Too Much Firepower

by Alpesco

Alicia, my sister's young daughter, overpowers me.

Alicia, had just shot up.

My sister's daughter had always been tall and slender. She had been five feet seven inches tall at age ten. At eleven she had grown to five feet eight, and at thirteen, she stood a beanpole-straight five feet ten - two inches taller than me.

Although she was tall, she weighed quite a bit less than I did. At forty three years old, I stood five feet eight inches tall, and weighed a good one hundred and forty pounds. Even at two inches taller than me, Alicia barely moved the scale to one hundred and ten. She had grown so fast that she looked lanky and painfully thin.

Alicia's parents had just divorced, and both were busy people with jobs that kept them constantly on the move. So Alicia's mother had asked me to come and stay at the house for a couple of weeks. I wasn't really supposed to be here. These were weeks when my sister had custody. But she had an important convention on the East Coast, so here I was. There would be trouble if her ex-husband found out, but he was busy in Europe.

The house my sister had gained as her part of the divorce settlement was spacious and modern, sitting among rolling pine forests a hundred miles from the city. At the moment the main house held just me and Alicia.

For the first few days of my stay, Alicia had been no trouble at all. She was quiet and serious. She studied hard, and seemed incredibly well disciplined. When she wasn't studying she always seemed to be exercising. There was a well-equipped gym in the rear wing, and when she wasn't there, she would be running or cycling along the local trails.

"How far have you been?" I asked her on the Tuesday morning when she came back from her early run.

"Seven miles," Alicia gasped. She was breathing quite hard, but she wasn't sweating, even though the temperature outside must already be in the 70s. She always wore dark colors, and today she was wearing black shorts and a short black sleeveless tee shirt that left a full eight inches of her well-toned stomach bare. Her long brown hair was firmly coralled into a tight ponytail. "I went up through the woods," she said, "five hundred feet, to the top of Millers Peak." She pointed. "Then down to the river, along the trail to the edge of town, then back up the valley." She checked her watch. "And I did it all in just under 45 minutes."

"You must be exhausted."

"No." She shook her head. "I feel really good today." She was so reed-tall and spindly-looking, it was hard to believe she had just run for the best part of an hour. "I could use some fluids though." She stretched out a long arm right past my head to pull open the refrigerator door behind me. Her hand returned holding a pint jug of milk. "They say there have been some forest fires started to the south."

"Really?" I turned to make sure the refrigerator door was properly shut. "Couldn't that be dangerous?"

"No." She shook her head. "The man at the store said they're well under control, and anyway that the wind was blowing away from here."

"That's good," I said, looking up at her. "My. You've grown so tall in the two years since I last saw you. Does growing so fast bother you?"

Alicia shook her head as she drained the contents of the pint container in one long gulp. The muscles rippled gently at her waist as she swallowed. I was always surprised at the amount of food and drink this stick-thin young girl could consume. She seemed proud of her long, slender waist and the defined six-pack of abdominal muscles that rose like a brick wall to meet her ribs. "It's good to be tall," she added. "It means I can run faster, reach more, and it helps with my martial arts and yoga."

"But there's so little of you," I said, finding it odd to be looking up to a girl who was barely thirteen. "Don't you get bullied?"

"No one bullies me," Alicia grinned. "If there was any bullying, I'd be the one doing it. I'm the tallest in my class. I may look thin, but I'm certainly not weak." The thirteen year-old stretched her long arms out wide.

I had to admit, Alicia's arms were startling. From fingertip to fingertip, they stretched at least six feet. She drew her long, slim hands into fists. That too surprised me, since her long, slender hands transformed miraculously into large, heavy looking fists.

"Your arms are long," I smiled, "but they're nothing but skin and bone." I made a playful grab for her wrists. I was forced to stretch, for her arms were a good deal longer than mine and were spread out three inches above them. My hands grasped her forearms with the intention of forcing them down and together.

For a second there was no resistance as I pulled her arms toward me. Then, her long, slender arms suddenly turned to stone. I was continuing to pull just as firmly, but her arms simply refused to move. I could see rangy muscles flickering along her arms, but they didn't look like they could stop mine. I was a mature woman, and this, for all her skinny height, was my thirteen year-old niece.

