War Beast

Book One: Chapter 6

Jenny's blood rushed into her head as she opened her eyes. The barren ground moving over her head, and marching feet tapped near her. Someone tied her hands and feet to a long, thick stick.

No wonder the blood was rushing into her skull. She felt like a wild boar being carried to a hunter's camp to be roasted. How embarrassing!

She yanked herself back and forth to free herself until a blade touched her cheek.

"Be still if you don't want to get hurt," a deep voice growled.

Jenny gulped as her sweat-drenched down her face. She looked up, expecting one of the lizard-men to be carrying her.

By surprise, it was a tall man in a red armored bodysuit with one horn on his helmet. His weapon was a one-handed ax with two blades on both sides. About sharp as a machete knife.

Beneath the helmet, Jenny caught a glimpse of the man's face. Surprisingly, he wasn't human based on Jenny's assumption.

He has an ape face with glaring eyes above his flat nose. Lipless wide mouth and brown fur surrounding his tanned facial features.

He lowered his ax and continued to walk on his hand feet. Between Jenny, two other ape-men carried her, wearing the same red armor suits. And another ape-man marched in front of Jenny's captors, probably leading the group.

Jenny couldn't believe she got captured. She wondered if her friends were all right.

She looked forward and noticed her captors approaching a tall gate across a bridge. The gate slowly opened, revealing a city and a mountain standing behind it.

The city appeared ancient, built from alabaster stones. Each building was rectangular shaped with pyramid rooftops and square open windows. Some of them were short square houses with domes on top.

As they marched down the main street, a crowd of ape people moved out of their path. Some people were gorillas, monkeys, chimpanzees, mandrills, and orangutans. The males wore white robes, and the females wore white dresses with flowers in their hair. They reminded Jenny of Roman people, except they weren't humans. So far, no other type of Beastman roamed the street.

The merchants pushed their carts out of the way, and four monkey kids tossed a ball to each other until they stopped to watch the procession. The ape people stared at Jenny, curious to see a human entering their city.

On the main street, more of the ape people moved out of the way from the procession. There was a water fountain at the center with a statue of an ape girl in the water. The statue was squatting water into the fountain as if she was spitting into it.

Further down the street past two tall buildings, Jenny looked up as the building shadows loomed over her. On the buildings, ape families poked their heads out through the windows, looking down at her.

Jenny wondered what this ape tribe would do to her. Surely they don't plan on eating her because most apes were herbivores. Unless these new types of apes do eat meat.

Jenny gulped at the thought of being roasted alive over a fireplace. Perhaps it would be for the best to keep her mind blank for now.

From the crowd, a little girl monkey sprinted toward Jenny and pointed her finger toward Jenny's face. Before her finger touched Jenny's cheek, the ape girl's mother grabbed her hand and pulled her away from Jenny.

"Don't touch that human!" the ape mother shouted. "She might have germs!"

Jenny sighed and closed her eyes. She still felt embarrassed about this situation.

They reached a giant colosseum, built from white stones with pillars keeping it stable.

Through a double door, they entered a dark chamber where the ape warriors untied Jenny, letting her body hit the floor. She rose to her feet and rubbed her wrists. The two ape warriors grabbed her arms to keep her from escaping.

A tall skinny monkey man with white fur and a brown robe approached them. "Who is this human?"

"We caught her near a canyon," said one of the ape warriors. "We thought she would be a good addition to our entertainment."

The white monkey man smiled at Jenny. "Good. We can always use some fresh blood in the arena. Our chief will be very pleased."

As the ape-men laughed, they pushed Jenny into the dark tunnel from the chamber. At least they won't eat her, but fighting in the arena sounded worse.