FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Corporate Food Chain

Chapter Two

As Eric pulled into his parking spot at Greene and Union Tech, he felt all the swagger from this morning drain from him. Johnson's empty parking spot and his now-too-snug work clothes reminded him that, no matter how powerful he felt this morning, most other people would not take the idea that he had eaten one of his coworkers well. His conscience that he'd suppressed in his predatory high began to reassert itself, reminding him that just 24 hours ago that new roll of fat on his stomach and hips was a living, breathing person. His heartbeat rose and his breathing became shallow. He felt himself starting to panic when he heard a knock on his car window. He turned to see Andy's beaming face.

"He looks good on you," he said, muffled through the glass. "Come on, you've got a big day ahead of you."

Eric nodded and got out of the car. Seeing his crocodile friend calmed him down somewhat. Still, however, the nagging voice in his head wouldn't go away as he watched his friend's belly jiggle and ass bounce a bit with each step, knowing what went into that jiggle... knowing what went into the new jiggle that he felt. At the same time though, there was the new voice, the darker one, the one that felt nothing but power with every step, the one that told him to feed again. The German Shepard shook his head, trying to dispel both voices, right now he just wanted to focus on his work.

On autopilot, he took a turn into his cubicle as they passed it, and did a double take when he saw it had been emptied. His computer, his files, all his decorations: gone. Andy chuckled. "Follow me, I'm taking you to the meeting that'll make your promotion official. Or, well..." Andy shrugged. "Either way you're not coming back to this cubicle."

The nonchalance of the way his friend said that sent a small chill down Andy's spine. Nevertheless, Eric followed him as the crocodile led him to the elevators he'd so rarely entered. The few times he'd been able to go upstairs to visit his friend he'd had to call in advance and wait until he was given permission. As the elevators doors opened to the plush offices on the upper floors, he understood why.

Despite the early hours, some of the higher-ups already sported filled, struggling guts with a casual, unconcerned air that told Eric that they gave their prey the same level of thought as a normal person gave the bagel they had for breakfast. He couldn't help but stare as Andy led him toward a heavy oak door at the end of the hall. Eric met the eyes of one of those early-bird predators, a large white tiger, who simply chuckled.

"You can always tell who the new ones are," he heard the tiger say as the pair arrived outside the door.

Andy pulled the weighty door open with surprising ease, revealing an opulent room filled with soft rugs, plush couches, and the largest bull that Eric had even seen ? in height and width. The bull stood nearly seven feet tall before taking his horns into account. His fur was a deep, shiny black that made his gold irises stand out even more than they would otherwise. He was as wide as he was tall, carrying not just a massive gut but also tremendous strength just below. Despite his weight ? and Eric was certain that this bull must have weighed at least a ton without exaggeration ? there was nothing soft about him. His whole body was wrapped in an impeccably tailored suit ? it had to be custom made ? which did little to hide his size but instead seemed to emphasize it without being ill-fitting. The bull rose as they entered and strode toward them with a certain unexpected grace given his size. "August Greene, CEO," the bull rumbled in a voice as deep and meaty as one would expect as he extended his hand. "You must be Mr. Eric Small."

Eric found himself staring at the gut of Mr. Greene, scarcely able to comprehend how many people must have contributed to creating it. There was something equally majestic and disturbing about it. Andy's elbow quickly digging into his side brought Eric back to reality enough, though, to realize that he should probably respond to the bull.

"U-um yes, sir," Eric shook Mr. Greene's hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

Mr. Greene chuckled, though his laugh was more of a low rumble that reverberated through the room. "Don't worry, many first timers take some time to get used to everything. Your friend here was a stammering mess when we first met," Andy looked at the ground, blushing slightly as the CEO reminisced. "What has he told you about what you'll be doing today?"

"N-nothing, other than that I won't be going back to my cubicle either way."

This brought out a guffaw from the bull. "No, no you certain won't. I'm happy to hear that, though. I love giving this spiel myself," Mr. Greene adjusted his tie. "The room you are standing in right now is the executive lounge. Assuming you make it through today, you still won't return to this room for a while until the next time this ceremony happens or find yourself among the ranks of upper management, so enjoy it while you can.

"Now, we've had you on our list of potential promotions for a while now. I know you only just proved your capability, but we've been looking for a good opportunity to promote you for some time. However, even though you've proven that you can eat others, we need you to prove that you have the will to do it again. In other words, we need to make sure that the first time was not a fluke."

As Mr. Greene was giving this speech, Eric noticed others entering the room, standing around the walls to watch. Each spectator was massive and wearing an impeccable suit. Mr. Greene went on. "Thus, today you will be devouring someone in front of the assembled managers of Greene and Union Technology. You are doing it now, first thing in the morning, so that we can be certain that you do indeed digest your prey and don't try to release them afterward. Now that you know our biggest secret, you either join us or you join us." Mr. Greene rubbed his stomach as he said that last line.

