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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJR6Vu0StFB
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡproMRdqWni
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVqfSrU8Du
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqSFSVFsSZ
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJdBWDUQ8l
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOHCjlIAc5
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAL7WTr16u
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRocdSMGu44
When he pushed the corpse away, the muscles in his arms, muscles he had never possessed in the real world, contracted with surprising strength.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVeuA3PmzB
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdu8FLYYRZL
His shoulders were now thick and muscular.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc61zEj5tii
He looked down and saw his own body.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1VdY2aHK1
A uniform.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYgNVCOTJY
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDobZTUTJ7o
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4unZuqP6yS
Voltase raised his right hand in front of his face.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgniwOxs10A
The hand trembled violently.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCK20OMk1H
He could see it clearly, and it was not his hand.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGo3MBJKcjB
The hand was long, thin but muscular, with blue veins prominent on the back.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6ReytwInr
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GVPOwrWA8
His palm was wide with deep, clear lifelines.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYmEwFhw1v
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqLisIFKpY
This was an adult man's hand.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVr7npIFceE
A strong hand.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SthkRKv81
A hand that could never belong to a weak, thin twelve year old boy.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMg7EN1UiF
He pressed his palm to his chest.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5YqK4JGlx
Beneath the thick wool fabric, he felt the contour of hard chest muscles, broad pectorals with wide ribs beneath them.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLsYB0y38q
And beneath those muscles, he felt a heartbeat.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3JI0KN7tS
Thump, thump.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpA7JyzrbDY
Thump, thump.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDkORpNlnQ
A deeper, stronger, heavier heart.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7JrtPhZ49
Each beat felt like a hammer striking the wall of his chest from inside.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxISuBdl8b
This is not my body, he thought.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡub9xPowPKo
The thought sounded foreign in his head, deeper, heavier, with the resonance of an adult man he did not recognize.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBnQtLfDXt
This body is not mine.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4awSoqLq3m
I am inside someone else's body.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFG9dJJeivZ
I am trapped inside someone else's flesh.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cFY51lpMH
How can this be?
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6HS8ahDNe
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2glBmVN6S
He straightened his body, rising from his current sitting position.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8UqCvaFM2
His knees wobbled at first. The long, strong leg muscles felt strange, unused to supporting this much weight, but he forced himself to stand.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo03dHtHXL3
Eye level was now above the piles of corpses around him.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOCY4Swv91
He could see far across the field, farther than he had ever seen in his short, narrow life.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYZgBbT9FT
The body was now tall, a hundred and eighty centimeters or more.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbhYTtGKyu
When he looked down, he saw the long distance between his chest and the ground, a distance he had never experienced before.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIK4Mp5u1h4
His long, sturdy legs felt foreign, like poles newly attached beneath his body.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLUffegKpx
Every step felt like walking on an unstable stage.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4l3dOhoFs
He felt his body's weight differently.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8KHxyDXbJ
Gravity felt lighter on his bones, perhaps because his bones were now larger and stronger, but his muscles felt heavier and denser.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BioRtF5pK
There was strength there, potential for movement he had never explored.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYSvCs6Ezj
He felt that this body could run faster, punch harder, endure longer than his thin, weak body.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPjFuSO8QC
But that strength must have its price, something he was always aware of, that nothing in this world was free.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7h9WcAdFO
Instead, he felt strange after obtaining this body.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZ7vyPwYrp
Like a thief who had stolen something precious and did not know how to use it, where every movement felt like a violation.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbv0Foy8Rb
Whose body is this? The question repeated in his head like a mantra.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9McCLqWW1
Where is he?
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDo2tOhWgy2
Is he dead?
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TLFXoi6L2
Did I take his body?
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPHkJqU9mM
Did I kill him?
