Dominic and Rita paid the principal an urgent visit. "Where would you think Mr Joseph could have taken the kids to?", Dominic asked him desperately.
The principal thought about it for a while. He shook his head with a worried smile;"I don't know where I could even start from."
"He probably have taken the kids to a place not close to the city. Do you know any place of such it could be?", Rita asked desperately also.
"Think about it...a place deep in the woods where there is no network service", Dominic began to freak out.
"What makes you guys think he took them deep into the woods?", the principal asked in surprise.
"Those are the only places in our city that may have no network service", Rita gawked at him.
"That's true", he concurred, "A place deep in the woods", he said in a low voice as he thought deeply.
"Please think really fast. Dominic is freaking out", Rita said to him. He glimpsed at Dominic and saw so.
The principal got delighted when a place got into his head. "Ahah!", he exclaimed and got up, "A place just got into my mind", he said.
Dominic stood up at once staring at him intently with his hands resting on the table. "What place is that?", he asked eagerly.
"Mr Joseph's former home. It's situated deep in the woods", he began, "and is situated close to the national park!", he exclaimed as soon as he remembered. "His information made Rita, and Dominic especially to feel better.
"That's definitely the place", Dominic wanted leaving the office quickly. Rita was behind him.
The principal called on them to stop. "You two don't know the place; I have to follow you two", he said. They both did not hesitate in inviting him to join them.
"Let's trust you a little bit", said Rita. Three of them left the office to go save the students right away.
* * *
Time kept on moving fast and the students had not still had anything to eat. The junior ones especially, laid on the bare ground, feeling too weak to do anything.
Mark went to have a word with Tricia. "How are we going to survive in the middle of the woods with nothing to drink or eat?", he asked, shaking his head in pity on seeing the condition of the junior students.
"I really don't know Mark", she said in a low sad voice, looking very namby-pamby.
Ben soon joined them. "Just look at everyone's condition", he gestured, glancing at the numerous fruit trees around them, "Now we have fruit trees all around us but no one wants to be consumed by ants", he said, looking moody.
"If I could just see a stream or something so I could drink water", Tricia gasped out. She breathed with her mouth, feeling extremely dehydrated.
* * *
Dominic drove speedily to the place with the principal directing him from time to time. Meanwhile, Rita was on a call with the Lieutenant. She asked him to take some Constables with him as he was going to meet them close to the national park.
"You're asking the Lieutenant to come with some Constables really?", she principal was surprised.
"Yeah!", she replied casually, "Any problem? Or you've got some ulterior motives?", she gazed at him dramatically.
"No! I'm just surprised you don't trust me even while trying to help out", he said.
"Trust no stranger Sir. Trust no stranger!", she replied vaguely.
* * *
As soon as Dominic drove past the national park, the principal told him to reduce his speed as low as possible. Rita hurriedly dialed up Mr Donald's line to find out where they were.
"So where's the place to turn to?", Dominic asked him.
"Give me a second", he asked, observing the things by the road astutely. They got to a rice swamp as was designed on a hoarding for them to see. "No! We shouldn't be here. We have passed it. Please turn around", he said, looking at Dominic to be sure he did not get angry. Dominic did not even say a word as complaint, he calmly turned around and they were heading to the national park again.
Tricia had just ended her call with Mr Donald. "Mr Donald said he'll be at the national park in 10 minutes. It means they're even driving faster than we were", she informed Dominic in particular. Dominic drove fairly gently so that he would not drive past the place this time around. The principal looked through the window, in search for possible things that could aid in recognizing the road they should divert to.
They drove past the national park a second time and Dominic was beginning to feel impatient. "We've driven past the national park a second time", he said.
Almost immediately, the principal reacted after he saw a narrow unconstructed road into the woods. "This is the road!", he raised his voice, pointing at the road, Dominic immediately parked by the major road, just before the narrow one leading into the woods.
"Who created this path?", Dominic became curious because of its narrow nature.
"Well...there are farms inside and this is where they use to get in", answered the principal.
"Let's wait a while for Mr Donald to arrive before we drive in", Rita reminded them. She waited to hear any suspicious statement from the principal. And as though he read her mind, he turned behind and looked at her briefly.
"I hope he doesn't waste much of my time if not I'd be tempted to drive in without him", said Dominic, very much impatient.
* * *
Samuel and Jonathan sat together. They were severely starving, thirsty and weak.
