Short Stories and poems

The Judas Goat

At some point in the Future, a woman has an important job.

Janis talked as she walked through the halls. The place was a maze, and one could get lost if they didn’t know there way around. It was why she was in the lead – she knew the way. Everyone followed her. They were able to keep calm, even as the sounds of others behind them were silenced. Then, a clawed hand would cover their mouth and nose, as they were dragged into a dark room, where things ended for them. They’d then wake up, feeling whole, intact, with no sign of whatever happened to them. They’d also have a clean bill of health afterwards. The trip through the halls, and being taken into a dark room was a small price to pay, to having a body that worked the way it should. Of course, with this process, there was a price. If one didn’t have the money to pay, then they’d pay by being food for the Rakshasas.

Janis thought about this as she walked. The Rakshasas showed up about ten years prior, arriving in space ships, one million Big Cat-like humanoid refugees fleeing from a destroyed homeworld. Earth resembled it pretty well, including having creatures that the sapient carnivores could eat. Oddly enough, one of their previous favorites resembled humans, even down at the genetic level. While this was a huge coincidence, it did bring to mind certain old legends involving cat-like creatures with certain powers, which these beings had, including that of the Rakshasas of India. Then, certain fanatics attacked what was supposed to be a peaceful meeting between the representatives of the various nations and the groups of the catfolk. While the fanatics were apprehended before there were any deaths, there were a number of serious injuries; the most serious one was the leader of the human delegation. They were on death’s door. That was when the Rakshasas revealed that they had the means to replicate a person’s body, so that in the event that things had gone wrong, they wouldn’t lose any one in the event of a war. They offered this up as a means to save the human leader’s life. The thing was, the person’s DNA had to be in the Rakshasas’ database. The human representative agreed, and their body was replicated at the moment that the original died. In fact, the body was better than replicated – it was in perfect health, as the representative had previously donated a kidney to a friend of theirs. With the permission of the representative, the Rakshasas did some experiments with the old body – turns out, humans tasted exactly like their old preferred prey. As for the fanatics, given that they’d committed terrorism, they were soon sentenced to Death. However, the Rakshasas made a suggestion – a Permanent Death would be waived if they agreed to be Food Prey for twenty years. They were still serving that sentence.

Janis rounded yet another corner, only to find herself in a room with seemingly no other way out, or in. There was a sign saying “The End.” She turned around, and saw that, by now, she was alone, as usual by the time she got there. A sigh came from her mouth. She was, in her own words, a Judas Goat, one who led others to be slaughtered – it was quick, painless, left very few mental scars, giving the butchers a nice supply of human meat, and the slaughtered got new bodies in return. She sat down, leaning against a wall, and thought about how she’d ended up at the place – jobless because she refused to do sexual favors for her boss to get promoted, homeless because she found out that her boyfriend had been cheating on her, in the apartment that only had his name on the lease, so she’d left him, and she was carless, due to the wreck in the rain. The wreck was the real reason – a piece of metal had gotten lodged in her lung, another in her kidney, and a few other injuries that, on their own, were survivable, but together, spelled certain death. If not for Benjamin, she would have died. The Rakshasa had been out and about when he spotted the wreck, and found her. He’d freed her, and took her to the Facility he worked at. With no time to lose, she agreed to the procedure. She was registered, died, and then replicated. Of course, the issue was the matter of payment – having no money meant that she couldn’t just pay for it. She’d have to be Food, until the life-saving procedure had been paid off. That being said, upon learning about her housing and job situation, she was offered room and board at the place – the best room in the place, and free food, but she had to do a certain job – lead the humans that were to be butchered as food through the killing halls. Done right, no one saw anything happening to the others, and could remain calm through the long walk around the place. Done wrong, and there was the potential for the others to come down with a large amount of fear, which affected the taste of the meat, and not in a good way. The general process was to place the scared ones in the back, so that they could be picked off first, so that their fear wouldn’t influence the rest. They would then walk around in basically circles, until all had been killed. After that, the bodies would then be butchered, not unlike that used to handle other similar-sized animals, like pig, goat, deer, and other such animals of that size range. Benjamin had actually showed her how it was done, using her old body, which, as he said, wasn’t the best example to use, but, despite the damage from the injuries, there were some good cuts, and according to him, tasted wonderful.

Janis jerked her head up as she heard something. She watched as Benjamin came into the room.

“How long have you been waiting outside the room?” she asked.

“Long enough for you to relax a bit,” said Benjamin, as the tigerman sat down beside her. “Good walk – no one wandered off or got scared. Kills were all quick, clean, and quiet. Twenty-five kills today so far – thirteen male, twelve female. Could make it twenty-six, and even up the tally.”

Janis chuckled. “You’re just asking me to be your dinner, aren’t you?”

The Rakshasa gave her a friendly smile. “If you wouldn’t mind. I do love how you taste.”

“Why is it, that the only male interested in me for more than just sex, just wants me for my ass?” Janis asked, in a joking manner.

“That is your best part,” said Benjamin. “Insofar as I’m concerned.”

“A kiss would be nice, first,” Janis said, as she crawled on top of him.

The two of them embraced and kissed, in a manner that suggested that they were more than just co-workers, or friends even.

Janis pulled back from him a bit, looking him over.

Benjamin smiled. “I want to, but I’m still on the clock. After supper?”

Janis nodded. “After supper.”

