The Parasite War by Tim Sullivan

seeking the nerves. He shrieked until a pseudopod slid into his mouth. Flash gagged, but the vomit did not stop the colloid from vanishing down his throat.
    Alex opened fire, using many more rounds than was necessary. He did not intend to let his friend suffer for one second longer than he had to. His finger grew numb on the trigger, and his hands and forearms ached by the time he stopped shooting.
    The colloids, feeding on Flash's nervous system, trembled with the shock of his death. In a moment, they would reject the dead body and crawl away. Alex had better not be anywhere near them when that happened. There must have been six or seven of them on Flash's body. God only knew how many more were lurking in the overgrown woods surrounding the hideout.
    But he had to find Jo, no matter how many of them were here.
    "Jo!" he cried, crashing through the underbrush. He reached the hideout and kicked open the door.
    There was nobody inside. Apparently, Jo must have escaped. Alex tried to feel relieved, but he knew that there were other possibilities. He preferred not to think of them right now, but he couldn't help it. He could only hope that Jo would find her way back to the armory. He lit a kerosene lantern and searched for signs that she had been inside the hideout tonight. As far as he could tell, the stores of canned goods were untouched. He found a sack and filled it with as much food as he could carry.
    Just before he turned out the lantern, he took one last look around. The corner of the room that he and Jo had used for their private quarters was covered by the curtain. He could not resist going over in the darkness and lifting the curtain for a moment.
    There was Jo, lying on the mattress. Was she dead? His heart grew huge in his chest.
    Before he could move or make a sound, he saw that something was on the pillow beside her head—something that quivered gelatinously. A thin stream rushed from the colloid's main mass, across the pillow and into Jo's right ear.
    Even in the darkness, he could see the rise and fall of her breast. Her eyes were wide open, staring straight up at the ceiling.
    Alex gripped the Ingram. He hadn't thought twice about killing Flash, but this . . . this was Jo. He backed away, letting the curtain drop. He could not penetrate Jo's soft flesh with bullets. Turning, he ran from the hideout, retching.
    He did not stop running until he had climbed up the fire escape and was pounding on the iron door for someone to let him into the armory. There were infected people standing on the pavement, but none of them came near. If they had, he would have killed them. He didn't want to—he only wanted to be among humans, away from that hellish sight at the hideout. He had never panicked like this, not even in the worst days in Nam. "Let me in!" he shouted. "For Christ's sake, let me in!"
    He almost fell as the door opened inward. The worried faces of Elvin and Dr. Siegel peered at him.
    "It's Jo!" he cried. "She's—"
    "What is it, my dear boy?" Dr. Siegel said, embracing him. "What has happened to Jo?"
    "Oh, God!" He buried his face in her breast and wept.
    The others began to gather around them, astonished that Alex could break down like this. Elvin shushed them to silence, as Siegel talked to Alex. "Alex, tell us what happened."
    "A colloid," Alex said. "She's infected."
    Siegel looked at him skeptically. "There was no sign of infection."
    "No, it's something new. An infection that hides in the brain, controlling her. I saw . . . " He covered his face with his hands.
    "What, Alex? What did you see?"
    "A colloid, its pseudopod entering her ear. Communicating with the one inside her."
    "How do you know?"
    "I know. She's been different these past few weeks. The thing has been inside her."
    "But the colloids eat away at a person. There is a noticeable physical change."
    He grabbed her by the shoulders, looking deep into her eyes. "Don't you get it, Claire? They've learned how to do it without showing