Meat the Neighbors
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Oh well isn’t that just fascinating, mister Daurog~” Johnspoke with that sort of… professional listener tone that always sounded fake to her. John was a psychiatrist that always went the whole nine yards. His floofy mustache gave off an air of being “everyone’s dad” in a way that embarrassed all three of his daughters such that only a parent could. “I’ve never learned much about saurian culture, and I’m so excited to finally have the opportunity.” He then paused for a moment. Each of his daughters knew exactly what the followup was going to be, and cringed pre-emptively in response. “You know, I voted for Bazz-Niss. Our first monster president, twice. I don’t mean to brag, but I like to think I’m very culturally open.” He said, puffing his chest out in his bright blue pollo.
 
 
“Oh, well. I actually didn’t vote for Bazz myssself.” came the saurian’s polite reply. The bright green lizardman’s lips curled into a gentle smile, and the slight hiss of his accent gave him an air of mysteriousness and class that Amy wished her own dad could have possessed. “Couldn’t get behind his economic platform you sssee.”
 
 
Beside the snake family patriarch stood two female saurians… probably Amy’s age, who seemed just as embarrassed by their father’s smalltalk as she was. Amy passed them a knowing glance and an awkward shrug to silently tell them she felt their pain. In all honesty, it was probably the best way they could talk under the circumstances.
 
 
Amy briefly ran her fingers through her strawberry blonde hair, before stuffing both hands in her hipster-cut jeans, and bending over in her black tee as if to hide from the soul-draining smalltalk that was going on.
 
 
Cynthia, Amy’s oldest sister by five years, however, seemed to be just as taken as her father with the conversation. The busty blonde’s blue eyes hung on every word the saurian spoke, in a pretentious way that Amy had always felt was shallow blandishment. She didn’t hate her sister by any stretch of the imagination, though the older girl did grate on her nerves by being so sickly sweet all the time. She’d spent a good deal of money on the latest casual fashion, and was always the kind of person to show off just how trendy she was, by wearing said clothes everywhere.
 
 
Beverly, the middle child, seemed to share this frustration, though she’d been smart enough to head back inside before her pride began to burn. Amy was jealous to the nth degree, as she knew now that if she tried to do the same it would result in a stern scolding from their father.
 
 
—
 
 
“Oh I’d just love to see more of your traditions up close~” Cynthia said in buttery tone. “I’d love to just chew the fat with you all some day~”
 
 
“Oh, we couldn’t posssibly asssk you to.” The saurian waved a hand dismissively, though he did freeze mid-gesture, then tilt his head thoughtfully. Whatever was going through his mind however, he managed to keep it silent.
 
 
“Well…” John’s face grew serious for a brief moment, as if he were in thought. “I know of… one tradition you would be perfect for. I won’t pretend to be an expert but…” His face grew frighteningly amicable once more. “Would you like one of mine for a bit of local flavor?”
 
 
“I-I’m sorry?” Cynthia blinked several times at her father. “Daddy… You don’t really mean…
 
 
Unlike both of his present daughters, John seemed to light up. “Oh! Don’t pretend you think that would be perfect, Cynthia.”
 
 
The lizardman’s eyes darted about, politely neglecting to answer for an appropriate time, before he spoke. “Oh… You’re too kind. Are you… cccertain?
 
 
“One-hundred-and-ten percent sir~”
 
 
Amy watched the color very quickly drain from her sister's face. Some part of her enjoyed watching miss perfect squirm like this, while another felt a genuine twinge of sympathy.
 
 
“I… I don't know if that's such a…”
 
 
“Nonsense honey!” John's tone was so certain… so jovial that every one of his daughters knew there was no changing his mind.
 
 
That didn't stop Cynthia from trying however. “B-but what if I mess something up? I don't know enough about saurians to…”
 
 
“Oh! You wouldn't need to know anything~” the lizard patriarch began. “We'll do all the hard work for you, you sssee. You'll be perfect for thisss weekend… after we work on your diet…”
 
 
John walked behind Cynthia to rub her shoulders. “And besides dear, this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn. Don't you think?”
 
 
Cynthia opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a repeated “Well, I… uh…”
 
 
“Come on now. Why so suddenly shy?” John smiled at her, then in the direction of his new neighbors. “Tell you guys what, she's absolutely your. Why don't you go ahead and take her now. Sort of… rip the whole bandaid off. You know?”
 
