Disclaimer: The Host belongs Stephenie Meyer. My characters are just the product of my overactive imagination.

AN: Hello all. First I would like to thank everyone who read my first story, On The Precipice. I had good deal of fun writing it and I hope my loyal readers enjoy Pathways in Darkness as well. Second, if you didn't read it, you should still be able to follow along in this story well enough (But you should read On The Precipice, you'll like it).

Third, please take the time to review my work. I appreciate all of you who do send in reviews.

-Walker

Chapter 1 – Prologue

"Everyone," bellowed Kyle, "I've got news!"

His voice echoed around the vast cavern and the small group of men and women who were busy about their chores all collectively jumped. They all turned to look at Kyle, partly in surprise and partly in annoyance. Kyle for his part simply grinned at his effect on his fellow humans. At his side, Sunny trembled slightly at his outburst. The little Soul was growing use to how loud and noisy humans could be and living around Kyle gave her plenty of experience. Kyle O' Shea was a hard man to ignore.

Lilly, who was on her way to the underground stream carrying a basket of dirty clothes to washed, was the first to make it over to them. Concern was very apparent on her face, "Kyle, what's wrong? You're back two days early. " She looked over to Sunny, who Kyle held protectively, "Sunny, did you have problems on the raid?"

Kyle smiled down at Sunny and said in a much more gentle voice, "No, Sunny did great. Didn't you honey?"

Sunny blushed at Kyle's compliment and nodded. She looked back to Lilly and said in a quiet voice, "No, the raid went well. But something has happened."

"What happened?" asked Lilly, still looking with concern at Sunny and Kyle. Raids into cities were dangerous affairs for the humans in their community. After several raids with Wanda, this was Sunny's first raid on her own. A quick one-week trip to Tucson. A trial run, as Jeb put it, for Sunny to prove herself.

Trudy was the next to arrive and worry was also clear on her face, "Kyle, where are Andy and Brandt? Sunny says something happened?"

"Andy and Brandt are putting the jeep away," answered Kyle. He gently let go of Sunny and held up both his large hands, palms outwards as he pleaded, "Look, we should wait till Jeb, Jared…well hell, everyone gets here. Something big has happened in Chicago."

News traveled fast in the caves, and today was no exception. In a short time, nearly all the humans in the underground community had heard Kyle was back and with important news. Melanie and Jared showed up next, followed by Doc and Candy. Soon the curious and the concerned surrounded Kyle and Sunny.

Sunny, still nervous by large groups of humans, clung to Kyle's side. She relaxed a bit when she caught sight of a small woman with long flowing blond hair followed by a tall dark-haired man. Wanda and Ian were the last to arrive. They had worked in the fields today, both tired and dirty. Wanda smiled to reassure her fellow Soul and asked her, "Sunlight Passing Through the Ice, are you okay?"

Sunny attempted a small smile of her own but couldn't quite manage it. "Wanderer, I am fine, but…" she trailed off for a moment and then said barely above a whisper, "…there have been deaths."

Wanda's eyes went wide and the other humans promptly began to talk among themselves. This quickly escalated into a loud tumult of arguing, questioning, and discussion all centered at Kyle and Sunny. It was Jeb who put an end to it. "Alright, everyone shut up!" said the old man loudly. The group fell silent at once. He then addressed Kyle, "Well Kyle, you got us all down here. Now start explaining…"

Kyle straightened and began to explain, "So it's like this. Three days ago we were in Tucson, at a hardware store." He glanced to his side at Sunny, "Sunny was doing great. She was picking up the supplies without a problem. We are getting ready to leave when we see them - Seekers."

"Were they looking for you?" asked Jared sharply.

Kyle held up his right hand as if to ward off Jared's question, "No, not for us. They were booking it over to the airport. A bunch of them. I talked it over with Andy and Brandt and we figure we should at least try to see what they are up to. So we follow them at a distance, we find the Seekers are sealing off the entire airport."

"Why?" asked Ian.

"I'm getting to it, give me a sec," said Kyle in an annoyed voice to his younger brother. "So we figure for the time being we would lay low and see if we could find out what was going on. Sunny got us a room at a motel and we start listening to the news. Doesn't take too long before we hear what all the fuss is about. Chicago itself is under quarantine, some type of plague has infected all the Souls in the city."

Kyle paused a moment and there was a murmur of voices in reaction to his news. Doc was speaking to Candy and then asked, "But the Soul Healers, why couldn't they cure it?"

"That's just the thing, Doc, they were trying but their medicine wasn't working. The news program on TV didn't give a lot of details, but apparently this disease could somehow hide itself from Soul medicine. They couldn't stop it."

This brought a renewed chorus of voices as the humans talked over Kyle's news. Doc and Jeb asked for more details on the illness, but Kyle could only shake his head, he had no explanation to give. Wanda came up to Sunny and took the Souls hands in hers and asked her gently, "Sunny, you said there were deaths?"

Sunny nodded sadly and said in a low whisper, "Yes, the illness didn't just affect the human body; it effected the Soul body as well. The reporter on TV was crying as he read the reports of the deaths." The memory caused Sunny to start to cry softly. Wanda pulled her into a hug. Kyle saw Sunny's distress and stopped talking with the others. He put a large hand on the small woman's back and gently stroked her. His touch had a soothing effect on her and she calmed. Wanda pulled back from Sunny and asked Kyle in an unsteady voice, "How many?"

