## Archive-name: Iguanas.Rule

From: pattonda@bcvms.bc.edu

Subject: story: Iguana's Rule

Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories

Without warning, the cage door flew open, and a tangible wave of humidity swept through the room.

As if on an unspoken command, the other women in the room immediately sprang fom their previous stupor and bolted for the door, leaving Risa to stand, bewildered, in her corner.

Why was everyone running?

One of the last few out the door - a short mannish-looking woman that Risa had not really taken note of before - turned to face Risa before leaving - the expression on her face belying a terror that Risa had never seen before.

"Why are you just standing there? Run!"

The abject fear in the woman's eyes was enough of an impetus to get Risa moving.

The pungent smell of decaying vegetation and oppressive humidity struck her forcibly as she plunged out of the cage into the twi-lit unknown outside. They were immediately enclosed by dense, dark jungle through which no relieving breeze ever passed. The woman barely seemed to notice these things as she ran headlong away from the cage in a manner that suggested that she knew where she was going. Risa forced herself to keep pace with her guide, for the moment forgetting her confusion and letting her unfocused panic carry her farther and farther away from the cage toward... something else.

After what seemed an eternity of directionless flight, Risa's mind began to regain control of itself, and she began to take note of things around them, like the dark bluish-green leaves of the plants which she couldn't quite place, the heaviness of the air, the springiness of the very ground, and the complete lack of night sounds one would have expected from a place such as this.

And where was "this" anyway?

The other woman was still running full speed through the trees toward some unidentifiable goal. She had given no indication that she was even aware that Risa was still with her. However, she did seem to know where she was going, so Risa sped up to catch up to her. When she was almost beside the woman, Risa asked, "Where are we going?"

The woman completely ignored her, her eyes fixed on the trees ahead of them, and continued running. Risa tried again, asking where they were going and what they were running from - and this time the woman, without turning to look at Risa, hissed, "Shut up!" and kept running.

Risa decided she'd had enough and grabbed the woman's arm to get her attention. Suprised, the woman stopped short and fell, rolling quickly back to her feet, and standing to face Risa, her expression now one of desperate anger. For a second, Risa thought she might attack, but instead she spat through clenched teeth, "Get away from me!"

Wary, Risa asked, "Where are we going? What are we running away from?"

Taking a step back, the woman said, "All I know is the door opens and we run because any who don't are gone by morning. You run 'til you can't any more because if you don't go far enough, the first time you sleep you wake up back in the cage. Even then some don't make it back..."

Confused, Risa asked, "Where are we? And who is doing this to us?"

The woman, for the first time since the cage, looked nervously about them. "I don't know, and I don't want to find out."

"What do you mean?"

Taking another step back, the woman said, "Because I've seen their remains - the ones who don't get away... I'm NOT going to end up like that."

Risa started to ask what she meant by that, but the woman was already running back through the trees. Risa started after her, but the woman had had too much of a head start and disappeared quickly. Risa stopped after a moment to finally rest and think. The complete confusion of her situation had started to catch up with her.

The heavy silence of the jungle settled in around her, and Risa suddenly felt very alone and vulnerable.

The faint snap of a twig off to her left mixed a twinge of fear with these thoughts. Risa stared into the foliage hard, but saw and heard nothing, so she shrugged it off as nervousness and confusion. However, standing here did not seem to be answering any of the questions that were confounding her, like where she was, how she had gotten here, who were the others, and who was responsible for all this, so she started off in the direction the other woman had been going when she disappeared, hoping to find something that would help settle her mind.

As she walked she took notice of her surroundings. The foliage was very dark and rubbery but completely dry, as was the ground, which almost seemed rubbery also in its springiness. The trees formed a canopy overhead that was almost completely impenetrable, but she could sense light above it - as if there was a full moon. Aside from that resulting from her own progress, there was absolutely no movement or sound from wind, birds, or even bugs - extremely odd for a jungle, she thought, especially at night.

A moment later she entered a slight cleared space where a few of the taller trees had fallen and opened up a hole in the canopy. She glanced up briefly, but then stopped and stared. The moon was indeed full, but its slightly smaller red companion was partially eclipsed by its shadow.

