Benjamin's Parasite

by Jeff Strand

  Benjamin ran down the hallway, the parasite forgotten. Then he remembered the parasite and stumbled from the pain.

  "Fight through it," the woman said, grabbing him by the back of the neck to keep him from falling.

  He wasn't entirely sure he should trust the gun-wielding supermodel who'd burst into his operating room and interrupted his emergency surgery, but he didn't think he had a choice. So he ran.

  She pushed open the door to the stairwell, then took him by the hand as they raced down the stairs. Benjamin nearly lost his footing four different times as they hurried down three flights of steps, yet somehow managed to keep from actually falling. She pushed open the door at the bottom, let go of his hand, and shoved him into the hospital lobby.

  Several people turned to see what the commotion was about. The security guard by the main entrance stood up—and then fell back into his chair as the woman shot him in the leg. Benjamin was able to get out a "What the—?" but the rest of his objection was lost in a coughing fit. The woman pointed her gun at the security guard's face as they stood there for a second, waiting for the automatic sliding glass doors to open, and then they ran out into the parking lot.

  Benjamin couldn't believe this. "You shot him!"

  She took his hand again as they sprinted through the rows of cars. "He's already in the hospital. He'll be fine."

  "But...but..."

  "Save your energy!"

  "Where are we going?"

  "My car."

  "Shouldn't you have parked closer?"

  "Shut up."

  I can't let her do this, Benjamin thought. She's insane. I need to make my move, and I need to do it...now!

  He yanked his hand out of her grip and lunged for the gun.

  The takedown happened so quickly that Benjamin couldn't even identify the specific moves involved. All he knew was that one moment he was trying to disarm her, and the next he was lying flat on the pavement with his arm twisted behind his back and the barrel of the gun pressed tightly against his left ear.

  "We do not have time for this," she said. "You need to trust me."

  "I trust you."

  She climbed off of him and pulled him to his feet. He considered blaming the parasite, but decided that his best course of action was to stay quiet and obey the nice strong woman.

  After crossing through one more row of cars, she let go of him again, took out a set of keys, and pressed the button. The headlights flashed on a small, crappy-looking, rust-red two-door sedan. He'd expected something like a Porsche, perhaps with a machine gun turret mounted to the front hood.

  "Get in," she told him.

  He opened the passenger-side door and quickly got inside. The seat belt seemed like a pretty good idea, so he buckled that and checked for something to indicate that the vehicle had a passenger-side airbag.

  The woman got into the driver's seat and immediately started the engine. She backed out of the parking spot, then floored the accelerator and they sped out of the parking lot onto the highway. There wasn't as much tire-squealing as Benjamin would've expected.

  "How are you feeling?" she asked, as they came dangerously close to rear-ending a much sturdier-looking car an instant before she switched lanes. At least they were only doing sixty in a forty-five zone.

  "Oh, I'm just hunky-dory."

  "Serious answer. How are you feeling?"

  "I'm in so much pain I can barely describe it. It feels like something is trying to rip its way out."

  "Not yet. Too soon for that."

  "Too soon? You mean it really is going to rip its way out?"

  "Not in the next few minutes. Relax."

  "The surgeons were going to cut it out of me! Why'd you stop them?"

  "If they'd tried to cut it out, they would've killed both you and the specimen. Your insides would've been pureed by the time it was over."

  "So who are you here to save? Me or the specimen?"

  She didn't answer.

  "Okay, thanks for saving my life. Now what? Can you get it out? You're not going to shoot it out, are you?"

  "I can't remove it. I'm taking you to somebody who can."

  "Is she close?"

  "It's a he."

  "Is he close?"

  "No."

  The streetlight ahead turned red. The woman looked as if she wanted to run it, but applied the brake instead.

  Benjamin screamed.

  "It's burrowing out!" he shrieked, clutching his waist.

  "It's not burrowing out! You're just upsetting it! You need to calm down!"

  "These are not calm circumstances! I'm gonna die!"

  The woman reached past him and pulled a lever. His seat reclined all the way back with a jolt.

  "Just close your eyes and breathe easy," she said. "As soon as I'm sure we're not being followed, we'll take care of it."

  "It hurts!"

  "I know it hurts! It'll hurt slightly less if you stop freaking out!"

  "It's popping out!"

  "It's not popping out!"

  "It is!"

  "Fine. It's popping out. It's going to poke its head out through your armpit and get stringy bloody goo all over my upholstery. Sucks to be me."

  Benjamin really didn't care for the way she was mocking his distress, but he wasn't going to be brave to impress her. He thrashed around on the seat, desperately wishing that he'd lose consciousness. She'd probably be willing to pistol-whip him into a slumber if he asked nicely.

