On the night of the big Halloween dance, when everyone over 16 would be dressed up and partying in the old school hall, Freddy, a lanky, freckled 18-year-old, instead dared his friends Darlene and Hank to break into Bittershale House. He goaded them, saying he wanted some adventure, to experience a real Halloween treat. He didn’t tell them he just didn’t want to be around the likes of Sean and Diz, the popular kids who kept knocking him down. That, and he figured venturing into the creepy dark would be a good way to impress Darlene.

Bittershale House was a hell of a lot creepier than he’d expected, though, and he had to work hard at keeping his fears down. They’d got past the brambles and had to break the boards over a window to get in. The floorboards creaked loudly as Freddy led the way into a dark corridor.

“You really think it’s safe?” Darlene whispered. She was skinny, in a loose plaid shirt and jeans.

“Yeah, I mean, we’re in, do we need to go further?” Hank asked. His broad shoulders were on show in his tight polo shirt, but he sounded almost as afraid as her.

Freddy laughed back. “You saw how tight this place was closed; there’s nothing in here but us!”

The house was falling apart, with holes in the walls and cracks in the floor, eerily lit by hints of moonlight that got in through holes. The tall ceilings and long empty corridor created deep, stretching shadows.

“There could be animals in here, though,” Darlene continued, creeping behind Freddy. Hank stalled to look back, as though someone might be following them. But no one ever came to Bittershale House: it stood on the outskirts of Onkley, at the bottom of a slope that ran onto the polluted river, overgrown with weeds and walled in. The gates were rusted shut and the windows boarded; no one had been in here for decades, not even trouble-making teens. There were rumours about who used to live here, mostly kids’ stuff about witches and ghouls, but no one could remember far enough back to when it was last occupied or why it got shut up. All anyone knew was that it was really well sealed. It took some heavy-duty work with a crowbar and a saw to get in, and Freddy only dared do that because everyone was guaranteed to be at the dance.

“It’s fine,” Freddy told Darlene, with the whisper the house demanded. His phone-torch lit up big patches of mould and spiderwebs. No furniture, he noticed; the place was completely empty. “I reckon it was was just structurally unsound, and no one could be bothered tearing it down.”

“Nah,” Hank disagreed, “something happened here. I can feel it. Can’t you feel it? This place isn’t right.”

Freddy laughed again. “Sure, keep telling yourself that.”

But he could feel it, too. His skin tingled. It felt colder in here, especially considering it’d been warm out in Onkley, for the end of October. There was also a funny smell in the air he couldn’t quite place – damp, but also kind of like old meat?

He moved on, a little quicker, rather than let his mind create things to worry about. It was just a stupid, boarded-up building. Freddy would show Darlene he wasn’t scared. They just needed to check out the first floor, pick out a few interesting rooms, then that’d be that.

Freddy walked through a set of big double doors and froze as his light caught a huge shape. Some kind of statue? He edged closer in awe, saying, “Holy hell, look at that.”

Darlene and Hank followed him in with similar sounds of surprise.

It was a huge woman, slouched on some kind of throne at the centre of the room. She was at least twice the size of an actual person, and naked except for lines of ragged linen cloth covering her groin and her breasts. Her massive breasts: this woman was thick-set all over, and particularly generous in the chest area. The pale moonlight, together with the LED from Freddy’s phone, gave her skin a blue tint, but she looked totally life-like. Freddy took another step closer and said, “Can you believe the craftsmanship of this?”

“I don’t think you should go near,” Hank warned.

“Relax, it’s just some kind of statue,” Freddy told him. “A fucking hot one.”

“Gross,” Darlene said, but he didn’t care. She was probably jealous; this thing was the embodiment of a powerful woman, one with proper curves, and a lot of it on show. Freddy took it all in; having barely got past kissing girls who were too drunk to know it was a mistake, this view was a rare treat.

“What the hell is up with this place?” Hank said, getting more agitated. He wandered down the side of the room running his own phone-torch over the wall. Like the corridor and other rooms they’d passed, there was nothing there – no pictures on the wall, no furniture. Hank paused and noted, “This doesn’t go anywhere.”