Suddenly the doors slammed shut. Eric jumped and spun around, seeing two suited men carrying in a fat male hyena, nude, bound, and gagged. The two men, whose suits did little hide the rippling muscle or large guts underneath, set the struggling hyena in front of Eric about a yard away. "This is Pop," Mr. Greene rumbled. "Though his name won't matter soon. In order to promote you, there must be an opening. Pop here is the lowest performing manager at this company at the moment. Either you eat him now and create your opening, or we unbind him and he gets to eat you for his second chance. Let this also serve as a warning to you. There is more to being a manager than eating ? we are a business after all ? so unless you want to end up in his place down the line, you must prove yourself otherwise."

Mr. Greene clapped his hands together. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, your meal."

Eric looked at Pop nervously. He hesitated for a moment as his conscience tried to make a stand, reasserting that this couldn't be right. He couldn't do this again, not to another person. Then his eyes wandered to Pop's gut. How many people had he eaten? Surely he wouldn't hesitate to eat Eric if Eric wouldn't eat him. A self-preservation instinct kicked in, and he knew that he had to eat Pop, he didn't have a choice. Still, he hesitated. He looked around the room at the assembled witnesses, and his eyes met those of the white tiger from earlier again. He looked down at the tiger's gut, still bulging, but now still. Eric thought about how casually the others seemed to regard their meals and felt that same predatory instinct from before stir again. He looked down again to Pop... no, this time he wasn't looking at Pop.

He was looking at food.

His stomach growled as he looked at the hyena. Suddenly eating him wasn't something he had to do, but something that he wanted to do. After all, the others went to all this trouble to get him ready, it would be rude to refuse their hospitality. Eric took a step forward, then another. The hyena looked at him with a mixture of fear and anger in his eyes, but it barely registered in Eric's head. Eric grabbed the hyena by the shoulders and pushed the hyena's head into his mouth, quickly swallowing once. Cheers arose from the gathered spectators.

The hyena struggled futilely as Eric worked his way up to his shoulders, restricting his arm movements. Mr. Greene strode over and said "Now that he can't do anything about it..." and undid the binds on the hyena's paws. Though now free to flail about, they did little to actually stop Eric's relentless swallowing, now up to the hyena's elbows. "Wouldn't want you to miss out on the best struggles," Mr. Greene said with a smile as he returned to his previous position.

The hyena was a more difficult meal than Johnson, Eric found. This was mostly because the hyena was significantly bigger, due to having been a predator himself. The hyena's round, squishy middle was a lot to fit into Eric's muzzle, leaving little room for Eric to breath, but through a combination of determination and hunger Eric worked his way past the widest part. As he gulped down the hyena's ass, a little room opened up for air, he took a moment to rest and catch his breath before continuing on to the legs.

His meal was kicking wildly, but to little effect. All it meant was that Eric had to take a moment to catch the flailing limbs and pin them together as he swallowed them down. It didn't take long for all that remained of the hyena in the outside world was his paws, and it only took a moment for them to slide inside too. With one last massive swallow, Eric sent the rest of the hyena tumbling into his gut. He sighed with relief at having finished his massive meal.

The room room erupted into congratulatory celebration. Eric looked down at his stomach. At some point while eating the hyena, his rapidly ballooning stomach had popped several buttons off his shirt. He hadn't noticed; he was too intoxicated by the predatory high at the time. His meal was struggling hard, clear pawprints pushing out at random, futilely trying to find a way out. Eric grinned and rubbed his swollen gut.

Andy jaunted over and threw his arm over Eric's shoulder. "Congratulations, Eric! I knew you had it in you," he said, beaming like a proud father. "You had me worried there for a second, but then your eyes seemed to change and I knew you'd do it."

"Thanks, I--" Eric was cut off by a massive burp from all the air that his meal displaced. "I ruined this shirt..."

"Don't worry, we'll loan you something to wear for the rest of the day," Mr. Greene said, handing Eric a business card. "But I recommend paying a visit to this tailor. He specializes in large men and is known for his...discretion in certain matters."

Eric slid the card into his pocket ? no mean feat with how tight these pants were now. The hyena gave a particularly strong struggle, causing Eric to stumble for a second. Andy laughed and rubbed Eric's bulging stomach. "It's no use, Pop. You know there's no getting out of there. If you didn't want to be dog fat, you should have been better at your job."

The celebration went on for another hour or so, with the hyena's struggles growing gradually weaker as it went on. Eric was introduced to many of the managers of the company. The white tiger, he found out, was his new boss Roger Pani, and the one whose performance reviews had doomed his meal. As the party wound down and the others started to return to their offices, Mr. Pani placed a strong paw on his shoulder. "Let me show you to your new office."

The tiger led him down a pair of hallways to a small office, with a desk, a filing cabinet, a couple chairs, and a small shelf to store or decorate how he wanted. In all honesty, it was not all that much bigger than the cubicle he'd left, but the window was nice, as were the perks of the job. Eric walked behind it, rubbing the soft leather of his new chair, admiring his new environment.

"I'll be back in a couple minutes with a new shirt for you," Mr. Pani said. Eric went to sit down in his chair when, with a loud rip, he felt a sudden new breeze on his ass. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off. "And some pants."

Eric nodded and Mr. Pani left the room. In the privacy of his own office, Eric rubbed his belly, the sound of digestion starting to grow louder. Inside his stomach, Pop gave one last spasm, then was still.