After what seemed like days, I woke up to no Infested on the outside of my body or face and nothing more than a white T-shirt and blue shorts on.
"Nathan, do you feel ok. You look like you're a bit cold," the commander asked me.
"I need something to warm up with. That Infested kept me warm to where being without it makes me feel like I'm in the cold," I replied. I tried to get out of the hammock, but my body still felt somewhat weak. I ended up falling out of it instead onto the floor.
"You'll still be sore, Nathan. The infusion might be done, but you're still not at full strength," he told me. "you sure you can come home?"
I tried to stand up, but I felt weak in the legs I could barely get back in the hammock.
"Ok, I guess the infusion isn't done then. You're supposed to be feeling vigor and strength, but you can hardly stand," he told me.
"How much longer till I can head home?" I asked him as I used what little strength I had to get into the hammock.
He put a blanket over me as he said: "Once you emerge, we can start having some real fun, Nathan."
"Emerge from what?" I asked before the Infested hammock completely encased me tightly.
I was in there for maybe 3-4 days, my strength slowly returning and nutrients and oxygen being sent directly into me. Once it was done, I felt the bottom break from below me, and I fell to the floor. I look around, and the entire room was asleep, or so I thought.
"Well, well, well, It looks as if someone else needed an infusion of Infested. So tell me, how is it like being with the commander of this ship?" Something asked me.
"Who are you?" I asked him.
"You don't recognize my voice Nathan, It's me," She said as she came out of the shadows.
"Macio? I thought you wouldn't have been separated from your family," I replied.
"Well, they must have thought something was off," She replied.
"That's odd because you don't," I replied. She was holding her rabbit, Heart, but she seemed to of acted entirely different from how he usually did. "You ok, Macio? You don't usually act like that," I asked her. Then I noticed something odd under the Infested covering her hair. "That ain't good," I thought of myself.
"Nathan! I heard the commander shout to me. "put this on; it'll keep you warm." He threw me some clothing that looked good on the outside, but the inside was soft, and with my hypersensitivity with my ability with touch, it was putting me more at ease.
"That's better now I can stay warm. Where'd you get this?" I asked him.
"I had it made for you, Nathan. Now I can see those eyes of yours," he replied. "But that's not all I have for you. I have a surprise for you in a few days."
"What kind of surprise?" I asked him.
"You'll find out," he replied. "Come on, let's head home."
As we headed back to his home, something caught my eye, a medium-sized humanoid dragon without wings on a stretcher being wheeled out of a room.
"Nathan, keep going!" He told me.
"Ok ok! just got distracted is all," I replied.
Once we headed inside, I saw something sitting on the couch, and it wasn't the two creatures I saw when we first met. Instead, it was a similar creature to what I saw on the stretcher, but it had dark green scales.
"Oh yeah, a friend of mine needed me to watch the one he was caring for. He'll be here for a few days," the commander told me.
as the commander left, I said to the creature: "I guess they put more than just humans through this."
"You're looking at a human trapped in an alien body, my friend, and a word to the wise. Be wary if he tells you he has a surprise for you as this will likely be the result," He told me.
"He said he had one for me in a few days," I replied.
"That isn't good then. Now tell me, what is it that's on your mind the most?" He asked me.
"Finding my family, that's what's usually on my mind," I replied.
"And how do you expect them to recognize you if you're covered in scales with a dragon-like skull?" He asked me.
"My voice, DNA, there's more than just my looks to identify me," I replied.
"And what about your so-called caretaker, do you still trust him after having this knowledge?" He asked me.
"He trusts me enough to not run into this alien world to where he never locked the door to the outside. I trust him not to do what you're suggesting," I replied.
"I see, he trusts you, so you trust him back. I did the same with my caretaker and look at where I ended up. Trapped in this body until he decides to reverse it, which I doubt he will," He replied.
I patted him on the back as I told him: "you still got the heart of a human; that's what matters."
"What matters for me is having my human form. I was in foster care before all this, and now I feel like I've been betrayed all over again," He told me.
