Shaggy awoke to the sounds of screams, the smell of burnt flesh, and Sybil’s face way too close to his. She was yelling something, but it took Shaggy a few seconds to parse her words. Although they should have been obvious given the circumstances.
“WAKE UP!”
Shaggy blinked his eyes and tried to shake the cobwebs from his mind. Sybil gave him a once over before her face disappeared from view. He felt his skin crinkle around his waist and looked down. The pink mass was gone, but his skin was blackened and charred. It was healing, but slowly. A pang in his stomach told him he needed to eat. He pulled himself to his feet as shouts and gunfire filled the cavern.
Vance was standing near a tree outside the dirt pit. Mari and Louise were gone. Off in the distance, Shaggy heard teens shouting in alarm and the crack of various guns. He sighed and pulled himself from the pit and walked his sore body toward Vance.
“What the hell is going on?” Shaggy croaked. Throat sore from screaming.
Vance checked his nails nonchalantly before he answered. “Well… it appears your little passenger jumped ship. It tried to jump the kid, but Louis got in the way and his ice power made the thing slide off. Then Syb tried to burn it, but the slimy bitch scuttled away. The kids went after it, but you were still burning. So Sybil and I put you out while that thing disappeared into the trees.”
Shaggy heard more shouts coming from the center of the cavern. “Is that what the screaming is about?”
Vance shrugged. “Yeah, the kids have kinda freaked a little. That pink parasite is somewhere down here and we haven’t been able to find it.”
“Great.”
“Well, they are doing pretty well, all things considered. They haven’t resorted to strip-searching each other yet. So far, they’ve just been jumping and shouting at every shadow that they think moves. Which is actually a lot down here.”
“So we got a pink parasite on the loose and a bunch of kids that have not yet grown paranoid about each other?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
Shaggy grunted and heaved another sigh before he trudged toward the cavalcade of noise. His pack link told him that Vick and the others were trying to calm things down. But apparently Mari and Louis had freaked out a bit. So now they had a bunch of kids arming themselves or flinging their powers at whatever was closest.
He felt dead skin flake off his body as he moved closer to the noise. The wounds had healed fine, but the Soul Damage, or whatever Sybil’s fire did, had thrown him for a loop. Shaggy momentarily had to check his health bar to see how he was doing.. But it was full, although that didn’t stop the soreness in his body. He made a mental note not to fuck with soul damage again if he could avoid it.
As he and Vance turned the corner around his half-built cabin, Shaggy saw Vick and Cekrass rounding a bunch of shouting teens up. A boy with brown hair attempted to sneak past Vick and tackle a girl with blond hair. At the same time, Cekrass was carrying a girl who was about the same size as Shaggy over his shoulder, while she cursed at another boy. Pure chaos had erupted around between the three buildings. Kids were checking trees, while yelling probing questions at each other. Which was almost smart. But the Quinica was a symbiotic parasite. Which meant that it would need the permission of whoever it latched on to before joining with them. Then it would have all the memories of the host body.
Although Shaggy guessed that a forced attachment could happen. But if that was the case, why hadn’t the parasite tried with him? Or had it? Shaggy shook off his questions as he stood in the square between the three buildings and tilted his head back. Sucking a lung full of air, Shaggy shouted as loud as he could.
“ALL YOU BRATS GET BACK TO THE CENTER!”
There was a lot of grumbling about the ‘brats’ comment, but Shaggy ignored it as he walked over to Vick and Cekrass. Sybil and Mari came running out of the trees nearby as Shaggy looked over at all the kids. He grumbled a bit about the baggy clothes they were all wearing. That was going to make finding the parasite that much harder, if it had latched onto someone. Shaggy raised an eyebrow as Mari slid to a stop in front of him.
“Louis is watching the entrance tunnel.”
Shaggy nodded. “Is he clean?”
“He’s iced up, which seemed to stop the thing the first time.”
Shaggy shrugged. That was going to have to be good enough. Turning, Shaggy got a good look at the number of teens they had down here. Vick and the others had gotten them separated into two groups. Doing their best to separate the ones that were trying to attack one another. Shaggy took a whiff of the scents in the air. Sweat, anger, fear, shampoos and other cleaning products. They all swirled around the group of seventeen kids. Shaggy felt it was weird he had never counted them all before, but he brushed it off as he tried to eliminate each scent one by one.
Vick, Sybil and Cekrass stood sentry over the kids while Shaggy paced up and down between them all. Mari was running between her friends, trying to calm them all down. Once Shaggy had gray-out the various smells, he stopped pacing and frowned. There were no more scents in the air. That was annoying. He wondered if they should divide up the groups by gender and have them take off their shirts. But there was also the possibility that the damn thing was hiding in the trees somewhere. He turned to go ask Vance his opinion and spotted a tall blonde-haired boy glancing at him.
