20160524

Day 750

The lower deck of the bus was crammed, the windows were steamed up with fat droplets of water slowly working their way down in the humid air that barely circulated. A heat haze surrounded everyone, the air vibrated  and thrummed in time with the engine as they travelled down roads that didn't exist on any map and past impossible buildings.

The doors were sealed until each stop, bolted and unbolted by the driver every time a new passenger was due to board. Through trial and error the company found this was the best way to reduce casualties and ensure the majority of passengers arrived to the Safe Zone.

Nobody complained, at least they didn't out loud. The last one to voice a protest (just a simple "I wish they'd open a window - it's too warm in here") had been pushed out in some unnamed No Man's Land between stops, beside an oak tree that grimaced as the bus pulled to a stop. Nobody looked back.

The staircase to the upper deck was sealed in the same way the doors were, an eight inch thick steel plate bolted down each side. The occupants of the deck weren't anything like the ones below. For starters they were human, or at least mostly human while the lower decks were creatures that human minds aren't quite capable of processing. Too many limbs in too little space, voices like thunder that cause eardrums to utterly rupture - that sort of thing.

The decks never mixed, in fact there was a separate driver for the upper deck altogether. He had no wheel to steer by, only a ramp and a drill to unbolt the doors to allow new human passengers to board just as safely as the ones below.

Together, yet apart, the mixed group of beings travelled towards the rumoured Safe Zone, carrying nothing with them but fear of what they'd left behind and the impossible sights they saw along the road ahead.

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