I had stayed hidden, just like my mother had told me to do. I was literally always in the shadows. Every time I saw a glow of any sort, I scampered off in the opposite direction. My home was usually in an alleyway, because Tucker's house was too close to the H-fac. I came over from time to time, but it was too much in the open for my comfort. There was a reason Tucker and his father need not worry about them, about the 'far more intelligent' and 'far more superior' beings.
As I hid behind a dumpster, still very much alert, I caught a small glimpse of sunlight before it was blocked out by a passing cloud. Sunlight was becoming a rarity… It used to be beautiful but now it just taunted me. I couldn't go out into the sunlight, or else I would be seen. And if I was seen, I was caught. The secret to this? Spot them before they spot me. I'd had many close encounters though, and it seemed to be getting worse with each day that passed. I had been at this for two years now. I was sixteen. That was bad. Age didn't always matter to them, but being sixteen was the age they considered ripe. Sixteen through twenty, those years were bound to be the worst in all your life. And I was sixteen now. I was of perfect age, and would be of perfect age until twenty-one. I had a much better chance of being hauled off to an H-fac now.
"Sam," someone spoke softly to me.
I nearly jumped out of my skin and began pleading for freedom.
"Sam, it's okay!" the voice assured. "It's me."
I suddenly recognized the voice as Tucker's and breathed slowly for a bit, trying to calm my nerves. I was already on high alert, I sure didn't need him scaring me like that. I thought he was one of them! What was he doing sneaking up on me like that anyway?
"Sorry, Sam," he whispered. "I just wanted to warn you. You need to get away from here, at least for the next hour or so. They're going to search our neighborhood soon."
I nodded and thanked him before trying to decide which way to go. It couldn't be in the sunlight, obviously. There was a turn down the alley but that was a dead end. I could try to convince Tucker's neighbors to hide me—every human hid other humans, as was the unspoken law among us—and hope that when they did the search, they wouldn't find me. To stay safe… That was what Mom told me. I couldn't let her down, not now.
My eyes narrowed as I watched slender shadows glide over the pale concrete. Hairs of sunlight still mocked me, telling me I couldn't do it. Wrong. I could. I had to. For Mom.
I heard Tucker moving away from me, going back into his house. The search had probably already begun there, which meant I had very little time to get my butt in gear and move. Still… I looked around again, daring to peer around the corner. I was right. They were talking to Tucker's father, questioning him about the whereabouts of any other humans. Scratch that—they were questioning him about where I was. I could congratulate myself for eluding them each and every time. They had been searching for me for a while now, yet despite their efforts, I ran away from them and managed to wedge myself in places no one thought possible—not even them.
But in order to get to the neighbor's door, I would have nowhere to run or hide. I would be forced out into the open, in clear view of everyone. The sunlight would beat down on me and I would be immediately identifiable. Whatever the case…I had to choose. I could remain behind this dumpster and pray they don't find me, I could run around the corner of the alley and pray they don't find me, or I could risk my life going out into the open to go to Tucker's neighbor's house…and pray they don't find me.
I shook my head and tried to muster the courage. I really only had one shot at this…
I pressed my back to the alley wall and inched over to the corner, cautiously looking around it to check the progress of the search. Three of them seemed to be standing guard at the front door. Odd… Normally only one stayed outside. It was possible that there were more inside the house.
My eyebrows furrowed as a realization hit me. They knew. They already knew where I was, they knew that I was around this vicinity. Of course there would be more than usual. I couldn't let them find me though, for the sake of both my life and my mother's parting words.
I pulled my head back and nodded, trying to assure myself that even now, I could actually pull this off.
"Come on," I mouthed to myself. "They'll be done any second now—if you want to go, you need to do it now."
Alright. So I had no courage, no guarantees, no reassurance, and no chances left for me to take.
I took one anyway. Being in this alley wasn't going to help me at all. In fact, they would check here before they checked the neighbor's house, knowing well that it was a great hiding spot. I had to attempt what I would like to call a 'suicide mission'. Because that's what it was. I was going into the open, with every odd against me, most likely to be met face to face with one of the monsters who took my mother.
