Page 8 of Rok's Captive
“What…what happened?” Jacqui groans, her brows furrowing as she presses her hands to her temples. “Where are we?”
More of the other women are waking up and asking the same questions. Some stumble from their seats. One woman, who is obviously more awake than everyone else, begins screaming. Her piercing cry seems to bounce off the metal walls around us.
“ENGINE FAILING. RELEASING CARGO TO REDUCE LOAD.”
That…doesn’t make sense. The Xyma bot isn’t making sense.
It’s all the thought I get to have before the whole bus jerks. Our limp bodies jostle in our seats before the movement suddenly stops. At first, it’s not immediately obvious. Not until I see Jacqui’s body rising right in front of me, held back only by the seatbelts still around her torso. It’s only then that I realize I’m floating too, lifting off the seat without effort on my part.
Someone screams. “Ayy, dios mio!” Someone else is calling for help. I turn my head to see a few women who’d no doubt released their seatbelts floating up to the bus roof, their arms and legs flailing even though it’s obvious they’re still disoriented. They hit the metal top of the bus, wincing from the cold and the impact. But I’m starting to think this isn’t a bus anymore, is it.
Gripping Jacqui’s hand, I swallow hard. It’s like moving saliva over cracked earth. My mouth feels slack and dry, like I haven’t used it in a long, long time. “Don’t unstrap yourself.”
She’s more awake now and her wide eyes find mine. “Jus, what the hell’s happening?”
I wish I could answer. I don’t like not having an answer.
“Gravity,” the woman behind us suddenly says. Her head sways as we lock gazes. “This is zero gravity.”
It feels like the floor opens up beneath me, but my feet are not even on the floor. I’m still floating slightly in my seat, only the seatbelts holding me stationary. Still, I try to dispel the fear clawing at my bones. “What could cause that?” I refuse to face the most obvious answer. “We were just on our way to Arizona. We can’t be…Howwould we be in space?”
The woman’s jaw tightens and I can tell she doesn’t want to say it either.
“We’re in fucking space?!” Jacqui exclaims and in the next second, there’s a hum of voices raised in panic and distress like an echoing wave through the bus.
“I know I shouldn’t have trusted that job ad. I knew it was too easy,” the same woman behind us mutters.
I gulp. There must be a way out of this. We can find a way out. “Hey, what’s your name?”
The woman doesn’t answer immediately. Almost as if she’s swallowing down a bout of the same fear swelling in my gut.
“Mikaela,” she says after a few moments and I nod, swallowing hard to get rid of a wave of nausea that rises within me.
“And you?” I direct my gaze to the woman beside Mikaela.
“Erika.”
“Okay. I’m Justine. This is my sister, Jacqui.” I glance at Jaqs only to see her clenching her fists so hard her hands have gone white.
“I’m Hannah,” the woman in the aisle seat across from Jacqui says, the fear in her eyes clear as she looks over at us. I nod, gaze shifting to the woman beside her. Her head’s bowed, breaths coming heavy as she looks over at me sideways through her glasses, her eyes darting away the moment our gazes lock.
“Tina,” she says. “I’m Tina.”
The commotion in the bus increases even though outside is eerily quiet. There’s no more Xyma bot, the driver has disappeared into thin air, and I don’t hear anything except the panic echoing inside my chest.
“Alright. Erika, Mikaela, Tina, and Hannah, any of you know what the hell’s going on?”
Unsurprisingly, they all shake their heads.
“No idea,” Hannah gulps. “This was just supposed to be a side hustle.”
“Same,” Erika murmurs. “But it’s clear this is something else now.”
“My head feels funny,” Jacqui groans.
“Mine too,” I force back another wave of nausea. “But we can figure this out.” Wehaveto figure this out.
“Where’s the driver?!” Someone from the back shouts. “Why’s he left us here and what happened to the bus?”
