Monsters

Shev reached up with her long arm, the one with the hand on it, to pick a fruit. The fruit was lumpy, but nutritious, with plenty of worms in it. She offered me the first bite. How could I refuse? I arranged my jaws so the teeth would meet and took the oozing food into my mouth. I told her to eat the rest—I could graze for bugs and plants to satisfy my hunger.

Shev has arms, but I have two legs that are almost the same size. I can move around much faster than Shev because her long arm drags next to her short leg. She always says that the short leg is better than no leg on that side, like Mup. He only has one leg, but he does have two eyes and that helps to keep us safe. I don’t have any arms, but I have an ear and an eye. I couldn’t find food without them.

There are nine of us in the tribe, and while we may be an odd collection of parts, we manage to find enough food to survive. Food is all plants and bugs—there are no other animals. We are the descendants of those who survived underground, but most animals couldn’t dig as deep as our ancestors. Only bugs are left, lucky for us. A day without bugs is a hungry day.

Every so often we come across another tribe. We exchange pleasantries share some bugs and politely tell each other to stay the fuck out of our territory. It’s hard enough to make a living without more people coming into your range. Sometimes there is desire, and we negotiate about who will go into which group and who will go out in return. We don’t have babies if we can help it.

Today, though, we saw something that never happens. There was a person walking around by himself. Even at a distance, we could tell he was very strong, because he walked uphill. Not very fast, but still—walking uphill? None of us could do it. As we got closer, we could see that he carried a tree branch almost as big as his arm. Strength like that could compensate for the food he would eat.

As he got closer, we saw that he was strange in another way. He had two of everything: eyes, ears, arms, legs, hands, feet, even nostrils. He stood upright on two legs of about the same length, and his arms hung evenly next to his two hips. He had an odd smell, but every tribe smells different.

“Are you from outer space?” Gnow said. We think a lot about outer space, and wonder if there is a way to get there.

“No, are you?” the man said. We could tell he was a man from the shape of his wrapping. We don’t have clothes, but if we have sex parts we wrap ourselves in plant leaves so that those who don’t won’t feel uncomfortable. In case you’re wondering, I have a wrapping. Having arms might be more useful, but it’s nice to need a wrapping, even if I need help to get in and out of it.

“No, we are from here.” Gnow gestured with the elbow at the end of her arm.

“Where’s your tribe?” Frip said.

“Gone. Eaten by cannibals.”

“Cannibals? What are cannibals?” Chund said.

“People who eat people. Never happened to you?”

Those of us with flexible necks shook our heads.

“That’s what happened to my tribe. The cannibals found us and ate us one by one, about one a week. I am the only one who survived. I move faster than most.”

We had never heard of such a thing. Even the tribes that told us to stay the fuck out of their territory with extra feeling never tried to eat us. The gooey worm-infested fruit I ate earlier almost came up.

We had a quick conference, and decided to invite Tuzi into our tribe. He looked like he might need a good amount of food, but his thick body suggested he was good at finding it. If we ran into another tribe, his bulk might convince them to give us a little territory.

“Want to join us?” I said. As the smallest member of the tribe, I usually speak so that no one will be afraid of us.

Tuzi looked us over, then smiled wide. “Yes, you’re just the sort of folks I’m looking for,” he said.

For a few weeks, everything went great. Tuzi moved things out of the way for us, and with his two hands gathered much more food than any of us could. We ate much better than usual. One time, he offered to help me dig termites out of a log, but I’m proud of my skill with a termite stick. I grip it deftly between my toes, slide it into a hole, and come up with termites every time. I swing my foot around to my mouth and do it again. I’m better at this than most of the other tribe members, even the ones with hands.

“No thanks, no help needed, I enjoy this,” I told him.

“Happy to help. If you change your mind, just yell.”

Meeting Tuzi was an incredible stroke of luck, but tragedy soon followed. We were having a great time, getting almost enough to eat, and Tuzi was getting plenty of attention from almost anyone who wore a wrapping. It was great, until the morning that Rogt went missing.

Of all of us, Rogt seemed the least likely to go missing. He was big enough to protect himself from anything we ever ran into and hopped along on his foot well enough to keep up, not that we ever left anyone behind. We woke up, and he wasn’t there. We called and called, but he didn’t answer. We went searching, and Tuzi found what was left of him. He was lying in a shady spot behind a rock and his whole body was open. I had never seen inside a body before, but I was pretty sure some parts were missing—there was a lot of empty space.

“Why is he open like that?” Shev said.

“Damn cannibals,” Tuzi said. “They have a blade.”

“What’s a blade?” Kunk said.

