Hi! I apologize for not updating for awhile. I can't stand excuses, so I'll just say I haven't been writing as much. Very sorry!

Chapter Nine. Read and review, if you wish!


Rage coursed through me at Kyle's exclamation. He had wanted to kill the parasite. And Mel. He had tried to kill Mel. He had wanted her to fall.

I leapt toward Kyle, lunging out to meet his face with my fist. I felt my fingers smash into his right orbital bone, and he slumped back onto the cot. Unconscious again.

My ire wasn't sated yet. Melanie, my love, had almost been lost to the man lying on the cot. Her body, but her conscience, too. He either didn't know she was in there, or he didn't care. My anger probably now rivaled Ian's.

Everyone was stunned into silence. They—Wes, Andy, and Aaron—had all thought I wanted to kill the parasite. Now I was defending it again. I knew I was confusing them. I was confusing myself. Melanie was confusing me.

"Um...medically speaking, I'm not sure that was the most helpful thing for his condition." Doc said, trying to break the tension.

"But I feel better," I countered.

Doc fought a smile, and I knew he understood. "Well, maybe a few more minutes of unconsciousness won't kill him."

Of course not. Kyle's head was like a rock. Thick. Unbreakable. But impenetrable too.

I was rational enough to see that killing the parasite was not only not what I wanted, but not the best solution overall. Of course, I was biased—I wanted to keep Mel around.

Others had completely accepted it with less cause, though, like Ian. And Wes, who moved to stand companionably nearer to Melanie's cot. But Kyle would never understand.

"What happened?" Wes asked softly.

He was talking to the parasite, but I answered. It wouldn't tell him what had happened. "Kyle tried to kill it. Are we really surprised?"

"Did not," the parasite mumbled. It sounded like a petulant child. Like it knew its arguments weren't going to work but it was sticking to its story anyway.

It was almost sticking up for Kyle. Helping him out. "Altruism seems to come more naturally to it than lies," I told Wes. He looked slightly amused, but also annoyed by my implication.

Then the parasite did something completely unexpected. "Are you trying to be annoying?" it snapped. "Because if you are, then be assured, you have succeeded."

I had never heard it speak so forcefully, or even speak that much, voluntarily. And directly to me.

What had I done to offend it?

"I am female. That 'it' business is really getting on my nerves."

Oh. It was annoyed because I called it...it. I had always done that; parasites weren't hes and shes. They were its. There was no question about that—the parasite was not a human, male or female. It was a sexless worm.

But of course it would feel like a woman. It was inside Mel, with Mel. "Because of the body you wear?" That made me angry. It was wearing Melanie's body, which was not natural. The parasite was an aberration. It wouldn't have been able to speak or move without its stolen body. It didn't belong here, on this planet.

"Because of me."

I couldn't believe it was arguing with me. I hadn't thought it could even get angry. Even in the beginning, when we'd all hated it, it was so passive. It was too gentle to hate us back, I knew now. But the way it was acting now...was human behavior. It was...cranky. Irascible. Mel used get like this often.

"By whose definition?" I demanded.

"How about by yours? In my species, I am the one that bears young. Is that not female enough for you?"

Ouch. It had me.

I had never thought about the parasites having their own...categories. They were silver little worms; they all looked the same to me.

I tried for a cynical reply, but a snappy comeback evaded me.

The parasite in Melanie...was a girl? It...bore young? How exactly did their...mating process work?

"That's a story you've never told us," Wes said, voicing the curiosity I would never express. "How does that work?" Then he realized what he was asking—that topic was probably uncomfortable—and blushed. "I mean, I guess you don't have to answer that, if I'm being rude."

The parasite laughed suddenly, its anger already gone. "No, you're not asking anything...inappropriate. We don't have such a complicated...elaborate setup as your species." Then it blushed.

I guessed what it was thinking. Probably remembering Melanie and me...

"Then...?" Wes prompted. He was very curious about this. What else had it told them about? How could he ask all this so easily, that it would answer?

