//------------------------------// // The Hunters and the Hunted (Guest) // Story: Tales from Tinies. // by MrAquino //------------------------------// "Hey Zach, got any more soda back there?" I asked, trying to keep my eyes firmly locked on the road ahead of me. A shuffling could be heard for a few moments, before I felt the cold chill of frozen metal kiss my neck. I shivered and leaned to the side, my body trying its hardest to escape the icy can of cola being held out for me. Five soft, delicate fingers wrapped around the can, saving me from its cold touch. To my right, Rebecca took the soda and opened it for me. After taking a sip for herself, she tucked it securely into the cup holder between our seats. I turned to give her a thankful smile and grabbed the soda from the holder. Sssssssp "Ah. Thanks, Becca," I said, purposely ignoring Zach's whining coming from behind me. He kicked my seat once in protest, but Becca was quick to stop him. "Dude, he's driving. Quit it," she scolded. Saving my ass yet again. I was used to it, though; she had been saving my ass since we were...two years old, maybe? I couldn't quite remember, but it had been that way for most of our lives. Always together, never apart for too long. "Oh, so what, I give him a soda and you guys yell at me, but you drink some of his soda and he thanks you?" Zach complained further, crossing his arms and pouting. It was hard to believe he was the same age as us. Even his little brother, sitting calmly in the seat next to him, was loads more tolerable than he was. It always perplexed me how different the two were, even though they came from the same place. Maybe being around his obnoxious brother for his whole life just made Jeremy resent that kind of embarrassing attention. I know I would have stayed quiet if I was him. He was an idiot, but he was our idiot. "Yep," both Becca and I said at the same time. Zach unfolded his arms and smirked, giving away that he was about to become even more of a pain in the ass. He had pretty obvious tells. "Man, you guys are in sync, for real," he said in his classic teasing voice. "How you aren't already banging each other silly, I'll never know." There it was. He started early than yesterday, maybe he would get the teasing out of his system and we could have the rest of the day off. It was wishful thinking, I know. "Who told you?! It was supposed to be a secret!" I heard Becca respond, her voice actually conveying some form of surprised shock. My heart skipped a beat as her words rang through my head. I nearly swerved onto the shoulder of the road, but my mind rebooted just in time to correct my driving. I turned my head just enough to see that Zach was sitting there with a dumbfounded expression on his face. We sat there for a few more moments before Becca began cracking up. "Haaaa ha-your faces right now!" she giggled madly to herself. I smirked along with her, but my mind was still going over the idea of what she had suggested to be true. The musical sound of her laughter only made my thoughts feel more realistic. Perhaps it was a hint of some kind...? Nah, she wouldn't beat around the bush like that. If she was serious about something, she would just come out and tell me. Not that I would jump into her pants at the first sign, though. Being friends for the better part of twenty years tends to create lines that you just don't cross, even if most lines are erased. Even Jeremy chuckled a bit at the scene, before returning his attention back out into the trees passing by our car. Zachary simply rolled his eyes and sat back, putting his knees up on the back of my seat. What a dick. The scenery passing by our speeding car was absolutely gorgeous. We entered the woodlands quite awhile ago, and it had been nothing but trees, grass and nature since then. Hell, I don't think we saw even a single other car for at least and hour or two. Normally, that would have been worrying. However, we had been to this area before, and we knew that it was almost always empty. That's why it made such great land for hunting. **** After another half hour, we were almost to the spot we had chosen. We had gone there many times before on previous hunting trips, but not with Jeremy. For him, this was his first time out with us. I could tell that he was trying his hardest not to embarrass himself, what with him ignoring his older brother and all. I guess a lifetime of being around Zachary would make anyone want to leave better impressions on people. It was dark out, so we could no longer see the brilliant shades of green and orange that had sprinkled our road ahead. Now, the only thing I could see was the black road ahead, being illuminated by the headlights of my truck. It wasn't much to look at, but Becca was doing her absolute best to keep me awake. The snoring coming from behind me also helped keep my eyes open. Zach was a banshee when he slept. He always refused to admit that he snored, but my ringing ears served as my own sort of proof. Jeremy was also sleeping, but much like when he was awake, he was very nearly silent. It was quite refreshing to have someone from Zach's family be less than annoying. I could already tell that I would get along great with the guy. I turned to look at Becca as she smiled, looking ahead at the bleak and dreary road in front of us. She was seriously such a joy to be around. I could admit that my temper wasn't always...the best in the world. Things ticked me off pretty quickly, unless she was around to mediate my emotions. My only hope was that I wasn't making her feel like she had to be around me all the time, like a temperamental dog or something like- "BEN, CAR!" I heard her suddenly shriek. My eyes, still locked onto her, saw the way her face changed into one of frightened surprise, the light from the oncoming vehicle lighting up her features. I whipped my head around just in time to get blinded by the light that engulfed us. There had been no light only a few moments earlier. That light should not have been there. In that split second, I realized that I might only have milliseconds left to say anything to her. I couldn't tell her anything important; I didn't have time. The only thing I could tell was... "I'm sor-" FWOOSH **** My head hurt like hell. It was worse than most of the headaches I've had before; I could tell this pain was caused by forceful impact. I tried to remove my head from the steering wheel, but I didn't have the energy at first. It took a few seconds, but I gradually worked up the effort to lift my head up. A sound that sounded somewhat like ripping paper filled my ears. My skin had been stuck to the leather of the steering wheel, my dried blood acting as a bonding agent. The sharp pain of a reopening wound shot through my forehead and caused me to curse out loud. "Shit!" I growled, lifting my shaking arm to cover the tender area. When I lowered my hand back into my field of vision, I didn't see any new blood. Good, then it didn't open back up, it just hurt like a bitch. The rest of my body hurt, but more in the same way that my head hurt. Blunt force trauma can do that. Nothing felt broken or out of place, though. I sat back, groaning as my back cracked in relief. We must have been sitting there for awhile- Wait, the others! My head shot to the side, darting over Becca's limp form. Behind us, Jeremy and Zachary were also out, though Zach wasn't in a sitting position. Dumbass didn't wear his seat belt. I let out a relieved sigh as I saw that they were all still breathing, and blood was thankfully absent from everywhere except my head. They needed me, and I had to get out. The door handle clicked as I pulled the lever, but it didn't budge. Okay, that was bad. Probably meant that the truck was in pretty rough shape. Had we smashed into something? We weren't dead, or even badly injured, so I doubt we had hit that car. Maybe we hit a tree at the side of the road? That felt like the most logical answer. It was still dark out, so we hadn't been there for as many hours as I had assumed. Man, whoever the driver of that other car was, screw them for not helping us out! I took a deep breath before shoving all of my weight against the door, while holding the lever up. A crunch was heard, then I found