12:45 PM.

It was already getting late. A bus was waiting at a station. A young man in his twenties was walking down the streets when he saw the bus.

“Damn. I never knew there’s a bus this late.” Kyle rose his eyebrows but nonetheless walked in. He knew this series of buses bring him much closer to his home, and it wasn’t safe to walk home this late into the night. He could if he had to, but he wouldn’t if he had another choice.

A dozen men and women were inside the seats. They looked normal, but Kyle felt like there was something wrong with them, but he was too tired to think much of it. He sat down in one of the seats.

The door was gradually closing when someone approached.

“Wait!”

The door remained open, and the newcomer walked up onto the bus as well. Kyle’s eyes lit up. It was a brunette who was around his age. She was carrying a backpack. Her hair formed a ponytail behind her head. She looked cute.

What made his eyes lit up even more was how she sat down beside him.

The doors closed, and the bus started moving. As the bus moved, the girl turned to Kyle.

“Hello.” She said flirtingly and held her hand out. “I’m Katie.”

Kyle blushed slightly as he shook her hand. He was amazed by how soft it was. “I’m Kyle.”

“So, Kyle, what are you doing up here this late.” Katie casually started a conversation as she rested her bag by her leg. “You’re a student, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I am working a job and I had a shift at a store around here. It got pretty late.”

“Then you must be tired.” Katie smiled widely. “Let me tell you a story. It should, well, it should ease you up a bit.”

“Hmmm.” Kyle was surprised by how talkative Katie was, not that he was complaining. “What story?”

“Well, legend says that once upon a time, a line 66 bus operating late in the night was involved in a terrible accident when its driver failed to see a gasoline truck coming out from the side. The two vehicles hit, and an explosion consumed both cars. Everyone on the bus was literally melted. I heard the first responders that reached the site reported a barbeque smell in the air. Half the first responders threw up.”

Kyle bit his lips. Perhaps it was due to the psychological effect, but he sensed a smell of well-done meat in the air.

Katie continued her story.

“The accident was just the beginning. As the story goes, the passengers of the bus went through an immense amount of pain when they died. The pain of literally feeling their skin and flesh barbequed and melted was...interesting. The pain was so bad that even after their death, the souls weren’t freed. They were forever imprisoned in the world of the living, and they grew infinitely jealous of those who still had their lives. Occasionally, they would go across the streets of the city and abduct some unfortunate individuals and torture them to death. These victims will join the dead. It satisfies the sickened desire of those poor souls.”

Kyle suddenly gulped. He looked at a sign inside the bus, which said line 66.

Sweat came down his back.

Katie leaned forward and whispered into his ears.

“I remember the 12:45 line was canceled after the accident.”

Kyle’s neck stiffed. Slowly and shaking, the poor man turned around and glanced at the passengers one by one. He felt something was wrong with them, but he didn’t think much of it. Now he realized what it was. Every single one of the passengers had every inch of their skin covered. No one looked at him when he walked in. Even the body parts that weren’t covered by clothing, like hands and faces, were kept in the dark.

Now he remembered. After the accident, the mayor of the city went on television and announced the cancellation of this bus line. How could he possibly forget about this?

But if the bus was canceled, then where is he now?

Katie tilted her head slightly. All of a sudden, the clock mounted at the top of the ceiling started turning. Instead of the time “12:45”, it skipped to “12:52”.

“The accident happened on 12:52,” Katie said quietly, but Kyle wasn’t listening. All around him, the passengers have stood up. They were walking toward the two living who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now that they were up, Kyle could see their skin, but he hoped he didn’t. Their skin was heavily burnt and was bright red. Some of the skin was gone, revealing parts of cooked flesh.

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It took all of the man’s strength not to turn and vomit and scream and cry.

“Wh...what...what should we do? What the fuck is that?” Kyle suddenly remembered how calm and omniscient Katie was. “You know how to get us to safety, right?”

To his surprise, and utter disappointment, Katie merely shrugged.

“Not really. I’ve got something in mind, but I’m pretty sure they won’t work.”

“Then why the fuck did you come up here? You could’ve kept me from coming onto this bus!” The teenager has lost his politeness.

“Honestly speaking, I’m still pretty new to this. I just want to, you know, get to know things a bit more. Make some friends, have some fun...”

Kyle wasn’t listening. He was close to pissing himself. The burnt spirits moved closer and closer, and for some reason Kyle didn’t like where this was going. He gulped and ran to the door and kicked it, but it didn’t even budge.

“Damn it!” Kyle subconsciously turned to the driver’s seat, only to find the driver being a body with one third of its head gone. Seeing the brain fluid coming out of the body’s skull, Kyle didn’t need to try to know the driver wouldn’t help him.

