I'm making the effort to rewrite my first story, but with my other projects its taking longer than I intended. You can still read the original On the Precipice At AoO - archiveofourown org / works / 1178226 / chapters / 2401933 (just need to remove the spaces and add a . before org). Hopefully I can get back to this soon and get the rest of the rewritten chapters posted.
This is part one of a three part story. The next part is Pathways in Darkness and the story concluded in Upon the Rising Storm.
The Host belongs to Stephenie Meyer. The story is hers, I'm just playing in her world.
I hope you enjoy reading my little fanfiction and if you get a chance please review. I love the feed back.
-Walker
Chapter 1 - Prologue
It was warmer than usual for an early spring night in Chicago. The icy winter had only recently retreated from the city and the unexpected warming, combined with a rainy afternoon had given the warehouse district in the south side of the city a distinct humid feeling. Not enough to make one sweat unless one happened to be hard at work.
The group of two men and one woman working to load a decrepitly old van at the loading dock of a darkened warehouse was indeed very sweaty. But as Seeker Bright Moon on Fallen Snow looked through her binoculars and observed the group, she believed their perspiring had much more to do with worry and stress. There was a nervous tension to their movements as they struggled with boxes of supplies at the end of the street. Each of them was constantly surveying the area as they worked, all of them looking for an unseen threat.
It was long past the time anyone would ordinarily be working at the warehouse. 'Any Soul that is...' she reminded herself, but this group was most certainly not her peaceful brethren. She was certain these three were wild Humans.
From her hiding spot in the shadows of another warehouse Bright Moon put down her binoculars and looked at her fellow Seeker. Calm Waters Below was a tall narrow man with a high forehead and thinning dark brown hair. More accurately, Calm Waters Below's Human host was a tall man with a slowly receding hairline. The true Calm Waters Below was a beautiful silver ribbon a few inches long with hundreds of thin, wire-like antennae. The nearly thousand tentacles tied the Soul securely to his host's brain.
Like his name, he always presented a calm demeanor and quiet reassurance that Bright Moon found so helpful. Especially when preparing for a task like the one they would be undertaking in a few moments. Wild Humans could be dangerous and she had personal experience with the group of humans loading the truck, they could be very dangerous indeed. Almost unconsciously she felt the pistol on her belt, felt its weight and its potential to end lives. As a Soul she abhorred violence, but as her following did require it, she was more than ready to use her weapon.
In the Seeker patrol car Calm Waters asked, "Humans?" The dim lights of the car's dashboard faintly reflected in the silver in his eyes.
Carefully walking to remain hidden in the shadows she answered softly. "I am sure of it. Are we ready?"
Calm Waters Below looked out of their vehicle and took sight of the four other Seeker patrol cars parked alongside them. Each Seeker inside the cars gave a quick nod of the affirmative. "We are," he responded firmly.
Before climbing into the sleek patrol car, Bright Moon took her cell phone and connected to the remaining group of Seekers based at the other end the warehouse. "This is Seeker Bright Moon on Fallen Snow; we're beginning our interception now. On my signal, all groups pull in and grab our subjects as they try to escape the warehouse." There was a quick response over the line stating that her fellow Seekers were ready. She entered the vehicle smoothly while Calm Waters in the passenger seat awaited her command. With a small smile she said, "Go."
The steamy spring night's silence was broken in an instant with the sudden start of four car engines. Bursting from their chosen hidden spot in the shadows the patrol cars shot down the street. Quickly and effortlessly the Seekers vehicles closed the distance to the loading dock and boxed in the truck.
One of the startled men took only a moment to see the cars and their occupants for what they were. "Seekers!" he cried out. With the patrol cars preventing the van from being an avenue of escape for the Humans, the three momentarily panicked. The headlight of the Seekers' cars reflecting off their plain Human eyes and Bright Moon could see their fear.
