The Host ¤ The Next Chapter

The Host ¤ The Next Chapter: 41

The Host ¤ The Next Chapter: 41

May

Four people (at minimum) to a vehicle was decided. Naturally, the couples went together. Melanie, Jared, Ian, and Wanda were the first group. Jared was the driver and they took the jeep. The second car consisted of Kyle, Sunny, Taylor, and myself. I was the appointed driver. I would have taken the Seeker's car, but that would have attracted too much attention. So instead, I took a 2009 malibu. The last car was Jenny, Sarah, Gabbie, and the brothers Jesse and Tomas. Jesse drove the third vehicle, which was the great yellow humvee that rarely got to see the light of day.

We drove in a line with one another, about ten car lengths from the other. We were the only people out on the highway for miles traveling East. That was, until a silver Seeker car came flashing into view in the side mirror.

"Don't panic." I told the humans in our car, who no doubt were sitting on the edge of their seats, ready to bolt. "Your disguises should be enough to trick them if they decide to pull us over."

And if they don't, I'll shoot them, I thought. The Seeker's gun I carried was strapped to my leg underneath my civilian clothes. I'd changed out of the Seeker white before we had gone out. Now I wore a pair of blue jeans with bell bottoms (so the gun wasn't revealed easily) and a red t-shirt.

Meanwhile, the others sat in their t-shirts and jeans, trying to pretend to act normal. They knew I'd done the best with their disguises. First, I had each asked those who had volunteered if they were comfortable with me preforming surgery on them. Of course, a few had over-reacted to my preposal, but after explaining that I was only going to make a small incision on the back of their neck and heal it over, they had agreed. The scars made the bright blue eye contacts Taylor and I had been able to smuggle out of a Store more believable. Kyle and Taylor looked like perfectly normal Souls with their scars and blue eyes. So did the other humans traveling with us.

The Seeker's car continued to advance. It passed Jared's jeep, which was traveling at the rear of the pack, then Jesse in the humvee. Its sleek body was easily able to catch up with me, and it hung at my side. Although there was no trafic coming up ahead, the car stayed in the opposing lane. The tinted black window of the passenger door was rolled down. I rolled my driver's door window as well.

"Hi!" A little boy, not even older than Jamie, waved at Taylor and I.

I blinked in confusion.

"Miles, WHAT do you think you're DOING?" Taylor practically exploded when he saw his little brother in the driver's seat of the other car.

"....Driving?" he replied unsurely. His voice lost some of its enthusiasm as well.

Another arm reached around Miles's and took ahold of the wheel, "Alright, I think that's enough." A second person added.

They revealed themself as Seeker Skyfall. He had Miles on his lap and had let the little boy pretend to drive. When I stopped to think about it, it made sense. Miles was too young to reach the pedals of the car, and besides, Skyfall had probably been steering the car with his knees, like I'd seen some adults do. Miles had only been pretending to drive because Skyfall had wanted to surprise us. I could see that both had gotten a kick out of it.

"Surprise!" Miles cried, like we didn't know we had been fooled already.

Taylor leaned back in his seat, breathing deeply. Miles had frightened the death out of him.

"Skyfall, what are you doing?" I asked, ignoring both brothers for the moment. "I thought Doc still wanted you to stay a week to recover."

While I asked the question, I eyed the black jacket he wore overtop of his shirtless chest. He'd kept a shirt off so he could change the bandages easier. There was a hint of pink to them. He also wore dark blue jeans.

"You'll need my help." he yelled over the wind, "I've been to D.C before---I know the building."

"But you're injured!" I almost screeched, "You need to go back." I insisted.

"Injured or not, I'm coming and there's nothing you can do about it." the Seeker replied, then closed the passenger window. 

His car sped up and pulled in front of me, and there truly wasn't anything I could do to cut him off. He had the better vehicle. In the back of my mind, I knew have taken the Seeker's car. This was what I had been afraid of, however, Miles had been an added addition to the chaos Skyfall was breeding. I closed the window of the malibu and tried to focus on the road ahead.