Sometimes a Bullet is the Only Solution: Part One

Falling through the air as he has multiple times before, Luca landed on the ground with a thud.

About to stand up, Luca heard the squeal of tires and looking up he was met with the glow of a set of headlights. Barely able to react, the vehicle crashed into him and flung his body over a dozen feet before he came to a rolling stop.

'Fuck…Ahhhh…' Luca felt excruciating pain like he'd never felt before as each nerve was on fire from the damage caused by the vehicle. He couldn't scream out though as his vocal cords were damaged from the crash.

As the seconds passed, the pain only increased as each part of his body healed and moved back into its original place.

"Oh no…what did I do…I can't leave him Melanie…that's horrible…why would you say that...wait are you seeing this…"

Wanderer who was inhabiting the body of Melanie Stryder was the one to hit Luca and was standing in front of his body that was demolished and partially in pieces with parts of him scattered around.

However, she observed as the damaged parts of his body were shifting back into place and healing over.

Luca, who was lying on the ground, finally had his vocal cords repaired and he instantly started to moan in pain.

"Ahhh…shit...fuck…I hate God…dumb son of a bitch…fucker…" Wanderer who was standing a foot away, heard the mutterings of Luca and thought he was in shock.

His skull and spine finally healed allowing him to move again slightly and Luca looked over at his guest.

"Saoirse Ronan…wait no…Melanie…what was it…Stryder…" The duo in a single body heard Luca say Melanie's name and instantly were on edge.

"How do you know her name? Who are you…weird young self-healer…" Hearing them speak to him, Luca stared at the confusing person/alien.

"My name's Luca and I was sent here to save you…still am, but I need a minute to heal…"

Wanderer trusting people immediately stood back and waited for Luca to heal, while Melanie yelled from inside telling the alien to run.

Bones snapped back into place and flesh wounds disappeared, which allowed Luca to slowly stand up.

Stepping over to him, Wanderer gave him an arm, so he could steady himself.

"Ahh thanks Wanderer…it's you right because I feel like Melanie would have left me…or tried to kill me..."

The alien was surprised to hear that Luca knew who she was as well.

"You know me as well, mysterious young self-healer…"

"Yeah…give me a second…" Letting go of Wanderers arm, he started to stretch his body, and everything cracked which made the duo cringe slightly at the sounds.

"Aww that felt good…phew…" Turning his gaze to Wanderer, he looked the woman up and down.

"Melanie doesn't trust you…" She said out of the blue.

"Doesn't surprise me…where are we by the way…" Looking around, all he could see was desert in all directions.

Wanderer looked around and then a look of realization came over her face. "You tricked me Melanie…This is the wrong direction…you sent me in the wrong direction…"

'This part...really.' Luca's face slowly turned to one of annoyance at the situation that he could tell was already turning bad.

"Stop fighting you two…I'm annoyed enough as it is…my body hurts quite a bit…stupid phantom pain…anyways there will be no arguing or complaining as my patience is quickly fading…"

"I'm sorry mysterious young self-healer who knows Melanie and I, but we must leave and go towards my healer…" Turning around, Wanderer was about to head to the car, but the strong grip of Luca stopped her in place.

"Now I'm sorry to tell you this Wanderer, but you and Miss Stryder are coming with me…we've got a date with Uncle Jeb or whatever his name was…"

Trying to break free, Wanderer was unsuccessful in her endeavor and stopped after a few seconds.

"Now I don't know the way, so I'll leave the navigation to you…Melanie…tell Wanderer where to go and if the Soul or whatever they're called doesn't listen, freak out in some way and let me know…I'm human by the way so you don't need to worry...the healing may make it seem otherwise...but there's a reason for that..."

Letting go, Luca made his way over to the passenger seat and climbed inside, shutting the door behind him.

The Soul took a bit longer, but she still made her way inside as well and shut her door. She seemed to hesitate for a second, then turned the engine on and put it into drive.

Pulling away, Luca glanced back at the tiny specks of flesh that still littered the ground and wondered if there would be any issues. Deciding to forget about it since he wouldn't be in the world forever, Luca stared out the passenger window and observed the mountains.

Trying to reminisce about the entire story, Luca started to go over the details in his head.

'A world of humans who are taken over by an alien species of parasites. Melanie is some random girl with a strong will...tries to kill herself to protect her brother...Jamie, I think it is...why's my memory so good with something this vague...huh...doesn't die and gets taken over by Wanderer...an old soul...manipulates the trusting soul into finding her family...some bad shit happens to them...nearly dies in the desert...almost killed by the vengeful humans who are with her uncle Jeb...finds her brother and lover...Jared...some more shit happens...a seeker wants Melanie...hmm...Wanderer figures out that the humans are trying to remove souls...hates them for being brutal...doesn't anymore when Jamie gets hurt...saves him...then leaves her body and gets a new one...the end...Fuck this is going to be annoying...'

