#gtvore

Dozens of assorted monsters ran rampage through the city. Wood giants, mountain giants, werewolves, bats larger than a full-grown man, even a couple of strange creatures that appeared to be made of plant life and trees.

Deciding the cover was blown well enough, Lexie went outside and shifted to their giant form. She ran after the giants to try to catch up. Her heart was racing, anxious, but eager to learn.

"Hey! What's going on?"

A giant stopped, and gripped Lexie's wrist, glancing down at it. His eyes narrowed. "New recruits are supposed to secure the town perimeter. Go back to the Elders and get your Band,"

She blinked, trying to pull her wrist away. She didn't have any proper Bands that the giants were known for. "Where are the Elders? What's going on?"

The giant glanced at her oddly. "I don't have time to brief you on the whole thing. Just head uphill to the north. You'll find the Elders there."

He released her wrist and hurried to join the other giants. Lexie started calling after him with confusion, but then glanced up the mountain. That was north, right? A part of her warned that this was dangerous, and she should be anywhere else. But after her whole life of searching, this is what she wanted more than anything. To be a part of her giant heritage.

It didn't take long for her to locate the giants further uphill above the town. A white-haired giant towering a good two feet taller than her seemed to be directing other giants and giving them instructions. Her right arm was badly scarred, and a single leather band was around her wrist. She focused on Lexie as she approached, appearing irritated.

"What are you doing back here? All new recruits..." she paused, seeming to notice Lexie's wrist. Her eyes narrowed. "You haven't been banded yet. Come closer. Embyre, I found your new companion,"

A blond-haired giant was shoved closer by one of the others. He bared his teeth in defiance. "I don't want to be part of your fucking cult, Rhyka! Make up your mind! You fucking banished me if I recall!"

Rhyka appeared unphased. She merely let out an irritated sigh and drew out two leather bands from a bag she carried. She focused on Lexie again. "What was your name?"

"Lexie Sa— Krynne. Lexie Krynne," Krynne was a giant name, right? God, she was just bullshitting her way through this and she had no idea what the hell was going on.

"Krynne, interesting," Rhyka repeated. The name seemed to mean something to her. Lexie held her breath, feeling like she was about to get caught or killed for faking all of this. Instead, Rhyka gestured to the other giant next to her. "This is Daki Embyre. He will be your new hunting partner. Give me your right hand,"

Lexie hesitated, giving Daki an uncertain look. He seemed to notice, but said nothing, returning his glare at Rhyka. She sighed and held out her hand. Rhyka took it, then dragged her claw deep into the back of Lexie's wrist. Lexie gasped in pain. "What the hell-?! Watch it, lady!"

Rhyka ignored her, keeping her grip firm, then tied the leather band around her wrist, coming in contact with the wound. She finally released Lexie's hand to do the same with Daki. Lexie grimaced in pain, holding her wrist to the folds of her jacket to help close the wound. There was a sizzling strange feeling in her senses. Every scent and sound seemed to be heightened. And a deep hollow feeling in her core that she couldn't quite identify. Daki didn't even flinch when the same was done to him, though he was visibly seething with hatred at Rhyka.

Once this was done, Rhyka spoke again. "Alright, now your assignment is to secure the perimeter of Autumn Ridge. No human leaves that town alive. You will cover the north perimeter. Go."

Lexie couldn't hide the shock and worry from her face at hearing this. She was faintly aware of Daki gripping her wrist and tugging it away. "Come on."

Lexie glanced back at Daki uncertainly, but obliged. She just wanted to get away from Rhyka and clear her mind. Everything was moving so fast. She could hear her pulse thundering in her ears. A strange, inescapable adrenaline that made it hard to control her pace. She tried to ignore it, though it still grinded at the back of her mind like nails on a chalkboard. She scratched her wrist subconsciously. Her wound was tingling.

Once they were a decent distance away, Lexie spoke in a hushed voice. "She doesn't mean... actually killing people, does she?"

Daki gave her an odd look. "I have so many questions about that statement,"

She opened her mouth to respond, but a deafening rumble cracked through the air. The earth trembled. She gasped. "What the flying heck was that?"

"They said the mountain giants would be invading too," Daki replied with a frown. He scratched his arm uneasily. "Do you smell that?"

Lexie's heart pounded. She could smell humans, alright. But beyond any familiarity, it seemed to shock her senses. She was starving— what the hell was she thinking? Humans weren't food! The voice of reason was more distant in the back of her mind than before.

"I... I think this is a bad idea,"

Daki snorted, elbowing her arm roughly with a grin. "Come on, have a little fun! I bet I can catch the first one."

She bit her lip. God, her head hurt. She kept scratching her arm, fingering the leather Band there. What was going on? Why was her brain acting strange? "I... I don't..."

Her train of thought was interrupted as there was a rush of movement up ahead. Two humans were running away from the town. Daki broke into a run after them. Lexie snapped out of her thoughts and ran after him. Damn— how was he so fast? She wasn't even half his speed, and he wasn't even wearing shoes—

In an instant, Daki was on top of one of the humans. The scent of blood filled the air as he bit down into their shoulders, shoving them further into his mouth. Their muffled screams of pain could be heard. Their legs flailed.

Lexie could see the blood dripping from his jaws. A mix of horror and fascination filled her. That deep primal instinct urged her forwards. Every other thought was pushed out of her mind. Before she was aware of her actions, she lunged forward with teeth bared. Gunshots filled the air. She felt something skid against her shoulder, but her focus was elsewhere. Her larger hand crushed the small human onto the ground, knocking the wind out of them. The human was small, and maybe roughly Lexie's age. She looked up at Lexie with a mix of rage and terror. She could feel the small human's racing pulse beneath her grip. There was something so intoxicating about it.

Lexie was just acting without thinking. Her mind was rushing too much to process anything properly. She easily pried the gun out of the girl's grip, then without thinking, shoved her head into her mouth. The taste was amazing, and the giant couldn't help the drool that soaked the girl's face. Lexie shoved her in deeper. Any distant pleas in the back of her mind for reason we're deafened by this overwhelming instinct awakened within her. Her teeth barely scraped against the human's skin and clothing, a part of her wanted to bite down and feel the blood and bones crush within her jaws, but another part of her urged herself to finish this, to send the human down into her core, writhing and alive.

Everything else went by in a blissful blur. The stretching and unhinging of her jaws and bones as her throat accepted her first prey. The first overwhelming feeling of the human begin to press into her stomach entrance. Blackness danced over her vision. She couldn't focus. Her body wasn't used to swallowing a meal like this, and yet it felt to perfectly right.

She was suddenly aware of herself stooped over, gasping for air once she had finished. The human was now curled up completely inside of her stomach. She ran her clawed fingertips over her filled-out middle, barely able to register the severity of what she had just done. She could feel the human squirm within her, though she didn't appear to be fighting much beyond trying to right herself in the tight chamber. Lexie could taste the human even now. A salty flavor seasoned the hapless captive. Was she crying? It was hard to focus. Something at the back of her mind felt so wrong, but it was hard to focus on what it was.

She noticed Daki had finished chomping down his meal, and licked the blood from his lips. The sharp scent of the blood struck something inside of her, almost wanting more. Her fingers clenched around the leather band on her right hand. Something was so very wrong. Her claws tore into the material and it snapped off.

She put a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp. The more reasonable part of her mind clawed to surface.

"God— what—"

What had she done?

She gagged, trying to force the human back up. Daki seemed to notice. "Hey— what are you doing?"

"Ohgod ohgod— I just ate someone!" She was hyperventilating.

Daki appeared further confused by this. "Uh, yeah? How long has it been since you fed? You okay? You look awful."

"No I'm not okay! I completely went— like an animal! I've never killed anyone before!"

Daki blinked in surprise. "Wait, are you for real?"

"Do I LOOK like I'm joking?!"

Daki's brain seemed to stall as he processed this.

"God— what if she's dying? She's got to be suffocating—"

Daki snapped his fingers in her face. "Hey! Chill. They'll be fine until you fall asleep."

Lexie flinched. She then let out a shaky sigh. "Are you sure? Wh-what about..."

Daki raised a brow. Lexie grimaced, and pointed at his stomach. Daki shrugged, and patted it. "They're alive, but I'm not letting them go."

Lexie felt a wave of dread. "It's the bands. You don't want to do this. I didn't feel all crazy until I got mine. Just let me take yours off—"

Daki recoiled, drawing his hand back protectively. His silver eyes flitted towards her now empty wrist. "What—?! what did you do?"

"I snapped mine off."

Daki looked horrified. "Why would you do that? They'll banish both of us!"

"I don't want to kill anyone. Look, you hate the Elders, right? They're using us as pawns for their power. Whatever's going on with the Bands, they're in on it. And they want you to be afraid of losing them."

Daki seemed uncertain for a moment, before his eyes narrowed. With a snap of his jaws, he tore the Band off his wrist and spat it away. "Fuck them. Fuck the Elders."

Lexie sighed in relief. "Thank you." She glanced down, rubbing at her stomach. "Hey, you okay in there?"

There was a harsh kick to her lungs, and Lexie hiccupped painfully.

"Fuck you," A muffled voice hissed within her.

Lexie winced. "You're going to be okay. I'll get you out in a sec, once it's safe."

Daki gave her an odd look, but didn't comment. Lexie tried to ignore it. "I'm Lexie. You've got a name?"

"The fuck would you care," The human retorted.

Lexie could feel a shifting against her palm. The terror of her actions aside, it actually felt... very nice... Gods, what was she thinking?

"I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise." Lexie said.

"Fuck you," The human grumbled. Even while hearing the defiance in the human's voice, Lexie could feel the tenseness of her captive's muscles, the racing heart, the slight trembling of her form. She felt sick to think she had caused this.

"I don't think you're going to get anywhere with reassuring her," Daki said. "I've seen that human before. She's a hunter. I'm pretty sure I killed her dad... Before he could kill me."

Lexie's eyes widened. "God, this must be even more terrifying for her, then."

"Hey, Hunters are unredeemable. They'd kill us in our sleep. They slaughter giantlings. If you're afraid of killing anyone, well, hunters deserve it." Daki said.

Lexie grimaced. "I know what hunters do. But ugh-- digesting someone? That's gross."

Daki chuckled. "I don't know how you've lived your life without eating anyone, but suit yourself, softie." His ears twitched in the direction of the rumbling sounds coming from the town. "We should get out of here before the Elders try to drag us back in."

