The Great Escape

“CRACK!! BOOM!!”

The guns were firing and men were falling right in front of me. I am 12 years old with thick, brown hair and blueish green eyes with yellow outlining them and I am almost dead. I had on ripped scout jeans and a blue polo shirt covered in mud.

I was crawling on the ground to make sure I wasn't fired at. I heard screams, shouts, and one that sent goosebumps everywhere, saying, “My baby, my baby!! Don't take him aw..... BOOM!!!”

That's it; I have to get out of here. It's 1937 in Pearl Harbor.

I was sitting in my tree house when the whole land started to shake. At first I thought it was an earthquake but then all the booms and bangs started to happen. Japan was bombing Pearl Harbor! I was now crawling on the ground and whenever a Japanese soldier came by I would lay flat to pretend I'm dead.

I kept crawling and crawling when a soldier came by I went down flat, sprawled out on the grass. The soldier looked over me and started to poke me with the barrel of his gun. “I'm a goner,” I thought to myself.

The soldier rolled me over.

“Ben, is that you?” said a low scratchy voice.

I made my eyes little slits so I could barely see through them.

It was a short man, probably about 5.8ft. Tall. He was really stalky and his shoulders were huge. I could barley see little hairs coming out on his chin and above his lips. I looked at his feet and they were huge. He had a brown uniform on of the Japanese. Wait I knew who that was. “Phillip?”

“Oh thank God you're alive,” he coughed out.

“It is you,” I whispered. I started to get up but he shoved me back down.

“What the heck,” I puffed out.

“Just shut up, okay? I'm going to shoot the ground next to you so it looks like I'm shooting you.”

“Ooookkkayyy.......,” I stiffed with tears almost coming out of my eyes.

He lifted the barrel of the gun right beside my left ear. I closed my eyes but I couldn't help the raindrop sized tears dripping through my eyes. “Should I move away,” I thought to myself.

Right before I was going to roll over BOOM, Phillip’s gun take a jumping jolt backwards but the bullet did not hit me. Phillip picked me up and flopped me over hid shoulder. “What are you doing?” I questioned.

“Shut up, okay? I'm going to go into the building over there, as he points to the right of the street. Then I'm going to put you down and go back outside. Once I leave go into the top left corner, there will be a tile there that you can lift up. Once you lift it up there will be a shoot that you HAVE TO slide down if you want to get out of here.”

“Well, how do YOU know about this,” I remarked with a smirk.

“Well, um, um, um, sometimes I have to go places or get away from Mom and Dad, but if you tell them, you better stay awake at night.”

“Mom, Dad!!!! We have to find them!!! What if they're hurt?”

I start to run away but Phil grabs me by the collar and pushes me down. He had a stern look on his face and muffled in a low, mean sounding voice, “You HAVE TO stay here. I'll go and try to find Mom and Dad. If you go there you'll get yourself killed. Now go down the shoot. It will lead you to two tunnels. Oh and when you slide down go feet first until the end, curl in a ball when you get out because if you tried standing you fall flat on your face. Go in the left tunnel, not the right one. The right one has rats and sharp rocks that are very slippery. So once you go left you'll walk for about 10 minutes
until you reach a wall. Go into the right corner of the wall and kick it. Part of the corner will fall down. Crawl through the space and make sure you shut the wall.”

“Wait, how did you find out and who told you?”

“The Store keeper Mr. Barnes made the tunnel when the police were after him for theft.”

“Wai.......... Never mind. Okay but...... “I'll check this building and you go check the the other one.”

“Yes sir,” exclaimed someone.

“Get DOWN in the tunnel,” Phil whispered. I guess I'll have to fight the guy off or maybe I could still trick him with my uniform. After I leave I have to get this ratty thing off. This clothing is not cool.”

“Same old Phil,” I thought to myself. Always wanting to be cool.”

“But one last thing,” I remarked. “Why do you have that uniform on?”

“Well,” he said. I was trying to hide in the building but that didn't work out to well when a Japanese soldier came in. I was going to run but he was just standing at that door. So I ran at him and before he could shoot I knocked him out, got his clothes on and was out the door.”

I didn't want to go but before I could say something, Phil grabbed me by the shirt and practically dragged me across the floor. He opened the tiling and threw me in.

The last thing I heard was the door opening and hearing, “Hey you.”

I couldn't see anything. All I could see was pitch black dark. The tunnel had or felt like tiny pebbles that every second I had to move around just to make sure I wouldn't wear a hole in my butt. When I finally reached the bottom I forgot to roll in a ball and one second I was on the ground and another BAM!!!!!

MY face scrapped on rocky ground and it felt like putting your face on an electric sander. I lay there crying with the pain on my face and thoughts of my whole family being dead.

I finally got up but when I squinted to try to see my face burned like lighting it on fire. Tears were leaking and dripping but the more I cried the more my face burned.

When I looked around I was facing the tunnel. I remembered Phillip saying walk to the left. I started to walk but I fell right down and screamed out with pain. I looked down at my pants that were once an icky green but now it was blotched brown. I pulled up my pant leg and there was a gash in my leg.

I had to do something fast. I tried to get up again but I slipped right back down but when I did I made sure I landed on my good leg. When I landed it felt like a rock in my side pocket. I looked down and there was something bulging in my side pocket. I put my hand in it and pulled out my pocket knife. “Ha, my dad always said it would come in handy some time,” I laughed to myself but it seemed to hurt.

