Tildred the Outcast

The love of the night creatures

The moon was out, the mist was down, and just outside the village, Tildred the Outcast stumbled out of the woods, wearing nothing and holding the tattered remains of her dress in one hand.

She had a beautiful body, which was more the pity. Her hips were round and generous, her breasts were ample, all glistening with sweat under the moonlight. A local fletcher once looked her up and down and cruelly remarked that he wouldn't mind taking her out back, if a sack were over her face. It was the face that was part of her trouble: she had a harelip, a lazy eye, splotchy birthmarks. A face from which men recoiled and women sneered.

Tildred had many names in the village, none of them good. She had no family, few friends, and eked out a living foraging in the woods and doing odd jobs for the rare country folk willing to throw her a silver or two; a scullery maid one night, a washerwoman another. With no connections, no money, and not even a face good enough to win her the social status of "town pony", she was pushed away by most decent people.

But what really kept her at the outskirts were the rumors.

Unfortunate women at the edges of society tended to accumulate them. They said that she brought bad luck. That she had a hobgoblin for a father. But the ones whispered most often, and most savagely, was that she snuck out into the forest when the moon was right, to have vile and unnatural trysts with monsters.

The last rumor, it turned out, was entirely true.

What was a girl to do, when the world of day-walking civilized people made her out to be worthless? Tildred was warned, like all boys and girls, not to go too far into the forest alone lest she be set upon by wolves, goblins, or worse. As a social reject with nothing to lose but her own sad life, she did not care. But fortunately for her, she found the "monsters" to be much more neighborly than she was taught to believe. Among them she found ones who did not fear her face, and so long as she showed no fear herself, and made the right advances, they gave her what was denied her by the civilized world.

And what adventures she had! The goblins, they railed her vigorously in packs (though she found them to be a bit small and their claws too pointy); the bugbears, they were strong, fuzzy, and excitingly rough (though she didn't much like the fleas); she even mated with a sprite once (the things he did when he squirmed inside her were completely unforgettable).

There in the dark of the woods she ran wild and free with the night creatures, dancing, shrieking, and fucking until the sun came up.

Everything changed when one day, when Tildred was gathering mushrooms in the forest, Kroog the Ogre came stomping out of the brush with half a stag over his shoulder. 9 feet tall, tusks like knives, and arms and legs thick as trees, it was the first time Tildred met a creature in the forest that frightened her. Indeed, if Kroog hadn't snacked on the stag's other half before they met, he might have eaten her right there. But Kroog's belly was full, and looking at Tildred, he had an appetite of a different nature. Tildred, seeing that she was still alive and uneaten, regained her composure and introduced herself. Kroog didn't know much man-speak, but eventually they got the basics down and he led Tildred back to his cave.

As always, Tildred found that this new creature was not so bad as she was told. When Kroog grinned, it reminded her of some charming country bumpkin sitting at a bar. He liked to collect pretty rocks he found while hunting and fishing. And her last remaining fear was allayed when, the moment Kroog had enough of talk and let his loincloth drop, his throbbing ogre cock was a girthy but perfectly manageable size; she thought it might be too big!

And oh, it was incredible! His body was like a big soft, hug-able pillow, but with mighty muscles underneath. His hands were so big, he could squeeze each of Tildred's breasts between two fingers. One hand wrapped around her waist like a sock as he effortlessly slid her up and down his penis over and over. He quickly learned the words "faster" and "harder" in between Tildred's moans, which turned to yelps, which turned to a long scream of ecstasy, then a sigh of contentment. But it was never too long before her cries of joy and pleasure echoed through the trees again: Kroog had an ogre's stamina, and Tildred showed him endless sexual creativity. She did him while he stood in his cave, held aloft in the air in his strong grip. She was pinned against the furs hung against his cave wall. When he tired of standing, she laid him back, crouched over his towering member like a frog, and impaled herself on it again and again, in every geometric way possible, up and down, side to side, and round and round, grinding his penis inside the walls of her pussy like a butter churn. Kroog bellowed as he released, Tildred's belly visibly expanding with his seed. When Tildred, breathless, slowly stood up again, his cum surged out of her like the village well.

The good news

Neither of them had ever known sex that good, and so when dawn broke, Tildred did not return home. She stayed by his side, helped Kroog gather food, played with him in the lake, and of course, rutted every chance they got. At last! Tildred knew acceptance, companionship, love! She wanted to stay there forever. Why would she ever want to return home to the scorn and apathy of her kind? She surely would have, if not for the strange weariness and nausea that came over her a few weeks later.

It persisted no matter what kind of food she ate (because she thought maybe eating an ogre's dinner every night might be catching up to her), and Kroog knew nothing about curing illnesses. In her heart, Tildred had a suspicion of what it could mean, so one night, tattered remains of her dress in one hand, she stumbled out of the woods.

She looked back and forth to see if the coast was clear, then crept through the dark towards the hut of one of her only trusted friends, Finna the Midwife.

Finna was a half-elf who had similar rumors told about her and the forest sometimes, but unlike Tildred, her value to the community was not in question. With her elven blood granting her long life, she had cared for generations of women and babies, and even gave other healing services to those with no money for a cleric. She was one of the few in the village good-hearted enough to lend a hand to outcasts when they needed it, and so when she heard a knock and opened the door to a sheepish-looking Tildred, half-heartedly holding a rag in front of her naked body, she gasped and dropped her cup of tea on the floor, not with horror, but concern.

"Dear Gods! What happened to you?"

"Nothing! I'm fine, uh, I think. I mean...yeah I guess it looks kinda bad but it's not what it looks like."

"I should hope not! You look like you've been ravished! Why are you naked?"

"I haven't been ravished! Well I mean, kinda, but...you know what, can I explain this inside? I haven't been feeling good and I need your help."

Laying her back on a table, It did not take long for Finna to figure out that Tildred was pregnant. Tildred called her lover "a hunter she met in the woods" that gave her a night's pleasure but didn't stay long. Finna listened, part happy that this poor woman finally got some satisfaction, part saddened to hear a familiar story of a woman abandoned by a wandering man.

Finna got up and went to her cabinet, coming back with a spare slip for Tildred to wear and a packet of powder.

"I'm happy for you, but I also know your situation. You have no husband, no relatives, and the village does not treat you well. I cannot tell you what to do, but for you to try to bear and raise a child on your own may not wise." She held up the powder packet. "If you choose, this medicine will purge you. Just mix it in a drink every night before bed for 3 days. Won't you consider it?"

