Funhouse Part 4
by *inflatedmuscle
Mitch Huston was flying through the dark. He hated roller coasters and always had; even as a chubby little kid. Not that his fear had stopped his best friends from dragging him on every roller coaster the foursome had ever seen. The bodybuilder never would have jumped into this damn cart had he realized what it was. His cart made ominous creaking noise as it bounced down the track. Mitch worried that he was too heavy for the ancient machine. There was nothing he could do about it now. He flew through the darken tunnels; ducking under rock outcroppings and fallen timbers. The bodybuilder was aware of another thing despite his fear and apparent danger. He was hungry. The man was used to frequent protein rich meals and snacks spaced at regular intervals throughout his day. It had been several hours past his last meal time and all he had was a lot of beer. The muscle man's tight belly rumbled as he flew through the dark.
The cart pitched down over several hills and around a couple tight turns. The last one felt as if the cart had come up on two wheels as it leaned away from the curve. Mitch had shifted to the opposite side of the cart and made it slam down onto the track again. The cart had gotten noticeable louder since the close call. The man even thought it seemed to be moving slower as it screeched through the night. The cart was bouncing roughly now and Mitch's fear grew. What happened next almost seemed as if it passed in slow motion.
There was aloud snapping sound as the front left corner of the cart dropped down. Mitch saw sparks fly as the wheel flew off and hit the stone wall of the cave. The sound of the disintegrating cart was so loud now it hurt his ears. Sparks flew off the wheel less corner of the cart as it hit the rails. Then it would tilt back again as the thing flew through the dark. Mitch knew one thing. The thing was going to crash.
The big man slid under the chrome safety bar as if he were a 100 pound runt; with a speed and agility that would have been impossible under normal circumstances. The man forced his bulk into the floor of the cart. He bent forward slightly until his thick shoulders pressed into the wall above him. He pushed on the opposite wall with his feet as if he were squatting the weight of the world. He held on for the inevitable.
Almost instantly the cart took to the air. Mitch was sure it flipped completely over as he watched the glint of the rails pass under him. The racket was tremendous and the big man could swear he heard a deep voice yell from somebody as he flew through the air. The cart hit the wall and the metal crumbled around his feet. Mitch had actually seen it bend like tin foil; illuminated by sparks flying through the air. The cart hit the ground near his head and took to the air again. This time it bounced up over a boulder that looked as big as a car and hit the ceiling of the cave.
The next thing Mitch was aware of was he was laying on his back in the dark. He could taste dirt in his mouth and feel it in his nose. He didn't know what he had expected. He didn't feel pain. He put his hand on his chest. He didn't feel pain! 'I'm alive', was his next thought. Then he noticed it. His right knee ached. He felt the dirt floor under his hands. He tried to sit up but something was pressing against his broad shoulders. He reached down as he bent his knee up slightly. It felt normal; at least he could bend it. He felt stubble of the bare skin over his thick thigh and realized the leg of his baggy pants had ripped open. His skin burned and he felt something sticky. It must have been a flesh wound. It ached but at least there were no broken bones sticking through his skin. The man tried to sit up again but his shoulders felt pressed into together and he didn't make much head way. He reached up and felt the flat surface above. Panic gripped the man as he realized he was in a box!
Mitch tried to roll over but the space was too small. His mind reeled; somebody put me in a box! He reached up and slapped his hand against the surface above. It sounded like hollow metal. Mitch raised his feet up against it and pushed with his hands. It rose up easily and he could see faint light seep in under it. The panicked man realized where he was and with all his might pushed the overturned cart away. He held his hands toward his head ready to duck and cover if the cart came crashing back down. He could see it teeter for a moment and then rock backward coming to rest against the huge boulder that stood alongside the track.
The body builder looked around. There were parts of the wrecked cart all around him. The seat had smashed to splinters on the far wall. The wheeled undercarriage lay several yards down the line; now twisted and silent; missing one wheel.
A metal shaded light fixture hung from the wall not far away. The dark cave swallowed up the 40 watt light but still let the man see somewhat. Mitch rolled over and pulled his legs under him. As he stood up the man realized he ached all over. He took a couple steps and looked down. His coat hung from one wrist. He tried to put it back on but realized it hung in pieces. The whole right side had been ripped apart and there wasn't enough left to wear. He pulled it off, remembering to pull his keys and wallet from the pocket before he tossed it aside. His hooded sweatshirt fared somewhat better. His thick right shoulder stuck out through a hole but otherwise it was in one piece. The muscled man reached up and ripped the damaged sleeve off. He zipped up the front against the cool breeze that rose through the cave and shoved his stuff into the pocket.
