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Well this is two days late isn't it? I'm sorry about that. But, this is this year's Halloween story.\n\nI've been having a very rough time. So, please forgive me when I say that, this story is actually an implied sequel to a story *I haven't even posted yet*. You'll see that story soon, but, it's still on the editing table. It's next up on the docket! But nothing should really be considered required reading to enjoy this.\n\nSo what is it? Well, for one thing, the fucking bitch is 120 pages, so bring a snack (lol). Take your time.\n\nThis isn't meant to get you off. I mean, it has parts that might, don't get me wrong! It's me we're talking about. But, the bulk of this thing is about atmosphere, tension, and danger.\n\nWelcome to our first step into the Silent Universe, the Outside of my vore-world, and an answer to why Consent License holders would even exist in a vore-world. Well, better in here, then... out *there*\n\nAnd our girls are about to find out what is out there.\n\nMy good friends give an applause for our guest stars (from Eka's Portal)\n\nCailey, owned by @Unicorn\nSai'Ryn, owned by @ErRynArya, and a demi-human, fyi\nMelanie, owned by @slimshod\n\nThe rest are mine. Extra love for Cailey, our central heroine!\n\nThis story is experimenting with my new disclaimer and appendix system. Please be kind~ But it bears mentioning again here--this story gets pretty intense with the slurs. I'm not gonna lie, writing the word c*nt over and over again was NOT... EASY. Haate that word.\n\nHopefully you all hate it less and will enjoy!\n\nNow off you go, you have a day at the pier to experience!\n\n... Just play nice. ", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Hello! Well this is two days late isn't it? I'm sorry about that. But, this is this year's Halloween story.

I've been having a very rough time. So, please forgive me when I say that, this story is actually an implied sequel to a story *I haven't even posted yet*. You'll see that story soon, but, it's still on the editing table. It's next up on the docket! But nothing should really be considered required reading to enjoy this.

So what is it? Well, for one thing, the fucking bitch is 120 pages, so bring a snack (lol). Take your time.

This isn't meant to get you off. I mean, it has parts that might, don't get me wrong! It's me we're talking about. But, the bulk of this thing is about atmosphere, tension, and danger.

Welcome to our first step into the Silent Universe, the Outside of my vore-world, and an answer to why Consent License holders would even exist in a vore-world. Well, better in here, then... out *there*

And our girls are about to find out what is out there.

My good friends give an applause for our guest stars (from Eka's Portal)

Cailey, owned by \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUnicorn\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUnicorn\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sai'Ryn, owned by \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tErRynArya\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tErRynArya\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
, and a demi-human, fyi
Melanie, owned by \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tslimshod\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tslimshod\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t


The rest are mine. Extra love for Cailey, our central heroine!

This story is experimenting with my new disclaimer and appendix system. Please be kind~ But it bears mentioning again here--this story gets pretty intense with the slurs. I'm not gonna lie, writing the word c*nt over and over again was NOT... EASY. Haate that word.

Hopefully you all hate it less and will enjoy!

Now off you go, you have a day at the pier to experience!

