“We need to hurry, Mara,” said Benny nervously. The well-muscled Nigerian man holstered his revolver, took another look back down the tunnel they had just come through, and then walked over to join his employer. “We scared them, but they’ll be back.”
Mara was studying the inscriptions on the wall. “This is a preparation chamber,” she said. “Virgins were brought here, stripped naked, and covered in scented oils, ready for sacrifice.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” muttered Benny. “Who were they being sacrificed to?”
“Some local god, I imagine,” said Mara. “Perhaps M’tembo, or Onakri, or Sharmak. When we get to the sacrificial chamber itself, we may learn a little more.”
“This treasure had better be worth it, Mara,” said Benny. “I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of here. There must be over a hundred Gyele back there.”
“You’ll be paid in full, don’t worry about that,” Mara assured him. “Come on – I think we’re nearly there.”
She stepped back from the wall, and marched quickly to the far end of the chamber, heading for the entrance to a narrow passage which, she hoped, would take them to the sacrificial chamber. Unfortunately, roots from a huge tree above had penetrated all the way down through the earth and stone to block off much of the passage; she would have to get down on all fours. Given the shortness of her khaki miniskirt, she knew this would give Benny quite a view, but she was much too excited about reaching the end of her quest to worry about such trivial things.
Benny could not help staring at Mara’s panties, pristine white this morning but now somewhat stained with sweat and dirt, as he crawled into the passage after her. The young woman – barely out of her teens – was a bona fide beauty, with a generous but very shapely bottom and slim, well-toned legs. Her breasts, which he had glimpsed that morning while she bathed in the river, were full and firm and gorgeous, and as she walked they tended to bounce enticingly beneath her damp and clingy white tank top, unfettered by a bra. Her face was pretty, too, oval-shaped and framed by a mane of shoulder-length sandy blonde hair that she usually wore loose. Her eyes were chestnut brown, with long lashes, and when she smiled – which she did a lot – adorable dimples appeared in her cheeks.
Not that he had spent much time noticing these things, or thinking about them as he lay awake at night, pumping his engorged cock. Too bad she was all business and no pleasure – which he grudgingly had to admire. She definitely had her father’s drive, passion for adventure, and thirst for discovery, and she was extremely knowledgeable; she just seemed to have no time for or interest in romance.
The passage was short, and Mara soon reached its end. Standing up, she looked around, and her attention was immediately caught by a large hole in the far wall. “What the...” she whispered, her eyes widening. She walked forward, mesmerised.
Benny emerged from the passage, and he gasped in astonishment as he got to his feet and saw what Mara was looking at. “Mara, don’t get too close to that!” he warned her.
But Mara was not about to take any advice from her hired muscle. This was way too fascinating a discovery! As she approached the hole in the stone wall, her mind was racing, gathering information about what she was seeing, searching through her memories of ancient books, her father’s old notes, news clippings he had collected ... cross-referencing, discarding certain pieces of information, putting a mental pin in others.
For the hole in the wall was far from empty. A bloated greyish-pink mound of flesh slightly protruded from it, part of some creature that extended back into the wall, who could say how far? It was about three feet in diameter, as was the hole it filled, and it was featureless except for a couple of concentric rings (muscle bands perhaps), a general blotchy complexion, and a small, puckered, circular mouth, which was slowly opening and closing as Mara approached it.
“It could be dangerous, Mara!” Benny warned her, pulling his gun out again.
“Put that thing away,” Mara scolded him sharply, looking back at him with a frown. “This thing could be hundreds ... maybe thousands ... of years old. It could be the last of its kind. And you’re just going to kill it?”
“My job is to protect you, Mara, not that thing!” he said, still aiming his gun at the mound of flesh. “Remember, virgins were sacrificed to this thing! It might try to eat you!”
“I don’t think it’s an active predator,” said Mara, turning towards the creature again. She reached out a hand, and began to stroke its soft flesh. “Unless I’m mistaken, this is a sessile vermarion, a remnant of Africa’s Pleistocene annelid megafauna. Their fossil record is so sparse as to be almost nonexistent, so this ... wow, Benny, this ... it’s the find of the century!”
In response to her touch, the creature’s mouth opened wider, expanding to five, six, seven inches ... and four or reddish-brown tentacles began to emerge. They looked slimy, and their tips were bulbous. One began to slowly rub itself along Mara’s arm, leaving a trail of slime on her bare skin, while the others continued to emerge until they had reached her torso. They began wandering around, blindly exploring her belly, her chest, and downward to her thighs.
“See, Benny?” said Mara. “It’s just curious. If sacrifices were made to this creature, I’ll bet the virgins were killed first, and then fed to it. Or maybe they were bound, and then pushed into its mouth whole. Either way, I don’t think I have anything to fear from it.”
