Wages of Sin

"We keep an eye on those stumps. The tourniquets have to be released at 10 minute intervals, or the pressure behind them will build and cause new damage. Probably time to open them now."

Chaz sat on the bed and took off the belts around the stumps.

Tonya's stomach turned. "Is nausea part of that damage?"

"Don't know-"

Tonya heaved, cutting off Chaz's reply. Thick red goop splashed into her lap and on to Chaz. Though obviously disgusted, Chaz rubbed the goop between his fingers. "This isn't blood."

Chaz sprang from his seat on the bed as the stumps began to slowly ooze red goop. As it broke free of her stumps, the oozing caused incredible pain for Tonya. She screamed and squirmed as red globs covered the bed by her sides. Eventually, it began to take shape. Bone, muscle, and skin formed. Tonya felt the "ropes" again, but different this time. She sat up in her bed again to see the mirror.

Four new arms snaked from her sides, two new arms extending from each stump. With her own natural arms, she now had six.

The new arms reached for Chaz, toppling Tonya from her bed. They reached again and caught Chaz's ankles. He sprawled backwards, first onto the chair until her arms dragged him to the floor. It was a chaotic tangle of arms – Chaz scrambling to get away, Tonya's natural arms fighting with their new counterparts to release Chaz, the new limbs alternating between attacking Chaz and attacking Tonya. A sudden motion and a flash of metal caught her eye. Tonya saw the axehead fall before she could stop the action. In an instant, the chaos ceased.

The red stains in Chaz's clothes from Tonya's vomit were replaced with the growing red stain from the wound gushing blood from Chaz's head. The axehead was buried deep enough to be fully hidden by his skull and the fount of blood. He shook slightly but that faded as the fount grew weaker. In a brief time, he was still and the bleeding had stopped. Tonya's nude, six-armed form, the hands on her natural arms covering her face in shock and horror and four new arms beating Chaz mercilessly and fruitlessly, sat covered in blood.

By the end of the day, officers of the Light Patrol were in her apartment. After Chaz died, it took Tonya some time to collect her thoughts and figure out what her next steps should be. In the end, she had no choice but to call the Department of Corrections. They were responsible for her predicament, would have to be contacted anyway with Chaz being murdered in her room, and were the only ones with any answers. After fighting with her new arms for balance and control, she worked her way into the living room to avoid staring at Chaz's blood-drenched body. She called the number she had been given for her warden whom she was to call if she encountered any problems. By the top of the hour, the crew was in her apartment, cleaning up the mess and collecting the body and body parts on the floor. In the living room, Tonya covered her nakedness with an afghan she kept on her couch, but nothing could hide the fact that her new arms were either smacking her repeatedly or masturbating her to countless and joyless orgasms. Her warden, Warden Jones, sat next to her, sipping coffee and filling out the reports on the incident.

"You're not the first to attempt this," he said to her. "We try to warn you when sentence is passed. These limbs are hydraic."

Tonya tried to focus through her self-abuse. "What does that mean?"

"The term comes from Greek mythology. The Hydra was a serpent with multiple heads. When you cut one off, two grew in its place. We used that idea when we first assigned this punishment and people tried your approach to dealing with their sentence. Couldn't very well have people sidestepping their punishment because they owned an axe or chainsaw, now could we?"

Tonya burst into tears. "You people are monsters."

Warden Jones grabbed Tonya by her hair, dragged her to her feet, and marched her into her bathroom. He flipped on the light switch and pressed her face against her reflection in the mirror. "If we're monsters, what the hell are you? You're now a human spider for two simple reasons: you chose to lead a sinful life and you try to avoid the consequences of your choices. If you had just submitted to the punishment, you'd have a week of two extra arms and your friend wouldn't be dead. You couldn't do that, and now he's dead and you've got twice the punishment to deal with. So who's the monster?"

Tonya wept but didn't answer.

Warden Jones slammed Tonya's face into the mirror again, splintering it with a web of cracks. "I said WHO IS THE MONSTER?"

