Chapter Thirteen

Round One

The next morning Melanie awoke and smiled at feeling David laying on her belly. Melanie gently ran her fingers across her skin around him, her nerve endings lit up excitedly. She then carefully picked him up and laid him on her pillow next to her as stealthily as she could. She got up carefully and found some clothes to put on for the day.

Short pink shorts and a white t-shirt fit the bill. She didn’t bother with shoes. The outfit wasn’t very ostentatious and wasn’t extremely flirty either; she wasn’t really on display today. She just wanted an exciting yet relaxing day in the comfort of her home. She ran her hands over her torso to flatten out the loose shirt as she looked at herself in the mirror. Unbeknownst to her, however, her eyes weren’t the only ones that were eyeing her body.

Melanie nonchalantly stomped over to her bed, she stepped onto something soft but thought nothing of it. Someone far beneath her range of hearing shrieked silently to themselves as they watched someone get trod under foot by the beautiful girl. Her skin continued up into the sky for miles it seemed, and the billions of tons came down on that poor kid. He disappeared completely underneath her sole with an inaudible squeak.

The giant woman didn’t appear to notice as she continued to shift her weight, the carpet was ground further and further into the floor as her foot took on her full weight. It shifted and her skin moved as her heel lifted and her foot rocketed off out of sight. There, in an impression that was slowly regaining its shape, was the body of a kid who had been spying on her.

Amidst the cries and pleading voices to find safety, the kid stayed out in the open. He didn’t want to miss a thing. Yet when she turned and started walking towards him he couldn’t move, his legs were frozen in place.

Looking across the ground it was like a movie, a big budget one at that. The giant feet attached to towering chiseled legs moved in front of one another with epic slowness, crushing underneath them everything that was before them being slightly followed by a hollow bass filled boom.

The vast expanse of her body loomed up in front of him as his eyes traveled up her body as she traversed the distance in seconds. Before he knew it and before he could even scream he saw the arch of her foot appear before him and impacted him heavily. He didn’t feel much after the initial connection, his legs buckled and his spine snapped in place; and then nothing.

Someone underneath the bed fell to their knees crying; two others stared in pure hatred at the legs that were facing the bed a distance away.

Melanie hastily slid her fingers underneath David and lifted him into the air without much care that he was asleep and pressed him forcefully into her left breast. David was awoken rather violently and suddenly found himself pressing into her soft fabric covered flesh. It was soft and warm, she wasn’t wearing a bra. His mind racing, trying to catch up with the world, he struggled to hug her in a sort of good morning kind of way.  She smiled and embraced him with her arms, tightly squeezing him against her.

She pattered upstairs to fix herself a bowl of oatmeal, fruit and orange juice. Of course, she would end up allowing David to eat as much as he wanted of her breakfast before she really got into devouring it. They exchanged happy greetings and shared a short but sweet kiss before she dropped him at the edge of her bowl.

David leaned over the rim and scooped some of it with his fingers. He started eating his fill. Unfortunately, he lost balance and fell into the oatmeal. Quite a normal turn of events, as far as either of them were concerned, no surprise there.

“Oh, poor David,” boomed her voice from somewhere above. David looked up to gaze upon his giant girlfriend. Girlfriend. He thought. Is that what she really was now? What an idea…

“Uh oh.” He said to himself. “I know that look.” Melanie’s spoon scooped him up along with a lot of the nearly solid oatmeal land mass. He passed her chest, her neck up to her mouth where her nostrils faired above him taking in the hot scent. Her lips parted and as what would have been expected in such a situation in any kind of story such as this, in David went without much complaining.

It was hot and steamy in her mouth. Her tongue fondled him through the mass of oatmeal making some gruesome sounds. The tongue pressed him up against Melanie’s roof before moving back and forth, grating on David at first but finally succeeded in cleaning all the oats off of him. It felt like a wonderful full body massage. He almost felt like going to sleep but for the intense emotions he was feeling.