“Huh?” Freddy turned to him and saw Darlene had stuck right close to Hank, rather than him, for protection. Typical.

“There’s no other doors,” Hank said, sweeping his light around. “This place is fucking weird, how’d they even get that statue in here?”

“Can you just –” Freddy started, but Darlene gasped and took a quick step back, pointing at the woman.

“She breathed!”

“Oh come on.” Freddy leered, turning back to the statue. It was a good joke, and unexpected from Darlene, he had to give her that. But his blood chilled as he saw it, too. The woman’s chest rose, slightly, then fell again. Freddy was only a couple of feet away, now, and found himself drawn even closer, raising his free hand. No way it was alive.

“Don’t touch her, for fuck’s sake!” Hank hissed, pushing Darlene back behind him for protection. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“You’re such a damn wuss,” Freddy shot back, galvanised by the big guy’s fear. “Look, the pair of you, it’s just a trick of the light.” He patted the big woman’s thigh, to demonstrate, but the moment his hand touched her flesh he realised his mistake. The skin was warm, hard with muscle but also softer than any statue. Freddy held his hand there for a second, imagining he felt the beast moving, flesh tightening as it responded to his touch. It was impossible, there was no way a woman could be this big, and how could she be in here, locked up, hidden –

He barely had time to register those panicked thoughts before the woman suddenly moved, eyes shooting open. Two huge hands slapped down on the arms of her throne as the massive face locked on Freddy, hanging above him. Each eye was the size of a fist, and unusually coloured, darker than natural, complementing her black lips and black hair, cut at a short crop. The mouth, easily a foot-wide, stretched in a kind of grimace as the woman’s forehead creased – questioning who had disturbed her sleep.

“Oh shit,” Freddy gulped. Her big hand came up and he turned to run. He didn’t get one step before the sausage-thick fingers closed around his neck and he was lifted off the floor. He gagged and kicked as he caught hold of the monstrous woman’s wrist – grip sinking into the very real flesh – but his struggles were useless as she stood from her chair and carried him up higher. The ground groaned under her terrible weight and Darlene shrieked.

“Go!” Hank shouted.

Freddy’s eyes bulged but he couldn’t get out a breath to shout for help. Damn Hank, he was already pushing Darlene towards the door. But they’d come too far into the room – the giant woman was closer to the exit than them, and she took two massive steps to block their path, cracking floorboards and swinging Freddy about as she did.

Darlene skidded to a stop and Hank bumped into her back, both of them looking up with terror at the monstrous woman looming twice their height. They desperately turned to scramble in the other direction, but Darlene tripped on her own feet and fell with a cry. The ogre quickly trod a big bare foot onto her chest, sole covering her torso, and pinned her to the floor as she leaned forward and lashed out her free hand, grabbing Hank as he ran. She caught him by the collar, fingers squeezing over both shoulders at once, and heaved him up in the air.

Slowing down, the ogress rose to her full height, lifting both young men over her head as they threw their arms about trying to claw at her. The monster pressed her foot down on Darlene, who moaned as she pushed back against rock-sized toes. The ogress shook Hank violently so he’d stop squirming, then brought him close to her face. She sniffed, nostrils flaring wide as a tennis ball, then looked at Freddy. He gasped for air, just able to breathe as he pulled on her wrist to take some of the pressure off his neck.

“Why are you in my house?” the giant demanded, her voice a low tenor to match her brutish size. Freddy tried to shake his head to deny responsibility, but couldn’t speak with her grip on him. Grunting, the ogress swung him down and let go, so he landed hard on his back. Freddy yelped in pain and tried to push back across the floor, but stopped as the ogress leaned over him glowering. She said, “How did you get in?”

“Loose –” Freddy croaked. “Loose boards.”

The ogress looked to the side, to the corridor they had entered through. Her sceptical expression suggested she thought the boards were secure. They had to have forced their way in. But her thick lips curled slightly with satisfaction. Oh hell, Freddy thought – she had been trapped here, surely. Somehow, who knew for how long or with what methods. He had broken the seal.

