TO TAME INSTINCTS • BEASTARS

1 | COMESTION

TO TAME INSTINCTS
COMESTION, A DEVOURING BY FIRE

Rekka was a forest fire rampaging through the back alley market, blind by hunger and fear, and the inability to resist this surging excitement.

It was all a blur.

A hand slammed against the lone wall of an abandoned alleyway, she grimaced at the filth coating her palm. She needed help, everything hurt, and she struggled to attain her suffocating mannerisms. What happened after she attacked that canine? Her memory was so disgustingly unreliable at the moment. Ignorant to the sudden stinging in her palm, Rekka glanced towards the clenched fist and her untrimmed nails digging into the tinted flesh. Her figure still staggered forward, but with an adamant scowl did she notice her appearance. And the blood that coated her entire figure, not an area was left untouched by the awful stench; there's so much, she thought, horrified and itched to scour herself of the filth.

Yet, there was a scent reeking the air, one of raw meat.

The aroma immediately inducing her jaws to salivate uncontrollably, practically drooling over herself, and not long, she was walking. Ambling out towards the alleyway's entrance, she couldn't stop her knees from wobbling nor cease this inconsistent need to feed her new insatiable hunger. She was crying, through the low rumbles of growls, Rekka had tears pouring across her cheeks. It was so painful to focus and she was just so hungry — why wasn't there anyone to help her?! She escaped that fucking hellhole, didn't anyone notice her absence, she was a victim goddamn it.

Her ear suddenly twitched at the mixed murmurs of a crowd.

People?

Hidden by the shadows, Rekka stood just steps away from vendors. Rows upon rows of carnivores shuffling under the low hanging lights, approaching merchandisers with wide grins and starving eyes. Where... am I? She questioned, scanning the array of meat bought freely; red raw meat to cooked. Not a single herbivore in sight, except for maybe the dead sprawled out ontop the carts. The little bit of sanity she had left felt disgusted, and the opioids that still coursed through her system, intensified the nausea. Her vision blurred again and her skull was pounding profusely, Rekka was sure she was going to pass out the longer she stood near the wretched aroma. But, the second she thought she took a step back, she was quickly approaching the nearest seller. Claws outstretched and ready tear into the flesh of the unsuspecting lioness, whose attention enlightened by the fashion magazine in her hands.

Then, there was a thump sounding behind her.

The moment of realization that she wasn't alone startled her instinctual hunger. And Rekka was suddenly very aware of the fear once again trembling through her heart — how long have they been standing there? She shakily questioned, careful as she twisted her gaze in the noise's direction. She attempted a precarious and querying 'hello?'; however, speech wasn't her best friend, and the wary response instead became a timid threat. Through her salivating jowls, she was surprised to get any reasonable volume out, even as the meek 'hello' turned into that purling snarl.

"Let's not make a scene now, " spoke the figure, "okay?"

As if coaxing a frightened squirrel, the figure spoke deliberately slow, his hands raised. Rekka gazed back towards the market, the lioness no longer ogling overpriced outfits and instead distracted with a customer. This was her chance though, she could make a run straight through the market and go home, home to her family! With wild eyes, she stared behind her to glimpse at the stranger one last time only to halt in her escape — it's a panda... The black markings outlining their signature white was a striking resemblance to her mother and brothers. Their appearances were all a blur, jumbled together with broken memories and coups d'oeil of her time in that building; why couldn't she fucking remember her own families' faces?! She clutched her head in pain, suddenly hunching over, wailing aloud through the battering in her head.