3 Days Until Naomi is Back

     Even though I know what’s going to eventually happen... I can’t help it. Being inside a shoe... the idea of it, the smell, the touch. The darkness and the humiliation, the fear. I hump the silvery-tan padded sole, gingerly put my tongue out and lick it. It’s familiar, intoxicating. I wait, and I hump, ashamedly.      I feel her approach before I hear the dull thumps. The ground vibrates beneath me. I breathe quickly. I hear her voice, muffled slightly, from above.     “OH, ANOTHER PAIR? HE MUST REALLY LIKE ME,” the giantess says.

     There’s shaking and the sound of the box opening, and then light floods through into shoe. Not onto me though, as I instinctively hide in the toe section. Maybe not the smartest place, but its too late now.

     I put my arms out to steady myself as she takes the shoe out of the box. The world lurches out from beneath me, and then I bounce as the shoe lands on the floor. I hear the other one land shortly after.

     “MMM, I CAN’T WAIT TO TRY THESE ON,” the giantess says.

     My heart pounds in my chest. I wait anxiously for the foot to enter, but no, she puts on the other one first.

     “OOH, THIS FEELS GOOD,” she says. “NOW FOR THE OTHER ONE.”

      A shadow passes over the opening. I hold my breath. Her foot enters. I grit my teeth in terrified anticipation watching her big beautiful toes slide toward me, flexing in their black nail polish. She was right. Her pedicured feet are lovely.      The toes lift before they hit me, eliminating any chance of crushing me against the wall. They press over me, engulf me, curl around me slightly and I’m held in their embrace. They spread and press down on me - suddenly too hard and I think, this is it. I groan as I start to get squashed.

     She gasps. Gut wrenching motion, blinding light and I’m sent tumbling across the hardwood floor.

     “OH GOD,” the giantess says, “DISGUSTING! HOW DID YOU END UP IN MY SHOE?” She stares down at me, disgust on her face.  “I’M GOING TO STEP ON YOU, LITTLE BUG,” she says, slipping the snakeskin platforms back on.

     I briefly consider not running. Briefly. I scramble to my feet and sprint away. I know it’s inevitable, but old habits die hard. If I wanted to die now, I would stay, like I did in the restaurant when Rebekah slaughtered everyone.

     I hear the first footstep behind me, feel the floor tremble and I flinch, but keep running. Then the shoe smashes into my back, sending me flying into a heap. Immediately I get up and try to run again, with too much adrenaline pumping to feel what’s broken. Then bam, this time she taps me from the side, and I don’t even feel myself being thrown, I just realize I’m on the ground and I can’t move my limbs.

     With great effort I turn my head and look up, vaguely noticing the broken mess of my body. The giantess looks down on me, hands on her hips, a slight, triumphant smile on her lips. She swivels her left shoe on it's slender heel so that the shiny tan sole hovers over me, speckled with bits of dust.

       “GOODBYE BUG,” she says, and lowers the shoe, slowly, steadily. The sole spreads across my vision and I close my eyes again. Then my legs go, crunch, and as her foot rolls forward I feel my body squish upwards, breaking and forcing my innards up out my mouth before my head smashes flat.

Chapter 1: Here

 

7 Days Until Naomi is Back

     We talk for hours. I tell Beta and Zero everything that has happened to me from the moment we parted.
     Well, not quite. I leave out the parts where Naomi foot-fucked me. So actually I leave out quite a bit.
     They tell me how they ran. Circling back through Haven, they gathered up the two women, Ashley, the young victim, and Deborah. Without Beta there, they probably would have been too fearful to run with men. But she convinced them. A few people came with them, those that had never touched the women and who had even dared speak up for them. Stephan, Jeff, and Derek. The nine of them got away through the vents with the sounds of slaughter echoing behind them. 
     When they got outside, they followed a trail of Eric's arrows in reverse, leading away from the place. They didn't get far though. A chauffeur on her smoke break found them in the back alley. They thought they were dead, but the woman gathered them up and eventually took them to Miranda's store, which was nearby. Then they thought they were going to be put on display with the others, but Miranda took them home instead. Finders keepers, she said.
     They had been here, ever since, with all the luxuries of a house of their own. It seems strange to me. Somehow bleak and plastic, surreal. Living in a dollhouse diorama. But being able to turn my own lights on and off feels strangely empowering. There's a bathroom and even a mini gym. And did I mention clothes? I noticed everyone else wearing them, but it takes me some time to realize that I'm still naked. They provide me some ill-fitting clothes. When I put them on I'm conscious of them against my skin. 
     That's when I realize I've never worn clothes before, at least not in memory. Not since waking up in that lab with Keyla. Every so often I'm struck by how naturally I can do something, like slip into clothes, when for all I know I've never done it before. Certain phrases or simile I find rolling off my tongue likewise strike me occasionally, like a scent that brings emotion from some memory you can't quite grasp. 
     Miranda comes by later and checks up on me. She seems pleased that I already have friends here. I still can't believe it. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up any second and be back at Naomi's, or worse, in some crack in the wall, alone.

 

CHAPTER TWO: I Know Who You Are

       That afternoon I sit with Beta and Zero at a picnic table, swapping stories, when I notice a short black man with a shaved head approaching us. He’s wearing a polo shirt and jeans.

       "Hey brother," the man says, extending a hand. "I don't think we've ever properly met. I'm Derek."

     "Hi," I say, shaking his hand. "I'm Al-"

     "Oh, I know who you are, Alpha," he says, cracking a big toothy grin. "You're the man that single-handedly destroyed Haven."

     I freeze, suddenly wary, but he just laughs.

     "Oh, don't worry brother. That was some good work. I was there." His grin fades instantly. "Those guys were... twisted. They deserved everything that happened to them." Then as quickly as it left, his smile pops back again. "You're kind of a legend," he says. He spreads his hands in the air in front of him. "'Alpha: The... Immortal... Avenger!'" He chuckles. "Anyway, I'll let you guys catch up. See you around, brother."

     As he leaves, I give Beta a questioning look.

     "Derek... he's solid," she says. Her voice sounds somber and she stares at the ground, obviously reliving something that happened.

     "What happened?" I ask. "Who is he?"

     "When the other eight of us ran back, two of the other men followed us. That's when Derek showed up. At first I thought he was one of them, but... when Zero turned to fight them off and buy us time, Derek... "

     "Derek stopped them?" I say.

     Zero says, "He killed them. Bashed their brains out with a nail, like a club. I could have taken them, but, whatever." He shrugs.

     "Oh, shut the fuck up Zero," Beta says. "But yeah. He literally bashed their brains out," Beta says. "It was... gross. But then he just gives us the biggest grin. There's like, blood on his face and shit, and I'm trying not to throw up because there little chunks of brain falling off his nail-club thing, and he's just looking at us like... like a dog with a bone, so happy to see us. Yeah. He's a good guy though."

     "Sounds like it."

CHAPTER 3: ALONE

     That evening, I finally manage to be alone with Beta. We sit on her bed and chat for a while. I feel awkward, anxious. I can feel myself trying a little too hard to sound normal. Just shut up. Put your hand on her hand.

    She smiles warmly at my touch. I lean in to kiss her, and for a second our lips touch.

    "Alpha," she says, breaking off. "You know, when you... died again? And we all ran, I thought... I thought I'd probably never see you again. And when Miranda picked us up... and we finally found a safe place to settle... Alpha, it's been a long time."

    Then I  notice some clothes on the floor. Men's clothes. They must be Zero's.     Beta smiles a sad smile at me, eyes watering. "I'm sorry Alpha."

    What the hell did I expect anyway? Of course they were together. They had been together even before I left. I knew it then, and I knew it coming here. "No," I say. "Nope. You had every right," and I know its true even as I say it. It feels like shit acknowledging it, but, at the same time, accepting the truth always feels a bit liberating. I'll just have to work on the lingering sense of unfairness at the world that sets my jaw clenching.

       No, it's not the world. It's me. I saw what was happening. I did nothing to prevent it. I didn't fight for her then. They're obviously happy. I could have fought it, but I chose not to. That's the choice I'll have to live with.

    "Alpha," she says, wrapping her arms around me. Her lip trembles, and her eyes are shut tight. "And after all you did for us... I'm so sorry," she says, breaking into sobs.

    "No, no, no," I say, rubbing her back and cradling her head. All feelings of bitterness wash away. "Don't be sorry. It's okay. It's fine." I take a deep breath, and feel my chest shudder. "I... I thought you were gone forever too. We even searched for you..."

    She looks up at me, her tears leaving a little wet spot on my shirt. "You did?" she says, sniffing. "You and Naomi?"

    "At the pet store. We looked, but didn't see you. I didn't think I'd ever see you again..."

    Beta rests her head on my shoulder. "That's so sweet of her, to help you look for us." She sniffles.

    "I... me and Naomi... we..."

    She looks up at me with curiosity. "You and Naomi what?"

    I show my teeth in a helpless, lopsided grin. I don't know why that's my first reaction. It's easier than trying to explain, and this is really awkward.

    "You... oh..." she says. She wipes her nose on the back of her hand. "how did you... uh... huh..."

    "Yeah," I say rubbing my neck. "I'll tell you some other time."

    "Yeah sure. Okay." Beta says. She rests her head on my shoulder again and smiles softly, rubbing her face. After a few moments she chuckles.

CHAPTER 4: ALL RIGHT

6 Days Until Naomi is Back

     *Steering wheel smooth and firm under my fingers. Sunrise, empty streets. My pickup truck, my garbage on the floor. Someone's bobblehead on the dash. Coffee store just opening. Better get a bagel too. Houses blurring past, stores, large buildings. My parking space. My university.*

     I wake from a fitful sleep, and hear the first movements of life outside. I feel that I  dreamt last night, but when I try to recall them, they elude me. Anyway, my mind soon becomes preoccupied with another matter.

      I wander from my room. Then I quickly return, sheepishly slip some clothes on, and leave again.

     The sun creeps up slowly over the windowsill of Miranda's room as if also feeling sheepish for glimpsing my earlier nudity. It's rays filter through Miranda's window, light up dust motes like lazy fireflies against a burning background, and then re-filter through the glass case into our little diorama dream house of plastic and dwarfed flora. The early light makes the green leaves appear too green, the white plastic and gravel too yellow. I let it all sink through me with my hands in my pockets, wondering what I ever did without pockets.

     Zero makes his way around the perimeter, jogging barefoot, hopping obstacles in his path with practiced grace. I bite my lip, stare at my shoes, and eventually jog towards an interception. "Morning," we say at the same time, and before I can believe it things have already become more awkward than I had feared. We jog in silence for some time, and I wrack my brain trying to force my mouth open to breach the subject.