“I’ll keep my gun out, just the same, if you don’t mind,” said Benny grimly. He did not share Mara’s optimistic view of the creature.
“Oh! Steady on there, fella!” Mara giggled, as one of the tentacles snaked inside the neckline of her top, diving downward between her breasts. Another tentacle was exploring up beneath her skirt, rubbing against her pussy through her panties. Yet another had now encircled her waist. “Whoa there!” she said, a little more sharply, reaching down to grasp the one between her legs. But it was strong, and persistent ... and meanwhile, another tentacle was pressing between her buttocks. They were making her clothes and skin slimy.
The mouth opened wider, and more tentacles emerged. Each one was about an inch and a half in diameter, save for its bulbous head which was over two inches across. All of the tentacles were now moving with greater speed, as if they were no longer just exploring and now had a mission in mind. One forced its way between her belly and the waistband of her skirt. Another slithered inside her top via the right armhole.
“Okay, enough!” Mara snapped, trying to back away while continuing her ineffectual efforts to fight off the tentacles. “Benny! A little help here.”
Suppressing the urge to say “I told you so”, Benny holstered his gun and hurried forward. Grabbing the tentacle around Mara’s waist, which seemed to be the one primarily responsible for preventing her escape, he tried to pry it loose. But it had by now become so long that it had completely encircled her and then doubled back, corkscrewing around itself, and while he was attempting to unwrap the twisted pair, another tentacle quickly wound itself around his own waist.
“Oh no you don’t!” he yelled, leaping backward and twisting his body around to free himself. It was like trying to escape the coils of a python ... which he had some experience of. The tentacles were similarly strong, and he knew better than to allow them to complete a full circle around him. Pulling out his gun, he fired at the pale mound of flesh, then at the tentacles emerging from its mouth. One of the tentacles jerked as it was struck, but then it resumed its work.
The next pull on the trigger produced nothing but a click. Cursing, he popped six more bullets out of his ammo belt, and refilled the chambers of his revolver. Having reloaded, he fired six more times ... with little to no effect.
“Benny!” Mara squealed. “Help!”
“Bullets are useless against it!” he replied desperately. “Hold on – let me try a knife.”
The tentacle inside Mara’s tank top was pulling the garment downward so hard that her breasts had been uncovered; one strap had come off her shoulder and was nearing her elbow, while the other was digging hard into the side of her neck. Stretched and distorted, the material was nearing its breaking point.
“Ahhh ... oh no!” Mara could feel the tip of a tentacle roaming around inside her panties, smearing slime all over her pussy and between her buttocks. It found her anus and began to push hard against it. “Not there!” she squealed. The buttons of her skirt were popping open, one by one, as another tentacle pulled hard on it. Then the last button gave up, and the skirt opened out and fell to the ground by her feet.
Benny began attacking the tentacle around Mara’s waist again, hacking at it with his machete. To his surprise and gratification, he managed to slice clean through it. “Come on!” he cried, grabbing Mara’s arm and pulling her away from the creature, while hacking wildly at its other tentacles.
But Mara’s escape was hindered by her top and panties, on which several tentacles had a tight hold. Benny hacked at one of these tentacles, but missed, and merely sliced through the fabric of her top. Ripped apart, it fell from her body. The tentacle trying to get into her anus had given up, but now it found an easier target. “Not there either!” gasped Mara, but it was too late – the tentacle had thrust several inches of itself into her vagina. Fortunately it was very well lubricated with slime, for it was going where no man had ever been.
Then another tentacle – a different kind of tentacle – rapidly emerged from the vermarion’s mouth. This one was pale blue, and it had a little mouth of its own. Snaking up toward Benny’s face, it suddenly spewed out a spray or clear liquid, which splattered across his forehead and cheeks, and got in his eyes. He screamed as the liquid blinded and burned him. Clenching his eyes tightly shut, he grabbed Mara around her torso and attempted to carry her away from the creature. As her feet lifted off the ground, her panties were pulled down her legs, and then off completely. Now she was wearing nothing but her rugged hiking boots and her white socks.
Benny could not see that two more tentacles had wrapped themselves around Mara’s torso, and one had snaked its way around both her ankles, pinning them together. It began to withdraw back into the vermarion’s mouth, pulling the screaming young woman with it.
All Benny knew was that he was making no progress. And when he felt tentacles grabbing him around the chest, he hacked desperately to free himself, almost hitting Mara in the process. He lost hold of her, and she fell, but not very far – the tentacles were now supporting her so well that she did not even hit the floor. The tentacle around her ankles disappeared into the creature’s mouth.
“Help!” Mara screamed. “It’s pulling me in!”