Suddenly he was thrust sideways, breaking his half stupor and heard the echoing gulp as food was forced by her tongue down into her empty throat. Suddenly David was being caressed by her tongue yet again. He didn’t fight it, but wallowed in the ecstasy of being embraced by the muscle. Saliva trickled in, now that the food was gone, and dripped onto him. Melanie was forced to swallow a few times to clear David off.

He looked down at her throat. Good heavens! He thought. How many people had passed down that throat now? David almost thought about wiggling in that direction. After all, he had nothing to fear from her stomach acids. He decided that it would be more polite to wait and see what Melanie did with him.

Wasn’t there something terribly important to do with being in his best friend’s (or possibly girlfriend’s?) stomach that he ought to remember? He tried but couldn’t think of what it could possibly be. Hmm. It would come to him. In the meantime he simply relaxed in the singularly wonderful experience to which he was being treated. 

Light filtered into her mouth as her spoon reappeared with a new shipment of oatmeal and deposited its load onto her tongue. Her lips pursed around the spoon as it withdrew, leaving the mass inside with David. He gulped and grabbed an oat. David didn’t have too long before Melanie started moving everything around him. Her tongue came up and squished the meal and it squished over him and pushed him into her teeth.

Her teeth then parted and her tongue swirled the contents of her mouth around a bit before her teeth came down and cracked all around him. David was thrown about again and again as Melanie chewed slowly, pushing the mush around along with him before she held him in place and swallowed.

Even with Melanie’s mouth relatively empty, huge strands of saliva filled her mouth from when her tongue touched her roof, even for a second. Bits of oats and goo flowed slowly everywhere. He wiped his face clean of her saliva, leaving a thin film behind before light filtered in again and the whole process repeated.

After a time, she extracted him from her mouth and set him back down next to their breakfast. “My, you’re yummy today. You make everything taste better. I would love to eat you right now but I think we’ll just have to save that until later. I have big plans for this morning and you play a pivotal part in them. Let me fill you in a bit.” She ate the rest while she explained to David what he was going to be doing, he nodded understandingly. Then, taking some left over oatmeal and juice downstairs she sat them down before the doll house where people were already awake and looking out with nervous apprehension. 

“Come out my little friends and have breakfast. There is nothing to fear. Yet.”

Shielding David from the house, she leaned over the house and placed him on the ground behind the backdoor. Melanie winked at him and he gave her a thumbs up and watched as she disappeared over the roof.

David went through the door and joined the group of people who were milling around. No one really looked at him as they were all too afraid for their lives. David looked around at Melanie’s “house guests” until his eyes landed on whom he was looking for.

Sarah’s lit up as they locked with his and she stood up off the bottom step.

“Where did you go?” Sarah asked David as he approached.

“I went to go have a look around.” He stood close to her and looked up at her.

She looked him over now, for the first time without panic gripping her. She bit her lip and shifted her gaze down the hall and out the front door, which had opened to allow exit to some of the guests. Melanie’s impressive body was visible through its frame on the other side of a bowl of some kind.

“Did you find anything?” She asked, hesitantly.

David shook his head and he could tell she was visibly hurt. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get to check everywhere, but I haven’t found a way out for us. I’ll have to check the rest tonight.”

“If we live that long…” She trailed off.

David slipped an arm between hers and curled it around her thin waist and pulled himself closer to her. “Of course we will.” He laid his head on her shoulder and pulled her head down to his with his free hand. She wrapped her arms around him and they stood there for some time.

David couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty about the situation.

Melanie watched as a stream of people filtered out the door and, with many anxious glances at the giantess, they ate and drank their fill. Melanie’s mouth was turned up in a very small smile. She hadn’t seen David come out of the house yet, perhaps he was going through the house and looking for stragglers? She really should have counted how many people she had, because she had no idea.

The last man moved away from the plate, stood back and looked up at her, captivated in her stunning beauty and unbelievable size. 

