Parasite

Chapter 20: Game Plan

Big Bear Lake, California

Cranberry Lodge

Late Night

Dana

After dealing with a lot of tension and emotions, I was able to clear everything up and head back inside the lodge with Bryan. He was upset, but he's okay now. Right now, he needs to get his head straight and figure out what he needs to do next. Not only that, but I need to figure out what we're gonna do next. At this point, we're stuck here with no way of getting out of this town and most us are either injured or dead. To be honest... I'm tired. I think it's time we changed that.

We walked back into the lodge where most the group was around Sheriff Johnson. I couldn't see him, because everyone was crowded around him, but by the sound of the conversation, he's doing fine. 

"Everything okay over here?" I asked. Everybody turned around and faced us as we came in.

"Yeah, things seem to be fine. I was able to clean Johnson's wound up and managed to wrap it up as well. As much as it would be nice to sow his injuries, gauze and cleaning will have to do." Lia explained.

"The gauze is fine, Ms. Morrison. Thanks for... patching me up, before I bleed to death." 

"My pleasure. Even when we're being tormented by hideous monsters and nearly being killed, I can still get the job done."

"Yeah, well, we've been dealing with them for about a week now, so you get used to it." 

"She's right. Ever since we got here, these things have tormented us and we've been trying to survive. Every. Single. Day." Paola added.

"Wait? Everyday? How?" Lia asked.

"We can talk about that later. Right now, I want to talk about something that needs to be addressed." I walked towards the front of the group and placed my hands inside my pockets. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. 

"So, as you all now, we've been dealing with the creatures for the past week. Some of you may not know what the hell these things are, so I'm gonna give you guys some info on our 'friends'. We do now much about these--"

"Parasites." Bryan added quickly.

"Right, parasites. We don't much about these parasites. All that we really know it that these things are murderous killers that hunt down humans."

"They don't just hunt down humans... they eat them. Once these things catch you, they'll kill you, tear your body open, and eat you guts out like it's a rare steak." Manuel mentioned.

"Exactly, these things are cannibals and they won't stop until we're all dead."

"Oh god no. No, no, no, cannibals?! No way am I dealing with that crap. No way!" Lia said anxiously. 

"Well, you have to deal with it now. Those things just tried to kill you an hour ago. You think they'll give you a pass because you asked them not kill you? Fuck no! Your in the same boat as us now." Bryan chimed.

"Yeah, sorry Lia. I know you never asked for this, but now you're stuck with it." Paola added. Lia ran a hand through her hair and took a breath.

"Great. Anything else we need to know about before we die by these... parasites?"

"Apart from the cannibalism, they can turn you into one of them."

"Wait? 'One of them'?" Sheriff Johnson said cautiously. 

"I know, it sounds pretty crazy, but it can happen. Those people we were running away from at the police station and the gas station, we're our friends. They were turned by those things and now they've become parasites. From what I've seen, I'm guessing that black liquid turns them into the monsters." Bryan explained.