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The bus rolled on as usual, too fast for the road it drove on. But of course, the band inside of it wasn’t complaining. They would have been driving just as fast.
Kirk and Cliff were playing cards, fighting over who would get the top bunk. Personally, Kirk didn’t want to give it up. But he was willing to if he didn’t draw the winning card.
The bus made a bump as Kirk drew his card. King of hearts. Damn it. Cliff pulled.
“Hah,” he said, holding his card up for Kirk to see. “Ace of spades.” Kirk frowned.
“That isn’t fair, you must have shuffled weird,” he complained. Cliff smirked.
“No, I didn’t. I win, that’s the end of it.”
Kirk’s shoulders slumped. It was honestly stupid for him to be so upset about something so minor, but who cared?
***
Later, when the band finally decided to go to sleep, Kirk still seemed bummed about not getting to sleep in the top bunk. He settled into the bottom bunk, previously Cliff’s. It still didn’t feel right; He was used to the top bunk. But, fair is fair, Cliff drew the Ace of Spades. Kirk tried to get settled comfortably in the bunk, but it didn’t feel right. Above him, Cliff was groaning as well.
“Doesn’t feel right?” Kirk asked quietly, but loud enough for Cliff to hear.
“No, I’m fine,” Cliff said. Kirk could tell he was lying, but he didn’t say anything. He half hoped that Cliff would offer to take his own bunk back, but Kirk didn’t hear another word out of him for a while, so he assumed he had fallen asleep.
Kirk’s sleep came eventually, but it didn’t last for long. He woke up to a rather loud shuffling. Looking at his small digital clock, he saw the time: 4:50 AM. There was no falling back asleep now. Kirk looked below him at the floor, and sure enough, there was Cliff. Kirk wanted to ask him what he was doing on the floor, but he didn’t have the energy for it. So he decided to just stare at the top of his bunk until sleep would come back. Not that he really thought it would. Usually, when he woke up after 3, he never fell back asleep. And it was a shame, because they had a show the next day, and without sleep, Kirk was sure to get frustrated and slip up on one of his solos. Oh well.
Kirk finally felt sleep trying to come when he was fully woken by a loud screech.
“God,” he said to himself, covering his ears. He suddenly fell off his bunk and onto the floor, almost directly on top of Cliff, who woke due to the odd motion of the vehicle.
“What the fuck-” Cliff started, but he was cut off by the bus, basically tossing them to the other side. Kirk looked up to see James, who had fully sat up with a dark spot on his stomach.
“God damnit!” James exclaimed. Kirk saw Lars trying to gain balance, but he just fell on his ass as the bus tossed and turned. It all happened too fast for them to really comprehend anything, but when it was over, the bus was a wreck. Kirk got up and got out of the bus as fast as possible, followed by Lars and James. They all looked around at their surroundings, clearly in shock. None of them had any words.
Kirk began to lose his balance at the sight of the torn-up bus, but Lars caught him before he had a chance to fall. James frantically looked around.
“Cliff?” he called out.
“What?” Cliff replied, crawling out of the wreckage. James sighed in relief.
“Okay, so we’re all alive,” Lars said. Cliff shrugged.
“Maybe,” he said. “Where’s the bus driver?”
Kirk’s eyes went wide. He felt dizzy, like he couldn’t stand; he was hardly steady, only halfway steady on his feet with Lars’ help.
James made the brave choice of walking to the front of the smoking bus, peeking through the broken glass.
“How likely are the chances that he’ll live after being crushed by the bus?” he asked.
The rest of them just blinked.
“At least none of us died,” was all Kirk managed to choke out.