“Alright,” Zoe said as she sat down on her bed, staring at the newly spawned parasite that she named Thaddeus. “How exactly does all of this work?”

“Well, it’s very simple, my queen,” Thaddeus said.

“Please,” Zoe said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Just Zoe is fine for now. Maybe in due time, I’ll be more comfortable with being called a queen.” She sighed and laid down. “Sorry, this is just a lot to take in all at once.”

“Of course, my queen Zoe,” Thaddeus said. Zoe huffed, but at least the name was a compromise. “I will answer any questions that you have that I am capable of answering.”

Zoe huffed a little before turning over to Thaddeus. “So, let’s start simple. Well, as simple as I can, I guess. Are there just a bunch of you living inside of me right now? Am I in any danger?”

Thaddeus shook its head. “Never, Zoe. We would never risk the lives of our queen.” Thaddeus hopped onto Zoe and crawled over across her collarbone. Zoe shivered a little at the odd sensation. “See, we currently reside dormant in a little sack inside of you. It’s somewhere between your heart and your throat. At your will and command, you can summon and spit up one of us. At most, it would be wise to spit up only five at a time so we have time to recover and regrow more.”

“So, I just kind of focus and cough up more of you?” As Zoe said that, she became more aware of the lump in her neck. If she focused more on it, it felt like she was ready to cough up something she had accidentally swallowed. “Yeah, I guess so. How long can you all live outside of me?”

“Around an hour,” Thaddeus said.

“WHAT!?”

“Then, if we do not have a host to burrow into and integrate ourselves, we die. Shrivel up into nothing but nutrients to whatever happens to come across and consume us.”

Zoe quickly rushed over to her phone and looked at the time. It had been about half an hour since she got her bearings and coughed up Thaddeus.

“We gotta get you into a host soon!” Zoe quickly put on her shoes and scooped up Thaddeus. She rushed out of her apartment and locked the door before looking around. After a few …