Beast of Reason

Chapters

Alive
Accost
Brisk

Alive

I sat at my workshop, computer guts laying all over the place. It was late, around 10 pm. Boss wanted me to finish up 'some' of the desktops that were acting funny earlier today. By acting funny, I actually mean they were pretty fucked up and because I was no where close to being done with the 15 or so computers that decided to shit themselves at the end of the work shift, I have to stay until they all work again. Now it wouldn't have been a problem if it was just a hardware problem, I could have ordered and/or replaced the faulty pieces with new components easily (which I did for some of them), but because most of these blasted machines are having software problems, it came down to having to reimage most of them. Now that wouldn't be too bad either, just takes time for the process and I can do a bunch at once. Buuuuuuuut, these are other people's work station computers so I have to backup all their work on some empty disks laying about. So that took a lot of time.

It was hassle is what I'm saying. But everything is good now though... Mostly anyway. I finished most of the computers (the few that I didn't fix would have to wait for tomorrow) and decided to head home for the night. After cleaning up the shop a little bit to seem a little less chaotic, and sorting the working desktops and the ones that still need a good ol' kick to the can, I finally locked up, packed up my equipment in my bag, and headed home.

On my way out I saw one of the security guards sitting at the front desk like every night. The security guard's name is Robert, otherwise known as Bob, and he's a big dude. And also one of my 'friends' here. We don't really know each other or talk to one another other when its time for me to head home. Since my job requires me to stay long nights pretty frequently, I happen to see him most nights on my way out, so we just became 'hey guy I see every night, hope your okay!' friends.

"Everything quiet, man?" I asked, coming up to the desk he resided in.

"Huh? Oh hey, Mason. Yeah everything's quiet, like usual haha. Finally heading home?" The large man adjusted himself in his black leather swivel chair.

"Yeah, had to stay later than usual to fix those god-awful machines. My head feels like its about explode." I rubbed my head with my free hand.

"Yeah, I can understand that. My computer at home barely works, one of these days you're gonna see me on the news for finally losing it!" The jolly man gave a laugh, I joined in too.

"Not if it happens to me first, I have to deal with every single one in my department."

"That's true, I definitely do not envy you. I didn't choose to be IT for a reason."

I could only laugh at that, "You, sir, are a smart man."

"On a good day, yes I am."

Looking down at my watch, I saw that it was continuously getting later and later. I at least wanted to be home before 11 pm. Deciding that I needed to get home, I told Bob goodnight.

"Hey, its getting late, and I need to get home soon, I'll catch you later, man." I said with a tired voice.

"Yeah, I'll see ya later, Mason. Have a good night."

"You too." With that I walked out of the large building to my car. My car wasn't anything amazing, its an old, tan 2001 Toyota Camry. I've kept in pretty good condition, only thing that causes issues is my A/C, which I am currently trying to get fixed. Anyway, I hop into my Camry and started to drive my way home.

It was a quiet ride home, I wasn't in the mood to listen to any kind of music right now and nothing interesting was on the radio, so I drove in peace and quiet. I spaced out a bit, thinking about nothing really, maybe what I was going to eat for my late dinner? Leftover spaghetti was all I had ready at a moment's notice, so I'll just eat that. Coming up to an empty intersection, the traffic light turned from a dim green, to yellow, and then red. Snapping out of my thoughts last second, I hit the brakes a bit hard, lurching the car forward a bit. My phone that was resting on the center console flew down underneath the dashboard, where the pedals were.

"Shit..." I gave a hushed curse, reaching down while keeping an eye on the traffic light. I moved my hand all around the car floor, only able to feel around as it was too dark to actually see. Finally after a moment of searching, I found my phone and set it between my legs. Paying attention back at the light, I saw it change to green, letting off the brake, I crawled forward. As I did this, my phone vibrated twice, a text notification showed itself on the lock screen. Looking at the name, it was my daughter's babysitter, Lexi. I was about to open it, but bright lights suddenly illuminated the entire passenger side of my car. The hair on the back of my neck rose in awful dread, and as if time slowed down, I turned my head in the direction of the lights. What seemed to be a truck of some kind raced down the intersection I was still crossing.

My eyes widened in fear, I couldn't move. I was going to be hit. There was no way to dodge it, it was already in the intersection. My heart raced, images of my daughter, Ally, flashed into my mind. I could do nothing but take the hit. I sat there, my body rattling with fear. I closed my eyes, I heard myself take a deep breath and exhaled. I opened my teary eyes.

