Mina sighed as she walked out of the small store. Her breath formed a cloud in the cooling evening air as she was exposed to the cold city air. She reached into her bag, and pulled out one of the two things she bought. A pack of large cigars. Now, she knew what little money she had would be better spent on essentials, but to Mina, this was essential to her. She never felt complete without it. Was it addictive? Sure. But as a girl living on the streets, a cigar addiction was the least of her worries.
 
 
She pulled out a lighter, and struck it once…twice…three times before it finally flicked on. She held the small glow up to her cigar, lighting it, before putting it back in her pocket, most likely out of juice at this point. But that was a problem for tomorrow. For now, she just wanted to get home. She began to walk down the street…And glanced at a fallen newspaper on the ground. She reached down, and picked it up. She normally didn’t care about the news, after all, it barely affected her. I mean, just on the news today, was something about the mayor’s election, an ad for car insurance, an escaped snake, and the weather. Yea, like she needed a newspaper for the weather, she had eyes. No, what caught her attention was the date.
 
 
1/14/2024. Her birthday.
 
 
Mina grumbled, and shoved the newspaper into her bag, before readjusting her newsie cap, “Some 19th birthday…” she just sighed, and walked on. While most girls celebrated their 18th birthday, seeing it as a gateway to new freedoms…Mina’s present was a 3 day notice from her parents to get out of their apartment. They had never been wealthy growing up, but it’s not like they were poor. Mina had imagined she’d at least be able to finish school and find a job, but nope. Her parents revealed what they really saw her as, a burden. One to be removed as soon as legally possible. After that, her life had just crashed down around her. Anything valuable she had was confiscated by her parents since ‘they paid for it’ and what little else she had, Mina had to sell just to be able to survive the first winter being out on the streets. By the end of it all, all the young woman had to her name was a tattered brown dress and her cap. Spring and Summer were pleasant enough to where she could get by doing odd jobs here and there, but try as she might, she was never able to land a full time job. She didn’t exactly have any friends to fall back on either. She had always been standoffish growing up, and that resulted in her being isolated a lot. By the time she was kicked out, her tough personality had made sure that nobody wanted to take in the homeless girl.
 
 
Mina sighed, breathing out the smoke from her cigar. It was already starting to get dark. She shivered, and moved on. There was no point in anything anymore. Every day was just about survival, and if she survived, then she won. If not, well it wasn’t exactly her problem anymore. Though last year at least she had the cushion of selling tons of her belongings to afford the rare stay at a hotel, this year she would truly face the elements. She walked past the Homeless shelter…Giving it a glance. Already full. As usual. Around these parts you had to reserve your spot in line the moment the line opened. Often, Homeless people would team up, with one standing in line all day with the other or others going out and begging for food and scavenging whatever he or she could get their hands on. Once done, they’d just come back and hop in line with their buddy. Mina just shook her head. As established…She wasn’t exactly a people person. Mina used to tough it out and wait all day, after all, getting a shower and a single bowl of oatmeal was better than starving and being out in the cold. However, after the first couple times she realized her stuff would be stolen when she was sleeping. A shirt here or there, a pair of pants vanishing, a towel she set out to dry gone with the wind. That was manageable…Until she had a freshly purchased pack of her favorite cigars stolen. That was crossing the line, so Mina decided she was better off on her own. Even now she figured it wasn’t worth it. Though she had nothing worth stealing anymore, the amount of homeless people had doubled since last year. Sometimes people standing in line since it opened still wouldn’t make it in. It was just another ruined idea. Still, she would like to clean the dirt and soot stains that plagued her skin off eventually. For now though, being a little dirty was the least of her problems. In fact, her self care was completely non-existent. As well as the dirt stains, she had stopped bothering to get haircuts, seeing them as a waste of time and money, and as a result, her blonde hair reached all the way down to her ankles. It was messy and unkempt, full of knots and tangles. It was too much of a bother to deal with so she just let it grow.
 
 
Leaving the city also wasn’t an option. Not anymore at least. There was nothing for miles upon miles outside the city walls. She would have frozen to death without a doubt. And after Winter, with all her items sold, she no longer had anything to sell to get money to have supplies for said trek. She was completely trapped with no way out.
 