I pulled harder, but Alicia's drain-pipe arms still refused to budge. I was surprised and irritated. I leaned back, pulling with my whole bodyweight as I strained to haul those long arms forward. But to my dismay, her arms remained exactly where they were, stretched out in front of me.

"I'm a lot stronger than I look," Alicia said with a grin, her slender, twenty one inch stomach moving in and out as she spoke. "- a whole lot stronger. I'm nearly six feet tall now."

"But you've got no meat on you!"

"Looks don't matter," she said, her face quite serious. "It's what I can do that counts. Like this!"

Alicia's arms began to move - but it was not in response to my attempts to pull them downward. Instead, to my amazement, they were moving in the opposite direction and stretching even higher! What was worse was that I could do nothing to stop them. Alicia's long, rangy arms just kept on moving up and up. And they were taking mine with them! Within moments I could barely hang on to my niece's wrists. My whole body was being stretched irresistibly upward as Alicia's astonishingly strong arms rose high above her head. At last, forced to standing on tip-toe, I had no choice but to release my grip.

"I'm not so weak, am I?" The tall thirteen year-old allowed herself a brief grin of triumph. "Nobody at school can break that power-move!"

"Power-move? You're certainly full of bragging," I joked.

"Yeah?" Alicia frowned. Then, lightning-fast, her arms swooped down to clamp around my wrists. The moment she had caught them, her arms pressed smoothly forward. I struggled to resist them, but it was hopeless. They were astoundingly strong. I felt my arms being pressed steadily backward as if they were made of modelling clay. With a triumphant smirk, the thirteen year-old forced both of them behind me, and then bent them right up behind my back!

"Owww!" I cried. "That hurts! How did you do that?"

"I've grown a whole lot stronger in the last couple of years," Alicia said. "I'm taller than you now, and I work out."

"But you're still just thirteen," I gasped, struggling unsuccessfully to free myself, "and I outweigh you..."

"Weight isn't that important." Alicia gave a bored look. "I'm really strong for my weight. You're not so strong for yours. I guess I'll just have to demonstrate."

"What do you mean?"

"This." Still keeping my arms pinned firmly behind my back, she bent her knees, lowering herself into a deep squat in front of me. I gave a gasp as her arms suddenly tightened around my waist, forcing my body forward across her bony left shoulder. For half a second she held me clamped tight, my stomach pressed tightly into her shoulder - then I felt her legs begin to straighten.

For an instant I wondered what she was playing at. Then the pressure on my stomach increased enormously as Alicia's body began to force itself upright beneath me. I gave a groan of surprise as Alicia's shoulder continued to drive forcefully upward. Then, to my horror, I felt my feet leaving the ground!

Suddenly my whole body was being supported on my thirteen year-old niece's left shoulder! It was hard to believe, but I was being lifted bodily off the floor as the tall teenager stood erect! My mid-section had suddenly become my highest point, my upper body falling forward to drape limply down my young niece's back. Shockingly, my entire bodyweight was now being taken by my stomach - which was balanced painfully across Alicia's stone-hard shoulder.

I cried out, but I couldn't move! Alicia's crossed arms had my waist pinned tightly against her shoulder. My head swung upside-down behind her back, while my legs hung down in front of her. I was trapped and helpless! Looking down, I caught disorientated glimpses of the ground a long way beneath me.

"Whaaa...?" It took a few seconds for me to fight the alarm and confusion. I still couldn't quite take in what had just happened to me. Somehow this thirteen year-old kid had picked me up, and was carrying my whole bodyweight draped across just one bony shoulder! Not only that, but I was held so firmly, I couldn't get down! My stomach was starting to hurt like mad, and it was getting hard to breathe. What was worse, Alicia seemed to be doing this without a whole lot of effort! I could not feel the slightest sign of wobble or unsteadiness in her. She was standing ramrod-straight with my body slung over her shoulder as if I was no more than a sack of feathers!

