• Maxi rested his head on George’s shoulder and smiled as the introduction to ‘Crazy and Me’ by My Passion blared out of his phone.

    “Can’t wait for tonight!” squealed Arisu as she bounced up and down in the drab, grey bus seats with excitement. “Its gonna be EPIC!” She continued jumping up and down as the song kicked in, earning a strange look from the solitary man close to the back of the seating. Further up, towards the middle of the seats were two boys whispering. Occasionaly, the one who had black hair with blue streaks in it would laugh loudly, while his friend, who had red hair, like a cherry, would frown slightly, causing small creases to appear in his forehead.

    Eventually, the blue-haired boy nudged the red-haired boy and they rose from their seatd, walking towards Arisu, Maxi and George. They were wearing black skinny jeans, and different colour converse. Both had large plugs in their ears, and snake-bite piercings; the blue-haired one also had a septum piercing. Eyeliner was coated around their eyes, and they wore Download Festival wristbands, along with lots of multi-coloured bracelets. The red-haired boy was weraing and ‘Enter Shikari’ t-shirt, wheras the blue-haired one had a ‘Drop Dead’ varsity jacket on.

    “Hey, I’m Raito,” said the one with blue hair “and this is Iain, are you going to the Kerrang! Tour?”

    “Mmm…yeah,” answered George, “wanna sit?” he gestured to the empty seats behind and next to them and shook his white-blonde hair out of his eys. Raito nodded and sat next to Arisu, while Iain took the empty seat behind them.

    “So…what bands you gonna see at the Kerrang! Tour? We want to see The Blackout and Young Guns.” Asked Iain

    “ My Passion and The Blackout, All Time Low are going to suck,” Maxi replied “By the way, I’m Maxi, this is Arisu and this is my boyfriend, George.” Suddenly, before Iain could answer, the bus unexpectedly stopped in its tracks. Looking out of the dusty, scratched window, they saw a monstrous traffic jam before them.

    There were cars ahead of them for miles, yet there were no sounds; no purr of an engine, no beep of any horn, no music coming from a radio. Because they were on the top deck of a double-decker bus, they could partly see into the car ahead of then, and there were no lights from the instruments on the dashboard, no movement in the seats. The scene ahead looked quite eerie. The streetlamps along the road were turned off, and there were no headlights turned on at all – no even on the bus. In fact, even the gentle vibration of the windows that is common on bus’ was absent.

    “This is weird.” Commented Maxi, staring out into the seemingly lifeless sea of cars in front of the bus. There was a vicious growl in the distance, followed by a scream that was cut short abruptly. Arisu gasped.

    “What was that?” she asked, voice shaking slightly.

    “I dunno…maybe we should go downstairs, talk to the driver, y’know?” answered George. He gripped Maxi’s hand and pulled him to his feet, preparing to go downstairs. He was quickly followed by Iain and Raito, Arisu remained in her seat, her long purple hair obscuring her face.

    “Its just so dead out there – I can’t see anyone.” She whispered. She pulled her glasses off and strained her eyes, as if the glass which helped her see was playing tricks on her. Maxi gripped her hand and pulled her into a hug.

    “It’ll be alright, I swear.” He promised. It was then that the man whom they had forgotten about, spoke up.

    “Umm,” said the man from the back of the bus “Maybe we should just stay here – I can see all the crs behind us, and they look as lifeless as the ones in front. And uhm…I’m Danny.” He stood up straight and walked quickly towards them. He was quite young, around twenty-six or so, and wore dark blue jeans and a blue checkered shirt with a black skinny tie. His expression was sombre.

    “No way – we need to find out what happened. George, lead the way.” said Raito, who also introduced them all. George glared at Raito, and mumbled grumpily, but descended the stairs slowly. All of them followed, Maxi still hugging Arisu, Danny last in line – curiosity got the better of him. There was no light on downstairs in the bus, so they got their phones out and used them as torches.

    There was flesh hanging from the ceiling, and pools of blood on the floor. The other passengers had been ripped open and chunks of organs thrown across the bus. A mans head was lying just near the stairs, its tongue lolling out. Bloody hand prints were scattered on the windows, along with a fair amount of what looked like stomach and liver. Sitting in the corner feasting amongst the remains of a bus user, was the bus driver, growling and spitting at the six living bodies that just entered. Arisu screamed, while Danny and George were sick. Iain grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth. Raito and Maxi stood there – stunned. The bus driver cocked his head and bared his teeth – analysing them. Slowly, the group moved backwards, Arisu sobbing into Iains chest. Letting out a snarl, the bearded bus driver stood up, blood and meat dripping from his lips. He charged at them, and they scrambled up the stairs. Danny fell, and the bus driver grabbed his leg and tried to bite it, gnashing his teeth. Danny kicked out, and pulled a small lighter from his pocket, he lit it, and held it to the zombie’s face. The zombie screamed, enraged, and lunged for Danny’s throat. Maxi and George grabbed Danny’s arms and dragged him backwards, while Iain and Raito kicked the bus driver in the face, and Arisu shoved him. He stumbled a little further down the stairs, and George and Maxi kicked at his legs and punched him in the face. The zombie fell all the way, and George, Maxi, Iain, Raito and Arisu hurried back up and blocked the staircase with some seats Danny had torn down. They all collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily.

    “Oh my God! What the hell!” shouted Raito, “What was that thing?! It ate the other passengers!”

    “I don’t know! It looked like a…like a …like a zombie.” replied Maxi. Everyone sat in stunned silence as the contemplated the possibility. The growls from the zombie below could still be heard. Tears rolled down Arisu’s cheeks and they all remained quiet. Maxi buried his head in George’s chest and Iain gripped Arisu’s hand. Danny held his head in his hands, and Raito leaned against a seat. They could now smell the blood, metallic and sweet, even taste it on the still air.

    From outside came the sounds of thousands of feet pounding into the earth, running. One by one, they all stood up at peered out of the window. Racing towards them on all sides was a crowd of thousands and thousands of ruthless zombeis. They must have been attracted by the light and the noise. Still Arisu, Danny, Iain, Maxi, George and Raito did nothing but stare in fear. The undead reached the bus and started hitting it, it was tipping slowly now. Still no words were exchanged.

    Falling…falling. The bus cut through the air as it fell, crushing hundreds of zombies, but more still came, breaking through the windows in their bid to get human flesh.

    There wasn’t even a scream in the end.