I hadn't run flat out in months and my body didn't like it. My muscles screeched in protest but I ignored them and continued to run. Running was my only option now. 

I had been taken by surprise and fumbled with the little pill that was concealed in my breast pocket; it had fallen to the ground and rolled into a drain, making it way out of reach even if I had the time to look for it, which I didn't.

Wanda and Sunny were inside the store picking up a haul of supplies as I waited outside for them, sunglasses on, reading a newspaper on a community bench. Kyle was waiting in the moving van, still unwilling to venture out among the souls in broad daylight. We had done this many times before, it was almost old hat now. But this time was different.

Perhaps I was too comfortable and let my guard drop, or perhaps it was only a matter of time before this happened. I was approached by a seeker, whose eyes were fixated on a shape in my pocket. She was a middle-aged woman of around 45, with a friendly face and kindly eyes which were a green colour. Her hair was short and blonde. All too suddenly I realised that the shape that she was staring at was my long knife. The shape of the knife was visible against my thigh and I cursed myself for not stowing it well enough.

"Sorry to bother you Sir, but could you possibly remove your glasses?" asked the Seeker in a friendly tone, which didn't mask the concern that the soul underneath was feeling. Souls were not good at deception, Wanda was proof enough of that. She couldn't even lie about liking a meal without me being able to tell.

"Of course," I smiled as genuinely as I could whilst my mind ran through all of the scenarios that could come of this. Wanda and Sunny could come out now and save me having to take off my glasses. Or I could take the little pill in my breast pocket and end it before they could stuff a seeker in me and force me to lead them to the caves.

A moment passed and no immediate solution seemed to present itself. I reached up to my face to take off the glasses with one hand, and with the other, I grabbed the little pill from my breast pocket.

The Seeker saw the pill and shouted to her partner for help. At the moment that she glanced away the pill slipped out of my hand and rolled over and over before disappearing beneath the earth into a drain. I had only running left, so that's what I did.

I bolted, running away from the store and in the opposite direction to where Kyle lay in wait with the van. He would be able to see me from where he was parked. He would have seen the whole thing play out. I could imagine him now, sitting stock still in his seat, his hands clenched into fists around the steering wheel as he watched the events unfold from behind his sunglasses. I didn't dare look back to confirm this image though as I didn't want to risk suggesting to the Seekers that there may be more humans in proximity.

At least I knew that Wanda and Sunny would be safe, their eyes wouldn't betray them in the way that Kyle's and mine would. Sunny's words could be a different matter. She was even worse at lying than Wanda. It had taken us months to get her to come on a raid and take some of the pressure off of Wanda. Even this small raid had taken a lot of convincing, not to Sunny but to Kyle, who didn't want her going out of the caved.

"She's too fragile!" Kyle protested. It had taken Sunny herself to fully come around to the idea after Melanie pointed out that it would help the population of the caves. Sunny then was able to convince my boneheaded brother to allow her to join Wanda and me on a raid. Kyle's only stipulation was that he should be allowed to join us, to which no one protested. This was Sunny's first raid and if I were to get caught it would probably be her last.

When. Not if. There was no longer a question of if I would get caught, the Seekers were closing in and more had joined the original two in cars. The question was now When I would get caught and if they would get me alive. 

My cyanide pill was gone yes, but I knew of many other ways to end my own life. I briefly humoured the idea of pulling the knife and slitting my wrists or neck, but I knew death wouldn't come fast enough and the Seekers would take me and heal me before I could bleed out.

The cars passing on the town road were all halted, but ahead me at the end of this road I could see a fast-moving highway. Surely a hit by a car going at that speed would be enough to kill me.

"He's heading for the highway!" I heard one of the Seekers pant.

"Please don't hurt yourself!" said another one. There were six chasing me now, the extra four having appeared from nowhere when the chase began.

In answer to the soul's plea, I threw my glasses at them.

I was so close, just a few more seconds and it would all end. I would be gone and Wanda would be safe. Wanda, I felt a pang of grief flood my body. Wanda would be alone once I was gone. Melanie and Jamie would always be there, along with most of the other occupants of the caves, but I would have to leave her alone without protection from this strange world.

One more stride and I would be on the highway, but before I could take that stride a silver Seeker car skidded to a stop in front of me, and an old Seeker with an exotic slant to his eyes jumped out of the passenger side, clutching a thin metal cylinder.

I skidded to halt before I could run headlong into the car, and I searched for a way out, finding none. 

The seeker who had the cylinder uncapped it and pointed it at me. I just had time to read the words on it 'sleep' before he pressed his finger down and sprayed it in my face. I had no choice but to inhale the mist and I felt my whole world go dark.