This was it, wasn't it? That truck was moving way to fast, there was no way I was going to survive this unless God himself came down and stopped it personally. I sincerely doubt He would.

It hit me.

Everything crawled as if it was in slow motion, the entire passenger side crushed inwards, the windows shattering from the blow. The force of the impact heaved me to the left, my seat belt disengaging from the buckle, doing the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do. I flew straight out of the driver window, smashing the glass as I went through. In real time, it happened all in a blink of an eye, but to me, I saw every little detail of the accident. Soaring through the air, I saw glass dance all around me. My mind flashed with images, memories. I thought of Ally, all the good times we had, all the bad times. I thought about how beautiful she was, her sweet smile, the times she gave meaning to my life. She is all I have. How is she going to understand her daddy wasn't coming home? How could this happen to her? Why did I do this to her? What would happen to her?

Tears streamed down my face.

I'm so sorry...

I hit the pavement with a solid thud. For not even a fraction of second, I felt the bones in my body break, my muscles tear, and then nothing. All sound went quiet, I could not feel myself lay on the ground, my body unable to move. I couldn't even taste the blood that filled my mouth. The only thing I could do was stare straight into the beautiful, starless night sky.

The last thing I saw before disappearing into the darkness of my own unconsciousness was the face of my daughter.

I'm sorry...

Pain.

That is all I felt as I laid on the ground. My muscles ached, my head was pounding with agonizing pain. It felt as if my body was broken into pieces, but then harshly put back together. I tried to remember what happened, but the thoughts added to the stress of my unending headache.

Something happened. Something horrible happened. To me? Yes, to me. What was it? Why does my body feel like it was hit by a train? ....Wait, no. Not a train. A truck. I was hit by a truck, on my way to work. No, that's not right... I was heading home from work. Back home, to eat spaghetti and tuck Ally into bed. But the truck hit me and killed me.

But wait, I'm not dead? I don't remember the details, but I have this feeling that I should not be alive. Was I rescued? No I don't feel as if I'm in a bed or a moving vehicle of any kind. Am I still on the ground? I.... Yeah, I am. I'm alive? B-but how? A miracle? Oh my god, I'm alive. I'M ALIVE.

Caught in the moment of excitement, and using all my will and strength, I sat up quickly to take in what had just transpired. My eyes were fanatic, moving erratically, trying to spot something familiar, the city, the wrecked cars, anything.

But I saw none of that. I only saw grass. And trees. It was still night out, but the reflection of the big, bright white orb in the sky illuminated the entire forest clearing I was in.

How the fuck did I end up here?! Where the fuck am I?

Instinctively, I tried to stand up from the grass, but my body started to ache in displeasure. I caught myself and tried again, albeit, slowly and much more carefully. As I started to stand all the way up, my eyes went dark and I became light headed. The world seemed to spin around me. To counteract with the nauseating feeling, I put my arms above my head and stared into the starry, night sky, to which then I started to give slow, deep breaths.

My vision began to clear and the sick feeling that was overwhelming my body was fading away. I continued my study of the moon-lit sky. The more I peered into it, the more beauty I saw in it. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was full of stars, hundreds... Thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Almost like auroras at the north pole, with the vibrant greens, pinks, purples, blues. Like a painting, craftsmanship that only a god could create. Any nausea I had completely faded away as I got lost in the visible galaxies shown before me.

Just... Just where was I? I have never heard of something like this. I've never seen something like this. Normally, you couldn't see stars very well from all the city lights, but if you were to go out into the country, or anywhere without city lights, you could see them.

But this? This was something else. I didn't know whether to be impressed or frighten, so I met in the middle.

A cold, icy breeze interrupted my gaze. Up until now I was running on adrenaline, but as I calmed down, I was able to feel the night's cold and nippy weather. The sweat that covered my body added to the freezing temperature that I was experiencing. I crossed my arms to warm myself, my body shivering intensely. My work suit I wore did little in keeping me warm against the wind. I needed to get moving so I can warm myself.

I don't think its cold enough for any serious problems, but I should move around to create some heat in my body. Fuck its cold. Its supposed to be in the middle of the summer, ain't it?

I began walking around, my sore legs cried in protest, but the cold sweat on my back stifled anything my legs said. I'd rather feel pain than be cold. I headed towards the treeline in hopes that the trees would oppose the freezing wind, but I quickly found out that the trees did nothing to protect me from the cold air. Lifting my collar up to cover my ears, I tried to figure out what I should do next. It looks as though I am in a forest of some kind, so I kept my guard up. I tried to remember what survivalists in those TV shows did first in the off chance that you actually got lost in the wilderness. I guess water would be the first, as that is what I need to actually survive more than one day. The next would be shelter and food right? Then the ultimate goal should be to find civilization.

