“She wants to use one of us as bait?” Averi stared at Adlai, eyes wide.

“Yep.”

“You know, we could just run off, and let the crazy lady do crazy things.” Shawna added.

“She saved us.” Adlai fiddled with a few of the flashbangs laying on the floor.

“She also wants to use one of us as meat for a bunch of bloodthirsty worms, Adlai, I don’t think those two are compatible.”

“She’s harmless.”

“I mean she did stop those worms from eating us, so she could definitely help us reach the base. And you said that she was one of the original researchers? So she probably remembers where it is right?” Averi chimed in.

“Probably not.”

Shawna exhaled explosively. “Adlai, we’re wasting time here. We could just leave now.”

“She has flashbangs.”

“What the hell is a flashbang? And why is it important?”

“It’s like a… really bright bomb.”

Shawna leaned in, her attention grabbed.

“A bomb?”

Adlai could see the gears working in her mind, weighing the pros and cons.

“Let’s do it.”

The night was quiet, only punctuated by the occasional calling of aliens, but Adlai couldn’t shake the feeling of something being there. He tried to shake it off; told himself comforting nothings. There was no way it was back. But, a little voice whispered in his head. But the light. Adlai closed his eyes tight, hoping he was wrong. He was just tired.

____________________

The night was quiet, and it stalked. They were hiding from it again. They always hid, and it was getting impatient. The black haired one got away. It wriggled angrily, sinuous muscle rippling against the dark. It didn’t have much time left. They were too close. Wicked jaws dripped with saliva, the slimy droplets reflecting a single blue orb of light. In the distance it could see the blue worms writhing in the dark. They knew not to attack, it was suicide.

A burning light illuminated everything, and the hunter squealed in pain, its sensitive eyes blinded by the burst of pure bright. In the sliver of a second before everything faded to white it saw something. The tall one and the one that glowed, holding a ball of light. The glowing one was a problem, the parasite had gotten to it.

The hunter retreated into the black curtains of darkness again, its eyes dazed but its mind whirring. The parasite was an unforeseen variable, one that it didn’t want to deal with. It would watch.

_______________

“Alright here’s the plan kiddos. Those needle worms are attracted ta movin and heat. They can’t see much, so one of y’all is gonna get real close to em and run.”

Nire sat up slightly, staring at Adlai. “It’s gonna be either you or angry girl, Averi’ll stay with me out of danger, ya understand?”

Adlai nodded slowly, turning to look towards Shawna who still had a scowl on her face.

“She’ll be safe?” He asked.

“Yeah yeah, guaranteed. On my life.”

Nire stared a little longer at him than normal, something hard to understand shifting deep beneath her greyish-blue eyes. The silence was broken only by a coughing fit from Averi who was doubled over in the corner closest to the orange light. Adlai started to get up, but Nire was already there. She had her hand on Averi’s back, rubbing it gently like a mother would.

Nire held something up to Averi’s nose. “It’s okay sweetie, you’re fine. Take a good sniff of this, it’ll help ya.”

Averi, still coughing, obliged to Nire’s request and breathed in deeply, the coughing fading noticeably.

Nire smiled. “Atta girl, Stacy. Strong like your mom are ya?”

Averi looked up at Nire, a look of confusion on her face. “Stacy?”

“Stacy? Did I say Stacy? My mistake, the words got mixed up, ya know what I mean?”

Adlai watched. There was that tiny voice again. She’s insane. What if it all goes wrong? What if you screw it up again? He ran a hand through his hair, wishing he could brush those thoughts away. Averi seemed happy though at least. He leaned back against the wall of the hut, listening to Nire tell Averi a story, all the while her hand gently patted Averi’s head. He turned to look at Shawna who raised an eyebrow at him. He scowled back. He knew what she was thinking.

Nire stood up, brushing the dust off her knees. “We’ve got three days to start the barbecue, first we’ve got to pick a place for our picnic, ya know what I mean?”

She turned and tossed something at Adlai, he fumbled to catch what was apparently a flashbang. “Stinky boy, ya gonna come with me. You too, angry girl.”

Nire’s face softened for a moment, and Adlai saw his mother in her. In a moment that only lasted a few seconds, so many layers were shaved off of her to show someone hurting.

A breath, and the mask was up again. “Averi, you stay here.”

Nire stepped out the door and doubled over, coughs wracking her body. Adlai stepped over, but she held up a hand. “Don’t get close… dangerous… aggressive dispersal..”

She straightened again almost unnaturally, like a marionette getting jerked up by its strings. Her smile was back again, that same irritating smirk. “Let’s pick a place for our picnic!”

Adlai stepped out into the uncomfortable dampness of the caves, Shawna close behind.

A wall of humidity slammed them as they walked out the ramshackle door. It was dark as usual, the occasional blinking light of bioluminescence breaking up the monotony of the gloom. His head was whirring again, dozens of individual thoughts making up an overwhelming swarm of noise. He was worried, to put it simply; although it was anything but simple.