But the Humans quickly rallied. The biggest man threw the box he carried at the patrol vehicle. It bounced off the windshield ineffectively. "Run fools," he bellowed and sprinted for the open door of the warehouse. The other two Humans shook off their temporary paralysis and quickly bolted after the first man. In a panicked run, they rushed into the dark gloom of the warehouse.
Bright Moon was out of the car just as it came to a stop. Her body was young and athletic and she pushed it forward with ease. Since coming to Earth three years ago, she had grown to like this host body more than any of her earlier bodies. Strong and quick, she jumped up the short flight of stairs to the loading dock. Her fellow Seekers right behind her as she followed the Humans into the warehouse.
Inside the warehouse it was nearly pitch black, the only illumination coming from small lights at the end of each row of supplies making up the contents of the warehouse. She and her companion Seekers brought out flashlights giving them added lighting in the dark building. The three Humans running down the center aisle didn't have any flashlights and were desperately looking for a way out. This was as she planned; her small group of Seekers would push the Humans into a larger group waiting at the other side of the building. She grew confident, if all went well she would have three captives. A quick insertion of a Soul to each Human and she would be able to find where their hidden base of operation was by the end of the night.
As she ran she caught sight of movement in her peripheral vision. It wasn't one of her fellow seekers, only a quick shift of something dark in the even darker warehouse. 'Someone else here?' she thought, but her attention focused back to the three Humans. They were slowing, tiring and her squad was catching up. Nearing the center of the store, she noticed something was wrong with the ground. Instead of the hard concrete, the floor yielded and felt strangely soft and uneven.
Out of the darkness something came, low and fast. Bright Moon was just about to raise her voice in alarm when it struck her. In an instant it wrapped around her legs. With her legs caught her chase abruptly came to end. She stumbled and then went down on her knees. As she fell her flashlight dropped and it bounced away into the dark.
With a rapid swiftness, she saw several other of her fellow Seekers fall as well. Their legs also caught in the same tangle of cords around her legs. It had wrapped around her legs tightly. She tried to make sense of the object. It was a long thin rope with a weight tied to the end, her host's mind pulling up a dim memory of the object – a Bola. As she tried to free herself from the trap, she felt the ground underneath her. The same spongy cords as the bola laid out in a much larger design. Too late to give a real warning to her companions, she yelled, "We are in a net!"
At that exact moment, one of the running Humans turned and bellowed, "NOW!" And with a surprising jerk of speed the net folded upwards carrying several of the Seekers off the ground. Bright Moon on Fallen Snow tumbled into the other Seekers as the net closed around her. She tried to pull herself upwards but the body of Seeker Simple Sunlight crashed into her and they all went into a heap at the bottom of the net, five feet off the ground.
"We got two outside the net!" spoke the Human who had ordered the trap to snap close on the Seekers. He had stopped running with the other two Humans and was quickly closing the distance back to the net. Bright Moon could see Seeker Calm Waters Below outside the net, frantically looking for a way to free them. "Get help," she told him, but it was too late.
She gasped when something small and metallic hit him in the chest. Abruptly Calm Waters' body jerked and shuddered, and dropped to the ground in a heap. The small metallic clips attached to a length of thin wire leading to a small device held by one of the previously fleeing Humans. The Human was big and powerfully built, his dark skin blending in with his dark clothing. He eyed Bright Moon evenly and then bent down to remove Calm Waters' side arm.
Bright Moon turned trying to see who else had escaped the Humans' trap but couldn't make them out. There was noise of a scuffle, a sharp hiss, and then finally the sound of a body hitting the floor. The large Human working on Calm Waters looked up and asked, "You get her Kate?"
"Yeah, took her down with a bottle of SLEEP, she'll be out for hours," came a female voice from the darkness. One of the Seekers' flashlights dropped on the ground briefly illuminated the small woman from the loading docks. It's light highlighting her bronze colored skin and dark mop of hair as she moved around the net.
