A New World #Wattys2016

Chapter 4

We have been on the bus for two hours. It is starting to get boring but I am going to do this for my mother and father. And I will find my sister, some day. My mind flashes back to her singing and brushing her teeth at the same time. It would be funny when toothpaste gets everywhere, even if the song that her toothbrush plays is annoying. I remember my mom. We would go shopping together and get new clothes. She cared for me. And so did my father. I remember when my father built me my treehouse when I was eight. We built it together actually. Good times. Those times are gone now. We are in a battle for life now.

The bus suddenly stops to a jerk. I start to fly forward. My face gets very close to hitting the seat but Zach catches me. "You ok?" He asks. "Yeah..." I struggle on my words as I look up at his face inches from mine. "Thanks"
My face heats up. We are literally inches from each other. Every one else on the bus is yelling and trying to figure out how it stopped. But their voices fade away. All that matters to me right now is this moment. I start to take off my face mask, figuring we might...

"She has the disease!" Is what I hear when Zach's arms go down and he stops holding me. I fall down to the ground really hard. I hit my head on the metal pole of a seat or something metal. "We have to go now the bus driver has the disease!" Zach says. My head hurts very bad. I can hardly concentrate on what he is saying. People are running all around trying to get off the bus. Then I hear a loud screeching sound that comes from the loudspeakers throughout the bus. A scratchy voice comes on. It's the bus driver. "You think you can all just leave? Just cause I have this disease? We're all gonna die anyway eventually! No one is getting off this bus! I don't care if I infect each and every one of you! In fact! I hear foot steps come towards us. Zach pulls me up. "Are you ok?" He whispers. He sounds more worried this time. I go to answer but my head throbs. I shake my head.

The bus driver is already here. "You kids think you can just go around owning the place? You are up to something! And I know it!" She grabs my arm, I am too weak to fight back. I see a fist come out behind me and punch her in the face. It is Zach. The bus driver stumbles backwards holding her face in her hands. This is the second time he punched someone. He is strong. And he sure ain't afraid to punch a girl. "Hurry!" He says! He puts my arm over his shoulder. And before I know what is happening, we are jumping out of the back of the bus, the emergency door. I clutch to Zach's shirt as we fall. He lands in his knees but I land on my head again and everything goes black.

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I wake up with my head throbbing even worse than before. I am laying on someone's legs. I look up and see Zack looking at me. I try to get up. "Hey take it easy! We escaped. But that crazy lady did scream after you were out she was gonna get us. But I highly doubt it. She does know where we're going though, since she was gonna drive us there." Zach says. "Where are we?" I say. "Behind a bush." He says. He helps me up. It feels like every bone is broken. We are behind a bush. "We can go now." I say. "Are you sure?" Zach asks. "Yeah." I grunt. We start walking down the side walk, pretty sure that's the right direction, I'm leaning on him so I guess I gotta trust him. "Hey... Thanks for saving me." I say. "No problem." Zach says.

    I reach in my pocket to give the map to Zach so he can navigate for a while. My head still hurts too much and my vision is blurry. When I search my pocket for the map I don't find it. I check the other one. That one is empty too. I start to panic. "Woah calm down! What are you looking for?" Zach asked. The map? I have it. I took it from your pocket while you were out so I could look at it. Phew! I felt better after that. But can I trust Zach with the map? I just met him! It has felt like days but I just met him! Well, not anymore, I've known him for two days now, I check my phone. It says twelve in the morning. Still. Just two days!?
"We should go somewhere to rest." Zach says. "We could rent a hotel, and then get on another bus in the morning." "Ok. Sounds good." I agree.

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We arrive at the front desk of the nearest hotel. "Hello how are you doing today?" The lady asks us."Good." Zach says. Real believable. "We would like to rent a room." He says. Then the lady starts asking us for insurance information and social security numbers or something. Things neither of us know. "Umm... Can we just rent a room I have money. We only need it for one night." Zach says. The lady hesitates."I suppose so, but don't tell any other staff or the manager. He wouldn't be happy." "Got it thank you!" We say as the lady hands us a key. "Room nine on floor five." She says. We start for the elevator. "Wait!" She says. She takes out a scanner looking thing. "I have to check to make sure you don't have that disease. Hotel policy. We don't want it spreading around in here." I start to sweat. What if I do have the disease? She holds the machine over my forehead. It makes beeping noises and then turns green. "You're good!" She says. I sigh in relief. Then she does it to Zach. It does the same green thing. "You may proceed." She says. "Thank you!" I say, as me and Zach walk towards the elevator.