Tildred thought. Then she replied:

"Thank you but...I have more help than you might think. I think I want to keep it."

Finna frowned, but let it go. "Very well. Come back every month for checkups. I will do what I can for you."

Tildred beamed with her cleft lip, and gave Finna a big hug.

Tildred returned to Kroog with the wonderful news, and he got so excited he thundered out of the cave, tore a tree out of the ground, and threw it into a valley, hooting and hollering all the way. They danced and whooped with joy, and then made more beautiful mismatched love, but gently this time.

Tildred grew, and grew quickly. Kroog was able to give her plenty of food, which she devoured with a pregnant woman's appetite. Over the weeks and months, a bump appeared in her belly, then a bulge, then a swell. Tildred demanded specific foods to feed her and her child, and with Kroog's improving man-speak, he hunted, harvested, and stole to give her all she desired. All the while she grew bigger and bigger, rounder and rounder. Her back began to arch to support the weight of her belly, which was now a circle, and her legs began to bother her when she waddled around too much. The baby inside her kicked powerfully and kept her up when she was trying to sleep. But she lovingly put her arms around her middle, feeling the movement and life swimming around inside. She couldn't wait to meet her baby.

The only one that was concerned was Finna the midwife. Tildred didn't always show up on time for her checkups, but when she did, Finna could see that her belly was growing fast: too fast for the usual timeline. When Tildred was far enough along, Finna felt around her uterus, looking for heads. She only felt one. The more time passed and the more Tildred's belly grew, concern turned to alarm. Finna did the calculations: Tildred was 3 months shy of her due date, and as she waddled in one day, grunting under the weight of her belly, which jutted out to the middle of her thighs and was covered in veins and stretch marks, she looked like a woman ready to pop.

"Tildred...what kind of man was this hunter?"

"Oh he was...strong. And kind. And playful. And always listened to me--"

"No I mean, what species was? A human? Dwarf? Orc?"

Tildred paused. "Oh, does it matter? The baby is healthy and he's not around anymore, so I don't care how he turns out."

"Yes the baby is healthy, too healthy. It's bigger than it ought to be at this stage. It's very important I know, you and your baby's life could be in danger."

A twinge of fear went through Tildred then, and at the same time, a powerful kick from inside hit her in the ribs and she winced. She decided that she could lie no longer.

"It's um...his name is Kroog. He's a nice ogre that lives by the valley in the woods."

Finna's hand went up to her mouth. For a moment she said nothing. Then:

"Tildred. You should have told me sooner. To have a child with an ogre--it is very dangerous. I have only heard of it happening a few times, and...women seldom survive the birth, Tildred. Damn it, you should have told me sooner!"

She stood up angrily and went right to the cabinet, rummaging with urgency. Tildred put her hand on her great big belly, suddenly afraid.

"Why? You said the baby is healthy! Aren't we getting close?"

"No! You baby is only going to get bigger. Too big to deliver safely. Ah! Here." She came back with a familiar packet of powder.

"Now then. I am begging you this time. It has to be dislodged, now. It will be hard, but you will live."

"But what about my baby?" replied Tildred, hand still on her belly.

"That doesn't matter! Gods willing, there will be other children in your future, normal children. This monster child will almost certainly kill you. Take it, please!"

A gentle, swimming murmur went through Tildred's life-filled womb, and an unreasoning maternal instinct took hold of her. She leapt up from the table, lost her balance, then caught herself on a chair, heaving and protectively holding her large belly.

"No! He's mine! I won't let you!" She staggered to the door.

"Tildred! Don't be a fool! Do as I say for your own good!"

"No! I'm going to live and I'm going to raise my son and be happy! I'll show you! Just help me have him!"

Finna, dismayed, watched her friend waddle off back to the forest.

More time passed, and Tildred's womb grew bigger and rounder still. Her areolas grew dark, a line of hair crept up the middle of her massive stomach, and her belly button popped out like a wine cork from the pressure. Her appetite was a ferocious as ever, but with her organs now crowded out and driven up into her ribcage by her relentlessly expanding uterus, she could neither full her stomach or her lungs. Kroog did what he could to make her comfortable, but even he could see she was beginning to struggle. She was tired, her feet cramped, her arms and legs were thinning while her belly kept on growing.

She still came down for checkups, now every other week as she got closer to her due date, but refused any medicine that the midwife offered. She no longer trusted it.

Finna was crestfallen. A cleric might save Tildred, but those were hard to find and were never free. Healing potions were also expensive and hard to come by. Then, she remembered a potion recipe from back in her younger days, one that might do the trick if (or when) things grow dire.

The stopped by a nearby inn, the Giant's Skull, which true to it's name had a giant skull displayed proudly over its fireplace. She asked for the owner, who was a mercenary and monster slayer in her youth, and confirmed the story: yes indeed, she did help slay that giant along with a few companions many years ago. Finna asked where it was felled, and her heart leapt when she learned it was not far from there. She implored her to take her to the spot and bring a shovel. After a long walk and a lot of digging for two old women, Finna found just the ingredient she was looking for: an intact toenail, the size of a dinner plate. She paid the retired adventurer a few gold for the trouble, then went home and got brewing.

Preparing for the day

The final weeks came, and Tildred could no longer hike back the village on her own. Her middle, now as huge and round as a cauldron, swelled out past her knees. It was laced with huge thick blue veins, working overtime to supply enough blood to keep the half-ogre fetus growing bigger and bigger. Every week now, Kroog would carry Tildred down through the forest just to the edge of the village, for Tildred to slowly and heavily waddle to Finna's Hut.

"Have you been having womb cramps?"

Tildred groaned as Finna felt around inside her vagina. "Yes--MMFH!-- sometimes. But they go away when I get up and move around. That means it's not real labor yet, right?"

Finna continued prodding and peering inside her. "Correct. But I do see that your womb has descended into your hip bones. Have you been having any pain or soreness there?"

"Oh that's what that is? Yeah I tell you, it can be pretty hard to get up and walk when--oh, I'm getting another cramp now!"

Finna could not see Tildred's face over the huge, hardening mound that overshadowed her like a hill, so could not see her close her eyes and breathe heavily through her nose. But as happened, to Finna's surprise, a small reddish stream of mucus came out of Tildred's vagina into her hand.

