The Bus Ride

Chapter Nineteen

I glance at my watch. 4:00 am on the dot. Curfew ends at 7:00 am. Meaning if anyone of the mayors minions see me at this hour I'm as good as dead. I start to walk downtown, mostly keeping to the alleyways. I know the layout of this town like the back of my hand, and I'm not worried about anybody finding me. It's dark out though, and I can barely see, but I don't dare to turn on my flashlight in case the light is seen. My hand drifts down to waistband just to make sure the gun I tucked in there is still there. It is, along with the three knives I'm carrying. The knives are a last resort. Killing someone with a gun is much easier than with a knife. Less messy too, and the last thing I would need is to be caught walking down the street in broad daylight covered in blood. I keep walking, until I'm only about ten minutes away from the town hall. I'm planning to break into the town hall and settle myself in his office. Once he comes in, I'll shoot him, and get the hell out of there. I'm so lost in my thoughts, I barely register the sounds of voices coming from in front of me. I stop in my tracks immediately, and stand there, frozen, listening carefully. It sounds like three males, and they are pretty loud, meaning they can't be homeless, as no homeless person in their right mind would be making this much noise. The voices get louder, and I hear the sounds of running feet. I realize that they are coming towards me. I frantically glance around the alleyway looking for a place I can hide, and I see a fire escape, leading up to an apartment. I quickly make my way up, going as high as I can with and still having a clear view of the alleyway below and stop. Not two seconds after I get into position three men come dashing down the alley. One appears to be getting chased by the other two, and I know that he is homeless, or just unlucky to get caught. He's giving it his all, but before they vanish out of my eyesight, he trips and falls to the ground, leaving the other two guys to pounce on him. They drag him until he is directly below me, and I realize that all they have to do is look up, and they would see me.

I try to press myself against the wall, as to limit my visibility to them. I can still see what is happening, and I wince as I see blow after blow land on the unlucky person's body. Their screams and sobs pierce the air like a knife through flesh, until finally they give up and just whimper in pain. I am reminded strongly of all of the beatings I saw during the incident, and I want to vomit, but know that I would certainly give away my position if I did that. Finally I see one of the men pull out a gun and shoot the man on the ground in the head, putting him out of his misery. The two men who were beating him laugh and punch each other playfully, celebrating their murder. I can see them prepare to move on, until one of them spots something shiny by the entrance to the fire escape. He picks it up, and I can see that it is one of my three knives. Clearly, I must have dropped it in my haste to hide. He looks around suspiciously, and shows the knife to his buddy. I can't breathe, for fear of being discovered. They have a quick conversation, and then one of them heads towards the fire escape and puts his foot on the first stair.

My mind rapidly thinks of different scenarios in my head. Now I'm quite a ways up there, so he can't see me right now, so he might not know I'm up here. I also have the upper ground here, so if he does come up here I could push him off, or stab him. However, then the other guy would know that I'm up here, and he would come up here, and I'm not confident in my ability to kill them both. I could continue to climb, and risk being seen, or I could distract them, and quickly dash away. The last option seems the most doable, so I grab a good sized rock that was just lying there, aim, and fire. Luckily it hits right where I want it to, and strikes a dumpster nearby. The dumpster could be a place to hide, so hopefully they think that if there is someone there, they were hiding in the dumpster. I hold my breath as the guy on the steps heads down and signals to the other guy, and they both take off down the alley. I know I have to move quickly before they come back, so I scramble down the stairs and run in the opposite direction. Panting, I finally slow down quite a distance away from my previous spot and glance at my watch. 4:45 am. Still have time. I walk now, only about 3 minutes from the town hall when something catches my eye. It's a wanted poster, with my name, picture, and crime written on it. My suspicions have been confirmed. If I stay here much longer, I'll be caught and go to jail. I walk quickly past, until I finally reach town hall.

There isn't as much security as I thought there would be, and there isn't any lights on inside, which is a good sign. I know exactly where I'm going to break in, and circle around the building to the back. On the back door there is a simple padlock on the door, and pulling out some bobby pins I quickly pick the lock, and step inside, closing the door behind me, and keeping the lock with me. A missing lock is less suspicious than a unlocked one. I quickly move through the town hall, heading directly to the mayors office. My class went here for a school trip last year, and I still know my way around. I finally reach the door to the mayors office, and open it. It's completely dark, and I turn on my phone to help me see. Nobody is here. I walk around, looking for a good hiding spot, and noting the window which could serve as an escape route. I finally settle on the private bathroom, which is directly behind the desk. From here I can shoot him in the back of the head, or I can shoot him if he goes to the bathroom. I settle down, and glance at my watch yet again. 5:00 am. I still have a couple hours to go. I take out my phone, meaning to play some games on it, but find myself just staring. I can't concentrate, so I put it away. For the next three hours I sit there, in the dark, just thinking. At around 8:00 am I hear someone outside in the hall, but nobody comes in. People are starting to arrive, meaning that it's almost showtime.

The end is almost here! Either the next chapter or the one after that is going to be the last chapter, and I'm pretty excited. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and if you did remember to vote and comment.
Cat