There seemed to be more people tonight than the first night I’d come to the surreptitious meeting. I followed Nat through the thick crowds that gathered as we entered in from the back. The people moved easily around us. He glanced back once to see if I was still there, but continued a brisk pace.

                Finally he broke through, stepping into an opening in the middle of the crowd. I stopped in my place at the front of the rows of people. A silence hushed over the crowd as all eyes fell upon the leader. I watched his own eyes as they surveyed the audience before him. His lips parted as he began with the familiar incantation.

                “I am not a number.” He shouted. His voice was thunderous, radiating authority. It flowed easily from his lips.

                All around me I heard the same words uttered in unison. “I am not a number.”

                “I am a human being.” With every word, his eyes roamed over the crowd.

                “I am not property!”

                My lips were silent. I ached to join in with them, but it felt wrong for me to participate in this ritual.

                “I don’t belong here.”

                “This is not our home.”

                “We are humans!” The last word was shouted in a surprisingly powerful tone from Nat. His word silenced all in the crowd as they waited respectfully for him to continue.

                “Someone, a trusted brother of us, betrayed his own kind.”

                Surprise resonated in the small clearing we gathered in. Yet, no one made a comment on his statement.

                “Issued out today was a reminder that anyone caught in the act of rebelling would be severely punished.” He continued.

                My eyebrows furrowed together.

                What was he talking about?

                “Word had leaked out about our little raid to happen. The little bastards knew we were up to something within hours of our meeting.”

                If this was true, why hadn’t they tried to stop the meeting from being gathered? Why had Nat put everyone in such a risk to evidently pull them from their cabins when the creatures would be watching?

                “I’m stating this as a reminder for everyone. If you’re not here for humanity, you’re nothing better than those things that have enslaved us.” His words were sharp. “I don’t need some little freak leaking plans out.”

                My lips twitched to voice a question, but with a last minute thought, I decided to keep it to myself.

                Unfortunately, my actions hadn’t gone unnoticed. Nat’s eyes darted over to me sharply, “Would you like to include something?”

                Hesitantly, I shook my head softly. The cold look he gave me didn’t leave me in question with who he was directing his words to.

                “Oh come on. You look like you have something strong you wish to express with the rest of us.” His words were tauntingly mean. His eyes teased me. While his words seemed to be intended to embarrass me, his eyes bore into mine with curiosity. He was interested in what I had wanted to speak before.

                All around me I could hear whispers rising up from the crowd. They spoke of the same thing repeatedly.

                Who was he talking to?

                What did she do?

                What would she say?

                Who was she?

                “Well?” Nat prompted, raising an eyebrow.

                I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear slowly before sucking in a cold breath of air. Shakily, I asked, “If they know about the raid, why hasn’t anyone been punished for it?”

                Nat gave me a blank expression. “Who knows how those freaks’ minds work. If they even have minds...”

                I pursed my lips at the insufficient answer, but the audience seemed content. It was too late to argue; Nat had already moved on.

                “As I was saying,” He continued, “Someone is a traitor to the entire mankind.”

                The tone of his voice hinted that he wanted someone to step forward and confess to the devious crime.

                “I know who it is. He will be dealt with accordingly. The rest of you need to keep warning. Do not speak of anything that goes on here. Anyone in this clearing as declared themselves a Fighter. You have declared yourself human. Do not become undeserving of that title.”

                A few people nodded in understanding.

                “In regards to our previously scheduled plans, those, obviously, have been canceled.” Nat paced from side to side slowly. “I cannot afford any of the brave men and women here to be punished for such a foolish plot.”

                Then why bring everyone out here to begin with?

                I made sure to keep these thoughts to myself.

                “Nonetheless, I’ve brainstormed up a new idea.”  He stated. Nat paused in his pace to stare out into the audience, “Does anyone steak any other language aside from English or Spanish?”

                I turned around, watching as a few hesitant hands rose in the crowd. I couldn’t make out the faces belonging to the arms.

                “Step forward, will you?”

                They did as instructed. There were only a handful of people.

                Nat questioned each on the language they spoke and how fluent they were. A few admitted to being unable to continue a detailed conversation and stepped down almost immediately. The others surprisingly spoke an array of languages.

                There were two women who spoke Russian, and a man who spoke Chinese. A fragile old man claimed that German had been his first language, while a youthful boy said he spoke French. A couple claimed Italian as their second language, and a girl a few years younger than me spoke Japanese.

                In total there were eight fluent bilingual people standing up there.

                “Excellent!” Nat seemed genuinely pleased with the numbers. He faced the crowd once again, “My companions, we are not alone in this struggle to free ourselves. There are other, smaller groups like us. If we can communicate with them, perhaps we can work together into creating a stronger better army against these aliens that enslaved us. It would take a lot of work and cooperation, but I do not doubt this to be possible!”

                There was a cheer from the crowds at his words.

                I rolled my eyes discreetly. This idea was foolish. These minor groups were being led by leaders just as Nat was. In all of history, more than one leader never worked out. It could only end in disaster if we combined.

