“Where is our dear Monster King?” the female Jotnar asked the crowd, her voice shaking the ground beneath Seda’s bare feet.
The burly Rozzer, who had whipped Elco the night before, walked forward into the middle of the courtyard and looked up at the female.“His Highness is not here today, High Gravemara.” He bowed low before her.
High Gravemara looked down at him, like he was a small ant that she hadn’t yet decided if she wanted to squish. “How unfortunate. Do you have the collection for us, Captain?”
“It shall be ready soon. Why don’t you make yourselves comfortable, and we will have a cookout for you to snack on while you wait.” He waved his hands to a few Rozzers, and they stepped forward, grabbing men at random. They ran their swords across the throats of all of them quickly, dropping them into the sand.
Everyone in the crowd collectively gasped. Seda’s eyes widened, and her heart rate spiked as she watched the men’s bodies crumple on the ground.
She heard panting and looked to her left, seeing a young man, about twenty or so, who was urinating in his pants. She quickly looked back at the Jotnar, unable to keep her attention on anything else.
High Gravemara stood tall and proud, with her thick knees, bowed legs, and her plump rolls spilling over her shorts. Her snot was brightly colored as it slid down her nose toward her wide, crooked smile, overlined with blood as lipstick. Her long, thick, wet tongue came out and licked at the discharge, causing Seda to hold back a gag, her mouth watering with disgust.
She couldn’t make herself look away, despite wanting to.
High Gravemara looked at the crowd of humans and licked her lips, smudging her lipstick and smiling brightly, revealing her rotten, crooked teeth.
“Oh, why isn’t he here today? I thought he loved to visit us when we came to collect,” she whined sweetly at the Captain.
“He had business to take care of,” he said, directing the dead bodies onto a large barbecue pit as the smoke stung Seda’s eyes.
Seda wasn’t sure how she felt. Was it fear? Disgust? Hatred? These monsters made her and thousands more of Joro citizens’ lives hell. Seda lived her life in fear over these… Gross beings before her.
As the slain people cooked over the fire, with the choking smell of burning clothing and hair, the rest of the Camp inmates were expected to stand still and not move. A few Rozzers and serpents slashed their whips at the people who moved around too much. Seda’s legs cramped, but she remained upright and still, watching the sun slowly move across the sky.
The young man, who previously urinated in his pants, grew increasingly fidgety alongside her. “Th-They are going to eat us next,”he shouted, and the other prisoners looked at him. “We have to run. We have to escape!”
Without delay, he ran toward the guarded, narrow exit past the barbecue.
The unarmored male Jotnar laughed loudly like a small child with a long string of drool dripping from his lips. He swiped his hand through the air and grabbed the young man running for his escape. His screams quickly silenced as the Jotnar bit off his head and began to chew loudly.
“Mogthud! Quit playing with your food, son!” High Gravemara yelled at him, the ground shaking with her anger. “How many times have I told you thatroyaltynever eats them raw!”
Mogthud pouted, peering at the remains of the small man in his palm. “Bring the rest of him over here. We will cook this one special for you, since you caught him like a big boy,” she called to him. He walked the remainder of the man over to the barbecue and threw his body onto the fire.
Mogthud watched with an excited grin.
Her eyes were wide with horror, but Seda remained frozen in place, even though she really had to go to the bathroom. The pressure was hurting from holding it. What was stopping her from just going down her bare legs the same as that man? He likely wasn’t the only one who had.
She decided against it, unsure when she’d get another chance to shower.
The Jotnars poked into the bodies with large sticks, pulling them off the flames. They munched on stomachs first, slurping through intestines as Rozzers lined up mobile cells near the exit.
“Captain, how many have you allotted for us today?” High Gravemara asked as she nibbled on a foot and picked her teeth with a stick, flicking out something that had gotten stuck between them.
“The Monster King has allotted one hundred for you today,” replied the Captain.
High Gravemara set down her toothpick and looked at him with furrowed, heavy eyebrows. “And what of the other hundred due soon? My people will starve if we do not have enough to eat. It’s been difficult for them to hunt with less and less allowed outside of the dome.”
“He is aware and wishes for the dome to fall soon.”
“We have adeal, Captain. Please remind him of this the next time you see him. Or our deal expires soon.”
The Captain nodded and turned to look at everyone watching the Jotnars eat. “All males line up to my left! I need a count of how many there are of you.”
The hesitant men lined up, and the Captain counted them. He looked over to High Gravemara and said, “We’re short ten. We will allow you to choose from the women who are not pregnant.”
What the hell?
