Disclaimer: The Host belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I am not making any kind of profit from this.

A/N: This jumped into my head while I was reading The Host a couple weeks ago and I just couldn't get rid of it. I don't know how often I'll be able to update this because Impossible is my first priority right now but… well, I just couldn't wait around to write this. It was slowly taking over all of my thoughts, haha. It's just a series of one-shots from Ian's POV during certain moments in The Host. This first one is when they find Wanda wandering (harharhar) out in the desert. A lot of the dialogue is straight from the book, between pages 126 and 148.

One

What was Jeb thinking? I still couldn't believe it. First he had saved that… that creature from death, and now he was leading it back to the caves, our home. He was going to let it see where we lived! Jeb had never really struck me as a sane man but this was just plain stupid, no matter what way I looked at it. Not only was it crazy and stupid, but it was completely reckless. Once that parasite had seen where we hid, it could tell the others. And once the other parasites, especially those fucking Seekers, knew we were here, this place would no longer be safe. We would have to leave again.

But that was assuming that the parasite would live.

"Why are you doing this, Jeb?" I asked after everyone else had left our little circle in the desert. "For Doc? You could have just told Kyle that. You didn't have to pull a gun on him." Especially when it was over one of those parasites.

"Kyle needs a gun pulled on him more often," Jeb muttered. I couldn't really disagree with this but I didn't think he should be turning on us, real actual people, because of one of those worms.

"Please tell me this wasn't about sympathy," I said, ignoring what he said. "After all you've seen…"

"After all I've seen, if I hadn't learned compassion, I wouldn't be worth much. But no, it was not about sympathy. If I had enough sympathy for this poor creature, I would have let her die."

"What then?" I demanded.

"Curiosity," Jeb replied in a low voice. I shook my head as he held out his hand to the thing, helping it up. I turned and ran after my brother, not wanting to spend any more time than necessary with the alien.

Once I reached Kyle and Brandt, I told them what Jeb had said. "I don't care how curious Jeb is," Kyle said as we walked back to our safe haven. "That thing has to die."

Brandt and I nodded in agreement. We wouldn't be safe until it was dead. It was a callous way to look at it but it was the truth. We had all seen what the buggers could do, had done, to our planet. We had all lost someone to them, had watched as they robbed their bodies of their true souls only so they could be replaced with pod people. It was Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but so much scarier because it was our reality. This was different, though. The body was only just recently taken, she had been with Jared and Jamie before the parasites got her. It was wrong to bring her back, to make Jared look at her and be reminded of what he had lost.

We reached the caves before Jeb did, mostly because he had blindfolded the thing and now he had to guide her into the caves. Everyone must have been waiting anxiously for our return. They were all gathered in the big room, carefully avoiding the field in the middle and as soon as they noticed that we were back, they started to shout questions at us.

"Who was it?"

"What was it?"

"Was it one of them?"

"Yes," Maggie said to whoever had asked that question. "It was one of them."

There was a moment of silence and every face in the room had the same terrified expression. Then they all started asking more questions, louder than before.

"Was it a Seeker?"

"Do they know we're here?"

"What is Jeb going to do with the body?"

Kyle's face twisted into an expression of pure hatred at that question. "It's still alive," he spat out.

This only made them angrier. "What do you mean, it's still alive?!" I heard Jared shout. His face was perfectly blank but I could hear the anger in his voice.

And that was when Jeb led it into the room. Everyone was silent, glaring at it with hate-filled eyes. I watched Jared as his face went white, recognizing the body right away. This was wrong. Jeb should have just shot it out in the desert. He should have never put Jared through this. Or Jamie, for that matter. I did not want to be there when the kid found out about this. It froze as soon as it saw Jared, staring wide-eyed at his face. Then it did something completely unexpected.

"Jared," it said, its voice sounding very hoarse. It threw itself at him, raising its arms as if it wanted to hug him. We all watched in shock as it moved towards him but before it got to him, he reached out and hit it upside the head with the back of his hand. It fell on the floor and stayed there, whimpering softly.

Jeb shot him a dirty look before shuffling over to it. He held his hand out to her, as if he wanted to help her up, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the look Jared was giving him. He looked murderously angry, like he would happily kill it in one split second if Jeb would get out of his way. Jeb refused to move though, and finally Jared let out an angry sigh and stepped away from them. Then Jeb did reach down and help the parasite to its feet.

"What is he doing?" I heard Wes whisper. I shrugged in response.

