Chapter 2:
I needed to get out of there, needed to run. But where to? I had no means of transportation, no water, and if I didn't get any blood soon I would fall unconscious again.
"What have they done to you?" Jeb asked again, pursing his lips as his eyes crinkled up at the corners. I said nothing and grabbed my wrist with my hand. I looked around wildly, for something. Anything. Anything that would get me out of here.
They won't hurt us, Melanie said confidently. They're family. Besides, Jared would never let them hurt us.
How could she say that? Of course these large, aggressive humans with the guns wanted to hurt us! Why wouldn't they? What reason did they have for keeping me alive aside from some sort of gruesome torture?
Jeb sighed when I remained silent. Then he jerked his head towards me and handed Ian a bandana.
"Blindfold her and bring her back to the caves. Let's see what Doc has to say about her."
Ian walked towards me. My heart pounded frantically in my chest and I started to feel trapped. He grabbed my arm roughly and spun me around. He placed the bandana over my eyes and tightly tied it at the back of my head. I was plunged into instant darkness.
He removed his hands quickly from me, as if he found me revolting.
"Walk," he ordered, his voice rough. I hesitated, wary to walk across such an uneven terrain when I couldn't see anything. He gave the order again, this time a hint of annoyance in his voice. I obeyed and started to walk. The air around me was so tense and quiet that I may as well had been walking alone. The emotions that the humans were emitting were so different from anything that I'd ever experienced before. I didn't like it.
I don't know how long we walked for. Long enough for the sun to set, but I only knew that the sun had set because the air around me turned cooler.
I felt it immediately when we got underground. The air seemed to get moist and humid, and made my clothes stick to my body.
Where do you suppose they're taking us? Melanie asked curiously, wishing that she could be experiencing it firsthand. I didn't reply. Fear made it impossible to do anything but walk in the direction that Ian prodded me in.
After a while the blindfold was roughly yanked away from my head, a few strands of my hair going away with it. My eyes adjusted to the darkness almost immediately—that had been part of the Seeker's experiment as well—and when they did I wished that I was still blindfolded.
Humans. They were everywhere. And they all looked like they wanted to kill me.