Chapter 2: Waiting

The lobby outside of Bob's office was filled with the group and their luggage as they waited for the bus to arrive and take them off to the cabins.

Standing off by himself, Michael took another look over his luggage, mentally going over a list to make sure that he had everything that he needed. He then took a glance at watch. "That bus should be here by now," he mentioned to himself.

Starting to get fidgety, he looked around the room. The Stevens were grouped together working on something, Elliot was trying to start a conversation with Joanna, Kirk was talking to Carol, then off in the corner stood the new girl. She was alone as she checked her make up in her compact mirror.

He gathered just enough courage to go over to her. "Stephanie right?" he asked.

Stephanie looked up over her mirror. "Yes," she responded, not seeming to be all that interested.

Michael smiled to her. "You know, you don't need to be checking your make up, you already look perfect," he insisted. Even though he was trying to compliment her in order to get her attention, he really did find truth in what he said.

Stephanie smiled to him. "Well, I know, but I like to go through the motions anyway," she replied, enjoying the admiration. She closed her compact and stuck it back into her purse. "You think that this stupid bus will get here soon?" she implored.

"All I know is that Dr. Hartley said it should have been here at two. It's five after and we're still here," he stated as he checked his watch. He then looked up to her. "That man needs to get a better sense of time."

"Tell me about it," Stephanie responded, and then let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't even usually agree to get on a bus, let alone wait for one."

Michael was happy, this was a beautiful girl talking to him. The attire she was wearing was stupid to go camping in, with her leather boots, long brown skirt with her pink top and dress jacket, he noted, but there was no way that he was going to point it out to her after she had decided to talk to him. He then looked over to her luggage, noticing that she had two suitcases for the next forty eight hours. "Would you like me to carry your things for you onto the bus?" he offered.

Stephanie let out a sigh of relief. "Good. I was having trouble finding out who was going to get them. For a minute there I almost thought that I would have to do it."

Michael looked to her for a moment. He doubted that she had ever had to do anything for herself. Then, he also figured something else out, he doubted that she could be single. He wanted to ask her, but he couldn't, instead he had to just see whether or not he could figure it out for himself. "Hey, would you mind if I sat next to you on the bus?" he requested.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Stephanie answered, not sounding all that enthused by the idea. She took a second and studied him. "You seem like the most normal person here anyways."

"Thanks," he replied.

Stephanie took a second and looked around the room before she leaned in closer to Michael. "You don't by any chance know if any of these people here are murderers or eat bugs do you?" she whispered.

"Well I can assure you that no one here is a murderer. As for bug eaters, the only one that I can be sure about is Joanna, she can't even stand to have one in the room with her," he answered in the same hushed tone. It was hard for him to say anything against the people here, but to be honest, he wasn't sure about Larry and his brothers. Some of the stories that they had shared with everyone were a bit different.

Stephanie slowly nodded. "Well, she's the one that I'm sharing the room with, so that is important," she explained.

Not too far from them sat Carol behind her desk as Kirk stood leaning closer to her from the other side. "You know," he started, resting his head on his hand. "I only have so much time that I can offer, and I think that it's only fair that I give you the opportunity to reserve some of it," he informed her.

Carol laughed. "No Kirk," she answered.

"What if I told you that I'm not really Kirk Devane, that this is just the temporary identity that the government gave me because they believe that there are spies in this part of the country and that staying with me would be the safest place for you?" he attempted.

Carol leaned closer to him and smiled. "I know why you're here Kirk," she told him.

"Do you really?" he questioned. "I mean does anyone really know why we're here?"

"Because we would be lost if we weren't here," Carol responded, and then laughed at her own joke.

Before Kirk could say anything to Carol, Joanna and Elliot walked up to the desk.

"Carol? Would you be offended if a man went out and bought you a maid outfit?" Joanna blurted out in annoyance.

Carol looked between the two. "That depends, what am I being asked to do in this outfit?" she asked.

Kirk held up his hand. "Question. Do I get to see you in this said outfit?" he implored.

"No!" Joanna answered.

Elliot set his bag down on the desk and pulled out a simple maid outfit. It wasn't too skimpy, but just enough to offend Joanna. It was a low cut, tight fitting outfit with a short skirt. "Doctor Hartley told me that I needed to be more friendly with people, so I thought that I would give it to her as a joke between friends, since she likes to clean so much," he dryly explained.

"That makes sense," Kirk said.

Joanna looked to Carol, waiting for her response to all of this.

"I would just be happy that he thinks you're cute enough to pull it off," she stated.

"I never said that you had to wear it in front of me," Elliot added.

Joanna sighed as she looked over and offered a smile to Elliot. "Thank you," she breathed out, taking the outfit and putting into her own bag.

"It wouldn't hurt though if you did try it on," Kirk said.

Joanna rolled her eyes and left the group.

Over closer to the elevator, stood Larry, Darryl, and Darren. They had their things all in one suitcase.

"Now, you two remember that we are going out into the woods. That means no running off. You hear me?" Larry warned them. "You remember what happened last time don't ya?"

The two brothers nodded in unison.

"Good," Larry said. "The last thing we need is to get lost again," he stated.

The phone rang and Carol went and answered it. "Doctor Hartley's office," she answered. She sat there for a brief moment as she listened. "Okay, thank you. I'll let him know," she replied and then hung up the phone.

"Doctor Hartley? The bus is here," she announced to him.

"Thank you Carol," he responded. He was about to tell everyone else, but he saw them all heading towards the elevator already and decided that it wasn't needed.

Bob was about to head the elevator himself, but he heard someone from behind him call out his name. He turned around and saw Joanna standing there. "Yes?" he replied.

Joanna stood there and looked around real quick. "Do you mind if we talk alone for a few minutes when we get there? I have something personal that I would like to discuss," she requested.

"Sure," Bob answered. "We can probably talk right before dinner," he suggested.

Joanna smiled to him. "Thank you," she responded before heading onto the elevator.