"He should have just let Jared kill it," Kyle whispered. "This is just ridiculous. I can't believe he is being nice to that parasite. I mean, that's supposed to be his niece!"

"Maybe he's saving it for Doc," I whispered back. "Probably hoping he'll finally figure it out so he can have her back."

Doc pushed to the front of the crowd then and smiled. "Okay, okay, I'm here. What have we got?" he asked eagerly, probably wanting to get to work right away. His previous attempts hadn't been very successful and even though it tore him up, he was determined to find a way to take the parasites out of their human hosts.

"Jeb found it in the desert. Used to be our niece Melanie," Maggie answered. I noticed Jared wince at the name. "It seemed to be following the directions he gave her." She shot Jeb a dirty look, as if she couldn't believe that he would tell someone in their family about this place. I have to admit that, in that moment, I was pretty glad that I wasn't a Stryder.

Doc nodded, looking it over as Maggie talked. I noticed that it was staring at Sharon, recognition flashing in its eyes, and I had to wonder how many Seekers it had told about Melanie's family. Did they know it was here? Were they tracking it? Would they find us soon? Would we be able to fight them or would humanity's last pocket of resistance fall all because Jeb couldn't be cruel to what was once a family member? Doc reached out to touch its face but she flinched away from his hand. "It's okay," he said, smiling at it. "I won't hurt you." He reached for its face again and it flinched into Jeb again. This time, Jeb pushed it gently towards Doc and he gently traced a line from the jaw below its ear to the small scar left behind from the insertion. Jared watched with hatred burning in his eyes but I couldn't tell who it was directed at, the parasite in Melanie's body or Doc.

"She looks healthy enough, aside from some recent exhaustion, dehydration, and malnourishment. I think you've put enough water back into her so that the dehydration won't interfere. Okay, then," Doc said, doing that weird thing he did when he was getting ready to work on one of the parasites. It was almost as if he were getting ready to scrub up, even though it was totally unnecessary out here in the caves. "Let's get started."

Jeb sighed but didn't do anything to stop him as he held his hand out to it. It seemed to have caught on to what Doc was planning, though, because it clenched its fists and took a step back from him.

Doc frowned and then turned to my brother and I. I figured he would need us to help him get it back there. "Kyle, Ian?" he asked. We stepped forward, ready to handle whatever it decided to throw at us just so we could get it down the south hallway. "I think I need some help. Maybe if you were to carry –"

"No," Jared said firmly, his face pained.

Doc blinked in surprise. "Jared? Is there a problem?"

"Yes." Jared didn't elaborate though and we all stood there in confusion. Surely Jared wasn't trying to save it, was he? I mean, it had taken over the body of the woman that he loved! There's no way he could feel sympathetic to it after that.

"And it is?" Doc asked, looking as confused as I felt.

"I'll tell you the problem, Doc. What's the difference between letting you have it or Jeb putting a bullet in its head?" Jared asked, looking angrier by the second.

"Well –" Doc started before Jared cut him off.

"The difference is, if Jeb kills it, at least it dies cleanly."

"Jared," Doc said soothingly. He tried to voice what everyone was thinking. "We learn so much each time. Maybe this will be the time –"

Jared snorted, although his laughter was merely sarcasm. "I don't see much progress being made, Doc."

Sharon stepped forward, ready to defend Doc. "There's no point in wasting an opportunity! We all realize that this is hard for you, Jared, but in the end it's not your decision to make. We have to consider what's best for the majority."

"No," Jared snarled.

"Stop being selfish!" she yelled, jabbing her finger at his chest.

"No, Sharon!" Jared yelled back. "I can't let him do that! He'll just end up killing them both!"

Kyle and I both stepped forward, ready to hold Jared back so Doc could take the parasite. "And what would be wrong with killing it?" Kyle asked, throwing his opinion into the mix. "Everything would be better if it was dead!"

Jeb let go of it then and pointed his rifle at us. "Take a step back, boys," he said to us.

I scowled. "Jeb," I said, trying to reason with him, "You can't let Jared do this. You have to let Doc –"

We all froze as it finally decided to speak up for itself. "Jamie," it said softly. Jared was suddenly standing over it, his face a mixture of pain, worry and hatred. He was probably wondering how much it knew about Melanie's life, how much it had told the Seekers. I know that was what I was thinking about at that moment. "Jamie?" it breathed again. "Jamie?" Now this was strange. It actually sounded like it cared about Jamie, like it was worried that he somehow hadn't made it here or scared that he had been taken by its own kind.

