It was a freak accident.
That's all it was.
A momentary blip in the time space continuum.
I'd heard of the research being done, even though I never paid too much attention to it. After all, they'd just figured out the means to reverse global warming with a polarizing emission that strengthened the ozone. When did they even start developing multi-dimensional technology?
But I digress.
It was a cool afternoon, the windows thrown open to the spring breeze that drifted through the netting, blowing over my cheek while I worked. The computer screen flashed before my eyes, it's holographic glow casting away the last of the shadows clinging to the sunlit room. My fingers flew over the computer monitor as I hummed a little tune.
Maybe, I'll actually have this chapter finished in time to be submitted. Things were looking fairly promising and I only had a page or two left to write and a couple hours left to work on it. I should be fine… probably. Music played softly over the speakers, a foreign language filled with complex harmonies and strong vocals that quelled my racing thoughts as I worked.
So, of course, I noticed when the music suddenly cut off with a screech. I yelped, the monitor snapping shut as I blinked away the stars in my eyes. I glanced over to see my little sister grinning at me. Finger on the mute button. I glared. "Cath! What the heck?" I groused, letting out a groan as I turned in my seat, finally noticing how stiff everything was. I stretched up to the ceiling as my sister shrugged.
"Mom wanted me to remind you that we need to get going soon, the bus ain't going to wait for you ya know."
I lightly tapped my sister on the head, causing her to pout as I stood and brushed past. "And you should know I was well aware of the time." I waved toward my screen with a huff. "I was keeping track of it through that new app, remember? I followed what you said to set it up specifically so I can make the 9 o'clock bus as you oh so helpfully reminded me." I deadpanned as I began to gather my things.
I mostly just picked up the basics. My phone and some writing implements, definitely a pen, I needed a bunch of those. I also grabbed a sweatshirt because it was starting to get cold out and-
"Wait… did you say… 9?" My sister's voice cut in, sounding strangely off.
I peered over my shoulder, rolling my eyes as I zipped up my backpack. "Yes, yes I did." I hefted the backpack turning to her. "Remember? I told you we needed to be there a half hour early if you want to help me set up-"
She glanced down at her watch and then sent me a familiar smile that spelled trouble. "Oops?" She grinned, hurrying down the stairs.
Oops? I glanced at my phone, noting it was fully charged before actually taking a gander at the time…
Shit!
"Catherine Kyne! Get back here!" I almost screeched as I raced down the stairs.
Mom was already downstairs, watching me in amusement as I raced passed with my sister laughing just ahead of me.
The dang idiot could have gotten my attention a little earlier! Darnit sis! I glanced at my phone. I should be able to make the 9:15 bus which would hopefully give me enough time…
Oh, my girlfriend was going to be soooo pissed.
The door slid open as I hurtled out of the entranceway and over the railing of the stairwell, landing on the grass before sprinting to the sidewalk where a bus hovered, the light blinking on the side indicating it was going to close soon. This happened way too often for my liking.
Cath darted onto the bus, swiftly moving into a seat before sticking her tongue out at me. I managed to pull myself onto the bus just as the doors hissed closed and the hover jets clanged underneath, moving into position. I stood in the middle of the aisle, gasping for breath as the bus slowly rose up into the air. My hands sat on my knees as I took in deep breaths before orienting myself and taking one of the open seats.
Unfortunately, it seemed my timely entry caught the attention of the few people on the bus. Two girls sat in the back, one rolling her eyes and speaking, quite loudly, to her friend. I promptly ignored their words when I heard something about 'idiot'.
The next was a mother and child. The mother just seemed amused, her faint smile catching my attention as her son slept against her side, seemingly tired.
A little ahead, near the front of the bus was a young man, who was already returning to listening to his music, headphones firmly over his ears and eyes, presumably, shut.
