Penny ventures too deep into the Devil's Bayou only to find herself wishing she stayed with Madame Medusa.
Penny and The Python by senshi05
Penny forced herself through the thick bog that was the Devil's Bayou despite how icky it felt around her stockings. However, the tenacious pig-tailed girl knew that being caught by Madame Medusa would be far worse and was grateful that neither Brutus nor Nero caught on. The child held her teddy tightly. She didn't know if they was a city, a town or any kind of civilization where she was trying to go. The only thing she knew was that she had to keep hope alive in her heart.
However, a yawn escaped Penny's throat before too long as a drowsiness began to overtake her. It was way past her bedtime and getting darker by the second. She knew that she needed some rest before venturing forth but was also scared about Medusa catching her before long, especially if she slept on ground. As if on cue, the young girl spotted a tall tree just ahead with enough branches and foliage to keep her out of sight. Especially from Brutus and Nero.
Fighting through her sleepiness, Penny climbed up the tree to the highest branch she could reach and sat on the sturdiest edge with both of her legs hanging from each side. Her chest heaved from her weary trek while her eyes drooped slowly, hesitating in fear of Madame Medusa. However, Penny eventually surrendered herself to slumber with a deep yawn and hung her head forward while snoring. She could afford to sleep and regain her strength for the journey.
That might've been the case if not for her snoring.
A scaly tendril slithered down to her left and circled around her wasteline, creating a coil that pinned her hands to her hips. It gripped her tight yet ever so delicately before creating one loop after another around her torso, her arms becoming immobilized. The sensation of it was enough to stir Penny from her sleep and open her eyes groggily while lifting her head. "Mmmm, wh-who's... the-" were the final words that the child let out before the tail looped around her throat.
"URK!"
The scaly tail had been very particular to yank at the coil around Penny's neck and give her a sharp choke. Her eyes snapped wide open as the sudden lack of air woke her up from any trace of a slumber. A second coil looped around her neck to slowly squeeze her throat and deprive her of even more oxygen. The teddy bear she'd clung to in her right hand dropped from the tree when it all caused her to loose her grip. It hit the swampy bog below and floated front down.
Penny's face wore an expression of confusion and horror with her eyes unblinking while her mouth remained agape. She couldn't speak a word and only let out a painful yet pathetic wheeze through her closed up throat. Her suffering only increased as she felt the scale-covered tail cocooning her beginning to apply more pressure to it's grip around her. The young girl could feel the air in her lungs wheeze out past her lips when the coils round her chest got particularly tight.
The only thing that Penny could remotely move were her eyes as she looked upwards to find the culprit that had ensnared her. It became more visible within the moonlight and only added another layer of dread upon the already insurmountable fear instilled within her. The head of a large python descended from the branches above towards her slowly but surely and wore a smile most vile with a sadistic glint in his eye. The very same that Brutus and Nero would both share.
Penny suddenly didn't fear Madame Medusa catching her anymore.
Kaa smacked his lips in his growing hunger while taking pride in his work. It was taking delight in his prey's plight that was practically half the meal from feeling them squirm to seeing them go purple in the face. Much to the python's sadistic satisfaction, the little girl was display shades of violet around her cheeks. They complimented the exquisite expression upon her face, the one that every single one of his prey would display. Their great fear would only but add to the flavor.
Penny could feel the way the python's constriction made it excruciating to take in air yet not enough to end her. The shameful feeling of being his plaything was only compounded by the way he flicked his tongue out at her face in excitement. The little girl couldn't believe this couldn't be happening. She had tried so hard to be free and get away from that maniacal Medusa yet her fate was to be food. The child wanted to cry but was too exhausted from a major lacking of oxygen.
Kaa sniggered at the way his prey held on to dear life. It was almost as though she was expecting some valiant hero to rescue her miraculously. He decided that it was time she faced reality and began to lift her off the branch from within his cocoon of coils. Her legs stuck out from the bottom all stiff from the crush he'd put upon her before the serpent sadistically began to rotate her more in the air. He slowly turned her all around and held her aloft like a rich glass of wine.
