THE HOST IAN'S POV

Chapter Seven, The Seeker in Black

In the next week or so, all of the seekers gave up. Except for one. This one was crazy! We went out watching them searching and this one was just completely over looked by the others.
It definitely didn't get to make any decisions, though the bugger voiced it's opinions loudly enough. They didn't argue back, though it sure argued with them.
After one got attacked by a coyote, all of the other ones assumed that's what happened to the one that was actually in here. Except this seeker. It's driving around looking still. She interogates the Picacho Peak convenience store owner often.
My stomach growls. I've been thinking about the seeker and the one in Melanie's body. The Seeker I hated, but I couldn't help myself worrying if the one I hurt was okay. I was so confused. I couldn't understand why she had jumped in front of Jared.
I walk to the kitchen and grab a few rolls. Though everyone thinks they aren't good, I actually like them better than some foods from the outside world. After I got done eating them, I knew what I had to do. To get it off my mind, I had to go see if she was okay.
I turn the corner and Jared jumps up.
"Easy. I come in peace." I raise my hands, though it's too dark for him to see.
"Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying." He said angrily. I knew Kyle had come in here once, so maybe he thought I was coming to fight or something.
I stepped forward.
"I just wanna talk. You're buried down here, missing the important discussions. We miss your take on things." There has been no important discussions, but I just made up something.
"I'm sure." He said sarcastically.
"Oh put the gun down. If I was planning to fight you, I would be brought four guys this time." He took a second to decide if he believed me.
"How's your brother these days?" He joked. I relaxed.
"He's still fuming about his nose. You know Kyle. He'll get over it. I'll tell him you said you're sorry."
"I'm not."
"I know. No-one is ever sorry for hitting Kyle." I laugh. Then I sit down beside him and he sits down too.
"So, what do you want Ian? Not just an apology for Kyle I imagine." I decide to tell him about the seeker. I still can't see her, and she isn't making any noise.
"They've given up the search. They never strayed from the roads too far, and they assumed she had gotten eaten by a coyote. So they packed up and left."
"So I guess that's the end of it."
"Not exactly. You see, there's this one seeker, and it packs a glock. Kyle was the first to notice how it stands out. It didn't seem important to the rest, certainly not part of the decision making process. Oh, it had suggestions enough from what we could see. Wish we could hear it. When they called off the search, this one wasn't pleasant like the others. It argued and yelled. The other seekers ignored it. They are all gone." I say. He immediately asks a question.
"What about the unhappy one?"
"It got in a car and started driving around. Even investigated the Pichaco Peak parasite again. Then it went hiking around looking for something. It was wearing black head to toe, must have been burning alive." I say. Then I hear her. She whimpers and scoots farther back in the hole.
"What was that?" I ask. Jared turns on the lantern and shines it in there. Her neck is still bruised. I want to say I'm sorry, but I know I can't.
"Look at its eyes. It's frightened." I say.
"Who is the seeker in black." Jared demands. She doesn't answer.
"I know you can talk. You talk to Jeb and Jamie." I knew Jeb had been down here. But Jamie? Why did they let Melanie's kid brother come down here? That would damage him!
"Who is the seeker in black? Why is it still searching?" He yells. She gets even more frightened, trying to scoot back farther from where Jared had moved near the separate hole. She hid behind her hands. She thought she was going to be hit? What had he done to her?
"Jared. Maybe you should let me-" I'm cut off.
"Stay out of it."
"Can't you see? It's too scared to talk. Leave it alone for a sec-" Jared pushes me away from the storage hole.
"What the fuck, Jared?" He ignores me.
"Who. Is. The. Seeker?" He sounds out each word to it. Silence.
"I don't want to hurt you." He lies. "But I want the answer to my question.
"My seeker." She said.
"What?" I asked.
"Assigned to me. Following me. She's the reason I ran away." I as shocked.
"You ran away from a seeker? But you're one of them!" I said.
"Why did it follow you?" Jared added.
"It wanted you and Jamie." She said.
"And you were trying to lead it here?" Jared asked.
"I didn't want to tell her. I don't like her." She says. She doesn't like the seeker? What? I thought they were supposed to like everyone.
"Don't you have to like everybody?" Jared voices my thought.
"We're supposed to." She looked down in shame. Was she different from them? Like the seeker? No, she wasn't rude that I could tell.
"Who did you tell about this place?" Jared asked.
"I couldn't. All I had was the lines on the album. I drew them for the seeker. But she didn't know what they were. She still thinks they are a road map." Was she talking about the album Jared and Jamie had found the caves with?
