"Stop it! Please!" cried Sarah as she helplessly watched Nick endure the torture he was receiving.

Nick's head soon hit the window and it drooped down. His whole body went limp and the beating soon stopped after that. Max laughed quietly to himself as he climbed off the seat.

"Good good good. One thing little miss Sarah, I'm not stopping. Ever. This is going to go on until you are all dead," Max said, pointing his gun at the now unconscious Nick. "And it will start with him."

Tears started to form in the teens' eyes as they watched helplessly.

"Daddy," Sarah quietly said to herself.

***

Letty, Jules, Harriet and Rae were patiently watching the news, waiting for anything about the school bus hijacking.

"More news about the school bus incident. Apparently, most of the students and adults have been let off the bus except for a select few. We fear that these individuals will perish for the men who have taken over the bus have been identified as dangerous as well as armed," the man said on the television.

"Great. How much do you want to bet that three of whoever's still left on the bus is Patrick, Nick and Sarah?" asked Letty.

"No need to bet anything, we all know it's them along with any others that just happened to get in the way. They're all still in danger no matter what," sighed Jules.

The four continued to watch the news report, hoping that the outcome wouldn't be too bad.

***

"What should we do with these three boss?" asked one of the men.

"We'll kill them eventually just not at the moment. I'm having too much fun now to do anything else," Max smiled.

The man watching the two girls turned his head to look at Max, giving Sarah the oppurtunity to jump out of her seat. She knocked the gun out of his hands and ran over to Nick.

"Dad! Wake up! Please! Dad!" she cried as Patrick knocked over the man that wa supposed to be watching him.

Patrick ran over to her. He lifted up Nick's shirt to look at the already bad bruise on his stomach.

"Oh God," he muttered.

He gently put his fingers where the bruise was and even in the condition he was in, Nick flinched under the touch.

"You will pay dearly for that. I will personally make sure you all die together," came Max's voice.

The two looked to see him, gun in hand and angrier than ever.

"Now walk away from him before someone out there has to get hurt," Max ordered.

The two looked at each other before shaking ther heads at him.

***

Outside the bus, everyone was still there, waiting to see what would happen to those still on the bus.

"We have to get them out now! My daughter's still in there," cried Jessica's mother.

"We will get them all out alive ma'am," a police officer replied as he lifted up a bullhorn. "Come out now and nobody will get hurt."

Max appeared in the door of the bus.

"Never! I let all the other people go. What more do you want?" he yelled back.

"We want everyone that was in the bus out of there. We know there's people still left in there!" the police officer replied.

"If you want them, you're going to have to come and get them yourselves!!" Max told them before hurrying back inside.

He passed the two men. They looked at each other.

"So what are we doing now?" asked one.

Max looked at them with a smile.

***

"I can't do this. I can't sit here and do nothing while those three are in danger!" Jackie cried out.

Matt was standing next to her and he grabbed her arm.

"What are going to do Jackie? Do you feel helpless that Nick is out there, possibly injured and there's nothing you can do? I feel the same way and so do several other people here. Letty, Jules, Rae and Harriet most of all since well, they are the only ones who really know about it yet," Matt told her.

"I understand that but how many of them are doing anything except wait and hope for the best?" she replied. "Besides, I owe it to him for the way I've been treating him lately."

She broke free of his grasp and headed out the door, leaving Matt watching her go.

"I just hope you don't go into the middle of it," he whispered to himself.

***

Jackie climbed into her car and drove towards the high school. The entire time, she couldn't help but think about Nick.

"Don't you do something stupid on us Nick. Especially not those two. They need you. They've waited all their lives for someone like you to come along and pull them out of the beastly hole they were thrown into," she kept telling herself the entire way.

***

The police and parents couldn't do anything except watch and wait as they watched the men move around inside the bus.

"I don't know how much longer we can wait. We have to get those four out before they're seriously hurt or killed," said one police officer to another.

"I know what you mean. But what can we possibly do? If we go in, they just might get killed," the one replied.

"We'll have to risk somebody getting hurt in order to save their lives," the first replied as he lifted the bullhorn.

"Come on out. We don't want anyone else getting hurt here so it'd be easier for you to just come out with your hands in the air," he said.

Max could be seen in the doorway.

"Not in a million years. If you want me, come in and get me," Max told them.

He calmly walked backed inside as Jackie happened to drive up and get out of the car. She ran up to the police cars. One officer walked over to her.

"I'm sorry, but you can't come by here," she told Jackie.

"I understand it's just some friends of mine are still on the bus, one of them being co-worker of mine," Jackie replied. "I think it would help for them to see a friendly face for when they manage to get off the bus."

The officer nodded.

"Alright then," she said.

***

Sarah stood between the men and Nick and Patrick, who was patching up the bullet wound.

"Sis, we got to get some ice on that bruise immediately or else it's going to be really bad," Patrick told her, his voice sounding urgent.

"I know, I know but where are we going to get any? We can't exactly get to the corner for any," Sarah replied, her voice sounding the same way.

Patrick said nothing as he watched the men with Sarah and Jessica. They watched as Max walked over to them.

"Now, I think it's time," he coldly said as he grabbed Jessica. "Bring the other one."

The bigger of the two men roughly took a hold of Sarah as the other stayed behind, aiming his gun at Nick and Patrick, who was becoming very worried at the outcome.

***

The two men walked out of the bus, teens in hand.

"You let us go and these two won't get hurt, unlike the one on the bus," Max told them.

"Don't listen to him! He'll find another way to kill us! Take him now or you'll never be able to catch him again!" Sarah cried out to them.

The police officers weren't exactly sure what to do: listen to the man or the kid.

"Are you nuts Sarah?" Jessica wondered quietly.

"Yes, I'm nuts. I'm just not stupid," she replied.

"Be quiet!" Max told them. "What is your choice? Me or the girls?"

Sarah and Jessica stared at each other, waiting for the right moment.

"No, we want you," one police officer replied as the police dog ran onto the scene.

"Jessica, now!" cried Sarah.

They managed to get out of the men's grip just as the dogs attacked them, taking them down. Sarah ran over to Jackie and hugged her as Jessica ran over to her mother.

"Sarah, where's Nick?" Jackie desperately asked, holding on to the teen's shoulders.

"Dad! Jackie, he's been shot!" We have to get him out of there!" cried Sarah as she started to head back towards the bus.

"Oh my," Jackie said to herself as she followed her.

TBC...