Chapter 2: Departure

Departure

Minutes earlier.

600 meters from the summit, a humble wooden hut with six windows and a single entrance was the only visible settlement as far as the eye could see.

The silence that characterized it was sporadically interrupted by the lowing of oxen, the neighing of surrounding horses, and, more frequently, arguments coming from inside the hut.

"Vines..." a boy exhaled, rummaging through boxes of trinkets on the floor. "I want you to take your feet off that table and help me with this... immediately."

"Yes, ma! Hah," he replied, sitting very lazily. "Jevo, Jevo, Jevo... I don't know what the rush is about. They're not watching us, have you forgotten?"

"Even so, it's still our duty. That's why we volunteered to stay instead of accompanying our companions."

The robust man then brushed his hair back and pulled the boots he was wearing back up onto the furniture.

Vines Pall, a lout and lazybones known for wasting his life indulging in pleasures. And Jevo Deems… The other side of the coin.

This couple decided to stay in the cabin used as a temporary residence by all the students. They were to tidy up, make the next meal, and clean. Or at least those were the tasks their teacher assigned them to do.

“Definitely not my style; I hate the countryside,” Vines said, relaxing.

“And you love food? Don’t you?”

“Say that again, Yevo! Say that again!” he said, startled, yet smiling at the same time. The way he said that name was nothing more than a mockery of his peculiarity.

“Tsk, if you won’t help out of responsibility, do it to pay off the debt to the owner of this room.” He waved his hand, emphasizing his point. “It was thanks to their generosity that this journey took place, but if you're eager to sleep next to the cows, go ahead. Maybe you'll feel right at home there.”

"Look who woke up grumpy... Never mind, I don't owe anyone anything..." whispered Vines, the overweight boy in tight clothes. "You know what? I'll get some drinks from the bus, luckily that senile old man didn't notice them."

"Drinks? Could it be that you...?"

"I poured them into natural soda bottles to disguise them. A classic. You know, a group of young people, pretty girls, and now no one in charge, it's the best time, isn't it? Besides, we're all adults. Well, except for the blond boy... What was his name...? Miru... something," he concluded with a wicked smile as he walked out the front door.

"How...? Wait! Help me unpack!"

"If you can do it alone, why do you need my help?" Vines left, closing the door behind him.

"Damn bum... Scum like him is useless... One week of putting up with him and another left, God, what am I paying for?" he thought as he continued his task.

Outside, Vines walked toward an ordinary yellow student bus with black lines, the same one they used to get to the mountains.

After a long yawn, he went to the side luggage compartment. He extracted some keys from his vest and opened it.

A large number of bags and backpacks were scattered about, most of them in that space and enough to survive several days outdoors.

What the man cared about was under a pile of clothes to one side: a small blue cooler. He dug into the mess and pulled it out, grabbing it by both ends and placing it at his feet.

"Phew, good. It's still cold," he said, after bending down to open the cooler and extracting the glass bottle.

They say that older people have a greater resistance to the effects of alcohol, but his case was quite the opposite. A couple of drinks were enough for his vision to begin to tremble.

"Huff, and it's getting hot out here, one more drink will do me good…!"

However, before he drank any more, he stopped because of a whistling noise in the surroundings.

He looked up and with his trembling vision, where he only managed to see a large bird approaching before shifting his gaze toward the hill; many young men were descending while gesturing, as if trying to grab the wind and push it aside.

"... What are you doing? Move me to the side? To... the cabin? Just a second, I'll pick this up and..."

With all the patience a man could demand, he knelt and hoisted each bag onto each shoulder, each piece of luggage, to advance slowly toward the log cabin, which was lined with frightened animals fleeing.

The approaching group threw themselves to the ground. The wreckage grazed their backs, and the magnificent silver phoenix slid across the open field until it came to a stop behind the vehicle.

There were no more animals or plants, only a trail of burning earth. At the end of it, the dying bird.

From outside, at a safe distance, the other students who had arrived watched the disastrous situation in shock. Among them was Vines, struggling to pay attention, and Jevo, who was emerging from the cabin in amazement.

-[Ø]-

Fear and cold sweat were reflected on each of their faces. . It was then that the prankster boy was the first to open his mouth.

"...Chase, shouldn't we d-do something...?" Doger questioned, his wide eyes never leaving the plane.

The nearby boy spit in his own throat and responded with a nervous smile, as he watched the airplane covered in flames near the cabin.

"Y-You're crazy if you think I'll risk m-my life in there. A place... t-to hide... Where...?"

After saying those words, he felt himself being yanked from the shoulder to the side; another boy intervened fiercely.

"Tch, move aside!"

It turned out to be Miruno, who then tore off a sleeve of his torn uniform, tying it between his sweaty face and the back of his neck.

"M-Miruno, wait!" Xiomara exclaimed, terrified, reaching out with her hand, but the blond youth had already started running.

The other students looked at each other, wondering what to do in such tense circumstances. Most took short steps back. The remaining observers lay paralyzed, while others looked for somewhere to hide, knowing what would happen next.

After a short period of uncertainty, it was possible to make out several individuals leaving the burning airplane. They carried the former passengers with them, whom they were able to extract from the scene by any means possible. Among the last of them was Miruno, helping an elderly man move, and several of his other classmates were helping the passengers escape.

The flames were rapidly spreading throughout the entire plane.

"Guys, get away!" one of them shouted at the top of his lungs.

A deafening roar echoed behind them, and the explosion erupted. The intense flames leaped into the air.

Metal debris was violently ejected in all directions, some embedding itself in the surrounding trees, others in the side of the bus parked near the cabin. The massive shock wave was enough to be close to overturn it.

To be continued…