Reticent Monsters (Ultimate Spider-Man - Cartoon)

Chapter 47: Hunger

Two updates in one night! Consider it an early Halloween treat! Thank you all for the patience and I hope you enjoy the updates!

They are hungry.

It quivers in every strand of their being. Every molecule and atom shakes with the insatiable need to consume.

It hurts. This emptiness inside. Where strength should be, weakness is coiled like a shriveled snake in waiting - hollowing them out into husks so brittle it would take nothing but a gust of wind to fall apart.

They need to eat something. To take the edge off this raw, blistering need that puts cramps in their stomach and sends convulsions through their body.

But where can they go? The upside world is unfamiliar and dangerous. People hunt them with intentions of pain; a suffering they've experienced before. The one that comes with being wrenched from their host and shoved into a cold, lifeless box to be probed and poked. That is something they refuse to experience again.

Just as they are hungry, they are angry.

Angry at the people that hurt them, angry at the hunters that pursue them, and angry at the host that fights them.

They know best. All of their actions and intentions have been for the well-being of themself and their host. They need to protect him, because where once he had been strong and capable, he was now sickly and weak. Thin. Breakable.

They've been trying to heal him. His injuries wear them all down, and the jumbled mesh of scarred thoughts and emotions infects the rest of them like a disease. They feel their host's pain, and take his hurt as their own. They heal the physical and suppress the mental - but it seems that no matter what they do, nothing changes.

It's too crowded. They all want the host for themselves, and as much as they try to cohabitate and live bumping against each other, it's grating and painful and they don't know how much longer they can keep it up. Anger, pain, aggression, violence - it peels against them, like someone cutting pieces of them away slice by slice.

They don't know where to go or what to do, and at this point, they're not sure they even care anymore.

While one of them wants to stay hidden and protected, another wants to fight and destroy, and the last couldn't go 5 minutes without trying to "purge" the other two.

They can't hold out much longer. This thready alliance they had was unraveling, and it was going fast.

They resurface from the sewers, a few days if the world outside is any indication, once they've put a good distance between themselves and their pursuers. Once again, they find themselves hiding in crevices and shadows, seeking out the tallest and most secure buildings to rest.

And they wait.

What they wait for, they're not sure.

Something. Anything.

Something to fight, something to eat - whatever came first.

But nothing did. They were alone once more and they weren't sure how they felt about it. Did it mean they could finally rest? Or was this a new trick? Was an enemy lying in wait, biding their time? Waiting for them to settle down before pouncing?

For now, their host slept and they would keep him that way until he was ready to come out again. He was getting weaker, more distant, and as much as his fighting made them furious, it was unsettling to feel their host beginning to slip away.

They needed something that could revive him again. Something we can eat. Something we can destroy. Their head was so full of clashing thoughts and desires it was beginning to blend together.

Anything they'll eat, anything they'll tear apart – all that mattered was satisfying that yearning to have something in their claws.

But where do they go from here?

Their eyes scan the uneven horizon of buildings, and something bright and familiar catches their eyes. When they look through Host's memories, they recognize the building.

Oscorp - that's what those letters mean. The taste of the word is strange, it brings both sour memories and sweet ones. They recall bad memories of fights and betrayals and pain, but also sweet recollections of their Host laughing, smiling, and eating.

They scuttle closer, head tilting to look it over, but they don't move.

Not yet.

But perhaps, if they were seeking a refuge, that would be a good place to start.