Page 5 of Dead End

The wolves were howling still, growing louder, and I shivered because the road veered off soon, as we’d be headed for a small road that ran through the orchard and over a small canal street. This section of road at night always gives me the creeps.

The moon cast an eerie orange glow into the fog that covered the road as far as I could see. It billowed between the cornstalks we passed and slithered up the pole of one of Farmer Orson’s many scarecrows, making it look like it was smiling at the bus as we slowly drove by. I didn’t know if it was just the fact that it was Halloween night that was spooking me out, but there was a weird sort of electric charge in the air. I felt like my blood was crackling and my skin itched. I couldn’t wait for this night to be over. I just wanted to curl up on the couch with Mads and watch some horror movies until I passed out.

I shot off a quick text to Auntie Pip, letting her know we were about five miles outside of town. I’d parked my car behind the college, and I wasn’t looking forward to the long trek through the dark to get it. Especially when I was still feeling creepy vibes from Frank’s words rattling around in my head.

The bus jolted to the side suddenly, and I flew forward, grappling for the seat in front of me before my face hit it first. Everyone was awake now, as several loud thumps hit the outside of the bus. People were shouting and struggling to stand, trying to figure out what was going on.

“What was that?” someone yelled from the front in panic.

Were we crashing? I righted myself and grabbed onto Maddie’s hand when she startled awake and sat up with wide eyes.

“What’s going on?” she yelled, her eyes frantically searching in a sleepy daze. “Toby?!” Her fingers squeezed mine tight as she realized something was wrong.

“I don’t know, but grab a hold of something. I think we hit an animal.” I craned my neck to see down the aisle of the bus as we started swerving on the road. That would have been a big fucking animal.

More thuds hit the front, and several people screamed. The orange glow of the moon was instantly obscured by blackness, and the whole bus was shrouded in shadows. The thundering sound grew deafening when the bus began to shake. Maddie and I, like most of the others, scrambled to see out the side window. My eyes widened at what we found. What looked like hundreds of vampire bats were flinging themselves at the side of the bus, the sound of breaking bones echoing through the windows as blood smeared down the sides after they dropped away from the glass. They slammed into us from all sides before falling away and doing it over again. They were swarming so thickly that they obscured the light almost completely.

Many of them hit so hard that, through the blood, spider web-like cracks appeared as if they were going to come smashing through the glass. They just kept coming, and when I looked around, I could see that it was the same for every single window on the bus. I scrambled away from the window, backing into the aisle just as the bus rocked sideways. I flailed, knowing I was about to crash hard into the aisle, but I never made it that far. Hands hooked under my arms, catching me mid-fall, and I heard a low grunt behind me.

I scrambled to sit up, and the strong hands fell away. I looked over my shoulder to find Jason standing there, palms hovering near me, as if ready to catch me if I fell again. Our eyes held, even through the violent rocking of the bus, and something strange passed between us. He’d helped me and saved me from what would have been a nasty fall that could have broken my neck. But why?

I didn’t have time to contemplate, because the next thing I knew, the bus slammed forward roughly, teetering to the side before slamming back down on the asphalt. I heard the screeching of tires on asphalt and more of that sickening thudding and the splattering of the bats hitting the side. Howls still rent the air through the screams that echo in my ears. The world seemed to teeter on its axis for a moment. I screamed, Maddie screamed, and so did everyone else.

This is why all school and charter buses should come equipped with fucking seatbelts. Shit, like this was why. We were going to fucking die, all for a stupid carnival that wasn’t even that fun. I should have driven my own car, but nooo. The carnival grounds didn’t have parking for large crowds. These idle thoughts flooded my brain, but I was pretty sure it was just chatter to keep the terror out. I already hated cars, ever since the accident that took my parents lives, and I had a panic attack each time I got behind the wheel.

The bus never righted itself. In the blink of an eye, we were hurtling sideways, and I felt us tilting downward. The nose of the bus was taking us vertically, so I assumed we were careening down some kind of hillside. People were falling all over the place, their bodies slamming into one another. I tried to grab Maddie’s hand, but I watched in horror as she was ripped away, her body flinging down the bus towards the front.

“Maddie!” I shouted with a desperate cry.

Something hard hit my head, and I realized quickly in a daze that I was plastered against the roof of the bus. The noise was deafening, like the roar of an ocean or an oncoming freight train. All I could see in the darkness were the terrified eyes of the other passengers. There was blood everywhere, and I heard bones cracking, which caused vomit to rise up my throat and guttural screams of agony all around me. I was pretty sure my own scream was mixed in there too, but I couldn’t be sure. It was all happening so fast.

