The Nexus

Chapter 14

Thomas led Emma to the entrance hallway that they had begun in yesterday and there were others there that were planning on heading to North Dakota. Among the others, she recognized Isabelle, Sophia, and baby Josephine.

Emma did her best to avoid the women because she was finding that she enjoyed Thomas's company the most. He didn't seem to care if she didn't talk much, she knew he saw her as a cold-blooded killer, but didn't seem to care, and the women just made her feel uncomfortable; especially the baby.

She had dreamt about that baby a couple of times last night, in between the nightmares that she could only conclude were memories of her childhood. She didn't remember anything beyond her entrance into the organization, and now she was being haunted with images of abuse that she didn't want to put into words.

Oddly, Thomas made her feel safe. Not in the conventional way, but he made her feel mentally safe while she was slowly loosing her grip on reality.

There were about 30 other people waiting at the entrance and Emma saw a few people allowing themselves to be blindfolded. Thomas saw her watching and said, "Yeah, I have to blindfold you, too."

She bent over and allowed him to cover her eyes. "Why so much secrecy?" she asked as she took his hand and allowed him to lead her.

"Probably a year ago we wouldn't have bothered with anything like this, but that was before some of our group members were killed. We're pretty sure it was because the organization was starting to suspect that we were the cause of changes that were happening in U.S. and foreign societies."

"But this place seems like it's been here for years as a secret hideout," Emma said.

Thomas was still leading her and Emma could now tell that they were in the open air. "There were a few Counselors who decided to start building little places like this years ago. Apparently they were predicting that this sort of problem was going to start happening. There are a few people who have been seeing, or producing The Nexus, that seem to actually have a grasp on future events. But, to be honest with you, there aren't that many and there are still a people with egos that get in the way of our progress at times."

Thomas stopped, "Bend over," he said and she did. He removed her blindfold and she saw that they were now by a road in the forest. There was a white bus parked on the side of the road and people were already loading themselves on.

Emma fell in line to get on the bus right behind Thomas. She was done asking questions for now and Thomas seemed done talking. Emma spied Sophia, Isabelle, and Baby Josephine at the front of the line, and Sophia was carrying a car seat for the baby.

Emma was actually looking forward to the long drive ahead of her. She figured it could be as long as eighteen hours before they arrived in North Dakota, and she was hoping she might be able to get some dreamless sleep on the way.

The bus was a sixty-five-passenger bus and there were about thirty people loaded on when Emma did a rough head-count. She was in her own seat with Thomas across the isle from her.

She balled up the canvas bag that Thomas had given her and wedged it up against the window as a pillow. As the bus started to move, it didn't take long for Emma to be dozing off.