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parasites

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Hunter__ entire body writhed and squirmed.The side of his head was partly gone. A creature, like some monstrous melding of insect and eel, protruded from Hunter__ shoulder and as they stood there rooted in horror it took a vicious bite of Hunter__ flesh.Taylor was suddenly gone.Dekka__ face was grim, her eyes wet.__ tried . . . ,_ Hunter said. He held up his hands, mimicked pressing them against his head. __t didn__ work.___ can do it,_ Sam said softly.____ scared,_ Hunter said.__ know.___t__ __ause I killed Harry. God has to punish me. I tried to be good but I__ bad.___o, Hunter,_ Sam said gently. __ou paid your dues. You fed the kids. You__e a good guy._____ a good hunter.___he best.___ don__ know what__ happening. What__ happening, Sam?___t__ just the FAYZ, Hunter,_ Sam said.__an the angels find me here so I can go to heaven?__am didn__ answer. It was Dekka who spoke. __o you still remember any prayers, Hunter?__he insectlike creature was almost completely emerged from Hunter__ shoulder. Legs were becoming visible. It had wings folded against its body. It looked like a gigantic ant, or wasp, but silver and brass and covered with a sheen of slime.It was emerging like a chicken breaking out of an egg. Being born. And as the creature was born, it fed on Hunter__ numbed body.Jerky movements beneath Hunter__ shirt testified to more of the larvae emerging.__o you remember __ow I lay me down to sleep_?_ Dekka asked.__ow I lay me down to sleep,_ Hunter said. __ pray the Lord my soul to keep.__am raised his hands, palms out.__f I should die___win beams of light hit Hunter__ chest and face. His shirt caught fire. Flesh melted. He was dead before he could feel anything.Sam played the light up and down Hunter__ body. The smell was sickening. Jack wanted to look away, but how could he?Sudden darkness as Sam terminated the light.Sam lowered his hands to his side.They stood there in the darkness. Jack breathed through his mouth, trying not to smell the burned flesh.Then they heard a sound. Many sounds.Sam raised his hands and pale light glowed.Hunter was all but gone.The things that had been inside him were still there.

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Hunter__ dead,_ Taylor said without preamble. __t was these . . . these things. They came crawling up out of him and were eating him, oh God, I mean, it was like . . . I mean he was crying and Dekka prayed with him and he tried to fry his own brain just like he did with Harry only I guess it didn__ work, I guess he couldn__ do it, so Sam . . ._ She swallowed. __nyone have some water?___hat about Sam?_ Astrid demanded.__e did it for him. Sam. I mean, he . . . Hunter was, you know . . . so Sam._ She pantomimed raising her hands, like Sam, like he would do when using his power.Astrid closed her eyes and crossed herself.__est in peace,_ Edilio said and crossed himself as well.__am burned the boy?_ Howard asked. Then, bitterly sarcastic said, __eah, you all pray to Jesus. Because Jesus is really providing a lot of help here. Sounds to me like Sam was the one doing what had to be done.

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Hunter woke suddenly. A noise.It was a noise unlike anything he__ ever heard before. Close! Very close.Like it was on him. Like it was . . .Just in one ear.He twisted his head. It was full night. Black as black in the woods far from the starlight.He couldn__ see anything.But with his hands he could feel. The thing on his shoulder.His ear . . . gone!A terrible fear wrung a cry of horror from Hunter.He couldn__ feel it, his ear, or his shoulder, couldn__ feel with anything but his fingers and he felt, reached beneath his shirt, felt the flesh of his belly pulse and heave.Like something inside him.No, no, no, it wasn__ fair. It wasn__ fair!He was Hunter. The hunter. He was doing his best.He cried. Tears rolled down his cheeks.Who would bring meat for all the kids?It wasn__ fair.The sound of munching, crunching started again. Just in one ear.Hunter had only one weapon: the heat-causing power in his hands. He had used it many, many times to take the life of prey.He had fed the kids with that power. And in a moment of fear and rage he had accidentally taken the life of his friend, Harry.Maybe he could kill the thing that was eating his ear.But it was too late for that to help.Could he kill himself?He saw Old Lion__ head, eyes closed, hanging where he__ hung him for skinning. If Old Lion could die, so could Hunter.Maybe they would meet again, up in the sky.Hunter pressed both palms against his head.

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The Shrink always warned me that carriers stay wracked with lifelong guilt. It's not an uplifting thing having turned lovers into monsters. We feel bad that we haven't turned into monsters ourselves--survivor's guilt, that's called. And we feel a bit stupid that we didn't notice our own symptoms earlier. I mean, I'd been sort of wondering why the Atkins diet was giving me night vision. But that hadn't seemed like something to worry about...

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From Lankaster to Lorenz, scientists have gotten it wrong. Parasites are complex, highly adapted creatures that are at the heart of the story of life. If there hadn't been such high walls dividing scientists who study life - the zoologists, the immunologists, the mathematical biologists, the ecologists - parasites might have been recognized sooner as not disgusting, or at least not merely disgusting. If parasites were so feeble, so lazy, how was it that they could manage to live inside every free-living species and infect billions of people? How could they change with time so that medicines that could once treat them became useless? How could parasites defy vaccines, which could corral brutal killers like smallpox and polio?

CZ
Carl Zimmer

Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures