The rain outside the window never shouted.
It always came with long, melancholic whispers. Drop after drop tapping against the glass with the same rhythm every night.
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Like invisible fingers knocking on a door, asking for permission to enter a warmth that had never existed inside this room.
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The streetlights in this small town on the outskirts cast a dull orange glow through the misty rain, creating blurry circles that hung in the air like giant blind eyeballs, staring everywhere without truly seeing anything.
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The dormitory room sat on the third floor of an old red brick building that had stood for nearly two centuries.
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Its walls were thick, painted a pale white, made of stone and plaster cracked in many places.
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In weather like this at the end of the year, cold that pierced the bone, the air inside the room felt colder than the air outside.
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As if the ancient building deliberately trapped the cold, storing it in every pore of its bricks and every crack in its wooden floors, to torment its inhabitants who had never truly been wanted by anyone.
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The central heater in the corner of the room, a rusted metal box that hissed softly all night long, produced only a shallow warmth, not enough to drive away the cold that crept from the wooden floor into the bones of the feet.
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Voltase Watt lay on his back on a bed far too large for his body.
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The body of a thin boy, shorter than the average of children his age, where his body lacked the nutrition and protein to grow any further.
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His shoulders were narrow, so narrow that the navy striped flannel pajamas he wore kept slipping off his left shoulder.
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His arms were thin, with faint blue veins visible beneath pale skin that rarely saw sunlight.
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His short legs could never reach the end of the bed, and every night he felt the tips of his cold toes touching the empty air beneath the blanket.
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He had bought those pajamas three years ago, and even then they had been too big for his small body.
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Sometimes he thought that perhaps his body simply could not find a reason to grow, because growing required attention, nutrition, love, and he had never had enough of any of those.
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No one will notice whether you're here or not, he thought.
The thought felt ordinary in his head, not a piercing sadness, but a fact he had accepted long ago, ever since his mind was old enough to understand that he was a burden moved from one place to another.
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Things do not grow.
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He never knew his biological parents.
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Voltase was a baby found on the doorstep of an orphanage in South London on a cold winter morning, wrapped in a faded blue blanket with a piece of paper bearing his name and birthdate.
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Nothing else.
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No letter, no message, no clue about who had left him there or why they had gone.
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He grew up in that orphanage for five years, changing caretakers and beds and faces that came and went.
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Then a family came and chose him, a polite, well dressed couple who said the right things in front of the social worker.
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They took him to their home in the suburbs, gave him his own room, food, clothes.
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But they never truly wanted him.
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He knew it from the way they looked at him, not with hatred, but with indifference.
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As if he were an obligation, a task to be completed.
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When he turned ten, they sent him to this boarding school.
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An elegant, polite way to get rid of a burden without appearing cruel.
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They paid his school fees.
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They sent birthday cards, store bought cards with printed text identical for everyone.
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But they never visited.
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They never called.
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Voltase was a receipt already paid in full, an obligation fulfilled.
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Now he was left here, in this cold room, in a country that was supposedly his birthplace but never felt like his own.
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You have no one, he thought, and he said it with lips that did not move, only inside his head.
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You have never had anyone.
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And you will never have anyone.
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Voltase had counted those cracks on the ceiling every night for two years since he first arrived in this room.
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The number of main branches was always twenty three.
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Never changing.
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The small branches varied, depending on the humidity of the night air, the temperature, whether the rain fell harder than usual.
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Tonight he counted forty three small branches, counting with his thin right index finger, tracing the crack patterns in the air without actually touching the wood.
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If he touched it, he would feel the cold of the plaster and remember that he was still here.
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In the distance, the bells of St. Mary's church at the end of the street began to ring.
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The sound was old and heavy, with a slightly off key tone from age and dampness.
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Voltase counted each chime because there was nothing else he could do.
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The bells stopped at the ninth chime, and silence returned, filled only by the patter of rain that never stopped here.
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Voltase reached his right hand toward the small table beside his bed.
