A/N: Sorry for the slight wait! I can't believe how busy I've been this past week! I knew college wouldn't be a walk in the park, but I never thought that I would struggle with managing my time so badly! . I think I've worked out a decent schedule that will let me update this about twice a week. Also, I had major writer's block for this chapter… so I apologize if it's lacking in more than one aspect, but it's a chapter nonetheless! Enjoy to the best of your ability!

Chapter 3:

Burns Living Flowers tried desperately not to make any sudden movement's after having his legs freed from the ropes that constricted them; no need getting a bullet shot through his brain now. As his tied wrists were held roughly by a callused pair of hands that urged him forward, Burns took the chance to take a look around him. It seemed they were in some sort of cave, the only source of lighting being a few lanterns that had yet to be grabbed and taken away by the humans that busily rushed to get everything they could carry away; off to what he assumed was the mouth of the caverns. The layout seemed a bit complex; numbers of corridors that, from lack of lighting, seemed to go on forever. From the hurried bodies that passed him without so much of a second glance, he felt as though there were scores of humans living here, when in truth there were only about thirty.

"Get that thing's face covered! It can't see where we're going!" Screamed a woman, who could easily be mistaken for a man with the masculine undertone her voice took. It also gave way to the fact that they were actually going somewhere, rather than running away aimlessly. Where this second secret human resistance base was located, he couldn't possibly begin to guess.

Before he could see anything else of the base the humans had lived in, Burns' eyes were clouded by a thick black rag of some sort, jolting his head back a bit as the human behind him securely tied it.

As the man continued him to urge him forward, Burns found himself tripping himself every now and again due to his lack of sight, hearing an annoyed grunt coming from the human holding him whenever he had. For a moment, his mind wandered to wonder how those born without sight could possibly manage as well as they did, but his focus was soon returned to the humans around him as clattering and voices overwhelmed his senses.

His blackened sight was quickly overwhelmed with a flash of red, indicating light, before it returned to a stable ashen pink. It seemed he wasn't unconscious for very long... or at least a day.

"Get in here! We need to leave!" said a voice Burns identified as Nate.

"You don't know if it's telling the truth!" another argued, this voice feminine and unknown.

"We don't have the luxury to not believe it!" screamed another unknown man, one who sounded rather similar to the one that tackled him down.

"Everyone! We need to leave, NOW!" Nate said again, his voice full of urgency and sickened with fear.

They had every reason to fear. To Humans, Souls were body-stealing parasites, and though Burns would love to refute such accusations, the facts were hard to dismiss. Should the Seeker's find them now, and the humans retaliate - as he knew they undoubtedly would - there would be blood shed on both sides until the Seeker's gained control. They were more powerful, level-headed, and armed than any of the humans here combined. There was no doubt that should the Seekers find them all now, they would be erased just as 'Jon' had. And though he enjoyed his human life thus far, it pained him to think that these humans before him, so full of life and emotion, could disappear.

"Move damnit!" the man pushing him forward said urgently. He felt himself being pushed into what he assumed was a vehicle. The clamoring and familiar sound of a rattling engine were undeniably that of a motor. Being pushed down into a seat, he could feel that the humans that surrounded him did their best not to touch him, the monster.

"Go, Go, GO!" Nate's voice screamed out once again, and everyone felt the vehicle push forward at an alarming speed. For the moment, he was thankful they were in a desert; had they been in a populated city, the Seekers would be on their trail quicker than anyone would initially think. Souls obeyed all laws, including traffic ones, so if they were on the road going this speed, they would be pulled over immediately, and turned in.

A frightening thought to any human.

The ride was filled with a deafening silence, the tension in the air practically suffocating him with their fear as the car jolted up and down due to the unpaved desert roads. Burns hadn't a clue as to what direction they were going, but knew that whatever direction it was, they would eventually have to ditch the cars, or hope that the desert winds would rid them of their tire tracks. He hoped for the latter, as leaving the cars behind would hinder them in their survival.

Still staying quiet, Burns felt the road beneath them turn smoother, and couldn't help but voice his concerns.

