Hello, my loves! Sorry it's been a while! Please, PLEASE review! I need suggestions on where to take the next few chapters. I am open to any perspectives of characters and any ideas!
Thanks to all my loyal reviewers! I love you guys!
Again, I would love and appreciate your reviews!
Love,

Rainbow

Ten: Escaped

"Do you really think Ian is in there?" Mel asks as she puts her feet up on the narrow dashboard of the weathered jeep. The canvas is covering the body of it, casing up in, and we each have a pair of nondescript dark sunglasses.

"Yes." I stare through the dark cloak up to the looming building before us. The Seekers' Headquarters. Somewhere in the bowels of this soul prison, Ian is kept. Or, otherwise, Ian's body.

"We'll get him out." Burns speaks from the driver's side, his freckled hands on the wheel. Mel and I dare not tell anyone else, and Burns is a good a soul as Wanda to trust with helping us and keeping it a secret. He is fiercely protective as well, and he will help up get Ian out. His connection with Wanda helps him fight for her stronger.

"Alright." Melanie combs her hair backwards through her hair that has fully grown out to its original length now. "Let's go in."

OOO

OOO

The corridor is unlighted and cloaked in shadows as I stumble down it in my worn-out boots. Vick's hand grips tightly to my wrist, warmth emanating from her skin as she pads quietly next to me, her bare feet more forgiving than my own clunky shoes. The only noise is her breathing gently against my shoulder; she only comes up my forearm.

"Which way do I go?" I relay to her raspily as we come to a crossway in the hallway.

"Right." She hisses back, and we turn down the even darker hallway. Her nails dig into my skin, and I put my hand on her back to guide her, my fingers on the soft fabric of her sweater.

"How did you know which way to go?" Risking talking, I speak to her, treading carefully. Why is no one down here? For sure they would not have left all of the doors unguarded.

"I didn't." Without meeting my gaze, Vick replies. "I'm right handed."

I let out my breath with nervousness as we pass under a dimly-lit ceiling light, our shadows sweeping along the wall with us. "Great."

"What did you want me to do, Dancing Flame?" Her voice becomes defensive, and I quickly backtrack, never intending for her feelings to be bruised.

"I'm sorry. I'm just nervous."

"You aren't the only one."

Down a few more twists and turns, Vick and I are silent. Her chest heaves up in down, her exuberant amount of cleavage prominent as she pants. I try not to notice, but her sweater is quite low-down, and anyone would stare. She doesn't seem to notice, and I avert my gaze to her small, almost child-like bare feet carrying her along the linoleum underground floor.

"Prepare the…" I far-away voice travels towards us and I catch fragments of the conversation as they approach us. "She needs to…"

"Hide!" Vick yelps in my ear and leaps to the wall as if standing still against it will solve all of our problems. She seems frozen, leaving it up to me. Jumping into action, I pull on the door knob of the nearest door, shoving her in before me and closing it as quietly as I can muster. Of course, there are no locks needed in the soul's world. My world.

"Are they-" A soft voice comes in the dark, a whimper on the verge of tears.

"Shh." I shush Vick as I hear her whimper. "It's alright. I don't think they're past yet, no."

"Dancing Flame." The voice comes a quiver on the verge of tears. I reach out in the dark and pull her small, curved body to mine, shushing her softly. "I'm afraid."

"It's alright. Just stay quiet." Oddly, I have an urge of bursting confidence, a sense of responsibility. I will protect Victoria, I now have a purpose. My body, however much I love it, is disposable as long as I can help Vick into freedom.

"W-where are w-we?" After a long time, her lips quiver against my chest as she asks through her tears. Although I am hesitant to let her go, she still seems unstable and needy of my comfort, I unsnake my arms from around her, patting the top of her head. I run my hands along the wall, searching for a switch. My hand touches a small lever on the wall and flip it on.

A dim, yellow light floods into the room, almost an ancient brightness from a different time. Vick's odd, half-soul eyes dilate to the change in scenery, and we take in our surroundings.

It is a storage closet, lucky for us. Behind us is a glass case, stocked full of silver containers and tubes, reading things like: CALM, HEAL, SEAL, GROW, and many others. Medicine. I know that enough that these are the advanced methods healers use to cure human bodies.

"Dancing Flame." Vick speaks to my right, and I turn to see her holding up a pure white cloak. Seeker-issued clothing.

"Get dressed." I tell her, searching through the racks of clothing for a coat of my size, and pull it on, zipping it over my own clothes. I search for pants large enough to fit over my stained jeans I've been wearing for so long.

"No shoes." Vick buttons her own fitted coat, staring down at her toes.

