Thomas soon followed, and then Rutger came quickly after, choosing to climb out instead of jumping. The waterfall drenched him as he stepped into the pool.
“Everyone still got ten fingers and ten toes?” Fiya asked, with a slight tilt of a smile.
“Yep!” Liama replied. Her chipperness reminded Fiya of the little duck-billed dinosaur from The Land Before Time, one of her favorite childhood movies.
Thomas sighed. “Please don’t sound too excited, baby. Makes me nervous.”
Rutger patted Thomas’s back and then placed his hand on his shoulder. “I appreciate the guts back there,” Rutger said, smiling softly, “but I should’ve told you earlier that I don’t keep that thing loaded when it’s just lying around.”
Thomas laughed. “Yeah, good to know.” Then he turned to Fiya and said, “Where are the bullets?”
Not saying anything, she thumbed toward her backpack, slung over her shoulders. Thomas nodded in relief. Fiya was relieved that she had grabbed and stashed them there back at the motel. She thought about her luggage, car, and sword case back at the cabin that was now up in flames. She couldn’t stand just leaving her things behind like that but knew the wolves would still be hanging around, just waiting for them to come back. As she waded in the water, she felt the discomfort of her hunting gear, especially when wet.
Rutger went to the edge of the pond with his axe still clutched in hand and turned to face the others. He pointed in the direction where the creek flowed. “This way. We still stick to our previous plan. We’re just on foot until we get to the first stop. It won’t be long before they expand their search radius, especially when they find we aren’t still in the cabin.”
The four stayed close to the creek and moved through the terrain as silently as possible. Rutger felt with the running water, their scent had less chance of getting picked up by the pack, and Fiya concurred. At one point, they heard the sirens of fire trucks in the distance, and soon the black smoke in the sky turned white, indicating the containment of the flames.
When the sunlight fragmented through the trees and glistened off the surface of the creek, Liama was in awe. She’d never seen anything so vibrantly green in California, mostly since they spent most of their time in the cities. The natural beauty of the wilderness was completely foreign to her.
Thomas repeatedly thought that the scenery belonged in a Thomas Kincaid painting. Or good ole’ Bob Ross. It was hard to believe that there could be killer wolf-beasts lurking in such a pretty painting, watching them, waiting to attack.
A few berries caught Liama’s attention, tempting her hunger, and Thomas told her not to touch them because he didn’t know what they were.
“Those are just some chokeberries,” Rutger said, “which are edible by themselves, but the leaves are poisonous.” He paused to make sure they were paying attention to him. “Probably not a good idea, reaching in and grabbing them without gloves.”
Fiya kept checking her phone. She was relieved she placed it in her backpack before the siege but felt shame knowing she didn’t put it on a charger. Since she had two bars, she resent the same message as before, this time to the number that made mention of the bonus pay, hoping for a delivered tag.
“PACNORTH DOWN, NEED BACKUP, PLEASE SEND TROOPS.”
She wanted to type more with all the updated information but needed to see if this attempt went through first. She’d hate to waste all that time typing a long-winded text only to find out it wasn’t going through. A spiraling icon spun and spun until it failed to deliver the message again, and she cursed under her breath. Is it the lack of signal or a hack on her phone that’s blocking her signal?
Then she decided to do something she dreaded: actually try calling them. Talking on the phone had become one of her most exhausting peeves. She hit the phone icon, and it immediately began ringing. It rang twice until it turned into a mesh of static and strange beeps that reminded her of dial-up internet in the ‘90s. Soon, it only fizzed with static. She hung up and cursed again at her phone. Has to be a bug.
Rutger glanced back and saw her muttering at her phone, read the doubt that stained her face, and said nothing. He wished he had something to add. He hadn’t been in contact with the Order in some time, so he couldn’t be sure if the message she received before was, in fact, a dummy message thread or not.
“Are there any games on your phone?” Liama asked. She, too, had been watching, but more so for the phone in her hand rather than the dreaded expression on Fiya’s face.
