CHAPTER ONE.
I walked over to the ruins of our school and lifted up a piece of glass.
Something to cut with, something used for explosives if shaved to tiny particles.
I shivered.
Most of the glass windows were gone before the explosion had set off.
"One person didn't make it," Kaya said, resting her hand on my shoulder as I knelt at the ruins, deep in thought, "Zoey... didn't make it," she said, halfway to tears.
"I know," I said, not a trace of any tears or emotion, "She told me she was going to do this."
"You knew!" she exclaimed.
I nodded, feeling her glare on my back.
"How could you not tell me this!" she yelled.
"Because I was too busy saving your life!" I yelled back.
I turned around and looked at her confused face. "What?" she asked.
"She planned this Kaya! she set off the explosion!" I yelled, "She was planning on killing us! That's why I asked if you guys could come with me when I went to my locker to 'get my books!'" my hands went up in little quotation marks. I felt tears rushing in my eyes now. "She told me about it a week in advance, that she should hope to kill us or find another way to." I said, ashamed, "So that piece of metal in my hand was the key to lock people in the school," I looked up. I was crying and so was she.
"I didn’t want to kill her but I didn’t want to die! or you guys!"
I got up and went to go look for the locker ruins. Most of them were still standing from the explosion. All opened. I found her locker and picked up a piece of paper.
It read:
1 Find key to lock all friends in same room as me.
2 say goodbye not really meaning it
3 find one way to explain why I want them to die with me
4 Make sure all of them get killed.
5 don’t mention ANYTHING about what's in my locker.
I dropped the paper and dug through the books and papers until I found a small phone. And indestructible phone.
I was staring at it, trying to figure out what to with it.
It rang.
I flinched, and stared in shock.
It was Zoey.
I shook my head, thinking I was hallucinating but, it was her, her other number. The number we knew!
I pressed the green button and slowly put the phone to my ear
"Hello?" I answered.
"Alice?" a familiar voice said.
It was definitely Zoey.
"Zoey? WHAT IS GOING ON!" I yelled.
"Calm down, do you want to go absolutely insane?" she said sarcastically, "Now I would put my phone down and run if I were you."
"What do you mean?" i asked.
Then i heard a computer voice interrupt our conversation.
"This phone will self destruct in tee minus twenty five seconds, twenty five, twenty four,..."
I dropped the phone and heard a small voice say:
"RUN!" and another:
"We are sorry but the distraction made us go to tee minus 5 seconds, five, four..."
I screamed bloody murder and ran for my life.
"RUN!" I yelled to Kaya.
"BAM!"
It went off. With more force than I thought possible.
The heat burned my back, but i didn't care. At least i was alive.
My phone rang.
It was Tyler.
My boyfriend.
"Tyler? What’s up?" I tried to sound cheerful; like nothing was wrong.
"Not much, why does your phone sound so staticky?" he asked.
Oops. My phone is sensitive around heat.
"I'm making cookies." I said. That should work.
"No you're not." He said seriously.
Crap, he could hear the agony in my voice.
"What is going on." he demanded.
I told him everything. He told me he would drive up to come get me
and Kaya. Ellie and Emma didn't make it either.
Or, at least I think they didn't
I couldn’t be sure now. I was too scared. I just wanted to get out of there.
We had been driving for about an hour now.
My phone rang and broke the silence.
“H-hello?” I stammered.
“Alice? It’s me Zoey? Again.” she said, almost too innocently.
“Where…are…you!” I demanded slowly.
“There’s a map on your bed. You’ll have to find me on your own.”
I took in an angry breath through my teeth.
“Can’t you just tell me where you are!” I snapped.
“No.”
‘Click’
I gritted my teeth.
Why does it have to be so difficult! I thought angrily.
I took a couple deep breaths to calm down.
They didn’t help much.
“Alice?” Kaya said. “What’s wrong?”
“Zoey wont tell us where she is.” I said, still irritated. “We have to use a map”
She flinched at my icy tone.
When we got to my house, Tailer didn’t want to be involved so he just went home.
When I looked at the map I just couldn’t believe my eyes.
I followed the pencil line to the handwritten star at the location:
1743 Brooklyn Fields
Chilton Town, Iowa.
45845.
That was more than 2 days of driving away from here.
I was frozen.
“Alice?” Kaya said anxiously. “Where are they?”