It seemed to resign itself to explaining. "There are only a few of us who are...Mothers. Not Mothers. That's what they call us, but it's just the potential to be one."

"You have that...potential?" I asked. Could this be what it was planning? Instead of bringing living Seekers to our home, had it wanted to come here and...reproduce? Spew new parasites into being to subdue us?

It kept talking. "We're a little like your hives of bees, or your ants. Many, many sexless members of the family, and then the queen..."

"Queen?" Wes said. He looked slightly unnerved now, as if he was wishing he hadn't asked about this.

"Not like that. But there is only one Mother for every five, ten thousand of my kind. Sometimes less. There's no hard and fast rule."

"How many drones?" Wes inquired.

I didn't remember much insect biology. How bees or ants reproduced. Something about drones all fertilizing one queen that would then lay hundreds of eggs...I cringed.

"Oh, no, there aren't drones. No, I told you it's simpler than that." It paused, as if it was waiting for someone to stop it talking. But it persisted. "The Mothers...divide. Every...cell, I guess you could call it, though our structure isn't the same as yours, becomes a new soul. Each new soul has a little of the Mother's memory, a piece of her that remains."

"How many cells? How many young?" Doc chimed in. Of course he would be curious. He had always been strangely interested in the aliens' biology, their advanced science. I supposed it came with being a doctor.

"A million or so," it answered.

Ho-ly cow. A million baby parasites lived inside this one centipede. Sure, it was a girl, a female, but that didn't make it any less dangerous.

"When does that happen?" Doc asked. "Is there a catalyst?"

"It's a choice. A voluntary choice. It's the only way we ever willingly choose to die. A trade, for a new generation."

I wondered if I had imagined the way it emphasized the word willingly. Had it guessed what we'd done when the raiders and I returned the first time? Did it know what others of its kind had done in order to keep from being taken out?

"You could choose now, to divide your all your cells, just like that?" Doc asked. Even he looked wary now.

"Not quite just like that, but yes."

A voluntary decision to reproduce was the most dangerous catalyst to this strange process. If it wanted, the parasite could destroy us at any time.

"Is it complicated?"

"The decision is. The process is painful."

"Painful?" Doc repeated.

Of course. Like giving birth. Except with our kind, the death of the mother wasn't inevitable.

"Excruciating," the parasite said. "We all remember how it was for our mothers."

Doc looked thoughtful. "I wonder what the evolutionary track would be—to produce a hive society with suiciding queens..."

"Altruism," Wes said, repeating the term I'd used earlier to describe the parasite.

"Yes, that."

They weren't thinking of biological factors, but personality traits. No, not a...personality. That was too shallow, too varying. Altruism, bravery, and selflessness, had to be embedded in the...the souls' nature.

Mel's body closed its eyes, exhausted.

Doc noticed. "Oh, you've slept less than I have, haven't you, Wanda? We should let you get some rest."

"I'm fine," it mumbled, but it didn't move.

Aaron and Andy had been listening to the biology lesson mutely. Aaron muttered, "That's just great. We've got a bloody queen mother alien living with us. She could blow into a million new buggers at any moment."

"Shh," Wes said. Defending it.

"They couldn't hurt you," she whispered. "Without host bodies, they would die quickly."

Aaron closed his eyes in relief, and Andy made a "phew!" motion across his forehead. I was glad, too. Alone, the parasite still wasn't a threat. But I didn't want to give myself completely over to trust. Kindness was easy to feign—the parasites had done it for years, in order to ensnare us to become them.

In most parasites, I'd seen that true kindness only extended to their own kind. This one though, the soul named Wanda, was able to extend her altruism to humans.

Humans like Walter.

He groaned quietly, shifting his body on the cot. "Gladdie?"

She was the first thing he asked for. And the parasite whom he'd mistaken for his wife, despite being on the edge of sleep, rolled over with a groan of its own. "Here." She took his hand.

Andy and Aaron looked shocked, and Aaron looked like he was about to protest—why was it touching him?—but Doc reprimanded them both. "Wanda's given up sleep and peace to help him through the pain. Her hands are bruised from holding his. What have you done for him?"