Mitch's belly rumbled as his attention returned to his hunger. He remembered something. The man patted his pockets of his baggy pants until he found what he was hoping for. He pulled out a flattened protein bar. The wrapper was ripped on one end but the bodybuilder didn't care. He ripped it open and took a big bite.
Mitch checked out his surroundings. Up ahead around a bend was a faint light; behind was nothing but pitch black. It wasn't a tough choice. The cave slopped down slightly as the muscled man started walking toward the light ahead. Mitch came abreast the light fixture as his movement tripped a recording. Beneath the light a plaster skeleton dressed in tattered miner's clothes rocked back on a wooden chair. He held a plastic whiskey bottle in the air by one hand. A muffled recording began of wild laughter with an eerie wind in the back ground. The whisky holding arm raised and lowered jerkily. The big man stood staring at the automated puppet under the faint light for a moment. Mitch brought one leg back and with a step kicked it for all he was worth. The chair splintered and tumbled down the cave as the figure's clothes dropped away leaving the laughing pile of bones hanging by wires. The head rolled in front of the man. Mitch looked down at it and said, "Fucking bullshit!" He gave it a kick as if it was a soccer ball. The bodybuilder shoved the rest of his protein bar into his mouth as he started on his way.
Mitch stepped up on the platform at the end of the roller coaster line. The whole area was abandoned but lit by the windowed room. His belly rumbled. The protein bar had done little to satisfy his hunger. He was going to get out of there. He had some food in a cooler in his pickup and a protein shake. Mitch went to the door and pulled on the handle. It slipped out of his hand as the door remained firmly closed. He looked through the glass. It was a frigging weight room. Mitch grabbed the handle and tugged again. Nothing. He stepped back and noticed the second door. It too was locked.
He stood looking through the window wondering why there was what appeared to be a state of the art weight room in this friggin'cave. It was nuts but then the whole night had been nuts.
There had to be another door into the place. The hungry man walked around the corner and looked along the opposite wall. There was nothing to see. He turned and went around the other corner. There was a large black pop machine but no door to anything. Mitch walked back around to the only doors he could find. He tried again but the door was as solid as if it was a fixed panel and not a door at all.
He pressed his face up against the glass. He almost jumped back startled. There was Cam at the other end of the room staring at his reflection. Mitch tried to rattle the door but it was solid. He knocked on the glass expected his buddy to look around. Cam still looked in the mirror.
The muscled man wondered what the hell his pal was doing as he stuck out his tongue and looked at it. Mitch watched him for a moment. Cam stepped back and started flexing before the mirror.
'Geez yeah Cammy, another mirror, why don't you put on a muscle show? Stupid bastard never saw a mirror he didn't like.' Mitch leaned back and knocked on the glass again but his pal mugged as if he was completely deaf. The muscled man slapped his hand against the glass harder. Still his best friend ignored him. Cam had picked up some dumbbells and started curling them.
Mitch was getting pissed. He turned his hand made a fist and started pounding on the glass with the soft side of his hand. He hit the glass harder and harder. "Cam! Hey Cam, open the door", he yelled as he pounded the glass. He was getting louder and louder and yet it had no effect on his training partner.
It took a lot to make the quiet man mad but he was getting there. The thought hit him that this whole mess was Cam's fault. If he hadn't thrown Chris's key into the woods they'd have never ended up at the stupid funhouse in the first place. Mitch turned and walked around the corner until he stood facing Cam as he was doing triceps extensions in front of the window. He slapped the window and yelled, "Open the door. This isn't funny, wise ass."
Cam continued to force the weight up as he looked right at his buddy. Mitch pounded on the window with both fists and yelled, "Stupid fucker." As he raged, the man started to realize that there was no way Cam could pull a prank for this long. His tall friend was the worst at practical jokes or keeping a secret. One look at the man and you could tell he was up to something. Mitch watched him cranking out reps as he realized that Cam was completely clueless that anyone was near. He looked up at the glass wall in front of him. 'What the hell? Was this some kind of bullet proof glass or soundproof room?' He slapped his hand against the pane again but much lighter as he gave up. There had to be another way in.
