Ten Little Morsels

It was an attractive contest for readers of Smart Prey Magazine: An opportunity to get away for the winter, with nine other lucky readers, to a château high in the mountains. No preds, hell, no other people for two weeks, just a nice retreat with a hot tub and a sauna, accessible only via a single mountain road. None of the winners would know each other, but they were all prey, so what was the harm?

It was already snowing heavily by the time Emily, a small mousy girl bundled up in a large snow coat and many layers beneath, knocked on the front door. The storm was evidently about to hit, so she rather hoped she was the last of the ten guests to arrive.

The door opened to reveal a tall skinny girl in a striped t-shirt and large, coke-bottle spectacles with brown pigtails. Emily quickly scampered inside, too busy trying to warm up to introduce herself. Sufficiently reheated, she unswaddled herself a little, revealing a short brown wavy bob and wide, bush-baby-like green eyes. She jolted suddenly, realising the other girl was there.

“Oh! Uh, hi! I’m Emily! It’s nice to meet you! Am I late? I hope not.” She reached out her hand.

“I’m Annette.” Said the tall girl, accepting the handshake. “And you’re just in time! We were supposed to have a chaperone from the magazine, a Mrs… Beauchamp, I think it was. But I guess she won’t be able to get here now, not with the snowstorm. Still, never mind, Come and meet the others!” With a tug on her arm she pulled Emily into the warm living room with its crackling fire and gestured to the eight other girls sitting around it in various positions.

“That’s Julie.” She pointed to a sporty looking blonde girl with a sky-blue fur-frilled coat.

“Bridget.” A chunky white brunette in a thick sweater.

“Tish.” An asian girl with a cashmere scarf looked up and nodded.

“Violet.” A goth in a leather jacket and DMs with a black pixie cut threw Emily the peace sign.

“Fiona.” A cute black girl with maroon-died braids and a necklace of old silver coins.

“Cathy.” A pastel butch girl in dungarees.

“Wendy” A peaceable-looking pale girl in a long teal dress with a blonde French plait.

“And Hyacinth.” A brown girl with a glittering pair of teardrop earrings.

“That’s all of us!” Annette beamed. “Isn’t this going to be great! I’m sure we’ll be friends soon enough. And even if we aren’t, two weeks without having to hide from preds, can you imagine?”

A shudder ran through Emily’s body and she let out a sigh as she finally let herself relax. “Oh my god, yes. I’ve been looking forward to this for ages. I don’t even feel safe in my own home anymore these days.” She smiled at Annette. “I was also worried that this was some secret pred food trap or something and I was walking into my death.” She chuckled, and then turned to the group. “Hi! I’m Emily, it’s so nice to meet you all. I’m super excited for this retreat! It’s gonna be awesome!”

“Hi Emily.” The other girls chorused.

“Come sit down.” Annette said. “We’re talking about home. Your room’s made up upstairs, it’s the last one on the right. Oh one thing: we haven’t been able to find the key to the sauna, so unfortunately it looks like that’s going to be off-limits. The hot tub’s HUGE though, it can fit all of us. Enclosed too, so no need to worry about the storm.”

“That’ll be fun.” Tish said. “Back home I wouldn’t be caught dead getting into like, basically a pot of prey girl soup.” She considered for a moment. “Well, I suppose I would be caught dead. That’s the problem.”

“So what’s your home life like, Emily?” Violet asked with polite interest as Hyacinth and Bridget moved apart on the couch to give Emily and Annette room to sit down.

Emily took a seat on the couch, scooting over for Annette. “I live in a prey apartment complex but honestly I’ve been thinking about getting a house, as big of an investment as that is. There’s lots of electronic locks and stuff but like, the predators in my area have kinda figured it out and I’m worried they’re just going to use it as a good hunting grounds. All they need to do is hang out in front of one of the entrances and catch anybody coming home late, you know?” She sighed and leant back into the couch. “It would be nice to have my own garage for her car and stuff, so there isn’t the terrifying walk from my car to my house every day.”

“Hey if you’re here for a good time and not a long time I could help.” Hyacinth said, sardonically. Everybody looked at her and she explained. “I work at a firm that repossesses and resells houses that are empty cause all their occupants were eaten. They tend to go pretty cheap since there are so many, and we’re not picky about who we sell to. Thing is…” She looked uncomfortable. “An entire housing development can be sold on to another firm whole cloth, and often for more than the individual units. I’ve been suspecting some pred colleagues recently of… solving problems with spite house owning prey who are holding up our ability to make a package sale, especially since they’ve all started being nicer to her and not thinking with their bellies around her ever since the firm got big enough that this happens frequently. Almost as if they’re already too sated to pick off the prey colleague who knows how to do the books.”

“So, if I’m the only one left…” Emily paused, not really wanting to finish the sentence. “Thankfully I’m too valuable at her job for my predator colleagues to eat me, though. I make sure to keep myself busy and helpful so they want to keep me around, and it’s worked pretty well so far. What about you, Bridget? What’s your life like?”

Bridget shifted shyly. “I work in a corner shop.” She said. “After hours through the service hatch. I actually got this fat on purpose, believe it or not, so my hips don’t fit through the hatch and predators can’t snatch her through it when I give them their change. Hasn’t stopped them trying, though. Always a bit awkward. ‘Sir that isn’t going to work, please let go. Thank you. Here is your change. Have a nice night.'” She imitated a customer service voice. Violet, Emily and Fiona giggled. “Almost as bad as having to pretend to laugh at the exact same ‘shoplifting’ joke every time they try to play it off as a prank.”

Emily nodded. “It’s really rare we get to one up preds as a prey, so I think you’re doing us all a service honestly. If at least one pred can be even just inconvenienced from trying to eat one of us it’s a good day.” She turned to Annette. “And what about you?”

“Event management.” Annette said with a smile. “I’ve escaped anyone’s gut up until now because I’m too important to eat when you want your wedding to go off without a hitch, but my boss just replaced all the top brass with preds, so now I don’t feel quite so safe anymore.”

Emily grimaced. “Well, let’s just enjoy the cabin while we still can. Does anyone want to, um, go enjoy the hot tub now? Before dinner.” God, I’ve been looking forwards to a chance to enjoy amenities like this without the fear of predators my whole life now. It’s a plus that the girls here are pretty cute, as well, she thought to herself. She crossed her fingers that at least some of them might be into girls. That would be a nice bonus on this relaxing two weeks.

“Sure.” Violet stood up. So did Cathy and Fiona and, after a look of encouragement from Cathy, Julie as well.

“Towels are in your room. Go get changed.” Violet said, heading upstairs with the others and splitting off into their respective rooms.

Emily stood up and grabbed her bag, heading to her room, and begin changing into her swimsuit. It was a simple black bikini, covering up the important bits. She’d never gone in for anything expensive or flashy, that just seemed like asking for trouble anywhere with preds present. She grabbed a towel from her room and scampered downstairs to the hot tub. She stopped by the living room and asked one last time. “Are you all sure you don’t want to join us? It’ll be a fun way to heat up.”

Wendy blushed and avoided her gaze. Bridget hugged herself closer in her sweater, clearly self-conscious about exposing her body. Tish and Hyacinth looked at each other, then stood up to go and get changed. Annette waved Emily off, explaining that she was on dinner duty tonight so she really couldn’t.

“Thanks, Annette.” Emily turned to leave but remembered something. “Do you think our chaperone is going to come, or are we alone? Not that it really matters, it would just be nice to have the keys to the sauna and stuff, right? Oh, and Wendy! I think it would be fun if you could join us in the hot tub too.” She said with a smile.

“I’m not sure.” Annette said pensively. “Probably not, honestly. The snow’s looking pretty thick out there. We’ll probably be trapped here after this evening. No way out…” She looked worried for a moment. “That said of course, there’s also no way in for any preds who’d want to come and snap us up, so I’m not THAT against getting free time off work past the two weeks because I’m trapped somewhere preds can’t get to. The house has food for a month, so…” She turned to Wendy. “Go on, Wendy, you know you want to, live a little.”

Wendy squeaked and went red. “Oh I’m not sure I… I really don’t know.”

“Come on, Wendy!” Annette laughed. “How can it be sinful to expose yourself somewhere with no preds at all, where none of them have to know afterwards? It’s the safest environment to do it.”

“Okay…” Wendy seemed a little encouraged and trotted off to get changed. Bridget opted instead to go and help Annette in the kitchen, seemingly discouraged from putting herself on display in a skintight swimsuit just yet. The three Emily had convinced came down in due time and followed her out to the hot tub. Emily complimented them on their swimsuits as they all walked to the tub and met up with the others. She hung up her towel and slipped into the hot tub, making sure to make as much room as possible for the seven other girls. She admired the rustic but modern wood and glass architecture of the cabin, and how cozy it felt, even in the middle of a snowy mountain like this. This was definitely the kind of retreat that usually only predators could dream of attending safely.

The girls just sat there in silence for a little enjoying the coziness of the warm water. Then Cathy spoke up.

“This is wild, isn’t it?” She said. “Tish, that soup comment was spot on, I feel like I’m about to find out that being allowed to be out this exposed is a big cookout scheme for a pred sorority or something.”

Emily chuckled nervously, scared a little that she was secretly right somehow and that was the cue, but nothing happened.

“That would be the worst. We can finally let our guards down, and some predators take advantage of it when we’re supposed to be safe.” She sighed. “One of my friends got eaten by a delivery girl one time. It was supposed to be a prey-run pizza place too, I can’t believe they let her do deliveries like that. Just sucks to be eaten in your own home.”

Wendy squeaked. Violet turned to Emily. “Wow, that’s uh, kind of a cruel irony, don’cha think? Feeding the one who’s supposed to be feeding you?”