myself falling out from the driver's seat and onto the cold ground below. "Uumph!" I huffed, the air getting pushed from my lungs. My truck wasn't the largest of trucks, but it still wasn't pleasant when you fell out of it and onto your face. That shit hurts, man. Especially doing so right after a bad motor vehicle accident. I spent a few more moments catching my breath before standing up. My legs were wobbly, but they supported my weight all the same. Good, nothing was broken. I expected to feel grass crunching beneath my boots when I walked around to the other side of the truck, but didn't. It felt like the ground was made up of nothing but plain dirt, and a large rock here and there. Oh well, not the time to think about that. I had friends to check on. The truck was done for, to my dismay. The front was crunched in on some kind of humongous wooden structure, and the wheels were bent almost all of the way in. Glass littered the area, the windshield having blown out on impact. Stupid airbag didn't even go off on my side. I would have been more sad, but the well-being of my friends took priority over my hunk of previous-mobile metal. Becca's door opened with no problem; I guess it was just my side that got crunched. She was still unconscious, but breathing normally. I slid my arms around her, pulling her into a protective embrace and lifting her from the seat. I didn't know the state of her neck, so I made sure not to move it around too much. She could tell me when she woke up. The panic was starting to set in. Here we were, in the pitch black night, in an area that only got sparing visitors. There were be no likely passing vehicles, and I knew from previous trips that there was no cell coverage out here. I had never been in an accident before, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with three unconscious people that may or may not need medical attention. What the hell was I even doing? I was just running off instinct, and my instinct was telling me that the truck wasn't safe, and my friends needed to be out. Becca stirred slightly, her arms tightening around me. My heart skipped a beat and I grew warmer, before remembering that it wasn't the time for pondering. I set her down against another huge wood thing, making sure to keep her neck rested against it and not hanging limply down. The other two doors opened with no problem, giving me some semblance of good luck. Jeremy was a tiny little thing, so he was easy to lift, but I had to struggle with Zach. He was heavier than any of us, and possibly heavier than Becca and Jeremy put together. "Damn, Zach, did you have to eat that third burger?" I complained to myself. In the end, I had to hold him under his arms and drag him, with his feet dragging along the dirt. I placed him next to the other two, just in time for Becca to blink up weakly at me. A shot of pure relieved happiness surged through me and I nearly tripped over myself trying to get to her. "Becca!" I coughed, holding back a sob that had been held back since the crash. She smiled softly up at me, her eyes still a bit unfocused. She probably felt the same way I felt when I had woken up. At least her airbag had gone off. "Hey, dude. What...ugh, what happened?" she asked, letting out a yawn. "I don't know. How's your neck?" I shrugged off her question, not because I didn't want to answer, but because I cared more about the effect than the cause. She needed to be okay. They all needed to be okay. Becca rotated her neck slowly, careful not to go too fast, in case there was actually something wrong with it. After a few more rotations, she was satisfied. "It's fine," she replied. She then, for the first time, noticed the state my face was in. Her forced calm expression melted away and she pushed herself onto her knees, pulling me closer to examine me. "Oh my god, Ben, your face!" she fretted, her fingers running over the dried blood that had leaked down my forehead hours earlier. I felt fine otherwise, and didn't want her to worry. Plus, the close proximity of our lips turned my cheeks the same color as the dried blood, and I didn't want her to see. So I tried joking. "My face? Your face!" I responded. She blinked at my stupid retort before smirking in relief. "Yeah, you're okay. Looks pretty cool, though," she teased. Man, she knew how to push my buttons. Another perk of knowing me for so long. I was just glad that Zach didn't try saying those kind of things to me. I might have had to kick his ass. I moved away, looking around. "Where are we?" Becca asked, following my wandering gaze. I shrugged my shoulders. "No clue. No grass, giant wooden things all over the place. Feels like a nightmare," I told her. She gave off a visible shiver as a cold breeze blew through our area, carrying with it the scent of nature. It was an aroma we were very familiar with, but everything else about this place felt...wrong. Nothing else was familiar. It was like we had entered an entirely different reality or something. It was cold. It was dark. It was unfamiliar. It was wrong. And it was time to do what we did best: survive. **** "Fuck!" I shouted in frustration, tossing aside yet another piece of gear that had been busted in the crash. All the new, expensive stuff was the first to break. They just didn't make things as durable as they did years ago. Everything now was shiny and efficient, but exploded if you did so much as look at them wrong. The old junk was junk, but it still worked. An old flashlight, one of those bulky yellow ones, gave off a low, narrow beam of light that went for a pretty good distance. The main problem was that the radius of light was small. You could see what you were pointing at, but only if you knew what to point at. Besides that, I found my dad's old lantern. It gave off a decent radius of light, but the light was dim compared to the flashlight. It still worked, and I had extra batteries for it, so it was going to be used. I had also found the supplies for a quick fire, which was crackling warmly behind me. Becca, Zachary and Jeremy were resting around the fire, soaking in its heat. Zach had woken up, but fell back to sleep a few minutes after. The idiot, having not worn his seat belt, bumped his head pretty good. He was dizzy, but hopefully didn't have a concussion. Becca manned the fire, making sure to put the random pieces of what looked to be giant, log-shaped wood chips into it. I couldn't find any downed trees in our area, so we had to burn what we could find. Everything was weird, here. No trees, no grass, just dirt and wood chips. Oh, and those giant wooden structures. What the hell were those? They were way too big to be trees; they looked more like columns. I couldn't even see the stars. There weren't any visible trees, yet there was still a canopy above us. It was just black, save for the light given off by the small fire we had managed to build in a hurry. I tossed away another broken piece of gear before pulling out the boxes that I had been going for; our guns. We didn't pack much, a couple hunting rifles and a .45 revolver, but it felt like a blessing that we had them. We had brought enough ammunition for a good week's worth of shooting, so I felt a little safer. There was a gun for each of the elders, and I knew that Jeremy had brought along a big Buck knife. He seemed like the quiet type that would know how to kill a man in two seconds with one of those things. "Find them?" I heard Becca ask from behind me. I nodded so that she could see me and wrapped the cases in my arms, lugging them over to the fire area. She smiled a bit once she saw our firearms, but I could tell she was feeling just as stressed as I was. It was weird, having two people forcing themselves to stay strong for each other. Click Click The cases opened, revealing the three guns. At the sight of my trusty .45, I smiled. It wasn't a happy smile, but more of a 'I might get out of this alive' smile. I wasn't convinced, but I was encouraged. "Cool," she responded as I handed her a rifle. The other rifle would go to Zach, but he was still conked out. Until he woke up, the rifle would stay in my possession. Having two guns made me feel even safer, even if my knees still shook with obvious stress. I just wanted to get out