Honor the Horrors of the Internet

Feed Her

Things aren't the way they were. Life as we knew it has become a Barron, acrid desert. Our resources are almost completely depleted.

Civilization struggles on, but nature adapts and thrives. Some of us have ventured out and not come back. We have to remember to feed HER. Those who return are no longer themselves. She takes something from them.

We must never forget what happens when she's hungry. We need more resources to feed her, or we'll have to feed her ourselves. Meanwhile, just outside of the settlements perimeter, a group of bedraggled strangers approach, hoping they have found a lucky break in their travel.

I jumped outside and splayed a welcoming smile across my face while dusting my clothes off. "Hi, are you looking for something?" I asked.

Oh! Replied the strangers, we were not aware this area had a settlement. We are just weary travelers looking for rest and refreshments.

As they entered the compound, they could hear screaming...from her. Soon they began screaming themselves, followed by a shatteringly instant silence.

What horrified me was not the vacant stare in their eyes -we've all grown accustomed, by now, to the look of madness left in the wake of Her screams- but the terror and surprise with which they first recognized this look in each other's visage.

One thing I knew - at least we would have something to feed her now; as long as we could still get them inside.

As her screams grew in volume and urgency, one of their number fell to their knees in desperation, took sticks from the ground and drove them deep into the canals of their ears. This, too, we had all seen many times before. I heard a sigh from behind me, "I hope they don't make a mess. Bring the chains..."

The heavy rusted chains had facilitated too much destruction. They were almost as important as the "meal". They say those who know about "her" go mad just hearing their clanking. As the shadows lengthened, we knew her hunger would become insatiable. Speed was of the essence.

I stood off to the side humming to myself as the group was "brought to order" under the quick hands of the wranglers.

I'd seen this too many times to be interested and stooped to pick up a stray shoe from where it'd been tossed aside.

I'd found it was best to avoid eye contact. The new "recruits" asked again and again...."why are we being chained?"

But not one soul answered, yet they all knew. And at some point during the march, the recruits knew it too. And they contemplated their fates.

As we entered the inner compound, a small group of children stopped the makeshift game they were playing, looking after the new "recruits."

A sweet, dirty-faced boy looked at me and smiled, "Food for the Lady?" I nodded, winking back. He grinned, showing a gap in his front teeth, "Will there be leftovers this time?"

Sadly the only leftovers would be bones sucked clean. How to explain to children that they must go hungry when the unseen Lady dined so sumptuously. The others gathered in the inner compound began bidding on who would last the longest.

And as 'she' growls, ready for a feisty meal, a young boy screams out. "there's another person at the gates."

But everyone notices this person looks strong. When had we last seen someone who looked well-fed? I couldn't remember.

For weeks the new "recruits" had been so scrawny that keeping "Her" satisfied had become increasingly demanding.

I slid around the side of the wranglers, trying to see this stranger at the gates. Lots of muscle on this one, but who had he been eating?

I licked my lips wondering if there would be any scraps left as well. It wasn't just the children who were hungry.

The stranger carried something in his arms. It was long and shined in the blistering heat of the outside sun.

With a puff of smoke from the shiny thing and a crash of thunder, someone fell screaming from the wall.

She was here! He could smell the fear rolling off the inhabitants of this settlement as he yelled, "Where is she?! Where is my mate?!"

I could see the frantic murmurs racing through the group as we stared at each other in wide-eyed terror.

"Surely he's not talking about the Lady?" Everyone knows the stories of The Knight are just that...stories. He isn't REAL!

The Knight marched forward, furious over the crazed zealots that were torturing his mate. He would show them all.

Yanking the chain from the hands of the wranglers, he demands, "Take me to her and no one else dies!" As he walked past, I caught a whiff of that sickenly sweet smell that I had heretofore come to associate exlusively with Her pit.

Down in the pit, bodies littered the ground with the remains and ashes of recruits whose names were never remembered.

I crowded the children into a far corner away from the crazed Knight. Whatever happened, I couldn't let him notice. And at the very next moment the vast roar of a beast cried out, "

"WHAT HAVE YOU PLEBIAN FILTH DONE TO HER?!" Even at a distance, I could see the veins of his not-quite-human physique bulging in unfiltered rage. She was chained like a dog, in her own filth.

The knite took in her appearance and felt the change begin at a cellular structure. The change from man to beast. He jerked and twisted around. His limbs began to twist at odd and unnatural angles.

The sound of flesh and tendons tearing was almost as chilling as the Ladies screams. All we could do was watch, petrified yet mesmerized by this grotesque transfiguration.

Somehow, the stories had gotten this part horribly wrong. Once the transformation was complete, She looked upwards at the mad, glistening creature standing before her.

A look of recognition -one even bordering on real human tenderness- came across Her face. "It's You," she croaked. Yes it is I who has returned so that we can commence the mating ritual. With the compound hiding in fear, the ritual begins.

Chains are broken and tossed aside. The bones beneath their feet crushed into dust as they approached each other with unbridled fury and love.

You wouldn't even recognize me anymore

Not that you knew me back then

But I'll leave that a memory