Close Encounters of the Bus Kind

[46]

Shock and terror slowly rippled out across the entire team. Nadia felt brief relief that Tonya stepped out of the area even though she knew that she would be back soon. Eva seemed like she was going to pass out as Elsa rushed over to support her.

“I didn’t…I didn’t mean to…I didn’t,” Eva weakly managed. Thessaly supported the team captain from the other side and gingerly helped her up. Eva gave an anguished, covered cough as she did her best not to puke all over the court. Tatiana rushed over with water. The motion of setting it to her mouth, as she struggled to control her breathing, seemed more important than the actual act of drinking.

Erin steadied herself before taking charge of the group. She had the girls carry Eva over to the bleachers and have someone sit with her while she sent Thessaly over to see if she could shut the door to the hallway leading to the lockers and keep Tonya out.

Nadia didn’t know what she could do to help, so she just wound up shadowing the girls who were doing things. Eventually, Erin grabbed her and squeezed her tight in a hug, whispering, “I hope your secret power is some sort of time travel. Cause I know we all feel like we could use a do-over right now.” Nadia settled into the quick hug and closed her eyes for a breath. She figured her power wasn’t that, but she liked the sentiment.

It seemed like Eva‘s command ability had been used in that fashion though, if what happened to Nesbitt was to be taken literally. While the monster in the abandoned Sears got a trip straight to Hell, it only made sense that Nesbitt went back to the Middle Ages. So, she was probably long dead now. Nadia did her best not to dwell on that.

Odessa, who had joined Thessaly over by the door, rushed back onto the court and plaintively whispered to the group, “Someone’s coming…” Tatiana looked like she was going to pass out at those words and turn invisible. She already had a certain translucency that Erin had to warn her about.

In much the same way Leslie had restrained her talent through meditation, it seemed to Nadia that Eva had also held hers at bay. There were a few slips in the past week but the group had kept quiet about them. They could sometimes hear the sparrows nesting in the gym rafters. And invisibility was a slippery slope they had to be vigilant for. Fortunately, Erin‘s ability tended to go unnoticed because the only real monster that lurked around the gym was Nesbitt.

Some of the girls seemed stronger, smaller, and faster than usual but that was easy to ignore. Fortunately, the gym was big enough that if they ran into an unpleasant sharing, Eva was able to find an excuse to move far enough away to reset it. For the most part, though, it was manageable.

Shared invisibility could’ve been a good thing at this exact moment, even though Nadia doubted that Tonya finding the gym suddenly empty would solve their problems. But there was one strategy that occurred to Nadia to save them. She rushed over to Odessa’s side and asked her if she could produce an illusion of Nesbitt.

The girl took a few, deep breaths and processed that notion as Thessaly by the door wavered between holding it and darting away. Straightening and clenching her fists, Odessa nodded before saying, “I can try…”

Everything felt like it was going too quickly. Eva was the only one even processing the notion that, though she was vile, an entire person had vanished and been banished to certain death in another age. Eva’s stomach roiled as she did her best not to dwell on the list of sins she felt weighing on her heart. The girls got together into some semblance of their regular positions for practice.

Gina, who had lingered back amidst the fallout, quietly gave her neighbor an earnest hug on the shoulder. That did more for Eva‘s mental state than anything so far as she quietly hugged back.

After a lot of sweating and tense straining, along with Nadia doing her best to bolster Odessa‘s ability even though she knew that wasn’t her true skill, a solid, credible illusion of Nesbitt appeared with her clipboard and red windbreaker. She cruelly scowled in the direction of a wall while writing. Odessa had to remain relatively close to the image of the coach and maintain eye contact, or the whole thing blipped away. It was something, at least.

Unfortunately, the illusion completely went away when the person warned about poked their head through the door. It was Gina. Or rather a second Gina. Odessa couldn’t resist the distraction. The original Gina rushed over to her twin. Nadia was just glad to see she was fine, even though she heard plenty about the drama from Odessa in Geometry. Louise’s presence nearly lit a fire in Eva to go yell at her, except for the fact that Gina got there first.

She scolded her twin and frantically hustled her behind the bleachers to hide. Whatever she said, whispered right at her doppelgängers ear, soon shut her up and got her obediently climbing around the dusty tangles of wood and metal to keep out of sight. Once satisfied that no one could see Louise, she urged Odessa to bring back the illusion, since Tonya was still out there.

