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How Not To Become Lunch: 7 - Never Give Up
“Alright, everyone line up and we’ll head out,” the teacher announced.
Fiona joined up with a number of other pred kids as a line gradually formed. Everyone seemed extra excited today. The idle chatter was noticeably louder, a bunch of the kids were stretching, and quite a few were sharpening their fangs or claws or spines or whatever else they had.
But Fiona herself only vaguely noticed, she was still pondering something that Ms. Ivy had said in predator class, and on top of that there was the near-constant worrying about Jack. She still couldn’t get over how she had failed to save him from Grizz that morning. If Lily hadn’t been around and decided to be nice… At least now he was in his all-human magic class, so provided he had survived up to this point he should be safe- except his teacher was Ms. Caster…
She groaned quietly to herself and did her best to think of other things as the teacher began to lead all the pred students in their grade outside the school building and toward a wooded area nearby. It wasn’t until they were already halfway there that Fiona happened to catch a snippet of a particular conversation.
“I wonder how many volunteers they brought today?” she overheard.
Volunteers?... her ears perked up and she gave a small gasp. No way!! Is that why everyone’s so excited!? But how come they didn’t announce it in homeroom? Then she thought back to that morning and how she had concentrated so much on keeping Jack away from the other preds. Oh, maybe they did… I guess I wasn’t exactly paying that much attention.
She looked ahead, toward the metal gate that the first students were now starting to enter, and grew a wide grin, finally matching the expression of most of the other kids. She could feel the anticipation in the air as the students filed in. The scent of the woods wafted past her nose as the large trees loomed silently before her, but those were neither the smells nor sights that she was interested in. She stood on the tips of her clawed toes and craned her neck to see over the crowd. She just barely managed to catch sight of them.
“Alright class,” called their teacher, flaring her large, feathery wings to get everyone’s attention. “Today’s physical education will be special. Judging by your excitement, I’d say most of you already have some idea of why, but I’m still required to explain it to you so listen up anyway.
“These seven humans I have standing next to me are ‘volunteer prey’. That means they were each convicted of a minor crime and would normally have been sentenced to a short time in jail. However, jail time is very dangerous for humans; a very large majority end up as food for their predator inmates. These few haven’t done anything bad enough to punish them with near-certain death, so instead, they were offered and accepted the alternative of coming here.
“Normally, during your PE class, you’re brought to the school’s enclosed hunting ground to practice on small animals. Today, you’ll be hunting these volunteers instead. Because most of you are small and inexperienced, they have a much better chance of surviving here than if they had stayed locked up. You, on the other hand, have the opportunity to catch yourself a much more filling meal. But you will also be learning an important lesson: catching a human is not as easy as catching a rodent or a bird. Even for those of you who have successfully taken other human students: these are adults, they’re bigger than you, and they will fight back if you give them the chance. Their lives depend on it. Not to mention you’ll be competing with your fellow classmates as well.
“Now then, here are the rules. The volunteers will be given a few minutes to spread out and hide while you students remain here. Afterwards, it will be your job to hunt them down. If you manage to catch one, you’re free to make them your lunch. As for the volunteers, if they manage to stay hidden for the entire period, or if they manage to escape through the entrance gate, they are off limits and are free to return home.
“I will be watching from above,” she flexed her wings again. “I don’t want to see any of you children trying to hurt each other. A little competition is fine, but as civilized predators you should all learn to respect each other, even when competing for a meal. If you have any questions, you can ask me while the volunteers are hiding.”
She turned and faced the seven, frankly terrified, humans next to her and said simply:
“You’d better get going.”
The humans turned and scattered into the trees as fast as they could run.
…
“Ahhh!!! No!! Wait!! Letmego letmego letme-!!”
Shoot! Fiona thought, hearing the frantic cries as they were abruptly cut off. That’s the third one so far.
She sniffed the air again and pointed her sensitive ears in a variety of directions. Sure, she could smell them, they were somewhere, but they had run all over the place trying to find a hiding spot and by the time the residual scent would start to fade it would be too late- especially if they kept getting found by other students. Along with her nose, her ears were basically useless as well, with all the other kids running around it was practically impossible to tell predator from prey.
