Chapter
3
When Kevin got
back to the front, Howie was furiously repeating CPR on Nick.
"Is he
breathing yet?" Kevin asked, fearing the worst. Howie shook his head.
"Go find
the others," he said. "They might be hurt. I'll take care of
Nicky." Kevin nodded and looked around. He saw no sign of anyone else.
Then, he realized the windows were all broken. With a sick feeling, he started
outside, realizing they might have gone through the windows. At the very front
of the bus, he saw their driver, Bobby, slumped over the steering wheel.
"Bobby!"
he cried, shaking Bobby. He pulled his head up and gasped. Bobby's eyes were
open, but were glazed over. His skin was a pale gray. "Bobby's dead,"
Kevin realized. He hurried out the bus doors trying not to think about the
corpse of their bus driver. It was dark outside, but the lights of the bus lit
it up a little, so Kevin could a least see. The front of the bus was crumpled
against a tree. The side of it had swerved and crashed into a chain link fence,
knocking it down.
Kevin glanced
around, looking for the others. He saw nothing. "Brian!" he yelled.
Silence. "AJ!?" he called. He listened hard and heard a faint reply,
though he couldn't tell whose voice it was. "Where are you?" he
called frantically.
"Here!"
the voice called, a little stronger this time. It was coming from in front of
the bus. Kevin ran up there. Suddenly, he saw a body lying flat on the street.
"I'm
coming!" Kevin yelled, racing over to it. He knelt down beside it and
discovered it was AJ.
"Kev!"
AJ cried.
"AJ! Are
you alright?" Kevin asked.
"I don't
know," AJ mumbled.
"Are you
in any pain?" Kevin asked him.
"No. No
pain," AJ said.
"What
happened?" Kevin asked. AJ closed his eyes, trying to remember what had
just happened.
"The bus
swerved," he said faintly. "I ran up to the front to see what
happened, and I…I saw Bobby. I think he…he had a heart attack or something."
AJ's eyes widened. "Is he okay?" he asked. Kevin shook his head
sadly.
"He's
dead, AJ," he said softly. AJ squeezed his eyes shut again. Then he opened
them and continued.
"Anyway,
his foot was on the accelerator. I tried to stop the bus, but we spun off the
road and hit this tree. I guess I flew through the windshield." Kevin
looked closely at AJ and saw the scrapes on his face and arms from the broken
glass.
"Is
everybody else okay?" AJ asked suddenly.
"I…I
don't know," Kevin said. "Howie's okay. That's all I know."
Kevin decided not to mention Nick. He didn't want to upset AJ. "Listen,
Bone, I need to go find the others. They might be hurt."
AJ didn't want
to be left alone, but he knew the others might be dying somewhere. Kevin had to
go help them. He looked up at Kevin and nodded to him. Then he watched as Kevin
hurried off into the night.
***
