The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 23, A vast, eerie cold

We made our way through the doorway and up the stairs. I'd imagined this moment, dreamed it even, but never once did my imagination conjure this.

We walked beneath an ocean.

The only comparison I had was an ancient picture book I'd stolen, where a slave became a prince and then led his people into a red sea, where it parted before him. Impossibly thin glass held what looked like an entire ocean at bay.

It was unspeakably beautiful... and terrifying. Had the group not pulled me forward I would have sunk to the floor and stared for hours.

Green tendril-like plants wavered at the bottom of the tank and above it, moving in flitting silver groups, were creatures I knew to be called fish... yet had never once imagined the strange colors and variety. Or the way they almost seemed to dance, their movements so coordinated I wondered if somehow they'd shared one mind.

Our group paced forward in silence, beneath wavering eerie blue shadows that rippled across the dark floors. The shuffling of our footsteps and clink of the chain dulled beneath a vast deep rumbling sound, as if the blood of some giant rushed and swirled all around us. Even if it was everything the Belly wasn't— soft, eerie cold to the Belly's heat—there was something similarly terrifying in its immensity.

As we walked, emotion caught in my throat at the impossibility of it. Schools of fish glinted and flashed, long flat creatures with tails tipped in barbs glided gracefully over green, almost hair-like plants swaying on the bottom of the tank. Not once, in all our dreams of the Beast had Xyla and I ever imagined this. My neck strained in an effort to see everything as the line tugged me down the glass tunnel. A massive form surged out of the darkness, towards us, and I nearly flattened to the ground— it was the size of an Incinerator!

The form disappeared back into the depths of the tank and Skull laughed at my reaction. "It's called a whale."

"What the hell is a whale?" I didn't mean to say it aloud. A few men in the line laughed. I didn't care; I couldn't take my eyes off the underwater world.

"Level S produces fish and marine wildlife," Skull waved a lazy hand at the tank, as if the whole thing bored him.

I couldn't find words. Even the twisting pain that Yaneli would never get to see this was muted beneath the vast, unending blue.

Our group continued our silent march forward. The glass tunnel beneath the tank was so large that a line of guards walked comfortably on either side of our group. Yet we seemed tiny compared to the water beyond. When I finally gathered myself enough to tear my eyes away from the water, I realized no one else in the line seemed impressed by the tank. They're Puckers, afterall. Still, I didn't care if I was the only one gawking. This could be a view I died for.

The tunnel began to curve as we walked, so I could no longer see what lay ahead. They wouldn't take us straight to the Pucker Letter Trial, would they? Finally, a few men muttered in the line, and I followed their gazes up ahead to where the glass tunnel ended. Beyond the opening I could make out the dimensions of a large room... and the movements of a crowd.

I stiffened at the thought of another hateful crowd, but a single glance at the guards told me this crowd was different than the one we'd left. They walked with chests out, weapons displayed, chins up. Even the chained men seemed to walk straighter, prouder. They're excited. Why? Maybe it was wrong, but a tinge of excitement rose in me too. This was my first look at a group of Puckers who weren't criminals. Xyla would want to know if they really had tails.

A group of boys separated from the room with the crowd and ran down the glass tunnel to our slow-moving group. The prisoners and guards ignored them, as if too important to be bothered, but I stared at them with the same curiosity they watched me. One had hair so dark it was nearly blue-black, and another copper curls that reminded me of a rat's nest. Most amazing were their clothes, silky fabrics draped over them in shades of blue, green and even violet. No tails though. They pointed at me, talking and whispering to each other.

"She calls herself Z," Skull called out to them.

"Did she really get an Alpha kill?" One of the boys responded, clearly impressed by his own daring.

"Yes. Better watch out, in the Belly they eat boys for breakfast." Skull feinted sideways, and the boys yelped and scattered, racing back to the crowd.

"Don't encourage them," I said, frowning. We aren't animals on display... or are we?

"Why not? You never know when it helps to have others love you—or fear you. Besides, they've never seen someone from the Belly."

"Well here's a free lesson: we don't eat boys for breakfast." I faced forward and muttered, "Men are much more filling."

Skull's booming laugh rang out beneath the glass walls as we neared the crowd. I didn't want to leave the glass tunnel so soon, my feet dragging, but then a noise came from before that I couldn't comprehend... it sounded like... but it couldn't be...

(What do you think she hears? Let me know!!

Were any of you expecting the ocean? I want the Beast to feel fantastically huge, and I love imagining how this would look. One of my favorite things about scifi is you can build huge and impossible worlds, and we each get to imagine them how we want in our heads. 

Once again, thank you so much for reading! Come back next week for the next update!

Best, Hannah)