That earned a long breath of exasperation from Odessa as she started constructing the illusion again. The group did their best to brainstorm alternatives, from Gina blowing out the lights, which would cause them to have to leave the gym, to Elsa using her destructive voice. But the illusion still seemed the safest.

This second attempt by Odessa coalesced easily into Nesbitt form and even had the capability of looking around harshly. But it still couldn’t talk or interact, which they knew would soon reveal the deception. They could only hope that the harsh presence and silent treatment would discourage Tonya from addressing Nesbitt.

They let Odessa relax and refine her illusion while wandering over to the door. It took several minutes, but Tonya soon emerged, not from the expected main hallway, but rather the short one leading outside. She wasn’t alone, Thessaly relayed nervously.

Eva received copious amounts of attention and comfort to the point that it embarrassed her. She steadied herself and quietly voiced the question of whether she could do what she just did to finally get rid of Tonya.

The girl who stepped through the doorway first was Sasha, clinging to her sports bag and peering around. Marisol and Audrey followed together. All three of them gathered that something strange was going on even though the gym appeared normal except for the clusters of girls not practicing while Nesbitt mechanically glowered and scribbled. Then, Tonya entered.

Odessa staggered and shook out her hand, but the illusion remained. Tonya’s footfalls clacked noisily against the floor of the gym.

“Hey, Coach. I brought the players that you cut and I’d like you to give them a second chance.” She smiled widely and looked around at the groups. Odessa pressed a hand to her forehead as she resisted the urge to blink. The image of coach gazed in her direction before waving a hand and returning to writing on the clipboard. Nadia wanted a backup plan, but they didn’t have one.

Thessaly could steamroll the girl with her strength but that wasn’t the kind of person she was. Sasha started to separate from Tonya’s end of the room and Marisol and Audrey crept away with her. Tonya noticed and slipped a hand into her pocket.

“Coach…are you a cock-sucking whore? If you are, don’t say anything.” Odessa desperately tried to make Nesbitt’s voice emerge with anger. All that came out was a quick scoffing noise before the illusion started to waver and blinked out. Erin shot her hand up but Tonya was quicker on the draw with a similar device from the vision. She was soon paralyzed in place.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Tonya sighed. “I had a…feeling this was coming. You’re all getting nice and ripe for the harvest. And you’re all in one place. Convenient for me.”

Eva burst out with, “YOU STOP…” but she was cut off by another click from Tonya‘s device, which paralyzed her as well. Murmurs and cries filtered amongst the group.

“No. I don’t think I will. Nice effort, good hustle. Ultimately, futile. I’ve been preparing for this for a while.” She clicked another part of her device and the rest of the girls slumped to the floor. Nadia felt pressure on her temple that distracted her concentration. Several girls rolled in place on the ground but couldn’t find the strength to get up.

Tonya let out a long, satisfied breath. “I’m soo glad we can get this all out in the open. It’s bad to keep secrets from your team. I even have a few things to confess. I’m the reason that you were all abducted by the Amashasama… the crab people… crab people. Those crusty crustaceans love their scintillating aromas and I left the most intriguing trail for them to follow. Why? Because I wanted them to do what they did…”

With a glance through the tangle of wood and metal, Nadia could see that Louise was still on her feet, not immobilized. She looked away from that and towards Erin, who had her arm outstretched as Nadia did the same. Tonya stepped between them.

“True love. Romantic. And disgusting. So gross. So human. I hate it. It’s all filth, like rotting meat that you can’t get rid of no matter how hard you scrub. But you gotta fit in and have the right look. My usual look is very gray with large black eyes, no hair, and synthetics. Although I do kind of like my long, black locks. No close encounter photos for you, Gina. Shame I never got to probe you, you’d probably like it.”

Foaming spittle puffed around Eva’s lips as she strained against the paralysis with untempered hatred. Louise delicately shuffled her way towards the edge of the bleachers.

“Boobs are the absolute worst though. You organic bitches are so gross. They’re all heavy and dangly and pokey and perky. Paul, you have my sympathy in that regard. So yeah, I’m the reason you were abducted. I like to track potential. A good shimmer in human form is easy to see, like a shiny egg. But you never know if it’s going to hatch. That’s why you need to borrow an incubator. A little alien intervention that slips under the radar. If those crabby kooks hadn’t messed with your genetic codes then you would’ve lived completely boring lives. Well, more boring lives.”

Nadia struggled intensely against the tingling force holding her in place. Thessaly looked like she was making some progress, but she wasn’t even able to get to her knees.

