The silence in the forest was eerie, her headache flared immediately, her temples throbbing violently.
The first time the thing spoke, it was from inside her skull.
"You will give me away if you scream, so you will not dare.”
She didn't, not because she didn't want to, but because she couldn't. The thing slithered like a snake under her skin, hot pulsing liquid holding her mind hostage. Her throat had seized up immediately the thing entered her.
Doctor Aisha was a botanist, part of a team sent to the jungle of Makao. Their mission was to study the mysterious flora known as Xentophils, found only in that jungle — famed for its alleged ability to reverse the ageing process. Still in the experimental stage, the serum derived from them could heal scars instantly and rejuvenate the ninety-year-olds, to the vitality of twenty-year-olds, sharpening the mind, and erasing all kinds of wrinkles.
In the jungle, she had been infected by something she could not name — something that was now controlling her.
Now, sitting in the swamp with a bleeding gash along her leg, she was fairly sure she’d been eaten—from the inside.
“What's the situation Dr. Aisha?” My comms crackled. It was Ruiz, my team leader.
She swallowed hard, she could taste her own blood. “It's just a minor injury, nothing serious. I—uh—fell.”
The voice in her head growled, a vibration behind her eyes. “Keep lieing, to keep them away or else, I will feed on you, from the inside.”
Her heart slammed. “Who....what...are you?” She whispered, forgetting Ruiz was not far away.
"I’m Ruiz of course. Are you concussed?”
“Do not reveal my presence in your body. If you speak to them about me,” the parasite warned. "Your body becomes food. Complete my tasks, and you live".
Food? Her hands trembled violently as she helplessly watched the team, just a few metres away. The swamp’s canopy, a lattice of vines and crimson flowers, dripping rain.
The first task came the next night in the field lab.
“Bring me the heart of the black blossom.”
She knew the plant, corrosive as they come. Their last intern who’d tried to touch one, lost not just his gloves, but two fingers.
“I can’t do this, it's pure acid,” she muttered, huddled in her bunk.
“You can. And you will. Or you won't like the consequences of disobeying me.”
Her skin crawled, but she went. Slipping out quietly into the night. Barefoot. The jungle was dense with darkness but she had her torchlight. She found the black blossom by its bioluminescent glow, tore it free from its tree, and staggered back as the hiss of acid ate through her sleeve.
The parasite in her brain purred. “Good. Very good.”
Over the next days, the tasks became more difficult, she went as far as stealing the nutrient gel from the med-lab and inserting a vial of spider's venom into the river’s filtration pump.
“Are you sabotaging us?” Ruiz asked one morning, catching her near the pump.
She froze. “Why would I?”
His eyes narrowed. “Because our samples are vanishing and you’re the only one who wanders into the jungle at night.”
“Get rid of him now,” the parasite ordered. “Kill him now.”
She shook her head violently. Ruiz frowned. “You sure you’re okay? Doctor Aisha, you've been acting so weird of late, you can talk to me — uh, if something's bothering you."
" Nothing... Nothing at all, I'm fine." She quickly answered and left.
These weren't just orders. The parasite was…taking over her....changing her. Her hearing was sharper, she could detect footfalls from quite a distance. Her skin...her skin....; the acid burns from the black blossom— faded overnight. She stopped feeling cold.
She was terrified and yet could confide in no one.
The final task came at dawn on the ninth day.
“The ship. Inject this vial into its core.”
"Why? She asked trembling.
"Because I said so!" The "thing" barked in its usual manner.
“What happens if I do?”
“Freedom for me, freedom for you.”
Then the cold truth hit her — these were no random tasks, it had all been building toward one purpose; eliminating the team. Yet she couldn't stop, her body moved with a will of its own, every action driven by something she could no longer control.
That night she slipped into the docking bay, their ship a dark silhouette against the jungle mist. She could feel the parasite coiled inside her, anticipation radiating like heat.
“Aisha.” It was Ruiz’s voice. He stepped out from the shadows, his pistol drawn. “I knew it. Something’s inside you—”
“End him,” the parasite hissed. “He threatens us.”
She gripped the vial, her heart pounding so fast it hurt.
“No,” she screamed aloud.
The parasite’s fury exploded and pain like she had never known pierced through her spine. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, spasming.
“You are mine!” it roared inside her head.
“No, Not anymore.” And with every shred of willpower, she hurled the vial to the ground, shattering it. Black liquid hissing against metal, distorting it.
With an agonizing shriek, the parasite clawed at her mind and heart. She felt herself dying — life wrung out of her — then came the darkness, and finally dead silence.
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