After The First Death

The first section of Part 2 leads up to the incident on the bridge. These pages follow Miro Shantas, a boy who believes he is about 16 years old. Miro works for Artkin, a terrorist. Miro is not his real name, but he refuses to think about his birth name. Like his homeland, his name no longer exists because it has been overtaken.

Artkin and his team orchestrate the bus incident. The plan is to hijack a bus full of children going to summer camp, kill the driver, and hold the children hostage until the government meets their demands. Miro is to kill the driver, and this will be his first time taking a life. Though he is nervous, he is determined to perform the act so he can “make his life meaningful” (18).

The day of the incident, Miro waits with the rest of his team for the school bus to reach their location. When it arrives, Miro boards with the rest of the team, but rather than the old man Artkin said would be driving, Miro finds a girl (Kate Forrester) around his age. Artkin passes out candy spiked with a tranquilizer to the kids and reassures Kate that no harm will come to them.