Minnie the Borrower 2 - Canine Voyage 'Euuugh...' Minnie struggled against hot, flexing walls as fibrous pieces of digesting meat swirled in the pool around her. The dog's rapid heart-beat pounded and she screamed as she was thrown around, bouncing between the ridged, slimy walls as the Rough Collie ran around outside. The grumbles of it's stomach melded with barks that shook from above. Each bark boomed like the crack of thunder, the sound trembled through the disgusting air, the force of the sound cutting through Minnie as if by physical force, as she was swilled by muscles. Bounced in the hot, simmering puke as the dog ran. The Rough Collie bounded along the footpath, panting as it skirted the edge of a line of trees. The long sable and tan fur was weighed down by rainwater, and every so often it shook from nose to tail extravagantly, barking happily. As it's paws scampered through the mud and undergrowth, muddy puddles threw dirty droplets everywhere. Exerting a well of seemingly bottomless energy as it ran through copses, fields, zig-zagging across the footpath. It's owner followed on. He was an nondescript middle-aged man with receding whitening hair and a craggy face who wore a waterproof overcoat, Wellington boots to protect from the downpour, he walked with his back slouched against the driving rain. Regardless of the rain, of the cold, the dog ran around his legs, barking happily as drops spattered over it's pointed wedge-like muzzle and nose, it's tongue drooping from the side of it's mouth, through black animal lips. It's fur soaked through. Deciding that was enough of a walk for today, he called it back, The Collie's pace slowed slightly, sensing that it was retreading old ground- that it was on it's way back to the car. The dog's breath steamed in the rainy autumn air as it bowed it's head slightly and slunk back homewards. Minnie couldn't believe how unfair it was. The Borrower had only been in the outside world for a few minutes. Not even an hour ago she was still inside a fox... Had been all the way through a fox. And now, here she was inside a another animal. 'I can't believe I've got to go through this shit, again!' She shouted her frustration at the darkness, pounded her fist into the pool in anger, which splashed indifferently. How is it possible to be that unlucky? The Collie's owner opened the boot of the car and he patted a tartan dog blanket with a wrinkled hand. The animal looked into it's owner's eyes expectantly, then complied with a sleek jump, a watery shake of it's long fur. It lay on it's side, steamy breath panting into the cool air. The smells of car, of mud, of home, filling it's animal senses as it's fur dripped with rainwater. It's fluffy long tail flopped to the side, and rainwater and mud soaked into the mat. Relief washed over Minnie as the crashing movements stopped, and the pound of the heart lulled to a more restrained rhythm. The muscles rolled around her with less intensity, and the dog's body grumbled and groaned as she sat there in the smelly pool. Minnie's hair was soaked, and she brushed her body down of the worst of the slime, not that it helped much. As the dog lay in the car, in the darkness Minnie's memory swam with her final sights of daylight. Through the pouring raindrops she remembered that the Rough Collie had sable and tan fur which drooped down it's neck like a river, dripping in the rain. It's collar and tag flashing beneath the lengthy fibres. It's huge tongue hung from the side of the long wedge-like mouth, between savage white teeth. Slobber falling from the tip in a slippery strand. The meaty canine breath panted into the autumn air in steam. The eyes flashed with animal excitement. It had been mercifully quick when compared with being swallowed by a fox. The playful tongue scooped her up, and Minnie was thrust into the warm, wet curl, thrown to the back of the throat. The musky smell of dog smell hit her, so potent and strong. The meaty tang of it's breath poured over her as the teeth flashed past in a blur of healthy, pristine white. Sharp and deadly. In a split-second she was pushed to the precipice of the panting, slobbery abyss with a scream, her face pushed against the dog's pink palette, mottled with brown pigmentation. Only seconds had passed since Minnie was standing on solid ground in the rain, then throat muscles pushed her inside hot, complete darkness. Well, she had to concede, at least it was a bit more spacious this time... The Borrower girl was pulled through curtains of canine mucus, squeezed through the curve of the animal's neck. She remembered hearing a faint metallic jingle, realised that this was the silvery circle of the collar as she passed it on