“We’re going to be playing a few games today,” said Melanie without preamble. “I have thought about the past two games that I challenged you with and I believe that I was at a remarkable advantage.” There was some minor agreement coming from the crowd in front of her, but she ignored it. “In an attempt to give you a fair chance of survival,” Again, more ignored scoffing. “I have devised a series of different tasks. You will choose to participate in only one of the tasks set for you at a time. Some will require athletics where you will compete against each other. Some will be more oriented towards resourcefulness, knowledge or just plain luck.”

At these words some of the people looked at one another, possibly sizing them up? Or perhaps in a bid of possible survivability? “Those of you that pass your tests will be rewarded with another day of life. Some of you will fail and end up in here,” she patted her bare stomach as a shiver ran through the crowd below her. All eyes were on her flat stomach that had consumed the lives of so many people before them.

“It will take a little while for me to prepare for the games. You can go back into the house and try and decide in which event you wish to participate in.” The group slid back into the small building behind them and talked amongst themselves.

David had listened to Melanie’s words from inside. Sarah had opted to not get anything to eat as her nerves were just too tightly strung. They talked occasionally, making comments about Melanie’s plans, and David could feel goosebumps prickle Sarah’s skin at the mention of Melanie’s stomach, and her hand motions over it. David attempted to soothe her.

After Melanie had stood up and left, and others had begun filtering back into the house, David went to the bowl and collected some of the remaining oats for Sarah. He had told her it would be in her best interest to eat at least something, and she reluctantly agreed. They sat together on a couch in the living room while others talked around a table.

David was leaning up against Sarah’s body with her arms around him, mostly in silence. He listened to her breathing as they listened (rather half-heartedly) to the group in the room. Their conversation mostly concerned escape, survival, and ways to cheat the system.

David was mostly listening for trouble words, such as any plot to hurt Melanie; as he believed in her ability to keep them from ‘winning’ if she didn’t want them to. Even still, he felt he needed to be her ears where she didn’t have any. It made him feel good, possibly being able to protect Melanie, given their size and relationship.

Yet that made him think again. If he was going to think of Melanie as his girlfriend, what was he doing with Sarah? Was he here for her? Or was he there for himself? This was something that dominated most of his thoughts, whether or not he might be unfaithful to Melanie or whether he was just genuinely feeling compassionate about someone else for the first time.

Of course, he was going to have to figure this out very quickly. If Sarah died, what would he feel? No, when Sarah died. That is what he had to start remembering. Everyone here was food, and toys for Melanie’s amusement. Hell, even he was just a toy for Melanie’s amusement. And still, he was happy about that. He loved the idea of being Melanie’s play thing, and had he the opportunity to go back and change things, he wouldn’t even take actions.

Still, Sarah’s body was soft and ‘his size,’ which made it easy to hold and to hug. He definitely did want something along those lines, someone to hold himself. He loved being held by Melanie, but there was just something different to being completely dominated by someone, and being an equal.

David was anything but equal to these people, in reality. Their purpose was food and fun, his purpose was fun. How long had he been with Melanie? A few days, surely he hadn’t seen every side of her up till this point, and he wasn’t sure exactly what her definition of fun was, but so far it seemed to align with his own.

“I will be going for a brief run now. When I get back, I will shower and set out some snacks for you all. See you in a bit.” Melanie’s angelic voice reverberated through the walls and Sarah’s body immediately clammed up around David.

            Noise coming from outside the house, thudding hollow booms signaled her passage across the room multiple times, followed by the door being open and shut.

            “She’s gone.” Someone down the hallway called out. The house seemed to move all at once. The only two people that stayed put were Sarah and David, still on the couch together.

            David watched as someone went to the window and looked through it. “Damn, she’s put something under the door.”

            “Quick, someone go check the window!”

            “Are you insane? That’s almost a mile away! Uphill!”

            “We don’t have all day. Let’s go.”

            David looked up at Sarah who had turned her gaze to them. “Did you check the window yet?” She asked.

            “No, I didn’t get up there yesterday. But I’ve been here longer than most of you all, and we didn’t even think to check it.”