I felt my heart jumping around in my chest. I had learned a long time ago how to overcome lack of courage or anything else for that matter. It was really simple, but very hard. I quickly forced my brain to just…turn off. I kept my eyes wide open, though it would've been ten times easier to close them before darting out from the alley. I set my sights on my target—the neighbor's front door. I forced myself to drown out all noises. I could still hear everything, but it was as if there was no sound to begin with; sort of like everything was in my head. Third thing I had to do: pay absolutely no attention to my body's demands. My lungs would be burning from the adrenaline rush and my desperate running would contribute greatly to lack of oxygen. I had to ignore that once I went out there.
One more thing that didn't really involve shutting anything down or out was to resist the urge to look back. I couldn't afford to pay attention to my surroundings if I had only one destination that I might not even reach. If I looked back, I knew somewhere inside me that I would go back. I couldn't do that. Maybe later, if I was still free and they were gone, but definitely not now.
I took one long, deep breath and concentrated on that door. There was where I needed to be. I only needed to do one thing to get there.
Another deep breath. My knees wanted to badly to stiffen and keep me in one place, but they didn't seem to understand what was at stake here. They would never be able to move again if they didn't move now!
It all happened in an instant. One quick retraction of a tendon and I was off, out of the alley and in plain sight for all to see. The elusive, ripe-for-the-picking human girl was now in view and easily seen. Around here, seen meant caught. And around here, easily seen meant easily caught. At least if I was going down, I would put up a fight. But no, not here, and not yet.
I made it while their backs were turned and, again as the unspoken law stated, rammed their door with my shoulder. It created a special soft thud against the wood that told those indoors that a refugee was out there and needed protection.
The door opened only two seconds later and I was yanked inside the house. A man carefully closed the door behind me as I collapsed onto the carpet.
I smiled. A human… Just a human…
My body shook violently and suddenly reality smacked me in the face. All my senses came back. I could feel the adrenaline in me, my lungs on fire from it. My mouth and throat were parched. I blinked several times, bringing relief to my stinging eyes. My hearing finally came back and I was able to pay attention to my surroundings again. The best part was, my brain decided to get cranking and come back to life. I could focus now.
The man knelt down to my level and eyed me.
I looked up at him and smiled in gratitude, still panting.
"How old are you, hun?" he asked in a deep voice. It had no real accent. Well, maybe a tad bit Southern, but no more than that.
I held up a finger, using the gesture to tell him to wait before I spoke.
I gulped in more precious air before being able to tell him in a breathy voice, "Sixteen."
He glanced at the door for a moment before looking back at me. "I was wondering why there are more than usual…"
I nodded. "They're here for me… They want to take me away, just like they took my mother away…"
"That's not surprising. You're ripe," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm sorry to hear about your mother. My daughter was taken two months ago. I can only hope she finds a way through the hole in their security system."
I looked back down. "The hole doesn't exist. This isn't jail, you know. It's an H-fac—worse."
The man didn't glare at me for saying that, but had a look of defeat on his face. I instantly felt bad. I wanted to backpedal, but there was a knock on the door.
He grabbed my arm and stuffed me under the couch, where strips of cloth hid the underside of it. I positioned myself in perfect alignment with the direction of the couch. I was a little on the short side, so that was good. I would grow eventually, so it was obvious that I would have to seek out places better than under a couch to hide in.
I heard the door open.
"Ah, hello. Come to do a search?" the man asked politely.
Oh, he was good. Inviting them to search his house was actually a good idea. Occasionally they would refuse to search a house that they assumed had nothing of use to them in it. I was hoping that they would decline the offer and go away to some other house that I wasn't in.
But of course they didn't. I was starting to think that they were seriously ticked off with me. Like they had any right to be… To be truthful, I was scared. So scared, in fact, that tears were rolling down my face. I had to manually keep myself from hitching. I would never admit to being this scared but when I knew what was going to happen to me should I be caught… I stilled my body, effectively keeping myself from shuddering.