"Right," Lexie nodded. With Daki beginning to head off, she joined by his side at a brisk walk.

After a while, Daki spoke up again. "Alright, who are you, really?"

Lexie blinked. "Uh, what do you mea—"

"You're soft. You lied about your clan, you've never been Banded before, you're wearing shoes. Who the hell are you?"

"What do you mean? I'm a Krynne," she insisted.

"Yeah right. The Krynnes were the victims of the biggest Legion massacre. There's only two left, and you definitely aren't one," Daki snorted.

Lexie bit her lip, letting out a nervous groan.

"Urgghhh... Okay, fine. You got me. But if I tell you the truth, you won't like, rip out my throat or something, right?"

"Of course not," Daki snorted. "I'm just curious. And besides, if you got yourself killed, they'd kill me. We're hunting partners now... And I can't lose another one."

Lexie looked at him oddly. She could sense the suppressed emotion in her words. The wound appeared to still be fresh. "I'm sorry," she patted his shoulder.

He gave her a weird look. "It's fine. Just talk."

Lexie took in a nervous breath, not sure where to begin. "Okay, I wasn't completely lying when I said I'm a Krynne. My dad was from the Krynne clan. He witnessed the massacre when he was a kid. Two hunters, my grandpas, took pity of him, and adopted him as their own son. He was raised just like any other human. He used ice to keep his camo long enough to pass in society. He got married to a human. Had me. I grew up like any ordinary human. But I just wanted to meet the wild giants so badly for as long as I can remember,"

Daki let out a laugh. "Wait— you can't be serious. You mean you're half human?"

"I'm telling you my biggest secret. You say that like it's a bad thing?" Lexie snorted.

Daki shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "No, but, stars, that's so weird."

"Let's just keep that between you and me, okay? I don't like people knowing. And you're one to talk. You act like digesting people is normal. That's weird." Lexie retorted.

"It is normal," Daki said. "So what, you're going to let that human you caught go?"

Lexie tilted her head at him in concern. "Yeah? Duh. Aren't you?"

Daki snorted, giving his stomach a poke. "They're already half-bled to death and they're unconscious by now. Bringing them up would be pointless."

Lexie paled, clearly horrified and nauseated by this visual.

Daki didn't seem to pay any mind to her reaction. He gestured up ahead where the mountain sloped downward and a large slab of rock hung over a shaded spot, almost like a cave. The sky was darkening above and the full moon began to rise.

"We can stop here for now. You mind taking first watch?"

Lexie bit her lip and nodded.

"Perfect. Just if you let that hunter out, please keep them under control. I don't want her to try to kill me in my sleep like her father tried to do,"

Lexie frowned. "Ouch."

She glanced down at her middle, running her hand over it. It was hard to wrap her head around the fact that she had an entire person in there. She could feel the little human's deep breaths against the sensitive stomach lining. It seemed she had fallen asleep from the heat. Lexie felt a clench of guilt in her chest. The horrors she had just put this person through, after her father had been killed by a giant.

She noticed Daki was already settling down, curled up in the shade beneath the slab of rock. He had said their prey would be safe until they went to sleep. That's when giants digest... He was just going to kill that person, and there wasn't anything Lexie could do to save them. Daki had already damaged them beyond repair.

It wasn't until she could hear the other giant's soft snoring that Lexie thought it was safe enough to release her captive.

Spitting up an entire human was painful. Everything felt so tight and forced, she was worried she would crack the person's bones just from the sheer pressure. Eventually, the entire person slid out onto the ground in a puddle of slime. Lexie coughed from residual pain and nausea, then focused on the human she had just released. God, she looked all disgusting and soggy like a drowned rat. The girl was still unconscious by the time she was released. She looked oddly peaceful. Lexie decided to just leave her be for now. She probably needed the rest.

Lexie stood watch for a few more hours, beginning to grow more sleepy as the moon rose higher in the sky. She was beginning to drift off when she heard noise from the hunter's direction. She blinked down at the hunter, now returning to focus.

The hunter was awake, and began to sit up, wiping the dried slime away from her eyes. She froze and stared up at Lexie with a stunned expression.

"What...? What game are you playing? Why am I alive?"

Lexie cringed. "Sssorry for eating you... I sorta lost control there. Mind control," she made swirling gestures around her temples. The hunter merely looked narrowed her eyes skeptically, clearly not buying anything Lexie said.

"Look, I've never killed anyone before. I know you've been through a lot, but... you're safe now."

The hunter appeared unmoved. She glanced where Daki laid. A cold shiver ran down her spine. She gritted her teeth. "Safe? With that— that thing? With you?"

Lexie sighed through her teeth nervously, running a hand through her hair. "I know what Daki did... to your dad... and I'm sorry. But please keep your voice down. I don't want him to wake up and..."

"And what? Send me to join that poor soul boiling in his gut? Die the same way my dad did?" the hunter hissed. She let out a scoffing huff. "And you said I was safe?"

Lexie groaned, putting a hand to her face. This was a lot harder than she though it would be, and this girl was just making her feel awful with guilt.

"You are safe. He respects my choice to let you live. I won't let him hurt you."

"Bullshit." The girl said. She pulled her knees up to her chest and stared stiffly into the distance.

Lexie sighed. "Well this is going swell," she murmured under her breath. Maybe she was trying the wrong approach as a big scary giant.

Her bones cracked and groaned as she shifted to her human form. The hunter glanced at Lexie in shock. "I didn't know you could do that."

"I call this my cuddly form. No claws and fangs. Just one hundred percent fluff!" Lexie said with a smile.

The hunter paused, seeming to recollect herself. Her eyes narrowed. "But you're still a monster."

"Hey, if we're throwing around names, I prefer to go by Lexie, she/they/it pronouns. And you are?"

"Ruth." She muttered. She wiped her nose, glancing back at Daki as he slept. She carried so much emotion in her eyes looking at him. It was too easy to picture the bulge in his middle being her own father, reduced to nothing. She looked back at Lexie, wiping her face of any emotion. "You look tired. You should get some rest, giant."

Lexie sighed. Was this progress? It was hard to tell. Ruth's expression was impossible to read. "I'm exhausted, actually. Are you okay taking watch?"

Ruth nodded.

Lexie smiled. "Thank you. Just wake me in a couple hours."

"I will."

***

Lexie blinked awake as sunlight began to flood her vision. Birds were chirping in the trees. It was peaceful. She sat up.

Ruth was gone.

Lexie leaped to her feet. She spun around. Where did she go? She could smell her scent trail. She glanced over to see Daki was still asleep. She frowned to herself, then shifted to her giant form again, following Ruth's scent.

A mountain stream met the end of the trail. She cursed under her breath. Ruth was smart. Now it was impossible to track her down. But after all that happened, and all that she did, she felt it was her responsibility to make sure Ruth was okay.

She returned back to where Daki was. He was still asleep by the time she returned. He looked so peaceful there. She felt a wave of unease to notice his belly full of an unwilling human had noticeably shrunk to normal proportions over the night.

She poked his arm. "Yo, Daki?"

The giant stirred slightly, they rolled to his back and yawned, blinking blearily up at Lexie.

"Lexie, what's up?" He murmured groggily.

"Uh, the hunter? She uh sorta disappeared."

Daki sat up, seeming more awake now. "You just let her go?"

"I couldn't kill her, I told you. Ugh, it's my fault. But after sorta traumatizing her, I need to find her and make sure she's okay. But you can't come with me. I'm sorry." Lexie said.

Daki looked down with a disappointed sigh. "I understand.”

“Look, I appreciate you being accepting of everything. If it helps, you were one of the first people I told, and it… means a lot.”

“It’s nothing.” Daki said. “It just… felt nice not being alone. Even if we don’t have our Bands, I’ll still be around if you need me.” Daki offered hopefully.

Lexie nodded with a slight smile. She still had conflicted feelings about him and his human-eating habits, but he seemed nice. “You bet. Thanks, Daki.”

His grip tightened and twisted around Warren’s wrist. The hunter let out a choke of pain. He noticed Eli’s appearance, the odd liquid sticking to him.

“Did— did a giant seriously try to eat you?” Warren said, but immediately regretted his words when his arm was twisted even more painfully.

“We don’t talk about this, ‘kay? If you bring it up again, I’ll make sure to bite you into nice little pieces when I’m back to normal.” Eli’s voice lowered to a threatening growl. He lowered Warren’s wrist and began to drag him off through the woods, trying to locate the nearest road to the city. Warren shuddered. “What if I don’t help you.”

Eli stopped in his tracks, snorting. “I never expected you to be agreeable. You want to get out of this alive? This is the only way you’re gonna get it. Oh, and what if the evil giant’s lying? Honestly, whether or not I’m telling the truth, doesn’t matter. I can kill you right here and now, and you’d never get to find out.”

“It’s better than getting eaten,” Warren said shakily.

Eli snorted. “Anything’s better than getting eaten. But that’s your problem, ain’t it? You humans are just born weak. Easy little morsels to pick off. Shouldn’t matter if you don’t like it. It’s just natural.”

He rolled his eyes, dragging Warren forward by the wrist in a way that signified finality. Warren grew increasingly anxious, beginning to feel like even if the giant said there was a possibility he would get out of this alive, that was more likely a lie.

They found the main road into the city and followed it for a distance, all while Eli occasionally cursed and complained about “stubby legs” or threw taunts at the unwilling human he dragged along. Warren quickly learned from this time that giants were exactly like how he had pictured. Self-centered, cruel, and apathetic towards anyone but themselves. Eli seemed to derive great pleasure from taunting and torturing humans, only making Warren increasingly uncomfortable and worried, only dreading what was to come if the “giant” was to return to his giant form.

He was curious about what exactly the giant went through after the alchemy shrunk him, the allusion towards being eaten by another giant. Were giants really cannibals? How did he survive? He did notice that his knife was gone, so there was a possibility he had killed the other giant. Though, the opportunity here was too good to waste. If Eli has gone through that, perhaps he could feel pity for him, and be more aware of the terror he inflicted on others. Only— Eli had threatened to deliver him a painful death if he said anything about it. But measuring his odds, he didn’t have much of a chance of survival either way.

-*-

Eli seemed rather anxious as he led them towards the city, covering it up with his tough facade. He wouldn’t reveal what exactly was wrong, but Warren supposed it might have something to do with him feeling vulnerable at this size. It seemed they were going the wrong way. They eventually stopped at a farm house on the end of the road, with no sign of the city in sight. A truck was in the driveway. Eli stopped in front of it, scratching the back of his head. “Huh,”

“I think we’re lost,” Warren said.

