Welcome To The New Age

The officers take us outside the building and there waiting for us are buses. Two to be exact. A sense of nostalgia comes through me. Which is weird to be sixteen and to have such a thing. The buses are like the school bus that would take me to school just about every morning. That ugly mustard yellow with the black bumpers and tiny double doors. I hated every minute I had to spend on those things.

Near a bus parked a few yards away is a line of boys in their jumpsuits and they're all wearing hand cuffs like me and Janie. The officers behind us shove us forward towards the other bus parked a little closer. My eyes widen as I realize what's going on. A trade, we're being traded to another camp.

Sh!t, sh!t, sh!t,...

Trades didn't typically happen. Usually it was only when they ran out of people to ship in a certain region. Which was never. I've haven't been traded before, but I've heard it's not a very pleasant experience.

Whilst I stand there shouting profanities in my mind, out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of someones face. A boys face, and I don't recognize him. You usually get a pretty good idea of whose who and you know just about everyone. It's not normal to see a new face unless there's a new shipment. And if there was, everyone would know via intercom.

I try to get a better look at him, but once I look away, he's gone. Just like that. Like a flash of lighting in the sky. Your certain you saw it, but nothing remains to prove it; To show that it even existed at all.

An officer grabs my skull and shoves me forward roughly. Had I not been in hand cuffs, I would've already punched him. I give up trying to find mystery boy and start to search for Janie's little blonde head among the rest of the girls. The fact that she was petite didn't help. When I step onto the bus I start searching frantically. There was no way I was going to lose her in this place. She was only fourteen, she could barely handle this camp on her own. Let alone whatever awaited us in the next one. When I'm about to call out her name, that's when the bus tips over.

There's girls screaming, others trying frantically to get out, and then there's the ones with glass from the windows sticking out of their arms. I, luckily, had landed on the side of a seat and just sort of laid there in some kind of shock. After a few seconds my brain comes back to me. I shake the whole thing off as a prank. It's happened before, someone who wanted to get smart and try something. That's my first thought, but then outside I hear a bomb. It goes off without any warning and apparently near by, because I'm thrown into the ceiling that's now become the side wall of the bus.

What. The. Hell. Is. Happening!?

I leave all common sense aside and just go on straight adrenaline. My first instinct is to get out of there, so I quickly push myself up off the floor. Bad idea. The minute I do, I feel intense pain shoot up my left arm. I let out a cry, take in a sharp breath, and just kind of stand there for a second or two. My right shoulder leaning against the wall and cradling my left arm close to my stomach. I can't stop here. If I do, Hell if I know whose side the bombers are on.

I make my way to the back of the bus towards the emergency exit; all the while trying to dodge the girls still in shock on the floor. With a little effort, I pry the door open and jump out. When I do, it's like I've stepped into some kind of time warp. Like, back to WWII, type of time warp. There's bullets ringing through the air, not particularly aimed at anyone, and people are running to take cover behind the rolled over buses. I take a quick glance up at the camp and find out were the bomb went. I always dreamed of the place burning, but never thought it would actually happen.

"Move! Take cover!"

I whip around to see a girl charging toward my direction. She's wearing a jumpsuit, but I've never seen her before, and she's holding a pistol aimed at a cluster of officers. Grabbing my arm, she pulls me over to where she and a few of her friends with guns have gathered the other slaves.

New rule, everyone you don't know, don't trust.

I look through the group of my fellow slaves for Janie. She's not here. I try to peek over the top of the tipped over bus only to have the girl from before shove me back down.

"What part of stay down don't you understa-"

Her voice is cut off with an ugly click in her throat and she falls to the ground; blood beginning to bloom like a flower on her jumpsuit. I just kind of...sit there. I look at her body, were the bullet hit her, and her pain stricken face. Her eyes are glazed over now and her mouth just hangs open with the words she never got finished saying still on her lips. It's truly scary when you see someone die. To think that just a minute ago she was up and around, walking and breathing, makes chills run down my spine. I cast another glance at were the bullet hit her, it had made a rather large crater in in her chest, and it's when I look a second time, I puke.

I go on all fours and convulse onto the earthy floor until I'm sure there's nothing left in my stomach. I glance over at the other slaves and they just look at the girls body wide eyed. She couldn't have been any older than eighteen, so what was she doing out here?

Once I've settled into a state of sanity, I wipe my mouth with my sleeve and grab her gun. Her hand is wrapped tightly around the weapon and I almost puke again when I have to pry her cold fingers from it. When I do, her hand drops with a lifeless thud and I ignore the sudden drop I feel in my own stomach.

I look over the top of the bus again, this time without anyone to stop me. I see some officers just firing at random slaves and then I see some of them firing back. All of them, of course, are people I don't know. An officer spots me and I don't give him time to aim his gun. I line the barrel up with his general direction and fire. The pistols recoil takes me by surprise, but I manage to stay on my feet. That was more than I could say for the officer. I hear shouting in Japanese and duck down again before they catch me.

First, find Janie. Then go from there. Find Janie, go from there. Find Janie, go from there...

I repeated the plan over and over in my head. It gave me something organized and thought through to hang on to. And in a war zone like this, I needed that more than ever.