the inside, a jingle that melded with the pound of the heart, the rush of air from huge lungs. She screamed as she spurted through a sphincter, landed in the Collie's stomach. A short journey down country roads, and the car pulled into the gravelled driveway. The father turned between stone pillars topped by statues of lions, a gate that had a rusted, crumbling splendour, as if this house had been far more grand when it was built than it was now. The old farmhouse loomed up above, water poured down the bricks and gushed through it's worn guttering. Beyond the garden fence, there was a gate to the fields beyond, a river. In the back the Rough Collie licked it's lips as the car came to a halt, raindrops clattering against the metal roof and the misted windscreen. As soon as the car came to a stop it barked, clamouring to be let out, and when the father of the family complied, it darted towards the front door. Jumping up on two legs, waiting to greet the others. As he opened the door, the dog bounded through the corridor, leaving wet paw-prints on the quarry tiles. It's claws skittered across the stone floor, and with an excited bark it tried to jump up on it's other owner, a lady who was wiping a worktop in the kitchen, cleaning it of tea residue, a fresh mug steaming to the side of her. 'Get down!' She scolded, motioning for the dog to stop with her hand. She was a tall, fussy middle-aged woman with bleached blonde hair. Hands on hips, standing in the pristine kitchen, she gave the impression she didn't have much time for the family pet, especially when it was dripping wet. Instead she shooed it away. Taking her cue, the dog ran upstairs to find the youngest member of the family. She was always sure to give out some attention... The Collie wound it's way through the labyrinthine corridors of the old farm house, corridors of patterned carpets and old-fashioned wallpaper. It nosed it's way through a door covered in shimmering stick-on stars and flowers, and a cheery name plate. Then it walked into the brightly-coloured room of the family's eight year old daughter. The Rough Collie lay down and flopped onto it's side, it's long fur sprawling over the carpet, it's fluffy tail drumming against the floor as it wagged happily. The daughter, a little girl called Amy, was sat on her bed, laying on her front and watching kids TV on a small television set. It was one of her favourite cartoons, and one of her favourite episodes. The one where they went inside someone's body. Nevertheless, she smiled when she saw the dog, and slid off the bed to greet it with a pat, and a stroke it's sumptuous fur. As the cartoon characters on her TV screen made jokes and wisecracks inside a fictional belly, a rib cage protruding inside unrealistic pink and slime-free surfaces, Amy's hand was an inch away from somebody experiencing the real deal. Just as Minnie had begun to feel the slightest tingle on her skin, the stomach walls bulged and pushed against her, grumbling as if in protest. She was pressed downward by the force as Amy's powerful touch ushered her through from the outside, completely unwittingly. 'Nice dog...' She heard a young voice through the flesh, the voice of the girl outside. And Minnie stifled a scream as she felt the grab of the duodenum rolling and clutching against her shins. She clapped a hand over her mouth, after all she didn't particularly want to be discovered- for the entire Borrower world to be discovered- by a kid who had heard her screaming from inside the family pet. She gasped as she was squeezed, tight, through the sphincter. Soaked from head to foot, she bounced over the ridges of the tube with a spray of chyme. 'Amy, dinner!' Her mother's voice drifted up from downstairs. 'Hooray!' The child whooped, and with a final pat on the Collie's head, she ran off down the corridor, down the stairs. 'And wash your hands if you've touched the dog.' The stern voice from downstairs added, in a world-weary tone that suggested she gave this command every evening. As the family had their evening meal, the Collie sat in the kid's room for a moment. It's fur drying, it sat in the middle of a pink brightly-coloured rug, panting indifferently, then it walked out of the room and down the staircase. As the Collie wandered around the house, the smell of beef dinner dancing tantalisingly in it's nostrils, but it knew better to scrounge at the human dinner table... After all it's own food came just afterwards. Minnie was left alone to navigate her way through another animal's innards. She bounced around, deep inside the intestines in the darkness as the pet bounded down the steps. The sludge that covered her, the stream of chyme that she crawled through