Grand Entrance

The crunching noises around us were closing in. The rifle stayed trained on Chris, only faintly discernable in the thin moonlight. The person holding it remained virtually invisible but for his faint silhouette – a darker patch of dark in the darkness. Fantastic.

Chris and I clung helplessly to each other, stone-still and just as silent as we stared at our captors. We were frozen, undecided as to whether to try and make a break for the car, or to try and get ourselves killed fighting. Everyone was perfectly motionless, except the man with the gun.

"Well. This is a pickle, ain't no mistake about it."

There was another clicking noise, and all at once a bright ray of light struck my eyes and vanished the second after it had passed over. Was he checking for a reflection? The Seekers wouldn't bother, they'd know, so what-? Was this another trick? A ploy to get us to drop our guard?

The rifle was lowered, and there was an audible sigh of relief from the faceless crowd that had gathered in a tight ring around the two of us.

"They aren't parasites, then," said another voice, this one higher- a female voice.

"That's right, folks," came the gunner's voice.

I flinched as he crouched next to us, and Chris stiffened for attack, but the man only sent a quick beam from the flashlight over his own eyes. There was no silver halo around the pupil of his light blue eyes, no bright and unnatural silver reflection showed in the golden flash.

We were in human company. We were safe. Relatively. Humans could be as dangerous as the body-snatching 'souls' these days.

"The name's Jeb. Why don't you follow us somewhere where we can use our lights without a risk, and you can explain to us what you're doing out here."

Chris hadn't moved at all since the sound of the gun being primed. I guessed that he was still frozen with indecision. We'd had…difficulties…with people who envied our resources. I wasn't going to let him scoop me up and attempt to bolt...moving suddenly away from them would probably startle our company into shooting us, and now that I knew these weren't parasites, death or severe injury was not to be taken lightly.

"Chris, I think we're safe for now," I muttered in his ear, giving him a light push on the shoulder for emphasis. He hesitantly let me go and slowly stood up, and I too scrambled to my feet, using his leg for support as I righted my body.

"Well?" asked Jeb.

"Um…" I thought for a moment, debating what to do. The car was still parked half under the rocks, but if any Seekers had seen the lights they would come to investigate, and it wasn't hidden well enough to go unnoticed if it came to a closer inspection of the area.

"What about our car? Won't it be a dead give away that we're somewhere nearby?"

Jeb looked turned his head to look appraisingly at the modest sedan, his lips curving into a small smile.

"True," he replied.

I could see from his expression that the cogs in his brain were whirling; he was already thinking about all of the ways the car could be useful to him. It made me a little nervous…just because these people were human didn't mean they wouldn't rob or harm us. We knew that better than most.

That was one good thing about the body snatchers. They wanted their quarry alive to play host, so they were careful about how they went about capturing people. A human could help us, but could also just as easily decide to shoot us and take our things without feeling any remorse.

Jeb must have seen from the way my face set and my body tensed for trouble that his words – or lack thereof – had made me uneasy.

"Don't worry, darlin'. We're not gonna steal it from you. Just thinking that if you end up stickin' around we'll be able to make good use out of it."

He made a small, beckoning gesture with his hand, and another man moved in.

"If you give Ian here your keys, he'll pull the car around and park it where it will be well hidden. There are some caves on the far side where even a seeker wouldn't be able to spot it."

I blinked, calculating an answer. Was Jeb telling the truth, or was he bluffing to get me to comply with his request? Chris's eyes darted to mine, his face masklike. He nodded his head a fraction of an inch.

I held out the key and dropped it into the pale palm that appeared to take it.

"Okay, then. What now?"

"Now," said Jeb, "You follow us."

Ian and yet another man got into the car, and I heard the purr of the engine as they started the ignition.

"Wait," I said, remembering the supplies in the trunk, "we have some stuff in there. Su-" I faltered, "Supplies."

Jeb's eyebrows shot up, and Ian's head poked out of the open window on the driver's side. He spoke for the first time, "Don't worry about it, Jeb. We'll bring it all in and stick it in a storage cell when we come back on foot."

Storage cell? Just how equipped were these people, anyway? Jeb only nodded and turned away, setting a rigorous pace as he walked off in the opposite direction. "C'mon, you two. I didn't catch your names…?"

"I'm Emma," I offered, and looked over at my silent companion. He returned the glance steadily, his grey eyes boring into my hazel ones. He sighed.

"Chris," he said after a moment of hesitation.

I smiled dryly – he was much less trusting than me, and was being cautious. He wasn't about to start believing or giving Jeb any unnecessary information just because we were going along with the man's group. But he had given his real name, too, which was reassuring to me.

"Nice names."

"Thanks. I have a question for you."

"I have an answer."

"Who are you, and exactly how many of you are there?"

He chuckled dryly.

"This is Aaron, Brandt, Lily, and Trudy," he said, pointing around in the dark at the small group that was walking with us. "The two that left to take care of the car were brothers, Ian and Kyle. We make twenty nine, all told."

"Twenty six?" Chris gasped incredulously, "How have you avoided the parasites with that big of a group?"

"And how are there so many of you period?" I added.

Jeb and the others laughed pleasantly.

"Oh, we're well hidden out here. Jeb's got a mighty fine little hideaway. And what? Did you think you were the last ones out there? There are plenty of humans who aren't going to go down without a fight," said a woman's voice. I guessed it was Lily; Jeb had indicated that patch of darkness when he'd introduced her.

"It's just surprising is all," said Chris, who seemed to be warming to the idea of joining another large group, "We didn't realize it was possible to have so many together without drawing unwanted attention. Had a little bit of trouble with that. Maybe you've just got a better place to hide."

"Trouble, eh? Sounds like you've got a story for us. But save it until we get back under cover; you'll move quicker if you're not using up breath on talking."

He had a point, and we fell into an obedient silence. I was wondering nervously what other sorts of surprises this trek held in store for us, but Chris was there beside me-my infallible anchor to sanity. I brooded on how long I'd have lasted without him. Not long, I was sure. His lightning quick thinking and decisive actions had saved us time and time again from traps that would probably have landed me as a host long ago if I had been on my own. Which was why I was able to act calm now. Because he was being cautious as always, but had started to relax.

The hike was long-it took well over an hour even at a vigorous walk, but I didn't mind. It gave me the chance I had been waiting for to explore the desert. Our footsteps echoed off of the jutting rocks, but soon the desert floor leveled out a little more. The sand was smooth and pale under the light of the stars that had risen during the walk.

When we reached our destination, Chris and I were surprised to find ourselves staring at a very natural looking miniature mountain of tumbled boulders, complete with ragged bushes growing haphazardly all over it, presumably disguising openings.

"Wow. This is it? You camouflage very well."

Jeb smirked proudly.

"Thank you kindly. The entrance is right here."

He vanished into a cleverly disguised opening in the rocks. Trudy and Lily-though I couldn't be sure which was which-followed him through it immediately.

Aaron and Brandt lingered behind, clearly waiting for us to make a move.

Chris and I exchanged looks, but it was really too late for us to back out. And we weren't ready to give up hope that we'd be safe with this group, and would finally be able to settle down and stop running for once.

If we left now, there was only so far we'd be able to make it before we were detained. And we both knew it. He slipped his hand into mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Hoping we hadn't just signed our own death warrants, I took a deep breath and allowed Chris to guide me along as he followed Jeb into the low, dark tunnel.