Chapter 4
Every day for the next week I watch the trail to our cabin as much as I can, hoping- waiting to see her turn the bend and speed back to Jamie and me. But she never comes. After another week passes, I am filled with dread. No, more than dread. Every night of that week I overhear Jamie crying himself to sleep. At least I'm quiet as I do it. I think we both know she's gone, but neither will admit it. Five days after her two week mark, I'm again watching the trail. "We need to get out of here. If thy access her thoughts about the cabin, we won't survive for long." I say to Jamie. "Plus, we are running low on supplies."
"But what if she comes back?" Jamie asks, staring up at me eyes just like Mel's. I'm silent for a while.
"She's never coming back." I say suddenly, and close my eyes, forcing the tears back.
"We are going to Chicago first. We need to find out what happened." I said. This first plan was more of an assurance for me. So I knew the truth.
Not fast enough. Love you, love Jamie. Don't go home. That's what she scribbled on the piece of debris. Just before she was found I'm guessing. I stare at it. Jamie was the one to find it. I have one arm wrapped around him, as he sobs into my chest. I stare at the debris, reading it over and over. My angel Mel, she is now just a body. She is gone forever. I will never ever see her again. I came here to make myself accept it, but I don't think I do.
"Jamie. Let's go." I say. He just keeps crying. Dropping the debris, I pick him up, and carry him out, to our newly stolen car.
"Where are we going Jared?! There is no place that is safe now! " Jamie cries.
"Shhh. I have a plan. " That's a lie. I think hard, staring at the road. Then I remember the argument we had, just a week before Melanie decided to leave.
"They're just lines. And Uncle Jeb is just an old lunatic. A nut job, like the rest of my dad's family." She tries tugging the album out of my hands.
"A nut job, like Sharon's mom?"I counter. She looks at the photo album with lines drawn all over it. Then looks up at me.
"Point taken." She admits.
"Nut jobs are exactly the kind of people who will have survived. People who saw Big Brother when he wasn't there. People who suspected the rest of humanity before the rest of humanity turned dangerous. People with hiding places ready." I grin as I say this, studying the lines. "People like my father. If he and my brothers had hidden rather than fought.… Well, they'd still be here." My voice is heavy, and all smile is gone from my voice.
"Okay, I agree with the theory. But these lines don't mean anything." She says, her voice slightly softer.
"Tell me again what he said when he drew them." I say. She sighs heavily.
"They were arguing–Uncle Jeb and my dad. Uncle Jeb was trying to convince him that something was wrong, telling him not to trust anyone. Dad laughed it off. Jeb grabbed the photo album from the end table and started… almost carving the lines into the back cover with a pencil. Dad got mad, said my mom would be angry. Jeb said, 'Linda's mom asked you all to come up for a visit, right? Kind of strange, out of the blue? Got a little upset when only Linda would come? Tell you the truth, Trev, I don't think Linda will be minding anything much when she gets back. Oh, she might act like it, but you'll be able to tell the difference.' It didn't make sense at the time, but what he said really upset my dad. He ordered Uncle Jeb out of the house. Jeb wouldn't leave at first. Kept warning us not to wait until it was too late. He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into his side. 'Don't let 'em get you, honey,' he whispered. 'Follow the lines. Start at the beginning and follow the lines. Uncle Jeb'll keep a safe place for you.' That's when Dad shoved him out the door." I nodded, still studying.
"The beginning… the beginning… It has to mean something." I think out loud.
"Does it? They're just squiggles, Jared. It's not like a map–they don't even connect." She says, frustration creeping into her voice.
"There's something about the first one, though. Something familiar. I could swear I've seen it somewhere before." I chew on my lip, thinking hard.
"Maybe he told Aunt Maggie. Maybe she got better directions."
"Maybe," I drift into thought.
"That's it!" I yell excitedly. Jamie jumps up, looking around.
"What? Where?" He asks groggily. I ignore the question.
"Did you bring that family album of yours?" I ask. He nods, and digs through his small sack for it. I pull over to the side of the road, and yank it from it's hands. I open it up to the first photo.
"Picacho peak! That's what it's from. I knew it was familiar. Look Jamie." I gently pulled the picture out, and closed the album, flipping it to the back, where the carved lines were. I held the photo next to it. The lines were the shape of the mountain. "That's were we go. To those Mountains. It has to mean something." Jamie's eyes are wide, and he is fully awake now.
We drive for hours, until we are as close as we can. I fill three backpacks with water bottles, granola bars, and more water. Then we drive out towards the distant mountains, a full tank of gas to help us on our way. We drive and drive and drive. Then, we run out of gas. I look at Jamie.
"Guess we get to walk from here." I say, smiling a bit at him. I'm not sure how to hide the car. I look around. Except for the still distant mountains, it is straight out flat. "It's too dangerous to leave the car out her, in the middle of no where." I say more to myself, than to Jamie. "But I guess that's what we'll have to do." Then, we begin to walk.
I'm surprised I'm not dead, as the famed Uncle Jeb pours a bottle of water on my face.
"You okay son?" He asks. I sit up coughing. Then I'm brought to reality.
"Jamie! Where the heck is Jamie?" I yell. I kick at the man. "Where is he?" I scream.
"He's fine! Don't worry, Aunt Mags is working on him. We couldn't take two back at once, so I took him first. Calm down! I'm human I swear." I stare at his eyes. He isn't lying. Then I pass out.
I wake up, shaded, in a cool room. The ceiling is dark colored. There is holes here and there. A young man leans over me. His eyes are clear dark brown, no ring of light.
