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CHAPTER TEN: UNDER THE STARS
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THE NIGHT HAD come rather quickly. The group had finished boarding up the bus with the abandoned sheet metal they found around the time that the sky had turned from pink and purple, to orange and red. The sky was clear, and showed off the thousands of stars that littered the night sky, but the ground was covered in a thick fog that made goosebumps arise on Liz's arms. Lucas had climbed up the ladder that Max had positioned underneath the open emergency ceiling exit, and acted as their lookout. The other four were in the bus; Steve and Liz sat side-by-side against a wall as Steve played with a lighter while Max sat in one of the remaining bus seats, and Dustin paced around the bus.
"So... you really fought one of these things before?" Max questioned Steve. Liz turned her gaze to Max, and she sighed. Max didn't believe them, but she thought maybe that was better. It didn't put her in as much danger as she could be in, and the last thing Liz wanted was Max in danger.
Steve looked at her and nodded, "And you're, like, totally, a hundred percent sure it wasn't a bear?"
"Shit! Don't be an idiot! It wasn't a bear!" Dustin snapped causing Max to raise her eyebrows and give him a look that said 'excuse me'. "Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."
"Geesh. Someone's cranky." Max comments. "Past your bedtime?"
Liz looks between the two and purses her lips before standing up. She walks over to the ladder, and climbs it, peeking her above at Lucas who was watching the ground with binoculars, "You wanna switch off?" He looks at her. "You've been looking for awhile, and I thought that switching off every once in awhile would be good, because it's a fresh set of eyes, you know?"
Lucas nods, "Yeah, that's a good idea."
He hands Liz the binoculars which she takes, and she sits on top of the bus where Lucas was sitting. He winks at her before climbing down, "Good luck."
Liz smiles at him as he climbs down into the bus, and she leans her back against a stack of tires that we're placed on the roof of the bus. She watches the landscape, searching for any sign of Dart. As she gets deep into searching, she doesn't hear Max come up the ladder to join her on the roof. She jumps slightly as Max speaks, "It's kinda awesome."
"Huh?" Liz asks, removing her gaze from the landscape to Max.
"The fog, I mean." Max corrects, smiling out at the thick layer of fog on the ground. "It looks like the ocean."
