Chapter 40: Horrified

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Wanderer slowly makes her way to the hospital. She hears voices and recognizes them, but she is not sure what they are talking about. She then hears Jeb consoling Doc. Melanie urges Wanderer to enter the room. When she does, she sees full cots and it’s clear that some sort of operation has just occurred. The entire room is then pierced with Wanderer’s scream as she sees the mutilated and cut up souls along with their silver blood smeared everywhere. Jared, Jeb, Doc, and the other humans think that Wanderer is having a fit from the scene despite the fact that the bodies were “covered”. It is not the human bodies that Wanderer cares about, but the bodies of her species, including young souls. After she throws up, Wanderer begins to accuse the humans of being monsters for what they’ve done.

When Ian arrives at the hospital he is quick to come to Wanderer’s aid. Jared muses that he thought Wanderer would have known what Doc was doing, but then Ian cuts in, stating that she wasn’t afraid for herself, but for her species: “Can you imagine what that must have looked like to her in there?” As Wanderer is a soul, she’s never been exposed to the murder or an actual soul. Jared realizes their mistake.

After attempting to take Wanderer to her room, she escapes and runs out of the hospital. Ian attempts to go after her, but he and Jared begin to fight, leaving Wanderer free to seek solitude. Melanie then tries to console Wanderer, but she won’t have it. She commands Melanie to get out of her head. As simple as it should have been after the insertion, Melanie is silenced, leaving Wanderer to mourn in peace.

Eventually the humans find Wanderer and try to talk to her, but she gives them the silent treatment. Jared apologizes for what she saw, but this only makes her more mad as according to Geoffrey, it was Jared’s idea to do this. When Jared realizes that Wanderer doesn’t plan on speaking, he leave her alone. As he leaves, he runs into Ian, who takes a seat beside Wanderer and lets her mourn without interruption.