Chapter 4: "Under Pressure"

"What the hell happened?" Melissa whispered, shivering. Betty raised her shoulders as she watched in fear, she could barely speak anymore. Jason tried to remain calm.

"Something happened to the car. Most likely a blown tire. It's like one tire just stopped working, like it was shot out or something. But we can't stay in here. We need to swim up to the surface." Jason said shakily. He looked around the car as if trying to find a solution. "The pressure will beat us around." Already water started squirting into the tiniest cracks of the car. Any moment the entire thing was about to crack under the water's strength.

"We'll have to do it anyway," Betty groaned. "We can't just wait for help. You've seen how empty this road was. Let's just… let's just…" She was completely out of an idea. It was getting worse. Now the water was up to their waists. In just a few moments they were going to be fully submerged and those seats would be their graves.

"Everyone hold your breath. We'll open the doors and swim out." Jason commanded. The water was up to their necks before Melissa spoke.

"And what about the driver?" She looked at him. Everyone looked at each other. Before Jason could say he was going to take him, Betty spoke out loud and clear.

"I will," she said. Jason looked at her incredulously. "I can do it, Jason. I'm the swimmer here."

"And I'm the lifeguard."

"Yeah, yeah, it's great that we all established what everyone is, let's just focus on survival," Melissa spat. Suddenly there came a crack from the windshield. Then there came the inevitable blast as water punched through. "Out!" Jason howled. He and Betty tried to open their doors as the water knocked everyone back, but luckily the windows broke through by themselves. Jason tried being the noble guy, but the pressure sent his body back into the back of the car and as the glass back there broke through he was sent down deeper into the water, unconscious. Betty was able to take safety with the cushiony chairs. It looked like this was her job to do now. She had to safe all three of them. Her battered chauffer, her roommate who was chugging water, and her drifting boyfriend. Wait, boyfriend? She didn't have the time to think about that.

She started by swimming out her window. That was easy. It was as if swimming all over was easy, and avoiding that beat down from the water pressure was probably not a coincidence either. She pulled the plump European man out of his seat, his beret was floating gently around. She then saw Melissa screaming underwater, losing more and more bubbles. She was struggling out of her seatbelt. Great. The stuck-in-seatbelt situation. Melissa was pulling and pulling crying (if she could) for Betty. Betty made that hand gesture that she'd be coming for her rescue. She tugged the man out of his seat and as she pushed him to the side, she dived into his seat so that she was right next to Melissa. Melissa struggled as Betty fumbled with the seatbelt. Soon enough everyone was starting to lose air, and Betty had three helpless victims to tend to.

Soon enough, after countless tries, the seatbelt gave in to the two girls' wishes. Melissa immediately grabbed Betty as Betty swam the two out of the car as it drifted further away. Next was hauling all three of them onto shore. She could breathe and see underwater, that was a given, but she didn't expect any super strength along with it. This was going to take all her willpower.

She noticed Jason just drifting about five feet away from his unconscious co-victim. Melissa was the only one actually suffering through the drown. Betty grabbed each ones' hands and she pulled them along. Melissa, for once, provided some assistance by swimming ahead of everyone, desperate for air. Betty didn't find this awful of her. It actually took about 100 pounds off of Betty's load.

Soon enough, Melissa reached the shore and threw herself on the ground, crying. Betty followed up with Jason and the driver under each arm. Betty lay both men down onto the sand. Melissa coughed. Betty then turned to the two men before him.

"We'll need to do CPR," Betty concluded. Melissa was too exhausted to do it to one of the two, but, having lost no breath, Betty took control of both of them. She started with the stranger.

About fifty or so feet, from out of sight, Candice and Thompson watched the four, especially Betty. Candice was bored, eager to leave, but Thompson watched on.

"Great. She did it. She did her little heroic feat. Now are you convinced or do I have to shoot their ambulance tires out as well and repeat the process?" Candice grumbled.

"Now we can go, Candice," Thompson said after a moment of observation. "This girl isn't the only one who needs watching you know. Back to Texas we go."

