Chereads / Dearly, Ravenous / Chapter 4 - Chapter 3

Chapter 4 - Chapter 3

The night breeze blew cold against Anna's face. Just a few minutes ago, she woke only to discover how she was leaping across the roofs of the nearby slums, to her horror. Anna tried her best to stop herself, but her body wouldn't listen. It felt like she was placed on the backseat of her own car while someone drove it. She leapt from house to house, landing on the thin tarpaulins and galvanized roofs, but she didn't make a sound. She leapt on another dilapidated house, before landing on a dark corner near the slaughterhouse.

Her body crouched in the darkness as she sniffed through the air. There were a lot of scents, some rotten, others fecal matter while some was sweat. It was a mishmash of scents that she couldn't understand.

She tried to stop her body once again in a last ditched effort, but she came out defeated.

"I CAN'T LET YOU DO THAT! I NEED TO FEED!" The voice growled at her.

"W-who are you?!"

"I NEED TO FEED!"

Her body crawled out into the open as it continued to sniff the air, until finally she smelled something sweet. It smelled like a ripe mango ready to be plucked from its tree. As she followed the scent, her stomach grumbled violently; indeed, it was hungry. And whatever that thing the smell originated from; she was sure that the fruit would suffice her.

Her saliva dripped as the scent became stronger. She took a turn and hid in between the hanging carcasses of the slaughtered pigs. The scent was just beyond that line of exsanguinated dead pigs. She peeped in between the pigs' body and saw a pregnant woman seated on a small table across the room.

The pregnant lady was with some men in blood-stained aprons and muck-filled boots. She was talking to the butchers, pointing at the stacks of meat to be delivered all the while, caressing her protruding belly. Just the look of it made her stomach growled even more.

"FEED ME NOW!" The voice growled violently.

The lady stood up and left her table. She went down the stairs and went into the back. Anna salivated as her eyes were glued on the woman's belly. Anna immediately moved away from her hiding place and stalked the pregnant lady.

She was terrified with what she was about to do to the poor pregnant mother, but there was nothing that she could do. The voice kept growling and asking for its meal; her body, had no choice but to obey. She crawled into the darkness and there began the most terrifying experience she had in her life.

Anna noticed her hands moving on its own. Every bone, muscle and fiber in her body pulsated and moved, stretching them grotesquely. Her hands thickened and her fingers conjoined to form three bigger fingers with longs talons sharp enough to scratch a steel plate.

She felt her spine extending, elongating her body like that of a quadrupedal animal. She heard her bones crunch and readjusted themselves; some even protruding out of her skin. Her legs bulked, tearing her pants. The bones on her legs cracked and shifted turning it into a segment animal legs—dog legs.

She felt pain radiating from her face. Anna wanted to scream in pain, but her voice was partially muffled from her neck muscles shifting and stretching the very part. Her jaw dislocated by itself, and her nose bulged into a snout. Her teeth fell off one by one as it got uprooted by the new set of razor-like incisors growing out on each space.

She went on all fours and hastily followed the lady. Her prey went into a toilet cubicle to do her business. She looked around and saw people passing by. It was difficult for her to attack her prey, far too difficult because of the crowd in between.

Anna attempted once again to stop and control herself from going any further. But for the nth time, she wasn't able to. The monster inside her was too strong. She tried to look for it in her subconscious, but it was well-hidden. She couldn't find that part of her that was doing it.

Her body moved on its own and climbed a wall, overlooking the cubicle. There was a small opening at the rust roof of the poorly maintained toilet. She looked down on her unsuspecting victim, spying on her, looking for the perfect timing to devour her.

As she stared at her, Anna became more ravenous. She gnashed her teeth as her stomach cramped in respond to its delectable prey. Coincidentally, her teeth gnashing created a weird clicking sound. She waited for the right moment, as the pregnant woman was cleaning herself, the lady looked up and saw her lurking on the wall.

The lady froze in fear and could not speak. But before her monstrous self could pounce on her prey, a resident saw her as he passed by the wall.

"Hey you!" The resident shouted. "What are you doing there?!"

Anna got startled and immediately turned around at the resident to his horror. She sneered at him before opening its wide mouth and exposing her long serpent-like tongue.

"A-ASWANG! ASWANG!" The resident ran away. But this ruckus he made didn't go unnoticed.

Soon people came out of their houses and investigated on the noise. At this point, it was clearly obvious how she failed her first hunt. She immediately leapt off from the wall and ran across the neighborhood roofs, into the distance, away from the residents.

She ran as fast as she could, as she could hear the people looking for her. She made a sharp left after seeing a dead end near the estero. Anna wanted to race back home, but it become complicated with the people looking for her.

Luckily, she came across a small dark pathway adjacent to the dead end. She slid down the pathway and ran back home. Unfortunately, her hunger struck and tormented her. Her body felt sluggish and was beginning to cramp.

She needed to feed herself fast. She could easily just go inside on of the stilted houses and grab a person or two to satiate her. But she was not doing that! She knew that it might become a shit-show if she would follow her instincts.

She tried once again to take control of her body, but as what happened the last time nothing seemed to be working.

"Hey! Y-you!" Anna began. "I need this body right now! Or else we both die!"

"FEED ME! FEED ME! FEED ME!" It replied.

Her stomach twisted itself as the hunger became more and more unbearable. She knew it would be an easy way for her to end her hunger if she would only let the craving go about its way. But it was too much for her to handle. She would rather die than kill an innocent man just because she was hungry or craved for

The monster inside of her was getting restless and angry.

"FEED ME!"

"Listen!" Anna shouted. "I will feed you but let me control my body."

There was no reply.

Suddenly, she could control her body again. She ran away as far as she could until she passed a house that had pigs below their stilted house. She was still hungry, and her body demanded for more sustenance.

"Hey!" Anna began to spoke. "I promise to feed you and I am doing it now."

Anna snuck below the owner's house and killed the pigs by decapitating their heads before they could make a sound. She ate the pair of whole pigs and drank their blood greedily like it was a refreshing sweet coconut juice in a summer's day. Despite her best efforts in consuming the hogs, the hunger was still there. But she would just have to make do.