Bethany, the runner.

chapter 1:The start

White. White is the color I see. The room is white. A light bolt flashing like its about to die out. There are tables all around me. Tables with cloths, blankets, food and water. I walk down the room watching people all around me picking up things on the table they need. Men, women, and kids of all races all together in this shelter. I walk down just looking at people and thinking about how everything changed and this is my new life. In my hand I have my stick, my silver medal stick. My stick has saved my life to many times and it's always with me to defend myself. And I will beat someone to death if I have to. I have before. I'm not proud of it but that's the world now, that is what it has become.

I'm Bethany and we have all been in this shelter for 5 months. It's crazy to think it's only been 5 months when the days feels like weeks. 5 months since everything changed. 5 months since I lost almost everyone I loved and cared about. I say almost because one person from my old life is still here, still alive. Her name is liv. Liv and I are best friends since 9 years ago. And I'm so lucky I still have her.

On the day everything changed, it was in the fall but the sun was shining like it was summer. And I was on my way to the bus with liv heading to school. Liv always had something to say and will not be afraid to say it. So making our way to the bus was just liv talking about last night's show and how the girl she really liked shouldn't have been killed. But I enjoy just listening to people talk and because of that, liv and I were best friends because she enjoys talking. Once we make it on the bus she has changed the subject 3 times. We sit by one of our friends Kate. She was always the joker and had pretty blonde hair. One minute all three of us were talking and laughing and the other the bus was flipped over after a large explosion. Everything happened so fast.

The hit knocked me out for a few minutes. When I woke up I see glass everywhere. I see small fires everywhere even on cars. The pain was the worse pain I have every felt in my life. I sit up and see people laying everywhere, not knowing if any are alive or dead. I see im on a high way with many other cars flipped over and im laying there thinking I must have went out the window or something. How could I have made it on the street and not in the bus like the others? I start crying not knowing what to do, not knowing what happened or knowing if my friends are alive. Im afraid to look, so I don't. I just sit there hoping someone alive comes out of the bus, but no one does. I fall asleep and when I wake up I think it's all a dream, this didn't happened, this is not real, but it is. So I go back to sleep. The second time I wake up I wasn't on the street anymore. It looked like I was in the woods. There was a lot of trees everywhere. I see 3 people staring at me. They had a worried looks on their faces.

One guy says to me, "thank god you woke up again, we were starting to think you were dead". He helps me up. "Were you one of the kids that were on the bus?" one of the two girls says.

"Umm. Yes I was, did anyone from the bus come out?" I said not knowing who these people were but hoping they knew something, anything.

They all looked down. And my heart sinks. I just start thinking the worse things that could have happened.

The guy says, "Some kids are still in there and the others got taken away by people in yellow suits. They took everyone who was alive. We hide so they couldn't find us. We saw you waking up then going back to sleep so we knew you were alive so we brought you over here, so you can be safe. "I start crying. I couldn't believe, I didn't want to believe. I just hope my friends are alive. I hope my family is alive. And the thought of my family brought me more tears.

"Umm, my name is Gabe," the guy says. He seems like he doesn't know what to say. "And this is Maddie and Zoey." He points to Maddie who was very tall, with black hair and looked like she was very smart. Then points to Zoey who was a little shorter then Maddie and had brown with blonde hair and looked like she was the troublemaker of the group.

I tried my hardest to stop crying to say, "My name is Bethany. Umm. Thanks. For everything."

"Do you know what happened?" Maddie says to me, quickly right after I talked and it looks like she about to cry. "No idea. Do you guys know?" I say, hoping for the best.

They all looked down. And in that moment I knew no one knew what has happened. And that everyone is just scared and just wants answers. There was a long pause. "There is no service. Im guessing whatever happened must have cut the power" Zoey says, kind of stating the obvious but someone had to. We all just stand there. None of us know what to do or what can we do. It's like 1:00pm and the sun is still shinning. So we think we should look for others and our families when we have light because we're guessing night times is going to be dark with no power.

We start walking down the high way. At first we tried to hide so no one can see us but we got tried so we just walked out in the open not caring if someone sees us. We are keeping our eye out for the people in the yellow suits. While we are walking they start telling me stories about the time all three of them went on a camping trip and thought they were going to die because some animals attacked them. And they told me they were on their way to their job they got together after they got out of high school. All three of them are 20 years old. Gabe has a boyfriend who works with them. They work for the newspaper.

I told them my story and how I was on my way to high school with my two good friends and crazy stories about my life. Which there isn't a lot. You don't realize how boring you are when someone asks you, "what's the craziest moment in your life?" or "what do you do for fun or hobbies?" We decide to go to newspaper headquarters, where they work, hoping for any help or answers. It was a very far walk. We walked for about an hour. No one, no one was to be seen.