The Getaway

Chapter Four: Next Stop, The Dome

“We need to get off this bus before it stops.”

Suzzy stared at me.

Then at the emergency window.

Then back at me.

“You want us to jump?”

“Yes.”

“Out of a moving bus?”

“Yes.”

She blinked.

“Khaleel.”

“I know how it sounds.”

“Do you?”

Saleem moved closer to the window and looked outside.

The road was bad enough at this speed. Mud. Stones. Potholes deep enough to collect little brown pools of rainwater.

Jumping wasn’t exactly Plan A.

It was just the only plan I had.

“You heard it too,” I said to Saleem.

He didn’t answer immediately.

His eyes went toward the white dome, appearing and disappearing between the trees as the bus followed the winding road.

“I heard something,” he finally said.

“Screaming.”

“I didn’t say screaming.”

Suzzy looked between us.

“What exactly did you two hear?”

I lowered my voice.

“People.”

“People doing what?”

I hesitated.

Saying it aloud somehow made it worse.

“Screaming.”

She stared at me.

Then she laughed.

Once.

Not because anything was funny.

It was the kind of laugh people give you when they’re waiting for you to admit you’re joking.

I didn’t.

Her smile disappeared.

“Khaleel, there could be a hundred explanations for whatever you heard.”

“Name one.”

“I don’t know. An event? People shouting? Music?”

“In the middle of a forest?”

“We’re literally going to an event in the middle of a forest.”

Under different circumstances, that might have been a perfectly logical explanation.

But I wasn’t willing to stick around and find out.

The bus hit another pothole.

I grabbed the seat in front of me to keep my balance.

Suzzy folded her arms.

“And let’s say you’re right. Let’s say something is wrong.”

She pointed toward the front.

“Why would the driver tell you sorry and then keep driving us there?”

I opened my mouth.

Nothing came out.

Because I didn’t know.

And I hated that she noticed.

“There,” she said. “You don’t know.”

“I know he’s terrified.”

“You don’t know that either.”

“He was crying.”

“People cry, Khaleel.”

“He stopped.”

She frowned.

“What?”

I looked toward the mirror.

The driver was still watching us.

“He stopped crying.”

Saleem followed my eyes.

The driver looked away.

For a few seconds, none of us spoke.

Then the bus began to slow.

At first, I thought it was another pothole.

Then the engine changed.

The trees weren’t passing as quickly anymore.

I looked ahead.

Through gaps in the forest, the white dome had grown enormous.

We were close.

Too close.

Something tightened in my chest.

“Saleem.”

“I know.”

Suzzy looked between us.

“What?”

I reached for the emergency window.

Her hand closed around my wrist.

“Khaleel, don’t.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“So your solution is to throw yourself out of a moving bus?”

“Currently?”

I looked through the window at the muddy road rushing beneath us.

“Unfortunately.”

“That’s insane.”

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

I pulled my wrist free.

“Look, I’m not asking you to believe everything I’m saying.”

I looked at Saleem.

Then Suzzy.

“I’m asking you to trust me.”

Neither moved.

That hurt more than I expected.

Behind us, the music continued.

Everything was still so painfully normal.

I reached for the emergency latch.

Saleem grabbed my arm.

“Bro.”

I looked at him.

He shook his head.

I looked at Suzzy.

Nothing.

For a moment, I almost listened to them.

Then I heard it again.

Faint beneath the engine.

A scream.

Closer this time.

That was enough.

I pulled the emergency latch.

The window swung open.

Wind exploded into the bus.

Rain sprayed across the seats.

People shouted.

“Oh, chale!”

“What the hell, bro?”

“Close that!”

Suzzy grabbed my shirt.

“Khaleel!”

I climbed onto the edge.

And suddenly, looking at the road from there made the entire idea seem significantly worse.

Much worse.

Mud rushed beneath us.

Stones.

Puddles.

Trees.

This is stupid.

Unfortunately, whatever waited ahead felt worse.

I looked back.

Saleem was staring at me like I’d finally lost whatever little sense God gave me.

Suzzy looked genuinely terrified.

Not of the dome.

Of me.

I swallowed.

“I’m going.”

“Khaleel, wait”

“Follow me.”

And before common sense could make one final argument,

I jumped.