—Chapter4 Crimes 

“Wake up” 

His eyes shot open. He sat upright to see Hinba laying on her side next to him. Her expression was cold. 

“You almost fooled me” 

Tom didn’t reply, the images of his prior torment still fresh in his mind. 

“I thought . . .” she started to draw circles in the dirt around the small human, “I thought you were just scared.” Tom hated where this was going. “I thought your newfound station in life was clouding your judgment. Which I would be ok with.” She motioned a hand down the length of her body. “This is a lot to handle. But you. . .” Tom really hated were this was going, “You are much too clever for that, aren't you?” 

Nope. Tom rolled over but before he could get to his feet, a single of Hinba’s fingers slammed into the ground. Tom felt the air pushed from his lungs. She dug her fingernail into the back of his neck before dragging it down. The action tore through Tom's clothes but luckily, or by design, never pierced the skin. 

“I’m not done with you” she rolled onto her elbows, tearing apart Tom's clothes with extreme prejudice. “You tried to lie to me.” Tom was flipped over onto his back and she placed another long scratch down his torso. His shirt came off. “Were you trying to make me believe you were the only person that could help me find them?” She was careful not to break the skin as she ripped away his pants and shoes. “You said you didn’t find any bodies!” She snarled through grit teeth.

Tom lay completely naked, skin bruised for the ordeal. He was pinned down by a massive digit and tried in vain to push it off.  “Please, just-” He was cut off. 

“Tell me! How many did you actually see in the cellar?” 

He didn’t know how to respond and remained quiet. 

After a tense silence, she continued, “I knew it. You didn’t even step foot in that fucking cellar. I told you I hated when humans lie to me.” she paused for a moment, “The deal’s off.” She lifted her finger off of Tom then pinched under his shoulders to raise him up as she adjusted into a sitting position.  “Goodbye human.”

Tom let out a panic scream as he was brought closer to her mouth as she slowly leaned her head back. Trying with all his might, there was nothing he could do to stop his descent. He kicked wildly at her teeth and tongue. His only success was an injury to his shin. She closed her lips around his midsection enjoying the flavor. With a wet slurp, she sucked Tom fully into her mouth. He felt his feet dangle over the open chasm of her throat. 

Her tongue delicately moved the squirming human towards the back of the mouth, fighting the urge to swallow him right away. She wanted it to be slow so Tom would know how badly he fucked up. Her intention was to break him, mind and body. 

There was a downward motion as her greedy throat claimed its prize. GLUCK. The sound shook him to the bone as he was pulled down to his thighs. With one hand he attempted to find something to grab onto and with the other he tried pushing on the back of her mouth. GLUCK. The arm that Tom was using to push against her throat slipped as he was sucked down to his neck. His head was forced to arch upward as his free arm was still searching for some way to pull himself out. “Please! Don’t do this!” Tom heard her let out a satisfied hum as thick globs of saliva pooled around his face in preparation to send him down, “Wait! Wai-'' GLUP. 

Hinba traced the lump as it traveled down her throat. Even with the assistance of gravity, Tom’s progress was deliciously slow. “Deeper.” she said to no one in particular. Placing a hand beneath her left breast, she felt Tom arrive in her stomach with an audible “plop.” “Thank you, human. You were a wonderful snack.”

There was no light in her stomach, Tom could helplessly listen to the sounds of a distant heart beat. There was a loud gurgle as the stomach acknowledged his presence. He tried to steady himself but his efforts were in vain. The walls had deep ridges that stretched with his touch and there was a thick mucus that had him constantly slipping deeper. 

Panic welled up in his throat as he screamed as loud as he could. The acrid air making his voice hoarse, “Please Hinba! You can’t leave me here. I’ll die!” Hinba didn’t respond but merely slapped her stomach a few times causing Tom to fall into a thick puddle of fluid. His skin began to tingle and itch as he quickly ran out of oxygen. Every mental faculty tried to find a way to escape but unconsciousness quickly took hold. 

—

“Wake up” 

He shot upright with a petrified scream. Hinba was laying down on her side next to Tom. 

“Shh, you’re ok” she cooed. Tom started to push himself backward to run but she placed an open palm against his back. 

“You-” Words failed him. “You just-”

“I ate you, yeah, but it was only a dream. You’re fine.” Her tone was matter of fact. “I can make you experience anything I want in a dream and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. I can swallow you whole again and again... I can make digestion unbelievably painful and I could do it over and over and over again.” Tom broke her gaze, he was going to be sick. He covered his mouth with his hand. “I can crush you and snap you in half like a twig.” 

Tom looked at his hands and glanced around to the trees that surrounded. “Is this?” he wasn’t sure what he was asking. 