I plopped into the seat, peering out the window as our house shot away from sight, as immaculate and beautiful as most of the houses on that street. But as usual, my attention was taken by the traffic that filled the sky. It was mostly buses, since the cost of the hover works was pricey beyond belief, but every so often I saw a car zip by, indicative of someone with way too much money and time on their hands. The inside of the bus was comfortable, with the air-conditioning running softly and a hum lulling me into a state of contentment, pushing away the annoyance.
Flying in the air like this, I never could keep my anger up. My sister, finally coming down from her high of being a brat to me, and setting me up for the completely wrong time, leaned against my side with a pleased sigh. As annoying as she was, she did have her soft moments.
Of course, even with the flight and her reconciliatory movements, I was still annoyed as all hell with her, so it didn't take much before I pushed her away, flicking her forehead.
"It's your fault you know," she muttered, fixing her bangs before dropping her hands in her lap.
"Really?" I clicked my tongue. "I think we already had this conversation…"
"Yeah…" She lengthened the word, twiddling her thumbs awkwardly, "about that… I really did hear 9 o'clock for leaving… not for getting on the bus…" She shrugged. "But hey! It was your fault for not keeping track of time anyway! You were the one who asked me how to set up the app! Why didn't you do it?"
"Because I'm still trying to figure the darn thing out! I'm a writer, not a technician!"
"But it's easy! Come on, brother. When we get home I'll show you how it works and then you won't have to keep relying on me."
"Uh-huh… until you show me something else and than precede not to explain it to me like last time…" I deadpanned.
She winced and smiled sheepishly. "Okay, I will take the blame on that one… but it only happened once!"
"Twice now." I pointed out, pushing my finger into her forehead, causing her to yelp, fingers darting to where I'd just poked her. She pouted as I chuckled faintly. "Ah, whatever. I'll deal with it. At least we managed to make the next bus, right?'
She grinned, dropping her hands. "Yep! And I am going to be helping you set up along with Rina, so…"
"Well I guess that is a blessing…" I muttered, briefly thinking of my girlfriend. Oh boy, Rina was not going to be happy... "That and the fact that the bus driver seemed pretty willing to wait, as usual." I glanced up front, noting it was the same person as always. Elderly Mr. Burgess, white haired and white toothed bus driver extraordinaire, as he liked to call himself. I wasn't really sure if he was really that amazing, but he was the main bus driver for our street so I didn't really know any of the others. He must have noticed my gaze in the mirror, because he did a quick wave. I chuckled. Yep, same old Mr. Burgess.
Once more, I found myself examining the rest of my traveling companions, more for something to do than anything important. I wasn't in the mood to be panicking about being late so… The two in the back had returned to whatever conversation they were having, the girl who called me an idiot earlier gesticulating vividly as her friend quietly chuckled behind her hand. The mother and child were resting, the mother peering out the window, one arm wrapped almost protectively around the younger boy, who barely appeared to be around ten. Then there was the boy with the headphones. Honestly, since I was sitting behind him, I couldn't really get a good grasp of what he was doing. Kind of like my girlfriend actually. She was a sweetheart but by gosh was she hard to read sometimes. Other times though, she had this way of showing how much she disapproves of you without ever saying a word. At times I'm kind of envious how she just has to look at you and you know you are in trouble. Speaking of, my mother is the same way and she has a bad habit of always commenting on my eyes, and how pretty they were.
Of course, pretty isn't exactly the term I would like to hear, but what can you do when most of the household is comprised of women? I mean, dad's around, but he's always busy with work so it's mostly just my little sister, mother and occasionally my older sister who sometimes comes around to mooch off of us when she can. I say mooch, but honestly, she lives two jobs and is raising a little girl because of… things. I don't blame her in the slightest. Actually, it's usually pretty good to see her.
I kind of miss her... I haven't seen her in quite some ti-
A buzzing sound rang in my ears, jerking me out of my thoughts. I could hear the radio playing in the background, sounding louder than usual… "Recent reports indicate that multi-dimensional tests have failed, scientist are still wondering of the cause of the abnormalities that have resulted, but there is no conclusive data. Citizens are advised to-"
Static... I wasn't the only one who heard that, right? A crackling sound that set my nerves on edge.
