Unclassified; Zero and Still Standing

Yesu walked down the aisle of the bus. She noticed the spacing pattern and ignored it completely.

She stopped beside Quinn and sat.

"Hey." She smiled. "Good to see you again."

Quinn leaned against the window with a long sigh.

"Wish I could say the same." She muttered.

The doors folded shut.

A moment later, the bus pulled away. Soon, Echelon's gates disappeared behind them.

Yesu looked toward the window. She couldn't see much beyond Quinn's shoulder from the aisle seat.

"Do you mind if we swap seats?" she asked.

Quinn slowly turned to look at her properly.

"No."

Yesu simply faced forward again.

Quinn frowned.

"More than half the bus is empty." She gestured toward the vacant seats. "If you want a window seat then..."

She let the sentence trail off.

Yesu didn't respond.

Quinn continued watching her.

"What are you even doing here?" she asked. "You're a Zero."

No response.

Quinn waited, nothing came.

"So..." Yesu asked suddenly. "What's this bus for?"

Quinn narrowed her eyes.

"I see you still have no idea what's happening around you."

Yesu glanced at her.

"I don't think that's hardly my fault." She said. "This school operates on a whole different level."

Quinn let out a quiet snort.

"So what's the bus for?" Yesu repeated.

Quinn briefly looked around at the others before answering.

"Rare Class."

Yesu's eyes travelled across the bus.

A handful of students, Mr Vice Principal had said. This was certainly less than that.

She turned back.

"And where are we going?"

"Rank Update." Quinn replied. "Though I'd call it more of a check-up."

Without missing a beat, she added,

"So why are you here? You're not Rare, are you?"

Yesu paused then slowly faced forward.

"No." Her voice was quiet, very quiet. "I'm impossible."

Quinn frowned, struggling to hear her.

"What?"

Yesu didn't repeat herself.

Quinn rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the passing scenery outside.

***

Mahirah had been watching Yesu from the moment she stepped onto the bus.

She frowned the instant the girl smiled at Quinn.

Why was a Zero on a Rare Class bus?

Was this some kind of joke?

Or was she simply hitching a ride?

Her gaze lingered on Yesu long after she had taken her seat.

There was something about the girl that wasn't right.

And Mahirah couldn't quite put a finger on it.

No.

Everything about her wasn't right.

From her record-breaking transfer into the most elite academy in the State...

...to holding ground in a fight against an Advanced Class Specialist.

Then there was that morning on the field track...

Mahirah's frown deepened.

At first it had seemed Echelon had gone crazy for accepting a Zero transfer but after the Chairman of the board of trustees had called it a State issue…

There was obviously something more to all of this.

She finally looked away.

She already had enough problems.

Still, she wouldn't ignore the fact that the girl had gotten on her bad side twice already.

And she wouldn't be so lucky next time. If she was unfortunate enough for there to be a next.

***

The drive lasted five hours.

There were no stops.

The only sounds inside the bus were the steady hum of the engine and the occasional shift of someone changing position.

Yesu slept through three of those hours.

When she finally opened her eyes, the bus was slowing down.

She sat up.

Beyond the window stretched a vast expanse of trimmed grass. In the middle stood a single massive building.

Around it were several smaller compounds.

Military compounds.

High concrete walls surrounded each one, topped with coils of electrified wire.

The bus rolled toward a checkpoint.

Roughly a dozen armed soldiers stood guard at the entrance.

Two broke away from the others and approached.

One climbed aboard while the other peered through the windows.

His stern expression eased slightly when he saw students instead of soldiers.

A brief signal was exchanged. The heavy gates slid open and the bus drove through.

There was a spacious parking lot to the left.

The driver steered into it and parked beside another bus that looked almost identical.

Quinn groaned on seeing it.

"I hope it isn't what I'm thinking."

Yesu looked at the other bus. Nothing seemed wrong with it.

Then again, she had learned that in Rank Society, nothing was ever quite as it seemed.

The doors folded open.

Mahirah stood first.

As soon as she did, everyone else waited.

Only after she stepped off the bus did Quinn and the boy from 10-C get to their feet.

The boy hurried outside.

Quinn looked down at Yesu.

"Aren't you getting off?" she asked, sounding both puzzled and annoyed.

Yesu didn't move.

Quinn muttered something beneath her breath, lifted her legs carefully over Yesu's knees and squeezed past.

Yesu remained seated. Her eyes stayed on the building.

For some reason it reminded her of the Assessment Facility.

It wasn't as enormous nor was it isolated in the middle of barren land, but it carried the same oppressive feeling.

Several rows behind her, Apollo rose from his seat.

As he walked down the aisle, he looked out the window.

The soldiers were already approaching the bus. He noticed their expressions were more stern than usual.

He stopped beside Yesu. She still hadn't moved.

He glanced at the approaching soldiers again.

"I don't think staying here would be a good idea." He said.

Yesu looked up at him.

Apollo met her eyes.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Neither even blinked.

Until Yesu slowly turned back toward the window.

Apollo's hand instinctively slipped into his pocket. His fingers brushed against the gold name tag.

"Hey, kids."

A soldier called from the doorway.

"Get down."

Apollo stepped off first.

Yesu followed behind him.

The moment her feet touched the ground, the soldier pulled a small card from his pocket, glanced at it, then looked directly at her.

"Move on."

The others were already gathered at the entrance of the building.

Six armed soldiers stood around them. They escorted them all inside.

"What were you doing?" Mahirah hissed under her breath as they walked.

They were being led to a stairway.

"What do you mean?" Apollo asked.

"Staying in the bus." Her voice was sharp. "Were you trying to provoke them or something?"

Apollo didn't answer. Something else had caught his attention.

The soldiers had split.

Half continued escorting the group. The other half had turned away.

Leading Yesu to another section.

Alone.

Mahirah noticed it a second later. She looked at Apollo.

Apollo looked at her.

For the first time since arriving, surprise crossed Mahirah's face.

Apollo faced forward again.

His suspicions had been correct.

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