Rare

“Oh, come back! Please come back, little guy! I’m not gonna hurt you! I just wanna be your friend!”

The bunny’s voice, plagued by exhaustion, held still to it a most palpable and endearing character; and though his body was, of course, rather big and plump – even compared to most of those of his age, and especially compared to the little butterfly he was chasing – he was nevertheless, in truth, a very gentle creature, and he honestly and truly meant what he’d said just then. The butterfly, however, didn’t seem to care, as it continued, against the bunny’s pleads, to fly away from him, deeper and deeper into the forest, the forest all the time seeming to become thicker and thicker, darker and darker, with every little inch further they traversed. Not once so far throughout this excursion had the bunny been unfortunate enough to lose sight of the butterfly, for although the insect’s movements were rather nonlinear, it couldn’t seem to move along any faster than the bunny could, and the bright yellow pigment on its wings made it stand out well in the dark. This offered not much of a reconciliation, though, for the bunny had been chasing the butterfly for quite some time now, and was, as before eluded to, beginning to feel quite tired, and he knew that if he didn’t catch up to the little thing soon, he’d be forced to give it up, and would probably never see it again. What a tragedy that would be!

“Please, listen to me!” the bunny asserted, gasping and panting tiredly. “You’re so beautiful! I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise! Please, let’s be friends!” But still the butterfly flew along, and so the bunny pursued – exhausted, to be sure, but determined just as well…

The butterfly, as I shall here begin to clarify to the reader, was not, in truth, anything unique among its kind; its wings were yellow, not golden, they did not shine, and they held to them no extraordinary markings. The butterfly was definitely still beautiful, there was no doubt, and quite elegant too, but to any mature, level-headed creature, it wasn’t necessarily anything all that special – certainly nothing worth chasing after. To the bunny, however – a mere, naïve child; one having, naturally, an adventurous and curious nature, far surpassing those of even all of his other siblings; and having been forced by his somewhat coddling mother to remain at or at least very near the nest up to this point in his life – the butterfly was wholly remarkable, and so he chased after it – passionately and determinedly…

This was actually the first day the bunny’s mother had, admittedly quite reluctantly, and after several days of preparation, encouraged him and his siblings to venture out totally on their own, to explore a little, and grab some food and whatnot, to help encourage them to gain more independence from her; though of course they were not to go too far, and were to come back relatively quickly. Most of his other siblings had been hesitant to leave, but not him. He’d been dreaming of this day since the day he was born, and soon after his mother gave unto him and his siblings her decree, he’d boldly and excitedly gone out (the others following soon thereafter, some going in pairs, and some going alone, but all, ultimately, spreading out and going in different directions), with a smile on his face, and having promised his mother that he’d be back safely and with a full belly; and, indeed, though his foraging had, in the end, turned out to be most successful, his belly, by this point, appreciably stuffed with of all sorts of goodies (most notably berries – his favorite of foods), he’d obviously gotten a little sidetracked by the butterfly

here. He’d first caught glimpse of it just outside the some of the thicker, more ominous parts of the forest he’d unwittingly stumbled across, and as soon as he saw it fly in there, he’d stoutly jumped in after it, not caring… or, perhaps, not thinking of his own well-being, and the many warnings his mother had given him about the various predators that supposedly lurked within
those parts…

It was just so remarkable to him, this butterfly; and he believed, sincerely, albeit perhaps still naïvely, that, considering its remarkableness, and the fact that he had (somehow) not managed to come across it or any of its kind up until this point in his life, that it certainly had to be rare, and he wished, so, so dearly, to befriend it…

And so he continued to give chase, weaving in between trees, bushes, roots, and several other obstacles, always trailing behind the butterfly, but intent absolutely on meeting up with his buggy companion. For quite some time now, and, indeed, even upon the bunny first catching glimpse of it, he’d been pleading for the butterfly to stay still; but, as time had gone on, he’d begun to realize the regrettable futility in this endeavor, to the point to where now, he’d stopped speaking entirely, refocusing all of his energy, instead, to running. Even with this newfound resolve, however, catching up to the little insect was still appearing to be quite the chore, for
there didn’t seem to exist any discernible patterns in the butterfly’s movements, and its altitude, although never achieving a grossly exaggerated level, was likewise terribly inconstant. It was because of this that the bunny had, time and time again, failed in procuring the cute little butterfly, and though he never managed to lose much ground in spite of his attempts, the threat of exhaustion lingered still over his head, becoming ever more palpable the further they went on, to the point to where now, he could tell he was beginning to approach his limit…

“Hahhh… Hahhh… Gaaghhh…!!”

This was bad, the bunny thought. If he didn’t give it his absolute all, right now, he was gonna lose the butterfly for good. He couldn’t let that happen! He wouldn’t let that happen!!

And so… after briefly closing his eyes, and giving a quick yet firm nod, the bunny boldly summoned up all the remaining reserves of energy in his body and determinedly propelled himself forward. It worked well enough, and gradually, he found himself closing in on the butterfly’s form, him now just behind and below its abdomen, its wings flapping ever so beauteously in the air, the insect flying just above and beyond a part of a little shrub in the distance, at a height, rather conveniently at that moment, sufficient enough for the bunny to be able to be on the same level as it, if but briefly, with a good, strong jump…

This was it, he thought. It was now or never!

