Lara's feet hit the ground with a steady crunching sound as she ran through the underbrush. She was in no hurry, but she preferred to keep up a good pace. The south-african jungle was already hot and humid, and large droplets of sweat streaked across her body as she ran, much of her outfit already damp with exertion. It wasn't hot enough for her to worry about heat exhaustion, however, so she kept up her pace. She wound around a short dirt path and cut across a patch of small shrubs, hustling across the heavy underbrush as she ran.

She went over her plan in her mind as she did so. The native tribes had called it the maidenweed--a form of plant that could supposedly be found somewhere in the forest who's buds were formed of pure, perfect emerald, in elaborate and beautiful cuts and patterns. She had dismissed the myths as just that until she had stumbled upon the tribe's temple--inside were three sets of emeralds unlike any she had ever seen, and a quick check of the tribe's folklore confirmed that they had supposedly been gleaned from this plant, at a great cost to the tribe's warriors.
If the plant was for real, she was going to find it.

By checking the tribe's migratory patterns along with those of several other tribes, along with records of mysterious dissappearances, she had managed to track down a small, one-square-mile area where the plant could be--she had managed to gather that it was somehow dangerous, and that must have been why people hadn't been plundering the species all along. She had prepared herself in every way she could think of. She had her chemical analasys kit for quick production of antidotes, including a few cure-alls which she would apply before handling the specimen. She had a body-sized insect screen, in case it had some sort of specialized insect swarm protecting it. She had a breath mask and numerous kinds of antibacterial skin lotion, in case it employed spores or other such agents. And, as always, she had her magnums.

Lara Croft always came prepared.

As she continued to run, her instincts told her she must be in the area. Checking her map and compass, she confirmed that this was the right region to search. Pausing a moment to catch her breath, she took a cursory look around. No immediate signs of the specimen, though she hadn't really expected any--insect presence was light, and there were no signs of graves or corpses just yet. The animal life was fairly normal, which meant any presence of poison would have to be mild or very localized around the plant. That was a relief to her.

She started walking through the underbrush, taking care to watch where her steps were falling. She was in uncertain territory now, and was going to remain cautious. She stepped up a slight incline and let her vision wander across the horizon, looking for unusual glints of light that could indicate the presence of emeralds--though she hadn't ruled out that the emeralds could be grown in enclosed pods or leaves. She made a mental note to examine all the plant life closely to make sure she didn't miss any species she didn't recognize. She continued to walk, pausing every so often to examine a plant and make sure it was a normal one. She occaisionally stopped to swat some annoying insect who had landed on her skin, but for the most part she simply walked through the fetid jungle looking for her prey.

Her legs carried her further into the search area as the sun continued to arch it's way across the sky. Lara searched for what seemed to be an hour before she caught something--an odd scent on the wind, different from the other smells of the jungle. It seemed both perfumed and sour, with a little hint of something foul--but definately unique. She abruptly changed directions and, with a quick check of which way the wind was blowing, headed off for the origin of the smell.

It wasn't long before she hit the jackpot.

The plant was much more obvious than even she had hoped--it was a long, convoluted thing, with tendrils and roots at least a foot wide winding about in it's own little patch in which nothing else seemed to grow. There was one large, central bloom surrounded by dozens of smaller blooms on the end of long, winding stems. At the center of each bloom was a small set of exquisite emeralds.

Lara took a few moments to study the specimen. It was obviously the origin of the smell, though the perfumed aspect seemed stronger here than the others. The central bloom was quite elaborate--thick, rough inner petals were surrounded by thinner, bright-pink petals that seemed to sway of their own accord. Perhaps it was a trick of the wind, but other parts of the specimen appeared to be moving as well. Lara was intrigued by this apparent motion, until she heard a sudden sound. It was like three low squishes and a muffled thud, and when she turned to look, she saw another part of the plant holding itself a few feet in the air. Immediately a wet farting sound emanated from it and Lara beheld a full set of human bones eject from the plant's quivering sphincter.

