3. To Save a Friend

Claudia drove to the nearest fast food place, rolled up to the drive-thru window, and ordered two hamburgers, a ton of fries, and the largest soda they had. She put the bags in the seat beside her, where Simon’s tiny frame lay unconscious.

            As he gradually awoke, he heard very loud munching noises and turned to see Claudia towering above him to the left, devouring the last of her first burger. Hungrily, she shoved handful after handful of fries into her mouth to send them down her gullet.

            “What are you doing?” he yelled.

            Claudia noticed he was awake and leaned down to listen to him as she continued to chew her food. He was terrified but still got a big boner as her gorgeous face came closer. He repeated his question.

            Claudia swallowed. Simon watched with horror as the massive lump traveled down her throat. “I’m stuffing myself,” she explained. “I already ate lunch.”

            “Then why are you eating more?” he asked.

            Claudia chuckled, then burped. She plucked him up off the seat and dangled him in front of her face. Simon glanced down at her gurgling belly, which wasn’t covered by the bottom of her orange tank top.

            Claudia chewed some more French fries, gulped, and licked her lips in front of Simon. He was completely terrified. His fear made her smile.

            “What’s the matter Simon?” she said. “Afraid I’m going to eat you?”

            “What? No! You wouldn’t! You’re too kind for that Claudia, this isn’t like you!”

            “Tell that to Emma’s two friends who I sent on one-way trips to her tummy during my first lunch.” Claudia giggled. “You knew them. After all, they were crucial in your little conspiracy.”

            “Conspiracy? What are you talking about?!” Simon yelled.

            Claudia laughed. “Don’t play dumb with me, Simon. I know everything. You and two of Emma’s friends filmed me having sex with Karey in the back of her car. Then you posted it online.” She belched again.

            “What? Are you fucking kidding me? You thought that was me?” Simon thundered.

            “You can’t deny it,” she said.

            “And you can’t prove it, either!” Simon said.

            “Emma told me she heard that you were involved.”

            “Emma’s a lying bitch! We’re pretty sure she’s the one who filmed you in the first place!”

            Claudia was taken aback. “What do you mean?”

            “Claudia, I would never do something like that to you. Jenny…that was something different. And I regret it every day. What we had was special! Claudia, please don’t do this! Don’t bring harm to anyone else.”

            Claudia thought for a moment. Could this be true? Had Emma really conned her into believing that her ex was responsible for all of this? It made sense that Emma would actually be behind it. After all, she had only stopped bullying her after Jenny had reached a new social low once her affair with Simon was revealed.

            She glanced at her tiny ex, dangling from her fingers. She could so easily open her mouth, toss him in, and wash him down with some Diet Coke. But as much as she hated him for what he did to her...

            No, she couldn’t do it. He wasn’t responsible for what was making her mad right now. Emma had deceived her, taken her in only to betray her. And to think if she had eaten Simon it would’ve almost been Emma who killed him.

            “What…what are you going to do?” Simon said, still terrified.

            She smiled. “Relax, nothing…to you.”

            Then she dropped him back onto the passenger seat. The impact knocked the breath out of him as he tumbled across the leather and finally blacked out again.

^^^

“Simon’s not answering his phone,” Tommy said.

            “Claudia’s not either,” Karey said.

            Drake rubbed his temples. “Fuck guys, this is bad.”

            They were all sitting in Tommy’s Jeep by the beach.

            “Where would she go?” Karey said.

            Tommy thought for a moment and looked out at the waves. Simon could’ve been in danger at the very moment they had to act fast. “It depends. If she knows Emma filmed the video–”

            “We don’t know that for sure,” Karey said.

            “Who else would it have been?” Tommy said. “I’ve been in denial all morning. But even if it’s not her, it’s the best guess we have. If Claudia thinks anyone’s involved she might hurt them.”

            “Or worse,” Karey said. “Eat them.”

^^^

Emma’s parents were out for the afternoon, so Emma was lounging on the sofa in her underwear binging on Cheetos and watching Netflix. The doorbell rang. Emma licked her fingers, burped, and got up to walk to the door.

            “Coming!” she shouted.

            She opened the door and was surprised to see Claudia, grinning mischievously and holding something behind her back. Oh great, what did this bitch want? Emma thought. She thought it was hysterical how Claudia thought they were besties now. In fact, it was pathetic.

            She had taken the lie about Simon being involved hook, line and sinker.

            What a fool, a dumb lesbian bitch.

            “Hey girlfriend, what’s up?!” Emma said, putting on her fake friendly attitude again.

            “It was you,” Claudia said stepping inside.

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Emma said, suddenly getting panicked. How could she have known? Did she guess? Was she actually smart all along?