Emily heard footprints on the wood behind her and turned to see Bridget coming out of the doorway, in a merlot-coloured one-piece that accentuated her pear shape.

“Annette told me to come join you guys.” She said shyly. “Didn’t want help with dinner. Sorry.” She looked down at her swimsuit. “This is all I have.”

“You look nice!” Wendy said encouragingly.

“You look hot.” Violet said with a grin, and fistbumped Cathy.

“Come take my place for a bit, Bridget.” Fiona said. “I need the bathroom.” She hauled herself out of the water and towelled off before disappearing back into the cabin.

“You look cute, Bridget!” Emily added to the other girls’ words of encouragement. She waited to let the other girl get comfortable before continuing the conversation from before. “Yeah, prey life kinda sucks. But you all knew that already, I’m not saying anything new. I wish I could talk to a predator and try to convince them we’re more than just food, but like, I’d probably just get eaten. They have that religion that’s getting popular now, right? The one that just calls us food and says we should basically just sit in silence and breed more prey until we’re ready to be eaten?”

Julie grimaced at Emily and made a cutting motion across her throat as her eyes flicked toward where Wendy was sitting.

Emily flushed red and immediately try to change the subject. “Um, I’m really feeling hungry for dinner right about now, I mean, never mind, um, you girls watch any good tv shows lately? Or movies, um? Yeah?” She sank below the water in immense embarrassment at her awkward attempt to try to shift the conversation towards something more palatable.

“This was a mistake.” Wendy said, standing up. “Sorry everyone, I’ll leave you so you can speak freely.” She made to leave.

“Wendy no!” Julie said. “Emily didn’t know! It’s fine, please stay.”

“Well, I’m going.” Tish said. “I need to go plug my phone in, I’ll be back in a minute.”

“You getting bars?” Asked a returning Fiona.

“Nah. But it’s dying anyway.”

“Fair. Hey everyone.” Fiona slid into in the tub again. Cowed, Wendy sat too.

“What are we talking about?” Fiona asks brightly.

Emily breathed a sigh of relief at the opportunity to change the subject, making a mental note to try and apologise to Wendy later.

“Nothing important.” She replied. “Being on the mountain like this reminds me, do any of you ski or snowboard? I used to do it as a kid and now I’m all nostalgic.”

“Sure do.” Julie said. “Not the right kind of conditions for it out here though.”

“Me too.” Hyacinth said. “In fact I have some cool photos I had taken professionally during a snowboarding retreat two years ago somewhere. I’ll go get them.” She turned, pulled herself out of the tub and left. Tish returned as she did, now bereft of her phone.

“Woah, that’s so cool!” Emily exclaimed, turning the comment into a general remark as she realised Hyacinth had disappeared. “I always wanted to go on one of those trips, I even learned how to snowboard and ski so I could get the most out of one, but the plans never formed together. It was usually too expensive, but that’s just how life goes.”

“Consider yourself lucky.” Julie laughed. “You spend as much time dodging preds on those trips as you do actually riding powder. Ever since they all got on that InstaGest stuff they don’t need to take an afternoon out to digest you, they just flex and… crunch, you’re a protein bar. Makes gobbling us up rather than taking an hour for lunch an enticing possibility.”

There was silence for a moment, before Bridget said “I can’t believe we’re all girls. Young girls too. What’re the chances?”

“Pretty high.” Violet replied sardonically. “Prey don’t generally live to a grand old age, and Smart Prey’s readership has always been pretty female-focused.”

“I wonder why?” Wendy ruminates.

Cathy, Fiona and Violet look at each other knowingly.

“Okay.” Said Violet. “Straight girls hands up.”

Wendy raised her hand. Nobody else did.

Emily felt disappointed for a moment as Wendy’s hand caught her attention, but then started giggling as she realised nobody else raised theirs. “What, really?” She laughed. “That’s so funny, this has to be on purpose. Second question, does anybody know each other? I don’t know anybody here but some of you seem to have history.”

“Not that I know of.” Fiona said. “We just had a bit of time to talk amongst ourselves before you got here. You were the last to arrive by a fair few hours.”

“Cathy and I figured out we’re distant cousins.” Julie said from the other end of the tub. “But that’s it. And we’d never met.”

Wendy, meanwhile, had turned tomato red and was spluttering. “You mean… I thought this was going to be a safe, wholesome hot tub for good girls, but you’ve all been looking at my body lustfully?!?!” She sprang up and ran back inside, almost knocking over Hyacinth, who was returning with some glossy photo printouts.

Violet shrugged guiltily. “I mean, I was. A little.”

“What’s up with her?” Hyacinth stepped to the edge of the tub.

“Figured out she was the only het in the tub.” Cathy laughed.

“Oh.” Hyacinth said, distracted. Everyone looked at her until she glanced up from her photos. She looked confused for a moment, then nodded. “Oh. Yeah, she is.”

“I think Annette might be straight.” Tish mused. “Just get that vibe.”

“We’ll ask her when dinner’s ready.” Violet said. “But I don’t agree. That’s a cottagecore lesbian right there.”

“Emily, have a look at my photos.” Hyacinth scooted up next to the smaller girl.

The conversation continued for another half hour, with occasional interruptions from a girl leaving or returning, and Emily learned a great deal about the seven other inhabitants of the tub and their lifestyles. Eventually however, she couldn’t ignore the feeling that welled inside her. “Is anyone else hungry? I wonder if Annette is done with the food yet.” She asked.

“Probably not.” Violet said. “She’s cooking for ten. Hey Cathy, did you see her when you went for drinks ten minutes ago?”

“No.” Cathy said. “Cellar’s not on the way to the kitchen. Did you see her when you went to take your contacts out?

“Nope.”

“I’ll go ask her when the food will be ready.” Julie said, standing up and walking out.

A minute or so later the inhabitants of the hot tub heard a yelp of alarm and a loud exclamation of “OH MY FUCKING GOD!” from Julie from the direction of the kitchen. The others look at each other, worried, and Emily heard the pattering of Wendy’s feet as she ran downstairs towards the noise. Emily and the others all scrambled to get up out of the hot tub and go and investigate.

When they arrived in the kitchen, they found a fear-struck Julie standing pointing at the open rubbish bin. Gathering together to look inside, the girls’ worst fear was confirmed.

Inside the bin was a heaped, sloppy, stinking pile of human shit. And not just human in the sense that a human made it… nestled in the top of the pile was a pair of red-rimmed, coke-bottle glasses.

Wendy and Bridget clung to each other in fear. For a moment, there was only the sound of Julie’s almost silent whimpering before Fiona spoke up.

“We’re already snowed in.” She said quietly. “If someone got in, they’re still here.”

“That’s a very charitable read, Fiona.” Cathy murmurs back. “But you know we’ve been snowed in since Emily arrived.” She turned to look at the others.

“One of us is a pred.”

The group were frozen in fear, eyes glancing at each other’s faces, caught in tension.

“A double dose of InstaGest would let a pred eliminate Annette within thirty seconds of eating her.” Julie said.

“You were gone for a minute.” Bridget breathed.

“I was, yes.” Julie suppressed the urge to snap. “It’s not me, I promise, but the only person we know for absolute certain that it isn’t, with proof… is Emily.”

“That’s right.” Hyacinth nodded. “Emily was the only one who never left the hot tub, and Annette was alive when we all went in.”

A pit opened up in Emily’s stomach, and she winced. It was nice to be trusted, but knowing she couldn’t fully trust even one other person here filled her with dread. They needed to figure this out before anyone else got eaten. “D-did anyone see Annette in the kitchen when they left the tub? Was the last person to see Annette Bridget?”

Everybody was silent for a moment, looking at each other. Bridget looked frightened.

“It’s not me!” She wailed. “Any one of you could be lying!” But her voice fell as she noticed Wendy had rather expeditiously extricated herself from their embrace.

“Guys this isn’t fair! Do I look like a pred?” Bridget cries.

“No.” Cathy purses her lips. “But neither do any of us. It had to be someone, Bridget, and a sneaky pred who could hide among prey would eat well. Well enough to get quite… large.”

“So I’m fat and that makes me a pred? What about bulking for muscle?!” Bridget pointed at Julie. “Julie was the one who found her, what better way to deflect suspicion?”

“Wait, please,” Emily said impotently, unable to raise her voice harshly and fully enough to properly take charge amidst her own doubts but nevertheless drawing the room’s attention. “It could be any of us, and casting blame like this isn’t exactly the best idea right now. Some girls here have um, physiques that would make sense for a Pred, but it could be someone else too.”

The girls looked ready to object, but something about Emily’s tone calmed them.

“Okay.” Cathy said, deflated. “Well there’s no dinner, just knives and stuff. Which I guess suggests Bridget, but the pred could just as easily have eaten or disposed of everything Annette had prepared too to implicate her.”

“We have bread.” Julie said opening a cupboard. “And there’s stuff in the fridge. I think it’d be best if everyone stayed in here until we’ve all had a sandwich, and then we all go to bed and lock our doors. Reconvene in the morning with cooler heads.”

“I- I guess we don’t have any information yet, that’s right.” Emily wavered, unsure. “Could we like, sleep in groups of three? I’m not really confident that just a lock is going to stop a Pred from sneaking in and eating me at night, and hopefully with three people if one of them is a Pred, they won’t be able to eat two people. Um, hopefully. I think I uh, trust Hyacinth and Julie the most right now. It would be pretty ballsy to eat Annette right before calling us all here. And Hyacinth- well, I just hope I can trust you.”

“Oh… Okay…” Wendy looked disappointed and a little afraid. Evidently she trusted nobody but the one confirmed innocent.

