OK, so I managed enough time to go through and properly edit (and tweak) Chapter 1. With finals coming up, I probably won't be able to dedicate enough time for (or trust myself to not get obsessive) drafting Chapter 5, so you can probably expect that closer to mid-December, but we'll see.

In the mean time, I may manage "final" revisions of the other chapters and add those as well.

Not sure if any of the added detail is pushing into "mature" territory, but go ahead and let me know if anyone thinks I should change the rating.

Update: Properly formatted rich-text (.rft) version now uploaded.

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In the Valley

Chapter 1




A gust of wind blew though Josh's messy brown hair as he strode along the unkempt trail. There was a slight chill in the air today. Kind of weird for this time of year, he mused briefly. Another gust buffeted him and blew his shaggy bangs into his eyes, and he grumbled, frustrated. "Gah, I guess it is pretty damn windy today." It must just be the wind making it seem cooler than it should be.

The tall dry grass rustled in the breeze as he continued his casual hike into the rolling hills, the rushing hiss nearly masking his own footfalls. He stepped off the path and continued further up the hill, the grass rustling more loudly as he waded through the golden brown stalks. As he reached the top, the young man stood to his full six foot two inch height and peered over the other side. Stretching out before him was a sweeping valley surrounded by rolling hills that trailed off into the distance.

Before he could contemplate the sight further, a shadow passed over, encompassing the entire hill and him along with it. Huh, I hadn't realized it was that cloudy, Josh thought as he gazed towards the sky. It appeared dense gray clouds had obscured the sun and much of the sky, strange as he could have sworn it was mostly clear just minutes ago and hadn't remembered any storm clouds being mentioned in the weather; “Pfft, those things are wrong often enough anyway,” he quipped.

As the wind picked up again, he shuddered slightly, a groan escaping his lips. “Ugh.” With the sun now obscured, combined with the wind, the chill had become more noticeable. Damn; sure wish I'd worn more than a T-shirt and shorts today. His head cocked to the side as he sighed. Not that it was a great idea to go wading through grass and brush with bare legs in general . . . He briefly considered heading back down early given the discomfort, but shook the thought, determined not to let something so trivial ruin the rest of his walk. I'm not going to be spending that much time out here anyway.

Suddenly, the world around the boy the darkened further and the light shifted to a muddled shade more reminiscent of dusk than the mid-afternoon he knew it to be. A feeling of unease washed over him as Josh shuddered again. “OK, now what?,” he thought, aloud this time, as he looked to the sky again. Nothing . . . or, at least it seemed so at first glance.

The sun was obscured by clouds, but the diffuse bright spot in the sky showed it was also still well above the horizon, confirming he hadn't lost track of time. On further inspection, the sky fringing the clouds had taken on an odd reddish hue almost like near sunset or when the sunlight filtered through smoke of a distant wildfire. That might have explained the odd lighting surrounding him, but Josh was at a loss to what would cause the sky itself to behave like this.

As that feeling of unease heightened, Josh decided maybe it really was time to call it a day. He was about to start the trek back down the hills when he decided to take one more look into the valley before him. What lay before the boy's eyes made him cock his head as he blinked his dark brown eyes several times, perplexed by the sight. There, at the edge of the valley, a dark, lumpy patch of . . . something laid very near the foot of the very hill upon which he now stood. Whatever it was seemed to be obscured by the shadow of the hill, discernible details further exacerbated by the dusky lighting to the point of making it a blurry mass. Still, there was definitely something down there, something that should have been there.

