Page 24 of You Weren't Meant to Be Human
We know you. We understand you.
Yes.
We know you better than you know yourself.
That’s why he’s here. Without the hive, he’s nothing.
And is this not what you wanted?
Crane tries to breathe in but can’t. Thinks he feels his heart stop somewhere in his throat.
All the autonomic functions of the body grind to a cold stop.
You pleaded for us to do as we wished with you, didn’t you? To mold you in our image. To give you a place. To make your choices, change your body, make you into something useful. To keep you from being something other than fuckmeat and repulsive lust and fear.
To make the outside match the inside.
How fortunate, then, that we’ve given you what you want.
Crane doesn’t hear the hive door open or the footsteps. Barely feels the hands guiding him away, leathery skin cradling his face and directing it toward the office light.
“What did you do?” Tammy is demanding. Not of him. There’s spit on her wrinkled lips. Crane crams his nose into her palm to find her pulse, squeezes his eyes shut, tries to pretend he’s a teenager in her guest room again. “One of y’all better fucking answer me.”
Our child simply needs time to come around.
“Towhat?”
Levi says, “He’s pregnant.”
Crane focuses on Tammy’s pulse. Tries to match his to hers, eventhough he feels like he’s going to have a heart attack and hers is getting faster, faster.
Jess, somewhere in the office, says, “Holy shit.”
“Okay.” Tammy sucks in air through her crooked teeth and drags her free hand through Crane’s hair. “Okay, sweetheart. I can handle this. We’ll just—”
You will NOT.
Tammy flinches.
The little one is ours.
“We’re keeping it,” Levi says.
Tammy snarls. “Fuck.” Then, “Go with them, baby.” She hands Crane off to Jess and Stagger. “Sit him down, I’ll be right there.” Then she’s raising her voice at Levi and the hive, and Stagger is leading him to the chair in the corner of the office and Jess is helping him sit.
The gas station tilts under him.
“He can handle it,” Levi is saying.
“Hey,” Jess murmurs. “Hey. Breathe.”
He realizes with sudden clarity that he hates her.
If the hive was going to pick anyone for this bullshit, why couldn’t it have been her? She comes here, fucks up her first hunt, and has the gall to stand in front of him and look at him with such big eyes, like shefeels badabout this. As if she knows him, or cares.
It should’ve been her. Let her be the one to carry the hive’s preciouslittle one. Hell, maybe she’d even like it. Maybe they should find out.
Jess takes a step back. “Crane?” she says nervously.
