Chapter 1
Sarah's small form lay hidden under a sweet smelling flowering bush. She didn't notice the beauty of the plant or its pleasant fragrance. Her steel blue eyes were fixed on the cottage across the field from her. Sweat beaded on her pale feverous brow. Her dirty greasy light brown hair lay plastered to her head. Tangled in sweat and grime, it splayed over her shoulders and across her back. A rolling growl of hunger reminded her of just one of her list of issues that together made up the totality of her current predicament. She was alone now. Josh had been gone for sixteen days. She knew the likely scenario, caught, a bug stuck in the back of his head or dead, same thing. The vision, she wished would go away, flashed in her mind. She had watched him enter a house off in the distance as she exited her assigned target with her meager spoils, suddenly, lights and the vague sound of shouts, then the eerie quiet. He didn't return to their rendezvous spot. She waited, watched, hoped. Her brother, her partner, her last lifeline in this world of fear and terror, never returned. Then she did as they agreed. She ran. Take what she could carry and find a different hiding place … that was what they had agreed. A place he wouldn't find her. A place that his memories could not betray her to the bug the seekers would put in his head. They didn't want the betrayal of one person's memories to be repeated. That was the plan they had agreed to for the worst case scenario.
She drove the thoughts from her mind and refocused on the cottage. When was the bug going to leave? Without thinking, she moved slightly in an attempt to get more comfortable and the immediate flash of pain up her leg remaindered her of the other major issue for her. The ragged gash in her leg was causing increasing pain and now the fever. The hand holding the twisted branch she used as a make shift crutch tightened its grip in response to the pain. A slight gasp escaped her lips and she clenched her teeth.
She knew her plan to 'rob' this cottage for food was dangerous, too dangerous. There was little other choice. Driven by hunger, she had pushed her fear aside and approached 'civilization' again … the bug definition of civilization. The injured leg prevented any further travel to look for a safer easier target. This was it, her only option, her last option. She had tried to stretch the few supplies she had left after Josh… When they were gone she survived on what berries and roots she dared try. Four days ago, she made a mistake and paid for it with hours of vomiting up what little nourishment her stomach had held. The fall and the gash in her leg were later that same day. She knew she was running out of time. Weak from the lack of food and now her leg and the fever she knew it caused … well, she didn't want to think about the future.
In the decreasing light of approaching dusk, she focused on the faint sound of a door and then movement from the front of the cottage. Finally, it was leaving, just as she hoped. It would be crazy to try to sneak in while it slept, but there would have been no other options. So, with relief, she watched attentively as it walked down the dirt driveway and out on to the narrow rural road. Once the bug was out of sight, she gave it another five minutes. She prayed it was going for a long walk or whatever the fuck the damn thing left to do, just so she had time to get some food. She knew she should wait longer, but in her desperation she started to get up. Blinding pain, stiffness and general weakness almost brought her back to the ground. The sheer force of will propelled her to her feet. Angling her approach to her target, she kept the cottage between her and the road. Her pace was a steady toiling trial, but still much too slow in her mind. The minutes in the open were mental agony. The leg was physical agony.
She reached the back steps. Clinging to the rail, she rested for as long as she dared before starting up the few steps to the door. Each step was a slow torture. Again, she paused to catch her breath, then pulled on the screen door and dragged her suffering body into the small kitchen. She went right to the fridge. Milk! She grabbed the container. Too fast in her desperation, she choked on the volume as it poured out on to her face and down the front of her worn filthy shirt. She coughed, choked, and hacked for what seemed a protracted time, before being able to drink a second time. It was soon gone; the carton fell to the floor as she turned back to the brightly lit interior of the fridge searching for food. She hung on the metal door for support as her hands grabbed at anything edible. She finally forced herself to pause and allow the food to settle when she felt her stomach rebel at the volume she was sending its way. She needed to hurry. She dragged her unwilling body over to the cabinets to search for non perishable food to stuff into her backpack. Cheetos! She gasped and pulled the bag to her chest. A brief moment of joy filled her heart at the crinkling sound made by her favorite adolescent treat.