Eli’s eye twitched. “We’re not— I’ve traveled around this place at least five rotations at this point, I know this route. Curse little— ugh this perspective is screwing with my sense of direction. Thanks, tiny.”

His low growl of a voice sounded anything but grateful.

“We... we can ask for directions from the farm people here.” Warren offered.

Eli laughed. “Pfft, now really, what sort of person goes around like that?”

“...Normal... people?”

Eli raised a brow, “Wait really? The way you little guys can somehow get along is honestly mind boggling.”

He shook his head. He headed over to the front porch. Warren knocked on the door and stood back for a moment. There was no answer. He paused before trying again, met by the same silence. Eli narrowed his eyes, walking around the porch to try to get a good view of the inside. Nothing seemed to be amiss. It was like the owners had just gone out for a weekend or something.

“Huh.” Warren said. “Maybe they’re just not home?”

He jumped as he heard a crashing sound. The window shattered. Eli had thrown a stone at it.

“What are you thinking?!” Warren whispered frantically.

“No one’s home. Their scent’s at least a day old.” Eli responded, stepping over the glass and let himself in through the window. He wasn’t even completely certain, since his sense of smell had greatly diminished since he was stuck in this form, but he was at least 20% sure. He paused for a moment to pick up something from the floor before continuing into the house.

Warren lingered outside the window nervously, watching Eli head inside.

“What— but— why did you have to break in?”

Eli sighed, pointing at the sky. “It’s nearly sundown, and the hunting pattern crosses these parts this rotation. Not sayin’ they’ll be here here, but it would probably be best to stay indoors for the evening. I wonder if they have one of those storm cellars.”

He headed deeper into the house, glancing around at everything calculatedly. Warren’s eyes widened slightly at his words. If one giant wasn’t bad enough… The way Eli worded it, there would be a whole lot more. And that didn’t sound good.

He looked around the house to try to find a computer or something to find out where they were and how to get to the city, but the only computer was locked and he didn’t know the password. Maybe he could just get into the truck and get out of there. Giants couldn’t track cars, right? He would just have to find the keys first.

Feeling gross from all of the stuff that happened that day, Eli soon located the shower and took it for a spin. He had heard time and time again his victims complaining about how “gross” being in his stomach was, and wanting to get a “shower” as if it was some natural remedy for it. He hadn’t been inside of human houses much, but he at least knew some of the terminology. A shower was new to him, however.

Warren looked up as he heard the faucet sound upstairs. This was his chance. He searched around the house for some sort of hiding place for the keys. The table, drawers, the bedroom, the dresser, but to no luck so far.

He heard the faucet stop and he froze. He decided to hell with it, he could just run along the road to get out of here. He grabbed a steak knife, folded cardboard over it, and ran out the front door. The sky was darkening, and the sun had already sunk past the horizon before him. That’s it; The city had to be west of here! He heard the front door slam behind him. He couldn’t outrun the giant, even in his smaller form. He dove through the open window of the truck and curled up beneath the console. He knew it was pretty hopeless this way, but he just didn’t really care at this point. Footsteps sounded along the gravel driveway, coming closer before stopping. A head peaked up from the window, looking down into the truck. Eli snorted, holding up the keys that dangled from his finger.

“Forgot something?”

Eli had stolen a set of the farmer’s clothing; a dark green flannel over a grey shirt and jeans.

Warren’s eyes widened. “H-how?”

Eli rolled his eyes. “It was literally the first thing I found when I went through the window. I thought you’d be more observant. And put down the knife, kid. Don’t wanna get yourself hurt.”

Warren looked down at the steak knife again, but held it out threateningly, though his posture wavered. “Don’t take one step closer, freak.”

“Or what? Ya know... it could be pretty suspicious to find a dead homeless guy at some farmer’s property, and your fingerprints all over the scene, right?“ he huffed. “And honestly, I’d like to see you try to gut me with that thing.”

“I— I don’t give a damn about law enforcement here. I’m not helping you change back.” Warren stammered.

Eli rolled his eyes, reaching in through the window to unlock the car door. A foot suddenly came forward to kick towards Warren’s arm. His elbow shot up reflexively and the steak knife wedged itself into the glove compartment of the truck. A hand grabbed Warren’s shirt and dragged him out of the truck, shoving him onto the hard gravel. Stones and chips of gravel bit into his skin and he hissed in pain.

Eli stooped over him, sighing. “Really, no time for messing around. I was serious when I said we shouldn’t be out here after nightfall.”

“Is that because you don’t want to get eaten by a giant again?” Warren spat between nervous pants. “You don’t like how humiliating it feels to be one of the ‘little guys?’”

A fist suddenly collided with his rib cage and the wind was knocked out of him. Eli hoisted him off of the ground again by his arm with enough force to nearly dislocate it. Warren would have let out a shout of pain, but he was having too much trouble catching his breath again.

“I told you if you mentioned that again, I’d make you suffer. I’ll try to keep my word.” Eli’s voice lowered to a cold growl. He carried the smaller man into the house before dropping him on the floor. Warren was still gasping for a while, putting a hand to his injured ribs.

“You— you would make me suffer anyways. You want to— to kill me as soon as you get fixed.” Warren winced through his words. He didn’t try to get up from the floor, just looking sort of defeated.

Eli sighed, pacing the room as he looked out the darkened windows, almost seeming disinterested in him. “You keep bringing up that old argument and it’s getting annoying—“He stopped in place. “Shit.”

Warren got up from the floor, glaring at Eli. “Wh-What.”

“Welp, the owners of this house are dead. We gotta get out of here.” Eli spoke nonchalantly, digging the truck keys out of his pocket again. A barrage of curses were muttered under his breath.

Warren’s eyes widened. “Wait— what! Did you kill them?”

Eli moved toward the door briskly, ignoring him. “Can you drive?”

“Y-yeah, but—“ Warren lingered behind, confused what the rush was about, and not wanting to go anywhere near the giant.

“Good, we’re gonna need that.” Eli got in the passenger seat, prying the steak knife out of the glove compartment and held onto it. He glanced at Warren who was still on the porch. “Well? Get in.” Warren stood stiffly, shaking his head.

“C’mere, tiny!” Eli barked warningly.

A hulking shadow suddenly lunged out of the forest, bashing into the side of the car. Even hunched over, it was easily twice Eli’s size. The truck toppled over, rolled, and was knocked upside down. Glass shattered. Eli was suddenly covered in pricks of his own blood. He panted, trying to crawl out the truck, ignoring the stinging pain jutting up his arms. A massive hand suddenly gripped him and hoisted into the air by his ankle. The rough motion gave him a head rush and his heart pounded in his ears. His eyes grew very wide.

A giant stared down at him. One of the bigger ones. He stood at fourteen feet tall with weathered features. Countless leather bands were tied around his wrist, nearly reaching the elbow. The giant’s expression was sort of groggy, as if he had just woken up, but it still carried the same malice and hunger to be expected. His mouth curled into a sneering grin, baring his long, sharp fangs.

“Well, looky here. It seems we caught one in camo.” 

Eli felt a swell of hope. He knew he was a giant. He probably knew that it probably wasn’t the best idea to swallow a giant in camo in case he reverted to his true form.

“Y-yeah, just tryina catch that human over there, but that sorta got interrupted,” Eli panted, feeling queasy and disoriented from being upside down. He glanced with widened eyes as a giantess emerged from the treeline, moving toward the farmhouse. Warren was no longer at the doorway. He must have hidden in the house somewhere. Coward.

“Ya know, if you already ate the farm people here, why bother catching this one as well? You don’t wanna end up all sluggish now, right?”

There was a cracking, shifting sound near the farmhouse up ahead as the giantess shrank down to her camouflaged form, going in through the doors to try to find Warren. Things weren’t looking good. Eli needed him to find the alchemist.

The giant lifted Eli a little higher, getting a good look at him. His reflective silver eyes narrowed. 

“Where’s your Bands, fella?”

Eli froze, eyes widening as he tried to think up some sort of lie. “O-oh, about that...”

“ELI!”

His attention was brought to the farm house. The camo’d giantess dragged Warren out of the house before her bones shifted again painfully as she reverted back to her full form at thirteen feet tall. She held up Warren, laughing. “Aww who’s Eli? Maybe I should meat him as well.”

Eli’s eyes narrowed. “Careful with that one. He’s a damn Hunter and he has some nasty tricks up his sleeve.”

The giant holding Eli seemed intrigued. “A Hunter, eh? What sort of tricks? And why are you still in camo? Cat’s kinda out of the bag now...” he paused and let out a laugh. “Oh. Are you stuck? Is this one of the Hunter’s tricks?”

Eli’s eyes widened and he held his breath.

“Oh stars! This is GOLD! He’s stuck in camo!” The giant let out a mocking laugh, reorienting Eli in his grasp to be held upright and closer to his face. Too close. Eli shuddered, trying to kick or squirm away from his grasp, but it was pretty much helpless.

“Oh no you don’t— don’t even think of it.” Eli muttered in a low growl, his voice was quivering. 

The giant seemed unphased by his pleas. “Eh, why not? Might as well take advantage of this and avenge your lost Bands, right? Disgusting outcast,”

He opened his maw and leaned closer. His tongue lapped out, dragging across Eli’s face and soaking him in saliva. Eli grimaced, panting harder. “Sh-shit—“

Just his luck. He was going to end up getting eaten twice today.

He was raised higher and his head was brought into the wet mouth. The tongue rose up against his face as it tasted him, pushing him toward the entrance of the throat. Eli struggled wildly. His fist gripped tight.

A sudden slash cut through the giant’s neck, not quite deep enough to kill him, but bad enough to be serious. 

The grip around Eli loosened and he was dropped to the ground. The bloodied steak knife landed next to him. Just his luck that this giant was clumsy and forgot to disarm him. He probably didn’t expect a fellow giant to carry any human weapons.

Eli quickly caught his breath. Grabbing the knife he stumbled to his feet again. The giantess nearby was seen getting to work on swallowing Warren. The hunter was already halfway down her throat, and his legs could be seen kicking as the struggling bulge in her neck made its way deeper.

The male giant who had had Eli was now on the ground, one hand to his neck, clearly out of commission for a while. He was in agony as he tried to keep the wound from bleeding too bad. Eli could just run and get out of there. He could leave that troublesome hunter alone to die.

