Taken

It was Thursday Morning. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. The Trees were rustling gently in the wind. What could possibly go wrong?

Leonidas was seated in the dining hall where he was being updated on the events of yesterday's frolicking session. They were trying to make him jealous and regretful of his decision to not come. They were sorely mistaken.

"Those two nerds ended up kissing... That was crazy"

"That was definitely the sloppiest kiss I've ever seen. Eww..."

"Max how did holding Shania's ass feel?"

"It was okay, I guess." said max with a pleased expression and a blush on his cheeks due to embarrassment.

"And did you see when Julian was forced to make out with Irna. Pfft, Irna almost fainted afterward hahaha" said Priya while cackling like a vulture.

"Oh my God, wasn't Julian into Rosaline? Why is he making out with other people?" asked Thabo trying to incite an emotional response from Rosaline for his own entertainment.

"Rosaline, isn't Irna your friend? Nxx what a shitty friend." said Khanyi with a hint of jealousy.

"It's fine. Irna and I are cool because I was never into Julian to begin with. They can do whatever they want. I'm actually happy for her." said Rosaline lazily and dismissively.

She really did not care. To her, Julian was an annoying fly. And Irna was a bloodsucking mosquito. They were perfect for each other.

*oooouuuuhhh*

Sounds of awe were heard all around and even from other tables, as they were listening in as well due to their interest.

"There was even a girl who claimed she had a crush on you, Leonidas~" teased Priya while slowly and intently munching on her sausage.

"Ooh yeaahhh... Pfft that was hilarious. People started looking at her like she was crazy." said juju, who was depressed he didn't have anyone crushing on him. If a psychopath could have someone crushing, why couldn't he?

"Leonidas, her name is Layla and she's in 8b. She says she always meets you in the library. Sometimes you helped her out. She said you're a really nice guy~. You made her fall for you Leonidas~" Priya continued. Priya, who was sitting directly in frin of Leonidas, got to work under the table as she slowly, gently and seductively slid her foot up and down Leonidas' legs

Leonidas smiled and said "It totally makes sense. I am very handsome and charming after all."

"Wow I never pegged you for a narcissist" said Gene with visible surprise on his face.

"I'm not a narcissist. Narcissists have a tendency to lie to themselves about their worth. I don't do that." said Leonidas to Gene matter-of-factly. Then he gazed intently at Priya and said "or what am I not handsome and charming?"

Priya giggled and retracted her foot while saying "You really are..."

Juju was crying while seeing this. Was his goddess being stolen from him right in front of his eyes? This Leonidas is not only a psychopath, but he's also a Casanova.

Maya noticed the footsie footsie game being played under the table but she kept it to herself. Although she was calm, she was inwardly surprised. How could Priya have the courage to do that. And how could Leonidas just stay calm during the whole thing?

Rosaline, on the other hand, was still a bit flustered due to her actions yesterday. What was she even thinking? She couldn't even meet Leonidas' gaze at the moment. It's all his fault.

Breakfast time ended shortly after and the B group were met with the face of the scarred ranger again. He stood in front of the group and behind him stood four other rangers who Leonidas deduced were supposed to be drivers and coordinators.

Behind the rangers stood two massive tpurbusses, which looked more like military vehicles than anything, with their camo themed pain covers and their minimalistic but open feel.

"Alright guys, I explained this to you before so you already know that today it's your guys' turn to go into the wild. Are you excited?"

"Yeahhh!"

"Do you guys have any questions?" asked the scarred ranger.

"Do we have to stay in our groups when we're on the busses?" asked a student, his timid voice barely audible.

"No, there's no need, you can sit with whomever. Just make sure that you are next to somebody. Okay... I think we're ready." said Ms Anne.

"Oukay, now get on the tour busses and let's get this show on the road" said the scarred Ranger.

And just like that, people began boarding the bus. But before group 11 could board, Julian and some other cool kids came by.

"Rosaline, would you like to sit with us?"

