Hunter/Prey

by UnluckyReaver

Chapter 11

Several days ago I was at the mercy of the pack beta; he was trying to decide how to deal with my most recent... “outburst” when one of the raiding groups returned. One of them was carrying a strange creature that I didn’t recognise at the time but would later learn was a human. The dogs bound his forelimbs and attached them to a chain they had hanging from the ceiling. Dangling there with his hind legs barely touching the ground one of the dogs struck the human, waking him.

As the human tried to regain his bearing the pack alpha entered the room. Without wasting any time, the alpha grabbed the human’s chin and held a strange metal tube in front of the human. “Tell us what this is!” the alpha demanded.

The human said nothing, he just stared into the eyes of the alpha. The pack leader grew angry, and maybe a little annoyed, at this and struck the human. “Monkey will tell us what it knows about metal tube!” The alpha yelled at him.
The human looked at the alpha with a surprising amount of defiance in his eyes. “No.” he simply stated. The human grunted in pain as the alpha's whip cracked through the air.

“Talk money! Tell us about the tubes!” the alpha demanded yet again.

“No.” the human replied and was stuck by the whip a second time.

“We do this until monkey tells us what we want!”

This went on for hours. When they got tired of the whips they beat him. When they got tired of beating him they tried knives and claws. As they were about to move onto fire, the tribe’s shaman arrived. The shaman said something to the alpha, who only nodded in reply. The other dogs that had been torturing the human backed off as the shaman approached.

With the shaman standing directly in front of him, the human smirked and said something that I couldn’t hear. The shaman smiled and raised his staff; a strange stick with green smoke that rolled out of the top piece. The shaman held it in front of the human front several seconds. The human’s eyes rolled back as he slipped into unconsciousness. The shaman smiled and he and the other dogs left the room.

I had seen the shaman use this ability on others before. The victim experiences a series of nightmares where they are forced to watch as their hopes are destroyed in front of them. Typically by the time the victim wakes they are completely broken. I watched as the human thrashed about in his sleep for a while before becoming still, giving up like those before him.

The following day I was woken by the enraged shouting of the pack’s shaman. “How? How do you resist the dreams?” He demanded.

“My dreams may be terrifying, but they are just that, dreams.” He replied.

The shaman growled in frustration as he and the alpha argued over what to do. After several minutes they seemed to agree on a plan. They unhooked the human and unshackled me and took the both of us to the cells where we were thrown into the same one. The human groaned as he lifted himself off the floor and into a seated position that I would have assumed to be uncomfortable, but apparently wasn’t for him. From his position he studded the cell until his eyes landed on me. He studied me for several moments before he finally curled up in the corner. Unsure of what to make of him, I carefully walked over to him.

“Don’t bother.” He told me as I reached him.

“W-what?” I stammered, confused at what he was talking about.

“Don’t bother talking to me. Don’t try to be my friend. Just leave me alone, it's better for everyone that way.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Those things had me racked up for hours, mess with my dreams then toss me in here with you. Why do you think that is?”

I thought it over but was unable to come up with the answer he wanted.

“They want us to be friends so when they start torturing you in front of me, I’ll give them what they want. The best thing for you to do is to just stay away from me; before one of those freaks decides to turn you into a rug.”

I was shocked; here was some creature that was clearly in pain, reduced to nothing more than scabs and scar tissue, and his first concern was for me. I didn’t say a thing; I just stared at him for the longest time while he just sat there curled in the corner. Eventually I decided to leave him alone and get some rest on the other side of the cell.

We stayed like that for some time. How long exactly I have no idea. It turns out that when you’re in a cave underground and can’t see the sun or the moon it gets pretty hard to keep track of time. I must have drifted off because the next thing I knew I opened my eyes and saw the human standing over me.

He looked at me for a moment before he spoke. “I am very sorry.” he whispered. I gave him a confused look then I noticed a group of diamond dogs headed in our direction.

“Say that again!” the human roared as he kicked me. I gasped and sputtered, trying to make sense of the situation when he kicked me again. “I said; say it again!” he shouted and delivered a third kick.

By this time the altercation between us had drawn the attention of the ponies in the other cells and of the diamond dogs. The dogs raced to the door to our cell shouting at us to stop and threatening us if we didn’t. “Get up! Get up you damn pigeon!” He yelled.