            She looked at him puzzled for a moment. “Why not?”

            “We couldn’t find a way up there.”

            She nodded dejectedly while pushing her lips to the side. “What about the vent?”

            David tapped his lip for a moment. “You know, I hadn’t given that much thought. With spiders and all, I had steered clear of that area.” He felt her shiver again.

            “Ugh, I hate spiders.”

            “They’re much bigger now.” She shivered again and hugged him tightly.

            “Stop. Please?”

            “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

Melanie returned after a two mile run. It had taken her longer than she would have liked, but the bridge the she usually took on her way back was washed out. She wondered why it would have been, but when she tried to cross the river she found that it had gotten far too deep; she had to find another path.

When she entered the room all the hearts stopped and several collective breaths were taken, a few eyes strayed to her. She was breathing slightly hard and her hair was clumpy, her clothes were moderately wet and her shoes shown signs of mud; as did her legs and fingers.

She pushed her fingers through her hair and surveyed the room, then, with a sigh, she took up her original outfit and went into the bathroom. Melanie showered as quickly as she could and changed back into her pink shorts and white shirt. She didn’t bother with socks or shoes again.

When she left the bathroom her scent filled the whole room as was appropriate with the laws of chemistry. She stood at the door and addressed the room in general. “Now everyone, I am planning on dividing you up. So anyone who plans on doing a physical challenge come stand here,” She motioned with her hand to an arbitrary spot on the ground, a few people went there. “A mental challenge here,” She pointed over to the other side of the room and, with a groan, another small group broke off. “And a game of resourcefulness and luck here.” The rest of the group departed.

Those smart enough to have gone out while Melanie was away had looked through the materials she had set up; but they couldn’t go into the large structure she had constructed as it was blocked off.

“Now then,” said Melanie. “The physical challenges first!” She picked up two strong looking young men and smiled down at them. She couldn’t help but lick her lips lightly, looking forward to their attempts to evade her belly, neither of which would succeed in the end. She set them on either side of the gap between the two tables. Then she gave each man an end to a very thin piece of string. 

“Gentlemen,” She said in her best announcer voice, “Here is the game; tug-of-war. Not incredibly creative I grant you but I am sure that it will feel livelier once you start.” She smiled a winning smile at them, neither of them wanted to look away. “Now then, each of you take the rope, and, you know how the game is played. If you fall over the desktop, I will be sure to catch you.” She winked and positioned herself under the rope now suspended between the two men. “And should you both choose to not play, I’ll just squish you both. Ready? Go!” Melanie commanded.

Instantly the two men started pulling with all their might. One man was jerked off his feet at once as he was a little slower at the up take. He struggled for traction as the other man dragged him by way of the rope towards the edge of the desk. The man who was being dragged put one hand out, the other still clinging to the rope. He managed to slow and eventually stop himself; the other man stumbled. He carefully swerved his body around and, with an interesting amount of agility, got to his feet using the tension on the rope.

The tide of the game changed very quickly as he took a step back, followed by another. His shoes had much greater traction and all of his strength was in his lower body; he had the advantage now.

The man on the opposite side struggled and nearly stopped breathing; his face was turning red and his muscles were bulging. As he neared the end of his ledge he couldn’t hold it any longer; he let go. The other man stumbled this time and flew back.

Immediately he cried out. “I didn’t get pulled over!” said the man who had practically been drug to the edge.

“No,” Said Melanie coolly, “but you did let go of the rope right before you would have been pulled over,” she concluded. “It’s the same as a loss I’m afraid. That means only one thing.” With a look of horror the man watched as her hand came out of the ravine and she picked up the man and, after holding him to her face, threw him into her open mouth.

He screamed a scream that should have been reserved for a rollercoaster drop. Melanie took a breath and swallowed loudly. Everyone watched in mixed fascinations as her belly growled.

