If Ivy Could Untangle Ch. 01

Chapter 1

Avery was standing in the lobby of the hotel, while I leaned against the posts of the awning out front.

Through the window, the concierge continued to glance over at me with concern as she spoke with Avery. Avery started to raise her voice, and I heard distant muffles through the doors, but she quickly lowered it, and she pleaded again.

The sun was beginning to set, and the weather had only continued to cool down following the torrential rainstorm. I shivered as I pulled at the remains of my dress. I was careful not to pull too hard, as it was struggling to be held together by strings and loose threads anymore.

The concierge gave me one more look-over, but she mouthed an apology afterward. I didn't blame her. We had been out in the woods for nearly two weeks. Our clothes were shredded, out skin was disgustingly dirty. I couldn't imagine the smell...

Avery left her, waving from behind a frustrated smile.

As she turned away, I nearly cried at the thought of losing a clean bed to sleep in.

"Sorry, Jess." Avery came out and looked out at the highway that was barren alongside the small hotel. "Without any cash, ID's, or even a phone, she can't let us in. I really thought she would spring for it."

My stomach churned. Starving was a fear of the past week. Although, it didn't mean I enjoyed the feeling any less.

"That's fine. We can probably find something further up the road anyway. Maybe it's safer anyway. I don't even know how close we are to the compound."

Abby smiled through her hunger. "We should be far enough away that even the Doc would think twice about us having trekked this far." She chinned over at the road. "Let's get moving."

We pushed on, with each step being heavier than the previous one.

Perhaps fifty feet from the hotel, we heard the automatic doors whoosh open, and a voice follow. "Hey, wait a second!"

---

The elevator ride was an eternity as the three of us stood in it, refusing to speak. Us refusing our secrets, and the older concierge refusing her morbid curiosity. What are these two young women doing out here? Stranded in shredded clothes? No phones or anything! I imagined her intrigue, and I wanted to smile, but I was too tired to move anymore than the bare minimum.

As she opened the door to our room on the third floor, the concierge said, "The water takes a moment to get warm. Towels should be in there, along with plenty of soap for the both of you. The phone in there has a list of food places that deliver, but as you don't have any cash on you..." She ran a hand through her hair. "I don't want to pry, but are you two in trouble? My brother's a cop. I could give him a call, and he could--"

Avery stepped in, "Like I said in the lobby, we're fine. We were just out camping, and the storm took us by surprise."

She looked at Avery and I's matching set of High River Valley State Park sweatpants and hoodies. "I'm not an idiot. If you don't want to tell me, then you don't have to say anything. I'm giving you the room for the night, but check-out is tomorrow at noon."

Avery stepped into the room and took the key from the lady. "Thank you. We'll be gone before you know it."

The concierge turned back to walk down the lobby. I stepped into the room and closed the door, but only for a moment. Quickly, I opened it back up to call down the hall, "Excuse me!"

The concierge turned to face me, and her old eyes looked like they had carried too much baggage for one lifetime.

"Thanks! Sincerely, thank you."

She smiled at me, and I closed the door.

I could hear Avery starting the shower in the bathroom. The hotel room was small, and the only furniture was a single king-sized bed, a desk with the phone attached to it, and a television hanging from the wall.

The bed consumed me, and I collapsed as I sat on the edge.

---

Kripke's hand reaching out to me, my eyes were closing, mud was swallowing me, rain slamming onto my shivering body, Jacques's body dying next to me, the electric fence softly buzzing, the barrel of her gun cooling after two deadly shots.

My eyes were closed for a terrible amount of time.

Light drenched my vision as I awoke, curled in a ball, with Kripke standing just a few yards ahead of me. I was nestled under a small boulder that offered a cover from the weather, which was beginning to turn for the better.

Sunlight dripped through the clouds of murky grey infinity. The rain was soft, and thunder was banished from the forest. The woods were quiet, and I could only hear the soft pitter patter of rain drops against thin Appalachian leaves.

Kripke was messing with her rifle, but she kept letting out grunts of anger.

"Where are we?" I asked through a wince of pain. Sitting up, my torso screamed in pain. Suddenly I remembered the beating I had received from Jacques.

