Stephenie Meyer - The Host

“You like summertime, do you?” I asked hopefully.

Her lips twitched.

“Summer?”

Her hand trembled.

“Is that your name-Summer? Summer? That’s a pretty name.”

Her hand tightened into a fist, and her lips parted.

“Come back, Summer. I know you can do it. Summer? Listen to me, Summer. Open your eyes, Summer.”

Her eyes blinked rapidly.

“Doc!” I called over my shoulder. “Doc, wake up!”

“Huh?”

“I think she’s coming around!” I turned back to the woman. “Keep it up, Summer. You can do this. I know it’s hard. Summer, Summer, Summer. Open your eyes.”

Her face grimaced-was she in pain?

“Bring the No Pain, Doc. Hurry.”

The woman squeezed my hand, and her eyes opened. They didn’t focus at first, just whirled around the bright cave. What a strange, unexpected sight this place must have been for her.

“You’re going to be all right, Summer. You’re going to be fine. Can you hear me, Summer?”

Her eyes wheeled back to me, the pupils constricting. She stared, absorbing my face. Then she cringed away from me, twisting on the cot to escape. A low, hoarse cry of panic broke through her lips.

“No, no, no,” she cried. “No more.”

“Doc!”

He was there, on the other side of the cot, like before, when we were operating.

“It’s okay, ma’am,” he assured her. “No one is going to hurt you here.”

The woman had her eyes squeezed shut, and she recoiled into the thin mattress.

“I think her name is Summer.”

He flashed a look at me and then made a face. “Eyes, Wanda,” he breathed.

I blinked and realized that the sun was on my face. “Oh.” I let the woman pull her hand free.

“Don’t, please,” the woman begged. “Not again.”

“Shh,” Doc murmured. “Summer? People call me Doc. No one’s going to do anything to you. You’re going to be fine.”

I eased away from them, into the shadows.

“Don’t call me that!” the woman sobbed. “That’s not my name! It’s hers, it’s hers! Don’t say it again!”

I’d gotten the wrong name.

Mel objected to the guilt that washed through me. It’s not your fault. Summer is a human name, too.

“Of course not,” Doc promised. “What is your name?”

“I-I-I don’t know!” she wailed. “What happened? Who was I? Don’t make me be someone else again.”

She tossed and thrashed on the cot.

“Calm down; it’s going to be okay, I promise. No one’s going to make you be anyone but you, and you’ll remember your name. It’s going to come back.”

“Who are you?” she demanded. “Who’s she? She’s like… like I was. I saw her eyes!”

“I’m Doc. And I’m human, just like you. See?” He moved his face into the light and blinked at her. “We’re both just ourselves. There are lots of humans here. They’ll be so happy to meet you.”

She cringed again. “Humans! I’m afraid of humans.”

“No, you’re not. The… person who used to be in your body was afraid of humans. She was a soul, remember that? And then remember before that, before she was there? You were human then, and you are again.”

“I can’t remember my name,” she told him in a panicked voice.

“I know. It’ll come back.”

“Are you a doctor?”

“I am.”

“I was… she was, too. A… Healer. Like a doctor. She was Summer Song. Who am I?”

“We’ll find out. I promise you that.”

I edged toward the exit. Trudy would be a good person to help Doc, or maybe Heidi. Someone with a calming face.

“She’s not human!” the woman whispered urgently to Doc, her eye caught by my movement.

“She’s a friend; don’t be afraid. She helped me bring you back.”

“Where is Summer Song? She was scared. There were humans…”

I ducked out the door while she was distracted.

I heard Doc answer the question behind me. “She’s going to a new planet. Do you remember where she was before she came here?”

I could guess what her answer would be from the name.

“She was… a Bat? She could fly… She could sing… I remember… but it was… not here. Where am I?”

I hurried down the hall to find help for Doc. I was surprised when I saw the light of the great cavern ahead-surprised because it was so quiet. Usually you could hear voices before you saw the light. It was the middle of the day. There should have been someone in the big garden room, if only crossing through.

I walked out into the bright noon light, and the giant space was empty.

The fresh tendrils of the cantaloupe vines were dark green, darker than the dry earth they sprang from. The earth was too dry-the irrigating barrel stood ready to fix that, the hoses laid out along the furrows. But no one manned the crude machine. It sat abandoned on the side of the field.

I stood very still, trying to hear something. The huge cavern was silent, and the silence was ominous. Where was everyone?

Had they evacuated without me? A pang of fear and hurt shot through me. But they wouldn’t have left without Doc, of course. They would never leave Doc. I wanted to dart back through the long tunnel to make sure Doc had not disappeared, too.

They wouldn’t go without us, either, silly. Jared and Jamie and Ian wouldn’t leave us behind.

You’re right. You’re right. Let’s… check the kitchen?

I jogged down the silent corridor, getting more anxious as the silence continued. Maybe it was my imagination, and the loud thumping of my pulse in my ears. Of course there must be something to hear. If I could calm down and slow my breathing, I’d be able to hear voices.

But I reached the kitchen and it was empty, too. Empty of people. On the tables, half-eaten lunches had been abandoned. Peanut butter on the last of the soft bread. Apples and warm cans of soda.

My stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten at all today, but I barely noted the twist of hunger. The panic was so much stronger.

What if… what if we didn’t evacuate soon enough?

No! Mel gasped. No, we would have heard something! Someone would have… or there would be… They’d still be here, looking for us. They wouldn’t give up until they’d checked everywhere. So that can’t be it.

Unless they’re looking for us now.

I spun back toward the door, my eyes darting through the shadows.

I had to go warn Doc. We had to get out of here if we were the last two.

No! They can’t be gone! Jamie, Jared… Their faces were so clear, as if they were etched onto the insides of my eyelids.

And Ian’s face, as I added my own pictures to hers. Jeb, Trudy, Lily, Heath, Geoffrey. We’ll get them back, I vowed. We’ll hunt them down one by one and steal them back! I won’t let them take my family!

If I’d had any doubts where I stood, this moment would have erased them. I’d never felt so fierce in all my lives. My teeth clenched tight, snapping together audibly.

And then the noise, the babble of voices I’d been so anxiously straining to hear, echoed down the hall to us and made my breath catch. I slid silently to the wall and pressed myself into the shadow there, listening.

The big garden. You can hear it in the echoes.

Sounds like a large group.

Yes. But yours or mine?

Ours or theirs, she corrected.

I crept down the hall, keeping to the darkest shadows. We could hear the voices more clearly now, and some of them were familiar. Did that mean anything? How long would it take trained Seekers to perform an insertion?

And then, as I reached the very mouth of the great cave, the sounds became even clearer, and relief washed through me-because the babble of voices was just the same as it had been my very first day here. Murderously angry.