Chapter 29: Eating

Still, he sure as hell didn’t want to spend the rest of the evening staring at his food and hoping that something better would somehow be thrown his way.

His stomach certainly wasn’t going to allow that.

’Well, I guess I should quench my thirst first.’

Frost reached for the metal cup beside his bowl, but before drinking, he brought it closer to his face and carefully looked inside.

After seeing what they considered food around here, he wasn’t taking any chances.

Fortunately, the water looked normal.

More importantly, it tasted normal too.

Frost gulped it down greedily, barely stopping to breathe as the cool water finally soothed his parched throat.

"Ahhh..."

Letting out a satisfied sigh, he lowered the now half-empty metal cup back onto the table.

The others seemed to have been motivated by his actions. One after another, they picked up their own cups and drank, and judging by the relieved expressions that followed, they had probably been just as thirsty as Frost.

At least they had one thing that wasn’t completely horrible.

And then... It was finally time to slay the enemy that was this monster broth of doom.

Frost gulped as he stared down at the yellowish soup.

The insects stared back.

Well, they probably weren’t actually staring at him, but it certainly fucking felt like it.

If he didn’t eat this, then he was sure to starve eventually, and he sure as hell didn’t know whether there was some sort of menu that hopefully changed every day, or perhaps with each of the three meals they were afforded.

He wasn’t going to get his hopes up.

For all he knew, breakfast tomorrow would be the exact same thing, or worse.

Frost tightened his grip around the spoon.

"It’s all or nothing..."

His hand trembled slightly as he lowered the spoon into the broth and scooped up a small amount.

Unfortunately, one of the tiny black insects came along with it. Frost stared at the creature sitting in the middle of his spoon.

His expression slowly twisted in distress.

’Why did I have to get one on the first fucking scoop?’

He could just put it back, pretend this attempt had never happened, try again and deliberately avoid all the insects, but that would defeat the entire fucking point.

Frost slowly raised the spoon, his face growing increasingly distressed with every centimetre it travelled.

Halfway toward his mouth, his left hand suddenly snapped around his right wrist, and the spoon stopped.

For a moment, it genuinely looked like his two hands were fighting one another.

His right hand tried to continue upward in a slow manner, while his left resisted.

Frost’s eye twitched.

’Come on!’ The spoon rose another centimetre, but his left hand tightened. ’It’s just food!’

The black insect remained motionless in the broth.

’You’re going to fucking starve if you don’t eat.’ His stomach growled almost as if agreeing with him.

Frost gritted his teeth. Slowly, painfully, his right hand began winning the battle.

Across the table, everyone had stopped what they were doing, as they watched him with stunned expressions, each of them quietly cheering him on in their minds.

Frost felt their eyes boring into him, and in the end, he couldn’t help it, it was making his struggle harder to manage.

His eyes moved around the table without turning his head.

"Could you all... stop fucking staring at me?"

"No," Ryder answered immediately.

Frost glared at him.

Ryder gestured toward the spoon.

"You started this. Just get on with it."

’Bastard!’

Frost looked back at his opponent. The spoon was only a few centimetres from his mouth now.

He could smell the broth, and it wasn’t particularly foul, and that was something, at least.

His lips slowly parted.

His left hand suddenly tightened around his wrist one final time.

’No!’

His right hand pushed harder.

’Yes!’

Frost’s face contorted as though he were trying to force his own hand into a furnace. Then, with one final burst of determination, he shoved the spoon into his mouth.

His eyes squeezed shut.

The entire table waited as Frost pulled the spoon out and chewed. A very loud crunch escaped from between Frost’s closed lips.

CRUNCH!

His entire face immediately scrunched up.

The texture was... Well, it was exactly what one would expect from biting into a fucking beetle.

Frost grimaced as he forced himself to chew again, the brittle shell cracking between his teeth before the actual taste finally began registering on his tongue.

His chewing slowed.

’Wait...’

It wasn’t nearly as bad as he had expected.

The broth itself tasted like fairly normal soup.

It was surprisingly well seasoned, with just the right amount of salt, and although Frost thought it could have been considerably thicker, there was nothing particularly offensive about the flavour.

As for the beetle... Frost smacked his lips slightly in thought.

’Prawns?’

It tasted strangely similar to prawns. He looked down at his bowl with newfound uncertainty.

"Well?" Naomi asked.

Frost looked up to find that she was staring at him expectantly, visibly gulping down the saliva gathering in her mouth.

The others weren’t much different.

"It’s... not too bad, actually," Frost mused, dipping his spoon back into the broth. This time, unfortunately, he picked up one of the pale worms.

It writhed across his spoon.

Frost felt the spoonful he had swallowed threatening to rise back up.

’Right.’

The beetle had been one thing, and this was another.

He closed his eyes before he could reconsider, and quickly shoved the spoon into his mouth, tilting his head back as though that would somehow make the experience easier.

’It’s just nutrition!’

Crunch.

Frost chewed.

Huh?

He chewed again.

The worm tasted... Completely normal, almost like tender chicken. He swallowed and stared down at his bowl again.

Then he took another spoonful, and then another.

Within moments, whatever hesitation he’d possessed had been completely overwhelmed by hunger.

The others exchanged glances, realising that Frost wasn’t merely tolerating the food anymore.

The bastard was actually eating it hungrily!

Jason stared at him for several seconds before finally looking down at his own bowl.

His jaw tightened.

"Fuck it!" He grabbed his spoon.

What followed was a scene none of them would ever willingly speak about again.