Inescapable

The sky mourned with the village.

Beneath the gray, flat clouds the sky was the color of curdled milk. Rain fell in drizzling slanted waves as lightning flashed soundlessly far into the distance.

Mary walked with her younger sister, a bucket in each hand while Faith struggled with just one.

"Papa says they's gonna call the adults together," Faith grunted. Her white dress, embroidered with green flowers was caked in mud. She shook her head to settle her twin braids behind her. "Tonight at elder Joshua's home."

"It's no business of ours, Faith," Mary reminded her. Her own dress, handed down from her mother and patched several times over was nearly as filthy. She reminded herself yet again that she needed to take the laundry down to the river.

"Says you. I'm gonna go," the younger sister said defiantly. She blew air from between her lips as the rain streaked down her face

"You'll get a whoopin' if you go," the older sister replied, stepping around a large rock in their path. Her arms burned from the weights of the buckets. They'd found black growths inside their rain barrel that morning and the whole family worried whether it was the cause of their father's harsh coughing. Regardless, they decided it would be safest to draw from the well until they could clean it.

"If they catch me, Mary. You know they got better things to do than look for chil'ren running loose," the young girl huffed. She set her bucket down with a sigh. "Wait a second. My back's afire."

"You're not a child, Faith. You're old enough to be married off-"

"To who?!" Faith cried, suddenly upset. "The whole town's dyin' if'n you're too busy to notice."

"There's Isaiah," Mary replied, refusing to acknowledge her sister's fit.

"Papa talked to Isaiah's pa," the girl said, crossing her arms. Her dress clung wetly to her scrawny body. "I heard it from Eunice he'self. Says he's ridin' to Asher's Vale to sign up for solderin' but Eunice says she saw blood in his shit when she was cleanin' the pots. He won't make it to no war, let alone my wedding bed."

Mary dropped the bucket in her right hand. Suddenly weightless, her hand whipped out to slap her sister's cheek. The smaller girl staggered back with tears in her eyes.

"You watch your mouth," the older girl said as she gripped the handle of her bucket again. "Just 'cause mama ain't... isn't here doesn't mean you can use foul language."

Faith sniffled but picked up her own load and they walked silently until they drew close to their barn. The closed door hung crooked on rotted wood but opened easily when Mary pushed at it with her hips.

"'Sides," Faith said quietly. "You'll be married 'fore me."

"Maybe," Mary sighed. But, she wouldn't. She knew she wouldn't. Her sister was younger and she would pass her chance to her if a suitor was ever found. If.

Standing in the musty barn, the older sister squeezed her braid, pulling from top to bottom until it was dry. She could feel her nipples against the soaked blouse of her dress as the cold hardened her soft skin.

The sensation pulled her back, months ago during the end of summer when Isaiah had cornered her in the barn, roughly kissing her while pawing at her chest. He hadn't said a word. Hadn't told her he liked her or wanted her or anything. One moment, he was helping her with chores and, the next, his mouth was on hers. Awkwardly, as he painfully pinched her nipples.

He'd left when her papa had called for her to come inside. All she had felt was was the desire for him to be finished with his business before she got in trouble for taking too long with her chores.

"Come on, then," Mary said as she pulled her dress away from her body. "Get inside and clean up while I go look for wood. We burned the last of the good ones for father last night."

"Mary," Faith said, grabbing her sister's sleeve. "Don't- don't be long, hear? It don't feel right today."

"I won't," the older girl said, gently kissing her sister's forehead. She grabbed her bonnet and basket before turning back at the door. "Get to scrubbin' and don't forget to save the ashes from the pit this time. I'll be back 'fore you know it."

The cold, driving rain forced a gasp from the young woman's lips. She grit her teeth and bowed her head against it but, as she walked to the edge of the village, she found herself yearning for the warmth of her bed. She wiggled her frozen toes while shoving her hands beneath her armpits as the basket hung from the crook of her arm.

She wandered through the trees, walking deeper while keeping the village ever at her back to remember her way home. The areas she knew were picked clean by her and others so she found herself pushing even deeper than before.

A branch snapped, drawing her attention. She glanced over her shoulder while going around a mushroom covered log but there was nothing. And no fearsome creature she knew could hide behind the sickly thin birch trees in this part of the forest.

When she looked ahead, she saw it.

