"Argh.. " Meilin groans and rubs her head, there's a slight swelling.
Looking around she sees that the bus seems to have flipped on it's left side with some windows broken and others merely cracked or bent, the students are flopped around in various positons with some whimpering in pain and others shaky and confused.
She sees that she's still being held by Sky, her face is a little pale and she looks to be in pain.
Both Lily and Meiying seem to be fine albeit a little dizzy.
"Sky are you alright?" Meilin asks worriedly, she holds Sky's face gently and massages it.
Sky knits her brows and slowly opens her eyes.
"Ah.. I'm feeling sore" Sky says in a weak voice.
Meilin's eyes water "Thank you Sky" She hugs and kisses Sky on her cheek.
Sky blushes in surprise.
Lily looks at them in a daze, a little envy can be seen in her gaze.
Meiying pecks Sky on the cheek "Thank you big sis"
Lily gives Sky a tsundere look and remarks "Don't think that'll get you into my good graces, but.. thanks anyway" She turns her head away and her ears go red.
"Gah!"
Sky laughs and hugs Lily. "Such a cutie!"
Lily snorts but doesn't struggle.
"Come, we need to get out of here" Sky stands up, her legs are not hurt at least. Just some bruising on her back.
Meilin tries to stand up but quickly falls down in weakness, she's caught by Lily.
"Don't push yourself" Lily looks at Meilin with worry.
"Sister are you alright?" Meiying looks at her sister with tears forming in her eyes
"I just got a little bump on my head" Meilin looks around with blurry vision, rubbing her eyes the blurriness fades.
Sky checks the bump on Meilin's head and replies "It's not bleeding and it's not big, probably just a small concussion"
Meiying sighs in relief.
"LISTEN UP!" The girls hear Mr Fergerson yelling in a strained voice. "Those who can move, exit the bus through the open door at the end of the bus, don't come to the front. If you can't reach, ask one of the taller students to give you a boost. No pushing and be careful of the glass"
The students shake off their dizziness and begin moving with expressions of worry and eventually they successfully exit the bus. Mr Fergerson along with some of the stronger students carefully move those who are incapacitated out of the damaged bus.
The bus has flipped on it's side and slid off to the road hitting a large tree, due to the crash the already worn asphalt has been left cracked and broken. Tall grey tree's litter both sides of the road, they're quite sickly in appearance and their leaves shine with a black hue while the clouds above cover the sun with minimal sunlight poking through.
After leaving the bus, the students gather in thier usual groups and begin to chatter. Some still shaken from what happened, others excited for whatever reason, though a small few notice the gory scene at the front of the bus and shudder with a few even vomiting. They're quickly driven off by the enraged Mr Fergerson and forbidden from approaching.
After Meiying, Meilin, Lily and Sky get outside, Meiying spots Baiyu.
"Mama!" She runs towards Baiyu and hugs her tightly, Baiyu holds her daughter tightly. "Are you okay? where's your sister?"
Meiying nods before saying. "Sister hurt her head"
Sky helps Meilin walk over with Lily.
"Mom are you alright?" Meilin asks.
"You should be asking yourself that! Meilin are you alright?" Baiyu sees her weak daughter and becomes worried, she quickly runs towards her and begins checking Meilin's condition.
After checking Meilin's head she sighs in relief "Luckily it's just a small bump, nothing serious"
"Mum why did we crash?" Meilin asks.
Baiyu frowns "Apparently, some woman ran onto the road and caused Briggs, the bus driver to lose control" She hesitates and her frown deepens, eventually she sighs and continues "After he lost control two more people ran on to the road.. and got hit"
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The girls collectively gasp.
Meiying holds onto her mother tightly.
"My god.. " Lily's gaze moves to the bus but she can't see the front, she could imagine that it's a horrendous sight.
Sky becomes nervous and gently holds Meilin, she buries her nose in Meilin's hair in an attempt to calm herself down.
"That's horrible! we need to call the police" Meilin replies while looking towards the bus.
"I've tried calling but I couldn't get through, I even tried calling husband. Maybe the teachers will have better luck" Baiyu fiddles with her phone with an annoyed expression.
"It's probably bad reception" Sky mumbles.
Meilin and Lily seem to agree.
"That shouldn't be, mama we're close to Greenwood Springs which is a resort town. The signal should be good" Meiying knitts her brows.
"How do you know that?" Baiyu asks with surprise.
Sky, Lily and Meilin look at her curiously.
"I read it on a flyer that Mr Pale Man dropped, I was going to ask Mr fergerson if we could have a swim at their hotsprings pool but it looks like it won't happen now" Meiying expression becomes crestfallen.
Baiyu thinks before saying. "We could go find help if it's so close. The trip may be over but we will probably stay at Greenwood Springs for a few days while the police work things out. Maybe we could even go to the hotsprings pool" She smile and rustles Meiyings hair, attempting to lighten the mood.
"Mama stop it, you'll mess up my hair!" Meiying lips curve into a small smile.