"Yeah Maya, you can come too" said Ryder coolly. Ryder was one of the other good looking boys, and he was also a part of group 6. Julian and Ryder had formed somewhat of a friendship in the past few days and it just so happened that they were also in the B group.

It also just so happened that Ryder was slightly interested in Maya after hearing Julian's praise of her other worldly beauty and ice cold demeanor.

To them and most of the boys present, now was the perfect time to show how manly and cool they are to the girls. They were all ready and willing to be any pretty lady's shoulder to lean on.

"No thanks, Maya and I are sitting together" said Rosaline while grabbing onto Maya's arm. Maya responded promptly and held onto Rosaline with a smile on her own face. She really hated these boys who know nothing but flirting all day. And She was glad Rosaline wanted to be closer, even if it was just to use each other as shields.

"Okay then, well we'll see you guys on the bus" said Julian calmly. But the frustration was visible in his eyes. He had never had to work this hard for the affections of a girl.

Maya and Rosaline entered the bus and some way or the other Julian and Ryder managed to sit right behind them. Leonidas, on the other hand, just went and chose an open seat on the left hand side by the back and soon enough someone sat next to him.

The boy was short and skinny with fragile arms and short afro curly hair. He had an He looked to his right and, with an embarrassed blush on his face, said "Hi, I'm James."

"Leonidas" said Leonidas blankly.

"L-L-Leonidas?!" said James with his teeth clattering. He had been away from school for the past 1 month on an exchange program in Germany. He had heard rumors of a demon transferring into school, and he was very frightened after he heard the stories. He had never imagined that the demon would look like an unassuming boy.

"Are you okay?" said Leonidas blankly. But deep down he was impressed. It seemed his image is very terrifying to some people. Good. Less trouble from annoying idiots.

"Y-yes I'm o-okay." said the boy, visibly shivering in his seat.

Leonidas stopped paying attention to James and just sat back in his seat waiting for the bus to start moving. 5 minutes later they were on their way.

At first there was nothing much to see. Just dung everywhere and dung beetles. But after some minutes they came across a giraffe grazing on some large bushes.

"Woah... Look at that neck"

"Damn it's huge"

They went past and saw a herd of springbok grazing in the wild. Everytime the students would see something interesting, they would take pictures of it or take selfies. Soon enough the bus had stopped 5 times for different animals, ranging from warthog to porcupines.

"Oh my God is that a dead elephant?!"

"Damn! Those wild dogs are eating it up"

"OH my God that porcupine is soo cute!"

All throughout the way, similar statents could be heard from the other students and after an hour passed by the busses were moving further and further away from the lodge.

Suddenly

Loud cars were heard moving from behind the tourbus. Leonidas looked back only to see two military grade cMo colored SUVs on their tail. The SUVs drove until they were capable of blocking the back of the busses.

'Rosaline, is this you?' Leonidas thought to himself. But something told him these cars came with malicious intent. He watched and waited calmly.

Soon enough another car came from the front of the busses and blocked its way. Leonidas looked around, and on the left and right, there was nothing but large trees. Leonidas observed the reaction of the rangers and saw them panicking while taking out some rifles.

This was not a security tail. This was an ambush.

"Get down." Leonidas said to James, who promptly put his head by his knees and waited. Some other kids heard him and they also immediately got on the ground. The rangers climbed out of the busses and pointed their weapons at the SUVs.

"Who are you? Get out of the vehicle Now or we will shoot!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence from all three vehicles. Leonidas looked towards Rosaline, and Rosaline looked back with eyes filled with guilt and reluctance. Leonidas understood this could get messy.

The rangers, seeing that there was no response, each approached a vehicle, with one ranger staying back to guard the kids.

Suddenly.

The front windows of the SUVs burst open and bullets from semi automatic rifles rained on the rangers. Screams rang throughout the place with teenagers screaming at the sight of rangers being pierced by bullets and falling to the ground.

