Tough | a Cory and Shawn (BMW) fanfiction

Chapter 3: Facility

     When we finally got close to the Facility, only a few people went to the windows to look. Some were too scared, and I certainly didn't blame 'em. I was one of the ones that did look though, and Blake did, too. As the bus stopped, it jolted us hard, and so we held on tight to the tops of the seats so we wouldn't fall. Blake accidentally gripped so hard that she made slits in the leather on the seats with her fingernails. I was surprised it didn't break her nails instead. I hoped I wouldn't ever make her mad because those would have been awful bad in a fight. The rest of the kids, or at least the ones who were sitting in their seats, weren't as instinctive and slid into the aisle from the bump. Thankfully no one went head first into the metal leg poles at the bottom of the seats. That wouldn't have ended well. Besides a few possible bruises we were all okay. Then, everybody got up, and shook it off, and then we all made our ways to the doors. We went in a single file line to the door, with me and Blake in the very back, and we were last off the bus. The driver didn't mention the jolt at all as we left. I took it he was one of the ones who didn't care either. In fact, he didn't ever say a word. He just nodded as we left.

     Once we got off the bus, we could finally take in the Facility in full. No more interruptions. We got to see it after way too many hours getting here. But those hours sure didn't pay off... It didn't look at all like a "facility." Or at least not a running one. It was more like a run-down-for-a-million-years kinda thing. The so called facility in front of me was a giant remain of ruins. It looked cool, though - I'd always thought ruins were cool - but what did they expect us to do in this place? It was in the middle of a dead field and well, it was ruins! Was the toughness training going to be surviving in the wild? In this empty place with nothing to work with? I'd been on my own a lot. Almost all the time. Going out and doing stuff. But that was in the city. I'd been camping a few times, sure, but from the looks of the place now in front of me I wondered how long they'd make us stay here. I mean, we all packed. Everybody had at least one suitcase. I guessed we'd be here a few months. Maybe 6 at most. 6 months, no more than that. This made me want to explode. I got really mad and almost tried to storm away, from that thought of how long I'd be here, but when I turned around I saw that the bus was gone and I really was in the middle of nowhere. I slumped to the ground and made a growl-y noise out of my anger. I knocked my suitcase over too, on purpose. You could see the fury on my face, and a few of the other teenagers looked at me like I was insane. I glared at them, but it wasn't for them. I was just mad at the whole set-up, and glared at the people in my mind that were apparently gone now. The 4 men on the bus were gone, I soon realized while I looked around for them. They were gone. I wished the nice man would come back, though, but the others I didn't care to see ever again.

     In that moment, my escaping thought came back. The men in charge were gone, and I could still make a run for it. I could run as far as I could through the field and eventually get back to a civilization. I wouldn't let anybody stop me. I would go for it. I could.

     I did.

     I grabbed my suitcase, slung the handle over my shoulder, and stood up. I was a split second away from bolting when suddenly I heard a familiar voice behind me. It was one of the 4 men. One of the mean ones. "Sorry for the wait, there was an issue with the doors. But it's all fixed now," he said in a voice that was nice, but you could tell it was forced.

     I realized I didn't have to stop just because these guys were back. I thought for a minute I could still run away, but then the nice man was beside me. "You alright, Shawn?" he asked quietly.

     "No," I said, honest.

     The men up front carried on talking.

     But the nice man beside me could tell I was upset, and tried to cheer me up again. "You'll love the building," he continued whispering, and I wondered why he did that. Was he not supposed to be nice people or something? I wondered if I'd ever know. I figured I'd ask him later. He kept on talking. "It's huge inside, and there's even a gym to mess around in."