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The table was made of cheap wood, chipped in places, its surface covered with scratches from pens and pencils of children who had been here before him.
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On it lay the cheap phone given by his foster family when he left for boarding school, a symbolic gesture so they could still keep in touch, and a small desk lamp he never turned on.
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His long, thin fingers groped across the table's surface until they touched the phone.
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The screen lit up.
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Pale blue light illuminated his face for a few seconds.
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The time showed 21:49 PM.
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He opened the game he was playing.
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The app was colorful and bright, with the main character's icon smiling widely, a boy with black hair and oversized onyx eyes, with a smile that never faded.
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Voltase almost hated that smile.
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That character never got tired, never got sad, never felt alone.
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He just ran, collected coins, dodged trains, and smiled the whole time.
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His right thumb swiped the screen, and the game began.
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Cheerful electronic music flowed from the phone's speaker, trying to drown out the sound of rain, while the character started moving along the railway tracks with a synthetic sunset sky full of orange and purple gradients stretching behind him.
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Golden coins sparkled in the air, and every time the character collected them there was a satisfying ding sound.
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Voltase played mechanically.
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His thumb swiped left, jumped, swiped right, ducked.
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The score in the upper right corner climbed, 240, 480, 710, 930.
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He did not care about the score or the character.
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The only thing he needed was the sound.
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The music was a thin curtain separating him from the silence of the room, from the patter of rain, from the awareness that he was truly alone in this world and no one would come to save him.
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On the right side of the screen, a second character appeared, a grown man in a white long sleeved shirt and a faded blue jacket, wearing a security guard's hat tilted back, and beside him a digital sheepdog ran at the same speed, its tongue lolling in a repeating animation.
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The three of them ran together.
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A fake family in a fake world.
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They are not real, Voltase thought, just code, they can never feel anything.
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They are never alone because they never existed.
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At 1,230 points, the obstacles increased.
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Train cars came faster and denser from both directions.
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Voltase's small fingers began to sweat, making the touchscreen feel slippery and sticky.
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His main character stumbled, a repeated falling animation, got up, stumbled again, while the score stopped climbing and the music shifted into anxious, stretching notes.
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A giant steel train car passed right in front of the character.
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Bam!
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The screen turned blurry red, with a crimson gradient encircling the edges.
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Thick black ink pooled in the corners.
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White bold text appeared in the center.
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GAME OVER.
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Voltase let out a breath.
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The breath left his small chest as a faint, almost inaudible sigh, like wind slipping through a crack in a door that did not close properly.
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He pressed the home button, and the phone screen dimmed to black, reflecting his own face, the face of a thin child with weary onyx eyes, cheekbones beginning to protrude, and messy black hair.
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He put the phone on the table with a slow, reluctant movement, as if letting go of the phone meant letting go of the only thing distracting him from the silence.
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Silence returned.
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Rain returned.
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He was still here.
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Still small and alone.
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Voltase closed his eyes.
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In the darkness behind his eyelids, he imagined another place.
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A place where he had a big, strong body that did not need to be afraid of other children mocking him in the school hallways.
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A place where he could become something, become someone meaningful, someone who could not be ignored.
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But the image was vague, like smoke vanishing before he could grasp it.
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He did not know what a big body looked like.
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He had never had one.
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He only knew that he wanted it, something more than this thin, weak, useless body.
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Slowly, exhaustion consumed him.
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His body curled up in the middle of the too large bed, knees drawn to his chest, arms hugging a pillow that had become dull and smelled of dormitory laundry soap, sharp and chemical.
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The rain kept tapping the window.
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The wind moaned among the old oak trees in the schoolyard.
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His consciousness began to blur, sinking into a dark, warm abyss.
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The clock showed 22:01 PM.
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Three minutes since he turned off the phone.
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Voltase Watt, a twelve year old boy who did not know who his parents were, who had no home to return to, who had never been loved by anyone, began to fall into a dream.
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The first thing that registered through his sense of smell was the stench.
