Jennifer adjusted her hair for the third time in the mirror near her front door. It was 6:57 PM and her friend was never late. Jennifer checked for stray strands trying to leave the cascading brown curls she had painstakingly created from her normally straight shoulder-length hair. It wasn't a date per se but it was her first night at Ambrosia, a long-standing club on the upper side. She looked over her black dress,  tights to match, and sparkly pumps she'd found at a thrift store. It seemed like it should be fine, her dress ending just above the knee was a sort of flirty, right? Just enough cleavage to be alluring? Mel had told her to wear something fancy and sexy. She wished she had the kind of confidence required to know what that even meant. She couldn't help but feel like the whole look was trying too hard, like the thin shell of "sexy" was painted over her usual plain appearance. She looked around the living room and felt even her home didn't recognize her. Who was this creature with curly hair? The woman that lives here has dishes in the sink, and dirty clothes lying about. Her eyes drifted to the kitchen stove clock, it was eight minutes fast, and she caught the rollover to 7:08 pm. Like clockwork, Mel's knuckles quickly rapped three times at the door. A distinct knock that was as practiced and surgical as the woman behind it.

"EEEEEEE!" Mel shouted with shrill delight upon seeing Jennifer through the open front door, "You look Stunnn. Ing."

Jennifer smiled. Mel might be rather callous at times, even condescending. But she was never one to tear down her friends. She was wearing something from a designer, to be sure. The shade of red her dress emanated was enough to stop traffic, let alone the hem barely covering her and her full cleavage. No sane person would wear something so flashy. Mel made it work, somehow.

"Ready?" Mel beamed.

"I think so, a little nervous I guess. I really appreciate-"

Mel stepped inside, gently grasping both of Jennifer's shoulders. she cocked her head, straight blonde hair moving almost as a single wave.

"You deserve this. You've been studying and working way too hard. I really can't tell you how much it means to me that you helped me through the stuff with my mom, and this isn't me paying you back but, like, showing you how to have a good time."

Mel began to tug on Jennifer's shoulders, hands moving down her arms to her hands and leading her out the door.

"I know, I know," Jennifer replied as she walked outside behind Mel, letting go of her hand to lock the door. "It's just that I know Ambrosia is a big deal and you probably had to pull some strings to even-" Jennifer stopped talking as she turned around, "Did you get us a limo??"

"Well, yeah! Well, actually it's my dad's but yeah well you know." Mel said while standing next to the door ready to climb inside. The driver stood holding the door, motionless and facing forward.

Jennifer smiled broadly and followed suit. She slid into the plush leather interior and stared with amazement at the flatscreen television, rainbow mood lights, and room for probably 10 people. Mel of course came from a rich family but rarely flaunted it. On campus, she was always well-dressed but never gaudy. This was a side of her that seemed more aligned with her personality. Mel was already pouring champagne from a bottle into two slender glasses.

"Pretty cool, huh? This one is the smaller one, the really nice one is in the shop right now. I miiiight have made a mess inside last week" Mel reached towards Jennifer with a full glass, giggling about whatever had transpired.

"Thanks. This is... a lot"

"This is nothing. Tonight will be a lot. Cheers."

After the first few sips, Mel took her phone out of her bag and placed her champagne-carrying hand around Jennifer's shoulder for a selfie. Jennifer mustered a tight-lipped smile but blushed at the thought of this being put on Mel's Instagram. Jennifer lacked her own account but knew of the social media phenomenon that was Mel. Always sharing, always taking pictures, and apparently followed by tens of thousands.

The limousine drifted smoothly through the streets of the upper side, occasionally passing over bridges that overlooked the lower side. Thousands of tiny homes packed in-between upper-side plots. Their lights looked like stars littering the ground, their teeming masses squeezed into a tight plot. Jennifer sipped her champagne while she looked toward the campus, Mel giggling as she replied to comments. The school was situated right on the border between the upper and lower sides, easily accessible by those that couldn't walk more than a hundred feet in a single day. Jennifer watched the city fly by, the lower side border lit up with warning lights to prevent any accidental steps. Mel poured the both of them another glass.

"How many of them do you think are liking my content?" Mel asked

"Hmmm?" Jennifer was lost in the moment but noticed Mel was looking out her driver's-side window to a different lower-side patch of glittering stars.

"You know, they have phones for them now so they can make accounts and even pretend to be a real person. So-"

"Mel, they're real people. They're just, like, I dunno."

"Tiny?"

"Mel! They don't like that." Jennifer was beginning to feel a little tipsy and her usual efforts to curb Mel's sizism were dampened.

"Well, what the hell else am I supposed to call them? Descaled is so stupid. They're small. Tiny. Insignificant"

"You know if you got to know any of them in class you'd find some of them to be very sweet."

"Sweet! Hah. I'm sure I would." Mel drew in a particularly large gulp of champagne.

"No, really. There's this one. His name is Xavier. He goes by Xavi. He's a painter! Well, studying art anyway. I have him in my descaled studies course."

"Oh, Jennifer my sweet beautiful rose. You deserve so much more than someone who can't even lift a paintbrush. Have you seen his art? Did you need a microscope? Hahaha!"

"Mel!" Despite Jennifer's protest she smiled, her hand covering her mouth as she giggled. 

"What?" Mel was giggling too, and then shifted her voice to a lower register "Hey baby, I painted this for you. Just grab an electron microscope and you can see it!" 

Mel broke out into fits of laughter, spilling some champagne. Jennifer laughed as well, she knew it was wrong but it was funny. She wondered if Xavi would paint her a picture, and what she'd need to appreciate it.

"ahh, how is descaled studies anyway? I failed mine, I'm retaking it next semester. Fucking tiny teacher lol I can barely hear him!"

"He... Yeah, he's really hard to understand sometimes" Jennifer giggled.

The limousine came to a stop at a red light and while the streets were mostly quiet Jennifer noticed a pair of descaled people near a lower-side bus stop just off the curb. They were way too far from any lower-side area for this late at night, and curfew was supposed to prevent this. Accidents happen, after all, and they were much more likely to happen in the dark.

"Huh, I wonder if they missed their bus?" Jennifer wondered aloud.

Mel peered over to the passenger-side window and saw the pair of two-inch descaled humans standing apprehensively in the light of the bus stop. One man, one woman. Business attire? It was hard to tell through the tinted windows.

"James, be a dear and park us here for a minute!" Mel shouted to the driver, who dutifully parked the vehicle and turned on the hazard lights.

Mel then rolled down the window and called out to the two descaled people outside.

"Are you two lost? It's like twenty after curfew!" Mel exclaimed. There was a response but it was a little too quiet to hear.

"Ugh. They really need to shout if they want to be heard. Move over." Mel tapped Jennifer who slid to the other side of the limousine.

Mel opened the door and walked over to the bus stop. The roof of the structure barely came up to her knees, and her vibrant red platform heels were about as tall as the people waiting under it. She bent her knees, squatting down toward them. Jennifer looked with moderate curiosity. Something could have happened to them, being out after curfew. Then she laughed to herself, considering how poorly Mel's dress covered anything from the angle of the descaled bus stop. It must be quite a show. Jennifer finished her second glass of champagne and was feeling rather relaxed.

"Hi, I'm Mel. What were you saying? ...Oh, I see. Well, we can give you a ride to the club. They have a ti- I mean descaled taxi there to use."

Jennifer could only hear one side of the conversation.

"No, really, I insist. It's only a matter of time before a jogger comes around here."

A car moved in behind the limousine and was forced to go around the light which was now green.

"It's my treat. Really. It's only a few minutes away. We'll have you home by eight."

Jennifer thought of the recent reports of descaled deaths, often dismissed as accidents.

"Ok Great! Hop aboard!"

Mel returned to the limousine with two figures cupped in her hands. She slid along the leather, transferring both of them into one hand as she closed the door.

"So, this is Jennifer. We're having a girl's night." Mel held her handful of people up towards Jennifer, who smiled and waved. Their worried faces poked up over Mel's soft fingers, tentatively waving back. They indeed wore business attire.

"That's fine, James!" Mel shouted to the driver, and the vehicle hummed into motion once again.

"These two were working late, turns out there's a tiny business complex nearby! But the last bus didn't show. A real shame." Mel cooed.

"What are your names?" Asked Jennifer

"I'm Zoey" The woman answered nervously.

"Call me Tom, uhhh, nice to meet you both!" Said the man, forcing a grin.

"Annnnyways," interjected Mel, "We'll make sure you're taken care of. Just sit tight, we're almost there. I hope you don't mind jasmine-scented lotion."

Mel clasped the two extra passengers between her fingers as the limousine rounded the last few turns. She held them in one hand as she alternated between sipping champagne and texting with her other hand. The two smaller passengers had some kind of light chat with each other as Jennifer sat and idly glanced between them and outside the window. They probably lived nearby, and it crosser her mind that she could definitely see their house from here among the field of lower-side homes glittering in the darkness. If not for the danger of her steps she could just walk them there.

"Ugh I'm starvingggg" Mel broke the silence.

"Me too. I had a light lunch, the food better be as good as you say…" Jennifer joked.

"I promise. It will be. I skipped lunch entirely." As if on cue, Mel's stomach growled in complaint of the champagne which offered no satiety. The girls returned to silence, as did the other two passengers.

Soon they reached their destination, and where Jennifer was expecting a red carpet there was something far less austere. A simple metal door, flanked by two burly-looking bouncers, with a single harsh spotlight from an overhead lamp. They must be somewhere in the shipping district, Jennifer surmised from the warehouses and shipping containers nearby. She had thought there would be something more like a party at the most ostentatious club in town. One of the bouncers stepped up to open the door, allowing the two girls and their guests to emerge.

"These two were late for their bus. Could you get their info and take care of them?"

"Yes, Mrs. Artois. We'll see to them. Enjoy your evening."

Mel dumped the pair into the hands of the bouncer and strutted forward. They tumbled into the new hands slightly disheveled, the man swearing or shouting something. Jennifer cringed a bit but was glad to see them on their way. 

"It was nice to meet you both, have a good night" Jennifer waved to them and smiled.

Mel kept walking towards the door, Jennifer caught up just as the other man opened the large metal door without a word. Jennifer barely thanked him before she had to elongate her steps to keep up with Mel striding forward into the dimly lit hallway. The door led to a small corridor that seemed almost like a maintenance hallway. Red lights illuminated exposed pipes and rough-hewn concrete walls. The door shut behind them and their respective footfalls were all that broke the silence. 

"So... This is Ambrosia?"

"A bit much, isn't it? It's for the best though. Discretion, and all."

"Hmm."

They rounded a corner, shoulder to shoulder, and began to hear music as they approached another door. This time a well-dressed woman in a black gown waited behind a podium near a simple entryway blocked partially by a silky black cloth curtain. Soft rhythmic bass from the music inside pulsed outwards into the hallway.

"Mel, welcome back! So good to see you!" The woman beamed.

"So so good to be back, you have no idea! You're looking great by the way," Mel smiled.

The two exchanged a cheek kiss and a brief hug.

"Who's your friend?" The woman asked with a hint of sultry implication. She reached out for a handshake, clasping Jennifer's hand with both of hers.

"Jennifer. Just a friend." Mel continued with sarcasm, "Yeah, I know, but she's straight so I had to forgive her for denying me." Mel finished with a wink and a smile.

"I don't know how you put up with her! I'm Helena, welcome to Ambrosia."

Jennifer nodded, blushing.

"Since it's your first time, you get a little present." Helena quickly reached behind the podium and withdrew a single black metal card, "This gets you one freebie. Anything, really. I'm sure Mel can recommend a few things." Mel and Helena shared a knowing smile, while Jennifer took the small card. It had no markings, it was just the size and shape of a hotel room key.

"Uh, Thanks!" Jennifer offered in return.

"Oh, and we'll need a red room. Just us girls tonight." Mel said as she peeked through the cloth barrier.

"Of course. Please, make yourselves comfortable. We'll have one ready for you shortly." Helena said and motioned towards the entrance to the club.

"Perfect. Oh, and there was a pair of tinies we picked up along the way, I already dropped them off outside."

"Of course, we'll see to them. The usual?" Helena asked

"Mel, they don't like when - wait 'the usual'?" Jennifer began

"Yes, that's fine. Thanks, cutie." Mel smiled at Helena and grabbed Jennifer's hand, leading her into the club.

