Free Xenofall (The Wasteland Chronicles, Book 7) by Kyle West

means?” Makara asked.
    “The hippocampus is related to memory, while the amygdala processes emotion. Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area have to do with the speaking and understanding of language. For all intents and purposes, even though this man was out like a light, he was having a conversation.” Samuel paused. “Upon closer inspection, the scientists did find the writhe, and cleared the patient for immediate delivery to Level One.”
    “Level One,” I said. “You mean the bio-lab.”
    “Correct,” Samuel said. “The patient was given into the care of Ashton. There are parasites of Earth origin that are known to cause mental changes in their hosts. Some even cause insanity. Anytime this patient was conscious, though, he would attack, as if that were the most important objective in his mind. When he was kept in isolation, however, he seemed practically normal. He wondered where he was, where his family was, expressed sadness at his isolation. He even believed he was being imprisoned. But every time the patient caught sight of another human being – even loved ones – he attacked without reservation.”
    “How horrible,” Anna asked.
    “Ashton and his colleagues discovered that the writhe was responsible for the physiological changes in the patient. President Garland himself ordered all residents of Bunker One to be screened for the parasite.” Samuel paused. “They were surprised by what they found.
    “Twenty-seven people were infected with the very same parasite. They performed another screening, and found an additional five, for a total of thirty-two infected. These people showed no obvious ill-effects on account of the writhe, unlike the soldier, but many of them were soldiers themselves with heavy exposure to the Great Blight.”
    “So...they tested. And tested. The thirty-two were quarantined and kept in isolation. Because of the one soldier who went rogue, Ashton wasn’t willing to let these thirty-two back into the general population.
    “Ashton needed to study the parasite to be sure it was of xenoviral origin, but none of the patients agreed to a biopsy. For good reason – such an operation was life-threatening. But even with the promise of a great reward, such as more credits in the Bunker’s exchange system – no one budged. Even if the operation carried such a risk, Ashton thought it was strange that no one would take him up on his offer.
    “Eventually, an opportunity did come. The original patient, the soldier, died. He’d somehow found a blade to cut himself. Ashton took the opportunity to extract the writhe and take a sample. By doing so, he confirmed that it was of xenoviral origin.”
    “What happened after that?” I asked.
    “Ashton didn’t have a lot to go on,” Samuel said. “He knew there was an alien parasite inside the brains of at least thirty-three Bunker One residents. In at least one of those cases, it caused the host to go insane. Then again, he was receiving pressure from the President and the Citizens’ Council to either come up with a cure or release the residents back to their families. The other patients had shown no violent tendencies, and pressure was mounting for the patients’ release.
    “Ashton knew he was far from finding a cure. That wasn’t even his expertise. Rather, he was concerned with the danger the patients would pose if released prematurely. But it’d been three months since the screenings. Since there were no adverse effects seen from the parasites, Ashton was forced to release them by executive order, and could only conduct research on a volunteer basis.”
    “So, they were released back into the Bunker?” Anna asked.
    “Yeah. They were released. None of them volunteered for research. This reflected badly on Ashton, and many questioned the ethics of his research. He became a pariah. Some even said that he murdered the original patient in order to extract the writhe.”
    “It goes into that level of detail?” Anna asked.
    “This is