Vulpine Voyage


'Are you really gonna leave?' Laird asked, for at least the fourth time in as many minutes.

Minnie sighed, before thrusting an armful of black clothing into her satchel. Laird had been a decent friend for her, they'd even taken it a bit further on a couple of occasions. But sometimes his stupidity irritated her. 'You saw what was in that machine.'

'Maybe it ain't showing us the truth. It did, kinda, stop working.'

'Of course it showed us. It showed us how things are.' Minnie snapped, thinking of the pictures of landscapes and cities on the device, the vast impossibility of the oceans beyond the world that they knew, the maps.

The iphone itself was still propped up against her bedroom wall. The battery had faded and died, and now the black unresponsive surface looked completely incongruous in a room of old laces, dolls house furniture and a chair made from matchsticks. It had taken both of them and a lot of muscle on Laird's part to borrow the device, and she only took an hour to figure out how it works before Minnie finally decided to act on what she was thinking of doing for all of her teenage years.
To leave. That her life belonged elsewhere.

She had seen how small her kind really were in the grand scheme of things, there weren't even any mentions of Borrowers on the internet.
But the Big People, they were different. They had colonised a world that was stupendously big, built cities that had millions of people living in them. And yet her father and mother had barely been further than the field behind the cottage. A cottage that was a tiny speck on a map of a single island that contained tens of millions of humans, and who knows how many Borrowers?

A thousand lifetimes would not be enough to explore it, but she intended to do the best she could with one lifetime, rather than rot away here.

'There is too much out there. Do you think I want to live in this shitty place? Now that I know?'

Minnie had never particularly enjoyed being as she is, and when the lights of the Big People shone in the cottage she often looked on enviously. She was short, even for a Borrower, at just a shade over three inches. A rather plain girl of eighteen who liked wearing black, with hair that was long and dyed, with red highlights. Some said she's trying to copy the alternative style that some of the Big People teenagers wear- which was, in a way, true.

'Why don't you come with me?' She said.

Laird thought for a few seconds. 'No, no. I'm happy enough here.'

Minnie walked across her room and placed her bag on the desk. She had packed the bare essentials, and took her travelling cape from the back of the door. 
It was a curious thing. The cape could be extended by clever use of elastic threads and had a life-like leaf pattern on the back, for camouflage. The idea being that one could lay prone underneath it to avoid unwelcome attention.

'Suit yourself. I'm off to one of those places. London, Bristol, Birmingham... Any place will do. Surely Borrowers in places like that have actually got more ambition than living under a garden shed and stealing-'

'-borrowing.' Laird interrupted, as if by habit.

'… A load of shit from the house at the end of the garden.' She continued.

'Well, I suppose I'd best get back to my folks.' Laird said.

'Yeah, well. See you later.'

There was a slightly awkward embrace, then he walked out of the room. Minnie's mind was set.
It felt like Laird hadn't taken her seriously, that she would not go through with her vow of leaving. But she was going to, she meant it. 
She stood in the middle of her room for a minute. It was a comfortable room, for Borrowers her family lived in a rather comfortable and undisturbed house. Minnie placed a brief note on her bedside table. Her relationship with her parents had always been stilted, as it had been with everyone she knew, but she at least offered them the courtesy of a note. 

Then her features hardened, she could not afford to be nostalgic. She put her cape on, slung her bag over her shoulder and walked through the out of the front door for the final time.

	She made her way up through the hidden trap door in the corner of the shed, and through the cobwebs and dust into the evening air. It was a cool, fresh evening. The rays of sunset were low in the garden. The leaves were falling from the trees in burnt red and orange. The Big People's light was on in the cottage and she guessed they'd be watching television at this time of the day. 

Minnie's heart jangled with nerves, but her resolve was sure. She would find a car that was parked, somehow get into it undetected, then let the human being driving it take her unknowingly to the nearest city. Using several cars if necessary.

As she walked down the garden path, she began to feel more confident with every step. Her jittery nerves melded with a strange feeling of strength and confidence. This was more than anyone in her family had done, anything more than anyone in the local community had done. She was the first. But it was absolutely, definitely the right thing to do.

It was as she was walking with a spring in her step, an arrogant stride, that she was knocked off her feet and toppled over by a powerful blow from behind her. 

'What the fuck? Is that you Laird?'

Minnie turned to see who had dared to hit her. Looking up, she stifled a scream. The face was large and pointed, with auburn and white fur framing keen amber eyes. The fox licked it's lips pointedly, with a long tongue. The eyes, pupils wide in the gloaming, bore into her own, and Minnie cowered. It had been completely silent, and it must batted her with a foreleg or it's muzzle, her bag had flown off her and skidded across the garden path.