CHAPTER TWO
“Go get in the car.” I said, my voice strained, “I’ll be there in a minute. I just have to grab a couple things”
She looked at me with confused eyes, but shrugged and went down to the car.
I grabbed everything we needed and didn’t tell her we were stopping at her house until we were going down her street.
“What are we doing at my house?” she asked.
“Go back a week’s worth of clothes,” I said, “We’re going to Iowa. Tell your mom you’re staying at my house that long.”
“What if she calls?” she whined.
“Tell her it’s disconnected, give her my cell number.”
Her eyebrows formed a worried line.
“Go!” I demanded.








****************
She was back in about a half hour. I was almost asleep when I heard the door slam behind her.
“Finally,” I mumbled.
She laughed. “Well hurry up! If we’re going to Iowa I don’t plan to take this long!”
I rolled my eyes and started the car.
I sighed. Please don’t let us get into an accident.
I drove away from her driveway.
She turned on the radio and gave me a rockstar that was in her bag.
“This should keep you awake.” she smiled.
“Thanks” I said.
I took a sip. It wasn’t my kind of flavor but, I really didn’t care, all I cared about was not crashing into a whole bunch of people and killing both of us.
My phone rang. I flinched.
I answered it with trembling fingers.
“Hello?” I said, a little worried now.
“Did you find the map?” Zoey said; so fast I could barely understand her.
“Yes. Why are you in Iowa?” I said, confused.
“I don’t know!” she snapped, “I just hit seventy and drove as fast away from the school as possible!”
My mouth dropped. “What!” I yelled
‘Click’
I gritted my teeth and snapped the phone shut with a little more force than I should have.
“What?” Kaya asked.
“Nothing.”
She rolled her eyes and continued to text.
“Who are you talking to?” I asked.
“Kyler” she said, “He’s worried we’re going to crash cause we are driving so late.”
“Why exactly did you tell him?” I asked.
“I had nothing better to do.”
I rolled my eyes. I guess it didn’t even matter.
“Just tell him not to tell anyone where we’re going okay?”
“Okay,” she said, typing in the letters.
I froze at the news announcement on the radio.
A wanted fugitive has just hit a school. There is a one thousand dollar reward for whoever finds her.

CHAPTER THREE
I shivered and yawned.
“Maybe we should stay at a motel or something,” I flinched at her voice in the silence. The only sounds was the clicking of her texting, the hum of the car and the radio.
There was a hotel around the corner.
I pulled up to it and we went in.
I paid for a room with half the money that we needed for food.
When we got up there I went straight to bed.
I was still worried. But, we were halfway there.
I snuggled deep into the cotton sheets and fell deep into sleep.
My dream had been very strange, but I didn’t remember it so I shook that out of my head and went to go wake up Kaya.
***********
As we were walking to the car, fear struck me as I saw a small, folded up piece, of white notebook paper on my seat. I picked it up and read the first line:
Alice,
I know this is going to be hard for you to read, but… I lied.

I gulped down the lump in my throat and kept reading.

I’m not in Iowa. I took a plane to California. I don’t have a clue what town I’m in but I’m safe. I’m at the St. Mark hotel. I wont leave until you get here.
Love Always,
Zoey.

When I finished, angry tears were stinging in my eyes.
“Alice are you okay?” Kaya asked.
I shook my head and gave her the note.
“Get in the car.” I mumbled and walked around to get into the drivers seat.
She gasped as she sat down and looked at me.
“California!?” she squeaked, “Alice we can’t!”
I flashed an icy glare at her.
“We have to!” I yelled.
She flinched.
“Why?” she asked.
I took a deep breath.
“Because we’re turning her in.”
She gasped, “What? Why?”
I looked her right in the eye.
“Have you been listening to the radio with me!? Have you seen the signs? She is a wanted fugitive!“ I lashed at her.
“I-I know that Alice. But I don’t want to hurt our best friend.” she was fighting back tears.
I gritted my teeth. “What would you rather do? Huh! Turn yourself in!?”
I looked away from her and started the car.
“We have to do this Kaya. She killed Ellie and Em! She’s not our friend anymore!”
I looked at her and she was shaking her head. I was so mad I almost wanted to scream at her, get out and walk home! I’ll do it myself!
She looked into my eyes. “She didn’t kill them! It wasn’t her fault!”
I fished out Zoey’s plan paper and handed it to her.
“Yes she did. She tried to kill us too but she didn’t get us. When we get to her she’ll try again. We know that she destroyed the school. We’re witnesses she want’s nothing to do with us anymore”