by Sara Clancy
The engine groaned in protest as Dorothy proceeded to force it through a flooded road. It looked as if they were passing through a boggy lake, one that was quickly rising as the water trailed down the slope to pool into it. Muddy waters sloshed around the wheels as the lake pooled around the bus, making it buoyant for moments at a time before the tires could find the ground again. Her mother increased the speed, surging the bus fast through the stream, desperate to get out before they were stranded completely.
Then Benton snapped up, his attention focused on the windshield as he lunged towards Dorothy. In that split second, Nicole could see the woman. Encrusted in filth from head to toe, standing knee deep in the churning water. The woman didn’t move a muscle as the bus barreled down upon her. Dorothy slammed on the breaks. Hysterical screams rang in Nicole’s ears as she was thrown forward. She whammed into the seat before her, her wounded arm trapped between her coming body and the unmovable slab. Hot pain blinded her, and water sloshed around the locked wheels of the bus, making it skid forward. It fishtailed well past the point where the woman had been standing and jolted violently as it found traction again. Nicole was shoved back into her seat as the bus climbed up the hill a few feet and lurched to a stop.
Panting heavily, Nicole glanced around. The dim light within the bus brightened as person after person pulled out their mobile phones. When they first switched their flashlights on, the stark glow only brightened their look of shock and horror. Then, one by one, the lights were plastered against the windows of the bus. In the turmoil, Nicole could only pick up on shards of conversations. It was enough to know that they were looking for the woman. The woman they had just run down. They saw her too, the thought hit Nicole like a branding iron, and she spun around to face Benton.
He wasn’t looking back at her. His eyes were locked on her mother as he purposefully shook his head; short, decisive movements that could be mistaken for tremors of shock. But Dorothy saw it, and a moment of recognition crossed her face before she popped open an overhead compartment and pulled out a flashlight. She’s going out there. Nicole was on her feet before the realization had fully formed in her mind.
“Mom!” she yelled as she scrambled out over Danny’s lap. “Mom!”
Theodore and Cheyanne were already trying to calm everyone down. The aisle was narrow and it wasn’t hard for the two adults to effectively block her path.
“Everyone, settle down,” Dorothy said with calm authority. “Now, I’m sure it was just a trick of the light. I’m going to check it out, but I need everyone to remain where they are.”
Benton was still shaking his head. He tried to get to his feet more than once, but each time he slumped back into his chair, shivering and drained. It made a new spark of fear flicker through Nicole and she pushed forward again. This time, Theodore grabbed her arm.
“You need to listen to your mother and go sit down,” Theodore said. “We’ll take care of this.”
“I’ll sit next to Benton,” she replied quickly.
Cheyanne narrowed her eyes with annoyance. “For once, just be cooperative.”
“For once, look what you’re doing to your son.”
In a small miracle, her voice came out strong, devoid of the jittering nerves that often hid under her skin. But it took a lot more fortitude to hold the woman’s gaze. Eventually, after what had felt like a small eternity, Cheyanne said in a dark hushed voice.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The doors folded open with a whoosh. Icy wind raced inside, bringing with it a near solid stream of rain. Between the two adults, Nicole spotted her mother heading down the small steps, her flashlight doing little against the shadows. Nicole nearly pushed Theodore into a seat as she forced her way passed and outright ran to her mother.
“Mom!”
Dorothy looked up to see her daughter at the very front of the bus. Nicole gripped the back of the front seat and forced herself to a stop.
“Don’t go out there,” she pleaded through panted breaths.
“I have to,” Dorothy said, with obvious reluctance.
“This is a situation where you listen to Benton,” Nicole whispered, in a hush, and loosely gestured to the boy by her side. He was still shaking his head as if this was the only warning he could offer. “It’s Allison.”
“But what if it’s not?” Dorothy asked. “I can’t just drive away when someone could need medical help.”
“Then let me come with you,” Nicole begged.
Dorothy rejected the idea and, before Nicole could protest, held up her hand and whispered, “Have you got it?”
Nicole knew exactly what she meant and shifted just a little to feel the solid push of the handgun against her spine.
“Yes.”
“Close the door and don’t open it for anyone but me.” Her eyes flickered across the still, stunned crowed before she added. “Keep Benton safe.”
And with that, Nicole watched her mother walk out into the raging night. The thin beam of her flashlight danced across the windows as she headed to the back of the bus. It was almost a physical pain to obey her mother’s order, but Nicole forced herself to scramble back up to the driver’s seat and pull the lever.
The doors snapped shut, closing off the encroaching wind and her mother’s main escape route. She wanted to rush back to the stairs, and plaster herself against the glass and search for any trace of her mother. Instead, she remained where she was, sitting in the driver’s seat with her fingers clasped around the lever handle. Across the aisle, Benton shifted closer to the window and strained his neck trying to look. His whole body was shaking and she was sure she could hear his teeth rattling amid the bedlam.
“Can you see her?” Nicole asked.
Benton shook his head but didn’t stop looking. A rolling tide of thunder crossed over them. It shook the windows and pressed on already frail nerves. Nicole had been so fixated on the door that she hadn’t noticed Meg approaching, until she slid into the space beside Benton. He seemed just as surprised, but after sparing her a passing glare, continued his search of the world beyond the bus.