“I trust Cathy and Tish.” Violet said, hugging them to her. “So I guess Wendy, Bridget and Fiona are the final group.”

“Sure.” Fiona said. “I know it’s not me, and I’m pretty sure I could take either of these darlings if it’s one of them, which I don’t think it is.”

Emily didn’t want to say the obvious out loud, that nobody was vouching for Fiona but Fiona, so she just nodded to everyone. “Okay, we’re all set. Let’s, um, get something to eat. We’re all hungry, right?” The predator wouldn’t be stupid enough to out themselves by being full, she didn’t think, but she made sure to put extra emphasis on those words. “I can’t believe someone would eat Annette like that. She was so nice to us all.”

The others mumbled agreement and set to all clambering over each other to make sandwiches. At one point, Wendy brightly said “I know what to do with a lot of this stuff. Tomorrow, when we’ve caught the pred, and I have some time, I could make us a proper meal.” She was cowed into hush by Cathy before she could say more.

Afterwards, most of the group went into the living room, but Violet and Cathy held Emily back at the doorway. Violet gestured that she wanted to speak privately.

Emily nodded, but made sure that Cathy joined them. She trusted Violet a little, but not enough to be caught alone with only one person. “What’s up?” She asked, once they were at the back of the kitchen.

“We’re suspicious of Wendy.” Violet said.

“Not pred-sus.” Cathy clarified. “But… look, Emily, as the only one who’s definitely not the pred, if she comes to your bedside in the middle of the night… it might not mean she’s the pred.”

Violet grinned like a cat, mimed opening a door and unhooking a clothes hanger, and then tongued a finger V.

“It’s not the best time.” Cathy admitted. “But she’s an obviously sheltered girl, and she probably thinks she’s about to die, and she might be, to be honest. She’s gonna struggle with self-discovery these two weeks, and it starts tonight.”

“I mean, yeah…” Emily nodded. “I kinda figured as much, honestly. I’d be surprised if a girl like her wasn’t questioning anything. I guess I’ll keep it in mind? Thanks for the heads up. Are you guys, um, okay? With what’s going on. I’m barely holding it together herself, being trapped in a house with an unknown predator.”

“It’s fucked.” Violet said. “But honestly it kind of makes me lose my inhibitions. Any moment could be our last.”

“There’s a reason we chose the threesome we did.” Cathy confides.

“Anyway, let’s eat, and get ourselves to bed.”

The three went upstairs to retrieve their clothes and get changed, awkwardly averting their eyes from one another, before rejoining the others in the living room. Emily made sure to sit next to Julie and Hyacinth, but looked over at Wendy, trying to gauge if this was a good time to apologize.

Wendy looked very small, nibbling at her sandwich and looking left and right fearfully at Bridget and Fiona. She looked up and met Emily’s gaze, a little pleadingly.

Emily stood up again and waved her over to one of the corners of the room. She didn’t want to be completely alone together, just in case Wendy was the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing, but hopefully they’d have enough privacy if they talked quietly enough. The other girls were having their own, conversations, which would hopefully help cover some of the noise. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Violet grin salaciously at her until Tish elbowed her in the stomach. The two of them watched Wendy closely and dutifully. Wendy herself looked at Emily. “Um, what is it?”

“Are you okay?” Emily asked. She reached her hand forwards to touch the girl on the shoulder and then paused, unsure. “This is like, a lot, and I just wanted to say I was sorry for what I said earlier. I didn’t mean to offend.”

“I’m so scared, Emily.” Wendy whispered. “I mean… I know it’s my purpose to be food, eventually. It’s what I’ve been reared for. But…” She leans in very close and speaks even more quietly. “I don’t want to die yet, Emily. I’ve been a good girl, I never dressed provocatively or talked back to preds, I never invited lust or hunger in how I acted or what I said, I always read my predation principles before bed, I always kept a clean lavatory so I could be properly disposed of and…” She starts to well up with tears. “It didn’t even matter, I’m still going to die in a predator’s stomach in a house on a snowy mountain without even having had any children, and not only did my piety mean nothing, but all the years I spent on it were wasted. If I was always fated to be eaten now it isn’t fair that I wasn’t able to sin a little, to enjoy my life.” Her voice dropped to almost inaudible levels. “Were you… were you all really looking at her lustfully in the hot tub before? I feel like I overreacted, but… afterwards I began to think I might have raised my hand in error. It’s so shameful but I found herself thinking lustfully about quite a few of you.”

Emily held her tongue about her own views on Wendy’s religion and moved to answer the question. “I mean, yeah. You’re cute, Wendy. And hot. But none of us want you to do anything you don’t want to do. I just, I mean, ideally you’d feel as safe as possible among us.”

Wendy’s eyes went uncharacteristically wide and wild and her hands shot out to grasp both of Emily’s shoulders with a grip of steel. “Are you joking, Emily? Or do you just not understand? My entire life has been a lie up until this point. And I might be turned into human waste tonight, having never let myself enjoy or indulge in anything! You’re the only one I can trust not to eat me before I’m done living a little, please help me!” She was hissing through her teeth by this point and Emily noticed her braid was coming undone.

“Wendy, please, calm down.” Emily grasped the other girl’s arms and gently pulled them back to her sides. She looked into the eyes in front of her, piercing and hysterical. This girl just needs to chill out for a bit, She thought.

“You know what, just… here.” Emily leaned in and kissed Wendy.

Wendy mumbled in surprise but leant into the kiss a moment later. The other girls, seeing this, let out a group cheer that lead Wendy to disconnect and blush.

Taking a chance in the moment, Emily pushed her over and pinned her to the floor, leaning down and putting their lips together for another kiss. She held her there with a firm hand, and softly ran her other hand across the other girl’s form.

Wendy moaned, a lifetime without even her own lustful touch having rendered her whole body pent up and sensitive. Julie awwed before turning to the side and yelping at the sight of Violet fingering Cathy and Tish on the couch and Fiona straddling Hyacinth.

“Oh God we really are all prey, aren’t we?” She mused, before turning to a wide-eyed Bridget. “How about it, B? I won’t eat you if you don’t eat me. Well, you know, in the ‘whole’ sense.”

Bridget paused a moment, initially avoiding eye contact, before nodding and pulling down her pants. Julie stepped around the back of the couch and over the top, dropping on top of Bridget and situating each girl’s mouth by each other’s folds. For a little while, the room was silent except for faint moaning and the wet sounds of sex.

Ignoring the others in the room, Emily broke the kiss with Wendy and slowly slid her body over the other girl’s, caressing her and kissing her everywhere. Her hands ran along the sheltered young woman’s chest but didn’t spend too long there before moving on. She figured for Wendy’s first time someone else should take the lead, so when she got down far enough she folded up the dress in front of her, pulled aside Wendy’s panties and start licking her.

Wendy yelped quite loudly before clapping a hand over her mouth and just moaning in pleasure. She was sopping wet almost instantly and Emily was a little startled by how little she really had to do. Smiling a little, she continued working on the girl, enough to bring her to a messy orgasm. She played with her body as she did it, but Wendy really didn’t seem to need much stimulation at all as she began to relax into this world of new desires.

“Th-Thank you” Wendy stammered afterwards, as she lay on the ground in a sweaty haze. “Thank you so much, Emily.”

The others seemed like they’d need a little longer to reach their climaxes, so Wendy gasps a little as she turns to look at the scene of debauchery she’d been oblivious to around her.

“Hey.” Emily whispered softly into her ear. “It’s a little rude to leave your partner hanging like this.” She cupped Wendy’s chin and moved her face back to meet her own, almost kissing her again. She smiled. “I want to feel good at least one last time too, you know. Do you think you could do that?”

“Oh, sorry.” Wendy looked embarrassed. “I guess I should try, shouldn’t I? But, um, I’ve never…”

Violet stood up, leaving Cathy and Tish to one another’s attentions, and strode confidently over. “It’s real simple, sweet pea. Lemme help you. Emily, lie down and get ready.”

“Geeze Violet…” Emily protested, blushing, but nevertheless she got off Wendy and lay down on her back, pulling down her leggings and her panties at once to reveal her folds. She looked away from the girls as she spread her legs out in front of them to “show herself off”.

“Oh give over, Emily.” Violet razzes you. “A minute ago you seemed all too happy to indulge in corrupting the innocent virgin and now you don’t want to give her a look downstairs just cause I’m here?” She turned to the slightly startled looking Wendy. “Just a figure of speech, hon. A really hot figure of speech. Now get in there, see what you can figure out from what she did and I’ll judge your technique and help you out if you need it.”

Violet gently pushed Wendy’s face down onto Emily’s folds and smiled. Wendy made some exploratory licks, and eventually found Emily’s clit.

“Ith thith goob?” She asked.

“Good position, Wen.” Violet said. “Now tease it, make love to it, while I really embarrass Emily.” She turned to the other girl. “Top off, Em. That’s an order.”

Violet’s command made Emily’s face turn an even darker shade, but she complied, lifting her sweater and tank top up and over her head, leaving her just in her bra. “V-violet, only Tish and Cathy are fully n-naked.” She complained.

“Hey yeah. Fiona? Can you take your top off too? Emily feels self-conscious.” Violet called. Fiona shrugged and pulled her tank top off over her head before undoing her tie.

Violet turned back to Emily. “Anyway stop being such a weenie Em. Aren’t we a fantasy for you? The little demure good girl and the witchy punk? Heaven and hell, both giving you attention?” She unfastened Emily’s bra with an expertise that yelled experience and pulled it away before putting her mouth to one of the prostrate girl’s nipples.

Violet calling attention to her fantasy just made Emily more ashamed, but she had to admit that Wendy was really helping take the edge off with her eagerness down there. She just nodded as her words were stolen by a moan, and gripped the floor, eager to have some kind of outlet for the pleasure.

