To Make a Difference (Sample)

Chapter Six

The hunter swiftly moved his knife to Asters throat, but was interrupted when a van broke through the trees into the clearing we were standing in. In a flash, everyone stops moving and turns to the van. Aster quickly ducks out of the way as the van collided into the hunter.

Everyone just stares with mouths gaping wide.

The sliding doors of the van opens revealing Grey sitting in the drivers seat, a bored expression plastered on his face.

"Well?" He asks, "you guys coming? Or are you just going to stand there with your mouths hanging open?"

We all snap out of our trance and begin climbing onto the bus. 

Aster smacks Grey on the back of his head then pats him on the back, "first, how dare you abandon me like that? Second, thanks for the save!"

Grey rubs the back of his head, "I never abandoned you. Coming back and barreling into the hunter was always my plan."

Aster scoffs as he sits down next to Amber, "yeah right!"

Grey begins speeding away from camp. I stretched out into my seat. After everything that's happened, I needed time to process everything.

Amber threw her arms around Aster, "I'm so glad you're alright. We almost lost both you and Rose today!"

Aster looks at me, "what did you get yourself into?"

"I don't want to talk about that," I yawn as I watch the containment facility disappear in the horizon.

Iris lets out light snores from next to me. That didn't take long, but I understood her exhaustion. The only light we had on the bus was that from the moon. It filled the bus with a sparkling blue gleam. I would've drifted off to sleep as well, but I felt a tap on my shoulder before sleep took over.

I jumped a bit and turned to see who tapped my shoulder. Aiden looked at me sheepishly.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"I know," I reply frowning, "but that doesn't mean I forgive you."

"I grew up with the wrong ideas being placed into my head," he explained, "I was lead to believe aberrations were something that they're not. You can't blame me for that."

"Why didn't you start figuring things out a long time ago? Like when the boy was shot on the bus up here."

"I hated seeing that happen. That's the second time I had doubts. From then on, I had nothing but doubt which is what lead me here."

"Wait. What was your first doubt?" I ask.

Aiden pauses and looks away, "that's not important right now."

"Are you still going to leave when we make our next stop?" 

"Maybe," he leans back in his seat, "do you want me to stay?"

"I don't know what I want," I mumble before I turn away from him to face forward.

Slowly, darkness took away my worries and eased my mind with rest.

The next morning, we were still on the road when I awoke. Grey and Aster were arguing about where we were, Jason was talking to Iris and getting the occasional giggle out of her, and all seemed well. 

Jason's stomach rumbles, "can't we stop and grab something to eat?"

"In a stolen government vehicle?" Grey asks, "we should probably ditch this bus and find something else to drive first. We are drawing a lot of attention."