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He hung in midair, frozen in time. The crack in the ground from the earthquake had cut a rift between us and the bus driver and in a last ditch attempt to avoid being swallowed he had jumped across the chasm towards the open door of the bus. My heart was in my throat as I saw him sail through the air, eyes wide, arms outstretched, and then...
BAM!
His aim had been true and the adrenaline coursing through his veins had been enough to get him over the gap and onto the steps of the bus!
“Hold on!!!” I shouted at him.
There wasn't time to dwell on his impressive jump across the gap. I mashed my foot down on the gas pedal and the bus roared forward, pulling away from the ever widening hole in the earth without a moment to spare. As I sped back onto the main road I could see the convenience store disappearing into the hole in the ground.
“D-d-do you know how to drive this thing?” asked the bus driver. He was pulling himself up the steps, hand over hand, his face ghostly white from the harrowing experience he had just had.
“Well,” I answered. “It has a gas pedal and a steering wheel, so I guess I'm qualified to drive it!”
Truthfully though, I had no interest in driving this bus, or any other vehicle for that matter, right now. The ground was still shaking and I could see other gaps opening up in the earth much like the one we had just escaped!
“Noob!” Pete was yelling at me again. “The road! It's breaking apart!”
He wasn't wrong. The earthquake was causing huge chunks of the road to split apart and jut out in different directions! Driving through the earthquake was bad enough, but this was taking it to a whole different level! I swerved left then careened right, weaving in and around the enormous chunks of earth that were rising and falling around me. Everyone in the bus was shouting and screaming. Some were trying to offer advice, others were merely pleading for their lives, but it all swirled into a mindless babbling soup in my ears. I tuned it all out and did my best to focus on keeping us alive.
WHAM!!!!
The chunk of asphalt came out of nowhere. One instant it was a flat piece of road, and the next it rose out of the ground like the Phoenix and blindsided the bus, throwing us onto our side. Everyone inside was tossed like ragdolls onto the interior side of the bus which now was skidding along the road at a frightful speed. I had been driving close to eighty miles an hour when the unexpected piece of road had struck us, and now we sliding on our side down the road at the same speed. I struck my head when I was thrown from the driver's seat, and my head was swimming. Still, I managed to look forward and see that we were sliding straight for a large crack in the earth.
I was helpless to do anything and I knew I was going to die. I closed my eyes and let everything fade to black.