CHAPTER 2: The Truck Behind Them

Walter didn’t speed up.

Instead, he slowed down.

The children screamed even louder.

“Mr. Hayes, what are you doing?!”

Walter’s eyes stayed locked on the mirror.

The black pickup was getting closer.

Then he saw it.

A long metal rifle hanging out of the passenger window.

They weren’t chasing the bus.

They were chasing the bison.

And the bison had run beside the school bus because it was trying to hide behind it.

Walter’s face turned pale.

“Everyone get down,” he ordered.

This time, his voice was no longer calm.

It was sharp.

Dead serious.

The children dropped between the seats.

A second later—

BANG!

A gunshot cracked across the empty highway.

The bison stumbled.

The bus swerved.

Walter fought the steering wheel with both hands as the tires screamed against the road.

For one horrifying second, the entire bus tilted toward the ditch.

Then Walter slammed the brakes.

The bus stopped sideways across the highway.

The bison collapsed in front of it.

The black pickup skidded to a halt.

Two men stepped out.

One of them shouted, “Move the bus, old man!”

Walter opened the door and slowly stepped down.

His knees hurt.

His hands trembled.

But he stood between those men and the children.

“You’re not coming near this bus,” he said.

The taller man laughed and raised the rifle.

Then something unexpected happened.

One of the children, a quiet little boy named Ethan, crawled to the window and shouted:

“That’s my dad’s truck!”

Walter froze.

The man with the rifle turned toward the boy.

His smile vanished.

And that was when Walter understood the truth.

This wasn’t about the bison.

The men had used the animal to force the school bus to stop.

They were after the child.

But before anyone could move, the wounded bison suddenly lifted its head.

With one final burst of strength, it charged.

Straight at the man with the gun.

The rifle flew into the dirt.

The man screamed.

And as police sirens finally echoed in the distance, Walter looked back at Ethan and realized the wild animal everyone feared...

had just saved twenty-three children.

But the biggest shock came when officers opened the black pickup.

Inside was a file with Ethan’s name on it.

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