The red rubber suit

“Screw this crap.”

 

Luna, scraped a shard of glass along the cold steel wall next to her bed. She wanted to carve her trademark “L” signature into the wall, just to mark territory a usual. However, her cell wasn’t exactly the most flattering bit of territory she had inherited.

 

“Almost 2 months in this clink and I already feel like a caged rat.” grumbled Luna as she chucked the shard of glass to the other side of the narrow room. It bounced off the wall and tumbled to the edge of the plexiglass pane that kept her separated from the prison hallway. At the same time, the warden walked up to the pane and gently kicked it twice to get Luna’s attention. He pressed a button on the intercom console to the side of the transparent door.

 

“How’s the freezer today hun?” the doughy cop grinned churlishly.

 

“Probably no worse than your pants, pig.” growled Luna as she kept staring at the blank steel wall.

 

“Oh, we’ve got a real storm cloud over our head today. And I thought this brand new big house we’ve got here would cheer you up.” The warden raised his arms and snapped his hands, summoning two guards with rifles.

 

“Yeah, it’s Club fuckin’ Med allright.” Luna balled her hand up into a fist. It shuddered with anger.

 

“Well Miss, I’m quite proud of this establishment. It’s all part of a new era of law enforcement. And you’re going to be helping too lady. Involuntarily, of course.”

 

The dumpy old cowboy took out a small blue card and inserted it into a slit on the intercom. Immediately the plexiglass window slid away with a dull hiss, and the two guards entered Luna’s cell.

 

“Come with us Ma’m.” said one of the guards as he tapped the wall above Luna’s head. After a brief pause she looked slightly over her shoulder.

 

“Ma’m?” Luna whispered before she swiftly raised her knee and shot her leg backwards, firmly striking the guard’s groin with the ball of her foot. He groaned in pain as Luna lept up from her bed, only for the other guard’s arm to clothesline her in the neck. As she choked and fell to the ground on all fours, the guard quickly grabbed her right arm and skillfully swung half of a pair of handcuffs onto her wrist, locking it into place. Wasting no time, he then grabbed her other arm and wrestled it into a position so he could join it into the other-half of the handcuffs. Properly subdued, the guard pulled her to her feet and yelled, “Move! And no funny stuff!” as he marched Luna outside of the cell and down the hallway.

 

The warden chuckled as he walked on over to the other guard, still nursing his sore groin.

 

“A feisty one, ain’t she Tex?” he joked.

 

 

“Allright Missy, you’ve been plenty of trouble in the past. However, we have something that might cool you down.” said the Warden as he walked in front of Luna. He walked up to a door at the end of the corridor and pressed a button to open it.

 

Behind the door was a locker room, with another pair of guards and a middle-aged balding man in a navy blue suit holding a briefcase.

 

“You’re a little late.” said the man.

 

“Sorry, as you can see, your gal is quite anxious to meet you.” the warden pointed his arm at the restrained Luna. She gave the suited man a nasty glare.

 

“Ah, proof enough that she’s the perfect subject.” grinned the man.

 

“Oh great, you bastards plan to shoot me up with some weird-ass chemicals now?” Luna snapped.

 

“Chemicals? Not quite.” The man set down his briefcase and walked over to a locker while cracking his hairy knuckles. “Since this prison facility is an experimental project, we not only have been testing the technology of the premises, but also the technology applied to the inmates.”

 

“Ok, and what is this shit you’re putting on me?” Luna lunged slightly forward as she shouted, causing the guards to pull her backwards.

 

“We’ve got some snazzy new threads for ya’ Missy. Something different from your drab old duds.” said the Warden.

 

The suited man then opened the locker up and pulled out a long dust protector on a hangar. As it hung from his outstretched hand, he walked up to Luna.

 

“First, I need you to take a shower. Make sure you clean yourself thoroughly. Second…” The man then placed the dust protector onto the bench and opened up his briefcase. He took out a small white container. “Rub this gel all over your body.”

 

“Oh great. You’ve got yourself a lil’ porno operation in this prison too huh?” snarled Luna.

 

“Oh no. This gel has a more practical purpose.” said the man as he raised his right eyebrow. “Then after that, you just put on your new prison uniform.”

 

“And don’t worry Missy, we won’t stare. There’s a changing room over there, so you got yourself some privacy.” The warden pointed towards a solitary door at the end of the locker room. “Don’t spend too much time in there.”

 

“Like I have a choice.” sulked Luna.