"I- I don't know where we are, but if we're on a paved road, drive the speed limit." he said, his voice giving way to the constant fear of having a bullet plunged through his brain.

Though he could not see, Burn's could feel the eyes of the humans surrounding him stare intensely at him. As much as they wanted to disregard his advice as lies of a Seeker, there was so much honesty soaked in his voice, they couldn't help but grudgingly believe him. The only reason the raid parties had complied to the rules of the road was simply because they didn't want to stand out, not because they knew that they would be pulled over if they didn't, but thinking about it more thoroughly, they had never even seen a Soul jaywalk as so many humans would.

Burns could feel the car slow in it's speed, and felt relief overtake him. They actually believed him this time, without any objections.

"Everyone, don't make a sound." Nate said cautiously, before pulling the vehicle into a stop. Burn's could hear the shifting of bodies, but also one inching closer to him.

Though startled, he didn't dare make a sound, not even when the cloth that covered his eyes was stripped so suddenly. His head jolted to the side, his eyes shut tightly and wincing from the sudden change in lighting. He could hear silent protests as he begun to blink profusely, trying to clear his vision quickly. Soon enough, he could see clearly, the sun glaring into his eyes as it reflected off the black painted hood of the vehicle he was in. From the inside, it seemed to be a truck of some kind, and a sudden blast of memories flooding him, told him that the truck they were in was a semi-truck. Made sense, considering the amount of things and people they had to carry with them.

"What are you doing?" the man sitting to his right asked in a hushed voice. The front of the semi-truck seated a total of five, two in the front, and three in the back with Burns sitting soundly in the middle. All those around him, with the exception of Nate, looked at Burns with visible fear.

"We're going to need his help getting out of here." he said as a matter-of-factly, Burns slightly shocked that instead of calling him 'it,' recognizing him nothing more than an object, more than a parasite... Nate had called him, 'his,' meaning he recognized him as a person.

That in itself was… unexpected, to say the least.

"We don't need it's help!" the woman to his left protested. Her hazel nut eyes were filled with anger and fear, and it seemed her ruby hair flared with her inner fire.

"We do, Amy." Nate said once again, looking at her with a glare that shut her up quick. Turning his attention back to Burns, his eyes visibly pleading, "I am asking you, please drive us to safety. We don't want to be taken. We don't want to be erased from existence… please."

Burns looked at him with a gobsmacked expression. He never, in all of his lives, ever expected that he would ever come to be in this sort of situation. Should he help the humans, he would be, in a way, betraying his own kind… denying more of his people to experience something he could hardly describe. But, he couldn't... wouldn't, stand by and do nothing while this human was actually asking him of such a thing. Had it been any other Soul, they would undoubtedly take his offer, but turn them in instead, knowing full well that the 'dangerous' humans would be taken in to the hands of the Seekers and soon become one of them.

Looking at Nate, Burns found his voice, and confidently said in a low voice, "I won't let them take you.." Those around him, including Nate, looked at him disbelievingly. How was it possible that a bug that had taken over their world, and essentially eradicated human kind from existence, be willing to help them? Wasn't it against their nature? Weren't they supposed to side with their own kind? Why on Earth, would this Soul be willing to go against it's own kind and help them, humans, survive? From everything he's done thus far, their previous conceptions of his kind were slowly being shattered.

Noticing the looks of disbelief, Burns spoke again, "I- I can drive.. wherever you need me to go… I'll be sure that we won't be stopped."

"We… We can't trust it, Nate!" the same woman, Amy, spoke again, her voice less sure as it was before.

"I don't know, Nate…" the man he recognized at Evan who was sitting in the passenger seat. "We don't know if it's a Seeker."

"He's definitely not a Seeker." Nate said with such certainty, it made others jaws drop slightly. How was he so sure? "If he was a Seeker, the moment we left, we would have been surrounded by them," he explained, "And have you heard him even try to lie? Everything he's said so far has been practically sugar coated with honesty."

Despite them trying to refute his claims, even they had to admit his words thus far had been so confident and natural, they couldn't really think them as lies, however much they wanted to try. That didn't, however, stop them from distrusting the parasite.

