Chapter 13: Dawn of Eclipse: Part 6

Dawn of Eclipse: Part 6

Matria province, Suburbs

“Uwaaaahhh!”

“Ah, ah…! Gsk…!”

On the floor of the bus lay Chase Termiane, breathing heavily, a lost look on his face.

And in his arms lay Rousset Onslow, crying incessantly and hugging him as tightly as she could.

The yellow bus had reached another of the capital's quiet suburbs, parked 10 km from St. Ramael High School.

No one could have any idea how they got there, not even the driver, who, his forehead on the steering wheel, couldn't stop trembling.

“Rousset? Someone tell me what happened!” Vines asked, addressing the disturbed students around him.

It was normal. After leaving those "things" behind at that high school, no one would attach much importance to the complaints of the heavy young man who had barely woken up from the commotion. However, Chase reacted after hearing his annoying voice on that last occasion.

"Ah... I-Is everyone here...?"

Seeing that someone was finally responding, Vines approached fearfully.

"C-Chase, why are you all like that? What was the rush?!"

And seeing that he was wearing his baseball cap, Chase retorted.

"You, why do you have my...?! Tsk...”

A sharp pain in his chest struck him.

For a man who spent more time illuminated by a screen than by sunlight, running at such a speed so suddenly was practically suicidal for his lungs. Such was his assumption.

"Ugh... Gulp! Wow...!"

The situation was similar for all the young students.

The blonde girl covered her mouth but in the end, she couldn't contain herself. She was vomiting miserably. There went all the cookies and pastries she'd devoured hours ago.

"Earlene, that's disgusting!" Vines said, covering his mouth like her.

Clutching his chest in pain, Chase shook his head and looked around again.

He seemed to finally notice the girl hugging him while crying. Seeing that she was calming down as time passed, he took her hand and helped her sit properly.

The only survivors of St. Ramael High School.

They were disturbed, disgusted, confused, and disoriented, each in their own way.

Followed by Vines, who simply didn't know what was going on, it turned out to be Chase who had some composure left.

"Give me that." He snatched the cap from Vines’ head and walked past him, walking over to his classmate Earlene. "Here. A-And clean up your mess or I'll throw up too.” He offered the blonde girl a handkerchief he had in his pocket.

"Now that you've calmed down, it wouldn't hurt to shed some light on me," Vines said. "I look like an idiot being the only one here with mind in the clouds."

No one had the will to answer about a fact they hadn't yet processed.

"M-Mom... Ugh... Ah..."

Nor did they have the will to remember; having done so hurt young Rousset more.

"What were they...?" stammered the driver, Jevo Deems, his eyes now fixed on the desolate road. "D-Does anyone recognize what chased us?"

"People with serious mental issues, Jevo. That's what chased us."

Chase answered quickly. He didn't want to bring up the subject, even though he was overcome by a strange calm. He was probably still in shock. Seeing him like this took away Vines's curiosity to know about the situation.

“This is crazy… Going to such lengths for that… And now…”

“L-Let's go, please, Chase. I-I want to go home…” Earlene murmured, still wiping the vomit from her lips.

“You live in the Loa Province. We won't cross half the capital just to get to your house.”

“…”

“My house and Vines's are the closest to the Institute. The only ones in Matria.”

“Wait wait, I basically live in a pigsty, Chase. There isn't even enough room for me to accommodate all of you,” Vines clarified.

“We'll go to mine then. Jevo, you know where it is. Let's go.”

The driver shakily reinserted the bus keys and pressed the clutch instead of the accelerator. He did this repeatedly.

“I-It won't start… Is the gas out?”

“What…? D-Don't give me that! Shit! Keep trying!”

His attempts to start it were useless, and seeing the flashing indicator on the dashboard, he reaffirmed it.

It was to be expected. The bus had been used both on the way there and back without stopping once during the entire excursion to the Acracia Mountains.

"W-We're stranded, Chase."

"I can't believe this... W-We're really screwed!"

"Heh, these guys... Let's just find a pay phone and call a tow truck or something. I don't see what all the fuss was about," Vines commented, calmly opening the doors and stepping out onto the streets.

After all, he hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. He simply thought that his classmates had suffered some kind of altercation, like a robbery or a street fight; quite common at that school.

The others didn't follow him.

Outside, there wasn't a single living being besides the obese man who walked through them now.

Neither the small shops, the houses, nor the parks showed any kind of presence.

"...Mhm, it's too early to go to sleep."

He said to himself, taking a cigarette and a lighter out of one of the pockets of his tight pants.

It was around 6 p.m. The darkening sky was beginning to shed a few drops of rain, so he quickened his pace through the quiet neighborhood.

The pay phone was across the street, about 300 meters from the bus. Sadly, traveling that distance was enough to exhaust him.

"Huff, if only it worked... I can't hear a thing... Heh, damn. I forgot Chase brought his cell phone with him on the excursion."

He hung up the pay phone and let out a deep sigh as he looked out at the surrounding settlements.

"Ah, seems I was wrong."

Before backing up, he noticed a dim light coming from the windows of an establishment; more than a kilometer separated him from this one.