 
She continued walking down the streets until she finally began to reach the outskirts of the city. Coming to one of the bridges that led to the nearby City Junkyard. She hopped over the railing, and walked down the ditch, where the underside of the bridge came into view. There, lay probably the only good thing that had happened to her while out here. An old rusted shipping container. Her home. A place to provide shelter from wind, rain and any other type of weather. Speaking of wind…A gust of wind blew out Mina’s cigar. She grumbled, and tossed it aside onto the ground. Another gust of wind caused her to shiver…It was cold…Really cold…And then…A single snowflake fell in front of her face.
 
 
“Fuck. Fucking dammit.” Mina scowled. Snowing!? Of course it had to snow. Just make this shitty day even worse, why don’t we? She looked around, grabbing loose trash that had blown into the ditch. Lots of greasy fast food wrappers, newspapers and bags, but it would work. She carried the trash into the container…And sighed…throwing it all into an old metal trash can she ‘borrowed’ from a park. She turned around, and closed the container as far as she could without accidentally locking herself in, using a small rock as a wedge. With that, she sighed, and just sat down, feeling the cold metal floor against the tattered and patchy cloth that could barely be called a dress at this point. She reached her arms back, and attempted to move her hair under herself, trying to make a sort of layer between herself and the steel. It worked somewhat, but she kept pulling on her hair too hard so she just gave up. It barely helped against the cold metal regardless.
 
 
She reached into her bag, and pulled out her lighter and a fresh cigar. She flicked it once…twice…three…four…five times now before a small flame came out. “Outta juice…Of course.” She held it to her cigar to light it…Barely managing it just as the flame properly went out. She tossed the empty lighter to the side. Just another piece of garbage. No big deal, lighters were fairly easy to steal after all. Just slip into the pocket and no one was none the wiser. She took a deep breath, and exhaled, the smoke coming out of her mouth in a stream. She stood up, and walked over to the trash can. She pulled the cigar from her mouth, and pressed it against some of the dry paper. It took a moment, but it caught on fire, and soon spread to some of the other garbage, getting a small proper blaze going. She knew it wouldn’t last though. She just hoped it was enough to get her through the night. For now though…She just leaned back…Hoping that the small fire would be enough to insulate the large container…She spent a few minutes just picking random leaves and twigs off of her hair, flicking them into the fire. She eventually grabbed something a bit…Thicker. She held the item, and realized she was holding an entire firecracker. “The hell? When did I get one of these?” She just tossed it deeper into the container, wanting to get it away from the fire.
 
 
 She began to shut her eyes…If she opened them in the morning, yay! She survived. If not…Eh. At least she could be proud she made it this far. That’s what every night’s sleep was after all. Seeing if she would survive. Whether it would be the cold that does her in, or another homeless person killing her just because. At this point, it didn’t matter to her. Time…To…Sleep…
 
 
Creaaaaaaaaaaaak. Clack
 
 
The sound of the container doors being pushed open, and the small rock hitting the cement outside instantly caused Mina to open her eyes. Hey if she died in her sleep she didn’t care, but if she was awake she was damn well gonna be putting up a fight. She looked…Slowly backing into the darkness so the intruder couldn’t see her right away…Kinda wishing she hadn’t thrown away the firecracker into the darkness now…
 
 
She waited…And waited…Probably standing in the darkness for a good 20 minutes…Before sighing. There was no one there. Must have just been the wind. She finally breathed in, and breathed out the smoke…Also then realizing the light of her cigar would have instantly given her away.
 
 
“Pssssh. Fuckin way to go me. No wonder you’re homeless.” She walked to go shut the door back to its barely open state, as it had begun to creak open more. Already the ground was covered in a layer of snow…As she walked past the fire, her foot…Hit something. “E-Eh?” It felt…Smooth. The thing that alarmed her was that…It moved when she hit it by accident. She jumped back…Squinting her eyes to view the dimly lit container…Before gasping. Coiled around the trash can…A snake. And not just some little garter snake. This thing was huge. It was hard to tell since it was coiled…But she could instantly tell it was some kind of large python. She had been so focused on staring at the doorway, at a human level eyesight, she had completely missed the snake that wasn’t even a foot tall.
 