Tonya stretched. “Oh, feel free to fight as much as you want. It’s totally entertaining. There’s no way out. If there was, then I wouldn’t be gloating like this. I’m a business Grey, but I do like to have fun with my quarry. Some of us are a bit crude, we like to eat you or your cows. Cattle either way. Quite the delicacy. Some of us pay big for just a little taste. And I found someone willing to pay huge for the most powerful parts of each of you. Well, just a couple of you. The whole package deal was more of a bonus than the intent. Every human exposed to such advanced genetic engineering is going to come out with something. But my prize is dear Mr. Miss Bus Driver and his lady love. Which sucks… Because they regressed Coach back to where her ability was nascent. If they left her as an adult, then I could’ve had one of the top five strongest telekinetics to harvest!…Oh well, sometimes you have to crack a few eggs to get the good stuff.”

She swung her device around and pressed it right against Erin‘s chest. The scream that followed brought as much fury from Nadia‘s mind and heart as Eva’s foaming fury. Everything hurt and she didn’t care. She had to get up!

“Ah ah ah ah! I may have let you toughen up a bit, but this lovely tool comes from a universe where powered humans are subjugated by my kind. No matter how hard you struggle, it’s like a finger trap and just pulls harder. In fact, there’s really no reason to delay the inevitable.“

Tonya tightened her grip on the device and stepped over to face Nadia. ”This is going to hurt way more than me just rubbing your arms a little bit. But it is the number one, Agent Cross-approved method for getting rid of superpowered people. Yep, that was me. I even took the time to study the Mandela Effect. Not much else you can do when you’re waiting years for a good crop. I’m also responsible for fucking with you a little with those disappearing sisters. Enjoy the full extent of that, as your consciousness melts into a delightful little mush…Nadia…Naaadddia…NADIA!”

Nadia jerked up in her seat. The bus bounced over a rough stretch of road. She looked around in confusion. The whole team was here. On the bus.

“You sure seem beat. I wish I could sleep that easily on a bus!” Erin Wray giggled as she settled back into her seat. Nadia found herself seated between Gina and Elsa in the second row with Eva looking out the window. Everyone was here. Sasha was listening to music behind her with Marisol and Audrey arguing about something. Thessaly had Tatiana situated up front and they were sharing cooking advice.

Leslie was hovering in the back with Odessa, who seemed oddly uncomfortable. Coach Hill sat comfortably at the front of the bus, not far from the driver, who she couldn’t see. It was the same driver as usual though. She assured herself that. Erin…

Nadia looked over to her right and watched her friend’s features. Erin looked so giddy as she had a silly notion for Gina that Dogmen in cryptid stories should be their own best friends. The idea kind of went over Nadia‘s head, but it made sense when Gina eventually explained it.

Something was bugging her though. Nadia felt peculiar. She didn’t have the words to describe it. It felt like a tiny but persistent itch inside her skull, like sitting somewhere and discovering that ants have secretly crawled across you for several minutes and you never realized it. She could feel herself coming to a similar epiphany even though the details still felt cloaked to her.

At the moment of greatest panic, everything finally clicked. Her boyfriend!

She forgot to text her boyfriend after the game! She texted her mom and dad to let them know that they were running just a little bit late, but she’d totally forgotten about Paul. Yeah! Her boyfriend Paul! She hoped he wasn’t worried about her.

Working quickly, she composed a thoughtful and sweet message with a couple of choice emojis and sent it his way. She included lots of love and kisses. Even though the Internet out here in the desert past the Air Force Base was super spotty, the message sent and was soon read and replied to.

“I love you too, babe. We should get together on Sunday at your dad’s restaurant. You haven’t even met my mom yet. She’ll love you. Thinking about you every moment and can’t wait to see you again soon. Love, Paul.”

She held her phone close to her chest in the mimicry of a hug and smiled lightly before glancing out the window. The moon hung heavy and bright in the sky with sparkling stars adorning the brilliant desert night. Why did she think it should be cloudy?

She chuckled to herself and listened to Gina relay how a night like this was the perfect night for an alien abduction encounter. Nadia resisted giggling at that but wore a coy smile.

Maybe, she reflected, out there in the untold number of stars in creation, that she just barely glimpsed through her dad‘s telescope, there might be other worlds and other species. Something like 10 to the 24th power stars. Endless possibilities. But that ignored the basic insurmountable magnitude of space between worlds.

Aliens probably were out there, but she doubted any of them would ever see one.