Chapter 7

Sleeping on rock isn't exactly...comfortable. And guarding this thing better. Every once in a while, snacks were brought to me, like Red Vines, Snickers, Pop-Tarts. I don't know why, but sometimes, I hoped that she- no it, would want me to share. But it kept quiet. I remember stealing this and that, but some things were new. They went on a raid without me. I growled in my head. Once, I had a bag of Cheetos. I slowly opened it, wondering if it could hear me. I wanted it to suffer. But at the same time...I didn't. Talk about mixed feelings. I crunched slowly on the first small Cheeto, then heard it laugh. A dry croak, but definitely a laugh. Then it laughed again. I got up, and walked halfway down the dark hall.

"Crazy body-snatcher," I muttered under my breath. Three times that week, always during the sleeping hours, someone came to check on us. The first time it was Kyle. I heard his heavy footsteps, then lunged to my feet, glaring at him.

"Get out of here," I growled, low and angry. I aimed the shotgun at him, ready to shoot.

"Just checking," Kyle said. His voice was far away, but loud and rough. "Someday you might not be here. Someday you might sleep too soundly."

My answer was to cock the gun. He turned, hands in pockets, and laughed as he walked away. That man is a maniac. The next time it was Brandt. He peeked around the corner, and met my eyes. I barley slept after that night with Kyle. Brandt smiled and turned away. Then the next time, it was Ian, maybe the sanest put of the group. I cursed as I rolled onto my feet, aiming the gun.

"Easy," Ian murmured, hands up in surrender. "I come in peace."

"Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying," I growled.

"I just want to talk." He came closer. "You're buried down here, missing the important discussions.… We miss your take on things."

"I'm sure," I said sarcastically.

"Oh, put the gun down. If I was planning to fight you, I would have come with four guys this time." I almost smiled, but kept my stone face on.

"How's your brother these days?" I smiled then, gleeful at the thought of him moaning in pain.

"He's still fuming about his nose," Ian said. "Oh, well–it's not the first time it's been broken. I'll tell him you said you were sorry."

"I'm not." I said.

"I know. No one is ever sorry for hitting Kyle." We both laughed quietly. I glanced back at the hole were it was, wondering if it was listening.

"So what do you want, Ian? Not just an apology for Kyle, I imagine." I said, sarcastically.

"Did Jeb tell you?" Ian asked, looking surprised I didn't know.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said, anger creeping into my voice.

"They've given up the search. Even the Seekers." That was a surprise. I held back a grin.

"We've been keeping a close watch for some change, but they never seemed overly anxious. The search never strayed from the area where we abandoned the car, and for the past few days they were clearly looking for a body rather than a survivor. Then two nights ago we caught a lucky break–the search party left some trash in the open, and a pack of coyotes raided their base camp. One of them was coming back late and surprised the animals. The coyotes attacked and dragged the Seeker a good hundred yards into the desert before the rest of them heard its screams and came to the rescue. The other Seekers were armed, of course. They scared the coyotes off easily, and the victim wasn't seriously hurt, but the event seems to have answered any questions they might have had about what happened to our guest here." He paused, then continued. "So they packed up and left. The Seekers gave up the search. All the volunteers went home. No one is looking for it." Ian turned towards the hole, and I looked back, seeing it's shape crouch down into the dark. "I imagine it's been declared officially dead, if they keep track of those things the way we used to. Jeb's been saying 'I told you so' to anyone who'll stand still long enough to hear it."

"Of course, that's Jeb, always right." I grumbled. "All right, then. I guess that's the end of it."

"That's what it looks like." Ian hesitated for a moment and then added, "Except… Well, it's probably nothing at all." I tensed, and stared him down.

"Go on,"

"No one but Kyle thinks much of it, and you know how Kyle is." I grunted in agreement. "You've got the best instincts for this kind of thing; I wanted your opinion. That's why I'm here, taking my life into my hands to infiltrate the restricted area," Ian said dryly, and then his voice was utterly serious again. "You see, there's this one… a Seeker, no doubt about that–it packs a Glock." A Glock? Oh, no. I tensed up more, if that's even possible. "Kyle was the first to notice how this one stood out. It didn't seem important to the rest–certainly not part of the decision-making process. Oh, it had suggestions enough, from what we could see, but no one seemed to listen to it. Wish we could've heard what it was saying.…" He drifted off for a moment.

