# HNTBL 28: Share Your Story

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

How Not To Become Lunch: 28 - Share Your Story

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Jack looked up at the unfamiliar house to which the invitation had led him. It was rather large and elegantly built, with a faint air of wealth about it. A few moments later, he heard the familiar sound of predator-resistant locks being undone, and the door before him opened with a noticeable creak. A man stood to greet him, holding a wand at the ready, and looked him once over.

“Hi, I’m Jack,” he said politely, trying not to be put off by the man’s distrustful disposition. That seemed to please him, because the man then smiled.

“Nice to meet you, come on in.”

Jack stepped inside and took a moment to glance around as he heard the door close behind him and the locks click back into place.

“I’m Mr. Artor,” said the man, seeming a bit more relaxed with the outside world shut away.

At second glance, his disposition actually seemed quite familiar to Jack. It was a lot like his mother’s, or Fiona’s, somewhat eager to get him inside and out of potential danger. The familiarity was unexpectedly comforting.

“Just take a right up ahead and go into the room at the end of the hall,” he said. “Everyone else is in there.”

“Thanks,” Jack replied with a smile of his own.

He followed the directions and came to a door. He opened it himself, again with a noticeable creak, and stepped through. The dim chatter inside lowered as dozens of eyes turned his way- a reaction he’d learned to be weary of- but some part of his mind quickly confirmed that everyone seemed human. There was a certain predatory gleam that was definitely absent.

That might have lessened the fear, but it did nothing for the social awkwardness. Luckily it seemed someone else was keen on fixing that. One person, a boy a bit older than himself, started toward him with a smile and reached out his hand.

“Ah, you’re Jack, right?” he asked.

Jack nodded and reached out in turn, if only by habit.

“I’m Sebastian, nice to meet you,” he said with a smile and a reassuringly firm shake. “Come on, I’ve got a seat for you.”

Sebastian led Jack into the room, toward a broad ring of inward-facing chairs where the other attendees sat and watched him approach. Jack looked them over in turn, and realized with a bit of surprise that most of them were somewhere around his age.

“They’re all kids…” he muttered as he took the seat Sebastian offered. The other boy frowned for a moment and nodded.

“Much younger than this and they don’t usually make it,” he replied discreetly. “Much older and they’re smart enough not to let it happen, or big enough not to be such an easy target.” He sounded like he spoke from experience.

To Jack’s surprise, Sebastian took the seat directly to his right, which did provide him with some small comfort as his attention started to drift back out to the other attendees. But only a moment later, Sebastian chimed in once more.

“Don’t worry too much about introducing yourself,” he advised. “That’ll come soon.”

Jack nodded understandingly, and so took to sitting there silently, waiting for things to start. He noticed the cups of water under everyone’s chairs and picked up his own, sipping at it idly. The few people who had been around long enough to already know each other made idle chitchat. A not-so-subtle, grim tone could be felt in the air, but there was also a feeling of relief, and maybe a touch of hope.

Over the next few minutes, a few other people arrived. Sebastian stood to greet each one in turn and show them to their seats. There was one in particular that couldn’t help but catch Jack’s eye. A girl with a somber face, wearing a beautiful, flowing, red dress. She sat down two chairs to his left, the one between them being empty. Honestly, Jack missed most of the other arrivals after that, his gaze focused mostly at the ground between discreet peeks in her direction. He didn’t want to stare, but he felt he couldn’t help looking.

The awkwardness only ended when Sebastian stood up and cleared his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention. When things grew quiet, he spoke.

“Hey everyone, welcome back to Survivors Anonymous. I’m really happy to see all of you here. Knowing so many of us made it through the week without ending up in some belly is quite a relief. I know a lot of you here are new, but for those of you who aren’t, I do have to start by saying…” his resiliently chipper tone faded to a small frown for a moment. “Jerry, Nick and Bryce weren’t so lucky.”

A few others shuffled their feet, their frowns deepening.

“But you should know that we helped make their last days better, and maybe even gave them a few extra- especially that Jerry.” A hopeful smile returned to his face. “As long as we’re here, their memories won’t fade.” He took a short moment of silence. “Now, try not to dwell on it. After all, this group is for the survivors. Let’s focus on doing our best to make sure that everyone who did make it to today makes it to next week too. And that starts by letting the fear out and sharing your experiences. The stress can eat you alive just as well as any predator. And every story of survival can be a lesson. We usually like to start with someone who’s spoken before. Is anyone ready to share?”

After a short moment, a hand went up- a rather beefy hand. Sebastian smiled and nodded, taking his seat to yield the attention.