  After several minutes of the most excruciating agony Benjamin had ever experienced in his life, the car stopped.

  "Where are we?"

  "Behind a strip mall."

  "Oh."

  The woman reached into the back seat, then set a black briefcase on her lap. She spun some dials to unlock it, opened the lid, and took out a big, scary-ass hypodermic needle.

  "This is going to hurt," she warned him, "but after—"

  "It's fine. Just poke me."

  She squeezed the plunger a bit to get the air bubbles out. "Lift up your gown."

  Benjamin pulled up the gown, unconcerned with modesty or terror shrinkage. She stuck the needle deep into his gut.

  "Damn. Missed." She withdrew the needle, then jabbed it in an inch to the right.

  "Get it that time?" Benjamin asked.

  "No." She stuck him a third time. "Quit squirming!"

  "I'm not squirming!"

  "I'm not talking to you!"

  Benjamin was starting to feel light-headed. He'd never had a needle phobia before, but one was starting to develop.

  "Got it! No, wait. Almost, though."

  "If you keep poking me there won't be enough skin left to hold the parasite inside!"

  "I need you to clench your whole body as tight as you can. Pretend you're getting zapped in an electric chair."

  Benjamin tightened every muscle, though without using the electric chair simile as reference.

  She jammed the needle into him. "Perfect!" She depressed the plunger all the way, then pulled away. "Oh, wait, the needle broke off. Oh well. We'll get it out later."

  A pleasant warmth flowed through Benjamin's stomach. By the time they'd driven out from behind the strip mall and returned to the highway, the pain was completely gone. He returned the seat to its upright position. "Thanks."

  "No problem."

  "I'm Benjamin, by the way."

  "I know."

  "Is there something I can call you besides Gun and Needle Lady?"

  "Julie."

  "Hi, Julie. Can I ask you a question?"

  "Sure."

  "Am I expendable?"

  She smiled. "No, Benjamin, you're not expendable."

  "Good. I just don't want this to be some kind of scenario where my life is only important because I'm keeping the squid-monster alive."

  "Every possible effort will be made to keep you from harm when we remove the specimen."

  "But the specimen is still more important, right? What's the breakdown? 60/40 in favor of the specimen? 80/20?"<
br />
  "Every possible effort will be made to keep you from harm when we remove the specimen," Julie repeated.

  "What's next on the agenda?"

  "We're going to trade out the car. You're going to shave your beard. And we're going to get you some clothes."

  "Now, that sounds a lot like we're going on the lam. That's not necessary. I'll just call up the hospital and let them know I'm okay with the new arrangement. I mean, it would be easier if you hadn't shot the security guard, but I'm sure we can work this out."

  "That would be fine, if I were only worried about the police."

  Benjamin thought about that for a moment. "Dangerous people want the parasite, don't they?"

  "You've got it."

  "Dammit!"

  "You're just lucky I found you first."

  "Why?"

  "I need you alive to keep the specimen alive. They don't."

  "Gotcha. Any chance I can call my wife?"

  "No."

  "I'd really like to call her."

  "I don't care."

  "If I assure her that I'm not in immediate danger, the police might not try to hunt you down as aggressively."

  "You are in immediate danger. And there's no possible way I'm letting you use my cell phone."

  "So let's stop at a pay phone."

  "Scary men, Benjamin. Do you want to know how they'll get the specimen out of you? Do you?"

  "Sure. Knowledge is power."

  "They will cut your head off so they can remove and study your brain, and then they will take your body apart, organ by organ, putting each one in its own little jar with its own little label."

  "Thing is, after I lost my head, I wouldn't much care about the other stuff."

  Julie glared at him. "Are you trying to be funny?"

  "Why shouldn't I be? It's a perfectly good defense mechanism. Would you rather I twitched and drooled?"

  "Yes. Yes I would."

  "I need to let my family know I'm okay. I've put them through too much already."

  "Maybe we'll work something out later, but for now, drop it."

  Benjamin had to figure out what to do. He wasn't entirely convinced that the "organs in jars" thing wasn't her scheduled outcome as well. The fact that her plan involved bursting into an operating room and kidnapping him at gunpoint indicated that it was perhaps not the most airtight scheme in the world. Who was this woman?

  "Who are you?" he asked.

  "I told you. Julie."

  "No, I mean who are you? A scientist?"

  "So you mean what am I?"

  "Yeah."

  "I'm not a scientist."

  "Okay, that rules out one occupation out of millions. You're probably not a cattle rancher, either. What are you?"

  "I'm a bounty hunter."

  Benjamin nodded. "Makes sense. Where are we headed?"

  "California."

  "California? We're going all the way across the country?"

  "That is where California is located, yes."

  "Driving?"

  "You think I'm gonna go through airport security?"