     As per usual though, Zero is much sharper than he lets on, a fact I had somehow forgotten. He says "I love her man," his head held rigidly upright and resolutely forward. "Sorry."

     That's when  I trip over a root and crash face first into the dirt. When Zero finally notices and comes back for me, I've managed to roll myself over and stare upwards through the leaves of a bonsai, my hands resting limply on my chest like a long dead king unearthed from his tomb.

       Upside down, Zero lowers into a crouch and stares at me. "All right there, bud?"

      "Yes," I say, staring past him. The leaves don't ripple here; there's no wind, they don't break up the sunlight like water. The sky that's revealed in the spaces between them is a constant white stucco. "Everything is fine," I say, in complete honestly.

      A smirk on Zero's upside down lips. He hears the truth in my words, through the thin layer of melancholic self pity tugging sarcastically at me like needy children. "Get up, loser," he says warmly and I'm jerked to my feet.

       I start to wander off in a daze, when he grabs my arm again and spins me around. "Hey, " he says. He furrows his brow and looks around him, searching for the words. "Thanks for saving our lives. You know, if you hadn't done what you did back there, I'd probably be dead and Beta would be..."

     I nod solemnly. "I'd do it again in a second. It's good to have you guys back."

     He nods too, and after a moment tilts his head and wraps me up in his arms. Then he laughs, that familiar cackle of his, and says "Gay!" and bounds off.

CHAPTER 5: Just Waiting For It

      This morning we have coffee. I stare down at it, thinking about my dream. I haven't had coffee before... have I? But the smell brings back that dream so vividly... I hardly ever dream, not like that. I usually only have stress-fueled nightmares, being chased by a giantess, not being able to save everyone... but this dream felt like a memory. There was a wash of emotions that weren't fear for once. I shake my head.

       The coffee is delicious, like I knew it would be. I'll have to ask Naomi for some when I get back.

    "Miranda gets discounts on them cause she works at the pet store," Jeff says. "Apparently it's expensive to produce stuff our size. Who would have thought."     "Sounds like a bullshit marketing scheme to me," Zero says and downs his coffee in one go. He offers up his eggs to Beta. She scowls, but takes them anyway.

    "You can't just eat bacon and coffee all the time. You need other things in your diet."

     "HELLO, LITTLE ONES," Miranda says as she enters the room of her home our house resides in. "GOOD NEWS."

     "Oh snap," Jeff says, wiping his face and rising. "This sounds like the part where she tells us someone has gotten picked."

     "Someone got picked?" I saw, following him.

     "Yeah. Miranda takes care of us in here so that we can be adopted. A lot of the people came here sick from the store. Instead of returning them, she nursed them back to health. And she took us in after we got rescued off the street."      "Return them? Where do they come from anyway?"

     "Do you see that up there?" he says, pointing to a black object outside the case. "It's a camera. Apparently Miranda has a website where anyone can log in and see us live. They can choose which of us they want."

     "Oh."

     We all gather on the front lawn, her face filling the sky. She scans the crowd, her eyes darting between us. "AH. THERE YOU ARE," she says, and reaches into the case. Everyone takes a step back as the massive hand rushes toward us. Gently, they close around a figure.

     Jeff gasps as the giant fingers engulf him. His face is a mixture of surprise, excitement, and a tinge of something else. Regret? "I- okay," he says, rising upwards, "Goodbye everyone, I just want to say..." but his words are lost as he disappears into the distance.

       "TODAY IS YOUR DAY," Miranda says to him as she walks away. "I'M GOING TO TAKE YOU TO YOUR NEW HOME NOW."

     We remaining all glance at each other, mixed faces of happiness, acceptance, and disappointment as we slowly return to our lives. Eventually all that is left is myself, Beta, and Zero.

     "Well, that's that," Zero says.

     Beta sighs. "I think I'll miss him."

     Zero nods solemnly, squinting. "I guess we're all just waiting for it to happen to us."

     "No," I say, "In six days Naomi will be back, and I'm sure she'll take you in with me. Or at least, you'll be able to stay here with Miranda and we'll come visit. I'm sure when I talk to them they won't let some stranger take you away."

     "That will be amazing," Beta says. "We won't have to worry about anything, ever again..."

     We let that sink in for a few minutes, staring silently at the glass walls of the case.

     "I'm bored," Zero says.

     A thought strikes me. "Maybe we could..." I start, but I see a knowing grin spread across Zero's face.

       "Way ahead of you, bro."

     "Oh no," Beta says, "Really?"

     I look at Zero quizzically.

       He shrugs. "I've been looking at a way out of here. There's a fake panel in the ground behind the house. where the power cords get plugged in for the lights and everything. Beta doesn't wanna go, but you and me could unplug one of the cords and get through there..."

     "I didn't want to help you because you'd get caught and you'd get in trouble, or worse you'd get your dumb ass killed!" Beta says.

     Zero crosses his arms and shrugs, pouting.

     I ponder for a moment. "Yeah... I think I'd be down to stretch my legs a bit. But Beta's right, I mean..."

     Beta crosses her own arms, scowling. I'm about to tell that I won't go, when she says, "I'll go."

     "Huh? You don't have to," Zero says hastily. "We didn't ask-"

     "I know you didn't ask," she says. "I'm going."

     I grin. "Okay! Shall we?"

     "If you get in trouble, it was your fucking idea," Zero says, walking towards the back of the house.

CHAPTER 6: What is She Doing Here?

     We shimmy down the power cord. A hundred feet below us the hardwood floor spreads out beneath us like a view of earth from a plane coming in for a landing. Above us the dark underside of the table supporting the house slowly recedes into the sky.

       "Careful," I say.

     "I'm fine," Beta says.

     "OK. Sorry." I can't help but grin. This is exciting.

     When we reach the floor, we make for  the wall and stick to it, walking in single file as we make our way towards the door.

     "Just like old times, eh?" Zero says, and snickers.

       Suddenly it does remind me of those awful few days we spent on the streets after our first escape.

     "Don't remind me of that. What's wrong with you?" Beta says.

     He shrugs, but keeps grinning. "Look at them up there. Suckers."

     The house in it's glass case sits high and ominous behind us.

     "I wonder how long till she comes back?" I ask.

     "I think she's usually gone for at least a couple hours," Zero says.

    When we get to the towering monolith that is the door, I'm greeted by a familiar sight. It's one of the barriers like Naomi had to keep me in her room when she caught me wandering around her house.

    "Fuckballs," I say. "We're trapped in this stupid room."

    "All this work and suspense for nothing," Zero says.

     Beta looks around the room. "Oh hell no, I did not climb all the way down here just for nothing." She points to a metal grate in the wall. "There, we can use the ventilation system can't we? We just need to boost each other up there."      Me and Zero look at each other and nod, smirking.

     "What?" Beta says.

     We shrug and head across the room. "I dunno," I say, "It's just nice to be together again."

     "Assholes."

     We walk across the length of the floor. When we get to the vent, Zero cups his hands together for one of us. I go first, putting my foot into Zero's hold and pulling myself up into the grate. Then I reach my arms down to pull up Beta.      "I can do it myself," she says, carefully making her way up.

     The two of us share a brief look, alone in the vent, before looking away awkwardly. We reach down as Zero jumps up to grab our arms, and we pull him through. The ventilation shaft echoes our voices as we head down the dark hallway. "Hey Beta," I say, nodding to Zero and smirking.

    "Hm?"

    "Getting into here was a grate challenge eh?"

    "Oh Goddd," Beta says, "That was awful."

    "Hey don't mind her, Alpha," Zero says, giggling, "She's just venting, hehe."     "Nooo," Beta says, putting her face in her hands, "You guys are terrible."

    "I don't understand why she doesn't like our puns," I say, "Maybe it's some kind of mental conditioning?"

    "Okay enough with the fucking, vent puns Jesus Christ."

    "Uh oh," Zero says, "Looks this conversation is getting... heated hehehee."     "Well that's okay, if she takes a swing at me I'll just duct."

    Zero and I cackle in delight.

    "Fuck, why did I ever come out here with you two?" Beta says shaking her head.

     We come to the next grate and look through. It opens to a hallway outside, next to a waste basket. Zero decides to go out first, dropping to the floor. Beta is just about to go next when suddenly a door down the hall opens.

    "Shit!" Zero says.

    Huge clacking noises accompany Miranda as she enters the hall in high heels.     "Come on!" Beta says, gesturing through the bars.

    Zero looks around and makes a snap decision to run behind the waste basket instead of climbing back up to us. I concede and scuttle back into the shadowy vent.

    "Zero?" Beta says, looking through the vents.

    I put my finger to my lips and give her a reassuring gesture. The floor trembles as Miranda strolls by in laced boots that reach up just past her knees, and we huddle silently in the shadows. She tosses some some small soft items into the waste basket as she passes us by, making us jump in fear. She stops at the end of the hall and slides open a closet door. Peering out through the vent I see her pull out a light mop and a bucket of liquid. Humming to herself, she methodically unties the laces of her boots.

       Eventually she tosses them into the kitchen. Then she swishes the mop lightly in the bucket and after squeezing it out, pushes it in front of her as she walks back down the hallway. It leaves a winding damp streak on the floor, marked by her footprints, as she passes us, humming happily. She goes back into the room, and the door swings shut.

     "What is she doing here?" Beta whispers. "I thought she took Jeff to his new home?"

    "I don't know. Zero!" I whisper hoarsely, "Move it!"

    "But..." he says. He looks back, staring at something beside the giant waste basket.

    "Come on!"

    Zero disappears around the other side of the can, but reappears shortly. We pull him up into the grate.

     "Whats that?" Beta says.

     "Isn't this... this is Jeff's shirt isn't it?" He says.

     We stare at the torn scrap of green fabric in his hands.

     I feel a shiver in my chest. "Let's go back."

CHAPTER 7: None Of Us Want To Leave

     "No," they say. "Maybe. Why?"

     "I'm just saying its strange. Right?" I reply.

     The others look at each other, confused. Martin says, "What? So his shirt got ripped when she carried him away. Seems a likely thing to happen, considering. What of it?"

     "Well, what about the mop?" I continue.

     "What about the mop? People mop the floor. That's how it stays clean."

     "Also I never heard the client arrive. Did you?"

     "Cars are quiet these days."

     "And I never heard the door either, never heard any conversation out there. She just came out of that room wearing these high heels... And then mopped up what had been on them."

     They look at each other.

     "They were fancy lace-up boots," I persist. "They took like five minutes to untie. Why would she be wearing those in the house?"

     "Women are strange, they do things like that. Anyway did you see what was on them?"

     "No. We were hiding."

      "Well, then I don't see what we're speculating here. You just said you didn't see anything."