... Just play nice. ", "writing": "Disclaimer and Warnings: This story contains violence against children, depictions of rape and torture, and sexism. This could be a rough one, so don't read if you are squeamish, and not just because of the sexual fetishes involved - this story is meant for horror purposes, but it does contain sexual content too.\n\nYou already know I don't condone violence against real children. But let us make this clear - this story is not for people who harm other people with their fetishes. That is what I do not condone. Don't misuse my story, and don't let it misuse you.\n\nAgreed? Then enjoy!\n\nThe cast of characters can be found in appendix I, and FAQ about Silent Universe can be found in appendix II.\n\n.\n\n.\n\n.\n\n\tBlackness. She became self-aware amidst a plane of endless shadow. She felt cold, lonely, and scared, even before she was aware she felt these things. They felt as distant as light. After a moment, she wondered why she felt this way. There was this... beating in her chest.\n\n\t`That's my heart,' she thought, and then remembered something critical - she's a person, and she was feeling fear, and cold. Where was her bed?\n\n\t`I'm asleep.' Her mind, thank goodness, can do some of the thinking for her. Doesn't she have a body? Yeah, of course... how could she forget that? She felt somehow foreign inside herself... Or was she inside herself?\n\n\tThe panic became more real, as she realized she couldn't feel anything, only absence, only cold - a fake cold at that. Really, she felt cold only because she couldn't feel anything. She felt nothing - not even air, not even space.\n\n\tShe'd had sleep paralysis before - this was similar, more extreme of course, but she'd had a taste of it before. She tried to remind herself, she's surely in bed, struggling to wake up. The rest will make sense if she can just open her eyes, get someone to shake her awake... if she can scream loud enough, her parents will come and get her, surely!\n\n\tBut then she realized her eyes were open. Or rather, she felt like she lacked the mechanisms to close her eyes. She was floating in a void. Her panic mounted, as this all started feeling... real. That this was somehow not in her head...! But, where was she? How could she? How could she feel like she was somewhere that felt like nothing, the absence of anything?\n\n\t`What if you're in the Booetes void,' her mind proposed. `What if you're in a void megaparsecs large, where no one can find you, where there are no stars, no atoms, not anything at all.'\n\n\tNo! There was no way... But that's what it felt like. She felt like she was somewhere so vast, so empty, that not even light could make the journey before being devoured by the void itself. Supposedly, the reason the night sky isn't blazing white, is because light gets stretched until it nearly stops existing, stretched by the distances it has to travel, stretched by those distances stretching. The universe, she'd read, was expanding. But it did not expand into anything, except itself. A scary thought was how space could one day stretch so much that even particles are torn apart. That was the watered down version, but it left her asking herself...\n\n\tWas this the end of time? Or was she dead? Perhaps this was what awaited anyone who dies, an empty void. How long was she going to float here for? What did she do to deserve this? She felt like she was crying, she didn't want to spend forever in this nothing. She didn't want to feel her mind get stretched by ghostly, expanding nothingness!\n\n\t`Please, where's my bed! Where's my bed?! How do I get back to my bed?!'\n\n\tAll she could feel was her own trembling heart... She only wanted to scream...\n\n\tSuddenly, something felt warm. Her vision became a dull red, and after all that blackness, it was almost blinding.\n\n\tHer body felt numb. `Sleep paralysis!' Oh, thank goodness, it was just sleep paralysis after all... She could almost pee herself from fear, and relief, that that was all in her head.\n\n\tShe felt real cold now. Chilly. She must have kicked off her blanket in panic, and she didn't have very much fur to keep her warm.\n\n\tShe urged her body to move, to jerk, and found her arms twitching to life. Her eyes moved, and she realized her eyes were closed, the dull-light filtered through her eye-lids. Her mouth was dry, and felt salty.\n\n\tShe inhaled, her panicked body eager for the salty air... She must be by the ocean...\n\n\tWait, what?!\n\n\tShe'd only ever been to the ocean once. The sun got too hot for her. How could she smell salty air?\n\n\tFinally... Cailey opened her eyes.\n\n\tShe felt fully awake now. Blinking, Cailey remembered clearly now who she was and why this was wrong. The albino, pre-teen, lithe kangaroo girl, was lying on an uncomfortable straw-stuffed old spring mattress. She stared at a wall that couldn't be further from her bedroom. It was blank, wood, worn, splintering. It was an old, green-stained, salt-soaked wood, as if made from flotsam. More than that, the wall was covered in red vines. No, they were... veins.\n\n\tCailey opened her eyes wider, blinking. She jolted away from the wall, and saw that red fluid was moving inside the `vines.' Her eye's darted from vine to vine, observing how they branched off into smaller vines, how they looked just like pictures she'd seen in her school-books, pictures of the cardio-vascular system.\n\n\tThe wall was covered in blood-vessels. And they were pulsing.\n\n\t``Holy shiiiit,'' Cailey swore. ``What the hell is going on here?''\n\n\tHer ears flickered, and she heard a... ticking sound. She turned her head, slowly taking in the rest of the room. She didn't really want to look, but her eyes fed her visual cortex the rest of the strange, empty room.\n\n\tAside from this crappy bed, the only other thing in the room was the ceiling-light. No ordinary chandelier, it was the source of the ticking sound, and the epicenter of the veins growing in the room.\n\n\tThe light was a gigantic, glassy heart. Disgustingly accurate, it appeared made of blown glass, or some kind of plastic, and it pulsated subtly as blood ran through it. The ambient, surreal illumination in the room seemed to come from the beating heart, although how, Cailey couldn't tell. It just did. The greasy, glassy heart barely moved, barely beat, but made the characteristic lub dub of a beating heart all the same.\n\n\tThe detail on the heart was incredible... even fascinating. The curse of a curious mind like Cailey's, she couldn't help but admire how there was almost... organic imperfections in the glass-work, bits of fat and cartilage, perhaps even cholesterol build-up inside the translucent red valves and ventricles. Heartstrings danced in the heart. It was a disgusting thing to look at, disgusting for how accurate it was. It truly looked alive.\n\n\tArteries descended down from the lamp and onto the floor, criss-crossing and sprouting everywhere, crawling up along the walls, only to redeposit into itself at the ceiling where the heart hung. However, one large blood vessel dipped down into the floorboards, going who knows where, and an additional blood-vessel seemed to be coming from the hallway past the jagged, crooked, worn door that sealed her in the macabre room. Seeing blood circulating into this room from some other part of this... What was this, a shack?\n\n\tCailey swallowed the scream that she wanted to let out. Curiosity killed the cat, but a curious, intelligent mind was prone to forward-thinking. She did not want to make loud noises until she knew if she was alone here, or not. She wanted to cry for help, but, she considered the possibility that screaming would be dangerous here. Instead, she looked at the small gaps in the splintering boards that formed her room. She could hear the distant sloshing of water... very close. The smell of salt-water... made her think that, this room could possibly be some kind of sea-shack. Perhaps she was sitting near a dock.\n\n\tIt had to be night-time. Darkness seeped beyond the gaps in the boards, and a gentle draft told her that the outside-world was on the other side of the wall she'd been staring at, when she woke up.\n\n\tCailey struggled to maintain a steady breath, finding that she was slowly slipping into hyperventilation. A few moments longer, and she was gasping for air.\n\n\t`C'mon, you have to find out where you are,' Cailey told herself. She clenched her eyes, tearing up, and returned her swimming vision to the tarnished, off-green door knob. The once-gleaming copper knob, corroded by the salty air, felt unusually warm in her hand. She turned it.\n\n\tSqueak.\n\n\tCailey stopped her breath, the sound shocked her silent. Her ears pointed forward, and she took her hand off the knob to cover her mouth, when she heard the gentle in-out of her lungs continuing.\n\n\tShe stifled her mouth, willing her breath to stop. Her ears listened at the door, her mind wondering briefly why she couldn't get her breathing under control...\n\n\t`Wait, there's no breath on my hands, that's not me.'\n\n\tCailey's eyes widened as she saw the door knob wiggle.\n\n\tSomething was breathing other than her, and just on the other side of the door - something subtle, steady and warbling, like a breeze rushing over a glass bottle, or a giant metal pipe.\n\n\tCailey turned her head to the bed. Suckling a panicked draft of air, she scurried back over to the bed as quietly as she dared. The door knob squeaked behind her, turning.\n\n\t`Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!'\n\n\tOnto her knees, avoiding the glassy arteries, she crawled under the bed and rolled to the end, covering her mouth as she stopped to look toward the door.\n\n\tIt drifted open, the hinges crying out from rust and tarnish, the wood cracking as it was forced to accommodate for the strain of the moving door. Cailey could see a pillar of shadow in the doorway, and it crept forward.\n\n\tA rattling, distant breath filled the room, like an air-vent in an old warehouse building, weak, but large. The moving black shape did not betray the movement of paws, feet, or hooves. It seemed to glide. It lingered.\n\n\tCuriosity burned in Cailey, a dangerous moth-attracting torch, betraying her fear and terror. That curiosity forced her to scooch forward, trying to see more of this tall, pillar-shape. She didn't dare go further than a foot, and it was not enough to see the thing's face, but it was tall - a towering silhouette. It almost looked like a figure in robes, except, it felt, felt more like a robed-figure whose shadow was cast onto a wall, and then came to life and walked away from whomever casted the shadow. It lacked texture, definition, just a perfect black curtain.\n\n\tIt was so tall, she couldn't even see if it had arms. It might as well have been a literal pillar of shadow. And that breathing sound, like a rasping vent-shaft, was coming from the entity's entire body. Cailey even felt a draft coming off of it, smelling a strange mix of ozone and gun-powder.\n\n\tSoundlessly, without disturbance to itself or the floor, the figure backed out of the room and down the hall, to the left.\n\n\tAlone, Cailey allowed herself to breathe, but she couldn't bring herself to move. Her body trembled, and she felt her bladder give-out on her. Crying, the relief of being alone again made her feel just how alone she was.\n\n\tShe'd trade her prized singing-voice to see her parents right now. Cailey was a popular child-prodigy student of her school's academia, and a favorite of mentoring adults eager for children like Cailey who excel. A gifted student, but still just an ordinary kid in the end.\n\n\tLike many kids, she faces social issue - teased for her albinism, teased for being different, teased for having the approval of the teachers and a talent that people envied. She wanted to be a prized performer one day, to find the magic and glamour that her voice could one day claim for her. But, she still lived the humdrum of being an ordinary child, an ordinary student, who has to wake-up, eat, spend the day doing repetitive tasks, only to come home and sleep.\n\n\tHow the hell did she wake up from that, to this? Shivering beneath some unknowably old fisherman's bed in a sea-shack growing fucking blood-vessels from a glass-heart attached to the freaking ceiling?!\n\n\tThe promise of glamour her few, precious gifts offered, separating her from a life of monotony, that could make all the teasing worth it in the end... she'd trade it now, and subsume into the general student body, if it could get her into her parents arms again, and away from this horrid room.\n\n\tCailey huddled herself, crying, begging silently for her parents to magically find her, rescue her from this nightmare. She briefly wondered if she'd prefer being in that... void again, instead of this place.\n\n\tThen the scream came.\n\n\tCailey jolted up, hitting her head on the bed. She was about to curse herself out, when she realized that had come from outside her room - that wasn't her! And it was a person's voice!\n\n\tWait, what if that thing came back?\n\n\tBut then, a second voice, and a third, shouting for help, and asking who else was there.\n\n\t``Hello?! Help, I'm stuck, the door won't open!''\n\n\t``Hey! I hear you, can you hear me? My door's locked, or something! It's just spinning and junk!''\n\n\t``Mommy! MOMMY!!''\n\n\tThe fire of curiosity ignited again. Cailey couldn't ignore this. The promise of companions made her feel more courageous, or perhaps more fool-hearty. She crawled out from the bed, and toward the doorway. Her body felt sore... How long was she pitying herself for?\n\n\tCailey tilted her head out the door-frame, looking left and right. To the left, where the creature had glided, the hallway ended at a blank-wall and a path leading right to some other room. The right, lead to a line of doors, ending in a dead-end wall. In front of her, and slightly to the right, was the second room door in this hallway. The door was shaking, the knob turning uselessly, as someone tried to get out.\n\n\tCailey stepped out into the hallway. Her room seemed to be the first room in the hallway. Most of the other doors were now jittering.\n\n\tWhy was her door the only one that could open? Or was it that the door couldn't open correctly from the inside? One by one, she saw that there was a little turn-lock on each door - the knobs were all backwards!\n\n\t``Hold on, I'm going to try unlocking this thing,'' Cailey warned.\n\n\t``What? Who's there? Hello?''\n\n\t``Don't worry, I'm getting you out of there, get ready.''\n\n\tCailey unlocked the door, and stood back. The door slowly swung open, and a small face peered around the ancient door. Cailey looked at the left part of the hall - no approaching shadowy figure yet.\n\n\tThe girl in the room was a goat-girl, much younger than Cailey was. Cailey was almost a teenager, but this girl looked about seven. She had creamy tan fur, and strawberry blond hair - short. She was wearing a white night-shirt and blue pajama pants depicting shooting stars. Cailey realized she too was in her pajamas, small defense against the cold-night drafts leaking in from the floorboards.\n\n\t``Hi...'' Cailey whispered.\n\n\tThe goat-girl pulled away, fearful. She looked over the older girl with uncertainty. ``Who are you? Where am I?''\n\n\t``I'm Cailey... Um... I don't... know where this is...''\n\n\tThe goat-girl's face fell, and she trembled. ``Oh...'' She teared up. ``Where's my Mommy and Daddy?''\n\n\tCailey swallowed. ``Let's... get everyone else out of their rooms, they're stuck. What was your name?''\n\n\tThe goat whimpered. ``Lylie... I'm Lylie.''\n\n\tLie-lee, huh? ``Okay Lylie, c'mon, let's unlock these doors.''\n\n\tCailey looked down the hall. No monster. Lylie followed her to the other doors.\n\n\t``I can hear you! Who is there?''\n\n\t``Thank goodness, can you get me out of here?''\n\n\tCailey and Lylie unlocked the doors, letting grateful, scared girls out into the hall, each one suspicious of the others, asking questions no one had answers to.\n\n\tThere were eight of them now. They formed a ring in the hallway, Cailey looking nervously at the hallway-entrance, scared that the sound surely would be bringing the creature.\n\n\tLeft of Cailey was Lylie, the goat. Now that the girls all recognized that they knew nothing, Cailey could get a look at the others. Left to Lylie, was a snow-white kitten in pink pajamas depicting unicorns, but she was wearing a Transformers hoodie underneath it.\n\n\tLeft of the white-kitten was an orange fox with cinnamon-brown fur on the gloves of her pelt. She had blonde-hair with pink highlights on the very front of her bangs. She was wearing a single, overly large adult-sized plaid-button-up shirt, making it easy to see her fur beneath. She looked less scared than the other girls, yet, somehow more worried. Hard to judge that expression...\n\n\tLeft of blondie, was... oh, well, another blonde-girl. Left of foxy, was a blonde-cow girl. She looked like she could almost be Lylie's sister, the little cow was a little short and chubby, and like all cows she wears it well. Her fur was creamy-tan, but unlike Lylie her hair was even blonder. She looked terrified, and was blushing hard at the other girls, and for good reason. She was almost naked - only a pair of panties covered her body. Also, she had all these weird lines drawn over her, as if to mark the boundaries of where muscle-tissue starts and stops on her person. It looked familiar, but Cailey couldn't remember why... If she had to guess, this girl must have been at a sleep-over, and got pranked.\n\n\tCailey wondered again how they all got here. Kidnapped from their beds? But no one seemed to know each other... Ugh, that curiosity again, c'mon Cailey, focus!\n\n\tLeft of blondie-cow was, ugh, another blonde-girl. And not just kind of blonde, super-blonde. Actually, it was easier to think of her as a solid mass of golden fleece. This girl was almost kind of scary looking. She was a very small, meek looking golden-lamb, emphasis on the golden. She was almost uncanny, with huge, doeful blue eyes, a rather large head, subtle muzzle, and short limbs. To Cailey, she looked like she was almost a cartoon character made flesh - any more toon-like and Cailey would have felt convinced she was a Roger Rabbit-style invader from some animated world. She was only just barely non-cartoon looking enough to look like a real animal, but it still creeped her out. Other than that, this girl was pretty cute... She was completely naked, but, with the sheer density of her golden-fleece, that did not matter.\n\n\tLeft of the golden-lamb, was a sharp contrast. Tall, thin, athletic, and utterly naked, was an almost-furless creature. Cailey wasn't sure what this creature was, looked a little bit like some kind of ape, but so distantly that she discredited it immediately. She had long black hair with red highlights. She smelled like a girl, but had male-parts between her legs, and, unfortunately, her canine-looking penis was throbbing with mild arousal. Yuck... Well, that perhaps isn't important right now. This girl also sported a pair of wolf-ears on her head, and a matching tail of black fur and white tufts. Whatever she was, she was a hybrid!\n\n\tShe was also glaring at Cailey for some reason...\n\n\tCailey didn't have a word for that girl, but here it might be listed as demi-human. To the left of the wolf-girl, was girl-number-eight, who was in a long pink night-gown that matched her pink-fur. She was a rabbit, with long, floppy ears. She was as pink as strawberry milk, and even smelled like sweet strawberries, and covered in cute little white speckles. She had chin-length red hair.\n\n\tAnd to the left of the Easter-bunny? Cailey herself. Eight strange girls, in a strange shack, seemingly abducted from their beds... But better to make sure.\n\n\t``So, no one knows where this is?'' Cailey asked. ``Okay, so, it looks like all of us were sleeping before we got here, is that right?''\n\n\tThe group quieted down, the smaller girls losing focus as they stared uneasily at the pulsing, glass-like veins sprawling the hallway. Everyone seemed to be thinking about it.\n\n\t``Yeah,'' said the wolf-girl. ``Yeah I think so.''\n\n\t``Last thing I can think of, I was in my bed,'' said the white-kitten. ``Mommy just read me a story and turned the light off.''\n\n\tThe fox girl cleared her throat. ``I was unconscious, yeah.''\n\n\tStrange wording, but sure... Everyone agreed, they'd been sleeping. It reminded Cailey of her equivalent of the Langoliers, although she understood that novel having fur-pelted people waking up on the abandoned airplane. The comparison filled Cailey with dread, remembering that creature... She did not like realizing how similar that was, all of them waking up here after having been asleep in their beds.\n\n\t``Does anyone remember anything strange before falling asleep?'' Cailey asked. ``Out of the ordinary?''\n\n\tThe girls all seemed to strain with concentration, except for the wolf-girl, who was eyeing Cailey up and down. Why was she giving the kangaroo such a stink-eye?\n\n\t``No, why, did you?'' the wolf-girl asked. ``Uhh, exactly, who are you?''\n\n\t``Umm... I'm Cailey. What's your name?''\n\n\t``Leader.''\n\n\t``Leader? Your name is `leader?'''\n\n\tThe wolf-girl chuckled. ``No, I'm saying you can call me leader.''\n\n\tCailey stared, a dip in her stomach as her experience with bullies raised a serious red-flag. And sure enough...\n\n\t``Alright you bitches, listen up,'' the wolf-girl said, stepping forward. The younger girls winced.\n\n\t``Ooooo, you just said a bad wooord!'' the white-kitten said.\n\n\tThe wolf-girl barked at the kitten, making her jump back with fur-fluffed.\n\n\t``Hey!'' Cailey stood shocked. It was bad enough they were kidnapped without this being tacked on!\n\n\t``I'm Sai'Ryn, and clearly I'm the oldest one here,'' the wolf-girl said, hands on her hips, and practically brandishing her dull-erection. ``And, I'm the only one here with a cock, so, I'm going to call the shots. I'm the wolf, and you're the sheep, some of you literally it seems...'' She licked her lips at the golden-lamb, who squeaked and pressed against the wall. ``So I'm going to corral you bitches. C'mon now, up against the wall.''\n\n\t``Excuse me, but, do we even need a leader?'' Cailey asked. ``Look, I don't think we have - ``\n\n\t``What did you just say, meat?'' Sai'Ryn snarled, tilting her head haughtily.\n\n\tCailey sighed. Here we go... It's inescapable, really. She just fell into Nightmare-Narnia and she still has to deal with bullies. The best thing to do with bullies was ignore them, but they did not have time for this.\n\n\tCailey stood her ground. She hated fighting, she wasn't going to fight this girl. Let her be the bully, but, she wouldn't let her scare her either. She took a step toward the older girl.\n\n\tSai'Ryn, looked surprised in-spite of herself, but she didn't back down either.\n\n\t``We're not safe here, and we need to be quiet, and I don't think we should loiter around here. You want to be the leader? Fine. But, you need to keep your voice down.''\n\n\tSai'Ryn glared and pushed Cailey. The other girl's gasped, some covering their mouths. The fox pinched the bridge of her muzzle with her hand.\n\n\tCailey blushed with indignation as she stumbled back, exposing a look of shock on her face. Sai'Ryn smirked, pleased. Cailey balanced, glaring, and stood forward again.\n\n\t``You don't scare me.''\n\n\t\n\n\tSai'Ryn went back to the stink-eye. ``Yeah? Well, you should be.''\t The red-rocket between her legs throbbed, visibly growing larger. The smell and appearance made the other girls blush and look away.\n\n\tCailey wanted to kick her in the nuts... ``I'm not trying to be tough, Sai'Ryn. But if you think you are scarier than the fucking blood-vessels growing on the wall... then I don't know what to tell you! But, for everyone else's sakes, please, keep... your voices down. I didn't get out of my room on my own, someone unlocked my door.''\n\n\t``You mean there's someone else here?'' asked the pink-rabbit, grinning. ``You mean like an adult? Or wait... the kidnapper!''\n\n\t``Oh no, not a kidnapper!'' said the golden-lamb.\n\n\t``Who was it?'' Sai'Ryn asked, folding her arms.\n\n\tCailey hesitated, looking at the younger girls. She didn't want to scare them, but... but the oldest girl needed to take this seriously. How to phrase this?\n\n\t``Umm, I'm not sure what I saw,'' Cailey settled. ``I hid under my bed. It went away after awhile, but, it heard me trying to open my door. When I saw the door-knob twisting from the other side, I hid under my bed.''\n\n\t``Oh yeah, real brave, real leader material,'' Sai'Ryn snorted. ``See? I wouldn't have hid. I'd have let them open the door, and been like, `Sup?'''\n\n\t``Right... well, I was under my bed, and I saw it... enter my room. I couldn't see their feet, they were under this... robe, or something. And they had this really weird breathing, it sounded like a big air-vent or something. They moved weird... I don't know what they were, but I got a bad feeling about it. It's still around somewhere... And we'll be lucky if it isn't on its way here right now from all our shouting.''\n\n\tThe other girls looked scared, but, at least Cailey had avoided the monster word, `cuz that'd have helped, for sure.\n\n\t``Oh yeah I'm suuure you did,'' said Sai'Ryn. ``And, just so we're clear, you are the only one who saw this monster?''\n\n\t`Oh God dammit.'\n\n\t``Monster?!'' the white-kitten shrieked.\n\n\t``Wait, it was a monster? I thought you said it was a person!! In a robe!'' the cow-girl cried.\n\n\t``Shh, shh, shh!'' Cailey hushed. ``Please, they might be around here! Let's be quiet!''\n\n\t``Yeah right,'' said Sai'Ryn. ``You're just trying to be in-charge. Or, maybe, you're the kidnapper! Yeah!''\n\n\tCailey stared, flummoxed. ``Wh-what? How... would that even make sense?''\n\n\t``Maybe you're making the monster up,'' said Sai'Ryn.\n\n\tCailey watched as the girls most afraid of being a monster, inched toward Sai'Ryn, hopeful for news that there was no monster...\n\n\t``Maybe the reason you were able to get out of your room was because you weren't locked in! You're the only one who got out on your own, after all! A helpful monster let you out and you got away by hiding under the bed? Yeah right! I'd have smelled you, so, how could a monster not find you? No, I don't buy it. That's as fishy as your cunt, bitch.''\n\n\t``Will you stop that?'' Cailey asked, trying to stay patient, but she could feel her fist clenching.\n\n\t``You can all cower in fear of kangaroo-girl's monster, but I'm leaving!'' said Sai'Ryn. ``You're welcome to come with me, if you're not a coward. Come sheep, come along, I'll protect you.''\n\n\tSmirking, Sai'Ryn watched as most of the girls lined up behind her - the white cat, the cow, and the rabbit girl, and Lylie. The actual sheep, and the fox, did not.\n\n\tSai'Ryn glared at the sheep, who whimpered. ``Hey, I said, follow me, sheep. That means you too, especially you.''\n\n\t``But... there's a monster...''\n\n\t``No, there isn't, she made it up,'' said Sai'Ryn. ``Now come on!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn grabbed the sheep by the arm, twisting. ``Ouch! Hey!''\n\n\tCailey had had enough, hurting a child half your size was the last-straw.\n\n\tCailey stepped forward, and lifted her leg, aiming squarely for Sai'Ryn's nuts.\n\n\tSwing!\n\n\tCailey coughed as her leg met a strange resistance. Bullies never expected a high-power, dangerous kick from those deceptive legs of hers. But Sai'Ryn had caught her leg in her arm.\n\n\t``Sorry, wrong move,'' Sai'Ryn taunted. She brandished her claws, and slashed for Cailey's face.\n\n\t``Hauugh?'' Cailey fell back onto her tail, barely missing Sai'Ryn's claws. She felt pain on her tail as she threw her full weight on it - gritting through it, she lifted her other leg and kicked at Sai'Ryn's stomach.\n\n\tFinally, she'd caught her off-guard! Sai'Ryn made a wide-mouthed look of surprise, coughing as the leg struck her solar-plexus. Her grip slackened around Cailey's leg, and Sai'Ryn flew back onto her ass.\n\n\tCailey's tail couldn't support her. She fell onto the floor as well. God, Cailey hated fighting. Hated it! But she had been in a few tussles, and knew to try and avoid being on the ground. She scrambled to her feet.\n\n\tA hit like that should have winded Sai'Ryn completely, but Cailey felt her heart hammering when she saw that Sai'Ryn was crawling to her feet, too. Her back was red with splinters from the floor. She was pissed.\n\n\t``Oh, you think so huh?'' Sai'Ryn snarled, cracking her knuckles.\n\n\tCailey shook her head - she did not want to fight this girl. ``Please, just, drop it.''\n\n\t``Drop dead,'' Sai'Ryn spat, preparing to lunge.\n\n\t``No!!'' The golden-sheep jumped in front of Sai'Ryn, the wolf-girl hesitating. ``Don't fight, I'll go with you! You're the oldest, right? I'll listen, I'll listen, I promise!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn stared, panting, rubbing her nose. She glared at Cailey, then back at the sheep. ``Fine, very well then. Good! Yeah, get in line, sheep, and don't tell me no again, got it?''\n\n\tThe sheep nodded.\n\n\tSai'Ryn harrumphed, and glared at Cailey again. ``Waste of my time anyway. But you pull that shit again, kangaroo, and I'm going to show you how much of a dick I can be! If you catch my drift.''\n\n\tHer penis throbbed, still aroused, even after all that.\n\n\tThat spooked her. For sure, Cailey was no push-over, her albinism afforded her plenty of opportunities to learn to stick up for herself, but that was a new danger. `Holy crap, what is this girl's problem?'\n\n\tNo, this would do for now. Cailey backed away, sighing. ``Okay... Okay...''\n\n\tSai'Ryn nodded. ``That's right.'' Smirking, she looked at the fox. ``What about you?''\n\n\tThe fox looked... inscrutable. Her face showed very little emotion, except maybe disgust. ``We should explore, quietly. I don't care who the leader is, but I suppose it should be the most mature.''\n\n\tCailey blinked. Was that an insult? Sai'Ryn didn't seem to think so, but she wanted more approval than that.\n\n\t``Yeah, it should be,'' she said. ``And I'm the only one who's got a cock, you forgot that part.''\n\n\t``I didn't - ugh, yeah, you're the only one with a cock here. Lead the way.''\n\n\t``You're lucky I'm in a rush,'' Sai'Ryn said, smirking. ``I don't like your attitude... You all better keep that in mind. You're the cunts, and I'm the big-dick wolf-bitch. Got that?''\n\n\tHalf the girls nodded.\n\n\t``Cool-beans. Alright, let's get moving.''\n\n\tSai'Ryn and the other girls filed past. The fox made eye-contact with Cailey, and they shared a mutual-opinion on their resident bully.\n\n\tBut they followed her.\n\n\tDown the hall, and to the right, the next room was a dark, dusty, cluttered shop of some kind. There was a clerk's counter, and many empty, abandoned shelves. There were racks on the walls for holding stuff, one of them held an old fishing pole. A few abandoned bits of fishing gear lying around told Cailey enough that this used to be a fishing-store. The windows were boarded up, but not densely enough to hide the fact that it was definitely night-time out there. The only light was coming from the heart-shaped lantern on the ceiling - another one of those disgusting things. Were they in every room?\n\n\tThe girls stared at it, the alien lantern was sobering after the girl-spat; it reminded them that this situation was anything but normal.\n\n\t``Well, I don't see any monsters...'' Sai'Ryn sighed. ``You happy now?''\n\n\tCailey stood impassively.\n\n\tSai'Ryn scoffed. ``Hey, get these splinters out of my back. Least you can do for lying. C'mon.''\n\n\tCailey eyed the door, but, yes, it seemed they might be alone for now. If nothing else it will keep the girl quiet while everyone familiarizes.\n\n\t``Okay... Can we introduce ourselves though? I don't want us calling each other sheep or kangaroo anymore.''\n\n\t``Pfft,'' Sai'Ryn said and sat her naked-ass down on the clerk's sitting-stool. It must have had leather buttoned to it at some point, but all that was left now was tufts of cotton and worn-wood.\n\n\tCailey stood behind her and started plucking out the splinters from her back and her ass. If it weren't for Cailey, her skin would be perfect. There was something kind of interesting about shaved skin, to Cailey... If for no other reason that her own skin was sparse. This girl was milky-smooth...\n\n\t``Right, I'll go first, I'm Sai'Ryn, wolf-girl,'' she tossed her head. ``I'm the daughter of some very powerful people. Bunny-girl, how about you?''\n\n\t``I'm Strawberry!'' the bunny winked. She was still shaking like the rest of them, but she seemed determined to be up-beat. ``I'm from Lasink Far Middle School - ``\n\n\tThe fox blinked, staring.\n\n\t`` - and I'm eleven! I'm a bunny rabbit, and I fight for truth and justice! I'm training to be a super hero! Whoosh!''\n\n\t``Oh... my goddess,'' Sai'Ryn sighed, rubbing her face. ``Yeah, you wish. Next!''\n\n\tThe rabbit girl looked like she'd been slapped. ``Well I never!''\n\n\tCailey could have sworn that rabbit was older than her. Not as tall as Sai'Ryn, but, Strawberry was the second tallest of them. Was that her real name?\n\n\t``You're name is really Strawberry?'' Cailey asked the strawberry-milk colored rabbit.\n\n\t``Yup! Strawberry Gumdrop!''\n\n\t``You said you're from Lasink Far? So am I! I think...'' said the golden sheep, rubbing her chin. ``Oh, and I'm also from Pinwheel! Maybe some other places... Actually, I don't remember where I'm from, oopsie!''\n\n\t``Is anyone else a retard?'' Sai'Ryn asked.\n\n\tCailey gritted her teeth. Strawberry and the fox glared as well.\n\n\t\n\n\t``Nooo?'' the sheep said. ``I'm named Aura, not retard! I'm a little sheepy-sheep! Baaah!''\n\n\tShe bleated like a feral sheep, reinforcing Cailey's impression of her being some sort of living-cartoon character. Aura huh?\n\n\t``Where is Lasink Far?'' asked Cailey. ``I've never heard of it, which country is that in?''\n\n\t``Oh, it's in the Dawn-Continent on Blue Moon!''\n\n\t``The - wait, on Blue Moon? What does on mean?''\n\n\t``You said that like it was another planet,'' said the fox-girl.\n\n\t``Yeah, the world of Blue Moon, why, what world are you from?'' asked the golden-sheep Aura.\n\n\tCailey slowed her splinter-plucking, skepticism, curiosity, and alarm mulled in her mind.\n\n\t``That's... what do you mean what world are we from?'' gasped the white-kitten. ``I'm not from another planet, we're... we're all from the same place right? I mean, you just said you're from Pinwheel. I'm from Pinwheel village too!''\n\n\tAura knocked her head, sticking out her tongue. ``I'm sorry, I'm not sure anymore...''\n\n\t``Well, my Lasink-Far is on Blue Moon too,'' said Strawberry, shrugging.\n\n\tOn, not in... Cailey heart beat a little faster... This couldn't be real. ``Okay... Let's simplify this. Raise your hand if your planet is called Earth.''\n\n\tCailey sighed and raised her hand, hoping, expecting even, to see everyone's hands go up. But, only one hand did. The cow girl's...\n\n\tCailey stared in shock. ``Wait, wait...''\n\n\t``My world is called Runeterra,'' sighed Sai'Ryn, shrugging. ``I had you pegged for a teacher's pet smart-girl or something. I'm surprised at you.''\n\n\t``Shut-up!'' Cailey barked, hands shaking. ``You all can't be serious, you're not like, space aliens, what do you mean you're from another world? Like, are we talking sci-fi or fantasy here? What worlds?''\n\n\t``Well, most worlds aren't very nice from what I've heard,'' said Strawberry. ``Blue Moon used to be pretty special, but there was something about an epidemic? So my school is on quarantine. Oh, what if I'm infected and that's why I'm here?''\n\n\t``Will someone please make sense?'' Cailey cried. ``Please?''\n\n\tThe fox walked over to her and put her hand on Cailey's shoulder. ``It will be alright... Don't get too worked up about it.''\n\n\t``Do you know what's going on?'' Cailey asked. ``You know about these... worlds too?''\n\n\t``Kind of... I don't remember any, I just know they exist,'' said the fox. ``Okay so, yours is called Earth, very generic. Sai'Ryn's is Runeterra, Strawberry and Aura, you both mentioned Lasink Far. That sounds... familiar to me, but I can't remember why.''\n\n\t``You can't remember?'' asked Sai'Ryn, looking at her with suspicion.\n\n\t``I just woke up,'' grunted the fox. ``Okay, so, some of us come from different worlds, if we can just accept that, we can move on. It's fine. Although, it does imply that this place...''\n\n\tCailey was worried for just that reason. ``Yeah, I'm... not in Kansas anymore, so to speak.''\n\n\tTo her surprise, most of the other girls got the reference, but Sai'Ryn looked utterly confused. ``What's that mean?''\n\n\t``Oh, she's referencing an old story, and a famous movie,'' said Strawberry. ``I love the Wizard of Oz.''\n\n\t``Hmph, as if a guy would make a better magician than a witch,'' grunted Sai'Ryn. ``Kangaroo, what are you doing? My back!''\n\n\tCailey sighed and went back to plucking. A thought occurred to her. ``What about... witches... You're not... Magic isn't real too, is it?''\n\n\tSai'Ryn turned her neck back and looked at her, brow furrowed. ``... Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.''\n\n\t``Don't listen to her, magic exists,'' said the fox. ``Just not everywhere.''\n\n\tCailey stared at her. ``R-really? Uh...'' Oh God, Cailey, don't ask... ``Could... Could I learn it?''\n\n\t`Darn-it Cailey, this isn't time for Dungeons and Dragons!'\n\n\tBut how could she not ask.\n\n\tUnfortunately, the fox wasn't very helpful. ``I wouldn't have a clue, magic's weird. Okay so that was Strawberry, Aura, Cailey, and Sai'Ryn. Um, I'm Annabelle. I'm from... the world, uh, I don't know what home is called actually.''\n\n\t``Hey me too!'' Aura said.\n\n\tThe white-kitten raised her hand. ``My world is just called `the world' too. I'm also from Pinwheel!''\n\n\t``I've heard of Pinwheel,'' said Annabelle. ``I live across the sea from there. Or I did... Hey what's your name?''\n\n\t``I'm Snowflake,'' said the white-kitten.\n\n\t``You all have stupid names,'' Sai'Ryn said.\n\n\tCailey rolled her eyes, glad Sai'Ryn couldn't see. To her, that was the pot calling the kettle black, but, surely they thought the same of her name too, when you had a white-kitten named Snowflake and a pink-bunny named Strawberry, having a name unrelated to your appearance probably seemed strange to them. Heck, the sheep was named Aura, and golden-furred.\n\n\tThat left Lylie and the cow-girl. ``You're name is Lylie, you said,'' Cailey asked, looking at her.\n\n\tThe goat-girl nodded. ``Yeah. Umm... I'm from Blue Moon. Uh, and um... I'm from Lasink Far Middle School, but, I don't remember you Strawberry.''\n\n\t``I don't remember you either, but you look familiar,'' Strawberry said.\n\n\t\n\n\t``Who has seen or used magic before?'' Annabelle asked.\n\n\tLylie raised her hand half-heartedly, but Strawberry's went straight up. Cailey stopped plucking, staring in shock.\n\n\t``You can do magic?'' the kangaroo gasped.\n\n\tStrawberry nodded. ``Yup.''\n\n\t``Shoot,'' Annabelle sighed. ``That explains it. Typical... The ones with the worst memory-problems are those of us who have had contact with supernatural stuff before... Which is information we need.''\n\n\t``Gee how convenient,'' Sai'Ryn spat.\n\n\t``Okay, seriously, what the hell is your problem girl?'' Strawberry said.\n\n\t``What's my problem?!'' Sai'Ryn growled. ``Have you seen where we are? My problem is that I'm here instead of in my bed, and my only resources to fix my problem... are you cunts. A bunch of idiotic, sniveling pussies who know nothing, say nothing, and aaare nothing.''\n\n\tCailey'd had enough. ``Okay, pick your own damn splinters.''\n\n\tBefore Cailey could process, Sai'Ryn grabbed her by the throat. Gasping, Cailey's mind froze. The wolf-girl growled, tightening her claws around Cailey's throat.\n\n\tShe was fast. Cailey'd forgotten for one bad moment that this bitch wasn't some typical bully.\n\n\t``You won't do anything, unless I tell you to.''\n\n\t\n\n\tCailey gargled, tears welling in her eyes, heart-hammering. Humiliation coursed through her, she... she'd gotten so good at standing up to bullies.\n\n\tWhy does she have to take steps back now, when something remarkable, if terrifying, was happening in her life.\n\n\t``Okay...'' Cailey whimpered.\n\n\t``No, you tell me, `Whatever you say, Lady Sai'Ryn.' Do it.''\n\n\tCailey clenched her eyes. No, not this... ``Whatever you say, L...''\n\n\t``Say it.''\n\n\t``Lady Sai'Ryn.''\n\n\tThe demi-human let her go, and Cailey busily went back to plucking. She was almost done anyway, but she plucked them out as aggressively as she could. Sai'Ryn... didn't seem to care. A weaker bully would fuss... Cailey rushing it and failing to avoid hurting her bully, would just make a lesser bully lash out again.\n\n\tCailey did not like how Sai'Ryn was willing to allow concessions, in exchange for growing dominance. This girl was possibly worse than a mere bully, she was possibly... dangerous.\n\n\tThat alone made her take more care once she was plucking the last splinters from Sai'Ryn's ass. ``What about your feet,'' she asked, suddenly curious. ``You don't have shoes, hooves, or thick paws.''\n\n\t``I'm fine,'' she grunted, admiring her own painted claws. ``You just focus on what you are doing. Oh, and, rabbit... You're next, if you have anything to say about my attitude, again. I don't care how magical you think you are. If you don't know what is going on, you don't matter.''\n\n\tSai'Ryn turned to Annabelle. ``Alright foxy, how much do you know.''\n\n\tAnnabelle hesitated. ``Not enough.''\n\n\t``Are you going to question me then, now that we know you don't know more than I do, and, you're not the oldest, and, you don't have a fucking cock.''\n\n\t``Why should that matter?'' asked Lylie.\n\n\t``Don't make me show you why,'' Sai'Ryn grunted, cradling her dick between two fingers. ``You're tempting me enough just being dumb.''\n\n\tEveryone's tensions were rising. The other girls were starting to fidget and breathe harder. Just one insult after the other, but, the horrible thing was, Sai'Ryn wasn't completely off the mark! The cock thing, sure, but, no one knew what was going on, only vague impressions of... other worlds. By the looks of it, Sai'Ryn might be two years older than Cailey was. She was strong, fast, and could take a solid hit to her body - bullies can't boast the same in Cailey's experience, they look for easy targets.\n\n\tCailey needed to find a way to keep this from escalating. Ah, but, there was one last girl.\n\n\t``Hey, um, you,'' Cailey asked, and the room's attention turned toward the final girl, the cow. ``What's your name. Where are you from?''\n\n\t``Uhh...'' The cow hesitated, looking around at the other girls while wrapping her arms around her chest. Nearly-flat, being, perhaps, just out of pre-school, but the modesty was understandable when most everyone had some form of cover, asides from Sai'Ryn. A little grilled steak was on her panties... weird... And those weird markings!\n\n\tThe cow opened her mouth to begin her story, but Sai'Ryn interrupted with a barking laugh. ``Oh my goddess, it just hit me what you are wearing. Holy shit girl!'' Cackling, Sai'Ryn rolled forward, clutching her stomach.\n\n\tThe cow girl looked so embarrassed she could cry.\n\n\t``Lots of us have been drawn on at slumber-parties,'' Strawberry, the rabbit, defended.\n\n\t``Oh, not like that they don't,'' Sai'Ryn said. ``What's the matter meat-girl? Going to cry?''\n\n\t``S-stop...'' the cow-girl whimpered.\n\n\t``We're not meat!'' Snowflake hissed.\n\n\t``You idiots, don't you recognize those markings?'' Sai'Ryn grinned at their ignorance. ``She's done up with butcher-lines, those lines mark where to cut. They show how big her steaks are.''\n\n\t``That's... holy crap that's so mean! Who'd do that?'' Cailey looked at the cow-girl, a hand on her lips. Cailey had faced some awful bullying, but, this?! Wait...\n\n\tCailey had tried to give the cow-girl her most sympathetic look, but somehow the cow-girl looked worse, and was crying. But her hurt look was... directed at Cailey for some reason.\n\n\t``I'm... I'm sorry, did... did I say something wrong?''\n\n\tThe cow-girl turned her face away, covering her face in her hands.\n\n\tWhat could Cailey have possibly said? ``I'm sorry, listen... I've been bullied a lot too. I know how it feels. You trust people you think are your friends, and sometimes... sometimes they're not.''\n\n\t``You're wasting your time,'' Sai'Ryn grunted. Cailey finished the last splinter, and Sai'Ryn somehow knew this, getting up off the chair the instant it was plucked. She sauntered over to the cow-girl.\n\n\tOh no... Cailey followed. She'd lose the fight, but, she would not just let Sai'Ryn harm the cow-girl.\n\n\t``A couple little cunts trying to play a prank couldn't have drawn that thing on you so professionally, especially while you're asleep. You would have had to let them, and they'd have to know what they were doing, this is professional.'' Sai'Ryn circled the cow-girl while she explained, and the... logic, behind it, gave Cailey pause. Especially, when the cow-girl almost seemed to calm down...\n\n\tBut... why? No, no way... why would the cow-girl want to be drawn up like that? A... a costume? Right? She said she was from Earth, like Cailey, so, did she have Halloween? It was almost Halloween in Cailey's world...\n\n\tCailey instantly regretted adding, `my world' to her lexicon. What kind of life had this become for her?\n\n\t``You drew that, didn't you?'' Sai'Ryn laughed. ``Yeah, I have you figured out, meat-girl.''\n\n\tThe cow-girl uncovered her face, holding her arms again. ``S-stop teasing me...''\n\n\tSai'Ryn smirked, and ruffled her hair. ``Get a little more fat on your ass and we'll talk, Hamburger.'' Chuckling, Sai'Ryn returned to her stool and kicked her feet up on the counter.\n\n\t\n\n\tCailey looked at the cow-girl, sadly, curiously, but a bit weirded out too.\n\n\t``Umm... I'm Melanie, I'm uh... training.''\n\n\t``Training for what...'' Strawberry asked, eyes narrowing, looking like she'd be angry soon.\n\n\t``I'm... a meat-girl?''\n\n\tStrawberry reeled back. Aura and Snowflake covered their mouths, and Cailey? Just felt... stunned.\n\n\t``Like, for real?'' Cailey asked.\n\n\t``You're joking, she made that shit up, right?!'' Strawberry gawked.\n\n\t``No! Stop, why does everyone act like I'm crazy?! Even Mom and Dad are like, `You've got your whole life ahead of you! We're not desperate, you don't need to sell your meat!' Why doesn't anyone understand how I feel?! I... why...'' She began sobbing again.\n\n\tCailey stared slack-jaw. Did this girl want to be... eaten, or something? Cailey felt her breathing tense up, and her, well, loins... felt a little warmer.\n\n\tNo, no no. `Cailey, you're growing up, you put that behind you... But, does she? Does she think about... that?'\n\n\tStrawberry provided much needed distraction, but the results were poor. ``Girl are you saying people get fucking chopped up in your world?! Are you fucking kidding me?! That's MURDER!''\n\n\tMost girls flinched, including Cailey!\n\n\t``That's murder!'' Strawberry yelled. ``They're killing people! Who needs meat so bad they can't just... where are the ferals in your world, what the fuck is going on that your people eat other people?!''\n\n\t``It's NOT MURDER!!'' Melanie screamed.\n\n\tStrawberry gasped, standing back. ``I... but...''\n\n\tCailey's heart began to hammer. That was a loud scream. Almost as if on cue, her fear mounted and she began to literally cry with fear. Melanie, the ... meat-girl, was crying. Strawberry was too.\n\n\tWait...\n\n\tCailey looked around. Every single one of them was crying. Annabelle was crying, but she looked almost calculating. And Sai'Ryn? With a chill, Cailey saw that she was crying as well, but was wiping her tears and examining them with curiosity, even surprise.\n\n\t``What... the... is someone carrying an onion or something?'' She smirked. ``Or maybe it's meat-girl's pussy? What's the matter meat-girl? Can't keep it clean? No one's going to want to buy you if you don't wash your c - ``\n\n\t``It's here...!'' Annabelle commanded, hunching her shoulders up. ``We need to hide, somethings here.''\n\n\tEveryone shut up.\n\n\tSai'Ryn mouthed, ``You can't be serious.'' Cailey started breathing harder, the fact Sai'Ryn even whispered that captured the gravity; Annabelle's surety had everyone's attention now.\n\n\tBut she was not in charge, it dawned on them, slowly, that Annabelle wasn't about to lead them, or tell them what to do. ``What are you staring at me for? We need to hide!''\n\n\t``Where, bitch?'' Sai'Ryn sneered, looking at the barrenness of the room.\n\n\t``Just hide!'' Annabelle warned, wandering around now, looking.\n\n\tHoly crap, there weren't a whole lot of places to look!\n\n\tSai'Ryn barred her teeth and looked around. ``Don't anyone take the good spots. Wait... Yeah, I don't need to.''\n\n\tShe walked over to the fishing pole, and took it down. ``Yeah, hide behind the shelf next to the door, and when they come near...'' She took an organized, rehearsed stance, and Cailey grimaced, remembering she almost fought this crazy chick. ``Heh!''\n\n\tBefore anyone could argue, Sai'Ryn hid herself. Snowflake found a sliding panel in the clerk's counter, waving Melanie and Lylie to follow her inside. They barely fit. One of them farted with nervousness.\n\n\t``That wasn't me!'' Cailey couldn't tell who, funnily.\n\n\tCailey exchanged looks with Strawberry. Smiling with her buck-teeth, she tilted her head and stood on her toes. ``Least we know the bed works!''\n\n\tShe darted for the bedrooms (so called liberally).\n\n\tCailey opened her mouth to mention that might not work twice, and withheld. Little time, and another loud noise could...\n\n\tShe closed her eyes, where the hell could she go?\n\n\t`Oh fuck why am I thinking about Ocarina of Time at a time like this - ah!' The thought was barely out of her skull when she wondered if it would actually work. Like, Bugs Bunny herself around the thing using the merchandise shelves?\n\n\tCailey noticed Annabelle hide behind one of the shelves. Apparently, they had the same idea.\n\n\tWhat the hell... It was maybe a stupid idea, but... The ballsy-ness of it interested Cailey, maybe she could show Sai'Ryn up, get the trust of the other girls.\n\n\tShe hid behind a shelf. There, that was everyone... WAIT!\n\n\tCailey's ears perked up, her heart thundering as she realized two critical mistakes. Outside the boarded-up door, she heard it... The dull, voluminous, yet quiet, breathing. Some kind of pale white light shown briefly in the boards covering the door-window. It was the creature, she was certain. And the two problems?\n\n\tShe'd forgotten Aura, and she looked for her, only to see that she'd hopped up onto a wall-shelf and laid herself in a corner, smiling vacantly, and titled to the side. She looked very convincingly like a stuffed-toy, but how stupid can you get?!\n\n\tThe other was how stupid Sai'Ryn was about to get, what was the point of Zelda'ing around the shelves while the thing explores the shop, if Sai'Ryn gives them up from the start?\n\n\tCailey inhaled, waving at Sai'Ryn. `No!' she mouthed. `No, don't do it!'\n\n\tSai'Ryn wasn't watching Cailey's mouth. The wolf-girl had the fishing pole gripped firmly, Cailey wasn't sure she had the stance pegged but she was guessing something analogous to Kendo.\n\n\tThe door-knob twisted. Cailey grimaced as she prepared for the worst.\n\n\tThe door creaked open. The sound of large-volumes of air moving slowly, permeated the room. The light in the room almost seemed to turn grey, and slightly more blue. The warm, uncomfortable red and green tones of the room soon were turquoise and purple tinges mixed with grey. Silently, the shadow moved through the door-frame.\n\n\tSai'Ryn mouthed, `What the FUCK!' and took a step back, her grip slackened on the fishing pole.\n\n\tThe shadow was just over seven feet tall, and seemed to almost ooze, or perhaps emanated itself, through the door-frame. It did not walk, something about the way it moved seemed as if an optical illusion, like with the infinite-stairs illusion. Cailey, nerd that she was, was almost convinced this was a Harry Potter bona-fide Dementor. Eyes looking up, she expected to see the nothingness beneath the hood.\n\n\tThere was a something that could be called a hood, yes... but it had a face. Or some kind of portal.\n\n\tIt was almost pretty, and yet, Cailey felt the tears streaming down her face and an urge to vomit, and she couldn't stand looking any longer. She clutched her eyes and turned away in fear, hoping her tiny body would escape that thing's superior height, it can't see her over the shelf if she's up against it, right?\n\n\tShe couldn't watch that thing, that face...! `Stop, stop, get it out of my head, get it out...!'\n\n\tWhat was even the big deal? It was almost pretty... This little bizarre, collection of glinting stars, surrounded by a cold, gray, featureless nebula, what was scary about a diamond collection of some alien Pleiades system of colorless stars? That was astonishing! Its face was a bunch of stars!\n\n\t`THEN WHY ARE THEY DEAD?!' her own mind screamed back! What was wrong with the stars!? They were dead! Cailey didn't know how, she couldn't place why, but those stars were wrong! The pattern of them, the light of them, it was dead!\n\n\tTears dripped onto the floor, Cailey's heart raced, she couldn't stop making noise! She was going to get them all caught!\n\n\t`Please, please, please... don't look at me with those stars...! They're dead!'\n\n\tThe venting pillar of darkness drifted past the counter, and toward the bedrooms. Cailey heard the sound grow distant as it went down the hallway.\n\n\tGasping, with as little sound as she could, Cailey opened her eyes. She was still crying... Was she really that scared?\n\n\tShe looked over at Sai'Ryn. Face twisted up with... was that fear exactly? Had to be, but it was also something like disgust, or hatred... confusion? The wolf-girl shook her head back and forth. `Nope,' that's what that said.\n\n\tShe slipped around the entry-shelf and `nope'd' right out the door.\n\n\tOh that bitch.\n\n\tCailey turned to look at Aura. She was still playing `dead,' although Aura was crying like the rest of them. Aura waited a moment longer, then sprung to life, hopping down and breaking for the door.\n\n\tNot her too... Just then, Aura seemed to think the same thing, twisting around and looking at the others. She waved `Follow me!'\n\n\tCrawling around the shelves, Cailey kept up, and shook her head. Gesturing for the counter, Cailey crept over.\n\n\t`Oh!' Aura mouthed.\n\n\tAnnabelle followed Cailey, her night-shirt damp with tears. She rapped her claw on the side-panel, shave-and-a-hair-cut.\n\n\tThe girls inside rumbled, startled. Nothing else.\n\n\t``It's Cailey.'' The kangaroo strained her voice, speaking so low. ``We gotta go.''\n\n\tThe panel opened, and Lylie stuck her weeping head out. She nodded. She crept forward, wincing as her hooves clicked and creaked the board.\n\n\tCailey wondered if she could do better herself... Yes. She could. Reaching forward, she hoisted Lylie up into her arms.\n\n\t``Hey!'' Lylie whispered.\n\n\tCailey wobbled, she wasn't that strong and Lylie was only four or five years younger than her, this was not easy! Adrenaline, do your thing...\n\n\tSnowflake and Melanie crept out next. Melanie was smaller and younger than Lylie, but, not to be rude about it, she was a cow...\n\n\tCailey glanced at Melanie's hooves as they clicked and creaked the boards. Melanie looked up with fear, and embarrassment.\n\n\tAnnabelle, nibbling her knuckle, brow furrowed, crept forward. ``Snowflake, get her hooves.''\n\n\tShe crept behind Melanie, who was pulling her lips back in a sneer of pain.\n\n\t``I'm sorry,'' Annabelle said.\n\n\tMelanie calmed down a little. Annabelle hitched her arms under Melanie's, getting ready to lift.\n\n\tSnowflake got the idea and grabbed Melanie's shins. ``Eww, do you wash your feet?''\n\n\tAnd Melanie was upset again. ``Yes!'' she whispered, indignantly.\n\n\tThe building shook.\n\n\tTheir eyes widened. What the fuck was that!\n\n\tThe girls, eyes wide yet crying, looked at each other with understanding. Just go!\n\n\tThe girl's lifted Melanie, her face just terror. Taking light steps, the gang crept around the counter, Cailey hoping everyone had the same idea she did that, any sign of that... weird gray light, they drop the stealth act and just run fast and screaming.\n\n\tThat doorway sure was taking its sweet time getting closer; Cailey felt like this was a full nightmare now, time seemed to stand still as they walked. They reached it, though, and looked out over a... momentarily paralyzing sight.\n\n\tA guard-rail, and then... nothing. Nothing at all.\n\n\tThe breathing intensified. Cailey turned to look back, seeing the grey-light approaching through the hallway junction.\n\n\tThey gasped, and crept through the doorway, and to the right. Looking quickly, they saw that blood-vines were growing all over the shack, and great, person-sized arteries were descending down below. The left of the doorway ended at the guard-rail, but going left, and down steps of worn-wood festooned with blood-vines, was some kind of dock.\n\n\tThe night-sky was absent of stars, or light, or anything.\n\n\t`They stole them,' Cailey's mind accused. Cailey set Lylie down, and the other girls followed suit. Why? Instinct, really, but a future-Cailey might say that a large open space wouldn't echo like inside.\n\n\tThey crept down the steps, looking behind with worry. They saw a faint, cold glow from the doorway, and from the boarded windows. They kept going. At the bottom of the steps was a door into the building's lower-floor, perhaps storage or another shop. Past the door, and around the corner, the girls came across...\n\n\tThe Pier...\n\n\tThey hesitated only a moment, to take it in. To their left, was the edge of the pier, over which one could watch an endless sea of nothing. They could smell the salt-water and hear it sloshing against the support-beams of the pier. They sensed that ocean, but they could not see it, no light caught on its waves. To their right stretched the pier's many shops and attractions. Abandoned, scoured by sea-breeze, illuminated only by the blood-vines that grew across the whole fucking world like the Martian kudzu from War of the Worlds. Random detritus was strewn across the pier, looking like the whole place had been ransacked by a very lazy, half-hearted mob.\n\n\tBut, lots of places to hide, a jack-pot for children hiders! They scattered, settling two at a time on random shops. Cailey hid beneath the counter for a water-shooting game, and found a knot-hole in the stand to peer out from.\n\n\tIt looked quiet for a moment, until... The grey-light shown around the corner like a light-house.\n\n\tCailey looked away, peeling away from the hole.\n\n\tThe creature lingered, unmoving. Cailey couldn't count the thumps in her throat. Some clock it'd made - it felt like a century was passing. But the creature inevitably moved through the pier, the light shining from dark-corner to dark-corner, shining over their hiding-spots. It's `breath' washed over the shops and games, scentless, like air was merely caught on a breeze.\n\n\tBut it was going up the pier, further, until it was gone.\n\n\tReluctant, terrified girls came out of hiding spots, and they gathered near the stairs up to the shop. Cailey and the other girls started hugging, crying and whimpering.\n\n\t``I peed myself,'' Snowflake cried.\n\n\t``What was that thiiing?'' Melanie whimpered.\n\n\t``It's gone now,'' said Annabelle. ``It's gone.''\n\n\t``For now...'' Lylie whimpered, eyes clenched. ``Did... did you see - ``\n\n\t``No, no one did,'' Cailey said, and flinched when she realized she'd just said that... She'd never suspected she'd say something so ignorant sounding. ``Sorry.''\n\n\t``No, you don't want that symbol in your head, trust me, ignore it,'' Annabelle nodded. ``No one saw it. Forget you did.''\n\n\t``W-why?'' Lylie whimpered. ``Am I dead?! Am I gonna die?''\n\n\t``You'll be fine, but, forget what it looks like, try...''\n\n\t``How do you...'' Cailey started, then shut her mouth. ``I'm not, questioning you, but...''\n\n\tAnnabelle smiled. ``No, I get it. Umm, I can't tell you, I want to though. I can't remember why.''\n\n\t``No, c'mon, if you know something...'' Cailey pleaded.\n\n\tAnnabelle shook her head. ``It's more like... you know a fact you didn't live through yourself, like a historical fact, or an animal trivia thing, and you can't remember where you read it from. But it's worse than that, because I know I shouldn't know these things. I just... do.''\n\n\tCailey blinked. No, that didn't really make sense, but, she caught the spirit of it at least. Sure, they'll just call it magical amnesia for now. It sounded like psychic mumbo-jumbo, though.\n\n\t``I just know symbols can be dangerous,'' Annabelle said.\n\n\t``That... was a symbol?'' Cailey cocked her head. ``O... Okaay?''\n\n\tAnnabelle nodded, satisfied it seemed. ``Let's get Strawberry.''\n\n\t``We should stick together, right?'' Cailey asked, looking up at the steps.\n\n\t``Ugh, probably not, but, I don't see how we can use a look-out,'' said Annabelle. ``No, I think we're too scared for splitting up. C'mon, let's just do it quickly, and quietly.''\n\n\t``Okay, quick, quick everyone,'' Cailey urged. Thankfully, the smaller girls cooperated. Aura, Melanie, Snowflake, and Lylie ran up the steps, Annabelle and Cailey following after. Cailey gave one more glance up the pier - nothing.\n\n\tStep-by-step, Cailey watched the other girls ascend with her. After a moment, Cailey became self-aware that she was, uh, watching Melanie's near-naked, jiggling body. She was kind of curvy for a small girl. More than that, the, markings, took on a weird fascination with Cailey. With a snap of disgust, she realized the reason she'd been staring was how she was admiring them.\n\n\tThey... came from the same world. Not every place has the same laws, but, what Melanie was planning on going through was not alien to Cailey, although, it was not exactly socially acceptable for Cailey's corner of the world. There was nothing illegal about knowing about it though, knowing a lot, knowing enough to occasionally scratch a dark curiosity. She'd not known about the butchering-lines, couldn't put two-and-two together on that, but she knew a lot more than other kids her age, who were not supposed to know about the... goings-on's in other parts of the world.\n\n\tCailey gulped as they reached the top of the stairs, trying to burn the thoughts of Melanie on a chopping block, from her head.\n\n\tThey crept through the shop. Annabelle stopped them at the hallway. ``Cailey, can you please check the rooms with me? You all stay here, make sure we can see you.''\n\n\t``Why?'' Lylie asked.\n\n\t``Uhh... I'll let you know in a moment, just hold still. Alright, Cailey, let's look. Hmm, this was her door, right?''\n\n\tCailey wondered why Annabelle wanted only them to look, but, a bad idea occurred to Cailey, and she really hoped that wasn't a possibility.\n\n\tAnnabelle opened the door, creaking it open. Cailey held her breath. `Please-be-no-dead-body-please-be-no-dead-body.'\n\n\tNo dead body. Phew!\n\n\t``Kale! Someone there?'' Strawberry poked her head out from the bed, looking up. ``Hey! Genius giiiirl, you're idea really worked!''\n\n\tCailey and Annabelle dropped their jaws. Annabelle composed first and rubbed her eyes. ``Of all the dumb-luck.''\n\n\t``Those things suck at looking!'' Strawberry said happily, skipping over. ``Hee hee hee! Way to go crew, we thwarted the monster!''\n\n\t``Shh! Not so loud you freak!'' Annabelle warned. ``The only reason that thing left you alone was it heard us in the shop and followed us out to the pier.''\n\n\tStrawberry nodded, nibbling her lower lip, mouth slightly open. ``Ahh... okay. Huh... How close is it still?''\n\n\t``Out of sight, but, no idea asides from that,'' said Annabelle.\n\n\t``It could be coming back right now,'' Cailey said.\n\n\t\n\n\tStrawberry nodded. ``Okay, let's not get caught again.''\n\n\tThe other girls waved as the older girls rejoined them.\n\n\t``Thanks for distracting that palooka!'' Strawberry cheered.\n\n\tThe other girls smiled, embarrassed, pleased that what had seemed like some kind of blunder was somehow useful.\n\n\t``What shook the building?'' Strawberry asked.\n\n\t``Not sure, the creature, maybe?'' Annabelle asked. ``We're not sure what the hell it is, so, we don't know if it has... weird powers.''\n\n\t``Let's hope it doesn't, please,'' said Strawberry. ``I don't think my own magic works here.''\n\n\t``You have magic...!'' Cailey gasped, remembering. Oh, she was just dying to ask so many questions, but, the most important one was answered with a really disappointing `no.'\n\n\t``Why not?'' asked Melanie, kindly, as if worried for Strawberry's well-being.\n\n\tStrawberry shrugged. ``I don't know, I just, can't get it to work. I feel like something is... uh... suffocating it? It's hard to describe.''\n\n\t``I feel that too,'' said Lylie.\n\n\t``Oh? You have magic?'' Strawberry asked.\n\n\tLylie glared. ``Strawberry, we go to the same school. I just don't remember who you are.''\n\n\t``Wellll, I'm on the year-book team, and I am the queen of the bake-off team, and...''\n\n\tLylie nodded, hard. ``Yeah, yeah! That... sounds familiar actually. Weird... I remember more about my Mom and Dad than the school though.''\n\n\t``Me too,'' said Strawberry, wistfully.\n\n\t``I can't quite remember what I do or don't know about magic too,'' said Annabelle. ``I know that... uh... Nng.'' She rubbed her head. ``Think think... Uh... yeah, reincarnation, is... one cause.''\n\n\t``Reincarnation...'' Cailey mumbled. ``Like... not like we're dead, though, right?''\n\n\t``Well...'' Annabelle mumbled. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. ``Uhh... You're not dead, I know that much. Uh, but, I guess we can't rule out that... one of us isn't here because they died.''\n\n\tCailey's heart iced over. What... \n\n\tDid she mean herself? Or... Sai'Ryn... Maybe she was so dangerous, she got herself killed. Maybe that's why she had no pelt?\n\n\tOr maybe she meant Melanie... Or maybe she just meant that as wild conjecture.\n\n\t``Hey, monster runnin' amok, let's not get caught up on this junk!'' Strawberry said. ``C'mon crew, off to this pier! To the unknown!''\n\n\t\n\n\t``Please take this seriously...'' Annabelle mumbled.\n\n\t``I am!'' smiled Strawberry, walking past her with a... smooch on her nose! The fox blushed and winked away, while Strawberry walked out into the shop. The girls dismissed the saccharine act, following after her, and down to the pier.\n\n\tSeven girls now walked down the empty Main-Street of the pier. Hard to tell how big it was, but it seemed to stretch on for a decent distance, toward one of those large mechanical rides where you hang from a gigantic swing-set on a carousel. This swing ride looked rusted over, and tilted. However, the pier seemed to fork off onto other perpendicular paths. Cailey imagined that the pier had multiple avenues and streets.\n\n\tThe blood-vines were just everywhere. They grew in and out of abandoned hot-dog stands and cotton-candy machines. Melanie lingered on the massive barbeque grill standing dead and empty on the corner of the next avenue.\n\n\tCailey sighed. Melanie looked sad, and forlorn, staring at the grill. Her hand caressed it.\n\n\t``Come on, before Strawberry sees that,'' Cailey cautioned. ``We don't need another fight.''\n\n\tMelanie nodded, following. The group continued on, watching everywhere for strange signs of anything. So far, everyone's faces were dry, no more tears.\n\n\tCailey took notice, it seemed important. No sign of Sai'Ryn, either.\n\n\t``Let's try this way,'' said Strawberry.\n\n\t``What's that way?'' Lylie asked.\n\n\t``Oh! Well, we're looking for Sai'Ryn, right?'' Strawberry asked, smiling.\n\n\tThe other girls scoffed, shaking their heads or smiling with amusement.\n\n\t``Uh, why would we?'' Annabelle asked.\n\n\tStrawberry gasped. ``Kale! You scamps can't be serious! We can't just let her fend for herself out here! We have to find her! Where has she gone?''\n\n\tCailey felt a guilty feeling inside her. She did not want to find Sai'Ryn, but, Strawberry was probably right, that it was the right thing to do. But, she did not like that bitch, and she worried about wasting time in the open on someone who could very well have been...\n\n\tLet's politely call it caught. Cailey did not want to consider what imaginative what-then's follow...\n\n\t``Ugh, geez, fine, but only a little while, we need to get our bearings anyway, maybe find a map.'' Annabelle pointed to the right. ``How about that way?''\n\n\t``Fair enough.'' The bunny smiled and walked.\n\n\tThe group hugged the right-hand side of the pier. The ocean extended out to their right, endlessly. Cailey mentally decided this direction was... south. The big swing-ride would make a good compass. The section of the pier that stuck out furthest into the ocean backed them up as they walked away from Main-Street. The left, the north-side of their street, fostered another monotonous collection of games, curio-stands, studios, over-priced services, and of course, food. No food, but, plenty of blood-kudzu, the pier's only source of light.\n\n\tCailey took a moment to take a much deeper breath of the sea-air...\n\n\tUgh, that was gross. ``Do you smell that coppery smell on the breeze?''\n\n\t``Yeah,'' said Annabelle. ``I'm guessing the stuff inside the vines is what it looks like. It's not just for the aesthetic.''\n\n\tBlood. A faint, ever-present smell of fresh blood was on the ocean. The blood pumping to and fro from the sea, was real. Cailey had hoped for a moment that the blood-kudzu was a misnomer, but the faint smell on the breeze confirmed otherwise.\n\n\tCailey grunted, feeling her stomach, a bit empty and rumbling now. Well, even if it was Hawaiian Punch, she wondered if anyone but the goat-girl Lylie could chew through that shit. No kudzu for goat-girl, though, no food for anyone.\n\n\tCailey watched Melanie walking again. The group silently listened for signs of activity among the stands, the girls rubbing their arms and tucking them inside their pajamas to stay warm. Melanie did not have anything... She was shivering.\n\n\tCailey briefly imagined her, shivering in a freezer, asking when the barbeque was so she could get cooked up and warm. Why was she in the freezer? To keep her fresh of course!\n\n\t`What's wrong with me,' Cailey thought to herself. This was ridiculous, why was this so fascinating to her? This wasn't the time!\n\n\tBut she put her foot in her mouth when that mouth opened up, asking the stupid question. ``Why do... you want to be eaten?'' She asked it quietly, but, Strawberry's ears still perked up.\n\n\tCailey grimaced, preparing for a fight, but, Strawberry kept quiet.\n\n\tThey walked, Cailey glad that Melanie decided to not answer, but the cow had just been thinking... Soon, she answered, ``It's hard to explain. I just... I want to please someone, utterly, and I want to be a part of that... completely.''\t\n\n\tGeez, a bit deep for a kid. Cailey hitched her breath, it was an, uncomfortably familiar feeling.\n\n\t``Hmm... Kind of like, giving yourself over to someone completely?'' Cailey asked. She scratched her neck.\n\n\tAnnabelle and Snowflake looked at Cailey with... strangely sympathetic looks. Melanie, especially, but, she shook her head!\n\n\t``No, not... not exactly. That's close. I prob'bly can't explain it. But, I love watching people eat food, and when I see them licking their lips and... chewing, and talking about how tasty it is, I just... look at my thigh and... And I wonder if they were eating a hamburger or ribs that came from me... And then I can't stop thinking about it. And... uh... I've been to... a barbeque too. A big one.''\n\n\tOh... Cailey figured quickly what that meant.\n\n\tStrawberry shot them a horrified look. ``Hey, not to pee on your parade, but, maybe we shouldn't be scaring the littler kids, huh?''\n\n\t``Scary?'' asked Snowflake. ``Yeah, I guess if you're on the grill, but, wait... is that not normal in Lasink Far?''\n\n\t``HELLL noo it isn't!'' Strawberry gasped. ``Woah, your world too?''\n\n\tSnowflake nodded.\n\n\t``Don't worry, I was surprised too,'' giggled Aura. ``I don't remember how I got there, but, I moved from Lasink Far to Pinwheel.''\n\n\t``Wait, how?!'' Snowflake gasped. ``I mean, how do you move to another world?''\n\n\tAura giggled and shrugged. ``I was looking for my beeest friend Phobe!''\n\n\tAnnabelle rubbed her chin. ``I think the word is... what was it... Metem... Metem-something. You can... move... You can move through worlds... by... reincarnation aaand... and something else. Metem... Metempsychosis!''\n\n\tCailey tilted her head. She was book-smart, but, what the hell word was that? Okay, psychosis, psyche, so, something to do with the mind, or, in the old greek, something to do with souls?\n\n\t``What's that mean?''\n\n\t``Something about moving through worlds, but I don't know what it means exactly,'' said Annabelle. ``Or how to do it. I wanna say... that it isn't easy. Reincarnation is the easier one, for obvious reasons.''\n\n\t``Please don't tell me this is purgatory,'' whimpered Lylie.\n\n\t``I wish I was home...'' Melanie whimpered. ``I... I can't live here...''\n\n\tStrawberry glared at her. ``No offense but, it sounds like you can't live at home, either. Someone's seriously going to eat you one day? What if... what if there's a way for me to take you to Lasink Far instead? We don't eat each other there.''\n\n\tMelanie gave Strawberry a jealous look, and backed away. ``There's nothing wrong with being a meat-girl!''\n\n\tStrawberry opened her mouth, frowned, and closed it. She turned her head away and walked faster.\n\n\tThey grew silent again. Cailey's curiosity wasn't sated. ``Melanie?''\n\n\t``Yeah?''\n\n\t``Do people, um... sometimes eat, uh, without... cooking?''\n\n\t``Oh... umm, yeah? If they're big enough, I mean, but... if you become a meat-girl, you can please more than one person... You could... nnf, feed an entire... an entire party.''\n\n\tShe suckled her finger. ``A nice, grown-up girl, who ate the right foods, had plenty of exercise...''\n\n\tLylie glanced at them this time. ``Hey, I don't want to be rude, but, this is sounding kind of lewd all of a sudden.''\n\n\t``Oh sure, you draw the line at lewd but not at people chopping each other up,'' Strawberry scoffed.\n\n\t``Strawberry!'' the goat reproached.\n\n\tStrawberry held up her hands. ``I'm done, I'm done, swearsies! It's just... weird, is all. It's weird without the lewd part, but yeah, language, what about... Snowball?''\n\n\t``Snowflake! And I know more about the cooking thing than you do! You're the only one from a world that doesn't have that!''\n\n\t``Well, and me, but,'' Lylie said, rubbing her shoulders. ``Um... Leeet's just focus on finding out where we are and how to leave.''\n\n\t``Yeah, exactly!'' Strawberry cheered. ``Tally-ho!''\n\n\t``You'd make a good meat-girl,'' Melanie smiled at Cailey. Cailey stopped walking, stunned. Melanie looked at her, her steel-gray eyes curious, concerned. ``Umm... was that rude?''\n\n\tCailey knew she should say it was, or at least, macabre? ``No, it wasn't,'' Cailey laughed. ``Hmm...''\n\n\tShe walked with them. ``I've... Uh... I like... I like dragons.''\n\n\t``Oh...!'' Melanie said, smiling. ``Yeah, I can... see that.''\n\n\tYeah, they were on the same wave-length. Cailey felt her loins tingle a moment. Ugh, she wished she could just, sit down and talk about it for a while, even though Melanie was like, half her age? But, she got it. That was something.\n\n\tWhat about these other girls though?\n\n\t``YEEEAAAARRRGH!!!''\n\n\tThe girls practically screamed when the cry echoed out across the pier. It could have been Sai'Ryn's voice, Cailey didn't catch it that well.\n\n\t``That was... somewhere up ahead, hurry!'' Strawberry urged, running.\n\n\t``Wait, wait, should we really run toward that?'' Snowflake mewled. The girls chased, but slower as Snowflake reminded them that the last loud sound had dragged the creature toward them.\n\n\t``The Tootie-Fruity Cuties don't leave someone in distress!'' Strawberry cheered. Cailey was on the verge of... questioning... when Lylie surprisingly cheered too. ``Yeah, we never let someone down! Wait... You're a Cutie too?''\n\n\t``Ahh! Yeah, we're in the same clubs and stuff!'' Strawberry squealed. ``Oh!! Lylie, if you're a Cutie, then, we must be like, friends right?''\n\n\t``Yeah! Uh... wait, who else was in our secret-club?''\n\n\t``Focus, we'll get our memories back later,'' Annabelle urged.