(SSSC) A Gnawing Hunger., page 1

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It was just after 9pm when Chris finally made it home, it had been about four years now since his mother had passed away. He had never known his father and he thought that was probably for the best. The house was his now.
He kept it as dark as he could, only ever using lamps to light the rooms. And warm, he had to keep it warm as well, he left the heater running constantly. They preferred it dark and warm and moist.
He whistled quietly as he entered the kitchen and began putting away the groceries he had picked up on the way home. In the fridge were numerous plastic containers, some seemed to contain wriggling dark shapes while the others were just amorphous lumps. Chris opened one of the containers and pulled out a thick hairy caterpillar and held it up over his open mouth, before dropping it in and chewing away on its succulent body. What had tasted bitter and acidic only the day before now tasted sweet and tender.
A cockroach hustled from beneath the fridge across the tiled floor and squirmed beneath the stove. Chris smiled benignly and went into the lounge room, flicking on the television as he passed it before sitting down.
On the screen was one of those plastic talking heads that made him sick with their smug arrogance.
"...and news just in, a local farmer has discovered the body of a young female while clearing brush, police have yet to confirm whether this latest discovery is related to the other recent.....", Chris tuned out, he had hoped that the body wouldnt be found so quickly, it might make his next hunt more difficult.

The hunger was upon him again, he had tried to keep it at bay but it had been gnawing away at him all day. He preferred to hunt when it was darker, but now it was a largely cloudless night and the moon was a lot fuller than it had been two nights ago. He had followed her to her home and now waited impatiently in the shadows outside. It seemed an eternity before the last light was turned out and he felt safe enough to move closer to the house. It took only a moment to pick the lock of the door at the rear of the house and creep quietly within. He had a chlorophyl soaked cloth in his hand as he slid silently into her room.

Annie suddenly came awake, something had pricked her subconscious, like a second hand itch she felt another presence. A pale light shone through the partly open curtains revealing weird shapes and shadows within the room, and one of the shadows moved.
"Aaaahhhh, get out", Annie screamed as the shadow detached itself from the wall and propelled itself towards her supine form.
She leapt from the bed and dashed past the flailing shape that fell onto her bed, its fingers scraping against the bare skin of her midriff. She turned and ran for the large double glass doors that opened onto the verandah at the side of the house, struggling to open the lock as she heard footsteps rushing at her from behind.
Annie turned and ducked as the intruder flew through the air past where she had stood a moment earlier and crashed through the glass door.
Just to the left of the door stood a small wooden statue on a pedestal which Annie picked up and swung as hard as she could just as the shadow raised itself up and came back through the smashed doorway. It too ducked and Annies arm holding the statue thumped into the doorframe.
A large piece of glass that hadnt shattered in the initial impact dislodged itself from the top of the frame and fell directly onto the back of the neck of her adversary who was still down on his haunches after having ducked her flailing arm. The glass sliced straight through sinew, bone, tendon and flesh severing the head from the torso. A fount of rich crimson blood erupted from the neck of the torso as the head fell to the floor with a sickening thump.
Annie staggered backwards and fell to her knee's gasping for air. Her head swam with terror and her body shook uncontrollably with the rush of adrenaline flowing through her body.
She bent forward and vomited onto the floor in front of her.
A scrabbling noise caused her to look up in fear, the headless body of the man she now recognised as Chris from the local book store was crawling around on its hands and knee's through the broken glass as though looking for it's head. One of his hands found the head and grasping it by the hair picked it up.
Annie fainted.

He came slowly to his feet, his head held under his right armpit, blood filled his eyes and he couldnt see but he could sense where her body was lying, unconscious.
"I thought you were smarter than that Annie, you should know that cockroaches can live without their heads"
He picked up the wooden statue with his left hand and smashed her skull time and time again, pounding it into a bloody grey pulp. The bray of sirens filled the night and a light from next door flashed on.
Taking but a moment Chris bent and grabbed a handful of the jellied grey matter, for his little brothers and sisters.
Quickly he strode back out the way he had come and dissolved into the shadows. He was safe now, they would not find him in the dark.
His senses heightened he followed the way left for him by his family, their scent strong as it led the way home.

Chris sat before the mirror of his bedroom dresser and admired his handiwork. It had taken hours but he had managed at last to sew his head back onto his neck using fishing line and a large darning needle. It was slightly crooked and a bit wobbly but it would do for now.
He had punched a steel skewer up through the ragged stretch of neck below his chin and into his head and tied the protruding end to his vertebrae for added stability. All he needed to do now was find the old neck brace his mother had worn after the car accident that had eventually claimed her life.
The brace should cover most of the damage and some well placed bandages would take care of the rest. He was mad with himself for allowing it to happen but perhaps it was for the best, things were hotting up around here now anyway with all the deaths lately.

Just before dawn he pulled out of his driveway and headed out of town, he couldnt see very well but his brothers and sisters were his senses now. On the dash sat a cockroach its feelers waving about, in the backseat roaches swarmed over the open containers feeding hungrily on the assorted snacks within.

He wasnt sure what the name of the next town was but he was beginning to feel hungry again, he would have to stop soon and hunt.