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Time passed quickly and within an hour, they slowed down and turned onto a dirt road which led out into the desert.

"Is this the right way, Melanie…" Staring directly at the face of Melanie who was occupied by Wanderer, he waited for a response.

"Yes…YES…" the first yes, he could tell was Wanderer, but the second almost seemed like an outburst which was clearly Melanie.

'This is so weird..." Luca thought, knowing that the girl was trapped inside her body by a parasite and could only gain control for a brief second.

"Good…I'm sort of sorry for not trusting and threatening you Wanderer, but I despise the idea of being conscious and having no control over my body…I used to live like that…" He mumbled the last part too quietly for Wanderer or Melanie to hear.

"It's okay…" Shutting her mouth, Luca guessed the conversation was over and decided to do something else with his time. Shifting into his suit and pulling one of his pistols out, he freaked the duo out, but didn't care.

Trying to disassemble it for the first time, he quickly realized the gun was one solid piece of equipment and didn't have any extra parts. Putting it away, he thought about taking his model Pteranodon, but decided against it when he thought of someone shooting it as a target or a Soul patrol noticing it.

Sitting back, he closed his eyes, testing if Wanderer could be trusted not to do anything, while he seemed unaware.

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Opening his eyes when the vehicle stopped, Luca noticed the cabin in the desert which looked like a complete mess.

Wanderer shut the engine off and stepped outside seemingly in a trance from the sight that was in front of her.

Luca got out as well but didn't move anywhere and instead watched the alien out of curiosity.

"Is this what you hoped to find Melanie…it doesn't seem like anyone's inside…" Luca could hear the confusion and disappointment in Wanderer/Melanie's voice.

"Of course, they aren't inside…who would stay out in the open…well except for those guys…" Pointing off at a ridge in the distance, Wanderer turned a looked where Luca was pointing and could barely make out the two figures.

Luca however could see them pretty well and one of them was aiming a rifle at the duo.

"They don't seem very nice…pointing a gun at us…" Luca muttered jokingly, however Wanderer reacted quickly in a scared manner.

Glancing over at her, he could see the fear and decided to be slightly nice to the confused Soul.

"It's fine they can't hurt you…you've got a barrier around you that will stop any bullets…" Wanderer was about to say something, but a spark flashed in front of her, scaring the soul, then a gunshot rang out in the ridge.

"Did they really just fire, when attracting attention is like the one thing, they can't do…amateurs…"

Stepping over to Wanderer, he held the Soul by the arm gently and nodded at her to say it was okay to move.

"You'll be fine Wanderer trust me…" Laughing internally at what he said, Luca walked with the duo like they were an old lady. They slowly made their way towards the shooters who were freaking out at what they were seeing.

The one with the rifle raised it again and shot, however it turned out the same as before and ricocheted away.

"This guy doesn't give up…" Luca muttered to himself, then tilted his head to the sky slightly.

"You better stop shooting or else when I get there, I'll make you float above a raging river wondering if you'll fall into the rapids and drown…" Luca's yelling caused his voice to spread out into the distance and he clearly noticed that the shooters heard it.

Somehow the gunman still hadn't realized the situation and shot again only to fail again.

" I guess floating it is…" His voice spread out to the gunman, and it seemed he was about to shoot again; however multiple people came over the ridge and yelled at the duo.

Among them, Luca could see what looked like Melanie's uncle, though his memory wasn't completely perfect, so it was a decent guess at best.

Coming closer and closer, no one shot whatsoever, but he could tell the group was on edge, especially after one of them probably told the group that Luca is rolling with a soul. How they could tell surprised Luca, but it was pretty obvious with how they were standing.

His mask obscured his identity, so it was impossible to tell if he was human or an occupied one.

Right when they were around 15 feet away from each other, Jeb came to the front and motioned for Luca and Wanderer to stop.

"Uncle Jeb...Aunt Maggie..." Wanderer called out to them and tried to move, but Luca held her arm, so she wasn't able too.

"You don't fool us...Why are you here parasites…" Aunt Maggie yelled out with rage clear as day on her face. the woman's older features looked haunting from the rage and pain she was experiencing.

"Hold up…did you just assume that I was occupied…rude…that's a bit xenophobic don't you think…though you're not wrong about her being a parasite…" Luca pointed over at Wanderer who seemed slightly confused and frightened at what was going on.