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZV509gT8R
He looked around.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhtvuENfIFz
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVO39DVn7HX
No stars, moon, or glowing clouds.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFt1AceWK1u
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGa4Maj1XNl
But beneath that gloomy sky, there was enough light.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bsMkAxxzZ
Perhaps from reflections off puddles of liquid on the ground that cast a dim gleam.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KO1DCFjYN
Remnants of fires long dead in the distance, still emitting thin smoke and red sparks beneath the ash.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXxF8AKZmQH
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EXnVAMcj7
Around him, as far as he could see, there were only bodies.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BXAbYUdCO
Hundreds, maybe thousands, impossible to count.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofDWxcVNjn
They lay in chaotic piles like rag dolls thrown by an angry giant and then forgotten.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMyory7Jb4
Some were stacked on top of each other, forming small hills reaching up to an adult's waist.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVP5aM2cv9S
Some piles were higher, reaching chest height.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtV91YsjHg
Voltase noticed that the piles moved.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxey2SEM4Z
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNABdNEG8T
Some bodies lay alone, separated from the piles, with arms bent at impossible angles.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1atMin0SPr
Elbows twisted the wrong way.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiLtrVt7pf
Fingers clutching empty earth as if they were still trying to crawl in death, still trying to escape something that had caught them.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmV6W0Sccq
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlR4gTtbnZW
Some had no faces at all.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdL9lgbntQ
Just red, glistening hollows inhabited by maggots and flies, with remnants of flesh clinging to skull bones like unraveling threads.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKchqdUjNP
Their uniforms varied.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrRwsi8MSj
Most wore faded blue, like Voltase.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6eUmANe1Q
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRIWZ9QzVD
Some others, fewer in number, wore ash, the color of gunpowder dust, or ash left after fire dies.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gqeyvLJzh
Those three colors mixed in this pile of death without pattern, without meaning, just chaotic horror.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4UEQICX7F
Often he saw blue bodies lying on top of green bodies, or gray bodies wedged between two blue bodies.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9aVppoljC
Nothing was ordered.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKC4X986VqI
Nothing was intentional.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbc6B7WWi2
They died where they fell, and they fell where they died.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmd1HsDwdHR
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5Y7zv1zly
He looked down and saw his boots sinking several centimeters into a brown black surface.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuF54cHrNf
It was mud, but not ordinary mud.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZamVTtdFa
This mud was mixed with something darker, thicker, denser.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0a6FHc5afL
Blood.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTOWahVgp1
This ground was not earth.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7bbJ8naWh
It was a layer of flesh and bodily fluids that had soaked into the soil, mixed with mud, forming a new, horrific layer.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3t0423ptni
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RsXVl6Alk
He saw small white fragments among the black mud.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykPnMtqXwG
Bone fragments.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSOJUIaRLm
Broken rib pieces with sharp ends.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQGjHZXt06
Severed finger joints still bearing remnants of flesh at the joints.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghax2U6VNr
Shattered skull fragments with pinkish inner surfaces from residual brain tissue.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH3Xi1GUoHp
There were also torn fabric pieces, dull glinting metal buttons scattered among the mud, and undone shoelaces uncoiled like dead snakes.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQzq54dqbV
The stench here was not uniform.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjGXo9EDkQ
It came in waves.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1KI8QbBWU
Sometimes sharp and stinging like ammonia burning the nose.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkJ6Qu1o8I
Sometimes sweet and nauseating like overripe flowers beginning to rot.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGoT8G9X3I
Sometimes like old iron scraped across the tongue, leaving a metallic taste he could not get rid of.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcH80m8CJZ
Every time the wind blew, cold, damp night wind, the smell changed, shifted, found new ways to torment his senses.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDv2WCmcYA
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJvy3t6bAD
He felt it behind his eyes, in his sinuses, at the back of his throat.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZtIGQBmde
The smell became part of the air he breathed. He could not separate himself from it.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3s3OI1Um2
In the distance, he heard something.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtK9tGq1dC
Not the sound of rain. The sound was a crack, like a twig snapping.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAviNqzXVd
Voltase froze.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3bRUGGwRR
He held his breath, that deep, heavy breath from this adult man's lungs, and tried to listen more carefully.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFxdH87O0U
