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// Second Chapter 
// Story: New Bodies, New Life 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

Something Thornton noticed quickly was how hungry he felt.
It was a feeling that didn’t take long to show itself, and one that made the now alien bug wonder how long it’d been since he’d eaten. Surely not that long, right? A quick look at the rest of his family showed that, as sad and scared and despaired as they look, they weren’t particularly low on energy or starved looking. It was a good thing, although it was a contrast to how hungry Thornton felt. It was like he hadn’t eaten in days.
“I think we should prioritize food,” he told his older brother in his new nasally voice, walking directly behind him. If his body didn’t feel like a hard, black exoskeleton, his face might have gone red at the fact that the moose’s new tail hardly covered anything. Even worse it was for himself since he didn’t really have much of a tail at all, outside of what was best described as a thin, black fin on his backside. The thoughts didn’t stay in his head for long though as he quickly remembered how hungry he was.
“It feels like I’m a few days away from starvation to me,” he continued, noting the flatness of his new voice as well. “I really need something to eat.” Thornton could say that, despite how little time he’d spent as a… whatever he was, his stomach was already feeling painful and twisting into knots.
“Do you see any food out here?” Reece asked, his own voice dripping with sarcasm. “I doubt there’s a bacon tree anywhere nearby. We need to focus on finding water first like I said. And besides, who the fuck knows what black alien things like you eat anyway?”
“Don’t curse, please,” the dragon that was their mother spoke up. She didn’t sound very convincing or authoritative in her tone, but she continued, “We can– we can.. we can pull through this, but let’s not curse, please.”
“I don’t think cursing is gonna make any sort of a difference, Mom,” his older brother replied, still marching forward without turning around. Thornton didn’t turn around either, and didn’t need to to know that his mother was a little upset by the reply, but wouldn’t argue. It wasn’t in her character to let go of backtalk, nor in Reece’s to talk back, but it wasn’t surprising right now that these things were reversed, considering the situation. 
It was extremely strange how this new sixth sense allowed him to pick up on everything going on around him. He felt like he could practically read their thoughts by just how their emotions tasted.
Thornton didn’t bring it up, only walking ahead with his eyes pointed down at his hooves. His older brother led the way, with Barney right next to him at his side, occasionally looking back to check that the rest of the group was still following him. Thornton was behind his brother, and his mother and Denver were walking side by side behind him. In the very back was his father, walking a dozen or so yards behind the rest of the group, a weird emotion coming from him as he hung his head low and stared at the ground like Thornton did. His face was red, and he was definitely radiating more embarrassment than everyone else, which made sense. Thornton felt embarrassed, and probably would’ve been doubly so if he changed into a girl, too. 
“Can you tell him not to curse, Howie?” the dragon told the unicorn. “Please? It’s not helping anything. And not to backtalk either.”
“I don’t think it really matters right now, Carey,” he told her, only glancing up for a moment before turning his eyes back to his hooves. Thornton could practically feel him shrink back a little bit as his father continued, “It doesn’t help, but it’s not really hurting anything, is it?” Then he added, “But your mother’s right, son. You shouldn’t curse, and definitely don’t backtalk to her. She doesn’t deserve that.”
Soft, feminine– his voice sounded slightly higher pitched than Thornton’s mother, but still authoritative at least. Reece didn’t comment though, still only walking forward with great frustration. Even if he was deaf and blind, the emotion from the moose-horse said he wanted to backtalk more.
“How is this happening?” Denver asked aloud again. “I can’t be here. We need to get home so I can get ready for school. I hope this is all just a weird dream.”
“I’m sure we’ll be able to get home by tonight, dear,” their father continued, talking to Denver now. “Your older brother is smart and is gonna get us out of here before you know it.”
“I hope so…”
Thornton could tell neither of them believed it, but didn’t say anything about it. He just kept on walking, noting the strangeness of… well, everything.
The group walked downhill at Reece’s advice, the moose thing explaining that it would help conserve energy and find water, since water flowed down hill. It seemed like they trusted him implicitly, although after just a couple of hours, there were a couple of growling stomachs among them. It only reminded the bug of his own hunger that he tried to ignore. It was practically all that was on his mind.
Barney slowed down to walk next to him now, looking up at him with a serious expression. It was almost creepy how humanlike the dog seemed to be acting now, but with everything else going on, no one questioned it. There wasn’t time for those things yet. Thornton did appreciate the animal rubbing its fur against his weird legs, and the demeanor that made it seem like the dog almost felt bad for him. And he did. Thornton could tell that because he could taste Barney’s emotions, too. It wasn’t much reassurance, but he appreciated his pet’s concern.
It took a little while to notice that as Barney walked next to him, the bug felt a little less hungry. Granted, he was still starving, and could honestly go for just about anything right now, but it was notably less intense right now. He wondered why that could be.
They continued to walk, but for how long, Thornton didn’t know, and he assumed the rest of his family didn’t either. It felt like a long time before Denver and his mother asked for a break. Barney seemed to indicate that they should keep walking, and so did Reece, but neither of them could do much about the stoppage. 
“Hey, mom,” his older brother started. “You have wings. You can try and fly up and see if there’s anything noteworthy around us. And so do you, Thorn,” he continued as he now turned Thornton’s way. “Try to see if you can fly and take a look around.”
