The Good Samaritan - Chapter 2
"Alright, everyone knows the plan?" asked Marc to his small band of fellow humans.
Everyone looked at each other, nervous glances all around, the silence stretched on until young Tim spoke up, "Yeah, we smile to everyone and act all friendly and shit."
"Language!" snapped Sister Mary-Margret and swiftly thumped the boy on his head.
Tim immediately pouted. In a sullen voice, the boy said to the Nun, "I'm just repeating what Marc said."
Before Marc could react, the Nun gave him a sly smack to the side of his head. "That goes double for you, the children look up to you Marc. You must set a good example."
Paul chuckled at Mary Margret's comment but hushed up when she turned and glared at him. Marc groaned at the Nun's admonishment, "Okay, Okay, but look none of that hitting out there. Your average Soul never resorts to violence, even a small punch will stand out like a sore thumb."
"I understand," said Mary-Margret with a coy smile, "that's why I'm getting them in now. As Tim has said we will be friendly and composed with all the Souls we meet."
"Right..." came Marc's exasperated response. Gesturing to his eyes, he added, "Everyone good with their contacts?" There were nods from all and Marc took a deep breath and let it out. He then opened the small steel door to the outside and smiled gently. "Let's go."
They walked single file out the door and entered into a parking garage. At the moment, no one was around and they quickly continued out to the street beyond. Six Humans joined the crowd of Souls walking down the sidewalk. It was late afternoon and there was the typical rush hour traffic as people return home from work. The sky was a dark gray and threatening to add to the half a foot of snow already on the ground. Bundled into thick coats, boots, scarves and hats, Marc and his traveling companions blended right in with the crowd.
A cursory look around and someone who had no knowledge of the Soul invasion would not see anything unusual. However to Marc and the other Humans traveling with him there was a subtle difference. All the people of the sidewalk moved in a peaceful and orderly fashion. No one ran, pushed, or shoved in the crowd. The whole affair had always reminded Marc of a line of ants moving with mechanical perfection.
But with much-practiced movements, Marc began walking down the sidewalk towards the train station, joining the ranks of the Souls also heading in the same direction. Following after Marc was Tim, then the elderly Mary-Margret right behind the boy, next Greg and Nancy, both holding hands, and finally Paul taking up the rear. The Souls around them didn't react to the humans, readily believing them to be Souls like themselves. Hidden in plain sight their little group climbed the stairs leading to the boarding station of the L-Train.
Marc took stock of his small group once they stopped on the platform waiting for the train to arrive. There was a modest crowd waiting for the train, but not too many Souls. If escape became necessary, Marc felt it would be relatively easy to escape back to their underground tunnels. But so far this had been the easy part of their journey. Once they were on the train, it would become much more dangerous. Here the sky was overcast so there was little chance to see a Soul's distinctive reflection of silver in the eyes, on the train it would be a different story.
"Excuse me," said a shrill voice from behind Marc and pulled him quickly from his thoughts. He turned and saw a short woman with dark hair before him. Dressed all in black. 'Seeker,' screamed Marc's mind. With a great deal of self-control, he replied with a brief smile, "Yes, what can I help you with?"
"Do you have the time? My timepiece has stopped working," she indicated a gold banded watch on her thin wrist. "It is old and made when humans' still ran this world." With a soft snort she added, "Typical shoddy craftsmanship."
Marc ran through his options as fast as he could. This might be a trap, but the station platform was a terrible place for the Seekers to stage an ambush. There was no real place to hide and he dismissed the idea. Marc's first instinct was the request was simply for the time and this Seeker woman had no hidden plot. He replied after a quick look at his own watch, "Its 5:27 p.m."
"Thank you," answered the Seeker and turned back to waiting on the platform next to Marc and his fellow humans. Marc turned back to see them all frozen to the spot, their eyes wide with fear. With his back to the Seeker, he mouthed the word, "Calm."