“Hi everyone, I’m Randy,” said the boy, “I’ve been marked for about two weeks now… I guess I’ve spent most of that time hiding out in my house, but the other day I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get some air. I tried to go for just a quick walk, but I live in a pretty busy neighborhood, lots of preds around… This neko caught a whiff of me and charged over… I thought I was lunch, but it looks like all these spells have been paying off.” He patted one arm, firm with the contours of muscle; it seemed almost unnatural. “I managed to throw him off before he could get his jaws around me, I guess I must have spooked him, ‘cause he ran off after he picked himself up.”

Sebastian clapped lightly, a signal that was picked up by the others and turned into a small ovation.

“Overpowering a predator isn’t easy, well done,” Sebastian complimented. Then he raised his voice a bit to address the whole room. “Does anyone have any questions for him? Or any advice? Remember, we’re here to share experience.”

One other hand went up; Sebastian nodded in his direction.

“You mentioned spells?” another boy asked, a bit awkwardly.

“Oh, right. I sort of explained it last time, but I guess you weren’t here then…” Randy realized. “Before… before I got marked, I was doing pretty well in magic- well, okay at least. I’d managed to learn a few strength-boosting spells. When this happened-” he gestured at his shoulder, where a bite mark presumably lay beneath his shirt- “I wasn’t able to push her away hard enough. I figured if I made myself stronger, I could keep other predators from getting close enough to finish the job…”

“It looks like you did a bit better than ‘okay’,” another kid chimed in.

“Yeah, you think you could try to teach me that spell? I’ve still got my wand,” asked another.

“Sure,” Randy said with a tiny smile, “anything to help.”

Jack considered the idea himself. It seemed effective enough, but the thought of doing something like that to his own body was far from appealing. It reminded him too much of what human preds did to themselves to be able to gulp down others… He’d rather rely on Fiona’s strength and his own magic if he could.

A short moment passed and no one else spoke up or raised their hand, so Sebastian moved things along.

“Is anyone else ready to share?” he asked.

A few moments later, a new hand went up.

“I’m Ashton,” said a boy, a bit younger than Jack and obviously putting on a bit of a brave face. “And this is my sister Ashley.” He gestured to the girl sitting next to him, seeming to be of the same age and of very similar appearance. “We were marked three days ago.” His voice wobbled as he spoke. His sister felt him falter, so she spoke up, but the words obviously did not come easy.

“It was a badger that did it, a pretty young one… He went for me first…” she gripped her arm, covering up the mark that peeked out from her sleeve. “…But Ashton wouldn’t let him have me.”

“I kicked him ten feet,” Ashton chimed back in, a bit of anger helping him to force the words out. “But he came back. He came after me this time and bit my leg. He knocked me down and almost got my foot in his mouth, but Ashley managed to knock him away.” He almost smiled for a second, though it was more of a resentful sneer. “She gave him a good whack on the snout, sent him running back home, but… I guess by that point the damage had already been done…”

“Damage maybe, but not digestion,” one kid replied.

“Yeah, nice going man, I’d do the same thing if anyone tried to take a bite outta my sister, mark or no mark.”

“I know you probably don’t feel too lucky right now, but you really are to have each other.”

“Having someone else around to watch your back can really make all the difference,” Jack chimed in.

“As long as you two stay together, you’re much safer. A lot of preds can’t handle two humans in their belly at once- at least around our age.”

“I’d be extra careful around bathrooms.”

Things quieted down as Ashton picked up his water and handed Ashley hers. They seemed done, so someone else started to speak up.

“I guess I’ll go next. My name’s Lance, I’ve been marked about a week and a half now, and my strategy for surviving is pretty obvious.”

Obvious it was. Jack wasn’t sure how he’d manage to miss it, but the guy was covered head to toe in a full set of plate armor. He was definitely one of the older attendees, from what Jack could see of him, but he still must have been quite beefy to be able to fit into something like that, let alone lug it around.

“One of my great-great-great-something- grandfathers was a knight back before the Great Hunt. This armor’s been in our family for centuries.”

One of the other kids chimed in prematurely.

“Um… since most predators swallow humans whole, I don’t think armor is really the best idea. I mean, it won’t do anything to protect you from stomach acid…”

“And doesn’t it slow you down? Won’t that make survival harder?”

“Is it still strong after all that time?”

“Hey, this armor’s plenty strong! And it’s great protection! Just listen to this! Yesterday I was walking from my mom’s house to my dad’s and this fox kid came out of nowhere. Sure, he seemed a bit short, but his mouth was huge. He jumped right at me, tried to tackle me to the ground, but he smashed right into this!” Lance thumped his chestplate which briefly rang with a metallic tone. “Knocked him right out cold! I was long gone by the time he got back up.”

