Rey peeled himself off the ground, and even just that rocked his world. The migraine in his head was like his head was slapping him for moving so much. He would have loved to lie down and take a nice, long nap, but if he did that, then Ajay's belly dance would end in a crescendo of a volcanic eruption, with the lava being his innards and blood. That would cause a couple of damsels some considerable distress.

  With one hand on the wall, he hobbled his way to his friends. The girls were shaking him lightly, no doubt fearing that his belly would rupture, or the cockroach hobbits inhabiting his belly would get upset and start a riot. These were valid points, but they were way past the gentle awakening they were trying to achieve.

  Rey's first instinct was to kick his friend in the face, but then breaking his nose or fracturing his jaw might not be the best way to wake him either. And he didn't want to get blasted point-blank with a bolt from the demon incubator's lover. So, he slowly lowered himself to his knees.

  "You might want to look away for this," Rey said to Filomena.

  She frowned. "What are you—"

  Before she could finish, Rey lifted his hand in the air and slapped Ajay across the face as hard as he could. Filomena cried out a little, but Kassandra held her by the shoulders. She must've thought that Rey knew what he was doing. He didn't, but in his migraine-inflicted state, the only way he could figure out to wake up his friend was to cause him a similar amount of pain that he was in.

  He slapped him again, then again and again. On the fifth slap, Ajay finally stirred. His cheek had gone red, with a couple of Rey's handprints making a nice modern art on his face.

  "Where…" Ajay began, but it was too late for Rey to stop himself. So, he slapped him one more time to jolt him fully awake.

  "Ow!" He cried. "Why are you slapping me?" He rubbed his cheek.

  "Wakey, wakey. It's almost your delivery time," Rey said, grinning.

  "Ajay," Filomena said, teary-eyed, and motioned to his belly.

  The pregnant guy finally saw his dancing belly and scrambled back, as if that would help. His eyes were wide, and he clutched at his stomach, trying to calm it down. Then he flinched and groaned.

  "W-What happened to me?" he asked.

  "A cockroach demon kidnapped you, and she laid her eggs in you, and now those said eggs are about to hatch and eat their way out of you," Rey gave him the short of it.

  "Are you serious?" Ajay asked.

  Rey frowned. "When am I not? It's just that none of you ever take me seriously."

  Ajay flinched, and this time he even cried out a little, making Filomena wince as if the eggs were inside her too.

  "How do I get rid of them?" he cried. "I can feel them moving inside me like they're—" Now he screamed. "Something just bit me."

  Filomena gripped his hand and tried to give him some comfort. Rey's first thought was to tell the girls to distract him while he stomped on his stomach, but that would just make matters worse, probably. As the eggs might crack, and they were too far gone to make an omelette.

  Rey snapped his finger. "That's it. You're a genius, Rey. Why, thank you, Rey."

  The others looked at him as if he were the opposite of a genius. Even after everything he had done for them, they still doubted him. It was time to prove them wrong once again.

  "Ajay, light yourself on fire," Rey said.

  "Excuse me," Filomena said, looking at him as if she wanted to light Rey on fire for suggesting something so absurd.

  "Exactly that. He's immune to fire, or so I think. I mean, his hand doesn't get burned when he's chucking those fireballs around, so that should be true for the rest of his body as well. So light yourself on fire, which should raise your body temperature, and cook these things."

  "But they're immune to fire," Kassandra said. "You said so yourself."

  He shrugged. "Maybe their carapace hasn't hardened to that point yet. In any case, that is all I can think of. My other plan is to stomp on his stomach. I can try that, but it will be much more painful."

  Ajay cried out again and flinched hard enough that he slid on the ground. Filomena held his hand tightly throughout the ordeal.

  She looked him in the eye and kissed his hand. "You'll be fine. Just do what he says."

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  That kiss alone must've awoken the rational part of Ajay or the irrational part because he was smiling widely as if he wasn't being eaten alive from the inside.

  "Step back," he said, eyes locked with his lady love.

  Filomena gave him an assuring nod and let go. They all took several steps back from their friend. Ajay drew a deep breath and self-combusted. His whole body lit up with orange-red flames. Contrary to what Rey had thought, that instead of his belly calming down, it started to jump around even harder.

  Ajay screamed a blood-curdling scream.

  Kassandra put an arm around Filomena, who looked like she wanted to hug their burning friend. His talent must've protected his clothes, too, or he would've been buck naked by now, which would've been awkward for all.

  Ajay's flames started to dip, as his violent belly didn't want to let up.

  "Don't you dare put out your flames, Human Torch," Rey snapped.

  "It's killing him," Filomena cried.

  "No, what's inside him is killing him," Rey shot back. "The only way we save him is by overcooking those eggs. Intensify the flames to the max."

  Ajay was in too much pain to reply, but the flames erupted out of his body a moment later. They all had to jump back several feet to save themselves. Even then, it felt like Rey was being barbequed, on top of being skull fucked by the migraine from Hell.

