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Louise heard a shout “Hey, asshole!”

A , face bunched up, dried shaving creaive the bus driver hell

A horn honked, and another, and then a cacophony of horns

The light was green

Louise took her foot off the brake and at that instant felt a concussive shock, her ears ringing as she saw the roof of the school bus explode violently upward

Chunks of burning lass shrapnel, shot out in all directions faster than gunfire A mushroom cloud like that of a small A-bomb formed above the bus, and the box-shaped vehicle became a fireball Oily smoke colored the air

Louise saw the blue van in the lane to the left of the bus bloom with flame, then blacken in front of her eyes

No one got out of the van!

And now the blaze rushed at the silver Caas tank blew, and fire danced over the car, consu flames

The bunch-faced man pulled hier-sidehad been His shirt was gone His hair was black frizz The skin of his face was draped over his collarbone like tissue paper

Louise recoiled in horror, grappled with her door handle as fire lapped at the hood of her Volvo The car door opened and the heat rushed in

That’s when she saw the skin of her own arlove turned inside out Louise couldn’t hear the businessh her ears had been plugged ax Her vision was all dancing spots and blurry shapes

And then she was sucked down into a well of black

Two

MY PARTNER, RICH CONKLIN, was at the wheel of our un my coffee when I felt the concussion