"Okay," he said, his voice giving way to some uncertainty he felt, "change seats with me." Opening the driver's seat door and exiting he allowing Burns to crawl through the opening in the middle of the front seats and put himself in the drivers seat. Before he could even try to put his seat belt on, the end of a handgun pressed against the right side of his temple.

"Try anything funny, and I'll shoot." said the man, Evan. Nodding slowly as the human put his gun back onto his lap, and a good enough distance away from his head, Burns put his seat belt on, checked his mirrors, and went through all the procedures the driver's handbook advised before putting the car back into drive. As he looked to see if there was any oncoming traffic on the empty road, he could feel every eye burn at the back of his head. They wouldn't trust him. They couldn't trust him. But they trusted Nate enough to not protest as loudly… or were willing to kill him as well as Burns should he turn on them as they all were expecting.

Driving at an acceptable fifty-five miles per hour on the highway, a decent five miles under the speed limit, Burns was quite sure they wouldn't run into any trouble… So long as the humans remained quiet and didn't give any passerby Souls weird looks. Perhaps it came with the strong emotions a Human had, but many Souls became paranoid when it came to humans, the Seeker's deeming them dangerous and should not be confronted by any civilian Soul as they could easily be killed. A term they feared greatly as violence was not in their nature, even he who was not entirely completely soul-like feared violence Humans were capable of.

While he drove, the tension in the air was suffocation; so much pressure pushed down on him as everyone, including the rest who were quietly sitting in the back cargo, were literally depending on him to get them to safety.

"Your going to need to go off road in a bit." Nate said, his face visibly pale.

When sirens were heard, everyone, including Burns, felt sweat drop down their brows, and their blood run cold.

Pulling over as an Soul would, Burns quickly turned to the humans, "Don't look at him or her directly in the eye," he began, "Which direction are we going right now, Nate?" he asked, urgency in his voice.

"We're heading toward New Mexico." he said immediately.

"Okay… we-"

"Good afternoon." A gruff male voice said to Burns left.

"Good afternoon." Burns said, turning to the police officer, who all the humans present, sounded clearly nervous. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, but first," he began casually with a small smile, "what is your name?" he asked

"Burns Living Flowers." Burns replied a bit more calmly.

"Fire World?" he asked excitedly, sending a mental picture of a puppy jumping up and down in excitement into Burns' mind as he did, "A pleasure to meet you! I'm Flames Crooked Leaves." extending an arm out to him in a human handshake. "I'm surprised to meet another, Fire World is quite far."

"It is." Burns said while shaking the mans hand, equally surprised to find a fellow Fire-Taster. "What was it you wanted to tell me?" he asked, his nervousness returning, and hoping that the man wouldn't ask for the names of the others in the car.

"Ah, right! I just want to tell you to be careful on the road, they say Humans were hiding out in the desert."

All the humans in the car, flinched or shuddered, but thankfully the police officer took is as fear of the humans, rather than realizing they were the humans he was speaking of.

"In the desert? How could they possibly survive there?" Burns asked, trying to make his voice sound as fearful as possible. To the humans, it sounded far too fake.

"Yes, Burns Living Flowers," Flames Crooked Leaves said, shaking his head in his own fear, "I don't know how either, but the Seekers said they found a base, but no humans. So please be careful on the road. If you like, I can drive with you as far as the border, which is not that far of a ways."

Burns didn't need to look at the humans to know what answer to give.

"No, that's alright, we've just have about another fifty-sixty miles to go." he said, holding a weak smile.

"If you say so, Burns Living Flowers," before they were in the clear, fate had a cruel way of messing with the desperate, "Oh, where are the rest of you from?" Flames asked, smiling innocently.

Before any of them could react poorly, Burns replied for them, albeit too quickly and defensively for the humans taste, "This is Faces Sunward, Sings To The Western Shore, Petals Falling Down, and Mist In The Wind."

"A pleasure to meet you all!" the police officer said, believing Burns as it was in their nature to believe each other. "Have a nice day, and be careful."

