Though muffled by the gruesome walls of his hiding place, Richard had heard the creature arrive and move across the bone pile directly to his place of concealment. Fear shook his body so much he was certain he’d given away his position. The giant head had been his only source of refuge. He’d pried its dead mouth open and against all his senses screaming what a bad idea it was, he had squeezed between its lips and teeth, curled up on its moist, fetid tongue and pulled the mouth closed. He’d only just managed to stifle a scream of terror when the Web monster landed on the head and wobbled him from side to side. The gruesome sounds of the monster feasting on flesh only a handbreadth away, had almost been more than he could endure, he was certain it knew he was inside and was toying with its food, like a cat with a mouse. Richard had formed a rash plan. He’d quickly open the mouth, leap out, grab a bone and strike the monster around the head before it recovered from the surprise of his appearance. It had to be better than waiting for the monster to eat its way through to him. Just when he conquered his fear to a level where he could force his body to enact the rash plan, events took that opportunity away from him. When the creature leapt from the head, it disturbed its tenuous perch on the side of the bone pile and down it rolled. Trapped inside, Richard tumbled around and around like a piece of clothing in a tumble dryer.
The head bounced and rolled until it came to an abrupt halt against one of the many sections of its brethrens’ skull fragments littering the floor. Richard listened. He wasn’t sure if the Web monster had gone or waited for him to crawl out so it could attack.
With insufficient food to feed them all, the space rats raced along the tunnel and surged over the head in desperation to claim part of the spoils. Only the quickest or strongest would succeed. As soon as one had bitten off a morsel of flesh, it leapt aside. Others, not as quick or strong as some of the pack, waited around the perimeter and seized upon the opportunity of a taste by chasing and attacking those who’d been successful. Others, knowing neither opportunity would bring them a meal, attacked other rats that had momentarily dropped their guard in the rush to feed. As soon as blood was shed the unfortunate vermin stood little chance. Now fair game, it was set upon by those around it. Though the meat of their brethren was not as succulent as that cloaking the large skull, it was better than no meat at all.
Though Richard heard the terrifying shrieks, cries and the scrape of teeth and claws on bone, and knew it was more bad news, he was unaware of its cause, only that there were a lot of them.
When one of the large rats feeding on the giant’s juicy lips squeezed its head between the giant’s jaws and looked at him, Richard recognized the vicious space rat species and the danger it and its kind threatened. The rodent let out a surprised, but decidedly pleased, shriek at the unexpected feast, and wormed its body further inside to reach it. Richard dug his fingers into the giant’s top gums and yanked down hard. Crushed by the large teeth, blood exploded from the rat’s trapped body. While death throes shook the dying rodent, it was dragged out by its bloodthirsty comrades and quickly consumed.
Richard, rocked about from the rodents’ frantic feeding on the skull was now more terrified than before, something he thought impossible a few moments before. At least there had been a slim chance of defeating the single Web monster. The hoard outside fighting over the limited amount of flesh on offer was impossible for him to defeat. Soon they would find and devour him one painful bite at a time, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
Unexpectedly, the space rats terrifying shrieks and cries ceased and were replaced by gloom-filled silence, which held malevolence almost as frightening as the noise of the feeding.
As one, the rodents froze to form a macabre statue of bloodstained fur, teeth and claws. A rattle of chains focused their yellow eyes on the large, pale form that had appeared in the tall, arched opening at the far side of the room the passage led to. It bellowed and rushed forward. Stagnant water sprayed like a fountain as each large, bare foot slammed into the water. While most of the rats abandoned the fight for food, some seized the chance to grab a quick bite before joining the others in a panicked dash to be free of the tunnel before the creature blocked it. Not all made it.
Rats were snatched from the walls and water by the giant’s huge shovel-like hands and, in a continuous flowing motion, fed into its mouth and chewed with teeth the size of tombstones. Bones crunched, blood and gore sprayed as it shoved in one rat after another in an attempt to satisfy its vast hunger. Some rats, believing they’d escaped the murderous clutches by running along the walls past the giant, found themselves struck by the chain that whipped out from the metal collar around the giant’s neck with exacting vengeance. They were swiftly plucked from the air and sped into the reach of the giant, who swiftly crammed them into monstrous jaws.
Richard cautiously parted the teeth and gazed out at the titanic creature lit by patches of florescent green slime and watched it gobble down as many of the rodents as it could seize in its huge hands. It was his chance to escape.
Head first, Richard slithered between the teeth, over shreds of ripped and bite-scared lips that left him smothered with purple blood, and dropped onto the bone pile. He crawled over to the wall and hid behind the corner of the tunnel. After he’d caught his breath and marginally calmed his nerves, he peered around the edge. The large creature, whose massive bulk practically filled the tunnel, had stopped. It was busy scooping up any rats that tried to escape past it. Hardly any reached the freedom they desperately sought.
Though the giant had a nose and a mouth, presently choked with wriggling vermin, blood, gore and bones that crunched hideously with every chew of its large jaws to reduce the vermin into swallowable chunks, its eyes were missing. Sockets existed, but they were empty of the eyes that’d once dwelt there. From the evidence of the grotesque, scarred skin around the orb-less sockets, it seemed they’d been gouged out with something blunt, and the wielder of said instrument either lacked the necessary surgical skill to perform the surgery with finesse or the inclination to care how much pain, suffering and disfigurement it caused the patient. In either case, the giant would have probably been an unwilling participant. Except for a conveniently placed wrap of cloth concealing the giant’s no doubt huge dangling dick, its body was bare. Tree trunk thick arms and legs, joined to a chest the size of a family car, made the huge monster a formable opponent, and from the old scars covering its grotesque muscle-bound skin, one that had experienced much suffering.
Richard briefly wondered who its tormentor had been. A glance at the many collars attached to chains hung from the ceiling and the piles of bones long stripped of flesh littered below each gave evidence it hadn’t been the only unfortunate creature to have suffered in this dank, dungeonesque cavern.
When some of the surviving frantic space rodents realized to try and pass the huge creature would bring them only death, they turned tail to head back into the bone chamber. The rat-ravenous giant chased the fleeing food.
Richard sighed. Just for once he’d like things to go his way. He snatched a bone at random to use as a weapon from amongst the wide selection on offer and climbed to his feet when the rats rushed into the chamber. Though most ignored him, some gave him a glancing look while they rushed to find a place to hide. One, perhaps having failed to grab a bite to eat earlier, swung in his direction, and with a snarl and bared teeth, it leapt at the new food source.