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Shannon woke up feeling very groggy. It took her a few moments and a few blinks of her eye to realize that she was in the back of a van. It felt to her that the van was traveling along at around fifty or sixty miles an hour. There were no windows in the back section of this van and the dividing wall meant that people in the back couldn’t see who was driving. Only light was provided by a small light bulb. In the back of the van with Shannon, were Lori, Ryan and Lee but no sign of Rachel or Mick. The other three were still unconscious. Lori was leaned up against Shannon, using Shannon’s shoulder as a pillow. Shannon couldn’t help but move a little because she was feeling awkward and stiff from being unconscious for a while. Just Shannon’s slight readjustment of her body position was enough to stir Lori from her deep sleep.
“Sorry Lori I didn’t mean to wake you”– Shannon said.
“What? Uh?” Lori was very disorientated, when she first stirred. She looked up at Shannon. “Oh hi, where are we?”
“No idea, I’ve only just woken up myself. Other than we are in the back of a van I’ve no clue where we are.”
“Have you seen Rachel and Mick?”
“Not since we left the games’ room.”
At this point Ryan started to wake up. He was sat on the opposite side of the van to the ladies, facing them.
“Hey ladies, what’s going on?” He managed to make his first words comprehensible.
“We’re guessing we’re being taken somewhere”– Shannon informed him. “Yeah, maybe we’re going to another wonderful holiday place”– Lori said.
Lee lay on the floor of the van. And it was at this point that he recovered consciousness. His strange position combined with just waking up from being gassed meant that Lee was most disorientated when he awoke.
“What the...?”He blinked his eyes a few times then pulled himself up to sit next to Ryan. “I don’t suppose any of you guys know what the hell is going on?”
“No, we’re all very much in the dark”– Shannon spoke with great sadness.
“Where are Rachel and Mick?” Lee asked.
“That would be one of these things we’re in the dark on”– Shannon replied.
“So maybe they were in on it after all. Maybe these bombs were never going to go off. Maybe...”– Lee supposed.
“Oh look, not that I want to piss off a karate expert. But can we please, please shut the hell up about all these conspiracy theories. None of them can be proved. We’re a group of strangers. This makes us all as untrustworthy as each other. And on top of all that the ‘someone amongst us’ talk is already getting really old”– Ryan spoke out.
“Okay man. I’ll run with that. But you are right about not wanting to piss me off”– Lee replied. Ryan wasn’t sure just how seriously to take the warning.
The van continued on at a steady pace and taking the winding bends in the road very easily. Four passengers in the back had no idea where they were, or where they were going. Horribly, their life was completely out of their hands and in someone else’s. Emotion of the whole situation hit Lori. And she couldn’t stop herself from crying. Shannon immediately put her arm round Lori. And Lee put a hand on one of her knees, both in an instinctive attempt to comfort her.
“We’ll get out of this Lori”– Shannon said but she struggled to put much conviction into her words of fake confidence.
Ryan had seemed to have not even noticed Lori’s teary state. He sat still and stared blankly at the wall opposite him and a yard or so to the left of Lori. Without moving or changing the direction of his gaze Ryan started to speak with a bizarre mix of defiance, despondency and an attempt to raise spirits.
“No, woman, no cry! No, woman, no cry! No, woman, no cry! No, woman, no cry! ‘Cause... ‘Cause... ‘Cause... I remember when we used to sit...”
At this point Lee joined in with the Bob Marley classic. Shannon shook her head in disbelief but she couldn’t help smile. Ryan and Lee were clearly determined to complete the whole song. And by the time they reached the chorus again, Shannon had become utterly caught up in the moment and she joined in wholeheartedly. Lori was in such a state that it took her a little while to realize what Ryan was up to. But once she did she was soon laughing amongst the tears. And when the other three got to the stage: ‘Everything’s going to be all right, Lori sang her heart out with them. Four of them belted out the song. And although none of them had any great talent for singing it served two purposes:
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