I flipped the knife out and cut off my sleeve. I wrapped the sleeve around the gash in my leg. It would keep the blood down but of course it wouldn't stop the splitting pain. Every ten seconds the pulse in my leg would be interrupted by the sleeve cutting off the circulation. The pulse would make it hurt more and more. But I couldn't take the sleeve of,f the cut was too big to just scab over and it would just start to bleed. I decided I just had to deal the pain. I got up and I braced my leg so I wouldn't fall over.

I got up and started off again with the splitting pain on my leg. The pain from my leg was almost subsiding the pain from my face. I touched my face but that was a big mistake. The pain went through my head and face and made me scream. Why, why did this happen to me why couldn't have been that bully Billy Davis in the 8th grade. He was always beating up little kids.

I started to limp to the left but what took forever. The farther I got in the darker it got. I was going for about six minutes and then in one spot it was so dark that without knowing I ran right into a wall or what seemed like a wall. I felt around and kicked but fell down because I kicked nothing but air.
I scrunched down I felt thin air and then I realized that it was a tunnel. “Why didn't Phil tell me about this place,” I thought to myself.

I got on my knees and started to crawl. I figured by how much room I had the tunnel was about 6 feet wide but only four or 3 ½ feet tall. I kept crawling and crawling but I couldn't see anything, just black. After feeling like I was going to wear holes in my knees suddenly I saw a prickle of light just big enough to fit a dime through but it was light. I crawled as fast as I could and then the space opened up and I stood.

I could see the sun shinning brightly. I was kind of mad because I was thinking to myself, “How could the sun be shinning on such a horrible day like this?”

There was not a cloud in the sky but I had the admit, the view was really awesome. I had never seen this spot of the island. There was a valley that had bright green grass that was covered with red, blue, white, and multicolored flowers. There was a big boulder-like rock that looked like a face with an over sized nose. I looked a little closer and I saw a brown rock popping over the top of the boulder.

I started to walk through the flowers and the closer I got to the boulder the weirder the brown rock looked. Then when I was walking and stepped on a twig that snapped and the brown rock went down from where I could see. I stopped right where I was. “What the heck, I though to myself? That for sure is not a rock.” I started to run but very quietly so if there was something over there it wouldn't hear me. When I got up too the rock I heard heavy breathing sounding like, “HHHHUUUUU HHHHUUU, HHHHHUUUU, HHHUUU,” over and over again.

I tiptoed up to the side of the rock and slid over to the edge of it. The breathing got louder and louder. Right when I was about look on the other side of the rock I stopped myself and yelled at myself saying” What am I doing? I could get myself killed. What if it was a soldier with a gun.”

At that thought I decided to back away. I started to walk backwards, which was a VERY bad idea. I tripped on a little rock sticking out from the ground and went to the ground on my back. “HHMMPPHH,” I squeaked out.

At that moment something sprang out from the other side of the rock and jumped on me. It was a boy. He started to punch me and then I took action. We rolled with each other punching and elbowing. I could feel blood dripping down my face and arms. It was all a blur, I was just closing my eyes and swinging away. We rolled and rolled and then hit the side of a rock and departed.

I started to get up and then almost fell at the site. It was my friend, Roary! “Rrrooaarrryyy?” I coughed out spitting blood with the stinging sensation.

“Bbeennn?”

“Yaa it's me.”

Roary let out a sigh and fell to the ground. I don't know how but he looked up at me with relief. His once sparkling onyx eyes were now a dark and gloomy brown. He had a deep cut on his cheek and his left pant leg was torn off with blood dripping down. On his shin he had a dark purple bruise. On his forehead he had a big bump the size of a tree stump. “I sure hope I didn't do that,” I thought to myself.

I looked down at myself. I could feel a stinging above my eyebrow and something dripping down my face. My lip was stinging and I had to keep spitting out blood and it felt like needles the size of chair legs going into me. My leg was now again dripping with blood and feeling like one of those dogs that just got ran over by a car. My wrist had a cut and my fingers hurt. My hand wouldn't loosen from my fist. I was shaking all over and I just decided to drop. I fell to the ground - the soft, rich, dirty ground.

My face pressed against the grass looking at a trillion and one blades of grass and a billion flowers. Everything was so nice, so peaceful. I couldn't imagine after running from a war almost killing my own friend, everything could be so peaceful. I tired to look up to see if Roary was okay but I just couldn't get the strength to. It was so hard. I felt like a 115 year old man that was lying in his bed writing his will to his family. I tried with all my mite to get up and go to my friend but I just couldn't. “One last time,” I told myself.

I pushed as hard as I could with my hands and legs trying to get up. My arms were going to give but I couldn't let my self hit the ground. I kept pushing, pushing, and pushing as hard as I could. I couldn't give up. I pushed so hard, I felt like I was going up against an elephant. I finally pushed as hard as I could and I got up to my knees. “Okay, I told myself. I'm almost there,” I whispered.

I pushed on the ground with my sweaty palms. I got up to where I was in a squatting position. I looked up to see Roary laying face down in the dirt. I don't know how I did it but my body just went into action and ran over to him. It was like I wasn't controlling myself any more I was just running. Everything didn't seem like normal I couldn't feel myself any more. I could just think of Roary and I had to help him. When I got to him my original strength returned and I fell to the ground.

The only thing I could manage to do is to reach my hand over and start to push on his shoulder- Nothing. “Rrr.... Rooarr.... Rooaarrryyy?” I questioned.