"Can we see your face to make sure…" Luca easily obliged and removed his suit completely absorbing it back into himself.

This freaked everyone out and some rifles were raised. " If those guns stay pointed at me, I will give you the same treatment he's going to get…" Luca pointed at the man who kept on shooting at Wanderer and him.

Luca's threat didn't seem to work too well, but Jeb telling them to lower the guns, calmed the trigger-happy individuals for the moment.

"Why did you bring her with you…" Jeb pointed over at Wanderer who was freaked out at what was going on, but also wanted to hug Uncle Jeb.

"Oh well they have a protection order on them from my boss and I kind of have to protect them or else I'll receive an even worse punishment than this already is…"

"You work for the Souls…" one of the men yelled out.

"Hell no…someone way more important than them, but that doesn't matter…"

"What do you mean they…" Jeb seemed to pick up on something that Luca knew he'd need to quickly get across to them.

"Oh, Melanie is still in there kicking…so they…Soul and human occupy this single body; however, Wanderer is the one mainly in control…"

"That's Impossible…" Someone yelled out.

"It has a name…" One of the men said in disgust, which received an offended look from Wanderer.

"Yeah…anyways, I was told to bring them here, so could we hurry up and get back to the caves, so I can take a nap…getting hit by a car really took a lot out of me…"

Not even bothering anymore, Luca walked towards them, but tried not to make any sudden movements, so he wouldn't need to punish anyone any more than he needed to.

They all seemed frightened that he knew about the caves but didn't have enough time to fully process how he did.

"She can't come…" The woman who spoke out first said.

"Blindfold her…" glancing over at Jeb, the man nodded and pulled one out, walking to them and wrapping it around Wanderer's eyes.

"You can't be serious Jeb…" Some of them said, but he didn't seem to care.

"My cave, my decisions…"

Reaching over, Luca held Wanderer's arm with care and started to guide her along while following the group of worried survivors.

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Entering the caves, Luca could barely see as they went deeper inside the lightless tunnels.

"This is pretty cool…though living like a rat isn't the best…" This comment made some of them angry and Luca could instantly tell he said something insensitive.

"Sorry, I'm still getting used to being in shitty places like this…no offense…where I'm from things are a lot better…"

"None taken, though it's a pretty good place compared to others…you'll see..." Jeb didn't seem to have as much of the anger that everyone else did.

Entering an area with more light, they came into a cavern that was beautiful and Luca was in awe, while gazing at the cave. The structure seemed to be carved in certain areas and stairs led out into other tunnels. For being underground it was also relatively clean and didn't seem too dingy and disgusting.

Jeb noticed the look in Luca's eyes and laughed slightly, attracting Luca's attention away from the landscape.

"Yeah, laugh it up…can I take the blindfold off now…" Jeb nodded his head and Luca removed it allowing Wanderer to see again. Leaning his head over, Luca went right beside her ear to tell the soul/human something.

"Now I'm only going to say this once to you Wanderer...mainly Melanie…Don't try and act all friendly with them right away or else they'll attack you…I don't need you to get any head injuries or shit like that…" Luca quickly whispered in Wanderer's ear to quiet for anyone else to hear.

Some didn't seem to like the quiet communication that the two were doing but didn't say anything about it.

"Okay…" Wanderer responded shortly and Luca could already tell something was going to go wrong and got ready for it secretly.

Further in the opening, Luca could see multiple people inside and one of them happened to be Jared who didn't seem happy. His memories of the love of Melanie Stryder weren't the best since the guy was older than her in a creepy way, like she was 17 and he was 26.

Jeb guided them inside to greet all of the residents who lived in the mountain caves.

"Why've you got one of them here…also who's that boy?" One of the members said, clearly frightened with what was going on.

"It's hard to explain…" Jeb said, trying to avoid the conversation for the moment, but someone seemed to want to act out.

"He still thinks his niece Melanie is in there…" Aunt Maggie who couldn't keep her mouth shut said clearly wanting to stir the group up.

People started to whisper, and the agitation was growing among the small ranks of survivors.

Luca spoke out before Jeb could say anything. " I really hate repeating myself when I'm annoyed, so I'll only say this once…PSA…if any harm comes to Wanderer/ Melanie in any capacity, the person who does it will pay in ways you don't want to imagine…but since I need to give an example of what my promises mean, let me demonstrate with him."

Raising his hand at the man who shot multiple times, Luca slowly applied pressure using telekinesis and raised the man in the air with perfect precision.

'Not so hard...Now I just need to use it on myself...' Luca thought to himself, while looking at his the first person he truly used his telekinesis on to make them float.