And so, after giving a quick, short huff, the bunny stoutly bended his knees and performed a great, mighty hop, and he soon found himself soaring through the air, almost in slow motion, it seemed, the vertical distance between him and the butterfly lessening likewise. For a few moments, the bunny’s expression turned to one of pure joy, as it seemed, almost certainly to him, that he was going to be able to catch his buggy companion after all! His expression quickly turned to shock, however, as the butterfly, seemingly becoming cognizant of the shortening

distance between them, swiftly and sharply darted off to the side! The bunny gasped, and he desperately reached out to grab it; and, indeed, though for just the briefest of moments he thought he could feel his paw just barely rubbing against the butterfly’s abdomen, it seemed to not have been with a sufficient enough force to bring it down with him, and thus the butterfly slipped out of his grasp, and continued to fly away…

The bunny… had failed once again…

“No!!” The bunny shrieked terrifically. “C-Come ba-…!!”

But before the bunny could manage to complete that thought, he suddenly became aware of a most precarious-looking sight before him, and he shrieked, his face twisting in abject horror. The shrub, you see, that which the butterfly had just flown over, and over which the bunny had just pursued, had been situated, unbeknownst to the bunny, at the edge of a terribly steep hill; and, unable to maneuver himself properly while still airborne, the bunny soon found himself colliding onto the hill and tumbling inexorably down it, kicking up innumerable tufts of grass, screaming and grunting as he slammed painfully into bushes, rocks, and whatnot all the way down. He continued tumbling in that fashion for a short while more, his entire world a constantly swirling vortex of the dark-greens, greys and browns of the encapsulating forest, before eventually he found himself rolling off a small cliff at the end of the slope, landing roughly on the firm, solid, flat ground below…

***

Thereafter, the bunny, for how long a time he could not say, found himself plagued by a most dreadful dizziness, disallowing him from forming coherent thoughts, and retarding his ability to comprehend his environment. This woeful state of his, of course, was certainly not eternal, but as soon as it did indeed end, things didn’t get much better, as with the dizziness gone he suddenly found himself overcome by intense pain, the injuries he’d just sustained from the tumble then becoming painfully – painfully – evident…

“Oww…” the bunny moaned despairingly, grimacing. Even the slightest movement he made brought forth to him distress, and while it didn’t seem like he’d broken any bones, thankfully, he could still see, as he looked at his paws, that he’d sustained a few nasty lacerations, and it seemed fair to assume that he had some internal bleeding going on as well. “That… th-that… oh, that really, really hurt…”

Not two seconds after saying that, the bunny found that he couldn’t hold himself back any longer, and he suddenly broke down into a fit of sobs, tears steadily flowing down his cheeks, as he slowly lowered his nose to the ground, sniffling and whimpering all the while. Never in his life had he felt such intense pain before… and he wished, so, so dearly, for it to just go away, in any way possible! His wish, however, though fervently entailed, refused to come to fruition, and after some time more he winced, then understanding, miserably, that it wasn’t just going to magically go away; and, worse still, that he hadn’t neither the supplies nor the ability to heal his wounds. Thus hopeless in this department, he gradually sought, instead, to heal, through meditation, his mind (which by now had become a very maelstrom of unsettling and terrifying

thoughts)… but, only seconds into this endeavor, the thought of the butterfly, rather annoyingly, couldn’t help but pop at out him… and he groaned.

Compared to the injuries he’d just sustained, of course, the butterfly didn’t seem all that consequential anymore… but still, admittedly, he couldn’t just bring himself to remain in the dark about it; and so, the bunny slowly lifted up his head, and despairingly began to look around for it, simultaneously examining the newfound area in which he found himself…

By happenstance (as it had happened from the motion of the fall), the bunny had landed belly-side down, and his gaze faced naturally forward, away from the cliff, so he thankfully didn’t have to exert extraneous effort to examine efficiently. The first thing that caught his attention about the area was its spaciousness. Up until now, the forest had been so heavy that, at times, it had been downright difficult to maneuver in, but this area was actually quite clear of the thick vegetation, similar to what one might find on a plain; and thus, the sun’s rays were able to penetrate through quite well, bathing the area in a most brilliant, radiant light. Of course, the plain was not illimitable, and the forest still continued beyond it, in fact encapsulating the area,
in a shape vaguely trapezoidal (the cliff acting as the longer of the trapezoid’s bases). It was quite a dramatic shift in environments, the bunny thought: the bright, happy, warm glow of the sun contrasting the dark, heavy, and, as he was beginning to realize then, ominous-looking forest that encapsulated him…

This, he briefly seemed to become more preoccupied with than the searching for the butterfly, and, indeed, considering his situation, he wasn’t all too sure if he even cared that much about the insect anymore, especially since he was already fairly confident that it was gone anyway. Regardless, though, he still proceeded to give a quick look-around for it; and, sure enough, after weakly examining across, from his left, to his right, and slightly to his zenith, he found that he was correct: the butterfly was gone.

“Tch!...” he clicked his tongue in annoyance, re-burying his nose into the ground, crying all the while, the intensity with which increasing with every second that went by, as gradually, and without the thought of the butterfly to distract him anymore, the horrible, terrifying realization dawned upon him at last: that not only had he lost the butterfly… but that he had just traversed, ignorantly and stupidly, quite deep into the woods… hadn’t the foggiest idea how to get back home… and hadn’t even the physical capability to do so…

“O-Oh no…” he whimpered somberly, burying his face even further into the ground, as if to shield himself from the horrible reality he now faced. Truthfully, he didn’t even care about the butterfly anymore. All he cared about now was his survival, and he wanted nothing more than to make it back home, safe and sound…

But… oh, how was he supposed to do that now?! How was he supposed to get back home?! His body… it was far too damaged! And he didn’t know where to go! Even if his injuries did somehow, magically get healed, he would still have to navigate back, which would be nigh impossible considering the nonlinearity with which he had trekked out here. Of course, over the cliff and the hill seemed like the obvious general direction, but even if he got over that… what then? Left? Right? Straight? For all he knew, maybe his home wasn’t even over the hill at all;

maybe he and the butterfly had merely run around part of the plain and over the hill to begin with. If he couldn’t manage to find his way back, then… oh, god, was he… was he never going to see his home again? His siblings? His mother? Was he…

“…!!”