\n\n\tThe pier hit another fork. They could continue along the southern edge, or head north along the left-path.\n\n\t``This way, it sounded like...'' Strawberry lead them north up the left-path.\n\n\tThis way was even more ramshackle. The street was narrower, but had less shops, less hiding spots. Empty plots or collapsed venues dotted the path, still more were held-upright, but torn apart inside or their equipment thrown to the side. Cailey wondered briefly, what kind of history could have taken place here, wherever this was.\n\n\tThey were coming on another fork, a 4-way junction, and discussing where to go next, when they saw Sai'Ryn run into their field of view, and apparently she'd traded out the fishing-pole for a machete.\n\n\tShe looked around for where to go, and spotted the gaggle of girls.\n\n\tA mixture of relief and anger formed on her face, and she ran after them. ``There you fucks are! What kept you?! Why'd you abandon me you cunts?! Fuck you! I should rape every single one of you and leave you for THAT THING!''\n\n\tCailey almost asked what thing, when the answer galloped into view.\n\n\tRunning on four legs that had two-too many joints to be practical, on feet that looked like a revolting hybridization of paws, hooves and teeth, had come a great, hulking beast. Wiry, smoking, burnt fur covered the body, a body shaped like that of a wild, feral boar. The skull was almost a wolf's skull, with a long set of jowls full of fangs and tearing-teeth. But where the eyes should be?\n\n\tA giant freaking hole leading into another star-cluster, initially as pretty as any Hubble Telescope image, but then came this weird feeling of recognition, realization, or perhaps epiphany. The star-cluster meant something, something incomprehensible, some stellar mad-chatter and jabbering resonating out of that constellation. More than just the shape, those dull, mustard yellow stars had an ephemeral wrongness that upset Cailey. It should just be a pretty batch of stars, but it was like looking at a dead body...! Those stars... were dead.\n\n\tThe constellation in the dog's face looked something like the rough silhouette of a nerve-cell's soma, and then a pitcher of water. Cailey couldn't re-create it in drawings if she'd dared, there was something so exact and specific about the arrangement, even one star out of place and it wouldn't feel so awful!\n\n\tThe beast over-shot the center of the intersection. It stumbled to a stop, its hooves chopping through some of the blood-kudzu, and soaking its smoking fur in glowing scarlet. The thick, coppery smell of blood poured into the air.\n\n\tThe girls shrieked with horror, and then the beast turned its head toward them, its yellow-light glinting in their eyes.\n\n\t``AAAARRGH!'' Cailey screamed, clutching her head. A sharp-stabbing pain and ringing tore into her skull, like a high-pitched broken radio. It dampened as soon as she stopped looking directly at it.\n\n\tThe creature elicited a warbling howl, and it sounded strangely far off, as if the beast was miles away, instead of a mere sixty-some-feet.\n\n\tSai'Ryn was still running as fast as she could, her teen breasts shocking with every footstep. For once her dick wasn't standing proud.\n\n\t``GET OUT OF MY WAY!!'' she yelled, running at them. The beast rolled its shoulders forward and started to gallop.\n\n\tThe girls screamed and turned-heel, fleeing. Cailey felt her eyes watering again, making it harder to run without tripping. Cailey's kangaroo-hopping made the rough-terrain manageable, but the other girls were tripping, and losing ground.\n\n\t``Aaaack!''\n\n\tCailey turned her head, witnessing Snowflake stumble on a raised vine, falling away from the group. Cailey slowed, reaching to grab her hand.\n\n\t``I SAID MAKE WAY!'' Sai'Ryn, catching up to them, pushed Snowflake aside with her hips, and ran past. Snowflake fell to the ground, causing Cailey to stop, staring in shock.\n\n\t`SAI'RYN!' her mind screamed, teeth barred with tension and shock. Cailey acted without further deliberation, running back to heave Snowflake to her feet. ``C'mon, run!''\n\n\tSnowflake, crying, ran with Cailey. The kangaroo looked back as they ran, witnessing a constellation of dead, yellow stars rushing toward them.\n\n\tThey'd lost too much ground.\n\n\tCailey looked forward for any sign of help, any sign of hope. Everyone else was running ahead. They were alone! Cailey could feel the creature's light on her back, decaying the surrounding ambient red-glow of the blood-kudzu. The immediate area turned a dusty mix of grey and mustard-yellow. Shadows lengthened under its gaze, adding stark contrast to the stands and the heaping ancient trash-can next to the closest food-stall.\n\n\tCailey's eyes fixed on it. Growling she pulled Snowflake toward it and, twisting her grip, practically threw Snowflake off to the side of the trash-can.\n\n\t``Eaaaak!'' Snowflake twisted and stumbled back, shock and confusion on her face.\n\n\tCailey grabbed the trash can, and turned toward the creature. She twisted her face in disgust and terror - the creature was full-speed and mere feet away.\n\n\tGrunting, Cailey pushed the trash-can toward the creature and twisted herself out of the way. The monster crashed into the rubbish, causing it to crash into the food-stand as well. The boards of the stand crunched, and it slammed into a derelict cotton-candy maker, which shattered in a plume of parts and rust. The creature kicked and snarled, trying to find purchase on the ground and upright itself.\n\n\tCailey looked at Snowflake, the cat was clutching her burning chest, panting. Cailey reached her hand out - Snowflake took it.\n\n\t``Sorry,'' Cailey said. ``Could have warned you.''\n\n\tSnowflake didn't say anything, but followed Cailey as they started running the opposite direction - the direction the creature came from. Suddenly, she realized the rest of the girls were running south, and she wondered if her split-decision to head this way was a smart decision.\n\n\tShe didn't have time to change that now, she had to commit to putting distance between her and the creature! She heard it howl, and the splintering of wood. She chanced a look over her shoulder. The creature crawled out of the wreckage of the cotton-candy stand, shaking its ethereal head. It galloped off south - after the other girls.\n\n\t`Crap.'\n\n\tSnowflake whimpered as they ran. Both girls felt their eyes drying once the creature was further away; strangely, the bodily shock of fear was setting in more. Cailey didn't think their crying had to do with sheer terror, it was almost like a symptom...\n\n\tThe junction again. Cailey did some quick planning... If the group went to their left, Cailey cannot catch up. Would the group run to their right at the South-end of the pier, and towards the turn for the fishing-supply store?\n\n\tCailey took Snowflake west. Without immediate danger, the little kitty-cat started dragging her feet. ``C'mon Snowflake, don't give up now, we can't stop yet!''\n\n\t``My chest hurts!'' she whimpered.\n\n\t``I know... mine too, c'mon!''\n\n\tThe cat winced as Cailey dragged her along. ``I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you, but we gotta keep going!''\n\n\tNeither of them could sprint any longer, but they ran as fast as they could for the next junction. Cailey looked at the swing-ride at the north end of the pier, and looked at her left for south. Yes, this way! The shop they started in was just down this way - and if the gang went this way too, they'll see them. Cailey ran for the South Main-Street junction, watching and hoping to see the other girls.\n\n\tYes! She saw Sai'Ryn run into view, just noticeable in the gloom of the blood-kudzu. The other girls followed behind. Sai'Ryn seemed to pause, thinking where to go, and ran up Main-Street. The other girls ran into view, and followed after. Cailey waved, signaling herself to the fleeing group. Far away, covered in shadow, it was hard to tell if they'd noticed her.\n\n\tShe hopped up and down, waving, to make sure. One of the girls waved back. Good, but now what? Cailey looked down the other avenues, for anything useful, or a place to hide. Could the creature smell them, find them that way? In her shocked mind, she couldn't remember much about a nose on the monster's muzzle, but the canine skull made her anxious about being sniffed out.\n\n\tBut what about climbing high up? It only had hoofed-legs... Cailey looked over the nearby stands and shops - they'd need a sturdy, tall one, with plenty of kudzu to climb... Ah!\n\n\tUp the avenue heading west, Cailey saw a solid looking restaurant-building, with enough space for its kitchen and pseudo-outdoor dining area, open-faced to the sea. One of the structure's walls was dense with blood-ivy.\n\n\t`What if the creature leads the tall-ones to us?' But Cailey's mind couldn't see any other options.\n\n\t``Snowflake, look over there, see that building?''\n\n\tSnowflake trembled, peering down the road. ``Oh, there! Y-yeah.''\n\n\t``We're going to run and climb up to the roof. Get ready, I need to make sure the others see me, they need to know what to do.''\n\n\tSnowflake gulped.\n\n\tCailey turned back toward the sea, as the howl of the creature reached her ears. The search-light glare of the creature's face appeared around the far junction. It looked up and down the street, and spotted the girls. It gave chase.\n\n\t``Oh... Oh fuck, no!''\n\n\t``What is it?'' Snowflake asked.\n\n\t``Snow, go climb up the restaurant, I'll be right there... you can do it.''\n\n\tSnowflake shook her head, grimacing. ``No way! I'll f-fall! I can't climb that high! It's too tall!''\n\n\t``Snow you're a cat, you can do it! Now run, I'm right behind you!''\n\n\tSnowflake teared up, stomping her foot, but turned and ran for the restaurant.\n\n\tCailey turned her face back toward main-street, face twisting up in fear and anticipation... She didn't want Snowflake to see this.\n\n\tAs soon as Cailey had seen the monster giving chase, she'd realized that the monster will catch up to the girls before they can catch up to Cailey. They couldn't out-run it in a foot-race.\n\n\t``C'mon, think of something, think of something!'' she whimpered, half asking herself, half asking them. ``C'mon, trip it, slow it down, it's going to catch you!''\n\n\tHalf-way up the street, Cailey could hear the girls yelling. Their terror mounted as the beast closed in. Exhausted, lactic acid stiffening their muscles, breathless, and tripping over vines, the girls were about to be run-down. Sai'Ryn turned her terrified face over her shoulder, watching as the creature gained on them!\n\n\tSai'Ryn's face furrowed, and Cailey recognized that determined look when she'd butted Snowflake out of the way. Cailey gasped, the words `Watch out!' trapped in her throat, mind-malfunctioning at the sheer horror at what she'd understood of Sai'Ryn's intentions!\n\n\t``HEY RABBIT!'' Sai'Ryn yelled.\n\n\tThe terrified Strawberry looked, nearing Sai'Ryn.\n\n\t``You think people preying on each other is murder?!''\n\n\tConfusion spread on the rabbit's face, before it was replaced with a wide-eyed look of terror, as Sai'Ryn suddenly stopped and grabbed Strawberry mid-run. The other girls were too scared to stop, but they saw, and slowed, watching.\n\n\t`Oh God...!' Cailey wished the other girls would look away.\n\n\t``No, this is murder!'' Sai'ryn barked, and threw Strawberry into the creature's path. Sai'Ryn turned, face twisted up in a look of disgust, a sort of `serves you right!', but also horror and shock. Sai'ryn hesitated, but began to run.\n\n\tStrawberry rolled, settling on her side. She leaned up onto her arm, reaching out toward the others, a gaping look of betrayal on her face. Tears flooded her eyes as luminous dead-stars glittered behind her.\n\n\t``STRAWWBERRYYY!!'' Lylie stopped, gripping her hair. The other girls stumbled, stopping for a brief moment, before turning to look away and fleeing. Sai'Ryn overtook the group again, running ahead.\n\n\tThe creature's mouth yawned; it scooped Strawberry up by the stomach, jerked right, and swung left, pelting Strawberry into the side of a game-stand. She cried out, the boards splintered at the force of the collision. Cailey's head hurt imagining the pain.\n\n\tDazed, Strawberry struggled to lift her head up, watching as the creature ran at her. The yawning maw caught her feet, shoveling her shins into its throat. Strawberry shook her head, trying to deny the reality.\n\n\t``No! No!''\n\n\tThe rabbit beat her fists on the creature's muzzle, the rasping tongue cupping her butt and pulling her in, bulging its cheeks with hers. She slammed her fists onto it, until she struck too close to the ethereal portal to the astral-graveyard that was its eyes. The fist retracted, smoking as if burned. Strawberry cried out, clutching her shaking, burned hand.\n\n\tCailey could almost hear the swallow. Strawberry slipped deeper into the creature, her ass bulging in its boar-chest, her torso in the creature's maw. If it snapped its jaws, she'd be decapitated!\n\n\t``STRAWBERRY!!'' Lylie wailed, stepping away from the scene, but unable to look away.\n\n\t``Help! I want my bed! Momma! Mommaaa! Oh kale!''\n\n\tThe creature threw back its head, wolfing her down in a final swallow.\n\n\tLylie screamed, falling onto the ground in disbelief.\n\n\tEveryone else continued to run.\n\n\tCailey's face twitched, at once disgusted and fascinated. She felt her panties become humid as she watched the bulge settling in the creature's abdomen, twisting, squirming... The kangaroo daydreamed about what it must have looked like for Strawberry, what did she feel? Was the tongue slippery? Was the flesh warm? She hated how scared Strawberry looked, Cailey could almost imagine the beast taking its time on Cailey, slipping her inside its maw with an almost gentle touch, knowing that Cailey had surrendered.\n\n\tIt could all be over if she surrenders... squirming in that stomach... no more terror, a place to go back to sleep.\n\n\tCailey shook her head, horrified with herself. Her new friend was either dead or about to suffer indescribably, what was wrong with her? Oh, poor Strawberry...\n\n\tAs if to confirm some bizarre, awful thing was happening in that gut, the creature panted and retched, as if undergoing some mild choking, or indigestion. It belched a bright jet of sparkling light, which diffused into a glowing mustard-cloud, before subliming into black smoke. A faint yellow glow irradiated the section of planks the creature had belched on. Its stomach was pulsing, squeezing, and then shrank until the creature looked like it was starving - no sign of its occupant.\n\n\tCailey's stomach tightened in disgust, while her legs tightened with her dark curiosity.\n\n\tThe girls were coming on Cailey. She looked at Lylie, far behind them, huddled on the ground, helpless. The creature was trotting toward her, sniffing. The small girl she'd helped out of that very first room...\n\n\t``Run Lylie! Hide, just do something!'' Cailey yelled. Lylie shivered on the ground, the creature bounded toward her and leaned its maw down toward her head.\n\n\tCailey wrenched her face away. She looked toward the ivy-walled restaurant. Snowflake was almost to the top. Cailey pointed, looking at the fleeing girls, and waving with her arm for them to follow her.\n\n\t``Quick! Quick!'' Cailey ran for the restaurant, slowly at first, making sure the girls followed her. They slowly steered toward her - thank goodness.\n\n\tCailey let them get a bit closer, and she turned to look at the creature. It was licking the planks, Lylie was missing, and must have left something the creature was licking up off the ground. Its stomach was bulged, but shrinking already.\n\n\tTwo down...\n\n\tCailey's head swam, nausea threatened to kick out her feet. Stumbling, she ran for the restaurant. Nightmare-time turned on again, the far wall grew closer at a snail's pace, and her mouth filled with spit as she felt like she'd vomit at any moment.\n\n\tShe slammed against the ivy, unable to slow. Her budding breasts stung, striking into the pseudo-glass vines. Their texture was alien, it felt like glass until you squeezed it, the longer you held, the more the feeling turned to a wet-feeling rubber. Getting a grip was possible, but you could slip if you didn't maintain your tightest grip.\n\n\tCailey slowly ascended, getting better at it as she went. Sai'Ryn reached the wall first, and slipped on her first try. She struggled to get a firm grip and find good catches for her feet, more than that, she refused to let go of her machete. She tried carrying it in her jaw, before deciding against it as it slipped from her teeth. Eventually, she started climbing one-handed, and it was slow work.\n\n\tThe other girls reached the wall, and started climbing. ``Grab hard!'' Cailey called to them, ascending higher. She was almost there!\n\n\tThe other girls grabbed the vines, hard, and started up the wall. All except Aura - Cailey looked, and saw that she couldn't grab at all - her hands were small, and hoof-like, mostly just cloven-hooves for claws and palms. She looked up with horror, before looking around for some other way up.\n\n\t``Oh no, no!'' Cailey moaned. Did she just get a friend of hers killed? Why hadn't she considered this might happen?!\n\n\tAura snapped her fingers. The sheep-girl stood against the wall, faced the next stand, and ran. Parkour like, or, uncomfortably like a toon for Cailey's tastes, Aura lept off the wall and literally wall-jumped up to the roof of the adjacent stand, and then lept clean over to the roof of the restaurant.\n\n\t``Whoo!'' cheered Melanie. ``Wow! So cool!''\n\n\tCailey sighed with relief.\n\n\tSai'Ryn looked livid. She growled, and dropped her machete onto the ground. ``HEY AURA! Get that for me, will ya? While you're showing off and all, yeah, help some of us out! Chop-chop lamb-chop!''\n\n\t``Don't listen to her!'' groaned Cailey, but the kangaroo yelped as Aura actually hopped back down to the other roof, and slid down to the alleyway. ``Aura! No, forget it!''\n\n\tAura lifted the Machete. It was a big heavy for her, being so small.\n\n\tThe creature's howl reverbed in the stands. Cailey heard hooves. She couldn't turn enough to see the monster, but it had to be close.\n\n\t``AURA LEAVE IT!!'' Cailey screamed.\n\n\t``Don't you dare!'' Sai'Ryn yelled, climbing faster now, unburdened by her weapon.\n\n\tCailey scrambled over the top of the roof, joining Snowflake. For a white-kitten, she sure was pale - she trembled with terror. ``Why'd Aura go? Is she okay?''\n\n\tCailey turned over the edge and reached down, grabbing Annabelle's hand, and helping her up. Cailey saw Aura take a run at the wall, but the added weight confused her, and she slid down the wall, gouging the old-wood with her hoof.\n\n\t``Aaah!'' she coughed. The blade dug into her stomach - and thank goodness her wool-pelt was as thick as it was. She stumbled to her feet, and backed up for another try.\n\n\tAnnabelle crawled over the edge. Melanie was struggling, her hooves fumbled on the glassy vines, but at least she had hands. Sai'Ryn wasn't far behind, catching up now that she could use both hands.\n\n\tAura gritted her teeth. ``C'mon... c'mon...''\n\n\t``No Aura!'' Cailey cried. Her peripheral caught the glinting of light, and she saw the creature barreling down on Aura.\n\n\tThe sheep bent her legs... and ran. The creature slammed into the wall, bouncing off of it and stumbling away, just as Aura leapt for the next-wall. Hop, hop, hop, Aura grunted as she leapt from the alleyway, to the lower-roof, and then onto the restaurant.\n\n\tCailey held her breath, letting out a gasp after the delay. ``That... that was unbelievable...''\n\n\tThe shockwave to the wall knocked Melanie off her hooves. Dangling from her arms, she struggled to find footing. ``Help, help! I'm slipping!''\n\n\t``Let me see that,'' Annabelle said. Cailey looked, and discounted it - the machete wouldn't be helpful. She looked around for anything useful, wishing for rope... Naturally, there was nothing.\n\n\tCailey blinked, something occurring to her. She lept over the edge and back onto the ivy, dangling her tail down.\n\n\t``Melanie! Grab!''\n\n\t``What?!'' she shrieked. She shook her head. ``I can't!''\n\n\t``Try!''\n\n\tCailey lowered herself. ``Oh crap...'' Her eyes darted toward the creature. It bounded beneath Melanie and jumped onto its hind-legs, scraping at the wall. It leapt up, snapping its jaws at her ankles.\n\n\tMelanie screamed, tears pouring over the sides of her face while her knuckles turned red with strain. She screamed over and over.\n\n\t``Please Melanie just grab my tail!''\n\n\t``Nnnragh!'' The weeping cow swung to the left, catching her arm around Cailey's tail. Cailey tilted her head back and gasped, a sharp pain running up her spine and into her skull.\n\n\t`Oh FUCK THAT HURTS!' Cailey panted, blinking the tears from her eyes, her lips pulled back in a sneer of agony. She felt Melanie wrap her other arm around the kangaroo's tail. Growling, Cailey climbed...\n\n\t``Hey!! What the - no, no NO NO!''\n\n\tCailey turned, what was that commotion?\n\n\tAnnabelle was leaning over Sai'Ryn, who was hardly-a-foot from the top, holding the machete. The blade was against the wall, poised against the blood-kudzu. Sai'Ryn screamed, rage and determination on her face, she reached up for Annabelle's arms.\n\n\tAnnabelle yelled as she swiped the blade as hard as she could across the vines!\n\n\tBlood, luminescent but reeking with authenticity, showered over Sai'Ryn. The vines weakened, slackening. Blood soaked into Sai'Ryn's hands, and she slipped, falling into the alleyway.\n\n\tBlood spurted up onto Annabelle, staining her pajamas and sticking to her hair and neck. Her arms dripped with it. She pulled the machete back onto the roof and dropped it. Annabelle fell onto her knees, head leaning over the edge.\n\n\t``I...''\n\n\t``You BITCH! YOU FUCKING BIIITCH!''\n\n\tAnnabelle winced, growling. ``I had to! You're killing us!''\n\n\tThe creature abandoned Melanie and hunched itself, ready to leap upon Sai'Ryn. Growling, Sai'Ryn scrambled to her feet, and ran down the alleyway toward the guard-rail.\n\n\t``Help me!'' Cailey called, struggling to pull herself up over the edge. Snowflake and Aura ran for her, eyes trembling.\n\n\t``She didn't, she didn't!'' Aura cried. ``I didn't want, I didn't - ``\n\n\t``It's okay,'' Cailey sighed, and grunted as she was pulled over the edge. The two younger girls reached down to help pull Melanie up. They all tumbled onto the roof, panting, Cailey's tail felt like a second-heart was beating inside it, raging with pain. Did she break something?\n\n\tGasping, the girls looked at Annabelle, who was huddling herself and pressing her back against the roof's edge. She rocked back and forth. ``Sorry, sorry, sorry... I had to... She's too dangerous...''\n\n\tCailey gulped, nearing sickness. She pulled herself up, and looked into the alleyway.\n\n\tSai'Ryn got to the end of the alley-way, before the creature took off like an out-of-control wagon. Sai'Ryn turned, sneering, caught in the creature's glow like a deer in the headlights!\n\n\tCailey's breath stopped. Goodbye sweet-bitch.\n\n\t``FUCK. OOOOFF!!''\n\n\t``No...'' The disbelief barely escaped Cailey's lips as she watched Sai'Ryn hop up, and kick off the support-post of the guard-rail. The creature snapped, but Sai'Ryn propelled herself over, and she did a hand-spring off its back, and fly off into the alleyway. She failed to stick the landing, crumbling onto her knees and falling to her side, skin catching freshly freed wood from the ancient planks. That could be it for her, if the creature hadn't slammed into the guard-rail - and threw it.\n\n\tThe creature howled as it plummeted over the side, and out of sight. Ker-sploosh.\n\n\tThey could hear splashing, and an occasional moan from the water. Steam (could dead stars be extinquished?) started to rise from the side of the pier... Was it drowning? Even if it wasn't, it seemed that they were saved.\n\n\tSai'Ryn rose to her feet with a stomp. Uh oh.\n\n\tShe looked up at them, face soaked with blood. She smeared it off with her wrist, and barred her teeth. ``You're welcome, for saving your asses! Oh, smart idea, throwing me to that freak! I'm going to come up there and return the favor fox-cunt! You hear me? Lube yourself up, I'm going to kill you, you fucking little stain!''\n\n\tCailey reeled away as Sai'Ryn stomped toward the ivy-wall.\n\n\t``Oh fucking hell, it doesn't stop!'' Cailey whimpered. What was worse? Sai'Ryn just beat that thing!! What the hell was she going to do?!\n\n\tThat's when the color went out. Cailey blinked, eyes confused by the change, but her mind too distracted to recognize the transformation. It soaked in, once Cailey's eyes watered as if she was standing in front of a shower. The whole world seemed to go gray and hazy, and diffuse light shown from the avenues. Particularly from Main-Street, a knot of pale colored flood-lights stained the graying world. Accompanying was a tremendous cacophony of heavy, distant venting.\n\n\t``Let me up, let - `` Sai'Ryn climbed a short distance, before she stopped with a gasp. Cailey huddled against the roof. The other girls followed suit, hiding against the edges of the roof ledges. But she could hear that one of the others had found the alleyway.\n\n\t``Ah shit!'' Sai'Ryn dropped audibly to the ground, and they heard her feet slam against the planks as she ran toward the broken fence. She ran around the back of the restaurant. The looming presence below them followed after Sai'Ryn, circling from the street and following Sai'Ryn. They heard her running west, and away, but before the creature following could get far enough for comfort, two more glowing presences moved down the avenue from Main-Street. And then another...\n\n\tThe girls all clutched their mouths, trying not to breathe. Let the things do the breathing for them... The night-air was loud with the sound of the dead-star figures. Their movements soon made it obvious that they were searching.\n\n\tCailey, slowly, leaned up to poke her eyes over the roof's ledge, trying to look over the pier with as little obtrusiveness as possible. It was enough to see that the glowing areas with the densest knots of... them, were at the places the girls had run or stopped for any length of time. Strangely, the restaurant only had a couple glowing presences milling about, but over by where Strawberry and Lylie - \n\n\tCailey ducked back down, nauseated. She gulped, trying to hold it in... Calm down girl... Calm down...\n\n\tThe creatures kept the girls company for what might have been an hour. The girls shivered, arms sore from lying on their sides too long on this uncomfortable roof. They cried, wheter from stress or the unnatural presences around them did not matter anymore, they cried on. Cailey felt her thirst growing as an unsatisfying calmness settled in her chest.\n\n\tThe girls had all crawled together, holding each other for warmth, while Cailey took the occasional time to spy on the others.\n\n\tThe others seemed to still be hovering around where Strawberry... fell down. There did not seem to be any lights out on the eastern side of the pier... Strange, shouldn't they be looking everywhere? But it did creep Cailey out that the creatures not only seem fixated on where they'd been, but knew where they'd been running to begin with.\n\n\tThe girls stayed in hiding, and Cailey mulled it over in her head... How had the first one found them? Why was there only one, that time, and now an army of them now? They were at once perceptive, yet, bad at finding the girls.\n\n\tCailey furrowed her brow, thinking... Melanie had been screaming, in the shop... and then a creature came. Melanie had been too loud... right? But then it heard them again, when it was searching for Strawberry. All Melanie had done was step on the floor, and the creak was enough to attract the creature. Right? But its hearing wasn't so good as to hear their panicked breaths, their panicked heartbeats, and they've surely made more noise than just that.\n\n\t``Does... does anyone have something to throw?'' Cailey whispered.\n\n\tAnnabelle and the others looked at her with shock. ``Are you crazy? Why?''\n\n\tCailey nibbled her lip. ``Hmm... I... uh, play a lot of D&D, and uh... You know it?''\n\n\tAnnabelle, surprising Cailey, actually nodded. ``Yeah.''\n\n\tCailey hesitated, but smiled. ``So, my Dungeon Master likes to trick us, her monsters aren't as straight forward as they look. Uhm... I think these things are deaf.''\n\n\tAnnabelle tilted her head. Snowflake shook hers. ``Nuh uh, they heard Melanie.''\n\n\tMelanie blushed. She was curled up in Annabelle's warm tail, but she was still shivering. ``I'm sorry,'' she said.\n\n\t``I'm serious,'' Cailey whispered. ``There's something else going on.\n\n\tAnnabelle touched her fingers to her face, blinking. ``Yeah... Yeah, something is a little weird about their sense of hearing. Well, we could throw the machete.''\n\n\tCailey nodded, but then hesitated. ``No... no, better not. No you're right, I can't risk it... Besides, we might need it.''\n\n\t``We're not going to have to fight those things?'' Aura whimpered.\n\n\tCailey shook her head. ``No, but, it is good to have something to cut through those... vines. What if we need to get into one of these buildings? We need to find water... and a map.''\n\n\tAnnabelle sighed. ``Gods, I want a bacon cheeseburger...''\n\n\tCailey snickered. ``Vegetarian, but yeah, I'm starving.''\n\n\tHer mind drifted, thinking of the yellow-eyed beast. Nausea swirled in her, but, with nothing better to do but wait, her mind drifted perilously close to reliving that grotesque moment.\n\n\tShe closed her eyes and tried to picture a large, wise scaled face instead, some majestic dragon or dinosaur, leaning their muzzle down on her feet. She curled her toes, imagining the hot breath, the lapping tongue, the growls of the great animal's stomach... It wants her, and she knows she cannot escape - better to accept, and let the hot breath wash her identity away, leaving her as food.\n\n\tCailey flinched as she felt her vaginal muscles tighten. Oh, that felt good just thinking about it...!\n\n\tThe girls all sat up, ears shoot up, and ice filling Cailey's chest. Surprised faces gazed upon surprised faces, as they felt the pier almost seem to shake! An earthquake? The building shook and vibrated; it felt as if the woodwork had been rung like a bell.\n\n\tThe creatures nearest them, and the knot hovering around the Lasink Far girls'... last known location, these creatures made their way toward the restaurant, their breathing filling the air.\n\n\tWhat?! What did they do to get their attention?!\n\n\tThe creatures swarmed past, and fanned out. Some slipped into the stands, stalls, and the restaurant itself, exploring. Many more simply drifted by, going in opposite directions. Their behavior was halfway between clumsy searching and... passing meteoroids.\n\n\tThey swarmed, but did not seem to linger on the restaurant for long, but they did comb this street for some time.\n\n\tCailey calmed, in time, and lay down. Her vision swam with tears, unable to control her ducts whenever the others were near. But, it seemed she had her answer.\n\n\tShe'd been fantasizing, and then the creatures came. She was positive she did not make a sound, and if it was smell, they'd have found her. They are clearly not blind, but, perhaps they don't see the way the girls do.\n\n\tWhat if, instead of hearing sounds... they somehow hear emotions? Specifically, they seem to react strongest to sudden and powerful emotional outbursts. Perhaps, as long as they stay out of sight, and stay calm, they'll be fine...\n\n\tThey have to wait it out.\n\n\tCailey huddled with the other girls, whispering that everyone should stay calm, and try to keep their emotions steady. ``I think... they can sense our emotions, but they can't smell or hear us,'' she explained. ``So just... try and relax, I guess.''\n\n\tThe younger girls looked faithless and confused, but they gave it a try, thank goodness... It gave Cailey time to think...\n\n\t`Okay... the creatures swarmed where Strawberry fell down... They don't seem to be swarming anywhere else. Does... does that mean Sai'Ryn got away?'\n\n\tCailey pushed the thought from her mind - no, no. She has to be dead, if Cailey allows her paranoia to frighten her with Sai'Ryn's promised revenge... the creatures will find Cailey.\n\n\tThey had to have caught her... had to... The cluster of colors where they caught Sai'Ryn, Cailey surely missed it. Yeah, in-fact, maybe she saw where they caught her and mistook it somehow.\n\n\tThey're safe for now, safe for now...\n\n\tCailey drifted off into a dreamless, exhausted sleep.\n\n\t...\n\n\t``Hey, Cailey, wake up...'' The kangaroo was aware that she was being shaken. Blinking, she looked up and saw Annabelle looming over her, her face dry. Cailey felt a cold horror in her chest as she recollected her awareness. This fox, the blood on her, the starless sky.\n\n\tHer mind flashed to terrified Strawberry, torso-deep in a monster.\n\n\tShe clenched her face, grimacing.\n\n\t``Sh, sh, careful, steady... steady yourself...''\n\n\tOh, right. Cailey took a deep breath, forcing the terror back. She measured her breath for a good minute. ``Okay... I'm good. They gone?''\n\n\tAnnabelle looked out nervously over the dark, faintly red pier. ``Yeah... I don't know how long we've been up here. A good while. I think they've given up.''\n\n\tThe world was silent. A gentle rustle of sea-breeze was the only activity in the world. Cailey looked out over the pier, horrified by the size and emptiness of it. It was completely overgrown. She looked over at the swing-ride.\n\n\t``Woah... that... wait, how big is that thing?!''\n\n\t``Temper,'' Annabelle warned, but looked. ``Yeah, I noticed that too.''\n\n\t``Sorry,'' Cailey huffed. Gotta stay calm, no outbursts. It had been hard to tell from ground-level, but from up here, Cailey had a better idea of how far away the swing-ride was. She'd thought it was a lot closer.\n\n\tNo, it was far far away, and it was enormous. It was a fucking skyscraper.\n\n\tIt was hard to tell what the point was, but the derelict ride had gigantic, warehouse sized carnival-lights studding it, and other showy decorations. But it also had windows built into the top-most of the ride. It reminded her of the Space Needle, a UFO shaped structure atop a tower. In the empty sky, it was impossible to see the chains, but it was possible to see them in front of the length of the ride's mast. The tower was covered in blood-kudzu, and the illumination allowed Cailey to just barely resolve the ridiculously long chains hanging from the canopy. In other words, it looked as if you were actually meant to ride that monstrosity.\n\n\tOh, no thank you. Cailey felt her legs tremble just thinking about it.\n\n\t``Temper...'' Annabelle warned.\n\n\tCailey sighed, and resumed breathing exercises. She practiced some voice warm-ups under her breath, and it helped immensely. ``So... it has windows.''\n\n\t``So we can get inside,'' said Annabelle. ``Hmph. It's... the only landmark here. Think we'd be stupid to go check it out?''\n\n\t``Definitely, but...'' Cailey rubbed her face. That sleep barely helped. ``I don't see what else we could do.''\n\n\t``Why are we here, why is this happening to us?'' Melanie sniffled.\n\n\t``I don't know,'' Cailey sighed. ``I don't know... Here, let me teach you some, um, voice warm-ups. They might help you stay calm.''\n\n\tIt strangely helped, although Cailey thought that might be because Melanie trusted her. For one reason or another, in this situation, she'd really attached herself to Melanie, and the little cow girl seemed to reciprocate. It did not feel like a deep connection, but it felt... familiar, appropriate.\n\n\t``Seems quiet out there,'' said Annabelle. ``I can't tell how dangerous it is.''\n\n\tCailey looked at the three other girls... shit, how did this happen? With Sai'Ryn outed and Strawberry being... gone, it was just her and Annabelle to look after the welfare of three other, much younger girls. Cailey didn't feel up to the task. Or so it seemed... Cailey wasn't sure how old Annabelle was, come to think of it. She wondered if she should be suspicious of the strangely competent child.\n\n\t`No, if I start thinking like that, it will cause problems,' she thought. `If she was somehow master-minding this... then she'd have enough of an advantage that there'd be nothing I could do. I'd have to cooperate either way.'\n\n\tCailey would prefer to trust her, anyway. ``Alright, so, how do we proceed?''\n\n\tThe smaller girls huddled together, listening intently. Annabelle gave them sad looks. She gave a shaky, cold sigh. ``I don't know. Walk maybe? I'm not sure honestly, there may be only one way in. Hmm... I'm thinking, maybe, we should have one of us sneaking ahead to watch for danger, and then signal the others to follow.''\n\n\tCailey nodded. ``Who should it be?''\n\n\t``Well,'' Annabelle asked. ``Hmm, I don't want to ask Snowflake, but she's small with quiet feet. But you step really lightly too, Cailey, and I feel confident in how quietly I can walk too. But I think we need someone who can control their feelings.''\n\n\tCailey mulled it over, nodding. ``I'll do it then. When you have to deal with stage fright, you get... good at that.''\n\n\tAnnabelle nodded. ``Alright. Let's get down.''\n\n\tCailey had Melanie ride on her back, sitting on her tail-base and wrapping her arms around Cailey's stomach, and legs around Cailey's tail. The more distributed weight made her more manageable. Aura was able to hop right down, and Snowflake had to move slow, and needed some encouragement to coax down, but, they all got to ground-level soon enough. The sea was quiet... Cailey wondered what became of the yellow-eyed beast.\n\n\tShe hoped it drowned.\n\n\tShe looked out over the rest of the pier. Most of the pier that she could see lay north of here. She wondered if the gigantic swing-ride was just the tip of the ice-berg, or if it marked the end of the pier. Was there more pier, or land, past that point? Or just more sea...? It felt like they were completely out at sea - the sound of the ocean was immense, but subtle, the breath of a giant. Thinking of it that way made her feel uncomfortably close to contemplating if this whole ocean wasn't somehow one of those... things. Overactive child imagination...\n\n\tStill, this street was aligned with the second junction north of the fishing-shop where they'd started, but she didn't feel like they were close to land.\n\n\t``Who would build a place like this?'' she asked.\n\n\t``I don't... think anyone would,'' said Aura.\n\n\tCailey felt a chill go up her spine - that almost made it worse. She licked her lips, looking at the interior of the restaurant. ``Hmm...''\n\n\tShe crept inside, the others following her. ``Think there's anything to eat?''\n\n\tBellies grumbled at the mere prospect. Cailey found the back-room and its refrigerators. They lacked power, so Cailey held her breath as she opened them. Stale air met her, along with the ancient, deplorable scent of Freon. They were dirty inside, but utterly bare - nothing decayed within.\n\n\t``Found water!''\n\n\tCailey looked over excitedly, as Melanie waved them over. She was beaming with excitement, hidden in the corner as if pushed out of the way, was a vendor's mini-fridge, half-full of water-bottles and, uh, expired drinks. The water looked safe to drink, the caps tight, the water clear and crisp. The orange-juice was mud-brown, and the bottled milk was more like bottled cheese. There was a bottle of some unknown soda. Cailey opened it.\n\n\tNo fizz, no pop. ``It must be really old to have gone flat with the cap sealed...''\n\n\t``Should we boil this?'' Annabelle asked, studying the water in the light of the blood-kudzu that, even here, crawled over most surfaces - like other rooms on the pier, this place had a collection of heart-lanterns, which pulsated with lazy, half-hearted beating.\n\n\tBoiling seemed out of the question, no electricity, and they decided a fire would be a bad idea. So, Annabelle took a sip of water, and waited.\n\n\t``Taste's fine. I'm... not sure how long it would take me to get sick of it wasn't.''\n\n\t``Well, we're all a little dehydrated, so we better not drink too fast anyway,'' said Cailey.\n\n\tIt seemed they would need some backpacks now. None of them had pockets worth much, being in their pj's. Luckily, a prize booth nearby had backpack prizes, and the girls took some water and wrapped up the machete for safe carrying.\n\n\tThe water made their stomachs hurt... Snowflake asked if it was poisoned, and seemed unconvinced when it was explained that their empty, dehydrated stomachs would naturally cramp from the introduction - all the more reason to drink slowly.\n\n\tThey crept, as quickly as they dared, out from the restaurant. Once they hit Main-Street, they started their sneaking operation. Even the teensy bit of water hurt Cailey's stomach, but she felt more alert and prepared. Taking another sip, she felt steeled.\n\n\t``Alright...''\n\n\tMoving six stands at a time, and taking extra care at intersections, the tiny group leap-frogged toward the tower. The caution at the street-junctions proved to be of importance; by the sixth one, Cailey had to wave for the group to stop, as down west she spotted a discoloration in the red-haze. She mouthed at the girls to hide!\n\n\tThey waited, and watched as one of the others drifted past their hiding spot. Not that they dared, but they couldn't see its face - this one's presence was not as suppressive, or was it just unmotivated? If it found them, would its face flare to life, sucking color away from the environs and replacing the stolen color with its own hideous light?\n\n\tMelanie's lips silently pantomimed, `pa pa pa pa pa pa pa, ba ba ba ba ba ba ba.' Cailey joined in with her.\n\n\tMelanie hugged Cailey when the creature was well out of sight. They got to their feet. Snowflake wasn't doing so good, though. Wobbling as if she was sick, she whined. ``I don't want to do this anymore... I want my Mommy...''\n\n\tCailey wondered if it would it be irresponsible to lie to her... or, was the hope worth it? ``There has to be a way out of here,'' said Cailey. ``Things don't just happen for... no reason.''\n\n\tAnnabelle's face fell - seemed she disagreed, but not vocally. She smiled and patted Snowflake on the shoulder. ``You're doing great.''\n\n\t\n\n\t``Yeah!'' Aura chimed, and hugged the kitten. ``I'm scared too, so I know you're doing really well!''\n\n\t``Okay...'' Snowflake's eyes glazed. ``BLUUARFH!''\n\n\tAura yelped and hopped away as Snowflake began vomiting what little water she'd drunk, mostly dry-heaving interspersed with pained whimpers.\n\n\t``Oh shit...'' Annabelle growled, glancing down where that thing went.\n\n\tThe grey, hazy mist reversed, growing in strength. The distant shadow's face twinkled into un-life with aborted, forgotten stars.\n\n\t``It felt that...'' Annabelle took out her water and washed Snowflake up. ``C'mon, c'mon, we gotta go.''\n\n\tMelanie repeated Cailey's exercises. Aura looked around confusedly, then began copying Annabelle, trying to wash Snowflake off and get her back onto her feet.\n\n\t``I'm so sorry! I messed up!'' the kitten cried.\n\n\t``No, you didn't,'' Cailey reassured, ``but, we gotta move... can you walk?''\n\n\tSnowflake shook her head no, but her legs straightened. Annabelle helped Snowflake rinse her mouth. Then she had Snowflake wrap her arm around Annabelle's shoulder - they were ready to move.\n\n\t``I'm sorry,'' Snowflake whimpered.\n\n\t``Don't be, you're doing your best,'' said Annabelle.\n\n\t``Yeah!'' Aura insisted, nodding.\n\n\tCailey checked on the creature. Would it see them cross the street? ``Let's go back a street and go around.''\n\n\t``We'll be okay,'' Annabelle soothed. ``C'mon... c'mon.''\n\n\tThe group back-tracked to junction-five, and then circled around - going east, then north. At the next junction, they looked back west at where Snowflake had gotten sick. Three shadowy figures were standing inside the booth. If they did have heads, they were bowed, as if studying Snowflakes sick.\n\n\tTheir inscrutable alienness fascinated Cailey, but it disgusted her too. Were they studying the emotions in Snowflake's sick?\n\n\tThey kept going, parallel to Main-Street, only rejoining it once they'd made a few more intersections. The main thorough-fair seemed absent of anymore dangers, but the closer they got to the gigantic swing-ride, the more they heard distant, hollow howls... More dog-boars? The first one had been bad enough... How far were they? Even up close, their howls sound as if far away...\n\n\tAs they neared the hulking swing-ride, other atrociously large rides came into view - although they paled in comparison to the tower. They were strangely dark and skeletal, with less blood-kudzu infesting them. Perhaps the swing-ride tower was the only one with enough girth to allow the vines solid purchase. There was a dark abandoned ferris wheel, which could have been the London Eye's senior; its passenger cars were the size of small houses. It made the prospect of ascending the tower all the worse - it loomed over everything like a red-wood sequoia looms over a potted plant, making the ferris wheel like a mere oak-tree.\n\n\tThe amusement park apparently had been boarded off at some point, but this barrier had long since collapsed under sea-rot and everyone's new favorite glowing red plant-thing. Cailey advanced, checking to see if it was safe to go forward. Finding no fault, she waved everyone else to follow her, and they entered the park.\n\n\tThe swing-ride seemed to be the very center of the park, and had a large, artificial pond surrounding it. The water smelled foul, long since spoiled - if any life was there, it was anaerobic. Cailey could not tell if there were at least algae in the dark water. It must have been fresh-water too, the pond was technically above sea-level, and Cailey found a weathered sign advising not to feed the fish. Along the pond's circumference were docks, one still had a worn pedalo pulled up onto the planks. If there were others, perhaps they'd rotted through, and sunk to the bottom.\n\n\tAnd how many food stands and face-painting booths and carnival games did one pier need?! Like the pier, the park was full of these stands. Circling the pond, however, were new attractions. There was a selection of kudzu-covered fun-houses and haunted houses, a redundancy on this pier, and other rides. Cailey briefly admired how fun they looked, if only their circumstances weren't so grave, it would have been fun to explore them...\n\n\tThe gang followed the edge of the pond until they found a bridge leading across toward the base of the swing-ride, a ticket-line visible up a flight of steps on the far side. The bridge was long... perhaps a fifteen minute walk with absolutely no cover, and nowhere to hide.\n\n\t``See anything?''\n\n\tCailey shook her head. ``No.''\n\n\t``Neither do I,'' said Annabelle. ``I think I see a door, but nothing guarding it.''\n\n\tCailey looked up at the towering ride - the flying-saucer shaped cap loomed over the entire park, such was its size. If there had been a sun here, it would cast a shadow over them. High above, she could see parts where the outer-shell had fallen into disrepair, and she wondered at the possibility a piece of metal might fall down at terminal velocity, and give one of them a close, permanent shave.\n\n\tCailey felt her flesh curl, and she gripped her neck.\n\n\t``Something wrong?'' Annabelle asked.\n\n\tCailey shook her head, releasing her neck. ``No, I'm fine. Well, no time like the present...''\n\n\tThey checked up on Snowflake, who, after taking another drink of water, smiled and said she was doing better. ``Thank you, you keep saving me...''\n\n\tCailey smiled. ``It was only in D&D, but... I never leave a party-member behind.''\n\n\tThey began the worrisome journey across the bridge. Melanie practiced her voice-warm ups, silently, for comfort. Cailey soon found herself joining-in. The glassy, looping kudzu made walking a slow task. Every few minutes, the tower seemed to release a dull moan, as the bulk of gentle wind gradually added up across the tower's broad structure. It almost sounded like a metal bowl with water swirling inside, with the occasional loud ting! of creaking metal. Cailey occasionally heard the chains rattle.\n\n\tIt almost seemed they'd make it without incident... They'd gotten within maybe 100 yards, when they heard a quiet growling from the water. The group froze. The hackles of their pelts pruned, and Cailey looked over the moat for a sign of unnatural activity. Then, she heard a splash, and looked down over the guard-rail, and saw it.\n\n\tThe dog-thing, almost assuredly the same one that had eaten Strawberry and Lylie, gazed back from the pond. It had the same horrible mustard-yellow constellation, the same shape. But how did it get here?! The pond was above sea-level, it was contained. How?!\n\n\tSplashing towards them, howling, snarling, it scraped its hooves uselessly at the bridge's nearest support beam. The girls hyperventilated, their tears watering as the beast's aura overtook their sympathetic nervous systems. Color faded from their side of the bridge.\n\n\tGasping, Annabelle said, ``Just ignore it. It doesn't seem able to get at us.''\n\n\tThe girls were just barely moving their feet, when they heard a loud sloshing.\n\n\t``AAAIIIEEEEK!'' Snowflake saw it first, pointing with horror as a blister of water, half the width of the pond itself, rose up. Surface tension lingered unnaturally across the rising island's bulk, before dispersing, revealing what Cailey was convinced had to be a fucking goddamn shoggoth.\n\n\tIt was another constellation-beast, but it looked like a cross between a starfish and those organisms called rafflesia, that smelled like rotting flesh and were the inspiration for a little critter called Vileplume. But where the corpse-flower would have its pistil, there was an almost cloth-like protrusion, as if the flower had tried to wear a hooded-cloak, folding in on its own gravity. Within was the hazing, black-smoke filled darkness in which a nursery of dead, dim, blue stars glittered.\n\n\tAnd this monstrosity was moving towards them.\n\n\tThe girls screamed with panic, the smaller girls grabbing onto Cailey and Annabelle. Cailey hesitated only a moment, before she held hands and hopped forward, compelling Melanie and Aura forward. This prompted the whole group into running for their lives, after becoming so perilously close to freezing with panic. Cailey could outpace any of them, so with restraint she hung close, and made sure the other girls were running as fast as possible. She felt the terror pressing on her, begging for her to go faster, like she knows she can!\n\n\tA wave of water rushed with the abyssal creature, splashing against the bridge as the creature wrapped its strange appendages around the support beams. It squeezed, and the bridge creaked!\n\n\t``Keep going!'' Cailey yelled.\n\n\tThe smaller girls cried, running as quickly as they could, but gradually losing speed. They were exhausted, deprived of sleep and food, running a sports-field sized distance. They pushed their physical limits, but they'd pushed their bodies so far already...\n\n\t``Come on! Please!!'' Cailey held Melanie's wrist, practically dragging her along now. Annabelle did the same with Snowflake, and Aura found it in her greater overall strength to push a bit further.\n\n\tThe bridge cracked, a great splinter running almost evenly through the planks. The snapping planks sent dust through the air, blown up by the arrival of the creature. The thing's husked star-system glared up at them with steam and cold blue light. It oozed beneath the bridge like an oil-spill. Cailey could see something coming up out of its face... coming up for them!\n\n\tThe girls stumbled when the bridge cracked, shrieking as the bridge bulged in the middle, threatening to push the girls apart. They ran on the left side of the slanting surface, stumbling as they went. The steam obscured their view of the approaching tower, making Cailey fear for a moment that it would be gone, vanished in a puff of smoke, before they could arrive!\n\n\tSomething tickled her feet.\n\n\tCailey yelped, and looked down as they ran. A strange, black grass was growing up between the planks! It began twisting onto itself, forming larger blades, or... perhaps tentacles. Many thin, hairline cilia had grown from the dark nebula surrounding the undead stars below, and these filaments interwove, supporting themselves, and growing thicker, building up to the bridge. Soon, they were grasping ropes.\n\n\t``NOOOOOO!'' Cailey screamed. She unslung her backpack and pulled out the machete. It was wrapped inside another backpack for extra safety. Hasty judgement-call later, Cailey dropped her backpack of waters, and unsheathed the machete.\n\n\tIf Cailey had gotten to passively witness herself, she might have been flattered to the point of turning red all over - who would make a movie about her being cool? In the moment, she couldn't see it as anything less than an animistic demand to survive.\n\n\tHeroic or blind-instinct, it didn't matter. Cailey hacked clean through five of the reaching tentacles, chopping the last with a dropping hop, and then she and the other girls reached the end of the bridge and ran up the metallic steps toward the ticket-platform. The bridge collapsed behind them, and the girls rolled to a huffing, heaving pile up the first dozen steps to the swing-ride.\n\n\tCrying, the girls tried to catch their breath, but there was no time for that - their bodies almost to betray them with pain and muscle-spasms, and they saw that the rasping cilia of the celestial abomination were creeping up the steps toward them. Whimpering and gasping, the girls crawled up the cold metallic stoop. They clutched their chests, swallowing painful gulps of sea-air as they stumbled through the ticket-line toward a set of great, golden doors. The cilia slowed at ticket line, straining, unable to creep forward. The base of the tower below creaked defiantly against the creature squeezing it, but it sounded like it would hold.\n\n\tThey've escaped... for now.\n\n\tThe girls collapsed against the doors and clutched their sides, losing what little water they'd consumed to the on-pour of tears - the sign of the others. The girls whimpered, their cramping, dehydrated, hungry bodies growing ever wearier.\n\n\tNone of them could get up for the moment. Cailey wondered if they'd be... intercepted, that those things might come through the same doors they were resting against.\n\n\tThen, they began to see discolorations on the far side of the destroyed bridge. Patch-by-patch, the others filled the amusement park.\n\n\t``Get away from the doors,'' Cailey seethed. ``What if some are inside?''\n\n\tGasping, the weeping children struggled around to just outside the doors, and sat, to finish resting.\n\n\tHooded tall shadows with twinkling faces populated the pond's edge. They formed a sparkling rainbow, twinkling so severely that the aggregation almost seemed to wriggle like a strange worm, an agonized worm. All those flashing colors, twinkling away, it should have been beautiful, but it was somehow ugly...\n\n\tNothing came from inside the structure, though.\n\n\tAlmost by psychic unanimous vote, the girls drank some water and pulled themselves up. Cailey held onto the machete, feeling resentful of herself for losing her water and two freaking backpacks.\n\n\tEveryone shared water with Cailey, of course, but it was the principle of the thing. She'd just... `Warrior'd', so to speak. She sort of didn't see herself in that jocky roll! Ugh!\n\n\tIn-the-moment-Cailey, naturally, disagreed with whatever impassive-observer-Cailey would feel about her moment of Warrior-proficiency. Triumph feels hallow when you're freaking the fuck out.\n\n\tThe doors into the great tower blocked their path. Cailey figured they were originally meant to open automatically, but that functionality was lost. The doors seemed to be plated in thick gold, or, were solid gold. Thankfully, this helped them resist degradation from the sea-breeze.\n\n\tThe doors were heavy, but thankfully seemed lubricated. The girls pushed as hard as they could, and slowly heaved the doors open.\n\n\tThey'd made it!\n\n\tThey escaped inside, finding the tower's lobby was filled with illuminating blood-kudzu, and no sign of the others. They closed the doors behind them, and then sighed with relief as the aura from the pond-beast was doused. Cailey hoped the yellow-eyed beast was either crushed or consumed by the larger abomination, but in her terror she'd lost track of the lesser-beast.\n\n\tThere was a sparking sound... Cailey caught the flashing in her peripheral, and tilted her head up. There was some kind of mechanism attached to the doors, a power-box it seemed... and it had been chopped into by an absent axe.\n\n\tSomeone else was here, and judging by the sparks, recently.\n\n\tBut wait... this structure had power? How? The rest of the pier didn't!\n\n\t`Please let it not be Sai'Ryn's doing,' Cailey fretted.\n\n\tAnnabelle noticed the box too, looking scared. ``Oh... Oh don't tell - ``\n\n\tCailey's heart jumped, she interrupted with a heavy accent, ``Gee, I wonder what could have happened to that huh?''\n\n\tAnnabelle stopped, frowning. She nodded. ``Yeah, this whole pier is coming apart.'' She feigned a sigh of relief, but glanced fretfully at the powerbox while Melanie, Snowflake, and Aura weren't watching her.\n\n\tThe smaller girls stared at the box with a tiny bit of fascination, and caution. Melanie watched it longest, or was that just Cailey watching Melanie the longest? Melanie had very expressive eyes, the blue flashing of the powerbox reflected off her cool-gray irises. The sparks were the first source of illumination they'd seen since waking in this world, that felt of the natural world... It felt almost reassuring - kind of like a bug zapper.\n\n\tThe front level seemed to be mix of front-desk and information kiosk crossed with a mini-mall; a small collection of separate gift-stores lay ahead. At the center was the elevator, a great glass tube that had shattered and scattered its glass out into the surrounding table areas. The antechamber dwarfed any food-court of any mall Cailey had been to, but that was the resemblance she got. Additional glass, large jagged spikes of the stuff, bit into the old carpeting, held together by compounded pressure from above, but giving the distinct impression that it could shatter under its own weight, and flood this entire floor in deadly glass. Beyond, on the far side of the structure, the girls saw an old escalator heading up. It was not functioning, but, it looked like they could ascend it.\n\n\tFinding this area an irresistible temptation, the girls allowed themselves to have wonder and hope again - the candy shop.\n\n\tCailey watched the other girls bee-line for the candy store, finding a disappointing sight indeed. Cailey giggled, wondering if they were in danger with their emotions running high.\n\n\tThe store had its fair share of delights and disappointments - many treats were reduced to dust, or having moldered into alien tars. Crystalline sugar candies alone seemed to have survived, but had aged together into hardened clusters.\n\n\tBut that didn't stop a bunch of hungry kids!\n\n\tAura cartoonishly found a hammer behind the clerk's desk, and the girls set to work smashing candy out dispensing-boxes and off their shelves, devouring the shattered, saccharine bits.\n\n\tLife, flavor and joy filled their mouths and tummies.\n\n\tLaughing, Annabelle said, ``Oh gosh, happy Halloween girls!''\n\n\t``You've got to be joking!'' Cailey snickered, although she couldn't help but enjoy some candy too, from chunks of jawbreakers to salt-water taffy that had become much of the same - and the obligatory fruit-flavored suckers. Anything that could survive almost indefinitely was theirs for the taking.\n\n\tThe girls loaded their backpacks up like it really was Halloween, while Cailey wondered if there was a way to find real food... ``Hmm. Hey, could we go check out some of the other shops real quick? We can come back for more candy later.''\n\n\t``Aww, do we have to?'' Melanie cried. ``Come ooon! I'm a growing girl, I need sugar!''\n\n\t``Suuugar! Suuugar!'' cheered Snowflake.\n\n\t``Ugh, think of it like trick-or-treating,'' Cailey suggested.\n\n\t``Okay, I'm listening!'' Annabelle laughed, suckling a lollipop.\n\n\t``So, we go to another store, but when we come back for more candy, it is like we went to another house!''\n\n\t``Ahh that's boring!'' Melanie laughed\n\n\t``Look, I think we could find some actual food.''\n\n\t``This is food!'' Melanie giggled.\n\n\t``Come on, let's just go see.''\n\n\tThe girls sighed. ``Alright, we'll go trick-or-treating.''\n\n\tCailey blushed with embarrassment, but at least they listened.\n\n\tThe next store they went to was a strange thing to find here - Cailey was surprised too. It was a camping and survival store. Not too large, Cailey was worried her idea wouldn't be likely, even here.\n\n\tBut ah ha! Cailey spotted in the dusty display case, a dusty packet that she recognized as a Meal-Ready-to-Eat, an MRE, army food, but this one for civilian use. If there was a display, maybe there was a box in their storage...\n\n\tCailey's insight and acquisition of dinner made the younger girls almost look at her like she had been the magician all along! The MRE's cooked their sorry little packets of food as if by magic, but it was all chemistry baby!\n\n\tAura especially delighted in the MRE's, she couldn't believe that a non-magician knew about such spectacular things! She was overjoyed with the MRE-cooking method, a reaction that heated water and heated the adjacent food. But honestly, what kid wouldn't find the questionable foods fun? Like somewhere between mac n' cheese, fondue, and black magic.\n\n\tThey accidentally exploded one and laughed after the shock. They started to feel like they could almost be camping right about now. Cailey was starting to relax - with spirits running so high, if there were creatures inside the tower, wouldn't they have found the girls by now? Then again, could the ones across the water see them right now? Their feelings? Would they find a way across the water?\n\n\tThe food was bland at best, but the girls felt a greatful relief from their bellies, and now their candy tasted all the sweeter. They'd found more bottled water, and after packing up on MRE's, water, and most importantly the candy, the girls prepared for the long hike up the escalators. Naturally, Cailey grabbed replacement backpacks for her supplies, and her machete.\n\n\t``Well, I hope we find a way home,'' said Aura. ``But, it's nice to know we have food now, in case it is something that will be hard and maybe take a while.''\n\n\tCailey nodded, but hoped that wouldn't be needed. The possibility of staying here longer than one or two more meals... she didn't want to think about that.\n\n\tThey proceeded to the second floor. It appeared to be some sort of atrium. There was no approaching anything past the escalator and adjoined walkways. Terrifying tombstones and teeth of glass jettisoned out of the atrium-ground, glowing like some evil forest of shimmering mirrors as one changed their view of them. The atrium was almost pitch-black, except for the kudzu. The blood kudzu grew on the outside of the support-cage guiding the escalator up the massive shaft of the industrial-built atrium. It had support elevators, rusted shut, for operating on long-dead planters that were built into the support beams that rose up the shaft. This could have been an impressive structure to stand inside of, if the place hadn't aged, creaked to pieces, and died. Ancient detritus of plants littered the ground like as black snow.\n\n\tThe girls stared the tremendous flight of stairs ahead of them. And good luck sleeping on an escalator if you need a nap.\n\n\t``I hate this world...!'' Snowflake shouted.\n\n\tThe length of the atrium made Cailey appreciate why no others could sense them until now. It gave them far more distance from the ground floor and the second floor than Cailey thought. It was a nightmare to climb, however, and everyone desperately wanted a restroom by the end of it. The second floor seemed to be some kind of museum, and the girls found restrooms that they didn't care to discuss the state of.\n\n\tThey were growing weary again, and the group agreed it was time to get some sleep. Time felt incalculable in all this endless night, Cailey couldn't remember how long ago they'd had that nap.\n\n\tThe museum had a small exibit meant to show an old cottage home with plush straw beds and cloth. After sleeping on a roof, it was 5-stars.\n\n\tThe girls lingered on this floor after they'd awoken, refreshed. They went through what small morning routines they could, and found a night-shirt for Melanie to wear from an exhibit - which was great, as she'd been slowly sweating her butcher-lines off into hazy smears.\n\n\t``I feel like one of the gang,'' she joked, now finally wearing something other than her sweat-stained panties. By the time the wedgie had been at its worst, Melanie had practically been running around naked.\n\n\tThe group felt more prepared for the ascent. They traveled further up the escalator, finding a myriad of strange floors, from maintenance floors and tours of the ride's inner mechanisms and supports, to fun-houses, to a motel. There was even a derelict casino.\n\n\tFinally, they arrived at the top floor. The escalator, which even if it had been working, it would have been an agonizingly long trip without the use of the elevator. Honestly Cailey couldn't fathom how a building with such advanced metal was put to such questionable construction. They were exhausted after traveling what felt like half a day just to get to the top of this thing. They took a rest, and explored the hallway they'd come to.\n\n\tThe hallway was spoked with vomitoriums. To the left, the gates lead to boarding areas, which were now stuck open, the ride a derelict. But, Cailey looked at the precautions made to keep this and the next area separate - this was the start of the UFO structure, where you could be put onto the swings and soar for thousands of feet above the pier. Interspercing the boarding areas, were massive tracks of skating-rink, and bridges above it for the swing-ride's patrons. Everything past these sealed-gates was part of a gigantic rotating disk, an engineering marvel.\n\n\tThe other hallways lead into single massive and long restaurant - ambient and high expense, naturally. But now, it was serving only blood kudzu. The abandoned, dusty, rotting restaurant looked haunted, as the blood kudzu was sparse this far up the tower. The shadows were deep, and the kudzu did not allow for someone to see clear across the restaurant, not tangentially anyway. Holes in the carpet, holes in the ceiling, Cailey feared what would happen were they to run into Sai'Ryn. If she somehow did get into the tower before them, Cailey hoped it was big enough, with enough to explore, that they somehow missed each other.\n\n\t``I don't like this place...!'' Snowflake mewled, backing out of the restaurant and into the comparatively brighter hallway.\n\n\t``I know,'' Cailey said softly, ``but, let's see what's at the center; it can't be the kitchen all the way through.''\n\n\tIt sure wasn't. But first, they endured the convincingly-haunted-restaurant, creeping through its dusty carpet and warped floors and felt the watch of the kitchen-door port-holes. Eventually a large vomitorium lead out of the restaurant, and into... a giant obstacle course...!\n\n\tSome kind of play park for older kids, or even adults, it was one half skate park and one half gigantic toy-sets. It was, unfortunately, near-dark. Kudzu dangled like distant strings of Christmas lights from the ceiling, where it'd cracked through as the building inevitably decays. The park seemed mostly intact, except for where large chunks of roof caved in. Drafts of night air stirred absently in this, the seeming epicenter of the swing-ride.\n\n\tCailey felt an urge to go run and bounce off stuff immediately, but she couldn't help but reserve her feelings at the realization that they'd explored this place and found no hint of anything that could answer their questions... they'd found some food, but that was it, and that was before the climb.\n\n\t`At least there were no creatures in here after all,' she thought. Yeah, talk about a silver lining. An inconvenient waste of a day, they'd walked all this way for nothing! But at least, in exchange for getting away from those... undead constellations, the journey up the tower posed no harm, right? No, this was a triumph, for now.\n\n\tStill... was there any point in going on? Cailey was about to give up, when a broad, dim flash radiated out at them from the center of the play-park.\n\n\tIt had looked like a dimming-out search-light, like a light-house or something.\n\n\t``Did you see that?'' Annabelle gasped. ``Was that...''\n\n\t``Was that a monster?'' Snowflake gasped.\n\n\tCailey shook her head. ``No, we know that this place has some electricity, maybe it got this far.''\n\n\tOne last mysterious thing to check then... before they were facing down the grave possibility of having to spend the rest of their lives starving inside this tower as it crumbles around them. Assuming the others don't invade the tower first. If there was any place that she hoped deserved to be a place of answers, let it be the light-house in the play-park of a crazed amusement park on a haunted pier.\n\n\tThe play-park had many styles, from skater-punk areas to ball-pits to soft, plush obstacles courses to climb on and get lost in, and of course, big doll houses, gigantic play-houses for smaller kids, a safe distance away from the big-kid areas.\n\n\tIt wasn't a particular important destination for them just because it was a village of doll houses. The girls just happened to be pass through on a straight trajectory to the light-house. On some level, though, it did feel fun to walk around a toy village illuminated by glowing, pulsing ivy. It would be almost like a fairy-tale except for the heart-shaped lanterns growing like tumors from various locations.\n\n\tThey hadn't meant much by it, but, coming here had been a terrible mistake.\n\n\t``Ha! I knew you couldn't resist coming here!''\n\n\tCailey's heart thumped to maximum. No.\n\n\tSai'Ryn stepped out from the doorway of one of the toy-houses, holding a baseball bat behind her shoulders, and hanging her arms from it. She pulled the bat off her fingers and twisted it in one hand.\n\n\t``Alright foxy, see my dick? I'm going to fulfill my promise! Your filthy double-crossing ass is mine.''\n\n\tCailey raised her hands, trying to ease her off. ``Sai'Ryn, please stop! Haven't we all been through enough?!''\n\n\t``Oh not even close,'' Sai'Ryn snarled. She licked her fangs and stroked her dick, quickly arousing. ``Who do you bitches think you are? You're not anything more than fucking food to me. I was only saving you all until I got horny or hungry!''\n\n\tCailey took a step back. Annabelle bit her lip, and the smaller girls huddled together.\n\n\t``Yeah, I'm your big bad wolf honey,'' Sai'Ryn said huskily. ``And if you submit like a good cum-dump you might just get my nutsac for your trouble. Oh, except Annabelle, I'm going to rape you until you're nothing but a smear on the fucking bed!!!''\n\n\tAnnabelle turned and started running.\n\n\t``Stay off her!'' Cailey cried, trying to run in front of Sai'Ryn, but she swung the bat and narrowly missed Cailey, making the kangaroo jump away in defense, and allowing Sai'Ryn to run Annabelle down. The wolf-girl caught the fox, pinning her to the ground. Sai'Ryn mounted Annabelle's pudgy butt, rocking her knot between her cheeks. Using the bat, Sai'Ryn held Annabelle by the neck.\n\n\t``Where do you think you're going, dump-slut? Oh, there's about three different things that can mean, and you're going to be all of them. I'll rape you until you're not sure you have holes anymore. And do you know where I'm going to get all that libido from?''\n\n\tSai'Ryn grinned at the other girls. Cailey's eyes twisted with curiosity and disgust.\n\n\t``That's riiiight. I'm going to eat you dump-sluts up, dump you into this dump-slut, and then when I eat her, she'll just be my next dump. And if you want it to hurt as little as possible...''\n\n\tSai'Ryn pulled the bat tighter against Annabelle's struggling larynx. The grimacing fox teared up, gasping.\n\n\t``Please!! Just stop! You're hurting her! You're - '' Cailey gasped as Sai'Ryn got off Annabelle, letting her skull thump the ground, and she walked toward Cailey. ``Or you'll what?'' She pointed the bat at her.\n\n\tThank goodness for the survival-store backpacks. Cailey pulled out her machete. Her arms trembled, but she held the blade as tight as she could.\n\n\t``Oh, you think so huh?'' Sai'Ryn laughed.\n\n\t``And my hind-claws,'' said Cailey. ``I... I'll use them! I'll use this thing!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn angrily knocked the machete out of Cailey's hands with her bat. Cailey gasped, and saw Sai'Ryn stepping towards her. Cailey fell back, rolling onto her tail - it can take her weight for one solid kick!\n\n\t``Nngah!'' Cailey's eyes widened as she saw Sai'Ryn suddenly dart to the side, the kick missing her. She twisted up the bat and swung for Cailey's head!!\n\n\tWHACK!!\n\n\tCailey fell to the ground, ears ringing, dazed. Nearly unconscious, she drearily tried to remember what was going on while she felt Sai'Ryn wrapping up her arms and hands in cable-wire. Sai'Ryn had prepared for them.\n\n\t``My head...'' she moaned, coming-to just as Sai'Ryn was getting her legs trussed up.\n\n\t``I'll save you for later,'' Sai'Ryn whispered. ``Now stay put.''\n\n\t``What are you doing?'' Cailey groaned.\n\n\t``What does it look like?'' Sai'Ryn asked as she finished tying Cailey up.\n\n\tCailey could roll and wiggle, but not do much else. Sai'Ryn patted her on the head and dangled her erecting cock in her face.\n\n\t``See this? Good... What the fuck makes you think you can get in my way, huh? Do you have one of these? No, you don't!''\n\n\t``Shut up!'' Cailey cried. ``What does that matter?! We're lost in this horrible place! We could all die here! What the hell does you-having-a-dick have to do with anything anymore?! Look where we are, you have to see that, please!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn growled and smacked Cailey, the kangaroo yelping. \n\n\t``No.'' \n\n\tSmiling, she stood up and walked around the play-yard, staring at the other cowering girls. Annabelle was clutching her throat. ``Girls that only have pussies are just nothing but meat, and meat is food. I should have made sure you all knew that from the start... Especially that rabbit bitch, I should have showed you all why my cock makes me better than you, by using that stupid cunt as an example!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn grinned as she walked towards the huddled, shaking little girls. Her dick throbbed at full erection, steadily dripping with pre. She stroked it, letting its pulsing girth suggest as to her eagerness, her power. ``Hmm... but, she got the message in the end, didn't she? But now we have another problem! The kangaroo bitch doesn't seem to learn very well! And here I thought she was smart or something. That bunny girl should have made her get the picture, but... maybe you'll all do instead.''\n\n\t``No!'' Snowflake whimpered, her legs shaking together. She pulled up her Transformers hood, trying to psychologically hide from Sai'Ryn.\n\n\tThe wolf girl almost drooled as she looked over her prey, anticipating what she was going to do to them. Maybe it was the wolf in her, but she couldn't help but reach for Aura first.\n\n\t``Eeep!'' bleated the little golden sheep, as the big bad wolf pulled her forward.\n\n\t``I wanted to save you for later, but I'm fucking starving. Alright Lamb-chop, time to feed the wolf.''\n\n\t``Noooo...'' Aura held her hoof-like hands over her face and began crying, as Sai'Ryn grabbed Aura's fluffy butt and lifted her up. ``Please, stop...''\n\n\tSai'Ryn pressed her mouth over Aura's muzzle, sealing her complaints with a mixture of kisses, bites, and suckles. Sai'Ryn murred as she forced her tongue into Aura's confused, fussing mouth. Sai'Ryn felt her dick slide along Aura's crotch, before exploring the depths of the young sheep's pelt. Her thick wool didn't stop Sai'Ryn's cock from finding Aura's entrance, and with a firm thrust, Sai'Ryn invaded the younger girl's body.\n\n\tSnowflake and Melanie backed away with mixed expressions of horror, and curiosity. Passively, they could only watch as Sai'Ryn hilted herself. Sai'Ryn pulled away from Aura, who coughed as she was finally freed from Sai'Ryn's lips. A little red stained the demi-humans lips, as she'd been nibbling Aura's face. The wolf-girl licked it off, before she pulled Aura off her dick and slammed her on again.