Fragments Chapter 22 Page 33

The smouldering and warped remnants of the bus cradle a blast area the size of a house. The explosion having either flattened or shredded everything around. The road would be clear for cars to pass now only an entire section of the bridge is missing. At the blasts epicentre a gap of about two meters wide looks down to the swampy estuary below and black scorch marks signify where bodies once stood. There is no way to know how many were dead or missing.

Steve stands looking through the gap between both halves of the bus as the surviving members of the swarm, the ones not killed or knocked unconscious, struggle to stand. Their legs shaking with their feeble attempts to recover from the blast.

Bodies without limbs and patches of skin stagger and fall back to the