Silver Lining - The Host fanfiction

Chapter 60 The In Betweener

“We are all parasites, we humans the greatest.”

 -Martin H. Fisher

 

 Emma

 

When I wake up, I’m alone.

 

I sit up and pause. What have they done to Burns?

Quickly I crawl to my feet, but the moment I exit the room, I’m almost knocked over by someone.

“Sorry,” A girl’s voice gasps and I steady myself.

A girl some years younger than me, with blonde hair, looks at me with an unreadable look

“Sorry,” I say hurriedly, “I have to go look for my friend. Please tell me where he is.”

Her expression becomes hard. “That alien? You worry about him?”

“Please,” I say, “you haven’t hurt him, have you?”

“He’s with my father,” she says and when she sees my questioning look she sighs. “Nate.”

I guess that’s supposed to reassure me, but it doesn’t. What do I really know about Nate?

“I’m Sophie,” she introduces herself.

“Emma,” I say.

“My father asked me to show you around. I guess you want to clean up before breakfast.”

I follow her down the tunnel. “Were are we exactly?” I ask her.

She hesitates before answering. “Grandview Mine,” she says, “it’s kinda ironic. They call it Last Chance Mine.” She lets out a bitter laugh.
I wonder who she has lost to the Souls. Her mother? A boyfriend?

We turn a corner and I hear some water trickling.

“Here we are,” Sophie says.

There’s a steady trickling of water coming from somewhere in the back. It disappears through a small hole in the ground.

“This is our bathing room,” Sophie says, “We have a schedule, but modesty is not a priority anymore.”

I nod in understanding.

“The toilet is here,” she points and I follow her towards a darker part of the tunnel. There’s a small ledge over a hole, a foothold on either side and a metal bar latched to the wall to hold on to.

Primitive.

I shudder.

We return to the bathing room just to see Blake walk in from the other side. “Oh sorry,” he says and then he notices me. “Morning squirky.”