Badlands

The Shadow Before: Chapter Eighteen

Badlands

Part Two: The Shadow Before

Chapter Eighteen// The Tunnel

"Come on we have to go," Lucas whispers to the three guys and Greg only nods guiding them to the back porch where he knows not many people could get to it in the front.

The four of them run outside and Bobby almost trips over his own feet or the ruts digged into the ground. They run into the nearby bushes and stay there until the band outside of the house go away.

"We are totally dead now," Bobby tells in a whisper.

He gains three punches from the lads.

"So what should we do now? Do you know where the force could even be?" Lucas straightens his shirt and looks over at Greg. The other two looks at him too

Greg inhales slowly and then exhales, "it all points to Badlands."

"Badlands?" Bobby grabs the bag of chips he had to take with him and munches on one,"the only place that not many residents can get into because of some sort of fued? That place is full of fucked up people."

"It's much more than that Bobby, you nimrod,"Lucas says and then sits down again. "We have some time to pass until the close is clear. What the hell are we getting ourselves into, Greg?"

So Greg told the others what was what. He told them he found a newspaper article from twenty years ago. Aged back to the early seventies. Badlands had many people in its residence that has a plathe of some sort and much of the population was swept out.

Then there was the soldiers that were seen outside of the town. Far beyond the desert can be seen these soldiers had a tent. The journalist did this article as an education purpose since it was their first artilr working for the Interior Press.

"Howard Calling had this job for a week almost less than a week before he abruptly disappeared. Doesn't that sound fishy to you?"

The three nod and get up from their spots, "Badlands here we come then," Bobby says and pulls him back.

"Wait so fast. We don't know how far it is from Badlands."

Lucas laughs, "of course we do. Everything evil always lurks in the west side of anything." They all give him a confused look so he continues, "we are at the South.Badlands is at the West. We all just find compasses and lead the way of the sun as our source."

"What do you mean?" Bobby asks and munches on another chip. Lucas rolls his eyes and throws the bag from their location.

Greg pops in, "the sun sets in the West. At thirty one degrees, right? Well since Badlands isnt true West and we won't be walking intercellucular speed I don't know if it should work."

Lucas shrugs, "So what if we don't find it. How hard is it to not see true West and have it lead us to the outside of the town to begin with?"

Frank gulps, "I don't know if this is a good idea guys. I mean we just had to hide from people we first of all don't even know if they were meant to cause harm. And now we all are talking nonsense for what seems to me is a fictional story of the mind."

Lucas and Greg punch Frank on separate arms, "does that seem fictional to you, Franktard?" Greg asks and Frank shakes his head in pain.

"I say we go out now before the highest of the day comes and all of this tumbles over anyway," Lucas murmurs and then starts to walk to the house.

Bobby follows him and they are followed by the other two.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Frank whispers.

Lucas rolls his eyes at the statement and turns his head to Greg,"I think its true."

They set out to find all their compasses. Bobby gathers snacks and when he gains a confused expression from Lucas he shrugs, "what? We have to have nutrition!" He puts all of in his school bag.

Lucas gathers any weapons they could use. Slingshots, Greg's fathers handgun (which Greg not knowing of course) Knives. And he puts them in safe places.

Frank gathers flash lights, most of them compasses, and anything they could be entertained by. They had a long night ahead of them as they never knew what could happen.

Greg gets maps, all the articles, and a book he himself got from the library. The same one Brett Van Dillon had the night he disappeared.

Then they set off.

The sweat from Bobbys forhead soaked through his bandana he is wearing. While the others never know why he would wear these Bobby always wanted to.

He had one for each color or the rainbow. Even camo like the one is wearing today. He called it a fashion trend when all in reality he was the only one that would call it that.

The others thought it was a handkerchief to blow the nose. Nothing that belongs in the head, that is for sure.

He is behind of the group as they were already walking for what seemed to be hours.  (It wad only one he knew). The sun was almost setting over the horizon. They knee they were going the right way as the mile marker indicated.

Badlands was not a place many children from Interior was allowed to see. The plateaus surrounding the whole two hundred mile radius was in the middle of these two towns and yet none of the four guys went to it. Never been to the park as it was only a couple of miles down the road.

All the tourists never suspected a thing but the residence of Interior knew all about what has happened. Or for those who really know, disappear so they can't tell a single soul. Then the rest of the population pretends nothing had happened as it was a norm for this to happen.

These four boys were tired of hearing the norm. They were tired of the ongoing missing people's list.

Greg was tired of that and so they set on foot for this journey. It wasnt far but they didn't know that.

Lucas got some water from his canteen look back, "Come on Bobs. We dont have much farther. I can feel it," he turns toward the right way. Greg was kicking a pebble, Frank was checking his compass for what seemed to be the hundredth time, and Lucas was closing his eyes as he walked.

Then they hear a thumping sound of someone falling and a scream they all knew was Bobbys. They turn around and Bobby wasn't there.

"What the hell?" Frank asks and then looks around. He falls into what Bobby did.

Lucas goes to yhe hole and peaks through it. So does Greg.

"What is that?" Lucas questions. He steps into it and falls through.

Greg goes into it slowly thinking it had to be a home. But it was no hole. They all were going through some tunnel and falling and falling through. It was rough. Bobby kept getting hit by rocks as he was the first one that fell in. They all screamed as if it was some sort of roller coaster ride or some slide from the amusement park only Frank was blessed to see.

Then it suddenly stops and all four of them are prseed together, in the dark, as they all sit in  the dirt.

"Okay I dk t know what hell this is but whatever it is I think my arm got hurt," Bobby whined.

Frank shines a light toward Bobby and sure enough the arm was twisted and swollen.

"Gosh I think some bandages in my backpack," Frank starts to wrap Bobbys arm and then all four of them looks around. The point in the tunnel they are in now is tall enough where they can stand. So they do.

"What is this?"

It didn't have to take anyone to know what it was and where they were. But all they knew was they didn't know how to get out from it.

Frank was the first that wasn't seen. Greg points it put of course. And when all their flashlights were burned out the three remaining screamed bloody murder until they all sounded like they were mixed.

And where they were at now Zac Urnis twenty years later would call it hell.

They were in the fighting zone....

Well beneath it...