THE HOST (Revised on 2/14/24)

Lilith Hemmingford stopped at the long gold line, looking out at the island on the horizon. The line did not light up. An odd mixture of anxiety and uncertainty twisted her normally calm face into a furrowed brow grimace. She bit her lower lip, squinting at the island, desperately trying to pick out any signs of movement. Were they there already? Had he reached the goal before her? She saw no movement, but that only increased her anxiety. The trip into the deep had taken far longer than she expected. "Are we too late? Is it already gone?" she asked herself in a barely audible whisper.

"Hold up dammit," Moss shouted, running up behind Lilith. He skid to a halt, bent forward, hands propped on his knees and drew in a great, ragged breath. "We have to go back for them." he gasped the words outs. He stood up, eyes exploding wide with sudden shock. An enormous world stretched out before him. He blinked dumbly, rubbing his eyes as if trying to remove an mirage he knew shouldn't be there. This can't be M6-117. This is paradise.

"I need to get out there." Lilith said, gesturing towards the island. "He'll be there soon, if he's not there already." She looked down, touched the tip of her boot to golden barrier and smiled when nothing happened. She stepped across the gold line.

"They're in danger, dammit. We can't leave them. It's not safe." Moss said, words trailing away as he momentarily forgot Lilith had bolted off without a word. She knew there were no creatures down this low. At least, not on his side of the gold line. Out there there are plenty.

"If that's true. Why did you leave them?" she asked, not bothering to look at him. It was obvious from her incredulous tone, her immediate concern was no longer the safety of the group, but reaching the island.

When Moss made to join her, she threw up a warning hand and said, "It would be unwise for you to come closer." He looked around and saw nothing. "I will see it destroyed before I let him get his hands on it." Lilith said to herself. "I swear on the Creator's life, I will do whatever it takes to secure the device."

Before the quartet began their long trek into the deep, Eve was injured. A stray gravity rifle round tore the back of her right calf away. The amount of blood lost during the incident prevented any kind of speedy regeneration. Eve's injury slowed their progress to a near crawl. To make matters worse, just as Eve's leg began regenerating, Dahl fell over a steep embankment and broke her ankle. That injury forced them to hold up for 3 days. At which point, Lilith blamed them both for holding her back. Moss had quietly taken her aside and told her to cut the shit.

Lilith argued about wanting to leave them in his capable hands and go on ahead to seize the island before the Necromongers got there first. After a lengthy debate and a healthy dose of reassuring Lilith they would not make it without her, she conceded. Later, she informed them she had set an alternate plan in motion in the advent they failed to reach their destination in time. Moss heard the tension growing in her every word after that day. And knew it was only a matter of time before she set out on her own.

Over the last few days, they had made better progress. Both women were feeling better, but after 12 hours of limping, Dahl's foot had swollen and turned a sickly yellow/purple. Moss had gone to a nearby stream, torn off the lower half of his t-shirt and come back with a cool rag to wrap it. After a few hours of re-wetting the shirt, the swelling went down, but the color had turned a sickly purple. It soon became clear to everyone that they couldn't push too fast. So the group had stopped once more. A few days after that, while traversing an area covered in thick brush, Eve reopened her calf and caused them to stop again. It was during that rest stop Lilith ran off, and Moss went after her.

Dahl and Eve hobbled into the outer cave, faces blazing scarlet, and bitching about being left behind. To Moss's relief, they had made it to the cavern without incident. 

They moved to Moss's side, wearing identical expressions of disbelief as the view of the expansive horizon came into view beyond Lilith.

"Glad to see you made it. Apparently, your limitations have been greatly exaggerated." Lilith said, looking over her shoulder and giving them a curt nod. She ignored their glaring eyes. None of them could tell if she was being sincere.

"Sure," Dahl snapped. "And thanks for waiting."

"There is nothing out there that can hurt you." Lilith said, making a point of gesturing towards the opening behind them. "From here on out… well… I'd suggest you watch your step and your surroundings."

Dahl held herself up on a makeshift crutch fashioned from a sturdy branch that Eve had torn off a glowing tree. Over the course of the journey, the light emanating from the severed branch had faded away. At first; it looked like any other glowing branch, but now, all the bark had dried to a paper thin skin that mostly peeled away. The wood beneath had become pitted and cracked, and the branch looked as if it had fallen off years earlier.