But his own heartbeat was too loud, too thunderous.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy4mx1yp7t
Thump, thump.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsgrA61MLG
Thump, thump.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvU1BykvbfE
This heart was like a war drum inside his broad chest, and he could not stop it.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEGqsWUIrT
Then, he saw movement.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CzV3oNSTQ
Among the pile of corpses to his left, about ten meters away, the pile shook.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvOWqEvNO4
Not from the wind. The wind would not move a pile of flesh that heavy.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLti0Nnsii
Something inside it was moving.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7pZtqMMD3
An arm emerged.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOuJvSWNE8
An arm that still had intact skin, pale but not rotting, with muscles still tense beneath the skin's surface.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxSZ9ySRnXg
The fingers of that hand grasped the air, then pulled, pushed the bodies above them.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcff5KPPdb
Those bodies shifted, rolled, fell aside with wet sounds.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfV6dD7uR9n
From that pile, a man's figure emerged.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vGYCuj4VI
He rose with stiff, mechanical movements, like a wooden puppet whose strings were pulled by an invisible hand.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nIkNrH52B
He brushed dust and dried flesh scraps from his uniform, pale green, the same green worn by many corpses around him.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSEGjo9S0kx
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCwyVAG875e
On his left arm was a large tear exposing the skin beneath, pale skin with an old, dried wound.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjybSiTMAE
The man was tall, almost as tall as Voltase.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0tl56qNes
His face was gaunt, with a firm jaw and prominent cheekbones.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXrqK579pM
His hair was dirty blond, short and unkempt, with sideburns slightly elongated beside his ears.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSaKxyYv7C
His dark eyes, dark like Voltase's eyes in the real world, stared directly at him.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKAjCO3WxJ
The stare was unfriendly.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdTMurxNv9
Full of suspicion, confusion, and beneath it, a layer of fear trying to hide behind a tightening jaw and pursed lips.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6ndfVW2zP
They faced each other.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOMloFdBPw
Two adult figures in the middle of a sea of death.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBNGvEtcqi
Cold night wind blew between them, carrying the stench of rot and old gunpowder smoke.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5qyIbVxj2d
Voltase felt the wind hit his face, carrying his long, dirty hair dancing around his eyes.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPNLxfXqii
The man did not speak.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7l0KwNsAb
He just stared, eyes narrowing, measuring whether Voltase was a threat or just another survivor.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzhhrOLNmh
He examined Voltase's faded blue uniform, then examined his face.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggLE65R2q8
Perhaps searching for recognition.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZNd9pEpPP
Trying to remember if he had ever seen this face before.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraR6GybBqF
But there was no recognition in his eyes.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdaRRA6Omy
Only deepening suspicion.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrB1aJ9f93
Slowly, he bent down.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lqCl2tm0u
His dirty fingers, crusted with dried blood beneath the nails, groped among the pile of corpses.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpt4rZHfLFA
He pushed some bodies aside, shifted others, and finally pulled something from beneath the pile.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqx66SK6VZu
A long object.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIKekKRhiK
Voltase recognized the shape even though he had never seen one directly outside the history books in the school library.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4pllzej5c
An old wooden stock, darkened by oil and covered with scratches and deep grooves from grips.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqhCgVG5pR
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNP9dFroGb
A long, slender barrel of dark metal, gleaming dully under the dim light, with grooves along its surface to reduce weight.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdgEYWi7cP
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBAbZYPmUE
And at the end of the barrel, he saw a locking mechanism, small grooves and metal protrusions, designed to attach a bayonet.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uv8jkta2E
It was a heavy, ancient, deadly rifle.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvhDxrNDep
A rifle that had killed more people than he could imagine.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZ9dFbNMEp
The man aimed the muzzle at Voltase's chest.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3GeqKjLF9
Voltase's reflexes acted before his thoughts could formulate a strategy.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOaO0K86cr
Both his hands, the long, sturdy hands of an adult man, rose up, palms open wide, in the universal gesture of surrender.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3a3JeYMrB
His heart pounded in this new chest, and he felt its beat at his temples and at the tips of his trembling fingers.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQkJIlJBAq
"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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWGnUPeViL
"I do not know where this is."
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3uwAwkJXM
"I do not know what is happening."
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJxbvZIlzO
"I just woke up."