CLANG.
The bus jolted, the metal of the roof screeching before cracking right off. My hair whipped into my face as I jerked, staring up with a gaping mouth as the equivalent of a black hole swirled before us, the metal of the roof shooting into it with a twisting, shrieking crash.
Screams echoed behind me as I found myself grasping my sister, her holding me with a grip that almost cracked my ribs. My breath left me, evaporating as the whole bus was tugged closer to the gaping hole, the inky blackness fluctuating with shards of white that flashed in and out of view. The bare edges shimmered and spat similar to fire. I could just barely see the blue sky on the edge.
A sense of weightlessness enveloped me before doubling and slamming me back into the seat, tossing the two of us to the metal of the bus. My arm barely caught my head from slamming into the ground. My sister rammed into me as the bus lurched upward. I didn't even have time to warn my sister, I only found myself holding her close, hand behind her head just as the bus vaulted sideways. Breath and sound was gone, whisked away as if on the breeze.
"Brother, don't you dare let go…" My sister whispered as I cracked my eyes open, not really seeing, but feeling the arm extended under and past me. A faint cracking sound echoed behind me as my sister held me close.
Sunlight burst through the darkness as the bus careened downward the metal groaning and shrieking as we fell.
I could hear grunting as it slowly tilted upward just enough.
Or so I hoped as my whole body was wrenched forward, barely held steady by our location and my grip on my sister, who grunted quietly.
I could feel the bus buckle under us, the metal crunching and snapping. The flooring near my feet ripped upward, as if in slow motion, slashing past my face. Something ripped past my leg just as the bus finally came to a stop, tilting side to side before finally landing properly on its belly.
I found myself laying there, trying to pull heaping breaths into my starved lungs, my whole body shaking [futilely]. My sister pulled away, curling inward as I slowly pushed myself upward, wincing as pain slowly made itself known, my leg smarting something fierce. I glanced down, spotting blood dripping down. I shook my head and, using the seat, forced myself to my feet, somewhat noting the ragged state of the once there wall of the bus that was as gone as the roof.
I heard heavy groans and whipped around, spotting the two girls sprawled over each other in the back. They didn't seem too badly hurt. One of the girls pulled herself upward before catching my eye. She narrowed her gaze before quickly flitting over the other occupants of the bus. As I helped my sister up, I took in the rest of the situation… and it wasn't pretty.
I let my sister sit down, her whole body shaking as she stared at her hands, one covered in bits of metal. I winced and quickly surveyed the interior of the bus. The bright sunlight helped as the dust and debris began to settle. The girl from before seemed to be checking on the mother and child, who seemed somewhat unscathed, though the child was very much awake now. Mr Burgess, to my surprise, was alright as well. Though he was leaning heavily against the [driver's] seat, one leg twisted enough to show he wasn't using it any time soon and a vicious cough making itself well known as my sister hurried over. The other boy…
I pulled myself over the littered seats that decorated the middle of the bus to reach his side, noting with worry that his hand was sitting open and limp next to him, music player laying in his palm. I crawled over the last little bit and squeezed in front of him, before stilling.
His headphones were skewed enough to note how some of the metal had bit into the side of his head, blood flowing in front of his right eye. Ripping the headphones off, I tilted his head to one side as I reached to his neck, barely noting with relief the faint rise and fall of his chest, as I felt for the faint pulse under my fingers. He needed to get this wound looked at and pronto but…
Throwing caution to the wind I tilted my head up. "We need a medic! Anyone?" I called out, making a desperate gamble, even as I felt the boy shift, a quiet groan slipping past his lips.