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Not the musty, dusty smell of the dormitory room.
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This was a completely different smell, one he had never smelled before, yet somehow felt old, as if he had smelled it in another life, in a memory that was not his.
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The smell entered his nostrils like thick, heavy smoke.
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It crept inside uninvited.
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Stabbed the back of his throat like swallowed glass shards.
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Settled on the roof of his mouth, leaving a residue that felt like a layer of copper on his tongue, salty, metallic, and with a faint sweetness that was nauseating.
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Beneath it lay another layer: a sharp, fishy stench like fish left too long in the sun, and the smell of wet earth mixed with something darker, thicker.
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Blood, he thought, and the thought rose from the depths of an instinct he had not known he possessed.
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The smell of blood.
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A lot of blood and flesh.
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Rotting flesh.
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Voltase opened his eyes.
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The darkness he saw was not the darkness of his dormitory room.
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This was total darkness, darkness that rejected light, darkness that felt solid like wet velvet pressed against his face.
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His eyes blinked, adjusting, but the adjustment was slow, as if his pupils had to relearn how to catch light.
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Slowly, silhouettes began to emerge.
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He saw a shape above him, very close, only inches from his own nose.
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A face.
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But not the face of a living human.
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The skin of that face was ashen green, pale like dried clay beginning to crack.
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On its left cheek was a large tear exposing the tissue beneath, a layer of dark red that had begun to blacken at the edges, like beef left too long in the refrigerator, its fibers drying and shriveling.
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On its chin was thin brown stubble, with flakes of dry earth clinging between the hair strands.
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Its eyes, or what remained of them, were two dark hollows.
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No eyeballs.
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Just black holes filled with small, writhing movements.
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Voltase saw them clearly, maggots.
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Dozens, maybe hundreds of small pale yellowish bodies, segmented, with darker heads, writhing inside those eye sockets.
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They rose and fell like tiny waves that never stopped, eating the remaining tissue still clinging to the orbital bone.
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Some were larger than others, fatter and whiter, perhaps because they had been there longer and had eaten more.
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One of them crawled out of the left eye socket, across the corpse's cheekbone, and fell right onto Voltase's cheek.
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He felt it.
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Cold, Damp, and Writhing.
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That small soft body clung to his skin for a second, then began to crawl slowly downward toward his jaw.
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Voltase felt every movement of that body, every small muscle contraction pushing it forward, every segment rubbing against his skin.
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At that moment, panic exploded inside him.
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Pure, primal panic that recognized no logic or reason.
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He wanted to scream, but his voice was caught in his throat.
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He wanted to push, but his hands felt foreign and heavy.
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Because he realized: his body had become different.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPWsbYSJiU
His hands pushing the corpse away felt longer and heavier.
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His fingers were no longer long and thin.
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He felt protruding knuckles, long and sturdy finger joints, a wide palm with blue veins clearly visible on the back.
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When he pushed the corpse away, the muscles in his arms, muscles he had never possessed in the real world, contracted with surprising strength.
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He felt the stretch of muscle fibers, pressure in his shoulders, and the weight of the body he pushed felt lighter than it should have.
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The corpse rolled to the side with a wet, heavy plop, like a bag of wet meat falling onto mud.
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Its head hit something hard, maybe a rock, maybe another skull, with a dull crack.
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Voltase coughed, choked, and sat up straight with a jolting movement.
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He sat up, no need to crawl or roll. He just bent his body upward, and the body obeyed, while the maggot writhing on his cheek had fallen to the ground.
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His chest felt heavy, broad, and wide. His back felt solid.
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His shoulders were now thick and muscular.
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He looked down and saw his own body.
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A uniform.
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A long sleeved shirt in faded blue, made of thick wool fabric that was coarse and slightly damp from dew or blood.
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Small metal buttons lined up down the center of his chest. Some were undone, and beneath the undone buttons he saw an undershirt in wet gray.
