Chapter 3: A Rescue, or a Kidnapping? A/N: I have to rush the living in the city part, mostly because I don't have much of an idea for it. Read and Review please :) my character descriptions of real characters of the host may be inaccurate but I'm trying my best to be as accurate as possible
It's hot outside. I'm crouched in a bush in the park, next to a high school. I've forgotten all the names of everything here. It doesn't matter. It's no longer my world. It's theirs. I keep an eye out for any signs of danger as the sun goes down. I've been trapped here all day long, and my leg muscles are cramping, and my stomach rumbles with hunger. Seekers chased me here, but luckily I'm more evasive than they can handle. But now I need to get back to our hang out. My uncle is waiting for me, we've been communicating back and forth with a resistance down in Arizona. They're planning to send a group up here for us, as there are no pockets of resistance up north, at least that's what we have assumed. But I cannot wander from my bush, as a black and white car, with lights on top, lazily drives by. The Seeker driving looks bored as he continues driving. There is very rarely any action in their job anymore. Soon they would assume they are no longer needed. That's when my species is likely to strike and strike hard.
The car finally disappears. I jerk my hood onto my head, stand up, and begin walking up the sidewalk, slowly ascending a hill into a neighborhood. We've managed to live safely in the middle of a neighborhood crawling with the buggers. I don't know how we've been able to do it for so long. But soon, we wouldn't have to. I keep moving, trying not to look suspicious for wearing a hoodie on a hot day. I don't care, it doesn't matter to me. As long as I can keep moving, without any notice, I would be okay. I keep moving slowly, walking past white houses, with the occasional green or blue house. They all changed the structure of the houses, so they all look the same, but they were given different options for colors. Luckily not all of the buggers liked white.
Soon I reach a newer looking house that is two stories, except the second story is underground. The curtains are pulled tightly shut, and there are no cars in the driveway, or gaping open garage, although that doesn't mean much. I quickly go into the garage, punch the button with my fist, and watch the garage door slowly close with a groaning noise, which makes a finally thud when it touches the ground. I knock on the dilapidated, brown door three times to let my Uncle and cousin know that it's me. At first there's no response, then the door slowly swings inward with a groan and I step inside. The figure slams the door closed and quickly locks it, then slides a board into place. I tuck my hoodie back down, finally able to relax. I see my Uncle's gaze is on me, and I drop mine.
"I couldn't get any supplies. They chased me to a park and since I'm small, I could easily pull off hiding in a bush. I was stuck there all day." My stomach rumbles again.
My Uncle, Ryan, frowns, and I notice he's got facial hair coming in. "It's alright." He reaches out and ruffles my head. "I'm just glad you're safe."
"Dad." I hear a younger, but deep, male voice call out. "Is Teresa back yet?"
"I'm right here." I call out to him.
A boy about my height with brown hair and green eyes rushes into the kitchen. My seventeen year old cousin Travis.
"I'm sorry." I tell him, barely making eye contact with him. "I couldn't get any supplies."
Travis suddenly grabs me in a tight hug. "As long as you're safe it doesn't matter. You're the only family we have left that hasn't been…claimed. We can't lose you."
"You won't Travis." I bury my face into his chest, holding back sobs. "I don't want it to happen, so it won't."
I suddenly wake up, hot tears running down my face. I sit up and look at the time. 2 am. I lie my head back down on the pillow, holding back sobs, although tears still ran freely down my face. My host, Teresa, had made a promise, that my species had forced her to break. I feel a twinge of pain in my heart. Her Uncle Ryan, if he has made it back safely, has to tell his son, Travis, that she has been claimed, and lost. I feel another twinge of pain and fresh tears roll down my face, and I'm sobbing silently. Then I roll over onto my face, and get lost in sleep once more.
It's pouring outside. We hide out in the woods, watching the truck pull away from the campsite, leaving their camper behind, assuming that it's safe. The only reason we are out here, is we have stolen a car, and this is one of the safer ways to get food. Ryan is still in the car. Travis and I slowly begin approaching the camper, both of us still alert to our surroundings. We reach the camper, and test the clean metallic door. It's locked. We check for windows, but there are none. We have no way in. But Travis doesn't give up easily. He examines the lock, and then holds out his hand to me, and I pull a bobby pin out of my back pocket and place it in his hand. He twists it out of shape, then jabs it into the lock and wiggles it and we hear a promising click sound. I place a hand on the handle and twist it open, and hop inside, the lights automatically coming on. I don't care what the place looks like, I go to the cupboard, and paw around inside, grabbing Nutella, peanut butter, canned goods, and pretzels and marshmallows, then I go into the fridge and just grab a bunch of food and drinks. Travis dumps out one of the alien's bags and we stuff it full and quickly go outside.
