The Host Chapter 52
CHAPTER 52 Separated We brought our plunder in through the south vent, though this meant that the jeep would have to be moved before dawn. My main concern with using the bigger entrance was that the Seeker would hear the commotion our arrival was sure to cause. I wasn't sure if she had any idea of what I was going to do, and I didn't want to give her any reason to kill her host and herself. The story Jeb had told me about one of their captives–the man who had simply collapsed, leaving no external evidence on the outside of the havoc wreaked inside his skull–haunted my thoughts. The hospital was not empty. As I squeezed myself through the last tight bubble of space out into the main room, I found Doc preparing for the operation. His desk was laid out; on it, a propane lantern–the brightest illumination we had available–waited to be lit. The scalpels glinted in the duller blue light of the solar lamp. I had known that Doc would agree to my terms, but seeing him thus occupied sent a …