“We’re sorry,” Hank whimpered, hanging loosely from her hand. He brought his hands up together, begging. “We didn’t know anyone was in here!”

“Please,” Darlene whimpered on the floor, having given up struggling, her arms resting over the foot that pinned her. “We didn’t mean it.”

The ogress looked at them both, then gave a deep, rumbling laugh that shook Freddy’s bones. He was rigid on the floor, itching to run but not daring to move now he was free from her. She was blocking the door, anyway.

“I said we’re sorry!” Hank continued desperately. “I mean it –”

“No need to be sorry,” the ogress told him, almost kindly, and Freddy saw the smallest glimmer of hope in Hank’s face. “You have opened the door. And brought me food.”

“Food?” Hank frowned.

The ogress released her foot from Darlene, who rolled immediately to the side and took in a big breath. Just as quickly, the ogress sat down, hardly giving Darlene time to shriek before the enormous woman’s boulder-like bum came down on her. Darlene screamed, kicked and pushed, but only managed to get her top half out from under the shifting giant, as the massive ass cheeks pressed her down below her chest. She pushed at the ogress’s immense rear, but her hands merely sank into the springy flesh, and after a few seconds the weight wore her down. Freddy gaped, knowing he should do something to fight for Darlene, but not daring move, seeing how easily the ogress subdued her.

The ogress’ focus was elsewhere, as Hank resumed his struggles, lowered so his feet reached the floor. As he tried to kick out and gain a foothold, the giant brought her hands together over him, one on each arm so her fingers enclosed his whole torso, squeezing him. Hank tossed his head about, shouting, “Get off me! What are you doing!”

The ogress gave another chuckle as she lifted him up and titled him towards her face. She ran a thick, sloppy tongue over her lips and opened her mouth.

“No! Stop, you bitch!”

The ogress opened her mouth even wider, the jaw creaking as it stretched – unnaturally large, like the hinge was looser than a normal person’s. It was big enough, now, to easily fit Hank’s head. And that’s exactly where his head was going, as she carried him, struggling, forwards. Hank’s legs kicked even harder, but his head was squeezed into the ogress’ mouth, and his shouts were muffled as his face was smothered by her tongue. She kept going, jaw stretching further so Hank’s shoulders could slip in. Her throat ballooned outward as the ogress titled her head back, carrying Hank up with it – his head was being squeezed down her gullet and his shoulders following. She worked her hands quickly, then, patting them up Hank’s body as she shoved the rest of him in.

Freddy watched with wide-eyed horror and Darlene renewed her shoving, screams turning to tearful sobs. The ogress’ lips slurped around Hank, sucking him in whole like a snake, his body constricted to weak wriggles as he slid into her throat. Her chest swelled, then her stomach bulged under her breasts as he was dragged all the way in, until only his feet remained twitching out of the ogress’ mouth. Then they slipped in, too, and her lips closed as she gave a final gulp. The ogress opened her mouth again to belch, loudly, then ran a thick forearm over her lips and announced, “Delicious.”

Her belly bulged like she was pregnant, the flesh moving where Hank struggled against her stomach, alive inside her but utterly trapped. She ran one hand over the lumps with satisfaction, then took a big breath and twisted her head around to look down at Darlene.

“More,” the ogress decided, with a hungry look in her eye.

The ogress lifted off Darlene, who shrieked and rolled over, quickly trying to crawl away. She got a metre clear before the ogress’ thick hand wrapped around one of her legs at the ankle and dragged her back. Darlene’s nails scraped against the floorboards as she tried to hold onto something, but her efforts were useless against the enormous woman. Resting on her knees, huge belly distended over the floor with Hank still squirming in it, the ogress caught Darlene’s other kicking leg with her free hand and squeezed them together, lifting her off the floor. Darlene’s upside-down top half swung about like a fish on a wire as she cried for help.

“Freddy!” she shouted, seeing him watching. Just his name, demanding he save her. “Freddy!”

But the ogress was already drawing her back into that horrifically stretching mouth, both of Darlene’s shoes squeezed into her cheeks. Then, with those massive hands working their way up Darlene’s body, as she lashed her hands about and screamed, the ogress sucked her in, up to her shins, then knees.

