The two women shuddered as they looked on the ground in front of them. There piled on the floor was Maria’s clothes. Her hoodie could be seen, placed on top of that was a pink tank top that looked like it wouldn’t reach her navel. Placed on top of the tank top was a plain white bra. Placed on the ground below the hoodie and laid out to full length was the leggings Maria had warn that day. On top of that was a matching pair of white panties. A crucifix was on top of everything and her pair of shoes on the floor lower than the leggings.



Monica shivered. “A message.” She said, her stomach nauseous. “They wasted no time stripping Maria. Stripped her nude.”



“That poor girl.” Lauren whispered as she looked the sight over. “Everything is here, I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now.” She said, her voice soft at that as both girls knew exactly what was probably happening to the poor girl at that very moment.



Monica looked at her and sighed. “We’ve seen what they do to the girls they catch, no need to imagine.” She said, disgust filling her voice. “Just, try not to think about it. They laid this out to get in our heads and to gloat about what they’re doing to her.” Monica said, her voice contorting in disgust at that last part.



Lauren nodded. “There’s the door.” She said as the two girls walked over, opening it and stepping in a dark hallway. They shivered as they heard whimpering and sobbing as the stepped into the next room. “Oh lord.” Lauren said shaking.



A man looked at them from the corner and chuckled. Before them was one of those old fashioned water wheels. It slowly spun through water that covered much of the floor, leading to a pool. The room was dark, only blue lights from the water and a couple along the wall allowed them any light.



However the reason for Lauren’s comment was on the water wheel. There a girl around Lauren’s age was strapped to the wheel. In nothing but a tiny bikini her head emerged from the water, taking deep breaths through her nose and through the ball gag in her mouth. She sobbed, her body shook, bathe could actually be seen from her mouth, revealing that the water wasn’t just ice cold, but near freezing.



“Mmmmphess-phessmphh.” She moaned, sobbing, tears falling down her cheeks as the two girls watched in horror as the wheel spun slowly, taking her body up and then back over, submerging her in the water.



The man chuckled again. “Don’t worry ladies, the wheel is designed to have her underwater for only a little over twenty seconds. She’s exhausted of course so sometimes she gets some water, but she’s fine. The issue is this water is kept at temperatures you’d find around where the Titanic got sunk. Speaking of which.” He pointed to the pool, there was a small wooden board near the steps.



“What is that.” Monica asked bluntly.



The man smirked as the blonde teen emerged from the water. Gasping and sobbing as her body shivered. “That board can balance one of you. There is a chain, for those who come through here by themselves, they can pull that chain to get to the next room. However, there are two of you, and you have to go at the same time.”



Lauren raised an eyebrow. “Why can’t we go one at a time.” She asked, the Draconian looked at her with a straight face.



“Because we deem it so.” He replied.



“Of course.” Monica muttered.



He smirked at her. “If you hate being told what to do by us I’d strongly advise not getting captured.” He looked at them both. “From the whispers I’ve heard your pretty young friend is not enjoying how we are uh- handling her.” He said with a chuckle.



“You son of a bitch!” Monica cursed at him. But she knew there was nothing they could do about it.



The man just laughed. “Oh, well if you’d like to submit to slavery we could take you two to her and see. From what I hear she’s going to be very popular tonight.” He said with a wide grin. He looked at the sobbing blonde as she was submerged once more. “This is the room I govern, mostly due to my medical training. With luck I’ll get her for a night.”



Monica shook her head as Lauren’s eyes narrowed. “You are all sadists.” She said with venom in her voice.



The man leered at them. “Just our culture. Its why we like our slaves to be fit, so they can endure it.” He said with a chuckle. “Now.” He muttered. “One of you will lay on the board, the other will pull it by the chain. That dark tunnel filled with water connects the first building to the second. Once done you will be half way done.” He said with a smile.



This seemed to rejuvenate the two girls. “Very well.” Monica said. She looked at Lauren, lets do this.” She said with confidence.



Lauren nodded. “You saved me back there. Ill pull us along.”



Monica shook her head. “I grew up swimming. I can take the cold trust me.” She said. Lauren nodded. They walked over, she kept her shoes on as she walked in. “Oh my- oh thats cold!” She said with an audible gasp as Lauren carefully balanced on the board. The water felt like icy knives assaulting her skin. She felt even worse now as the sobbing blonde came out spinning on the wheel once more. She couldnt imagine dealing with this water for long. She turned and looked at the man. “How long has she been on there?” She asked.



