Disclaimer: I do not own any other characters than Isa and Peyton, nor do I own the concept of the souls etc.

Summary: Isa shows up in the desert, along with a young girl called Peyton. When the Resistance finds them, she refuses to trust them, but what happens when her brothers are part of this resistance? Why does Isa find it so hard to trust others? And what happens when Jamie Stryder finds himself drawn to this closed-off girl?

Rating: Rated M, because I'm paranoid, and it may be needed for later chapters...

Author's Note: Please excuse me for my horrible summary, but I hope you'll give the story a shot anyways... I'm rather bad at writing the beginning of a story, but it will get better. This is also my first published story, and so I hope I will grow as an author over time.
This story takes place about 4 years after 'The Host'.

Links to who I imagine portraying Isa, Jamie and Peyton are on my profile. Otherwise, I'll be going with the movie cast, although there will be some references to the book description (example: Kyle's crooked nose).

Chapter 1:

I walked through the desert, carrying my duffel bag on my back, and my guitar case in my hand. Peyton had overheard someone talking about human resistance in this area, and it was pretty much our only hope, so we had packed what we thought we could manage to bring with us, driven out to somewhere about 150 miles away from here, and then we walked. Of course I had written a note saying that I couldn't start the car, and that I had gotten a ride from someone else, so that whoever found an empty car in the middle of the desert wouldn't be too suspicious.

Peyton was only ten, and so she needed a lot more water than me, and she got tired faster, which in turn slowed me down a bit, but my priority was to make sure she was safe. It was a bit odd, how much I cared for her. Peyton had literary ran into me two years ago, and I honestly don't know why, but I suppose I felt bad for her. She was an eight year old girl, alone, on the run from seekers. I had been on my own as well, and so I took her under my wing. She took a while before she trusted me, after all I was a host – long story – but she didn't really have that much of a choice…
"Is there any water left?" she asked me, breaking my train of thoughts. I opened the duffel bag to see how much we had left.
Half a bottle. "Can it wait a bit?"
I could see she felt bad, but she shook her head, so I handed her the bottle, telling her to drink slowly. I myself hadn't had any water in about a day and a half, but as previously stated, Peyton was my priority.
We walked a few more hours until it got dark, and we had to stop again. We were out of food and water, and I didn't know how much more Peyton could take. It had been nearly a week. I wasn't sure exactly how far we had walked, or if we had walked in circles, but it was far too late to turn around.
We settled down, leaning against a rather large rock, and I pulled out a blanket from the bag. Peyton inched closer to me, and I tucked us both in, holding her close to me.
"Good night", Peyton whispered tiredly.
I smiled weakly and kissed her forehead. "Sleep tight, Pey."

As usual, I didn't get much sleep, but I let Peyton sleep for a while before waking her up. And then, we kept walking.
"Do you think someone will find us soon?" Peyton asked me.
I wasn't really sure, but I couldn't let her loose hope.
'You know you won't make it', Piercing told me.
I gritted my teeth. 'Shut up'.
"We'll be fi-", I started telling her, but I was interrupted as I fell to my knees. I clutched my throbbing head, and did my best to hold in a scream. This happened to me from time to time, and Peyton knew what to do when it did.
Piercing was digging through my brain, bringing bad memories to the surface, in attempt to make me lose control.
"You're stronger than this, Isa", I could hear Peyton encourage, but it sounded so distant.

