Chapter 2: Rachel

"It's really getting foggy out there isn't it mom?" I worried.

"Sure is Rachel. Don't worry honey, we're almost home" she assured me.

"Good, it's been a long week" I replied.

Mom is Linda Madison, the coach of our girl's basketball team for Westfield Academy, a girl's only university. She also doubles as our trainer, driver, phys-ed teacher and mother to me, Rachel Madison. I am our starting point guard, first time a freshman has won that position in a long time. And no, before you ask, I had to earn it fair and square; my mother definitely did not play favorites!

We were coming back from a tournament in Kingston, a city a few hours to the northeast. We had done quite well, coming in second out of 16 teams, most of them much larger Universities. Vanessa, our shooting guard earned MVP of the tournament, and a couple of us received honorable mentions-including me! We were so pumped. We played in the championship game Friday afternoon and left right after the awards ceremony so we could all get back for March break.

A couple of the girls were giggling up a storm in the back and got a bit loud. Mom looked back in the mirror to tell them to keep it down as some of the girls were sleeping. I was looking out the front window when I saw a car coming out of the fog and coming right for us.

"Mom look out!" I screamed.

Mom swore and cranked the wheel to the right. We missed the car but we went into a spin. The girls started screaming as mom tried to get the bus under control. The road was so slick that we kept spinning around until we hit the guide rail and broke through. The bus slid down into the ditch and then tipped over. We all flew out of our seats to hit the top of the bus. The girls were screaming and crying as we finally came to a rest at the bottom of the ditch. The water started coming in from the broken windows on the side of the bus pointing at the bottom.

"How is everyone? Is anyone hurt?" I asked.

A few of the girls started talking at once as I looked around in the darkness. I couldn't see the back of the bus but I could see the water rising. We had to get out of there.

"Girls! Shut up and start looking for a way out!" I shouted.

Some of them stood up on the bottom seats and started pushing at the windows. I looked up front to see how my mother was. I couldn't find her so I l started looking for her under the water by the side door in the front. I felt a body and lifted her head above the water.

"Mom, Mom can you hear me?" I shouted.

I felt her take a breath but her eyes were shut. There was blood on her face and a bump on her forehead. I tried to pull her up farther but she was stuck on something. Just as I was going to ask for help I heard a voice from outside calling out to us. I could hardly hear it but the girls started moving away from the back of the bus.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Vanessa let me know that someone asked us to move away from the back windows. I looked up in time to see a dark figure jump off the road and land on the top of the bus with a huge bang that shook the whole bus. A couple of windows broke under his weight and I heard a couple of screams.

"Wow, did Sasquatch land on us or what?" I asked.

A couple of the girls giggled. We saw guy peering down through the cracked window and make a quip about being Spiderman.

"More like the Chubby Hippoman I'd say. We saw your swan dive remember?" I retorted before I could help it.

"It's the coat. Ruins the aerodynamics something awful and adds 20 pounds to my normally svelte figure" he shot back.

Some of the girls giggled. Well he was kind of funny.

I heard him ask the girls to move back so he could break the window. They moved towards me and then I heard glass breaking and then some stomping on some metal. He yelled in for the girls to come over and I saw them reaching up. He reached down and pulled them right up out the window. Wow he was strong! He did it eight times in a row without stopping and these were no light weight stick thin model types that he was hoisting out like they were five year old kids he was giving a swing. I heard the girls moving on the roof of the bus-actually the side of the bus and started getting panicky that they were going to leave mom and I behind. The water we were in was getting cold and I started shivering. Just then I saw his head pop in and look around. He didn't acknowledge that he saw us but before I could say anything, he had lowered himself into the bus.

He started checking the seats that were under water. I saw him getting closer and then he stopped and started pulling up a girl. It looked like a small blond, maybe Cindy, our reserve point guard. She's been down there underwater the whole time? Oh no! I hope she's ok. He put her on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Did I mention he was strong? He walked back through the water and yelled for some help. Two girls bent over and helped pull her up through the window. He told them to start CPR if anyone knew it to get her breathing. Don't leave us back here I was going to shout but he turned back and swam back towards us. He found us! Man he was a big guy! I noticed he was cut and had blood running down the side of his face and he looked totally soaked. I could see he had a beard that was dripping water but I couldn't see much more as it was too dark.