 
“Fuck…Fuck…” Mina’s eyes were wide…What on earth was she supposed to do!? A predatory snake was in here with her, and if she went outside, she wouldn’t last more than an hour in that cold with what she was wearing. Even the 20 minutes standing in the dark was already causing her to shiver uncontrollably. She needed that fire to survive. “O-Okay Mina…Just...No sudden movements…” She slowly crept over…And that’s when she saw the head. Staring right at her. She gulped. She had dealt with a lot over the past year…But this was entirely new territory…Finally…After what felt like an eternity…She was close enough to begin feeling the warmth of the fire again…And she sat down…Motionless…The snake just continued to watch her…Staring at one another for the next hour…
 
 
Mina finally felt herself beginning to relax…The snake was clearly just as wary of her as she was of it. A thought suddenly hit her. The newspaper she read earlier today. She reached into her bag and pulled it out. With the dim light, as well as her cigar, she found it.
 
 
“Escaped 20 Foot Long Reticulated Python from local zoo has still not been found after 5 months.”
 
 
She glanced at the python, “20 feet huh?” She whistled, “Pretty big…” She looked back at the news article…The article was about how the search was being called off, as this long without food surely would have killed it. She chuckled, well, “Guess these guys were wrong about ya~ Clearly you’re doing fi-” She glanced at the python…And for the first time, Mina really looked at it. Its sides were hollowed in, its skeleton visible against its scales… “Oh...” Was all Mina could manage…She frowned…And felt…A pang of sympathy for the snake. Both of them were struggling to survive out in the cold…And now, nobody was even looking for it. “You’re probably running on fumes…And I doubt you would have survived if not for the fire…” She glanced at the flame…Already it was beginning to die down…And realization began to set in for Mina as well. It was barely a few hours into the night. The fire would 100% have gone out had she fallen asleep…And without it, she would have frozen to death. At this point…With how far she was from the city…Going through the snow…In just a tattered dress…It hit her.
 
 
She was a dead woman walking.
 
 
She looked back at the starved, cold snake…As a single thought filled her head.
 
 
She went red. “N-No way that thought actually just crossed my fuckin mind.” She shook herself, trying to compose and gather her thoughts…But…The little intrusive idea wouldn’t go away.
 
 
Feed herself to the snake.
 
 
She groaned…before shouting, startling the snake. She snapped, “Alright you. Listen up. I’m only doin this because out of the two of us, you got the better odds of surviving the night.” She began to lift up her dress… “And hell. Fuck it. Might as well go out on my own terms instead being a frozen corpse found in god knows how long. Probably warm in your stomach anyways.” Her dress wasn’t coming off, not with all that hair, not even having taken it off in so long as it’s all she had…So instead she just tore it off. Not even having a bra, just wearing a pair of dirty panties…Which she also slipped off. Leaving herself entirely nude in front of the snake, which just warily watched her.
 
 
She sat down and leaned back, using her arms as support…And offered her feet to the snake's mouth, placing them nearly only an inch away. “Dammit just…Make this quick. The sooner I’m dinner the better. I’ve had a good run, but I already knew I wasn’t making it long this year.” She shut her eyes, blushing hard as she waited…And waited…But nothing happened. She scowled, “Dammit just fuckin eat me before I free-”
 
 
Mina’s eyes flew open.
 
 
She looked down, and saw her feet being taken into the Python’s maw. “That’s more like it~” The process was slow…Feeling herself slowly taken in…She wasn’t sure if it was because the python barely had the energy to swallow her, or because snakes just naturally ingested their prey slowly…But still, one thing Mina felt, was a warmth she hadn’t felt in a long time. “G-Gah…It…Actually feels pretty nice in there…” Mina exhaled, more smoke coming from her mouth as she still had her lit cigar…She glanced at the fire, it was nearly out now, “A-Alright buddy…I think it really is do or die here…I’m a goner either way…But…” Mina did something she hadn’t in over a year now.
 
 
She smiled.
 
 
“At least my body can keep yours fueled long enough so that you can hopefully find something better…I imagine you don’t wanna go back to that cramped zoo cage huh…” The snake had no response, just focusing on swallowing down this large meal…The snake was already up to her shins, as Mina began to feel the throat muscles pulling down her feet.
 