Mother…

Admittedly, as adventurous as the little bunny here was, he was still nevertheless fairly loving toward his family, his mother especially, and he genuinely felt bad whenever he made her upset. He cringed, knowing how horridly she’d squeal if she saw his perturbed form right now. But at least in that scenario, she would still be permitted to see him again at all. Worse, however, would be the scenario of his disappearance, in which she would never even get the chance! In
that case… oh… oh, god…!!

“O-Oh no! Ohh… h-how am I gonna get outta here? H-How am I gonna get back home?
Wh… wh-what am I gonna…?”

……??

The bunny’s voice here slowly seemed to trail off, and he abruptly became dead silent, as he suddenly became enveloped in this strange, unnatural sort of… sensation. It was difficult to explain, but something just… didn’t feel right. Perhaps the best way to explain it was that… for quite some time now, although admittedly exhausted and injured, the bunny had still, ultimately, felt free and light; but now, there seemed to exist this unnatural sort of… weight looming about him: ghastly, and smothering…

“Hahh… Hahh… Hahh…!!”

And the bunny’s breaths naturally became shaky and panicked, and his eyes bulged out in horror, as he suddenly came, at last, to the dreadful thought:

Was… he being watched?

The possibility terrified him tremendously, as instantaneously all the stories his mother had told him about the supposed predators that lurked within these parts of the forest came rushing back to him full force;… and so, nervously, the bunny scanned the area once again in search of these predators, starting from his left and ending at his right, and then going, once
again, to his zenith… but, to his surprise, he didn’t see anything. No predators, as far as he could tell, avian or otherwise, and this was good… but still, this overpowering weight refused to lay off him, and his breaths only became ever more panicked. Something wasn’t right. Something was very, very wrong. Why wouldn’t the weight lift off him?! And… oh, god, what… what was this smell? It was horrible! So dirty, foul… unclean. And this draft at his feet… what was-

*Gasp!*

And it was here, at last, where the bunny’s mind conjured up an… unspeakably horrible thought…

All this time, of course, as he was examining, he’d only bothered to look to his left, to his right, and above, but he’d never really thought to look… behind. There never really seemed to be any reason to. There was a cliff there, after all. What purpose could there possibly be in examining the face of a cliff?!

…But this weight, this smell, this draft at his feet… all these things seemed to suggest that there was, somehow, something of interest behind him, and, indeed, there was. The truth of the matter was that, just behind the little bunny, hollowed into the face of the cliff, there existed a quaint, little alcove, within which had lurked a terribly ravenous creature, once curled up and asleep at the extent of the structure, but having since been awakened by the bunny’s cacophonous fall; and had, throughout most of the bunny’s despondent mewlings here, been inexorably yet silently making its way toward him. Closer, closer, ever closer… until just now, it stood just behind, tauntingly breathing its hot, foul breath over the bunny’s feet…

*Grrmble…*

Suddenly, the bunny could begin to make out a low, steady-sounding grumbling emanating from behind as well – the creature’s belly, he presumed – and his eyes went wide in an absolute terror, his shivers intensifying just as dramatically. The creature seemed to chuckle a little bit, then, apparently quite amused at the little bunny’s quivers, pelting the bunny’s little legs in even more of its foul breath; and in that moment, the bunny desperately attempted to stand himself up to run away… but it was too late. The next moment-

*WHAM!!!*

An extraordinarily heavy paw slammed mightily upon him, causing him to sputter and thrash violently. Just at the same time, a deep, throaty chuckle boomed from above, as the creature soon thereafter delivered unto the bunny a most sinister series of words, taunting in their utterance, the creature’s voice discernibly masculine, deep, intimidating, and sly:

“My, my! What do we have here? A little bunny that’s lost his way home?” The beast loudly licked his lips, and the bunny shuddered. “Well, that’s certainly unfortunate for you, little one… but very, very fortunate for me… hm hm hmmm!!”

The bunny was just about to reciprocate, but before he could even manage to get a squeak out, the creature suddenly shifted to the side a little and mightily tossed the bunny backwards, into the alcove, the bunny yelping upon slamming against the cold, hard rock near the extent of the structure. Briefly, then, the bunny underwent yet another period of dizziness; but, just like before, he came to recover – much faster this time – at which point he nervously looked up and stared beyond the mouth of the alcove, desiring, morbidly, to see the creature that had so captured him…

And he whimpered.

***

There, standing tall and proud beyond the gloom of the alcove’s chambers, stood a large, furry, quadrupedal canine. Its fur was grey, and its eyes were big and bright, and lain with a deep, crisp yellow color; and its ears were triangular, perked stoutly up; and beyond all this the bunny could still see, under the creature’s great, furry belly, a long, lightly swishing tail, its length so great that, in its natural state, it could nearly touch the ground. Most terrifying, however, was the creature’s muzzle, across which was spread a bright, sinister, toothy smile, all of the creature’s teeth scarily big and sharp: shining, and dripping with saliva…

Instinctively, the bunny couldn’t help but cower even deeper into the alcove, the creature chuckling heinously as it began to steadily, teasingly saunter his way over to him. Although the bunny had never seen this creature in the flesh and blood before, he had a feeling he knew what it was. His mother had described to him all sorts of predators before, you see: foxes, lynxes… But this one… oh, this one outshined all of them. It was perhaps one of the most terrifying and notorious creatures of any forest!

“It…” the bunny whispered under his breath. “It’s a… I-It’s a…!”

