Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

*Buzz*

Jess shifted on the couch, and glanced down at her phone. It was a text.  "20 minutes!"

"See u soon :-) Apartment 269 doors open!" Jess sent back, smiling. 

Her best friend Desiree was finally coming to see her after a few years apart. They practically grew up together, and were besties all through junior high and high school. They were something of an unlikely couple. Jess was fit and athletic, the star of their high school track and field team. She was serious minded, and ambitious, working hard on her goal to attend a top university. Desiree however, never took anything seriously. She had a wicked sense of dark humor, and a complete disdain for academics. School, for Desiree, was simply a prison. She wanted only to escape, for the meaning of life was to party, dance, drink, smoke, get crazy with it, and truly live. 

Jess always tried to pull Desiree back a little, but deep down Jess admired her spontaneity; the mad joy she brought to every moment. Desiree in turn recognized Jess' drive, and though she didn't understand it, supported her friend unconditionally. 

They had good years growing up together, but eventually people take different directions. Jess got a full athletic scholarship to the top university in the state, and Desiree got a musician boyfriend with a van and hit the road of life.  They'd kept in contact sporadically, but over a few years it dwindled as if they lived in two different worlds. That is, until Desiree texted her out of the blue three days ago...

Jess sighed happily as she thought of the good times they'd had, and felt the tingle of excitement building up for tonigh-

*Buzz*

Jess opened her phone and saw another message. A picture. Jess gasped, and her heart started racing. Desiree, in her car, taking a selfie with her tongue out, and on her tongue...

... a tiny. 

Naked, helpless, arms out-stretched towards the camera, face livid with fear and terror. Poor little guy, forever frozen in one last picture just before the end. 

Jess hadn't even seen a tiny in years, they mostly lived out in the wild in government protected areas. Where had Desiree even gotten one? Would she really eat it without her? Jess felt a powerful sense of excitement swell within her as she typed

"Just like back home lol. U have more right? :-)"

*Buzz*

"Mmhm! :)"

Jess laid back on the couch, suddenly aware that she felt light as air. All the burdens and tensions of her ambitious and driven life melted away. Desiree always had that effect on her. Tonight was a reunion, a celebration, a time to party down and let it all out. Jess did a little dance from her position on the couch until suddenly she stopped...

"I don't know how Brooke is going to take this." she thought, looking nervously at her roommate's closed bedroom door. "She was going on just last week about Wilder rights and how they're every bit as human as us, except for their size..."

Brooke, her college roommate, was passionate and idealistic. Bookish, nerdy, and impossibly smart, Brooke had aspirations to change the world. She had many causes she felt deeply about, and despite her slender, mousey frame, had no problem telling off anyone who said something she deemed bigoted or hateful. Jess admired Brooke highly for her strength of character, and willingness to fight for what's right, but now they might have a problem.

"Brooke!" She said from the couch. "Get out of your books and come out here, the party's about to start." 

A few moments of silence followed and Jess opened her mouth to call again, but with a slight click Brooke's door swung open. Brooke walked out into the small apartment dressed in her comfiest study pajamas. She was petite, and nerdy, with fiercely curly hair and big beautiful eyes shining out from beneath her glasses. 

"Your crazy friend arriving soon?" Brooke asked politely.

"Any minute! And she's not crazy she's just... free-spirited. Wild. You'll like her, I promise."

"I'll be the judge of that" Brooke said with a small smile. "and look at you, lying on the couch all lazy. I can tell she's a bad influence already."

Jess laughed at the tease and shot back "Hey! I work hard and I rest hard, thank you very much!" 

Brooke giggled back then held up something between her fingers. "I wasn't just in my books, I took the time to roll a little something. Do you think your 'free-spirited' friend will approve?"

"Yes, I think she will!" Jess said, looking at the immaculately rolled joint in her friends fingers. Brooke was a good girl, for the most part. Doubt again nagged at the corners of Jess' brain. What was Brooke's reaction going to be to the 'special treat'? No way she was going to like it, she would almost certainly raise hell, but would she... What would she do? Would she call the cops? Try to rescue the tinies, sorry, Wilders, and storm out? Would she tell the university??? Jess looked at her friend with a loss of words for a moment, worried that she might lose her. They had a good life going here...