That shut them up, though they shot each other troubled looks.

Walter was coming around, and he would probably be in even more pain than before. Sure enough, he was whimpering again, not even fully awake.

The time had come.

"Aaron, Andy, Wes, would you, uh...go get Sharon for me, please?" Doc said, his face twisting into a grimace.

"All of us?" Andy asked, uncomprehending.

"Get out," Jeb clarified.

They understood, and they left quickly then. Doc leaned over Melanie's body and spoke in a soothing voice. "Wanda, he's in pain. I can't let him can't let him come all the way around."

Her breathing hitched. "It's better if he doesn't know me. It's better if he thinks Gladdie is here."

Jeb moved to stand close to Walter, who was doomed to die in a minute. He hadn't been lost to an alien inside his body, but to a disease. A measly human sickness. The irony of it pained me.

"Bye, Walt. See you on the other side," Jeb said gruffly.

"You're a good man. You'll be missed," I whispered, standing on the other side of the cot. Beside the parasite.

As Doc opened the morphine again, filled a larger syringe, measuring carefully with his eyes, Walter moaned again. "Gladdie, it hurts."

"Shh," the parasite murmured. "It won't hurt much longer. Doc will make it stop." Her voice broke.

"Gladdie?" he whispered.

"Yes?"

"I love you, Gladdie. I've loved you my whole life long."

"I know, Walter. I...I love you too. You know how I love you."

How I wished that voice belonged to Melanie, and she was saying those words to me.

Doc inserted the needle into Walter's arm and depressed the plunger. "Sleep well, friend."

Walt's frail, dying body relaxed. His eyes closed, and his face, contorted with pain, softened.

The parasite didn't let go of his hand. Her breaths were loud and jagged.

She was so sad.

For several minutes, Jeb, Doc, and I just watched it, unable to speak. Its quiet sobs grew in volume, Walt's death sinking in and overpowering it.

"He's gone, Wanda," Doc whispered. His own voice was wavering, too. He swallowed. "He's out of pain." Gently, he separated Walt's dead hand from Melanie's live one, and shifted the parasite so that she was situated comfortably on her own cot. Jeb moved to grab a blanket, a cover for Walter.

The parasite's quiet grief mesmerized me, for some reason. As its body shook with sobs, it moved to hold its side, where Kyle had punched her. She was in pain still.

It was injured. It should have been groaning in pain, not mourning the death of some human whose body it wanted.

Doc moved away from her, rummaged in his desk, coming up with a small syringe. The little bit of morphine that was left filled it almost perfectly.

I wondered briefly what he was going to do with it, until he moved back toward me, toward the cot where the parasite was crying. His gaze on me, he raised the syringe, a questioning look in his eyes. He was...asking my consent to put her out. Because she was hurting.

"Oh, go ahead. You won't be happy otherwise," I told him, sounding unwilling in spite of myself. I knew Doc was trying to help; I knew that Mel's body needed rest to heal, and that staying awake and in pain would do the parasite no good. But part of me wanted her to stay awake. Right now, when I was relatively sure of her goodness, her altruism, I almost...wanted to talk to her. To ask her about Melanie. Maybe she'd be more willing this time.

But now wasn't the best time. Doc took her wrist lightly, injected the medicine into the vein inside her elbow. The parasite's eyes grew heavy quickly and closed.

I stepped away from the cot. Doc leaned over her, feeling her leg. The bruise that wouldn't allow her to walk was huge and ugly. How had Kyle done that to her? Even his huge, hard fist couldn't do that much damage.

"It's not broken, or sprained," Doc mused. "But she probably won't be able to walk for a little while."

"Jared," Jeb grunted. I saw he was trying to move Walter's cot but couldn't keep it level. I hurried forward to help him carry Walt's covered body to a corner.

We'd have a funeral. Tonight, probably, under the cover of darkness, we'd bury the old man outside.

