Clare waited as they each clambered onto the bus and picked their various spots. She checked each of the buses systems one after the other, each of the failing to activate as she had guessed. Beside her ‘Old Mac’ pulled the doors closed, the hydraulics obviously also tied into the electronics just like everything else. “Thanks” she said absently as she continued what she was doing, only marginally surprised to find that the designers of the bus hadn’t decided to tie absolutely everything including the basic driving functions to the electronics system. With a quick flick of her wrist Claire pulled the Skeleton-Jack and drove the point into the steering column’s key slot, waiting a few brief moments before turning the ignition and saying out loud “Well here goes…” mostly to herself. 

As she turned the key the engine screeched to life quickly and without a struggle, the sound of the engine echoing through the mostly deserted bus station feeling almost like a forgotten noise to her. Running her hands along the steering wheel slowly she took a few moments before turning in the seat and shouting just loud enough so they could all hear “Okay boys and girls, grab on to something if you can.”

With that she began to reverse the bus slowly out of its covered spot and into the clearing alongside several of the destroyed buses, slowly getting a feel for the bus and its capabilities. Surprisingly it was slow and somewhat jolty and handled like… well, like a bus - far from the usual high performance vehicles that she preferred to drive. Pulling forwards she was forced to move very slowly several times as she carefully avoided some shards of wreckage or other random piece of debris for fear of piercing one of the tires or something which could otherwise severely hamper their progress. She gritted her teeth slightly as she realised that most of the roads would have the same issues, though at least she would be able to pick up some level of speed wherever they were clear – especially the further they moved away from the city centre. She tapped the fuel gauge several times as she drove, trying to get a judge on how much juice they had left before it cut out, but the needle just sat at empty, meaning that the tank would have precious little left within it. Hopefully once they reached the outskirts of the city and surrounding area then there would be either other vehicles or maybe even a petrol station that hadn’t been syphoned off, something they could use to get them the last leg of the trip to the solar tower. 

As she drove she made sure to take care, the large and bulky vehicle almost seeming to have a bit of a mind of its own. Aside from the occasional nudge against a vehicle that was blocking their way she managed to keep everything smooth and without incident. Occasionally there was a car or other vehicle that was blocking their path, but it was easy enough for one or more of them to hop out of the bus and force their way into whatever was blocking their way before releasing the hand-brake and rolling it out of the way. It became clear that in some places they passed that there had been what looked like riots or at least very thorough vandalism. At one point they passed what had once been a large housing estate, the entire area reduced to nothing more than ashes and burnt out remains – obviously a serious fire had broken out, and without the fire department functioning it had gutted the entire area unchallenged before burning itself out, undoubtedly killing hundreds in the process. 

As she went she kept to herself as some of the others in the back talked amongst themselves. That was until suddenly a voice beside her almost made her jump, away in a world of her own as her thoughts raced. Turning she saw the grinning face of MacIntyre, obviously slightly entertained that he had startled her. 

“Jesus Mac” she said turning her eyes quickly back to the road “You’re lucky I didn’t send us headfirst into a wall, startling me with an ugly mug like yours.”

John grinned again slightly at the jest before a more serious look fell upon his face, the older man obviously had been watching her slightly as she battled with her dark thoughts and tried to push away several memories. It was clear at each sign of destruction that they passed that she was effected in some way or another, and if John had to guess he’d say she’d seen some pretty terrible things in her time. 

“You know” he began taking a seat in the closest one to her “I was in the army once, have been in intelligence ever since. I’ve probably been to quite a few of the war –zones you fought in, maybe we’ve even exchanged rounds once or twice.”

She knew he was kidding really, he had likely been in service long before she had even left her parents – he was just trying to reassure her and maybe even make a new friend, after all he had said that his speciality was with people. As an intelligence operative she was sure he’d know more than enough about the countless atrocities that had been committed by some of the mega-corps and states over the years. 

She briefly glanced at the man’s face, he seemed sincere and genuine enough, so she decided what the hell. “I just never thought that this kind of shit would happen here of all places you’know?” she asked referring to the United Kingdom in general “It’s always been safe, secure, far away from the frontlines. People here don’t know how to protect themselves or their families.” 

She paused deciding against continuing, she had nothing positive or pleasant to say and so decided that it was best to keep her thoughts to herself. 

The older man sighed slightly and responded “Of course you’re right about that, but there isn’t much that can be done. You just have to remember that here we are, doing what we can to help. This mission is important, if we succeed then it means the first line of emergency services can start running again and helping people. From there I’m sure that more and more utilities will be recovered and who knows, we may even get to the bottom of who is behind this whole thing.”