[Elspode]

If a school bus in motion can be described as tearing, then we were tearing down the road, bumping along, leaving the demolished town dwindling in a cloud of dust behind us.

I leaned over Aaron, and watched his nostrils slowly flaring with each breath.

"He's alive...breathing," I said. I picked up his bloody hand and felt for his pulse.

"A little weak, but pretty steady," I reported. "I don't see any real bad wounds, just a few cuts and burns. Must have been a concussion charge instead of fragmentation."

A little blood ran from his ears, and I worried that he'd sustained a head injury; something we would be hard-pressed to treat in any effective way. Maybe he'd just punctured his eardrums from the blast?

"What the hell exploded?", Nelson yelled from the drivers' seat. "What the fuck did you people do back there!?" He was agitated, and it showed in his driving.

"Watch the road, Einstein, and slide that first aid kit back here while you're at it", Fred barked. He knealt down by Aaron, motioning me away with a wave of his hand. "I did some triage on the the fireline. I've seen burns and falling object impacts before; this ain't much different."

I stood up, feeling ineffectual and powerless. The bus hit a large bump, and I jolted backward, falling directly into one of the bench seats. All I needed was my Transformers lunch box and my yellow raincoat to complete the picture. It was as if Life was sending me back to school.