“What did you see?” Meg asked. She kept her voice low and Nicole could barely hear her over the pounding rain and worried chatter.
Benton’s only response was to pull the blankets around himself a little tighter.
“Come on, you would have had an unobstructed view,” Meg pressed. “Did you see a woman? I swear I saw this woman standing right in the middle of the road. She didn’t even try to get out of the way.”
“Why did my parents let you up here?” Benton asked, with a stuttering whisper.
Meg looked startled. The expression mystified Nicole. That kind of dismissive remark littered most of their conversations. But then she realized; that was the exact moment that her friend noticed just how badly Benton was fairing.
Before Meg could decide which line of questioning to pursue, a noise weaved its way through the wind. The chatter on the bus instantly died down as people strained to hear it again. It wasn’t that the sound was loud or commanding that it drew attention, but it was how out of place it was.
Giggling. Someone was laughing. Not a happy, carefree kind of laugh. This was a cackle. High and fast, and echoing in on itself like a metal chamber. Malicious. Deranged.
Nicole nearly stopped breathing, and it didn’t seem like she was the only one. Within seconds, the bus had fallen into an apprehensive silence. They waited. The wind rushed over the sides of the bus and whistled through the few trees that surrounded them. Water babbled and bucked as it ran down the incline creating more puddles. Nicole’s skin crawled. Thunder snapped somewhere in the distance and Nicole turned back to Benton to see recognition fueling his eyes. Slowly, carefully, she stood up to remove her jacket. Discursion be damned. She didn’t want anything between her and the handle of her gun.
A deathly scream broke the silence as something came crashing down on top of the bus. The metal dented under the assault, and the teens par
ted as they threw themselves down. All other sound died amid the cackling roar. It streaked past the window, passing from one side to the next in a second. Everyone lurched to get away from it, but it always beat them to the other side of the bus. The demented sound chased them down until it seemed to come from all sides at once.
In a sudden burst of energy, Benton sprang up from his seat and hurdled over Meg to get into the aisle.
“Open the door!” he commanded, but Nicole was already rushing to do so.
“No!” Theodore’s bellow was soon joined by a chorus of others.
“My mom is out there!” Nicole blared out as she grabbed the lever.
With a speed Nicole would never have guessed, Cheyanne lurched forward. Her hand closed over Nicole’s on the lever and kept it solidly in place.
“You can close it after I get out there!” Nicole said, in an outcry, as she forced her weight against the lever.
The folding door creaked open just a little, just enough for a burst of frigid air to slip through the gap. Some had begun to pound on the glass, trying to draw Dorothy’s attention. Nicole could only see the movement of her flashlight shifting aimlessly across the darkness.
“Mom!” Nicole screamed as loud as she could. “Get in here!”
“She’s around the back!” Zack yelled, in response as he smacked his fist against the glass again.
The laughter grew louder as it rushed towards them. Nicole realized, an instant too late, that it was racing towards the front of the bus. The impact made the bus slope backwards a few feet. The breaks strained. Even while being braced, Nicole couldn’t keep herself from toppling, grasping for the dash to keep herself on her feet. Hysteria rampaged through the bus like wildfire. The noise was deafening and Nicole almost missed Zack’s frantic bellow.
“She’s under the bus!”
Caught in a state of shock, Cheyanne didn’t put up resistance as Nicole cranked the lever. The door hurled open and Nicole leaped into the pouring rain before anyone could stop her. She didn’t need to look back to know that Benton was half a step behind, followed by a few others. Those that remained on the bus plastered their phones to the glass once more, creating tiny shafts of light that lit out in all directions. Nicole focused on the beam of her mother’s flashlight. It broke free of the murky pool of water that now grounded the back wheel of the mini bus.
Even in his near broken state, Benton was fast. Spurred on by adrenaline, he easily overtook her and rushed into the floodwater without hesitation. He was already blindly groping the obsidian depths before anyone could catch up. With a bellow that was more sound than words, he dropped to his knees and dragged Dorothy back to the surface. It was an awkward angle and her mother didn’t seem to have the strength to keep her head up on her own. Benton slipped deeper into the icy water, positioning himself behind her so he could keep her afloat. Water careened down the road and against their heads making the puddle swell high and the tires slide. The bus rolled a little back, and Dorothy screamed in agony.
“The wheel’s on my leg!”
Nicole could see Benton’s strength was draining fast as she waded through the puddle. The water was only as high as her knees, but by the time Nicole was behind the bus, the water lapped against her thighs and her body shook. Joined by the others, Nicole pressed her shoulder against the flat end of the bus and shoved. They could force it up a little before the breaks engaged. She didn’t see who spoke, but someone reached up and slapped their hand against the glass, yelling for whoever was inside to release the brake.
Having already taken the weight, the bus didn’t rock back far. But the slight movement was enough to force a horrific, bone-crunching scream from her mother. The cluster of people around her continued to push and slowly the bus began to inch up. That was when the giggling returned.
