9 Chapter 9 Dino Leg with Eggs (1/2)

Dustin uncurled himself slowly.He was stiff and sore, but unharmed.That was a first.

Looking around as he brushed the dead bugs off of himself, he couldn't help but be amazed at the change in the landscape.They had eaten everything.

The trees were stripped bare close to thirty feet up from the ground, and he could see skeletons of things that had been caught in the swarm.Why had they not killed him?As he glanced at the PED, he noticed that his arms were covered in thick shell plates.Then he noticed he was completely naked.The belt with pouches and the rest of his outfit were gone.

Horror washed through him, as he reached between his legs and found nothing.Where had his twig and berries gone??!Cupping himself, relief washed over him as he realized they were safely contained behind a flap of skin with a thick plate of its own.Rubbing his face, he laughed softly to himself. Scooping up one of the dead bugs, he decided to see what his PED could do with it.Now that they were dead, he didn't mind the nasty things as much.

(GENETIC MATERIAL ACQUIRED. ANALYZING. AVAILABLE EVOLUTION OPTIONS: FANGS, WINGS, REDUCED SIZE WOULD BE REQUIRED FOR WINGS.)

”I'm not interested in any of that,” he said, looking around.It should be relatively easy to travel at the moment.How often did these things swarm like this?Was it like the locusts back at home, or did it happen more often?He had a hard time believing that.There wouldn't be as many critters trying to kill him if that were the case.

Making his way through the eerie forest, he spied several of the foxes with three tails, snapping up the bugs.They paused to watch him as he went on, then continued with their feast.He didn't think he was going to get anything worthwhile from them.

”PED, will I be able to go back to being human?”

(ALL GENETIC EVOLUTIONS ARE PERMANENT. IN ORDER TO RETURN TO A PREVIOUS STATE, HOST WOULD HAVE TO ACQUIRE A SAMPLE OF GENETIC MATERIAL.)

He paused, then cursed.That meant the Dustin that had been sent to this planet was gone.He would never be able to prove it was him, unless…

His mind raced.His mother had been a hopeless drunk after his dad died, but before then, she had been a loving and caring mother.Except, he remembered she kept his baby teeth in a jar.He thought it was gross and had asked her why she did it, and she refused to answer him, only laughed.If he could get his hands on that jar, maybe he could turn back into the man he had been. But how?