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On his left shoulder was a patch bearing an emblem he did not recognize: an eagle with spread wings, its claws grasping something that looked like a snake.
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The patch was faded, its edges torn.
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Blue trousers tucked into tall dark brown boots that felt heavy on his feet.
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The boots were made of thick leather with hard soles. He felt small studs on the soles when he moved his feet over the ground.
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Loose metal buckles on the tops of the boots swung gently as he moved.
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Voltase raised his right hand in front of his face.
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The hand trembled violently.
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He could see it clearly, and it was not his hand.
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The hand was long, thin but muscular, with blue veins prominent on the back.
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The fingers were slender with prominent knuckles and short nails dirty with black earth drying beneath them.
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There was a small wound on his middle knuckle, a scrape still wet with fresh blood, perhaps from a fight that happened before he woke up.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhg2ZVX7dRT
His palm was wide with deep, clear lifelines.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkemdhJz9S
At the base of his thumb was a thick callus formed from years of holding something. It could be a weapon or a tool, he did not know.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pWfBtKIai
This was an adult man's hand.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07pb5KxDcL
A strong hand.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0G6NfajSsu
A hand that could never belong to a weak, thin twelve year old boy.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZlfEJRyjC
He pressed his palm to his chest.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSY1O8t6qt
Beneath the thick wool fabric, he felt the contour of hard chest muscles, broad pectorals with wide ribs beneath them.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYLstsD5H8
And beneath those muscles, he felt a heartbeat.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvlFVc5eZL
Thump, thump.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFn2Ywn8S19
Thump, thump.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QEdiAYwS5
A deeper, stronger, heavier heart.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdsWssopDR
Each beat felt like a hammer striking the wall of his chest from inside.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3bzvFWqHj
This is not my body, he thought.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4juIBLRb0G
The thought sounded foreign in his head, deeper, heavier, with the resonance of an adult man he did not recognize.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QPTR3Pawv
This body is not mine.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjH0cyed1Oh
I am inside someone else's body.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHYkw6p7tR
I am trapped inside someone else's flesh.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhyLSBP4dD
How can this be?
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXE3GeuiQMU
He wanted to scream, to call someone, to ask what was happening, but his voice only came out as a hoarse breath caught in his throat, like the voice of someone who had just woken from a long sleep and had not yet found his words.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqjLfZHJAN
He straightened his body, rising from his current sitting position.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Xyoj2V5hl
His knees wobbled at first. The long, strong leg muscles felt strange, unused to supporting this much weight, but he forced himself to stand.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcVGnRO0w3
Eye level was now above the piles of corpses around him.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOYO19aQKQ
He could see far across the field, farther than he had ever seen in his short, narrow life.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucBqE0976I
The body was now tall, a hundred and eighty centimeters or more.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWYIbPpYKX
When he looked down, he saw the long distance between his chest and the ground, a distance he had never experienced before.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmh63em6o8
His long, sturdy legs felt foreign, like poles newly attached beneath his body.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DZBhmEyPM
Every step felt like walking on an unstable stage.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe79Rz48ASY
He felt his body's weight differently.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSDiUjrlM8
Gravity felt lighter on his bones, perhaps because his bones were now larger and stronger, but his muscles felt heavier and denser.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCy96V7MN6k
There was strength there, potential for movement he had never explored.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡju09DDs7PA
He felt that this body could run faster, punch harder, endure longer than his thin, weak body.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDLp6RdmxC
But that strength must have its price, something he was always aware of, that nothing in this world was free.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHl6KMKXiJr
Instead, he felt strange after obtaining this body.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn101Cok1zo
Like a thief who had stolen something precious and did not know how to use it, where every movement felt like a violation.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ667v0JYwYA
Whose body is this? The question repeated in his head like a mantra.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKenD03Nd9
Where is he?
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ889NYz0cC7
Is he dead?
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4oyz2b5ow
Did I take his body?
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8V9KBH8FXe
Did I kill him?