 
Mina kept herself still, as the snake slowly pulled her down into it more and more, “F-Fuck…I-I’m actually doing this huh…I…O-One hell of a Birthday Present I guess…Wait does that make me the cake in this instance?” She chuckled at her own stupid joke… “Finding time for humor at a moment like this…Talking to a snake that’s actively eating me…Yea. I’ve lost it.” Mina knew at this point she could still probably break out if she wanted to. Hell…She could even hear the occasional car overhead on the bridge. Realistically…She could still survive tonight if she tried…
 
 
“Screw that.”
 
 
Mina now lay on her back, arms behind her head as the python began the task of taking in her thighs…Its jaws now being put to the test as her thighs were squeezed together into the tight maw~ She took the cigar out of her mouth, and exhaled some more smoke, “Honestly, it’s hard enough existing and surviving day to day. If I manage to survive tonight, then so what? I have to do it again…And again…And again. For however long winter decides to last. If it’s not tonight that does me in, then when does my luck run out?” She winked down at the snake, “And hey…This ain’t half bad~ I can see why weirdos on the internet can get off to this type of crap~” She rolled her eyes, “Don’t start expecting me to start masturbating and begging to be broken down like ‘the meat I am’ or something, I ain’t that into it.”
 
 
She placed the cigar back into her mouth, right as the snake began to work over her ass. Mina used her arms to try and help lift herself off the ground a little. An effort that made it a lot easier for the snake…Mina wasn’t exactly the most endowed girl, and her lack of nutrition definitely did a toll on her body, making her a lot slimmer for the snake to swallow. Still better than nothing though. “M-Mmmmpth…” Mina bit her lips as she felt the warm wetness of the maw take her ass inside…She shivered, and glanced at the fire. It could barely be called that now…Only a single flicking flame coming off the trash…Mina could already feel herself getting colder…But…She somehow guessed that wouldn’t be a problem soon…
 
 
Once her ass was inside, she lowered herself gently…Her hair was being pulled as well, already sliding in much quicker than the rest of her, but now being stopped as it was already as far as it could go in without being pulled out of her scalp. Mina’s breathing deepened…More smoke filling the container, which filtered outside into the snowy air…She reached up to take her cigar out of her mouth, but found…She couldn’t. She glanced down, and saw that her hands were inside the snake’s maw, already trapped at her sides.
 
 
Mina just blinked in the quickly dimming light…Before grinning. “Well. Guess that’s that then. Really is no turning back now, huh?” She lay her head back down, simply accepting her fate. “Heh…All my life…Just to end up as food. Everything I went through, experienced and every choice I made led me right to this moment. Sliding right down a snake’s throat. Are there things I wish I could have done differently? Fuck yea there are. But, as it stands…These were the cards I was dealt, and I’m liking my current hand~”
 
 
Mina took a moment to reflect…One year ago today she was thrown out of her house by her parents. Just another person on the streets. She was nothing. She couldn’t help but wonder what her parents were doing, and if they ever thought about her. If they had any idea their daughter would be snake food. Probably not, and she wasn’t gonna ruin this for herself by thinking about those douchebags. Mina let out another gasp as she felt some saliva on her stomach…The python was speeding up now, seemingly having gotten into the rhythm of swallowing down prey the same size as it…
 
 
The python continued to make its way up her body, with Mina slowly feeling her torso vanishing down into the throat…She wriggled around, feeling almost all of her body surrounded in the tight wet warmth… “That’s it…Almost done with me…” Inch by inch the snake continued to climb up her torso, and eventually came to her chest…Mina wasn’t supporting any funbags. At most she just had a B Cup chest…Letting the snake swallow that part of her down without any effort…Much to the slight disappointment of Mina. She did blush a bit though as she felt her tender yet small chest squeezed against the tight confines of the snake’s maw…
 
 
“J-Just…One part left…And…I’m…Fully inside…” Mina bit her lip…And glanced one more time at the fire…Right as it went out…Nothing more than smoldering embers…Leaving her in almost complete darkness. Only the slightest glow of her cigar remained…And it wasn’t enough to illuminate anything in this vast of a dark space…Mina just shut her eyes and waited…So, through the darkness, Mina slowly felt as the the snake’s maw slipped over her chin…Then her mouth, her nose and then her eyes and ears all being pressed against warm squelching flesh…Before finally…She no longer felt the chill of the air around her…Replaced entirely with slimy wet warm darkness.
 