\n\n\tAura gasped from the shock, the forced expansion of her small vagina made her clench her hands onto Sai'Ryn's shoulders. Without claws or sharp nails, she couldn't harm Sai'Ryn, and instead it gave Sai'Ryn the wrong impression.\n\n\t``Yeah, you like that? Good little sheep.'' Sai'Ryn panted as she used the sheep like a sex-toy, thrusting her hips up as she pulled Aura up off her cock and down again. Wet slapping accompanied Sai'Ryn's pleasure, and before long Sai'Ryn's growling stomach accompanied.\n\n\t``Please, no, no don't eat me up!'' Aura pined, staring up at Sai'Ryn's hungry gaze. ``I'll make you feel good, I promise! Ow, ow! Ng, please, oof, you can - you can do this to me all you want, but don't eat me up!''\n\n\tPanting, feeling her climax growing close after so long without attention, Sai'Ryn answered by licking her lips and opening her mouth as wide as it would go. Despite looking human, her maw was able to slip around Aura's head, starting with her stammering muzzle.\n\n\t``W-wait!'' she cried, and then Sai'Ryn silenced her. ``Murph!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn began swallowing, her stomach growling louder as Sai'Ryn's tongue gathered up all that delicious sheep flavor. Sai'Ryn felt a mixture of fluids running off her balls, a gift from the victimized meat she was ravaging. She slammed her lamb-chop down onto her dick as hard as she could, thrusting into her tender snatch with noisome force, and proceeded to baste Lamb-chop's pussy in her own special gravy.\n\n\tSai'Ryn's eyes rolled up in her skull as she experienced the sweet release of orgasm for the first time in a few days of forced abstinence. The feeling of swallowing young, delicious prey, feeding both of her darkest drives, made the release all the better. Her body was almost overwhelmed with delight, as her spraying cock showed the little girls just how much fun her red-rocket was having. Sai'Ryn gulped deeply, pulling the sheep off her dick, and then her bouncing spraying cock shot ropes all over the whimpering Snowflake and Melanie.\n\n\t``Aalck!'' Melanie spat, trying to wipe it off her face, and pulling away sticky strands.\n\n\tSnowflake hissed and cried, examining the sticky webbing extending from her fingers and her jammies.\n\n\t``Mmmm!~'' Sai'Ryn tilted her head up, letting the lamb's pulverized pussy slip along her tongue and into her mouth. The lamb's ass was too fluffy for much definition, but it felt great swallowing girl-butt. Sai'Ryn enjoyed her flavor. Letting gravity do its part, Sai'Ryn pushed on the little girl's hooves and resumed swallowing. With a three-pronged push, Sai'Ryn closed her teeth over her prey's final extremities and smacked her lips, feeling the bulge travel down her sternum and into her stomach.\n\n\tAura squirmed inside the wolf, wailing and swiping her useless hooves through the bulging, swollen stomach. Sai'Ryn moaned with joy and rubbed her stomach, drooling and belching loudly. ``Fuuuck, ahh that hit the spot! Ugh, it's about time that show-off slut got what was coming to her! Mmm, little miss, `look at how cute and doll-like I am!' Let's see how cute she is when she's a steaming pile of shit in six hours.''\n\n\t``You disgust me...'' Annabelle spat, struggling to her feet.\n\n\tSai'Ryn turned to grin at her. She gripped her cock and stroked the slimy, sensitive rod. ``Oh, trust me, I haven't forgotten about you. I'm going to fuck you to death, remember? Hmm, but I think I need to reload. Don't go thinking you can run away just because I swallowed the lamb-chop bitch. I can still catch you... Now sit, and wait, like a good little cunt!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn presented herself to Snowflake, her penis glistening with the fluids it'd gotten slathered with when pulverizing Aura's vagina - not too much detail is needed, but there was more than one fluid sticking to that cock! And what did Sai'Ryn intend to do about that?\n\n\tSai'Ryn pointed at her dick, the little girl staring up at it and its owner, and that squirming stomach reminding her of what Sai'Ryn could do to her.\n\n\t``Suck.''\n\n\tSnowflake grimaced, but nodded. Hands shaking, she stepped up to the cock and opened her tiny kitten mouth, tongue unfolding, she reached for the tip. She scarcely touched the tip before Sai'Ryn slammed on the back of Snowflake's head.\n\n\t``MRRMMPH!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn turned her head up and grunted with each thrust. Snowflake's eyes rolled in their sockets. Sai'Ryn overwhelmed Snowflake's gag-reflex, making her spit thicken as she prepared to retch.\n\n\t``If you throw up, I'll get my axe and chop off your pussy, so don't you dare throw up. Ah, better...''\n\n\tSai'Ryn turned over her shoulder, grinning at Cailey and Annabelle. Annabelle covered her face in her hands, beginning to cry.\n\n\t``I fucked up, I'm so sorry I fucked up...''\n\n\tCailey couldn't believe this was happening. She wrenched her face in anguish - she wanted to protect the others so bad... Why hadn't they done something like, find a gun? She hated the idea of that, but one of her friends was dying and another one close on the way, Annabelle was going to get snuffed, and Melanie had to watch it all unfold. The cow couldn't be too innocent, but, Cailey had wanted to protect her from as much horror as possible.\n\n\tShe'd failed. Why was this happening to her? Why was this happening to any of them? Why couldn't Sai'Ryn have just cooperated, why did they have to be doomed from the start, just because one of their numbers was this mega-bitch?\n\n\tSnowflake moaned and gagged on the dick, sounding like she was on the verge of getting sick at any moment... Sai'Ryn moaned as she hilted into the kitten's maw and slapped her weakened belly onto her head, practically pinning her.\n\n\t``You feel that Snowflake? That's your friend Aura, she's so weak now. Can you imagine what those acids feel like? Huh? Can you feel her wasting away in there? Becoming my ass-fat, becoming my shit! That's what you are, except you'll be cock-shit.''\n\n\tSai'Ryn licked her teeth and laughed. ``You'll be my next load of semen going up Annabelle's ass!!''\n\n\tSnowflake pushed hard, freeing herself off the cock and out from under Sai'Ryn's belly. ``No!! Annabelle, just run, just run away!''\n\n\tSai'Ryn growled and grabbed Snowflake's skull, and with her next thrust, stuffed the squealing child's head into her bulging cock-tip, the canine cock quickly slurping over her neck.\n\n\tAnnabelle stared with shock, eyes wide. Her hand drifted perilously close to her crotch, scratching instead at her inner thigh. Her tail wagged slightly, and then she sneezed without warning. ``Oh gods!''\n\n\tBlushing with embarrassment, grimacing with self-hatred, Annabelle slid back down to the ground and resumed crying.\n\n\t``Hmm, you shouldn't have tried to kill me you fucking skank,'' chuckled Sai'Ryn, gyrating her hips. She trilled as she felt Snowflake's shoulders pop into her swallowing dick. ``Now you're going to have so much cum up your ass that you'll drown in it. You tried to fuck me, and now I'm going to fuck you, right to your death. You enjoying the show, Annabitch? You just wait until I get to you, then!''\n\n\t``This won't take long,'' Sai'Ryn laughed, eyeing down the kitten as she would have for, well, a lamb-chop. ``Mmm, augh, nnf!'' She rocked her hips forward and felt her sensitive penis press down over most of the kitten's torso. The cub kicked at the ground, falling over and twisting inside the penis, but unable to pull out even an inch. Sai'Ryn rolled her eyes up and smiled as she felt the ecstatic struggles of her prey.\n\n\t``Oh, yes!! Hmm, more of that, c'mon! Struggle a little harder and... ahh! Maybe... maybe you'll last a little longer.''\n\n\tSai'Ryn gripped her penis and closed her eyes, panting. ``Aunnng... You're going to make a good fat load, aren't you pussy-bitch?'' She thrust down, pushing Snowflake into a kneeling position, while her cock snarfed up the kitten's ass and pulled her up off the ground. Struggling cat feet dangled outside Sai'Ryn's cock, the prey was bending into the shape of a `C' on her way to Sai'Ryn's orbs. Sai'Ryn patted her balls as she felt Snowflake's head slip inside. Her other hand, patted her stomach, belching one last time as the struggling in her stomach came to a complete stop.\n\n\tHer body gurgled and squelched as it processed all its delicious food. Her cock drooled as the last of the kitten was sucked up into her dick, and her balls shouted and complained as fresh batter-mix was added to her mixers. In a moment, she'd have plenty of cum for her revenge scheme!\n\n\t``Ahhh! Much better!'' Sai'Ryn sighed with satisfaction, stretching her arms as her balls quaked with the scared kitten inside. Her stomach twisted as the walls squeezed the motionless meat inside, squishing whatever state it was in, into a softer, less-distinct shape.\n\n\tHer dick pulsed like it was somehow jerking itself off, sputtering cock-drool as it tingled with pleasure and flavor from the excellent, much-deserved meal. It was eager for the next victory, and Sai'Ryn waddled up to Annabelle, basking in her own glory, forcing it upon her vixen victim.\n\n\t``Hmm, this enough proof for you bitch? How you're nothing but meat for my cock? You're just food, and... you're liking this aren't you? Hahaha!''\n\n\tAnnabelle closed her eyes, turning away from Sai'Ryn with shame.\n\n\tSai'Ryn barred her claws and licked them, clicking the sharp nails together. ``Hmm, good thing I decided to fuck you to death before I eat you, wouldn't want you enjoying yourself. Especially after you tried to get me killed. There's still time for me to get the axe, you know. Now, get on your hands and knees, and raise up your ass.''\n\n\tAnnabelle hesitated, not looking at Sai'Ryn.\n\n\tSai'Ryn yelled and swiped, slashing a stinging scrape into Annabelle's cheek.\n\n\t``Nnng!'' Annabelle winced, clutching her face. She cried with shame and fell onto her side. She gradually shifted to her knees, and let her ass stick out for her attacker.\n\n\tSai'Ryn licked her claws clean of blood-droplets. ``That will do.''\n\n\tShe settled down herself, the squirming nutsac bulging under her ass. The wriggling inside had reached full-panic. She straddled her red-rocket along Annabelle's soft, strangely curvaceous pre-teen ass. Sai'Ryn licked her lips, hunching over her prey, her wolf-dick spitting a fresh glob of pre between those fuzzy cheeks. She only seemed to be wearing the long, plaid button-up, no panties. It made her easy.\n\n\tSai'Ryn arched her back as she took the plunge. Annabelle squealed as her ass was penetrated, inches and inches of girl-hungry wolf-dick pushing into her colon. Sai'Ryn swore loudly as the oven turned on for her dick, warmer than sunshine, soft as silk, tight as fuck. Sai'Ryn did just that, wasting little time - her hips rocked back and forth as she pleasured herself with Annabelle's ass.\n\n\t``Annabelle, fight her, do something!'' Cailey whimpered. But, she knew that Sai'Ryn was faster and stronger than Annabelle. The prey inside her might weigh her down, but how much longer before they ran afoul of Sai'Ryn anyway? There was only one way through the vast majority of the tower, and no way back out.\n\n\tThey were screwed - and now, literally.\n\n\tAnnabelle covered her mouth with her hands and moaned into them, her ass squeezing and pushing on Sai'Ryn's wolf-cock. Her butt tried it's best to make Sai'Ryn vacate, but, this only increased the pleasure for Sai'Ryn, the wolf eager to violate Annabelle's pre-teen hole.\n\n\tSai'Ryn inched deeper, lurching over Annabelle, forcing her groaning, gurgling stomach on top of Annabelle. The fox shuddered, a pleasurable and guilty delight coursing through the young fox.\n\n\t``Feel that? That's your friends digesting... They're both dead because you messed with the wrong cock-bitch! You should have listened and kept your head low, you should have made me your top priority. `Cuz all you are is a piece of meat with a vagina attached. But I have a cock, you arrogant little condom-stuffer! I'm a person; you're just cock-snot.''\n\n\tSai'Ryn laughed as she looked over her shoulder at the softening orbs beneath her butt. ``Haoohhh, haaoooh, yuuum, I can feel your death coming, Annabitch! I'm going to give you a death-enema.''\n\n\tAnnabelle grit her teeth as the vicious wolf-girl twisted her knot up into her pucker. ``S-stooop...''\n\n\tSai'Ryn laughed. ``You don't tell me what to do, cock-meat.'' She leaned down, squishing her soft, gurgling belly onto Annabelle's back. The mostly-liquid contents of Sai'Ryn's belly bulged over the sides of Annabelle's flanks, while Sai'Ryn reached up to cup at her flat chest, pulling her snuff-meal against her gurgling body. Sai'Ryn's budding breasts pressed against Annabelle's shoulders, and Sai'Ryn drooled onto her head as she fucked her.\n\n\tA few moments later, and her gurgling nuts became a little quieter, and were certainly more round and still. Her swishing tail patted her balls for their good job - now time for the most pleasurable part - ending Annabelle's life!\n\n\t``Time to drown you slut!'' Sai'Ryn laughed, and cupped a hand over Annabelle's maw. Annabelle gasped, trying to twist her face away, but Sai'Ryn held on, choking the fox.\n\n\t``Take, my, dick!'' Sai'Ryn punctuated each word with a body-rocking thrust, her ravaging dick swelling the knot to full capacity, sealing Annabelle's sphincter. Her balls trembled, and began to unload...\n\n\tThe spurting was audible even through the flesh of their bodies, thick ropes as wide as cucumbers cascaded up Annabelle's ass. Sai'Ryn swore loudly, able to taste her liquefied cat-treat again as all that delicious cum poured into the fox.\n\n\tAnnabelle moaned despite herself, tucking her ass up and making it easier for her assailant to cream into her. Her ass-cheeks clenched and unclenghed with the timing of Sai'Ryn's spasms. Her dick squirted cupfuls at a time, and it gradually filled Annabelle up like a balloon, until it was pouring into her very stomach.\n\n\t``Oh no, no, c'mon, just try and take it...'' Annabelle told herself, before burping up a large cum-bubble.\n\n\t``Don't fight it, just let me kill you,'' Sai'Ryn sneered, continuing to slam her hips into the pre-teen's ass, despite being knotted. ``Just let it fill your lungs and die. Then, you can join Aura, or maybe I'll nut you too and splatter you onto this dusty floor where no one will ever find you again...!''\n\n\tHer grip on Annabelle tightened, and then the cum built up in her throat. Her cheeks bulged, and Annabelle whimpered with desperation. Cum splurted out from between her lips, dribbling between Sai'Ryn's fingers. Annabelle folded her ears back, her tail trembling as she started to choke.\n\n\tSai'Ryn's balls shrank, briefly bulging with a small distortion - the imprint of a skull, and a knot that soon proved to be Snowflake's pajamas. First, the skull was pushed up through Sai'Ryn's hips and up Annabelle's ass, tumbling down her colon on the flow of cum. Then, Sai'Ryn's cock disposed of the pussy-bitch's clothes, right into Annabelle's rectum. With a painful ripping sound, Sai'Ryn yanked her knot out of Annabelle's ass, cum gushing back out - that was until the clothes inside Annabelle's ass blocked the release.\n\n\tSai'Ryn hot-dogged her, contemplating round II if the girl didn't drown soon. Annabelle's eyes rolled in her head as cum spurt from Sai'Ryn's fingers.\n\n\t``That's it, you'll be the perfect fleshlight soon,'' laughed Sai'Ryn. ``And then you'll be my next load of waste... Not so tough now, are you? Huh?''\n\n\tThe girls wept as Sai'Ryn humiliated them. She grinned at the remaining survivors, relishing the defeat on their faces. It brought tears to her eyes too.\n\n\tThen, her face fell with concern, as her own weeping made her realize something was... suddenly off.\n\n\tThe play-park lawn grew grey, with muddy brown, off-red highlights.\n\n\tThen, it came around a corner, emanating like an after-image towards Sai'Ryn.\n\n\tThere'd been one of these things in the building after-all. So far up and deep in the tower, it'd been out of sensory range for most of their climb. This one was tall, even by the others standards. Excess of eight feet, the husked celestial gaze of this hooded horror was deeper, and more troubling in scale. This... was a galaxy.\n\n\tA dead galaxy of red, dim stars, billions of them. To Cailey's eyes they shown light, and the light traveled into this world from beneath the creature's hood, but the light was dead, unreal, unnatural. Deader than neutron stars or black holes or black dwarfs. Deader than anything. The galaxy beneath the entity's hood produced light, but not from natural processes, but from unnatural decay. No physical laws governed the gaze of this specter, only the will of a stillborn galaxy.\n\n\tIts galaxy looked like a single, simple spiral galaxy, objects whose color was often blue, and vibrant, but this had only two arms and an emaciated central bulge. It was almost straight, a flattened `S' shape that looked more like a scar or thin cut, oozing with infection, an infection of world-sterilizing red-light.\n\n\t\n\n\tIt moved faster too.\n\n\tIn moments from them sensing it, it glided toward Sai'Ryn and Annabelle. Annabelle's eyes lazily batted, closing, the girl slipping away.\n\n\tSai'Ryn screamed, scrambling away from Annabelle, her stomach sloshing with its mashed and melted contents. Her dick throbbed yet, but her balls were almost back to normal, having finished the cat off.\n\n\tCailey closed her eyes briefly, and mentally rehearsed her vocal warm-ups. Melanie, backing away, did the same.\n\n\tThe entity fixated on Sai'Ryn, the most emotional girl in the vicinity.\n\n\t``No! Take her! She's closest to you, you fucker! Stay away, Stay away!!''\n\n\tEmanating forward, moving as if an illusion, oozing wisps of darkness slid out of its... sleeve, and onto the floor, unraveling towards Sai'Ryn. The oozing appendages mutated and flickered, visually resembling the quality of old-damaged films. A wisp wrapped around Sai'Ryn's ankle, stopping her in place. More crept over her.\n\n\t``Noooooo!!'' Sai'Ryn screamed, kicking, slashing with her claws. She tried to pull and tug them off, but the problem was that her body slid through the wisps as if she was smoke, yet, the same did not apply to the creature's method for interacting with her, the smoking wisps might as well have been steel cord for as much as she could wiggle out of them.\n\n\t``Auuugh!!'' Sai'Ryn stubbornly slashed and swiped, hands repeatedly passing through the wisps, but one was nearing her cock no matter how much she tried to stop it. Its tip seemed to expand into a swirling cup, a space vortex. It clasped over her tip and swallowed her cock.\n\n\tSai'Ryn went pale, her body freezing. Her eyes widened with shock, as a deep, hideous cold sent daggers of pain into her hips and balls. The red color in her hair faded, and her hair lost some of its luster.\n\n\tMore tentacles climbed over her body, piercing and slipping into her flesh. Blood oozed up the tentacles, barely visible in the smoky masses.\n\n\tMelanie backed away, horrified. Looking at her friends, she went pale. She shook her head, hair flying around her face. She clenched her teeth in determination, stared at the creature, and then pressed herself against the wall. She shimmied along it, toward Annabelle.\n\n\tThe creature tilted its head as it fed on Sai'Ryn.\n\n\t``SHUT UP, SHUT UUUP!!'' Sai'Ryn screamed. ``DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM! No, that's mine, I... I need him, don't make me forget him...! You can't! NO GET OUT OF MY HEAD!''\n\n\tA nebula-like cloud of misty colors seemed to smoke off of Sai'Ryn's whole body. The creature leaned forward, and this ethereal essence drifted into its face, disappearing into the Qliphottic Galaxy that lay beyond the veil.\n\n\tSai'Ryn's tears intensified, and she whimpered as her body began to lose some of its thickness and muscle-tone. Her breasts and ass shrank, and her stomach gurgled as it too lost mass. The tentacles had found their way into her neck and mouth and the temples of her skull. Her body jolted, and began to shrink in stature. She seemed to, at once, grow younger, and older, as the creature consumed some manner of existential meaning out of Sai'Ryn.\n\n\tAll except for one thing...\n\n\tMelanie was fortunate to have reached Annabelle. Melanie broke her gaze with the creature to help the fox. She sat Annabelle up and patted her on the back, and soon Annabelle was retching cum onto the floor and regaining consciousness.\n\n\tBut Cailey saw what the thing was doing... Almost like a mix between a game of Operation and straight-up butchery, the ethereal tentacles were slowly scooping, and lifting, Sai'Ryn's circulatory system out of her body. Her body shrank, but her arteries, veins, and capillaries did not. By the time Sai'Ryn was half her original height, her original height in blood-vessels lay around her, a sick silhouette of the teenager she'd once been.\n\n\t``Mom... Mom...'' Sai'Ryn pleaded, eyes turning grey, her body decaying.\n\n\tCailey'd seen enough. She shut her eyes.\n\n\t'No more, no more, no more!'\n\n\tShe heard Annabelle gasping for air, and after a moment, a shuffling of feet.\n\n\t``How do we get her out of this?''\n\n\t``Just drag her! Sai'Ryn said there was an axe, we gotta find it!''\n\n\tCailey opened her eyes and looked up, only when she felt the ground moving beneath her. Annabelle and Melanie were dragging Cailey away. They ducked into one of the toy-houses, which had an absent-wall on the other side, that sort of half-merged with a neighboring house play-set. They dragged her towards a closet with an overly large doorknob, and pushed her inside.\n\n\t``Alright, we gotta find that axe, but if that thing... if that thing chases us, we got to try and hide in here with Cailey. Do you understand Melanie?''\n\n\tMelanie nodded.\n\n\tAnnabelle grimaced, belching another wave of cum out of her mouth. Her tail swayed, and she rubbed her ass. Gods, her tail-hole was sore...\n\n\tMelanie and Annabelle branched out. Cailey hyperventilated as she waited for their return.\n\n\t`Please, don't leave me here... Oh god, that thing, no, don't let it get me, don't let it do...'\n\n\tShe couldn't even complete the thought. Her mind traumatically returned to the alien, horrifying sight of the creature slowly extricating Sai'Ryn's circulatory system from her body... Hardly a drop of blood was spilled, inches of blood-vessels lying on the floor in pulsing, perfect condition.\n\n\tHer mind flashed with still-shots, one after the other, again and again, of almost every heart-lantern she saw up until now.\n\n\tHow many... How many people...!\n\n\tCailey twisted her face up, revulsion and fear overwhelming. ``Oh god nooo, don't let it be real, don't be real, save me, please, someone save me!''\n\n\tIf Cailey cared about Melanie before, she almost fell in love with her when the cow-girl darted into vision, carrying a fire-axe.\n\n\t``F-found it!''\n\n\tAnnabelle darted into vision a moment later, taking the axe and asking Melanie to pull away some of the cord, a portion that Annabelle has any chance of chopping without hurting Cailey. It wasn't a quick process - Annabelle missed a few times, or failed to cut the wire, and she did cut Cailey on the arm at one point... but eventually, they broke Sai'Ryn's bonds, and the girls shut themselves in the closet and hid, hoping that, as before, the creature will not find them as long as it cannot see them.\n\n\tNow, they just had to calm the fuck down. Weeping, Cailey began to whisper simple children songs. ``Row... row row your boat...''\n\n\tThe girls somehow settled on the alphabet song, and, singing it as quietly as they could, pulled themselves into a shaking ball of barely-contained terror.\n\n\tTime passed, and the compulsive crying ceased. They waited awhile longer, to be absolutely sure. They counted to a thousand, and only then, did they exit the closet.\n\n\tAll was quiet, and calm, and dim, and red. No grey discolorations, and no signs of life.\n\n\t``Just... wait... here...'' Cailey shuddered, turning to Melanie. ``If I scream... don't... walk up to me, just stay here.''\n\n\t``Why?'' Annabelle asked. Melanie grimaced, looking scared.\n\n\tCailey shook her head. ``I'm going to look. Just, don't come with me. I don't want anyone to see.''\n\n\tAnnabelle nodded sagely. Melanie looked away, looking conflicted. ``I hated her...''\n\n\t`I know, but, you'd hate to see where the kudzu comes from,' Cailey thought darkly. Swallowing, bracing herself, Cailey went to go investigate the attack-site.\n\n\tShe tilted her head around the door-frame. No color discolorations... No towering shadow... good. And there was the thick, sprawling cum-stains from where Annabelle had been flooded with... Snowflake.\n\n\tCailey turned her head, eyes turning slower. `Please, don't be... Oh god!!'\n\n\tHer eyes settled on it. Bulging out of the floor, was a fresh, new heart-stalk. A glowing, pulsing, heart-shaped lantern, the smallest she'd yet seen... and not yet calcified, not yet reinforced. It looked fragile.\n\n\tCailey repressed an urge to smash the vile thing with the fire-axe. Why did she even wish to? Because she hated Sai'Ryn? Or did she hate letting even someone so awful as Sai'Ryn exist in such a form? Was it even enough of her anymore to constitute her memory? Maybe destroy it just because it was that creature's own effigy, its own triumph?\n\n\tCailey decided to leave it. Sai'Ryn herself wanted to leave Annabelle splattered where no one would find her. Sai'Ryn's memory will have to tolerate the... existentially demoralizing Lovecraftian equivalent, her heart-lantern surrounded by the outline of her girl-shaped sprawl of pulsing blood-vessels. Perhaps one day they'll grow to encompass the whole park, like the others.\n\n\tCailey almost threw up as she returned to the others. ``She's dead... Don't... fucking, go looking out there.''\n\n\t``B-but now what?'' Melanie whimpered. ``C-Cailey, every... everyones g-gone.''\n\n\t``Melanie please!'' Cailey cried. ``I can't... I can't think about that right now!! We just got to get to that lighthouse, forget about them!''\n\n\t``NO!! Why?! Why would I forget about them?'' Melanie cried.\n\n\t``I can't deal with this!'' Cailey whined, starting to pace in circles. ``How am I supposed to live like this? We're not getting home, who are we kidding? I don't even want to go home anymore! No one would believe me, I'd go insane! No one would understand! How am I supposed to go back to school and homework and grown-ups telling me what to do when I just saw monsters eat my friends?''\n\n\tMelanie rushed Cailey down and hugged her, burying her face against Cailey's pouch.\n\n\tCailey paused, blushing. Her face fell, and she curled around the cow-girl, hugging her back. She began crying, and it seemed they were safe, as Annabelle's face stayed dry. She joined in on the hug, though, sighing.\n\n\t``I know Cailey... It's... fucking awful out here. The Silent Universe is no place for children.''\n\n\t``The... the what?''\n\n\tAnnabelle blinked. ``I think that is... is where we are.''\n\n\tThe girls just enjoyed each other's warmth, and breathing. Cailey calmed down, face drying up, another reassuring sign that the... thing... was gone.\n\n\tCailey gasped. ``Lets... let's find the center...''\n\n\tThey nodded.\n\n\tThree girls remained...\n\n\tIt took them over a-quarter-of-an-hour to find the center. Despite the dim search-light as a beacon, the park was so big and full of distracting, interesting set-pieces and play-equipment. It was also dark, and hard to see, and the girls moved with glacial caution. In the light of what the blood kudzu really was, Cailey avoided looking at it whenever she could, and it made navigating harder.\n\n\tBut she refused to tell them why it bothered her. She said she was just sick of the stuff - she had to make sure they had no reason to connect the blood kudzu to what may have happened to Sai'Ryn. Cailey almost gave up... but if Melanie gave up, they were dead. Melanie had to be protected...\n\n\tThe center of the park, the center of the pier, was the light-house, looking like some sort of command headquarters for the entire park. `Youth culture' was printed in brass lettering, corrupted by sea-air now, across the door leading inside.\n\n\tCailey stared at the door-knob, terrified of finding nothing inside, just another dead-end, or even a home for another celestial horror. This felt like the most significant part of their journey... so, was it stupid to be hoping for salvation now?\n\n\tCailey closed her eyes and turned the knob, opening.\n\n\tInside were a reception area and five doors lead off from here - a closet, a kitchen/break-room, the main office, the security office, and a hallway leading deeper into the light-house.\n\n\tCailey felt her fear fall into steady-beat. This was not looking promising.\n\n\tThe closet was fit for a janitor, the kitchen had power but its food was spoiled. They found more water, at least, and refreshed themselves.\n\n\tThey checked the main-office, the door opening onto a hideous clutch of six heart lanterns.\n\n\tSLAM!\n\n\tCailey's heart hammered as she held the door shut.\n\n\t``What was that for?'' Annabelle asked, concerned. Her tail was slightly fluffed from the shock.\n\n\tCailey closed her eyes, gulping. ``Just... jittery.''\n\n\tShe re-opened the door.\n\n\tThe heart-lanterns were grossly calcified, swollen to glassy fixtures the size of beach-balls. They were in seemingly random spots in the room, but one was carefully set into the ceiling, as typical. One, however, was on the desk itself. The room was in a disheveled state, papers strewn about and a filing cabinet lay across the floor in rusted ruin.\n\n\tThey leafed around, but nothing seemed to stand out.\n\n\tThen, the security room, and then they finally found something unexpected.\n\n\tThey stepped into a full-powered room, all the monitors on, and in working order, except for the lack of a signal. Static hummed on most of the screens. Blood kudzu was growing on the walls and in-and-out the vents, and covered the computers, but it did not seem to have penetrated the machines themselves.\n\n\tAnd one monitor... had a signal, and ostensibly, a camera for video-chat.\n\n\tThe girls stared, shocked. Hope, and incredulousness, mixed on their countenances as they walked toward the computer.\n\n\tThe signal was of a laboratory, filled with coiling instruments exciting liquids in distractingly stereotypical, mad-genius equipment. Coupled-in-theme was a clear bent toward some kind of alchemy, a theme expressed throughout the lab. Things that looked like centrifuges whirred, and there was a large desk near the foreground littered with complex notes, glass tiles with samples or x-rays of some kind, and, finally, a person, walking about the lab and talking to himself.\n\n\tHe wore a black coat with golden trim, and he had long, trailing moth-wings. looked like a bat though, with complex arm musculature and bones that gave him additional bat-wings, and extra fingers to form a more dexterous hand. He was rubbing his chin, and strutting on legs that ended in extraordinarily tiny, thin cat-feet. He was tall, and his pelt a dark, rich brown color, with chocolatey markings around where fur grew sparse, such as his eyes and nose.\n\n\t``Who... who is that?'' Cailey stared in wonder. An adult... but where?! Where was this camera-feed coming from?\n\n\tThe figure on the camera turned, and looked at them.\n\n\t``What...!'' Cailey gasped. ``He... he didn't hear us did he?''\n\n\tThe figure scrambled forward, clearly approaching a camera he was aware of. ``My goodness! People! Little-girls no less! My word, something different from your enigmatic plane!''\n\n\tCailey gasped, starting to cry with hope and pain. ``S-sir, sir, please, we need help, there are these monsters, and - ``\n\n\tHe held up his finger to shush them. Cailey stopped, but felt like she'd been smacked.\n\n\t`But... but, you don't get it, so many bad things have happened.'\n\n\tBut a need for an adult, an intense need for an adult, made her stop. Yes, she'll listen...\n\n\tThe weird hybrid wore immensely large, yet thin, round glasses. They were perfect circles, and were clearly chosen for aesthetic. He adjusted them, and they reflected a beam of light that temporarily made it seem he had moons for eyes.\n\n\t``Yes, yes, I am already aware of the ulyeoths over on your end. The one with the Qliphottic sigil of the Scar, seems particularly interested in staring at me and my work...''\n\n\t``The... The...'' Cailey struggled. ``The ooly-moths?''\n\n\tThe scientist shook his head. ``Typical.''\n\n\tAnnabelle curled her face in anger. ``Excuse me?''\n\n\tThe scientist adjusted his glasses again, folding one arm behind his back. ``If you have nothing interesting to share with me, I must get back to my work, but seeing as how you've stumbled onto my mystery-pet, I'll take time out of my busy schedule to converse with you, but you have to understand that I do not have time for children playing games.''\n\n\t`Oh God no,' Cailey thought, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared at this horrible man. How... how could she come this far, and get the worst kind of adult? A pompous intellectual who thinks their time is worth more than her life...\n\n\tThere was a teacher like that at her school, and Cailey had never thought she could hate someone so much until she'd met Sai'Ryn. But after surviving this far and losing so many friends, this man who'd said very little, had made it to the top of her shit-list.\n\n\t``We're dying!'' she pleaded. ``Please, we need help! My friends are dead! I'm scared, and we're alone, we don't know how we got here! We're lost!!''\n\n\tThe scientist stared at them, then closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He sighed, as if he was pained for patience with these disorganized Luddite children.\n\n\t``I know you girls are in an unfamiliar situation, and situations of that nature may seem scary at times...''\n\n\tCailey's heart leapt to her throat, pounding with rage.\n\n\tHe opened his eyes and glared at them, yet-again adjusting his glasses while stiffening his posture. ``But I am a very busy man, and I'm the most important mind in the entire world. Assuming you are from my world, that is. I can tell one of you are, you have the characteristic traits in your aura. One of you is heavily indoctrinated into the food-chain. Let's get this out of the way.''\n\n\t``You, dear, small children, are speaking with none other than Research General Calcifer, the Lord of Crucible!''\n\n\tThe girls stared vacantly.\n\n\t``Pfah, Crucible? The most magically, and technologically advanced city-state in the food-chain world of the First-Slave?''\n\n\tCailey shook her head, now frowning. She'd hated what happened to Sai'Ryn, but she was starting to wish an... ulyeoth would sneak up on him right now.\n\n\tThe man spun around in a circle, swearing to himself. ``I swear to Dhaos, mortals these days, they're like children.''\n\n\t``We are children!'' Annabelle shouted, starting to hyperventilate.\n\n\t``Clearly you are!!'' Calcifer said, rounding on them again. ``Reincarnation not withstanding! Enough then, you're wasting my time. You clearly have nothing new to offer me.''\n\n\t``Wait! What the hell is it you want from us? We've been all over the pier, and - ``\n\n\t``Ah, so you DO wish to cooperate,'' Calcifer said, throwing up his hands. ``Now we're getting somewhere. Good. I've been trying to scrutinize as much as I can whenever `Scar-Face' showed up, but there is precious little to glean of that world you are in from a single camera. A place that an actual ulyeoth haunts, not to mention the camera signal seemingly delivered to me as an act of providence, it has brought me much entertainment to consider this mysterious camera signal, in-between me doing actual important work... Naturally, the mystery-camera you're speaking to me from remains an idle hobby of mine. Do not test my patience. Let's start from the beginning. Where are you?''\n\n\t``We don't know that! It's just some abandoned pier in the middle of the ocean!'' Cailey shouted.\n\n\tCalcifer sighed. ``Alright, a pier in the ocean. Look, do you have vision spells?''\n\n\t``I... I can't do magic!''\n\n\t``Then what good are you to me?'' Calcifer sighed and reached his hand out to the camera.\n\n\t``No, please, I'll cooperate, I need help!'' Cailey cried. ``Please don't do this, if you don't help me, we'll die! We'll die!''\n\n\tCalcifier rubbed his curly, oily hair back, and sat down on a stool. He crossed his fingers together and looked at them patiently.\n\n\t``Very well, one more try. Just start with where you last remember coming to that world, and, if I decide you're telling me something irrelevant, I'll ask you to skip it.''\n\n\t``... Okay, fair. Um, first, my name is Cailey - ``\n\n\t``Skip.''\n\n\tCailey glared at him. ``I woke up in this world. I don't know how I got here. I think I was asleep in my bed, at home, on another world - not yours either.''\n\n\t``Hm, what's your world called?''\n\n\t``Um, Earth.''\n\n\t``An Earth. Earth's with civilization-grade kangaroos are in the minority. Would you say your world is a fully causal-phenomenon, physics driven universe?''\n\n\t``I uh... Yes?''\n\n\t``Skip.''\n\n\tCailey almost screamed. ``I woke up... I was in a room... By myself.''\n\n\t``Hurry it up, you're becoming redundant.''\n\n\t``There was this heart-shaped lantern on the ceiling.''\n\n\t``How is a silly light-fixture relevant child?'' Calcifer asked, studying his fingernails now.\n\n\tCailey slammed her fist against her thigh. ``No! It was horrible! It was like an actual heart, but made of glass, and it was beating! It was hard and slick like glass but it could flex!''\n\n\t``Huuuh,'' Calcifer mused, rubbing his chin. ``... Go on.''\n\n\tCalcifer asked her to skip again when she started talking about the girls she met. He even asked to skip, derisively, almost the entirety of their experience.\n\n\t``I can see where this is going. Skip to the part after the rabbit dies. Actually, let's just skip to the part you get to this amusement park.''\n\n\tCalcifer showed marginal interest in how there was a dog-shaped... ulyeoth, as well as the thing in the pond, but little of anything else.\n\n\t``Then we... we found Sai'Ryn.''\n\n\t``Skip.''\n\n\t``S-skip!?'' Melanie finally stepped forward, making the other two girls blanch with shock.\n\n\t``M-Melanie...!'' Cailey cautioned.\n\n\t``Sai'Ryn raped Annabelle! She ate my friends!''\n\n\t``I said skip!'' Calcifer shouted. ``Rape, ate my friends, that sort of thing happens every minute in my world! Ask the fox, she knows!''\n\n\tAnnabelle looked away, blushing.\n\n\t``There is no way back to your home-world directly,'' Calcifer said. ``The best you can hope for is die in the First-Slave's world and proceed back to your own world via metempsychosis, as the First-Slave's world boosts Narrative-capacity several-fold. And since one of you is from the world of the First-Slave, you'll be able to enter my world by simply being devoured in the presence of that fox.''\n\n\t``I... what?'' Cailey gasped.\n\n\t``There is a small chance you can get home by being eaten in my world,'' said Calcifer, ``And a small chance you won't enter my world by being eaten while that fox is aware of the devouring. Do you need me to use a chalk-board? The Curse of the First-Slave is tightly bound on that fox. The Curse pulls souls into this world like an ant-lion's trap. This world is at once an oasis and a prison, trapping souls within it and its endless cycle of predator and prey. Getting to your world is hard, but getting to my world is easy. All you need to do is be eaten by something. Unfortunately for you, the cloaked ulyeoths perform a procedure that will not count for the occult mechanisms behind the First-Slave's magic. Naturally, the fox can swallow two of you and send you to my world, but, she will be trapped and left behind, alone.''\n\n\tThe girls stared in stunned silence.\n\n\t``Is that enough information for you?'' Calcifer asked. ``I've been very generous with you - information is power, the only true money. I've given you a wealth of information valuable to you, but you've told me very little information I care to know, and again, my information affects your life, your information affects my afternoon. Try to at least pretend we're making a fair trade.''\n\n\t``FUCK YOU!'' Cailey screamed. ``WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!''\n\n\tCalcifer smiled. ``I am a Lord of course...! An alpha-predator beyond alpha-predators, unchained by the Curse of the First-Slave. In this world, I might as well be God, because the Goddess is a deplorable wretch, and a spoiled brat. This is my world now, in time... So!''\n\n\tHe adjusted his glasses, and chuckled. He clicked his fingers, which sparked with electricity, orb-lightning drifting away from his fingertips, and a haze of ozone following suit. He glared at the girls.\n\n\t``If you plan on coming into my world, you had better hope you can show better manners.''\n\n\tHe waved his hand, and the screen went dark. A message popped up of a smiling cat tipping his hat and holding a lunchbox, walking out of a door. It said below, ``Time for a Break! Back in: 47 Hours, 59 Minutes, 54 seconds.''\n\n\tHe'd... put them on hold or something... for two full days. That was longer, perhaps, than they'd even been in this world.\n\n\tThey could be dead by then.\n\n\tCailey ran her fingers through her hair. ``His solution is for us to eat each other?! What is wrong with your world Annabelle!''\n\n\tAnnabelle glared. ``Nothing, in my opinion...! Look, I barely remember what home is like... I'm as surprised as you are, and I'm not really keen on it.''\n\n\t``Yeah, well, that's because you'd be left here!'' Melanie said, stomping her foot. ``But that crazy man said you can save me by eating me, so just eat me!''\n\n\tAnnabelle gawked at her.\n\n\tMelanie crossed her arms and tilted her body. ``I'm not getting disappeared by those evil star monsters! And besides...''\n\n\tShe pointed along her body, tracing out the patterns of the butcher-lines she'd marked on herself, smudged and illegible now, and hidden beneath her filched pajamas. Annabelle, did get the jist though.\n\n\t``Oh, right, you're... training to be a meat-girl,'' Annabelle mused. ``He said... the hooded figures do not count... wait, does that mean the dog thing counts? Is... Are Strawberry and Lylie in... in my world now?''\n\n\tCailey was breathing hard. This made no sense, this was crazy. Nooo it made no sense... it had to be tantamount to suicide! The key to not dying was dying?!\n\n\t``You know there's this funny urban legend that there was a band of people who ate each other to escape an explosion one Halloween in Pinwheel village, many years ago,'' Annabelle said, smiling. ``Heh... It's almost Halloween now too, isn't it? Maybe it even is, for all we know. I wonder if that's like... a sign or something.''\n\n\t``You're not seriously considering it, are you?'' asked Cailey.\n\n\tAnnabelle rubbed her chin. ``I don't know if I can. I don't... feel like much of a predator. And I'm not doing it if you don't want me to. You both have to agree.''\n\n\tCailey again wondered how much of this could possibly be Annabelle acting as a genius mastermind behind all this... Her trust wavered.\n\n\t``I wish you could remember,'' Cailey tested.\n\n\t``Me too,'' said Annabelle. ``I... was eaten, before I came here. I wasn't sleeping, like the rest of you. I... was eaten, and then I was here...''\n\n\tCailey stared. ``Really?''\n\n\tAnnabelle nodded. ``I think that's why I can't remember. I'm... dead, already. So, I'm supposed to reincarnate, and that resets my memories, I think, or stores them in my soul or something... and then it is hard to access them. I don't know why that happens, but I know that, in my world, people reincarnate, but they're usually different people, it is not like cloning or something. You get eaten, you are reborn later, and you live a whole new life.''\n\n\tMelanie blinked. ``Wuh - wow...''\n\n\t``It is also the magic part,'' said Annabelle. ``But, I remember less about that then anything else. Noticed how Strawberry could remember her parents but not her own magic-school?''\n\n\tCailey shifted uncomfortably. It just sounded so... weird, and perverse. She still did not have the heart to mention that the idea kind of was a turn-on for her, a guilty pleasure she couldn't bear to tell most people.\n\n\tWould it have been better to let Sai'Ryn eat them after all? Crap... and now, it was either be food, or be... a ...\n\n\tCailey was going to have nightmares about this place, reincarnation or no reincarnation...\n\n\tCailey would not become one of those lanterns. ``I... I can't bear to be here anymore. We got to get eaten... But... but, we can't just leave one of us here! Dammit, if we'd just... if Sai'Ryn was still here... she... she could have been left...''\n\n\tGod, it felt awful saying that out loud, especially knowing what horrible thing happened to her. If Sai'Ryn really was alive, could she have left her here, knowing what would happen to her?\n\n\tCailey hoped the answer was no, but... she had to accept she would, since now, Annabelle was their predatory sacrificial lamb.\n\n\tAnnabelle furrowed her brow. ``I... might be okay.''\n\n\t``How?'' Melanie and Cailey asked together.\n\n\tAnnabelle didn't look at them, just stared at the ground. ``If... I can find the yellow-eyed dog... for example, but, there is one other thing. I think I had a magical power that would let me, uh... sort of... eat myself. Kind of like a cloning spell. If I can just remember how I did it, I can save myself. And with you two... um... unavailable, I'll have all those MRE's, and I know how to sneak around now. I could stay awhile, and try to figure it out.''\n\n\tCailey shook her head. ``No, that's too risky, that's a stupid plan! Stupid!''\n\n\tAnnabelle sighed. ``I don't have any other ideas Cailey. Can you eat me?''\n\n\t``N-... no?''\n\n\t``Melanie?''\n\n\tMelanie shook her head. ``I'm... no way, no way could I eat someone! Not whole! At a barbeque maybe, but not... like how I think you'd do it. Like that Sai'Ryn girl did.''\n\n\tAnnabelle clapped her hands to her sides. She winced as her bowels tensed, still sore from her ravaging. ``Well, there you have it.''\n\n\tCailey sat into the rolling-chair and scooted away, staring at the ceiling, and feeling a headache coming on.\n\n\tThis was a nightmare...\n\n\t``I need time to think about it...''\n\n\t``Okay,'' said Annabelle. ``I'm going to search the kitchen again. I think there might be tea I can save or something.''\n\n\tCailey was left with Melanie, who sat with her. They didn't talk much, but they did talk about Halloween, home, and their parents. They left the control room after a while to check on Annabelle, who'd used the working stove to make cups of weak, stale tasting tea.\n\n\tThe fifth doorway entered onto a hallway, which lead to a storage area, a bathroom, the park-director's bedroom, and a set of stairs that lead to the observation deck. The dying search-light kept its vigil here.\n\n\tStanding before the swirling sentinel of light, the girls looked out over the play-park, crumbling, covered in glowing ivy of grisly origin, and nervously watching the faint cloud of grey-discoloration that moved about the labyrinth like a leaf on the breeze, as if it had no preference other than to drift about.\n\n\tFinally, Cailey sighed and smiled at Annabelle. ``You hungry big girl?''\n\n\tAnnabelle snorted, giggling. The moving dot of discoloration slowed. The girls calmed themselves down, and waited for the ulyeoth to resume random-drifting. For safety, they wandered back down into the main structure, and walked to the very end of the hallway.\n\n\t``Park Director Apartment.''\n\n\tIt was a small little one-bedroom apartment. It was dusty, but, it was fortunately short on blood kudzu, and no heart lanterns had been hung here, strangely. This would be a... moderately relaxing place for Annabelle to... rescue the two girls.\n\n\tThey locked and barricaded the door and shut the blinds. Safety first...\n\n\t``Are you sure you can get out on your own?'' Cailey asked again.\n\n\t``I... I'm confident I can do it,'' Annabelle said.\n\n\tHer stomach growled.\n\n\tBlushing, the fox looked away from them. ``I promise I'm not looking forward to this. That was just normal hungry, I swear.''\n\n\tCailey and Melanie giggled. Melanie especially let her eyes linger over the fox's grumbling tummy.\n\n\t``Sure, whatever you say,'' Melanie teased.\n\n\tAnnabelle smiled. ``Heh... Well... I guess we better get ready. Umm... would you all take off your pajamas?\n\n\tCailey's hands jerked as if to start undressing, and then held back. A hollow feeling of embarrassment and shyness came over her. She rubbed her face absently.\n\n\t``Something wrong?'' Annabelle asked.\n\n\t``Umm...'' Cailey wasn't sure how to say this but, the idea of being eaten wasn't what was scaring her, it was more like... she liked Annabelle, but wasn't sure the mysterious girl was, uh, her type.\n\n\tThe idea was a little scary, letting someone eat her, but, the mystique she'd accidentally found in the idea was kind of spoiled by the fact she was sort of not into Annabelle. Perhaps that could change, if she simply knew her better, but, Cailey did not have a very good feel on Annabelle, only that she seems sincere in wanting to help.\n\n\t``Sorry,'' she mumbled, playing with her hair.\n\n\tMelanie was down to her panties, before she noticed Cailey was still clothed. ``What's the matter?''\n\n\tCailey blinked, noticing Melanie was just about stripped. ``Wow, you're... already undressed!''\n\n\tMelanie nodded, holding her hands together. ``Yep! I kind of thought I'd... Um, be on a barbeque someday, but... you promise that if I do this I can get home?''\n\n\tAnnabelle shook her head, looking surprised. ``I don't know if we can trust Calcifer's information, but ... I think he might be right. Still, he did say there were no guarantees.''\n\n\tMelanie faltered, but gulped and nodded. ``I have to get home...''\n\n\tCailey took a deep sigh. She wanted out of here too. Time to stop hesitating! Annabelle seemed more like.. prey to Cailey. But, if this was what was needed, then so be it. Just... fooling around with some girl, getting some experience... Yeah, she'd think of it like that!\n\n\t`Actually that just sounds more dirty,' Cailey laughed in her mind. Her jammies fell away as she got naked. Annabelle took off her plaid-shirt, letting them see her flat belly and chest. Her stomach growled slightly, and Annabelle avoided eye-contact.\n\n\t``S-sorry,'' she muttered.\n\n\t``It's okay,'' Cailey said, smiling. ``So, how do we do this?''\n\n\t``Hmm, that's up to you,'' said Annabelle. ``Feet first, head first...''\n\n\tGosh was this conversation really happening? Cailey sighed. ``I'm sorry... I'm... I feel, weird, about this... I... I...''\n\n\tShe rubbed her arms together absently, looking away. ``I... I've thought about this before... being eaten.''\n\n\tThe other two girls, naturally, had little reaction. Cailey knew why, and yet, it still surprised her how... cool they were with her confessing that.\n\n\t``I just kind of thought that, if it ever happened, it would be... more intimate, more... special? But instead, I'm thinking about how this is... kind of... A-are we about to have s-sex while our friends are dead?!''\n\n\tThe outburst raised her voice, and Melanie gasped. ``Cailey, warm-ups!''\n\n\tCailey blanched, and then took a deep breath, nodding. ``You're right.'' She practiced her warm-ups, and composed.\n\n\t``I get it,'' said Annabelle. ``This is... really awkward, I can admit that. I'm sure we'd all rather have a different person eating them, and... umm, I'd say I'm more like... prey, than anything else.''\n\n\tCailey smiled. ``I knew it...!''\n\n\t``What's that supposed to mean?'' sighed Annabelle, giggling.\n\n\t``It's only for a little bit, and... we're not going to remember it very well, right?'' Melanie asked.\n\n\t``I'm expecting that to happen, yeah,'' said Annabelle.\n\n\tCailey still couldn't get over the fact that something Cailey so bizarrely found to be a sexually charged topic, was being made at the top of a surreal ride-turned-skyscraper, on a haunted pier, after having seen so many of her new friends die.\n\n\tBut other than Sai'Ryn, they were all eaten, so... did that mean they could be okay? If Cailey believes this will work for her, it might have worked for them, too. She just... had to go for it.\n\n\tEasier said than done, though. ``Listen, Melanie, can you go first...?''\n\n\t``S-sure!'' Melanie seemed surprised by this. She smiled at Annabelle and hopped up onto the bed. ``When I decided I wanted to be a meat-girl, I started eating special food and I made sure to play outside every day and stay healthy. I hope I taste good!''\n\n\t``I'm sure you'll taste great,'' said Annabelle, blushing. She knelt down to the floor and picked up Melanie's hooves. Melanie's breath increased, and the smell from her crotch sweetened the stale air.\n\n\tThe two girls shared knowing looks and turned away, blushing. ``Well, here goes,'' Annabelle said, and, closing her eyes, opened her mouth and brought it back to Melanie's hooves.\n\n\t``Auuommmf...''\n\n\tMelanie gasped, squirming her legs as Annabelle's mouth closed around the cow-girl's hooves. It was impressive she got them in, and yet, she'd have to go and swallow a girl mostly the same size as her!\n\n\tBut that next gulp did come, and soon Melanie's hooves were inside Annabelle's throat.\n\n\tCailey felt herself growing humid... she almost felt jealous for a moment, wanting to lick and play with Melanie's hooves too. She had cute feet...\n\n\tCailey was glad she'd asked Melanie to go first; watching... was starting to change her disposition.\n\n\tAnnabelle gulped slowly, taking her time salivating on each part of Melanie as she slipped into the fox. Melanie rubbed at her tender crotch, one eye closed as the fox slowly worked up over her thighs.\n\n\t``Oh... oh gosh, you're really doing this... Hahh, hahh... Hey, do... do I taste good?''\n\n\tAnnabelle nodded, murring, as she gulped up to Melanie's ass.\n\n\tMelanie shivered, eyes half-lidded, her nostrils puffing. ``Really? Hahh... hahh...! Annabelle, if... if we meet again, and... and I'm older, would... would you attend my... meat-day barbeque? I mean, if you found me being roasted, would... would you want a slice of me?''\n\n\tAnnabelle stopped to think about it, but, she nodded. Her tail wagged.\n\n\tMelanie squealed and shivered with delight. ``I'd like that...''\n\n\tMelanie did not say much else; she rubbed herself and let the fox work up her body, her ears flickering and flesh tingling with the ASMR induced by such hungry, greedy gulping.\n\n\t``I hope I'm tasty, I really hope I'm tasty,'' Melanie moaned, as Annabelle's muzzle worked up over her chest, and neck. The fox's belly distended between her and the bed, filling up with cow-meat. Her hooves left imprints where they were settled into the stomach, but Melanie was curling up, as soon as her knees had room to do so.\n\n\tCailey moved her hand up to wipe the sweat from her brow-line, only to realize her hand was sticky, and had been down her panties.\n\n\t`Was I just...?'' \n\n\t``Oh my gosh you hungry fox!'' Melanie gasped as Annabelle's muzzle lurched up over Melanie's head, catching her behind her lips, and, with the final gulp, pushed all that hamburger down into her gut.\n\n\tGasping, licking her lips, Annabelle heaved herself onto the bed and straddled her swollen tummy. ``W-wow... Uh, more fun than I'd thought it would be... still, I don't... think I'll... make this a habit. It's a lot of work!''\n\n\tCailey held her hand over her hammering chest... Incredible. It was so different from when Sai'Ryn did this. Being up close, the extra time to observe... the lack of fear.\n\n\t``That was amazing Annabelle,'' Cailey panted.\n\n\tAnnabelle smiled, licking her lips and burping. She patted her tummy. ``Well Cailey, I think I can fit you into my routine, if you'd like...''\n\n\t``You mean, inside with Melanie?''\n\n\tAnnabelle nodded.\n\n\tCailey rubbed her hands together and then rubbed her face. ``Okay... here I come...''\n\n\tShe paid close attention to each step she made as she approached Annabelle. Nervous and shaking, Cailey lifted her hands up to Annabelle's mouth, partially straddling on top of the devoured Melanie as Cailey boarded the bed.\n\n\tAnnabelle opened her mouth wide, drooling slightly. Cailey stared, and slid her hands into Annabelle's maw. The fox wrapped her tongue around Cailey's arms and pulled them in until only her elbows remained. Gulp.\n\n\t``Woah, greedy!'' Cailey said, surprised but, flattered too. ``Heh... I'll get in there, I promise!''\n\n\tAnnabelle's ears wiggled, and she focused on swallowing. Cailey felt herself drifting closer, and deeper, into that mouth. At first it seemed impossible for that yawning chasm to hold Cailey's entire world in its jaws. But, she felt the tongue curl under her chin, and saw Annabelle's teeth slowly become her cage.\n\n\t``It's actually happening,'' she moaned. ``Oh gosh, I can see... down!''\n\n\tShe was centimeters away from entering Annabelle's esophagus. She was really doing it - getting eaten up! Sure by a girl younger than she was but...\n\n\t``I can't believe you can really do this...!'' she moaned... and then shoved her face into those soft muscles.\n\n\tAnnabelle coughed a few times, then, swallowed Cailey's head into her throat. Annabelle's hands gripped and braced Cailey, to help her funnel herself down into Annabelle's swelling belly.\n\n\tFear and doubt filled Cailey, the suspicion and paranoia that she might be getting out-foxed here almost seemed to spice the experience for her, and she felt her loins drip-a-drop from the stimulation. The next swallow pulled her into the stomach, her hands flexed in the humid, open space.\n\n\tHer heart jolted, realizing that after arousing nightmares and just plain wet-dreams of being swallowed by superior predatory beasts, the sensation on her hands was real. A stomach... Her hands, were in a stomach!\n\n\tShe squealed as she felt hands grab hers, and start tugging her inside. Cailey couldn't help but moan from pleasure, the feeling of Annabelle's tongue on her pre-teen nipples made her tail jolt and smack the dusty bed. Her legs kicked, partly from panic, partly from ecstasy.\n\n\tGravity, Melanie, Cailey, and the gulping fox herself, worked together to pull Cailey's torso into the esophagus. Annabelle murred, working her jaws and tongue unnecessarily. She was starting to relish the taste of her friend, and spanked Cailey on the way down!\n\n\tGulp! Kangaroo-ass was now lodged in Annabelle's throat.\n\n\tThe trip down the throat felt enjoyably long to Cailey, as each slimy inch she'd gotten down stroked her face with caresses that rivaled anything her parents gave her - and they could have soothed her out of the world ending! But watching that distended stomach-sphincter approaching her, seeing her arms vanishing through it, and the glistening walls just barely visible in the gloom, she couldn't help but feel euphoria.\n\n\tIt was only too easy to think that she was getting eaten by some infamous, established predator that she'd been crushing on for a while. `Sorry Annabelle, but, I can't help but role-play a little.' So, she pretended her devourer was her domestic-side, favorite predator.\n\n\t``Oh geez!'' Cailey gasped as her head entered the steaming, slime-lined stomach. Melanie was hardly more than a silhouette admist further darkness, but she did see the eager occupant welcoming her inside. Melanie hugged her face as she entered.\n\n\tAnnabelle's teeth dimpled Cailey's ass. She tried to keep Cailey's loins alone, but as soon as she felt the kangaroo's loins throb on her tongue and drip her essence as well, Annabelle risked a teasing lick. Her prey jolted from within, and Annabelle watched Cailey's toes clench and unclench and splay into frilled, trilling flexes.\n\n\tCailey did feel like she was blushing, but that lick was not only forgiveable to her, but only heightened the sensation! After all, she was pretending her predator was someone else...!\n\n\t``Yes, yes please...!'' Cailey whimpered.\n\n\tAnnabelle didn't hear, but, she sensed the moans within and gave the kangaroo another lashing. The broad strokes of her canine tongue made Cailey's legs jitter erratically. Melanie giggled as she watched Cailey pant and moan inside the limited space of the stomach. She hugged Cailey around her shoulders as they finally slipped inside, giving the cow-girl a good grip to really start pulling!\n\n\tAnnabelle couldn't take it anymore. Cailey's flavor necessitated swallowing. Gulp! Lurching her whole body back, Annabelle felt the momentum of Cailey's hips moving down her throat, felt it in her whole being. Her eyes rolled slightly from the feeling. Her sternum was painfully distended, yet something was satisfying about the pain and discomfort.\n\n\tAnnabelle gulped as if she was drinking water, quickly overtaking Cailey's legs. Melanie wiggled to the side to let Cailey curl up inside, squishing face-first into the bottom of the stomach, before sliding along her back into a similar position as Melanie. Once her ass fell in too, enough momentum pulled her feet into the fox's mouth, and down into the stomach.\n\n\tAnnabelle coughed and burped with surprise, not expecting that much food to suddenly slide down her esophagus. Gasping for air, the drooling fox lay back and rubbed her distended belly.\n\n\t``Haaahhh! Hahhh! Hahhh! Geez...! I didn't... intend to enjoy... that so such! I'm so embarrassed, oh gods I'm sorry!''\n\n\tCailey shuddered inside the stomach. Embarrassingly, her hands were between her legs, rubbing. She could empathize with Annabelle! This was awkward and embarrassing, and the fact it turned them both on made it only more so!\n\n\t``C-Cailey!'' Melanie laughed, ``We're in a tummy! I'm actually inside a tummy!''\n\n\tCailey hugged her, nodding her head, her mind racing with thoughts of her make-believe, satisfied crush. ``I know! I can't... believe it's actually happening...!''\n\n\tAnnabelle's eyes drooped, blood rushing to her gut. ``Wow... I'm glad that... went well. Urp.'' Her eyes burned with fatigue, and she struggled not to nod off.\n\n\t``Are... are you alright so far?'' Annabelle asked.\n\n\tCailey and Melanie tried saying yes, although they got no response. ``Yeah we are!'' Cailey stroked her hand gently along the top of the stomach, hoping to signal that this was just fine for now!\n\n\tBut still no response, and then, they heard a mild snoring.\n\n\tOh gosh... well... No going back now then.\n\n\tCailey hoped these sticking, tingling juices wouldn't become painful soon... actually, she hadn't stopped to consider whether this would be ungodly painful.\n\n\tHer loins grew taught as the feeling that she'd have to accept a... detailed digestion, occurred to her. Her fear swelled her arousal, lost in confused mental pathways.\n\n\t``It's too late now, we're stuck,'' Cailey gasped. ``Melanie... will... will you hold my hand?''\n\n\tMelanie laughed and grasped her hand, and the two girls began exploring themselves as the stomach slathered them in thickening layers of viscous, sticking stomach juices.\n\n\tThe tingling grew stronger, until Cailey felt as if she were covered in a spicy sauce. The tingling stopped there, but the heat and wet sensation only seemed to grow stronger. She felt like she'd dipped into a bath that was just ever so slightly too hot, and despite the slight stinging, her flesh felt this luxurious moisturizing sensation, like lotion. Her pre-teen pussy tremored and quaked, the stimulation felt particularly intense there.\n\n\tShe was still scared for the coming pain, her fear only dying off when she shifted some point later, and found that a large portion of her had sloughed away at some point. Her heart jolted as she realized she was already digesting! And, had already digested far more than she'd anticipated, and yet the disassociation of a significant portion of her flesh into the fox's stomach acids, had not dulled her pleasure at all!\n\n\t\n\n\t``Oh fuck...! Melanie?'' Cailey wiggled next to the cow.\n\n\tThe squirming child nuzzled against her, but her breath was raspy, and she couldn't figure out what the melting cow had tried to say.\n\n\t``Oh... Oh Melanie, you feel... different, very different...! Fuck, fuck! We're digesting, we're actually digesting... We can't even be saved anymore... This is it for me... Oh fuck! I think I'm gonna--!''\n\n\tCailey squealed as she experienced the first honestly body-shaking orgasm of her young life.\n\n\tAnnabelle belched loudly as her stomach squeezed without warning, dissipating the rest of the air in her guts. She snorted and attempted to roll onto her side, her sloshing, squishing belly following suit. It was almost uniform now, squeezing and mixing its occupants into slurry, like a blender had temporarily been pulsed.\n\n\tThe room currently housed a single person.\n\n\tOne girl left...\n\n\tCalcifer turned on the monitor again. By now those frustrating girls should be gone, and he could get back to his passive-obsession for the fascinating world that had so mysteriously made contact with him. His workshop had many monitors, but this one had decided to permanently reroute itself to a whole other world.\n\n\tCalcifer obsessed over a great many things, and many of them mattered more to him than this other world, but, whenever he was simply waiting for results to come in, he'd watch the screen, thinking of the metaphysics of his universe, and the experience was only ever enhanced when the creature he'd dubbed Scar-Face was on screen.\n\n\tNot even Calcifer knew how, but, Scar-Face was aware when Calcifer was watching, and it would watch back, staring at him, watching him, until he left his workshop. Once or twice, Calcifer had managed to catch Scar-Face entering the room and meandering around as if bored, before discovering Calcifer was watching, and staring him down.\n\n\tHe'd once stood for hours, watching the creature...\n\n\tYeah, he missed that, he missed staring into that horrifying non-face.\n\n\tCalcifer's face twisted into an ugly grimace, however, when the screen came on and a bad-drawing of an angry fox-girl flipping him off, was all he could see.\n\n\tThat fox had taped a drawing over the camera port. Calcifer will not be able to see Scar-Face coming to visit anymore!\n\n\t``Braaat!'' Calcifer yelled, snapping his fingers. In rage, he destroyed the monitor in a blast of scattering display-parts, the contraption falling onto the floor. Calcifer could fix it in minutes, but what were the odds Scar-Face would remove that drawing?\n\n\t``Confound it!'' He stormed away, looking up at the gigantic corkboard that made up one entire wall of his workshop, where blown-up images and data was posted, connected with strings, and forming a complex web of relating facts, all connecting back to the center of the board.\n\n\tThe First-Slave.\n\n\t``I'll catch you, you know,'' Calcifer muttered. ``Did you have something to do with those girls? That many girls who share your Curse, surely not a coincidence. Are you up to something? Are you even aware that you are?''\n\n\tHe stared at the board. ``Who... are you...? Where are you...?''\n\n\tA large, pink cat=lady strolled alongside a well-beaten dirt road, running alongside a babbling brook. It was nice to get out and get some fresh air every once in a while. The sun was starting to set, and she was beginning to grow hungry... in more ways than one.\n\n\tShe stopped to watch the sun for a moment, looming over the mountains. It glinted off her slitted eyes, and she smiled briefly. Well, time to get back...\n\n\tBut then her ears flickered, as she'd heard a sound like... a baby crying.\n\n\tThe cat turned, eyes wide. She spotted a large tuft of cat-tails growing on the river's edge. No, it couldn't be! Twice in a row? What were the odds?\n\n\tThe cat approached the water-sausages and pushed them aside, finding a basket with a baby, having Biblically sailed into this patch of weeds. The whimpering, hungry baby was a fox, blonde-hair, orange fur, and brown gloves. She kind of looked like some sort of meat-and-cheese dish, sort of.\n\n\t``Well I'll be damned,'' the cat-lady said, smiling, her fangs showing slightly. ``Twice in a row... Who's sending these kids? First little Cailey, now you...? What should I name you?''\n\n\tThe cat picked up the cub out of the basket and held the mewling creature against her breast. She absently rubbed at her loins.\n\n\t``I remember when Cailey was your age... That was a few years ago now... where did you come from?''\n\n\tThe baby of course had no answers, only cried against the cat-lady, a fresh new life... Supposing reincarnation actually existed like some people purported, this fresh new life was possibly someone else at some point, who got eaten somehow, and now wound up here. That was what the believers say. Was this tasty morsel eagerly sailing across time, space, and dimensions, to be hers?\n\n\t``All mine now,'' the cat-lady said, tickling the little morsel. ``I'll call you Annabelle. How's that? You can be Cailey's sister. Let's go home.''\n\n\tThe cat-lady sighed, smiling almost lovingly over her new daughter, but the look slowly melted into lust and intrigue, and her finger absently tugged at the cloth covering the baby, taking a peek at what the little girl has to offer the great and powerful Goddess.\n\n\t``If reincarnation has sent you my way, you can rejoice, my child... I'm your new Goddess, and I've got an exciting new way of life for you...''\n\n\tThe cat-lady didn't know if reincarnation was real, but, she did know one thing - letting people think that... made for an excellent dogma.\n\n\tAnd so Annabelle would go on to join a three-year-old named Cailey, as sister-priestesses to the Goddess of the Marzipan Mountains, in a land so far away from city-states like Crucible, Willen, Pinwheel, Metropolis, and Farbank, that the cat-lady Goddess had never heard of those places, and if she could go there, even an airplane could not make the journey in less than a hundred hours.\n\n\tThe cat-lady hears rumors that the Marzipan Mountains are somehow on the peripheral of reality itself, whatever that fucking meant. They say that if you go past the mountains, the world itself almost seems to thin out and dissolve into chaos, before there's only some sort of... blackness, and if you go past, you might enter some sort of... Silent Universe, a strange place full of strange, empty, lonely worlds.\n\n\tThis stream flowed from the Marzipan Mountains. ``I wonder if the Void itself shipped you out to me then?'' the cat-lady wondered. ``You're safe now. You're in Heaven now... my Heaven. And you'll help maintain my Heaven... won't you Annabelle? You and Cailey.''\n\n.\n\n.\n\n.\n\nAPPENDIX I\n\nCailey: Age 12. Albino-kangaroo. Singing prodigy and bit of a nerd, but strong-willed. Owner is Unicorn/ECMajor. Url: HYPERLINK http://www.furaffinity [dot] net/user/ecmajor/ \n\nSai'Ryn: Age 14. Wolf demi-human. Preoccupied with a tautological superiority complex brought on by her questionable care-giver. Owner is Er'Ryn Arya. Url: HYPERLINK https://aryion [dot] com/g4/user/ErRynArya \n\nMelanie: Age 7. Creamy-blonde cow. A people-pleaser who is passionate to give herself to people. Owner is Slimshod. Url: HYPERLINK \"https://aryion\" https://aryion [dot] com/g4/user/Slimshod\n\nAnnabelle: Age 7. Orange-blonde vixen. Distant and intelligent, she conceals more than she reveals. She does not remember who she is, but she's clearly hiding something too. Owner is... me!\n\nSnowflake: Age 6. Snow-white kitten. Imagine if Katerina Kittykat from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood was obsessed with robots. Done. Owner is me~\n\nAura: Age 6. Lamb of golden-fleece. Earnest and sweet, Aura looks like she wandered out of an old 1930's Disney cartoon. She's clearly no ordinary child... Owner is blessedwasthechild. Url: oh wait that's me again.\n\nLylie Lemondrop: Age 8. Off-white lamb with strawberry-blonde hair. Easy-going in better circumstances, conscientious, and concerned with doing the right thing. This one's mine!\n\nStrawberry Gumdrop: Age 12. Pink-rabbit with white freckles and red hair. She basically wants to be Sailor Moon and fight for justice, and self-censors her language. She has strong convictions. Owner: drum-roll please! It-me \n\nAPPENDIX II\n\nQ: What is the Silent Universe?\n\nA: A psycho-reactive, surreal collection of worlds. Most of the worlds are inhospitable to life, seemingly rotting. They seem intelligently designed, but abandoned. To maintain itself, the Silent Universe proliferates the use of magic, and when this is not enough, ``storms'' rage in the Void between worlds, dragging hapless people from other universes into the Silent Universe, often never to be seen again. But for every horror, there is a wonder too.\n\nQ: Is your vore world in the Silent Universe?\n\nA: ``The World'' is indeed an oasis in the Silent Universe, and insulates itself - People inside the world do not know of the Outside.\n\nQ: What are Licenses?\n\nA: Licenses are legal-constructs in the world that regulate who can eat who in the food-chain, but, the Licenses are also magical contracts, and an expression of a soul's deepest desires. Desires incompatible with the food-chain, or, people who value Consent immensely, obtain the Consent License, but then there's also a panoply of predator and prey licenses. While people know the Licenses are legal-constructs, the spiritual-minded inhabitants believe Licenses are magical too, and help prey find their perfect predators.\n\nQ: What Licenses are there?\n\nA: Consents, who cannot have sexual acts or vore done to them without their permission, but they're unable to sexually act without the consent of other partners as well.\n\nSlaves, who cannot say no to any sexual advances or attempts to eat them. Well, they can, but it won't help. No matter how non-con they get, there is always this weird feeling that they're enjoying themselves.\n\nPrey's and Sexual Prey's, who can be eaten by anyone, but will not eat Predators. The Sexual variant extends vore to sexual acts in general.\n\nPredator A's (Sexual variant available), who are the middle of the food chain, can eat, can be eaten.\n\nPredator B's (Sexual variant too), who are the top of the food chain. They can eat anyone else except each other. They tend not to find other alpha-predators appetizing, but they'll compete for food or dominance just fine. The sexual variant allows them to dominate others, but not each other.\n\nLords and Ladies... These vanishingly rare Licenses denote someone who takes alpha-predator to a new level, almost like a monster or a demi-god. Lords dominate and overrule the wishes of all those who meet them, and may use anyone else as they please. Oddly enough, not all Lords know they are Lords, and Lords can masquerade as other Licenses.\n\nQ: What is Crucible?\n\nA: One of the city-states in the world. It is a center for technological and magical research.\n\nQ: Is magic common in your vore world?\n\nA: Yes and no. All the vore and body-alchemy (beer piss) count as magic, but, the people of the world do not see these things as overt magic. However, magic does exist, and is seen as, at least possible. Depending on city-states and local laws, magic is either shunned or banned, on the grounds that it disrupts pred-prey dynamics and ``spoils the vibe.'' There is also a generic inheritance in most people to compulsively fear Lords, and the wariness of magic stems from this - city-states with ready use of magic, tend to have more Lords appearing in their histories.\n\nQ: What happens to people when they get eaten?\n\nA: They reincarnate! They may look different, but, over time, they usually reborn the same. If their preferences change between life-times, their License might change, however, this does not make them a Lord. Lords can change Licenses without dying, but everyone else can only change Licenses between incarnations.\n\nThat's all you might need to know for now! Everything else... is a spooky mystery.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Disclaimer and Warnings: This story contains violence against children, depictions of rape and torture, and sexism. This could be a rough one, so don't read if you are squeamish, and not just because of the sexual fetishes involved - this story is meant for horror purposes, but it does contain sexual content too.