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHQNLVnOs1
He looked around.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡccbWyjXhAK
Above him was not the cloudy gray English sky always ready to rain. The sky here was pitch black, blacker than the hollows in the corpse's eye sockets.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJskOxoiYi
No stars, moon, or glowing clouds.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGKbhsN3dE
Just a black canvas stretching endlessly, as if someone had covered the entire world with thick velvet and forgotten it there, leaving it hanging without end.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKpSJgZjsN
But beneath that gloomy sky, there was enough light.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpD01gitBrt
Perhaps from reflections off puddles of liquid on the ground that cast a dim gleam.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEPJejJK0g9
Remnants of fires long dead in the distance, still emitting thin smoke and red sparks beneath the ash.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9pve2QKGt
The source of the light was unclear, but it was enough for Voltase to see the sight that would sear itself onto his retina forever, burned there like a photograph exposed to sunlight.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6S1EAJpap
Around him, as far as he could see, there were only bodies.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNwBcjpRZT
Hundreds, maybe thousands, impossible to count.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuffP4FPDx
They lay in chaotic piles like rag dolls thrown by an angry giant and then forgotten.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOL9A6C2q8
Some were stacked on top of each other, forming small hills reaching up to an adult's waist.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3uyV3Gdepo
Some piles were higher, reaching chest height.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSMGtpbLdn
Voltase noticed that the piles moved.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwjvuy3vC7
Not moving like living things, but moving because of the maggots and flies writhing inside them, creating small waves on the surface of the flesh.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJWGNa4CJ8
Some bodies lay alone, separated from the piles, with arms bent at impossible angles.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPaYdFV7HN
Elbows twisted the wrong way.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVvVn2rBWj
Fingers clutching empty earth as if they were still trying to crawl in death, still trying to escape something that had caught them.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1wInNI37B
Some had intact faces with wide open eyes staring at the black sky, expressions of fear frozen forever in the rigid muscles of their faces.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRXORBlcgs
Some had no faces at all.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpltrG2vpG0
Just red, glistening hollows inhabited by maggots and flies, with remnants of flesh clinging to skull bones like unraveling threads.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoo8AvHs5M
Their uniforms varied.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqiz6gWj98
Most wore faded blue, like Voltase.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03pMqKPCse
Many wore pale green, the color of dead moss, a faded, dull green gray like leaves already rotting in an autumn that lasted too long.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZCcy6E3bl
Some others, fewer in number, wore ash, the color of gunpowder dust, or ash left after fire dies.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrdFvY89ZHt
Those three colors mixed in this pile of death without pattern, without meaning, just chaotic horror.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzGzaMwUS1
Often he saw blue bodies lying on top of green bodies, or gray bodies wedged between two blue bodies.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYvdc0EkHF
Nothing was ordered.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Dy0rdOJa7
Nothing was intentional.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTYO4USh4Q
They died where they fell, and they fell where they died.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDxiqp3k8u7
The ground beneath Voltase's feet felt soft, not like the hard earth of the school garden, not like the wooden floor of his room.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4azmOE4jR
He looked down and saw his boots sinking several centimeters into a brown black surface.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlChrwyAnO
It was mud, but not ordinary mud.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcEkBh0oNP
This mud was mixed with something darker, thicker, denser.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIKarXMYce
Blood.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6U8CuKh6a
This ground was not earth.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMFGMa7BOg
It was a layer of flesh and bodily fluids that had soaked into the soil, mixed with mud, forming a new, horrific layer.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5x0FbdFOQo
When he moved his boots, there was a wet squelch, the sound of liquid squeezed out from the pores of the earth like water from an oversaturated sponge.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXk3HbU4Mk
He saw small white fragments among the black mud.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgK6vccTos0
Bone fragments.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeAFpZtX6W
Broken rib pieces with sharp ends.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOcAMiJdCg
Severed finger joints still bearing remnants of flesh at the joints.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOFhJsK2gw
Shattered skull fragments with pinkish inner surfaces from residual brain tissue.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq34tn92l7s
There were also torn fabric pieces, dull glinting metal buttons scattered among the mud, and undone shoelaces uncoiled like dead snakes.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8nC6gfSv7
The stench here was not uniform.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsDjy8p8vj
It came in waves.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVijCTrO2n6
Sometimes sharp and stinging like ammonia burning the nose.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBC6EVq1RSA
