"Melanie!" he wailed. He sounded like he was pleading.

            "Hi Roger," she said.

            "You remember me?"

            "Of course. We're friends. I hung out with you what, two months ago?"

            "Melanie! Don't eat me! Friends don't eat their friends."

            "I know that silly." She poked him in the belly with the pointer finger of her other hand. "That's why we're playing a game. I promise that if you don’t do well then I'll still let you live at the end of this game. Does that sound okay?" She smiled reassuringly at him.

            "Okay," he sounded both relived and scared. He was certainly shaking pretty hard.
            Melanie gently lowered him to the ground away from the rest of the group. Then she turned back to the group and slowly selected three new people. After assembling them in a row in front of her and Roger she started explaining the rules of the new game.

            "This is a trivia about the digestive system. Roger and I studied it together so we'll see how he does. For each of the three people I have lined up I will ask a question about the digestive system to Roger. If he gets it right, you get to survive the game. If he gets it wrong you get a better understanding of the digestive process." Her eyes moved hungrily over the line of people and each one of them saw the longing in her eyes to devour them. Each felt naked and exposed. There was nowhere to run and their deliverance was in the hands of a frightened young man.

            Just then David rounded the corner. "Ah, David," said Melanie. "Let’s make this even more interesting. Roger, you can have one life-line where you ask David for help with a question. He will answer you honestly. Just remember, he may not know the right answer! Now get ready. The first question is about the stomach. What is the type of acid in my stomach and what is its chemical abbreviation."

            She patted her belly and smiled broadly at the first man in line. He looked to be in his early twenties. His eyes met hers then took in her mouth and stomach. Roger started to shake. He couldn't remember what it was exactly but he remembered a rhyme in biology class about sulfuric acid being pretty darn acidic. Maybe that was it!

            "I... I..." said Roger uncertainly. "Sulfuric acid. Yes, sulfuric acid, um... H2SO4?"

            "Oh, sorry. The correct answer was Hydrochloric acid, the structure of which is HCl which this little guy is about to experience. Nice guess though." She picked up the man and, without the giant grin but with the merest hint of a smile playing upon her lips she stared at him for one second with her big green eyes as if to get the message across that whatever and whoever he was; now he was her food and nothing more.

            She tossed him up in the air, leaned her head back and opened wide. They all watched as the man reached the arch of his flight, then, screaming and flailing he fell into Melanie's awaiting mouth. She snapped her jaws shut immediately. The group watched as she turned back to them. She was moving the poor man about her mouth behind closed lips as she looked at the group. In her mind she imagined how each of them would taste and feel as they struggled to escape a mouth in which they would be caught. This thinking along with the combination of the struggling man screaming her name within her mouth caused a gush of saliva that coated the man thoroughly.

            She manipulated him towards her throat and despite the struggles of the man, swallowed him easily, she felt him slid down her esophagus, his progress more noticeable since she was lying on her side and he moved down into her belly like a man going down a dark waterslide rather than someone falling into a pit. That Melanie enjoyed the sensation was obvious to everyone apparent. Each was thinking the same thing; "that's all I am. A delicious feeling for a young woman before she digests me."

            Roger was visibly shaking, knowing he was at fault for the man who, he knew, would live for some time in Melanie before he was digested owing to the slow digestion spell she had placed over all of them. "Mmm. I can’t wait for another. Roger, don't disappoint me," she said.

            Roger met the gaze of the man next in line to be eaten. He was strong looking and didn't seem afraid.

            Roger couldn't hold the gaze and looked back down at his shoes, knowing if he didn’t get the next question that two people would be eaten because of him."Now then," purred Melanie, her eyes on Roger who wearily raised his eyes to her like her look might kill him. Why did she have to be so beautiful? She would be easy to hate if she didn’t make you want to be her food at times. Make you glad you were her food!

            "Tell me, what is the name for food that has been broken down in the stomach and has entered the intestine?"

            "Oh, Hell! I know this. Crap, err, uh," sputtered Roger, raking his brain. "Time, dime, lime, slime, uh. No wait!" Melanie had reached for the next man and her fingers were dangerously close to his torso.

            "I can't wait forever Roger. Besides I quizzed you on this like a billion times."

            "Just, just gimme a second to think okay? I'm nervous." He tried harder to remember. He was breathing heavy, like he had run a marathon and sweat was beating up on his brow.

            "Times up Roger, what’s you answer?"

            "Crime? Ka- Ka- Clime?"

