While Ralphie, Tim, and Liz had gone to visit DA, Carlos and Wanda were indeed hanging out. They had done that a lot in high school, mainly because they were the only ones, besides Ralphie, who would encourage each other's childish behavior. They always had a great time pulling pranks on people, especially DA since she was always the most annoyed. They also really loved causing drama for the group, such as the time they manipulated Ralphie into kissing Phoebe because Wanda insisted Ralphoebe was a thing, even though they never really had that many feelings for each other. A lot of drama came out of that situation. Granted, they had both pretty much grown out of this behavior since high school, but it was nice to be hanging out again, just like the good old days.
While they were seated at a picnic table in the park, they began talking about life and such. They also discussed Ms. Frizzle, which led to Wanda bringing up Arnold's absence. This led to Carlos becoming bitter about the subject, especially since Mikey was due back in San Jose very soon.
"I can't believe Arnold would try and stop Mikey from coming. The nerve of that guy! Heck, he only allowed him to come as long as he got back soon. He has to leave today just so he can be back at work first thing in the morning tomorrow!" Carlos ranted
"I get why you're upset, but think about it. Arnold is trying to run a business, and he needs Mikey there since he is the smartest worker he has." Wanda said.
"Don't defend Arnold!" Carlos exclaimed. "I still don't get why you are trying to be friends with him. You know what he said about Ms. Frizzle. You know why he didn't want to come to her funeral. We should be distancing ourselves from him as much as possible."
"I don't condone what he feels about Ms. Frizzle, but I can't just not see or talk to him anymore. We have been friends for a really long time. It would be a shame to throw it all away."
"But Arnold made it really clear that he hates the Frizz. He shouldn't be friends with someone who hates the most important person in our lives."
"I get that, but we can't just alienate him forever. He was important to us, too, especially to me. I mean, he was pretty much the only guy I dated that I wasn't with just for sex. I just want to repair what we had so that our relationship isn't ruined forever."
"I guess that is fair." Carlos conceded. "Still, he has to do something in order to make the whole gang want to be friends with him again, and right now, he hasn't done anything."
"Maybe you have to make the first move. I mean, I was the one who went up and talked to him at his wedding, and then we started being friends again. Maybe if you start talking to him again, you can also be friends again." Wanda suggested.
"I guess I could do that, but it will take time for me to begin to trust him again."
"That's fine. Why don't we talk about something different now?" Wanda offered.
"That would be nice."
"Alright..." Wanda thought of something else to discuss. She suddenly put on a mischievous grin as she decided to talk about something that she could possibly tease Carlos about, something that she used to do a lot. "How are things with you and DA?"
"What do you mean?" Carlos asked confused.
"Oh, come on. She told me that you guys hung out at the old burger place you guys frequented a lot in high school."
"Well, yeah, but we were just hanging out."
"Sure, hanging out..." Wanda smirked.
"What? We just wanted to see each other after a long time. We were just friends. Nothing more."
"This is classic Carlos behavior. You always denied your true feelings for her whenever we started pressing you."
"What? No! I don't - I don't have any feelings!" Carlos insisted. "Would you stop -"
"Carlos," Wanda interrupted. "You and DA are the only ones dumb enough to not realize what's going on between you two-"
"Did you just call me dumb?"
"And all I'm saying is, admit your feelings and go ask her out already."
"You just called me and DA dumb?!"
"Yeah, and I'm the one that didn't care about school and doesn't have a successful career yet."
"I don't feel anything for her, and even if I did like her... like that, it's not like she would go for the guy who was a goof off in school."
"Oh please, everyone knew she had a thing for you. It was painfully obvious."
"No way! She's way out of my league. And again, I don't have any feelings for her."
Wanda rolled her eyes. "And you're not fooling-"
Before Wanda could finish her sentence, there was a sudden loud boom in the sky accompanied by a large flash of red light in the distance.
"What was that?!" Wanda screamed.
Wanda and Carlos looked in the direction of the red light and saw that it had made the entire sky red, and a large shadow started appearing from where the red light had flashed. The shadow started blocking out the entire sky. The ground also began to rumble violently, as if there was a small earthquake.
"What's going on?!" Carlos yelled.
"I don't know!" Wanda responded.
The rumbling continued as the shadow continued to block out the entire sky. Carlos and Wanda quickly ducked under the table for safety. Then, once the entire sky was covered by the shadow, the rumbling stopped. Carlos and Wanda emerged from underneath the table to find that it was now really dark. Carlos turned on the flashlight of his phone to get even a little light. When he did, he could see that Wanda was trembling slightly and looked a bit reluctant to get out from under the table.
"Wanda, what's wrong?" Carlos asked.
"Did you not see what the hell just happened?!" Wanda shouted.
"Right. Well, except for the sky, it's over now."
"Whatever happened gave me chills. Like, really big chills."
"Don't worry. It can't get any worse now, can it?"
"I don't know, Carlos. I get the feeling that things are about to get a lot worse." Wanda said as she was finally completely out from under the table.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, the sky for one. It's too dark to see. Who knows what might happen in the dark."
"I think your being paranoid, Wanda. There's nothing out in the dark."