"Oh my! Would you look at that."

"What? I can't see, what's the matter?" Tildred tried in vain to peer around her own towering midsection.

Finna reached around and showed her the glob in her hand. "This was the mucus plug that blocks the entrance to your womb from the outside. It falls out when it is close to time to give birth. But in all my years! I've never had one come out in front of me on the exam table. Might be a good omen," she said, lying.

"Can I turn over now?" Finna nodded, and Tildred ponderously rolled over to her side.

"I heard your breathing, but remember: it's in through your nose, and blow out your mouth. Let's do some more practice. Let's get you sitting up first--" With Finna giving a hand, Tildred heaved herself into an upright position.

"Now breathe with me. In--" Both women inhaled through their noses. "Out." Both women blew out with a "hooooo" through their mouths. "In...out. In...out. In...out. Let's keep at it while going over the labor positions."

Finna let Tildred lean on her, swaying her hips back and forth. She had her squat down by a table rocking back and forth. She knelt on her hands and knees on a rug, huge round belly hanging so low it it brushed the ground. All the while, breathing in...and out...in...and out...in...and out.

"Very good. That will help focus you when the labor pains get more intense. They will get gradually get longer, stronger, and come more quickly as the opening to your womb opens up. They will hurt very much, but then it will get less painful when you open up enough for the baby to come down. You will then feel a very strong pressure and an urge to bear down on your bottom. I will check to see if you have opened all the way, and when you have and I say so, you may go along with those urges and push down. We can practice that now."

Finna rolled out a rug made of leather, stained from long use, and told Tildred to squat down over it. Finna felt a surreal and sad feeling when Tildred did, grunting with the effort, and her enormous, striped, veiny, spherical middle, skin stretched red and shiny, stuck out so far it seemed to take over her whole body. She looked to be all belly, with legs bent to the side, arms on her knees, and swollen breasts sitting on top. Finna had been going through the motions she went with all pregnant women, telling them what to expect, how to breathe, how to move, when to push and when not to. She realized that she usually ended that script with something like 'and before long, you will have your baby in your arms'. But with Tildred, she had been doing all she could not to talk to her like a woman condemned to death. She had lost women and babies in childbirth before. That was the way of it. She told herself to treat this pregnancy like any other one where she knew the woman to be at risk. And she told herself, over and over, that there was a chance they would make it, and whatever happened, she would do her best for them.

"Like this?"

Finna shook herself out of it. "Yes, and you can use me for support." She reached out her arms, and the Tildred the Hugely Pregnant Outcast took them. Finna put her hand on top of Tildred's belly, close to the ribs.

"I want you to try a practice push. It should engage the muscles up here. Let's see if we can get there."

"I won't hurt the baby?"

"No, don't worry. Try it. Bear down a little."

Tildred strained a little, then let out her breath.

"Focus your energy more downward, out your bottom. Try putting your chin down as you do it."

Tildred took a breath, bowed her head, and became silent for a moment. Finna felt the right muscles bunch up at the top of the uterus, and she was satisfied.

"Yes, good, that's enough. You will have to push down very hard when the time comes, but your contracting muscles will give you the power you need, and you will want to do it, trust me."

Finna put her hand down between Tildred's legs. "Now when the head begins to come out, it may sting very badly as it passes through your vulva. For a time, I may ask you to stop pushing and do the panting exercise we did before, to allow it to come out more slowly and allow you to stretch around it.. Now pant like I do: ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Good! Now the head is out. Rest a bit a wait for it to turn...then you do a few more pushes to get the shoulders out...then--!"

Finna pulled an imaginary baby up from Tildred's crotch, and presented it to her with a smile. "Ta daaa! You have a healthy baby boy or girl!"

Tildred smiled her harelipped smile, then put her hand on her still full and still huge belly and her smile faded.

"It does feel...very big and heavy. Will it be really hard? I've been feeling scared lately that I...might not be able to do it."

Finna bent down beside her. "Yes, it will be hard, but it always is. You will have to keep your courage up and be strong for your baby. Fortunately all women are strong, or else we would not get new children every day. I will be here to guide you through it and," she took a breath, "before long, you will have your baby in your arms".

As Tildred waddled back to the woods for the night, nervous but excited, Finna went back inside and opened her cabinet. She had all her usual tools there: a rope, a bit of leather wrapped cord to bite on, clean cotton cloth, a blanket, forceps, needle and thread, and a set of sharp knives. Two new implements were on the top shelf: a potion bottle with a shard of a giant's toenail floating inside, and an hourglass.

It begins

5 days later, late at night, Tildred woke up to a stronger cramp than before. Like usual, she got up and took a few steps while rubbing her belly and humming to make it subside. But this time, it did not. She kept pacing through the cave, breathing slowly, until after half a minute, it passed.

30 minutes later, it happened again. A dull, squeezing pain that started from the back of her womb and migrated to the front before stopping. Tildred tried to keep her breathing regular, but her mood was electric. Was it finally happening? Was it time to have her baby? She remembered that if they were still pretty mild and didn't come regularly, it would be a while yet. Finna said to wait until they were regular, long, and strong to come down to her hut. And until, stay upright and walk around without tiring yourself. And so she did, walking around in the woods, humming, thinking about what her baby would look like, and every once in a while, leaned against a tree while a contraction gripped her massive middle.

Hours passed like this, until the sun set and Kroog finally woke up. Tildred tried her best to break the news to him gently, but on hearing that his mate was in labor, he went absolutely ape, running outside, punting a rock down the hill, roaring in excitement and terror, until he curled up and rolled on the ground like a ball. It was all Tildred could do to stop him from picking her up and running down to the village right then. Though she was starting to be tempted now: the contractions were coming faster now, and hurting more. She grimaced and did her breathing through each one...in and out, in and out. Between each one, she practiced counting with Kroog. He could not count very high, but he was getting better, and to Tildred's dismay, he had hours more to practice. They came every 10 minutes, 33 seconds long...hours later, then 8 minutes, 42 seconds long...hours more later, 5 minutes, 57 seconds long. By then Tildred was hissing and blowing like a horse, and sweat was running down her body and dripping off her looming, rock hard belly. Her back was killing her, and Kroog's feeble attempts to distract her from the pain were no longer working. Tildred yanked him down to her level by his chest hair, demanded that he take her down to Finna's. And then her water broke with a splash.

