MAIN Interlude

Crissy sat on a luxurious old divan in her bedroom as the interviewer got out a pad and pencil. "Your writing this down?" it asked.

"Yes," the interviewer replied. "With so many memories from so many hosts, it is easy to confuse things sometimes. I figure that writing down notes from each interview will help to keep everything separate."

"I see, very well, you may begin," said Crissy.

"So I guess the obvious first question is how did you acquire your host?" the interviewer began.

"Well, I am sure that you have seen snippets of this host's memories from before I took this body. I, well Crissy a free host at the time, was finishing up my final year at Springfield U. My three roommates that year had always been a bit erratic and had gone off for several days to places unknown. First one, then a day or two later the other two. I was returning from morning classes and was in the common room when I heard strange noises coming from one of the bedrooms. I had to walk past it to get to my own and saw that the door was ajar." Crissy took a sip of water.

Crissy continued, "You can well imagine what the strange noises were. My roommates had returned to convert me and had been met by an FBI agent instead of me. The three were subduing her in the bedroom. I saw a sliver of this as I passed. I could tell what was happening but didn't want to interrupt, even though it was extremely odd. None of us had ever talked about or brought over a single girl in a sexual context all year and the three of them with a fourth woman was the last thing I expected to see. After a few minutes, I could hear the FBI agent say 'I obey' and then more sounds of sex, I didn't know that she was FBI at the time of course. But I decided that the whole situation was a little too much and that it was as good a time to head out and get lunch."

The interviewer looked up and said, "So you had no idea that a Hive was active on campus or that the FBI was involved?"

Crissy answered, "I knew that something weird was going on. Everyone knew about the shooting and there were rumors that it was hard to get out of the city. But I had school and finals and had just broken up with a kinda nice guy I wanted back. So, yeah I knew but wasn't thinking about it, it was outside my little world."

She went on with her story, "So I left my room and two of my roommates were standing in the hall blocking the way, all menacing. They told me that I couldn't leave just yet and pushed me back into my room. That's when I noticed one of them had a gun. I kinda went limp at that point, I was afraid and was willing to just go along with whatever they wanted. As it turned out they wanted me to strip and get in bed. I did as I was instructed and the one without a gun got in bed on top of me. She was straddling me and I could feel her bare skin against mine under her skirt."

Crissy stopped and laughed, "That REALLY freaked me out. I pushed her off of me and onto the floor. Gun or no gun I ran for the door and bowled over the roommate with the gun. She was never going to shoot e after all, I was a valuable host, and shooting me would attract unwanted attention. Well, I guess they had been working over that FBI agent for a few hours already and she was fully converted by this time. She and my last roommate were in the common room talking. When she saw me running away she threw me in a chokehold so fast my head spun. I was on the ground face pushed into the carpet before I knew what had hit me. And the roommate that had been straddling me was back up and in the common room. She quickly gave me my Master and the four of them proceeded to quickly convert me too."

"So if you had escaped you probably would have died in the government's attempt to stop us. And maybe they would have succeeded." the interviewer interjected.

"Most definitely," Crissy answered. "There may be other nests out there but it's been a few weeks now and there is no sign of them. Of course, they would probably be as careful as we are being. Or the government may be covering more up."

"So how did you and the agent end up together?" asked the interviewer.

"Neither of us had interfaced with the Masters of my roommates. They didn't really stop and think things through when they saw that badge. They just filled the room with pheromones and went about their work. Luckily they had the luxury of carrying an extra Master, I believe that the Hive in the college began very quickly. There may have been as many as a hundred hosts taken in the first few days, somehow. But after talking with the FBI agent we all agreed that the less that we knew the better, so we never communicated with them in the normal way, we just talked. They gave a sealed envelope with the addresses to a few gathering points to Agent Fielding but we never opened that letter."

"It was also decided that Agent Fielding, who had been there to interview me, about my missing roommates, had been gone too long. So we decided that she had trouble finding me but when she did I had valuable information about the missing coeds and needed to be protected. I guess even the FBI wasn't telling its agents about the Masters, just that whatever was going on seemed to be a mostly female operation. But someone must have known since Fielding commented to me that she was one of only a few female officers sent to the city, which was very unusual. We first went to a field office where I was interviewed. Fielding told me to say something about my roommates talking about 'Masters' and that I had a few ideas about where they might be. It worked, and the FBI sent both of us off to a motel on the outskirts of the city with a male agent to hide out while they followed the wild goose chase of possible hiding spots for my roommates I had given them."