For a moment the implication of this sight was too much for her to grasp, and she stood completely transfixed.

A second later panic brought her back to focus as she heard the distinctive sound of movement in the jungle behind her. She stared into the foliage, but saw nothing. She called out, thinking perhaps it was the other woman tracking her, but received no answer. The movement began to increase and sound closer, and Risa's fear took hold, so she bolted in the opposite direction, flying blindly through the darkness between the trees, praying that a stray root or vine wouldn't send her crashing to the ground.

After a few minutes she stopped and listened to see if she was still being followed. At first she heard nothing, but then very faintly she heard movement that was most definitely following her trail. In looking back, however, she still saw nothing. Her insane curiousity overcame her unreasoning fear - she had to know who had brought her here, and who it was that was following her. Bolting once more, she ran away from whoever was following her, searching. When she found another slightly open space she stopped again and climbed one of the trees overhanging the cleared space, resting on a horizontal branch that gave her full view of the area. Calming herself as much as possible, she hid herslef within the leaves and then waited, the sound of slow but sure pursuit just begining to become audible.

By the time the sound reached the edge of the clearing, Risa had calmed herslef to the point where she was vitually a part of the limb itself - barely breathing and still as stone. She concentrated all her energies on scanning the undergrowth to catch the first glimpse of her pursuer - focusing so hard in the direction of the noise that when it suddenly stopped she nearly screamed. In the terrible silence the sound of fear racing through her ears was deafening, and a small part of her panicked mind was suddenly afraid that her pursuer might hear the blood pounding within her.

An almost imperceptible movement in the leaves just below her drew every ounce of concentration. The shape below was indistinct, almost fully blocked by the thick dark foliage, but she could see that he was moving fluidly and silently through the vegetation, almost one with the jungle. It suddenly occurred to her that as it was obvious that he, whoever he was, was completely capable of moving soundlessly - the noise he made before must have been intentional, designed to alert her to his presence and cause her to run away.

Like hunters flushing quail.

As he left the cover of the leaves, Risa could see that he was big - at least six and a half feet tall and massively proportioned. He appeared to be wearing some sort of camouflage - mottled and darkly colored like the vegetation. The musculature visible through the camouflage of his arms and hands told of tremendous strength as he stepped fully out from the brush, and she might have guessed that he was some sort of professional body-builder...

...except for the long striped muscular tail that curved out behind him.

It suddenly occured to Risa that he... it... was not wearing camouflage. What she saw was its skin, mottled and patterned with a myriad of small flexible scales that appeared to cover its entire body. Its head sat atop a slightly extended neck that was flexible enough to allow it to turn its head almost completely around, and a ragged ridge of skin ran from the top of its head, following its spine to, it appeared, the end of its tail. From where she sat she could not see its face, and for this she was not completely sure she was not glad.It soundlessly crept across the cleared space and then froze at the base of the tree, searching the ground, probably for her tracks. She distractedly realized how precarious her situation was. If it looked up and discovered her in the tree she would have nowhere to run and no way to defend herself. She held her breath and silently prayed that it would continue on.

It circled the tree once, obviously confused, and then searched a little farther away, guessing at the direction she might have taken had she continued her flight, and then entered the trees again noisily, trying to flush her out again. Risa remained motionless until the sounds of its progress were no longer audible, and then climbed silently back down out of the tree.

Stunned, she leaned against the tree for a moment. Never mind for the moment WHAT it was... why was it chasing her? Why had she been kidnapped, brought here - wherever "here" was - and then subjected to this chase? Risa remembered that the other woman had said something about remains... was this its idea of sport? Was she to be food? Why go through all this trouble just for a meal?

She stood and listened for a moment, making sure the sounds had completely disappeared, and then decided it would probably be wisest to head back the way she'd come for a while and then change direction. If it was smart, it would not take it long to figure out that she was no longer in front.