Everyone freaked out at what Luca was doing, and the man who was floating screamed like he was dying.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad…Jeb where is the river…the swallow you whole one… you know what I'm talking about…"

Luca was about to step forward, but Wanderer grabbed his arm and pulled slightly causing him to look over at her.

"This isn't the right thing to do, Luca…" She said while pleading slightly.

"Wow you said my name…first time…but I don't agree with you here…sometimes being nice isn't an option…especially with people who are too accustomed to violence."

Wanderer wanted to say something more, but Luca turned away and looked over at Jeb, who was freaked out as well.

"Where…" Luca said in a more threatening tone which made Jeb oblige and point in a direction.

"Thanks…everyone can tag along…though Jamie should probably stay back…this isn't something a kid should see…Jared this goes out to you...You're a little creepy…" Tossing out the insult at Jared, Luca started towards the river.

Walking in the direction of the river, many gave Luca an odd look at his mention of what's acceptable for a kid to view. Jared especially found it odd that the boy knew him, while he'd never seen the boy in his life.

Going through a few corridors, he came upon the raging river and walked up to the edge, while letting the man dangle over it.

Slowly, Luca lowered the man closer to the river until his hair was in the water and his screams and pleading echoed across the wall.

'God I feel horrible…' Luca knew he was being extra and this was a shitty thing to do to someone, but he also knew that these people weren't innocent and butchered people who could possibly be saved if they knew what they were doing when removing Souls.

Wanderer moved over to him and started to plead for Luca to release the man who was floating in the air.

"Luca please…listen to me…let him go…it doesn't need to be like this…" Hearing Wanderer plead for the man that tried to shoot her multiple times, Luca started to laugh out loud which freaked quite a few of the individuals near him out.

The Soul was confused at why he was laughing at what she said. " this is hilarious…none of you are pleading for him, yet the one who was shot at multiple times by him is pleading for his life…"

Some of them lowered their heads in shame slightly. " I think you've shown us that you're serious…no harm will come to her…" Jeb said, trying to calm the situation before anything could happen.

"Good… let this be a warning though." Expanding his use of his telekinesis, Luca started to lift the entire river out of the spot it rested on.

'If they fear me more...maybe there will be less when it comes to Wanderer...' Luca thought, though he knew it could backfire depending on how thing turned out in the near future.

Everyone looked on in horror at the power this one teenager wielded. Wanderer who saw this was also scared, but deeper inside was interested in who Luca truly was.

After a few seconds of holding it, Luca felt he'd done enough and set the river back down. Luckily he remembered to let it continue to flow while holding it or else he'd have a pretty big issue to deal with.

Turning around and dropping the horrified guman to the side, everyone flinched at him slightly.

"Might've gone too far…shit…when she figures out…what if I don't tell her…she'll know…mothers always know…"

While he was mumbling to himself, Luca didn't notice right away that Wanderer was headed over to Jared to say something despite the clear disgust in his eyes.

Jared, overcome with anger. walked towards her and somehow completely forgot the feat of strength he just witnessed from Luca. Raising his hand, Jared tried to smack Wanderer across the face.

Even though Luca was distracted, he still put up a shield around her and held it, so no harm could truly come to her.

This created the scene of Jared trying to smack her only to hit a solid wall and hurt his hand instead.

Feeling what was done, Luca looked up at him and the rest of the group were frightened and backed away from Jared. Seeing this, Luca frowned slightly at the people in the small space who were cramped.

"Wow…no wonder humanity lost so easily…well Jared…hmm…Melanie what should I do with him…"

Glancing over at Wanderer, he could see the horror in her eyes, but deep down, he somehow could see Melanie who was pleading with Luca not to do anything.

"Hmm fine…hey Jared…I won't hurt you since Melanie doesn't want me too because you're her boyfriend or whatever…but I can't go without a punishment, so I'll be coming for you…eventually…"

Everyone seemed to calm down slightly, especially Melanie who Luca could vaguely see deep inside the eyes of Wanderer.

"Hey Jeb, could you show me to a room…also get Wanderer one as well…next to mine preferably, so I can react quickly in case anyone gets an idea…not beneficial to their continued survival…"

Jeb nodded and turned around to guide them towards a place to sleep, much to the dismay of the group.

Walking along the path with Wanderer following close behind, they made it to an area with makeshift beds placed in pockets inside the wall of the tunnels.

"Here's yours Luca…yours is right there Wanderer…" Pointing at two that were next to each other, Luca nodded to the man, then looked over at Wanderer.

"You probably need some rest…I know I do…also try not to wander until I wake up…" Luca laughed at the last part he said, then made his way inside and laid down on the bed which was pretty uncomfortable but did the job.