"But why does it have to be so far away...? I could have bought some drinks. Well, I'd better stop talking to myself and head back. I hope those guys left something for dinner."

Ignoring the place, he returned to the bus. He then went over to check the side compartment where clothes, bags, food, and other supplies from the recent trip to the Acracia Mountains were stored, although there wasn't much left to examine; some of it had been kept by the Izzy's group when they separated from his, and even less after leaving the San Ramael Institute.

"...It looks more like it was looted than shared. But if it's for tonight, I think this will be enough."

"Vines, can you pass me a piece of cloth or... a rag? Something... to clean up." The blonde girl leaned out one of the windows with a sickly expression on her face.

Since he was snooping through the supplies, he decided to help her.

He grabbed the first blanket he found, balled it up, and threw it to her. Right after catching it, she went back inside without another word.

"And where is the 'thank you’!? ... (Come to think of it, Rousset somehow ended up accompanying us. Heh heh, chances are still there. Uh, it's raining...!)"

With bags in hand, Vines decided to re-enter the vehicle, avoiding the rain in time.

"Guys, I did you a favor and brought food! It seems a bit more alive around here... I think."

Indeed, it wasn't.

Earlene was using up the third blanket cleaning the floor. Jevo was resting his head with a cloth over his eyes. Rousset was holding her face with both hands, head down and thoughtful, while Brawell was barely visible behind the seats in the back of the bus.

The first one he ran into was the dispirited boy in the baseball cap. This one snatched one of the bottles from his hands.

"Wait, Chase, they're not for you, you know?"

"I won't drink it. It's for my mouth," he clarified, placing the cold bottle against his slightly purple cheek.

"So it was like that, uh. Ha ha ha, some terrible luck for you guys. Let me guess, one of the guys you used to bully online finally recognized you and gave you what you deserved."

"...Look at us. You think something as stupid as that could do something like this...? Tsk..."

"If you explained it to me, I'd finally get it..." Vines smiled, nonchalantly pulling another bottle from the bags he was carrying.

"I'd better do it, before you get any more absurd ideas."

Outside, raindrops fell one after another, splashing the bus windows in a soothing rhythm.

Matria, the center and capital of the country. It was also dubbed “the icy city", a fitting nickname for the incessant rains that battered it; more frequent as one approached its center. However, these kids were still in the complicated suburbs around it.

The capital may be small compared to the other provinces, but its urban density was considerable. Anyone lacking sufficient knowledge of its structure would feel like they were playing in a maze, getting lost in the confusing and intricate alleys.

There they were, in a neighborhood in the middle of the night.

Sitting on the floor of the bus, Chase drank from the bottle while Vines, combing his extravagant Mohawk, waited patiently. They could barely see anything.

"I… I didn't know this was alcohol… When did you manage to sneak it?"

"Don't finish it. I was planning on sharing it with everyone on the trip, but as you can see, it was impossible. Anyway, I find it incredible that you still drink."

“…”

“What happened to you, Chase? We used to go to every party in Los Canes. You didn't turn down a single one of my invitations… and look at you now. I feel sorry for you, man. It's a miracle you even leave the house these days… Are those video games that much fun?

“None of that should matter to you. And why are we talking about that now?”

“And all because you hooked up with that girl…” Vines mentioned, glancing at the softly snoring blonde. “Heh, hopeless… At least you slept with her already?”

“Is fucking all you think about? Guh… It doesn't matter. Everyone fucks up with their own lives in their own way... Vines, one thing has nothing to do with the other. I was tired of living like that, that's all. Don't dwell on it.”

Without further ado, he handed back the half-finished bottle with one hand and showed him his cell phone with the other.

"It's a bit late to call, Chase. It would be a miracle if they didn't make us wait until dawn..." he commented, about to grab the phone, but his friend intervened.

"Don't even bother, it doesn't have a signal. It never has since we left two weeks ago. Damn garbage..."

"For real? But we're right in the capital..."

"Remember that nonsense Nisha told us in Acracia?"

It was time to explain.

"Yeah, why?" Vines questioned, taking a sip.

"It turned out to be true, every single one thing of it. Gsk, they're probably making fun of me behind my back..."

"Pfff! How is that even possible?”

“While you were here scratching your stomach and staring at the ceiling, we went out to look for answers in the infirmary. In short... It is true. We're in the middle of a world war."

"H-How...?"

"I assume you already know what comes with it, so I won't bother going into details. I don't want to, nor do you need to know."

The deserted neighborhood around them, the unanswered payphone, and the depressed look on the boy in front of him... The answer was obvious, and another question was unnecessary.

He was convinced and wanted to stay that way; the grin that stretched from ear to ear reflected it.

"Vines... What the hell are you thinking?"

Finishing the bottle of alcohol in his hands, the obese man replied.

"Ah... nothing, Termiane. It's just that I have another chance to live the dream."

"What? Never mind... I'm going to sleep now."

Raising his hands as a gesture to ignore the subject, Chase found the nearest seat, lowered his cap, and crossed his arms.

Neither he nor the others bothered to look for sleeping bags.

He was completely exhausted. It was enough. His mind and body were thinking of nothing but rest, or at least they would try.

To be continued…