I sighed tiredly and haphazardly. I belong at a desk, not a stupid forest in the middle of God knows-where. I looked to the night sky again, no sign of any daylight any time soon. It sucks, but I would have to survive in the middle of the night. I played a chant in my head for a random way to start in, and settled on going in the direction I was already headed when I came over to the treeline.

Thus my journey had begun.

As the night went on, the more it got colder and colder. And the colder it got, the more I wanted to get out of it. I was likely not going to find anything-- or anyone-- out in the middle of a forest this late into the night. I could keep moving all the way until daylight, but even with the moonlight, it was still very difficult to see anything. Might as well be blind. I decided to stop searching for a way out of the woods, and tried to look for a place to sleep. Maybe try to find a hole to sleep in for the night... Or create one. Maybe I could find a cave, hopefully an unoccupied one, definitely do not want to deal with a sleeping bear. If the weather is being true to the season, then likely a bear would be hibernating for the winter or something.

So for another 20 minutes or so, a guesstimation mind you, I found no such caves or natural made holes. I was left with no other choice but to dig. By this point, the temperature was frosty, in the light I could see my own breathe. My lips were chapping and my ears were numb from the cold. Grabbing a sturdy piece of bark off of one of the trees, I used it as a shovel to dig. If I remembered correctly, dirt is a good insulator to keep warm. I don't remember where I heard it, but I'm pretty sure its a thing survivalists have done in a worst case scenario. I looked around for a good area to dig, spotting one near a tree on a small natural ditch. It wasn't deep, but it would be better than nothing. I began digging, it was a lot harder and draining than I thought it would be, but I kept it up.

After some time digging, and few breaks here and there, I was close to what I wanted as a hole. It wasn't deep, but it would have to do. My hands were freezing and my teeth were quietly chattering.

I finished the hole, I stood back up from my kneeling position to get ready to hop in. But I hesitated in doing so.

Am I really going to sleep in a dirt hole? I'll get all dirty... Mason, don't be stupid. Being clean is the least of my worries right now. I am mysteriously stranded in the middle of nowhere, my daughter is probably freaking out about why I didn't come home, and I lost my phone in the accident so I have no way of calling anyone for help. Right now, I just need to survive this shit, find some help, and get the fuck back home.

With new profound determination, I took off my clothes.

I took off everything I was wearing, my khakis, black button up shirt, my undershirt, footwear, and even boxers. I was completely naked. I folded all my clothes up nicely and put them to the side of the hole. Getting into the hole, I sat down and started to cover myself in the cold dirt I dug out before. After covering majority of my body, my arms still exposed, I put my clothes behind my head as a pillow, only using my undershirt as a wrap for my head to keep warm. Finally, I dug my arms into the dirt. It was cold at first, like bone shivering cold, but the longer my body was covered, the more tolerable it was.

If you're curious to know why I stripped naked, I didn't want to sweat with everything on while underneath the dirt. If it was cold the next morning and my clothes were wet with sweat, it would be even colder than it should be. I kept the clothes underneath my head so my body heat could keep them slightly warm for the morning.

I rested my head, and closed my eyes. It was a struggle at first to sleep, my body cramped up in the hole, but eventually I began to drift asleep.

Don't worry, kiddo. I'll be home soon... I'll be home soon.

With that, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

Author's Note

Hey.

Accost

"Is that it?"

"...Yes, I found it like this."

"What an interesting find here miss. Think the feller is still alive? Hey! Dumb and dumber, get over here!"

The shouting voice snapped me from my sleep-state. My mind went into an immediate overdrive, memories pouring back in from the night prior. I remembered I wandered around aimlessly, to which I dug a hole to sleep in. The voices I heard filled me with joy and excitement. I've been found! I was saved! With vigor and excitement, I quickly jumped up from my dirt hole, nearly falling forward. At the same time, I went for my head wrap to see who my saviors were.

"Oh shit! It woke up!" A gruff voice shouted in front of me. It? What? I was bewildered at what he said. I took off the wrap completely, my eyes adjusting to the sudden change of darkness to light. As I went to say something, I was left shocked at the sight before me.

Honestly, I didn't know what I was looking at. It looked like two little horse like creatures, but not exactly. A light yellow horse with a short pink mane and tail was hovering with a pretty set of wings. Next to it, on the ground, was a dark grey mean-looking horse. It had a horn on the top of its head and a little cowboy hat as well. Strands of a silver mane poked from underneath his hat and a silver beard laid upon his snout. Wha...? I was confused to say the least.