Wendy was getting more confident and more adventurous down at Emily’s nethers. Violet switched nipples and began massaging the one she just left with her thumb. Tish and Cathy had stopped playing with one another and were by this point just watching from the couch, touching themselves to Emily’s predicament.

“Y-you’re doin- so good down there- Wendy,” Emily said, her sentence punctuated by gasps and moans of pleasure. It was enough to make her forget about the whole situation for the moment, getting lost in the situation of two hot girls pleasuring her. After a few more minutes she came, her sex spasming and gushing over Wendy’s face. After a few seconds of orgasm, she collapsed fully onto the floor and lay there, panting and catching her breath.

“That was so great…”

Wendy stuck her tongue out and twitched like a cat splashed with water at having her face covered in squirt. Violet laughed and lay down, putting an arm over Emily’s shoulder and lolling the other out to cuddle Wendy herself, who rolled obediently into the crook of her arm. Around the room the orgy was winding down as the pairs disentangled themselves. Cathy stood up and clapped for attention.

“Okay.” She said. “I’m gonna go shower. We’ll have to go one at a time, it’s the perfect place to eat someone otherwise, so sorry all you craven harlots.” She pauses for effect. “And Wendy.”

“Oh I don’t mind being a craven harlot if everyone else is!” Wendy said brightly. “That was fun. Thank you Emily, Violet.”

“No problem, Wendy. That was fun for me too.” Emily reached across to stroke her cheek and then nuzzled deeper into Violet’s embrace. “Oh! Um, I’ll go shower last,” she said, poking her head up to address the others. “It’s probably less dangerous for me that way.”

“Oof, yeah.” Hyacinth said. “You’d best watch out, Emily. If you’re the only one confirmed not the pred, then they’ll likely try to eat you early on to avoid an awkward moment when we’re down to three. Don’t worry, though. Cathy and I will protect you.”

“P-please do,” Emily said, her meekness emerging again. Knowing she have a target on her back like that frightened her, so she cuddled into Violet’s arms even more.

Cathy went to shower, and the rest of the girls stayed and cuddled together. Slowly, each of them filed out in turn to go get cleaned up. Eventually, they were all finished, and it was finally Emily’s turn.

Emily had to admit she was a little afraid as she walked up the stairs to the landing.

“Ok, you’ve got this,” She said to herself. She was a little jumpy, but the journey to the bathroom passed without incident. She stepped inside, making sure to lock the door behind her, as a talisman of comfort if nothing else.

The bathroom was weirdly noisy with the sound of the storm outside. The tiles were cold, but at least the shower itself was warm from eight previous occupants. Downstairs she could hear the girls chatting together still. She breathed a sigh of relief, and stepped into the shower. The water was refreshingly warm after the “workout” she’d just had and she took her time getting properly clean and cosy before turning the water back off. After she was done she changed into her pyjamas and walked back to rejoin the other girls.

When she returned, the trios began traipsing off to bed, leaving Emily with Julie and Hyacinth, who smiled at her.

“Best group. 50% less pred chance. Ready to go?”

“Yeah.” Emily smiled back. “Let’s go to my room? We can stop and get your clothes on the way, if you guys care.” She fidgeted a little. “I really, really hope it’s not one of you two.”

“Don’t worry, if it is, the other will save you.” Julie said. “Or did you mean you like us too much?” She looks upstairs. “I can’t sleep in the nude, can we stop off to get our jammies?”

Emily nodded “Yeah, let’s stop by your rooms.”

The trio stopped by Julie and Hyacinth’s rooms, moving awkwardly, packed as tightly together as possible. It seemed, from Emily’s observation, that the other girls were behaving quite similarly. Eventually, properly clad and prepared, they made it to Emily’s room.

“There’s not enough room on the bed.” Emily stated. “I’ll sleep on the floor, shall I?”

Julie and Hyacinth look sidelong at one another.

“So she’ll eat Wendy out but snuggling with us is too weird?” Hyacinth mocked. “Shows us where we stand.”

“Please Emily?” Julie said in a faux-wheedle. “I need my not-a-pred Teddy bear in case Hyacinth tries to eat me in the night!”

Emily smiled, realising she was probably being too nice. “Ok, fine, you win. I’ll cuddle with you both tonight,” she laughed, jumping onto the bed and motioning for them to join her. “Come here.”

The other girls both enthusiastically complied, squishing in either side of her and using her as a shield from one another. Julie evidently slept in plain, grey stretch pants and a faded t-shirt from a ski resort. Hyacinth couldn’t be more different, clad as she was in an orange silk pantsuit! For her own part, Emily wore an oversized t-shirt and comfy shorts, so she related the most to Julie, but such matters were squeezed from her mind as her body was squeezed between the two girls. She took pleasure in the feeling, nuzzling her back into Hyacinth and her front into Julie, and drifting off into a peaceful sleep where she could almost forget she was trapped on a mountain and being hunted.

Julie and Hyacinth both looked fondly at the cute young woman sleeping between them, looked at each other over her head, and make the “I’m watching you” gesture at one another before nuzzling down and drifting off to sleep as well.

Emily’s peace was broken by being violently shaken awake. When she opened her eyes, Julie was standing over her with an air of panic.

“Emily. Emily! Wake up!”

“Wh-whuh?” Emily gasped, bleary eyed. “Whazzup?” She was not not a morning person, and being shaken up made her even less so. She rubbed her eyes and let them refocus before taking stock of what was going on.

“Hyacinth is gone, and she’s not the only one.” Julie looked very worried. “Someone’s missing from all three groups.”

“What? How?” Emily exclaimed. “Did they all sneak out at night, or something? How did they- are they dead?” Her eyes darted around, worried and concerned. “W-we need to find them, right? Figure out where they went?” She went to leap out of bed, then stopped as a thought struck her. “W-wait, how do you know?”

“You’re the last one up.” Julie said. “The others are pretty worried. It’s Hyacinth, Wendy and Cathy missing, and… well, we’re worried that we do know where they are, actually, but we wanted you to get up first. To, um, observe. As the one confirmed innocent.”

“N-no…” Emily gasped, in shock. Wendy was supposed to come out of her shell, she was supposed to be a changed girl after this and live, she was ready to set her life on a new, better path. She tried to stop the tears, but they trickled down anyways, and she was forced to steel herself and get out of bed, walking to the door. “Just. Show me where they are.”

Julie lead her up the hall, past the worried faces of Bridget and Fiona and the distraught expressions of Violet and Tish, towards the bathroom. She took hold of the door handle and, screwing up her face in a pre-emptive flinch, turned it and opened the door.

The others gasped. Bridget sobbed. Tish breathed. “No…”

Piled high, in the toilet opposite the door, was a four-foot column of human shit, stinking to high heaven. Embedded in the pile at various points were the arm of an orange silk pantsuit, the end of a frilled teal nightie, and the trailing, wooden-buttoned strap of a pair of denim dungarees.

“Fuck!” Emily yelled. “We really aren’t going to make it out if this alive. Oh my god.” She turned to the others, closing the bathroom door behind her. “Did any of you notice anything at night? There has to be something, how could the predator get three of us out of our rooms like this? How the hell?”

“Cathy went to the toilet.” Tish said. “She woke me up briefly. I was already asleep again by the time she came back. Except… I guess she never did come back.”

“I never saw Wendy leave.” Fiona said. “But you saw how sheltered that kid was, I wouldn’t have her pegged for a bladder of steel. I bet that’s how the pred got her too.”

“But who IS the pred?” Violet wailed. “Did she just, what, squat in the bathroom the whole night ready to pick people off? SOMEBODY must have been alone in her room but didn’t notice.”

“I didn’t even wake up at all last night. I had no idea Hyacinth even left. And unless it’s Tish, then it’s probably either Bridget, Fiona, or… Julie.” Emily gave Julie a sad look. “I’m sorry, I just, I have to be realistic. If anyone else has any more information that would really, really help.”

“It’s got to be Bridget or Julie.” Tish accused. “We’ve been over this before. None of the rest of us have anything approaching pred physiques, and I saw how Fiona was touching Hyacinth, she’d be mad to eat her before getting another go.”

Fiona nodded pensively but Julie frowned. “Hold on. What makes it neither of you two slags?”

“Then I’ll make breakfast.” Julie replied. “What about you, Emily, Fiona?”

“I’ll go help with breakfast.” Emily looked back at the bathroom. “Thank you, Violet and Tish. I don’t think I could handle doing that myself. What are you going to do, Fiona?”

“I’m going outside.” Fiona stepped over to her room to retrieve her coat. “I want to see how bad the road is snowed under, and if I can get a signal. The magazine might at least care that they’ve accidentally sent a pred and call the whole thing off, though I don’t suppose anyone else will give even the shit she’d turn us into.”

“I mean every Pred would totally congratulate whoever it is, right? Like, ‘good for her, getting some great meals’ or something.” Emily let out a morbid chuckle. “I’ll help make us a good breakfast to forget about all of this.”

The group disbanded to their various tasks. Emily and Julie walked to the kitchen to start preparing the food. Emily opened the fridge to ruffle through it for some traditional breakfast fare while Julie searched for appropriate kitchenware.

“You find anything?” Julie looked over at Emily, taking out a pan and spatula.

“Yeah,” Emily replied. “We can have some bacon and eggs and pancakes for breakfast. Simple, easy, and delicious.” She grabbed the ingredients out of the fridge and put them on the counter, next to the stove. The girls preheated two pans, one for the bacon and one for the pancakes, and Emily got to work mixing the pancake batter.

Julie frowned as she turns back to the fridge. “Not much to drink though.” She picked out a half empty carton of orange juice. “I’m gonna nip to the cellar, ok? To see if there’s any more of this or something else.”