She turned to see me, and Kripke quickly came to my side and put a hand to my stomach, "I carried you for a while, but eventually we had to stop. How's your body? I checked you for injuries, but you didn't have any broken bones that I could find. Bruises though..." I looked at my legs and looked at the purple welts that painted my body. "I think we covered our tracks well enough that they won't be able to find us for a while." Groaning as she moved, Kripke stood up from under the rock and looked around, stretching her tired and muscular body.

She looked at the gun once more before giving up. "This damn thing. I broke the trigger off last night as I was scouting around. Doc always bought the cheapest shit."

"Track us...?" My words sleepwalked out of my mouth before my eyes grew wide as they could be! I stood, struggling through the pain of various attacks last night.

Kripke tucked the gun away in the rocks beside me, and then she ran a finger over the back of my neck, and I flinched through the sharp pain, "I dug out the tracker they implanted in you. There is no way for them to find us outside of following us our steps through the woods." I could feel the raw flesh. It was probably only the size of a pimple, but the wound felt as large as a quarter.

The golden morning light muddied itself with the barrage of disappearing grey clouds. Jacques's face flashed through my mind. "Thanks, Kripke. About last night. I only remember fighting with Jacques. It's all blurry in my mind, but I know you saved me..." The gunshots echoed in the memories of my ears.

She wrinkled her eyebrows at me, "Then if you remember it so well, you'd do best to forget that nickname."

The Crypt-Keeper. Kripke.

"God, um. Avery... I'm so sorry." I took a step toward her, unsure what I wanted to do or say, but she stepped back and nodded forward.

"We aren't out of it yet." She started walking toward the sunrise. "Let's put some ground between us and them."

"Wait, give me just a minute. Actually, I'll catch up!"

She gave me an odd look and walked ahead.

I waited a few moments before ducking behind a tree. I pulled down my panties and started to remove my plug. As I removed it, I could feel it delivering more estrogen. The liquid shot up into me as I began to pull it out. The timer started beeping. I unhooked it from my cage, and with a quick throw, I launched it away from where we were headed. I wasn't sure if that could track us, but it made sense to get rid of it either way. I looked down at my cage. I wanted to get rid of it, but it always took a few minutes. We needed to start moving, so I figured I would deal with it later.

I trotted up quickly to Avery. She asked very bluntly, "Care to tell me what you were doing?"

"I um--"

"It's alright, I know what you were doing."

My cheeks flushed.

She continued, "I debated on if it could track you out here. The Doc had never made one of those plugs before, and I knew it had to be connected to a network for her to follow us."

I responded, "Yeah, um. Good to know."

"If we are going to push through together, we need to be honest with one another." She paused as she added, "Which means... um, well I don't know how to say this."

"Go ahead."

"Your cage that the Doc gave you, are you still wearing it?"

"Yeah," I said through embarrassment.

"Good." Avery said, "It's about to get cold over the next few days. The winter moves up the mountains faster than fall can go away. Your cage keeps all of you tucked inside of yourself, doesn't it?"

I said, "It sure does."

"Less chance of hypothermia for you if it stays warm in there."

I considered her words. Even with my freedom, I was still stuck wearing Doc's devices. I must have been quiet for a while because Avery said, "Don't worry. You probably won't get hypothermia. It's just a precaution.

I nervously laughed, which caused us both to start laughing.

"I guess if I had any chance of getting out alive with someone, you're probably the best odds."

Avery said, "We aren't out of this yet. If we keep in this direction, we should meet a highway in maybe two days."

"So, what do we do for food or water?"

"We'll make it work. We'll be okay.

---

"Wake up, Jess," Avery's strong voice roused me from my nap. "The shower is open."

I could have been asleep for thirty seconds of thirty years, I'd never know. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

Passing by me, Avery brought forth a waft of warm air that smelled like flowers. Her hair was wrapped in a towel, and she wore only a bathrobe that was tied loosely at her hips.

"There's another bathrobe in there for you. It's hanging on the door." She plopped down on the bed and grabbed the television remote. The jazzy intro to Seinfeld began to play as she leaned back into the pillows.