I saw a twitch of life. It looked like he tried to turn his head but he couldn't do any more. Then I knew he was at least alive because I thought he said something like, “Bbbee....” But then nothing else.

“Phew!,” I thought to myself. He is still alive. But I have to get help some how but how could I do that when I am in pain and can't walk by myself. I rolled over on my back and landed on a sharp twig. Pain streaked through my body. Usually that wouldn't have an effect on me but in my condition it felt like a nail going through my back. I tried reaching back but I couldn't do it. It was just too painful. I thought about everything in my life that happened.

I thought to myself what happened to my mom, dad, my brothers Phillip and Nick, and my sister Shannon. I thought about what if I was the only one left. Tears started to well in my eyes and drip down my face like rain slipping down a window or some kind of glass. MY family was the most important thing.

Then I thought about all my friends, like Roary, Leo, Jimmy, Kevin, Kyle, and Zeak. what would happen to them, what would happen to Raory? Would they die or get captured?

Then I thought of the girl I liked, Kirstina. What would happen to her? The last time I saw her was when she walked into her...... House. Wait didn't her house have that trap door that let to a tunnel. She let me see it once when I went over there. Ya she did! “She could be still alive,” I thought to myself. Just like going over to Roary I hopped up and picked up Roary, he was half awake so I put his arm over my shoulder and we walked to the place where we came to the place with all the flowers.

Everything was I guess fine but climbing the ladder had to be the hardest thing ever. My bones ached so badly I felt like I was going to collapse. I was trying to imagine how Roary felt. From the looks of it Roary was about to die. We finally got to the top an I peaked out of the trap door.

There was a guy in the Japanese uniform with his head turned. I knew it couldn't be Phillip because this guy was tall and very skinny.

A couple times he would turn around but never saw the tile of the ground creaked open I was there with two eyes looking at him. I looked around and sprawled out on the ground was a man in the Asian uniform. He wasn't moving. Finally I heard the guy standing at the door,” The traitor is dead, can I leave now?”

It was Phillip!!!!!. Then I heard another voice outside the door say, “Shoot him just to make sure.

“Oh no! I have to do something,” I thought to myself.

Without thinking being totally stupid jumped through the tile and started running and screaming at someone I didn't know. He turned around to see me jump on him and start to punch as hard as I could. The man just waved me off me and threw me to the ground with a thump. I felt like my arm broke when I hit but I didn't care. I jumped back up and started to go at him again. He kicked me in the back of the leg and then kicked me in the gut which sent me flying to the ground. “Let's see if there's another one of you pipsqueaks down in the little hiding spot of yours.”

He walked over to the tile spot as I watched sprawled out on the ground whispering, “No, no no no....”

The man looked at me and smirked he picked up the tile and turned to me and had a wide grin on his face. He reached down and pulled up. He was holding Roary by the collar. He threw him on the ground with a lump and a squeak by Roary. He had a questioning look on his face and then said, “Which one of you should I kill first.” Then he looked at me and said in a squeaky “I think the one who gave me the most trouble should die first.”

With the man's face turned to me and his back turned to Phillip. Once sprawled out on the ground Phillip rose from the ground as quiet as a mouse. He crept up on the man and croaked, “If you ever touch my brother or his friend again I will kill you.”

The man looked at me like there was a monster behind his back and turned just in time to see a fist in his face. The man crumbled to the ground and looked like an unclean mess. My brother rushed over to me and hugged me. I rarely got a hug for my brother because he was just too cool for that stuff. He let go and then picked up Roary and put him on his feet. Phillip slowly took his hands off Roary but, Roary started to fall. Right before Roary hit the ground, Phillip caught him. “Ffffffffffff, this is going to complicated,” Philip grunted.

Phillip picked up Roary and lay Roary on his shoulder. “Hey Ben can you walk?”

“Yaa.. Yyaa,” I answered.

“Good let's go, Phil said back.

With Roary on Phillip's shoulder and me strutting behind Phillip we walked to the door. It all looked slow motion like those movies where the really cool people walk with their hair blowing in the wind with them walking in slow motion.

Phillip slowly opened the door and popped his head outside. He looked back at me and nodded. I followed him out the door.

Once I got outside I almost screamed in terror. All over the dirt road were bodies of people on the ground, people I knew, I was friends with, MY neighbors. How could this ever happen? People I didn't even know were on the ground dead. We were walking by when something caught my eye. I thought I saw someone I knew on the ground. I started to walk over but from behind I got grabbed and thrown to the ground. I thought it was Phillip at first but then I got grabbed from the back of the shirt and thrown. I landed with a thud on the ground.

I rolled around to see an Japanese man wearing the Asian army uniform. But when I looked closer I could see shaggy black hair, going just before his nose, dark brown eyes, big, white, glasses, and a smirk on his face. Then I knew who this guy was, he was MY math teacher! “Mmm... Mmmrrr... Craaawwllyy?” I questioned with a sad but mad voice.

“Yes, you stupid runt but that is not my real name. My name is Bei Ba, undercover soldier from Japan.”

“But your my teacher,” I said with a hurt voice.

“Ya, don't remind me, all you runts with all the questions like, “how many times does 5 go into 125?” I hated all of you. Especially you. You always had the answer, Mr. mick answer.

“But I never tried to be I just knew the answer!” I was getting mad now.

“Ya well you su.. “Beeennnn where are you,” someone whispered.

Phillip turned around the corner and looked stunned when he saw Bei Ba standing over me.

“What the....,” but Phillip was cut off.

