From there it looked as though their new challenge would be to balance on another pencil set over a pit. There was nothing dangerous at the bottom of this pit (which was really just a small cardboard box) but there was no escape from it once one fell in. After rechecking the rope that he had just climbed, Juan Carlos realized it would be impossible to undo the knot tying it to the pencil behind them. They would have to face crossing the pit without the help or security of a rope.
Juan spread his arms wide to help the balance and began to walk, his eyes on the far side of the pencil. He arrived on the other side a moment later and then waited for his companion to reach him. That man took more time and almost fell. He was reduced to sliding himself across while lying on the pencil which took up time.
“Come on man. We must hurry if we are to beat the others!” Finally he made it. They slid down another rope on the other side of the box and ran to the end of the maze.
“Ah, there you are,” said Melanie as they emerged from the maze together. “We were all so worried, weren’t we?” she eyed the other three maze competitors. They all agreed.
“It looks like we don’t have a clear person who came in last. Three are already here and one is stuck in the maze. I guess you two,” here she gestured at Juan and his buddy, “are tied for the ones in last place, since if you get stuck you automatically lose. I guess that means I will just have to eat you both! Don’t look so scared. I’ll eat the guy in the maze first.”
She leaned over them and they got a good look at her cleavage as she did so. Her hand plunged into the depths of the maze and withdrew a struggling, helpless man.
She smiled at him, popped him into her mouth, and swallowed.
The man she had rescued fell with the compulsion of the muscles behind him. Melanie had eaten him like she had eaten so many others. He was pushed down her esophagus and into her belly. He splashed into her stomach juices and flailed around. He was helpless and it was an impossible feeling to deal with while he waited for his end. He began to scream in the shear frustration of it. He was quickly joined by another voice in the near darkness.
Muffled screams of terror or agony, no one was sure which, emanated from the depths of the giantess. Everyone who had just completed the maze heard them as did Melanie. The shrieks for her of course were emphasized by the struggling coming from within. It was dreadfully gratifying knowing he was within her. Everyone staring up at Melanie felt a wave of fear sweep over them but none more so than Juan and his friend as Melanie’s gaze fell upon them.
“My stomach seems to amplify his voice,” she said. “I guess I will see if my belly has the same affect on your voices.”
Melanie looked down at Juan and his companion; they both cringed at the sight of her huge emerald eyes looking upon them, she smiles and reaches out for them. Juan’s companion turned to run, and all eyes were on him, as he didn’t even get his foot off the ground before he was thrust into Melanie’s hungry mouth and swallowed.
“See, running isn’t intelligent, it won’t get you anywhere.” She said maniacally, as her stomach agreed in its own roar of a language.
As Melanie reached for Juan, he yelled and cowered. Her hand grasped him and he shouted: “Please! Don’t do this!”
Melanie brought him to her face, “Why?”
“Because, I’m an intelligent being! Not just food!”
“Hmm… How old am I” Melanie asked,
“… Uhh, seventeen?”
“Nope, not as intelligent as you think.” With that, she tilted her head back and threw him into her mouth, quickly swallowing him. David watched in awe as the sudden bulge that formed at the top her Melanie’s throat sped down her neck, and as soon as it had appeared, it was gone. He stomach growled again, and Melanie petted it.
“Oh, that was fun. What say you my friends, ready for another go?” She herded everyone who had survived away from the competitors, and onto her bed for their own amusement while she gathered herself near the new competitors.
“So, ready for the second round?! Let’s have a gander at another game of physical strength. I have in my room over there a small pillar, and attached is two ropes, mounted with small pulleys. It’s similar to Tug of War in the sense you pull on a rope to claim victory. The first person to tip the pillar onto the opposite side wins!”
With that, Melanie grabbed two young men, possibly a tad bit younger than herself, and they yelped with fright. One of them was absolutely amazed at the giantess and her stunning beauty, while the other one was fighting for all his worth. When Melanie arrived at her destination, she dropped the boys into two separate bowls, too steep to climb out of, but slant enough to see a tall slender pillar in the middle, which looked like a flashlight.
Hanging in each bowl was a small rope, possibly floss. Melanie instructed them both to grab onto it, and so they did for they could do nothing else.
“You two ready? When I say Go again, you should pull with all your strength. The winner tips the pillar first, if it starts tipping in your direction you’re losing! Ready? GO!”
With that, both boys started pulling on their rope. It seemed almost as if nothing was happening, but then something did, the flashlight started moving, and it did so in a very slow motion. It must have been rather heavy, especially with both of them pulling down on it.
Eventually, with much enthusiasm Melanie saw the flashlight start to sway, more and more. It would almost tip over one way, and then it would start tipping the other way, and back again. It was an exciting battle, both boys were sweating and it was possibly their hardest workout in their life. Eventually, the light fell over, and slammed into the bowl containing the older of the two boys. Soon as it did, both boys fell, the older backwards and the younger forwards.
“NO!!!!” Screamed the older boy, as he looked up into Melanie’s unforgiving face.
“I’m sorry, but it looks like you have lost kid,” She raised her tanned arm and took hold of him and brought him up to her lips where she licked him. She then pushed him into her mouth, kicking and screaming as he was. She let go of him and let her lips guide him the rest of the way in. She tilted her head back, and he was still flailing half out of her mouth when she started gulping. With each gulp he got sucked further and further into her mouth until he finally went down her throat in a larger lump than the last.
