Brad’s six tiny, thin legs delivered a taste of the potent urine that had been expelled so recently from a massive horse cock that it remained warm and foamy.
His proboscis, that alien appendage to help him suck up nutrients, pumped into the puddle and helped him guzzle the urine while mingling in the crowded company of dozens of other flies.
Perfectly conscious of his actions, the transformed scientist felt revulsion but could not muster the strength to overcome his instincts and depart the alluring puddle.
He was still struggling with his disgust when he heard the loud whirring of two pairs of gossamer wings.
A slender shadow darted across the urine puddle, dispersing flies in all directions. The long, skinny insect used four wings to bank sharply, making a tight turn and flying back over the puddle.
Brad watched as the larger insect with an elongated tube of a body snatched a fellow fly out of mid-air with a front pair of spiky limbs. A sharp pair of mandibles made a sawing motion and a round, dark object fell with a meager splash along the edge of the puddle, not far from Brad’s location.
In the seconds since the attack began, the transformed scientist had remained motionless, transfixed, as he observed the efficient predator.
The common dragonfly, which was much larger than the gathered houseflies, was a bigger insect that preyed on all sorts of other winged kin.
Brad felt a shock of panic as he recognized the decapitated head of another housefly in the shallows of the yellow-tinted puddle. The faceted eyes of the unfortunate fly stared unblinkingly as a lackluster pair of antennae twitched.
Meanwhile, the dragonfly had landed near enough that Brad picked up the grating sound as the carnivorous insect ground the rest of the headless fly’s body into a pulp.
While watching the dragonfly grind the housefly’s body into an easily consumed glob, Brad suddenly noticed that the larger insect’s large eyes had fastened onto his tiny, vulnerable form.
Brad’s shock had held him in place far longer than was wise, even as the other flies with which he had established kinship had fled. None of the swarm had returned, leaving him entirely exposed.
As he stared at the other marauding insect, he saw clearly how the species had earned the name dragonfly. The resemblance to the mythical beast was hard to miss, especially with the size superiority the dragonfly held over the mere housefly. The segmented body looked spiky and armored, just like a dragon of yore.
Brad scanned desperately for some sort of shelter, but the only possibility was a discarded plastic water bottle.
The container looked as big as a ship, but the important thing was the lid had been removed, which offered an entry that would be denied the much larger dragonfly.
If…if he could fucking make it before the predator could snatch him.
As Brad worked up the nerve to take flight, a stable employee led a horse past the puddle. The surprise committed Brad to flight, and he launched himself into the air about the same time the monster dropped the scraps of the other fly’s mangled body and aimed its own flight in a straight line toward him.
Brad veered, using four pairs of equine limbs and two human legs stuffed into towering muddy boots as obstacles, hoping to shake off the huge flying insect. Four wings were better than two, however, and the dragonfly easily managed to fly around the huge moving limbs and close the gap. A spiky pair of limbs grasped toward the housefly just as Brad popped inside the plastic bottle.
The dragonfly appeared puzzled by the prey’s disappearance. Landing on top of the curve of plastic, the dragonfly groomed some remaining fragments from its earlier meal away from its face and mouthparts.
Inside the bottle, Brad huddled, ignoring the pain the dragonfly’s spiky limbs had inflicted when they tore a gash into his thorax but failed to grasp him out of midair. A pale green liquid seeped from the wound.
Even after the shadow of the dragonfly lifted when the monster flew away, Brad cowered inside the plastic cavern with the knowledge that a new peril now existed in the vicinity of the massive horse barn. The sooner he could get the hell away and start his journey back home, the better.