Previously on..
School Bus Graveyard
"Go for the east exit, the fourth one, it has the least traffic right now," Alex informed us as he ran over. "I saw some guards headed this way, so you kids need to hurry. Don't worry about the prisoners, I'll free them. Just follow your plan and get out of here."
Ashlyn nodded. "We'll message you if we make it out. And... thank you Alex."
Alex sucked his lips in, as if he had forgotten something, and then pulled us all into a hug. "Be safe."
Maybe we'd make it out. Back home. No more worries, right?
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I wish I could've stayed in that hug forever, away from the threats of the world. But no, a loud annoying voice had to interrupt us. Like, can we at least finish our hug? Even bad guys in movies wait until hugs are over- like c'mon, man!
"THEY'RE OVER HERE!"
"Shoot," Taylor muttered, Ben grabbing her hand as they ran. Adorable.
"GO!" Alex yelled -as if it weren't already obvious we had to do so.
As we ran, I noticed that there were explosions going on in some rooms. Ashlyn said something to some dude in a white outfit like ours, and he started to run with us. But he was pretty slow.
As we ran, I saw Ashlyn checking the time. "We have five more minutes before Andragathia pulls out."
We turned, and someone reached for us, shouting, "HEY!"
I grinned, and tackled them, with Ashlyn slamming her foot into his leg, a satisfying CRACK! echoing through the halls, despite the already loud siren. The man screamed like a little girl, and I got off him, Tyler quickly pinning him down.
"Ash, the ones behind us are catching up," Aiden pointed out, looking behind us, down the hallway.
"And there's guards coming from the right," Taylor noted.
I looked at Ashlyn, wondering what she was going to say, when I saw even more guards coming from her hallway. We were about to be surrounded. Shit. I would never taste [favorite food] again.
"Let's-"
"ALL UNITS REPORT TO THE CRYO CENTER IMMEDIATELY! I REPEAT, REPORT TO THE CRYO CENTER IMMEDIATELY!"
I froze. Maybe they were going to let us go? I mean, that's a 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance, and I would add more zeros if I could.
Then we wouldn't have to break more knees to escape! And, we wouldn't have to use a car as a getaway. We could just walk out, like the normal, civilized people we are.
They would let our parents out, and-
"INFECTED HAVE ESCAPED!"
I froze, as did everyone else. Suddenly, an infected slashed a guard's stomach, guns shooting rapidly at it. Logan instinctively raised his gun to shoot, and Tyler grabbed his forearm, dragging him away as we all ran. "Leave them, they can handle themselves. We need to go!"
"Hey, brats!" a voice called out. We all stopped and looked over. "This way, hurry up!"
Was that him? Alex had said, 'he has a shaved head, bulky, and looks like he didn't finish middle school.'
And that's exactly what was in front of us. A bulky dude, probably in his late 30's or early 40's, in a black shirt and pants. His head was shaved, and there were two piercings on his left eyebrow. That has to be him.
"Ryan?" the dude that Ashlyn had dragged with us asked, pointing fingers. Literally. "What are you doing here?"
"Charlie? Aren't you supposed to be locked up as punishment right now-"
Ashlyn and everyone kept running, shoving the bald guy out of our way. "Okay, yeah, whatever reunion this is, it can wait. Some idiot let the infected loose and we're running out of time."
"Hey- I did it cause we needed another distraction. You should be thanking me!"
"It was YOU?!"
Taylor, running on the other side of him, yelled at him as well. "YOU DO KNOW THAT THEY'RE ATTRACTED TO US, RIGHT?"
"WHAT?!"
I rolled my eyes, running beside Aiden. "Don't act so surprised, I'm pretty attractive," I muttered jokingly.
Aiden laughed. "Oh yeah, I wouldn't blame the infected either. So attractive."
I grinned, and we both laughed, when suddenly Ashlyn yelled. "EVERYONE, STOP!"
An infected lunged in front of us, landing and almost immediately turning.
"LOGAN, SHOOT!" Tyler yelled.
"I CAN'T, THE OTHERS ARE IN THE-"
A gunshot. Had Logan accidentally hit the trigger? If so, he had some pretty good aim, because the infected fell to the ground in a heap.
"Well," the girl from behind the glass, and the girl from Savannah. "Ryan, I was expecting, but Charlie's a surprise. What should I do in this situation? I feel so betrayed on Mavie's behalf, y'know?"
The dude, Charlie, shook his hands in a hurry, panic setting in. "Wait! I-I was just tagging along for fun, I'm not actually with" -a gunshot- "HELP!"
"I didn't ask and I don't really care. I'm just trying to decide if I should kill you both, or let Maverick use you for the infected. So shut up while I-"
Gunshots hit her leg, her arm, leaving her shaking as she tried to stand. The gun dropped from her hand. The hand of her. The lady from Savannah.