 

One of the guards unlocked the handcuffs around Luna’s hand while the other one pushed her towards the man in the suit. They both readied their rifles, anticipating some resistance from the feisty redhead. She sneered at them as she hastily gathered up the uniform hidden in the large dust jacket, grabbed the container from the man in the suit, and stormed off to the changing room.

 

 

“Dammit, she’s taking too long.” growled the warden.

 

“Oh, you know women. They always take their sweet time getting ready.” grinned the suited man. "By the way, what is this lady in for?"

 

"Oh, she's quite an infamous character around these parts. In fact, her nickname is 'Lunaration'. Taken from the word 'laceration' of course." the warden reminisced as he planted his pudgy hands into his pockets.

 

"'Lunaration'? Sounds like she enjoys inflicting pain on others."

 

"Usually preceded by pleasure! She was the daughter of this big time drug trafficker in Southern California. No only did he raise to be a great dealer, but a right-hand woman."

 

"I'm intrigued..." the man said dryly.

 

"Usually if a partner got out of line with her daddy's request, he'd send her to deal with him. By nightime they'd be doing the nasty in bed. By morning the guy would make ground beef look presentable."

 

"I've known people with worse girlfriends." the suited fellow joked.

 

"Well, that wasn't her only claim to infamy." the warden continued. "She also had a knack for getting into big firefights when the road to the border got hectic. Whether Feds, Mexican coppers, or rival cartels decided to pick a fight with her posse, she'd bust out the heavy artillery and keep firing like hell. It didn't matter if they were cops or just some poor souls who got caught in the crossfire."

 

"Has she been caught before?"

 

"Oh many times, but she's a slippery one. That's why you're here bub." winked the Warden.

 

“This has to be a fucking joke! You expect me to wear this!?” yelled Luna from behind the door.

 

“Put it all on! Including the hood!” shouted the man.

 

“Bullshit!” Luna snapped back. One of the guards went to the door and kicked it hard a couple times.

 

“Okay, fine!” Luna began grumbling to herself as she fit the last of herself into the bizarre garment.

 

“Allright Missy! Time to meet the press!” the warden said.

 

The door knob on the door turned sharply as Luna swung the door open and emerged from the changing room. Instead of her drab grey jumpsuit, she was now in a skin-tight bright red seamless bodysuit that covered her entire body. Only her face was not covered by the shiny rubbery material. The only distinguishing mark on her suit was a barcode on her left shoulder and grey words stenciled on her chest that said “TALOS FEDERAL PENETENTARY” Her ample bosom jiggled as she stormed towards the warden and the man. Both guards pointed their rifles at her as she fumed.

“This has to be a sick joke! I’m not going to wear this rubber shit!” Luna pointed furiously at the two men.

 

“Hey, you look like one o’ them Martian invaders in those old sci-fi movies!” chortled the fat warden.

 

“Well, the uniform fits her well. Not surprising since the nanite gel programs the suit to conform to her body.” said the man.

 

“Nanites!? What the hell are you talking about?” frowned Luna.

 

“This suit that you’re wearing is made from a vulcanized polymer that has microscopic nanites bonded within it. And the gel that you rubbed all over your body is also full of nanites.” the man took a PDA out from his suit jacket pocket and switched it on as explained the suit to Luna. “The nanites in the suit are programmed to not only be attracted towards your body via the gel, but the gel nanites also work in tandem with your suit nanites to react from an outside command.” the man fiddled around with the PDA as Luna crossed her arms in annoyance.

 

“Ok, and what kind of command would that be?” said Luna.

 

“Well, if an inmate gets too unruly, they get contained like this…” the man pressed a button on the screen of the PDA. Immediately a loud hiss filled the air as Luna’s suit quickly inflated like a balloon. She dropped her jaw in shock as she looked down and saw her curvy voluptuous body balloon up like a party favor. Within a split second her suit made her look like a bloated, awkward mockery with a large round abdomen with bulbous legs, and puffed-up arms. The block letters on her chest bulged outwards as her face turned a shade of red that nearly matched the suit's shade.

 

“What the fuck is this? Some sort of prank!?” screamed Luna. The warden meanwhile was laughing and slapping his knee at the spectacle.

 

“The command I input from this PDA causes the nanites to produce a large surge of carbon dioxide that is then released into the space between the two layers of specialized polymer material that you suit is made of. The polymer material is bullet-proof, and very flexible.” while the man talked, Luna waddled awkwardly around. She tried tossing herself at the suited man, only to fall onto her stomach and land with a loud squeak.

 

Keeping his distance from the irate female criminal flailing on the ground, the man continued his explanation as the warden roared with laughter in the background.