Groaning, I tried to wriggle myself free, but her arms just clamped down with even more power. I gave a grunt of pain. This thirteen year-old was somehow strong enough to keep me pinned in this humiliating position against my will! I struggled again, but I still couldn't even free my arms as Alicia turned and began to walk across to the other end of the kitchen. It was a shock to feel so helpless. I stopped struggling, waiting for the thirteen year-old to tire. But as the seconds turned into a minute, and then two minutes, she didn't oblige. My young niece reached the far end of the kitchen, turned around and walked slowly back again, showing no sign at all of weakening. In fact it was me who was growing desperate. The way that her stony shoulder was boring into my midriff was growing appallingly painful.

"Put me down!" I gasped. "You'll drop me!"

"I won't drop you, Aunt Fay," Alicia said, her voice surprisingly calm and controlled. "I keep telling you: I'm very strong! This is a cinch!"

"But I weigh 145 pounds! That's a lot more than you do."

"145 doesn't worry me," Alicia said. "I've done this to my dad - and he weighs 180. You have no chance at all of getting out of this unless I decide to let you go." I felt her turn sharply left beneath me, taking me with her as she walked toward the rear door. Then she carried me out into the garden.

"This is cool!" she said, walking out across the lawn. "I've got you prisoner, and I don't feel tired at all."

She kept up a slow steady walk until she had carried me about forty yards away from the house. Then she halted.

"See?" she said. "This is so easy. I can even do this." Slowly she began to bend her knees, lowering herself into a deep squat that took us both down nearly three feet. For a moment I thought that she was about to set me back on my feet. But then her long legs suddenly powered upward once more, driving us both forcefully back up to full height.

"There!" Her voice came from somewhere just above me. "A full squat - with you on my shoulder! I think I'll do it again!" At once I felt myself descending toward the ground as Alicia went down into a second deep knees bend, and then powered us both straight back up once more! She was doing squats, and taking me along for the ride.

"Stop!" I cried.

"Not yet!" Alicia said. "I've got to see how many I can do now." She performed another deep squat with me. Then another. And then a fifth.

"Stop," I yelled. "You're hurting me!"

"How?" Alicia said, performing another deep squat.

"My stomach!" I gasped. "It really hurts. Your shoulder is boring right into it, and the squatting makes it worse!"

"Okay. I'll stop." Alicia stood stock-still beneath me. "I just meant to show you what I can do." Her arms loosened around me, freeing my wrists as she allowed me to slip down at last from her shoulder.

I prepared to land back on my feet. But as my body slid down in front of her, Alicia's long right arm snaked suddenly round beneath my legs. I felt it brush against the back of my legs. Then it suddenly went firm, hardening as it began to take their weight. With a brisk upward sweep, her arm took the entire weight of my legs and lower body, raising them right up to the level of her chest.

I cried out in alarm as my unsupported upper body fell backward. But her left arm was suddenly there, curled firmly around my back, supporting my weight.

To my dismay I found myself, not back on my feet, as I had expected, but being cradled like a small child in Alicia's long arms.

"No!" I tried to struggle free, convinced that the thirteen year-old couldn't carry me like this. "I'll fall!"

"You're not going to fall," Alicia said confidently, her two arms tightening their grip around me. Not only were they carrying my entire weight, they were also resisting all of my attempts to free myself. As she lifted me, Alicia had swept me so high that her arms now formed a V-shape, with my body in the pit of the V. The length of her arms enabled her hands to fold down across the top of my legs and body, making it impossible for me to get out of her cradle hold. I was shocked at just how powerful my young niece was turning out to be. Not only was the strength in her arms enabling her to carry me, but to carry me against my will! And they weren't showing the slightest sign of weakness. I felt the surreal sensation of hovering on my back, four feet above the ground just supported by the thirteen year-old's powerful arms.

"You can't do this!" I gasped, trying yet again to struggle free. But her arms were like stone. They raised my upper body six inches higher, lifting my legs so high that they pointed skyward at a forty-five degree angle. Escape was now completely impossible. I felt as if I was the infant and my niece was the adult. There was no way now for me to get back to my feet until Alicia decided to put me down.

I couldn't believe how firmly the thirteen year-old was holding me Even when my ex-husband, Frank, had attempted to carry me, I'd always felt unsteady and insecure, as if he was just a second away from dropping me. But with my tall young niece I felt as firmly supported as if I were lying in a solid upper berth!

