Sorry I haven't updated! I've been so busy with finals and family and stuff! I finally just got inspiration for this! Review! This will probably be the second to last chapter…Enjoy(:

I felt the earth tremble under my feet, and the smell of destruction filled the clear night. I fell on my knees, trying to collect my thoughts. They were dead. Angel? I screamed. Angel, you can't leave me! I can't do this alone! My shoulders shook but no tears fell. I didn't have any tears to cry. I stood up and dusted off my jeans. I turned to face the 56 children. I had to get them out of here. I could not let my own emotions ruin their chances of getting away.

I searched their dirty faces and I saw hope. I saw relief. Iggy was gone. Max was gone. But these children were still here. "I have an idea," I said, my voice almost getting lost in the breeze. I took a deep breath and tried to sound more confident, "We need a school bus."

The little boy who could turn invisible grabbed me hand and looked up at me with his green eyes, "I can help you get one. Lead me where I need to go."

"I'll lead you to freedom," I whispered to him, feeling his hand against mine. His hand was small and delicate, callused and sore. I imagined the horrific experiments he must have endured. His insides were probably mush after what the doctors had done to him.

The school was only half a mile away but it felt like miles. The little boy and I slinked into the shadows and crept down the road. Even though I couldn't see him, I felt his warm body against mine. This boy would probably grow up and cure cancer.

"What's your name?" I whispered, dying to know everything about him.

"I don't have one. They called me experiment 421," he replied, "I like to call myself James."

"Then James is your name," I assured him. I pressed my back until a building and checked around the corner. The buses were so close, yet they were behind a tall barbed wire fence. I would have to hop that. I didn't have any experience hopping fences. I glanced down at my ankle and hoped it wouldn't fail me now. I had been a cheerleader. I had done several sports. This couldn't be that different, right?

Wrong.

We approached the tall fence. The holes in the fence made it possible to climb, but it would be a long way to fall. I grabbed the fence and it shocked me. Why did they take such extreme measures to secure the buses? I had a feeling that this was the mayor's idea. He knew what we would do. That made me wary. We were probably just walking right into a trap. But we didn't have any other choice. This was our only chance.

I held my breath and grabbed the fence and climbed. Each shock sent paint through my body, but I could handle it. The voltage wasn't too high.

"Don't climb it," I told the little boy, wherever he was standing. I wish I could see him right now. I didn't want to lose him.

"Already did," James replied, on the other side of the fence. I couldn't help but smile. His voice wasn't frail anymore. He was growing with confidence. I swung my leg over the top of the fence and slowly started to crawl down. Then I heard the engine of a car. I let go of the fence and dropped to the ground. I landed with a bang, but I ignored the pain in my hip. I lay against the ground and waited for the car to pass.

I rolled onto my back and struggled to stand up. The town was aware that something was wrong. There would be no other reason why a car was out past eleven. I glanced at my watch. 12:11am. We had to get back to the kids. That just might be where the car was headed. I ran towards the nearest bus and broke open its door.

I sat in the driver's seat, and stared at the steering wheel. Iggy had once told me how to hot wire a car, but I barely remembered. I closed my eyes and remembered his soothing voice. I leaned under the steering wheel and found the blue wire. I held my breath and I continued to wrap and break wires. I could be doing this all wrong. The engine didn't start. I looked at all of the wires, trying to figure out what I had missed. I started to breathe heavily and I checked every wire. They were exactly how they were supposed to be. Why wasn't it working?

"You missed a wire," James pointed out and grabbed a black wire that I had not seen. I randomly stuck it somewhere, hoping it was right. The school bus roared to life. I let out a sigh of relief. I grabbed the steering wheel and put the bus in reverse. I had never driven a bus before. I didn't drive at all. This couldn't be that hard.

I hit a mailbox, ran down a stop sign and couldn't find the brake. As he drove, James wrapped his little arm around me and watched out the windshield.

"I don't know where I belong," he whispered into my ear. I could see him now. His blonde curls gleamed in the moonlight, and his skin was whiter than any white that had ever existed. "Where do I go when I am free?"