“Hm hm hmmm…” the creature chuckled, his body now fully into the alcove, mere feet away from the cowering bunny. “You’re so precious, little one. Oh, this is going to be fun…”

The bunny winced… and then he spoke, loud enough for the creature to hear: “A… Are you a… w… w-w-wo… w-w-”
“Wolf, little one?” the creature interrupted, flashing a handsomely devious smile to the bunny, tilting his head to the side as if to strike a pose. “Why, yes I am! You might even say… heh, a rather bad one, as well! Hm hm hmmm!!”

The bunny cringed, not liking the sound of that one bit. He attempted to speak again, but he only managed to get out a couple pathetic-sounding stutters before, once more…

*Grrmble…*

Another deep, gross, wet-sounding grumble emanated out of the wolf’s belly; and, just at the same time, the bunny saw, and heard, the wolf loudly and slimily lick over his lips, the canine humming an evil-sounding chuckle all the while. The wolf looked like he was just going to say something else, but before he could do so, the bunny, seeing where all this was going, despairingly, yet impulsively, interrupted him:

“N-No… No!! P-Please, Mr. Wolf, p-please don’t eat me! Please!!”

The wolf, although admittedly caught off guard by the bunny’s abruptness there, was entertained all the same, and he couldn’t help but utter yet another devious chuckle, his eyes glowing with remarkable intensity.

“Heh, perceptive, aren’t you?” the wolf said, then pausing in his walk over and slowly lowering himself into a pouncing position, smiling at seeing the bunny’s incurred, pained quivering. “Oh, this really is going to be fun…”

With that, the wolf then swiftly and mightily pounced upon the bunny, pinning the poor thing to the ground with both of his paws resting atop one another, yet still allowing the bunny’s head and part of his breast to poke out (the bunny now positioned belly-side up, the wolf likewise then resting belly-side down). The bunny yelped horrifically, squirming fervently, despairingly… yet, ultimately, still fruitlessly…

“Hm hm hm hmmm…” the wolf chuckled, staring gleefully at the bunny, sloppily licking his lips yet again, the wolf allowing several strings of his fetid, stinking saliva to drip down from his lips, onto the cold, hard ground below. “Well, that’s the thing, little one. You see… sagacious as I am, I was regrettably unable to secure a nice, fat, juicy catch on my hunt last night…” The bunny gasped, and whimpered somberly. “I even stayed up for some hours extra, past the sunrise! But, alas, my efforts were in vain, and I was forced to go to sleep hungry, leaving my poor, poor stomach without anything to fill it with…” As if on cue, the wolf’s belly grumbled once more, the bunny thereafter beginning to whine vehemently.

*Grrmble…*

“Hm hm hmm…” the wolf chuckled before briefly closing his eyes, slowly and wetly squelching his jaws open a bit, letting out a good, long sigh, bathing the bunny’s quivering body in his warm, foul breath, before lowering his head down to the bunny, lolling out his tongue, and delivering unto the bunny’s despondent face a long, sloppy lick, smothering it all in a thick layer putrid, gooey wolf slobber. Once the lick was complete, the wolf reared his head back and noisily smacked his lips, the wolf apparently quite pleased with the bunny’s taste. “And then, like a miracle, you come along, a small, lonely, tasty little bunny… and you expect me to just let you go? To pass up, and on an empty stomach, a most scrumptious, delectable little morsel such as yourself? Heh heh heh…” The wolf delicately closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, his smile turning rather smug. “Not gonna happen, little one. You’re mine now… and, yes, whether you like it or not, I am absolutely going to eat you…”

At that, the bunny all of a sudden broke down into a fit of spastic, depressed sobs, as he became unholily inundated with a pure, unrelenting dread. Why, he thought – why did it all have to turn out like this?! This day was supposed to be the start of something grand, something beautiful! A chance to step out of his comfort zone, away from the nest, and to experience some the glories and wonders that life had to offer! At least, that was how he saw it…

But now… if the wolf was serious, then … then that meant that he was going to… to…!!

“Oh, but that’s not all, little one!” the wolf exclaimed, his smug smile then slowly proceeding to curl into a downright… satanic one. “There’s more…” The bunny winced, nervously looking up to his captor, confused somewhat as to what the wolf meant. The wolf, of course, was more than happy to elaborate, but in order to get the message across most effectively, and so as to get more comfortable in his positioning, the wolf suddenly yet delicately proceeded to roll over, laying the rear of his head and part of his back against a nearby, slightly vertical-curved wall, snatching up the bunny by the fat of his back, the bunny squealing in apparent pain, as the canine slowly then brought the poor thing before his sinister-looking muzzle…

“Haaahh…” the wolf sighed heavily, shifting around a little so as to maximize the comfort in his new positioning, indeed looking rather content and lazy by the end of it. “Yes, little one. I’ve got something very, very special in mind for you. You see, considering your
size… ripping you apart, feasting on your organs, chewing on and gulping down your limbs…
that’d all just be terribly cumbersome, dontcha think? Not to mention messy as well!” The bunny yelped and whimpered despondently, closing his eyes in an absolute terror, unbelievably scared at the wolf’s cruel words. “Hm hm hmm… oh, but we needn’t worry about all of that, little one. You see, I’m not just going to eat you…” The wolf brought his muzzle right against the bunny’s ears, whispering slowly, yet clearly:

“I’m going to swallow you whole…!”

……

At that, the bunny’s whimpers and whines came to an abrupt halt, and he slowly opened his eyes and looked on curiously at the cruel wolf, whose expression remained unwaveringly cruel.