Penny's shoe-clad feet could barely wiggle with whatever strength and stubbornness she could muster. However, the python breathing her head combined with his haughty hiss sent a clear-cut message that it was all for naught. The little girl only had a second to plea for somebody to rescue her, the memory of that bottle she had sent out flashing before her eyes. All just before the sadistic serpent's jaws engulfed her entire head and plunged her into far greater darkness.
No one was coming.
Kaa savored the flavor while unraveling the coils around his prey's neck and shoulder so he could take in more. It was as though he were gobbling up a candy bar. Even her dress added a certain texture that he didn't expect to like as much while making his way down to her waistline. All that remained visible of the little girl now was a pair of stocking-clad calves and shoes after unwrapping her coils. The sadistic serpent was slowly finishing her thighs when a voice barked.
"That wretched girl is ruining my best pair of shoes!" Kaa heard down below, his prey's calves sticking out of his maw. He paused his consumption to err on the side of caution and glanced down to see a red-headed woman trudging temperamentally through the thickness. "I have half a mind to feed her to Brutus and Nero if she wasn't the right size." The sadistic serpent spotted a rifle she had and slowly swallowed his helpless prey inch by inch, hoping she wouldn't look up.
The python's innards were hardly oppressive like its coils but Penny still found herself still as a statue, the sliminess making her cringe deeply. However, she barely had the strength to even cry thanks to the torture she had endured. As if on cue, Madame Medusa's ravings sounded even from within the serpent's throat and gave her a ray of hope. Normally, the woman catching her would've been her nightmare but she'd take any punishment if it meant escaping her fate.
A mere glance upwards would be salvation.
Madame Medusa sloshed about in the murky bog and looking intently across the waters, knowing how well Penny could hold her breath. Sure enough, she came across the little girl's teddy bear laying face down in the bog and snatched it up. "That snot-nosed brat wouldn't dare drop this foolish piece of trash," Madame Medusa seriously pondered in her suspicion. "She'd be a wreck without it." She was oblivious to a pair of shoes desperately wriggling over her head.
Kaa knitted his brow in frustration upon feeling his prey squirming however feebly and seeing her shoes wiggling before his very eyes. How it irked him for his prey to have any sort of hope while facing their final destination. The python slowly slithered his tail down the tree and closer to Madame Medusa while she was beginning to glance right up the tree. He wasn't about to let some garish-looking creature take away his midnight snack, preparing to ensnare her throat.
Madame Medusa's frustrations gave way to bewilderment the second she saw Penny's legs sticking out of the maw of a python. She was unaware of the tail inching closer to her neck when she burst out laughing, enjoying the way the little girl's shoes wiggling back and forth. "Well, it's not my precious crocodiles," the vile villainess chortled in her sense of schadenfreude, "but it's a fitting punishment for naughty little girls in my book." She could just hear the girl bawling.
Penny's heart sank from within the python's throat upon hearing Madame Medusa condemning her to this fate. "At this point, you're not even worth the trouble," she heard the wicked woman gloat, muffled as it might've been. "I suppose I'll have to find another child, one who will know their place." The little girl's legs desperately wriggled about while she tried to speak through her agony. She knew that the hunter was as vile as they came but never imagined this.
Kaa felt a kindred spirit in Madame Medusa when they looked each other in the eye, smirking over Penny's misfortune. "Enjoy your little snack, snake," the vile villainess offered while turning away back to the boat. "It's far more than what she deserves." She callously tossed the teddy bear over her shoulder and let it land in the soggy bog water. Emboldened, the sadistic serpent decided to slowly slurp up the little girl's legs as though they were noodles well up to the ankles.
From the outside, Penny could be seen been sucked up within the python's throat and almost heard crying out however feebly she could. One might've made out a "No..." or a "Please..." among her scattered sobbing if they dared to get close enough. Her black shoes were the only thing of her that was visible to the world as the sadistic serpent paused for a moment. However, he was way too hungry to wait long and opened wide to make a big swallow that pulled them in.
The bulge containing Penny traveled up the python's throat slowly as the esophagus's muscle would allow it. He sighed in satisfaction over her swampy yet satisfying flavor and turned back to see her go until settling in his stomach. The sadistic serpent lifted his head up to the tree branch where she hung in his guts like a hammock, her literal final resting place. A little girl who was unwanted and would go on unremembered. A little girl who would never be... rescued.
Bianca and Bernard sadly came one day too late it would seem.