Shaggy hadn’t bothered to learn the names of all the kids yet. But he was sure he had seen the kid around. The boy looked to be around seventeen or eighteen and was probably one of Luis’s friends. Shaggy switched back to his scent vision and turned on all the scents emanating from the boy. The sharp tang of fear and sweat wafted up from the boy and they seemed to double when he noticed Shaggy watching him. With a mental tug, Shaggy had the others get into position in case the boy ran for it.
He pushed his way into the pack of standing teens. But most seemed to get out of his way when they realized where he was headed. Shouts of alarm went up and people started moving away from the lanky boy. The boy himself seemed to sigh and closed his eyes, waiting for Shaggy. As Shaggy got close, though, he didn’t see the telltale sign of a pink mass under the kid’s shirt. But the scent of fear spiked as Shaggy examined the kid.
“What’s your name?”
The boy jolted at Shaggy’s voice, but stayed still. He adjusted his glasses as he tried to meet Shaggy’s eyes, but he wound up looking behind Shaggy as he shakily responded.
“S-s-s-s-Stanley, Sir.”
“Okay, Stanley. You know we had a Quinica parasite down here, right?”
“No, s-s-s-s-sir. We were just told that an alien was loose down here.”
Shaggy nodded slowly as he slowly walked around the boy. “Ahhhhh. Okay then. Well, the Quinica are a parasitic alien race that chooses a host to latch onto. Once they find a host, they enhance that person’s abilities and gave them features one would associate with a vampire. You with me, Stanley?”
The kid nodded as he stared forward. Still not meeting Shaggy’s eyes.
“I can understand the allure. You get some fantastic powers and all you have to do is agree to a permanent passenger in your body. Sounds pretty good. Right, Stanley?”
Another nod.
“Trouble is, we are at war with the Quinica, Stanley. They have seen fit to attack our gang on sight. So we have attempted to meet that in kind.”
Shaggy came to a stop right in front of Stanley and looked the boy in the eye. Stanley tried to look away, but didn’t seem able. He looked like a deer in the middle of the road staring at a truck barreling down on him. Shaggy stepped closer and got into Stanley’s personal space.
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“Knowing all of that, I would like to ask you a question, Stanley. Can you guess what that question is?”
The boy nodded so hard his glasses almost slipped off his face. Shaggy grinned, showing off his sharp, pointy teeth. Stanley stopped nodding and gulped as Shaggy took a step back and asked.
“Does your passenger intend to do us harm?”
Stanley blinked. “Huh?”
“Your Quinica. Is it an asshole?”
A swirl of pink roiled behind Stanley’s eyes and Shaggy tilted his head in confusion. He’d never seen that before. Stanley seemed to gather himself, and the scent of fear lessened a tiny fraction.
“I… uh… don’t think so, sir?”
Shaggy humphed. “Well, ask it.”
Stanley nodded before a far-off look came to his face. Around them, Shaggy saw multiple teens readying various powers. His own pack had pushed in and were shooting him worried looks. He shrugged at them. There was no sense killing the kid if the Quinica could be reasoned with. On top of that, Shaggy had another plan. But he wasn’t sure it was going to work.
“Uh... Sir?”
“Shaggy.”
“Yes. Shaggy, sir. Um… the Quinica seems confused, sir.”
“Yeah, I imagine.” Shaggy chuckled.
“It says you want to kill me and I should use its power to escape. Oh, and it says I shouldn’t have told you that. Now it’s saying I’m a… HEY! Fuck you, bubblegum!”
Stanley fell into a shouting match with himself and Shaggy used the moment to wave everyone else away. He didn’t think he needed any help with Stanley and his passenger. The Quinica didn’t seem able to override the boys’ orders. Vick and the others dispersed the kids as Mari approached Shaggy and Stanley. She arched an eyebrow and Stanley cursing himself out, but addressed Shaggy.
“You gonna kill him?”
Shaggy snorted at the forced calm in her voice. “Not if I can help it. But I may use him a bit.”
Mari nodded in understanding. “Okay, but go easy on him. He was the only one of Luis’s crew that was a normal. So it’s natural for him to grab at power when it’s offered.”
“Good to know.” Shaggy filed that little tidbit away as he tapped Stanley on the shoulder.
Silver armor sprung up on the boy’s shoulder and ripped through the kid’s shirt. Stanley spun in surprise as Shaggy readied his claws. But Stanley didn’t attack. Instead, he stared at his silver shoulder. Shaggy’s mind went to the Quinica he and his pack had fought in the alley. It also had the same silver armor. Shaggy had thought it was an advanced mob compared to the normal Quinica thugs. But maybe it was something different. As Stanley’s shoulder went back to normal, Shaggy asked.
“You got a handle on it?”
Stanley glanced up, still wide-eyed. “Huh? Uhh, yeah, sir. Uhh, Shaggy. I think it’s calmed down. It does not like you, though.”
“Noted and understandable. Now I wondered if you and your friend could answer a few questions?”
“I don’t think he is going to be useful, Sir. Shaggy. He says we have orders to kill you on site. He says the fact that I haven’t makes me… Utalqinta. Whatever that means… oh, it means a traitor. Then why didn’t you just say that?! Yes, I understand you speak a different language than me, but you could’ve…”
“Ahem,” Shaggy cut in before the pair could start arguing again. “Okay, so it seems that Stanley is in control. Is there any possibility that your new roommate could take over and kill us all?”
