A/N: Hello! Welcome to my first fan fiction! I've been a big fan of The Host for a long while, and I've had this idea floating around in my documents for a while, so I finally got around to publishing it.

That being said... Before you go much further into this, if you ignored the warnings in the summary but are for some reason reading them here, this story does contain abuse and non-con in a couple of chapters. Please read at your own risk.

Disclaimer: sadly, I own no one. Except the evil ones. I did create them...

Pain. Darkness.

That was all either of us had known for what seemed like a lifetime. We tried to count the days when we first got here, but we both didn't know how to keep track of time with no light from the outside giving us an indication on how much time had passed.

No help was coming for us, from my side or hers. We were sure of that.

The only thing that was at least somewhat good that came of our capture was that it brought us into agreement that no one could be trusted. Melanie thought that humans would be able to understand that it wasn't just me in here, the lone parasite. But even after I tried to talk to them about Melanie, just to prove to her they wouldn't understand, they just brought on harsher punishments because I was talking back to them, seemingly trying to escape.

How long do you think it's been? Melanie wondered to me. This was how she started off each conversation now.

I was too exhausted to even answer her. I kept my eyes closed, even though it was still dark. I could hear the faint breathing of whoever was on guard tonight. I could recognize the faces of those who most frequented our room, but I never caught more than a couple of their names; only the ones who seemed to be the leaders. The others didn't really say names around us.

I heard the voices of distant conversations, but as always I was too far away to understand what exactly was being said. Since I had nothing else to distract me from the pain, and focusing on the guard would bring back painful memories and worry on what would happen next or who would be coming next.

The voices seemed to be a little more animated than normal, and it was enough to even make Melanie try and listen in. Usually she tried to tune out the indistinct babble, but she also sensed the liveliness of the voices this particular day.

We both heard a few voices coming down the hallway to the room before the guard person did, and by the time the guard was standing we could make out the conversation now.

"…found the bugger hiking around by our building. Didn't seem to be looking for anything, but we figured it could be useful." The voice sounded proud, and it also belonged to the most violent one here. I retreated further into the cramped room, trying to make myself into a tight ball. I was hoping that they forgot a light, so this new person wouldn't be able to see me.

They both stopped outside my room, and I held my breath and peeked out from under my arm, hoping that they wouldn't want to see me. Maybe just knowing about me would be enough.

Of course, my luck was not that good.

I heard the sound of the light click on, and I recoiled and flinched away from the brightness. I could only assume that this group of humans was set up in an underground house, either one that a leader had made, or one that was pre-existing and deemed un-livable because of its lack of sunlight. Souls were not known for bothering living in places cut off from socialization.

Burying my head under my arm to shield my eyes from the light, I heard them continue their conversation.

"What exactly do you keep it here for?" The new voice asked.

And I froze. That voice.

Melanie froze as well, surfacing stronger then I had felt her in a while. But she was also afraid, and even though she could have easily broken through the wall and been able to call out, she didn't. We were both still afraid.

I dared to peek out into the bright light, but I wasn't able to confirm if the voice was truly who I thought it was. The light was glaring too much to be able to see who's hand it was in.

"Mostly just to try and get information on how to resist these bastards, and because this one seems different from the others. We had caught a couple parasites before her, but they just killed themselves. This one has a will to live for some reason. We were trying to figure out why, just because we are curious people I guess."

There was a lull in conversation, and the light shifted off my face as the newcomer turned to talk better. "Strange," he stated, waiting for the other to continue.

"We were gonna try experimenting, once we get proper tools and someone willing to do it. Also helps some of the guys blow off steam," the leader finished. "Got some people with bad tempers sometimes."

The new person just grunted, as if he knew what that was like. He then faced this way again, and my breath caught in my throat.

It was him.

Jared.