Alicia turned to carry me toward the far end of the garden, seeming to enjoy this display of her steely strength. The back fence was over a hundred yards from where she had taken me into her arms, but she reached it without any sign of strain.

Even now Alicia retained me in her astonishingly strong arms as she looked out at the view of forested hills. I was a fully grown woman more than three times her age, but it was as if I was a two year old child in her arms.

"Won't you put me down now?" I said. "You must be tired..."

She shook her head. "No. I told you I could do this. I've got loads of stamina." Turning, she swung me back around to face the house.

"I don't believe this!" I gasped. Her arms certainly felt not a fraction weaker.

"I still feel pretty strong," Alicia added. "A lot of people think that because I've grown tall so fast, I've got spindly and weak. But that's their mistake! As I've grown taller, my strength has grown every bit as fast. I'm more than twice as strong now as I was just two years ago. See!" She bounced me up and down in her long arms to demonstrate. I gasped as her arms threw me nearly two feet high and then caught me again. "I'm this strong because I do running, kickboxing, gymnastics, swimming and some weights."

"You lift weights?"

"My mom doesn't let me go too heavy with the iron yet, but I generally make up for that by using friends from school."

"You use people as weights?"

"Sure." The slim teenager gave a nod. "I prefer it to the iron. I'll show you."

At once, to my dismay, I began to feel myself rising even higher in her arms. It was almost impossible to believe that the tall, slender figure was so strong. But her arms were lifting me smoothly up to shoulder height! As my body rose, it was rolled a quarter turn toward her. Then, keeping me nearly six feet above the ground, she spun round with me, giving me a swiftly-moving panorama of the house, yard and woods.

"Stop! We'll fall!" I yelled.

"I haven't started yet," Alicia said, suddenly lowering me back to my feet. "Now I'm going to show you something else."

"What?"

"Don't move," she ordered, stepping directly behind me.

"Why not?" I began to turn; but before I could swing round to face her, I felt the tall thirteen year-old's hands grasp my hips. The ten fingers clamped surprisingly tight, holding my hips stock-still and preventing me from turning.

Then her surprisingly strong fingers squeezed even tighter. I gave an involuntary grunt of discomfort as eight steely fingers dug into my pelvis from the front, while her powerful thumbs drove painfully into my hip bone from the rear.

"Ow!" I said. "You're hurting me!"

"Sorry. But I need a real good grip to do this." Alicia said briskly. "Otherwise I'll drop you."

"Drop me?" I said in alarm. "What do you mean, drop me?"

"This!" Alicia's arms pressed suddenly upward. I felt the thrust pass through my hips with astonishing force. The last thing I had expected was for her hands to attempt to push me upward. But to my surprise not only were they attempting it, they were succeeding! Her long arms and sinuous upper body were somehow producing an explosive burst of power. And to my horror, my whole body began to lift off the lawn!

"Stop!" I cried in alarm. But it was no use. Alicia's arms didn't waver. They continued to press me up and up! I could see the house and its garden fall away beneath me as my whole body was forced higher and higher! The grip of my niece's strong hands turned to steel as they lifted my entire bodyweight by my hips. I held my breath, hardly able to believe what was happening. Then her hands pivoted beneath me, and I began to feel myself being tilted backward.

"No!" I cried in sudden alarm, sure that I would fall as my head and upper body began to tip sharply backward.

But Alicia's steely grip on my hips didn't give an iota. I suddenly found myself staring up into the sky as my legs swung higher and my upper body fell back into the horizontal. If I had been lying down I would have been flat on my back - but I wasn't. It was all but impossible to believe, but somehow Alicia was managing to hold me directly above her head on her upstretched arms!

I began to feel giddy as my head lolled backward, my body falling into a forced reverse arch with my hips as my highest point! I gasped again in shock. I hadn't dreamed that "little" Alicia was anything like this powerful! For me, the world had been turned suddenly upside down. With my head hanging painful down, I could just see the tops of the trees beneath me, and the tall hills behind.

"You'll drop me!" I cried in panic.

"No I won't, Aunt Fay." Alicia's voice came from what seemed a long way beneath me. "I've got you quite secure. I can press 150 pounds overhead, easy. I can do more than that if I need to. I told you: I use people as weights."