            “Yes you do! It was you all along, you fucking bitch! You filmed Karey and I having sex and then posted it online.”

            “Claudia, I would never…!” Shit, Emma thought. It was painfully obvious that she was lying from her bad delivery. She had normally been so good at this, but this dumb bitch had caught her off guard. She suddenly felt very vulnerable standing there in only her underwear.

            “You’ve hated me ever since last Christmas,” Claudia said, stepping closer. “When I beat you at the eggnog chugging contest. Then at Valentine’s Day, you just had to prove you were the bigger eater. And ever-since then you’ve treated me like shit. Then when the truth about Jenny and Simon came out, you only pretended to be my friend because it made you look better.”

            Emma smirked. “You’re not as dumb as you look. Alright, dumbass. I filmed you and you’re gay-ass girlfriend getting it on in the parking lot. And I was the one to upload it to social media. And I told you that Simon did that because I thought it would be hilarious, which it was.”

            Emma folded her bare arms across her chest and smiled smugly again. “What do you say to that?”

            Now it was Claudia’s turn to smile. She pulled out the shrink ray from behind her back and aimed it straight at Emma, who started backing away in fear, a shocked look upon her face. “It’s time I cut you down to size,” Claudia said.

            “What…what the hell is that?” Emma managed to say before Claudia fired.

            The beam hit her and she was shrunk down in a split second. Claudia reached down and picked her up, a cowering little figure in her palm. Claudia felt so powerful, so alive. It really turned her on.

            “Don’t kill me!” Emma shrieked.

            Claudia thought for a moment. “Not yet. First, we’re going to have some fun.”

            She unzipped her shorts and pulled down the front of her panties and brought Emma down towards the nether region beyond. “No!” she cried.

^^^

Tommy ran up the steps to Emma’s house and threw open the door. No one was inside.

            “Emma!” he yelled.

            “Maybe she’s not here,” Karey said.

            “She’s not answering her phone,” Tommy said.

            Drake entered too, looking around. “Look, there’s some junk food all over the couch. If she was here, she didn’t clean up.”

            “That’s not like Emma,” said Tommy. “At least, I think so. I didn’t really notice her hygiene habits when I was here before.”

            “Come on,” Karey said, touching his arm. “Let’s go find our friends.”

^^^

Simon moaned as he went in deeper, his naked body pressed against Claudia’s in the backseat. “Simon, Simon,” she was moaning. He didn’t stop. It felt so good to be back inside her. He missed this. He missed Jenny. But right now he was just trying to hold in the orgasm as long as he could.

            He felt alive, like a wild animal. He was about to explode. It was going to feel so good.

            Finally, he came.

            Her fingernails clawed into his back as she arched hers, her breath quickening. They just lay there for a moment, embracing each others nakedness and realizing how much they had missed being like this with each other.

            Claudia smiled to herself. Karey was right. She was full-on bi.

            Finally, Simon pulled out. “Whoo,” he said, pulling his underwear and shorts back on. “That was amazing.” Suddenly, his stomach grumbled. “Damn, that actually made me really hungry.”

            A mischievous grin spread across Claudia’s face. “I didn’t get around to eating that other hamburger. You want it?”

            His belly grumbled again. “I think my stomach’s already made a decision for me,” Simon joked.

            Claudia reached forward to grab the burger out of the bag in the passenger seat, but while she did so, she also subtly scooped something out of her panties, which we lying on the floor of the backseat with the rest of her clothes.

^^^

Still only in her underwear, Emma was terrified. She was covered in Claudia’s cum from earlier and had spent at least half an hour in the giantess’s vagina, but it felt like ages. Finally, she was removed from her dark slimy prison only to be tangled up in the girl’s panties on the floor to listen off the sounds of her and Simon having sex.

            Emma had just curled up in a ball, hoping to wake up at any moment.

            Now she was being lifted through the air towards the front seat. Claudia’s other hand was unwrapping a… Oh no.

            No, it wasn’t possible. This couldn’t be happening, Emma told herself.

            It was a gigantic hamburger. Claudia’s hand lifted up the bun and Emma was inserted right by the edge, sandwiched between a slice of processed cheese and the upper bun. She struggled and shifted around. Her head and shoulders were sticking out from the burger but the rest of her was still stuck. She knew if she didn’t escape, she would be no doubt be eaten by Claudia.

            But then as the burger was lifted up and she saw Claudia lounging back naked in the other corner of the backseat, Emma realized with horror that she was about to become Simon’s lunch instead. The burger turned to face him. He was leaning back wearing only his shorts and Emma had to admit he looked pretty hot, even though she was terrified he was about to ingest her.