They did their best to visibly relax and they continued on waiting for the train to arrive. Marc was glad it was so cold and everyone bundled in thick coats. Otherwise, he was sure all the Souls would see them sweating nervously. He considered if it would be best to leave now, but realized it could be seen as suspicious by the Seeker and he had no interest in raising an alarm. Best to stay put and hope the Seeker would not need anything else.
"Have you heard about the human encampment found up north?" asked the Seeker in a casual tone.
Marc sputtered his next word, "Humans?"
"Oh, not to worry," said the Seeker, misinterpreting Marc's response to her question. "There is no risk to us. They have been dealt with. There were five of them. Can you believe there would be so many?"
Marc was truly at a loss for words, desperately he tried to understand what the Seeker wanted. Was it all some type of sick joke as she harassed them before calling in her reinforcements? He shook his head, mentally pushing away such thoughts. No, Souls didn't work that way, even Seekers. Rather stupidly he realized she was trying to make small talk.
Looking her over properly now, Marc studied the Seeker. She was a small thing, almost delicate, not a real physical threat. Her dark hair cut short, just below her ears. Her eyes had a slight bulging appearance to them, but she, at least her body, was not unattractive.
She returned his gaze with a slightly impatient expression. Marc could tell she was expecting some type of response. He need to keep the Seeker attention on him and away from others. Clearing his throat, he spoke as casually as he could, "No I had not heard of this news. I try not to think about such things."
The small woman straightened and spoke with a distinct amount of pride in her voice, "We Seekers do our best to make sure the rest of the public doesn't have to worry about such affairs."
'I'm sure you do,' thought Marc darkly. Their conversation was blessedly cut short as the horn of the approaching train blared and nearby Souls moved forward to meet the train. Marc briefly toyed with the idea of pitching the small Seeker into the path of the oncoming train. There would be no way to make it look accidental and it would be quickly the end of Marc and his human family, but it would almost be worth it.
After boarding the train, Marc couldn't help but audibly sigh in delight as he saw the female Seeker met another dark dressed Soul coming off the train. A tall dark-haired man with a receding hairline left with her down the station's stairs. Marc could almost make himself feel sorry for the other Seeker. The female Seeker was really quite annoying, something rare for a Souls.
As they sat down and Tim dropped into the seat next to him. "Wow that was close," he whispered.
"Don't I know it," muttered Marc.
Across the aisle Paul sat down next to Mary-Margret. He said with a gentle grin, "I think she was flirting with you."
Marc paled at the suggestion and said a little too harshly, "Just kill me if that ever happens again." This got him a quick glare from both Paul and Mary-Margret as Marc found himself breaking his own rules when traveling above ground. He forced a smile and tried his best to forget the entire strange affair.
Luckily the rest of their trip went off without a hitch. They exited the train station and they saw the overhead darkened clouds had finally released the pent up snow and they picked up their pace. Making their way down the street in a gradually increasing snowfall, Mary-Margret pointed, "I would believe that would be considered a successful proof of our ability to blend in with the Souls."
"I suppose," said Marc, "but I don't want to try something like that again. Seekers are notorious for being suspicious. We were lucky she felt like being chatty."
"I still say she was flirting with you," said Paul. Marc gave the older man a disgusted snort.
After a few more minutes walking, they arrived at the small home of Autumn Gusting Wind. Marc stopped them before continuing up the drive. "Now, Tim and Mary-Margret, this is your first time meeting Auntie. Try not to crowd her, a large group of us still makes her nervous. Just be nice to her and she'll be nice to you. Got it?"
"Of course Marc," said Mary-Margret gently, "I've been waiting to meet her for a while. Lead the way."
With that, Marc marched up the stairs to the small house and knocked on the door. It opened almost at once and a short red hair woman appeared. She smiled as soon as she saw Marc and the others. Marc did not hesitate at all and pulled the Soul into a big hug and said with joy, "Merry Christmas, Auntie."