"Where am I? Who are you?" I croak. I remember then. Jamie and I trekking through the dessert, following some lines an old bat drew. I remember carrying Jamie, as I fell down with exhaustion. Then Jeb waking me up for a few moments.
"I'm the doctor here. Call me Doc." He says smiling." Now come on lets get you to work." He says. I sit up, and realize I feel fine. I had been laying on a full size bed, and now realize, Jamie is curled up next to me. I smile, and brush my fingers across his cheek. I got him here safely.
"So, it's just you, Jeb, Jamie and me?" I'm just happy that there was more people than I thought.
"Well...No." He says. I stare at him. "We actually have about a hundred people living in these caves." He says smiling. I almost cry.
"That many? We weren't alone..." I drift off into thought.
"Not really. Okay, come on. We are going to have a vote of which crop to grow." He leads me out of the room, and through many twisting tunnels. The vote is for carrots. About forty of us plant them in a dark square in the middle of a huge cavern. I'm happy to be busy with the work, but I can't help thinking how much Mel would have loved this. I imagine kissing her as she digs the hole in the ground. I think of our hands joined, both covered in dark earth. I shake these thoughts off and begin to dig more.
After a few weeks I have made many friends, voted several times. I've just finished working, when we all go and meet in the mess hall to eat lunch. When my group of five walks in, no one is in the room.
"Where is everybody?" Ian asks. Kyle, his brother shrugs.
"Probably having a meeting. Come on, lets go check this out." Wes said, and we all turned to go. When we entered the main cavern, it was packed. Every one was either shouting angrily, or murmuring.
"I heard it's Jared's-" the murmur stopped as I passed them. What could it be? I asked myself. Then I saw the back of her head. It's Mel! I shoved hard through the crowd. She's alive! Then she turned and I saw her eyes. It's eyes. no no! I cried in my head. I pushed through the last few people, and I was in front. Then it saw me.
"Jared!" It cried, and lunged towards me. The cry had sounded so so much like my Mel. That's what fueled the anger. I swung as hard as I could, and hit it. It fell to the ground. I walked closer to it, ready to strike again, then Jeb stared at me. We locked eyes, and he won. I stepped back angrily. Then Doc stepped around me.
"Okay, okay," he said in an oddly cheery voice as he circled Jared and came to face me. "I'm here. What have we got?" He thought that I would let him operate on this body. No way in heck. I would not let him try to cut out the alien in their. It would never work.
"Jeb found it in the desert. Used to be our niece Melanie. It seemed to be following the directions he gave her." Said Aunt Maggie. She flashed a dirty look at Jeb.
"Mm-hm," He said, as though examining a project. This angered me. Then Sharon peered around Doc, her hand resting on his shoulder. Then recognition was in it's eyes. Sharon's face hardened. Doc walked forward.
"Mm-hm," He said again, reaching out and touching her-it's face. It shied away from him. "It's okay," he reassured, smiling a little in encouragement. "I won't hurt you" Yeah right. For now. Jeb nudged it forward. Doc traced his fingers along to scar for the insertion. I almost vomited. "She looks healthy enough, aside from some recent exhaustion, dehydration, and malnourishment. I think you've put enough water back into her so that the dehydration won't interfere. Okay, then." He said. He held out his hand to it, and it didn't put it's hand in his.
"Kyle, Ian?" He called, craning his neck to see where they were. Kyle walked up and stood next to Doc, towering over him. "I think I need some help. Maybe if you were to carry –" I couldn't stand it anymore.
"No." I gritted my teeth as everyone turned to look at me.
"Jared? Is there a problem?" Doc asked innocently.
"Yes." I tried not to yell.
"And it is?"
"I'll tell you the problem, Doc. What's the difference between letting you have it or Jeb putting a bullet in its head?" It began to tremble at my words. Jeb patted it's arm, driving me crazy.
"Well," Was all he said.
"The difference is, if Jeb kills it, at least it dies cleanly." I said, answering my own question.
"Jared." The Doc's voice was soothing, the same tone he'd used on it. "We learn so much each time. Maybe this will be the time –"
"Hah!" I interrupted. "I don't see much progress being made, Doc." I would protect the last part of Mel I had from being cut up.
Sharon took a step forward so that she stood half in front of the Doc. It was a protective stance.
"There's no point in wasting an opportunity," she said fiercely. "We all realize that this is hard for you, Jared, but in the end it's not your decision to make. We have to consider what's best for the majority." I almost screamed. Mel was mine, even if it was only her body. I didn't care what the majority thought.
"No." I snarled. Ian and Kyle, the brothers, stepped towards me angrily.
"It is one of them! We need to get rid of it. Before it leads others here." Kyle growled.
"No! She was my only hope! The only reason I found this place, and I won't let anyone even touch the body without getting killed." I yelled. Jeb swung his gun up, pointing it at us.
"Calm down. Jared, I agree with you, it's your choice you...own the body." I felt no satisfaction.
The ailean in Mel's body fell over. I heard it whisper something. "Jamie" I was suddenly over it, glaring into it's silver eyes.
"Jamie?" It breathed again. My heart skipped a beat. It's just trying to trick me. I thought. "Jamie?" I almost hit it again.
The kid is fine. Jared brought him here." Jeb said. I grimaced. He shouldn't give it any information.
"Thank you." It whispered. I almost cried.
Then it went limp, passed out. With it's eyes closed, it look so so much like my Mel. I squinted my eyes shut, and turned away.
"It needs a prison." I said. I picked it up, holding it as far from my body as I could, and followed Jeb into one of the tunnels.