Without warning, Eli stooped over the injured giant, grabbing his tree-trunk-sized arm and slid the knife beneath the leather bands around the giant’s wrist. The giant didn’t move. The struggling and gagging from his throat mostly silenced as he noticed what Eli was doing. His motionlessness was a silent protest to not do it.

“Oi! Freak lady!” Eli shouted. “You wanna get banished? Go ahead and kill tiny there to find out what it’s like. Spoiler alert: It ain’t fun. And your odds of survival aren’t the best. But hey, gotta live life on the dangerous side, eh?”

The giantess was just swallowing down the feet when she was able to lower her head again to see her partner’s predicament. He was bleeding badly from his throat and his leather Bands around his wrist were just a nick from getting sliced through. She paused, the swallowing ceased for a moment and the bulge in her throat hovered above the collarbone. She held up her hands defensively and a hacking sound came. She lowered her head, bringing Warren slowly out before gripping his feet and pulled him the rest of the way out. Warren gasped for air, dripping of fluids. He was roughly dropped onto the ground.

Eli’s expression remained unwavering, knife still held warningly over the bands. “Now tip the truck over.”

The giantess snarled. “You’re already trying your luck here, camo.”

Eli held the knife tighter, applying more pressure to the bands. One snapped and fell to the ground. 

The giantess’s eyes widened. “No— stop!”

“I ain’t messin around when I ask you to do something, pal.” Eli snarled back evenly.

The giantess growled in annoyance in her throat. She was rigid and looked ready to kill someone. She moved over to where the truck was toppled over and pushed it over so it was right-side up. The truck was still badly dented in the roof, and one of the windows was shattered, but it was at least mostly intact. Once she was finished, she stopped to glare at Eli again. “Okay, let him go,”

Eli paused. “Warren, get in the car, and don’t fucking hesitate this time.”

The hunter didn’t need to be told twice as he scrambled to his feet, almost immediately falling over before he got up again and bolted toward the truck. Once he was inside, Eli released his hold over the giant and broke into a dash to get to the truck. He fumbled with the keys and tossed them to Warren as he ran. Warren missed, and it landed in his lap instead. He quickly scooped up the keys and started the car just as Eli half dove in through the door. The female giant lunged after him, claws lashing out to barely graze his back, but he made it.

“Go! Go! Go!” Eli barked. Warren slammed onto the gas and the engine growled in protest but jolted forward, speeding into action. The giantess tried to grab the back of the truck bed, and a grating sound of metal was heard, sparks flying up as her claws tried to grab purchase, but it managed to break free. The truck quickly accelerated and began to speed down the road. The speedometer quickly rose from twenty to sixty, but the giantess was keeping up in pursuit without much difficulty, practically on the car’s tail. It was only when they reached seventy then eighty when she began to fall behind and slowed down. She eventually slowed to a stop in the road, letting out an angry growl as she slowly shrank in the rear view mirror and out of sight.

Eli let out an exhausted sigh, leaning back in the seat as he rubbed his face. He noticed a sound coming from beside him and could see that Warren was crying. He didn’t realize how young and frail the little hunter was until now. How old was he? Twenty? He looked absolutely terrified.

“Hey, focus on the road, kid.” Eli reminded him. Warren sniffled, shaking like a leaf.

“I’m trying— I’m trying— I’m sorry.”

Eli put a hand on his shoulder to try to get him to relax, but the car swerved in response.

“Don’t f-fucking touch me—“

His hand withdrew uncomfortably. “Rrright, then,”

The car was silent for a while aside from the hum of the engine. Both of them were trying to process what had happened. After a good twenty minutes, Warren’s quiet voice broke through the silence.

“...Eli?”

“Mm?”

Warren paused for a moment. “Why did you save me?”

Eli looked like he would say something thoughtful for a moment, but his expression was schooled back into an amused one. “Because I can’t drive, dumbass.”

Warren’s expression fell. “Oh. S-So this doesn’t change anything?”

Eli was silent for a while, seeming to reflect on something before responding. “It doesn’t change my original plan, no.”

Warren bit his lip fearfully, appearing sick to the stomach. He seemed to be having trouble focusing on the road.

“You... do remember what my original plan was, right?” Eli said slowly.

Warren shook, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “Please... you know what it’s like— you can’t do— I can’t go through that again— I don’t want to—“

“Quit your whining, crybaby,” Eli interjected. “My original plan might allow you to live,”

Warren could have cried in relief, taking in deep breaths as he felt a weight lifted from his shoulders.

“Hey— I said might. I still don’t like you.” Eli said, noticing his reaction.

Warren sighed, letting out a bitter chuckle. “Right, right.”

They drove in through the darkness with the silver beam of the headlights stretching across the empty road, shining like a tunnel through the shadows. City lights could be seen in the distance.

“The alchemist shop should be closed at this time. We’ll have to try in the morning.” Warren sighed.  “You got a place for the night? A home or something?” Eli said.

Warren frowned. “I… I’d rather you not know where I live.”

Eli let out a chuckle. “Ah, right. ‘Stranger danger.’ Of course you could shove me out the door of the car and run away. Wait, license plate number. Ohhh and didn’t you steal the vehicle belonging to some dead guy? Yeah that don’t look good. Of course the police probably won’t find out the guy’s dead too quickly, but what if they were alerted somehow?”

Warren gave him a look, before returning his eyes to the road. Eli leaned back, folding his arms behind his neck in a relaxed posture. “Ah, don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.” The giant sighed with a smug grin. “Won’t tell a soul… as long as there’s a place I can stay where the other giants won’t hunt me down. Hmmm I wonder...”

Warren was sick of being blackmailed by this giant, but he was just tired at this point.

“If you come anywhere near my house when this is all over, I’ll make sure every Hunter makes you pay,” Warren said sternly.

“Aww, they’re so cute when they try to sound all tough and scary,” the giant chuckled, but he readopted a more relaxed tone. “Yeah, sure. Out of bounds. Not like I’d want to seek out any callbacks to this hell anyways.”

The car continued to make its way down the dark road until it passed through the city, arriving in a sketchy mobile home neighborhood, that harbored a hybrid of campers. Eli could actually recognize this place from three rotations ago. He had picked off someone who strayed a bit too far from their camper in the evening.

The truck parked at a run-down blue mobile home. A light was on from one of the windows. Warren stopped by the porch and his hand hovered over the door before it suddenly swung open and a young girl was seen in the doorway. Her hair was in braids, and she looked confused, but relieved to see the two men on the porch. She quickly went forward to give him a hug.   

“Rebeka said you were supposed to be home hours ago! I was worried. How was the race?” Her face became a grimace. “Why do you smell bad? And who’s him? Is he a friend?”

She eyed Eli shyly and warily. Eli raised a brow. He hadn’t expected to see others here. Warren seemed too young to have a daughter.

“Oh— yeah that’s Eli. He’s not really a—“

“Oh yeah, we’re great friends!” Eli interjected with a smile. “I just helped give him a ride home with my truck,”

Warren seemed hesitant, but leaned into Eli’s alibi. “Yeah, my friends and I got separated at the rally, so Eli stepped in here to help.”

He went further into the house, kicking off his shoes (which still were sticky from slime) before glancing around the small area in confusion. “Where’s Rebeka?”

“She called me earlier and said that work was busy so she’ll be staying a little later. That was three hours ago.” The little girl said. She sat on the old tattered sofa in the living area of the home, pulling up her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth, humming. She seemed to have a lot of energy, which was to be expected from a child her age. She seemed very chipper, despite being left at home alone.

Warren sighed, hoping she was alright. She rode her bike to and from work, so she could be at risk there. He hoped she was alright, especially since Eli had mentioned the hunting rotation coming this way.

He didn’t know how he felt about Eli being in the same house as his little sister for the night, but he reasoned that if Eli really wanted to get back to normal, he wouldn’t give Warren any reason to break their deal. Killing his sister was definitely a deal breaker.

“Alright, you stay here, Liss. I’m going to take a shower real quick and I’ll see if I can throw something together for dinner—“ he eyed Eli sternly. “Don’t try anything or I’ll--” “Ah, yes, insert empty threat below that you’ll probably never go through with.” Eli said. At Warren’s offended expression, he held up a hand quickly. “Ey, don’t worry about it, kid. Not a scratch. I know better than to make a scene here, heh.”

***

Eli barely slept that night, trying to fix his sleep schedule to match the humans’ was more difficult than it seemed. Though he would refuse to admit it, he was still haunted by what had become of him. Within 24 hours he had been shrunk to a humiliating size, eaten, narrowly survived, only to be hunted down by two more giants that would have loved to have eaten him as well.

This day was just all sorts of messed up.

Warren stayed up for a while longer, making sure that Eli wasn’t anywhere near Liss. He made a quick text to a contactless number before heading to bed. He barely got any sleep that night, and the only dreams he had were lucid nightmares.

He was staring before the giantess’s open maw. Strands of saliva glistened, dripping from the roof of the mouth. Salivating as she anticipated her meal. The throat opened up before him as he was shoved inside. The rippling pink tunnel crushed him as he was forced in deeper into the darkness.

In a lucid state of horror, the dream went even further past his memories. He was crammed into a tight fleshy area, filled with scalding acids and writhing walls as they digested him alive. The gruesome scene was beyond words to describe. The insurmountable pain and terror. The giantess’s muffled voice thundering around him as she mocked his feeble attempts to fight back. Strength slowly sapped from his body, and his head slipped beneath the acids. His hazy mind could no longer hold on. The pain felt foggy and distant. There was a sensation of sinking... falling...

Warren jolted upright, eyes shooting open. It was just a dream.

***

Rebeka had returned late that night, but was given a brief rundown in the morning of the situation (or at least a version of it) in order to keep an eye on Liss while Eli and Warren would go run “errands”, to see the alchemist in search of an antidote. Eli was eager the whole time, though it was clear he hadn’t slept much either. Bags were under his eyes where his usual stripe markings used to be in his default form. Warren introduced him to coffee, which Eli only seemed to like black with excessive amounts of salt that would probably give any normal human a heart attack.

The alchemist shop was at the very end of town, and it looked like a pretty sketchy place. At the front of the building was a sign that read “Olivia’s Herbs and Remedies”

The windows were all dusty and lined with shelves of weird artifacts and abstract looking weapons. There was a neon OPEN sign that flickered occasionally. Next to that was a piece of dusty paper with a strange star-shaped logo with a bold “UL” on it, that could be likened to a knight’s crest. Eli’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the logo, but as Warren went ahead to enter the shop, Eli followed after, at a distance.