Jeb looked back at it and said, "The kid is fine. Jared brought him here."

It looked at Jared, a grateful expression on its face, and whispered, "Thank you." I know I wasn't the only one who was confused by this. I had seen it a thousand times, the parasites would often do whatever they could to get their host's families captured just so they could be with them again. It was one of the strangest things about them; they kept their human ties long after they had taken over. So why would this one be happy that Jamie hadn't been taken yet? Wasn't that why it was here, to lead the Seekers to him so that he could be erased? It passed out then from exhaustion, falling over backwards quickly. Jared was the only one close enough to catch it (and the only one willing to touch it, as well), and he caught it before it managed to hit its head on the stone ground and damage Melanie's body any more.

Kyle advanced on it then, ready to rip it out of Jared's hands and finally end this but Jeb turned and pointed the gun right at Kyle. "Don't try it, Kyle," Jeb said, cocking the gun. We were all stunned into silence at this. I couldn't believe that Jeb was willing to shoot one of us over this thing.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought this. "What are you doing, Jebediah?" Maggie asked sharply.

"I'm stopping you from killing her," Jeb said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Which, I guess, it was.

"Jeb, this is ridiculous," I said, trying to reason with him. "I get that you're curious, and that you're feeling sentimental because it used to be your niece but you can't just let it live. Even if the Seekers don't know that it's out here looking for us, what do you think will happen when it escapes? Because you know as well as I do that it will escape if we let it live. It'll just find the Seekers and bring them here. You have to give it to Doc."

"That's a very convincing argument, Ian," Jeb said. He was still pointing the gun at Kyle but his voice was completely normal, like this was something he did all the time. "I'll take it into consideration when I decide what to do with her."

"When you decide?!" Kyle asked, outraged. "Why should you be the one to make this decision?"

"This is my place, Ky–" Jeb started to say but Kyle interrupted him.

"This affects all of us, Jeb! When that thing escapes, it won't just tell the Seekers about you! And when the Seekers come here, to your place, they won't just be looking for you!" Everyone seemed to agree with Kyle because suddenly they were all yelling at Jeb, some pointing their fingers while others gestured wildly. They all wore the same expression of anger and hatred. And they were all so loud; it was almost as if an explosion had gone off. I could only hear little bits through all of the noise.

"He's right! They'll come for – "

"How could you be so stupid – "

" – is just plain wrong!"

"Just give it to Doc already, he can – "

" – you're being so selfish – "

I leaned back against the wall and smirked. There was no way Jeb could get out of this. Sure, he had the gun but he couldn't shoot all of us… and we all wanted it dead. Yes, this was his place but it looked like he would be facing a full-scale mutiny if he didn't follow through with our demands. Well, I suppose he still had Jared on his side still but I'm sure he would get over that quickly. Don't get me wrong, I am not a cruel man by any standard. I am just trying to be safe. I could empathize with Jared; hell, we could all empathize with him. We had all been there for the invasion, had all watched as they took away our free will and slowly took over our planet. We had all lost people we cared about: parents, spouses, and family. We all felt that lost and we all felt awful for Jared now that we knew Melanie's fate. But that didn't mean that this could continue any longer. It was putting us all in danger. If that thing wasn't a Seeker, it would still try to escape and if it did somehow get out of here… well, I didn't want to think about the consequences of that.

It was at that moment that I realized that I couldn't see Jared anymore. He had been standing a few feet behind Jeb, but off to the side, holding Melanie's body after it had fainted. But he wasn't there. I did a quick scan of the room and didn't see him or the thing anymore. He had been so eager to save it, even though it wasn't his Melanie anymore, that he must have taken advantage of the fact that everyone was focused on Jeb and slipped out of the room. This was not good. I slipped two fingers into my mouth and whistled as loudly as I could. That definitely got everyone's attention.

"Jeb," I said, my voice deadly calm. I was trying as hard as I could to keep my anger from exploding outwards. "Where is it?"

Kyle looked around, noticing that it wasn't there already, and he just exploded. "Oh, this is just great! Did you let it escape already, Jeb?!"

"That's enough, Kyle!" Jeb shouted back. "It did not escape. You heard what Doc said, she was dehydrated and exhausted. Jared just took her off somewhere so she could rest. Do not go looking for her." He scowled at Kyle before turning to everyone that was gathered in the room. "Now, I suggest you all get back to doing whatever it was you were doing before this all started. Dinner needs to be cooked and I'm sure the corn hasn't been completely planted yet." He turned and walked down the corridor to the kitchen. A few people followed him while others went off to the fields but the majority stayed in the big room with us, just as angry as I was with Jeb's decision.

