Chapter 2 - Konnichiwa, Pat-kun

Five years to the end of the world

From the corner of her eye, Saeko caught the boy staring. He’d been gawping at her, stealing glances from behind the counter as she moved across the aisles, pretending to struggle to pick one type of instant ramen, shifting through the rows of candy and pre-packaged food.

She’d worn very little today, dressed in one of Shane’s old wife-beaters and a pair of gym shorts he’d barely ever worn, along with a pair of flip-flops two sizes too large. She had let her breasts sag a little, made the nipples stand out against the fabric, loving how it caressed her there. Saeko loved how the boy would glance at her: first at the hint of her exposed breasts from the side, then to the shape of her thighs, all the way up to where they curved up to her behind.

Saeko bent over, pretending to search for a specific brand of chips, giving him a good view of her rump, her thighs, the way the fabric hugged her cunt. Even from the other side of the store, she could feel him drool. A wetness spread between her legs, despite herself.

When she’d been sure the boy had had his eyeful, she headed for the counter, pretending not to notice him scrambling, the way he leaned against the counter to hide his erection. She wondered is he would slip to the back, after she’d gone, to pleasure himself.

Saeko wondered if he wouldn’t mind joining him. 

“Good evening,” he barely muttered.

“Konnichiwa. Slow night?” Saeko asked, as he pawed through the contents of her basket: a packet of instant ramen, a bag of chips, some coffee. Things that would gather dust in the pantry, along with everything else she’d been buying for the past two weeks.

“You know how…n-night shifts are,” the boy muttered, looking away, “I don’t mind.”

“You like it, the quiet?” Saeko asked, as the boy scanned the first item. His eyes shot to her cleavage, then back to the machine.

“It’s…okay. Got good c-company,” he said, his mouth dry, licking his lips, nervous. Saeko’s fingers traced his as he reached into the basket, lingering a little too long. She felt his heart skip a beat.

“I’m Saeko-san,” she said.

“Pat. I..I’m-” he struggled with the words, as Saeko traced her fingers up the back of his arm, then pulled away.

“They shouldn’t be leaving you alone at this hour Pat-kun,” Saeko said, as Pat clumsily pawed the bag of chips, “only bad people come out past midnight.”

“I’m eighteen, so I can handle it. Besides, it’s…” Pat said, struggling to find the words, as Saeko leaned back, making her nipples stand out against the fabric of her tank top, “a good n-neighborhood.”

“Quiet, too,” Saeko said, leaning closer, her voice barely above a whisper, “good if you want to be alone.”

Pat struggled with the words, his nostrils flaring as he took in Saeko’s scent, pulling away from her, but not too much. He struggled to find the right words, wanting to pounce and pull away at the same time, as Saeko reached out, her fingers grazing his hair…

Plin - plon

The door chime went, the doors parting to let a sleep-deprived father in, He stomped through the aisles, rifling through the diaper section.
“It’s been so nice to meet you, Pat-kun,” Seako said, breaking away. Pat tried to speak, then nodded, pointing at the total on the screen. Saeko swiped Shane’s credit card, stealing a glance at the boy’s erection that was tenting the boy's pants, “see you tomorrow?”

Pat just nodded, as Saeko headed out the door, on the way back home. She didn’t even bother stuffing the useless haul from the corner convenience store into the pantry, before straddling the couch and grinding her cunt against the armrest until she exploded, her juices making a mess out of the gym shorts.

Finally sated, Saeko looked at the gently gurgling cluster of eggs, carefully arranged in their cocoon. They’d gone through Shane, and she was already feeling the first hunger pangs. 

She thought of Pat and her stomach rumbled.

***

Shane’s phone buzzed against the counter, more angrily than ever before. Saeko watched it as it rattled across the countertop, the screen flashing white, a name over a cartoon image of a dancing phone receiver.