As soon as the police officer was out of sight and hearing range, everyone let out a breath none of them realized they had kept in. A part of Burns felt wrong, the pit of his stomach twisting in an unnatural way. Bringing his hand over his abdomen, Burns clutched his stomach as though he were in pain.

Lying.

He hated it.

Trying to push the thoughts aside, Burns put the truck back into drive and began their way again, barely noticing the directions Nate was giving him, but complying to them nonetheless.

Why did he feel this way? He wanted to help the humans… he didn't want to see them turn to Souls, but at the same time, he didn't want to betray his own kind. By helping the humans, he was doing just that.

I don't like this. He thought as he found that they arrived to the second base. All the while, he didn't take notice to the shocked faces of the other humans when they saw he was the one who was driving and not Nate, nor the face of sheer disbelief from the rest. Nate was the only one to notice that he was frozen in though, and tried to snap him out of it.

"Hey… Hey. Hey!"

"Wh- what?" Burns said finally turning his head to the somewhat concerned look Nate had on his face. For all he knew, when non-Seekers lied, they broke.

"You can get out now." he said, still a bit confused over just what happened to the Soul.

"Ri- Right…" Getting out of the car, Burns kept his gaze down, not wanting to look any of the fearful humans in the eyes. He knew, from Jon's memories, that it was their eyes that sent fear down their very bones

"H- How… How could you trust it!" a voice exclaimed, starting a riot of protests coming from everyone around. From under the small red wavy-curls that covered his eyes, Burns could see that there were roughly thirty or so humans, the youngest looking to be about ten or eleven years of age, the oldest nearing the end of his days; sliver hair covered his crown while wrinkles of all shapes covered his face, making his glare all the more unbearable to look at.

"You should kill it!"

"Kill it!"

"Kill!"

Their voices sent Burns wishing he could hide in a dark corner, far away from their malicious intent. He had just saved them…

And they wanted, no, demanded his blood.

He was going to die.

Hopefully it won't be a shot to the head. He thought grimly, before one voice broke the shouts into silence.

"QUIET!"

Bringing his head up slightly, he saw Nate, standing between him and the rest of the humans; no-mans land. "We will not kill him!"

"Him? That's not a human Nate! It's a bloody parasite!" A woman screamed. She was young looking, but her eyes screamed out in pain. Pain that was undoubtedly cause by his people.

"He just went against his own kind! For our sake!" he screamed.

He's actually defending me.

"He just saved all of our lives, when he could have easily given us up to the Seekers!"

He…He's trying to protect me…

"After that? You want to kill him!?"

"I won't stand for this!" a male spoke out once the initial shock of Nate defending the bug had passed.

"Nor I!"

"Me either!"

"Then too bad!" Nate said, his voice harsher than he had expected it to be, "I'm the one that brought us all together, I'm the one that goes out risking my life for yours, I'm the one that had the shelter and resources we've needed to survive! My house. My rules. We won't kill him. We won't let him out to die in the desert. Anyone who tries to kill him, will not go unpunished!"

He can't be serious...

"Now, get inside and set up, we can't stand out here all day. Rob, put the truck in the garage."

As Burns watched the humans disappear into a hidden door, he stood silent and frozen into place, at least until he noticed Nate turn back to him. From under the locks of hair, he finally noticed that he stood above him by a good four inches.

"Wh-Why did you defend me...?" He asked, still shocked over what just happened.

"Because you saved all of our lives back there." Nate said, "If it were any of us, we would have been goners. And you're definitely not a Seeker, I've met one, and you're far from it."

"..Th- Thank you..."

"Don't mention it. I don't completely trust you, but I know you won't do anything to purposefully harm me or anyone else in here. You clearly want to live, so I know you won't do anything, and you actually want to help us... so for now, welcome to The Resistance."

The Resistance...?

A/N: I don't like this chapter T-T Sorry readers… Please stick around for the next chapter! I've just finished reviewing chapter five, and I think… well, I hope you'll stick around for what I've done! Also, I'm thinking about starting another story, one that goes further in depth to Ian's point of view, and should I post it up here, I hope you look to read it! Thanks for reading!