The Host(222)

“It’s Wanda,” Doc reminded her.

The woman was sitting up now, and Doc was sitting beside her with his hand on her arm.

“That’s the soul,” the woman whispered anxiously to Doc.

“Yes, but she’s a friend.”

The woman eyed me doubtfully.

“Doc? You’ve got a few more visitors. Is that okay?”

Doc looked at the woman. “These are all friends, all right? More of the humans who live here with me. None of them would ever dream of hurting you. Can they come in?”

The woman hesitated, then nodded cautiously. “Okay,” she whispered.

“This is Ian,” I said, motioning him forward. “And Jared, and Jeb.” One by one, they walked into the room and stood beside me. “And this is Kyle and… uh, Sunny.”

Doc’s eyes bugged wide as Kyle, Sunny attached to his side, entered the room.

“Are there any more?” the woman whispered.

Doc cleared his throat, trying to compose himself. “Yes. There are a lot of people who live here. All… well, mostly humans,” he added, staring at Sunny.

“Trudy is on her way,” I told Doc. “Maybe Trudy could…” I glanced at Sunny and Kyle. “. . . find a room for… her to rest in?”

Doc nodded, still wide-eyed. “That might be a good idea.”

“Who’s Trudy?” the woman whispered.

“She’s very nice. She’ll take care of you.”

“Is she human, or is she like that one?” She nodded toward me.

“She’s human.”

This seemed to ease the woman’s mind.

“Oh,” Sunny gasped behind me.

I turned to see her staring at the cryotanks that held the Healers. They were standing in the middle of Doc’s desk, the lights on top glowing muted red. On the floor in front of the desk, the seven remaining empty tanks were piled in an untidy heap.

Tears sprang to Sunny’s eyes again, and she buried her face against Kyle’s chest.

“I don’t want to go! I want to stay with you,” she moaned to the big man she seemed to trust so completely.

“I know, Sunny. I’m sorry.”

Sunny broke down into sobs.

I blinked fast, trying to keep the tears from my own eyes. I crossed the small space to where Sunny stood, and stroked her springy black hair.

“I need to talk to her for a minute, Kyle,” I murmured.

He nodded, his face troubled, and pulled the clinging girl from his side.

“No, no,” she begged.

“It’s okay,” I promised. “He’s not going anywhere. I just want to ask you a few questions.”

Kyle turned her to face me, and her arms locked around me. I pulled her to the far corner of the room, as far from the nameless woman as I could get. I didn’t want our conversation to confuse or frighten the Healer’s host any more than she already was. Kyle followed, never more than a few inches away. We sat on the floor, facing the wall.

“Jeez,” Kyle murmured. “I didn’t think it would be like this. This really sucks.”

“How did you find her? And catch her?” I asked. The sobbing girl didn’t react as I questioned him; she just kept crying on my shoulder. “What happened? Why is she like this?”

“Well, I thought she might be in Las Vegas. I went there first, before I went on to Portland. See, Jodi was really close to her mother, and that’s where Doris lived. I thought, seeing how you were about Jared and the kid, that maybe she would go there, even when she wasn’t Jodi. And I was right. They were all there at the same old house, Doris’s house: Doris, and her husband, Warren—they had other names, but I didn’t hear them clearly—and Sunny. I watched them all day, until it was nighttime. Sunny was in Jodi’s old room, alone. I snuck in after they’d all been asleep for hours. I yanked Sunny up, threw her over my shoulder, and jumped out the window. I thought she was going to start screaming, so I was really booking it back to the jeep. Then I was afraid because she didn’t start screaming. She was just so quiet! I was afraid she had… you know. Like that guy we caught once.”

I winced—I had a more recent memory.

“So I pulled her off my shoulder, and she was alive, just staring up at me, all wide-eyed. Still not screaming. I carried her back to the jeep. I’d been planning to tie her up, but… she didn’t look that upset. She wasn’t trying to get away, at least. So I just buckled her in and started driving.

“She just stared at me for a long time, and then finally she said, ‘You’re Kyle,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, who are you?’ and she told me her name. What is it again?”