He turned back to Katie. He didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her, but he did know she and him were the only two human beings on the bus. Suddenly, he watched in horror as one of the burnt bodies grabbed onto Katie’s arm. The girl, for some reason, didn’t even resist.

Immediately, the girl was set aflame. Kyle used all his strength to turn around and go at the door again, ready to do his best to ignore the girl’s scream, which didn’t come.

It took Kyle a few seconds to realize Katie wasn’t screaming. Confused, he turned back, almost afraid to look, but what he saw made him stare in awe.

A black blade was in the girl’s right hand, and the girl, still on fire, decapitated the burnt corpse with a single swipe. As soon as the head of the corpse hit the ground, the rest of the body exploded into ashes, which then melted into the floor of the bus, leaving not a single trace of the corpse’s existence.

“You’re on fire!” Kyle shouted. He was impressed by what Katie did, but it was hard to ignore the fact that the girl was literally on fire.

“Yes. Thank you. I did not notice that.” In a seemingly insane, and actually insane, move, Katie, still on flame, took a few seconds to make a joke before taking off her already melting clothing. Some of them were already attached to her skin, but she jerked them off with force, bringing some of her skin down with them. “Roll on the ground!” Kyle yelled, and the girl tossed him a smirk before complying.

When she stood back up again, Katie was naked and heavily burnt. Kyle walked over to her, wanting to help her but not sure if he would do more harm than good. To his surprise, Katie’s skin started to mend.

In an excruciating process that took a couple of seconds, Katie was already back to the gorgeous brunette, or rather the naked gorgeous brunette.

“What the hell?

“If I know the answer, I would tell you, but I don’t.” Katie flexed her neck.

Kyle gulped and turned his attention from the bare girl to the corpses all around them. The image of black bodies was more than enough to put down any desire of the flesh.

“What do we do?”

All around the corpses were getting restless. The way Katie executed the first corpse took them by surprise and scared them back. These corpses were creatures of pure emotions. They were beasts, but they still had some instinct, including the instinct for survival. However, as time dragged on, the desire to see the living suffer took over again. This time, all the corpses were ready to get into action.

“We need a way out. How many of these can you take down?” The man started to get all tactical. That was wise, but Katie simply didn’t give a damn about tactics.

Without answering, she reached inside the bag she kept by her and pulled out a string of shrapnel grenades.

“Why do you have grenades?” Kyle asked with a hint of pleasant surprise. A couple of well-placed grenades could certainly change the situation, but that surprise was turned to horror when Katie literally pulled off all the safety pins and dropped the grenades by her feet.

It was a good idea in terms of doing damage to the corpses, who were closing in on them, but Kyle suspected Katie didn’t remember both her and him were even closer to the grenades than the corpses were. However, a part of him suspected she did remember, but she just didn’t care. After all, he was dealing with a girl who made jokes while being on fire. This was more than just having guts. This was madness.

Even in this situation, Kyle didn’t forget to grab onto Katie’s arm and try to pull her back away from the grenades and behind cover, but she didn’t budge. “Shit!” He cursed as the grenades went off.

The explosion immediately tossed Kyle back and smashed him into a wall of the bus. The man groaned and clutched onto his head. His mind went blank for a few seconds, but as he stood back up, he suddenly remembered something.

“Katie!” He ran to the girl and was horrified to find her on the ground. Half a dozen pieces of metal went through her body, but most importantly, a pieces of shrapnel went through her forehead. He knew she could regenerate, but how could she heal if she was dead?

All around him the corpses were standing back up. His heart sank. If she died, then his chances of survival would be next to zero. He wasn’t a fighter. Even if he could find her blade he couldn’t wield it as expertly as she did. He shook her violently.

A corpse made a swung at him, and Kyle took a step back. Looking down on the pale eyes of the body, Kyle suddenly felt a wave of anger rising from the bottom of his heart. Faced with no retreat, he had no choice but to stand and fight. He reached down and picked up the dark blade Katie dropped and did his best to fend off the corpses.

He made it ten seconds before one of the corpses knocked the weapon out of his hand. The man moved back in a hurry, only to trip over his feet. As he hit the ground, the corpses gathered around him, ready to turn another innocent soul to a screaming victim.

Suddenly, the blade on the ground whirred and lifted off into the air, and the next second, following a flash of black light, all the corpses around Kyle collapsed with their head gone.

The bodies hit the floor and turned to ashes.

Behind the corpses, Katie stood back up and slowly pulled the piece of shrapnel out of her forehead. The wound closed after the metal left her body. There were still bits of metal all over her body, but she turned the blade around and picked the pieces out one by one. Blood came out of the wounds, but Kyle could only see a look of satisfaction from the girl’s face.

“You’re...alive…” The man said in awe as he watched Katie massacre all the spirits with pure efficiency. “Wait, you could’ve done that the entire time?” Then why did she use the grenades?

Katie shrugged.

“Is that a question?”