Stanley went silent for a few seconds. “Uh… No sir?”
“You know the question mark at the end of that doesn’t inspire confidence.”
Stanley nodded and fell into another silent conversation with his Quinica. As he did, thudding feet brought Shaggy’s eyes toward the path that led to the entrance tunnel. Louis was running full pelt toward them, and Shaggy was sure he smelt fear in the air. Louis slid to a stop and tried to huff out words.
“Trouble… Deli… Help.”
Shaggy groaned, but sent an all hands message to everyone. He wondered why Rita or Tom hadn’t pinged him from upstairs. But they were probably busy. Shaggy turned to tell Mari to stay down here, but the little terror was already off and running. In the distance, he could hear her shouting for everyone to arm themselves. Shaggy pinched the bridge of his nose as he grabbed Stanley by the arm. The silver armor grew from the boy’s skin again, but Shaggy ignored it as he hurried to the tunnel leading upwards.
“So I’m going to have to question you on the go, Stanley. If your Quinica gets uppity or ignores the question, just tell me. Got it?”
“Yes Sir, Shaggy.”
“First, can he attack other Quinica?”
“Yes, though he says he won’t kill his friends for you.”
“And if they try to kill you, Stanley?”
“He’ll defend me.”
“Okay. Why hasn’t he abandoned ship yet? You're clearly not inclined to attack anyone here. So why stay?”
Stanley went quiet before asking. “Really? Uh, he says it is because he is curious. Also leaving would kill his host… um, me and that would be inconvenient. Asshole.”
Shaggy stopped before the exit to the Kobold tunnel and stared into Stanley’s eyes. “Okay, I am addressing the pink mass of trouble inside this kid. You hear me?”
Stanley nodded and Shaggy saw another swirl of pink behind the boy’s eyes.
“Good. You will not hurt this kid. If you do, I’ll have Sybil burn you with that green flame until you are cinders. You also have to recognize that you are now on the opposite side of the Quinica’s war. Inhabiting an opposing combatant. So either your allegiances change or you abandon ship and take your chances.”
Shaggy saw a shiver shoot through Stanley’s body and he quickly finished what he wanted to say.
“However, if you stay. I want you to know I will do everything I can to make your new host stronger. You can stay and get stronger with us or you can return to being just another foot-soldier. Think about that as we go up.”
Shaggy rushed down the tunnels toward the surface. Sybil and Cekrass followed along behind Stanley as Vick ran along with the kids. It seemed everyone had armed themselves as best they could. The Sharpshooter was going over energy weapon safety as they ran and Shaggy hoped to the gods of gaming that the kids were listening. Last thing he needed was an energy bolt to the back.
As he turned into the maintenance tunnel, Shaggy tried to guess who was causing trouble upstairs. Smart money said the Wild Bunch, but the Quinica were out in packs and for all he knew, Stanley’s passenger could communicate with the other Quinica somehow. They had never displayed telepathic abilities before. But these new Quinica were full of surprises. Then again, for all Shaggy knew, it could be the cops knocking at their door.
Shaggy took the stairs into the deli two at a time. He kept an ear out for raised voices, but all he heard was Tom yapping away something or other. He passed through the back of the deli and jumped the counter before he came to a stop in the center of the room. Rita was by the door, sword out and glaring into the street. Shaggy followed her gaze as the sound of thudding feet came from behind him. Shaggy swore and turned. He found Stanley standing behind the counter, looking wide-eyed and afraid. Shaggy gripped the boy by his shoulder and pulled him over the counter. He lost his grip as the boy’s flesh turned to armor again, but that didn’t stop Shaggy from getting in his face and growling.
“How did he do it?!” Shaggy yelled at Stanley.
The boy was terrified as the armor seemed to swallow his whole body. Shaggy kept a hand on the boy’s chest while the armor was finished. Once it was done, Stanley’s face was a silver mask and all he could do was shake his head. A slit formed in the silver face armor and Stanley's voice shouted out.
“He says he didn’t do it. They can’t communicate telepathically when they are in a host.”
Shaggy nodded and turned back to look out the windows of the deli. In the street, surrounding the two sides of the deli, were Quinica. Dozens of Quinica. He wasn’t sure how they had found them, but he knew a fight was brewing. Vick and the kids took positions at the counter as Cekrass moved to guard the side door with Sybil. Shaggy grabbed a sandwich off a nearby table. He didn’t know whose it was. But he was going to need the energy. Nearby, Sybil reached into her pocket and grabbed a candy bar. She flung it at him and Shaggy rapidly devoured the treat as he stared at Stanley. He was going to have to test his idea now and hope for the best.
“Stanley. I need you to answer a question.”
“What? I mean, yes, sir.”
Shaggy reached a hand down to the boy’s own armored hand and grasped it. “Do you want to be a part of my pack?”