#whump muzzle

Broken room after broken room, Caretaker was left no choice but to swallow their fear, the last place they could search being what ever lied down in the darkness through the open basement door. With the door left barely on its hinges, the dark abyss inside was interrupted by the dimmest light known to man, the dull lumens engulfing the bottom of the stairs. Caretaker gulped.

Their knees hobbled downstairs. The old steps shuddered and creaked at Caretaker’s weight. They jumped before they even made it to the end, a hand instinctively clutching to their collarbone. Some large shape traipsed through the darkness. Unable to understand the depth of its shadowed form, Caretaker’s gaze still sensed it to be all too close.

“Whumpee?”

They quickly fixated the flashlight’s direction onto the movement. In the corner of the damp stone space Caretaker failed to recognize what they were looking at, noting only that some form of monstrous once humanoid creature limped over to some form of “nest”.

It slumped down onto the cold hard floor. Stanced up, their arched back tried to hide a few glimpses of Whumpee behind them. Yellow eyes glared up at Caretaker, a jurassic growl rumbling out of the creature’s pulsating throat.

Caretaker found themselves subconsciously stepping backwards, the pieces of the Whumper’s gnarled appearance falling into place.

Their coat torn to accommodate for a larger size. Their winter hat still fastened tightly to their face, complimented by a muzzle forced on and over it. Some sort of sharp tail trailed behind them, curling around their darkened legs, their new markings allowing their limbs to easily camouflage underneath the lightless guise of the basement.

The changed Whumper let out a half-snarl half-growl, somewhat raising to their feet.

Caretaker pleaded, backing upstairs, “Whum-Whumper?! I’m not here to hurt you-”

Their shaky hold on the flashlight illuminated fresh spots of blood on the concrete flooring. They tried to sneak their sight onto Whumpee, their limp form snuggled in a tattered padding of blankets and towels. Whumper forced their focus to snap back onto them, when they slinked across the space, reaching the stairs faster than leaping would’ve landed them.

Caretaker broke into a sprint. They shouted hysterically into their walkie-talkie, losing the flashlight as heavy weight pounced onto their back, pressing them into the living room’s hardwood.

Tech garbled voices vied to get a response from Caretaker. Their panic only agitated Whumper. A strange noise now so loud that it vibrated all throughout Caretaker’s pinned body overtook them. Large claws scraped the floorboards besides their head.

Trying to twist around, Caretaker let out a pained gasp. Applying more weight, Whumper’s guttural sound increased, reverberating throughout the vacant mansion. Caretaker could hear some sort of instrument clicking from inside Whumper’s chest.

The creature crushed the rescuer as they located the walkie-talkie through the team’s panicked questions. Without hesitation Whumper caught the device within their claws, the rubber cord snapping loudly as they flicked it away from Caretaker.

Silence.

“Please.” Caretaker mouthed, seeing only Whumper’s hands, the skin blackened, joints enlarged, and what looked like the remnants of oven mitts pierced through by their clawed fingers. 

A faint cough sounded from the basement. Whumper perked up, the slit-pupils of their eyes enlarging. They snuck off of Caretaker, turning around and keeping themselves low to the ground. Caretaker scooted their stomach against the floor. They hissed an adrenaline fueled gasp as they managed to scamper a few feet away.

Now only Whumper’s tail loomed over them, the sharp point as distracted as Whumper’s gaze.

Blood trickled out from the warm inside of Whumper’s winter trenchcoat, blotting below them. The creature let out an labored huff.

It forgot Caretaker, staggering for a moment as it started towards the source of the couch, one animalistic back leg curling up, hovering before receding back to the ground. Another pathetic cough, and Whumper released some sort of exhausted whine, forcing themselves to abandon the first floor.

Only the stair steps made another sound, the large creature testing their patience.

Caretaker steadied to a stand. They watched Whumper from the comfort of the doorway. The monster curled over the scrawny form of Whumpee, burying them, and Whumpee didn’t understand at all.

Their limbs twitched, when one of Whumper’s hands flattened to their forehead. It was sickly hot. Whumper was going to do everything in their power though to protect Whumpee, to protect their friend. No one will ever hurt them again.

Exhausted, the creature glared upstairs. Caretaker nodded, backing off from the old steps, searching the destroyed mansion for answers while breaking into a contemplative pace.

They encircled through the uncluttered path paved throughout the living room. Giving one last glance at the pieces of their walk-talkie, they wondered if the team showing up would do more harm than good. Whumper’s animalistic behaviour was all that Caretaker could base their next move off of.

Caretaker halted, feeling something bounce away from their shoe. They bent down to witness the little piece of a metal, bullet casings.

Next, they discovered the kitchen was cleaned out completely. No cans aside from the punctured shells decorating the counter, no boxes of mix except for few powdered grains, no sugar or flour, not even a scrap of bone. Caretaker plucked a woven basket up off the floor, a grand bite fraying the wooden materials, the jagged edges mimicking the sharp teeth that chomped through it.

Caretaker rummaged through the pockets of their cargo pants, fumbling out a protein-based granola bar. Before venturing back into the basement, they crouched over it, pressing the plastic packaging to the core of their abdomen, doing their best to soften the crinkling. Once open, they peeled the wrapper back and snuck to the middle of the stairs.

At the first wooden creak, Whumper enlivened, that guttural growl starting again.

“Hey now… It’s okay. It’s okay.” Caretaker extended out the snack. “I’m not going to hurt you. Are you- Are you hungry?”

There was a curious croon from Whumper as the inhuman sound fizzled out. Their head titled to the side, as if they were attempting to comprehend the words leaving Caretaker’s mouth. Caretaker agreed to the body language, nodding frantically out of habit, they waved the granola bar before them.

“Hungry?” Caretaker slowly dropped to the bottom of the stairs. They continued, “It’s okay. Here… You can have it.”

When Whumper refused to budge, Caretaker took it as an opportunity to sneak closer. Holding the treat, they started to shiver. The monster’s eyes were now glued to the bar.

Pondering aloud, Caretaker asked meekly, afraid to make too loud of noise, “How long has this muzzle been on? You must’ve been already so hungry before this, huh?”

Whumper lowered their head, submitting, their tail fixating itself between their legs. Caretaker maneuvered the snack between the gaps in the muzzle. They expected Whumper to snatch it up immediately, but instead the creature made anxious small bites. Low rumbling of a desperate stomach made its entrance. Caretaker tried to imagine what kind of person could reduce the powerful Whumper to… this?

They soothed, “Go on. You can have it.”

Craning their neck, Caretaker achieved a better view of Whumpee. Their face blanched by fever, they pressed stuffy snores through their nose and rested almost comfortably within Whumper’s haphazard nest. They seemed untouched, at least as of recent. No open wounds, no multicolored bruises. Instead sweat drenched the underside of their oversized clothes. A defined collarbone answered any idea Caretaker had on Whumpee’s health.

“Are you hurt?” Caretaker returned their attention to Whumper. The creature seemed indifferent now to whatever they had to say, their nervous demeanor still waiting for something.

They allowed Caretaker to investigate them. No idea what else to do, Caretaker cased their hands through Whumper’s coat, the monster flinching as they prodded soaked through bandages.

Caretaker sensed the size by following their textured surface up and down Whumper’s side. Sections had turned crusty and dried. Pulling out their hand, there was a light coating of red outlining the ridges of their fingerprints.