Shit, a noise. She froze. A door banging, then footsteps. Oh, fuck… Holding the Cheetos in a death grip, she struggled to pull the still nearly empty backpack over her shoulder, grabbed her crutch, and hobbled quickly to the door.
"Hello?" Sings Above The Mountains asked as he looked upon the oddest situation he could recall. A girl was struggling to get out his back door with a curved stick under her arm, a backpack falling off her shoulder, while desperately holding his extra large bag of Cheetos. His first thought was why is she taking my Cheetos? He took a couple of steps toward her. She turned and looked back at him. His silver ringed brown eyes locked on to her solid blue eyes as fear and terror covered both faces.
Sarah raised her stick at him and screamed, "Stop or I'll hit you!" She stumbled out the door, losing her balance as her leg gave out from under her. Falling off the small porch, arms flailing, sending the Cheetos off in one direction, the backpack falling from her in another, she landed in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the last step. A scream of agony escaped as searing pain enveloped her mind from all parts of her body. Within seconds, her overloaded brain pain receptors gave up and unconsciousness claimed her.
Sings Above The Mountains' mind finally processed what had just happened as the girl's scream ended in silence, then low moaning. Human! It had to be … the eyes, her fear, her odd threat; she had to be a wild human. All he had heard of wild humans played in his mind causing a chill of fear to sweep over his host body. He should call the seekers. It was the right thing to do. He reached into his pocket for his phone then stopped as he heard a strangled gasp and more moaning. Sings Above The Mountains took the few additional steps across the room and his hand touched the doorknob. Uncertainty, odd irrational doubt stopped him again.
"I should just call the seekers, let them handle it. They will get it to the healing facility and the body can be repaired and used." He mumbled as he looked out the screen door at the pitiful sight at the bottom of his steps. He pushed the door open and stepped out on to the small porch and looked down at the human's twisted body on the ground. He again reached for his phone as he stared at the sad sight before him. He realized than the human was not a child, but a young woman, small, but a woman. He knew now the seekers wouldn't try to save and repair the body. It was too old to be safely used as a host. It would just be discarded. He sighed as he contemplated the best course of action. He had healer training and a small supply of medicines. He couldn't let it suffer. That would be cruel. After a few more moments of indecision, he decided he'd put it to sleep and repair the body. He felt he had nothing to fear from its aggressive tendencies when it was unconscious. There would be time to consider a viable solution to the problem after healing the body.
Sarah woke in a haze of pain. She attempted to move and the pain shot through her and she cried out. She heard a voice. Who? The words were grabbled in her mind. A blurry face appeared close to her and she attempted to focus on it. Again the voice and words … open … mouth … water?
Sings Above The Mountains repeated the request again as he leaned in closer and gently lifted the bruised head. "Open your mouth; I have 'No Pain' and water." Finally, the mouth opened and the eyes tried to focus in on him. "Good, I'm putting the 'No Pain' on your tongue and … now a little water … careful…"
Sarah felt something touch her tongue and then water which she tried to swallow, but coughed and choked. Suddenly the pain began to fade and was gone in seconds. Her mind cleared, she felt her head being held, and she again looked in the direction of the voice. Finally, she was able to focus and looked into the face and eyes of her benefactor and … silver! Gasping in fear, she tried to move away, squirm out of its grasp as she saw the bottle in the hand approaching her face. The words she heard didn't register in her brain. Her last thought was this was the end as the smell of raspberries filled her nostrils.
Sings Above The Mountains saw the instant fear when its eyes were finally able to focus on him. As he pointed the bottle of 'Sleep' in its face he said, "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to put you to sleep to repair your body." In seconds, the eyes closed and the batted body fell limp. He waited a few moments and gently laid it out on the ground. Not thinking too much about it, he started checking the body for injuries. He found no major bone breaks or obvious internal injuries. Maybe a few cracked ribs from the fall off the steps, certainly bruises and scrapes. He noticed what looked to be a large crude wrapping through the blood stained rip in the leg of the jeans. Looking at the human closely, he guessed the body to be a few years younger than his host, probably late teens early twenties. He could easily see the small body was very malnourished. His cursory exam complete, he felt he could safely move it into the cottage without causing additional damage.