With their fresh new undead super soldiers, Bathory and Harley took a little time to really equip them with bells and whistles. Harley rigged up a set of cameras for the undead women to wear while Bathory managed to scrounge some radio earpieces. Equipped with the ability to transmit what they saw back to the apartment complex and the ability to receive and obey orders via the earpieces, Rayne and Zarya were sent out into the Necropolis to see what they could see. The way Bathory and Harley saw it, they couldn’t rely on fresh meat wandering into their clutches. It would be better to start actively recruiting, especially now that they had a couple of heavy hitters on their side.

The streets seemed oddly deserted. Nothing living, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. Things didn’t live long out in the open when they entered the Necropolis. The lack of other creatures was more interesting. A spare zombie here or there, but the general level of activity had lessened significantly. Bathory would have assumed the monsters would spread back out after the fall of the Bunker, but it seemed they hadn’t. Perhaps they were still hunting down whatever survivors remained. Maybe whatever evil had taken hold of the city was finally weakening or growing bored of the wicked game it had set in motion. There was no way to know for sure.

The first point of interest Rayne and Zarya came upon wasn’t even particularly noteworthy. A death had occurred there, that much was obvious based on the size of the dried smear of blood. Only the anti-tank cannon lying near the stain gave a clue as to the identity of the victim who’d been devoured so thoroughly on that spot. Zarya’s eyes fixed on the discarded Harkonnen, staring at it longingly. When Harley’s voice gave the command to retrieve the weapon, a flicker of joy ran through her undead mind. She trudged over to the weapon and hefted its sizable bulk up, draping it over the back of her shoulders. The pair continued their search.

Rayne and Zarya made an imposing pair. And while they were not under the same influence as the other undead husks shuffling about the city, they had little trouble passing amongst other, average zombies. The only attention they drew was of the lustful variety. Groaning catcalls chased after them as stumbling undead men reached for them with outstretched arms and stiff cocks. Their lobotomized minds were saved from the distractions of fleeting undead carnal encounters. The zombies who got too close, or were too persistent, were sliced or smashed into a permanent death.

Rayne’s state of being and physical appearance had not been the only things to change during her transition from dhampir to undead minion. Her visual senses were heightened, mutated, able to sense the hot pumping of living blood up to four-hundred feet away, even through walls or other obstructions. She froze as she caught a glimpse of something – someone – in a nearby building. Harley and Bathory could not see what she saw, but the sudden quick movement of their minion told them that there was definitely something of interest happening. Zarya followed after Rayne, the pair of them entering the building and closing in on the figure hiding inside.

***

Jane Romero had grown somewhat accustomed to being whisked between nightmarish realities. The rush of being hunted, the stress of working against the clock to unlock a path to temporary safety, the pain of dying – again and again. It was not a pleasant existence, but it had become routine. This new area was completely unfamiliar to her. Minutes of searching without the discovery of a single generator further confused her, as did the feeling that she wasn’t – at least yet – being pursued. But it was something more than the obvious changes that unsettled her. Of all the numerous nightmare loops she’d experienced, this one felt more real. Like the rules of the terrible game had been changed on her, without any explanation, and that now she was playing one last round, the outcome of which would decide her fate forever.

But despite all of the differences, some things remained the same. Jane knew better than to make her presence known when she heard someone approaching. Taking a quick peek out into the hall, her eyes widened as she spotted Rayne and Zarya. The bulkier of the two seemed oblivious to Jane’s presence, simply following her companion. But the lithe, blade-armed monstrosity looked right at her. Two killers? How the hell is this even remotely fair? Not that it mattered. She’d seen very little that amounted to fairness in her many trials. She’d never seen these particular killers before, but they certainly didn’t lack the intimidation factor. With her position compromised, Jane had no choice but to run. So that’s exactly what she did.

Jane was a full-bodied woman in nearly every sense of the phrase. But she knew how to move when she needed to. Bursting into the hall, she ran away from Rayne and Zarya. She heard the pair giving chase. Not surprising. The fact that the big one with the cannon for an arm hadn’t simply shot her in the back was. Maybe some of the old rules do still apply, she thought, trying to remember if she’d seen any meat hooks around the place, waiting for her squirming body to be hung from them. Hoping it wouldn’t come to that – or something worse – she continued to pump her thick thighs, reaching out to snag a bookshelf that had been left in the hall. Jane pulled it over as she passed. It wasn’t exactly a pallet, but she hoped it would buy her some time to get out of range of whatever senses these killers possessed.

Doing her best to adjust to the unfamiliar surroundings, Jane darted into rooms and looped around on her path, leading the killers on a confusing chase. But despite her efforts, the pair seemed to have no trouble following her, even gaining on her. Thankful for her impressive endurance, she pressed on, trying to add just a little more speed to her movements, focusing most of her attention on the killers chasing after her and only the barest sliver to the direction she was heading in. She only needed to avoid tripping hazards or running headfirst into a wall. If she got out of line of sight with her pursuers for long enough, she could make an attempt to find a hiding spot and hope that they didn’t stop to look for her.