The sound of the music quickly drowned out Jenifer’s question and soon the memory of it dissipated as well when she saw the interior of the club. Dim light illuminated a large open dance area flanked by three upper-level balconies. The dark alcoves above contained several dozen people, sitting behind the railings on leather lounge furniture. Around the dance floor at ground level, there were a handful of people sitting in booths along the three walls. The fourth wall was dominated by the bar. Everything was copper pipes, concrete, red or black leather, and smartly dressed people enjoying conversation with each other. Strangely, the dance floor was empty, along with the empty DJ platform next to it. Music still pulsed through the overhead speakers but it was more like a constant slow crashing wave of bass than music.

Mel led Jennifer gently to an empty booth, motioning her to sit. She leaned in close so as not to raise her voice:

“I’m going to grab some drinks, make yourself comfortable”

Jennifer nodded, still looking around at the inside of the club. A pair were making out on the balcony. Another was texting alone with their back against the wall near the entrance. In the dim light, people seemed more like shapes than people. A well-dressed server emerged to deliver a platter of drinks to a group of women chatting loudly amongst themselves. Jenifer couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, it seemed like a low-key version of any other club in the area. Her eyes drifted to the table, a small object was situated between two velvet-lined menus.

Jennifer leaned over to find a small metal cube, no more than three inches on a side. It was too dark to tell but there was some kind of movement on the upper face of the cube. Jennifer took hold of the glinting metal and lifted it to get a better look. Almost immediately the box shifted on its own, and a small shape spilled out of it. Jennifer immediately recognized the human form and realized it was a descaled human all too late. The figure tumbled out, landing several body lengths below onto the copper table.

“Oh, Shit! I’m sorry! Shit shit shit!”

Jennifer delicately took hold of the tiny figure, a woman, and found only warm skin against her fingers. The woman was naked, and still moving a bit but barely. Jennifer decided to leave her, not wanting to touch her inappropriately.

“Are you ok?!” She shouted over the music.

The woman was moving but seemed dazed. She writhed on the copper surface, unanswering. In the darkness, she seemed alright but Jennifer worriedly looked around. She found Mel holding two martini glasses, just arriving from the bar.

“Oop! Lost a dancer! What’s wrong?” Mel saw the woman on the table before she saw Jennifer’s worried look.

“She fell, I didn’t see-”

“Relax. Happens all the time.” Mel reassured, setting the drinks down before pinching the tiny figure between her fingers. She turned the woman over in her hands, getting a close look at her face. She then plopped the woman back onto the table near the corner.

“Should we do something? Call some-” Jennifer began

“Relax. Relaaaaax. All the tinies here are organic. Lab-grown.” Look.

Mel once again grabbed the tiny woman, limbs flailing about as Mel gripped her midsection. The woman was brought before Jennifer’s face, head lolling from her shoulders. The small woman was expressionless, still moving around slightly.

“Lab-grown? I think I heard about that but… jeez she looks so real… Did she hit her head?”

“Nope, they’re all like this. They come out of the vats not really able to think.”

“Weren’t they supposed to be used for… clearing unsafe buildings or… something?” Jennifer stared into the woman’s emotionless eyes.

“No these ones. They’re dancers. Cheap to make. Harder to train to dance, I bet” Mel shrugged.

Mel placed the small woman back on the table and moved her index finger in a circular motion, roughly fondling the woman’s breasts and torso as she looked around the room. Mel flagged down a server walking by the table, who approached wordlessly.

“We need another dancer, we broke ours” She smiled and winked at Jennifer.

The server reached into their apron pocket and with a practiced motion withdrew a metal pill-shaped canister the size of a fist. They briefly held the canister over the metal box on the table, and a puff of steam emitted from the bottom just as another small naked woman fell out of it into the box. As soon as she touched the table she began to dance in line with the ambient rhythm of the club. The server initiated a quick bow and departed.

Now that her eyes had adjusted, Jennifer could see the woman dancing her heart out inside the box, which she could now see had open sides like the slats of a cage. The miniature go-go girl wore the same blank expression, dancing naked as if she wasn’t being watched by two regular-sized women above her.

“How do they… I thought they had to clone people?”

“I dunno, pop a seed in the ground and cut them off the vine?” Mel shoved one of the martini glasses in front of Jennifer and took a sip from her own.

Jennifer had been rather sobered by the experience, and constantly looked between the two women on the table. One was dancing provocatively and the other was barely even there. She eagerly took a large gulp of her martini. Mel was still fondling the dazed one.

“What do we… do with her? Does someone..?” Jennifer asked mostly to herself.

“That’s why we’re here, actually.” Mel beamed, lifting the girl up once more before continuing, “They’re organic, high in protein, and they even-” Mel stopped talking, her tongue leaving her mouth to lick the tiny woman’s midsection from navel to collarbone, “- have a vanilla taste. Well, this one does.”

“Eat… them? Like, raw?”

“If you want, yeah. They digest just as easily.”

“You just… aren’t they… I don’t… Vanilla?” Jennifer stammered.

“They were made for this, cutie. Better for the environment or whatever too. Some add flavoring, yeah.” Mel punctuated her statement with another lick.

“This just.. Oh my god can you imagine Mr. Fritz from Descaled Studies hearing about this?”

“Ugh, or any of those tiny activists?” Mel rolled her eyes, and with both of her hands, she puppeteered the little woman across the table, mimicking a stilted walk. She spoke with a shrill voice, “We want silverware in the cafeteria! We want wider safety zones!” Jennifer and Mel both began to laugh.

“We want tiny clubs! We want Investigations into disappearances!” Mel sighed after a long laugh and stood up the woman with one finger on her shoulder to steady her. With her other hand, she lined up her fingers for a flick.

Mel’s finger released with a snap, colliding with the food-grade female and launching her several body lengths. Her body spun before landing, sliding face down, and leaving a bloody smear behind.

“Mel!”

“What? Haven't you wanted to blow off steam?” Mel flipped the injured figure over, revealing a destroyed clavicle and face. Her face was a jumbled mess of gore, wide white eyes contrasting the red pile of flesh. Mel pressed on the woman’s chest with her fingertip, and a dark red mist emitted from some hole in her destroyed face. The woman made no effort to move but was clearly still alive.

“Well, yeah, it’s just… why?”

“It feels good. Aren’t you sick of that hate mail you keep getting?”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.”

“It pisses me off. What upper-side business would even let them print that stuff?”

“I don’t know. I can only apologize so much, you know?”

“Apologize? It was an accident. He was outside the safe zone and after curfew. They should be apologizing for sending those hateful things. Or for staining your shoes. Ha!” Mel pressed down, hard, on the tiny woman’s ribcage. Her nail dug in deep, and as she lay there twitching Mel pushed all the way through to the cold metal on the other side. More gouts of red lifeblood spilled onto the table, but barely enough to form more than a drop or two.

“I guess so.” Jennifer shrugged, “Doesn’t it… feel weird?” Jennifer watched as Mel lifted the tiny form, barely alive, by the feet. She cupped her free hand underneath to catch droplets of blood draining freely from her wounds. She was brought up toward Mel’s face.

“Maybe at first. I think you’ll like it. Why don’t you order some?” Mel said and tilted her head back, her tongue once again leaving her mouth, this time to slide out along her chin. Flecks of crimson landed on the pink muscle, staining it like wine. Whatever was left of the dancer was lowered in, much to the curiosity of Jennifer.

“Vanilla, huh?” She said as she opened a menu.

“Mmmhmmmmmm~”

Jennifer’s hunger made itself known all at once, and as she scanned the menu she felt it seemed odd that only four food items were mentioned alongside the many drinks on the first page. She read aloud the first menu item as Mel closed her eyes and slowly rotated her head, sucking on the near-dead morsel in her mouth. Her jaw undulated, swallowing down whatever leaked out.

“Number one… Organic vanilla… Exquisitely calm… There’s no price?”

Mel swallowed, “No, it’s all-inclusive. Already paid.” She ran her tongue around her mouth, “With the membership.”

Jennifer continued, “Number two… Bold spice? Vigorous and full-bodied... Is this wine or?”

“No,” Mel giggled, “That’s what I usually get through. Unless they have a good special.”

“Number three, yeah. Weekly special?”

“I’ll ask”

Mel began flagging down another server while Jennifer finished reading the menu. The fourth and last entry simply included the phrase “Free Range” next to the number. Jennifer glanced back and forth between the two pages, letting the full options sink in. She took another sip of her drink as she contemplated the options. Her eyes drifted to the small wet spot on the table where Mel’s first bite had landed. She felt like it might be sort of fun, and she was starving either way. The little things were the product of some new tech, which piqued her curiosity. Perhaps the low cost of lab-grown food could finally give humanity the extra push needed for extended space travel. Those mars colonies were always in some state of food crisis…

“We’re ready, yes. What’s the special this week?” Mel asked the server.

“We have two specials this evening, as we’re testing a new formula. First, we’re offering Rapture throughout the week. Some light worship, sexual ecstasy, and rabid willingness.”

“Oooo! Love it. I had that one last month, they were maybe my new favorite.” Mel said as an aside to Jennifer as the server continued,

“In addition, we are offering the Dragon Slayer tower. Candied armor, medieval-inspired. Strength and dexterity for an interesting fight.”

“Oh, that’s new. I’ll take one of each special.”
“And for you, miss?” The server turned to Jennifer.

“Um… What’s the free range?” Jennifer asked while looking at the words on her menu.

“Yes, we offer several-” The server began, before Mel cut them off.

“Why don’t you just share with me, and maybe get a number one?”

“Oh, yeah, ok! That sounds good. Thank you.” Jennifer agreed, happy to not decide.

“Very well, one number one, one Dragon Slayer. And one Rapture. Additionally, we are nearly finished preparing your red room. We apologize for the delay, preparations are almost completed.”

“That’s fine, whatever.” Mel waved them away.

The server bowed and departed without another word. Jennifer followed them with her eyes as they disappeared behind the bar into a back room. She looked around at the other patrons and found many of them had glasses filled with squirming figures. These must be popular…

“I know it’s all a little weird, but it really helps to blow off some steam,” Mel said and leaned back into the soft leather, sipping her drink with a slight smile. “ … lord knows we both could use it.”

“It’s… exciting. At least a little bit. I mean it’s just sorta… wrong? But like, in the cheating at math sort of way.”

“Mmmmh.” Mel smiled, “Why should it be wrong?”

“The… appearances. What would people think if they knew…” Jennifer trailed off.

“Oh, people know. More and more are finding out. I couldn’t care less if people knew. When they find out, they usually love it too.”

“No, I mean the outrage, the activists… everyone”

“You’re such a cutie, you know that?” Mel continued without waiting for an answer, “It doesn’t matter how tinies feel about it. They’re lucky to have a place in society with us.”

“They do deserve some kind of place, you know.” Jennifer had grown tired of correcting her friends' language.

“Didn’t you sign the petition to move them to their own campus?”

“Well, I mean I just think it would be safer for them.”

“And you would be absolutely right. You know they have some of their own spaces? They’re holed up in the tech dumps outside the city.”

“Really? I thought they all had a place on the lower side?”

“I’ve read some of the reports from my dad’s desk. They decide to live on their own out there. I hear it gets violent between them.”

“I wonder why they leave…”

“Their best bet is what we give them. Then they just throw it all away. What a waste. They’d be better off in my stomach than tearing each other to pieces.”

“Mel!” Jennifer interjected but also laughed.

“You know I'm right! When has a tiny done something worthwhile? That one you crushed wasn’t going to do anything for society.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Jennifer bit her lip.

“Of course.” Mel leaned in and reached for Jennifer’s hand.

“When I stepped on him, I was on my way to this little birthday thing. Nothing special, but I was late and walking fast and I didn’t see-”

“It was an accident, cutie”

“Well, yeah. At first. I mean, I crushed his little leg. He… Was just so upset. Swearing at me, screaming, I was late. I knew he was going to sue. I didn’t think, I just…”

“Oh you poor thing, that’s all?”

“What’s weird is I don’t really feel bad about it. Like, especially after everyone’s come after me.”

“Listen,” Mel squeezed Jennifer’s hand, “you were looking out for yourself. It’s OK?”

“You don’t think it’s so… fucked?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve accidentally… I dunno, squished like six?”

“What… seriously?”

“I’m clumsy. Can’t help it.”
“Don’t you feel… like bad or anything?”

“Cutie, the most important thing that could ever happen to them was dying underneath us.”

“I mean what about their little lives? Art, music, some of them can dance…”

“What, your tiny painter?”

“Well, sure. I think Xavi has some art to contribute to the world.”

