C h a p t e r X

P r e v i o u s C o m m i t m e n t s

Across the dark landscape that was South Dakota, a pair of headlights streaked down the empty interstate. Inside this seemingly empty bus were five passengers, one of which was floating in the back as not to freak out the driver.

The Gang had ditched the car back at Reptile Gardens (minus one window), and decided to get a bus back to Pierre. Brian had created the distraction while the others got the bus number they needed. Getting on had been tricky, especially with their friend, Aero the jaguar, but once again Brian’s ingenuity (or knack for causing trouble) had allowed them to sneak on without any questions asked. A few minutes later they were coasting along the outer edge of the Black Hills, which were soon to fade away into the background.

“Well, I think I prefer these new clothes to the old ones.” Kenzi said.

“Speak for yourself.” Jon said, walking towards his seat. “But I do wonder how long we can get away with this little scam before they realize that we didn’t buy tickets.”

Jon walked further towards the back, and noticed a ticket stub lying on the floor, dropped from its previous owner. He checked the date and destination, and then looked over at the ghost floating one row behind him. The others were scrunched together, even though there were plenty of other rows to sit on, but Brian was hanging out in the back. Jon walked down, and sat in the empty seat next to him.

“Brian, like I said before; you do have your advantages.”

Brian just shrugged the way only a ghost can.

“Just one thing...” Jon then held up the ticket inches from his translucent face. “Why are we going to Seattle?”

Brian looked from the ticket to the somewhat angry look on Jon’s face. Jon held it closer, and an evil smirk crossed Brian’s face.

“You should have seen it coming. After all, who’d you put in charge of finding the bus?” He said, smiling to his full extent.

Jon growled, and tore up the ticket. The others had looked back by now, and were also staring at Brian in frustration.

“Dang it, Brian! We don’t have time for this now!” Richard shouted.

Kenzi almost looked depressed as she looked at the ghostly figure. “You don’t care that you’re a ghost, do you?” She asked solemnly.

“Or that you may never see your family again?” Kaitlin added rather sadly.

Richard got up from their row, and began heading towards the driver. He had to at least convince him to let them off here, before they were too far away from Rapid City. He could still hear the others trying to soften Brian up, but it didn’t sound like it was having any affect. He bowed his head down in frustration, and stopped in his tracks.

Lying on the floor, almost concealed by the shadows of the seats, was a single diamond ear ring. The diamond was a little on the small side, but he still reached down and picked it up quickly. He stared at it a little longer, and then fished the time-remote out of his pocket. After pulling open the back cover and inserting it in, there was an electronic power up tune, and everything came to life. The screen activated, and the blue button began glowing again.

“You know what; you probably don’t even care that you’ll never get to use a computer again!” Jon added in, knowing Brian’s weakness.

Richard turned around quickly, and held up the remote high. “Hey guys! It works!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Brian flew forward screaming, and passed straight through the bus driver. The bus driver felt Brian’s ghost form fly through him, and watched the silvery figure fly out into the night. Out of fear he hit the breaks, and slammed his head into the steering wheel.

Kenzi and Jon instantly flew forward, and crashed right into Richard. The remote flew from his hands, and landed on the ground with a thud, right next to where Jon and Kenzi had fallen, followed by a bright flash of light. Richard and Kaitlin quickly sat up and looked over where they had seen their friends fall.

There was nothing there; just the time-remote lying on the ground, pointed at where they had been lying. They were gone.

The bus swerved again, and both Richard and Kaitlin were thrown across the side.


*     *


Another loud bang, a flash of light, and Jon fell five feet down onto some sort of carpet. The fall had bruised him pretty badly, and he slowly tried to roll over. At that instant there was another flash, and Kenzi fell straight down on top of him.

“OW!” Jon yelled.

“Sorry.” She rolled off, and quickly got to her feet. “Where the heck are we?”

Jon got up too, and looked around. They were in a sea of cubicles, in what appeared to be some huge office floor. People were still everywhere, apparently in the middle of work, and all had stopped to stare at something. At first Jon assumed they were looking at them after their unusual entry, but then noticed that they were all looking straight out the windows that ran along the wall.

Kenzi had a look of horror on her face, which was answered by the sound of someone nearby yelling in fear. “Oh my gosh! That plane’s gonna hit us!”

Jon slowly turned around too, and finally saw what everyone else was looking at. A Boeing 747 was headed straight towards them. Straight towards this building.

“Oh no…” Jon whispered, slowly realizing everything.


*     *


The bus continued to swerve around the road, getting ever closer to either plowing off into someone’s field, or just plain flipping over. Kaitlin, Richard, and Aero were the only ones left on board besides the driver, who had been knocked out. The crazed Brian ghost had fled the scene, and was nowhere to be seen.

They were on the floor, desperately trying to hold onto something. Kaitlin tried to edge towards the driver’s seat, but was tossed back against Aero. She looked over at Richard.

“What do we do now?” She asked fearfully.

Richard looked from her to the time-remote lying several rows ahead of him. The bus straightened out again, and he took the opportunity. He flung himself forward quickly, and latched onto the remote just as the bus swerved again, throwing him back against the wall.

Richard looked up at Kaitlin with a grin, and held the remote aloft. “Time to save the world again…”

fin


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