The Bus Ride

Chapter Four

I dreaded what was going to come next. The boy at his feet looked absolutely petrified. With a sinister smirk, the leader looked down at the boy, and with no warning, delivered a swift kick to the ribs. The boy cried out in pain and shock and we all gasped. This was not going to end well. The man continued kicking, alternating between his front and his back. The boy had now curled into a ball to try and protect himself, but it wasn't working very well. It was completely silent except for the boys cries of pain and gang members laughter at his pain. All of a sudden there was a loud crack and the boy let out his loudest scream yet. I cringed. He must have broken something. His torturer then started to stop on his arms, clearly trying to break them. Two more cracks. By now the boy was crying and pleading for him to stop, but he wouldn't. The beating continued until the boy couldn't do anything but whimper in pain. He was a mess. His whole body was bruised, and his arms were bent at awkward angles.
"Well. That was fun wasn't it?" The creep said with a broad grin. Nobody replied.
"Don't worry. The fun has just begun. I believe we have to take care of our friend here." He said, gesturing as the boy on the ground. Before anyone could react he whipped out a gun and shot him in the head.

Everyone jumped and I heard a scream of surprise from one of the girls. A couple people started to cry in fear of the same thing happening to them. I just stood there, shocked, that a life, someone who had so much to live for, was now dead. Killed right in front of me.
"Remember that, next time any of you think of running." We all looked at him. He still had the stupid grin on his face. I realized just how lucky I was to just get slapped for my remark. I looked at Luke, who was a pale as a ghost. He looked at me and gave me a reassuring look. I wish I could hug him, but our hands were still tied. I closed my eyes and wished with all my might that once I opened them I would be in my house with Luke watching Harry Potter and eating popcorn. I would give anything to be anywhere but here. But when I open my eyes, the boy's dead, bloody, and beaten body is still in front of me. My hand are still tied, and I am in the middle of a crowd of terrified children. You know, when people are in these types of situations, they often ask themselves: Why me? I can't blame them. What did I do, what did any of these kids do to deserve this? At least there aren't any elementary school kids. Us teenagers can take care of ourselves, but little kids would be a mess. I don't think I have ever hated anyone as much as I hate the pathetic excuse for a human standing in front of me. I wish that he could feel the terror of not knowing what is in store for himself, the terror of not knowing if you will live through the day. This is what I think, as I glare at the man in front of me. I start to try to think of an escape plan, but no use. My brain simply will not formulate a plan. No matter. I'm sure I will have plenty of time to think.
"Alright kiddies. We will be walking soon so get ready. We are just waiting on another bus." He says that almost in a bored way, and I can't help but wonder where we will be going. If anything this is an inconvenience as that just means it will take longer to get away. While we are waiting I begin to do some calculations in my head. It took us about twenty minutes to reach the clearly that we are in presently from when we turned off the main road. Before that we had already been driving for about ten minutes. That's thirty minutes of driving, ten of which on a road going 60 kilometres per hour, the other twenty going about 40 kilometres per hour. That's a lot of walking. Not to mention wherever we are about to walk to. This might be more difficult than I thought.
(Authors Note: I am Canadian, therefore I measure distance using the metric system. If you are American or do not use the metric system, convert accordingly.)

We had only been waiting for about five minutes when another bus pulled into the clearing. I watched as five men boarded the bus and started shoving kids out. My jaw dropped as I saw who they were. You see, some of the buses go to both the elementary school and the high school. This bus was clearly one of them. I saw kids as young as six being shoved out of the bus. Most of them were already bawling in fear. I kept my fingers crossed that nobody I knew came off that bus. Of course, being the unlucky person that I am, my wish was not granted. The next two people pulled out of the bus were Nicole and Dallas. I can't seem to catch a break. I saw them look around the clearing until their eyes settled on us. I saw them open their mouths to call out at us but I furiously shaked my head no. Luke and I already had targets on our backs and I didn't want to make them targets as well. The group that had just arrived joined our group, and my heart broke to see these tiny children huddled together crying in fear. What kind of monster can do that to a kid? I noticed that their hands weren't tied. They probably didn't think that the little kids were a threat. The leader went through the same speech as he had given us, and I noticed the new arrivals steal glances at the body lying on ground, the bruise forming on my cheek, the people in black surrounding them, and it was very interesting seeing them realize just what had happened to them.
"Now, we are all going to walk to a new location. It goes without saying that if you try to run, you will end up like this unlucky soul right here." He says, gesturing to the boys corpse
"One more thing. All you older kids better keep those brats quiet, or else there will be hell to pay." Without another word, we were herded like sheep, and surrounded by people in guns, we began to walk into the woods.

Wow. But of an intense chapter. Lots of stuff going on. If you enjoyed this chapter please vote, comment, and follow.

Cat