Eve's POV
It was a restless night in our 'bedroom' all of us trapped in a cocoon of nerves and undependable fear. I prayed only that we would survive this. Survive whatever comes next because after all we are a family, and I cannot imagine walking down the sidewalk knowing I will never see one of them again. Shane is like a brother to me, Claire is like the little sister I never had and then… where do I start with Michael? He's half of what makes me, without him I'm at a loss. I've lusted after him, liked him, hell even loved him for as long as I can remember; whether he be human, ghost, vampire, reformed human I loved him and I don't want to lose him. I don't want to lose any of them but this feels different from before, we've always had a face to fight whether that be Bishop, Draug… even back when it was fight every day to survive the vampires but not this time I'm restless, a bag of nerves because I know this time we're way out of our depth… and that possibly our luck may have run out.
I sit now just watching. Claire's just playing with her wedding bands, twirling them absentmindedly around and around her finger; her thoughts anywhere but the present. Michael is lying next to me, his head in my lap as I play with his blond curls, twisting them in my fingers, over and over again. Shane went to grab some coffees, this feels so much like Deja-vu of the Draug- we nearly lost Shane last time and Michael- we did lose Claire, only be sheer magic is she still with us; I can't even begin to organise the possibility that one of us or more won't make it through…
Today we're trying to safe some of the folk... not us though we're staying whether that be through devotion to Morganville or sheer stupidity- honestly currently I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. The list of those going includes every child who has survived so far, along with the mothers too, the bus is packed; there is no room for any one spare- this is our only chance to take those most needy to safety, its high risk but not one has opted out; they all understand and accept that without taking this chance they could be sentences themselves to death or something even worse.
Despite not wanting to sound pathetic I wish me and my friends had a seat on that bus- Destination: as far from here as it can get. I regret not leaving when we had the chance, just after the Daylighters lost, Amelie told us we could move on but still we stayed- we had lives here and some part of use knew we'd never be happy unless we were here.
The hands on the clock are crawling by, exactly four minutes and thirty-two seconds Shane comes bustling through the door, haphazardly holding a large metal tray, holding an assortment of breakfast food, and four cups of strong coffee by the smell.
I look down to find Michael's eyes open and intent on staring at me. I feel my cheeks flush even though he's my husband and he's knows be better than I know myself. Last night we'd lay in each other's arms, just touching nothing more. Our minds are too preoccupied to even think of that, all I want is closeness; to know that he is there and I have the man I love with me- as we trek into another unknown Hell… weirdly our destination is unknown too.
Shane hands me a coffee, with a strained smile. None of us speak as we sip at our coffees, and pick at the tray of food Shane brought back with him. I don't think we have the words to express what this even means if it all goes wrong.
Suddenly as if by magic and the hands of the clock have moved ridiculously too fast, its eleven, an hour before we set the buses off into the unknown. We need to pack up the people into the designated seats, that's only a pretence so it isn't a free-for-all, one thing we cannot afford is for it to all go wrong and that it takes double the time, and we miss our chance.
One hundred people are going on to one of the school buses, luckily we have large bench seats, and children capable of sitting on knees otherwise this would never work.
Fifty-five minutes have passed and finally everyone is seated, goodbyes have been said, tears have been shed and now they children are pressed against their mothers, precariously balanced on knees and spare corners of seats, they are heading into midland, to try and find some safe haven- Amelie has generously contributed to a fund in to which they should be able to find some form of home at least until all of us here survive or die; those are the two hands we have been left.
Claire's POV
So the time has come for my brainchild to be put to work for us to final try and save a few lives. Its precariously dangerous to have so many in such close quarters but from what we know it's safe, snow is at its least powerful when faced with the sun.
Two minutes till we launch the bus, I can see through the windows the children crying, mothers hushing them with tear tracks mutilating their own faces. It's the harsh reality that we cannot keep them safe in our own town.
Amelie has left the bus, the doors shut with an empty puff of air, the air around me is frozen in anticipation. With a quick nod to the driver, I hear the bus go into gear and push forward into the snow.
The process is slow going but the snow is receding, I turn my back to look at Shane with a smile… that's when I hear a scream.
