A/N: I had to rewrite this chapter because when I went for the original written version, I could not find it anywhere! Color me unhappy, lol. That is why this chapter took so long. I have not started chapter seven yet, and with school I'm not sure when I will be able to, but I promise I will get this fic finished! Just bear with me guys. Thanks for reading and a big thanks to everyone who's been reviewing!!! Keep it up, it really does inspire me to keep going.

Another A/N: I am so sorry about the original formatting of this chapter. I forgot that doesn't accept the asterisks anymore, and for some reason the editing page on just doesn't load right on my comp. It's fixed now though. D

Chapter Six

Haley felt more and more desperate as each bus came and left with no sign of Lucas or Nathan. She knew she should stay calm but didn't manage to find a way to do so, especially with Deb in hysterics next to her. Karen had finally settled into a quiet shock, staring at the buses anxiously, every now and then her gaze going to Dan, who was still not-so-subtlely eavesdropping on the police.

A voice through the crowd calling her name pierced her ears; her head jolted to the left and saw her brothers Jeff and David running towards her. Without a moments thought, she ran towards them to be quickly crushed in their hugs.

She had just been thinking that morning about how David and Jeff never got along; about how she herself didn't get along with David. She had almost been playing favorites between her siblings, but her brothers were both here now and had come together for her.

"We've been looking for you for half an hour!" Jeff told her, sounding relieved enough that he might cry.

"Thank God you're here!" David added. "Are you all right?"

Shaking her head, Haley looked up at her brothers, grateful that both of them came. "I'm so glad you guys are here. I don't think Nathan or Lucas made it out." She paused for a minute, looking around. "Where are Mom and Dad?"

"They're around here somewhere," Jeff replied, looking around. "We kinda lost them in the crowd."

Haley nodded, grateful that her family was here. She didn't let go of Jeff or David, and for once neither of them seemed to mind. Any other day this would have felt foreign... the people she always turned to were Lucas and Nathan. But right now she couldn't turn to either of them.

Nikki sat in her hotel room watching the news with a shocked expression on her face. Jake wasn't answering his phone, and his parents hadn't either; she assumed they were waiting for him at the library.

She listened intently as one of the reporters talked about the emotional trauma the survivors would be feeling for the next several months, maybe even years. Shaking her head, she felt deep sympathy for the students there.

She had meant it when she said she still loved Jake. But he would not budge when it came to getting back together, or when it came to their daughter Jenny...

A sudden thought occurred to her. She could use this. This was what would help her get her daughter back. If Jake didn't want to get back together, then fine. She hoped he was all right in the back of her mind but her main train of thought had just jumped to formulating a plan of using this event to get custody of her infant daughter.

Not able to take watching the news anymore without hearing from any of her friends, Peyton had shut off the television. This left her in silence, and she didn't know which was the better option. She sat in front of her drawing pad, feeling the need to do something to vent her feelings, but she wasn't sure just what they were. She glanced anxiously at her phone every few seconds, trying to will herself not to cry that it wasn't ringing.

Grabbing a water bottle from the refrigerator, Peyton sat down at the kitchen table and put her head in her hands. She should have been at school when this happened... But if she had been would she have been there to help her friends? Would it have mattered if she'd been in class? Did the shooters even get to anyone who was in that class? The questions drove the blonde nuts but she found it was better than thinking about all her friends who weren't calling her.

When her phone finally rang, she jumped up to answer it, knocking over her water bottle. She paid no attention to the rapidly growing puddle of water on the hardwood floor.

"Peyton, this is Brooke's mom."

"Mrs. Davis... hi. I haven't heard from Brooke, if you were wondering." Peyton couldn't hide her shock at hearing from Brooke's mom; after all, she'd ignored her daughter Brooke's entire life. Then again, this was an extreme situation, and even Mrs. Davis couldn't be so completely heartless.

"No, I'm not wondering if you've heard from Brooke," Mrs. Davis said, her voice strangely even."I got a call from the hospital about an hour ago. Brooke was hurt at school, I'm in a waiting room in the operating room. I thought since you were her best friend, you would want to know."

Peyton couldn't bring herself to correct Mrs. Davis. "She's in surgery?" Peyton choked, all color draining from her face.

"I'm afraid so. Could you... do you think you could come down and wait with me?" For some reason the tone in Mrs. Davis' voice seemed lost; Peyton realized that worrying about her daughter was a foreign concept to this particular mother. She probably didn't know what to think or what to do.

"Of course," Peyton agreed, clutching her stomach from fear. "I'll be right there."

"They've caught the shooters," Dan yelled to Haley, Karen, Deb, and Keith, still eavesdropping on the police officers in their station at Tree Hill Library. He turned to them, his calm face a strong contrast to their anxious ones. "About twenty minutes ago," he continued. "There are two busloads full of people coming here right now, and that's everyone."

It was almost three o'clock in the afternoon by this time; hours had passed since the shooting had begun. A few clouds sat in the sky above, but the sun shone down without problem. Weather wise, it was a beautiful day. School would have been over for almost half an hour by now, and Haley would be doing homework in her room at home, waiting for Nathan to call so they could set plans for their date that night. She wished this day had gone that way.

The noise around the five was almost enough to cause their ears to blast; hundreds of people were still running around looking for people. Groups of students huddled together crying, waiting for their parents to find them. Tim had left with his parents, but not before making Haley promise to call him when there was word on Nathan, Lucas, and Jake.

Haley had found her parents; they had nearly freaked out upon seeing her. Her mom kept asking her over and over if she was all right, as if she didn't quite believe she was. Her parents had wanted to take her home, but Haley demanded that she stay until she heard about Lucas and Nathan. Understanding but slightly exasperated, the James family agreed to wait with her.

A police officer, whom Haley noted from his name tag was Lieutenant Richards, shot an annoyed look at Dan and them blew his whistle to catch everyone's attention. Once the noise had settled considerably, he made the same announcement to the crowd that Dan had just given. Suddenly the place was so quiet that Haley shuddered.

The last two buses arrived one right after the other; both were full of people. Just like before, as the students and faculty came filing off, the noise was nearly deafening as parents went looking for their children. Karen, Deb, and Haley pushed their way through the crowd until they had a decent view of the buses; thirty minutes later, the buses were empty and only a dozen or so people were left waiting.

"Where are they?" Haley shrieked as Jeff reached for her hand. "Why didn't they get off? Why weren't they on any of the buses?"

No one said anything as the realization that Nathan and Lucas had not come hit them. Before anyone could do anything, Whitey approaching the group, who quickly circled around him.

"I just got off the last bus," he explained, his whole body trembling. "I was hiding in a classroom with a handful of students. I saw Nathan and Lucas being loaded into an ambulance. They were together, they'd been hiding together... they were found by the same officers who found me, and when I explained that I was their coach... one of them gave me this."

He held out a gray hoodie to Karen, who inhaled deeply, reaching out for her son's bloodied jacket. Keith, looking crushed, put his arm around Karen's shoulder as she clutched the hoodie close to her. She turned towards him, falling into his arms.

Haley watched with wide eyes as Jeff pulled her into his arms. David rubbed her back comfortingly but all she could do was stare at the hoodie in Karen's arms. Nathan and Lucas had been hiding together? And how had Lucas' hoodie come off and wound up in the hands of some police officers? There was so much blood on it... That could only mean one thing. Lucas was seriously hurt.

Dan too stared at the hoodie, but only for a second. He was a master at keeping himself together. He tried to let reason take over, he wanted to demand that everyone simply get to the hospital immediately, but for some reason he couldn't speak. No one else was paying attention to him, or so he so gratefully thought. Unbeknownst to him, Deb had seen the momentary flash of devastation that had appeared on Dan's face.

TBC