“Until he can paint something actual-sized the best art he can offer to you is a red smear.”

“Mel!” Jennifer gasped but felt that it was hard to argue against that. She thought of all the little ones living outside the city and the awful environment they must endure. How things were safer for them here, even if they occasionally fell underfoot. Better to live in relative peace than not at all. Or, better yet, serve a higher purpose.

A different server arrived at the table with a tray balanced on one hand. Two tall glasses that resembled tumblers were placed on the table, each of them brimming with tiny forms. One glass was quite calm, with five little people standing upright facing the outside of the glass in an unmoving ring. The other glass was in constant movement, little bodies writhing and rolling over each other. Tiny screams and moans of pleasure emanated from the turbulent glass. Lastly, a small-scale model was gingerly placed on the table. It resembled a medieval tower, with stonework and arrow slats near the top. The top was open, and the inside was too dark to see.

“Ooooo, fun!” Mel said with a greedy glint in her eyes, “dig in!”

Jennifer stared at the two glasses before her while Mel withdrew her phone and began to take several pictures of the medieval tower. Each glass had a single silver utensil sticking out of the middle. The glass with the writhing bodies moved around the silver tool while the small figures in the other stood around theirs. Jennifer reached into the glass and plucked the thin silver device, finding the downward-facing end to be a two-pronged fork similar to a lobster fork. As she held the fork she was momentarily blinded as Mel took a flash picture with her phone.

“Woah, careful. Why are you taking pictures anyway? Not like you can post any of this.”

“Sorry! Yeah, no this is just for my private account. Don’t mind me, try one!”

Once her vision cleared, Jennifer slid the fork into the glass and stuck the prongs under the arms of one of the men inside. He just stood there, facing away from her. She easily lifted him out, his lower half dangling while he held himself aloft. He moved just enough to maintain balance and stay on the prongs. Jennifer rotated him towards her face, examining his features.

He was handsome and well-built. Short dark hair contrasted his creamy skin, the definition of his muscled form was a work of art. Jennifer’s gaze fell from his blank, almost serene expression to his genitals. Not overly impressive, especially for a tiny man. Jennifer used her free hand to trace the outline of one of his calves. Soft but firm, he was so very real. She couldn’t help herself, and her fingers explored up his leg to land in his crotch. She pressed gently, feeling his supple organ squish and bend to her pressure. To her surprise, his tiny meat sprung to life and reacted to her. She pressed until she felt pressure on the pad of her finger in response. The little man’s quadriceps twitched but his expression remained the same.

Mel finished taking a few pictures and grabbed hold of the glass with the squirming contents. In a swift motion, she upended the glass, and the half-dozen moaning bodies spilled out. A mixture of men and women, with one or two that seemed they could go either way. A pile of naked lust, the tiny people immediately scrambled to one another and resumed their cries of pleasure in one tight-knit orgy on the table. They were simply a ball of limbs and genitals, humping and kissing in a quivering mass. Jennifer was briefly distracted, mesmerized by the unabashed ecstasy. She turned her gaze back to her fork-saddled man.

His penis had grown, now fully erect. His blank expression betrayed some mechanical desire still latent in this food brought to life. Jennifer leaned in close and smelled him. She detected a faint salty aroma, along with that vanilla she had heard about. She watched Mel pluck several fornicating bodies from the pile as she took a tentative lick.

More vanilla, with a little salt. He reminded her of salted vanilla toffee cookies. She salivated as her stomach growled. Her lips, parted, and she deposited the man prone onto her outstretched tongue. She felt him twitch just a little and could sense his erection was growing on her taste buds. Every time she moved her tongue, it nearly felt like he was melting in her mouth. Her lips closed tight and she sucked on him like a piece of hard candy. Mel was holding two squirming bodies in her hand.

After separating a pair that were going at each other, the two squirming people immediately turned their attention to Mel’s fingers. One mounted Mel’s thumb, the other her index finger. They thrusted their hips into her soft skin, licking and moaning. The man clinging to her thumb was delirious with desire, pushing his cock into her as hard and fast as he could while howling and smiling broadly. The other was a woman, similarly transfixed. Mel held her hand out and twirled it, examining them as if they were jewelry.

Jennifer continued to enjoy her mouthful, the little guy was twitching erratically. She occasionally swallowed, pinning him to the roof of her mouth to delay his inevitable downward descent. With flushed cheeks she massaged him with her tongue, building sweetness in her saliva, and swallowing the excess. Jennifer watched as Mel brought her thumb to her lips and popped the whole thing inside. Just as the screams of mindless joy emanate from Mel’s pursed lips, Jennifer felt a burst of flavor onto her tongue. A salty addition to the slurry of vanilla. Surprised, she gulped. The tiny morsel of a man disappeared into her throat with a soft ‘gluck’.

Jennifer was surprised at first at the food’s ejaculation and further astonished by how easily he went down. She had barely registered that she swallowed and he was already traveling downwards. He moved down like any other bite of food and his presence in her stomach began to cool her pangs of hunger. Jennifer’s lips opened, and she began to hyperventilate. She had just swallowed someone. She stared at the other four people in the glass, standing motionless. She told herself that it was just protein. Barely more sentient than a burger.

“Ow wasth ee’?” Mel said with her mouth full. The man already in her maw was pushed to the side and lay over her molars as she brought her lady-clad finger near. The man and woman reached out to each other, embracing in a kiss while their hips gyrated.

“Good. Yeah, like, really sweet? Maybe a little too sweet.” Jennifer admitted.

Mel’s molars clamped down, and the man between them began to howl and pop with delight. The woman climbed across Mel’s finger to hold and kiss him as he was compressed. Mel’s soft lips entombed him, enveloping the woman’s upper half. Mel chewed slowly, the woman's backside dangling out of her lips kicking and thrusting. Mel’s red-stained tongue slid underneath after a few slow chews and lapped the rest of the woman inside towards the pile of sticky meat that was once the man. Jennifer found it rather strange that the woman could be seen embracing handfuls of what was left of him, driving her tits and hips into the gore with feverish abandon before Mel’s lips closed again. It felt better to Jennifer knowing the little things enjoyed it so much. She wondered if the one inside her appreciated her for his orgasm on some basic level as he was dissolved.

“Ou can ‘ave ‘ome of min.” Mel talked with the woman flailing around on her tongue, her voice punctuated with rising tides of ecstatic moaning. Mel swallowed. The woman was sent whole and alive to Mel’s digestive chambers, coated in the steaming remains. Mel sipped her drink to wash them both down.

“I think I kinda prefer them whole. Biting seems… mean?” Jennifer remarked as she saw Mel’s bloody tongue wipe away the alcoholic residue from her lips.

“I can’t eat too many whole or I’ll get a bit of a stomachache. But yeah it is kinda more fun. Here.” Mel reached down towards the pile of people.

Still fucking each other as Mel’s fingertips probed through the mass, they mostly ignored her as they kissed and copulated. Mel located a thruple, A bald dark caramel-colored tiny going at it with two muscled men. She gently tugged away the bald one, who tried to hold onto their partners until their attention was turned towards Mel’s fingers. The little one had a tight muscular and masculine physique and sported a sopping wet pussy. Mel held them up with one hand towards Jennifer who looked on with curiosity.

“Aren’t they… into men?”

“They’re into whatever gets them off. Watch.” Mel’s other hand reached across the table.

Mel’s fingers held the tiny down against her opposite palm. the pad of her thumb forcefully pushed aside their legs and began to apply unrelenting pressure to their throbbing loins. At first, the little one tried to hold and kiss any nearby flesh they could grab but soon gasped and moaned, holding on with bulging eyes as Mel deftly finger-fucked them. In moments the tiny climaxed, screaming their little heart out and arching their back. Mel pinched them again, the floor of her palm falling away. Mel brought her now free hand to her lips.

“Here,” Mel said, waving the panting tiny. Then she licked the sticky mixture of sweat and vaginal fluids from the crevices of her hand.

Mel took the little one between her fingers, and as she examined their afterglow the tiny morsel turned to the pad of her finger and began to kiss passionately. Jennifer immediately blushed, not having had this kind of attention from a tiny and feeling a bit undeserving of such passion. Her fingers turned the little one over, and their sexual drive stoked Jennifer’s hunger. With each moan and thrust, Jennifer could only think of having them in her stomach, thrashing around as she absorbed them. The glisten of sweat, their horny mess of fluids leaking onto her thumb, they looked absolutely delicious. Jennifer’s lips parted, and her tongue rolled out to receive the next willing meal.

As the tiny one touched her taste buds, the flavor was quite different from the last. Salty and tangy, they writhed and threw themselves into her tongue. Jennifer dragged her fingers over her taste buds towards the exit, slurping off anything left. Meanwhile; Mel was eyeing the medieval tower with curiosity. The lustful little morsel positively vibrated on Jennifer’s tongue, seemingly unable to get enough pleasure from her. Her powerful tongue flipped them over and pressed them into the roof of her mouth, facing toward the waiting darkness. With the hard palette bracing them, Jennifer’s tongue assaulted their desperate pussy. Jennifer’s half-lidded eyes grew wide as their cries of pleasure rang through her head.

Mel was busy peering into the tower, her hand dipped down inside and withdraw a single struggling figure. A man in full plate armor was held dangling by a blue cape that Mel pinched between her fingers. He was wildly swinging a miniature two-handed sword in Mel’s direction. His visor-muffled voice rang out rather loud for a descaled individual:

“Fowl beast! The king will pay a high price for your head!” The little knight exclaimed with a British accent.

“Oh. My. Fucking. God.” Mel said with wide eyes and a wider grin, “This is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. Look at his little sword!” Mel poked the struggling man with her other hand, his sword connected uselessly with her skin, bouncing off.

Jennifer was looking, but despite the surreal show, she was preoccupied. The masculine moaning inside her skull was reaching a cacophony. Her nose was tickled by the vibrations, and each time she swallowed down their juices they screamed more. She blushed, unable to resist her own body’s answer to the cries for release. Her legs twitched and fidgeted, flexing and relaxing to the tempo of her mouth.

Jennifer was looking at the little knight, pinned down and disarmed, fighting against Mel’s finger in desperation. But she wasn’t processing it. She felt like a god, giving this mere mortal an experience beyond comprehension. She was barely even trying. This little one was not only ready to give themselves to her but they needed to. They begged for it. They spasmed and screamed to become part of her. With a flick of her tongue, their wish was granted. One last “Oh!” of pleasure rang through her mouth as they hung at the edge of oblivion, then her muscles took them. Jennifer’s mouth opened with a soft sigh as the sounds of their orgasm vibrated their way down to her stomach. Jennifer realized Mel’s hands weren’t moving, just holding the knight in place. She looked up to find Mel staring at her, a toothy grin gently biting her lower lip.

“Having fun?” Mel asked with barely withheld glee.

Jennifer simply blushed and looked away, smiling and taking a sip of her drink. One hand pressed onto her stomach, where the fun was just beginning for her new resident. She felt slight tingles of movement coming from deep within, no doubt her last bite finding her first to make sweet melting love into oblivion. A deepening sensation of need radiated from Jennifer’s quickening heart to her hips. She blinked away some of the sensations and replied to Mel’s unrelenting gaze.

“You had said it was good food. I don’t think… Well, I guess I wasn’t expecting… all this” Jennifer gestured with her drink toward the array of tiny figures and then finished the drink in one large gulp.

“It’s a real power trip. Why do you think I never show up to the Saturday study group?”

“Because you’re…” Jennifer almost chided Mel but stopped as the cold drink entered her stomach and caused a flurry of activity. She gulped, and continued, “Because you have Rina give you all the notes?”

“That too, heh you got me.” Mel finished her own drink off, her other hand still pinning the knight with her index finger. “You doing alright? Need another drink? If this is too much we can head home.”

“No, I’m fine. Yeah, I’ll take another.” She held both hands against her abdomen, feeling the sensation through her dress. “How long do they… usually take?”

“Depends. The more you have the longer they go, and a few months ago they were offering some acid resistance for the special. Those were still screaming in the morning.”

“Could I have another one of yours? I’ll trade you.”

“No tradsies needed, cutie. Here.” Mel pushed the three remaining fornicators toward Jennifer’s side of the table. The squirming bodies tumbled and rolled, holding each other and moving almost as a fluid.

A server arrived to take the drinks away and Mel ordered two more. She turned her attention to the knight, who was beginning to show signs of exhaustion.

“Pity. You can’t fight my finger, let alone me.”

