He paid to watch By Strega By the standards of the Project, the raccoon pacing back and forth behind the thick Lexan was a mid-sized predator. From Jack's perspective, only a couple of feet away from the beast, it was frighteningly large. It was waist-high at the shoulder, rounded of body, with dark, leathery forepaws bigger than his hands. A raccoon the size of a black bear is suddenly a lot less cute and a lot more threatening. Rocky, it was called, a predictably obvious name from the company that owned a leopard seal called Spots and a grizzly bear named Grizz. When it stood up, forepaws splayed on the glass and black nose pad touching the glass, he saw the heavy sheath along its belly and the fist-sized furry scrotum behind that. Jack licked his lips. The Project trained their animals to do things with - and to - people, and today he would get to see it happen. "Sit in the chair please, Mr. Dane," the speaker in the ceiling said, and Jack licked his lips again as he settled into his seat. He'd paid extra to not only see what was about to happen but be close enough to touch it. A series of clicks emerged from the metal-lined edges of the Lexan panel and the raccoon pawed at the plastic in a frenzy of excitement. It was smart enough to remember being let into Jack's room before and what it had been allowed to do there. "Rocky is trained to not hurt anyone sitting in the chair," the Project docent had told him. "If he gets too naughty we'll zap him. All the preds have an implant that will give them a shock strong enough to stun if we need to stop them." "Naughty," Jack thought as the big raccoon squeezed under the rising plastic door. In an instant it was nosing around the room, casting beady-eyed looks at him before turning to face the blank wall in front of them. He wondered how many people had died in the "naughty" raccoon's stomach over the years. The gray-brown fur of its flank was close enough to touch. It was a glossy pelt on a well fed and healthy raccoon and Jack resisted the urge to pet the creature. The thick plastic collar it wore would keep the genetically modified predator from swallowing him whole, but it was strong and sharp-clawed and very excited. It was close enough to smell and Jack sucked in the musk of an animal who was bathed, if at all, only rarely. The raccoon chittered as a click emerged from the wall in front of them. It slid smoothly up into the ceiling and Jack saw the woman. She was somewhere in her 20s, muscular and trim and tattooed, and wore only a leather loincloth and chest-wrap like something out of a caveman movie. She was also gagged, bound hand and foot and struggled to stand as she saw the raccoon. Rocky did not waste any time. Before the girl could get fully back to her feet the raccoon's forepaws pulled her back down and rolled her onto her belly. She let out a muffled shriek and shot Jack a pleading look as the raccoon stepped over her, his sheath swollen hard. Jack hadn't asked what her crime was, or her name. All he knew was that today she was the raccoon's plaything. Ten years ago, before a constitutional amendment referred to by some as "draconian" and by others as "long overdue", there had been just more than three thousand people on death rows across the United States. Governors and judges hurriedly commuted about a third of those to life sentences, but that was balanced by the number of new death sentences delivered by the accelerated justice system. Nevertheless there were less than a thousand waiting for their fates now. The remaining prisoners had over the years been delivered to the Project, and for nearly all of them that meant a trip down some lucky pred's gullet or, in some cases, ending up inside several different ones. In either case, it was hard to escape from prison or cause trouble when you've been digested. "Sit in the chair please, Mr. Dane," the speaker in the ceiling said, and Jack realized he'd learned forward so far he'd nearly fallen out. With an effort he sat back, even as the woman squeaked in horror. Rocky had her pinned to the floor with his forepaws and with the skill of much practice he mounted her. The exposed pink tip of the raccoon's penis slipped down between her thighs and with an excited chitter the raccoon arched his back to slam it home. The loincloth momentarily obstructed Jack's view, though not the raccoon's efforts, and even when it was pushed out of the way he wasn't sure which hole was in use until Rocky pulled back for another thrust. Jack was sure he'd see some anal ring pull with it if the raccoon were sodomizing her, so the raccoon must be in the 'right' hole. The luckless woman let out a whimper of agony just the same as altogether too much raccoon cock was stuffed back in. Normal raccoons were long and thin down there but Project animals were anything but normal, particularly the ones slated to perform on screen. For long minutes Rocky rode the protesting woman, letting out rattling growls with each thrust. Every so often he gripped her sides, leaving a series of shallow scratches as his claws wrapped around, and unleashed a series of short, fast thrusts. Then it was back to longer, less frenzied humping. Each thrust was accompanied by a chitter, fast for the short thrusts and long, rattling growls for the slow. Rocky hadn't worked out as a Run predator, he'd been told. Though strong enough to overpower