Even still, she continued to imagine what it would be like if she did manage to find one. After all it would be her first adult. She had had her fair share of other human kids during her time at the school, though maybe not as many as some other preds, but most of the adults she’d met had either been teachers or family friends. She thought over the number of plump bulges she’d had in her belly, how amazing it felt to be so full and let her stomach work at them, and tried to imagine what it might feel like if they had been even bigger. Would she even be able to get a whole adult down if she caught one, she wondered?
The fluttering of a bird caught her attention. She turned to her right. There was nothing out of the ordinary; some thick undergrowth, a few bushes, a couple trees and beyond all that the tall fence that marked the edge of the hunting ground. She might have just chalked it up to birds being birds, except something in her predatory instincts told her not to. Catching birds had been a regular hobby of hers, even since she was a little pup, and those wingbeats definitely sounded like the frantic flapping of a bird that had just been spooked. The thing was, she couldn’t see anything that might have spooked it.
Moving as quietly as she could, she took a few steps closer to investigate. She peered around trees and over bushes, being as careful as she could. She had nearly reached the fence and was about to turn around when she just barely caught a small twitch of movement from the corner of her eye. She immediately locked onto it, but it still took her a moment to figure out what exactly she had seen. When it was still, it almost blended into the greenery, but after a bit of searching she finally spotted it:
A shoe.
She nearly gasped from excitement but caught herself just in time. She couldn’t afford to give herself away now. Leaving a wide berth, she slowly circled around until she found a better view, and once she did she forced herself to apply what she had learned in predator class and took a moment to observe.
It was one of the humans alright, lying flat against the forest floor. He kept almost completely still, except for once every few seconds, where he would crawl just a tiny bit forward. His clothes were covered thoroughly in dirt, probably to help stay hidden, and he was staying reasonably close to the fence, inching along its path each time he moved.
He must be trying to follow it back to the entrance so he can escape, she reasoned. A growing grin came to her face as her tail flicked back and forth in nervous excitement. Well he’s not going to get away from me that easily. She watched for another few moments as she considered her next move. She needed to act before she was noticed, and before another pred noticed him, but she remembered what their teacher had said: the human was considerably bigger than her and she needed to be careful.
Coming to a decision, Fiona slowly descended onto all fours and quietly approached her prey. With every step she asked herself if she was close enough. Should she stop there and try to launch her attack, potentially ruining the entire thing if she miscalculated, or should she make another move and risk alerting him? Eventually, after a few heart-pounding moments, she stopped.
Okay Fiona, this is it, don’t mess this up. Her ears went flat, her tail still, she crouched down low. And then silently, she pounced.
“Ah!!” the man yelled, feeling something large and heavy suddenly crash down on top of his back. Fiona landed just as she intended, her feet coming down onto his legs and her hands grabbing his arms just below his shoulders. In an instant she had all four of his limbs locked down and he was pinned, or at least that’s what she had thought.
As soon as he began struggling, she realized she had grossly underestimated the human’s strength. He pushed against the ground with his hands and threatened to throw her off. In response she pushed her knees into his back and dug her claws into the dirt to try and get a better grip.
That’s when she realized her real mistake. She had put all her thought into how she was going to restrain him, but now that she had him, possibly for just a few seconds, how was she supposed to get him into her mouth? She thought of trying to knock him out or kill him where he was- I mean, her stomach was going to do that anyway- but she knew that if she lifted either of her hands or feet that he could very well manage to get away.
She thought frantically for a moment. He looked back awkwardly over his shoulder to get a glimpse of his attacker, and she in turn got a look at his angry, scowling face.
“Get off of me you stupid brat!!” he yelled, giving an extra hard push.
Fiona nearly yelped as she felt her weight just barely manage to hold him down. He lifted his head again to get another look, trying to find something he could use to break her hold. Fiona was sure he would figure something out any second. Her mind racing, she suddenly came up with a rash, impulsive idea and took it.
Her head was the only part of her body that wasn’t already in use, and his head was the only part of his body that she could reach. So Fiona opened her mouth wide, and shoved her maw over the man’s dome, down to his neck.
Her next immediate thought was how terrible an idea that had been. Her prey immediately started struggling twice as hard and she braced herself for the inevitable moment that she would be thrown off. But that all came to a sudden stop when the werewolf’s teeth came to press against her prey’s throat.
