Nightmares...

Panting, and already exhausted from running, Reed Richards looked over his shoulder hoping he hadn’t been followed or chased. He had been running for hours all through the night, staggering and losing his footing after tripping over a mound of brown resin that caked the ground. All around him the city looked like someone had poured and moulded a thick layer of clay over the entire city, giving the appearance that he had been shrunk down and lost in the spires of a termite colony. Hearing a high pitch howl out in the distance, Reed dropped to his knees and darting to a large mount that had once been a lamp post and mailbox, now completely unrecognisable as some blunted resin-caked spire. Holding himself close, Reed looked around, finding the skies filled with winged creatures that circled overhead like flies or vultures. Off in the distance he could make out the clicking forms of green insectoid creatures, swarming down the street ahead of him. Closing his eyes shut he had hoped they didn’t notice him, after a few seconds, the horde of hundreds had finally scurried out of sight, making Reed collapse with relief.

“Now what made you think you could hide from me, my loving husband?”

Snapping alert and darting his eyes all around him, the voice of his wife sounded like it came from everywhere, honey sweet and seductive yet cruel in its undertone. He had to escape! She had already taken the city and everyone in it, and he didn’t want to share in their fate. He had seen some of the victims and their remains and it froze Reed to his core. Getting to his feet, Reed cautiously ran the opposite way he witnessed the swarm travelling from. If only he could find a means of escape, he could warn someone, warn the world.

“That’s right little mousy, keep scurrying, don’t think I don’t know where you are.”

Wiping sweat off his brow, Reed could hear his heart pound in his chest. Where was she? How could she find him here? Was she invisible? Stumbling again and losing his footing, Reed fell to his hands and knees, wincing when he heard the purr of his wife’s laughter in his ears. It was only when he looked up that he spotted a glimmer of hope. The Fantasticar! Propped on a mound of thick resin and looking worse for wear with a pitted and scarred hull, the flying vessel still looked flight worthy. Crawling back to his feet and running for the vehicle, Reed risked a smile on his face, stretching his legs out to increase his gait and quicken his pace. He was so close, only a few more steps and he’d finally be able to escape.

“Found you!”

Surprised to the point of rearing back and falling on his ass, a massive tentacle speared its way out of the resin and concrete, reaching high and up until it was over 30 feet long and collapsed heavily to the ground, snaking and slithering as if reaching for something out of sight. Then it found the fantasticar and coiled itself around it. With the squeal and crumple of steel and plastic, the limb crushed the vehicle with the same effort as crushing a soda can before pulling the broken thing down with it into the deep of the crater it formed in the Earth. Wide eyed with horror, Reed quickly tried to pick himself up and run the opposite way when the ground beneath him began to quake. A fissure split and formed down the entire road under his feet and widened with every second, the resin and concrete giving way to what was underneath. He never had a chance to escape when several tentacles shot out of the ground and bound his arms and legs, leaving him to squirm and struggle at his bonds, just when the ground gave way by the horn-crowned head of some terrible nightmare that clawed its way from under the earth.

Hoisting him off the ground, the man screamed as he found himself rising higher and higher off the ground until he could see the roofs of 15 storey buildings below him. When he stopped going any higher, Reed looked up at the tangled mass of tentacles obscuring the head of the creature that had him until they parted to reveal Susan’s face. It was then, that Reed discover that the tentacles keeping him bound, where really her hair! Six reptilian eyes narrowed and focused on her prey, the nostrils on her snout flaring and exhaling out over Reed’s face. Her crown of horns and antlers stretched 4 road lanes wide and tall, framing and accentuating the draconian serpent’s face smiling down at the man. She still possessed her pert lips, one of the few human traits she still retained, until she pulled those lips back to smile with rows upon rows of foot long teeth, each as razer sharp as a butcher’s knife. With the flick of a forked tongue, the serpentine creature purred out to her husband.

“I told you I could find you little mousy mouse, even if I couldn’t taste your sweat and blood off your skin in the open air, I most certainly could smell your fear.”

Behind the mass of tentacles that encompassed all Reed could see, a second long-necked head revealed itself from the mass, a smirk on its fanged lips as it hissed out a forked tongue and lick across Reed’s face. “Oh, I DO so love the taste of desperation on you, just like so many of our lovers.”

