Save Them

The Terrorist Attack

Loud laughter and chat filled the bus. Kids spent there time on their way home texting their parents and taking selfies for Instagram. Lauren, Sadie, Maddy and Delayne sat in adjacent seats, two occupying each close to the front of the bus. The students were unsuspecting when the bus slowed to a stop. All the kids directed their gaze towards the bus driver, who looked uneasy in his seat.

The old man sitting the drivers seat shakily picked up the radio connected to the loudspeaker and placed his lips promptly in front of it as he spoke, "Kids, evacuate the bus, stay calm and gather your things." The students looked terribly confused. Sadie whispered to Maddy, while Delayne looked frightened and started to grab her volleyball bag which contained her phone and all her belongings.

Kids began to file out of the bus and gave the bus driver a confused look as he stared off behind the bus. The students now outside the bus looked towards the back of the bumper of the bus, only to see a black van parked behind them on the side of the road. A man soon opened the drivers seat door and stepped out...a machine gun strapped around his chest and a handgun hoisted on his waist, "EVERYONE INSIDE THE BUS!" He bellowed and pointed the machine gun at the middle schools kids, "I KNOW HOW TO WORK THIS GUN, NOW DONT THINK I WONT!"

He fired at the ground in front of him, and ear piercing blows sounded. The students panicked and screamed, for there was Nowhere to go but back into the bus. Everyone filed back in. The man, along with his guns, stepped into the bus. Sadie and Maddy peaked over the seat, terrified while Lauren and Delayne both struggled to hold back tears. Cries and sobs were heard from the back of the bus. The man stripped every child of their phones and threw them outside the bus. Kids held each other and cried. The teachers in the front of the bus remained calm. "I think you all know what this is." The man barked, "Cooperate." Everyone in the bus quieted. Except for one person; whom could not stay calm. Lauren screamed in her seat and tried to hide.

"YOU! COME HERE, NOW!" The man with the guns yelled and gestured his gun at Lauren. Lauren shook violently as Delayne made way for her to exit the seat. Delayne gave Lauren a last look of sadness, for she knew her fate.

Lauren stood up and walked cautiously to the front of the bus. Looking at her fellow classmates one last time in the eyes. Surprisingly however, Lauren stayed strong. She held back her tears.

Lauren stopped about a foot away from the armed man. But the man motioned her closer. With a shaky breath, Lauren took another step forward. Quickly, the man grabbed and twisted her arm, pinning it behind her. Even though Lauren's fractured arm throbbed with uneasy pain, she kept it to herself. Pointing the machine gun against her temple, the man then shouted, "DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT TO BE UP HERE?" Lauren's breaths shortened and quickened as the cold barrel's pressure increased and her arms pain seized her. Lauren thought about dieing as the man shouted more to the bus. She decided to try and find a way out of the situation. Lauren reached behind the man's back and tried to find something she had seen earlier. She felt the cold handle and ever so slowly tugged it upwards. Lauren brought the handgun towards her hip and then stopped.

Lauren had no idea how to use a gun.

But, she knew someone in this bus who did. Lauren looked at her history teacher who had fought in combat and knew how to use a gun. Lauren knew she had to act quick. Her history teacher had caught her eye. For a few moments, as the man was screaming and threatening everyone in the bus, the man and the girl just stared at each other. She knew what to do.

"Save them," she mouthed as she slid the gun across the floor to her teacher's feet.

Tears fell from her wide eyes as the man restraining her pulled the trigger of the gun pressed into her temple. Blood drizzled heavily from her slight lips, and she stared at her best friend, dead in the eyes, as she fell forward onto the bus floor...dead.