Marty Delnegro hunched his shoulders and tried to make himself inconspicuous, a losing proposition due to his size. He was also trying to ignore his older brother Randy and his brother’s inseparable pal Jasper. The two of them were chatting enthusiastically about the latest fantasy novel they had found online, something ridiculous about intelligent dungeons.
The trio made an odd sight as they sat in the terminal waiting for the next bus. Marty ran his fingers over the packs of seeds in his jacket pocket even as he studied his tablet and used the local wifi link to research his latest interest. He had just found an interesting thesis and was chasing down everything he could find by the same author.
Marty was jerked back into the real world by loud voices and some truly atrocious singing. Their bus had arrived and so had a dozen drunken idiots. Marty watched unhappily as the group of football supporters filed aboard the bus. “Why don’t we wait for the next bus?” he asked his brother worriedly.
“Don’t be daft Marty, we’d have to wait another hour. Just ignore them,” said Randy.
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“Yeah, we’ll miss the game if we wait,” added Jasper.
“But you never watch the game Jasper,” whined Marty.
“But if I’m not there, my dad will give me hell,” complained Jasper.
“C’mon Marty, we can sit up front, those idiots have all gone to the back.”
Marty rather reluctantly followed his brother onto the long distance bus and squeezed himself into one of the front seats. He leant his forehead against the window and watched as the bus made its way out of town. He ignored the inane babbling of Jasper and Randy and tried to ignore the noises coming from the back of the bus.
He was looking down into the sheer drop down to the white water stream at the bottom of the canyon when the noise level rose abruptly as a fight broke out amongst the revellers. Three of the drunken young men came staggering down the isle of the bus even as the driver started slowing down.
“Break it up you idiots,” yelled the driver of the bus even as the fight barrelled into him.
Marty watched in horror as the bus crashed through the railings and plunged down into the ravine. He heard the terrified screams of Jasper and his brother. The last thing he felt was frustration, he was not going to figure out that equation after all, that and irritation at his brother for not listening to him as usual.