 
“But daddy!” Cynthia finally found her voice again, only as the two female lizards were gripping her wrists and gently but firmly tugging her away.
 
 
“Don't but daddy me now, sweetheart. I know what's best after all.”
 
 
“Daddy please!” Suddenly the girl began to thrash about, as utter panic set in like never before to her.
 
 
Her sudden struggles didn’t seem to bother the lizardman, who only gripped her all the tighter. It seemed that this was… perfectly normal when collecting a human for… carnal uses. Literally.
 
 
“W-wait! I never said…” As Cynthia proceeded to try her damndest to pull away, her shirt finally caught on one of the lizardman’s talons. With a loud *RIIIIIP* her blouse was instantly torn open, easily revealing the white lace bra she’d worn underneath. This seemed to distress the girl all the more, and she quickly gave up on pushing against the reptile, to instead attempt to cover herself.“J-just hold on a second!” she pled. “My clothes!”
 
 
“Oh~ You won’t be needing them anymore dear.” answered the lizardman, who then proceeded to take a mile from a kilometer, quickly unstrapping said bra and letting it fall to the ground.
 
 
“EEK!” Cynthia’s voice rose higher than Amy had ever heard it go, and… despite her touted intelligence, she seemed to fail to learn her lesson. The girl’s struggles then had her attempting to lift up and out of the monster’s grip, which made her pants quite easy to latch onto. Moments later, despite her growing humiliation, Cynthia had practically stripped herself, somehow having crawled out of her designer jeans, to fall embarrassingly onto her face on the ground. “Daddy! D-don’t do this to me! Please!”
 
 
In all that was happening, Amy was utterly stunned to see her proud sister be brought so utterly low. She’d never been particularly close to either of her siblings, but she still couldn’t understand how her father had become so calloused lately. This was the favored child. The one he’d spent the most time with by fact of her being the oldest. What in the hell was happening? The whole thing had devolved so quickly that she still wasn’t sure if it was all real or some sort of… fever dream. The jealousy she’d always harbored in secret towards her sister was so suddenly and shockingly replaced with pity that Amy didn’t know how to react. Only breaking her stare at the scene when her father spoke again.
 
 
“Really Cynthia.” John shook his head and chuckled, absolutely unphased by his own daughter’s humiliation. “You’re being such a child about this.”
 
 
Wordlessly, Cynthia’s new owner proceeded to lift her by her fragile panties before pulling her, kicking and screaming back into his arms… only after giving the girl the worst cameltoed wedgy of her entire life. Not to mention putting a lateral tear in her expensive underwear.
 
 
There was no answer after that, and Amy could only watch in complete disbelief as her annoyingly bubbly… college-girl older sister was dragged off by a family of sharp-toothed carnivores. It was positively surreal to her. Almost as if Cynthia was suddenly nothing more than a lamb, traded to a local noble in ancient times as tribute. This couldn't be real. Her father hadn't really gone mad like this, had he?
 
 
The smell of something… sickeningly savory wafted from the nextdoor house later that evening. The more Amy tried to banish the images of what was happening to her sister, the more her mind couldn’t help but conjure up even more of them. Was it painful? Did they butcher her beforehand? At any rate… the whole thing seemed like it was finally over, and there was nothing to be done anymore.
 
 
As midnight came and went the only thought Amy could possibly muster to allow herself to think, was that all of this bizarre nightmare was nothing more than a dream. That was the only reasonable conclusion. She'd wake up tomorrow to find her obnoxious sibling writing in the kitchen or… something. That had to be it.
 
 
—
 
 
The next morning arrived to the sound of her favorite radio station blaring loudly as her alarm, and much to Amy's creeping re-realization, was lacking one eldest sibling. In fact her mother, Maria, seemed to be packing a dozen or so cardboard boxes full of Cynthia's things already.
 
 
“M-mom?” The query was almost accusatory in some way. “What are you doing?!”
 
 
“Hmm? Oh. I'm just getting some things organized for the next garage sale.” she explained plainly.
 
 
“But those are all Cynthia's things!”
 
 
“Sweety, I don't know what's so hard to grasp about this. You were mopey this way last night as well. Cynthia is gone. She was the property of the Daurogs to do whatever they want with her.”
 
