Chapter 4: Departure. Part 3

Departure. Part 3

Three men were gathering the luggage received from the cabin to distribute it inside the bus and its side compartment. That was the task the serious girl entrusted to them.

"Phew! Too hot..." Doger commented, slightly unbuttoning the light blue school shirt he was wearing. Resting a hand against the bus, he took a breath and at the same time watched Chase violently throw the luggage from the floor into the compartment in his classic sour face. "Hey, hey, Chase! What did your luggage do to you that you treat it like this?"

It seemed he couldn't hear him, or was ignoring him.

The boy in the baseball cap was concentrating entirely on the endless task and a small group of people several meters away around the "pseudo-shelters" for the wounded. The boy followed the trail of vision.

"They're... the foreigners, right?" Doger asked, straining his eyes. He noticed several of them constantly looking back at them, more specifically at Chase, exchanging resentful glances. "Come on, Chase, why so much hatred against those guys? We barely knew them."

"Tsk, leave it..." he said, still annoyed. "It's unbelievable that they're forcing us to take them back. I'll leave them lost halfway through these woods."

"Um... heh, by the way, about the return..."

"Hey, Doger! Why did you stop?! Bring more!"

A voice interrupted the conversation, seemingly coming from inside the bus.

"Earlene?" Chase questioned. What are you doing in there?!"

"Packing. That's what we were ordered to do, right?" Doger clarified sarcastically. "She told me that... since there's not much time, it would be faster if I left our backpacks by the door while she sorted them inside."

"Let me process this... You left Earlene alone with our things..."

"So...?"

"It's obvious she's been pulling your leg," Chase added, putting aside his duties, ready to verify what he had just said.

"She certainly wouldn't do something like that to me. I've known her forever... Heh... Uhm..."

Both boys entered the vehicle, Chase in front.

The seats were high and the interior was dark due to the curtains on each window.

There was no broken glass or hazardous waste from the accident; they had been removed in advance. Therefore, there was no need to worry about precautions.

Then they moved directly to the back where the luggage was supposed to be stored.

It became increasingly difficult to see They continued, his ear being the first to distinguish something: rustling, packages being opened, similar to the noise of rats digging through a garbage can.

And then, a dark lump was noticed behind the seats.

"Rats? On a bus?" Doger peered over Chase's shoulder, as he backed away.

At that moment, the lump turned toward them, and they easily discovered what it was.

Earlene Gresham, choking on cakes and cookies.

"...Aren't those the cakes the girls baked a few days ago?" Doger peered back.

"..."

They exchanged glances for a few seconds without flinching. While they waited, Earlene put a cookie in her pocket with her right hand, and with her left hand, brought another pastry to her mouth. Chase snatched the pastry from her hands and threw it out one of the bus windows.

"Shameless."

The young woman sat down on one of the seats and cleaned the The residual gloss on her lips. As if nothing had happened.

"Uh... But I was just eating the pastries we made..."

"If we hadn't arrived, you wouldn't have stopped."

"It's not like that..."

"What's the problem, Chase?" Doger chimed in, dismissively. "Aren't you going straight back to school at the end of the day?"

"You don't mean 'we'? Or do you not want to come back with us?"

"Well..."

"Heh. Did you believe all that nonsense they babbled, Doger? How stupid."

"If that were so...! Why have we been carrying so much food?! You believe them too! Don't you?!"

What the short boy was saying had a certain truth to it. Whether out of caution or gullibility, it was an irrefutable fact that gave the young man away.

"...Do whatever you want."

Without further ado, he got off the bus, gritting his teeth. Walking away.

"Hey, Chase! Answer me!"

Doger shouted through one of the windows.

Seeing that he was being ignored, he found a seat on the bus, scratched his forehead, and turned to his companion.

"Ugh... What about you, Earlene?"

She, still keeping her distance, didn't respond.

"... Earlene, I'm asking you..."

"I want to go back."

"But are you deaf? Didn't you hear them? The war has begun. No one wanted this day to come, but it did. Now there will be nothing for me or you back. That's for sure."

"Are you joking again? Why are you taking it like that? ...Besides, there will be someone waiting for me."

"You mean... Huh? Your father?!" The young man was unexpectedly startled. "That good-for-nothing drunk you keep like a child? Do you just love being abused by that guy? That pathetic old fart!?

Listening to him spout all that senseless nonsense was starting to annoy her.

"Doger! That's not your problem. At least I...”

"I what...?"

"…"

Such silence wasn't pleasant, especially for the boy, and it wasn't even pleasant to see from her.

He guessed what she would say, and that was touching a sore spot.

Earlene knew it; after all, they'd known each other for years. But the current tense situation, for some reason, didn't allow her to pretend to ignore the subject as she usually did.

Doger was momentarily perplexed. He was right, she was looking for an opportunity, and it had finally arrived.

And she regretted it the moment she noticed his gaze.

"Um... Doger, the thing is..."

"Tsk..."

But that didn't mean everyone would take it the way he did.

The young man looked away and simply walked away, leaving Earlene completely alone in the vehicle.

To be continued…