1 Merick

If Merick was being honest with himself, he hated the old lady sitting in front of him. She just kept on talking and talking and droning on endlessly about the landscape around them. Sure, they were in a desert. Sure, there were animals. And-

"Over to your right, you will see a cluster of cacti. These are the prickly pear cactus, and they are a common type…"

Sure. There were cacti. In a desert. Truly fascinating.

At the lady's words, twenty clicks followed, the other students around him capturing the moment.

Merick didn't even bother to get a picture. Alex, on the other hand, took enough for the both of them. A cactus in a desert was about as exciting as a spoon in a silverware drawer.

"When are we stopping?" Merick's sister asked, peering out the bus window eagerly. The window fogged up with her breath, that's how close she was,, and Merick bit back a snort of amusement. She had her camera in hand, just like him, taking pictures of whatever was outside. He wasn't interested in photographing some plants, or hearing about all the information on them. He didn't want pictures of some hole in the ground which was supposed to be an animal's den. Those wouldn't get him recognition. He wanted to go deeper, take pictures of things no one had seen before, making people see things they had never thought could be true.

"No idea," Alex replied, flicking through his camera to see the 'stunning images of a cactus in a desert'.

"I think once we round that bend?" Merick offered Marie. There he could see a cave entrance and plenty of plants around it. There were cacti, of course, but right next to the rocks there was a large bush, though instead of leaves it had large spines reaching upwards towards the sky. Other than that, there wasn't much in terms of wildlife. Even an animal would be more exciting than this.

Marie stood from her seat next him eagerly as, sure enough, the bus began to slow. The lady had been speaking all this time, but honestly Merick had just drowned her out. Not like any of the information on 'how long a cactus can survive without water' would be useful to him. This kind of information was for Alex, more than anything, who always paid rapt attention to anything new he could learn.

Merick had already given up on school and learning. That's why he was here in the first place. If he just took one good picture, and got in the paper or something, that would pave the road for him. Hell, it'd even buy him a car to drive on the so-called road.

The bus rolled to a stop, and all the students hopped out, the cameras swinging on their necks. There were about twenty of them; twenty eager teenagers taking a photography class that were now standing in the middle of the desert.

The old lady didn't get out, instead talking over the speaker again. Something about desert rats being native to this specific area. Merick didn't hear as he followed Alex and Marie around.

Jordan tagged along. "This is so dull. I can't believe you roped me into actually coming."

Merick shrugged. "It's not that boring." He began. Jordan hadn't even wanted to take this class. He'd only done it because a mutual friend did.

Jordan eyed him, his sunhat flopping forward comically. Merick didn't reply.

"Ooh! Look! That's probably where the snakes burrow down!" Alex was saying, pointing to a hole in the ground.

"Dare you to stick your hand in it," Jordan nudged Alex with a grin. Alex visibly blanched before stepping backwards.

"What if there's a snake in there? And it bites me?"

"I'm sure the bus has something on board to deal with that."

Despite Jordan's response, Alex shook his head. Marie watched the two boys, amused, before gesturing to Merick to follow her.

"Come! I want to go inside this cave! I think there could really be something cool in there. It looks like it goes down pretty deep!"

Alex, eager to get away from Jordan's challenges, followed first, the other two boys walking a pace behind him.

The cave was dark, and the sand soon smoothed away to stone. The opening of the cave itself wasn't large, Marie squeezing in and Jordan having to push through with a bit more effort. However inside, the cave was huge. It dipped down almost immediately, and Marie slid down quickly. Alex hesitated.

"Shouldn't we… you know. Stay outside?"

"It'll be fine. Quit worrying," Marie called up. Her voice began to echo as she went deeper. Merick looked at the cave as it sloped downwards, the slant of light from the opening slashing across the ground like a splash of color on a blank canvas. Merick held the camera up to his eye, snapping a quick picture. It wasn't fame-worthy, but he couldn't waste his time going into a cave with nothing to show for it. The three boys all followed Marie, having no real option. They heard the others outside of the cave talking and taking pictures, and Alex only glanced back one more time before summoning the little courage that he had and slid down.

At the bottom, the cave widened out. It would have fit about six people in total, but there were other, smaller caves adjoining this main one. As Merick dipped his head into one of them, he saw that these were significantly smaller, only allowing room for one person at a time, and sometimes not even that.

"Can we go up now?" Alex fidgeted nervously, glancing upwards where the sunlight was shining through the opening.

"Yes, can we? I don't want to photograph rocks. That's even more boring than a cactus." Jordan muttered, leaning against a wall as he did so. Marie scowled at them.

"You're more boring than a rock," She retorted, but then signed in resignation. "Fine then."

All four of them turned towards the slide that led upwards. There weren't many handholds, which made it tricky to get up, but after hoisting Marie up and then having her pull Alex and Jordan up, it wasn't that difficult.

Merick swore he felt a breeze near his ear. No… not a breeze. It was like...He glanced around, feeling chills, but saw nothing except.

"Come on Mer, you coming?" Marie shook her hand impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going," He called. Another chill ran along his spine. He took Marie's hand, just as Alex shouted, "They're leaving!"

"Then get out and yell at them to wait!" Merick shouted back as Marie tugged upwards once, twice, then pulled him on the ledge with the rest of them.

Alex had begun squeezing through, and then was on the other side, Marie quickly following.

"Wait!" They shouted together. Jordan and Merick had made it through by then.

But as luck would have it, the bus had ridden off. All that was left was a plume of dust in its wake, and four people following it, shouting.