Chapter 2

"Get down!" I screamed and everyone immediately flattened themselves to the floor. It wasn't a moment to soon as a bullet shattered the window above me and lodged itself in the wall opposite. Glass from the window cascaded from the frame and stuck into my leg and back and I winced with pain.

By then the room was filled with screams and shouts of fear, pain and surprise. The class started to crawl to the door. I knew there was no point in that because there was no way to escape with the soldiers advancing towards us from that direction but no one listened when I tried to tell them. They were too focused on trying to get to safety that they didn't care what anyone else said.

As the room started to clear, i noticed Jess across the room tightly gripping her leg. I made my way towards her and as i got closer i noticed there was blood pouring from between her fingers.

"Ellie, help me! Please!" she said desperately as i reached her.

She moved her hand and there was a square chunk of her leg missing with blood pouring from the hole. I knew i had to act fast before the soldiers got there. I glanced around the room looking for an idea. As my gaze passed the windows i got one.

"Wait here," i said and started a mad dash between the desks to the windows before she could reply. I ran, bent so far over that i was almost crawling and ducked below the window sill. I stuck one hand up and began to pull the curtain down. Luckily it came quickly and easily.

I snuck a look through the window and saw half a dozen soldiers making their way quickly to our classroom. More groups were going to other classes too. They must have seen me because just as i ducked back down i was showered with more glass from another shot window.

Again i ran to Jess. This time though, i hit my bad knee on a table leg. It stirred up a whole new lot of pain to add to the stinging of the glass in my legs.

I reached jess and tied the curtain around her leg like a bandage. She yelped in pain when i pulled it tight but didn't complain. I still had no idea what had happened but finding that out would defiantly have to wait.

"Jess, the soldiers are almost here. If they know who we are, they're sure to kill us on the spot. It's too late to escape so just cooperate and keep your head down," I told her. She looked at me with an expression of terror and didn't reply. I gave her a quick hug and we crawled over to everyone else.

"What should we do Ellie?" asked a girl in my class. Everyone looked at me expectantly. It was obvious that they thought i would come up with some great plan because of what i did in the war, but i couldn't think of anything.

"Just cooperate. And pretend i'm not Ellie. It's too dangerous for all of us if they know i'm here."

Miss Marshall was just turning the handle of the door when the soldiers burst into the room. Everyone gasped because they didn't know they were going to come into the room.

While most of us sat there stunned, a few of the boys in the class turned and made a beeline for the shattered windows. A soldier yelled in poor English, "Stop right there or we will shoot!"

But they kept going despite the threat. The soldier then proved that they meant what they said as he shot the window above the boys head. Honestly, I ought to keep a tally of the amount of windows they shot. They'd shot three already.

Two of the soldiers ran to the boys and tied their hands behind their backs. They slapped, punched and kicked the boys until they fell curled up in a bloody mess trying to protect themselves. No one said a word but jess had to hold my arm to keep me from running at them and giving them a piece of my mind.

"Do what we say or worse will happen," a different soldier said.

The other four soldiers tied the rest of us together. Jess and i kept our heads down so they wouldn't recognise us.

As we were marched to the school hall, Jess tripped over because of her leg. I helped her up and a soldier whacked her in the cheek with the butt of his rifle. Blood started to pour out of her mouth but she didn't make a sound. The soldier turned to me and i thought i saw a hint of recognition on his face but it disappeared immeadiately. He bashed me in the shoulder and that, too, started to bleed.

By the time we reached the hall almost the whole school was inside. The soldiers took all our electronics and valuables, just as much for loot as to stop us contacting someone outside the school. After being searched, we were pushed through the doors.

Once the entire school was inside, the leader of the group stood on the stage to speak, "There are only two things you need to know about what is going on here and they are that you must cooperate or you may not come out of this well and do not try to escape or contact people outside of the school or we will shoot you. This operation may be quick but depending on how you behave, it could be long and horrible. Your choice. For the meantime, you are free to go anywhere in this hall, but don't cause trouble."

As he stepped down from the stage and began speaking with a few of his soldiers, one of the girls in year 9 stood up. After letting of a string of swear words at the soldiers and demanding to be released, she picked up a pair of scissors from her pencil case and threw them straight at the soldiers. They dodged them and two soldiers grabbed her arms and dragged her, screaming, onto the stage. As they beat her up, the soldier who had spoken earlier said, "If you didn't understand the first time, cooperate and you should be fine. If not, well," he glanced over his shoulder at the girl who lay there bleeding and crying, "you might not be so fine."

He signalled to the men and half the soldiers left through the back doors, leaving us to contemplate what to do.

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