A Little TWO Loving. A Brandt Story. [1).

I shuffled out of bed. My roomie, Samantha, was already out of bed. I glanced in the crib at the other side of the room. Brandon was sleeping with his loud snore. He was a lovely baby. Reminded me so much of his father, even though it pained me to think about him.

I decided I would wait for him to wake up before I went to check for breakfast. It didn't take long. He was up in just a few minutes. Like every morning, he woke up a few minutes after me.
"Hey babyboy." I said as I picked him up out of his crib. He smiled big and grabbed my face. He was almost a year old, and could make sounds of words. He had my darker skin and darker hair, but his father's eyes and facial features.

"Good mornin' Madison." Nate said as I walked out of our hole. Nate was who had found me and accepted me in. He was like the leader of our little group. "Good mornin' Brandon." He said looking at the little bundle in my arms. Brandon giggled.

There was a little tension in the kitchen. Some of us were going on a raid for food and other things. We were also going to meet one of the other groups that we were in communication with. I was going with them because we had been informed that Russell's group, the smaller of the groups, had brought in another human they found. He had been described as someone I had been looking for for years, so I was to go with them. But I refused to be away from Brandon, so he was going with us as well. Just in case.

"Are you sure you don't want us to take care of Bran while you're gone, Maddie?" Samantha asked as I joined her and a few others at a table.
"I'm not leaving him." I said simply.
"I don't think Nate approves." she went on.
I shrugged. "Nate's not a mother." She ended the conversation there.
A few minutes before we left, I made sure I had my small backpack. It had mostly things for Brandon; diapers, wipes, food, juice, and a picture of his father. I never took the picture out though. They say pain becomes smaller as time goes on, well "they" lied.

Besides Nate, Rob, Evan, Blake, Tom, Kim, Burns, and Rachel were coming with us. I don't know why Nate had decided to bring so many people, but I wasn't going to ask.

Oh I forgot, another reason I had been brought along was because I made the raids easier. See, I had a Soul in me. I say it that way because the Soul isn't strong enough to take over my mind. It was at one point, but I think the Soul couldn't handle having a human baby. I still feel my Soul in there, she just never says anything. That was part of the reason Nate had brought me into his home in the first place. He believed me when I found him and told him how I was pregnant with a human child and needed to have my baby with humans for fear of loosing him to the souls.

Let's just say I wasn't very welcomed by others in our cave. I was now, and so was Burns. Who was also a Soul.

Our raid for supplies lasted about a week, week and a half. It was very easy with Burns and me. We came in as a couple with a human baby and bought all our supplies. I was afraid the other Souls would question about Brandon, but none of them did.

The last night before we set off to Russell's group, Burns and I sat up talking as I fed Brandon.
"Mads, do you ever wonder what it's like to be your old self again?" he asked me. I know his host, Maurice, wanted to overpower Burns like I had overpowered my Soul, Healer Sun. I think they just compromised with each other.

"Yeah sometimes, but you know Healer Sun is pretty laid back." I laughed. He laughed with me.

"I miss my family." He said.

I nodded. "Me too, Burns. Me too."
The next morning we set off early. We didn't find the hills and mountain area until later that night. I was sleeping against the window pane when Nate woke me up. "Maddie, we found a van and a truck." he said. "It shows signs of people like us, but I'm pretty sure this isn't where Russell hides his vehicles." I looked out the windowpane and there indeed was two vehicles. "Are they anyone your looking for's?"

I shook my head. "Not that I remember." I muttered.

So we waited.

And not too long after we came upon the vehicles, the owners came to them. They all grabbed their weapons, I grabbed Brandon to my chest and stood behind the men, and by Burns. There were six people in the car, I counted. I couldn't see if they were humans or Souls. I heard Nate say, "Steady, now, everybody just keep calm," he paused. "Wait, wait, don't be swallowing anything! Jeez, get a grip! No, look!" As Nate turned the flashlight on himself, my face turned away from the sudden brightness.

Nate went on explaining why they were there.

"I think they're in shock." Rob said to them. I knew he could feel me shaking behind him.

"We scared them half to death." Rachel bickered back. "What do you expect?"

A voice came from them. A familiar voice that shook my chest and made me loose my breath. "Who are you?" I knew that voice. That voice haunted my dreams.

"You see, look they have a Soul." Burns whispered to me. But I couldn't follow his eyes, the man of the voice was who I was trying to focus on. But I couldn't quite see his face.

As Nate introduced us, he didn't mention Burns or my name.

Then the name I had been waiting for came out of the man's mouth.

"I'm Jared." And my knees buckled.