"But I didn't believe you could do this..." I was too shocked and disorientated to know what else to say. Being cradled in my tall young niece's arms had been startling enough - but now I was being pressed sky-high, like an up-ended turtle, far above the thirteen year-old's head!

"I do pairs and trios gymnastics. I'm used to lifting people high."

My arms and legs flailed helplessly. "Please. Please put me down!"

"Not yet." Alicia said firmly. "There's still more I can do. Try this for size!"

Immediately I felt myself begin to descend. At first I was relieved, thinking that my alarmingly strong young niece was about to lower me back to the ground. My body descended nearly two feet as I hung from my hips, face-up. I felt the top of the thirteen year-old's head brush against the arch of my back. Then the downward movement stopped. I was held still for a moment - and, horrifically, I was suddenly being powered straight back up again! I felt myself rising as if I was on an elevator until I was right back up as high as I had been a moment before.

"Alicia! Noooooo...!" I cried.

"Yes," the thirteen year-old said triumphantly, "I told you I've got real strong these past couple of years. I started out using kids from my class at school as weights. And now I even use a few adults. Isn't that just so cool? Not many grown-up guys can do this. You're not even as difficult to lift as I thought. I'm going to do a few reps with you."

"No! " I began. But it was useless. I was completely unable to do anything at all to stop the black-clad Alicia doing as she wished with me. I was able to do nothing as I felt my body begin to descend again in her long, rangy arms. Again I sank two feet toward the top of her head, and again my bodyweight was halted, only to be pressed smoothly back up again to a dizzying height of over eight feet above the ground!

"You're so strong, Alicia!" I wailed.

"Aren't I just?" Alicia's voice was full of pleasure at my forced acknowledgement of her power. Again I descended, and again I was pressed firmly back up.

"I'm not even tired yet," the thirteen year-old went on. "See!" Down I came again to a mere six feet above the ground, then I was pressed back up once more.

In addition to the discomfort of the tall teenager's steely grip, the stress in my unnaturally pronated back was beginning to develop into pain. But I was helpless. My thirteen year-old niece was in total charge. I had become just a weight that she was using to further develop her astonishingly strong arms. Down I went again, and then up for a sixth time, Alicia's fingers vise-tight as they ground into my hips.

"Alicia, please stop now. I'm hurting!"

"I could still do a few more reps." Her voice echoed up to me. "I'm feeling pretty strong today..."

"I believe you!" I said in desperation. "But it's hurting. Please stop!"

"You really want me to?"

"Yes!"

"Okay." Alicia said, reluctantly. "I'll let you down. But don't disbelieve my strength again - or I might have to give you another demonstration." At last she began to lower me again, swinging my body down in front of her to set me on my feet. Then, finally, she released her painful grip on my hips.

"That was horrible!" I gasped, rubbing my bruised hips. "You could have dropped me!"

"No I couldn't!" Alicia stretched out her long slender arms. "I haven't dropped anyone since I was ten!"

"And your fingers!" I winced as I felt the painful welts on my hips. "They really hurt. How did they get so strong?"

"I exercise my hands specially." Alicia splayed out her fingers, then slowly waggled them before forming a fist. "I squeeze tin cans until they break. I started off with empty coke cans, then empty food cans. Now I can crush full ones until the sides buckle and the food inside turns to mush."

"Oh," I said.

The rest of the day passed quietly, but it took me a while to recover from the shock of being lifted and toyed with by my young niece. Worse was the painful bruising on my hips where Alicia's iron fingers had clamped them tight. Alicia had done more training in the evening in the house's private gym while I rested. I slept in that night, and at ten o'clock the next morning I decided to have a quiet bathe in the big upstairs bathroom. I was stretched out comfortably when the door slammed suddenly open and Alicia burst in.

"What do you want?" I asked, startled.

The lanky thirteen year-old looked agitated. "My dad's car is coming up the driveway toward the house! He sometimes makes surprise visits to check up. He can't find you here."

"Why not?" I demanded, wallowing in the warm water.

"You know you're not supposed to be here!" Alicia was wearing a crop top and jeans, her long, slender body tense. "And dad is always trying to catch mom out. If he finds you in the house, he'll know mom isn't here with me, and there'll be loads of trouble!"

