A violent shiver awoke the man who lay on the ground. He instantly lifted himself on his hands and looked around. The moon and its reflection lit the area around him well. A body of water lay a few feet away. It stretched as far as he could see in one direction. The other direction held towering trees. He squinted as he looked in all directions for signs of civilization. No man-made illuminations that he could see.
He shifted his body on all fours and moved to his knees. The ground felt rough as his bare legs shifted on the dirt. His mind started to finally come out of his slumber as he questioned how he had lost his pants and shirt. A pair of missing shoes and socks was added to the list as the night air brushed against his mostly nude body.
A scan of the ground nearby came up empty. He caught sight of a fish lying still on the ground. Focusing on it revealed that it had been partially eaten. Chunks were missing from the underside. His tongue ran a quick examination of his mouth and came back with the results he feared. He heaved over and over again as he bent forward. He could feel the pieces leave the same way they went down.
Moments passed, and he fell back on his butt as he panted. He scooted the short distance to the water and took a handful. It swished around in his mouth before being spit out. A couple more times helped clear the majority of the taste out.
The horror stuck with him as his thoughts moved to his location. This was nowhere he had ever been. He was surprised it existed. The only trees he had seen his whole life were in city parks. There were none of them around that spanned this large an area either. He looked over the water, trying to think of where he could be.
Back through the trees, it was pure darkness. He searched through his head for more information. He was sure that the last thing he remembered was darkness. It was night. Tonight? Last night? His hand went to his phantom pocket and came back empty. He lay back down and stared up at a starless sky. The moon was the only thing bright enough to penetrate through.
There were pills. He knew this for sure. It was always some pill or other drug that led to similar scenarios for him. Until this point, it had never been this extreme. Waking up in his own or someone else’s bed. Maybe a lawn or a car. Once a jail cell. His family was well off enough to sweep such situations under the rug.
He couldn’t remember the name of this drug. Zoo-something. It didn’t matter to him at the time, a high is a high. He had been warned that it would change him. Every pill or powder had some amazing hype around it. This specific one was promised to make you into an animal. It appeared to deliver on that promise. His hands went back to the water. A few splashes in his face and a couple more mouthfuls, and he was ready to trek back home. He stood up and stretched. A couple of steps into the forest made him wish he still had his shoes. “Shit…”