 
“B-but…” Amy's jaw fell in shock while she tried to think of what to say. “How can you be so calloused about this? She's your own daughter!”
 
 
“Now look, young lady. Your father was only trying to be amicable and open minded. You should try it, and not be quite so selfish.”
 
 
“S-selfish?!” Amy's voice was peppered with equal parts anger and confusion. “Why is everybody so casual about this? She's gone! Finito! Dead…” There was a long pause before Amy gave the next word. As though she struggled to believe what she herself was saying. “E… EATEN!”
 
 
Maria through the pile of clothes she'd been folding into a box rather harshly. The kind of gesture that told any daughter their mother had had enough.
 
 
“And?!” asked the woman exasperatedly.
 
 
Amy was taken aback, though just moments ago she was sure she couldn't have been more surprised at anything.
 
 
“I swear! Isn't it the young'ns that are supposed to be the more open-minded generation?” The woman turned to give Amy a stern look. “You need to accept that culture is changing, young lady. Monsters are people too, and they have a right to practice their culture. Same as everybody else.
 
 
“B-but…”
 
 
“I don't want to hear any more buts! Or I'm going to have your father put your butt in Cynthia's place. Am I understood?”
 
 
Amy's eyes looked away from her mother's electric gaze. “Y-yes ma'am…” The defeat in her voice was heavy enough to have formed in a neutron star's core.
 
 
“Good. Now if you're not going to help me you can just go back to your room.
 
 
—
 
 
That night, and indeed much of the entire week went by simultaneously agonizingly slowly, and dreadfully quickly for Amy. It was murder to see how much the family simply brushed away all of her concerns, making every hour drag on in a way. Even Beverly seemed to move on past missing a voice in the house before long. At the same time however, Amy found her mind racing so often that she failed to keep any sort of track of time.
 
 
“Wakey wakey!” John's voice startled Amy out of whatever dream or nightmare she was having. Within seconds of blinking her eyes open, she'd forgotten it anyway.
 
 
“Hmm… wha? Isn't it… the weekend?”
 
 
The Daurogs have invited us to a big barbecue today, and your old man's going to put on a bunch of burgers to help out!”
 
 
“T-to a barbecue?” Amy's eyes opened wide, then sank to the floor. After what had happened to Cynthia, the last thing she wanted was a little socialization. “Dad, I really don't know if I want to…”
 
 
“Ah ah!” John interrupted and scolded her. “We're not having any of that! We aren't going to be rude to our neighbors. If you want, you can go pout in the corner of our property, but you ARE going to be there. No questions asked.”
 
 
Amy didn't bother to argue any further. Thinking about what her mother had said days ago, reminded her to be as compliant as was reasonably possible. In truth, as she carried a change of clothes into the bathroom, and began to brush her teeth, she almost swore she could see the reflection of her sister behind her in the mirror. The poor girl looked terrified, gagged with an apple and bound helplessly. Even when Amy stepped into the shower, the fear of what was happening today loomed over her shoulder. Somewhat accusatory. Somewhat pleading.
 
 
It didn't take long for Amy to realize that… she hadn't surrendered because she was accepting anything. Rather, she'd melted into acquiescence because she didn't dare make herself any more tempting to give up as well. Cynthia had long been the favorite of her parents. The favored child who had so much potential. Amy determined that her own chances of survival were much slimmer to begin with. She didn't dare push any more buttons, lest she be given up for girlburger or something of the like.
 
 
Minutes later, still shaken… and shaking, she emerged from the bathroom, as a waft of steam exited with her, clad in her usual wardrobe of jeans and a tee. Her sister… Her remaining sister, quickly jaunted in after she'd stepped out, and Amy found herself staring out the window while she waited.
 
 
Already, the Daurogs seemed to have dug out an impressive pair of pits and filled them with coals. The large bank of sand that surrounded it, at the cost of their once deeply verdant lawn showed that they took fire safety very seriously… Except for Cynthia. Something told Amy they didn’t care at all if she’d got a little… burnt, when they’d done the deed days ago.
 
