Ataxia

Chapter 6

Sander

2045

"Wait, Danique?" I questioned, puzzled. I stared at my long-lost friend whom I thought I would never see again was sitting across the bus seat from me. He darted his head towards me and a smile danced across his lips that I missed so much.

"Sander!" He exclaimed. We attempted to hug, but our tied up hands kept us from being able to. "I'm so glad to see you," Danique said, tears visible in his huge brown eyes. "I missed you a lot."

"Me, too," I said, smiling. "Do you know where we're going?" We were in a large and long military bus filled with kids of all ages. The eldest on the bus was probably seventeen. We were all tied up by the arms and legs. One kid even had a muzzle on which was very rattling to me at the time. Guards were everywhere on the bus. One driver, two soldiers in the front, two in the back of the bus near the exit, one in the middle. All of them had guns in their hands. If any of us tried to escape, they would kill us on sight. It was hard to believe this was legal, but people would do anything back then to get rid of ataxias.

"We're going to a boot camp," Danique said sadly, the smile melting off of his face. "I've been kicked out of the last one, this one we're going to is the one for the 'dangerous ones' from what I hear."

"Dangerous?" I said. "But we're all just kids!" It was true. Kids with some hectic powers.

"You can disintegrate things, right, Sander?" Danique avoided my gaze, clenching his hands.

"Yeah?"

"They think it's really dangerous. You can kill anybody. Just like Pim." I was silent, looking down at my small tied-up hands. Even though Pim was really mean back there, did he really deserve to die? Was I really a curse and a monster just like he said? This was a question that was battled in my mind ever since those cursed words were said.

Sander's a monster!

"Well, why are you dangerous?" I asked, taking my mind off of the question. I would never sleep ever again if I let this question pester me. How can you live knowing you can kill anyone at any moment at your will?

Danique looked up from his thoughts. "I can control people."

"Like ... mind control?"

"No, though that would be kinda cool." Cool? I thought questioningly. "I can only control their movements. I can control the locomotive system in any body."

"That's crazy."

"Yeah."

We were silent the whole way to our destination. We both had no idea at the time where we were all going. I stared out the blackened window into the mesmerizing distance. Both of my parents were gone. Aunt Miep and Uncle Kristofer can no longer help me since they were in jail. Jumper and I are no longer in contact. No one could help me now. The world seemed so empty and useless ... just as it had two years ago. Danique and I got closer and closer to our destination that would scar us for our entire lives.