As she leaned away from the tree a massive arm and four-fingered hand swung around the tree and grabbed her hair, throwing her to the ground as the creature stepped out from behind the trunk. More suprised than injured, Risa stared up at its enormous but human-like shape, which was covered with tiny round scales except for a row of plate-like scales that started under the throat and covered its abdomen to midway down the underside of its tail. Its human-ness ended at its two-thumbed hands and bird-like feet and completely reptilian face, which was split two-thirds of the way around by an enormous jaw. It had no ears or teeth to be seen, but its fathomless black eyes held her transfixed. It opened its mouth partially, and with a pulse of the muscles in its throat, hissed menacingly down at her.

Risa turned immediately and scrambled toward the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing, her mind now blank with terror. It caught up to her in three strides, grabbed her hair again, and then yanked her back to the ground before it. This time the pull had hurt, and for a moment she was dizzy. She moved to bring her hand up to her hand, and instead brushed against its scaly ankle. She opened her eyes quickly, and found it standing over her - staring intently. Reflexively she screamed, and then sought to dig her nails into the flesh of the ankle beside her. The scales, however, were too strong, and she barely scratched their surface. The creature brought one of its hands up between them, waiting until it had her full attention, and she stared in horror as a long curved claw slid evenly out from each finger tip. Without warning, it made an open-handed swipe down and caught her across the chest, where a searing pain followed its easly slice through shirt and skin.

Screaming in pain, Risa rolled away, covering her wounds and curling up against another assault. The creature, however, did not move - remaining where it stood, watching. Struggling, Risa rose to a kneeling position, never once taking her eyes from the creature, but still it made no move toward her as it flexed its hands and swished its tail nervously. Smiling as pleasantly as her fright would allow, she slowly stood, but again it remained motionless. Putting her hands slowly down to her sides, she asked, "What do you want?" Once again its throat rippled and it hissed its deep throaty response.

Risa took this as her signal and turned to run once again. She thought perhaps she would be able to use one of the branches of one of the trees at the edge of the clearing against it...

Before she'd even gone two steps it was behind her. It grabbed her hair once again, but this time threw her with force against the tree, knocking the wind out of her, and sending her to the ground, helpless. She realized then that there would be no escape.

Clearing her vision as much as possible she looked up at it, still struggling to breathe. It was once again staring at her, but this time it slowly raised one hand and ran its palm slowly down over the plate scales of its chest, across its stomach, and down to its lower abdomen. As she watched it lifted one of the plate scales slightly away from its body. From beneath it something slid out - an appendage, as massively proportioned as the rest of it. Now free, the appendage quickly became rigid - and suddenly Risa realized what this was all about.

Screaming uncontrollably, Risa tried to stand, but it was before her immediately. Futily she struck at its broad chest with her fists and arms, her cries slowly reducing to sobs as her strength faded behind resignation. It took her fists in one hand, its palms warm and dry like leather instead of cool as she might have expected, and raised her arms above her head, stretching them painfully and threatening to lift her off the ground. With the extended claws of its other hand, it swept down her front, once again scoring her chest and slicing esily through her trousers, which ripped almost completely away. Risa gasped and struggled against its grip, trying desperately to lean as far away from it as possible, but failing to do more than cause it to pull her arms even more painfully higher, until finally she was forced to cry out. It then lowered her back onto her feet, maintaining its steel grip and its black gaze unerringly. With its free hand, it reached up behind her, entangled its fingers in her hair, and slowly but surely pulled her head back and down, releasing her arms as she was forced to arch away from it. Her hands now free, she grabbed at its hand and her head, trying to relieve the inexorable pressure that was dragging her back over its arm, which it had slid around behind her lower back. Her weight thus unbalanced, her legs came apart slightly, and the creature seized its opportunity -immediately drawing her inward and thrusting its enormous organ into her. Its sheer size was a shock, and she screamed as she felt it tear through the tight unprepared flesh within her. She expected to be seized with burning pain from her injury, but instead an almost paralysing numbness flowed into her from their contact, dissipating pain before she was conscious of it. Her whole body relaxed of its own accord, despite the terror in her mind, her limbs becoming near useless weights by her sides as she relaxed unwillingly against its arm. The numbness subsided slowly, giving way to a powerful pulsing sensation that was unlike anything she'd ever felt and which, in different circumstances, might have taken her to ecstasy. Now, however, tears of resignation streamed down her face as she tried not to feel the slight shift and scrape of scales against her stomach. She was powerless.