You already know I don't condone violence against real children. But let us make this clear - this story is not for people who harm other people with their fetishes. That is what I do not condone. Don't misuse my story, and don't let it misuse you.

Agreed? Then enjoy!

The cast of characters can be found in appendix I, and FAQ about Silent Universe can be found in appendix II.

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\tBlackness. She became self-aware amidst a plane of endless shadow. She felt cold, lonely, and scared, even before she was aware she felt these things. They felt as distant as light. After a moment, she wondered why she felt this way. There was this... beating in her chest.

\t`That's my heart,' she thought, and then remembered something critical - she's a person, and she was feeling fear, and cold. Where was her bed?

\t`I'm asleep.' Her mind, thank goodness, can do some of the thinking for her. Doesn't she have a body? Yeah, of course... how could she forget that? She felt somehow foreign inside herself... Or was she inside herself?

\tThe panic became more real, as she realized she couldn't feel anything, only absence, only cold - a fake cold at that. Really, she felt cold only because she couldn't feel anything. She felt nothing - not even air, not even space.

\tShe'd had sleep paralysis before - this was similar, more extreme of course, but she'd had a taste of it before. She tried to remind herself, she's surely in bed, struggling to wake up. The rest will make sense if she can just open her eyes, get someone to shake her awake... if she can scream loud enough, her parents will come and get her, surely!

\tBut then she realized her eyes were open. Or rather, she felt like she lacked the mechanisms to close her eyes. She was floating in a void. Her panic mounted, as this all started feeling... real. That this was somehow not in her head...! But, where was she? How could she? How could she feel like she was somewhere that felt like nothing, the absence of anything?

\t`What if you're in the Booetes void,' her mind proposed. `What if you're in a void megaparsecs large, where no one can find you, where there are no stars, no atoms, not anything at all.'

\tNo! There was no way... But that's what it felt like. She felt like she was somewhere so vast, so empty, that not even light could make the journey before being devoured by the void itself. Supposedly, the reason the night sky isn't blazing white, is because light gets stretched until it nearly stops existing, stretched by the distances it has to travel, stretched by those distances stretching. The universe, she'd read, was expanding. But it did not expand into anything, except itself. A scary thought was how space could one day stretch so much that even particles are torn apart. That was the watered down version, but it left her asking herself...

\tWas this the end of time? Or was she dead? Perhaps this was what awaited anyone who dies, an empty void. How long was she going to float here for? What did she do to deserve this? She felt like she was crying, she didn't want to spend forever in this nothing. She didn't want to feel her mind get stretched by ghostly, expanding nothingness!

\t`Please, where's my bed! Where's my bed?! How do I get back to my bed?!'

\tAll she could feel was her own trembling heart... She only wanted to scream...

\tSuddenly, something felt warm. Her vision became a dull red, and after all that blackness, it was almost blinding.

\tHer body felt numb. `Sleep paralysis!' Oh, thank goodness, it was just sleep paralysis after all... She could almost pee herself from fear, and relief, that that was all in her head.

\tShe felt real cold now. Chilly. She must have kicked off her blanket in panic, and she didn't have very much fur to keep her warm.

\tShe urged her body to move, to jerk, and found her arms twitching to life. Her eyes moved, and she realized her eyes were closed, the dull-light filtered through her eye-lids. Her mouth was dry, and felt salty.

\tShe inhaled, her panicked body eager for the salty air... She must be by the ocean...

\tWait, what?!

\tShe'd only ever been to the ocean once. The sun got too hot for her. How could she smell salty air?

\tFinally... Cailey opened her eyes.

\tShe felt fully awake now. Blinking, Cailey remembered clearly now who she was and why this was wrong. The albino, pre-teen, lithe kangaroo girl, was lying on an uncomfortable straw-stuffed old spring mattress. She stared at a wall that couldn't be further from her bedroom. It was blank, wood, worn, splintering. It was an old, green-stained, salt-soaked wood, as if made from flotsam. More than that, the wall was covered in red vines. No, they were... veins.

\tCailey opened her eyes wider, blinking. She jolted away from the wall, and saw that red fluid was moving inside the `vines.' Her eye's darted from vine to vine, observing how they branched off into smaller vines, how they looked just like pictures she'd seen in her school-books, pictures of the cardio-vascular system.

\tThe wall was covered in blood-vessels. And they were pulsing.

\t``Holy shiiiit,'' Cailey swore. ``What the hell is going on here?''

\tHer ears flickered, and she heard a... ticking sound. She turned her head, slowly taking in the rest of the room. She didn't really want to look, but her eyes fed her visual cortex the rest of the strange, empty room.

\tAside from this crappy bed, the only other thing in the room was the ceiling-light. No ordinary chandelier, it was the source of the ticking sound, and the epicenter of the veins growing in the room.

\tThe light was a gigantic, glassy heart. Disgustingly accurate, it appeared made of blown glass, or some kind of plastic, and it pulsated subtly as blood ran through it. The ambient, surreal illumination in the room seemed to come from the beating heart, although how, Cailey couldn't tell. It just did. The greasy, glassy heart barely moved, barely beat, but made the characteristic lub dub of a beating heart all the same.

\tThe detail on the heart was incredible... even fascinating. The curse of a curious mind like Cailey's, she couldn't help but admire how there was almost... organic imperfections in the glass-work, bits of fat and cartilage, perhaps even cholesterol build-up inside the translucent red valves and ventricles. Heartstrings danced in the heart. It was a disgusting thing to look at, disgusting for how accurate it was. It truly looked alive.

\tArteries descended down from the lamp and onto the floor, criss-crossing and sprouting everywhere, crawling up along the walls, only to redeposit into itself at the ceiling where the heart hung. However, one large blood vessel dipped down into the floorboards, going who knows where, and an additional blood-vessel seemed to be coming from the hallway past the jagged, crooked, worn door that sealed her in the macabre room. Seeing blood circulating into this room from some other part of this... What was this, a shack?

\tCailey swallowed the scream that she wanted to let out. Curiosity killed the cat, but a curious, intelligent mind was prone to forward-thinking. She did not want to make loud noises until she knew if she was alone here, or not. She wanted to cry for help, but, she considered the possibility that screaming would be dangerous here. Instead, she looked at the small gaps in the splintering boards that formed her room. She could hear the distant sloshing of water... very close. The smell of salt-water... made her think that, this room could possibly be some kind of sea-shack. Perhaps she was sitting near a dock.

\tIt had to be night-time. Darkness seeped beyond the gaps in the boards, and a gentle draft told her that the outside-world was on the other side of the wall she'd been staring at, when she woke up.

\tCailey struggled to maintain a steady breath, finding that she was slowly slipping into hyperventilation. A few moments longer, and she was gasping for air.

\t`C'mon, you have to find out where you are,' Cailey told herself. She clenched her eyes, tearing up, and returned her swimming vision to the tarnished, off-green door knob. The once-gleaming copper knob, corroded by the salty air, felt unusually warm in her hand. She turned it.

\tSqueak.

\tCailey stopped her breath, the sound shocked her silent. Her ears pointed forward, and she took her hand off the knob to cover her mouth, when she heard the gentle in-out of her lungs continuing.

\tShe stifled her mouth, willing her breath to stop. Her ears listened at the door, her mind wondering briefly why she couldn't get her breathing under control...

\t`Wait, there's no breath on my hands, that's not me.'

\tCailey's eyes widened as she saw the door knob wiggle.

\tSomething was breathing other than her, and just on the other side of the door - something subtle, steady and warbling, like a breeze rushing over a glass bottle, or a giant metal pipe.

\tCailey turned her head to the bed. Suckling a panicked draft of air, she scurried back over to the bed as quietly as she dared. The door knob squeaked behind her, turning.

\t`Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!'

\tOnto her knees, avoiding the glassy arteries, she crawled under the bed and rolled to the end, covering her mouth as she stopped to look toward the door.

\tIt drifted open, the hinges crying out from rust and tarnish, the wood cracking as it was forced to accommodate for the strain of the moving door. Cailey could see a pillar of shadow in the doorway, and it crept forward.

\tA rattling, distant breath filled the room, like an air-vent in an old warehouse building, weak, but large. The moving black shape did not betray the movement of paws, feet, or hooves. It seemed to glide. It lingered.

\tCuriosity burned in Cailey, a dangerous moth-attracting torch, betraying her fear and terror. That curiosity forced her to scooch forward, trying to see more of this tall, pillar-shape. She didn't dare go further than a foot, and it was not enough to see the thing's face, but it was tall - a towering silhouette. It almost looked like a figure in robes, except, it felt, felt more like a robed-figure whose shadow was cast onto a wall, and then came to life and walked away from whomever casted the shadow. It lacked texture, definition, just a perfect black curtain.

\tIt was so tall, she couldn't even see if it had arms. It might as well have been a literal pillar of shadow. And that breathing sound, like a rasping vent-shaft, was coming from the entity's entire body. Cailey even felt a draft coming off of it, smelling a strange mix of ozone and gun-powder.

\tSoundlessly, without disturbance to itself or the floor, the figure backed out of the room and down the hall, to the left.

\tAlone, Cailey allowed herself to breathe, but she couldn't bring herself to move. Her body trembled, and she felt her bladder give-out on her. Crying, the relief of being alone again made her feel just how alone she was.

\tShe'd trade her prized singing-voice to see her parents right now. Cailey was a popular child-prodigy student of her school's academia, and a favorite of mentoring adults eager for children like Cailey who excel. A gifted student, but still just an ordinary kid in the end.

\tLike many kids, she faces social issue - teased for her albinism, teased for being different, teased for having the approval of the teachers and a talent that people envied. She wanted to be a prized performer one day, to find the magic and glamour that her voice could one day claim for her. But, she still lived the humdrum of being an ordinary child, an ordinary student, who has to wake-up, eat, spend the day doing repetitive tasks, only to come home and sleep.

\tHow the hell did she wake up from that, to this? Shivering beneath some unknowably old fisherman's bed in a sea-shack growing fucking blood-vessels from a glass-heart attached to the freaking ceiling?!

\tThe promise of glamour her few, precious gifts offered, separating her from a life of monotony, that could make all the teasing worth it in the end... she'd trade it now, and subsume into the general student body, if it could get her into her parents arms again, and away from this horrid room.

\tCailey huddled herself, crying, begging silently for her parents to magically find her, rescue her from this nightmare. She briefly wondered if she'd prefer being in that... void again, instead of this place.

\tThen the scream came.

\tCailey jolted up, hitting her head on the bed. She was about to curse herself out, when she realized that had come from outside her room - that wasn't her! And it was a person's voice!

\tWait, what if that thing came back?

\tBut then, a second voice, and a third, shouting for help, and asking who else was there.

\t``Hello?! Help, I'm stuck, the door won't open!''

\t``Hey! I hear you, can you hear me? My door's locked, or something! It's just spinning and junk!''

\t``Mommy! MOMMY!!''

\tThe fire of curiosity ignited again. Cailey couldn't ignore this. The promise of companions made her feel more courageous, or perhaps more fool-hearty. She crawled out from the bed, and toward the doorway. Her body felt sore... How long was she pitying herself for?

\tCailey tilted her head out the door-frame, looking left and right. To the left, where the creature had glided, the hallway ended at a blank-wall and a path leading right to some other room. The right, lead to a line of doors, ending in a dead-end wall. In front of her, and slightly to the right, was the second room door in this hallway. The door was shaking, the knob turning uselessly, as someone tried to get out.

\tCailey stepped out into the hallway. Her room seemed to be the first room in the hallway. Most of the other doors were now jittering.

\tWhy was her door the only one that could open? Or was it that the door couldn't open correctly from the inside? One by one, she saw that there was a little turn-lock on each door - the knobs were all backwards!

\t``Hold on, I'm going to try unlocking this thing,'' Cailey warned.

\t``What? Who's there? Hello?''

\t``Don't worry, I'm getting you out of there, get ready.''

\tCailey unlocked the door, and stood back. The door slowly swung open, and a small face peered around the ancient door. Cailey looked at the left part of the hall - no approaching shadowy figure yet.

\tThe girl in the room was a goat-girl, much younger than Cailey was. Cailey was almost a teenager, but this girl looked about seven. She had creamy tan fur, and strawberry blond hair - short. She was wearing a white night-shirt and blue pajama pants depicting shooting stars. Cailey realized she too was in her pajamas, small defense against the cold-night drafts leaking in from the floorboards.

\t``Hi...'' Cailey whispered.

\tThe goat-girl pulled away, fearful. She looked over the older girl with uncertainty. ``Who are you? Where am I?''

\t``I'm Cailey... Um... I don't... know where this is...''

\tThe goat-girl's face fell, and she trembled. ``Oh...'' She teared up. ``Where's my Mommy and Daddy?''

\tCailey swallowed. ``Let's... get everyone else out of their rooms, they're stuck. What was your name?''

\tThe goat whimpered. ``Lylie... I'm Lylie.''

\tLie-lee, huh? ``Okay Lylie, c'mon, let's unlock these doors.''

\tCailey looked down the hall. No monster. Lylie followed her to the other doors.

\t``I can hear you! Who is there?''

\t``Thank goodness, can you get me out of here?''

\tCailey and Lylie unlocked the doors, letting grateful, scared girls out into the hall, each one suspicious of the others, asking questions no one had answers to.

\tThere were eight of them now. They formed a ring in the hallway, Cailey looking nervously at the hallway-entrance, scared that the sound surely would be bringing the creature.

\tLeft of Cailey was Lylie, the goat. Now that the girls all recognized that they knew nothing, Cailey could get a look at the others. Left to Lylie, was a snow-white kitten in pink pajamas depicting unicorns, but she was wearing a Transformers hoodie underneath it.

\tLeft of the white-kitten was an orange fox with cinnamon-brown fur on the gloves of her pelt. She had blonde-hair with pink highlights on the very front of her bangs. She was wearing a single, overly large adult-sized plaid-button-up shirt, making it easy to see her fur beneath. She looked less scared than the other girls, yet, somehow more worried. Hard to judge that expression...

\tLeft of blondie, was... oh, well, another blonde-girl. Left of foxy, was a blonde-cow girl. She looked like she could almost be Lylie's sister, the little cow was a little short and chubby, and like all cows she wears it well. Her fur was creamy-tan, but unlike Lylie her hair was even blonder. She looked terrified, and was blushing hard at the other girls, and for good reason. She was almost naked - only a pair of panties covered her body. Also, she had all these weird lines drawn over her, as if to mark the boundaries of where muscle-tissue starts and stops on her person. It looked familiar, but Cailey couldn't remember why... If she had to guess, this girl must have been at a sleep-over, and got pranked.

\tCailey wondered again how they all got here. Kidnapped from their beds? But no one seemed to know each other... Ugh, that curiosity again, c'mon Cailey, focus!

\tLeft of blondie-cow was, ugh, another blonde-girl. And not just kind of blonde, super-blonde. Actually, it was easier to think of her as a solid mass of golden fleece. This girl was almost kind of scary looking. She was a very small, meek looking golden-lamb, emphasis on the golden. She was almost uncanny, with huge, doeful blue eyes, a rather large head, subtle muzzle, and short limbs. To Cailey, she looked like she was almost a cartoon character made flesh - any more toon-like and Cailey would have felt convinced she was a Roger Rabbit-style invader from some animated world. She was only just barely non-cartoon looking enough to look like a real animal, but it still creeped her out. Other than that, this girl was pretty cute... She was completely naked, but, with the sheer density of her golden-fleece, that did not matter.

\tLeft of the golden-lamb, was a sharp contrast. Tall, thin, athletic, and utterly naked, was an almost-furless creature. Cailey wasn't sure what this creature was, looked a little bit like some kind of ape, but so distantly that she discredited it immediately. She had long black hair with red highlights. She smelled like a girl, but had male-parts between her legs, and, unfortunately, her canine-looking penis was throbbing with mild arousal. Yuck... Well, that perhaps isn't important right now. This girl also sported a pair of wolf-ears on her head, and a matching tail of black fur and white tufts. Whatever she was, she was a hybrid!

\tShe was also glaring at Cailey for some reason...

\tCailey didn't have a word for that girl, but here it might be listed as demi-human. To the left of the wolf-girl, was girl-number-eight, who was in a long pink night-gown that matched her pink-fur. She was a rabbit, with long, floppy ears. She was as pink as strawberry milk, and even smelled like sweet strawberries, and covered in cute little white speckles. She had chin-length red hair.

\tAnd to the left of the Easter-bunny? Cailey herself. Eight strange girls, in a strange shack, seemingly abducted from their beds... But better to make sure.

\t``So, no one knows where this is?'' Cailey asked. ``Okay, so, it looks like all of us were sleeping before we got here, is that right?''

\tThe group quieted down, the smaller girls losing focus as they stared uneasily at the pulsing, glass-like veins sprawling the hallway. Everyone seemed to be thinking about it.

\t``Yeah,'' said the wolf-girl. ``Yeah I think so.''

\t``Last thing I can think of, I was in my bed,'' said the white-kitten. ``Mommy just read me a story and turned the light off.''

\tThe fox girl cleared her throat. ``I was unconscious, yeah.''

\tStrange wording, but sure... Everyone agreed, they'd been sleeping. It reminded Cailey of her equivalent of the Langoliers, although she understood that novel having fur-pelted people waking up on the abandoned airplane. The comparison filled Cailey with dread, remembering that creature... She did not like realizing how similar that was, all of them waking up here after having been asleep in their beds.

\t``Does anyone remember anything strange before falling asleep?'' Cailey asked. ``Out of the ordinary?''

\tThe girls all seemed to strain with concentration, except for the wolf-girl, who was eyeing Cailey up and down. Why was she giving the kangaroo such a stink-eye?

\t``No, why, did you?'' the wolf-girl asked. ``Uhh, exactly, who are you?''

\t``Umm... I'm Cailey. What's your name?''

\t``Leader.''

\t``Leader? Your name is `leader?'''

\tThe wolf-girl chuckled. ``No, I'm saying you can call me leader.''

\tCailey stared, a dip in her stomach as her experience with bullies raised a serious red-flag. And sure enough...

\t``Alright you bitches, listen up,'' the wolf-girl said, stepping forward. The younger girls winced.

\t``Ooooo, you just said a bad wooord!'' the white-kitten said.

\tThe wolf-girl barked at the kitten, making her jump back with fur-fluffed.

\t``Hey!'' Cailey stood shocked. It was bad enough they were kidnapped without this being tacked on!

\t``I'm Sai'Ryn, and clearly I'm the oldest one here,'' the wolf-girl said, hands on her hips, and practically brandishing her dull-erection. ``And, I'm the only one here with a cock, so, I'm going to call the shots. I'm the wolf, and you're the sheep, some of you literally it seems...'' She licked her lips at the golden-lamb, who squeaked and pressed against the wall. ``So I'm going to corral you bitches. C'mon now, up against the wall.''

\t``Excuse me, but, do we even need a leader?'' Cailey asked. ``Look, I don't think we have - ``

\t``What did you just say, meat?'' Sai'Ryn snarled, tilting her head haughtily.

\tCailey sighed. Here we go... It's inescapable, really. She just fell into Nightmare-Narnia and she still has to deal with bullies. The best thing to do with bullies was ignore them, but they did not have time for this.

\tCailey stood her ground. She hated fighting, she wasn't going to fight this girl. Let her be the bully, but, she wouldn't let her scare her either. She took a step toward the older girl.

\tSai'Ryn, looked surprised in-spite of herself, but she didn't back down either.

\t``We're not safe here, and we need to be quiet, and I don't think we should loiter around here. You want to be the leader? Fine. But, you need to keep your voice down.''

\tSai'Ryn glared and pushed Cailey. The other girl's gasped, some covering their mouths. The fox pinched the bridge of her muzzle with her hand.

\tCailey blushed with indignation as she stumbled back, exposing a look of shock on her face. Sai'Ryn smirked, pleased. Cailey balanced, glaring, and stood forward again.

\t``You don't scare me.''

\t

\tSai'Ryn went back to the stink-eye. ``Yeah? Well, you should be.''\t The red-rocket between her legs throbbed, visibly growing larger. The smell and appearance made the other girls blush and look away.

\tCailey wanted to kick her in the nuts... ``I'm not trying to be tough, Sai'Ryn. But if you think you are scarier than the fucking blood-vessels growing on the wall... then I don't know what to tell you! But, for everyone else's sakes, please, keep... your voices down. I didn't get out of my room on my own, someone unlocked my door.''

\t``You mean there's someone else here?'' asked the pink-rabbit, grinning. ``You mean like an adult? Or wait... the kidnapper!''

\t``Oh no, not a kidnapper!'' said the golden-lamb.

\t``Who was it?'' Sai'Ryn asked, folding her arms.

\tCailey hesitated, looking at the younger girls. She didn't want to scare them, but... but the oldest girl needed to take this seriously. How to phrase this?

\t``Umm, I'm not sure what I saw,'' Cailey settled. ``I hid under my bed. It went away after awhile, but, it heard me trying to open my door. When I saw the door-knob twisting from the other side, I hid under my bed.''

\t``Oh yeah, real brave, real leader material,'' Sai'Ryn snorted. ``See? I wouldn't have hid. I'd have let them open the door, and been like, `Sup?'''

\t``Right... well, I was under my bed, and I saw it... enter my room. I couldn't see their feet, they were under this... robe, or something. And they had this really weird breathing, it sounded like a big air-vent or something. They moved weird... I don't know what they were, but I got a bad feeling about it. It's still around somewhere... And we'll be lucky if it isn't on its way here right now from all our shouting.''

\tThe other girls looked scared, but, at least Cailey had avoided the monster word, `cuz that'd have helped, for sure.

\t``Oh yeah I'm suuure you did,'' said Sai'Ryn. ``And, just so we're clear, you are the only one who saw this monster?''

\t`Oh God dammit.'

\t``Monster?!'' the white-kitten shrieked.

\t``Wait, it was a monster? I thought you said it was a person!! In a robe!'' the cow-girl cried.

\t``Shh, shh, shh!'' Cailey hushed. ``Please, they might be around here! Let's be quiet!''

\t``Yeah right,'' said Sai'Ryn. ``You're just trying to be in-charge. Or, maybe, you're the kidnapper! Yeah!''

\tCailey stared, flummoxed. ``Wh-what? How... would that even make sense?''

\t``Maybe you're making the monster up,'' said Sai'Ryn.

\tCailey watched as the girls most afraid of being a monster, inched toward Sai'Ryn, hopeful for news that there was no monster...

\t``Maybe the reason you were able to get out of your room was because you weren't locked in! You're the only one who got out on your own, after all! A helpful monster let you out and you got away by hiding under the bed? Yeah right! I'd have smelled you, so, how could a monster not find you? No, I don't buy it. That's as fishy as your cunt, bitch.''

\t``Will you stop that?'' Cailey asked, trying to stay patient, but she could feel her fist clenching.

\t``You can all cower in fear of kangaroo-girl's monster, but I'm leaving!'' said Sai'Ryn. ``You're welcome to come with me, if you're not a coward. Come sheep, come along, I'll protect you.''

\tSmirking, Sai'Ryn watched as most of the girls lined up behind her - the white cat, the cow, and the rabbit girl, and Lylie. The actual sheep, and the fox, did not.

\tSai'Ryn glared at the sheep, who whimpered. ``Hey, I said, follow me, sheep. That means you too, especially you.''

\t``But... there's a monster...''

\t``No, there isn't, she made it up,'' said Sai'Ryn. ``Now come on!''

\tSai'Ryn grabbed the sheep by the arm, twisting. ``Ouch! Hey!''

\tCailey had had enough, hurting a child half your size was the last-straw.

\tCailey stepped forward, and lifted her leg, aiming squarely for Sai'Ryn's nuts.

\tSwing!

\tCailey coughed as her leg met a strange resistance. Bullies never expected a high-power, dangerous kick from those deceptive legs of hers. But Sai'Ryn had caught her leg in her arm.

\t``Sorry, wrong move,'' Sai'Ryn taunted. She brandished her claws, and slashed for Cailey's face.

\t``Hauugh?'' Cailey fell back onto her tail, barely missing Sai'Ryn's claws. She felt pain on her tail as she threw her full weight on it - gritting through it, she lifted her other leg and kicked at Sai'Ryn's stomach.

\tFinally, she'd caught her off-guard! Sai'Ryn made a wide-mouthed look of surprise, coughing as the leg struck her solar-plexus. Her grip slackened around Cailey's leg, and Sai'Ryn flew back onto her ass.

\tCailey's tail couldn't support her. She fell onto the floor as well. God, Cailey hated fighting. Hated it! But she had been in a few tussles, and knew to try and avoid being on the ground. She scrambled to her feet.

\tA hit like that should have winded Sai'Ryn completely, but Cailey felt her heart hammering when she saw that Sai'Ryn was crawling to her feet, too. Her back was red with splinters from the floor. She was pissed.

\t``Oh, you think so huh?'' Sai'Ryn snarled, cracking her knuckles.

\tCailey shook her head - she did not want to fight this girl. ``Please, just, drop it.''

\t``Drop dead,'' Sai'Ryn spat, preparing to lunge.

\t``No!!'' The golden-sheep jumped in front of Sai'Ryn, the wolf-girl hesitating. ``Don't fight, I'll go with you! You're the oldest, right? I'll listen, I'll listen, I promise!''

\tSai'Ryn stared, panting, rubbing her nose. She glared at Cailey, then back at the sheep. ``Fine, very well then. Good! Yeah, get in line, sheep, and don't tell me no again, got it?''

\tThe sheep nodded.

\tSai'Ryn harrumphed, and glared at Cailey again. ``Waste of my time anyway. But you pull that shit again, kangaroo, and I'm going to show you how much of a dick I can be! If you catch my drift.''

\tHer penis throbbed, still aroused, even after all that.

\tThat spooked her. For sure, Cailey was no push-over, her albinism afforded her plenty of opportunities to learn to stick up for herself, but that was a new danger. `Holy crap, what is this girl's problem?'

\tNo, this would do for now. Cailey backed away, sighing. ``Okay... Okay...''

\tSai'Ryn nodded. ``That's right.'' Smirking, she looked at the fox. ``What about you?''

\tThe fox looked... inscrutable. Her face showed very little emotion, except maybe disgust. ``We should explore, quietly. I don't care who the leader is, but I suppose it should be the most mature.''

\tCailey blinked. Was that an insult? Sai'Ryn didn't seem to think so, but she wanted more approval than that.

\t``Yeah, it should be,'' she said. ``And I'm the only one who's got a cock, you forgot that part.''

\t``I didn't - ugh, yeah, you're the only one with a cock here. Lead the way.''

\t``You're lucky I'm in a rush,'' Sai'Ryn said, smirking. ``I don't like your attitude... You all better keep that in mind. You're the cunts, and I'm the big-dick wolf-bitch. Got that?''

\tHalf the girls nodded.

\t``Cool-beans. Alright, let's get moving.''

\tSai'Ryn and the other girls filed past. The fox made eye-contact with Cailey, and they shared a mutual-opinion on their resident bully.

\tBut they followed her.

\tDown the hall, and to the right, the next room was a dark, dusty, cluttered shop of some kind. There was a clerk's counter, and many empty, abandoned shelves. There were racks on the walls for holding stuff, one of them held an old fishing pole. A few abandoned bits of fishing gear lying around told Cailey enough that this used to be a fishing-store. The windows were boarded up, but not densely enough to hide the fact that it was definitely night-time out there. The only light was coming from the heart-shaped lantern on the ceiling - another one of those disgusting things. Were they in every room?

\tThe girls stared at it, the alien lantern was sobering after the girl-spat; it reminded them that this situation was anything but normal.

\t``Well, I don't see any monsters...'' Sai'Ryn sighed. ``You happy now?''

\tCailey stood impassively.

\tSai'Ryn scoffed. ``Hey, get these splinters out of my back. Least you can do for lying. C'mon.''

\tCailey eyed the door, but, yes, it seemed they might be alone for now. If nothing else it will keep the girl quiet while everyone familiarizes.

\t``Okay... Can we introduce ourselves though? I don't want us calling each other sheep or kangaroo anymore.''

\t``Pfft,'' Sai'Ryn said and sat her naked-ass down on the clerk's sitting-stool. It must have had leather buttoned to it at some point, but all that was left now was tufts of cotton and worn-wood.

\tCailey stood behind her and started plucking out the splinters from her back and her ass. If it weren't for Cailey, her skin would be perfect. There was something kind of interesting about shaved skin, to Cailey... If for no other reason that her own skin was sparse. This girl was milky-smooth...

\t``Right, I'll go first, I'm Sai'Ryn, wolf-girl,'' she tossed her head. ``I'm the daughter of some very powerful people. Bunny-girl, how about you?''

\t``I'm Strawberry!'' the bunny winked. She was still shaking like the rest of them, but she seemed determined to be up-beat. ``I'm from Lasink Far Middle School - ``

\tThe fox blinked, staring.

\t`` - and I'm eleven! I'm a bunny rabbit, and I fight for truth and justice! I'm training to be a super hero! Whoosh!''

\t``Oh... my goddess,'' Sai'Ryn sighed, rubbing her face. ``Yeah, you wish. Next!''

\tThe rabbit girl looked like she'd been slapped. ``Well I never!''

\tCailey could have sworn that rabbit was older than her. Not as tall as Sai'Ryn, but, Strawberry was the second tallest of them. Was that her real name?

\t``You're name is really Strawberry?'' Cailey asked the strawberry-milk colored rabbit.

\t``Yup! Strawberry Gumdrop!''

\t``You said you're from Lasink Far? So am I! I think...'' said the golden sheep, rubbing her chin. ``Oh, and I'm also from Pinwheel! Maybe some other places... Actually, I don't remember where I'm from, oopsie!''

\t``Is anyone else a retard?'' Sai'Ryn asked.

\tCailey gritted her teeth. Strawberry and the fox glared as well.

\t

\t``Nooo?'' the sheep said. ``I'm named Aura, not retard! I'm a little sheepy-sheep! Baaah!''

\tShe bleated like a feral sheep, reinforcing Cailey's impression of her being some sort of living-cartoon character. Aura huh?

\t``Where is Lasink Far?'' asked Cailey. ``I've never heard of it, which country is that in?''

\t``Oh, it's in the Dawn-Continent on Blue Moon!''

\t``The - wait, on Blue Moon? What does on mean?''

\t``You said that like it was another planet,'' said the fox-girl.

\t``Yeah, the world of Blue Moon, why, what world are you from?'' asked the golden-sheep Aura.

\tCailey slowed her splinter-plucking, skepticism, curiosity, and alarm mulled in her mind.

\t``That's... what do you mean what world are we from?'' gasped the white-kitten. ``I'm not from another planet, we're... we're all from the same place right? I mean, you just said you're from Pinwheel. I'm from Pinwheel village too!''

\tAura knocked her head, sticking out her tongue. ``I'm sorry, I'm not sure anymore...''

\t``Well, my Lasink-Far is on Blue Moon too,'' said Strawberry, shrugging.

\tOn, not in... Cailey heart beat a little faster... This couldn't be real. ``Okay... Let's simplify this. Raise your hand if your planet is called Earth.''

\tCailey sighed and raised her hand, hoping, expecting even, to see everyone's hands go up. But, only one hand did. The cow girl's...

\tCailey stared in shock. ``Wait, wait...''

\t``My world is called Runeterra,'' sighed Sai'Ryn, shrugging. ``I had you pegged for a teacher's pet smart-girl or something. I'm surprised at you.''

\t``Shut-up!'' Cailey barked, hands shaking. ``You all can't be serious, you're not like, space aliens, what do you mean you're from another world? Like, are we talking sci-fi or fantasy here? What worlds?''

\t``Well, most worlds aren't very nice from what I've heard,'' said Strawberry. ``Blue Moon used to be pretty special, but there was something about an epidemic? So my school is on quarantine. Oh, what if I'm infected and that's why I'm here?''

\t``Will someone please make sense?'' Cailey cried. ``Please?''

\tThe fox walked over to her and put her hand on Cailey's shoulder. ``It will be alright... Don't get too worked up about it.''

\t``Do you know what's going on?'' Cailey asked. ``You know about these... worlds too?''

\t``Kind of... I don't remember any, I just know they exist,'' said the fox. ``Okay so, yours is called Earth, very generic. Sai'Ryn's is Runeterra, Strawberry and Aura, you both mentioned Lasink Far. That sounds... familiar to me, but I can't remember why.''

\t``You can't remember?'' asked Sai'Ryn, looking at her with suspicion.

\t``I just woke up,'' grunted the fox. ``Okay, so, some of us come from different worlds, if we can just accept that, we can move on. It's fine. Although, it does imply that this place...''

\tCailey was worried for just that reason. ``Yeah, I'm... not in Kansas anymore, so to speak.''

\tTo her surprise, most of the other girls got the reference, but Sai'Ryn looked utterly confused. ``What's that mean?''

\t``Oh, she's referencing an old story, and a famous movie,'' said Strawberry. ``I love the Wizard of Oz.''

\t``Hmph, as if a guy would make a better magician than a witch,'' grunted Sai'Ryn. ``Kangaroo, what are you doing? My back!''

\tCailey sighed and went back to plucking. A thought occurred to her. ``What about... witches... You're not... Magic isn't real too, is it?''

\tSai'Ryn turned her neck back and looked at her, brow furrowed. ``... Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.''

\t``Don't listen to her, magic exists,'' said the fox. ``Just not everywhere.''

\tCailey stared at her. ``R-really? Uh...'' Oh God, Cailey, don't ask... ``Could... Could I learn it?''

\t`Darn-it Cailey, this isn't time for Dungeons and Dragons!'

\tBut how could she not ask.

\tUnfortunately, the fox wasn't very helpful. ``I wouldn't have a clue, magic's weird. Okay so that was Strawberry, Aura, Cailey, and Sai'Ryn. Um, I'm Annabelle. I'm from... the world, uh, I don't know what home is called actually.''

\t``Hey me too!'' Aura said.

\tThe white-kitten raised her hand. ``My world is just called `the world' too. I'm also from Pinwheel!''

\t``I've heard of Pinwheel,'' said Annabelle. ``I live across the sea from there. Or I did... Hey what's your name?''

\t``I'm Snowflake,'' said the white-kitten.

\t``You all have stupid names,'' Sai'Ryn said.

\tCailey rolled her eyes, glad Sai'Ryn couldn't see. To her, that was the pot calling the kettle black, but, surely they thought the same of her name too, when you had a white-kitten named Snowflake and a pink-bunny named Strawberry, having a name unrelated to your appearance probably seemed strange to them. Heck, the sheep was named Aura, and golden-furred.

\tThat left Lylie and the cow-girl. ``You're name is Lylie, you said,'' Cailey asked, looking at her.

\tThe goat-girl nodded. ``Yeah. Umm... I'm from Blue Moon. Uh, and um... I'm from Lasink Far Middle School, but, I don't remember you Strawberry.''

\t``I don't remember you either, but you look familiar,'' Strawberry said.

\t

\t``Who has seen or used magic before?'' Annabelle asked.

\tLylie raised her hand half-heartedly, but Strawberry's went straight up. Cailey stopped plucking, staring in shock.

\t``You can do magic?'' the kangaroo gasped.

\tStrawberry nodded. ``Yup.''

\t``Shoot,'' Annabelle sighed. ``That explains it. Typical... The ones with the worst memory-problems are those of us who have had contact with supernatural stuff before... Which is information we need.''

\t``Gee how convenient,'' Sai'Ryn spat.

\t``Okay, seriously, what the hell is your problem girl?'' Strawberry said.

\t``What's my problem?!'' Sai'Ryn growled. ``Have you seen where we are? My problem is that I'm here instead of in my bed, and my only resources to fix my problem... are you cunts. A bunch of idiotic, sniveling pussies who know nothing, say nothing, and aaare nothing.''

\tCailey'd had enough. ``Okay, pick your own damn splinters.''

\tBefore Cailey could process, Sai'Ryn grabbed her by the throat. Gasping, Cailey's mind froze. The wolf-girl growled, tightening her claws around Cailey's throat.

\tShe was fast. Cailey'd forgotten for one bad moment that this bitch wasn't some typical bully.

\t``You won't do anything, unless I tell you to.''

\t

\tCailey gargled, tears welling in her eyes, heart-hammering. Humiliation coursed through her, she... she'd gotten so good at standing up to bullies.

\tWhy does she have to take steps back now, when something remarkable, if terrifying, was happening in her life.

\t``Okay...'' Cailey whimpered.

\t``No, you tell me, `Whatever you say, Lady Sai'Ryn.' Do it.''

\tCailey clenched her eyes. No, not this... ``Whatever you say, L...''

\t``Say it.''

\t``Lady Sai'Ryn.''

\tThe demi-human let her go, and Cailey busily went back to plucking. She was almost done anyway, but she plucked them out as aggressively as she could. Sai'Ryn... didn't seem to care. A weaker bully would fuss... Cailey rushing it and failing to avoid hurting her bully, would just make a lesser bully lash out again.

\tCailey did not like how Sai'Ryn was willing to allow concessions, in exchange for growing dominance. This girl was possibly worse than a mere bully, she was possibly... dangerous.

\tThat alone made her take more care once she was plucking the last splinters from Sai'Ryn's ass. ``What about your feet,'' she asked, suddenly curious. ``You don't have shoes, hooves, or thick paws.''

\t``I'm fine,'' she grunted, admiring her own painted claws. ``You just focus on what you are doing. Oh, and, rabbit... You're next, if you have anything to say about my attitude, again. I don't care how magical you think you are. If you don't know what is going on, you don't matter.''

\tSai'Ryn turned to Annabelle. ``Alright foxy, how much do you know.''

\tAnnabelle hesitated. ``Not enough.''

\t``Are you going to question me then, now that we know you don't know more than I do, and, you're not the oldest, and, you don't have a fucking cock.''

\t``Why should that matter?'' asked Lylie.

\t``Don't make me show you why,'' Sai'Ryn grunted, cradling her dick between two fingers. ``You're tempting me enough just being dumb.''

\tEveryone's tensions were rising. The other girls were starting to fidget and breathe harder. Just one insult after the other, but, the horrible thing was, Sai'Ryn wasn't completely off the mark! The cock thing, sure, but, no one knew what was going on, only vague impressions of... other worlds. By the looks of it, Sai'Ryn might be two years older than Cailey was. She was strong, fast, and could take a solid hit to her body - bullies can't boast the same in Cailey's experience, they look for easy targets.

\tCailey needed to find a way to keep this from escalating. Ah, but, there was one last girl.

\t``Hey, um, you,'' Cailey asked, and the room's attention turned toward the final girl, the cow. ``What's your name. Where are you from?''

\t``Uhh...'' The cow hesitated, looking around at the other girls while wrapping her arms around her chest. Nearly-flat, being, perhaps, just out of pre-school, but the modesty was understandable when most everyone had some form of cover, asides from Sai'Ryn. A little grilled steak was on her panties... weird... And those weird markings!

\tThe cow opened her mouth to begin her story, but Sai'Ryn interrupted with a barking laugh. ``Oh my goddess, it just hit me what you are wearing. Holy shit girl!'' Cackling, Sai'Ryn rolled forward, clutching her stomach.

\tThe cow girl looked so embarrassed she could cry.

\t``Lots of us have been drawn on at slumber-parties,'' Strawberry, the rabbit, defended.

\t``Oh, not like that they don't,'' Sai'Ryn said. ``What's the matter meat-girl? Going to cry?''

\t``S-stop...'' the cow-girl whimpered.

\t``We're not meat!'' Snowflake hissed.

\t``You idiots, don't you recognize those markings?'' Sai'Ryn grinned at their ignorance. ``She's done up with butcher-lines, those lines mark where to cut. They show how big her steaks are.''

\t``That's... holy crap that's so mean! Who'd do that?'' Cailey looked at the cow-girl, a hand on her lips. Cailey had faced some awful bullying, but, this?! Wait...

\tCailey had tried to give the cow-girl her most sympathetic look, but somehow the cow-girl looked worse, and was crying. But her hurt look was... directed at Cailey for some reason.

\t``I'm... I'm sorry, did... did I say something wrong?''

\tThe cow-girl turned her face away, covering her face in her hands.

\tWhat could Cailey have possibly said? ``I'm sorry, listen... I've been bullied a lot too. I know how it feels. You trust people you think are your friends, and sometimes... sometimes they're not.''

\t``You're wasting your time,'' Sai'Ryn grunted. Cailey finished the last splinter, and Sai'Ryn somehow knew this, getting up off the chair the instant it was plucked. She sauntered over to the cow-girl.

\tOh no... Cailey followed. She'd lose the fight, but, she would not just let Sai'Ryn harm the cow-girl.

\t``A couple little cunts trying to play a prank couldn't have drawn that thing on you so professionally, especially while you're asleep. You would have had to let them, and they'd have to know what they were doing, this is professional.'' Sai'Ryn circled the cow-girl while she explained, and the... logic, behind it, gave Cailey pause. Especially, when the cow-girl almost seemed to calm down...

\tBut... why? No, no way... why would the cow-girl want to be drawn up like that? A... a costume? Right? She said she was from Earth, like Cailey, so, did she have Halloween? It was almost Halloween in Cailey's world...

\tCailey instantly regretted adding, `my world' to her lexicon. What kind of life had this become for her?

\t``You drew that, didn't you?'' Sai'Ryn laughed. ``Yeah, I have you figured out, meat-girl.''

\tThe cow-girl uncovered her face, holding her arms again. ``S-stop teasing me...''

\tSai'Ryn smirked, and ruffled her hair. ``Get a little more fat on your ass and we'll talk, Hamburger.'' Chuckling, Sai'Ryn returned to her stool and kicked her feet up on the counter.

\t

\tCailey looked at the cow-girl, sadly, curiously, but a bit weirded out too.

\t``Umm... I'm Melanie, I'm uh... training.''

\t``Training for what...'' Strawberry asked, eyes narrowing, looking like she'd be angry soon.

\t``I'm... a meat-girl?''

\tStrawberry reeled back. Aura and Snowflake covered their mouths, and Cailey? Just felt... stunned.

\t``Like, for real?'' Cailey asked.

\t``You're joking, she made that shit up, right?!'' Strawberry gawked.

\t``No! Stop, why does everyone act like I'm crazy?! Even Mom and Dad are like, `You've got your whole life ahead of you! We're not desperate, you don't need to sell your meat!' Why doesn't anyone understand how I feel?! I... why...'' She began sobbing again.

\tCailey stared slack-jaw. Did this girl want to be... eaten, or something? Cailey felt her breathing tense up, and her, well, loins... felt a little warmer.

\tNo, no no. `Cailey, you're growing up, you put that behind you... But, does she? Does she think about... that?'

\tStrawberry provided much needed distraction, but the results were poor. ``Girl are you saying people get fucking chopped up in your world?! Are you fucking kidding me?! That's MURDER!''

\tMost girls flinched, including Cailey!

\t``That's murder!'' Strawberry yelled. ``They're killing people! Who needs meat so bad they can't just... where are the ferals in your world, what the fuck is going on that your people eat other people?!''

\t``It's NOT MURDER!!'' Melanie screamed.

\tStrawberry gasped, standing back. ``I... but...''

\tCailey's heart began to hammer. That was a loud scream. Almost as if on cue, her fear mounted and she began to literally cry with fear. Melanie, the ... meat-girl, was crying. Strawberry was too.

\tWait...

\tCailey looked around. Every single one of them was crying. Annabelle was crying, but she looked almost calculating. And Sai'Ryn? With a chill, Cailey saw that she was crying as well, but was wiping her tears and examining them with curiosity, even surprise.

\t``What... the... is someone carrying an onion or something?'' She smirked. ``Or maybe it's meat-girl's pussy? What's the matter meat-girl? Can't keep it clean? No one's going to want to buy you if you don't wash your c - ``

\t``It's here...!'' Annabelle commanded, hunching her shoulders up. ``We need to hide, somethings here.''

\tEveryone shut up.

\tSai'Ryn mouthed, ``You can't be serious.'' Cailey started breathing harder, the fact Sai'Ryn even whispered that captured the gravity; Annabelle's surety had everyone's attention now.

\tBut she was not in charge, it dawned on them, slowly, that Annabelle wasn't about to lead them, or tell them what to do. ``What are you staring at me for? We need to hide!''

\t``Where, bitch?'' Sai'Ryn sneered, looking at the barrenness of the room.

\t``Just hide!''  Annabelle warned, wandering around now, looking.

\tHoly crap, there weren't a whole lot of places to look!

\tSai'Ryn barred her teeth and looked around. ``Don't anyone take the good spots. Wait... Yeah, I don't need to.''

\tShe walked over to the fishing pole, and took it down. ``Yeah, hide behind the shelf next to the door, and when they come near...'' She took an organized, rehearsed stance, and Cailey grimaced, remembering she almost fought this crazy chick. ``Heh!''

\tBefore anyone could argue, Sai'Ryn hid herself. Snowflake found a sliding panel in the clerk's counter, waving Melanie and Lylie to follow her inside. They barely fit. One of them farted with nervousness.

\t``That wasn't me!'' Cailey couldn't tell who, funnily.

\tCailey exchanged looks with Strawberry. Smiling with her buck-teeth, she tilted her head and stood on her toes. ``Least we know the bed works!''

\tShe darted for the bedrooms (so called liberally).

\tCailey opened her mouth to mention that might not work twice, and withheld. Little time, and another loud noise could...

\tShe closed her eyes, where the hell could she go?

\t`Oh fuck why am I thinking about Ocarina of Time at a time like this - ah!' The thought was barely out of her skull when she wondered if it would actually work. Like, Bugs Bunny herself around the thing using the merchandise shelves?

\tCailey noticed Annabelle hide behind one of the shelves. Apparently, they had the same idea.

\tWhat the hell... It was maybe a stupid idea, but... The ballsy-ness of it interested Cailey, maybe she could show Sai'Ryn up, get the trust of the other girls.

\tShe hid behind a shelf. There, that was everyone... WAIT!

\tCailey's ears perked up, her heart thundering as she realized two critical mistakes. Outside the boarded-up door, she heard it... The dull, voluminous, yet quiet, breathing. Some kind of pale white light shown briefly in the boards covering the door-window. It was the creature, she was certain. And the two problems?

\tShe'd forgotten Aura, and she looked for her, only to see that she'd hopped up onto a wall-shelf and laid herself in a corner, smiling vacantly, and titled to the side. She looked very convincingly like a stuffed-toy, but how stupid can you get?!

\tThe other was how stupid Sai'Ryn was about to get, what was the point of Zelda'ing around the shelves while the thing explores the shop, if Sai'Ryn gives them up from the start?

\tCailey inhaled, waving at Sai'Ryn. `No!' she mouthed. `No, don't do it!'

