Bucky's

Chapter 5: Still Alive, Somehow

She had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt like hours. The Giant shifted his mass around her, making her lose her footing. A numbness and indifference was taking hold of her as she gave up any hope of getting out. She was also very woozy, sickened by the heat and constant churning and putrid odors. The Giant's voice blaring around her as he laughed and socialized with his buddies at dinner didn't help matters either. She felt lost, forgotten, insignificant, like a bite of food that would break down into nothing after being consumed. Yet, for whatever reason, she was still alive. She seemed to be immune to digestion, a physical impossibility that Patty couldn't wrap her head around.

"Oh, is it that time already?" the Giant voice reverberated. "I have to let the human out now?" Patty snapped out of her slump, suddenly alert. "Do I have to?" He was talking to somebody else, but Patty couldn't hear the other half of the conversation taking place outside of his body. "Well, what's the price for fatal ingestion? I don't really want to let her go..." Patty clung to every word. She didn't understand all of the conversation, but she knew what they were discussing was critical to her survival. "Oh, no, that's too much money. Not worth the cost. Okay, give me the extraction tool."

Extraction tool? Patty waited impatiently with apprehension, not entirely sure what to expect. She heard, echoing far above her, loud gulps, like the Giant was swallowing something. Her suspicions were confirmed when a rope dropped down through the ring of muscle guarding the entrance to his stomach up above. Scarcely daring to hope, Patty jumped up and clutched the rope, wet with bodily fluids, in her hands tightly. She held on, breathless, as the rope's descent halted, and began to rise, dragging her with it.

She cringed and turned her head away as she was dragged up through the sphincter, then through the narrow esophagus, sliding along the pink slimy walls. The flesh pulsed around her as blood flowed through arteries and capillaries embedded within. The sensations were unpleasant, but Patty would endure anything to get out. Her hands and arms hurt from the strain, but she refused to let go. She didn't want to contemplate the consequences if her fingers lost their grip. The rope was slippery, but she held on with all her strength.

The throat felt endless, but at long last Patty was tugged through the gullet, slipping in between tonsils bigger than car tires. The gigantic rows of teeth parted to permit egress, and Patty was pulled out of the mouth and into open space. The air outside felt chilly on her skin, since she was acclimated to the Giant's internal temperature and covered in viscous fluids. She was deposited, highly disoriented, into a dark red ceramic bowl on the table, which was swiftly picked up and taken away by a waitress.

Patty sat in the bowl for a minute, stunned. She felt her body with her hands in disbelief, checking to make sure she was uninjured. She was alive and unharmed. Dirty, disgusting, and mentally scarred, perhaps, but alive. Despite her bleak circumstances, she experienced a euphoria strong enough to bring tears to her eyes. By some miracle, she had survived. She vowed, then and there, not to let the rest of her life go to waste, whatever her fate may be.

The Giantess brought her into a backroom area and dumped her unceremoniously into some sort of human-scale room with a removable ceiling that she replaced and locked. Patty looked around as the vibrations from the huge waitress's footsteps faded. The room looked vaguely like a gym locker room. There were showers, and fresh clothes available, so Patty availed herself of the opportunity to freshen up. She threw her old clothes in a bin designated for that purpose, washed the filth off her skin, and changed into a clean outfit, identical to the other set with the bizarre rubbery texture.

As Patty reflected on the events of the day, all the oddities started to make sense. The rubbery clothes were designed to withstand stomach acid. Bucky branded her because she was intended to survive the ordeal of being eaten. The pill must've been the key to her acid immunity. She felt a sinking horror as she imagined what could have happened if she had defiantly refused to take it. She was sickened further as she began to fully understand her role at the Giant restaurant. She was going to be eaten again. And again. And again. Ad nauseam. She wasn't sure if she could take this sort of treatment for another day, let alone an entire year. It was a horrific form of torture. No wonder the justice system considered a year equivalent to ten.