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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNo7BVkKxBy
The dormitory room sat on the third floor of an old red brick building that had stood for nearly two centuries.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvbRw5eZua
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmlUSjNVod
Voltase Watt lay on his back on a bed far too large for his body.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGgFCZ5TNd
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0aNdm1zyR
His shoulders were narrow, so narrow that the navy striped flannel pajamas he wore kept slipping off his left shoulder.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGrPekEZEV
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrlv9EBjfu
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWELS4tacvE
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCzcMBsLS1
If he touched it, he would feel the cold of the plaster and remember that he was still here.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRibjPQOvnS
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJwaJU8Gt0
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAczBiblCVH
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtSxXZ6PPG
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zdz4dtUN2
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzYyTZWCzO
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVk3k2QwcZr
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2juAHL55c
Slowly, exhaustion consumed him.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FgPie7N8A
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJ7uglqMRG
The rain kept tapping the window.
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The wind moaned among the old oak trees in the schoolyard.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdC3CG26MKd
His consciousness began to blur, sinking into a dark, warm abyss.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzvothtyHi
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ128rkSqsfW
It crept inside uninvited.
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Stabbed the back of his throat like swallowed glass shards.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGy62NnDyXl
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjf4dcRTSSU
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1SOqf2esp
Blood, he thought, and the thought rose from the depths of an instinct he had not known he possessed.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3n7Gi9Z8U
The smell of blood.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4t7bk6nmOw
A lot of blood and flesh.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvDhO35oBg
Rotting flesh.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzblufnd5Ef
Voltase opened his eyes.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz64UypSRin
The darkness he saw was not the darkness of his dormitory room.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPGbqOQEaq
This was total darkness, darkness that rejected light, darkness that felt solid like wet velvet pressed against his face.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJaMWtdDFZA
His eyes blinked, adjusting, but the adjustment was slow, as if his pupils had to relearn how to catch light.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdJJjHbAxR
Slowly, silhouettes began to emerge.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRGSYjM2lm
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOw74AfxtX
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4tWpAiiiF
On its chin was thin brown stubble, with flakes of dry earth clinging between the hair strands.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgW8Ammhnlt
Its eyes, or what remained of them, were two dark hollows.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeMCOFIBvy
No eyeballs.
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Just black holes filled with small, writhing movements.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8BCCkemCb
Voltase saw them clearly, maggots.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Hwamdq3bO
Dozens, maybe hundreds of small pale yellowish bodies, segmented, with darker heads, writhing inside those eye sockets.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWU1fSmqnqK
They rose and fell like tiny waves that never stopped, eating the remaining tissue still clinging to the orbital bone.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkaG27kpTwx
Some were larger than others, fatter and whiter, perhaps because they had been there longer and had eaten more.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNolbDdowQ
One of them crawled out of the left eye socket, across the corpse's cheekbone, and fell right onto Voltase's cheek.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLS51XaWuUf
He felt it.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Q44GrGfFn
Cold, Damp, and Writhing.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqse1Be0RH
That small soft body clung to his skin for a second, then began to crawl slowly downward toward his jaw.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUN3oEi9RFI
Voltase felt every movement of that body, every small muscle contraction pushing it forward, every segment rubbing against his skin.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNT69vTluf
At that moment, panic exploded inside him.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4TqGy3B5br
Pure, primal panic that recognized no logic or reason.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3k8S863nD8
He wanted to scream, but his voice was caught in his throat.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVGv4x9wVh
He wanted to push, but his hands felt foreign and heavy.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCqpD1GpdA
Because he realized: his body had become different.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NQOsOT7xl
His hands pushing the corpse away felt longer and heavier.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVsNR82Ooj
His fingers were no longer long and thin.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtWMu9zOj7
He felt protruding knuckles, long and sturdy finger joints, a wide palm with blue veins clearly visible on the back.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AzlIUxZsC
When he pushed the corpse away, the muscles in his arms, muscles he had never possessed in the real world, contracted with surprising strength.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6QSF3Nrg7
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuf8z3NfKdB
The corpse rolled to the side with a wet, heavy plop, like a bag of wet meat falling onto mud.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyewa7i9er