"It's too late to avoid that now." I said. "Anyway, I have a few things that I've been wanting to say to your father for a long time!"

"No!" The thirteen year-old looked even more agitated. "That will only make things worse! He'll look round the house. He always checks. You'll have to get out and hide!"

"I'm not hiding anywhere!" I said indignantly. "I'll finish my bath and stay upstairs - but that's the most I'll do! If he comes up here I'll speak to him."

"No!" Alicia shook her head firmly. "You'll have to go upstairs!"

"I will NOT!" I insisted. "You can just go back down and wait for your father."

"I can't do that." Before I realized what was happening, Alicia bent suddenly forward, and her long arms had plunged into the water at my side. I felt them slide beneath me, and then curl back upward around my legs and upper body.

Then with a sudden, powerful surge, the young teenager simply straightened her legs, and hauled me clean up out of the bathwater! I was shocked. She had lifted me clean out of the bath with just her arms! It was as if she had been lifting a baby from a tub! I cried out in alarm as the thirteen year-old stood tall, her long arms holding my body up, completely clear of the bath! Sheets of water poured off my body, streaming onto the floor and into the empty bath. I could hardly believe it as her strong, slender body took my weight with apparent ease. Her arms were so strong! They were like the prongs of a forklift beneath me! Without a word, she turned around, swinging me toward the open door.

"Shit!" I screamed, beside myself with shock, anger and alarm."Shit. Shit. Shit! Put me down!"

"Be quiet!" Alicia said. "You forced me to do this. I told you that you had to move, and you started to make things difficult. So I'm having to do this to you. Sorry. But it's your own fault!"

"What are you trying to do?"

"I'm going to put you where you won't be seen!"

"No." I was naked and angry, but I could do nothing to escape Alicia's ridiculously strong, bony arms. They held me in the same inescapable grip as the day before, crushing my arms to my sides and my legs together as they carried me. I could barely move my trapped body, let alone break free. Keeping me firmly cradled in her arms, she turned and carried me out of the bathroom

"Stop this, Alicia!" I was struggling helplessly. "You can't do this!"

"Yes I can." The teenager turned with me along the corridor. "I'll do whatever I have to."

"But I want to speak to your father!"

"Well I DON'T want you to, and so you're not going to," Alicia said with an air of finality as she turned sharply left toward a narrow stairway leading up. Carrying me toward it, she began to climb.

"Where are you going?" I said. "You can't carry me up there!"

"Still underestimating me?" Alicia kept on climbing. I heard the wooden steps creak beneath our combined weight as her strong legs drove us both upward. I was terrified we would fall, but Alicia's strength again astonished me. We reached the narrow upper landing without incident, and Alicia pushed open a narrow, white-painted door.

Inside it was darker as she climbed another half-flight of steps. I was really alarmed. I hadn't dreamed that my slender thirteen year-old niece was this powerful. I was totally unable to stop her.

"What are you doing?" I asked, realizing that we were climbing in to the loft.

"Bringing you somewhere safe."

"But you can't do this! It isn't fair!"

"It's perfectly fair," she said. "You're going to have to stay out of the way up here. And to make sure that you do, I'm going to do this."

Her arms moved beneath me once more, lifting me still higher.

"What are you doing now?" I asked, alarmed at Alicia's unexpected power. "I'm soaking wet - and I'm getting cold."

"Well then, this is just what you need." Alicia said as her arms suddenly went lax beneath me. I gave a cry as I fell straight down onto an old single bed covered in rough blankets. Before I had time to take in what was happening, Alicia bent, and tied my arms and legs with old towels. Then she rolled me over on the bed, wrapping me tightly in the old gray blankets. Within seconds I was completely wound up in them, my struggles completely useless. My voice was muffled, I couldn't see, and I could barely move. I squealed in frustration as I felt Alicia's long, strong arms drive beneath me again. And again they lifted me.

"Ooouuuuughhh!" I moaned as I felt myself being swept high once more in the teenager's steely arms. Now, however, I couldn't see, for I was entirely cocooned in the scratchy gray blankets. "Nooooooo!"