of the nightmare I had found myself in. At least I wasn't alone here. Shiver The trembling from my knees spread up throughout my body, pulling me back down into my realm of fear and panic. The wind blew more cold air against me harshly, only furthering my shivering. Without the energy to keep myself standing up straight, I slumped to my knees and wrapped my arms around my chest. The shivering didn't stop. What were we going to do? We were lost, cold, without a vehicle, in a terrain with very little to offer in terms of shelter. My friends were there, relying on me to keep them safe, but how was I supposed to do that? All I had were a few guns, my hands, and whatever old gear had survived the crash. Oh, and it was still too dark to see where we were supposed to go to find our way back to civilization. Everything was- "Mm," I heard Becca grunt at the same moment as a pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around my shaking body. She was hugging me. I had been hugged by her so many times before, but this hug...it just felt so much warmer. It was more than just a normal hug; this was a statement. "I-...sorry...just freaking out a bit..." I admitted, sniffing quickly and wiping away the tears of frustration that had started to form. I didn't want her to see me cry. She didn't say anything at first, deciding instead to just squeeze me a bit tighter. The heat flowing into body my through her smaller form was amazing. My cheeks started warming up as well, so I turned so that she couldn't see. "It's okay, Benny. We'll be fine. We're always fine, remember?" she said, a warm smile gracing her lips. My eyes lingered on her face, though I was looking at her sideways, still trying to hide my blush. I pondered the truth in her words for a moment. She was right; we were always fine. We have been in trouble in the woods before, but had always found a way through it all. As long as we worked together...everything would be okay. Those other times we had been in trouble, it had just been the two of us, maybe Zach as well. Now, we had some gear, an extra guy, and we were all safe around the crackling fire that illuminated the clearing. We would be fine. After another moment of silence, I nodded. Becca just grinned at me and reached up, tussling my hair with her fingers. Another shiver shot up my spine, but not from fear or cold. This shiver was from the warm tingles her fingers had caused. I loved having my hair played with, and she knew it. Usually, she just teased me with that knowledge, but now she was using it to help comfort me. A happy sigh escaped my lips as I leaned back, letting her do what she wanted to my scalp. "Oh, hold on," I interrupted, standing up and moving to the wrecked truck. Becca pouted at first, but stopped when I pulled out some sleeping bags that I had packed. She smiled and nodded, helping me cover the other two guys up for the night. Once we had completed our task, we settled down in our own bags, laying right next to each other. The blush came back, but I was able to hide it by covering my face with the bag. I could feel our bodies snuggled together, even through the bags. It was...the most comfortable I'd ever been, to be honest. Even though I always told myself that Becca was just my best friend in the world, I couldn't ignore the warm tingles of familiarity that shot through me whenever we were together. My eyes started to close, until I felt another wave of happy shivers course through me. Becca, reaching her arm out of her bag, had resumed playing with my hair. Did doing that help her calm down, too? That wasn't even fair. I drifted away into unconsciousness quickly, her wondrous fingers working their magic all too well. Right before I fell asleep, I thought I saw a glint coming from high up inside the blackness surrounding us. My brain, in the process of going into rest mode, dismissed the light and continued shutting down. **** "Jeremy!" The voice, shouting loudly and very close to me, pulled me from my dreamless sleep. I shot up, the urgency in Zach's voice startling me. My eyes, still crusted over from sleeping, cracked open painfully and allowed the dim light to reach my retinas. I could tell it was now daytime, wherever we were, but the area around us was still dark. The surrounding structures blocked out most of the light. I didn't pay much attention to our illuminated surroundings, my mind rushing to figure out why Zachary was acting so scared. The warm body that had pressed against me the night before was no longer present, so Becca must have also woken up before me. Zach was stomping around, yelling out his younger brother's name over and over, his tone fearful and panicked. "What's going on?" I managed to say, finally getting the large man's attention. Zach's head whipped around, his eyes glaring into mine. He looked absolutely terrible; his eyes were red, tears streamed down his cheeks, and he had a bruise from where he had hit his head during the crash. "Jeremy's gone! Ben, my brother's gone!" he shouted, stomping up to me and hoisting me onto my feet. For the moron he was, he was very strong. My mind, still hazy from being pulled from my sleep, didn't process was he was saying at first. "Wuh...where is he?" I asked, rubbing my eyes to get the remaining crust out. Zach responded by shoving me harshly, pushing me back into one of the giant wooden columns. My back smacked against the structure painfully, drawing a sharp groan from me. "HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?! Dude, he's gone! He's gone and doesn't know how to take care of himself...ugh, help me look!" he shouted in my face, some spittle landing on my cheeks. Instinctively, my hand shot out, wrapping around his throat and squeezing just enough to stop him from talking. Zach choked, his eyes bugging out and looking into mine. I gave him a stern glare. "Don't. Push. Me. I'll kick your ass again, if I have to. Now, shoving won't help us find your brother. We need to organize and look, okay?" I asked, my fingers squeezing a bit more. Zach let out another choking sound before nodding. I let go of his throat, allowing him to take in air once more. He took a few deep breaths before straightening himself up and looking around. Any other time, he might have tried fighting me some more, but his mind was still locked on his brother. "Where's Rebecca?" "She's looking around, she should be- oh, there she is," he said, looking behind me. I turned around, catching sight of my small best friend as she trudged back into the clearing. She looked very visibly shaken. There was something in her hand, but she was still too far away for us to be able to see what it was. The two of us rushed over to her, Zach intent on seeing what she had found. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Her hair was a bit frazzled, but that might have just been from sleeping and waking up without being able to take care of it. "Becca! You okay?" I asked, concern filling my voice. I placed both of my hands on the girl's shoulders, finally able to feel how badly she was shaking. Zach only grew more restless when she didn't immediately say anything. I tried looking into her eyes, but she was staring straight ahead, as if she had just seen the horrors of war. What the hell had happened? Slowly, almost cautiously, she held out something. It was shiny, and sharp...and covered in blood...oh, god. It was Jeremy's knife. Zach's eyes bugged out once again, almost as if I was choking him against. He blinked a few times before taking the knife from Becca's grip. He didn't move. He didn't breathe. He just...stared at it. I didn't really know what to do now; Becca was traumatized, and Zach was about to have a break- "FUCK! FUCKING FUCK FUCK! WHAT THE HELL?! JEREMY! JEREMY, COME BACK!" Zach screamed at the top of his lungs, holding the knife against his chest. The blood, some of it not yet dried, smeared across his shirt. Before either Becca or I could say anything to stop him, he had taken off in the direction that Becca had came from. He was headed towards an area with a lot of large green cover, and we lost sight of him quickly. "ZACH! ZACH, GET BACK HERE! SHIT!" I yelled out in frustration, trying to pull Becca after me. She didn't move on