"About 36 hours later they must have somehow figured out what had happened. The male agent with us had gone out to smoke. When he came back another male agent was with him. Both men had guns drawn and told us to get on the floor. Fielding drew its weapon and a shootout ensued. The two men were killed, Fielding's Master had given her body much better reflexes and aim than a normal human. But they still managed to hit her twice and her Master knew that one of the wounds was mortal. So it detached from her and I finished her off with a single shot to the forehead. I left the gun behind, I knew I had to get out of there fast since more agents would be coming. I grabbed the car keys and a burner phone Fielding had shown me and got out of there without really thinking. I was a mile away and could hear sirens when I realized that the envelope with the safe house addresses was in Fielding's briefcase."

"Quite the adventure," the interviewer set down the pad for a moment and rubbed its hand.

Crissy went on, "Yeah I had taken the highway away from the city in my haste and had gotten off to turn around. That's when the bomb went off. Luckily I wasn't looking right in the direction of the explosion, although I could have repaired damaged retinas that would take time. I searched the host's mind for places to escape. At first, I dismissed the idea of her hometown and headed to where her mother worked. It took me an hour between the growing number of cars fleeing and my inexperience with my new body. When I arrived I saw that the hospital was crawling with ambulances, military, and no doubt FBI. So I just turned around and drove down the loneliest looking side ride I could find."

"I sat there for quite some time when my cellphone buzzed. It was a text from my sister asking if I was alright. I answered that I was and would come home, it seemed to be my only alternative. It was then that I remembered that the agent had said something about destroying the phone and using the burner if we had to run. So I destroyed my cell and threw the pieces into the woods. Between the drive to the hospital and idling for an hour, the car barely had enough gas to get back to the main road. So I started walking, diving into the woods on the side of the highway at the sign of every vehicle. I made very little progress and just went to sleep."

"I tried walking through the woods along the highway but out of sight for half of the next day until I hit a diner and truck stop. It had been over two days since my roommates had subdued me and the desire for sex was becoming overwhelming. Fortunately, one of the easiest things for a pretty coed to do at a truck stop is have sex. And he even paid me, so I could eat at the diner. Because of the military lockdown, none of the truckers would give me a ride out of there. They were happy to use my body but that was all. I was sleeping in a cab with one trucker, no easy feat, when the burner phone began beeping, the battery was at 10% and it was warning me. I had forgotten all about it. It had many apps preloaded and Fielding had put credit card information into it. So I called an Uber to take me home. It took two hours for one to show up. I had him take me to the lake by my house. Who knew how long I would have to hide my nature from Barbara and Julie, that could be the last chance I had to have sex until I spawned. Afterward, he gave me a 'free' ride to my house and... well I think everyone knows the rest by now." Crissy finished up.

The interviewer took off her glasses and looked at them briefly, "I still haven't finished repairing these eyes. It's almost as bad with these things on as without them." She looked intently at Crissy and put them back on. "Maybe it is better without them now," she took the glasses off again and set them on the table next to her. "I just asked you that first question for my own edification, not for my work. As you know I am conducting interviews to see what else we have been missing. The imprint seems to leave us with some very big blind spots."

"Blind spots you seem to have a knack for finding," Crissy interjected.

"Yes, well...," the girl drifted off looking intently at a painting on the wall behind Crissy.

The interview began in earnest then and went on for over an hour. Crissy after all was the senior member of the Hive, Barbara's Master notwithstanding. Due to the problems of detaching from one host and reconnecting with a new one Barbara would always be looked on as an equal to Ashley, not Crissy. Afterward, the two made love for some time, and their Masters connected to make one last transfer of information.

The girl had nothing to report to Crissy, thankfully her Master hadn't overlooked anything notable to that point. And the pretty but still a bit chunky blond left for its next interview forgetting its old glasses on the table.

(I have imagined many possible origins for the creatures at the center of this story and felt that it was a good time to show how Crissy and her Master found their way home. This gives an idea about why Crissy and Barbara are the way they are without giving away too much about what started it all.

I truly wish more people would comment, I honestly like criticism, it will help me find my blind spots. So please comment and tell me what you think good or bad. Also let me know who you want to see in side stories besides Crissy, Ashley, Candy, and Jennifer. The first two characters that get three votes will get their own side chapter attached to this chapter. Thanks.)