“Games?” Fiya replied, barely registering that she was just asked something.
“Yeah!”
“Baby, you don’t need to be playing games right now,” Thomas chimed in with an exhausted and defeated tone.
“But I’m boooooored.” Liama kicked a rock into the creek. It broke the surface of the water with a huge PLUNK!
“I’m sorry, baby.”
“It’s fine,” Fiya said. She closed her messenger app and searched for games. “I think there might be something on here.” She soon found one she hadn’t played in over a year. A sci-fi fantasy-based game with laser swords called Spaceknights that managed to dodge copyright infringement. She handed the phone over to her, which Liama greedily accepted. “Try this one.”
“Yay!” Liama exclaimed. Then she saw the name of the game and exclaimed even louder. “Oh, cool!”
“Lower the volume,” Thomas said. Then he gave Fiya a judging look, not enjoying being undermined in his parental authority.
Fiya immediately felt bad, realizing she just overrode Thomas’s judgment. “Sorry, it’s a long walk, and she probably could use something to occupy her mind.”
“I suppose that’s true,” he sighed and continued following Rutger. “So, the big bad wolf? What was that about?”
Rutger turned, glancing over his shoulder. He gave a half-hearted smile through his beard. “The one tearing through my cabin?”
“Yeah.”
“That was an alpha werewolf,” Fiya said. “Genetically the biggest and strongest in the bloodlines. Natural pack leaders. They’re not exactly a democratic society.”
Returning his attention ahead of him with a smile, Rutger added, “What she said.”
There was a short pause as Thomas thought about it. After glancing at his daughter playing on Fiya’s phone, he asked, “I thought the whole alpha-wolf thing was debunked? Scientists got it wrong or something?”
Fiya sucked in a long breath before replying. “That’s about normal wolves. Wolf packs and werewolf packs aren’t alike. True: the whole alpha wolf theory has been debunked among them. But … the scientists who first made that observation were actually studying a werewolf pack incognito, back when they actually tried hiding as real wolves among society. Now, they just freely jump into that monstrous hybrid form you’ve seen whenever, like they’re not scared of being found out.”
“I see it!” Rutger called out, pointing ahead.
The creek continued and then curved off to the left as if it were purposely diverted. Beyond the curve were more trees, but they thinned out, and light pierced through, hinting that open space was near.
“Oh man, I just started,” Liama whined, handing the phone back to Fiya.
Thomas smiled at this as he quickened his pace to catch up to Rutger.
Fiya stayed in the back, keeping her eye on Liama. She took out one of her protein bars, unwrapped the cellophane, and took a small bite. Cookies-and-creme flavored, one of the few she actually liked. Though she chewed and managed to swallow, she already felt full after two bites. She folded the cellophane wrapper over the top of the bar and stashed it into her pocket for later, hoping the burn wouldn’t come back along with the hunger.
They marched past the bend, leaving the creek behind, and carefully passed through the trees until they were met with a chain-link fence. Thomas hated the sight of it. Fiya looked out beyond the fence and then turned to smile at Rutger. “Nice,” she said.
The group gazed upon an overgrown
grassy yard filled with mustard-yellow school buses, parked bumper to bumper, and side to side. They sat there, collecting dust and rust.
Fiya knew Rutger intended to grab a bus, but he never said where they’d be getting it from. She guessed he wanted to keep it a surprise. She forgot how much he enjoyed looking at people’s faces when they’re caught off guard. Sometimes, if he had a good surprise coming, he’d enjoy completely misleading them, such as acting like he forgot her birthday when really he hid tickets to see Tool under her pillow.
Rutger humbly shrugged and suppressed a giggle behind his bushy beard. He looked up toward the top of the fence, which was crowned with barbed wire, and his shy giggle went away.
“Shit,” Liama said, also looking at the barbed wire.
