Humans Only

“Sorry ma’am, I’m afraid your pet is going to have to wait in your ship,” An armoured security officer said as Sheila and Robert, an old anthropomorphic tiger, approached the gates to a human only compound. One that had a reputation for anthropocentric and specist ideals. The pair had been enlisted by a nearby community of anthropomorphs. Loved ones had been going missing, including a young deer named Waashkeshi. His parents had given Sheila a photo of him, a simple heart-shaped locket hanging around his neck.

“His best friend had carved that locket from one of his own antlers,” Waashkeshi’s mother said, covering her face as a wail of grief escaped her. His parents had begged Sheila and Robert to bring him back to them.

Robert had made the mistake of giving them hope. Now that they were standing before the human compound the tiger growled, ears backed as he took a step forward, “Who are you calling a pet?”

Sheila put a hand on his chest, his striped fur covered in a green tshirt and cargo pants, “Let me handle this. I’ll be fine on my own.”

Robert growled again, tail lashing but turned around, heading back towards the ship that they had landed a few hundred meters from the settlement. Sheila turned her attention back to the guard at the gate, arms crossing over her chest as she analyzed him.

“Humans only beyond this point,” The guard said as if by way of an apology, his shoulders visibly relaxing with Robs retreat.

“Yeah? Are all of you vegan too?”

“Huh? No…”

“Didn’t think so,” Sheila sneered, stepping beyond the checkout point and weaving her way through the settlement. She remembered visiting her cousin at a compound strikingly similar to this one. Some were led by eccentrics, people that believed humans were superior to all other races or religious fanatics. In her experience it was either hatred of fear that worked as the glue, drawing in people looking for a place to call home. Brainwashing and propaganda. It had taken a long time for her cousin to deprogram.

She eyed the settlers as they passed. Many of which eyed her back—probably because she was obviously not from here. She had a black disk covering one of her eye sockets and her dark clothing wasn’t covered in the red dirt that coated the streets. Sheila stepped inside of a bar and found a seat at a table. The waitress that served her was human with deer antlers fused to her skull. Sheila snatched her wrist as she placed a beer on the table, “Nice rack.”

She took note of the heart shaped locket sitting just above the woman’s cleavage, clearly made of bone. Just like the photo. The waitress looked her up and down, “Nice eye.”

Sheila released her, “What’s on the menu?”

The waitress handed pointed to the blackboard behind the bar. The menu was written in red chalk. Sheila gave it a cursory glance—nothing outwardly labelled as being from an anthropomorph, “The steak, where is it sourced from?”

“It is locally lab grown,” the waitress replied.

Sheila shook her head, “I want the real stuff.”

“The real…” Her eyes widened, “We don’t sell that here. It’s illegal.”

The antlered waitress quickly walked away, drawing more eyes towards Sheila. Soon the entire town would know about her and exactly why she was here. Sheila looked over the other patrons of the bar. Many of them had body parts that could have belonged to anthropomorphs. It was like a killer wearing trophies. Bear claw necklaces, fur lined jackets, snakeskin boots and some with body modifications like the deer antlers. One of them had a tattoo of a snake slithering up their spine, a skull on the back of their head with the snake going in one eye socket and coming out of the other. Sheila recognized the tattoo, but the person had more augments than she remembered.

When they turned around, she could see spines sticking from their jaw and cheekbones like a lizard. As the person approached, she noticed there were more spine sticking from their arms.

“Sheila, long time no see,” they said, taking a seat at her table. Sheila recognized the eyes, darkly intelligent with a fleck of grey in one.

“Hadiza? You look—”

“Like myself? Yeah. And I don’t go by that name anymore. Call me Splinter.”

Hadiza had a reputation, and not a good one. Mainly as a cage fighter known to be the only one to leave the ring alive. The genderless human had always been scrappy, deeply dedicated to honing their craft. Hadiza had the perfect body for it too, the spikes adding an extra layer of defense.

“Still fighting Splinter?”

“Yeah, you should come out. Going to be quite the spectacle tonight. Just don’t pull that bounty hunter bullshit on me, you know I’m not going down for anyone,” their muscles rippled as Splinter loosely crossed their arms over their chest.

Sheila shook her head, “I’m on business.”

“You’re not careful you’ll be losing that other pretty brown eye of yours,” Splinter stood up and drained Sheila’s beer with a gasp before slamming the glass back down on the table. Splinter had even replaced their human teeth with pointed lizard teeth, Sheila noticed as they smiled maniacally at her, returning to their group of friends.

“See you around,” was all Sheila said, her features smooth and unresponsive, working hard to hide her emotions.

Sheila left the bar shortly after their interaction, moving through town and looking for additional signs of anthropomorph paraphernalia. She wanted to know just how many anthropomorphs this town had killed. She paused in front of a holographic poster. Splinter vs. Komodo Dragon, it read, sundown in the arena. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Perhaps she would be watching Splinter fight after all.