“This is real. You’re just going to have to trust me. Personally I find repetition extremely boring, but I’m not opposed to it… if I need to punish you.” she sat upright, “Please don't give me any more reasons to punish you.” 

Tom fell backward, his legs weak from the ordeal, his eyes, bloodshot. “What do you want from me?” 

A smile crept onto her face, “I’m going to ask you again, what did you find out in the town?” her eyes started to glow with a menacing red hue. “You’re going to tell me everything because I’ll know if you’re hiding something.” Tom tried to sit upright, he needed to gather his thoughts. “Don’t give me a reason to put you back to sleep.” 

He lifted both of his arms, the universal symbol for surrender. His head shook from side to side. 

“Good. I’m waiting.” 

Tom steadied his breathing trying to calm his nerves. “I really didn’t find any bodies. I don’t know how many were in the cellar because I didn’t check. I ran out of time. My hope was that I would be able to improvise when I got to that point.” 

“Continue.” 

“You were right, I was trying to deceive you… but not to try and make you think I was useful. I actually wanted you to think I would slow you down.” He really did not want to say the next part, “I figured if the humans were important to you in some way that you’d be more willing to run off to save them.” 

“You were trying to manipulate me?” her words tinged with anger but she let him continue. 

“Yes.” he agreed, “Honestly, I have no idea what happened to all the people.” He saw Hinba breathe in but he continued before she had a chance to speak. “But! I don't think humans caused this. There wasn’t much debris out in the open, barely any in fact. It was all in the individual homes. I think whatever happened, happened too quickly for anyone to really have time to react. And even then . . . “ He thought of the best way to continue. “If it were humans, it would need to be a large group and they would need to act with perfect synchrony. . .” 

“I don’t believe that” 

“I don’t either,” Tom continued. “Even if it were possible, there would still be signs of a struggle out into the road.” 

“So are you telling me you are useless?” her expression darkened. 

Tom wanted to back away but remained still, taking in another calming breath. “I’m not done. I don’t know what happened to them, but in my world we don’t have magic.” 

“Are you asking if I know of a spell that could do something like this?” her face twisted into a scowl.  

Choosing to face the danger head on, Tom kept talking in a calm, even voice, “Not quite... I assumed if you had an idea of a spell that could do something like this, then you would have already made that conclusion” he waited for a moment for her face to soften, as a sign she agreed with the logic. “In each of the homes I kept seeing this same marking, or” he motioned with his hands, “or a scar or something. It didn’t always look the same and it was not in the same exact spot in each of the homes but was enough to get me thinking of something. . . “ he made air quotes, “something, ‘Magic-ee’,” he dropped his hands. 

She considered this. “Describe it.” she ordered. 

“What?” came the reply, “the marking?” They both spoke in unison. Tom brought up his arms, “it was about this wide” he held his hands about a foot apart, “-oval shaped and it looked like it was the center of a small explosion. Like,” he took a breath, “I don’t know, it looked like an explosion but it didn’t punch through the wall? I’m sorry, I don’t buy that.” he shook his head, “Oh and it wasn’t a black char. Whatever it was, it left a red residue behind.” Tom looked up at Hinba, meeting her gaze, “does that ring any bells? If so, that's where I start looking. . . ”

She nodded in acknowledgement, “What else?”

Tom eyed his shoes, he could still feel the small bit of metal hidden inside. Looking back up he began to shake his head.  

“You’re lying again.” her eyes flared again. She tilted her head to the side. “No, you’re not lying... You do have more but you are just afraid to tell me.” she leaned in close.

Tom met her eyes as they approached, fighting back fearful tears. 

“I’m right, aren’t I? Did you find something else about me?” she propped her chin on her. “Spit it out, human.” 

“Please…” his voice was cracking as he continued to shake his head, “Don’t make me tell you.” 

A devious smile appeared on her face and her voice dropped to a sultry growl, “Are you afraid of another one of my ‘punishments?’ What if I promise I’ll be more gentle with you?” Tom slowly started to reach down to his shoe. “Oh? What do we have here?” 

With shaking hands, he produced the small blade. He held it for a time, looking down at his open palms. His eyes met the giant’s once again, She didn’t look angry, but amused. 

Covering her mouth, she let out a small laugh. “What is then?” She bellowed, “Do you intend to fight me with that?” moving to a sitting position to emphasize the height disparity, speaking through her laughter. “Tell me, Human. What are you hoping to accomplish with that?” 

There was a part of Tom’s mind that wanted to believe he did wish to fight her, if only as a means to conceal his true intentions. He wanted to lie but he knew couldn’t. He didn’t know how, but her magic would see through him, somehow. This was his only bargaining chip, this sharp piece of metal in his hands, namely, what he could do with it. 