 

“With the suit inflated, the pressure will make movement a very hard task for the inmate. All you can do is flail about harmlessly without harming others, or yourself. It’s a simple, yet effective way of keeping inmates under control within a prison.” Luna continued to roll around on the ground, cursing in vain at the man in the suit.

 

“Plus if the inmate remains unruly, the suit can be inflated further to put ‘pressure’ on the wearer.” The man slid a taskbar on the screen of the PDA, and simultaneously, the nanites within the suit quickly produced more carbon dioxide gas. Luna’s suit quickly ballooned up, large enough for her to get wedged between the ceiling and the floor of the locker room. She helplessly grunted and growled as the rubbery fabric covered her mouth and the expanding suit swallowed up her head, burying her within the massive red balloon.

 

“Wow…” the warden sniffed as he wept tears away from his eyes. “You should sell this to the clowns at the circus! The kids will love it.”

 

“Hmmm, the marketing department at my office did express interest in contacting the entertainment industry about this suit. But for now, it is desinged strictly for punitative reasons, sir.” The man handed the PDA over to the warden, then he locked up his briefcase. “I taught you all the necessary functions of the controls. Just give me a call if you have any problems or questions.” The suited man began to leave the room. “Oh, and make sure she gets a little air.”

 

“Sure, but it looks like she’s got too much!” the warden laughed as he looked towards the immobilized Luna as she growled and grunted angrily inside her red rubber prison. 

The warden watched Luna safely from the security monitor. An eerie blue glare lit up his grinning face as he pressed a button on the PDA.

 

Back in her cell, Luna laid flat on the ground in her bizarre inflated outfit. When her suit began to hiss and deflate, she momentarily got a look of surprise on her face. She felt her rubber body and noticed that she was back to her original feminine form.

 

“Those sons of bitches. They just wanna’ play with me like I’m some sort of pool toy!” said Luna grouchily, as she groggily scratched her red butt cheeks. “They can all go to hell! Nobody makes a fool out of me like that!” She then flopped down on her stiff little cot and crossed her arms angrily.

 

Luna looked at the clock outside her cell and noticed that it was 10 o’clock already.

 

“Funny. They would have given me dinner long ago.” said Luna as she rubbed her flat stomach. “But for some reason, I don’t feel hungry.”

 

After staring at the cold, blank ceiling for a few minutes, Luna got back up and leaned with her back facing the giant plexiglass door.

 

“I might have put a few pigs in the hospital, but I don’t deserve this crap. Not one bit.” mumbled Luna.

 

As Luna slept on her spartan cot, a few stiff knocks coming from the plexiglass cell door woke her up. She reluctantly turned her attention towards the door and saw the oafish warden grinning at her through the door.

 

“Rise and shine balloon babe! It’s time for a little morning review.” he jovially said as the plexiglass door opened up. Luna had a strong urge to clean the prankster law enforcer’s clock, but she noticed that his thumb was tapping the PDA as he held it. The rubbersuited female convict knew that he would press the button that would inflate her suit and quickly immobilize her. All Luna could do was control her impulses and begrudgingly get on her feet to face the warden.

 

“So, what other crap do you want to put me through?” growled Luna.

 

“Ah don’t worry. This is just a little checkup. A visit to the doctor’s office.” the warden tapped the PDA against his waist as Luna rubbed her rubber scalp. “Well, at least the doctor can’t probe too many parts of me with this thing on.”

 

The two guards behind the warden waved their hands in a “come come” motion. Luna calmly followed them while the warden followed her from behind.

 

“Looks like you keep your ass well-developed!” said the warden as he admired Luna’s red shiny posterior.

 

“I need strong hips and legs so I can run away from creeps like you.” growled Luna.

 

“Well, you could have a weightlifter’s hinder and it still wouldn’t be enough to get you around if I fill your suit up!” the warden tapped his nightstick against her supple bottom a couple times, causing her anger to boil even harder within.

 

“By the way, where was my dinner last night?” snarled Luna.

 

“There wasn’t any dear. In fact, you won’t ever be getting any dinner. The nanites in that suit apparently not only suppress your appetite, but recycle your body’s nutrients. That means we won’t have to spend a single penny on maintaining a mess hall in this place.”

 

“Reuse, reduce. Retarded.” Luna growled, not appreciative of the technology the warden told her. “Then again, I guess I should be thankful that I don’t have to eat prison food anymore.” she thought.

 

 

---

 

“Please come in.” The brown-haired doctor said as Luna and the hawkish warden entered the sterile office.