Minnie did release a scream as the mouth opened, as the malodorous, meaty breath washed over her, mixing with a strong animal musk. It scooped her up, feet first, and her arms and legs struggled against the mottled palette, grabbed desperately against wet teeth and soft black lips.

The fox savoured her, and as she was dragged further inside, the tongue wrapped around her shoulders and drew Minnie's screaming face past the incisors. She was pressed against the tough ridges of the palette, the tongue quivering beneath her chest. 

The teeth sprouted from the gums on both sides of her like a living cage, threateningly close to her arms. Bubbles sparkled as they clustered, saliva welled up from below, and soaked into Minnie's clothes and hair. In one horrible moment, the tip of the tongue curled over her face, and she gagged on the musky taste of the fox's saliva. An eager muscle in the throat pressed at her legs and thighs, probing her.

The fox's head tilted upward. As it rose, she saw the sunset clouds, dashed in pinks and oranges, between it's pointed teeth.

There was a firm squeeze of muscle against her waist, and Minnie was pulled away from the light of the outside as the teeth melded together. Another squeeze and she was drawn into tight, smelly darkness. The heart-beat pounding around her as she was swallowed.

'Ugggghhh...'

The descent was vertical at first, as muscles squirmed around her slippery body, relentless. As Minnie was dragged deeper the throat tilted, the heart-beat intensifying as she went through the chest.

'I can't believe this.'

Grabbing muscles pulled against her ankles, a ring rolled up her body, throwing her into a foul pool. Minnie tumbled over the slippery ridges of the fox's stomach as it churned and bounced around her, the living creases undulating over her body in mindless motion. 

The sphincter gave a splutter and dripped above, and Minnie sat as best as she could as the hot pool lapped around her waist, her legs were completely submerged. The entire place began to sway- side to side- as the animal walked through the garden.
 
On the outside, it was as stealthy and soundless as it had been when it caught her. While Minnie was surrounded by it's grumbling, disgusting innards, the fox was a mere shadow in the garden, the smallest brush of flowers and a sniff of the air and it disappeared over the garden fence, an indifferent ghost in the twilight of fields and copses.

Minnie felt a bone brush against her and pushed it away, her stomach turning, the bone was half as long as her own leg, and a few corroding chunks splashed in the pool. The walls pressed inward, and juices spurted from the walls as the stomach grumbled.

	As Minnie was being bounced around inside, the fox was grateful for the darkness of night. It was a cold night, and  it's breath hung in the air as it slunk through forest trees and hedgerows. Looking to see if there was anything else to eat other than that strange creature it had found. It searched for over an hour, sniffing the ground and going from tree to tree, investigating. It's ears alert at the nightly sounds.

As it was exploring the world outside, Minnie was still struggling in the thin, stinking air. Her skin beginning to tingle, she felt something press against her feet. A strong muscle grasped her ankles, a rolling motion pulling her, pulling her under. Submerged, she kicked her legs as they entered a new space. She was desperate to draw breath, and the muscle pushed her through into a passageway. 
She gasped for breath, and the heart-beat grew fainter as she was pushed to the next stage of her journey.

'How have I survived this long?' She wondered aloud. With a strange new rush of energy, a new hope, she began to push her way through the tube, crawling through a digested river.

She spent hours, the whole night, winding her way through the endless angles of the intestines. The movements in the walls were lazy and gentle, but guided her in the right direction. She winced when she felt tiny villi sifting over her arms and through her fingers, and always the same swaying motion as the fox walked. As she crawled she felt the pump of blood beneath the surface of the slimy flesh, in perfect time with the never ending thump of the heart.

	Two miles from the garden shed, the fox lay at the edge of a field in the morning sunshine.
There was nothing unusual about the sight. It was the sort of moment a wildlife photographer would be glad to stumble upon. Autumn grasses whipped in the wind around it's pointed face, and it reclined- content in the low rays of sun. The animal's ears swivelled as it heard cows lowing in the distance, raised it's keen eyes to the call of birds high above, but it was otherwise undisturbed.

Almost imperceptibly, the white fur of it's underbelly ruffled as it reclined to the side. Between it's back legs, the tangles of white fur bulged and moved irregularly, alive. The only outward sign of Minnie's adventure.

However, as the fox lay it's head to sleep, Minnie was exhausted. She had been flagging, as the river in the intestines began to thicken, after countless twists and turns in this endless tube, she finally passed out.