 
Amy didn’t mind that Beverly seemed to be dragging her feet in the bathroom to get ready, though she did concern herself with the moaning and groaning that she could occasionally hear from in there. Beverly wasn’t… enjoying this. Was she? She always knew the middle girl was strange but… surely she wasn’t THAT messed up. After what those lizards had done, surely she couldn’t possibly be this excited to see them again. To be under threat of being given away once more. If Amy was hoping to take some of this time to calm and collect herself, that very concept absolutely shattered it all. She could only imagine what… terror had gone through her big sis’s mind days ago. Yet, here the only person who might have also been saddened by what had happened to Cynthia seemed to be… getting off to the idea?
 
 
—
 
 
After a traumatic half hour of waiting, Beverly finally popped out of the restroom, dressed far more casually than even Amy had. The girl had landed on the smallest pair of shorts she could find, and nothing more than a black tube top. She looked as though she was getting ready for the most summer fun she’d ever had. This only sent Amy’s nerves into more of a tizzy, though… as before, her fear kept her silent about the whole thing.
 
 
Minutes later, as the family finally made their way outside, Amy was struck by the size of the roasting grotto that the Daurogs had prepared. Her father’s pathetic circular grill nearby was positively puny in comparison, and it certainly seemed bigger than what one might expect for a traditional luau, but… as far as she knew nobody else had been “volunteered” to the lizards, so perhaps they were simply… making room for a bigger feast than was anticipated.
 
 
Deep down the girl knew something was up, but for her own sanity’s sake, she made every effort to ignore that little voice, telling herself instead that the feeling in the pit of her stomach was only remembrance of what had happened to Cynthia, and little else.
 
 
Though her family had been the first on the green, besides the Daurogs themselves, it wasn’t long until a small crowd had gathered nearby, and Amy realized for the first time just how many monster neighbors she really had. Orcs from several streets over, as well as a naga couple were amongst the number, and suddenly Amy felt even less safe than she already had, which wasn’t much.
 
 
In time, the crowd was absolutely hissing with local gossip, the odd argument over politics, and kids shouting as they played. Under any other world, the whole scene would have been quaint. Adorable even. However as numerous new pits were dug alongside the first with the lizards’ permission, that sinking feeling only nagged at her all the more.
 
 
Suddenly her father’s voice rang out louder than the crowd, calling for everyone’s attention. “Hear ye! Hear ye!” he began in a mock medieval accent. “I’d like to thank you all for coming to the first annual Carlsburgh inter-species barbecue! Held… I’ve only recently discovered, on the saurian holiday of Sal Sia!”
 
 
Amy tilted her head in confusion. This explained the massive crowd. She’d never been told anything about this being anything more than… a curbside get-together. She just figured the Daurogs had a lot of… friends, or at the very least were trying to make plenty of them, but it seemed there was a good deal more… prepwork that had gone into all this. Apparently the whole thing was a massive event that they hoped to hold every year… By now, with all of this in mind, her stomach was feeling as heavy as a sinking ship. Her fight or flight response was revving up, but that wasn’t enough to prepare her for what she saw next…
 
 
***
 
 
The Daurogs' door opened to the sudden silence of the crowd, as an aura of anticipation took over. In the shade of the house, Amy could faintly make out two of the lizards carrying something… fairly big. Something… curvy. Something that was still moving…
 
 
Amy's eyes opened wide as soon as the mysterious object came to light. There, skewered pussy to mouth and writhing like a fresh caught fish, was none other than Cynthia herself. Not only was the poor girl still whole, but she was also very much alive, and very much overtaken by fear, plastered all over her face.
 
 
Cynthia's eyes looked over the crowd with the rapid, panicky movement of a bird. If her head weren't forced into a single angle, Amy imagined she might have been darting it around, bouncing from group to group in desperate hope of finding someone with an ounce of sympathy. Amy couldn't help but scan her sister's pathetic nude form as she bounced along with every step her captors made. Had they… fattened her up a little?
 
 
The thought hit Amy like a train-wreck. She'd imagined it had all been quick for her sister. Just one slash to the throat or something, and then it was all over. The truth however…was that her poor sibling had had an entire week to dread what was coming… An entire week to be treated as nothing more than a pig… and she still wasn't done. Only now did Amy realize that… she'd dreamt up that entire scenario only to protect her own sanity. All this time she could have visited her. Comforted her. Maybe even tried to save her. But for her own sake she found it more convenient to think that Cynthia was already dead. That… rather terrifyingly, explained the size of the dugout grotto now, and Amy felt nauseous just thinking about it.
 