--

Betty, Melissa, Jason and the cabbie were in separate rooms at the campus hospital. Betty was fine. She broke her wrist and suffered a few cuts but she was fine. Melissa, on the other hand, had to wear a cast on her right arm and suffered some severe damage. She'd probably stay at the hospital for about a day. Jason was fine and so was the cabbie. Luckily there were only minor broken bones that could be mended after a while. But just the experience made Betty frightful. She didn't know how long they would have to spend there.

She visited Melissa in her room. Melissa was half asleep when Betty arrived. She opened her eyes.

"Hey," Melissa whispered.

"Hey," Betty's voice started to crack.

"What the hell was that? Why on earth would we just spontaneously crash into the lake?" Melissa started getting restless.

"I have no clue. I guess things are just spontaneous and sudden. It's been like that lately. What with Jason and--"

"It's different than you and Jason."

"I know. When the police started investigating, they managed to get the car out from within the lake. They said there were bullet holes in the left tires. That's how we skidded into the lake."

"But who would try and kill us?! I don't make enemies! And you never do anything to spark such a thing!" Melissa grew quiet in thought. "Could it be—?"

"No. Not Jason." Betty said as if that was the end of that conversation.

"But we just meet the guy in a week. A lot could happen in the summer, Betty! Maybe some stalker-y obsession or something!"

"Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?"

Melissa sighed. "Speaking of which, how's he doing?"

"I was told he's fine. Not fine enough to resume swimming for a while, but fine enough. And the cabbie, well, I doubt he's going to ever chauffer for a bunch of collegians any time soon."

"Nice to see you still have a sense of humor. But something still bugs me. How on earth could you save all three of us like that? I mean, we spent how long under there? You should have been screaming like I was, even if you are a swimmer." Melissa scratched her head. There was a large white cloth over her forehead.

"I guess you're just lucky that you have me for a friend." Betty sighed. "I guess I won't be seeing you until after this weekend then?"

Melissa frowned. "Unfortunately. But while I'm gone you have to keep clear of Jason. I don't like this whole mystery. He's working that serial-killer-sexy thing. Bad news."

Betty tried to hide her guilty look. What if there was some kind of connection between her powers and the accident? It did seem kind of convenient that they'd end up in the water where she could save them all. Either way, they would have died if she didn't save them.

--

It was almost time for Melissa to be released from the hospital that Monday. Betty occupied her time during the afternoon by walking over to the campus lounge. She was out in the courtyard, almost there when the strangest thing happened. Everything grew darker, as if the entire place was shielded from the sun by a skyscraper-like tree.

Betty looked up to the sky, shielding her eyes as she witnessed a solar eclipse. There were gasps and muttering amongst everyone who was outside. People stopped walking to look up to the sky. Some stopped talking to each other to look at what the commotion was. Even people from inside the buildings were walking out to check out the eclipse. It was such an odd feeling. It amazed Betty that everyone would stop what they were doing just to stare up in the sky. She smiled.

Everyone around the world stopped to look out into the sky. New York City, Tokyo, Las Vegas, and all across the globe. Back in California, Betty stared on in amazement knowing that somewhere in the world, more extraordinary things were happening. And maybe she wasn't alone.

Betty then resumed what she was doing as soon as she realized her eyes were starting to hurt. Gee, making a dramatic look at a solar eclipse was hard. She went into the campus lounge and over to the counter to ask for a coffee. She then looked at the TV sitting up high above everyone near the counter. It showed a news broadcast of the "astounding and once-in-a-lifetime experience" followed by some story about a train wreck in Odessa, Texas and how a blonde teenage girl saved a man. When it got to that last bit, Betty looked up at the TV. Apparently, they didn't get a chance to actually see the teenage heroine.

Maybe there was a connection there. But then again, there are "heroes" everywhere and this girl is not likely to share such a circumstance like having Betty's fish-like ability. The girl just went in, pulled a man out, and bolted. It reminded Betty of one time at a football game in high school involving a streaking incident. Those were the days.