Sam woke up confused. He wasn't in his bed and the room was dimly lit. He sat up and immediately had a sinking feeling; he was in a cage. He looked around the room. There were other cages, some empty and some also had people in them. He looked at the decor and how the cages were aligned. Everything looked very posh and elegant, like a jewelry store. The obvious difference was that this shop dealt not in precious stones, but in human lives instead. The tables and cages were aligned so that customers could inspect all of the "goods" and decide which one they most wanted. This is when Sam's memory came flooding back of the night before.

He had been part of a colony of humans that lived in the pantry of an upscale hotel. It was a massive, walk-in pantry full of the finest foods the giantess world had to offer and they found it easy to construct a small, hidden settlement at the back among the old kitchen utensils and appliances that was pretty much never touched, but not thrown out. He never really had a family; human lives ended very abruptly in this city. Sam didn't know if he was born in that settlement or rescued from somewhere else, but when every day was a challenge for survival people didn't care too much about things like that. Luckily, there weren't giant bugs or anything of the sort in this world so it was pretty safe as long as they scavenged at night. At least, until the night before.

Two of the kitchen staff had walked into the pantry to get some food. It was during daylight, so everyone in the settlement was either in hiding or out on an expedition somewhere else far away, including Sam. He was foraging for food in recently vacated rooms of the hotel which they navigated via the ventilation system.

"I finally started my magic courses!" the first giantess to enter said. She appeared to be about college age, and this was probably a job in which she was getting experience as a sous chef for her education. The women walked dangerously close to the human settlement, evidently looking for something which wasn't often used.

"Wow! I can't wait to start mine. I graduate high school this year," replied the second.

"Yeah, they started us off pretty small. All we learned was boring stuff like how to feel the flow of magic around us. They did teach us a spell though!" Suddenly, the giantess put her hands together. "Detect life," she said forcefully. "See, it lets me feel the life energy of creatures around me. I can tell where you are even with my eyes closed, watch." The giantess closed her eyes and spun around in place a few times. "You're right... there!" She opened her eyes, pointing directly at the old refrigerator the humans were livign behind.

"No dummy, I'm over here" laughed her coworker. "Maybe you could use some more practice."

The first giantess blinked a couple times. She was sure she'd felt something in that direction. Suddenly, a wide grin broke out on her face. "Or maybe I don't," she said, making her way over. She moved a few boxes and peered over the pile of junk, her eyes meeting the gaze of all the terrified humans who had already begun to flee. "There's a human nest over here!"

"Really?! That power's amazing, you need to teach me!" the younger of the two said, giddily making her way over and beginning to move the junk. "Hehe, look at them running. They're in a corner, there's nowhere to go little ones," she giggled in a tone that terrified her prey.

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A few hours later, Sam returned home from his expedition. When he emerged from the ventilation shaft, he froze in his tracks. He could see that the boxes around the settlement had been rearranged and knew that meant danger.

"Somnum!" he heard a voice boom. Before he could realize what was happening, he was fast asleep. The 2 girls had wiped out his settlement, toying with every last resident until they died, and told management about the nest. A giantess was waiting in ambush around the corner from the vent to cast a sleeping spell on any other humans that showed up. Presumably, they were all rounded up and sold to a Human shop that was just around the corner from the hotel.

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Back in the present, Sam looked around. He couldn't figure out one thing; why was he in the second row of tables, away from all the other humans? The cages at the front were pretty much full, but his row was empty save for him. He could see the back of some label on his cage, but both rows of cages faced the door through which a customer would walk in. The label on the other row was also facing away from him. He tried to call out to the people in the cages at the front, but found he couldn't speak. Either through magical or alchemical means, he and all the other humans in the shop had been rendered mute. It looked like it was early morning, based on the traffic outside of the store windows. At this moment, a women in business attire appeared outside. She unlocked and opened the front door, then turned the lights on. She didn't even look at any of the humans in the store as she moved over to the front desk, sat down in the chair, and turned the lights on. She pulled out her phone and began reading.

Sam wasn't sure how much time had passed. It couldn't have been more than a couple hours, but stuck in his position, it felt like an eternity. He knew better than to try and break free, the tables were high enough off the ground that a fall would be lethal. The store owner stood up from her desk, and distributed water to all the cages. It was like a dog's bowl. It was humilating to drink from, but welcome after all he'd been through. The shopkeeper still hadn't said a word, and at the last cage in her rounds, she hesitated, She opened the latch, and silently reached in, plucking a middle aged women from the cage. The woman tried to scream in terror and began flailing wildly, but it was no good. The shopkeep was wearing a business skirt and a blouse with a business jacket. She pulled forward her waistband and wordlessly dropped the woman into her panties. A shiver of pleasure went down her spine, and she pressed her legs together to squeeze the unfortunate captive enough to hurt her, but not break anything. She sat back at the desk, and began scrolling through her smartphone again.

Around 20 minutes later, 2 women walked in. They were chatting about something, but the first one to walk in noticed Sam in the cage at the back, and her eyes lit up immediately. "Hey, look Natasha! The store has another wild human in stock!"

So that's what the label is, Sam thought to himself. The people at the front must have been in captivity their whole lives. Humans that had lived free were more sought after due to their willingness to fight back when the giantess toyed with them; or at least do what they could to resemble fighting back against someone 50 times their size.

Both women immediately rushed over to Sam's cage and began eyeing him. The one that had spoke was wearing a work outfit for a florist's shop in the town, and he could ascertain from her nametag that her name was Ashley. Both girls appeared to be about 19 or so. Ashley looked like your typical popular high school senior. She was wearing leggings, a low cut top, and was fit. She was white, but had tanned skin and definitely spent a lot of time outside, probably a soccer player or something. She had brown eyes, a cute face, and long, flowing brown hair.

Natasha on the other hand was, frankly obese. She still had curves, but had a noticeable belly, and a huge chest. Sam couldn't even believe how big her hips were in comparison to his tiny size. She was also wearing leggings that looked a bit too tight for her, creating a bit of a muffin top with her navel exposed thanks to the crop top she was wearing. She crouched down and rested her arms and chin on the edge of the table, putting her eye level with Sam. She had straight, blond hair and blue eyes. Interestingly, her face didn't seem to have a double chin but it was definitely round and chubby. "He's pretty cute. Someone's been working out," she giggled. "I like his hair, it's so blonde." Sam had unconsciously backed all the way to the back of the cage, and at this moment, he also realized that he himself was naked. as the pudgy giantess ogled him.

Natasha stood up. "How much for this one?" she asked to the shopkeep who had just begun walking over.

"$250," she replied in a monotone. One might expect someone in the service industry to at least act friendlier, but humans were such an always in demand commodity that it's not necessary to make sales.

"$250?!" Natasha exclaimed. "That's pretty steep."

"Don't you see how he's the only wild human here?" Ashley asked, the term wild human labelling as though he were livestock making Sam realize all the more how utterly helpless he was here. "Clearly there's a shortage and they're in high demand right now." The shopkeeper merely nodded and pushed up her glasses.

"Hmm, I guess it's worth it," Natasha said. "But there's only one of him. How do we decide who gets him?"

"I've got an idea," Ashley said with a smirk on her face. "How about we let him choose? Whoever doesn't get him can just buy a few of the ones at the front for a fraction of the price."

"Yeah, I like that! Alright little guy, who do you want?" Natasha said sweetly, looking at Sam.

A- Point at Natasha

B- Point at Ashley