The Bleed: Book 2: RAPTURE by David Moody (best selling autobiographies .txt) 📕

she was going to wait and make sure her traveling partner survived and wasn’t drinking drain cleaner. He again took another drink, this one much smaller and it stayed down, so Maddie followed suit.

“I feel a lot better,” Maddie told him after she polished it off.

“As do I. Wouldn’t mind coming across a couple of horses, though.”

“You can ride a horse?”

He looked at her for a moment.

“Not to ride, got it,” she said. “Like a whole horse? You could eat that?”

“Ever seen a pelican eat a fish?”

“Nope, nope, don’t want to know. Fuck that visual.”

They spent the rest of the day foraging. They both drank until their bellies distended, but had yet to find anything that could be considered food.

“We will have to travel into the city. Any place that has a large population center will rely on mass-produced food, and one would think it would be in containers. Might make it more identifiable.”

Maddie doubted that, after all of the strange shapes she had drunk from. She wondered if the last liquid had been some form of alcohol, as her head was slightly swimming and her steps didn’t seem quite so sure. “Do you think it’s safe, drinking what we have?”

“Safer than dying.”

The closer they got to the city, the more Maddie realized the buildings didn’t so much scrape the sky as they did pierce it. They were so tall it was difficult to see where they ended and space began. The buildings appeared to be made from the same material as the containers, something between a glass and a plastic. Whatever it was, Maddie wanted a sample. The strength needed to make such a structure could be revolutionary for mankind—that was, if they ever got a chance to use it. The benefit of the material was the ability to see through it with a high degree of clarity. This saved the pair a lot of time looking for food.

Kalandar reached a hand out and turned Maddie in the appropriate direction. “What does that look like to you?”

Maddie, instead of answering, made her way toward it like a drunken sailor might a new tavern. Kalandar quickly passed by her on the right.

“Hey!” she yelled out, swiping to grab his tunic and missing by a foot or more. He was either moving that fast, or she was moving that slow.

The colors were off, the packaging utterly unnatural, but the uniformity and amount…it could not be denied that this was a store of some sort, possibly a grocery store. Unfortunately, everything was so foreign to Maddie’s eye it was going to be difficult to tell what was oatmeal and what was dish soap. Kalandar was ripping through things like, well, like a starving demon. He stopped when he came to an area of large balloon-like containers, but like most things they’d come across, there were multiple nipples. Kalandar squeezed the beach ball-sized bag until a thick paste, the color of liver, was extruded out and into his waiting mouth.

“Meat!” he cried.

Maddie was hungry, hungrier than she could ever remember being and still, she wanted nothing to do with whatever he was eating. The smell wasn’t wholly unwelcome, but she couldn’t get past what it may or may not be the meat of. It quite possibly could be the hominoid looking giant, because, so far, every food vessel they had come across was not designed for something with one mouth. She didn’t think she’d have ever sided with the Bleed, but in this case, she wanted to make an exception. By the third giant beach ball, Kalandar was lying on the floor, sucking the balloon like a toddler being put down for a nap. Maddie had found something that she hoped was granola, but the taste was off; peppery, if she had to put a word to it. She tried to take a small bite to see how her system reacted, but her stomach had other plans. She was halfway through the contents of the container before she was full enough to override her body’s baser cautions. “Can’t be self-aware when you’re starving.” She referenced an old study she’d read justifying gobbling down whatever is in front of you.

“I’m soooo full,” Kalandar managed between balloon clutches. The paste was running down the sides of his face, where he dutifully licked it up. He was asleep within moments.

Maddie walked around the entirety of the facility, taking small bites of a variety of items until she stumbled upon something that looked vaguely like snack cakes. Even though they were orange and as dense as a bowling ball, they were surprisingly tasty. She’d eaten two when her stomach gave her a warning that a third may not be for the best. She lay down and was fast asleep. She wasn’t sure how long she was out for, but she woke with a start. Kalandar was looking down upon her, adrenaline pulsed through the entirety of her, thinking that he was about to do her harm.

“It’s time.”

“Time? You’re giving me a warning before you eat me?”

Kalandar looked confused. “I thought about eating you yesterday, but today, not so much.” I just made a deposit that is very similar to your body weight.” He looked her up and down before smiling. “Maybe bigger.”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Nothing quite as satisfying as a huge—”

“—I get it. What’s it time for?” She pushed his mug away before sitting up.

“I’m going to have to leave, and it is unlikely we will see each other again.”

“You’re…you’re leaving me here? Alone?” Her heart was lodged high up in her throat, making it difficult to speak. Maddie had always been a loner, but being utterly and completely alone without the chance of ever encountering another? That was not something humans were equipped to deal with. Even if she didn’t converse in-depth with those around her on the base, there was an underlying comfort in the fact that they were around.

He shrugged. “My hope is it will only be temporary.”

“Your hope? You