As Moss moved forward, Lilith threw up a warning hand, again. She gestured at something running across the ground just in front of his feet, and said, "Do not step on that line."

He looked at his feet, saw the line of gold ore stretching across the opening, and asked, "Is that gold?"

"Indeed," Lilith said. "It's also an efficient conductor."

"Do you know what this is worth?" Moss asked, bending down with wide eyes to inspect the gold. "Why's it so straight?" he added, brows suddenly furrowing. "Doesn't seem quite natural, does it?"

Lilith laughed to herself and said, "You think Mother Nature cannot make a straight line?"

"No," he replied. "I think Mother Nature abhors straight lines. They're boring."

The corner of Lilith's mouth went up ever so slightly and she said, "True enough. But straight lines are never without purpose or intent." As Moss reached out to touch it, she turned to him with a warning frown, and added, "I can assure you, if you touch that, you will not live long enough to dig it from the ground beneath your feet."

"Why is it here?" Dahl asked, nudging Moss to get away. "Just stay away from it." she whispered.

"Think of it as a first line of defense in an ancient alarm system. Like a tripwire just waiting for something or someone to come along and step on it. Sometimes you step on them and bad things happen. Other times, you miss them and get supremely lucky. I suggest you heed my warning and step over it. If you do, you may count yourself as lucky."

"If that's true, you didn't step on it either?"

"You know a lot about this place." Dahl said, gesturing around. "And I noticed you're not overly impressed by the view." she added, carefully stepping over the line. "Care to explain?"

Lilith walked to the line, stepped on it and said, "It is safe to pass." When they walked passed her, Lilith returned to the view and stared out in silence as Dahl and Moss moved up on both sides. Eve hung back a few feet. She hated heights. But Moss and Dahl walked right up to edge, causing Eve to almost cry out in fear. Eve felt dizzy and sick as she watched them inching closer. She desperately wanted to dart out and yank them back and say stop it. You're scaring the shit out of me. But she held her ground, heart pounding wildly in her chest.

Dahl and Moss eyed each other with silly, daring grins, edging slowly forward as if playing a game of who can edge out the furthest. Lilith watched with an expression that said she was chaperoning a group of toddlers playing with hand grenades. She rolled her eyes and said, "We may yet have beaten them here. But only time will tell."

"Nope, we didn't." Moss replied, dropping to his belly and wiggling a third of his body out over the edge. Dahl's eyes grew wide, and she dropped across the back of his legs, preventing him from sliding over. Eve gasped and turned around, thinking they were both going to go over. She couldn't watch. 

Dahl pulled him back and when he rolled over, he held something out a still laced boot fpr Lilith to take.

"What's that?" Dahl asked.

Lilith held up the boot, sniffed the inside and said, "This is what happens when you do not get lucky." she grimaced and held it out for her comrades to look at. "And judging from the smell, this has been here for at least a week."

"Whoever that belonged to had a terrible day." Moss added, and Lilith nodded in agreement.

"Most certainly."

"Why do you say that?" Dahl asked, staring suspiciously at the boot.

"Because whoever lost this needs more than a new boot." she replied, holding it out so Dahl could peer inside. A twisted mass of glowing maggots wriggled around an oozing stump. "See," she said, "The owner's foot is still in it." Lilith lobbed the boot over the edge.

"Gross," Dahl blurted, and then gagged.

Lilith stepped forward as if readying herself to jump off, and Eve shrieked in horror. Not expecting the sound from behind him, Moss followed suit. For a split second, he thought he might get away with it and then Dahl and Lilith looked at one another with growing grins and reddening faces. They laughed hysterically.

"What?" he snapped in an embarrassed tone. "Guys scream, too."

"Sure they do." Dahl said, looking at Eve, who stood behind Moss, wide-eyed with a hand clamped over her mouth. She desperately tried to stifle the oncoming laughter, But failed miserably. Dahl gestured from herself, to Eve and then Lilith and added, "Its just we've never heard a guy who sounded like a nine-year-old school girl before." All three women burst into fits of laughter so loud that a flock of frightened birds in the valley below took to the air and flapped away.

