Stephenie Meyer owns The Host.

A big thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I got more reviews for chapter ten than I have for any other chapter so far.

So, I was wondering, who do you guys want to play Ian and Jared and everyone in The Host movie? My dream cast would be Ian Somerhalder (he is so perfect with his blue eyes) as Ian. Jensen Ackles is Jared. He would be the best because he would make Jared so much more lovable. Personally, I like Megan Fox as Melanie (because she's got the perfect attitude for the part) but she might not be able to pull off Wanda, so I'm not sure who I would want. Kyle ??? I have no idea about him. But for Sunny, I say Rachel Bilson would be amazing.

Well, anyway, let me know what you guys think.

Blurring The Lines

Chapter 11

The next morning, Wanda and I were supposed to be clearing the cornfield, but when I went to the hospital to get her, Walter woke up. He recognized her... at first.

Walt was in a lot of pain so Doc gave him some more brandy. It knocked him right out, but that might have been the pain more than the alcohol. We were about to leave when Walter started calling for Gladys again. I knew better than to try to convince Wanda to leave him, so instead I shrugged and promised to bring back breakfast for her and Doc.

Wanda needed a break from Walter, she had spent the whole night there with him. But she knew how little time he had left, and if Wanda thought she was comforting him by being there, then she'd stay, no matter what. I knew that, so I was going to stay with her. If she was going to sit there with Walter, listening to his cries of pain, then I was too. She needed company, she needed someone to lighten the situation a little. When I reached the entrance to the main plaza, though, all of my plans were thrown out the window.

Jeb was walking toward the entrance of the caves... with Kyle. When they saw me they stopped.

"Ian, go help Aaron and Brandt get things packed up." Jeb said.

"What? What's going on? What happened?" I asked, looking back and forth between their faces. They looked... anxious, well, Kyle did anyway. Jeb just looked a little more serious than normal.

"Nothing." Jeb assured me. "Just a precaution. Now, get going. Those boys will be needin' some help."

I looked at Kyle one more time. He just nodded his head in the direction of the storage cave. I knew that if something was wrong Kyle would tell me, so I walked off without another word.

If there was one thing I knew, it was that Kyle would never lie to me about something important. He may be an ignorant jackass, but he wasn't a liar. His opinion of Wanda was just proof of that.

Kyle hated Wanda, and I was mad at him because of it, but I knew the real reason behind his hatred. He didn't trust her and he didn't want me to get hurt. Of course he was concerned with the safety of everyone else here in the caves―over the years they had become like family―but when we were on the run, Kyle had done everything that was in his ability to keep me safe. Kyle was the only one I had left and I was the only one he had. He hated Wanda because he thought she would eventually hurt us, get us all killed. I understood why he felt the way he did, but I still didn't agree with it.

When I reached the storage area Aaron explained what was going on while we packed everything up. Apparently, the Seeker―the one that was looking for Wanda―was flying around out in the desert in a helicopter. She was looking for us, or Wanda actually, but still...

After about half an hour or so, Kyle and Jeb showed up to help us pack. There wasn't much left by then, just the rest of the water―there was another cave system we could stay in, but it didn't have water, so we had to bring enough to last for a while―and some blankets to sleep on. If we did have to evacuate, we'd only be able to last a few days before we'd have to make a raid―there was no way to bring all of the food with us.

Shortly after Kyle showed up, Brandt left. I didn't really think much of it, until I went back to the hospital with breakfast and lunch for Wanda and Doc.

When I saw Brandt sitting in the corner eyeballing Wanda, I almost lost it. I was glaring at him while he tried to explain what he was doing, why he was there. My idiot brother got it in his head that Wanda was going to try and signal the Seeker. Then he sent Brandt down here to secure her. I purposefully sat on cot in between him and Wanda. I didn't want him staring at her. She shouldn't have to feel his accusing glare on the back of her head.