Despite his growing physical discomfort and that nagging unease, Josh's curiosity compelled him to investigate, so he began his decent of the grassy slope before him. Nearing the base of the hill, he slowed his descent and scrutinized his surroundings. The large, uneven, and unfamiliar deformation of terrain lay a few dozen yards ahead, yet he still couldn't make out what it was. It was as if a great, irregular pile of earth had filled what was normally a smooth transition to the broad depression that was the valley. It was too dark to make out clearly from this distance, but it appeared to be more than just a pile of dirt: it blended into the flowing grasses surrounding it, or was at least vaguely similar in texture from what he could make out. Albeit, whatever covered it seemed to be finer and darker than the surrounding wild oats and other grasses. In this light all he could tell was that there was a an enormous foreign lump in the ground spanning maybe fifty yards of the ground before him and maybe twenty feet above the ground at the highest point, but he'd have to get closer to make head or tail of it in this light. “Damn this weird weather,” he grumbled, frustration now almost overriding the preceding feeling of unease.

Fixing his eyes on the odd patch of terrain before him, Josh crept forward to get a closer look. Just as he'd gotten within ten yards of the thing, his right foot caught something and he slipped forwards to the ground with a muffled thud. He'd managed to break his fall with his hands, but that left them stinging from scrapes inflicted by impact with the dry earth and rocks hidden beneath the grass.

"Ooowh-" He groaned as he pushed himself up and started to look down to his leg when he thought he heard another sound. It resembled an odd shifting or griding of some sort, decidedly different from the rustling of the grass and shrubs around him. He pushed himself up, craning his head to see what it could be, but he saw nothing of importance and turned his attention back to the ground beneath him. His foot had become lodged into a small burrow, no doubt of some rodent or snake, he groaned again . . . hopefully not a rattlesnake den.

Pulling his foot free of the hole, he carefully got to his feet, and breathed a sigh of relief. Good, no sprain. He'd probably be sore for a couple days, but his hands seemed to have borne the worst of it, and at least the scrapes weren't deep enough to draw blood.

Moving in the general direction of the weird terrain, Josh put some distance between himself and that questionable burrow. The strange lighting appeared to have dissipated, leaving the more mundane, but still somewhat menacing, gray clouds overhead. "Huh," he thought aloud. His attention returned to the strange lump straight ahead, now no more than twenty feet away. At this distance, in the somewhat better current lighting, he could make out more detail. Strangely, the overall shape of the thing seemed to have changed. He couldn't be sure, given how vague it was in the weak light, but he could have sworn the silhouette he'd seen earlier was different . . . lumpier, not as smoothly curved as it now appeared. And it could just be from the shift in perspective, but the peak of the mass now seemed closer to thirty feet above the ground.

The big lump . . . thing, whatever it was, now seemed to be a fairly smooth, hilly lump in the ground but, stranger, still, was the way the light now reacted to it. It appeared to reflect and refract the light in ways decidedly differently from the adjacent grass and earth. It had more of a dull sheen, and the overall color was slightly earthier than the dry golden stalks surrounding it. There was something odd about it, and it made Josh even more uneasy than he'd felt a few minutes before.

At this point, he realized the wind had died down to a subtle breeze. The constant hiss of rustling grasses and shrubs was all but silent, as was everything else. This seemed a bit strange, and after a moment of reflection, he realized why. The sounds of people and cars should be dampened by the hills . . . but there should be at least some sort of sounds from animals around here. Besides, it's late enough in the afternoon for the crickets to start making noise too. For some reason the small valley had gone dead silent, save only for the quiet shifting of grass in the mild breeze.

It was amidst this eerie and disconcerting silence that Josh's ears detected something else. It wasn't the wind, and it wasn't the sound of any small animals (of which there remained an absence); it wasn't even the weird shifting he'd thought he heard earlier. Instead, he heard a low pitched rumbling, deep, rhythmic. It didn't sound mechanical, but it also didn't sound like anything natural he could recall. The duration and lack of any noticeable feeling in the ground indicated it wasn't an earthquake (which wouldn't have been unusual), and, while there were the looming storm clouds to consider, the sound was too consistent and subtle to be thunder. There was something else about it though, something familiar yet alien about it.

Even more confused now, Josh made a few more tentative steps towards the mound before realizing that the sound actually seemed to be emanating from the thing. Starting to get genuinely freaked out now, he again reconsidered just heading home, but his curiosity just barely managed to hold the edge. I have to at least get a little closer look at it before I leave. Reasonably steady in his resolve, the boy once again began to edge closer to the mysterious mass.