“Don’t say that,” snapped Thomas, shaking his finger at her. He gave her an aggressive eye that she was all too familiar with, and she smartly buttoned her lip.
After letting the amusement disappear from his face ─ he always thought it was funny to hear children curse ─ Rutger bent over and lifted the bottom of the fence. It stretched and warped until there was enough space for them to crawl underneath, but they had to be careful because the links ended in barbs.
The three went through the passageway as Rutger held it up, then squeezed himself under while delicately holding up the barbed links. Fiya found it difficult to watch as any second the fencing could slip from his fingers and lash his face, so she bent over and held up as much as she could for him.
Rutger got to his feet on the other side and dusted off his rear.
“This is brilliant,” Thomas said. “When you said you knew of a vehicle to transport that many people, I didn’t think you were talking about a school bus. Damn good idea, good sir.”
“Thank you. I didn’t plan on us taking this route to get here, but we got here. From here out, it’s back to the plan.”
“Got keys?” Fiya asked.
“I will soon.” He pointed off in the distance, toward something beyond the buses. “The shack should be over there somewhere.” He approached one of the mammoth vehicles and walked along the outer perimeter until they were close to the front gate. Everyone followed, Fiya sticking to the rear to keep the Bradleys between Rutger and her. The buses were dirty, in various stages. Even the recent rain wasn’t strong enough to get rid of the amount of dust and dirt on some of them. Some clearly were there longer than others. Rutger kicked one of the tires as they passed and frowned when there was too much give.
“What is this place?” Fiya asked as she realized these weren’t modern buses, and apart from a school parking lot, she’d never seen so many huddled together at one time.
Rutger replied, “It’s not quite a graveyard for old school buses, but more like the waiting room before death.”
“Cool,” Liama said, holding her father’s hand as they walked along the interior fence.
The front side of the compound had a gate secured with a chain and padlock. Rutger said, “See, since they’re not quite ready for the junkyard, some of these still get to substitute for the newer buses. It looks like it’s been a while since they’ve last had to pull one of these.” Rutger disappeared around a corner, now walking along the front of the facility. The others followed as he continued. “There’s an office with keys assigned to each one. My guess is the ones out front here with less dirt on them are in better shape. I don’t imagine them taking the time to move them out of the way to use any of the ones in back.” He slapped the front bumper of one of the buses in the way a used car salesman would.
At the opposite end of the lot sat a single-wide, mobile-home-style trailer. Rutger aimed for it. It had a dull-white outer shell with a dusting of dirt that also didn’t wash away from the rains, with steel trim. The roof had begun to rust.
“Since this place is in the middle of Bumfuck Nowhere, security is minimal. Came across this on one of my walks. It was just as dead then as it is now.” He reached the flimsy staircase for the trailer and climbed up to the door, testing the knob. It was locked. “Even if there was an alarm system, which there might be, it’ll take the authorities forever to get out here. Probably even more time, given the Ghoul Fever spread.”
“What about the fire department at your place?” Fiya asked.
Rutger shrugged. “They did show up a little sooner than I thought they would, but that was a fire. I doubt this would connect right to 9-1-1; probably some private security firm first.”
With minimal effort, thanks to his size, Rutger slammed his shoulder into the door. The door flew in with ease and then bounced off something sturdy and back into the closed position.
Fiya snickered. Rutger looked back at her, with a thin smile splitting his beard, and rubbed his shoulder.
He tapped the door open with his foot and stepped inside. Blocking the others from following him, he stalled at the threshold and examined his surroundings. There was a plastic pop-up table, normally used for backyard parties, and several filing cabinets. A black mini-fridge sat off in one corner with a bathroom at the other end. He turned and examined the doorframe and then smiled again at the others. “Good ole taxpayers aren’t even paying for an alarm system here. We shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”
They watched him disappear into the trailer, and Thomas and Liama quickly followed. Fiya took another look around the school bus graveyard before getting in. She hoped nothing watched them.
