Angela cocked the shotgun again, and turned to the rest of us. "You are goddesses," she assured us, as she pulled the remains of the pillow off of the weapon. It was a basic hunting shotgun, sawed off to fit the pillow, a single barrel pointing towards each of us in turn. "Helena, Natasha, Shannah, Mitsuko. You are each divine. You can drop your pillows now." She smiled. "I want each of you to pull up your blouse, and show the world the life growing inside you." We stared, still in shock. Her voice hardened, and she pointed the gun more directly. "Take off your top, Helena. NOW. Each of you, NOW".

Helena pulled her top up, showing her tanned belly. Who goes to the tanning salon when they're pregnant? Her belly button was puckered inward, and she had clearly spared no expense on stretch mark cream. Somehow, her belly was unblemished, just big. I pulled up my top, showing my big outie navel. That embarassed me more than anything, because it looked like the damn Alien was about to jump out of me. Mitsuko lifted her top, and I saw the tears in her eyes as she exposed a network of stretch marks criss-crossing like the cracks in a badly reassembled porcelain teapot.

Natasha always wore nice clothes to class, instead of the oversized T-shirts the rest of us preferred. She was struggling with the buttons, fumbling in her terror to push the buttons through the holes. She mumbled something like "vibash, vibash" as her trembling hands failed to obey her commands.

"Natasha," Angela said, "you don't have to wear the right clothes to be beautiful. You're beautiful just like this."

*BLAM*

The blast tore through Natasha's blue blouse, through her skin and muscle, through her gravid uterus. I saw the spray of her shredded baby as it blew out of her back, making the back of her cute outfit fly up like an unexpected breeze. Natasha raised her arms, showing the stumps where the blast blew away her fumbling hands. Then she fell backwards, her body splashing in the sudden puddle of blood, amniotic fluid, and dismembered baby parts. Her lips trembled, trying to make one more apology, and then she was still.

Angela cocked the shotgun again, then rubbed her belly lovingly with her left hand. "Every baby wants to be loved," she told us, "Loved and nourished. Take off your blouses, and remove your bras." Her hand moved up to her right breast, and she squeezed rhythmically just behind the puffy areola. A drop of clear fluid appeared. "Shannah," she said, pointing her gun between my tits. "Take it off, now. All of you."

I pulled the blouse over my head, where it got stuck. I could hear Mitsuko crying next to me as I struggled against the fabric, and I wondered which of us was about to feel the next blast. I finally got my blouse loose, threw it down, and popped the front clasp of my bra. I exhaled as my boobs freed themselves, and pulled on the straps while they bounced. I hardly knew what areolas even were until I saw the other girls in gym class, because my breasts just gradually change from jet black nipples to my lighter brown skin. I looked at Mitsuko. Her breasts were impossibly small for the size of her belly, tipped with thick, hard nipples barely surrounded by tiny red areolas. She could barely breathe for her crying, but she was following Angela's directions closely.

Helena's blouse was off, but her massive tits were still held back by her industrial-strength brassiere. She was fumbling around with the strap, her hands behind her back, her belly pushed forward, throwing her even more off balance. "Dammit!" she said, desperation in her voice, as her chest heaved with her breath. Her innie navel gaped slightly.

Angela shook her head. "A front-fastening bra is essential for a new mom. I'll help you."

*BLAM*

The blast tore through the center of Helena's chest, separating the two halves of the brassiere, and also ripping through her heart and lungs. She collapsed to the floor even more quickly than Cecelia, tumbling backwards. Freed from their prison, the remnants of Helena's breasts flopped to the left and the right, one half breast on each side. They were as tan as the rest of her body, but now they were covered in red spots like Cecelia's freckles.