The likelihood of their actually BEING a medic in such a small group was-
"I'm coming." The girl from earlier, the one who called me an idiot, pulled herself over the ruckage. "What seems to be the-" She cut herself off, spotting my leg for a split second before turning her attention to the boy. "Ah…" She grew silent for a moment before reaching into a bag that was strapped to her side, probably the only reason why it wasn't thrown. I pulled myself away to let her work and take stock of where everyone was. Mr. Burgess, with my sisters help, had joined the others near the back of the bus which seemed the least damaged, a few seats even still attached to their posts.
The older woman seemed to be talking with the others, hopefully calming them.
Speaking of, I would be a lot more panicked right now, but panicking would do no good.
On top of that… I tilted my head back to peer up at the sky, a dazzling sun reaching over head and spreading a warm light down onto us. A strong breeze whistled over the bus as a faint clanking sound reached my ears. What was that thing… that black hole.
Were we dead?
The pain in my leg screamed at me that I was probably not dead, and if I was this was a pretty shitty afterlife if I still felt pain…
That clanking sound drew my attention to the damaged side of the bus. Past a sparking cord and twisted metal was a stretch of grass that reached all the way up to what seemed to be an overpass…
An overpass that was crumbling at the seams, the cement plummeting to the ground, half burying a rotted through truck. I slowly tilted my head up to take in the large cement buildings a distance away on all sides, stretching toward the sky like gray fingers.
Okay, my thoughts were getting somewhat worrying.
I returned my attention onto the two behind me as the girl, or well medic, pulled away, an annoyed and frustrated expression on her face. The boy was awake, but he seemed delirious.
"I was able to stabilize the bleeding and it doesn't seem he damaged his neck or anything, but he has a bad concussion. I can't tell how bad without bringing him to a doctor or hospital." She must have noticed me opening my mouth because she glared. "I'm a med student not an actual doctor, I know the bare MINIMUM for treating wounds of this caliber, that's for next semester… or it was…" She cursed as she dug into her bag once more. "Here, help me get him so he's comfortable. We can't risk him getting any worse… as for you." She gave me a sharp look. "I'm going to take a look at your leg later so deal with it for now, got it?"
"I wasn't even worrying about it." I bit out a little harsher than I intended before turning to see what the others were doing.
They were either making calls, or at least trying to, calming themselves down, or observing the situation like myself.
Whatever this situation even was…
The clanking sound from before was now much louder, a faint vibration shaking the ground. "What is that?" The medic frowned, probably noting the same thing as me.
"Al!" My sister hurried over, scrambling over the mess. "The phones aren't working." Her voice was pitched up slightly, something I was not used to hearing from her. I reached into my pocket, pulling out my own phone. My bag had gotten thrown somewhere, and I wasn't about to go look for it… oh, never mind, Cath is carrying it.
While the battery of my phone was still mostly filled, nothing else showed, not even a flicker. No internet, no reception, it was like one of those old movies.
Okay, okay, calm down. "How are the others?" I asked, glancing to the group in back who seemed… a little panicky. My sister winced, telling me everything I needed to know. I let out a sigh.
"I don't know about you, but that clanking is starting to irritate me and we really need to get to the hospital." The medic spoke up behind me. "And I can't carry him by myself."
"I know." I hurried over to the damaged side of the bus, peering out to see if I could figure out what was happening around us. The windows on the other side of the bus were shattered and clouded, making it difficult to see. I raised my hand over my eyes to push away the glaring sunlight which just did not seem to let me breath. Geez…
Now that the initial panic was out of the way, I actually took a good look at our surroundings and man was I shocked that we only came out with a few bumps, bruises and one or two broken bones.
I pulled back, heading over to the back of the bus to check on the larger group.
"We should be dead…" the girl with the medic spoke up, also examining the twisted remains of the bus, still scorching a little from its collision.
The sun sat heavily above, its bright light gleaming down… wait a minute… "Hey… how long have we been here?"
My sister, of course, was the one who answered. "Twenty minutes… why?"
