Food

How long had we been running? I didn’t have a watch, and there was no sun. That glowing reddened sky didn’t brighten, dim, or change its direction in any way. What did change was that I was starting to get tired. That familiar, burning and aching in my muscles, the thirst and growing need for air, it was all coming back to me. I had to slow to a stop, gripping my knees and just trying to catch my breath. Siti and Libero stopped as well once they noticed.

“What’re ya doin’? Feelin’ lazy all of a sudden?”

“He’s just tired, that’s all.”

“Tired? That thing that your rides do? You’re tellin’ me he does that too?”

“He does, and he does it more. The creatures I grow will run until they die. I assume James would prefer to rest before that happens.”

“Rest? You’re kidding. He has to just sit around doing nothing before he can run again? And we’ve just gotta wait for him?!”

“He’ll probably also need to eat and sleep at some point as well. Unlike you, his teeth are actually needed, not just another weapon.”

“We haven’t even been running that long!”

“At the pace he was going, that’s actually incredible for a human.”

“You’ve gotta be lying Siti. Humans are even WEAKER than that?!”

“Yup!”

“W-well soooooorry for being slow and weak.”

“You don’t need to apologize. Demons are only strong here in the Demon Realm. Where I come from, they need to stay hidden to gather their strength as leaving the Demon Realm thoroughly weakens them.”

    It made me feel a little better, but not much. Here I was, celebrating the feeling of feeling so strong and fast and that’s still considered weak? More than that, I was thirsty and starting to feel hungry, but everywhere I looked was just bone, shell, and rot. Do they expect me to eat that rotten ‘mush?’

“No, I don’t.”

     Ah, right, the mind reading. She dismounted from the...hornyface...and made her way towards me as numerous stems began to sprout from the ground. One of them shaped into what looked like a pitcher plant, but on the inside, water slowly began to collect inside. From another plant, fruits began to grow! They started off looking kind of like mangoes, then quickly shriveled up and shed whatever skin they had. The fruit skins were quickly eaten up by other plants waiting on the ground. Siti plucked one of the shriveled, dried fruits and offered it to me.

“It’s good that the biosuit can supplement you, not all of your strength or energy is coming out of your metabolic processes, but I suppose you’ll have to depend on me for food and water.”

     I took the dried fruit and ate it. It was a bit tougher than any other dried fruit that I’d eaten before, and the taste wasn’t quite like any one thing. I thought it tasted like an orange at first, but as I kept chewing, more flavors kept coming out. Grapes, kiwi, cabbage...chicken? How did she make a fruit taste like chicken?

“Hehe, am I not amazing? I can make a single fruit meet all of your nutritional needs to a perfect ratio, as well as feed you new microbes that will ensure you don’t waste a single bit of nutrients. I hope you understand that this place isn’t exactly abundant or hospitable to life.”

     I guess I should be amazed that she could even do this much in such a place. So hoping for a nice steak or even some cheap instant ramen is probably out of the question. “Yes yes Siti, you’re really amazing~ Thank you for keeping me alive~”

     I gripped the pitcher plant and drank from it. It tasted a little strange and was warm, but it reminded me that, if not for this suit, I’m sure I’d be boiling alive. Ah, so long to cold water and delicious food, how I’ll miss thee.

“Hey Siti, you said that suit is making him stronger and stay alive better. Cuz a’ the demon?”

“Yep! Why do you ask?”

Must be nice not having your mind read.

“What if we stick more demons on ‘im? Your suit can handle that, right?”

“Hmmm, I guess that’d work? Though I’d worry-”

     Before she could even finish, Libero punched into the ground, reached around for a bit, then pulled out some sort of horrifying crab thing. It had way too many legs, three claws, was covered with horns and spikes on its shell, had five bloodshot humanoid eyes that were practically bulging out of its sockets, and rows upon rows of needle-like sharp teeth chomping and gnashing out of its ravenous frothing mouth.

“Here, eat up.”

     And he tossed it at me! It looked smaller against Libero’s body, but as it came closer to me, I realized that its torso was as big as mine! Its claws and legs were easily longer than my limbs, and as it came flying toward me, it aimed all of those sharp limbs towards me! I leaped out of the way and scrambled to a crouched position, but just as I saw it, it was already rushing at me.

     I managed to stay upright as it tackled me, but it just kept swinging at me with its claws and even biting at me! It wasn’t even trying to pinch me, it was just stabbing at me as I put my guard up. Then, it grabbed my wrists with two of its claws and wrenched my guard open, followed by grabbing my throat with its third claw. I struggled, but I was still tired, and my arms couldn’t move! I looked to Siti for support, but she had started petting and tending to her mount, pretending to ignore me! And Libero-

“Come on. The demon in that suit wasn’t that weak. Hurry up.”

This bastard! If I survive this, then I’m kicking his ass!!

     I was scared. I’ve never been in a real fight, I’ve always just tried to get along, or at least avoid confrontation. But it’s already got me. I can’t run, I have to fight. I have to beat this thing, then I have to beat Libero for causing this!!

     I pulled my hands inward and gripped the claw holding my throat, trying to pull it apart while I slowly rose to my feet. Then, as I held it, I started kicking its underside over and over and over again. Each kick felt harder than the last, each kick more frustrated and violent than the one before it until, CRACK.

     The shell on its underside fractured and I stabbed up inside it with my clawed feet. The moment it reeled and loosened its grips, I pulled outward with both hands and ripped its third claw apart. Then I grabbed the two claws gripping my wrists, stuck my foot in its mouth, and pulled its arms out of their sockets.

     It wasn’t done fighting either, biting into my foot and sinking its numerous teeth into me, but I was too lost, I didn’t even feel the pain. I jammed my leg in its mouth and pulled it down to the ground where I punched into its eyes again and again and again. The sounds of its shell cracking, its eyes turning to bloody mush and then, when I thought I would deliver the finishing blow, my suit began to bond to it.

     Strands and fibers of my suit broke off and attached to the horrible crab demon and started pulling it apart, ripping its legs out, and separating its upper shell from the lower one. Then, once it was all disassembled, it was all pulled into the suit, melding into it with some parts of the shell sticking to the exterior.

     When it was all done, still panting, bleeding, and with adrenaline still pumping, I pointed towards Libero and growled,

“You!! You’re next!”