Freddy looked around desperately for some way to stop it. There were cracked floorboards from where the ogress had thumped through the room – he could snap one up and spear her with it. Otherwise there was only the big chair the ogress had sat on – a great lump of carved stone, he now saw. Nothing more.

“Freddy!” Darlene screamed again, now dragged into the ogress’ mouth up to her waist, as the monster’s hand reached forward and pressed down on her shoulder, shoving her further in. Freddy jumped to his feet at last and moved for the nearest broken floorboard. He skidded to a stop, seeing how pathetic the little bit of wood looked. Darlene shouted again, “Help me!”

But she was already up to her chest in the ogress’ mouth. Freddy saw the ogress gulp with all her body, and Darlene sunk suddenly down to her chin, arms squeezed up by her face, barely able to move.

Shaking his head, internally apologising, Freddy turned and ran, just before Darlene was swallowed entirely. He darted straight for the door, drawing a grunt from the giant woman as she finished slurping down Darlene’s grasping hands. The monster rolled to the side, stumbling over the bulk of her stuffed belly, and pushed up to standing as Freddy leapt past a reaching hand. It just missed him, but the rush of air startled him into tripping, and he knocked into the door frame. He turned back to see the ogress rising above him, hunched with arms out at her sides. Her fat belly moved even more now, with both Darlene and Hank inside. Freddy was determined not to join them.

He sprinted out, down the corridor, and heard the ogress crash after him. Without his phone light – dropped when she had grabbed him – he had to run madly through the dark. He threw one glance back to see the monster following slowly, lurching into the corridor. She had to squeeze through the doorway, crouching under the frame.

Freddy kept going right through to the board they’d used to get in, then frantically kicked his way out. He fell through the hole into brambles, ignored the cuts and scrapes and kept moving. He jumped and shoved his way through the weeds, scrambling up the slope, then kept going right over the wall and through the long grass. He ran out into the road and started following it away, aware only of the thumping of his own heart and the loud desperate sound of his own breathing. The road rose up, turning away from Bittershale House, back towards town, and only as he reached the last bend did Freddy dare slow down and look back.

In the moonlit night, before the backdrop of the overgrown property, the ogress rose over the wall as a terrible, bulging silhouette. She swept a thick leg through the brickwork that stood in her way, smashing it down though she could’ve stepped over it, and she took a big, quaking step into the road. There, the monstrous woman also paused, rising up, head turning one way and another. She hadn’t seen where Freddy went! If she took the road the other way, she’d go out into the country, far away from Onkley. Freddy watched, daring to hope that she would make that mistake.

The ogress straightened herself, though, and ran both hands over her bulging belly. As she stood there, taking stock, a terrible thing happened: the belly sunk in, the swelling reducing, as though the monster was actively digesting her prey, even as Freddy watched. Worse than that, as her belly reduced, the ogress seemed to expand everywhere else, as though absorbing Hank and Darlene was making her bigger. The road cracked under her bare feet as the ogress gained inches, then feet, hands flexing at her sides to test this new height.

Finally, she was done, her belly flat once more, and her monstrous silhouette was a third taller than she had been before. She rolled her neck, stretching, and sniffed loudly. Again. Then her head snapped Freddy’s way, so quickly he almost fell over with surprise. Giving a startled yelp, Freddy turned and ran on.

He needed to get help – reach the sheriff, anyone. He sprinted back up through the houses on the outskirts of Onkley, lights out, pumpkins sadly unlit. The kids were tucked in asleep while everyone else gathered for the Halloween Party at the old school hall.

The sheriff would be there, Freddy realised, and made his desperate dash in that direction. He ran for all he was worth, harder than he’d ever done in school, until he reached the high street and saw, with blessed salvation, the lights of the hall, the biggest gathering place in town. He paused with relief, trying to catch his breath. A couple of people were outside chatting and smoking, cars were parked all around the entrance, and the windows flashed different colours from the party inside. The thump of loud music came out, along with peals of laughter and chatter. But Freddy noticed another thump, and turned back to see the massive ogress far down the road. She was following at a slow pace, moving like the statue she’d first appeared to be, huge in the dark with her other features hidden by shadow.

