Parasite

Chapter 14: Desperate Times

Big Bear Lake, California 

Cranberry Lodge

Night

Dana

So this is how it all ends. An entire Summer vacation, planned to the finest detail, is cut short because of something dangerous. Something that killed the people I cared about and took them away forever. Now, we face the same fate, but we're not gonna stay here. We have one option. Our only option. We run.

I was in my room, packing my stuff into my suitcase. While I was doing that, I was thinking about Allison. She didn't deserve this. All she wanted to do was hang out with us and enjoy her Summer. Instead, she was murdered and turned into a monster. She never asked for this... none of us did, and now, death is at our front door.

All the fun times we had together, played in my head, over and over again. The first time we meet. The first time we played as a squad. The day we went out as squad... god.

My eyes started to water a bit and my bottom lip quivered... oh fuck. I held back the sobs as I started to cry silently. Through the sadness, I clenched one of my shirts tightly, trying to calm down.

"You okay?"

I turned my head towards the door and saw Paola standing there. I looked away and rubbed the tears away.

"Ugh... yeah. I'm... fine. I was just..."

"Thinking about her?"

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Yeah... I was. It's just... hard. One day, you're hanging out with the people you call family, then... your watching them try to kill you."

"I know the feeling." Paola said as she sat on my bed.

"Allison was innocent. She had so much to live for and... a-and..."

My hands started to shake and I couldn't find the words to say anything. Paola grabbed my hand on held it in hers, trying to calm me down.

"It's alright. I know it's hard. We've all been through hell, but Allison would want you to move on. She'd want you to live your life. That's why we have to avenge her and take these things out."

I gave Paola with a confused expression.

"Wait? What?"

"You heard me, Dana. We have to stay and fight them."

Are you serious? No... no way in hell are we doing that!

"Are you out of your mind! You want to fight those things that nearly killed you, Bryan, Fernando, and Manuel! The same monsters that put me in the hospital! The same freaks that killed Allison?! Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!?"

"No, I'm not! You heard Manuel! These things want to take over the world and they have an army! AN. ARMY. Even if we leave, what makes you think they'll stop coming after us?! They want us dead and we have to find out why!"

"How Paola!? Everyone is hurt and we can't take another fight!"

Paola clenched her fists and her eyes started to water from the frustration. I walked towards her and knelled in front of her.

"Look, I get that your sad about Allison, I am too, but we can't put ourselves at risk right now. You saw that their capable of and what they did to us. If we stay and fight... we're all gonna die. Paola..."

I grabbed her shoulder and looked in Paola's red eyes.

"You nearly lost me, forever. I... I... I can't lose you either. The best thing we can do is leave this place while we still can. There's nothing here for us anymore... and we have to accept that."