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Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Zeta Project'. I do not own any of its characters. It's just a fanfiic.
I own Annie's and her sister's characters.
As English isn't my native language, I want to thank Antje for her editing help on this chapter.
The Hero
by Iglika
Chapter Two
The people in the bus became panicked; some of them screamed that they couldn't swim; others murmured prayers and remained hopeful that death would stay away…
I sensed my sister squeeze my hand. "Oh, Annie, my dear, you can't swim!"
I looked at my sister. I had a different sister now. Not the proud one, but a loving older sister who cared for me even more than she cared for herself, as she couldn't swim as well.
The bus shook for third time, much stronger now and it seemed to reach the river floor.
Most of the people began screaming in horror again… a baby's crying came from the seat in front of me…
Zee carefully left the unconscious driver, then he approached the fore seat and he gently said to the mother, "Don't be afraid, everything will be okay." Then he addressed to all the people in the bus, "Please, listen to me! We aren't on the river's bottom! There's no water above us, just around us. Fortunately there are rocks in the river as well and the bus hit a rock and stuck on it. The balance is unstable, so please do not make jerky movements! I'll help you all to go out on the bus's roof and then I'll help you to cross the river and reach the bank. Just don't panic, please don't panic!"
One by one all the people silenced, relieved by Zee's firm but soft and warm voice. And I was sure their eyes were focused on him right now. I couldn't take my eyes off him either. His handsome face and tall, strong body along with his deep-toned voice radiated confidence that everything was under his control. He knew that it would happen exactly as he said – we would make it, we all would make it!
Even my sister squeezed my hand again, giving me an encouraging smile.
Ro still stood upright beside me without paying attention to the water, flowing through the hole behind her back. She looked at Zee. There was no sign, not even a shadow of fear on her face, as if… as if it wasn't the first time she saw her boyfriend save people. She trusted him. Her calmness made my belief in him stronger.
"Who do you think you are?" yelled a green-haired guy from the last seat of the bus. "Why should we believe you?"
"Shut up, twip!" I jumped on my feet and yelled back at him. "Do you have a better plan for escape? Then just shut up!"
Zee though answered quietly, "It doesn't matter who I am. We all have to get away from here. And I need your help. Someone has to help people reach me when I go to the roof to draw them up."
"Please, believe him! He's our only chance to go out from here and he's more than what you can see. Please trust him!" Ro urged the panicked crowd, "Any muscles would help now, please, come here and help him!"
Two men from the back approached Zee. He pulled out a laser gun from his coat and he made a big hole on the roof.
Zee had a gun?! Wow! What a tough guy indeed! The mystery around him was even bigger now!
He definitely wasn't a vid star.
Maybe he was some detective or police officer under cover, or federal agent on vacation?
He removed the cut part of the roof, then he took the edge of the hole and he went out, along the bus's roof. He kneeled on the edge and he reached out his hands. "C'mon now, women and kids first. Please help the mother with the baby to come."
Ro immediately went to the woman with the baby. The two men helped her. Holding her child, the mother was pulled up by Zee.
Then there had to be someone, who will take the unconsciousness driver to the roof… then… one by one people began to come and with the help of the two men, the first few passengers were pulled up by Zee's strong hands.
Ro wasn't in the queue; she helped too.
It was our turn. I felt my sister push me on the back. She wanted me to go out of here before her?! I was about to argue, but there was no time. She pushed me even harder and I stretched up my arms.
Some of the men held me by my waist to lift me, then Zee tugged me up as fast as he did it with the other people, but even in this short time I was able to sense how amazing his hands were, as his voice, they were firm, but gentle and kind.
The roof was wet and slippery and the river was over its banks, turbulent… and obviously deep…
I shivered.
If I suddenly fell down… I wasn't able to swim…
Zee drew up my sister.
He scanned for a second all the people on the roof - the unconsciousness driver, the mother with the baby, the other women… We all barely managed to keep our balance on the roof.