“Oh hell,” Freddy whispered, then struggled on. As he got to the hall, he saw the last two people he wanted to see: Diz and Sean, the classmates who always kicked his feet out from under him.

Diz, dressed in a shabby werewolf costume, flicked a cigarette stub his way, laughing. “Hey loser, didn’t think you’d be brave enough to show your face. You’ve come dressed as yourself, huh? I guess that’s frightening enough!”

As Sean laughed too loudly at the joke, Freddy gasped for air, pointing back up the road, but he was too out of breath to explain.

“Shit.” Sean grinned; he was wearing an 80s jacket and sneakers, imitating a character from Back To The Future. “Guess the walk here was too much for this geek.”

“Why don’t you take a hike right back?” Diz said, and stepped in to give Freddy a shove. Freddy fell right on his rear. The bullies pointed and laughed as they walked back into the hall. Beyond them, a girl and guy Freddy didn’t recognise, dressed in matching Frankenstein costumes, shook their heads and followed them in, embarrassed for him.

Freddy got to his hands and knees and looked up to see the monstrous ogress was thumping closer. Another second and the others would’ve seen her! She surveyed the rooftops from her enormous height, impressed by all that was on offer. Freddy shook his head, he couldn’t let her wreak havoc here. He rallied his energy and ran into the hall, yelling, “Shut off the music, there’s something coming!”

Though the music kept playing, there was a moment’s silence from the gathered party-goers, thirty or more adults who made up the bulk Onkley’s nightlife, dressed in sexy or crappy Halloween costumes. Then, a good portion of the onlookers started laughing, taking it for a joke.

“Get bent, Freddy!” Diz said from the crowd, to a series of similar jeers, agreeing that he needed to try harder or that he wasn’t funny.

“No, listen to me!” Freddy shouted, moving into the crowd, meeting eyes, trying to find someone sympathetic. He heard more thumps, beyond the music, the footsteps getting closer. “There’s something terrible coming! It was in the Bittershale place!”

“As if you went to Bittershale,” a girl in a nurse’s outfit scoffed.

“I’m serious!” Freddy locked on her as the rest of the crowd slowly returned to whatever they were doing, their hubbub masking the sounds of the ogress’ approach. “It’s a giant woman, it ate Hank and Darlene and she’s coming here!”

“A giant woman,” another girl laughed, unkindly. She was in a Pocahontas costume, leaving little to the imagination. “You wish. All the more for you perv over, huh, Freddy?”

“What’s this I’m hearing?” a clear, older voice said by Freddy’s ear, and he spun to find Sheriff Peters standing over him in full uniform. “You telling everyone you’ve been trespassing?”

“No!” Freddy cried. “I mean, yes, but that’s not the point, it’s coming, any second! We have to evacuate, Sheriff, right now!”

“Come on now, Freddy,” the sheriff huffed. “I get you don’t feel like you fit in at things like this but there’s no need to ruin it for everyone else. Let’s you just get on –”

The room rattled, lightly, hit by a tiny tremor, and people stumbled and laughed at the strangeness. The music skipped, and in the brief silence between the song, everyone heard the thump that followed – the room shook again. Something massive hit the road outside. Then again.

“Dammit Freddy, this ain’t funny,” Peters huffed, grabbing Freddy by the collar and marching him towards the sound. A group of people closer to the doors turned towards the sound with a better angle looking out, though, and saw what was approaching. A girl in a devil costume screamed and hurried away from the door.

With one last terrible thump, a crate-sized bare foot crunched into the asphalt just outside the door, a tree trunk of a leg rising from it. The crowd collectively backed off with whispers of shock and confusion, as a second foot joined the first, casting shadow over the exit. Then the ogress crouched, her horribly massive form filling the exit, and she leaned further down, her face coming into view like someone checking under a bed.

“What the fuck is that?” Sean gasped, close to Freddy.

“Dammit man, you went all out,” someone else commented, trying to believe this was a prank.

The ogress’ expression shifted to a satisfied smile, then she rose up away from the door again. Too big to fit through, now, thank God.