I closed the bathroom door, and ran the water. I pulled off my clothes, and started to undue the corset underneath. The corset took a moment to come off, and I laughed as I let it fall to the ground. The extra layer had done wonders to keep my torso warmer while we had been out in the woods, but I had paid for it with almost two solid weeks of wearing it. My panties were in shambles, torn, stretched, struggling to hold anything inside...

My jaw dropped in the mirror as I stood in front of it. The corset had worked overtime, as I stood with an unmistakably curvier frame. I had lost weight in the woods, but my body had redistributed most of it. I hadn't taken any pills in almost two weeks, but I knew the effects were gradual. There was no denying it now. I palmed my A-cup breasts and felt my nipples ignite with a sensitivity that had only grown since the last time I had paid them any attention - the day of Chelsea's party.

Kripke had been right about the cage. Never once had I felt myself getting too cold down there. It took a few minutes, but I unfastened myself from the device. My dick barely emerged.

I would have given anything for a razor. My pubes were growing back, along with the rest of my body hair. Shockingly, I didn't have any facial hair outside of slight peach fuzz.

The steam began to cloud the image in the mirror. With every passing second, the mirror would grow foggier, and my reflection would blur even more into some feminine figure that I couldn't recognize.

How could that be me?

I stepped into the hot shower.

The dirt, the dried blood, the bruises... They all melted away in the shower, or at least started to melt away. Layers of nature were caked onto my body, and I struggled to find my skin in some places.

My hair began to drench, and with every warm layer of water on me, it took even more strength to not fall asleep.

Nearly twenty minutes passed before I stepped out.

I could hear Seinfeld still playing through the door. The bathrobe slipped over me, and I exited the bathroom with an accompaniment of steam rolling out into the room. Avery looked in my direction from atop her pillow mountain she was leaning upon as she said, "How was the shower?"

I fell onto my side of the bed. "That was amazing. How does going two weeks without a shower feel that gross? Didn't people go like... years, in the old days?"

Avery laughed, "Yeah, maybe, but that doesn't mean we should." After a moment, she added, "We need to figure out a plan for tomorrow."

I agreed, "We have no money. Arguably no clothes. I doubt that a bus comes through here, so it seems like we are walking again, but where do we go?"

Avery bit her fingernail, "I know someone. Maybe they could help, but..."

"But what?"

"I don't know that he would even help. The last time we spoke... Things didn't end on a good note."

I considered this, "Okay, then what's our next option? I think any assets of ours are being watched carefully. If you want my opinion, then I think we will have to go to a third-party. Especially if we're following through with the plan."

My stomach growled.

Avery laughed, "You're right. About the third-party, and about our stomachs."

We both knew there was breakfast waiting for us at six in the morning. If we slept it off, the sunrise would bring us a feast.

"I'm going to sleep," I said through heavy eyes.

Avery yawned, "I'm right behind you."

---

"I'm right behind you," I called ahead!

Avery had taken off running, trying to stay ahead of the sinking sun and growing darkness. "Keep up!" She shouted again, "I think I saw something!"

I bounded over a log, and I caught the glimpse that Avery had seen.

A small clearing had opened up, and some mountainside picnic area sat waiting for us to arrive. Vacant and deserted, there were no signs of recent use. Three wooden tables sat decrepit and rotted; a metal trashcan rusted as it overflowed from waste and age; a small trail map was faded and discolored, yet it did still appear to be legible.

I walked up to the map as Avery began to loot the picnic site.

My fingers traced over the area as I read aloud for Avery.

"It looks like we are at the edges of this reserve. The entrance is further east, maybe five miles? It looks like we are somewhat close to the highway!"

"I told you!" Avery said as she rifled through the trashcan, "I said it would be about two days, and we ended up making pretty good time for this!" She gave up and moved away from it.

"Well, it seems pretty easy now!" I said, "Let's start down the trail out of here."

"Sounds good to me!"

We started down the trail, and with some speed, we began to hike our way toward the entrance of the reserve. Avery and I seemed to hardly speak as our finish line felt closer with each step.

The sun was down, and the night air began to nip at us as we walked. I was cold, and so was Avery. Our breaths came out in shivering spurts as we walked.

Finally, we began to see signs that marked the entrance of the reserve. A small building marked the entrance, and a light was on. Nothing else could be seen in the darkness.