His worries were all entangled with one another, a hellish grape vine clambering the tree of his mind, bearing fruit to theoreticals and imaginary scenarios he simply didn’t want to think about. He was sick of it. The dreams, the thoughts, the constant tightness of his chest, he just wanted to feel relaxed. He was responsible for so much, but in control of so little. Now this.

He looked back towards Shawna, her face unreadable. Sighing, he kept walking, following the faint glow in the dark. Nire had given the both of them a lantern to share and the two walked together; close enough to benefit from the light but far enough to avoid conversation or contact. He wished he was brave enough to close that gap.

The light ahead stopped moving and began to flash. Blink. Blink. Blink blink. Adlai tensed. Blue lights began to glow around them. Slow, dim flashes contrasted the frantic blinking coming from Nire’s lantern. Shawna grabbed his arm, the pressure almost painful.

She whispered into his ear. “What does the flashing mean?”

Adlai stopped moving forward, his entire body tense. “Danger.”

The lantern began to move again, rapidly bobbing up and down. The dim blips of blue grew more frantic, and a slow tide of light was beginning to grow behind the bobbing orange light.

“She’s running.”

“Adlai?”

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sheer amount of light heading towards them, a veritable deluge of blue. Shawna yanked his arm hard and started dragging him with her back towards the hut. Adlai dug his heels in.

“Adlai! What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you want to die?”

“We can’t leave her.”

“Yes we can! Now let’s go, we don’t owe her anything! Get off your ass and come on!”

“I’m not leaving her!” Any semblance of speaking quietly was abandoned with Adlai’s shout.

Shawna’s face turned cold in the dim light of the lantern. “So for her, you stay, but for me, you leave.”

Adlai felt his face redden. “No! It’s- I don’t want to make the same mistake.”

A small smile formed on her face. Sad and pitiful, but still a smile. “Good to see you learned your lesson dumbass.”

She let go of his arm, pulling something out of her pocket.

“You stole a flashbang?”

“It’s gonna be helpful now isn’t it?” Shawna handed the flashbang over to him just as Nire broke through the suffocating dark.

“Run ya idiots! Run!” Her eyes widened with surprise seeing the flashbang in Adlai’s hand.

“You took-? I like the both of ya a lot. Time for a live demo!” Nire acted quickly, lighting the fuse and throwing it towards the horde of needle-worms.

The lit fuse painted a streak of sparks in the air before being engulfed by the living wave of blue light. Adlai turned away, grabbing Shawna by the arm. In front of him, all was dark. Then, there was light.

Adlai was running now, Shawna being dragged by him in turn. Nire was ahead of them laughing maniacally. He snuck a look behind and saw the blue tide had washed over into black, the worms unmoving. He finally started to catch up to Nire, her ragged scientist’s coat flowing behind her.

“Are they dead?” Adlai gasped, his breathing ragged.

“Nah, just sleepin. Although sleepin probably wouldn’t be the right word for it. Anyways, we have to get back to make sure Stacy’s safe.”

“Stacy?”

“Averi. What did I say?”

“When will they wake up?” Shawna asked.

“We’ve got a good amount of time, I’m just surprised the flashbang even worked!” Nire laughed again.

Adlai’s face paled. “You didn’t know if it worked?”

“I knew it would work! I just never tested it.”

“You are insane.”

“And you stink. Stinky boy. See where insults get you? Nowhere. See, this is why I like Stacy, she’s very kind and respectful to her mother, ya know what I mean?”

Shawna butt in. “Who the fuck is Stacy?”

“Stacy. Stacy, she’s my daughter. Who’s Stacy?” Nire had her hands on her head, her eyes wide.

“She’s… She was with me when I found it. Something happened, I-i can’t remember.” Nire sputtered something out, hands shaking. “DON’T TOUCH IT! Contagion, intelligent. Affecting cognitive function. She’s fading fast! DO SOMETHING!”

She collapsed to the ground sobbing, any semblance of authority crumpled with her. She was jerked up again, unsteadily rising to her feet.

“Please don’t make me remember again,

please it hurts please-“ as if a switch was flipped, Nire stopped talking and her eyes glazed over for a second before that damned smile of hers came back.

“Sorry about that, what were you saying? I didn’t catch all of it, ya know what I mean?”

The tears that had been flowing down her face had dried, and any trace of lucidity had been erased. Adlai stared in quiet horror at this broken piece of a person. Shawna had the same look on her face tinged with fear.

“What is it? Cat got ya tongue?” Nire laughed hard at her own joke.

She started walking again towards the hut, apparently completely unaware of what happened. Adlai and Shawna fell behind the researcher, just out of earshot.

“You saw that too right? Adlai, this lady is crazy. There’s something seriously wrong. Let’s grab Averi and go. She’ll be fine without us.”

“You’re right. We’ll leave.”