That explained many things, she thought to herself. This was a carnivorous plant. The emeralds were obviously there to lure people in where the thing could snatch it--what a remarkable phenomenon! A form of life that actually feeds on avarice! A whole new kind of natural selection.

She caught herself smiling until suddenly she was hit with a sledgehammer of pure dread--as she realized that she was already within this thing's reach. Many of it's tendrils grew out further out than she was, and she had inadvertently wandered past them before seeing the main plant.

Slowly, and taking fearful care not to make a sound, she began to turn around. As she carefully took a step away, she mused that the thick stalk that was wandering around the jungle--the one that started with the main bloom and ended in that terrible sphincter--must have served the function of one long intestine for the plant. A drop of sweat--cold now--rolled down her forehead as she realized she was staring at the thing's digestive tract. She got ahold of herself as she continued sneaking out, letting the competent soldier take control of her mind once again. She had almost made it to what she guessed was the peremiter of the plant's reach when she remembered--she was here to get emeralds, not run from some oversized geranium.

She began to think again. It couldn't be intelligent--it was obviously designed to sense when prey was near somehow. She just needed to figure out what that sense was. It could be smell, but from the look of those emeralds, she was guessing it was from when someone touched them. If that was the case, all she'd need to do was cut off some of the stems while she was out of eating range, and then retrieve the dead stems and their emeralds at her liesure.

It would be a tricky shot with her magnums, but she'd made trickier.

Leaning her shoulder against a tree, she retrieved her magnum and held it towards the strange plant. Squozing one eye shut, she held her arm stiff as a branch as she carefully lined up her sights on her target. Once she was confident of her shot, she pulled the trigger.

The bang filled her ears, but she didn't have time to see if her shot hit it's target. Something suddenly wrapped around her leg and snagged her. Flipping around to look, she realized with horror that she wasn't outside of the plant's sphere of influence after all--there was a rough green tendril, almost like a tentacle, wrapped around her leg and squeezing hard. Thinking that she might still be far enough to get away, she started to sprint away from the plant, but only managed to launch herself into the ground as the tendril held tight. In doing so she dropped her magnum. Her hand bolted for the other one as the tendril started to drag her across the broken earth towards it's master. Lara's skin-tight shirt began to pull away under the scraping rocks, but the threat of scraped breasts was nothing compared to a digesting death inside a carnivorous plant-monster, so she kept on her task. Wrapping her fingers around her second magnum, she flipped around onto her back, pointed it haphazardly at the tendril, and began to fire. She knew she was aiming too high, trying to make sure she didn't hit her legs, and missed with every single shot. After seven loud bangs, the gun was empty.

"SHIT!" she screamed as the tendril's dragging motion continued to pull her closer to the giant, hungry blossom. She saw several other tendrils moving towards her, doubtless planning to wrap around her and prevent any further attempt at escape. Thinking quickly, she flipped over again and grabbed onto the top of a rock which appeared to be buried in the dirt, but couldn't find enough purchase to hold on. Next she tried the roots of a shrub, but they snapped in her hands. The dirt, softer now, managed to pull her shirt up to her shoulders, leaving her bra scraping against the loam-like earth. She felt another tendril wrap around her other leg, and estimated she must be within ten feet of the master plant now. Her mind raced furiously until it hit her--of course! She had a bowie knife! But as she reached for it, she discovered to her shocked dismay that it was gone. She wasn't sure if she had lost it while being dragged, but it's holster was empty. Just as she was trying desperately to think of another weapon to use the dragging motion stopped. Lara lay in silence for a moment as the dust from her trip slowly caught up with her, and as she awaited the plant's next move. She slowly tested the movements of the tendrils and realized they would allow her to stand up. She did.

She found she was only a few precious feet from the giant maw-like blossom. She pulled her shirt down again as she examined it. The purfumed scent was almost overwhelmingly strong now, and she could see a slight change in the rough inner petals of the plant. Gooey blobs had begun to appear on it's surface and were slowly running down in globby lines. Lara realized it must have been salivating. Tough luck, Lara thought to herself, you're not getting THIS lunch today.