"Geez, you're high already huh?" Brooke's soft tease broke through Jess' confusion and brought her back to earth.

Jess thought quickly to herself: "I need to text Desiree and tell her to keep it a secret, just her and me..."

*Bang!*

The front door burst open with all the drama in the world, and Desiree came strolling in. She had a rockstar attitude that was larger than life. She made quite the scene in her ripped up jeans and tight black crop-top. Her hair was straight, flowing and elegant, black with subtle shades of purple dyed in. She had a roughed-up backpack over one shoulder and a bottle of tequila in her hand.

"Jess!!!!!" Desiree shouted, throwing both arms up in the air. "It's been forever!"

Jess leapt off the couch and rushed to meet her friend. Arms outstretched, they collided in an excited flurry. "Desiree! I'm soo happy to see you! Oh my god, yes it's been forever!" Jess fired off while squeezing her best friend extra tight. 

They hugged the way only besties can, swaying back and forth and not letting go for a long, lingering while. Such hugs truly are one of the best things in life. After a moment however they broke apart, wild smiles on both their faces.

"So how you been, bitch?" Desiree asked.

"Great!" said Jess. "Look at me, I'm charging through my junior year, I've got my own place, and best of all you're finally here to see it! How've you been?"

"I'm living that good life, you know? It gets a little messy, it's certainly not easy, lately... but yeah, I'm good!"

Jess could see the toll hard years had taken on her friend. Desiree looked... tired. She was still brightly beautiful with fire in her eyes, but her shine had somehow diminished. It looked almost as if her innocence had left her suddenly, leaving cold emptiness in it's place. "You've learned some rough lessons out there in the world..." Jess thought to herself.

"But anyways, you look fucking great!" Desiree said, looking her friend up and down. "You were born to run! I bet you've got some new medals around here to show me. Show me your place, sis, starting with this one here."

Brooke had been standing quietly beside the couch, watching the scene unfold. She had worried about this stranger coming over, and how it might affect Jess. Was this really a random visit, or was this girl in some kind of trouble? Brooke noted the bottle of tequila wasn't entirely full. Watching Desiree interact with Jess eased her mind a bit, she seemed genuinely happy to be with her friend. She had a larger than life aura about her, and besides, in the back of her head Brooke had to admit she was pretty cute. Now, with Desiree looking right at her, Brooke decided to give this girl a chance, even if she didn't set aside her suspicions. Brooke smiled and took a small step forward.

Jess wanted so bad to whisper somehow to Desiree. Tell her to keep the tinies hidden. She could see suspicion in Brooke's eyes, unsure about this new person bursting through the door. There was no good way to proceed, so Jess just proceeded anyways.

"This one, is my beloved roommate and dear friend Brooke!" Jess rattled off with military pomp and precision. "The smartest girl I've ever met, a beautiful soul, and roller of immaculate joints! Shut it with the Hermione Granger jokes, she's heard it already."

Desiree gave a look that seemed to say 'How dare you accuse me of wanting to say it, and yes, I was totally going to say it'.

They all laughed and Brooke softly sighed, "yeah, a few times", rolling her eyes. 

"Well, Brooke, it's nice to meet you. You hug?"

"Yeah, that's cool. Nice to meet you too!" 

They came together in a brief, but friendly hug. Brooke moved one arm subtly beneath Desiree's backpack and lifted up ever so slightly.

"She's packed light, maybe she's here just for a night or two." Brooke thought. Her arm came away from the backpack, and for just a tiny moment her hand rested on Desiree's back, right where her crop top ended. Brooke felt a flutter as her fingers touched warm, bare skin. 

"Ooh, those pj's are so soft girl." Desiree half-sung.

"Well Jess," Brooke said, coming out of the hug. "She came all this way, better show her around."

__________________

The joint went around until it was out. Jess and Desiree were a few shots in talking about everything and anything. Brooke was slowly, but happily sipping  her tequila and sprite. The joint and the one drink had loosened her up. Things were going well, everyone was having fun. Desiree certainly had some wild stories from a life Brooke would never want to live, but Brooke had also seen the way Desiree went wild when Jess showed she did indeed have many new medals. You can't always chose your people in life, but Brooke felt she was with the right people. 