“That’s right, little one. You heard me.” The wolf continued, smiling sinisterly as he then slowly brought the poor bunny over his great, furry belly, teasingly rubbing him across it as it grumbled longingly, the wolf’s tongue flopping out slightly with drops of saliva dripping down onto his fur. “It certainly wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done it to a creature of your size, or even smaller. Squirrels, rats… all of them… oh, all of those glorious past meals… all of them ended up struggling away in that grumbly ol’ belly right there.” The wolf smooshed the bunny even deeper against his belly, and the bunny cringed despairingly. “How would you like to experience the same thing that they went through? A nice, warm, thorough lubrication, swallowed alive down my broad, slimy throat, and suffocating before being slowly churned and melted away in the broiling acids of my belly – till you’re nothing but pudge! Heh heh heh hehh! Oh, sounds like fun, eh?”

“…Y… Y-You…” the bunny began, tears now streaming heavily down his cheeks, all his whines and whimpers coming back full force. “Y-You’re a monster! Y-You can’t be serious! P-Please, Mr. Wolf, p-p-please, h-have mercy! I-I don’t wanna be pudge!” Shortly thereafter, the bunny entered a brief period of heavy sniffling and whining, during which time he found it impossible to form coherent words. Eventually, though, he managed to recover himself, at which point, he somehow found the strength to speak, albeit shakily and nervously, him slowly turning

his watering, pleading eyes to the unsympathetic face of the monstrous wolf. “P-Please, I… I- I’m begging you. I-I’m too young! Please, Mr. Wolf… p-please let me go!”

The wolf merely chuckled at that argument, before suddenly yet delicately proceeding to loll out his slimy, squishy tongue and slowly and roughly lap over his prey yet again, though now over the whole of his body rather than just his face, beginning at the bunny’s legs and ending at his face with a slight flick, the wolf smacking his lips noisily upon eventually reeling his tongue back in.

“Sorry, little one, but the only place I’m letting you go is into my belly! As for your being young, well… the fresher the meat, the better the flavor, I say! Oh, and you do taste so good, little one. Ohh, devouring you is going to be a most supreme delight…” The wolf then licked his lips again, his muzzle just mere inches from the quivering, unbelievably terrified form of the bunny, who then closed his eyes once more, in a pure and utter despair…

“Ah, but…” the wolf continued. “I am curious, I must admit. Bunnies don’t just fall out of the sky, y’know, so I have to wonder… how did you end up here anyway? A cute, tasty, lonely little bunny like you…” The wolf leaned his head back a little, giving the bunny a deceptively innocent-looking smile, genuinely curious as to the bunny’s story; and, indeed, though the bunny hesitated a little bit, somewhat caught off-guard by the wolf’s curiosity, he eventually managed to open his eyes, nervously look at the wolf’s face, and divulge: shakily, and trying his best to hold back the tears…

“I… I… umm… w-well, t-today was… m-my f-first day f-foraging on my own. I-I was looking for b-berries, b-but then I… I-I saw this small, l-little bug. It was really pretty; I-I’d never seen anything like it! It had big, yellow wings, and, it flew so nicely, and… it was just really, really beautiful.” He gulped. “But then it flew away, into a part of the forest I didn’t know as well, and I… I went in after it. I know it was stupid of me to do that, I know! But… it was just so beautiful, and I thought that… i-if I didn’t catch it, I’d never see it again. I’m pretty sure it was rare, and I… I just wanted to be its friend! So, I… I tried to catch it, but I-I just couldn’t, and then I fell over this hill and… and now I’m lost, and…”

The bunny’s explanation was cut slightly short, however, as the wolf then all of a sudden uttered a deep, low, braying laugh, a few tears running down his cheeks in utter hilarity. The bunny only cringed, shrinking into himself a little bit, not understanding the reason for the wolf’s sudden hysteria; but then, once the wolf managed to calm himself some, he attempted to explain:

“S-Sorry about that,” the wolf apologized, blinking a few tears away. “I just… wow! You’re truly something, little one. You’re telling me that you came all the way out here… just because you were trying to catch up with some puny butterfly?!”

The wolf then went into another, shorter fit of laughter, and the bunny frowned, his lips quivering spasmodically.

“Is… Is that what they’re called?” The bunny queried innocently. “B-Butterflies? W- Wait, how do you-”

“Feh!” the wolf spat, wholly amused by the bunny’s remarkable innocence. “I can’t believe this… this is just too much!” The wolf then took a few deep, heavy breaths, interlaced still with some sharp episodes of chuckles, attempting as best he could to calm himself. And then, once he managed to do so, he slowly turned his cold, yellow eyes to the bunny, smiling evilly as he gave unto him the dreadful news:

“Butterflies aren’t rare, little one. Like… at all.”

“…w… w-what??” the bunny gasped, his face twisting in genuine confusion. “But… But I’ve never-”

“Yeah, I’m not lying!” the wolf exclaimed, pompously. “I mean, they’re not extremely common either, I guess, but still… wow! It’s pretty amazing that you hadn’t spotted any of ‘em up to this point in your life, or, heck, even during your run through here! You must’ve really been pampered, I guess.” The wolf chuckled again, before giving a long, satisfying sigh. “But, hey, not that I’m complaining! ‘cause if things hadn’t turned out the way they did, you and I
might’ve never met, little one! Heh heh heh hehh!!” “…b… b-but…”
The bunny… couldn’t believe what he was hearing. These… butterflies… they weren’t even all that special? They weren’t rare? As in… had he waited long enough in life… he would’ve likely found another one at some point…? And could’ve, if he wanted to… maybe made friends with a different one…?

“No… N-No…”

The bunny’s face suddenly twisted into a tremendously depressed frown, and he groaned. Never in his life had he felt so utterly defeated, so utterly… stupid. If what the wolf just said was true, then that meant…

“S-So…” the bunny continued, sniffling, “I… I came all the way out here for… n-n- nothing…?”