"Wonder if we'd even be able to survive in this forest. A ghost is haunting us and we're gradually dying of starvation", Samuel managed to utter something.
"I've already given up. If I see the next day, I'll see myself as a conqueror", Jonathan forced out a smile.
"So much for taking a tour", Samuel shook his head in frustration,"Best tour ever!", he exclaimed ironically.
"I can only imagine how traumatized our parents must be feeling by now", said Jonathan, resting his head on Samuel's shoulder.
"We're in a worse situation than they are Jonathan", Samuel chuckled in a devastated way. Tricia walked up to them, forcing a smile that clearly looked unnatural.
She placed her hands on their cheeks and caressed them slowly. "You two are very strong. You both are not lying on the ground helplessly like the rest of your mates", she said.
"The strength runs in my family blood", Samuel joked, successfully making Tricia giggle a little.
"I'm sure we're all going to find something to eat", she said to them, "VERY SOON", she emphasized.
Jonathan sat up straight. He and Samuel both nodded their heads in agreement with what she said. She forced a grin, played with their cheeks and got up to leave. She went to go give the rest some words of encouragement.
"She managed to soothe away the little bit of worry I had", Jonathan turned to Samuel.
Samuel nodded his head in agreement, watching Tricia talk to a group of students. "Me too", he said. He felt something positive was going to happen.
* * *
Rita spotted Mr Donald in a police vehicle as they drove past them. "They just drove past us. Let me call them quick", she dialed the number at once, knowing quite well Dominic's impatience was heightening rapidly.
"You just drove past us; turn around and drive way slower this time. You'll see us parked by the side of the road", she informed Mr Donald over the phone. She hanged up the call and said to Dominic;"Just be patient. They're turning round; very soon they'll be here." Dominic continuously tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, his body itching him to start the engine and drive into the forest track.
In no time, Mr Donald arrived at where they parked. The Constable driving parked right behind them.
"Tell Mr Donald to follow us behind", the principal said to Rita.
Rita dialed his line and he picked up immediately. "Follow us behind as we drive in Sir", she said politely. She ended the call after a while and told Dominic to drive in.
"Remember to drive gently", the principal advised him. Dominic drove into the narrow road and Mr Donald and crew followed them behind.
A while after driving in, Rita observed the different farmlands by her right. "You're right Sir! Farmlands are only what I see by my right", she said, "But it seems you know here really well", she was amazed.
"This place is my hometown actually", he revealed.
"Woah!", Rita exclaimed in awe, "Do you have a farmland here?", she asked.
"Yes! I have a farmland way inside", he replied. They soon got to where they should turn to and he quickly asked Dominic to stop, which he did.
"This is the road to turn to", he pointed leftwards. Dominic went into the road with Mr Donald hot on their heels. The road they had just driven into was even way narrower than the previous road.
Rita saw she had no reception anymore in her cell phone. "There's no reception here a single bit", she informed them.
"Welcome to my hometown!", the principal sounded ironic.
Dominic stayed silent all along. He was only focused on getting to the said destination. The track was not the smoothest; there were moments of up and down movements.
As they approached the building, they could see it at a distance. "That's the house!", the principal pointed. They drove into the premises and parked right in front of it. Mr Donald and crew parked beside them.
"Why does the building look horrifying and empty?", Rita found it slightly hard to fathom. The principal could not say anything, knowing very well the house looked empty and haunted.
Dominic only got out of the car and ran into the building, forgetting to even shut his door. Mr Donald and the three Constables got out of their own vehicle.
"I think we should go after Dominic", the principal suggested and went out of the car. Rita joined him. They both briskly walked past Mr Donald and crew without saying a word.
"Let's follow them", Mr Donald instructed the Constables. They went into the building. As the Constables went up the staircase, Mr Donald stopped for a while, observing for a while inside the building looked clean. "This doesn't look like a building that hasn't been lived in for long", he thought.
Rita and the principal met Dominic standing in front of a room like a statue. The Constables joined them soon after.
"Dominic what's wrong?", she asked. She and the principal looked into the room and could see futons and sleeping bags all over including some other things like foodstuffs items, games, boxes, bags, books and lots more. The room was very untidy in appearance. The Constables also checked out the room for themselves.
"What happened here?", Rita gasped out.
"People were here. The students were here. See their boxes and foodstuffs they came with", Dominic replied in a low tone. He was extremely angry over what he saw.