Immediately the bus driver pulls a hard left, almost over steering the vehicle off the road and throwing half the students out of their seats from the high speed.
"Change of plans, we are going to the central town bunker. Text your families so they know you are safe." He says without taking his eyes off the road. He's weaving in and out of traffic and driving at way too high a speed for the amount of cars on the road. The moment that alarm sounded panic descended upon the city. People are running down side walks, while cars drive frantically through the streets trying to get to the closest bunker. Which in our case is the central bunker in the center of town. Thankfully most of them have the good sense not to impede a school bus fully loaded with kids. The key word being most, as some dipshits have either run or pulled out in front of the bus, causing the driver to have to break and/or swerve. Or they have almost driven into the side of it.
Ten seconds after the alarm started sounding everyone's phones buzzed, with the expected text alert popping up on mine as well.
"Attention, a reality breach event has been detected in your local area. Please proceed to the nearest safety shelter. If you cannot reach a shelter within five minutes, barricade in place and remain concealed until rescue can arrive. Turn off all noise generating appliances including refrigerators and fans, turn off all sources of light and block windows with whatever materials are available then text SOS back to this number so emergency responders can locate you."
Most breaches take time to fully manifest after their initial disturbance so to speak. A breach's manifestation speed depends on its severity, with level one taking between five and four minutes, level two taking four to three minutes, level three between three and two minutes, level four between two and one minutes, and level five taking between one minute to thirty seconds. The lower the level the more common the breach type. So hopefully we have enough time to get to the bunker before the assault starts in earnest.
Those hopes are dashed when we all feel the tell tale prickling of the skin and senses followed by the loud shattering sound indicating that the breach has manifested.
"Charles, how long has it been since the alarm sounded?" I ask him.
"About twenty seconds." He says grimly in the now mostly silent bus, with only the roar of the engine that's overpowering the outside noises audible.
"You think maybe they just hit the button late?" I ask, hopeful.
"It's supposed to be automated." He replies while looking over at me with eyes full of fear.
Immediately absolute chaos descends both inside and outside the bus. Students jump from their seats and climb over each other trying to reach the emergency exits despite the bus's speed. Outside cars slam into one another, drive down side walks, run through crowds, as people push and shove each other out of the way in an attempt to get to the bunker first.
Before anyone on the bus can do anything too stupid the bus driver yells at us above the calamity of it all.
"Sit down and shut up you little shits! We are twenty seconds from the bunker! I will pull up as close as I can, then we will all get off, and as a group make our way into the bunker. I catch any pushing or shoving I will make you wish the demons got to you once those bunker doors are sealed! Am I clear!?"
He was met with stunned silence as students slowly slicked back into their seats and waited with bated breath. Somehow despite the chaos, the driver managed to continue down the chaos infested streets without hitting anything, though I think he may have run someone over at one point. As we keep going I quickly start to notice a pattern in the chaos, it's all human caused chaos, not demons. If this really is a level five breach or worse we should be up to our asses in demons right now. But I don't see a single one outside.
"Hey Charles, have you noticed something off?" I ask, breaking the morbid silence on the bus.
"Yea, um, I don't see any demons?" He says, as if questioning it himself.
Before we can continue the bus jerks to a sudden stop, causing some of the students, myself included, to bang our heads on the seats in front of us. I thankfully only smacked my forehead on the cushioning, but I can see a boy just down the aisle cupping his nose in his hands, and some blood dripping through onto the floor. Then the bus driver jumps out of his seat and presses the button on the console to open the doors at the front.
"Alright, leave your bags, single file off the bus straight to the bunker. No running, only jogging, and watch your step. If you trip and sprain an ankle because you rushed, no one will stop to save you." He says in a booming authoritarian voice that makes it clear he won't take arguments on the matter.
Slowly we file off, the driver seeming to count us as we pass him. Once the last of us is off he follows suit and we all start our run for the bunker. Some of the boys decide that despite the fact there are no demons they wanted to make a dead sprint for it anyway. I line up next to Charles and Anna joins us shortly after as we slowly jog our way across the massive and traffic jammed parking lot in front of the bunker. I see one of the boys who decided to sprint for it go down up ahead, followed by a blood curdling scream. The rest of us start to panic and people run in different directions or start sprinting for the bunker. I hear the driver mutter a curse under his breath as the boy stands back up into view, visibly limping and with blood running down his arms.
"Stop running you idiots, this is why I said jog. There's no demon, calm down and keep moving!" The bus driver yells as he moves ahead of me, Charles and Anna to see to the wounded boy. We pass them as the driver is picking the boy up in his arms while simultaneously cussing him out.
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"This is why I said not to run you fuckin idiot. Now if the demons show up you can't actually run or fight. And you panicked everyone else for no reason. Stupid boy, next time listen to what I fuckin say. I didn't survive twenty years in war against the demons by lollygagging like an idiot."
I had heard our bus driver was a veteran, but I didn't put any stock into it until now. I always thought he was just a cranky old man trying to earn a little on the side of his retirement fund.
We are almost to the bunker, a few squads of heavily armed soldiers coming out to control the crowd and watch for demons. Then it hits me, another thought, one that I know is foreign but still so natural. I shouldn't go into the bunker, it's going to be so cramped and smelly in there, and all those people are going to attract demons. I'm much safer standing out here in the open. So I stop jogging, causing Charles and Anna to stop as well as they turn around. Then they just stare at me like I'm crazy, in the wrong somehow. But I'm not, this is the safest decision, staying here until mother can come pick me up…… wait a fucking second, my mother doesn't give enough of a shit to text me when this shit kicked off, much less come pick me up!