Jess had been waiting for Brooke to go to the bathroom for over an hour now. Sipping on her one drink, like a good girl, damn her. It was only a matter of time before Desiree whipped a tiny out of nowhere, and Jess had no opportunity to get a secret message across. Jess knew she could text her, and Desiree would keep quiet, but Brooke was too smart for that. She'd know there was a secret, and one way or another she'd find out. 

Desiree was just happy to be in a nice place with someone that understood her. It had been a rough time for her lately, and this feeling of friendship and home was almost overwhelming. She'd kept her backpack close beside her, waiting for the right time to spring a random tiny on her lifelong best friend, but something about Brooke made her hold off. Brooke was friendly and sweet to her, but Desiree could tell she was watching her like a hawk. In a college town like this, with educated, liberal people, the eating of tinies, or um, Wilders as they're appropriately called, might very well be frowned upon. Shit, weed was still illegal here. Even though Brooke had indeed rolled an immaculate joint, Desiree wasn't at all sure how she would react to the special treat.

"She does think I'm cute though..." Desiree thought with all the knowledge of experience. "I mean, if she isn't into it, I can make her into it."

"Another round!" Jess shouted with enthusiasm. "And Brooke, you're taking one too, and I don't care what you say!"

"Yeah, you gotta do it! Party!" Shouted Desiree.

Jess jumped up from the couch and grabbed another shot glass out of the cabinet. Brooke gave her a look that was part annoyance, part acceptance. 

"Alright, one night of bad influence can't be too bad." Brooke said with a sly smile.  

Jess came back to the table and pulled the stopper out of the bottle. Her previous shots hit her full force when she'd jumped up like that, and she was a little messy pouring the next round. All three girls leaned in over the table and took their glass. Brooke gave a small sniff, shook her head and made a face. Desiree licked her lips. Jess lifted her glass up and said

"To good times we won't remember, with good friends we'll never forget!"

"Heyyyyy!!!" they said, clinking their glasses together and taking their shots. Jess watched as Brooke sputtered and shook, forcing it down. Something forced itself  directly in Jess' line of vision and Jess had to throw her head backwards and refocus. 

Desiree's hand, delicately curved with forefinger pinched against thumb, in between, dangling precariously by the leg, just above Jess' lips, was a tiny naked man.

Jess froze. She looked first at Desiree who simply said "Chaser?" with a rabid grin and eyes that could corrupt Jesus. She looked back at the poor soul in front of her, upside down and crying out in desperate rage. Though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she looked at Brooke, and found her contorted and confused. After a second, Brooke's eyes narrowed and all joy left her face. 

"Come onnn, just like old times, remember?" Desiree half sung, half purred, shaking the tiny man gently back and forth.

Brooke broke in sharply "That's a Wilder. Put him down!"

"It's a tiny, and yes Jess, put him down." Desiree sighed lustfully with a roll of her eyes. 

"This is illegal, and it's wrong. That's a person!" piqued Brooke. "Jess, no. Not you. You wouldn't. You haven't..."

Brooke's heart faltered, as she choked on her own words. "You haven't... done... this..."

Jess felt her own heart contract as she saw the pain in Brooke's face.

"...before?"

There was no good way out, the jig was up, the damage done. Jess sighed, and shot a venomous, hateful look at Desiree, who simply smiled back.

"Yes Brooke, I've done this before."

Brooke went ridged and dead silent.

"Look, Brooke, it's... we all come from our own place, right? I come from a small town where like, you do what you have to do, to get out, you know? I hate that you have to see this, I've been trying all night to tell her not to bring this up in front of you..."

"I'll bring it up in front of you." Desiree cooed, swinging her arm to bring the helpless tiny closer to Brooke.

Brooke flinched and leaned away, starring at the poor soul being dangled so callously in front of her. He was perhaps in his early 20's, well built, and ruggedly handsome. Brooke thought about how hard his life must have been out there in the wild, and her heart broke to see such a proud spirit reduced to a wriggling plaything suffering from too much blood to the head. 

"You wait too long, they get less lively." Desiree offered dryly.