smelt awful- the stench starting to resemble what comes out of the other end. Minnie was now on her hands and knees, pushing and pressing her way through an animal's body, for the second time in as many days. Waves of peristalsis mindlessly pushing her through the endless tubes. Hours later, after the family had eaten, after Amy had been put to bed, the dog reclined in front of the fire. As the mother and father watched the television in the lounge. As strange as it was, Minnie realised she could hear the muffled noise of the television. The faint sounds- the louder stab of explosions and the crescendos of the orchestral soundtrack played through the Collie's body. These noises melded oddly with the rush of blood that pulsed and flowed, the omnipresent heartbeat. Still, Minnie mused, it was better than the sounds of food pouring down into the stomach above her. Her whole body shuddered at the thought of what might have happened. When inside the stomach she hadn't even considered the possibility, but it turned out she had missed being covered by a torrent of slobbery, swallowed food by minutes. As she fell through the duodenum and into the small intestines, she heard everything further back, every splash and groan as the Collie wolfed down it's own meal. Neither of the Big People- the husband or the wife- would have ever imagined. As the dog nonchalantly groomed itself by the fire, inside those graceful long strands of fur that it was licking clean, it's soft underbelly- there was a three inch tall teenager inside there, a mere ten years older than their own daughter. Through inches of flesh and fur she was in there, struggling through it's endless innards. Deep inside it's canine body. Late the next morning, Amy had gone to school, and the father had gone to work. All night, as the family had slept, Minnie had been fighting her way through the unbelievable length of the intestines. The dog lay in it's bed, a curled mass of long fur, it's stomach and chest rising and falling gently as it snoozed. Moonlight seeped through the crack in the curtains, a band of white light that fell across the room, illuminating the dog's lower underbelly and back legs. Lower underbelly gurgling ominously. 'Go on then, if you want to go out, go out.' The mother said, and opened the patio door to let the dog into the garden. The Collie bounded through the slabs of stone, leaves and flowerbeds, happy to be outside. The late morning sun was fresh and the wind blew through it's thick long fur. Without hesitation, it chose a spot near the middle of the lawn, and crouched. Birds wheeled overhead, the clouds hung suspended in the sky- the entire morning was the essence of normality, except for one thing. After two logs rolled over the grass, Minnie was pushed forwards with force, and a pinpoint of bright, white light expanded around her until it almost blinded her. The cool touch of the outside played over her head and shoulders, and she gasped for the fresh air, her upper body protruding from the soft pucker of the anus. The tail, so incredibly fluffy, arced above her, waving nonchalantly in the wind as smooth, almost mechanical muscles rolled over her. Then she fell to the grass with a mass of Collie shit. Then the dog walked off, it's back legs and tail a swishing mass of long fur. Minnie felt so weak, but she had to move on. She looked left and right, saw the house, saw the fence just behind her. She was still gagging and trying to draw breath after her unwitting adventure, but the lawn was too exposed. She could still be discovered by the Big People. She looked up, the autumn sun was beautiful behind the silver clouds, which shone in a corona. Exhausted, she fought the impulse to just lie there and wallow in her own exhaustion, regardless of where it was, and was she was half-encased in. As she climbed out of the revolting pile, she looked back towards the house and saw the Collie, wandering beside the houses, sniffing through pot plants and flowerbeds. 'I was inside there.' She whispered to herself. It was such a strange thought, as Minnie brushed the warm mess from her disgusting clothes. The dog moved around the garden as if everything was completely normal, completely unknowing of what had happened to that strange morsel it had found in the field yesterday. It looked so sleek and graceful- on the outside, anyway- as it pawed through the flowerbeds, it's tail wagging. She, of course, had seen it in more detail than anyone else. Than anyone would ever want to. The Collie bounded along the garden path, it's long tongue protruding from it's pointed muzzle. That tongue which had so casually scooped her up over a day ago. It ran in a whirl of excitement, barking into the air as a bird alighted from a tree, it's canine eyes expectant. Then it looked right at her. It saw her standing next to the pile, among the emerald blades freshly-mown grass. Their eyes locked. It was only for a second, but Minnie could see. It knew. Knew she had survived. 