Content
HNTBL: Other Tails
(a “How Not To Become Lunch” spinoff)
Chapter 2:
Inside Her Trading
Ender was walking in the hallways, well before class. The events upon his return home replayed in his mind, along with the image of Slee. He walked past the predator class and noticed a familiar red naga about to enter. Up ahead of him, his sister Jess was heading to magic class.
“Hey Jess, did you forget your homework?” he said loud enough for Slee to hear. The pretty (if over-makeup-ed) 17 year old turned around and rolled her eyes at Ender.
“No, only you would do something that dumb, try not to be history in history class little bro.”
Ender remembered yesterday morning, after his encounter with Slee, he’d caught her already moving into his room.
Being a predator, Slee was certainly paying attention. Her head perked up and her snake-like eyes shot a glance across the hallway. “Was that… Ender?” She flicked her tongue in the direction of the hallway, trying to pick up the scent. Sure enough, she recognised the naïve athlete’s smell, and the other human’s as well. “Bro? Uh, that’s his sister I guess. Wait, she’s the one that told him we only eat ‘rude’ people. She’s older, she can’t be as dumb as him.” She froze for a millisecond, “Did Ender’s own sibling try to get him eaten?! I mean, that wasn’t impossible, was it? I’ll pay him a visit in the halls after his history class.” If her full stomach didn’t slow her down, that was. She enjoyed the warm Gurgling sensation of digestion, as she entered class.
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Ender was exiting history class some time later, having both stayed awake and been attentive. Falling asleep in class was a peeve of Ms. Dracoria, but Ender considered her to be the friendliest teacher at the school and he always worked to ensure he was a good student.
Right next to the door, leaning against a few lockers, loomed Slee. She sort of towered over Ender, her eyes staring him down, not paying much mind to the other students that hurried out.
“Hey, remember me?” She did her best not to sound threatening, ominous, or overly nice. All of those tones would have put an average human on alert. Ender looked at the softly rounded naga.
“Yes, definitely, ah… so you heard my less-than-subtle hint about my sister trying to make me your breakfast?” Ender tried to stand at a safe distance in the tight hallway without looking too much like a scared meal, but eventually he gave that up, calmed down, and just leaned against the opposite side of the door frame. She noticed he seemed more alert at the very least, maybe her dumbfounded lecture had paid off.
“Yup. And, you know, you could argue that trying to get you killed is ‘rude’, isn’t it?” She used Jess’ false premise about preds against her. “Why would your sister hate you that much? …Did you, like, do something to her?” Her head rose a few inches, her long neck stretched out. That was more of an idle thing, not really a hint of threat. Ender just saw her rising higher like she was thinking of pouncing.
“Well,” Ender hedged, “Everyone seems to love her, but she absolutely despises me while manipulating my parents non-stop.” He was trying to keep under control his body’s natural tendency to want to flee, be gone, escape, run away. It was one thing to talk to Slee in an open park; in a school hallway he felt like a mouse in front of a snake, and for the most part, he was.
Slee had recognised Jess’ scent in the hallway, she was idly chatting with a group of human girls who seemed to somehow dominate the attention of the school’s human boys. Slee had seen her a few times before, but she didn’t exactly think much of her. Just another human. Slee’s coils continued to move idly around her body.
“I see. But she certainly doesn’t love you, does she?” Even if she didn’t outright say it, it was kind of clear what Slee was trying to say here: she’d probably be turning Jess into lunch when she got the chance.
“Yeah, she’s never sent me to die before, just kind of set me up all the time.” He looked at Slee meaningfully. “She was moving into my room when I got home this morning. I think I was supposed to be… in there.” He pointed at Slee’s coils. “You seem real nice, but, you know… there are cool video games coming out this year.”
Slee was a tad shocked, and more than a little angry at a human using her as an unwitting disposal service for her unwanted brother. “I’ll keep that in mind. See ya around, if you make it.” She was about to turn around and go her own way, but made sure to say one last thing “And don’t worry, you won’t ever end up crunched up in there.”
It was a bit weird to Ender. He almost felt like she didn’t like him since she didn’t want to eat him apparently, but then did he want her to like him and therefore be… hungry for him? How exactly were these relationships navigated? He saw her turn to leave and again felt this feeling, like he wanted her to stay. “Do you like video games?” he blurted.