I wondered if the parasite, who had sacrificed itself to care for Walter, would be allowed outside for his memorial. No, I didn't want it dead, I didn't hate it so fiercely, and I thought I had a better grasp of its nature. But I didn't trust it. Not that much. I wasn't about to take risks to destroy the fragile confidence I had in her.

"What happened?" Ian demanded. He'd reentered the hospital without me noticing, and now looked...anxious. As he walked in, I thought he was asking about Walter, his dead, shrouded body, but he stopped at the parasite's cot. He laid a hand on her forehead, touched her cheek lightly.

"There was a little morphine left," Doc explained calmly. "She was in pain, and I didn't want to hurt her checking her out." He was in the process of taping up the rib that Kyle had possibly broken.

Ian looked at his brother, his fury still evident in his expression. "Is he still out?"

"He actually woke up, but Jared gave it to him," Jeb answered. He had gone to stand next to Kyle, carrying his gun over his shoulder. He shot me an amused glance.

"He's got to leave," Ian growled. "He can't stay here."

"That's not up to you," Jeb reminded him. "We'll hold a tribunal. We'll decide then."

"I don't mean all that," Ian said irritably. "Here. In the hospital, with her. Although I'd really like to see him kicked out for good."

"I need them to stay," Doc objected. "They're both hurt."

"Fine, then I'm staying here," Ian declared. "I'll keep her safe from him."

We had two unconscious bodies on our hands, one of which would kill the other when he woke up, and they had to stay in the same room. Keeping this situation peaceful would take careful attention.

I spoke up. "And I'll keep him away from her."

Ian's piercing gaze locked on me. I knew he was thinking about my drastic change in my attitude toward the parasite. How I was protecting it. How I'd just referred to it. How surprising that was to him.

Yes, for the time being, I was willing to give the alien the benefit of the doubt. Willing to keep Melanie safe from Kyle, at least.

I didn't like the parasite any more than Kyle did; I probably liked it even less than he did because it was in Melanie. But the thing had become so entangled in our lives here—in Jamie's life, in mine—that we couldn't just dispose of it. No, I didn't trust it, but we could keep it under control. It was alone.

The only reason I ever would have killed it would have been if it was a danger to us. But how could one parasite, even if it was trying to get us caught, be any harm to us, if we were keeping it prisoner? There was no real reason to kill it—that was the argument from my rational, practical side. My emotional side wanted to keep Melanie around.

Kyle wasn't rational at all. I knew he wasn't thinking about keeping us safe. He just wanted to kill Melanie's body because...he hated it. It was a parasite, and that was enough for him. It was his scapegoat.

I supposed that was the difference between Kyle and me. He was motivated by blind hatred; I used my head. Now he and I, though we'd been briefly allied against the parasite, were on opposite ends of the spectrum again: He wanted it dead, and I, along with Ian, wanted her safe.

Ian.

What was I going to do about him?

If I used my head, Ian was using his heart. Too much of it. I could tell that he was...feeling something for the parasite. More than a protective instinct. Something like...attraction. Which I wouldn't care about, except the parasite was in Mel's body. Mel. Melanie was my partner. Even if Ian and...Wanda liked each other, that was Mel's body. I knew she wouldn't want her body—herself—to be subjected to someone else's romantic exploits.

As my thoughts took that troubled turn, Ian settled himself on the floor by the cot on which Melanie's body rested. He crossed his legs, seeming ready for a long wait.

I moved closer to Kyle's cot, where I noticed that his eye was swelling up. I supposed I had done that, punching him. But I couldn't find it in myself to feel sorry. This was Kyle, after all.

He groaned then, moving slowly to feel his face. "I'm gonna kill Jared," he grumbled, starting to sit up. I had to hold back my laughter. I didn't care that he was angry with me. I didn't care so much, his anger was comical now.

"Uh-uh," Jeb said quietly but firmly. He laid a hand lightly on Kyle's shoulder, pressing him back on the cot. "You hit your head pretty hard."

"Where...where's the parasite?"