                Nat saw my eye roll, but made no comment. I didn’t fail to notice the harsh look he sent my way though.

                “It can mean—” His words were cut off immediately. Nat tensed up in place sharply. I felt my own body responding on its own. My muscles tightened and my ears perked up to listen for any unfamiliar sounds. In the distance, I could hear the faintest sound of leaves rustling.

                My eyes widened.

                There was absolutely no way this could end well.

                “What’s going on—Holy shit, what the hell—” His words were cut off by a scream of terror. I turned around behind me to the stranger that spoke, only to release my own blood-curling scream of fear.

                The man was raised, suspended by a white mist. But what stood—if it would be called standing—behind him was what created the chills rolling down my spine. I took it in in seconds. The face was while and expressionless. It lacked the features that should’ve defined it as human. Where the eyes should’ve been were two black holes that bored into my eyes. Boarding the holes was a thick line of red that seemed to ooze out. A black slit formed the mouth. It appeared to widen as if speaking, yet not words came out.

                Below the face, everything was black. It was only possible to make out the figure if you watched the outline of the stalks behind it disappear. It stood more than eight feet tall, towering over the mighty stalks around it. To wisps of white spawned from each side of it. One wisp was wrapped around the screamer’s neck while the other moved slowly, stretching out toward a young woman near it.

                The man in its grasp had a face of an eerie color of purple.

                “Run!”  Someone roared.

                This seemed to pull everyone out their paralyzed state of mind.

                The clearing erupted into chaos.

                People shoved, pushed, kicked. They ran between the stalks in all directions. My eyes darted to the entrance where I had come in, but I couldn’t bring my feet to move. I was frozen in fear as the horrifying creature moved closer.

                Screams rose up all around as more of the faceless creatures appeared out of nowhere in the stalks.

                My body lurched to the side as someone shoved past me. I hit the ground hard, my elbow erupting into pain. I tensed my arms to push myself up again painfully.

                I let out a shriek as a food crunched down hard on my fingers. All thought left my mind as I heard the snap of bone, felt something sharp poking into my skin. I jerked my hand back, my eyes watering up in pain. Something slammed hard into my back, causing me to arch painfully.

                “Dammit!” I heard someone close by call out.

                An arm wrapped around my torso, and I was roughly pulled to my feet.

                “Don’t just stand there, let’s go!” Nat’s voice appeared next to me. He grabbed my good hand and pulled out of the clearing as fast as he could. His fingers were wrapped around my wrist so tightly I thought I was losing circulation.

                I didn’t care.

                We ran.

                And ran.

                He pulled me along with one hand while I cradled the other against my chest. My vision was blurred by the tears of pain clouding my eyes.

                We continued running through the stalks.

                I stumbled over a few rocks, but with a sharp jerk, Nat would pull me right up. My heard pounded in my chest with a furiousness I’d never felt before.  He twisted and turned, trying to find a pathway through the thick plants. The air was coming in too slowly for me; too thick. I was running on pure adrenaline.

                “Keep running.” He urged, giving me a tug. “Eyes forward.”

                I followed his instructions as best I could. What other choice did I have? The screams continued as more and more people fell victim to the terrible creatures. The cries eventually began to sound distant.

                We had gained some ground.

                I had no idea where we were. I was relying on Nat to get us safely back to our cabin. I longed for the security there. He maneuvered through the labyrinth of stalks with a confidence that I trusted. I could only hope he knew where he was going.

                We continued to run until the screams were no more. Our pace slowed slightly, but Nat wasn’t done running just yet.

                Finally, just when I thought I’d collapse from exhaustion, we broke through the fields. We had arrived back to the rows and rows of cabins. They all looked the same. I hadn’t the slightest idea of where we were or how far away from our own cabin.

                “Come on.” He said, but thankfully slowed to a walk. I continued to suck in the air as if it was the last I’d ever get. I took some comfort in knowing that Nat was just as breathless as I was, despite his façade of ease.

                He led us to the edge of the cabins. It had never crossed my mind that there would be an end to the hundreds of rows of cabins. All lights were off inside as it should’ve been. Surrounding the cabins were more of the ubiquitous stalks.  

                Nat crouched down behind one of the cabins. I followed his lead, leaning my back against the cool wall. It felt nice to finally rest. My eyes fell closed as my body concentrated on recovering from the run. I could feel movement to my side, but made no attempt to see what Nat was doing. I was content with where I was.

                His body radiated heat next to mine. Our breathing slowly settled into a comfortable pace, as did my heart beat.

                “What were those things?” I asked softly. I wasn’t sure at first if Nat had even heard me by the long time he took to respond.

                “We don’t know.” He said honestly. His voice was rough. I opened my eyes, turning my head slightly to face him. He had stripped off his shirt, burying his hands in the fabric on his lap. Beads of sweat formed on his chest, drops sliding down his face. I knew I probably looked worse. “We call them Wanders.”

                “Why?”