“Unhand me and face my wrath! You will know defeat at the end of my sword!” The little knight replied.

“They talk back? I thought it was like, dinner theater.” Jennifer asked, hand floating gingerly over the orgy pile.

“Sometimes. Usually, they have some kind of lines,” Mel leaned over the knight “Where are you from, little warrior?”

“The great… Kingdom of Mercia!” He shouted as he tried to catch his breath.

“Never heard of it,” Mel stated flatly.

“That’s an early English Kingdom.” Jennifer offered.

“Makes sense I guess,” Mel released the knight and sat forward in the booth, leaning in so that her chin nearly touched the table, “So, do they have monsters in Mercia?”

“I’ve only heard legends of your kind. How many brave men have met their end in your belly?”

“Men, women, I’ve lost count. How does it feel knowing you’re next?” Mel moved her face closer to him. The knight stumbled backward, falling with a thud on his butt. Jennifer was watching, giggling with one hand on her side.

“I’ll not… be taunted!” the knight rose, “You’ll find a… a worthy opponent, and if I should die I will die with love for my king in my heart!”

“I have a better idea. Pledge yourself to me instead,” Mel leaned in so her lips were almost touching him, “and I’ll spare you.”

The knight was distraught. At first, he said nothing at all and stared into the hungry grin of the woman who could devour him. The two women above watched his gears turn as he took another step back. Mel licked her lips, and the knight ran across the table to where his sword lay. With surprising speed, he sprinted to his weapon and pointed it towards Mel’s unchanging grin.

“Never! I’ll not betray my king!”

Mel’s hand was upon him in an instant, grabbing hold of his sword and snapping it easily. Jennifer figured it must have been plastic. She snatched him as he began to pelt her with his tiny fists, and she brought him to her face. His resistance halted at the sight of Mel so close to him.

“When we’re done, you’ll beg to serve me.” Mel let the sentence end with her jaw opening, exhaling the scent of the fresh meals already interred within. Jennifer laughed, a little nervous at hearing Mel speak with such sultry morbidity.

The knight merely grunted and yelled with fervor as Mel lowered him to her tongue. He seemed surprisingly quick, nearly making it back out as her fingers retreated. He slid along her tongue to ram into her lower incisors. His armor already glistened with saliva and her lips closed around his flailing arms. For a brief moment, his head poked through before Mel gently sucked him back in. Mel took out her phone and began to post pictures online as she suckled on him. Cries of pain and desperation emanated from her mouth as her tongue darted around inside.

Jennifer realized she was staring and desired her own little knight. He seemed like a real riot. Jennifer wondered if he was tameable, like a little toy soldier she could keep around. Her eyes found the ever-erotic pile of bodies and her stomach growled for more. There were three left. Jennifer imagined what a threesome might taste like.

“Could… could I have the rest?”

“Ahhh, hahh” Mel answered affirmately, mouth open as she took a selfie with the knight. His armor was melting right off of him and turning to brown chocolate goo. She pushed him into her left cheek, “I’m gonna steal one or two of yours.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Mel reached over to the glass filled with four near-motionless number-one items and tipped the container over. Jennifer grasped the mass of three that were eagerly pleasing each other. A very feminine and busty tiny with an adorable tiny erection was kissing the shoulders of one of the two men on top of them, who were, in turn, kissing each other while their hands groped breasts or cock. She lifted them, and they didn’t seem to notice. Changing positions in her fingers for better leverage on one another. Jennifer’s lips quivered open, and the three entered her mouth which was just big enough to contain them.

Mel picked up one of the scattered female tinies and popped them into her mouth. The knight was shifted from his pocket in her cheek to Mel’s tongue. The new arrival was placed on Mel’s molars and lay there motionless, long blonde hair cascading over Mel’s pearly whites. The knight lept up towards her, but it was too late. As he grabbed her hand in a rescue attempt the top molars clamped down and she was stuck. Mel tapped away on her phone, allowing him to tug and pull at her as her bones snapped. In one thunderous pop, the jaws came down all at once and the knight was painted in hot red gore. He fell backward, still clutching the now-severed arm. He began to scream.

Jennifer couldn’t tell where one ended and the others began inside her mouth. It was like biting down on a whirlwind. They tossed and turned inside her, little feet bracing against her teeth to fuck each other harder. As they rolled around their flavors mixed to form a savory pool on her tongue. Jennifer could barely swallow down her saliva fast enough. Their screams of pure joy were all she could hear, and she placed one hand over her mouth in a reflex of modesty. She pushed them closer to the front so as not to lose anyone early and one tiny head poked out from her lips as someone pleasured them orally inside.

Jennifer let out a quiet moan, barely detectable from the outside but seemingly a rallying cry for those inside to ravage each other harder. Jennifer’s pelvic muscles flexed and released, and her breathing became ragged. She could feel a buildup of pressure between her legs, a tingle of fluid buildup as her own sex called for the pleasure in her mouth. Jennifer realized she was going a bit too far, and moved one of the edible people to her throat to begin sending them along their way. She swallowed, and one was only half-removed from the group. Another clung to them, and as Jennifer swallowed again the stuck morsel only dug their erection into her throat.

Mel was meanwhile washing her weary knight in viscera. She allowed the sweet taste of the destroyed woman to activate her saliva, and the mixture of body parts and sticky chocolate fluid built up in her mouth without swallowing. She finished posting the picture of her open mouth to some private location and wrapped the knight under her tongue to swallow. She gulped down the mixture of saliva and remains and spat out the knight, now soaked and naked. He lay there, twitching and gasping, sobbing into the red-brown mucous. Mel looked to Jennifer who seemed to be trying to swallow three at once. She smiled, knowing her friend was having fun. Her attention turned back to the knight.

“Had enough?”

“Pl…pl… please… I yield…” The naked man said between sobs.

“That’s no fun… I thought you would have been stronger.” She used a single fingernail to lift his chin and force him to look at her.

“Pl… please… sp… sp… spare me… I’ll serve you.” He sputtered.

“Good. Swear you’ll serve my every need.”

“I… I swear… I… live to… serve you.”

“Perfect! My first need that needs serving is my hunger. Do say hello to the others down there.”

“Wh… what?! No!” He tried to stand, but his legs buckled and he fell with a splat.

“Too late, you swore. It’s your fault, really.”

“You… you said! Please, don’t eat me! I will do anything!”

“The only thing you can do for me is dissolve.” Mel said flatly.

The soggy knight tried to scramble away but her fingers were already upon him. He was scooped up and moving towards Mel’s lips in an instant.

“Please! I don’t want to die like this! I’ll do anything! Spare me from your gruesome bowels!”

“Ahhhhhhhh~” Was her only reply.

Jennifer swallowed enough times to finally send one down her throat, but they were now being held fast by the next lodged against her epiglottis. Her eyes began to tear up and she swallowed several times, tossing all of them into her throat with a tidal wave of salty saliva. They finally dislodged and hit her stomach in quick succession. Jennifer gasped with relief and laughed a bit at how she almost choked. Fresh drinks were brought around, and she took a deep gulp to help wash everything down.

Mel wasted no time in shoving the knight over to her molars and clamping down. She did so lightly, tearing into the little screaming man but not enough to kill him. She sucked on him for a moment, enjoying his sharp inner flavor before swallowing. A brief “No, please!” was heard from the back of her throat before everything was silent again. The server who had brought the drinks placed a single gold key on the table.

“Your red room is ready, number three, second floor. Take your time, and enjoy yourselves.”

Jennifer looked to Mel, and then to the remaining three vanilla-flavored tinies on the table. She cleared her throat to ask about them:
“What about the, uh, leftovers?”

“Bring them! Bring your drink, too” Mel said and packed her cell phone into her purse.

As the server departed, Jennifer collected the three warm statuesque figures into one hand and dumped them into her purse. She took another sip from the martini glass to make it a little easier to carry, and tried not to focus on the orgy in her stomach as she followed after Mel.

“Where is that fucking bus?” Tom wondered aloud.

The last bus back to the lower districts was supposed to have arrived fifteen minutes ago. It was usual that they were late but they were never missed entirely. Unless some kind of freak accident happened, but even those were rare. It was especially concerning that the last bus never arrived, as it was crucial for all the workers that needed their businesses to stay open up until sundown. As much as he hated the curfew, he knew it was for the best.

Just last week he had read of another half-dozen “disappearances” in the paper. He knew the stories. He went to the support groups. People were being killed. Living in the city was brutal, and the only way to survive was to keep your head down and stay inside after dark. The sun was setting, and with the fading light, Tom’s anxieties were heightened.

Tom looked at the bench under the awning. The new girl was there. She had barely been in the office a week, and she was already working until close. She’s either stupid or desperate, Tom thought. Tom peered again down the sidewalk with a large yellow strip designated for the descaled bus. There was no such vehicle in sight. Tom began to wonder if he was desperate enough to work this late, or if he was stupid.

An upperside car passed by in a whirl. Tom steadied himself against the bus structure as the wind in the wake of the vehicle gusted past.

“Watch your speed, upperside asshole!” Tom shouted into the void. Once the wind died he mumbled to himself, “Shouldn’t be going that fast near the border…”

The new girl, Flo was it? Tom couldn’t quite remember her name. She was sitting quietly on the bench, staring at her feet. Fidgeting ever so slightly. Tom opened his mouth to say something encouraging and could think of nothing. He was going to say something like ‘it will be alright’ or ask her about the reports she sent. Something to keep out this sense of impending doom. Neither of them could afford a cell phone, not like it would help. Who would they call? Upperside police? Lowerside courtesy patrols? Tom furrowed his brow. Those worthless safety protocols that were drilled into their heads were incredibly ineffective. Even if you could make it to an upperside holding unit it might be weeks before they processed you and released you back to your home.

Tom was beginning to hyperventilate. The street light flickered on, died out, and then turned on again. It was official. They were past curfew. The bus wasn’t coming. The new girl looked up at the lamp overhead, dim light making them stand out starkly in the growing darkness. Tom’s eyes met hers and without words, they exchanged an entire worried conversation. What do we do? Where do we go? Should we leave the light? Neither of them spoke an answer to the hundred questions buzzing in the air. They shivered in troubled silence without answers for what seemed like an eternity.

A fancy limousine rolled up on the upper side of the street. It was just ‘the street’ to them, Tom supposed. He imagined what it must be like to traverse the city so quickly. One of the uppers could probably walk the distance to Tom’s house in less than thirty minutes. He would likely die of dehydration in the time it would take him to walk. Or worse. He couldn’t imagine the opulence of someone who was rich by upperside standards. The limo window rolled down.

"ARE YOU TWO LOST? IT'S LIKE TWENTY AFTER CURFEW!"

A woman appeared, her head sticking out of the limousine window. Her voice echoed down the desolate street and rang against the bus stop. Tom shuddered, and managed to croak a reply:

“Ummmm, Hi! Yeah, we missed our bus!”

He strained to yell but found his voice shaking from anxiety. The woman leaned back in and said something too far away to detect. Then the massive door swung open and a pair of massive gaudy heels emerged from the vehicle. They landed with a thud that caused the rivets in the bus stop to vibrate.

The woman was gorgeous, with long legs reaching up to a skirt that left nothing to the imagination. Tom craned his head upwards to see her face and avoid looking directly at her red underwear towering above. Her legs moved with great speed, shaking the roof of the bus stop with each step. The enormous shoes came to rest just inside the descaled-only zone and The woman squatted down, pointing her legs at a slight angle so she could peer at them. Her smile was disarming, and Tom felt she was strangely familiar.

"Hi, I'm Mel. What were you saying?” Her voice was so familiar. She sounded a little drunk.

“The last bus never, uh, arrived.”

“Oh, I see. Well, we can give you a ride to the club. They have a ti- I mean descaled taxi there to use."

Tom heard her slip up, calling them tiny, and then he recognized her. She was an influencer. He had seen many of her videos. Tom wasn’t much of a social media user but he had a few attractive women he followed. It was all on the home computer while his wife was out, when he fantasized about being with someone rich and powerful. This woman was Melanie Artois, an upperside socialite. She was always sharing posts about nightlife. Tom felt a deepening sense of embarrassment for having touched himself to her pictures. It was simply satisfying his needs, though he never thought that woman would be hovering over him. She wasn’t this big in his fantasies, she was merely the size of his screen as he dreamed of laying with her.

“That’s ok, thank you. We’ll just call someone…”

"No, really, I insist. It's only a matter of time before a jogger comes around here." Her enormous face broke into a smile.