Mitch's gut rumbled loudly. He stepped around the pop machine as he figured a can of pop might ease his hunger pangs if do nothing for him nutritionally. The tired man pulled his wallet from his pocket as he stepped around the front of the machine. To his surprise it wasn't a pop machine at all but sold protein shakes. The front side was covered with a lighted display for "Pumptastic Protein Shake, your green solution to workout fuel."
'Green…huh. What next?' Mitch thought as he read the nutritional guide posted on the front of the machine. It sounded legit. He had never heard of the Pumptastic brand but hell at least it would stave off his hunger and fuel his muscle growth. Mitch slid four one dollar bills into the machine and watched for a can to drop into the plastic lidded trough below. The machine hummed but no can slid out only a small plastic bag.
Mitch pushed his fist into the trough and grabbed it. He thought maybe it was a pill instead. He looked up at the info on the front panel but it clearly said shake. He held the bag up in front of his face. The clear plastic had instructions printed on it. He flipped it over to see it wasn't a pill at all. It was a mouth piece similar to the one he wore on the football field. "What the fuck?" He said.
As he stood there a tiny door about head height opened on the front of the machine and a small pipe extended out from it. Mitch stared at it but nothing else happened. He looked down at the directions on the bag. "No bottles or cans to throw away. Just snap the tiny mouth piece over the pipe on the Pumptastic dispenser;" Insert into your mouth and enjoy. Then throw away your mouth piece or save for your next muscle building shake after tomorrow's workout."
Mitch pulled the mouth piece out as he studied the crazy assed thing. He felt his anger rise. What next? He just wanted something to ease his hunger not an experiment in some futuristic marketing technology. The man's belly rumbled loudly again, as if he hadn't eaten in days. Mitch absentmindedly slid his hand under his shirts and rubbed his hungry gut. He pulled up the material and looked at it. He looked ripped as he rubbed his hand over his thick abs. His belly looked flat and his waist narrow. 'I'm wasting away', he thought though nobody looking at the jacked man would share the same thought.
His belly rumbled louder as if countering his hesitation. Mitch glanced past the machine at Cam. The man was pulling his fleece over his head no doubt so he could get a better look at his muscles in the mirrored walls. Mitch attached the mouth piece to the tube. First things first… he would satisfy his hunger and then find out how Cam had gotten into the fitness center. Mitch opened his mouth and started to put it over the mouth piece. He stopped and pulled back looking at again. "This is crazy."
He used his hand and put the thing into his mouth. He worked his lips over the plastic piece and then put his arms behind his back as he waited for the shake to be dispensed directly into his mouth. The machine hummed. The muscled man wondered what it would taste like. He hoped chocolate. He expected a stream of shake to hit his mouth but nothing happened.
Mitch felt something swelling in his mouth. It felt like the mouth piece was blowing up like a ball. He could see a faint reflection of his face in the front of the machine. He opened his mouth a bit and could see a yellow ball growing in his mouth. The man pressed his hands into the front panel and tried to take the thing out of his mouth but it was too late. He couldn't open his mouth wide enough. He pushed against the machine before sliding his thick hands around and pushing back again. All the while the thing still swelled. He could see yellow between his teeth filling his mouth. He tried to bite through the material thinking if he popped the inflating ball he could pull away but it his teeth sunk in with no effect. It just squished in his mouth but didn't pop. It didn't stop blowing up either. Mitch's jaws ached and he felt his panic rise. Finally the humming stopped but the big man was now attached to the machine by a grapefruit sized ball gage implanted in his face. He slapped the machine and tried to pull away. It must have been bolted to the wall as the machine was solid.
It felt like the ball filled his mouth and started down his throat but didn't trigger his gag reflex. There was no time to think. The machine started to whine and then hum again. Almost immediately Mitch felt the shake running down his throat. He couldn't even taste it. It wasn't even like he had to swallow. It just flowed into him.
A digital read out came to life in front of him. Numbers rolled by before the word calories. Mitch tried to calm himself. The thing was certainly a crazy contraption but had to be safe. The pipe held his head about a foot from the machine and he stood with both hands pressed against the panel. It would just dispense the shake into him and then reverse the process. That was all that was happening. He tried to relax but was still breathing hard as he watched the numbers flash by. At least he didn't feel hungry now. He could feel the mix hitting his gut.
