"Hey, everyone calm down."
Yelled Mrs. Julia.
"I know you're excited about the field trip, but the driver can't focus with all the noise."
"Sorry Mrs. Julia."
The children communally echoed.
The school bus was lively with the laughter and chatter of the 6th graders of Hillstone High School. This was their most anticipated school trip for the session, a trip to a dairy farm upstate.
On a seat close to the window sat a boy quietly, playing with a portable game console. He wore a hooded sweater though the weather was very hot. He was too distracted with the game to notice that a girl came and sat beside him.
"What are playing, Eugene?" she asked.
Eugene didn't turn and simply answered,
"Kingdoms and Dynasties…"
"I've never heard of it."
"Of course you haven't… you don't like gaming. I don't know why you asked in the first place."
"I was just trying to make small talk… jerk."
The girl pouted, shifting her gaze away.
The boy, Eugene, sighed and paused his game.
"Would you like to play, Jessie?"
Jessie slightly turned to look at him,
"You'll teach me how to play?"
"Sure,"
Eugene rolled his eyes.
It was quite a distance to the dairy farm, so everyone did what they wanted to kill time. Eugene and Jessie played games on the console. There were occasional fights between them although nothing serious.
The bus had a brief stop at a gas station, where everyone got down and stretched their legs for a bit. Mrs. Julia bought the kids some snacks and sweets to calm them down for the rest of the trip. Before long, the school bus went on its way again. Just as the school bus resumed its journey after their break, something abruptly took place.
Boom!
A front tire of the bus suddenly ruptured. The bus screeched and swerved as the driver struggled to bring the vehicle under control. Panic set in as the children were thrown round like ragdolls.
"Everyone, remain calm and hold onto something!"
Mrs. Julia stepped up to calm the children. She managed to get a hold of three students and pulled them into her embrace.
Boom!
While the driver struggled to bring the bus under control, the back tires exploded, causing the bus to veer off the road and into the woods.
The remaining front wheel couldn't hold on and split from the bus. This made the bus lose balance and tumble. For a moment, the bus was suspended, before crashing down with a deafening thud, as the sound of crunching metal and shattering glass filled the air.
What followed was an eerie silence. Everyone was either unconscious or too injured to move, and it was uncertain if some were alive.
Mrs. Julia was the first to regain consciousness. The blood all over her body was proof of how injured she was. What first came to her mind wasn't the pain she felt, but the children she held. Much to her dismay, one of them had a chunk of glass piercing through her eyes, another's head was smashed against a metal, while the last one had a stick sticking out her neck. All three students died gruesomely without getting a chance to close their eyes in peace.
Mrs. Julia wanted to scream but all her strength was sapped. Her left leg suffered severe damage and was bleeding profusely. She endured the pain and crawled toward the driver's seat, where the gory sight almost made her vomit.
The impact from the tumble forced the driver into the steering wheel, which pushed into his rib, sticking between them. His ribs stabbed through his flesh, dripping blood as it stuck out with bits and pieces of his internal organs. The driver's listless eyes happened to face Mrs. Julia, which caused her to scream uncontrollably.
While she panicked, she suddenly heard the rustling of bushes accompanied by footsteps.
"Help, help me please. I'm in here!"
She shouted as loud as she could.
The footsteps drew closer and soon they arrived at the site of the accident. Soon enough, the creaking sound of metals could be heard. Mrs. Julia was relieved that help had come quickly. The creaking intensified until the tightly sealed door was forced open. Mrs. Julia saw two men peer into the bus.
"Please help me,"
She pleaded weakly.
On a closer look, she discovered that these were men didn't wear military uniform, but were well equip with military equipment, plus they had rifles strapped across their chest. At first she was relieved when she saw them, but she started wavering when she heard one of them say,
"You see why I said not to use it. Now, we're bringing back half the kids because the other half is probably dead… stupid."
Mrs. Julia might have suffered a concussion, but she was certain about what she just heard. Her breathing became heavy as she tried to crawl away from those men. Noticing this, the man who spoke earlier turned to her with a pistol pointed at her,
"We can't have any witnesses," he said before firing two shots at her chest.
Mrs. Julia died with her eyes open, confused at the last seconds of her life.
"Call the cleanup crew. Treat those who are still alive and burn the rest together with the bus."
Shortly after, the said cleanup crew arrived at the site and checked for those who were still breathing.
"Over here,"
One of them called out.
At a corner of the bus, a boy was seen tightly hugging a girl. The boy appeared to be shielding the girl and suffered severe injuries as a result. On a closer inspection, the two of them were both alive and unconscious, but in that state, the cleanup crew had to pry them apart which proved more difficult than they thought.
The lucky ones were treated immediately, while the unlucky ones died at the moment of the accident. In the end, a school bus of 33 passengers had only 12 survivors. The survivors were carried off and the rest together with the school bus was set ablaze.
It was uncertain how long it had been, but one of the survivors of the school bus accident abruptly opened his eyes. The white light from the ceiling made him squint and the pounding headache he felt made him wince from the pain. He looked around and saw he was in what looked like a hospital room. But just before he could understand what was happening, a lady walked into the room, wearing a bright smile as she said,
"You're finally awake."
"What happened? Where am I?"
"You're in a safe place. You don't have to worry about anything..."