Sebastian clapped for him- if only because it was unclear if anyone else would- and a few others joined in. Jack- who agreed that armor probably wasn’t the best defense- considered asking how long it took Lance to get back up after that, since an impact like that would have definitely knocked him over, but he decided it best not to cause any extra embarrassment. Lance had obviously left that part out for a reason.

When things quieted back down again, no one immediately followed up, so Sebastian asked once again:

“Is anyone else ready to share?”

There was a short silence.

“…I guess I’ll go…”

The heavy tone of those words made somewhat stark contrast to Lance’s stubborn resilience. They came from another boy, his head hung low. All eyes shifted to him.

“My name’s George… I’ve been marked… more than two weeks now…” he said slowly. “A few days ago, my friend D-.” He stopped and took a breath. “He convinced me to go out with him… He said I’d been inside so long, I needed air, space… He took me out for a little… He was so happy when he saw me cheering up…”

George took an extra-long pause. The air grew noticeably heavier.

“But then… this big toad guy showed up… We didn’t see him right away… It was- just out of the corner of my eye… He sniffed and looked at us… I saw him open his mouth- his tongue went- I panicked- I…” He started choking up, but he kept going. “I jumped out of the way… I jumped behind Dylan-”

He took a sharp breath, his eyes glued to the floor.

“The tongue grabbed him, pulled him back. I heard him scream but… I ran, I turned and ran, I ran as fast as I could… I heard the sounds, I heard him getting swallowed, I can still hear it… But I didn’t stop… I survived… and he…”

“It’s okay man, it’s not your fault,” one of the other kids offered.

“Yeah, we all do what we have to.”

“No! It’s not okay!” George insisted. “Look at what Ashton and Ashley did for each other!”

The siblings looked a bit shocked to be suddenly mentioned, and neither had an immediate reply, but a few others spoke in their place.

“They were dealing with a kid badger, not a huge frog that can grab you from across the room.”

“It’s great that they were both able to make it, but not everyone can. What’s important here is that you were able to survive.”

“No!” George yelled again. “None of you get it! You don’t know what it’s like to have someone you care about eaten right in front of you like that!”

George suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, his face wet. It was Sebastian, his expression firm and supportive, his eyes unswerving.

“Yes, we do,” he said quietly.

“No- Sebastian- I didn’t mean-. I know you-”

“It’s okay, I understand. I felt that way too.” He reached down under George’s seat and handed him his water. “Here, you did great. Thank you for sharing with us, I know it will help you feel better.”

George managed the smallest, broken smile. Sebastian smiled back, then turned and walked back to his seat, the room deathly quiet.

“Well, this might be a good time to tell my story then,” the boy said as he sat back down. He looked a bit distant, with a small frown.

“It’s okay,” one of the others said sympathetically, “you told yours last time.”

“Yeah, but there are new faces here today. Maybe they can learn from it too.”

He took a breath and then raised his voice.

“I’m Sebastian Artor, I invited you all here, and I’ve been marked for two months. I got my mark out shopping with my family. It happened when my mother went with me to try on clothes. My father was still picking his out. I was in one of the changing rooms. When I got out, I saw the vampire. He was holding my mother in his hand, shrunken down to the size of a toy. She tried to warn me, but I had nowhere to go.”

Sebastian began to look visibly uncomfortable, but compared to the others he seemed remarkably collected.

“He had his teeth in me before I knew it. I closed my eyes from the pain, and the nausea. It was my mother’s voice that finally got me to open them again. By then he was already holding me in his other hand with his fingers around my chest. I can’t remember what she said, but I remember her voice. Terrified.

“The vampire looked between both of us… and then decided to eat her first. I saw him carry my mother up to his mouth and push her inside. His lips closed. I heard him swallow. Her voice disappeared. And then he opened his mouth again… and she was gone…”

There was a lengthy moment of silence. It almost felt like the story was over. Except it couldn’t have been.

“He tried to eat me next. He brought me up to his mouth. I felt his breath on my face… But then my father arrived. He saw the vampire holding me and pulled out his wand. He cast spell after spell. He got the vampire to drop me; chased him all the way out of the store. He saved my life. He kept me safe until the shrinking wore off… It’s thanks to him that we’re all here today.”

“…But, your mom…” another kid said. Sebastian knew what he meant, he’d been through this enough times.

