Blatant LOPE ripoff (Where is Everybody?) seventh

May thirty first, Monday. Now it has been seven days, and the air is clear. It's never been this clear where I live, always laden with pollution. The only times it's been like this I can remember is when I went to the mountains, the desert, or the plains.

On to other matters, I got to know Sweet Stuff and Val De Lump today. At six AM per usual I woke up. Feeling need to urinate through my funnel again, I went outside to the hedge where I urinated. I got relief, but when I turned around Sweet Stuff was standing there at the patio door apparently watching me. The sound of clip clops resonated in my ears as she approached me asking if she could use it. "May I use your funnel?" "Yes". I was naturally taken by surprise by this. I never expected a mare to approach me like this, but here it was. I turned away as she took the funnel and did whatever she was going to do with it. I actually don't mind sharing my funnel with her of all ponies. But she is the only one I will readily and willingly allow to use it. You could say I have a funnel mate. The rest can have their own.

When we came back into the house, Monica was on the sofa wide awake trying to get somebody on the radio. Naturally, all there was was static. Upon the sound of the door sliding, his head turned in our direction. "Hello, Alex, Sweets. Sleep well?" "Yes", we both replied. Sweets then asked something I had thought about several times, but never got around to doing. I would soon be glad I didn't ask, and somebody else did. "How come you are named Monica? That's usually a woman's name if I am not mistaken." He scoffed. "Does it matter? What's in a name?" It surprised me that he would respond in such a manner.

We then decided to leave the den and come into the kitchen/dining room. I was taken by surprise to find that Val was there. He was hovering over the stove frying several eggs (And sausages!), and they smelled just as delectable as they always did, though I dare not touch the latter unless some other horse does so first. The gryphon, the dog woman and the lizard lady all had some the other day, and that was fine with them, but the rest of us didn't think it was worth the chance. Sweet Stuff would remedy that and prove them safe.

When I asked about the sausages, Val De Lump told me he hadn't eaten anything solid since early yesterday, and anything substantial longer than that. Oddly enough, his mind says he should eat, he should be famished after that, but his gut says he is well nourished. He hasn't felt a pang of hunger since he left his tower yesterday. Almost like our mere presence alone is feeding him. He says he can sense our every feeling as well as taste them like tangible food sources, something I already suspected. Sweet Stuff, who never had a minute alone with him was naturally skeptical of this, an incredulous look on her face.

Mister Hadley was drained of feeling and virtually mechanical when we last saw him yesterday. He even seemed less caring and concerned when Anthony and I were with him. It was almost as though nothing really matters when we are with this insect; we become solely focused on our objective, whatever was on our mind before he accidentally sucked the feelings out of us. Only to find edible plants and go home, that was our intent. We harvested and drove, but there was no passion or fear when we were with him. Yet our foreboding returned whenever we weren't right by his side. Monica seemed totally blank faced the whole time. It was almost as though just being around us is causing his body to suck the feelings out of us and use them for sustenance. "I suspect this, but it's very ridiculous." "Can you change shape for us?" I asked. "Only after everybody wakes up and is present to watch. I'm still not entirely comfortable around you, Alex." "Fair enough".

After he had two of the eggs, the mare quickly took one for herself, and a sausage. Seeing no immediate ill effects from them, I took some myself, and they were delicious. They were no better or worse than I remember them being. Maybe I'll try the hot dogs again, but only after Will or Sherman take some for themselves. It's almost twelve and I have not gotten ill. I haven't had a repeat of the hot dog incident, thank god.

Insect guy just gave us a demonstration of his abilities. He grew two more legs out of his abdomen and made his horse like ones insect like, which is what he looked like when we saw him first. He immediately reverted back to quadruped stance, and made his sharp limbs blunt again. I thought the mix between horse and insect was creepy. It would have been more so had he had four legs rather then six when we met him. Now I'm used to both. Did I mention everybody was present? "I have more energy when there is a crowd," he said. "It's like the presence of intelligent life and strong emotions are a form of protein, while solids are carbs.."

I noticed his half moon torso shrunk ever so slightly when he grew extra legs. He still wouldn't take on his humanoid shape. I found meself slightly envious of his ability. Yet I can detect energy wherever it can be found, as can Anthony. Like snakes can feel heat, or a metal detector can find hidden metal. I asked him if he could do this, and he said he could only read our emotions and siphon them. I wondered if the rest of us had any special abilities, like Anthony and I could sense energy and Val could taste feelings.

Somehow it seems only appropriate that a former banker would become an emotion eating insect. I know he means well, but he doesn't have full control over it yet. Leave him alone with a single one of us, and he will drain us of all emotion leaving an empty unfeeling shell behind until we eventually recover. Monica is back to normal. I suspect that if we left him alone for six consecutive hours, he would get hungry again, and the vegetables and meat would only stave it off, like eating candy to fulfill our hunger and expect it to carry us through the day.

8 PM. The rest of the day was more the same: Searching for more people not to be found. Uneventful. Something funny happened: In the evening, Anthony, Will, the Hadleys, Val De Lump and I came home to find the others, Sam, Vinnie, Pickering, Angie, and Sweet Stuff on the porch, yard and curbside waiting for us expectantly. Vinnie, the humanoid lizard told us that she and the others have grown tired of sticking around the house while the rest go out looking for folks. They seem to think we should fan out, and they should join the search party. We foolishly claimed we already go in two directions, and that is enough. I go with Anthony and Will in our cart, and The Hadleys and the insect go in the non squad car. We eventually agreed that we should stay here on some days and let them go out. It's not productive for just us to have half of us watch the place while the other searches for people. Make it shifts. Pickering (the gryphon) spoke: "Board games and jigsaw puzzles are plenty enough to keep our minds occupied, but it doesn't improve our situation."

Then Vinnie spoke: "Oh, incidentally dearie, I was over at the lumberyard today getting wood. Pounding nails into this chair, several were in my mouth while my hands were occupied. As I began to salivate, which is normal when you put things in your mouth, I noticed I was salivating more than usual. The taste of steel was making me feel famished. I began to involuntarily chew, and before I knew it, I had eaten the extra nails. I got a box of screws to fix the smoke detectors into the ceiling and caught a whiff of one that was rusted. I singled it out knowing I couldn't use it, ground it down to dust and swallowed it. I later went and took a magnet to the street, collecting all the fallen nuts, bolts, nails, screws, and pins, needles and paperclips, filling this bucket with them. I swallowed several of the nuts and blots whole, and they were more filling than the cereal I have been eating. I can eat raw iron." That makes two of us that require no meat or vegetables, but can have them. No need to feed them. I'm learning more about us everyday.

Yours truly, Alex Chance Torrez. I think tomorrow I will stay here and spend time with these guys while our mares and humanoids go out.