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The solution to both was the same. I had to leave this place. Once I got back, I could have Tash chain me to my fucking bed to prevent me getting out again until I found some other solution to whatever the fuck was wrong with me.

My stomach growled. My mouth was dry. If this thing was really determined to keep me here, then I was going to starve to death before it could eat me.

I paced. I didn’t even have a weapon anymore. How would I be able to fight my way out of here?

No fighting. The beast within thrashed in rage, and nausea caused me to stumble again.

Shut up.

No.

Yes.

It was so cold in here, the scraps that remained of my shirt not nearly enough to keep me from shivering.

I have to leave.

Stay.

I groaned, and marched back over to the window to look at the thing outside for the hundredth time. Though this time, I couldn’t see it. I moved to another gap in the wall, and couldn’t see it from there either.

Stay, the beast warned.

No.

This might have been my only chance, so I took it, creeping silently out the front door and down the path before breaking into a full sprint.

Stay. Stay. Stay. Stay. Stay.

Bile rose up the back of my throat, but I kept going.

I knew the exact moment it had found me. The weight of its gaze was heavy and warm, but it still sent a chill down my spine.

It growled.

I ran faster.

It followed.

A long tail wrapped around my waist, and then my feet were lifted from the ground as it picked me up.

“Put me down!” I demanded, but unlike in the house, this time it didn’t listen.

Rather, it threw me over its wide shoulders and started marching back toward the house.

I kicked and hit its muscular back.

Don’t hurt him.

“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want.” I screamed.

Neither beast listened to me.

My resistance was futile. My strength only drained with every hit landed, until my nose bled again and I realized I wasn’t getting away.

He put me down on the front porch, then darted as if excited to the other thing that definitely hadn’t been there when I left. The bleeding carcass of a deer.

Was it trying to feed me?