Standing a scant ten feet away, Josh could now make out the base of the mass. It didn't look like a pile of earth or a rising hill, but more like a rock formation or massive boulder resting above the soil, a distinctive inward-tapering seam skirting its base. Still, it didn't really resemble any mass of rock he'd seen either, not unless it was covered in a layer of earth, moss, and grass so consistent and seamless as to almost blend in with the surrounding grasses. Not to mention none of that explained how a huge chunk of rock could spontaneously appear where there'd been nothing but the valley floor just days before. Some kind of weird man-made structure or sculpture? He considered the thought. But wouldn't there be be some sign of whatever vehicles or equipment must have been used to build it? He hadn't seen any tire tracks or obvious fresh trails back from the top of the hill, and as weird as the lighting was, he was sure he'd have noticed that. There was really only one obvious way back to the main road, and that had been easily enough observed earlier to be just the normal flowing tall grass. Hell, even if they were crazy enough to drive some ass-backwards way around and over some of the other hills, I would have definitely seen that on the hike up here in the first place. "But what else could have brought it there . . . " he trailed off after voicing that last thought aloud. Air lift? That'd be really weird and ridiculously expensive . . . "Aliens?," Josh stifled a chuckle.

He considered walking the perimeter of the large mass, but really wasn't keen on spending that much more time here. Looking to the sky, the sun appeared to have sunken below the visible clouds, but had also fallen behind the hill he'd traversed earlier. It didn't appear to be dusk yet, unless the sky had decided to be weird again and exclude the typical yellow-orange tinge of sunset. Damn, really should have brought a watch . . . or my phone. "Ah, what the hell," Josh remarked softly as he made his way around to the far side of the mound, opposite the direction of that hill, and towards home.

Josh passed by the right side of it, and discovered it was much narrower than it was long, maybe twenty yards or so compared to the roughly fifty yards in length. So that's what . . . twenty by fifty yards at the base and ten yards high? Passing the right edge, he continued to mid-way across the far side of it now. While it looked as strange as ever, the actual appearance remained just as muted and obscure as before, devoid of any obvious indications of what it might actually be. Just more of the same odd texture, curves, and a few more creases and lumps further the likening it to some sort of surreal rock formation.

The rumbling was still present too, but given the low pitch, it was difficult to discern anything beyond the general direction of its source: somewhere around, inside, or maybe below that strange mound. He'd gotten kind of used to it by now, still odd, but no longer quite so disconcerting.

Up to this point, he'd maintained his approximate ten foot distance from the mass, and now stood just so, half way down its length, staring straight at the thing. The hill beyond was now completely obscured by the thirty foot heap. He contemplated it for a moment and decided to try one more thing before heading back. I've gone this far, what the hell?

Josh quickly closed the gap between himself and the grayish-tan mass before him, almost casual in his strides now, and stood less than an arm's length away. His body became in shadow of the looming mound, though the effect was made less dramatic by diffuse light from the dusky sky.

He extended his right arm and placed his hand to the surface before him, fine stalks of whatever was growing on the surface brushed against exposed skin before his fingers made contact with the surface beneath.

As he forced his palm forward, something made Josh yelp. "What the hell?" He had just a moment to contemplate the oddly warm and slightly yielding surface before his attention was torn away by a sudden deviation in that odd sound, which had been almost constant up until now.

What had been a low rumbling dramatically increased in volume, and the ground at his feet seemed to be vibrating now as well. He briefly considered rethinking the whole earthquake thing, but the shifting of the huge mass before him quickly nixed that idea. For a moment, he stood frozen in place as the thing appeared to shift and unfold before him. His brain kicked back into gear as a single thought materialized: RUN!

As he turned to make his escape, the rising mass before him bowed outward and sent him send him sprawling to the ground, face down for a second time that day, the thud of his impact much more pronounced than last time.

