Hiking was fun. It was quiet, peaceful, serene, good exercise, and plain old fun. He loved it. A nice long hike and camp out was the perfect weekend to ease his anxious mind. He wouldn't have to worry about KPI or deliverables or any of that other corporate bullshit. Just the trail, the rolling green forest, and the Doc Swinson's bourbon that he had stashed in the bottom of his pack.
His name was Gabriel, he was 26 years old, and worked in IT. He spent his off hours running, lifting weights, riding motorcycles, and hiking the deep expanses of his local national park. He was tall at about six feet, built strong at 220lbs of pure muscle. He'd spent four years in the navy getting an education and keeping information flowing across the fleet as an information systems technician before getting out of the service and signing on with a local Cyber security firm as a systems analyst. The work was great, but it did nothing to satisfy his wondering soul. So, he took solace wondering in the forest.
This was his forest, he had hunted and hiked every mile of it over the last five years. Or so he thought. He found a new trail map on the local backpackers' Facebook group, and he couldn't believe his luck. He was seeing flowers and trees that he didn't even know were native to the region. As he walked further and further along the trail he felt happier and happier. Each step felt lighter and lighter, the colors in the forest became more and more vivid. It was like he was hiking into heaven.
Slowly, and over a span of mile he started to feel a warm buzz across his whole body like the first three drinks on an empty stomach. Chalking it up to the new trail and the stress of the week coming off, he thought nothing of it his whole being feeling lighter and lighter with each step. He caught himself humming a little tune as he went, the happiest he'd been in a long time.
He noticed that vividly colored flowers were becoming more and more numerous as the steps went on. The blues, pinks, purples, and red seeming to almost push into his consciousness at every step. As he went on the air seemed to take on a deeper, sweeter smell and feeling. It was intoxicating. Finally, he arrived in a clearing filled with these wildly colored flowers. The sight was so relaxing. So precious and perfect. That he had to unsling his pack and sit down.
As he sat among the flowers they seemed to grow around him. Filling his very soul with their intoxicating aroma. He felt a deep, warm, and powerful affection for the forest around him, almost like falling in love. He knew he had to continue down the trail to get to his overnight spot, but at the thought of picking his pack up and moving along his arms and legs felt heavy as if he had been hiking for days and days. With every breath he took, a deep relaxation came down on him pulling him deeper and deeper in to a seductively delicious haze.
His head felt heavier and heavier, the very ground calling out for him to lay down and rest his weary body on the Earth. He found himself stretching out and resting his head on his pack, his eyes getting heavier and heavier. He found himself staring into a flower, it's petals a psychedelic blend of reds, blues, pinks, and purples. They seemed to swirled before his eyes, drawing him closer and closer to the silky petals flower. His heart fluttering at every pulse of the glorious colors. As his face drew within several inches of the heavenly display, it expelled a puff of bright purple pollen into this face. He started, his body jerking with fright as he inhaled the fragrant spores that the flower had just released mere inches from his face. It was the most decadent and delicious thing he had ever encountered in all of his life. A deep euphoria overtook him as he relaxed and his head sank to rest on his pack.
As he lay there, he became increasingly aware of his body. He could feel every cell of his being moving. Tens of trillions of individual cells bumping, brushing, and rubbing against one another in a lascivious dance that he felt all they way down into his balls.
His brain was becoming hazy. His vision was swimming slightly and little sparks of light were appearing and disappearing before his very eyes. He knew what was happening didn't make any sense whatsoever and that he should be terrified, but he just couldn't muster the energy to care. It was all so much as it came down on him. A sudden wanton hunger that seemed to radiate out into his body from his heart and his loins. A loving desire and insatiable hunger that he had simply never felt before.