Lara realized that more tendrils had been stealthily making their way towards her when several suddenly wrapped around her arms and legs. She gasped, almost shocked at her own stupidity for letting them get the drop on her. A second type of tendril was appearing from the undergrowth as well--these were thicker, and had a blossom on the end which resembled a long, thick tube. One of these tendrils flew towards her and stopped just an inch short of her skin. It gently began poking against her, probing her cheek and then her neck. She had no idea what it was trying to even as it nestled itself into her hair and shoved itself up against her scalp. Still curious as to it's intent, she nervously waited as she felt the tendril shaft simply sit, pressed up against the back of her head. Suddenly, she saw a subtle bulge in the tendril's stem, quickly making it's way towards her. As it travelled up behind her neck and up to the tip she felt a wet squelching sound, and suddenly felt some sort of warm goo spreading against the back of her head and gradually dribbling down her back.

"Sorry, Jack. That wasn't my pussy." Lara said sarcastically. Shaking her head to remove the tendril, she began to pull against the tendrils. Her legs were still more or less free, despite the tendrils that encased them, but her arms were being held tight. As if in response to her sudden movements, several more of the large tendrils began to make their way towards her.

"Oh, gonna try to find it now, huh?" she said venomously as she continued to shuffle. The tendrils all started poking her--around the belly, the chest, the legs. Always gently, but always moving a few inches before trying it again. She was commenting to herself on their ineptness when suddenly one of them found her collar and thrust itself down her shirt.

"Hey, HEY!" she blurted out, surprised by the sensation of the petal-like shaft suddenly pressing itself between her breasts. She stared down at it speechlessly as she saw another bulge begin to make it's way towards her.

"Uh oh..." She tried to squirm away but her efforts were impotent. The bulge worked it's way down her collar and suddenly a mass of warm goo exploded against her chest. The slime slowly began to ooze down her breasts and into her bra, her tight shirt holding the mess against her rather efficiently. Another bulge began to appear on the same tendril just as she felt another one ram itself up the outside of her pantleg. Coming out at her waist, it retracted itself and started working it's way inward. She felt another load of warm ooze belch into her shirt and glob down her breasts, as several tendrils discovered the top of her waistband. They all began to push in, and push down, which began to force Lara's normally tight shorts right off of her body. One of the tendrils was almost dead center, and she felt a shiver as it pushed around the curve of her panties, brushing against her private parts the whole way. Seeming to find a nice spot, it stopped, and a bulge began to move towards Lara's shorts.

"Now now, I say--" Lara bleated, still squirming, half from fear and half from the unusual sensations. A second tendril found it's way down her collar, and as the bulge headed for her panties moved across her belly button and down into her shorts, she felt it pressing against her skin until suddenly there was a rush of hot goop filling her panties.

"Still not pregnant, you're gonna have to do better than that!" she quipped as she started to think. Just what the hell was this plant doing?

Another two loads filled her shirt. Her breasts were now practically engulfed in the goop that her shirt was holding against them, and rivulets of it were beginning to drip out across her belly. Her breasts slimed across her bra and her shirt with every subtle move she made, and though she was loathe to admit it, the feeling was almost...erotic.

The tendrils that were shoving on her shorts made one forceful shove that managed to yank them down to her knees, ripping one of the pantlegs clean in half. The shorts hung limply off her right leg, right around the knee. Feeling the tendrils still probing around for something to shove themselves into, and realizing her suddenly vulnerability in that area, Lara pulled her legs together tight and tried to hunch herself over a little. The tendrils that gripped her would have no such thing, however, and yanked her upper body back as they slowly pulled her legs apart by force. It didn't take long for one of the probing petals to brush against the lips of her vagina, and within seconds it had rammed itself up into her body.

She arched her back suddenly and let out a loud moan in spite of herself. She almost looked forward to the enormous bulge in the tendril that even now was worming it's way towards her. Part of her mind was screaming "THINK, LARA! GET OUT OF THIS MESS!" But, the rest of her mind was calmly saying "Aw, fuck it".

The bulge worked it's way into her vagina. She felt it stretch open her labial lips as it entered and she suddenly felt the warm goo splurge into her deepest reaches, small bits of it dribbling out.
"Okay, you got me. Now can you let me go?"

