Everyone's quick to blame the alien

-Aeschylus

Burns

It feels good to be accepted. After the raid, the others have started to treat me like a normal human being. They greet me in the tunnels, include me in their conversations and volunteer to do some chores with me. It's not so different from the life I had before, except I had to work for it. Perhaps that is the beauty of being human, nothing is given freely, you have to earn trust and love and respect. And that makes it all the more valuable.

I look at Emma. She's still working on the painting in the game room. Now that she has real paint, she can make it all the more realistic. What started out as a charcoal silhouette of trees on a grey background, is now slowly turning into a green forest with beams of sunlight shining through the leaves.

It looks so real. A touch of the outside underground. I can't believe her parents wouldn't let her go to art school.

"Do you like it?" she looks at me over her shoulder and I smile. She's wearing an old oversized blouse, I think it belonged to Nate once, that's covered in paint. There's some green paint on her cheek too.

I walk up to her and brush her stained cheek with my thumb. It's still hard for me to believe that a girl like her would ever want to be with a creature like me.

"It's beautiful," I tell her.

Her face lights up and she wraps her arms around my neck. Automatically my arms find their way around her waist. I could hold her all day.

I don't hear the commotion down the tunnel at first until Sophie enters the game room.

Emma frowns concerned and lets go of me. "What's wrong?" she asks.

Sophie's smile is a nervous one. "Nothing's wrong," she says a little too quick, "just... maybe you should stay here a moment."

"What's going on, Sophie?" Emma asks again, but before Sophie can answer, James enters the room.

"Nate's filling them in," he says to her and then he looks at us. "A few of the others showed up from Max' group. They don't know about you, so we're taking precautions. Let Nate explain things before they meet you. He'll come get us when he thinks it's safe."

I bite my lip. I had almost forgotten about the other groups. It was inevitable that I'd meet them one day. It's just a little sooner than expected. I was only just accepted into this group.

"Don't worry, Burns," Sophie says softly, "we won't let them hurt you. There's only three of them. We can stop them if things get out of hand."

"I don't want them to get hurt either," I say.

"Nothing's gonna happen," James tries to assure us, "we will back you up. We'll make them see the advantage. It will make their lives easier too."

Voices reach us from the tunnel. Voices that aren't familiar, so they must be the humans from the other group.

"... can't believe you are this stupid, Nate. You of all people should know better."

"Keep calm, Max." That's Nate. "It's not like we just gave him a free pass. He's proven himself."

"And how do you know it's not another trick? You know how cunning these creatures are!"

"Just meet him."

And that's when they enter the game room. Three people I've never seen before. Two men and one woman. They are surrounded by the others. Nate and Blake in the front, but also Rachel, Evan, Logan and Will.

James moves in front of me, probably to shield me, but they have already seen me.

One of the men hisses when he looks at me. His eyes are filled with hatred.

"Back off Max," James warns.

"You can't be serious," Max growls.

Emma sidles up to me, ready to throw herself in harms' way again.

"Burns, Emma," Nate steps forward, "meet Max, Holly and Theo."

Theo's eyes move from me to Emma and then narrow. "I know you," he hisses.

I glance at Emma, but there is no recognition in her eyes. She stares at him confused.

Theo looks at the others now while pointing at Emma. "She was in some magazine. Her daddy was one of those scientists that investigated after alien life. It's his fault those parasites are here now. He probably invited them right over!"

"That's not true," I defend Emma, "your scientists had nothing to do with us coming here."

"Of course you'd say that," Theo growls, "can't you see how it's tricking you?!"

Blake rolls his eyes. "Here we go again."

Will steps forward now. "Believe me, Theo," he says, "I was just like you until recently. I didn't trust him either. I even tried to kill him, but Nate's right. He's proven himself. You should see all the supplies he managed to get for us..."

"You took it on a raid?!" Max yells.

"We were there the entire time."

Holly is the only one that hasn't spoken yet. She's staring at me and Emma and our interlocked hands. She looks up at Emma who is watching Max and Theo nervously. I can tell their hostility upsets her. She was so happy that we finally made progress. And now we're back to square one.

"Hey," I tell her softly, "it's going to be okay. Don't worry."

She smiles sadly.

"How can you stand being so close to it?" Holly suddenly asks.

The room falls silent and they all look at her. She swallows and walks closer to us. "It's not even human."

"Doesn't matter," Emma says evenly, "I love him."

"There's no separating them," Blake smirks, "believe me, some have tried."

"You've all gone nuts," Max says.

"Just give him a chance, Max," Nate says, "it'll work in everyone's advantage. I'm sure Burns will want to help you too. And the other cells."

"Of course," I nod.

"Let an alien control our lives?!" Theo growls.

"Let Burns do your groceries for you," Nate corrects.

"And have it sell us out? Are you mad?"

