Survival Games

Chapter 2

         The night was fitful and restless. Most of the mice managed to get to sleep eventually. Lila was not so fortunate, having been unconscious for most of the day already made it difficult for her to get to sleep. When she finally did doze off, it was almost three in the morning.
         Her sleep was cut short by the sunlight streaming through the window at the far end of the house, shining through the kitchen archway and making sleep impossible any further. Lila sat herself up slowly, looking round at the others doing the same and wondered how long it would be before the next of them was taken to their fate.
         It was another half hour before they heard the stirring from upstairs, footsteps sounding through the ceiling as the resident went about his morning routine.
         ‘This is hell.’ One of the others murmured. ‘Just… being forced to sit around like this and wait.’ He started to pace, walking slowly from one end of the container to the other and back. Two others stirred as well, one stretching and rolling over while the other started to take a few steps towards the edge of the container to stare out at the kitchen.
         Lila approached the last one and stood beside him, also looking out. ‘What are you looking for?’ She asked him.
         ‘Not much.’ He replied. ‘An escape route I guess. Not that I think we’ll get a chance, but if we do I’d like to be prepared to take it.’
         ‘That’s a good idea, if a tad optimistic.’ Lila managed to smile, then took a look around herself. The kitchen looked well maintained, there was nothing in the way of loose boarding or holes in the skirting, at least nowhere that was visible from here. The only slight hope was the window behind the sink, but that relied upon being able to climb the benchtop to get there, as it was not connected to the dining benchtop they had been left on.
         ‘It’s a fool’s hope.’ Another voiced from behind. ‘None who were taken ever got away.’
         ‘That’s not true.’ The one beside Lila retorted. ‘That raid yesterday night let a dozen of us out. It’s just a pity that one dropped the key.’
         ‘Hmph. Believe what you want.’ The other retorted. ‘But we’re all going to die here. It seems pointless to entertain dreams of hope or rescue.’ He shuffled around and laid back down, paying them no more heed.
         Lila ignored him and turned back to her new friend. ‘So… what’s your name?’
         ‘Zek.’ Came the answer. Seeing her ears twitch curiously, he continued. ‘It was a big family, Mother liked to keep our names simple.’
         ‘I’m Lila.’ She told him with a smile. ‘I’m one of the ones who came in to try and save you all.’
         ‘Yes, I remember you. I wish I could have helped, but the key was lost before your friend got to my cage.’ He sighed and turned around, sliding back against the outside. Lila found herself feeling the same. She gave one more look around and sat beside her new ginger furred friend. The cat would be down in minutes, making it possible that this would be the only time the two would have to know each other.
         As expected, footsteps preceded the arrival of their grey furred captor. He walked at a brisk pace down the stairs and entered the kitchen. He had yet to dress himself at this point, still wearing only what looked like pyjama shorts and no top. He stopped beside the counter, stretched and arched his back before leaning on the benchtop and lazily looking into the tank at them. Lila peered back, unwilling to move as he surveyed the shivering mice he could choose from. Once more he settled on her, meeting her gaze with a small crook to his lip. He had done the same thing last night, then chosen another mouse instead. Of course that time her back had been to the centre of the tank, so maybe he had just been playing with her. From her vantage point this time, she would be able to see his eyes and his hands.
         The cat too seemed to realize that he couldn’t play his mind game with her twice. As the lid unclipped, she wondered if he would choose another as he had before, or if his game had ended after the first time. As the hand reached in and mice began to scatter and huddle, her heart raced. As she had feared, he reached directly for her.
         ‘Lila…?’ Zek whispered tensely. ‘Why don’t you run?’ His voice was panicked and close to tears.
         ‘There’s no point.’ She whispered back just before she was gripped between two fingers and his thumb and lifted towards the top. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, opening them again when she heard the click of the lid close behind her. Now she was held at eye level with the cat, his lips coated in saliva where he had presumably licked them moments before. She stared back impassively with her legs dangling limply beneath where she was gripped. Her arms held onto his thumb, secure but not offering any resistance. She wondered if he could feel her little heart racing in her chest, but still she showed no signs of outward fear.
