The Host

Continued . . .

Chapter One

We were on a raid. Ian, Melanie, Jared, and I. We went to Tuscan. We drove down the long curvy path leading to the highway. Melanie was laughing at Jared's side as always. He put his arm around her and made a quick kiss to her nose. He looked back at the road as a light approached. Ian's armed tensed around me. He tried to push me behind him as I struggled to get closer to the front. I was the one who could save us, why was he pushing me back? Jared's face hardened, his fists were clenched and Melanie was trying to unclench them. She glanced back at me and signaled me with her eyes to come forward. I pushed around Ian and I saw his jaw lock. I pushed myself up as the car slowed. I don't know how we did it but I got around Jared and sent him to the back seat. I continued to drive like I had been driving all along. The headlights of another car sent a chill down my spine. A young girl was behind the driver seat. She didn't as much as look at us as we passed. The tension in the air evaporated, it was like being healed by a Healer. Everything was right again and it felt like it would never end. Jared tried to resume his place next to Melanie and Ian was all too eager. But I pushed him back. I was now aware that at any moment they could find us and how far I would go to protect them.

"Wanda give me my seat back, the car is gone." He sounded annoyed. Melanie just shrugged as he looked at her questioningly. "You drive so slow!" I hadn't realized we were slowing down. I looked down to see how fast we were going when I saw that the fuel tank was empty. Jared followed my gaze and saw it too. "We have to go back, we can't make it. We have no money to buy gas, and we can't risk being seen there! Bloody Hell!" I cringed as he started to yell. Melanie was perfectly fine, she probably had heard him yell a lot. I missed having her memories and knowing her thoughts, she had so many emotions that I didn't have.

"What do we do now?" Ian said very rationally which made me love him more. Ian slid away like a ghost from Jared who was still yelling at the top of his lungs.

"All you have to do is act like you are asleep. I will drive us to the gas station." I whispered, afraid to interrupt Jared.

"That would be wonderful, if we had money!" Jared yelled. Since the economy collapsed the Souls had to start using money again. We don't know why, it had never done that before. We finally just decided to use the human way.

"I will tell the cashier that I left my wallet at home. She will trust me, easy."

"That could work." This was the first time Melanie had had something to say into the conversation. She shot a evil glare at Jared which made him immediately shut up.

"Ok, but drive fast, we can't be acknowledged." He agreed arrogantly and crossed his arms. The car was slowing but we were close to a gas station. I pulled in and parked. The motor turned off and the silence was overwhelming. They were all pretending to be asleep. Melanie's eyes flickered open and she nodded for me to go. I cracked the door open and found the ground. I was far away. I jumped down almost falling to my knees. The darkness surrounded me. Little dim lights from inside the gas station sparkled. I found the pump and stuck it into the car. The wind blew and I shivered. When I heard the clicking sound from the pump I pulled it out. I tried to stroll casually through the door but I ended up walking crookedly. The lady at the front counter looked up. She had looked so bored before I came in. Her eyes lit up and immediately, she looked me down waiting to know why I had come in.

"I would like to pay for my gas. I am on pump two." I reached down into my pocket and pretended to act surprised when there was nothing there. The lady was looking at the cash register. She was hitting a series of buttons. "I must have left my wallet at home!" I hoped she didn't find the false note in my voice. There was no change in her face as I expected there would be.

"It's ok darlin! I'll pay for it. What's your name?"

"My name is Sunlit Moon Fire. Thank you for paying for my gas. Where are the chocolate bars?"

"They are in the back, let me go get them for you. I will buy it for you." She was so nice. She stepped from behind the counter and walked to the back. I heard a door open and close. I ran around the counter and opened the register. There was at least a hundred dollars inside. I grabbed it and stuck it in my pocket. I closed the register and ran back around and waited for her arrival. As soon as I had stepped into place the door opened and closed. She had about seven chocolate bars in her hand. "I noticed you were not traveling alone. You on a road trip? Where are you going?" She didn't notice when I didn't answer her questions. She handed the chocolate over to me.