Both the creatures gave defensive stances, the grey one's horn began to glow a red color and a rope was pulled out from his saddle bag. "Alright, miss Canary, when I throw the rope on him, come from behind and knock him down to the ground." The horse had a tinge of a 'southern drawl'. If it was any other time, I would have said it was cute.

The hovering horse, dubbed Canary, looked unsure about it, but nevertheless zoomed over anyway to the side of me to get an angle. I should have moved, but I had a million things going on in my mind and wasn't thinking clearly.

The grey creature began to twirl the rope above his head with the ungodly powers from his horn. Although I was freaked out about it, I was more concerned about not being a lassoed. Getting defensive myself, I spread my legs apart to give myself a firmer stance. It was here that I realized I was still stark-ass naked. Dick hanging and all. I felt a cold, stinging breeze brush over my body. Fuck it's cold.

It was at this point, I tried to finally speak up and figure out just what the hell was going on. Obviously, Toto and I weren't in Kansas anymore and there just isn't any other option here.

"Ah--GAaAck!" I felt my throat tighten and a painful strain made itself known when I tried to speak. In response, I reached for my throat and gagged. Taking this as an opportunity, the grey horse threw the rope around my body. The rope tightened with my hands still around my neck, locking my arms into my chest in a very uncomfortable position. Before I had anytime to react, I felt something hit me from behind. I concluded it was the flying horse. I hit the ground with a 'thump' and a roll.

I tried to yell out a curse, but I felt the tightness around my throat once again, and was thrown into an awful coughing fit. So much so that it went on for about minute. Saliva poured out of my mouth, strands of spit still connected to my mouth as I sputtered endlessly.

"Damn, I hope the feller here ain't sick or something. Makes him worthless if he's diseased. He don't look it though... Anyway, nice job, newbie, more practice and you'll be a mighty fine pro at this!" The flying horse didn't say anything. The grey horse have a chuckle, but cut it off as he remembered something.

"Hey, where are those two knuckleheads at? I called for them forever ago!"

"We heard ya boss! We heard ya!"

"Yeah boss! we heard you!"

"I just said that, moron."

"Oh."

Two voices made themselves known as newcomers came into my view. I was still on the ground, rolled onto my side, so I was able to see pretty well. Though, the flying horse still stood over me, a hoof on my back. The two new horses were very odd compared to the other horses. The first one who spoke was really skinny, but tall. He had a faded yellow coat with an
unkempt, curly golden mane and green eyes. The other horse was no different in color, but that's where similarities ended. His mane was crew cut styled and he towered over all the other horses present by a head and a half. The horse was roided out like body builder. Neither had a horn or a pair of wings.

Are they 'normal' horses? What is this...?

"Just took your time, eh? Its a wonder why the big guy keeps y'all around still. Look, we found ourselves here a human, otherwise healthy other than that wild coughing of his. Hay Bale, take him to the wagon with the others. Take that ignit brother of yours as well. Miss Canary and I are gonna scout out some more game while out here, we'll make our way back at dusk. Keep them fellers locked up and keep a good eye on 'em, alright? We don't need another Carigan incident on our hooves."

"No worries, boss! We can handle it, easy as pie!" Hay Bale gave a salute, his apparent brother --coming back to the world around him-- also gave a salute a moment later, obviously coping him.

"Lets go, little brother, we got work to do!" Little?!

"Uh- Right!"

The two came over to me and picked me up from off the ground, putting me on the back of the roided little brother. I began to struggle and kick, trying to get out of the lasso. Again, I tried to speak, trying to tell them to let go of me. But instead I felt my throat once again tighten up. My eyes started to water from the pain.

"Hey partner, I'd stop your fightin', we gonna hafta put you under otherwise." Hay Bale looked over to me, eyeing my struggles.

I continued to do the worm, trying to get off the damned horse.

"Hey! Stop strugglin' you damn monkey! Grain, stop movin' for a moment." The roided out monster followed his brother's command. Behind us, I could hear the grey horse creature laughing.

"Haha! You have fun boys, looks like he's a fighter! Alright, let's go miss." I heard the hoof falls start walking the opposite direction of us, a flapping sound following suit.

Hay Bale appeared in my view, an irritated look on his face. "Alright, I'm gonna fix his bindings so he don't struggle as much, help me get 'im off."