A swell of dirt lay ahead of her. It appeared as a grass and moss covered boulder but the core of the boulder was missing, opening instead into darkness.

Wooden chimes clattered, drawing her attention. She looked up to see a pole at the crest of the mound. Animal skulls lined the post with carved charms tied to dried tendons hanging from their horns and jaws. The charms twisted and flailed in the wind to create a cacophony of sounds and a trilling whistle joined as the wind flowed through the bones.

Mary held the basket close but stood on her numb toes to peer into the cave.

I shouldn't, she told herself.

Yet, the structure appeared ancient and abandoned and her mind turned to her dying village. Anything could make the difference between starvation and survival. If those who built the cave stored anything of value, the elders could sell it and buy food for the people.

"H- Hello?" she called out.

The wind rose and the whistling noise flattened into a low whoooooo as if insulting her.

Her eyes began to pick out details in the cave. She saw that it wasn't very deep but, better yet, it was empty. Of people or hiding places for someone to lie in wait.

Hunger drove her forward. As she stepped into the mouth of the cave, her skin crawled, pulling bumps of goose flesh from her arms and back.

It's just the cold, she told herself while swallowing.

The cave sheltered her and she was surprised at the warmth of it as she moved further inside. More bones, all animals, lie scattered in the opening and she almost lost hope until she spied a rock plinth.

A box lay atop the carved, flattened cap of the pillar.

The girl's heart began to quicken and she swallowed again as she stepped forth.

It was a simple wooden box of darkened polished walnut and it lay perfectly centered on the stone. She moved closer to see that it was bound vertically and horizontally. Two more steps made her brow wrinkle in confusion.

Threads of black hair, enough to fill two heads, covered the box.

With a glance back to the mouth of the cave and a quick lick of her lips, she touched one of the strands, certain she saw wrong. Her touch proved she wasn't as the glossy, smooth hairs parted against her fingertip.

She felt her heart in her throat and nearly fled but the chimes above slammed into the pole, in time with the blasts of wind coursing through the skulls. She heard her father's hacking cough in the howling wind and her resolved hardened.

Mary reached to the belt at her waist to unstrap the curved knife her father had given her. She slipped it beneath the hairs and they fell apart. The hairs tugged lightly at the blade until the box was freed. Sheathing her knife, she opened the box, gasping at its contents.

A large, teardrop shaped crimson gem lay nestled within a satin indentation. It was perfectly smooth and easily twice as large as her thumb. She knew, if the elders bartered well, that it could feed their village for years to come.

The young woman touched it while glancing over her shoulder, ready for someone to come screeching in, accusing her of thievery.

She waited for two heartbeats and then ran, dropping her basket to clutch the gem to her chest.

It warmed her as shafts of dull red light pulsed through her fingers. The charms hung silently as the girl rushed home. One of them, its original shape disfigured by the centuries, fell to the grass. A second followed as the tendon disintegrated. Bones fell amongst them and the very pole holding them in place grew black with rot before coming apart.

A single thought filled her as she vaulted over fallen logs and muddy puddles.

Home, she told herself, rubbing the gem. It prickled her fingers and her body responded. Warm. Eager for touch. Every hair standing on edge and the nerves below begging for attention. Her temples throbbed and she grinned maniacally at the thought of saving her people.

When she finally reached her home, she barreled through the door, startling her sister.

"Faith!" the young woman gasped, running to the room she shared with her sister. She leapt to her bed, trembling with excitement. "Come quick! You won't believe what I found!"

Faith followed her in. The younger girl was hesitant but curious as she sat next to her sister on the threadbare blankets.

"Look! We're saved!" Mary beamed, opening her hand.

"Mary!" Faith gasped, her hand covering her opened mouth. "Is that- Did you- Where'd you get it?"

"Deep in the woods," the other girl said in a rush. "I was walking, looking for kindling where we ain't been before and I saw this mound on the ground. Oh, Faith, I was scared witless, I was. There were chimes and the wind made the most awful sound but the cave! The cave was empty. I found it in the cave and we'll all be fine. All will be fine!"

"But, Mary," Faith said, her hand creeping down to her thighs. She frowned, scratching at her leg. "What if it belongs to someone? A treasure like that, no way it's just left out for anybody to take."

"It was old," Mary said, staring at the gem. Her palm was bathed in soft, pink light and her pupils dilated. "No tracks. No sign of nobody and who leaves something like that in the open? Nobody. Nobody, that's who. It was left, forgotten and we need it. We need it more."