I heard air currents flow by, even feeling the breeze from under the couch. Every muscle in my body screamed at me to run, to get away. Logic overpowered their desperate pleas and I tried to focus only on what was going on from the rest of the house. It was made hard, though, because when I saw a dark shadow—the darker the shadow, the closer the person—my instincts fought viciously against my logic. My body was shaking against my will, and it was all I could do to hold my breath so any gasps I made wouldn't be shaky and noisy.
The shadow got darker—the person came closer. Was I sweating now? My face felt wet. Or was it cold? Maybe it was warm? No, clammy. Yes, my face was more likely to be clammy now than ever before.
I closed my mouth, hoping to avoid accidentally clicking my tongue or clattering my teeth. Right now, I was afraid to so much as blink. Rumors were, they had enhanced hearing. I didn't want my eyes to somehow make a noise. Maybe I was just being paranoid… I mean, those rumors couldn't be true. If they were ha—"
"Hm," I heard one of them grunt. "Guess we've checked everywhere…"
And then I heard the man. He produced a kind of guttural moan, another one of the unspoken laws. It was a secret warning to the refugee that they were about to be discovered. I was the refugee. I was about to be discovered.
"Hm? Something wrong?" one of them asked.
"Oh, no, no. It's nothing. Might be a little bit of an allergy acting up," he replied.
While my host was busy keeping them talking—the same beautiful, unspoken law said that humans would do everything they could to help other humans—I quickly looked around, my mind suddenly sharp. I only had two choices. I could wait under the couch—maybe they would decide to leave after all. My second option was equally as risky. I could run. I could slide out from under the couch and run. I had outrun them before, but never from inside someone's house.
I had to make the decision quickly, but they both seemed to scream out, "WON'T WORK!"
So…this was it then… I doubted I could slide out quickly enough to even start running. And hiding…well, that was pretty obvious. Maybe I should've taken my chances in the alleyway instead of taking off like I did. I was caught. They finally cornered me.
Another one of those guttural moans.
I know… I was getting his message, but I was done. I had been fighting this for years now, for a very long time. I knew I would exhaust my luck one of these days. I was expecting this day to come. Not today, granted…but one day soon. Suddenly I understood why my mother had turned herself in. She knew it was pointless to keep fighting as well. She felt the same as I did now. The only reason she waited was because she wanted to make sure I would run, hide, and stay safe. I ran. I hid. I stayed safe. And now it was worth nothing.
It was never like me to give up. Anyone could sit there watching me right now and belittle me for just…quitting. If anyone were to do that, then I would love to see them in my position.
One last guttural moan.
I was no longer afraid to sigh. I breathed again, I blinked again, but I couldn't stop shaking. If I was going down anyway, why could my body at least let me go down with dignity? Well, not that I had any to begin with, but if I had anything left in me, why wouldn't my body let me retain that?
I shook my head, sorry to disappoint everyone. My host, my mother…myself.
I slowly crawled out from under the couch. I didn't look up, but I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I could especially feel the man's eyes. He wasn't disappointed like I thought he would be. He was sorry. I didn't want him to be sorry; it was never his fault. He did what he could, and nothing less. Refugees were found sooner or later, and I had to accept that my turn had come at long last.
I felt air and footsteps all around me as I stood up, arms up in surrender.
When I looked up, my eyes were met with green, red, purple, blue…you name it.
Some of those eyes were seething with anger, probably at how many times I had avoided them before now. Other sets of eyes held satisfaction, and others relief. There were more emotions, but it really didn't matter anymore. I realized that I was a wanted fugitive in their disturbing world.
And now I was following my mother to the H-fac.
A/N
Keep all questions you may have inside your head, and try to forget about them. This story will explain everything. Naturally, it won't be right away, but you'll all have your questions answered at one point or another. So for now, just sit back and enjoy.