            "I think what you were trying to say was chime, which is what you are about to become," she said as she lifted the man to her mouth and popped him inside. With a toss of her head she tilted her head back exposing her throat to everyone's view. They all watched the bulge move down her throat. "Now then, time for the final round," Melanie said, smacking her lips and looking eagerly at the woman who was the only un-eaten person left of the three she had selected. "The final question is, how long does it take food to complete the digestive process?"

            For once, Roger was pretty sure of the answer but turned to David and asked his advice anyway. What he said only supported Roger's reasoning. "Twenty-four hours," said Roger.

            "Correct," said Melanie. She gave them all a smile and passed a quick wink off to Roger who suddenly felt weak at the knees, partly that he had at least spared one person being devoured for a moment, partly because Melanie was that hot. She could really leave a guy gasping for air.

            "Now then," said Melanie, getting into a kneeling position and leaning down at the group underneath her. "We have a final test. The winner of this test will get to survive. The event is; a race! Does everyone like to run?"

            One pudgy guy raised a hand and asserted that he didn't like running. "That's okay." said Melanie. "I thought of that. See, if you lose the race then I'm gunna eat ya. Once I digest you, you'll probably become a part of me. Then, since you'll be a part of me, you'll like running because I like running. If you win the race you probably already like running. So really, everyone here likes running or will like it soon. Any other questions?" When no one said anything she continued.

            "You'll all run from one end of the room to the other. The first person to get there doesn't become a snack." Melanie stood up and turned her back to them, walking near to the end of the room and standing in something of a Colossus of Rhodes fashion. "You must run between my feet and touch the wall. I'll be watching closely for the winner. Remember, don't trip your opponents. David will be watching and inform me of any foul play. If you cheat, I eat!" 

            Everyone had the same petrified look on their faces. They all knew that everyone they were looking at would soon be behind the firm abdomen of their giantess captor."Get ready! One... Two... Three... GO!" shouted Melanie. They took off.

            Some people ran all out at first and lost their wind before getting even halfway across the room. Others knew how to pace themselves to run the long expanse separating them from the far wall. A few were good runners and could set a good pace. The race itself lasted about a minute and a half. Two contestants were close but one slapped the wall ahead of the first, the clear winner. 

            Melanie swooped down and picked him up. At first he thought she was going to eat him anyway but she simply smiled. "Congratulations. You have won and thus taken yourself off the menu. If you don’t mind I just might get on with my dinner." She placed him upon her bed and then grabbed a person at random who was still running towards the far wall. With a flick of her wrist she tossed him into her mouth and swallowed him whole. Picking up David she placed him next to the winner. She winked at him. David took this to mean that she had no intention of letting the champ live for too long.

            Instead of inform the panting man next to him of this, David simply sat back and watched Melanie as she picked up a man here or there and swallowed them whole. "She's quite the gal, isn't she?" said the man next to David.

            "Yes." agreed David.

            "I wouldn't admit it but I almost don't mind such a fate," the man added.

            "No. It's a great way to go." David agreed as she swallowed another man with a look of pure enjoyment at the two men on the bed. She shook her hips for a few seconds, trying to excite the people within her belly. Then she caught another man before bringing him to her face, smiling and then swallowing him whole. They watched her throat bulge slightly as her esophagus muscles pushed him downwards.

            She yawned, stretched and burped long and loud. "My goodness, That was quite a meal! I believe it might have been one of the best.” She smiled at the two on the bed, and went to the bathroom. She quickly came out dressed in her pajamas, ready for bed.

            “Tomorrow will certainly be fun indeed!”

Chapter Five

            David awoke early the next morning, resting up against Melanie’s soft breast, her chest moving up and down slowly as she breathed, in a state of incredible peacefulness. David stretched, yawned, and sat up further. He looked up at Melanie’s jaw, and sighed at the sight of such beauty and perfection. He broke from the trance and looked for the champion, who had nestled himself on the pillow next to Melanie’s head, wrapped in her fine hair.

            David didn’t want to let everyone sleep in too late, but knew the champion had a long day the previous day. Yet, he still decided to wake Melanie. He began to walk up her chest, closer and closer to her neck he came. Crossing onto her bare and strong flesh, until passing her collar bone, and sinking in a step as her skin became more soft than stout. He walked carefully up her throat, being careful to move around her Adam’s apple, knowing any pressure on that would make her cough.

            Eventually, he made it to her chin, and started to climb up her jaw. Once up a foot or so, he pulled himself up onto her face, and stood on her chin. He didn’t notice her breathing had suddenly changed, and she smiled as he reached his destination. “Hiya David.”

            He was only half startled, expecting her to be asleep, but looking farther up, her eyes were partially opened, so she could see him slightly, and he waved towards her. “Is it time to get up already?” She asked in a whisper.