She shrugged, “I guess. Sometimes I play.” Though she wasn’t willing to share more than that for now, considering she’d nicknamed herself Human_Gurgler_69 on most platforms. “Hey, uh, I’ll see you around, okay?” She had to repeat herself, but she didn’t mind too much. Her belly unleashed a few gurgles and groans, as the bulge slowly slid across her snake-like lower half.
Ender watched the bulge… and… yep “Time to shut up now.” He watched Jess preen as she made her way down the hallway, sneering at him in disgust.
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Ender looked at the entrance to the mall, his defeat at the hands of Human_Gurgler_69 online had been a direct result of someone- he assumed Jess- screwing with his game controller, and now he needed a new one. And his guitar strings had gone toneless. He looked around to see a familiar red naga.
Slee was at the mall with her friends. Being a rather successful predator, she usually spent time with fellow human gurglers. She didn’t exactly expect to see Ender there, hadn’t even thought about the strong, calm human really. So when she did pick up his scent, her demeanor changed a little. She excused herself from her friends and slithered around, eventually finding her human acquaintance.
“Hello, Ender.” Her neutral tone returned, so as to not scare him off instantly. He looked up at her, smiling nervously. “Uh, this isn’t the best time to be here,” Slee warned, glancing meaningfully at her group of predatory friends. It really wasn’t a good idea to be seen just talking to a human right now. She and her friends were at the mall because they were hungry.
Ender understood her meaning. “Is there a safe place away from them? Or a shop I could go to that they don’t? Mom will be back to pick me up in about an hour, and walking home alone seems at least as dangerous.” His expression was serious but lacking fear.
Slee froze for a moment. He had to stay here for an hour? That was more than enough time to get him eaten. “Look-- I uhm, no. There really isn’t a safe place. Just be careful I guess?” She sounded slightly sympathetic at best. Sure, him dying would be a shame, but she didn’t exactly care that much. She did spare him though, so maybe she was just trying to repress that friendly feeling? “I really can’t be seen talking to a human like this, uhm-- catch you later.” That was definitely an ambiguous parting message. She began to slither away.
Ender watched the retreating slithers, ‘catch you later’ echoing in his mind. Pulling his ever-present hoodie up, he began walking with slow assurance to the game store to get a new Z-Box controller.
How was he supposed to hide in the mall? “Cornering myself in a bathroom is probably the worst idea.” Hiding spots could be deathtraps as easy as sanctuaries, especially since most predators had a keen sense of smell.
The GameShope had quite a few humans inside. Sure, preds played games too, but they much preferred spending time outside, in accordance with their animal natures. That shop was relatively safe-
“Hey, you, hands off that controller, I want it.” A predator stood behind Ender, a shortish cat-boy. Did the young neko want a confrontation? Ender noted the flat, empty belly. He handed the controller to the cat-boy; better to be polite.
“Oh sorry, here you go.” Making no show of frustration or resistance, he walked past the predator to make another selection.
The feline boy looked down at his hands, a little bit surprised. Ender was quick to simply comply. He just sort of shrugged and moved on. He was lucky the pred wasn’t just a little hungrier. But those weren’t the last of his problems.
Unknown to Ender, a lizard girl had been watching him for a while. She’d seen Slee talk with him briefly and it had piqued her interest. As she saw the athletic boy deftly avoid a deadly confrontation with the feline, she formed a less-than-subtle plan.
Ender, having found another controller, began making his way to the counter, briefly meeting the eyes of the intently gazing lizard girl. Deliberately, he selected a checkout line that placed another customer between himself and the ominously flat-bellied pred. He looked up at the cashier, “Good day, busy in here isn’t it?”
“Kinda, yeah. It’s usually worse than this though.” The cashier chuckled. Notably, every employee, cashiers included, was a pred of some kind. Because, of course, if an angry (hungry) Karen walked in, they’d have no remorse devouring any poor human just trying to do their job. He allowed Ender to pay and the next customer stepped closer. She was still watching him, her forked tongue flicking idly.
Deciding there was just no helping it at this point, his new controller secured, “Thanks big guy, have a good one.” He walked through the store, meeting the lizard girl’s eyes, smiling, “Hi there, have I seen you at school? I’m Ender.” He looked up at her, making sure his eyes didn’t linger on that flat belly.
“I’ve certainly seen you,” she said, sounding fairly indignant. “A snack like you talking with our girl? Nuh-uh, that’s just not how it goes.” She quickly reached for his right arm, gripping tightly. “Guess I caught my part of The Hunt.”