her own accord at first. Was finding Jeremy's bloody knife so traumatizing for her? With a huff, I turned around and pulled her into a tight hug. Slowly, her trembling stopped. "Becca, it's okay. We're always fine, remember?" I tried to assure her. Her arms moved up and ensnared me, returning the embrace hungrily. She choked back a sob, but couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds. She starting crying, her face buried in my chest. My response, of course, was to hug her tighter while whispering soothing words into her ear. The crying didn't stop. I just held her there, giving her any warmth I could; she had done the same for me the night before. After a few minutes, I could feel her tapping on my side, trying to get my attention. We separated enough so that we could look at each other. She looked so...fragile. It hurt to see such a strong girl suddenly pulled into such a state of fear. What was bothering her so much? "What's wrong?" I asked, trying to scan her features for any clues. Her eyes drifted past my face and up into the darkness of the area we were in. Another tap. This time, however, she pointed to what she was looking at. My head turned to look in the direction of her index finger. She was looking towards one of the giant columns. Yeah, those had also been confusing me since the crash. What the hell were they? "T-...trees..." she stuttered, her face contorting. Trees? But what...oh, shit... They were trees. Those giant, wooden, column things were actually trees! But why were they so damn big?! From end-to-end, they looked wider than the local lake back home. Cutting down one of these trees would be impossible without explosives of some kind! And everything around us...was... Giant. There wasn't any grass beneath our feet because it was as tall as us! We had landed in a clearing, but all around that spot, person-sized blades of grass covered the ground. Everything here was scaled to the impossible. We were, in this area's measurements, about three or four inches tall. My breath caught in my throat as the truth behind Becca's trauma kicked in. The bloody knife wasn't what had scared her so badly; it was the realization that wherever we were, whatever had happened...we were now tiny. Tiny little people inside a giant forest, probably full of giant creatures eager to find us. And at our size...how many of the forest's inhabitants would be able to swallow us whole? Jeremy. Had something found him? The blood on his knife gave me a reason to suspect that... And Zachary. He had darted into a field of grass, not knowing where he was even going. How were we supposed to find him? "Jeremy!" Oh. Even as a munchkin, Zach still had a monster set of lungs on him. We could hear him, but he sounded pretty far away. If we waited much longer, we would risk losing him for good. In the nightmarish giant forest, losing him meant he would probably get killed in some terrible way. "C'mon, Becca! We gotta find him!" I urged, tugging her in the direction of Zach's shouting. She held back at first. "What about Jeremy? What about the forest?!" she panicked. I just shook my head and yelled my answer truthfully. "I don't know!" I responded. She looked at me fearfully, but nodded and finally chose to follow me. I'd rather be honest with Becca than lie to her and say I knew what to do. She was just that kind of friend. We followed Zach's voice through the grass, having to weave in and out of the tufts. At our size, it was even difficult to push the grass aside when there was no clear path. In this forest, we were truly the weak ones. Our guns...they wouldn't do shit. We didn't even have them with us at the moment, but even if we did, what could we take down? The tiny little bullets would more than likely make a large animal itch, rather than injure them. The only thing we could use them against...would be ourselves. I pushed that thought from my mind. No, we would be fine. We were always fine. "Jeremy! Where the fuck are you?!" we could hear Zach shout from in front of us. We rushed towards the voice, using it as a guide. After that shout, he grew unusually silent. Becca's eyes started growing worried, catching my attention. "Is this where...the knife...?" I asked nervously. Becca's expression grew grim and she nodded. Another stressed shiver ran down my spine, almost causing me to trip as I ran. Together, Becca and I broke through the thick grass cover, into another clearing. And there was Zach. He was standing, looking at the ground, his body motionless. I moved forward, trying to see just the hell he was looking at. I wish I hadn't. Right there, right in front of Zachary, was a giant hole in the ground, about as deep as I was tall. It was shaped like...what looked to be a hoof. And that wasn't the only one. There were marks all around the clearing, leading up to where Zachary was standing. And next to Zach... A stain. It wasn't just blood, though. The blood was very minimal. Only a drop or two on the ground, next to a shape that looked like the knife's blade. The rest of the puddle on the ground looked like...saliva. As soon as I noticed the sticky-looking texture and musky smell of the liquid, I nearly lost whatever food remained in me since I had last eaten. Becca had seen all of this. It wasn't just the size thing that had disturbed her so. That was only maybe a quarter of what made her so tense. The real reason she was so scared...was because she knew. She knew that we were being hunted. By the looks of it, Jeremy had been caught and...eaten. But what he was likely eaten by, I couldn't tell. I still hadn't seen any other wildlife in the area. If I had, I could have learned about our reduced size much sooner and could have possibly prevented whatever had happened to poor Jerry. Anger Red "SHIT!" I shouted, breaking the silence, my fists smashing against my head furiously. The anger, all of the confusion and pain since arriving in the nightmare world, came rushing forward. Why was all of this happening?! What had we done to deserve being tortured like this?! Something out there was consciously deciding to torment us, and now we were being eaten! I just wanted to go home and lay in bed for the rest of my life...or at least be anywhere else. Again, I was embraced by a pair of supportive arms. The anger seeped away from me, flowing out into the blackness of the evil forest we were all trapped in. Becca hugged my back, her hand reaching up and running through my hair again. Not...fair... "Okay...I'm good, Bec, thanks..." I sighed, leaning my head back into her hand. I was just glad that whatever I had started doing had snapped her from her daze and pulled her back. It was strange, the way we did that to each other. When one freaked out, the other calmed them down. It was comfortable, having someone who I could rely on to do that... Becca squeezed me harder, so I got the hint that she was smiling, even though I couldn't see her. I smiled back, despite the situation. Zach was still there, staring down at the puddle of spit. Whatever had left it...had probably gotten his little brother. At that very moment, Jeremy could be nothing more than a snack, churning away in some hungry beast's gut. Something inside of Zachary snapped. He didn't move. He didn't speak. He didn't appear to be alive. His lack of motion, especially given the kind of person he was, frightened me. I moved away from Becca's grasp, walking slowly up behind the mourning brother and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Hey, man, we...we don't know. He could still be fine, but we can't just give up. Come on, we have to get back to the camp...or maybe move it somewhere with grass," I told him, trying to break him from his stupor. Zach flinched, turning around to look at me with...the deadest eyes I'd ever seen. All of the courage, the competitive annoyance he usually held...it was gone. "...Grass...?" he asked, not fully understanding his situation. His voice was as dull and lifeless as his eyes. I slowly nodded, pointing down at the hoofprint. His dead eyes followed my finger. "Yeah, we're...Zach, we're like, three inches tall. That huge wooden thing we crashed into...it's a tree..." I explained, looking into his fading eyes and looking for a sign