She felt it, he felt it, and the next moment everything was still except for their pounding hearts.
It hadn’t exactly been intentional, but it was just the lucky break the young predator needed. Realizing this was probably her only chance, she knew she needed to seize it before he caught her hesitating. Keeping her jaws pressed ever so slightly around her meal’s neck, she cautiously lifted one hand off him. He stayed deathly still. She lifted a leg. He kept still. Keeping on all fours and keeping the man’s head inside her mouth, she proceeded to carefully shift her body off his.
That’s right, stay just like that, nobody wants a mess, Fiona thought. His ears slid against the sides of her mouth as she rotated herself around him, until she was positioned facing his prone body head on. She could feel his face pressing against her tongue, and was tempted to take a moment to taste, but she decided against it. She needed to get this done fast before something went wrong.
She took a deep breath through her nose, braced herself and then pushed forward with all her strength. Her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as her gullet quickly stretched to accommodate the man’s shoulders and the upper half of his chest.
Gurgling guts! He’s huge! she thought. She’d never felt her throat stretch like this before, nearly to the point of pain, but the excitement of such a large potential meal spurred her on. Evidently it spurred him on as well; such a sudden plunge had sent him into a panic, and seeing as her teeth were no longer at his throat he started flailing again with renewed vigor. Fiona reached out and grabbed his arms, holding them firmly in place, and tried to swallow, but the man hardly budged.
He’s not in deep enough for my throat to take him, she thought. So she braced herself again as best she could, and gave another hearty push. Her maw slid further down his body, down to his elbows and belly.
Thankfully he wasn’t too chubby, as Fiona could feel her body starting to protest, but the discomfort was far outweighed by the sheer sensation of having such a large meal in her clutches.
It wasn’t even his taste, which was still mostly that of dirt; it was the way her throat urged to swallow him down, the way her belly longed to have him tucked inside, the promise of that nice, plump bulge he would make.
She pushed again, taking her prey down to his waist. His feet kicked around desperately, but the rest of him had absolutely no room to struggle amidst the tight confines of her gullet. She knew there was no way he could stop her now. If she could just manage to get him inside, he’d be hers. And she wasn’t about to give up.
Fiona tried to swallow again. Her prey shifted a good inch. She swallowed once more, twice more, and then again, until all that was left were the man’s flailing legs. Still on her hands and knees, she felt her meal’s considerable weight pressing her furry fingers into the ground. It was time to send him down where he belonged.
Tensing her back and pushing with both hands, she forced herself to sit up and fall back onto her butt, lifting the last of her prey up off the ground. As soon as his legs were above her, gravity instantly took over, and with one last enormous gulp, the young werewolf felt the tremendous bulk of her record-setting meal slide down her throat and come to rest firmly in her furry, distended belly.
Panting lightly, she looked down at her prize. The bulge was so tight that she could see the outline of his knees, not to mention feel them. He tried to move, but her stomach held him so tight that all he could do was twitch. A small smile appeared on her face, quickly growing into a sizable grin.
“Yes! I did it!” she shouted.
*UUUURRRP*!!
…
“Hey, Jack! Over here!” Fiona called.
Jack, hearing his friend’s call, turned around and peered down the hall. The look on his face when he spotted her was priceless. Fiona watched him approach, mouth agape, eyes flicking between her face and her midriff.
“Whoa… Fi… what did you eat?” he asked in awe. Fiona grinned smugly.
“I caught a volunteer prey at PE,” she told him.
“No way! You actually caught an adult? I thought that was supposed to be pretty hard for pred kids? How did you even swallow the guy?”
“Come on, I’ll tell you all about it during lunch. I need to sit down,” she replied.
“Sure,” Jack said. He started walking at his normal pace, but only made it a couple steps before realizing Fiona wasn’t beside him. He stopped and turned around, and what he saw made him have to resist the urge to giggle. Fiona was doing her best to follow behind him, taking careful, heavy steps, her huge belly jiggling with every move and threatening to throw off her balance.
“Do you, um, need some help with that?” Jack asked awkwardly.
“What!? No!” Fiona replied a bit indignantly. She tried to pick up the pace but very clearly almost fell over. She sighed. “How about I tell you on the way,” she offered.
“Whatever you say, Fi.”