     "Really?" I say, noticing the rising pitch of my voice. "Really? This doesn't worry you at all?"

     "What doesn't worry me? What are you getting at?"

     Zero mumbles behind me through his teeth, "I'm gonna punch this guy right in his fat fucking mouth."

     I sigh. "Okay Martin, fine. What if, let's just say...  Miranda killed Jeff."      "What? Why would you say that? Why would she do that?" he sputters.

     "I don't know. I'm just saying-"

     "You've seen how she takes care of us. That's ridiculous, Alpha. She nursed some of us to to health. She spends her time, her money, and her effort keeping us happy and well. Why would she do something atrocious like kill somebody for God's sake?"

     "I don't know!"

     "Well, I think you're out of your damn mind!"

     "Hey man," Derek says softly but firmly, stepping forward out of nowhere, "you haven't been out there. You haven't seen what we've seen."

     Beta says. "They're not like us."

     "Really?" Martin says, "Really?"

     I clench my teeth hearing him mirror me. I can't tell if he's doing it on purpose to infuriate me or not, but by now just the sight of his mouth gets me fuming. It's a wonder Zero hasn't knocked his block off already. He carries on.      "I don't believe this! Maybe you bunch spent too much time out in the wild eating rotten crumbs. What you probably saw back then were just accidents. You shouldn't be sneaking around a restaurant anyway. No wonder people got caught. If you act like vermin, maybe you should be treated like vermin."

     We stare incredulously at each other. I notice Zero's knuckles whitening and his temple throbbing as he clenches his jaw. His face is red. He takes a heavy step forward.

     "No," Stephan says.

       Everyone present turns to look at him. I think its the first time any of us have really heard him speak.

       "They're right," he continues. "We're nothing to them."

     Martin scoffs and turns away. "You lot are insane! Maybe I'll tell Miranda about your ideas! Set things straight. How would you like that?" he says, throwing his hands in the air as he walks away. A few of the others leave with him, talking and chuckling nervously amongst themselves.

     "Idiots," Beta says in bafflement. "They're all idiots."

     I sigh and run a hand through my hair. "We have to do something though."      Zero's nodding his head at me knowingly. "We'll find a way out of the house," he says. "Miranda's house, not this one."

     Beta nods slowly, but stares at the little fake house.

     "What?" I say.

     She sighs, rubbing her eyebrow. "Its just... What if we're wrong?"

     "Huh?" Zero says.

       "I mean... We don't know for sure... And..."

     We look out the window. We all know what she's thinking. We all feel it.      "Yeah," I say. Her pinched expression holds an intensity so deep that I want to cry just looking at her.

       "I don't want to go back out there," she whispers.

     Zero wraps her arms around her. "I know, babe."

     "None of us want to be here anymore," Stephan says. "None of us want to leave."      I stare at him. "Isn't that a quote from something?"

     He looks at me blankly. I try to remember what it's from, but I've never read any books, I realize dimly, or heard anything like that.

     We stare out the glass case into Miranda's house as the setting sun paints everything in shades of copper.

CHAPTER 8: Little Secret

     In the ventilation duct, I slow my run as I approach the next the grate, hearing voices. I can’t quite make out the words with the air conditioning reverberating through the tunnel, but Miranda is talking. I peer cautiously through the slot.

     She's dressed all in black, a nightgown that doesn't cover her lace panties, stockings, high heel ankle boots with large belt straps instead of laces, and thick rubber soles with a tread. Over her eyes, a transparent visor. It’s not an outfit one normally wears around the kitchen, I think.

     Her body is facing in my direction. She lifts one leg up behind her and peers at her sole. A spreads warmly across her lips. She taps the visor near her temple and a small light goes from green to red. She stretches and sighs before leaving the kitchen.

       A feeling of dread worms around in my stomach. I know even this won’t be enough to convince the others. They’ll still think I’m crazy. I hope that I am, but I think I know better. I need to bring back proof. Or at least see every detail with my own eyes.

     Actually I need to prove this to myself. I couldn’t live with this doubt. If I let this sit and I leave with Naomi in four days, I know it will haunt me. I turn back in the vent and make my way towards the next room opening. After a long run, I can see Miranda in an office chair, her legs extending under a desk as I peer cautiously through the vent. She’s still wearing her boots, crossed at the ankles, and behind them computer cords dangle under the desk. The room is small, with the same hardwood floor as the rest of the house. It’s full of papers and office supplies.

     I squeeze my way through the metal grate. She’s watching her computer screen, but I can’t see it from this angle. I slip down to the floor and make my way quickly along the wall towards her.

        Entering the shadow of the desk, timidly I pass her ankles. I can already smell the familiar acrid mixture of leather, dust, and human insides. As I come around her soles, my head swims at the sight. I can make out lumps of red wet meat plastered into the tread of her boots. I swallow hard and close my eyes, stomach churning. After a few deep breaths, I force myself look again.

       There’s something on her boot. A light shining in the dark. I walk towards it, unable to look away. The sole looms over me and I can feel the aura of damp death before me. The bright thing, it’s... then I see the head. Oh God.

     Martin’s head is more or less intact, wedged into the boot tread, gaping at me open mouthed. The flesh around his neck has been ruptured and leads down the trench of the boot tread into a solid red paste of compressed viscera. His eyes are deformed, somehow not in the right place on his head. I lean closer, barely a foot away from him now. In the dark, I make out a clear visor that holds back his eyeballs, having burst from their sockets. Somehow my arm, trembling, extends to the visor, and I wipe away a spatter of blood. Underneath, the shining thing I followed is a flashing green light.

       It’s a visor. Just like the one Miranda was wearing. She gave one to the poor bastard as well.

       But then I remember suddenly when she turned hers off, the light going from green to red. This one is still green, which means it's still recording...

       The blood drains from my face as I realize the peril I’m in, but for some reason, my mind blanking in terror, I raise a hand and cautiously wave it in front of the visor.

       Laughter booms out and for one dreadful second I think it’s coming from the disembodied head in front of me and I fall backwards in alarm, but no, it’s Miranda. The boot moves, she uncrosses her ankles and swings at me. I roll out of the way and it passes over me. I get up and start running, but then it slams into me from the side and I'm sent sprawling. Before I can recover there’s a heavy weight on my back and all the air is pressed out of me. Then I’m sliding across the floor under her boot as she drags me out into the open. The skin scrapes off my body until my arm gets caught underneath me and suddenly I'm rolling, pain erupting through me.

     Then, the weight lifts and I'm drenched in light. I try to get up to run but something's wrong, and I fall on my face. I can't feel my arm... then I see it several yards away, sitting on the floor all fucked up and crunched. There’s some bone sticking out of the socket, and I look down at the ragged bloody stump on my shoulder, wiggling strangely.

     Miranda laughs overhead. “I CAUGHT YOU ON MY SCREEN,” she says. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING SNEAKING AROUND MY FEET? DID YOU LIKE WHAT YOU FOUND? I BET YOU DIDN’T.”

       She’s still sitting on her wheeled office chair, bent down and looming over me, one sole lifted and resting on the heel. It’s the same gory one as before. She’s filming me right now using Martin's head.

     “WAS HE A FRIEND OF YOURS? WHERE DID YOU ESCAPE FROM?” I just stare up at the little green light. I can’t seem to focus on anything else. I feel surreal, I want to fade into unconsciousness, but something in me is fighting that urge.       “WELL IT DOESN’T MATTER NOW. YOU’VE FOUND MY LITTLE SECRET,” she says, and turns her ankle so the camera can catch her other foot as she lightly grinds my severed arm into a stain under her it. The shoe-cam turns back to me and I blink. “AND THAT MEANS I’M GOING TO HAVE TO KILL YOU NOW.”

       There’s a pause and I find myself rolling over and trying to crawl away weakly.

     “NOTHING TO SAY?” Miranda says, and stands up. She lifts her boot up over me and holds it up there. “YOU LOOK LIKE A LITTLE INCHWORM. DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING TO GET AWAY? ARE YOU GOING TO WARN YOUR OTHER FRIENDS?” She laughs.

     I stop, turn over. Martin stares down at me. You were wrong.

       Miranda’s head is turned, watching her computer screen image to make sure everything is in focus.

       “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SNEAK AROUND MY HOUSE. GOODBYE,” she says and lowers her foot slowly, precisely. I close my eyes. I don’t want to see that head again. I wait and I wait with my eyes screwed shut, and then I feel the shoe pressing on me again, feel my ribs all snap. There’s a pause and I wonder how long I will be forced to endure this, but then there's only another second as I crunch and burst in one go.

CHAPTER 9:  Does That Make You Uncomfortable?

      *Above the silhouettes of the pines, the sky is so clear and black and bright I can see the tiniest pinpricks of stars, see where they cluster and form the milky way, see every constellation shining eagerly. I reach out to touch them. I'm drawn to one star, hot and blue. It burns my hand as it draws nearer, heading straight down towards me.*

          “WHAT THE FUCK...” Miranda says.

     I groan and try to sit up, my vision blurry. I rub my face with my hands. Yes, I realize. Both of them. I flex the fingers of the hand that was torn off and crushed.

       Miranda is back at her computer desk, her head turned looking down at me. She pushes her office chair back and swivels around to look down upon me, the floor rumbling. Boots discarded, her stockinged feet straddle me. She frowns, looking around on the floor. I look around too. There’s no sign of my death, no splattering of blood. I realize I'm naked, sitting on a pile of clean, rumpled clothes. She taps her fingers on her chin, squinting at me.

     I struggle to my feet, stumbling a bit, stretching my arm.

     “NO,” she says, “I DEFINITELY SQUISHED YOU.” Her massive hands swoop down and snatch me up, and we slide back to her desk. She holds me firmly in her hand. On her computer screen is the video editing program. She clicks through several windows until she finds the one she's looking for. She drags the slider through the timeline, scanning until it’s where she wants, and then lets it play. At first I can’t make sense of what I’m looking at, it’s just a dark still image. But then something moves, comes into focus. It takes me another minute to realize who it is, because I don’t often see my own reflection. We’re watching the recording taken from Martin's head.

       It’s strange watching me wave to myself. Seeing me from the past, disconnected, knowing that this person is me and that in a few minutes he's going to die. Knowing what it will feel like, what he'll go through. I wave back solemnly.

       Miranda holds me up to her face and I’m confronted by her big hazel eyes as she scrutinizes me. When she looks back at the screen, I twist my head around and watch the video of the floor swinging around, with brief glimpses of myself running away. Miranda skips ahead a bit. I wince as she pauses it on a shot of me lying face first on the floor, my arm missing and blood spurting and pooling from my shoulder. She zooms in on the image and turns me around in her hand. On the screen is my tattoo, X-R/99(ALPHA). She flips me around once more, looking into my face.