"It's pretty," Faith told her, leaning closer. She had both hands against her legs, clawing at her thighs and hips with her dirty nails. "I ain't never seen anything like it. Like something in the stories Gran used to tell."

"The elders are meetin' tonight," Mary said, mesmerised by the jewel. "Right now. I'll bring it to them and tell them and we won't have to starve no more."

"Ssso pretty," the younger sister said. Her tongue slipped forth, stretching as the tip wriggled up and down. "And sssso warm. Can you feel it?"

"Feel-" Mary asked, confused.

"The warmth," Faith groaned. Her nail beds bulged as she reached lower to scratch her knees. Drops of blood soaked into her dress when her nails flaked away. Black tips pierced the flesh of her fingertips and her claws dragged her dress higher. Sweat coursed down from her temples and along her jaw. "Godssss. Sssso warm. Insssside of me."

"Faith, what's wrong?" the older sister asked. She sat back, reaching for her sister. Heat radiated from the smaller girl's body.

"It'ssss too much!" Faith screamed. Her tongue flicked out, cleaving in two as she clawed at her bodice. She grunted and pulled and the dress tore to reveal her slim breasts and sweat-soaked belly.

The smaller girl stood, staggering over to the door frame as she continued to rip, leaning down and shrugging her shoulders until the dress lay in a pool around her feet.

A thick line of skin connected her thighs, just beneath her bare sex. Faith lay back with her legs spread. Her right hand slid against her slick body, squeezing and pulling at her small breasts while her hips rocked back and forth on the rough, wooden doorway.

Mary shrieked as her sister's free hand caressed her body. Although she was naturally pale, the skin beneath the girl's belly button slowly drained of color. She raised her head back, never ceasing the rocking, wriggling, swaying motion of her hips. Scratching her body against the splintered wooden surface behind her.

"It'ssss insssside of me," Faith moaned, her tongue flickering between lengthening fangs. Her claws slipped between her legs as they began to press together. The hairs of her wild, untrimmed bush flaked away as her palm pressed into her mound. "Hear it. I can hear it whisssspering to me, Mary. It'ssss ssso beautiful!"

Mary dashed forward, reaching out before stopping. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized she didn't know what to do.

"Faith!" the older sister cried out. "Tell me what to do!"

Faith looked down, smiling. Her jaw cracked, widening, pulling at her lips. She reached out, sighing as she caressed her sister's cheek with a clawed hand as her nose pulled flat on her stretched face.

"Join ussss," the young girl whispered to her. Her round pupils constricted as blood flooded the girl's irises.

Mary backed away, knocking over their nightstand as she watched in horror.

The thick line of skin crept down the girl's legs, sealing them together as rosy flesh turned white. She groaned, grabbing the frame behind her and it creaked in her grasp. Thin as her arms were, she found new, unnatural strength forming within her body. The frame cracked as she tore a chunk out with hissing ecstasy. Her chest was swelling while fatty tissue developed below and her breasts began to fill out.

"No!" Mary shouted, feeling the sickness within her stomach.

She charged, ducking beneath her younger sister's reaching arms. In her haste, she floundered and fell, turning to watch as Faith lowered herself to the ground.

The younger sister writhed, twisting against the wooden floor. She groaned, pushing herself up on her hands to thrust her still-growing chest forward while dragging herself on the ground.

Faith luxuriated in her moulting as dead skin sloughed away from her waist and thighs to reveal hardening red and black scales.

"It's ssso good ssssister," Faith moaned. She flexed her body to raise as her calves joined together. Her boneless feet swayed behind her as she began to writhe towards her sister. "You'll sssssssee."

Mary ran from the house, nearly blind with the tears in her eyes. She fell as her long dress caught on a fence and again when her boots caught but she knew the way to elder Joshua's large home by heart and ran as quickly as she could.

The entire flight, the gem was held fast in her clenched fist.

Voices raised in anger silenced as she crashed through the elder's door. The gem began pulsing as she fell to her hands and knees. It spilled forth, sliding into the middle of the crowded room.

"Mary!" A voice, her father, called out. "What the-"

"Father!" Mary cried. "It's Faith! She's- There's-"

An older woman reached down to help her up.