a man, he had an instinctive fear of natural predators like bears and wolves and ran at the mere scent of them. After a couple of attempts to get him to perform in a group they had given up, only for him to rape and devour a cleaning woman who ill-advisedly entered his pen. The entire affair was recorded by monitoring cameras and it was decided that while he might not be ideal for the Run, that didn't make him useless. Jack came before the raccoon did, and without even touching himself. After years of saving to get to see a Project predator first hand he was so enthralled that he didn't even realize he was about to come until he did. With a groan he leaned back in the chair, belatedly reaching down to rub himself through his pants. A moment later the raccoon let out a long growl and tensed, gripping the woman so hard that her flesh went white around his fingers. With a last few thrusts he spent himself, hardly needing to hold the exhausted woman down by the end. Rocky stood astride his conquest, panting, and eventually pulled out with an arch of his back, but that was as far as he withdrew. He stayed atop his prey, knowing from experience that his play was not yet over. A moment later his patience was rewarded. With a click the plastic collar around his neck unlocked, and with a one-pawed swipe he sent it rolling across the room. He reached down once more, rolling the woman over, and she just had time for a look of utter terror as strong forepaws gripped her upper arms and Rocky yawned. Jack had seen it happen before on the Projects pay-per-views. It was different in person. The gape he so readily accepted before seemed impossible now as it wrapped around the woman's face. With a lurch the raccoon's jaws slipped forward and the fine gray fur on his neck swelled as an entire human head slipped into his gullet. Bound and gagged, the woman still fought for her life. Strong forepaws gripped her upper arms as Rocky worked his unnaturally snakey jaws over her shoulders, but she clutched at his fur and kicked at his belly with legs bound together at the ankles. It did not save her. The raccoon was three times her mass, hungry, well trained and strong as a bear under the fluffy fur and fat. It stuffed her in until her breasts vanished, leather wrapping and all, and only then swallowed. Muscles worked beneath the stretched neck fur and just that suddenly there was half a woman protruding from the raccoon's maw. The rest of her was already down his throat, gripped by powerful throat muscles that eased her deeper with each gulp. Rocky sat back on his haunches with a set of hips and kicking legs hanging from his jaws. He paused for a moment to gather his strength and Jack got a glimpse of a tube-like organ protruding past the woman's damp, about to be swallowed pussy. Project predators, engineered to swallow and digest huge meals, had an extensible glottis that allowed them to breathe with a full throat. The raccoon drew his head back, then thrust forward and up in a smoothly well-practiced motion. He ended with his muzzle pointing upward and a set of human hips sliding into his gullet. His belly already bulged with the woman's head, neck and shoulders, the fur stretching to reveal pink skin, and with the confidence of experience the raccoon thrust his nose upward and swallowed again. A minute before he had a woman stretched out beneath him, intact and alive; in another minute, or less, there would just be a raccoon with a twitching bulge in its midsection. There was nothing left of the woman but her calves and feet now, smooth skinned and easy to swallow. Even the broad hips hadn't slowed the loose-jawed beast and it tensed now for the final gulp, strong forepaws pulling at the bulge in its belly to force the woman to curl up. In a moment it would all be over but the belching. Without a thought Jack was out of the chair and gripping the girl's tattooed ankles. He had almost forgotten the small, glossy snake he'd had as a child. Though it could constrict a mouse to death it dealt with lizards simply by seizing by the head and swallowing them alive. Afterward it would twitch as the lizard thrashed in its gullet. Knowing what would happen, knowing the lizard would be swallowed if he did nothing, young Jack made a game of deciding whether to grab the fast disappearing lizard and convince the snake to let it go. The fun of it was the struggle as the snake tried to swallow and he tried to pull it free, and before Rocky could swallow the last of the girl he tugged several inches of wet skin back into view. "Sit in the chair, Mr. Dane," the suddenly alert-sounding docent said over the intercom. "Sit down at once or your safety cannot be guaranteed." He couldn't see into the viewing booth, of course, and missed the docent elbowing another who was trying to smother a laugh. Jack was too into the game to notice or heed the warning. He knew he liked to watch people get eaten, but here was a powerfully arousing kink he'd all but forgotten about. As he tugged the raccoon clamped its jaws shut as best it could, but unhinged jaws have little bite force. Despite its attempts to hold the bulge in its body still with its forepaws he pulled the woman free almost to her hips. There was a long oozing line along her thigh where a fang had scraped and her skin was slick with the saliva that had lubricated her for swallowing, but