     “ALPHA?”

     I nod, cautiously.

     “WOW,” she says, cocking her eyebrow and leaning back in her chair. “SO THAT STORY ABOUT YOU ESCAPING FROM SOME LAB WAS TRUE... THERE’S NOTHING LIKE YOU ON THE MARKET. THIS SHOULDN'T EVEN BE POSSIBLE. IMPRESSIVE...” She opens her hand, letting me stand on my own. “THAT MUST BE WHAT NAOMI MEANT WHEN SHE SAID YOU WERE TOUGH.” Then she sighs and rubs her brow with her free hand. “FUCK. NOW WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU?” I don’t say anything. “WHY ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR CAGE ANYWAY, YOU LITTLE... OH RIGHT. SHE SAID YOU MIGHT TRY SOMETHING.”

     “Why...” I say, faltering. I force myself to continue. “Why do you do this?”      Miranda locks eyes with me. "THE VIDEOS?" she asks, smirking. “FOR THE MONEY.”

     “What?” I shake my head, thoughts finally spinning into place. “People buy them? Why?” But I think I already know the answer.

     Her smirk turns into a grin and she leans in close to me. I try to lean back in her hand, away from her smile. Softly, through her grinning teeth, she says, “BECAUSE WE GET OFF ON IT.”

     I feel sick suddenly, hearing the words I had dreaded in such an evil voice.      “DOES THAT MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, LITTLE ALPHA?” she says.

       I’m shaking. “You killed Jeff. And the others.” She laughs. “OH YES. DID YOU KNOW THEM WELL? THEY WERE FUN. USUALLY WHEN I’M EDITING, I JUST...” She reaches into a drawer on the desk and slips out a large vibrator. “...HAVE TO TAKE A BREAK.”

     Oh God... is this really happening?

     “I’VE KILLED QUITE A FEW OF YOU LITTLE PEOPLE. IF YOU WEREN’T SO EXPENSIVE OR HARD TO FIND, I CAN’T IMAGINE HOW MANY OF YOU I WOULD HAVE DESTROYED BY NOW, INSTEAD OF JUST GETTING BY WITH MY RECORDINGS...” She drops the vibrator back into the drawer, one hand running up and down her chest. “I’M LUCKY, RUNNING THE STORE. ONLY RICH WOMEN CAN AFFORD TO BUY YOU. BUT IF ANY OF YOU GET SICK... I CAN USUALLY SNEAK YOU OUT AND PRETEND I’VE DISPOSED OF YOUR LITTLE BODIES.”     I put my face in my hands.

      “FINDING ALL YOUR FRIENDS FROM THE RESTAURANT, THAT... THAT WAS LUCKY,” she says. “I’VE NEVER HAD SO MANY OF MY OWN AT ONE TIME BEFORE. I HARDLY KNOW WHAT TO DO NOW, I JUST WANT TO CRUSH YOU ALL AT ONCE.” She grins wider seeing my little form tremble in her palm.

     I try to breathe normally but I feel like I’m hyperventilating. “Please,” I say, “Please don’t kill any more of them.”

     She laughs. “WHY, ALPHA? YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM SMUSHED ALL ON THE BOTTOM OF MY SHOES?”

     “Please!” I say. “Just let them go! Kill me instead, just... not them...”

     She sighs, shaking her head and smiling. But then... she puts a finger on her lips and stares at me. I feel hollow, transparent as she considers me. I'm gripped by a faint glimmer of hope.

     “SO YOU KEEP REGENERATING?”

     I nod.

     “EVERY TIME?”

    “Yes.”

     She stares at me. “HMM.”

     I don’t like the sound of that.

     “I DON’T WANT NAOMI FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS,” she says, waving at the computer. “AND APPARENTLY I CAN’T KILL YOU. SO... I GUESS I’LL HAVE TO KEEP YOU.”

     I swallow. That’s not what I wanted her to say. 

     She smiles slyly at my discomfort. “YOU COULD BE VERY... HELPFUL TO MY BUSINESS.” She closes her hand around me again and I squirm. Her smile widens. “I’LL TELL HER I LOST YOU... THAT YOU RAN AWAY. THAT SHOULD WORK.” Her grip tightens and I start to lost my breath. “YOUR FRIENDS DON’T KNOW ABOUT THIS, DO THEY?”

       I shake my head.

       “GOOD. I WASN’T PLANNING ON USING THEM UP JUST YET. BUT IF YOU TRY TO GET AWAY... I WILL KILL THEM VERY SLOWLY IN FRONT OF YOU. AND MAKE YOU WATCH THE VIDEO OF IT HAPPENING, EVERY DAY AFTER THAT.

UNDERSTAND?”

     I'm frozen, mentally and physically. I feel sweat drip down my nose. I know she's not joking, not in the slightest.

     “I THOUGHT YOU WOULD. YOU'RE MINE NOW, AND YOU'LL DO EVERY THING I SAY. RIGHT? SAY, ‘YES MISTRESS’.” I gulp, try to push away images of crushed Beta and Zero. “Yes Mistress.” “GOOD BOY. SAY THE WHOLE THING NOW.”

     I hesitate. Suddenly I can't even remember all the words she said before, it's all happening like a nightmare too fast. I’m shaking like a leaf. “Uh,” I utter.

     Miranda cocks an eyebrow impatiently, and she presses her thumb into my arm, making me writhe painfully. “Ah! I’m yours and I’ll do whatever you want!” I scream quickly. She looks down at me dangerously. But then she leans back and says, “CLOSE ENOUGH. I COULD SNAP YOUR ARM LIKE A TWIG RIGHT NOW IF I WANTED TO.” Then she eyes me, thoughtfully. SNAP.

CHAPTER 10: Let's Get Started

 
4 Days Until Naomi is Back

 

     *Looking through a telescope. Graphs, calculations. Something big is going to happen. I have to go home. It's coming. Wait till they hear the news.*

     With a deafening pop, Miranda opens the lid of the of the plastic container I had to sleep in last night. It's an opaque box, the sealed lid several feet above my head when standing. “WAKEY WAKEY,” she says, looking down an me in her pajamas. From between her giant fingernails she drops some food, almost hitting me. “YOU NEED YOUR ENERGY TODAY,” she says. She forms saliva on her lips and lets it drip into the box beside me. “YOU CAN DRINK THAT. BE READY IN FIFTEEN,” she says as she walks away chuckling.

       I start to choke down a bit of the uncooked food, and try to ignore the popping bubbles of spit.

     I know I’m going to die soon. I know that after, I’ll wake up hungry, like I do every time. But I eat anyway. I guess I might as well.

       When Miranda comes back, I stand and take a deep breath. I’ve been through this before. It is a bit different, knowing I’m going to die. Maybe it’s better in a way. My future is dim, but... thats nothing new.

     “READY FOR YOUR CLOSE UP?” She says, smiling. She picks me up easily. “HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU DONE THIS BEFORE?”

     I honestly can’t remember. You would think it’s something I would keep track of, but... I just shake my head. She laughs softly.

     “TOO MANY TIMES?” She shakes her head as she walks. “POOR LITTLE ALPHA. WELL, IF YOU’RE NOT USED TO IT BY NOW... YOU WILL BE SOON. BUT DON’T WORRY, IT WON’T BE ALL BAD... I’LL TAKE CARE OF YOU. YOU JUST NEED TO KEEP DYING FOR ME, THAT’S ALL.”

     I glance up at her bleakly. She's not even looking at me as she continues.      “IF YOU CAN’T COOPERATE, I’LL JUST HAVE TO USE YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS INSTEAD. RIGHT?”

     I shudder. "I'll cooperate." She squeezes, her eyes not even twitching, and I add "Mistress!" "GOOD BOY," she says. "PLAY NICE AND YOU'LL GET A REWARD." I remember Naomi using that term. A reward. I can't imagine what kind of reward Miranda would offer.

      "WAIT HERE WHILE I GET CHANGED," she says, dropping me on the computer desk. I can't help but contemplate escape. It's not like I didn't think about it all last night. I could jump off the table on the chair, drop down to the floor from there. Rush into the vents. But no. There was no question. I had just gotten Naomi back, gotten my friends back. I thought they had both died while I had been helpless to stop it. But now I have their lives in my hands. Not that I fully trust Miranda to do as she says she will. But it's all I have. I can't risk anything else. I'll die for them. I've done it for them before. It seems like I've been made to die.

      "YOU'RE MEANT TO BE FREE," Keyla's words ring in my head suddenly. Is this why? Is my life meant to be sacrificed for others? For the rest of eternity?      Then I remember the dream I had yesterday after I was crushed. The dream of stars. For some reason I shudder. That had been a new one, one I didn't understand at all. The only emotions I got out of it were feelings of loss and confusion. The familiarity this time was dreadful. If that dream has anything to do with my existence I don't want to know about it.

      "GOOD JOB. YOU DIDN'T RUN." Miranda says, returning. She's looking very casual in a loose, sleeveless top and just her underwear, her gap barely visible under the hem. "HERE, PUT THESE ON."

     From her finger and thumb drop a bundle of clothes. Hesitantly I put on a bright green t-shirt and blue jeans. These don’t fit very well either.

     “NOW THIS.” She holds out a visor to me, pinched between her fingernails. I take it. There's no blood on it, but I'm still apprehensive as I put it on. Miranda flops down into her chair and moves the mouse. The monitor flickers to life. She opens the video editing program and slips on her own visor. She taps near the little green light and a window opens on the screen, displaying the feed from her visor. It's like looking through her eyes, and it creates a disappearing endless loop of screens. "DO YOURS," she says.

       I run my finger along the length of the visor near my right temple and feel a slight bump, which I press. Another window pops up, and it shows my view on-screen, creating a similar looping effect.

       “GOOD. LET’S GET STARTED." She reaches into her purse and I jump as a pair of high heels slam down on the table in front of me. She probably just placed them there normally, but to me the crash is jarringly intense. I look up at the towering heels: platform, stilettoes, red and brown snakeskin. The insides are silvery-tan padded. There’s a familiar KC logo printed into the insole. The smell of new shoe leather washes over me.

       “DO YOU LIKE THEM?” Miranda says. “NAOMI SAID YOU WERE A FOOT GUY. THAT’S GOOD. WE’RE GOING TO USE THAT.”

      I’m not sure what to think of that but for some reason I don’t think it bodes well.

       “WELL DON’T LOOK SO GLUM, I JUST GOT A PEDICURE. IT’S PART OF THE BUSINESS. NOT ALL BAD FOR YOU IS IT? NOW ARE YOU READY?”

     I look at her. How can I be? I guess so. I nod.

     “THEN GET IN."