----------------------------------------
Over at the bus, the last of the wounded students are being brought out of the bus.
"Kawana over here, careful now" Dale lowers his arms down the bus doorway, ready to carry.
Kawana lifts up the unconscious male student that has a little blood dripping down his forehead.
"That's it, you and Mason hop out now since he was the last one" Dale gently pulls out the wounded student.
Mason and Kawana nod before climbing out.
"Ugh.. my back" Kawana remarks in complaint, rubbing his back gently. "That crash really did a number on it, you lucky bastard Mason, coming out of that without a scratch.
Mason laughs wryly and looks at his little pinky which has a small cut. "Without a scratch? Look at my pinky Kawana, it's fatally damaged"
Kawana scoffs. "That? That's nothing"
"It could get infected you know, I might get rabies or something.. " Mason mumbles.
Kawana replies. "You're worried getting that? Haha don't be silly, you only get rabies when a cow bites you"
Mason nods at Kawana and decides to believe him.
"What I'm worried about this heat, why's it feel like I've been waiting in a locked car left in the sun for hours.. " Kawana mentions.
"Strange.. " Mason wets his finger and holds it in the air.
"What's strange?" Kawana asks.
"There's no wind" Mason replies.
"Now that you mention it" Kawana looks around, they're in a valley with quite a few mountains in the distance. "It should be windy in an area like this.. it's probably global warming" He jokes.
Mason laughs. "It's always global warming, come, let's go find the others"
Kawana and Mason walk towards Eric, Alice and Jensen who are resting by a large rock.
"How bad was it?" Eric passes Mason and Kawana a water bottle.
Taking a drink Mason replies. "Pretty bad, there were a lot with broken bones, a few still haven't woken up"
"Yeah, now we just have to wait till the police arrive" Kawana wipes some sweat off his brow.
"It's crazy man.. two people dead" Jensen shivers and looks toward the bus, he remembers when he saw the front of it and nearly threw up. Mr Fergerson forbid anyone from going near the the scene after a few students fainted.
Alice cries and covers her head.
"Don't talk about it Jensen" Eric speaks solemnly.
Kawana walks over to Alice and pats her head, she stops sobbing and tugs Kawana's shirt. He sighs, Alice also saw what happened to those two people. She's going to have nightmares for a long time and will need some counselling.
Kawana sits beside her and pulls some skittles out of his bag "Here have some" He pours some into her little palm.
Alice nibbles on the skittles quietly.
Eric laughs "When I offered her some food I was refused, as your older brother I'm sad"
Kawana grins and looks at Eric "You jelly bro?"
Eric forces a smile and shakes his head.
Mason and Jensen laugh.
Listening to them joke around, the corner of Alice's lips rises as the mood lightens.
After putting down the injured student next to the others who are being taken care of by a few of the students, Dale walks over to Evie who is speaking with the bus driver .
"What's the situation?" She asks.
Dale breathes a sigh. "We were lucky that none of the students died but there are quite a few serious wounds that need immediate attention. Out of the 46 students, 4 of them are unconscious and could have severe or light head injuries, 11 may have fractures and the rest have small injuries that aren't anything serious. Did you manage to call the police?"
Jackson shudders and stutters "It-it wasn't my fault right? tho-those fucking crazies ran onto the middle of the road by themselves! I had no chanc-"
Dale inturrupts "It's alright, Kawana and Jensen told me the same thing but we'll have to wait for the police to investigate first"
Jackson hangs his head.
"I can't contact the police or anyone.. " Evie replies with knitted brows.
"What? that shouldn't be.. we're only a few miles from the next town over" Dale frowns.
"I'll walk towards the next town and get some help. Ms Kane, you should stay here and look after the students, maybe that woman Briggs mentioned might appear"
Evie seemed to agree before she turns her head toward the space beside her, a shocked expression appears on her face.
"No! We must walk back the way we came. We'll grab our bags and stock what food and water we have and leave anthing useless behind which can be collected later, the stronger students are to carry the injured" Evie replies with a worried expression, she won't take no for an answer.
Dale is startled, with a baffled expression he replies "Uhh.. Ms Kane, we're closer to the town why are we walking back towards the gas station that we passed miles ago?"
A serious expression appears on Evie's face, she stares firmly at Dale and replies "Trust me"
"But.. " He stops and sighs "All right.. I'll round up the students and bags" Dale wanted to try change her mind but eventually gave up. She's the principals daughter and always get's her way, it wouldn't be wise to anger Evie especially when just a word from her could leave him out of a job. Dale sighs again with a forlorn expression.
After Dale left, Jackson with a curious expression asks Evie "Why did you stop him?"
Evie stares in down the road "Watson told me that he has a bad feeling, worse than any feeling before and it's all coming from the direction of that town.. "
Jaskson looks at Evie whose back is facing him with a weird expression, he whispers silently "I knew it, she's loony alright"
"I heard that" Evie remarks.
Jackson goes stiff, a cold sweat runs down his back.