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didn’t want to have this discussion
with her, but her eyes held such hope and desperation that I had to answer her.
    “Speaking of flesh…” she began. She pointed down the deserted
street behind me towards a single man walking casually towards us. “Maybe it’s
human.”
    I could tell right away that it wasn’t. Its mind was so
incredibly powerful that I could sense it without trying, even from this
distance. I had faced hosts before, and they were deadly. Where an offspring
relied on claws and teeth to kill before consuming its victim’s flesh, a host
leached away its victim’s memories, emotions, and thoughts. Before you even
knew what was happening, you were an extra in a George Romero film.
    “Let’s get out of sight,” she said. “Please? I hate killing
these things. It’s just so sad. I don’t understand how some of us become like
you and me, while others end up like… like that. I can barely recall what it
was like when we were all just people.”
    “That thing is not just people anymore, and it won’t ever be a
person again. We are exterminators, and it needs to die. Now, put your blocks
up, and let’s get it before it gets us.”
    “You were human, once, Crane. There are people in this city;
scientists and doctors, and they’re close to a cure. I don’t want to kill the
hosts if there is a chance we can save them.”
    “Then let me ease your mind. They can’t be saved. Their minds
are alien, their souls are shredded, and their humanity is gone. There’s no
coming back from that. Death is the last dignity we can give them.”
    “What about us? What are we, then?” She was on the verge of a
moral crisis, and was silently pleading with me to tell her there was still
hope. There was, but not in the way she wanted to hear.
    “We are the only ones who can do it. We kill them: hosts,
offspring, husks, all of them. You are a killer, Diane. Get used to it. You are
the first exterminator I’ve seen in six months. We are losing this fight
because we forget what we are, and that’s when we die. I know you are looking
for hope. Well, look in the mirror. If there is any hope left for humanity, we
are it.”
    She bowed her head. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She
needed someone to lean on, but for people like us, there was no one. We had
only ourselves. The host was about a block away, and the hoard of husks that
followed it was coming out of the buildings and alleys. Offspring started
showing up, too.
    “Time to go,” I said. I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the
subway tunnel. “I sense two humans in here. Be careful.”
    “I know, Crane. They are sentries. There’s an entrance to the
prison from the sewers, about two blocks from here. That’s where the humans are
hiding. It’s fortified, and there are other exterminators defending it. We have
doctors, Crane, and… and a baby. Two hundred fourteen of us live here. No, two
fifteen, now.”
    “A baby? You have uninfected humans? How many?”
    I didn’t wait for her answer. Offspring were what happened when
infected humans had babies. It was no wonder there were so many of them here.
Instead of scanning her thoughts, I delved into her memories and saw
everything. Even though they were all infected, every able woman among them was
pregnant or trying to get that way. The doctors and scientists carefully
monitored every stage of the process.
    They had solar and wind power plants on the roof, and diesel
generators for backup, while the fuel lasted. They were still surviving on
salvaged food, and with careful rationing, could eat for another eight months.
    I was disturbed by what they were doing here, but with dozens of
baddies closing in around us, the time for discussion was over. With our minds
connected by my delve, she knew that I was in her head. It wasn’t likely that
she could use the connection as I did, but we certainly knew each other’s
surface thoughts.
    We can’t stay together, I thought. Just
like we can sense them in