We've headed to the rendezvous point but we did not see Ryan. Where is he? We duck into some bushes to wait for him, but he doesn't show up. The raining is letting up, revealing a setting sun. The buggers with the camper would be back soon. We have to get out of here before they get back. Then we see it. A muddy red ford truck comes barreling to a stop, and we quickly climb inside.
I rest my head on Travis's shoulder, relieved that we have gotten out of a bad situation again. Uncle Ryan starts driving immediately, stomping on the gas, we start accelerating rapidly.
"What's going on? Why are you driving so fast?" I ask.
"Seekers. They've been sitting out here. The trailer right there-it was a trap." Ryan barks, his knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel so hard.
I tense up, and I can feel Travis tense up.
"They've never done that before. They're getting smarter."
I wake up to shaking. I see Angel's face right in mine and she leans away, looking relieved. I'm a little annoyed, I never got to finish that memory. I sigh and rub my eyes, not sure what to say. But then my stomach growls, and twists painfully in hunger. I yawn rather loudly, and I notice that Angel isn't saying anything, just staring at me.
"What's the plan for today?" I ask.
"Stay here. That's what. After what happened yesterday it probably won't be safe to go outside for a while." She says.
"Alright. Can we get breakfast?" I ask.
She nods and we leave the room, walking in silence. Angel's face was serious, but there is fear in her eyes that matches all the others that we walk by. They all must know about what happened yesterday. We cross over into the café area, where there is a long bar with food and at the end drinks. We go through and I fill my plate and sit down at a table, and eat, not noticing what I'm eating, I'm still freaked out from those dreams, memories, that I had while I was sleeping. I am beginning to feel more pity for humans, as if I needed that.
Angel sits across from me, and eats silently too, her eyes unfocused as she eats. Then her hand freezes, holding the fork, her eyes refocus, and there is pure terror on her face. I turn around to look out the window, and see the same van again, and then Ryan, my host's uncle, pointing right at me. I stand up, leave my plate right where it is, and run for my room. I get to the room, wiggle the door handle, then pat my pockets and realize that I don't have a key, but Angel shows up not too long after me. She unlocks the door, and we go inside, lock the door, sliding the chain lock into place with a snap, we hide in the bathroom, the door locked, the light off. Angel and I have tucked ourselves under the counter, which isn't hard for me, but Angel is folded unnaturally and looks like she's in pain. I am shaking badly, and I whimper each time I hear a door bang open close to us and gun fire. I press my knuckles against my lips and close my eyes. Barely living in the human world, and I will already die. Or be taken, and probably ripped forcefully from my body, exposed as the harmless soul form, and squished and die anyway. I don't want that to happen, but it's likely. I hear our door bang open, loud voices chattering away at each other, and we make our way quietly into the shower tub and lie down, me completely lied out, Angel is curled into a ball.
"No sign of your cousin." A gruff voice says.
Cousin? That would mean Travis is with them. I shiver harder and press my fist against my lips again. I have to resist the impulse to call out to him, tell him that I'm here, even though his cousin has long been erased.
A long sigh. "I see. Dad said he saw her in here, but he must be finally going off of the deep end. Hallucinating. He got my hopes up." He sounds upset, and hopeless.
I feel a strange ache in my chest, which brings tears rushing to my eyes that he's so sad. I nearly jump out of the tub, but Angel gets a hard grip on my arm. We wait until the footsteps have retreated quickly out of the room, and down the hall way before we climb out of the tub. But the second we leave the bathroom, Angel quickly closes the door and locks it. My breathing has accelerated, and I have a hand placed on the base of my throat, in that hollow space of the collar bone, and I'm about ready to cry. Angel doesn't say anything, and she turns her head away, looking terrified.
We don't leave our room at all for days, not even for breakfast. We have it brought to our room and then we either read, or watch TV all day. My Healer calls a few times, asks about how well I'm adapting but there's no progress, considering there's no way Angel wants to leave, which means I'm not leaving. So we continue to stay holed up in our room.
