“He’s stuck!”

  There was no pain, but there was also nothing else while we were at it. It was a black void, devoid of all sensation except for hearing, apparently. My eyes were closed, and I just couldn’t do anything. A voice kept calling out to me, but it was distant. What was happening?

  “Stand back,” called an elderly woman’s voice. There was a loud noise followed by a wet explosion, like someone had done a big cannonball dive in the water. Nothing felt different to me. It was peaceful in this void. I didn’t have to worry anymore. I worried about everything, but mostly I worried about my friends. It was nice to just be floating in nothing without worry. That was until my eyelids were forced open by prying fingers.

  “He’s dead,” yelled a shrill man’s voice. My eyes refused to focus as I saw a few shapes gather around me.

  “He’s alive, you moron.” It was an old man’s voice that replied as my eyes began rolling around, attempting to look at anything. My head was being lifted up carefully as the voices kept talking. They seemed frantic in their talking, which kind of annoyed me. I was at peace in the void. Why the hell did they interrupt that? There was a blob with squiggly lines that got close to my face. I still couldn't make out any details as I heard the voice calling to me.

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  “I’m here, Max.” It was Jay. My eyes began to focus on the cephalopod woman. Jay’s eyebrows were furrowed as she looked at me. She was worried. I didn’t like that sight, which gave me some strength to lift my head up.

  “Hey Jay,” I replied, or at least I thought I did. It felt airy as it came out. People gathered around me, and I could make out that it was my group. Laura and Church both had tears in their eyes as the Kellys gathered around. They must have come back at some point. Everybody had worried looks on their faces. Patti walked under Laura, tail between her legs, and lay silently at my side. What was happening? I tried to ask, but it came out airy again. Jay put a tentacle against my lips to hush me.

  “Max, there’s no easy way to put this,” Laura began, but trailed off. She was rubbing her arm and looking down. My eyes shifted out of focus for a bit as I tried to look at her.

  “Dude, you’re fucking flattened like a pancake,” Church finally said. Mrs. Kelly made a disapproving noise at the curse word, and Laura punched Church in his arm. “Sorry, but he should know.”

  I looked at Jay, who gave me a hesitant nod. I tried to look down at myself, but struggled. Jay helped tip my head forward to have a look. As Church had said, everything below my rib cage was comically flat from where the brawn faun landed on me, of which the creature was now in blown-up chunks all around me. It also looked like green goop had been squeezed out, like toothpaste, from random spots. This time, I managed to get two words out.

  “Uh oh.” And then, I passed out.