Consuming

It was Sunday night, which meant it was a night out, a Chinese buffet, and an early night. My wife was beside me in the car as i drove us to our favorite little joint. She put on her favorite tunes as we hit the highway, we drove for about 20 Minutes into town and just pulling into the parking lot The Bled had just finished wailing out Devolver. We turned off the music, turned off the electric car. Walking into the place, was like walking into a bad comedy, obese people filled the tables, while Asian workers uttered words like 'many-thanks' in heavy Chinese accents. We took our seat, and within seconds a waitress had approached our table and asked for our drinks. We asked her for some Pepsi and she hurried away to fetch our drinks.

"Well let’s dig in shall we?" I said getting up, ready to fill my stomach.

My wife smiled at me and we rose up in unison. We headed to the tables with dozens of appetizers and entrees all lined up in rows under heating lamps. We skipped by the meat, and headed for some veggie goodness. Filling up our plates with a plethora of vegetables and pastas we headed back. Sitting down we looked around at the ravenous people around us, I glanced around, and actually saw that besides the Chinese employees, we were in fact the only non-obese people in the restaurant. I smirked to myself feeling a little better about my gut. My wife and I exchanged glances after we noticed we were both looking around. I started to really chow down, and about halfway through my macaroni salad; a waitress had walked by, and grabbed my plate.

"I'm not done with that miss!" I called after her.

She stopped and turned around, walked back, and before i could say another word to her, she had taken my wife’s plate and walked away. Trying to hold in the chuckles rising to my throat was hard, but not impossible. My wife on the other hand, roared out her laughter.

"I guess she does not understand English very well eh?" I chuckled out.

My wife was silent and looking around again.

"Have you realized how quiet it is?" she said in barely a whisper.

I had actually noticed, but was a bit weirded out to want to bring it up. It made me uncomfortable.

"No I did not notice." I replied shrugging.

Time to get more food; we both got up at the same time again.

Walking to the buffet room, we were greeted by silence, except for the smacking chops of everyone ravaging their plates. As we turned the corner, we saw at least 3 people eating right out of the trays, one of them was even using his hands, I walked over to him and told him he better stop before I went to get the manager. He looked at me puzzled and waddled; you couldn’t call it anything except waddling, away. We re-filled our plates with food, when we saw waitresses now bringing out plates to the tables, all loaded with food, one with a trolley had just exited the kitchen.

People flocked to the new arrival of food, even though it was the exact same thing they had just been eating. My wife and I looked cautiously towards each other.

“Maybe it’s time to leave” i suggested.

“I agree honey”

We started to leave, no sooner the waitress with the trolley had erupted into blood and screams. The food was now gone, and deciding they were still hungry the people decided to eat whatever was closest, in the case of some of them, that happened to be the waitress. These screams were not of pain though, she just sounded really surprised.

I looked around the room and saw a few families still sitting and eating, but not many, they too had stopped and were gazing with horror at the scenes all around the restaurant. Once the waitress was reduced to no more than gurgles and pulp the people turned towards us. Those who were still sitting screamed at the insatiable hunger that emitted from the very eyes of their former table neighbours. The first of them started to walk over, slowly at first but I wasted no time.

“Everyone! To the kitchen there going to kill us!” I screamed.

Some of the people were so dazed they continued to sit. The others had bolted upright, throwing furniture out of the way. The Hungry Ones began to run at those still sitting, obviously recognizing the easier prey, before the sitters could do anything, the horde was upon them. Screams filled the room; the easiest ones to make out were the children’s.

Before we could even make it to the kitchen my wife and I became distracted by all the scents in the air, the air itself had a heavy metallic scent to it. Looking around it was apparent what was giving the air that feel, it seemed everything and everyone was coated in blood. Seeing and smelling the blood gave me an irresistible temptation to reach out and taste it. I stopped in my tracks while my wife tried to jerk me towards the kitchen. She had little success bringing me with her; in a matter of moments she gave up completely and walked back towards me.

I could see it in her eyes, just like I knew she could see it in mine, an insatiable hunger. Within seconds we began to tear at each other’s flesh, devouring whatever we ripped off. The idea that this was wrong morally faded faster and eventually disappeared. It felt right, necessary even; to consume as much as I could, I didn’t want to share or wait. I was driven by the idea of consuming everything. Every speck of flesh and blood was mine. No one had a right to any of it! Basic thought processes eventually stopped, I became hunger.