OOOO

Most of the kids were quiet by the time that they all boarded the bus back to the rec. center. Despite the large amounts of sugar they had all ingested, the rides had served to burn most of that off and tire the kids out. Harm and Keeter again slumped into the seat at the back of the bus and lay back talking about returning to the Academy in a couple of weeks time.

Harm and Keeter eventually dozed off, as many of the kids in the bus did.

In her seat, Sarah leaned back against the side of the bus and chatted with Valerie and Abi, who were sitting together on the way home in order to get to know each other better. It didn't really bother Sarah, she and her Mom probably wouldn't be around at Valerie's home much longer, anyway. Sarah doubted her Father would sit idly by; he'd probably track them down sooner or later. And she knew her Dad would have all the words to charm her and her Mother back. Unfortunately, Sarah acknowledged, her Dad had as powerful a hold over her as he did over her Mother. Almost every day, Sarah would constantly find herself wondering what she could possibly do to gain his attention, his approval, be enough for him so that he wouldn't have to treat alcohol like the child he actually wanted. Unfortunately, it would be years before she realized that it wasn't anything she was doing or not doing. Her Father was a sick man, whose addiction drowned out all of the insecurities he was plagued by.

As Sarah sat watching the two girls, the late-afternoon sun that came streaming in the window behind her gave the scene a strange glow. Time seemed to slow down, Sarah's attention began to wan and the noises registering in her mind began to sound slow and surreal. Sarah sleepily realized that this was the first day in a long time that she had really enjoyed. Sure, she had enjoyed the trip to Valerie's family home in California, she'd probably been content since the moment they left their own home, but she'd still had her Father and what would happen once they got home in the back of her mind. Today, the moment she left the bus, she'd been caught up in the moment and hadn't given her Father a single thought. And now that she was thinking about returning home, she found that she didn't care how things ended up, because she could always return to this day, spent with a good friend and a new one who seemed to be pretty good, too and this was something that her Father couldn't take away from her. She'd probably never tell her Mom how much fun she'd had, either, because she enjoyed having that little secret to herself. It was something special that was just hers.

As it happened, her Mom would never ask her how her trip to the fairground had gone.

She would never ask if Sarah had made any new friends or if she would consider joining such a group once they got back to Arizona. When they returned home (and sooner than either Sarah or Deanne had anticipated, too) they would get sucked back into Joe MacKenzie's world and would not even attempt to fight it, either.

Sarah's eyes were almost closed, as she daydreamed idly about this magical day, when she was totally and unexpectedly thrown back into her seat. She put her hands against the seat in front of her as the bus braked sharply, then Sarah was violently thrown from the seat entirely. Many of the kids didn't even have the chance to say anything, some giving only reflexive shrieks. The occupants of the entire right side of the bus were thrown into the left side, as the bus left the highway and barrel rolled. Sarah lost consciousness as she hit the metal hand-rail along the top of the seat behind Abi and Valerie's. All the children were then thrown again as the bus rolled onto its roof. The windows had by this time been shattered, so many of the children were thrown into the glass shards. The roof had caved and crumpled like a concertina when the bus came to rest, so there was now no space where the windows used to be. Metal had broken off of somewhere and Sarah's side was gashed as she hit it and bounced off again.

OOOO

Harm and Keeter fared better in the back, as the rear window frame had withstood the pressure better, although all of the glass in the windows had also shattered.

"Jesus Chri…" Jack groaned, as he came to, looking around him, trying to remember where he was and how he could possibly feel this bad. It felt like the whole Academy band had marched right over the top of him and then some.

"Keeter?" Harm asked, as he stirred, as well.

Although they had briefly been jolted awake before the initial impact, it took them a minute to realize that the wreckage around them was the bus they had been traveling in. And with this realization came the jolt that all of the other kids were lying sprawled around them, too, amidst the glass and the scraps of metal and foliage that had been forced inside as they rolled.

"Abi!" Keeter exclaimed and brought himself to his hands and knees.

"Wait, Jack," Harm entreated, "I'm coming with you."

Together, Harm and Jack crawled on hands and knees, trying their best to cover their limbs with sleeves and pants legs, so that the glass wouldn't lacerate them any more than it had done. Most of the kids were now stirring and Harm quickly checked on them as he and Keeter went along. Most seemed to be confused and sore, but Harm didn't see anybody with anything worse than a superficial injury. That was, until they got to Sarah. She was sitting up, crying, having just come to in a lot of pain from the wound to her abdomen.

Harm stopped and asked her, "Hey, are you okay? You're bleeding!"

He didn't even think as he removed his sweater, then pulled his arm out of his shirt and ripped the sleeve off. It was his favorite one, he'd received it from his Grandmother last Christmas, but it was obvious that this girl needed it far more than he did. Thinking back to his basic first-aid course, he tried to calm the scared, young casualty.

"Just lie back and don't move," he instructed as he applied the make-shift bandage to the affected area, "The bleeding's pretty bad and moving around will only make it worse."

"I can't move," Sarah told him, grimacing as she demonstrated, "my leg is pinned…"

Indeed, her leg was pinned underneath the chair that had been squashed towards the bus roof, which they were now lying upon. Harm could see that Sarah was not be in any state to hold her weight up, so encouraged her to lie back down, but the floor was covered in glass particles, so he moved in beside her and settled her down against him. She let out a shuddering sob as she settled into his arms and Harm unconsciously held her tighter, knowing that she was probably in shock and needed to be kept warm.

"It's going to be okay," Harm assured her, as he took his sweater and draped it around her.

"My side really hurts," Sarah murmured, tears escaping from her brimming eyes and running down her face, only to drip onto Harm's arm.

"The rescue services should be here any time now and they'll bring an ambulance with them," Harm continued, "They'll get you sorted out in no time…Believe me, I never make a promise I can't keep."

OOOO