"This isn't right!" Kyle said. "He can't just let it stay here like it's one of us!"

"No," I said, agreeing with Kyle. "There's no way it will last long here. Either it will die or it'll escape."

"I know I won't be able to sleep, knowing that it's here," Brandt said, throwing his opinion into the mix.

"I can't stay here while it's here," Maggie said, sounding disgusted. A lot of people nodded their agreement. She looked Kyle, Brandt, and I in the eyes and then said, "I think everyone agrees with me here. You boys know what to do."

We knew then that she was asking us to find where Jared was hiding the creature and kill it. And we were all up for the challenge. Two of us would have to hold Jared back while the other killed it. He would put up a good fight, because it was Melanie's body and he loved her, but in the end he would agree with our decision, maybe even thank us. Because it wasn't Melanie anymore and I knew there was no way that he could ever possibly love what was inside her body now, especially now that she had taken Melanie from him. You see, that was the worst thing that these "souls" did, they completely erased the person whose body they were occupying. It was like they had died even though their body was still walking around. Melanie would never come back now that that alien was inside of her and the sooner Jared realized that, the sooner we could kill it and just move on with our lives.

We would have to be as discrete as possible while we looked for her since we didn't want Jeb to figure out what we were doing. We looked in all the obvious spaces, Jared's room, the "hospital," and even in the game room but we couldn't find them. And we had to do all of this while continuing our work in the field and making an appearance at dinner so that Jeb wouldn't get suspicious. By night time, I was really starting to get annoyed. All I wanted to do was go to bed without having to worry about if the Seekers would find us in the middle of the night and Jared was making this extremely difficult. He was a smart guy and I knew that if he didn't want to be found, he would be hiding somewhere good, somewhere that we would have never thought of.

It was like a switch had been turned on in my head, one that made me sick to my stomach. I knew where he was hiding her. I could only hope I was wrong because Jared couldn't be that stupid and yet… he must know it was the one place we wouldn't think to look. "Do you think he's hiding it in the storage area?" I asked Kyle as we made our way back to the small cave that we shared.

His face went white as he stopped walking. "He wouldn't be that stupid," he said softly, although I could see the realization dawning on his face. Of course Jared could be that stupid, he was desperate to save Melanie's body, no matter his disgust for the thing inside her now.

We rushed to Brandt's room and told him what we thought. Then we hurried down to the storage area, hoping against hope that it was somehow still there. The storage area was right near the exit. All it would have to do was overpower Jared, turn a corner and then it would be free. I couldn't think about what it would mean if we were too late, the single possibility that we might be too late only made me walk faster. We turned the corner into the storage corridor and saw one of the lanterns by the entrance to the hole where we stored most of the perishable food. Jared was sitting on the other side but he rose when he saw us coming. So at least the thing hadn't escaped yet, I doubt he would still be hiding out here if it was gone.

"Ah. Here you are," Kyle said, sounding like he was greeting an old friend or something.

"We're not going to allow this, Jared," I said. "We've all lost somebody – hell, we've all lost everybody. But this is ridiculous."

"If you won't let Doc have it, then it's got to die," Kyle growled more than said.

"You can't keep it prisoner here," I said, trying to reason with him. I thought maybe appealing to his logical side would clear his mind and let him see sense. "Eventually it will escape and we'll all be exposed."

"Don't make this difficult," Brandt said. "It has to be done."

"We don't want to hurt you, Jared," Kyle said, trying to give Jared an out. We didn't want to hurt him over this thing, it felt wrong. But we would do whatever we could to protect ourselves and the other people here, even if that meant that two of us would have to overpower Jared and incapacitate him somehow. "We're all brothers here. But we will if you make us. Move aside."

Jared didn't move. His face showed only anger. "Jared… please," I said.

Instead of answering, Jared lunged and punched Kyle in the stomach before darting back out of mine and Brandt's reach. He was faster than us. We had known this was going to be difficult, especially if his emotions were still clouding his judgment. Brandt and I tensed, ready to grab Jared and hold him back while Kyle killed the thing inside the hole. But the parasite must have been listening to us because it screamed, "No!" Then it launched itself out of the hole. We all watched in horror. This was it. It was going to try to escape now. We couldn't let it get out of the caves, no matter what. We didn't know if there were Seekers already out there looking for it.

