“How much longer we gotta wait ?”, Casey whined loudly. “I’m getting Hungry !”
“Shudda-Up !”, Bo hissed. “You want that they should hear us ?”
“Ain’t nobody here !”, Luis exclaimed. “We been here for hours !”
“Alright, Can It !”, Ted spoke sharply. “We’ll stay here another hour. If they don’t show by then, we’ll go back. In the meantime, shut you face !”
The Jocks had been waiting since dusk in the empty rail car not far from the rail tunnel’s entrance. They were armed with bats, bricks, Golf Clubs, sticks from crates, and any weapon they had managed to get their hands on. As twilight waned and darkness had set in, Lance had been sure that the Punks would make an appearance soon. As the hours dragged on though, with no Punks in sight, Lance had become despondent, wishing that he had at least tried to follow them last night. It would have done little good, with his bum leg he’d never have been able to keep up with them, he knew.
The group lapsed into gloomy silence. In just a couple of hours, it would be dawn, and the whole night’s mission would be a failure. The minutes dragged by, and some of the Jocks began to doze. Suddenly, Ted heard a noise and cautiously poked his head out of the boxcar to investigate. The noises increased, and Ted watched as the giant doors swung open inward on what was a large tunnel-like structure that was set into the mountain, showing what was dimly revealed to be the Caboose of a train inside. Ted could barely make out figures on the back of the Caboose. Once the doors were fully extended, the train began to back up southward towards them. As the train prepared to pass by the empty boxcar, Ted ducked back inside and urged the others to stay hidden. The train rumbled by, and after an interminable time, ground to a halt. Ted waited a couple minutes more, then risked a look outside again. He saw no one.
He motioned the others out of the boxcar. “Let’s see if the bastards are in that tunnel !”, he ordered. It seemed like a logical place, and Ted was getting just as antsy for some action as the others were. They quickly traversed the distance from the Boxcar to the tunnel entrance. Walking alongside the train, they probed ever deeper into the tunnel without seeing anyone. As they did, it became darker and darker. Distantly, up ahead, they could see the lights of the Engines.
Single file they walked along the side of the train, with Ted and Laurent in the lead. Following behind was Kirby, Dan, Juri, Casey, and Luis, with Bo, Lance, and Bob bringing up the rear. They walked cautiously, but quickly, keeping a lookout as as much as possible in the large dark tunnel as they could. A few hundred feet inside, they were suddenly startled when the train ground into action again, and they flattened themselves against the wall, hoping the darkness would conceal them. But the train came to a halt soon after and reversed it’s direction of travel, then repeated the process. It occurred to them then that the train was only in the process of switching boxcars. Silently, they continued deeper into the tunnel.
After an while, the group came close to the Engine. Ted motioned the group to a stop and they gathered around deciding what to do next. Before any decision could be made, however, the Engine began to move again, away from them, only this time it wasn’t stopping. It appeared their night’s work was done. Remembering the men on the Caboose, Ted urged the others to look for a place to hide. Spotting one of the side rooms off the tunnel, Laurent shouted “Look !”
Quickly, they piled in and hit the deck as the train picked up speed and rumbled by. In less than a couple minute’s time, the train had passed their position and was rumbling away through the tunnel to the North. The Jocks emerged from the room slowly, and watched the train’s lights dwindle from sight.
The last of the noise abated and an oppressive silence set in. The Jocks resumed their journey as quietly as they could, but even the smallest noise seemed to echo large in the enormous tunnel. Nevertheless, they continued on in the gloom, checking out every room behind every door they came to, and finding nothing. Finally, they arrived at the head of the tunnel, where the two large rooms lay to each side of the tracks.
Carefully, they examined them, their adrenalin on high alert expecting a fight. But the rooms were empty and silent. Ted and Laurent stood in the big room where not long ago, Sid and Jake had struck a deal to take over the entire Vale Valley. All of that was unknown to them, of course, but even they could see signs that the room had been occupied very recently. There were scatterings of food wrappers all about and some discarded clothing laying here and there. The bunks had a slept-in look, and there was other evidence in plates and dishes laying about.
Ted took a close look at the junk scattered on the table. His eyes spotted an object and he scooped it up. It resembled a small, white ball, somewhat irregularly shaped. To his surprise, it was soft, like clay.
“Huh”, Ted said, puzzled. “Lookit this, Laurent. What the hell’s this ?”
Laurent took the whiteish ball and felt it. “I am not sure”, he said slowly, “But it is odd, a very odd thing.”
For some reason, a vision of an exploding Football from last year flashed briefly through Ted’s mind, then was gone. He shook his head. “Bah, it’s nothing. There’s nothing here. Nobody here. If they were here, we missed them. Com’on, let’s get outta here.”
Ted headed towards the door, and Laurent followed, sticking the funny white ball in his pocket. He decided he would show it to Tony later.
By this time, all the Jocks had all gathered outside the open North mouth of the large tunnel entrance. Some were staring at the big lake off to the left that was created by the Bullworth Dam in the fast-lightening sky. Ted strode up behind them. “All right, let’s go ! You seen one lake, you seen ‘em all. We gonna head back to the school, so stop gawking and move it !!”
“But what about them Punks ?”, Bo mouthed off. “How we gonna get revenge for Lance here ?”
“You see any of ‘em here ?”, Ted barked, sweeping his arm grandly behind him, towards the tunnel. “No ?? Then They Ain’t Here !! The mission is a Bust !” To the rest, he said, “So let’s head back, we’re wasting time here. If any of yahs don’t remember, Burton is supposed to give us the Gym Final today. He’s gonna be pissed if we don’t show up !”
“Today ?”, Juri said stupidly. “Whadda mean ?”
“In case you didn’t notice, it’s like 5 AM”, Ted said, exacerbated. “Don’t you notice it’s getting light out ? Now com’on, let’s move it !!!”
The group trudged back through the tunnel. Casey soon began going on again about being hungry, and the other big Jocks, Juri and Luis joined in. Finally Ted got tired of hearing it and commanded them to just shut up. “Knock it off, yah Pussies. Are you Mice or Men ?”
“We’re like, hungry Mice”, Casey grumbled, but he and the others fell silent. The group kept moving, not quite as fast as normal, as they were getting weary. If it wasn’t for all the lap running they did around the Football Field to keep in shape, they would have crashed long ago.
The trip seemed to last forever. Ted was growing confused. It was getting light, he knew, and he should have been able to see the other end of the tunnel by now. But it was still dark up ahead, in fact, quite black. Ted didn’t understand. He asked if anyone had a flashlight. Only Laurent had thought to bring one, a small penlight easily carried in his pocket. He flicked it on and aimed it ahead. The beam reached out into only blackness. The Jocks kept walking, and their conversation all but ceased. Every eye was straining towards the uncertain blackness ahead.
At long last, the small light shone on a solid object. The Jocks stopped walking, dumbfounded. A small sliver of light showed near the ground across their path, and they were looking at the backs of the huge doors blocking the South end of the tunnel. The doors were shut, and probably locked. They were trapped !!
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