Kings Row : Hour 4
“All right kids, you stay here and wait.
I’m gonna go see if the school bus starts. When I fire up the engine,
you run for it.”
He was a big man, by human standards, strong and
tall. Leroy Jenkins was starting his shift, he was an orderly, in
the Crowne Hospital of Kings Row when all hell broke loose. At that
time, he was about to wash the floors on the third floor, where children
were stationed, some with curable diseases, some with terminal ones.
All the kids on the third floor knew and loved him, he always took
the time to stop and chat with them, telling them wild stories or
describing cooking recipes his mama used to make for him.
Soon after
the Ghost Army started killing everyone, he had gathered all the kids
and had taken them to the underground supply and storage tunnel, where
they had remained safe and hidden for the last four hours. But, some
of these kids needed treatments that were overdue, and Leroy knew
they had to be taken out of there, and moved to another facility.
The news was broadcasting non-stop for people to go to the Independence
Port tunnel, where a safety perimeter had been established by heroes
and volunteers. He was hoping that from there, the kids could be moved
to the Bell Medical Center in Indy Port, where their much needed medications
could be administered.
The school bus was there, as always, parked
next to the hospital, waiting for the morning, so it would carry the
children from the hospital to the school. The city had donated it
a few months ago as part of an ongoing effort to ease the lives of
the less fortunate. Right now, it meant hope, hope that Leroy and
those seventeen kids would make it out of Kings Row alive.
Leroy looked
left, then right, and then ran for the orange bus with all haste.
Tackling open the doors, he stumbled inside and fell on the stairs,
to land face first next to the driver’s seat. Righting himself in
a crouching position, he looked outside the windows, to see if the
commotion had attracted attention. Nothing, the few flying ghosts
he could see in the distance were still going on about their patrols,
most likely looking for victims. He crawled under the steering wheel,
and pulled out the wires.
“Let’s hope I still know how to do this.”
He muttered to himself, while stripping the wires bare. A small jolt
stung him, and he cursed under his breath, while sucking his index
finger, to take the pain away. For a big black man, Leroy Jenkins
could sometimes look very childish when he got a booboo. After the
third attempt, the school bus rocked to a start, its engine being
the only sound within a mile area, was a dead giveaway.
“Hurry guys,
come on!” Leroy yelled to the kids, while motioning them with a hand.
Pushing on the clutch, he geared the vehicle, ready to go forward,
towards what he was still hoping, was a safe place. The Indy Port
tunnel was just a bit more than half a mile to the west, so close
under normal circumstances, so very far at the moment. The kids ran
for the doors, helping those that had trouble walking, carrying those
that couldn’t walk. As soon as all of them were inside, Leroy closed
the door shut, and let the clutch up, making the bus jump forward.
Coming out of the driveway, it turned right on the boulevard, gaining
speed and momentum. The kids inside were huddling, looking in all
directions for signs, that the ghosts had seen them. One of them screamed
and pointed a tiny finger towards the back of the bus, where in the
distance, a flurry of motion could be seen following them. Leroy looked
at his rear view mirror, and counted several ghosts flying after the
bus, and they were gaining fast on the slow, heavy vehicle.
Getting
to the end of the boulevard, he veered the bus left on the overpass
that lead towards the Kings Garment factories boulevard. Looking to
his left, the ghosts took a straight flight path towards them, cutting
the distance separating by half. Clenching his teeth, Leroy leaned
forward on the steering wheel, as if helping the bus to gain more
speed. The kids were screaming and crying, watching the approaching
ghosts with nightmarish features come for them.
The bus rolled forward
across the pavement, and was now actually going too fast to make a
safe turning procedure at the end of the street. Leroy knew it, but
slowing down meant that their fate were sealed, and he couldn’t let
the children down. Looking at his mirrors, he saw that the ghosts
were not gaining on them anymore, and had started to fall behind a
bit.
“All right guys, you gotta hang on to something here, ‘cause
the next turn is gonna be rough.” He told them, while directing the
bus to the left of the boulevard, to widen the turning angle. But
when a huge body, like a school bus was going fifty miles per hour
on a city street, making a ninety degrees turn without slowing down
or doing a breaking procedure, was an accident waiting to happen.
But Leroy wasn’t one to count the odds in his favour or not, he was
a doer, not a thinker. Grinding his teeth, he grabbed the steering
wheel firmly in his hands, and readied himself for the turn. The ghosts
were still falling behind, but when he would turn, the slowing effect
would let them gain a lot on the bus.
Tires screeching and sliding,
engine complaining and loosing pressure, the bus turned right on the
Kings Garment Boulevard, its left side brushing the concrete wall
that separated the factories from the street. Sparkles and piece of
orange painted metal flew from it, the impact had sent all the kids
against the left side of the bus without ceremony. Seven hundred yards
were left to safety, Leroy thought to himself, while silently praying
for them to make it. The bus cut down a city lamppost clean through,
then righted itself in the middle of the avenue. He looked to his
right, not finding the ghosts at first, looked behind just in time
to see the back door of the bus being ripped away, to fly up and back
in the air.
“God damn, no!” He yelled aloud while desperately looking
ahead, they were still too far from the tunnel access road, too far
from safety for him to stall the bus and make a run for safety.