“I’m not sure I can,” their mother said as she stretched out her wings, looking at them like she didn’t know what to do with them. They might as well have been made of steel the way she stared doubtfully at the things attached to her. With just a few awkward flaps, everyone could tell she wasn’t going to be able to do much. Now Reece looked at the bug expectantly.
“I don’t see how I’m going to have any more success,” Thornton told him. “I’m not a bird, and there’s no reason to assume weird alien bug things like me are going to be able to fly. For all we know, these could be, like, ostrich wings.”
“Yeah, I guess we can assume, but assuming does absolutely nothing for us,” his older brother said sternly. “Now will you just try so you can see if there’s anyone nearby to help us out?”
Thornton sighed and flapped his wings like a bird, thinking about how weird it was that they moved at his command. Despite the fact that they did though, he got absolutely nowhere with flapping his wings, remaining stationary on the ground. He couldn’t say he was surprised, and could taste the frustration from Reece.
“You look like a bug,” his older brother told him. “Try flapping them more like a bug would.”
“As if I know how to do that? There’s no way for any of this to be possible anyway!”
Now it was Thornton’s turn to question how this was all happening. Honestly, what were the odds that he and his whole family would be turned into… weird horse things? And a dragon? Were they even on Earth? How was any of this possible? Maybe they all had LSD placed into their dinner before bed– a dinner that Reece didn’t share since he didn’t even live with them anymore, and Thornton missed because of a school event. But still. This couldn’t actually be real. LSD was probably more likely.
“I don’t wanna be this weird ass bug thing!” he said in his new nasally voice, wanting to clench his fists but only having limbs that ended in stumps. What bug looked like this in real life? It was like he was half horse and half beetle.
“How is this even happening?” Thornton asked, stomping a frustrated limb. Hoof? Maybe that was more appropriate.
“We don’t know, and everyone taking their turn to ask a million times how whatever’s going on happened doesn’t help,” Reece told him. He was acting much more like his father than the horse that was their dad was right now, and continued with, “Honestly, it could’ve been worse. You could’ve been, like, turned into a girl or something like Dad was. Or an ant. Or whatever other horrible thing that God might have wanted to do.”
He wanted to say he wasn’t sure that was possible, but of course it was. He could’ve been put into this position alone, or surrounded by the corpses of his whole family, or whatever other terrible thing. That much was true.
Although he wasn’t ready to concede that it was better than being a girl. Certainly that had to be better than being whatever alien thing he’d been changed into. The smell and tastes of emotions coming off of everyone felt overpowering. It might have been better if it was a blend, but instead, it was a steady stream from each person around him that he could pick out individually. It was difficult being forced to process so much information from a sense he didn’t have until a few hours ago.
And hungry. Oh, he felt extremely hungry. It was the number one thing on his mind in spite of everything else. 
“Is anyone else completely starving?” he asked. “It feels like I haven’t eaten in days. It’s already getting painful for me.”
“I just wanna go home…”
“We’re gonna be fine, sweetheart,” their father said, stepping closer to Denver now. “Just gotta buck up and trust that your older brother knows what he’s doing.”
Thornton could tell that Denver was the most upset and distraught about this turn of events out of everyone from the taste of her emotions. Everyone else seemed to be taking this fairly well– well, as well as could be expected given the circumstances. But Denver felt like she might have been on the verge of a breakdown. It was not good, and her emotions tasted extremely bitter.
Their father carefully lifted a hoof to try and pet Denver’s hair– mane?– as he continued, “But I am a little hungry, but that’s probably just from how long we spent walking.”
“It feels like I’m starving, Dad,” Thornton told him. “Like, my stomach hurts, it’s so bad.”
“If we’re horses– some of us anyway, since Mom’s a dragon, I think– then we should be able to eat grass in theory,” Reece told him. “Like I said, there’s not any food around, and unless we know what plants are what, we’re better off not going after it.”
“I’m not eating grass. That’s not gonna do anything to help me.”
“If there’s no food and you’re really that hungry, then–”
“Does anyone hear that?”
The whole group looked at the dragon, who was looking ahead and listening intently. Thornton heard nothing, and could be sure the other three didn’t hear much either, but the way their mother’s ears were flicking, she was certainly picking up on something.
There was no need for anyone to ask what she was listening to, because she answered their preemptive question a second later. “It sounds like there’s a river nearby, guys,” she told them. “You said we need to find water, right, Reece? I think I can hear it in that direction.”
She used a claw to point in the direction she heard the sound, and Barney barked and turned his head in that direction too, seemingly agreeing with her. After a few seconds of no one moving, Barney looked back and used his head to indicate to follow him, much like a human would do. A moment later, he started forward.
“Barney’s acting super weird,” Reece commented, “but I guess let’s follow him. And thanks, Mom, for spotting that. Having a source of water is good.”
She smiled, the first out of the whole group to do so since the day began, and explained, “I think these ears are much more sensitive than human ears. I’ve been picking up on everything. Like, down to the bugs crawling on the trees. It’s almost scary.”
But not as scary as being starved for anything and having all these emotions swirling around Thornton at all times. But once again, he didn’t bring the fact up, and instead hurried along after his dog, who’d started moving forward in an effort to get all the other weird creatures to follow.