Its head hit something hard, maybe a rock, maybe another skull, with a dull crack.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftMJHr2c5c
Voltase coughed, choked, and sat up straight with a jolting movement.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbMJ7PNqaO
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2ZoqODiQV
His chest felt heavy, broad, and wide. His back felt solid.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjH0belyAcT
His shoulders were now thick and muscular.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEOWwlkWiO
He looked down and saw his own body.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTX26yby9z
A uniform.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4KvOAmYFNp
A long sleeved shirt in faded blue, made of thick wool fabric that was coarse and slightly damp from dew or blood.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6bIVvC0jE
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrVFW2qkDc
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRyLLGIc6c
The patch was faded, its edges torn.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfku2gmvYM
Blue trousers tucked into tall dark brown boots that felt heavy on his feet.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdoIco4GNM
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAq8LknDHic
Loose metal buckles on the tops of the boots swung gently as he moved.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RmWnZKdMg
Voltase raised his right hand in front of his face.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLq1O5uNWpf
The hand trembled violently.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFig4Zc4U3
He could see it clearly, and it was not his hand.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OiVnahErI
The hand was long, thin but muscular, with blue veins prominent on the back.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPe2SfPuKvX
The fingers were slender with prominent knuckles and short nails dirty with black earth drying beneath them.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuV19gCNsM
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0KlV4XMOa3
His palm was wide with deep, clear lifelines.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrAoQdYkp8
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNleOpg368G
This was an adult man's hand.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqvpSDF8Md
A strong hand.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2zyNuHvQa
A hand that could never belong to a weak, thin twelve year old boy.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTphXQzyEX
He pressed his palm to his chest.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1Y219MMFS
Beneath the thick wool fabric, he felt the contour of hard chest muscles, broad pectorals with wide ribs beneath them.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAbtj0CTcL
And beneath those muscles, he felt a heartbeat.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dxLdr6Bgz
Thump, thump.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdacsIlO7ai
Thump, thump.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZBHroPotB
A deeper, stronger, heavier heart.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7KDgECI3U
Each beat felt like a hammer striking the wall of his chest from inside.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCb7Ajx3IHJ
This is not my body, he thought.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTrXEa9ELi
The thought sounded foreign in his head, deeper, heavier, with the resonance of an adult man he did not recognize.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNC0cJiS1c
This body is not mine.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHEu2AoJJf
I am inside someone else's body.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjBCM2CXnC
I am trapped inside someone else's flesh.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXW7qoWmGjJ
How can this be?
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHIUxeEccP
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iuf7D1jY3
He straightened his body, rising from his current sitting position.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstx411Lhrr
His knees wobbled at first. The long, strong leg muscles felt strange, unused to supporting this much weight, but he forced himself to stand.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElyHmCyCCc
Eye level was now above the piles of corpses around him.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeU0rZWoxwE
He could see far across the field, farther than he had ever seen in his short, narrow life.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TSeMywQl2
The body was now tall, a hundred and eighty centimeters or more.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMzdeZwkSD
When he looked down, he saw the long distance between his chest and the ground, a distance he had never experienced before.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYXJZGN5iR
His long, sturdy legs felt foreign, like poles newly attached beneath his body.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuRyiafSU8
Every step felt like walking on an unstable stage.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbM0PJZUUg
He felt his body's weight differently.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzzYGItCuu
Gravity felt lighter on his bones, perhaps because his bones were now larger and stronger, but his muscles felt heavier and denser.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4XqO2loo4
There was strength there, potential for movement he had never explored.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71MhapI8Lo
He felt that this body could run faster, punch harder, endure longer than his thin, weak body.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwDkDANsxv
But that strength must have its price, something he was always aware of, that nothing in this world was free.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxXbHH6bss
Instead, he felt strange after obtaining this body.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsptpJWLecm
Like a thief who had stolen something precious and did not know how to use it, where every movement felt like a violation.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGcc9CaEUp
Whose body is this? The question repeated in his head like a mantra.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfl1q1hpNz
Where is he?
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwVU0PpWJA
Is he dead?
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UPiUbbMiE
Did I take his body?
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP38qnQDjV8
Did I kill him?
