Chapter 22: A Late Breakfast
The night was past its peak. The young man returned to the old hospital feeling better than he had left. The pain of Cats wounds was lessoned. The liquid unlife in his lungs was mostly used. He was walking upright without the aid of magic for the first time in days. Albie felt complete after his skirmish with the invaders. He walked up the steps to the laboratories. Inside the lab he had made the pail lurker he began to think about what to do next. He thumbed through the pages of abomination warfare looking for a passage on the moving pile of corpses.
Something inside of him told him it had not yet died. It wasn't a hunch or a hope that fueled this. He could feel it in his blood that the rotting mass had claimed another man. The monstrosity was beginning to fade. Its hunger becoming more than it could fight through. Albie was grateful that its hunger and his were not the same. He felt quite content for the moment. As he looked through the catalog of undead monstrosities, he realized his fingers were a bit bonier than he remembered them.
He observed his hands for a moment and realized that they did seem thinner. He stepped out and entered the master bedroom were a large standing mirror stood in the corner. The figure staring back at him from the mirror was strange. His pail skin had tightened around his bones as though he had not eaten in two weeks. His cheeks stretched tightly over his jaw. His pink eyes beginning to sink into his skull.
He had no idea how he had become so skinny. Perhaps his healing had taken a toll on his body? He did not want to put to much of a strain on his body and decided he would get something to eat. He was soon downstairs in the pantry Starting a fire in the iron stove. The storeroom had dry oats and he was determined to cook up his favorite breakfast, boiled oats and honey. Everything he needed was already in the kitchen. Firewood, water honey and oats as the heated on the stove he collected a bag of oats and felt it squirm. He held on to the bag but stopped moving but the bag was still struggling in his hand. He could simply absorb the creature's life but was curious what new test subject he might have collected. He held the bag firmly shut as the walked over to the jars of preserves and took one of the largest jar off the shelf. It contained peach preserves and he walked it back to the pot of water and unsealed jar. The fruit preserves escaped into the heating water and Albie placed the jar on the floor.
He held the bags opening over the jar. Whatever was inside scratched against his wand from the other side. He released the sacks opening and oats poured out of the bag into the large jar. Acting quickly, he resealed the jar and looked at what and emerged.
A black rat scratched at the glass jar. Only a size bigger than a mouse it seemed very young. Albie had a few ideas on what he wanted to do with it but eating came first. He grabbed a new bag of oats and after checking it for trespassers poured some into the warm water and peach preserves. He made himself a meal and took a metal spoon and the pot to the dining tables outside the kitchen after extinguishing the fire. Rat in a fat sealed jar sitting across from him he ate directly from the pot like he did at home. The familiar taste of oats in his mouth a caged rat in front of him reminded him of home. He grabbed the moon charm in one hand and lifted it up to look at the crystal that had once been his wife's heart.
The young man's eyes burned as he kissed the stone. He wanted to cry but no tears came. His chest ached as he wondered when the last time was, he drank any water. He coughed a few times and felt the black mucus twisting in his mouth again after another bight of oats had animated in his mouth. He spit the lump of living oatmeal out and took another spoonful of oats to his mouth. He looked at the trapped rat across the table and embraced the happy memories that came. His heart ached as the hospital windows filled with sunlight.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Zane_d_mad
Zane_d_mad Happy Tuesday everyone. It looks like you guys enjoyed the last chapter. Glad to see some knew collections as well. please tell me what you liked about it. This week is a slower paced chapter but I hope you still enjoy it. see you all next Tuesday.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone