Author's Note: This story is one of a series, but they can be read in any order.
* * *
The city of Standup was off to powerful start. Just weeks ago, this land had been jungle—thick, obscure, dangerous jungle. But men had come and hacked away the trees. They had pulled up the plants, burned the logs and stamped the ground flat. They had made wooden huts, tents and shacks, and now they were even building a wall surrounding the place.
There was much to keep out. Tribes of huntresses prowled the jungle, and they wouldn't hesitate to snap up a man who looked tasty. Then there were the monster girls, those strange, powerful creatures that even the tribeswomen seemed to fear.
Back in Izaz, things had been different. An ancient city of sand and stone, Izaz was orderly, civilized and utterly dominated by women. For twenty-one years, Vot had struggled to survive in the streets, cheating, stealing and, when he absolutely had to, whoring out to the poorer women who trawled the streets for loose men.
But all that was over. From the low streets of Izaz, a movement had taken shape, an alliance of men who had had enough. Discarded old men, abused husbands and adventure-seeking sons of noblewomen, men from all walks of life had joined hands and made an exodus from that changeless city. Now their new establishment was named Standup, because that was what it was: men standing up for themselves. Now freedom and self-sufficiency were theirs.
And Vot had something he cherished even more. As he knelt at the foot of his new home in the making, digging holes for new posts to support the walls, he looked over his shoulder and saw Kervin. Before the exodus, Kervin had been the husband of a common woman who had worked him like a slave and ridden him like a whore. His long hair and sharp, unscarred face made him look soft, but Vot knew better. Dressed in a simple tunic that let his skin breathe, the man's powerful, neatly toned muscles glistened under the sweat that covered his sun-tanned skin.
Kneeling next to Vot, Kervin set down a wooden bucket, a little water sloshing over its sides. "You should drink," he said warmly. "You can't work with a dry mouth."
"Oh, no?" said Vot. "Did it all the time, back on the streets."
"Then just imagine how strong you'll be with a belly full of water."
With a grateful smile, Vot tipped the bucket up to his lips and drank the life-giving coolness, not letting it down until every drop had disappeared down his throat.
Kervin blinked, shocked. "Should I get you another bucket?"
"You don't have to fuss over me like this, Kervin."
"Someone has to." Taking Vot's face gently in both hands, Kervin leaned in and kissed him. "If I didn't take care of you, you'd work yourself to death. We have a future, Vot. Don't you want to live long enough to see it?"
Putting a hand over Kervin's, Vot gently pressed his face into the taller man's palms. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."
* * *
Kervin strode gingerly through Standup, seeing by the tiny light of his match. He knelt by the supply blanket, the place where every precious trinket brought from Izaz was stored. From simple metalwork to a newfangled electric lamp and the spare muskets that some men had managed to steal from their gun-owning wives, everything that couldn't be fashioned from wood, stone and earth was here to be shared; private property was a luxury the Standup men could not yet afford.
To Kervin's dismay, he saw no cookware. Then it occurred to him to look in the tool shed, which the Standup men rather pretentiously called the warehouse.
Inside the warehouse, Kervin's match lit up shelves and big stones that served as tables, with wares placed wherever had made the most sense to the last man who had used them.
And on the ground, a man lay on his back.
Kervin nearly dropped his match. "Sir!" he gasped, kneeling by the man. "Are you alright?"
The man did not look alright. His clothes were gone, bearing his pale, sweaty body, and his hands and feet were flat on the soil as if glued there. He made no sound, even as he looked up at Kervin with eyes wide and panicked. His cock was spent and limp.
"Sir," said Kervin, "What happened to y-"
Something crashed against Kervin's back, forcing him to the ground. Dropping his match, Kervin flipped onto his back and looked up. Something stood over him, and it wasn't a man. It didn't quite look like a woman either. As soon as Kervin's eyes had pieced together an image out of the shimmering shape in the flickering matchlight, it shifted.
The shape fell on Kervin, warm and slick, then flowed up his skin to his mouth. He pursed his lips, determined not to swallow whatever it was. He fought to get up, but suddenly his limbs felt like stone.
Looking up, he watched as the strange liquid rose from him as if compelled by magic and finally resolved into a small human, female form. The liquid flashed black and white, then finally settled on a stony grey hue. It turned its face to look down at him.
"Another one!" it squeaked, in a cool, airy voice. "Two boys! I can't believe I get two!"
Kervin took a deep breath to call out for help, but grey gelatin over his mouth—the girl's hand, it seemed—muzzled him.
"Sh-sh-sh-sh," the gel girl hissed, putting a finger to her lips. Brown emerged in her eyes and eyebrows, and she gave a devilish grin. "If you make noise, I won't let you talk."
Leaning down, she merged her face onto his, and Kervin could feel a force pressing on his lips, then pushing them apart. The gel girl sat up, releasing his mouth.
Kervin tried to scream, and he could not. His lips were glued together.
The gel girl giggled melodically. "Silly boy! You don't get to make noise! If you make noise, I close your mouth." She smiled, shifting her shoulders. "Now give me! Give me, give, me give me!"