"I am!" Tonya cried. Blood ran down her forehead and cheek.

The warden let go and Tonya collapsed to the floor. He crouched next to her. "Because your friend lost his life while committing a crime, we're not going to hold you responsible for his death. We'll just say he got what he deserved for interfering in a sentence. You, on the other hand, are in a position to have your sentence doubled."

"Please no! I'm sorry!"

"Shut up," he said sternly. "I'm not going to give you any more time. You'll just have to cope with the extra arms. Have you learned how to tame them?"

"Straight sex thoughts?"

"Exactly. Keep your mind flooded with them as much as you can for the next week. As long as you do, you'll find your time with the arms much easier to endure." He stood to his full height, towering over this naked form with twice the number of limbs she should have. "These limbs are corrective. Learn your lesson so you won't find yourself back here again."

After sharing his words of wisdom, the warden walked out of the room. She hadn't noticed the rest of the crew had left the apartment. When she managed to get to her feet and exit the bathroom, she was alone in the rooms. Just her and her extra limbs.

And this was just the first day.

*****

Section 3: The Last Encounter

The smiles from the pretty lady sitting across the aisle caused Tonya's stomach to knot up. Her sides started to itch and tingle at the site where the corrective arms had been. The itch, tingle, and nausea were gentle reminders of the wages of the sin her nature urged her to contemplate. She closed her eyes and counted to ten slowly and breathed deeply, just like her therapist had taught her to do. The swaying of the train in motion caused her nausea to worsen. When she opened her eyes, she saw the woman still smiling warmly. Tonya returned the smile, but then grabbed her purse and started a fervent search for nothing in particular. She hoped this distraction would discourage any additional contact with the attractive stranger. When Tonya produced a book she had finished and started to read, the pretty woman walked away. Weeks ago, that woman would have been just her type, Tonya thought, as she looked at the words on the pages but read nothing. But now that she has been corrected, that problem was one she wouldn't have to deal with again.

"God has touched you, Tonya," her therapist said at one point. "Not everyone has the benefit of the help and experience you've had in helping them with their wayward activities. Years ago, criminals were just warehoused in prisons for years at a time. But now, we know how to correct the core problems that cause people to stray. We can help them and get them back on the right way in life."

"Are you sapphotic?" asked a voice from her right. Tonya turned to find the mystery woman sitting next to her. She smiled at Tonya. As Tonya smiled back politely, her stomach turned and her sides itched painfully. The woman said, "Are you a sister? You seem like-"

"I'm not," Tonya said. This woman also seemed to have no problem with being blunt and forward. Tonya wanted to be polite, but she had to respond in kind or this interaction could drag on. The longer they talked, the weaker Tonya may become. "Not any more. No."

"'Not any more'?" The woman laughed. "You can't stop being a sister."

"This sister did."

The laughter stopped. The curtness of the answer sucked the coquettish jocularity out of the exchange. Tonya did nothing to soften the moment.

The woman nodded and stood. "I'm sorry to bother you." She disappeared into the train's mass of passengers. In moments, Tonya was alone again in the crowd.

She closed her eyes again and breathed deeply. This was a significant occurrence. She made a mental note to tell her therapist about it, as she noticed that her stop was next.

Tonya's participation in the mass detraining of the commuters always conjured pictures in her mind of cows going to the slaughterhouse. Not that she had ever seen the event for herself in real life – or ever seen a genuine cow, for that matter – but she always had the urge to moo loudly.

Inwardly, she was laughing at the frequent thought, when a scent in the air caught her attention. The scent of vanilla and lilac cut through the diesel fumes. In Tonya's mind, it even drowned out the noise. She knew this smell. The vanilla was from a handmade French Vanilla body bar sold at a local farmer's market. The lilac was from specialty salon-grade shampoo – too expensive for most people in this working class crowd, unless the beauty wearing it would save up and treat herself to it as often as she could and only use it on rare occasions.

