The Standup Boys' New Hope

On his other side, a different woman stood straight and aloof, looking down her nose at him. Her face, her bare breasts and her belly were all the same pale shade as the spine girl's, but her arms and legs transitioned into a verdant green. Only a content smile disturbed her placid face.

Time was running out. Naka struggled to stand. His legs slowly obeyed, pulling up his feet, but his arms refused to support him. He collapsed back onto the floor.

"You got him," said the spine girl. "You can have the first ride."

The green girl laughed a soft, sinister laugh and leaned over Naka. "Such a strong body," she murmured. "So helpless."

Naka tried again, and this time his hands braced against the ground, and he growled under the effort of forcing himself up.

The green girl extended an arm, and long, flat vines unfurled from where her hand should have been. One vine pressed down on Naka's chest, flattening him again.

"Oh, no, boy," said the vine girl softly. "You are prey in the spider's web. There is no escape now. No escape, no escape... " She blushed. "Now, show me what's under that cloth."

Her vines played on his stomach, and one of them slithered underneath his shirt. Other vines crawled along his bare arms, feeling his muscles while pinning his hands on the dirt.

Extending her other arm, the girl sent more vines snaking under his shirt, until every inch of his chest felt her touch. Two of the vines tensed at once, and his shirt sleeves tore open as the garment was neatly tugged over his head, then thrown to a corner.

The spiny girl purred with approval. "Look at that muscle!" She laughed through a toothy smile. "I can't wait to make him sweat."

"Oh, yeah?" grunted Naka, trying to ignore the stimulation on his increasingly immobile body. "Why don't you-"

A vine intruded on his mouth, and he bit down on it, hard, but the vine girl made no reaction. His teeth felt like they had bitten into a wet rag.

"Good idea," whispered the vine girl. "Very good idea."

Before Naka could stop her, she insinuated another vine into his mouth, and with unnatural strength, she pulled his jaws apart.

"Ah!" gasped Naka. He arched his back, trying to pull his head away, only for more vines to slide underneath him, wrapping his body in an unbreakable coil.

Naka barely had time to be shocked before a vine tugged at his shorts. He kicked with his legs, hitting only air, and as soon as both of his legs were extended, the vine girl trapped them there, then yanked off the last of his covering, baring his penis to the open air. Already, it was half-erect.

At this threat to his virginity, Naka gave one last, furious burst, only for the vine girl to squeeze his stomach until he could not breathe. He went limp, and she loosened her grip, leaving him panting and helpless.

As he watched, a vine maneuvered in between his forced-open jaws and wrapped around his undefended tongue. With a gentle moan, the vine girl fondled his tongue, her rough but nectary vine gathering saliva from his mouth. She pulled it out, dripping with his juice, then brought it down and wrapped it around his cock. She pumped it once, and immediately Naka felt warmth spreading from his groin.

The vine girl kept stroking him, his rod squelching loudly in her grip, and when she released it, it stood straight up, skin glistening in the firelight. The throbbing in his shaft was almost painful.

The dreaded moment came. The vine girl stood over him, then lowered herself to her knees, straddling his legs. Her vines began to quiver, squeezing and brushing Naka all over his bound body, then she let herself down.

Her walls enveloped his cock, and Naka felt pressure from everywhere at once. She sang out with pleasure as she took him in, lifted herself and fell on him again, then worked herself into a rhythm, each buck rocking Naka's body with a spasm of heat and tension and unwanted pleasure.

The vine girl squirmed on his cock, bending his hardness inside her, then slowed her pace and set herself slowly down on him, getting him as deep as she could. She forced him all the way into her once, twice, then three times before her moans rose into a crescendo, and she squeezed him with uncontrolled passion.

The force of her vines all over his body tripped something inside Naka, and he felt a push inside his cock, then another, as he came inside her. He shuddered, groaning loudly until the vine girl's grip squeezed the air out of him.

For a few terrifying moments, he was held breathless and immobile. Then, finally, the vine girl relaxed and lifted herself from him.

Humming with pleasure, the vine girl stepped aside and relaxed her vines.

Naka wanted to move, but she had squeezed the energy from him.

"It's your turn, Sharp," said the vine girl.

The spine girl stepped out of the shadows. "One orgasm? That's all you want?"

"I have never felt such intensity." She licked her lips slowly. "That's all for now. But I'll enjoy him again later."

The spine girl, Sharp, stood akimbo over Naka's spent body, seeming far more muscular than she had the first time Naka had seen her.

