Yumi peered out the bus window, her view mostly blocked by rips in the plastic covering of the window and it's tint, but she could still see the onslaught of water the drowned the ground below. Sheet upon thick sheet of rain fell from the sky, not showing and signs of letting up. The sky was not black as you would see with a thunderstorm, but an eerie shade of grey that seemed to drain the color from all it surrounded.

"Class, I know we've been sitting here for almost an hour," Ms. Hertz said, looking over her classes that were seated on the bus, "but I've talked to a few of the teachers on the other buses and they said they think the storm may be over soon. That means we may be in the bus for a little while longer, so don't get out of control."

The children went back to their business, leaving behind the attentive listeners that had existed only seconds ago, hoping for some way off the lackluster bus.

"Hey, Yumi." Ulrich said, looking over her with a lighthearted gaze. "When do you think this rain will be over?"

Yumi's eyes were fixated on the strange weather, it's sudden intensity perplexing her. "I don't know, Ulrich. I don't know."

—

William sits in the uncomfortably metal chair of the infirmary, his head tilted over his shoulder as his echoing snores bounce off the walls of the room, his eyes sealed shut by their own weight.

Odd had been sleeping for the past hour, the rain at first soothing, but now it had woken him as though the storm was playing good-cop-bad-cop with him. He turned his body on its side, the sheets of the bed ruffling as he moved.

'William is out cold. Should have guessed he could sleep through anything after he told us about that one time in gym...'

Odd's thoughts were interrupted by a great crash, causing him to abruptly turn on his opposite side, his jaw left hanging by what he saw. The window had totally shattered, pieces of glass left to linger the floor, almost resembling blank marbles to him. A great burst of air hit him as though he had just jumped from an airplane, his body falling back and off the bed, not having predicted the great force that would fall upon it.

"AAHHHHHH!" Odd yelled as he fell over, his body coming closer to the ground in what felt like slow motion. William jumped at the sound, finally realizing what was happening. Through the wind, Odd could have sworn he heard William yell his name. It wasn't long after when Odd could feel his head slam into the hard tile floor, the almost numbing effect it seemed to have. He tried to hold on, but he could feel his mind fading. He tried forcefully to open his eyes, hardly cracking them. Through his limited vision, he saw William crouched over him, either inspecting him for injury or maybe protecting him, but Odd couldn't be sure.

He couldn't hold any longer. His eyes closed almost as slowly as they had opened, but now instead of being accompanied by force, a certain peace fell upon Odd. Then only one thing could be felt:

Darkness.

—

Jeremy and Aelita had been sitting with their classmates for over two hours, waiting for something, anything, to happen. That had discussed usual topics, partial physics, time travel, even some progress on designs for a new Nav Skid, but there wasn't anything set in stone yet.

"Jeremy, what do you think caused this sudden rainstorm? There weren't any low pressure systems over our area at all today, and there still aren't any. And the forecast for all week was supposed to be sunny, it just doesn't make sense." Aelita said, looking out the side window of the bus, the rain starting to majorly accumulate now, reaching almost halfway up the tires.

"I don't know either, it's really strange. I would check on the weather, but I forgot my laptop and my phone hasn't gotten service for an hour. I guess the towers are off or something." Jeremy said, reaching for Aelita's hand. "But don't worry, we'll be fine." He smiled at her, a smile which was mirrored by Aelita.

Aelita turned away from him after a few seconds, again looking out at the ominous storm.

"Excuse me, students." Ms. Hertz said, only gaining the attention of about half the bus. "Students!" She yelled, her voice not only loud and aggressive, but delivered with great projection, causing all of the students to drop what they were doing and look at her. "We have gotten word that they are starting to move the kids back at Kadic to their storm areas. It would appear that this storm may be worse than we thought, so we will be heading back to the school to join them where it's safe."

As she finished speaking, the bus was filled with phrases uttered by confused and worried children. "How bad is the storm?" One asked. "How much is it gonna rain?" Asked another. "Is school cancelled?" Asked another, one of many if not all the students.

"Students! Calm down!" Ms. Hertz yelled in a similar fashion as before, showing similar results as well. "We will answer any questions you may have when we get back, but for now I'm going to have to ask you to quiet down."

Jim walked over to Ms. Hertz and handed her his cellphone, saying, "You may wanna hear this." His voice alarmed if not stunned.

"Hello?" She asked, her voice sounding as though she was unsure what to make of this. She talked for a couple of minutes, ended the call and slowly handed the phone to Jim, looking over towards the bus driver.

"We need to leave now!" She said, her voice urgent and fearful.

"What's the matter?" The driver asked, looking ahead as he pressed his foot on the gas peddle.

"We may have a dangerous situation, go ahead and tell the other buses to leave too." She replied, the urgency, if at all possible, increasing in her voice.

The driver picked up his radio, asking her, "What should I tell them? What's the danger?" His face, although she couldn't see it, was perplexed, fearful as well. Her intensity worrying him.

"The local news stations have been getting reports that all the rivers are overflowing, and we are right in the danger zone." She said, the tragic words she said were almost as though she were the principal telling her this information a minute ago, sharing the same worry as he had.

The driver almost let up on the gas slightly, taken aback by the situation. He picked up his radio and said, "Jim, Lacy, we got a bit of a problem."

Thanks for all the support, the suspense is even killing me, and I'm the one writing it. Read and review!