“Kevin,
you gotta drive this thing now, just steer it straight ahead, and
when I tell ya, pump both feet on the breaks as hard as you can” Leroy
extended his huge arm towards a pimply fourteen year old kid, to help
him towards the driving seat. One of the ghosts had grabbed the inside
of the door frame, and was about to enter the back of the bus. Kevin
stood up, and with Leroy’s help, they switched position and he was
now driving. The other kids were had gathered to the front of the
bus, and Leroy had to actually move some aside, to go stand between
them and the ghost.
He grabbed the fire extinguisher, and unpinned
it, thinking to use it on the creature. The ghost entered the bus,
letting out a hissing sound from its gaping mouth, red eyes glowing.
Leroy threw the extinguisher at it with all the strength he could
muster, like a baseball pitcher. It made a resounding thud when it
hit the ghost square on the jaw, and then it vanished backwards, outside
the door.
“Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jeeeeeeeeeeeeenkins!” Yelled the huge
black man, satisfied with himself.
“Leroy!” Screamed Kevin from the
front of the bus. Leroy turned around to look ahead.
“Hit the breaks
Kevin, hit the…” Leroy, and the kids were sent off their feet in a
forward motion, while Kevin had pushed both feet on the break pedal.
But doing so had blown out the front right tire of the school bus,
it slipped sideways on the street, then fell on its right side, the
momentum making it slide towards the access road to the tunnel. It
came to a stop about fifty yards from the cross road, silently remaining
still.
In front of them, the Ghost Army was making a push for the
tunnel, the fighting was fierce at the makeshift barricades that heroes
had erected. Leroy rose up, helping the kids as well, to stand in
the fallen bus. They were crying, some were injured, but there was
no time to fool around. They had to exit the bus and make a run from
it, which meant running towards a battling position that was firing
live ammo directly at them. The sound of a shotgun was heard, close
and outside the bus, followed by a thud and then another.
“Anyone
alive in there?” Yelled a voice from the back of the bus. Leroy looked
and saw a human, holding a .12 gage shotgun, leaning to look inside
by the back door.
“Yes, help me man, I got kids in here, we gotta
get them to safety.” Replied Leroy who grabbed young Mary in his arms,
while motioning the kids to head for the back exit. Another figure
appeared next to first one, he was holding swords which he discarded,
to enter the back door.
“Hurry up guys, they’re about to fall back
again, and when they do, they’ll be all over us, hurry?” Said the
new guy, who was dressed in hospital pants, and had blood spattered
all over them and himself. He bent over and grabbed a pair of flares
that had fell loose from the road safety kit, which he fired up.
“If
we don’t wanna become target practice for the heroes, we better use
these.” The red glare of the flares lighted the bus like a Christmas
tree. “Let’s move!” He yelled as he stepped outside the bus and jumped
on top of it, where he started a signalling motion.
Cavalier, who
was yelling orders left and right, saw the flares in the distance
and knew them for what they were. People were out there, right behind
the ghost army, asking for help. He looked at the situation quickly,
the armies were face to face, in hand to hand combat, caught in a
deadly dance. Searching the frontline, while pulling out his broad
sword from an acolyte and dodging an incoming bolt, he yelled at Hammerhand.
The tank turned to look at his leader who was pointing forward at
something. He looked in that direction, and noticed the glowing red
flares being waved in the air, by a guy standing on top of a school
bus versed on its side. He stomped his feet heavily on the ground,
and the many enemies that were surrounding him were sent in the air,
to fall back flat on their back, on the ground.
“Forwaaaaaaaaaaaaard!”
Yelled Cavalier, who was now hacking and slashing his way pass the
barricade.
The heroes started a push into the Ghost Army, following
Cavalier. Electrobolt ordered a massive firing solution from the blasters,
to help the frontline gain the advantage, the projectiles ploughed
through the enemy in waves. The tanks and scrappers, lead by Hammerhand
pushed and punched ahead, using huge chunks of rocks, cars and even
fallen acolytes bodies to clear a path towards the school bus. Mase
Lokrin and the controllers were using all the power they had to keep
them alive, draining themselves in a furious manner, some defenders
had started to pass out, so much the toll on their endurance was taxed.
Shadow-Step and Marrowsnap, along with Leroy and the kids had started
their run. The two unlikely heroes were acting as the tip of a lance
for the small group. Marrowsnap was using his shotgun as a club, punting
left and right, while Shadow-Step was expertly moving in a deadly
fashion. The two of them were a merciless pair, intent on bringing
the small group of kids to the safety of the barricade. The leader
of Apocalypse couldn’t help but notice how the dark scrapper moved
about. Deadly, silent and quick, each blow given, a killing blow.
He knew who he was, from the security file he had been reading earlier
that day, but how do you arrest a guy who that shows so much courage?
The enemy army moved back, pushed by away by Cavalier and the Ghostbuster
army, surprised by the bold manoeuvre and the intensity of it. Shadow-Step
and its group finally reached them, and the fighting grew some more.
When the groups merged, the kids were sent running for the barricade,
while the heroes stood their ground and held the enemy at bay. As
soon as the kids made it, Cavalier the troops to fall back, in his
heart, hoping the death toll wouldn’t be too high once the dust settled
down.
The armies separated themselves, to regroup, tend to the wounded
and gather their dead. Cavalier was taking assessment of the situation,
receiving the various reports from his lieutenants, handing out orders.
Mase Lokrin had taken upon himself to care for the children, which
he promptly ordered to be moved to the Bell Medical Center in Independence
Port. All in all, everyone’s morale had been boosted by this small
victory, until.