Paying as little attention to where she was going proved costly for Jane. As she rounded a corner, she ran face-first into the waiting maw of a grotesquely oversized pitcher plant. The immobile creature stretched to block the entirety of the hall, the bulk of its body comprised of a single, clear-skinned sac. A thick organic hose stretched from the top of the sac, curling around over the front. From pretty much any angle you looked at it, it looked like a giant, weird, alien cock and balls. The obstruction drew Jane’s full attention, face filling with shock as she took in the bizarre sight. “Oh, what the fu – “ Her words were muffled away as the tip of the phallic hose stretched open wide and slurped over her head. Thin tendrils slithered from the creature’s thick lips, showing an incredibly amount of strength as they helped to tug the voluptuous woman further down the shaft of the hose.

Jane screamed into the humid interior of the shaft as the maw stretched over her shoulders, pinning her arms to her sides. The inner walls of the hose were covered in layers of short tendrils, rubbing their slick fluids across her skin and working to rip through her blouse and undershirt as they got a hold of it. The wall of curling finger-like protrusions stripped Jane inch by inch as she was pulled deeper into the creature. When Rayne and Zarya rounded the corner, ready to capture their prey, they found Jane nearly beyond their reach. The lips of the plant-creature’s hose clung to the woman’s belly, straining to wrap over her wide hips and plump ass. Her thick thighs rubbed together as she kicked her legs wildly into the air, the hose hefting her body further into the air and tilting back. The pair of super zombies caught a clear view of Jane’s upper half through the creature’s transparent skin. Her terrified face pressed against the base of the intake nozzle’s shaft, screams nearly inaudible. Her bare tits were squeeze roughly, mashed together and flattened across the constricting flesh of the creature.

With a long, wet slurping, Jane’s hips sank into the hungry plant-thing, the lips of the hose shoving her skirt downwards as it consumed her expansive ass. Her shoes kicked free from her struggling feet, one bouncing off of Zarya’s thick bicep. Harley’s command kept them from moving forward and trying to pull the woman out of her perilous situation.

***

“Why?” Bathory asked her partner, pointing to the monitor displaying the action. “She’s right there!”

Harley gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “Please, she’s not the sort we’re looking for. Besides, this show is way too much fun. Just sit back and enjoy it.”

Bathory rolled her eyes but conceded. The show was pretty good.

***

After getting Jane’s plump buttocks past its lips, the creature had a much easier time swallowing down her legs. By the time she plopped into the sac, she was fully nude. Twisting, she managed to turn herself around, pressing her palms against the thick layer of transparent tissue that held her. She beat against the slick surface as warm fluids secreted around her, pooling around her feet. The killers didn’t seem interested in her anymore, watching her dumbly as she struggled uselessly within her humid prison. The level of liquid within the sac rose, submerging the woman up to her shoulders. Her bare flesh began to tingle, giving her an idea of what would become of her, but her digestion would be a slow, torturous affair, taking place over many hours. The nutrients extruded from her body would keep the plant-thing well-fed for weeks – maybe longer given her full-bodied figure.

***

“Nothing’s happening,” Bathory complained several minutes after Jane’s swallowing had finished. The woman was still fighting to break through the sac, but her efforts had slackened, sapped of strength.

Harley frowned. “Figures the finale wouldn’t be worth the pay off,” she muttered. The footage from Rayne’s camera shifted suddenly, aimed at the floor. “Hey, what? What’s she looking at?”

Bathory gave it some thought. “I believe our toys might have some hidden talents we can’t perceive,” she guessed. “Rayne found this woman with surprising ease, tracking her within the building as if she could see through walls. I think she’s just found us another life.”

Harley tapped at the radio. “Don’t just stand there like a couple of dummies, girls! Go get the goods!”

***

Moving back out onto the street, Rayne kept her eyes fixed on the ground, following the glowing group of lives beneath her. Even with the weight of the Harkonnen on her shoulders, Zarya kept pace with ease. The pair reached the end of the street, coming to the same bridge Alice and her scouting group had tried to cross. Stepping out onto the bridge, Rayne turned to watch the group she’d been tracking as they finally reached the open storm drain below, finally getting a clear view of them.

Jack and the others were too relieved to finally be out of the sewer to take notice of the pair of undead sentinels watching them from above. As they tried to find a way to climb up from the drain to the street above, they also neglected the eight-foot wake rolling through the water below them. Thanks to the higher angle she had on the scene, Harley spotted it easily.

***

“I have no idea what that is,” Harley said, pointing to the disturbed water. “But I guarantee it’s not friendly.”

“That group is formidable,” Bathory said. “I remember them from the Bunker. If they’ve lived this long, they’ll make excellent test subjects if we can acquire them.”

“Should we tell our girls to take out whatever’s in the water before it can attack our new recruits?” Harley asked.

Bathory frowned. “It would keep them safe, most likely, but it would also give them time to escape. Or, worse, find an opportunity to kill Rayne and Zarya. I would not underestimate them. Perhaps we let this water creature attack them. We may lose some of them, but any that survive would certainly be strong enough to be welcomed into our new army, and probably too tired to resist being captured.”

“Unless that thing in the water kills all of them,” Harley countered. “Then we’d be back to square one.”