Dancing among the souls
Carlie's P.O.V
My hand was locked in his, dragging me with him. We had been running for a long time now and i was getting really tired. But he kept on going. I did too, because i knew that if we stopped, we would be dead. Gone. Erased.
I breathed heavily and fast. My throat was burning. I was soaked in sweat. And i don't think my legs could handle much more.
I looked at Taylor. He was sweating too; his mouth was open as if he couldn't get enough air. But his expression was serious and focused, like he always had been since the invasion.
It happened with the ones around us first. Taylor was going to look out for me and Jack (our little brother), even though I didn't needed to be looked out for, while mom and dad traveled to Italy on their anniversary day. They were going to stay there a week. Taylor was old enough for that.
Everything went wrong that week. We noticed our neighbors changed. Our friends. Our teachers. Even the grown-ups in Jacks kinder garden. They became too kind, too fragile and too scary. The scariest? Their eyes. They were reflecting in the light. That way we knew they were not the same.
The worst part was the day Jack wasn't in the kinder garden when we were going to pick him up. The grown-ups there said he needed to go to the hospital. Of course we went straight there, burst into his hospital room not even thinking over what had happened.
And when he looked up, I expected to see Jack. But he met my eyes and they reflected.
We took him with us home. Like nothing was wrong. Thanking the doctors. Yes, the doctors with reflecting eyes.
Our parents came home that night. Jack was fast asleep. Taylor and I were talking about it. Wondering if we were the next. And we promised each other's that if mom and dad came in the door with reflecting eyes. We would run away.
And we did. And we are again. Just this time, with the monsters behind us.
Jamie's P.O.V
"Take me with you," I said. I had been in the caves for too long. And I needed to come on the raid with Jared, Ian and Kyle. Even though they were going to kidnap souls. (For a good cause of course).
I looked at Jared with a puppy face. I knew he couldn't resist. And I was right.
"Fine, c'mon!" he said and started walking out the caves entrance. I grinned and followed.
We walked through the desert to the hidden jeep, where Ian and Kyle were waiting. Kyle gave me a grin and shook his head.
"What?" I asked even though I knew what he was referring to.
"Nothing. Just that you're a stubborn child..." he said and chuckled, Ian and Jared did as well.
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and smiled a smug smile.
"Oh, I'm not stubborn and definitely not a child! I'm sixteen and just very convincing." I said matter of factly.
They laughed and I joined them.
"Get in," Ian said with a smile on his face. And we all did.
We drove to the hidden van which was a little far away and switched to the van, hiding the jeep. And after we got on the road we drove for what seemed like ages. I was just glad I was out of the caves.
We stopped the van a little away from a house, with lights in the windows. And Kyle and Ian got out, while Jared and I waited in the van.
After what seemed like five minutes, Kyle opened the door at the passenger side to my right and Ian jumped in the passenger seat in front. They closed the door behind themselves.
"There are two souls in there, a girl and a boy. I'm guessing at age sixteen and nineteen?" Ian said and looked back at Kyle for approving of the age. He just nodded.
"Okay, take the boy first, then the girl. Jamie you go with them, if anything goes wrong, you run straight to the van and tell me. Got it?" Jared said. I nodded.
We got out and went to the back of the van and opened the door. We took three clothes each and headed for the house after closing the van door silently.
My heart was racing, and it felt like the clothe would fall out of my hand, but I knew it wasn't. I was just nervous, and I hated it.
Focusing on the house, Ian opened the backdoor silently and both I and Kyle followed him in.
We heard voices in the kitchen but not normal talking voices, whispery voices.
"Wait here, Jamie" Kyle ordered. I watched as he and Ian went into the kitchen.
Carlie's
I had just sipped the bag closed filled with food. When someone grabbed Taylor by the arms and forced him to the ground. I froze for a second, before I let out a scream and dropped the bag in terror. Souls. They were here.
"Carlie run!" yelled Taylor, before his mouth was covered by a cloth. There were two souls, both men, tall and strong. He was fighting to get the souls of and managed to punch one of the souls in the face. But it wasn't enough.
I didn't run… instead I jumped upon one of the souls, adrenaline running through me. The soul whined and knocked me to the floor with a thud. He was on top of me, with his back to my chest. All of his weight, I was sure he had broken a rib bone or two on me. I couldn't breathe. But this gave Taylor an opportunity to get away, though he was dizzy from the cloth.
He took the other soul down easily considering him training mixed marshal art before the invasion. The soul that had been lying on top of me had hurried up as he saw what was happening, not bothering about my smothered chest as he crushed it a little more as he got up. I couldn't move.
Taylor knocked the soul down as easy as the first, though both of them weren't passed out. And as the first soul that Taylor had fought started to get up, Taylor grabbed me by the shirt, pulling me of the floor and out of the house. I gasped at the pain in my chest, yup, definitely broken.
We started running. Running from the house and in to the woods that lay behind it. But they were after us.
My hand was locked in his, dragging me with him. We had been running for a long time now and i was getting really tired. But he kept on going. I did too, because i knew that if we stopped, we would be dead. Gone. Erased.
I breathed heavily and fast. My throat was burning. I was soaked in sweat. And i don't think my legs could handle much more.
I looked at Taylor. He was sweating too; his mouth was open as if he couldn't get enough air. But his expression was serious and focused, like he always had been since the invasion.
My chest was hurting, making it even more difficult for me to run. And I was slowing us down. Taylor noticed too, but that made him just so much more desperate to continue. Neither of us wanted to realize that there was no hope for us. They had found us, and they wouldn't let us go.
There were no hiding places either. No mountains or caves. Just trees and an endless forest. They were getting closer. And that's when Taylor stopped. I realized what he was doing when he looked into my eyes. His big, brown eyes filled with concern and guilt.
"Go!" he whispered. My eyes filled up with tears. "Run and never look back!" he continued. I shake my head, tears streaming down face. His eyes are now desperate. "I don't want anything to happen to you! Do you understand?" He pulled me into a tight hug, his strong arms around me for the last time. He would never forgive me if I stayed behind with him. And we would both get caught if we both continued running.
"I love you Carlie, please forgive me" He let go of me, and bent down to look in my eyes one more time. "I'm sorry." He kissed my forehead before he turned his back to me and started running the way we came. I watched him disappear even though I knew I should have started running. But until he was gone I watched him.
Something was broken inside of me, and it wasn't my rib bones I was talking about. I turned around and started running. My tears wouldn't stop streaming down my face. I was shaking. He was gone. Taylor, my Taylor. The only one I had left.
After what seemed like hours I finally saw a mountain, and when I reached it I stumbled up the hill until I reached what seemed like the top. And then I sat down to catch my breath. I stared down the hill, like if Taylor would come up after me.
Silent sobs escaped my lungs and it hurt. It hurt badly. How was I supposed to survive? I had been relying on my brother all since before the invasion. He was my protector. I didn't know where to go. How to get food. The only one left that I loved I lost.
Jamie's P.O.V
On the way back, I was smiling. We had caught another soul, even though we lost the girl. Still, I was pretty excited about that. I got to sit in the front seat, looking out the window proud of our work.
"Er… guys. We have a problem. "I looked back to the voice of Kyle. And the soul we had caught sitting in the middle of Kyle and Ian, were not a soul. We had put on him a hoody so that he couldn't see, but I guess Ian had taking it off. I was now staring into brown human eyes.