"At least you have a family that cares. Isn't that what you yearned for most?" I asked him.
He began to shed a tear as he said: "Yes, and he did care about me even in my low points."
"Then you see, you never betrayed you. I'm sure he had good intentions," I replied. He then showed me something he drew on his tablet. "you drew this? So is that what is now my suit?" I asked him.
"Your suit of Infested that some of us wear for a few days. I didn't. I woke up in this body; I was chosen when I was asleep," he replied.
"Yeah, and I just got out of that thing, It's now in my body," I told him.
"You do realize they don't even know what this Infested is capable of, let alone us," he replied.
That's when I felt something calling me to the hive. "There's also a hive of some sort in here," I told him. I showed him the inside, and he quickly ran back behind the couch. "You ok? They haven't harmed me I doubt they'd do the same to you," I told him.
"What's scary is that you're linked with them, and they never called you to them," He replied.
"Maybe they were waiting for the right moment who knows. You can stay here if you want though I'll just go check in here," I told him.
As I walked inside, I heard her say: "why don't you get comfortable. I had a bed made just for you, Nathan."
I got onto the membrane bed, and while it wasn't the most comfortable thing I slept on, it seemed like a kind gesture. "This isn't exactly the softest thing I've laid on, but I'm sure you had good intentions," I told her. Then one of the creatures I saw before laid on top of me. Warming my body with its warm blood and its presence was enough to make me feel at home.
I soon dozed off for a few minutes before I felt something on my face. I opened my eyes to find a dead creature on my face. "Oh, man, I'm screwed," I said.
"You'll be fine, do you think he would have had us aboard the ship if we were hostile?" She asked me
"You have a good point, but I don't know how long your kind's been here," I replied.
I was feeling sick to my stomach, to the point of even throwing up.
"Kid, you ok in there?" I heard the kid in the other room shout. I saw him come in, and when he was in viewing distance, I blinked an SOS to him. He then rushed out of the room.
"Well, Daniel, how's Nathan doing? Speaking of which, where is he?" I heard the commander ask the kid.
"In the hive, but he seems to feel sick to his stomach, and I was just about to get help," Daniel replied.
"Help, how did he ask you for help? Being impregnated usually makes them somewhat sick. In Nathan's case, I projected he'd be to sick to talk," He asked Daniel. From that, I figured his kind didn't know what Morse Code was or how to decipher it. That was a perfect tool to communicate when the commander seemed to know my every move. "Well, don't worry, Daniel, he'll hurt for an hour before it calms down, and then he'll throw up the larvae after 3-4 hours," the commander told him.
After 4 hours, it did just that. I felt it come up my throat and then I spat out the tan-colored worm. "That feels so much better now. Maybe now I can eat," I said.
"You need something to eat, Nathan?" He asked me.
"Yeah, I do, what's it going to be now with those odd but familiar foods?" I asked him. He then gave me something I didn't expect, a Mcdonalds's Fillet O Fish. "Ok then, I wasn't expecting that. I don't even recall seeing many restaurants on this ship," I said to him in confusion.
"I figured you wanted something familiar for once," he replied. He then handed Daniel his lunch, which was some sort of alien fish.
"Oh good, you seem to feed me just like my caretaker, with raw fish that I'm not too fond of," he said to him. He took a bit from it, and then I noticed him beginning to grin. "actually, this is pretty good," He told him. He then began to dig into the fish. Whatever they did to transform him allowed him to tear through the scales.
"Eat up, you 2. Just like my son, he loved eating fish. If only I knew where he was," he said.
"Well, anything to track him by, a radio device perhaps and what about anything he'd touched, I'm sure a trained search dog could find him if he didn't trek through the water," I told him.
"Nathan, that's a kind gesture and all, but he disappeared years ago. By both your kind's and my kind's standards, he's likely been killed by something," he replied.
"Never say never, we've found people after we thought they were dead before, alive too. It's just a matter of finding him in international waters," I replied with confidence.