"You can go anywhere you want," I replied. I hadn't even thought about where I would go. Where could I start fresh? I had no money. I had no clothes. I didn't have a family to go to. I had nowhere to go either. "You can come with me."

"Will you be my mommy?" he asked. The question caught me off-guard. He wanted a family. He reached out and stroked my cheek, "I have never had anyone care about me before." The words were so fragile, I felt them break. I wanted to just drive past the cemetery and just leave with James and never look back.

I pulled in front of the cemetery where all the children were huddled. They had found graves to hide behind. They were almost impossible to see. They all stood up when I arrived and scurried onto the bus. They didn't ask questions. They didn't say a word. They took a seat and impatiently waited for freedom. Their eyes were full of excitement. No words could describe how they felt.

Where would these children go? How would they survive in the cruel world? I pushed the worries away and drove towards the edge of town. As soon as we reached city limits, I knew we would safe. None of the townspeople ever left. James never let go of me as I drove towards the beginning of a new life.

I didn't think about how the mayor was still alive.

I didn't think of what would become of the town.

I didn't think of the life I was leaving behind.

"I think we should go to the ocean," I told James as we roared down the main road. "It's big and beautiful. We'll buy a boat and just sail. Okay?"

"Okay," he smiled at me, his eyes gleaming.

"We're almost there," I yelled out.

But we didn't make it that far.

Something appeared in front of the bus. It came out of nowhere. I didn't know what it was, but I slammed on my breaks. It was like a wall of blackness. We hit it with a bang, and the windshield shattered. The bus flipped over itself and began to roll. No one was wearing seatbelts. I wrapped my arms around James and kept my head down as the bus rolled. I felt all my bones breaking and glass cutting my skin.

The bus stopped rolling when it hit another large object. I couldn't move. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but darkness. "James?" I whispered, realizing my arms were empty. I wasn't even inside the bus anymore. I was lying alone in the middle of the road. My eyes adjusted and the moon showed the most horrific scene I had ever seen. The bus was upside down, and bodies were strewn everywhere. It was so compacted, it looked like a pancake. "James?" I called louder, but my voice cracked. I tried to crawl but I screamed in pain. Every bone in my body had been broken.

Were they all dead?

A figure stood before me. I knew who it was without even looking. The mayor had done this. He had killed the children. He was going to kill me, just like he had killed Iggy. I glanced up at the mayor, tears blurring my vision. He held a knife in his hand, and he was smirking. "You thought you could win? You thought you could escape me? I am everywhere." He let out a malicious laugh, "I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to kill your will to live."

I shuddered. I watched as he walked towards the bus and grabbed the smallest body. The body let out a yelp. James. I tried to move, but I was helpless. I started screaming. He couldn't do this! The mayor threw James to the ground and he landed with a thump. The mayor grabbed James's arm and snapped it. I heard the bone crack and James started to wail with me.

"MOMMY!" James yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I'm here!" I tried to assure him, but the words were inaudible. James would die alone. Something touched my back and I winced at the pain.

"We're okay," Iggy's voice whispered in my ear. I felt his warm breath against my neck. "We're getting out of here. Max will take care of the mayor."

"We have to save the boy first," I argued. I was overjoyed by the reappearance of Iggy, but my heart could not feel joy. It could only feel loss for James.

"No, you're our first priority," Iggy countered and wrapped me in his arms.

"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE OFF," I fought him even though I was too weak. "I have to save James! PLEASE! What if that was Angel?" I challenged. Iggy hesitated. "That could be Angel down there! James is about to die because of me! They're ALL dead because of me!" I choked the sobs out. The mayor was unaware of Iggy's presence.

Iggy shook his head, "I'm sorry but if we try to save James, we all die. We have a plan." He pushed us off of the ground and I felt the cold breeze against my face. But not even the wind in my ears could cover the sound of a knife cutting into the screaming James.

Silence.

No more crying. No more crying.

Silence had never been so loud.