 
The truth, as she could now see… was much more terrifying. Cynthia was not only still alive, but judging from the air holes in the spit that pierced her entirely, the Daurogs wanted to keep her alive through the process as long as possible. When they briefly passed by on their way to the roasting pit, Amy was positive that Cynthia had put on no less than thirty pounds in all this time. Miraculously… maybe through some sort of… concentrated exercise routine, the vast majority of it all had gone to her tits, which bounced and wobbled eye-catchingly every time she was moved, and her ass, which even Amy had to admit now made for a mouthwatering font of meat.
 
 
Amy looked around, certain she'd find at least a few oases of sanity in all this craziness, but it was quickly apparent that even the other humans beyond her family had lost their minds. They all stared at Cynthia with the most unapologetically perverse expressions that the girl had ever seen. Some of the more adventurous looking people even seemed to be picking out the pieces they'd most like to to from three poor girls body. It was all too much for either pig or sister to take in, yet Amy couldn't look away. It was as if some horrible spell had come over her, forcing her to watch while Cynthia was affixed to one of the pairs of stabilizer rods. Forcing her to see one of the daurogs take a lighter to the coals and finally… forcing her to watch as Cynthia began to buck and squirm over the heartless flames now beneath her… all to the applause of the sick people that had gathered.
 
 
For the first time since she’d been brought out, Cynthia finally managed to land her eyes on Amy, who could only stare back in response. It was all too surreal. Like a terrifying dream. That moment dragged on for what seemed like forever for the both of them. Cynthia wordlessly pleading for help, and Amy being unable to provide it. She was unable to move at all in fact. She felt like a torture victim being strapped to a chair, with her eyes forced open for re-education. Only when Mr. Daurog finally set the chain motor to the rotisserie did Cynthia’s pathetic glare finally break.
 
 
The girl let out a loud squeak as she began to rotate, and once her bare back began to taste the fire next, she returned to her futile struggles on the pole. Bouncing and bobbing in such a way that truly only called attention to her rounded out form, more than it did her any good to escape the heat. Aside from that initial cheer, the crowd had been silently watching the process for a time, but it wasn’t long before they all returned to the popular suburban pastimes of arguing over politics and gossipping. Amy was struck by just how heartless it all was. None of them even cared that a human life was being snuffed out. In fact, many of the humans were cruel enough to make goofy faces for selfies with the poor piggy. For many of them, it was absolutely their first encounter with any sort of human roast, and apparently, that was a memory worth saving for them.
 
 
—
 
 
Amy wasn’t sure how much time had passed. To her horror Cynthia was still very alive and… very active on the spit. Brief patches on her skin had gone from pink to red… to now a slightly, unnaturally tanned color, and she was still kicking. While many of the patrons seemed to be talking about the event in a positive light, hoping for it to become a regular occurrence, Amy was rapidly and panickedly thinking about what she could do to stop this from ever happening again.
 
 
Unfortunately for her… things were only just beginning…
 
 
The moment she was beginning to think she could steel herself against the worst of it all, there was a slide of the Daurog’s door, and to everyone’s adulation, the lizards carried yet another victim out into the open. The poor thing’s massive breasts looked as though they would shake off with every eager step her captor’s took, and some minute later, she too was placed over the cruel fire of the pit. Amy once again found herself staring at the more mature beauty as though she were some alien sow, seen for the first time by human eyes.
 
 
“M-Mrs Ortiz?” the girl muttered out under her breath. There was no mistaking the enormous, red ponytail of her favorite teacher, nor her envy-inducing giant melons. How had the Daurogs gotten ahold of her? Mrs Ortiz was the absolute example of a paragon of the community. Loved by everyone like the Mother Theresa of the town.
 
 
Much like Cynthia, the Daurogs were careful to keep her long, gorgeous, flammable hair out of the fire, and as a result, every time the woman was turned, her ponytail would chaotically flop back down into the relatively cool air below, while her breasts practically dropped like two bombs when she flopped around the other way. The woman’s struggles were a good deal more energetic than Cynthia’s by this point, but that would undoubtedly change soon enough.
 
 
If Amy’s jaw could have dropped any lower it would have burrowed into the ground. Was every female in the neighborhood fair game to these people? Everyone had gone nothing short of batshit insane! Somehow the fact that there was more than one girl roasting over coals like a summer piglet made Cynthia’s approaching death all the more tragic. Not only was she being cooked alive for everyone’s amusement, but the Daurogs wouldn’t even do her the dignity of letting her be the centerpiece of all this. She was one of two or… more?!
 