"Hi there ladies, are we enjoying your evening swim?" he joked tiredly.

I'm not sure why but he looked and sounded wiped out already. I frowned wondering why but I was worried about mom so I told him that I couldn't get her leg unstuck and she's not waking up.

"Ok, let me go down and look" he said.

He knelt down and followed mom's body down to her legs. I felt him trying to get her leg unstuck for a bit. That didn't work. Next, I saw him grabbing the edge of the metal and tried to pull it apart. I heard him straining and saw his whole body tense up as he pulled at the metal. He must have tried for over a minute before he stopped, panting for air. He re-positioned himself to get a better grip and he went at it again. I felt something shift below but before it could break away I saw him slip and fall headfirst into the water. I heard something clang real load and when he got up he looked woozy and I saw his hands were all cut up and bleeding. Oh shit that must have hurt something awful! He just seems to stand there ready to fall down on me so I had to say something to get him focused.

"Hurry up and quick fooling around, the water is rising in here" I shouted.

Ok, I'm not the most sensitive person out there but one - I was not at my best mentally and two- It looked like he would need some prodding to get back into the game.

Boy that did it! I heard him muttering under his breath and the look he gave me would have me backing up and shaking in my boots if I could. He looked real mad. He moved back and reached down and grabbed the metal again. This time he started really yanking the metal, lunging back and forth while holding the metal in his hands. The bus started shaking and swinging he was trying so hard. I heard the metal snap and saw him fly back to the other side of the bus. He hit the wall so hard and fell back into the water. He didn't move for a least a minute and when he did he groaned and looked out of it. The poor man looked like a train had hit him off a bridge into the river canyon below. Unfortunately, when he hit the side of the bus, he must have jarred something loose, because the water started gushing in. He didn't seem to notice so I had to get him out of his daze

"You can nap later ok; I could use a little help here" I shouted at him, cringing inside.

I could tell he got mad again but he did get up and come over and help me get my mom up.

"Ok, get moving to the back, princess" he said.

He called me Princess! Somehow I don't think he is using it as a compliment. Too bad! I got up and started moving to the back. I pulled myself back underwater using my hands on the seats and my feet on the seat backs below. I got my head above water and heard the girls screaming for us to get out of there before it filled up. I peered back to try and see my hero and mom but they were still underwater. I don't know how he was going to do it with no hands but just before I started their heads pop out of the water. I was so relieved. Mom still wasn't conscious but I saw her take a small breath. I looked up and asked for some help with mom. Sue and Carol leaned over and helped grab mom while the guy and I pushed up from below.

"After you princess" he said like he was talking to a child.

Ewwww I hate when someone does that and shot him the finger without thinking. Now I was mad, so I jumped up and pulled myself up just like a gymnast. I felt him pushing from below, right on my ass, which normally I might have liked from a hunky guy like him, but pissed me off after the condescending bullshit I just heard. The girls started helping him out of the bus but he got stuck on the jagged edge of the window frame.

"Geez, forget Hippoman, we should call you Whaleman" I teased him. "Could you get your butt out of there sometime this century?

He gave me another of his looks could kill glare I was still mad at him so it didn't scare me. I reached down and started pulling him out. His coat ripped all the way down the back just as he popped out of the window. I laid him on his stomach to check to see if he was cut but thankfully he wasn't. I rolled him onto his back and knelt down beside him to check him out.

He was a wreck. He had a bump on his forehead, with a cut running through it just oozing blood. His hands were all cut up and bleeding and he was wheezing like a 90 year old emphazema patient without his oxygen tank. He looked like a big grizzly bear just come out of a river. He looked a little like that Grizzly Adams guy I saw on an old time movie from way back. He had his eyes closed and he looked like he could pass out at any time. I waited for a minute to let him rest while the girls were working on Cindy trying to get her to breathe. I knew we couldn't wait anymore so I decided I had to get him motivated to get up and help. He wasn't go to like it but we still needed to get off of this bus before it got full of water and decided to move on us.