The arena was the largest building on one side of the fenced encampment with multiple entrances, including one that led outside of the compound. Probably a few hidden access points as well Sheila figured as she entered the building. People were already placing bets on the fight. Sheila felt exposed as she explored the building, maintaining her mask of composure at the sight of the blood-stained walls of the arena pit. Two security officers in black body armour, visors obscuring their faces approached her. Only one of them spoke, “You are invited to be a guest of honour. Follow us please.”

They didn’t give her any choice, each of them grabbing an arm and leading her up a stairwell to a couch that overlooked the arena and the gathering crowd. On a backwater planet such as this, the entire settlement would be gathering to watch. She even noticed the antlered waitress from earlier drifting through the crowd with a tray of drinks.

Before Splinter appeared in the arena a man in a dark suit, the pant legs coated in red dust, took a seat beside her. Security officers flanked them. The man unbuttoned his suit jacket, “Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m told Splinter was once a friend of yours. I thought you might enjoy seeing him in the arena one last time.”

Sheila said nothing, taking in her surroundings with practiced patience. If she did find any of the missing anthropomorphs, she did not expect them to be alive. In cases such as this, it was a matter of a predator giving into basic instincts. The predators in this instance being human. Cruel humans, she noted as Splinter stepped into the ring below, bouncing from foot to foot and waving to the crowd. Their eyes met, Splinter running a tongue over those sharpened teeth. Her suspicions were confirmed as the anthro-Komodo dragon burst from a door, reptilian eyes wide and sides heaving for air already. The man in the dusty suit—Sheila had not made an active effort to remember his name—clapped with each new splatter of blood. By the end, Splinter was panting with exhaustion, the Komodo dragon lifeless at their feet. Dusty suit whispered to her, “Now for the celebrations to begin.”

The armored guards moved her from the balcony seating to the head of a long table where plates of meat were being laid out. Vension. Splinter, still coated in blood sat next to her, digging into the closest plate bare handed. Dusty suit tsked the fighter, who reluctantly picked up a set of utensils.

Sheila watched, “Will I be on the menu next?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Splinter laughed, mouth full, “We don’t eat human here. Besides, I would never let them harm you but,” they swallowed and lowered their voice, “If I remember right, you always liked a little pain.”

There was a sadistic glimmer in those dark eyes of theirs. Sheila could work with that. She slipped a hand between Splinter’s thighs, “It was you that liked it more. Can we at least go somewhere more private?”

Splinter stood up abruptly, pulling Shiela along, still chewing a mouthful of steak, “I’m taking Sheila as my prize.”

Dusty suit waved a hand dismissively. Splinter then led her into a dark hallway, quickly pushing her up against the wall.

“Don’t pretend you don’t want me Sheila,” Splinter whispered in her ear, hands pinning her wrists as they raised one leg to be between hers. At first Sheila tried to free her wrists but as Splinters face drifted closer to her she leaned closer, closing the gap. Lips pressing against each others as Splinter rubbed against her.

“See? That’s not so bad is it?”

“Softer than I remember,” Sheila replied, voice flat.

Splinter made a soft chuffing sound, “I’m not soft.”

“No. You aren’t.” Sheila’s eye met theirs, “How many anthro’s have you killed?”

The fighter shrugged, leaning in for another kiss. Sheila grabbed one of the spikes on their cheek with her teeth and tugged as hard as she could. Splinter pulled back just enough for Sheila to free her wrists and yank out the stun cuffs she carried in her jacket. Splinter must have been exhausted from the fight, Sheila had never expected she would be able to cuff the human. Blood leaking down her neck, the fighter laughed, violently lunging at Sheila with bared teeth.

The stun cuffs did their job though, shocking Splinter into compliance as Sheila turned the control as high as it would go. She wasn’t going to take any chances.

“Rob, can you hear me?” Sheila whispered, “Bring the ship around to the North side of the compound and make a ruckus for me.”

Her feline friend gave her an affirmative answer, her earring serving as a speaker. He had been watching everything through her eye. Pushing Splinter in front of her Sheila hurried along, blindly moving in what she hoped was her escape route. They reached what looked like a barn with each box stall reinforced by steel walls. Sheila glimpsed inside each, her heart sinking as she opened the door to one of the stalls.

Messages had been scratched on every inch of the walls. Some were just names, or tally marks and dates. An anthro elk laid on the ground, barely moving as Sheila knelt beside him. The blood in her ears began to roar. She barely processed the fact that Rob was suddenly slinging both of them over each shoulder and running for the ship. Sheila’s vision blurred as she looked into the elks eyes, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.”

While Rob piloted the ship, Sheila stroked the elks fur, brushing away the red dirt from the now lifeless body. Splinter had escaped again. It wasn’t easy being a human mercenary for hire in this universe.

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Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought on FB, Twitter, or Insta @akelseyreich. Written by Kelsey Reich on June 15/2021 in Ontario, Canada.