Suddenly, a second tendril rammed itself up her ass.

"Hey, whoah, I'm not that kind of--WHOAH!" she was cut off as a the two tendrils suddenly lifted up hard, yanking Lara off the ground. The central maw opened itself wide suddenly, revealing a deep, dark throat, now moist with globby lubricants. It was then that she realized what it had been doing--it had been softening her up and distracting her while it prepared it's digestive tract for it's big meal. For the first time in years, Lara screamed.

The tendrils began slowly moving their airborne captive towards the oozing maw. Lara thought, and thought--must be some way out of this, must be something I can do. She continued to think, trying to figure out what options someone with a big plant phallus up their ass and pussy and a dozen tendrils wrapped around their arms and legs can do to keep from being eaten. She struggled with all her might, a renewed adrenaline rush speeding her attempts, but to no avail.

The tendrils lifted her up to the maw as it simultaneously bent down to meet her. The gooey petals wrapped around her shoulders as she smelled a rank odor coming from the creature's throat--doubtless it's digestive juices, waiting to turn her into an ex-Croft. She continued to struggle, and the tendrils began to shove her into the monster's throat. She realized another purpose of the gooey slime as it eased her movements into the plant's "Esophagus", and as it shoved her in, inch by inch, she recognized her chance. The tendrils were gradually letting go of her--each tendril was unwrapping just before that part of her body reached the creature's throat. She had precious little time, because her whole upper body was already on it's journey to the beast's stomach, but if she could just react fast enough with her legs--
She never got the chance. Just as her knees were being engulfed by the plant's gelatinous esophagus, the entire bloom snapped shut and Lara's legs in their entirety were squirted down it's throat. Her whole body began to slither downwards as she did her best to stave off panic. Perceptible muscles within the soft, gooey tissues began to push her deeper and deeper into the creature. A wet sliding noise, a horrible smell and the sensation of being pushed half-naked through a tube of gelatinous flesh were the only senses she had. After a few long moments her journey abruptly stopped. Shifting around to gain her bearings, she realized she must have been in what qualified as the creature's stomach. She had to push hard against the blobby flesh just to give herself room to breathe, and whatever way she moved it continually wrapped around her. She was soaked to the bone in glop, and the stench was unbelievable. It was all she could do to keep from gagging in the slime.

Gradually, she began to feel subtle cords of muscle within the mass of semisolid flesh begin to push against her. It rubbed her body in seemingly random spots, moving back and forth and coating her already-soaked body with yet more goo. She realized the foul glop she was practically swimming in was almost definately digestive in nature. She realized as her skin began to tingle that this must be the case. She once again took stock of her situation--alone, unarmed, half-naked, rapidly running out of air, about to be turned from a sexy and daring woman into a soft and pliant mass of organic fertilizer by a giant plant's digestive tract. I've been in tighter spots, she thought to herself.

Who am I kidding.

She pushed and writhed against the dripping flesh that surrounded her. It pushed and writhed back. She felt a small river of goo hit her belly and run down between her legs. It might help if she had SOME form of protection, she thought, but she didn't even have her skivvies on down there anymore. As she realized that the veritable reservoir of glop inside her shirt might also be digestive in nature, she resolved to peel the ooze-filled garment from her body. She reached down with both of her arms, leaving a flabby mass of stomach flesh to press against her face once again, and did her best to pull the garment off quickly. It slid off her and she pulled it over her head, leaving her with only her bra. She'd considered leaving it on, weighing the pros of protecting her from the stomach juices against the cons of holding them against her, but finally decided to unsnap and peel that goo-filled garment as well. She realized as she shifted inside the slithering mass that she was now pretty much buck-naked, and the feeling of the soft, wet, hot flesh sliding against hers was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. She also realized that turning your own digestion into some sort of smutty romance novel was just beyond rediculous. She knew she would be a sight if she ever got out--wandering back to the tribe butt-naked, with a rash, stinking of plant-guts.

