I looked over to my left and there were a few more kids hiding behind trees just like us. Waiting. Wondering what would happen next. Wondering when the mayhem would end.
Then, the commandment Thou Shalt Not Kill ran through my mind as I watched the guard. I knew the time had come to make a choice. We all knew. Could we kill him to save ourselves? Was it right?
The lone insurgent walked closer, craning his neck to see into the forest. "Is anyone there?!" he yelled with a slightly shaky voice, walking closer with his rifle raised.
Trevor made a move like he was going to ambush him, but Derek grabbed his arm and shook his head. The other kids to my left looked scared and shaken, but we were ready. We had to be.
A long moment later, the insurgent laughed, breaking the silence.
"See anything?" Another camouflaged blonde man walked up on his left side, rifle in hand.
"Naw, just getting spooked, I guess."
"Come on. Let's help gather up the kids that survived." They both walked away, laughing.
I hadn't realized I was holding my breath until I let it out all at once. Relief washed over me as I watched them walk away.
"Come on," Derek mouthed to us, and then we ran farther into the woods, escaping the mayhem. Soon, we found a group of trees a distance away from the school. I could hear loud noises in the distance. Bombs maybe? More gunfire? I wasn't sure.
"What in the world just happened back there?" Trevor asked in a loud voice to Derek and anyone who would listen. He was pacing like a caged lion, ready to pounce.
"What do you think just happened, Trevor? We're under attack, in case the guns and the dead bodies weren't enough of a hint!" Brolin answered. He was a member of the other group of kids who just joined us. I looked around and there were nine of us in all.
"I know that, you i***t!" Trevor countered, yelling into his face. "I mean, did they just attack the school, or the town, or the whole damned United States?"
"Probably the whole United States," Jada, a Japanese girl by descent, calmly replied. She was in a few of my classes. She was a pretty girl with long dark hair to her waist, olive skin, and coal black eyes.
"And who's talking to you, girl?!" Trevor yelled, now in her face.
Jada laughed, remaining cool. "Well, I'm glad you're smart enough to notice, but yes, I am a girl."
Trevor lunged toward her, but she expertly moved to the side in a counter move, and within minutes, Trevor was flat on his back. She never even threw a punch.
"Damn, girl!" Trevor murmured under his breath, cursing, trying to get to his feet.
"You need to have a little respect, you chauvinist pig!" Jada replied calmly, moving her long hair away from her face.
Trevor made a move toward her and Jada crouched immediately into her fighting stance. It was clear she knew some form of martial arts—and she was good.
"Enough!" Derek interrupted. "We can't start fighting amongst ourselves." Then, he added calmly, "We have to decide what we're going to do, but we have to hold it together. If we start fighting with each other, we don't have a chance."
Two girls were huddled together under a tree, crying softly, along with another boy. No one said anything to them. We all just looked at each other for a moment, thinking.
"Well, we can't just sit here waiting," I said, unable to stand the silence or the soft crying anymore.
"Then what do you think we should do?" Trevor asked sarcastically, taking a seat under a nearby tree. I never realized how really big and intimidating Trevor was until today.
"I don't know, but if we stay here, we're sitting ducks," I replied. I knew we had to do something, but what?
"We can fight back," another boy, probably a senior, added.
"With what?" Trevor laughed. "Pitch forks?"
"Why not?" the boy countered. "Why not use pitch forks, or anything else we can get our hands on? Our ancestors fought for our independence with pitch forks, didn't they?"
A loud agreeing grumble resounded around the circle.
Derek thought for a moment, and then replied, "Okay. We have to start thinking of shelter for the night …"
"And food," someone else added.
Everyone agreed.
"Do you think it's safe for us to go home?" the blonde girl, crying softly under the tree, asked.
"Home?" Trevor laughed without humor. "You don't have a home anymore, sweetheart! None of us do."
"But I want to go home!" the girl wailed, panicked.
"You can never go home again! Get it? There's no home for any of us anymore! Don't you get that?!" Trevor yelled, looking down at the sobbing girl.
"Ease up on her, Trevor," Derek said, placing a restraining hand on his arm. "This is hard on us all."
The blonde girl slumped into a heap as her body wretched with fresh sobs. The girl beside her—with dark skin the color of mahogany, and onyx hair—wrapped her arm around the blonde girl's shoulders in comfort as tears slid slowly down her cheeks, too. From the look of their perfect hair and carefully applied makeup beneath the blood splatters, it was obvious that they were cheerleaders. Then, I remembered seeing them cheering at the football pep rally just the week before. But now, in the midst of the chaos, it seemed to be ages ago.
Derek thought for a moment then looked up through the trees, into the sun. "We have a little time, but we have to be careful."
"I'll build a bonfire," Brolin supplied.
"No! Are you crazy?" the senior added. "A fire will alert them that we're here. It'll give them a road map on how to find us!" He motioned over his shoulder in the direction we came.
"He's right," Derek added calmly, "but we have to think of a way to keep warm. Let's look around and see what we can find. Don't go by yourself. Take a partner with you. We don't want to get separated."
Everyone agreed, and they all divided into small groups, heading in different directions into the woods.
Aksara