The Living Dead Boy by Rhiannon Frater Page A

obvious that Sam had decided to stay close to them.  He chewed on his bottom lip while Arturo looked annoyed to be saddled with him.
    Josh strained to see toward the front of the bus, hoping to see Corina.  He wished she hadn’t turned back to help Mrs. Adkins.
    “If you can’t find a seat, just stand up!  Hold onto the back of the seats!”  The bus driver was pushing kids down the aisle to cries of protest.
    “You’re gonna smash us to death!” Sam shouted.
    “Shut up, freak!”  Arturo snapped.  He shoved his black hair out of his face as he leaned toward Josh. “Dude, we should have gone with your mom.”
    “She’s getting Drake. She told us to get on the bus,” Josh answered.  His hand was trembling as he placed it on the back of the seat in front of him.  He felt sick with fear and he looked out the window again, trying to spot his mom’s car.
    “Whoa, Mrs. Adkins got hit hard,” Troy said in awe.
    Their teacher stumbled onto the bus, holding her hand over one eye, blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. The bus driver made some of the kids stand so she could sit down. Corina was nowhere to be seen.  Josh’s heart beat a little harder as fear gripped him.  He returned his gaze to the parking lot, praying softly.
    “Please, God...please, God...please, God...”
    Finally,  Josh caught sight of his mom’s old blue Chevy in line to get out of the parking lot.  He could barely make out her figure inside the car, the sun glinting off her hair.  He wanted to crawl out the window and run to her.  Fear had a brutal grip on him, and he just wanted to feel her arms around him.
    The sound of a motorcycle cut through the noise as Brad roared up to the bus.  “Corina!  Corina!”
    Screams erupted again outside, but this time, they sounded different.  It was more than fear that tinged the shrieks.  A bus roared past, nearly clipping Brad on his bike.  Cars began to honk desperately.
    “Oh, my God,” Arturo exclaimed.
    All the kids in the bus turned around at once.
    A pack of bloody, mutilated people had come around the side of the school moving relentlessly toward the children and adults still loading onto the last school bus.  All had faces smeared with blood.  One of them appeared to be carrying a dismembered leg.
    “Zombies!” a kid shouted, then everyone on the bus began crying or shrieking.
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
    Josh briefly saw Corina dart past the end of the bus before vanishing from view again.  Nearby, a man climbed out of his truck and reached back into the cab to grab his hunting rifle. He began firing at the advancing figures.  The bloody people jerked as the bullets tore through their flesh as they kept advancing.
    “The head!  The head!” Troy yelled at the guy. “Shoot ‘em in the head!”
    Other kids picked up the chant.
    Another man and a woman also grabbed guns out of their cars and began to fire at the creatures.  Covered in blood, the undead bodies jerked and stumbled as they tried to walk toward the buses. They looked exactly like the monsters in the movies.
    It was a scene out of Josh’s worst nightmares.  It couldn’t be real. He rubbed his eyes before looking out the back windows again.
    The zombies were still there.
    “Go! Go! Go!”  Arturo shouted at the bus driver.
    Josh turned to look toward his mother’s car.  The blue vehicle was still stuck in line to get out of the parking lot.  Brad’s motorcycle, with Corina clinging to him, swerved in and out of the buses and cars clogging the bus lane.
    “Go! Go! Go!” some of the children began to chant, while the others shouted, “Shoot ‘em in the head!”
    Josh looked back to see another mangled figure fall to the ground before climbing back to its feet.  The teachers, driver and coaches herded the remaining students onto the last bus. Parents grabbed up their children and ran for their cars.
    “The head! The head!”  Sam yelled. “Shoot ‘em in the head!”
    A mud