It swirled around them, drawing nearer with every loop. People struck the glass above them in rapid bursts, trying to warn the others of what instinct alone would tell. Rain poured down the side of the bus, drenching the metal and making it slippery. The laughter came from all around, until it echoed within her head. Nicole’s body trembled in strain and fear. Inch by excruciating inch, the mini bus was pushed up the hill.
“She’s free!” Benton’s words were almost lost under Nichole’s mother’s sharp cry, and the demonic laughter.
A boy next to her reached up and slammed a hand against the window. The body of the bus jerked and rocked as the breaks were reengaged. Some had already begun to scatter back to the bus, while the vehicle lurched again. Nicole glanced up. Heavy rains impacted her vision and she blinked against the water to see the shape perched upon the very edge of the bus roof. It was only a few inches above her head yet was still shrouded by the ebony clouds. But its eyes weren’t. Twin pinpricks of glowing red burned like embers within the darkness. She stared at it and it stared back. Rows of milky white fangs glistened with blood in the weak light as it opened its mouth and laughed.
Spinning on her heels, Nicole sprinted through the water as fast as she could. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see two of the bigger boys lunging up onto the bus, Dorothy holding on to both of them. Most were back on board with the others cramming their way inside. But Benton was slower, his body failing under the strain. His knees buckled and the cackling creature swooped. Without thought, Nicole pulled her weapon, aimed it a good foot over Benton’s back, and fired.
The sharp crack brought new screams that smothered any sound the demon might have made. She couldn’t tell if she had hit it. But it had soared back up into the blackened sky. She lost sight of it within the clouds as she raced to Benton’s side. He blindly reached for her and didn’t protest as she yanked him roughly onto his feet.
His skin was as cold as an arctic wind as he pressed against her side and he swayed more than once. But he kept pace with her, forcing his body to respond to her demands. Nicole’s fingers tightened around the handle of her gun as she kept one eye on the sky and one on the small opening of light they were headed towards. Hands reached out from the depths of the bus. They latched onto both her and Benton the second they were within reach and hurled them inside. The door swung shut just as the cackling materialized once more.
Slumped against the small staircase, Nicole and Benton struggled to catch their breaths. Every heartbeat throbbed within her throat and she could practically feel her body heat being sucked into Benton, where he lay beside her. She didn’t check to see who pulled her up onto her feet. She was just glad that they did. Clutching onto one of the chairs for support, she called for someone to grab her backpack and the first-aid kit within. Dozens of questions circulated around as the group crammed together, each voice turning into a shriek as something unseen slammed into the bus.
With the shifting light of the mobile phones, Nicole saw her mother’s leg. It was swollen and raw, the skin scraped away with part of a protruding bone visible.
“It’s okay, mom,” Nicole said as she snatched up the first-aid kit. “I’ll get you fixed up.”
“No, let someone else do it,” Dorothy grunted. Nicole’s words died on her tongue when she saw the sheer terror in her mother’s diluted pupils. “Get us the hell out of here!”
Chapter 10
Benton hunched his shoulders from the cold and jogged the few last steps to Nicole’s motel room door. His feet were heavy and drawing air was near painful, but the shower had helped him regain a little of his warmth. Of course, his new clothes were soaking wet and with his previous outfit, now in a Walmart bathroom, he had been forced back into the clothes he had worn on the trip here. They were still damp and a deathly chill clung to them, even as the thick layer of his raincoat trapped in a rising humidity.
A mild quiver overtook him as he pulled himself up onto the small deck outside of Nicole’s room. Something inside him shifted and his skin prickled with the sensation of being watched. Slowly, he turned and swept his gaze across the parking lot. It was easy to see the rooms that housed their groups. Every possible ligh
t at their disposal was turned on and a luminous glow glistened on the growing puddles. The wind bent the treetops into sharp angles, and the whole place just felt soggy.
A shiver rushed in the pit of his stomach as a car turned off the highway and made its way across the lot. He used the light of its high beams to check the darker shadows, but still couldn’t see anything. The car inched down to a crawl as it passed him and his brow furrowed. That’s the same car, his mind whispered. The one he had seen in the hotel parking lot last week. The simple sedan that made something rise and hiss in the back of his mind. It was too dark inside to see anyone.
Benton was startled out of his trance from the door behind him flinging open. With an annoyed huff, Nicole reached out, grabbed him by the back of his raincoat, and yanked him inside. The room’s thermostat had been cranked up and the air now carried a near tropical heat. Just like his shower, it felt great on his skin, but did little to warm his bones.
“You’re going to catch your death of cold out there,” Nicole chastised before adding in a secretive tone. “How are you parents?”
“Rattled. They really don’t like you.”
“I saved your life!”
“You did. And I am very grateful,” he said as he flopped down on the end of her bed. “But they can’t really acknowledge that without admitting that I was attacked by a flying monster. It’s easier to just focus on you having a gun.”
“This is getting ridiculous,” Nicole complained as she locked and relocked the door. “Maybe I should make them a punt cake.”
There was a lot about Nicole that, given time and exposure, Benton could understand. But her obsession for getting everyone to like her would forever be lost to him.
Confident that the locks were in place, she crossed the room and sat down next to him. “So how did you get out?”