Finna opened the door and looked up in sudden terror as she beheld the ogre's 9-foot height for the first time, holding a seething Tildred in his arms and looking scared.

"Tilly need help! Pretty please help now!"

Finna willed herself to unfreeze, then hissed, "Give her here and get out of here! Someone will see you!"

Kroog set the suffering Tildred down on her feet, who fell against Finna.

"Kroog want help!"

"You can't, beast! This is my job now! Begone, until it is done!" She shut the door in poor Kroog's face.

The next several hours seemed endless. Tildred leaned, rocked, paced, and squatted all over Finna's hut while the contractions assailed her over and over again, faster and harder. It felt to Tildred like even Kroog could not have squeezed her as hard as these labor pains. Her steady breathing regimen broke, and she cried out, cursed, and sobbed with anguish.

Finna soothed her, gave her water, and massaged her back where the pressure was strongest. She sweated and paced along with her all night. She put her fingers in Tildred's secret place during the space between contractions to check her progress.

"Please make it stop," Tildred moaned, "I can't take it anymore. I want to go home."

"You're doing fine! You are coming into the hardest part of labor now, then it will get better."

"It's taking so long,,,I didn't know it would be this--AAAAAAAAAH!"

Tildred did not know the pain could get any worse, and then it did. Her torturous uterus seized, her legs shook, somewhere deep in her vagina came a stinging electric pain, and she screamed. Finna gave her a basin, and she vomited. Three more hours of barely relenting agony passed. She suffered as saw the sky grow light and heard the birds begin to sing as the next morning came. And then a new sensation overwhelmed her.

"I have to...I have to go to the toilet. I have to go really bad!"

Finna shook her head. "No, that is the pushing urge, it feels similar. Remember what we talked about, OK? Breathe through it, until I say you can go. Only one more thumb's width until you're ready, you're almost there!"

True to Finna's word the contractions began to hurt much less, but they were replaced with an enormous pressure that it was just as torturous to resist. She hissed and blew like a forge's bellows, and her whole swollen body ran with sweat. Her focus began to come back as the worst of the pain subsided, and she regained her fear about what was about to happen. She was already so tired.

Tildred vs the giant

Finna tried to smile, but ended up grimacing. "OK Tildred, you've opened as wide as it will get. It's time to get this baby out. Are you ready? How do you feel?"

Tildred nodded groggily. "Thank the gods," she gasped, "Get this baby out of me."

"It's all up to you now. Come on, crouch down over here, that's it."

Tildred, drenched in sweat, body round and huge beyond belief, sank heavily down into a squat over the leather. Soon her belly began tense up once more, the pressure built up to unbearable levels, and she panted, ha, ha, ha, ha!

"OK Tildred. Now's the time. Take a deep breath now..." Tildred inhaled as much as she could, "And press down, hard as you can, go!"

Tildred curled her head down to her chest, squeezed Finna's hands, and HEAVED. Her belly bunched up into a giant, shining sphere of quivering, solid muscle as she bore all that pressure down.

"...GAAAAAAH!" Her belly sagged as she released after about 5 seconds.

"Don't let your breath out! Hold it and keep going. Again Tildred! Push down, hard hard hard!"

Tildred gulped down another breath of air, scrunched her eyes shut, and heaved down harder. Her face flushed red and veiny as her huge round rock hard belly as she strained hard to push her baby down. In a way, she never felt more powerful. Where for hours he body seemed to betray and torture her, now she commanded the awesome power of her enormous womb to bear down with incredible strength. Her heart thundered in her chest, and the pressure, pushing, and weight of the giant baby all surged down through her together. Finally, she was getting her baby out under her own power!

Finna watched Tildred shake with effort, and her heart filled with love for her patient and amazement at the power of women, as always. This is why she felt called to do what she does, all those years ago. No matter how many times she helped deliver a new baby into the world, despite the travails, the long hours, the occasional death and heartbreak, she never grew tired of it. And this was an especially impressive display of that power, with the biggest belly and biggest baby she had ever seen. She had to get her through this, no matter what.

"Don't stop now, you still have a contraction! Keep pushing against that pressure, come on!"

Tildred's head bowed, her face reddened, her teeth clenched, and her body curled around her giant belly once more. Fresh tears began to form at the corners of her eyes as she pressed down on her baby for the third time, and a trickle of blood began to drip out of her vagina.

"...GUH!" The contraction finally relented, her belly relaxed and sagged to the side like a sack of rocks, and she went limp, breathing heavily.

"Good Tildred, amazing! Well done! You have a moment to rest now until the next one comes. How does this position feel?”

Tildred coughed. “I need to stand up,” she groaned. “It feels like I’m trying to shit out a horse!” She grunted as stood. She walked around the hut and marched in place until another contraction came, and she sank down into another massive squatting push. And then another. And then another.

Her teeth ground together as she took hold of a rope held by Finna, pulled it hard to her chest, and pushed.

She looked to the ceiling in a silent scream as she stood leaning on Finna, legs bent and shaking, and pushed.

Tears rolled down her face as she lay on the rug, pulled her legs back as far as they would go around her massive belly, put her chin to her chest, and pushed.

She bore down, pressed down, squeezed down, and pushed down with all her strength, again and again. Over and over again, she got low and drove that relentless pressure in her bottom down.

Hours passed, with the same routine. Pacing, bending down, straining, growling, straining, gasping, straining, crying, then pacing again. And then more pushing. And then more pushing.

“Come on Tildred, you need to work to get your baby out. You’ve got to push harder or it won’t come. Focus all the power, all that pressure down in your bottom, on 3. 1–2--3--Push down! Hard now, straight on down to the ground! Hold it, hold it, hold it--”

Tildred bore down with all the power of her belly, and held it as long as she could, teeth locked together, head and heart pounding, body aching, blood vessels threatening to pop with the strain. Nothing came out but more blood and mucus.

The hut began to swelter as the afternoon sun baked down. Finna’s floor was soaked with Tildred’s sweat, tears, and fluids. And Tildred, squatting, crying, and forcing her baby down for the 215th time, let out a long grunting scream and fell back on the floor, exhausted. Gasping, semi-conscious, eyes glassy, hair soaked through with sweat, blood running in rivers down her legs, belly as huge, shiny, and pitiless as ever.

Finna too, was nearing her limit. She had tried every maneuver, tool, and position she could think of. The even her special metal forceps failed to bring the baby further down. Despite Tildred’s generous hips and impressive efforts, her mighty pushes only slammed the huge infant against her pelvic bones and would go no further.

