Stumbling Skyward

"Hehe. Sorry. You just looked too tasty." said Serena. "Oh, which you were, by the way. Yummy, yummy. No reason we can't be civil to each other. Plus, it would be nice if I had your name so I could say thank you for being so nutritious." Ever since her experience with Angela and the Angel, Serena had gotten some odd views on predator prey relationships. She knew there was a heaven, so why worry about being eaten?

"I don't feel like talking to something that just ate me" The neko said, while moving around inside Serena's stomach, trying to at least get into a more comfortable position.

"Serena you really should finish talking with the food before you eat it" Verira said, in a motherly way.

"If you're just gonna eat someone anyway...Why talk to them in the first place?" The neko growled.

"Why not?" said Serena. "Might as well while you're here. And well, I'll try to talk to them before next time. I guess they're all still weird about being eaten and all. It's not that bad - talking to the Angels afterwards must be cool and all." She happily held her bulging stomach.

"You gonna eat the rest of them?" Said Serena. "I guess I'll miss Mr. Bonehead - he was pretty hilarious to have around."

"Because i'm going to die in here and that's YOUR fault" The neko growled.

Verira looked at all the terrified humans she trapped. "No, i think i'm gonna eat some of them and save some for later" She said with a smile.

Serena laughed at the neko's funny comments. "My fault? What, do you expect me to start eating vegetables? Go around stalking and hunting carrots? I'd starve without a big juicy meal like you. And if you've been good, why are you so afraid of being digested? I can make it not hurt if you're really freaking about that."

She sat back to watch Verira have her meal, watching the terrified humans with interest.

Most people in the caravan were terrified. Some tried to remain unnoticed so that they could escape or bargain later. It was loud annoying ones like Drake who got eaten first. Katie didn't work like that. She had on shorts and a tank top and was armed. Blowing her black hair aside she ran forward to Verira and unloaded her pistol on the naga. To her surprise, there was no effect. She gulped, trying to think of another way to kill this thing.

Verira's only reaction to the shots, was a little itch. She scratched it and reached down, gently picking up Katie in her palm. "I must say, i respect your courage but all you did was make it itch a little bit. Tell you what, i'll save you for later, then we'll see if you have something to offer in return for not eating you" Verira just remembered, that she had forgot to ask the caravan, if they had a good chef with them. "hey humans do any of you know how to make a good meal...around the same size as a human or two?" She asked the remaining humans.

Katie ignored Verira's warning, screaming and biting the finger closest to her, hard. She panicked and flailed.

"Let me go you stupid bitch!" she screamed in frustration, fear and anger.

Serena looked disapprovingly at the girls actions.

"Yeah." she said. "Come on, do you have a chef she said!"

Verira bowed down a little. "I actually prefer cooked food over humans and such. So if you can give me a good cooked meal, i'll let you go...well not the ones i already ate, they should be dead by now" She said with a smile.

The humans scurried to fulfill the naga's wishes, despite having not quite enough food to go round. They managed to cook up a pile of cooked bacon, patatoes and whatever else they had, easily as big as a person.

"You're just feeding her?!" shouted Katie, still not done with trying to kill Verira. "You cowards! She doesn't have the right to eat us or our food!" She grinned wickedly. She'd dropped her gun, but whipped out her knife, stabbing downwards as hard as she could.

"Ow" Verira said, as the knife drove into her skin. It felt like she got a splinter in her hand. "What is wrong with you? I'm offering you a chance to escape and then you stab my hand" She scowled at the Katie and grabed her tightly, making sure she couldn't move.

"You're just a dumb animal!" shrieked Katie. "I don't have to and shouldn't listen to anything you say. Let go of me right now! " She restorted at last to struggling while biting Verira's finger whenever she had the chance. Her legs kicked wildly in her anger and panic.

Verira was shocked, over the comment of her being a dumb animal. "D-Dumb? Animal?" She then took Katie up to her face and gave her a VERY evil glare. "just who the hell do you think you are? i am NOT a dumb animal and you better quiet down, or you WILL regret it"

"If you weren't a dumb animal you wouldn't go around eating people!" shouted Katie back at her. "You're just a big monster! Now let, me go!" she said, panicking just as much as she was angry, scratching at the inside of Verira's hand.

Verira was just about to squeeze Katie, for calling her a dumb animal for the second time, when she called her a monster. "M-Monster? You insolent little..." She became quiet, staring into the air with an empty look in her eyes.

Serena instantly noticed something was wrong. She was looking right at Verira, but the naga was not looking back. She took Angellla, covered her mouth and dove into a ditch. She laid very still. She didn't know what was happening, but it was probably very bad.

Just then, a loud sound came from inside Verira. It was the the sound of a heartbeat...but much, MUCH louder than normal. The sound came again and the veins in Verira's body became clear as day. Again the sound and now Verira's muscles grew bigger, Much bigger.

Katie screamed as Verira's grip grew tighter. Then she dropped to the ground, landing in the soft mud. She swore as she tried to get up, the mud darkening her already tanned skin. Everyone was scrambling to run as the naga furied and hungered for food. Katie's friend Lise ran up, worry in her blue eyes and her brown hair waving. She yanked her out of the mud.

"Come on! We have to get out of here!" They started to run, but tripped over the supplies the others had ditched in their panicke scatter. Lise screamed and pressed her back against the caravan, her skirt torn, while Katie decided to ditch her friend, getting up, running and falling again, kicking off her shoes on the ground as they tangled, trying to get going faster.

Serna didn't dare breathe. The look in Verira's eyes was rage - but also a cruel hunger. She could see her grabbing and swallowing her - and even taunting her as she did - she was totally lost now.

A man had picked up a rifle and was aiming right for Verira's face. He took in a deep breath to yell at Verira. "die" Verira's ears moved. "you son" She raised her arm. "of a bit" The man got cut off by a giant fist, bashing him into the ground, spraying blood and dirt, in every direction.

More men moved forwards. Now that the naga was out of control, they had no choice but to kill her. They hoped she would be less cunning in this state. Lise and Kate hid under a pile of luggage. If the men lost or ran away, they were lunch.

Most of the shots had little effect. One man tried his rocket launcher, but it left only a small burn and seemed to anger the naga even more.

Verira smashed the men one by one, as they fired their weapons or yelled at her. Some were bashed into the ground, others were slapped and tossed high into the air.

After more of this, soon there was nothing left to smash. Everyone was either dead or gone, except for Katie and Lise who cowered hidden. Serena peeked, still keeping quiet. Verira seemed a bit calmer now that she'd smashed everyone... but better to wait a bit.

Verira was standing completely still, the only two thing moving, were her muscles expanding and contracting and her ears wiggling, trying to hear something.

From what she'd seen, Serena guessed that Verira was going after noises, less than eyesite. Hopefully, with enough silence, she would calm down without provocation.

Once again the massive heartbeat sounded and Verira started slowly returning to normal. Her veins and muscles became smaller and her emotions started showing in her eyes again. She looked around at all the blood and human limbs all over the ground. Tears started forming in Verira's eyes and after a few seconds the tears started flowing in streams down her cheeks and she began weeping.

Serena slowly crawled out and gently touched Verira.

"It's okay." she said. "It wasn't your fault. And anyways, you only attacked the ones that tried to shoot you. Most of them ran away, I saw them."