“Why hush sister, don’t you see he’s frightened as it is?” Purred a third head that revealed itself behind Susan, the three sharing a knowing look with each other before turning their attention back to Reed. “He’s no good if he’s stressed and scared.”

“Quite right my sisters… I knew it was a good idea to grow you from myself.” Sharing a chuckled between the three, Susan nuzzled either head affectionately. “Things are so much more entertaining when you have the company of your own peers…” Pulling herself free from the ground, a massive reptilian claw pulled itself free and grasp the resin caking the surface of the city, followed by another. The three-headed monstrosity pulled itself free with its many limbs, her long prehensile body an amalgam of serpent, centipede and octopus all twisted together in a mile long leviathan that slithered and skittered over the city, coiling itself around the taller sky scrappers the same way a jungle snake would climb a tree. “Do you like the new me Reed?” “Yes, we certainly do.” “The human form is so limiting; THIS accommodates our desires perfectly…”

“Susan please, stop this insanity!” Begged Reed, his former wife coiling her long, segmented body around what used to be the Chrysler building to roost at its peak, her dozens of clawed limbs gripping the walls of the tall skyscraper while her five tails flicked and snapped like whips at the ground floor. Dangle Reed Richards from his foot with a single tentacle from her scalp, Susan’s smile grew dark.

“Oh, we’re well passed ‘stopping’ Reed sweetie.” Smiled the left head from Susan’s shoulders.

“Indeed… The city is already populated with millions of our young, soon they will spread and infect this entire planet”

“Spreading… Devouring… BREEDING!” Fluttering her six eyes, the right head at Susan’s shoulders moaned at the mental image. “Like locusts we shall strip this planet bare until there is nothing… Nothing but US!”

“Hmm, why sister, keep that up and we might bear another swarm…”

Looking around himself even while being dangled upside down, Reed could see just how far Susan’s destructive influences had spread. The ground was crawling with the swarms of her many children, crowding the streets until they literally crawled over each other to stalk and hunt for any survivors, the skies were blackened with the murky green chitin of Susan’s brood, having formed wings to conquer the skies. She was legion, invincible, a plague! Going slack with defeat, Reed looked up at the three headed monstrosity that was once his wife. “What do you plan to do with me?”

“Well… You never were satisfactory in bed Reed.” Raising the man high above the three’s heads, Susan’s middle head opened her mouth wide, unhinging her jaws like a flower blooming open to reveal an abyss of teeth leading all the way down her maw. “Maybe you’ll satisfy my other appetites.” Letting go of the man, Reed screamed all the way down into her open jaws before they snapped shut.

*

Snapping upright in bed in a cold sweat and clasping a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. Susan darted her eyes around the bedroom to find nothing had happened. Still sleeping at her side was Reed, snoring quietly and curled up tight in the bed sheets. Sighing heavily in relief, Susan bent down to kiss reed on the side of his brow, sitting back to rest against the headboard and slow her breathing.

“A dream, just a dream…” Pulling the sheets off her, Susan got out of bed to find it was 6 AM. Making her way to the adjacent bathroom, Susan closed the door behind her and locked it. The moment she knew she was alone, she sighed and let her other form out, her naked flesh becoming scaly and translucent, with spines and barbs lining up her long legs, forearms and back. A second pair of arms sprouted under her original pair and a tail snaked its way out of the base of her spine. Her long flowing blonde hair coiled into a mass of slithering tentacles and her scalp grew a pair of antlered horns that framed her face like a crown. When the changes had finished, Susan looked at her reflection with reptilian eyes, he pert lips in a pouting frown. “That’s not going to happen, I’m NEVER going to let that happen, I’m going to take control of my life.” Glaring at her reflection, Susan’s four clawed hands gripped the sink intensely. “I am in control now, not you!” Turning to leave, Susan heard the familiar whisper “Don’t be so sure…” Before snapping to look over her shoulder, finding her reflection in the same pose.

Getting out of the bathroom after cleaning up and getting dressed, Susan stepped out into the living room of the apartment and spotted the card Janet had given her on her visit the other day. Thinking long and hard on the matter, Susan checked the time and reached for the phone at the entrance of the kitchen. “I’m taking back my life, and THIS is the first step!” Hearing the dial tone for a few seconds, Susan smiled when she heard the tired voice of the Wasp on the other end, the moment Susan informed her she accepted Janet’s offer, pulling the phone away to keep from going deaf from Janet’s cheering on the other end.