Ender looked down at the clawed hand encircling his bicep. If this were another human, his training offered any number of options that could break, disable, injure, or simply remove that hand. But most of those didn’t allow for the strength, superior size and aggressive instincts of a predator. He’d never seen a pred, for all their deadly power, hurt a human needlessly. So he remained calm. The lizard girl also clearly knew Slee, so it was possible that hurting her would put him in Slee’s bad books even if he got away. Slee had done him the favor of skipping a meal, so he owed her for that.
What he did do was skillfully pass his arm over his head, stepping under the arm of the lizard girl so they were standing side to side, instead of him standing directly in front of that large, hungry mouth.
“Uh… Whatever that was, it’s not going to help.” She yanked him roughly, closer to her chest, then began to drag him along. The boy she held seemed very strong for a human, his resistance wasn’t going to free him, but it was inconvenient. “Relax man, I’m not going to eat you.” “But I’ll lead you directly to who actually wants to.” She smirked at the thought as she basically forced him out of the game store.
By now, the group of ‘scaly buddies’ had reunited nearby. Slee included, of course. She had a human wrapped up in her coils, and the other reptilian kids had hostages of their own. Slee’s tummy could be heard growling in anticipation. Then her eyes landed on Ender. Those eyes widened, her body stiffened, but that was about it. She didn’t know how to react. She’d warned him!
“You’re not going to eat me?” he asked, not understanding the game the preds were playing. Then looking around, seeing that each pred had a human, “Oh, someone will probably eat me though,” he figured. He met Slee’s eyes but said nothing. She’d already said talking to her was a mistake in this forum. “May I ask your name, miss?” he looked up underneath the chin of the large lizard girl holding him to her chest.
“Shut up, it won’t matter in a few minutes anyways,” she replied, her tone sounding like half of a hiss.
Then the second half of the game began. The reptile friends just sort of nodded at each other, though Slee didn’t seem so enthusiastic, she even gulped nervously.
“Ah, I see you’re eager to gobble one of these down!” Uh-- well, the misunderstanding made sense. The chubby naga loosened the grip around her catch and used her tail to smack the human she got towards one of her friends, who promptly took hold and started to eat.
By complete coincidence, Ender was passed on to Slee! She looked down at him, holding his arms somewhat gently. Her eyes, for the first time, seemed sympathetic.
“Let me take my hoodie off,” he said calmly, looking up at the naga hopelessly.
She still said nothing. Her mouth slowly opened up. Ender watched that dripping orifice slowly widening to take him. He was transfixed by the naga’s jaws. His hands fumbled at his zipper, unable to look away from the naga and her hungry maw. He felt his heart pounding in his chest, his body wanting to panic, run, struggle, fight.
Slee still refused to speak, but her maw didn’t inch closer. Some drool did drip ominously onto his head, but that was about it. She was actually hungry, after all; a part of her wanted to eat this calm, polite boy.
“I… Ender--” she took a deep breath and looked at her friends, who were all either half-way through gulping down their meals or already done “--guys, I can’t eat this human.”
Puzzled expressions met her.
“He… Well, he’s a friend. I’ll catch someone else, okay?”
They glared at her, dumbstruck for a moment. The ones who were still swallowing just sort of… paused the process to look at Slee. “Really? How long have you even known him for?”
She couldn’t lie, it would serve them no good. “A few days, but that doesn’t mean I--” she groaned. “No, uh, nevermind, I’m gonna slurp him down.” She sounded slightly upset, and she loosened her grip on him instead of tightening it. Those same words from the park came back to her mind: ‘Take the hint.’
Ender caught the ‘scram’ vibe from Slee, and these thoughts became action when out of nowhere his sister Jess cheered Slee specifically on from about 10 meters away.
“That’s right,” her nasal voice shrilled, “eat that little twerp!” Her friends all cheered as well, as they clacked along in their various states of teenage high fashion.
“Again that jerk is trying to get me eaten again,” Ender thought furiously, and so he ran straight to her, hoping in his fury that any pursuing scaly might take the easier opportunity, rather than the very-fast-for-a-little-human-guy sprinting for his life.
“Slee!! You let him go!” one of her friends yelled, ready to chase after him. But the naga shook her head.