"No. I won't. You won't. You'll leave him here, and get right out."

Desiree swung the man towards her own lips and opened wide. He screamed.

"Brooke" Jess sighed weakly. "There's no good way to proceed, so I'm just going to proceed anyways. We go different ways in our life, and life is hard and brutal. There are things in my past that I regret, things I wish I could do differently, but... Desiree has always been there. I cherish you Brooke, I truly do, and i don't want to lose you, but Desiree is home, she's my person, and..."

Jess choked on her own words, ready for Brooke's scathing rebuke. 

"And you eat people?" Brooke said with a flat, dangerous tone.

"Just once" sputtered Jess. "Well, a few times, but it was just..."

"Just what?" Brooke said with daggers. 

"Multiple times, but with just one colony. They were living in the walls of my shit parent's house." Desiree chimed in almost sing-song.

Jess shrugged in defeat, and held out her hand. Desiree dropped the Wilder into Jess' hand with a quick, practiced movement. Jess felt the living warmth of flesh drop into her palm, and despite the gravity of the situation, she felt the primal part of herself give a roar.

 It was the part of her that won races, that pushed herself beyond the limit. It was the fearsome roar of a true competitor out to crush the competition. It was everything that made her who she is, who she fights everyday to be. Life is hard, and nature doesn't care. Nature only consumes itself endlessly, and you can either be prey, or you can be predator. Jess was a predator, Desiree was a predator. Brooke was a kind, sweet, brilliant little girl with a dream to change the world. There was nothing left now but to win her or lose her.

"I know to you they're people. And I love you for that. But to me..."

Brooke's eyes went wide as Jess snapped her arm up in a swift movement, bringing her  hand to her mouth, tossing the poor man in. She didn't chew, she didn't savor, she didn't torture, she simply popped him in and swallowed him whole.

Brooke squealed and slammed her eyes shut, the image of her best friends throat bulging around a helpless Wilder burned into her brain.

"No. No. Not you. He was, he is, he was a person!"

"But to me, State Champion of Track and Field, it's protein."

Brooke recognized the use of the word 'it' and broke. Somewhere deep down in her roommate's stomach was a living, breathing, feeling person reduced to the harsh, final fate of being food.

"Took us long enough, but we got that out the way." declared Desiree, sweeping a container out of her backpack. It was an old coffee tin with a plastic lid. A few small holes were punched through the top. Desiree popped off the lid while deliberately looking Brooke dead in the eyes. Desiree reached her hand in, not even looking, and her long, pale fingers came out like a dancing serpent, clutching a struggling woman around the waist. 

With her eyes still locked on Brooke, Desiree moved the tin back towards Jess. Jess reached in with a practiced pluck, picked out another Wilder and popped him in her mouth as casually as a chip. 

Brooke watched with tear filled eyes as another uncaring gulp sent a soul down to die.

"And as for you, my little snack," Desiree moaned, " the time has come. You know, yes you know." Desiree gave the Wilder girl a long, sensual, full-body lick. "You're nothing but food for me!" 

"Stop talking to your food, weirdo." Jess teased.

"I want her to understand."

"She doesn't even speak English!"

"No, but she understands, and that's the best part for me."

Desiree lifted the poor, shaking girl up to eye-level. Brooke was outraged and uncomfortable, yet deep inside her something primal stirred. It tingled. Brooke watched with mute fascination as Desiree looked the spit-covered girl up and down. There was nothing in Desiree's eyes but mild amusement. 

"I ate three of them on the way here. She's seen it. She knows, oh yes poor tiny, you know..."

Desiree gently, but deftly pressed the Wilder against her throat, and used her hand to slowly drag her down it's length. Brooke could see the poor girl slam her eyes shut as she made contact with Desiree's skin, and saw her body start to violently shake. 

Slowly, slowly, Desiree slid the tiny down just above her breast, paused, and with a breathy voice said

"I know you understand. You're sentient, intelligent, alive... and you know what's about to happen. You don't speak the language, but you've seen what I do to snacks like you."

Brooke felt a sense of horrific understanding. Though Desiree spoke barely above a whisper, the Wilder girl pressed against her chest could hear and feel the sultry power of Desiree's voice reverberating all around her body. How must it feel to be trapped that way? To be helpless? 

