Jared was crouched at the end of the dark hallway, upholding his balance by wrapping his arms around himself and swaying back and forth . His gaze fixated the ground as if there were anything interesting to look at. He looked vulnerable in this position, almost like a little boy. But I knew that he was aware of my presence; he knew I was coming long before I had turned the last few corners. Jared was good at that kind of stuff. He knew things before others did.

My mind played with the idea of striking him for a second, but I knew he had a rifle with him. Jared was always prepared for the worst, and I knew he wouldn't hesitate to shoot me.

I hung back for a moment, uncertain of what I should do. With a loud moan, I condescended next to him. He didn't look up, but continues to decipher the perpetual grey of the rugged rock beneath our feet.

When I didn't say anything, he spat on the ground. "Get away from me," he growled.

Ah, he was pissed. Typical.

"What is wrong with you, Jared?" I said gruffly, ignoring his warning.
He looked up and hissed: "I'm warning you, Kyle. Leave. Jeb doesn't like me shooting his guests, but I'm willing to take that into account."

"Jesus, what happened to all of you?" I said sharply., "It's like you've all gone fucking mad! If it weren't for the eyes I would think it-"

"She!" Jared screamed, and his sudden uproar echoed through the walls and gnarled corridors. I winced. "It's a she! And call her by her fucking name, Kyle. Wanda," he inspected my face while he said its name; slowly, as if he were testing the feel of it on his tongue. He saw how my lips twitched in disgust. "Her name is Wanda. And she's the one who saved your ass tonight. Don't forget that." Suddenly tired, he leaned back and gazed at the dark void in front of us. "How could I," I mumbled angrily. The image of the parasite gripping onto me, trying to save me as if It actually cared, was still haunting me. And that expression it had on its face, that mixture of despair and fear, the way it tried to grip onto me with its dainty arms made me feel sick.

The worst thing was that the others were buying it- they truly believed that it had wanted to save me because it didn't want me to die. That it was just that good. Pathetic. Did nobody understand that it was faking all of this, to gain our trust? Obviously it had already succeeded, given that it now knew all of our passages and exits. This would make it so much easier for the seekers once they found us.

I inhaled deeply through my nose, carefully choosing the words that I used. "Wanda," I said almost ironically,"is not human. How can you suppress that thought? How can you keep her alive, knowing she took Melanie away from you?" I was fighting the urge to shout; it took all my energy to stay calm.

It took a long time until Jared answered. I was about to get up and leave when he finally looked up at me, and when he did, I was surprised to see that he looked like a little boy again. His arms were still tightly entwined around his shoulders, his gaze held a distance that I had never seen before; Jared was always very present, very aware.

"That's what I thought," he admitted. "I wanted it dead."

He shook his head and rested it on his embracing arms. He desperately searched the ground for something, then looked back up to me, then to the walls. His frantic movements made me uneasy.

"But it's her face, you know." He finally spoke, shrugging. "It's still her."

"No, it isn't," I interrupted gruffly, amazed at his stubborn stupidity. "It's her body. Melanie is dead."

"You don't know that."

"Jeeze, Jared!" I couldn't help but raise my voice. His naivety was deeply aggravating. "Melanie. Is. Dead. It's happened to all of us. Deal with it." Clenching my fists, I groaned to lay off some of the anger that was starting to stir up inside of me. How could he be so foolish?

"Jeb and Jamie have this theory," he simply said, ignoring my previous words, "and at the beginning, I thought they were crazy. I thought they wanted to piss me off. But then I thought about their arguments and it sort of...clicked. It made sense, somehow." The hopeful undertone in his voice almost made me puke. "Jeb is an old, crazy bastard." I simply said, incredulous that I was even having this conversation. This was Jared. If there was one guy who hated thisworld and these fucking parasite more than I did, it was him.

"They think that Melanie might still be alive," he proceeds. "That she's still in there...with Wanda."

It took me a moment to process this. "You've got to me shitting me," I then said, bewildered. "Please tell me this is some sort of sick joke!" When he didn't reply, I started chuckling. I didn't allow myself to even consider this idea; the idea of Melanie in her own body, captivated. It was impossible.

"You've gone mad, Jared," I said coolly, and just when I started to make a move to get up, the words poured out of his mouth uncontrollably;

"That's what I thought, too. But then I thought, why else would it be here? It's all alone, and when we found it, it was barely alive. What sort of plan is that, to walk into a desert, all alone? If Jeb wouldn't have found it, it would have died. That doesn't seem like seeker-thing-to-do. And sure, we've had helicopters in proximity, but none that actually investigated these rocks, right? Obviously they're searching for her, but she doesn't seem very keen on leaving this place, does she? And tonight, she tried to save you-"

"What's your point?" I snarled.

"My point is that I can't think of any other reason for her to be here, other than Melanie." He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes with his hands. He seemed worn. "I know it sounds crazy."

"Absurd," I agreed, "absolutely absurd."

But Jared wasn't listening to me; he was in his own world, his retarded theory. Baffled at his earnestness, I shook my head. "You can't be serious, Jared."

"It's the way she looks at me," He responded, unseeingly. "Like she actually still loves me."

"You know that's impossible." I was losing hope at this point.

"She gives me these looks, Kyle. I can't describe them. They're these special looks that only Melanie gave me. They're the same looks, Kyle."

"Of course they are!" I cried desperately. "It's her face! Her eyes!"

He was silent then.

"I asked her to tell me," he said after a while, more to himself than to me. "I asked her whether or not Melanie was inside of her." I groaned audible.

"But she wouldn't answer. She would look me straight into the eye and not say anything, but when I kissed her-"

"You WHAT?"

In a split second I was on my feet, staring down at him. My fists were clenched to my sides, while the sickening image perfused my sense. I could hear my own rattling breath, feel my quivering chest. I was so overwhelmed with disgust and nausea and betrayal that I stumbled forward and gripped his arm, dragging him up.

"WHAT THE FUCK, JARED" I spat, unable to accumulate sufficient strength to strike him hard enough. He didn't react when I pushed him, and subsequently I staggered forward until I fell against the wall and retched. I then slid back onto the ground and coughed loudly. Panting, I looked back at him and couldn't believe the man that I was looking at.

"She punched me," he continued quietly. His voice was very calm. "Wanda would never punch anyone."

"Stop calling it by name," I hissed disgustedly.

He sat back down, opposite to me. His fingers drew little patterns into the sandy ground. "That was Mel," he said, undoubtedly. "I remember her looking down to her hand almost shocked." He now turned his own hand around and stared at his palm, almost reenacting the scene. A small, hopeful smile tightened around his lips and the little wrinkles around his eyes spread out like little tiny nets around his face. "I told her I loved her and she started crying." He looked up at me and saw my face. "You almost killed her, Kyle."

"If I have to leave because of that parasite, you're all damned" I spat. With these words I struggled onto my feet and walked past him, entering the dark passage that would lead me away to the main hall.