And then it did the strangest thing. Instead of bolting down the hallway, it stepped in between Kyle and Jared. It was like it was trying to protect him from us. We were all frozen in shock. We had never seen anything like this before, never thought that it would put itself in danger to protect Jared. But it made sense. Those little worms were smart, there was no doubt in my mind that it was just trying to manipulate us somehow. Kyle must have realized this too because he reached out and shoved it hard. It lost is balance and started to fall but Jared grabbed its wrist and yanked it back up. Then he dropped its wrist as if it had burned him.

"Get back in there!" he yelled. He shoved it, not as hard as Kyle had, toward the hole.

It stumbled back a step and then put itself in between them again, facing the three of us with its back to Jared. "I'm what you want," it said. "Leave him alone."

I couldn't believe this. It was willing to sacrifice itself so that we wouldn't harm Jared. It didn't make any sense. We expected it to try to manipulate us, to plead for its life or to even just take off and try to outrun us as it escaped. We did not expect it to offer itself to us so willingly, to be willing to sacrifice itself so we wouldn't hurt Jared. It must have been banking on our shock, maybe even expecting us to change our minds because it had seemed so good in that one second. It was manipulating us, although I couldn't see what its end game was. "Tricky bugger," I muttered when I realized that I simply couldn't see what its strategy was here.

"I said get back in there," Jared hissed.

It turned halfway so it could see Jared while also keeping us in its sight. "It's not your duty to protect me at your own expense." It was still trying to manipulate us. And yet… there was something familiar about the way it looked at Jared. Like it would simply throw itself in front of a train if he wanted it to. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen. Jared raised his hand, probably so he could push it back into the hole, but it skipped out of way. It seemed determined to get itself killed just so Jared wouldn't be harmed.

Thankfully, I didn't really have to think this over too long. When it moved out of the way of Jared's hand, it had gotten within my arms reach. I grabbed its arms and pinned them behind its back. It tried to struggle free but I was much stronger,

"Get your hands off her!" Jared shouted, running right at me.

But Kyle was between us and he caught Jared. He put him in a headlock while Brandt tried to grab one of his flailing arms. "Don't hurt him!" the worm shrieked, struggling harder against my hold.

The one thing I admired about Jared was his instincts. He wasn't as strong as Kyle but, I have to admit, he was smarter. And he somehow always knew how to get out of a jam. The elbow of the arm that Brandt was trying to grab rammed into Kyle's stomach, causing Kyle to recoil in pain and loosen his grip on Jared. He twisted away from Brandt and punched Kyle square in the nose, the blood spattering everywhere. "Finish it, Ian!" Kyle yelled, lowering his bleeding face and head-butting Jared right into Brandt's arms. This was it. They were going to occupy Jared while I killed the alien with my bare hands. I hadn't wanted to be the one to do this, there was something that felt wrong about this, something that hadn't been there before. It was probably because it was the reality now, I had to be the one to do with just my hands, and the fact that even though I knew it was one of those disgusting parasites it still looked human. And then there was the fact that this was the body of the woman that my friend loved. But I would do it to keep all of us safe.

"No!" Jared and the parasite screamed in unison. I dropped its arms and quickly grabbed its neck, holding on as tightly as I could. It clawed at my hands but its fingers couldn't find purchase, its nails were too short to do any damage. I gripped it tighter and tried to lift it off the floor, making it struggle even more.

And then I heard the gun cock. I froze.

"Kyle, Ian, Brandt – back off!" Jeb yelled.

No one moved. We were all too shocked. Jeb had figured us out after all. He really wasn't as crazy as he looked. Suddenly, Jared rushed under Kyle's arm and punched me right in the mouth, hard. I yelled out in pain and dropped the parasite. It fell to floor, practically laying at my feet and gasping for air. Jared quickly moved back so he was standing next to Jeb.

"You're guests here, boys, and don't forget it," Jeb said, sounding really pissed off. "I told you not to go looking for the girl. She's my guest, too, for the moment and I don't take kindly to any of my guests killing any of the others."

"Jeb," I said, although it sounded more like a moan. I had my hands held to my mouth, trying to both stop the flow of blood and make sure I still had all of my teeth. "Jeb, this is insane."

"What's your plan?" Kyle half-shouted, the anger evident on his blood-smeared face. "We have a right to know. We have to decide whether this place is safe or if it's time to move on. So… how long will you keep this thing as your pet? What will you do when you're finished playing God? All of us deserve to know the answers to these questions."