She shifted her weight, tearing his tunic in half from his collar down to his groin, and instantly the warm, thick fluid of her body enveloped his cock. Pressure rippled up his shaft, and his mind scattered with sudden pleasure. She kept going, pulling him to erection, and it took all of his focus to keep breathing through his nose. Without the use of his mouth, one wrong move would cause him to pass out.
The gel girl threw her head back, making little, high-pitched moans, and in one blazing-quick moment, Kervin realized that her hands were off his wrists. Sitting up, he shoved the gel girl, trying to force her off his body. His hands went straight through her milky flesh.
"Ooh," sang the girl. "You want to kiss me too?" Wrapping her arms around his head, she pulled him up to her mouth, and once again he was helpless to stop her from pulling his mouth open. The girl's face pressed against his nose, sealing his nostrils, and for a moment he thought she had signed his death warrant.
Then air began to flow down his throat. Desperately, he pulled for more, and somehow he managed to breathe normally. Her irresistible grip pulled him upright, and he sat with his mouth locked against hers, her nonexistent lungs breathing fresh air into his, all while her hips rocked and pulled on him. When his orgasm erupted from his shaft, the girl's grip on his head tightened, and she worked faster, then slower. Finally, she separated from his mouth, but to his disappointment, he was sealed shut once again. His heart pounded, and once again he struggled to breathe through his nose.
He was barely aware as the gel girl took his hand into her mouth, sucking on his fingers one by one, coating them in thick, cool cream. As soon as she let his hand drop, the cream seeped into the ground and hardened, sticking his hand there. He made a lame resistance as she sucked on his other hand, but when she brought down two fingers and squeezed his nose shut, he stopped everything and allowed her to stick his other hand to the ground.
Finally, his breathing stabilized, and he looked up to find the gel girl transformed. Not only were her eyes and eyebrows colored, but her hair as well, and her skin had darkened into a more human shade of brown. Her breasts were still missing nipples, and there was no coloring where her fingernails and toenails should have been, but she looked more human than before.
"Mmmm," she sighed, leaning back without releasing his cock. "Good boy! You gave me more. Mmm..." she closed her eyes, and for a minute, both were silent. Finally, her eyes opened again. "Just one more boy. One more, and I'll look like them." On that, she dismounted him, her gel sticking uncomfortably to his cock, and literally melted into the shadows.
Kervin fought against his bonds, but knew it was useless. He was trapped, muzzled and squeezed dry. All he could do was wait.
* * *
"Boy? Boy, come on, wake up! What happened to you? Come on, speak!"
Kervin's eyes shot open. A man knelt over him, gently slapping his cheek, staring worriedly into his eyes. Kervin tried to respond, but could only hum through his glued-together lips.
The man produced a knife. "You've got something on your mouth. I'm going to cut it. This won't hurt, I promise."
Fear held Kervin in place as the cold metal blade gently penetrated his mouth, slipping perilously between his lips. But when it came away, his mouth was his again. Kneeling by Kervin's hands, the man cut away the adhesive slime with immaculate care.
"You must be a butcher's wife," mumbled Kervin through stiff, crusted lips.
"Was a butcher's wife," he corrected. "I was sick of being ridden like a toy." He looked down at Kervin sympathetically. "Or like this. What did it, boy? Do you remember? Here, stand up." At last, he freed Kervin and pulled him to his feet.
"Kervin!" came Vot's desperate voice. "Kervin, are you alright?"
Kervin turned around to see Vot running into his arms. "Yes, I'm alright." Vot gripped him with strength far beyond his thin frame, and Kervin hugged him tenderly back. "The monster girl took me. And one other man. But she's gone now. I'm alright."
"No, you are not!" thundered a deep, grating voice. All eyes turned to the entrance to the hut, and there stood Bruin, half a head taller than the average man and broad to match, his bare chest covered in tattoos. This was the man who had run the city of Standup ever since edging out that meek old man Fingir. While Fingir had always had his aides beside him for counsel, Bruin was alone except for the captive monster girl who knelt at his side. Hairless, purple-skinned and covered in sick-looking spots, that monster girl always made Kervin's skin crawl. "You are not alright," Bruin yelled again. "A monster girl got past my guards and fucked my men!" He thrust his index finger at the ground as he said the word 'my.' "Unacceptable!" Turning to the open air, he cupped his hands over his mouth and howled, "Guards! All of you, get over here!"
His guards obeyed, down to the man. In minutes, a semicircle of armed, baffled men stood around the entrance to the storehouse. As the former butcher's wife freed the monster girl's other victim, Bruin clasped his arms behind his back and began to pace.
"You men volunteered to protect this city!" he barked. "Your job was to lay down your lives if that's what it took to protect your brothers." He pointed furiously at Kervin and the other man. "And you didn't! Who was on shift last night?"
A few worried men stepped forward. Other men hurried away, returning minutes later with off-duty members of last night's watch.
"I want these men barred in the hide shack! And kept there!"
Hesitantly, the guardsmen began to herd their worried comrades to the only hidebound structure in the city. As they went, Bruin added, "This is not your punishment! This is where you'll stay until I decide what's not too good for you!"
Apprehensively, Kervin stepped up to Bruin. "Sir?"