"Alright, stud," she declared. "Time to get fucked." Sitting on his knees, she pumped his cock, sending an acute jab of pain down his penis.

"Argh!" sputtered Naka. "You bitch!"

She tried again, then a third time, getting the same result. She glared down at his flaccid cock, holding it one hand and batting it against the opposite palm. "It's soft," she growled. "Soft, soft cock? What is this?"

"He's spent, you dunce," said a new voice, deep, feminine and just a little gravelly. A third monster girl with growths of stone on her knees and elbows lounged in a crude hammock, her hands resting on a pregnant bulge. "Didn't your mother teach you how that works?"

Sharp tilted her head quizzically.

"When you make a man cum," said the stone-plated girl, "he needs time before you can make him hard again. The more you make him cum, the more time he needs. And his cumming gets weaker too. Let him rest, and he builds it back up." She settled back, closing her eyes. "That's why humans only fuck at night. The female's not abstaining. She's letting him rest so he can please her again tomorrow."

Sharp looked fiercely down at Naka, then back at the pregnant one. "How long does he need?"

"Not long."

"Yeah? Well..." She forced her hands under his armpits, and with a grunting effort, she lifted him to his feet. "Your cock might be spent, but I'm not letting you off easy. Sylvia?"

"Yes?" said the vine girl.

"Tie him up for me. Ass out."

Those insidious vines began curling around Naka's wrists and ankles again, and he put up a token resistance, flexing against the vines when they tried to open him up, the muscles showing on his abdomen, his fists shaking with the effort. But he gave out before the vines did, and soon they had him pinned to the cave wall, his ankles pulled back and his back pressed until it arched backwards, forcing his butt out. Naka peered worriedly over his shoulder.

"Well, slut-boy," said Sharp. "Your cock is useless, so I have to abuse the rest of you instead." She hissed. "The rest of you, yes..."

Her arm twitched, and Naka felt a sharp slap on his rear. He pursed his lips, trying not to make a noise, but she spanked him again, and his constitution weakened. "Ah!" he gasped.

Slap!

"Argh!"

Slap!

"You bitch!"

A hand clamped over his mouth, and her other hand kneaded his right butt cheek savagely, fingers digging into his flesh, pulling on him and squeezing him.

"Did you just call me a bitch?" Sharp whispered in his ear, her hot breath tickling his skin. "Huh? A bitch?" Another spank made him twitch under the pain. "Well you're right." She let go. "Sylvia, get him on the ground. Face down, like a worm."

"A worm?" said Sylvia. "What are you thinking?"

"Do it and I'll show you."

The vines jerked Naka from the wall, then splayed him out on the dirt, arms behind his back and legs spread. "Sharp," admonished the vine girl, "he's a man, not a chew toy."

"You just repeated yourself." She poked his head forcefully. "Eyes up here, male."

Inches in front of his face, she knelt on both knees, legs parted, baring a pussy red with stimulation. "Get that tongue ready."

"You monstrous- uhm!"

With deadly grip, both of her hands clamped down on the back of Naka's head and pulled his mouth onto her, interrupting him.

The hot, biting taste of her flesh intruded on his mouth as he pressed his tongue onto her. He could not see her, but he could feel her shifting on his face in time with the movements of his tongue. His neck grew sore as he struggled to resist her brute force keeping his head pinned. Every few seconds, she would push his head down or lift herself up, freeing up his nose and giving him a precious chance to breathe unimpeded.

"Yeah!" she roared. "Yeah!" A hand slapped Naka's ass, and he gave a muffled yelp. On a reflex, he tried to bring his hands back to cover the stinging burn left by Sharp's merciless hand, but the vines restrained him. Lodged on his stomach, he could not shift, bat at her hands over even speak. He could only give pleasure as he waited for another spank to make him burn.

When Naka sensed Sharp tightening, he thought quickly and held back, leaving her frustrated for a moment. Her hands gripped his hair more tightly, and she grunted with thwarted pleasure. The instant he judged he had pushed his luck far enough, he laid into her, playing his tongue slow and hard up her pleasure spot.

That did it. With a squealing whoop, she lifted his head away, and he could see nothing except her belly button, her groin and her shaking, uproarious orgasm. Her hands had probably saved him from drowning in her juices, but it was small mercy, because her fingers clenched in his hair, tearing at the roots, and he screamed at the sudden, ragged pain.