Tom felt a terrible dread in his soul. She just implied they’d be splattered to the sidewalk, dark red stains by the morning, and she said it with a smile. He suddenly felt terrified, stuck like a trapped animal. He didn’t know this woman. She was drunk. She wasn’t exactly making it easy to decline. Her body blocked the exit, and Tom briefly looked at her arms to judge the length he’d need to run to escape.

“No, we’re fine. Thank you!” His voice was shaking.

"It's my treat. Really.” She leaned in even closer, her breath carried a slight scent of alcohol that lingered at the bus stop, “It's only a few minutes away. We'll have you home by eight."

Her lips slowly fell from a smile to something much stranger. She almost seemed like she was in a trance. Her eyes bore into Tom, and they were no longer asking. She just kept getting closer, one hand crept forward, fingers walking along the sidewalk. Tom was engulfed in a cold sweat. This was the beginning of the stories told in the lower side. He could hear himself refusing one more time, and he could see her growing angry.

Instead of those visions coming to pass, he only nodded his head in agreement. He looked to the new girl who was only looking upwards, nodding nervously as well.

"Ok Great! Hop aboard!" Her face snapped to some well-practiced Instagram smile.

Her hand that was creeping closer flicked with a flourish, landing right where the bus should have stopped nearly half an hour ago. Tom, limbs shaking, climbed up. He then helped the new girl. Chloe? Up onto the palm. In a whirl of motion, they were whisked away.
~

It was a day like any other day. Delta woke up from his bed and peered into the apartment next to him. Epsilon was still sleeping. Typical. Delta stretched and looked up to check the time. The great clock in the sky said 0845, displaying a happy little sun next to it. A sunny day! Excellent. Delta rose and stretched, and then reported to his exercise station. After keying in his information, he remembered it was cardio day. He smiled.

After a 45minute run on the treadmill, he checked his time and lamented such a close number to his record. Perhaps next session. The machine printed his meal receipt and he took it to the feeding station. Epsilon was just now waking to the sting of the electrified bed. Delta laughed as he sat down, calling out through the glass wall:

“You wouldn’t have to be shocked if you woke up before ten!”

Epsilon only grunted, rolling around on the floor. Delta placed his ticket into the machine and a pink-tinted pellet rolled down from the metal chute above. He sat and broke pieces off, occasionally grabbing a mouthful of water from the dispenser to help get it all down.

“Vanilla today, Ep! Good sign, eh?”

There was only another muffled grumble in response. Delta looked in the opposite direction towards where Charlie used to stay. Charlie loved vanilla day. It’s a shame she wasn’t here. Delta wondered if they had vanilla capsules in the beyond.

Once finished, Delta sat down to watch some television. It was underwater adventure week, and he just loved to float on with all the little shapes. Epsilon moved to exercise in a half-hearted groggy state, barely making his quota.

Delta was about to rise and wash himself when the television abruptly changed screens. There was only black lettering on an orange background:

You Have Been Chosen. Relax and Breathe Deeply.

Delta could hardly contain himself. He smiled and watched around the room as the lights dimmed and changed to a dull orange hue.

“Hey hey hey!!! Ep! I’m going up!” He was ecstatic.

“Take care out there. I admit I’m a little jealous…” Epsilon pressed one hand against the glass.

“Thanks, man. I hope you’re not too far behind me.”

“See you soon, buddy.”
A mist began to pour through the vents in the ceiling, quickly filling the room with gusts from the ventilation system. Delta’s eyes grew heavy, his body felt floaty. He was asleep within seconds, taking a moment to gently rest on the floor before he was out cold.