Sometimes sweet and nauseating like overripe flowers beginning to rot.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpwlFZLghA
Sometimes like old iron scraped across the tongue, leaving a metallic taste he could not get rid of.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlpRHM3hOW
Every time the wind blew, cold, damp night wind, the smell changed, shifted, found new ways to torment his senses.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXyJj6reSC
Voltase covered his nose with the back of his new, long hand, but the smell entered through his mouth, through his skin, through every pore of his now large but still vulnerable body.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgff2sYVNk
He felt it behind his eyes, in his sinuses, at the back of his throat.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGZ3ZAmqoW
The smell became part of the air he breathed. He could not separate himself from it.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSN0mVZgSu
In the distance, he heard something.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NBIjt3nMj
Not the sound of rain. The sound was a crack, like a twig snapping.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8g8WCxEHe9
Voltase froze.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFtZ4jPlkm
He held his breath, that deep, heavy breath from this adult man's lungs, and tried to listen more carefully.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvNwUido5c
But his own heartbeat was too loud, too thunderous.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1lVJzdJ4W
Thump, thump.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFKD5LFNx7
Thump, thump.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7P9LQJ06N
This heart was like a war drum inside his broad chest, and he could not stop it.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySqh6o0G5P
Then, he saw movement.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4HFfcU3RS
Among the pile of corpses to his left, about ten meters away, the pile shook.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM37tCWXulh
Not from the wind. The wind would not move a pile of flesh that heavy.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOv5GsWBmV
Something inside it was moving.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm5JKzlqVg0
An arm emerged.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNy8Y5Qn863
An arm that still had intact skin, pale but not rotting, with muscles still tense beneath the skin's surface.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyeIdXvC7S
The fingers of that hand grasped the air, then pulled, pushed the bodies above them.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzArmf7maJ7
Those bodies shifted, rolled, fell aside with wet sounds.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDq0F4dXAoY
From that pile, a man's figure emerged.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YEAI4uRat
He rose with stiff, mechanical movements, like a wooden puppet whose strings were pulled by an invisible hand.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2lmiqjg4F
He brushed dust and dried flesh scraps from his uniform, pale green, the same green worn by many corpses around him.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJHEPGsHD7
The fabric was torn in several places, and on his right shoulder was the same patch, the eagle or raven, but the colors were more faded, more worn, with threads beginning to unravel at the edges.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTkolmseCw
On his left arm was a large tear exposing the skin beneath, pale skin with an old, dried wound.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwb94riwHcO
The man was tall, almost as tall as Voltase.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GnApcnMGa
His face was gaunt, with a firm jaw and prominent cheekbones.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4HEj44gh2v
His hair was dirty blond, short and unkempt, with sideburns slightly elongated beside his ears.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEAi7JRaHBc
His dark eyes, dark like Voltase's eyes in the real world, stared directly at him.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVyG9FfTRC
The stare was unfriendly.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJo98bBM6h4
Full of suspicion, confusion, and beneath it, a layer of fear trying to hide behind a tightening jaw and pursed lips.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwF9p7AUzhi
They faced each other.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQhrscCycN
Two adult figures in the middle of a sea of death.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvh3PfGGO9a
Cold night wind blew between them, carrying the stench of rot and old gunpowder smoke.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWXp7rW3NJ
Voltase felt the wind hit his face, carrying his long, dirty hair dancing around his eyes.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHVWlIAOLy
The man did not speak.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwwthTJdXK
He just stared, eyes narrowing, measuring whether Voltase was a threat or just another survivor.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBN1iMIGRqW
He examined Voltase's faded blue uniform, then examined his face.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbttdYIWZ9o
Perhaps searching for recognition.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXAdqoUVOW
Trying to remember if he had ever seen this face before.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5l9X50jjh
But there was no recognition in his eyes.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLmatma8U2
Only deepening suspicion.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMpdWoHkqR
Slowly, he bent down.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHiYiW24BM
His dirty fingers, crusted with dried blood beneath the nails, groped among the pile of corpses.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyJ3vMafnp
He pushed some bodies aside, shifted others, and finally pulled something from beneath the pile.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHHBeTFZ04
A long object.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ZfDdevyLc
Voltase recognized the shape even though he had never seen one directly outside the history books in the school library.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBTXVForR76
