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"The Hunger"

     The alarm clock beeped, jarring me awake as I bolted out of bed and threw some clothes on. Looking over at the time, I had roughly ten minutes until I had to clock in at work. I couldn't believe I had slept through that many alarms.
    I headed out the door and into my car. As I drove down the road a little ways, I saw there was a car accident. I tried paying no mind to it and drove on past. The accident didn't look too bad, I thought. I mean, there weren't any police cars or ambulances there, so it couldn't have been that bad, right?
    Finally, I got to work at the super market. I threw on my apron and clocked in for the day.
***
    Helping customers was always something I dreaded. Sometimes it would end in the customer getting irritated at me over things I can't control, like the price being too high or something being out of stock. Very rarely did these interactions ever go well.
    The customer I was helping was asking where the hamburger meat was. It was strange because we had signs overhead that clearly pointed to where the meat is. Despite this, I guided him over. It was a break from stocking the shelves, so I didn't mind.
    After leading him over, he thanked me before grabbing a five-pound package of hamburger meat, unwrapping it, and emptying the meat down his shirt. I didn't know what to make of this. Was this guy psychotic or something? Then, I saw his shirt moving in waves, like something in his shirt was rumbling.
    I quickly ran up to him. "Sir, you have to pay for that," I said.
    He tilted his head and studied me for a few moments. "Pay? What for?"
    I stared at him in shock. Was this guy for real? "You just stuffed a bunch of hamburger meat down your shirt," I said. "You have to pay for that."
    "Meat?"  he said softly, looking me up and down. He outstretched his arms to grab me but I dodged away from him and stumbled back. He charged toward me and I took off, running for the back of the store. No way he could get me back there.
    As I reached the locked double doors, I frantically shone my badge over the card reader and pushed the doors open, looking behind me to see if he was still there. Sure enough, he was.
    I ran into the back room and waited for the doors to lock. And waited. Then, the doors quickly flew open with heavy force. The man who was chasing me was now standing before me, his face red and his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. I backed away as he stared me down, arms outstretched like a zombie who hungered for my flesh.
    I staggered back until I hit a wall. This was it, nowhere to run. Nowhere to go.
    The man lifted his shirt, revealing what looked like a human face embossed on his skin, its make-shift mouth snapping open and closed as it prepared for its next meal. Then it grabbed me and pulled me in.

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