“Ya ya ya I'm a traitor and all and I'm evil. I know I was your math teacher too Phillip but I hate you just as much as your brother or bothers.” That's when Bei Ba grabbed me. “Let my brother go!” Roared Phillip.

“And what will you do?” Huh?,” Smirked Bei Ba.

“I'll kill you,” remarked Phillip.

“I don't think your any place to be saying that,” Bei Ba laughed.

I saw Bei Ba reach in his pocket and pull out something black and small. I didn't know what it was until I felt something against my head and heard Bei Ba say, “You move and I'll pull the trigger.” That's when I knew it was a pistol against my head.

“No!” Don't do it! Please, I don't want to lose another brother!”

“If you take one step, he dies.”

I was so worried I couldn't think of anything to say. I stuck my hands in my pockets just like when in class I was talking when the teacher was talking and then the teacher would ask me what he just said and I didn't know what to say. I guess it was just a habit that I did that but this time it was a miracle. I felt a rectangle shaped something in my pocket. I suddenly knew I had a chance to live.

I pulled out that rectangle shaped thing and slid my thumb nail into the crack of it and flipped it open. In my hand was a dirty, grimy, and useful.... pocketknife. Phillip was looking at me the whole time. When I looked up at him his eyes were full of sadness, praise, and surprise. I looked at him and he nodded with his dark blue eyes so only I could understand. “You are an evil son of a B***h,” I grunted and then I full sung forward and backyard and hit Bei Ba straight in the leg.

“AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!,” Screeched Bei Ba as he fell to the ground. I ran down the street about 25 feet then looked back. Phillip walked up to Bei Ba and I heard him say, “This is a warning,” and then Phillip shoved his knee into Bei Ba's gut. Phillip still had Roary on his shoulder as he walked over to me. “So, I know a great place to hide.”

“But I know a better place,” I responded.

“Oh yeah, where Ben?”

“It's at my friend Katrina's house.

“Oh yea that's your girlfriend. Oh whoops I meant a girl that is a friend.”

“You better say oh whoops.”

“Okay, okay, okay enough talking we have to go. Where does your “friend” live?” asked Phillip as he put friend in quotations like he was being sarcastic.

“Follow me and shut it,” I told him.

For once Phillip didn't retaliate with a punch or shove. He just nodded and followed. It felt good to finally give orders to my older brother.

I walked down Grinders St., turned left onto 26th and walked a block until I got to sign that said, “Welcome to the Figgers residence.”

I really liked Katrina as a name but I just hated her last name, “Figgers,” It just sounded really weird.

Phillip, Roary, and I all walked up to the porch well Roary didn't walk but he was still there. I walked slowly up to the door. It was a heavy oak wood door or used to be. Now it looked like an old, oak graded/swiss cheese door. There were scrape marks all over the door with 17 holes going through it. The doorknob was... well there wasn't a doorknob. I reached my hand out very slowly and lightly tapped open the door. I started to walk in but Phillip grabbed my shoulder and shook his head. He went in front of me.

This time I took orders from him. He walked in very slowly. I waited until he got in and I got two fingers waving me in. When I got in I gulped. There was a teak lamp shattered on the ground, the once pink sofa was a dark purple because of all the mud. The wooden ground was cold as if there was a freezer under it. There were papers all over the ground, reading glasses, coffee mug, and even a tray of little candies on it. I almost grabbed one until I got a hold of myself and told me what I was doing here. I turned toward Phillip and waved three fingers for him to follow me. I walked down the through a door into a hall with pictures of all he Figgers in different place like Summer in Ireland, Winter in Mexico, and New Year in France. Then I kept walking until I faced a closed door.

I reached my hand to the doorknob. I opened it very slowly and stepped in side. It was a coat closet full of... well coats as expected. I kind of stomped on the ground beneath me. I was about to give up hope when I heard the faintest, “Ssshhh,” from someone beneath it. That's when I did the secret knock. Kristina and I made it up, just the too of us, 2 quiet knocks, then 2 loud knocks and then tap the wood with each finger, and then say, “KB secret.

I did the knock without messing up. I heard more rustling and then heard a sound that sounded something like,” It's Ben, Mom! Let him in.”

I bent down so my face was to the wood and I said, “Kristina, if you can hear me it's Ben, Ben Smith.” The door immediately flew open was a bad thing because my face was right over so I took the beating of getting hit in the nose and rolling backwards.

The next few seconds were a blur. I saw Katrina jump out and then start crying to me what looked like orange tears because of all my tears from getting hit in the face where all scrapes were from before we now burning and probably making me see different colors.

Then I felt getting picked up (probably by Phillip because Katrina couldn't carry me and Katrina's parents were sticks with no muscle.) Then I saw blackness, and then I saw Katrina looking over me with her face red as an apple. I tried to sit up but once again my face started to hurt.(Not as bad as the first time but till horribly bad.)

Katrina's mom came over and as gentle as touching with a feather felt around my face with her bony little fingers. Katrina's mom was about 4.11, probably weighing in at 110lbs, light brown hair, almost yellow eyes like a cat's, everything about her was just that she was really, really skinny.

Katrina's mom felt my face and at places it felt like nothing was touching but at other places it felt like she was the dentist and missed my tooth and stabbed my gum instead. Suddenly she stopped and looks down at me with those almost yellow eyes. She started to cry but she was smiling so I was trying to figure out if it was happy tears or she didn't want me to know something bad. I lay there and tears started to come out of my eyes but that made me cry more because the water getting into my cuts made my face hurt horribly bad.