A tentacle grabbed Benny’s wrist; he yanked his arm free, but lost hold of the machete, which clattered across the stone floor of the chamber. Wrenching himself free of the tentacles, he scrambled away from them as fast as he could. “I’m sorry!” he cried in anguish. “I can’t help you! I’m blind!”
“No! Benny!” Mara squealed. “Follow the sound of my voice!” But then her voice was cut off as the tip of a tentacle slithered into her mouth and forced its way down her throat. She could do nothing but struggle ineffectually and utter muffled groans as her knees disappeared into the vermarion’s mouth. Then her thighs sank inside the creature, followed by her pelvis, and her belly.
Benny’s groping hands found the opening to the tunnel through which they had entered the chamber. Relieved, he crawled back through it, feeling his way. When he reached the preparation chamber, he stood up, put his head in his hands, and uttered a groan of despair. “I’m sorry Mara!” he wept. “I’m sorry!” Then he paused, falling silent. “Is ... is someone there?”
Someone was. Benny screamed as his belly and chest were suddenly pierced by multiple arrows...
Meanwhile, Mara’s head was disappearing into the vermarion’s mouth. She was moving more quickly now, and as darkness fell, she felt herself sliding through a tube that pressed against her all around. She could not breathe, but somehow she did not seem to be running out of air.
Then, abruptly, she slithered into a more open area. The creature’s stomach, perhaps? Opening her eyes, she was astonished to discover that she could see; a faint glow, of phosphorescence, perhaps, was providing dim illumination. Raising her arm, she could even see her individual fingers, darkly silhouetted against the glowing blue of the wall beside her.
A tentacle pushed against her anal sphincter again, but she seemed to have lost her strength somehow, and was powerless to clench against it. The thick head of the tentacle sank into her rectum, sliding deep. Two new tentacles emerged from either side of this fleshy chamber, and their enlarged tips flowered open to form shallow cups, which latched on to her breasts and clutched them tightly.
It occurred to her that she should be suffocating, but she was not; in fact she felt just fine, even though she had not taken a breath in the past couple of minutes. Somehow, and for some reason, the creature was keeping her alive. This was comforting; a moment ago she had been convinced she was about to die, so this realisation was at least an improvement.
She felt strangely relaxed, and it occurred to her that her body had gone somewhat numb. She could move her arms and legs and head, but only a little, and only with an effort. She wanted to escape, but at the moment this was clearly impossible, so in the name of scientific inquiry she should try to spend this time in quiet observation and contemplation.
There could not be any air in here, and besides, she was not breathing, so the tentacle in her throat must be providing her with oxygen somehow. It would be foolish, then, to try to remove it. What the tentacles in her vagina and anus were doing, she had no idea, but both were very slowly thrusting in and out of her.
This went on for some time; how long, she could not be sure. But she suddenly felt a rush of fluid deep inside her, and she was almost certain that it had come from the tentacle in her vagina. Looking down, she could see that her belly had expanded a little. Did that mean something was now in her womb?
The thought should have panicked her, she knew, but for some reason it did not. She was feeling surprisingly calm, in fact – calm, relaxed, and at peace. She was no longer scared. The creature obviously needed her for something, or it would not be keeping her alive.
Some time later, the tentacle in her vagina withdrew. The one in her anus remained, but she found that she could summon up sufficient strength to sit up. She did so, and found that there was enough room in here – barely – for her to sit upright without bumping her head on the ‘roof’ of the vermarion’s stomach.
It was warm in here – very warm. Warm enough to be sweating even without clothes. Warm enough that her feet, in fact, were feeling uncomfortably hot. She spent the next few minutes laboriously unlacing her boots with fingers that only reluctantly obeyed her brain’s instructions, then she removed both of them, along with her socks. Exhausted, she lay back down in what she now noticed was a pool of slime, about four or five inches deep.
Her eyes had become quite accustomed to the gloom, now, and she began to notice things she had not spotted before. First, she was not alone in here. The slime pool was teeming with slow-moving, slug-like creatures, swimming around with gentle undulations of their soft, boneless bodies. Some of them were slowly making their way up the walls of the vermarion’s stomach, having left the pool, though where they were hoping to get to was a mystery. A few were sliming their way over her own body, wherever it protruded out of the pool. Strangely, this neither disgusted nor alarmed her. She was starting to feel like she belonged in this place, wallowing in the slime in the company of these squishy little creatures.
The second thing she noticed was that her belly had grown larger. Already she looked several months pregnant. How many months? She was not sure. Pregnancy was not a subject in which she could claim any expertise. What was growing inside her? She had a feeling she ought to be frightened of giving birth to some strange monster, but try as she might, she could not even make herself feel scared.