“When I was small, my voice was so quiet. There was so much yelling. I couldn’t tell anyone what happened to her. By the time I did, the vampire was gone. We tried to find them, but… after a few hours, we knew… there wasn’t anything left to find anymore.”

The room went silent again. And for a second time it seemed he was done. But he spoke up once more.

“We couldn’t save her. We couldn’t save Dylan. We couldn’t save Jerry, or Nick, or Bryce. But we’re still here. We can save some of us. Just look around at everyone who’s made it. Here, we can help do the one thing that would make everyone we’ve lost proud: we can help each other survive.”

There was a single clap, though Jack couldn’t say from who; then another, and another joined in; then Jack himself. It grew into a strong ovation, and Sebastian smiled.

“Thanks everyone,” he said as it faded out. “Now come on and share. I’m sure everyone here has something they want to get off their chest, and something new they can learn.”

There were a few moments of silence as the room settled back down, but then a slow, timid hand rose. Jack looked toward it but then felt a tiny jolt. It was the girl in the red dress. He instinctively looked away, but as he saw everyone else’s eyes turn to her, he started to actually feel more awkward not doing the same. He looked back to her hand as she lowered it, and before she gripped it with her other, he noticed that it had a clear bite mark above the wrist.

“Well, I know it’s nowhere near as horrible, but…” She thought for a moment before seeming to make the decision to continue. “My name’s Ruby,” she said. “I was marked four days ago. I was on my way to school and this little werewolf pup ran up to me. He was so young, so small… I didn’t think I had anything to be afraid of, he was way too little to be able to eat me…”

Jack couldn’t help tensing up, hearing such a startlingly familiar scenario. You’d be surprised, he thought.

“I let him get close, and I guess he decided to give it a try… he grabbed my hand and… I felt his throat. I freaked out and pulled away, but he fought me and, well…” She took a breath. “There are a lot of werewolf families living near my house… coming here is the first time I’ve left since running back home that day… I had my dad take me out here with a blindfold.” She almost laughed at herself when she heard her own words. “I’m just- I’m terrified to see another one of them…”

“Oh, poor girl…”

“I don’t blame you.”

There was a short silence. The air in the room seemed to lift a little now that her story was over. Sure, it was still a terrible thing to have happen, but at least it wasn’t quite as heavy as the last. Anything seemed happy by that comparison.

That last comment about werewolves, though; it made Jack in particular want to say something encouraging, something to help ease her fear, but another girl spoke first.

“I- um- I don’t think I’d go out in a dress like that if I were you. Oh- don’t get me wrong- you look great! But I think maybe you look a little too great. It’s pretty eye-catching. Maybe you should try to wear something a bit less noticeable next time.”

Ruby smiled to herself ever so slightly, a clear bit of self-pity in her expression.

“Yeah, I know…” she admitted. “It’s just, this mark draws more attention to me than anything I could wear… I knew when I went outside, every predator around was gonna have their eyes on me… I guess I sort of figured ‘it’s no use trying to hide’. And if I only have a few days left, and everyone’s going to be watching anyway… I’d just rather feel pretty, that’s all… It’s a nice feeling… I wanna hold on to those.”

A round of applause and a few more encouraging words were just about to start up, but Jack found himself jumping in at the last second.

“Don’t be afraid of all werewolves,” he blurted out.

He quickly realized that his intended meaning hadn’t quite made it into those words, and what had come out seemed rather blunt, so he quickly scrambled to explain himself.

“I mean- I know getting bitten like that must have been really scary, and now you have this mark, and you feel like every predator is after you- which I guess most of them are- but-” he took a breath and struggled to think. “I just mean that- being afraid like that is only going to keep those nice feelings away, and you shouldn’t have to live like that- none of us should. You don’t have to be afraid of every werewolf you see, trust me, some of them are actually really nice.”

… The room was silent.

“…Thank you, Ruby,” Sebastian chimed in. “Jack, maybe you want to share next?” He seemed almost as confused as the rest of them.

“Oh! Um…” he didn’t have a problem with talking, but he found he didn’t quite know what to say. Luckily it seemed Sebastian was used to seeing this.

“On the first day, most people share the story of how they were marked. Just start with your name, and go from there.”

“Right, thanks.” Jack shifted to addressing the entire room. “Well… My name’s Jack, and I actually got marked by a werewolf pup too,” he said, hoping to give some reason why he might know something about the subject. “Actually, I- wellll…” He started to blush. He’d never quite realized how stupid his story would sound until he was faced with telling it to a crowd of strangers and a cute girl. “I sort of asked her to bite me. I- um- I thought it would turn me into a werewolf too… like in the comics…”

He was met with a range of dumbfounded stares. Saying he’d done something so incredibly stupid was not helping him seem like a reliable source of advice. And the muffled chuckles did nothing to help with that, or ease his embarrassment.

