Koalas (Kyle O'Shea)

Chapter 3

"Where are you from?"

"I used to live in some town close to Tuscon but travelled more east when everything went down."

"I mean your accent. You don't sound American."

"My family and I moved to America over a decade ago. We used to live in Melbourne, Australia. Where are you from?"

Kyle named a town she hadn't heard of before and nodded. They drove in silence for a bit. Melody was beyond exhausted but couldn't bring herself to sleep. After a few hours of driving Ian stirred awake. His hair was messy and his eyes sleepy. He didn't even notice her at first.

"Hi, look who I've found." Kyle said to his little brother.

Ian looked to the passenger seat confused.

"Melody?"

"Hi Ian, slept well?"

"Yeah. How?" He just asked.

"Seekers."

"Will you join us now?"

"Yes, if you don't mind."

Of course he didn't mind. Ian had been with his brother alone for some time. It would be nice to have another person with them.

"Where you alone all this time?" Kyle asked.

"Yes. I was with my brother but he died before we met. What about you, have you two been alone?"

"Yes, our family was taken."

"Mine too."

The three stayed together as they drove from town to town. Never staying too long to be remembered. It was a cold night, when they sat down next to a small fire.

"How did you manage to stay hidden in plain sight?" Ian asked curious.

"Well, the contact lenses and sunglasses helped a bit. But my name was a good asset as well." She explained as she sat next to Kyle. The brothers looked at her confused.

"They invaded other places as well. One of the species they annihilated they call bats. They live in the singing world, where it's completely dark but they sing and use some kind of echolocation. They have names like Summer Song, or Many Melodies."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Some of the souls like to talk and they can tell you a lot."

"The other world sounds interesting." Ian said thoughtfully.

"If they hadn't killed everyone." Kyle answered.

Melody agreed with Kyle.

"How did you know what happened?" Melody asked them.

They started to lay down next to the fire. Kyle laid in between Melody and his brother.

"Everyone turned too friendly and their eyes, of course. People kept going to the hospital and came back completely changed. Then my parents told me I had an appointment at the hospital. I walked into my room, packed my stuff, and fled through the window." Ian answered. "I walked to Kyle's place but we met halfway and ran together."

"We tried to find my girlfriend but I saw her exit one of those cars." Kyle started, his heat clenched. Melody knew what kind of car he was talking about. It were those cars the aliens made. "I saw her eyes and left."

Melody placed her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it in a soothing manner. "I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"What about you?" Ian asked after a while.

"My parents and my little brother had those eyes. I thought it was weird. They reminded me of my own contacts. They behaved like that for a bit, so one day I grabbed my bag and left to work. It seemed like all the other teachers had those eyes and even the children. They weren't playing like usual anymore and were so calm. Once my shift was over I tried to find my older brother. He found me eventually, some time later in a different town. Together we tried to find out more about these aliens. One day, I don't know how, seekers discovered him and he killed himself." Tears rolled down her face.