A/N Hi! At the end of the Host, I became interested in the stories of other humans that escaped the souls. Here is the first one (based in New Zealand). Hopefully I'll put up more in the future so tell me how I can improve please :) On with the story...
Oh yes! I don't own the Host or anything of Stephenie Meyer's, the caves are inspired by one's I visited whilst in NZ but I can't remember the name. I don't own them either :)
We creep silently in the dead of night through thick bush. Past the ferns and flaxes, I hear the bats calling to each other. A stick snaps. Quick, Lee, go quickly! Human footsteps? ... No, too light. It walks out in front of us. A kiwi. No danger there. On we go.
Where is it? It's here somewhere. An area just darker than the pitch black surrounding us, there it is! Nana Mahuika said it was here! Bless her soul, she has saved us! Quick Lee, down. We enter the dark cavern and the noises that have surrounded us fade away. All we can hear now is the steady drip, drip, drip of water falling from the cavern roof. Safe at last. No one will find us here.
A small whimpering calls through the cave. I start, before realising it is just my four year old sister, Delia or Lee depending on whom you ask. Dear girl, she has walked too far tonight.
"It'll be all right." I console, not being sure myself, but she is only little and is afraid. "No one will find us here."
I take off my rucksack, pull out a head torch and put it on. I came prepared. I turn the light on and I gently pick the little brown haired, brown eyed girl off the floor, her appearance showing her heritage. The velvet darkness looms ahead and I begin to descend into a cave that is about one kilometre beneath the earth.
Some people would be scared, I know Delia would be if she was not asleep, a dead weight in my arms, but they also say that to be afraid of the dark is to be afraid of the unknown. I begin to believe them for what lies behind frightens me more than anything else I have ever encountered. That which is unknown to me holds no terror now. I know I will tire soon and we will need to stop but danger and my Nana's whispered voice in my memory spurs me onwards through the narrow, winding passages. My terror of what lies behind overwhelming my fear of what is ahead.
I would be wary of the safety of this place, if anyone other than our Nana told us of it. Her husband, our Papa, used to wander these woods for inspiration. He used to paint the sounds he heard. One day, she told us, he was following a kiwi bird aimlessly, not to do it any harm but merely curious, he followed it back to its nest. The nest at the mouth of this cave. Our land is riddled with the caverns and tunnels underneath it but this is not like other lands, where tunnels were built for smugglers or to hide 'witches'. No, these tunnels were given to us by Mother Nature. I like to think she is looking over us for I know no one else will.
Nana was the last of our relatives. Circumstance left us on Nana's doorstep when I was twelve years old, Delia a baby in my arms. I remember our parents well, and Delia is always asking for stories of them. I will not remember how they died for it will distract me from what is ahead. I continue on.
My footsteps echo off the roof high above us, water dripping off stalactites and onto stalagmites. I look up and I am amazed by the alabaster walls that surround me, my torchlight passing straight through the delicate stone. There are long, sharp points descending from above, their counterpart from below reaching high to form the pillars that now surround me, tinges of pink and cream running through them. I see sheets of cream alabaster falling from the walls, looking like the most delicate of curtains. These are not like other vocanic caves, with their rough, dark stones. No, this cave is made of limestone and it glows in my torchlight. This place is magic and I thank my Nana again. This place holds no evil.
On my Nana's deathbed, only yesterday, she told us of the things that have invaded our world, how to tell them apart by their kind smiles and kinder, and shining, silver eyes. She remembered to us the stories of our childhood, in particular Little Red Riding Hood. She reminded me that not all that appears good, and gentle, is. She instructed us to leave her and flee. My last memory of her is of her peaceful, smiling face as she joined the angels.
For months before I truly realised what was happening, Nana saw, and she remembered, and she prepared for this day. I am reminded of this fact by the hunting knife at my waist. She encouraged me to go hunting and hiking with my friend Gideon more and more often. I became curious and looked at what he did, how he did it, how he survived for days surrounded by nothing but native bush. I read, learned and now I can survive on my own. Gideon is missing now and I hope that his name, "Mighty Warrior", means that he is safe and Human. If he is, I will find him. However, the hope that filled me five days ago when it was noticed he was missing has dwindled to a steady burning ember. I saw, with my sixteen year old eyes, my friends disappear, then reappear suddenly. They would be compassionate to those who I knew that they didn't know before. They were not themselves, those quirks like a short temper or crude sarcasm were gone, replaced by compassion, kindness and love for all soulkind. This love didn't extend to humans. Their personality was erased with that one scar at the backs of their necks. They were like zombies or vampires in old movies; their bodies were the same but they were dead. I could not bear for Gideon, the friend I would go to the ends of the earth for, to meet this fate.
