In the Middle of Nowhere

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***

Chirp!

Chirp!

A tree with rich foliage is set on a knoll. The trunk is wide enough to support the weight as the heavier brunches lower their tips towards the ground. Like an umbrella, the tree covers the top of the hill.

Lying under the ample shade is a young man wearing a white shirt and black pants. The youth peels back his eyelids when his body shivers after a cool breeze rise, making his hair flutter. Drowsy as he is, groaning, he stands up.

'What happened?'

In front of him, expands a vast green valley with streams branching out like veins. Besides a faraway village, within this ever-expanding area, there's not a single soul in the vicinity.

'Where is this?'

The young man looks around, searching for any sign of his location, but to no avail.

"Where are the others?"

He carefully descends the green hill with the slippery tall grass until he reaches its foot.

"If I made it, they should be fine, right?"

He tries to remember when a piercing pain invades his brain, the sudden shock has him dropping to his knees and coughing blood. The scorching rays don't help as he loses consciousness and falls face down on the tall grass.

Waves of memories flood his mind in his weakening state, bringing about those unfortunate events to the surface.

[As a high school senior, he is about to visit a few locations with the rest of his class on a field trip, their teachers have arranged. "No pushing, one at a time"

Students are reluctant to move further at the sight of their ride. One of them can't help but utter pointing at the bus. "Sir, will this thing carry us safely?"

The teacher scoffs at the student and mockingly retorts. "Next time bring your own"

Their bus is a run-down thing ready to fall apart with every puddle it falls in. The windows are creaking as if they are about to jump out of their sockets and the seats are worn to where patches of plastic glue themselves on clothes.

A girl takes a seat and jumps up screeching. "Gross!"

Their school is on top of a hill overseeing the entire town. This excursion in the middle of the school year is all the fun he can have before the exams start.

As they descend the slopes and steep turns, it rains, making visibility even more difficult by the minute as temperature drops and humidity rises, creating an eerie feeling as fog spreads like a wet sheet.

In his seat, without realizing it, he directs his focus past the trembling window and exclaims. "This is unexpected..."

The students remain silent, clenching their seats as the bus slows down. Two heavy lights try to make their way through the densely packed atmosphere.

With caution, the bus descends the hill when a pillar of light bombards them. As if it rains down from the heavens, the golden pillar with a large enough diameter swallows the bus. Constant surges of energy whistle down on them, one after the other.

Making a humming sound, it stays in the oppressor's seat for a few minutes before it retracts into nothingness.

The students and teacher alike share the same panic their hearts release as screams escape their mouths.

The bus driver brings the old thing to a halt, making a screeching sound before it stops. His breathing becomes heavier. He stands up and looks outside while stuttering. "W… Was… Was that lightning that just hit us?"

Students look at each other with wide-open eyes as sweat drips off their faces, saying nothing. Silence overwhelms the bus and only the fast beating hearts add volume to their ears.

Through the glass window, the young man with brown hair trembles when the ground deflates, tilting the bus a few degrees.

The sudden movement has the students screaming their lungs out.

A teacher hurriedly stands up, and with a rough motion of his hand, directs the students. "Move to the other side of the bus"

Saying nothing, jumping from their seats, they find themselves on the other side.

The bus's old age becomes apparent when the creaking starts as its wheels sink in the mud, tilting it further.

Fear paints their faces as their mouths distort and tears form an endless stream, whilst anxious heartbeats muffle their screams.

It doesn't take long for it to stand to its side on two wheels as the muddy road gives way for the bus to roll down the cliff.

Students inside flip and crash on one another as if their bodies are mixing. The rolling stops when the bus finally reaches the bottom. It didn't take long but a few rotations, but for the passengers, it felt like a never-ending nightmare.

With the vehicle upside down, students and teachers try to make sense of what's happening as they try to regain their composure. A teacher stands up first and utters. "Everyone...? Is everyone ok?"

Groaning and bleeding, students one by one announce they are ok even if they have various cuts and bruises.

Sighs of relief escape the teacher's mouth.

The young man with brown hair remains silent as he lies on his back.

The earth beneath them shakes. The continuous vibration infiltrates the bus and lets out a buzzing creak. Windows tremble as if they are eager to join their seats, which almost seems like they are about to flap out of place.

A frightening yet familiar humming sound invades their souls as the golden light pillar comes crashing down on them once more. Surges of gold energy rain down one after the other.

Glass windows shatter in an outward trajectory as if though they can't take the exercising pressure on the old bus for much longer.

In an upside-down position, they sink in mud as if it's sealing its position. The menacing pillar of golden light which looks like it came out of a judgment fable vanishes without leaving a trace behind.

The youth with brown hair turns himself around as he continues to feel the ground beneath him vibrating. He shakes his head, unable to comprehend what's coming. His voice trembles as he gathers the energy to let it out. "Everyone out. NOW"

Students and teachers alike look at each other as they try to pinpoint where the voice came from when the trembling becomes more apparent when they sink deeper into the mud.