The roof of his apartment gave way, and a massive white hand descended onto Delta. He was pinched between two fingers and taken to the beyond.

~~~

When Delta awoke, he was very serene. His eyes fluttered open to a myriad of dancing lights. His skin tingled with anticipation. The beyond was so beautiful, so fast-moving! He tried to smile and dance with joy but he found his body was unresponsive. He was standing upright on some kind of smooth material, and despite his immobility, his soul rose to great heights. The beyond was truly spectacular, and his visions of light came to a stop in front of a beautiful woman.

Delta gawked inwardly, his body rejecting his request to drop his jaw. She was of immense proportion. Impossible size. Was this one of the white-gloved beings that ferried them away to this place when it was their time? What were they covering themselves with? Her skin was obscured by some bedding material in a shade he’s never seen.

Delta stood, unable to swoon or smile, in utter admiration of her. She reminded him a little of Charlie and was talking in some kind of beautiful fantasy language. Her lips moved and it felt that song came from them, lightly echoing above. After a time, she reached for him. His heart cried out with excitement, he wanted to thank her for bringing him to this place. A flash of light emitted from a small device she held, and he was momentarily blind to the world.

Cold metal slid under his arms, and without being able to turn his head he was flung through the air to an entirely different woman. His vision clearing, he found this one was even more beautiful than the last. He was brought in close, her eyes regarding him with awe. Angels, the both of them, Delta thought. He wanted to cry but even his eyes denied his emotional expression. He could barely even move them to behold her.

With her other hand, she began to lovingly caress him. He felt her finger touch his leg and he gasped inwardly. His heart began to leap and bound as her soft finger probed higher and higher. With no decorum or preamble, she pressed hard into his cock, and he was unable to do anything about it. He felt like it was wrong but soon relaxed. He gave in and enjoyed the sensations of heaven.

He watched, enraptured, as he was brought close to her lips. She breathed his scent and found it pleasant. Her lips parted and she licked his face. Delta was a curious mixture of confusion and elation. The beyond was so strange and magical. He couldn’t believe when her mouth parted, and he was placed onto her tongue like a chunk of a food pellet.

He desperately tried to signal to his body to move, to do anything, but only managed to barely shiver. He looked into the darkness of the angel's throat and his survival instincts began to take over. Her lips closed, and in the darkness, he tried to scream. Then her tongue began to work at him, massaging and tasting him. Tasting his flesh! The slimy and agile organ manipulated him around the dark mouth, moaning with pleasure as he remained motionless. Helpless.

Despite his inner panic, his cock grew and grew as she suckled on him. His inner voice screamed to be set free, he felt his body further betray him as he felt a sickening sense of coming apart at the seams. His muscles twitched, his cock moved on its own, and something burst out of him. Everything was a jumble of sickly sweet terror, his body telling him to enjoy as his mind raced through such a heightened state of panic.

He struggled to contain the rush of emotions, the brutality of the beyond, the sheer hell that was suffocating and warm and slimy. The unrelenting tongue danced as whatever just squeezed out of him was sucked down inside her. What lay beyond the abyss? What happened inside angels? Delta had barely a moment to think about it before he was moved to the back of her gorgeous throat, and shoved inside head-first. He was tumbling down, squeezed and released, for an eternity. The air was knocked out of him as some angelic organ stuffed him deeper and deeper.

The descent ended with a fall into some kind of liquid, and he felt a tingling sensation come over him. By some miracle or some sick torture, he found himself floating upright and coming to rest on an organic fold. Some shelf over an abyssal lake. His body still would not allow an expression of desperate terror that gripped him. He began to twitch and his mouth opened slightly to suck in an acrid stench as he hyperventilated.

He lay there, trying to cry out and only heaving ragged desperate breaths into the darkness. His vocal cords began to come to life, and he croaked unintelligible fearful sounds in the angel’s chambers. Her melodic voice was somewhere far away, a stark beauty against the backdrop of insanity. His feet and calves began to tingle, and then burn, as he tried to squeak out cries for help. Then, a splash. Another poor soul had been sent to her depths. The waters roiled and fumed, his legs felt like they were on fire as they lay submerged in the terrible sweet acidic liquid. The other in the lake thrashed and surfaced, moans echoed from their lips.

Delta lay there, the burning lake slowly rising, staring at nothing and wishing he could scream. The other person inside was insane, moaning with pleasure. Then another splash. And another. And another. This angel was sucking down so many souls. Delta wondered if there was a beyond, beyond this. He felt like he might reside here for eternity. Then the others trapped within began to cling to each other, moaning with such glee at their fate. Had he failed in some respect? Were they feeling something he was not? Delta began for the first time to cry, and a slimy hand reached out to grasp him.

“N… No!” He managed to yell as this being of pure lust began to tug him to the burning depths. He could no longer feel his legs, and his hips were now on fire. He was unable to stop them as a squirming ball of sexual moans tugged him over the edge of the angelic fold. He choked on impossibly terrible water and was drawn into a sickening embrace.
Boney arms clutched him from all angles as everything in his body was lit aflame. Some monstrosity pressed itself to his face as he inhaled more and more liquid. He wished for it all to end, and soon the pain melted away. He felt nothing except terror, and gave himself over to the sinking darkness.

The red room was, unsurprisingly, rather red. The floor here was a sleek deep red rubberized texture, rising up to black concrete ceilings. The room was around 12 feet on a side, with a solid red door leading into the second-floor hallway. A small drain was in the center of the floor. Along the back wall, a large ornate wood and red leather couch stood underneath a framed picture. A red metal table, high enough for standing, was placed alone in the corner to the right. Atop that table, a small black box rested. Jennifer thought it looked like a cash box she often used when she was a cashier.

The couch had a horizontal shelf on each armrest and was large enough to accommodate four people sitting comfortably. Jennifer walked in and began to appreciate the art hung above. An oil painting on canvas. It depicted a youthful woman staring out toward the viewer. She was holding an ornate carafe and a glass. Some kind of majestic bird of prey was hovering at her hand with the glass, attempting to drink from it.

Mel sauntered over to the couch, unstrapped her shoes, and pulled her legs under her to sit sideways while using her phone. Jennifer followed her, sitting comfortably on the soft material. She noticed a simple brass panel on the armrest to her left, atop which sat a red corded phone built into the couch. Jennifer looked to Mel, who finished using her phone with a giggle.

“So,”  Mel gently slapped her thighs, “These rooms are a little more private. I wanted to talk to you about some… stuff. Show you some things, too.”

“Oh, uhh, OK! Is… everything alright?”

“Oh!” Mel seemed surprised, “Yeah, no, everything is fine! I’m doing really good, and I just want to share that.”

Jennifer raised an eyebrow, showing a knowing smile.

“Ohhh realllyyyy?” Jennifer teased.

“I’m not going to hit on you again!” Mel leaned over with a smile to gently push Jennifer on the shoulder, “I promise!”

“Quite a relief,” Jennifer said dryly, as she took another sip of her drink. The cool liquid entered her stomach and spurred the squirming contents into a frenzy. She was beginning to enjoy this quite a lot.

“No, this is about you, actually.”

“Oh?”

“It’s just been hard to see you so stressed all the time, with everything that’s been going on. I thought chem 201 was going to literally kill you.”

“It did, in a way” Jennifer grimaced.

“So this little trip is not just a one-off thing. I want to give you this place to relax. With me, whenever you want. It’s how I stay sane.”

“Oh, Mel, I…”

“No, no, no,” Mel placed her hand on Jennifer’s shoulder, “You deserve some personal time. And, I thought you might enjoy some catharsis.”

“I’ll admit it’s been frustrating. Every day, a new death threat.”

“I’m frustrated for you.” Mel leaned in close, “Jennifer. We have so much more than them. They’re jealous of our superiority.”

“Superiority, huh?” Jennifer smiled, giving Mel enough slack to hang herself.

“I know you think I’m mean. But I think it’s just natural. They are small. We give them protection and we deserve payment.”

“So, that’s what all this is, then? Payment for…?” Jennifer sipped her drink again and felt the eager revelers in her digestive system repay her in the only way they could.

“It’s not… like that. Here, let me show you. Hand me the phone?”

Jennifer obliged, picking up the red phone from the receiver and stretching the long cord toward Mel.

“Yes, one free range, please. Yes. Yes, just one.” Mel returned the phone to Jennifer who placed it back onto the receiver.

“You never said what free range was.”

“I was waiting until we had a little privacy. It’s not easy to say…”

“Well?” Jennifer smiled and gently shook her head.

“Do you remember I told you I squished six?”

“Yeah. Accidents.”

“Those ones were accidents, but I’ve done some things. To others.”

“Things?”

“Doesn’t it piss you off? That they just… Say those things? They don’t deserve to be able to do that”

Jennifer was feeling rather drunk. She shook her head to find some clarity and couldn’t grasp any. She felt a tinge of anger for the bullying, mostly from anonymous tinies. Jennifer gulped down the rest of her drink, as a server walked in with a platter filled with glasses. They took it from the platter and walked it toward the couch.

“Leave it on the floor,” Mel said without taking her eyes off Jennifer.

The server wordlessly obliged, bowed, and left with a dull click of the metal door.

“What does free range mean?” Jennifer tried to focus on the glass in the center of the room. Something was inside, moving just a little.

“It means there are no accidents, cutie. It means we get to do whatever we want.” Mel stared, her eyes burning into the side of Jennifer’s face.

“From outside the city, then?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Mel rose and walked to the glass. She retrieved it and knelt down on the floor next to Jennifer. She continued,

“Where they’re from. What they used to do. When they end up here, it doesn’t matter.”

Mel leaned against Jennifer’s nylon legs, placing the glass containing a single tiny person into her lap. She swayed slightly with intoxication. Jennifer looked down, her breathing increasing. The little person inside was a man, wearing a simple white shirt and boxer briefs. There was a wild look on his face, staring up at her.

“What… What are you saying?” Jennifer looked right at Mel, who looked up with an innocent smile.

“I want to help you process your feelings. I want to watch you step on this one until it pops. I want you to let go of these feelings you have for lower-siders.”

Jennifer was lost in a thousand sensations. She slowly processed her friend’s words, letting them sink below the fog of the alcohol. This tiny person wasn’t lab-grown. He wasn’t some kind of meat that would save humanity. He was a living, breathing, person. Jennifer tried to muster some amount of sympathy for the little soul in the glass in her lap and couldn’t. He seemed like just another face in a sea of faces, and if she felt sorry for him she’d need to come to terms with the other one she’d stepped on accidentally. A single tear fell down her cheek.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Jennifer said with a shaky voice.

“I know, cutie. I know,” Mel grasped Jennifer’s hands, “That’s what I’m here to prove to you. That’s what I want you to understand.”

“Does… does he deserve…” Jennifer trailed off. She only felt anger welling up.

“Cutie.” Mel leaned in, forcing eye contact, “it doesn’t matter.”

Mel took the glass again and emptied the occupant onto the floor. She then stood, and watched as the tiny man began to sprint for the underside of the couch. Mel’s bare foot moved in a lazy arc and battered him with the top of her toes. He was caught in the chest and went flying on his back.

Jennifer closed her eyes and pictured the orgy in her stomach. She felt so grateful to those inside her, still somehow fucking each other. To give her a massage from the inside. They were dying down but still wanted to please her. Not like this ungrateful one on the ground. The little man spoke:

“You fucking bitch! This is insane!” He rolled around in pain.

Jennifer laughed. The audacity of this one.

“Come here.” Mel smiled softly and with both hands motioned towards Jennifer to rise from the couch.

“I don’t know if I can.” Jennifer rose.

“Let me ask you something. Did you enjoy it?”

“Enjoy what?”

“When you squished that one that night on the sidewalk.”

Jennifer only blushed. She remembered the feeling of fear upon the accident, and the feeling of determination she had at the time. To finish them off. She remembered seeing them lie there as she pressed firmly and twisted, the sensation of a pop. She felt bad that it happened, of course, but at the time there was an exhilaration.

“Hold onto that feeling,” Mel said knowingly.

The man had risen again, this time with a limp, and was trying to go for the drain. Jennifer thought with morbid humor that he was just a little too big to fit through the grate. Mel noticed him and pressed hard into his back with her big toe. He lost balance dramatically, landing on his face with a muffled yell. Mel wasted no time, following up by deftly placing her big toe on his left leg. She easily covered his leg with the pad of her toe, and she pressed down.

He screamed, louder than Jennifer had ever heard a tiny. He tried to claw away from Mel, who ground out his leg from the hip with a soft smile. She lifted, revealing a bloody spot where the leg used to be. She wiped her toe on the floor with a swift motion, adding a smear next to him several times his length. He was babbling incoherently, still crawling away at a literal snail’s pace.

Jennifer began to hyperventilate. Mel led her, grasping her hands her bare feet stepped backward over the scene and Jennifer’s heels clicked into place. Their hands were joined directly above him. The tiny man looked to his periphery, seeing the sparkling black leading up to the dark fabric of her legs reaching up to infinity. He babbled something again, and turned around onto his back, bleeding profusely. The spot where his leg used to connect was dark purple and mangled.

He managed to squeak “No! Please!”

“Shoes?” Jennifer asked as she looked down with fury.

“Do what feels right.” Mel was still staring at Jennifer, smiling with the softness of a friend.

“Please! Pl… My… Ugh, my... family owns a newspaper! I… I… I have connections!”

Jennifer felt like he was so far away. She felt like she should get it over with, ending his misery. She wanted to enjoy it, but there was no reason to prolong his suffering. She ignored his fevered cries as she raised her foot. Her balance was way off, and she used Mel’s hands to steady herself. The sparkles of her pump glittered in the light, and the unforgiving sole was moved to position. For a moment, Jennifer hesitated and looked at Mel.

Mel just smiled and nodded toward the floor.

“Please! Ple... Please! I’ll... I have money! I have! No! Miss! Please!” The man began to scream as the sole lowered. Jennifer felt the contact of his body, a small squirming sensation as she pinned him to the floor. He was just to the side of the ball of her foot, the rubber of her sole ready to take his life.

“Nononononono… ugh.. plea-”

Jennifer pressed down, leaning forward with a quick motion and cutting off his last words. Instead, he made a popping sound as his insides spurted out in two directions. Some of him landed on her heel, squirting the length of the arch of the shoe. The rest was pushed forwards, he was gone. Jennifer’s mouth turned up at the corner to a little smile. She turned her hips and twisted. Another spurt of red emanate from underneath her, and a few flecks of the tiny man landed on Mel’s toes.

“Oh, shit. Sorry.” Jennifer looked up.

Mel was beaming. She stepped forward, releasing Jennifer’s hands to pull her into an embrace. Mel took her in close and hugged her strongly with both arms wrapped around her. Jennifer was surprised but soon embraced her back in return. She smiled and began to shed a few tears. She felt such a release of tension. It felt great to have all those anxieties melt away at once.

“I’m so proud of you,” Mel whispered.

The two women held each other in a platonic embrace, standing and swaying gently over the slowly spreading pool of blood. A thin line trickled out from under Jennifer and snaked towards the drain. The room was silent, and Jennifer basked in the feeling of letting go. The buzz and the feeling of taking control of her past was giving her euphoria. She couldn’t imagine that the secret to all this was just to put herself first.