"Anyway," Ian continued, "when they called off the search, this one wasn't happy with the decision. You know how the parasites are always so… very pleasant? This was weird–it's the closest I've ever seen them come to an argument. Not a real argument, because none of the others argued back, but the unhappy one sure looked like it was arguing with them. The core group of Seekers disregarded it–they're all gone."

"But the unhappy one?" I asked.

"It got in a car and drove halfway to Phoenix. Then it drove back to Tucson. Then it drove west again."

"Still searching." I said, quietly.

"Or very confused. It stopped at that convenience store by the peak. Talked to the parasite that worked there, though that one had already been questioned."

"Huh," I concentrated hard.

"Then it went for a hike up the peak–stupid little thing. Had to be burning alive, wearing black from head to toe." Then I heard a bump, and rustling, really loud.

"What was that? " Ian asked, his voice shocked. We both walked over, and leaned into the hole. It had it's face covered, and peeked through it's fingers at us. It trembled. I leaned back, and grabbed the lamp, then put it near the hole to see better.

"Look at its eyes," Ian muttered. "It's frightened." He felt for it. I stared at it, calculating hard. I wished I could stand over it, but that was obviously not possible.

"Who is the Seeker in black?" I barked, sudden. It's lips trembled, but no words came out. "I know you can talk," I growled. "You talk to Jeb and Jamie. And now you're going to talk to me." I crawled into the hole, then huffed in surprise at how hard it was for me to fit. Then I squeezed through. The low ceiling forced me to kneel.

"Tell me what you know," I ordered. I didn't answer.

"Who is the Seeker in black? Why is it still searching?" I shouted, echoing. It hid behind it's hands again.

"Ah–Jared?" Ian murmured. "Maybe you should let me…"

"Stay out of it!" I yelled. It new something. Ian walked closer. He tried crawling into the space behind me.

"Can't you see it's too scared to talk? Leave it alone for a sec –" I kicked out, hitting him in the jaw, and he fell back.

"That's twice," I said, having diverted my punch for it, into Ian. "I'm ready to go for three," But I turned back to it's trembling form. "Who. Is. The. Seeker." I gritted my teeth. It dropped it's hands, and stared into my eyes. I felt uneasy as I stared at the bruises I had left on it's cheek. My stone face wavered as I felt the guilt go through me. "I don't have to hurt you," I said quietly, unsure of the words I was saying. "But I do have to know the answer to my question." I stared at it, watched emotions go over and over it's face. "Tell me," I said, tight with frustration.

"The Seeker," It said, it's voice rough with disuse.

"We already know it's a Seeker." I interrupted, impatient.

"No, not just any Seeker," It whispered. "My Seeker."

"What do you mean, your Seeker?" I asked incredulously.

"Assigned to me, following me. She's the reason –" It stopped staring at a spot on the wall. Again emotions went over it's face, as though it was having a silent conversation with itself.

"The reason?"I prompted.

"The reason I ran away," It breathed. "The reason I came here." I could tell it wasn't revealing the full truth, as I stared, my mouth hanging open, as I tried to process this. It wasn't here to hunt us down. It was on our side. I shook my head clear of those thoughts.

"You ran away from a Seeker? But you're one of them!" I cried. "Why would it follow you? What did it want?"

"She wanted you. You and Jamie." I stopped, my face hardening. It was here to bring them to us.

"And you were trying to lead it here?" It shook it's head.

"I didn't… I…" It drifted off, the silent conversation seemed to still be going on.

"What?" I snapped.

"I… didn't want to tell her. I don't like her." I blinked, confused again.

"Don't you all have to like everyone?"

"We're supposed to," It admitted, coloring with shame. I almost laughed at this.

