Itâs been less than a month since his arrival. Transitioning into this lifestyle is still difficult for him with all things considered. He has no place to really call his own, but heâs managed somewhere to sleep, shower, and eat; itâs something, and to top it off heâs met people like him that his old friends would think are dangerous. Namely, Nathan Prescott. A loud boy who thinks with his heart and talks with his fistsâ Josh likes him the most, he thinks. Thereâs something âuglyâ in Nathan thatâs inside Josh. A parasite infecting two different bodies, with two different results.
     As unlikely as finding anything of substance was to him when he arrived, seeing someone he knew from âbeforeâ was out of the question. It didnât cross his mind at all⌠until today. She was just sitting there, covered in blood and bruises and dirt. The crowd seamlessly parts around herâ it looks so unreal that he second guesses whether it is or not. Jess shouldnât be here. She shouldnât look like that. Mike should be standing next to her with that cheeky asshole grin he always wears. They should be laughing and talking, but she looks ready to break with a strong gust of wind.
     He pushes oneâ two, three.. four people out of his way,  weaving against the flow of âblanksâ that never seem to react to anything, âJess?â He calls, hesitant. Itâs got to be her. Itâs got to be REAL. Thereâs no fucking way this isnât real. The space between them continues to shrink. âJess!â Louder, clearer. His pace falters and slows as he comes up within arms length of her. Itâs worse than he thought. The wounds, the look of desperate confusion, did he..? âWhat.. what happened to you? Howâ what are you doing here?â That was a stupid question. Did anyone know what they were doing âhereâ. âDid.. do you know what happened? Jesus..â âYou look awfulâ goes unspoken. He looked infinitely worse even still.
     He wanted revenge and it looks like he got it, but it didnât feel like he won anything.
   Jess immediately turned her head when she heard someone call her name. Not just anyone either, she knew that voice. She knew that voice so well--! Once she set her eyes on him, she was shocked. First of all, she thought that he was dead. Second off, his face.. Was horribly disfigured. That was the best way that she could describe it. She still felt a bit comforted by his presence.
âJosh..? Josh-- Iâm so glad that youâre here, youâre alive..!â
   She paused when Josh asked what had happened to her, raising a hand to her face self consciously. Of course she knew what happened. How could she forget..? What she was doing here, however, she wasnât really sure of.
âI donât even know why Iâm here, Josh.â
   She started off, biting her bottom lip.
âI.. I was attacked while Mike and I were out at the cabins. By a monster-- I think they called it a Wendigo. It... It dragged me out of a window and down into a mine shaft. I guess I was out of it for a while, because I woke up on the floor of a broken elevator. I wandered around for a while, got chased by another one of those monsters, then eventually met up with Matt.â
   She furrowed her brows, looking the other up and down. Jessicaâs whole body shook, tired and sore. She supposed it was a better time than ever to ask what had happened to him.
âWhat happened to you..? We all thought that you were dead.â