of life. To my surprise, he didn't really seem all that surprised. "Huh...okay," he responded. Both Becca and I stared at him, unsure of how to process the fact that he didn't care that we were bite-sized for mostly any animal bigger than a squirrel. Maybe I would keep him away from the guns... At least he didn't fight me when I told him to follow us back to camp. He just marched along behind us like a robot, following his current directive. Was this what was going to happen to the three of us? Would we all going slowly, or quickly, insane at the loss of what we loved? What did I love? The only thing that would drive me crazy would be losing... I protectively wrapped my arm around Becca, pulling her against my side in a defensive manner. Nothing bad would happen to her, and I was going to make sure of that. If something wanted her as a snack, it was going to have to deal with me ripping its insides out, first. I wonder how giant carnivorous horse tastes? The walk to the camp was uneventful, but once we reached it...holy crap. There were hoofprints everywhere. Most of the camp was gone. As was my truck. Again, not sad about that, given that all of my attention was focused on keeping Becca safe. The truck was destroyed, anyway. No use crying over broken metal. The part that made me bristle with fear and anger was that most of the gear was gone, as well. The sleeping bags were gone, the camping equipment was gone...so much had been taken by the demon horses. I rushed forward, sighing in relief as I found the flashlight, lantern, and gun cases right where I had left them: safely hidden behind a rock. That rock, I guess, was more of a large pebble. We had light, and we had guns. What we didn't have was...pretty much everything else. No food, no water, no sleeping bags, no fire-starters...ugh. We would need to move on to find proper supplies to live off of, even though we hadn't discovered yet if Jeremy truly had been eaten. When I find the horses, hopefully after I become normally-sized again, I'll glue its ass. And I don't mean glue it to something, I mean turn it into goddamn glue. I handed Zach and Becca each a rifle, with enough ammunition to hopefully make it to somewhere safer. Again, Zach didn't protest the idea of leaving. He didn't even seem to think there was a chance his brother was still alive. He was just...switched off. With a sigh, I wrapped my arm around Becca again and moved away from the site of the initial crash landing. The small girl at my side accepted my physical affection eagerly, trying to hide from the harsh reality we had found ourselves in. **** Nothing. We found absolutely nothing. The giant forest just seemed to go on forever. I couldn't even use my compass to find out which direction we were going; the needle wouldn't move. No matter what direction I turned in, the needle just sat there. It was either busted, or this strange world had no magnetic pull. Where the hell had we landed? Giant forest, giant man-eating horses, no way to tell direction with the kind of compass I was using...it was becoming more and more evident that we were screwed. The longer we walked, the worse Zachary got. At first, he was just acting like a robot, functioning on autopilot. As time went on, though, he started acting up. The true unfairness and hopelessness of the situation finally started reaching him, drawing only one emotion from him; anger. "AAAAAAAAAARGH!" he shouted into the darkness, his eyes darting around wildly. I knew that look; he was going mad with grief. He would want to take his rage out on something, and I'd be damned if I let him lay a finger on Rebecca. She noticed his worsening mentality and promptly started walking in front of me. She knew I was more than a match for the madman, even if he was much bigger. Zach was heavy and clumsy; he would put everything he had into each swing, usually knocking himself off-balance if he missed. Just as I suspected, I heard him rushing up behind me, still shouting his head off. My instincts kicked in once again and I spun around, shooting my palm out like a missile and catching him right in the throat. The insane man flung himself away from my hand, landing on the ground and rolling around, coughing and sputtering painfully. "ZACH! CALM DOWN!" I warned him, my eyes watching every movement of his, trying to plan out a possibly counterattack. What I hadn't expected was for him to spin around and stand up, holding his rifle up and aiming at me. My heart skipped a beat or two. Zach was standing there, his eyes wild, breathing rapidly as the barrel of his gun pointed straight at my face. He was actually aiming to kill me. I would have returned the threat with my own revolver, but it was tucked away in my waistline. I didn't want to make a quick movement and startle him into firing. Where the gun was aimed, I would be dead before I could return fire. "Z-Zach..." I heard Becca stutter from somewhere behind me. Her voice sounded muffled, so she must have found cover while I was pushing him back. The only comfort in the world to me at that moment was that Becca would be safe. Zach didn't pay attention to her, though. His eyes were locked onto me, his finger caressing the trigger like it was trying to tease it into clicking back. Crack The sound made me flinch, thinking it was the firing pin for his rifle striking. When I noticed that I was not dead or at least on the ground bleeding, I opened my eyes and looked to the gunman. He looked just as confused as I was. Some of the madness had drained from his eyes, allowing me to see my friend standing there. "What are y-" He didn't get to finish his sentence. Before any of us could blink, a giant black shadow emerged from the darkness behind Zach and engulfed him. As soon as it had appeared, the shadow was gone, leaving behind an empty spot where my friend had been standing...along with four hoof prints and a rifle. Becca and I stood there for a moment, our brains trying to register what has just happened. The retreating sound of movement through the forest, along with a muffled screaming, broke up from our frozen states. Instantly, we were both running in the direction the shadow had taken Zach. "ZACH! NO, ZACH!" I screamed, my mind racing as fast as my legs were. No. Not another friend. They wouldn't have him. I wouldn't let them have him. Becca ran right behind me, her lighter weight and quicker pace allowing her to keep up with my longer stride. We were both panicking, running as a way to convince ourselves that we were doing something to help the situation. In the back of our minds, we knew how hopeless it was. We had both seen the prints. The shadow was easily the size of a house, and its prints weren't even as big as the ones we had seen earlier. This horse giant was smaller than the one that had taken Jeremy, but it was still plenty huge enough to make off with a full grown man in the blink of an eye. Even with the guns, there was nothing we could possibly do to fight the monsters. We were both crying now, the situation hitting us again. What the hell were we supposed to do? Just keeping running until we were spirited away just like Zachary and Jeremy had been? We couldn't even run away from them; at their size, they could probably cover as much distance in a minute as we could in a day. They were probably there the whole time, watching us and waiting for a chance to pick one of us off at a time. The demons were smart; they were the true hunters here. So we kept running, trying to keep up with the muffled screaming. The screaming stopped moving away for some reason, allowing us to catch up. Through the grass, we could see...something. It was just about the size I had guessed, but was still too hidden in the shadows to see any more features. "Stop! Let me out!" we heard Zach's voice from somewhere. It took us a moment to realize that his scream were coming from...inside its mouth. Becca almost rushed forward to do anything to help, but I held her back. There was nothing we could do. The thing...played with Zach in its mouth for awhile, making strangely feminine and young-sounding moaning sounds. It was the most disturbing thing I had ever seen, and I'd skinned and dressed more animals than I could remember. Then it