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Ben
- Is shot at p.5
- Tries to commit suicide p.6
- Hysterical p.9
- Benjamin Marchand; lives in 1245 Iwo Jima Avenue, Fort Delta, Massachusetts p.10
- Feels guilty for some accident in the bus with some other children p.10
- Feels left alone p.10, 11
- Goes to private school p.
- Loves his mother p.7
- An outsider p.11
- Is filling guilty because of Nettie p.43
- Is bodyguarded p.43
- Is in love with Nettie p.44
- Tries to invite her for a date, but the girl refuses, so he becomes upset p.46
- Very good typist, between 60-70 words a minute
- Has scored two runs in a crucial game and heard for the first and only time the cheers of a crowd p.73
- Betrays his father on the bridge p.74
- Doesn\'t have any posters on the walls p.117
- Irritated by clutter p.117
- Is involved in the kidnapping by his father, as a part of \"Messenger Gambit\" p.120
- Little League ballplayer p.122
- Tries to overcome his weaknesses p.122
- Is susceptible in stress situations p.122
- Vulnerable p.112
Father
- Mr. Marc Marchand p.7
- Brigadier General in Fort Delta p.10
- Has fought in WW2, been wounded p.5
- Too shadowy to pin down p.7
- Doesn\'t like to be called general p.9
- A patriot p.13
- Has a secret military job, Prof. at New England University in Boston, makes researches on psychology, behavior intervention p.14
- Full cover name is Brigadier General Rufus L. Briggs p.48
- Engages a bodyguards for securing Ben and his mother p.48
- Has to take some blood-pressure pills p.71
- Six feet tall, walks with his head slanted to one side p.72
- Is harmed by some actions of Ben on the bridge p.73
- Head of a secret agency with operatives all over the world p.80
- Has lived in the John Quincy Adams wing as student, afraid of ghosts in there p.117
- Meets Jack Harkness on 7.12.1941, they leave for Boston p.117
- Used to be great, fanatic patriot p.118
- Knows Ben better than anyone else p.122
- Has monitored Ben in the school p.122
- Regrets knowing his son too good p.123
- Wants Ben to forgive him p.124
Kate
- Driver
- A girl with blond long hair, slender p.24
- Her uncle, actual driver, is sick p.27
- Has passed a special driving educational course p.27
- Kate Forrester p.40
- Lives in Hallowell all her life p. 29
- Cheerleader p.58
- ~17-18 year old
- Has migraine p.29
- Hates to follow orders p.29
- Has weeklies
- Feels responsible for children, but doesn\'t know them
- Looks after the children, is shocked p.51
- Understands that she will not come out alive, because she could identify the terrorists p.55
- Finds Miro repulsive in his mask p.56
- Searched to body of the dead child, found out his name was Kevin p.57
- Cannot remember when she last cried p.58
- Fair-skinned, healthy but has a weak bladder p.58
- Prom queen, captain in the girls; swimming team, bladder actress in Drama Club p.58
- Cannot stand the sight of blood, afraid of riding in roller coasters p.58
- Doesn\'t let boys touch her p.58
- Wondering whether the sense of life is the finding love p.58
- Manipulates people in different ways, e.g. getting As in math by charming the teacher or getting the top role in a presentation by flattering the director p.59
- Has won the best actress award
- Tries to escape form the bus, as she hears the helicopter p.60
- Seldom has done any baby-sitting before, doesn\'t know how to look after children p.67
- Hates terrorists p.69
- Pleased by Miro\'s embarrassment p.83
- Tries to make a contact to the children, asks for their names p.84
- Has a key to the bus ignition, which existence terrorists don\'t know about p.91
- Perfectly knows Miro is watching her in a sexual way p.129
- Strengthen the idea of not trusting Miro p.129
Name: Miro Shantas
Age: teenager (maybe 17 or 18)
He is in a terrorist organisation which wants the government of the United States to tell the people in the USA what \"Inner Delta\" is. The father of one of our protagonists is a general in \"Inner Delta\", so he and his son are involved in the main action of the book.
Since Miro is new in the group he has to kill an innocent person. It is a ritual in the group and every new member has to do that.
They want to make it very easy for Miro to kill a person, so when they hijack a bus Miro is to shoot the driver.
But there is a big problem. When they enter the bus they see that the driver is female. But they expected a man sitting on the driver\'s seat.
By this situation Miro is very confused, because he is in a dilemma: On the one hand he must shoot the driver to be accepted in the group and on the other hand he doesn?t want to do this because he takes a liking to the girl.
During the action on the bridge both of them are trying to get some information about each other. They form a sort of relationship, and Kate wants to use this fact to her advantage.