he was winning. Most of her lower arms had reappeared and her hands plucked once more at the raccoon's neck fur, helping pull her free. What the endgame would be he could not have said. It was simply a sudden and overpowering urge. Though he had ejaculated minutes before his cock was rock-hard along his belly. The struggle was everything. The raccoon didn't want to lose its meal any more than he wanted to lose the game and grabbed at its escaping prey, losing its balance and dropping back onto all fours. The ankles Jack gripped heaved toward him as the raccoon's muzzle abruptly approached, and it was his turn to lose his balance. Jack went back onto his butt with a rude thump, holding on to the woman's ankles only out of stubborn habit. It was a habit that cost him. Rocky recovered from the surprise faster and stepped forward, pushing the woman's feet against Jack's chest. Though he went over backwards it gave the creature something to press against and all the wet skin he had tugged free disappeared back into the raccoon's gullet. In a long smooth slide it engulfed the woman completely, feet and all, and Jack's hands went down its throat along with the raccoon's prize. His eyes went wide as the slippery flesh clutched tight around his hands, and to his horror he realized that as the raccoon swallowed the woman's feet it was pulling him in as well. "Hold on! Help!" He managed to let go of the woman, feeling the toes slither past his hands and into the depths of the raccoon, but so tight was the grip on his forearms he couldn't tug them free. It was not the jaws or the fangs but the sucking hold of the throat that keep him from backing away. Had he been on his feet he could have yanked himself loose, but all he could do was wriggle backward and kick at the beast's chest. That took a moment, and in that moment Rocky reached out and grabbed his shoulders. The raccoon stepped up over him, swollen midsection pinning his legs. It couldn't possibly still be hungry - But those strong forepaws pulled him back into a sitting position as the jaws once more creaked wide. His arms could pull free now, it he had any chance to back away. Instead his hands slipped deeper into the slimy chute of throat as training, and maybe anger, caused the beast to fit its jaws around Jack's face and thrust forward. His cry for help was muffled by fur and meat as Rocky swallowed, and Jack experienced in person what he had so enjoyed seeing happen to another. The strong and experienced raccoon only let go with one forepaw at a time, reaching out the the other to grip further along Jack. With his arms leading the way he couldn't resist even as much as the woman did, and from his seated position he kicked feebly at its round belly as his hands slipped easily down its throat. Bit by bit it pushed its muzzle toward the floor, keeping him upright with its forepaws, and there was nowhere for his head to go but down its throat. Wet flesh slid warmly over his face as he slid deeper, and he grunted in terror as the raccoon's throat muscles gripped down. With a mighty gulp it swallowed up his neck, and only the breadth of his shoulders jamming into the back of its broad jaws kept them from sliding in as well. That obstacle slowed Rocky only for a moment and the last of the gulp helped carry Jack deeper as the loosened jaws slipped down to his armpits. Deep inside the beast his hands slipped through a muscular sphincter and once more he felt the slimy, intact flesh of the woman he'd seen Rocky swallow. She was still alive. Flesh moved beneath his fingers as the burning juices of the raccoon's stomach coated his hands, and for a moment he felt what had to be a breast. Then soft hands gripped his wrists and tugged. To his waist in raccoon he squirmed and kicked as she helped the beast pull him in. Belatedly he wondered why the Project staff weren't there. They could shock the raccoon in perfect safety and pull him out as it lay twitching. Their pet monster was already fed, and there was no need for a second person to explore the digestive tract of an raccoon engineered to send people on just that journey. No one grabbed his ankles, no one shocked the raccoon senseless and saved him. The already bloated animal waddled forward, belly dragging, until Jack's rump ran into the wall. The woman in its stomach tugged as Rocky pushed forward, using the wall to force Jack deeper. He was bigger than its first meal and it was a struggle for the animal to sit up and lift his legs, but as his hips slipped down into its gullet under the relentless pull of gravity Jack knew that he was doomed. The raccoon would not stop until the last of him was gulped down. So thinly stretched was the muscle and fur around the stomach that the faintest pink light made its way in, and as his face squeezed through the sphincter he opened his eyes to a hellish view of curled-up woman, wet muscular walls and slime that burned him everywhere it touched. Rhythmic pulsations of the veined walls kneaded the goo into his hair and soaked his shirt and the parts of him already coated stung as the raccoon began to digest its second meal of the evening. He blinked stinging eyes and found a face looking back at him. "Why are you doing this," he asked the woman as she pulled at his shirt. Rocky had him swallowed to the mid-thighs and needed no help, but still she pulled. She wanted him in