The roided out horse, now known as Grain, lowered himself, making it easier for Hay Bale to pull me off. Using his mouth, he grabs the rope and yanks me off. I hit the ground hard, the cold morning dew covering my body in chills.

"Alright, don't move now, I don't want shoot ya. Those tranquilizer things ain't any fun. For you anyway heheh." He rolled me over on to my stomach to fix my bindings. Untying the lasso, he snaked it from underneath my body. He began to hogtie me, standing over me.

Oh no you don't, mother fucker.

Seeing this was my chance, I use the back of my head to headbutt him in the chin. Startling him, I turn over onto my back and kick as I hard as I could at his groin. Hay Bale freezes up and falls over to his side, cradling his jewels. I get up to run, but Grain tackles me, digging my face into the ground with his hoof. I tried to move, but the million ton monstrosity wouldn't give. I try to elbow him in the ribs to let me go, but he makes no reaction at all. Fucker probably doesn't even feel it.

"Oh boy, you -- GAH! -- you got me good, you fuckin' monkey. But not good enough. Grain, keep him like that, I'mma get the gun." I could here Hay Bale struggle over to god knows where, coming back not even 2 minutes later with a rifle slung around his neck. The giant over me, his hoof still pressed against my head, got up to get out of the way.

"Grrrah! RAahh!" I continued to struggle, kicking, yelling, hitting Grain in the leg to let me go. It did nothing but tire me out.

"Now, now, settle down boy, it'll be quick. Shh, shh, its alright boy, it alright..." He aimed the rifle towards me, and pulled the trigger. I heard a wisp and a sudden pain struck me on the ass, I let out a 'yelp'. I thrashed around harshly, but the effects of the drug already started to take hold as I felt the cold reach of unconsciousness creep closer and closer. Eventually, like a cloud over my head, my vision faded out and darkened.

"He shouldn't be anymore trouble, I gave 'em a good dose of it." Looking to at me once more, Hay Bale spoke up again, kneeling down to me. "Sleep tight now, ya ugly ape..." That was the last thing I heard him say before falling into unconsciousness.

"And then -snrrk- then she was like 'Hay Bale! That's not where it goes!' And I was like, 'well too late now!" Both ponies present began laughing uproariously. Their shrieks of laughter steadily woke me from my forced slumber. I was against metal bars, my head drooping down. My head was pounding, my vision foggy and sparatic.

AArgh... My head. I put my hands on my temples and rubbed them, hoping to relieve the pain I was experiencing. I let out a groan without meaning to, resulting in my captors to stop what they were doing.

"Ah, looks like the fella's awake. How's it feel to be tranq'd? Not good I bet, next time, don't fight back..." Before he could say anything else, his brother probed for his attention.

"What is it?"

"Uhm, shouldn't Grey be here by now? It's almost night." Grain poked at his brother with his hoof. Hay Bale looked up into the sky, spotting the sun almost behind the mountain. It was getting dark.

That must mean I've been out all day... Shit.

"Yeah, he should be here soon, lets start gettin' everything packed up into the wagon." Both horses jumped off the wagon (to which I realize I have been on as well, but in a cage). As the big little brother got off, the whole wagon rattled and settled from his heavy weight.

Both horses cleaned up their little camp, putting away the tents they had out and other equipment strewn about. I took a look at my surroundings. As I saw before, I am in a cage in a large wagon. Two other cages were set up behind me, and to my absolute surprise, there were three other humans sitting behind the metal bars. Two girls and one man. They were also stripped from any clothing.

What is going on here? Why are we in cages? I continued to watch the other humans, the man not really paying any attention to his surroundings. He picked at the cracking paint on the floor of the cage with his finger. The two girls, in a different cage than the man, were also in their own little world. They appeared to gaze at nothing in the sky.

Are... Are these horse creatures human traffickers? Is that even a thing? This... This isn't happening... I had so many questions, so many thoughts ran through my head. I tried to get the people's attention with a wave of my hand. They didn't seem to see me. So, instead of waving, I put my hand between the bars and started to slap my hand against them really fast, hoping the noise would get their attention. It had an immediate effect on the other humans as the all turned their heads toward me.

Yes! Happy that it worked, I turned to see if the horses were watching, but they were still cleaning up.

I was going to say something, but I remember that every time I had tried to before, I would start coughing like crazy. Not wanting to risk getting the horses' attention, I started to make hand gestures to the people in my same predicament, pointing at them, and myself, and the cage. Then made a shrugging gesture.