"I'm telling you; I have a very bad feeling about this."
"Oh, quit being a scaredy cat and look around," Carlos groaned. He began moving his flashlight all around the park to show Wanda that there was nothing there. Or so it seemed... "There is nothing out in-"
Carlos suddenly froze when his flashlight illuminated something out in the darkness. Since it was a bit far away and the light he had was not so bright, he could barely make it out. It looked like a humanoid figure. It was tall and looked very shadowy. The one thing that there was no mistaking was the hellishly red eyes the figure had. It was a very unnatural red. A red like you've never seen red before. Even with barely any light, Carlos could not mistake what they were.
"Carlos? Carlos?! What's going-" Wanda also froze when she made out the unnatural red eyes and the faint shadowy figure.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, all of the sudden, the figure began running towards Carlos and Wanda, emitting a loud, demonic shriek as it did.
Both Carlos and Wanda began running away from the creature, with Wanda running a split second before Carlos and running a bit faster. An effect of the PTSD that Wanda swore she didn't have. They both ran, not really caring where they would end up. Just as long as they got away from the creature, its ear-piercing shriek growing louder by the second.
After about a minute of running, they managed to make it to a restroom somewhere in the park, and not a moment too soon. The creature was getting closer by the second. They quickly ran into the restroom and Carlos locked the door behind him. He then looked over and saw Wanda huddled in the corner. Terror and fear were the only things present on her pale face. Her entire body seemed to be trembling. She looked like she had just witnessed a murder.
"Wanda, were safe now. It's going to be all right." Carlos said to try to comfort her.
"You don't know that. That thing could still be out there. It could find us and-"
Wanda was cut off by more of the demonic shrieking of the creature. It was right outside the door. The terror on Wanda's face increased, and she covered her face with her hands. Carlos quickly went over to her and put his arm around her. He comforted her as the shrieking continued. After about a minute, the shrieking started quieting down before coming to a stop.
After a minute, Carlos spoke up. "Maybe it's safe now. Let's get out of here."
"It doesn't feel safe. That, that... thing looked very dangerous. I think we should stay in here for a little while."
"Wanda, whatever it is has to be gone. That horrifying shriek stopped, so it must be gone, too."
"I don't know, Carlos. It could still be out there, waiting for us to-"
"Listen to me, mortals! I have come with a message for you!" Wanda was cut off by a booming voice coming from outside the restroom.
Wanda's eyes became as wide as saucers as she stared at the door. Her eyes looked like she was witnessing war all over again. Carlos also froze at the loud voice outside the bathroom.
"I have been sent by my boss to give you this warning once! You will be contacted by your friends soon, and they will attempt to get you to join something that has gotten my boss angry! They will tell you that it has something to do with one named Valerie Frizzle!"
At this, Wanda and Carlos's eyes got wider. This had something to do with Ms. Frizzle?! What is going on?!
"You will try to remove her from His domain! You must deny to participate in this endeavor with your friends! If you don't, there will be consequences! You have been warned!" With that the voice disappeared.
Wanda and Carlos stayed inside the restroom for some time afterwards, trying to process what had just happened. They both couldn't make sense of what was just said to them. The creature had told them of something that they were going to do. How did it know what they would do? And how did Ms. Frizzle factor into all of this?
It was mainly Carlos that was questioning all of this, though. Wanda was mainly processing how terrifying the event that she just witnessed was. Whatever the creature was, it made her feel like she was back in Iraq. Those demonic red eyes. They reminded her of the large fires that ravaged the sand everywhere. That demonic, ear-splitting shriek. It reminded her of planes streaking through the sky, which made her think of gunfire and bombs dropping. The whole experience had pretty much just traumatized her. She was so deep in thought that she failed to notice Carlos calling her name a few times.
"Wanda!"
Wanda finally snapped out of her daydream to look at Carlos.
"We need to get out of here right now." Carlos stated.
"No way! Did you forget what just happened? It's not safe!"
"It's been a few minutes, Wan. I'm sure that whatever happened is over."
"You said almost the same thing before the loud voice was heard. I'm not taking any chances. That thing really looked dangerous. Those eyes. That shriek. You have no idea how that thing made me feel. What it brought up in my head." At this point, Wanda looked close to tears. The creature had definitely triggered some PTSD related trauma, even if she wouldn't admit it to anyone, even herself.
"Wanda, I get that creature or whatever was really scary, but it talked about giving us some kind of warning and that was it. We may not understand it, but we have been given a warning. I think we should be safe now."
"I'm still not taking any chances."
"Alright, I'll open the door a little and check if it's safe." Carlos suggested. Wanda seemed reluctant at the plan but chose not to protest.
Carlos opened the door a little and was hit with a ray of bright light. "Look, it is safe. The sky is no longer dark." He opened the door a bit more so that Wanda could see that it was now light out.
"Are you sure that it's safe now?"
"Of course. It's light out, so we can see if there is any danger quicker."
"Well... all right." Wanda started walking out of the restroom, but still seemed very reluctant to get out. Once she was out, she still looked incredibly nervous and her eyes seemed to dart around everywhere. Before Carlos could say anything to comfort her, his phone rang. DA was on the other end. He pushed aside the flutter in the pit of his stomach and answered.
