Chapter 66 The Odd Man Out

No man is useless who has a friend,And if we are loved,We are indispensable

 -Robert Louis Stevenson

 

Burns

 

I’m not sure how much time has passed, but my stomach starts to growl. My eyes find Emma’s and she gives me a wry smile. She must be hungry too. I don’t know what to do. The others took our food for the group and that’s fine. They need it too. Should we just go into the kitchen and eat? We don’t know the rules yet and Nate is nowhere in sight.

James and Philip may have agreed to back down for now, but there are other humans here that would rather see me go.

I don’t want to put Emma in danger again. I had thought that things would be better for her once we had found humans, but it seems I was wrong.

“We’ll go see if there’s somewhere we can eat,” Emma says.

“I don’t know,” I say, “I don’t want to get in their way. You should go. I’ll just stay here.”

“You need to eat too, Burns,” she says, “and I’m not leaving you here by yourself.” She bites her lip. “I’ll… I’ll ask Blake.” She doesn’t seem too willing to talk to him though and I wonder why that is. Maybe there’s more than she’s telling me. She said they weren’t friends, but why else would she have mentioned his name?

He sure seemed friendly with her.

I nod. “Aright.” I follow her down the tunnel to where we came from this morning. Luckily we don’t get lost.

Rachel is there with Sophie. They eye us warily, but don’t say anything.

“Where’s Blake?” Emma asks softly.

Rachel keeps quiet. She is eyeing us suspiciously.

Sophie turns her gaze back to her chore. She seems to be cleaning some vegetables. “He’s not here,” she says.

Emma nods. I wonder why she is suddenly so withdrawn. She takes a deep breath. “Do you know where I can find him?”

“You don’t know your way around,” Sophie answers, “he’ll be here when he’ll be here.”

“What do you want, Emma?” Rachel asks. The tone in her voice is not exactly nice.

Emma sighs and I glance at her. She looks tired. “We were just wondering if we could get something to eat,” she say, “we don’t know the rules here yet. Are there set times?”

“There are,” Sophie answers in that same cut off tone again, “it’s almost lunch time.”

I smile at her and place a hand on Emma’s arm. “Then we will wait here for the others.”

Rachel’s eyes narrow. “Our food is not for aliens,” she says.

“He needs to eat too, Rachel,” Emma says.

Something tells me those two don’t like each other. I wonder why.

“It’s bad enough that we have to tolerate his presence,” Rachel hisses at her, “we don’t have to feed him too.”

I feel Emma tense next to me. When I look down, I can see her hands have turned to fists. For a moment I’m afraid she’ll start a fight.

“Then we’ll just take the food we brought in ourselves,” Emma says in a low tone.

Rachel grits her teeth. “We don’t have a lot of food and you want to share it with that!”

“It’s alright, Emma,” I say.

She glares at me. “No, it’s not okay!” She looks back at Rachel. “When have you become such a monster?!”

“Me a monster?!” Rachel shouts, “that thing…” She points at me, “is the monster here!”

“What are you shouting about now, Rachel?”

All eyes move to the entrance. A man with raven hair has appeared next to me. He’s running a hand through his hair and his dark eyes hold an annoyed expression.

Rachel crosses her arms. “Just saying it as it is.”

“Where are the others, Arashi?” Sophie ask.

“Not far behind,” Arashi answers. He looks in our direction and studies us for a moment. “So you’re the one,” he says to me. There’s a  scrutinizing look in his eyes.

I nod. “I suppose I am.”

His eyes move towards Emma and he looks at her likes she’s dirt under his shoe. “Tch.”

Emma stiffens beside me and I rub her arm. It’s not fair that they treat her like this just because I came with her.

Before things can get out of hand, however, Arashi is pushed aside. He stumbles and glares at the newcomer. Blake, who completely ignores him and grins at us. “Still in one piece I see.”

A crowd shuffles in behind him, all giving us hostile glances, but Blake moves to obscure their view.

“Have you eaten yet?”

Emma shakes her head. “Where have you been?”

He smirks. “Did you miss me, squirky? If I had known I would have come back earlier.”

“Shut up,” she hisses.

Blake’s smirk only grows wider. “Come on,” he says, “we can sit here.” He points at a makeshift bench against the wall closest to the door.

Others shuffle in now and I count. Eighteen, nineteen, twenty. Twenty-two if I include Emma and me. Who would have thought there’d be so many humans still? I want to leave so I won’t bother them, but Blake is blocking my exit. I have a feeling he’s dong it on purpose.

I look up when Nate joins us. In his hands are two granola bars and a cup of coffee. “Go on,” he says, “your turn. Don’t be shy.”

I shake my head. “I think I’ll pass.”

“There’s enough for all of us.” He gives a stern look. “You’re gonna have to mingle at some point. Might as well start now.”

“I’ll go,” Emma offers. She takes a deep breath and heads towards the food, leaving me with Blake and Nate. The stiffness of her back betrays how nervous she is. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that she’d feel uncomfortable around her own kind. Maybe she’s been with me too long.

She exchanges a few words with the man handing out the food and snatches the bars from his hands before returning. All eyes follow her.

Blake shakes his head amused, but doesn’t offer any comment. He stands up to get his own share when Emma hands me one of the bars.

He returns not long after, two bars between his teeth and three cups of liquid in his hands. He motions for Emma to take the cups from him and sits down again, tearing the wrapper from the bar. “You forgot your drinks, squirky.”

“Stop calling me hat.”

He ignores it. “Are you settled in yet? You’ve got your own space now, I hear.” He smiles. “I found your guitar. Maybe you can play something tonight.”

Emma flinches and looks away. “I don’t know,” she mutters.

“It’s been a while wince we had music,” Nate backs Blake up.

Emma turns deep red. “Someone else can play it. I don’t mind.”

“Don’t be modest,” Blake says, “I know you’re good. And it might help getting accepted by the others.”

Emma looks down.

I can’t help the sudden feel of annoyance that settles over me. He is too familiar with her. And I suddenly realize that Emma’s behavior towards him is not discomfort. She’s shy.

I keep forgetting how long they’ve known each other.

Suddenly I feel incredibly lonely.