Miro thinks that he can trust Kate - perhaps because,s as you know, love makes blind. The moment when Miro leaves the bus to look for the other hijackers Kate starts the bus and tries to escape with it. But this attempt fails and from this moment on Miro is very angry with Kate.
After a long time in the bus there is a surprise attack by the police and the special forces. In the smoke and the noise of the police officers, the guns that are fired and the helicopters that fly over the bus there is a chance for Miro and Kate to go away from this massacre. They run across the bridge and nobody notices them.
In the nearby forest they climb into a little cave and wait that the action will be finished soon.
In the cave Miro discovers that he still has feelings for Kate - but how the story ends I won?t tell you ?
PART I
- Ben is telling the story by typing
- He was shoot at in the chest
- The Boy lay in the castle. It is winter
- He is waiting for his father to visit him \"first time since the Bus and the Bridge last summer\"
- He tried once to commit suicide
- He rejects speaking with his mother about the accident
- They speak about Ben\'s school and his father
- Ben is rehabilitating from a moral shock
- He reflects, that his father has secret military job in Fort Delta
- He doesn\'t know much about his father\'s job but suspects that the accident has some thing to do with it
PART II
- Miro\'s assignment was to kill the driver
- Miro is worried, not kill professionally
- Terrorists, Miro and Artkin, plan to overtake the bus, drive to the bridge, killing the driver, waiting for massages
- They are from far away and their home doesn\'t exists any more
- As they eat in a restaurant, Artkin makes a waitress doubt, whether her name is Bonnie and not Myra, as Artkin calls her
- They wait in a van at the intersection of Water Street and Vinton Avenue for a school bus, with 16 children in it
- All children in the bus are under 6 with a female driver; Artkin is ready to kill at least two of them
- They overcome the bus very quickly, hand out chocolate with slipping drug
- The bus follows the van with other terrorists towards the bridge
- Miro finds one boy dead because of the drug, Artkin decides yet not to kill the driver
- As they reach the bridge, one of the terrorists bolts all exits in the bus
They supposed to wait for some hours
PART III
- Ben describes Nettie Halversham, her appearance and his unfortunate love to her
- Ben tries to invite Nettie to a date, but she refuses
- Ben gets to know that a school bus with about 18 small children in it is hijacked and is driven to an old railroad bridge
- He gets the call from his father, who say this and that there is a letter from hijackers who instructs to wait for future instructions
- The letter is addressed to Brigadier General Rufus L. Briggs and Ben understands that this is his father\'s cover name
- Ben\'s father sends a bodyguard to Ben, who guars Ben all the time
- The ending is that Ben is waiting his father to visit him for the first time in the Castle
PART IV
- Everyone in the bus waits, terrorists are covering the bus
- A helicopter comes and as Kate tries to escape Artkin stops her
- Children start to cry, disturbed by helicopter and police siren sounds
- Police cars, two military jeeps and a van with 25-30 camouflaged snipers, who spread themselves in the bushes, arrive
- TV-van drives to the building near by, where as terrorists think the headquarter must be
- Artkin brings the dead child out of the bus and starts to turn him self around with the dead body in his hands, than lets police take the child
PART V
- Ben notices, that his father goes somewhat different, seems to be fragile, has blank face because of his betrayal
- Ben\'s father arrives at 11:25 to visits him in the castle for the first time since the bridge
- Ben feels endlessly guilty
- There is a confusion, so nobody starts the conversation,
- Mark goes out to take his pills and call Ben\'s mother and Dean Albertson, Ben explains that he probably wanted to go away from him
- They start substance less conversation
- Ben asks whether Inner Delta was saved, Mark answers that it was harmed but it was saved
- Ben remembers the evening of hijacking, when his father told him that terrorists made three demands: release 15 political prisoners, 10 million dollars, and publish information about the Inner Delta, its agents and its work. Father explained, that Inner Delta is a secret, specialized project, to which he gave all his life. They will meet first two demands, but they will do almost everything to reject the third. He told Ben, one child has already died
- Ben sees his father coming
PART VI
- Miro and Kate are faced by the problem that all children have to go to the bathroom sooner or later
- Artkin finds a suitable solution for bathroom problem
- Children are drugged by Artkin again and fall asleep
- Kate succeeds in talking to Raymond, who only pretends, he is drugged, and hopes to gain by this
- She takes of her wet panties and explores a key for ignition from the bus in her pocket, which she hides in the sneaker
- Miro sees her naked and becomes puzzled, ashamed and angry at the same time, but after Kate speaks to him he gains pleasure of this episode
- Antibbe changes Miro in the bus, Miro overhears a monitor of soldiers in the van
- Artkin tells about some unknown allies, and the demands; he explains details of the aim of this operation to Miro
- The 9:00 in the morning after that day is a dead line for military to meet the terrorist\'s demands and if not, terrorists plan to kill children
- Kate is talking with Miro, who tells her what his background is, how he and Aniel meet Artkin, how they become terrorists, their assignments in America
- Kate understands, that Miro doesn\'t feel anything for people, who dies because of him, and dislikes him completely
Part VII
- Ben\'s father returns back to the room and finds it empty
- He reflects the time, as he has been young, he has been happy and enterprising
- He thinks of situation on the bridge, the terrorists and their demands
- pater filium querit
- Ben\'s father goes to the bridge, where he doesn\'t finds anyone
Part VIII
- Kate thinks about driving off the bus
- Miro is watching her and Kate knows this
- Artkin notices Raymond not sleeping and forces him to take a drug
- Kate finds a chance to start the bus when Miro is outside, but doesn\'t drive far away, because bus suddenly stops
- As she fails, Artkin searches her and finds nothing suspicious
- Night comes, children fall asleep, Kate understand Miro hates her for being blamed by Artkin because of her
- Miro is guarding her, and has a short conversation with Kate
- Miro visits the van again, Artkin wants a proof of Sedeet\'s capturing
Place
Our problem was that we have two different places and protagonists in our novel.