When Jamie came by with dinner for all of us, Wanda made me take him back to the kitchen. Walter had gotten worse. Doc ran out of brandy around noon, so since then Walt had been moaning in pain. Doc was taking it really hard. He looked in almost as much pain as Walter. Jared had gone out on a raid to find Walter some medicine. Just anything to ease the pain, but we had our doubts to whether or not he'd be able to find anything.

After dinner I took Jamie back to his room. I had promised Wanda I'd stay with him all night to make sure he didn't try to go back to the hospital. I didn't really want him there either. It was bad enough Wanda wanted to stay, Jamie didn't need to witness Walt's last few, painful hours. I didn't really want to leave Wanda in the hospital with Brandt, but Doc had insisted he'd keep an eye on her.

I fell asleep that night in Jared and Jamie's room, thinking about how odd this whole situation was. Somehow I had developed feeling for Wanda. I liked her, I thought she was an amazing human being. Only problem was, she wasn't a human being. And she was living inside the body of my friend's girlfriend. I knew I should be totally creeped out just thinking about that, but I wasn't. I really didn't care that Wanda wasn't human. Wanda was like... well, sort of like a mind that didn't have a body. Just a personality. A personality that I liked. A lot. A liked talking to her and being around her. She was nice and funny and, yes, her body was beautiful, but would I be attracted to it without Wanda? If it had been Melanie, just Melanie, in the desert that day, would I feel the same way now?

No.

I didn't know Melanie, and even if I did I don't think I would feel this way. If I knew Melanie now, I'd just be comparing her to Wanda. Thinking of the way Wanda walks, the way she smiles, the way her she says my name. Not the way her voice sounds when she says it, but the way she pronounces it. It just sounds better than when other people say it.

No. I was beginning to really like Wanda, not Melanie. If I wasn't careful I was going to fall in love with this girl. No, not a girl, an alien, a... parasite. Not a parasite. A beautiful, loving girl, that lived as a human now. That was all that mattered, right? She was in a human body, so she was human.

***********************************************

I woke up completely confused. I didn't know where I was or what time it was. Then I heard it. The most horrifying scream ever.

Wanda. I immediately remembered everything. Wanda was alone... in the hospital. But the sound I heard wasn't coming from the hospital, I wouldn't have been able to hear it in my room. No, not my room, Jared's.

I jumped up from the bed and ran down the hall, only stopping long enough to kick in the red door of my room and see that Kyle wasn't there. I was going to kill him if he hurt her. But he wasn't trying to hurt her, he wanted to... to kill her. He was killing her.

I kept running. I ran all the way to Jeb's room. I needed the gun. Jeb must have been asleep, but he was a light sleeper. Probably, he heard me coming because he was awake by the time I reached his door.

"It's Wanda," I yelled. "She screamed. I need the gun, Jeb. Kyle's not in our room, I need the gun."

Horror flashed in his eyes and he grabbed the gun from it's spot on the floor next to his mattress. I grabbed it from him and took off running again. I think he wanted to come too, but I was faster, I could get there quicker. Only where was there?

Where was she?

"No!" I heard the horrible shrieking again. It was Wanda and I think it was coming from the river room.

I had been standing in the main plaza, but now I was sprinting down the tunnel to the river room. I was so afraid I wasn't going to be able to find her after that first scream, but now she was yelling again. I knew where she was.

"Help me! Somebody! Help!"

I ran as fast as I could. Whatever Kyle was doing, Wanda was still alive.

"Wanda? Wanda!" I yelled.

"Help me! Kyle! The floor! Help!"

"Wanda! Where are you?"

I burst through into the river room. I was ready for the worst. I knew that I'd have to get Kyle away from Wanda by threatening him with the gun. But what if he didn't think I'd do it? What if he didn't listen, didn't stop? I figured I could shoot him if I had to, I could hit him in the leg. He'd be fine, a bullet in the leg wouldn't kill him. But I'd only do it if I had to.