I snap out of my daze, and open my mouth to tell Charles and Anna to run for it when something invades my mind and starts fighting me for control of my own body, causing me to collapse to the ground spamming.
"Oh how cute, I knew you were a good pick. I don't think I've ever met one of your kind who could resist my control, even if only for a second. So much potential, you will make such a wonderful daughter." A strange voice says in my head with glee.
I try desperately to fight back, to wrestle control over my own body, but every time I retake one part it takes over another. Charles and Anna both run over to me, looking down at me frantically as I twist and writhe trying to throw off the beings control.
"Shit, help me carry her!" Charles says as he reaches down to pick me up.
That proves to be a mistake on his part, as the moment he bends down to pick me up whatever the hell is controlling me steals control of my left arm and attacks him. Before I could stop myself I grabbed him by the neck and pulled him down to the ground. He frantically tries to pry himself free from my crushing death grip on his neck while I desperately fight for control of my own arm. But whatever is controlling me has a lock on my arm and isn't letting go. I start to panic before I realize that the rest of me is free now that is solely focused on my arm, so I immediately twist myself around into an awkward position to make gripping him hard. After a few seconds it works, and Charles is able to slip from my grip and stumble away.
“Wasn't that great? The feeling of crushing another, knowing you're better than them. Don’t you want to feel it more?” The voice echoes in my mind again.
“Get out of my head!” I scream, causing Anna to jump a little while trying to help Charles.
"'Cough' damn it, Anna 'cough' help me carry her, grab her by the arms so 'cough' she can't choke us." Charles manages to wheeze out.
Anna hesitates for a second, but jumps on me when Charles does as well. Together with my help we manage to pin my controlled arm down and they pull me up as we start stumbling towards the bunker towards the bunker.
"I'm so sorry Charles, I can't control it!" I say.
"It's fine, let's just get to the bunker and…. Oh shit." Charles cursed aloud as an very large shadow suddenly envelopes us from behind. I stupidly looked over my shoulder, and what I saw had my blood freeze instantly.
Standing on a car behind us is a succubus. The tall, fully nude, sickly pale purple skin, perfect bodied form imitation of a woman with large batlike wings she uses to completely cover us from the sun, casting us into a dark and ominous shadow. She locks her eyes on me and gives a chilling smile.
"There you are my little sweet. Oh you're even better to look at in person. Come to me and I'll make it all better." She says, her voice sounding like silk for the ears, her eyes full of earnest love for me. Why should I go to the bunker? All I have to do is go to her and everything will be alright. I try to turn around and run to her, but something holds me back. I look over and see Charles and Anne desperately trying to pull me away. Why would they want to do that, don't they know it's safe with her? She just wants to….
Before I can finish the thought a loud crack rings out, and something smashes into the succubus's head with a resounding bang, creating a small explosion and shockwave in the process. We tumble to the ground, I immediately start to get up to run, only to notice that Anna is having difficulty standing. I reach over and grab her and drag her along as we try to make a run for it, not wanting to find out whether or not the demon survived the blast to the head.
"Damn pests, I thought I had more time. Fine then, I’ll make this quick then.” The succubus says with a hint of annoyance from behind us.
I try to speed up but Anna struggles to keep up as I try to pull her along. Giving her a quick look over reveals a hole in her pants surrounded by light red that's slowly expanding. Oh my god, she’s bleeding, shit shit shit. I keep trying to drag Anna away but I don’t even get two steps before Anna lets out a shriek, and I look up just in time to see a giant mass of pale purple filling my vision. I also scream, and pull Anna down to the ground with me expecting the worst to happen. But instead of being turned into a combined pathetic red splatter on the pavement we are instead slammed into mid fall, and I feel arms wrap around my waist and yank me away from Anna, who is desperately trying to hold onto me. It's no use, as I’m violently wretched away from her grasp and carried away. It’s not until the ground starts to get farther away that I realize I’m being carried up into the air instead of being killed.
I frantically start to kick and squirm, reaching down and trying desperately to pry any of its fingers away, loosen its grip, anything to get away. I know enough about demons that I’d rather take my chances with gravity than whatever this succubus has planned.
“Oh don’t be like that, you’ll be thankful afterwards. After all, when I’m done with you, you’ll be perfect.” The succubus says while looking at me with eyes full of a horrendous glee.
I kick, punch, claw for her eyes, scream, nothing works. Then I realize how high we are, and suddenly the lack of oxygen hits me like a punch in the gut as my adrenalin finally starts to wear off. We have to be at least two miles up, maybe even higher. The Succubus just giggles in that evil voice of hers before asking.
"Are you ready?"
I barely comprehend what she has said due to my hypoxia induced delirium before I feel an ungodly, firey pain in my stomach. Instantly my eyes and hands dart down, to the tail she's stabbed me with. I try desperately to yank it out as the darkness sets in, the thundering of my own heartbeat drowning out all other sounds. I don't want to die, I want to go home, I want to see my friends again, I want to go to college, so many things, I don't want to die.
"Good night." is all the demon says before a bolt of purple travels up the tail and……