The Host (57 page)

You'll like Doc, I think.

“Is your name Sarah? Emily? Kristin?”

I stroked her soft cheek, but there was no response, so I took her limp hand in mine again. I gazed at the blue sky through the holes in the high ceiling. My mind wandered.

“I wonder what they'll do if Kyle never comes back. How long will they hide? Will they have to find a new home somewhere else? There are so many of them.… It won't be easy. I wish I could help them, but even if I could stay, I don't have any answers.

“Maybe they'll get to stay here… somehow. Maybe Kyle won't mess up.” I laughed humorlessly, thinking of the odds. Kyle wasn't a careful man. However, until that situation was resolved, I was needed. Maybe, if there were Seekers looking, they would need my infallible eyes. It might take a long time, and that made me feel warmer than the sun on my skin. Made me feel grateful that Kyle was impetuous and selfish. How long until we were sure we were safe?

“I wonder what it's like here when it gets cold. I can barely re-member feeling cold. And what if it rains? It has to rain here sometime, doesn't it? With all these holes in the roof, it must get really wet. Where does everyone sleep then, I wonder.” I sighed. “Maybe I'll get to find out.

Probably shouldn't bet on that, though. Aren't you curious at all? If you would wake up, you could get the answers.
I'm
curious. Maybe I'll ask Ian about it. It's funny to imagine things changing here.… I guess summer can't last forever.”

Her fingers fluttered for one second in my hand.

It took me by surprise because my mind had wandered away from the woman on the cot, beginning to sink into the melancholy that was always conveniently near these days.

I stared down at her; there was no change–the hand in mine was limp, her face still vacant.

Maybe I'd imagined the movement.

“Did I say something you were interested in? What was I talking about?” I thought quickly, watching her face. “Was it the rain? Or was it the idea of change? Change? You've got a lot of that ahead of you, don't you? You have to wake up first, though.” Her face was empty, her hand motionless.

“So you don't care for change. Can't say that I blame you. I don't want change to come, either.

Are you like me? Do you wish the summer could last?”

If I hadn't been watching her face so closely, I wouldn't have seen the tiny flicker of her lids.

“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.

Mell 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!
Mell 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.

They had to be human voices.

Kyle must be back.

Relief warred with pain as I hurried into the bright sunlight to see what was going on. Relief because my humans were safe. And pain because if Kyle was already safely back, then…

You're still needed, Wanda. So much more than I am.

I'm sure I could find excuses forever, Mel. There will always be some reason.

Then stay.

With you as my prisoner?

We stopped arguing as we assessed the commotion in the cavern.

Kyle
was
back–the easiest one to spot, the tallest in the crowd, the only one facing me. He was pinned against the far wall by the mob. Though he was the cause of the angry noise, he was not the source of it. His face was conciliatory, pleading. He held his arms out to the sides, palms back, as if there was something behind him he was trying to protect.

“Just calm down, okay?” His deep voice carried over the cacophony. “Back off, Jared, you're scaring her!”

A flash of black hair behind his elbow–an unfamiliar face, with wide, terrified black eyes, peeked around at the crowd.

Jared was closest to Kyle. I could see that the back of his neck was bright red. Jamie clung to one of his arms, holding him back. Ian was on his other side, his arms crossed in front of him, the muscles in his shoulders tight with strain. Behind them, every other human but Doc and Jeb was massed in an angry throng. They surged behind Jared and Ian, asking loud, angry questions.

“What were you thinking?”

“How dare you?”

“Why'd you come back at all?”

Jeb was in the back corner, just watching.

Sharon's brilliant hair caught my eye. I was surprised to see her, with Maggie, right in the center of the crowd. They'd both been so little a part of life here ever since Doc and I had healed Jamie.

Never in the middle of things.

It's the fight,
Mell guessed.
They weren't comfortable with happiness, but they're at home with
fury.

I thought she was probably right. How… disturbing.

I heard a shrill voice throwing out some of the angry questions and realized that Lacey was part of the crowd, too.

“Wanda?” Kyle's voice carried across the noise again, and I looked up to see his deep blue eyes locked on me. “
There
you are! Could you
please
come and give me a little help here?” CHAPTER 55

Attached

Jeb cleared a path for me, pushing people aside with his rifle as though they were sheep and the gun a shepherd's staff.

“That's enough,” he growled at those who complained. “You'll get a chance to dress 'im down later. We all will. Let's get this sorted out first, okay? Let me through.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Sharon and Maggie fall to the back of the crowd, melting away from the reinstatement of reason. Away from my involvement, really, more than anything else. Both with jaws locked, they continued to glare at Kyle.

Jared and Ian were the last two Jeb shoved aside. I brushed both of their arms as I passed, hoping to help calm them.

“Okay, Kyle,” Jeb said, smacking the barrel of the gun against his palm. “Don't try to excuse yourself, 'cause there ain't no excuse. I'm plain torn between kickin' ya out and shootin' ya now.” The little face, pale under the deep tan of her skin, peeped around Kyle's elbow again with a swish of long, curly black hair. The girl's mouth was hanging open in horror, her dark eyes frantic. I thought I could see a faint sheen to those eyes, a hint of silver behind the black.

“But right now, let's calm everybody down.” Jeb turned around, gun held low across his body, and suddenly it was as if he were guarding Kyle and the little face behind him. He glared at the mob. “Kyle's got a guest, and you're scarin' the snot out of her, people. I think you can all dig up some better manners than that. Now, all of you clear out and get to work on something useful.

My cantaloupes are dying. Somebody do something about that, hear?” He waited until the muttering crowd slowly dispersed. Now that I could see their faces, I could tell that they were already getting over it, most of them, anyway. This wasn't so bad, not after what they'd been fearing the last few days. Yes, Kyle was a self-absorbed idiot, their faces seemed to say, but at least he was back, no harm done. No evacuation, no danger of the Seekers. No more than usual, anyway. He'd brought another worm back, but then, weren't the caves full of them these days?