"Watch out!" she screamed at me. "The floor is breaking up! I can't hold him much longer!"

It was early, but the sky was bright enough to see what was going on. Wanda was on the floor, her arms and legs locked around a stone pillar next to a hole in the ground. A hole that had not been there before. And on the other side of the pillar, dipping down into the hole, was Kyle.

The floor had cracked by the river, it had broken and now Wanda was keeping Kyle's unconscious body from falling into the steaming hot water and being swept away. What had happened in here?

But I didn't have time for explanations. Kyle was falling. I threw the gun to the ground and took a step toward Wanda.

"Get down―disperse your weight!" she screamed.

I dropped to my hands and knees and made my way to her.

"Don't let go," I warned. I was trying to think of the best way to get Kyle from her. She must have been in agony trying to hold him up. He was probably twice her weight, and she didn't have the greatest hold on him.

I slid behind her and wrapped my arms around her, the pillar, and Kyle.

"One, two, three!" I grunted, pulling Kyle up higher on the rock. I had a better grip on him now, but I still needed to get him away from the hissing hot-spring.

"I'm going to pull him to this side. Can you squeeze out?" I asked Wanda, who was now squished in between me and the stone pillar.

"I'll try," she said.

She was able to slide out. Then she made her way back toward the door. When I looked back at the rock in front of me, it was stained red. Blood. She must have smashed her face again, or I smashed her face when I lifted Kyle up higher on the rock.

I dragged Kyle around the side of pillar. The floor started crumbling again, but only a little at the edge of the hole. Somehow I managed to get Kyle all the way into the hall. It took all the strength I had to haul my brother out of that room, and now I was collapsed in the hallway with my arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"What… the hell… happened?" I panted.

"Our weight… was too… much. Floor caved in." Wanda was gasping for breath also.

"What were you doing… by the edge? With Kyle?"

It didn't make any sense. Why, of all people, would she have been by the river with Kyle?

She put her head down on her knees and breathed.

In. Out. In. Out. Over and over again.

After a minute of deep breathing, I realized she wasn't going to answer my question.

"Wanda?" I wanted an answer, even if she didn't want to tell me.

"Nothing," she lied. She kept her head down and breathed in and out a few more times.

"You're a rotten liar. You know that, right?" I asked. "What did he do?"

"Nothing," she tried again. It sounded just as false as the first time.

I gently took her chin in my hand and looked at her carefully. "Your nose is bleeding." And then I twisted her head to the side. "And there's more blood in your hair."

"I―hit my head when the floor fell." Another lie.

"On both sides?"

She shrugged.

I couldn't figure out what she was doing. She had cuts and bruises all over, obviously Kyle had assaulted her. Why wouldn't she tell me?

"We should get Kyle to Doc―he really cracked his head when he went down," she said after a minute.

"Why are you protecting him? He tried to kill you." He had tried to kill her. By the river. The floor by the river fell in because the were both standing by the edge. Kyle tried to...

"He was going to throw you in the river.…" My whole body shook, with rage? Fear? Hatred? I don't know. I couldn't get the image out of my mind. Kyle standing by the bubbling whole in the ground watching Wanda being burned alive and then she would be gone. Swept away with the current. I wouldn't have ever known what happened to her. There wouldn't have been any evidence, nothing. The perfect murder. My brother had come up with the perfect murder.

I shoved Kyle away from me, hard. I hated him. I thought I understood what Kyle was thinking. I thought he was just being stupid and stubborn, trying to protect me. I never thought he'd actually...

I slid over to Wanda and wrapped my arms around her, holding her tightly to my chest. I had almost lost her today. If he had... If I didn't wake up... If the floor hadn't cracked...

"I should roll him right back in there and kick him over the edge myself," I mumbled.

She shook her head violently. Panicking. "No."

"Saves time. Jeb made the rules clear. You try to hurt someone here, there are penalties. There'll be a tribunal."