Finally, it was over, and her fingers released him. The vines pulled him up to a kneeling position in front of his predator. He watched as she slowly caught her breath, breathing through a gritted-toothed smile. And when she opened her eyes again, Naka knew by her hungry, deadly stare that she was not finished.

Leaning forward, she gripped him by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall of the cave, then stood over him. "Ready yet?"

They both looked down at his cock, and to his horror, but not his surprise, it was hard again. Sharp knelt astride him, stroking his hair just a little too hard to be comfortable, and sighed. "Here we go. Yeah, here we go..."

Down she went. The spines on the back of her neck stood out, her wetness soaked his shaft and her hot breath broke against his chest. But the worst was her weight. She only looked average for a woman, but she pounded him with the force of an ox, bruising his thighs, pummeling his cock with all of her monstrous might.

Her hands twisted his nipples savagely, and he screamed out in pain, but as she lost control, her hands scraped down his flesh, drawing ragged white streaks in his skin. Naka breathed heavily, trying to keep his constitution under the pain, when she bent down and bit him on the shoulder, her teeth squeezing him with terrible force. This time, Naka did not make a sound as she slowly drew his orgasm out of him, her forceful bucking finally getting him to pop and unload inside her.

When he subsided, Sharp stood up from him unceremoniously, leaving him a cum-spattered wreck against the cave wall. "I'm done with him," She announced. "Kemeny, he's all yours."

The pregnant monster girl did not move from her hammock. "Just bring him over to me," she said.

Naka hurried to his feet and stepped up to the hammock before the others could force him.

"Lie down here, boy," said Kemeny. "I just want to hold something warm."

Naka looked around, sure it was a trap, but the other monster girls looked disinterested. Carefully, he placed his knee next to the lying monster girl, then eased himself down next to her. An arm curled around him, and he prepared himself to be taken, but instead, the arm relaxed, and Kemeny settled into a slumber.

Naka relaxed too, grateful for a bit of respite.

Some time later, Naka sensed a shuffling behind him. Trying not to wake Kemeny, he turned his head to see Sharp ambling around the cave. For a moment, he was sure she was coming for him, only to see her veer off and grab Sylvia, suddenly waking her from her sleep.

Sylvia twitched, ripples running down her vines. "Sharp? What is it? You look-"

Sharp interrupted her with a kiss, ramming her mouth over the smaller monster girl's, awkwardly fondling her as she did.

Then someone entered the cave. Restraining himself from crying out, Naka peered at the shadowy figure, and to his shock, it was male. Another man crept in behind him, then a few more, followed by a woman with a familiar spear.

Sylvia saw them. She protested from under Sharp's lips, struggling and pointing, until finally, she used her vines to push the other monster girl away and shout, "Intruders!"

The cave exploded into action. Two men grabbed Naka and yanked him from the hammock, Sylvia flung her vines out to stop them, only to be fought back by Amuset's spear. Sharp stumbled drunkenly around, trying to get her hands on Amuset, but the woman threw her off, and she, Naka and the other men all sprinted for the exit.

A vine lashed out and scratched Naka on the back of the neck, and he screamed with panic, but it was only a scratch. "I'm fine," he insisted to himself. In moments, he was out of the cave, into the cold night.

"Naka?" Ruan's voice punched through the fog in his head. "Naka, are you with us?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm just fine."

"Stop saying that!"

Naka clammed up, then his legs began to ache from the effort of running, and he panted loudly. He bent over as his stomach angrily reminded him how long it had been since his last meal. But with the help of the others, he made it to a steep downhill slope and slid down, sand and rocks and branches scraping mercilessly at his skin. But when he came to a stop, he was hidden by a thicket of giant bushes.

"This... this won't stop them," Naka gasped. "They found me once. They'll find me again."

"We are safe," said Amuset. "By the time the lesbian tonic wears off and they know which way is up, we'll be gone again."

"What did they do to you?" asked Ruan.

"Ruan!" snapped Kervin. "Have a heart! We all know what happened. Don't make him say it."

"No, no, it's alright." Naka sat up straight, having finally caught his breath. "Smell. They sniffed me out, I'm sure of it. And when they grabbed me, they stung me with something. I could barely move." He shook his head. "They took me. They made me cum inside them. All three of them did... all two, anyway. One of them was pregnant. She just wanted to hold me."

"Could have hit her in the gut," said Vot. "Would have meant one less monster girl in the world."