 
Mina had just been fully swallowed by the snake.
 
 
“Mmmmpth…” She barely moved as she felt herself sliding down the throat of the snake…What was there to say or do…? She was food. She would be digested, gone. Still though…It…Felt nice. In a weird way. Being so close to another living creature…Knowing you were the reason it would survive…A smile came to her face…As she felt her body rubbing against the throat walls, “Heh…Guess I did get that shower after all~ Just…Not the one I was expecting I guess.” She simply continued to rest, eyes closed as she was filtered down through the snake’s throat. She couldn’t help but wriggle a bit as if she were testing how tight the walls around her were~ Every single wriggle being met with tight walls constricting around her~
 
 
This was now her world. Never again would she have to concern herself with wondering what she was going to eat…If the water she was drinking was clean…If the fire she lit was enough to last her the night…If the noise she heard would be someone trying to kill her for what little she had. No. All she had to worry about now was being a good meal. And all that meant was relaxing and letting the stomach do its job. Letting herself be carried down and then broken down into nothing but nutrients for this magnificent reptile…
 
 
After a while…She felt herself come to a stop. “Guess…This is the end of it all huh. The stomach. My…New permanent home.” She opened her eyes…And to her surprise…Found her cigar was still lit somehow, despite sliding through the entire throat with her. With the much tighter space, it was even able to act as a sort of lamp, the soft glow illuminating the previously pitch black innards. With some struggle, she managed to squeeze her arm from her side up to her face, and took the cigar out, getting a better view…She was entirely encased by pink stomach muscle…Pulsating around her as it worked over her body, “Man…It’s fucking crazy how I’m actually gonna get churned into soup in here…” She put the cigar back in her mouth and breathed in one last deep breath…Before breathing out…And along with it…The cigar finally went out from the humid insides…Leaving her entirely in darkness.
 
 
A few minutes passed…And she began to feel…Tingly. She blinked in the darkness. Acids. These were digestive acids. Acids that were going to break her down into nothing but mush. And yet? They felt kinda nice. Maybe her body was just entirely numb at this point, or the lack of oxygen was beginning to get to her. But she kinda expected acids to…Ya know. Be painful. Instead, it felt quite nice, like a thousand kisses on her skin. “Oh yea~ This DEFINITELY beat freezing to death~” She smirked, wriggling around, feeling as she rubbed her body against the warm walls, feeling as the stomach was slowly tightening around her~ She could hear the gurgles and groans of digestion echoing all around her. A sound she was quite familiar with, after she was able to get a meal after such a long time without one. And now…She was that meal.
 
 
“Hope you enjoyed the meal of a lifetime~ For damn sure I bet you’re never gonna eat something as tasty as me again…” She smirked, talking to the snake, not even knowing if it was listening, much less understand her…Before yawning… “Well…I suppose this is it for me…” She wriggled a bit, getting comfy…Before slowly shutting her eyes…She was already tired from the long night…As well as the fatigue from everything she had gone through seemingly catching up with her all at once. As if her body knew it could truly finally rest after so long of pushing itself to survive…Mina would eventually fall asleep with a smile…Around her, the stomach acids slowly and continuously rose…Until Mina was fully submerged within the gurgling juices…By then however, Mina was already fast asleep…Never to wake again…
 
 
…
 
 
The morning would come. The entirety of the container was dead still…Until the snake slowly stirred from its slumber as morning light filtered in through the crack of the shipping container. As seemingly fast as the snow storm had come, it was already gone. With the sun already out and melting away the snow that had caused all this to happen. The snake was in no hurry however. It was quite comfortable where it was…And its energy was…Being directed to another place currently. It lay its head down…Right on top of its stomach. Last night, had someone walked in, they would have clearly seen live feminine prey squirming around inside of the 20 foot python. Now however, the meal was still human shaped, but had somewhat smoothed out as stomachs still filled the stomach…As well as completely still as gurgles and groans echoed out, showing the stomach was still hard at work breaking down all the meat inside…
 
 
…
 
 
A week had now passed since that fateful night.
 