         ‘You don’t look afraid at all.’ The cat muttered. ‘No squirming. No wriggling, now squeaking or begging. That’s… really odd. And I gotta admit, a little disappointing.’ He pulled her closer, close enough for her to reach out and touch his lips if she wanted to, and still she kept still. If someone had asked her what was going through her mind at that point, Lila doubted she would even have an answer. But whatever it was, it seemed to be intriguing or even irritating the cat. Even when he inhaled her scent and exhaled sharply back into her face, she remained unflinching.
         ‘Hmph.’ He shrugged and opened his mouth, releasing a wave of hot acrid breath before he tossed her onto his tongue. She had no space to move, but she didn’t even try as he sloshed her left and right, her fur steadily getting wetter and wetter with thick pungent and sticky drool. Her frail body clacked hard against his teeth, then through them to be pressed into his cheek. Throughout it all she remained limp, her heart pounding furiously but at the same time she simply couldn’t bring herself to resist her fate. She had failed, she had earned this end.
         Finally his tongue brought her to the centre of his mouth, and unceremoniously pressed her hard against the roof. Slowly shifting the pressure to the front of his mouth, her slickened fur slid without resistance to his throat. She couldn’t see anything but she felt every movement of his tongue, every ridge on the roof of his mouth and every drop of saliva that enveloped her body. She felt the soft fleshy folds of his throat begin to press in around her face, sliding with disgusting wet smacks as he pushed her further down and then…
         Gravity suddenly shifted. She squinted her eyes shut and held her breath, fearing that she would be swallowed at any moment. But a sudden rush of cold air on her back and the bright daylight of the window on her eyelids caused her to open them and look around in confusion. She saw the cat once again looking down at her, a drool covered mess of dishevelled fur.
         ‘You really are boring.’ He muttered, so softly that she could barely hear. ‘Hm. I’ll figure you out later. For now though…’ He carried her to the sink and dropped her inside ungently. With a rough shove, he pushed her to where the water stream would land and ran the tap at a high stream.
         Her voice gurgled as she tried to squeak in shock. So soon after being in such a humid place, the sudden rush of near icy water was a very unwelcome switch. After a few agonizing seconds, the water stopped and she was able to look around and breathe once again. She slowly turned around, expecting to be scooped back up for whatever purpose the cat had in store for her next. Maybe she’d be dumped back in the tank for another try later?
          To her surprise, he simply looked back down at her with the same disappointed frustration as earlier. She remembered his words. She was boring? What had that meant?
         She didn’t get the chance to pose the question as the cat simply turned and walked back to the other side. Looking around, she realized that he had ample reason to simply leave her there. The sink was too deep for her to jump out of and offered no purchase for climbing. She was as trapped here as she’d been in the tank. Only this time, she was alone.

         ** ** **

         Zek couldn’t believe it. Mere moments after he’d let despair take over him once again and given Lila up for dead, the cat had spat her back out and dumped her in the sink. She was still in there, trapped as much as any of them but now alone. What was the cat doing? Zek had never known a cat to give up an easy meal, and Lila had for some reason made it easier than any mouse he’d ever seen. But wait, could that be it? Maybe he enjoyed the struggles. Lila hadn’t been watching the first mouse go, but that one had squirmed and struggled a lot. And begged.
          So that was it. Typical cat, typical superiority complex. His thoughts were interrupted by the dreadful click of the tank lid opening. Spinning around from where he’d been looking towards the sink, his heart sank and his eyes widened as he realized the clawed fingers were reaching for him this time.
         ‘Nnhh, No!’ He squeaked in protest, trying to flail out and grab hold of something, knowing full well there was nothing. In a blur he was outside, the click signalling his isolation from the others who even now looked up in horror. This was bad… Now he couldn’t even warn them, and damn his own weakness, he couldn’t stop his terrified mind from racing to tell his terrified body to stop shivering.
