Scribbles and Drabbles

Notebook Drabble 51 - Army Parasite

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"You're planning to give me the parasite?" Xander wanted to die, but he didn't want this. his wants didn't mean much when it came down to the Army, and its wants. He was at their mercy, and with his legs injured and his shoulders making it hard to do much of anything, escape was not an option this time. He couldn't soldier through it. He was trapped.

"Alexander James Revell," his commander managed to make him feel four years old, saying his full name. "You have repeatedly proven that you are an asset but also a flight risk. Your continued survival hinges on you being implanted, and I won't let you throw your chance away because you are scared of it."

Xander grimaced. Death for cowardice or implantation. 

He could be witty or give a report, but he didn't want to see how inventive his commander was with punishment while at his mercy. He kept his mouth shut and his eyes low. 

A few muttered curses and a hand rubbed his shoulder as comfort. "It won't be for a while. You need to be in better shape, or the hatching won't survive, and we'd have to repeat the process." Which promised to be painful for everyone involved.

"Yes, sir."

"We'll move you into quarters to get you socialised. Scott requested you in his and Izzy's bunk."

Unsurprising. Implanted slept in groups, both innocently and not. They naturally clumped together like puppy piles as if the physical closest helped the mental connection. They dragged the non-implanted in, too, if they were in reach. The parasites hungered for more minds, more connections. If they could not implant, they settled for having the body in their arms and feeling the buzz of nerve impulses under them. 

"How much of Scott's attitude to me is play or real?" Shame crept over Xander as his voice cracked at the idea of being Scott's bedmate. He was a soldier; he'd killed people. He wasn't this weak. 

Scott liked picking on him. He'd been cornered a few times, once coming awfully close to having his body invaded and skin fed from. Scott looked at him like a starving man looked at food and treated him as a snack to be devoured. Xander might have indulged him if it wasn't for the name-calling, the roughhousing and the demeaning situations. Reporting it to his commander would be pointless. Implanted didn't get disciplined like regular enlisted, and Scott was a prime example of a perfect soldier thanks to implantation. 

"He's fond of you. We wouldn't entrust him with your care unless he liked you. Has he given you reason to doubt this?" 

"The amount of times he'd slammed me against walls or doors would be a start. A scar or two doesn't hurt either."

His commander opened his mouth but paused as the words registered. "He got you helped the time that he scarred you," the Commander's voice echoed with the hive mind and was not impressed with Scott. 

He had. Panicking the entire time. Scott slammed him against a wall, promised to make it feel oh-so-good and then smelled the blood and shifted gears immediately. The wall had some jagged metal sticking out that went straight into his kidneys. Pain aside, watching Scott's face flip from dark, promising hunger to wide-eyed boy scout panic had been hilarious. 

The maintenance team got reprimanded for failing to deal with the dangerous bit of metal. 

"His appearance tends to mean I'm about to be in pain."

"That will stop now," his Commander promised with a firm press of the word, suggesting Scott got the message, too. The Commander exhaled but released his shoulder. "No wonder you're so jumpy around implanted."

"Reputations leave much to be desired."

"You'll understand more once you're linked. Scott likes you."