“...please no...I can’t...I’m breaking...I can’t do it...I can’t do it...”

“Yes you can Tildred, it’s hard, but your baby is coming,” Finna breathed, believing it less every time she said it. Finna was actually hoping that she would break. She knew that the front of the pelvis was held together by a gelatinous pad that held the two halves together while keeping it flexible. Sometimes it separated during childbirth, allowing the hips to spread open wider than normal, even though the mother would suffer great pain. Even a broken pelvis, while crippling to the mother, would at least let the baby through and save them. Tildred had had no such luck: her hips remained unyielding.

Tildred on the ropes

Finna still had her trump card in her cabinet, but she didn’t want to use it until she had no other options. She had never heard of it being used in midwifery, she had never brewed it before, and she didn’t know exactly what it would do to mother and child. But while she mopped her sweaty forehead, and rubbed her bleary eyes, and thought anxiously of what to do, a thunderous pounding at the door almost knocked it off it’s hinges.

Finna, who almost always kept a civil tongue, swore an oath and went to the door. She dashed out of it and quickly slammed it behind her, glaring up at the tall ogre worriedly standing in her garden and squinting in the sunlight.

“Are you out of your puny little mind!?” Finna shrieked.

“Tilly here long time. Kroog hear Tilly make scary yell. Where Tilly?”

“Women make scary yell when they have baby!” Finna snarled mockingly. “They take long time when they have baby too! There is nothing you can do about it! Go home!”

“Kroog want be here with Tilly. Kroog think Tilly in trouble. Let Kroog in, or Kroog break house!”

Finna’s sleep deprived mind raced to figure out how to get this overgrown galoot off of her lawn before someone saw, or he went berserk. She remembered that ogres are dangerous and bad-tempered but...you can outsmart them if you’re clever. Or even if you’re not. But how? Then it hit her. It was so obvious. The oldest midwife trick in the book.

“You bring bad luck! Men should always stay away from the birthing place, you bring bad luck to the mother! Understand? It’s a women’s place! You don’t want to give Tilly bad luck do you?”

Kroog scrunched up his big toothy face and thought for a moment. Then he sagged in defeat.

“No, Kroog no want bad luck. Kroog want good luck, be good dad. What Kroog do?”

Finna’s heart softened for a moment for the monster, which surprised her, as for a moment she saw the same fear in this tusked giant she saw in any anxious father. But as with any prying humanoid husband, she had to be firm.

“Go home. I will bring you Tilly and your baby, I promise. But leave this place and go back to the forest. Go home!”

Kroog paused for a moment, then turned to go. “OK. Kroog go home. Be there for day. Kroog hear nothing, come back in night. Bye-bye.” And he lumbered off.

Finna sighed with relief and went back into the wet, stuffy hell that her hut had become. She looked back on where Tildred lay, and saw that she had not moved. Her eyes were closed.

Alarmed, Finna went to her side and checked her. She was still breathing, but had fallen unconscious. Her pulse was still stable. Finna decided to let her rest for a moment longer before getting back to it. If a breakthrough was not made soon, she would use the potion.

As Tildred lay there, another contraction squeezed her big belly for the umpteenth time, and she grimaced in her sleep and moaned. Her eyes fluttered open.

“Hello? Must have drifted off. Have you seen my baby anywhere?”

“Still coming, my dear, still coming. You have some work to do yet, but you’ll see him in no time. I’ve got another position to try, this one will have him flying right out of you. Can you do that for me?”

“Yeah...yeah OK...”

Finna fetched the rope and offered it to Tildred, who weakly grabbed it.

“...not the rope again…”

“This one’s different. We’re going to get your legs back, like this—” Finna pushed her legs back around her still towering belly while she lay on her back on the floor, “And you’re going to brace your feet against my knees, like this—” Finna squatted down in front of Tildred, and put her feet on her knees, keeping her legs bent back far, “And then you’re going to pull on the rope, OK? This is going to be like a combo position: opening up the hips with the legs, pulling on the rope to help you push down. Got it?”

Tildred wearily nodded. They waited silently in that awkward position, waiting for the next contraction to come, in the damp and the stink and the heat. Before long it came, pressure mounting, muscles cramping, Tildred groaning.

“OK Tildred, you feel that? For your mate, for your baby boy now! Think of them, they need you! Get ready to give me all you got, for them! Deep breath in, deep, deep breath…and PUSH! NOW!”

Tildred gripped the rope and pulled with unexpected power, ignoring the blisters on her hands from so many times pulling it. She used Finna’s knees to drive her legs back, ignoring the soreness in her pelvis from so many times stretching it. She put her head to her chest, ignoring the crick in her neck from so many times bending it. She used the pitiful breath in her lungs, squeezed tiny as they were by her giant son in her womb—and PUSHED...PUSHED...PUSHED...PUSHED...PUSHED!. She PUSHED as her face squeezed tight, went pink, then red and dripping as a tomato. She PUSHED as her lips parted and her teeth bared, gritting so hard she heard one crack in her mouth. She PUSHED as a blood vessel broke in her nose as a trickle of blood dripped down the cleft in her lip. She still PUSHED, as she felt something pop in her waist, and a new gush of blood came bursting out of her vagina. She PUSHED down longer and harder than ever before...rope creaking...muscles quivering...big belly round and hard...blood and liquid rushing between her legs...

“...GUUUUUUUHHHHH!”

She fell limp, and her eyes shut again. Finna checked her again, and...finally! The head had moved down a bit! Tildred’s rear end had lost its crack, as the monstrous child had moved down through her bottom and made her anus bulge out with the pressure.

But there was too much blood coming out now, too much. Something was hemorrhaging inside, the baby was too large, even though part of it had made it through the pelvis, the damage to the tissues inside were too great. And Tildred’s strength was almost completely gone.

The trump card

Finna saw it was finally time, she may have waited too long already, but she was going to lose them both if she did not use the potion. She went to the cabinet, and finally took down the bottle with the giant’s toenail in it. She patted Tildred’s cheek gently to wake her. Her eyes opened...bleary, unseeing, plain to anyone they belonged to a woman nearing death.

