They Walk Among Us

They Walk Among Us copyright c. 2011 T.A. Chase

Part Six-

I pulled out the drawers and found my clothes. Wrinkling my nose, I almost didn’t get dressed. How I hated dirt and filth, and that was the only thing on my clothes, but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t walk out of the hospital naked, and I needed to leave.

“Wait.”

The voice shocked me, and I barely managed to keep myself from diving under the bed. I turned around slowly, and spied Jackson standing there. He held a pile of folded fabric in his arms.

“I figured you’d want to leave once you heard about the guys downstairs.” Jackson took a step closer to me. “The doc wouldn’t give you up, even if he did know what you were. He doesn’t trust those government boys any more than you do.”

I shook my head, and pointed at my throat. It was times like these when I hated not being able to talk. From what one of my elders told me, sometimes our bodies adapted to our needs, but apparently being able to speak wasn’t one of mine.

::I know you can’t, and I know why you can’t talk to me.::

Surprise and fear raced through me. How did Jackson know about me? Was he one of my kind?

::Are you like me?::

Hope welled in me. My human parents told me there were others like Rassia and me out in the world, but I’d never met any of them. The humans who had taken in the Opalite children didn’t want to risk the governments getting suspicious when there were large groups of unusual children together. We were split up, and sent throughout the world, except for Rassia and me. Our family bond was unusual among the Opalites, who tended to only have one child in their lifetimes. Siblings were rare in Opalites, so the elders and the humans chose not to take us away from each other. Maybe they believed we would develop stronger powers.

Jackson shook his head. ::No. I’m not one of your kind, but I grew up with one. I learned how to communicate with her, so she would have a friend.::

::Is she still alive?::

Sadness and anger rushed through our mental link, and I flinched. Jackson saw my reaction, and like he put up a wall, the emotions stopped suddenly. Reaching out, I laid my hand on his arm.

::I’m sorry.::

“It wasn’t your fault, so there’s no reason why you should be sorry.” Jackson held out the clothes. “I brought you a change of clothes. I know you’re probably cringing at the thought of putting your bloody clothes back on.”

I took the offering, and nodded. ::Thank you.::

“I’ll wait out in the hallway while you get dressed. Knock on the door when you’re done. I’ll get you out of here without anyone seeing you.”

::Why are you helping me?::

“Because I couldn’t help my sister when she needed me. I’ll give you my address as well. If you need a place to stay while you’re in the city, you can crash at my place.”

Jackson left, and I quickly stripped out of the hospital gown and into the clothes he brought me. I don’t know what they were called, but Jackson wore a pair, so they must have been nurses’ uniforms or something like that. When I finished, I knocked on the door, and Jackson opened it to peer in.

“Follow me. Just nod as I talk to you. We’re going to act like two nurses going out for a break.”

There was nothing I could do, but go along with him. He knew who I was, and he could have gone down to the government men, telling them of my existence in the hospital. For some reason, out of guilt or whatever, he didn’t, which was fine with me.

We wandered down the hall to the elevator. I kept my gaze either on the floor or on Jackson. The other nurses waved hello, but none of them tried to stop us. We got to the first floor, and walked outside.

“Do you have some place to go?”

::No. I stashed my bag at the bus station, but within an hour of me arriving in the city, my attackers found me. I know they have my sister, and I need to find them.::

“But you also need to get some rest,” Jackson pointed out. “Here’s my address. Go there after you collect your things, and sleep on the couch.”

::You won’t get in trouble for this?::

Jackson laughed. “I’ll tell the doc you left while I was down in the ER. He won’t believe me, but he also won’t call me out for it. He knows you’re different, and he saw how you reacted when I told him about the government men. The doc might not know you’re one of those, but he knows there’s something odd about you.”

::Should I be worried about Doctor Harleigh?::

“No. He won’t do anything to get you caught by the authorities. Doc likes them as much as we do. Trust me, he hates the fact that they come and bother him about the aliens all the time.” Jackson shrugged. “I’m not sure why Doc knows so much about you, but he’s the leading expert, or at least, the only one who hasn’t been seduced by government money.”

::Will you tell him thank you for me?::

Jackson nodded. “Sure I will. You know if you need any help, the doc might be the guy to ask. Not just because he knows so much about your kind, but because he’s well-connected in other ways.”

I don’t know what Jackson meant by that, but I smiled to let him think I understood. Jackson flagged down a cab, and paid the man to take me wherever I wanted. I still wasn’t entirely clear on why Jackson would do this for one of the aliens, but I didn’t have the money or resources to tell him no.