I waited, eyes closed, for a blow that never came. My heart was pounding so loudly in my ears that I did not hear him as he stopped just inches from where I stood. I summoned the nerve to look up into his face and we stared at each other, both of us too scared to do much more. He seemed to be fighting an internal battle: attack me or trust me? The hoe was still raised above his head, and I knew that if I was going to say something to stop him, now was the time.
"My name is Burns Living Flowers," I started, but I did not know how to go on. His eyebrows went up at the mention of my name—not exactly a normal human name—but I barely had time to notice this as I plunged deeper into my thoughts. I had no brilliant rhetoric prepared to convince him of my good intentions and I knew myself to be guilty of crimes against his fellow humans in the past. I had no way of knowing just how much he knew about the Souls and our invasion of Earth, and I was not about to start explaining it to him here, where the Seekers could be coming back at any time. We needed somewhere else to hide. I briefly contemplated the fact that I had included myself in this equation. I was going to help him. We needed somewhere to hide? What was I thinking? I had no idea; I just had a feeling that it was the right thing to do, so I said, "We need to get out of here in case they come back. Come back to my house with me and I will explain everything. We will be safe there"
"You'll explain everything? What do you know about it?" He asked in surprise. So, he didn't know anything except that he had seen some Souls being inserted into humans. And now I had included myself in their number. Dumb, dumb, dumb! I berated myself. I should turn him over to the Seekers, but my disgust for the killings my kind had participated in, renewed at the thought of more human lives being sacrificed just tonight, overpowered me and I found myself attempting to lead him outside toward where my truck was parked.
Apparently he decided to trust me, and he followed me to the door. Once there, he stopped short.
He turned to me with fear in his eyes and said, "I can't go out there. They'll do the same thing to me that they did to my colleagues. To my friends." He was whispering by the end, and though I got the feeling that he was not afraid of much, he was even trembling slightly, though that could have been because it was only twenty degrees outside.
It was his look that broke me though. It alone convinced me to continue on the path I had chosen. I could not let him be caught.
Fortunately for me, the regular Souls, the ones that were not Seekers, were not a suspicious bunch, and with a little luck, we would be able to walk right out of here.
"Don't worry, they won't suspect you if you're with me." I encouraged, still moving. We had to get out of here. I opened the door up and stuck my head out. There wasn't a Soul in sight. I ushered him through and we proceeded directly to my truck. He was in a hurry, antsy with anxiety, but I put my hand on him arm, trying to calm him. "You need to act like nothing is wrong. You need to be calm and pleasant." I whispered urgently, "act like me."
He immediately looked over at me and tried to relax his features into a smile, but it was more of a grimace. Fortunately, the truck was not far and within two minutes we were on the road. Boulder is busy with lots of pedestrians, so the driving was a bit slow, and the human shifted anxiously in the seat every time we stopped at a light or to let someone cross the road. After fifteen minutes, we arrived at my house. I lived in a medium sized, two-bedroom house just north of town. My house was in a neighborhood, but true to Colorado country style, the houses were spread apart and had large lawns. This was the house that my host had lived in before I arrived, and it was every inch bachelor pad. The architecture and interior design were what the humans termed "modern" and I liked the clear-cut lines and bold colors.
I parked in the garage and we both exited the truck. My guest—I still hadn't gotten his name—stood still, unsure of what to do, until I gestured toward the door leading into the laundry room. We entered the house together, and I immediately fell into the part of hospitality coordinator. "Would you like anything to drink? To eat?" I began, mentally calculating what was in my cupboards and refrigerator. I was just turning to get something when his voice stopped me.
"No. I want to know what is going on, and I want to know now. You seem to know. Tell me." It was a command in the most urgent sense of the word, and I knew that I had left him waiting too long. He was going to spontaneously-combust here soon.
"Sit down. It's a long story." I paused, taking a deep breath, and sat down on the leather sofa, motioning him to sit in the matching lazy-boy across the room. Distance between us was a good idea, just in case he decided to attack me, which I reminded myself was still a real possibility. Humans were dangerous and unpredictable, and despite my sympathies for them, I needed to be aware. "My name is Burns Living Flowers," Eyebrow quirk again, he still thought it was a weird name, "and I am a Soul."