Dazed, and still less than ten feet away from the thing, Josh heard a loud, low groan behind him. Regaining his bearings, he pushed himself back up as quickly as he could. "Aaarghf" he grunted, loudly this time; wincing as he tried, and mostly failed, to ignore the pain from his now bloodied palms.

On his feet again, he hazarded a look back. What he saw now made him freeze again, now more from pure awe than shock. What had been that massive curvy lump mere seconds earlier was now revealed to be something much more, something truly awe inspiring.

Standing at what he could only guess to be well over on hundred and fifty feet tall, the massive form now stood before him on two legs. It . . . no, she, he quickly corrected himself was completely covered in fur, and it was hard to tell in the fading light (seemingly almost twilight), but her features appeared to be feline, perhaps some sort of wildcat. A giant . . . here? was all Josh could think before wonder gave way to abject terror and he broke into a sprint.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! he cursed himself. If the titanic feline hadn't noticed him already, she certainly would now. He glanced back again, only to be met by her gaze. Pupils in the golden orbs dilated to the size of his head, locked in glare he could only describe as predatory.

He continued sprinting away, periodically taking short glances back. She seemingly hadn't moved, but those enormous eyes remained securely locked on the panicked human.

Now nearing the base of the hill, Josh weighed his few options. There was no way he could maintain his pace uphill, and even if he could, there's still no way he could out-pace the colossal cat should she choose to give chase. The scant few trees might offer some cover, maybe enough to hide, but the closest was just past the top of the ridge and at least another thirty seconds away. He doubted any of it would do much good if she decided to strike. He glanced behind again and quickly cursed that last thought "Shit!" The giant, giantess he corrected himself again, had obviously moved closer to him in the last few seconds of his run, but more importantly, now sat crouched low to the ground, eyes still locked on his comparatively minuscule form. A split second later, she pounced.

He watched as her massive form lunged over a hundred feet, in what looked like slow motion. In reality, this only was an illusion induced by the sheer scale of the colossal creature, and in an instant, she'd closed the gap between them. More than that, she was now literally on top of him.

A gigantic paw, three times the length of his body, and a few dozen times his weight, slammed into the human's side, spending him tumbling to the ground. This time he couldn't brace himself, but at least managed to tumble into a roll, diffusing some of the force of impact. As he lay on the ground, the wind had been knocked from his lungs and his side ached, but, as the shock faded, he realized nothing seemed broken. Considering what had just hit him, that was either a huge stroke of luck or . . . No, he realized, she's playing with me.

He rolled over to see the titan looming above, the predator's muzzle hanging less than ten feet directly overhead. Looking forward, he realized she was crouched low again, almost kneeling now. Knees easily larger than compact cars lay close together, legs tucked against her abdomen. To either side of the diminutive human lay clawed forepaws, poised in anticipation of his next move. This time, however, he laid still.

Glancing back up to the enormous feline's visage and noticed the giantess seemed almost confused at his lack of movement, or perhaps she was just disappointed that the fun had ended so soon. As the decidedly one-sided standoff continued, Joshua's eyes began to drift over the massive form again, this time managing to observe in much greater detail. In spite of the dim light beneath her shadow, he could make out more features now: a distinctive spotted pattern in her fur, along with a distinctive tufted ruff around her cheeks, and tall dark tufts at the tips of her ears. Bobcat? He thought briefly. He hadn't gotten a look at her tail, but it could be. His eyes started to drift back down her neck to the furry mounds below, and following the spotted pattern to the point where it vanished into the shadowy darkness between her belly and crouching thighs. His thoughts began to wander for a moment, sense of awe returning: Amazing and stunning came to mind.

Those thoughts vanished as a ragged hiss and rapid displacement of air brought him back to reality. She's smelling me, he quickly realized, but before he could react further, a mass of fur and tough, leathery flesh slammed into his side again, only this time it didn't let up.

