Parasite

She slid her fingers along the wall of the tunnel. Her toes felt the edge of the stone path too late and she landed on sticks and mud. “Help! Anybody here?”



“I hear you.” She heard a voice. “Have you brought a way out of here?”



“No. I got lost and fell down here too.”



“That is a disappointment for you, but you might be very useful to me.” The voice was all butter smooth and brandy in the inky darkness. “If not, I might have to kill you.”



“What?” She twisted around, scared.



“It depends on the right type of brain. I must investigate. Let me see you.” The voice snaked into her mind.



She stood transfixed by a tiny, weak light bobbing in what was the middle of a cave. Before it winked out she saw the floor covered in bones.



“What I want is a body slave; someone to function as an extension of me. I can ride along in your mind and acquire everything I need to break out of here. I was brought here when there was just ice and emptiness - the perfect prison. I was to be marooned here. They thought what they had found here then was permanent. They were not expecting the ice to thaw. I saw you creatures were primitive but now I had something I could work with. I was like a child with a new toy. Popping you open was educational. All I had to do was study you thoroughly, and I had time to do so. I observed your thoughts are just chemical manipulations and I’ve hatched a plan. The pain is only momentary.” It lit up the cave as it unfolded appendages, unhinged its jaws and extended its stinger.



She didn’t have time to even scream.