He still wanted to know where it was. Would he try to kill her if he saw her? I stepped even closer to him, blocking the parasite, lying prone on its own cot, from his view. "What do you remember?"

Kyle looked up at me, his face twisting into an angry snarl. "Why'd you hit me, man?"

"Why'd you try to kill it?" I demanded.

"Because—" he started to say, more loudly, but Jeb cut him off.

"This ain't the time. Kyle, there's gonna be a tribunal. You will have to answer for what you did."

His face settled into a resigned scowl. "Fine." At least he wasn't denying what he'd done. Tried to do.

"You'll stay in here for the time being," Jeb went on. "I guess you can't be trusted to obey the rules."

Kyle's gaze swept the room. In spite of my efforts to obstruct her from him, he saw the parasite anyway. "In here? With it?!"

"She did save your life, you know," Ian said from his position on the floor, never looking his brother. "It's you who doesn't deserve to be near her."

"Wh—what?" Kyle stuttered, his eyes shooting back to the parasite. "It—what?"

"You were falling through the floor, and she held you up," Ian said. His voice sounded like his jaw was clenched. "So keep your mouth shut."

Kyle mouthed soundlessly, trying to process this revelation. He settled himself back on the cot, putting one hand to the back of his head with a grimace. "Ow."

Doc came over, shone a light in Kyle's eyes again. "I'm sorry your head hurts, but there's not much I can do." His tone was curt, dismissive. He was angry at Kyle, too.

Jeb took a few steps back from the cot and spoke to me in a low voice. "Think you boys can handle him?" He motioned with his head toward Kyle. "I need to get a couple of boys to dig a grave."

"Yeah," I assured him. Kyle was too out of it to make much of an effort to kill Mel's body, and Ian, Doc, and I could handle him if he did try anything. He was still lying face up on the cot, his expression one of incredulity. Ian's statement must have been a bombshell for him. I imagined he was calculating whether that was true or not. That the parasite had saved his life.

"All right, then. See you," Jeb said easily. He strode out of the hospital to round up a crew of diggers. Of course, they wouldn't be going outside until it was dark. They wouldn't bury Walter until nighttime.

Of course, that meant Kyle's trial would have to wait until after the funeral. People here could only deal with one thing at a time. Not a death and a murder attempt.

And that meant I'd have to stay here all day. Babysitting Kyle. Watching out for the parasite.

Guard duty again. Great.

...

I settled back in the old routine with more ease than I expected. It wasn't as hard as last time—my prisoner didn't torture me. Of course, Melanie's body was still here, with a parasite inside of it, but I ignored it as best I could.

Ian remained in the hospital all day, keeping close to the parasite, only getting up to eat the food Jamie brought. Jamie himself looked heartbroken at the sight of Melanie's body unconscious on the cot. I knew his concern wasn't just for Melanie, though—he also loved the parasite.

I didn't. I didn't know what to think of it. Since the beginning, I'd had an extremely cynical opinion of the alien in Melanie's body. Always looking for a reason to distrust it. But its actions now unnerved me. Its kindness was...disturbing. Disturbing for a parasite.

I didn't want to think about it. What it had done. What body it was in. I stayed away from it, closer to Kyle, just near enough to keep him aware of my presence. The big man didn't move much all day, seemed to have too little energy to do anything but eat his food. He spoke little to me, and I to him.

My gaze kept drifting back toward the parasite. My thoughts on it were tangled. Where did its loyalties lie?

An infiltrator would be using this situation to its advantage. If someone had made an attempt on its life, a spy would be demanding that the murderer leave, be killed, asserting that it belonged here more than him.

But the little the parasite had said about Kyle's attempt on her life indicated that that wasn't the case. Its altruism moved it to protect Kyle; despite all the evidence to the contrary, it was pretending Kyle hadn't tried to kill it.

What did that mean? What was it doing?

Maybe it was saving its accusations for the tribunal. Maybe tomorrow, whenever the trial was, it would tell the truth. Maybe even appeal for Kyle's expulsion. Therefore making a claim to belonging here. Maybe then I could get a glimpse of her true motivations.