“Kind of, I just think I found a better meal.” Slee smirked at Jess.
She narrowed her eyes a little and slithered around, doing her best to seem unassuming. “That’s her. She has to be the one. How dare she speak like that of Endy? A terrible sister, but her end will serve me a purpose, at least.” Her serpentine neck rose and before long came a wet, sticky NOM. She wrapped her jaws around the girl’s head, wasting no time with her first gulp. She was definitely fuelled by hunger, but also some extent of petty anger. She was definitely starting to grow attached to ‘Endy’.
Jess had watched her brother break free of the impressively large naga’s grip, and start running, straight towards them. “Dammit he got away, I have to do everything,” she thought, attempting to stick one unrealistically stupid, shoe-clad foot out to trip him. She watched aghast as he used whatever that dumb “martial art stuff” was to easily vault over the stretched foot. She opened her mouth to yell abuse and her world went dark. Dark and sticky. There was something moving inside the darkness, tasting and pulling at her. Then she felt herself lifted slowly in the air, one of her expensive shoes flying off.
Gulp
Her head entered a hot and hungry throat, a growling belly sounding its intentions below.
Slee gulped once more, Jess’ head sliding into her long, waiting throat. She couldn’t help but think, “Hey! She does taste nice, at least.” A few more gulps, then her body did the rest of the work. She held her human half upright, and raised part of her snake stomach off the ground as well, providing a nice, smooth path through her insides to help let gravity take its course, making Jess enter even faster, occasionally helping with a gulp or two, still.
Jess could feel her legs sticking up in the cool air of the mall, kicking uselessly, her clothes ruined by the dripping, salivating passage that was claiming her young life, one inch, one gulp, at a time. How had this happened to her? HER!? She was popular and had nearly graduated! She felt the gulps encouraging her body towards the stomach entrance, as it began opening to accept her head. “No NO NONO!” she screamed and struggled.
“Well,” thought Slee, “This was the opposite of her strangely calm brother.”
But ‘unfortunately’, it was too late. Maybe, if she were less of a jerk, she wouldn’t be here right now being swallowed alive. Slee tried to enjoy her prey, but she was also trying to make quick work of her to rejoin her friends.
ulp, glrk, GULP
And that was it.
Slee crossed her arms and looked down at Jess’ friends with a smirk, as the big, wriggling bulge appeared on her human half. She let out a single, victorious belch, almost as if trying to dismiss the group of teenage human girls.
Jess, fully consumed inside the expanded belly, felt it tighten as the large belch emerged from the guts. The guts that now had her. The dripping liquids were already rising to take her. She heard her former friends’ muffled cries of terror as they clickety-clacked away in their ridiculous shoes. The naga, it seemed, couldn’t care less, and returned to her friends, their muffled conversation echoing through the walls of the belly, that even now was beginning to hungrily churn around her. Was this naga trying to melt her quickly?!
Slee definitely wanted her to be gone quickly. She usually preferred a long lasting meal, she loved the feeling of their slowly melting bodies sliding deeper into her guts, but this was somewhat different. “Now Ender’s mine! He has one less person to worry about,” she thought happily, patting the bulge, pressing her hands into it.
She went on to talk with her friends for some time, long enough to start digesting Jess. The reptilian group eventually split up again, though this time not because they wanted a second round of humans: they just wanted to buy things. Slee, as expected, wanted to use this chance to meet Ender, and break the news to him.
That was the end of Jessica Drake. She passed out and slowly glorped and dripped into Slee.
Ender was numbly looking for strings at the guitar shop. He knew he needed super slinky 9s for his electric guitar, and some nylon’s for his acoustic, but what was really on his mind was the sight of Jess disappearing into Slee. How HE had almost disappeared into Slee. Jess had kind of brought it on herself; he wondered how often this happened in this new town. These preds went to the same school! He’d be seeing them tomorrow! But not Jess, though. She was gone, sinking into Slee’s amazing, deadly coils.
What would Mom think? “Well, Jess tried to get me eaten, but she got eaten instead, hope that’s ok.” Ender’s voice in his head mimicked his mother, “You’re grounded forEVER young man!”
That’s when Slee came slithering into the scene. Jess was now just a round bump on her body, in between her human half and her snake coils.
“Hey, Ender,” she said, still sounding pretty neutral with her tone. “Did you see what happened?” She knew he might have, but she couldn’t be sure since she’d been, uh, busy swallowing his sister.
