11. Plans

Ian's POV

With one, fast movement, Kyle cuts the bottom of the shoe open. I keep my distance of the knife. I'm such a wimp.

Surely enough, there is a chip inside the shoe. I put my hand over it to see if it's still glowing. There is just a pale, pink light now.

"How can you be so sure it's a tracking device?" Kyle asks.

"What else do you think it is that they put into my shoe? A foot warmer?" I say it like I give a punch in his face. Kyle can be so dumb sometimes. I'm so stressed out right now. I've been home for almost a week now, and... I throw the chip back on the table. How could I be so stupid? And I actually though that Conifer was trying to help me, when all she did was manipulating me. "The seekers are probably out there now, waiting for us to come out."

Kyle and Wanda exchange a look, like they are having a private, silent dialog.

"Do you believe me or not?" I ask irritated.

Kyle takes a deep breath, like he is thinking very about what he is going to say. "I believe you," he says. I can see that he isn't bluffing. "Me and a few others have heard noises coming from above, we just haven't considered the possibility that it might have been someone out there. We though it was an animal or something."

"We have to go inform the others" Wanda says.

"No, not everybody. People are going to freak out. We'll just tell Jeb and Jared," Kyle says.

"And Melanie," Wanda supplies.

"We're also going to need Aaron and Brant," I say. "They're good with guns... and stuff," I mumble.

"Why would we need that?" Wanda asks concerned.

"Isn't it obvious? We're going outside. We'll fight them," Kyle says, and his expression hardens at once.

After we've told the others about the tracking in my shoes, everyone goes silent for a while. They can't believe what they are hearing. There could be dozens of seekers out there waiting for us.

"How are we going to stop them? Shoot as many as we can?" Brandt asks.

"No!" Wanda objects. "We could... Take out the souls from the bodies and-"

"There are too many," Jared says, cutting her of in the middle of her sentence.

"How can we be so sure?"

"They wouldn't send just a few. They are smarter than that"

"Then I'll go out the back and just tell them I got lost," Wanda says and crosses her arms.

"No, you won't," I say. "They know who you are. After they... inserted a soul into me they got some information. They know about you being one of us, and they know we live in caves. It just slipped my mind, I'm so sorry."

"I know the feeling," Melanie shoots in.

"It's okay, Ian, there's nothing you could do about it," Wanda says.

I've really messed things up for everyone. I was the one who got caught. I was the one who let the seekers know about Wanda. And I was the one who gladly took the freaking shoes. I'm the one to blame. And since it's my fault we are in this mess, it's my responsibility to get us out of it.

"Look, sooner or later they are going to find us. So I'll might as well just go out there right now and throw a grenade or something at them," I say. Kyle is about to protest, but I continue. "You can come after with guns and start shooting as soon as the grenade has exploded. Take Aaron, Jared and Brandt with you. Wanda, please just stay here. And Melanie-"

"I can handle a gun," Melanie says. She looks offended that I only picked guys for the hard work.

"Sure you can," I mumble and start walking towards the caves where we keep our weapons. We got at lot of new weapons from the other rebels we met last year. They practically have more weapons than an army.

Wanda walks next to me. She takes my hand. I realize that I'm shaking more than a chihuahua right now. "I'll go find Doc, and some of the girls. Not Lily, I don't think she can handle that sort of thing yet," she says. I think about how devastated Lily still is after Wanda's seeker shot her boyfriend, Wes.

I nod one time, and then I let go of Wanda's hand. She looks me into my eyes, whisper "I love you" and kisses me softly on the lips. I lean my head against hers and can feel her sweet breath against my face.

"I love you, too, Wanderer. Always. And no matter what happens-" She pushes a finger against my lip. She doesn't want me to say it. She doesn't want me to say goodbye.

"I'll see you later. Okay?" She says with tears in her eyes. I nod, but I can't promise anything. As she turns around, her tears start streaming down her face. I see her walk further and further away, uncertain if I'll ever see her again.