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEklS3eRgI2
The man did not answer.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjkHrQ3xe2
His eyes narrowed further, examining Voltase's faded blue uniform, then his face, watching Voltase's lips move, hearing his words.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMYJiCMcvM
But there was no response.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXWrTOL9MV
Perhaps he did not believe him.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cc6nRHTpp
Perhaps he had seen too many tricks in this place to trust anyone.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwFttvc6o9
The man began to step forward.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWxIESEdwr
One step.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrcARbGxj2
Two steps.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEIv7V3rJ1E
The muzzle stayed aimed exactly at Voltase's chest.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknwvB3EurQ
Each step the man took was torture.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcfFI33t6X
Voltase heard the squeak of the man's boots on the bloody mud.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SAVeRsxF0
He saw every scratch on the rifle's wooden stock, every peeling fiber, every deep groove.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUE6YUgfaiG
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvY97OWVW86
The voice in his head whispered.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfl1CtSMnZT
If you do not move, you die.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiP6X0716zX
You die here, in this place.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvRHHwefiV
And you will never return to your dormitory room. No one will come looking for you.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrf1tBjBTlC
No one will care.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OP5EnXLbv
You will just be another corpse in this pile.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqpU3Mf9SI
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNhNxfWXw6
He had nothing to lose in the real world.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljxav76xg5
No one would mourn him if he died.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NGcZErrz7
But here, in this strong body, he might survive.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtYap76vT6
He might become something.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJhuQ794Ktv
And he moved.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzrebPEv7T
His tall, powerful body shot forward, faster than he had imagined.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqiF8qBWGHI
The muscles in his legs, muscles he had never possessed, contracted with surprising strength, propelling him forward in an instant.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKClfoOONFz
His long hand grabbed the end of the rifle's barrel before the man could react.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDEY0j5478
The metal was cold, very cold, like ice burning his skin.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvIF89ylQX
He felt the texture of the metal beneath his fingers, smooth in some places, rough in others from rust, and he gripped it tightly.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4dr51BBe1
He twisted the barrel aside, away from his chest.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sutjXJfBU
His other hand formed a fist and swung it at the man's face.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8CelvKz1QK
The punch landed.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQiUWjHqIr
His knuckles struck the man's cheekbone with a dull thud.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQMG3R3dTg
Voltase felt the hard impact in his hand, pain spreading like waves from his knuckles to his wrist.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbLmiQDg2c
But there was a primal satisfaction that his punch had connected.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrhQhNUu3e
This was the first time in his life, both in the real world and here, he had ever hit someone with full force.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyVM5xajPJ
The man stumbled back, his arm bending, but he did not fall.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdW1dTK93x
His head snapped to the side, and from the corner of his mouth, a drop of blood began to flow.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3hDA8J9Gt
He raised his hand to his face, touched his lip, looked at the blood on his fingertip.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKDQmM9Z8c
Then he looked at Voltase with changed eyes.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8u55uIm96H
Suspicion transformed into burning anger.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VEG41J068
With reflexes faster than they looked, he blocked Voltase's attack with his forearm.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOJLEPIObq
His other hand grabbed Voltase's collar and pulled him forward.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSWC26gedO
At the same time, he bent his right knee and kicked forward.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNah0B7KK2T
The knee struck Voltase's stomach, and the pain exploded in his solar plexus like a bomb.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkbT7UeUQ3
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzmgASmw5a
For a moment, the world around him spun wildly, black sky, corpses, and the man's face all mixed into a nauseating vortex.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpySHiLqMx1
He tasted metal on his tongue because he had bitten his own tongue from the impact.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJ04KnOofi
Fresh blood began to flow in his mouth, mixing with the bile.
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But Voltase did not fall.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCPJ6pqV0Q
Unlike in the real world, where he always fell when pushed by other children at school, this body was stronger, heavier.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnCp0q0fDg
His long legs planted in the bloody soil as he held his ground.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLBGkzaKeF
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7jvHRfEy2
His foot with the heavy boot and hard sole swung toward the man's shin.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGoU8qMMNRN
He swung his leg with all his strength.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOs0jIOZkKY
The kick landed with a harder thud than before.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4Hoi7Yb21
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDO9gtpJERx
Voltase seized the moment.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSa9Jn9WCe
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTbdSDXkGw
He answered with a punch at the man's chin, but the man tilted his head with agile movement despite his large body.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sLPtjyY37
They fought wildly, punches, kicks, elbows, and knees, in the middle of the sea of corpses.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSwqhCEYwH
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvXOH8Pf17
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6Uu0eMpMg
This is not me, he thought between punches, but his thoughts were fragmented by pain and exhaustion.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUClfSyZDhW
Why am I here?
ns216.73.216.67da2 
and then Add to home screen.