The first place is in a bus on a bridge where the terrorists are with their hostages. In front of the bus is the van of the terrorists, which stops the bus from escaping. The bridge is an old high wooden bridge crossing a small river. Snipers from the police are in the forest near the bridge and a helicopter is flying above them observing the situation. Many journalists (you can?t see them on our picture) came to film the kidnapping. In this scene there are two of our protagonists. The first protagonist is the terrorist Miro and the second one is the hostage Kate.
The second place is in Fort Delta, a military camp. Our third protagonist goes to school there. His name is Ben. He is the son of a general who works for Inner Delta. Inner Delta is a special organisation fighting against terrorists. You can compare Inner Delta with a small town.
Time
Our novel takes place in the 20th century. The situation in the bus goes on for two days. Ben tells the story and his feelings in the form of flashbacks half year later.
Title
We have two theses as to what could be meant by our title ?After the First Death?. The first possibility is that the title refers to the death of the hostage Raymond. The terrorists gave the hostages candies with drugs to make them sleep. But Raymond died when he ate one of those candies, the other hostages survived. This death was a danger for the terrorists, because they did not know if the sniper would storm the bus now. The other thesis is that the title refers to Miro. He has the task to kill the bus driver (Kate) to become a member of the terrorist group. That would be the first killing for Miro.
What do you get to know about the relationship between Ben and his father?
The relationship is very complicated. As we get to know Ben betrays his father in some way. His father and his agency are harmed, because of Ben. So Ben feels guilty and responsible for what he has done. He plans commit suicide when the time comes. Obviously Mr. Marchand visits him very unwillingly and only because of the close relationship to his son, as Ben says.
What are most important points in this [6.] chapter?
- Children are drugged by Artkin again and fall asleep
- Raymond only pretends, he is drugged
- She explores a key for ignition from the bus in her pocket, which she hides in the sneaker
- Miro sees her naked
- Miro overhears a monitor of soldiers in the van
- Artkin tells about some unknown allies, and the demands; he explains details of the aim of this operation to Miro
- The 9:00 in the morning after that day is the dead line for the military to meet the terrorist\'s demands and if not, terrorists plan to kill children
- Kate is talking with Miro, who tells her what his background is, how he and Aniel met Artkin, how they became terrorists, their assignments in America
- Kate understands, that Miro doesn\'t feel anything for people, who dies because of him, and dislikes him completely
This shocking novel explores the tensions faced on a school bus when it is hijacked by terrorists. Readers are able to explore the different sides as they are experienced by each character, as Cormier uses a third person narrative that shifts to feature different characters at different times. Readers are able to see inside the mind of Miro, who is a terrorist involved in the high-jacking. He is a teenager, around sixteen years old, who is alternately fascinated and disgusted by American life. The novel explores his past, what made him become a terrorist and thus his drive in the despicable act. He feels a sexual attraction to Kate, a sixteen year-old girl who is driving the bus. Readers are able to see her thoughts as well, and this provides a sense of the opposition to Miro. The politics of the situation are enhanced by the involvement of Ben, the son of a general who heads a secret operations team which the terrorists oppose. The story briefly enters the mind of other characters as well, which enhances the realistic feel that the narrative achieves. True to Cormier's style, there is no happy ending.
A busload of preschool children is kidnapped by a group of terrorists along with their teenaged bus driver, who is filling in for her uncle. Demands are made. But the only one who is allowed to meet with the terrorists to begin negotiations is the general's teenage son. With anxious snipers, trapped terrorists, and a busload of screaming children, tensions rise. So what will happen at the final show down, and who will pay the price as the situation escalates. All of this happens because of one unintentional death.
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