Mitch stood there as he felt the thick muscle fuel flow into his body. He tried to think. How many calories were in each serving? He couldn't remember what the nutritional guide had said and he couldn't bend over enough now to check. It might be a couple hundred calories he guessed. Or was it hoped? He watched as the numbers reached 190 and continued to climb. Well 200 wouldn't be a lot, the shake mix he normally used was a shade over 300 calories; more if mixed with skim milk … maybe 380 with milk. He watched the numbers climb; 300…350… with no sign of slowing.
Mitch didn't exactly feel full. He could eat a lot these days with all the frequent meals. If he did pack his gut full in an hour or so it would start feeling empty again. People he hadn't been around lately were amazed at how much the jacked man could eat. Since he'd hit town, his huge appetite had drawn almost as many comments as his muscle gain. Mitch had an amped up metabolism thanks to the steady workouts, food and supps. Yet the protein pumping machine didn't exactly leave him feeling normal. He reached down and rubbed his belly as the fluid flowed into him. He didn't know what he had expected to find under the shirts? Four hundred calories of protein shake wasn't going to blow his gut up like beach ball. He rubbed his muscle covered gut as he waited for the machine to shut down. It wouldn't be long now.
The counter was nearing 500 as a new thought hit the man. 'I hope this isn't some weight gainer shit.' In Mitch's view: weight gainers were for suckers. They usually were full of sugar, if not fats, to up the calories count. He'd rather eat a gallon of ice cream if he needed that kind of weight gain. There was a blowhard at his gym that lived on the junk. He swore it was great stuff and he had the body to show for it too. Greg was strong and he was big… a big tub of lard. He called himself a power lifter not that he competed or anything. The man liked to knock bodybuilding. Mitch and Cam had walked in the locker room one day as Greg gave a newbie his pitch. He had even pulled out his jumbo jug of weight gainer and told him about the two for one deal he got at the mall. The lean young man was hanging on his every word but his eyes shifted toward Mitch as soon as he'd walked in. His eyes even grew bigger as he watched the sweaty hulk approach. Mitch had seen the look before. Greg was going on about how you'd never catch him in a pair of silk posers prancing around on a stage. Mitch reached over and patted his amply belly that bent over the waist of his shorts, "And for that the whole world thanks you." Even the newbie broke into laughs. The jacked bodybuilder grabbed the weight gainer the guy was pushing. It had five different kinds of sugar and over 1000 calories a serving which he couldn't help to point out. Mitch had dropped a jacked arm over the man's shoulder and squeezed his soft volleyball sized pec, "No wonder you look like the Michelin man on roids bro. " He grinned at the young guy, "I'd follow his advice only if you want to end up looking like you need to be tethered to the ground like a muscle man balloon." Greg had shaken off the laughing stud's arm as he mumbled. Mitch never thought of weight gainers after that without picturing Greg … though thinking of the balloonish muscled man wasn't exactly what Mitch needed to be doing just then.
The numbers rolled by. He wondered if he was being fed a couple hundred calories per minute. As the counter approached the 1000 mark, Mitch's gut felt tight. He rubbed it as he moaned. It felt tight if not bloated. As he stood there attached to the machine the pressure grew. The man was helpless to stop it as a loud fart slipped out his ass, then another. He felt an almost instant relief. Mitch glanced around as best he could hoping no one was nearby to see him letting them rip as if having a crazy machine pumping him full wasn't embarrassing enough. In no time it seemed another 500 calories had been poured into him. Mitch's fear grew. The crazy machine must be broke. It showed no signs of stopping his forced feeding.
The strong man reached out and grabbed the edges of the machine. He pushed into it as if he was trying to push a sled down the football field. It didn't even bounce. He pulled on it hoping to free it from the bracket that held it to the wall though he did fear pulling it over on top of himself. The strong man pushed and pulled with all his might; first one way and then the next. All he was rewarded with was some scraping sounds. He even hoped he could bang it against the windowed wall hard enough to break the glass in hopes that his clueless training partner would realized his predicament and come to his rescue. Every movement was accompanied with a loud fart that brought some relief to his over pressured gut. Sweat ran down his face as he engaged in what was at best only an isometric exercise. The strong man's arms and legs trembled as he struggled with the machine. 2000 calories … 2400…2600…3000.
