“Let him call,” Shaun said tiredly. “Tell them it was me if it makes you feel any better. I don’t care. I just want to get out of here.”

“Me too,” Gary stammered behind him. “I don’t like this.”'

“Well I’m not going to let them think we just weren’t going to show,” Terry was protesting. “We’re late as hell already and I don’t need them adding hours to my sentence or deciding I’m not taking this shit seriously.”

“Not gonna make us look like damn fools!” was the first thing Shaun heard from Carl as he finally reached the two men.

'By the time Shaun got to the two men, he could see that the conversation was fast becoming an argument. Terry had his phone out and his finger hovering over the bright touchscreen as Carl waved his hands in protest and kept trying to snatch the phone from him.

Before Toby could apologize, his watering eyes saw something that made him want to scream despite the feeling that to open his mouth again was to empty his stomach once more. Lucky was lying at the base of his cage, legs twitching their final movements before death stopped them forever.'

“My head,” Toby muttered, before vomiting heavily onto his father’s shoes.

“Jesus Toby!,” his father cried as he stepped backwards and away from the deluge.

The screeching was incredibly painful considering Toby’s growing headache and he stuffed his fingers into his ears to block out the noise.

A rough hand tore his finger from his ears instantly and his father’s voice said, “Are you alright Toby?”

He had heard this litany from his father before and was honestly shocked that he was being so boorish about the whole school thing. The screech of metal on metal announced to him that the Hall brothers had filled their cart and begun their ascent to the surface.

“Did you hear me boy?” George’s gruff voice cut in.

“Yessir,” Toby lied.

As his father continued to drone on, Toby rubbed his temples with his fingers. His head was starting to ache. He wasn’t surprised.

This kind of attitude is how you end up hosed. Just fyi