Mel broke the hug first. She stepped back and performed an excited dance. She smiled, wiggled, and rose her arms up to some unheard music. Jennifer laughed and stumbled back to the couch. She sat down and looked at the aftermath.

Mel flopped onto the couch with her and leaned back. Her eyes were closed and her broad smile occasionally formed silent lyrics as she mouthed some upbeat song.

“Thank you.” Jennifer said.

“You’re welcome, cutie,” Mel replied, eyes still closed, and head back, “You did really good, and we can head back whenever you’re ready.”

“Actually… Can we order more?”

Mel’s eyes flicked open, her smile grew until nearly all her teeth were showing. She turned to Mel, a mixture of glee and drunken excitement.

“I was hoping you’d ask.”

Meanwhile, in the clutter of Jennifer’s purse, several tiny people looked around with motionless fear after hearing the unintelligible pain from outside the fabric. Their heart rates increased, and they strained to move but remained still. 

Mel sat, took up the telephone, and ordered several menu items in a quick flurry, as well as another round of drinks. Jennifer sat next to her, at the center of the couch. There was a small pile of red mush on the floor. Her eyes followed the small blood prints in the shape of her shoe as they led to her. There were trademarks in the blood, and everything was nearly the same color as the glossy floor. The blood near the center of the room was still slowly pointing a long thin trail towards the drain in the floor.

Jennifer’s body was alight with activity. She felt as if her skin was able to sense the vibrations of the room. Her thoughts were smooth and rapid. She first felt power, then worry at the lack of remorse. She tried to dig into herself to find the part that felt bad. But staring at the pile of viscera she could only feel anger. She saw the faces of the people who whispered about her in the halls. She saw the anonymous figures ridiculing her online. Her breathing became more rapid, and she felt like she could become the monster they thought she was. They think she’s just another terrible upper-sider, so why not?

“Jennnnnniffer.”

“Hmm?”

“I was asking if you wanted some more vanillas, number ones?”

“No. Order me some of the… spicy ones?”

“You got it. I’ll get some more free range too. They aren’t food grade but they’re fun to play with.” Mel turned to the phone and relayed the rest of the order.

“Can I.. have one of those knights too?” Jennifer blushed slightly, she quite liked the idea of a tiny chivalrous handsome knight.

“Good idea!” Mel smiled and finished the order, “One of the dragon slayers, oh and could you inquire about my guests? Yes. Excellent.”

Jennifer swallowed. She felt hungry again, the meals inside her had all but disappeared. If anything, they had primed her appetite. Combined with the booze, she was feeling ravenous. The shifted her toes around in her shoe. The nylon was a little sweaty, and there was a spot on her sole where the man had ended that still tingled. She removed the shoe and flexed her toes, examining the sole of the shoe. Still glistening with the remains. She thought how odd it was that this stupid little discount shoe squished him. She looked at her foot and pressed her thumb into it for relief. Splattered under a foot. So strange.

Jennifer took off her other shoe and stretched, the black sweaty nylon making an imprint on the cool floor. It felt good to kick her shoes off. She rose as Mel picked up her phone and began to text. Jennifer walked to the far table, her soft soles moving over the blood. She reached for the box. It was heavy and had a simple hinge. She lifted it and found a variety of small tools that looked like dentists’ tools. A large black battery sat at the bottom, with exposed contacts leading to long black wires. Jennifer tried to make sense of everything and couldn’t.

“What is all this… stuff?”

Mel looked up from her phone “Uh, Oh! Toys. You can bring it over here if you want.” Mel said, sounding a little bored before returning to her phone.

Jennifer closed the case, and as she walked it over to the couch a server appeared to deposit their order. They left two squirming glass bowls and a solitary caste on the tray, leaving the whole tray between them on the couch before leaving. Mel put her phone down and licked her lips. Muffled shouting could be heard at odd intervals.

“OK so food-grade tinies are naked, and the ones with cute little shirts are free range.” Mel pointed to each glass, shouts of fear emanating from each one as her hand hovered over them

Jennifer reached for a food-grade individual and withdrew a dark-haired woman who began to scream and beat at her fingers. The woman was shouting something, and the tinies in the smooth glass container tried to hold onto her. Once freed, Jennifer brought the woman to her face. She was shrieking in some unknown language, it sounded like nonsense.

“What’s the deal with these ones?”

Mel only shrugged. A pair of legs protruded from between her lips. They kicked and squirmed, their owner trying to free themselves. Jennifer looked at the woman in between her fingers. Tears streamed down her face, she was hysterical.

“Shhhh. It’s ok.” Jennifer cooed and gently patted the woman, “It’s going to be over soon.”

With that, her mouth opened and the woman screamed with increased fervor. Her voice was cut off as plush lips closed her in behind rows of teeth. Jennifer savored the woman, noting salty and umami notes. Her screams were disjointed, occasionally interrupted as Jennifer knocked the wind out of the little thing with her tongue. She maneuvered the woman to the back of her throat, and her struggles turned desperate. She shrieked once, suspended over the entrance to the digestive system. With a gulp she disappeared, her frenzied attempt cut short.

Mel was still suckling on the same one, occasionally slurping them back in as they tried to escape her. Mel was opening the box and maneuvering some of the tools While Jennifer watched. She attached a small metal rod to a handle wired to the battery. She withdrew one of the clothed tinies and dangled them above the bowl. Jennifer began to fish another morsel out of the bowl, her fingers causing them to flee as best they could. She closed in on a man with long hair. But her hand froze while grasping him in the bowl. The others tried to pry her fingers away as Jennifer was transfixed by Mel.

The tiny in her grip dangled by his legs, shirt flipping over his head, both his feet held fast by Mel’s thumb and forefinger. Her tongue slid out to once again reposition the tiny half inside her mouth. The metal rod device began to turn red, and Mel gently stuck it to the tiny man’s exposed ribcage. He began to scream and writhe, and a small puff of smoke emanated from the spot Mel prodded. Both of the bowls fell silent as they watched in horror.

“Please! Why!!?” He screamed.

The tiny man removed his shirt and tried using it as a barrier to push the metal rod away as it burned away his skin. Jennifer squinted. He looked familiar. She chuckled, then quickly put her hand over her mouth in embarrassment. Mel withdrew the rod, turned him over, and placed it gently on his spine. The man screamed again and struggled to get away in vain.

“AHH! God! Please! You! You said you’d! AHHH!” He locked eyes with Jennifer as he screamed and sobbed through the pain, smoke rising from his back.

“Wait… he’s the one we picked up?” Jennifer’s memory was jogged as she blinked away some of her intoxication.

Mel furrowed her brow, then sucked the tiny between her lips all the way into her mouth. Pressing them to her cheek, she spoke as she began to chew. She turned the dangling one over, holding them close.

“Huh.” Screams and squelches rang out in between her molars rising and falling, “Yeah.” Mel finished her mouthful and swallowed.

“Must have been a mix-up,” Mel stated nonchalantly.

“What should we..” Jennifer trailed off. She raised the squirming man to her lips, the sudden movement shaking off those trying to save him.

“Well, it might be a little late to do anything.” Mel laughed and prodded him again with the hot rod. He writhed and protested, dropping his shirt while yelling:

“Nono! No! Wait! AHHHHHH! No... Please… I won’t tell anyone. I just... I just want to live…” He returned to sobbing.

“Bullshit.” Jennifer said, waving the tiny man in front of her face, “You’ll be pulling some stupid shit online. We can’t trust you. Give him to me, I’ll put him out of his misery.”

Mel smiled and handed him over. Jennifer gently placed him on the floor next to her empty shoes. She scrunched her toes in front of him as he lay limp. He could barely move. Mel placed the little morsel from her other hand into her mouth and quickly swallowed. His sudden disappearance into her body caused a panic and he squirmed all the way down.

“Hold on, there’s another. That other one from earlier.” Mel interrupted, holding out another tiny woman in a white shirt. Sure enough, she was the one from the bus stop.

“How did you end up in here?” Jennifer addressed the tiny woman as she took her from Mel.

“You brought us here! You fucking monster!” She was delirious.

“Well, sorry. It’s got to end this way.”

“Don’t you fucking eat me you sicko! Fucking psychopath!”

“Eat you? No.” Jennifer laughed. “You aren’t food-grade.”

“Yeah,” Mel interjected, looking up from her phone, “You’re foot grade!” She laughed at her own joke and moved to the floor next to Jennifer. Sitting down, she held her phone near the floor.

“I’m not… fucking what?!?!” The woman protested.

“What are you doing?” Jennifer asked, lowering the protesting tiny woman between her legs.

“Cool if I film this? For my other account.” Mel said and reached over to grab another tiny to quickly pop into her mouth. A single frantic arm stuck out from between Mel’s lips as she focused in on the burned tiny looking towards Jennifer’s dark nylon toes.

“Yeah, I guess.” Jennifer lowered the erratic woman, swinging and kicking, to the floor. She immediately tumbled, stood, and began to run. The man watched as Jennifer’s foot descended upon her. The fabric encased the woman, and for a moment Jennifer thought she’d squished her.

“Let me get my shoes on first, jeez.”

Jennifer repositioned her foot, finding the hysterical woman still alive. Her toes pinned the woman to the ground without squishing her, and Jennifer pivoted on her heel as she raised her other foot to put her shoe on. She grabbed the left shoe, not yet bloodied.

“Let me go you fucking bitch!” The woman screamed from between her toes and under the nylon.

“You don’t have… I won’t say…” The man sat and barely formed words between sobs.

“I’m really sorry about this. You shouldn’t have missed your bus.”

Jennifer placed her foot on the ground, sliding her shoe on all the way with a ‘Thup’ sound as her foot squeezed into position. She did feel a little bad, seeing them on the floor underneath her. They probably didn’t deserve this. At least it would be quick. And, she thought, at least one of us will enjoy it.

Still sitting, she lifted her shoe, placing the heel in front of the man. She angled the shoe so it was pointing at an angle over him, and rotated the sparkly pump a little so she could see that he was still in position. She lowered her foot, the treads coming down with deadly force. Mel smiled and brought her camera in close. The woman’s face was visible in the background, tears streaming under the fabric of Jennifer’s big toe.

In a last moment of desperation, the man lept forward just as the tread was about to contact him. He did not leap far enough, and the toe of the shoe landed on his waist. In a mere instant, his bottom half was pulverized. Jennifer had already committed the stomp and didn’t realize she fell short until he was already nearly cut in half. Blood spurted from his sides as he screamed. The woman under her toes screamed too, and Jennifer just wanted it to stop.

The shoe lifted, and Jennifer found the flattened half was still attached to the front half. She dug the toe of her shoe into the ruined flesh and gently dragged him closer to her. Twitching and coughing up blood, the man was pulled into a pool of his own gore and looked up to the sole which still had pieces of him stuck to it. He whimpered and looked at the woman trapped under the other foot. They made eye contact, and he was about to mouth something before the black rubber embraced him again.

He became a squelch of blood, and Jennifer’s heel lifted slightly out of the shoe as she ground his wasted form back and forth to ensure the job was done. She scrunched her toes and deposited the woman closer to the bloodstained shoe. Mel rose slightly to get a better angle. As she held her phone, she was chewing very slowly as desperate cries for help occasionally escaped her lips.

“Hold still or this will take longer than it needs to.”

“You’re a monster!” The woman screamed and immediately began to flee.

Jennifer shifted her hips and planted her nylon foot on her again. This time the force was more than she had meant, but she was happy to still feel movement near her arch. For a moment she considered popping the little thing right there, but she didn’t want to get her nylons wet. The sensation of the woman scrambling against her sole gave her goosebumps, and she rocked her foot a little to disperse the feelings around her sensitive sole.

“It feels kind…of… good?”

Mel simply raised a thumbs up, then reached for another tiny. She opened her mouth, revealing an intact man with open wounds all over his body. He was panting, and could barely move. A woman was dropped alongside him, and the torture began anew.

Jennifer felt a small snap. A tiny release of pressure from the woman under her foot. She quickly withdrew and inspected her sole. She was relieved to find no blood and looked at the woman who was lying nearly flat in an unnatural position. Her back was twisted around, and while she was trying to crawl she was unable to move her hips or legs. She was desperately crying.

“Whoops. Sorry. I told you.”

The woman began to sob and hyperventilate as the shadow of the shoe fell over her. Blood dripped onto her, and she saw a chunk of flesh fall from between the threads to land with a wet plop next to her. The pain in her lower back was dulled by the horror of her impending flattening, and she felt dread well up into her.

Jennifer let her shoe drop, and her heel again rose out of the shoe to attain the leverage necessary to fully flatten her. A pop and a wet crunch later and she was gone. Jennifer lifted her foot to examine the damage, and being satisfied, removed the shoe before gently placing it off to the side.

Mel swallowed whatever she was still toying with in her mouth, and smiled.

“Awesome. That’s going to get a ton of views! Who knew you had it in you?”

Jennifer smiled. She didn’t feel great about it but she was glad it was over. They couldn’t have been allowed to leave here. It would look awful for lower-siders to see what goes on in here. She would never hear the end of it at school. It was better that the secrets stayed here, and it gave her a good feeling to finally work out her anger. Popping them like grapes gave her such a rush, and she felt like she was taking back the awful situation. She was healing, and it was just bad luck that they hadn’t made their bus or made the taxi home.

She reached into the food glass and withdrew a tiny man with almond skin. He was simply crying, eyes fixed on the stains on the floor.

“Don’t worry. You’re not going on the floor” She opened her mouth, and he began to scream as her tongue got closer and closer. Her lips sealed up, and his screams were muffled by Jennifer’s own sighs of enjoyment and relief.

Mel took out another clothed tiny man. His protests were cut off as she held him in her palm and addressed him.

“Hi, cutie. I’m Mel. What’s your name?”

“Please, you don’t have to do this!” The man yelled.

“Name.” Mel waved the red-hot rod in front of them.

“M…muhm..m… Mehmet.”

“Well, muh-muh-muh Mehmet,” Mel mocked his fearful stutter, “I would like to give you the option of how to die. Any way you’d like.”

The cold cruelty settled on his mind. His brow furrowed, and he looked around to the death that hung in the room. He steadied himself, standing up in Mel’s palm.

“Go fuck yourself, bitch!”

“Oooo! Interesting choice. Thank you for playing.” Mel smiled devilishly.

Mel stood, putting down the heating rod. She lifted the front of her dress slightly, just enough to get a thumb around the lip of her underwear. She noticed Jennifer watching with confusion.

“Don’t look! Perv!” Mel jokingly chided.

Jennifer blushed and averted her eyes. She heard the protests and begging of the little guy turn muffled, and then disappear altogether. Her eyes widened, and she looked back to Mel straightening out her dress.

“Did you just…”

“What? He asked!” Mel shrugged.

“Is that… safe?”

“Yeah it’s fine, you barely feel them anyways.”

“You’ve done this before…?” Jennifer was more impressed than shocked.

“Listen, cutie. These little toys can be a lot of fun. A. Lot. Of. Fun.” Mel punctuated her words and sat back down.

Jennifer felt the residents of her stomach struggle against her body’s claim on their bodies and she wondered how it would feel to take someone with her sex. How it might feel to know someone is struggling inside her where she has more sensation. She blushed and felt it wholly inappropriate to do something in the presence of company. She looked disapprovingly at Mel who was scanning the remaining food.

Jennifer sighed and leaned over to examine the tower. It had been quiet, and she gingerly stuck her hand into it to feel around. It felt like a little diorama inside, with tiny furniture and flimsy wood. She felt the slap of a dull sword and jumped. She laughed and reached her hand in again to quickly snatch the knight within.

He had long dark hair sticking out from under his visor, and the spots where his skin was visible showed a tanned and muscled body. He swung valiantly at her hand, each blow bouncing off with no effect. Jennifer laughed again, it almost tickled.