They try to contain their screams and remain calm, but things are about to change when the brown-haired young man stands up and tries to direct them all to get out. "It's not safe in here"

A teacher turns towards him. He approaches and places his hand on his shoulder. In a condescending voice, he utters. "The worst part is over. Try not to create further panic please"

He shakes his head and points outside. "That's not my intention"

The teacher sighs and reluctantly moves closer to the broken windows. His expression changes instantly when he fumbles back as shock paints his face. Stuttering, he shouts. "E… Eve… Everyone… Everyone OUT"

Silence covers their small space as a splosh sound grows louder by the second. They look at each other wondering what it is and then look at the trembling teacher who pushes the bus's door.

With a shaking hand, he points outside as he sheds sweat of anxiousness and fear. "Mud… Mudslide"

With a glance, they share the same complexion when they join him to push the door.

In their panicking states, they cannot realize that it won't budge, no matter how hard they push, as thick mud already pushes back.

The mudslide rages down, swallowing everything in its path, and the closer it gets the larger it looks.

The brown-haired young man takes a few deep breaths and looks around, searching for anything he can use. Upon noticing the shattered windows, he redirects his attention to the back, where the big window is located.

A smile draws itself on his face when he shouts, full of determination. "Everyone to the back. This window doesn't have a glass"

Students and teachers rash to the back, crashing on one another, ripping sleeves and pulling patches of hair, pushing those in front of them. They trample on each other with blank minds, like a pack of crazed animals that are being unleashed.

They all try to go through the back window, disregarding those next to them. Their hands are bleeding from the broken glass, but it doesn't stop them. The young man with brown hair stands back and waits for them to get out first when the shaking intensifies.

The mudslide like a raging beast reaches the old bus crashing on it with full force, sending the students inside flying on the bus's walls.

From the impact, the old bus is pushed back a few meters before the mud devours it. Like a tide, the muddy waves splosh on the bus, taking a piece each time.

The students struggle to get on top but they keep sinking in. As if it's alive, whenever a student is about to scream, a wave of mud gobbles them.

Some of them are even face down and unconscious from the previous crash.

They are forced to wake up when the mud invades their throats and nostrils.

Unwillingly, they gulp down the streaming waves of mud. Hoping to be saved, students and teachers reach their hands out.

The inside of the upside-down bus is filled with hands coming out and palms open, trying to grasp something, whereas the bodies are inside the mud's belly.

The young man with brown hair struggles with the same tenacity as the rest of his class, but to no avail. As the mud piles up on top of him, crushing his lungs, breathing becomes even more difficult.

He inhales mud and coughs it out with blood, while his eyelids become heavier. No matter how hard he tries to get out, the mud pushes him back down, taking a piece of his soul each time.

The time comes when he stops struggling, and like irony, he slightly floats above the mud, with his body still submerged and half his face above it.

With one eye half-open, the blurry image of his classmates' floating hands catches his sight, before the few remaining breaths escape his mouth forcing his eyelid to shut.]

-Opens eyes

This is the last memory the young man has from his previous life. The headache subsides as he tries to balance on his feet. - He supports his knees to pull himself up from a seating position.

For as long as the bright sun overseeing him doesn't shift its position, it will be hard for him to orientate.

He checks his pockets, but he doesn't have a wallet, an id, or any other form of identification.

"Great. Now what?"

Out of curiosity, he checks his phone, but no surprise there, as he has no service. The glare on his screen reflects a face that the young man isn't familiar with, which causes him to gasp for air.

"What the…?"

Even the hairstyle is different. Besides the color which remains brown, it's shorter and messy. What catches him off guard the most are the purple eyes. His curiosity gets the better of him as he pokes his eye. "Are these contact lenses?"

"Argh. Not a contact! not a contact!"

The young man with tears in the corners of his eye raises his head with one eye closed and a flinching face.

Zing–Zing–Zing!

The cicadas perform under the scorching sun, without reservation or care in the world. The singing bugs quickly overwhelmed the silent land.

Every once in a while, the intense heat forces the young man to wipe the sweat with his sleeve, as if he's timing it. A sudden burst of a cool wind will refresh his face each time.

The young man dawdles around, taking it all in. Growing up in a town, he never saw greenery like this before. It even paints a smile on his face.

'What is this? Did I poke my eye too hard?'

The young man stands still and squints his eyes. There's a marking of black color in the shape of a rhombus. It remains unmoved and fixed in the village's direction.

He rubs his eyes a few times to make sure. 'Is it bleeding?'

He lets out a few dry laughs, but no matter how much he tries to understand or explain what's happening, it still makes little sense.

He moves his head around ever so slightly but the marking still pinpoints towards the village.

He looks the other way when he notices a marking of the same shape in a different color pointing in the opposite direction, whereas the previous one moves out of his sights.

Upon inspecting, he notices letters floating over the strange-looking red marking.

They read in red-colored letters: [/Scorching Desert\]

This gets him curious, and he turns the other way, toward the black rhombus-shaped marking. He squints and sees another caption.

This one reads in black-colored letters: [/Abandoned Village\]

He ponders for a while, trying to make sense of the whole thing. 'So, the one says Scorching Desert, whereas the other one is a murky Abandoned Village'