“Oh, he was good.” She said smiling. She sighed and looked at the boy who won. He was panting, but he still couldn’t help but be paralyzed when she looked at him. She smiled again and picked him up gently and placed him with the others. “You did a fine job.”
And again, she moved over to the few remaining competitors, “Looks like there aren’t many left, and I only really want one more. So! I shall do one last game, a mind game, with two of you. It will be a team game, and if you both win, you both get to live. But if I win,” She opened her mouth and pointed in. “Pretty self explanatory. So, let’s get the next two competitors.”
She picked up two girls and placed them on a box, and she sat behind it. She then placed David on the bed so he could ask those questions. David had prepared a little note card, which he then looked at, being the size of his head, he placed it on the ground and read from there, making sure none could see the writing on it.
“Well okay then, let’s have a go at this then. There are different categories you each can choose from. You will pick a category, and a point value, then I will ask the corresponding question and if you answer correctly you get the points, if not then the other gets the question and can get the points. Here we go,”
David pointed to the two on the box, “You first, choose a category. The categories are: Recent History, Mathematics, Astronomy, and Ancient history. Remember, first one to ten points wins.”
The two girls appeared to be friends with one another, and talked fiercely for a few seconds before choosing. They were dressed in good looking clothing David thought, and they didn’t look that bad either. Perhaps he had seen them before at school, maybe as Juniors.
One of them looked up and addressed herself as Jane and the other as Samantha. “I would like the category of Astronomy please, what are our point values?”
David had forgotten to mention that, “Oh, you can choose between one, two, and three points. The more points its worth, the harder it is.”
“Right, we’ll take Astronomy for two points David.”
David quickly looked at his card and looked for the two point question, and read it as loud as he could. “The North Star at this point in time, is Polaris. In five thousand year’s time, what will be the name of the North Star.?”
Samantha quickly moved over to Jane and whispered in her ear; Jane stepped aside and let Samantha speak. “In five thousand years the star closest to True North will be Alpha Cephei.”
David looked at his card, “Correct, for two point. That puts Jane and Sam in the lead with two points up. You may go up to three times in a row before the board control switches. If you fail to answer a question correctly, it changes then. Alright, you may choose again.”
Samantha and Jane conversed again, and Jane spoke, “Alright, Astronomy for three points, since Samantha here is an Astronomy wiz,” Samantha smiled at that, and looked up towards David, who was reading his next question.
“Alright, who was the first person to discover the ‘Parallax,’ and prove the Earth orbits the sun, and not the other way around?”
Samantha looked dumbfounded, neither Jane nor she could answer, and after a short time, David had to ask Melanie. Melanie too, looked just a stumped as Samantha. David gave a sigh, and spoke again, “Hmm, I thought someone would know that. But since no one did, I will ask the one point question in place of the three points, and give no penalty to anyone. The answer was Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in 1838.”
David looked at his card again, choose the last Astronomy question, and read it aloud, “In Astronomy for one point. Why is Astronomy considered the ‘study of the past’?”
Samantha didn’t even talk with Jane, but said the answer right off, “Because light can only travel so fast, and by looking at other stars we are looking into the past.”
David then asked another question, “Could you give an example?”
“When we look at the sun, we are looking at what happened six minutes ago, instead of what is happening right now.”
“That works another point for Samantha and Jane. So that’s three up, against Melanie’s zero. You get one more question, since I threw out the third Astronomy question. The categories remaining are, Recent History, Mathematics, and Ancient history.”
Samantha looked at Jane, and Jane looked up at Melanie, who was looking at David at first, but then glanced down at them. She smiled and did a little wave, and Jane shuddered. All eyes were on Jane when she spoke the next subject. “Let’s go with Recent History please, for three points.”
David quickly followed his little chart over, and read the next question. “What year was this Amendment to the United Sates Constitution ratified by the state of Maine? ‘No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.’”
Jane perked up and spoke, “That was the 27th Amendment, and in 1983 I do believe.”
David looked surprised, “Correct. That’s three questions, and now its Melanie’s turn.”
Melanie smiled at David and chose her question, “I would like Mathematics for one point please.”
“Alright, in the Subject of Mathematics, what does the letter ‘i’ represent?”
Melanie put her head in her hand and thought hard. “Uhh… one?”
David shook his head, “Unfortunately, that is incorrect Melanie, and the question goes to the two on the box. Do you need the question repeated?”
Jane and Samantha shook their heads, and answered the question, “The letter ‘i’ represents an imaginary number, the square root of negative one.”
Melanie scowled at them, and David replied, “Correct, for one point. Sorry Melanie.”
“I’m not that smart, that should be a hard question!”
Jane and Samantha chuckled at this, and David then said, “Actually, its not that difficult, I’m sorry. Now, with that false start by Melanie, it goes back to Jane and Samantha for one more question.”
Jane picked Ancient History for three points, and David read off the next question.
“Alright, in the subject of Ancient History for three points, Ahmidas was a poor peasant in the country of Asia. Later in his life he tied his ox-cart to a post, using what style of knot?”
Jane right off told Samantha she had no clue, and Jane was the history expert of the team. Samantha thought for a second or two, and then they gave up. Melanie got the question, and answered almost immediately, “He used the Gordian Knot.”
“Correct, and that’s three points for Melanie. That leaves us with Melanie three, and Jane and Samantha six. So Melanie, what would the next question be?”