Before anyone could breathe relief, the wall above the door was hit, hard, and cracked all the way up to the ceiling. A half-dozen people gave nervous screams of surprise, then the wall was struck again, and this time it collapsed in with a thick gust of dust. People scrambled, yelling, as big chunks of brickwork fell into the hall. Freddy shrugged free of Sheriff Peters and pushed his way quickly towards the far side of the hall. There was a stage with curtains, and a door down beside it to get to the rooms at the rear, alongside the fire escape.

The ogress shoved through the remnants of the wall, bringing large parts down where her hands lay. Her terrifying form lurched into the hall, half-crouched to duck under the ceiling. People scattered away from her feet, shrieking, and she slowly lowered herself down to her knees. Fifteen feet high kneeling, she completely blocked the exit, sending everyone charging towards the fire escape, a single door in the far left corner. They slammed into it together, too many at once, jamming the way, and drew the ogress’ attention.

“Keep calm, all of you!” Sheriff Peters yelled, trying to establish order as he pushed his way after them. “Move in an orderly –”

Before they could even open the door, a big speaker came flying overhead, thrown by the ogress. It fell down towards the desperate crowd and they parted with more cries – just before it smashed into the fire exit and broke apart, blocking both that door and the one into the rear. People backed off from it, eyes darting every other way for an alternative, but there was nowhere else to go.

Freddy, in the confusion, found up onto the stage, not to escape but to hide. He ducked behind a curtain and peered back out, trembling at the sight. The ogress watched the scrambling crowd of people pushing past each other, curious to see what they would attempt next. Most of them slowed down, coming to a standstill to look back at her, terror palpable through the room.

“What is this, Freddy?” Sheriff Peters shouted, still trying to retain some semblance of control. “Explain yourself!”

Freddy kept totally silent, as eyes searched for him. The explanation, he feared, was simple. Deep in their past, the people of Onkley had somehow captured this man-eating monster and secured it in Bittershale House. He had set her free, and she was hungry. They should’ve listened to him, though. He tried to get them to flee.

Satisfied that the people’s panic and struggles would provide no more entertainment, the ogress finally leaned forward and reached a hand down to the crowd.

The ogress was so big now that one of her meaty hands could reach around a person’s torso – demonstrated as she grabbed a running woman dressed as a cat. The woman kicked and screamed as the ogress lifted her and rotated her for inspection. Others darted about shouting for the monster to let her go. Some of the bolder young men took up weapons – chairs and brooms – to fend the giant off, but they did not dare come close.

Sheriff Peters drew his pistol. His voice shook as he shouted, “You let her down, now!”

The ogress gave a sideways look to the sheriff, halfway across the hall. He tentatively raised the pistol, and she suddenly rocked forward. People shrieked as Peters pulled the trigger, but for the loud bang the bullet didn’t slow the ogress. Her hand slapped down on the sheriff, sending his pistol flying as he was flattened against the floor with a horrible crack. The ogress scooped him up as she withdrew, his body floppy as he barely managed a groan.

In the distraction, a couple of people closest to the exit made a dash for it, trying to scramble over the ogre’s ankles. She sat quickly back and dropped the sheriff down onto her knee to free a hand. The man leading the escape, in a superhero cape, was already over the giant’s foot and dashing for the road – the ogress closed her hand over his head and plucked him back up, before throwing him back into the hall. He struck three people, knocking them all down. The second man, in a Mario suit, leapt back off the ogress ankle, giving up his escape to try and run the other way. She grabbed him and squeezed as she lifted him off the ground. The Mario screamed as his bones cracked in the ogress’ fist, and a second later he was being lifted towards her tremendous, stretching maw. He could only scream again as the ogress sucked him in and gulped him down. He bulged down her throat, swelling into her belly.

A flurry of terror ran through the room as people pressed back against the walls, nowhere to go but trying to get as far away as possible. The ogress ignored them for a moment to turn her attention back to the catgirl, now crying desperately in her other hand. The ogress callously shoved her struggling into her mouth, too, and slurped her in, all the way to the kicking legs. A friend screamed her name, as the catgirl was swallowed whole, bulging out into the ogress’ belly.