"Stop moaning." Alicia said, holding me cradled firmly in her arms. "You brought this on yourself. If you'd listened to me, I wouldn't have had to use my strength on you like this." She turned, took several steps forward, and then dropped me into what felt like a high wooden box. I landed heavily on top of a pile of old clothes and blankets. "You'll be quite safe in there until I'm ready to let you out."

"Come back!" I tried to yell as I heard her walk away. But my voice was almost completely muffled by the blankets across my face. I coughed as my lungs filled with dust, and realized that I needed all my effort just to breathe normally through the thick cloth. I tried to struggle free, but I was firmly bound. I realized that I was trapped and completely helpless.

A very long hour passed as I lay in helpless frustration inside the high-walled wooden box. It seemed an age before I heard Alicia's footsteps on the stair once more. A moment later I felt her arms force their way beneath me. Now I was relieved by the firm strength of my niece's long arms as they lifted me safely up and out of my prison.

"Let me out!" I mumbled through the dusty cloth.

"Patience!" I felt Alicia turn with me and carry me across the room and then down the stairs out of the loft. She turned into one of the bedrooms. Lowering me onto a bed, she at last rolled me out of the blankets and untied me.

"My dad's gone now," she said, undoing the towel that held my wrists together. "He was annoyed that mom wasn't here, but I just told him that she had gone shopping. He sniffed about for a bit, left a note and then drove off."

"You had no right to treat me like that," I said. "In fact I'm going to walk straight out of this house, and then send for your mother to come back."

"No. Don't do that!" Alicia said. "I'm sorry. I had to do what I did to you just then. It was an emergency."

Still unhappy, I told her that I would see how things went over the next day before I made up my mind what to do.

However that very night things changed. The telephone rang, and it was the parks department. "The forest fires that started up four days ago are coming this way!" the voice said. "You'll have to evacuate!"

"I heard that they were only small fires," I said. " and well under control."

"The wind has changed," the man at the other end of the line explained. "The fire could hit your property as early as tonight. Get out of the house now and drive to the west of town."

"Pack your most important things, and put them in the truck," I told Alicia. "We have to be out inside an hour!"

"What about the young colt?" She looked out toward the stable block. "It's only three months old! We can't leave it here!"

"We have to." I said, searching for my things. "It's only a precaution. The fire probably won't hit here."

"No!" the thirteen year-old shook her head. "It needs us. We've got to save it!" She turned and ran toward the stable.

Quickly packing what I thought were the most important of the family valuables, I made my way out to the pick up truck. "Alicia!" I shouted. "We have to leave now!"

"I'm coming." The thirteen year-old's voice came from the stable block.

"Forget about the colt!" I yelled. "We can't take it with us!"

I looked up to see Alicia walking out of the stable with the colt in her arms! I gasped. On its feet, the three month old colt was nearly as tall as Alicia was, but she stood there in the doorway with it cradled in her arms. The young horse's four legs hung down loosely in front of her. Her narrow stomach was visible beneath its body, the muscles rippling gently as she breathed in and out.

"That horse weighs well over 200 pounds now!" I gasped.

"I know." Alicia smiled. "We weighed it last week. It came out at 230 pounds. But I keep telling you, I'm real strong. I can hold the colt quite easy." As if to demonstrate, she hefted the young horse a few inches higher in her long arms.

"That's amazing!" I gasped, admiring the feat despite myself. "It weighs twice as much as you do! How can you do that?"

"I'm nearly six feet tall." she said. "Most six feet people are pretty strong."

"But that doesn't help," I said. "The colt still can't go in the wagon."

"Why not?" Alicia walked along the drive toward the parked pick-up, still holding the passive young horse cradled in her arms. "There's enough room..." She nodded toward the broad rear of the truck. Her feet crunched heavily on the gravel. I realised that they were bearing a combined weight of around 350 pounds with each step.

"It won't stay still," I said. "It will panic and break out!"

"Then we'll have to do something about that." The tall thirteen year-old bent, placing the young horse back on its feet beside the wagon. Then she straightened.

"There's nothing we can do but leave it here."

The tall teenager shook her head. "We'll just have to sedate it."

"How?" I said. "We don't have any drugs."

"I don't need drugs."