I tried to look around and once I could see Katrina looking at me with her bright blue eyes full of tears. That sight almost made me cry. Girls crying or really anyone crying made my heart hurt really bad. Whenever I see someone cry I feel like I made them cry and it was all my fault. I was trying to hold back the tears and so instead of crying I looked up at Katrina's face... and smiled.

Katrina looked at me, smiled, and then after about two seconds time her face was covered in tears. I decided to take a chance. With all my might I turned over, back side up and put my arms in push up position. I pushed on my arms and got half in the air. I heard a squeal and I figured it was Kristina or her mom. Suddenly I had two arms on each of my arms. I looked up and I saw Phillip and Katrina. “Nn.. Nnnooo. Leett me ddo thiss,” I sputtered out.

I turned my head to look at Kristina's eyes and nodded. Phillip grabbed Katrina's arm but she wouldn't let go of my arm. One of my arms was free from Phillip but the other was still grasped by Katrina. I looked up at her and said,”Leett goo. I can ddoo tthiss.”

Katrina slowly let go of my arm. She was so gentle about it I couldn't tell if she really let go. But I really knew she let go when all the strength holding me up was gone. I almost fell to the ground face first but I held myself up. I got myself to my knees but only barley. I laughed to my self about what I was about to do. “Okkkayy, nnoow Iiii... coo ccooulldd uu usse sooomee help.”

It was kind of like Katrina was waiting for me to say that because right when I did she was trying to get me up. Phillip noticed I needed help, but only after Katrina gave him a hard kick to the shin. They both grabbed an arm and pulled up. I was finally standing. It was like a dream come true.

Then I thought to myself of something to do for the fun of it. I just fell, but not to the ground.... I fell right into Kristina's arms. She wasn't ready for it but she didn't drop me.(That was a relief for me.) Phillip and Katrina of course thought I was really hurt. Phillip at first picked me up but then I squeezed his arm with my hand and he looked down at me. I smiled and shook my head at him. He knew exactly what I meant. He put his head down and whispered into my ear, “Nice one kid. I would have never of thought of that.”

“Hey, uuummm, oh wait sorry, for a sec I forgot your name, spoke Phil. Katrina, can you get Ben from me I have to go check on what your mom is doing.”

Katrina’s eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red but she nodded with a slight smile. Phillip set me down and as I felt my feet touch the ground, and as that happened Kristina's arms wrapped around me and held me up.

It was kind of like a big bear hug without all the hard squeezing. I tired to turn my head but I couldn't see her. “Hey Katrina,” I coughed out.

“Yyaa,”She said in her squeaky little voice.

“I'm taking a chance so I'll admit it.... I've always...”

“Hey! We have to get out of here!” barked Phillip form behind.

“UUUrrrgggg, Phhilllliiipppp,” I groaned in a whisper. “Why did he have to come right then and there,” I thought to myself. He alwayzz.... “bump bump bump, crash!”

I looked straight up where someone was standing and probably just broke the antique lamp. Then I heard the someone walking closer and closer to where the trap door was. My heart was beating fast but it felt like it was beating slowly because I could feel every little beat. I heard the person walk all around the house open every door and even go up the stairs. Then he came down. He walked around a little bit and then went to where the closet door was. He slowly opened the door and I could hear every little squeak there was. I could hear him push through all the coats and then kneel to the floor. Then I heard the most terrifying noise ever. You could hear him grab the trap door and pull it open.

Then he climbed down the little ladder that was there but for me it took forever and made me terrified forever. I could hear him walk in with slow, small, and soft steps. Phillip grabbed all of us and shoved us in a corner but we could still see the opening and Phil standing there. When the guy walked in I almost fell. It wasn't a man or even a boy. It was a girl. I couldn't see her that well because it was getting dark but I could tell she had either brown or black hair and was a bout 5.5ft. or so. Phillip didn't care, he was going to protect Kristina, her mom, and me. Right before he tackled her, I think she saw him because she started yell, Pleeaassee, don't hurt me,” she sobbed with a small but loud voice. You could tell she was crying because every time she went to say something, had to sniff first. But also every time she said something it sounded more and more familiar. “Wait I know that voice,” I said to myself.

“Samantha is that you?” I whispered so everyone could hear.

“Whaattt...” Who is thattt?” she said back.

“It's Ben, you know, Ben Smith.”

“BEN!?” Is it really you?”

“Ya it's me, you alright?”

All I heard was Samantha running and then feeling a giant hug around me like Phillip gave me when he saw me. “Eeggg, SSaammmannthha,, your killing mmeee.”

When Samantha finally let go, she let out a big humongous sigh. I then looked over at Kristina and her face form what I could see was red, her arms were crossed, and her eyes were locked on me with a big frown on her face. I bet if it was lighter out she would have fire in her eyes. Katrina quickly walked over to me and stared at Samantha. It was a scary silence until we heard a quiet but loud enough ,”Uuuuurrrggggggg!” from down the tunnel.

All at once every except for Samantha said, “ROARY!”

Phillip and Katrina's mom ran down the tunnel heady for Roary leaving us three kids standing in silence not talking, moving, or even blinking an eye. The silence broke with Katrina saying with an irritated like voice,”So.... BEN, who's you friend?”

I started to move my mouth but Samantha answered for me,” I'm Samantha, and I met Ben earlier this year.” Samantha pulled me and ruffled my hair. “He's my little buddy,” Samantha said with a big grin on her face.

I quickly shrugged off the ruffling and stood really close to Kristina. “This is getting weirder and weirder,” I thought to myself.

“POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP,” repeatedly went off up in the house.

Us kids looked at each other and all yelled, “RUN!!”

We all started to run well except for me. Kristina and Samantha ran but I kinda... fell flat on my face. Instantly it felt as if my face went up in flames. My face felt like it was melting into the ground. Then the stinging came into force. UT felt as if hundreds of bees had a party on my face and all stung me. I tried with all my might, to lift my face. Katrina and Samantha were still running but luckily Phillip had come back and he had a lump on his shoulder. It was moving or more like twitching. It must have been Roary.

Phil looked down at me then grabbed me with one of his giant arms and slung me over his other shoulder that wasn’t already occupied by Roary. That’s when I heard more shots being fired all over the house. Then I heard a high pitched voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard saying “Hey sergeant I found a trap door, should I open it Sir?”

Then I heard so little mumbling and then I could see the glimmer of light when the trap door opened. Phillip looked behind his shoulder and ran for it. Only in a couple of seconds had Phil caught up to Katrina, Samantha, and Katrina’s mom. When I was holding onto Phillip I grabbed on to his shoulder to make sure I wouldn’t fall of but when I grabbed the middle of his shoulder Phillip winced. I carefully pulled on Phillip’s shirt to see his shoulder. I almost fell off. He had about a two inch wide cut that went for about 9 inches across his shoulder. I could see about an inch down into it and all around the cut was green pus that looked like mold on cheese. I couldn’t believe what Phillip was going through and he was acting like it didn’t even bother him. “BANG”!!!!!

My ears rang as I heard the shot of bullet and split second after the earsplitting noise I heard and ear splitting scream. I looked farther up and I could see Katrina’s mom lying on the ground. At that moment Phillip set Roary and Me down. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a shiny object. He gave a twitch of his wrist and out popped a knife. “Phillip, no, don’t do it please don’t do it,” I pleaded to Phillip.

Phillip then turned to me and said, “You’re the only family I have left bro, I’m not gonna let u die under my care.”

I looked at him almost crying and whimpered, “Do you mean that Mom, Dad, Shannon, and Nick are all, are all…Dead?”

“Yes and that’s why I’m gonna take care of this guy for you and your friends.”

I was about to say something but before I could do anything Phillip charged yelling and another shot rang out and Phillip screamed. It was all in slow motion from there. I could see my feet beneath me but couldn’t feel them running. It was like I was in another body. I could see myself running to Phillip but Phillip was still staggering when I got to him. He was like an old rocking chair except the rocking chair was about to topple over dead. He still had his knife in hand. It was an old buck knife that he got for his birthday when he was 13. I tried to help him but even though he was shot he still had more strength then I did. He pushed me back. That’s when I heard the man’s voice. I looked up and I could barley see him but I could see him. So could Phillip.

“Phillip turned to me and said, “Ben, always know that I’ll always love you.”

That was something I barley ever heard Phillip say to me. He then stood straight up and put the knife in between his fingers and had the blade sticking out toward his body and his palm in front. From the front you couldn’t see that he had a knife on him. He walked toward the man with his hands held up. Then out of nowhere Phillip flicked his wrist and his knife flew through the air silently but swiftly. The knife hit the man square in the head without a sound. The sound that I could hear was the man slumping to the ground sprawled out dead.

Phillip looked at me and winked. Then he fell sprawled out on the ground… dead.

“PPPPHHIIILLLLIIIPPPP!!!!!!!!” I ran to Phillip but it was to late. Phillip had already died. I walked over to the dead man and yanked out the knife from his forehead. I then walked with the knife over to Phillip. I shut the knife and then placed it in Phillips hands. After that I crossed Phillip’s hands over his chest and just started to cry. Katrina and Samantha came over to me in tears.

“My mom is…… dead… Ben,” Katrina sobbed.

I looked up to her, smiled, and chocked, “Katrina, your mom and my brother are in a good place right now. They’ll watch over us, don’t worry.”

Then I got something that I never expected. Katrina just kind of fell and hugged me. It was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me in my short life. I wrapped my own arms around her. We were just like that for a while when Samantha said, “Uuummm sorry to ruin the moment, but we’ve got to get out of here before more of those men come down.”

“I let go of Katrina and said, “She’s right, we should go. I’ll get Roary and you and Samantha stick together.”

I limped over to Roary. He was a mess. His face was covered in dirt. His face had cuts and scratches all over the place. He had a hole in his pants and you could see that a blotch of dried blood on his knee. I reached down and picked him up off the ground. I could barley get him off the ground.

“Roary, Roary, Roary, wake up already. Com’n dude wake up.”

I tried to feel his pulse but I couldn’t feel anything. I felt it on his neck and on his wrist- nothing. Then I asked, “Hheeyyy Samantha, can you feel Roary’s pulse?”

“UUUMMMM, sure I gu.. guess.

Samantha put her middle finger and pointer finger on Roary’s neck. She shook her head. Then she did the same to his wrist-nothing. Be… Ben, Roary is… is… dead.”

I looked straight into her eyes and my vision started to blur of tears. Then I looked down at Roary and I just stared. I knelt down and just started to cry over Roary’s body. Then I couldn’t help it I pounded the groud and yelled at the top of my lungs, “WWWWWWHHHHHYYYYYY??????” Why did this have t happen to all of us why did this have to happen to Phillip, Kristina’s mom, and Roary,” I thought.