Benjamin leaned forward, and gave her one more kiss, as he lifted his right arm up her back, until he could see his fingers. He gently leaned back, and in the process, slipped his hand across her mouth, so that he had her in the desired position, as her held the other side of her face, a smile still on his face, as he looked forward to afterwards. A quick twist, and the deed was done – a hundred plus pounds of female human meat. Carefully, he stood up, lifted the body over his shoulders, walked over to the sign that said “The End”, and pressed the “T” and the “E”, causing a door to open. He stepped inside, and saw several other Rakshasas at work, butchering the humans they had. He picked up his knives, and started the same process on Janis, carefully opening her up, removing the internal organ material that had no real dietary usage, like the intestines, and stomach, and saving those that had value – heart, liver, kidneys, lungs – as the blood pooled off into a collection container for things like blood sausage. He started to whistle a little tune as he started the process of skinning the body.

“You like the female named Janis, don’t you?” his sister asked.

Benjamin chuckled. “You like that male named Rick,” he said, pointing at the carcass that she’d been working on.

“I know what I like on him.” She cut off a certain set of parts all males had, tossed them into her mouth, and swallowed. “Delicious.”

“Make sure that you deduct that amount from what you’re allowed to take for personal consumption,” said Benjamin, as he finished making his cuts to the skin.

“Already did that,” his sister said. She resumed her work. “So, what are you going to do when you’re done for the day?”

“Make a guess,” Benjamin said, as he started pulling the skin off.

“I don’t blame you,” his sister said. “She’s got a good ass. I enjoy eating it.”

Benjamin grinned. “Maybe, but you don’t get to enjoy it like I do.”

The female Rakshasa grinned. “You have your idea of fun, and I got mine.”

Soon enough, both siblings were done with their respective humans, having collected the meats that they wanted off of them, and thus both started upon another human.



Janis sprang from her pillow, her hand to her chest. Despite having no signs of trauma, her mind and body could remember what had happened to her in the wreck. As she calmed down, she got out of the bed, picked up a set of clothes, and got dressed. She and the other Food Prey had been naked for the walk – it made things easier for the Rakshasas for the butchering process to not have to deal with that aspect. She picked up an apple, and ate it, tossing the core into the disposal bin. She then stepped out of her room, and saw others coming out of their rooms. One was a man that was holding onto a crutch that they no longer needed.

“Feels strange,” he said. “I’ve been using this for so long, it’s become part of me.”

“That feeling doesn’t always leave you,” said Janis. “Trust me there.”

“What happened to you to make you do what you do here?” the man asked.

“I was in a wreck not too far from the property,” said Janis. “If not for Benjamin, I wouldn’t have made it. I had nothing, and they gave me what I needed, food, shelter, a new life and the price happens to be to do the job.”

“I see,” the man said. “What’s the job title?”

“I can’t replicate the word they used, but, basically, upon knowing the description, I figured out that I’m basically, a human version of a Judas Goat,” said Janis. “My father was a butcher, and I learned the history of the craft. He died in an accident before the Rakshasa showed up. I wonder how he’d feel to know that I was doing the same thing those goats used to do – leading other livestock to the slaughter.”

The man chuckled. “This is a small price to pay to be able to run again. You take care.” The man left.

“Probably see you in a year,” said Janis.




Some hours later, after supper, and after the last of the guests had left, Janis was sitting under a tree as Benjamin walked up.

“Enjoy your supper?” she asked.

“I did,” he said, as he sat next to her. “Your addition to the meal was very tasty.”

“Took my ass as part of your cut of the cuts?” Janis asked, with a chuckle.

Benjamin flashed a toothy grin, as he licked his lips. “That’s your best part. Next best is your breasts.”

“At least I know where your priorities lie,” Janis said, with a chuckle.

Benjamin chuckled. “I like a nice rump and a good set of breasts. There’s lots of ways to do those up.” He looked at her. “How was your awakening?”

Janis tapped her chest. “Still feels like that piece of metal’s lodged in here.”

“I’m sorry about that,” said Benjamin. “Still, there’s one good thing about pain.”

“What’s that?” Janis asked.

“Means that you’re alive,” said Benjamin. “You might feel the pain whenever you wake up, but I can see to it that you can at the very least, feel some pleasure.”

Janis smiled. “Then let’s go to my room, and work on the pleasure aspect.”

The two of them stood up, headed to Janis’ room, and went to work on that aspect of life.



A couple of days later, Janis stood in the gathering room, seeing the new guests of the place.

“Hello,” she said. “My name is Janis, and I guess that you could call me a Judas Goat. For the next five days, you will eat good, engage in a lot of fun activities – let us know if you have a birthday this week so that we can order cake for everyone and a special one for the birthday lads and lassies – at the end of the five days, we’ll enter the killing halls. You’ll follow after me, in single file, focusing on the sound of my voice, and the person in front of you. You will not look left, right, or behind you – you are to face forward no matter what. As certain points, a Rakshasa will snatch the last person in line, take them to a dark room, snap their neck, killing them, and then their bodies will be taken for meat processing. As for the person themselves, they’ll wake up in their own room, with a fully functioning body, fully healed. If that isn’t for you, now’s the time to leave – you can still be placed on file to be replicated, but you can instead die in your own home. If your need for a new body is more urgent than five days, let the butchers know, and they’ll take care of you sooner. Those of you who stick around for the five days, trust me when I tell you that you’ll trust me enough to follow as I lead you to your deaths. I hope that you enjoy your time, and make new friends, while you are here.” She looked over at Benjamin. “I know that I have.”