YUI - WORK

Saeko waited until it was finally done and reached for it. The phone dinged once, then twice, three times. The face of a woman, framed by plushy cartoon bears, popped up, little speech balloons alternating on the screen:

pick up
can’t cover for you forever
rep says you’re on thin ice, pick up

Saeko waited for the next ding and then, when none came, she grasped the phone. She was about to toss the thing into the bin, when it began to rattle in her head again, the screen flashing, the name popping up again:

YUI - WORK

A half-remembered instinct, left over from the little bit of Shane she’d assimilated, took over. Her thumb tapped the little cartoon phone, flicking it up. Panic washed over her, then left her all at once as her vocal cords, mouth and lungs shifted in the blink of an eye, just in time for her to bring the phone up and say, in Shane’s voice:

“Moshi-moshi?”

“Don’t get cute with me, damn it, where the hell are you?” Yui hissed from the other end. The image of her flashed in Saeko’s mind, as Shane saw her: slender, serious, flawed. The kind of woman he could never have.

“I’m…sick. Got the flu,” Saeko lied.

“Two weeks in a row? You best have a doctor’s prescription this time or HR’s going to be all over your ass.”

“Yes, sorry,” Saeko said.

“When are you going to be back? We’re short-staffed, and I can’t cover for you anymore,” Yui said, her voice harsh, but defeated. She’d liked Shane. Maybe more than she had let on. If he’d been a little more attentive…

“Two more days. I can’t do it yet,” Saeko said, then added, without thinking, “not after last time.”

“Okay,” Yui said, nodding, “I’ll ask him to get off your case. But it’s two days, and then you’re done. No more of this AWOL shit, okay?”

“Okay,” Saeko said, “you’re a good friend.”

“You bet your ass I am,” Yui said and hung up.

Saeko replaced the phone back on the counter. She thought of Yui and Shane’s work and all the things that flashed through her head, two years worth of stress dreams and a place he hated working at.

“What was your life like, Shane-sama?” Saeko said to no one in particular, when the hunger pangs struck her again. She checked the time, then the world outside. The night was cold and quiet. The lights in the corner store were on.

Pulling her tank top and shorts back up, she headed downstairs.

***

Saeko paused at the edge of the door sensor’s range and scanned the inside of the convenience store for Pat. The boy was nowhere to be seen behind the counter or through the aisles. She breathed a sigh of relief, then caught a whiff of his scent, coming from the back, where he’d scurried off for a smoke.

She lingered for a while, about to take a step to the blind, dead-end alley behind the store. The one with the dumpster. She could do it there, make it quick.

“Where are you going, hot stuff?” the voice came from behind her, reeking of cigarette smoke and cheap booze. Saeko turned, dropping her shoulder as she went, turning her eyes down just so, making her voice soft and squeaky.

“S-sorry, so sorry, I just…” Saeko mumbled, taking the man in: large, middle aged, dressed in a crumpled suit. Hint of a tattoo peeking from his shirt collar. One pinkie gone.

“Hungry? When’s the last time you ate?”

Saeko opened her mouth, then stopped herself, looked away. She heard the man grin, felt him shudder with anticipation. She looked like a mess: the kind of girl he liked.

“Come on. My treat,” the man said, wrapping his hand around Saeko’s waist. She let herself get led inside, across the aisles. Felt the man’s hand move across her back, fingers groping her ass over her gym shorts, and squeeze. His hands were rough and calloused, but experienced. Saeko bit her lip as he cupped her behind, tracing the exposed flesh to the point between her legs. She let out a tiny moan, as he found her lips and parted them, teasing.

The man’s hand moved up her belly, flicking her nipples as they stood in front of the fridge, while Saeko pretended to pick a can of soda. He tugged at the flesh over the fabric, pinching and rolling it. Saeko felt herself getting wetter at his touch.

She ground herself back against him, her rump pushing against the erection tenting up the man’s pants. He grunted as he felt her body against his, taking in her scent. His hand moved to the opening of her top, his fingers tracing her cleavage. Saeko let out a tiny moan, then stopped, as she saw Pat staring at her from behind the counter, his face flush with anger.

“Stop,” Saeko whispered, pulling away. The man dragged her against him, but she pulled away, nodding at the counter until he finally relented, “my place, okay?”

The man growled, as Saeko led him toward the counter. She didn’t meet Pat’s gaze and tried her best to ignore his flustered face, as he rang up the packet of ramen and the cans of beer.