The first thing Liama went to was the mini-fridge, and when she opened the door, she groaned. She looked back at her father with a sour face and said, “It’s all diet. Even worse, it’s Diet Sprite.” Her nose crinkled. Thomas stepped up to the fridge as Liama went to the plastic table and sat on it. Her feet dangled off the edge. “I’m so thirsty,” she whined.
Her father pulled out half a six-pack of Diet Sprite. No sugar, no caffeine. He wasn’t thrilled, but he’d drink one just for the wetness on his tongue.
The soda was room temperature, making it even less appealing, which told them there was no electricity running in the trailer. He set the rest of the cans on the table in case the others wanted any. The only thing left in the mini-fridge was an open box of baking soda.
Rutger and Fiya spent their time opening the file cabinets, searching for keys. Rutger had expected a cork board or something with keys dangling off it, but the walls were as plain as an empty apartment in a shitty neighborhood. The drawers Fiya pulled out were filled with schematics, which might be useful but not what they needed. Rutger found old sign-in sheets and registries of the drivers who operated each bus.
Fiya searched another file cabinet. She was bummed at first, seeing yet another drawer filled with pocket folders on rails until she opened one of the folders. Bingo! Inside each folder was a set of keys, complete with a form for its corresponding bus. “Got ‘em!” she called out, and Rutger slammed his cabinet shut. He joined her as she showed him how they stored their keys, almost cleverly, and then asked, “So, which one do we want? The folder numbers look like they match the bus numbers.”
Rutger looked out at the front row of buses through the doorway and saw his dirty handprint on the bumper of the bus he slapped. He giggled to himself as he saw the number, and then leaned back toward the cabinet, flipping to the corresponding folder. When he found it, he skimmed over the paperwork and said, “Good thing it has a full tank of gas. Number 69.”
Fiya rolled her eyes as Rutger chuckled to himself. He usually kept the dirty jokes clean when she was younger but hasn’t bothered to filter them since her late teens.
“What’s so funny?” Liama asked.
No one responded to her question as the rest of them giggled, including Fiya. That was the punchline she needed: a clueless child. Their childish giggling faded away.
Strangely, the laughter made them feel better.
Then finally, Thomas answered with, “Nothing, baby.” He chugged the remains of the room-temperature Diet Sprite. “Just silly adult humor.”
Liama sighed and r
eached for one of the Sprites to ease her desperation.
After finding the right key to unlock the gate and driving off with bus #69, Tammy’s Storage was next on Rutger’s itinerary for essential supplies. Since Rutger rented a unit there, he only had to type in the passcode to get into the gate. This allowed Fiya to feel better about not having to break into the place. She’d already done more breaking and entering in the past of couple days than she was comfortable doing, even if they were for the greater good.
Even though Tammy’s Storage was well outside the city limits of Skyhill, it was still the closest storage facility to him. Rutger expected Tammy or her live-in boyfriend, Robert, to come out to inspect the sight of a freaking school bus pulling in. Not a soul appeared.
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Fiya suggested, leaning on his shoulder as he drove in. “We really don’t need to be caught driving around a school bus.”
“I’m not so sure,” he replied solemnly. “I kind of wish someone were here. Seeing it this desolate is already giving me the creeps.”
Thomas and Liama sat in the seats right behind them, and they watched nervously. “I really don’t like any of this,” Thomas said. He fogged the window, then swiftly rubbed it away so he could see again.
“Me, neither” Liama added.
Narrowing her focus on the office, Fiya asked, “If the Ghoul Fever really took over the town, where are all the ghouls?” When no one answered, possibly because they knew it was rhetorical, she continued. “The bodies don’t just disappear; the population would still be here. I know we’re still a bit away from Skyhill, but Ghoul Fever spreads fast. Scary fast.”
Rutger nodded. “All true observations.”
“I don’t know,” Thomas added, “I don’t remember seeing many of them inside the school.”
Liama’s small voice chimed in, “Maybe they evacuated?”
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