“Hey, that’s a weird looking bug.”

Skalavis froze as he heard those words. A bug? The microraptor’s feathers stood on end at that description. It wasn’t just an insult; it came awfully close to a statement of fact. He was barely half an inch tall and, with his long flowing wingarms and legs, it wasn’t hard to see how the tan-feathered creature could be mistaken for a mere insect.

The tiny being was struggling to cope with a late summer heatwave. It was too hot outside, so he’d snuck into this convenience store behind another customer. The air conditioning was a gift from the heavens, compared to the searing-hot pavement outside. His throat was parched, but the beverage bar in the back of the store would hopefully soon help that. Someone had spilled a drink not too long ago and hadn’t bothered cleaning it up. Skalavis, after looking around to ensure nobody would see him, swooped down and helped himself to the remains of the syrupy-sweet beverage like it was a pool of caramel-colored ambrosia. He filled his beak again and again, trying to sate his thirst, but in doing so he’d briefly lost focus on his surroundings.

“What should we do with it?”

The next words snapped the tiny one out of it. He looked up at the two teenagers above him - a coyote and some sort of lizard - as if they were two malevolent gods deciding how to punish some damned soul. Skalavis tried to get up and fly away, but the canine lowered one paw to keep him trapped upon the counter. The world went mostly dark for the little raptor, trapped in a cage of fingers, with just a few hints of artificial light peeking in between those tree-like digits.

“Toss him in the Slurpee machine!”

“That’s sick! Let’s do it.”

Before he could react, the canine’s hand shifted around Skalavis, trapping him between the coarse pad of a forefinger and the equally-rough surface upon the thumb. The microraptor felt briefly ill from how quickly he was moved about, but soon he had more pressing concerns, like the lake of cherry-red frozen beverage now exposed beneath him. He struggled, but it was entirely useless; all he did was rip a few feathers out of his body as those digits remained firmly clasped around his body.

“Bye bye bug!”

Rather than simply dropping the ‘bug’ into the beverage, the coyote flicked his victim downward into the frigid slush. Skalavis didn’t have a chance to open his wings before he landed in that churning lake. The two teens laughed and high-fived one another as they watched the small being struggle to stay above the surface as the machine mixed its contents.

“Shit, someone’s coming.”

Things around Skalavis darkened considerably once the lizard put the lid back on the Slurpee machine. It was already becoming a challenge for the cold-blooded creature to stay afloat as heat was sucked out of his body. He was becoming lethargic, which left him susceptible to being pulled under the surface. That in turn left him gasping for air when he was able to breathe again, but he occasionally choked on a mouthful of liquid. He tried to peer through the machine’s opening when he saw someone coming, but he was pulled under once again…

This time, however, he came out of the machine entirely. He looked around at his new prison, one made of transparent plastic, with the store’s logo emblazoned on the side in lettering that (to the micro) approached billboard proportions. He looked up and saw he was in the cup of a largely blue dragon, who felt that this cherry slush would make a fine drink on a hot day. Though Skalavis tried to shout and make himself heard, the rumbling of refrigeration not only drowned out his voice but nearly deafened the minuscule dinosaur. He didn’t have long to contemplate this though, as more of the frozen treat fell upon him like a slow-moving waterfall.

While being in the machine was difficult, the constantly-moving fluid occasionally pushed him up to the surface. Now, all he could do was try climb upward as if pushing himself out of an avalanche of heavy, wet snow. Driven on by pure adrenaline and desperation, Skalavis dragged himself to the surface and gasped once again. He would just need to fall off this cherry-flavored mountain onto a table and he could be free. Just one last step to his escape. That’s all he needed.

The drink was set upon the counter. “Just the Big Gulp today?” the clerk asked, to which the dragon nodded. During all this, Skalavis was trying to pull himself free and throw himself onto the checkout counter. Money exchanged hands, and the dragon opened up his straw. The plastic tube was the size of an elevator shaft, and it came down directly around Skalavis, trapping him in a space even the micro found uncomfortably small. He looked up, for lack of anywhere else to look, and saw nothing but the dark interior of a thirsty dragon’s maw.

He tried to escape, as compelled by his fight or flight instincts, but there was nowhere for him to go this time. His ears popped as the dragon began to drink and suction upon the straw pulled him directly into that eager, waiting maw. The slush melted quickly in that hot, humid environment, leaving Skalavis awash in a slimy mix of cherry flavoring and saliva. He was tossed about by the dragon’s tongue as he savored that drink. The level of fluid increased as the scaly one took in a large mouthful.

And then, with a big gulp, Skalavis was sent on a one-way trip to the dragon’s stomach.