 

“Allright, time for the nice doctor to take a look at you.” said the warden as he prodded Luna’s butt again. She kept a poker face, but deep inside she was ready to rip the fat redneck’s throat out.

 

“Please have a seat.” the lady doctor began to hook up some sensors to a laptop computer as Luna sat down on the chilly, padded cot.

 

“This test will determine if the nanites within the suit are recycling her nutrients properly. If the signs turn out positive, it’ll confirm the design’s reliability.”

 

“So you say she’ll never have to eat while wearing that thing?” one of the guards asked.

 

“Correct. And the suit itself is indestructible. Even in its inflated state.”

 

Luna suddenly had a spur of inspiration. “Indestructible? Holy shit! That means I could make a getaway and not worry about getting hurt. All I have to do is make sure that jackass doesn’t blow me up…” schemed Luna as she grinned to herself. “But how do I keep him from touching that control pad?”

 

Discreetly, Luna shifted her eyes about, trying to find something in the room that could help her escape. As she looked behind herself, Luna spotted a dark bottle and squinted her eyes in order to read what the label said. At the same time, the doctor had attached a few nodes and sensors on Luna’s torso to take vital readings on her computer.

 

“Chloroform!” Luna thought as she quickly deciphered the label on the bottle behind her. As she looked back towards the front, her eyes caught a glimpse of a grate large enough to accommodate her body right above her head. “This is too easy.” Luna grinned.

 

“Please, hold still.” the doctor said as she pressed her stethoscope against Luna’s chest.

 

 

“Okay, she looks fine. Her heart rate is stable, blood sugar level is optimal. Overall she’s quite healthy.” said the doctor as she popped the nodes away from Luna’s body. “And you say the last time she had anything to eat was fourty-eight hours ago?”

 

“That’s right doctor. Nice to hear our lil’ girl’s doin’ fine. Now all we gotta’ do is get her back…”

 

Before the warden could finish his sentence, Luna groaned as she put both hands to her stomach.

 

“Ohhhhhhhh. My stomach! It’s…. cramping up!” grimaced Luna.

 

“Oh? Are you sure? I didn’t see anything wrong with you.” replied the doctor.

 

“No, I was fine. But suddenly this nasty cramp sprang out of nowhere,..” Luna continued to wince and hold her abdomen.

 

“Odd, let me see if I can subdue the pain and then run more tests on you.” the doctor walked over to the counter behind Luna and looked through the medicine cabinet. Luna turned around and pointed to the bottle of chloroform. “Hey doc! That’s the stuff I need!”

 

“This?” the doctor reached down to the dark bottle and picked it up. She adjusted her spectacles and looked at the label. “You’re mistaken, this is just a bottle of…” suddenly, like a flash of red lightening, Luna snatched the bottle of chloroform away from the doctor’s hands and hurled it right at the warden’s face.

 

The bottle shattered like a brilliant firework of glass, splashing the chloroform all over his face and onto the two guards. Simultaneously, Luna somersaulted backwards and landed on her feet. She ducked down and held her breath in order to avoid the noxious fumes of the spilled chemical.

 

Immediately the warden went out like a light and crumpled to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Both the guards on his right and left too followed the dumpy authority figure into unconsciousness.

 

With a look of shock on her face. All the doctor could do was stand and gawk at the spectacle. Luna quickly jumped up in front of the doctor’s face, grabbed the back of her neck with both hands, and pushed her face into her red knee, knocking her out cold. Luna looked back over at the incapacitated warden and the two guards. She noticed that one of them was crawling over to the PDA, trying to touch it.

 

“Sorry asshole. I'm not your toy anymore.” Said Luna as she held her breath and walked quickly over to the PDA and gave it a good stomp with her heel. The LCD screen went dark and exploded with rainbow-colored chemicals. The grey plastic casing shattered like glass into many pieces. Following that, Luna heeled the guard in the face, knocking him out for good.

 

“I still got it.” Luna gloated as she looked around the room to spot any security cameras. In one corner she spied a little back circular eye, looking towards her. As she walked towards it she grabbed some cotton balls from a nearby jar, rummaged through a drawer, and found some band-aids. She quickly pushed a couple cotton balls onto the camera lens and draped a pair of band-aids over them. Luna pressed down on them firmly in order to make sure they wouldn’t fall off.

 

After blinding the camera, Luna looked up towards the vent and smiled.

