4 Hell Column (2/2)

”Mom, what's going on? Is this big fire going to hurt us?”

'We are wasting time.'

”Next time try to grumble in a low voice.”

”I'm sorry, I guess you didn't come to me without a plan?”

'A plan, a plan! Are you kidding me? Everyone should have thought about it, I'm just going to point out the obvious.'

”We are playing our lives there, right?”

'What is he trying to say? Let's just play his game.'

”Yeah.”

”So what you're going to do is smash this wooden protection. It's the only thing that delimits the highway. Even a car could easily cross it, it's just a formality with your bus. Then you go around by another road.”

The problem with formulating a plan is that there are often disagreements. It only takes one person to make things complicated.

A terrified middle-aged man went to join Lazar and the driver of the bus at the front. He shouted so that everyone could hear him before the driver could say anything.

”We will not do that! I will never let a kid decide for everyone! If we get off the road there will be much more chance that one of our tires will burst than anything else...

He then pointed the column. You can see that this thing continues for several minutes now. I say we are waiting for the end of the traffic jam and we leave normally. Do you see someone breaking down the barrier? No! Because it's a dumb idea.”

'Oh shit.'

It now seemed certain to Lazar that everyone will choose the easy way out that asshole had just offered.

”He's right, the cars in the front are already moving!”

”Yes, let's wait!”

'We have advanced barely 15 yards in the last 10 minutes. You only have to look around to see that a quarter of the people preferred to take out their smartphones to take selfies instead of moving their car... It will take a while to convince him with words. He stinks fear, I will have to use the one thing he'll understand right away.'

Lazar put his hand near the handle of his blade and walked towards the man in question while he was still pulling the other passengers together to convince them to wait.

But, he changed his mind. He realized that the flame pillar wasn't here anymore.

He couldn't justify what he was about to do if the source of the fear of the passengers had disappeared.

This reversal of situation had the merit of making regrowth a pair of balls to the man that Lazar had targeted.

A few seconds ago he was trembling with his whole body and the only thing that had helped him to convince the other passengers of rallying to his cause was his uncontrollable fear of getting stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire while all the other cars were fleeing from imminent danger and passed right before him, condemning him. But it turned out that his act, which he believed to be selfish himself had saved him and the others and that he had been right to want to wait since there was no longer any imminent danger.

He began to boast in front of the fool who had almost put them in shit according to him and that under the applause of almost all passengers.

”You see kid! I told you, we just have to wait!”

But the boy in question didn't seem disposed to hear the critics. He was lying on a whole row of the bus and was still staring at the window.

The flame column of a minute ago had given way to a huge crater...

'What the hell is he doing! There is nothing left to see.'

Suddenly he straightened up and shouted at the bus driver.

”SMASH THIS FUCKING BARRIER !”

Furious at being ignored and not wanting the boy to screw everything up, the man tried to regain control of the situation.

”Didn't you hear what we just said...”

The time was no longer for dialogue. Lazar kicked the guy who was about to make them lose precious seconds in the head so that he found himself against another window.

The driver ultimately decided to pass through that damn barrier.

Lazar then began to stare at the crater and pointed at it so that each passenger could see what was going on.

Earlier hadn't taken the fact that the flame column disappeared for a good thing, he started to stare at the crater in search of a detail or something weird. After a while, he saw them. It was way more than a simple detail, even hundreds of yards away he couldn't be wrong.

Hundreds and hundreds of hands on the edge of the crater.

Only a few seconds had passed since the driver had restarted the engine and what Lazar and the other passengers were seeing was nothing but a vision from hell. Dozens of vaguely humanoid-looking creatures with partially burnt skin were running in their direction with the sole desire to massacre them.