Chapter 18: Horde

Once Will realized how bad the situation was, he nearly jumped through the bus' window, putting half of the body out of it and losing balance. His mind was in a rush and he couldn't think of anything else but the dangers coming from behind.

He looked to the other side of the road while his student desperately took the steering wheel of the bus, starting to drive it to prevent the bus from losing control.

Even with his vision somewhat blurry, Will could still see that terrifying army of many monsters running in their direction. His heart nearly stopped from the shock once he noticed what was happening there, his eyes widened, and he nearly lost balance again while on the window.

"Why? Why an entire horde? They were all acting individually before, let alone sometimes with other animals of their specimens. At times, they would even fight against others to take humans to eat, and it even saved our group several times. Anyway, why are they doing this now? They weren't supposed to act as an entire army of dreadful monsters!"

His arms were getting weaker just as his legs were. The professor was reasoning about what he could do to prevent something bad to happen. However, no matter how he looked at it, an army of Dreads was basically a dead end.

Just as he stated his thoughts out loud, the other students started to gather around him, creating a crowd that was even getting in Michael's way when driving.

They were all curious and afraid of what was happening there. The survivors feared for their lives, not wanting it to end that day. Nonetheless, they all knew very well about the impotence that humans had against the Dreads.

'We aren't powerful enough to deal with a single Dread nowadays, even worse with this many of them acting all together! They grew stronger as days passed, eating humans and feeding themselves with the energy that the meteorites let spread around the world. Before, we could knock one of them down, hitting him with the bus. However, nowadays, even bullets aren't efficient against them.'

The professor was going crazy. So much that he forgot to tell the others about the sight behind them.

"Hey! Scott!" He shouted with all his strength. "There are Dreads behind us!!"

Once the firefighter heard that, he looked to his rearview and noticed that there was a massive horde of Dreads running through the road and catching up with them quickly.

"Shit!" He screamed, widening his eyes and stepping deeper on the accelerator.

Sarah and the baby woke up with the commotion. The little boy started to cry out of fear and Sarah looked annoyed towards Scott. She saw that the guy was looking at the rearview and didn't even pay attention to them, so she did the same. Her jaw dropped the moment after.

"Hey, Owen! Owen, wake up!" She poked her head out of the window and called the ex-manager, who was half-asleep while driving the car.

He didn't wake up, but his wife did. She looked confused toward Sarah, which was pointing behind them.

Lisa looked behind and had the same reaction, waking up her husband and making him drive faster to catch up with the others.

All the three vehicles of the group were accelerating gradually, going at the max speed they could reach to try to keep their distance from those crazy animals.

The Dreads were faster than all of those vehicles, though. No matter how much they tried, the survivors wouldn't be able to match them in speed. It was a matter of time once they could catch up and attack them from all sides.

The only thing maintaining the group safe was the initial distance from the threat. However, the Dreads didn't get exhausted easily as well, so they could stay at the same speed for a long time, which would lead to their arrival.

Will started to calculate how many kilometers they still needed to cover until they could get to Atlantis.

'We can't fight with them no matter what. We shall escape with all we got, and so having a bigger possibility to survive.' He was thinking deeply about that matter while analyzing the map.

Finally, together with the students, they could measure the point they were at that time and how long they would need to keep driving at that speed to finally reach their goal.

"It's nearer than we thought it was... We just need to live for fifteen minutes more. However, how long will those Dreads need to catch up with us?" His question remained in the air. No one dared to answer and Will could understand why.

"Ok, we don't need this final measure, anyway. We will just know for sure when our time to live or die finally arrives." The youths agreed with him, keeping omission.

"Owen, Scott! Keep up with the same pace, we are near our goal! More 15!" He yelled at the two guys who were driving.

Once both heard that, they firmed their grip on the steering wheel and pushed their vehicles to their limits.

The group needed to take out resources from there to the vehicles go faster, particularly the bus, which was the place where their food was stocked.

"Continue to throw things away! If you have a backpack and it is heavier than one kilogram, then throw it away! Distribute yourselves properly, so we can have a good balance on the bus!" Will was coordinating them. He was doing a great job and, under that kind of pressure from that harsh situation, the students were more cooperative.

When they finished throwing everything away, Will noticed that the bus was faster, but not enough to catch up with the speed that Owen and Scott were now.

'Damn! All these students here are a good addition to the weight of the bus. It's impossible to go beyond this limit now!' He gritted his teeth in frustration.

Will looked to all sides while rushing through that vehicle. Nevertheless, he needed to deal with the reality. There were just two choices: Choose himself and save his own life regardless the others', or risk his life to save those students."

If he was up to it, he could kill a lot of people inside that bus. He just needed to kick them from there or go to Owen's or Scott's vehicles, and let them be judged by the justice of nature.

Nonetheless, what the guy did was follow his heart and not his head. He stubbornly kept driving the bus.

Eight minutes passed and the Dreads had covered more than half the way towards them. Their speed increased each time more as specific specimens smelled the typical scent of human fear in the air. Probably that whole army was organized by one of those animals since they were so well coordinated and obedient in their pursuit.

Anxiety grew in their hearts as the monsters started to cross that road like bullets piercing the air.

"Owen, is there a way to go faster?" Lisa asked, getting paler as time passed.

"For the fifth time, Lisa... NO! There is no way I can go faster with three people inside the car, ok?" His voice was choked, he barely could breathe properly.

Two more minutes passed, this time they couldn't just run away anymore. The Dreads were right behind them, and soon they would start to climb in the vehicles or bump into them. Killing intent could be sensed in the air.

On the back seat, Alysson started to cry out of fear and despair. Lisa couldn't bear it anymore and did the same.

Scott and Sarah were changing their positions. The firefighter needed to leave the steering wheel in her hands to wield the Winchester 30 and try to delay the monsters, even if it wasn't effective on them.

Into the bus, everything was a fuss. The students cried, shouted, ran in despair, collapsed on the spot, and begged the professor to take them out of that situation.

Will's mind was being driven crazy. It was a lot of pressure on him at the same time. He had forty people who were counting on him, but he couldn't do anything to save them. It was frustrating and despairing at the same time.

'Please, keep your cool. Don't come back to that pitiful old self from before. Keep calm and do something! There is always a way around!' Just as he thought it, the entire bus shook as a Bull Dread smacked its head against the rear of the vehicle. Its strength was enough to lift the rear wheels some centimeters from the ground.

In the distance, Atlantis town appeared on the horizon, getting closer quickly. There were lots of other vehicles and people coming from different roads entering the place.

"Everyone! There is hope! Please, stay calm and find something to delay those Dreads. Our goal is right in front of us!"