 

 

---

 

Luna grunted as she squirmed and wiggled her body through the cold stainless steel duct. Before jumping into the vent, she rubbed her entire body with Vaseline, from a container within the medical room’s cupboard.

 

“I feel gross inside this fucking suit. But soon it won’t matter. I’ll be free! And those goddamn fascists can’t stop me!” she smirked with self-satisfaction.

 

“This stupid suit they made me wear allows me to survive without food or water. All I gotta’ do is walk off towards Mexico and that’s it! This is so goddamn easy!”

 

As she continued her worm-like trek through the duct, she heard some muted footsteps down below. Pausing quickly, Luna waited until the sound grew quieter and faded away.

 

“They’re gone.” Luna thought as she started her arduous squirm once again.

 

 

Luna panted silently, exhausted by her slow crawl through the metallic passageway. She narrowed her eyes and grinned.

 

“Finally, the friggin’ exit!” grunted Luna as she hastened her slither. “I just wonder what’s on the other side.”

 

A minute later, Luna stopped abruptly and came face-to-face with a fine metal grate. On the other side was the desert, tinted by the warm glow of dawn. Through the wire-thin mesh, Luna could see the orange sun peeking over the horizon. After briefly scanning the landscape, she noticed that there was a chain-link fence with barbed wire loops on the top.

 

“So those creeps say my suit is indestructible eh?” Luna grinned as she hustled and stretched her arms out in front of her. Quickly she spat out a small pair of surgical scissors that she had hidden within her mouth and picked it up. “Good thing I swiped this from the room.” thought Luna as she began to snip through the fine wires of the grate.

 

After cutting most of the wires, Luna punched the screen loose and knocked it out. Quickly, she took a quick peek to the right and left outside the vent, just to make sure no guards were prowling about.

 

Luna crawled out of the open vent and lowered herself to the ground. Wasting no time she sprinted towards the chain-link fence and jumped onto it. With an iron grip she latched onto the fence and began climbing up. As she reached the top, Luna ignored the barbed wire and reached through it to grab onto the top bar of the fence. With gymnastic skill, she shifted herself over to the other side of the fence. The scratching of the barb wire felt uncomfortable, but the indestructible rubber suit kept it from damaging her skin.

 

Just as she jumped over to the other side, a guard who just came from around the corner of the prison compound spotted Luna making her escape. “Hey! There she is! Get her!” he yelled as Luna jumped to the dusty desert floor and began sprinting.

 

Up ahead, Luna saw a gully. “Well, if the barb wire didn’t hurt me, a little roll shouldn’t be too bad either.”

 

While the guard ran up to the fence and pointed his assault rifle, Luna ducked down into the depression and somersaulted. Like tumbleweed, she rolled down the shallow, rocky incline. She felt a little pain from the rocks and chaparral digging into her body, but the rough bouncing only bruised a few spots here and there.

 

After reaching the bottom, Luna rolled into a river. The cold water gave her a subtle jolt, but the rubber suit acted like a wetsuit, protecting her from the chilly morning water. Treading water, Luna looked up and spotted a few guards coming into view. They pointed their rifles at her and began shooting. Quickly she ducked down beneath the water. Spurts of water covered the river’s surface as the guards emptied their cartridges.

 

They paused and waited for about a minute to see if Luna’s body would float up to the surface.

 

“There’s no way she could have survived that. She’ll have more holes than a sponge when we find her.” said one of the guards.

 

“Let’s check and make sure.” said another guard as the group began to reload their weapons and walk down into the gully.

The guards waded through the shallow bank of the river and looked around, trying to spot Luna. A mere ten meters away from the search party, Luna treaded up to the surface and watched the guards wander through the lazy current. “See you chumps later.” thought Luna as she took a deep breath and ducked beneath the water’s surface.

Water droplets fell off of Luna’s wet rubber body and splattered against the warm desert floor. She stretched herself out and yawned. “Well, time to head on over to the border and get this stank-ass thing off me.”

 

---

 

Meanwhile, within the medical room, the warden was rubbing his head as he regained consciousness. A couple of guards helped him to his feet.

 

“That lil’ catty bitch… If I ever get my hands on her I’ll squeeze her neck into a friggin’ Dixie straw!” fumed the warden.

 

“Sir, we saw her dive into Alvarado Creek, near the facility. We’ve got half the prison staff looking for her.” said one of the guards.

 

“Well make sure you spread out! She could have scurried off into the mesa.”

 

Just as the warden finished speaking, he and the guards were startled by what sounded like a loud electrical short-out.