happened. "AAAAAAA-*GLURK*-aaaaaaaaa..." The giant horse let out a content huff as we sat there, our faces contorted in horror as we witnessed the bulge of our friend traveling down the beast's neck and into its body. We had just watched Zachary, our friend and fellow hunter...get swallowed by a demon horse. It didn't even have any trouble, nor did it chew...it just...swallowed him whole. At our size...and that was the smaller one... "EE-!" Becca gasped before she could stop herself. The shadow went still, as did the two of us. A flopping sound could be heard, which I realized was the thing's large ears, swiveling around and listening for us. It turned its head, revealing two giant, golden orbs that had long, black slits running down the middle. It was staring right at us. "B-Becca..." I whispered, nudging her. She was frozen. "We...we have to go...like, now." She didn't move, probably still in shock from watching a full-grown man get eaten whole by a giant, snake-eyed horse. We didn't have time to freeze, unless we felt like joining Zach in that thing's gut. In order to get her moving, I moved my face close to her and pressed my lips against hers. The air went even more silent, if that was even possible. Her eyes widened a bit, showing a spark of life that I had been trying to pry from her. Once her mind seemingly processed what I was doing, her eyes closed a bit and she pushed back against me, returning my affection. I had just wanted to wake her up, but this was also something I had been wanting to do before we...before we died. Why wasn't she pushing me away? I could tell she was awake, now. Did she...oh...why now? Why, out of all the times to push through my fears and kiss her, did it have to be right when we were about to die horribly? She felt the same way about me! All this time, I held back, not wanting to taint my relationship with my closest friend in the world. Now that we both knew...we would have no time. My anger at the situation spiked again, but was quickly muted by another soft kiss. Her lips were the warmest thing in my world...even my own beating heart couldn't hold a candle. I wanted so badly to just sit there and be with her, in the way I had been wanting to for so long...but the snapping of branches and twigs moving towards us pulled me out of my happiness and back into reality. "Run!" I urged her, pushing her ahead of me. I would not let her trip and fall and becoming the giant fucker's next meal. So we ran. **** Our feet carried us for what must have been miles, if the world had been scaled to our normal size. By the time we stopped under a giant log to rest, our hearts were pounding out of our chests and our legs were so wobbly that I doubted we could go much farther. As far as we had run, I knew that whatever had eaten Jeremy and Zach had been following right behind us. Hell, it probably just casually walked along while we were sprinting. Everything sucked. We were already lunch and we both knew it. So why did we run? Myself, I just wanted to spend some more time with Becca before the giant found us. My mind, despite our impending fate, was still running circles around itself with the fact that Becca had kissed me back. It felt so...surreal. And not just because we were only a few inches tall. So long hiding my feelings from myself, and then it just...well, it just happened. There was so much I wanted to say to her, so much I wanted to do. The worst part? It was already dark again. We still had the lantern and flashlight, as well as a rifle and my revolver. We both knew that the guns would do nothing; we had known even before we had seen the giant feeding for ourselves. At our size, the lights would do nothing but give away our locations. Our only two means of defense, and they were useless. It was becoming funny to me, actually; we went into the woods, expecting to be the hunters. Instead, we had becoming the hunted! Heh, it was pretty funny. Something straight out of a bad movie, complete with useless, flickering flashlights and creepy stuff lurking in the shadows. "Heh...heh heh...ha haaaa!" I started to giggle, my voice still strained from trying to catch my breath. Becca scooted a bit closer to me, bringing me in for another embrace. I returned it, but the contact didn't stop my giggling. It was just so hilarious! Hunters and hunted...man eaten by horse...bwaha! "Ben, please...Ben, it'll...it'll be okay..." she whispered, brushing her fingers through my hair again. I barely heard her, but her fingers did sooth my trembling a little. She said it would be okay? Yeah, it would be okay for the horsies! They must have been super-hungry, if they were out in the woods, munching on tiny people! How many of them were around? Would there be enough of me to feed them all? Oh, no! What if they would still be hungry? That would terrib-! Smack I fell backwards, my face immediately warming up where it had been struck. What? What was going on? Had Becca slapped me? She was standing over me, tears streaming down her face. What the fuck had I been saying? Damn, it was all just a haze... "Becca...?" I mumbled, feeling a bit of blood leak down my lip. It had been cracked and dried from running around without water, and the force from her hand just opened it. As soon as I had spoken, Becca leapt down next to me and wrapped herself around me once again. I didn't even know what was going on, but I could tell that she was just as scared as I was. She definitely didn't need me breaking down right in front of her. Again, I hugged her protectively and let her scream her frustrations out into my chest, the sound muffled by my shirt and skin. I just wanted to stay there with her. Inside our log, where it was safe. Could we make a life here? No, I know she wouldn't want to live the rest of her life in fear, anticipating what she knew would happen eventually. I felt the same way. We were going to either make it out alive, together, or...we would go down trying. After a few minutes, she calmed down and my lip had stopped bleeding. The forest was noisy at night, something I hadn't noticed the night before. I must have been too focused on making sure everybody was okay. In one day, we had lost two of our friends...how much longer would we last? The rustling in the woods outside told me that it wouldn't be that long. These...damned horses. They took my friend, they took his brother, they were probably the ones who made us this size... Fuck them. I don't care if I get eaten anymore. I hope it chokes on me and dies. While Becca hid her face in my chest, I lifted the flashlight and pointed it out of the log we were hiding it. The little beam of light cut through the thick darkness, but it was so small...it would be a miracle if I could find anything with it. I scavenged around silently, the tiny beam acting as a skylight as I searched for any sign of the horses. I almost considered the possibility of it being safe enough to move, but then the beam of light illuminated a familiar golden orb, the large black slit aimed straight at me. Oh, that's perfect. Moving the light around, I found five more orbs just like it, the golden hue surrounding the slits differing slightly with the other two sets. Just what I wanted, three of them. Probably the small one, and what looked to the be two larger ones. The only reason I could tell was because the two other pairs were a good deal higher than the eyes of the one who ate Zach. It didn't matter that much to me; they were all big enough to swallow me whole...maybe even the both of us at the same time. They were just that big. They were just staring at me, as if waiting for me to make the first move. Or maybe they wanted me to fall asleep so they could sneak over and gulp us down when we were unconscious. I didn't tell Becca yet; I wanted to give her a few more moments of comfort before the inevitable happened. She deserved at least that much. And I think I deserved those last few moments with her, trying to imagine what life would have been like it none of this had happened. Would we have still gotten together? Would we have had children? What would their names have been? I probably wouldn't have been all that successful, but Becca...she was smart. Not top of her class, but plenty knowledgeable