 
There hadn’t been any more snow, but it seemed that snowfall was just a precursor to a larger storm that was coming…Something the snake would have no way to know about.
 
 
As it happened however, the python was ready to move to a ‘safer’ location to continue digesting its prey. It slowly slithered out from the old container, all the snow gone from the ground, as the sun shone onto its scales. Behind it, trailed a stomach that was still gurgling and groaning and still very much digesting something…You could obviously tell it had eaten something big recently, just not what…
 
 
The snake’s body had already begun absorbing the parts of the meal it had digested…If one were to look at a before and after, the snake had already begun to fatten up quite nicely again…Clearly whatever it had eaten was quite sustaining…
 
 
The serpent slithered aimlessly before sensing some nearby warmth…Around it were all these smaller buildings which made it feel boxed in…But it needed this warmth to survive, as well as help digest its prey…It finally found the source…A weird object that was emitting a faint heat…It slithered over something…And slipped inside, coiling up nicely…Completely unaware that it had just slithered into the back of a pickup truck. After a few minutes, the snake was aware of voices.
 
 
“Thanks for helpin load the truck Todd! I best be getting back home before that blizzard hits. I can deal with Florida’s hurricanes, but a Blizzard? Nooooo thank you.” The voice got closer…And the snake hit under a tarp that was laying open in the back of the truck…Out of sight. And unknowingly, the guy pulled the truck bed cover over, completely trapping the snake in darkness…
 
 
Still, as the engine started and the truck began to move, the snake simply lay down…It was quite warm after all…It needed to preserve its energy to digest…
 
 
…
 
 
For 3 Days the truck would start, then stop, then go, then stop then start and go. During all that the snake just patiently sat coiled as the truck moved…Around it…The snake could feel the difference in the weather. Slowly growing warmer and warmer…It felt…Right.
 
 
Finally, after a while, the truck pulled into somewhere…And stopped. The snake heard the sound of the man walking around…Instead of walking away, this time it sounded like it was coming right to the back of the truck. Light suddenly hit the python’s face.
 
 
“Alright let’s get my stuff unloaded and-OH SHIT-” The man visibly recoiled, seeing the large snake in the back. Before running off towards his home. The snake’s tongue flicked about curiously…As it poked its head out, and surveyed its new surroundings. The cold gray skies were gone, no buildings that endlessly towered up…Instead…Grasses and trees were everywhere, birds chirping filled the air with music…It could taste the smell of running water…
 
 
The snake slithered out the back of the truck, onto the asphalt…Before for the first time in nearly half a year, touching grass with its scales…Behind it…A bulge trailed…Now having shrunk a bit…One could still tell that the snake ate though, and quite well at that. As it slithered through the grasses, and found itself at the edge of a body of water…And the python slipped into it…vanishing beneath the murky depths…
 
 
The snake was reported as probably just another Burmese Python, and was quickly forgotten about by both the man and the authorities…Leaving the snake in peace as it explored its new marsh home.
 
 
…
 
 
Months passed.
 
 
The Reticulated Python had settled into its new home nicely. Just another snake among the thousands in the Everglades. Free to live its life however it pleased in the warm sunshine without worry. Behind it, the stomach that once contained Mina, the girl who willingly fed herself to the escaped python so that it may have a better chance of surviving…Was empty. They prey having been completely digested. Mina’s final decision and wish had paid off. Not only had the snake received much needed nourishment, it was now in a place it could truly call home. Did the snake remember her final gift to it? Was it grateful to the girl who willingly gave her body as fuel? It’s impossible to know. There was one thing that was known for sure however.
 
 
The snake was hungry once again.
 
 
During the digestion period, it had come across countless things to eat…But…None of them had enticed the snake for some odd reason…That is…Until it heard something nearby…A young woman in a bikini was splashing around in the water close to where the python was basking…It’s tongue flicked out…Picking up the woman’s scent…Instantly in hunting mode.
 
 
Seems Mina had left the snake with a new favorite food as well…As it slowly slithered towards its next meal…