“Why, no, of course not, little one!” the wolf responded excitedly, giving the bunny a quick little lick across his body again. “You came here to be my dinner!... heh, even if neither of us may have planned for it.” He chuckled heinously. “Oh, Fate has truly smiled upon me this day. Truly, if you’re being honest, then the chances of this happening the way it did is probably one in a million – a once in a lifetime event! Heh, butterflies might not be rare, little one, and bunnies certainly aren’t either… but bunnies like you – bunnies as innocent, as cute, as tasty as you… those are most definitely rare.” The wolf smirked cruelly. “Mmm…and with that in mind, little one…” The wolf brought his muzzle right before the bunny’s ears, and whispered. “I’m going to be sure to savor this meal for all it’s worth… heh heh heh hehh!”

“…”

*Grrmble…*

As if on cue yet again, a loud, starved-sounding grumble emanated out of the wolf’s belly; and at that moment the wolf smirked, looked to his belly, then back to the bunny, licking his lips slowly, loudly, and most, most excitedly…

“Well!” the wolf exclaimed. “Seems like my belly is just getting more and more impatient by the minute! Before sending you down there, though, let’s first get you all nice and lubricated, shall we?”

With that, the wolf swiftly proceeded to reposition his paw over to one of the bunny’s legs, securing his grip there before dangling him upside down, over his muzzle, the wolf chucking sinisterly before loudly squelching his jaws open, sighing breathing over him as he gently began to ease the poor thing in. And as the bunny helplessly stared down into the wolf’s maw, complete with a set of menacing, white, razor-sharp teeth, several strings of saliva connecting the jaws, an eagerly quivering, abhorrently slimy tongue, and an ominous, dark void of a throat that lied just beyond, he couldn’t help but think to himself… how simple it would have been, in hindsight, to have avoided this fate altogether…

And he cried.

***

In little time, almost the whole of the little bunny’s body, minus his legs, was encased within the putrid, dark foulness of the wolf’s maw, the canine gently clamping down with his teeth and using his tongue to smother the poor thing in his hot, sticky saliva, making grotesque, wet slurping and suckling sounds all the while. Almost instantly, upon lowering him into his maw, the wolf began to lovingly moan and hum, absolutely infatuated with the bunny’s taste, as the bunny grimaced and whimpered despairingly, feeling the muscle disgustingly lap, crawl and maneuver about his fur, and feeling the relentless, squelching motions of the suckling – pulling slightly him down, then back up, then back down, over and over again – the coinciding sounds of it all only adding on to the terror. Instinctively, and notwithstanding his newfound depression, the bunny soon began to squirm and punch in an effort to free himself; but, as evidenced by the wolf’s then incurred and more intense giggles and moans, it seemed to succeed in doing little more than providing a nice tongue massage for the canine. Even still, in his desperation, the bunny couldn’t help but squirm, frantically and fervently; and still wolf continued to slurp and to suckle, sloppily and noisily…

*Slluuurrp… Sklorrshh… Squelch…*

The lubrication was indeed most thorough; the wolf left not even a single section of the bunny free from his rancid, slobbery tongue. From the face to the belly, the tongue explored, messily pressing, prodding and squishing against him, constantly drenching the bunny in continuously regenerating pools of saliva. Occasionally, the wolf would even be so cruel as to curl his tongue, at least in part, about the bunny’s form, partially and crudely cocooning him in

the muscle as the tongue continued to quiver ever more excitedly, all the time sucking away the bunny’s flavor – and simultaneously his vitality – as the poor, poor thing fruitlessly, despairingly continued to squirm and sob, the saltiness in his tears only making the wolf moan even more…

*Slluuurrp… Sklorrshh… Squelch…*

It was all just… utterly abhorrent. Never in his life had the bunny felt so powerless, so helpless, so puny and weak. The bunny, of course, had never really thought of himself as anything incredibly either, but, truthfully, he began to realize then, he’d never really given much thought into anything at all – aside from adventure, of course. His life up to then had been extraordinarily simple and boring, filled with a seemingly unfulfillable longing, him, for the most part, merely being able to listen to and look around at the peaceful, beautiful environment surrounding the nest, wishing, so dearly, that he could one day explore, and see some of the other beauties that awaited him in the forest.

…but now… here he was. Being ruthlessly, teasingly suckled and drooly-lubricated in the maw of a wolf, soon to be swallowed down and digested in the beast’s stomach, to end up as mere pudge on the wolf’s belly! It was an unfathomably horrific fate; and as he continued to get slurped by that ever so slimy tongue, the muscle messily squishing against his face, curling and maneuvering about his breasts, all while being bathed with wave after wave of the wolf’s humid, foul, increasingly excited breaths, he found his want to go back home become as irresistible, ironically, as his will had once been to explore the wilderness to begin with…

And soon, the terrible realization at last burrowed its way into his mind: that, despite his efforts, he was, in truth, never going to make it back home. Never again would he be permitted to see his siblings, or his mother: to be, as he’d been when he was a baby, all snugly embraced in
his mother’s warm, loving fur, his siblings laying alongside him, as they all snoozed blissfully into a peaceful slumber…

*Slluuurrp… Sklorrshh… Squelch…*

*SLLLUUUUURRP!!*

And, indeed, he wouldn’t, for with that final slurp there, it became recognized to the wolf, and to his prey, that all of the bunny’s fur was now thoroughly drenched with drool, the bunny’s fur matted down relentlessly to his body – wet, slippery, and smooth.

The lubrication was complete…

Before glurking him down just yet, though, the wolf, not wanting to end things too abruptly, slowly pulled the poor bunny out of his maw, dangling him above his toothily smiling muzzle, giggling slightly at seeing the bunny’s then sputtering, terribly shaking, utterly horrified form, before blowing a hot, breathy sigh over his face.

