"Sandybot will win!"
"Sandybot is the champion!"
"Sandybot will crush them!"
A youth baseball team that came to compete in this country in the youth division was ecstatic about participating in a match against the champion from South Korea. Everyone was thrilled to be able to face a team that was one of the best globally.
"They behave like this every day," said a girl sitting at the front of the bus.
Another girl beside her added, "Every day, their song talks about fighting."
At that moment, a blonde girl named Mixie approached the two girls who were talking and asked, "Why aren't you sitting with your boyfriend?"
A guy at the back was serious; his gaze seemed lost amid all the celebrations, as if something important was bothering him, but no one cared, as if this was nothing irregular.
"Someone should tell him he won the championship." Mixie turned away without giving it more importance.
"It should be because I don't play enough."
"You should be sitting with them."
While each group of students was in their own world, a piercing sound came from a tire, shaking the bus from side to side.
"What the hell?"
"What happened?"
The woman driving knew perfectly well what happened given her experience, so she was the first to get off and walk directly to the rear tire.
"Everyone stay seated," shouted Professor Charlie, who also got off to check the damage.
"Don't get out of your seats," the coach said, standing up with a tired face.
The only supervisors were the three of them, so after getting off, they crouched down to look at the damage to the tire. When a tire is damaged, minor damage is expected, but what they had in front of them was a large hole.
Betty extended her hand, opened the damaged part of the tire, and noticed that there was some object that had lodged itself.
"Darn, what is this?" Charlie exclaimed, very surprised, because he had never seen anything like it in his life.
Betty put her hand on that object resembling a shuriken but made of bones, and the moment she tried to pull it out, she screamed in pain, "Ah! Damn it, I don't know what this thing is, but it's very sharp."
"I'll get it out..." Charlie was the strongest, so being the strongest, he extended his hand and, taking care not to cut himself, pulled back with all his strength.
When he finally managed to remove the object, the three of them could see the sharp bones sticking out from four different directions.
"But what the hell is this?"
"Whatever it is, it was too much for the tire to withstand."
Betty nodded and said, "Considering that the tire is very thick, it's unbelievable that this damage was caused by this tiny thing."
Charlie, who held the bone shuriken, turned it over, and when his eyes saw the other side, he threw it away with horror on his face. "Damn it, this crap has an embedded tooth."
...
The students waiting inside the bus were desperate. One in particular complained loudly, "Can't they change the tire to get us out of this place?"
"The driver can't change the tire; she needs a mechanic to do it."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Do you see a damn mechanic around here? We're in the middle of nowhere, idiot."
At that moment, a guy to change the topic approached the bus's radio and turned up the volume so everyone could hear him.
"This is the latest information on the horror in Pickings County; listen to the report..."
"Listen, everyone, there's an important report."
"After the fire swept through an old church to the south four days ago, a horrific search continued after a coordinated team of excavators found a basement with over, apparently, three hundred bodies sewn together. These bodies covered the walls, ceiling, and floor. [A witness called this a human carnage of torture and sadism, something he can never forget.] "
"That's terrible. Do you have more reports? Some even had false teeth made of wood, which means the bodies found were over three hundred years old."
"Does anyone believe that crap?"
"Of course not; all that is garbage."
Everyone, when they hear something that seems impossible to reason about, always thinks it's a lie, especially when they feel fear, and that is noticeable.
Many hours after fixing the tire, the bus started moving again, which delighted everyone who thought they would be stranded on the road all day. At that moment, the night seemed to have fallen, but again, the tire burst.
Boom!
The piercing sound frightened everyone; those who were asleep woke up scared, fearing the bus would overturn.