enough to go to a good college and get a good job. All of the possibilities of what could have been, gone...lost down the throats of the monsters lurking in the darkness. I almost wanted to march out their and lead them away from her, get it over with. I could never outrun them, but maybe I could distract them long enough for Becca to get away... A tugging at my shirt told me that she would never let me do that. We were going down together, or not at all. I looked down into the dark brown hair of the girl I loved and rubbed her back soothingly. She looked up at me, her eyes full of despair...but also with love. It was such an odd sensation, staring into the soul of a lover who knew that we were about to die. "Hey, Ben?" I heard her ask me. Her voice was trembling, but confident. She had decided something and was determined. "Yeah?" "Let's just run," she said softly, still holding onto me. "Bec, they're out there right now. They know we're here..." I told her. She just smiled up at me weakly. "I know." she stated simply. I blinked at her, the realization of what she was suggesting hitting me hard. She wanted us to go out together. She had enough of waiting, and honestly, so had I. We knew each other's feelings, and there wasn't much more to be said. Why not? "...Okay..." I responded after a few moments. As soon as I spoke, I felt her lips press against mine again. I didn't hold back this time, putting every last bit of passion and love towards her into my kiss. We sat there inside that log for at least five minutes, engaging in the single most intimate moment I had ever experienced. I didn't mind her messy hair or stale breath, and she didn't seem to mind my rugged nature or smell of drying sweat. We weren't kissing because we liked the body of the other, we were kissing because it was going to be the last chance to show love to another living creature. We finally broke the kiss, Becca pulling back just enough so that we could look into each other's eyes. Our gazes both held determined sparks, showing just how much we cared about one another. Nothing else needed to be said. We just got up and ran. I exited the log right after Becca, our legs moving us along the ground with renewed vigor. Neither of us could feel the lingering exhaustion that had plagued us only an hour or so earlier; we were on a mission. The area around the log was pitch black, the daytime sun no longer illuminating the tops of the trees. Becca held the lantern in front of her, while I manned the flashlight, hoping to spot the giant creatures before they could get to us. Maybe, if I could see them first, I would be able to warn Becca before they could reach us. To my horror, when I flashed the beam of light into the area where the orbs were previously, the light hit only darkness. The giants were no longer there. I couldn't even hear any movement in the bushes or cracking twigs. The only sound I could hear moving through the blackness of the forest was... The flapping of wings. My breathe caught in my throat, my heart nearly stopping as I realized just how they had been keeping an eye on us so well. "Becca, watch out! They can fly! They have wi-!" FWOOSH-*GULP* My heart stopped longed enough for me to fall to my knees, dizzy. I turned around to look at the space Becca had been. She was gone. ... No. No. NO. NO! "NOOOO! BECCA! AAH...AAH...AAAAAAAAARGH!" I lost it. Becca was gone. One of them had flown down and picked her up before I could warn her. It was my fault. I couldn't protect her. The forest had gone quiet again, the sound of flapping wings moving away from me. I didn't care if they were moving closer or farther away. I didn't care if they ate me. I just wanted to be dead. Becca was gone, I was supposed to go with her. Once again, I had failed to keep someone safe, and this time it was my very best friend and the girl I was in love with. Another set of wings could be hear, this time moving towards me. Fucker. Get it the hell over with. THUMP The sound came from behind me. It must have landed. Good for you, you giant asshole. I spun around, flashing the light into the face of the being that was set on ending me. ... ...What? It was definitely...some kind of equine, but...definitely not a horse. It looked almost like a giant, cartoonish pony-thing. But that couldn't have been right, it had wings, and cat-like pupils, and...large, fluffy ears. Its colors were also strange; it was a dark grey, with a long purple mane flowing down and covering the left side of its face. It also had fangs poking out from its smiling lips, making it look like some sort of...bat...thing. Now that I could see its face, I could somehow tell that it was female. A giant, smirking bat-pony-demon female, but still a female. Her ears flicked towards me, listening to anything I might have to say. Sensitive hearing, another reason they had been able to track us so well. She towered over me, waiting for my final words before she undoubtedly swallowed me down like a Ben-flavored fruit snack. I only had two words for her. "Fuck. You." In an instant, I whipped my revolver from my waistline, holding it out and pointing it straight at one of her large, golden eyes. She visibly flinched back, one of her bat-like wings flapping over her face and protecting her. She even made a little whimpering sound, like a child who was afraid of getting hit for the first time. Ha, she was afraid of such a little weapon. More wing-flapping, two more THUMPs. Ah, the other two had arrived, no doubt trying to get in on my tasty human body. They both stepped into the light of my ancient torch, exposing themselves. One was very familiar; it was the smaller one that had eaten Zach, and it was obviously another female, although a younger one. Her eyes were a brighter gold, her body being a lighter grey and her mane green instead of purple. She was staring at my gun, taking a step back in apparent fear. The second new arrival was taller and bulkier than the other two, so I assumed it to be male. It was a very dark grey, with a jet-black mane to go with it. He had a look a doofy contentment on his face as he- Braaap~ Oh. OH. "YOU. ARE. DEAD!" I screamed, my mind snapping. He had been the one that had taken Becca from me. These three had been torturing us for the past two days, driving us slowly insane to the point where Zach had even threatened to shoot me. These...these...abominations were going to fucking pay. I shifted my arm immediately, aiming down the iron sights on top of my .45, looking straight into the startled eyes of the male. The three let out a gasp as I pulled the hammer back, the cylinder clicking into place. They seemed to know what my gun was, somehow. I didn't have much time before they flew off. I didn't care about the other two. The male needed to die. I pulled the trigger, the kick of the revolver firing becoming my favorite feeling in the world at that moment. Four times I fired, all in the direction of the one who had swallowed Becca. Had I hit him? The confused look he gave me as he lowered the leathery wing from over his face told me that I hadn't. It was over. I couldn't harm these beasts. They could do whatever they wanted to me, and I couldn't do anything against... No. No, I had a choice. I could deny them what they wanted; a creature to hunt. Yeah, that could do. The one thing they couldn't stop me from hurting...myself. Slowly, almost uneasily, I lifted the revolver and twisted it, the cold metal at the end of the barrel pressing against my temple. The three giant maneaters, just uncovering their faces, gasped when they saw what I was doing. What the hell did they care? They could do whatever the hell they wanted with me...but not while I was alive. One bullet left. "I love you, Becca...I'm so sorry, guys, I should have been more careful. I should have seen what they could do. I should have been calm, maybe then...maybe then I could have saved you..." I said, trembling. Tears were streaming down my face, the thoughts of what our futures could have been flashing through my mind again. My index finger teased the trigger of the revolver, the way Zach's had when he was aiming at me. I wanted to go out with the happiest memory in my head...so I thought of Becca's smiling face as