 

“What the hell?” shouted the warden as he and the guards saw a shower of sparks shoot out from the floor like a geyser. It was the broken control PDA that the warden dropped when Luna knocked him out.

 

---

 

 

Luna strolled along the parched desert floor. Her face was drenched with sweat from the dry heat.

 

“Don’t worry… You may be miserable now, but you’ll be able to walk to the border without worrying about losin’ water.” Luna said to herself.

 

Her silent walk however was interrupted by what seemed to be a loud annoying hiss coming from out of nowhere. “Okay, is that just my sweat sizzling on the ground?” Luna looked down and widened her eyes in shock. Her suit was beginning to slowly expand.

 

“What the… How the hell is this happening!?” Luna put her hands up to her face and began to sweat even harder as she felt the inner layer of the suit tighten all over her body. “No, no, NO! THIS IS BULLSHIT!” screamed the lady convict as her body, once again, began to transform into a bulbous puffy shape.

 

“Okay, I broke the fucking thing it should… should…” Luna felt her self dip further into despair as she ballooned up. She wobbled and waddled, awkwardly stumbling around as her pressurized bodysuit squeaked obnoxiously.

 

Finally the suit stopped inflating, but only until after her abdomen looked like a massive red balloon, about one hundred centimeters in diameter. Her limbs, hands, and feet all were puffed up, making her look like some bizarre cartoon character. “Okay, I’m NOT going to let this slow me down! I’m not going to be made a fool of by that fat hick of warden!”

 

Luna wasn’t going to let this setback hinder her. If she had to trudge through the desert in a hot, musky, inflated rubber suit, she would do it.

 

---

 

 

Hours later, Luna panted and wobbled forwards. Despite her misery, she did not feel like she was in danger of dying of thirst, or hunger.

 

“Oh god. How far have I gotten?” moaned Luna. She looked behind herself and noticed that the hill she spotted an hour back hardly looked any smaller than it was before.

 

“Shit, I’m hardly getting anywhere. I’ll never make it to the border like this!” Luna angrily pounded her ballooned body. The force her fists made against herself made Luna tumble backwards like a turtle.

“Arrrrrrrrrrghhhh!” she cried in frustration. Her yell of angst echoed off the desert hills, making it seem like the landscape was mocking her.

 

“I need to get out of this goddamn thing.” Luna rolled onto her side and struggled to get back up on her feet. As she rolled around in place, she spotted what looked like some jagged metal. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be a wrecked dirt bike, abandoned to the elements of Mother Nature many years ago.

 

“Maybe I could pop this suit with that sharp pole.” Groaned Luna as she rolled on over to the wreckage and grabbed ahold of a metal pipe jutting from the broken bike’s main body. A firm tug quickly detached the part from the bike. “I may be naked under this, but I sure as hell don’t want to be in it any longer…” Luna then pointed the sharp pole towards her round red belly and thrusted it into herself…

…and nothing happened.

 

“Maybe if I twist it around…” Luna grunted with gritted teeth as she dug the pole into the shiny, taut, rubber, but amazingly the material would not give.

 

“No, NO! What this fuck is wrong with this!? Why won’t it tear!? This shit can’t happen!” Luna’s rubber suit squeaked and contorted as she frantically dug at herself with the pole.

 

The anguished young woman continued fighting with herself for a full minute before she finally tossed aside the pole and laid back down on her back. Spittle shot out from her lips as she panted like a dog in the sun. As she tried to comprehend the suit’s strength, she remembered what the man in the business suit back at the prison said the other day…

“And the suit itself is indestructible. Even in its inflated state.”

“We’ll see about that.” Luna snarled.

 

---

 

A full silver moon illuminated the placid, painted Arizona desert. All was silent, save for an echoing cracking sound. Luna was hitting two granite rocks together, struggling to ignite a campfire. Movement was very restrictive in her over-inflated rubber suit. The pressure within the middle layer of the suit’s skin pressed against her joints, making every bend of the limb stiff and awkward.

 

“Come on! Light up dammit!” hissed Luna as she cracked both pieces of granite together. Sparks flowed from the two rocks like water.

 

After another few minutes of seemingly aimless hitting, Luna noticed a wisp of smoke from the mound of dry wood and brush that she dumped on the ground.

 

“Finally! Now let’s make this shit work…” Luna waddled off to the side and reached for a large blunt object on the ground. She squatted down, causing the squishy, round suit to bury half of her head. With some care and strength, Luna got a grip on the object and picked it up. As she got back into a full standing position, the moonlight illuminated the object she was holding: a large battery.