“Attack the bitch!” Diz yelled, given courage by his desperation, and he ran at the ogress with a broken broom handle held ahead of him like a spear. Three other men joined his charge, two swinging chairs, one with a whole trestle table. They converged on the ogress together as she regarded them indifferently, waiting for them to get close, then she swept one huge arm down. The men were scattered like bowling pins, rolling over one another and flying back across the floor. Moving fast, the ogress snatched out and grabbed Diz around the waist as he came to a stop. He punched at her fingers and shouted and swore as she lifted him to her widening mouth. The bully who’d given Freddy so much trouble was eaten in a flash.

The ogress’ thick tongue lashed out over her lips to savour either the taste or perhaps the simple thought of the meal ahead, then she thumped down onto both hands, crawling further into the room. People screamed and ran, knocking each other down as the ogress reached into the crowd. She indiscriminately plucked up the first people she saw – first a girl in a mouse costume, then a guy dressed as Batman, both swallowed quickly. As she thumped about to head off more people running for cover, one of the ogress’ hands flatted a girl dressed as a farmer with a terrible squelch, but the monster ignored it to reach down and grab another victim.

She had shifted away from the exit now, so a great flood of everyone left in the room charged for it, yelling as they did. Freddy stayed exactly where he was, sure that the only safe bet was for the ogress not to notice him. Sure enough, after the ogress sucked a pair of legs down like spaghetti, she threw herself to the side and swung both huge arms out towards the exit. She fell down flat on the floor, one man squashed under her belly and a woman flattened by her breasts. The fall was heavy enough to shake the whole building and sent cracks up the wall, tripping more people over.

Half a dozen people had made it to the doorway and were running into the open when both the ogress’ hands slammed through them, first knocking them all down and then dragging them back in. She caught five, squeezed together between her fingers, while one person tumbled out of reach, the girl dressed as a nurse, who fell down stunned by the door. The ogress heaved herself up and turned, sitting down to block the door again – and her expansive butt landed right on the nurse, squishing her before she could scream.

The ogress took stock again, now sitting upright with her big legs stretched across half the length of the hall, dirty soles of her feet on show. The pair of people she’d landed on before had stuck to her flesh, the woman sliding down her left breast while the man fell off the folds of her belly onto her thigh. The five people in her hands struggled desperately, pushing over one another like fish in an overstuffed net. The ogress dumped them all down onto the short shelf of fabric of her groin cloth, and peeled the woman off her breast. She ate her, then proceeded to pluck up the others, two at a time, always gripping one person readily in hand while she swallowed another. They screamed and struggled all the while, but could not separate her fingers, nor run, as she kept pulling them back.

In a few short, terrible minutes, the ogress had devoured her catch, and sat back slightly against what was left of the wall behind her. Her belly had distended largely again, and kept moving, a whole crowd of people struggling inside her now. She wriggled her toes with delight, grinning happily.

Freddy trembled where he hid, willing it to be over now. Surely she had eaten enough, and would leave them be. But the giant ogress was going nowhere, eyes roving over the room. Half of the crowd remained, if that, and they were all hiding behind tables or music equipment. The ogress narrowed her eyes and said, “Silly mortals. I will eat every one of you.”

She rubbed a hand over her twitching belly and Freddy noticed it starting to reduce again. The people inside were being absorbed, and soon the monster would surely grow. But what could he do? Where could he go? Someone had defeated this beast before, surely – there must be a way now.

“Mm,” the ogress gave a rumbling noise of pleasure, and the ground creaked beneath her as her weight increased. Sure enough, as her belly reduced, the giant was enlarging again. Her big feet, the part closest to Freddy, stretched, shifting even closer to him – soon a metre high, still rising. They reached the stage, toes curling over the edge as the ogress’ expansion continued and the boards cracked. Freddy backed off, careful to keep hidden by the curtain, even as the toes got almost close enough to touch – the biggest now larger than his head. The ogress gave another big exhale of satisfaction and the creaking stopped, the process complete.