"And tiny, I want you to understand that there's nothing you can do. All your life. All your dreams. Your struggles and triumphs. Everything you've ever been or hoped to be... they've led you to, and end... here!"

 Desiree moved the Wilder girl away from her chest and smacked her matter-of-factly into the soft skin of her bare midriff. Desiree rubbed her uncaringly around in circles, forcing the poor girl roughly against her skin. 

"Why are you so extra?" Jess asked as she casually plucked another Wilder out of the can and tossed it in her mouth. Brooke's attention shifted nervously as she watched the slight bulge travel down her roommate's throat. 

"Because" said Desiree. "She has a name, and her name is... Mine!"

That last word "Mine!" was part purr, part growl, part whisper. Pure and raw desire. It was primal, unequivocal, and charged with sexual passion. Brooke watched in awe as Desiree dragged the Wilder swiftly over her breasts and back up her body. Desiree's mouth parted, revealing the red-tinged darkness inside. The girl, who had remained shaking and silent up to this point, let out a tiny, blood-curdling scream. Luscious lips cut off that scream as they enveloped her head, and sucked in her torso, leaving a bare bottom and legs to struggle fruitlessly in the open air. 

Brooke watched with reprehension and disgust as the Wilder girl's body was slowly, and sensually sucked into Desiree's mouth. She watched it in slow-motion, frame by frame. She saw with her own wide eyes the last frantic wriggling of a pair of feet disappearing into those full, beautiful lips. A living, breathing creature, a person in their own right, just slurped up like another piece of food. Desiree looked Brooke directly in the eyes with a timeless, uncaring glare. Her lips parted once again, and Brooke could see the naked, saliva covered form of the Wilder girl struggling with all her little might to escape and survive. Desiree rolled her around with a casual flick of her tongue. The girl fought furiously now against her doom. She managed to turn around, framed by the inky and final blackness of Desiree's throat. In her last desperate effort the Wilder (for just the briefest of moments) locked eyes with Brooke and held out a shaking, defeated hand as if begging for divine intervention against the inevitable. 

Brooke was stunned into silence, and her body began to violently shake. 

Desiree closed her lips with a sharp little smack, and swallowed. 

"Brooke, you alright?" asked Jess. 

Brooke just stared as a little lump traveled down Desiree's throat and disappeared. 

"That was... that was a person..." Brooke stammered.

"Was!" exclaimed Desiree with a snide sharp laugh, followed by a loud, rude, and uncaring burp. 

"...and... she's... she's...?" 

"In my stomach now. Yep, just food. They don't really  struggle until they hit your stomach and then they really, really struggle. They never win though! That's the fun part! " 

Brooke was drowning in multitudes of different feelings: pity, disgust; disbelief that her own roommate had swallowed three in the time this demented bitch took to swallow one. The futility of life. General existential crisis. The knowledge that some terrified, innocent soul was currently scratching away at the stomach lining of some hell-bent, tequila-soaked party girl. The sudden realization that three similar people, all with hopes and dreams, were trapped within the belly of the friend she trusted most. The final, irrevocable understanding that nature doesn't care, it only consumes...

Worst of all, the strongest feeling Brooke felt was 'Turned the Fuck On.'

Watching Desiree swallow someone was powerful. Incredible. To witness the feminine form consume and dominate a lesser being, adding to its own perfection, uncaring for the happiness it destroyed... it almost drove her mad. 

Watching Desiree casually rub her belly knowing full-well  the life inside could sense it. Knowing that deep down inside this cruel, flippant and destructively beautiful shit-show of a train-wreck, a human life was struggling it's last with all the strength it could muster ... knowing it was futile. Knowing the Wilder girl's name was unknown, and didn't matter. Her name was food now. Food. Nothing more.  Looking at Jess with three lives struggling inside of her of her stomach, destined to be digested, and she doesn't seem to care...

Brooke, for the first time this evening, turned her full attention on the can of Wilder-

No. 

The correct word was Tinies.

"Where do you get them? The government is very strict about this stuff." Brooke spoke almost breathlessly...

"The road." Desiree replied casually. "Musicians can get just about anything."