"Thanks again. Bye." I waved. I started to close the distance between myself and the door. I was starting to worry about Ian. He was so protective of me. He was always annoyed when I went to talk to my kind to get something from them.

"Well your mighty welcome! See you soon. Good Bye." I was starting to believe she didn't want me to go and she just wanted me there to talk to. The darkness exploded through my eyes and I could no longer see. I waited until my eyes adjusted before I took the last step into the car. Melanie pushed her face into the chair as I closed the door.

"What took so long?!?" I realized she had pushed her face into the chair to hide her lips from moving.

"Guess what I got!" I barely moved my lips I was afraid the clerk would see me. "I got chocolate and I might have stolen about a hundred dollars." Melanie gasped and put her hand out to me, palm open ready for her chocolate. I handed her one and started the motor. As soon as we were on the country road again everyone sat up. Jared and Ian both looked at the chocolate bars on the floor. I handed them one, knowing they wouldn't take one on their own. They greedily opened theirs and ate them in like one bite. I took one hand off the wheel and handed Jared the money I had stolen. He was in charge of all the money, to make sure we didn't waste it. The souls had started using money again once they realized the economy was going down. The raid was over all too quickly. The excitement of being on the run faded and we came to the caves. We took as much as we could carry into the caves to get more people. Jamie was the first person I saw. He was crying? I had only seen him cry a number of times and mostly they were in Melanie's memories. He hugged Mel and the tears drained faster. He sniffled as he looked at me and then everything was a blur.

"Jeb is dead." Those three words crushed my heart. I dropped the box I was carrying and ran to the game room. The key to the car poked at my leg as I put it in my pocket. As I ran tears started to run down my face and into my hair. The humid air was boring into my chest. I could no longer see anything because the tears clouded my eyes. I heard footsteps behind me and I knew who it would be. Ian. I sat hidden in the darkness as Ian approached.

"What's wrong?!?" He had urgency in his voice.

"Jeb can't be dead. He just can't be. If he was dead . . . he just can't be! How would he have died? Jamie must be mistaken! Jamie is wrong. He has to be!" I was fighting the sobs that made my words jumble.

"Stay here." He ordered. I didn't so much as look his way. What would be the point? I couldn't see anything. I looked straight ahead at the darkness and shivered. The air was sweet and smelled of rain. Through the holes in the roof came a mist. It was raining. Everyone would come in here to sleep because it had the least amount of holes in the ceiling. I just wanted to be alone and cry. Just then a light appeared down the passageway.

"Hey." I gasped at the voice. It was my Seeker.

Chapter 2

I curled deeper into my corner. "We sent you to Flower World. How can you be here? You couldn't have gone and come back. Everyone here would be dead. How . . ." She cut me off.

"They found me. They saw that I was not properly put into my casket and they took me out and put me in another body." I gasped again. "I actually came back to thank you all. That girl was really annoying. She bugged me constantly. But when I saw that she was back I wanted to leave. They found me in the desert dying. I was looking for this place again. Jeb saved my life and now I am trapped here. They won't tell me where the exit is either. Morons. It's not like I would tell the other souls where I am. I don't even know where I am. When I found this place before, it had been dark and I was just looking for a place to sleep. What I found was a human community." She smirked. "I should have shot you all." She gazed at the ceiling probably remembering the scene where she killed one of us. "Why didn't you kill me?"

"I made Doc promise not to kill any souls, but to send them to another planet where they would be happy." I realized I was smiling at the thought but then remembered what Jamie had said. Jeb is dead. I grimaced and my head sank down to look at the floor. "What happened to Jeb?" My question caught her off guard. She looked down the narrow passage way. The sound of footsteps, not just any footsteps either, it was Ian. She nodded her head and flinched away as he came through the opening. I could just make out Ian's eyes, they were gleaming and twinkling, it was like looking at the stars on a pitch black night. But not only were the beautiful they were gorgeous. When he looked at me his eyes turned sorrowful. My Seeker disappeared down the hall. I hadn't even noticed until there was only the sound of Ian and I breathing. I repeated my question and the tension built around us like bricks. It was thick and foggy, hard to breathe. "What happened to Jeb?" My question hung in the air. It bounced off the caves and into the night above.

