Chapter 68 The Marked Man

I think that hate is a feeling that can only exist where there is no understanding.

 

-William Tennessee.

 

 

Burns

 

Emma has a tight hold on my hand. She seems so scared. I wish I could comfort her. Strangely enough, I feel completely calm.

Logan is walking behind us, a rifle hangs over his shoulder. I could have told him I won’t try to run, but I don’t think he would have believed me.

We arrive at a broader tunnel with more light. The others are already there, even Rachel. She is leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her head turned away. She seems vulnerable and I know it’s my fault, my kind’s fault.

We are directed to a corner where Logan and Blake take a stance on either side of us. I look around and see the humans’ faces. Hostile faces, a few uncertain faces, frightened faces. My eyes land on Nate, but his expression gives nothing away.

When Kelsey and Will have settled as well, Nate stands up. “Good,” he says, “now that we’re all here, we can start.” He looks at all the faces. “As all of you know, we have two new additions to our group.”

“For now,” someone mutters.

Nate ignores it. “This is Burns and Emma.” He turns to us. “You’ve already met some of us.” He nods towards the others one by one. “That’s Tom, Kim, Carlos, Milo and Mick over there. And Marcus.”

I nod and try to remember all of the new names.

“Why don’t you get to the point, Nate?” an elderly woman speaks. I think her name is Anna-May. “Why are we all here?”

“So that we’re all clear,” Nate says calmly, “no one is allowed to harm either Burns or Emma. And they won’t harm any of us. They are officially new housemates.”

“You’re not serious, Nate,” Will says, “you know what he is! He’ll lead the others to us.”

“How would he do that, Will?” Nate asks, “he has nowhere to go. He’s stuck here with us.”

“He might be wired, give off some signal.”

“He’s not,” Blake cuts in, “we checked before we brought him here. He protected Emma.”

“You’re pleading for him now, Blake?”

“I’m just saying,” Blake says calmly, “there’s nothing one of them can do against all of us. We’ll watch him. It’s not like he’ll have a free pass, but…” He looks at Emma. “…he deserves a chance. He’s brought us one of our own. He helped Nate. We’re not monsters. We can’t just shoot someone that hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“I’m not gonna live under the same roof as one of them!” Will argues.

“No?” Nate asks, “then where will you go? Because he is staying here.”

“I’ll move to one of the other groups.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Blake says, “we can’t be in frequent contact, you know that. You’ll put them in danger.”

“You are putting us in danger.”

“No, we’re not,” Blake says, “the only danger is in your head. I know this isn’t ideal, but we’ll watch him. Any sign of betrayal and we’ll act on it. Not a moment sooner.”

I clear my throat. “May I say something?”

“No!” Will shouts.

“Go ahead Burns,” Nate says kindly.

I look at the wary faces and feel Emma’s reassuring grip on my hand. I glance at her and she smiles. It doesn’t go by unnoticed and I see a few people look at each other uncertain.

“I’m sorry,” I say, “I know that doesn’t fix things, but it’s the truth. I’m sorry we came to this planet. I have…gotten to know some humans… and I … they’re not all what I expected.” I look at Emma again. “There are good humans too. And we shouldn’t have taken this planet. You are… so different from other species and I… I would never do anything to hurt any of you. I know you probably don’t believe me and I understand. So… no matter what you decide to do with me… just don’t harm Emma. She’s one of you. Please protect her.” I look at Blake now. He is the only one I am certain of will help her.

“Burns,” Emma says hoarsely.

Blake nods at me over her head. “It’s not gonna come to that though,” he says.

Another voice speaks up, albeit hesitantly. “Maybe we should…”

“No Kelsey,” Will cuts her off.

“I’m just saying. He seems genuine.”

“Of course he does. That’s how they work.”

“Will,” Kelsey says firmer now, “we could give it a chance. Nate and Blake are right. Where’s he gonna go? And Emma trusts him. She’s one of us.”

“She’s brainwashed,” Will mutters, “she wants to believe their lies.”

“It’s not lies,” Emma says softly.

I know what she wants to tell them, why she is so certain they can trust me. But I know she won’t. She knows it’s a dangerous thing to say. Especially to people that are already hostile.

