Chapter 2

I curled deeper into my corner. I could recognize her tone anywhere. She was always talking to souls like she was looking down on them."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.