"See Coach, this is why we're supposed to have a bus driver," remarked James from the seat right behind behind Coach Banks. The high schooler leaned forward against the brown pleather divider that was situated just behind the driver's seat.
The dark-skinned Coach grumbled. "Boy, sit that ass back down." Mostly, Thaddeus Banks was upset James was right, but what else were they to do. The usual drive, Pat, they were in the hospital and technically Banks was legally able to drive the team bus, so here they were, long minutes from the highway only halfway to their destination.
A few minutes ago on the way to the State Tournament, the highway had been closed down due to a large tanker spill over both north and south lanes. While they were a whole day early to the tournament having left on the Wednesday as a school trip, everyone was on edge as the old flip-clock beneath the compass in the dash ticked over to 10PM.
Cell signals were better for some students than others through these mountains, but the service kept cutting out while any of them tried to keep track of their location.
"State Highway 12," remarked Coach Banks over his shoulder to his Assistant, a smaller kid named Andy who'd be all in for casual touch-football, but never the hard-hitting world of Senior High Sports himself. Andy's claim to fame was that he was a technical genius when it came to the math: diets, paybook improvements, and figuring out the programming on the newest gym equipment. "That mean anything to you, Andy?"
Andy looked over the unfolded AAA map of the state, his phone hanging from the back of the pleather half-wall between him and the stairs that lead down and off the bus. He'd been trying to find them on a map ever since the coach got impatient and took an exit after driving a quarter mile up the shoulder. For a while there, they'd been on unmarked roads.
"Yeah, Coach, it does, and it's not good," remarked the nineteen-year-old in reply.
"No shit!" someone called from the back of the bus. Probably Matt, considered Andy over the din of all the other boys carrying on conversations to keep themselves entertained. Matt probably didn't even know what he was remarking against... but Andy spoke, so Matthew spoke up as was his want.
Banks took a softer tone with Andy than James. "Well I canna rightly make the least-bad call of bad options without knowing all the options," insisted the coach.
"Right, sir," Andy nodded. "OK, as I see it we have three options based on where we appear to be based on bad cell service, road names, and time traveled..." He then proceeded to explain the forty minutes through the mountains to the nearest town on the road that they were already traveling, the possible motel that might have rooms if they took a left in half an hour which'd be money out of the school's pocket, or maybe the state park up ahead.
"State Park?" James asked. "How the hell does that help us?"
"Because—" Andy began, "—camp-grounds are generally circular or with big cul-de-sacs inside... there's an entrance three miles up. If the bus fits through the entrance—if they're even open—then that's the best place to get off this steep-shouldered two-laned road and turn around."
Coach Banks blinked. "Turn around?" he asked.
"It's the windmill, sir," Andy remarked. "We're not passed the point-of-no-return... where going forward is shorter than going back," he further explained his reference. "The status of the wreck back on the highway has changed from 'standstill' to 'slow traffic' and will probably improve more in the time it takes to get back there." The young man sighed. "Basically, if I did the math right for how long we've been traveling, I would say going back will get us to the hotel in less than an hour... going forward we're looking at a 2AM arrival."
"What!?" someone else, probably Seamus, yelped from two seats back.
"Narrow roads, low speed limits, and mountain grades," Andy pointed out to the red-haired boy with freckles behind him.
The coach groaned. "...and I've been up since 4AM already," he added. "Alright Andy. Your figures are rarely wrong... where's this entrance?"
"Two miles up... might not be lit... on the left."
The clouds were already blocking out the stars above, but now the rain started to fall and on came the windshield wipers. Well, the left one anyway.
"There!" pointed out Seamus who was now paying attention.
"Something-Something State Park," James added as the sign was actually lit, but someone had come through and torn off the county or mountain name that had been there in white-painted, wood lettering at some point in the past.
As Coach Banks slowed down to make the turn into the divided two-laned entrance, his phone rang. Looking up into the long mirror over the front window, the coach called back to the very back of the bus. "Chris! Those girls still following us!?" he asked.
Just behind the main bus was another, but with chaperons and cheerleaders. "Yeah Coach!" came Christopher's remark. A big burley linebacker whose genetics had already given him a head of pure-white hair at his age.
"Good," Banks said as the bus traveled into the narrow road to the mountainous park. Reaching for his belt, he pulled off his cell off after the third ring and knew who it was just by the screen. "No, we're still not there, dear," he said to his wife on the other side. "No. No," he answered more of her questions. "No, dear, we're turning around in a second," he said as the sky opened up and more rain came falling down through the trees into the darkness only lit by high beams.
"This is like how a horror movie starts," James remarked from over the coach's shoulder as the woods got more and more dense around them.
"Shut it, James," Banks snapped. "No, dear, not you... —no, I said not you!" It was clear his cell signal was breaking up and making this awkward. "Yes, dear. At this point we're just going to turn around and get back on the—" he was interrupted as a crack of thunder came an instant after a flash of light.