                “From what we can tell, they’re not really Gliesians.  Those creatures are the ones that control us. They’re more civilized and secluded from us. Aside from our products, or to punish, they barely interact.” He said quietly. “Wanders are vicious and silent. We’ve lost so many to them. The Gliesians don’t seem to care.”

                “What are Gliesians?”

                He gave me an incredulous look, “They’re our kidnappers.”

                “Oh.” It was silent for a few minutes. Questions buzzed in my head so quickly I could barely keep them straight.

                It didn’t take long for them to spill out. Once I started, I didn’t seem to be able to stop either. My lips parted and they poured out.

                “Where do those things come from? What did they do to the people they got? Why didn’t anyone try to help? How did you know where to go in this maze of stalks? Where are we now? What is going to happen to us? What if we get caught? What—”

                Nat clamped a hand over my mouth to stop the continuous flow of words. “Let’s tend to your hand first.”

                In all the confusion, I had nearly forgotten about my throbbing hand. The pain had faded into a dull throb, but I found that I could barely move it.

                Weakly, I raised my limp hand. Pain shot up my arm abruptly. I bit down on my lip to hold it in. Gingerly, Nat took it, examining it poorly. He tried to move my fingers, but stopped once I let out a squeal of hurt.

                “Broken.” He stated.

                “What?” I asked, my voice full of worry, “What do you mean, ‘broken’? You couldn’t possibly know this!”

                “Your fingers are broken. There’s no easier way of stating. And it doesn’t take a doctor to know this.” He snapped. I closed my mouth, staring at my injured hand. “I’m going to try and make a splint to help it heal.”

                “A what?”

                He ignored my question, standing up and walking over to the stalks. I watched as he plucked away certain parts, gathering them in his free hand. Nat returned, taking my hand once again very gingerly.

                He fashioned two sticks on either side of my middle finger. A loose binding held them together poorly.

                “This is going to hurt.” He warned. “I’m going to set the bone back into its place so it can heal better.”

                “Just do it.” I gritted my teeth, bracing for pain.

                With this thumbs on top and forefingers underneath, he applied pressed to the bone. My body tensed as I tried to hold back the whimpers of pain. My leg twitched as the bone slowly moved under his pressure. A fire burned up my entire arm. I felt a click as it moved past the other bone, falling into place. Nat moved his fingers away, but that did little to ease the pain.

                He quickly tightened the binding, pulling the two sticks against my skin. I no longer had the ability to bend my finger—not that I would’ve to begin with.

                The pain was great, but it felt placed better than it had.

                Nat sat back, taking in a deep breath, “All better.”

                “Thanks.” I said quietly, resting my hand on my lap once again. I was careful to position it so that I wasn’t touching my fingers.

                It was silent between us for a few moments. A wave of exhaustion flooded through my body. I could feel my eyelids growing heavy with sleep.

                “We need to go back to our cabin.” I said.

                “Not now.” He shook his head, “It’s too far away. Too big of a risk of getting caught. We’ll sleep out here and make our way back in the morning.”

                “What if those things come for us while we’re asleep?”

                He chuckled silently to himself, “Trust me, Eva. They won’t.”

                Something about him saying my name caused me to find some ability to listen to his words. I had already invested so much trust into him in the past few hours. One more thing wouldn’t make such big of a difference.

                “How’s your back?” He asked.

                I frowned slightly, “Why?”

                “You took a nasty kick back there.”

                “Oh.” I twisted around in my spot a little. It ached mildly. I knew it would be a pain in the morning, but for now I was ok. “It’s fine.”

                He nodded, but didn’t seem to completely believe me, “Next time when I tell you to do something, maybe you should listen.”

                I knew he was referring to how he had originally told me not to come. “If I wasn’t there, you would’ve been all by yourself here.”

                “Probably would’ve been a good thing.” He muttered harshly.

                I swallowed the sting from his words.

                He sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Just go to sleep. You need rest. We still have to do work tomorrow.”

                “I can’t sleep.”

                “Try.”

                He wasn’t giving in. With a sigh, I figured I might as well give it a whirl. My finger had dulled down; nothing unmanageable. I slid forward until my back touched the cool hard ground. I eased onto it slowly.

                Nat watched as I made myself comfortable. He remained in his upright position, his body still tense.

                “Aren’t you going to sleep?” I whispered.

                His eyes were staring off into the distance. His fingers played with the fabric of his shirt resting on his lap. I watched his chest rise and fall with each intake of breath as I awaited a response from his silent self.

                A minute passed before he answered.

                “Nope.”

                “How come?”

                “I’ll keep watch.”

                I knew what he was watching for without asking. Wanders. Gliesians.

                “Thanks, Nat.” His name rolled off my tongue smoothly as if I’d said it a thousand times before instead of only a few.

                He grunted a response.

                I shifted my position to a more comfortable spot on the ground. My fingers ached, but there was little I could do about it. I closed my eyes slowly, falling to sleep within a few minutes.

                That night my dreams were haunted by the horrifying creatures that lurked only a few yards away.