She tried to pull away from me then, but I just held her tighter to me. I couldn't let go. I was scared that I almost lost her. When I heard her scream before... I thought I might have been too late. What would I have done? How could my own brother try to kill the girl I...

I loved her.

"No. You can't do that, because no one broke the rules. The floor collapsed, that's all," she was pleading. She must have known I could hear the lie.

"Wanda ―" I began, roughly.

"He's your brother," was all she said.

"He knew what he was doing. He's my brother, yes, but he did what he did, and you are... you are…" ...everything. I love you. I'd kill anyone that tries to touch you because I'm completely in love with you. But instead I settled for, "my friend."

How could I tell her that I loved her? Would she understand? How was it even possible that I be in love with her? I'd known her for only a couple of months. I knew I liked her, knew I was attracted to her, knew I was on the verge of something... more. But now I was absolutely positive. I loved her. I was in love with Wanda.

"He did nothing. He is human," she whispered. "This is his place, not mine."

"We're not having this discussion again. Your definition of human is not the same as mine. To you, it means something… negative. To me, it's a compliment―and by my definition, you are and he isn't. Not after this," I growled.

"Human isn't a negative to me. I know you now. But Ian, he's your brother."

"A fact that shames me." She was hung up on Kyle being my brother. I didn't care that he was my brother. I hated that he was related to me. He was a murderer.

When she pushed away from me again, I let go. But only because she groaned in pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I think so. We need to find Doc, but I don't know if I can walk. I―I hit my leg, when I fell."

I growled at that. She was lying again, which meant Kyle had hurt her leg bad enough that she couldn't walk. Did he cripple her so that she couldn't escape? "Which leg? Let me see."

She tried to straighten her right leg out for me to see it, but she moaned again. Could she have broken it? I took her ankle in my hands, twisting it slowly, testing to see if it was broken. But that wasn't what was bothering her.

"Higher. Here." She grabbed my hands and pulled them to her thigh, right above her knee. Her leg was bruised, badly. She moaned again when I pressed on it. "It's not broken or anything, I don't think. Just really sore."

"Deep muscle bruise, at least," I muttered. "And how did this happen?"

"Must have… landed on a rock when I fell."

I sighed, giving up. She wasn't going to tell me the truth. For some reason she had it in her head that Kyle should be excused of his actions simply because he was human. I wasn't going to fight with her about it, but I certainly wasn't going to let Kyle go unpunished. "Okay, let's get you to Doc."

"Kyle needs him more than I do."

"I have to go find Doc anyway―or some help. I can't carry Kyle that far, but I can certainly carry you." Then I remembered the gun. I dropped it near the entrance to the river room. "Oops―hold on."

That would've been a great idea. Just leave the gun here with the murderer, I thought while I grabbed the gun and hurried back to Wanda.

"Lets go," I said, handing the rifle to her. She held it out away from her in her palms. She didn't close her fists around the barrel, she just let it sit there in her open hands, looking uncomfortable.

I had to laugh. "How anyone could be afraid of you…"

I quickly scooped her up into my arms and started walking for the hospital. She was hurting, trying to keep the sensitive bruises from touching anything, and I tried not to jostle her around too much.

"How'd your clothes get so wet?" I asked as we passed under a crack in the ceiling. I could see her face in the dim light and I smiled, but I don't think I looked very happy. I was picturing Wanda in the scalding hot river again.

"I don't know. Steam?" she said, unsure, as we passed back into the darkness.

"You're missing a shoe."

"Oh." She still wasn't going to talk to me.

As we passed through another beam of light, I looked into her eyes.

"I'm… very glad that you weren't hurt, Wanda. Hurt worse, I should say." Because she was hurt. Badly. Kyle had really messed her up. But she was alive. I hadn't lost her, she was safe in my arms and I wasn't going to let anyone hurt her ever again, because I couldn't handle losing her. I loved her.