I felt like I was going to throw up. The unsteady ride and close-knit quarters wasn't helping my claustrophobia, not to mention those kids talking about my brother and his family. Speck held my hand as we turned onto the main road, where the land was glorious and green. There were long spurts of trees and wide, open pastures with clusters of cows that mooed at each other. But the more I tried to admire it like Speck was, the more I wanted to collapse.

They were there, at the very same school.

How long were they there? How did they get there? How did they apply? Did they have help? Why did they go there? They were on the run, living on their own, why would they go to school? I thought of my parents and wondered if they were telling me the whole truth. Did they foster them before they took off? Or was it somebody else? Who would allow six winged kids to join their curriculum? I thought of what the kids said. What happened? How did they "ruin the school"? Did Erasers come? Did ITex find them? They escaped, but what about the others there? They knew about their wings... did they know the entire time? Or not until they fled? I glanced up at the back of the kid's head in front of me, realizing what it all meant. It had to be the school, or the teachers inside it, that ratted them out. My blood went cold, causing me to hold my arms to keep from shivering. It wasn't safe. The school wasn't safe. I couldn't walk through those doors.

"Whoa," I heard somebody say.

I blinked and looked up to see a line of cars stacked in front of us. The driver honked in disgust and ran a hand over his barely bald head. I heard him curse under his breath. I glanced down the aisle to see him pull out his phone to contact the school. Conversations finally changed to focus on the traffic we were in. I was confused. Was this not normal? I would think that even living in the suburbs there would be at least some traffic in the mornings. But apparently it wasn't.

Speck leaned over me to ask the girl across form us, "Hey, what's going on?"

The girl looked her up and down before shrugging, peering towards the front to watch the cars.

Speck gazed up at me, and I could tell that she was thinking the same thing.

Something was wrong.

Other kids in the bus started standing up and trying to stick their heads out the windows to see how long the back up was. The bus had slowed to a crawl, then to a stop, and added to the symphony of car horns around us. Kids pulled out their cell phones, calling up their parents and family about what was going on. Most hoped that they would miss the first day back, others were concerned about what was holding them up.

"Oh come on," I heard Brandon groan from outside his window up front. He was halfway out of it and trying to see the front of the line. He slid partly back into the bus, "It looks like it's a rollover accident. Big rig."

With that, the decibels doubled with disappointment in the bus. Kids threw their hands up in the air, shouting and trying to talk to their parents over the phone. Brandon went back to staring out the window, and Tess huffed and went back to her seat, trying to convince Brandon to get back inside before he fell out. The girl next to us was focused on texting, and Speck was staring out the window, her hand still in mine. She squeezed hard and again looked up at me. My heart was racing. I couldn't stay in this bus for too long. The over-anxious kids shouting, the cars honking, the cells ringing in different tones – I covered my ears and hunched over, my breathing rapid.

Boom.

The whole bus shook and kids screamed as they tumbled and crashed onto the floor. I instinctively grabbed Speck as she bounced against the wall and into me. My back connected with the floor and my wings, pain shooting through the bones. With Speck in my arms and the screams quieting, I thought we were fine. I shakily freed Speck and she sat up and stood, staring around to see any damage. But as I got up, trying to not extend my sore wings, there didn't seem to be any. Kids were strewn about the bus, some crying from hitting their heads and a couple unconscious. Brandon was still halfway out the window with his arms dangling. The driver's head was against the wheel, also unconscious as Tess cautiously walked up to check his pulse. She let out a shaky sigh before somebody screamed and pointed towards the accident. I put the window down and poked my head outside.

There was a plume of smoke filtering up from a large fire at the front of the line. Drivers were out of their cars with hands covering their mouths and dialing 911. Many were in dismay at the sight in front of them. I was able to see everything. A large semi was on its side, fire warping the front of it and spewing smoke like crazy. Another vehicle, a van, sat almost perfectly a few feet from it. Its front was smashed in, and it looked like the only salvageable thing was its trunk. It was difficult to see if there were any survivors due to the smoke, but I thought I saw a figure standing there in the middle of it. When the smoke parted for a second my stomach flipped. Then I heard screams coming not from the accident, but from the cars closest to it. People pulled others out of their cars and started running, the figure now full fledged and tearing into the vehicles around it. It had long fur, stood at least six feet tall, and a pointed muzzle with sharp, glistening teeth.

An Eraser.

Before I could pull myself back in, a blood curdling scream erupted from inside. I slid in quickly and saw Tess screaming as the driver was yanked out by a long-clawed paw. My eyes widened as the Eraser climbed in through the side window and snapped at the girl in hunger. She continued screaming until it swiped at her face, knocking her out instantly. She collapsed, wedging herself between the steps leading out the door. Its head turned to look around the bus, the kids frozen and shivering in fear. Once its eyes matched with mine, it grinned and let out an earsplitting howl, causing everyone to cover their ears. I heard barks in the distance and even more screams outside the bus, the heavy breathing reaching us as shoes pattered away.

"Amber!" Speck cried just as the Eraser lunged at us. She kicked it in the jaw causing it to whine and collapse to the ground. I shook myself out of my thoughts and grabbed Speck and threw her over it, then jumping over and racing to the door. Kids screamed around us and tried climbing out the windows, hiding under the seats, or pushing themselves as far away from the beast as they could. Before I could reach the door, I felt a hand grab my ankle.

