N.B Author's Note: So as mentioned previously, this chapter is a year into the future. Jamie is now sixteen and he's on his first raid. It's the raid Stephanie writes about where they meet Burns. Jamie also meets a peer called Annabelle. The way I envision Annabelle is basically a fifteen year old Taylor Swift. Anyway I thought I'd just add that little extra tidbit so you guys know what's going on. Oh and this chapter is from Jamie'sP.O.V!

Jamie's P.O.V:

I feared for my family the moment the cars stopped us. Jared whispered, "Mel…what about Jamie?" He was clearly anxious and he knew Mel would do anything to save me. I interjected, "Mel! I'll be fine. Let's just get out. You'll make it more suspicious if we try to run." Mel muttered under her breath, "Pretend to be Wanda's son." I frowned and Jared whispered, "How will that help?" Mel replied, "Might gain their empathy."
I could see Wanda and Ian clutching their pills. I knew this was Mel's worst nightmare coming true. I prayed a silent prayer that somehow these Souls would let us go. Ian whispered something to Wanda and I was fairly certain it was "I love you." We hopped out of the car and I followed Ian and Wanda, standing in between them.

Wanda took hold of my hand in hers and pulled me behind her, hoping to cover me. I wanted to protest and stand in front of her, but Ian blocked my way. He whispered, "If anyone is getting out of this alive, it's you, Jamie." The Soul pulling the gun on us said briskly, "It's a little dark out tonight isn't it?" He walked over to Jared and my heart pounded in panic. Jared lifted his glasses off almost arrogantly and with a smirk on his face. The Soul nodded, "Human." He walked over to Mel and I wanted to defend her and protect her, but I also knew how strong she was. And she had Jared to do that for her. The Soul nodded as she lifted her glasses too, "Human." He went next to Ian, "Human." Wanda clenched my fist tightly, reminding me to stay behind her. I didn't remove my glasses, so the Soul said, "Boy…glasses."

I swallowed and removed them. He smiled slightly, "Human." He moved along to Wanda, "Not all human." I heard Ian inhale sharply beside me and the Soul announced to his group, "They're human." I frowned when nothing happened and he added, "As human as you." The Soul who had interrogated us now turned to Wanda, "I thought I was the only one who switched sides. It's a strange world isn't it?" Wanda beamed widely, "The strangest." We waited for another bated breath before the people we thought had been Souls emerged from their huddle with their guns up.

I saw a girl…about my age, with curly blonde hair approach. She watched me curiously as Jared and Mel sighed in relief. Wanda was busy engaging the Soul who had introduced himself as Burns and Ian, as well as another man from the group, Nate. They had all formed a bit of a circle, discussing where they lived etc. I couldn't take my eyes off the girl. She was standing near a woman who looked like her mother, wearing a long white lacy dress and she had big, blue, beautiful eyes. She looked like an angel.

I finally worked up the nerves and approached her, "Hi…my names Jamie." I held out my hand and she took it tentatively, "Annabelle. But you can call me Belle." I felt like I had been struck by lightning! She was the most gorgeous person I had ever seen! My mind became like scrambled egg and I suddenly couldn't think of what to say. She smiled nervously and I said, "I've never met somebody my age since before the invasion." I glanced at Mel, who was talking to Annabelle's mother. I wasn't about to divulge her story to a perfect stranger. I wasn't that stupid. Annabelle nodded, "I have. We've got other people my age back at our cell." I grinned, "How many?" Annabelle replied, "There are ten of us." I felt my jaw dropping to the ground, "Wow! They must be pretty strong!" She blushed and shrugged, "We escaped with the help of our parents. They're the strong ones." She glanced around me to Wanda, "I see you also have another native Soul?" I mumbled, "Um…native Soul?" She grinned a most dazzling smile, "One whose switched sides, as Burns said just now."
I glanced at Wanda who was chatting at Burns with great enthusiasm. I nodded, "Yeah, she's like a sister to me. Even though she looks around our age, she's lived over a thousand years." Annabelle's jaw dropped, "Wow! Those must be some amazing stories to hear!" I nodded proudly, "Oh they are! She's been a bear, and on the fire planet, as well as many others." Annabelle stared at Wanda and I think it was with intense curiosity. I suddenly felt like I had said too much and backtracked, "Uh…anyway, I should get back. My sister nearly had a heart attack just now with you guys showing up." She nodded and didn't say a word.

