He was no longer in pain, there was only a warm numb feeling.

His breathing was laboured, short occasional shallow breaths and the odd sudden twinge deep from within.  He knew, soon, there would be no going back, but yet he was not prepared to die.

He could still focus and now even more intently; every reaction in his body was highlighted, fine tuned, he was aware his body was slowly eating itself, each day a little more, another nibble, another bite.

Time was running out - he was becoming his own carnivore.