“Well, congratulations on winning,” she said to the one man who had survived the tug of war. “That was a really impressive save. You’re safe for the rest of the day.” The man shook with nervous energy and excess adrenalin in his blood. He had been terrified, and he had effectively killed someone. Melanie let the poor man down onto the ground where he collapsed and someone rushed towards him. “Now I think it’s time for some skull sweating.” Melanie said while moving to the next group. The whole crowd recoiled at her tremendous size as it approached.

David and Sarah had gone to this group, and were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He had given a few tips to her to try to keep her out of Melanie’s selective gaze, so she tried to look as small and unattached as possible. Trying to keep his cover, David tried to act as though he had everything to lose and fear of the gorgeous woman approaching them.

Melanie’s hand shot into the crowd and selected someone who let out a short yelp before silencing themselves after a stern look from Melanie. Next her hand approached David and after a barely audible gasp from Sarah, he was lifted off his feet.

David was looking up at Melanie from almost eye level, and saw someone in her other hand, another boy possibly a little younger than himself. He shook in her grip. She set both of them down on the ground between her knees and leaned in towards them.

“You shall ask us questions,” Melanie said to David, indicating the other man. “The winner gets three questions right first. If I win, I eat him. If he wins, I eat you.” David’s eyes bulged. Was there a telling gleam in her eye? Surely she couldn’t mean what he thought she meant.

“Okay…” said David as he began to sweat a little. He would have to ask questions he knew Melanie would know. They had shared a few classes over the years, but aside that, he really didn’t know where her academic knowledge laid. He made a shot in the dark. “What was the name of Hitler’s last major counter-offensive in World War II?” He grinned, more or less to himself, quite pleased at his memory from class.

“The Battle of the Bulge!” screamed the tiny man without hesitation. “The Battle of the Bulge! I’m sure of it!” Melanie hadn’t even opened her mouth to try answer.

“Correct,” said David. Damn.

“Only two more to go and you escape my belly,” said Melanie. “Give us another question.”

He visually thought for a moment. Melanie’s fingers drummed on her knees and his eyes slipped over her powerful legs and he felt himself losing track of his thoughts.

A movement from her forced David back to reality and he selected another from his list in his mind. “Who was the general that was called the ‘Shield of Rome’ against Hannibal’s army in the Second Punic War?” His knowledge of history was showing off. He liked it.

“Fabius Maximus!” said the man after a quick internal struggle. Melanie, again, hadn’t even attempted an answer. She gave David a rather scathing look that seemed to say “You suck.”

“Right again,” said David. Crap. This guy was obviously a history buff, and to avoid being eaten, David would have to ensure Melanie’s victory. He changed topics to something he knew Melanie would get. “What was the name of the author who was best known for coming up with the characters Rincewind the Wizard, and The Luggage?”

“Terry Pratchett,” said Melanie quickly. “I love those books. They are so funny!” She had been a breathing pillar earlier but was now animated with life. She was terrifying. Points for David.

“Exactly Right,” said David.

David kept changing topics. “What is the house that converts chemical energy into kinetic energy inside a modern combustion engine?”

His plan had worked. “A piston!” said Melanie, clapping her hands together with glee. She was perhaps too animated.

“Good,” answered David. He had given both of them two points; he was now on the tipping point. He had to make sure Melanie won just to maintain illusion.

“The final question.” David began, suspense building. “At what speed will any solid object accelerate at when dropped from any height?”

Melanie looked baffled, she didn’t know it; she would still try though. “Three?” Three what? She thought to herself.

The man beneath her looked up in triumph, “Nine point nine meters per second per second!” he said.

“Close enough,” David responded, shifting his weight to the other side. “Actually it’s nine point eight but.” After a short pause then he remembered, “Crap.”

The man breathed a heavy sigh of relief and collapsed onto the floor from the mental weight.

“Aw poo, here I thought I was going to win that one. Oh well,” Melanie clicked her fingers together and reached for David. “A deal is a deal.”

David turned to run but Melanie’s fingers were upon him before he could even utter a sound. Melanie brought him to her face. Her hand was positioned at just the right point to block out her eye, which closed almost so quickly David barely recognized it, or had his mind been playing tricks on him?