'No no... Please no!' Minnie tried to get as much of a head-start as she could. As she ran towards the wooden fence as fast as her legs would take her. The dog barked and she heard it's claws slipping over the patio flagstones, it jumped over a flowerbed and ran across the lawn. Pelting after her. The fence was just in front of her, the gaps between the wooden posts opened in the promise of freedom as the panting breath and jangle of the collar got louder and louder behind her. Minnie did not dare look over her shoulder, she could only concentrate on that gap in the fence. To escape. She must escape. 'Don't you fucking dare!' Minnie screamed in frustration, she could sense that the mouth was opening just behind her back. Her heart felt like it might explode with fear, with the exertion of running, her legs weren't even used to this movement after being confined inside two animals for the last few days. The jaws snapped behind her shit-stained shirt and missed by less than an inch as she ran through a flowerbed. Droplets of slobber as big as her fist spattered in the leaves and petals around her. A bark shook the air around her. Meaty breath poured as the Collie panted, the familiar smell passed in a rush through her filthy hair. 'I'm not going back inside you!' She shouted at it, defiantly. And with a rush of relief, she ducked and rolled through the small gap in the fence. As she looked backward, the pointy mouth, the sharp white teeth and pink tongue, awash with saliva snapped through the gap. The animal looked so terrifyingly ferocious from this angle, a few eager barks bellowed from the throat, and it's teeth bared beneath black lips as the Collie exhaled in frustration. It's smelly, meaty breath wafted over her, the tongue lapping against the wooden panels. Then the mouth disappeared and the fluffy white fur of the paws scrabbled against the wood and dirt, the Collie's huge black claws ploughed through the flowerbed with frightening power, sending clumps of earth flying. Minnie almost cried with relief. By the length of her hair, by less than an inch, she had almost been sent on another trip. And now she wasted no time, at the back of the farmhouse there was a slope that went down through a forest, and through the cracks of tree trunks and the light that filtered through the leaves above, she could see a calm river. The Borrower teenager yearned for nothing more than the cooling cleanliness of the water, and she skidded and crawled down the hill. Half-running through huge plants and grasses that towered over her. The barks of the Rough Collie thronged in the air as it ran around the garden, getting more distant with every moment. 'Come on, back in' She heard the voice of it's unseen owner, her voice faint. Then there was silence, except for the rustle of leaves in the trees and the soft flow of the river. She dived right in. Minnie had never been so happy to bathe. To handle clear, fresh water. At first she bent over the dark cleanliness of the river water, she stood immersed to her waist and started taking her dark clothing off, shivering in the autumnal chill, almost as if her body had forgotten how cold the outside world was. She was in a calm pool, away from the main current of the water. It was perfect, no more than an inch and a half deep, and the Borrower wrung the mess out of her clothes, scrubbed her hair. All of her teenage arrogance and hotheadedness had melted away, pummelled and humiliated by her disgusting journey since leaving home. She could barely stand to look at her own brown-stained reflection in the water as she washed herself. It was unbelievable. Impossible. She had been eaten- twice. She looked at a reflection of someone that had actually been through the bodies of two animals, at someone who had been excreted like a piece of... Minnie couldn't bear to think about it. She felt ill as the memory of that final squeeze onto the lawn played again in her mind, and that of the fox. Minnie scrubbed her arms and legs with extra vigour with the cold water, as if it could remove the memory as well as the smell. 