Ravenous

Hungry... he was so hungry.

How had he developed this appetite?

He stood in front of the fridge and stared inside, but nothing looked appetizing. His favorites were all there – leftover penne pasta with pesto cream sauce, microwave pizza bites, even fresh citrus fruit from the farmer's market – and yet nothing appealed to him.

The pantry didn't have anything interesting in it either.

Next, he went to the menu drawer. Leafing through the dozens of paper take-out menus, he tried to decide if he wanted pizza or Chinese or Mexican. None of that sounded good either.

As he was flipping through the menus, the light came on.

Surprised, he looked behind him and found his wife standing behind him with a baseball bat in her hand.

She dropped it when she saw him, she clasped her hand over her mouth and sank to the floor as her knees came out.

"Henry?"

Henry looked at her, confused.

"My God, Henry! What happened to you? And where have you been?"

He tried to remember.


The last thing he could recall was working. He spent a lot of time at the lab, engrossed in his research. Henry remembered working late one night and finally making a breakthrough.

He remembered coding the sequence and preparing the inoculation. He administered it to the test subjects and waited the requisite amount of time before checking their reactions.

One of the subjects had bitten him.

He hadn't thought much about it, cleaning the wound and then going home. He remembered feeling dizzy on the way home struggling to see in the pouring rain. The last thing he remembered were headlights flashing and car horns sounding as he lost consciousness.


When he woke up, it was evening and the sun had just set, leaving the world in a cold, gray twilight. He woke up in a muddy field, his body sore and stiff. Looking around, he saw his car several yards back, the windshield shattered from where he had apparently been thrown through it.

Picking himself up, he ambled back up the embankment to the road, and slowly began the long walk home.


"But Henry," Vera said. "That was a week ago! You haven't been at work or home since!"

She looked at her husband, who looked to be at death's door. Dried blood caked his pale, colorless skin... and he moved with an awkward lurch, as his motor functions had been impaired.

"We have to get you to the hospital!" She exclaimed.

Henry tried to understand what she was saying, but the hunger clawing at his insides shut out comprehension of all else. He saw her lips moving, but couldn't make out what she was saying. Something about a police search and his being gone for so long without a word to anybody.

And then he smelled something. His stomach lurched as the delicious scent of food wafted to his nostrils. He knew it wasn't anything in the fridge... or pantry... or oven. He followed his nose as it tracked the smell, finally settling his eyes on its source.

Vera.

He could almost hear her heartbeat in his ears... could almost see the warm blood pulsing through the veins under her skin.

He tried to shake the thoughts from his mind.

What was he thinking?

But his stomach would not be denied. He tried to resist as he felt his body involuntarily moving forward, toward his wife.

"Henry, what are you doing?" She asked, as he advanced toward her.

"Vera, get out of here," Henry warned.

"What?"

"Go!"

He extended his arms and Vera, mistaking the gesture for wanting a hug, moved in and embraced her husband. Imagine her surprise when his arms locked around her, pulling her in close as he lowered his mouth to her shoulder, sinking his teeth into her flesh.

She cried out in pain and surprise as he tore the flesh from her bones with his clenched jaw. He tried to stop himself, his mind screaming out in an effort to stop his body.

But his stomach was in control. His voracious hunger consumed him as his mind screamed. His emotions boiled over and consumed him with despair as he was helpless to prevent his own starving body from feeding on his wife.

Her screams eventually faded as he continued his feast, her life slipping away as he fed on her flesh.

When he was done, Henry dropped his wife, horrified by what he had done. He wanted to take his own life, not deserving to continue his existence after committing such an atrocity.

Then, he realized with terror that his stomach felt better. The meal he had made of Vera helped curb his hunger.

Henry thought that was the most dreadful part of the whole ordeal... until he realized his stomach was still hungry... and that he was helpless to resist as his ravenous body moved upstairs to visit the children.


(820 words)