Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Ernest’s Story

“Hi, I am Ernest,” I said, feeling awkward.

“Hey, I am Dylan. Wanna play soccer?” the kid replied, pointing to a blonde kid. 

“No thanks,” I said. “I don’t know how to play.”

That was four years ago. It was my favorite memory of when I met one of my friends, Dylan. At my old school in West Virginia, I only had one friend named Simon and we were both bullied by a big kid named Dwayne. Now we are twelve year olds and all we do is “Hang out” even at recess. I missed when we played those little kid games. I should be grateful though. I didn’t think I would have ever make friends at Barnsthustle Middle, but Dylan and Wyatt changed my perspective of that. I didn’t think I can ever play or do anything fun with Dylan and Wyatt ever again because of this war. We all hate it!

Finn had just agreed to carry Mary and I was glad not to be doing it. I am one of the weakest kids in the sixth grade. We just graduated from elementary school but I am still weaker than a 2nd grader. I would be out of breath in minutes. I bet she weighed more than me. Anyway, since we forgot the school bus was there, Finn didn’t really have to carry Mary. He placed her on a seat and sat on the opposite side of the bus.

I wanted to drive again though Dylan highly objected. I stood up, sat down in the driver’s seat, and decided to do what Wyatt did;  I put it in drive mode and floored it.

“If we’re in Missouri, then we’re almost there!” yelled Finn, eagerly. When he did that, Mary woke up and stared at Finn, silently. I laughed at the awkwardness.

I was looking at the mirror way too much and I wasn’t paying attention to the road. I looked back at the road and realized that we weren’t on the road! I smashed straight into an apartment building. 

“Guys?” I yelled. 

“Wake up!” they stayed still. The seatbelt was slowly choking me and the room went dark.

I woke up when Dylan pinched me. It didn’t hurt, but it just startled me.

“You ok?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Is everyone else okay?” I asked, curiously.

“Mary is hurt. I am trying to help, but she’s bleeding bad,” he said. I stared at the air blankly. It was my fault. I had driven the bus into a house. I had taken a risk of everyone dying. It was all my fault.

“How did you get me out of my seat?” I asked.

“I carried you. You are light as a feather,” Dylan laughed. 

“Hey! I’m not puny!” 

“Yeah, sure and I’m not human,” then I noticed that everything was blurry.

“Where are my glasses?” I questioned. 

“Sorry, but they broke when the bus crashed. At least I found them,” he said as he gave me my broken glasses. 

We didn’t know what to do. We were stranded on a highway with no food or water. We didn’t know where we were. We didn’t know what to do. It had started to rain, and we were all very tired. 

“I guess our journey ends here,” Finn said.

“No, we will die soon if we stop,” I said, worn out. 

“We’ll sleep in the bus,” said Dylan with his “leadership”.

I went to the very back of the bus and went to sleep. When I woke up, we were moving. The bus slowly stopped right in the middle of a highway.

“What happened?”

“We ran outta gas,” I cursed

“Admit it, we’re done for!” Finn said.

“No, we’re not.”

“Where will we go?” Dylan checked his phone.

“I’ll find a gas station or a nearby house,” he said.

“The closest gas station is ten miles away!” I yelled.

“How do you know that smarty pants?” Ava asked. I pointed at a sign down the street that said closest exit ten miles

“It’s in the opposite direction of Colorado, which means we already passed it. That’s about the place where the Nazis attacked us.” 

“I am not going back,” I said.

“I am not going either,” said Finn. No one wanted to go. 

“Well it is ten miles away. If we walk, then it will take forever!” Wyatt exaggerated. I cursed.

“Dang it! Now we’re really done for. We can’t run that far and back,” I complained.

“Well, let’s just go to a random town. I can’t help but think that we’ll be caught here, in the open,” I said. Everyone agreed and we hurried over to a town, leaving the bus behind.