CHAPTER 11: Edited

    * Above the silhouettes of the pines, the sky is so clear and black and bright I can see the tiniest pinpricks of stars, see where they cluster and form the milky way, see every constellation shining eagerly. I reach out to touch them. I'm drawn to one star, hot and blue. It burns my hand as it draws nearer, heading straight down towards me. I turn to the person beside me. He or she, I can't tell, but we're both naked.*

     “GOOD WORK, ALPHA.”

     As I come to my senses, I still feel an urge to run at the sight of her, but slowly my head clears and I realize that I’m not in any current danger.

     “OH... YEAH. THIS IS GREAT.”

       I’m on her computer desk and she’s clicking away, scanning through the footage and splitting it up into clips. I notice some of them are in green night-vision mode, the ones filmed from me in-shoe.

     Suddenly she says, “YOU’VE NEVER SEEN YOURSELF REGENERATE, HAVE YOU?”      I haven’t. Maybe I didn’t ever want to think about it.

       Miranda looks at me expectantly, and I turn to the screen. It's the recording from her visor, and I watch through Miranda’s eyes. I wince as I see myself disappear under her shoe, emerging moments later as a small jet of blood and intestines. I start to feel light-headed watching myself die. On the screen, she lifts her foot and looks at her sole, and there I see myself, a crimson blotch on the bottom of her shoe and on the floor. The flattened little clothes fail to hide all the flattened organs and bone fragments. I can see where my brain spurted out of my skull onto the floor, and I can make out my legs mashed into her shoe.  She drags her foot back on the floor, chuckling as she smears my remains. I feel almost out of this world, disconnected, floating, nauseous. Why did she show me that part?

     “OKAY THIS TIME FOR REAL. WAIT FOR IT,” Miranda says. The scene ends when she walks away, and Miranda opens a different clip. I realize this must be the part that's edited out. On the screen she kneels down, and we watch closely.      It’s like the film is in reverse, but its not. The blood smear slowly, imperceptibly at first, starts to shrink. It’s edges recede, individual spatters disappear into themselves and the largest concentration of my remains seems to grow in thickness. It’s like there's an invisible sponge slowly absorbing all my blood into one spot. Clumps form, red globs on top of the stained clothes, which grow cleaner by the second. Organs and bones start to formulate, as if being built by microscopic workers. A skull manifests itself grimly. Limbs appear, tissue and ligaments wrapping around bones, and then muscle, and then eyeballs staring at nothing. Then skin, as if bubbling and foaming up to the surface from below. Lastly hair sprouts. I realize I’ve been staring, hardly blinking for around five minutes. I guess that’s how long it takes.

     “NEAT HUH?” she says.

CHAPTER 13: Responding  

*Above the silhouettes of the pines, the sky is so clear and black and bright I can see the tiniest pinpricks of stars, see where they cluster and form the milky way, see every constellation shining eagerly. I reach out to touch them. I'm drawn to one star, hot and blue. It burns my hand as it draws nearer, heading straight down towards me. I turn to the person beside me. He or she, I can't tell, but we're both naked. The person looks at me and their face is a bloody red mush.*

2 Days Until Naomi is Back

 

     "NOW REMEMBER," Naomi says, "YOU'VE JUST REGENERATED BECAUSE I STEPPED ON YOU. YOU'RE A LITTLE PERVERT WHO HID IN MY SHOE. GOT IT?"      I nod, helplessly. Of course I remember. Yesterday's shooting is still ingrained in my head. She turns on her visor, and I turn mine on too. Naked, I lie down on the little pile of clothes on the floor, and when Naomi leans over me, I look up. We've started again.

     “WHAT ARE YOU?” she says, her face a mask of wonder. “HOW DID YOU DO THAT?”

     I put my hands behind me and slowly sit up. She kneels over me.

     “IS THIS YOU?” Miranda asks, holding a card. I can tell it goes with the ribbon and bow on the shoe box. “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO’S BEEN SENDING ME THESE SHOES?”

     I stare at it. I'm not quite sure what to do, but I guess it doesn't matter because she continues.

     “YOU LITTLE PERVERT!” she says, frowning. “YOU LIKE MY FEET? THAT’S WHY YOU SNUCK YOURSELF INTO MY SHOES? AND YOU MADE SURE THAT YOU CAN'T DIE, SO THAT YOU CAN KEEP ENJOYING THEM, IS THAT RIGHT? EUCH,” she says and stands up. She lifts her right shoe and holds it over me. “LETS SEE HOW MANY LIVES YOU HAVE,” and lowers it slowly.

    I feel the cold hard sole press against my face and I fall limply onto my back again. I hold my breath and clench my jaw as I feel it press down onto my chest. I feel two of my ribs crack and I groan in pain.

     “NO,” she says then. “I’VE ALREADY FELT YOU MUSH UNDER MY SHOE.” The weight lifts. “YOU LIKE MY FEET THAT MUCH, HUH? YOU WOULD DIE JUST FOR A CHANCE TO TOUCH THEM?”

     I try to get my breath, my ribs crying out in pain.

     “WELL?” she says angrily.

     “Yes,” I say.

     “LETS SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE THEM THEN.” She reaches down and picks me up roughly between her finger and her thumb. I shriek in pain at my ribs. Then I’m falling, and I tumble down the insole of her heel into the shoe. I groan in agony. Then her foot comes in, huge and menacing. Her toes rise up and I’m plunged into darkness as her heel pops in. I scramble a bit, but there's nowhere to go. Then I feel the toes press down on me, pushing me into the sole and pushing on my ribs, making me shriek again. Her toes move me around, I don’t know what's happening in the dark but then, I feel her second toe move down across my face, press down on my stomach. It moves up and down over my pelvis, rythmically, and it takes me a bit but then I realize what she’s doing.       I try not to think about it, but it’s hard, I know there's something wrong and perverted with me but I can’t help it. Already I feel myself responding. My cock grows under the pad of her toe. I can feel the temperature rising in her shoe, and I can smell the clean scent of her feet mixed with leather. I think about escaping but I know there’s no possible way now, not the faintest chance I could get out of here. And somehow that turns on me on. Now I can really feel her toe’s work, rubbing my hard shaft, and a shudder runs through my body. It feels so good. I lean my head back and breath shallow breaths, trying to ignore the pain in my ribs. Her toe keeps moving up and down, up and down. This is sick, but I want it, I want to cum underneath her. I feel myself about to peak. As if on cue she presses down a little harder, goes a little faster. If I wasn’t into the pain, it would be too much, but right now, it’s almost perfect... I succumb to the toe, orgasming, gasping, cumming under her unrelenting foot.

       But then suddenly she speaks: “YOU CHRISTENED THE BOTTOM OF ONE SHOE,” she says, and she lifts her toe.

       Fear rushes over me, shriveling me. Her shoe lifts and I slide forward, under the ball of her foot. I scrabble for purchase but find none, and then scream in pain as her foot pushes down on me.

     “NOW YOU CAN CHRISTEN THE INSIDE OF MY OTHER ONE.”

       My ribs are forced down into my body, the ball of her foot presses down and envelopes my face, choking out my screams. Her soft foot becomes an unrelenting weight and my body resists for a few seconds before bursting beneath it.

CHAPTER 13: Conversing  

     *My wife. The kids are home. A kiss. Hug the girls. Dinner is waiting. Tell them the news. Something big is coming. I'll be there to grab it. *

1 Day Until Naomi is Back

 

     The phone rings. Miranda puts her book down and strolls over from the couch. She's wearing a hoodie and skinny jeans and her red converse. She picks up the phone and looks at the call display. It continues to ring in her hand as she stares into space for a moment, head tilted. Then a smile, small and wicked, spreads across her lips and she looks over at me.

     I shudder.

     She answers the phone. "HELLO? .... OH HEY NAOMI!" she says, smirking at me. She reaches over and picks me up, her hand enveloping me easily. "OH, NICE. YEAH, ITS GOING GOOD HERE." She walks us over to the kitchen table and sits down. "I THINK HE'S DOING JUST FINE. HE'S ACTUALLY RIGHT HERE WITH ME NOW." She looks at me smugly, rolling me around in her hand. "YEAH, I COULD PUT HIM ON FOR YOU IF YOU WANT, "she says. She smiles down at me, and any thoughts I have of crying for help vanish. Instead of letting me speak, as I had a faint glimmer of hope for, Miranda bends down and puts me on the floor by her shoe. She covers the phone speaker with her hand and says to me quietly "LICK MY SHOE. DON'T TAKE YOUR MOUTH OFF IT OR I CRUSH YOU." Then she straightens and crosses her other leg, giving me a full view of her shoe's sole as an immediate threat and reminder. I lick.

     "OH YOU COULDNT HEAR HIM?" she says into the phone. "I GUESS HES TOO SMALL. OH WELL, HES DOING FINE, ARENT YOU ALPHA?" I glance up. She gives me a smirk and then proceeds to ignore me.

     I keep licking the white rubber, listening to her carry on a conversation with... I was going to say my girlfriend, but somehow that doesn't sound quite right. With the one I love. Well, one of the ones I love, I think ashamedly.

     I feel so helpless. I'm a slave to Miranda. I want to scream up into the phone for help, but it might as well be on a different planet than me. Instead I lick her shoe. Fuck, fuck fuck. I want to punch it in frustration, but instead I slam my fists into the floor. I want to run, but I know better.

     As if she hears my thoughts anyway, she raises her foot slightly in front of me. I back away out of impulse but she's already lowering it onto me. She presses down on my body, but my head is free and I can see her chatting above me. She's not looking down. I can't tell if she's trying to torment me or if she's really unaware of her movements. I guess that she's torturing me, or I would probably be half flattened right now. I keep kissing her shoe, and flush with humiliation.

     I can hear her conversation winding down. Suddenly the shoe presses down on me and a groan escapes my lips. I think I notice the smirk on her face returning, or maybe her hand fondling one breast under her shirt, but I can't breathe, there are spots in my eyes and I feel my chest cracking and popping.       "OKAY, WE'LL SEE YOU TOMORROW THEN. DO YOU WANT TO SAY GOODBYE TO ALPHA?" She says to the phone, and she holds it away from her mouth, into empty air. Her cold eyes flutter down to me. Her lips are parted, her face slightly flushed. I see a hint of a smirk tug at one corner of her mouth before her foot squashes my insides up and out, and my eyes fill with blood and viscera a second before I die.

CHAPTER 14: Where Is Everyone?

     * Above the silhouettes of the pines, the sky is so clear and black and bright I can see the tiniest pinpricks of stars, see where they cluster and form the milky way, see every constellation shining eagerly. I reach out to touch them. I'm drawn to one star, hot and blue. It burns my hand as it draws nearer, heading straight down towards me. I turn to the person beside me. He or she, I can't tell, but we're both naked. The person looks at me and the face is a bloody red mush that swirls and starts to form. It's me. My face.*

     I awake to the sound of my box lid opening. I look up in surprise. Against the deepening blue of the evening sky, all I see is a silhouette of someone up on the lip of the container, using his body to keep the plastic lid up. I hear him grunt in exertion.