 

“Okay, if I can get the acid out of this thing, I can melt a hole in the suit, and then I’m outta’ here.”

 

Luna waddled over to a large jagged rock on the hillside and stopped in front of it. At the same time, the freshly ignited fire within the mound of brush and wood had begun to burn. Sharp orange flames lit up the area, giving Luna a visual of the rock’s texture.

 

Steadily, she lifted the dense black battery over her head, struggling to keep the heavy blunt object within her grip. With a hearty grunt she tossed the battery onto the sharpest point on the rock and quickly covered her face with her sausage-like arms to protect herself from stray drops of battery acid.

 

As predicted, the rusty metal casing of the battery easily ruptured open, spraying blobs of acid onto her suit. Luna grinned behind her massive puffy arms as she heard the acid sizzle.

 

Moments passed as Luna waited to hear the sound of air escaping from her suit as the acid burned and sizzled on the rubber…

 

…but she heard nothing.

 

Moments became minutes, and Luna’s patience quickly wore thin as she put her arms down and pressed into her large squishy midsection. She saw acid sizzling and steaming, but the suit was untouched.

 

Immediately, her face twisted into a look of uncontrollable rage as she screamed out loud towards the moonlight and kicked the battery on the ground away with her puffed-up foot. Frustration had completely taken over Luna’s mind. All she could think of was bloody murder…

 

“How the fuck can this thing exist!? This is bullshit! Major League, POS, bullshit!” screamed Luna as she continued her violent tourettes-laced tantrum, squeaking and flailing like an irate parade balloon. Her face’s color began to turn a shade of red very close to the red color of the suit.

 

“Ok! Fine! I’m sick of pussying around! You wanna’ play hardball you piece of shit!?” yelled Luna as she waddled on over to the now fully-ignited bonfire and tossed herself back first onto the flames.

 

“I’m gonna’ pop you, you SOB. And I’m gonna’ be free! Free! Hah hah hah!” Luna mockingly screeched towards her inflated suit, rocking side-to-side on her back, just to encourage the flames beneath her to tickle the taut rubber sides.

 

Luna kept laughing maniacally as she coerced and encourage the fire to heat the rubber. After a mere minute the heat within the suit began to reach the same level as that of a sauna set on its highest setting. Her flustered face was completely covered with a thick film of perspiration, and the sweat from her body sloshed and gurgled between her and the inner layer of the suit bounding her within.

 

“Freedom! Freeeeeeeedom! Freedom…” chanted Luna. She repeated the word like a Buddhist mantra, hoping for cosmic forces, if they existed, to answer her call.

 

Instead, what she began to notice at her moment that the suit began to felt a little tighter than before. Slowing down her delusional chant, Luna look down towards her ball-shaped belly and paused a moment to observe. It was growing…

 

“No… wait. Stop… STOP! SHIT!” screeched Luna as the suit slowly began to hiss to life and expand more. Not only had the heat from the fire expanded the air within the suit, but it also was catalyzing the nanites within the suit’s chemical composition to rapidly release gas into the middle layer.

 

Just over the curve of the suit, Luna could see the sun rising in the distance, almost in tandem with the rising of her massive round belly. It was a bizarre coincidence that added to her despair.

 

“For cryin’ out loud! I want out now! NOW! Godammit! I need to get off this fire…” Luna wobbled relentlessly in place, futilely attempting to roll off the blazing bonfire. Her weak efforts did nothing to get her away from the flame, nor stop her still-ballooning suit.

 

A few minutes later Luna was completely immobile. The pressure within the suit made movement impossible. Her hands looked like giant cow udders and her feet resembled ovular blobs. She couldn’t even see the ground’s horizon over her nearly-spherical suit. The bottom lip of her mouth was lightly touching the slick rubber surface in front of her, while her chin was buried firmly in place.

 

At that moment, the suit for no apparent reason stopped inflating. Luna stopped her frantic panting and held her breath. Seconds passed, she exhaled and took a slight breath. Was this the end? Would the suit finally stop inflating? Maybe it was about to explode?

 

The distressed female convict squinted her eyes in anticipation, hoping for the best.

 

Instead, the infernal hissing broke out again and echoed within her ears. Finally, with her sanity vanquished, Luna began screaming loudly like a wounded animal. However her cries of peril wouldn’t last long, as the wall of tight rubber began to cover the entire lower part of her head. Luna’s voice got muffled and dampened as the pungent rubber bulged and rose like rising bread dough.