"Here, Mary," the woman said gently. "It'll be caawwwright. It'll be caaaaaw!"

Mary sat back with her eyes wide. The woman, Hannah - elder Joshua's young wife, cocked her hide in surprise.

"What's wraaaaaw with my-" the woman started to say. She paused and her head tilted sideway while she glanced up. She shook herself and her thick red braid waved behind her back. "What's thaaaaaaw voice? Who is that?"

"Hannah?" elder Joshua said from the front of the room.

The woman fell to her hands and knees. She glanced up at Mary with pure, black eyes. Her mouth opened as if she would speak but, instead, her head thrust forward.

"Raaaawww!" Hannah called out as the room began to close around her. She leaned back, grabbing at her blouse. Holes dotted the surface of her skin and, as she tugged her shirt down, tiny black quills slid through the open holes.

The woman tore her shirt, revealing her large, pert breasts and erect nipples as people gasped around her. Screams filled the room when Hannah's jaw snapped, forcing her teeth forward. The lines between them vanished as they merged into two lumps, top and bottom. Black specks filled her lips and her reddened gums before moving down to her yellowed teeth. The thin, stretched skin covering her jaw began to harden as another snap made everyone jerk back. Her jaw collapsed into the hint of her long, curved beak.

A woman shrieked and a man cursed her for it. The crowd parted to show a terrified woman grabbing at her throat. Hazy crimson smoke issued from her mouth and the smell of sulfur filled the room.

"Leah!" her husband, Benjamin, shouted. He grabbed for her as she fell back against the wall. In the dim light of the large room, Mary could see the girl's skin color growing dark. She was even more pale than Faith but soon grew pink. And then darker still. Her bangs lifted and pushed away to reveal twin bumps over her brow.

Smoke rose from the newly wedded woman's body. Her soft, pouting lips darkened in sharp contrast to her skin and she moaned, licking her lips with her forked tongue.

"No, Leah!" Benjamin cried. His hand touched her and he screamed jerking it back moments before the woman's dress caught fire.

"Fuck!" The girl cried out. She grabbed her husband as her clothes fell to burning scraps around her.

Benjamin struggled while his wife kissed him, crushing him to her body as a lump formed at the base of her spine. She stamped her boots and they strained around her feet until finally breaking to show toes fused together.

With a cruel laugh, she pulled away, faint smoke still issuing from her black lips. The skin over her forehead stretched and broke to expose two red horns, still growing.

"Come, husband," her throaty, deep sultry voice called. Four short fangs showed behind her lips and the tip of her lengthening tail swelled into the shape of a sharp spade. The man gagged and spat and his spittle burned when it touched the ground. Faint streams of smoke oozed from his nose.

Leah turned, stomping her feet as her toenails grew thick, spreading over her feet, consuming flesh and bone until she stepped on furred, cloven hooves.

Her eyes settled on Daniel as the man pushed himself against the wall, his mouth working soundlessly in fear. She walked to him, her hips swaying as her growing tail worked in counter to her movements. The woman pressed a sharp claw against his chest.

"No, no, no," Daniel begged. "I- I have a wife and- and- a s-s-son and d-daughter, please!"

"They'll have their turn, Daniel," Leah purred as she pulled at his loose trousers. Her hand gripped his limp cock and he struggled until her claws dug into his chest.

She knelt before the man, glancing back as her husband tore at his clothes. She moaned at the sight of Benjamin's cock, drooling as ridges formed along its straining length. Kneeling awkwardly on her hooves, she shoved her ass back, raising it and waiting for her husband to take her.

"Demonic whore!" Daniel screamed as Hannah kissed the tip of his cock. She laughed, licking at it and it began to harden from her attentions. Daniel pushed at her face but she held fast, licking the length of his manhood until it stood erect before her. She laughed again, sucking at the tip, teasing his sensitive head with her forked tongue.

Daniel's strong hands gripped her curved horns and he pulled while thrusting his cock deep into her throat. She gagged and then bobbed, glancing up to see smoke wafting off of the man's reddened skin.

Claws gripped Hannah's hips. She imagined it to be her husband but, as she sucked Daniel's cock, her breasts swaying and bouncing beneath her, she realized she didn't care. The voice whispered in her head, filling her with thoughts of lust and pain and pleasure and the joy of spreading her blessing. She broke away from Daniel, shrieking as an enormous cock impaled her.