I was the only one left. After Savini gave me the chance to get away I heard her swallowing him behind me. I didn’t look back, I could barely see in front of me as it was. I had no idea where I was going, I was in too much of a blind panic to think. I just followed base prey instinct to get Away, as far and as fast as possible.

	A cold splash made me jump back in surprise. I had reached the lake! Nearly waded right into it, the chill of the water made me shiver and it was only being completely out of breath from running that kept me from yelping out loud. My body started to move before the thoughts even took proper shape in my head. There were canoe’s around the edge of the lake, I could use one to paddle out into the middle of the water! Out of range of that tongue, the water too deep to safely swim in the dark. I didn’t have the wherewithal to consider how buoyant the Yoshi might be, this was my only hope.

	I trudged along the edge of the lake in a scurry looking for the boats. The quiet of the forest surrounding was worse than if there had been a raging storm. Shouldn’t there be sounds from wild animals? Nocturnal nature? It was totally silent, the only things living out here were us foolish Koopas and the predator picking us off. So silent that the ringing sound of a swallow echoed through the trees so clearly it was almost deafening!

	She got Kane and Gunnar! I only heard one swallow, but another couldn’t be far behind. Those two were inseparable. I felt hot tears in my eyes and I nearly tripped over my own feet from the tremble shaking my limbs. I was hopeless. There was no escape. There was nothing I could do. She would get me next. My body only kept moving on pure mindless survival instinct.

	I sobbed when I came upon the canoe’s and scrambled to push one out onto the water. Then I had a thought and went to collect the paddles from all the others as well, piling them up into one and then jumping into it as it left the sand and drifted onto the waters surface. I made ripples in the lake as I paddled it out, hyperventilating and looking over my shoulder and all around the lake bed for any sign of her. I nearly dropped the paddle by the time I made it right smack dab in the middle of the lake, so far from shore a shell would sink before it ever floated far enough out to this point.

	I choked through a sob and wiped my eyes and nose, setting the paddle down and sitting off the canoe seat and onto the bottom of the boat. There was nothing I could do but wait. I didn’t feel safe but there was a comfort in delusion that she couldn’t reach me now. I scanned the lakes edge for lack of anything else to distract my scattered thoughts.

	And I nearly tipped the boat when I jumped back upon seeing her standing there. Everything was darkness, but there was a bright light shining right below her face illuminating her presence more brilliant than a spotlight. I took short sharp breaths and it took a moment for my vision to center enough to process what I was seeing. The Yoshi was standing on the sand of the lake, holding the flashlight I’d given to Wes in hand, and using it to light up her face from below like someone telling a scary story around a camp fire.

	She noticed I had seen her, and I saw her grin. Her bright red eyes shone through the dark and peered right into my soul. She was so far off from where I huddled in the center of the lake, but I could tell she saw me clearly and with the flashlight I could see everything she showed me.

	The beam of light aimed down along her front, and brightened the view of her belly. My heart sank into my soles. I saw her stomach totally stuffed with what could only be both Kane and Gunnar. She was showing them off to me, halfway submerged in what had to be digestive fluids. Fluids that were splashing because…
	
	They were fucking in her belly? I gripped the side of the canoe and felt a twitch in my eye. Figures. Smoke em if you got em, I guess? I couldn’t believe it. I was living through a waking nightmare and the last of my friends were getting their rocks off one last time. But that mild annoyance turned into mounting dread while I watched that digestive substance fill up the belly more and more, while their athletic forms were dunked under even as they continued to grind into each other. They spasmed in what had to be an orgasm, and then it was like they gave up and just sunk down into the stuff.

	It was hard to tell from this distance and from how frazzled my brain was, but I could swear I saw bubbles. Not just normal letting out their breath while under water bubbles, but a lot of air bubbles coming from their mouth and nose like they had no trouble breathing through the liquid whatsoever. Even as they started making out, their air slipping out between each others lips, and moved around inside the stomach. I could see one of them push their hands out, making an imprint of their palm and fingers through the latex like cling of transparent stomach flesh. I could see the yellow skin of his body behind the imprint, before it sank back down and he brought his hand to wrap around the other koopa.

	Then the stomach drained out, hitting the top and slushing them down out of the chamber. It was like there was a worm hole right beneath her belly or something. Everything from her lower lip on down was see through, everything that would be white on a regular Yoshi was transparent on her. And we saw first hand what it looked like when she swallowed someone, how they could be seen through the jaw of her mouth and then through the flesh of her throat as they gulped down into her stomach. But when Gunnar and Kane emptied out of the bottom of her stomach along with the juices around them, it was like they disappeared into nowhere.

	I frowned while sheepishly hiding my face behind the rim of the canoe. I was the only Koopa left around the camp now, it was just me and her. I could still see her staring at me, smiling as if proud to show off the process of turning two people with hopes and dreams into food. I dry heaved over the side of the boat and sobbed hard, tears running down my cheeks and dripping into the lake below.

	By the time I caught my breath and wiped my face off again, she was still there. Still shining the flashlight over her belly, letting me see how empty it was through the transparent flesh. Then my eyes widened at what I saw next. The stomach flexed out, moving completely on its own! It looked like something was pushing from the inside of it, but it was still totally empty now without any Koopas inside. Horrified curiosity brought me to lean over the edge of the boat to get a better look, transfixed like watching a train accident in slow motion.

	I saw the belly flesh push out into the shape of a hand, fingers and all with the outermost layer of stomach clinging inbetween each digit distinctly. Then another hand, and then between them another imprint pushed into view. The shape of a face looking out, as if someone curled up inside her stomach was pressing their limbs and head against the confines of their organic prison. But there was no one inside! I could see through the shape of Koopa face into the nothingness of empty stomach behind it! And the face was distinct and recognizable, one I had been looking at only minutes ago. Gunnar, just as distinct as if he was shoving himself through a layer of cellophane wrap.

