A Fire Burns Within Me (completed)

Texas

Previously:
I grinned wryly. "Fine," I said. "We leave in the morning. Get some rest."

"How?" Cove asked. "Toll has stopped transporting to Earth."

I smiled. "You guys remember the planet now orbiting this one? Isi?"

"The one made up completely of water?" Mason inquired skeptically.

"Not entirely," I said slyly. "You'll see."

Have any of you seen/read the Host? I'm reminding myself a lot of that in this chapter.

An army truck was driving along the high way, alone on the road and driving fast. It had somewhere to be and it was going to be in trouble if it was late. The cover flapped in the wind, threatening to come lose. Inside, supplies for at least sixty people lay piled up leaving barely enough room for the four people armed to the teeth to sit comfortably.

Someone from the front turned to the back and grinned. "Almost there guys, we'll be home before you know it," he said.

"Don't jinx it, Clifton," a woman's voice said from the driver's seat.

"Lighten' up, Isla," Clifton teased. "You don't want to die with a frown on your face."

"I don't want to die unprepared either," Isla answered curtly.

"Prison bus turning right behind us," one of the men in the back growled. "Quit yaking and get the monster scent canisters and voice modulators ready."

"You all remember the procedure?" Isla called back.

"Are Piper and Zara ready?" Clifton called back almost at the same time.

"I don't think that's necessary," a woman's voice said from the back. She had brown, choppy hair and skin to match. She had an eagle's feather woven in her braided hair and eyes too mesmerizing to be one color.

"Piper, it never hurts to be prepared," Clifton said.

Piper turned a hard glare onto the guy up front, making him shiver even though he didn't see. "I know, mortal," she growled.

"Piper, calm down. Take a few breaths," another girl's voice spoke up.

"What makes you think I need that, Zara?" Piper growled.

"You call people 'mortals' when you get worked up," she replied.

"Sorry," Piper said, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths.

"So why did you say it wasn't necessary?" Isla asked, bringing them back on topic.

"They're not chasing us," Piper said simply.

"What makes you say that?" the man who pointed the bus out asked. He was a large man and wore dark, camouflage clothes. The man had a scar that was rumored to go from the top of his forehead all the way down to his lower back.

"Look," Piper said, moving the canvas enough so the others could see.

She was right, the prison bus behind them was going at a normal pace quite a ways behind them. They could make out the monsters driving the bus and they looked almost bored. The guards were looking at the road, head in their hands and nodding off as if they were falling asleep.