“Sure.” Emily hummed, finishing with the batter. “Just don’t take too long, please. I’m still not sure I really want to be alone and all.”

“You got it.” Julie set off to the cellar beneath the living room.

It was a minute or so of mixing batter before Emily was again disturbed by Tish leaning in. “Hey Emily, we need a shovel so I’m going out to see if there’s one in the shed out back.” She looked around. “Where’s Julie?”

“She went down to the cellar to get something to drink.” Emily pointed in the general direction of the cellar door on the other side of the wall. “Should be back soon, she only left a couple of minutes ago.”

“Oh, ok. That smells good!” Tish called, before leaving out the front door.

Nothing happened but the sizzling of bacon and pancakes for a fair few minutes.

After a while, Emily was getting a little nervous. She pulled the food off the hob and walked to the living room, calling down into the cellar. “Julie? Is everything okay?”

“Hmm?” She heard an echoing voice from down below. “Oh yeah sorry.” A moment later Julie appeared at the bottom of the stairs, coming up with a couple of cartons of fruit juice.

“Sorry, Emily. I got distracted. There’s like, a storm hatch down there or something? You know, like up to outside behind the house. I was looking for a key to lock it cause it seems like a dangerous avenue to leave open with a pred about. But I guess Bridget’s still locked in Violet’s room, heh.”

“Let’s finish with breakfast and then we can all go down and lock it together.” Emily waved Julie back and into the kitchen, and they took ten or so more minutes to finish making breakfast. Once the meal was plated up, the two girls went to find the others.

They met Tish and Violet washing their hands after having finally cleaned up the toilet and brought them down to the table. Tish, however, declared that she was going to go and fetch Fiona and left out the front door.

“I suppose we’d probably best give Lady Muck some breakfast.” Violet mused grumpily. “Given how we’ve defeated her old plans for it.”

“I’d let her starve, personally.” Julie says. “But I’ll go with you if you need backup.”

“Let’s all three of us go.” Emily suggested brightly. “Maybe if we’re nice to her she’ll have a change of heart?” The others’ withering glances indicated they didn’t much share Emily’s optimism for the notion of being able to befriend a predator.

Emily grabbed one of the plates and lead the girls down the hall, knocking on Violet’s door. “Hello? Bridget? We brought you breakfast.”

There was no answer.

“It isn’t any of us.” Violet said sardonically. “It’s bacon and pancakes.”

There was still no answer.

“All right.” Violet took out her key and began to unlock the door. “Don’t try anything, there’s three of us here.” She pushed the door open and would have barrelled in if what she saw inside hadn’t made her recoil in horror almost knocking Julie off her feet.

Inside the room there was no Bridget. Instead, there was a heaped stinking pile of shit on the bed. A piece of paper fluttered down in front of the doorway, presumably having been pinned above the door.

“No way.” Emily gasped. “It wasn’t her??? And I don’t think it was Julie either…” She snatched the paper out of the air.

“It has to be Violet, Emily.” Julie said, turning and pinning Violet to the wall. “Nobody else has the key to this room. You saw her use it.”

Emily wasn’t listening, however. She was examining the scrawled writing on the piece of paper in her hands.

TEN LITTLE MORSELS, UP FOR A GOOD TIME

I HAD ME SOME DINNER, AND THEN THERE WERE NINE

NINE LITTLE MORSELS, SUSPICIOUS OF TRICKS

I HAD A MIDNIGHT SNACK, AND THEN THERE WERE SIX

SIX LITTLE MORSELS, LOCKING VIOLET’S DOOR

I HAD SOME BREAKFAST, AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR

FUNNY THING ABOUT YOU LITTLE PREY, YOU ALL LOOK SO DIFFERENT, BUT ONCE I’VE GROUND YOU INTO PASTE, YOU ALL LOOK THE SAME. YOU’D NEVER KNOW WHO YOU WERE WITHOUT THE LITTLE UNDIGESTIBLES LEFT IN THE PILES.

YOU HAVE ALL THE CLUES NOW, EMILY. I’M SAVING YOU FOR LAST, I’M SURE YOUR INNOCENCE WILL TASTE DELECTABLE. CAN YOU FIGURE IT OUT BEFORE IT’S JUST YOU AND ME? TICK TOCK.

Emily’s legs shook and almost gave out from under her, and she leant onto the doorframe for stability. She handed the letter to Julie, unable to read it out loud, and tried to collect herself. I’m a prey, I’ve always been a prey, I’ve always known that my chances of living long or dying outside of a gut were slim, she told herself. But reading the note, and being called out by name, knowing that she was being hunted – nothing could have prepared her. Her instincts were telling me to run, and hide, and escape, but there was always that tiny part of her niggling in the back of her head louder and louder that was excited, that wanted to fight, and solve the mystery, and confront the predator amongst them.

“It doesn’t have to be Violet,” She said. She stepped over to the window, holding her breath around the pile of shit that was Bridget, and trying not to think about how looking at it would most probably be looking into her future. She examined the window frame and peeked outside. Would that be possible? Were there snow or wet spots that were tracked into the room? Were there footprints outside?

She had expect Julie to protest, but the sporty girl had got very quiet.

“Emily.” She murmured. “The note says four. Why four?”

Emily turned in growing horror to properly examine the pile of excrement laid on Violet’s bed. She knew what she would find before she even looked for it.

Shreds of a chunky sweater, indigestible fibre that the pred’s system had evidently spat out unwanted obviously dotted the pile, there was no doubt that part of it was Bridget, but Emily’s heart sank as she caught the tell-tale glimmer here and there of old silver coins peeking out of the shit.

“Fiona.” She said, close to tears. “She got Fiona too. Probably came in through the window afterwards and ate Bridget. Either it’s Tish or Tish is in trouble.” She gave the other two girls a worried look. “We need to go find out where Tish went, and we need to do it together,” She said, hurrying towards the cabin’s front door.

Julie released Violet angrily and hurried after Emily with her in tow.

“Could Tish have picked your pocket, Violet?” She grumbled. “Taken the key and then put it back?”

“Possibly!” Violet called. “But it could still be you! I agree with Emily, if the pred ate Fiona first then she probably got in through the window.”

The girls hurried to slither into their winterwear before braving the cold out the front door and treading into the white to search for Tish. The snow quickly whirled around them, though, and visibility was very low.

“I know you don’t like it, Emily.” Julie said after ten minutes hunting. “But we’re getting nowhere like this. At this rate Tish might die of exposure before the pred gets her. We need to split up.”

“Julie and I will go together.” Violet said firmly. “Since you’re innocent and you don’t need watching. Sure, if it’s Tish you might be in trouble, but the note said she was saving you for last, right? She’ll probably try to avoid eating you.”

“We can’t split up.” Emily pleaded. “Tish said she was going to the shed. Let’s check there first at least, and then we can split up.”

“She came back from the shed.” Violet said sadly. “She went out to look for Fiona, so she’d be up ahead at the cliff edge if she’s anywhere, cause that’s where Fiona went.”

“Emily, please.” Julie pleaded. “We have to find her before it’s too late.”

Emily hung my head. “All right. You two need to stick together, okay? I don’t want to come back and have one of you never make it, so please protect each other. I’ll- I’ll do my best on my own.” She gave them both a sad look as before heading out.

“Okay.” Julie agreed, and she and Violet pushed off into the driving snow in the other direction, quickly disappearing into the white.

Emily was searching for a long time. Visibility was almost nil and she very quickly get lost. Her phone showed her it had taken about half an hour to get her bearings again, and eventually she found yourself at the back of the house, at the storm hatch, no closer to finding Tish but now frozen to the bone. Wanting to keep searching, but in desperate need of warmth, she decided to check inside the cellar herself, just in case Julie had been mistaken- or worse, the pred. She pulled it open with great effort and stepped down the stairs inside, using her phone as a flashlight.

But Julie hadn’t lied. There was no real evidence of any pred activity, just stores, depleted slightly in the way she’d expect from the ten girls’ brief time there. Sighing, she made her way to the steps up to the living room and began to ascend them, the numbness in her fingers not helping with the banister.

As she reached the top, however, she caught sight of Julie in the living room, her coat covered in snow, shivering, staring at something on the coffee table. With dread in her heart, Emily rounded the corner to see a huge pile of shit, the size of the one in Violet’s room, sitting there and oozing off the edge in places. Julie looked up at her with an expression of shock and fear.

“It’s you.” She breathed. “I haven’t a fucking clue how but it’s got to be you. You played us all.”

“N-no! What!” Emily looked at Julie with shock and alarm. “Where’s Violet? Is that- is that her?”

Julie looked at her incredulously, and gestured to the items visible poking out of the pile. Violet’s boots… and Tish’s scarf.”

“It has to be you.” She breathed. “But how? You weren’t…”

“I never left the hot tub, Julie, that’s right. How could it have been me?” Emily nodded. “It’s obviously got to be you.”

“It does.” Julie nodded. “But it’s not me, I swear. This doesn’t make any sense. Unless…” She spaced out for a second, as if suddenly struck by inspiration.

“There might be something else. We should check the bedrooms, just in case. I think there’s something we’ve missed.”

“There must be.” Emily grasped onto the chance, gullible as she knew she was being, to exonerate her one remaining friend in the house. “Come on then, let’s go look in all the rooms for clues.”

The two girls examined each of the bedrooms one by one. Julie wasn’t very forthcoming about what she was looking for specifically, which Emily found irritating. She supposed this was either some kind of weird pred bluff to toy with her, or Julie was after something she worried Emily (as the pred) would get to first and destroy if she weren’t kept in the dark. When they got to Emily’s room, Julie insisted on checking it alone. She spent about four minutes in there carefully looking about for things before she came out, and was no more helpful about what she had even been looking for.