He looked at her stomach remembering what it felt like to be swallowed, what it felt like to be digested, and it was all just a mirage. She said so herself. It could be whatever she wanted it to be. There was something so unbelievably wrong with becoming ‘food.’ He couldn’t give up. He couldn’t resign himself to cooperating with Hinba’s plan. As helpless as Tom felt, no, as helpless was, he still had one card to play. Tom brought the knife up to his neck. 

Hinba saw what Tom was doing and halted her laughter. Eyeing the small human to confirm his intentions. Her eyes began to glow, “Do not test me human.” 

“No more threats!” Tom shouted, as tears began to well in his eyes. “I know you only see me as nothing more than a live meal, but enough! You want me to believe that it makes no difference if I give myself to you willingly?! ‘Why should I care?’ Is that it?!” He held the blade against his neck as he spoke, ready to make the cut if she made any sudden movements, “How about this? Why should I care about being a live meal at all? It doesn’t make a difference to you, right? If I’m just food in the end, what difference does it make if I'm already a corpse before I become a meal?” Tears rolled down Tom’s face.

Hinba kept his gaze, choosing to let the human air out all of his pent up frustration. 

“TELL ME!” he screamed. His grip tightened on the knife, the jagged metal cutting into his hand as blood began to drip to the ground. 

“ENOUGH!” Hinba roared, causing the ground to shudder. Dust and dirt were blown into Tom's eyes causing him to flinch for only a moment but he kept the knife to his neck. After he blinked away the dust he looked back at Hinba, her eyes were ablaze with crackling sparks. 

Tom knew what was coming and tensed himself for the brunt of her magic. His body grew heavy, the knife most of all, as he fought to keep it pressed against his neck. “Fuck!” spitting the words more than speaking them. He gripped his eyes shut under the strain. 

“Look at me.” she leaned in, “I will never eat a corpse.” Tom let out a frustrated grunt.  He could no longer keep the knife against his skin as his strength began to fail. “Whether you like it or not, you will face your end inside my stomach, and I will make sure you are awake and conscious when you do.” 

Her eyes flared again, causing Tom to almost buckle under his own body weight. His hands dropped again but he held onto the knife. With both hands gripping the weight of the small piece of metal near his navel. He angled the blade upward. This was it. If he wanted to end it right now, this was his last chance. All he had to do was fall forward onto the blade. Hinba was still too far away to stop him but he couldn’t hold on much longer. He could feel his bones start to bend under her gaze. 

He belted his frustration to the sky and released his grip on the knife. It hit the ground with barely any noise. It wasn’t fair, he thought, to struggle so much with the weight of the knife only for it to make such a small sound. Tom collapsed on his side and awaited what fresh hell came for him with cold indifference. He would fight for his life another day, if he made it that far… 

Hinba slowly reached a hand towards the human. Tom steeled himself for the embrace but it never came. A giant finger came down in front of Tom and slowly, deliberately pressed the knife into the earth with her middle finger. Tom could feel the displaced earth shift beneath him, but didn’t even bother to flinch at the display.  

She pressed her finger down until the dirt reached her knuckles and she could go no further. After lifting her digit out of the soil she gently pinched the ground to close the small whole. If Tom had any real desire to retrieve the useless thing, he would need to dig several feet straight down. It seemed almost too easy for her to display her power. 

Hinba began to lay down over Tom. Here it comes, He thought. There was nothing more for him to do. Every trick and scheme he tried only blew up in his face. Whatever she wanted to do, let it happen. He didn’t care anymore. 

She laid on her side in a fetal position, careful positioning herself so Tom was directly in front of her face. Tom felt her warm breath on his back but didn’t move to face her. “You are mine and I will never let you take that away from me.” 

Neither one of them moved for several moments To his surprise, they both seemed emotionally drained from the experience. Hinba shifted the conversation before sleep threatened her as well. “That’s where we are heading” she lifted a lazy finger to point down a well worn pathway slightly above the crown of Tom's head. He arched his neck to get a visual. “You can try to run if you’d like. I know how hard this must be, so if you need to get it out of your system, I’ll understand” she paused for a moment, “You can wait until I'm asleep if you like. I won’t be angry” Tom eyed the pathway, “but you can only run in that direction. If we have to backtrack because of you, I'll carry you the rest of the way in my ass. Do you understand?” Tom didn’t respond, “I'll take that as a yes, Get some rest. . . If you dream, it will not be my doing.” 

“Thanks,” Tome replied dryly. He wasn’t sure why her comment even deserved a reply but he missed his chance to simply ignore her.