"Okay," said the large man who finished tying up the incapacitated Calm Waters. Taking stock of the trapped Seekers he said, "Everyone, get in there and pull any guns or other weapons they have on them."
Out of the gloom of the shadowy warehouse emerged nearly half a dozen dark figures. In the dim light, these misshapen forms slowly resolved into people in inky black clothing. The clothing was an odd mixture of different fabrics sewn together to form a bizarre poncho with their faces hidden by black sackcloth hoods. One by one they reached into the net of trapped Souls and began to forcefully remove the Seeker's weapons
"You will not get away with this. More of my kind is on the way," spoke Bright Moon. She forced her voice calm to remain calm as she struggled to get a hold of her gun.
"Yeah, but they aren't here now," replied the small woman named Kate with a smile that held no humor. Her right hand quickly darted in between the ropes of the net and grabbed Bright Moon's pistol. The Seeker tried to pull away and prevent the grasping Human's hand but with all the bodies piled upon each other it was impossible. Kate gave a strong tug and the weapon pulled free.
One of the shadowy figures grabbed the gun of Seeker Twice Fires. The large Seeker had tried to hold on to the weapon, but the black dressed human was faster. Once the Human had the Seeker's gun, he pulled back his hood to reveal a boy with shaggy blond hair. The youth looked between the gun he held and the trapped Seekers. A dark expression grew on his adolescent face.
"You think you're so powerful," said the boy as he glowered at the Seekers.
"Please," said Seeker Simple Sunlight in a soft appeal to the boy, "you could hurt yourself. Put the weapon down."
Bright Moon could see the hatred flash across the young Human's face and felt herself shudder. Humans were so quick to violence and she could tell her fellow Seeker's plea would be ignored. She would not show these Humans fear. If this were to be her final death, she would meet her end with her eyes open.
"You should be worried about how much you're going to get hurt," said boy with a grin that held nothing but malice.
A new voice sounded from the darkness shrouding the captured Seekers. "Tim!" At the sound of this voice, the teenager both straightened and stiffened. The voice continued with a firm scolding tone, "No. We don't do that unless we need to."
One of the Humans in their dark dress camouflage pulled back his own hood to reveal a tall young man with short spiky dark hair. He made his way over to the boy named Tim. Offering out his hand he instructed, "And right now we don't need to, got it?"
Tim gave the Seekers another unhappy look but then slowly nodded and handed over the weapon. "Alright, I wasn't really going to, just wanted to scare them."
Turning from Tim the young man sauntered his way over to the trapped Seekers. With a grin he addressed Bright Moon, "Trust me they aren't too happy, right Bri?"
Seeker Bright Moon on Fallen Snow looked at the Human and grimaced. It was something rare for a Soul to do, but she knew this Human all too well. In her time on this world she had never encountered another person who was a source of such chaos. She had met him before and each time he had escaped her, often with large amounts of property damage in his wake. And he insisted on calling her Bri, much to her annoyance.
"Marc Walters," she breathed with a scowl on her face.
The big man who had finished securing the weapons came up to Marc and said with a sigh, "Nice, you're on a first-name basis with the Seekers."
"Yeah, I must be doing something right," replied Marc dryly with his hands on his hips. "Dell, you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Bri and her pals before?"
"Can't say I have, and I'm not feeling too bad about that either," replied Dell.
Marc sighed and his earlier humor drained away. "Yep and she is the reason we lost our food storage out on 8th street."
"Food you illegally took," argued the Seeker.
"And you figured we would have to go on a raid and then you set your little trap for us?" spoke up Kate as she joined the other Humans. With an angry shake of her head she added, "You Souls are just so lovely while you try to starve a bunch of us."
Both Seeker and Marc were about to reply when Bright Moon's cell phone rang. There was a quick moment of alarm from the Humans and Bright Moon desperately reached for her previously forgotten cell phone in her pants' pocket.
