For Rain, his unexpectedly delicious meal was pushed down by a can of apple juice, while Sean and Alice each used a can of orange juice—J, sadly, had nothing to drink.

It was not like Rain hadn’t offered her a can of juice, though, she was the one who wasn’t interested.

Her similarity to humans seemed to stop in her brain, her tastebuds were still leaning towards her jungle side, and unlike Rain, she wasn’t willing to switch sides because of her thirst. At least that was what he understood from her actions.

Rain sighed and returned into Alice’s bag the cans of peach and apple juice he had brought to J for her to make a choice.

That there should have been the end of anything concerning food, but Sean had other ideas. He went for dessert, chowing down on a bar of chocolate.

Alice didn’t like that, but she gave up soon enough. After all, what good was stopping Sean when he’d already begun to nibble on the bar of chocolate? It would just be a waste then. At the end of the day, it was better to let him eat it than to throw it away, or wrap it back up. The latter was not considered because the chocolate bar was already expired, letting air get into it would ruin it, rendering it abjectly useless.

She warned him, though. This was the last time she would allow it. Rain was certain it wasn’t.

As for the rest of the Mutated Wolverine’s roasted meat, Alice wrapped it up in a foil wrap she had taken from the M&S mall—one of the many goods she’d looted—and stored it in her bag.

Since it was roasted it wouldn’t spoil anytime soon. They had a meal to last them for a while now as long as it was rationed well.

Sure, they could just hunt down another beast once their current stock was exhausted, but that would slow them down. It was best to avoid any and every beast and plow forward to the GEF.

Delay wasn’t good considering what the world had turned into. Especially when things like that Chimera Anaconda and the Wraiths existed. The more time they wasted on their travels, the easier it would be for unforeseen things to happen. And those were rarely good. An example was the man Alice and Rain were standing over now.

“Can I hit him once—break his nose like he did mine, perhaps?” Rain murmured, maybe to himself, but he was not the only one who’d heard.

“If you wish,” Alice answered nonchalantly.

“Tch. Let’s just get on with what we’re doing.” He paused suddenly and blinked two times. “What even is that?”

Alice delayed for a second. “I told you already. We have to get something out of him.”

“And that is?” Rain was extremely curious now.

“A brain-eater.” Alice tightened her grip on the candle she was holding, the fire atop it swaying softly. Rain was about to speak when she cut him off by continuing, “Don’t ask. It’d be faster to show you.” He kept his lips together at that. She was right. Nothing beat having visuals, and it was not like she would not still explain then. “Hold him steady and tip his head to his side.” Alice’s instructions came, and Rain moved.

He bent down, held the still unconscious man by his shoulder, and tipped his head at an angle that was not too low or high. Alice then squatted beside him and positioned the candle she held underneath the man’s ear.

Even though Rain was somewhat frightened of the various scenarios that could possibly arise from putting something as dangerous as fire close to a person, he kept his words well down his throat.

Alice knew what she was doing. She always did.

It was only a few seconds later before both Rain’s curiosity and fright were banished from his mind.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Something came out of the madman’s ear—something worm-like. And, of course, Alice did not hesitate to instantly grab it with her forefingers and pull it out completely. She then quenched the candle’s flame while stretching the thing at Rain.

“Brain-eater?” Rain murmured as he watched it wiggle in a futile attempt to escape from Alice’s hold.

It had glistening black skin that was stained by patches of ear wax and bits of blood, and on the place that seemed to be its head was a tiny claw-like appendage—presumably a pincer—snapping violently.

“Yes,” Alice said. “This is a brain-eater.” Rain simply gulped as he let go of his grip on the madman, who Alice now turned her gaze to. There was blood trickling out of his ear. “It’s a parasite that invades a human’s or animal’s body and slowly takes control of their minds.” She turned back to Rain who was watching her silently. “Then it makes their emotions spiral out of control and pushes them to their early death so that it can eat their brains.”

“Wh—” Rain almost exclaimed, but he was able to stop himself in the nick of time; he did not want to wake up Sean and J who were already fast asleep.

Alice nodded. “I know. It seems crazy. But that’s not the worst of it all.” She stood up, walked to the fireplace, and threw the wiggling brain-eater into it. Slowly it shrunk, and before long turned into ashes. “Brain-eaters do not feed on brains because they’re hungry, they feed on it to reproduce.” Rain’s brows narrowed. “Once a brain-eater feasts on a brain it dies after leaving its host's body, then the nutrients its body absorbs will fertilize the eggs in its body and more brain-eaters will be produced.”

A shaky one-sided smile appeared on Rain’s face. “What the hell?”

“Yes. One brain-eater produces four. If you ever feel like you’ve begun to act irrationally, get a fire and get the thing out of your body. Also…”

Rain understood where Alice was going with this. “If I come across someone who seems to be infested by a brain-eater I should make sure not to kill them, right?”

“Any that pleases you.” Then she fell silent for a while. A few seconds later she added, “You can kill them, but once the brain-eater leaves their body you make sure to burn it before it reproduces.”

Rain was surprised, however he did not let it show on his face.

He had considered the option Alice proposed a possibility, but he had not been expecting her to actually bring it up.

Had he mischaracterized her? Was it not all a mask and she actually was not the kind woman he thought she was?

Because he did not want to start doubting his choice of wanting her as an ally, Rain decided to take his mind away from such disheartening thoughts.

“Why did you not suspect me to be infested by a brain-eater at the mall?”

“I just told you. Emotions spiral out of control. You acted rationally at the mall; someone infested by a brain-eater would try to get into a fight as soon as they see a chance to.”

I see… Rain recalled when his emotions had gotten the better of him with J, but slicing open his palm would obviously have not led to his death. There was also his journey into the storm, though Alice would have reasoned that the fact he came back alive meant he was not suicidal.

Yeah. Everything pointed to him being free of the suicidal chains of the brain-eaters.

“Hello…” Rain’s gaze shot towards the curtained window of the parlor. He had just heard a voice come from there—an old lady’s. “Could any of you young ones open the door for me? It’s so dark out here, and an old lady can only walk around in it for so long.”

Rain’s face tightened. “A Wraith, huh?”

“Yeah,” Alice answered. “Ignore it. It’ll leave when it gets no answer.”

At that moment Rain’s mind flew to his stay at the hospital and he shuddered.

Why had no Wraith appeared to deceive him then, giving that it would have most likely worked? Was it because he was on the upper floor, and it would be unrealistic if a person was asking to be let in from that height? That seemed reasonable. For the Wraiths to be able to mimic humans, it meant that they were smart beings.

He exhaled, calming his thoughts down.

“Take the first watch,” Alice said as she spread a sheet over the floor and lay down. “Wake me up when you’re feeling sleepy.”

Rain looked at her and smiled. “Sure.” Then he stood up, took his medical records file out of his bag, as well as a pen he had picked up from the mall, and sat on the floor, near the couch beside J.

He had a ton of questions to ask Alice, most he would have already put forth during their journey, but because she had been extremely focused on avoiding dangers as much as she could, he’d decided to save them for later. Now he would have to do the same once more. She looked really tired.

“Young one, you’re awake, aren’t you? Would you open the door? I have a child here with me,” the old woman Wraith continued. “It’s quite cold out here too.”

Why did you not mention the child sooner?!

“I’ll be there in a moment. Give me a second,” Rain muttered as he flipped open his file and began to work on the faded words within it.