An old wooden stock, darkened by oil and covered with scratches and deep grooves from grips.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5orupJAypw
The wood was worn, its fibers peeling in places but still solid. He could see that the stock had been used for years, perhaps decades, by people he would never know.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9qNCXBFf4
A long, slender barrel of dark metal, gleaming dully under the dim light, with grooves along its surface to reduce weight.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnn2iNwmdWO
Beneath it, just in front of the curved trigger made of the same metal with a finger groove, a small box magazine jutted out like a second jaw, loaded with ready to fire bullets.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOosY9lvK0
And at the end of the barrel, he saw a locking mechanism, small grooves and metal protrusions, designed to attach a bayonet.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXvcjL6FJ3
It was a heavy, ancient, deadly rifle.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3GoRmq2IM
A rifle that had killed more people than he could imagine.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNo6dOXohQ
The man aimed the muzzle at Voltase's chest.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54ELRGuLDr
Voltase's reflexes acted before his thoughts could formulate a strategy.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnXdYvMl3z
Both his hands, the long, sturdy hands of an adult man, rose up, palms open wide, in the universal gesture of surrender.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfi6j8risUb
His heart pounded in this new chest, and he felt its beat at his temples and at the tips of his trembling fingers.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSQ4AWoGyb
"Wait," he said, and his voice came out as a deep, hoarse baritone, a voice he had never heard before, a voice emerging from this chest.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGQmB9D00F
"I do not know where this is."
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA72w6pLWF2
"I do not know what is happening."
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlSgQPoyy7
"I just woke up."
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq21FyFWjWE
The man did not answer.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZb7Bo3Wnwj
His eyes narrowed further, examining Voltase's faded blue uniform, then his face, watching Voltase's lips move, hearing his words.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVgBIp6rYc
But there was no response.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqsUyWDbf9
Perhaps he did not believe him.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dX4B0AWPI
Perhaps he had seen too many tricks in this place to trust anyone.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xLNMkU4zp
The man began to step forward.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgP4Iz0YxsJ
One step.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdZ4nsDTKU
Two steps.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡroIvQ2hGIP
The muzzle stayed aimed exactly at Voltase's chest.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqG5ZquarS
Each step the man took was torture.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4R8WJiQWiN
Voltase heard the squeak of the man's boots on the bloody mud.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8SWJOMAsk
He saw every scratch on the rifle's wooden stock, every peeling fiber, every deep groove.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNZTnO79kK
He saw the man's finger on the trigger, a steady finger that did not tremble, a finger accustomed to the weight and pressure of pulling.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQFLJgEhZs
The voice in his head whispered.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrEMC3kA3R4
If you do not move, you die.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRxrdpYdPH
You die here, in this place.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK94fZFnviD
And you will never return to your dormitory room. No one will come looking for you.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpB41vJGM7n
No one will care.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1BPDtkZri
You will just be another corpse in this pile.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIqFnXBGOz
The thought of the world's indifference, about foster parents who never called, about teachers who did not know his name, about the empty room with only the cracks on the ceiling, gave Voltase a strange strength.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkJD4A8t8x
He had nothing to lose in the real world.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdbMpvERzD
No one would mourn him if he died.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUV4iKD7e8
But here, in this strong body, he might survive.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxn1m0VvCvD
He might become something.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQO9JEgLjb
And he moved.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatzqeg7rw4
His tall, powerful body shot forward, faster than he had imagined.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZu5b3wkKbR
The muscles in his legs, muscles he had never possessed, contracted with surprising strength, propelling him forward in an instant.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6S3J8pa9Z4
His long hand grabbed the end of the rifle's barrel before the man could react.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8UJuz2R7c
The metal was cold, very cold, like ice burning his skin.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AZaN7fLlx
He felt the texture of the metal beneath his fingers, smooth in some places, rough in others from rust, and he gripped it tightly.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpie3db530K
He twisted the barrel aside, away from his chest.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJS6yGU0z8s
His other hand formed a fist and swung it at the man's face.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphCq4vrKwC
The punch landed.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGByLZ0fonJ
His knuckles struck the man's cheekbone with a dull thud.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwXIldU2U6
Voltase felt the hard impact in his hand, pain spreading like waves from his knuckles to his wrist.