“Haahhh, there we go!” the wolf boasted. “All nice, slick, and ready for the swallow!
Does my dinner have any final words, before his voice becomes hopelessly muffled by the many layers of flesh on my insides?”

Try as the bunny might to respond, however, he regrettably found it impossible to croak out anything more than weak stutters and whines, his lips quivering vehemently, trying his best to indicate to his captor that he didn’t want to be wolf food; didn’t want to be swallowed, didn’t want to take that final plunge down into the wolf’s belly. The wolf was pleasantly amused, and, in his elation, he couldn’t help but give unto the little bunny a quick little lick across the nose, a few small strings of saliva connecting briefly before the wolf pulled his tongue away.
“Well, if not… then I bid thee farewell, little one! Hee hee heee! Have a nice trip!!” And with that, the wolf slowly and messily squelched his jaws open – wide, wide open –
lazily flopping out his tongue, displaying the terrifying impressiveness of his maw in all its glory. Just as it had before, the tongue quivered, yet now even more excitedly; and there now appeared to exist even more strings of saliva than there were previously, several connecting not just the jaws, but the tongue and the gums; and his breaths were now discernibly, terrifically excited, bathing over the little bunny’s form with wave after wave of the fetid, humid miasma. And as the bunny stared down into the wolf’s maw, gradually beginning to feel more and more of the cool, crisp air of the beautiful outside world, now more potent than ever thanks to the newfound wetness on his fur, become ever more replaced with the slimy smelliness of the wolf’s
insides, he found his eyes widening grotesquely, his own breaths becoming ever more quickened, ever more panicked, as it well and truly then began to sink into his mind…

That he… was about to die…

“…!!”

And, at last, he found his voice:

“N… N-NOOO!!!” the bunny screamed bloodcurdlingly, squirming unbelievably frantically, tears literally streaming down his cheeks as he watched in horror the light from the outside world become ever more obscured by the overwhelming darkness of the wolf’s throat: approaching him, beckoning to him, eager to seal him away – forever…

“S-STOP, PLEASE!!! P-PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!!! PLMMMPHHHH!!!”

But as the bunny’s face then became smothered by the beginnings of the wolf’s throat, he found his voice, just as the wolf had foretold, become terribly and incomprehensibly muffled; and, soon after that…

*Glk!*

There came the first of many swallows, the wolf gently easing the bunny’s head and part his chest into his throat, a faint, little bulge appearing there likewise from the outside, as the

bunny continued to writhe and scream, with as much power as his little body could possibly muster…

“HMMMPPHH!!! MMMPHH!!!”

*Wriggle!* *Squirm!*

From there, mostly thanks to the lubrication, the process was able to go by remarkably smoothly. All the wolf really had to do was make tiny little gulps every now and then. Not only was the lubrication on his side, but as was gravity, the natural peristaltic motions of his esophagus, and, even though his prey didn’t realize it, the bunny’s own frantic little squirms and struggles, which truthfully did nothing but help ease him down even quicker, as well as provide a nice, internal massage for the canine. The squirms indeed felt most divine to the wolf, and he couldn’t help but rest his free paw over the bulge at his throat, teasingly rubbing across, encouraging the bunny to squirm even harder, which he of course couldn’t help but do…

*Glk!* *Glurp!* *Glorp!* “HMMMPPHH!!! MMMPHH!!!”
It was extremely slimy inside the wolf’s throat. Slimy… hot… tight… smelly… and pulsating all over. It was absolutely unbearable to the bunny, and he tried, so, so dearly, to wriggle his way back out, him only succeeding in dooming himself even more, feeling more and more of his body descend ever deeper into the wolf’s body. Deeper… deeper… and deeper. In little time, the bunny soon found his head, chest, and most of his belly being wetly smothered by the walls of the throat, at which point he felt the wolf at last release his grip on the bunny’s legs, the wolf then resting his newly freed paw to his belly, the canine anticipating, with glee, the bunny’s soon-to-be arrival down there. Feeling this newfound freedom at his legs, the bunny of course then began to kick; but time and time again he found himself merely kicking at the air, unable to attain a decent leverage to strike the wolf’s tongue (not that that would have made any difference anyway). The wolf’s smile only grew as the process went on, feeling that twitching, writhing bulge, that which had started small – acting merely as the bunny’s head – become bigger and bigger with more and more of the bunny’s delectable body. Truly, there was nothing quite like it: the feeling of live prey squelching down his throat, taking in their squirms, listening to their screams and pleads…

*Glk!* *Glurp!* *Glorp!*

But it was just merely the beginning; and, indeed, after several more small yet loving gulps, there remained only the bunny’s little feet sticking out of the wolf’s throat, twitching and squirming pitifully. The wolf smiled cruelly, trying his best to hold him there for just a few moments more, using the paw at his throat to lovingly caress the squirming bulges, giving the bunny just one last taste of freedom before, with an unnecessarily loud, wet, and powerful gulp…

*GLLRRRRK!!*

The bunny’s fate… was sealed for good…

***

And thus the bunny was brought, in his whole, slimily squelching down, down, down the wolf’s throat, the canine sighing pleasurably as he followed the absolutely terrified, writhing and screaming bulge with his paw, the satisfaction in the wolf building ever greater; until, at long last, with a particularly loud, gross-sounding squelch…

*SKKLORRCH!!*

The bunny wetly plopped right down into the stomach, bulging out the wolf’s belly considerably as the stomach gurgled happily to welcome him; and at that moment the wolf suddenly found himself endowed with an absolute bliss, having filled his belly with meat for the first time in what felt like forever: live, warm, and squirming…

“Ohhh…” the wolf moaned, his eyelids flickering and his lips quivering slightly in pure ecstasy. “Oh, that feel sooo gooood…” He grunted, closing his eyes briefly as he slowly and
methodically licked his lips, some of the bunny’s taste still lingering there, albeit faintly. Slowly, then, he reopened his eyes, repositioned his paw, that which he had used to follow the bunny’s descent, down by his side, and, using the paw already positioned over at his belly, gave the squirming bulges a good few, gentle rubs before patting at them a couple times, the wolf lolling out his tongue slightly as he uttered yet another satisfied-sounding sigh. “Haahhh… well, there you are, little one! All packed away inside my belly! Mmm… how do you like it in there?”

