This takes place about 9 years after the events of my other fic, Reinserted.
"Almost ready?" Ian asks, poking his head through the door. He's wearing a dark green shirt that's covered in dirt - evidence of his work in the fields today. His hair is tousled, small curls forming at the ends, and his smile is wide and infectious. I find myself smiling back at him.
"Yes," I say, swinging my backpack over my shoulder. I head over to the door, where he's waiting with his own bag, and lean over to him. I kiss him gently on the lips before pulling away. His blue eyes are practically glowing. "Where is everybody?"
Ian takes my hand in his and we start heading down the tunnels. I catch bits and pieces of soft murmurs from the humans as we pass each of their rooms. "They're already at the cars. Jared's getting them ready."
I nod in reply as we make our way out of the caves, then dash through the cool, night air, racing for the caves where we keep the cars. When we arrive minutes later, out of breath and already filled with fatigue - luckily we'll get to sleep during the drive - we find that everybody is there already. Kyle and Jared are working on the Jeeps, loading them up and getting things in order. Mel is talking with Sunny, her eyes wide and full of excitement. Mel loves a good road-trip. Jamie is leaning against a wall, watching the two of them as they talk. And Jodi is standing off to the side, talking to Lena about something.
Lena's sixteen now, with long, tan legs and a small, curvy waist. Her brown hair reaches the small of her back, braided tightly down her spine. Freckles dot her face. Her lips and cheeks are the same shade of pink. And her eyes, shimmering silver, are full of excitement. As she talks, her whole body moves in an elegant manner. She's beautiful to look at.
"Lena," Ian calls, motioning for her to come over. Her eyebrows pop up at the sound of her name and she mutters something to Jodi before dashing over to us. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"
She rolls her eyes, laughing. "Dad, stop. I'm not a little girl anymore," she reminds him, though I can still picture her like that - young and small, asleep in my arms. "It's going to be fine. It's just like a regular raid." She shrugs as if it's no big deal.
Lena's been on plenty of raids before - ever since she was eleven. Though I hate letting her go, I can't argue that she's great at raiding. She's just so sweet, such a talented liar, that she comes in handy a lot. But letting her come on this trip, a trip to meet with other resistance groups, is a big step. These are even more dangerous, more risky. If anything happened to her . .
"I just don't want you to get hurt," Ian says, voicing my own thoughts. "If any of the Souls see you they will-"
"They will what? Think I'm human?" she says, raising her eyebrows. She always pulls the "Soul-eyes" card on us. Despite the fact that she is human, her eyes contradict that fact, thanks to me. And neither Ian or I can argue that she doesn't look like a Soul. It's just a fact. "Come on, Dad. If anything, I should be worried about you," she says, poking him in the chest.
"Okay, okay," I say, breaking them up, laughing despite my agreement with Ian. I'm terribly worried about Lena - but at the same time, I know she's even safer than most of our group. I turn to face my daughter, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Lena, your father is right. This is more dangerous than a simple shopping trip. We just want to make sure you're safe. But . . . on the other hand," I say, facing Ian. "She has a point. You're in ten times more danger than she is, Ian."
Ian's jaw tightens and I know that he's starting to worry even more. "But what if this group isn't in agreement with us on Souls. You know how some of them can react . . ." he trailed off, letting me finish the line of thought for myself. Memories from our meeting with Lynn, the woman who shot my old host - Petals - and killed her. Melanie barely saved me by inserting me back in herself, changing everything forever. Though Lynn later explained herself, it still scares me that some humans can react so impulsively upon seeing a Soul. If they saw Lena there wouldn't be time to explain that she is human.
"She'll be fine," I murmur, more to myself than Ian. I'm anxious to just get in the car and go so that the argument is closed. Luckily, Jared seems to be on the same line of thought as me. "Okay, let's get going!" he hollers, ending everybody's private conversations. "Kyle, Jodi, Mel and I in one car. Ian, Wanda, Lena, Jamie and Sunny in the other. Good?"
"No!" I reply immediately. "Jared, your car is all humans. That's not safe." There's no way he actually thought that was a good idea. A Seeker could stop our cars at any time. Without at least one Soul there to help cover, we'd be doomed.
"Yeah, Jar. Let's put Sunny and Jamie with Kyle and Jodi to even it out," Mel interrupts. Jared rolls his eyes but nods, knowing it's for the best. "The boys can drive until we reach the more populated area. Then let Sunny and Wanda drive."
"Fine," Kyle nods, opening the door to the Jeep on the left. "Let's get going!" He hops in and Jodi immediately follows, taking shotgun beside him. Sunny quickly gets into the backseat. Jamie hugs Mel quickly before jumping in beside her and slamming the door.
We pile into our own car: Mel and Jared up front, Ian and I in the middle, and Lena squeezed into the back seat. She doesn't seem to mind it, though; she's already laying comfortably against her bag, her eyes closed. I smile at her sleeping face before twisting back around in my seat. Ian takes my hand and holds it gingerly as we set off through the desert night.
After about an hour of driving in silence, as everybody's been sleeping, Mel nudges me awake. "Hmm?" I say, blinking my eyes rapidly.
"Sorry to wake you," she says, leaning over her seat to talk to me. "But we need to go over the plan."
"Okay," I say. Ian's still asleep but I'm assuming he already knows about it.
Mel runs through the plan with me: about how we're supposed to meet this group of resisters in two days. They live a lot farther away from us than I thought. It should take us the whole two days to get there, with just a short stop overnight at a hotel. This group is one of the largest left, apparently. They're said to have over fifty humans there with a few miscellaneous Souls. They're working side-by-side with some Souls who are in high-ranking positions such as Seekers and Healers. They've found a large amount of Souls who favor the humans and want to help them retake their planet. This group has set up some sort of communication system between all the human resisters and is trying to organize a sort of uprising. We're going there to gain more information, to figure out our role in all of this.
Sunny and I are coming, of course, to represent the Souls. Jared says that he'll handle most of the talking, but that we're allowed to pitch in on any of the Souls' concerns. We'll be staying there for roughly three days, though Jared thinks it could take longer, depending on how things go. On the way back, we plan on going on a quick shopping raid, though that's the least of our concerns.
"So how long till we stop?" I ask when they're done explaining.
"Another couple of hours," Jared sighs. "I'll wake you up when it's your turn to drive. Kyle's still driving back there, and we haven't passed any Seekers so far."
"If anything happens, switch places with me, okay?" I say, though I know he knows the drill. We've been through this plenty of times before.
"Of course, Wanda," he laughs. I assume he's rolling his eyes, though I can't see through his sunglasses. I smile and settle against Ian's shoulder, laying down comfortably. The soft hum of the jeep rocks me to sleep once again, though my mind races at the thought of the upcoming events.
Okay, so I hope you guys liked this first chapter. So many people wanted a sequel that had to do with them actually fighting back for their planet, so that's what I'm going with :) Let me know what you think!