As I passed by the Unluckys, I looked at their hideous faces and wondered how things would be for me after I transformed into one of those demons. Would I end up like Baxter or perhaps something entirely worse? I looked down at my arms and noticed that there were blotches of dried flaky skin like an Unlucky had, but on them it covered their entire body. Would that eventually happen to me? The patches I did have stung and burned, which caused a great deal of discomfort. As an unlucky would my whole body be in that sort of agony until my dying days?

When I turned the corner I saw the school bus and the dead Unlucky that I had faced earlier. My heart fluttered at the sight of the ill-fated creature. I felt myself starting to slip away, but I needed to stay focused. I moved my eyes away from the corpse and fixed myself on the school bus.

With each step that I took the calmer I became, although I noticed the more in control I was the more wild the Unluckys seemed. They began to hiss and growl at me. I didn’t understand what was happening but what I did know was that I was only twenty feet away from getting inside the bus and the natives were restless.

When I was only a few yards away, my slow pace turned into a full on sprint. As soon as I did that the creatures took off after me and were hot on my heels. I was fortunate the courtyard where the bus was located was not large and could only hold a few dozen of the beasts. I was going to be able to outrun them and get inside the vehicle before the courtyard was flooded with Unluckys.

As I ran toward the bus, a sudden stream of pain traveled down my back and within seconds I felt the warmth of my own blood seeping from where the pain originated. One of the monsters must have landed a slicing blow that connected with my back, but there was no time for that; I was so close to the vehicle I could almost touch it. Finally I was a couple of feet away; I made a leap of faith for the open door of the bus. My body hit hard as it landed against the steel steps that led up to the driver’s seat. I was motionless for less than a moment, agonizing in pain from the impact of my skin meeting metal, when an unlucky grabbed my leg.

Instantly I forgot about the pain that streaked through my body and started trying to kick it off, at the same time attempting to reach the handle that would close the doors behind me. I felt the beast as it grabbed my leg with the other hand and began pulling on it, but that was not going to stop me.

Then to my surprise, I was yanked down a step. My shoulder and neck crashed into the edge of one step. The pain was so intense I almost blacked out. Now the unlucky was more than halfway inside the bus with me. I was tired and for a moment thought about giving up and allowing them to kill me. There was no way they could inflict more pain than what I was already in.