            Melanie threw David into her mouth and chewed gently on him. His voice could be heard coming from inside her head. Down below Sarah’s throat caught. Melanie swallowed.

            David was deposited inside Melanie’s stomach a moment later and rose out of the mush that remained. The other contestant was in there, screaming bloody murder and thrashing around uselessly. David walked to the wall and sat down, contemplating what Melanie was up to.

Melanie transported the man back to the group and moved to gather up several people who had taken the last option.

“I built a maze in the middle of my room if you had been wondering what this was.” She stood up and passed her hand in front of her, the group looked down at it. “But, don’t cheat.” She covered their gaze with her hand. “It should be an awful amount of fun. I am sure you all will like it.” She put them down onto the ground and they stepped off her hand. “As long as you’re not the last one out or stuck, I won’t eat you.” She said to them.

They all turned their eyes to the large door she had made, it was still blocked. “There are several obstacles in the maze.” She continued. “You might need either, acrobatics or resourcefulness to pass them. If you are completely stymied don’t worry. I will be sure to come and rescue you at the end.”

The poor people on the ground knew what she meant by rescue. “Now you’ll go through all at the same time while I watch you. Everyone will have different starting points, and there is one exit, none closer than another. The last one out loses.” She motioned to other doors and the group separated. She removed all the blocks. “Ready? Go!”

Melanie had constructed a labyrinth with old building blocks she had kicking around from when she was younger. She had also used an old shoe, a box here and there, a few piles of books, and so on. One man came up to an intersection of three possible paths. He decided on the one to the right and ran down the path until he came up to a ramp that stopped abruptly at the lip of a large cup half filled with water. It might be just out of jumping range but perhaps he could make it. He didn’t. Splash!

Damn. He hadn’t been able to clear the far side of the glass. Well that just went to show that if you can’t jump very well you’ll probably get eaten by a giantess. Or maybe there was another lesson here if he looked hard enough. In the meantime he attempted to climb out of the glass. This proved impossible so he was forced to simply tread water until something else happened. He was pissed.

The next guy, named Juan Carlos, started into the maze at the same time, but only a few feet away. He quickly came to the same intersection, and also took the right corridor and soon arrived at a glass with a person floating in it. He decided that maybe it would be better to go back and try a different way. He went back to the intersection and saw a new person running into the maze taking the left corridor. Juan took the middle one just because it was different.

He soon came to a spreading of tape, sticky side up, on the floor. How was he supposed to get past that? He looked around. One side of the maze “wall” consisted of an old shoe, turned on its side. There were laces on his side of the shoe which could conceivably be used to climb to the top of the shoe, walk to the end and hop off the tip past the sticky tape. Juan started in that direction and proceeded to scale the imposing piece of footwear.

Once atop the summit he looked over the opposite side of the wall and found himself to be above the man in the glass of water. He was still trapped, but if Juan worked quickly he might be able to put an end to that. Juan dragged up a loose shoelace and lowered it carefully into the glass. The man within took hold and Juan began to haul on the bit of lacing. The line began to bite into his hands as he took the weight of the man below. It seemed like a longer process than it actually was but finally the man was standing on top of the shoe with Juan. The man drew him into a soggy embrace.

“Thanks for saving my ass, man!”

“Think nothing of it my friend. You would have done the same for me.”

He blinked, “If you say so.” He wouldn’t have; at least, not in this situation.

“We must find a way out of the maze. Come!” Juan commanded as he bounded off to the end of the shoe and hopped to the floor. 

The stranger he had rescued followed and together they raced around the next corner where they found a dead end. There was a rope hanging from above, tied around what looked like a number 2 pencil. Apparently they had to climb out. Being in good shape, Juan Carlos hauled himself up the rope quickly but his new acquaintance was not so fast. He struggled and kicked, gasping for breath and grunting with exertion until he finally managed to climb the twenty or so feet of line to the pencil and a new ledge. 