“It’s a metal branch, sharp like teeth on one side.”

“Metal?” we said.

Tuzi had to think about that one. “It’s hard, hard like a rock. And the sun shines off it like water or ice. If you see bright light where it doesn’t belong, it might be metal.”

The neck folks nodded their heads as if we knew what he was talking about.

“I hate to tell you, it’s just like before,” Tuzi said. “They must have followed me. I’m bad luck for you, better leave me behind.”

No one would hear of that. Everything was so much better with Tuzi, his helping hands, his stories about lands beyond. No, we said, we’ll be more careful, keep watch at night, it won’t happen again.

And, for a while, it didn’t.

One night it was Mup’s turn to keep watch. The truth is that Mup was not much of a watcher. He had two eyes, but no ears and only one small nostril. Without bright moonlight, he couldn’t sense much. When we woke up, he wasn’t there. We all ran around searching, calling, “Mup! Mup!” but it did not good. Tuzi found him, wide open like Rogt.

“Cannibals,” we all said, thanks to Tuzi’s information. We thought we knew what we were talking about.

“Why did they only take Mup?” Frip said. Frip and Mup unwrapped each other from time to time.

“He was all they could eat at once,” Tuzi said. “They’re probably close, though, watching until they’re hungry again.”

“We have to find them before they find us,” Shev said. “We have to make them stop.”

“Too dangerous,” Tuzi said. “Remember they have a blade. Maybe more than one.”

“We have sticks and rocks,” Gnow said.

“Not so many hands and arms, though,” Tuzi said.

“We should at least try to find them,” I said. “We can watch them while they watch us. If we knew where they were coming from, we might have a chance.”

“That’s a good idea,” Tuzi said. “Every day after we eat, we can go looking for them. They must be out there somewhere.”

They certainly were. They got Chund, and then they got Grig. Even if we found them, we might not be able to do anything about it.

“Maybe you should find another tribe,” I said to Tuzi. “We can’t defend you from these cannibals. You don’t owe us anything.”

“I do. I brought them with me. This is all my fault.”

“I guess if you left, they’d still eat all of us before following you. You’re so much faster.”

“That’s true. I don’t think I’m in danger. I’ll protect you.”

We continued to search for the cannibals after feeding time. Feeding always took a long time because of the shortage of bugs, so we couldn’t do much searching before dark. After dark, we gathered under the shelter of some big rock, and two or three of us watched while the rest were supposed to sleep. But no one really slept. We didn’t want to end up like Rogt and Mup, Chund and Grig.

We were searching as usual when Tuzi came walking up. “I found them,” he said.

“Found who?” Gnow asked

“The cannibals! They’re over the next hill. It has to be them.”

We all went around the hill to try to look secretly. It took a long time. It was dark when we got close enough to hear them moving around.

“I don’t think they’re cannibals,” I said. “I think we’re in their fucking territory. They never tried to eat us.”

“People change. No one else is close. I’ll prove it—I’m going to find their blade.”

We waited until dark, and Tuzi disappeared. It seemed like he was gone for a long time, but time moves slowly in the dark. “I’ve got it! Let’s get out of here!” Tuzi’s voice was like wind in the grass. We worked our way back around the hill and waited for daylight to see Tuzi’s find.

The thing matched Tuzi’s description. It was hard, straight, and sharp, embedded in a piece of tree so you could hold it. Light shone off it like the sun off water. Tuzi waved it under our noses. It was a wicked looking thing, suitable for opening someone.

“I’m going to keep it safe,” Tuzi said. Who could disagree? He had a blade plus two of everything. But when we went to feed, I stayed with Shev. We talked all the time, in low voices. We knew what we would do.

After feeding, we all have private time. We squat over the earth and empty ourselves of bugs and wormy fruit. Everyone relaxes while we do this. No one ever bothers anyone when they squat, except for this time.

Shev and I followed Tuzi and hid on the other side of the rock he was squatting behind. When we heard him drop his wrapping, Shev reached out her long arm, the one with the hand on it, the hard hand that drags on the earth. She shot her hand out like a big spider and grabbed Tuzi’s sex part tightly, held him down and would not let go. At the same time, I ran up to Tuzi’s wrapping.

“What are you doing?” Tuzi said. “I’m keeping you safe. It’s not like you can use a blade anyway.” Shev hung on.

I grasped the blade like a termite stick with my left foot and lunged forward on my right. I kicked him in his one neck, and the blade went right through.

“The blade only smells of you,” I said while blood went everywhere and he died.

Gnow, Frip, and Kunk thanked us for saving them from Tuzi, then asked us to stay out of their fucking territory. No one wants to live with monsters.