"Don't have your answers, Kyle," Jeb said. "It's not up to me." We all stared at him in shocked confusion. Maybe Jeb was as crazy as he looked. Of course it was up to him! This was his place so he got to set the rules. He had reminded us of that fact time and time again.

"Not up to you?" Kyle said, finally breaking us all out of the shock. He sounded as if he couldn't believe what Jeb had just said. I couldn't really believe it either, to be honest. "Who then? If you're thinking of putting it up to a vote, that's already been done. Ian, Brandt and I are the duly designated appointees of the result."

"It's not up for a vote," Jeb said, shaking his head. "This is still my house."

"Who, then?" Kyle shouted.

Jeb's eyes flickered to Jared as he said, "It's Jared's decision." We all turned to look at Jared then, even the worm. He was staring at Jeb, astonished, and then his mouth snapped shut and he glared at it. He must not have been as sentimental about Melanie's body as I had originally thought. It was clear that he absolutely hated the alien inside of it.

Kyle turned back to Jeb. "Jared? That makes no sense! He's more biased than anyone else! Why? How can he be rational about this?"

"Jeb, I don't…" Jared muttered. He had stopped himself mid-sentence. I could tell that he didn't want this responsibility because the truth was he couldn't be rational about this. We all knew how he felt. There was a part of him that would always love Melanie, the part that wanted to keep her as close to him as possible now that he had found her again. But the truth was, that wasn't Melanie, it was a creature that we all hated and feared. It was hard for Jared, reconciling those two strong opposite emotions because he would always want to kill those filthy "souls" just like he would always want to protect Melanie. And the fact that Jeb was leaving it up to him just kind of made him look like an insensitive prick.

"She's your responsibility, Jared," Jeb said firmly. "I'll help you out, of course, if there's any more trouble like this, and with keeping track of her and all that. But when it comes to making decisions, that's all yours." Kyle opened his mouth to protest but Jeb held his hand up to stop him. "Look at it this way, Kyle. If somebody found your Jodi on a raid and brought her back here, would you want me or Doc or a vote deciding what we did with her?"

That was below the belt. Jodi was still a sore spot for Kyle, even after six years. They had taken her too. Like I said before, we all knew the pain of losing someone we loved. "Jodi is dead," Kyle hissed out before turning to glare at the alien in Melanie's body. There was no doubt in my mind that he was remembering Jodi and the day that she had been taken.

"Well, if her body wandered in here, it would still be up to you. Would you want it any other way?"

"The majority –" Kyle tried to protest, but I knew that if Jodi's body had wandered in, he would fight against the majority's decision just like Jared had.

"My house, my rules," Jeb said, interrupting him. "No more discussion on this. No more votes. No more execution attempts. You three spread the word – this is how it works from now on. New rule."

I couldn't stop myself from muttering under my breath, "Another one?" Jeb was big on rules, and lately he had been making more and more. It was like something out of an Orwell novel.

He ignored me and continued with his little speech. "If, unlikely as it may be, somehow this ever happens again, whoever the body belongs to makes the call." He poked the rifle towards Kyle and then jerked it towards the hallway. "Get out of here. I don't want to see you anywhere around this place again. You let everyone know that this corridor is off-limits. No one's got any reason for being here except Jared, and if I catch someone skulking around, I'm asking questions second. You got that? Move. Now." He poked the gun at Kyle again.

We all turned and walked up the hallway, back towards the big room. We knew Jeb would use the gun if he had to, we had seen him use it before. "This isn't right!" Brandt said, once we were a good distance away. "We can't just let him keep that thing here like it's some kind of pet! The longer it stays, the more chances it will get to escape."

Kyle was seething. "I don't care what Jared's decision is," he said. "I'll kill that thing with my bare hands if I have to. And I can wait it out just as long as they can."

I should have been agreeing with him. I had been on their side only minutes before and yet… I still couldn't shake the feeling that killing it would be wrong, too much like murdering an innocent human. But it wasn't human and it deserved to die, not only for what I was certain it would do once it had learned enough about us (which was sell us out to the Seekers), but also for the sins of its whole alien-race. But I kept remembering the way it had put itself between Jared and Kyle, ready to sacrifice its life just so we wouldn't harm Jared. That had seemed out of character for the little worms. Did that mean that this parasite was different somehow? And what would that mean, if it was different from all the others? I shook my head and sped up, wanting to get to my room and fall asleep just so I could stop thinking about this.