Two Alive, стр. 40
Just as the sliding doors swished closed, dozens of fanatic people started rushing up on the platform. The people outside the train weren’t people anymore. Up close, Johnathan could see just how insane they really were. Through the window of the BART train, Johnathan watched deranged people scratch out their own eyes and bite and snap at the air. A woman pulled her hair out in chunks while hollering and screaming at nothing. They attacked each other and fought like wild animals. They tore and ripped at each other’s bodies. They were unhinged and savage.
As the train started to leave, the fiends went running alongside the BART, slamming themselves against the windows. The train picked up speed and roared down the tracks. Some sick individuals ran off the platform trying to continue after it.
Johnathan was shaking. He was shaking so hard he had to grab his arms and focus to make himself stop shaking. He sat down in one of the seats, absentmindedly aware of all the other people on the train who were shook with terror. The train conductor’s voice came through the intercoms overhead, but Johnathan couldn’t make out anything that was being said and he didn’t care. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and heard voices all around, retelling terrible things happening in different parts of the city.
Johnathan inhaled and exhaled deeply and saw out the corner of his left eye, some hysterical woman crying on the floor. She kept saying, “My son, my son! They got my son!” Johnathan shook his head and wiped his eyes, feeling hazy after getting on the train and escaping the insanity. It was a nightmare from the school to here and the weight of everything was making his broad shoulders sink. After another rise and fall of his chest, he finally looked up to see who was still with him.
Francine was on the floor, clutching all the children she could get her hands on. They were all crying. She had Miles, who just held his mouth open and made high pitched whines after every time he drew in a long breath. She held Antonio in a death grip while the teen thrashed around, losing his shit and threatening to kill one of them motherfuckers. Snot bubbles were forming around his nose as he blubbered.
Brandon was sitting not far from them, looking damn near catatonic. He was just staring off with his mouth hanging open. Johnathan looked left then right and didn’t see Rachel. Did she ever get out of the van? Did she get caught on the way to the BART station? He couldn’t say either scenario wasn’t possible. She wasn’t here and it was one more person lost in this madness.
Grant’s wild hairdo came into view and Johnathan saw him standing at the train door looking out at the rooftops. He wrapped his finger with his string and unwrapped it. “I have to… home now.” He paused and thought for a moment, blinking his eyes with his mouth hanging open, “I have to go home now. I have to go.”
Chapter 4
Present day—
Miles woke up first, wrapped in a blanket on the floor near the pull-out sofa bed. He could still hear the constant banging from the shutter doors in the docks, only a short hallway away. The infected hive outside seemed to be buzzing louder today. The sound had only grown in intensity from the first day the brothers arrived at the Costco store. The slamming and howling and screaming outside would continue until the monsters all killed themselves or were driven away. Or worse, if they finally managed to break in and attack the people inside. The thought kept Miles up through the brothers’ two-night stay at the store.
The second thing that kept him awake and even woke Miles now was the nagging feeling of his phone missing. It was hard enough that he couldn’t go through his usual routine at the hideaway before bed, but not having his phone too was like missing a part of himself. He’d reach for his pants pocket and find it empty and the realization would only make him sadder than he already was. Not to mention trying to go to sleep without checking the old man’s room was a choking distress that made it difficult to act like nothing was bothering him when the soldiers watched him.
He tried to fight it but his eyes were already welling up and tears were rolling down the sides of his face and into his ears. He clenched his teeth and tried to keep from sobbing but still sniffled before wiping his face with his hands. A deep sigh could be heard from the pull-out bed above Miles and he knew his brother was awake too.
“You still cryin’?” Antonio moaned as he turned over on his back.
“No,” Miles sniffled again.
“Oh my god! You gotta stop that cryin’ shit. They gon think somethin’ wrong wit you.”
“Nothing’s wrong with me!”
“Coulda fooled me.” Antonio sat up and scratched the back of his matted hair. “The old man woulda beat yo ass wit all this cryin’ shit.”
“Shut up!” Miles sniffled again and sat up too. “I’m not crying.” He pushed off the multi-colored blanket he found in the office.
Antonio got up from the thin pull out mattress, kicking the sheets off and on to the floor. He walked over Miles, pushing him as he did, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, which were starting to turn beige. Miles folded his blanket and draped it over the arm of the couch. He was wearing a