“I guess you should check mine.” She mumbled. “Just, you know, so I don’t hide anything. Only fair.”

“Yeah.” Emily agreed. But check it for WHAT? She thought. She walked in and looked anyway, trying to find any packaging for InstaGest pills, which she reasoned would be the damning proof that Julie was the predator if she’d been stupid enough to leave it in the bin. Not that it would matter in the end. With only the two of them left, whichever was the pred would easily overpower the other.

Behind her, she heard the door slam, and the key turn in the lock, trapping her in the room. Emily leapt back to the door, trying the handle and yelling outside. “Wait, Julie, I’m not the Pred! Please, you have to trust me! I could’ve eaten you and I didn’t, please let me out!”

“Sorry, Emily.” Julie said from the other side. “You might well not be the pred. I have an idea about that, actually. But, well, there’s always the chance that I’m wrong. And if I am, then the longer you’re around me and the more poking about I do, the more danger I’m in. You’re very cute. And persuasive. And clever. I don’t know if I’d be able to resist in the end. So I need you in here while I go and check something.”

Emily sat down next to the door as well. “It was impossible for me to have eaten Annette, Julie. I had an airtight alibi for that one. I don’t want to spend my last moments alone and afraid, and I know you don’t either, so please. Open the door?”

“No, Emily.” She says. “I’m not going to open the door. In fact.” Emily heard scrabbling around outside and the sound of Julie walking away. In about twenty seconds she was back, however, and something was being pushed under the door.

“Nobody’s going to open the door who isn’t you or the pred.” Julie said assertively. “If you hear the key in the lock, get ready to fight for your life.”

“What? Julie this isn’t funny, let me out!” Emily wailed.

“You’ll get out, I know you can do it yourself, but it’ll take care and patience.” Julie said. Emily noticed that what Julie had pushed under the door was in fact a doormat from downstairs.

“I’m going to go and check my theory now.” Julie said. “If it’s right… then you aren’t the pred, and neither am I. I’ve been wondering for a while about that note. You know how the rhyme ends, right? And Then There Were None. So why count from ten? I can’t imagine the pred plans on eating herself, except…” She trailed off. “Well, let yourself out if I don’t come back. And if I do come back, don’t let me open this door until I explain everything. Cause then I’ll know for sure.”

Emily carried on listening, but the only sound was of Julie walking away down the stairs. She looked down at the doormat in utter bewilderment, and then sadly sat down on the floor, hugging her knees and softly crying.

In retrospect, she was a little embarrassed how long it took to figure out what Julie had meant she should do. Once the solution came to her in a flash of inspiration, however, Emily leapt into action. She quickly searched through the room and found a hairpin on Julie’s desk. She didn’t know how to pick locks, but thankfully the solution Julie had left her was simpler than that. She shoved it through the lock, jiggling the key out slowly but surely and listening very intently. She was elated to hear the key finally fall onto the mat with a dry plop, and she had to steady herself not to be too overexcited as she slid it under the doorframe and wrestled it into the lock, slamming the door open more forcefully than she’d intended.

“Julie?” She called out to the empty, darkening house. She ran down the hall into the living room. “Julie, please answer me!”

As Emily reached the front door, her heart filled once again with dread as she saw another note sitting on the doormat. To her left, she saw out of the corner of her eye that the kitchen door was open, and realised that there was a familiar horrid smell coming from there, too, mixing with the muted stink of Tish and Violet.

She snatched up the note and unfolded it.

WELL DONE.

I’M SURE YOU’VE FIGURED OUT WHERE I AM NOW, EMILY. I’M WAITING FOR YOU.

BUT HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT *WHO* I AM?

JULIE HAD THE RIGHT IDEA. SHE FIGURED IT OUT JUST TOO LATE.

SHE DIDN’T LOOK BEHIND HER.

TISH AND FIONA BOTH KNEW, BELIEVE IT OR NOT. THAT’S WHY I HAD TO END THEM WHEN I DID. AND IF YOU’RE STILL CLUELESS YOU CAN GO AND STAND WHERE THEY STOOD, ON THE CLIFF-EDGE, FOR A FINAL HELPING HAND CLUE.

OR YOU CAN JUST COME AND SEE ME. YOUR CHOICE.

JUST KNOW IT’LL BE YOUR LAST.

SEE YOU SOON.

Emily looked back and forth between the front door and the note in a panic, and eventually decided to head out into the snow. If it was to be the last thing she did, she wanted at least a chance to figure out the mystery in this pred’s horrible game. And frankly she couldn’t bring herself to walk to her death just yet. She rubbed her arms together for warmth as she walked out into the snowstorm, the wind pelting her face and freezing me. She briefly considered running, but freezing to death would probably be just as bad, if not worse, as getting eaten. At least stomachs were warm. Finally, after what felt like forever but must only have been five minutes, she made it to the cliffside.

The driving snow was beginning to let up a little, but not so very much. She stood on the edge of the cliff, wondering what it was that Tish and Fiona saw or heard here that was so illuminating, before she suddenly felt a vibration in her pocket.

Emily pulled out her phone, her cold hands gripping it tight in the blizzard. She could see her breath fog up in front of her as she looked down at the screen. One bar, flashing in and out of existence as her phone struggled to catch sight of the distant tower. Not enough for a phone call- and the wind would have drowned out her voice- but enough… enough to call her voicemail, where she apparently have a waiting message. With a shaky hand, from fear and the cold both, she pressed the button to call it, hearing the familiar robotic voice just barely over the whistling wind.

You have… one… new message. First message. Sent… yesterday… at… four… forty-two… PM.

“Hi, Emily, it’s Michael Bright, I’m the head of events at Smart Prey, sorry for the intrusion but I’m just calling each of you in turn hoping I can get through to someone. It seems like the storm might be cutting your signal off as well as trapping you in. Just wanted to let you know that if you’ve been wondering about how there are only nine of you, I’m afraid we’ve just got word the tenth guest won’t be coming. Her mother called and said she was digested in a gas station bathroom on the way. Tragic. Anyway, if you get this, feel free to tell Mrs Beauchamp that since the storm is likely going to prevent her from leaving she might as well stay to make up the numbers. She’s already been there a couple of days so she’ll be able to show you where stuff is. Oh and she has the master keys to the house so if you need something like the sauna opened just let her know. All right, that’s everything. Have a great time, Emily. Bye!”

*Beep*

Tears ran down Emily’s face as she locked her phone again and shoved it in her pocket. This is it, she thought. No more excuses. Time to die, Emily. She trudged back to the house, dragging her feet and pulling her jacket tight around her. She couldn’t stop thinking about what a tragic disaster it all was. All of them, young prey girls with plans and hopes and dreams, snuffed out in a weekend as a game for some cruel pred. They’d all been so nice to her, and more besides. And none of that would matter. All snuffed out so some pred could get a slightly bigger rear.

She continued crying as she trudged back to the cabin, but by the time she was back her tears had dried up. She took deep breaths, her adrenaline spiking as she finally acknowledged where she had to go to discover the final chapter of the mystery.

The house before her was dark and foreboding, but a light off to the side indicated her destination. A light from the one place none of the girls had ever been able to go.

The sauna.

Emily shivered, more out of fear than out of the cold. There was always another step, and she struggled to believe she was really walking towards the sauna. Towards her death. But perhaps it was for the best. If weren’t now, it’d be later, when she needed to let her guard down to eat, or go to the bathroom, or something. She could run for as long as she wanted, but once she needed to sleep it would all be over, and she didn’t want to go out like that. Her footprints were heavy in the snow behind her as she reached the sauna door, spilling light from its slightly ajar aperture.

“Hey.” She called out. “I’m here. If you want to do it you can do it, I’m not going to run but I’d just like to talk. Before it happens. I really… I just still don’t quite understand. The voicemail… Michael Bright gave me a message for Mrs Beauchamp, said she’d been here already a few days. It’d make most sense if you’re her, picking us off one by one, but… we know Mrs Beachamp never got here, she was kept away by the storm!”

“And who told you that, Emily?” Came a familiar voice from inside the sauna that filled Emily’s soul with simultaneous dread and overwhelming understanding. She stepped inside the sauna and closed the door behind her.

“That’s right.” Crooned Annette, with a wolfish grin that turned Emily’s stomach. “Me!”

Inside the sauna were the tell-tale signs of habitation- a rucksack, a bedroll, two editions of Crafty Pred magazine out on the benches. Amidst it all slouched Annette, glasses-free and much plumper than she had been yesterday- hell, a lot more undigested than she had been yesterday.

“Oh my God.” She breathed. “You actually did it. You walked into the lion’s den for answers. That’s mega hot.” She stood up, stepping closer to Emily until her plush gut pressed into the prey girl’s flat one.

“And then there was one. Did you figure it all out?” She asked, with obvious glee.

“Only just now.” Emily squeaked, paralysed with fear. “That’s Mrs Beauchamp in the bin in the kitchen, right? And Julie went back… went back to check.”

Annette laughed. “Good girl. Brave old Julie decided to sift through shit to look for the one thing she knew she’d find…” She grinned a horrible predator grin of perfect white teeth. “…a little half-digested plastic nametag. It was there from the start if any of you had thought to look. But no, you all bought me just plopping Annette’s glasses in on top, and you all got frightened like the cattle you prey are.” She laughed again. “Oh yeah, that’s the other missing piece, I guess. My name is Mynah Hofstadter. The real Annette didn’t survive telling a ‘fellow prey’ in confidence all about this trip in a service station bathroom on the motorway here. We don’t look all that alike really, but with her glasses on I’d match her general description and it turns out that was enough. Mrs Beauchamp never suspected a thing until she saw how wide I can open my mouth.” She winced. “Honestly holding her in until I could plausibly incriminate as many of you as possible was the hardest part of the whole thing. InstaGest makes prey go through you like lightning so I had a couple of hours having to make nice and pretend I wasn’t bursting for a shit.”