A little bell rung as the door opened. Eli stopped back, making a disgusted face and held his hands over his nose. “Ugh stars— it reeks in here!” He muttered.

Warren gave him an odd look, “It’s not too bad,”

“Yes, it’s very very bad. Did something die in here? And why am I picking up the scent of wendigo and...” he paused, grimacing again. “Troll? Who would mess with those wimpy fuckers?”

Inside the alchemist shop was what could be expected. There were rows and rows of dusty old jars of herbs, crushed materials, and oddly colored liquids. The shop was small and cramped, and the lighting fixtures didn’t seem to be working too well, so the main source of light came through the dusty windows, casting a dull muddy glow throughout the shop.

At the far end could be seen a counter and outdated cashier where a young blond lady snored with her face planted into the counter. An entire carafe of coffee sat on the desk before here, half-empty and still steaming. As soon as she heard the bell ring, she groaned, tilting her head up to blearily blink at the approaching figures with her insect-like spectacles.

At first she just seemed too groggy and tired to care before her eyes suddenly widened. She gasped. A shotgun was produced from beneath the desk, aimed straight at Eli. In a mere moment she had gone from asleep to battle-ready, seeming extremely threatened by the mere presence of the camouflaged giant.

Eli raised his hands quickly, eyes narrowing at the cashier. “What the fuck— put the gun down, lady!”

“Don’t take another step closer, giant, or I’ll fill your guts with metal.” The woman warned coldly.

Warren put his hands out between the two tensely, “Whoa— whoa, hold on Olivia, relax! I texted you last night about this. Remember?”

Her eyes narrowed for a moment before she finally slapped her forehead, lowering the gun. “Oh damn. Of course. This must be Eren, then?”

“Eli,” the giant corrected, lowering his arms, only to look further pissed off than before. “And how did you know that I’m a giant? And why did you text her about this, Tiny?”

The lady tapped her glasses. “Kapre tears. They let me see the true form of anything.”

She took a long swig of coffee from the carafe.

Eli sputtered in amusement. “What did you do to a poor kapre to get em to cry? Oh! Take its maaaagic pet rock? Lame hippies. Pffft.”

Olivia seemed unimpressed and mostly ignored the giant, looking to Warren as she took off her glasses briefly to dust them off against her shirt.

“So, the reason you came here...” she sighed, seeming to think a moment as she remembered the text. “I don’t have the supplies to make an antidote...”

Eli’s eyes flared in disbelief. He lunged towards her, banging his fists against the counter. “WHAT?!”

She didn’t flinch, instead held her shotgun raised to click beneath his chin.

“...at this moment.” She finished, not seeming too impressed by his behavior. “Really, Elmer. If you want something so bad, you should at least not threaten the one person who can fix you.”

“It’s Eli.” He corrected with a snarl, pushing the gun’s barrel away.

She sighed, glaring at Warren again with a deadpanned look.

“Remind me again why it’s a good idea to give him an antidote in the first place. I can just kill him now and you can take the credit to get your sweet ticket into the U.L..”

“I’ll— I’ll find some other giant.” Warren said.

Eli snorted. “Pffft. That’s what this was all about? You thought you could kill me in the first place in order to become one of those weird modern knight people? Okay kid, do yourself a favor and just give up that whole quest. We both know you’re gonna get yourself killed. Couldn’t even protect yourself against that giantess back there. You probably don’t even know shit about us.”

Warren winced at the mention of the giantess. The memory and the nightmares were still fresh.

“Th-that was... it was different. I did my research. I’ll come prepared next time.” He looked to Olivia tensely. “Do you have the stuff I asked for?”

Olivia stared at Warren with narrowed eyes for a moment before handing out a small paper bag that was rolled up. Whatever was in it was small, and not very much of it. It didn’t seem that heavy either.

“What’s that?” Eli said.

“Melatonin. To help me sleep. You know she sells normal stuff here too, right?” Warren said.

“How long would it take for you to get the ingredients for an antidote?” Eli growled at Olivia impatiently.

***

“Three months! Is she insane?!” Eli shouted as soon as they left the shop.

“It does sound like a complicated thing to make.” Warren reasoned as he approached the truck. “Like why does she need giant sweat? Firstly, ew, and secondly, that sounds pretty hard to get.”

“It’s probably because our sweat is magic or something,” Eli snorted. “It’s how our clothes shrink when we do when we go into camo.”

“Camo?” Warren had heard the other giants throwing around that term before, but wasn’t sure what it was. They reached the car and Eli paused the conversation as he got in the passenger seat.  

“Well, camo is--”

His voice was cut off as a hand suddenly came up from behind the seat and wrapped around his throat tightly. Warren was restrained in a similar fashion. Claws could be seen tipping the fingers as they were held very close to the throat. A rough woman’s voice came from the back seat, which almost sounded familiar.  

“You’re going to keep driving, human. We’re just going to tell you where to go. Act natural. I won’t have any problem slitting your throat.”

The voice came from the one holding Warren. Eli glanced through the rearview mirror, seeing two faces that seemed familiar. They were blond and seemingly human though their teeth were sharper, and there were dark markings beneath their eyes similar to a cheetah. They both had sharp silver eyes. One was a woman, and one was a man who had bandages wrapped around his neck. Their clothes were tattered and stained. They looked just like the two giants who had attacked them the day before.

Eli’s eyes widened slightly. “Well there’s camo for ya,” he muttered in a low growl toward Warren. The claws pressed against his throat tighter, choking off his words for him to be unable to speak further.

Warren looked utterly terrified, and his breath caught in his throat, afraid to even breathe with the claws so close to slicing his windpipe. He hastily took the keys and started up the car and took off to drive along the road.  

“Make a right and keep going.” The woman’s voice came again. Not a word of protest was heard as he obeyed, but he was shaking. They began to head down a long two-lane country road overshadowed by the trees there. They continued along this road for a long while, getting further and further from the city, but there was no sign of exactly where they were going. They were closer to the mountains now, and the large formations could be seen as big green shadows that stretched above the treeline. The road dipped and turned as it winded closer, passing over streams and hills. Over time, the two hijackers began to loosen their grips slightly, just to a nonthreatening degree, but enough to be able to speak.  

“Where-- where are you taking us?” Warren spoke fearfully.

“You’ll see soon enough.” The camo’d giantess snarled.

“B-- but-- H-how are you able to be small? Were you cursed? Do you use-- al-alchemy?” Warren stammered. A million questions were brimming in his mind. Each one multiplying his fears and dreads for these giants to have found them again. The very giantess who had swallowed him just yesterday now had her hands over his throat and had him practically under her control.

“Toldjya. It’s called camo.” Eli muttered. “All wood giants can do it.”

“The outcast said it,” The giantess huffed.

“Outcast? Ya know…. I’m really thinking it’ll be a nice idea to finish tearing off your Bands sometime…” Eli retorted. The grip around his throat tightened and he lifted his hands against it. “Ey, knock it off. You don’t constantly need to be throttling me to keep me in line.”

Although he seemed to keep a relatively calm demeanor, he didn’t seem all that happy about being kidnapped by some giants who probably weren’t too happy about him slitting one of their throats, and stealing one of their Bands. Whatever the giants had planned, it couldn’t be anything good.

“Wh-what do you mean, outcast?” Warren said.

“It’s not import--” Eli began, but the giantess was quick to interrupt him.

“I think you’ll learn all about it in a minute, human. If you’re still alive by then, that is. We’ve never taken a human to a Banding ceremony before, but something tells me they’d love to host our vengeance against a hunter who wronged our kind.”  

Eli’s eyes went wide. He jerked up in his seat and a breath caught in his throat. “Band-- you-- you can’t seriously be-- taking us to--”

The grip crushed this throat again and he was silenced once more. But the clear expression of terror was seen past his eyes, despite how hard he tried to hide it with his usual stoic expression. Something about this seemed to terrify the giant, but it was a mystery as to why, or what this whole “Banding ceremony” even was.

Time ticked by. An hour, two hours on the road. The two giants in the back seat seemed to be growing restless, and occasionally they would crack their joints impatiently. Eli knew how that was. Whenever he was in camo too long, it would become excruciating and difficult to maintain. The longest he had ever been able to maintain a form like that before the alchemy trick was only three hours. These giants were doing miraculously at their control over their camo forms.

Eventually, the giantess seemed to be having enough of it and instructed they park on the side of the road so that they could readopt their full forms and carry their captives the rest of the way.

Once they disembarked, there was a cracking, shifting sound as their bones lengthened and they quickly rose to their full heights. The giant at fourteen feet tall, and the giantess standing at thirteen feet tall. Warren went deer-in-the-headlights for a moment as he saw the giantess once again looming above him. He cowered back, debating bolting back into the car to drive away, but before he could even act, the giantess picked him up and slung him over her shoulder. He let out a frightened yelp, struggling in her grip and letting out a shaky protest.

“Hey, chill human. I’m not going to eat you just yet.” The giantess snorted.

This was barely any reassurance for Warren, but he realized that here, fighting was futile. He looked over to see that Eli was being restrained in a similar fashion by the other giant. He supposed at this point, the other giant couldn’t talk, probably from that injury to his neck. He still wasn’t sure how that giant got that injury, but recalling the scene where Eli had cut off one of the giant’s bracelets with a steak knife, it was safe to bet that Eli had done it.

What was surprising here, was that Eli seemed even more out of it as he tried to cover up his fear as best as he could, trying to bargain not to go to this “Banding” thing again, since he had earned his survival before and he deserved to keep it. Warren hadn’t expected this giant to be that afraid of anything. His reaction was honestly unsettling to him.

As they traveled further, the sun began to sink past the horizon, casting long shadows through the mountain forest. Through the dimness, glimpses of movement could be seen in the distance, passing through the gaps in the trees as silent as shadows. They appeared on either side, slowly coming closer. As Warren began to focus on them, he could distinguish exactly what they were. Giants.

There were dozens more coming. Varying in grotesque proportions and features, they all traveled in pairs, each pair well distanced from the rest. It was tough to see exactly how many of them there were as the slightest movement in the distant darkening forest would begin to be seen as more numbers growing, but the ambiguous number made it more frightening.

There could be hundreds. Thousands. Here? But why? What brought this many giants in one place? Not even two months ago, he believed giants to not exist, and now he was in the midst of a massive gathering of the monstrous creatures. Now Warren not only had to worry about the giantess’s holding him, but hundreds more. If he even escaped this one, another was bound to catch him. There was no way out of this.

