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

            He looked down at her throat. Good heavens! How wonderful a fate to be eaten by her! How many people had passed down that throat now? David almost tried to wiggle in that direction himself. After all, he had nothing to fear from her stomach acids. He only half did this though. He decided that it would be more polite to wait and see what Melanie did when him and ask later if he could have another trip down to her belly later, maybe after she digested her oatmeal.

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

            After a time, she extracted him from her mouth and set him back down next to their breakfast. “My, you’re yummy today. I would love to eat you right now but I think we’ll just have to save that until later. I have big plans for this morning and you play a pivotal part in them. Let me fill you in a bit.”  Then, taking some oatmeal and juice downstairs she returned and set them down before the doll house where people were already awake and looking out with nervous apprehension. 

            “Come out my little friends and have breakfast. There is nothing to fear. Yet.” She and David watched as a stream of people filtered out the door and, with many anxious glances at the giantess, they ate and drank their fill. Melanie’s mouth was turned up in a very small smile. The last man moved away from the plate, stood back and looked up at her, captivated in her stunning beauty and unbelievable size. 

            “We’re going to be playing a few games today,” said Melanie without preamble. “David and I have discussed the past two games that I challenged you with. He and I both agree that I was at a remarkable advantage. In the attempt to give you a fair chance of survival, I have devised a series of different tasks. You will choose to participate in only one of the tasks set for you at a time. Some will require athletics where you will compete against each other. Some will be more oriented towards resourcefulness, knowledge or just plain luck. Those of you that pass your tests will be rewarded with another day of life. Some of you will fail and end up in here,” she patted her bare tummy as a shiver ran through the crowd below her.

            “It will take a little while to prepare for the games. You can go back into the house and try and decide in which event you wish to participate.”

            Together she and David set up the day’s activities. Only one took much time at all. Finally, everything was accounted for. Melanie went back out and addressed her captives. “I will be going for a brief run now. When I get back, I will shower. See you in a bit.”

            With that she changed (out of site of any tiny, prying eyes) and left for her run. It was a beautiful day. Birds were chirping, the wind was blowing lightly and coolly, rustling the trees. While jogging down a nearby forest path, she remembered breakfast and the taste of David on her tongue. She was excited just thinking about it. He might just wind up in her stomach by the end of the day. She wondered if she could restrain herself while following through with her entertainment today.

            Well, there would be lots of delicious people waiting for her when she got back. She thought of all the little people she had devoured over the past few days. My how she had swallowed them down. Some had been so terrified, the poor dears. Others had looked like they thought they were in heaven.

            Well, maybe they were all in heaven now. She smiled a private smile when she thought of them, distributed throughout her body as she ran along the path. It certainly was satisfying to think that they were now a part of her.

            Melanie returned after a four mile run. She quickly showered and changed back into her original outfit of pink shorts and cutoff shirt. She didn’t bother with socks or shoes again. 

            “Now everyone,” she said to those gathered around. “I am planning on dividing you up so anyone who plans on doing a physical challenge come stand here, a mental challenge here, a game of resourcefulness and luck here.” Everyone divided themselves accordingly. 

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

            “Gentlemen, here is the game; tug-of-war. Not incredibly creative I grant you but I am sure that it will feel livelier once you start. Now then, each of you grab the rope. You know how the game is played. If you fall over the desk top, I will be sure to catch you.” She winked and positioned herself under the rope now suspended between the two men.

            “Ready? GO!” said Melanie. 

            Instantly the two men started pulling. One man was jerked off his feet at once. He struggled for traction as the other man dragged him by way of the rope towards the edge of the desk. The man who was being dragged put one hand out, the other still clinging to the rope. He managed to slow himself but did not stop. He was halfway over the precipice when he let go of the rope. The man on the opposite side stumbled and fell on his face at the sudden loss of weight on the rope. 

            “I didn’t get pulled over!” said the man who had been dragged to the edge.

            "No but you did let go of the rope right before you were pulled over,” said Melanie. “It’s the same as a loss I’m afraid. That means only one thing.” With that she picked up the man and after holding him to her face, while the man took in her stunning facial beauty, she opened her mouth wide and forced the man, screaming, into her mouth. Then she took a breath and swallowed loudly. Everyone watched as her belly growled and she licked her lips. 

            “Well, congratulations on winning,” she said to the one man who had survived the tug of war. “You’re safe for the rest of the day.” The man shook with nervous energy and excess adrenalin in the blood. He had been terrified.

              “Now I think it’s time for some skull sweating.” Melanie selected one of the men who had gone over to the intellectual group and placed him before David.

            “Dear old David has agreed to ask us questions. Get three right and you go free for the day. If I get three correct you end up here, with the last one.” She put her belly into view and patted it, where she could feel light struggling from within. “David hurry up and ask the questions!” said Melanie. “I’m hungry and my lunch feels lonely. Her eyes wandered over to the man before David and rested upon him. The man began to shake. 

            “Okay guys,” said David. “What was the name of Hitler’s last major counteroffensive in World War II?”

            “The Battle of the Bulge!” screamed the tiny man. “The Battle of the Bulge! I’m sure of it!”

            “Correct,” said David.

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

            “Who was the general that was called the ‘Shield of Rome’ against Hannibal’s army in the Second Punic War?” asked David.

            “Fabius Maximus!” said the man after a quick internal struggle.

            “Right again,” said David. The man wondered if he could really pull it off; if he could really avoid being eaten by Melanie.

            “Now what was the name of the author who was best known for coming up with the characters Birdie Wooster and his manservant Jeeves?”

            “P.G. Woodhouse,” said Melanie quickly. “I love those books. They are so funny!”

            “Exactly Right,” said David.

            “Damn,” thought the man playing for his life. He hoped for another easy question.

            “What is an object that DNA coils around to condense itself?”

            “A Histone!” said Melanie, clapping her hands together with glee.

            “Good,” said David.

            "Oh sure,” thought the man. “Good for her!”

            “Now for the tiebreaker; at what speed will a solid object accelerate when dropped from any height?”

            Melanie looked baffled. “Nine point nine meters per second per second!” shouted the man.

            “Close enough,” said David. “Actually it’s nine point eight but I’ll give it to you anyway. Congratulations, you’ve won!”

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

            “Aw poo, here I thought I was going to win that one. Oh well,” Melanie gathered up several people who had taken the last option. 

            “I built a maze in the middle of my room. It should be an awful amount of fun. I am sure you all will like it. As long as you’re not the last one out or stuck in the maze indefinitely, I won’t eat you. There are several obstacles in the maze. You might need either, acrobatics or resourcefulness to pass them. If you are completely stymied don’t worry. I will be sure to come and rescue you at the end.” 

            The poor people in her hand knew what she meant by rescue. “Now you’ll go through all at the same time while dear David and I watch you. Everyone will have different starting points, and there is one exit, none closer than another. The last one out loses.”

            She sat everyone down at different holes in the maze, all on the same side. Then she sat down behind a man that was about her age. She looked at him and licked her lips. He shuddered, “Ready? Go!”

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

            Splash!

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

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

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

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

            “Thanks for saving my ass, man!”

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

            "If you say so.”

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

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