“Wake up, dear. I have some special medicine for you. It will help you get your strength back. It might taste a little bad, but it will help.” She put the bottle to Tildred’s lips. “Drink it up, that’s it. Careful, you have to drink it all for it to work—”

As the last of the potion went down, Tildred choked. Then full-throated yell erupted from her mouth, so loud that it shook the cups in Finna’s cabinets. Her muscles all over her body spasmed, then bulged! Her arms and legs grew big and muscular, and even the muscles in her uterus increased in size: making her massive midsection grow a few inches even bigger!

With a grunt, Tildred got to her feet and stood up, bowlegged as she was forced to with a baby in her birth canal. Her body was now as toned and beefy as a dwarf’s, though her pregnant belly was still absurdly large. She looked at her new body in amazement and confusion.

“What in the Hells? What was that magic you gave me?”

Finna nodded grimly and turned the hourglass in her cabinet upside down. The sand began to slowly trickle.

“That is a Potion of Giant Strength. This baby was too big for you and you wouldn’t listen to me, so I had to have a backup plan. That potion, I hope, will give you the strength to give birth. But it only lasts an hour. You have until this hourglass runs out to get down and push out that baby like your life depends on it, because it does. How do you feel, think you can do it?”

“Can I do it? Heh!” Tildred looked down and gave her humongous belly a hearty smack with her hand. “Come on, belly! Contract already, I don’t have all day! I want to see my son!”

On cue, the empowered muscles of her uterus gave a contraction more fierce and powerful than any that had come before, one that turned her formerly round belly into almost a cube. Tildred shrieked.

“AAAAAAAAAAAA YES! THAT’S THE TICKET! HERE WE GO!”

She waddled over to the end of the table, grabbed it, took a deep breath in, and sank into a grunting, squatting push.

“NNNNNNNNNNNNNN—”

Her belly, bigger and jutting out farther than ever, condensed into a solid mountain of vascular, straining muscle.

“—NNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG--”

The end of the table began to crack and splinter under her grip, as she bore the gigantic mass inside her down, down, DOWN with superhuman strength.

“—NGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRR--”

More blood began to spill from her vagina, but Tildred kept squeezing her insides down and out, down and out, DOWN--

“—RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

She broke the table in half as the contraction broke. Breathing heavily, and stood up bowlegged again.

“Phew! That still really hurts! Check me Finna, how did I do?”

Finna cautiously, and somewhat bemusedly, approached Tildred and checked her lower half. Parting her bloody vulva to check inside, she saw that she had moved the baby down...about an inch. But it was progress.

“Uh, good! Very good! You’re moving it right down! But you can’t rest now, we’ve got to keep going! When the next contraction comes—”

“Yeah yeah, press down again, I know how it goes. I got plenty left in me, I’m ready!”

Finna mainly kept her distance as Tildred squatted down again and howled with insane effort and exertion. She began to wonder: was the child so big to begin with that even with the potion, the progress was going to be this difficult? Or had the potion affected the fetus as well, making it bigger and stronger along with its mother? She hoped it was the former, or else this potion gambit might have been for nothing. But so far, Tildred seemed to be winning the battle at last, slowly but surely. She heaved her big baby down, again, and again, and again, until her anus stuck out as prominently as her belly button, her birth canal packed beyond full of over-sized half-ogre baby, and the flesh around her vulva finally began to bulge outward. The hourglass was a third empty.

“Come on, Tildred! Your baby’s head is right there! Don’t get tired on me now! Keep at it! 1–2--3--BEAR DOWN, push push push push push!”

Finally showing some hints of fatigue but not wanting to show it, she growled, pulled her knees farther apart, and bore down on her giant belly for the 252nd time. Her area around her vagina bulged out hugely, as if she were trying to force out a melon, and for the first time, her vulva began to part at the bottom, revealing a patch of dark hair.

“Oh my Gods! I can see the head Tildred, it’s coming out! Don’t stop, again!”

For the 253rd time, Tildred’s face went crimson, her teeth clenched, her belly flexed gigantically, and the head slooooooooowly slid further down, forming a little teardrop shape from the outside.

“nnnnnnnNNNNNNNNN….GUHHHH!” The head slipped back in a little.

“One more, Tildred, one more! Push hard!”

254th time, she took a breath and pushed all the pain and pressure down. Her labia began to part like a curtain as the baby’s head opened her back into a teardrop shape, which grew wider...and wider...and wider, until--

“—GYAAAAAH!” She gasped for air as the head slid back in, but not entirely.

“OH gods! Oh that’s really starting to burn! How far out is the head?”

“Reach down, feel for yourself! You’re doing it, Tildred, you’re really doing it!”

Tildred reached down to her vagina and felt something slimy but solid. Something in her heart glowed, and new tears fell down her face. “Hello there, little man. Hello. Momma’s here. I’m gonna get you out of there real soon...alright, OOF, here’s another one! Ha, ha, ha! AAAAANNNNNGGGG—”

Finna nervously looked at the hourglass, now less than half of the sand was left. Tildred was bearing down mightily, with even greater vigor, but would it be enough?

Push after push, grunt after grunt, scream after scream, the giant head slowly inched down, then slid back in, but every time it stayed out a little farther. The tiny patch became a thin teardrop. The thin teardrop grew to a fat teardrop. Then the top of the labia began to part, and the fat teardrop became an oval.

Blood and snot flowed out of Tildred’s nose, mixing with the foam from her clenched teeth, tears from her eyes, and sweat from her forehead. She felt things begin to tear and buckle inside her as she forced her over-sized baby down again and again, and her vagina was on fire. The oval bulged out and widened to a perfect fire-red circle.

Finna reached down to try and control the head, and felt a bulge the size of a cabbage between Tildred’s legs. The burning red circle of her vagina was not quite big enough. While Tildred was distracted by another huge push, Finna went back to her cabinet and sneakily cupped one of her knives in her hand.

“Amazing, Tildred! You’re starting to crown now. This will be the hardest part, but remember what I taught you. Push down until I say so, then pant the rest of it out.”

“OH GODS PLEASE! I’m breaking down there! Please let it be over soon!”

“Only you can end it Tildred, only you have the power to give life to your son! Home stretch now!” Finna said, not intending a pun. “Get ready for another round, deep breath in—press down, go!”

Tildred hollered and shook as the ring of fire between her legs stretched wider...and wider...and wider. A great slimy dome of black hair and blood began to slide out of her pussy, millimeter by millimeter, as she pushed, pushed, pushed!