Somewhere in the back, Philip sighs. “Might as well let him stay. The girl will only throw herself in the line of fire again. I’m curious to learn why she is so ready to throw her life a way for an alien.”

“Cause she’s dumb of course,” Tom mutters.

“He did heal her,” Logan muses.

I catch Nate’s content smile, though he is trying to hide it. Was this his plan all along? I have to admit, he knows how to win people over.

Blake gives me a serious look but then a small grin breaks through. “Welcome to the team.”

***

I still can’t believe they allowed me to stay. They had seemed so hostile before. I know they don’t trust me yet. Look at what it took Emma to trust me. I hope it doesn’t come that far this time.

We’re being given the full tour this time, with the ever present Blake. I try not to be bothered by it. He knows Emma after all. I think he just wants to make sure she is okay. That’s what I keep telling myself.

Besides, what right do I have to her? It’s only natural for her to like Blake. He is human after all and I am not. She’s pointed that out often enough.

“And this is our storage room,” Blake concludes. He nods at a large passage that’s stocked with cans and bottles. All things that can be kept over a longer period of time.

Then I spot the guitar.

Blake follows my eyes and grins. He walks over and takes a hold of it. “I think this is yours,” he hands it to Emma.

“Thank you,” she says quietly.

“So will you play tonight?”

She bites her lip. “I don’t know. I don’t like playing for large groups.”

“You’ve done it before,” Blake insist, “at that dinner party where you played the piano.”

“My mother made me,” Emma glowers, “and I didn’t like that either.”

Blake chuckles. “You’ll be fine. Come let’s see if we can help Anna-May with dinner.”

We turn and head back towards the common room. I wonder what people do around here all day. There don’t seem to be a lot of chores.

When I ask Blake about it, he shrugs. “We have to stay here in order to survive. Sure it gets boring from time to time, but at least we’re alive.” He smiles at Emma and winks. “But maybe we can have music lessons now.”

Emma visibly stiffens. I know she doesn’t like being in the spotlight. Blake ignores it and turns to me. “So, you said David was a mechanic. Does that mean you know how to fix things too?”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly, “the knowledge is there.”

Blake nods. “That’s good. We could use some technicians around here.”

We enter the common room where Anna-May is peeling potatoes. “Anna-May,” Blake greets, “where’d Sophie go?”

The elder woman gives him a stern look. “It’s her afternoon off. She’s probably reading in her room. Don’t bother her, Blake. She doesn’t need that charming smile of yours to make her head spin. We don’t need more drama in this place.”

“She can take care of herself just fine,” Blake comments.

Anna-May grunts and her eyes move towards us. “What are you two standing around for? This isn’t some hotel. Everybody puts in their weight. There’s vegetables to be chopped. And someone needs to check the generator or there won’t be any hot meal tonight.”

“I’ll do that with Burns,” Blake says, “why don’t you help Anna-May with the vegetables, squirky?” he grins at her panicked look. “Don’t worry. She may breathe fire, but she won’t eat you.”

Anna-May snorts, but doesn’t comment. She turns to Emma. “Well, sit down already. Potatoes don’t peel themselves. There’s a peeler over there.”

Emma hurries to obey and I bite my lip in concern, but Blake pulls me with him. “She’ll be fine. The generator is over there.”

It’s not far. We enter a side room and Blake nods at the device. “It’s an oldy, but it’s the only power source we have here, aside for the occasional battery that we manage to raid.” He then points at a stove in the corner. “We use it to power that. It’s electric. We can’t have gas around here. Most tunnels are safe, but we don’t want to risk any sparks.”

I nod in understanding. “So what do I have to do?”

“Connect this cable to the stove. There should be a plug in the back.”

I do as he says and Blake pulls hard on a cord to start the generator. It comes to life with a soft hum.

Blake puts his hands on his hips and sighs content. “Still holding,” he says and he looks at me. “It’s gonna take a while before it heats up, so we have to get it going early afternoon.”

I study the primitive equipment. I’m not sure how much longer it will keep functioning and I wonder what they’ll do once the generator dies. If they lived above ground with the rest of us, they’d have access to regular modern technology. We have heating stones that work without electricity. They just need to be placed outside in the daylight for a couple of hours and they’ll be warm enough to last twenty-four hours.

If they had a few of those… even two would do. It would make their lives a lot easier.