On the horizon, a golden beam of energy exploded into the sky and a blast of hot air rocked them back on their feet. The chuckles subsided, and Dahl blurted, "What was that?"

"Time to go," Lilith said, stepping forward, placing the tips of her boots over the edge.

"You can't leave us." Moss shouted. "We won't make it."

"And I can't wait for them to heal, either. Our enemies have reached the island."

"You can heal them before you go." Moss said. "I know you can."

"The last time I gave of myself, it cost me my life. I won't make that mistake again." Lilith replied, leaning out slightly. She looked to Eve and added, "But if someone is to give of themselves. Let it be you, my dear."

"Eve doesn't have enough blood to heal herself. Let alone heal Dahl, too." Moss protested angrily. "That could kill her."

Lilith laughed at him and said, "You know nothing. Death is but a doorway to the next dimension."

To everyone's horror, Lilith stepped back with her right foot, preparing to dive off the mile high cliff. Before she could jump, Moss darted out, grabbed her arms and yanked them behind her as if apprehending an escaped convict. Not expecting the attack, she winced in pain and almost toppled over the edge.

"Stop fighting," he warned, dragging her back from the edge. Eve and Dahl gawked at him as if he were crazy and then remembered he had never seen either Eve or Lilith transform before. If he had, he would have never grabbed her.

"Get away from her." Eve screamed, trying to get him off her before Lilith lost control of the things inside her. Moss slacked his grip, looking at Dahl in confusion.

I'm doing this for you." he blared, pushing Eve off as he lost control of Lilith.

Lilith's body went rigid, her eyes rolled in their sockets, and Eve screamed, "Get away! She's not in control."

Lilith planted her feet shoulder width apart and her captor came to an immediate halt. She was much stronger than he expected and, for some unknown reason, she had become bigger than him.

Lilith overpowered Moss with ease, squeezing his wrists tight, shutting off the blood flow to his hands. They instantly paled and prickled as if they'd gone to sleep, and then they went numb and stopped working. She jerked her arms into the air, rocketing him off his feet as if he weighed no more than a rag doll. He flopped through the air, tumbling over her, and crashed down at her feet. The air exploded out of his lungs. The shrinking cavern spun around him and when he looked up, Lilith had become the monster from the wreckage.

He scrambled backwards, trying to get away from her, but the dark entity advanced on him, hissing and screaming. He came to rest, laying across the golden barrier and an angry red warning crossed beneath him. In her eyes, Moss saw the look of his own terror reflected in a mindless rage, On the horizon, A blinding beam of light exploded upward and faded. Moss shielded his eyes and something powerful grabbed his ankle. The world flipped upside down beneath him and when he opened his eyes, he found himself wriggling like a fish on a hook. "How do you like the view from out there?" the creature asked in an strangely echoing and unfamiliar voice. "Is this far enough for you? Or would you like me to hold you out a little further?"

Moss kicked and clawed at nothing, begging for his life, Light faded as he tried to tell her he was sorry, that he didn't mean to frighten or hurt her. But nothing came out as all the blood in his body pooled in his head. His eyes rolled in their sockets and he went limp.

"Let him go." Dahl screamed and hurled her crutch at Lilith's back. It flew high, shattering against his back.

Lilith reeled around and screeched. Dahl fell to her knees, covering her ears in pain. Bloody tears trickled out of the corners of her eyes as daggers sunk into her ears. The dark creature let go of its prey and Moss crumpled on the ground like sack of unwanted potatoes. He did not move. Dahl could not tell if he was breathing.

The sound of building wind built up behind Lilith and the pale blue sky turned deadly black. An angry storm approached, but the creature did not notice. It raged and stomped the ground like a rutting bull.

Eve leapt on Dahl, pressing her to the ground, just a storm of gnashing teeth and flapping wings enveloped them in a screaming darkness that seemed to never end. Lilith screeched and raged and then the storm fell silent. Dahl opened her eyes and both the green grass and Lilith were gone. Moss moaned in the near distance. He's alive, she thought as Eve released her.

"Are you, okay?" Eve asked.

"Why did she do that?" Dahl asked, pulling herself into a sitting position and rocking. "It makes no sense. She loved him. She would never hurt him."

Eve wiped the tears out of her eyes and said, "Dahl, that wasn't Lilith. That was the host."