This chapter was hard; it might be a tad confusing, but I'm planning to make another chapter, so bear with me.

The peculiar OCs in this chapter will most likely not return. Unless you want them to. Changes in POV will be marked as "His POV" for the main character Hollowgast. For other characters, it will be "Other POV."

I do not own the Apple company.

100 or so Years Later…

I was still hungry. I had not yet eaten anything. The others grew bigger and stronger, until eventually they became something else. Something higher up. Something I longed to be.

I would have joined them. But whenever I made it close to the kill, something stopped me. Sometimes it was a material object, like another Hollowgast, but I was weak, they said. I was the lowest of them. They chose to ignore me most of the time.

While the world tortured me relentlessly, they worked in the labs. Created plans. All of which included the eradication of the syndrigasti. Those, as I learned, were what we ate.

Except for me. I couldn't even get a scrap.

Eventually, the grown ones became fed up with me. They told me to leave, sharpen my skills, and come back.

I did the first part okay. I slipped in and out of cities filled with delicious beings that I could eat. I managed a few. But no syndrigasti.

Somehow I had a feeling I would be… different if I ate one. But different in a good way, I told myself. That was what they said to me.

But I couldn't eat one. I found them easily, I could corner them without leaving more than a shadow, and I lashed out with my tentacles. But I never managed to kill one.

But I was hungry.

That fact kept me at it. I had to do something; there was no way I could go on like this. Every second increased the pain.

I needed Food. I needed a moment of comfort. It was driving me crazy – it had been forever. I wasn't sure how long I had been existing, actually. But my scrambled mind didn't care much.

Food. I needed Food. Right now.

I turned into an alley. I was in an American city. It was interesting here, really. Boxes with moving screens depicted Food screaming in terror, yet explained away the attacks. I was free to eat and frighten whatever I wished.

But no matter what I consumed, I was hungry for syndrigasti. A syndrigast would bring me peace. I held to that belief.

But I still couldn't do it.

The smell of one of them cut into my senses. I was immediately ready.

I had to get Food.

It was one of them. I could smell its soul.

That's crazy. Souls are intangible.

Huh? Where did that come from? My thoughts were flashes of light and dark, not complete sentences. I couldn't think many sentences, never mind the word intangible. What did intangible even mean?

Technically, I wasn't even capable of understanding language. So that was odd.

I remembered what I needed – Food.

Hungry.

I followed the scent. It led to a building.

I went inside. The door bent open at my force. I saw that I was in the living room of an apartment. I smiled, licking my teeth in anticipation, enjoying the strength.

I was ready.

The syndrigast was inside. It was saying something. Shouting, actually. I liked the smell.

I lunged forward, tentacles bursting from my mouth.

"Stop! Somebody, help me! There's a Hollow!" it shouted, stumbling backwards and hurling a lamp a few meters away from my head.

Something moved upstairs. The second figure raced down the steps, also shouting. It wore something over its ears that was connected by a wire to something tucked in its arm. A grey square. A blue image of what appeared to be an apple pulsed on it.

The figure immediately dropped its square on the carpet when it realized what was transpiring. It leaped from the staircase to my target, already carrying the scent of terror. I curled my tongues eagerly. Two syndrigasti.

They threw whatever they could at me. It was almost amusing, batting away the objects with my invisible tentacles. But I couldn't do that forever. I needed to eat. Feast on their souls.

For some reason, that prospect did not particularly please me. That must have been why I was sent away.

But this time I would do it. After so many failed attempts, I would do it.

I came closer. The other lamp that was not shattered on the ground cast my imposing shadow against the wall. I had them in my grasp.

Food was mine. I needed Food.

"Do something!" the first one sobbed to the other. It didn't reply, its gaze still fixed on me.

They were backed up against the wall. I inched closer.

I needed to eat right now. No other time. The pain was too great. The suffering had to end.

Food.

Other POV

The two peculiar children, Tamara and Evan, huddled, horror-struck, as the Hollowgast approached. They could not believe that it was happening. They'd seen and heard of other peculiars being devoured by the monsters, but they'd never dreamed of being in that position themselves.

Tamara levitated books off shelves to slam into the invisible creature, tears streaking her face. Evan sent electricity crackling out of his fingertips, knowing nothing could save them. The Hollow kept advancing.

"If only we could reason with it!" Tamara wailed, pressing herself against the wall.

Evan rolled his eyes. "That's ludicrous," he said, although he knew she was just trying to come up with a way out of the impossible situation.

Tamara, seemingly unable to process their defeat, pleaded instead to the monster, "Please! Just please! We have to do something! Anything! Please!" She collapsed to the ground in tears.

She was desperate. Talking madness. Evan had to get some sense into her. "Come on. We can do something."

Just then, the Hollowgast lashed out with its monstrous, unseen tentacles and Evan was knocked back into the wall. The creature's shadow faced him.

They had no chance. He and Tamara were going to die.

As a last-ditch attempt, Evan reached down and picked up his broken MacBook. He normally would've complained about the crack in the screen from his dropping it, but now was hardly the time. Evan, staring at the empty space in front of him, tried to guess the position of the Hollow.

He held his breath.

He chucked the laptop at a chosen area, ten meters in front of him.

And he was appalled to see it disappear with a squelch.

Unbelievable! The freaking Hollowgast ate his computer!

Evan gulped as the monster's shadow edged forward. There would be no more waiting for it.

He and Tamara, who was still unresponsive on the floor, were going to die.

His POV

FOOD.

The simple scent was enough to make me salivate. I approached slowly, savoring the hunt.

The first Food was panicking. I stretched my mouth into a smile.

I was surprised, however, when it spoke to me. It was begging. I concentrated on the words.

It wanted me to let it go.

I lunged forward. Must get Food.

The second Food. I attacked it with my tentacles.

But I didn't hurt it. Not yet.

The syndrigasti were cornered. I could take time. Plus, I wasn't sure…

Yes I was. I needed Food.

The second Food was doing something. Reaching down. I watched. It picked something up –

Ow! The square with the glowing apple. It threw it at me. I shot out a tongue and grabbed it from the air, after it hit me in the head.

Why not? I swallowed it whole.

Uh, no. Not a good taste.

I needed better Food. A syndrigast.

I lifted the first Food off the floor with my clawed hand. It was no longer crying.

The other Food was screaming now. I didn't care; I would silence it soon.

The first Food stared up at me, eyes unfocused. "Why," it whispered.

Huh?

I was innocent. I was innocent. These words swirled through my mind faster than the Siberian wind stinging my face. They were taking me up to the site. The place where the experiment was to take place.

I blinked ice crystals out of my eyes. They had kidnapped me for this. I had to help them do the impossible, or else they would kill me. It was crazy, really. Cheating death? Truly impossible. I had to fake helping my abductors. They would hardly know the difference; I was a genius for fourteen and nobody I knew was more intelligent. This actually was the reason they had taken me, I knew.

I stumbled backwards, dropping Food. A girl. A person. She lay where I dropped her, unmoving.

The boy was still screaming.

I stared frantically around me. What?

I could remember. I could remember what had happened.

Who was I? A person? What was my name?

Now I was a monster. What had I done as one?

I tried to speak. No English.

My thoughts were still crowded. I still needed to eat.

But I was once innocent. I had to do something.

I staggered away from the syndrigasti. I needed to find someone to help me.

So I left them and raced through the city.