Blood flowed down the muddy path. All four rangers had been killed. The doors to the SUVs opened and suddenly 6 men ran out with semi automatic rifles in their hands.

*aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh*

Screams filled with despair rang through the forest. The students were now pissing their pants, why did this happen?

"Shut up. Just SHUT UP!!" one of the man, who had a missing front tooth, said after entering the first bus. His eyes flashed with a malicious glint as he immediately sent a fierce kick into a screaming girl's stomach. She folded over like a pancake, coughing out her breakfast and some blood from her bitten tongue.

Immediately some of those who were screaming calmed down. But they could not stop shivering as the armed men approached. Some students couldn't control their bowels and ended up peeing themselves right there.

Leonidas looked outside and noticed that 3 men had entered the bus that was behind the Bus Leonidas was in. Leonidas calmed himself. They were either searching for something or someone, or wanted to kill someone. There was still a chance they werent here for Rosaline. Whatever happened, he would handle it appropriately.

"Okay, okay, now that everyone's calm, everyone look at us." said one of the other men, who had painted stripes with a smile on his face. He searched in his pocket and took out what seemed to be a picture. Leonidas confirmed it. They were here to look for someone.

As the men surveyed the bus carefully, the toothless man shouted "Wow boss there's a lot of pretty girls here... I haven't had a piece of ass in a long time... Can we..."

"Business First. Fun later." said the third armed man who was smoking a cigarette while standing at the front. He had a circular scar on his cheek which looked like a bullet wound. A man who lives on the edge.

He casually gazed at a teacher, Ms Leah, and she started shaking visibly with despair, but her face was cold as if she wanted to murder the man. The man smiled viciously at the sight of this woman. He liked dominating proud women the most.

"Hehehe boss, I knew you were the best..." said the toothless man with lascivious intent, but before he could continue, the other armed man said "Found Her!"

The toothless man immediately went towards the striped man's ppsiton and stood in front of Maya and Rosaline. A disgusting smile spread across his face as he said "Let's take her friend as well. I like em young. Gets my blood pumping."

"No! No please, let her go. I'll come with you" screamed Rosaline but the striped man merely slapped her across the face and grabbed her by her arms to pick her up. He then threw her on her shoulders like a sack of potatoes and started leaving to the front of the bus.

The toothless man laughed in response and pointed the gun at Maya, then said "Bitch stand up and follow your friend. Or else."

Maya could only hold back the urge to cry while shivering in her seat. But she didn't stand. She couldn't stand. She was having a panic attack.

*slap*

"Bitch you better listen to me!" said the toothless man after slapping Maya across the face and dragging her by the hair.

The captain with the bullet scar said "I'll take that one for you. I don't feel like having a girl today. Grab me a cute boy there. You know my type"

The toothless man giggled evily and said "Aye aye hehehe" after throwing Maya across the floor to the captain, who promptly picked her up and headed to the front of the bus.

The toothless man came back and looked around before spotting Julian. "Hehehe, boss I got just the right piece of ass", the man said as he started approaching Julian with large strides.

Julian panicked and screamed "No, look at him he's cute too. Don't touch me please. I'll give you money, I'll give you anything."

Meanwhile Maya and Rosaline were looking at Julian with cold eyes. They had never seen such spineless behaviour. He even tried to sell out his never friend. Disgusting.

But before the toothless man grabbed him, the captain said" No, he's too tall. Get me something portable hahaha"

The toothless man let go of Julian and Julian sighed visibly as he returned to his seat. The toothless man then looked around before his eyes landed on Leonidas. The man smiled and turned around.

"Captain, he's perfect." the man said said while pointing at Leonidas. After a few seconds, the captain nodded, and the man then started to approach Leonidas with a vicious grin on his face.

"Don't worry, our captain is gonna take care of you real good hehehe"

Leonidas stood up and raised his arms in surrender while shaking his head inwardly to himself.

'I really am too handsome.'