Paul staggered to a stop as he felt a squirming inside his belly. Was it a kick? The thing growing inside him moved again causing him to break wind loudly. He had felt pretty terrible lately- sweaty, bloated, constantly starving or nauseated, but more than anything else—tired.

The whole situation was disgusting and terrifying. Yet he felt some small awe and a strange sense of accomplishment. Sure, there were always things growing inside of a human body- bacteria, intestinal parasites. This was different.

It was heavier for one thing. He didn’t want it, hadn’t asked for it but it was his. There was enough of a bulge to put his hand on. He hated it but it was a part of him in away that nothing ever would be again. He pulled his shirt up so that he could watch the skin move with the creature, like a giant squid displacing the surface of the ocean. Abruptly, it stopped and Paul was struck by the idea that it knew he had been watching and was hiding.

He wondered if he would have time to name it before he died.