the beast's stomach as badly as it did and in he was going, clothes and all. "Serves you right," she hissed. "Paid to watch it rape and eat me. I just wish it had fucked your ass." There was a lurch as Rocky swallowed and he felt the narrow jaws close around his shoes. To his surprise he felt hands on his feet. At last, someone had come to help! Perhaps too late, but - His eyes widened in the bile-scented sauna of the raccoon's stomach as the raccoon paused in its feeding to allow the hands to tug his shoes off his feet. The socks followed, but no effort was made to pull him free. The hands withdrew as the raccoon's jaws once more closed, and he shuddered as it tensed for the final gulp. With a last stretch of its muzzle it swallowed, and Jack slid heavily into the stomach to join the woman. It took two gulps to get the last of him in and he and the woman were squeezed together, both slick with mucus and stomach juices. It was impossible to get a grip on anything fleshy, and after a failed effort to push his head back up through the sphincter he turned his attention to the woman. His erection had somehow never faded, and there was a brief struggle as he tried to slide himself behind her and get his cock in and she tried to claw his eyes out. The raccoon stirred uneasily as its distended belly lurched and kicked but neither accomplished much before a burp vented most of the air that had gone down with them. After that there was just a pink, wet space packed full of twitching bodies and a slow gurgle as the stomach began to do its work. The docent shook his head as a lengthy belch emerged from the remarkably swollen raccoon. He'd never seen Rocky swallow two people in one meal before and his midsection was stretched around the pushed-together forms of the man and woman. Even now, before digestion got started, it was possible to tell them apart only by the man being larger. Soon enough the sharply defined shapes would blur as first flesh and later bone broke down under the insistent assault of the raccoon's stomach acids. It would take several days for the bulge to entirely disappear and weeks for Rocky to work off the fat he'd put on from a meal this large. "I guess he didn't read the fine print," the head animal handler said as he snapped the collar back on Rocky's neck. The bloated raccoon seemed utterly uninterested in causing any trouble, but underestimating a pred's appetite had gotten the man in Rocky's stomach where he was and more than one Project employee had been digested for making the same mistake. The docent nodded. If you broke the rules, no one would help you if it might put either themselves or the animal at risk. That covered nearly every situation, and if that might be because recordings of unwary visitors being eaten sold well, so be it. "Two people at once won't cause him any trouble?" "He swallowed a man almost as heavy as these two a while back," the handler said, and nodded to a second handler. It wasn't the first time a predator ate so much it could scarcely walk, and the second man rolled in a low-slung, carpeted cart. Rocky knew what that meant and half climbed, half rolled onto it with a grunt of effort and another burp. He'd be returned to his enclosure to digest his meals in peace. "I'm more worried about the clothing," the second handler said. The leather wrap and loincloth were rawhide, easily broken down by stomach acids, but cloth and synthetics are another matter and asking guests to dress in more digestible fare would make them understandably nervous. It made them uncomfortable enough when they were forced to surrender cell phones, wallets and anything like a knife under the pretext of security. "At least we got his shoes off." "Give him a day or two to see if he coughs up the clothes," the chief handler said. "If he gets stopped up the vet can endoscope him." More than once the long snake of a mechanism had been used to remove a stubbornly indigestible item from a pred without the need of a scalpel. Project creations weren't cheap to create or maintain, after all, and were put under the knife only in emergencies. They would certainly not be cut open to retrieve a body, even a still living one, unless the prey were someone very important indeed. "Well, he wanted to see Rocky eat, after all. What's next on the agenda?" "We have one more today, a woman who wants to see Shadow in action." The handler paused in the doorway. "That's always fun. Sells a lot of views." The docent smiled. The transparent panther -was- fun to watch, at least until digestion got going, and for some people, even more so then. Between the pay-per-view fees for the two events and the money paid by today's guests, it would be a profitable day for the Project. He paused to look around the room as the handlers trundled the fat raccoon out. There had been a customer, a prisoner and a pred in here this time, and nothing was left of the encounter but a few damp spots - saliva or someone's semen, there was no telling - and a solitary drop of blood. Everything else was neatly wrapped up in raccoon fur now. Even Rocky's own cum had been swallowed along with his unwilling mate. There were older spots on the floor and the docent made a mental note to have the tile buffed. Customers liked a tidy appearance, however horrible the things they paid to see or how often they ended up as part of the performance.