Kyle responded in a somber tone, "They never gave an exact figure, but hundreds if not thousands were dead." This news caused Wanda to gasp and tremble. Ian put an arm around her in trying to comfort. Even as he held his love, he was deep in thought. Suddenly he spoke up, "The shuttles…the Seekers must have tried to stop the plague from spreading. That's why they sealed off the airport."

His brother nodded in agreement. He stopped caressing Sunny and quietly pulled the little woman next to him. She quickly wrapped herself to him and gave a small sigh of contentment. Kyle addressed the crowd, "Okay hang on here, not done. This is where it gets really interesting." The crowd grew silent and Kyle returned to his story.

"Anyway, so we are the motel for about a day. Andy and I are talking about what we should do next. We are still watching the news and the Soul reporter gets a really weird look on his face, like he just heard something he can't believe." Kyle paused a moment. Then in his best soft and calm voice, mimicking a Soul, he said, "We are receiving some strange reports of wild Humans in the city helping in treating the ill."

A number of people in the crowd asked at the same time, "What?!"

Kyle smiled and shrugged his big shoulders, "That's what they said. Come to find out there is a bunch of humans hiding in Chicago. Not just one or two people, but a whole group. A whole rebel cell of humans, just like us."

Maggie snorted, "It's some type of trick, how could there be that many humans hiding in a city full of…" she stopped herself and looked pointedly at Wanda and Sunny. She left the word parasite unsaid. A few others in the group nodded, Maggie did have a point. She and Sharon had hidden in Chicago for some time, they would know best about other Humans in the city.

"Sorry, the news broadcast didn't have a lot of details. Can't say how exactly they were hiding or how they started helping," explained Kyle. "From what we could make out, the outbreak was causing problems for the humans as well. Somehow they got a truce with the Souls and joined forces to try to cure it." Kyle grinned, "And apparently they did just that, they cured the plague. The Souls regard the humans as heroes who saved them."

Disbelief and amazement were on everyone's faces. Soon nearly everybody was talking, Doc and Candy continued quizzing Kyle and Sunny about how the plague became cured. Wanda and Mel began to talk about their time in the city, about how other humans could hide there. Jeb himself was silent, deep in thought as he stroked his shaggy beard. Then Jared spoke up and voiced what many were thinking, "Are we sure this isn't all some sort of trick, some way to lure us out? The Seekers spreading a story to make us believe we are at peace?"

Jared's question hung there for several silent seconds and then Jeb cleared his throat and spoke up, "Well…I believe we are going to have to find out."

####

"Agent Williams I need to ask you a question," said the man behind the desk.

Agent Williams gazed over to the man and frowned ever so slightly. At one time he had known this man's name, but it had been lost to him. In fact, there were many things lost to him now. He knew he had once a name beyond 'Agent Williams,' a family, a home. But those memories only caused him pain and were a distraction. They had no place in him anymore. He excised these thoughts with ease and answered, "Yes, sir. What is your question?"

"What are your thoughts on Chicago?"

Agent Williams considered for a moment, "Well…I know the R&D boys aren't too happy their little bug got cured. They put a lot of time into it. Others figure we got what we needed; no big deal if we 'only' killed ten thousand worms versus fifty thousand worms. I think you can group me in with them, the mission was accomplished."

The man leaned back in his chair and looked thoughtful, "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic. So we kill ten thousand, but it could have gone another way and we would have fifty thousand dead, all pretty much the same to you?"

"Quoting Stalin?" replied Agent Williams, "I would point he was talking about human beings, which is why he gets such labels as monster and tyrant. I'm talking about parasitical worms that invaded and conquered the planet. I'm pretty sure I feel the same way about killing one versus a million of these things."

"Oh and how do you feel about killing the parasites?"

Agent Williams blinked and said with a bit of confusion, "I don't feel anything. Why would I?"

The man behind the desk paused as if we was in deep thought and then continued, "I'm not questioning your commitment to this project. I just needed to know your mind-set on recent developments. A few things go wrong, we don't meet the right projections, and suddenly some people are nervous. Even talk about seeing if the events in Chicago change the parasites' minds about us. Like that would ever happen." He said the last words with complete contempt.

Agent Williams straightened in his chair, "Sir, I'm fully committed to this endeavor. I have since the start." He trailed off for a moment, when had he started on this project? It seems like this had been his life forever.

"Good, good," responded the man eagerly. "That is exactly what I wanted to hear. We are putting together a small group for a mission. Initially, we were planning on New York City, but with some of the events that happened in Chicago, we want to…clean up, so to speak. I'm hoping I can count on you."

Agent Williams bobbed his head, "Yes sir. Say the word I'm ready."

The man behind the desk smiled for a moment but then grew serious, "Agent Adams will be leading the expedition."

Agent Williams blinked in surprise and took a moment as he realized what it would mean. He asked in a subdued voice, "He's ready? I mean we are ready for the next phase?"

The man behind the desk nodded and gave a cold smile, "Yes we are. It's time we kicked this war into gear and let the parasites know what they are actually up against."