“Wow, that is a lot to take in. Being infected by an alien parasite so that we can stay here and help you build a society that will eventually conquer the planet.”
“Well, I suppose you can put it that way, yes.” We had been gathered at the center palapa, all of us had been here for about two weeks now. Working and just getting to know everyone a little better, helping build this place a little bigger and better every day.
“What? You are joking right.” Oliver had been complaining a chunk of the time he was here, although he seemed to be getting better. He seemed to enjoy the quiet walks through the garden, and even started talking to a few people more often.
“No, we are not. It is hard to believe but it is true, Liz is grabbing Tony to show you a more believable example.”
The soft pounding in the distance caught everyone’s attention, we looked over to see Liz coming through a large gap in the outer trees. Behind her was a massive rock creature, covered in stone and amber. As it approached the sheer size of the creature became evident, it had to be over eight feet tall. It followed Liz like a lost puppy and once it reached us it lowered itself onto the ground, its floating limbs dropping onto the ground with a soft thump.
“This is Tony, he is one of the other species that John mentioned. We aren’t entirely sure what he is or why, he doesn’t talk much. But he is pretty docile and follows orders pretty well, currently we just allow him to eat some of the dirt instead of moving it to level the ground. Normally he stays in a small cave on the other side of camp.”
“What the fuck.” Destiny was pretty surprised about the whole thing, as she tried to understand the whole impossible scenario in front of us.
“I suppose that makes some sense” Chas had known Nate from before he had joined up, from what little he said. Apparently Nate looked way different from what he used to, he was taller and better looking, as was Cat.
I mean it was as hard to believe as this place being built by 7 people over the course of a few months. Everything seemed so neat and well constructed, so some kind of futuristic foreign fungus creature helping out, made…sense, I guess. I mean weirder things have happened before, probably, not to me but I am sure they have happened.
“Yeah, no I am out of here.” Alex got up and walked away, he seemed like he was really enjoying the place. Lost a little weight, started talking more with everyone, seemed like he was getting out of his funk.
“What do you mean you are out, I thought you were enjoying it here.” I asked as he walked out of the shaded building and into the sun. He seemed to be heading over to the bunkhouse, most likely to grab his stuff and leave.
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“I mean that this is fucking crazy, truthfully I didn’t want to believe that this place was real. And oh look it isn’t, just a bunch of psychopaths that think they are aliens or some nonsense.”
“You are looking at a two ton rock monster and you call them crazy for actually believing the thing they are seeing.'' Chas seemed pretty convinced that they were telling the truth, I thought I was going to be the only one to stay to be honest.
“Yeah, no I am gone. You guys can stay here and get some fungal infection that apparently rots your brain. I am going back to town, and forgetting this place. Thank you all for the nice two week vacation, but I am not joining your fucking cult.”
“Woah, woah, they treated you like family and helped you out. Now when they ask for something in return you are packing your shit and leaving. I mean seriously what the hell is…” Chas was getting annoyed, even a little angry at Alex. It was hard to argue either point really, I mean they did so much for us over the last two weeks. Granted it was also a lot to ask for someone to essentially give their life to something they had only known about for two weeks.
“It is alright that is why we asked. If any of you wish to leave you are welcome to, this is not a demand nor an obligation. The only thing we ask is that you do not spread our little secret around.”
“Whatever, I just want to go back to town. Find someplace to work and get the hell away from this place before you decide to invade town or whatever.”
“Yeah, this seems like a lot for me too. I don’t know about this.”
“Well if you are having second thoughts you can stay until you make up your mind. Even see how the others react to the connection if they wish too. So are the rest of you willing to join?”
“Yeah sure, not like I had much left for me on the outside anyway.”
Chas turned to look at Nate. “Yeah, I suppose so. I wanna see what this whole bonding thing is about.”
“I’m all in, it sounds like fun. What will we be able to do with the connection, I mean is it just being connected to each other or what?”
“It will become more clear once you are connected, but it will open up a whole new world for all of you.” Niki said with a gleam in her eyes. It was strange and perhaps a little concerning that we were all so willing to join this cult. But when Tony came walking around I suppose the adrenaline and new perspective made it feel like everything was so small compared to this little place. Like looking up into the night sky and finally realizing that we are just a single spec in the infinite universe above. Why bother worrying about the petty problems here on Earth when our lives are so short compared to the life of the universe itself.
“Very well, if you wish to stay and watch Oliver then you can. Otherwise everyone else will be taking the next couple of days off to better understand and learn of the bond.”
“Alright, let's see what this whole bond thing is then.” Oliver sat down on one of the stools as we took our place across from each other.
Nate stood across from Chas, while I stood across from Cat, Destiny matched with Liz while everyone else stood to the side. We proceeded with the strange ‘bonding’ ritual which got weirder when they said they wanted to trade blood with us. Destiny kinda took a step back, but Liz reassured her that it would be alright since they weren’t actually giving us their blood.
“It will take a few moments for the connection to be there, until then it will feel like a strange sucking sensation. Just relax and let the process work, don’t reject what is to come, it will just make it harder for everyone.”
Destiny took a deep breath at the ominous statement. “Let’s just do this, before I have time to change my mind.”
A small cut on each of our palms and then we just held hands for a while. The sensation was weird but like putting your hand up to a vacuum weird, not being infected by a moss monster weird. So we sat there in vague silence for a few minutes, until they all suddenly pulled back their hands at the same time.
I looked down to see that the small cut on my hand was slowly stitching itself closed. A mild teal residue was left behind for a split second before it too disappeared. Leaving not even a scar on my palm. “Ohh yeah that is a little freaky.”
Hello, I am Myc. It is a pleasure to meet you all.