Zee bent over the hole again. Out-voicing the noise of the river, he said to the people inside the bus, "There's no more place on the roof. I have to help these people reach the bank. I'll be back for you!"
Then he turned toward us. "Please don't be scared of what you're about to see. I'm not dangerous, I just want to help you."
There was a hissing sound, some white-green light around him and…
His human appearance vanished, revealing the silver body of a robot!
He was a robot?!
This handsome guy was a robot?!
But he looked cool, even in his metal shape!
His long head looked like helmet and his white luminous eyes were a little bit cat-shaped, really charming!
Why be scared from him? He was a real knight; he was just as a knight with metal armour!
The coast above the magway was steep, vertical and rocky. Zee angled to the opposite bank, flatter, closer and… he extended his arms! Actually it looked like he threw his arms out, reaching a tree. His hands held the tree, some sharp nails like spurs drove into bus's roof and he stretched his body, becoming like a bridge for us!
We wanted the mother with the baby to be the first to pass the 'bridge', but she was so stressed, she was afraid if she would manage to creep over Zee, holding her baby.
Instead two women began creeping over the robot. The first one dragged the unconsciousness driver by his arms; the second one helped her, carrying him by the feet…
When they reached the bank, the mother with the baby made a step toward Zee, but in the same second…
"Where did he go? Why did he leave us? Who will help us now?!" yelled the green haired guy from inside. He ran toward the hole. The remaining passengers scuffled with him and we lost the unstable balance. The bus gave a lurch again and as Zee was caught with his feet on the bus's roof; his body was shaken as well.
Oh, no! The mother with the baby!
She was about to reach Zee but she slipped on the wet roof, she screamed… I tried to reach her but I couldn't…
With her crying baby and with a desperate cry, she tumbled to the turbulent waters…
I wanted to shout out, "Zee! The woman and the baby! Hurry!" but my cry stuck in my throat from horror…
Zee didn't need for someone to tell him what had happened. He let go of the tree immediately. His body went back to normal and he jumped in the river.
I had no idea how much time passed before Zee came to the rippling surface, maybe just a few seconds only, but the baby didn't cry. It was the woman who cried, "My baby… oh, my baby…"
Zee said nothing. He just held the woman with her baby, using only his feet to propel toward the bank. The two women with the unconscious driver waited. He reached the ground and placed the woman on the grass. Zee turned on a light from his silver chest in order to help the woman see her baby better. She was in a total panic, kneeled with her child in her arms, crying. The two women approached her, but they had no idea what to do. Zee said something to her I couldn't hear. The woman handed the baby to him. He very carefully took the child and even more carefully he turned it upside down…
"What he's doing?!" I asked my sister.
"That's amazing! He's doing exactly what he has to do! The little babies are like bottles, if you turn them up side down, they will vomit the fluid! That's how you save a drowning baby!"
My sister was really smart! She really knew everything!
The baby coughed and then wailed.
Something happened in the bus. The green haired guy screamed again. Men tried to calm him down. There was a tussle again. The bus shook even more this time and the slippery roof angled.
Zee jumped back in the river the moment the bus moved. People from the inside began to holler that the bus had taken on more water. For those of us on the roof it was difficult to balance, I slipped… and I slipped down, my feet touched the river's water… My sister grabbed my hand. She had managed to grip the edge of the hole, but she hadn't enough strength to keep me over the water…
"Help!" screamed my sister.
"Help us!" screamed the people inside the bus and the women and the girls on the roof… they fell in the water…
I tired to clutch my sister's hand, but my whole body was paralyzed with fear… I had no strength to hold my sister's hand anymore as I felt her hand slacken. The river grasped my legs… it came closer to devouring me…
"Annie!" yelled my sister the moment our hands no longer touched.
I fell in the river… The cold water cut my breath… I tried to keep myself on the top, moving wildly my arms and my legs, but I couldn't… I couldn't make it… I sank… The cold water filled my eyes, my nose, my month, my lungs… I had to breathe… I had to breathe… I was dying… I would drown… I would die…
to be continued…
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