'I can never, ever tell anyone about this shit that's happened...' I mean, what would they say? An hour later, however, she was almost feeling something that resembled normality. As she sat on the large pebble, her clothes were almost dry, hung on a thin branch above her. To her pleasant surprise, both her clothes and hair had cleaned up rather well in the river-water. A hazel tree sprouted just upstream, laden with ripening berries and she had eaten a whole nut, and drank deeply from fresh water, feeling safe and protected for the first time since leaving home days ago, under the reassuring leaves of the Hazel, the cover of long marsh grasses. Once food and water touched her lips, Minnie realised how hungry and dehydrated she had been. As she tried to untangle her dyed-black, straight hair with her finger tips, the sustenance gave her a burst of energy. She dared to look ahead again, and saw no reason to change her plan. She didn't know where the hell she was, but she would get away from the country, to live with Borrowers in a city, no matter what. How could it get any worse? Just when she was thinking these optimistic thoughts, the water in the river bubbled and there was a mighty splash as the flow broke. A lithe, smooth body of brown and tan arced from the spray, cold droplets of river sparkling in the late afternoon sun. Jaws snapped into the air, pointed and white. 'No, oh fuck no...' Minnie whimpered in disbelief. 'Really?!' In a blur of brown and cream-coloured fur, the Otter's webbed front paws grabbed her in lightning speed. She only saw it's whiskery visage, it's beady brown eyes for a moment. Without any hesitation the otter shoved her through it's sharp teeth. One second Minnie had been reclining on the rock, the the next she slid over it's wet tongue. Her clothes hung on the branch, uncaring, wafting in the wind. As soon as the pink tongue felt the presence of her body, the Otter's saliva welled up from below, and dripped from above, all over her naked frame. The paw pushed her in further, a rough movement which pushed Minnie face-first into it's throat. She braced herself, expecting the jaws to surely rip her to pieces this time, that this was the end. But no- The dark abyss beckoned once again, as stinking air from the throat below blew up at her. The tongue flexed around her, until she was soaked in saliva, which was smooth and cool than that of the dog, or the fox, as it melded with river water. 'Not again!' She screamed her irritation down the animal's throat. As her face was pushed down into it's neck, malodorous breath wafting over her from the depths, she felt the Otter's tongue flex around her feet and shins. Minnie was suspended there for a terrifying few seconds, before her feet entered the throat. She screamed as she was swallowed for a third time. The thump of a heart-beat pounded around her, the rushing hum of blood gushing through unseen tubes, the buzz of internal life that was now becoming all too familiar. 'Don't these animals know how to chew?' Minnie sighed, as she was squeezed by a ring of flesh, pushed through a river of saliva which bubbled and pooled over her bare back, splashed into her face. The stomach ahead of her grumbled in anticipation. Licking it's lips, the otter dived into the river. Minnie heard the dull splash from the inside. She realised she could feel the strange sensation of being underwater, almost like floating, from within the Otter. Felt it's powerful, smooth movements as it steered itself through the river bed like a living submersible. In the gentle flow, the animal was a brown shape beneath the cool ripples and sparkle of light on the river's surface. It was under for a couple of minutes, scanning the riverbed for other morsels to devour, to go along with that very easy catch it had just made. A minute later, it slipped from the water's depths at the other side, bursting from the current and running up the riverbank opposite, weaving through nettles and seeding willow herb. A faint but very audible scream emanated from the smooth, wet fur on it's underside as it sat and stopped to scan the river. The slightest bulge underneath the short fur trembled in it's middle. The otter's stomach was relentless and energetic, as soon as Minnie had been squeezed through the sphincter, while her predator swam around on the riverbed, the walls massaged her firmly. Squashed by the rippling wet flesh from all sides. A spray of foul-smelling liquid spurted out of the wall and splashed all over her bare back and hair. 'You could have sent my clothes down too!' She yelled at it, hammering on a throbbing wall. As strange as it sounded, she felt exposed. Even though nobody would ever find her- or what would remain of her- assuming she didn't make it this time. Like her scream, this muffled cry of disbelief was audible from the outside, but there was nobody to hear except the Otter. The animal merely licked it's lips in reply and looked down at the twitching middle of it's body. Then it skulked off, into the dense undergrowth.