Eight-foot-long fingers wrapped around his form, pinning his arms to his sides and leaving his head and shoulder exposed. She gripped tightly, but not enough to cause any serious pain. Even so, he felt his ribs and part of his left arm pressed against the tips of retracted claws that could easily skewer him with a simple twitch of a claw.

Josh's vision went dark as the titanic bobcat jerked upright, prey in hand. As his sight returned, the tiny human saw she was now sitting upright, and, glancing over the edge of her hand, he could see what must have been at least a fifty foot drop. He looked back to her face and immediately shuddered at the sight of a feral grin. The carnivore's mouth gaped slightly, exposing the edges of teeth probably half his height and the tip of the cat's tongue, which proceeded to give him a swift lick to the face. The surface at the tip was only moderately rough, even considering the scale, but the abrupt action of that wet appendage still snapped his head back.

A moment later, her grip loosened slightly and a massive maw opened before him, a gaping cave lined with jagged, dagger-like teeth, four massive fangs at the front nearly half his size stood as a gateway to the red carpet of her tongue leading to a gaping black hole. His entire body would easily fit inside with room to spare.

A burst of hot, damp, acrid air buffeted Josh's face and threw a few strands of saliva onto him. As the predator's muzzle moved closer to his face, her grip loosened further, but then hesitated. A moment later, her other paw appeared, claws unsheathed and roughly slashed away most of human's modest clothing. The boy winced at the stinging sensation of shallow cuts left by those razor-sharp daggers.

The feline giantess grasped him, again holding him before that gaping jagged pit, and just as it seemed she would drop the squirming morsel inside, Josh finally acted. "Wait!" he screamed desperately. Immediately, she paused and brought the tiny figure back into her line of sight. He wasn't sure if she understood him, but regardless, he was kicking himself for not thinking of actually speaking to her sooner.

Once again caught in the gaze of those huge gold-rimmed pools, a quizzical expression graced that feline visage, and a sound escaped her muzzle. To him, it sounded somewhere between a low growl and a sultry, even feminine "Hmm?" but the meaning seemed clear enough. Gathering himself as best he could, he pleaded a simple reply. "Don't eat me!"

Her questioning look remained, and for a moment, the titanic predator appeared to ponder his plea.

The simple response came in that same feminine growl: "No."

The carnivorous maw yawned wide with her response, and before the tiny human had the chance to even utter a whimper, she'd tossed him inside. Landing face-first on the hot, wet tongue, his bloodied hands made contact with its rough, spiny surface, prompting fresh blood to weep from the scraped palms into the saliva-soaked creases below. Josh briefly considered whether she would bite before her teeth crashed shut around him, leaving him untouched in the hot, slimy darkness.

A moment later, the world shifted around the little morsel as he was roughly tossed about, and then pressed roughly against the hard, ridged ceiling of the living cavern. Pinpricks of pain erupted across Josh's body as stinging saliva was forced into the bleeding scratches previously inflicted by the beast's claws. "Mmmmm" A loud, low growl sounded all around him.

God . . . she's tasting me--

His thought was short lived as the spiny, slimy organ exerted crushing wave of pressure through his entire body, plunging him into the waiting abyss; he passed out.


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Josh jolted awake. Eyes shooting open, mind racing, and heart feeling as if it trying to tear itself from his chest. He blinked in the inky darkness and sat up. As he caught his breath, thoughts quickly faded from memory he realized he was soaked . . . in his own sweat.

"Ugh", he grunted as he tossed off the covers and stumbled over to the lamp. A moment of painful blinding later, his eyes had adjusted and he could see his t-shirt was completely drenched. "Awwoh" he groaned again, stripping the shirt and fumbling in the dresser for dry one.

Finally glancing over at his bedside clock, he saw it was just after 5 AM. No light peaked through the closed blinds of his window, but it soon would.

Switching the light back off and returning to his, now quite damp, bed, Josh shuffled back under the covers and flipped the pillow over to the drier side. "Shit, that must have been some dream." "Nightmare," he corrected himself. As he yawned, drifting back towards sleep, he remembered it was Saturday. At least I can sleep in.