Six (Countdown book 1)

Chapter 3

When I woke up, I was sat next to Tony on the bus. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty." he said to me with a slight smile. I groaned. My whole body ached and my head felt like it was being split in two like a coconut. 

"Is he awake?" Scarlett leaned over from the seats behind us. "How're you feeling?" 

"Ow." I replied. 

"Yeah, using your powers will do that to you." I looked around the bus and realised that apart from us, the only people on here were the driver and an elderly couple sat near the front. We were sat right near the back. 

"How did I get on the bus?" I mumbled. My throat was dry, and my lip hurt. 

"I had to carry you." Tony said. I looked doubtfully at him. "I'm stronger than I look." 

"And the bus driver didn't think it was weird that two teenagers were carrying a young, unconscious boy onto his bus?" I croaked. Scarlett passed me her bottle of water. "Thanks." I muttered.

"We told him you fell over on the skateboard park, and that we were your big brother and sister and taking you home." Tony explained. 

"He bought that?" I gasped, finally putting the water bottle down. "None of us look anything alike."

Scarlett shrugged. "I guess he didn't care that much. We've got to get off in a minute, you think you can stand?" I shrugged, which actually hurt my shoulders.

In only a few hours my whole world had been turned upside down, but I guess I must've taken it really well or something, because Tony and Scarlett seemed pretty impressed. I always thought that I was different, the way that I loved the light, but had never been afraid of the dark. The way that sometimes, when I was on a bouncy castle or trampoline, it felt like gravity just stopped and I stayed up way longer than I should have. 

At the next stop, we got off. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. To the left was a forest and to the right, nothing but dusty road and grass for as far as I could see. Tony helped me up and down the aisle of the bus. We got of the bus first, then Scarlett followed. 

"Is he going to be okay?" the bus driver asked, eyeing me warily. 

"Yeah." Scarlett said. "He's fine. Bit over-dramatic, really."

"Are you sure this is the right place?" he continued, looking up and down the road.

"Yeah, our, um... our mum and dad are going to pick us up." 

"Okay." the driver said dubiously. The doors closed and the bus started off again. 

As soon as the bus was far away enough, Scarlett and Tony set off into the woods. I tried to walk, but my legs felt like they were made of jelly. Tony caught me before I fell, and pulled my arm over his shoulder, and then put his arm around my waist to support me. We started walking again. I leaned heavily against Tony.

"How far is it from here?" I asked. 

"Just another day to hike through the forest." Scarlett said. 

"Just another day to hike through the forest?" I asked disbelievingly. I looked up. It was already starting to get dark. It was probably about eight o'clock. 

"Sorry, kiddo." Tony said. "HQ had to be somewhere well hidden." 

"Of course." I said. "So you picked the middle of the woods in the middle of no where." 

"It's a great place for training." Scarlett said. 

"Training to do what?" I asked. 

"Use your powers without killing yourself." she said. It took me a moment to realise she was being serious. We continued walking for a long time.