"Who did you tell about this place?" Ian asked over my shoulder. I scowled but kept my eyes on it's face.

"I couldn't tell–I didn't know.… I just saw the lines. The lines on the album. I drew them for the Seeker… but we didn't know what they were. She still thinks they're a road map." She lead her to us.

"What do you mean you didn't know what they were? You're here." I flexed my hand toward it, but dropped it halfway there.

"I… I was having trouble with my… with the… with her memory. I didn't understand… I couldn't access everything. There were walls. That's why the Seeker was assigned to me, waiting for me to unlock the rest." I stared at it, waiting for more, then exchanged a look with Ian.

Then I stopped, the sudden thought dangerous. "Were you able to access my cabin?"

"Not for a long time." It answered. No,no,no.

"And then you told the Seeker." I concluded.

"No." It said.

"No? Why not?" I cried.

"Because… by the time I could remember it… I didn't want to tell her." It drifted into thought. Then my voice changed, became softer.

"Why didn't you want to tell her?" I asked. It's jaw locked hard, and it looked as though it would say no more. "Why weren't you able to access everything? Is that… normal?" She was silent for a bit, thinking.

"She fell a long way. The body was damaged." True, but not the true answer. It was a bad liar. I cocked my head to the side.

"Why isn't this Seeker giving up like the rest?" Ian asked. It closed it's eyes, and backed into the wall.

"I don't know," It whispered. "She's not like other souls. She's… annoying. " Ian laughed once–a startled sound.

"And you–are you like other… souls? " I asked, scared of the answer. It opened it's eyes and stared at me wearily for a moment. Then it shut it's eyes again, buried it's face in it's knees, and wrapped it's arms around it's head. I backed out of the cave, and stretched out my back.

"That was unexpected," Ian whispered.

"Lies of course," I answered, not exactly sure. "Only… I can't quite figure out what it wants us to believe–where it's trying to lead us."

"I don't think it's lying. Well, except the one time. Did you notice?" He asked.

"Part of the act." I glared.

"Jared, when have you ever met a parasite who could lie about anything? Except a Seeker, of course."

"Which it must be." I concluded.

"Are you serious?" He asked.

"It's the best explanation." I say looking at the ground, knowing it was not true.

"She– it is the furthest thing from a Seeker I've ever seen. If a Seeker had any idea how to find us, it would have brought an army." Ian said, gesturing towards the cave.

"And they wouldn't have found anything. But she–it got in, didn't it?" I said.

"It's almost been killed half a dozen –"

"Yet it's still breathing, isn't it?" I interrupted. There was silent for quite a while.

"I think I'm going to go talk to Jeb," Ian eventually whispered.

"Oh, that's a great idea." I said, my voice thick with sarcasm.

"Do you remember that first night? When it jumped between you and Kyle? That was bizarre."

"It was just trying to find a way to stay alive, to escape.…"

"By giving Kyle the go-ahead to kill her–it? Good plan."

"It worked."

"Jeb's gun worked. Did she know he was on his way?"

"You're overthinking this, Ian. That's what it wants."

"I don't think you're right. I don't know why… but I don't think she wants us to think about her at all." Ian got up, then continued,

"You know what's really twisted?" he muttered, his voice no longer a whisper.

"What's that?"

"I felt guilty –guilty as heck–watching her flinch away from us. Seeing the black marks on her neck."

"You can't let it get to you like that." I said, angry. "It's not human. Don't forget that."

"Just because she isn't human, do you think that means she doesn't feel pain?" Ian asked as he walked down the corridor. "That she doesn't feel just like a girl who's been beaten–beaten by us?"

"Get a hold of yourself," I hissed after him.

"See you around, Jared." I was tense for a long time after that, pacing back and forth. I couldn't tell if it was lying.

"Guilty," I grumbled in scathing tones. "Letting it get to him. Just like Jeb, like Jamie. Can't let this go on. Stupid to let it live." I kept muttering things like this to myself, till I finally gave up, and sat down. Then I fell a sleep, my elbows on my knees and my head leaning on one fist.