            “Simon! Simon!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

            He didn’t hear her. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide, eagerly awaiting the taste of the burger. Of her. She was heading right for the boy’s gaping jaws, the black abyss that waiting beyond his tongue.

            Emma screamed and wriggled and thrashed, but it was no good. His teeth chomped down, taking a big bite out of the burger. She was completely engulfed in darkness and was thrown back and forth as he chewed. Fortunately, he didn’t chew very much and she narrowly avoided being crushed up by the molars. But then he swallowed the large mouthful in a husky gulp and the next thing she knew she was sliding down a dark slimy tunnel, tumbling down, down, down…

            Finally she fell throw an opening and dropped down through dark space. Then she hit the surface of some kind of liquid that stung her skin. She resurfaced as quickly as possible as bits of burger splashed down all around her.

            Emma already knew where she was: In Simon’s stomach.

            She screamed at the top of her lungs but the gastric juices began churning and she was sloshed around in the dark as more morsels of swallowed food continued to land in the stew of digestion.

^^^

Simon gulped down the last bite of the burger, licked his fingers, then leaned back and rubbed his gurgling tummy. “Urrrrppp!” he belched.

            Claudia smiled. She had finally gotten her payback.

            “So what are you going to do to Emma?” Simon asked. His stomach gurgled again.

            “Oh don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything,” Claudia said. “I’ve learned my lesson. Hopefully she’ll learn hers.”

            “Don’t confront her or anything,” Simon said. “And you have to give us back the shrink ray.”

            “Who’s us?”

            “The Rays Club.”

            “Oh, so that’s why it was called the Rays Club,” Claudia said. It all made sense now.

            “And those agents of the conspiracy that were chasing us back on Spring Break,” Simon continued. “That was all tied to this too.”

            “Yikes,” Claudia said.

            “We don’t know where the shrink rays came from, but they’re tied to a government conspiracy called the Program.”

            “There’s more shrink rays?”

            “Yes, we don’t know how many.” Simon’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Hey, maybe you can join the Rays Club now! We’re trying to get to the bottom of it all. Tommy has some leads with similar instances of people disappearing at other places around the country. There might even be some travel involved.”

            Claudia blushed. “Well, I mean… I don’t know…after what I nearly did… After what I did do to Emma’s friends…”

            Simon shrugged. “That’ll be our little secret. No one really liked them anyway.” He chuckled. “And no one really likes Emma either.” He burped again. “Whoo,” he said, rubbing his belly. “I’m pretty gassy today.”

            Claudia leaned back and closed her eyes, still entirely naked. She thought about traveling across the country with Simon and Tommy and the Rays Club, trying to solve the true conspiracy behind it all. The conspiracy that had caused all of this. To finally get a sense of closure….

            She made her decision.

            “Alright, I’ll do it!”

            Simon smiled. It was the first time he’d felt genuinely happy in a long time. He thought that if Jenny was still alive, she would’ve been proud of this moment.

            “Glad to hear it,” he said.

            The two of them leaned in to kiss.

            ZAP!

            Simon was shrunk in an instant, tumbling down onto the back of the leather seat. “Huh, what’s going on?” he said.

            Claudia picked him up, dangling him in front of her face. “Silly Simon, I could never forgive you for what you did to me. It was your betrayal that sent me down the path of bisexuality with Karey that caused this whole mess in the first place. I don’t care about your stupid conspiracy. Thanks for telling me about Emma, though. I hope she made a tasty snack for you.” Claudia cackled.

            Simon’s eyes went wide with horror. He glanced down at his gurgling stomach. “I…I…No, I couldn’t have –” He suddenly burped again.

            Claudia laughed again. “She’s been surely digested by now, just dissolved like another speck of food. Speaking of which…”

            She popped off the lid on the soda and plopped Simon in. He surfaced on the carbonated liquid as Claudia lifted the big cup towards her lips. “Wait, Claudia, please!”

            A moment before he slid into her mouth, Simon thought about Jenny and her final moments, also being gulped down by Claudia with a liquid. He hoped that her end had come swiftly and painlessly inside Claudia’s belly and hoped that he would receive a similar fate, but he knew that the same horrors of the giantess’s bowels that digested Jenny would soon provide him with the same horrible suffering.

            Then he slid past the teeth, along the tongue, and then beyond the throat. Simon’s screams echoed all the way down Claudia’s esophagus. Then they were no more.

^^^

Tommy, Karey, and Drake sat around at the beach. Tommy remembered when he and Simon had been shrunk here in the back of Zack’s car when they were investigating the serial killer ray case last fall. He had lost his girlfriend Autumn that day, the girl he had lost his virginity to. So much had passed since then, but Simon had been the only constant.

            And now they couldn’t find him. Or Claudia. Or even Emma.

