"This time we're headed for San Diego."

After Kyle left, I went to Jared's room to tell him the news. Maybe he needed this trip to get Melanie off his mind.

Chapter 2:

JPOV

Another raid to get my mind off of Melanie, I thought idly. The best part about the raids is the intense concentration necessary to successfully collect all the necessities without the parasites realizing it. Not to sound like I have a big ego, but ever since I came, it has been easy to go on raids. Kyle sometimes felt too comfortable and almost gave it away that we are still human. He's too careless. Ian, however, was so careful that he was able to drive among the parasites without drawing too much attention.

Just in case, we all had scars on our necks. Mine hadn't been as good as I had originally thought it was so Doc helped to make it look more believable. Hurt like hell but will come in handy one day.

Ian and I decided to scour a part of San Diego to decide our next move. It was a nice and sunny day with a light breeze. I was thankful for being away from the blistering heat of the desert that I had not yet grown accustomed to. We boldly drove through town. Ian was driving while I looked around.

When he stopped at a red light I saw a girl walk by. She looked right at me for a second before Ian took off. The girl I saw was the same girl whose face has been stuck in my head since the day I met her. It was Melanie.

WPOV

This planet was perhaps the most difficult yet wonderful world I have been to. The emotions, the scents, the senses all are invigorating and almost all are very enjoyable. However, some of the emotions are hard to deal with. Love, for example. The love that Melanie felt for Jared and Jamie is so deep that it physically hurts me when I think about them. I wish she would just give up already because I was not sure how much of this pain I could take.

I tried to get my mind off of these emotions as I walked to work today. I was just thinking about which world I would talk about during my lecture when I turned and looked into the car. Either my imagination was out of control or I just saw the face Melanie accidentally let me see that first day that I was put in this body. Jared.

I looked again at the car only to see it going through the intersection and speeding away. Shaking my head, I resisted the urge to run after the car and continued to walk. I don't remember what my lesson was about and I don't remember walking home. Jared's face plagued my mind and there was no way to escape the longing I felt. I finally went to bed in an attempt to escape my mind. As I fell into unconsciousness, I knew there was no escape for his face would soon appear in my dreams as well.

IPOV

"Melanie!" I turned to look at Jared only to see him straining his neck to see something we just passed. "There's Melanie!"

I sat there in shock before responding.

"What are you talking about? Melanie's gone."



"It was MELANIE! I would know her anywhere!"

I finally decided to listen and parked around the corner. We got out and hid behind the building looking in the direction he saw her.

"There!" he whispered. I looked to where he pointed and saw a beautiful girl. She had sun-brown skin, almond-shaped hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and dark hair. She looked lost in thought. Almost as though something was bothering her and she couldn't figure out what to do about it.

I looked at Jared and saw the pain in his eyes as realization that it wasn't the Melanie he had known. This Melanie had a parasite within her and no longer had control over her own body. But suddenly, his look of pain became a look of determination.

"We have to follow her."

"What?" He was insane. We couldn't follow her. She wasn't Melanie and could never be Melanie again. Following her would be more painful than if he had never seen her again. She would be better off dead than to be what she was at that moment.

"Ian, I can't let this go. I have to know that Melanie has completely faded away. What if she's still in the body? What if I can save her? I promised to take care of her and Jamie! I can't leave without knowing!"

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I thought about what we would be doing. Even if we did follow her, she might catch a glimpse of us and recognize Jared. For all we know, she could be a seeker. I told him this.

"Then you can do it for me! Ian, she doesn't know you. You could find out about her while I take the others on the raid to distract them. They can't know about it anyway. You know Kyle would overreact and probably get us caught if he knew about it. Please, Ian." He looked at me with a pained expression. His eyes begging, "Please."

"This isn't going to end well. I don't even know if I can act like the parasites well enough to convince them."

"Come on, you are the best because you're the calmest out of all of us and we've watched enough of their ridiculous tv."

I sighed.

"What are we going to do about Kyle and the rest of them?"

AN: Okay. I know I'm not really the best writer. I just wanted to try. So any constructive criticism would be welcome. Please keep it nice though because I'm really trying.