  "This is crazy. I was thinking South Tampa."

  "You were wrong. I'm not real happy about the distance either, because I can tell right now that you're going to annoy the hell out of me. I'd advise you to sit back, shut up, and be grateful I found you first."

  "Here's the thing," Benjamin said. "I'm really not a passive kind of guy. I'm responsible for more than a hundred and fifty high schoolers every day, and if I showed any sign of weakness they'd eat me alive. I appreciate your efforts on my behalf, but I think you can understand why I might still be kind of iffy about the whole situation. I'd feel better if I knew I could trust you, and you'd feel better if you knew I wasn't trying to escape."

  "If you try to escape, I'll shoot you," said Julie. "There's really not much else to discuss."

  "All right, then."

  Fine. If that was the way she wanted to be, then he'd keep his eyes open for an opportunity to grab the gun—at least, a better opportunity than the one he'd already screwed up. Though he very much appreciated the shot of parasite tranquilizer or whatever that stuff was, he wasn't about to let himself be dragged across the country without knowing exactly who he was dealing with.

  He decided to give her a few minutes of peace and quiet, though, so she wouldn't get pissed.

  She broke the silence after about thirty seconds. "Aw, great."

  "What?"

  "Behind us. Don't look."

  Benjamin glanced up in the rear-view mirror. "The van?"

  "Yeah."

  "Bad van?"

  "Yeah."

  "Do you think they'll just start shooting?"

  "I don't know. I'd like to think not."

  "Can you lose them?"

  "I'm gonna try. Have you ever been part of a high speed chase?"

  "Oh, God, there's going to be a high-speed chase? Now?"

  "Not necessarily."

  "Wouldn't they want to protect the specimen? I could get cut in half! People get cut in half in high-speed chases if they end in a crash, right? It happens!"

  "Benjamin, I really need you to stop talking. Just brace yourself, and be ready to..." She squinted into the rear-view mirror. "Hold on, wait, it's not them."

  "It's not?"

  Julie shook her head. "Nope. Just some guy in a van. We're fine."

  "Oh." Benjamin settled back into his seat. "Well, that's a relief."

  "We're not out of danger, you know."

  "I know. Just enjoying the momentary respite."

  CHAPTER TEN

  A few minutes later, they pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot. "Do I need to go over what will happen to you if you try anything, or can we just agree to work together?" Julie asked. "Because I'd really rather not be constantly talking about shooting you. It's unpleasant."

  "I'll behave."

  "Thanks." She turned and slowly drove down one of the rows. "See that blue car?"

  "The piece of crap?"

  "Yep. That's our new ride. But, of course, there are no parking spaces anywhere around it." She sighed and continued to the end of the row. Three rows later, she pulled into a spot. "Open the glove compartment."

  Benjamin did so. There was an operator's manual, some tissue, a pack of gum, and a pair of shiny new handcuffs. "You want the gum, right?"

  "Cuff yourself to the steering wheel."

  "Why?"

  "I have to run in and get you some clothes. I'll be in there for five minutes. Even if you call for help, you can't get free of those cuffs in five minutes. And if I come out of Wal-Mart and there's a crowd around the car, I will be very unhappy. I mean, monumentally pissed. Do you understand?"

  "I think you do like to talk about shooting me."

  "Do you understand?"

  "Yeah."

  Benjamin locked one bracelet around his left wrist and the other around the steering wheel, then gave a light tug to prove that it was secure. Julie nodded, satisfied, then exited the car, taking the briefcase with her, and jogged toward the store entrance.

  Well, this was just lovely.

  She was right—even if he attracted the attention of a cop, they probably couldn't get the handcuffs unlocked before she returned. Unless she got distracted by a really great sale or something, or the cashier needed to do a price check, or the lines moved slow. The lines did move slowly sometimes, especially at this location.

  Not worth the risk, though.

  Especially not when she'd made the pain go away. That had been some pretty serious frickin' pain. Even if her ultimate plan involved gutting him like a trout, he did want to stay in close proximity to those hypodermic needles.

  For now he'd play along.

  He might as well, since he was half-naked and handcuffed to a steering wheel.

  He glanced through the back window, and noticed that two men were walking towards the car. Both wore sunglasses. Both wore brown jackets. Both had shortly cropped hair. Both were quite a bit larger than the ave
rage human male.

  They did not appear to be hunting for a shopping cart.

  They looked much less pleasant than Julie.

  Maybe they were feds. Maybe it was good that they were walking toward the car in a most intimidating manner.

  Hey, Julie, wanna know what would've been polite to leave me with? A means of self-defense!

  As they reached the vehicle, the two men separated; one walked up to the driver's side door, the other walked up to the passenger side. The one on the passenger side rapped his knuckles against the window.