Getting out of The Bridge wound up being fairly straightforward after Jeff got Karuk some clothing to blend in with the Earthlings. Dressed in a heavy hooded shirt, and a pair of sunglasses, Karuk walked out with Jenny and Jeff to a lift. When they hit the ground, they got on a land transport that shuttled them and other employees of The Bridge outside of the perimeter.
It was there that Karuk got a much better understanding of what Jenny was so afraid of.
High fencing surrounded the roads, with armored guards on the other side, plus another row of fencing, where other Earthlings stood with signs and screaming and chanting.
The crowds were in a frenzied fever. And as the vehicle drove by, they continued to scream and call all the riders horrible words.
Jenny sat there next to him, and he wrapped his arm around her, trying to protect her from the onslaught.
Still, it affected her deeply. She kept curling into him. He just held onto her, hoping he could make her feel at least a little safer.
“It’s like this all the time,” Jeff said.
“How do you not let it get to you?” Jenny asked.
He pulled out of his pocket a little white container, and Jenny chuckled.
“I should have known,” she said.
Karuk glanced at her. “What does he have?”
“Noise cancelling headphones.”
Jeff put them on and pulled out his own communicator phone and tapped on a few things before leaning back and closing his eyes.
Karuk wasn’t so lucky.
He kept having to adjust his ear piece to raise the resistance of the incoming emotional onslaughts just to have some peace on the ride.
It took a while, but eventually they reached another secured building, this one similar to the base of The Bridge, and they drove on.
However, this one was lined with different personal transports.
Cars. They were cars, he was told.
The crowds were still around the outside of this building, but not as heavy as what was on the initial drive in the shuttle. Still, Karuk did not relax until they were well on their way and away from all the crowds of Earthlings.
Jeff drove them to Jenny’s home, and while they were en route, they came up with a basic plan of how to proceed through this process.
Jenny had explained to him what was going on, and why she needed to go back home. She had to get a few things, so she could at least shut down all the things that Phil had released.
“Now, you will call me when you’re ready to leave?” Jeff asked as they parked in the lot at Jenny’s home.
Jenny nodded, though her gaze wandered over to another land vehicle that was covered in snow and didn’t look like it had moved in some time.
“Yeah. I’m set,” Jenny said. “And I have my car keys too. So we can take my car if we need to.” She wiped off the corner of the vehicle she’d been looking at. “If it starts,” she muttered to herself.
“Just call me,” Jeff said before he drove off.
Jenny sighed and led him down the sidewalk. The hard ground was blotchy and covered with granules, though with every step, Karuk felt stronger than he had in a very long time.
“And you are certain Mister Fluffikins will be fine with no attention.”
“Are you kidding? He’s a cat. They live for their alone time. He has plenty of food for the next day or so. Hopefully this won’t take much longer than that. At least to see what I need to get out of my apartment, and if anything has been damaged.”
“He gets very touchy.”
“So he tells you,” Jenny said, chuckling. “Come on, it’s just around here.”