"Whoa, shit—!" came Chris' voice from the back of the bus. "I saw that hit! Oh! Oh, I think it's falling across the road..." he trailed off watching a thick young oak begin to fall behind the cheerleader's bus.
"Maybe we should just seek shelter," remarked Andy. "Main office would be closed, so no renting a cabin." Days later, Andy would learn that the curse they were all soon to experience would become invoked by lost travelers seeking shelter from the elements... and calling it up directly may have set the following events in motion.
Thaddeus pleaded into the phone: "Dear, I'm sorry, but I'm having too bad a connection. I'll call you from wherever we end up."
"Where's a [deer]?" asked Matthew who was once again not paying attention, and the first to unwittingly name his future animal transformation.
"No [deer]," Coach Banks called back as the road ahead slowly wound away into dark and further narrow also setting up his own transformation. "Dumbass," he added softly to which James and Andy both chuckled.
"I thought you said there'd be a turn-around," James asked after a few minutes.
Andy frowned. "How could there not be? Otherwise, you could never leave," he said, unaware of the foreshadowing he'd be looking back on later.
"Alright [sheep]le," someone said, though who it was was hard to tell with twenty-plus people on the bus and the rain drowning out voices. "Everyone keep your eyes out for a turn so we can get out of this place!"
"Ha!" remarked Christopher suddenly from the back of the bus. Someone asked what was so funny. "I can see the girls practicing cheers! Probably trying to drown-out the rain." Andy looked back. "Washington [Wolves]!" Christopher called out, then lifted his head back and howled like he was breaking on the field. Andy looked back.
"Ha, yeah. I see them. 'C'mon [wolves], we'll gett'em back! Let's go blue! Let's go black!'," Andy said, sealing his animal fate. But not just him... a number of the team—though not everyone—joined in the chant, trying to drown out the rain with cheer. Even the coach got into it, though it would be too later for him to be a wolf.
"Hey, what's that!?" James asked, looking ahead...
The only thing it could be... the cabin. But the cabin was huge as it would have to be to house so many at once. It was beautiful, a true oasis in the deep dark woods.
The paved parking area had diagonal long marks for where the busses could easily pull in. The sidewalk had steel overhangs with wooden paneling creating a covered walkway at the edge of the parking lot where there were four tall street lamps.
The path from the parking lot shifted into slight hill with handicap ramping aside of the occasional stairs. One path lead up towards the cabin itself while another path forked off in a Y with that second path clearly heading down behind the cabin and around the lower part of the hill, out of sight.
The cabin looked more like a natural-designed hotel. It stood atop a hill with a back patio that hung over a twenty-foot cliff overlooking a lake below. The building looked ancient, like it had been built in the 1700's, but had clearly new energy-efficient windows and doors. The path up to it was of stone, stopping at double-doors with three large two-story windows above them letting out from inside the warm glow of electric lighting, welcoming them all.
"Where the hell?" Coach Banks asked as the two busses pulled in and slowed. "Someone write this down... I wanna come back here on purpose some day," the coach chuckled with a smile, unaware he could never leave. As he circled the parking lot wide, his eyes turned back towards where the two busses had entered.
"Where's the road?" James asked before the coach could.
Andy looked up from his map where he'd been checking the path back to the highway. "Did... did you turn all the way around?" he asked, having gotten lost in 3D-space while looking away from the front windshield for a moment.
Ahead of the group was darkness and forest like they had just left... but the rectangular area of the parking lot was now situated by it's lonesome in a grass clearing, completely lacking any road leading away from it in whatever moments it had taken from everyone on both busses to look away an then look back.
Coach Banks slowly pushed the bus forward. "Well, that's just bad design," the man said as they approached the edge of the lot. "You can't see the exit from the parking lot... it's right—" he creeped up all the way to the edge until the front tires rolled softly off the pavement and into the grass with a mild bump to all passengers. "—here?" he asked.
"Not here," Andy said, getting up from his seat and looking around out of all the windows, now standing in the isle. "Not anywhere."
"Horror-movie stuff," James repeated.
Coach Banks and Andy looked at each other, completely at a loss for a moment. Then, Andy reached for his Washington Wolves Assistant Coach jacket all decked out in primarily silver with black and blue stripes. "Where are you going?" Banks asked.
"You don't just leave a three story cabin with its lights on like that in the middle of a the woods without a caretaker or a park phone or, hell, one of those park maps in the main hall," said Andy as he zipped up his jacket and pulled his hood over his head. "I'll be right back," he said.
"Classic," James said as Coach Banks reached over and pulled the leaver to open the door of the bus. As Andy stepped out, the dark-skilled head coach looked at James. "Rules of a horror movie... you're not supposed to say 'I'll be right back'," offered the Senior with a smirk. The coach just shook his head.
Stepping off the bus, Andy made his way towards his new home. If anyone had the mind to figure out what this curse was and save everyone before things got out of hand, it would be Andy. But, even so... you can't solve a problem until you know you have one, and the road vanishing was just the first indicator.
The Plight of the Washington Wolves had only just begun...