"Damn it," snapped Marc as the Humans rushed forward to retrieve the phone. "I thought we had everything."
Bright Moon's fellow Seekers helped free the cell phone from her pocket. She went to answer the phone and request assistance when the Humans turned the Seekers' weapon on them. "Drop it," said Marc in a low tight voice with a gun just an inch above her face. He quickly grabbed the ringing cell phone and tossed it to Kate. "Can you handle it?"
Kate shrugged and said, "Worth a try."
Marc's weapon didn't move at all from Bright Moon's forehead. He playfully brought his free hand up and covered her mouth. He indicated with his newly acquired weapon and said to the other Seekers, "Nobody gets any funny ideas about shouting for help. I can and will use this." Bright Moon felt herself grow infuriated at Marc Walter's antics. For a moment she considered biting his hand that covered her mouth, but she pushed the violent thought away.
Answering the phone and a tiny voice came from the speaker, "Seeker Bright Moon, are you there? What is your status?" Kate responded back as though she was running and said in a fake pant, "We are in pursuit of the Humans, but they are attempting to hide out in the warehouse."
"Understood, do you require assistance?" came the teeny voice reply.
Kate kept her voice as calm as possible, "No, please hold your position, we don't want any of them to escape. Thank you." With that she hung up the phone and tossed it into the darkness. "No telling if they bought that."
"Yep," replied Marc as he let go of Bright Moon, "Time to get this show on the road."
Now Bright Moon spoke up, "You can't leave without them noticing. Your truck is trapped and is too slow to get away." She was gaining confidence, trapped as she was, so were the Humans.
Marc smiled the same smile that always irritated her. His grin reappeared on his face and he said to her, "True, but I'm not here for food and the truck isn't needed."
She frowned again and realized she was truly getting angry with this Human. "What are you here for?" she demanded in a very firm voice
Marc leaned over her and said with a leer in his voice, "Something you have that I want." He reached up with his hand and began to slowly move up her hip. She tried to pull away as he reached up to her waist. Her dress uniform had ridden up from her twisting in the net and when his hand touched her bare skin she roughly inhaled.
"Sorry about this," said Marc and he reached into her pocket and pulled out…the keys to her patrol car. She gaped at him and he continued, "Your Seeker cars are so choice. Nice and fast, just what we need here." She saw the other Humans confiscate the other Seekers' keys as well.
Marc and the other Humans began to walk away and disappear into the darkness that surrounded the Seekers. "Wait," cried Bright Moon but the Humans didn't stop and were quickly swallowed by the gloom of the warehouse.
But Marc's voice did echo back from the blackness, "See you around Bri."
####
It was late and the generators had long since switched to their nightly low power mode. The office lights were powered down with the exception of a small desk lamp which created a narrow cone of illumination on the desk. A man sat working in this tiny circle of light, reading over a pile of reports when the door to his office opened. His assistant walked in from the gloomy hallway beyond.
"Are we ready?" asked the man without looking up from the report he was reading.
"Everything is in place," replied his assistant who took a seat across from him, "We have monitors at all key locations."
The man nodded and asked, "The latest fallout projections?"
His assistant handed him a thin file. "Research predicts around ninety percent, give or take a two percent margin of error."
The man actually put down the file he was reading and made a low whistle of amazement at the plan's potential devastation. He then asked, "And how long do we wait?"
"After initial infection, about seventy-two hours for the mess to really hit the fan, so to speak," replied his assistant.
"Do we have any solid reports of Human holdouts in the Chicago area?" asked the man as he shifted his attention to several other reports on his desk.
His assistant studied several papers for a few moments and then answered. "We know of one group, seems like they have been a problem for the parasites for the last year or so."
The man looked up from his reports, "Got to take an unusual breed to survive in a city full of those things."
"Is it an issue?" asked his assistant. "I mean…they're Human."
The man behind the desk paused for a moment considering, and then shrugged, "Sad to say, they're going to be collateral damage."