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sbSff2Q8m
He looked around.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsM9CIMiDZ
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25XJV1m1Ae
No stars, moon, or glowing clouds.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE72BoGYXAR
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsYFtqWfx5
But beneath that gloomy sky, there was enough light.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4EOTcXPnF
Perhaps from reflections off puddles of liquid on the ground that cast a dim gleam.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRaLwlFMeH2
Remnants of fires long dead in the distance, still emitting thin smoke and red sparks beneath the ash.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAqsfWkIJy
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2gMpu4qZx
Around him, as far as he could see, there were only bodies.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfVgZY5xZz
Hundreds, maybe thousands, impossible to count.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWMp0pC96w
They lay in chaotic piles like rag dolls thrown by an angry giant and then forgotten.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbNvUDxdGUT
Some were stacked on top of each other, forming small hills reaching up to an adult's waist.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRcTC2ZQ5a
Some piles were higher, reaching chest height.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWpusAgiPN
Voltase noticed that the piles moved.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFHbxG0Pd8
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSZDSir2Zv
Some bodies lay alone, separated from the piles, with arms bent at impossible angles.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DJOWLRiBS
Elbows twisted the wrong way.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4PcHgYaSX
Fingers clutching empty earth as if they were still trying to crawl in death, still trying to escape something that had caught them.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa227jgMCyb
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd14y6DgsdK
Some had no faces at all.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9SasexHTG
Just red, glistening hollows inhabited by maggots and flies, with remnants of flesh clinging to skull bones like unraveling threads.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJDAQuHLYd
Their uniforms varied.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfnhQSR8s1
Most wore faded blue, like Voltase.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLq9eETp58V
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIAiYNTj6g
Some others, fewer in number, wore ash, the color of gunpowder dust, or ash left after fire dies.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUo1UmL6rBm
Those three colors mixed in this pile of death without pattern, without meaning, just chaotic horror.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYBWIlkYw1
Often he saw blue bodies lying on top of green bodies, or gray bodies wedged between two blue bodies.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHff2smrYxp
Nothing was ordered.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MM0KCQ3Ho
Nothing was intentional.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEb6Q2Vu9V
They died where they fell, and they fell where they died.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRZwrmHqHV
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4E9FYL5d3
He looked down and saw his boots sinking several centimeters into a brown black surface.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxrlqCLLtM
It was mud, but not ordinary mud.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3oZ1SrZFL
This mud was mixed with something darker, thicker, denser.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSRkT6fCFP
Blood.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOC1tmTdMY
This ground was not earth.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8rbaRyT3u
It was a layer of flesh and bodily fluids that had soaked into the soil, mixed with mud, forming a new, horrific layer.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVW88wQQCkc
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZdAMrnOpq
He saw small white fragments among the black mud.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIiodsTQ1B
Bone fragments.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkn5STI4yZr
Broken rib pieces with sharp ends.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8c5CJp6Od
Severed finger joints still bearing remnants of flesh at the joints.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IOLQeitrC
Shattered skull fragments with pinkish inner surfaces from residual brain tissue.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZPFHmlJXs
There were also torn fabric pieces, dull glinting metal buttons scattered among the mud, and undone shoelaces uncoiled like dead snakes.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFM0VNbGP4
The stench here was not uniform.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWZgOiTYKl
It came in waves.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnuvaUniFw
Sometimes sharp and stinging like ammonia burning the nose.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSYFw9s8nB
Sometimes sweet and nauseating like overripe flowers beginning to rot.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNZQEUHc6s
Sometimes like old iron scraped across the tongue, leaving a metallic taste he could not get rid of.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklxEwCksMu
Every time the wind blew, cold, damp night wind, the smell changed, shifted, found new ways to torment his senses.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0vASp2C86
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRdyhzkL8W
He felt it behind his eyes, in his sinuses, at the back of his throat.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrCsmbNmaX
The smell became part of the air he breathed. He could not separate himself from it.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcR06fIvrVv
In the distance, he heard something.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjoI6ySzjJ
Not the sound of rain. The sound was a crack, like a twig snapping.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJwPFkhN3N
Voltase froze.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1amMNy7LX7
He held his breath, that deep, heavy breath from this adult man's lungs, and tried to listen more carefully.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEz1QgAc2jj
But his own heartbeat was too loud, too thunderous.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUl2tkyN5j
Thump, thump.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPT5i9q6FwS
Thump, thump.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPu3lsSI62x
This heart was like a war drum inside his broad chest, and he could not stop it.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrwL5gBeSj
Then, he saw movement.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6pVaJURVp
Among the pile of corpses to his left, about ten meters away, the pile shook.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7JCDyAS5c
Not from the wind. The wind would not move a pile of flesh that heavy.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7rBoldZ21
Something inside it was moving.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVtehbprZO
An arm emerged.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3TZag5Lzx
An arm that still had intact skin, pale but not rotting, with muscles still tense beneath the skin's surface.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMk3yzzqDc
The fingers of that hand grasped the air, then pulled, pushed the bodies above them.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZJr1WQcck
Those bodies shifted, rolled, fell aside with wet sounds.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ho6pAEIx9
From that pile, a man's figure emerged.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJvjXhWUra
He rose with stiff, mechanical movements, like a wooden puppet whose strings were pulled by an invisible hand.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSY1fQLY6f
He brushed dust and dried flesh scraps from his uniform, pale green, the same green worn by many corpses around him.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KFFMUa3QI
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSNxyLVKXe
On his left arm was a large tear exposing the skin beneath, pale skin with an old, dried wound.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNnTN2T57l
