The moon cast an eerie orange glow into the fog that covered the road as far as I could see. It billowed between the cornstalks we passed and slithered up the pole of one of Farmer Orson’s many scarecrows, making it look like it was smiling at the bus as we slowly drove by. I didn’t know if it was just the fact that it was Halloween night that was spooking me out, but there was a weird sort of electric charge in the air. I felt like my blood was crackling and my skin itched. I couldn’t wait for this night to be over. I just wanted to curl up on the couch with Mads and watch some horror movies until I passed out.
I shot off a quick text to Auntie Pip, letting her know we were about five miles outside of town. I’d parked my car behind the college, and I wasn’t looking forward to the long trek through the dark to get it. Especially when I was still feeling creepy vibes from Frank’s words rattling around in my head.
The bus jolted to the side suddenly, and I flew forward, grappling for the seat in front of me before my face hit it first. Everyone was awake now, as several loud thumps hit the outside of the bus. People were shouting and struggling to stand, trying to figure out what was going on.
“What was that?” someone yelled from the front in panic.
Were we crashing? I righted myself and grabbed onto Maddie’s hand when she startled awake and sat up with wide eyes.
“What’s going on?!” she yelped, eyes frantically searching in a sleepy daze. “Toby?!” Her fingers squeezed mine tight as she realized something was wrong.
“I don’t know, but grab a hold of something. I think we hit an animal…” I craned my neck to see down the aisle of the bus as we started swerving on the road. That would have been a big fucking animal.
More thuds hit the front, and several people screamed. The orange glow of the moon was instantly obscured by blackness, and the whole bus was shrouded in shadows. The thundering sound grew deafening when the bus began to shake. Maddie and I, like most of the others, scrambled to see out the side window. My eyes widened at what we found. What looked like hundreds of vampire bats were flinging themselves at the side of the bus, the sound of breaking bones echoing through the windows as blood smeared down the sides after they dropped away from the glass. They slammed into us from all sides before falling away and doing it over again. They were swarming so thickly that they obscured the light almost completely.
Many of them hit so hard that through the blood, spider web like cracks appeared as if they were going to come smashing through the glass. They just kept coming, and when I looked around, I could see that it was the same for every single window on the bus. I scrambled away from the window, backing into the aisle just as the bus rocked sideways. I flailed, knowing I was about to crash into the aisle hard, but I never made it that far. Hands hooked under my arms, catching me mid fall, and I heard a low grunt behind me.
I scrambled to sit up, and the strong hands fell away. I looked over my shoulder to find Jason standing there, palms hovering near me, as if ready to catch me if I fell again. Our eyes held, even through the violent rocking of the bus, and something strange passed between us. He’d helped me, saved me from what would have been a nasty fall that could have broken my neck… But why?
I didn’t have time to contemplate, because the next thing I knew, the bus slammed forward roughly, teetering to the side before slamming back down on the apsalt. I heard the screeching of tires on asphalt, and more of that sickening thudding and the splattering of the bats hitting the side. Howls still rent the air through the screams that echoed in my ears. The world seemed to teeter on its axis for a moment. I screamed, Maddie screamed, and so did everyone else.
This was why all school and charter busses should come equipped with fucking seatbelts. Shit like this was why. We were going to fucking die, all for a stupid carnival that wasn’t even that fun. I should have driven my own car, but nooo. The carnival grounds didn’t have parking for large crowds. These idle thoughts flooded my brain, but I was pretty sure it was just chatter to keep the terror out. I already hated cars, ever since the accident that took my parents, and had a panic attack each time I got behind the wheel.
The bus never righted itself. In the blink of an eye, we were hurtling sideways, and I felt us tilting downwards. The nose of the bus was taking us vertical, so I assumed we were careening down some kind of hillside. People were falling all over the place, bodies slamming into one another. I tried to grab Maddie’s hand, but I watched in horror as she was ripped away, body flinging down the bus towards the front.
“Maddie!” I shouted with a desperate cry.
Something hard hit my head, and I realized quickly in a daze that I was plastered against the roof of the bus. The noise was deafening, like the roar of an ocean, or an oncoming freight train. All I could see in the darkness were the terrified eyes of the other passengers. There was blood everywhere, and I heard bones cracking, which caused vomit to rise up my throat, and guttural screams of agony all around me.
