Chapter 3 - Red Line Crossing
Thomas snatched the leather bag, the money, and the phone from the sink, his mind racing through years of emergency transit protocol—none of which prepared him for this. He hurried back to the door where Lily stood clutching her little hands together, her wide hazel eyes watching him with complete trust.
""Is Mama coming back?"" she asked, looking up past his uniform coat.
""We need to get on the bus right now, Lily,"" Thomas replied, keeping his voice steady and calm despite the dread knotting in his stomach. He lifted her into his arms. She weighed almost nothing, her small head resting naturally against his shoulder.
He crossed the platform in long, urgent strides. Stepping aboard Bus 402, he flipped the pneumatic door switch. The heavy glass doors hissed shut and locked into place with a mechanical thud. He placed Lily in the front passenger seat directly behind the safety barrier and buckled the oversized lap belt around her waist.
""Sit low, sweetheart. Don't stand up until I tell you,"" he instructed.
Before he could reach the driver's seat, two sets of high beams swept across the platform from the access road. A black SUV barreled into the empty bus terminal, gravel spitting from under its tires as it slid to a halt directly across the bus’s path, blocking the exit ramp.
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Thomas felt the hair on the back of his neck bristle. Through the windshield of the SUV, tinted dark against the twilight, he saw two silhouettes. One of the passenger doors flew open, and a man in a dark utility jacket stepped out, adjusting a radio on his shoulder.
Thomas sat behind the large steering wheel, dropped the transmission into drive, and gripped the air brake lever. The radio unit on his dashboard crackled with unexpected static, followed by an automated tone from the central depot dispatch: All units, lockdown protocol active. Stand by.
