Sumptuous meal

The moment he saw the… thing… his brain short-circuited. It felt like his mind suddenly split into three parts, all thinking and acting in different ways. They all had different priorities, and they were fighting.

Man I'm hungry, and I wonder what you are. The fight was harsh but quick, and hunger won out in the end. So while his brain was still processing the chaos that was going on outside and the sudden departure of his interrogator, his hand was already grasping the thing and slowly lifting it up toward his mouth.

The creature felt slick and slimy against Nemo's hand, its tentacles squirming and grasping at his skin.

When the thing belatedly understood what Nemo was trying to accomplish, it was already too late. More than half of it was already inside his esophagus, and his throat muscles were doing the rest of the work, slowly pulling the monster deeper inside him. The taste was bitter and acrid, the flavor of something unnatural and repulsive invading his mouth. As the creature slowly but surely vanished into his stomach, the rest of his thoughts suddenly caught up to him, the first of which was.

I wonder what I just ate. No, wait, what... what just happened... why did I eat... that? Yes, indeed, what was that? No, never mind what it was. What did I just do? What the hell is wrong with me?

And as if his mind was not his own anymore, another two thoughts came to him in that moment What IS wrong with me? and another, much more horrible one. At least the hunger is gone. Just as that thought hit him, he could feel a wave of pain, just like the one he had experienced in the morning, wash over him again.

He doubled over, clutching his abdomen as if to wring out the torment. A strange warmth flooded him, a spreading tingling sensation that threatened to ignite every nerve. He couldn't tell if it was relief, but for the first time that day, he could feel his hunger slowly receding.

Looking at himself, he couldn't even see any wet residue from the thing. As if everything he had seen had been a hallucination. In the whole fiasco he had fallen from the chair, but now he sat back down, feeling strangely drained and wanting nothing more than to sleep, but he knew that girl would come back any moment now.

Soon enough the noise outside stopped and the girl returned. Nemo looked at her curiously. She seemed fine for the most part, except that she had a deep cut over her left eye, and blood was streaming out of it, covering one part of her face.

She looked at him strangely. Nemo wasn't sure what emotion she was portraying in that exact moment, not even if it was a positive one or a negative one. "Wait here for a moment; my superior will see you in a bit." He nodded and waited quietly.

While waiting, he observed the wound curiously and could see the red liquid slowly welling out of the cut. "Don't you need to get that treated?" He finally asked after the girl had made no motion to take care of it. "What?" she asked, actually confused by his question.

"The cut on your face."

"Ah.... that. No, I don't need to get it treated; it will bleed itself until it is ready to heal. You will understand in a bit."

Nemo was more confused than before but understood that he wouldn't get any more answers out of the girl. So he sat back in silence, watching blood drip from her face onto the floor. Curiously enough, she had positioned herself in a way that not one drop hit any piece of her clothing or anything else that could be stained.

Then an urge overcame him, and a headache started pulsating. It had been less than a minute since the last time he had asked something, but his head was crystallizing new questions.

Why does it need to bleed out? What do you need to bleed out? Isn't blood supposed to be inside the body? What will I understand? What does your superior want? Does it concern me?

More and more questions entered his mind. Pushing all other thoughts to the back of his mind. Finally he couldn't hold himself back any more, and one question crystallized itself.

"How did you get that wound? Was it the thing from the subway?"

The girl didn't even hesitate to answer him.

"Shut up."

Another minute of silence filled the tent.

"What is your name anyway?"

"My superior will answer any necessary questions; now zip it."

Silence was once again the dominating essence of the tent, with a bit of annoyance. Nemo could see that no more blood was coming from the wound, and with speed visible to the naked eye, it started to close.

"Can you heal all wounds like this? Is this just something you can do, or is any tainted capable of such things?"

"No talking."

Nemo was starting to get annoyed. Not at the girl. It was not her fault, and he assumed she wasn't allowed to answer any questions. He was annoyed at himself for not being able to handle a simple headache. But in the last moments his rationality always seemed to vanish, and the first question on his mind in that moment would be asked.

Another minute passed.

"Why do I ask so many questions?"

The girl remained silent. But she showed a reaction for the first time. She looked up and straight into Nemo's eyes. He could see an intense reaction from her to those words. 

"What was that..."

Then the tent flap opened and a giant of a man entered. His head almost touched the top of the tent. He was not only tall but also built like a man capable of flattening a small vehicle. He looked at the girl and asked in a deep rumble.

"Is this him?"