            They had all vanished without a trace. Maybe the Program had taken them, he thought. Maybe Claudia ate both Emma and Simon and was coming for them next.

            Karey touched his shoulder. “Hey, the only thing we can do right now is to plan our next move.”

            “Yeah,” Drake said. “We’ve really gotta get on with our investigation.”

            “But those leads are in other states,” Tommy said.

            Drake shrugged. “Road trip.”

            Karey nodded. “I’m down. It’s been getting boring staying around here all summer so far.”

            Tommy nodded. “And Simon?”

            “We’ll find him,” Drake said. “I’m sure he’s out there somewhere. So’s Emma.”

            “And Claudia,” Karey said. “I’m so scared for her. She doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into.”

            “We’ve all been involved in something much bigger than ourselves,” Tommy said. “It’s time to get to the bottom of it. And then we’ll end it, once and for all.”

            The three friends stared off to sea as the sun got lower and lower in the late afternoon sky.

^^^

Claudia was now wearing just her bra and short shorts as she drove along the outskirts of town. She needed a plan. Now that her revenge was complete, it was time to reassess her life. What would she do now? She just ate her ex-boyfriend and turned down an opportunity to start anew with him and get to the bottom of the shrink ray conspiracy.

            She hated Karey now and wanted nothing more to do with her. Her best friend Jenny had betrayed her and now was missing. And Emma had her friends were dead too. Claudia had seen to that.

            So now that she had destroyed the Rays Club option she figured the best thing to do would be to go home, pack some clothes, and then get out of town. With this shrink ray, she was nearly unstoppable. She could drive across country, stealing from people and eating them to cover her tracks. The police would never be able to figure out. She’d be a free spirit.

            Just then she heard a siren behind her and pulled over. That’s weird, she thought. I wasn’t speeding and my tail lights aren’t out.

            A fat cop walked up to her window. She rolled it down, deciding to play flirty since she was topless save for the bra. “Hey officer, wanna see my license and registration?”

            She thumbed her bra strap as if ready to pull it down. The cop was stone faced. “Are you Claudia Wellesley?”

            “Yeah,” she said. “How do you know my nam-?”

            Just then, the man reached forward a cloth outstretched and clamped it over her mouth and nose. Claudia reared back in shock, but the officer kept the cloth pressed tight and she began to inhale the chloroform and drifted off into unconsciousness…

            When she awoke, she was in a mostly dark room with one harsh light aimed on her. She was handcuffed to a desk and across from her was another chair. She suddenly realized where she was: an interrogation room.

            “Hello?!” she called out. “I want my phone call!” she yelled. But then she realized she had no one to call. Her parents would be really mad if they found out she was in jail. But honestly, what had she done wrong…that they knew about?

            Oh shit, she thought. Had they found the shrink ray? Had they confiscated it?

            Just then a door opened from the darkness and a serious-looking man in a suit wearing sunglasses walked forward and then sat down across from her. He folded his hands on the table.

            “Claudia Wellesley…”

            “What the fuck do you want? Who are you people?”

            “I’m Smith, Donald Smith.” He smiled slyly and took of his sunglasses. He had cold grey eyes. “I work for the Program.”

            Claudia tensed up. Simon was right. Now she knew why they wanted her: They had been after the shrink ray all along.

            “Relax,” Smith said, as if sensing her thoughts. “You’re not in trouble. In fact, I’m here to commend you. You’re methods of killing are…inspired. In fact, we have a job offering for you…if you’re interested. The Director picked you themself.”

            He took a file out from his suit jacket and passed it across the table. Claudia began flipping through. Holy shit, they wanted her to become a government assassin!

            “You eliminated Simon Heller, one of the so-called “Rays Club” that has been a thorn in our side for months. But really they are just a minor disturbance. We could kill them all anytime we like, but we are amused by their “investigation” that keeps getting sidetracked by their sex lives. You’re methods of either directly ingesting targets or letting them be consumed by others is…most fitting for this line of work.”

            Claudia put the file down, raising an eyebrow. “You want me to kill the other members of the Rays Club?”

            Smith laughed. “Not yet. We’ll send you on some other, more urgent assignments first. But if they become more of a problem and start getting too close to the truth, then yes. You will be sent in to take them out.”

            “To dinner?” Claudia smiled.

            Smith smiled too. “Any way you want to serve it.”

            She thought for a moment. “I’m in.”

            “Excellent.” He stood up, getting ready to leave.

            “Wait,” she said. “Do I get a codename or something? Claudia the Assassin doesn’t really sound that terrifying…”

            Smith laughed again. “Oh yes. You will have a codename.”

            He leaned in closer. Claudia did the same. Their eyes locked.

            “We will call you…the Huntress.”

THE END