#7: Hunger

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Suddenly Shelby was enveloped in the most intense sensation of hunger that he’d ever experienced in his whole life. He was absolutely famished. He felt that he could eat anything ...absolutely anything.

"Sorry about that” the voice said. The intense hunger pangs receded somewhat, but didn’t completely go away.”That slipped out. You need some food boy!”

"Damn!” Shelby said, completely overwhelmed by the sensation."Even C-rats sounded good right now. Lucky me. I have C-Rations in my ruck. Cold C-Rats...oh joy.”

"And where’s your Ruck? Unless it’s really close, within arms reach, you’re out of luck. You’re well and truly trapped for now. Not to mention all the broken bones. Moving about is ill advised” the voice said.

"Where izit you ask? Well that’s kinda hard to say isn’t it?” Shelby asked."You said I’m unconscious. How would I know where it is?”

"_Oh...that.” The voice said."Yuup. That is indeed a complication. I guess I better get you woke up. At least for a little while. Can you handle reality? It’s ugly.”

"I won’t know until I see it will I?” Shelby asked.

"There is that...ok...here you go.” the voice replied.

Shelby regained consciousness. He almost wished that he hadn’t. It was definitely ugly. He felt that he was in a sitting position. He opened his eyes. He could actually could see in the dark, odd that. The view was NOT encouraging. He was sitting.... on the floor. His lower back and butt was against a wall. His legs were stretched out in front of him. His arms were to his sides.

He stared in horrified fascination at a huge stone block, in his lap, that was close enough to him for his forehead to press against if he leaned forward. That stone block had fallen on his legs. If it had fallen just a leetle bit closer...he would have been totally squished....like a bug.

"Oh” he said in a very small voice. He could barely stick a finger under the monstrous slab. It was that close to the floor... his legs ....were smushed.

Yes...he should be in pain.

He twisted his neck to look around. There wasn’t much space. He glimpsed other massive stones, rubble, rocks, gravel. He heard the drip, drip, drip of water. The floor was wet.

There was no rucksack.

"Oh..shit" he said again, in a small, timid quiet voice..

"Yup...pretty grim isn’t it?” the voice asked. "Now about that RuckPack?”

"Gone” Shelby said. He twisted more to get a better look, to make sure it wasn’t nearby. Then he stopped. He had felt the weirdest sensation.

"Don’t let that bother you.” the voice said"that’s just the pain. Millions of neurons screaming in the darkness at once telling you that you are in blinding, excruciating agony. It’s all those broken bones, crushed organs and ripped muscles I think. Ignore that. I have it blocked...mostly.”

"Broken bones, crushed organs and ripped muscles?” Shelby gasped.

"Yeah...and the hole in your forehead. I forgot that part. You should really be thankful for the hole in your forehead.”the voice said.

"Thankful for a hole in forehead?” Shelby was tempted...SO tempted to touch the spot in question with his hands. He refrained from doing so...

"Yeah. Right above your nose. Pretty big one too. It’s got the SoulStone in it. If it wasn’t for the SoulStone I wouldn’t be here. If I wasn’t here you’d be SO dead.” The voice said"now about that FOOD! I need some building material. I need some energy. Quit wasting time."

The Voice relaxed the hunger pang/pain constraints just a notch.

"The RuckSack is Gone!” Shelby yelped"There is no food!”

Silence. Shelby began to wonder if the voice had been a product of his imagination.

Finally the voice spoke again."Ok. That makes it harder. I’m transferring all of the tissue from your legs. In a manner of speaking it’s like that wolf you heard of that gnawed it’s leg off to get out of a trap”.

“I’ll use the tissue to keep you from starving to death while I make repairs. I’m going to have to use every bit of fat and even some of the muscle to keep you alive. I’m going to rebuild the muscle too. You have a damn pitiful design. When I get through it’s going to be denser, stronger and react a LOT faster. As an added bonus you won’t have to exercise to stay strong.”

"You’re going to be skinny but very strong.” It said.

Shelby was stunned. Could this day get any worse?

"You could die.” The Voice said."Do you want that? Do you want to just give up and die?”

"Well no.” Shelby said"I don’t want that.”

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The Next Episode will be
#8:Give me some emotional support here…
The Last Episode was
#6: Pain…
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue

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@everittdmickey
I surf the net, find the GOOD stuff.
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