Chapter 102 The Patrol

"Savages," he echoed, ironically, "you set foot on one of the shores of this globe, professor, and you're surprised to find savages? When aren't there savages? Besides, are they any worse than others, these whom you call savages?"

-Jules Verne

Burns

I stop the van at the side of the road. Seekers. What are they doing here? Of course I know what they are doing here. They're doing their job. But why here? On this exact road where we are driving?

"What's going on? Why did we stop?" Will shifts in the back and peeks out of the front shield.

"Seekers," I say.

Blake curses. "Swap with me, squirky," he says.

"No," Emma answers him calmly.

"This is not the time to argue," Blake says, "if it comes to it, we may have to shoot our way out."

"I'm not arguing," Emma is still calm. She looks at him over her shoulder. "We don't have to shoot. We have Burns, and I still have the scar in my neck from when I was taken. If we stay calm, we can just drive past them."

"It is too dangerous," Will says.

I sigh. "There's too many of them. I can get us out. No one will have to get hurt. If we draw attention now, they'll never leave us alone. They'll chase us."

"We can't stand here for long," Emma says with a glance at the Seekers ahead, "they'll spot us and they'll get suspicious."

"She's right," Will says in a gruff voice, "we can't linger here."

Blake grits his teeth and I can tell he's not happy, but he nods. "Drive."

I wait until he and Will have hid themselves and take a deep breath. Carefully I turn back onto the road, making sure I stay below the speed limit.

Emma bites her lip nervously and sits as straight as possible. She folds the empty pizza boxes between the seat and the door.

"I won't let them take you," I assure her and then we're out of time. We've reached the Seekers.

One of them motions for us to stop and I roll down the window. "Is there a problem, Seeker?" I ask, "did I make a mistake?"

"No, no. No need to worry," the Seeker says, "but it would be better if you turned around and find another road to your destination."

"Why?" I ask, "did something happen? It wasn't an accident, was it? Did anyone get hurt?" I try to see past the cars, but I can't see anything.

The Seeker's face turns serious. "No accident, but it is not safe here. A young Soul went missing here a few days ago."

"Missing?" Emma gasps next to me and the Seeker looks at her now.

"I don't want to worry you, Miss. But you best not linger here."

"Do you think it was humans?" I ask, not just for myself, but mostly for Will and Blake.

"I wouldn't worry," the Seeker answers, "we have it under control. But it would be better if you didn't put yourself in danger."

"No, of course," I say.

"Do you have far to go?" the Seeker asks.

"We were planning on camping in the national park," Emma says, "but I'm afraid now."

"Please don't be afraid, Miss," the Seeker tries to comfort her, "but you are right. It would be better if you found another place to spend the night." He thinks for a moment. "It is not far to Tucson. If you promise not to stop anywhere along the road until you have reached the city, then I think it is safe enough to let you pass."

I give the Seeker a serious nod. "We will do that, Seeker."

"Drive safely!" the Seeker smiles kindly and steps aside so we can continue on our way.

I close the window and smile at the Seeker as I drive away. We pass the other cars. Three in total.

"Must be some search party," Emma mutters. She stares out of the window and watches the patrol. When we pass the last Seeker, Emma turns her head to have a better look. I have to admit, this Seeker's appearance has me on edge too.

The female Seeker is short and dressed in all black, with a turtle neck even in this heat. Her black hair falls to her chin and the expression on her face is not pleasant, but frustrated. She's not looking at us, but at the desert.

Her behavior is very unusual for a Soul and it makes me uncomfortable. I am glad to put some distance between us.

Emma bites her lip. "A missing Soul," she says, "you don't think Nate..."

"No," Blake's voice sounds from the back, "he wouldn't just do that. Not while you were away and he certainly wouldn't draw this much attention."

"It could be one of the other groups," Will thinks out loud, "but we're not in their area. Could be just coincidence."

We are silent for a while. I'm not sure what the others are thinking, but my mind is with the Seekers we just left behind. It's strange. When he said they were looking for a missing Soul, it wasn't the Soul I was worried about. I was concerned for the possible humans they were searching for. I haven't even met the other groups yet.

I look at Emma who seems lost in her own little world for the moment. My Emma. Human Emma. We're not even the same species yet she understands me. She's protected me over and over. We may have had a rocky start, but I can't imagine being without her. I've never felt this way about anyone of my own kind. This planet has a way of changing me.

Such a strange world.

"What are you thinking?" Emma's voice is soft and concerned.

I offer her a weak smile. "I just want to get back home," I say. As soon as the words have left my mouth, I realize what I just said.

Home.

The mines are my home.

I haven't thought about my actual house in weeks.

Emma's hand lands on mine and she presses it in a comforting way. "Take the next exit," she suddenly says.

I frown. "Why?"

"The Seeker told us to head for Tucson. We should at least take that direction in case they check."

"They won't," I say, "Souls aren't suspicious. And they don't lie. If we told him we're going to Tucson, then to him that is where we are going."

"Except we're not," Will comments dryly and I realize he is right. I'm a Soul too and I've been lying for a long time. I've been lying since I met Sky. No, even before, when I didn't want anyone to know Emma was human.

I nod and turn onto the road Emma pointed out. I guess we'll just have to take a detour.

***

It's already dark when we drive down the dirt road towards the place where we hide the van. Now comes the tricky part. We'll have to move all the supplies from the van to the hide-out. It will take several trips back and forth, avoiding being seen.

"What do we do now?" I ask as soon as we have parked the van.

"We wait," Wil answers, "they will have spotted us. Someone will come and then we can make our move."

We have to wait quite some time, but I suppose the others want to make absolutely sure no one was following us.

I use that time to glance up at the stars. It's been a while since I had the time to admire them. While we were on the road, I spent the night in the back of the van, but here in the middle of nowhere, I can finally gaze up at them.

Next to me, Emma is doing the same. She folds herself in my embrace and smiles up at the sky.

"Someone is coming," Will mutters and we hide in the cracks of the rock formation. When the person draws near, Will lets out a sigh. "It's Evan."

He stands up to meet him. Immediately a flashlight shines over his face and catches his eyes.

"Where are the others?" Evan asks and we join Will.

Evan shines in our faces again and mine are the only eyes that reflect back.

"Were you followed?" Evan asks.

"All went well," Blake answers, "we have a van full of supplies and a few items that will make our lives a whole lot easier."

Evan studies us for a moment, but then nods. "Hurry then. Logan is waiting at the entrance with James. We have to move quickly."

We all carry as many items as we can so we'll need as few trips as possible. Evan halts us for a moment and there seems to be some form of communication between him and Logan and then we move towards the hide-out.

Everything is done with precision and care and I can't help but admire them. It's no wonder the Seekers have never found this place.

Nate greets us in the entrance tunnel. He grins widely and slaps my shoulder. "You did it," he grins, "look at all the goods you brought. This will last us a while."

"I hope it will make your lives a little easier," I answer.

"I can't thank you enough," Nate continues. He looks at Will. "Satisfied, Will? Can we all trust Burns now?"

Will rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

Nate turns to the rest of the group. "Is everyone at the same page now? Can we trust Burns?"

People nod and say yes. Some even smile at me. Even Anna-May and Arashi reluctantly give in.

"Good," Nate declares, "then that's the end of it. I don't want to hear any more protests from now on. Burns is one of us."

One of them.

I'm no longer one of the aliens.

I belong with the humans now.

It's ironic really. We came to this planet to assimilate Earth and the humans, but perhaps the ones assimilated are the Souls. It's a very sobering thought. But what's even more sobering, when I look at this rabble of humans, is that it doesn't bother me at all.