“Beast! I name you my enemy!” His voice sounded almost like a caricature.

“Oh, but what if I want to be friends?” Jennifer pouted.

“You cannot feel such emotions, fiend!”

“How do you know? Do I look like a fiend?”

For the first time, the knight faltered and looked up from where he was attacking. He lifted his visor, and with wide eyes saw Jennifer.

“What manner of trickery is this?!” He shouted

“No tricks. I don’t want to eat you. I want to enjoy you in other ways.” Jenifer leaned in and flashed a disarming smile.

The knight only stuttered. He dropped his blade and began to look all around the room, as if suddenly horribly confused. Jennifer laughed and looked at Mel to see if she was watching her try to seduce the knight. Mel was laughing too, a tiny man between her lips and a tiny woman in her mouth covered in blood. Jennifer stopped laughing for a moment and dropped the knight onto her lap. For a brief second, she saw a face she recognized. She suddenly felt very sober as she watched Xavi from class get sucked into Mel’s mouth to be ground to a pulp.

“Mel! Wait!”

“Hmm?” Mel’s eyebrows raised, while she idly chewed.

“Ss… STOP! Stop Chewing! You’re eating Xavi!”

Mel’s eyes widened, and she leaned forward to spit out her mouthful. A deluge of gore and saliva spilled out in between the glasses, several distinct body parts and one tiny Xavi, pink with spit and blood, coughing and yelling unintelligibly. He was spasming in panic, and threw a chunk of someone else off of him that landed with him in the pile. He tried to wipe the remains from his face and eyes but only shook and screamed.

“What. The. Fuck.” Mel said, wiping her mouth, “I can’t fucking believe this.”

“How did this happen!?” Jennifer was distraught, “I don’t understand.”

Jennifer stared at Mel in confusion, down at Xavi in horror, and back to Mel for answers. Her vision seemed unfocused and the lights suddenly seemed too bright.

“I can’t believe they put a fucking free range in with the food-grade. Unacceptable.”

Xavi’s voice was hoarse from screaming. The past few hours were seemingly one long nightmare and he was surrounded by strange people he couldn’t communicate with. They acted strange and spoke a different language. Xavi screamed and screamed to get the attention of people passing by, hoping beyond anything to just wake up. He became hoarse and gave up, dwelling on how he ended up here.

Having coffee with some study partners from science class one moment, and the next darkness. It felt like someone slammed something on top of him? Just darkness, pain, and movement. He was dazed but the first thing he clearly saw was a white room. He and his seven classmates were in a glass container, it wasn’t meant for descaled folk. They were somewhere deeply off-limits. Panic began to set in.

As they began to look around, grim horror set in. They were in an upper-side kitchen storage area. A few uppers walked though, occasionally stopping to retrieve materials. They screamed for help, but their cries went unnoticed. Various flavorful smells drifted in among hot currents of air from furnaces in the adjacent rooms.

Two people had descaled cell phones, a wealthy girl from class named April and a taller gentleman Xavi didn’t know. April’s fingers shaking, she was furiously pounding away at numbers. Once dialed in she just began to cry as someone picked up. All at once people screamed at her and the phone for help, descriptions of where they were, begging for some sort of rescue. Xavi stood and listened, his mind moving too slowly to form thoughts faster than people shouted what he was already panicking in his head. The other one with a phone was calling the same few numbers over and over, without any luck. He swore under his breath again and again.

A woman walked through the doors, dressed in street clothes distinct from the chefs' white uniforms. She reached into a backpack and withdrew a glass jar, full of people just like the one with Xavi and his friends. Xavi’s mind was spinning and his heart was pounding. People were gasping, talking, and screaming, but he didn’t process any of the words. His eyes were locked on the woman with the backpack, who was also staring directly at their jar. Her hair was pulled into a bun, and her features were soft but cold.

Before anyone could process her speed, the woman was reaching into the jar. Massive delicate fingers tipped with neatly cut natural nails descended onto April. The others instinctively moved away from her. April was still sobbing into her phone, unaware of the icy blue eyes fixed on her position. April was snatched quickly and cleanly, and as she immediately began to kick and flail she was lifted from the jar. All she could do was scream as everyone else watched. For a moment there was some hope that this was a misunderstanding, and they would finally be placed back where they belonged.

April was brought to eye level, and she froze as she realized her predicament. She looked into her captor’s massive eyes and tried to speak but only managed to squeak between heaving sobs.

“Who are you talking to?” The upper-side woman asked flatly.

“My… My…” April tried to choke back her sobs.

“Calm down and tell them something for me, alright? Can you do that?”

“Ye-... Yesss.” April nodded as she shook with terror.

“Tell them you’re about to be devoured alive.”

April turned hysterical. Those in the jar gasped and yelled. April was kicking and screaming, the upperside woman smiled wide and laughed. Delicate fingers deftly snipped and tore the clothing from April’s body, who somehow managed to cling to her phone. April began to scream “Help!” into the phone over and over again, tears flowing down her nearly naked body.

“You keep telling them that.” The woman brought April to her smiling lips, head tilted back, “All the way… down.”

Her mouth punctuated every word before she parted her lips and extended her tongue. April was just making unintelligible noises of horror, occasionally managing to scream something similar to “Help!” as she was lowered in. Xavi felt lightheaded, his vision became blurry as April disappeared past those lips and became sealed inside.

“April! Wait!”

“Let her out!”

“Fuck! What the Fuck!”

“No! Stop! Wh- Stop!”

Everyone seemed to shout at once as April’s screams became muffled. A soft gulp later and the screams grew quiet, as did the protests from the jar. Xavi could only picture April as she was in class yesterday, bubbly and smiling. She was nice. She is nice. Now all of her, that whole person was moving downwards inside this larger and far more cruel woman. Xavi’s memory of her was already twisting, replaced by the naked and terrified woman that was just eaten alive.

The monster of a woman left with a wink, briskly exiting as a chef entered and went straight for the other jar. It was taken without ceremony, the people pressing themselves to the glass to look back at Xavi’s jar. The room was empty again, the sounds of a busy kitchen dulled from the closed door.

“What do we do?”

“We’re fucked, we’re all fucked”

“This can’t. This.. can’t..”

“I’m still trying to call..”

“Maybe if we..”

Xavi simply cried. He knew it was over. This is how every disappearance happened. This is how they all die. Despair overrode every neuron in his brain and he wept silently, tears splattering onto the glass below. All the talking around him blurred into a spiral, the world outside the glass went dark and everything was a flurry of sensation.

“Someone’s calling me back! I have a call!”

Xavi snapped back to himself and huddled around whoever this was that offered a possible way out. They call cluttered around, trying to see the phone and listen. The man holding the phone was shaking, holding the phone aloft and unanswered as it rang. A cheery tune played as the caller ID displayed the caller:

April - SCI 202

Nobody moved. The phone still rang, a pleasant pop melody echoing up and out of the jar. He dropped the phone in disbelief, it clattered to the glass with a crack. It kept ringing, a web of cracks emanating from a corner of the screen. The ringing stopped and exacerbated tears and panicked words came from everyone all at once. Some had plans for escape and threw themselves at the thick glass. Others simply wept. Others screamed for help. Xavi stared at the phone, beside himself that such a thing was even possible. Then the phone began to ring again.

The jar fell silent once more. The collective dread of what was on the other end of that line was too thick for anyone to move. Their fears were confirmed by the owner of the phone by simply shaking his head, mouth agape.

“Answer it.” Xavi blurted.

Still, nobody moved. Xavi thought of the woman he knew from class, trying to reach them. Surely they should answer? He walked over through the din of the ringtone and picked up the phone, opened it, and held it in his palm.

“He- Hello…?”

“Pleas-” April’s voice was timid and distorted, then it was interrupted by static.

“April! Are you? Did…” Xavi couldn’t decide what to say.

“Please.. Help.” More static, this time April was coughing.

The people in the jar just stood there. Xavi shook his head. He was expecting this to all be some kind of joke. An illusion. A dream. This shouldn’t be possible. Her voice came through again, talking through that strange static. Xavi’s blood froze when he realized it wasn’t static but the dull sloshing of a stomach.

“I.. I can’t feel my legs! It’s so.. Please, can you hear me? Please…”

“We can hear you, April. Can you… Can you try to..” Xavi couldn’t think straight. He felt as if acid and death were about to pour through the speaker. April simply began to sob, before her voice suddenly pitched up in a pained scream. Xavi jumped, as the phone blared noises from his wildest nightmares.

“Oh go- AAAH! It hurts so much! FUU- AAHH! I’m not food! I’m noAAAA! I’m not fuuUHH.. I’m-”

The line clicked, and an automated voice intoned:

“We’re sorry, but you’ve used all your prepaid minutes. Please contact customer support”

The robotic voice repeated the message over and over, Xavi was positively vibrating with fright as he closed the phone and curled up on the cold glass. The group sat in silence again, some pacing in a tight circle around those too weak to stand. The man with the phone dialed the customer support line and was informed of a three-hour wait. He set the phone down next to him and waited.

Xavi cried for what felt like hours before the door reopened and the familiar face of the terrible woman roused them all to attention. They watched her enter, nonchalantly withdraw another jar, and take a step to leave. She stopped and turned back to Xavi’s jar once again.

“I’m surprised they haven't grabbed you yet. Must be a slow night.” She approached the jar again, “How about one for the road? Your friend could use some company.”

Her hands were lighting quick, the jar filled with screams and fingers as the woman selected another snack. There was nowhere to run, people collided with each other as the woman lazily swayed her hand in the jar. Xavi couldn’t move, the only one who didn’t flee. He was grabbed by his midsection, and he didn’t even react.

As he was removed from the jar he was greeted with fresh air and pleasant scents. He tried to wipe tears from his face, but they kept coming. He smiled despite it all, knowing it would soon be over at least.

“What’s the matter? Miss your friend?” The woman pouted derisively, “I’ll help.”

“Her name was April.” Xavi managed to speak.

The woman was about to reply before a rumbling emerged from the back of her throat and a burp escaped her lips. Soft and short, she blew the meaty air into Xavi.

“Well, April says she missed you too.”

She tore at Xavi’s clothes, pulling everything off as she walked away. Xavi was completely naked in an instant, his limbs painful from having things ripped off of them. Xavi shook and sobbed, his skin slick with her sweet breath mixed with what he imagined were pieces of April. He spasmed and heaved, though nothing came out. His body was quivering with disgust and anguish.

The woman pushed the door open and nonchalantly opened her mouth, giving Xavi a view of April’s last memory. Things moved in slow motion. Saliva trickled across pearly teeth. The back of her throat quivered gently. Hot breath coated his skin and dampened his hair. A sticky strand of it ran the length of her mouth from top incisor to bottom. Xavi was pressed into the strand and into her maw. He turned to get one final look at the outside world before entering her body.

Another woman’s face, angry and stern, filled his view. A chef. Her face was framed by teeth as he looked outwards from inside the awful mouth. Miraculously, his descent into hell was halted.

“We pay you to catch them, not eat them.” Said the stern Chef.

Xavi looked in disbelief as the throat that claimed April receded, uttering a bone-shaking “Awwwwwwwww” in defeat as he was saved from certain digestion.

“Put 'em back, now.” The stern Chef said.

“Fine, yeah. Sorry.” The woman dropped him gently into a different container nearby, with dozens of naked squirming bodies. Xavi tried to steady himself but was swept away by the pushing and pulling of a panicked crowd. They were all talking, but it sounded like gibberish. Xavi just did his best to stay upright, before another Chef appeared. He and a handful of others were scooped up into a separate container, tumbling over each other. A glass bowl, which was placed on a tray with a separate bowl. Xavi squinted to see three of his classmates in the opposite bowl, as the strange foreign descaled people seemed to fight amongst themselves.

~

Xavi had thought he knew horror, and was even ready to die in the same stomach as April. Until he saw the woman in red. One by one, fingers entered his bowl and withdrew a screaming individual. The others, yelling in a strange language, tried to stop them but each one was taken away into someone’s mouth. Gulp after gulp, chew after chew, the residents of the bowl were turned into pulp. The awful woman in red leaned over, slurping limbs inside her mouth and chewing. Blood trickled down her lip and fell. The droplet from her morsel landed square on Xavi’s shoulder, and then he thought he really knew horror.

Until he saw the woman in red torture that man, burning him and then filming his gruesome death. Popped like a grape under the woman in black, he could see the likes and comments on the woman in red’s phone as she laughed. The woman in red shoveled more people into her mouth, their numbers dwindling as she converted them. Her stomach nearby was the next container, hopefully, the last. Then she took Mehmet, another guy from class. She seemed at first to give him mercy, only to stuff him inside herself like a sex toy. This woman was filling her entire body with death and suffering. He thought then that he had truly understood the depths of human horror.

Until he was chosen. Fingers clasped around him and two others. He was raised up to her beautiful face, too pretty to be doing these things. Yet her mouth opened, saliva tinged red with slaughter. Pools of people turned to a slurry for some sick hunger still fresh and warm. Their executioner deftly rotated them, just enough for one to get sucked into the meat grinder. Xavi looked into the eyes of his captor to find some shred of humanity, but the woman in red was looking at her phone. Screaming emanated from her mouth as a man was pulverized, he was still alive when the jaws opened again and a woman was shoved inside. She shrieked in her foreign language and tried to hold the man already half-eaten.

“Please please please please!”

His cries were ignored, as the woman in red closed her mouth and swallowed. She opened it again, only to reveal the two were still inside. She had merely taken their blood and limbs, but she wasn’t through. Xavi looked at the phone, popping away with notifications. The woman scrolled through, occasionally liking an image. Xavi couldn't process the images, they were all red and terrible. The screams increased inside her as she moved her fingers, ready to deposit him into his death. The lips parted.

The woman inside lay on the tongue, her leg bitten clean off and laying further back towards the throat. The man was in two pieces, one half on either side. The pieces were tucked away in the cheeks. Xavi was placed just inside, and the woman instantly began to chew. He was easily caught in a blizzard of gore as the still-living woman was chewed along with the man she tried to save. Xavi screamed, pushing through bits and pieces of people to get out. He found a tooth and waited for the chewing to abate. He felt a shudder as the throat again accepted more of them into the body of this terrible woman. The foreign woman was still screaming, and Xavi took this moment to thrust himself out. He escaped into the fresh air, only briefly. He looked beyond the phone to the woman in black and thought for a moment that he recognized her.

He was sucked back in, back to the cacophony of screaming blood. The jaws began to chew in earnest, and Xavi found himself colliding with the ever-screaming woman. With another terrible squelch, the screaming stopped. She was finally put out of her misery. Xavi knew he was next on the chopping block, and tried to stand up but slipped on the blood-slicked tongue. This was it. He was glad to die now in the jaws, rather than suffer the consequence of being swallowed whole and alive. He hoped April wasn’t still alive.

The pressure in the mouth changed, gravity switched directions suddenly and for a moment Xavi felt as if he was swallowed alive after all. He fell downwards in a torrent of blood and viscera until he saw light, and looked in horror to find the various pieces of the other two strangers that had been alive just moments ago. A shredded arm, pieces of skin and hair, white bones sticking out. He screamed then and finally understood true horror.