She started sliding against the inner flesh a bit, just to enjoy herself. This is absurd, she thought, but she found that she loved it anyway. She realized she was going to have to do something about her predicament when the sensation on her skin went from a mild tingling to a dull burning, however. She realized that whether she was having fun or not, this plant was still doing it's best to digest her and that she'd best escape before it finishes the job. She halfheartedly tried to move herself by pulling her body along on her arms, but the walls were far too slick to attempt such a thing. She found that if she writhed her whole body in the right way, she could inch her way back up in the direction she came, but before she could even make it a foot the stomach would squeeze down on her and shove her back to where she started. She eventually thought it might be a good idea to simply go all the way through--to head the other direction and hope she survived long enough to make an exit. Having no better idea, she started to squirm, trying to make her way into the plant's intestines.

She found what she figured must have been the end of the plant's stomach after about twenty minutes of dedicated (And, truth be told, enjoyable) slithering. It was a tight, sphincterous tube, set into the flesh of the wall and conspicuous due to it's much firmer texture. Rather than simply feeling like a solid blob, it felt like rubbery skin, though still wet. Feeling around the edges of it with her toes, Lara surmized that it was just barely big enough to accomodate both of her feet. Well, it would just have to stretch then. She slipped both of her feet into the tube, and started working on inching her way further into it.
She suddenly felt a sting on her feet, spreading across them like tiny rivers of fire. She realized that the acids in the intestine must be much stronger than the ones she had been coating herself in. Her whole body burned by this point, but it was a dull, quiet burn--this was a pronounced, stinging burn. She pulled her feet out again as she thought of the repercussions--she would have to survive that acid for long enough to reach safety. She didn't know how far it would be--but it was obvious she wasn't going to get out any other way. Steeling herself, she shoved both her feet into the intestine again and began to shove herself into the tight, rubbery tube.

She writhed back and forth, working her calves into the tube, then started wriggling harder, trying to get her thighs in. She was getting tired by this point--she couldn't tell how much of the liquid on her body was sweat and how much was digestive juices. The intestinal tube stretched to accomodate her thighs, though they pressed tightly against them. Lara knew she would have trouble breathing once she got inside--she was just going to have to make do. The harsh stinging ran it's way up the entire length of her legs now, and she had to grit her teeth to keep moving more of her body into the tube. With a grunt and a harsh wiggle, she got her hips past the sphincterous tissue and began wriggling her belly in. She stopped just as her breasts began to brush against the sphincter, feeling the firey sting against every part of her body below. She felt a harsh sting on her vagina and winced. This tube would tear her body apart if she didn't hurry. She grabbed her breasts with her hands and shoved them in past the fleshy ring, then began wriggling to get her chest, shoulders and neck into the terribly tight tube. With her chest compressed, she found each breath took an effort, but she could still breathe. Holding her arms out above her head, so she could make sure her face would have room to breathe, she made one final fit of wiggling. To her surprise, the intestine took over at this point and pressed down on her, shoving her whole body into it's tight, stinging confines.

The searing acid coated her entire body. She felt her nipples catch fire, her face burn and her eyes begin to scream. The intestine began to tighten, and tighten--she found herself barely able to breathe as it pushed her forcefully down it's length, trying to crush her along the way. The stinging worsened and Lara could not help herself--she let out a yelp as her eyes watered uncontrollably against the acidic onslaught. The intestine continued to tighten as the stinging turned into a scathing, firey agony, and suddenly the intestine began to contort. It shifted in parts and angled itself harshly. Lara felt like her bones were going to break. A sudden wash of the acid belched from somewhere else in the intestine and engulfed her, and from somewhere within the foaming mass she screamed for all she was worth. The intestines contorted harder, shoving her down, down, down. She felt a spike of pain as one of her bones snapped, then another. Two of her ribs broke as the intestine contorted her chest. She felt her skin burning off and becoming numb from the acid that was devouring it. The fleshy tube continued to shove her cruelly along, and soon she felt whole chunks of her body coming off. Just before her lungs filled with acid, she blacked out, knowing that she was going to be fully digested, from head to toe, for her avarice.