Hiraeth: Cities To Embers

2.4 - Fish Out Of Water

Amber stared silently out the window, the metal walls of the tunnel sitting idly. Lily looked rather upset next to her, "it should've only taken half an hour to get to England. We've been down here over two hours now!"

Amber groaned, "I hate this so much. I get very claustrophobic."
Lily scoffed, "I know."
Amber looked down at her phone, "look a-"
The lights outside of the bus flickered, switching back on.
Amber noticed the sign above their minibus.

The sign that read 'Avoir Un Bon Voyage' flickered, the letters disappearing occasionally. Amber cringed slightly, "what the hell is going on? I'm... ugh, I wanna go home."

"For fuck sake Mickey! Stop watching TikTok!"
"Oh, boohoo! I've got nothing else to do down here!"
Amber groaned, "I'm freaking out, I can't do this right now."
Lily patted her hand, "fuck- calm down, you're fine." She reached over and hugged Amber, "everything is fine."
Amber sniffled, tearing up, "I'm not about to start crying on a fucking minibus."
There was a rumbling and loud scraping.
"Are we moving?"
"We're moving! Everyone stay in your seats!"

There was a faint scraping from outside.
"How far are we from England?"
"We're over half way through the tunnel... I think."
"So we'll be like twenty minutes then?"
"Hopefully."
Amber looked out the bus window, seeing the tunnel lights through the train's small windows. The train was not moving very fast and it was not speeding up.
"Are we supposed to be this slow?"
"I... don't think so."
"Lily, you went on the year seven trip."
"So did you."
"No. I didn't."
"Oh. Sorry, I forgot," Lily sighed, "my mind isn't exactly working properly right now."

There was a beeping sound somewhere nearby, then another loud screech.
Orla dropped down next to the girls, startling them, "fuck sake! Have either of you got service?"
Lily rolled her eyes, "dude! There's only two seats here."
Orla scoffed, "anyway. My phone got an emergency alert from the government."
Lily's face changed, "alert?"
"Yeah, but... it was blank. It just said 'extreme alert' at the top and the main section is blank."
Amber shrugged, "look, okay, maybe it's just another test? They've done many tests."
"Yeah like - last summer when they first switched it on. Remember, people using Three didn't get it?"
Amber's voice became slightly shaky as she yelled, "it's a test! It's a fucking test. They do it all the time in America. I went before, they do them for tornadoes all the time. And- and in San Francisco they do tsunami drills."

"They have tsunamis in San Francisco?" Joshua asked from across the aisle.
Mr Garland - a tall blond teacher no older than thirty - stood in the aisle just behind the three girls, "Orla move back to your seat please." She quietly slid back over the aisle to her seat, prompting Garland to continue, "okay! Now everyone, we need to do a roll call. We haven't been able to contact anyone outside, but it seems something has happened at Folkestone, so they're stopping the train. Again. We most likely will have to be evacuated into the service tunnel."

Everyone muttered quietly. Lily and Amber stayed silent and still.
Mr Garland raised his voice slightly, "please, everyone! We need to do a roll call. To make sure everyone is okay and to make sure we're all still accounted for. If anyone is asleep, wake them up."
There was a quiet mutter from behind them, Lucia speaking, "Amelia... Amelia. Amelia!"
Amelia woke up with a gasp, "what?!"
Mr Garland shook his head, "okay, not like that but... now we can continue."

A list of names in his hand:
'Cardwell, Amber
Dobson, Calum
Dana, Mia
Dunajewski, Joseph
Hitch, Lucia
Jon, Amelia
Placid, Orla
Sanchez, Lily
Thornaby, Mickey
Turner, Joshua'

He walked down the aisle, ticking names.
"Okay. So everyone is here, everyone is fine. Is anyone sick? People are sick... apparently."
A blonde girl tapped him on the arm, a couple rows behind, "sir, what? Who is sick?"
"People all over the world are sick apparently. In America, Russia, Japan. I need to know if anyone is sick."
A shorter brunette boy shouted from the back, sitting next to the rear door, "sick with what?"
Garland sighed, "I don't know, we're still getting in touch with people."
A voice called from outside the bus, over a loudspeaker. It spoke in French, "tout le monde, sortez! Du gaz s'infiltre dans le train!"
People from behind them on the train ran past the bus, banging on a door.
Mr Garland shouted, "everyone, stay sat down! Don't move!"
All of the people banging on the doors shouting in French. The workers opening doors, shouting at the French speakers.
Two people from the other school bus approached theirs. The driver opened the door.

Luke, a tall dirty blond boy. Paisley, an average height freckled redhead.
Luke spoke, "they're telling everyone to come forward a-"
There was a loud beeping, the compartment door shut, locking the passengers of the other bus in the section behind.
Paisley shouted to a worker, "hey! Hello, do you sp-"
The woman cried out, "pas d'anglais! Euh... gas! danger! Move!"
Paisley looked towards the other bus, "gas...?"

Crowds of people banging on the compartment door, including every passenger of the bus behind.
A man banging on the glass shouted, "gas leak! There's- there's a gas leak! Let us through."
Mr Garland stepped off, looking at what was happening. His eyes widened, "shit! Uh- everyone, off the bus! Get off the bus!"
Everyone ran off, pushing each other and pushing the panicked people running back and forth.
A family of four in front of them with a dog. They were pulling stuff from their car, rushing to the train's side door.
Workers on both the inside and outside of the train gestured to the crowd of students to move.

The group stepped off, out into the cold concrete tunnel, echoing loudly with the sounds of sirens and shouting. There was a door just ahead of them. A sign above the door read, 'to service tunnel'
A worker pushed it open, "come!"
The group walked through, a crowd of people standing idly.

"Joseph!" Someone shouted, prompting Amber to turn around. Joseph and Luke were still on the train with the bus driver. The bus driver shouting at a worker and the two boys being dragged away from the compartment doors by another worker.
Luke shouted, "I'm not leaving my friends! Let them out! Let- let them out! Get the fuck off!"
Amelia walked towards the train again, "guys! Hurry up!"
Mr Garland ran through the door towards her, "Amelia get back! Ge-"
A loud bang, a flash. A wall of fire raced down the train, engulfing everyone on the train and alongside it.
The worker yelled out, pulling the door closed, locking Mr Garland and Amelia in the train tunnel.

A loud crash sent everyone in proximity to the door falling backwards. The light bulbs burst, plunging the crowd of people in the service tunnel into complete darkness.