As she spoke, Mynah leaned over in front of Emily, pinning her to the wall between her deceptively strong pred’s arms. Emily attempted to wriggle out, testing her strength, but it became clear she was held firmly against the wall. Tears welled in her eyes.

“We just want to feel safe! It’s so hard to feel safe in our own homes sometimes, so being able to go somewhere you know there’s only prey is- it would’ve been perfect. Why can’t you predators take a break from eating us, just for once, please…” She half-heartedly banged her fists against Mynah’s chest.

Mynah frowned. “Oh Emily… How do I explain this to a prey? Oh. I know. When I came in to dump Tish and Violet I saw you made a really nice breakfast that you never got to eat because of my shenanigans. Sorry. I guess you’re pretty hungry, huh? Well…” She leant in close to whisper in Emily’s ear. “What if I told you there’s a really big buffet table, full of anything you could want: dripping buttered toast, perfect rashers of salty bacon, plump hickory smoked sausages, stacks of fluffy pancakes in maple syrup, masterfully runny eggs in picturesque little stripy egg cups, perfectly ripe fruit of every kind, gorgeously spicy kedgeree, bulbous round chocolatey profiteroles and breakfast tea at the perfect temperature, as much as you like…” She almost hissed some of the items as she punctuated the viscerally delicious image. “And the best part? It’s all for you, Emily. Nobody else knows about where it is so you don’t have to share with anyone. The only catch is… none of the things on the buffet want to be eaten, and if you give them the chance, they’ll tell you so. Do you still want it?”

Emily shuddered She wanted to protest, she really did, but her stomach grumbled and she felt hungry just thinking about it. She knew that in all honesty she I would do the same thing. She knew that even if the steak she was having for dinner was crying for its life, begging for mercy, she would still eat it. She might play it with it, talk to it maybe, indulge it, but in the end she would eat it. Finally understanding how all predators looked at prey like her filled her with an intense feeling of loss. It made her realise how foolish all her dreams were, of befriending a predator, convincing them she wasn’t food, and maybe changing them before the better – it never would’ve happened. She was filled with terror, knowing how Mynah saw her, even now. She knew she was not making it out of this room alive.

“I would still want it.” She shook. “Even if it begged me not to, even if I knew it was just like me – I’d still do it.”

“You do understand.” Mynah smiles. “I knew you would. You’re quite a clever prey. A credit to the magazine.” She eased off Emily a little. “So I can trust you not to run, I think. You could, of course, but it’s cold out there, little Emily, and you wouldn’t get far before I hunted you down. In here it’s warm, and cozy, and you can live a little longer if you like because I don’t want to stop pushing you around my plate quite yet.” Her voice had a kind of hypnotic quality, Emily realised. Mynah released her from the wall and went to sit down. She looked at her and patted the bench beside her invitingly.

Emily hesitantly walked over and sat next to the pred, unable to meet her gaze for very long. “Are you still on the InstaGest?” She asked tentatively. “It’s been like, half an hour since your last… ‘meal’, right? Is that enough time for it to wear off?”

“Yeah.” Mynah replied. “And I’m actually out of InstaGest now. Comes in blister packs of ten, and I took two at a time. Five meals. You’re going to go down the old-fashioned way, I’m afraid.” She looked at Emily. “Is that okay? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m going to eat you either way, but I’m curious which you’d have preferred.”

Emily considered. It was a peculiar question to hear from a pred, and she took a moment to think it over.

“The InstaGest was scary.” she paused, before quickly clarifying. “Not that I’m not terrified of being digested, it’s just that the idea I’d be gone in an instant was scary. Like, having almost no time to react and getting mushed and all that. I wish you’d have left Wendy or Julie still alive at the end. It’s scary, being alone.”

“Oh well you know how it is at buffets.” Mynah purred. “You can never have just the bacon, or the eggs, or the toast. It’s got to be some of everything, hasn’t it?” She smiled and put an arm around Emily. “Speaking of Wendy, though… that’s something we both have in common. Defiling that pure little snowdrop. She was so sensitive that even with my hand over her mouth and her death staring her in the face I made her cum in under two minutes.” She massaged Emily’s shoulder salaciously. “Cause that’s the thing about you prey, isn’t it? Your brains really don’t want to get eaten… but your pussies really do. I couldn’t see much from out here but I could still tell, the moment you realised you were all threatened with consumption you collapsed into fucking like rabbits. Does it turn you on, what I’m going to do to you, Emily? Or does it frighten you to death? Or, as I rather expect… both?”

Emily had thought it was just hot in the sauna, but having Mynah call it out made her realise the heat she’d been feeling in her lower body wasn’t just from the coals. She shifted her legs and squeezed them together, uncomfortable that this stranger pred already knew her so well. She’d heard about this phenomenon before, something that predators liked to jeer at prey, wondering if they’d be “into it” when they were finally eaten, but she’d never for a moment considered that she actually would be. It was, she supposed she had heard, the primary reason some girls were willing to be eaten, or found it hot. She still didn’t understand why it was so hot, but Mynah’s firm grasp and complete control over her sent shivers of fear down her spine that sparked arousal when they reached her stomach.

“You are so fucking scary.” She blushed. “But that is also so fucking sexy. Oh my god, what is wrong with me?”

“Nothing at all, Emily.” Mynah squeezed her affectionately with her right hand and gently put her left down the front of the prey girl’s leggings. “This is how you prey are meant to be.” She began to rub Emily’s clit slowly. “Do you know, in Finland and Czechia they’ve given up pretending you lot are human beings at all? You’re just raised on farms with the other cattle, used to relieve the sexual frustrations of the farmhands, and when you’ve popped out a couple of sprogs, sent off to market.” She frowned. “I guess that’s more humane, rather than giving you false hope, but I have to admit I like it better this way. I love to hunt prey and get them to accept their fates. It’s so much more delicious if somebody’s taught you to talk, at the very least, and planted the idea in your head that you might be able to have a normal life of some length so I can snuff it out.”

She began rubbing harder. “Yeah, you’re better free range, I think.”

Emily bit her lip and clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle a moan, but it came through anyway. “W-we’re the same – mmn – as you. We’re human too, the only – hahh – difference is that we don’t have the gene that lets us – ffah – eat people. We deserve the same chances that you – hmmn – predators get too.”

Mynah stroked her face gently over her shoulder. “God that’s so hot, Emily. Say more delusional things I can disillusion you of with my maw.” She opened her mouth just wider than Emily could imagine doing, her teeth glittering in the dim coal light. “Very well, though, if you’re human too you deserve human courtesy. So I’ll say I owe you an apology. A few of them, actually.” She rubbed faster and her fingers slipped in and out of Emily a little. “I’m sorry I shit in the kitchen bin. And on the coffee table. And on Violet’s bed. And on the kitchen floor. And that I clogged the toilet in the bathroom upstairs. That wasn’t very considerate of me to do in a house you were also living in.” She leaned in close and kissed Emily’s temple before whispering. “I’m probably going to do it again, to be honest, but I don’t think you’ll mind as much this time.”

Emily whimpered, her mouth opening and closing, unable to object. “W-where are you going to shit me out? On my bed? In the toilet? In the living room? Fuck, I can’t believe you have eaten all eleven of us girls in just a day and a half. You’re so lucky, getting such wonderful meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” Emily’s speech started getting faster and ramblier as she got closer to orgasm, her hips rocking a little into Mynah’s fingers. “I’m the last person left alive in my whole family and now I’m going to become shit too. And everyone else, nobody’s going to be able to identify us from one another when we’re just shit… I’m so close, Mynah, I just need to know one last thing: d-do I taste good?”

Mynah leant in again and tenderly licked Emily’s cheek, pulling away and smacking her lips thoughtfully.

“Second best.” She said, decisively. “Bridget tasted like a gorgeous little cream puff that melted in your mouth. But you’re very good too. Lots of flavour in a cute little package.” She looked Emily up and down. “Are you wearing anything indigestible, Emily? Anything that will show the magazine people which of the piles is you when they come to check on you? I think three of you were flushed so they might not be able to tell you apart from Wendy, Hyacinth and Cathy.”

“I-in my wallet, I have an indigestible id.” Emily looked through the sauna window and back at the house. “But I didn’t bring my wallet. There’s no way they’ll know. I’ll just be a nameless pile of shit.” She looked up at Mynah again. “Where will they find my pile, Mynah? Will you let them know it’s me?”

“Would you like them to know it’s you, Emily?” Mynah asks with a devilish smile. “After I eat you I could go back to the house, find your wallet and swallow it. Since you’re taking the long way you’d have plenty of time to digest with it, and then they’d know it’s you. But it’s cold outside and I was planning to leave after polishing you off, so why should I?” She looked knowingly into Emily’s eyes, removing her hand from the prey girl’s crotch and using it to pull down the waistband of her own skirt.

“What’s it worth to you, Emily? Not to be instantly forgotten?”

Emily whined a little as Mynah pulled her hand away, but she shook her head and brought back her composure. “I don’t want to be forgotten, if I can be selfish. Please let me be selfish.” She watched Mynah remove her skirt. “I don’t want to be just another prey girl that’s forgotten in an instant. I have friends, and stuff, that will remember her. I hope.”

“I doubt that.” Mynah said in a cruel tone. “But I’m prepared to help you, Emily. If you help me.” She revealed her own dripping cunt and looked at her prey expectantly.