"He didn't sell us out," Blake says, "and he got us things we could never have gotten ourselves. And he can just walk in and out of a store. They'll even thank him for it. It's amazing."

"Give him a chance, Max," Nate says, "stay a few days. Get to know him. And Emma too. You'll be in for a surprise."

"I'm not getting near that," Theo says, "and I don't want it near me."

"Don't worry, Theo," Blake mocks, "we'll protect you."

Theo swats at him and Blake blocks him easily, a big grin on his face.

Max and Holly don't look convinced either.

"It's really alright," Sophie assures them.

"Max," Nate says calmly, "you know me. We've all lost people we care about in the invasion. You know I would never risk the lives of the others if I wasn't sure they would be safe. Burns is not like the others. We trust him. Talk to him and Emma once you've calmed down. I'm sure you'll see reason then."

Max narrows his eyes in thought and looks at his comrades. Theo still eyes me with suspicion and Holly bites her lip.

Max sighs. "One chance, Nate."

"Fair enough," Nate nods, "let's head out to the kitchen then. You can get to know Burns over dinner. We'll see about giving you some supplies for your group tomorrow. Thanks to Burns we have enough to share."

We all move out of the game room and head for the kitchen where Anna-May and Kim are just finishing up on dinner. Rich tomato soup with vegetables and noodles, crispy bread. Jacked potatoes with sour cream, and hamburgers.

Our guests are staring at it wide eyed.

"See?" Blake slaps Theo's back, "I told you you'd be in for a surprise."

Max has walked to the stove and studies the heating stones. "What's this?"

"Burns brought it," Will answers, "it works like a stove but without any gas or electricity. You just place it in the sunlight for a few hours and it stores the energy."

Max looks at me now. He studies me carefully. "You did that? For some humans? Why?" His voice is filled with authority.

I look at Emma who is watching me, and a smile automatically spreads across my face. "Because his is where I belong," I say.

Max blinks confused. His eyes go from me to Emma and back. Theo looks even more lost.

"H-how..." Theo stutters. He looks at Emma. "You can't be serious. It's not even human."

There's amusement twinkling in Emma's eyes. "He doesn't have to be," she says, "he's Burns. That's enough for me."

Theo shakes his head. "You're crazy."

"Just sit down and eat before the food gets cold," Logan slaps his shoulder and directs him to a table. "Why don't you guys sit here with Emma and Burns? Get to know them a bit."

The three guests look uncomfortable and I sigh. I remember all too well what it was like in the beginning when I first came here. "You shouldn't force them to sit with me," I tell Logan, "none of you wanted to sit with me at first."

"And we got over it," Logan says, "they can whine afterwards. Right now I'm hungry." He accepts a bowl of soup from Kim and sits down at the table next to ours.

Anna-May walks over to us and places a few bowls of soup on the table. "We don't have enough bowls or spoons for everyone," she says in her ruff voice. "we'll have to make do."

"I'll share with Burns," Emma says. She looks at me questioningly and I nod.

"It's the last of the bread too," Anna-May continues.

"We've brought flour," Max tells her, "we'll see what we can trade this time after diner."

"You'll have to speak to Nate about that sort of thing," Anna-May huffs and she disappears again.

Dinner is mostly quiet. Max, Theo and Holly give us wary glances every now and then, but mostly ignore us. I can sense Emma is uncomfortable. She is still awkward when meeting new people. I look around for help and my eyes land on Blake. He's always been able to break the tension in any situation and he knows Emma best out of all these people. Since Max and his friends seem to distrust me, perhaps having him around will make things easier for all of us.

He catches my look and saunters over. "This sure is a quiet table," he grins, "you can't have run out of things to talk about already."

Theo narrows his eyes. "That's what you get when you put us at a table with a parasite and a crazy chick."

"Don't be a dick, Theo," Holly mutters.

"What?" Theo says, "we're all thinking it. They let one of those aliens in. Can we even go home now? It probably knows where we live too."

"I don't," I say honestly. We've known about the other groups, but I have yet to learn where they are located.

"So they don't trust you that much either," Theo says smugly.

"That has nothing to do with it," Blake defends me.

But it is Emma that flares up. "Just shut up already!" she shouts at Theo. "What do you know?! You know nothing! You don't listen to what anyone says! It's stupidity like that that will get you killed or taken! This is our home now. If you don't like it then you can just get lost!" She pushes her chair back and stomps out of the room.

Around us, the entire room has fallen silent. I don't think anyone has ever seen Emma react like that. I know I haven't and judging from the looks on Blake and Rachel's faces this outburst is not normal.

I clear my throat and rise to my feet, but Max beats me to it. "I'll go," he says. He pushes his chair back and slaps Theo against the back of his head.

I watch Max go concerned, but Blake pats my shoulder. "Don't worry, Burns. Max is alright."

I sigh. I'm not sure about that, but if Blake trusts him, I guess so should I. If I want them to trust me, then I should do the same. After all, trust works both ways.