Just as Mrs Ortiz’s whimpering was becoming normalized noise, Amy caught sight of another person being skewered just inside the door. Even though all the girl could make out was a faint silhouette, the victim’s struggles were more than apparent, as were the fact that the moment the pole exited their mouth, they went utterly limp.
 
 
As though she were watching a horrible three car pileup, Amy stared, glued to the scene as the third girl was brought out for all to see. None other than Veronica Knolls. The blonde star of Shady High, and Amy’s scholastic rival. Compared to the other two, Veronica was still a slender thing, with only modest breasts. That didn’t stop them from jiggling now and again as she twitched however. Her eyes were opened wide, understandably so, as the other two had borne the same expression through their ordeal, but something about her face was particularly terrified. Cynthia had had a week to come to terms with things… to some extent, and Mrs Ortiz was old enough to have… some decorum about her at least. Veronica however, somehow had the most horrified expression of all of them, rather than glancing at the crowd, simply staring forward in utter disbelief as she was carried towards her doom.
 
 
By then, Cynthia had become a sticky mess, unfortunately not in the way she might have wished. She was mostly still except for the motions her body were forced to make with every revolution. Several layers of shimmering oils and honey had been slathered onto her flesh by the ravenous lizards, leaving her reddened flesh to glisten in the light of the fire. Amy could easily see that she didn’t have long to go. The way her eyes stared forward with no real energy, with only a blink now and again to show she was still alive, told everyone nearby that she’d spent the last of her energy. In fact, there seemed to be a growing crowd around the firepit, focusing on attempting to capture the very moment she slipped away.
 
 
Amy found it equally horrifying, and in a shameful way, relieving, when said crowd finally let out a loud roar of approval, as Cynthia’s body finally slumped under its own weight with so little as only a breathy whimper to go out on. She was done… very nearly in more ways than one. In Amy’s mind, at the very least she was through the worst of it now… for what that was worth, and finally, Amy was able to pull away from the sight. The moment wasn’t bittersweet. At best, it was two forms of bitter, one slightly more palatable than the other. Mrs Ortiz and Veronica would be soon to follow, but for now, it was time to remove the first sow and prepare her for everyone’s enjoyment…
 
 
 
 
 
 
Amy watched the crowd part for the lizards to carry the pole over to a nearby picnic table they’d just set up. The licked lips and mocking wolf whistles only drove home all the more just how little they thought of the girl that was until very recently a human being. What drove the younger sister insane however, was what she didn’t want to admit… that the scent which was slowly filling the whole front yard, was absolutely mouth-watering.
 
 
Shivering from that realization, she went to look for her parents while the lizards took a carving fork and knife to Cynthia’s steaming body. Maybe… Hopefully she could convince them that the “ceremony” of it all was over, and they could finally begin to put all of this behind them. Unfortunately for her, when she did find the two of them, it was with plates of sizzling sister meat in their hands…
 
 
“Mhhh… Absolutely to die for~” came her father’s cruel words, as he speared a thin slice of Cynthia’s thigh with his fork.
 
 
“Think we can do the others too?” her mother chimed in next.
 
Amy froze in place. Surely… she didn’t just hear… what she thought she heard.
 
 
The two of them locked lips for an uncomfortable amount of time. “Oh. I’ve got some ideas~” her father then added when the two of them finally separated.
 
 
“It’s not like the others were going to do anything worthwhile any time soon.” The way her mother spoke with such… cruel joy sent shivers down Amy’s spine. “Beverly’s grades mean there’s no way she was getting into college without us, and Amy was definitely starting to stagnate. The two of them will serve much better on a plate I bet. It’s like they were made to be meat and nothing else~” She then leaned in conspiratorially, though her voice was far from a whisper. “Little bitch was getting mouthy with me too, the other day. Think we should hold Beverly off and go straight for her?”
 
Amy shook her head, staring wide eyed in the direction she heard the voices come from. These… weren’t her parents. Surely not. They couldn’t be. They were some sort of… mimic monsters having taken over them. Her real parents couldn’t be that calloused, could they? Her mind slipped into fight or flight mode, but before she could so much as take a single step, her parents were interrupted by the raspy voice of Mr. Daurog.
 