       “Zero?” I say.

     “No, brother. It’s Derek!” he says.

     “Derek? What... what are you doing here? Is Beta here?”

     “Yeah, she’s back there keeping an eye out for Miranda. Come on man, let’s get you out of here. Take my hand!”

     “But...wait...” I struggle to get my thoughts together. We could all escape right now... “No,” I say, “No it’s too dangerous. If you get caught, she’s going to kill you!”

     “Don't worry, we have a plan. Everything is going to be fine. Trust me. Look, Beta wants to talk to you. At least come up here and talk to her, aight?”

     “Oh... okay.” I reach up and grab his arm. “Just hurry, you can’t get caught here.”

     “No worries,” Derek says. He pulls me up and I put my leg over the lip to steady myself. But then he yanks on my arm, sending me over the lip and crashing down into a heap on the table painfully.

     “What the f... ow, God. Where...” I look around, rubbing my head. The table is long and empty. I squint as it reflects the first light of the setting sun. “...is Beta? Zero?”

      There’s a thud behind me, and in the shadow just beyond the light of the window I can vaguely see Derek walking towards me.

      “We never really got a chance to know each other yet, have we?”

      “Huh? Where is everyone?”

     Derek leans forward, his smirking face slipping into the orange light.       Something feels wrong. I start to realize how alone I am here with him.

     He sprouts a tooth-filled grin. “Hey, I brought something brother. You... you want to see?”

     Slowly, I get to one knee. “Just... hold on a sec, man.”

     “Hmmm. Nah,” he says. From behind his back he produces a large nail, and before I can duck he smashes it into my skull.

CHAPTER 15:  Time To Kill     

     “You awake brother?"
     A voice.
     "I never told you my story did I?" Derek says. 
     I groan and I open my eyes, wondering how many concussions I've had in my life time. Probably more than a normal person could have and still be alive. I try to rub my head, but my arms won't move. They're tied behind my back. I look around. We're in a vent. Derek sits leaning against the wall, the nail-club lying beside him.
     "Well, we got some time to kill before Miranda comes to feed you din-dins, so I'm gonna tell you. Are you listening brother?
     I caught the virus when I was sixteen. Dad caught it about the same time. Him and Ma, they had never really got along before that. Always fighting. So when he shrunk, mom would sometimes tease him, push him around. He was always pissed. Used to take it out on me. Said if it wasn't for me, he would have left a long time ago and wouldn't be stuck there now in a fucking cage. Well, I couldn't stand being trapped in there with him. I would stare outside, waiting for my sister to come home. 
     See, from the cage I could see the front door. I would watch, every time she came in. She would do the same thing, step inside, toss the keys on the table, and shut the door with her foot.
    “So anyway, I dunno what started it. Could have been anything. But one day Pops was screaming up at her, and she was yelling down at him, and next thing I knew she was holding him face down in the food bowl with one finger and shoving a pencil up his ass. Hard. Raping my dad.
    “When she finished with him, she dropped the pencil in our cage and left. Eventually Pops crawled up out of the food, blood running down his leg. Stumbled over to me. I knew what was coming. I had just sat there and watched him get raped. So I just kept smiling. He broke my nose, some ribs. I must have looked like ground meat after.
    “That night when he was asleep, I dragged him out of bed and kicked his head into the cage till he stopped fighting back. Then I pulled him through a whole in the cage I had been working on for a while. Dragged him all the way across the room, my broken ribs and all. It was my pleasure. Tied him up with Ma's hair and left him on the floor in front of the door. And then we waited. He finally figured out what was gonna happen, but it was too late, he couldn't move. Finally Sis comes home, walks in the door, and wham! That was the end of Pops.”
     This whole time, Derek's face never shows any sign of regret, or pain, or anything. Not even a twinge. Just that fucking grin. He's a psychopath. I become very afraid.
     “I guess Ma and Sis didn't know what to do with me after that. I said it was an accident, but I bet they didn't believe me. Mom was happy, Sis not so much. They gave me to some place for shrunken dudes. A whole bunch of us there. Must have gave us a shot or something, cause none of us remembered much of what happened before we got there. Except me. I remembered that much." 
     "How did you remember?" I blurt out.
     Derek glares at me, his jaw protruding. I see his knuckles go white, and suddenly I realize I've made a mistake. I guess he doesn't like being interrupted. But thankfully he relaxes.
     "This may sound 'crazy' to you," he chuckles, eying me for some kind of response.
      I keep my mouth shout, 
     "It came to me in dreams," he says matter-of-factly."
     He's still looking at me, and I just nod. He continues, “I still don't remember the name of that place they took me though. It was gray. Bleak. Boring. Nothing to do. It was worse than the cage back home. I had to share it with about twenty other people. And we had to get shots.
      "You remember Keyla? Yeah. Keyla. She gave us shots, and took notes on her little electronic thingy. Experiments. Every week we would wait and see if any of us would go mentally insane.
     “This one guy, he started chattering. He was the quiet one before. Then all of a sudden he started talking so much he broke his jaw. Just kept talking away to himself in the corner, chipping his teeth down. Finally Keyla reached her big old hand down and took him away.
    “Another guy, we found him eating his friend's intestines one day in the bathroom. Had Torn the guy's stomach open with his fingernails and was just chomping away. We had to drag him off cause he wouldn't stop. Pulled the intestines out with him, all the way down the hall. Keyla took him away.
     “And that's how it went for a while. I saw what was going on. We would get shots, some of us would go nuts, and Keyla would take him away. Then more people would come in from outside, no memory. Pretty soon almost all the guys I came in with were gone. And there was no escaping that box, brother. Locked up tight. No way through the drains, no cables leading out or anything like that. Sealed plastic all the way around except for a hatch in the ceiling for the women. No way to reach that. No way out, 'cept one.
     “Every few days a nurse would drop in a crate of food for the twenty of us. I'd seen people try to grab onto her rubber glove when she put her hand all the way in, but she'd brush 'em off. Most of the time she would drop it in. 
     "So one day, me and this other guy, it's our turn to distribute the food. We were waiting there for her to drop it in. She drops it and I push buddy under the crate. Splat. Nobody wanted to eat anything that day. They all thought I had finally gone crazy. Me laughing the whole time must have helped. They held me down until Keyla came and took me away.
     “Anything was better than waiting to actually go insane. I tried to escape then, but there was never anywhere to go. Keyla caught me. Could have killed me then, but didn't. Put me in with a bunch of other crazies. Brother, I saw some fucked up shit there. 
     There were the mentals, but then there were the physicals. One bunch of guys, their skin looked like they was melting all the time. All mushy, hard to talk or breathe. Some others, all their bones had got too big or something and stuck out of their skin in places. They could barely move. Just kept crying in pain. 
     Oh, and this other guy, you're gonna love him. He had the biggest balls, twice the size of normal. Funniest thing I ever seen. He just couldn't stop jerkin himself off. 'So thirsty', he would say, pumping away and sweating. Sometimes he would manage to actually get off, but nothing would come out and he just kept going. You had to be there, funny shit.
     “So anyway, you probably know what happened next. Keyla took us all out back. Dumped us out. Told us it's our last chance to run. You should have seen them, brother. Imagine those guys trying to run. The mental ones, they started sprinting or cowering or whatever. But the rest, they crawled, or hobbled, whatever they could. I saw the one guy running, his big balls slapping his legs and still jerking off until he got squashed. I saw them all die, one by one. Don’t know why they would even want to keep living, being that way, but oh well.
     “But me, she left. I hid in a crack in the pavement, but I swear she looked right at me, like she knew where I was gonna be.
     "When she finished, I got up and I followed those arrows Eric made and got to Haven. I blended in. I knew the other guys were raping that girl, but I didn’t care about any of that. There’s no challenge there, no risk. I got a couple dudes killed, just for kicks, out in the restaurant foraging. But then you came along. And you changed everything, brother.
     "I can't kill you. So I'm gonna have to get my kicks some other way."

CHAPTER 16: She's Gonna Be Mad

     "It's just about dinner time, brother! You excited?" Derek says. "Oh wait. I guess you won't be getting any dinner, since, you're here, and Miranda, she's out there, and... yeah...uh oh. That means she's gonna find you gone. She's not gonna like that. You know, I bet she's gonna be pretty mad at'cha." He flops down beside me. "I don't normally like to eavesdrop -nah that's a lie- but I just happened to be listening in on a little conversation you two were having. Yeah, I was down here, in the vents, wriggling around, following you," he laughs. "Anyway. Sorry. Do you really think she's gonna kill your friends just cause you ran away?"

     Suddenly I realize what he's doing. My heart starts pounding. He's going to get Beta and Zero and everyone else killed by making it look like I ran away. He's torturing me and killing people at the same time. He's a God damn evil fucking genius. I can't, I can't let them die. Not like this. No fucking way.

     Footsteps outside. Miranda walking through the house.

     "ALPHA," she says, "YOU LITTLE SHIT. I KNOW YOU CAN'T HAVE GOTTEN FAR. YOU'RE PROBABLY HIDING IN SOME PATHETIC CORNER OR CRAWLING IN THE VENTS LIKE A RODENT. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HIDE UNTIL NAOMI GETS HERE TOMORROW? IF YOU GIVE ONE SHIT ABOUT ANYONE ELSE IN THAT CAGE, YOU WILL MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE IN THE LIVING ROOM IN TWENTY MINUTES. THAT WILL BE EXACTLY MIDNIGHT. UNTIL THEN, I'M GOING TO FIND OUT WHO'S CLOSEST TO YOU, AND I'M GOING TO GET READY TO KILL THEM SLOWLY."

     I can feel her footsteps as she walks by us. I try to get up and dash out the vent, but Derek presses his knee into my back as soon as I try to stand, forcing me painfully onto my stomach.

     "Yeah, I know. Sorry brother," he says, slapping my back fiercely, "that just ain't happening'."

     I want to scream. My chest starts heaving. Calm. I have to stay calm and figure this shit out. Going bugfuck crazy isn't going to help.  I flex my arms, testing the bonds around my wrists.

     "Nope," Derek says, smiling, "I tied that shit up good and tight. No way you're getting' out of that hair, trust me. This ain't some stupid movie where you can just loosen your ropes, uh-uh. Shit doesn't work like that. Now come on, we gotta get to the living room."