From there it looked as though their new challenge would be to balance on another pencil set over a pit. Melanie watched them excitedly.

There was nothing dangerous at the bottom of this pit (which was really just a small cardboard box) but there was no escape from it once one fell in. After rechecking the rope that he had just climbed, Juan realized it would be impossible to undo the knot tying it to the pencil behind them. They would have to face crossing the pit without the help or security of a line.

Juan spread his arms wide to help the balance and began to walk, his eyes on the far side of the pencil. He arrived on the other side a moment later and then waited for his companion to reach him. That man took more time and almost fell. He was reduced to sliding himself across while lying on the pencil which took up time. 

“Come on man. We must hurry if we are to beat the others!” Finally he made it. They slid down another rope on the other side of the box and ran to the end of the maze.

“Ah, there you are,” said Melanie as they emerged from the maze together. “We were all so worried, weren’t we?” she eyed the other three maze competitors. They all agreed.

“It looks like we don’t have a clear person who came in last. Three are already here and one is stuck in the maze. I guess you two,” here she gestured at Juan and his buddy, “are tied for the ones in last place, since if you get stuck you automatically lose.” She explained. “I guess that means I will just have to eat you both!” They grimaced. “Don’t look so scared. I’ll eat the guy in the maze first.” As if that helps!

She leaned over them and they got a good look at her cleavage as she did so. Her hand plunged into the depths of the maze and withdrew a struggling, helpless man.

She smiled at him, popped him into her mouth and swallowed without much effort or show. The man she had rescued fell with the compulsion of the muscles behind him. Melanie had eaten him like she had eaten so many others. He was pushed down her esophagus and into her belly. He splashed into her stomach juices and flailed around madly. He was helpless and it was an impossible feeling to deal with while he waited for his end. He began to scream in the shear frustration of it all. He was quickly joined by another voice in the darkness that had earlier fallen silent.

David shook his head as the new-comers completely lost their minds. Although, he couldn’t blame them. He was in there with them and the only thing that kept him from freaking out, just as they were, was the knowledge that he was safely waiting for her to take him out and that he wouldn’t become slime like they would.

Muffled screams of terror or agony, no one was sure which, emanated from the depths of the giantess. Everyone who had just completed the maze heard them as did Melanie. The shrieks for her of course were emphasized by the struggling coming from within. It was dreadfully gratifying knowing he was within her. Everyone staring up at Melanie felt a wave of fear sweep over them but none more so than Juan and his friend as Melanie’s gaze fell upon them once more.

“My stomach seems to amplify his voice,” she said in a graveyard tone. “I guess I will see if my belly has the same effect on your voices.” She didn’t grin this time.

Both of them cringed at the sight of her huge emerald eyes looking upon them as she reached out for them. Juan’s companion turned to run, and all eyes were on him, as he didn’t even get his foot off the ground before he was thrust into Melanie’s hungry mouth and swallowed. There didn’t even seem to be any time between him turning and him disappearing; something somewhere was broken.

“See,” Melanie said, taking a breath. “Running isn’t intelligent, it won’t get you anywhere.” She said maniacally, as her stomach agreed in its own roar of a language. No one could make out the words, but they all understood what it meant.

As Melanie reached for Juan, he yelled and cowered. Her hand grasped him and he shouted: “Please! Don’t do this!” He had sort of an accent.

Melanie brought him to her face, “Why?” She asked, making him feel rather dumb.

“Because, I’m an intelligent being! Not just food!”

Okay… “Hmm…” She thought for a second. “How old am I” Melanie asked.

“… Uhh, seventeen?” His resolution failing.

“Nope.” She said quickly. “Not as intelligent as you think.” She tilted her head back and threw him into her mouth, quickly swallowing him. David watched in awe as the sudden bulge that formed at the top her Melanie’s throat sped down her neck, and as soon as it had appeared, it was gone. Her stomach growled again, and Melanie petted it heavily.

“Oh, that was fun.” She turned her gaze down to the group around her. “What say you, my friends, ready for another go?”