“You got a problem, boy?” the man growled behind Saeko.

“I-I don’t…” Pat began.

“Y-y-you b-best fucking look away then,” the man said, “little twerp.”

Saeko tried to speak, then jumped, as the man’s fingers traced her cunt over the gym shorts, expertly finding her clit. She moaned, despite herself, as Pat bagged the goods.

“Good boy. Here,” the man said, tossing a bill across the counter, “for sloppy seconds.”

The man left and Saeko followed, her head bowed. She didn’t have to look back to see Pat’s flustered expression, his anger. 

“You didn’t have to do that,” Saeko muttered, as she led the man to her apartment building.

“Little shits should know their place. Law of the land,” the man said, pulling Saeko against him in the elevator. She melted into him as his hands moved across her flat belly and under her top, finding her naked breasts to circle and pinch her nipple with ease. She panted against him as he leaned in, biting her lip, kissing her. Saeko’s mouth flooded with the taste of old cigarettes. Reaching down, she found his bulge and stroked it over the fabric, teasing it, finding and massaging the spongy crown. The man groaned like an animal, precum seeping through his pants. Saeko teased the spot, feeling the man shudder at her touch. Bringing her finger up to her mouth, she tasted it, savoring the musky stench.

The way from the elevator to Shane’s apartment was a maelstrom of groping hands and lips mashing together. They’d barely made it past the entrance, when the man drove himself against Saeko, his body pressed against hers as he pushed her against the wall. Releasing a gentle spray of pheromones, Saeko overwhelmed the man. She moaned as his hands ripped off her gym shorts, exposing her. 

“Wait, I’m not,” Saeko began, putting up a hint of resistance, enough to drive him over the edge. Grabbing a handful of her hair, the man bared his cock, so hard it hurt, sliding it across her cunt, already wet and hot for him “condom, con-”

Saeko’s eyes rolled to the back of her head as the man drove himself inside her down to the hilt, grinding himself against her. He’d been nothing like Shane; his lust was animalistic but experienced, alternating between grinding deep inside her, then pulling out to tease, before driving himself deep into her. Saeko struggled to figure out his rhythm, then stopped, as his hand grasped her neck, choking her. Letting herself go numb, she let the man slam himself against her again and again, grunting like an animal as he drove himself and her to a climax, continuing his deep and hard animal thrusts even as he came inside her, groaning like an animal. Saeko took him in, letting just a few drops drip out of her as he pulled away, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“I swear, desperate girls have the best pussy,” the man groan, grabbing a handful of Saeko’s hair to drive her inside. She twisted in his grasp, letting him tug at her hair, pulling him away from the living room, where the cluster of eggs was out in plain sight, leading him into the tiny kitchen. Another burst of pheromones, then a touch, and his shrunken member was swelling against as Saeko stroked it back to full hardness.

“Nice house. Is that your boyfriend’s?” the man said, even as he cupped her ass and pulled Saeko up to the kitchen counter, pulling her legs up and apart. This time, he slide his cock across her clit, teasing her entrance. Saeko moaned, grasping his hands, trying to find it, only to get slapped away.

“Beg,” the man commanded.

“Give it to meeeee,” Saeko said, in a husky voice, “give me your cock please old maaaan.”

“You little fucking slut,” the man said, laughing as he drove himself inside her, slamming into her with his full weight with every thrust. Saeko felt him grinding and thrusting against her cervix and pumped back against him, matching his rhythm, making her cunt’s muscles slowly contract, increasing her heat, embracing him. When she came, she shuddered despite herself, sucking him in deeper, caressing his glans.

“Ffuuuucck,” the man groaned, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he orgasmed for the second time, more powerfully than before. His hands wrapped around Saeko’s neck, choking her. Her legs wrapped around his back, pulling him in, pumping herself up against him.

The man was still shivering with pleasure, not noticing the read seam that grew from Saeko’s hairline, across her face, between her belly all the way under her belly button. With a soft, wet sound, Saeko’s flesh and bone parted, her body blossoming like a sea anemone, spreading across the counter to reveal the carpet of polyps and tongues and teeth and grasping, claw-like arms inside.

