The Bus Ride

Chapter Nine

For a couple seconds after the gunshot there is nothing but silence. Then a wail is heard from the crowd and it's like a bubble bursts. Everyone starts shouting or crying while, I just sit there, numb. I refuse to believe that Nicole, one of my best friends, is dead. When gang members start coming out, zipping up their pants as they walk, my fears are confirmed. Nicole, along with nineteen other girls between the age of fourteen and eighteen are dead. That brings the death toll to twenty seven children. Twenty seven. Murdered in cold blood by some maniacs who just want to take over the town. Luke and Dallas is struggling to hold back tears, I see a few escape their eyes and drip down their faces. Because it's Nicole, a girl who we knew and loved, the death just hits us harder. I refuse to cry. I refuse to show that these pathetic excuses for human beings that they have affected me. Instead, I plot.

We must get away from here before we too are killed. At first I thought that they wouldn't harm us, but now I see the error in my judgement. Clearly none of them care about killing innocent children. My brain is finally working. In order for this to work we need to be near the edges of the crowd. Unfortunately for us, we are closer to the middle. Suddenly I have an idea. Yesterday they allowed us a couple minutes of stretching and allowed us to walk around. All we have to do is move out stuff and ourselves to sleeping bags on the outskirts. Considering there will be over one hundred fifty of us moving around at once, odds are that nobody will notice three kids moving through the crowd. I also tale note of the guards behavior at night. There are roughly five or seven guards patrolling around us at night, compared to the twenty during the day. All we have to do is sneak past them and dive into the forest, then get the heck out of there. It's not about finding civilization at the moment. It's about getting away from these crazy people. Even though there are animals in these woods, I would rather take my chances with a bear than these psychopaths. I scan the surrounding forest, looking for the best place to escape. My eyes settle on an willow tree, basically right above some kids. That would be the perfect place. Best of all, the guards are fairly far away. Once we are in the woods we would have the advantage over anyone chasing us as it is harder to aim a gun on the woods. I settle back into my sleeping bag, and close my eyes. I'll tell the boys about my plan in the morning.

The next morning I wake up to shouts and screams. It's become routine by now, and I barely blink as the guards drag three boys over to the leader and beat them up. Apparently they tried to escape. Fools. Should have done it at night, when it's dark. I don't even react when the leader shoots all three. It doesn't bother me anymore when I see people die at the hands of these monsters. But it makes me wonder, if seeing children die is as normal as boarding the school bus everyday, what does that make me?

After that event breakfast is handed out, a bagel and a bottle of water, just like usual. It's hard to believe that I've only been here two full days, it seems like so much longer. I see Luke and Dallas start to eat their bagels before I stops them.
"Guys!" I hiss. "Don't eat those, and don't drink your water. I have a plan." I continue, and almost in unison they put down their bagels. I gather them close and whisper my plan. After I've finished I look at them expectantly.
"Well?" I say. "What do you think?" I ask.
"Well, first of all, don't you think they would notice if we are gone? I mean, you have kind of caught the leaders eye." Dallas remarks and I wince. He's not wrong, I have drawn a lot of attention to myself compared to the other two. Luckily I have an answer.
"There has been no indication of them doing any sort of head count. They are probably judging it on how many they kill, and I'm sure they will kill more kids." I reply. Luke and Dallas turn to each other and nod their heads. I smile. This is going to work. It has to work.

An hour later the gang members start shouting that it's time to stretch. I nod to Luke and Dallas and we hoist our backpacks onto our shoulders, filled with all of our stuff, including Nicole's, and subtly make our way over to the spot that I pointed out before. All went smoothly, and we soon settle in our new spot and act like we have always sat there. We get a few wierd looks from other kids that were sitting around them, but a few glares and flashes of our two pocket knives are enough to silence them. All through the day we continue to stash our food and water bottles in our bags until night finally falls.

We don't dare sleep, as we all fear that we won't wake up until morning, and will have to spend another day in this hellhole. After a couple hours I check my phone, which miraculously still has some charge, and see that it is one o'clock, the perfect time. I nudge Luke and Dallas and silently we get ready. I look at both guards and they are both looking away from us. I nod to Luke and Dallas. It's now or never. I hope this works.

A bit of a short chapter unfortunately, but that's because I wanted to save the action for the next chapter, which is going to be a good one hopefully. Thank you all for reading and if you enjoyed it please vote, comment, and follow. Thanks!
Cat