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Survivors POV

Everyone was freaking out in the main hall, while Jeb guided Luca and Wanderer to a sleeping area that was separated from everyone else.

"What is he…a weapon of the Souls…" One of the women said in fright.

"Those parasites wouldn't do something like that…he's something else…" Another person chimed in on the conversation not wanting to believe the parasites were capable of creating a superhuman.

Jeb who made it back heard the talking and made his way over to the expanding group of concerned individuals.

"It doesn't matter what he is…just that he brought my Niece back and says that she is still alive…why would someone with that kind of power lie…so stop fussing and think about the possibilities this opportunity will bring…"

"What do you mean Jeb…" aunt Maggie asked with anger still in her voice at the mention of Melanie.

"What I mean Mags is that his words mean that more people could still be alive out there inside their bodies…it also means as long as we learn how to successfully remove one of them from a body, someone could gain control again…my niece could come back."

"Melanie's dead…" Jared yelled out in anger and Jeb gave him a scolding look.

"Shouldn't you be looking after Jamie…especially since his sister is back, while being occupied by one of them…" Jeb said which caused Jared to look around for Jamie, but couldn't see him.

"Shit…" Exiting the room, he went off to look for the boy, while everyone else continued to talk about what they witnessed.

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Wanderer/Melanie's Room POV

Laid down on the bed, Wanderer was listening to Melanie talk internally as she stared at the wall.

Some rocks tumbled down the hole in the ceiling and alerted Wanderer causing her to rise up and check out the sound.

Heading over to the hole, she looked up and saw Jamie who was peeking over the edge into the room.

'Jamie…little brother…' Melanie yelled out internally as Wanderer gazed at the boy she had seen in many happy memories.

"Do you know who I am?" Jamie asked through the hole while staring at his sister whose body is occupied.

"You are Jamie." Wanderer said in the odd calming voice all of the Souls seem to use when speaking.

"But you're not Melanie…" The duo could clearly hear the pain in his voice when he said that.

"I want to know what happened to my sister that night. She said that she was gonna come back…"

'Just tell him the truth…Wanderer.' Melanie was having trouble figuring out how to approach this conversation without making it worse.

"I'm not a kid…please…" Jamie pleaded.

"To protect you and Jared, she tried to take her life, but our healers fixed her and put me inside of her hoping I could find out if there were other human survivors…"

"Do you have a name?" Wanderer was surprised he wanted to know more about her.

"They call me Wanderer."

"Where do you come from?" Jamie seemed to be full of questions about the alien occupying his sisters body.

"Another planet…"

Their conversation wouldn't continue as Jared and two others barged right into Wanderers rest area.

Walking up to the hole, he looked up at Jamie, while Wanderer backed away in fear and sat on the bed.

"Jamie, that is not Melanie and she's never coming back…" He said like he was dead sure it was the case.

"It's still her body and you don't know…I've heard the whispers…" Jamie's defiance was clear as day.

"Get out of here or so help me…" Before he could finish his sentence, a hand gripped his shoulder tightly.

"I suggest you 'fellas' move along now and stop intruding on Wanderers privacy…if you don't…well I think you understand." Hearing Luca's voice was like the devil incarnate.

Letting go of the angry man, Jared backed away with his hands up and so did the other two, though Luca could see the disgust in their eyes at him protecting the Soul.

Luca glanced up and could see that Jamie observed everything from his small viewing hole.

"Jamie you should let Wanderer rest for now…you guys can talk later…" The boy nodded his head and disappeared from view.

"Thank you, Luca…I'm sorry if I'm causing you trouble…it's not my intention…" Luca could see the regret clearly on her face.

"It's fine and besides, Jared is being an asshole, so he needs a little reality check…now I really need to sleep, so if it's possible could you avoid trouble for a few hours…"

Wander smiled slightly and Luca almost thought he could see the offended look Melanie was giving him. She nodded her head at him and Luca smiled, then turned around and went over to his room and laid down.

"He's so…I don't know what this feeling is…" Wanderer whispered out loud and Melanaie clearly heard her.

'Gross don't feel this way about…him…' Annoyed with the feelings Wanderer was projecting, Melanie started to throw dozens of memories of her and Jared at Wanderer as payback.

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Luca's Room POV

Laying down on his bed, Luca hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with more distractions and could finally get some sleep.

"God…what the hell did you get me involved in…this isn't even physically hard…other than getting hit by the car…these people are going to destroy every nerve I have in my body…"

After whispering his peace to God, he closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly, fading into the same type of dream he's been having ever since visiting the world of World War Z.