They changed. The world changed. Some may think this a good thing, who does not want world peace? The answer? Not me, never me, not at this price. All the people I knew are now empty, filled with an alien Soul, or missing, victimised for being Human. They are different things now and all those that were Human the last time I saw them are now missing. They have fled, just like us.
Tears fill my eyes as I remember those I have lost. My school was small, one hundred and fifty students at most, around one hundred by the end of the 'invasion' as I have come to call it. All my friends are now empty of their soul and are now filled by a Soul. My Nana, too, is now gone and I am responsible for caring for my sister.
I wake Lee and place her on her feet. We are not far enough yet, Nana has handed me a map Papa made shortly before his final stroke and it shows the ways in and out of the caves. They are on our land so only we should know about them. Ah! I can hear it now, the gentle flowing of an underground river. There is a boat there, the boat we will take to leave the caves. Up ahead, I see the old rowing boat and I aid Lee in getting in. My long chocolate hair is quickly braided back and I begin to pull us along on the tow rope just above my shoulders whilst standing. I pull us along slowly.
Above our heads is a black canvas, studded with the starlight of a million glowworms, tiny creatures that share their unmistakable light. I am breathless at their beauty.
I row on under their light but after an hour or so, their light fades. Not through any fault of their own, but because I can see predawn light ahead of us. We slowly move out of the caves, water rippling around our boat. The sky stretches above us for but a moment, pink and blue and orange all in one beautiful, swirling masterpiece. Then the green canopy covers the river, no longer underground, casting us into a mythical half-light with the sun flitting through the gaps left by careless leaves. The tow rope ends and I pick the oars up from the bottom of the boat, and place them in their holders.
I realise how tired I am but there is nothing I can do yet. I pull water and chocolate from my backpack. I gulp the water greedily as there is plenty more surrounding us but the chocolate is treated with more care. I may be on the run, but I am still female! I am more relaxed now, and I know where we are. There is a camp about two kilometres from here where Gideon and I used to stay on our hikes. It is a four day hike from the nearest homestead and I know that none shall find the caves. Finally I can breathe easily and know that we are safe. I have done it! I have kept my word to Nana to escape.
Lee begins to wake just as a suitable dock looms ahead. Bless her, she has not complained once tonight, in fact she has not spoken much at all, only to request water and food. Pale and drawn, she stumbles so I lift her once more. My long legs will cover distance better than hers anyway.
There it is! I can see the house that Gideon and I made last summer from tightly woven grass and flax. Wait…there is someone there! I jump behind the bush. Don't make a sound! I watch.
Only relief floods me as I see the familiar face of Gideon emerge from the hut, followed by his two younger brothers. Their parents are Souls now and it is written in sorrow on his face. This makes sense, he and his brothers did not meet us for Sunday dinner five days ago, and here he is, looking tired but Human. I walk towards him slowly. He has noticed our presence and is tensed.
"Oh Mighty Warrior," I tease, causing him to start, "calm down! It's just me." A grin breaks across his face as he relaxes and I beam at him in answer. I begin to laugh and, arms now numb, I place Delia on the ground where she looks up at me with eyes like mine.
"Vivi?" she asks, unable or unwilling to use my full name Vivienne. "Are we safe yet?" The question is timid and how it breaks my heart. She is young but she sees so much and understands even more.
"Yes Lee, we are safe." This is as true as the sun and joy fills my heart as she laughs and runs to play with Johnnie and Jay, Gideon's brothers. I am crushed almost painfully to a strong chest, but I embrace him as tightly and tears fill my eyes as I smell Gideon. We are Human, we are safe. It keeps repeating in my head and in my joy, I kiss him. He is shocked, as am I, but we will deal with it later because there is a later. We are Human. We are safe. We are free.