Then, after about a week, on a Monday, we venture out onto the streets, in sheeting rain. We're dressed warmly, and waiting on a bench for a bus. We are planning to go shopping, but the bus is running late, due to bad traffic, and this rain. It makes it nearly impossible to see, even just walking. I have a baggy hoodie on, so the hoodie hides my face rather well. I don't want to have anybody recognize me right now, as that will be the death of me if that happens. But at the same time, I want to be found, because I am already sick of the pain I have managed to cause, and I've probably caused even more, without knowing it.
Finally, a city bus rumbles to a stop in front of us, and the doors open. We quickly climb on, grateful to finally be out of the rain. I let my hood drop as we sit in a seat at the very back of the bus, but I sit on the inside seat, so I don't have to look out the window. Angel doesn't ask me why I don't want the window, and I don't tell. She still doesn't know about the dreams/memories that have haunted me at night. The past few nights they have been the same ones.
The bus suddenly is jerked to a violent stop, a loud pop of a tire popping and then the door is forcefully opened and a gun fires and the bus driver slumps in his seat, blood trickling from the wound in his head. Even from the back of the bus, I can see all of that happening clearly. I yank my hood up over my head again, hiding my face I quickly crawl under the seats. I hear grumbling voices and I feel a hand on my ankle.
"Moonbeam where are you going?" Angel whispers, panicked.
"Hiding." I hiss. "I think they want me, so they won't hurt you."
She released my ankle so I crawl deeper under the seats, having to press my face down into the carpet that smells of rotten eggs and coffee beans. I also see old gum stuck to the under sides of the seats. It's disgusting and must've been left over from humans, as my species is very clean and doesn't stick stuff to other stuff if we don't have an immediate way to throw it out. I turn my head to the side and see a very muddy, worn down black boot.
"If anyone is hiding come out!" A voice barks. "We're looking for someone specific."
The Seeker's will be here soon, I keep telling myself that so I don't come out from underneath the seats. The boot moves forward and I hear Angel scream and the boot moves back and now I can see Angel's shoe. I bite my lip, as I nearly let out a scream.
How the heck these humans got around causing so much chaos without getting caught I didn't know how they managed. But they are pulling it off and now Angel is in danger as well. I start wiggling backwards, working on getting out from under the seat, but then I realize I'm stuck. Crap.
"If you are on this bus, Teresa or whoever you are…you better show yourself or your friend is dead!" The voice threatens.
"I'm under here!" I shout. "But I'm stuck."
I keep wiggling then I feel a hand grab my ankle and drag me out from underneath the seat. Then I'm jerked to my feet and this man, I don't recognize him other than he's got blue eyes that are full of anger, and a hard scowl on his face, and he has a beanie on so I can't see his hair, and he is holding Angel by the back of the neck with a large hand and is doing the same to me. We get dragged off of the bus and towards a van. How they plan to get out of here, I have no idea.
"Hey, Jared." The man holding us calls out, to another man sitting by the van, which I just notice is hiding in an alley. The man by the van looks up, and I notice he has blonde hair, relatively, and hazel eyes, and he is scary to me, but then again, anyone taller than me and quite a bit muscular, is bound to scare me. "I found the one Ryan and Travis have been looking for all over."
The man, Jared, gets to his feet. "Good. Now we can get out of here, since we've caused such a ruckus. We're going to have to get a new vehicle, since they'll be looking for this one." He points his thumb over his shoulder at the van. Then he frowns at Angel. "Who is this?"
"Her friend, I assume. I think it'd be easier to transport her if she isn't alone." The man holding me by the neck says.
"Kyle…" Jared sighs and shakes his head. "Fine whatever. We were only supposed to make sure we had the one. Throw them in the back. Be gentle please. Melanie is going to kill me if we keep roughing them up."
"I got it." He starts dragging us to the back of the van. I'm not resisting, because for the most part I'm too small to put up a fight. Angel was panicking, thrashing around and Kyle sighs angrily. He releases me and then glares.
"Don't move." He says.
He opens the back of the van, and shoves Angel in, being rough anyways, and then gently nudges me into the van. I climb in because I already know that I can't get away.
Then the doors slam shut.