"Let's hope they don't notice." I run my fingers through my matted, dirty hair, matted down from lying on the cold, hard table for days. Souls will not be suspicious either way, but these are Seekers. I have learned in my short time on Earth that they are different, almost a separate breed. They can be unkind and suspicious, and most will notice about us. The clothes will help, but how much?

"What about my eyes?" She whispers, her voice full of tremors.

"They're still partly soul." I tell her. "Keep your eyes down, alright?"

"Alright. Shall we go?" I can tell she just wants to get it over with.

"Hold on." I take a white backpack-like bag that seems to be discarded on the floor, and open the glass case containing the extra storage of medicine. Carefully, yet quickly and quietly, I fit as many random cases into the small pack the best I can, zipping it up and slinging it over my shoulder. "I'm ready."

Regaining her confidence, Vick cracks open the door to the storage closet and peeks out, beckoning to me. Disguised as Seekers, we will blend in, to a fault, but Seekers are not like other souls. They are easily suspicious, and they will suspect us before too long.

The both of us creep down the hall, and come to a stop at an elevator with a silver door, opening for a man to a crowd of people stuffed into the small space.

"Excuse me, sir." I take Vick's arm and lead her towards the small open spaces in the nearly-full compartment. "Would you mind if we squeeze in?"

"Dancing Flame, there's no room." Hisses Vick as I fit her into a small space among the other seekers; since she is so tiny, she doesn't require much space.

"Yes there is." I force a smile on my face and step in myself.

"Which floor are you traveling to, sir?" The man nearest the button asks as we settle in.

"Umm…" I look to Vick, but she only shrugs helplessly.

"Ground floor?" He asks, kindly smiling. Relieved, I relax my shoulders, yet still stand up straight like a Seeker does.

"Yes please." I let my breath out. "Sir."

We ride along with idle polite chitchat, though my heart is racing in my chest, and I am sure that Vick is in the same situation. She keeps her gaze cast down mostly, still paranoid about her eyes and being recognized. As soon as we step off the elevator, I am sure she is feeling better, though, and as we walk, she sort of half hides behind me, her gaze on her bare feet.

"There's the exit." I whisper to her.

"Do we just – walk out?" Quietly, she murmurs back to me. "Is it that easy, Dancing Flame?"

"Shh." I shush her. "I need to concentrate."

The both of us head toward the exit, walking with long strides toward our freedom, toward our lives. Freedom is within reach. We will keep our bodies. Oh Ian, you would be proud of me.

"Dancing Flame!" There is a shrill voice behind me, a calling of my name over the speaking of Seekers and Healers around us at desks and around tables in a lobby-like area. Reflexively, I turn to see the figure of Healer Rebecca coming my way quickly.

"Run." Vick pulls on my arm as the Healer approaches us, her face florid and flushed. Vick's face is ashen and petrified as she pulls on my arm. "Come on!"

"Dancing Flame, what are you doing? Why are you not downstairs?" The Healer looks at me with confusion and worry. Unlike the Seekers I have met, she is kind and worrisome towards her patients.

"Excuse me, Healer." I pull away from her while turning towards the exit again to follow Vick.

"No, Dancing Flame!" Her voice quaking, she grabs my arm. "I must do my duty. Seekers!" Cries her shrill voice, and most of the hall turns their heads at the ruckus. "Seekers, please help! A patient needs my help, and he is resisting!"

"No!" I cry without a choice, and break away from Healer Rebecca. Sprinting, my legs pumping to the limit, I leap for the exit, grabbing Vick's arm. There is no way that I am leaving her now. She deserves her freedom as much as I do, and I already promised myself in my mind that I would help her.

"Stop!" A voice comes behind us as we push through the glass doors. "Please! We only want peace!"

"Aw, hell." I moan, entering the parking lot. There are Seekers outside as well, assembling.

"What do we do?!" Vick yells over the chaos.

"Run!" I yell frantically, sprinting in the opposite direction of the others.

"We only want peace! We want to help you!" A male Seeker grabs my arm, holding a bottle labeled PEACE. He sprays it at me, towards my eyes, but I duck, knocking him over with my hand. He goes sprawling hard on the asphalt, and another Seeker runs to assist him.

"Get in the car!" I scream to Vick as the Seekers are disoriented, and throw open the unlocked door to the nearest car. I slide into the driver's side, slamming the door shut, my hands searching under the seats, up in the sun visor, in the compartments for the keys.

Ian, please! PLEASE! Come back! I need you, what do I do?!

A strident scream breaks the barrier of my mind from reality, and red clouds my vision. It is like Vick is falling in slow motion, her knees first hitting the gravel with a thud, her hands coming next, one of her palms cupping the side of her body, near her hip. Red gushes between her fingers, rust smell seeping into my nose.

