Chapter 43
Rachel led a small group of civilians through a hall leading toward the parking garage, she poked her head through a door and saw 5 cars sitting motionless, other than it was empty,
"Come on" She urged them quietly forward, with everyone in the garage Rachel scanned the room, she spotted the ramp to the street, "Over here" Rachel led them across the room and up the ramp, they made it halfway when they heard a loud tearing sound in the sky above them, a bus fell out of a hole in the sky right above them, Rachel rushed the group back into the garage but they were too late, the vehicle struck the ground a couple feet away and the concrete crumbled beneath them.
Kid Flash grabbed Artemis while Kara scooped up Donna and Garfield as they rushed toward the falling bus, when they arrived the bus was buried in the parking garage ramp with the tail-end sticking out, as they slowly moved closer they heard muffled cries for help, after a second they realized the voices were coming from the hole created by the bus,
"We've gotta stabilize the bus," Donna said, Artemis stepped back and pulled a small mallet from a thigh holster, and began pounding steel stakes into the ground, she struggled to get it through the asphalt, Kara stepped over and offered to take the hammer, Artemis handed it too her nursing a sore shoulder.
Kara got the first stake in and moved a couple of feet later, Artemis fired an arrow into the back of the bus, there was a hiss as it secured itself in place once it had settled she secured it to the stake with a thick cord, they repeated this 4 times, as it began to rain heavier,
"Do you think we can do this?" Garfield asked,
"We're about to find out" Donna answered while searching for something on the side of the bus to grip, Kara wrapped her hands around the bottom of the frame at the back, and Garfield took his place opposite Donna.
They pulled up and back, they managed to pull the bus a foot before it caught on something, Kara's feet slipped and the bus jerked forward, Donna lost her hold, as the bar she was gripping was pulled forward she dug her fingers into the metal siding, the cords attached to the back strained as the hole threatened to swallow the vehicle, Kara forced her heel into the displaced cement, the bus had fallen another half a foot deeper,
"This isn't working" Donna shouted over the pouring rain,
"You got any better ideas?" Kara asked,
"Actually, yeah, instead of pulling it up, we just lower it down and have them climb through it" Kara nodded.
They slowly lowered the bus deeper into the hole, until they felt it touch the ground,
"Hold it steady, we'll get the glass off" Artemis offered,
"Do it" Kara agreed, Kid Flash and Artemis carefully climbed onto the back of the bus and began prying the window off, after a couple minutes of prying they pulled it free and through the rectangular hole sideways,
"Hello" Artemis called down, a teenage girl with short black hair pried the doors open and peeked in,
"We're here" She answered,
"We need you to start sending people up" Artemis yelled,
"Got it" Rachel disappeared for a second, and when she returned she was leading a little girl, she lifted her up to the first seat, the girl wrapped her hand around the bar on the seat above she tried to pull herself up but the rain made the metal slick and she slipped off, falling back into Rachel's arms, Rachel looked up to Artemis but she had already seen the problem,
"I'm gonna come down there" Artemis called as she tied a rope around her waist, she fastened it between her legs, and Kid Flash lowered her into the hole when she reached the bottom she took the girl in her arms and was pulled back up, she pulled the rest of the children up like this while the teenagers and adults in the group climbed up, Rachel was the last 1 to climb up, she moved quickly from 1 seat to the next she was near the top and reached out to take Artemis's hand but she lost her footing and fell.