After dinner, everyone settled in for an early night, prepared to get as much sleep as they could before the long bus ride ahead.
The borders weren’t the only dangerous areas, and some of the areas that they had to pass through had recent monster incursions. They were at the Common and Awakened level, but that didn’t really matter if they had damaged the roads, or attacked the buses before the passengers could stop them.
The plan was for the buses to keep moving constantly until they arrived, and lunches had been packed for everyone, while dinner would be made on the bus, should they still be moving at that time.
Given that the roads were previously soft dirt for much of the last portion toward the border, Karl didn’t have high hopes that they would actually get there in one day, but he might get to let Thor out to help pull a bus convoy.
A little extra traction was all that they usually needed, and Thor could provide that for them.
The helicopters arrived during breakfast to take the clerics that were going to the Frost Giant border, and to drop off more patients for the rehab facility, as well as Elites and clerics who had come off rotation.
The buses were waiting and ready to go when Karl and his group loaded themselves in, along with as many of the clerics as they could fit.
There were no supply vehicles in this group, only personnel, to get the number down to just two buses for the sixty people going, with the hope that it would reduce the risks of them being attacked while a vehicle was immobilized.
Break-downs, flat tires, stuck in the mud, or a dozen other reasons could cause them to be delayed, and every delay increased the danger to their healers.
“Are we ready?” The bus driver asked as Karl took a spot at the front of the bus, putting him closest to the door in case there was a threat.
Karl and Morgana were the only Commanders on the bus, as Bob and Doug were in the second vehicle, so that put him first in line to respond to any incidents.
They didn’t have the usual security guards in the small convoy today, as they couldn’t be spared for escort duty when there were already Elites in the bus who could do the job, but Karl didn’t really mind, and Bob knew that the beasts would step in to help deal with most issues, as Karl was in the lead vehicle.
“Yeah, we’re good. The head count is correct, everyone has verified that they didn’t forget their gear, and they’ve all been to the potty before our field trip.” Karl replied.
The bus full of clerics laughed, but Karl wasn’t joking. The last thing that they had been advised was to use the facilities before they left, as the bus had a limited capacity. Not that anyone wanted to use the tiny bus bathroom any more than they wanted to be seated next to it after someone used it.
They rolled out of the compound and headed for the main highway out of the Capital, using the priority lane normally reserved for emergency vehicles.
That got them out of the city in a reasonable time, and for the next few hours, the road was paved as they moved through the core of the Golden Dragon Nation. It was only when you got near the borders that the roads were strategically unimproved so that they didn’t make it even easier for an invading army to come straight to the Capital.
But they hadn’t had rain in quite a while, and the roads were solid. Dusty, but solid.
Their speeds dropped as the roads got worse in the hills near the border, and by the time it was dark out, they were down to twenty kilometres an hour or less, crawling through the rutted dirt paths toward the distant lights of artillery shelling.
That was a better start than any of them had dared to hope for. Karl had expected that it would take at least a day to get this far, and while they had seen monsters, none of them had been brave enough to come near the pair of church buses.
“Those awake, please ensure that the sleeping passengers have their harnesses fastened. This next portion will be very rough.” The driver announced.
Karl looked out the window and saw that the road was deeply rutted in the valley from the last rainfall, and now that it had dried, that clay dirt would be as hard as pavement, with only a few routes that could be safely navigated without getting the bottom of the bus hung up on the ridges.
“Slow a little more, and I will send Thor out. His Earthquake should be able to level the ground a little, or he can smash down some of the biggest ruts with his tail.” Karl offered.
“Alright. I will let the other bus know that we’re stopping while he works.”
Karl had said the magic words, and Thor was already running past the bus, looking for the best path to smash so that he could let them through.
He hadn’t had a chance to smash anything in days, and this was tail smashing, not just charging a pillar in his space. The Cerro equivalent of a full-body workout.
Or perhaps the equivalent of leg day, Karl thought.
He wasn’t convinced that the Cerro was looking for the best route for the bus as much as he was looking for the route that would be the most fun to smash to a smooth surface, but Thor was already at work, and the dust cloud was accompanied by a deep rumble that said he was using Earthquake and not just his tail to level the road.
The noise woke Morgana from a light sleep, and she looked around in alarm before realizing that they were stopped and Karl was still in the bus.
“It’s just Thor, fixing the road for us to get through. Nothing to worry about, and we will be back in motion in a minute.” Karl whispered, trying to avoid waking the sleeping clerics.
As soon as they got to the border, all of them would have their hands full of work, so it was only right that he tried to let them sleep for now.
Thor made it to the other end of the valley, where the road was smoother again, but he didn’t stop his work, and smashed out the ruts on the way up the hill as well, resurfacing the dirt as well as could be hoped for until the next heavy downpour.
“Alright, it’s clear to go through. Thor says it’s bone dry all the way down, so you can take whatever route you like. The right side of the road is fairly soft, though, as it had the worst ruts and he didn’t compact it after he levelled it.”
The noise had scared away even the smaller creatures, and for half an hour after Thor returned to his space, they didn’t see a single living thing.
Then, they came across a few farms which were still inhabited, with a single red light illuminated to inform the Elites and others passing by that they had nothing left to spare.
The lights would draw the aid convoys from the clerics to them, and they would help them restock, so the farms had enough for themselves, as well as a bit more to spare for the next group that came along, but at the moment, they were in too much of a hurry to stop.
Plus, farmers with animals to feed in the morning would likely not appreciate visitors at two in the morning.
The flashing lights of the artillery were slowly joined by the sound of rolling thunder as the dawn crept up on them, and Karl began to become concerned for the state of the border. That was an intense bombardment, and it had been going on all night long.
If it wasn’t enough to repel whatever attack was coming at the lines, then they were in for even more Chaos than they had expected once their journey was completed.
They only had a few more hours to the border, and even if his group got out and ran, with the casters on the beasts, they would be there in the same amount of time or less. So, there wasn’t much they could do but wait, and hope that any changes in the rate of fire were good news.
