Wherever the heck that is.
Fear was still roiling through me, my hands shaking badly, whether with shock or nervous anxiety, I couldn't really say.
Probably a bit of both at the moment.
We walked into a mossy area near a waterfall, other man beasts gathering together around a massive rock formation as we headed towards them.
There's more of them?
Where are we?
I lifted my head a little and peered around.
I've never seen or heard of any place like this before, I thought with a little bit of awe.
It was lush and green and even though it was the middle of winter, with snow piling down all around the perimeter of the area, it didn't touch right here. Wherever here is.
Plants with electric blue and bright yellow streaked through them were popping up everywhere, the mist from the waterfall having a purple tint to it as warm water steamed from it.
Grunts and growling caught my attention and I was shocked at the sheer number of furry man beasts I could see.
I studied them all as they openly stared back, realizing with swift clarity what they looked like to me as I took in their features.
Abominable snow men.
That's what they looked like.
What I would imagine they looked like anyways.
Big foot with white hair and sharp teeth.
I've been kidnapped by an abominable snowman, I thought hysterically.
I'm going to die at the hands of a group of man eating abominable snow men...
Some of the beast men also had women with them too, I noticed, carrying them along like sacks of potatoes as well.
The abominable beasties were all talking in some weird dialect with lots of grunting, growling and tongue rolling, their excitement apparent in their actions and movements.
They're exuberance makes me think of little kids at Christmas...
They all gathered around closer to the rock formation I'd seen earlier and I clutched at the abominable that had me in his arms, his body unconcerned as he started to run, picking up speed quickly as he charged straight for the rock formation in front of us.
I screamed, clawing at him, tugging at his thick mane of hair to get his attention, trying to steer him in a different direction.
Anything but death by rock pancake as he gripped my flailing body tighter and prepared for impact.
I let out a horror movie worthy scream as we were about to hit the wall, shutting my eyes tight, stiffening up as I waited for the pain to hit.
Time passed...
...nothing.
I must have been holding my breath for a little too long. Longer than I realized as I found myself gasping out for air when I started to feel light headed and woozy again.
I finally caught my breath and peeked one eye open when the fact that we hadn't hit anything registered.
I'd probably been okay for a few minutes, maybe more, doing a good impression of a stiff board in my kidnapper’s arms.
I glimpsed a ring of smoke curling towards a bluish sky through the eye I'd cracked open. I opened them a little more and saw smoke stacks with smoke steadily puffing out of them.
Smoke stacks... in the forest? Where the hell am I?!
This is not the forest we were just in a few moments ago.
My eyes flew open wide in shock as I found myself in the middle of a somewhat primitive abominable village, bright colored eyes of every hue on the spectrum watching me avidly.
Curious gazes studied me as I was ogled openly, man beasts stepping forward to sniff at me and touch my long, dark brown hair.
I slapped at their hands and even growled outright at a couple when their hands began to wander unabashedly about my person.
"Do you mind?! Really!" I grouched, momentarily forgetting the precarious situation I now found myself in.
Hasn't anyone ever told them not to play with their food?!
I giggled a little at the ridiculousness of my j0ke in the face of my own demise.
You've completely fallen down the rabbit hole, Wilhelmina... and landed on your fool head...
I broke out into a fit of hysterical giggles and pursed my lips to keep the rest from escaping.
I think that it is now safe to say that you have officially cracked, Mina, old gal...
I giggled again and slapped my hand over my mouth to muffle it, knowing if I tried to actually stop myself from laughing, I would probably cry.
Another curious snow beastie, whatever you want to call them, sidled up to me, his eyes bright as he reached out towards me, as if he was going to try to cop a feel on one of my fun bags.
"Keep your hands to yourself, miscreant! Didn't your mother teach you anything! If you’re planning to eat me, the least you could do is contain yourself!"
Erm... guess I could have gone with something else, but that's all I got at the moment.
So, there!
The man beast holding me looked at me oddly, then growled at the wanna be groper, holding me in a firm grip as he chuckled a little at my continued grumbling, hitching me up a little higher, saying something in his language to the others that made them finally all back off.
The phrase or word 'Kirch' kept coming up as other beasties greeted him and I'm going to go ahead and assume that's his name.
Kirch.
He carried me to a sturdy looking hut and walked right in, setting me down in the middle, motioning for me to stay put as he left suddenly.
I took in my surroundings and was taken aback by how warm it seemed inside here compared to outside.
Don't get me wrong, it was still pretty cold, but compared to out there, it was downright cozy.
It looked almost like a large, weird, completely enclosed, tiki hut from the outside, well-built little house from within.
The inside seemed built better than I would have guessed.
Better built, more structurally sound... some type of stucco like plaster all over the walls and rough cut stones for the floors.
Whatever they used to insulate the place must be working really well, I thought idly as a strong wind whipped against one of the windows, snow spattering and sticking to the sill.
"I'm admiring the durability of a hut... oh, Mina, you're as bad as George now! I'm even talking to myself and referring to myself in the third person," I muttered out loud.