 
“Enjoying the evening you two?” asked the lizardman.
 
 
“Oh absolutely. Worth every year we spent raising her.” said John
 
 
“I’m glad. Ssstill… there are sssso many guesssts. I fear we won’t have nearly enough meat for them all… We ssseem to have underessstimated just how many people would arrive…”
 
 
Without skipping a beat, Amy’s father then slapped her mother on the rear, and scooted her forward until she was face to face with their host. “Well, here’s another one for you if you think you have the time.”
 
 
“J-John!” the sound of betrayal was more than evident in Maria’s voice. “D-don’t even joke like that!”
 
 
“Who’s joking? Cynthia came from good stock. I bet you’d be just as good~”
 
 
Amy didn’t know whether to feel smugness or sympathy for the woman, who just froze there in disbelief.
 
 
“Y-you know you’d be useless without me. Right?” the woman reminded him. “The house would absolutely fall apart, and good luck getting a good meal at home after I’m gone.
 
 
John seemed to jokingly ponder this for a moment, though the tension on Maria’s fave was very real. Finally, with a heavy sigh, he relented. “I guess you’re right. Better keep you around at least until I find a replacement. Haha!”
 
 
Maria wasn’t nearly as amused, though she didn’t seem to want to poke the bear any more. For the moment, she remained quiet.
 
 
Whatever satisfaction Amy felt at seeing her bitch of a mother know quickly faded. Shortly after, the realization that in this rapidly changing world, no woman was save, overtook any such positive emotion. She wasn’t safe here either. She… had to get away. She had to find some place where the people were rationally minded. Finally, after being frozen to the spot for so long, her legs found the ability to move once again. After taking one last look at her poor sister, who had already been sliced up to the bone by the crowd of piranhas, she turned away, and didn’t look back.
 
 
—
 
 
Amy breathed heavily. How long had she been running? A quick glance at the sky told her that it was at least long enough for the sun to begin lazily drooping over the horizon. Briefly, she wondered if her parents had even realized if she was gone yet. Would they even care? In their eyes, would it basically be as though someone broke into their house only to steal a sausage link? She shuddered at the thought.
 
 
By now, the world around her was beginning to cool off, and for the first time since she'd bolted, she began to worry about what she was going to do regarding shelter. She'd run far enough to leave suburbia behind, and now found herself surrounded by amber grassland, only broken up by the occasional elm or farmhouse. Considering her options… She wasn't exactly a girl scout, and had no hint of how to survive on her own… She finally, reluctantly decided to ask one of the sparse locals for help. Farmers were usually old-fashioned folk right? With decent, if sometimes outdated morals… Right? They'd understand her plight. They'd be willing to help her. They just had to be…
 
 
Amy carefully lifted herself up and over the rough wooden fence of one of the farms. Her eyes locked for a moment on the traditionally red barn nearby. Maybe she could just lay low inside for a little bit, rather than troubling the owners…
 
 
The girl quickly discarded that idea. What if they woke up early to do chores or something and caught her trespassing? No. It was better to formally announce herself and ask their permission. After taking a deep breath to steel herself, she made her way to the door and knocked.
 
 
To her surprise, she hadn't even finished rapping before a tall figure opened the door for her…
 
 
A tall, muscular, handsome… and green figure. An orc.
 
 
Despite her best efforts to suppress her shock, Amy's eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. “Uh… I umm… I…”
 
 
The orc simply grinned, and quickly grabbed the girl by the shoulders to “help” her inside.
 
 
“Hey ma.” He called out, as he led Amy through rustic hallways filled with old-fashioned film photos. “Look what showed up at the door. She dun look like one'f ours.” He stopped walking her forward the moment he entered some sort of living room, where an even more bulky orcish woman sat, watching soap operas by the sound of it.
 
 
The woman slowly, and ominously turned to face Amy. “Naw. She in't.” was her only answer. “Don't recognize ‘er.” Her eyes narrowed. “Hey girl. You in't someone else's cow, is ya?”
 
 
“What? N-no! I just…”
 
 
A big, broad smile crossed the orc's face. “Gorbosh. I think the good Lord jus' sent us a replacement fer the one what ran away. Why dun ya chain ‘er up in the barn wit the others…”