Hell's Children: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller by John L. Monk Page A

things he was doing wrong. Eventually, though, he got the bus moving.
    Not hard at all , he thought, feeling confident.
    When he arrived at an intersection and turned right, he knocked out a stop sign, and the back right wheel bumped up over the curb. Lisa, who’d been standing beside him, stumbled down the stairs and crashed hard against the doors.
    “Lisa!” Jack yelled and slammed to a stop.
    He rushed to help her, noting she’d scraped her cheek. Her shirt had pulled up a little from where she’d slid, and there were scratches along her side.
    “For the love of …” she said in a pained voice. “Help me up.”
    He reached down and grasped her hand. “Are you okay?”
    “I think so,” she said, inspecting her bruised elbow. “This stupid bus is like a giant, rolling building. You need to plan ahead when you turn like that. Go wider.”
    “I know, I’m sorry.” He felt like dirt for hurting his friend. “A hundred times, I’m sorry.”
    Ahead of them, Pete got out of the car and shook his head, then got back in. Then, inexplicably, he left them there and kept driving.
    “Where the hell’s he going?” Lisa said.
    Jack frowned. “No idea, but he shouldn’t just take off like that.”
    She snorted quietly. “Take him on a bus ride. That’ll teach him.”
    At her little joke, he felt a wave of relief. If she could joke, she couldn’t have been hurt too badly.
    Lisa worked her elbow and winced briefly in pain. When Jack opened his mouth to apologize again, she leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips.
    “I’m fine. Now, shut up and get us back.”
    She went to one of the seats and buckled in.
    Why did she do that?
    Jack’s heart thudded in his chest. He could barely think, let alone drive. But if he didn’t do something, she’d know how rattled he was and lose all respect for him.
    “You gotta release the air brakes, remember?” she said, voice dripping with bratty amusement.
    “Yep!” he said, and pulled out the little knob, bringing a loud hiss of air.
    There weren’t any more stop sign incidents, and he handled the turns much better, though he’d had to back up once for a second approach. When they pulled into Rolling Meadows, he drove the bus back behind the complex so it wasn’t visible from the street. The fewer people who knew they were leaving, the better.
    Before shutting down, Lisa showed him the wires he had to disconnect to stop the engine—different than the two she’d used to start it, and which were now wrapped in black electrical tape.
    “I’m all out of twisty connectors,” she said.
    “What if we keep the wires connected all the time, then just hit that big red button in the back?”
    She nodded. “I forgot about that. Next time.”
    When they got to the Welcome Center, Pete acted like he hadn’t abandoned them out there with a possibly disabled vehicle and no easy way to return home. It drove home the realization they needed more drivers.
    Jack went looking for Brad and found him sitting in the party room near the fire feeding his brother.
    “Hey man,” the older boy said at his approach.
    “Hey. I was just wondering: have you ever driven before?”
    “Nope. Why?”
    “Because we need more people than Greg and Pete who know how.” He smiled to put him at ease. “If I can drive a bus, you can drive a car. In fact, going forward, we need backups for everything we learn.”
    Brad nodded. “Makes sense. I can show Tony how to use that gun of his without shooting himself.”
    Jack shook his head. “Leave that to me. I’ll set up a class like the one I took with my parents. Speaking of guns: you ever do any hunting?”
    “Once, with my dad and one of his friends. We didn’t shoot anything, though. Tell you the truth, I was pretty happy about that. I hate killing anything. Even spiders.”
    Jack smiled. “Yeah, me too. But we’re going to have to hunt. You’re big and strong, and you’re at least safety conscious. If I show you how to field dress a