Whatever happened with the parasite and Kyle could keep for the night, though. As the sky darkened, several of us slipped outside to dig a grave for Walter, including Kyle, Ian, and myself. Kyle still had a headache, but Jeb made him go outside and work; for the moment, he was still one of us. I was just glad to get out of the hospital for at least a little while.

I was tired of thinking about Kyle. I was angry at him, for disobeying Jeb, for not being able to think clearly, for trying to kill the love of my life. Like with the ordeal with the parasite before, I was just ready to get the whole thing over with, however the tribunal even turned out.

Ian's manner was cold toward his brother as we worked, and I knew at the tribunal he was going to ask for Kyle to leave.

Maybe I agreed with him.

As we worked on the grave with Brandt, he gave us some chilling news: A police car—a Seeker—had been driving up and down the road all yesterday. The parasite driving had stopped and gotten out a few times, and it had been the Seeker in black. The one looking for Melanie's body. She had also been the one flying in the helicopter, and though she had given up air patrols, she certainly hadn't given up her search.

Her presence disturbed us, but she didn't seem to have any more of an idea of where to find us. She was just chasing fantasies for now.

It was around midnight when the grave was ready. Everyone woke up and made their way outside, gray-faced and somber.

Doc and I brought Walter out on a stretcher. Ian had his hands full with someone else.

The majority of the caves was opposed to letting the parasite outside. Except perhaps Jamie or Ian, no one trusted it fully, and no one wanted it let out of the caves. However, it was still knocked out from morphine, and Doc had a small bit left. He promised that he'd let her wake up for the funeral, then put her back under to bring her inside. She would be a part of Walt's memorial, but the secret of the caves would be protected.

Ian carried her out and let her rest on a mat while the rest of us milled around the grave. Everyone wanted to get this over with, to get back inside our little haven, but we were unsure of what to do.

This was the first time since I'd come here that we'd lost a human from the caves, and the first time at all that they had a body to bury. The others they'd lost had made the ultimate sacrifice on the outside to protect us.

So the concept of a funeral was a bit foreign here.

After Walter's body was lowered into the grave, Jeb took a handful of dirt from our mound and strode to the edge of the hole. He spoke in a low voice that carried to everyone. "Walter was the strongest person here. He didn't let anything beat him, not the invasion, or losing his wife, or even cancer. He died undefeated." Jeb released the fistful of desert sand, letting it trickle down into the grave.

Slowly, everyone followed suit. One by one each human stepped forward, scooping up a handful of sand, and murmured something they admired or would miss about Walter. Some praised his infectious energy, his constant cheerfulness. Others voiced their respect for his resilience, his selflessness, his understanding. Everyone had a good word for him.

Jamie, next to me, hung back from the group, his head frequently turning away from the grave to the smaller knot of people several yards away.

The parasite wasn't awake yet. Ian was leaned over its still form, glancing anxiously at us as we moved down the line of people. If it didn't wake up soon, we'd be done and it would miss the whole thing.

But as Lily stepped forward to say her piece, I saw Jeb walk toward it out of the corner of my eye. "She comin' around?" he inquired, not loudly enough to disrupt us.

Jamie gasped and darted away from me, ran toward the parasite. "Wanda?" he called.

I gritted my teeth. Wanda. What would have happened if she had seen the Seeker driving on the highway? Yes, she seemed to like Jamie, but really, what else was to stop her from seizing her freedom? Surely she didn't like being our prisoner.

Wes stepped up after Lily. He was always hanging around her, I'd noticed. Sometimes I caught him staring at her with almost a look of...longing. Somewhat akin to what I must have looked like when I looked at Melanie's body.

"Walt was always there for everybody. Everyone was his friend."

Trudy was next. "Walter always saw the bright side of things. He could see the bright side of a black hole. I'll miss that."

Geoffrey. "He'll find his Gladys now. He's happier where he is."

I heard quiet footsteps on the sand beside me. I didn't turn to look at who I knew it was, but instead concentrated on Kyle. He stepped up to the edge of the hole and said roughly, "Walter died human. None of us can ask for more than that."