Samantha pulled me up off the ground and we started to walk away. Just like we just walked away, we left, Phillip, we left, Kristina’s mom and now we’re leaving Roary. How could we do that?

While we were walking I thought I heard someone but I didn’t want to say anything cause I wanted to believe that everything was ok. But I could swear that I kept hearing footsteps so finally I turned around and stared right in the eyes of the dark tunnel- nothing. I could barley see anything it was like opening your eyes while swimming in mud. I could faintly see Samantha and Kristina ahead of me. “I better hurry up so I don’t loose them,” I thought to myself.
So I quickly walked up behind Kristina. She looked at me with a face I’ve never seen on her before. It was like we were already dead and there was nothing to stop it. It was if the world was over and everything around us just stopped living. That’s when we all heard something snap behind us.
All of us started to run without warning through the darkness of the tunnel. I could faintly see light up ahead. We were almost out- almost to light. We were all running as hard as we could. After each stepp I would get farther and farther behind. My whole body was really starting to hurt now. It was hurting so much. I could barley run. The light started to get bigger and bigger. “I have to make it out, I just have to,” I thought to myself.
I just kept running and running as hard as I could. Finally the light was almost to the point I could see out of the tunnel. Now I could see out of the tunnel. I could see the backs or Jessica and Kristina. They were still running. Then finally the moment came.

I got out of the tunnel with all my body shaking from pain. It was an open area with mounds of dirt everywhere. Everywhere you looked there was a hill of dirt. I was just running and starring at Kristina. Then her head turned and we locked eyes. She just stopped and stared at me. Then her eyes widened and she creamed, “NNNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!”

I stared at her and then she raised an arm in my direction. I turned around and I was starring right at Bei Ba with a gun pointed at me. It looked as though Bei Ba was about to die, he had a knife in his chest, his face was covered with blood, his jet black hair was drooping over his eyes, his back was slanted so he looked as though he was bending over, and he could only raise one arm, the one with a gun. I just stared at him. “You stabbed me, your brother kneed me, I got stabbed in the chest, and now you will die.”

He raised the gun at me and then his finger pressed on the trigger- “BANG”!!!!!!!! The shot rang out and then I felt something like someone through a brick at my chest at 500 MPH. The sensation through me to the ground but before I hit the ground I could see that Bei Ba was falling to the ground too. He must have had the strength to kill me and that was it.

When I hit the ground I couldn’t even feel it. The pain in my chest was so bad nothing else hurt except for my chest. The pain wasn’t going away either it was sticking like glue but hurting like a full-grown bull kept ramming his horns into me. I just lay there. I tried to raise me hand to get on top of the blood but I couldn’t move my whole body. I tried to move my legs but I couldn’t. The only thing I could see to move was my fingers and the toes. It even hurt to wiggle my fingers and toes.

I started to hear footsteps coming towards me. Very slow footsteps. Like the people who were coming were walking like a bride but 5x slower. I heard them until they stopped right next to my head. The dirt got kicked into my ear. I tried to turn my head but the feeling was incredible. It was if when sometimes you wake up in the morning and for some reason your neck is soar and it hurts to move it. “Be.. Beenn???”

It was a mix of both Smantha and Katrina saying it. I could manage so to say is, “Haa.. Hi..”

They both gasped and knelt down by me. Katrina managed to say, “Are you all right?”

“OF COURSE HE’S NOT ALL RIGHT, HE JUST GOT SHOT!!!!!” Samantha screamed.

“Iiimmm… I’m fin… fine,” I coughed.



They both started to talk but I couldn’t hear anything. All I could see was that their mouths were moving and just didn’t stop. When they did stop I only could say Five words. “You are both great ffrriiieennddss” I closed my eyes and never opened them again. I was dead.

Then I opened my eyes. I was floating- floating over the ground looking down at Samantha and Katrina. I looked next to me and floating next to me was Phillip. He was wearing the same clothes as before but for some reason he looked different. Then I noticed. He was smiling. “Phillip?” I questioned?

“Yes, it’s me.”

I looked at him like he was some sort of creature that has never been discovered before. All he said after that was, “Watch over them,”

Phillip smiled, winked and then started to fade away. I couldn’t seem to say anything. I was speechless. Before Phillip faded all the way gone I could see all the faces of my family. Mom, Dad, Nick, Shannon, and Phillip. All at once they said, “We love you and we always will.”

“I love you too,” was all I could manage.

Then I blinked and I opened my eyes to see Samantha and Katrina Both crying with their arms on my stomach. I could see Samantha’s blond hair with twigs and leaves in it. Her face was showered with dirt smeared everywhere. She was wearing a white sweatshirt with abstract swirls on it. But now it was almost brown with all the dirt. She had blue skinny jeans on that that knees were ripped with cuts on her kneecaps. Katrina had her brown hair over her eyes crying. “Ggg… Geett.. off plea.. please,” I managed to mutter.

Both of their faces’ both turned pail white and they both jumped off me. It was hard to breath but I could manage what air I could. Any air was good instead of being dead. I took gulps of the beautiful air. I decided I better not try to sit up so I just lay there with my eyes open and my mouth sealed shut. Both Samantha and Katrina were looking down at me with the same thing: eyes open and mouths sealed.

They sky was a very baby blue and had very little clouds in the air. In fact there were only three clouds. One cloud looked like steps; Steps that would take forever to walk up. Each step was probably as big as a staircase. The step cloud looked as though it would take you right into heaven itself. The steps were big and fluffy but some how hard and cold.