The giants began to gather in groups. Each group wasn’t too large and only harbored about thirty. Far off, he could see a couple of the groups had younger giants. Children. Even at their younger age, most of them were as tall or taller than the average human. They were being watched over by the much older giants. Warren wasn’t close enough to get a good look at them, nor did he want to. He just wanted to disappear from this place and get out of here somehow. His odds of survival were infinitesimal at this point.

The two giants who held them quickly bound Warren and Eli against a tree near one of the gatherings before going off to speak with one of the older giants with bone-white hair.

Eli had gone quiet since they entered the giant gathering. He was shaking. His expression was difficult to read, but could be interpreted more as a look of resigned horror. Warren immediately tried to get to work to break himself loose from the ropes, but the giants had tied them uncomfortably tight. Things were looking grim for them.

“Eli—?” Warren breathed shakily. “W— what’s going to happen?”

Eli didn’t respond immediately, but he eventually looked down, letting out a grin chuckle. “Ya know when I said I’d bite you into little pieces when I got back to normal? That was a lie back when I said it. But it doesn’t matter. These giants are gonna do a whole lot worse. You’ll probably get a lot easier of a death than me. They’ll probably eat you alive and you’ll be unconscious by the time you get digested. Slow and painless. Me?” Eli scoffed to himself, shaking his head. He sighed. “I fucking hate the whole Banding jazz.”

Warren shuddered, shrinking a little. He stared up ahead. Fears whirred through his mind. The terrifying memory of being swallowed alive by the giantess and the nightmares that had followed. He didn’t want to die. And he didn’t want to die this way. He wanted to be with Liss and Rebeka again. His poor sisters. He wished there was more he could do for them. They already had lost so much.

“E-Eli…” Warren looked to the small-giant, his voice wavering. “If… if you were back to normal, big again— would— would you still want to kill me?”

Eli let out a bitter laugh. “After all the shit you put me through? It would be my pleasure.”

Warren looked down, biting his lip. He struggled slightly in the uncomfortable ropes that bound him. They were almost painfully tight, and it was difficult to get his hands free at all.

Up ahead, the giants seemed to be arguing about things before making rough lines in pairs. The two blond giants who captured them were among them. There was some bickering and talking before they seemed to shift the focus. They were now binding leather bands on the right wrist of each giant in an almost solemn, or ceremonial way. The customs of the giants were completely alien to Warren and he was clueless as to what this all meant.

After doing this for a while, a fight seemed to break out. All of the giants seemed to single down against one. There was a deafening uproar of shouting and cursing and growling. The singled out giant was smaller than most of the others. He was hidden from Warren’s view as he was swallowed up from the crowd out of sight, but between gaps, Warren could catch glimpses of his right arm being torn to shreds into a bloody mess. Claws lashed out in every direction. The giant at first seemed to desperately try to fight back before being pummeled to the ground where he was hidden from sight and not seen again. The fight seemed to calm down a bit, but it was soon filled with a different kind of vigor. It came off as victorious jeering.

Warren could feel Eli stiffen next to him. His eyes went over to the bound small-giant. Eli was staring at the ground with a slight grimace on his face. He didn’t seem to need to look to know what was going on.

“Out— outcast,” Warren pieced it together. The giantess’s words from earlier began to grow clearer.

Eli only looked up to give Warren a glaring scowl that mutely said, “Don’t fucking mention it.”

Warren went silent again, still shaky. He knew he didn’t have much time left. Soon they would be done with their ceremony thing and would only look to him as a little snack to pick off. He dreaded that the giantess would be the one to do it, the very same that had killed him in his nightmares.

As he squirmed to loosen the ropes somehow, he could feel a small object’s pressure against his front pocket. He froze. It was still there. His hand squirmed, trying to make its way into his pocket. It was a difficult task with his limited mobility, and he didn’t seem to get much luck.

“Hey, snap out of it. You’re tugging on me,” Eli grumbled next to him.

“N-no you don’t underst—stand. I— I can’t let them— I have t—“

Eli’s voice grew sharper and lower. “No seriously—“

His voice stopped suddenly and Warren froze in his actions. The crowd of giants seemed to part and the two giants that had captured them began to move away from the group, lumbering towards the two small captives. A grey-haired older-looking giantess joined them.

The three looming figures stopped over them, casting their enormous shadows that encompassed them easily. Warren shuddered and stopped in his actions, looking up at the three in dread.

“Well, I don’t believe it.” The silver-haired one said in a laugh. “Arawn lives, but he’s stuck as a little human. How humiliating. Serves him right.”

Eli’s eyes narrowed and he flattened his back against the tree. His jaw clenched stiffly and he stared on at the giantess.

“Well son of a bitch. Long time no see. Piss off, Rhyka.” He growled.

The silver-haired giantess only laughed. She looked to the blond pair of giants next to her. “This one hasn’t changed a bit. Let me kill him and finish what I started last time.”

The mute giant snarled hoarsely in his throat, gesturing to the bandages around his neck. He stood in front of Eli possessively.

“My brother and I caught the two, so we get to finish them.” The blond giantess interjected in a cold voice.

The silver-haired one took a bold step closer to the two. She was a full head taller than both of them, and was definitely one of the tallest giants among the whole gathering. “That Arawn was under my judgement seven years ago. I’m not asking.”

She shoved the mute giant aside and lashed out her claws to sever the ropes binding Eli and Warren. Her fingers closed around Eli’s middle and he was lifted off the ground. Warren let out a startled yelp and tried to get to his feet to run away, but the blond giantess quickly reached out to pin him against the tree again.

Eli put his hands against Rhyka’s grip, struggling with grit teeth. “You idiot! You know I earned my place! You— you can’t kill me!”

“Mmm, can’t or won’t? Because I think we both know the answer there.” She let out a harsh chuckle through her fangs before lifting him towards her face.

Eli’s eyes widened and he struggled harder. “No—nono—No—!”

Warren struggled beneath the giantess’s oppressive grip, his hand squirmed under to reach into his pocket. His hand closed around a small object like it was his only weapon or lifeline here. The giantess shifted her grip around Warren, noticing he was up to something. The slight readjustment allowed his arm to slip through. He held his breath and hurled the object upward with all his strength. In the darkness, it was difficult to see exactly what it was, but it missed Rhyka, hitting Eli in the back.

Warren let out a cry as the grip around him tightened, threatening to crack his ribs. Eli let out a shudder as the object came in contact with him. It was like he had been struck by the coldest blizzard instantaneously. Cold shivers ran down his spine. Then there were cracking sounds. Shifting. Snapping. Eli hissed in agony at the effect. His fingernails dug into Rhyka’s hands, enough to draw blood. The scent. He could smell it clear as day. Shifting. Cracking. A dizziness ran over him, putting him sort of out of it. And he grew.

His form lengthened within Rhyka’s grip until she could no longer hold him. His teeth grew into fangs. His ears sharpened. Claws jutted from his fingertips. A pained growl sounded in his throat before it came deeper and louder. A full-sized giant collapsed to the ground before her. He blinked, wincing as he seemed to reanalyze his senses. He looked up.

Rhyka was still much taller, but not nearly as tall as before. He barely had time to react to what happened before her claws suddenly lashed out, swiping clear across his face, digging deep into his skin.

“Gaah!” Eli shouted. A new vigor coursed through his veins. He leaped to his feet, using all his force to ram into her chest and knocked her back. The wind was knocked out of her lungs and she gasped for air, but quickly managed to regain her bearings. Eli didn’t give her time to recover. He lunged forward, aiming a kick against the giantess who held Warren.

She buckled backwards and her back collided into a tree. Her hand flew open, only for Eli to forcefully grab Warren and run. He still had a searing headache and his bones ached from the sudden change, but he was back. He was free.

The three giants behind soon followed in pursuit. Though Eli had an advantage. Although they were bigger, he was nimbler. He had been running away from the likes of them for seven years and had gotten pretty damn good at it.

Eli found a steep incline and took this as a chance to slow them down. He moved his hand towards his back which held Warren, sort of dropping him over his shoulder as he began to climb rapidly up the face of the cliff. Warren yelped. His heart raced, but he had no choice but to grip Eli around the neck to avoid falling to his death. It suppressed the giant’s breaths somewhat, but it didn’t matter. Eli could manage. He scaled the top of the cliff and his hand quickly grabbed Warren again tightly, wiping off his bleeding face on his sleeve with his spare hand.

He looked down and watched as the other giants caught up and attempted to climb up the cliff before skidding down. They were having trouble, but after several attempts, they seemed to begin to get the hang of it. Eli was still pretty high up and they had a little ways to go to catch up, but it was only a matter of time.

He gripped Warren tighter, holding him closer to his face with a look of unbridled rage. “You had that antidote this whole time?!”

Warren flinched, trying to lean away. “I— I didn’t trust you— I couldn’t just—“

“I don’t give a flying crap about your excuses! I don’t give a single shit! You’ve fucked up your last time, Hunter.”

Warren was brought closer to Eli’s face. So close he could feel his breath. Warren shuddered, squirming backwards. “W-wait— Eli— re—remember we— after all that happened— does— does that mean nothing?”

Eli’s eyes only narrowed in response. He glanced sideways down at the giants that were beginning to find more success in climbing up the cliff. They were getting closer. They didn’t have much time.

Without a warning, Eli’s maw opened wide before him. Warren could see a clear view of it through the moonlight. Strands of saliva glinted off the moonlight. The fangs bared threateningly around the maw. The slick wet tongue laid waiting. In the darkness, Warren couldn’t catch a good glimpse of what lay beyond, but he didn’t want to.

His breath caught in his throat and he pushed away from Eli’s grip. He was shaking violently. “No— no— noo— stop it— Eli, please—“

His voice might not have been heard at all. Before he knew it, his head was shoved into the giant’s hungry maw. The slick tongue rubbed against his face, getting a good taste of him, drenching his face and hair in sticky saliva. Eli let out a growling murr at his taste before getting to work. The tongue pitched upwards around his head, crushing him into the entrance of the throat. The giant’s hands continued to lift the human into his throat. A slight bulge formed in the giant’s neck as Warren began to enter, blocking off his airway momentarily.

Warren could feel the harsh, crushing muscles on every side of his face as the throat peristalsis began to grip him to tug him deeper with each wet gulp. He could already feel the encompassing heat begin to get to him. His heart raced, pounding in his ears. He fought against Eli’s oppressive grip, but to no luck. The giant had no difficulty restraining him. In the moment of feeble attempts, deep down, he knew Eli was right about his words from much earlier. Humans were weak.