Ender felt goosebumps raise on the back of his neck, he looked down at the round lump. That used to be Jess.”Stop it,” he thought to himself, “don’t imagine that boiling, churning, dripping-- STOP IT” he screamed inside his own head. “She probably saved your life again, double because she both didn’t eat you and she has now prevented you from falling victim to your sister’s selfish plots.” Ender took a deep breath, steadying himself and meeting Slee’s eyes. All of this and she was still striking to look at.
“I did see. You’re, uh, quite merciless when you choose to be, and I’m grateful.” He looked up at her, scratching the back of his head… “I’m a bit worried about how to explain this to my parents.” Then quickly, awkwardly added, “But that is one hundred million percent not your problem. Sorry, I’m babbling, I think.” “Am I babbling?” He was in fact babbling.
“‘Merciless’… Is that the first thing that came to mind? He says he’s grateful but-- Is he, really? Maybe he’s being nice just to avoid joining his sister.” She sighed, her belly groaning. “Uh, happy to hear that. It was a pleasure” “To kill his sis? Ugh!!” She bit her lip and tried to put on a smile, though it faded when he explained that last part.
“Oh. Uhm… I’m sorry Endy-- I mean Ender, I just… She wanted YOU dead, maybe it’s just better this way. If your parents don’t ground you, I guess you can hang out at my place for a bit instead.” That was just a suggestion, she didn’t think it through. Being around a human for too long might build up an appetite, after all. The bulge on her belly visibly moved deeper into her endless coils.
“Endy?” he repeated her nickname for him. “Well you don’t usually give a nickname to food, unless she starts calling me her little snack…” he thought. “How does a pred try to be nice to you?” Seeing her shoulders slumped in disappointment, he felt strange feelings stir. “Sorry, was ‘merciless’ not the right word? I meant it as a compliment.” He looked at the descending bulge. “It would be really cool to hang with you; I have zero friends, it seems like that could be fatal.” He looked up at Slee, hopeful. “Endy is fine, you seem really nice.”
Ender deposited his guitar strings in the bag with his controller. This trip had nearly cost him his life, but every trip was nearly costing him his life. He really hoped Slee would be his friend, even if eventually, like everything, it cost him his life.
Her smile returned to her face, her mouth slightly open, though not for deadly, hungry reasons. It was just a thing her body did, idly, when she was feeling happy.
“Holy crap!” Ender thought, “Her Mouth!” his heart pounded again, that wet flexible orifice was like looking at death.
“Endy, I think I will hang out with you, yeah.” She thought about it, her reputation might suffer from it, but admittedly he was the nicest person she’d talked to in recent memory. Preds were fun to be with, but they weren’t always that kind or polite. She seemed to prefer a nice human over a rude fellow predator. Her life would need some adjusting, but. “This was do-able right?” “So, we’re friends, then?” she asked Ender.
He extended his hand upwards to shake. “Slee, I’d be honored to call you friend for as long as I can.” His eyes roamed back to the lump steadily shrinking in the large naga’s tail.
“No problem, Endy.” She smiled some more and shook his hand, perhaps a tad violently, but still.
“I think my mom is here to pick me up, I’ll text you later, or see you in school, I don’t want to make things awkward for you.” Ender began to turn towards the northern mall exit, not wanting to put Slee out any more than he already had.
“Uh, alright. You can text me, let me know how it goes and all,” she said, waving as her new friend began to leave. “Maybe this won’t be a terrible idea. I CAN keep him safe, I guess.” And then she just slithered off, going on with her day, with his sister digesting in her coils.
Ender, on the other hand, sat in the car listening to his mom abuse him for letting his sister get eaten. He hadn’t tried telling her anything like the truth, there was no way they’d ever believe him. Now, the training he did constantly was being used against him by his mother. Apparently he should have found some way to overpower 1200 lbs of hungry naga.
“Ridiculous,” he thought. “Maybe dad will understand…” As the car pulled away, his mother still yelling, he thought he saw Slee hanging with her friends, including the lizard girl who’d ‘lunchnapped’ him. The decibel level in the car peaked.
“She was the smart one, how could you let this happen!?” his mother screeched. He tuned it out.
Maybe he’d see Slee passing in the hallways? At least he had one friend. Assuming he was getting sent straight to his room, he planned vicious online revenge against Human_Gurgler_69.