One of the dogs managed to get the cell door open and two more jumped through tackling the human to the ground. The human tried to struggle against them but he was quickly overpowered. As they dragged him off the shaman and the alpha looked through the bars at me. An angry look came to the alpha’s eyes as he turned to face the shaman. “You said we could use the griffon to control the monkey!” he yelled, pointing a claw at the shaman. “You said monkey would want to save the griffon, but monkey attack griffon himself. How we get the monkey to talk now?”

The shaman waved a claw dismissively. “Do not worry, he will tell us what we want to know.” the shaman informed him and walked towards the exit. “We still have other ways of making him talk.”

The alpha let out a growl in frustration then stalked off after the shaman. As the dogs left the cell area a pony from one of the other cells called out to me. “Hey! Are you alright? What was that all about?”

“I’m alright.” I called back to the pony. “He didn’t hit me that hard.”

“But why did he do it? What made him attack you?”

“It might sound strange but I think it was to keep me safe from the dogs.”

“How is that keeping you safe?”

“He told me last night and this morning the dogs confirmed it. They planned on using me to get to him. By attacking me it shows them that I cannot be used as leverage against him.”

The pony just looked at me, saying noting.

“He seems to understand what these mutts are thinking,” I continued, “and I’m not yet sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.”

“How can it be a good thing? If he thinks like the dogs won’t it just be a matter of time until he joins them?”

“It depends on how long he can hold out.”

An angry growl cut off out conversation as a group of diamond dogs re-entered the cell area. “Ponies not here for talking. Ponies here for work!” one of them said as he opened the door to the pony’s cell and pointed down one of the tunnels. “Now, ponies go to work!”

The ponies slowly shuffled out of the cell as they were lead off by one of the dogs. The other turned and looked into my cell. “Get up griffon! You work too!” He barked and prodded me with his spear. I stood with a small groan, and followed the ponies down the tunnel. Once we reached the tunnel’s end the dogs forced us to start mining for their gems. We worked for several long, grueling hours, until every one of us had collapsed from exhaustion. The dogs finally relented and returned us to our cells.

As they pushed us into our cells the alpha and the shaman entered the room dragging the human behind them. The alpha unceremoniously tossed the human into the cell with a group of ponies. The shaman walked over and looked down at the human. “Tomorrow when we come back here, I’m going to ask you again and if you say no I’ll have one of your new cellmates killed regardless of whether or not you like them.”

The human groaned and spat at the shaman in response.

“Well, we’ll see how you feel after everyone here hates you for getting their friends and family killed.” the shaman laughed and he and the alpha left the room.

The ponies gave each other a quick glance as they looked nervously at the human. The human slowly rolled into a seated position next to the wall, similar to the one he had taken when we were in the same cell. No one did anything for the longest time until one of the foals spoke up. “Are they really going to... to kill us?” the child asked his father.

The stallion placed a hoof around the colt. “Don’t worry, nothing bad is going to happen.” he said, trying to comfort the colt. The other ponies turned to their families, nervously embracing each other as they tried not to think about what was going to happen. The ponies slowly spread out into small groups leaving the human alone. The human grabbed a sizable quantity of discarded straw and hay before making his way to the back corner of the cell.

I watched as the human twisted and wove the strands together. As he worked the straw began to take shape into a crude figure that looked similar to himself. Once it was finished he set it down and begun work on another. When he finished that one, he started to work on yet another. By now the human had attracted the attention of the other ponies in the cell. The ponies whispered to each other trying to figure out what the human was doing. Eventually one filly gathered enough courage together and walked over to the human.

“Excuse me sir, but everypony was wondering what you were doing.” the filly said politely.

The human smiled gently at the filly. “I am making a worry doll.” he informed her.

“Worry doll?” the filly asked, leaning closer to get a better look.

The human held up the one he had just finished making. “I know they don’t look that great, seeing how I had to use straw and not tread, but they still work.”

“What does it do?” the filly inquired.

“You take it and before you go to sleep you tell it what you’re worrying about. Then it does all of your worrying for you. That way you can get some sleep without any worries or nightmares.” he explained as he held out one of the doll.

The filly looked at the doll for several seconds before she grabbed and hurried back towards her parents. A moment later the other fillies and colts slowly came forwards and asked for worry dolls of their own. The human seemed happy to oblige them and it wasn’t long until every one of them had their own little straw doll. When each one collected their prize they quickly returned to their parents, all but one. I could see the human looking the small pegasus filly over. “Is there something wrong with the doll?” he asked.