Mitch's struggle was slowing. His muscled limbs felt pumped from the effort. His gut was mounding up now. He took frequent pauses to rub it. There was no denying that it felt huge to him. Mitch's fight was reduced to slamming the butt of his hand into the plastic front of the machine as if he was fighting a person and a good gut punch might stop this. Just then there was a loud hum and a click. The decal on the front of the machine vanished as the surface looked like a mirror as if it was projected from within.
The muscle man could see himself easily now. His clothes were soaked with sweat and his hair looked as if he had been hosed down. Mitch wanted to see only one thing: his shake filled belly. It felt enormous. The man was surprised that it wasn't beach ball sized. He did have a bulge sticking out of his wasp waist. He pulled up his shirts to reveal a muscled cover mound that looked like he'd swallowed a basketball. He rubbed it with thick hands. It felt tight as a drum.
The bodybuilder couldn't help but grunt and moan as the wild machine kept pumping more and more muscle fuel into him. When would this stop? Mitch wondered if the machine would run out of shake. His hopes rose at the thought but the feeling was fleeting. He knew by the size of the machine it may well contain a fifty gallon drum inside for all he knew.
Mitch couldn't help but study his refection. His gut wasn't the only thing blowing up. His exposed right arm looked huge. Not that his 20 inch arms ever looked small but the thing was bloated up now. He had lost some of that ripped vein covered look somehow. It reminded him of a post contest bloat. Mitch bent his arm and flexed. His muscles looked huge and still strained the skin but it was different than he had looked before all this started. The right leg of his pants hung in tatters around his leg. It too had grown. Mitch pulled up the remains of the grey cotton until several inches of the compression shorts he wore underneath showed. He turned his leg sideways. His calf was huge and his thigh packed with bloated muscle. Hell even where clothing covered his body it looked tight. The seams on the intact shoulder of his sweatshirt were beginning to pop open. Mitch peeled off the hooded sweatshirt and dropped it to the ground. He wore a black tank top over a red UA sleeveless shirt. He wished he hadn't worn so many clothes. The flustered man reached up and ripped his tank top open and used it to wipe the sweat from his brow. He stuffed it into the elastic band of his pants
The red shirt had black panels under the arms that highlighted his wild mass. Everything on his body had swelled up; maybe not as much as his gut but his muscles looked bloated. His arms were easily over 25" around now. No wonder they felt pumped and harder to bend. He had two mounds of muscle under his arms that he swore were slowly expanding; flaring his back out wider by the minute. All this growth was accompanied by tiny grunts and moans that the hulk was now deaf to. Mitch ran his hand over a spandex coated pec. It looked so bloated. He pushed his fingers into it surface. 'I'm swelling up like a fucking sponge', he thought. 'Oh god it's got to stop.'
The big man's attention turned to the calorie counter. It was near 7000 calories. Mitch knew he was nearing his daily intake with no let up. His swelling gut ached. He reached down and pulled the shirt up over his gut ball and sighed as he felt some relief. There was no denying it now. The thing was getting huge. It didn't sag like old Greg's had but stood out firm like a muscle covered ball. It was as if he had sprouted an instant roid gut. His shallow navel looked strained.
By the time the counter had passed 14,000 calories, Mitch had given up on any hopes it would shut down. His moans were constant and loud. He barely recognized his bloated reflection as his own. His pecs and shoulders pressed into the front of the machine now as did his gut ball. His enormous legs had blown out the seams on his pants which now lay at his feet. His white compression shorts looked like body paint that ended above his fragile looking knees. The man's arms hung at his sides as bloated muscles tortured his skin and stretch marks began to crisscross their surface. He could barely bend his swollen arms. He could reach back and touch his spandex covered ass. It felt as hard and swollen as did every other mound on his globe covered body. His UA shirt fit like a crop top and barely contained his swollen pecs and shoulders. There was no way he could now stretch it over his massive muscle gut.