“H-hey! Come on! I was like five!”

The chuckles stopped immediately. Everyone went silent. The stares intensified.

“… Did you say you’ve been marked… since you were five years old?” Sebastian asked.

Jack nodded. Suddenly, everyone seemed intensely interested. Sebastian smiled in wonder, as if the boy next to him were a literal shining beacon of hope.

“…How are you still alive?” someone asked.

“Well, for starters, my family moved out of town to live with my aunt. They kept me totally locked inside for like five months- and most of the time after that. They did everything they could to protect me.”

“They kept you totally away from predators for like ten years!?” one of the other kids exclaimed.

“Oh no, but they sure did try for a while,” Jack replied, starting to warm up to the attention. “It was at least a year until I saw another pred. And even then it was only for a couple minutes in my aunt’s shop, with my whole family there to protect me if something happened. And the predator was this old gecko man who probably couldn’t have gotten me down even if he wanted to.”

“So how then?” asked Randy impatiently.

“It was mostly thanks to my aunt. She’s a magic dermatologist; that’s sort of why we moved in with her. She came up with these spells she could use to cover up the mark.”

Gasps of awe and disbelief filled the room.

“Your aunt knows spells that can get rid of the mark!?” Ashton asked. “Can you bring her?”

“Can she teach me?”

“Why are you here, then?”

“How come-”

“Whoa, hold on everyone!” Sebastian urged, then nodded eagerly at Jack to continue.

“No, no, it’s not like that. She can’t get rid of the mark; she can only cover it up. And the spells only work on kids.”

The building energy in the room faltered.

“Kids?” asked a disappointed voice.

“Why kids?”

“Oh, um, she tried to explain it to me once. It has something to do with how magic really starts to develop around- er, you know- puberty and stuff. The spells stopped working on me a few weeks ago.”

“So how have you been doing it since then?” came the intent question. Even ignoring the miraculous ten-plus years of magic-assisted survival, a few weeks was still quite an accomplishment.

“Oh, well that’s thanks to Fiona.”

“You have another powerful mage in your family?!”

“No, Fiona’s the werewolf. The one who bit me.”

A collective look of ‘huh?’ overtook the room.

I guess that doesn’t make much sense without an explanation, Jack thought.

“That’s sort of what I was trying to say before. See, once my aunt’s spells stopped working, my parents decided the best thing for me would be to learn magic. That way I’d be able to defend myself if a predator wanted to eat me. We moved back here so I could go to school- cause my aunt’s really not the best teacher. But we also came back so that I could live near Fiona and her family again.”

“Why would you want to live near the werewolf that marked you?!”

“Have you seen werewolves?” Jack replied. “They’re really tough- especially Fiona. She’s the best bodyguard I could ask for. Plus, I really missed her when I was away. We grew up together- our families were friends since before we were even born- so when I just suddenly had to leave, it was-”

“So they must not eat people then?!” Lance exclaimed. “That’s amazing!”

“A pred that doesn’t eat people?” came the astonished whispers. “What, is she some kind of mutant?”

“No no, of course she eats people, she’s a predator,” Jack corrected.

“Then how can you be friends with her!?”

“Well she’s still a really nice person. She’s fun and thoughtful and helpful and strong. Being a predator is just part of who she is.”

The room was silently dumbstruck for another moment, until someone finally asked the obvious question. And that someone, was Ruby.

“But… aren’t you scared that she might eat you too?” the girl asked.

Jack looked her in the eyes. Somehow, talking about Fiona gave him a confidence he didn’t quite expect.

“Fiona and I have been friends since we were little. These last few days she’s saved me from more predators than I can count. She’s literally had my arm down her throat.”

The last statement caused quite a few shocked reactions from the crowd, but Jack stayed focused on Ruby.

“There are a lot of predators out there that would probably like to have me for lunch, but not Fiona. She’s one pred I don’t have to be afraid of.”

Jack paused for a moment, considering what he should say next. All eyes rested on him eagerly.

“I know I’m supposed to give some kind of advice, so… I’m not saying go up and try to make friends with every predator you meet. In fact, you probably shouldn’t even go near Fiona unless I say something first. But you shouldn’t be terrified of every predator you see just because they’re a predator, because if you’re really lucky, they just might turn out to be your best friend…

“And I wouldn’t trade anything for that. Not even my mark.”

Originally Published: 9-Apr-2021