The pegasus shook her head.

“Are you going to go rejoin the others?”

The filly shook her head again.

“What about your parents?”

A sad look came to the filly face as she slowly sat on her hind legs. Using her forelimbs the filly performed a strange series of gestures and motions. The human remained silent, studying the filly’s movements.

“Wait,” a mare called out, “you have to understand that filly can’t... speak?” She trailed off as the human performed his own series of gestures, some of them mirrored what the filly did and others were widely different.

Seeing this, the filly’s eyes lit up as she quickly went into another long series of gestures.

“Can... are they actually talking to each other?” a mare quietly asked.

“It does look like it.” a stallion answered.

The ponies watched the two of them for a while before they turned to their families and settle in for the night. I watched the human and the filly for a while but eventually my exhaustion caught up with me and I fell asleep as well.

I woke the next day as the alpha and the shaman led a group of dogs into the room. Positioning themselves outside the cell the human was in the shaman called to him. “So are you going to tell us what we want?” the shaman asked.

“No.” the human answered defiantly.

“Pity.” the shaman said then gestured towards the cell.

The cell door was opened and the alpha entered. All of the ponies quickly scurried back hoping not to be the one chosen. The small mute filly moved in front of the alpha and stuck her tongue out and tried to buck him. The alpha jumped back, avoiding the kick, then quickly moved in again grabbing the filly. Only to find himself lifted off the ground and thrown across the cell by the human. A look of relief came to the ponies faces as they thought that the human had save the young filly. That look quickly turned to horror when the human snatched up the filly and squeezed the life out of her himself.

The human let the lifeless body of the filly drop to the ground as he turned to face the shaman. The shaman found himself taking an involuntary step backwards as a look that could only be described as pure malevolence came to the human’s face. The human lunged forwards at the shaman but was grabbed and dragged to the ground by the other guards. “Strap him to the rack!” the shaman roared. “I will teach him to make a fool of me!”

The guards dragged the human off as he struggled in vain against them. The alpha quickly got back on his feet and hurried out of the cell before any of the ponies could get to him. As the cell door closed the ponies turned towards the now dead filly. They looked at each other, each with an expression of shock and confusion over the human’s actions. These expressions quickly changed to amazement when the filly suddenly sat up.

“But how? Didn’t the human... you know, kill you?” a stallion asked.

The filly merely shook her head and produced a key from under her wing.

I let out a small chuckle. “Clever monkey.” I said softly then turned towards the filly. “How about we use that key and get outta here?” I asked the filly.

The filly shook her head and performed a series of gestures.

“You want to save the monkey?” I guessed.

She nodded.

“Well, I guess I do owe him for the other day... alright, let’s find us a monkey then get outta here.”

Several minutes later we had release all of the prisoners. It didn’t take long before the guards found us and chaos broke loose. We fought our way into the central chamber where we found the human was already fighting both the alpha and the shaman. As I moved closer to help him he drove that blade into the alpha’s gut then turned and attacked the shaman before the alpha had even hit the ground. A moment later is when you and your forces arrived Princess; and you know what happened from there.

Comments

[flood125]

wow go hunter that sounds like what would really happen if a human end in there. we might not be the strongest, the toughest or the fastest not even the smartest but there is a reason why you don't mess with humanity cause you can't break our sprits. firt.

[Semicolon]

“Monkey will tell us what it knows about metal tube!” the alpha yelled at him.
“No.” he simply stated.

too many to list, ctrl-f for <” > (quote and space) to track down all the errors.
do not capitalize after a quotation (here)

Then there was a crack of a whip and the human grunted in pain.

lacking in the 'show, don't tell' department (I feel this is a problem throughout the story but it stands out here a lot); how about "The human grunted in pain as the alpha's whip cracked through the air."

The victim is [exposed to?] a series of nightmares

this is either wrong or an expression I'm not aware of

it's better for everyone that way.

missing verb

than scabs and scar tissue

spelling

I’ll have one of your new cellmates killed; regardless of whether or not you like them.

the 2nd part isn't a complete sentence so it cannot be separated by a semicolon

The ponies looked at the human then at each other then back at each other.

duplicated words

he started work on yet another.

not sure if this is the correct verb tense

Eventually one filly gathered together enough courage together and walked over to the human.

together used twice

see how I had to use straw and not tread

verb tense