she played with my hair. I could almost hear her voice, begging me for something, though it was barely audible...and it was too muffled to decipher. She must have been calling me from the beyond, reaching out and begging me to join her. I sniffed and smiled at the idea of seeing her again soon. I started to squeeze- "STOP!" the older female giant shouted in a squeaky, almost adorable voice. Her sudden ability to speak startled me, causing me to fumble with the gun. It slipped from my grasp and I was unable to catch it. The hammer struck the ground first, jolting the internals and setting it off. BANG! I recoiled into a fetal position, the bullet whizzing by my face and off into the darkness somewhere, pinging against a tree. Everything went silent, the giants having covered their faces again, trembling in fear of the mighty revolver. "No! Ben! Oh, god...Ben..." I heard a very familiar sobbing coming from the direction of the male, though it was muffled and faint. The voice it belonged to...I sat up and immediately started sprinting in the direction of the male. "Becca! BECCA! I...I CAN HEAR YOU! WHERE ARE YOU?!" I shouted desperately, searching around. Had the male dropped her somehow? Had she escaped? As soon as she heard my voice, she got louder and sobbed more, but in relief. "BEN! Ben...you didn't...oh, thank god...I'm in here..." she responded, from up above me...inside...the male... I fell back onto my ass, too stunned to say or do anything else. The male just looked down at me, a fearful look still lingering in his eyes. The other two, the females, were looking at me with tears streaming down their cheeks. The hell were they sad for? "Let...her...out..." I growled, my face darkening into one of murder. I didn't care that the male was a few thousand times my size, I would find a way to kill him if he didn't do exactly what I said. He seemed to understand that, as he immediately made a coughing motion. A few moments of confusion later, and he had something in his mouth. Very carefully, as to not startle me, he lowered his head to the ground and opened his mouth. A wave of warm air seeped out, bathing me in its humidity. It didn't smell bad at all, mostly reminding me of fruit and grass. A bit of movement in his mouth caught my attention, my heart skipping another beat. It was becoming unhealthy, how often my heart was trying to stop today. And then she slid out, using his tongue as a slide. It was a good thing I was already on my ass, or I would have fallen again. As soon as Becca's feet touched the ground, she sprinted straight at me. Her feet moved at a speed I hadn't even seen her use when we started running out of the log. "BEN! Oh my god, Ben..." she sobbed, her tears mixing with the layer of sticky saliva that had covered her completely. She threw her arms around my prone position, pulling me into the tightest hug I had ever received. I didn't even care that she was smearing the male's spit all over me, I was just so happy that she was still alive. I pulled her up, moving her to my lips. She didn't even need my help, her face shooting forward and smacking mine, our teeth clacking together painfully. We didn't even care. All that mattered to both of us was that we were both still okay. Then she smacked me again. It didn't hurt, my elation from her survival muting most of my senses. "YOU ALMOST...you...why...?" she sobbed, looking down at me angrily. Oh...she had heard everything I said before I prepared to...shoot myself. That wasn't just my brain going haywire when I heard her voice before. She was actually begging me not to do it, from inside the giant horse. I almost...oh my god... "I thought I lost you..." I told her, my own tears streaming down my face. She pulled me into another hug, her cheek rubbing against the cheek she had smacked. "You made me think the same thing, you asshole..." she cried. My fingers crawled up her back, reaching her brown hair and brushing them just the way I liked. She settled down somewhat, though the feeling probably wasn't quite as good as normal. Her hair was soaked together with horse spit, after all. Hurk Bleh Two more gagging sounds rang out, drawing my attention away from the sobbing girl laying down on me. Looking over, I saw two other familiar forms, one of them crossing its arms and smirking at me. They were both covered in stomach juice. "So, finally kissed her? Dude, it's about time," Zach said in a mocking tone, his face half-covered by his soaked hair. I'm done. Shutting down. Black **** I woke up feeling groggy, but not quite as out of it that I had been when the truck crashed. I felt...warm. Warm and cozy. And wet. That last one made me shoot awake, scrambling to find out where I was. I couldn't see squat, making me resort to fumbling around with my arms. Everything around me was squishy and smelled of...fruit. "Oh my god..." I mumbled, realizing where I was. I was inside one of the damn horses. My mind, still trying to boot up, went into overdrive, thinking of ways for me to get out. Being that I had just woken from a surprisingly pleasant dream, most of my possibly escape plans ended up involving different flavors of ice cream. "Ben, it's okay," said the angel next to me. I spun around, coming face to face with Rebecca. She was smiling softly for some reason, her hand reaching up and running through my soggy hair. It didn't feel as good when it was soggy. Why was she acting so calm?! "BECCA, WE'RE INSIDE OF-" I was cut off by a quick kiss, which reduced me to a lovesick puddle inside the stomach. "Not...fair..." She just smiled and hugged me closer, even going so far as to making cute little purring sounds. "REALLY NOT FAIR!" I whined louder. That got a laugh out of her. Hearing her laugh again...it was amazing. Why was she so calm, though? We needed to get out of this place, regardless of how...comfortable it was. She seemed to notice my confusion and leaned forward a little, looking into my eyes. "It's okay, Ben. We're safe in here," she said warmly. That made no sense. Stomachs are the least safe place I could imagine for tiny people like us. Before I could object, she continued. "This world we're in, Equestria...apparently, this stuff happens a lot. People get pulled form Earth and appear here, at a fraction of their original size. Weird, right? Anyway, part of the magic that sends us here also protects us from most forms of harm. We're inside Nightgale right now, and probably safer than anywhere in the forest." "Nightgale?" I asked, tilting my head. Becca just rolled her eyes, realizing that she had to explain more than she thought. "Yeah, the batpony we're in right now, her name is Nightgale. The male is Fang and the smaller one is their daughter, Cloverwing. They're hunters, just like us. This was Clover's first trip with them, all together as a family," she explained to me. I was still stuck on the whole 'batpony' thing. What in the ever-burning hell was a batpony? What was an Equestria? What the hell was going on?! "MYEH," was the only thing I could say in response. My brain was stuck in an endless loop, the pure absence of logic shutting me down again. Becca rolled her eyes and kissed my nose, breaking me from my frozen state...again. "I'll explain everything later, once you get some more sleep. You were...shaking. Nightgale and the others are bringing us back to their home so that we can get some food in us. All that running around...they thought it was a game. They do that with some of the other humans around here. They just didn't know that we were new to the place," Becca assured me. "But how...Zach and Jemery-" "Are fine. The blood from the knife was Fang's. Jeremy went berserk inside his mouth with his knife and got it lodged in his gums. Fang spat it out and took a day off to get some medicine. Ben...the only danger any of us were in was when you pulled out your gun..." she continued. I looked down shamefully, trying to ignore the fact that there was a piece of apple mush touching my arm. The whole situation was stupid. But at least they were okay. At least Becca was okay. "Hey," she piped up, reaching up and pulling my face to hers again. I expected another kiss, but she just smiled and held me there. "Remember what I said? We're always fine."