Emily got on her knees in front of Mynah’s nethers and stared for a moment, hesitant on doing this. What was really the point, getting off the girl who was going to end her life? But it wasn’t like it really mattered anyway, and I wanted any amount of control she would give her. She slowly moved her face closer and closer, and then start licking Mynah’s pussy, lapping at her folds tentatively, trying to do as well as possible. She started fingering herself, too horny to resist.

Mynah laughed down at her. “Look at you. You’re eating me out for the privilege of your remains being identifiable, and it’s turning you on!” She stroked Emily’s hair softly. “You’re not a person, Emily. People don’t finger their clits to the thought of their impending death. Give up this charade, admit it.”

“Mmm!” Emily make a weak sound of defiance, muffled by her body. This is only so I can have some dignity when I die, she told herself. I’m just horny because she played with me, nothing more. I-I’m not just food. She tried her hardest to convince herself, but every time she repeated it in her brain her resolve got weaker and her licking got more feverish.

“You’re not just food, of course.” Mynah laughed. “A head of broccoli can’t eat my pussy. But you’re so little beyond that that it really makes no difference. I want you to admit it, Emily. In fact, I demand you admit it, or I won’t swallow your wallet. You’re not a person. You’re a meal. Take your head out of my muff for a minute, you’re doing a good job, but I want to hear you admit it.”

Emily whimpered and slowly took her head out from between Mynah’s legs. Her head was spinning with fear and lust both and she knew she was past thinking straight when her mouth opened to speak.

“I’m food. Even if I’m scared, I’m still your meal and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m a walking talking human-shaped piece of meat but I’m still just meat that should be eaten.” The more Emily said it out loud the more she believed it, until finally she was just a mess, having completely convinced herself. She didn’t even realize that she was still touching herself, and she came, the orgasm wracking her body and causing her to collapse onto Mynah’s lap.

“That’s so hot. And correct.” Mynah said, absent mindedly stroking Emily’s hair. “Back to work then, meat. I’m close now, not much further.”

“Mm-hm.” Emily nodded and put her face back to work on Mynah’s folds. The Emily from two days ago would be horrified at what she did, but the her now understood the truth. No matter how unwilling she was, meat was meat, and there was nothing she could do to change that. She hadn’t exactly come to peace with the fact that her life was ending, just that she couldn’t do anything about it, but the liberation she felt now was something else.

Mynah moaned at Emily’s tongue’s work, and before very long shuddered and pushed the prey girl’s head back.

“Very good, Emily.” She said, peering down at her. “You’ve served one of your purposes, now it’s time to serve the other.”

Emily whined in fear and sat on her haunches, shrinking back from Mynah’s gaze as much as possible. She was still afraid. Tears started to trickle down her face as she realised that her life was really about to end. Her prey instincts caused her to try to drag herself across the floor and away from Mynah, but her hands failed to catch any traction and she didn’t get very far. With her gone, none of the girls here would be remembered, and nobody would know how they went or what happened. All she could think about was a simple line from the voicemail, a very dismissive “tragic”.

“Emily.” Mynah’s firm voice called out behind her. “Wrong way. Your destiny is over here.” She pointed into her gaping maw for a moment. “Hunting the others was tiring work. Feed yourself to me, Emily. Show me you understand your place.”

Emily looked at the door and then back at Mynah, took a deep breath, and did the unthinkable. She shuffled back over in front of Mynah and lifted her feet up, putting them daintily into the pred girl’s mouth, which expanded to accept them. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt Mynah’s hot and wet mouth take her, licking and savouring her all over.

Mynah moaned in pleasure at Emily’s taste and started to swallow her further down, past her knees. She tapped at Emily’s still free wrists and looked at her expectantly. When Emily’s addled mind proved unable to interpret what she wanted, she rolled her eyes, took one of the prey girl’s wrists and guided it into her mouth alongside the thighs she was already swallowing.

“A-ah,” Emily gasped. She put her other hand inside, fitting herself into the maw. As Mynah pulled her deeper, she felt herself become fully trapped. She could no longer do anything but squirm in fear, and squirm she did, her prey instincts trying impotently to fight her fate.

Mynah’s throat vibrated around Emily as she chuckled with a gurgle at the prey girl’s pathetic resistance. Emily felt herself sucked further down the gullet around her. Further and further she slipped, until only her head remained sticking out of Mynah’s mouth. Mynah looked down into Emily’s doe-like eyes, raised her eyebrows suggestively and salaciously, and finally swallowed her down.

At the very last moment, Emily suddenly had an objection and vocalised it with a yelled “W-wai-!” She was cut off by Mynah swallowing her, and she screamed in fear inside her throat, being sloshed around by the powerful pred’s tongue above her head. Mynah’s throat sucked her deeper, its rippling muscles pulling her to her doom.

Mynah belched and patted her stomach. “Too late for second thoughts, Emily. You’re really just a meal now.” She stood up in the sauna. “Ugh. I really don’t want to go outside… But I’d feel a little bad for going back on my promise after you ate me out so well.”

Emily was jiggled around as the stomach around her was hauled up and headed for the door. She kicked and squirmed and struggled, not thinking straight and freaking out as the acids nipped and bit at her. She spent some time trying to calm herself down, and when she succeeded she noticed another familiar feeling. If she was just food, and it was already too late for her anyways, then why not go for it. Mynah felt the squirming in her stomach change from struggles and screams to rhythmic shakes and moans as Emily began to pleasure herself again, working towards her last orgasm. She smiled to herself, realising that Emily had submitted to her fate as she knew she would. She made her way inside and climbed the stairs up to her prey’s room. Casting around, she located Emily’s wallet on the bedside table and swallowed it in a single gulp.

“That what you needed, meat?” She asked her squirming belly.

Still working herself, Emily grabbed the wallet out of the acid around her with her free hand and fumbled inside it. Her ID! It was there. “Yes.” She mewled. She thought of everyone else, and how they must have gone, feeling grateful she had this extra time in her stomach and wasn’t digested instantly. “I hope you enjoyed us.”

“Sure did.” Mynah said. She looked around the room. “You know, the other prey who come might not be as clever as you. I think I’m gonna make you a pile on the floor in here, to really drive the point home if they don’t find your ID.”

“Thank you.” Emily moaned, getting close. “That’s probably the nicest thing a predator will do for me, which sucks because I’ll be too dead to appreciate it. Fuck, I’m going to die…” Without even realizing it, the reminder made her cum, and her body was wracked with pleasure again. Mynah could feel her stretch out for a few seconds before relaxing again, going limp and just breathing heavily inside her.

“Yep.” She grinned, jumping into a reclining position on Emily’s bed and sloshing her stomach around. “It’s what you’re for, Emily. Accept it and it’ll be easier.”

“I’m food.” Emily repeated to herself like a mantra as she worked toward more orgasms. She’d fit in two more by the time the burning of the stomach acids became unignorable. Finally noticing it, she yelped in pain. Her clothes had all melted away by now, leaving her unprotected, and she could only shift in the stomach to try to alleviate the torment.

Mynah heard her yelp and smiled. “This is about where I might pull out the bolt gun for a cow or a pig, Emily. The equivalent for prey is a stiff squeeze until you go crunch. Do you want that? The pain will only get worse.”

Emily briefly considered saying no, but what was the point in living out the rest of her short life in agony? It already hurt so much, and she didn’t think she could take much more.

“Please, just make it quick.” She pleaded. “I know that getting crunched is supposed to hurt too, just not as much. Do it.” She shivered, trying to prepare herself for her fate.

“It’ll be quick.” Mynah said clinically, spreading her arms apart and bringing her elbows in together hard. There was a wet cracking noise as Emily was pulverised into mush. Mynah stretched herself out on the bed to sleep off her meal.

Mynah slept for most of the day and when she woke up it was to a pressure in her bowels. Not as urgent as when the others were sluiced through her, but still pretty pressing. She stood up from the bed, pulled down her skirt, squatted down, and pushed.

She needn’t have worried. Emily came splattering out of her rear, piling up into a lumpy mound of shit, specked occasionally with hair. With a grunt and a pained expression, she gave one last push and the sharp indigestible rectangle of Emily’s identity card popped out and splatted on top. Satisfied, Mynah wiped herself on Emily’s bedsheet, then calmly stood up and walked downstairs.

The storm had died down and everything was calm, so Mynah walked out to the sauna, packed her rucksack with her bedroll and magazines, and stepped on out into the snow to navigate the mile or so of snowbank to her waiting car.

---

“What the fuck.” Michael Bright asked himself incredulously, looking at Emily’s faded ID in his latex-gloved hand. He straightened up. “So that’s, what, six of them? And Mrs Beauchamp?”

“Yeah.” The woman accompanying him replied. “Seems like the pred was impersonating Annette. That’s Emily in here, Bridget and Fiona four rooms down, Tish and Violet on the coffee table, Julie and Lenore in the kitchen. We can’t find Cathy, Hyacinth or Wendy. They might have escaped, but… well, the toilet has been recently scrubbed spotless. I fear the worst.”

Michael sat down on the floor in despair. “We can’t let this get out. It’s only a matter of time before it does, I get that, but the more time we have to prepare the less likely it’ll just kill the magazine.”

“Give it up, Michael.” The woman snapped. “The magazine’s as good as dead and you know it. No prey will buy us if they know this happened under our care, and it won’t matter anyway. Once this gets out it’ll be the boost the Finnish model lobbyists need, especially with the church on side now.” She stared into space. “Our readership is going to battery farms within five years, Michael, and so are we. The best we can do is run material to get them to accept it, and hope that buys us some clemency.”

Michael just stared at the pile of shit Emily had been reduced to and nodded grimly.