She dropped to a knee, and raised her gun again, hand shaking. She aimed it at Logan, when suddenly an infected ran towards her. She shot the gun, and it ended up hitting Ryan. My eyes widened, and I ran up as Taylor yelled his name. As Ryan's whole body shoot, his hands gripping his wound, he spoke. "Don't bother, you kids need to leave while she's distracted. Charlie, help the kids get out."
"WHAT?!" Charlie yelled, pausing as if fighting between life or death. He sighed, putting one of Ryan's arms around his neck, helping him up. "Look, I'll take care of Ryan, don't worry about him. You guys seem to know the way out, right? Just hurry and go."
We all stared at him. We couldn't leave him. Aiden ran in front of them, grabbing Ashlyn's pale, freckled hand, and tugging everyone with him as he ran. "C'mon- let's go."
He wasn't smiling.
As we ran, I kept my eyes off of their hands. They were just friends. Me and Aiden were just friends. It didn't matter. We were escaping death right now. It didn't mean anything. I mean, he's just helping her get the courage to start running. Honestly, other then that, it meant nothing. She was perfect anyways, the perfect leader, with her parents in the army and all. Both her parents were alive, she didn't have any emotional scars. I was... well, I had been with Barron. Not like they knew that, anyways. Oh.. I kept secrets, I had scars, I wasn't as beautiful as her, I wasn't as perfect as her. I only had one parent, I-
"Thay. Thay. Earth to Thay."
I blinked. Not as perfect... "It's okay. We made it out," Taylor smiled, pulling me into a hug. I only nodded, then saw Logan's face.
"I'm sorry... I should've taken her out before Ryan got shot..."
I pulled away from Taylor as she gave Logan a hug. "It's okay to not want to kill anyone. We've been through a lot, but we're still just kids."
Logan smiled faintly, and I glanced at Aiden, seeing his usual grin on his face. "Where'd you get the other gun?"
"Picked it up from the woman when we started running."
Aiden glanced at me, and I looked away, feeling my face heat up. He saw me looking.
Suddenly, a ding sounded, the elevator doors opening. We were outside.
Maybe we would make it after all?
But that thought quickly flew away as a guard turned around. Luckily, because we're like the Flash's kids, we were already around a corner. "The kids are in the parking garage, ground level in section B! Remember not to shoot them, just surround them!"
At least we knew we were in the right section. Alex said his car was in B05...
B01..
B02..
B03..
B04..
...B05!
We all threw open the black car doors, jumping in and slamming them closed. Squeezed between Aiden and Tyler, I felt like I was in the vents again. My breathing quickened as the car accelerated, a sharp turn letting me know I was just in the car. Just in the car.
A hand wrapped around mine, and I felt Tyler hold me close, covering my ears to relax me as people yelled and guns were shot. The rain pattered loudly against the car, grounding me. I was in Tyler's arms... safe... not in the cold, dusty vents. I could sit up, I could move, I was fine. I opened my eyes, realizing I had closed them, and saw Taylor's worried face. She handed me a bag of CheezIts, and I shook my head.
"I told Alex to put them in here, so eat them or I'm forcing you to," Taylor said, opening the bag and setting it in my hands. I sighed, and ate one. Then two.
"AIDEN, GET DOWN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ashlyn yelled, her ginger hair flying behind her from the open windows.
"It's fine!" came Aiden's cheerful voice. "Ben's holding me!"
I snorted, seeing Ben's arms wrapped around Aiden's legs, struggling to hold him there.
"Why'd you even give him a gun?" I asked, at the same time as Tyler yelled, "Why did you give him a pistol?!"
Logan shot again through the open window, and I felt someone shove a CheezIt into my mouth. I gave Taylor a look. "Because having no aim is scarier for those you're shooting at."
More black caravans sped after us, headlights shining through the pouring rain.
Suddenly, Ashlyn yelled at Aiden to get down, and he did, Logan pulling back into the car as it slammed into the side of the bridge we were driving on. We all quickly got out of the car, Taylor grabbing my bag of CheezIt's and handing it to me, a hair tie holding it closed so rain wouldn't get in it. Cold rain attacked us mercilessly as the guards got out of their cars. "Wait for their bullets to run out, we'll close in afterwards."
We were dead. We were goners. What were we supposed to do?
A loud honk blasted through the rain, and I looked through the trees to see a train heading towards us. Right under our bridge. Could we...
Ashlyn muttered something, then turned to us. "Guys, the train-"
"We are NOT jumping on a train!" Tyler yelled.
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Heyyy everyone! I hope you enjoyed the two parts in one day, because I certainly didn't (jk I have nothing else to do bc my school put a two week break down)!
I am wayyyyyy too lazy to check over that, so sorry if some if it didn't make sense because I was contemplating a nap most of the time. But who cares about sleep, because my sleep schedule is already messed up! :D
No shoutouts on this one bc I need to work on the drawing and story- BYEEEEEE BESTIES! :)
-CJ 🫡✨
~𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖆𝖎𝖑𝖞 𝕭𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖞 ~
~DAY THREE~