They did nothing but stare at me. One of the girls even titled her head at me, like a dog would. I again made the hand gestures, thinking they must not have understood what I was signing. Again, they looked at me with no emotion. After a
third try, I began to get frustrated. I was about to repeat my gestures again, but in the same moment the man adjusted himself onto his knees and grabbed the bars with both hands, still staring at me. I expected him to say something, or even sign to me as well, but what actually happened surprised me. He glared and bared his teeth at me, like an animal defending its territory. I looked at him with confusion. Was he trying to sign something to me? Teeth... Do these horses eat people? I mouthed a 'what?' at him, trying to get him to sign something else to me. But instead, he began to rattle the cage he was in and made loud, rabid noises.

What the fuck?! What is he doing?! Stop! Stop! I was confused to his wild behavior, it was like he was he was feral. Why is he acting like a wild... A wild... Animal... Oh no. My eyes widened in realization and in pure terror. They... Aren't people... Are they...? I asked to myself. No! That's just crazy! They're people. I looked to the girls, hoping that it was just the man being crazy. But both seemed to huddle up with one another in fright. I looked back at the man, his eyes were piercing into my soul, his mouth sputtered with spittle, and he continued to rattle the cage. His eyes, his dumb brown eyes; they had no intelligence. No actual reasonable thought passed through his head, just territorial instinct.

We weren't being held hostage by human traffickers, no. We're just animals to these creatures. They are animals.

They think I'm... Oh fuck. I didn't know what to think, my mind just went blank.

"Hey! Hey! Calm the fuck down!" Hay Bale trotted over to the mans cage with a whip he grabbed from off the wagon. The man glared at the horse for a moment, before noticing the weapon in the horse's mouth. The wild human got into his previous position, still staring at Hay Bale.

"Yeah, be a good little human, stupid monkey." He placed the whip back into the wagon and helped his brother with the last few remaining pieces of equipment.

After that, my mind stopped processing everything around me, like I was comatose. The pure insanity of it all; my death, the horse creatures, human poaching, wild unintelligent humans, all of it hit me at once. Harder than that truck ever could. The only thought, if I had any, was of my sweet little girl.

I'll be home soon, Ally... I'll be home... Soon.

Author's Note

Howdy.

Brisk

Its been four days since we left from the forest. After the brothers packed away all of their equipment, the grey horse and the one known as Canary came back from their 'hunt'. They came back with two more humans, a male and a female, and put them with the rest of us. The male was packed into my cage as I wasn't as 'territorial'. Their words, not mine. He is smaller than me, from what I can tell, he is a teenager. Maybe 14, 15? And of course the female were put with the girls. The ride was grueling and the days felt like years. The cold cages didn't help, it hurt to sit as the freezing temperatures would make the skin of my ass stick to the cage's floor. We weren't given any blankets or anything to cover ourselves, we were just left to feel frigid winds peck away at any heat that our bodies produced. Since the cages were small in height, I was forced to squat for most of the ride, which was uncomfortable and painful the longer I positioned myself like that. Sleeping was practically impossible, the shivering alone could have kept me awake. I'm surprised none of us got hypothermia, or fucking froze to death. I was also hungry, like really hungry.

I wasn't sure where we were going or how long the trip was going to take. The horse creatures never talked about it, only spouting out jokes and old stories. I just quietly prayed that it was soon.

Relieving myself was a problem for most of the trip, The several times we stopped for sleep, I was able to piss out from the side of the wagon, but I was worried about when a shit would make itself known. I just wanted to go home.

At the end of the third day, we made it to a train depot of some sort. The sun already set and the moon took its place; it was too dark to see any details. Both the grey horse and Canary jumped off the wagon as we approached the depot, the brothers continued to lead the wagon over into the train housing area of the large building. The grey horse and Canary went inside what looked like main offices.

The brothers pulled up to a large train (if I wasn't in such a shit situation, I would have thought it was funny that they were pulling the wagon like normal horses do). There were more horse creatures strewn about loading up cargo and other things onto the train. A lot of the cargo happened to be other humans as well. I wasn't enjoying it at all, I was quite frightened. They were in cages just like us, and they were being unloaded from wagons that looked practically identical to the one I was on. Things started to come together in my mind about what was happening before me. It was finally our turn to be loaded onto the train, our cages were rolled up onto a ramp and we were placed within a cargo-like container with a bunch of other humans laying about in their prisons. Hay Bale stayed with us until the grey horse and Canary came back with some tags and placed them into our cages (out of our reach). The three horses stayed and talked about something. I tried to eavesdrop, but they were out of earshot. After that, all the horses moved out of our car and disappeared for the rest of the night. The train began to move out the depot and took us to god-knows-where.