"Oh… just wondering…" I muttered, turning my attention away from the sun, feeling like something was off, but not quite sure how to place it. It just felt… so overbearing. "Anyway, we should get out of here and see if we can find out where we are. A crash like that should have alerted others, but…"
"No one's come…" The other girl, the non-medic, spoke up quietly. Her voice was timid and faint, but had a soft lilting tone to it that I hadn't noticed when she first spoke. Maybe she was a singer? Who knew.
My thoughts were cut off as a screech caught my attention. I scrambled over toward the opening, followed by my sister and the little boy… wait, what? I stared down at the ten your old for a split second, only for my attention to be ripped away toward the outside. From around a piece of debris from one of the old buildings, or even the overpass, the rusty metal of an arm clasped around the debris before shattering it, a red eye, or no… that's not an eye…
The sensors of a robot slowly turned to us. The robot was bulky with long arm and claw like metal fingers. It had two round holes that were glowing red, the sensors... It seemed almost humanoid… if you discounted the copious rust, and organic matter clinging to its metallic skeleton.
"Oh, it's just one thing after another." I choked out, hoping that the thing was friendly and noting from the way the eyes glowed and the faint murmuring that it was probably not the case.
My sister only gave me a deadpan look, gee, thanks sis.
"Not when its saying kill repetitively…" The soft sounding girl murmured, fear clear in her posture as she slowly crept forward, peering out along with the rest of us.
Did she read my mind? Oh… nah, we were probably all hoping for the same thing. "Yeah, probably not." I chuckled morosely before shifting backwards. Their weren't many options for escape. The 'non-damaged' side of the bus was where the doors were, but the doorway was slightly crumbled in and there was no way it was opening. The windows were a bit too small and we would have gotten more cuts trying to slip through.
"We're trapped!" The little boy spoke up, sounding both a mix of absolutely terrified… and strangely fascinated. "This is a dream, right?" His voice dipped down by the end.
If only. The robot shifted, the clanking sound now very obvious as the ground vibrated from it's footsteps. A faint tremor, but a tremor nonetheless.
I gritted my teeth. "Cath, get the boy behind me out of here." I surveyed the surroundings quickly, the creature was coming in from the left, the right side of the opening wouldn't give them much time, but it would do.
"Wait, what?" My sister yelped.
"What are you talking about?" The medic spoke up, growling. "How would we even-"
"There are buildings surrounding us, if we can get into one we can block it up and stop any thing from coming in. This bus isn't safe." I glanced back, catching my sisters eyes. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
She stared at me for a long time before gritting her teeth. "Fine…" She scooped up the boy, much to the medics surprise, "Come on, we're getting out of here." She gestured with her head.
"I'll come with you!" The little boy spoke up, glancing back at his mother. The woman took in the situation before nodding her head. Soon enough the others were following Cath with varying degrees of difficulty. I could see the robot turn to them, seeming to try to figure out the threat level.
Well we can't have that.
Picking up a piece of what was left of the bus that I could actually pick up, I reeled back and tossed. A sharp thwack sound echoed around the place. Silence filled the air as the others turned back to me. "Run!" I shouted at them.
My sister nodded before taking off past the bus and behind it, racing out of view. The others followed soon after in varying states. The Medic was right behind my sister with the older woman helping our bus driver while pushing her son ahead. The quiet girl followed behind, surveying the surroundings before glancing briefly backward. I really need to get their names… well, I might not need them once we get someplace safe. We can find a way to make contact with others and figure out what happened.
Well… if I somehow survive pissing off a freaking robot...
So sorry about the delay you lovely folks. You see, I decided it would be better to just start at the beginning and clean up from there.
Of course, after I made that decision I found myself inundated with work from my editor, one of my publishers and being accepted with another publisher all at once so... I was kind of working on three main-line stories at the same time. Things have calmed down a little, but there's still a lot of work to be done. I promise I am still working on this story, but it will come in slow updates. Once I get up to a certain point the story will continue, but I find I need to make the proper clean-ups first before then so... Anyway, thank you for your patience with me.
Thanks!
Animelover3593