wide, wanting to believe. "You just hang on, this isn't bad, just a couple of stitches."

Froggie's voice cut in sharp, arguing like he did sometimes, even with teachers. He was a sweet kid really, just didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. " ... This is dangerous, there's nothing we can do to help him."

Chuck's deep voice rumbled back, annoyed. "They've got to have doctors, they can cure him."

"He doesn't have a pulse! You can't cure dead!"

"What ya wanna do Froggie? Leave him by the side of the road? Toss him out the back door?"

Froggie stood and stared down at Chuck, one foot on the wiggling body. Dark eyes flashed behind his glasses. "That's probably a good idea, he won't be able to bite anyone else that way."

Chuck glared up at him. "Look you little..."

"Knock it off you two." Alex stooped and picked up a torn bloody flannel shirt, the one the kid had been wearing. He tossed it to Chuck who'd finished tying the boy's feet together. "Rip off a sleeve and gag him, then move him to the back of the bus." Both of them shut up, although Chuck made a point of looking Froggie in the eye while he ripped the shirt into strips.

Froggie just held out his hand, and when Chuck passed him a piece of the shirt, used the end of a baseball bat to stuff it into the kid's mouth. "I'll let you take care of him." He said, as he tied it off behind the kids head. "Just be careful, we don't want anyone else to get hurt." He went back to the front of the bus.

All the while the bus moved slowly down a side road. Despite living all her life in the area, Eileen didn't think she'd ever been on it. Bobbi-Jo came back, face drained of all color, tears running down her cheek. She didn't say anything, just grabbed some gauze and first aid tape sat next to Eileen and started wrapping her hand.

Eileen tried to hold her hand still. "What she say?"

Bobbi-Jo shrugged. "She doesn't know anything, not for sure. The FEMA people are sending the feds out to people's houses, bringing them and all their food to the school." Her voice cracked, and she swallowed, silent for a moment. "The first team they sent down my road didn't come back. The second found their cars at the corner, and were going to go to my house, but they haven't called back."

She cut the tape with a miniature pair of folding scissors and smoothed down the end on the back of Eileen's hand. "I asked her if she'd heard anything else, but she didn't answer. Now there is some guy on the radio, wants us to go to the fire station." She broke down and cried. "I think my Dad's going to be in a lot of trouble, if he's still alive. He always said if they came like they did in New Orleans he'd shoot them."

Eileen hugged her, "It's gonna be okay, you'll see."