Maybe she could stretch enough after all, Finna thought for a moment, then looked back at the hourglass and saw with alarm that the time was two-thirds done. There was no time. As Tildred continued to bellow and heave her big baby down, she could see that the flesh around the infant’s head had reached its limit and was preventing its progress. She bent down and cupped her hand under the head. It was so big her hand looked small like a child’s. She got her knife ready.

“One more big one for me, push Tildred, push hard!”

Amongst the scream, the tears, the quivering hard mountain of a belly, and the fire lit under her whole lower half, Tildred didn’t notice Finna make a small diagonal cut in her vagina.

It worked! As Tildred held the momentous push, the cut spread into a tear, but was controlled to go away from the anus. With the tension relieved, the head continued to slide out, stretching her wider...and wider...and wider...until Tildred gasped once more and her belly sagged. A huge black conical shape, 7 inches wide, stuck halfway out of her, dripping with blood and fluids. She fell back into Finna’s arms, breathing like a blast furnace.

“Amazing, Tildred! The head is almost out. When the next contraction comes, small pushes for me, and the hard part’s over. You’ve almost done it!”

Tildred, empowered and muscular as she was, was beginning to weaken again. She was growing pale. “Oh gods...oh gods...oh baby...it hurts so much…”

“It’s almost over Tildred, have courage. Remember your breathing now.”

Finna held her under the arms for a few minutes while Tildred breathed in...and out...in...and out...in...and out. Finna could hear the trickle of blood from Tildred’s heavily damaged vagina dripping on her floor. She would have a lot of repairs to do on Tildred when this was over, but even then...it might be too late. She pushed that thought away as Tildred’s breathing hitched and she cried out, her giant belly bunching up again. Finna bent down under her.

“OK, smaller pushes now, little ones, nice and easy!”

“UHNnnnn—”

The great head swelled out, 7 ½ inches wide. A pale forehead began to show.

”UUUHHNnnnnn—”

7 ¾ inches wide. Still more forehead.

“UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

“Now stop pushing, pant it out! Remember? Ha, ha, ha, ha!”

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha—”

The huge head began to slide out on its own, sticking for a moment on the baby’s brow as the width of the head reached an astounding 8 inches wide--

“HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, AAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!!!!”

SPLASH! The rest of the massive head surged out in a gush of red fluids. Tildred gave a load groan of release, Finna catching her quickly as she fell limp.

Finna looked quickly back at the hourglass. Only a quarter of the sand left!

“Well done, Tildred. The head is out. Lie on your back for me, and rest a moment.”

Finna eased her down to the floor, and checked the baby as Tildred caught her breath. The head was indeed enormous, and the baby’s face had a wide jaw and prominent brow ridge that marked it as other than human. As she felt around the neck for a cord, she saw that its neck was so thick and muscular it was almost as wide as a normal baby’s head by itself.

Good, she thought grimly. No need to be gentle for this next part.

Finna and Tildred fight as one

“Alright now, when you feel the next contraction come, I want you to grab your thighs and pull them back as hard as you can. If we work together here, you will have your baby out in the next few tries. You’re almost there Tildred.”

Tildred nodded weakly. A moment passed, her breathing quickened, and she grabbed her muscular thighs and pulled them back. “OK, baby. Time to come out now. Momma’s ready. Momma’s NNNNGGG—”

Finna grabbed the baby’s big slippery head with both hands. “With me now, Tildred! 1–2–3--PUSH!”

Tildred’s giant sagging belly surged up solid like a breaching whale as she heaved down yet again, and Finna put pressure on the baby’s head at the same time to get it to turn: gently at first, then hard.

“Come on you little bastard, turn!” Finna hissed quietly.

“—NNNNNNNNNGGGG!”

It turned slowly, too damn slowly! Too many pushes, too much time. But finally the head was in the right position. She grabbed it with both hands.

“It’s time, Tildred! Time to get the shoulders out, then you’re done! Push now!”

Tildred gasped for air. “I’m getting real tired…can’t I rest a bit—”

“NO! Do what I say, you’re wasting your contraction! With me! 1–2–3--all you got, down through your bottom, go--!”

As Tildred wearily curled her head to her chest and bore down again, Finna pulled the head with all her body weight. The two women strained as one. The massive baby did not move.

“Come on...Tildred! We have no time...for this! Push harder!”

“COME ON BABYYYYYNNNNNNNNGGGGGRRRRR--!!”

Finna and Tildred grunted and groaned in a duet, Finna pulling, Tildred pushing. They pushed and pulled again and again, a mighty tug of war where life hung in the balance. Finna’s feet kept slipping on the fluid-soaked floor, and once, she even dragged Tildred’s whole body across the floor by the massive head dangling from between her legs. Time was running out, and Tildred was nearing the very end of her strength. But finally, both Finna and Tildred felt something begin to give. The shoulders began to appear.

“There they are, you’re doing it! Bear down now with everything, push!”

“NNNNNNNNNN—” Her perineum swelled, and one shoulder popped out.

“Push!”

“NNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGIIIIIIIIIII—” The other shoulder popped out with a gush of blood, her vagina stretched impossibly wide--.

“PUUUSSSSHHH!”

“NNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!”

And with that, rest of the gigantic baby exploded out of her. A torrent of blood and amniotic fluid came out and flooded the floor. Finna fell backward, and Tildred went completely limp, empty at last.

From down on the floor, Finna looked at the hourglass. The sand was almost completely gone. But Tildred did it: she squeezed out her humongous half-ogre baby out with little time to spare.

The infant on the floor spasmed, then gargled, then began to squall. Finna looked at it half in disgust, half amazement. It was truly huge: head like a melon, body big and fat like a keg, and long as a fireplace is wide. She had met gnomes that were smaller than this monster, and it had just come out of an ordinary human woman. After 8 hours of pushing, 287 times.

She got up and tried to lift the baby. Then got her feet under her and grunted as she tried again, which she did with some difficulty: heavy bastard too, she thought. She checked it between the legs and saw that Tildred was right: it was a boy.

Finna brought the infant over to where Tildred lay, and placed him with a heavy thud on her chest. Tildred was still muscular, but pale, soaked in sweat, and breathing shallowly, with dark circles under her eyes. But she smiled her harelipped smile and held him. “Hello you...hello…”

After the battle

Finna checked Tildred between the legs, and her heart sank. It was too late. Blood was still rushing out of her. She could see that her vagina had torn inside through to the bowels, and in many other places. She had seen horrific vaginal injuries before, but women lived through them sometimes if the midwife was good with a needle and thread and they got the care they need. But Finna knew...not this time.

