Hi Everyone!! Thanks so much for the reviews Hikari-Kayko, LoveXdarling, and minimonkeyrox!!! you guys are awesome!!!! And to those of you who have my story on your alert list but havent commented, please do so! Well here's the next chapter I hope you all enjoy! I'm hoping to get another chapter out before tuesday, but if that doesnt happen there will be an extra long if not 2 chapters on Sunday the 30th! Happy holidays people!

Realizations

I could hear far away voices as they filled the room around me. I recognized the hush whispers as Mel and Ian's voices.

"Ian this is bad." Mel said.

"I still don't understand what you mean."

"I don't even understand what I mean." Mel sighed.

"There has to be some sort of mistake. You might have heard wrong." Ian sounded frantic, on the verge of a breakdown.

"Ian, I know what I heard. Believe me I don't like the sounds of it anymore that you do. Jeb and Jared went out to check on damage control to see if anything happened in town since yesterday. They'll come back with some answers. They have to." Mel assured him.

"Fine." I heard Ian come back into the room. He stood there for a moment. I could feel his gaze on me even though my eyes were still closed. I felt the bed shift under his weight as he sat down.

"Wanda?" He whispered.

"Hum?"

"What did he say?"

"What do you mean?"

"The man, the soul, the one who grabbed you. What did he say?" Ian asked. I kept my back to him. The words flooding into my mind and bringing reality back into my mind.

"What are you doing here still?!" the man yelled at me.

I stared at him in shock. Not only was the man a host, but he was yelling and physically grabbing me.

"Let go of me!" I panicked.

"It's not safe for us anymore." He stammered. "The bodies are rejecting us. There is no cure. We have to go while we still can!" he dragged me farther away.

"There's something wrong with the souls in the host bodies. I don't know what though. He said something about being rejected. He asked me what I was still doing here, like they were evacuating or something." I told him, still facing the wall. "He looked so scared. He grabbed me, and I didn't know what to think. I couldn't believe another soul was using force. It wasn't normal. Then…" my voice broke. I felt Ian's hand on my shoulder. He gently pulled me around to face him.

"Then what?" He whispered.

"Then I yelled. I was scared so I yelled for Mel and then all of a sudden there was this loud bang and it was like the world just stopped. We fell to the ground and I couldn't breath, couldn't think. Mel came running over and on the way back here it was like I blanked out. When we got here I opened the door and I went to get out, I needed to get out. But my legs wouldn't work and I just fell. Then I heard you and I was so relieved."

"I'll always be here for you, no matter what. Jared and Jeb are out. They went to find some answers."

We just laid there, thinking over the words to ourselves. Neither quite sure what to say.

"Guys?"

"Come in Jamie." Ian said. I watched as Jamie came into the room. He looked pale and tired.

"There back." He barely said. I could tell right away he was shaken up. I felt Ian stiffen beside me. My heart began to race.

"Come on." Ian got off the bed and held out his hand for mine. I followed silently behind him and Jamie down the corridor. It was quiet, again to quiet…

I could hear the voices as we approached the game room. Everyone was present as we walked into the open room. I felt everyone's eyes turn to us and the voices faded. Once again I felt like an outcast. But the grip of Ian's hand reassured my heart yet again of everyone's love.

"What did you figure out?" Ian asked with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"You might want sit down." Jared answered. His face was blank. There was no hint as to what they had found.

I knew it must have been true then.

"Just say it Howe." Ian simple stated, leaving no room for delay.

"All of the towns around here are deserted. We turned on one of the televisions at an abandoned house and apparently there's some sort of… I don't even know what to call it." He ran his hands through his now shaggy brown hair.

"It's like a disease." Jeb jumped into the conversation. "It's infecting all of the souls in this area and the bodies are rejecting the souls. We don't know how but if I had to guess it would be painful." He looked me in the eyes. I looked down at the floor, not sure what to do with myself.

"They think it might be man made. Something that's distributed in the air in clusters." Jared added.

"The only other people who have been around this part are Nate and his group. But they wouldn't do anything like this. They have Burns." Melanie said. I watched as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, her body swaying back and forth ever so slightly with nervousness.

"Well we have to something." Kyle said from beside Doc. Sunny was pulled closely to his side, her eyes wide with confusion. We looked at each other. Neither sure of what to say.

"Like what!" Ian snapped.

"Get them out of here. If it's happening here then they obviously shouldn't be here. We need to get them in the clear." Kyle shot back.

"Where will we go?" I asked. Ian looked down at me and pulled me tighter. Everyone just stood there.

"We'll take them to Nate's. They'll be safer in the mountains." Mel broke the silence.

"I don't know Mel. Maybe we should all stay here. Nothings happened here." I added. The thought of leaving made me feel faint. The panic in my body made it self known as my body began to tremble. It's been so long and I still have no control over my emotions.

"There's no need to be hasty people." Jeb tried to calm the rising panic.

"But Jeb, this might be the only answer! We can't wait until it's too late!" Mel yelled.

"Mel," Jeb hushed her. "We don't know what going on yet. Give us time to put something together." Jeb sat on the grass. Everyone followed his example. Ian pulled me onto his lap and I just listened…

Two hours passed before the clan came to a decision and decided it would be for the best if we went to fond Nate's group. The whole time I just sat there and watched as the people around me decided the fate that Sunny and I were obligated to follow.

"Wanda," Jeb turned to me as everyone began to rise and make their way to their rooms.

"Yeah?" I half yawned.

"I want to talk to you alone for a moment please."

"I'll wait for you in the hall." Ian promised. Jeb waited until everyone was gone from the room before turning to me.

"I don't want Ian to hear this cause I know he would freak out. But I wanted to ask you if you've been feeling okay?" he looked me dead in the eye. "You know, since the raid and everything. I think there's a really good possibility that you were exposed to whatever it is that's out there."

"I… I don't really know. I've been really tied but that's normal for me." I honestly answered him. I thought back to the headaches that have been becoming a daily thing. But those had started before the raid.

"Are you sure?" He kept his eyes intense as if waiting for any sign of me lying. Not that I was any good at it anyways. I nodded my head.

"Okay," he sighed and looked at the entrance of the room, "Ian must be pacing by now. Go get some rest. It'll be early when you all leave in the morning." He half hugged me and walked away in the opposite direction. I stood there for a moment, soaking in the information that had all been thrown on me over the last 48 hours. There was god knows what going around, doing horrible things to the host, driving them insane within themselves.

That's when it hit me that we were actually leaving. A small group of us is leaving our home. Mel, Jared, Sunny, Kyle, Ian and myself, just picking up first thing in the morning to go out into the open and find a possible answer about the lives that faced us now.

I looked around the field one more time, thinking back to all the soccer games that have gone on in this simple room. Those were the wonderful times that everyone was able to just get together and forget the world that they hid from. During that time they were untouchable. I would miss this field, I just hoped that I would be able to see it again one day.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! thanx! ~mcena