 

Chapter 17: Forgiveness

 

     "Uh-huh. Yep, you know what, I bet she's gonna do it right there," Derek says, pulling me forward to the vent that opens into the living room and jamming my face against the metal. "You see that glass coffee table? That's perfect, I bet she's filmed some movies there already. Nice thick glass, looks sturdy. Low to the floor. No magazines or shit on it right? Enough room for a camera underneath. Yeah. That's a real nice view from underneath, am I right? That's what I would do." He laughs, "You know, if I was into that shit! Ooh, I bet that's her now. Shh!"

     I feel the vibrations against my cheek as Miranda enters the room. She's wearing a hoodie and printed leggings, barefoot.

       I gasp slightly, seeing the tights. They're printed with the night sky, all black and violet and green with nebulae, speckled with bright stars. I remember the dreams, reaching for the night sky. The ghastly open flesh of the person beside me that is also me. Seeing the similar star print on her leggings has me feeling lightheaded, like I'm seeing double. This is too strange, to surreal. Get a grip on yourself. It's just a coincidence.

     One hand is held close to her, cupped. In the other is a roll of clear tape. I watch as she sits down on the couch in front of the table and unceremoniously pours two little figures out onto the table. From here I can’t tell who it is, but I dread that it’s Beta and Zero. She takes off several pieces of tape, sticking them on the edge of the table. Then she places one of the people in the middle of the table, and then holds them spread-eagled with her fingers while she tapes down their limbs. I start to struggle against the vent, but Derek grabs me by the shoulder and slams me into into the floor. He drags me on my stomach back to the vent and then kneels on my back.

     “You can struggle all you want brother, it only makes it more satisfying for me. You better watch whats happening out there though, I think the show is going to start soon.”

     I look up and see Miranda placing the other person on the floor, holding them there with her foot as she reaches for a piece of tape. She pauses and looks at her watch.

     “ALMOST MIDNIGHT. LAST CHANCE ALPHA,” she says loudly.

     No.

     No.

     Fucking

     No.

     I start banging my face on the metal grate as hard as I can and scream at the top of my lungs. I’m immortal, I’ve endured more than anyone ever should, I've passed the human pain threshold, I've died and come back several times. I know I can do something. I can do anything. I have to.

     “Hm. You’re louder than I thought, brother,” Derek says amidst my cacophony. “I want you to have a clear head so you can watch what goes down over there. I’m pretty sure I have some string around here- yep, here it is. Since you gotta be like this, I’ma have to gag you okay? Now keep that mouth op-aaagh fuck!”

     I twist my head around and bite down on his hand as hard I can. I feel my teeth sink through flesh and hit hard bone. I feel something give, taste blood in my throat, and roll to the side as Derek wrenches himself away. I push myself through the vent, falling headfirst onto the ground. Something in my shoulder pops, and the back of my mind tells me it's dislocated, and that I can slip out of my bonds now. I twist my arm in ways I didn't know I could until my hands are free and I just run towards Miranda, run run run. Save them. I spit Derek's blood out of my mouth and I’m screaming, sprinting, crying. I blink hard, trying to focus, frantic with adrenaline.

       I see him, it’s Zero, half his body protruding from under the Miranda's foot, he's looking at me in astonishment.

     The foot rises. Miranda stands, and walks toward me. Looking up at her giant figure approaching I trip, my numb body tumbling onto the floor, face hitting hard with nothing to stop it. Gasping, I try to get to one knee, but she sweeps me up I'm and hurtling away from the floor. Then her great face is in front of me. Her eyes are cold, intense, emotionless, her lips forming only the slightest hint of a frown. Wrapped in her fist, I stare up at her in terror, sweat running down my face.

     After several excruciating seconds, she puts me down on the table. Her thumb presses down into my spine, and I gargle out a scream.

     "DON'T GO ANYWHERE. I'M GETTING MY SHOES." She pushes down and my spine crunches beneath her. A gasp breathlessly as she walks away. There's a numbness in my lower body, I can only feel blood pooling around my chest. I can't feel my legs. I try to twist my head around to look, terrified of what I'll see.

       "Don't look," Beta says. "Please."

     She's there in front of me, all taped down on her stomach and spread-eagled, her head turned to me.

       "Beta... "

     "Alpha, don't worry. Everything is going to be fine."

     That should have been my line. I can hear the hidden tears in her voice, the tremors of fear.

     "Yes," I rasp, "Naomi's going to...  be here tomorrow. She's going to save us..."

     She nods, tears welling in her eyes, and I know she doesn't believe me. "Why did you go alone, Alpha? We would have come with you..."

     "I... I don't know... really. I thought it would be too dangerous..."

     "Alpha," a tear breaks off and runs down her cheek, "That's why I wanted to go with you.... If anything happened, I just wanted to be there.... to help," and she breaks into sobs.

       " I would be okay... whatever happened. You don't come back like I do."      "We don't know that," she says. "What if you don't? What if you only have nine lives? Alpha, I've always just... wanted to be with you."

     I choke on my sudden tears. We look at each other, both lost in the same sadness, the same overwhelming tragedy. What we could have been, there's no knowing now. It's all washed away. We were always there, but so far apart. We don't have to say it, we both know exactly who we are to each other.

     For some reason, I say "Beta, I think I'm remembering who I was. Before the lab. I've been having these dreams. It doesn't make any sense, but I think I was..."

     She gasps, and then suddenly Miranda's fingers pinch me up and Beta sinks away from me, panic and despair in her shrinking eyes.

     Falling. I land on the floor and groan. In my lower peripherals I catch a glimpse of my legs sticking up a wrong angle, and I take Beta's advice and try not to look.

     Miranda just stares down at me. She's naked, except for a visor and a wristwatch. Her titanic nude figure looms over me, a pair of strappy heels slung over one shoulder, and she lifts her bare foot over me. “BEG,” she orders.      “P...please.”

     “BEG FORGIVENESS FOR RUNNING AWAY FROM ME.” The shadowy sole lowers until it’s almost touching me.

     “Please, Mistress!”

     She continues, blank-faced. “KISS MY FOOT.”

     I reach up, straining my neck, my arms and dislocated shoulder useless. I press my lips into the underside of her big toe.

     “LICK IT.”

     I run my tongue along her flesh, tasting  a hint of salt and dust.

     She presses down more, squashing me into the floor.

     “WORSHIP THE FOOT. HUMP IT. AND KEEP BEGGING.”

     "Please forgive me..." Although I am praying that Miranda forgives me, she's not the only one I'm begging forgiveness from. I do everything she says, numbly.

       Then the strangest feeling permeates my mind. It feels like someone is there watching me, beside me... even though I know there isn't anyone there.

     The feeling is interrupted when Miranda says “YOU’RE SO PATHETIC." She presses down, her flesh covers me and my body bursts beneath her.

CHAPTER 18: The Rules Of The Game

     *Above the silhouettes of the pines, the sky is so clear and black and bright I can see the tiniest pinpricks of stars, see where they cluster and form the milky way, see every constellation shining eagerly. I reach out to touch them. I'm drawn to one star, hot and blue. It burns my hand as it draws nearer, heading straight down towards me. I turn to the person beside me. He or she, I can't tell, but we're both naked. The person looks at me and the face is a bloody red mush that swirls and starts to form. It's me. It's my face. I watch as my skin peels into ribbons and the flesh underneath extends, flows, we meld together and I scream as the other face is drawn into mine.*  

The Day Naomi is Back

 

     "WAKE UP."

     My eyes open, slowly at first, but then they snap wide. I can't move. My hands, where... oh fuck oh god oh shit.

     I raise the stumps of my arms up and start screaming. I really shouldn't be awake right now. This must be just another bugfuck nightmare, but no, I can feel it, I can feel the pain, oh god.

     My stumps are wrapped tightly in wire. I can see where my flesh is trying to grow out between the cords. I try to move my legs, but no, God no. I can feel the nerves, they should be there but there's no purchase, no resistance... they're gone as well. The stumps end in wire. It feels like my elbows and knees are on fire, burning to be released but are cut back instead.

     "SO YOU CAN BE AWAKE AT THIS STAGE. EXCELLENT. LOOK, I SAVED YOU YOUR LITTLE PENIS. AREN'T YOU GLAD? YOU'RE GOING TO NEED IT."

     I wave my stumps. It's the most frustrating feeling I've ever experienced.       Miranda laughs. "ARE YOU GETTING ALL THIS, SARAH?" She says. I notice she now has an earpiece attached to her visor. "ALL FOUR FEEDS? EXCELLENT. ALPHA, SARAH WILL BE WATCHING THIS ALL LIVE THROUGH OUR VISORS. CAN YOU WAVE HELLO?"

     I don't know why, but I try.

       Miranda laughs again. "YOU'RE  SUCH A GOOD SPORT ALPHA. I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU EVER TRIED TO GET AWAY. BUT IT'S A GOOD THING YOU DID, SARAH IS VERY EXCITED TO SEE THIS, AREN'T YOU SARAH?" She chuckles, listening to some response in her earpiece. "NOW REMEMBER, YOU CAN'T TOUCH YOURSELF UNTIL I SAY SO, UNDERSTAND? ... EXCELLENT. THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO, ALPHA -OH, BUT YOU CAN'T, CAN YOU?" She grins.

     She's inhuman. I've been humiliated before, Stepped on, crushed to death inside a shoe by accident, drowned in cum. This is different.

     "DO YOU NEED A HAND? HOW ABOUT A FINGER?" she says. Her giant finger descends, and I try to push myself backward but my mind still hasn't accepted that  my limbs are gone. I flail uselessly as her fingertip rests on my cock. She laughs at how pathetic I am.

     "NO, NOTHING? NOT EVEN A LITTLE TURNED ON ALPHA? HMM, WELL MAYBE THIS WILL HELP. I KNOW YOU'LL LIKE THIS." She pinches my body up in her fingers, and as glass table sails by beneath me, I catch a reflection of my desecrated body. I'm a hideous mockery of a man.

     Her long leg, calves wrapped in the straps of the shoe, passes under me until I get to her foot. The strappy high heeled sandals are black velvet.  She raises her toes and slips me underneath, and I can see up past the tips of her big and second digits. Directly above me is Beta, staring sorrowfully at me through the glass. Miranda raises her other foot and rests the heel on the low table behind Beta with a loud clink.

     "OH, I THINK I CAN FEEL YOUR LITTLE HEART POUNDING UNDER MY TOES, ALPHA. ARE YOU SCARED?"

     "Please Mistress, don't do this!" I beg, gripping her toes.

     "YOU'RE SUCH A GOOD LITTLE SLAVE, YOU KNOW THAT? SO OBEDIENT. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUR FRIENDS ARE ABOUT TO DIE. DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE OTHER ONE IS? SAY HELLO, ZERO."

     "Hggch."