"Dancing Flame." Her mouth forms my name, but I can't hear the noise. Only ringing in my ears as she falls on her hands and knees. Seekers are flooding in, swarming her. No. NO. I said I would protect her!

Without warning, I leap over the passenger seat to her open door and lift her gingerly in my solid arms, setting her curled-in body on the seat. The slippery surface of the car seat becomes slickwith blood, and I pull both the doors shut and lock us in. Against the glass of the window, a man presses up against it, his bright, red hair and freckles standing out, not to mention his un-Seeker, non-white clothes. Another bystander trying to help out? There are two other people, though. Two other souls with dark sunglasses, a man and a woman? Who are they? Why are they familiar? I pull my gaze away from them to focus on the task before me.

"Keys. Keys." I mutter to myself, searching frantically with shaking hands. I open the top sun visor, and the pair falls down into my lap, jingling. Wildly, I plug the keys into the socket, revving the car and pressing my foot to the gas. We shoot out of the parking lot like a rocket, and soon we are on the road.

"Vick." My voice shakes as I dare take a peek at her. She is curled up on her side, in on the bleeding gash soaking through her white coat. "Vick, what happened?"

"S-sh-shot." Her teeth chatter as she talks, in shock. "Th-they used r-real b-b-bullets."

This is insane. I never though the Seekers would intentionally hurt us, except for Claudette, but she is fanatical anyway. And she is bleeding an awful lot…

"I'll find you a doctor." I turn down a street, down to the speed limit again.

"No one's f-f-follow-ing us." She peers with her bloodshot, dilated eyes in the rearview mirror. In fact, we are not trailed at all.

"So I'll find you help." I set my gaze, getting out of the city immediately. The concern I have for this woman that I've only just met – it is strange. Probably because she was in the same predicament that I had been in. And she is human. Like Ian.

"N-no." Her lips quiver as she tries to speak. "Don't. We need to g-get away."

"Then I have medicine." While steering with one hand, I pull out the small, white pack with the bottles I had stolen from earlier. "We'll pull over, and I'll help you."

"N-no use." Continues Vick. "You have to g-get the bullet out."

I know she is right, and I pull over to the side of the road once we are completely out of town, and help her to lie down in the back seat. I remove her jacket and rip away the ruined fabric of her pink sweater. As best as I can, I tie pieces of my coat around the wound to retain the blood. She cries out as my fingers near her wound while tying it tight, and I make her as comfortable as I can in the back.

As I expected, we run out of gas. This is probably someone's personal car which they only filled up occasionally, enough gas to get to and from work. On the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, I sit in the seat for a moment, just thinking and staring at the desert landscape. It is barren with a few plateaus and sparse plants, but otherwise it all appears the same.

Ian, where do I go? I moan in my head. What do I do now?

What am I doing? What did I expect to do as soon as I escaped? And with Vick so hurt, there isn't much TO do.

"We have to go, Vick." I say as cheerfully as I can. At least I have a hope we are somewhat close to where Ian was leading me in the first place. Maybe we can walk along the road until I see something that looks familiar.

"I'm tired." She whimpers as I pick her up and try to set her on her feet. She wobbles and crumples.

"I know. Only a little while longer." I lie. Since when do I lie? Lying is wrong.

She looks like she is in too much pain to answer, so I pick her up in my arms, carrying her easily.

We walk along the bare road for what seems like forever, swaying as I walk with Vick in my arms. She is limp, her arm hanging down against my chest, and I hope that she is still breathing. She HAS to be breathing.

"Almost there." I tell her and myself as we walk into the distance. "Almost there."

I hardly notice as she off-road car rumbles up behind us; I just keep walking. I don't turn around, just listen to the voices I think I am hallucinating.

"Oh, geez, it's him."

"Burns, can I get some help?"

"Aw, fuck. Is that girl dead?"

"I don't know. Don't be insensitive."

Three voices. Two male, one female.

Make it quick. I silently hope to myself.

"Don't hurt him." The woman says with a last attempt to tame the men.

"He'll come willingly." The softer voice says, and I turn to the same fiery, red-haired male I remember from the Seekers' Headquarters. "I do not want to hurt you. May I have the girl?"

Slowly, as if in slow motion, I look down to motionless Vick in my arms, and gradually hand her over. He transfers her to the other male, who still looks familiar to me, but I can't put my finger on it. Everything is fuzzy right now.

"I'm sorry." The man says as his fist comes up. It connects with my temple, and I suddenly can't remember my name.

Soooo, what did ya think? Any thoughts, suggestions? I would LOVE to hear! Review box is right down below! Again, love you guys! Sorry about the half cliff hanger….

Love,

Rainbow