"What?" Naka looked up to see that Vot was completely serious. "What kind of barbarian do you take me for? Besides, what difference would one monster girl make in a world brimming with them?"

"Enough of one."

"Then you're free to do it when they get you." He stood up, folding his arms. "And it's one 'fewer' monster girl, not 'less.'"

Vot huffed, turning away. "We didn't have to rescue you."

Naka stopped. Indeed, they hadn't. Surely, Naka's men would have balked at rescuing him. After all, they hated him.

Didn't they?

"But you did save me," said Naka. "Why did you do it?"

Vot gave him a strange look. So did the whole party.

"What do you mean, why?" said Intriba. "You look out for your own. That how it always is."

"You would have done it for us," said Ruan. "In fact, you would have insisted on it."

"Of course we wouldn't leave you!" threw in Kervin.

"I thought you didn't like me," said Naka. "You listened to Vot over me as soon as we met him." He let his head slump. "And now I'm not a virgin. I'm useless!"

A careful hand tipped Naka's chin up, forcing him to stop looking at the ground. To Naka's amazement, that hand had Intriba on the other end of it—ugly, angry Intriba. "It's not about that," he said. "Listen, Naka. Sometimes, you make me want to punch you. But no matter what happens, you're still one of us, and that means you don't get left behind. Don't ever doubt it. Okay?"

Naka very nearly cried. Seizing Intriba's hand, he squeezed it like a stuffed animal. "Okay," he managed to say. "Okay."

Naka barely heard Amuset when she egged them all out of the bush, through the jungle thickness. His head swimming with what he had just heard, he lost track of time.

"There it is," said Amuset, standing on a rock precipice. "Home away from home."

Naka gazed across the ravine to see a humble one-story sandstone hut with a patio supported by wooden pillars. What at first seemed like a lone structure was only the first in a tight cluster of low buildings joined by a stone-tile sidewalk. A pit lined with neat stone bricks marked the center, and Naka could glimpse a rack of crossbows inside one of the buildings, a reassuring sign that the women who lived here knew what they were up against.

"That's it..." said Naka. "We're living there from now on."

"I just said that," said Amuset, giving him a condescending smile.

"I know, but... I have a home now. We all do." Naka shook his head. "I can't believe it."

The scout led them across a freshly built wooden bridge, into the village. Women issued out, wearing bronze plates or simple white cotton, a few with oddly curved swords at their sides. Then all of them parted to make way for a woman in a pure white dress trimmed with silver. A necklace of gold—real gold, to Naka's amazement—traced a gleaming streak across her collarbone. Above it, a sharp, catlike face stared questioningly back at the men, accentuated by black paint under her eyes.

The scout stood up straight and reeled off words in her soft, flowing language, and the gold-necklaced woman answered in kind. Then she turned her sharp eyes on the men. "You are the men without women," she said grandly, with only a subtle accent. "You came from the fabled city of Isos?"

"We have," said Naka, deciding not to correct her pronunciation of 'Izaz.'

"You have come seeking shelter from the monster girls."

"We have." He mentally added, 'and the jungle savages.'

"And in exchange, you have agreed to join yourselves to colonists as concubines and servants."

Again, "We have, ten of us."

"Which of you is the leader? I will have him as my personal..." Her small mouth perked with a smile. "...attendant. Step forward now."

Naka wanted to step forward. Ruan stepped forward first.

"What are you doing?" whispered Naka.

"She needs a virgin," said Ruan. "I wanted to keep my virginity, but that's just too bad. This is more important."

"I can't let you do this! This is my responsibility as leader!"

"Just let it go!" hissed Ruan. "You don't have to do everything yourself. What do you have to prove, anyway? We already know you're handsome."

"You... you do?"

"Yes." Ruan glanced at the governor and saw her waiting with hands patiently clasped. Looking back to Naka, he continued, "Listen, not all of us wanted you as leader, and you're an ass sometimes, but you are handsome. And intelligent. And as brave as they come. And if you ever doubted that we knew that, I'm sorry."

Naka stepped back, speechless.

"Now take a backseat for once. If I'm going to be a whore, I need to make it look good." Straightening his hair and adjusting his shirt as well as he could, he walked carefully up to the governor.

"Stay still, man," said the governor. In no hurry, she walked around him, appraising him from every angle. His head nervously followed her, and she gently corrected him by holding his chin between her thumb and forefinger, turning his head so she could view his cheeks, his chin, his hair, and finally his eyes.