The School For Gifted Kids

Chapter 20: Arson

Anastasia. 

Her smile could only be described as a smirk. An evil, egotistical smirk. The smirk of a lady who knew that she'd won. Her gaze drifted back and forth between all of us, drinking in our fear. It felt as if the whole world had stopped at her command, silence enveloping the atmosphere. My legs felt like cement, frozen in time and immovable. I noticed at this time that Anastasia's eyes were an unnatural shade of sage, deep and mesmerizing. Hypnotic, even. Finally, Caddy's brash spirit saved us all.

"I don't see what you're so pleased about. The only thing you've accomplished is boarding a bus." Yeah. I guess not. I gave her my best WHAT THE HECK!? stare. Obviously, Anastasia had accomplished a little more than that. The last thing we wanted was to upset our captor. 

"Excuse me, you imbecile, but I will not be spoken to in that tone of voice. Did I not take you in? Did I not give you shelter, food, and water? Have I not raised to be smart? Because you are missing the obvious. You have no route of escape. This is where your story ends, urchin. I've had enough of you and your little brats trying to screw this up. When we get back, all of shall be disposed of except the special one, who shall continue with my experimenting." Now, I've seen a lot of powerful women in my life. My mom, our old president, even Anastasia. But the girl who took my journal may have been the most powerful I've ever seen. At the sound of us being killed, she punched out the window. Not even kidding. Glass shards rained down around us and an alarm screeched in dismay. Anastasia's nostrils flared as Willa jumped out the window. Being no idiot, I quickly followed. Ben was next and Caddy came flying out afterward. Caddy, Willa and I started running, but Ben stayed just beneath the window, waiting anxiously. 

"Dude! What are you doing?!"

"I'm not leaving without her." I realized that Elle hadn't come out yet. If I squinted, I could see Anastasia gripping Elle's arm inside the bus, preventing her from exiting. 

"We have to go! I'm sorry, but we're going to have to leave her behind." I saw a giant army of men on the horizon, arriving in maybe a minute, but we'd be easy targets for their guns much sooner than that. Luckily I could see that Willa and Caddy were already pretty far away. It was just Ben and me. 

"Go. Be safe. I'll understand." With that, he turned around and started climbing up through the window. Anastasia grinned a grinch smile. 

"That's right. Come on in, and I promise I won't hurt her... yet." My mouth went dry. Ben was gone. My mind jarred as the ping of bullets hitting the bus rang out around me. I quickly ran around the corner and hid, but I was more worried for Ben. The others were gone. Good. I didn't want them getting involved. I could hear voices getting closer and knew they'd be here soon. So I threw myself under the bus. Literally. There were metal tubes everywhere, and some sort of oil was dripping on my head. Big clumsy boots clomped around the outside, searching for me. I held my breath, not daring to breathe. My heart stopped as the bus shook and rocked from side to side. Looking down at the door of the bus, I could Anastasia getting off with Elle and Ben. a few soldiers took hold of them and they all started trudging back. Not Anastasia. She sauntered. She didn't have Willa, but she had the bait to hook her fish.