     "Zero?!" I say. He must be under the shoe I'm in. He's still taped to the floor, and now Miranda is resting her foot on him with me inside. Oh god.

     "YOU TOO, BETA." Miranda lowers her shoe onto the table, and Beta shrieks, but her body is completely under the arch. "GOOD, NOW WE CAN START THE GAME. HERE ARE THE RULES. LISTEN UP ALPHA, BECAUSE YOU'RE THE STAR."

     I gulp.

     "IF YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO LIVE, YOU'LL HAVE TO WORSHIP ME FOR IT. YOU HAVE TO LICK AND HUMP MY TOES FOR TWENTY MINUTES, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO CUM.

       "IF YOU STOP HUMPING, I'LL CRUSH BETA'S ARMS.

       "IF YOU STOP LICKING MY TOES, I'LL CRUSH ZERO'S LEGS.

       "IF YOU CUM BEFORE TWENTY MINUTES, I'LL MAKE YOU WATCH AS I SQUISH BETA UNDER MY FOOT.

     "IF YOU GIVE UP, I'LL SQUISH ZERO UNDER THE SHOE YOU'RE IN.       "STARTING NOW. UNDERSTAND?"

     "What?!" I scream.

     "THAT BETTER BE THE LAST WORD I HEAR YOU SAY, BECAUSE IF YOUR TONGUE LEAVES MY TOES... ZERO'S LEGS GET MUSHED."

     Oh fuck oh god oh fuck. No time to think. Just lick and hump.

     "MMM, GOOD... NOW SARAH, ARE YOU READY TO PLAY?... I THOUGHT YOU WERE. ARE YOU QUIVERING FOR ME?... EXCELLENT. YOUR RULES ARE THAT YOU HAVE TO ADDRESS ME AS MISTRESS, OF COURSE. SECONDLY YOU HAVE TO MASTURBATE AS LONG AS ALPHA IS DOING HIS JOB, AND YOU CAN'T STOP UNTIL I SAY SO. YOU HAVE TO CUM EACH TIME SOMEBODY DIES. IF YOU CUM BEFOREHAND, YOU'LL BE PUNISHED. UNDERSTAND?... GOOD. WELL YOU BETTER GET TO IT, HE'S ALREADY STARTED."

     I'm humping and licking steadily. I know I have to pace myself. It's already an effort in my mangled state. I have to concentrate. I can't stop. Just... find my calm empty space. Ignore the pain in my stumps, ignore the dryness of my tongue, ignore the fear in my heart. Their lives are in my ha-... they're my responsibility now. Again. Just don't stop.

CHAPTER 20: Helpless

     How long I've been doing this? It feels like forever. It must be almost twenty minutes by now...

     Miranda is moaning softly to herself and running her hands over her bare breasts. Then she yawns gracefully, her head tilted lazily, and checks her wristwatch. "ARE YOU TIRED YET, ALPHA? IT'S ONLY BEEN FIVE MINUTES..."

     Five minutes? Is that possible?

     "SEE?" She says, and shows me her watch.

       It's true. Un-fucking-believable, I don't know how much more of this my stunted body can take... no, that's not true. I can do this. I have to.

       "THIS IS KIND OF BORING. HERE, DOES THIS HELP?" She says. Her toes move over me, softly, up and down. Oh my God.

       She's trying to get me off early. No, I can resist this. It's not hard. The fear keeps me flaccid.

     But then I remember, I'll have to cum later. Should I get started now? If I can't cum then, this will all be for nothing. I don't know. I try to balance my mind. Try to become aroused, but not too much. Why is this happening to me? It's so fucking sick.

     "DO YOU LIKE THAT, ALPHA? DO YOU LIKE BEING UNDER MY BIG TOES?"      Tingling.

     "DO YOU LIKE WORSHIPPING ME?. MY TOES TASTE GOOD, DON'T THEY."      She knows me too well. I have to focus. I can't-

     "OHH, THERRRE IT IS. I CAN FEEL YOU NOW ALPHA. YEAH, YOU DO LIKE IT UNDER THERE."

     I'm ashamed of how quickly I get hard. She's pure evil.

     "MMM, YEAH, KEEP HUMPING MY TOES, YOU LITTLE PERVERT. DO YOU LIKE IT WHEN I CALL YOU THAT?"

     I shiver in pleasure. No, it's too soon to shiver. Stop.

     "YOU CAN'T ESCAPE. YOU CAN'T EVEN CRAWL. YOU'RE SO WEAK, YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE YOUR LITTLE ARMS OR LEGS ANYMORE DO YOU? YOU'RE SUCH A TINY, HELPLESS WORM. MMM, IT GETS YOU SO HORNY TO BE HELD UNDER MY FOOT LIKE THAT DOESN'T IT?"

     Please stop. Please.

     "IT GET'S ME WET. ARE YOU WET SARAH? ... HOW WET? ... MMM, GOOD. I KNOW YOU ARE TOO ALPHA, LICKING, HUMPING, WORSHIPING MY FOOT. YOU LOVE IT."

     I force all the images of everyone I've ever seen die into my head. All the memories I've repressed, all the bodies breaking and faces bursting, it all comes back. I instantly start to go flaccid.

     But before I become completely limp, she slips my cock between her toes and I gasp and shudder. No, not yet!

     "YOU'RE GOING TO CUM UNDER MY TOES, AREN'T YOU? YOU CAN'T HELP IT, YOU DESPERATE LITTLE BUG." She leans forward looking down her nose at me expectantly. "OH- OH- OHH, HERE IT COMES..."

     No god no please, I'm going to cum-

     Suddenly up above me I hear a crunch.

     "OOPS," Miranda says, lazily.

     Beta screams in agony, her back arched as Miranda lifts her high heel from what was a thigh. The mashed flap of bloody flesh squashed into the heel dangles a disembodied calf and foot.

       "CLUMSY ME."

     "No!" I scream. I try to reach up to her, try to claw my way out, my stumps useless.

     "UH OH," Miranda says, a devilish grin on her face. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING? OR RATHER, WHAT YOU'RE NOT DOING?"

     It hits me. I can feel my blood curdling. No. Nonononono!

     "ONE FOR NOT HUMPING," Miranda says, and lowers her sole carefully onto Beta’s outstretched arm. I watch her limb distend and then burst into a pool of blood and bone above me, Beta’s screams reaching a fever pitch.

       I can’t... all I can do is keep humping and licking, harder than before in hopes that she'll have mercy and stop, I can't pause or else she'll crush something else, but...

     Miranda lifts her sole, twists it so she can see underneath, and shakes her foot trying to loose the little strip of flesh stuck to her sole. After a few moments of it not coming off, she shrugs and aims for Beta’s other arm with the other side of her shoe. After a moment, she taps her down on it, splattering it instantly. I think I’m hyperventilating but I have to keep licking desperately. I watch for one heart-stopping moment as Miranda puts her gory sole down on Beta’s back, thinking it's over, she's about to die, but she just lightly wipes her shoe off on Beta's own body.

     Checking her sole once more and smiling, Miranda rests her foot on the table. “AND NOW,” she says, “ONE FOR NOT LICKING. I WARNED YOU, DIDN’T I?”

     I think I’m becoming dead inside, going into a state of shock. I feel the pressure increase as she lowers her foot, hear Zero’s groans turn to into an agonized shriek from beneath the shoe. His legs offer little resistance. I hear them crack and pulp along with his screams. And still I obediently lick, and hump, now slowly, mindlessly.

     “MMM, DID YOU LIKE THAT? I DID.” Miranda asks, and chuckles. I’m not sure who she’s even talking to this time. My mind is blanking, disassociating.      Through the fuzziness, I hear Zero’s voice, screaming through gritted teeth: “Finish it! Just do it, put her out of her misery! Aaaugh for God’s sake Alpha let her die!”

     What? He wants me to... no, I can’t... she could still live. She could come out of this. She still has one leg, right?

     No. He's right, I realize, and feel what little remains of me humanity holding on by a tender thread. I can’t let Beta die like this, screaming and writhing in pain until she bleeds out. If I can cum now -I feel sick just thinking it- Miranda will kill her instead. I don’t have time to think about just how twisted and evil this whole thing is. If I can put her out of her pain I’ll do anything.

     I clear my mind. Thoughts stream by, lingering seconds before disappearing. I focus on my breathing, and follow my mind to a different place.

     Naomi. There she is.

     I’m back under her foot. She’s smiling at me teasingly. Her skin is warm and soft on my body. I become erect. Naomi gives me a sly look. How naughty I am. Her toes envelop me, stroke me. I sigh and let the waves of pleasure radiate through my body. I find the rhythm, and press my hips into her in harmony. I can hear her teasing me. We both know I can’t resist.

       Eventually I gasp and peak. I groan and arch my back under her foot, pumping my milky cum between her toes as she continues to milk me dry.      “OH, ALPHA,” Naomi says.

     I mumble a reply.

     “ARE YOU WATCHING, ALPHA?”

     “Watching what?”

     “YOU BETTER BE, YOU LITTLE SLUT. THIS IS WHAT YOU EARNED, SO ENJOY IT,” Miranda says.

     I jolt back into reality. I try to fight it but I can't, I can't look away. I watch as Beta’s ribcage bursts through her flesh and her organs all flatten like balloons. Her screams dissolve as her mouth crumples, her eyeballs burst as the back of her skull presses them into the glass, and her brains pop from her scalp like splattered paint.

     “Finish me,” Zero whispers from below.

     The last of my humanity slips away. The last dead leaf of a barren tree.

     I lie still. The world slows around me, loses focus as I draw away from it. Maybe someday it too will lie still, and then I will be able stand, to move on my own again. Maybe someday.

     Then the blurry world that surrounds me moves. I vaguely sense flashes of light and muffled sound. I’m tumbling across the floor somehow, rolling to a stop. Huge black shapes move above me. They churn around me like clouds around the eye of a storm. One detaches and descends upon me, filling my vision.

     "TARGET NEUTRALIZED."

     “IS THAT HIM? OH MY GOD.”

     “GOD DAMN, THAT IS FUCKED!”

     “ARE WE SURE HE’S THE ONE?”

     “LOOK AT HIM. WOULD ANYONE ELSE STILL BE ALIVE AT THIS POINT? GET THAT SHIT OFF OF HIM, NOW.”

     Giant fingers in black gloves grope gently at me, tugging the wire on my stumps.

     “IT’S NOT COMING OFF, MA’AM.”

     “OH FOR GOD’S SAKE, MOVE ASIDE. I’LL END HIS SUFFERING."

     A giantess clad in all black, even her face, raises her boot above me.       "MA'AM ARE YOU SURE?"

     "HE'LL BE BACK. IT'S BETTER THIS WAY."

     CRUNCH.