"Hello?"
"Carlos, I need you and Wanda to get to my house immediately!"
"Wait, what?"
"It's a very long story, but Ralphie and Tim are here with me. We'll explain it to you when you get here."
"Oh, well... I don't think I can get to you."
"What, why?"
"Well, something really bad just happened, and Wanda is very shaken up."
"She is?"
"Yeah, she looks very nervous and like she's about to cry. I don't think I'll be able to get her anywhere for a long time."
"Then we will have to go to you. Where are you?"
"We're at the park near downtown. You can find us by the picnic tables."
"Alright, we'll see you in a bit." DA then hung up, and Carlos started working on getting Wanda back to where they were, knowing that it wouldn't be easy.
It took a while, but Carlos was eventually able to lead Wanda to the table where they were seated. Wanda made it difficult by always checking every direction around her for any danger and stopping many times when she thought she saw something. Wanda was seated at the table. She had wrapped her arms around herself and was staring at the table. Her eyes had the typical thousand-yard stare that a soldier returning from war would have. She still looked like she was about to cry.
By the time Carlos had gotten Wanda to the table, Ralphie, Tim, DA, and Liz had made it to the park. When Carlos saw them, he waved them over.
"Hey guys." Carlos then had a confused expression on his face. "Ralphie, what's that on your shoulder?"
Ralphie didn't immediately answer. Instead, he made his way over to Carlos, and then Carlos got a better look. "Is that Liz?"
Liz nodded while Ralphie gave a simple "yes."
"Oh, hey Liz. Long time, no see. Hey, Wanda, it's Liz."
Wanda just looked up for a second and said a blunt "hey" before putting her head down and continuing to stare at the table.
"She's really shaken up over what happened." Carlos explained.
"Well, what happened?" Tim asked.
"I don't know how to explain it, but the sky went red and dark before this creature or whatever started chasing us. We hid in a nearby bathroom, but the creature told us that it was there to give us a warning about you guys and some kind of thing you're doing to help Ms. Frizzle. I know that all sounds crazy, but we swear that it happened."
"You should have seen that thing." Wanda cut in. She still didn't look up from the table as she spoke. Those red eyes. It was a majorly scary kind of red. Like a raging fire kind of red. It was black as the night, and looked like it was made of shadows or something. And the shriek. A loud, demonic kind of shriek. Like a war plane streaking through the air, about to drop a bomb. Her eyes seemed to grow wider as she spoke each word.
"Guys, we don't think that you are crazy." DA said. "We dealt with the same thing."
"Carlos turned to DA in shock. "Really?"
"Yes, really!" Ralphie exclaimed. "Let me tell you about it..." Ralphie told Carlos and Wanda about what happened in his house apparently at the same time that Carlos and Wanda had their experience.
"So, you saw the same thing that we saw and also got a warning?" Carlos asked. "What does all of this mean?"
"Well... we pretty much already know what it means." Tim stated.
"What?"
Tim explained to Carlos and Wanda about all of their discoveries that led to them realizing that Ms. Frizzle is in Hell. Ralphie even took out the death-shaped earrings when Tim mentioned them, which still glowed red.
"So, you're saying that Ms. Frizzle is in Hell, and those creatures, or demons, came to stop us from trying to save her?" Carlos asked shocked.
"A demon attacks us and Ms. Frizzle is suffering in Hell." Wanda stated in disbelief. This time, she started crying and she looked up at everyone. "What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?"
"That's what we came here for. We found the Bus." DA said.
"You did?" Wanda asked through crying eyes.
"We did," Tim said. "But the Bus won't take us anywhere until we get the entire gang back together. We don't know why, but we came to get you guys. So, will you help us save Ms. Frizzle?"
"Count me in. We owe it to Ms. Frizzle to help her." Carlos stated.
"If it's to help Ms. Frizzle, then I'm in. I don't care about any warning from a demon."
Great. Now all we have to do is get Keesha and Phoebe, and we're all set." Ralphie said. "Good thing Phoebe's house isn't too far away. Let's get there quickly."
"Um... guys? Aren't you forgetting something?" Wanda cut in.
"What?" Ralphie asked.
"Well, we need the whole gang so... we have to get Arnold, and we know how he's been."
"Oh, shit! We totally forgot about Arnold!" Ralphie exclaimed.
"Man, there's no way Arnold would want to help Ms. Frizzle." Carlos said.
"How are we supposed to get him to join us on this mission when he resents Ms. Frizzle and is so far away?" DA asked. Liz shrugged.
"Let's worry about that later." Ralphie said. "For now, let's focus on Keesha and Phoebe, and then we can figure out this whole Arnold situation."
"Well, I guess we can do that." Tim said.
"Great. Now, let's get to Phoebe's house." Ralphie said.
"Wanda, do you think you're good enough to drive there?" Carlos asked.
Wanda wiped her eyes and shrugged. "I guess I can do it, as long as you guys stay close to me."
"Then let's get to it. For Ms. Frizzle." Ralphie said.