\tSai'Ryn wasn't watching Cailey's mouth. The wolf-girl had the fishing pole gripped firmly, Cailey wasn't sure she had the stance pegged but she was guessing something analogous to Kendo.

\tThe door-knob twisted. Cailey grimaced as she prepared for the worst.

\tThe door creaked open. The sound of large-volumes of air moving slowly, permeated the room. The light in the room almost seemed to turn grey, and slightly more blue. The warm, uncomfortable red and green tones of the room soon were turquoise and purple tinges mixed with grey. Silently, the shadow moved through the door-frame.

\tSai'Ryn mouthed, `What the FUCK!' and took a step back, her grip slackened on the fishing pole.

\tThe shadow was just over seven feet tall, and seemed to almost ooze, or perhaps emanated itself, through the door-frame. It did not walk, something about the way it moved seemed as if an optical illusion, like with the infinite-stairs illusion. Cailey, nerd that she was, was almost convinced this was a Harry Potter bona-fide Dementor. Eyes looking up, she expected to see the nothingness beneath the hood.

\tThere was a something that could be called a hood, yes... but it had a face. Or some kind of portal.

\tIt was almost pretty, and yet, Cailey felt the tears streaming down her face and an urge to vomit, and she couldn't stand looking any longer. She clutched her eyes and turned away in fear, hoping her tiny body would escape that thing's superior height, it can't see her over the shelf if she's up against it, right?

\tShe couldn't watch that thing, that face...! `Stop, stop, get it out of my head, get it out...!'

\tWhat was even the big deal? It was almost pretty... This little bizarre, collection of glinting stars, surrounded by a cold, gray, featureless nebula, what was scary about a diamond collection of some alien Pleiades system of colorless stars? That was astonishing! Its face was a bunch of stars!

\t`THEN WHY ARE THEY DEAD?!' her own mind screamed back! What was wrong with the stars!? They were dead! Cailey didn't know how, she couldn't place why, but those stars were wrong! The pattern of them, the light of them, it was dead!

\tTears dripped onto the floor, Cailey's heart raced, she couldn't stop making noise! She was going to get them all caught!

\t`Please, please, please... don't look at me with those stars...! They're dead!'

\tThe venting pillar of darkness drifted past the counter, and toward the bedrooms. Cailey heard the sound grow distant as it went down the hallway.

\tGasping, with as little sound as she could, Cailey opened her eyes. She was still crying... Was she really that scared?

\tShe looked over at Sai'Ryn. Face twisted up with... was that fear exactly? Had to be, but it was also something like disgust, or hatred... confusion? The wolf-girl shook her head back and forth. `Nope,' that's what that said.

\tShe slipped around the entry-shelf and `nope'd' right out the door.

\tOh that bitch.

\tCailey turned to look at Aura. She was still playing `dead,' although Aura was crying like the rest of them. Aura waited a moment longer, then sprung to life, hopping down and breaking for the door.

\tNot her too... Just then, Aura seemed to think the same thing, twisting around and looking at the others. She waved `Follow me!'

\tCrawling around the shelves, Cailey kept up, and shook her head. Gesturing for the counter, Cailey crept over.

\t`Oh!' Aura mouthed.

\tAnnabelle followed Cailey, her night-shirt damp with tears. She rapped her claw on the side-panel, shave-and-a-hair-cut.

\tThe girls inside rumbled, startled. Nothing else.

\t``It's Cailey.'' The kangaroo strained her voice, speaking so low. ``We gotta go.''

\tThe panel opened, and Lylie stuck her weeping head out. She nodded. She crept forward, wincing as her hooves clicked and creaked the board.

\tCailey wondered if she could do better herself... Yes. She could. Reaching forward, she hoisted Lylie up into her arms.

\t``Hey!'' Lylie whispered.

\tCailey wobbled, she wasn't that strong and Lylie was only four or five years younger than her, this was not easy! Adrenaline, do your thing...

\tSnowflake and Melanie crept out next. Melanie was smaller and younger than Lylie, but, not to be rude about it, she was a cow...

\tCailey glanced at Melanie's hooves as they clicked and creaked the boards. Melanie looked up with fear, and embarrassment.

\tAnnabelle, nibbling her knuckle, brow furrowed, crept forward. ``Snowflake, get her hooves.''

\tShe crept behind Melanie, who was pulling her lips back in a sneer of pain.

\t``I'm sorry,'' Annabelle said.

\tMelanie calmed down a little. Annabelle hitched her arms under Melanie's, getting ready to lift.

\tSnowflake got the idea and grabbed Melanie's shins. ``Eww,  do you wash your feet?''

\tAnd Melanie was upset again. ``Yes!'' she whispered, indignantly.

\tThe building shook.

\tTheir eyes widened. What the fuck was that!

\tThe girls, eyes wide yet crying, looked at each other with understanding. Just go!

\tThe girl's lifted Melanie, her face just terror. Taking light steps, the gang crept around the counter, Cailey hoping everyone had the same idea she did that, any sign of that... weird gray light, they drop the stealth act and just run fast and screaming.

\tThat doorway sure was taking its sweet time getting closer; Cailey felt like this was a full nightmare now, time seemed to stand still as they walked. They reached it, though, and looked out over a... momentarily paralyzing sight.

\tA guard-rail, and then... nothing. Nothing at all.

\tThe breathing intensified. Cailey turned to look back, seeing the grey-light approaching through the hallway junction.

\tThey gasped, and crept through the doorway, and to the right. Looking quickly, they saw that blood-vines were growing all over the shack, and great, person-sized arteries were descending down below. The left of the doorway ended at the guard-rail, but going left, and down steps of worn-wood festooned with blood-vines, was some kind of dock.

\tThe night-sky was absent of stars, or light, or anything.

\t`They stole them,' Cailey's mind accused. Cailey set Lylie down, and the other girls followed suit. Why? Instinct, really, but a future-Cailey might say that a large open space wouldn't echo like inside.

\tThey crept down the steps, looking behind with worry. They saw a faint, cold glow from the doorway, and from the boarded windows. They kept going. At the bottom of the steps was a door into the building's lower-floor, perhaps storage or another shop. Past the door, and around the corner, the girls came across...

\tThe Pier...

\tThey hesitated only a moment, to take it in. To their left, was the edge of the pier, over which one could watch an endless sea of nothing. They could smell the salt-water and hear it sloshing against the support-beams of the pier. They sensed that ocean, but they could not see it, no light caught on its waves. To their right stretched the pier's many shops and attractions.  Abandoned, scoured by sea-breeze, illuminated only by the blood-vines that grew across the whole fucking world like the Martian kudzu from War of the Worlds. Random detritus was strewn across the pier, looking like the whole place had been ransacked by a very lazy, half-hearted mob.

\tBut, lots of places to hide, a jack-pot for children hiders! They scattered, settling two at a time on random shops. Cailey hid beneath the counter for a water-shooting game, and found a knot-hole in the stand to peer out from.

\tIt looked quiet for a moment, until... The grey-light shown around the corner like a light-house.

\tCailey looked away, peeling away from the hole.

\tThe creature lingered, unmoving. Cailey couldn't count the thumps in her throat. Some clock it'd made - it felt like a century was passing. But the creature inevitably moved through the pier, the light shining from dark-corner to dark-corner, shining over their hiding-spots. It's `breath' washed over the shops and games, scentless, like air was merely caught on a breeze.

\tBut it was going up the pier, further, until it was gone.

\tReluctant, terrified girls came out of hiding spots, and they gathered near the stairs up to the shop. Cailey and the other girls started hugging, crying and whimpering.

\t``I peed myself,'' Snowflake cried.

\t``What was that thiiing?'' Melanie whimpered.

\t``It's gone now,'' said Annabelle. ``It's gone.''

\t``For now...'' Lylie whimpered, eyes clenched. ``Did... did you see - ``

\t``No, no one did,'' Cailey said, and flinched when she realized she'd just said that... She'd never suspected she'd say something so ignorant sounding. ``Sorry.''

\t``No, you don't want that symbol in your head, trust me, ignore it,'' Annabelle nodded. ``No one saw it. Forget you did.''

\t``W-why?'' Lylie whimpered. ``Am I dead?! Am I gonna die?''

\t``You'll be fine, but, forget what it looks like, try...''

\t``How do you...'' Cailey started, then shut her mouth. ``I'm not, questioning you, but...''

\tAnnabelle smiled. ``No, I get it. Umm, I can't tell you, I want to though. I can't remember why.''

\t``No, c'mon, if you know something...'' Cailey pleaded.

\tAnnabelle shook her head. ``It's more like... you know a fact you didn't live through yourself, like a historical fact, or an animal trivia thing, and you can't remember where you read it from. But it's worse than that, because I know I shouldn't know these things. I just... do.''

\tCailey blinked. No, that didn't really make sense, but, she caught the spirit of it at least. Sure, they'll just call it magical amnesia for now. It sounded like psychic mumbo-jumbo, though.

\t``I just know symbols can be dangerous,'' Annabelle said.

\t``That... was a symbol?'' Cailey cocked her head. ``O... Okaay?''

\tAnnabelle nodded, satisfied it seemed. ``Let's get Strawberry.''

\t``We should stick together, right?'' Cailey asked, looking up at the steps.

\t``Ugh, probably not, but, I don't see how we can use a look-out,'' said Annabelle. ``No, I think we're too scared for splitting up. C'mon, let's just do it quickly, and quietly.''

\t``Okay, quick, quick everyone,'' Cailey urged. Thankfully, the smaller girls cooperated. Aura, Melanie, Snowflake, and Lylie ran up the steps, Annabelle and Cailey following after. Cailey gave one more glance up the pier - nothing.

\tStep-by-step, Cailey watched the other girls ascend with her. After a moment, Cailey became self-aware that she was, uh, watching Melanie's near-naked, jiggling body. She was kind of curvy for a small girl. More than that, the, markings, took on a weird fascination with Cailey. With a snap of disgust, she realized the reason she'd been staring was how she was admiring them.

\tThey... came from the same world. Not every place has the same laws, but, what Melanie was planning on going through was not alien to Cailey, although, it was not exactly socially acceptable for Cailey's corner of the world. There was nothing illegal about knowing about it though, knowing a lot, knowing enough to occasionally scratch a dark curiosity. She'd not known about the butchering-lines, couldn't put two-and-two together on that, but she knew a lot more than other kids her age, who were not supposed to know about the... goings-on's in other parts of the world.

\tCailey gulped as they reached the top of the stairs, trying to burn the thoughts of Melanie on a chopping block, from her head.

\tThey crept through the shop. Annabelle stopped them at the hallway. ``Cailey, can you please check the rooms with me? You all stay here, make sure we can see you.''

\t``Why?'' Lylie asked.

\t``Uhh... I'll let you know in a moment, just hold still. Alright, Cailey, let's look. Hmm, this was her door, right?''

\tCailey wondered why Annabelle wanted only them to look, but, a bad idea occurred to Cailey, and she really hoped that wasn't a possibility.

\tAnnabelle opened the door, creaking it open. Cailey held her breath. `Please-be-no-dead-body-please-be-no-dead-body.'

\tNo dead body. Phew!

\t``Kale! Someone there?'' Strawberry poked her head out from the bed, looking up. ``Hey! Genius giiiirl, you're idea really worked!''

\tCailey and Annabelle dropped their jaws. Annabelle composed first and rubbed her eyes. ``Of all the dumb-luck.''

\t``Those things suck at looking!'' Strawberry said happily, skipping over. ``Hee hee hee! Way to go crew, we thwarted the monster!''

\t``Shh! Not so loud you freak!'' Annabelle warned. ``The only reason that thing left you alone was it heard us in the shop and followed us out to the pier.''

\tStrawberry nodded, nibbling her lower lip, mouth slightly open. ``Ahh... okay. Huh... How close is it still?''

\t``Out of sight, but, no idea asides from that,'' said Annabelle.

\t``It could be coming back right now,'' Cailey said.

\t

\tStrawberry nodded. ``Okay, let's not get caught again.''

\tThe other girls waved as the older girls rejoined them.

\t``Thanks for distracting that palooka!'' Strawberry cheered.

\tThe other girls smiled, embarrassed, pleased that what had seemed like some kind of blunder was somehow useful.

\t``What shook the building?'' Strawberry asked.

\t``Not sure, the creature, maybe?'' Annabelle asked. ``We're not sure what the hell it is, so, we don't know if it has... weird powers.''

\t``Let's hope it doesn't, please,'' said Strawberry. ``I don't think my own magic works here.''

\t``You have magic...!'' Cailey gasped, remembering. Oh, she was just dying to ask so many questions, but, the most important one was answered with a really disappointing `no.'

\t``Why not?'' asked Melanie, kindly, as if worried for Strawberry's well-being.

\tStrawberry shrugged. ``I don't know, I just, can't get it to work. I feel like something is... uh... suffocating it? It's hard to describe.''

\t``I feel that too,'' said Lylie.

\t``Oh? You have magic?'' Strawberry asked.

\tLylie glared. ``Strawberry, we go to the same school. I just don't remember who you are.''

\t``Wellll, I'm on the year-book team, and I am the queen of the bake-off team, and...''

\tLylie nodded, hard. ``Yeah, yeah! That... sounds familiar actually. Weird... I remember more about my Mom and Dad than the school though.''

\t``Me too,'' said Strawberry, wistfully.

\t``I can't quite remember what I do or don't know about magic too,'' said Annabelle. ``I know that... uh... Nng.'' She rubbed her head. ``Think think... Uh... yeah, reincarnation, is... one cause.''

\t``Reincarnation...'' Cailey mumbled. ``Like... not like we're dead, though, right?''

\t``Well...'' Annabelle mumbled. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. ``Uhh... You're not dead, I know that much. Uh, but, I guess we can't rule out that... one of us isn't here because they died.''

\tCailey's heart iced over. What...

\tDid she mean herself? Or... Sai'Ryn... Maybe she was so dangerous, she got herself killed. Maybe that's why she had no pelt?

\tOr maybe she meant Melanie... Or maybe she just meant that as wild conjecture.

\t``Hey, monster runnin' amok, let's not get caught up on this junk!'' Strawberry said. ``C'mon crew, off to this pier! To the unknown!''

\t

\t``Please take this seriously...'' Annabelle mumbled.

\t``I am!'' smiled Strawberry, walking past her with a... smooch on her nose! The fox blushed and winked away, while Strawberry walked out into the shop. The girls dismissed the saccharine act, following after her, and down to the pier.

\tSeven girls now walked down the empty Main-Street of the pier. Hard to tell how big it was, but it seemed to stretch on for a decent distance, toward one of those large mechanical rides where you hang from a gigantic swing-set on a carousel. This swing ride looked rusted over, and tilted. However, the pier seemed to fork off onto other perpendicular paths. Cailey imagined that the pier had multiple avenues and streets.

\tThe blood-vines were just everywhere. They grew in and out of abandoned hot-dog stands and cotton-candy machines. Melanie lingered on the massive barbeque grill standing dead and empty on the corner of the next avenue.

\tCailey sighed. Melanie looked sad, and forlorn, staring at the grill. Her hand caressed it.

\t``Come on, before Strawberry sees that,'' Cailey cautioned. ``We don't need another fight.''

\tMelanie nodded, following. The group continued on, watching everywhere for strange signs of anything. So far, everyone's faces were dry, no more tears.

\tCailey took notice, it seemed important. No sign of Sai'Ryn, either.

\t``Let's try this way,'' said Strawberry.

\t``What's that way?'' Lylie asked.

\t``Oh! Well, we're looking for Sai'Ryn, right?'' Strawberry asked, smiling.

\tThe other girls scoffed, shaking their heads or smiling with amusement.

\t``Uh, why would we?'' Annabelle asked.

\tStrawberry gasped. ``Kale! You scamps can't be serious! We can't just let her fend for herself out here! We have to find her! Where has she gone?''

\tCailey felt a guilty feeling inside her. She did not want to find Sai'Ryn, but, Strawberry was probably right, that it was the right thing to do. But, she did not like that bitch, and she worried about wasting time in the open on someone who could very well have been...

\tLet's politely call it caught. Cailey did not want to consider what imaginative what-then's follow...

\t``Ugh, geez, fine, but only a little while, we need to get our bearings anyway, maybe find a map.'' Annabelle pointed to the right. ``How about that way?''

\t``Fair enough.'' The bunny smiled and walked.

\tThe group hugged the right-hand side of the pier. The ocean extended out to their right, endlessly. Cailey mentally decided this direction was... south. The big swing-ride would make a good compass. The section of the pier that stuck out furthest into the ocean backed them up as they walked away from Main-Street. The left, the north-side of their street, fostered another monotonous collection of games, curio-stands, studios, over-priced services, and of course, food. No food, but, plenty of blood-kudzu, the pier's only source of light.

\tCailey took a moment to take a much deeper breath of the sea-air...

\tUgh, that was gross. ``Do you smell that coppery smell on the breeze?''

\t``Yeah,'' said Annabelle. ``I'm guessing the stuff inside the vines is what it looks like. It's not just for the aesthetic.''

\tBlood. A faint, ever-present smell of fresh blood was on the ocean. The blood pumping to and fro from the sea, was real. Cailey had hoped for a moment that the blood-kudzu was a misnomer, but the faint smell on the breeze confirmed otherwise.

\tCailey grunted, feeling her stomach, a bit empty and rumbling now. Well, even if it was Hawaiian Punch, she wondered if anyone but the goat-girl Lylie could chew through that shit. No kudzu for goat-girl, though, no food for anyone.

\tCailey watched Melanie walking again. The group silently listened for signs of activity among the stands, the girls rubbing their arms and tucking them inside their pajamas to stay warm. Melanie did not have anything... She was shivering.

\tCailey briefly imagined her, shivering in a freezer, asking when the barbeque was so she could get cooked up and warm. Why was she in the freezer? To keep her fresh of course!

\t`What's wrong with me,' Cailey thought to herself. This was ridiculous, why was this so fascinating to her? This wasn't the time!

\tBut she put her foot in her mouth when that mouth opened up, asking the stupid question. ``Why do... you want to be eaten?'' She asked it quietly, but, Strawberry's ears still perked up.

\tCailey grimaced, preparing for a fight, but, Strawberry kept quiet.

\tThey walked, Cailey glad that Melanie decided to not answer, but the cow had just been thinking... Soon, she answered, ``It's hard to explain. I just... I want to please someone, utterly, and I want to be a part of that... completely.''\t

\tGeez, a bit deep for a kid. Cailey hitched her breath, it was an, uncomfortably familiar feeling.

\t``Hmm... Kind of like, giving yourself over to someone completely?'' Cailey asked. She scratched her neck.

\tAnnabelle and Snowflake looked at Cailey with... strangely sympathetic looks. Melanie, especially, but, she shook her head!

\t``No, not... not exactly. That's close. I prob'bly can't explain it. But, I love watching people eat food, and when I see them licking their lips and... chewing, and talking about how tasty it is, I just... look at my thigh and... And I wonder if they were eating a hamburger or ribs that came from me... And then I can't stop thinking about it. And... uh... I've been to... a barbeque too. A big one.''

\tOh... Cailey figured quickly what that meant.

\tStrawberry shot them a horrified look. ``Hey, not to pee on your parade, but, maybe we shouldn't be scaring the littler kids, huh?''

\t``Scary?'' asked Snowflake. ``Yeah, I guess if you're on the grill, but, wait... is that not normal in Lasink Far?''

\t``HELLL noo it isn't!'' Strawberry gasped. ``Woah, your world too?''

\tSnowflake nodded.

\t``Don't worry, I was surprised too,'' giggled Aura. ``I don't remember how I got there, but, I moved from Lasink Far to Pinwheel.''

\t``Wait, how?!'' Snowflake gasped. ``I mean, how do you move to another world?''

\tAura giggled and shrugged. ``I was looking for my beeest friend Phobe!''

\tAnnabelle rubbed her chin. ``I think the word is... what was it... Metem... Metem-something. You can... move... You can move through worlds... by... reincarnation aaand... and something else. Metem... Metempsychosis!''

\tCailey tilted her head. She was book-smart, but, what the hell word was that? Okay, psychosis, psyche, so, something to do with the mind, or, in the old greek, something to do with souls?

\t``What's that mean?''

\t``Something about moving through worlds, but I don't know what it means exactly,'' said Annabelle. ``Or how to do it. I wanna say... that it isn't easy. Reincarnation is the easier one, for obvious reasons.''

\t``Please don't tell me this is purgatory,'' whimpered Lylie.

\t``I wish I was home...'' Melanie whimpered. ``I... I can't live here...''

\tStrawberry glared at her. ``No offense but, it sounds like you can't live at home, either. Someone's seriously going to eat you one day? What if... what if there's a way for me to take you to Lasink Far instead? We don't eat each other there.''

\tMelanie gave Strawberry a jealous look, and backed away. ``There's nothing wrong with being a meat-girl!''

\tStrawberry opened her mouth, frowned, and closed it. She turned her head away and walked faster.

\tThey grew silent again. Cailey's curiosity wasn't sated. ``Melanie?''

\t``Yeah?''

\t``Do people, um... sometimes eat, uh, without... cooking?''

\t``Oh... umm, yeah? If they're big enough, I mean, but... if you become a meat-girl, you can please more than one person... You could... nnf, feed an entire... an entire party.''

\tShe suckled her finger. ``A nice, grown-up girl, who ate the right foods, had plenty of exercise...''

\tLylie glanced at them this time. ``Hey, I don't want to be rude, but, this is sounding kind of lewd all of a sudden.''

\t``Oh sure, you draw the line at lewd but not at people chopping each other up,'' Strawberry scoffed.

\t``Strawberry!'' the goat reproached.

\tStrawberry held up her hands. ``I'm done, I'm done, swearsies! It's just... weird, is all. It's weird without the lewd part, but yeah, language, what about... Snowball?''

\t``Snowflake! And I know more about the cooking thing than you do! You're the only one from a world that doesn't have that!''

\t``Well, and me, but,'' Lylie said, rubbing her shoulders. ``Um... Leeet's just focus on finding out where we are and how to leave.''

\t``Yeah, exactly!'' Strawberry cheered. ``Tally-ho!''

\t``You'd make a good meat-girl,'' Melanie smiled at Cailey. Cailey stopped walking, stunned. Melanie looked at her, her steel-gray eyes curious, concerned. ``Umm... was that rude?''

\tCailey knew she should say it was, or at least, macabre? ``No, it wasn't,'' Cailey laughed. ``Hmm...''

\tShe walked with them. ``I've... Uh... I like... I like dragons.''

\t``Oh...!'' Melanie said, smiling. ``Yeah, I can... see that.''

\tYeah, they were on the same wave-length. Cailey felt her loins tingle a moment. Ugh, she wished she could just, sit down and talk about it for a while, even though Melanie was like, half her age? But, she got it. That was something.

\tWhat about these other girls though?

\t``YEEEAAAARRRGH!!!''

\tThe girls practically screamed when the cry echoed out across the pier. It could have been Sai'Ryn's voice, Cailey didn't catch it that well.

\t``That was... somewhere up ahead, hurry!'' Strawberry urged, running.

\t``Wait, wait, should we really run toward that?'' Snowflake mewled. The girls chased, but slower as Snowflake reminded them that the last loud sound had dragged the creature toward them.

\t``The Tootie-Fruity Cuties don't leave someone in distress!'' Strawberry cheered. Cailey was on the verge of... questioning... when Lylie surprisingly cheered too. ``Yeah, we never let someone down! Wait... You're a Cutie too?''

\t``Ahh! Yeah, we're in the same clubs and stuff!'' Strawberry squealed. ``Oh!! Lylie, if you're a Cutie, then, we must be like, friends right?''

\t``Yeah! Uh... wait, who else was in our secret-club?''

\t``Focus, we'll get our memories back later,'' Annabelle urged.

\tThe pier hit another fork. They could continue along the southern edge, or head north along the left-path.

\t``This way, it sounded like...'' Strawberry lead them north up the left-path.

\tThis way was even more ramshackle. The street was narrower, but had less shops, less hiding spots. Empty plots or collapsed venues dotted the path, still more were held-upright, but torn apart inside or their equipment thrown to the side. Cailey wondered briefly, what kind of history could have taken place here, wherever this was.

\tThey were coming on another fork, a 4-way junction, and discussing where to go next, when they saw Sai'Ryn run into their field of view, and apparently she'd traded out the fishing-pole for a machete.

\tShe looked around for where to go, and spotted the gaggle of girls.

\tA mixture of relief and anger formed on her face, and she ran after them. ``There you fucks are! What kept you?! Why'd you abandon me you cunts?! Fuck you! I should rape every single one of you and leave you for THAT THING!''

\tCailey almost asked what thing, when the answer galloped into view.

\tRunning on four legs that had two-too many joints to be practical, on feet that looked like a revolting hybridization of paws, hooves and teeth, had come a great, hulking beast. Wiry, smoking, burnt fur covered the body, a body shaped like that of a wild, feral boar. The skull was almost a wolf's skull, with a long set of jowls full of fangs and tearing-teeth. But where the eyes should be?

\tA giant freaking hole leading into another star-cluster, initially as pretty as any Hubble Telescope image, but then came this weird feeling of recognition, realization, or perhaps epiphany. The star-cluster meant something, something incomprehensible, some stellar mad-chatter and jabbering resonating out of that constellation. More than just the shape, those dull, mustard yellow stars had an ephemeral wrongness that upset Cailey. It should just be a pretty batch of stars, but it was like looking at a dead body...! Those stars... were dead.

\tThe constellation in the dog's face looked something like the rough silhouette of a nerve-cell's soma, and then a pitcher of water. Cailey couldn't re-create it in drawings if she'd dared, there was something so exact and specific about the arrangement, even one star out of place and it wouldn't feel so awful!

\tThe beast over-shot the center of the intersection. It stumbled to a stop, its hooves chopping through some of the blood-kudzu, and soaking its smoking fur in glowing scarlet. The thick, coppery smell of blood poured into the air.

\tThe girls shrieked with horror, and then the beast turned its head toward them, its yellow-light glinting in their eyes.

\t``AAAARRGH!'' Cailey screamed, clutching her head. A sharp-stabbing pain and ringing tore into her skull, like a high-pitched broken radio. It dampened as soon as she stopped looking directly at it.

\tThe creature elicited a warbling howl, and it sounded strangely far off, as if the beast was miles away, instead of a mere sixty-some-feet.

\tSai'Ryn was still running as fast as she could, her teen breasts shocking with every footstep. For once her dick wasn't standing proud.

\t``GET OUT OF MY WAY!!'' she yelled, running at them. The beast rolled its shoulders forward and started to gallop.

\tThe girls screamed and turned-heel, fleeing. Cailey felt her eyes watering again, making it harder to run without tripping. Cailey's kangaroo-hopping made the rough-terrain manageable, but the other girls were tripping, and losing ground.

\t``Aaaack!''

\tCailey turned her head, witnessing Snowflake stumble on a raised vine, falling away from the group. Cailey slowed, reaching to grab her hand.

\t``I SAID MAKE WAY!'' Sai'Ryn, catching up to them, pushed Snowflake aside with her hips, and ran past. Snowflake fell to the ground, causing Cailey to stop, staring in shock.

\t`SAI'RYN!' her mind screamed, teeth barred with tension and shock. Cailey acted without further deliberation, running back to heave Snowflake to her feet. ``C'mon, run!''

\tSnowflake, crying, ran with Cailey. The kangaroo looked back as they ran, witnessing a constellation of dead, yellow stars rushing toward them.

\tThey'd lost too much ground.

\tCailey looked forward for any sign of help, any sign of hope. Everyone else was running ahead. They were alone! Cailey could feel the creature's light on her back, decaying the surrounding ambient red-glow of the blood-kudzu. The immediate area turned a dusty mix of grey and mustard-yellow. Shadows lengthened under its gaze, adding stark contrast to the stands and the heaping ancient trash-can next to the closest food-stall.

\tCailey's eyes fixed on it. Growling she pulled Snowflake toward it and, twisting her grip, practically threw Snowflake off to the side of the trash-can.

\t``Eaaaak!'' Snowflake twisted and stumbled back, shock and confusion on her face.

\tCailey grabbed the trash can, and turned toward the creature. She twisted her face in disgust and terror - the creature was full-speed and mere feet away.

\tGrunting, Cailey pushed the trash-can toward the creature and twisted herself out of the way. The monster crashed into the rubbish, causing it to crash into the food-stand as well. The boards of the stand crunched, and it slammed into a derelict cotton-candy maker, which shattered in a plume of parts and rust. The creature kicked and snarled, trying to find purchase on the ground and upright itself.

\tCailey looked at Snowflake, the cat was clutching her burning chest, panting. Cailey reached her hand out - Snowflake took it.

\t``Sorry,'' Cailey said. ``Could have warned you.''

\tSnowflake didn't say anything, but followed Cailey as they started running the opposite direction - the direction the creature came from. Suddenly, she realized the rest of the girls were running south, and she wondered if her split-decision to head this way was a smart decision.

\tShe didn't have time to change that now, she had to commit to putting distance between her and the creature! She heard it howl, and the splintering of wood. She chanced a look over her shoulder. The creature crawled out of the wreckage of the cotton-candy stand, shaking its ethereal head. It galloped off south - after the other girls.

\t`Crap.'

\tSnowflake whimpered as they ran. Both girls felt their eyes drying once the creature was further away; strangely, the bodily shock of fear was setting in more. Cailey didn't think their crying had to do with sheer terror, it was almost like a symptom...

\tThe junction again. Cailey did some quick planning... If the group went to their left, Cailey cannot catch up. Would the group run to their right at the South-end of the pier, and towards the turn for the fishing-supply store?

\tCailey took Snowflake west. Without immediate danger, the little kitty-cat started dragging her feet. ``C'mon Snowflake, don't give up now, we can't stop yet!''

\t``My chest hurts!'' she whimpered.

\t``I know... mine too, c'mon!''

\tThe cat winced as Cailey dragged her along. ``I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you, but we gotta keep going!''

\tNeither of them could sprint any longer, but they ran as fast as they could for the next junction. Cailey looked at the swing-ride at the north end of the pier, and looked at her left for south. Yes, this way! The shop they started in was just down this way - and if the gang went this way too, they'll see them. Cailey ran for the South Main-Street junction, watching and hoping to see the other girls.

\tYes! She saw Sai'Ryn run into view, just noticeable in the gloom of the blood-kudzu. The other girls followed behind. Sai'Ryn seemed to pause, thinking where to go, and ran up Main-Street. The other girls ran into view, and followed after. Cailey waved, signaling herself to the fleeing group. Far away, covered in shadow, it was hard to tell if they'd noticed her.

\tShe hopped up and down, waving, to make sure. One of the girls waved back. Good, but now what? Cailey looked down the other avenues, for anything useful, or a place to hide. Could the creature smell them, find them that way? In her shocked mind, she couldn't remember much about a nose on the monster's muzzle, but the canine skull made her anxious about being sniffed out.

\tBut what about climbing high up? It only had hoofed-legs... Cailey looked over the nearby stands and shops - they'd need a sturdy, tall one, with plenty of kudzu to climb... Ah!

\tUp the avenue heading west, Cailey saw a solid looking restaurant-building, with enough space for its kitchen and pseudo-outdoor dining area, open-faced to the sea. One of the structure's walls was dense with blood-ivy.

\t`What if the creature leads the tall-ones to us?' But Cailey's mind couldn't see any other options.

\t``Snowflake, look over there, see that building?''

\tSnowflake trembled, peering down the road. ``Oh, there! Y-yeah.''

\t``We're going to run and climb up to the roof. Get ready, I need to make sure the others see me, they need to know what to do.''

\tSnowflake gulped.

\tCailey turned back toward the sea, as the howl of the creature reached her ears. The search-light glare of the creature's face appeared around the far junction. It looked up and down the street, and spotted the girls. It gave chase.

\t``Oh... Oh fuck, no!''

\t``What is it?'' Snowflake asked.

\t``Snow, go climb up the restaurant, I'll be right there... you can do it.''

\tSnowflake shook her head, grimacing. ``No way! I'll f-fall! I can't climb that high! It's too tall!''

\t``Snow you're a cat, you can do it! Now run, I'm right behind you!''

\tSnowflake teared up, stomping her foot, but turned and ran for the restaurant.

\tCailey turned her face back toward main-street, face twisting up in fear and anticipation... She didn't want Snowflake to see this.

\tAs soon as Cailey had seen the monster giving chase, she'd realized that the monster will catch up to the girls before they can catch up to Cailey. They couldn't out-run it in a foot-race.

\t``C'mon, think of something, think of something!'' she whimpered, half asking herself, half asking them. ``C'mon, trip it, slow it down, it's going to catch you!''

\tHalf-way up the street, Cailey could hear the girls yelling. Their terror mounted as the beast closed in. Exhausted, lactic acid stiffening their muscles, breathless, and tripping over vines, the girls were about to be run-down. Sai'Ryn turned her terrified face over her shoulder, watching as the creature gained on them!

\tSai'Ryn's face furrowed, and Cailey recognized that determined look when she'd butted Snowflake out of the way. Cailey gasped, the words `Watch out!' trapped in her throat, mind-malfunctioning at the sheer horror at what she'd understood of Sai'Ryn's intentions!

\t``HEY RABBIT!'' Sai'Ryn yelled.

\tThe terrified Strawberry looked, nearing Sai'Ryn.

\t``You think people preying on each other is murder?!''

\tConfusion spread on the rabbit's face, before it was replaced with a wide-eyed look of terror, as Sai'Ryn suddenly stopped and grabbed Strawberry mid-run. The other girls were too scared to stop, but they saw, and slowed, watching.

\t`Oh God...!' Cailey wished the other girls would look away.

\t``No, this is murder!'' Sai'ryn barked, and threw Strawberry into the creature's path. Sai'Ryn turned, face twisted up in a look of disgust, a sort of `serves you right!', but also horror and shock. Sai'ryn hesitated, but began to run.

\tStrawberry rolled, settling on her side. She leaned up onto her arm, reaching out toward the others, a gaping look of betrayal on her face. Tears flooded her eyes as luminous dead-stars glittered behind her.

\t``STRAWWBERRYYY!!'' Lylie stopped, gripping her hair. The other girls stumbled, stopping for a brief moment, before turning to look away and fleeing. Sai'Ryn overtook the group again, running ahead.

\tThe creature's mouth yawned; it scooped Strawberry up by the stomach, jerked right, and swung left, pelting Strawberry into the side of a game-stand. She cried out, the boards splintered at the force of the collision. Cailey's head hurt imagining the pain.

\tDazed, Strawberry struggled to lift her head up, watching as the creature ran at her. The yawning maw caught her feet, shoveling her shins into its throat. Strawberry shook her head, trying to deny the reality.

\t``No! No!''

\tThe rabbit beat her fists on the creature's muzzle, the rasping tongue cupping her butt and pulling her in, bulging its cheeks with hers. She slammed her fists onto it, until she struck too close to the ethereal portal to the astral-graveyard that was its eyes. The fist retracted, smoking as if burned. Strawberry cried out, clutching her shaking, burned hand.

\tCailey could almost hear the swallow. Strawberry slipped deeper into the creature, her ass bulging in its boar-chest, her torso in the creature's maw. If it snapped its jaws, she'd be decapitated!

\t``STRAWBERRY!!'' Lylie wailed, stepping away from the scene, but unable to look away.

\t``Help! I want my bed! Momma! Mommaaa! Oh kale!''

\tThe creature threw back its head, wolfing her down in a final swallow.

\tLylie screamed, falling onto the ground in disbelief.

\tEveryone else continued to run.

\tCailey's face twitched, at once disgusted and fascinated. She felt her panties become humid as she watched the bulge settling in the creature's abdomen, twisting, squirming... The kangaroo daydreamed about what it must have looked like for Strawberry, what did she feel? Was the tongue slippery? Was the flesh warm? She hated how scared Strawberry looked, Cailey could almost imagine the beast taking its time on Cailey, slipping her inside its maw with an almost gentle touch, knowing that Cailey had surrendered.

\tIt could all be over if she surrenders... squirming in that stomach... no more terror, a place to go back to sleep.

\tCailey shook her head, horrified with herself. Her new friend was either dead or about to suffer indescribably, what was wrong with her? Oh, poor Strawberry...

\tAs if to confirm some bizarre, awful thing was happening in that gut, the creature panted and retched, as if undergoing some mild choking, or indigestion. It belched a bright jet of sparkling light, which diffused into a glowing mustard-cloud, before subliming into black smoke. A faint yellow glow irradiated the section of planks the creature had belched on. Its stomach was pulsing, squeezing, and then shrank until the creature looked like it was starving - no sign of its occupant.

\tCailey's stomach tightened in disgust, while her legs tightened with her dark curiosity.

\tThe girls were coming on Cailey. She looked at Lylie, far behind them, huddled on the ground, helpless. The creature was trotting toward her, sniffing. The small girl she'd helped out of that very first room...

\t``Run Lylie! Hide, just do something!'' Cailey yelled. Lylie shivered on the ground, the creature bounded toward her and leaned its maw down toward her head.

\tCailey wrenched her face away. She looked toward the ivy-walled restaurant. Snowflake was almost to the top. Cailey pointed, looking at the fleeing girls, and waving with her arm for them to follow her.

\t``Quick! Quick!'' Cailey ran for the restaurant, slowly at first, making sure the girls followed her. They slowly steered toward her - thank goodness.

\tCailey let them get a bit closer, and she turned to look at the creature. It was licking the planks, Lylie was missing, and must have left something the creature was licking up off the ground. Its stomach was bulged, but shrinking already.

\tTwo down...

\tCailey's head swam, nausea threatened to kick out her feet. Stumbling, she ran for the restaurant. Nightmare-time turned on again, the far wall grew closer at a snail's pace, and her mouth filled with spit as she felt like she'd vomit at any moment.

\tShe slammed against the ivy, unable to slow. Her budding breasts stung, striking into the pseudo-glass vines. Their texture was alien, it felt like glass until you squeezed it, the longer you held, the more the feeling turned to a wet-feeling rubber. Getting a grip was possible, but you could slip if you didn't maintain your tightest grip.

\tCailey slowly ascended, getting better at it as she went. Sai'Ryn reached the wall first, and slipped on her first try. She struggled to get a firm grip and find good catches for her feet, more than that, she refused to let go of her machete. She tried carrying it in her jaw, before deciding against it as it slipped from her teeth. Eventually, she started climbing one-handed, and it was slow work.

\tThe other girls reached the wall, and started climbing. ``Grab hard!'' Cailey called to them, ascending higher. She was almost there!

\tThe other girls grabbed the vines, hard, and started up the wall. All except Aura - Cailey looked, and saw that she couldn't grab at all - her hands were small, and hoof-like, mostly just cloven-hooves for claws and palms. She looked up with horror, before looking around for some other way up.

\t``Oh no, no!'' Cailey moaned. Did she just get a friend of hers killed? Why hadn't she considered this might happen?!

\tAura snapped her fingers. The sheep-girl stood against the wall, faced the next stand, and ran. Parkour like, or, uncomfortably like a toon for Cailey's tastes, Aura lept off the wall and literally wall-jumped up to the roof of the adjacent stand, and then lept clean over to the roof of the restaurant.

\t``Whoo!'' cheered Melanie. ``Wow! So cool!''

\tCailey sighed with relief.

\tSai'Ryn looked livid. She growled, and dropped her machete onto the ground. ``HEY AURA! Get that for me, will ya? While you're showing off and all, yeah, help some of us out! Chop-chop lamb-chop!''

\t``Don't listen to her!'' groaned Cailey, but the kangaroo yelped as Aura actually hopped back down to the other roof, and slid down to the alleyway. ``Aura! No, forget it!''

\tAura lifted the Machete. It was a big heavy for her, being so small.

\tThe creature's howl reverbed in the stands. Cailey heard hooves. She couldn't turn enough to see the monster, but it had to be close.

\t``AURA LEAVE IT!!'' Cailey screamed.

\t``Don't you dare!'' Sai'Ryn yelled, climbing faster now, unburdened by her weapon.

\tCailey scrambled over the top of the roof, joining Snowflake. For a white-kitten, she sure was pale - she trembled with terror. ``Why'd Aura go? Is she okay?''

\tCailey turned over the edge and reached down, grabbing Annabelle's hand, and helping her up. Cailey saw Aura take a run at the wall, but the added weight confused her, and she slid down the wall, gouging the old-wood with her hoof.

\t``Aaah!'' she coughed. The blade dug into her stomach - and thank goodness her wool-pelt was as thick as it was. She stumbled to her feet, and backed up for another try.

\tAnnabelle crawled over the edge. Melanie was struggling, her hooves fumbled on the glassy vines, but at least she had hands. Sai'Ryn wasn't far behind, catching up now that she could use both hands.

\tAura gritted her teeth. ``C'mon... c'mon...''

\t``No Aura!'' Cailey cried. Her peripheral caught the glinting of light, and she saw the creature barreling down on Aura.

\tThe sheep bent her legs... and ran. The creature slammed into the wall, bouncing off of it and stumbling away, just as Aura leapt for the next-wall. Hop, hop, hop, Aura grunted as she leapt from the alleyway, to the lower-roof, and then onto the restaurant.

\tCailey held her breath, letting out a gasp after the delay. ``That... that was unbelievable...''

\tThe shockwave to the wall knocked Melanie off her hooves. Dangling from her arms, she struggled to find footing. ``Help, help! I'm slipping!''

\t``Let me see that,'' Annabelle said. Cailey looked, and discounted it - the machete wouldn't be helpful. She looked around for anything useful, wishing for rope... Naturally, there was nothing.

\tCailey blinked, something occurring to her. She lept over the edge and back onto the ivy, dangling her tail down.

\t``Melanie! Grab!''

\t``What?!'' she shrieked. She shook her head. ``I can't!''

\t``Try!''

\tCailey lowered herself. ``Oh crap...'' Her eyes darted toward the creature. It bounded beneath Melanie and jumped onto its hind-legs, scraping at the wall. It leapt up, snapping its jaws at her ankles.

\tMelanie screamed, tears pouring over the sides of her face while her knuckles turned red with strain. She screamed over and over.

\t``Please Melanie just grab my tail!''

\t``Nnnragh!'' The weeping cow swung to the left, catching her arm around Cailey's tail. Cailey tilted her head back and gasped, a sharp pain running up her spine and into her skull.

\t`Oh FUCK THAT HURTS!' Cailey panted, blinking the tears from her eyes, her lips pulled back in a sneer of agony. She felt Melanie wrap her other arm around the kangaroo's tail. Growling, Cailey climbed...

\t``Hey!! What the - no, no NO NO!''

\tCailey turned, what was that commotion?

\tAnnabelle was leaning over Sai'Ryn, who was hardly-a-foot from the top, holding the machete. The blade was against the wall, poised against the blood-kudzu. Sai'Ryn screamed, rage and determination on her face, she reached up for Annabelle's arms.

\tAnnabelle yelled as she swiped the blade as hard as she could across the vines!

\tBlood, luminescent but reeking with authenticity, showered over Sai'Ryn. The vines weakened, slackening. Blood soaked into Sai'Ryn's hands, and she slipped, falling into the alleyway.

\tBlood spurted up onto Annabelle, staining her pajamas and sticking to her hair and neck. Her arms dripped with it. She pulled the machete back onto the roof and dropped it. Annabelle fell onto her knees, head leaning over the edge.

\t``I...''

\t``You BITCH! YOU FUCKING BIIITCH!''

\tAnnabelle winced, growling. ``I had to! You're killing us!''

\tThe creature abandoned Melanie and hunched itself, ready to leap upon Sai'Ryn. Growling, Sai'Ryn scrambled to her feet, and ran down the alleyway toward the guard-rail.

\t``Help me!'' Cailey called, struggling to pull herself up over the edge. Snowflake and Aura ran for her, eyes trembling.

\t``She didn't, she didn't!'' Aura cried. ``I didn't want, I didn't - ``

\t``It's okay,'' Cailey sighed, and grunted as she was pulled over the edge. The two younger girls reached down to help pull Melanie up. They all tumbled onto the roof, panting, Cailey's tail felt like a second-heart was beating inside it, raging with pain. Did she break something?

\tGasping, the girls looked at Annabelle, who was huddling herself and pressing her back against the roof's edge. She rocked back and forth. ``Sorry, sorry, sorry... I had to... She's too dangerous...''

\tCailey gulped, nearing sickness. She pulled herself up, and looked into the alleyway.

\tSai'Ryn got to the end of the alley-way, before the creature took off like an out-of-control wagon. Sai'Ryn turned, sneering, caught in the creature's glow like a deer in the headlights!

\tCailey's breath stopped. Goodbye sweet-bitch.

\t``FUCK. OOOOFF!!''

\t``No...'' The disbelief barely escaped Cailey's lips as she watched Sai'Ryn hop up, and kick off the support-post of the guard-rail. The creature snapped, but Sai'Ryn propelled herself over, and she did a hand-spring off its back, and fly off into the alleyway. She failed to stick the landing, crumbling onto her knees and falling to her side, skin catching freshly freed wood from the ancient planks. That could be it for her, if the creature hadn't slammed into the guard-rail - and threw it.

\tThe creature howled as it plummeted over the side, and out of sight. Ker-sploosh.

\tThey could hear splashing, and an occasional moan from the water. Steam (could dead stars be extinquished?) started to rise from the side of the pier... Was it drowning? Even if it wasn't, it seemed that they were saved.

\tSai'Ryn rose to her feet with a stomp. Uh oh.

\tShe looked up at them, face soaked with blood. She smeared it off with her wrist, and barred her teeth. ``You're welcome, for saving your asses! Oh, smart idea, throwing me to that freak! I'm going to come up there and return the favor fox-cunt! You hear me? Lube yourself up, I'm going to kill you, you fucking little stain!''

\tCailey reeled away as Sai'Ryn stomped toward the ivy-wall.

\t``Oh fucking hell, it doesn't stop!'' Cailey whimpered. What was worse? Sai'Ryn just beat that thing!! What the hell was she going to do?!

\tThat's when the color went out. Cailey blinked, eyes confused by the change, but her mind too distracted to recognize the transformation. It soaked in, once Cailey's eyes watered as if she was standing in front of a shower. The whole world seemed to go gray and hazy, and diffuse light shown from the avenues. Particularly from Main-Street, a knot of pale colored flood-lights stained the graying world. Accompanying was a tremendous cacophony of heavy, distant venting.

\t``Let me up, let - `` Sai'Ryn climbed a short distance, before she stopped with a gasp. Cailey huddled against the roof. The other girls followed suit, hiding against the edges of the roof ledges. But she could hear that one of the others had found the alleyway.

\t``Ah shit!'' Sai'Ryn dropped audibly to the ground, and they heard her feet slam against the planks as she ran toward the broken fence. She ran around the back of the restaurant. The looming presence below them followed after Sai'Ryn, circling from the street and following Sai'Ryn. They heard her running west, and away, but before the creature following could get far enough for comfort, two more glowing presences moved down the avenue from Main-Street. And then another...

\tThe girls all clutched their mouths, trying not to breathe. Let the things do the breathing for them... The night-air was loud with the sound of the dead-star figures. Their movements soon made it obvious that they were searching.

\tCailey, slowly, leaned up to poke her eyes over the roof's ledge, trying to look over the pier with as little obtrusiveness as possible. It was enough to see that the glowing areas with the densest knots of... them, were at the places the girls had run or stopped for any length of time. Strangely, the restaurant only had a couple glowing presences milling about, but over by where Strawberry and Lylie -

\tCailey ducked back down, nauseated. She gulped, trying to hold it in... Calm down girl... Calm down...

\tThe creatures kept the girls company for what might have been an hour. The girls shivered, arms sore from lying on their sides too long on this uncomfortable roof. They cried, wheter from stress or the unnatural presences around them did not matter anymore, they cried on. Cailey felt her thirst growing as an unsatisfying calmness settled in her chest.

\tThe girls had all crawled together, holding each other for warmth, while Cailey took the occasional time to spy on the others.

\tThe others seemed to still be hovering around where Strawberry... fell down. There did not seem to be any lights out on the eastern side of the pier... Strange, shouldn't they be looking everywhere? But it did creep Cailey out that the creatures not only seem fixated on where they'd been, but knew where they'd been running to begin with.

\tThe girls stayed in hiding, and Cailey mulled it over in her head... How had the first one found them? Why was there only one, that time, and now an army of them now? They were at once perceptive, yet, bad at finding the girls.

\tCailey furrowed her brow, thinking... Melanie had been screaming, in the shop... and then a creature came. Melanie had been too loud... right? But then it heard them again, when it was searching for Strawberry. All Melanie had done was step on the floor, and the creak was enough to attract the creature. Right? But its hearing wasn't so good as to hear their panicked breaths, their panicked heartbeats, and they've surely made more noise than just that.

\t``Does... does anyone have something to throw?'' Cailey whispered.

\tAnnabelle and the others looked at her with shock. ``Are you crazy? Why?''

\tCailey nibbled her lip. ``Hmm... I... uh, play a lot of D&D, and uh... You know it?''

\tAnnabelle, surprising Cailey, actually nodded. ``Yeah.''

\tCailey hesitated, but smiled. ``So, my Dungeon Master likes to trick us, her monsters aren't as straight forward as they look. Uhm... I think these things are deaf.''

\tAnnabelle tilted her head. Snowflake shook hers. ``Nuh uh, they heard Melanie.''

\tMelanie blushed. She was curled up in Annabelle's warm tail, but she was still shivering. ``I'm sorry,'' she said.

\t``I'm serious,'' Cailey whispered. ``There's something else going on.

\tAnnabelle touched her fingers to her face, blinking. ``Yeah... Yeah, something is a little weird about their sense of hearing. Well, we could throw the machete.''

\tCailey nodded, but then hesitated. ``No... no, better not. No you're right, I can't risk it... Besides, we might need it.''

\t``We're not going to have to fight those things?'' Aura whimpered.

\tCailey shook her head. ``No, but, it is good to have something to cut through those... vines. What if we need to get into one of these buildings? We need to find water... and a map.''

\tAnnabelle sighed. ``Gods, I want a bacon cheeseburger...''

\tCailey snickered. ``Vegetarian, but yeah, I'm starving.''

\tHer mind drifted, thinking of the yellow-eyed beast. Nausea swirled in her, but, with nothing better to do but wait, her mind drifted perilously close to reliving that grotesque moment.

\tShe closed her eyes and tried to picture a large, wise scaled face instead, some majestic dragon or dinosaur, leaning their muzzle down on her feet. She curled her toes, imagining the hot breath, the lapping tongue, the growls of the great animal's stomach... It wants her, and she knows she cannot escape - better to accept, and let the hot breath wash her identity away, leaving her as food.

\tCailey flinched as she felt her vaginal muscles tighten. Oh, that felt good just thinking about it...!

\tThe girls all sat up, ears shoot up, and ice filling Cailey's chest. Surprised faces gazed upon surprised faces, as they felt the pier almost seem to shake! An earthquake? The building shook and vibrated; it felt as if the woodwork had been rung like a bell.

\tThe creatures nearest them, and the knot hovering around the Lasink Far girls'... last known location, these creatures made their way toward the restaurant, their breathing filling the air.

\tWhat?! What did they do to get their attention?!

\tThe creatures swarmed past, and fanned out. Some slipped into the stands, stalls, and the restaurant itself, exploring. Many more simply drifted by, going in opposite directions. Their behavior was halfway between clumsy searching and... passing meteoroids.

\tThey swarmed, but did not seem to linger on the restaurant for long, but they did comb this street for some time.

\tCailey calmed, in time, and lay down. Her vision swam with tears, unable to control her ducts whenever the others were near. But, it seemed she had her answer.

\tShe'd been fantasizing, and then the creatures came. She was positive she did not make a sound, and if it was smell, they'd have found her. They are clearly not blind, but, perhaps they don't see the way the girls do.

\tWhat if, instead of hearing sounds... they somehow hear emotions? Specifically, they seem to react strongest to sudden and powerful emotional outbursts. Perhaps, as long as they stay out of sight, and stay calm, they'll be fine...

\tThey have to wait it out.

\tCailey huddled with the other girls, whispering that everyone should stay calm, and try to keep their emotions steady. ``I think... they can sense our emotions, but they can't smell or hear us,'' she explained. ``So just... try and relax, I guess.''

\tThe younger girls looked faithless and confused, but they gave it a try, thank goodness... It gave Cailey time to think...

\t`Okay... the creatures swarmed where Strawberry fell down... They don't seem to be swarming anywhere else. Does... does that mean Sai'Ryn got away?'

\tCailey pushed the thought from her mind - no, no. She has to be dead, if Cailey allows her paranoia to frighten her with Sai'Ryn's promised revenge... the creatures will find Cailey.

\tThey had to have caught her... had to... The cluster of colors where they caught Sai'Ryn, Cailey surely missed it. Yeah, in-fact, maybe she saw where they caught her and mistook it somehow.

\tThey're safe for now, safe for now...

\tCailey drifted off into a dreamless, exhausted sleep.

\t...

\t``Hey, Cailey, wake up...'' The kangaroo was aware that she was being shaken. Blinking, she looked up and saw Annabelle looming over her, her face dry. Cailey felt a cold horror in her chest as she recollected her awareness. This fox, the blood on her, the starless sky.

\tHer mind flashed to terrified Strawberry, torso-deep in a monster.

\tShe clenched her face, grimacing.

\t``Sh, sh, careful, steady... steady yourself...''

\tOh, right. Cailey took a deep breath, forcing the terror back. She measured her breath for a good minute. ``Okay... I'm good. They gone?''

