Ice by Falk T. S

Author:Falk, T. S. [Falk, T. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller
Amazon: B0CNZ9WRFF
Goodreads: 202668238
Published: 2023-11-24T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

They all waited in the meeting room. Jack had sealed the former mess with plastic sheets and tape, just in case any more worms were there. He sat on a bench next to the window, five feet away from Dr. Hayden. Turner walked up and down the center of the room. Miller sat next to the door and Sam directly opposite Gabriel, each keeping five feet of distance between themselves and the others. All the lights were switched on. Everyone watched each other cautiously. The tension in the room was so thick it almost manifested visually.

“So, what do we know?” Turner asked.

“Not enough. The only person who probably knew a lot about this has been murdered—by one of us,” Gabriel said. “So, what we know is one of us has been infected by a . . . worm . . . or whatever this thing is.” He folded his hands and looked to Sam, then to Hayden.

“And who is it? I mean . . . do any of you feel symptoms?” Turner asked.

Dr, Hayden smirked. “You expect the murderer to just come forward?”

Turner gritted his teeth. “This thing eventually kills the host, right?”

“We don’t know that,” Sam said. “Most parasites don’t. Actually, the purpose of a parasite is to live inside the host and replicate and spread. That way they survive. It feasts upon the host but, since it’s the only source of food, it doesn’t kill him.”

Jack crossed his arms. “But this isn’t exactly most parasites, is it?”

“No, it isn’t,” Dr. Hayden said. “I mean, we don’t know a lot yet, but from what I could deduce from my first tests of the specimen—and what we observed with Kenji, Farnsworth, and the others—I suspect this worm was actually meant to infect much larger creatures than us.” Dr. Hayden stood. “It releases a number of chemicals into the host upon reaching a certain maturity. Since the parasite needs to spread and wants the host to protect it against potential enemies, these chemicals are designed to do exactly that.”

“Then why hasn’t the infected among attacked?” Miller asked.

“We assume it doesn’t affect all hosts the same way,” Sam said. “Actually, it’s fair to assume that the worm’s growth plays a role. A smaller worm will release less of these agents into the blood stream, meaning the host probably keeps more of his intellectual abilities. As it grows, the aggressive behavior will get worse. Paranoia will show.”

Gabriel realized the doctor had deteriorated so quickly because he’d been infected by several of the creatures at the same time.

“So where did this come from?” Turner asked.

Dr. Hayden frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Regular worms don’t do things like this. They’re peaceful creatures, aren’t they?”

“Actually, that’s not quite true. At least, they haven’t always been,” Sam said in the tone she used for lectures. “The first apex predator identified was a worm-like creature called the Anomalocarids. These relatives of the arthropod lived during the Cambrian period—around 520 to 500 million years ago—and are considered some of the earliest predators.

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