She drifted in and out of consciousness as the intestines pushed her further and further. She felt half-asleep even when she was roused into consciousness. Each time the surroundings were getting worse, if possible, and opened out to a more spacious tunnel.

The final time, Minnie stirred from what felt like a full night's sleep. As she woke, she felt ill with the smell that surrounded her, when she realised where she was. As the fox moved around, the muscles at the crux of it's back legs fluttered through the surrounding flesh, and the animal's shit had compacted around her so that she could barely move.

She did not pass out again, but Minnie faced several hours of agonising waiting, she lay prone and with clenched teeth, waiting to let nature take it's course and for the animal's system to release her.

When the moment arrived, the suddenness of the movements surprised her. Muscles flexed and there was a squeeze, a disgusting rush of foul air, and mass was dragged away ahead of her, freeing up space in the repulsive tunnel. Minnie could swear she saw the tiniest flash of light ahead as the sphincter pushed.

Moments later, it was her turn. It was a smooth motion, surprisingly gentle, as smelly muscles pushed and Minnie was pressed downwards. She was suspended for a moment, then with a final squeeze she was dropped through the air, wonderfully cold air, landing in a pile.

The lash of rain hammered over leaves and the ground, drops splashing on the fox's tail and back as it was hunched over, back legs splayed.

'I'm... Outside...' Louise choked. It felt like forever since she was in the normality of the outside world.

The fluffy tail, wet with the rain, swished above, the obscene hole in the white fur flexed before releasing another log which landed next to her with a thud. Minnie couldn't tear her eyes away from the place she had spent over a day inside.

With a movement of it's lithe legs, the fox stood and walked away. She watched, waist-high in shit in the pouring rain as the fox ran in a graceful motion. It's body uncaring, as if it had never known her. It jumped over a stone wall at the foot of the field.

	Minnie eased her way out of the pile, feeling better already as she stood in the cleansing rain. She noticed that her cape had been lost at some point in the intestines, and was encased in the last piece of shit to be released, and she pulled it out. The cape was so dirty that the leaf pattern was barely recognisable, and shredded at the edges, punctured in the middle by sharp teeth, but she took it all the same. 
She walked away without looking back.

As she staggered through the field, heading towards the wall that the fox had jumped over, she had never been so happy to be caught in a rain shower. The fat drops fell onto her from above, and Minnie brushed the water over her hair and disgusting clothes, the water from her cape stained as she wrung it out. A puddle welled near the base of the wall, clear and clean, and she made use of it. Already much cleaner. 

Nevertheless, she felt revolting, like a lifetime of baths would never fully get rid of the smell. Memories of what it had been like inside there swam in her mind.

'I can never, ever tell anyone where I've been.' She told herself, her skin crawling with humiliation. 'Never.'

After a few minutes Minnie skirted the wall, as the rain lashed down even harder. She had no idea where she was, but despite her disgusting setback, the plan was unchanged, she would find one of the Big People's cars, and travel to her city, the place she deserved. As the rain cleansed her, as she drank fresh water from the stones of the wall, and walked through the cool air she began to feel better. 
She had gone through the worst, and she was alive. Somehow, she was alive.

It was just in these moments, as her steps took on a hopeful stride, that a pointed face bounded through the haze of rain. 

Minnie's heart turned to ice, rooted in shock. 

'No... It's not fair.' She whimpered.

The chiselled features of the Rough Collie gazed down at her through expectant, almost kindly brown eyes. It panted behind a soaked muzzle of tan and white. The dog had a blue collar with a silver tag in the shape of a bone, and it's fur dripped, weighed down around the neck with rainwater. There was mud spattered around it's paws and ankles and it panted heavily as if it had been running and playing..

With a twitch of it's head, the dog looked over it's shoulder towards the direction of it's master, who was an unseen voice and whistle in the distance, before turning it's gaze back to her.

The Collie licked it's black lips with a pink tongue as the face drew closer. It had larger, whiter teeth than the fox, and bubbles of saliva gushed over it's long tongue. Pungent breath blew over her, in plumes of steam that coursed through it's teeth and mingled with the canine odour, as the mouth gaped and panted, raindrops spattered against the dogs nose and whiskers. 

'Not again...'

The muzzle lowered towards her, she saw her destiny. The slobbery chasm of the throat flexed behind sharp teeth. 

The tongue curled around her waist, inviting her in. Minnie felt strangely detached, as the familiar smell and warmth washed over her, as she braced herself for another ride.