Freddy leaned back around to see she had more than doubled in size and barely fit in the hall, shoulders hunched right up the ceiling. Her folded legs and arms down at her sides took up all the available space. And with her head craned up by the ceiling, she had a birds-eye view of the room, a room which she could reach right across now. She said, with an earth-shuddering voice, “You look tasty.”

A shadow moved over the stage as one of her massive arms shifted, and a cluster of shrieks announced a scattering group of people. Three people dashed for new cover, two ducking under the ogress’ knee while the third climbed onto the stage. The Pocahontas woman screamed and pleaded as she was plucked up between the ogress’ finger and thumb. She was shoved between the great black lips like a sweet, the monster now big enough to fit a person in her mouth whole. As the ogress swallowed, she shifted and cracked the walls, reaching down for more people.

Across the stage, Freddy saw it was Sean who had joined him, and he was hiding behind the opposite curtain, face wet with sweat and eyes wide. He flinched as another man shouted in terror before being swallowed. The giant’s feet shifted as she twisted to grab more people, one shoving further into the stage, and Sean jumped aside. He spotted Freddy.

“You,” he growled. “You brought this here, you little shit!”

“Stop, keep quiet!” Freddy begged, raising his hands. Sean’s furious eyes were locked on him as though revenge might make up for their hellish situation. Another woman’s scream rose from the floor up towards the ceiling, lifted to the ogress’ mouth.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Sean snarled and surged out from hiding. Freddy put up his hands, moving away from the curtain, but the bully wasn’t thinking rationally, wanting only to strike him. He charged over the stage and Freddy tried to push him back, but they grappled and fell down together. Sean punched at him and Freddy flapped his arms ineffectively to fight him off.

They rolled, out into the open, and Freddy cried, “She’ll see us!”

The stage answered him, boards creaking around them as it flexed – the closest foot had drawn back, releasing pressure. Sean sat up on Freddy’s waist, preparing to punch him again, and Freddy saw past him that a huge object was coming down on them. He cried out, fearful enough to finally snap Sean out of it, and Sean whipped around just in time to see the immense toes and sole of the ogress’ foot falling on them. He yelled and dived out of the way, but Freddy had no time, and the foot landed on him, flesh smothering him as he was pressed down into the stage. He was dragged along as the foot shifted, and the toes curled. Freddy weakly pushed against them, but he was squeezed between the line of toes and the foot’s crusty pad. Then he was lifted, in the clutches of a monstrous foot.

Freddy managed to squeeze his torso free just enough to twist about and see he was high above the hall, the ogress’ foot holding him as her leg was lifted. If he could push free, the fall could kill him. The ogress leaned a shoulder past, reaching to the stage. Sean swore furiously as he was pulled off the back of the stage, caught by a leg in her finger and thumb. He thrashed about as she lifted him, and his anger turned to a terrified shriek as the ogress dropped him into her waiting mouth. She gulped him down, then her fingers reached back to her foot. Freddy cried out as she pulled him out from between her toes and held him up before her face.

Her inhuman eyes studied him as he hung by one shoulder from her fingers.

“You,” she said. “You released me.”

“I didn’t mean – I didn’t want –” Freddy uttered, words falling out with no sense how he could possibly reason with this monster.

“They locked me in for many centuries,” the ogress confided. “Only an outsider could release me. I shrank and now must take time to grow again. But this has been a good start. You have served me well.”

“Served you?” Freddy said, weakly. Then he perked up, an idea forming. “Yes. I’m glad to serve you. I can do whatever you what – I’ll be your greatest help. If you only spare me, I promise I’ll make you proud.”

The ogress chuckled, now so big that her laugh shook the world. “All your people will bow before me. I will dine on human flesh for centuries to come. But I only need you to do one thing.”

“Anything! Absolutely!”

“Feed me,” she said, and her enormous black lips opened to receive him. Freddy screamed as he was pushed into the wet cavern of the ogress’ mouth, and he fought with both hands and feet against her tongue, bigger than he was. Her great jaws closed behind him, and she swallowed. Even as he screamed sliding down the wet confines of her throat, he heard more screams, in her belly beneath him, and outside, as she reached down to grab more people. He had damned them all to this same dark fate.