"What do you mean you didn't know what they were? You're here." Jared says.
"I was having trouble accessing the memories. By the time I found out what they were I didn't want to tell her." Okay, so this one was practically a traitor. Jared's face filled with anger.
"Were you able to access my cabin?" I knew Jared, Jamie, and Melanie had stayed in a cabin for a while in the desert before they came here. I think I know what happened with Jared and Melanie there, and I wouldn't want anybody to see that either.
"Not for a long time." She said.
"And then you told the seeker." He said.
"No." I guess she hid a lot of things from her seeker.
"Why didn't you want to tell her about the lines?" He got off the topic of his cabin. She shut her mouth. Did she care about him? Enough to go against her entire species? Wow.
"Why weren't you able to access the memories." He knew she wasn't going to answer the other question. It may have led to some personal things if she did anyway.
"Melanie jumped off an elevator shaft to get away form seekers. The body was damaged." The first part was true. Jared cringed thinking about Melanie jumping that far. But we knew they didn't use damaged hosts. And we could hear the lie. She wasn't very good at dishonesty.
"Why isn't this seeker giving up like the rest?" I ask. I want to leave her alone. She looks tired. But I need to know this first.
"I don't know. She's not like the other souls. She's annoying." Okay so now we confirmed even more that the seeker is a black sheep. Now what I really wanted to know.
"Are you like other souls?" I ask. She stares at me like I'm stupid, but doesn't answer. Okay, she's different. Maybe she's a anti-human killing parasite now. But she is still in a human body, so she can't be that anti-human killing. She curls up and puts her face in her hands.
Jared and I went out into the hallway.
"That was unexpected." I say.
"Lies, of course. I just don't know what she's getting out of telling us that."
"I don't think it's lying. Except that one time. Did you notice?"
"Part of the act."
"Have you ever seen a parasite who could lie about anything? Besides a seeker." I ask.
"Which it must be." He says.
"Are you serious?" I ask.
"It's the best explanation."
"She- it, is the farthest thing from a seeker I have ever seen. If a seeker has any idea how to find us, it would have brought an army."
"And they wouldn't have gotten in. But she did, didn't she?"
"It's almost been killed half a dozen times."
"But it's still breathing, isn't it?" I still couldn't believe it was a seeker, but I didn't have a real arguement. We stayed quiet for a while. So did she. I bet she had been listening the whole time.
"I think I'm going to go talk to Jeb." I say. People think he is crazy, but really he's a genius. More insightful then anybody. Maybe he'd know how I was feeling. Like this was wrong. She just seemed more... human. I just didn't think that she was like all the other parasites.
"Oh, that's a great idea." He said sarcastically. He knew Jeb would try to say some vague shit and confuse me, but I was hoping I would be less confused after I talked to Jeb.
"Do you remember that night? When it jumped in front of you and Kyle?"
"It was just trying to find a way to stay alive, to escape."
"By giving the go-ahead to kill her? Good plan." I say.
"It worked." He said.
"Jeb's gun worked. Did she know he was coming?" I was right and I knew it.
"You're overthinking it, Ian. That's what it wants." I noticed I had said she again in the last sentence. And I don't care.
"I don't think you're right. I don't know why, but I don't think she's like the others. You know what's really twisted?" I whisper the last part.
"What?" He asks.
"I feel guilty- guilty as hell- when I see her flinch away from us. Seeing the bruises in her neck." I hope she heard that, so that she knew I was sorry. I was telling a worm sorry. Strange world.
"You can't let it get to you like that. It's not human. Don't you forget that." Doesn't he know that I don't forget she's not human? And I still don't want her flinching away from us. I was raised in a house where we all knew the rule 'you can't hit a girl'. And seeing that look caused me physical pain.
"Just because she isn't human, do you think that means she doesn't feel pain? That she doesn't feel just like a girl who's been beaten- beaten by us?" I told him. He was surprised and then angry.
"Get a hold of yourself." He hissed.
"See you around, Jared." I got up and walked away. I was thinking be out how safe she was with him. Did I just think of Jared with disgust instead of her? I guess I did.

________________________________
Okay guys that was long chapter. I just wanted to say that my favorite quote in the entire world is in this chapter. It's from the original book.
Just because she isn't human, do you think that means she doesn't feel pain? That she doesn't feel just like a girl who's been beaten-beaten by us?

It just gives me shivers. It's when Ian starts really thinking she is a human. Wow, I've read this book five times now. Anybody else?