         ‘That’s more like it…’ The cat purred. Zek tried to force himself to take deep breaths. He managed one, then lost control again a moment after as soon as the cat’s nose bumped his head, taking in his scent. He couldn’t handle it. He didn’t know if Lila had been fearless or simply impassive, but he couldn’t bring himself to be either. Damnit he wanted to live and he didn’t want to gamble his life like she had.
         He bit down on the cat’s thumb as hard as he could. The cat winced, then half giggled half hissed and squeezed Zek hard and suddenly, driving the air from his lungs and destroying the grip his jaws had.
         ‘Not a smart move, mouse.’ He growled. ‘I bite back.’ With that he popped the stunned Zek onto his tongue and immediately pressed him between his teeth. It wasn’t enough to kill the mouse, but it was enough to elicit a squeak of pain from him. When the cat released, Zek rolled over, clutching at the no doubt bruised section of his chest where the tooth had pressed down. He had no time to react before the tongue started to press him against the roof of the cat’s mouth and slide him around in different directions, coating him in a viscous layer of stinking saliva in the process.
          Zek tried to squeak in protest, to cry out for help or to push his way to the front of the mouth to escape through the lips, but the cat’s tongue was simply too strong, and moving too fast. Within moments such actions became futile, as the heavy drool had made him unable to find grip on anything, be it tongue or tooth. He felt the tongue slip him into an oddly comfortable position for the merest fraction of a second. Then suddenly it slipped out from beneath him and he dropped.
         He felt himself surrounded by flesh. Before he could try and find some purchase, he was nearly crushed from all sides as a sickening wet gulp almost deafened him.
         ‘Noo…’ He clawed in vain at the compressing tube, sliding effortlessly between the contracting slime coated musculature into the merciless pit that awaited. The sound of a steady pulse slowly filled his hearing, and the pressure was released after a few more seconds to be followed by a brief drop into a dank smelly pit. He landed half in half out of a pool of viscous slime, but even outside this the surface was oozing with a slick disgusting lining that clung to his fur as much as the cat’s drool had. He tried to crawl out of the liquid death at his feet, but it remained all but impossible to find grip and the walls only angled down.
         ‘Ahh. I think, it’s time for another.’ The cat’s voice was a muffled but audible boom above him, sending small vibrations through the cramped place. The steady pulses around him were slowly getting bigger, making the walls he leaned on undulate more frequently and in bigger motions.
         This wasn’t just the cat’s pulse, he realized. This was the stomach gearing up to churn its latest acquisition into a digestive mush for its host to absorb… He listened to the horrifying sounds from above. The terrified squeaks, the sickening wet slurps and smacks of the predator enjoying his prey, and then the dreadful gulp that would bring the doomed mouse to share his fate.
         Mere seconds passed until a wet stretching sounded from above, followed by a drenched heavy mass landing almost directly on top of him. He hadn’t been able to move before, and now he had been pushed by the impact even deeper into the middle of this pit. Panting frequently and desperate to keep his head above the acids, he clawed his way our through sheer determination.
         ‘S-sorry…’ A soft voice squeaked. The other mouse was right beside him, her voice followed by a fit of hyperventilating and then fractured sobs. Zek fumbled around, finding her and wrapping his arm around her waist. He was about to pull her close when the stomach suddenly churned heavily, emitting a low growl as some of the air was forced back out the top and the walls squeezed the two mice together by force.
         From this point on the rhythmic movements of the cat’s stomach walls was faster and more pronounced, forcing the two mice to stay together or just be pushed back together if they moved. The air was little and painful to breathe, the fumes from the acidic environment polluting the entirety of this tiny space with dissolvent death.
          ‘Just sleep… It’ll be over soon.’ Zek whispered weakly, hugging his fellow mouse tight. There was no reply, just a stillness in her body broken only by the movement of their increasingly painful surroundings. She had already died.