Page 14 of A Very Monstrous Desire

And Theo knew enough about evolution to know just how improbable that was.

He took a step back and then another. The monster did not move. He stood exactly where he had been since they’d left the village shop, arms by his side, head tilted slightly as if curious to see what Theo would do next.

Theo did the only thing he could think of.

He ran.

They were slightly uphill of the vast, phlegm-filled forest, so Theo pelted downwards through the clearing, past the dead munching monsters, working at the full speed he had achieved through years and years of consistent training. His sprint time had been the best in his group, he was able to cover distances quicker than anyone he had ever met, and he raced now, not even thinking about what he would do once he escaped the monster, but perhaps imagining vaguely that he would make it to one of the other interdimensional rips and get home that way. There were thousands of them! Some were huge. The size of a building. He could find one of those damn rips, surely? He just needed to get away from this monster, this human monster, and before the thing decided to eat him along with the munchers!

Theo raced down the wet hill, being careful not to slip as it had clearly recently rained. His body fell into the natural rhythm that it was so familiar with, the action of one foot in front of another, his arms pumping, his breathing automatically finding a perfect tempo. Theo was not aware of it then, but the gravity in this dimension was slightly less than that on his Earth and that aided him, giving him a personal best in the distance that he quickly covered.

He sucked in a deep, satisfied breath.

This was what Theo excelled at.

Outside of the elite runners, no one could match him in it.

He got less than a hundred meters.

The monster tackled him to the ground, bringing him down in one smooth move. Theo gasped as he was pulled into a tangle of limbs, the monster’s arms encircling him, taking the worst of the bumps and rocks before they came to a stop just as the forest proper started.

The monster held him there, in his very human, purple body, with his very human breath feathering against Theo’s neck. The whole thing was just…unbelievable and Theo pushed at him, stumbling away and back onto his feet, breathing heavily now, and turned and eyed the monster.

Clearly there was no escape.

Was it even worth trying to fight?

He reached down and patted his thigh and wanted to scream when he saw the knife that had been strapped there just a few minutes ago now in the monster’s hand! The fury that Theo had felt just this morning as they went through the mission in that damn briefing room filled him.

He had never wanted this!

He had never asked for it!

All he had ever wanted was to stay at home and live his comfortable, safe life. He dashed what might have been an angry tear from his face and straightened up. His legs were suddenly shaky, and he had to grit his teeth to keep himself in one place.

“If you’re going to eat me, just get it over with!” he demanded. “But do it quick. Don’t eat me alive.”

The monster did that head tilt thing again. He looked down at his wrist where he wore something that looked suspiciously like a Garmin. He pressed something on it then nodded.

“Desist in your efforts for freedom.”

Theo’s jaw dropped.

Dropped.

He felt quite faint all of a sudden. “What…”

“You are not strong enough to free yourself so cease,” the monster said with a strange sort of rumbling noise. “You will only cause yourself harm.”

How was this possible? Was Theo in fact unconscious somewhere? Knocked out perhaps in that first battle with the munching monsters? Julia somewhere above him, trying to wake him up, not realising that he was trapped in the weirdest of dreams…

“This isn’t possible…” he whispered at the same time that the monster gestured to him.

“Come away from the forest. There are creatures in there that will come out at night to consume you and even I cannot stop them all.”

“You’re speaking English,” Theo whispered even as the monster reached out and grabbed him again. Theo was too shocked to resist.

“Your language,” the monster said.

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