I yelped and smashed face first onto the floor, my chin stinging as the hand pulled me back quickly. My hands grappled to hold onto something as its claws raked against my skin, trying to grab me and pin me down. It managed to get up to my thigh but I grabbed a seat at the last second, trying to pull myself away from its bared teeth. I could feel its hot breath on my skin as I continued to pull away, but it growled and yanked harder. I yelled at Speck to run but instead she turned and swung somebody's backpack at its head. It growled and tried dodging it, distracted enough to loosen its grip and I could wriggle free. I felt trickles of blood on my skin but dismissed it, grabbing Speck's arm and wrenching her towards the louvered door. But just as I was about to open it, stepping over Tess, an Eraser outside slammed against it from outside. I shouted and closed it quickly, the Eraser outside growling and tearing at it feebly. That option was gone. I glanced back at the other Eraser snarling at us, taking a step back before lunging again.

"Duck!" I dove at the last second just as it barreled past us and through the front windshield, shards of glass raining down on us. I covered Speck with my body the best I could, glass searing across my skin. I paused before shakily standing to glance outside, shards tumbling off me. The Eraser stood up from in front of the bus shaking its head. My heartbeat was in my ears as I tried to keep Speck low and out of sight, but it turned again and snarled at us.

We had to get out of here.

I pushed Speck up and towards the back of the bus, shouting, "Go! Go!"

She scrambled to her feet and started running down the aisle, only to scream as another Eraser barreled into the emergency exit door. She stumbled back just as I caught up with her. It kept ramming against it in hopes of smashing it in. I glanced back at the front door now starting to pinch from the Eraser tearing it open. The first Eraser was crawling in through the windshield.

We were trapped.

My heart beat picked up, and my skin crawled as I began running through ideas of how to fight them all off once inside. I whipped my head around, seeing the kids cowering and crying in their positions in the bus. We weren't going to make it. There was no chance for us. Not with the narrow aisle and kids here.

"Amber- up there!" Speck pointed up to an emergency latch I've never seen until now.

My breath caught. But how do we run from there? We would be on top of the bus, no where to go, trapped until they climbed up there- I whipped my head to look at Speck. Was she really saying...? I shook my head.

"It's our only option!" she glanced at the front of the bus and shouted. "Hurry!"

The first Eraser was halfway through the broken windshield and the front door was now creaking open with a furry hand. I quickly stood on a seat and turned the handle and pushed, the latch opening and bouncing slightly as I moved to push Speck out. Once she was up there I stood on the back of a seat and pushed, feeling claws rake hard against my ankle and making me gasp. Speck pulled with all her might as I crawled out. She slammed the door shut in the Eraser's face, hearing a yelp as I shakily stood.

The chaos around the bus was horrifying. Empty cars sat with doors open and Erasers began flooding the area, as many as twenty running and others with guns. Speck pushed me down just as a bullet whistled past. The black cloud from the accident hung low and started crawling our ways, presenting a scene that just came out of an apocalyptic movie.

We kept our heads down as bullets flew by us, keeping us from standing or taking off. But there was no other option. I stretched my wings carefully to avoid being severed by the bullets. I heard the kids screaming inside the bus as the Erasers continued firing. We had to get out of here. I reached for Speck's hand and she squeezed back. I was able to see her face, which was masked in terror. She didn't want to go back, and I wasn't going to let them take her.

I mouthed to her, "Get ready."

She nodded and curled into a ball. I shuffled towards the front of the bus, doing a reverse army crawl to avoid the rain of shots, and reached the edge. I let out a couple breaths until I heard a couple of them reloading. I jumped up and flared my wings and started running, the bullets even more intense and I readied myself. I didn't even think. I continued picking up speed, passing a crouched Speck, and then jumped off the end of the bus, my wings stretching and catching the air. I felt feathers getting hit, but nothing substantial as I angled myself higher and higher into the sky, until they were just a cluster on the ground, their barrels aimed up at me. Then I folded my wings and started dropping, faster and faster towards the ground, they couldn't hit me. I opened my wings just a little bit to angle myself just right. I turned and was parallel to the bus for a split second, grabbed Speck around the waist, and did a hard beat down of my wings to get aloft again. Shots fired around me but were now missing as the fire's smoke clouded their vision. I beat down my wings again, and again, getting higher and higher until we would just be a bird in the sky.

Then I felt a sharp pain hit me. I shouted, nearly dropping Speck to hold the spot where the agony emitted. I felt a gush of warm liquid spill over my arm. My flying faltered, my wings teetering as my eyes fluttered from the pain. Oh, god. It hurt, it hurt like hell, like a knife twisting into my guts. My body shivered, my head fuzzy, I felt ready to pass out, it hurt so much. They got me, they really got me, and blood was pouring from the wound. It dribbled down my uniform and into the air, trailing behind me as I struggled to stay aloft.

I tried to keep myself from crying out as I felt blood pooling on my shirt. Speck clung to me for dear life and was sobbing profusely. I could only hear snippets of her cries over the wind.

"W-why now, I-I was so close, I w-w-was s-so, cl-close."