Jason Halstead - Parasites

“We weren’t being romantic,” Synnamon snapped. She wiped her face with her hands then rubbed them on her pants before trying, and failing, to rise. “Jeremy!”

He jumped and stepped over to help her up. They both looked down to her leg. “Sprained I think,” she said. “I can walk, but I’ll need help.”

“Great,” Kate snapped. She turned to look back, then shook her head. “Seems safe here, we need to round up the other survivors.”

“Other survivors?” Jeremy said.

“You don’t think you’re the only ones? Bunch of damned lab rats, the ones that didn’t curl into a ball and suck their thumbs are probably still running and pissing themselves!”

Jeremy cleared his throat and looked pointedly at the monster that had settled down as it roamed about the ruined compound. It would dip down occasionally the move on. It was too far to be certain but a queasy feeling in his stomach made him feel certain it was feasting on his former co-workers. He continued to watch it, nauseating as it was, because he didn’t want Fiona to see the flush of shame on his face. He’d been running and ready to piss himself.

“Dr. Rice, can we leave you here while we scout?”

“What? No! What if it comes after me? Or another one…or anything? We don’t know anything about this planet yet. At least nothing other than everything keeps trying to kill us!”

Jeremy saw the panic on her face. She stared at him, shaking her head slightly and squeezing his hand tightly. “Please,” she whispered. “I can make it, I’ll go with you. I won’t slow you down!”

“We’re not using you as bait!” Kate snapped at her. “Get a grip Doc!”

Jeremy looked at her again. He remembered her pulling him away from the building, saving him. He remembered the times she’d dropped protocol to cut him a break. The times she’d let his excuses slide about his past. He nodded. “I’m not leaving her.”

Kate swore. “You think anything’s going to be within a mile of that creature after the noise it’s been making?” She shook her head and swore again. She yanked off one of the weapons and tossed it at Jeremy, hard. “Here, protect yourself from the bugs. Nothing else to worry about,” she muttered before turning away.

“Wait!” He cried out, stopping her. “Where are you going?”

“Looking for survivors, remember?” She spat. “Stay here, I’ll be back. If I’m not, well, good luck.”

Jeremy turned to look at his boss. She looked back at him, her eyes wide and her pupils slightly dilated in spite of the bright sun. When Jeremy turned back the only sight of Lance Corporal Kate was a few of the grasses that were still swaying from her passage.

Dr. Rice was quiet for several minutes, aside from the occasional shudder. Jeremy looked at her occasionally, but mostly he stared around. Looking at her left him feeling awkward, as though he should say something. She shifted, stifling a whimper.

“Take your weight off it,” He suggested, then helped her limp over to the base of one of the taller trees. She sat down and leaned against it, shifting to be in the shade provided by the bushy branches.

Jeremy remained standing and turned partially away, scanning the hills and the plain to watch for Fiona or some of the others. Or worse, he remembered with a twist of his stomach. He checked the rifle he’d been given, noting that the energy pack was already down more than ten percent. It was a newer weapon than he’d ever used before, but something that was supposed to be coming online as the main rifle of the Marines. He’d heard enough talk amongst the Marines when he spent time with Fiona to learn that it used supercharged ions. A quick study showed the model number on it, X-105.

Obviously even the latest state of the art weaponry the Marines could deliver couldn’t compete with old fashioned brute force. Especially when that brute force came packaged in something larger than any animal in recorded human history.

He looked back at Dr. Rice and saw her staring at the ground. Wet tracks of tears glistened on her cheeks. Jeremy looked away quickly. He wasn’t sure what was going on, just that he felt bad for her. That creature had scared him, scared him more than anything ever had, in fact. Even with that he was still moving and thinking. She just seemed to have checked out, and that wasn’t like her.

“It’ll be okay,” he offered, realizing even as he said it how shallow his words were.

She didn’t offer a smile or a snort. She just stared at the ground.

“Come on Dr. Rice — Synnamon — once that thing leaves we can head back and regroup. Not everybody’s,” he hesitated a moment too long, searching for the right word.

“Dead,” she whispered, finishing his sentence for him.

“I was going to say gone.”

She sniffed. “Tell me about your daughter.”

“Jasmine?”

“Yes, Jasmine. That’s such a pretty name. Flowers and wonderful scents. Tell me about her.”

Jeremy frowned. What was there to tell? He hadn’t seen her in nine years. Sure, he’d been asleep for most of it, but before that she’d been barely more than an infant. “She was a baby,” he finally managed. “Beautiful and helpless and so sick. There was something inside of her though, something you could see in her eyes. It doesn’t come through in the pictures but it’s there, I know it is. I knew she had to make it, no matter what the cost.”

“I checked, you know,” Synnamon said. “There’s no record in your file of you having a wife or a daughter.”

“Ex wife,” Jeremy let slip before he could stop himself. The thought of having another kid with Spartan’s had terrified Bleigh. That and what he’d done without consulting her. She’d never have understood though, and without it…well, without it Jasmine would only be a handful of pictures and a fading memory.

“Married or divorced,” she said. He met her gaze, wondering what she was getting at. Was she going to push him? Was it time for him to come clean or was she going to ruin everything. He’d already given up his life for his daughter, he couldn’t let that sacrifice be in vain. Jeremy’s hands tightened on the rifle. She looked away and missed the gesture, giving him the opportunity he needed.

“I don’t care,” she added, oblivious to how fragile her own life had suddenly become. “I just wanted you to know that it doesn’t add up. Before, yeah, maybe I cared. But now I don’t.”

“Why not?” Jeremy asked in a tightly controlled voice. He took a few casual steps, trying to move so that he was more to her side and, eventually, behind her. She glanced at him then looked away just as quickly.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Her tone was sharp. “A woman my age taking a position like this? I’m hardly in my prime, Mr. Sinclair. Maybe I’m not that old, but I’m set in my ways and no prize worth winning. No family waiting for me, real or imagined. No, I’m alone and nobody will know or care that I died on this forsaken rock.”

Jeremy shifted the rifle as he stepped fully behind her. The angle was just right, he had a clear shot unobstructed by the tree. Her head lifted up slightly, making him pause. “Scary planet,” Jeremy said in a rush, trying to keep her clueless. “Beautiful though. Not such a bad place to die.”

She sobbed. “Hurry up then and do it.”

Jeremy’s hands hesitated even as the rifle had been rising. How did she know?

“Jasmine’s real,” He said through clenched teeth. “She’s real and I won’t let anything stop me from providing whatever she needs. Anything.”

“I believe you,” Synnamon whispered.

The tense moment turned into several before he slung the X-105 over his shoulder. “We survive long enough and we can meet the next supply shuttle that comes down. Rebuild or maybe head back up to the ship. How’s your foot?”