Trevor could almost see the waves of fear as he and Fathom flew down the street on his anti-grav sneakers. Trevor stayed visible because, really, why not? He didn't want any armed passerbys seeing only Fathom zip through the air. Also, he thought, it'd be better for Fathom to see who it was she grasped so...  

     They passed a group of school kids, all in the same grade, say nine, ten years old. The kids screamed wildly while the adults that supervised them screamed even louder in an attempt to calm them down. 

     They passed a bald man screeching at the top of his lungs and waving away anyone who approached him as if he were under attack. Pee darkened his slacks as if rolled down his leg to pool at his feet. 

     What most interested Trevor was the fact that everyone seemed to run in clumps, in groups. He'd have thought, with the way fear was rippling through everybody, that they'd all take an every-person-for-themselves approach and go their separate ways, yet that turned out not to be the case. People ran in packs. Trevor saw a group of more than a hundred people across the street from where he and Fathom hovered, and they were all, in one form or another, expressing their terror, either by yelling or shoving or whatever, but they were also pressed tight together, elbow to elbow, which was kind of crazy because there was plenty of room on the sidewalk and street for people to spread out, if they wanted to.

     Trevor heard the crunch of car metal several times, sometimes followed by piercing screams of agony. Cars, hundreds of them, clogged the streets, some of them parked, others with their motors still running, but few of them moving.

     The screams became a constant.  

     And Trevor noticed something else, too. 

     They all seemed to be headed somewhere.

     But where? 

​     And why? 

     Trevor knew what his next move should be. He'd had it drilled into him for two years that, when dealing with any member of any civilian population, their protection came first. What he needed to do next was take Fathom somewhere where he knew she'd be safe, then go find Niki on his own, and yet...his instincts pulled at him to just go ahead and follow the crowd, so...      

                                                         CONTINUE