It was still cold, but not as frigid as it was when we were in the wagon. At first it was loud and rowdy, many of the humans not adjusting well from being taken out of the wild. Most of the ones yelling and shaking their cages were the males. It was like a zoo. After sometime, they all calmed down somewhat, some very wild humans still shaking their cages, but even they started to quiet down as it got later and later in the night. Being collected into a car full of wild animals is bound to smell, and it did. It was like B.O. but with some added mud and dirt with a touch of morning breath.

That was last night.

It was early in the morning and the train was still moving. A few horse creatures came into the car. I didn't sleep at all last night, so I was awake to see what they were doing. The handlers (how demeaning) gave food to the humans they brought in the night prior for feeding time. The humans given food scarfed down the mush that looked like a mixture of puke and shit. They were also given a bowl full of water. I wasn't looking forward to the food, but my belly ached so much that anything at this point would be godly. Unfortunately, no one showed to feed us. Just thinking about that made me angry, that I was here, that I was just some kind of animal to these fuckers. But as angry as I am, I don't have the energy or power to do anything.

After a few hours, Hay Bale came by with the same slush as I saw before and some small bowls of water. After handling out the food to all the other humans, he came up to my cage. He looked tired and irritated, but his mood changed upon seeing me. He let out a smirk and proudly walked over to me.

"Ah, how's it going, little guy? Want some food? Are you hungry?" He talked to me condescending-like , and I hated it.

I glared at him. Fuck you.

"Oh what's wrong? Not hungry? If you say so, I'll just leave it here just in case." He proceeded to carelessly throw the tray of food into the cage, the mush scattering around. I flinched back out of surprise, and he gave a cruel laugh. Thankfully, he set down the small bowl of water.

"Don't bite the hoof that feeds, fucking beast." He finished giving a tray of food and a bowl of water to my cage-mate and left the train car.

I'll make sure to fucking kick you harder next time. Maybe you won't get back up... I thought to myself bitterly. I sat down against the cold cage bars and dipped my head between my knees. I was hungry, very hungry, but I didn't want to risk eating off the floor of the old cage. I don't know when this cage was last cleaned and I don't want to find out the hard way... I sighed loudly, all my frustration and anger was bundled up into one breath. I went for the water that was left in the cage and drank it all in one swig. There was barely enough to keep me alive, and definitely not enough for satisfaction. I looked over to my cage-mate; he was face first into the food tray, eating as if his life depended on it. It did. I noticed his still untouched water bowl.

...I could just take it. He's just a fucking animal.

But that's wrong, my moralistic side scolded me.

Wrong? Wrong!? This entire fucking thing is WRONG.

Even if he is just an animal, he is still a living being.

I'M A LIVING BEING. That... 'thing' is just an imitation. I am a real human, that 'thing' is not, I say to myself.

This is what separates you from these... humans. You have standards, morals! REASON! The other half of me yelled.

What does standards and morals mean when my survival is on the line? Hm?? I should just fucking die so that some fucking imitation can live on!? What kind of reasoning is that!? No, I will not die, so fuck you.

Quietly reaching over, I snatch my cage-mate's bowl of water and brought it over to my corner. I quickly drank its contents in yet again another swig. Did I feel any guilt for potentially killing my cage-mate from dehydration? No, and I shouldn't. They aren't real people, just animals. Just fucking animals.

Just. Fucking. Animals.

It has been a few hours since we were fed and left to rot in our cages. After my cage-mate realized he had no more food (and suspiciously had no water) he laid down in a cradling position in one of the corners of the cage and shivered himself to sleep. Yeah, it was still pretty chilly. He had been like that for a while, but he got up and crawled into another corner and began to squat. At first I didn't know what he was doing, figured he was just being the animal he is. Recognition flashed on my face at what he was doing a little too late as he shat into the corner.

Fucking idiot! Now its gonna smell like shit in our cage! It already did smell like shit in our train car from all the other wild humans, but now the smell is gonna be 4 feet away from me. I wanted to punch the fucker, but I didn't have the energy to do so. My belly ached and I was exhausted physically and mentally. Not to mention that I did too need to relieve myself, but am unwilling to do so right now.

I put my hands on my head and rubbed my temples to relieve my sudden headache.

God, I'm so hungry... It was frustrating to get my head all around this. It was just a normal day, a normal night. None of this should have happened.

But it did. I gave a long sigh.

It was getting to the point that I couldn't hold my bladder much longer, but I was still hesitant to give an attempt at pissing in the corner. What if it runs inside the whole cage instead of the corner? We would be fucked...

