The commotion died down rapidly as if everyone inside the liquid-filled balloon had gently drifted off to sleep. A bead of cold sweat dripped down Sarah’s forehead. She was momentarily worried that she had just witnessed dozens of deaths, but then she noticed small bubbles visibly rising from some of the captives – a sign that they were somehow still able to breath, perhaps? As a human, she was deeply disturbed, but as a scientist, she couldn’t help but be curious about this logic-defying spectacle.
She didn’t have long to study the scene, though, as the mysterious balloons slowly began to drift back out towards the ocean. As they began to sink into the depths, it looked as though the bathing suits and other clothing items of the slumbering humans were slowly beginning to dissolve away in the liquid.
Though it was hard to tell from this distance, Sarah thought she saw one woman’s newly exposed breasts being squeezed against the sleeping face of the man next to her, but then the waves covered the rest of the creature and it was gone from sight. The beach was now eerily quiet as the only sounds were the rolling waves and the cawing of birds from above. But the idyllic peace did not last long.
Another scream snapped Sarah back to her senses. This time it was not coming from the phone. She didn’t realize she’d been staring into empty space for some time now as Diana had already run towards the chaotic school hallways. Shouts and panicked yells could be heard all over the campus as several faculty members’ attempts to restore order were met with futility.
“P-professor Cassidy!” Sarah felt like things were speeding up from slow motion as she noticed Zoey tugging on her white lab coat. “W-we should go! Everyone’s freaking out outside! What’s going on, professor!?” The look of fear and confusion in her eyes tugged at Sarah’s heart, but for the first time she didn’t have any answers for her.
“Calm down, Zoey,” Sarah replied, in what she hoped was a convincingly calm voice. “I don’t know what’s happening out there but I do know that panicking won’t solve anything. So let’s just carefully make our way out together, ok?”
“Mhm…” Zoey shakily sighed as she relaxed her grip on the coat. Both women made their way to the door of the now deserted classroom. The window-less halls had quieted down by now as most people seemed to have made it outside already, but the distant sounds of sirens and panic could still be heard.
Sarah moved out into the hallway and began to walk swiftly towards the stairs to the ground floor, following the evacuation guidelines. Zoey was not far behind. They burst out of the doors and into the morning autumn air, still brisk from the night. Looking around, they could see that many groups of people were continuing to file out of buildings, with some heading to the parking lots while others simply stood around talking in confusion.
“Zo!” Diana suddenly exited from a nearby crowd and ran towards them. “I was worried I’d missed you! Didn’t you see my texts?” Diana wore an expression of both annoyance and worry.
“Sorry, Di… you know I keep my phone on silent during class.” Zoey said sheepishly, now glancing at the phone in her pocket, which indeed indicated several missed messages. The two girls began to chat as Sarah looked around to take stock of the surroundings, hoping to see other faculty members successfully finding ways to take control of the situation.
“Sarah!” A familiar man’s voice rang out and Sarah looked over her shoulder to see a figure approaching them.
“Professor Sparhawk!” Zoey exclaimed, noticing him just after Sarah did.
“Eh? You know this guy?” Diana asked incredulously.
“Unlike a certain lazy someone, I do extracurricular work between classes,” Zoey declared, clicked her tongue. “Professor Sparhawk is the supervisor for one of them. I’m making connections any way I can!” Zoey crossed her arms proudly.
“Adam! Uh, Adam.” Sarah chirped, fighting to hide the girlish excitement in her voice. He was well built with dark brown hair, steel-gray eyes, and just the right amount of stubble on his chin. He had a couple years on Sarah but they had both started teaching here at the same time and she had had a small crush on him ever since. Well… crushes are for giggling schoolgirls, she always thought, and besides, he’s a coworker. But her attempts to squash her feelings did little to prevent her thoughts from drifting to him while alone in bed at night. Adam made it over to them and took a few deep breaths.
“Ms. Jones,” he nodded at Zoey before turning to Diana. “Ms…?”
“Suzuki. Diana Suzuki,” she answered.
“Ah I believe I’ve seen you around the natural sciences wing. I’m Adam Spawhawk. I teach mechanical engineering, so we don’t cross paths much, huh?” He shrugged, “Everyone from my department has already evacuated… I assume you’ve seen the news?”
“Yeah, we were just watching… whatever that was down on the beach.” Sarah looked up at him, finding some extra mental stability with another adult near.
“I’ve been following the news on the radio,” Adam replied grimly, holding up a small handheld device. “The National Guard has been called. It sounds like these freakish things have been popping up all over the world!”
“Oh my god…” Sarah shook her head in disbelief.
“This can’t be real…” Zoey moaned. She clutched her arms to stop them from shaking.
“Does this mean exams are going to be delayed?” Diana quipped in an attempt to lighten the mood. It didn’t do much.
“I’m glad you are calm enough for jokes, Ms. Suzuki,” said Adam, turning to the nervously smiling Diana. “But right now we need to-”
He was cut off by the sudden blaring of the earthquake alarms coming to life across the city. The familiar, yet jarring test-tones echoed through the campus courtyard. A robotic male voice followed in monotone:
“The following message is transmitted at the request of the California Emergency Management. At 8AM Pacific daylight time, a large number of unidentified organisms entered into several beachside metropolitan areas. At this time, all residents of the state of California are strongly advised to seek shelter indoors, avoid windows, and lock any entrances. Tune into local news broadcasts as updates are made available.” The test tone played again and the message started to repeat.
Chaos. Everyone in the courtyard started running towards the campus doors to get back inside. People were shoved out of the way and nearly trampled, bags were thrown to the ground, and the panicked yells were almost as loud as the alarms.
“Let’s go!” Zoey yelled to the small group, her eyes suddenly sharp and focused. As she turned to sprint towards the door that she and Sarah had recently exited from, Adam grabbed her arm.
“Wait. This isn’t the place to be,” he said in a calm voice. “Come on, I know a better spot!” He began to jog towards the street while beckoning the rest of the group.
“Where are we going?” Sarah huffed as she ran to catch up. She was glad she had opted to forgo wearing heels today, despite it not being a lab session. Zoey and Diana easily kept pace alongside her as all four of them hit the sidewalk.