1 Corinne
"If anyone moves they'll be shot!"
The men with the guns jerk them around, each time one is aimed at us my throat tightens. In the corner of my vision, I see Justin slowly inching his way in front of us. God damn it Justin, always trying to be the hero.
"Stay behind me." he whispers so only the five of us can hear.
The three gunmen cock their guns back and start walking through the bus, a few people cry out.
"Be quiet or we'll shoot!" the leader shouts, I can hear April as she starts hyperventilating. I slowly reach my arm back so she has something to hold, and she grips my hand so tightly that it starts to cut off circulation. When the robbers get distracted by a woman with a family heirloom, I turn around and face Molly, April, and Leo.
"Hey, I know this is really scary but you need to listen to me. If you have anything important with you like money, shove it in your underwear when they aren't looking. Okay?"
They look at me with wide eyes but nod their heads obediently. I try to muster a reassuring smile. I take off a few necklaces and rings and stuff them into my own bra, and turn around before any of the robbers can notice me.
"Give me all your money and jewelry."
The man's gruff voice makes me jump, but I try to take off my earrings as calmly as possible and hand them over to the man. Justin pulls out a few tens, which I know is only half of what he has with him, and adds his watch to the pile of money and jewels. I feel bad for the people who lost gold or diamond pieces, I figured it was common knowledge how bad the crime rate was here. These people are probably visiting for business reasons, that's the only reason anyone would come to this side of town. No one comes here on purpose.
The thugs finish rounding up most of the valuables on the train, but they decide that what we have to offer isn't enough for them. Like most people, they want to squeeze out every last drop of our wealth and feed the greedy dragon inside them. I can tell that they don't have a family of their own, at least not one they'd care enough to know about. Their eyes don't carry the softness and desperation that loving fathers have, all that I see in them is a will to gain wealth. They're just a pack of selfish bastards wanting to steal from the poor to feed themselves.
"Now I know that's not all you have," bellows the leader, "looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way. Everyone down on their knees with their bags open!"
Justin stands firmly with his fists at his side, his breathing is heavy and I know he wants to fight. I put a hand on his back to try and soothe whatever's welling up inside his core.
You can't always make everything okay, Justin. I think as I try to tug him down by the edge of his sleeves. I get down on my knees and open my backpack so they can search until their pockets are full. I don't care anymore as long as they don't shoot. Justin yanks back from my efforts to tug him down.
"Justin, listen to me. They have guns. You need to get down before they aim at you." I hiss. He ignores my pleas.
"You there!" shouts one of the men, "Are you deaf or something? Get the fuck down!"
Justin stares the man in the face, "No, we already gave you what little shit we had with us. Get off the bus now or you'll regret it."
The man laughs, pointing the gun directly at Justin's stomach.
"I'm not sure you know who you're talking to. I'm the man with the gun, I'm the last person who should be scared. You know you're not bulletproof, kid."
"Justin, please." I say one final time, but he only smirks at the gunman.
"Well, I know I'd definitely be concerned if I had just robbed a bus that was headed for the police station." he says that loud enough for the whole bus to hear. And now that I check the route the bus is taking, I realize that he's right- we're headed right for the police.
The bandits notice too.
"Shit, we gotta get outta here." the ringleader says and starts making a beeline for the emergency exit. The other three join him, running like their mothers just called them for a beating. Still afraid of being shot, nobody moves from where they are except Justin. He's bent over dying of laughter, apparently this is amusing.
When the emergency window opens up, all four dive out of the opening as fast as possible. One of them even snags his shoe on the edge and falls out with just a thin sock on to protect his foot from the torn up roads. I almost feel bad for him.
It takes just a few seconds for us to reach the police station, and it makes me start to wish that Justin had just gone along with the muggers instead of warning them about their fate. Still, it shouldn't be too hard for the police to catch up to them.
When the bus begins to slow, I grab Justin and the kids and drag them down the stairs before the police can come in and keep us until long after dark asking pointless questions. The people on the lower deck look quizzically at us, the robbers must have been too chicken to rob them and went straight to the second level. Nonetheless, the bus driver must have heard people screaming and figured out what was happening above him.
When we reach the bottom of the bus stairs the driver seems to be missing in action, probably running to alert the authorities, so we can easily step off and blend in with the other nosy onlookers trying to be witnesses so they can get a reward. You can't throw a penny five feet without finding somebody trying to swindle money with the given opportunity.
"Are there any backways to get home?" I ask Justin as he takes the lead of steering us around the crowd.
"I think so, but I haven't taken it yet. We just need to move fast before we get caught out late."
I nod my head in agreement, there's more than just greedy people out at night.
"Stay close, guys." I turn to make sure all three of them are still with us; they're smart kids but this is still a dangerous city. I smile when I see them all holding hands tightly, just like I've taught them to.
We finally get past the crowd and Justin ushers us into a darkening alleyway that winds between buildings like a roofless tunnel.
"Why did they have to rob us today, of all days? I just bought that watch a couple weeks ago." Justin grumbles.
"You would've had more worries than that dumb watch if you hadn't scared them off." I say, lightly punching him in the arm, "And you're not the only one who lost something."
"That was scary." April says quietly.
"Not for me!" Leo says a little too excitedly, "Justin would have kicked their asses, right Justin?"
Justin doesn't respond, but instead gives a light shh, which we all take as a cue that there's someone else approaching. I see them too, a hooded figure hurriedly carrying a bundle. I worry about what they might be carrying, but it's too dark to see anything more than a few outlines. I try to keep a neutral face as we get closer to them, we've learned that when we pass anyone in the alleys we need to keep our heads down and walk with purpose, like we belong there as much as they do. We also know to never interact with anyone past sunset.
The dark figure comes closer, and when we pass them I take a peek at their face. I realize it's a woman, carrying a baby in her arms. She skits past us quickly, but I can still see the pure fear in her eyes as she pulls the baby closer to her chest and tries to keep it from making a sound. She's no less afraid than we are, if not more.
When she's a few steps behind us I turn around and walk in the same direction she is so desperately moving in.
"Excuse me." I say as un-menacing as I can. "I think you might need this."
She doesn't slow down, only turns her head slightly as I speedwalk to catch up with her. I reach into my bag and pull out my taser that I keep with me at all times. I hold it out to her and she stops in her tracks, eyeing me fearfully.
"Here, you probably need this more than me at this time of night." I say gently.
She looks at my face carefully, then my hand holding the taser, and takes it with a curt nod. I smile back at her as she rushes off into the darkness, and I jog back to where Justin and the kids are waiting for me. As we start walking again Leo takes my hand.
"Who were you talking to? I thought we weren't supposed to talk to strangers when it's dark."
"I know, I broke the rule. But that woman was more scared than we were and needed help." I squeeze his hand, "You should always help someone if they need something more than you do."