The smell of food cooking hit my nose and I looked around for the source. There was pot hanging over a fireplace off to the side and whatever was inside smelled wonderful, my stomach grumbling as I took in another whiff.
Please don't let it be people stew, I thought wildly, my stomach doing somersaults at the idea.
My captor hurried back in with a large furry ball rolled up in his hands. He unrolled it and shook it out, revealing an animal skin blanket.
I eyeballed him skeptically and shot to my feet, scrambling away from him when he approached me, fur outstretched in his hands as he came towards me.
I yelped and dodged him, ducking under one of his massive arms and scurrying to the other side of the room.
He tried again, approaching me like you would a frightened animal, saying something soothingly to me in his own language, but I darted away, shaking my head 'no' at him and putting my hands up to ward him off.
He started to rumble at me in annoyance, pointing at me and then the fur, motioning with his hands for me to take it and put it on.
I stubbornly refused it, putting my hands up and flailing them around every time he tried to offer it to me.
"Take," he demanded, grunting for emphasis.
"No!"
"You take. Kirch's."
He scowled, pointing at himself and them me, then the blanket and then me again.
Is he implying I'm his... like the blanket?
"No."
"Take," he grunted and tried again.
"Nope. Nuh-huh."
I crossed my arms belligerently and shook my head at him.
"Not Kirch's." I pointed to myself and
said vehemently, "Mina's. Mina's. Not Kirch's. Mina's."
"Kirch's! Not Meanie's!" he said adamantly, his face flushing with frustration as he gave me a narrow eyed glare, his jaw tightening.
"It's Mina!! Not Meanie! You boob!"
Okay, so it's not the smartest thing in the world to taunt something that might possibly want to eat you or whatever else he had in mind, but damned if I'm going to let him lay claim on me like I'm some kind of... of... possession!
I'm alive! I'm a person, damn it!
If I'm gonna be eaten, nobody said I had to go down quietly.
I don't even know if that's physically possible for me...
He growled at me long and low, crouching down, his hackles rising as he prowled towards me.
Oh, god... I think I just challenged him... sorta... so not gonna win a fight against him, girly! my mind shrieked.
You just had to keep pushing, Wilhelmina, couldn't just take the fuckin' blanket!
My mouth opened in an 'O' and my eyes rounded to saucers.
I backed up slowly at his advance, until my back hit a wall and I huddled down into a corner of the room and damned if I didn't tremble.
Despite my earlier bravado, I magically transformed into a chicken at the fierce look he had plastered on his face, his teeth gleaming sharp and deadly as he approached.
The better to eat you with, my dear...
Kirch paused, sniffing the air as he regarded me.
He grunted, brows pulling down as he sniffed again, a slightly puzzled expression on his face.
Yellow eyes studied my face intently, then noticed the subtle shaking in my hands.
I shoved them behind my back and gave him a carefully blank expression.
I said chicken, not pussy.
I'm not going to just outright act like a weenie. I have some pride after all.
Approaching cautiously, he glanced at me and set the blanket at my feet, backing up a little, then crossing his arms over his thick chest as he looked at me confused, brows furrowing together in a frown again.
"Meanie scared?"
"Of what? Your smelly blanket?" I blurted, snapping at him, gripping my hands behind my back so I didn't slap my hand over my mouth.
Let him think I totally meant to say that.
What can I say, I'm mean under duress. Quips and snappy comebacks are my go to... I don't think they're going to be very helpful in my present situation, though.
"Take, Meanie," he said sternly, lips thinning grimly.
"You take. I don't want it." I said quietly, making shooing motions at him as I pressed my spine against the wall.
Something about his insistence that I take it was striking me as odd. Why is it so important to him for me to wear it?
Something smells fishy around here... it isn't the blanket and it aint me. Then again... could just be he doesn't want 'Christmas dinner' to catch cold and die before he can cook her up properly.
Too bad.
Maybe I'll get too cold and die in my sleep, I thought acidly, trying to figure a way out of this ridiculous situation I've found myself in.
"Sleep, female," he ordered, growling at me when I kept refusing his offer of the animal pelt.
He scooped up his blankie and tucked it under his arm.
"Bad, Meanie... no listen... bad female."
I glared at him and he snarled at me angrily, muttering something that sounded insulting as he stomped out in a huff.
Ohhh!
So, arrogance in males is universal then?
"Boob!" I shouted at his retreating back, shaking my fist in the air.
When he stopped suddenly, as if he was going to come back in, I squeaked and ran back to the safety of my corner.
He grunted, peering over at me, his lip twitching at the corner as he saw my pinched lipped expression and saucer eyes.
He grunted again, as if to say, 'yeah, that's right' and then finally left.
I stuck my tongue at his retreating figure and slumped down into my space.
I waited a good fifteen minutes before I moved. Just in case.
Slowly and quietly, I'm not much for stealth, but I try, I crept over to one of the windows.