The 2nd step looked well just like a normal cloud. A big round fluffy cloud is what it was. Little crinkles in it like a ruffled up blanket.

The 3rd cloud was the most interesting. I couldn’t make out what it was but I had a feeling I had seen it before. It was made almost into three shapes. There was one giant circle and below it but connected to it were two little circles. It looked like it had ears, a tailish sort of thing that was faded around the whole cloud, and then it looked as though it had paws; very fluffy, paws. I was broke out of my daydreaming by hearing, “Ben??? BBBBEEENNN??? Can you hear me?”

I tilted my head towards the voice and I looked into Katrina’s eyes; her big blue eyes. Then I turned back to the dirt-covered ground and closed my eyes. I dozed off into a calm, soothing sleep.

I woke up very slowly. I tried to observe the surroundings but the sky was dimmed but had a very faint light coming from the far off moon. I could only see up and about two feet away from me. When I looked up there was an outline of a giant oak tree swaying with the little wind that there was. I heard a very faint breathing. In an out, in and out. I looked over to my side and saw the outline of one of the girls. I rolled back over to and drifted into a silent, gentle sleep.

I awoke to see the sunlight skimming over the dirt and gleamed into my eyes. I looked over to see Samantha and Katrina talking. I muttered, “Morning.”

Both them walked over to me slowly and kneeled down. Then Katrina said, “We have figured out what we are going to do.”

“What?” I questioned.

Samantha turned around and picked up something off the ground. When she turned back around she had in her hand two sticks with both of Samantha’s and Katrina’s coats on it so it was like a bedish thing to carry someone. I spurted out, “Oh no, your not carrying me on that. Your gonna leave me, I can barely move I would hold you back.”

“We don’t care,” yelled Samantha. “We’re not leaving you here to die! I don’t care how much you fuss we’re carrying you on this weather you like it or not!”

“Fine, we’ll start whenever you girls want to I guess,” I coughed.

They looked at each other and Katrina said, “We’re leaving right now.”

I looked at them with amazement. “Could they have been planning this all along?” I thought to myself. “Could they have been thinking of what to do and that they were going to help me no matter what? They knew I was going to say no.”

The next few minutes were horrible and searing pain for me. They had a bed shaped thing where they could carry the ends with the sticks poking out at the end. But first they had to lift me up and put me on it. Katrina took my legs and Samantha grabbed my arms. They pulled up and my chest to started to bite on my shirt from pain. Once they put me on it they lifted up and we started.

We walked for a while probably about 25 minutes and then the girls had to take a rest. I felt so bad for having them carry me when all I was doing was lying down. But it got me time to think about what’s going to happen to me. Like what was going to happen if we all made it out alive. Or what would happen to me since I have no family. Well the girls don’t really have family either so I really don’t know. Every day was the same. Wake up, walk for a couple hours, try to find something to eat or drink, then walk again for a few more hours, and then we would try to find more food. Finding food was really hard. There were barley any trees around and it never rained which is good because then we wouldn’t get cold and wet, and bad because we were always thirsty.

We had the best day ever. It was a light drizzle with the sun out so the rain felt sooooo good. For me it was like being on the beach on a hot summer day. I praised the rain. The girls let me down for about half an hour and ran around and had fun. I just looked up to the sky to watch the clouds and the bright blue sky. The half an hour was paradise for me.

It has been a long week. Everyday was hardship and more hardship. But today was a new day. I don’t know why it took so long but we finally found something. We were walking and we found a tunnel that went under some train tracks. It was hard getting through with being on a stretcher but we did it. Then we found it-A stream. We went crazy. A running stream! They put me down so I could reach over with my hand and get some water. It was so refreshing. We sat there for probably over an hour before we got on our way again.

We walked from another 2 days. I tried to sit up a couple times but the girls just putting me back down saying, “Your hurt! Lay down!”

The last time I sat up was the best. They said the same thing but I didn’t hear them. All I hear was a quiet, “ch ch ch ch ch ch ch.”

I looked up and I thought I was hearing something. But then I saw a miracle-A helicopter. As loud as I could (which wasn’t very loud) I yelled, “Look-helicopter.”

The girls look up and start to scream. They set me on the gorund and started jumping up and down screaming, “DOWN HERE!!! DOWN HERE!!!

At first it looked like the helicopter was leaving it slowly turned around and started heading toward us. We all got excited but all I could do was smile. The helicopter landed and three army guys ran to us. The first thing they said ,”What’s wrong with him, as they pointed to me.

Katrina yelled over the noise of the chopping wings, “He got shot!”

The army people looked at each other and said, “We got to get you kids out of here fast.”

They picked me up and led the girls to the helicopter. They put me into the helicopter and strapped me onto an orange board and laid me down on the floor of the helicopter. The girls got onto the seats and had grins up to their ears.

I fell asleep on the ride over from pure exhaustion. I woke up when we landed. I got transported to a hospital with the girls by my side. I fell asleep right there again. Supposedly I slept for 2 days straight. The girls were asleep when I woke up. Then they both woke up at practically the same time. We all looked at each other and smiled. Then I went back to sleep.
















THE






END





EPULOUGE:
I woke up and lived a good life. The girls and I got onto the news as the Great Kids That Survived. Katrina had such a good smile and told everything that she got to be a movie star. She met up with a guy named Pierce Bronson. She married him and had three kids. Samantha had some problems. She got into the bad group and got arrested for high jacking a Corvette (her dream car). But after that she straitened out and become a house mom with 2 kids.














































































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