GLK—

Another strong swallow gripped him, pulling his shoulders and upper chest into the crushing throat. The muscles were so taught and tight around him, he thought his shoulders would break from the pressure. But he couldn’t scream in pain. He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even breathe. He felt like he would suffocate before he would even reach the stomach.

The giant was being quicker about this. The hands shoved with more force as the throat accepted more and more of the tiny human. His head began to enter the tighter chest cavity where things began to get much louder. He could hear the booming heartbeat drum right next to his ears, vibrating right against him. The slick sounds of the peristalsis getting to work around him. The shifting, stretching sounds as the giant’s seemingly impossible anatomy managed to strain with ease to accommodate him.

The rest of his torso and hips disappeared down the dark gullet and only his legs remained. Eli could feel a pleasant shift within him as the struggling form wedged between his organs as it slid in deeper. The little helpless squirms and kicks did nothing but assist the descent and bring pleasant sensations, almost tickling the giant’s esophagus.

At this point, Eli would normally just tilt his head back and let his esophagus and gravity do the rest of the work, but he was in more of a hurry here. The other giants were getting closer. They were almost halfway up the cliff’s face. He gripped the struggling legs together and tilted his head back before pushing him in more forcefully. His throat relaxed slightly around his prey to allow him to slide down more easily.

Warren’s head began to press through a very tight opening before meeting a slightly wider area. He instantly gasped for air but coughed it up as a foul taste met his lungs. The air was scalding and humid, but was at least breathable. More of him began to follow as more of his legs disappeared down the throat. Eventually Eli released the kicking ankles as another swallow brought them into the mouth. Eli reached up for a moment to yank off the annoying shoes before the feet slid into the mouth and were squished back against the tongue before disappearing into the depths of the throat.

His jaw relaxed as the struggling little figure sank deeper into his hungry throat. He could feel the first pressure as Warren’s head entered his stomach and put a hand there to feel it begin to fill out. At a relaxed state, his stomach wasn’t much more than twice the size of a human’s, but it could easily stretch much more to accommodate larger meals.

Warren shuddered as he could feel the last of him disappear into the throat. All of him was now entirely inside the crushing possession of the other creature. His shoulders and upper chest soon followed through that tight ring of muscle into the hot chamber. His head was already pressing against the floor of the stomach, but it easily stretched and strained to allow more. He breathed through his teeth in rapid rasps to avoid slime from getting into his mouth. He could feel a shallow pool of a warm liquid gathered at the pit of the stomach only a couple inches deep which his head pressed into as more of him was crammed inside. Acid? He wasn’t sure, but it didn’t smell very good.

His torso, hips, legs, and feet eventually followed with a few more powerful gulps, stretching the small space and cramming him completely inside the larger creature. Warren gasped in horror, panting and shuddering as he was now utterly trapped. No weapons. No tricks. Nothing could help him out of this. His heart thundered in his ears, contrasting the slower, thundering rhythm of the giant’s around him that vibrated through the tight walls.

Eli let out a gravely sigh as he felt the weight settle completely inside of him, settling against his other organs. A hand pressed against where the struggling human lay. He immediately took in some deep gasps for air as soon as his airway cleared. He could feel the little hunter shudder and squirm inside of him, feel his rapid little breaths against the sensitive lining. It felt wonderful.

“Awwhh I missed this,” Eli’s voice came out in an almost purr as he caught his breath. It felt so good to be back to his normal size and have a human in his belly once again. He could see the little indentations from beneath his shirt as the little form struggled and fought against him. The efforts were more amusing than effective.

Warren kicked against the oppressive walls, his breaths coming in rapid pants. He couldn’t believe it. He had just given Eli his ticket to freedom, and was turned against in return. He thought giants could change. Eli had saved his life from the giantess before. He thought that had been something out of compassion, but really it was just his own greed. He was using Warren all along. He should have known. Why was he so naive?

The walls conformed tightly around Warren’s small form, restraining his struggles with ease. The living muscles rippled against him, covering him in the gross fluids and smothering him in the hot, slick folds of the stomach. It was hard to breathe. The heat was so much, it was difficult to focus on his struggles. It was tiring. He was stuck in an uncomfortable position, mostly still upside-down which was beginning to give him a bad headache. It was nearly impossible to reorient himself though, being how tight the environment was and how the muscles refused to relax around him.

Eli only got to appreciate his meal for a short moment before seeing how close behind the other giants were. They were nearly at the top. He bent down to a crouch, grabbing some large rocks the size of his fist and chucked them towards the nearest giant, the blond giantess. The rock hit her knuckles, breaking her grip around the rocky cliff and she clambered backwards, plummeting to the foot of the cliff and landed on her back. The giantess didn’t move. Her brother let out a choked shout of her name. His voice was raw and raspy from his injured throat. He paused in his efforts, but didn’t receive a response.

“You wanna lose your Bands too? Right after ya ripped that other giant to shreds? Well well, it’s still the Banding ceremony, so you might not have to wait a whole year to get banished. Endless running, being shamed and humiliated, hunted down by Hunters and your own kind as a weakling. Short life expectancy. You’ll love it. Might even last a few years. Wanna help your sis or would you like me to chuck another rock at her for good measure?”

The mute giant stopped immediately in his pursuit and skidded back down the cliff’s face to land at the bottom of the cliff to check on his sister.

Rhyka still climbed, but she was much older and significantly slower than other giants. As soon as her claws reached to top of the cliff, he stomped on her fingers, but wouldn’t let her go. She let out a hiss between her fangs, grabbing his ankle with her other hand, but he wouldn’t yield. He stooped down and grabbed around the wrist. Countless leather bands were bound around her wrist, going all the way up to her elbow. The ones closest to her wrist were weathered by decades of wear. Her silver eyes flitted between them, and then Eli. She froze.

“Ever heard of bad karma?” Eli sneered. His hand lashed towards her, the claws striking through each of the bands effortlessly, leaving long lashes through her skin. She gasped and let out an angered scream, gripping his ankle tighter.

“Pff, gotta try harder than that. Seeya on the other side, bitch.” Eli lifted his foot from her hand, only to step on her other wrist, breaking her forearm clean with a sickening crack before he shoved her off the cliff’s edge. She screamed, flailing her uninjured hand to try to grip the side of the cliff to slow her descent. Her claws scraped against the edge of the cliff, but didn’t gain purchase. She barely managed to catch her fall at the bottom of the cliff, but it didn’t make much difference. The impact must have broken some of her bones, and there was no way she would be able to climb up again.

It was over. Eli took in deep breaths and stood to his full height, flipping his middle finger at the three giants below before he left the side of the cliff, following the only available path along the upper mountainside.

The giant felt a sudden squirm of movement inside him as Warren attempted a kick. Eli paused after a moment, chuckling. He pressed a hand against the tiny captive, crushing him into submission.

“Yeahhh no. That ain’t gonna work, kiddo.”

Warren panted in the tight darkness, sucking in a choked breath as the walls seemed to collapse tighter around him, clenching him to the point of immobility. It was hard to even breathe. He had been stuck in this tight, hot, terrifying place, left quite literally in the dark to the commotion Eli just went through outside. He could hear the giant’s looming taunts towards the invisible enemies and picked up a muffled sound of the scuffle going on, but beyond that, he remained clueless as to what happened. Not that he could bring himself to care if the giants killed Eli now. Eli betrayed him. Warren thought he could be trusted, but he betrayed him.

“St—stop— I— I —cantbreathe— pl—s.” Warren grunted through his teeth, trying his best to fight against the oppressive walls, but to no luck. The walls finally lightened around him slightly, but still occasionally clenched and tightened from the subconscious peristalsis. Warren gasped for air, still shaking, feeling like each breath choked back a cry.

“Whoops.” Eli’s voice came in apathetically. The pressure returned, but less concentrated. Was he rubbing at him? Warren was disgusted at him, gloating over him like a filling meal. He shuddered, trying to burrow away from the pressure, but it was easier said than done when there was nowhere to go to escape.

“Y-you monster. I— I thought I trusted you. I hope the other giants kill you.”

Eli let out a snort. “Meh. Too late for that. Already kicked their asses.”

Warren was surprised, but that only gave him further reason to fear. The old saying; “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” came to mind. If the other giants had the slightest chance of killing Eli to spare his life, that was the only chance of survival he had. And now even that was gone.

“Yo, Tiny.”

He flinched as there was suddenly a poke at his side. He squirmed, batting it away. “D-don’t touch me—“

Eli ignored the resistance, only pressing more firmly with his palm. “You like it in there? The shit you forced me to go through?”

Warren grimaced, panting in the hot darkness. He squirmed, trying to right himself, but it was exhausting. It felt like he had run a marathon. The intense heat was getting to him, beckoning him to sleep. He felt like fainting just from the fear alone, and it was a battle to stay awake. Eli’s looming words from earlier echoed forebodingly in his head, “You’ll be unconscious by the time you get digested. Slow and painless.”

Here, passing out meant death. He knew if he gave in, there was no awakening.

“P-please…” his voice pleaded quietly.

“Please what? You seriously thought you could kill me a day ago. Me. A giant. I think you forget what part of the food chain you belong in. Riiiight there.” Eli smirked, giving his belly a curt pat to punctuate his statement. “Ever since your little trick got me stuck in camo, I’ve been thinking about this moment, planning it out just perfectly. And, aaaah it feels so good to be back again. You humans are just so crippled by how weak you are.”

Warren flinched as he felt the pat. Following this, the walls collapsed tighter around him again, distributing fluids over him. He could feel that his skin was softer. They were getting to work.

“I— I’m sorry. I’m sorry I tried to kill you. I j-just wish I ha—hadn’t done any of that and s-stayed home,” Warren choked back a sob that broke in his throat. He curled up tighter, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Meh, sorry doesn’t change nothing, kid.” The giant’s voice dismissed him.

He continued walking along the mountain path. He was grateful to have all of his senses back to prime shape. His night vision, his sense of smell, his acute hearing. A whole day stuck in his camo form was more than enough to be sick of it and be more grateful for his natural size. Reaching a certain height along a steep part of the mountain, he could see headlights of cars weaving down a snake of asphalt that winded through the mountains.

He could feel Warren still squirm slightly, but he was getting weaker by the minute. He still enjoyed the slightest sensations coming from his motions, and occasionally if he put his hand on Warren, he could prompt another flurry of movement as he would attempt to avoid or retaliate against the pressure. It was sort of amusing.