 

Briskly her bellowing had been reduced to a dull murmur as her eyes squinted and sunk into the sea of red rubber. Soon her shiny red scalp appeared as just a pimple in the end of the large blimp of a suit. Finally it too joined the rest of her head and created a tight, pouting sphincter in the surface of the suit, erasing any sign of Luna from view.

---

 

Epilogue

 

“Hey Susie, don’t tell me you need another drink!” Albert said as he placed his arms akimbo at his sides. “You just took a chug from that bottle a minute ago.”

 

“I can’t help it. My throat is parched from this dry weather.” said Susie, a young attractive brunette. She gulped down half of the water bottle’s contents before placing it back in the holder on the side of her backpack.

 

“Man, I’ve seen horses with less thirst than you. Just don’t expect any of my water if you run out.” said Albert as he continued to scale the landscape.

 

The couple strode happily over a dusty, craggy hill, until Albert stopped in his tracks and pointed excitedly.

 

“Hey Susie! Look at that!”

 

Susie wiped some sweat from her brow and looked towards what Albert spotted.

 

“Oh my God! Is it…”

 

“Who knows, maybe those kooks in Roswell really were right!” grinned Albert as he started running towards his discovery. “Hey! Don’t leave me behind!” shouted Susie, as she darted after her boyfriend.

 

As they approached their discovery, they stopped and stood in awe of what they saw. There in the bright desert sunlight was a large red sphere, glistening in the brightness of the desert.

 

“It looks like a massive red balloon.” Susie said as she rubbed her head in befuddlement. “But what on earth is it doing out here in the middle of the desert?

“Who knows.” said Albert as he crept around the giant sphere, carefully observing it. “Like I said, it’s probably something those UFO nuts would just love to see.

 

“Oh come on!” Susie guffawed. “That BS has thoroughly been debunked by experts.”

 

“That’s what the government wants you to think!” Albert snickered as he spoke in a fake spooky voice and wiggled his fingers in front of himself.

 

“And there’s NO, conspiracies. Geez, you’ve been watching too many X-Files reruns.” Susie rolled her eyes. “Besides, it’s probably a weather balloon that the Air Force lost out here.” she walked up to the massive orb and pressed her palm into it. “And it’s made out of rubber too. It feels like it.”

 

Albert followed Susie in resting his arms against the smooth rubber and felt it up. He sniffed a few times and then covered his nose. “Phew, it smells kinda’ rank too! Like a locker room.”

 

“That’s funny.” replied Susie. And you’d usually expect a weather balloon that goes down to be deflated, or popped. This is in perfect condition.” she looked up at the massive red balloon and dropped her jaw. “It’s huge! It must be thirty feet in diameter at least.”

 

Albert put his right ear up to the rubber surface and listened carefully for anything within. “Hey Suz! I can hear something!” he whispered. “Listen!”

 

Susie put her ear to the balloon and followed her boyfriend’s example. Concentrating, she heard what sounded like a faint, dull, thumping sound. “A heartbeat? Or is it breathing?” she said. “Could this thing be alive?”

 

“Maybe. Or it could be your own Susie. Anyways, we gotta’ notify someone about this. Get a picture of it with your cel phone camera!” Albert said.

 

“Okay, good idea.” Susie said as she put down her backpack and unzipped one of the small pouches. She got out her cel phone, snapped it open, and aimed it at the massive sphere.

 

“Strike a pose guy!” shouted Susie as she pressed her finger on the snapshot button. Immediately, Albert grinned and spread himself out in a standing spread-eagle position and grinned as Susie snapped a photo.

 

“Perfect. Now let’s head back to the car. I bushed after all this hiking. We can drop by the police station on the way back to town.” Susie said as she quickly saved the picture into her phone’s memory, put the phone away and hefted her backpack back onto her back.

 

“Sounds good. I could go for a nice burger as well” added Albert.

The two walked off back from when they came. Albert looked back and took one last gander at the uncanny giant rubber ball. “By the way, did you hear about that convict who broke out of jail and went out into the desert?”

 

“No, do you think we should be careful out here?” replied Susie.

 

“Nah, she probably managed to sneak across the border or something.” Albert said as he held his love’s hand and smiled.

 

The hikers walked off, and at the same time a strong gale blew from the east. Off towards a new direction, the giant rubber balloon began to roll gently. The large and bulged printed text that read “TALOS FEDERAL PENETENTARY” came into view as the ball tumbled away. As it gained momentum, deep from within, a faint dull sigh of despair merged with the howl of the wind.

 

 

 

 

Special Thanks to Alfonso Marin for the main idea behind this story… - Funky O’Brian