Stranded

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“We’re going to need some help with him.” Dustin declares, gesturing to Steve, “We won’t be able to get him to the top of the hill ourselves.”

“Right.” I reply. What was the most efficient way to get Steve to the top of the sharp incline? I was drawing a blank.

“I think I saw a blanket at the front.” Sydney pipes up. Finally! She was being useful.

“And I saw a big chunk of cardboard at the back.” Mitchel adds, “It may be big enough for us to make it into a makeshift stretcher.”

“That could work.” I reply. “Let’s go get them.”

Mitchel and Sydney ran back inside to find the two items. I follow them. When I get on I spot a coil of rope peeking out from under the driver’s seat. That could help. We could tie it around Steve so he doesn’t slide off.

The three of us exit the bus once again, returning with the items.

Mitchel lays the cardboard down on the ground and directs, “Kyle, Dustin, put him down there.”

They obeyed his instructions and maneuver Steve onto the cardboard. Sydney then came over with the blanket and covers Steve with it. I step up with the rope.

“I found this when I was inside.” I tell them. Dustin looks at me with wide-eyes then he grins.

“This is great!” He exclaims, taking the rope from me, “We can use it to tie him down so he doesn’t fall off.”

“My thoughts exactly.” I reply.

Dustin started breaking the rope into pieces. Next, he loops the pieces under the cardboard and ties them off. He then spots two holes on each side of the cardboard; he took four pieces of rope and tied them to make handles. It was ingenious and he did it in a matter of minutes.

“We need four people.” Dustin tells us standing up from his former crouched position. I quickly took the left side-handle, Dustin took the one to my right, Mitchel took the one behind me, and with much reluctance Kyle took the front one. That left Sydney; she looked happy and worried, happy; because, she doesn’t have to help carry the weight of another person, worried; because, she’s not connected to the rest of the group.

“1, 2, 3!” I say and on three we lift Steve. It really wasn’t that bad with the weight spread out four ways. For now, we haven’t even started up the steep incline.

“Let’s do this!” I say in a voice that I think is encouraging.

We began to carefully make our way to the top. We weren’t even halfway there when I start to feel tired. I was either really out of shape or it was a lot harder than I originally thought. I’m pretty sure it’s the latter rather than the former. The wind had also changed direction, now it was blowing straight into our faces; it was making it a hundred times harder to continue on. However, we pushed forwards inching our way forwards until we reached the top.

I breathe a sigh of relief when we finally reach the road. The steep climb was over. I turn my head to take one last glance at the school bus; the snow was going over its tires. Soon the whole thing will be covered just like I had predicted. Panic surges through me, the storm was getting worse. Our bus had been partly covered in the hour it took us to get to the road. We had to hurry or we would get stuck here.

I turn my head back forwards I survey the road, not a speck of brown left.

“Which way?” Kyle asks.

“Left.” I supply.

We turn and start to walk we walk and walk and walk until I had the sudden feeling that I should check my phone.

I reach my hand into my pocket and pull it out. It no longer said ‘searching for service.’ I had two bars!

“I have service!” I screamed even though they were right beside me. I was just so happy.

We stopped walking and put Steve down. I dial 9-1-1, put it on speaker phone, and wait as it continues to ring. It seems like forever before someone finally answers.

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” They ask.

“Hello my name is Naomi, Naomi Wheeler. My bus crashed and my bus driver… well I don’t know what’s wrong with him he won’t wake up.” I tell the operator quickly.

“What is your location?” The operator asks.

“I’m not exactly sure…” I trail off.

“Somewhere on Bartlett road,” Mitchel pipes up.

“Who else is with you?” The person on the other line asks.

“Mitchel Smith, Kyle Morrison, and Dustin and Sydney Winsor,” I list looking around at each person but one was missing.

“Where’s Sydney?” I ask