It was a rhetorical question, of course, for the wolf could already tell, based on the bunny’s then even more frantic, depressed sobs and struggles, that he wasn’t happy with it one bit. The wolf merely giggled, loudly and sloppily smacking his lips a couple times before boastfully continuing on with his banter.

“Aww…” the wolf cooed, rubbing his belly a little more deeply. “You sound so sad! I tell you what, though, you sure made me happy! I know I’ve said it before, but your taste was truly something else, little one, and just… you, as a prey, overall… you were truly something special. I’m definitely gonna remember you, I’m sure, for as long as I live… heh heh hehh!”

The wolf then lightly patted at his tummy a couple more times, the sounds reverberating, disgustingly, across the walls of the stomach, becoming terribly warped and wet by the time they reached the bunny’s ears…

*Pat… Pat… Pat…*

And inside the belly, the bunny squirmed. He screamed, he punched, he kicked, and he cried… because he was scared. So terribly, unbelievably scared. Inside the wolf’s belly was absolutely putrid – far, far worse than it had been for him in the throat. The stomach was practically smoldering, and it constantly and wetly gurgled and glorped around him, the walls all

smothering and pulsating violently, swishing disgusting, slimy stomach fluids all over his body, churning him, further and further cementing his role as mere wolf food. Nuanced, still, by all of this, however, was a delicate flowing of the wolf’s blood, the steady beating of his heart, the contracting and relaxing of his lungs, all of which further and further reminding the bunny of where exactly he was…

It was all just… too surreal… but before the bunny could manage to contemplate about it any further, the wolf suddenly found himself wincing slightly, the intense struggles the bunny had made evidently having built up a great lot of gas within the stomach, and, needing it to be released, the wolf slowly closed his eyes, opened his maw…

*BBUUUUAAAAAARRRRPPHHH!!!*

And released a long, wet, hot belch, the belly then beginning to rumble even more violently, forcing out most of the remaining supplies of air within the stomach, compressing the poor bunny into a mere ball, as a foul, stinking miasma rocketed out of the wolf’s maw. The bunny screamed as a natural reaction, and struggled just as well; but, in doing so, he quickly starved himself of his own oxygen, his strength following soon thereafter, and he suddenly found himself overcome by yet another intense episode of dizziness. An episode, he would soon learn, that he was never going to recover from…

And as he felt his consciousness slowly begin to ebb away from him, he couldn’t help but think to himself of the promise he’d made when he’d first embarked from the nest: that he’d return to his mother, content and safe. He cried to himself, realizing, miserably, that he wasn’t going to be able to keep his promise after all…

“m… m… m-mommy…” the bunny whimpered. “p-please… i… i’m s-so… sorry… p- please… f-forgive… m…”

But the bunny never managed to complete that thought, and soon his eyes closed for the last time, as he uttered a long, drawn-out, pained sounding groan: his final breath. The last things he was able to take in before he passed out were the slow, methodic sounds of the wolf’s belly, lulling him, twistedly, into a deep, deep slumber, the stomach walls blanketing him an obscene, slimy, pulsating warmth…

“Hm hm hm hmm…” the wolf chuckled, licking his lips again. “’scuse me, little one. That was a rather nasty-sounding belch, even for me!” The belly remained quiescent, and the wolf smiled, patting the silent bulge with his paw a couple times before winking and sticking out his tongue slightly. “Hey, but, see, little one, I’m not totally cruel! Suffocation is certainly a much… gentler alternative than… well, you know…”

Sinisterly, then, the wolf chuckled once more… and then, all of a sudden, he found himself overcome by this… dreadfully powerful tiredness; and, indeed, after having just eaten such a good helping of meat, and admittedly having only gotten a few hours of rest himself, he was more than ready to go back to sleep; and, although his current position was rather comfy, it was mostly suited for devouring his prey, not for sleeping.

And so, nodding to himself, the wolf laboriously proceeded to roll over and lift himself up, walking to a slightly darker and more tucked in part of the alcove before gently laying himself down, curling himself into a ball, and resting his head very near his belly, looking at it thoughtfully, whimsically, before yawning abhorrently loudly.

“Well, I think it’s about time we head off to sleep now, eh?”

*Grrrgle…* *Gllorrpp…*

“Heh…” the wolf smiled, licking the bulge briefly before nestling his head comfortably, and closing his eyes. “Well, then, sleep tight, little one, sweet dreams… and thank you. Thank you for such an excellent meal…”

And with that, the wolf promptly went to sleep, slumbering, snoring and snoozing away, lullabied gracefully by the slow, methodic gurgling and glorping of his belly. By the time he’d awaken, the bunny would certainly be all melted away, reduced to pudge on his belly, and nutrients for his body, healthily nourishing the wolf, and enabling him a greater, more keen perception of his surroundings. Ideal… for tonight’s hunt later…

……

As it happened, all of the other bunny’s siblings did indeed manage to make it back home safe and sound, and though they and his mother all waited anxiously for him to return, he never did. That night, hardly any of them could manage to get much sleep, and with one less brother/son at their side, they knew things were never going to be the same ever again…