Alicia stepped up to the colt. At once her right arm snaked around its neck from beneath, while her left clamped across its back. Suddenly she began to squeeze. Feeling the pressure, the young horse struggled to break free. But, to my surprise, Alicia's long rangy arms were much too strong for it. Although the colt writhed and struggled, it could not tear itself free. The tall thirteen year-old planted her feet firmly beside it, and refused to move. Her long body went rigid, and her lanky arms hardened and squeezed tighter.

"What are you doing?" I yelled.

"You'll see," Alicia said as her right arm clamped even more tightly around the colt's neck. The her body pressed forward, transferring most of her weight on to the young horse's back - and to my surprise, she began slowly to force the colt to the ground!

The lanky animal tried to struggle, but Alicia was amazingly strong. Within moments she had forced the colt on to the ground beneath her, her right arm still clamped tightly about it's neck. With a swift move, she clamped her legs about its flanks. Then she squeezed again, using both her legs and her arms to bring the larger creature into submission. The colt twisted, trying to get back to its feet, but with Alicia's weight on top of it, it was impossible. I held my breath, watching as Alicia's long limbs tightened their grip on the struggling animal, forcing it to lie flat and still on the dry earth drive.

"It's heavier than me," she said with a grunt, "but I'm a lot stronger than it is."

"Surely not..." I began.

"Don't you believe me? Then watch this!" Alicia's long slim body constricted again, pulling the trapped colt's head and neck toward her and slightly off the ground. At the same time her long, sleekly-muscled legs, clamped tight around it's lower body, suppressing its movement.

"It needs just a little bit more effort now," she grunted. Again her body applied a constricting surge of power. And as she made her body curl inward, I could see that it was forcing the colt's body into a tight bow-shape. Her right arm clamped tightly around its neck, she squeezed again. The muscles along her slim midriff transforming into a dense washboard.

The colt was now almost completely still. Trapped and hog-tied in the lighter girl's long limbs, it could do no more than twitch the ends of its legs. With a look of determination, the thirteen year-old squeezed again, tightening her choke-hold around its neck. I gasped as the colt began to strain for breath, trying once again to struggle as Alicia's long body turned to steel. But there was only one winner in this contest. I was shocked to see the colt's body bend and yield before the iron strength of the teenage girl. Alicia' weighed only half as much as it did, but there was no doubt now that her body was much stronger, her slim form packed with dense, rigorously-trained muscle. She was completely dominating the heavier creature.

"It may be big," Alicia said, "but it's only a baby. It can't hope to resist someone as strong as I am." Her arm squeezed again and all the remaining strength seemed to drain from the young horse's body and flow into Alicia. The colt's breathing rasped as its eyes rolled back in its head. Its struggles ceased. Its body went limp. And still Alicia's long, slender arm maintained its steely grip. The colt seemed almost lifeless now as the teenager's legs bent it's body into a tight C-shape. The animal's head hung loosely from her right arm. “It had no chance,” she said.

Looking across, she raised the lifeless head off the ground in order to inspect it. I could barely believe it. But here it was, happening right in front of me. Alicia had rendered the young horse completely unconscious, and she looked stronger than ever!

Looking up at me with a grin of triumph, Alicia maintained her powerful grip for a few moments more. Then she finally allowed the pressure her body was applying to relax. The colt's body slumped loosely to the ground. It remained limp and still on the gravel driveway as she stood up.

"You didn't think I could do that, did you?" she said, looking at me. She stretched her long arms wide. "But I'm a lot more powerful than most people think." Bending again, she bound the colt's legs expertly together with a stretch of cord. Then, incredibly, she picked the 230 pound colt up in her arms once more, although this time it was limp and unconscious. Turning, she walked it across to the station wagon.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"Yes," Alicia nodded, raising it above the tailgate before dropping it heavily into the back. It landed with a resonant thud that shook the vehicle. "That was so cool.” She stretched her long lean arms and legs. “It's like: whatever I say goes. I'm still here, and it's out cold. I've put several boys at school out like that, and a couple of calves too. It never fails - although none were as big as this colt. All of them came round okay."

We were away from the house for two days before it was safe to go back. There had been some damage in the area, but fortunately the fire had missed our place by a good seven miles..