	I didn’t understand what I was seeing. And after a few moments the imprint faded, sinking back into the belly as an amorphous mass of tummy fat. Were my eyes just playing tricks on me? The Yoshi seemed to know what I saw though, because once the shape of Koopa was gone she flicked the flashlight off. Leaving me blanketed in darkness once again. I could see her bright red eyes glowing from the shoreline, and cold silent abyss all around everywhere else.

	Adrenaline still surged through my body even though all I was doing was sitting in a boat in the middle of the lake. I trembled from fear and how cold it was. I felt frozen, I didn’t dare move least I tip the canoe to start drifting closer to shore or accidentally capsize it. And I stared into the dark, for so long that my vision adjusted to the lack of light only to wrap right back around to feeling totally blind again, like my retinas pulled off a snake eating its own tail. But no matter what,  I could still see the glow of her red eyes shining through the darkness.

	Fear left my mind completely shot. Only one coherent thought went through my mind, a mantra my sanity was clinging to like a life preserver. The lake used to be named Zola.

	I don’t know if I fell asleep, or lost time, or if my brain just switched off as a defense mechanism. But all of a sudden it was daylight! I took a sharp inhale and looked around, goosebumps up my body from moving around after so long of sitting still in the cold of night. The Yoshi was nowhere to be seen! The sun shined off the surface of the lake, the cabin in clear view and the SUV parked right nearby it. And even with my eyes bloodshot and stinging, I could see the road leading into the camp even behind that. With a bright yellow bus driving towards the entrance!

	I scrambled to grab a paddle and started rowing wildly towards the shore, making huge splashes in the water but I couldn’t think about anything else but getting to the vehicle. To escape! My brain was completely fried, my body just moved with single minded determination to the only possible salvation. By the time I was close enough to the shore to jump out of the canoe and wade through the freezing ice waters onto dry land, the bus was pulling up to park off the side from the SUV. I ran, tunnel vision blocking out everything but the doors of the bus swinging open, throat too parched and strained to scream.

In my mad dash out of the canoe and towards the bus, I felt it. A wet splat of sticky tongue smacking against my shell. In a mere second I would be yanked into Yoshi maw, when salvation was right in front of me!

My body moved without thought, in the mere instants I had available I dipped my arms through the shell holes and slipped them up out of my neck ring. I tilted myself forward and jumped, my feet leaving the ground and my body angled forward. When the tongue tugged back to draw me to my doom, my shell was plunged away while my body slipped right out.

I hit the ground running, clawing into the dirt to push back to my feet and keep scrambling for the bus. Rushing towards it in my boxers and under shirt, shell stolen away far behind me. Sacrificed so I could escape no matter the cost. Arrest me for indecent exposure all you want, as long as the jail cell is as far away from Zola as possible!

	I saw the bus driver nearly jump out of the drivers seat when I rounded to the entrance, hyperventilating and probably looking like a half drowned insane person. I didn’t care what he was thinking of me, I just took as many swallows as I needed to in order to get my voice box working again, while the driver urges the rowdy kids behind him to stay in their seats.

	“Turn… bus around! Monster!” I heaved the words out in a hoarse rasp, scrambling to drag myself onto the bus. Every step felt like climbing a mountain, and I reached for the driver like he was the only one who could pull me from the edge of a cliff. He looked at me like I was trying to strangle him, and he scooted out of his seat and yanked me up by my shoulders.

	“Jumping jackrabbits, what’s gotten into you? You’re gonna scare the kids, what are you-” He started to ask, but I cut him off by grabbing the rim of his shell. He startled, turning us while he tried to keep balance.

	“We need to go! We need to get out of here!” I tried to scream but it came out like a choke. With a look of concern and fear, not for what was out there but for the crazy koopa in front of him, he pushed me back into the drivers seat. Feeling a seat with padding under me made me collapse like my body was too heavy to lift itself.

	“Calm down now, goodness gracious just calm down. A-and calm down kids, nothing to worry about, just some uhh… you know, had a bit too much fun!” The driver said trying to reassure the kids who looked nervous and on the verge of breaking into confused tears. I tried to move myself, but my body wouldn’t listen to my brain. The driver rubbed the back of his head while looking down at me, trying to think about how to handle this hysteric camp counselor.

	Until I heard the wet splat of something hitting the back of his shell. I saw his eyes widen in surprise, and before anyone could do anything he was yanked off his feet and backwards off the bus. My body moved without thinking, ignoring how exhausted I felt, turning me to face the wheel and reaching to crank the keys and start the bus back up again.

	I closed the bus doors while the kids screamed out in the seat rows behind me. Slamming my foot on the gas pedal the bus kicked up a dust storm before trudging forward too slowly, while I cranked the wheel to do a long laborious u-turn. I can't believe the bus didn't flip onto its side, but finally it oriented towards the exit and I started driving it straight out of the camp.

I heard a splat from behind and the kids screamed louder. That tongue must have struck one of the windows as we made our way out. I didn't turn around to check, nor to try and reassure the kids. I just drove, and I didn't stop.

As the bus threw itself down the road the world faded out around me and the sound of my own heart beat thudded in my ears. Once we drove past the old gas station I started laughing. A deranged hysteric laughter pouring out from the depths of my soul. I laughed until the kids finally stopped screaming. I laughed until my throat tore. I laughed until I cried.

And I didn't stop driving until the bus ran out of gas.