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Back Stringers Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. FRONT COVER
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  63. CHAPTER SIXTY
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There was now a collar around my neck. Metal, or something like it. I gave it a yank, but it didn’t budge. I ran my hand down my chest towards my belly, but there was only empty space where I’d previously kept my energy stores. The flat expanse that had become my stomach felt like somebody else’s. Some sort of rubber material had replaced the body bag loaner. Had we been changed in our sleep? I felt at Patton. He was garbed in the same stuff.

Then I felt something else. “Oh God,” I whispered as my hands settled upon a bundle of tubes erupting from the place where my belly button should be. I made a sound that rivaled the cry of a howler monkey.71

“Patton! Wake up,” I pleaded while bumbling with the tubes, groaning miserably every time I touched them. They didn’t hurt, surprisingly, but their presence made me want to retch. “Patton?” I reached over in the dark, one finger extended bravely out to where I guessed Patton’s stomach was, skin crawling at the expectation of coming into contact with AAAAAH HE’S GOT THEM TOO! FUCKING GROSS! I wiped my finger across my rubber suit and continued to scream.

“Ben?”

“Patton!” I said, “Oh god, I’m glad you’re awake. Listen to me: Don’t move. We have tubes coming out of our stomachs, okay? But don’t touch them, it’s disgusting!”

“What?” he asked blearily. And even though it was pitch black I knew he was doing it. He shrieked.

“I told you not to touch them!”

The floor started to change again. I slipped down into a divot that, growing wider, became a shallow dish. Patton slid in after me, leaving the two of us flopping around like fish in an empty bowl. As the dish elongated, the floor gradually pulled out from under us, and in the space of seconds we went from sitting on the floor of the voidscull to a new surface. I squeezed Pickles snugly to me, summoned my strength, and felt around on my hands and knees, belly tubes slapping side-to-side like protracted udders.72

Ever so dimly, light returned to the space, searing my pupils. Patton moaned. I slapped my hands over my eyes and squeezed tightly enough to hear.73 How long had we been under? Under. It felt like we’d come up from anesthesia.