The Last of Them All (editing)

Chapter 7: A Bus Ride

Halfway through the trip when the bus stopped at some remote town whose name I had forgotten, we picked up two suspicious looking guys at the bus stop. They were both tall in stature, and one of them was carrying a large, lumpy black bag. In a matter of instinct, Justin, Andrew and I all glanced at each other, as if we knew what was going to happen.

The bus took off again, going back into the unknown, barren Montana/Wyoming wilderness. I had this weird, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, as if I was about to give a presentation.

Several minutes later I heard the two men talking.

"I don't want to do this..." I heard one of them say. He seemed really nervous, and I began wonder what they were going to do.

"Remember the plan. When we come around the corner, just pull it out and follow as planned." I gulped.

I turned to Justin and Andrew. Keeping my voice low, I whispered, "Guys I think they're planning something, stay alert."

"What do you mean planning something?" Andrew stated.

"I don't know, I just heard them talking about something." I put my head down as I realized how stupid I probably sounded. They both looked at me strangely, and they had a right to. The two men were clear at the back of the bus, while we were seating near the front of the middle. I sighed and leaned back in my seat.

The bus kept driving, and we turned around the corner that they were talking about. I gulped and looked back at them, they were stirring, and I subconsciously grabbed Justin's arm. He looked down at me, and I got the message that he was slightly annoyed. I looked back again and this time one of them was walking towards the front. He approached the bus driver and whispered something into her ear. He then turned around to face everyone on the bus.

I looked back at the other one in the back, and my stomach lurched. He was holding a large rifle, and a hand pistol was attached to his belt. I then realized that the other man in the front also had a pistol and several knives attached to his belt. They all looked very sharp and dangerous. My grip on Justin's arm tightened and Justin got Andrew's attention. We all looked at each other as if we knew exactly what to do. Justin and I quickly swapped places and he grabbed two water bottles from our bag.

The man at the front started threatening people and the man in the back did the same. Children started crying, and I struggled to stay calm. The men kept taking their money, wallets, and any other valuables and putting them in the bags. The one in the front got to us first.

We had small staring contest before he finally spoke.

"Well, give me everything you've got." He was getting impatient and I just stared back at him.

Justin took a long swig out of one of the water bottles, and I was impressed with how well he kept his cool. After taking the swig, he spat it right back out onto the man. The guy became furious and raised his pistol, only to find out that it had become a toy nerf gun. He threw it down on the ground and grabbed one of his knives, but realized that all of them had been turned into plastic. I looked over to Andrew, and his hair had grayed, and he was now slumped over unconscious. In one strong blow Justin hit the guy straight in the jaw, and he landed on the ground with a loud thud. The second man now approached us, wondering what was going on. In a matter of an instant, Justin uncapped the second water bottle and threw its contents all over him. He laughed.

"You think some water's going to stop me?" He wiped off his face and reached over the seat.

"Hey!" I shouted, heart pounding in my chest. The man grabbed my arm and pulled me over the seat. I landed ungracefully on the ground in front of our seat. "Ouch!" He yanked my arm upward, pulling me to my feet.

"What about your little girlfriend huh?" He looked straight into my face.

"You leave her alone!" Justin got to his feet and held onto the seat in front of him. The bus was still going fast, so we all struggled not to fall over. Justin sat back down as soon as he saw the man grab his pistol off of his belt and point it to my head.

I felt the cold metal pushing against my temple and I seized up. My heart pounded so hard, I thought it was going to explode. Every breath was a struggle, and my head was pounding.

Justin was getting angrier, and his fists were clenched. It was then that I noticed the water on the man's shirt and pants. Little bubbles were starting to form all over his clothing, and I began to see steam rising. He finally noticed what was happening and dropped his pistol with a loud thud on the floor.

"AAH!!!" The man started shaking as the bubbles got bigger and I realized what was happening.

The water was boiling. I tried not to laugh and in my head willed the bus driver to pull over. As if on cue the bus slowed down, and dragged over to the side of the road. The doors hissed open and without a second thought I swung my fist back and hit the man straight in the side of his face. He looked at me shocked, and ran straight out of the doors, dragging his buddy with him. I refrained myself from waving back at them as we left them stranded in the wilderness.

I sat back in my chair and cradled my hand, that had hurt! I looked over at Justin and saw he was breathing heavily, his chest heaving up and down, eyes closed, and he was shaking slightly. I put my hand over his heart and noticed that it was beating really fast, which didn't make any sense, as he had stayed in his seat the entire time. Letting him rest I walked up into the aisle and grabbed the bags that the men had put the passengers belongings in.

After several minutes of returning the passenger's items I returned back to my seat. Justin was now more in the conscious, and I noticed he had chugged three more bottles of water. Andrew's lap was littered with many granola bar wrappers and he was sitting back up, and the color had returned to his fiery hair.

"That was weird. What happened?" Andrew looked over to Justin and I, expecting an answer. "All I remember is thinking really hard about changing his gun and knives, and then I think I passed out. How long was I out?"

"Not long," Justin stated.

I interrupted. "Andrew, it worked." I motioned to Justin and he leaned over and picked up the bright orange nerf pistol. He handed it to Andrew.

Andrew glanced at the pistol and turned it in his hands a couple of times. He sighed before simply stating. "I was hoping for blue."

Justin and I couldn't help but laugh. You could always count on Andrew to break the tension.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, thankfully because we needed the rest. I'm pretty sure the three of us slept the rest of the way due to exhaustion, and didn't wake up until the bus was pulling back into Cheyenne late that night.