With incredible effort, Risa raised her arms, their paralysed numbness disappearing with her effort, and brought her hands up to where she could see them. Then, praying that it wasn't paying attention, she threw her hands up toward its face and drove her thumbs into its black eyes, collapsing the delicate membranes and spilling ichor and fluid onto her palms. The creature screamed horrifically and released its hold on her to bring its hands to its ruined eyes. Her support gone, Risa started to fall away from it, and she relaxed, expecteing the impact of the ground. She did not expect a searing pain as the organ she'd been impaled upon literally tore out of her, ripping her delicate flesh and leaving behind a gaping wound and causing her to scream as she fell to the ground. Through tear-filled eyes she looked up and saw why - the end of the creature's organ, which had at first appreared smooth, was now ridged with scaly backward-facing barbs which must have lifted up once it was inside her. The barbs were covered now with blood and gore from within her, and the sight sent her into hysterical sobbing. She might not die from her wound, but she would be maimed for life.

And at least she was alive.

Struggling against the pain between her legs and the draining sensation of blood flowing freely out of her, Risa stood, dizziness more than once threatening to send her crashing back to the ground. Once standing she took a few staggering steps beyond the creature, which stood now with its hands pressed tightly against its eye sockets, screeching. She searched the ground until she found what she was looking for, and then struggling to maintain her balance, she lifted a stone from the ground at the base of the tree and turned back to the creature. The creature's screaming and shaking had subsided somewhat, but it still had not moved from its original position except to sink down onto its knees. Her mind utterly blank, she hefted the stone above her head and brought it down quickly on the back of the creature's skull. She heard a dull wet snapping sound, and the creature stopped moving for an instant, its hands going rigid and its hiss ceasing seconds before it fell unceremoniously forward. It didn't move, but Risa was not satisfied. Kneeling beside it, she raised the stone again and again, repeatedly crushing the creature's skull until its blood and bone soaked her where her own blood did not cover. Only when she could no longer lift the stone did she stop, and then fatigue and bloodloss exacted their toll, causing her to sink into unconsciousness curled up beside her attacker.

When Risa awoke she could barely move, the pain between her legs now merely a throbbing ache, but one which pained her incredibly with every move. She was sticky with her own and the creature's dried blood, but at least as far as she could tell her bleeding had stopped. Her eyes slowly came into focus and she realized that she was still in the jungle, in the same clearing , beneath the same tree.

The creature's body, however, was gone. It could not possibly have crawled away under its own power, so Risa knew that it must have been carried away by something else - perhaps other creatures like itself.

She did not think to wonder why she had been left. She was merely thankful to have survived and to still be free.Dryness in her mouth and her overall stickiness drove her thoughts inevitably toward the task of finding water. Once she had had a bath and a drink she would begin to think about things like food, shelter, defense, and getting back to Billerica. If that was even possible.

The pains began with her first step - not the dull burning from the injury between her legs, but a sharp, gnawing sensation from deep within her, as if she'd been stabbed with a spear. She stopped, confused, thinking that perhaps the pain would cease after a moment. However it did not - the pains came again in sharp throbs that eventually brought her to her knees in confused disbelief. This wasn't a result of her injury - this was completely different, and it was threatening to send her into unconsciousness. She hunched over and pressed her stomach protectively as the stabbing pains redoubled - and felt something she nearly dismissed as impossible. She gasped in pain and astonishment as she fell sideways onto the ground, her wounds from the previous night now reopened and bleeding profusely. As darkness overtook her she screamed once, and then faded out.

Moments later a soft wet tearing sound temporarily interrupted the otherwise absolute stillness of the clearing. A small scaled form freed itself finally from its host and raised its head to scent the world into which it had been born. Already he could distinguish between the discarded corpse of his host, the surrounding vegetation, and those approaching who had come to collect him. He eyed the dark stains on a nearby stone with some curiosity for a moment, but soon forgot about it completely as he at last began the long journey home.

Last modified (10/09/96 12:14:49) by Eli-the-Bearded.

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