\tAnnabelle looked out nervously over the dark, faintly red pier. ``Yeah... I don't know how long we've been up here. A good while. I think they've given up.''

\tThe world was silent. A gentle rustle of sea-breeze was the only activity in the world. Cailey looked out over the pier, horrified by the size and emptiness of it. It was completely overgrown. She looked over at the swing-ride.

\t``Woah... that... wait, how big is that thing?!''

\t``Temper,'' Annabelle warned, but looked. ``Yeah, I noticed that too.''

\t``Sorry,'' Cailey huffed. Gotta stay calm, no outbursts. It had been hard to tell from ground-level, but from up here, Cailey had a better idea of how far away the swing-ride was. She'd thought it was a lot closer.

\tNo, it was far far away, and it was enormous. It was a fucking skyscraper.

\tIt was hard to tell what the point was, but the derelict ride had gigantic, warehouse sized carnival-lights studding it, and other showy decorations. But it also had windows built into the top-most of the ride. It reminded her of the Space Needle, a UFO shaped structure atop a tower. In the empty sky, it was impossible to see the chains, but it was possible to see them in front of the length of the ride's mast. The tower was covered in blood-kudzu, and the illumination allowed Cailey to just barely resolve the ridiculously long chains hanging from the canopy. In other words, it looked as if you were actually meant to ride that monstrosity.

\tOh, no thank you. Cailey felt her legs tremble just thinking about it.

\t``Temper...'' Annabelle warned.

\tCailey sighed, and resumed breathing exercises. She practiced some voice warm-ups under her breath, and it helped immensely. ``So... it has windows.''

\t``So we can get inside,'' said Annabelle. ``Hmph. It's... the only landmark here. Think we'd be stupid to go check it out?''

\t``Definitely, but...'' Cailey rubbed her face. That sleep barely helped. ``I don't see what else we could do.''

\t``Why are we here, why is this happening to us?'' Melanie sniffled.

\t``I don't know,'' Cailey sighed. ``I don't know... Here, let me teach you some, um, voice warm-ups. They might help you stay calm.''

\tIt strangely helped, although Cailey thought that might be because Melanie trusted her. For one reason or another, in this situation, she'd really attached herself to Melanie, and the little cow girl seemed to reciprocate. It did not feel like a deep connection, but it felt... familiar, appropriate.

\t``Seems quiet out there,'' said Annabelle. ``I can't tell how dangerous it is.''

\tCailey looked at the three other girls... shit, how did this happen? With Sai'Ryn outed and Strawberry being... gone, it was just her and Annabelle to look after the welfare of three other, much younger girls. Cailey didn't feel up to the task. Or so it seemed... Cailey wasn't sure how old Annabelle was, come to think of it. She wondered if she should be suspicious of the strangely competent child.

\t`No, if I start thinking like that, it will cause problems,' she thought. `If she was somehow master-minding this... then she'd have enough of an advantage that there'd be nothing I could do. I'd have to cooperate either way.'

\tCailey would prefer to trust her, anyway. ``Alright, so, how do we proceed?''

\tThe smaller girls huddled together, listening intently. Annabelle gave them sad looks. She gave a shaky, cold sigh. ``I don't know. Walk maybe? I'm not sure honestly, there may be only one way in. Hmm... I'm thinking, maybe, we should have one of us sneaking ahead to watch for danger, and then signal the others to follow.''

\tCailey nodded. ``Who should it be?''

\t``Well,'' Annabelle asked. ``Hmm, I don't want to ask Snowflake, but she's small with quiet feet. But you step really lightly too, Cailey, and I feel confident in how quietly I can walk too. But I think we need someone who can control their feelings.''

\tCailey mulled it over, nodding. ``I'll do it then. When you have to deal with stage fright, you get... good at that.''

\tAnnabelle nodded. ``Alright. Let's get down.''

\tCailey had Melanie ride on her back, sitting on her tail-base and wrapping her arms around Cailey's stomach, and legs around Cailey's tail. The more distributed weight made her more manageable. Aura was able to hop right down, and Snowflake had to move slow, and needed some encouragement to coax down, but, they all got to ground-level soon enough. The sea was quiet... Cailey wondered what became of the yellow-eyed beast.

\tShe hoped it drowned.

\tShe looked out over the rest of the pier. Most of the pier that she could see lay north of here. She wondered if the gigantic swing-ride was just the tip of the ice-berg, or if it marked the end of the pier. Was there more pier, or land, past that point? Or just more sea...? It felt like they were completely out at sea - the sound of the ocean was immense, but subtle, the breath of a giant. Thinking of it that way made her feel uncomfortably close to contemplating if this whole ocean wasn't somehow one of those... things. Overactive child imagination...

\tStill, this street was aligned with the second junction north of the fishing-shop where they'd started, but she didn't feel like they were close to land.

\t``Who would build a place like this?'' she asked.

\t``I don't... think anyone would,'' said Aura.

\tCailey felt a chill go up her spine - that almost made it worse. She licked her lips, looking at the interior of the restaurant. ``Hmm...''

\tShe crept inside, the others following her. ``Think there's anything to eat?''

\tBellies grumbled at the mere prospect. Cailey found the back-room and its refrigerators. They lacked power, so Cailey held her breath as she opened them. Stale air met her, along with the ancient, deplorable scent of Freon. They were dirty inside, but utterly bare - nothing decayed within.

\t``Found water!''

\tCailey looked over excitedly, as Melanie waved them over. She was beaming with excitement, hidden in the corner as if pushed out of the way, was a vendor's mini-fridge, half-full of water-bottles and, uh, expired drinks. The water looked safe to drink, the caps tight, the water clear and crisp. The orange-juice was mud-brown, and the bottled milk was more like bottled cheese. There was a bottle of some unknown soda. Cailey opened it.

\tNo fizz, no pop. ``It must be really old to have gone flat with the cap sealed...''

\t``Should we boil this?'' Annabelle asked, studying the water in the light of the blood-kudzu that, even here, crawled over most surfaces - like other rooms on the pier, this place had a collection of heart-lanterns, which pulsated with lazy, half-hearted beating.

\tBoiling seemed out of the question, no electricity, and they decided a fire would be a bad idea. So, Annabelle took a sip of water, and waited.

\t``Taste's fine. I'm... not sure how long it would take me to get sick of it wasn't.''

\t``Well, we're all a little dehydrated, so we better not drink too fast anyway,'' said Cailey.

\tIt seemed they would need some backpacks now. None of them had pockets worth much, being in their pj's. Luckily, a prize booth nearby had backpack prizes, and the girls took some water and wrapped up the machete for safe carrying.

\tThe water made their stomachs hurt... Snowflake asked if it was poisoned, and seemed unconvinced when it was explained that their empty, dehydrated stomachs would naturally cramp from the introduction - all the more reason to drink slowly.

\tThey crept, as quickly as they dared, out from the restaurant. Once they hit Main-Street, they started their sneaking operation. Even the teensy bit of water hurt Cailey's stomach, but she felt more alert and prepared. Taking another sip, she felt steeled.

\t``Alright...''

\tMoving six stands at a time, and taking extra care at intersections, the tiny group leap-frogged toward the tower. The caution at the street-junctions proved to be of importance; by the sixth one, Cailey had to wave for the group to stop, as down west she spotted a discoloration in the red-haze. She mouthed at the girls to hide!

\tThey waited, and watched as one of the others drifted past their hiding spot. Not that they dared, but they couldn't see its face - this one's presence was not as suppressive, or was it just unmotivated? If it found them, would its face flare to life, sucking color away from the environs and replacing the stolen color with its own hideous light?

\tMelanie's lips silently pantomimed, `pa pa pa pa pa pa pa, ba ba ba ba ba ba ba.' Cailey joined in with her.

\tMelanie hugged Cailey when the creature was well out of sight. They got to their feet. Snowflake wasn't doing so good, though. Wobbling as if she was sick, she whined. ``I don't want to do this anymore... I want my Mommy...''

\tCailey wondered if it would it be irresponsible to lie to her... or, was the hope worth it? ``There has to be a way out of here,'' said Cailey. ``Things don't just happen for... no reason.''

\tAnnabelle's face fell - seemed she disagreed, but not vocally. She smiled and patted Snowflake on the shoulder. ``You're doing great.''

\t

\t``Yeah!'' Aura chimed, and hugged the kitten. ``I'm scared too, so I know you're doing really well!''

\t``Okay...'' Snowflake's eyes glazed. ``BLUUARFH!''

\tAura yelped and hopped away as Snowflake began vomiting what little water she'd drunk, mostly dry-heaving interspersed with pained whimpers.

\t``Oh shit...'' Annabelle growled, glancing down where that thing went.

\tThe grey, hazy mist reversed, growing in strength. The distant shadow's face twinkled into un-life with aborted, forgotten stars.

\t``It felt that...'' Annabelle took out her water and washed Snowflake up. ``C'mon, c'mon, we gotta go.''

\tMelanie repeated Cailey's exercises. Aura looked around confusedly, then began copying Annabelle, trying to wash Snowflake off and get her back onto her feet.

\t``I'm so sorry! I messed up!'' the kitten cried.

\t``No, you didn't,'' Cailey reassured, ``but, we gotta move... can you walk?''

\tSnowflake shook her head no, but her legs straightened. Annabelle helped Snowflake rinse her mouth. Then she had Snowflake wrap her arm around Annabelle's shoulder - they were ready to move.

\t``I'm sorry,'' Snowflake whimpered.

\t``Don't be, you're doing your best,'' said Annabelle.

\t``Yeah!'' Aura insisted, nodding.

\tCailey checked on the creature. Would it see them cross the street? ``Let's go back a street and go around.''

\t``We'll be okay,'' Annabelle soothed. ``C'mon... c'mon.''

\tThe group back-tracked to junction-five, and then circled around - going east, then north. At the next junction, they looked back west at where Snowflake had gotten sick. Three shadowy figures were standing inside the booth. If they did have heads, they were bowed, as if studying Snowflakes sick.

\tTheir inscrutable alienness fascinated Cailey, but it disgusted her too. Were they studying the emotions in Snowflake's sick?

\tThey kept going, parallel to Main-Street, only rejoining it once they'd made a few more intersections. The main thorough-fair seemed absent of anymore dangers, but the closer they got to the gigantic swing-ride, the more they heard distant, hollow howls... More dog-boars? The first one had been bad enough... How far were they? Even up close, their howls sound as if far away...

\tAs they neared the hulking swing-ride, other atrociously large rides came into view - although they paled in comparison to the tower. They were strangely dark and skeletal, with less blood-kudzu infesting them. Perhaps the swing-ride tower was the only one with enough girth to allow the vines solid purchase. There was a dark abandoned ferris wheel, which could have been the London Eye's senior; its passenger cars were the size of small houses. It made the prospect of ascending the tower all the worse - it loomed over everything like a red-wood sequoia looms over a potted plant, making the ferris wheel like a mere oak-tree.

\tThe amusement park apparently had been boarded off at some point, but this barrier had long since collapsed under sea-rot and everyone's new favorite glowing red plant-thing. Cailey advanced, checking to see if it was safe to go forward. Finding no fault, she waved everyone else to follow her, and they entered the park.

\tThe swing-ride seemed to be the very center of the park, and had a large, artificial pond surrounding it. The water smelled foul, long since spoiled - if any life was there, it was anaerobic. Cailey could not tell if there were at least algae in the dark water. It must have been fresh-water too, the pond was technically above sea-level, and Cailey found a weathered sign advising not to feed the fish. Along the pond's circumference were docks, one still had a worn pedalo pulled up onto the planks. If there were others, perhaps they'd rotted through, and sunk to the bottom.

\tAnd how many food stands and face-painting booths and carnival games did one pier need?! Like the pier, the park was full of these stands. Circling the pond, however, were new attractions. There was a selection of kudzu-covered fun-houses and haunted houses, a redundancy on this pier, and other rides. Cailey briefly admired how fun they looked, if only their circumstances weren't so grave, it would have been fun to explore them...

\tThe gang followed the edge of the pond until they found a bridge leading across toward the base of the swing-ride, a ticket-line visible up a flight of steps on the far side. The bridge was long... perhaps a fifteen minute walk with absolutely no cover, and nowhere to hide.

\t``See anything?''

\tCailey shook her head. ``No.''

\t``Neither do I,'' said Annabelle. ``I think I see a door, but nothing guarding it.''

\tCailey looked up at the towering ride - the flying-saucer shaped cap loomed over the entire park, such was its size. If there had been a sun here, it would cast a shadow over them. High above, she could see parts where the outer-shell had fallen into disrepair, and she wondered at the possibility a piece of metal might fall down at terminal velocity, and give one of them a close, permanent shave.

\tCailey felt her flesh curl, and she gripped her neck.

\t``Something wrong?'' Annabelle asked.

\tCailey shook her head, releasing her neck. ``No, I'm fine. Well, no time like the present...''

\tThey checked up on Snowflake, who, after taking another drink of water, smiled and said she was doing better. ``Thank you, you keep saving me...''

\tCailey smiled. ``It was only in D&D, but... I never leave a party-member behind.''

\tThey began the worrisome journey across the bridge. Melanie practiced her voice-warm ups, silently, for comfort. Cailey soon found herself joining-in. The glassy, looping kudzu made walking a slow task. Every few minutes, the tower seemed to release a dull moan, as the bulk of gentle wind gradually added up across the tower's broad structure. It almost sounded like a metal bowl with water swirling inside, with the occasional loud ting! of creaking metal. Cailey occasionally heard the chains rattle.

\tIt almost seemed they'd make it without incident... They'd gotten within maybe 100 yards, when they heard a quiet growling from the water. The group froze. The hackles of their pelts pruned, and Cailey looked over the moat for a sign of unnatural activity. Then, she heard a splash, and looked down over the guard-rail, and saw it.

\tThe dog-thing, almost assuredly the same one that had eaten Strawberry and Lylie, gazed back from the pond. It had the same horrible mustard-yellow constellation, the same shape. But how did it get here?! The pond was above sea-level, it was contained. How?!

\tSplashing towards them, howling, snarling, it scraped its hooves uselessly at the bridge's nearest support beam. The girls hyperventilated, their tears watering as the beast's aura overtook their sympathetic nervous systems. Color faded from their side of the bridge.

\tGasping, Annabelle said, ``Just ignore it. It doesn't seem able to get at us.''

\tThe girls were just barely moving their feet, when they heard a loud sloshing.

\t``AAAIIIEEEEK!'' Snowflake saw it first, pointing with horror as a blister of water, half the width of the pond itself, rose up. Surface tension lingered unnaturally across the rising island's bulk, before dispersing, revealing what Cailey was convinced had to be a fucking goddamn shoggoth.

\tIt was another constellation-beast, but it looked like a cross between a starfish and those organisms called rafflesia, that smelled like rotting flesh and were the inspiration for a little critter called Vileplume. But where the corpse-flower would have its pistil, there was an almost cloth-like protrusion, as if the flower had tried to wear a hooded-cloak, folding in on its own gravity. Within was the hazing, black-smoke filled darkness in which a nursery of dead, dim, blue stars glittered.

\tAnd this monstrosity was moving towards them.

\tThe girls screamed with panic, the smaller girls grabbing onto Cailey and Annabelle. Cailey hesitated only a moment, before she held hands and hopped forward, compelling Melanie and Aura forward. This prompted the whole group into running for their lives, after becoming so perilously close to freezing with panic. Cailey could outpace any of them, so with restraint she hung close, and made sure the other girls were running as fast as possible. She felt the terror pressing on her, begging for her to go faster, like she knows she can!

\tA wave of water rushed with the abyssal creature, splashing against the bridge as the creature wrapped its strange appendages around the support beams. It squeezed, and the bridge creaked!

\t``Keep going!'' Cailey yelled.

\tThe smaller girls cried, running as quickly as they could, but gradually losing speed. They were exhausted, deprived of sleep and food, running a sports-field sized distance. They pushed their physical limits, but they'd pushed their bodies so far already...

\t``Come on! Please!!'' Cailey held Melanie's wrist, practically dragging her along now. Annabelle did the same with Snowflake, and Aura found it in her greater overall strength to push a bit further.

\tThe bridge cracked, a great splinter running almost evenly through the planks. The snapping planks sent dust through the air, blown up by the arrival of the creature. The thing's husked star-system glared up at them with steam and cold blue light. It oozed beneath the bridge like an oil-spill. Cailey could see something coming up out of its face... coming up for them!

\tThe girls stumbled when the bridge cracked, shrieking as the bridge bulged in the middle, threatening to push the girls apart. They ran on the left side of the slanting surface, stumbling as they went. The steam obscured their view of the approaching tower, making Cailey fear for a moment that it would be gone, vanished in a puff of smoke, before they could arrive!

\tSomething tickled her feet.

\tCailey yelped, and looked down as they ran. A strange, black grass was growing up between the planks! It began twisting onto itself, forming larger blades, or... perhaps tentacles. Many thin, hairline cilia had grown from the dark nebula surrounding the undead stars below, and these filaments interwove, supporting themselves, and growing thicker, building up to the bridge. Soon, they were grasping ropes.

\t``NOOOOOO!'' Cailey screamed. She unslung her backpack and pulled out the machete. It was wrapped inside another backpack for extra safety. Hasty judgement-call later, Cailey dropped her backpack of waters, and unsheathed the machete.

\tIf Cailey had gotten to passively witness herself, she might have been flattered to the point of turning red all over - who would make a movie about her being cool? In the moment, she couldn't see it as anything less than an animistic demand to survive.

\tHeroic or blind-instinct, it didn't matter. Cailey hacked clean through five of the reaching tentacles, chopping the last with a dropping hop, and then she and the other girls reached the end of the bridge and ran up the metallic steps toward the ticket-platform. The bridge collapsed behind them, and the girls rolled to a huffing, heaving pile up the first dozen steps to the swing-ride.

\tCrying, the girls tried to catch their breath, but there was no time for that - their bodies almost to betray them with pain and muscle-spasms, and they saw that the rasping cilia of the celestial abomination were creeping up the steps toward them. Whimpering and gasping, the girls crawled up the cold metallic stoop. They clutched their chests, swallowing painful gulps of sea-air as they stumbled through the ticket-line toward a set of great, golden doors. The cilia slowed at ticket line, straining, unable to creep forward. The base of the tower below creaked defiantly against the creature squeezing it, but it sounded like it would hold.

\tThey've escaped... for now.

\tThe girls collapsed against the doors and clutched their sides, losing what little water they'd consumed to the on-pour of tears - the sign of the others. The girls whimpered, their cramping, dehydrated, hungry bodies growing ever wearier.

\tNone of them could get up for the moment. Cailey wondered if they'd be... intercepted, that those things might come through the same doors they were resting against.

\tThen, they began to see discolorations on the far side of the destroyed bridge. Patch-by-patch, the others filled the amusement park.

\t``Get away from the doors,'' Cailey seethed. ``What if some are inside?''

\tGasping, the weeping children struggled around to just outside the doors, and sat, to finish resting.

\tHooded tall shadows with twinkling faces populated the pond's edge. They formed a sparkling rainbow, twinkling so severely that the aggregation almost seemed to wriggle like a strange worm, an agonized worm. All those flashing colors, twinkling away, it should have been beautiful, but it was somehow ugly...

\tNothing came from inside the structure, though.

\tAlmost by psychic unanimous vote, the girls drank some water and pulled themselves up. Cailey held onto the machete, feeling resentful of herself for losing her water and two freaking backpacks.

\tEveryone shared water with Cailey, of course, but it was the principle of the thing. She'd just... `Warrior'd', so to speak. She sort of didn't see herself in that jocky roll! Ugh!

\tIn-the-moment-Cailey, naturally, disagreed with whatever impassive-observer-Cailey would feel about her moment of Warrior-proficiency. Triumph feels hallow when you're freaking the fuck out.

\tThe doors into the great tower blocked their path. Cailey figured they were originally meant to open automatically, but that functionality was lost. The doors seemed to be plated in thick gold, or, were solid gold. Thankfully, this helped them resist degradation from the sea-breeze.

\tThe doors were heavy, but thankfully seemed lubricated. The girls pushed as hard as they could, and slowly heaved the doors open.

\tThey'd made it!

\tThey escaped inside, finding the tower's lobby was filled with illuminating blood-kudzu, and no sign of the others. They closed the doors behind them, and then sighed with relief as the aura from the pond-beast was doused. Cailey hoped the yellow-eyed beast was either crushed or consumed by the larger abomination, but in her terror she'd lost track of the lesser-beast.

\tThere was a sparking sound... Cailey caught the flashing in her peripheral, and tilted her head up. There was some kind of mechanism attached to the doors, a power-box it seemed... and it had been chopped into by an absent axe.

\tSomeone else was here, and judging by the sparks, recently.

\tBut wait... this structure had power? How? The rest of the pier didn't!

\t`Please let it not be Sai'Ryn's doing,' Cailey fretted.

\tAnnabelle noticed the box too, looking scared. ``Oh... Oh don't tell - ``

\tCailey's heart jumped, she interrupted with a heavy accent, ``Gee, I wonder what could have happened to that huh?''

\tAnnabelle stopped, frowning. She nodded. ``Yeah, this whole pier is coming apart.'' She feigned a sigh of relief, but glanced fretfully at the powerbox while Melanie, Snowflake, and Aura weren't watching her.

\tThe smaller girls stared at the box with a tiny bit of fascination, and caution. Melanie watched it longest, or was that just Cailey watching Melanie the longest? Melanie had very expressive eyes, the blue flashing of the powerbox reflected off her cool-gray irises. The sparks were the first source of illumination they'd seen since waking in this world, that felt of the natural world... It felt almost reassuring - kind of like a bug zapper.

\tThe front level seemed to be mix of front-desk and information kiosk crossed with a mini-mall; a small collection of separate gift-stores lay ahead. At the center was the elevator, a great glass tube that had shattered and scattered its glass out into the surrounding table areas. The antechamber dwarfed any food-court of any mall Cailey had been to, but that was the resemblance she got. Additional glass, large jagged spikes of the stuff, bit into the old carpeting, held together by compounded pressure from above, but giving the distinct impression that it could shatter under its own weight, and flood this entire floor in deadly glass. Beyond, on the far side of the structure, the girls saw an old escalator heading up. It was not functioning, but, it looked like they could ascend it.

\tFinding this area an irresistible temptation, the girls allowed themselves to have wonder and hope again - the candy shop.

\tCailey watched the other girls bee-line for the candy store, finding a disappointing sight indeed. Cailey giggled, wondering if they were in danger with their emotions running high.

\tThe store had its fair share of delights and disappointments - many treats were reduced to dust, or having moldered into alien tars.  Crystalline sugar candies alone seemed to have survived, but had aged together into hardened clusters.

\tBut that didn't stop a bunch of hungry kids!

\tAura cartoonishly found a hammer behind the clerk's desk, and the girls set to work smashing candy out dispensing-boxes and off their shelves, devouring the shattered, saccharine bits.

\tLife, flavor and joy filled their mouths and tummies.

\tLaughing, Annabelle said, ``Oh gosh, happy Halloween girls!''

\t``You've got to be joking!'' Cailey snickered, although she couldn't help but enjoy some candy too, from chunks of jawbreakers to salt-water taffy that had become much of the same - and the obligatory fruit-flavored suckers. Anything that could survive almost indefinitely was theirs for the taking.

\tThe girls loaded their backpacks up like it really was Halloween, while Cailey wondered if there was a way to find real food... ``Hmm. Hey, could we go check out some of the other shops real quick? We can come back for more candy later.''

\t``Aww, do we have to?'' Melanie cried. ``Come ooon! I'm a growing girl, I need sugar!''

\t``Suuugar! Suuugar!'' cheered Snowflake.

\t``Ugh, think of it like trick-or-treating,'' Cailey suggested.

\t``Okay, I'm listening!'' Annabelle laughed, suckling a lollipop.

\t``So, we go to another store, but when we come back for more candy, it is like we went to another house!''

\t``Ahh that's boring!'' Melanie laughed

\t``Look, I think we could find some actual food.''

\t``This is food!'' Melanie giggled.

\t``Come on, let's just go see.''

\tThe girls sighed. ``Alright, we'll go trick-or-treating.''

\tCailey blushed with embarrassment, but at least they listened.

\tThe next store they went to was a strange thing to find here - Cailey was surprised too. It was a camping and survival store. Not too large, Cailey was worried her idea wouldn't be likely, even here.

\tBut ah ha! Cailey spotted in the dusty display case, a dusty packet that she recognized as a Meal-Ready-to-Eat, an MRE, army food, but this one for civilian use. If there was a display, maybe there was a box in their storage...

\tCailey's insight and acquisition of dinner made the younger girls almost look at her like she had been the magician all along! The MRE's cooked their sorry little packets of food as if by magic, but it was all chemistry baby!

\tAura especially delighted in the MRE's, she couldn't believe that a non-magician knew about such spectacular things! She was overjoyed with the MRE-cooking method, a reaction that heated water and heated the adjacent food. But honestly, what kid wouldn't find the questionable foods fun? Like somewhere between mac n' cheese, fondue, and black magic.

\tThey accidentally exploded one and laughed after the shock. They started to feel like they could almost be camping right about now. Cailey was starting to relax - with spirits running so high, if there were creatures inside the tower, wouldn't they have found the girls by now? Then again, could the ones across the water see them right now? Their feelings? Would they find a way across the water?

\tThe food was bland at best, but the girls felt a greatful relief from their bellies, and now their candy tasted all the sweeter. They'd found more bottled water, and after packing up on MRE's, water, and most importantly the candy, the girls prepared for the long hike up the escalators. Naturally, Cailey grabbed replacement backpacks for her supplies, and her machete.

\t``Well, I hope we find a way home,'' said Aura. ``But, it's nice to know we have food now, in case it is something that will be hard and maybe take a while.''

\tCailey nodded, but hoped that wouldn't be needed. The possibility of staying here longer than one or two more meals... she didn't want to think about that.

\tThey proceeded to the second floor. It appeared to be some sort of atrium. There was no approaching anything past the escalator and adjoined walkways. Terrifying tombstones and teeth of glass jettisoned out of the atrium-ground, glowing like some evil forest of shimmering mirrors as one changed their view of them. The atrium was almost pitch-black, except for the kudzu. The blood kudzu grew on the outside of the support-cage guiding the escalator up the massive shaft of the industrial-built atrium. It had support elevators, rusted shut, for operating on long-dead planters that were built into the support beams that rose up the shaft. This could have been an impressive structure to stand inside of, if the place hadn't aged, creaked to pieces, and died. Ancient detritus of plants littered the ground like as black snow.

\tThe girls stared the tremendous flight of stairs ahead of them.  And good luck sleeping on an escalator if you need a nap.

\t``I hate this world...!'' Snowflake shouted.

\tThe length of the atrium made Cailey appreciate why no others could sense them until now. It gave them far more distance from the ground floor and the second floor than Cailey thought. It was a nightmare to climb, however, and everyone desperately wanted a restroom by the end of it. The second floor seemed to be some kind of museum, and the girls found restrooms that they didn't care to discuss the state of.

\tThey were growing weary again, and the group agreed it was time to get some sleep. Time felt incalculable in all this endless night, Cailey couldn't remember how long ago they'd had that nap.

\tThe museum had a small exibit meant to show an old cottage home with plush straw beds and cloth. After sleeping on a roof, it was 5-stars.

\tThe girls lingered on this floor after they'd awoken, refreshed. They went through what small morning routines they could, and found a night-shirt for Melanie to wear from an exhibit - which was great, as she'd been slowly sweating her butcher-lines off into hazy smears.

\t``I feel like one of the gang,'' she joked, now finally wearing something other than her sweat-stained panties. By the time the wedgie had been at its worst, Melanie had practically been running around naked.

\tThe group felt more prepared for the ascent. They traveled further up the escalator, finding a myriad of strange floors, from maintenance floors and tours of the ride's inner mechanisms and supports, to fun-houses, to a motel. There was even a derelict casino.

\tFinally, they arrived at the top floor. The escalator, which even if it had been working, it would have been an agonizingly long trip without the use of the elevator. Honestly Cailey couldn't fathom how a building with such advanced metal was put to such questionable construction. They were exhausted after traveling what felt like half a day just to get to the top of this thing. They took a rest, and explored the hallway they'd come to.

\tThe hallway was spoked with vomitoriums. To the left, the gates lead to boarding areas, which were now stuck open, the ride a derelict. But, Cailey looked at the precautions made to keep this and the next area separate - this  was the start of the UFO structure, where you could be put onto the swings and soar for thousands of feet above the pier. Interspercing the boarding areas, were massive tracks of skating-rink, and bridges above it for the swing-ride's patrons. Everything past these sealed-gates was part of a gigantic rotating disk, an engineering marvel.

\tThe other hallways lead into single massive and long restaurant - ambient and high expense, naturally. But now, it was serving only blood kudzu. The abandoned, dusty, rotting restaurant looked haunted, as the blood kudzu was sparse this far up the tower. The shadows were deep, and the kudzu did not allow for someone to see clear across the restaurant, not tangentially anyway. Holes in the carpet, holes in the ceiling, Cailey feared what would happen were they to run into Sai'Ryn. If she somehow did get into the tower before them, Cailey hoped it was big enough, with enough to explore, that they somehow missed each other.

\t``I don't like this place...!'' Snowflake mewled, backing out of the restaurant and into the comparatively brighter hallway.

\t``I know,'' Cailey said softly, ``but, let's see what's at the center; it can't be the kitchen all the way through.''

\tIt sure wasn't. But first, they endured the convincingly-haunted-restaurant, creeping through its dusty carpet and warped floors and felt the watch of the kitchen-door port-holes. Eventually a large vomitorium lead out of the restaurant, and into... a giant obstacle course...!

\tSome kind of play park for older kids, or even adults, it was one half skate park and one half gigantic toy-sets. It was, unfortunately, near-dark. Kudzu dangled like distant strings of Christmas lights from the ceiling, where it'd cracked through as the building inevitably decays. The park seemed mostly intact, except for where large chunks of roof caved in. Drafts of night air stirred absently in this, the seeming epicenter of the swing-ride.

\tCailey felt an urge to go run and bounce off stuff immediately, but she couldn't help but reserve her feelings at the realization that they'd explored this place and found no hint of anything that could answer their questions... they'd found some food, but that was it, and that was before the climb.

\t`At least there were no creatures in here after all,' she thought. Yeah, talk about a silver lining. An inconvenient waste of a day, they'd walked all this way for nothing! But at least, in exchange for getting away from those... undead constellations, the journey up the tower posed no harm, right? No, this was a triumph, for now.

\tStill... was there any point in going on? Cailey was about to give up, when a broad, dim flash radiated out at them from the center of the play-park.

\tIt had looked like a dimming-out search-light, like a light-house or something.

\t``Did you see that?'' Annabelle gasped. ``Was that...''

\t``Was that a monster?'' Snowflake gasped.

\tCailey shook her head. ``No, we know that this place has some electricity, maybe it got this far.''

\tOne last mysterious thing to check then... before they were facing down the grave possibility of having to spend the rest of their lives starving inside this tower as it crumbles around them. Assuming the others don't invade the tower first. If there was any place that she hoped deserved to be a place of answers, let it be the light-house in the play-park of a crazed amusement park on a haunted pier.

\tThe play-park had many styles, from skater-punk areas to ball-pits to soft, plush obstacles courses to climb on and get lost in, and of course, big doll houses, gigantic play-houses for smaller kids, a safe distance away from the big-kid areas.

\tIt wasn't a particular important destination for them just because it was a village of doll houses. The girls just happened to be pass through on a straight trajectory to the light-house. On some level, though, it did feel fun to walk around a toy village illuminated by glowing, pulsing ivy. It would be almost like a fairy-tale except for the heart-shaped lanterns growing like tumors from various locations.

\tThey hadn't meant much by it, but, coming here had been a terrible mistake.

\t``Ha! I knew you couldn't resist coming here!''

\tCailey's heart thumped to maximum. No.

\tSai'Ryn stepped out from the doorway of one of the toy-houses, holding a baseball bat behind her shoulders, and hanging her arms from it. She pulled the bat off her fingers and twisted it in one hand.

\t``Alright foxy, see my dick? I'm going to fulfill my promise! Your filthy double-crossing ass is mine.''

\tCailey raised her hands, trying to ease her off. ``Sai'Ryn, please stop! Haven't we all been through enough?!''

\t``Oh not even close,'' Sai'Ryn snarled. She licked her fangs and stroked her dick, quickly arousing. ``Who do you bitches think you are? You're not anything more than fucking food to me. I was only saving you all until I got horny or hungry!''

\tCailey took a step back. Annabelle bit her lip, and the smaller girls huddled together.

\t``Yeah, I'm your big bad wolf honey,'' Sai'Ryn said huskily. ``And if you submit like a good cum-dump you might just get my nutsac for your trouble. Oh, except Annabelle, I'm going to rape you until you're nothing but a smear on the fucking bed!!!''

\tAnnabelle turned and started running.

\t``Stay off her!'' Cailey cried, trying to run in front of Sai'Ryn, but she swung the bat and narrowly missed Cailey, making the kangaroo jump away in defense, and allowing Sai'Ryn to run Annabelle down. The wolf-girl caught the fox, pinning her to the ground. Sai'Ryn mounted Annabelle's pudgy butt, rocking her knot between her cheeks. Using the bat, Sai'Ryn held Annabelle by the neck.

\t``Where do you think you're going, dump-slut? Oh, there's about three different things that can mean, and you're going to be all of them. I'll rape you until you're not sure you have holes anymore. And do you know where I'm going to get all that libido from?''

\tSai'Ryn grinned at the other girls. Cailey's eyes twisted with curiosity and disgust.

\t``That's riiiight. I'm going to eat you dump-sluts up, dump you into this dump-slut, and then when I eat her, she'll just be my next dump. And if you want it to hurt as little as possible...''

\tSai'Ryn pulled the bat tighter against Annabelle's struggling larynx. The grimacing fox teared up, gasping.

\t``Please!! Just stop! You're hurting her! You're - '' Cailey gasped as Sai'Ryn got off Annabelle, letting her skull thump the ground, and she walked toward Cailey. ``Or you'll what?'' She pointed the bat at her.

\tThank goodness for the survival-store backpacks. Cailey pulled out her machete. Her arms trembled, but she held the blade as tight as she could.

\t``Oh, you think so huh?'' Sai'Ryn laughed.

\t``And my hind-claws,'' said Cailey. ``I... I'll use them! I'll use this thing!''

\tSai'Ryn angrily knocked the machete out of Cailey's hands with her bat. Cailey gasped, and saw Sai'Ryn stepping towards her. Cailey fell back, rolling onto her tail - it can take her weight for one solid kick!

\t``Nngah!'' Cailey's eyes widened as she saw Sai'Ryn suddenly dart to the side, the kick missing her. She twisted up the bat and swung for Cailey's head!!

\tWHACK!!

\tCailey fell to the ground, ears ringing, dazed. Nearly unconscious, she drearily tried to remember what was going on while she felt Sai'Ryn wrapping up her arms and hands in cable-wire. Sai'Ryn had prepared for them.

\t``My head...'' she moaned, coming-to just as Sai'Ryn was getting her legs trussed up.

\t``I'll save you for later,'' Sai'Ryn whispered. ``Now stay put.''

\t``What are you doing?'' Cailey groaned.

\t``What does it look like?'' Sai'Ryn asked as she finished tying Cailey up.

\tCailey could roll and wiggle, but not do much else. Sai'Ryn patted her on the head and dangled her erecting cock in her face.

\t``See this? Good... What the fuck makes you think you can get in my way, huh? Do you have one of these? No, you don't!''

\t``Shut up!'' Cailey cried. ``What does that matter?! We're lost in this horrible place! We could all die here! What the hell does you-having-a-dick have to do with anything anymore?! Look where we are, you have to see that, please!''

\tSai'Ryn growled and smacked Cailey, the kangaroo yelping.

\t``No.''

\tSmiling, she stood up and walked around the play-yard, staring at the other cowering girls. Annabelle was clutching her throat. ``Girls that only have pussies are just nothing but meat, and meat is food. I should have made sure you all knew that from the start... Especially that rabbit bitch, I should have showed you all why my cock makes me better than you, by using that stupid cunt as an example!''

\tSai'Ryn grinned as she walked towards the huddled, shaking little girls. Her dick throbbed at full erection, steadily dripping with pre. She stroked it, letting its pulsing girth suggest as to her eagerness, her power. ``Hmm... but, she got the message in the end, didn't she? But now we have another problem! The kangaroo bitch doesn't seem to learn very well! And here I thought she was smart or something. That bunny girl should have made her get the picture, but... maybe you'll all do instead.''

\t``No!'' Snowflake whimpered, her legs shaking together. She pulled up her Transformers hood, trying to psychologically hide from Sai'Ryn.

\tThe wolf girl almost drooled as she looked over her prey, anticipating what she was going to do to them. Maybe it was the wolf in her, but she couldn't help but reach for Aura first.

\t``Eeep!'' bleated the little golden sheep, as the big bad wolf pulled her forward.

\t``I wanted to save you for later, but I'm fucking starving. Alright Lamb-chop, time to feed the wolf.''

\t``Noooo...'' Aura held her hoof-like hands over her face and began crying, as Sai'Ryn grabbed Aura's fluffy butt and lifted her up. ``Please, stop...''

\tSai'Ryn pressed her mouth over Aura's muzzle, sealing her complaints with a mixture of kisses, bites, and suckles. Sai'Ryn murred as she forced her tongue into Aura's confused, fussing mouth. Sai'Ryn felt her dick slide along Aura's crotch, before exploring the depths of the young sheep's pelt. Her thick wool didn't stop Sai'Ryn's cock from finding Aura's entrance, and with a firm thrust, Sai'Ryn invaded the younger girl's body.

\tSnowflake and Melanie backed away with mixed expressions of horror, and curiosity. Passively, they could only watch as Sai'Ryn hilted herself. Sai'Ryn pulled away from Aura, who coughed as she was finally freed from Sai'Ryn's lips. A little red stained the demi-humans lips, as she'd been nibbling Aura's face. The wolf-girl licked it off, before she pulled Aura off her dick and slammed her on again.

\tAura gasped from the shock, the forced expansion of her small vagina made her clench her hands onto Sai'Ryn's shoulders. Without claws or sharp nails, she couldn't harm Sai'Ryn, and instead it gave Sai'Ryn the wrong impression.

\t``Yeah, you like that? Good little sheep.'' Sai'Ryn panted as she used the sheep like a sex-toy, thrusting her hips up as she pulled Aura up off her cock and down again. Wet slapping accompanied Sai'Ryn's pleasure, and before long Sai'Ryn's growling stomach accompanied.

\t``Please, no, no don't eat me up!'' Aura pined, staring up at Sai'Ryn's hungry gaze. ``I'll make you feel good, I promise! Ow, ow! Ng, please, oof, you can - you can do this to me all you want, but don't eat me up!''

\tPanting, feeling her climax growing close after so long without attention, Sai'Ryn answered by licking her lips and opening her mouth as wide as it would go. Despite looking human, her maw was able to slip around Aura's head, starting with her stammering muzzle.

\t``W-wait!'' she cried, and then Sai'Ryn silenced her. ``Murph!''

\tSai'Ryn began swallowing, her stomach growling louder as Sai'Ryn's tongue gathered up all that delicious sheep flavor. Sai'Ryn felt a mixture of fluids running off her balls, a gift from the victimized meat she was ravaging. She slammed her lamb-chop down onto her dick as hard as she could, thrusting into her tender snatch with noisome force, and proceeded to baste Lamb-chop's pussy in her own special gravy.

\tSai'Ryn's eyes rolled up in her skull as she experienced the sweet release of orgasm for the first time in a few days of forced abstinence. The feeling of swallowing young, delicious prey, feeding both of her darkest drives, made the release all the better. Her body was almost overwhelmed with delight, as her spraying cock showed the little girls just how much fun her red-rocket was having. Sai'Ryn gulped deeply, pulling the sheep off her dick, and then her bouncing spraying cock shot ropes all over the whimpering Snowflake and Melanie.

\t``Aalck!'' Melanie spat, trying to wipe it off her face, and pulling away sticky strands.

\tSnowflake hissed and cried, examining the sticky webbing extending from her fingers and her jammies.

\t``Mmmm!~'' Sai'Ryn tilted her head up, letting the lamb's pulverized pussy slip along her tongue and into her mouth. The lamb's ass was too fluffy for much definition, but it felt great swallowing girl-butt. Sai'Ryn enjoyed her flavor. Letting gravity do its part, Sai'Ryn pushed on the little girl's hooves and resumed swallowing. With a three-pronged push, Sai'Ryn closed her teeth over her prey's final extremities and smacked her lips, feeling the bulge travel down her sternum and into her stomach.

\tAura squirmed inside the wolf, wailing and swiping her useless hooves through the bulging, swollen stomach. Sai'Ryn moaned with joy and rubbed her stomach, drooling and belching loudly. ``Fuuuck, ahh that hit the spot! Ugh, it's about time that show-off slut got what was coming to her! Mmm, little miss, `look at how cute and doll-like I am!' Let's see how cute she is when she's a steaming pile of shit in six hours.''

\t``You disgust me...'' Annabelle spat, struggling to her feet.

\tSai'Ryn turned to grin at her. She gripped her cock and stroked the slimy, sensitive rod. ``Oh, trust me, I haven't forgotten about you. I'm going to fuck you to death, remember? Hmm, but I think I need to reload. Don't go thinking you can run away just because I swallowed the lamb-chop bitch. I can still catch you... Now sit, and wait, like a good little cunt!''

\tSai'Ryn presented herself to Snowflake, her penis glistening with the fluids it'd gotten slathered with when pulverizing Aura's vagina - not too much detail is needed, but there was more than one fluid sticking to that cock! And what did Sai'Ryn intend to do about that?

\tSai'Ryn pointed at her dick, the little girl staring up at it and its owner, and that squirming stomach reminding her of what Sai'Ryn could do to her.

\t``Suck.''

\tSnowflake grimaced, but nodded. Hands shaking, she stepped up to the cock and opened her tiny kitten mouth, tongue unfolding, she reached for the tip. She scarcely touched the tip before Sai'Ryn slammed on the back of Snowflake's head.

\t``MRRMMPH!''

\tSai'Ryn turned her head up and grunted with each thrust. Snowflake's eyes rolled in their sockets. Sai'Ryn overwhelmed Snowflake's gag-reflex, making her spit thicken as she prepared to retch.

\t``If you throw up, I'll get my axe and chop off your pussy, so don't you dare throw up. Ah, better...''

\tSai'Ryn turned over her shoulder, grinning at Cailey and Annabelle. Annabelle covered her face in her hands, beginning to cry.

\t``I fucked up, I'm so sorry I fucked up...''

\tCailey couldn't believe this was happening. She wrenched her face in anguish - she wanted to protect the others so bad... Why hadn't they done something like, find a gun? She hated the idea of that, but one of her friends was dying and another one close on the way, Annabelle was going to get snuffed, and Melanie had to watch it all unfold. The cow couldn't be too innocent, but, Cailey had wanted to protect her from as much horror as possible.

\tShe'd failed. Why was this happening to her? Why was this happening to any of them? Why couldn't Sai'Ryn have just cooperated, why did they have to be doomed from the start, just because one of their numbers was this mega-bitch?

\tSnowflake moaned and gagged on the dick, sounding like she was on the verge of getting sick at any moment... Sai'Ryn moaned as she hilted into the kitten's maw and slapped her weakened belly onto her head, practically pinning her.

\t``You feel that Snowflake? That's your friend Aura, she's so weak now. Can you imagine what those acids feel like? Huh? Can you feel her wasting away in there? Becoming my ass-fat, becoming my shit! That's what you are, except you'll be cock-shit.''

\tSai'Ryn licked her teeth and laughed. ``You'll be my next load of semen going up Annabelle's ass!!''

\tSnowflake pushed hard, freeing herself off the cock and out from under Sai'Ryn's belly. ``No!! Annabelle, just run, just run away!''

\tSai'Ryn growled and grabbed Snowflake's skull, and with her next thrust, stuffed the squealing child's head into her bulging cock-tip, the canine cock quickly slurping over her neck.

\tAnnabelle stared with shock, eyes wide. Her hand drifted perilously close to her crotch, scratching instead at her inner thigh. Her tail wagged slightly, and then she sneezed without warning. ``Oh gods!''

\tBlushing with embarrassment, grimacing with self-hatred, Annabelle slid back down to the ground and resumed crying.

\t``Hmm, you shouldn't have tried to kill me you fucking skank,'' chuckled Sai'Ryn, gyrating her hips. She trilled as she felt Snowflake's shoulders pop into her swallowing dick. ``Now you're going to have so much cum up your ass that you'll drown in it. You tried to fuck me, and now I'm going to fuck you, right to your death. You enjoying the show, Annabitch? You just wait until I get to you, then!''

\t``This won't take long,'' Sai'Ryn laughed, eyeing down the kitten as she would have for, well, a lamb-chop. ``Mmm, augh, nnf!'' She rocked her hips forward and felt her sensitive penis press down over most of the kitten's torso. The cub kicked at the ground, falling over and twisting inside the penis, but unable to pull out even an inch. Sai'Ryn rolled her eyes up and smiled as she felt the ecstatic struggles of her prey.

\t``Oh, yes!! Hmm, more of that, c'mon! Struggle a little harder and... ahh! Maybe... maybe you'll last a little longer.''

\tSai'Ryn gripped her penis and closed her eyes, panting. ``Aunnng... You're going to make a good fat load, aren't you pussy-bitch?'' She thrust down, pushing Snowflake into a kneeling position, while her cock snarfed up the kitten's ass and pulled her up off the ground. Struggling cat feet dangled outside Sai'Ryn's cock, the prey was bending into the shape of a `C' on her way to Sai'Ryn's orbs. Sai'Ryn patted her balls as she felt Snowflake's head slip inside. Her other hand, patted her stomach, belching one last time as the struggling in her stomach came to a complete stop.

\tHer body gurgled and squelched as it processed all its delicious food. Her cock drooled as the last of the kitten was sucked up into her dick, and her balls shouted and complained as fresh batter-mix was added to her mixers. In a moment, she'd have plenty of cum for her revenge scheme!

\t``Ahhh! Much better!'' Sai'Ryn sighed with satisfaction, stretching her arms as her balls quaked with the scared kitten inside. Her stomach twisted as the walls squeezed the motionless meat inside, squishing whatever state it was in, into a softer, less-distinct shape.

\tHer dick pulsed like it was somehow jerking itself off, sputtering cock-drool as it tingled with pleasure and flavor from the excellent, much-deserved meal. It was eager for the next victory, and Sai'Ryn waddled up to Annabelle, basking in her own glory, forcing it upon her vixen victim.

\t``Hmm, this enough proof for you bitch? How you're nothing but meat for my cock? You're just food, and... you're liking this aren't you? Hahaha!''

\tAnnabelle closed her eyes, turning away from Sai'Ryn with shame.

\tSai'Ryn barred her claws and licked them, clicking the sharp nails together. ``Hmm, good thing I decided to fuck you to death before I eat you, wouldn't want you enjoying yourself. Especially after you tried to get me killed. There's still time for me to get the axe, you know. Now, get on your hands and knees, and raise up your ass.''

\tAnnabelle hesitated, not looking at Sai'Ryn.

\tSai'Ryn yelled and swiped, slashing a stinging scrape into Annabelle's cheek.

\t``Nnng!'' Annabelle winced, clutching her face. She cried with shame and fell onto her side. She gradually shifted to her knees, and let her ass stick out for her attacker.

\tSai'Ryn licked her claws clean of blood-droplets. ``That will do.''

\tShe settled down herself, the squirming nutsac bulging under her ass. The wriggling inside had reached full-panic. She straddled her red-rocket along Annabelle's soft, strangely curvaceous pre-teen ass. Sai'Ryn licked her lips, hunching over her prey, her wolf-dick spitting a fresh glob of pre between those fuzzy cheeks. She only seemed to be wearing the long, plaid button-up, no panties. It made her easy.

\tSai'Ryn arched her back as she took the plunge. Annabelle squealed as her ass was penetrated, inches and inches of girl-hungry wolf-dick pushing into her colon. Sai'Ryn swore loudly as the oven turned on for her dick, warmer than sunshine, soft as silk, tight as fuck. Sai'Ryn did just that, wasting little time - her hips rocked back and forth as she pleasured herself with Annabelle's ass.

\t``Annabelle, fight her, do something!'' Cailey whimpered. But, she knew that Sai'Ryn was faster and stronger than Annabelle. The prey inside her might weigh her down, but how much longer before they ran afoul of Sai'Ryn anyway? There was only one way through the vast majority of the tower, and no way back out.

\tThey were screwed - and now, literally.

\tAnnabelle covered her mouth with her hands and moaned into them, her ass squeezing and pushing on Sai'Ryn's wolf-cock. Her butt tried it's best to make Sai'Ryn vacate, but, this only increased the pleasure for Sai'Ryn, the wolf eager to violate Annabelle's pre-teen hole.

\tSai'Ryn inched deeper, lurching over Annabelle, forcing her groaning, gurgling stomach on top of Annabelle. The fox shuddered, a pleasurable and guilty delight coursing through the young fox.

\t``Feel that? That's your friends digesting... They're both dead because you messed with the wrong cock-bitch! You should have listened and kept your head low, you should have made me your top priority. `Cuz all you are is a piece of meat with a vagina attached. But I have a cock, you arrogant little condom-stuffer! I'm a person; you're just cock-snot.''

\tSai'Ryn laughed as she looked over her shoulder at the softening orbs beneath her butt. ``Haoohhh, haaoooh, yuuum, I can feel your death coming, Annabitch! I'm going to give you a death-enema.''

\tAnnabelle grit her teeth as the vicious wolf-girl twisted her knot up into her pucker. ``S-stooop...''

\tSai'Ryn laughed. ``You don't tell me what to do, cock-meat.'' She leaned down, squishing her soft, gurgling belly onto Annabelle's back. The mostly-liquid contents of Sai'Ryn's belly bulged over the sides of Annabelle's flanks, while Sai'Ryn reached up to cup at her flat chest, pulling her snuff-meal against her gurgling body. Sai'Ryn's budding breasts pressed against Annabelle's shoulders, and Sai'Ryn drooled onto her head as she fucked her.

\tA few moments later, and her gurgling nuts became a little quieter, and were certainly more round and still. Her swishing tail patted her balls for their good job - now time for the most pleasurable part - ending Annabelle's life!

\t``Time to drown you slut!'' Sai'Ryn laughed, and cupped a hand over Annabelle's maw. Annabelle gasped, trying to twist her face away, but Sai'Ryn held on, choking the fox.

\t``Take, my, dick!'' Sai'Ryn punctuated each word with a body-rocking thrust, her ravaging dick swelling the knot to full capacity, sealing Annabelle's sphincter. Her balls trembled, and began to unload...

\tThe spurting was audible even through the flesh of their bodies, thick ropes as wide as cucumbers cascaded up Annabelle's ass. Sai'Ryn swore loudly, able to taste her liquefied cat-treat again as all that delicious cum poured into the fox.

\tAnnabelle moaned despite herself, tucking her ass up and making it easier for her assailant to cream into her. Her ass-cheeks clenched and unclenghed with the timing of Sai'Ryn's spasms. Her dick squirted cupfuls at a time, and it gradually filled Annabelle up like a balloon, until it was pouring into her very stomach.

\t``Oh no, no, c'mon, just try and take it...'' Annabelle told herself, before burping up a large cum-bubble.

\t``Don't fight it, just let me kill you,'' Sai'Ryn sneered, continuing to slam her hips into the pre-teen's ass, despite being knotted. ``Just let it fill your lungs and die. Then, you can join Aura, or maybe I'll nut you too and splatter you onto this dusty floor where no one will ever find you again...!''

\tHer grip on Annabelle tightened, and then the cum built up in her throat. Her cheeks bulged, and Annabelle whimpered with desperation. Cum splurted out from between her lips, dribbling between Sai'Ryn's fingers. Annabelle folded her ears back, her tail trembling as she started to choke.

\tSai'Ryn's balls shrank, briefly bulging with a small distortion - the imprint of a skull, and a knot that soon proved to be Snowflake's pajamas. First, the skull was pushed up through Sai'Ryn's hips and up Annabelle's ass, tumbling down her colon on the flow of cum. Then, Sai'Ryn's cock disposed of the pussy-bitch's clothes, right into Annabelle's rectum. With a painful ripping sound, Sai'Ryn yanked her knot out of Annabelle's ass, cum gushing back out - that was until the clothes inside Annabelle's ass blocked the release.

\tSai'Ryn hot-dogged her, contemplating round II if the girl didn't drown soon. Annabelle's eyes rolled in her head as cum spurt from Sai'Ryn's fingers.

\t``That's it, you'll be the perfect fleshlight soon,'' laughed Sai'Ryn. ``And then you'll be my next load of waste... Not so tough now, are you? Huh?''

\tThe girls wept as Sai'Ryn humiliated them. She grinned at the remaining survivors, relishing the defeat on their faces. It brought tears to her eyes too.

\tThen, her face fell with concern, as her own weeping made her realize something was... suddenly off.

\tThe play-park lawn grew grey, with muddy brown, off-red highlights.

\tThen, it came around a corner, emanating like an after-image towards Sai'Ryn.

