I'm a little over word count again this week, but I'm letting the stories run to their natural length at the moment instead of cutting them to the bone.
Ball and Chain (1058 words)
The humans always brought the new inmates in in daylight. No matter if a monster could bulk, shift, fade or speed their powers were diminished under the blazing eye of the sun. Tapito squinted at the latest batch from inside his cage. He recognised a curtain-lurker, a closet-hider and a big chupacabra. The last human dragged a huge shaggy beast, red-eyed and sharp-clawed at the end of a thick chain. It was something Tapito hadn’t seen before. It had to be one of the wild, outside things. A rare one.
The beast thrust his face against the bars of Tapito’s cage, drool spilling around fangs in his out-thrust jaw. “Hello lunch,” he growled. “If the human wasn’t here, I’d eat you.”
Tapito bounced up on all four feet, pulling himself up to his full twelve inches. He thrust out his chest and lifted the spines down his back. “Come and try it big boy!” he yipped back. “I’ll rip off your balls. Heuvos rancheros for breakfast.”
The human yanked on the chain, and the big monster shuffled on. “Hur hur hur. We’ll see, little mouthful.”
“I’ll be waiting. My teeth are like knives. I will bring you pain!” Tapito shouted until the other monster was out of sight. It was slow and shambling now, but they were all like that when the humans brought them in, dosed with potions to make them weak. Tapito had been dragged out from under a little human’s bed, snapping and trying to speed. Blackness had hit him and he had woken up behind bars.
Tapito ran around his cage, sniffing at the locks, sharpening his teeth on the bars, scrabbling at the floor. It was a routine. Any weakness that showed, he would use it. Another human approached the row of cages with the feed. The new inmates and the stubborn ones howled and roared and threw themselves against the bars. The humans jabbed with shiny sticks and the roars and howls became screams. Tapito remembered the shiny stick. He’d taken two of a human’s fingers the first time he’d been fed. The pain had been worth it.
He bared his teeth as a matter of principle when it was his turn. The human unlocked a small door, and poked in a bowl with the end of the stick, then locked the door again. If it was dark, Tapito could have sped through the gap. But the daylight sapped his energy. He had the scars to show what would happen if he tried. Instead, he sniffed at the offering. Pocket lint. What he would give for a juicy dust bunny. As he chewed he thought, as always, of escape.
After the feed, they were let out, watery-eyed under the sun’s fire, to exercise. The bogeys and the lurkers clung to to the shade of the guard-towers and the high, concrete walls. The wind blew in the smell of the desert outside.
As Tapito trotted aroud the dusty yard, the new chupacabra hissed at him, threat vibrating all down his scaly body. Tapito bared his teeth in a manic grin and hunched down for a pounce. Another chupa, an old lag butted the new one aside. “No trouble, Tapito,” she said, keeping her eyes low. “He just got here.”
“Looked to me like he was asking for trouble, Surita,” said Tapito.
“He’ll learn. Leave him his cojones.”
“Ok. For you.”
Surita hurried the new chupacabra away.
“Hey ‘Pito,” Elmer the bogeyman shuffled up. “Seen the new boy? Big ‘un.”
“Yeah, I met him. He threatened to eat me for lunch.”
They looked over to where the shaggy beast had cornered a key-stealing gremlin. The little creature cowered, long ears drooping. Shaggy looked around to make sure the humans weren’t watching, plucked up the gremlin and swallowed him whole.
”Hey!” yelled Tapito, streaking across the yard. He barrelled into Shaggy’s stomach as fast as he could, head first. “Spit him out!”
Shaggy bent over, retching. The key gremlin rolled out of his mouth, covered in ooze. It scurried away to hide behind a Black Dog. The humans were paying attention now. They barked at each other, and one of them ran in with a shiny stick.
”Big mistake, little mouthful,” said Shaggy. “I’m the Swallowing Shadow. You think this prison will hold me after nightfall? I can go wherever I please. I’m coming for you. And I’ll be hungry.” He howled as the human prodded him and dragged him away on a chain.
“The Swallowing Shadow. Huh, never heard of it,” said Elmer.
“Big mouth, no balls,” said Tapito, but he was worried. Maybe he’d never seen one of those monsters before because they didn’t stay caught. Maybe what it said was true.
Tapito circled in his cage as the sun went down and the stars blazed in the black sky. His sharp toenails clicked on the metal floor as he paced. He would not fall asleep. Now it was dark his big ears could hear every sound, his big eyes tracked every movement.
“Hello supper,” growled a voice in his ear. Tapito leaped so high he banged his head on the top of his cage. Shaggy pushed his head through the bars as if they weren’t there, and opened his mouth like a giant scoop. He shovelled his jaw relentlessly towards Tapito. Tapito scrabbled backwards, feeling the cold steel of his cage pressing against his spine. He couldn’t slide through solid things, like Shaggy. There was nowhere left to go. He gathered his strength, and sped straight down Shaggy’s throat. It was black and sticky. Thick muscle squeezed around him, cracking a rib as he was forced down into the huge monster’s stomach.
Tapito held his breath until a fizzy black tide rose before his eyes. Then he started slashing with the teeth he sharpened every day on steel bars. Shaggy bellowed and howled, but Tapito kept it up until he could smell the clean night breeze. Good. He’d held on long enough for Shaggy to slide out through the prison walls.
Tapito crawled out of the tattered hole in Shaggy’s belly. The big monster moaned weakly.
”I must keep my promises,” said Tapito. “But since you set me free, I will only take one of your balls.” The Swallowing Shadow’s shriek was still echoing off the hills as Tapito sped into freedom.
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