She tried her best to smile. “You did it, dear. You really did it. Well done. Have you thought of a name?”

Tildred grinned weakly as the baby began to suckle hungrily on her breast.

“Kroog...Junior.”

Finna cackled, louder than she meant to. “HA! Please dear, anything but that. Something respectable, something human.”

Tildred sighed. “I guess I can think it over...after I take...a little nap…”

Finna’s mind was fried from a full night and day of work, and she struggled to think of what to do. Should she try to keep her awake a little longer, or let her go? What will she tell that ogre in the woods when he comes back? Who would adopt and wet-nurse such a monstrous child?

Just then, a knock at the door jolted her out of her thoughts. Damned, damned, damned ogre! Now of all times!

“Yes dear...rest now. You earned it. I’ll be right back.”

She opened the door, trying madly to think of some lie to get the ogre to go away a while longer, and then stopped in surprise. 4 heavily armed humanoids stood outside the door. A hooded halfling bristling with daggers. A blonde elfen woman holding a staff. A human man clad in chain mail and holding a halberd. A dwarf with a long red beard and a mace on his hip.

Finna blinked. “Yes, what?”

The armored man scoffed at her. “Well met to you too, madam. Are you the midwife here?”

Finna scoffed right back at him, and held her bloodstained hands before him.

“What does it look like? I have a mother dying in there right now, so whatever you want, make it quick.”

“...very well. The village has commissioned us to find an ogre that’s been on the loose in these lands. We’ve been told you might know something about it. Do you?”

Finna thought for a moment. If these people could slay the ogre, that would be one problem off her hands, maybe. Should she tell them? Her eyes were drawn to the symbol on the dwarf’s hauberk. It was an anvil, with a silver flame rising off its surface. A dim flash of familiarity went through her sleep deprived mind. She had seen that symbol before, she was sure. The dwarves loved it, cause they loved smithing, obviously. She thought she remembered that the one with a flame represented some dwarf god, what was the name again? Started with an M. Yes, that was a symbol sacred to dwarves, worn most often by…

A bolt of realization struck her. The sacred symbol. The mace! The symbol!

“Sir Dwarf! A moment! That symbol you wear...are you a cleric?”

The dwarf raised an eyebrow. “Aye?”

“And do you know any healing magic?”

“...Aye?”

“Please! I need your help! The mother, she—she could saved with a little healing magic! If you have any to spare, please help us!”

The halfling piped up, “Don’t waste your magic, Bori! We’ll need it for the ogre fight!”

“Have a heart, Agnes!” cried the shocked elf. “We can’t just walk away from that!”

“First, tell us what you know,” the man cut back in. “Do it quickly, and we may help you.”

Finna’s mind raced. She never could have imagined such luck. But to betray Tildred like this? She would never forgive her. But...there was no other way…

“Yes, I’ve seen the ogre, with my own eyes! I saw him just last night! Help me now, and I’ll show you where!”

The dwarf hiked up his belt. “Alright then, lass, suppose it’s a deal. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Bless you, Sir Bori! Come inside, quickly!”

The dwarf was aghast as he beheld Tildred on the ground, laying in a puddle of bloody fluid, and held his nose against the heat and stench of the room. He uttered a phrase in dwarfish that Finna was sure was not polite.

“There she is, please whatever you are going to do, do it fast. She may only have moments!”

Bori coughed, then took up his mace in his right hand and an anvil-shaped pendant in his left. He began a low, guttural chant. Out of nowhere, a light began to shine around Tildred, and color began to return to her cheeks. Finna cautiously moved around to her side to see her bottom, and saw trickle of blood stop, the wounds in her vagina knitting themselves shut on their own. In seconds, she was completely healed.

Tildred opened her eyes, sat up, and yawned, still holding the dog-sized baby in her arms. “Ahhh...that was a good nap. I feel a lot better.”

“Troca a Moradin!” exclaimed Bori. “What were you eating before you had him?”

“Oh...hey! Did you help me just now? I feel good as new!” She stood up, still full of muscle. “I ain’t exactly decent right now, but I suppose I ought to thank—OOOOH hang on a second—”

She reached down between her legs and firmly grabbed the umbilical cord.

“NNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!”

The placenta popped out of her pussy like a cork. Bori turned, staggered outside, and vomited on the grass.

“Um,” said Finna, “I need to see these people off, can you wait here a minute?”

Tildred tossed the placenta aside and saluted. “Sure thing, Finna. I’ll keep thinking on that name. Respectable…” She bounced her giant baby boy lovingly in her beefy arms.

“Kroog...The Second.”

Outside, Bori shakily got up and spit on the lawn. “Troca… that was hideous. I couldn’t do what you do, lassie.”

Finna nodded, then upheld her end of the bargain. She took them to the edge of the forest, and showed them the tracks where the ogre came by with Tildred. She told them to follow the tracks and look for a cave somewhere near a valley in the woods.

As they thanked her and left for the forest interior, Finna turned and dashed back to the hut.

“Tildred! There isn’t much time to explain! Can you run?”

Tildred, still swole, flexed her thighs and glutes. “Sure, why?”

“Listen to me. Those people were after Kroog. They’ve gone into the woods to look for him, but they don’t know where he is. If you run now, you can beat them there!”

“...NO! I won’t let them hurt him! Give me something to carry Junior!”

They made a papoose out of a set of bedsheets, and Finna gave Tildred an old log-splitting hatchet.

“Go now, save him! Save your family, raise your son, and be happy, just like you said!”

Tildred gave her a big hug with one arm, a little too tightly; Finna cried OOF as her back cracked.

“Thank you so much, Finna. I will. Goodbye!”

As mighty Tildred charged towards the woods, ax in hand and carrying her massive new baby son, Finna hoped that it that her words would come true. She hoped that the strength potion would last long enough. She hoped that she would reach her monstrous mate in time. She hoped that they could fight off the hunters together, or escape. And that they might live somewhere, happy and wild and free. But she had no more energy left to worry. She staggered, exhausted in every sense, back inside. Furniture smashed, blood everywhere; it looked like seven murders had been committed in her hut. Those floorboards will never be the same, she thought groggily, and now I got to save up for a new table…

She fell on her bed, asleep before she landed.

THE END