I walked back to Mel who wrapped her arms around my shoulder tightly. I had seen her glance suspicious looks over at me and Annabelle. Jared was chatting to Annabelle's mom, "Maybe you three could come and stay with us for a bit? See how we do things?" Their faces lit up, "Of course! That would be lovely…that is if your leader won't mind?" Mel shook her head, "My uncle is open to anyone as long as they're law abiding citizens." This caused the group at large to laugh. A man who I guessed was Annabelle's father replied, "Ok, so we'll hop into our car and follow you guys to your place."

We all got back into our truck and Ian patted my back, "They sure have one pretty girl, ey Jamie?" I blushed furiously and made to punch him in the ribs but he dodged my elbow. I shrugged, "Whatever, she lives elsewhere. Long distance never works." Mel chuckled as she hopped in, "Aww my little brother has a crush." I grumbled unintelligibly under my breath and Jared shrugged, "He's growing up Mel."
I endured endless teasing from everyone on the way home. Eventually I got so sick of it that I snapped, "Hey! Cut it out guys! I didn't complain when you all kicked me from your rooms! Don't think I'm stupid enough to not know why…" I smirked when I received no reply and an awkward silence filled the car. I muttered, "Point proven!"

Jared quickly changed the subject, "Well I thought we were goners for a minute there!" Mel nodded,
"Me too!" She turned in her chair to face Wanda, "If that ever happens again, I want you to take Jamie and run to a place where you can hide until they're gone, ok?" Wanda nodded, "Yes Mel, provided I can run that fast. Jamie can run faster than me." Mel grimaced but otherwise turned back to the front.

Ian hadn't said a word since getting in the car. I had a feeling he was nervous about showing these other people our hideout. He held Wanda tightly to him, as if paranoid someone would snatch her from the middle seat. The rest of the way back, they all speculated about how our family would react to our new guests. I just thought about the beautiful blonde I'd met and I suddenly felt anxious to see her again and week at the knees.

When arrived at the caves, we all got out and Mel went to go and fetch Jeb in order to warn him about our visitors. I hopped out and Annabelle came over to me. They had parked their car behind us. She smiled confidently, "So…how old are you anyway?" I smiled, "Just turned sixteen. And yourself?" She whispered, "Fifteen and a half." Ian, Jared and Wanda were chatting away with Annabelle's parents. She then suddenly asked, "Who was the girl you were hugging earlier? I thought you said the Soul was your sister?"
I frowned, why was she asking such personal questions? Was she…jealous? I brushed the absurd thought away and I replied anyway, "Wanda (the Soul) is like a sister to me. She's not biological. That's just the nature of our relationship. Mel on the other hand- the girl you saw me hugging, is my biological sister." Annabelle nodded, "She's beautiful. How old is she?" I said quickly, "Nineteen so quite a bit older than us. She's painfully protective of me." Annabelle laughed, "I wish I had a sister. I just had an annoying, egocentric older brother called Austin." I grinned, "He's not with you?" She shook her head slowly, "No. He's one of the guys in charge of our hideout so he decided not to come shopping with us." I laughed, "You guys call it shopping?" She nodded, "Yes…what do you call it?" I smiled, "Raids. Since what we do is not technically legal."
She laughed and shrugged, "I guess our…cells are quite different in terms of what we do and how they're run." I nodded and then Jeb came through the entrance tunnel. He had a skeptical look plastered on his face as he surveyed Annabelle and her parents. It was the first time I had seen Annabelle look slightly I'm nervous. Her parents also glanced at each other uncertainly and then Jeb held out his hand to them, "Hi, Jebediah. I'm extremely happy to hear that there are more cell groups still fighting. We had thought we were the only ones." Annabelle's mom shook her head, "We've found three others too." Jeb's face lit up like I hadn't seen it do in a while. He grinned, "Well…please step right in." He led them through the cave's tunnel. They looked really nervous and I smiled at Annabelle warmly as Jeb spoke about how he had found the caves. Finally we reached the main central cave. I saw Aunt Maggie, Sharon and Geoffrey standing and chatting. He called Annabelle's mom Patricia and her dad Ryan. Their surnames were Lewis.

Aunt Maggie, Sharon and Geoffrey were talking excitedly away about the new visitors. Jeb came and introduced them all. Wanda walked up to me and whispered, "Hey Jai. So what do you think of the new guests?" I shrugged, "They seem nice enough. Thankfully they were human and not Seekers. Mel looked like she was going to faint in the truck when we got pulled over." Wanda nodded, "I did too. I couldn't believe that on your first proper raid we were being pulled over."
She smiled at me and I hugged her, "I know. I'm just relieved that wasn't the case. Mel would never have forgiven herself if it was." Wanda nodded, "And neither would I." I hugged her fiercely and she actually fell backwards and landed on her behind. We both laughed so loudly that the rest of the party turned to stare at us. I offered her my hand to pull her up and grinned, "You're still only the same height as me." She rolled her eyes, "And one day you'll have a growth spurt and become so, so much taller than me." I chuckled and punched her arm playfully. She grinned at me like a hyena.

Annabelle tentatively approached us and held out her hand nervously, "Hi…I'm Annabelle. You're Jamie's sister?" Wanda looked really chuffed to be called my sister. She beamed, "Yes! I am. It's a pleasure to meet you Annabelle. It's nice for Jamie to have a friend his age, otherwise he's stuck with boring adults." She shook Annabelle's hand and the girl laughed, "Really!? Back at our cell, there are ten of us around the same age." Wanda looked surprised and she said happily, "Well I guess that gives Jamie here loads of reasons to come and visit then, doesn't it?" She elbowed me and I blushed furiously, "Wanda…" We were then interrupted by Annabelle's mother calling her over. She smiled sheepishly, "I better go. I'll see you both soon?" We nodded and she ran back to her parents.

Mel approached us both and she smiled, "So…Annabelle seems …nice." I rolled my eyes, "Mel! I barely know the girl! And it's not like anything can happen anyway. You're deluding yourselves if you think long distance relationships work." Mel sighed, "He's such a skeptic, isn't he Wanda?" Wanda winked at her, "All in good time Mel. All in good time."

Dinner that night was painful to sit through. Annabelle sat opposite me on the end and everyone was waiting in anticipation to hear what we had to say to each other. They all talked, but in hushed tones. I swallowed loudly and said to Mel, "Hey Mel, can you pass me the tomato sauce please?" Tonight's dinner was bangers and mash which was one of my ultimate favorites. Mel grinned at me slightly, "It's closer to Anna. She can get it for you."

I cringed at the obvious hint and I retorted, "Actually, Mel, it's on your end of the table." Mel pretended to look surprised, "Oh! Indeed it is! Sorry Jamie!" She handed it to me, looking sheepish. Annabelle sat there quietly and thoughtfully while Jared and Jeb chatted at the next table to Annabelle's parents. I was stuck with Mel, Wanda and Ian. Mel cleared her throat, "So, Annabelle, do you have a boyfriend?" I glared at her and she smirked at me. Annabelle frowned, "No…I'm a bit young aren't I?" Mel frowned, "I suppose so. But when I was in school girls dated boys at ten." Annabelle shrugged, "Must have developed in puberty faster than most." Mel laughed loudly, "Ah girl, you've got a good sense of humor I can tell you that." I felt myself turn maroon. Wanda nudged Mel, "Hey Mel, can I talk to you over there for a minute, please?" I saw her whispering and I'm sure it was because she was telling Mel to back off. They kept glancing at me and I smiled at her in appreciation.

When dinner was finished, I heard Jared say to Mr and Mrs Lewis, "…Well…uh…we only have one option open to housing Annabelle really." Jared looked awkward and I frowned at him. I'm sure Annabelle was listening too because she was staring at her empty dinner plate and concentrating hard. Jared swallowed awkwardly and Jeb took the plunge, "My nephews room has extra space and a spare mattress." I was looking at them as her parents shot daggers at me and Mrs Lewis responded harshly, "Is this some sort of set up?! To make our girl fall in love with your newphew? You have got to be kidding me! You can't be THAT desperate to save the human species?!" By now, everyone had fallen silent and Jared interjected, "Oh for goodness sake! That's not what we were implying at all! We were just trying to be hospitable." I had literally crossed my arms on the table and hidden my face in them. I felt like I couldn't breathe and I just wanted to fall through a hole in the floor.

I felt a soft, gentle hand on my back. It was so small I knew it must be Wanda's. She whispered in my ear, "Jamie, if you're finished dinner, I think we should take a walk." I nodded numbly and followed her out of the dining room. I had never felt more humiliated in my life.