Read The Reaper Virus (Novella): Sarcophagus for Free Online

from that overpass, none have made it onto the lanes
on this side of the expressway. The tracks seem to keep most of ‘ em on the side facin ’ downtown.
Good thing, too.” The driver finished his sentence then pointlessly flipped a
few switches on his console to make it seem like he had to get back to work.
Behind him the man stayed, not taking the hint. Hardly masking his impatience,
the driver added, “you gonna be alright, sir?”

 
    “Paul, my
name’s Paul,” he said back.

 
    “Nice to
make your acquaintance, Paul. My name’s Frank.” Jessica spied the exchange from
her third row seat. She saw Frank, the driver, scratch his head impatiently
then ask, “you going to be alright, Paul?”

 
    Jessica
wasn’t the only one spying the exchange. The forward rows all had heads peeking
above the tall seats. Paul leaned against the metal divider that separated
kicking feet from the recessed driver’s area. His voice grew so distant that
she could barely make what he said from a couple rows back, “you have any
family back in the city, Frank?”

 
    “No. No,
I don’t got any family. But I’m sure if I did that
they would want me to carry on and get myself somewhere safe. They’d want me to
be exactly where I am now.” Paul hadn’t moved and Frank was clearly not in the
mood to play counselor. After a second Frank asked, “ you want to help our situation, Paul?”

 
    “Of
course. I’m not used to staying still... it’s making me go a little crazy,” the
anxious man answered.

 
    “Good,”
Jessica saw Frank’s eyes in the mirror as he said it. He looked in his mirror
realizing that nearly everyone was listening in. “All of the church leadership
was on that bus. You’re a big guy with a loud voice; why don’t you fill in and
use that voice to calm people down.” He didn’t give the man standing behind him
a moment to think it over before announcing, “ alrighty folks, Paul here is going to act as our leader for a little while. He’s gonna see to it that you all are
comfortable. I need to focus on the road to keep us on target so if there’s a
problem or anything take it to him first. When we get to the retreat we’ll all
reconvene to see who is going to head things up. Until
then, I’m sure he won’t let us down.”

 
    A variety
of chatter answered the announcement. One woman was still sobbing so deeply
that she was practically catatonic. Ava looked up at Jessica with a sweetly
raised eyebrow. She was blissfully lost by what the adults were making a fuss
about. Jess smiled back, placing a comforting hand on her leg to reassure her.
Since no one challenged the order, Frank gave Paul thumbs up then returned his
full attention to the sea of cars.
     
      Centering himself in the aisle, Paul
cleared his throat loudly. At first his voice was shaky, “listen up! Nothing
about this morning has gone as planned, so I’m not gonna lie to you and say that everything is alright…. because we’re all scared.” He
paused, panning his eyes over the rows starting on the left then following back
up on the right. When he reached Ava he stopped; she was the youngest on the
trip by at least a decade.

 
      Directing a forced smile towards Jessica,
he continued to speak with a little more volume, “we’ve all got people we’re
worried about and we all want to get to the retreat site in a hurry. The good
news is that we’re almost to the bridge across the James. After that it should
be smooth sailing, right Frank?” Frank shook his head up and down saying
nothing. Now he felt validated and even authoritative. He
closed his speech , “See? The worst part is
over. If you all need to talk I’ll come to your row. Otherwise try to stay in
your seat in case we have any more unexpected bumps.”

 
    Chapter Eight

 
    Creeping
through expressway traffic was soon reduced to inching towards the river. The
final quarter of a mile leading up to the bridge took them twenty minutes to
pass in