\tThere'd been one of these things in the building after-all. So far up and deep in the tower, it'd been out of sensory range for most of their climb. This one was tall, even by the others standards. Excess of eight feet, the husked celestial gaze of this hooded horror was deeper, and more troubling in scale. This... was a galaxy.

\tA dead galaxy of red, dim stars, billions of them. To Cailey's eyes they shown light, and the light traveled into this world from beneath the creature's hood, but the light was dead, unreal, unnatural. Deader than neutron stars or black holes or black dwarfs. Deader than anything. The galaxy beneath the entity's hood produced light, but not from natural processes, but from unnatural decay. No physical laws governed the gaze of this specter, only the will of a stillborn galaxy.

\tIts galaxy looked like a single, simple spiral galaxy, objects whose color was often blue, and vibrant, but this had only two arms and an emaciated central bulge. It was almost straight, a flattened `S' shape that looked more like a scar or thin cut, oozing with infection, an infection of world-sterilizing red-light.

\t

\tIt moved faster too.

\tIn moments from them sensing it, it glided toward Sai'Ryn and Annabelle. Annabelle's eyes lazily batted, closing, the girl slipping away.

\tSai'Ryn screamed, scrambling away from Annabelle, her stomach sloshing with its mashed and melted contents. Her dick throbbed yet, but her balls were almost back to normal, having finished the cat off.

\tCailey closed her eyes briefly, and mentally rehearsed her vocal warm-ups. Melanie, backing away, did the same.

\tThe entity fixated on Sai'Ryn, the most emotional girl in the vicinity.

\t``No! Take her! She's closest to you, you fucker! Stay away, Stay away!!''

\tEmanating forward, moving as if an illusion, oozing wisps of darkness slid out of its... sleeve, and onto the floor, unraveling towards Sai'Ryn. The oozing appendages mutated and flickered, visually resembling the quality of old-damaged films. A wisp wrapped around Sai'Ryn's ankle, stopping her in place. More crept over her.

\t``Noooooo!!'' Sai'Ryn screamed, kicking, slashing with her claws. She tried to pull and tug them off, but the problem was that her body slid through the wisps as if she was smoke, yet, the same did not apply to the creature's method for interacting with her, the smoking wisps might as well have been steel cord for as much as she could wiggle out of them.

\t``Auuugh!!'' Sai'Ryn stubbornly slashed and swiped, hands repeatedly passing through the wisps, but one was nearing her cock no matter how much she tried to stop it. Its tip seemed to expand into a swirling cup, a space vortex. It clasped over her tip and swallowed her cock.

\tSai'Ryn went pale, her body freezing. Her eyes widened with shock, as a deep, hideous cold sent daggers of pain into her hips and balls. The red color in her hair faded, and her hair lost some of its luster.

\tMore tentacles climbed over her body, piercing and slipping into her flesh. Blood oozed up the tentacles, barely visible in the smoky masses.

\tMelanie backed away, horrified. Looking at her friends, she went pale. She shook her head, hair flying around her face. She clenched her teeth in determination, stared at the creature, and then pressed herself against the wall. She shimmied along it, toward Annabelle.

\tThe creature tilted its head as it fed on Sai'Ryn.

\t``SHUT UP, SHUT UUUP!!'' Sai'Ryn screamed. ``DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM! No, that's mine, I... I need him, don't make me forget him...! You can't! NO GET OUT OF MY HEAD!''

\tA nebula-like cloud of misty colors seemed to smoke off of Sai'Ryn's whole body. The creature leaned forward, and this ethereal essence drifted into its face, disappearing into the Qliphottic Galaxy that lay beyond the veil.

\tSai'Ryn's tears intensified, and she whimpered as her body began to lose some of its thickness and muscle-tone. Her breasts and ass shrank, and her stomach gurgled as it too lost mass. The tentacles had found their way into her neck and mouth and the temples of her skull. Her body jolted, and began to shrink in stature. She seemed to, at once, grow younger, and older, as the creature consumed some manner of existential meaning out of Sai'Ryn.

\tAll except for one thing...

\tMelanie was fortunate to have reached Annabelle. Melanie broke her gaze with the creature to help the fox. She sat Annabelle up and patted her on the back, and soon Annabelle was retching cum onto the floor and regaining consciousness.

\tBut Cailey saw what the thing was doing... Almost like a mix between a game of Operation and straight-up butchery, the ethereal tentacles were slowly scooping, and lifting, Sai'Ryn's circulatory system out of her body. Her body shrank, but her arteries, veins, and capillaries did not. By the time Sai'Ryn was half her original height, her original height in blood-vessels lay around her, a sick silhouette of the teenager she'd once been.

\t``Mom... Mom...'' Sai'Ryn pleaded, eyes turning grey, her body decaying.

\tCailey'd seen enough. She shut her eyes.

\t'No more, no more, no more!'

\tShe heard Annabelle gasping for air, and after a moment, a shuffling of feet.

\t``How do we get her out of this?''

\t``Just drag her! Sai'Ryn said there was an axe, we gotta find it!''

\tCailey opened her eyes and looked up, only when she felt the ground moving beneath her. Annabelle and Melanie were dragging Cailey away. They ducked into one of the toy-houses, which had an absent-wall on the other side, that sort of half-merged with a neighboring house play-set. They dragged her towards a closet with an overly large doorknob, and pushed her inside.

\t``Alright, we gotta find that axe, but if that thing... if that thing chases us, we got to try and hide in here with Cailey. Do you understand Melanie?''

\tMelanie nodded.

\tAnnabelle grimaced, belching another wave of cum out of her mouth. Her tail swayed, and she rubbed her ass. Gods, her tail-hole was sore...

\tMelanie and Annabelle branched out. Cailey hyperventilated as she waited for their return.

\t`Please, don't leave me here... Oh god, that thing, no, don't let it get me, don't let it do...'

\tShe couldn't even complete the thought. Her mind traumatically returned to the alien, horrifying sight of the creature slowly extricating Sai'Ryn's circulatory system from her body... Hardly a drop of blood was spilled, inches of blood-vessels lying on the floor in pulsing, perfect condition.

\tHer mind flashed with still-shots, one after the other, again and again, of almost every heart-lantern she saw up until now.

\tHow many... How many people...!

\tCailey twisted her face up, revulsion and fear overwhelming. ``Oh god nooo, don't let it be real, don't be real, save me, please, someone save me!''

\tIf Cailey cared about Melanie before, she almost fell in love with her when the cow-girl darted into vision, carrying a fire-axe.

\t``F-found it!''

\tAnnabelle darted into vision a moment later, taking the axe and asking Melanie to pull away some of the cord, a portion that Annabelle has any chance of chopping without hurting Cailey. It wasn't a quick process - Annabelle missed a few times, or failed to cut the wire, and she did cut Cailey on the arm at one point... but eventually, they broke Sai'Ryn's bonds, and the girls shut themselves in the closet and hid, hoping that, as before, the creature will not find them as long as it cannot see them.

\tNow, they just had to calm the fuck down. Weeping, Cailey began to whisper simple children songs. ``Row... row row your boat...''

\tThe girls somehow settled on the alphabet song, and, singing it as quietly as they could, pulled themselves into a shaking ball of barely-contained terror.

\tTime passed, and the compulsive crying ceased. They waited awhile longer, to be absolutely sure. They counted to a thousand, and only then, did they exit the closet.

\tAll was quiet, and calm, and dim, and red. No grey discolorations, and no signs of life.

\t``Just... wait... here...'' Cailey shuddered, turning to Melanie. ``If I scream... don't... walk up to me, just stay here.''

\t``Why?'' Annabelle asked. Melanie grimaced, looking scared.

\tCailey shook her head. ``I'm going to look. Just, don't come with me. I don't want anyone to see.''

\tAnnabelle nodded sagely. Melanie looked away, looking conflicted. ``I hated her...''

\t`I know, but, you'd hate to see where the kudzu comes from,' Cailey thought darkly. Swallowing, bracing herself, Cailey went to go investigate the attack-site.

\tShe tilted her head around the door-frame. No color discolorations... No towering shadow... good. And there was the thick, sprawling cum-stains from where Annabelle had been flooded with... Snowflake.

\tCailey turned her head, eyes turning slower. `Please, don't be... Oh god!!'

\tHer eyes settled on it. Bulging out of the floor, was a fresh, new heart-stalk. A glowing, pulsing, heart-shaped lantern, the smallest she'd yet seen... and not yet calcified, not yet reinforced. It looked fragile.

\tCailey repressed an urge to smash the vile thing with the fire-axe. Why did she even wish to? Because she hated Sai'Ryn? Or did she hate letting even someone so awful as Sai'Ryn exist in such a form? Was it even enough of her anymore to constitute her memory? Maybe destroy it just because it was that creature's own effigy, its own triumph?

\tCailey decided to leave it. Sai'Ryn herself wanted to leave Annabelle splattered where no one would find her. Sai'Ryn's memory will have to tolerate the... existentially demoralizing Lovecraftian equivalent, her heart-lantern surrounded by the outline of her girl-shaped sprawl of pulsing blood-vessels. Perhaps one day they'll grow to encompass the whole park, like the others.

\tCailey almost threw up as she returned to the others. ``She's dead... Don't... fucking, go looking out there.''

\t``B-but now what?'' Melanie whimpered. ``C-Cailey, every... everyones g-gone.''

\t``Melanie please!'' Cailey cried. ``I can't... I can't think about that right now!! We just got to get to that lighthouse, forget about them!''

\t``NO!! Why?! Why would I forget about them?'' Melanie cried.

\t``I can't deal with this!'' Cailey whined, starting to pace in circles. ``How am I supposed to live like this? We're not getting home, who are we kidding? I don't even want to go home anymore! No one would believe me, I'd go insane! No one would understand! How am I supposed to go back to school and homework and grown-ups telling me what to do when I just saw monsters eat my friends?''

\tMelanie rushed Cailey down and hugged her, burying her face against Cailey's pouch.

\tCailey paused, blushing. Her face fell, and she curled around the cow-girl, hugging her back. She began crying, and it seemed they were safe, as Annabelle's face stayed dry. She joined in on the hug, though, sighing.

\t``I know Cailey... It's... fucking awful out here. The Silent Universe is no place for children.''

\t``The... the what?''

\tAnnabelle blinked. ``I think that is... is where we are.''

\tThe girls just enjoyed each other's warmth, and breathing. Cailey calmed down, face drying up, another reassuring sign that the... thing... was gone.

\tCailey gasped. ``Lets... let's find the center...''

\tThey nodded.

\tThree girls remained...

\tIt took them over a-quarter-of-an-hour to find the center. Despite the dim search-light as a beacon, the park was so big and full of distracting, interesting set-pieces and play-equipment. It was also dark, and hard to see, and the girls moved with glacial caution. In the light of what the blood kudzu really was, Cailey avoided looking at it whenever she could, and it made navigating harder.

\tBut she refused to tell them why it bothered her. She said she was just sick of the stuff - she had to make sure they had no reason to connect the blood kudzu to what may have happened to Sai'Ryn. Cailey almost gave up... but if Melanie gave up, they were dead. Melanie had to be protected...

\tThe center of the park, the center of the pier, was the light-house, looking like some sort of command headquarters for the entire park. `Youth culture' was printed in brass lettering, corrupted by sea-air now, across the door leading inside.

\tCailey stared at the door-knob, terrified of finding nothing inside, just another dead-end, or even a home for another celestial horror. This felt like the most significant part of their journey... so, was it stupid to be hoping for salvation now?

\tCailey closed her eyes and turned the knob, opening.

\tInside were a reception area and five doors lead off from here - a closet, a kitchen/break-room, the main office, the security office, and a hallway leading deeper into the light-house.

\tCailey felt her fear fall into steady-beat. This was not looking promising.

\tThe closet was fit for a janitor, the kitchen had power but its food was spoiled. They found more water, at least, and refreshed themselves.

\tThey checked the main-office, the door opening onto a hideous clutch of six heart lanterns.

\tSLAM!

\tCailey's heart hammered as she held the door shut.

\t``What was that for?'' Annabelle asked, concerned. Her tail was slightly fluffed from the shock.

\tCailey closed her eyes, gulping. ``Just... jittery.''

\tShe re-opened the door.

\tThe heart-lanterns were grossly calcified, swollen to glassy fixtures the size of beach-balls. They were in seemingly random spots in the room, but one was carefully set into the ceiling, as typical. One, however, was on the desk itself. The room was in a disheveled state, papers strewn about and a filing cabinet lay across the floor in rusted ruin.

\tThey leafed around, but nothing seemed to stand out.

\tThen, the security room, and then they finally found something unexpected.

\tThey stepped into a full-powered room, all the monitors on, and in working order, except for the lack of a signal. Static hummed on most of the screens. Blood kudzu was growing on the walls and in-and-out the vents, and covered the computers, but it did not seem to have penetrated the machines themselves.

\tAnd one monitor... had a signal, and ostensibly, a camera for video-chat.

\tThe girls stared, shocked. Hope, and incredulousness, mixed on their countenances as they walked toward the computer.

\tThe signal was of a laboratory, filled with coiling instruments exciting liquids in distractingly stereotypical, mad-genius equipment. Coupled-in-theme was a clear bent toward some kind of alchemy, a theme expressed throughout the lab. Things that looked like centrifuges whirred, and there was a large desk near the foreground littered with complex notes, glass tiles with samples or x-rays of some kind, and, finally, a person, walking about the lab and talking to himself.

\tHe wore a black coat with golden trim, and he had long, trailing moth-wings. looked like a bat though, with complex arm musculature and bones that gave him additional bat-wings, and extra fingers to form a more dexterous hand. He was rubbing his chin, and strutting on legs that ended in extraordinarily tiny, thin cat-feet. He was tall, and his pelt a dark, rich brown color, with chocolatey markings around where fur grew sparse, such as his eyes and nose.

\t``Who... who is that?'' Cailey stared in wonder. An adult... but where?! Where was this camera-feed coming from?

\tThe figure on the camera turned, and looked at them.

\t``What...!'' Cailey gasped. ``He... he didn't hear us did he?''

\tThe figure scrambled forward, clearly approaching a camera he was aware of. ``My goodness! People! Little-girls no less! My word, something different from your enigmatic plane!''

\tCailey gasped, starting to cry with hope and pain. ``S-sir, sir, please, we need help, there are these monsters, and - ``

\tHe held up his finger to shush them. Cailey stopped, but felt like she'd been smacked.

\t`But... but, you don't get it, so many bad things have happened.'

\tBut a need for an adult, an intense need for an adult, made her stop. Yes, she'll listen...

\tThe weird hybrid wore immensely large, yet thin, round glasses. They were perfect circles, and were clearly chosen for aesthetic. He adjusted them, and they reflected a beam of light that temporarily made it seem he had moons for eyes.

\t``Yes, yes, I am already aware of the ulyeoths over on your end. The one with the Qliphottic sigil of the Scar, seems particularly interested in staring at me and my work...''

\t``The... The...'' Cailey struggled. ``The ooly-moths?''

\tThe scientist shook his head. ``Typical.''

\tAnnabelle curled her face in anger. ``Excuse me?''

\tThe scientist adjusted his glasses again, folding one arm behind his back. ``If you have nothing interesting to share with me, I must get back to my work, but seeing as how you've stumbled onto my mystery-pet, I'll take time out of my busy schedule to converse with you, but you have to understand that I do not have time for children playing games.''

\t`Oh God no,' Cailey thought, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared at this horrible man. How... how could she come this far, and get the worst kind of adult? A pompous intellectual who thinks their time is worth more than her life...

\tThere was a teacher like that at her school, and Cailey had never thought she could hate someone so much until she'd met Sai'Ryn. But after surviving this far and losing so many friends, this man who'd said very little, had made it to the top of her shit-list.

\t``We're dying!'' she pleaded. ``Please, we need help! My friends are dead! I'm scared, and we're alone, we don't know how we got here! We're lost!!''

\tThe scientist stared at them, then closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He sighed, as if he was pained for patience with these disorganized Luddite children.

\t``I know you girls are in an unfamiliar situation, and situations of that nature may seem scary at times...''

\tCailey's heart leapt to her throat, pounding with rage.

\tHe opened his eyes and glared at them, yet-again adjusting his glasses while stiffening his posture. ``But I am a very busy man, and I'm the most important mind in the entire world. Assuming you are from my world, that is. I can tell one of you are, you have the characteristic traits in your aura. One of you is heavily indoctrinated into the food-chain. Let's get this out of the way.''

\t``You, dear, small children, are speaking with none other than Research General Calcifer, the Lord of Crucible!''

\tThe girls stared vacantly.

\t``Pfah, Crucible? The most magically, and technologically advanced city-state in the food-chain world of the First-Slave?''

\tCailey shook her head, now frowning. She'd hated what happened to Sai'Ryn, but she was starting to wish an... ulyeoth would sneak up on him right now.

\tThe man spun around in a circle, swearing to himself. ``I swear to Dhaos, mortals these days, they're like children.''

\t``We are children!'' Annabelle shouted, starting to hyperventilate.

\t``Clearly you are!!'' Calcifer said, rounding on them again. ``Reincarnation not withstanding! Enough then, you're wasting my time. You clearly have nothing new to offer me.''

\t``Wait! What the hell is it you want from us? We've been all over the pier, and - ``

\t``Ah, so you DO wish to cooperate,'' Calcifer said, throwing up his hands. ``Now we're getting somewhere. Good. I've been trying to scrutinize as much as I can whenever `Scar-Face' showed up, but there is precious little to glean of that world you are in from a single camera. A place that an actual ulyeoth haunts, not to mention the camera signal seemingly delivered to me as an act of providence, it has brought me much entertainment to consider this mysterious camera signal, in-between me doing actual important work... Naturally, the mystery-camera you're speaking to me from remains an idle hobby of mine. Do not test my patience. Let's start from the beginning. Where are you?''

\t``We don't know that! It's just some abandoned pier in the middle of the ocean!'' Cailey shouted.

\tCalcifer sighed. ``Alright, a pier in the ocean. Look, do you have vision spells?''

\t``I... I can't do magic!''

\t``Then what good are you to me?'' Calcifer sighed and reached his hand out to the camera.

\t``No, please, I'll cooperate, I need help!'' Cailey cried. ``Please don't do this, if you don't help me, we'll die! We'll die!''

\tCalcifier rubbed his curly, oily hair back, and sat down on a stool. He crossed his fingers together and looked at them patiently.

\t``Very well, one more try. Just start with where you last remember coming to that world, and, if I decide you're telling me something irrelevant, I'll ask you to skip it.''

\t``... Okay, fair. Um, first, my name is Cailey - ``

\t``Skip.''

\tCailey glared at him. ``I woke up in this world. I don't know how I got here. I think I was asleep in my bed, at home, on another world - not yours either.''

\t``Hm, what's your world called?''

\t``Um, Earth.''

\t``An Earth. Earth's with civilization-grade kangaroos are in the minority. Would you say your world is a fully causal-phenomenon, physics driven universe?''

\t``I uh... Yes?''

\t``Skip.''

\tCailey almost screamed. ``I woke up... I was in a room... By myself.''

\t``Hurry it up, you're becoming redundant.''

\t``There was this heart-shaped lantern on the ceiling.''

\t``How is a silly light-fixture relevant child?'' Calcifer asked, studying his fingernails now.

\tCailey slammed her fist against her thigh. ``No! It was horrible! It was like an actual heart, but made of glass, and it was beating! It was hard and slick like glass but it could flex!''

\t``Huuuh,'' Calcifer mused, rubbing his chin. ``... Go on.''

\tCalcifer asked her to skip again when she started talking about the girls she met. He even asked to skip, derisively, almost the entirety of their experience.

\t``I can see where this is going. Skip to the part after the rabbit dies. Actually, let's just skip to the part you get to this amusement park.''

\tCalcifer showed marginal interest in how there was a dog-shaped... ulyeoth, as well as the thing in the pond, but little of anything else.

\t``Then we... we found Sai'Ryn.''

\t``Skip.''

\t``S-skip!?'' Melanie finally stepped forward, making the other two girls blanch with shock.

\t``M-Melanie...!'' Cailey cautioned.

\t``Sai'Ryn raped Annabelle! She ate my friends!''

\t``I said skip!'' Calcifer shouted. ``Rape, ate my friends, that sort of thing happens every minute in my world! Ask the fox, she knows!''

\tAnnabelle looked away, blushing.

\t``There is no way back to your home-world directly,'' Calcifer said. ``The best you can hope for is die in the First-Slave's world and proceed back to your own world via metempsychosis, as the First-Slave's world boosts Narrative-capacity several-fold. And since one of you is from the world of the First-Slave, you'll be able to enter my world by simply being devoured in the presence of that fox.''

\t``I... what?'' Cailey gasped.

\t``There is a small chance you can get home by being eaten in my world,'' said Calcifer, ``And a small chance you won't enter my world by being eaten while that fox is aware of the devouring. Do you need me to use a chalk-board? The Curse of the First-Slave is tightly bound on that fox. The Curse pulls souls into this world like an ant-lion's trap. This world is at once an oasis and a prison, trapping souls within it and its endless cycle of predator and prey. Getting to your world is hard, but getting to my world is easy. All you need to do is be eaten by something. Unfortunately for you, the cloaked ulyeoths perform a procedure that will not count for the occult mechanisms behind the First-Slave's magic. Naturally, the fox can swallow two of you and send you to my world, but, she will be trapped and left behind, alone.''

\tThe girls stared in stunned silence.

\t``Is that enough information for you?'' Calcifer asked. ``I've been very generous with you - information is power, the only true money. I've given you a wealth of information valuable to you, but you've told me very little information I care to know, and again, my information affects your life, your information affects my afternoon. Try to at least pretend we're making a fair trade.''

\t``FUCK YOU!'' Cailey screamed. ``WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!''

\tCalcifer smiled. ``I am a Lord of course...! An alpha-predator beyond alpha-predators, unchained by the Curse of the First-Slave. In this world, I might as well be God, because the Goddess is a deplorable wretch, and a spoiled brat. This is my world now, in time... So!''

\tHe adjusted his glasses, and chuckled. He clicked his fingers, which sparked with electricity, orb-lightning drifting away from his fingertips, and a haze of ozone following suit. He glared at the girls.

\t``If you plan on coming into my world, you had better hope you can show better manners.''

\tHe waved his hand, and the screen went dark. A message popped up of a smiling cat tipping his hat and holding a lunchbox, walking out of a door. It said below, ``Time for a Break! Back in: 47 Hours, 59 Minutes, 54 seconds.''

\tHe'd... put them on hold or something... for two full days. That was longer, perhaps, than they'd even been in this world.

\tThey could be dead by then.

\tCailey ran her fingers through her hair. ``His solution is for us to eat each other?! What is wrong with your world Annabelle!''

\tAnnabelle glared. ``Nothing, in my opinion...! Look, I barely remember what home is like... I'm as surprised as you are, and I'm not really keen on it.''

\t``Yeah, well, that's because you'd be left here!'' Melanie said, stomping her foot. ``But that crazy man said you can save me by eating me, so just eat me!''

\tAnnabelle gawked at her.

\tMelanie crossed her arms and tilted her body. ``I'm not getting disappeared by those evil star monsters! And besides...''

\tShe pointed along her body, tracing out the patterns of the butcher-lines she'd marked on herself, smudged and illegible now, and hidden beneath her filched pajamas. Annabelle, did get the jist though.

\t``Oh, right, you're... training to be a meat-girl,'' Annabelle mused. ``He said... the hooded figures do not count... wait, does that mean the dog thing counts? Is... Are Strawberry and Lylie in... in my world now?''

\tCailey was breathing hard. This made no sense, this was crazy. Nooo it made no sense... it had to be tantamount to suicide! The key to not dying was dying?!

\t``You know there's this funny urban legend that there was a band of people who ate each other to escape an explosion one Halloween in Pinwheel village, many years ago,'' Annabelle said, smiling. ``Heh... It's almost Halloween now too, isn't it? Maybe it even is, for all we know. I wonder if that's like... a sign or something.''

\t``You're not seriously considering it, are you?'' asked Cailey.

\tAnnabelle rubbed her chin. ``I don't know if I can. I don't... feel like much of a predator. And I'm not doing it if you don't want me to. You both have to agree.''

\tCailey again wondered how much of this could possibly be Annabelle acting as a genius mastermind behind all this... Her trust wavered.

\t``I wish you could remember,'' Cailey tested.

\t``Me too,'' said Annabelle. ``I... was eaten, before I came here. I wasn't sleeping, like the rest of you. I... was eaten, and then I was here...''

\tCailey stared. ``Really?''

\tAnnabelle nodded. ``I think that's why I can't remember. I'm... dead, already. So, I'm supposed to reincarnate, and that resets my memories, I think, or stores them in my soul or something... and then it is hard to access them. I don't know why that happens, but I know that, in my world, people reincarnate, but they're usually different people, it is not like cloning or something. You get eaten, you are reborn later, and you live a whole new life.''

\tMelanie blinked. ``Wuh - wow...''

\t``It is also the magic part,'' said Annabelle. ``But, I remember less about that then anything else. Noticed how Strawberry could remember her parents but not her own magic-school?''

\tCailey shifted uncomfortably. It just sounded so... weird, and perverse. She still did not have the heart to mention that the idea kind of was a turn-on for her, a guilty pleasure she couldn't bear to tell most people.

\tWould it have been better to let Sai'Ryn eat them after all? Crap... and now, it was either be food, or be... a ...

\tCailey was going to have nightmares about this place, reincarnation or no reincarnation...

\tCailey would not become one of those lanterns. ``I... I can't bear to be here anymore. We got to get eaten... But... but, we can't just leave one of us here! Dammit, if we'd just... if Sai'Ryn was still here... she... she could have been left...''

\tGod, it felt awful saying that out loud, especially knowing what horrible thing happened to her. If Sai'Ryn really was alive, could she have left her here, knowing what would happen to her?

\tCailey hoped the answer was no, but... she had to accept she would, since now, Annabelle was their predatory sacrificial lamb.

\tAnnabelle furrowed her brow. ``I... might be okay.''

\t``How?'' Melanie and Cailey asked together.

\tAnnabelle didn't look at them, just stared at the ground. ``If... I can find the yellow-eyed dog... for example, but, there is one other thing. I think I had a magical power that would let me, uh... sort of... eat myself. Kind of like a cloning spell. If I can just remember how I did it, I can save myself. And with you two... um... unavailable, I'll have all those MRE's, and I know how to sneak around now. I could stay awhile, and try to figure it out.''

\tCailey shook her head. ``No, that's too risky, that's a stupid plan! Stupid!''

\tAnnabelle sighed. ``I don't have any other ideas Cailey. Can you eat me?''

\t``N-... no?''

\t``Melanie?''

\tMelanie shook her head. ``I'm... no way, no way could I eat someone! Not whole! At a barbeque maybe, but not... like how I think you'd do it. Like that Sai'Ryn girl did.''

\tAnnabelle clapped her hands to her sides. She winced as her bowels tensed, still sore from her ravaging. ``Well, there you have it.''

\tCailey sat into the rolling-chair and scooted away, staring at the ceiling, and feeling a headache coming on.

\tThis was a nightmare...

\t``I need time to think about it...''

\t``Okay,'' said Annabelle. ``I'm going to search the kitchen again. I think there might be tea I can save or something.''

\tCailey was left with Melanie, who sat with her. They didn't talk much, but they did talk about Halloween, home, and their parents. They left the control room after a while to check on Annabelle, who'd used the working stove to make cups of weak, stale tasting tea.

\tThe fifth doorway entered onto a hallway, which lead to a storage area, a bathroom, the park-director's bedroom, and a set of stairs that lead to the observation deck. The dying search-light kept its vigil here.

\tStanding before the swirling sentinel of light, the girls looked out over the play-park, crumbling, covered in glowing ivy of grisly origin, and nervously watching the faint cloud of grey-discoloration that moved about the labyrinth like a leaf on the breeze, as if it had no preference other than to drift about.

\tFinally, Cailey sighed and smiled at Annabelle. ``You hungry big girl?''

\tAnnabelle snorted, giggling. The moving dot of discoloration slowed. The girls calmed themselves down, and waited for the ulyeoth to resume random-drifting. For safety, they wandered back down into the main structure, and walked to the very end of the hallway.

\t``Park Director Apartment.''

\tIt was a small little one-bedroom apartment. It was dusty, but, it was fortunately short on blood kudzu, and no heart lanterns had been hung here, strangely. This would be a... moderately relaxing place for Annabelle to... rescue the two girls.

\tThey locked and barricaded the door and shut the blinds. Safety first...

\t``Are you sure you can get out on your own?'' Cailey asked again.

\t``I... I'm confident I can do it,'' Annabelle said.

\tHer stomach growled.

\tBlushing, the fox looked away from them. ``I promise I'm not looking forward to this. That was just normal hungry, I swear.''

\tCailey and Melanie giggled. Melanie especially let her eyes linger over the fox's grumbling tummy.

\t``Sure, whatever you say,'' Melanie teased.

\tAnnabelle smiled. ``Heh... Well... I guess we better get ready. Umm... would you all take off your pajamas?

\tCailey's hands jerked as if to start undressing, and then held back. A hollow feeling of embarrassment and shyness came over her. She rubbed her face absently.

\t``Something wrong?'' Annabelle asked.

\t``Umm...'' Cailey wasn't sure how to say this but, the idea of being eaten wasn't what was scaring her, it was more like... she liked Annabelle, but wasn't sure the mysterious girl was, uh, her type.

\tThe idea was a little scary, letting someone eat her, but, the mystique she'd accidentally found in the idea was kind of spoiled by the fact she was sort of not into Annabelle. Perhaps that could change, if she simply knew her better, but, Cailey did not have a very good feel on Annabelle, only that she seems sincere in wanting to help.

\t``Sorry,'' she mumbled, playing with her hair.

\tMelanie was down to her panties, before she noticed Cailey was still clothed. ``What's the matter?''

\tCailey blinked, noticing Melanie was just about stripped. ``Wow, you're... already undressed!''

\tMelanie nodded, holding her hands together. ``Yep! I kind of thought I'd... Um, be on a barbeque someday, but... you promise that if I do this I can get home?''

\tAnnabelle shook her head, looking surprised. ``I don't know if we can trust Calcifer's information, but ... I think he might be right. Still, he did say there were no guarantees.''

\tMelanie faltered, but gulped and nodded. ``I have to get home...''

\tCailey took a deep sigh. She wanted out of here too. Time to stop hesitating! Annabelle seemed more like.. prey to Cailey. But, if this was what was needed, then so be it. Just... fooling around with some girl, getting some experience... Yeah, she'd think of it like that!

\t`Actually that just sounds more dirty,' Cailey laughed in her mind. Her jammies fell away as she got naked. Annabelle took off her plaid-shirt, letting them see her flat belly and chest. Her stomach growled slightly, and Annabelle avoided eye-contact.

\t``S-sorry,'' she muttered.

\t``It's okay,'' Cailey said, smiling. ``So, how do we do this?''

\t``Hmm, that's up to you,'' said Annabelle. ``Feet first, head first...''

\tGosh was this conversation really happening? Cailey sighed. ``I'm sorry... I'm... I feel, weird, about this... I... I...''

\tShe rubbed her arms together absently, looking away. ``I... I've thought about this before... being eaten.''

\tThe other two girls, naturally, had little reaction. Cailey knew why, and yet, it still surprised her how... cool they were with her confessing that.

\t``I just kind of thought that, if it ever happened, it would be... more intimate, more... special? But instead, I'm thinking about how this is... kind of... A-are we about to have s-sex while our friends are dead?!''

\tThe outburst raised her voice, and Melanie gasped. ``Cailey, warm-ups!''

\tCailey blanched, and then took a deep breath, nodding. ``You're right.'' She practiced her warm-ups, and composed.

\t``I get it,'' said Annabelle. ``This is... really awkward, I can admit that. I'm sure we'd all rather have a different person eating them, and... umm, I'd say I'm more like... prey, than anything else.''

\tCailey smiled. ``I knew it...!''

\t``What's that supposed to mean?'' sighed Annabelle, giggling.

\t``It's only for a little bit, and... we're not going to remember it very well, right?'' Melanie asked.

\t``I'm expecting that to happen, yeah,'' said Annabelle.

\tCailey still couldn't get over the fact that something Cailey so bizarrely found to be a sexually charged topic, was being made at the top of a surreal ride-turned-skyscraper, on a haunted pier, after having seen so many of her new friends die.

\tBut other than Sai'Ryn, they were all eaten, so... did that mean they could be okay? If Cailey believes this will work for her, it might have worked for them, too. She just... had to go for it.

\tEasier said than done, though. ``Listen, Melanie, can you go first...?''

\t``S-sure!'' Melanie seemed surprised by this. She smiled at Annabelle and hopped up onto the bed. ``When I decided I wanted to be a meat-girl, I started eating special food and I made sure to play outside every day and stay healthy. I hope I taste good!''

\t``I'm sure you'll taste great,'' said Annabelle, blushing. She knelt down to the floor and picked up Melanie's hooves. Melanie's breath increased, and the smell from her crotch sweetened the stale air.

\tThe two girls shared knowing looks and turned away, blushing. ``Well, here goes,'' Annabelle said, and, closing her eyes, opened her mouth and brought it back to Melanie's hooves.

\t``Auuommmf...''

\tMelanie gasped, squirming her legs as Annabelle's mouth closed around the cow-girl's hooves. It was impressive she got them in, and yet, she'd have to go and swallow a girl mostly the same size as her!

\tBut that next gulp did come, and soon Melanie's hooves were inside Annabelle's throat.

\tCailey felt herself growing humid... she almost felt jealous for a moment, wanting to lick and play with Melanie's hooves too. She had cute feet...

\tCailey was glad she'd asked Melanie to go first; watching... was starting to change her disposition.

\tAnnabelle gulped slowly, taking her time salivating on each part of Melanie as she slipped into the fox. Melanie rubbed at her tender crotch, one eye closed as the fox slowly worked up over her thighs.

\t``Oh... oh gosh, you're really doing this... Hahh, hahh... Hey, do... do I taste good?''

\tAnnabelle nodded, murring, as she gulped up to Melanie's ass.

\tMelanie shivered, eyes half-lidded, her nostrils puffing. ``Really? Hahh... hahh...! Annabelle, if... if we meet again, and... and I'm older, would... would you attend my... meat-day barbeque? I mean, if you found me being roasted, would... would you want a slice of me?''

\tAnnabelle stopped to think about it, but, she nodded. Her tail wagged.

\tMelanie squealed and shivered with delight. ``I'd like that...''

\tMelanie did not say much else; she rubbed herself and let the fox work up her body, her ears flickering and flesh tingling with the ASMR induced by such hungry, greedy gulping.

\t``I hope I'm tasty, I really hope I'm tasty,'' Melanie moaned, as Annabelle's muzzle worked up over her chest, and neck. The fox's belly distended between her and the bed, filling up with cow-meat. Her hooves left imprints where they were settled into the stomach, but Melanie was curling up, as soon as her knees had room to do so.

\tCailey moved her hand up to wipe the sweat from her brow-line, only to realize her hand was sticky, and had been down her panties.

\t`Was I just...?''

\t``Oh my gosh you hungry fox!'' Melanie gasped as Annabelle's muzzle lurched up over Melanie's head, catching her behind her lips, and, with the final gulp, pushed all that hamburger down into her gut.

\tGasping, licking her lips, Annabelle heaved herself onto the bed and straddled her swollen tummy. ``W-wow... Uh, more fun than I'd thought it would be... still, I don't... think I'll... make this a habit. It's a lot of work!''

\tCailey held her hand over her hammering chest... Incredible. It was so different from when Sai'Ryn did this. Being up close, the extra time to observe... the lack of fear.

\t``That was amazing Annabelle,'' Cailey panted.

\tAnnabelle smiled, licking her lips and burping. She patted her tummy. ``Well Cailey, I think I can fit you into my routine, if you'd like...''

\t``You mean, inside with Melanie?''

\tAnnabelle nodded.

\tCailey rubbed her hands together and then rubbed her face. ``Okay... here I come...''

\tShe paid close attention to each step she made as she approached Annabelle. Nervous and shaking, Cailey lifted her hands up to Annabelle's mouth, partially straddling on top of the devoured Melanie as Cailey boarded the bed.

\tAnnabelle opened her mouth wide, drooling slightly. Cailey stared, and slid her hands into Annabelle's maw. The fox wrapped her tongue around Cailey's arms and pulled them in until only her elbows remained. Gulp.

\t``Woah, greedy!'' Cailey said, surprised but, flattered too. ``Heh... I'll get in there, I promise!''

\tAnnabelle's ears wiggled, and she focused on swallowing. Cailey felt herself drifting closer, and deeper, into that mouth. At first it seemed impossible for that yawning chasm to hold Cailey's entire world in its jaws. But, she felt the tongue curl under her chin, and saw Annabelle's teeth slowly become her cage.

\t``It's actually happening,'' she moaned. ``Oh gosh, I can see... down!''

\tShe was centimeters away from entering Annabelle's esophagus. She was really doing it - getting eaten up! Sure by a girl younger than she was but...

\t``I can't believe you can really do this...!'' she moaned... and then shoved her face into those soft muscles.

\tAnnabelle coughed a few times, then, swallowed Cailey's head into her throat. Annabelle's hands gripped and braced Cailey, to help her funnel herself down into Annabelle's swelling belly.

\tFear and doubt filled Cailey, the suspicion and paranoia that she might be getting out-foxed here almost seemed to spice the experience for her, and she felt her loins drip-a-drop from the stimulation. The next swallow pulled her into the stomach, her hands flexed in the humid, open space.

\tHer heart jolted, realizing that after arousing nightmares and just plain wet-dreams of being swallowed by superior predatory beasts, the sensation on her hands was real. A stomach... Her hands, were in a stomach!

\tShe squealed as she felt hands grab hers, and start tugging her inside. Cailey couldn't help but moan from pleasure, the feeling of Annabelle's tongue on her pre-teen nipples made her tail jolt and smack the dusty bed. Her legs kicked, partly from panic, partly from ecstasy.

\tGravity, Melanie, Cailey, and the gulping fox herself, worked together to pull Cailey's torso into the esophagus. Annabelle murred, working her jaws and tongue unnecessarily. She was starting to relish the taste of her friend, and spanked Cailey on the way down!

\tGulp! Kangaroo-ass was now lodged in Annabelle's throat.

\tThe trip down the throat felt enjoyably long to Cailey, as each slimy inch she'd gotten down stroked her face with caresses that rivaled anything her parents gave her - and they could have soothed her out of the world ending! But watching that distended stomach-sphincter approaching her, seeing her arms vanishing through it, and the glistening walls just barely visible in the gloom, she couldn't help but feel euphoria.

\tIt was only too easy to think that she was getting eaten by some infamous, established predator that she'd been crushing on for a while. `Sorry Annabelle, but, I can't help but role-play a little.' So, she pretended her devourer was her domestic-side, favorite predator.

\t``Oh geez!'' Cailey gasped as her head entered the steaming, slime-lined stomach. Melanie was hardly more than a silhouette admist further darkness, but she did see the eager occupant welcoming her inside. Melanie hugged her face as she entered.

\tAnnabelle's teeth dimpled Cailey's ass. She tried to keep Cailey's loins alone, but as soon as she felt the kangaroo's loins throb on her tongue and drip her essence as well, Annabelle risked a teasing lick. Her prey jolted from within, and Annabelle watched Cailey's toes clench and unclench and splay into frilled, trilling flexes.

\tCailey did feel like she was blushing, but that lick was not only forgiveable to her, but only heightened the sensation! After all, she was pretending her predator was someone else...!

\t``Yes, yes please...!'' Cailey whimpered.

\tAnnabelle didn't hear, but, she sensed the moans within and gave the kangaroo another lashing. The broad strokes of her canine tongue made Cailey's legs jitter erratically. Melanie giggled as she watched Cailey pant and moan inside the limited space of the stomach. She hugged Cailey around her shoulders as they finally slipped inside, giving the cow-girl a good grip to really start pulling!

\tAnnabelle couldn't take it anymore. Cailey's flavor necessitated swallowing. Gulp! Lurching her whole body back, Annabelle felt the momentum of Cailey's hips moving down her throat, felt it in her whole being. Her eyes rolled slightly from the feeling. Her sternum was painfully distended, yet something was satisfying about the pain and discomfort.

\tAnnabelle gulped as if she was drinking water, quickly overtaking Cailey's legs. Melanie wiggled to the side to let Cailey curl up inside, squishing face-first into the bottom of the stomach, before sliding along her back into a similar position as Melanie. Once her ass fell in too, enough momentum pulled her feet into the fox's mouth, and down into the stomach.

\tAnnabelle coughed and burped with surprise, not expecting that much food to suddenly slide down her esophagus. Gasping for air, the drooling fox lay back and rubbed her distended belly.

\t``Haaahhh! Hahhh! Hahhh! Geez...! I didn't... intend to enjoy... that so such!  I'm so embarrassed, oh gods I'm sorry!''

\tCailey shuddered inside the stomach. Embarrassingly, her hands were between her legs, rubbing. She could empathize with Annabelle! This was awkward and embarrassing, and the fact it turned them both on made it only more so!

\t``C-Cailey!'' Melanie laughed, ``We're in a tummy! I'm actually inside a tummy!''

\tCailey hugged her, nodding her head, her mind racing with thoughts of her make-believe, satisfied crush. ``I know! I can't... believe it's actually happening...!''

\tAnnabelle's eyes drooped, blood rushing to her gut. ``Wow... I'm glad that... went well. Urp.''  Her eyes burned with fatigue, and she struggled not to nod off.

\t``Are... are you alright so far?'' Annabelle asked.

\tCailey and Melanie tried saying yes, although they got no response. ``Yeah we are!'' Cailey stroked her hand gently along the top of the stomach, hoping to signal that this was just fine for now!

\tBut still no response, and then, they heard a mild snoring.

\tOh gosh... well... No going back now then.

\tCailey hoped these sticking, tingling juices wouldn't become painful soon... actually, she hadn't stopped to consider whether this would be ungodly painful.

\tHer loins grew taught as the feeling that she'd have to accept a... detailed digestion, occurred to her. Her fear swelled her arousal, lost in confused mental pathways.

\t``It's too late now, we're stuck,'' Cailey gasped. ``Melanie... will... will you hold my hand?''

\tMelanie laughed and grasped her hand, and the two girls began exploring themselves as the stomach slathered them in thickening layers of viscous, sticking stomach juices.

\tThe tingling grew stronger, until Cailey felt as if she were covered in a spicy sauce. The tingling stopped there, but the heat and wet sensation only seemed to grow stronger. She felt like she'd dipped into a bath that was just ever so slightly too hot, and despite the slight stinging, her flesh felt this luxurious moisturizing sensation, like lotion. Her pre-teen pussy tremored and quaked, the stimulation felt particularly intense there.

\tShe was still scared for the coming pain, her fear only dying off when she shifted some point later, and found that a large portion of her had sloughed away at some point. Her heart jolted as she realized she was already digesting! And, had already digested far more than she'd anticipated, and yet the disassociation of a significant portion of her flesh into the fox's stomach acids, had not dulled her pleasure at all!

\t

\t``Oh fuck...! Melanie?'' Cailey wiggled next to the cow.

\tThe squirming child nuzzled against her, but her breath was raspy, and she couldn't figure out what the melting cow had tried to say.

\t``Oh... Oh Melanie, you feel... different, very different...! Fuck, fuck! We're digesting, we're actually digesting... We can't even be saved anymore... This is it for me... Oh fuck! I think I'm gonna--!''

\tCailey squealed as she experienced the first honestly body-shaking orgasm of her young life.

\tAnnabelle belched loudly as her stomach squeezed without warning, dissipating the rest of the air in her guts. She snorted and attempted to roll onto her side, her sloshing, squishing belly following suit. It was almost uniform now, squeezing and mixing its occupants into slurry, like a blender had temporarily been pulsed.

\tThe room currently housed a single person.

\tOne girl left...

\tCalcifer turned on the monitor again. By now those frustrating girls should be gone, and he could get back to his passive-obsession for the fascinating world that had so mysteriously made contact with him. His workshop had many monitors, but this one had decided to permanently reroute itself to a whole other world.

\tCalcifer obsessed over a great many things, and many of them mattered more to him than this other world, but, whenever he was simply waiting for results to come in, he'd watch the screen, thinking of the metaphysics of his universe, and the experience was only ever enhanced when the creature he'd dubbed Scar-Face was on screen.

\tNot even Calcifer knew how, but, Scar-Face was aware when Calcifer was watching, and it would watch back, staring at him, watching him, until he left his workshop. Once or twice, Calcifer had managed to catch Scar-Face entering the room and meandering around as if bored, before discovering Calcifer was watching, and staring him down.

\tHe'd once stood for hours, watching the creature...

\tYeah, he missed that, he missed staring into that horrifying non-face.

\tCalcifer's face twisted into an ugly grimace, however, when the screen came on and a bad-drawing of an angry fox-girl flipping him off, was all he could see.

\tThat fox had taped a drawing over the camera port. Calcifer will not be able to see Scar-Face coming to visit anymore!

\t``Braaat!'' Calcifer yelled, snapping his fingers. In rage, he destroyed the monitor in a blast of scattering display-parts, the contraption falling onto the floor. Calcifer could fix it in minutes, but what were the odds Scar-Face would remove that drawing?

\t``Confound it!'' He stormed away, looking up at the gigantic corkboard that made up one entire wall of his workshop, where blown-up images and data was posted, connected with strings, and forming a complex web of relating facts, all connecting back to the center of the board.

\tThe First-Slave.

\t``I'll catch you, you know,'' Calcifer muttered. ``Did you have something to do with those girls? That many girls who share your Curse, surely not a coincidence. Are you up to something? Are you even aware that you are?''

\tHe stared at the board. ``Who... are you...? Where are you...?''

\tA large, pink cat=lady strolled alongside a well-beaten dirt road, running alongside a babbling brook. It was nice to get out and get some fresh air every once in a while. The sun was starting to set, and she was beginning to grow hungry... in more ways than one.

\tShe stopped to watch the sun for a moment, looming over the mountains. It glinted off her slitted eyes, and she smiled briefly. Well, time to get back...

\tBut then her ears flickered, as she'd heard a sound like... a baby crying.

\tThe cat turned, eyes wide. She spotted a large tuft of cat-tails growing on the river's edge. No, it couldn't be! Twice in a row? What were the odds?

\tThe cat approached the water-sausages and pushed them aside, finding a basket with a baby, having Biblically sailed into this patch of weeds. The whimpering, hungry baby was a fox, blonde-hair, orange fur, and brown gloves. She kind of looked like some sort of meat-and-cheese dish, sort of.

\t``Well I'll be damned,'' the cat-lady said, smiling, her fangs showing slightly. ``Twice in a row... Who's sending these kids? First little Cailey, now you...? What should I name you?''

\tThe cat picked up the cub out of the basket and held the mewling creature against her breast. She absently rubbed at her loins.

\t``I remember when Cailey was your age... That was a few years ago now... where did you come from?''

\tThe baby of course had no answers, only cried against the cat-lady, a fresh new life... Supposing reincarnation actually existed like some people purported, this fresh new life was possibly someone else at some point, who got eaten somehow, and now wound up here. That was what the believers say. Was this tasty morsel eagerly sailing across time, space, and dimensions, to be hers?

\t``All mine now,'' the cat-lady said, tickling the little morsel. ``I'll call you Annabelle. How's that? You can be Cailey's sister. Let's go home.''

\tThe cat-lady sighed, smiling almost lovingly over her new daughter, but the look slowly melted into lust and intrigue, and her finger absently tugged at the cloth covering the baby, taking a peek at what the little girl has to offer the great and powerful Goddess.

\t``If reincarnation has sent you my way, you can rejoice, my child... I'm your new Goddess, and I've got an exciting new way of life for you...''

\tThe cat-lady didn't know if reincarnation was real, but, she did know one thing - letting people think that... made for an excellent dogma.

\tAnd so Annabelle would go on to join a three-year-old named Cailey, as sister-priestesses to the Goddess of the Marzipan Mountains, in a land so far away from city-states like Crucible, Willen, Pinwheel, Metropolis, and Farbank, that the cat-lady Goddess had never heard of those places, and if she could go there, even an airplane could not make the journey in less than a hundred hours.

\tThe cat-lady hears rumors that the Marzipan Mountains are somehow on the peripheral of reality itself, whatever that fucking meant. They say that if you go past the mountains, the world itself almost seems to thin out and dissolve into chaos, before there's only some sort of... blackness, and if you go past, you might enter some sort of... Silent Universe, a strange place full of strange, empty, lonely worlds.

\tThis stream flowed from the Marzipan Mountains. ``I wonder if the Void itself shipped you out to me then?'' the cat-lady wondered. ``You're safe now. You're in Heaven now... my Heaven. And you'll help maintain my Heaven... won't you Annabelle? You and Cailey.''

.

.

.

APPENDIX I

Cailey: Age 12. Albino-kangaroo. Singing prodigy and bit of a nerd, but strong-willed. Owner is Unicorn/ECMajor. Url:   HYPERLINK  http://www.furaffinity [dot] net/user/ecmajor/

Sai'Ryn: Age 14. Wolf demi-human. Preoccupied with a tautological superiority complex brought on by her questionable care-giver. Owner is Er'Ryn Arya. Url:   HYPERLINK  https://aryion [dot] com/g4/user/ErRynArya

Melanie: Age 7. Creamy-blonde cow. A people-pleaser who is passionate to give herself to people. Owner is Slimshod. Url:   HYPERLINK "https://aryion"  https://aryion  [dot] com/g4/user/Slimshod

Annabelle: Age 7. Orange-blonde vixen. Distant and intelligent, she conceals more than she reveals. She does not remember who she is, but she's clearly hiding something too. Owner is... me!

Snowflake: Age 6. Snow-white kitten. Imagine if Katerina  Kittykat from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood was obsessed with robots. Done. Owner is me~

Aura: Age 6. Lamb of golden-fleece. Earnest and sweet, Aura looks like she wandered out of an old 1930's Disney cartoon. She's clearly no ordinary child... Owner is blessedwasthechild. Url: oh wait that's me again.

Lylie Lemondrop: Age 8. Off-white lamb with strawberry-blonde hair. Easy-going in better circumstances, conscientious, and concerned with doing the right thing. This one's mine!

Strawberry Gumdrop: Age 12. Pink-rabbit with white freckles and red hair. She basically wants to be Sailor Moon and fight for justice, and self-censors her language. She has strong convictions. Owner: drum-roll please! It-me

APPENDIX II

Q: What is the Silent Universe?

A: A psycho-reactive, surreal collection of worlds. Most of the worlds are inhospitable to life, seemingly rotting. They seem intelligently designed, but abandoned. To maintain itself, the Silent Universe proliferates the use of magic, and when this is not enough, ``storms'' rage in the Void between worlds, dragging hapless people from other universes into the Silent Universe, often never to be seen again. But for every horror, there is a wonder too.

Q: Is your vore world in the Silent Universe?

A: ``The World'' is indeed an oasis in the Silent Universe, and insulates itself - People inside the world do not know of the Outside.

Q: What are Licenses?

A: Licenses are legal-constructs in the world that regulate who can eat who in the food-chain, but, the Licenses are also magical contracts, and an expression of a soul's deepest desires. Desires incompatible with the food-chain, or, people who value Consent immensely, obtain the Consent License, but then there's also a panoply of predator and prey licenses. While people know the Licenses are legal-constructs, the spiritual-minded inhabitants believe Licenses are magical too, and help prey find their perfect predators.

Q: What Licenses are there?

A: Consents, who cannot have sexual acts or vore done to them without their permission, but they're unable to sexually act without the consent of other partners as well.

Slaves, who cannot say no to any sexual advances or attempts to eat them. Well, they can, but it won't help. No matter how non-con they get, there is always this weird feeling that they're enjoying themselves.

Prey's and Sexual Prey's, who can be eaten by anyone, but will not eat Predators. The Sexual variant extends vore to sexual acts in general.

Predator A's (Sexual variant available), who are the middle of the food chain, can eat, can be eaten.

Predator B's (Sexual variant too), who are the top of the food chain. They can eat anyone else except each other. They tend not to find other alpha-predators appetizing, but they'll compete for food or dominance just fine. The sexual variant allows them to dominate others, but not each other.

Lords and Ladies... These vanishingly rare Licenses denote someone who takes alpha-predator to a new level, almost like a monster or a demi-god. Lords dominate and overrule the wishes of all those who meet them, and may use anyone else as they please. Oddly enough, not all Lords know they are Lords, and Lords can masquerade as other Licenses.

Q: What is Crucible?

A: One of the city-states in the world. It is a center for technological and magical research.

Q: Is magic common in your vore world?

A: Yes and no. All the vore and body-alchemy (beer piss) count as magic, but, the people of the world do not see these things as overt magic. However, magic does exist, and is seen as, at least possible. Depending on city-states and local laws, magic is either shunned or banned, on the grounds that it disrupts pred-prey dynamics and ``spoils the vibe.'' There is also a generic inheritance in most people to compulsively fear Lords, and the wariness of magic stems from this - city-states with ready use of magic, tend to have more Lords appearing in their histories.

Q: What happens to people when they get eaten?

A: They reincarnate! They may look different, but, over time, they usually reborn the same. If their preferences change between life-times, their License might change, however, this does not make them a Lord. Lords can change Licenses without dying, but everyone else can only change Licenses between incarnations.

That's all you might need to know for now! Everything else... is a spooky mystery.

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