His grin grew wider. “Oh, I think about three hours now.” He said with pleasure. Monica’s eyes grew wide. “Don’t worry, she only has two hours left, then she’ll have a lot of Draconian men more than happy to warm her up.” He said as the girl just sobbed harder at his words.



Monica shook her head. “Bastard.” She said as she walked deeper into the water. “Oh my ugh!” She gasped louder. Feeling like icy knives was flaying her skin as she went deeper. The pool was deeper than she thought. The water came up to the top of her breasts.



Lauren looked at her. “I’m sorry.” She muttered.



Monica waved her off. “Don’t worry about it, Im already wet now.” She said, noticing her voice was shaking already. “Lets just get this done.” She said as she pulled Lauren along through the dark. They entered the tunnel, looking up she saw stars, blocked a bit by grates. She realized the man was right, this did connect the two buildings. “Just keep walking, just keep walking.” She said, her voice shuddering now.



“You okay?” Lauren asked after about fifty feet. Monica having to tug on the chain to pull her along, she floated but it was still fairly heavy.



She nodded. “Yeah.” She said lying. Her fingers and toes were already going numb from the dangerously cold water. Still she pulled. Her clothes soaked, she wanted to cry from how cold it was. This was not icy water, this was truly the type of cold you found in the arctic or antarctic, where melted ice fed into the water barely warmer than when it was ice itself. She could see her breath as she shuddered.



Lauren was silent, feeling guilty but not able to do anything. “You’re doing good Monica, getting near the other building. I see a sign up there.” She said as the stars disappeared and they approached the next building.



“Yeah.” Monica said, her limbs growing more numb as the cold kept assaulting her for the past ten minuets. “Can you- can you read it for me, I cant focus.” She said, her entire body shaking. Her breath growing even colder.



Lauren nodded. “Yeah. ‘This tunnel is only ten feet long, but there is no air. All must now enter the cold water and make sure they are prepared to walk forward. Follow the chain, it is dark, cold, and nothing but water until you emerge. Panicking can be fatal, but the walk is short. Prepare yourself.”



“Oh great.” Monica muttered, placing her hands on the wall where the sign was, desperate to get some feeling back into her fingers and hands. She looked at Lauren. “You able to do that, because Im ready to get out of this water no matter what.”



Lauren nodded. “Lets get this done.” The teen said hopping into the water. “Oh Lord! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my this is cold!” She cried out in shock, gasping for air as the cold actually knocked the wind out of her.



Monica nodded. “Yeah its cold.” She said as she continued to suffer in the icy water.



Lauren nodded and felt the chain. “Here grab it.” She said, Monica nodded, doing so even though her fingers and hands and forearms once against suffered. Even while numb she felt it. “Follow along and keep going forward.” She said, taking a gasp and going under, into the tunnel.



“Yeah, got it.” Monica muttered, taking a breath and holding onto the chain. She wanted to scream as her face was submerged and she felt herself into the tunnel. There was a very dim light at the end of it. She followed Lauren who had figured out the way to do it the fastest. Instead of walking she pulled along the chain and instead of walking she kicked the floor to propel her forward quickly.



Monica soon figured out the same, she could feel the top of the tunnel with her hand, couldn’t be much more that five feet tall and filled with water. She made her way through it, exhausted by the cold, her lungs burning by the end as she was exhausted.



She felt a pull, freaked out until she realized it was Lauren standing on another set of steps and helping her out of the water. “You good?” She asked shivering, their wet and freezing clothes clinging to them like silk now.



Monica coughed as she pulled herself out and onto the floor of the next room. “Yeah, yeah Im good. Thank you Lauren.” She said, rolling over and shivering. She noticed this room, probably on purpose, was much warmer. It was like a greenhouse, but filled with exotic plants that almost made it seem like a jungle.



“At least its warmer.” Lauren muttered. “Monica nodded, still laying on the ground as a voice came onto the speaker. Surprisingly it was a woman, one who wasnt screaming in pain or horror. “Hello guests of Dracon. Welcome to the jungle. No animal predators, but do watch for haunted trees, predatory vines, and venus traps. There is a key here somewhere which unlocks the door. But be quickly when moving through to avoid the plants, and do not get caught!”



Monica sat up. Trying to stand but her limbs still feeling numb, still shivering from her wet clothes. Moving quickly was not something she could manage right now.

The woman who greeted them looked very much like a hiker or outdoorsy person in her late twenties or early thirties. She was dressed professionally, her blonde hair in a ponytail, she was beautiful and stern looking, her body no doubt very fit; but also looked like someone you might see while on a trail in the afternoon. A walkie-talkie was clipped to her waist, Monica heard light chatter emit from it. A photo ID badge hung beside it, which gave her name as “Erica”.