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But there was a primal satisfaction that his punch had connected.
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This was the first time in his life, both in the real world and here, he had ever hit someone with full force.
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The man stumbled back, his arm bending, but he did not fall.
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His head snapped to the side, and from the corner of his mouth, a drop of blood began to flow.
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He raised his hand to his face, touched his lip, looked at the blood on his fingertip.
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Then he looked at Voltase with changed eyes.
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Suspicion transformed into burning anger.
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With reflexes faster than they looked, he blocked Voltase's attack with his forearm.
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His other hand grabbed Voltase's collar and pulled him forward.
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At the same time, he bent his right knee and kicked forward.
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The knee struck Voltase's stomach, and the pain exploded in his solar plexus like a bomb.
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All the air in his lungs was forced out in one gasping exhale that sounded like a long, deep groan.
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Saliva and bitter bile from his empty stomach spurted from his open mouth, wetting his chin and dripping onto the faded blue uniform.
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For a moment, the world around him spun wildly, black sky, corpses, and the man's face all mixed into a nauseating vortex.
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He tasted metal on his tongue because he had bitten his own tongue from the impact.
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Fresh blood began to flow in his mouth, mixing with the bile.
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But Voltase did not fall.
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Unlike in the real world, where he always fell when pushed by other children at school, this body was stronger, heavier.
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His long legs planted in the bloody soil as he held his ground.
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His hard, trained abdominal muscles absorbed part of the kick's impact.
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Despite the overwhelming pain, he was still standing.
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With clenched teeth, enduring the pain gnawing at his stomach like burning fire, he launched a counterattack.
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His foot with the heavy boot and hard sole swung toward the man's shin.
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He swung his leg with all his strength.
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The kick landed with a harder thud than before.
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The man stumbled, losing balance.
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His kicked leg buckled, and for a moment he seemed about to fall, grimacing in pain, his teeth clenched, his breath coming in a long hiss.
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Voltase seized the moment.
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He twisted his body, pulling the rifle barrel with all his strength.
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The wood and metal, an object weighing nearly four kilograms, tore from the man's grip.
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It flew, rolled across the pile of corpses, and fell among the rotting bodies on the other side, sinking beneath the pile of flesh.
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Now, without weapons, they faced each other equally.
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The man swung a punch at Voltase's jaw, but Voltase ducked, feeling the wind of the fist brushing his long, dirty hair.
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He answered with a punch at the man's chin, but the man tilted his head with agile movement despite his large body.
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They fought wildly, punches, kicks, elbows, and knees, in the middle of the sea of corpses.
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Dust and dried flesh scraps flew around them every time they stepped on or fell into the piles of bodies.
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Voltase felt blood, both the corpses' blood and his own, covering his face.
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His lower lip was split, and he tasted his own salty, metallic blood on his tongue, mixing with the copper taste from the air around him.
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This is not me, he thought between punches, but his thoughts were fragmented by pain and exhaustion.
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