Occasions like a tryst with her lover when her husband was working overtime shifts at work.

"Anne Marie?" Tonya said, as she stood on her toes to look above the crowd. She turned in a circle and tried to follow her nose to the source. The massive herd of cattle-people pressed against her and tried to move her towards the train station exit. Tonya fought back, pushing her way through the crowd as this fading scent drew her.

"Anne Marie!" She called, trying to raise her voice above the din of the departing train and clamoring people. She called again with the hope of seeing if she could see a little blond-haired woman react in this sea of dark-capped heads. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a reaction. A blond head that had been at eye level ducked lower. Tonya turned towards it. The scent grew stronger, overpowering the machine and body odors in the head of this lover. She pushed through the crowd until -.

There she was, huddling, almost cowering, into a man standing next to her. Anne Marie. She was dressed in her factory work clothes, but kept her worker's hat in her pocket because she liked to feel the wind in her hair in the morning.

"Anne Marie?" Tonya said, stepping towards the shivering woman who huddled closer as the man put his arm around her.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Tonya ignored the man. "Anne Marie?"

"Who the hell are you?" the man said. "Anne Marie, who is this?"

Anne Marie spoke in a voice almost drowned out by the thinning crowd. "This is Tonya, Steven."

"Tonya!" the man yelled. "YOU'RE fucking Tonya?"

Tonya's gut reaction was to make some joke about how his wife was actually the one who was fucking Tonya, but decided not to get distracted by him. "Anne Marie, baby. Are you ok?" Tonya ignored the churning in her stomach and the dizzy swirling in her head. She reached a hand out to touch Anne Marie's shoulder.

Steven smacked the hand away. "Get out of here, you crazy dike."

"Fuck you!" Tonya yelled.

"No, FUCK YOU!" he shouted back. "All this shit is your fault! Do you know what she went through for a week, thanks to you?"

"Do you know what I went through? I think I've earned the right to talk to her!" She reached out to touch Anne Marie's shoulder again.

Anne Marie's hand was a blur as she swiped at Tonya's arm. Tonya instantly felt a sharp pain across her palm and she yanked her hand back. Blood fell from the base of her hand to her fingers. She even saw glimpses of white bone in the gash. Dumbstruck, Tonya looked at her attacker. Anne Marie was backing away from Steven, and held out a box cutter like a sword.

Steven moved towards her. "Anne Marie-"

"GO TO HELL!" Anne Marie shouted. "You can both go to hell! We should all just go to fucking hell!" Anne Marie backed away slowly.

Tonya clutched her hand to her chest, but tried to stay focused on Anne Marie. "Baby, why did you do that?"

"Do you know what happens if they catch us again?! I get two weeks of – of -of THAT!" Anne Marie screamed, inching towards the train tracks.

"Two weeks of what?" Tonya asked Steven. "What did they do to her?"

"Do you know what they do for a third strike?" Anne Marie continued. "I know. They take you to a First Time offender on the last day of her sentence. They make you kiss her. They make you fuck her. Then, they blow your fucking brains out! In front of her! While you're still on her! Then, they leave your body there with her for an hour! Is that what you want for me?"

"Baby, I'll-" Tonya started.

"You'll what?" Anne Marie asked, continuing her steps backwards towards the platform edge. "You'll what? Be careful? Be discreet? 'Be sure your sins will find you out!'"

"Annie, baby, we don't have to go back to that. We can just be friends. I'm different now. I'm getting help. I won't want those things again."

"I'm different, too," Anne Marie said in a near-whisper. "Even knowing what they would do to me for it, I still want to be with you."

"But I don't want you like that anymore, honey," Tonya said.

Anne Marie paused her retreat. Fresh new sobs wracked her body and she dropped the box cutter. "You don't want me?"

Tonya moved quickly towards Anne Marie while she was disarmed. "That's not what I-" was all Tonya could say before Anne Marie jumped off the edge of the platform and landed across the electrified tracks.