“What the fuck, what the f-” the man screamed as Saeko raised herself up, still wrapped around him, fusing her legs together into an unbreakable grip. Her petal wrapped around the man, her polyps fixing themselves to his skin, tearing little bits of flesh as they caressed him.

The man screamed, as Saeko began to wrap himself around him tighter, crushing and gripping him. She held onto him even as he flailed inside her, screaming, not noticing his hand ripping the kitchen drawer away. 

Saeko didn’t even see the serrated knife, until the man had stuck it inside her.

Pain exploded inside her, as the blade tore through her flesh, the twisted inside her organs. Again and again, the man pulled his knife out and struck, a dozen times, ripping and tearing, while Saeko’s interior tore at his face and ripped strips away from his chest and neck. A lucky blow struck closer to the top, where her neck would have been, and Saeko felt something important sever, sending a spray of her own black blood across the kitchen. Unable to hold on, she ripped herself away from the man, watching the bloody mess that had been his face and chest as he stumbled across Shane’s apartment, slashing at the air. The blood had gotten to his eyes, blocking his vision.

Lingering behind him, Saeko focused on her wounds, willing them shut, stopping the blood flow. They would take time to heal, but the danger was past, at least for now. Folding herself up to her regular shape, she followed the man as he stumbled into the living room, where the egg sack was, just in time for him to wipe the blood from his face.

“You freak…fucking alien whore freak…” the man growled and lunged at her. Saeko leaned back, letting herself get driven against Shane’s couch, then pushed her legs up against his chest, redirected her muscle mas until her thighs bulged obscenely and pushed.

The man flew across the room, over the table, into the cocoon. The protective netting took the brunt of his weight and fixed him into place, trapping his arms in the process. The man screamed and Saeko rushed across the living room, vomiting a handful of matter into her hand, then wiping it across his lips, fusing them shut. The man howled, uselessly, his eyes bulging, as the young inside the cocoon began to claw and bite into him. A thousand rows of tiny teeth and claws ripped through the fabric and skin and muscle, pulling him inside.

The man screamed something Saeko understood perfectly, saw the horror in his eyes.

“I can finish it. Do you want me to finish it, old man?”

The man nodded. Saeko opened her mouth wide, distending her jaw, revealing her hidden row of triangular teeth she kept hidden inside her gums. The man tried to say something, but Saeko simply tore away his throat and began to suck his blood, until he finally went limp.

“Look at this mess. I’m so sorry, Shane-sama,” Saeko told the trail of blood and spray that had made a mess of the kitchen and living room. Behind her, the man was slowly being sucked inside the cocoon, broken down into his nutrients inch by inch. Saeko made sure to tear a patch from his rib, then laid it against her wounded side. When it was finally done, a patch of painted dragon scales peeking out from the surface of a storm-swept sea stuck out against her glistening, unblemished skin. 

***

“Are you okay?” Pat asked, as he saw Saeko wander close to the little blind alley where he’d sneaked away for a smoke, “did that guy-”

“I’m okay. Please don’t bother yourself, Pat-kun,” Saeko said, shaking her head, “I want to apologize. He shouldn’t have…”

“What happened to your shoes?” Pat asked, pointing at Saeko’s bare feet. Shane’s tank top and shorts and flip-flops had been covered in gore. She hadn’t bothered replacing them and simply threw a t-shirt and pants on. She hadn’t thought of footwear.

“I don’t know. It’s okay. I’ll just find something,” Saeko said, but Pat shook his head and disappeared through the door without a word. He returned with a pair of plain sneakers.

“Girl that quit left these here. Looked about your size,” Pat said, offering the pair. Saeko took it, struggling with the words.

“Pat-kun, I…thank you so much,” Saeko said.

“You’re too good for these kinds of guys. Remember that, okay?” Pat said.

“Okay,” Saeko said, nodding as Pat crushed his cigarette, returning to the door.

“See you tomorrow?” Pat said. Saeko simply nodded and watched him disappear behind the door of the convenience store.

The shoes were a size too small, but she shrank her feet to accommodate them. They creaked with every step and the aces looked frayed at the end, the soles worn down until they were almost perfectly smooth.

They were the best shoes Saeko had ever had.