The Nexus

Chapter 25

A stream of light coming through the thin opening in the curtains was what woke Emma the next day. She was refreshed from meditating and eating all the previous day and felt motivated to actually set some goals for herself. The first goal was to get out of this bed and try to find some clothes that she liked more than the plain shorts and t-shirts that had been provided for her so far.

The dark wood floor felt cool against the bottoms of her feet as she rose out of the bed. The small room was beginning to make her a little claustrophobic and she grabbed her shower things and headed out of the room. The walls and the large, shared bathroom did not do much to help her claustrophobia and by the time she was done showering and dressed again in borrowed clothes, she was downright stir crazy.

Every thing in the house had a bright quality to it and yet it was so dreary in certain corners and rooms. Her mind was still on high alert, but it was no longer racing. It was Thomas's words that were still anchoring her to the present moment, every present moment. Thoughts from the past still came up to haunt her, but she would just stop and allow herself to feel whatever the thought brought. Mostly it was shame and guilt that were with her, and sometimes a complete and overwhelming terror that would keep her frozen for a few minutes while she would breathe through it.

Now she was wandering down the hall after putting her things back in her room. She came to Thomas's door and knocked quietly.

She looked down as he opened it. He was bleary eyed and shirtless. He must've slept for ten hours she thought because he had left her alone early in the evening and she had already been awake for a while.

"Nice to see that you've caught up on your sleep," she said, smiling.

He smiled back, "Come in for a minute and I'll get ready," he said.

The antsy feeling returned to her as she walked into his room. "I need to get out of here for a while," she said.

Thomas had put on a faded blue t-shirt with his beige kaki pants. "Okay," he said. "We can borrow a car and go out for some breakfast."

She nodded and waited for him to clean up and get ready to go.

By the time they were downstairs she had to go outside to wait for him to arrange everything for them to leave. The feeling of escape was so strong in her she started to wonder if it was more than just restlessness.

She walked down the front path, under aspen and birch trees. It was the same feeling as in the house. There was a refreshing breeze around her and the sun was bright, but the shade and all of the trees made Emma feel like she couldn't breathe. Again, she focused on this moment. She closed her eyes slightly and deliberately walked through the trees while calming her breath. She felt the ground below her feet and the breeze tickling her cheek.

It shot through her like a bolt of lightening. A vision that lasted less than an instant, but told her everything. Her eyes snapped open and she turned to run into the house.

She ran through startled people who were sitting in the front room chatting together and into the dinning area. She stopped and searched the room, then ran to the actual kitchen where she found Thomas smiling and talking to a bearded man that Emma had not met yet.

When he turned to look at her the smile left his face and was replaced with a look of concern, "What's wrong, Emma?" he asked.

"Everyone has to get out of her," she said.

Thomas looked puzzled, "I'm serious, I don't know how I know this, but The Agency is coming! They're close and we might not get everyone out in time if we don't hurry."

The bearded man didn't hesitate as he ran to a large red button on the wall at the back of the kitchen and slammed the palm of his hand down on it. An alarm sounded throughout the house that reminded Emma of a tornado siren from when she was a kid.

A wave of memory washed over her and she buckled over for a moment, completely lost in another moment with her mother, in a basement, hiding from a tornado. She shook the memory away. It wasn't important and Thomas was already by her side.

Noises from people running around in the house were coming in through the kitchen door and the bearded man ran past them shouting, "Get out to the garage with whatever you need to bring with you."

This was enough to snap Emma out of her fogginess. She stood up straight and started running back through the house. Leaving Thomas behind.

She ran up to the little room and grabbed the duffle bag from under her bed. It had the last of what she owned, including the two semi-automatic rifles that she had brought from the encounter with the mercenaries in the forest. She threw it over her shoulder and ran back out into the hallway where she ran into Sophia, carrying Isabelle, and Josephine walked behind them. Thomas walked up to the group of women and Sophia looked at Emma with a bit of a smirk, "You sure bring drama wherever you go, don't you?"

Emma shrugged and followed the group down the stairs. The all walked through the long hallway to the right of the bottom of the stairs and followed even more people through a door that led to the garage.

It was a huge garage, it could've held at least ten cars. There was a large bus, like the one that had been hijacked in Yosemite, a few minivans and regular sized vans, along with some motorcycles in the corner.

Everyone piled into the large bus first, but Emma's little group ended up in a maroon minivan with Sophia driving and two people, a man and a woman, that Emma had seen, but not met cramming into the very back with Josephine in a car seat. Thomas and Emma had their own seats in the middle row and Emma placed her duffle bag on the ground in front of her feet.

As they backed out, Sophia said, "What the heck is going on?"

"Ask her," the man answered, pointing to Emma.

Sophia looked in the rear view mirror. "So I was right, you are the cause of all this drama."

Emma was a little annoyed that Sophia was acting rude toward her again.

"She treats everyone like this," Thomas joked after he read Emma's expression.

Emma took a breath and said, "The only way that I can explain what happened is by calling it a vision." She felt like a fool using those words. "I was walking around the trees at the front of the house and I saw people invading the house with guns and taking everyone hostage. I even saw it on TV and the news reporter saying that an anarchist cult was invaded by the FBI or something like that. Except I think that everyone was going to get killed or hurt. There was so much information in the vision that it was changing and all I know is that we had to get out. To just get out." She turned and looked out the window.

Everyone in the van was quiet except Josephine, who was smiling at the man sitting next to her and saying "Hi-eeee," in a very loud baby voice. The man couldn't help but smile back and play with Josephine.

The van followed the other vans and cars down the driveway and out to the main road. The caravan of motor vehicles drove for a few miles and then turned on to a highway and they all began to separate and blend in with the other traffic.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Sophia asked the two occupants in the far back.

The man answered, "Evacuation plans are that we drive somewhere at least 30 miles away and call Jason Davis for next steps."

"I hope your vision is wrong, Emma," Sophia said, "I just can't live like this."