  Ajay let out another scream and spat out blood. He back arched, and it looked like something was about to burst out of his belly. Then, finally, Ajay and his belly both crashed to the ground.

  He huffed as he lay there, still on fire.

  "All good, Hotman?" Rey asked.

  Ajay didn't respond for a whole minute, and Filomena looked ready to skewer Rey and then throw herself on Ajay's flaming body.

  "I think…I think they're dead," he finally said.

  "Yay!" Rey thrust his hands in the air and flinched as he almost hurled whatever was left in his stomach onto the cave floor. He slapped Filomena on the back. "See, I told you it would work."

  She shook her head, and despite her furious expression, she couldn't stop her smile.

  Ajay turned off his flames, plunging the cave into near darkness. The cave felt especially dark after all that light. Filomena was the first to Ajay's side and threw her arms around his neck. Ajay swooned, looking like he was about to pass out.

  "It was worth it, wasn't it?" Rey teased his friend.

  Kassandra snickered while Ajay's left cheek mirrored the redness on his right one—the one Rey had slapped. Filomena helped him stand and gasped.

  Looks like all was not good in the hood.

  Ajay's belly was still quite pregnant. It sagged from the weight of all the dead, whatever was in there now. He was bending forward like he couldn't handle the weight of it, and could only stand thanks to his lady friend's help.

  "They're still in there," Filomena said.

  "Yes, well, they weren't going to evaporate by themselves," Rey said.

  "Then how do we get them out?" Ajay asked, a little frantic and panicking.

  Rey shared a glance with Kassandra. "Please save me from the Sicilian's wrath if this doesn't work out."

  "Oh no, I'm not getting in the middle of that."

  Rey sighed. "Some friend you are."

  "Oh, we're friends now," she said, raising an eyebrow.

  Rey deflated. Is this really the time and place to do this, Kassi?

  He didn't reply to her, went to Ajay, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, buddy. But know this, that I only do this because I love you. Okay?"

  He frowned. "Do what?"

  "This."

  Then, without any warning, he punched Ajay in the gut as hard as he could. Ajay doubled over his fist and started vomiting the foreign bodies in his belly. Rey and Filomena both jumped away as the Nestoriel eggs came out of him like a frothing river. Most of them were charred black, but a good deal of them had cracked open and burned to the bone. Rey's estimate was correct. They didn't have their carapace yet, so Ajay's flames, or well, his rising body heat, thanks to his flames, cooked them alive.

  Ajay didn't stop throwing up for a good minute. It looked like he was about to pass out from the strain of vomiting so much, but thankfully, he didn't, or no one would've touched him again. Rey wouldn't have, that's for sure. He would've just let him sleep it off in his puke as if he were a crack addict who had overdosed.

  When he finally stopped, his belly had mostly gone down to normal. He huffed and jumped away from the eggs.

  "All that was inside me…" He couldn't believe his eyes, and neither could the girls.

  Rey could. He had seen Chadres's belly burst open, thanks to these eggs, and the resulting torrent of cockroaches that came out was intense. Then the hatched baby Nestoriels feed on their unhatched brothers and sisters. Life started with cannibalism—the perfect demonic way.

  "I know, right?" Rey said and patted him on the back. "Well, just to be sure."

  He punched him again, this time fueling his fist with the anger that bubbled inside him because of his migraine.

  Filomena rounded on him. "What the hell are you doing?"

  "Look, there were still some left in him," he said, pointing to Ajay, who threw up more of the eggs. "Better out than in."

  This time, he stopped much more quickly, and his stomach appeared quite normal.

  "Say, did you always have a dad bod or should I…" Rey raised his fist again.

  "No!" Ajay cried out, raising his hands in defense as he jumped away from him. "It's fine. This is what my stomach always looks like."

  "You know, he could've just put his fingers down his throat to make himself throw up," Kassandra said.

  "Oh." Rey raised his eyebrows in realization, then waved her off. "But the effect is not as profuse as someone punching you in the gut. Just goes to show that you've never been punched in the belly. You should definitely try it sometime. Though not after a heavy meal."

  "Thanks, I've seen its effects, first hand," Kassandra said.

  Rey shrugged. "Your loss." He turned to Ajay. "Since you sat out this whole trip, making love with your cockroach queen, you get to fight the rest of the way back to the castle, cause I'm all tapped out."

  "Sure. No worries. Just give me a moment to catch my breath."

  Rey picked up his scythe and used it as a crutch as they made their way out of the cave. Thankfully, they didn't encounter any more demons in the cave, but a pair of Wargoths—the wolf-goat-like demons—were waiting for them outside, or they were coming in; it was hard to tell.

  Ajay chucked a few fireballs at them and sent them running with their tails on fire. They followed the trail of the same demon that they had followed to get here. They encountered some more demons, but nothing too difficult for Ajay to handle. Rey's Mana was coming back slowly and steadily. The longer they walked, the better he felt. It was all going good until a particular demon stepped out from behind the trees.

  "Oh, hey, friends. Fancy seeing you here," Phil said.