I was surprised when Foof returned rather quickly. When I heard the door open, I froze where I’d automatically moved to the farthest corner, hoping whatever had come wouldn’t be able to see me.

He hurried into the cell and came to an abrupt halt. He appeared to be stunned, maybe thinking the place was empty, until he spotted me hiding in plain sight against the adjacent wall. Relief crossed his face and he gestured to me.

“Hurry!”

I stumbled over to him, and he proceeded to take me down the corridor. When we reached the door at the end, he waved at it, and it slid aside to let us exit into another corridor.

From there it was a seemingly endless route of doors and corridors. Every so often we’d encounter one of those clear plastic tubes, which took us deeper into the ship. A couple of times he halted in mid-stride to suddenly shove me into a side room. After a few seconds, he retrieved me, never explaining why he’d done what he did, but I didn’t need to be a math genius to figure out we were about to cross paths with a Blurp, and that was his way of protecting me.

If I’d been more clear-headed, I might have been able to make heads or tails out of where we were going. For the time being, it was all I could do to let him have the lead and pray we didn’t get caught.

At long last, we were in a corridor that was relatively short and came to a dead end. Foof opened the door and led me inside.

I could immediately tell this was his private quarters. It wasn’t fancy. Just a simple pile of what appeared to be blankets on the floor and a few other odds and ends. But it was luxurious after being forced to sleep on the cold, bare metal plates.

He led me over to the pile of blankets. I dropped onto them and promptly curled up. The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was him telling me to stay put, don’t try to leave, and keep as quiet as possible since this was the cargo section of the ship. I guess he meant that Blurps wandered around in this area, but I was too far gone to think any further on it.

Once again, the smell of food brought me to. Except this time, when I opened my eyes, Foof was behind the bowl, along with a bag of water.

He smiled when I looked up at him. “How are you feeling?”

“Like crap.” I struggled to sit up and finally managed it after refusing his proffered hand. He held out the bowl of food to me, but my gaze fixated on his long, thin, and somewhat deflated penis dangling between his thighs as he crouched in front of me. Tearing my eyes away from it, I stared instead at the greenish contents. A finger poke revealed it was tepid like the only other meal I’d had. “Is there a reason why you don’t eat food that’s warmer or colder?” When I glanced up at him, I was shocked to see…sadness?

“That is how they feed me. I have no control over the temperature or the contents.”

Revelation dawned on me, causing more pain than that Blurp’s attack. That is how they fed him? That’s when I realized Foof had been going hungry because he was giving me his food. My eyes went to the bag of water he held in his other hand. And more than likely his water ration, too.

Marlow, you are such an ass.

My self-condemnation couldn’t begin to cover the shame I felt welling up inside me.