As we approached the building, we could see it was a small shop and office for the park. Shelves of packaged food and refrigerated sections of bottled drinks stared at us through the windows.

Avery and I looked at one another with wide eyes and made a dash for the building.

We got to the door and tried the door, but it was locked.

"Hellooo?"

"Anyone in there?!" Despite having been freezing in the woods for two days, I was shocked at how feminine my voice still sounded.

I pounded on the door, and my flesh drank in the warmth that radiated through the glass.

Before I could even see him, a massive figure emerged. An overweight and terrified looking security guard looked at us through the glass in the door before taking in our appearances. Quickly he unlocked the door and opened it for us.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," the guard said, "knocking on the door that loud in the black of night!" He looked at us again, "Are you two alright?"

Avery said, "We've been lost in the woods for a few days."

"Well come on in." The guard introduced himself, "I'm Victor, come inside!" He fumbled his keys. "Come grab yourself some food. Are you hungry? I assume you're hungry! I'm always grabbing food from here. They never notice."

Avery and I didn't pause for a moment.

We both went to the coolers and grabbed water bottles. Then, I found some beef jerky. Avery grabbed one as well and a small bag of peanuts.

Victor continued, "Two days you said? Wow! That sounds horrible! Especially with this cold front moving in! You guys are lucky to have found me when you did!" He looked at us for a moment, then he paused. As if seeing something beyond us to alert him, Victor shot up, "Say, I can fix some coffee in the back! Hot cocoa? Something to warm you up?"

We both nodded.

"Pull up a seat! Get comfy! I'll be back in a minute."

I drank and ate as I walked throughout the gift shop.

Small knick-knacks and key chains lined the shelves. Books about the Appalachia sat unread. Cheap walking-sticks were pooled together in a barrel.

There were a handful of racks of clothes within the store. Pink and black hoodies were hanging on a rack, and matching sweatpants were folded alongside it.

I said, "Isn't this great," in between bites and gulps. "We're done! The hard part is over! Well, the first hard part I guess."

Avery responded as she walked further into the store, "Yeah, I can't believe this guy was here. That's awfully lucky for us." She turned and looked back at me. Avery's voice dropped as she said, "Jess..."

I met her eyeline and traced her vision. Behind my head, just next to the door was a missing poster with both of our faces on it. Next to it was a reward of $5,000 for info on either of us.

"Oh shit," I said.

"I'll grab food," Avery said. "You grab whatever else you can."

My hands quickly scoured through the clothes. I grabbed two sets of tops and bottoms, but then my eyes spotted a backpack. I pulled it off the rack and stuffed it with the clothes. On the way out, I grabbed a blanket off of a shelf, and as I ran to the door, I turned to see Abby reaching over the counter. She quickly followed me.

"Where do we go?" I said, "If they have five-thousand-dollar bounties up, we'll be turned in immediately if we go somewhere nearby!"

"I know, I know..."

"Hell, the Doc is probably driving up and down the highway looking for us right now!"

"Jesus! I know!" Avery saw my backpack and started dumping the food she grabbed inside. I realized she had grabbed a lighter from the counter. "Let me think..."

The door opened up behind us and Victor came out booming, "Where are you two going! People have been calling everyday looking for you! I just called them and told them you're okay!"

Avery looked at me, and I looked at her.

I said, "When they come asking, tell them to go to Hell."

Without realizing we were in agreement, we started running, taking off into the forest, away from the highway.

My corset started to take my breath away from me again, but the thought of the Doc only minutes behind me dripped fear directly into my muscles. I ran faster.

Avery led the sprint, and we pushed back the way we came. Five minutes later, we were back at the picnic clearing. With nightfall around us, the lounge area was much more ominous.

Avery stopped and rested on a table for a minute. "What do we do?"

I looked up, "I have a crazy idea."

She listened.

"We head backwards."

Avery laughed.

"No think about it! They'll show up here. And they'll think we just ran further, but they'd never expect us to head back!" She stopped laughing. "In fact, we push past Redwood Manor, and we go further that way. There's no way in Hell that they would push their efforts that way after we were spotted all the way up here!"

Time for debate and conversations was over.

Avery nodded, and she cut back into the woods the same way we had just emerged from.

Away from civilization.

Deeper into the trees.