The sickening lurch brought everyone awake in a hurry. The bus skidded
crazily through the snowy embankments that the wind has piled up on the road
and Lenny fought to keep control, failing. Nick's head bounced and crashed
against the window with a sharp crack, causing him to swear loudly. Tommy,
who had joined the boys bus to finish a poker game with A.J., even managed
to roll out of the extra upper berth he had borrowed, luckily landing on his
feet before pitching forward, softening the blow. The fall left his palms
sore, but otherwise not much worse for wear. Leighanne let out a scream as
she held on to Brian, and Kevin would end up with a small bruise from how
hard Kristen's fingers dug into his arm. Howie, having no one to grab hold
of, instead locked his hands onto the small shelf in his bunk, giving
himself a splinter. Only A.J. managed to sleep through it all, unaffected.
Suddenly the bus stopped, causing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.
Well, A.J.'s sigh was more in reaction to the dream he was having, but, to
elaborate on that, dear reader, would cause the rating of this tale to
skyrocket. Kevin was the first to recover, disentangling himself from
Kristen and running to the front of the bus.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"Kev, I am so sorry man, I don't know," a shaken Lenny managed to get
out. "It's impossible to see. I tried to pull off to the side of the road to
wait out the storm, but we just skidded. There is no way I can drive in this
weather." Kevin looked up and noticed for the first time that the entire
world had gone white.
"Are you okay sweetie?" Brian asked Leighanne worriedly.
"I think so," she nodded, still visibly shaken. "Oh my god Brian I was
so scared. What happened?"
"I don't know, let's get up and try to find out." Brian pushed back the
curtain from the bunk and slid out into the hallway. They caught sight of
Kristen extending a hand to Tommy, helping him back to his feet.
"Son of a bitch," he muttered. "I just remembered why I never sleep in
the top bunks." He blew on his hands, trying to relieve the rug burn.
"OW," nick moaned from his spot on the couch, cradling his head in his
hands.
"Are you okay?" Howie asked, desperately trying to suck the little, but
painful, sliver of wood from his thumb.
"Did anyone get the number of the truck that just hit me?" Nick mumbled,
disoriented. "I think I'm dead."
"Nah you're alive," A.J. joked cheerfully, finally poking his head out
of his bunk. "No one who was dead could whine as much as you. Besides, just
be glad that your rock heard head didn't break the window. So how did
everyone sleep?" He looked around at the harsh glares everyone was giving
him. "WHAT??"
"I have bad news guys," Kevin said, making his way back to them,
followed by Lenny. "We're not going anywhere."
"What?!" A.J. cried.
"We have a show tomorrow, err tonight," Brian added, glancing at his
watch, which was reading 12:15.
"I don't know if you noticed the blizzard," Lenny said. "But at this
point I'm not even sure if I can get the bus STARTED, let alone make it to
Atlanta. We're stuck boys."
"Well that's just peachy!" Brian groaned. "Where are we anyway?"
"I'm not positive, but we're still in Upstate New York... The last sign
I saw was for a town called Copake."
"Oh just perfect," Nick stated sarcastically. "We're trapped on a tour
bus in the middle of Bumfuck Hills with no way out. Perfect."
"Calm down Nick," Howie soothed, ever the peacemaker. "If we passed a
sign for a town I'm sure all we need to do is walk a bit and we'll find a
place to stay for the night... Look, I'll go and come back for the rest of
you all right?"
"We can't have you going by yourself," Kevin pointed out, "You could get
lost... or hurt, someone needs to go with you."
"Great idea Kevy," A.J. said brightly. "Have fun!"
"What? Oh no, not me, I have to stay with Kristen!" Kevin hedged.
"Brian, why don't you go?"
"Brian is not going anywhere!" Leighanne stated forcefully. "Or did you
forget that he has a heart condition?" Brian squeezed her hand and she sent
him a glittery smile. 'She knew just as well as Brian did that he would be
fine, but heaven knows he did not want to go. "Why don't you go A.J.?" she
continued. "You can use your hair to guide yourselves through the snow."
"Me? I'm not going! I need to make sure Nicky doesn't get scared," A.J.
cried out, thinking quickly. 18 sets of eyes quietly shifted to Tommy.
"Oh no, hell no!" Tommy tried to get out of it, but he was stuck. His
shoulders slumped and he sighed. "C'mon TweedleDum, let's hit the road."