Xander Harris was trapped in the back of his own mind. He knew it and it terrified him. He could hear his own voice saying things. See his own hands moving, but he wasn't the one saying things or doing things. Like last night when he got home. When Tony Harris, once again drunk, took a swing at him. The Hyena, as Xander was thinking of it, didn't react well to that. Tony Harris had found himself slammed head first into a wall.

"Listen, you piece of shit." He heard his own voice say. "You ever go for either me or Jessica again and I'll break you apart, you understand me?" He had growled at Tony. Tony had been terrified, as terrified as Xander was. Although, Xander also felt some satisfaction, after all the old bastard had made him and Jessica, Xander's mother, feel helpless many times.

And now he was at school, hanging out with Tor and Heidi and Rhonda and Kyle instead of Willow, his best friend and Buffy, the girl he had a crush on. The girl who liked a vampire. 'Why? They were monsters.' He thought, trying to distract himself from the fear he was feeling. The fear that he'd be locked away like this forever and the Hyena would be in charge, running his body. 'Vampires are dangerous, monsters. All of them! She couldn't like dangerous men or worse, monsters, could she?'

'Oh, it's Willow. Good, Willow will know something is wrong. Wait, what did he just say?!' as he heard himself tell Willow she was pasty faced and other mean things. 'Willow, don't believe him! It's not me! You have to know, it's not me!' When Buffy confronted him after slamming her locker door, he'd felt a spark interest. 'Wait, that wasn't me!.' He thought. 'The Hyena! Why is it interested in Buffy? This isn't good! Hey, you! Hyena! You listen to me, you stay away from them both! I'm talking to you!'

'Oh, gods it's eating a raw pig. I think I'm going to be sick. It tastes good, gods, how can it taste good? What if I get sick? You ever think of that Hyena? Humans aren't supposed to eat pig raw! Hey, I told you to leave Buffy alone!' Xander's terror sparked even higher as he listened to the Hyena talking to her. 'Oh, gods. It must have heard what I was thinking earlier about Buffy liking dangerous men! It understood me! Hey, Hyena! I'm talking to you! Leave her alone!' Xander mentally screamed at it. 'Why isn't it listening?'

And then he'd heard another voice in his head. 'Hear me. You're not alone. Let me help you. Let me in.'

'Was the Hyena talking to him? Why would it want to help him? It was taking over his life! Controlling his body! It was being mean to Willow and was attacking Buffy! None of that was helpful!' And then Buffy hit him with a desk and he didn't know anymore until he came to in the book cage and the Hyena was trying to talk to Willow.

'Willow, stay away from him!' Xander thought. 'Don't you understand? It's not me! It'll hurt you! Gods, Willow that was so stupid! What are you trying to prove? Telling it you know me won't do any good, it doesn't care, it just wants to lure you in. And you don't know me as well as you think you do.'

Then Tor and the others had broken into the library and chased Willow away and broken him out of the book cage. The Hyena was hungry again, that pig shared five ways hadn't been very filling. 'Oh, gods!' Xander that, now beyond terror into horror. 'People! It's going after people! A kid! Where's Buffy? Buffy can stop it! Kill me, please Buffy, before I hurt anyone! Why is she taunting the Hyena? Does she want it to chase her or something? Oh, she does, she must have a plan.'

The five possessed kids chased Buffy all the way to the zoo. 'The zoo.' Xander thought. 'That's where it started, the zoo. Something there caused this and that's why she's leading us back there. Don't let the Hyena know you figured it out, dumbass. Distract it, yeah. How? It doesn't listen to me unless it wants to and I can't move, if I could I'd beat the shit out of this thing myself. Wait, that's the zookeeper! Why is he dressed like that? Willow! He's got a knife! He did this! You better pray I don't get my hands on you, you son of a bitch!' Xander howled. 'Don't you dare hurt her! Hey, Hyena! Him, you can kill!'

And then the zookeeper said something in a weird language and the Hyena was gone and Xander was back in charge of his own mind and body. The zookeeper tried to bite Willow and Buffy tossed him into the hyena pit. 'Good.' Xander thought. 'People got hurt and could have died because of him. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life and gods know, I've been scared plenty. Bury it, push it down. Don't think about it. It's over.'