“Don’t think you could give us any hints, could you?” Monica asked jokingly, but was hoping maybe their greeter might humor her (or at least provide some reassurance that things would be okay). The woman smiled at Monica, but it contained no warmth.



“Sorry”, she said simply. No, 'You’ll be fine', or 'You got this!'. Just “sorry”; delivered with a smirk. Monica saw a backpack next to Erica, which was unzipped enough to reveal its contents: rope, bandannas, and duct tape. The woman must have noticed Monica’s uncertain gaze. “Always be prepared”, she told her. Monica and Lauren walked away from the woman as quickly as possible. Monica kept peering over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed.



Monica admittedly knew little about Dracon culture, but she felt fairly sure that they imported movies from overseas, because this area bore a stark resemblance a swamp planet in a certain scifi movie.  Though much much brighter.  “Find the key, you must!”  Monica said with the first laugh of the evening.  Now, that was the question of the hour, wasn’t it? Where exactly was the key in all this?



Monica couldn’t gauge the dimensions of the room at all, it provided brighter illumination but was totally shrouded by fog and various shrubs strewn about. The fog covered the ground beneath them so completely that they could be walking on muddy earth one moment, and a solid body of water the next. Lauren hadn’t been doing much better, and all of a sudden she shrieked.



“What?” Monica asked, alarmed.



“I… I think a snake just crawled over my feet”. And indeed, for a brief moment in a clearing of fog, there slid a snake. A harmless garter snake to be sure, but still it was a snake.



Minutes passed, then ten, then a half an hour. She couldn’t concentrate on finding the damn key because the task was so impossible in her mind. The light wasn’t sufficient and there was too much stuff clouding her peripheral vision to see anything. They’d be stuck in this place forever as far as she was concerned at this moment. But when all seemed lost, she noticed a mound that rose above the fog, and it had a strange aura which surrounded it (almost as if a spotlight shone on it). And there it was, resting by what appeared to be some dead shrubs: the key.



Monica simply couldn’t believe her luck. She’d thought they’d be stuck here for hours in a best case scenario, but here it was. They’d been able to find the proverbial needle in the haystack in 45 minutes by her estimate. Without thinking, she knelt down and grabbed it. She had only a half second to realized that something nearby her was moving.



In hindsight, it should have seemed too easy to her. Monica had heard their greeter’s forewarning of living plants that could consume them, but her mind simply wouldn’t allow her to pay homage to that bit of advice. It seemed odd, considering the horrors she’d witnessed being committed on other women, but she still couldn’t perceive this milieu as anything other than artifice. She couldn’t picture that as a real, material threat. It was only when she heard a rustling noise behind her and saw a vine move that she chastised herself for not heeding the warning given to her.



Before Monica even knew what was happening, something that looked like curtains sprang up from the ground and covered her tightly.



“Lauren!” she shrieked. There were slits of light shining through the crevices, but she was already severely disoriented. She couldn’t tell if Lauren had even heard her or not, but then she felt a pair of hands through her cocoon.



“Jesus Christ! Somebody, please help!” Lauren cried out, hoping in vain that Erica might offer any assistance, but none came. Monica felt something oozing on her shirt. It burned like hellfire.



“It’s eating me alive! Please do something, I’m dying!” she screamed. Lauren clawed at the shroud encasing her friend, but to no avail.



“I don’t know what to do!” Lauren sobbed, still scratching at Monica’s prison frantically. Monica had a brief moment to realize that she was probably in a Venus flytrap kind of organism. She also felt a burning sensation began to form around her body, as well as her body beginning to sink downward. But in the midst of this life threatening peril, somehow Monica felt kind of…. sexy? It had a iron-clad grip on her body, and she felt a burst of butterflies in her stomach from being trapped and helpless. It squeezed at her chest so tightly and ignited a strange feeling inside her.



She was now up to her knees in the ground from being sucked under. And then she noticed: the key! It was hard to see, but the minimal light of the environment gave it just enough definition for her to see it. She might not be able to get out of this alive, but Lauren could. She had to move fast; her ability to move was limited, and growing even more so with each passing moment. Monica pawed at the key, but the shifting light kept disorienting her, and her palms were so sweaty that it kept slipping through her fingers. And at the same time this slime covering her body was so immense and unyielding. Her entire body felt like it was being stung by a jellyfish.



“Lauren!” she shouted, and tossed the key through a narrow opening with the little movement her arms allowed her. She had no idea if Lauren heard her or saw the key fly in her direction. She had done all she could, and that would have to be enough. She took several more deep breaths as she was consumed by the earth.