He could feel Warren’s breaths against the sensitive lining. The slight shuddering movements as the stomach contracted around him. He noticed the breathing patterns had shifted slightly. They were jerkier, and tense. Was he… crying?

The giant blinked, putting a hand to where Warren laid, still sort of upside down. His hand rested beneath the human’s shoulders that were felt through his lower belly. The jerky motions were felt more clearly, but he didn’t flinch against the pressure this time. He was almost… giving up.

“Hey.”

There was no response.

“Hey, snap out of it, kid. You should’ve saved the tears for earlier. Those always add a nice taste,” The second comment was more to himself than directed at the little captive, but it was still heard clearly.

“You f-fucking— beast—“ Warren’s voice was seasoned by a surprisingly powerful kick to the lungs that made Eli hiccup in surprise, wincing. “I’m— you— you’re going to kill me and you’re— you’re just talking about h-how I taste? I’m— not food! I’m a person! My s-sisters need me— after a—all they’ve been through— A-and— and— you—“

Eli patted his stomach to interrupt him sighing. “Hey, enough of that drama, ‘kay? We giants don’t ‘do’ emotions, so guilt tripping me ain’t gonna get you anywhere. Aaalllso… um… Well I haven’t been a hundred percent honest with ya. You’re probably going to be fine.”

Warren went still for a moment, before his voice snapped. “Are you crazy?”

“Hm? No. At least not much.”

“Y-you frickin ate me and you said I’m going to be alright. I am not okay. My skin is going soft and numb, I can barely breathe. It burns in here. Whatever you’re doing is crushing my ribs and shoulders right now. The blood is rushing up to my brain, I’m upside down. I’m barely even able to stay awake— And you’re saying I’m fine.”

“Yeahh no. There’s no acid in there right now. Whatever that numb stuff is, it’s harmless.” Eli huffed. “If you were really that uncomfortable upside down, ya could have told me earlier. Sheesh.”

Warren was trying to wrap his head around this new information when the walls began to shift around him again, clenching and rippling as they began to get him at least laying in a slightly more comfortable position. There was only so much control Eli had over there, so it was difficult to fully get him upright, but at least he was no longer upside down. After a moment, the muscles relaxed around him again, still occasionally tightening massaging subconsciously, but no longer quite as cramped as before.

Warren held out his elbows to try to keep the folds of the walls mostly off of him as he caught his breath and readjusted to his new position. He blinked in the darkness, glancing up to speak again just as a glob of the fluids dripped onto his face. He grimaced, quickly trying to wipe it off, but didn’t make much progress since there wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t covered in the stuff at this point. It was really, really gross.

“You— you’re saying I’m safe?” Warren said. “I— I’ve been safe this whole time?”

“Well, with the giants on our tail, that’s technically the only place you can be safe.” Eli pointed out. He made his way down another route to decline down the mountainside toward the highway. A hand was held against his belly to stabilize Warren and not jostle him around too much as he moved.

“Damn.” Warren breathed, still processing this. He didn’t trust Eli after what he had done. How he had humiliated him, terrified him, treated him like nothing but a satisfying meal. It hurt. “W-why didn’t you--”

“Tell you that you were going to be safe?” Eli seemed to read his mind. It seemed like the giant had heard this old question many times. It certainly wasn’t the first human he had eaten, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. “Well for starters, we didn’t have much time with those giants chasin’ us. And also it’s boring to eat a meal without a struggle. They say hunger is the best seasoning, but I think fear is. And thirdly, you deserved it. ‘Cause that’s exactly what I went through since you shrunk me. So. Ha. Revenge.”  

Although Warren couldn’t see his face, Eli smirked. The giant was able to find his way down the mountain trail, following the sound of an occasional car off in the distance to navigate toward the nearest road. He listened out carefully for any sign of the other giants nearby, but they were all probably too occupied with the Banding to wander off too far.

“You— you do realize you were n-never the victim here. You’re an apex predator. We ‘little people’ have to deal with being belittled by your kind, and for just one day you had to deal with it.”

Eli rolled his eyes, pushing aside a branch in his path to reach the road. He glanced down it for any nearby cars and followed just within the treeline to avoid being seen by oncoming cars.   “Hey, you shouldn’t be the one complaining, kid. You’re lucky you’ve been nabbed by a giant who doesn’t kill humans anymore. Real lucky.”  

Warren sighed shakily, still having trouble wrapping his head around the situation. This felt so wrong, and strange, and scary. Even if he was technically safe, he was in the stomach of a giant who had killed people in the past. People had likely died in the same place where he was right now. That thought was unsettling and he knew he shouldn’t dwell on it, since he was already sort of panicking anyways.  

“What… what made you stop killing people?”

There wasn’t immediately a response as Eli kept walking along the side of the road, working on locating Warren’s car they had left behind earlier. A long sigh sounded around Warren, and Eli readopted his usual gruff voice.  

“Meh, it’s a long story. Too boring.”

Warren’s curiosities only grew, but knowing Eli, he knew that probing around too much would probably be a bad idea and would be met with more rough messing around and teasing. A small question probably wouldn’t hurt, though.

“Well… There’s n-not much I can do here anyways. Unless… Can you let me out?”  

“Mmm, nah, not yet. We’re still pretty close to the whole Banding thing, and also mountain giants can get real nasty around this time of the year. You’re so terrible at defending yourself, that-- ‘Oh no, a breeze knocked him over. Whoops. Warren’s dead now.’ Ya get that?”

Warren frowned, but there wasn’t much he could offer in his own defense. He squirmed slightly in place to try to find a more comfortable position, but it was so tight and cramped that it was difficult. It was still not easy to breathe in the limited space, and the heat sapped him of his energy, making it difficult not to doze off.

Eli could feel the little form grow more limp and relaxed and supposed that his core temperature was getting to him. It wouldn’t be long before he would soon pass out. Eli was feeling pretty tired himself. He hadn’t really slept last night because of his nocturnal sleep schedule, so he hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. The adrenaline from the Banding was the main thing keeping him going at this point. He also knew he probably shouldn’t fall asleep with Warren inside. Although Warren was safe for now, since giants only digest when they’re asleep, that could make things really dangerous for the little captive.

Eli eventually felt Warren’s breaths calm down within him and smirked a little. After a long while of walking, he could see Warren’s car up ahead. The sounds of the Banding far off were growing fainter, so it was probably safer around there. Eli stopped next to the car, leaning against a tree. He pat his stomach to wake Warren and felt a sudden groggy shuffle of movement within him as the small man re-acclimated to his surroundings.

It took Warren a minute to remember all that had happened, and he was surprised at himself. He had just fallen asleep inside the giant? Wasn’t that dangerous? He tested all of his senses. At least he was still able to breathe, despite how hot and humid the air was. His skin wasn’t burning at all, but it only felt a little bit softer, like how one might be after a long soak in a hot tub. He looked up as Eli patted at him, trying to wipe most of the slime away from his face.

“Hmwha?” A tired mumble came from him.

“Oh nice. He lives. What a surprise. You got all sleepy? Aw.”

“It’s-- not my fault-- it’s hot in here, okay? Ugh.” Warren grimaced as he heard a gurgle nearby and the walls massaged against him. This place was gross. He felt a blunt chuckle around him from Eli before the walls tightened around him again, almost painfully this time. The crushed against him, eventually forcing him streamlined-- upward?

He pressed back through the tight stomach opening before being forced into the throat. He was tugged along for a while before his head pressed into open air once again and he gasped for breath as a huge hand grabbed him and pulled him the rest of the way out with a sickening GLK sound.

He was held by the scruff of his shirt above the ground to once again face the huge giant. He blinked blearily as he readjusted to the dim light. He shivered as he was once again exposed to fresh air, which felt freezing in comparison to the giant’s insides. Filling his lungs with fresh air never felt so refreshing. He was dripping in slime, seeing threads of saliva connect him to the giant’s mouth. It was disgusting, but he was at least grateful to be free and alive.

Eli gagged residually, but swallowed the buildup of saliva before smirking down at the little human. He always found them to look so funny whenever he released them. Warren looked pitiful right now, soaked down to the bone, shivering, and dripping with stomach fluids. He chuckled. “Ah, there he is. Welcome back to the free air.”

The grip around Warren was released and he slumped to the ground dizzily. He tried to get to his feet, but his legs felt all wobbly and stiff from being curled up in that tight space. He was gasping for air, sort of gaping up at the huge giant in disbelief that he had been inside of him just seconds ago.

“You-- you’re disgusting.” Warren said between pants. He could see his car nearby and stumbled over to it, taking out his keys from his pocket and tried to wipe off the slime as well as he could before unlocking the car.

Eli just shrugged to the insult with a predatory smirk. “Welllll at least you’re not.”

Warren grimaced at the comment. “Don’t ever refer to me ugh-- tasting-- good or anything ever again. That’s just weird.”

Warren loaded into the car, just feeling gross and slimy and just wanted to get a hot shower after all this. Eli just chuckled in response. Of coarse Eli wouldn't bother to comply.

The huge giant crouched down to peek towards the driver’s window, leaning his weight against the car which made it creak slightly. Warren glanced at him, still wary and nervous around the huge creature, but felt oddly comforted to have such a big creature able to protect him against those other giants. That was a close call. It was just sheer luck that he was still alive.

He sighed, “Well… I guess this has been the craziest two days of my life…” Warren said. “I..” He took in a deep breath. “Take care, Eli. I hope the other giants don’t kill you.”

Eli grinned gruffly. “Eh, I’ll be fine. Now don’t go messing around with giants and monsters anymore. If we meet again, I’m eating you for reals, ‘kay? I still don’t like you. Much.” He chuckled, though his face softened slightly. “And take care of your sisters. You’re lucky to have a family like them.”  

His expression suggested there was more to that, but he just backed up and stood too his full height again, his usual grin returning to disregard any mystery behind his words.  

Warren had never considered himself lucky to be in his family’s position, but he nodded anyways, promising to take care of them. Despite how the giant had traumatized him, he was grateful to what he had done to keep him safe from the other giants. Though even with this, he was an undeniable jerk. He hoped he would be alright.  

“Will do, Eli.” Warren said with a slight smile. He started up the car and gave a last nod of goodbye before driving off. In the darkness, it was difficult to even see the giant in his rear view mirror as he drove away, but he seemed to disappear into the treeline immediately.

Warren would reevaluate a lot of his choices, but first, he wanted to make sure he was more prepared next time something happens.

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