Hey, enjoy the seventh chapter. snicker

The bus turned left out of Columbus, Ohio and headed down the back road to what would soon be South Dakota. It was at least an hour since Ran'd fallen asleep, exhausted. Asleep, she looked even more woebegone than before. Her breath caught in her chest, giving her intakes of air a slightly chunky sound, as if she was breathing in more than air.

"Her breathing don't sound too good." said Freddy. Kou shook his head in agreement. They were both curled up in one of the bed seats on the other side of the bus and Blacky was curled up on the floor like some terrifying travesty of a pet cat. He appeared to be dozing, but I knew he was awake, listening to what was being said around him.

"How long until we're in Dakota?" I asked.

"About two days. Why, bored already?" asked Blacky from where he lay with his eyes closed. His voice was very deep and growly, like the voice guy on the human station, 105.1. Despite his ferocious appearance and even more ferocious voice, he had the heart of a teddy bear.

"You believe her story?" Adrian asked his brother.

He shrugged. "Why not? Why would she lie? It coincides with what dad told us all along growing up."

"Man, I never believed those stories as a kid, Kou, you know that."

"Well, that's your problem."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Shut up!" I hissed. If they didn't keep it down, they'd wake the kid up!

"Sorry." muttered Kou. He was, too.

We rode on in silence for a while, until Ran said something in her sleep.

"What'd she say?" I said. It sounded like 'Collie' but I wasn't sure.

"Corey." said Freddy.

"That's that Buschemi guy's son." I muttered.

"Buschemi!" sputtered Freddy through a beer. He sprayed the floor with his mouthful and Blacky got blasted with it. He sat up very fast for such a big guy and shook his head like a dog, spraying us all.

"Oh, maaaann!" whined Adrian.

"Hey, what the f!" I cried. (Fill in the blank!)

"Corey…"Ran mumbled again, apparently unaware that we were all sprayed with beer.

"What the fk's up with you, man?" I cried, pulling a disgusted face and sopping the latter with the bottom of my shirt.

"The billionaire's kid!" Freddy said disbelievingly.

"Billion—shit." said Adrian dully.

"What?" I asked, grabbing a rag out of the rag bag in the corner. I wiped up the floor with a tentacle and awaited his answer.
"He dropped his shirt." said Kou. Adrian picked it up with a tentacle and flung it with a whip crack of said tentacle. The loud noise woke Ran up in a heart beat. She sprang up, eyes wide in fear, and immediately cowered into a fetal position.

"Huhh?" she cried.

"Hey, take it easy kid, it was just Adrian being stupid." soothed Freddy, covering her shoulders up with the blanket she'd flung on the floor earlier. It was September, after all.

"Adrian?" she asked. Oh, right. She didn't even know our names.

"Yeah, I'm over here." He said, waving at her almost lazily.

"Stupid, we haven't even told you our names." said Freddy, smiling like he would to Heather. Heather was his daughter, for whom he would do anything. She was only a toddler at the moment.

"I'm Freddy." said Freddy.

"Kou." He waved.

"I'm Guppie."

"Flounder." accused Freddy. I stuck my tongue out at him. Flounder was my real name but I insisted everybody call me Guppie, even my brothers and sister.

"Nickname?" she asked, no longer afraid, although her hands were still shaking.

"No, my real name. Guppie's my nickname." I corrected her. She smiled.

"Who's the wolf?" she asked, not unkindly. Blacky gave her a rare smile, stretched like a cat, and sat up on his hind legs, crossing his two middle and sitting otherwise like a dog. For a dog-like monster, he moved more like a large cat.

"I'm Xavyer. Just call me Blacky, everyone does." He grinned. Ran glanced at his sharper-than-thou fangs and smiled back.

"Cool fangs." She said. Blacky's grin got wider and plenty sharper, his canines sliding over his lower lip like they did when his mouth was closed. Every tooth he possessed was like a razor. His gums were pink spotted with black here and there and his lips were black, too.

"Thanks." He said.

"My fangs are more for puncturing than chewing, it's annoying. I wish they were more like yours." she said. Blacky actually laughed at this, throwing his head back on his neck and barking at the ceiling.

"What?" she said, unsure why he was laughing.

"Nothing, kid. I like you. Smile." he said, quieting down. Not that Damon could hear or cared what was going on back here anyway.

Ran opened her mouth as wide as it could go (which, for her size wasn't very wide at all) to reveal razor sharp sabers for teeth, like a snake's. They were pearly white and about an inch and a half or so long.

"No shit, she wasn't joking. Lookit her molars, though, sharp." I muttered thoughtfully. Her molars were molars, but with sharpened stakes of enamel for points. She lolled her pink tongue out and it reached past her chin!

"Whoa, I wouldn't go flashing that around kid, y'might give someone an idea." said Freddy. She closed her mouth and withdrew her tongue. Freddy was frowning and I could tell he was thinking of Missy and Sage, our two newest roadies and they were both tramps. Missy was after Blacky at the moment, and he was dutifully ignoring her, which made her furious. I thought it was funny.

"Hey Fred we're almost in Iowa!" called Damon from up front. Outside, storm clouds were gathering and I could see this made Ran happy. At least, she was pressed up against our tinted window.

"You can control the weather too, right?" asked Freddy hopefully.

"Yeah, but not this. This looks like…nah." She muttered.

"No, what?" I asked sharply. Thunder rolled overhead.

Suddenly, the bus was rocked over on two wheels, throwing all of us against Ran's window.

"Aaaahhhh!" I screamed.

Rain suddenly lashed at the window, right out of nowhere, and I knew Ran was hurt. I had believed the stories after all.

"Ran! Ran, are you okay!" Kou was screaming.

"Of COURSE I'm not okay, you doofus! Your suckers are hurting my neck!" she screamed angrily. The lights in the bus suddenly went out and Damon wasn't driving anymore. My stomach suddenly slipped up into my throat as the bus was lifted off it's wheels. Wait a minute. Lifted off it's wheels?

"HANG ON TO SOMETHING!" I screamed, grabbing onto one of the bolted down seats. There was a scramble as they all tried to hold on to something and I grabbed Ran around the waist and held onto another seat with every tentacle I possessed. The bus was

"What is this!" screamed Freddy, as we were thrown around and around.

"It's a tornado!" screamed Ran.

"Stop it!" yelled Freddy.

"I can't, wind isn't my element!" she screamed back. Blacky was still being bumped around and suddenly, he wasn't anywhere!

"Blacky!" I screamed. The doors were open!

Oh! Oh no, what'll happen next? You'll have to wait 'till next chapter to find out.