My fragile little heart shattered into a million pieces, and I fumbled for the pill in my pocket.

“Steady, now, everybody just keep calm,” the man in the center of the group of Seekers called out. “Wait, wait, don’t be swallowing anything! Jeez, get a grip! No, look!”

The man turned the flashlight on his own face.

His face was sun browned and craggy, like a rock that had been eroded by the wind. His hair was dark, with white at the temples, and it curled in a bushy mess around his ears. And his eyes—his eyes were dark brown. Just dark brown, nothing more.

“See?” he said. “Okay, now, you don’t shoot us, and we won’t shoot you. See?” And he laid the gun he was carrying to the ground. “C’mon, guys,” he said, and the others slid their guns back into holsters—on their hips, their ankles, their backs… so many weapons.

“We found your cache here—clever, that; we were lucky to find it—and decided we’d hang out and make your acquaintance. It’s not every day you find another rebel cell.” He laughed a delighted laugh that came from deep in his belly. “Look at your faces! What? Did you think you all were the only ones still kickin’?” He laughed again.

None of us had moved an inch.

“Think they’re in shock, Nate,” another man said.

“We scared them half to death,” a woman said. “What do you expect?”

They waited, shuffling from foot to foot, while we stood frozen.

Jared was the first to recover. “Who are you?” he whispered.

The leader laughed again. “I’m Nate—nice to meet you, though you might not feel the same way just yet. This here’s Rob, Evan, Blake, Tom, Kim, and Rachel along with me.” He gestured around the group as he spoke, and the humans nodded at their names. I noticed one man, a little to the back, whom Nate did not introduce. He had bright, crinkly ginger hair that stood out—especially because he was the tallest in the group. He alone seemed to be unarmed. He was also staring intently at me, so I looked away. “There’s twenty-two of us altogether, though,” Nate continued.

Nate held out his hand.

Jared took a deep breath and then a step forward. When he moved, the rest of our little group silently exhaled all at once.

“I’m Jared.” He shook Nate’s hand, then started to smile. “This is Melanie, Aaron, Brandt, Ian, and Wanda. There are thirty-seven of us altogether.”

When Jared spoke my name, Ian shifted his weight, trying to obscure me completely from the other humans’ view. It was only then that I realized I was still in just as much danger as the others would have been in if these had been Seekers. Just like in the beginning. I tried to hold perfectly still.