The machine hummed again. The stuffed man had no hope left as he wondered what it meant. The pipe feeding him began to move toward him. Mitch knew immediately that it was just adjusting to give him more room. He was able to step back from the machine. He felt heavy and sluggish. He had a better view of his body as he got back from the mirrored surface. Mitch didn't like what he saw. His perfect bodybuilder's ideal of a physique had morphed into something more at home in a power lifting contest. Gone was Mitch's ripped muscled build made for poising trunks to be replaced by something bullish that should be strapped to the front of a bus. Sure Mitch still looked strong and huge but now his big muscles looked fleshy and bloated. Dressed now in what looked like a UA crop top and white compression shorts that were now stretched thin over his massive legs and ass, it appeared that Mitch had packed on mass in excess to the calories he had been force fed. For that matter was still packing on, the machine still hummed and the muscled freak could feel the pressure within his skin growing. He could swear that he could see his body slowly swelling up as he stared at his reflection. Mitch began to jerk his head back as he tried to bite through the ball in his mouth. Despite himself, Mitch began to whimper as he struggled to break free.
Mitch struggled as it appeared his body was swelling up like bread dough. His stiff arms rose at his sides as his back grew wider and legs thicker. Even the handsome man's face had changed as his cheeks began to bloat out like a chipmunk's. Mitch's desperation grew to a breaking point as the machine blew his hard work into that of an enormous muscle pig. Mitch noticed a blue tint to his face. He stopped struggling as he looked in on this new development. A blue light was aimed at him from a tab above and as he looked at it a faint mist hit his face and filled his lungs. The big man sputtered and breathed hard but attached to the machine as he was there was little he could do.
Mitch felt light headed as he was force-fed by the crazy machine. He didn't know how much more he could take as he felt his weight and mass climb. The calorie counter was nearing 18,000 when the machine hummed loudly. The bodybuilder feared it was going to kick into overdrive but there was a loud slurping noise followed by the feeling that the machine was pumping air into his overstuffed gut.
Panic gripped Mitch as he felt the thick liquid in his belly bubble. Then as quickly as it had all started the machine hummed and the ball in his mouth began to shrink. As soon as he could Mitch pulled away from the mouth gag as he raised heavy arms to his aching jaw. The man stepped back on unsteady legs. Loud long burps escaped from his lips as the hulk glanced up at his reflection. Mitch almost cried at what he saw. His hard earned muscled body had morphed into a bloated mass that would have dwarfed even the biggest power lifter. His thick hard muscles had swelled into soft fleshy mounds. Even his chiseled good looks were now bloated like a chipmunk's as his cheeks looked full. Not only that the big man felt like he weighed a ton as he waddled along the platform breaking wind as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. One thing the man was sure of: he didn't want anyone to see him like this!
Mitch moaned and waddled slowly along the platform trying to think of a plan. There was no way he could walk out of the caves as blown up as he now was but he wanted to duck out of sight before his lifting partner discovered him.
Just then he heard some rumbling and glanced up at the windows to the weight room. He couldn't see Cam but there was an enormously muscled trainer burying his head in the towels on the counter. Cam must have finished primping and gone upstairs. Mitch wondered if the big man could help him; maybe even direct him to an elevator that would take him to the ground floor of this place as the big man didn't relish the idea of walking up several flights of stairs. He felt light headed and winded as it was.
Mitch watched the hulk as he leaned over the counter breathing hard. The dude must have had a killer workout as he was red faced and drenched in sweat. Mitch studied the freak. He had never seen anyone as muscled as this guy. Hell he looked as if he could barely walk let along work out. The guy looked like had overdosed on the strongest roids in the world. The man leaned over the counter panting for air as Mitch watched. The hulk slowly rose to his full height and turned and waddled toward Mitch.
Forgetting that the man couldn't see him, the bloated bodybuilder waved. Mitch hoped the local would know how to open the locked door. Mitch was amazed at how freakily muscled the guy was. It was like one of those mass freaks like Nasser had been hooked up to an air tank and inflated. The guy swayed widely from side to side as he forced his massive thighs over one another. The inside of Mitch's thighs had been rubbed hairless by his size but he didn't having anything on this freak. The guy looked like he weighed four hundred pounds.
The big man hit the bar on the door and acted surprised as it swung open. Mitch felt so light headed he looked down as the floor spun. He reached out and clapped a hand on the freak's forearm, "Dude you got to help me. The fucking protein machine went haywire and blew me full of a couple days worth of calories. I'm not feeling so well", was all he managed to mumble.
The man made a startled sound and jumped about a foot in the air. Mitch raised his head to look into Cam's terrified face just as the man's eyes rolled back in his head. The last thing Mitch remembered was his now enormous lifting partner slipping from his grip as Mitch's spinning world went black.