"He is dead." His words stung my heart and made it ache. I could feel the emptiness in my stomach. The tears started rolling down my face as he came to sit by me. He maneuvered himself around to put my head on his shoulder. His arms wrapped around me like a fierce blanket of fire. It immediately warmed my skin. I shuddered as my still frozen skin met his hands as he rubbed my arms. "He died of old age. There was nothing Doc could do. No Healer could help him. He died in his sleep. He hadn't felt a thing." My sobs got louder as he whispered to me. "There was nothing Doc could do." He repeated over and over. Finally after a few hours I stood. Ian was completely shocked by the movement and jumped to his feet beside me. I sprinted to the hospital wing. People stared as I passed, but that was no surprise. Everyone stared at the evil alien souls who took over their Earth. When Melanie saw me she took off running after me. She was faster then me so she caught up. Ian was close behind.

"What are you doing?!?" Melanie was full of rage. "You have to be strong . . . for Jamie. He has had the worst time with this. He was all alone until we came back. He is still young and Jeb was a father to him. We have to be strong for Jamie, remember Jamie." I noticed she was fighting sobs too. She stared into my eyes and she gave me a big hug. We must have looked pretty ugly. Covered in dirt. She walked off and passed Ian as he came in. He picked me up and carried me to our room. I cried myself asleep.

When I awoke Ian was next to me staring at the wall eating a pop tart. I giggled as he chewed noisily. He jumped at my giggle and choked down the bite he was chewing. "Hey Ian."

"I was thinking . . . maybe you would want to play Soccer. You know, to lift your spirits. I already got people who would love to play. Jeb died a day after we left so everyone had already cried for him. Everything is getting back to normal. Except Jamie."

"I would rather not talk about it and yes I want to play Soccer." I pulled myself up to sit next to him. He smiled largely and I could see pop tart in his teeth, which made me laugh out.

We all walked to the game room. Single file as always, with us we had Melanie, Jared, Jamie, a girls they had found recently named Abbey, Susie, and Alex, they were best friends. We split into teams and it was Ian and I, Melanie and Jamie, then on the other team they had Jared, Abbey, Susie and Alex. It was funny because Susie seemed to have a crush on Jared. Ha. Jared tried to ignore her as much as possible. Jared's team ended up winning. Apparently the girls had been on a Soccer team together and were pretty much professionals.

"Hey Jared!" Susie was trying to make a move on Jared. He barely looked at her; he was busy looking for Melanie to see if she was watching. Mel was. Mel and I were standing against the far cave wall watching. "I was wondering . . . do you want to go get some water with me, maybe a bag of cheetos?" It was hilarious. Susie was like 14. She would probably fall for Jamie in the end but it was funny watching. Melanie and I were giggling like school girls.

"I think I am a little old for you." He shooed her off which made us laugh harder.

"How old are you?" Her smile had faded to a pout.

"Forty-two." He said it very sarcastically. Mel and I fell to the floor and laughed so hard our stomachs hurt. He was really like twenty five.

"What's so funny?" Ian had heard our laughter and came to see what it was about.

"We're watching Susie hit on Jared!" His laugh bounced around the walls and made Susie jump. Jared turned his head and focused on Melanie and walked over to her. He was frowning. I choked down a laugh that was building in my throat. Melanie was still laughing uncontrollably.

"Do you think that was funny?" Jared was annoyed. He glared at Ian who immediately stopped laughing, but held a smirk on his face.

"Definitely. Jamie come here!" She yelled in his direction still choking down a laugh. "Can you go ask Susie to go with you and get some water and maybe share a bag of cheetos?" A grin appeared on his face, followed by a bit of confusion.

"Sure, but why?"

"She seems a little . . . depressed." She chuckled on the last word.