Of course he'd be the one to say that.

It was my turn. I tried to think of the most sincere words I could. "Walter was...good, through and through. Not one of us is his equal."

I dropped my handful of dirt into Walter's grave and stepped backwards.

Jamie had come back to the circle of humans. He was moving past me, ready to speak. I clapped him on the shoulder companionably.

"Walter was brave," Jamie began. "He wasn't afraid to die, he wasn't afraid to live, and...he wasn't afraid to believe." He turned and looked past me, at the body I knew was behind me, at the person I didn't want to see. "He made his own decisions, and he made good ones." Jamie threw his dirt down into the hole.

I knew what the kid was saying. I remembered the night I'd come home from the raid, the first time I'd seen the parasite with everyone. Walter had been one of the few who was able to look us, the raiders, in the eye. One of the only humans to not feel ashamed for consorting with the enemy. Jamie was expressing his respect for that.

Andy, on the other side of the grave, picked up one of the shovels, ready to fill the hole back in.

"Wait. Wanda and Ian haven't said anything," Jamie protested.

Heads shot to our end of the line, at the parasite standing only a few feet from me. Well, Ian was carrying it. It couldn't walk still.

Several voices mumbled mutinously—they didn't want the parasite to be a part of this. Kyle didn't say anything, but I heard his teeth grind.

I wasn't sure how I felt.

"Let's have some respect," Jeb said, his voice authoritative. He was so...bossy when it came to Melanie's body. So insistent that it be accepted. It bugged me, for more reasons than one. But, as always when Jeb gave orders, the dissent died down.

"Ian, help me get some sand," the parasite whispered.

Still cradling her gently, Ian knelt on the ground and picked up a handful of dirt. Once the parasite had some too, he straightened up and took his place at the edge of the grave. "Walter was the best and brightest of what was human." He dropped his handful and looked expectantly down at the body in his arms.

Everyone was quiet now. They all wanted to know what the parasite would say. I waited, quite curious myself.

It spoke in a whisper. "There was no hatred in your heart." Speaking directly to Walter. "That you existed is proof that we were wrong. We had no right to take your world from you, Walter. I hope your fairytales are true. I hope you find your Gladdie."

The hiss of the last handful of sand was loud in our silence. We were all still.

Her words were very unexpected.

Andy broke the tension quickly. He strode forward purposefully, scooping piles of earth into the grave with his shovel. Aaron quickly followed suit. People slowly drifted into small groups, breaking up the formal meeting.

What had the parasite just said? We had no right to take your world from you? What did those quiet words mean?

Had she just...apologized for being a parasite?

Ian carried her away, back to the mat she had been resting on, Doc on his heels. I knew from the glances people were throwing her way that everyone was skittish about her still. They were waiting until she was unconscious to head back inside.

"That was deep," Kyle said in a hard, muted voice. He stepped closer to me, still squinting through his swollen right eye. "Wonder how long it took it to come up with that."

I didn't answer him. Did everyone else think those words were...made up? An imposture? Was it just because I'd seen how the parasite had acted toward Walter? Was that why I...I thought it was sincere?

I thought it was being sincere.

I pondered this for a minute.

Ian stood up again, hoisting Melanie's limp body back into his arms. She was out again.

As everyone began making their way back inside, Doc came over to Kyle and me. "Go on in and get some sleep. Jeb's arranged for the tribunal to be at first light."

"All right," Kyle grunted. His face was very deliberately blank and hard. I could tell he was nervous about this. He obviously hadn't expected to get caught in his murder attempt.

This was so twisted. Kyle had tried to kill a parasite, an alien, the very reason we were in hiding, and he was getting in trouble for it. Might even be punished. Sentenced to death by banishment.

Was this alien's life worth more than Kyle's?


That's it for now. Thanks for taking the time to read and, if you've reviewed, thanks very much for that too!

I think I'm past the hardest part. I hope. I will try to update soon!

Thank you for reading KylerM.