A sigh of relief escaped me as I peeked through one and saw him heading towards a group of other beasties, all congregating around a big bonfire.
I was tempted to see if I could leave, maybe make a run for it, but the steady influx of snow people walking by at any time told me that's not a plausible idea at the moment.
Patience, Wilhelmina, I told myself, we'll figure something out...
I settled down into a spot near the fireplace and tried to keep warm, my legs tucked under me as I digested all that's happened so far.
Chapter 4
Time passed and eventually other women , the ones I'd seen earlier, were ushered into the same small hut as me.
The man beasts that carried them in were looking a little too pleased when the women all accepted the offered animal furs, without a single protest, snuggling up all bundled and warm.
If I didn't think the animal furs had a meaning to them, I would have gladly taken Kirch's off his hands.
Those suckers look warm.
We ate the mystery stew in silence, some kind of unidentifiable vegetable mish mash with no meat.
Considering my worries about the meat, I was relieved and ate every bite. I even drank the broth.
"Where are we?" a petite blonde woman whimpered, huddling into her fur as she tried to wipe stray tears from her eyes.
"I don't know," I told her quietly, wrapping my arms around my knees, hugging them to my chest as I tried to keep warm.
Good thing I dressed warmly when I'd ventured out to check the breaker box, would have been a bitch in pj's or something.
Shoot, if that had been the case, I probably would have chased Kirch down by now and sucked it up and asked him for his blankie.
A girl can only take so much, you know?
Missing fingers and toes due to frostbite are not really my thing.
"What do you think they want with us?" a tall red head queried, her hands shaking a little as she gripped her blanket tighter around her shoulders, huddled up with everyone else.
"What did they say to you?" I asked the room at large, peering around.
"The one who took me just kept sniffing me and saying something about a mate or mates... I don't know exactly. He kept switching back and forth between whatever it is he speaks and English," a stocky older blonde woman admitted, grimacing at the idea.
"The one who took me didn't say anything. He just kept grunting and growling at me... he's so scary," a petite Hispanic woman whispered.
Someone reached over and gave her a 'there there' pat.
"Mates?" I asked wide eyed, absorbing what the blonde woman had just said. "Mates! I'm not mating him! Good god! If that's what he's thinking, I'd rather he made good on his promise to eat me!" I blurted, my voice getting very shrill and high pitched.
"Eat us!" the Hispanic woman wailed, "If we don't mate with them, they're going to eat us?"
"Oh, my god!" someone else cried.
"I don't want to die!!"
And so on and so forth as mayhem broke out.
I swear, the shocked gasps and madness that ensued was not my intention. My mouth went off before my brain had a chance to catch up.
Note to self: Never tell a room full of distraught, stressed out, kidnapped women that you're captor was contemplating how you'd taste with ketchup.
The screaming and hysterical crying that followed my announcement is still making my ears ring.
I tried to back track, play it off, but it was to no avail.
Now I'm sitting in the middle of the same hut, minus all of the other women.
Apparently I'd been deemed a trouble maker and separated from 'the herd', only myself for company.
That's alright... I never was much of a social butterfly anyways. I usually tend to keep to myself.
I'm obviously not shy or anythi
ng, I just don’t go out of my way to talk to people or really put myself out there, so to speak.
I’m used to doing things alone.
Replaying the last hour or so in my mind, I smiled as I recalled the looks on the beastie’s faces as they collected their women.
I couldn't help but smirk.
They all had that 'what the heck did you do, they were fine when we left them' look about them.
Heh. Heh.
I sobered for a minute, feeling bad for accidentally scaring all those women, but it wasn't like I friggin' did it on purpose!
If the beast men didn't want shit to go down, then maybe they shouldn't have put all their captive women into one room, like a deranged day care, and gone off to go fuck around, or whatever it is they were doing...
They kidnapped me, not the other way around, yet they give me dirty looks? Oh, puhhhlease!
I snorted and looked around surreptitiously...
Hmm... Alone at last. Not a single furry covered giant around.
Scooting quietly, I peeked out the window by the door and spotted Kirch talking to someone, the two of them deep in conversation as they gestured at each other angrily.
Probably one of the snow beasties bitching at him about me.
I smiled at the thought.
Good, I hope they give him an ass chewing and beat his ass or something.
I eased away from the window and made my way to the other side of the room, where the other window was on the opposite side.
I slowly pushed it open and poked my head out.
Empty.
Jackpot!
Freedom!
I grabbed the candle they'd left in the cabin and blew it out, snuffing it and stuffing it into my jacket.
Come on, Mina, this is just like that show Grandma used to watch. You know, the one where the guy gets shoved into some impossible situation or another, escaping with the help of nothing more than a paperclip, a fork and a tooth pick!
...or whatever...
Either way, I can do this!
I felt around in my pockets and gave thanks to myself for forgetting about the book of matches I'd put in there and forgotten to put away the other day.
I crawled out of the window and flopped onto the ground, trying to muffle the 'oomph' that slipped past my lips as I fell on my butt.
The Bridal Hunt Page 3
