Goblins

Silence reigned through the bus as it drove.

The tension was palpable and everyone had a nervous and fearful expression on their face.

'Just what was that?' Jacob thought back to the horrifying scene of the spider chasing down their bus and shuddered.

It seemed like something straight out of a nightmare. However, no matter how hard he pinched himself, he was still here.

'And Billy.' He turned his head towards his unconscious classmate.

'That spider should have been able to rip through the bus like it was paper.

But that light, at the last moment, toughened it up.

And it came from Billy.' The scene of the bronze light covering the bus and the spider failing to pierce it repeated in Jacob's mind like a loop.

He just couldn't wrap his head around what happened those few minutes ago.

"How is he?" Miss Rita finally broke the silence and asked Mia who was tending to Billy.

It seemed strange, but she was studying medicine and was quite good at it, so no one found it odd.

"He's fine for the most part. It seems like what he did to the bus took a lot out of him.

So he's just tired. Nothing dangerous." Everyone who was listening let out a sigh of relief.

However, out of the corner of his eye, Jacob could swear that he saw Samuel's eyes light up.

'The hell is up with him?' He thought with a frown and shook his head.

His friend was weird, but seeing his eyes shine like that in this situation was concerning.

'The portal and that spider, are we the only ones that experienced it? Doubtful, but that also means that all over the world…' Jacob forced down a gulp.

The implications of such a possibility were simply too much to think about.

CRRRRK!

A very uncomfortable grinding sound suddenly sounded causing everyone on the bus to flinch.

And the bus itself came to a stop.

"Wh- What's going on?!"

"Why did we suddenly stop?!?" Exclamations of shock and fear erupted throughout the bus.

"Everyone Quiet!" They, however didn't last long as Mrs Rita's stern tone shut everyone up in an instant.

Still this didn't stop them from from looking around anxiously.

Mrs Rita went towards the Bus driver Joe and Ina hushed tone asked.

"What's wrong?" She asked, though judging by his ugly expression, she knew she wouldn't like his response.

"Those damn mechanics forgot to change the engine oil.

If it was just to refill then it wouldn't have been much of an issue, but the current oil is bad and we need to drain it first before refilling." Mrs Rita also frowned hearing this.

"How long will it take?" She asked and and Joe though for a moment.

"20 minutes, give or take." Such a n amount of time didn't feel too long.

But due to the current situation, it sounded like an eternity.

"But we do have the oil, right?" Mrs Rita asked again and Joe nodded.

"We always have some extra in case something like this ever happened.

Just never thought it would be like this." He muttered the last part but Mrs Rita ignored him.

She then stood straight, not allowing any ounce of her worry show and turned to the agitated students.

"We have a issue regarding the engine oil.

It's fixable, but we'll need roughly twenty minutes to get it changed." When she finished,some of them wanted to complain, but she raised her hand.

"I know how you guys feel, but we don't have any option right now.

So please don't make this harder than it needs to be." Her tone went from stern to slightly pleading as she really didn't want to see any of her students doing something stupid because they were scared.

Her words seemed to be effective as despite the tense atmosphere,no one raised a complaint.

"Ma'am, would it be faster if he had help." Suddenly, Benjamin.

The dark skinned boy stood up and asked.

"Um, most likely." She said, slightly hesitant.

"My father's a Mechanic and I often help him in fixing cars.

I can definitely make the process faster if I help." Everyone was surprised.

Quite frankly, after what they saw just moments before, pretty much nobody wanted to set foot outside the bus.

So seeing Benjamin muster up the courage to go outside was very surprising.

"... Joe?" Mrs Rita hesitated, and then turned to Joe who was bringing out some tools as well as a large can of oil from a compartment at the front of the box.

Without turning he said.

"If the boy is saying the truth then the repair time can be cut in half at the very least."

Hearing his answer, Mrs Rita sighed and then looked at Benjamin one more time.

"Go ahead." Hearing things, Benjamin beamed and immediately went after Joe who had already left the bus and opened up the engine.

Jacob stared at this scene and felt conflicted.

On one hand, part of him was proud that one of his classmates was able to step up to the challenge and do his best to get them out of this situation.

And on the other hand, a part of him, asmall part that he wasn't proud of, disdained him for it.

'I thought I'd gotten rid of that part of me...Seems like dire situations can really show one's true character.'

Jacob shook his head, he had better things to do than mull on his past.

"The biggest issue now." Samuel who was beside him suddenly started.

"... Is that we're sitting ducks. If another one of those portals or spatial cracks open and show up with more monsters, there isn't a whole lot we can do.

" Samuel said with a calculative gaze.

"You don't look too worried despite that." Jacob looked at him friend strangely.

"Well, I guess you can call it a guy feeling.

But something tells me that even if that happens, we'll be alright."

Samuel replied with a shrug.

"Naive." Jacob said with his haze becoming slightly detached.

"Maybe. Sounds foolish too. But we don't have a lot else to go on."

Samuel chuckled and leaned back into his seat.

"Why hope when you could be wrong?" Jacob asked, incredulous.

"Why despair for the same reason?" Jacob couldn't answer that.

And then slowly,his detached gaze receded.

"Fine, I'll take your word on that."

He also leaned back into his seat. Though he never once relaxed.

Soon, the sound of turning screws and the like could be heard as Joe and Benjamin worked, Mrs Rita also coming to assist in any way she could.

Jacob looked around and saw Billy whose face had regained color and now appeared to simply be sleeping.

He had no idea what the boy did, but he was grateful for it as it had saved their lives.

He then refocused his gaze to outside the bus.

Off the road, there was a field which then reached a treeline. Jacob didn't find anything of note so he looked away.

Then he saw it. In the corner of his eye. A flash of light.

'Ignore it.' He wanted to.

But he knew he couldn't.

He focused his gaze on the light.

And just as he feared, a similar crack in space that seemed like reality was shattering appeared, though, it was quite a bit smaller than the last one.

He couldn't see beyond it,but he had no doubt in his mind that something was emerging.

"Portal." He said it in a voice that everyone could hear, though the level of calm in his tone surprised him. In fact, he realized that while he was on guard, he wasn't scared.

Not like last time.

No, there was a faint sense of eagerness and, excitement? But why would he be feeling like that? He didn't know.

And he didn't have time to figure out why either.

Energy crackled around the portal as from within, a humanoid figure emerges. And then another, and another. Until about six of them appeared in total.

Upon seeing their appearance, Jacob was stunned.

Short, green, long ears, big nose,and protruding belly.

A creature that anyone who was even slightly familiar with fantasy knew.

"A Goblin!?" Samuel exclaimed in wonder filled shock.

This didn't last though, as the same way they noticed the Goblins is the same way the Goblins noticed them.

Keke!

The one in front let out a strange noise, and the other pointed at the bus before stalking forward.

Seeing this, Jacob glanced around and unsurprisingly, everyone in the bus was stiff like a rock, same for Samuel who seemed more fascinated than anything.

Jacob didn't have time to dwell on this though as two core reactions bloomed in his body and he had to pick which one to follow.