Serix knew Cassie was trying to keep him from putting himself in harm’s way by telling him about the Scout, but her words only gave him more of a reason to leave. He didn’t like the fact that there were others nearby. Would the Scout find the hidden storage room? He doubted it. However, they couldn’t stay holed up in there forever. They would at least have to come out to restock on supplies at some point.

And then there was the long term problem. Whether he wanted to or not, Serix couldn’t go back to the Lunairan ship after all that had happened. It looked like he would be staying on Earth with Cassie. The thought should have made him feel some sort of emptiness for leaving his people, but somehow the emotions weren’t as strong as he expected them to be. He still felt a slight twinge of regret, but the idea of staying behind to live with Cassie didn’t sound like such a bad thing. At least he would have company, right?

The second half of the long term problem wasn’t quite as easy to solve. Once the Scouts finished their mission, they would go back to the base. It wouldn’t be much longer before the rest of his people came down to inhabit the Earth. With that many Lunairans roaming about, it would be almost impossible to stay hidden.

Who knew? Maybe his people would adopt Cassie into their society because of her Lunairan blood. But then again, she might have been right in thinking they would consider her an abomination. The higher powers had decided humans were insignificant enough to wipe out of existence. They might be blind to the Lunairan part of Cassie in their disgust with her human heritage. It wasn’t worth the risk to expose her and find out.

Serix felt her grip on his sleeve fall slack. She had drifted off to sleep. He tentatively brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. She looked so peaceful – vulnerable, even – in her unconscious state. So different from the trial-hardened way she carried herself when she was awake. He wondered if she thought the same thing about him. He had gone through some difficult challenges since he came to Earth. Had they changed him? If so, was it for better or for worse?

He stood up slowly, careful not to wake Cassie with his movement. Whether or not it was the result of some internal paradigm shift, he wanted to make sure she would be alright. He had to go find out what that Scout was doing so close to their hideout.

Serix slipped quietly out of the room and headed down the hallway. He walked up the stairs at the end until he reached the trapdoor, which he exited through and meticulously concealed again when he was out. He didn’t want to chance that one of the Scouts could come snooping around and discover the entrance to the storage. Once that was done, he headed for the front room of the building.

It only occurred to him when he was ducking through the shadows between buildings – of which there were very few at this time of the day – that he was still unarmed. It would be bad news if he got caught by a Scout here. With that thought in mind, he kept an even sharper eye out for signs of movement.

It didn’t take long to find the Scout. Serix crouched behind a large metal bin in an alleyway to watch him from a distance. The Scout was just coming out of a building on the other side of the street. Serix immediately noticed two things about him.

First: his Silencer was drawn and held ready to fire at the drop of a hat.

Second: he wasn’t alone.

Shortly after the first Scout exited the building, another appeared from the building next to it – he was also carrying his Silencer out in the open. The two regrouped on the street and began talking. Serix frowned in confusion. Why were they traveling together? The pilot had instructed them to take separate routes to cover more ground. What changed? He leaned forward to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“…not here either.”

“The pilot said it happened in this general area. We have to keep looking.”

“I still don’t see the point. If the pilot lost his signal, he’s probably dead. He might have gotten attacked by those creatures. I found a whole swarm of them not long ago. There must have been at least ten. This whole side mission seems like a waste of time. We should be looking for humans.”

“You know better than to speak about the pilot that way. He has his reasons, and whatever they are, they sounded pretty important. His voice was tense when it came through the intercom.”

“Fine. I just hope none of the others get to the humans while we’re looking for a corpse. If there are any left, I want to take the first shot.”

The two continued talking, but their voices faded to unintelligible mumbles as they walked farther away from Serix’s spot behind the metal bin. He waited until they were completely out of sight, then rose to his feet. He’d learned all he needed to learn from the two Scouts. They had been sent to look for him by the pilot. They didn’t know why, but he could guess that the pilot suspected his betrayal. He had to go back to the storage.

Serix followed the same path back to the tall building, reaching it without any trouble. He slipped inside and headed to the trapdoor – again making sure that it would be concealed when he went down – then went down the stairs. He entered the hallway quietly, just in case Cassie was still asleep. Part of him hoped she was, just so she wouldn’t know he ever left.

He rounded the corner and poked his head around the side of the door leading to the bedroom, checking to see if Cassie was still in bed.