The last thing I remembered, before the sound of shattering glass and bending metal filled my ears, was locking eyes with a pair of familiar green ones filled with so much terror that it was staggering. I heard Norman’s scream just as the darkness crashed over me.

Iblinked my eyes open in what seemed like both one small second and a lifetime later, with nothing but orange surrounding me. My eyes adjusted, and I saw a hazy orange fog floating calmly above me. Beyond that, I could see stars and that massive orange blood moon hovering overhead.

My brain gave me a pulse of pain as I struggled to sit up. I could immediately smell burning rubber and coppery blood in the air as the accident came barreling back into my memory all at once. A sob ripped from my throat, but it ended in a sputtering cough tinged with blood as I toppled onto my hands and knees, my hands sinking into the grass as I crawled. My skin was covered in black soot, and my dress was torn to shreds.

When my ears popped, the sound exploded around me suddenly. I could hear the crackling inferno of the fire blazing in the distance and a cacophony of whimpers from every direction. I was in the middle of a barren field that used to be crops, and all around me were my old classmates, scattered like leaves in the wind, nursing all sorts of horrible wounds that told me some wouldn’t be waking up again. I saw so much blood that I was ready to vomit.

My throat was so thick with smoke that I coughed and gagged as I crawled around, desperately looking for Maddie. I needed to find her. I needed to find her and the guys immediately. Then we needed to get a phone because I must have lost mine in the chaos. In the distance, I saw the bus, torn to shreds, with tendrils of smoke leaking from it. I couldn’t say what compelled me to do it, but suddenly, I knew I had to get to the bus. The urge was overwhelming and all-consuming.

So I crawled hard and fast, pain radiating through my body. I tried to see past the stinging in my eyes and feel past the aches in my joints or the oozing cuts littering my skin. I pulled myself closer to the crumpled pile of metal. So far, I hadn’t seen any dead bodies, but it was pretty hazy out there. I heard plenty of screaming in the air surrounding the crash. I was somewhat glad I couldn’t see completely; there had to be dead bodies scattered around the crash.

I made it to the bus and realized that it was only the back end of it. The rest was completely torn away, and I could see it a little farther down the road, lying on its side with the engine smoking. I frowned at the chaotic scene. I didn’t think we’d been going nearly fast enough for this severe of a wreck. But those bats... It was like they came out of nowhere and targeted the bus specifically.

Ripping my way into the broken cabin, I shuffled torn seats, purses, and personal items out of the way. It was like crawling my way through the apocalypse. It was dark inside, and without the light of the moon to guide me, I was running on instinct. The smell of gasoline was pungent, and something dripped from the roof. I didn’t want to think about what it could be. Frantically, I searched. I moved with tunnel vision, ignoring my own wounds, to find Maddie and the guys. I wasn’t prepared in the slightest for what I found as my world tilted on its axis.

I screamed in rippling agony the moment I spotted Jason’s lifeless gray eyes staring upwards, his jaw slack, and his throat hemorrhaging blood. He was half covered by a torn seat, and a piece of metal stuck right through his abdomen. He was gone. There was no life left in his face. I was screaming as I fought to get to him, shoving things out of the way and repeating his name over and over again, as if he’d pop up and tell me he was okay.

I threw a sheet of what used to be the roof off to the side but staggered back, slicing my hand on a jagged edge of metal. Norman was there, covered in blood and three feet away from Jason. His neck was bent at an odd angle, and his green eyes, which not twenty minutes ago were glaring right into mine, were lifeless.

Oh, god, oh god, what do I do? Don’t fucking leave me!

I managed to find the strength to pull myself up and over the last few seats and immediately gagged, spitting off to the side, when I saw both Freddy and Michael lying there, only five more feet away from where Jason and Norman were. They were dead; there was no question about it. Nobody could survive wounds like that. All four of my oldest friends were gone. It was gruesome. It was wrong and unnatural, something no one should ever have to see in their whole lives. I screamed so loud, I didn’t even sound like me anymore.

This couldn’t be real. It had to be a nightmare. Maybe I fell asleep on the bus, and soon I’d wake up back in Sunset Hollow, everyone safe and unharmed.

But it was real. I could feel it in my bones; all of this was happening. My friends were dead. I was hurt; I didn’t know how bad, and... Maddie! Where the fuck was Maddie?!

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