Feeding Frenzy (Watty Award Winner)

Poutine Not Riots: Chapter Forty-One

On the ride back to Loon Lake they passed clusters of the shambling infected. Tonya caught snatches of their thoughts inside her head.

Hungry! Feed me! were common themes. Those who had eaten themselves into a stupor were full of yearning. Must lie down in graveyard to decompose.

As they passed yet another clutch of these wanderers, Ducky asked: "What's wrong?"

She hated lying to him, but was afraid to admit she could hear their thoughts. "It's nothing. I'm just tired." How could she stop the Entity without her Aunt's powers or skills?

As they neared Loon Lake, another voice resonated clearly as if it were carried on the wind instead of sounding in her head.

Feel me rise!

The voice was accompanied by a strange sensation, like tunnelling up through gravel and clay. Tonya gasped. She was linked to the Entity! She could feel what it felt and hear It, one voice cutting through the cacophony in her head. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, desperate to keep It out.

In her mind's eye she saw a mosaic of bright and dark images, clustered together like a honeycomb. It was the view from a hundred eyes compressed into one compound vision. Among the multiplicity of images she saw headstones, hospital rooms, moonlit trees, and food. Loaded spoons and forks and fingers simultaneously stuffed a hundred frantic mouths as if they all belonged to her.

To banish this frightening sensation, she opened her eyes and looked out the window but everything had changed. She felt her body seated in a moving car. Out her window she saw silhouettes of passing trees, and the University lights ahead, but this image was superimposed onto another. Everywhere she looked compound vision confused her.

She also felt the hunger of multitudes, as if she had a hundred aching stomachs. Her mouth filled with conflicting flavours: liver and ice cream, cold French fries and hot Brussels sprouts, cupcakes and curry. She swallowed, hoping to clear her mouth but the onslaught increased. Somewhere in Loon Lake, someone was eating Limburger cheese. Yuck! Her mouth filled with bile. She opened her window and heaved, scattering sour fluid into the rushing air.

"Hey, watch the car!" Zain shouted. "It's a rental."

"Sorry. Dragonfly vision."

"What?"

"Time flies." She couldn't admit what was happening in her head. Her friends would think the Entity controlled her.

She sat back in her seat. "Sorry to put you boys through all this."

"It's okay," Ducky said. He leaned forward between the seats. "When I got up this morning they were rioting in the cafeteria."

"And he almost got eaten alive at the police station," said Zain.

"We've had a hell of a time, but this is the most fun we've had all day," said Ducky.

"Plus rescuing you from your Aunt was probably the least risky thing we've done in hours," Zain finished.

"So be straight with me Tonya," Ducky looked her in the eyes. "What's really wrong with you?"

"Did my Aunt seem weird to you?" Tonya asked.

"Yeah," said Ducky. "She makes the hair stand on the back of my neck."

"Me too!" said Zain.

"She has that effect on a lot of people," said Tonya. "So, where are we going?"

Wherever I like.

The single voice booming in her head was Zain's, just like she had heard the Farmer's voice. Zain was controlled by the Entity!