The man was tall, almost as tall as Voltase.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeOnAq7zvG
His face was gaunt, with a firm jaw and prominent cheekbones.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqw3rfWWueL
His hair was dirty blond, short and unkempt, with sideburns slightly elongated beside his ears.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4vS1k5DAq
His dark eyes, dark like Voltase's eyes in the real world, stared directly at him.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXt49NoaFG
The stare was unfriendly.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xkxxJ0Alo
Full of suspicion, confusion, and beneath it, a layer of fear trying to hide behind a tightening jaw and pursed lips.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Vb0tgmlpb
They faced each other.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbvjzu4L0F
Two adult figures in the middle of a sea of death.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9StVp9Kvx
Cold night wind blew between them, carrying the stench of rot and old gunpowder smoke.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3a1ZbyKx6
Voltase felt the wind hit his face, carrying his long, dirty hair dancing around his eyes.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8ISD5WzfV
The man did not speak.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggAngNtDjD
He just stared, eyes narrowing, measuring whether Voltase was a threat or just another survivor.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFJ1tqpHOH
He examined Voltase's faded blue uniform, then examined his face.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡno7Bk6IYv0
Perhaps searching for recognition.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldawp0mz62
Trying to remember if he had ever seen this face before.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJeHRrYdTu
But there was no recognition in his eyes.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6u5t2kJdF
Only deepening suspicion.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrylJ9qxpHk
Slowly, he bent down.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxUP9OuI5r
His dirty fingers, crusted with dried blood beneath the nails, groped among the pile of corpses.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehU1P6eKTu
He pushed some bodies aside, shifted others, and finally pulled something from beneath the pile.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrv21MrRqt2
A long object.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rMwYBNtHY
Voltase recognized the shape even though he had never seen one directly outside the history books in the school library.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT99VMSwA2N
An old wooden stock, darkened by oil and covered with scratches and deep grooves from grips.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfaCQbOUJHN
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7suWJPgx5D
A long, slender barrel of dark metal, gleaming dully under the dim light, with grooves along its surface to reduce weight.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rFlyRX0OK
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIujDZ4J5R
And at the end of the barrel, he saw a locking mechanism, small grooves and metal protrusions, designed to attach a bayonet.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZVJgg6h2lJ
It was a heavy, ancient, deadly rifle.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyN2tXmV1r
A rifle that had killed more people than he could imagine.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWwQx0Syw3
The man aimed the muzzle at Voltase's chest.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEksElEwmqP
Voltase's reflexes acted before his thoughts could formulate a strategy.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3puQCxijS
Both his hands, the long, sturdy hands of an adult man, rose up, palms open wide, in the universal gesture of surrender.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXRdNSsuYH
His heart pounded in this new chest, and he felt its beat at his temples and at the tips of his trembling fingers.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvirKNcXusU
"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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCXK6xqSPr
"I do not know where this is."
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgx9enZaIRa
"I do not know what is happening."
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YYINZNEWN
"I just woke up."
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvOnEC6b6k
The man did not answer.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4Ij7AVFTO
His eyes narrowed further, examining Voltase's faded blue uniform, then his face, watching Voltase's lips move, hearing his words.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBYj5pqmB7
But there was no response.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPrDjjI3xW
Perhaps he did not believe him.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0wTmw6s9E
Perhaps he had seen too many tricks in this place to trust anyone.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgEFtzTJOw
The man began to step forward.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeopNXDzyw
One step.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9n4nxWQU3
Two steps.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMtiRURifv
The muzzle stayed aimed exactly at Voltase's chest.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLy3eL0qjsB
Each step the man took was torture.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCtpJP93Bg
Voltase heard the squeak of the man's boots on the bloody mud.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgo7XChvEc9
He saw every scratch on the rifle's wooden stock, every peeling fiber, every deep groove.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HGzzbZaSB
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnLcoR8tyr
The voice in his head whispered.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOBqgyekXf
If you do not move, you die.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RptdAAv9d
You die here, in this place.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLHpEUGjfH
And you will never return to your dormitory room. No one will come looking for you.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHZfr74IhS
No one will care.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoQQBJB2pt
You will just be another corpse in this pile.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDJRCF7l7o
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.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1U2hbEOA1W
He had nothing to lose in the real world.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuFEhMG7m9
No one would mourn him if he died.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBUz8bkBr0
But here, in this strong body, he might survive.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzogiLr8BW
He might become something.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPX7hYLMTqj
And he moved.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNtHqGdGlF
His tall, powerful body shot forward, faster than he had imagined.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iKQ098Zzk
The muscles in his legs, muscles he had never possessed, contracted with surprising strength, propelling him forward in an instant.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEplVr8Zzhe
His long hand grabbed the end of the rifle's barrel before the man could react.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZnvtMmyIm
The metal was cold, very cold, like ice burning his skin.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTT3jtF9Z5
He felt the texture of the metal beneath his fingers, smooth in some places, rough in others from rust, and he gripped it tightly.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAKzsWiTy9
He twisted the barrel aside, away from his chest.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnkgiHkEmo
His other hand formed a fist and swung it at the man's face.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEFqXyuFDx
The punch landed.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHadA568HS
His knuckles struck the man's cheekbone with a dull thud.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ089D32QPTl
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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Why am I here?
ns216.73.217.98da2 
and then Add to home screen.