HUMAN

Chapter One

Graveyard – Mitch Grassi version

***

After hours of driving over countless potholes and through extraordinarily heavy traffic, the tour bus felt much more cramped than usual. Their second bus broke down a few cities back, so everyone had to pile on this one to avoid missing their show tomorrow. Everybody was mindlessly hypnotized by their phone screens, when Mitch suddenly broke the silence. 

"ESTHER!" Mitch yelled as he stood up and threw his phone on the couch, nearly hitting Scott's right arm. 

"When will we get there?? Mommy's hungry and everyone already ate my gluten-free pretzels," he said as he shot Scott a dirty look. 

Scott rolled his eyes, "Mitchy, that was definitely 100% all you." 

Avi, Kevin, and Nicole were trying to quietly laugh in the corner at this exchange, but they just sounded like giggling schoolgirls. Esther was sitting next to the bus driver, trying to get the traffic updates to sync to the GPS. Seemingly, to no avail. 

"You are all children; you know that," she asserted. "We'll get there when we get there." 

This made the "schoolgirls" snicker even more.

Mitch sat back down and frantically searched his bag. 

I definitely got an apple at the last rest stop, he thought to himself. 

"FUCK!!!!" he yelled.

He definitely did not. 

"Mitchell! Can you please be quiet?!?" Kirstie shouted as she came from the very back of the bus. "I'm on the phone... Hello? ... Ma'am ... Can you hear me? CRAP!!" She proclaimed as she raised her phone and frantically searched for a signal. 

"Jeremy was supposed to land an hour ago and he's not answering his phone. I honestly don't know what to do. I just got through to the airline after being on hold for twenty fucking minutes."

It looked like she was about to cry. Everyone put their phones down temporarily, looking at each other for an idea of what to say or do to calm her down. 

"I'm sure it's fine. The flight was probably delayed. We all know that happens way too often," Avi said. "Here. Borrow my phone. I have a little bit of a signal."

"Thank you," she mumbled as he handed her his phone.

"Kirst," Scott motioned for her to come sit in between he and Mitch on the couch. 

She promptly sat down and sighed. Scott was about to try and console her when she interrupted him.

She began to ramble, "Maybe his phone died and he forgot his charger. He's literally always forgetting things. Like all the time. He never knows where his keys are, I swear." 

She paused and fiddled her thumbs.

Scott began to speak, "I would not be-"

Kirstie continued, "He should've already been checked into our hotel, unpacking, and getting changed so that we'd be ready to go out when I got there. We were so excited about our plans tonight. He wouldn't want to miss that for the world." 

Scott tried to speak again, "Kirstie-"

She clapped a hand to her knee and jumped back off the couch. 

"THAT'S IT! I can call the hotel! They'll know if he was there yet or not. Thanks, Scott! You always know exactly what to say."

She ran to the back of the bus again, this time with Avi's phone, to call the hotel in New York City that they were all planning on staying at for the night. Scott smiled and exhaustedly leaned on Mitch's shoulder. 

"I'M BORED..." Scott complained to his best friend, "play with me."

"Play what?" Mitch murmured as he was attempting to read a book that he had downloaded on his phone earlier. 

"Ummmm," Scott contemplated, "Heads Up... or Cards Against Humanity!!! That'd be fun."

"Please don't," Kevin contested.

"Do you guys want to play poker?" Avi eagerly questioned. 

They both looked at him blankly. 

"Not... really," Mitch replied and then looked back at his phone. 

Nicole was confused, poker sounded like fun to her. She and her boyfriend play it with their friends all the time.

"C'mon, it'd be fun. I can't stare at the floor for the next two hours. I'll go crazy," Avi whined. "Kurvy, you too buddy. You can show them how it's done."

He nudged Kevin, who was glued to a book. He was reading "The Power of Vulnerability" by Brené Brown. Scott actually recommended it to him and he couldn't put it down.

"No! I mean," he mumbled. "Give me a minute please. I have to finish this chapter."  

Avi looked disappointed and this made Scott feel guilty.

"Fine," Scott exclaimed before he flicked Mitch's arm. "Poker. Mitch. We're playing." 

Mitch rolled his eyes and sat up to join the game right when Esther started speaking. 

"Sorry to stop the fun, but we're stopping for gas guys. If anyone needs to get snacks or anything, now is the time. We're over three hours away from the city with this traffic."

The bus slowly arrived at a virtually empty rest stop, situated on the side of the highway. The second it parked, all of the restless band members leaped out of their seats and rushed off of the bus to head to the convenience store. The only ones left on the bus were Esther, Kirstie (who was still on the phone), and Jenevieve (the bus driver). Kevin was the last out of the door. He promptly walked up to the front door to help Esther down the truck step, which was nearly two feet off of the ground. He opened the door and grabbed her right hand. 

"Aw, what a gentleman," she hopped down and then reached up to her seat to grab her purse and shut the door. "Thanks Kev." 

"Of course," he replied with a big smile on his face.

She smirked at him, but quickly looked back at her phone and exhaled. "You know what I found out earlier? I forgot to tell you guys the rest of the crew are already in the city. They got there this morning. I seriously cannot believe they beat us there. I knew we shouldn't have stopped in New Jersey."

Kirstie walked from the back of the bus, all the while looking at the phone screen. 

"Guys, why did we stop..." she looked up and paused. "Where did everybody go?" 

"We were almost out of fuel. They're in the convenience store if you want to join them sweetie," Jenevieve responded. Kirstie anxiously headed for the door when Jenevieve turned the dial up on the radio. 

"Hey, Kit! Listen to this," She yelled. 

".......We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a special report. Breaking news: what began as interruptions in service earlier today for all major networks has seemingly evolved into COMPLETE power outages in all major cities throughout the U.S. Everyone in or around a major city is being advised to stay indoors. Do not leave your home. I repeat, do not leave your home. The sudden blackouts have caused mass hysteria and riots in nearly every highly populated city. This has unfortunately resulted in an increase in crimes like robbery, vandalism, and physical assault, as well as a heavy police presence.... We also need to tell our listeners some very troubling news.... *sigh* We have been told that there have been several plane crashes throughout the country within the last hour. The total number of fatalities are currently unknown. *sigh* I'm very sorry. Please stay tuned for more information... And stay safe......"

***

"Blood as ice is an empty crisis, lonely it lies. Bring 'em all back to life."