*Flashback*
A four year old me sat in a hospital room along with my parents and older brothers. We were waiting for the doctor to give us the results. I had recently told my family about the voice in my head, and that I sometimes lost control of my body. My parents were convinced something was seriously wrong with me, and when the doctor gave them the diagnose, they felt nothing but resentment.
"It seems she has schizophrenia", he told us.
My parents cleared their faces of any emotion, but they were obviously mad. My brothers had reacted better. They had asked the doctor if there was anything they could do to help me, and if I would ever get better.
"We'll get her some medication, but there is no guarantee it will work, seeing as each person diagnosed with schizophrenia is slightly different from the last. I'm afraid we can't know for sure how she will be in a few years. The best thing you can do is keep treating her like normal, and encourage her. In the end it really comes down to how strong she is."
*Flashback*
I was seven years old now, and a lot of our neighbors had changed. They were more peaceful, and their eyes were different as well. Piercing Flames – my soul – had explained a lot to me. Apparently I didn't really have schizophrenia; I just had an alien in my head.
Of course I knew I couldn't tell anyone. No one would believe me, because people mostly just see what they want to see.
My parents were away on a business trip, but they would be home soon. Considering that my brothers were now 15 and 20, they were responsible for me, instead of some babysitter or something. My eldest brother had moved out with his girlfriend a while ago, but he was staying here while our parents were away.
"Jenny?" I heard my father call from downstairs.
Oh no. They were back already…
I hesitantly walked downstairs, hoping they wouldn't give me another beating.
"Yes?" I asked carefully, as I stood in front of them. My brothers were in their room, and apparently they hadn't noticed mom and dad were back, or they would've been here as well.
"We're so sorry, sweetie", my mother murmured.
I looked up at her in confusion. She was sorry?
"We should never have treated you that way", my father supplied, and my confusion changed to shock. I could hear they were sincere in their apologies, but I couldn't understand why. Ever since I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, they had treated me as if I wasn't part of the family. But as I caught a glimpse of their eyes, I realized where this all was coming from.
"It's OK", I told them gently. "I'm actually pretty tired, though, so I'll just head to bed."
As soon as I knew they were staying downstairs, I hurried inside my brothers' room.
"We have to leave", I told them bluntly.
My eldest brother sighed and looked at me tiredly.
"It's not real, Jenny. It's all in your head", he said in a soothing voice.
"No, you don't understand. We have to leave. Haven't you noticed everyone changing lately?"
They exchanged a look before nodding slowly.
"That's because they're aliens, and I know it sounds crazy, but now they've got mom and dad, and they'll be coming for us soon. So we have to leave, now!"
*Flashback*
A gunshot sounded through the night.
Hang on, they had guns? I thought they were supposed to be a peaceful species.
At least now we knew they couldn't be anything other than seekers.
We all started running, but I wasn't even eight yet, and I knew I couldn't keep up with my brothers.
"Jenny!" my youngest brother yelled as he realized I was far behind. The seekers were nearly catching up to me.
"We have to keep going!" my eldest brother pointed out.
"She's our sister! We can't just leave her!"
"It's already too late!"
And with that, they both picked up their speed.
They left me…
Just like that, with the seekers on my back, they left me…
*End of Flashback*

I was slowly coming back to present time, but things were different.
I was screaming, Peyton was crying out for me to fight it, but there were more voices. I opened my eyes to find five figures in front of me. One of them was obviously Peyton, then it looked like there were three men, two of them being rather muscled, and a tall woman.
"Calm down, kid", one of the men said, and as my sight cleared I managed to take in the gun he was holding at his side. He also looked older than the others. I sought out Peyton, and when I saw a blond man holding her in place, I quickly scrambled up on my feet.
Peyton was struggling to get free, and before I fully realized what I was doing, I kneed the blonde in the groin. As I had hoped, he let go of Peyton, and I gently shoved her behind me, before positioning myself in a protective stance.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" I hissed.
"Relax", the woman said. "We won't hurt you. We're humans."
They were? I looked at her eyes and realized that at least she was, but then I remembered my situation. Even though they were humans, that didn't mean we could trust them.
I quickly came up with a plan.
"You didn't answer my questions", I said, and as soon as they started talking, I grabbed a hold of Peyton's hand, squeezing it in patterns.
Morse code.
I hoped she remembered the abbreviations we made a year ago, and judging by her weak nod, she did.
R-S. Meaning 'Run on Signal'.
"Well, my name is Jeb, and we're all staying at my place, along with some others. This is my niece, Melanie, and her boyfriend, Jared, who I do believe deserved that kick", he started, winking at me as he came to the part about my kick. "And this here, with the crooked nose, is Ky-".
I didn't let him finish.
"NOW!" I yelled, and, true to my orders, Peyton started running as fast as she could. I, on the other hand, started fighting, trying to give her as much time as possible.
I'm not really sure how it happened, but pretty soon both Melanie and Jared were on the ground, and just as I was about to kick out 'Crooked Nose', he put some sort of a cloth in my face, effectively covering my airways. I barely recognized the chloroform, and as my senses were dulled and my body went limp, I thought I could hear Peyton screaming my name, but I hoped I was imagining it.
If Peyton was safe, then I would be alright, no matter what they did to me.

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