I looked at the nasty shit my cage-mate made not too long ago. He moved back into his little corner and made a ball to keep himself warm. I still wanted to give him a nice slug to the side of the jaw, but decided not to waste my energy on it. I glanced back at the pile of shit once again, a plan formulating in the back of my head.

Think the shit will absorb most of the piss?

That is the grossest thing you've said all day, I said to myself, ...But it could work. Aim carefully.

Gently sliding myself across the cold surface of the cage, I made my way over to the corner with the shit pile. I rise from my sitting position and place myself onto my knees and ready myself by taking aim at the putrid smelling excrement. Slowly but surely I carefully relieve myself.

My plan immediately back fired as not only did the shit NOT absorb into the pile of shit, but instead, made it slimy in appearance and shot it back me like mist. I tried to stop myself from pissing, but the flood gates were open and nothing was going to be able to close 'em. I stopped aiming for the pile of shit and instead did the thing that I should have done in the beginning; I unleashed the rest outside the cage onto the train floor. A freakishly golden fountain rained from the heavens onto the floor, showing my apparent dehydration. To say this whole experience was disgusting, enlightening and frustrating would be an understatement.

My fear of running piss on the cage floor came to pass as a stream of golden liquid ran right into the corner I was resting at.

Fucking-- Dammit! I wanted to hit something, I wanted to yell and scream. I instinctively didn't want to piss outside the cage to inconvenience these horse creatures, so it didn't even click in my head. But I finally realized that these beasts, in the last 4-fucking-days had not left me comfortable once. I just ruined my entire fucking day by trying to be considerate for no reason whatsoever. I wanted to blame how tired I was, how hungry I was that I couldn't think, but either way, I still felt incredibly stupid.

I'm so fucking stupid... For some unknown amount of time, I sulked in my new corner, hoping that they fed us more than once and would do something about our waste. In that time, I had a lot of time to think, and I did a lot of it.

I still can't figure out what these creatures want with us... Food, maybe? But horses don't eat meat, right? No, not for food... Maybe labor of some sort? I saw all of those wagons, they all looked the same. This is definitely a company, but of what is still in question. Labor seems to be my best guess, but what kind of labor? And how on fucking earth are they going to teach these wild ass humans to use tools? That one over there just shat in the fucking cage!

And you're any better?

Shut up, I wasn't thinking.

Something that you're going to need to do a whole lot more if you want to 'survive', old man. The little voice in my head was right, given my situation, I can't make stupid decisions. I have to be smart.

My thoughts were interrupted as a horse entered into the train car; it was Canary. From the look on her face, she seemed to be anxious about something.

What's got her all stiff? Bah! Why do I care... In anger I sniffed loudly and focused onto one of the cage's bars, trying to ignore the stupid flying horse. She trotted up to my cage, looking inside. Her face turned from one of nervousness to disgust as she saw the horrible mess we made. My face turned red from both embarrassment and anger. I continued to look away, not wanting to meet her gaze at us.

"Ew... Why didn't Hay Bale clean up the cages like Grey told him to? Laziest pony here I tell you..." She seemed to be talking to herself quietly. She was about to turn away, but her hoof landed in a puddle of sweet bladder juice on the ground. My bladder juice. She horrifically looked at her hoof, then at the floor, before her purple eyes squinted, her face turning red, and steam coming out of her ears.

"Rrrrghh! Hay Bale!" She stomped her way out of the train car, obviously pissed at the scrawny piece of straw.

Maybe they'll clean our mess for us? Hope this 'Grey' makes him do it, I'll be sure to make a nice nasty, slimy shit just for him. Hell, I'll do it as he almost finishes! I silently giggled at myself. I lean against the bars of my corner, leaning my head down against my chest. My body felt heavy, my eyelids heavier. I tried to tuck my legs into myself the best I could to form a ball to keep myself warm, but it did little to keep me comfortable.

Might as well sleep... there's not much else I could do. I rested my eyes. Only thing that came to mind was the longing to see Ally again.

I'm coming kiddo, I'l be home soon. With my mantra, sleep took its hold on me for the first time since the night before.

I'll be home... Soon...

Author's Note

Kinda shitty, sorry. Work has me fucking beaten for the last few weeks. Not sure when I'll update, kinda do it whenever I feel like writing... Or have time. I'm going out to the field sometime soon so there definitely wont be any updates during that time. Wish me the power to survive 2019 y'all.

-Ghost Wolf, coolest fucker in the swamp