Emotions eluded her. She realised that she could no longer feel many of the emotions she used to feel, in the outside world. She did not – could not even make herself – feel worried, scared, angry, depressed, annoyed, homesick, desperate, or lonely. She felt contentment ... and something else...
She quickly realised what the something else was. She was feeling horny! Her hand was already between her legs, rubbing her pussy without her even noticing it at first. She smiled, and sensuously rubbed her slimy labia and clitoris. Yes, that felt good ... very good...
She sank a couple of fingers into her vagina, pulled them out, sank them in again, rubbed her clitoris, sank her fingers into her labia... She did this a few times before realising the strangeness of this. Her fingers were indeed sinking into her labia. Not between them, but actually into them ... as if they had become as soft as wet clay.
Intrigued, yet not scared, she raised her hands up to her swollen belly, and pressed inward with her fingertips. They sank into her flesh – not far, but far enough to ring alarm bells, if she were still capable of being alarmed. She raised her hands further, to her breasts, to which the flower-headed tentacles were still attached. Those flowery heads, though, covered less of her breast flesh than they had – not because they had shrunk, but because her breasts had grown. They were now two, maybe three times their original size. Pressing her fingertips into the sides of both breasts, she sighed happily as they sank in, all the way to the second knuckle.
She resumed masturbating, slowly and gently, and after a while climaxed in a most wonderfully delicious orgasm. After that she slept ... or at least, half-slept – it was more like a dreamy semi-aware state of consciousness that seemed to last for ages, though she never felt remotely bored.
She stroked her belly. It was now huge – she looked nine months pregnant now. She knew what that looked like, at least. Nine months pregnant, despite having been here for only ... how long?
She had no idea. Time seemed to pass so strangely in here. It seemed like a long time ago that she had been kicking and screaming as she was dragged inside the vermarion. It could have been weeks ... months, maybe. Or could that just be an illusion? Might it have just been a couple of days? She had no idea. She began to masturbate again, but by now her pussy was a sloppy mass of squishy, slimy flesh. Nevertheless, her clitoris was a little firmer than the rest, and she found she was able to make herself climax.
She was covered in the slug-like creatures now, and they seemed to not only be on her, but in her – they were burrowing into her soft and squishy flesh. She was a little surprised about this, but not perturbed; she found that she was glad they were feeding on her. She weakly lifted her left arm out of the slime to look at it; it was heavy with slugs. She could see dozens of them moving within her now translucent flesh.
The flowery tentacles had withdrawn from her breasts. As she looked down at the swollen orbs, she saw that they were swarming with slugs; the squirming little creatures were packed so densely inside them that both breasts seemed as if they were made of slugs. The sight made her horny again.
Her belly was getting huge, and she could see into it. Her soft abdominal flesh was stretched so thin that it had turned transparent, and she could see large round egg-like objects inside, dark brown in colour. She sank her fingers into her belly, and began to pull it open, releasing the eggs. This did not hurt her at all; her belly flesh was barely more than gelatinous slime at this point. She scooped out the eggs, and then watched as tentacles emerged from the walls, picked up the eggs one by one, and pulled them out of sight. She did not know anything about how they would hatch and develop, but that did not seem to matter now.
The tentacle in her anus slowly withdrew, and slug creatures swarmed into her rectum, as they had already done into her vagina. Many, in fact, did not bother to use either orifice, and simply burrowed into her mushy buttocks, tunnelling deep into her body, eating her as they went. Other slugs entered her ears, her nose, her eyes ... some burrowed into her cheeks, her neck, and her shoulders. Though she could no longer see them, she could feel that her legs were limp masses of writhing slimy bodies. Her whole body was infested with the slugs, and she liked it.
The effort of emptying her belly had used up the last of her arm strength, and she decided to rest for a while. She knew that she was dissolving, slowly turning into the slime that surrounded her, and this knowledge gave her peace. This was how it was meant to be. She was happy...
************
The screen flickered back to life, and on it appeared once again the moving images of a screaming Mara being sucked into the belly of the vermarion. The old man chuckled, and rubbed his hands with glee. “Oh dear, what a fate!” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching that. Poor, poor Mara.”
“But she isn’t!” cried the naked woman, struggling futilely against her bonds on the stone slab in the middle of the room. “She isn’t me! How is this possible?”
The old man grinned. “She’s your clone, Mara dear,” he said. “She woke up yesterday morning in your tent, in your sleeping bag, with all your memories up until that hour. My greatest experiment! But not my last. Oh no, Mara my dear, definitely not my last.”
“You scoundrel, Holloway!” yelled Mara, straining against the straps that held her wrists in place. “You’ll pay for this – I’ll make sure of it!”
“I’m sure you will,” said Doctor Cedric Holloway, chortling in amusement as he carefully filled a large hypodermic syringe with a milky green liquid. “I’m sure you will...”