What can I say, people are addictive.

I don't know what's changed exactly since this all began, but my opinion on the matter reversed dramatically. It was a sensation almost like getting drunk: a good feeling when I ate one, a phenomenal one when I ate a lot. Each extra person makes me so excited, so happy. The screams were all but silenced to me now, the lives ended were but an aftertaste.

And that makes me sound horrible, I know, but I got over that. Dustin tried to dissuade me and show me other 'choices', but he was just in denial. I don't blame him, either. He's so tiny he can't help but be afraid of me, especially after he ended up in my mouth for a while. I never did apologize for that little mistake, even though I meant to. All I wanted to do was bite off their chain while the man who attacked Dustin was in my mouth and eat him then and there, but that shot to the eye threw everything off. There was a strange sense of satisfaction in eating people I had particular qualms with. Revenge is a dish best served live and squirming. It's something no one in this world will ever appreciate as I do, when I effortlessly munch on those who cross me, sensuated by the tickles of their laughably futile resistance.

Of course, random people taste just as good.

Sometimes I wish I could explain the situation to everyone I pick; and I'm not picky, I'll pick anyone. I'd be gentle but straightforward:

'I'm going to eat you, little person. It's really a shame you won't live through the experience, it's quite amazing. But don't feel bad about it. I just need to eat to survive, that's all this is, is survival, it's nothing personal. Sure, I've come to enjoy it, but that's just an adaptation to my horrible lifestyle. I'm not happy that I'm eating you necessarily, I'm more happy that I'm eating at all. I'm not some psycho murderer killing for the thrill, I'm just getting by with what I have and scraping what I can from that. And now I have you. Wrong place at the wrong time, I guess, so sorry about that. I really wish you didn't need to die for this to work, but that's not really my problem. Unfortunate, is all.'

I'm feeling it already, visualizing the imaginary person I'm lecturing to in my fingers, that person so very small. And I feel it again, I wanted to eat, and I wanted to eat people, because I was so hopelessly drawn to the taste. No, not the taste, it was really the whole experience. Taking a living thing and popping it into my mouth without a second thought... it was powerful. Power people would kill for, and I killed with it. It took me on such an emotional high I could forget myself.

'It won't hurt,' I'd tell them, wondering if it was a lie but not really caring, wanting to take that bite so very badly. Now I had given my reasons, I was ready to eat. In they went. They would thrash and fight, but it meant nothing. Maybe if I were feeling playful I'd tease them and savor them like hard candies; maybe I ought to try that. Suck every last bit of their life away, turning it into pure satisfaction. It's all mine, everything about them is mine. Complete and total domination. And it tastes so good.

I don't know how long I'd keep on with that. Just long enough, I'd suppose. I'd glance to the side and see crowds running for their lives, but after I'd felt one person inside of me, it couldn't be the last. So I'd finish them off, and chew them down as quickly as I could afford. Then more, there'd be more. They've done nothing to deserve this, part of me pleads. Neither did I. It's not my fault this happened to me. I'm a frog among flies, quoting a darker side of myself. I've evolved. Even if this was just for pleasure, for enjoyment -- which it's not -- there would be nothing they could do about it. Maybe people just aren't the dominant species anymore. Maybe I am. The food chain couldn't be locked in place, it had to change at some point. They'd have to learn to adapt to a life as potential prey, that was nature's way. That was fair.

How did I even come to this, eating people? I honestly can't remember, and now it's my exclusive dish. It wasn't too strange to be that way: I'm sure Dustin can't recall when he first had apple pie and he scarves that down like nobody's business. And Dustin... he's still with me. He still loves me, so I can't be the only one who knows this is simply what has to be done. He knows there's no other way. I have to eat, and people can be eaten. But not Dustin, I'll live to my promise and never hurt him. That I would never forgive myself for, but I'm so fucked up that maybe that didn't matter.

Maybe it's not too late, I hear in my head, the sensible side of me desperately trying to claw through and win the battle for my brain. Maybe we can stop all of this. Don't you see you're letting it win? The hunger, the urge to be a goddess, to be a monster... you're letting it win. Is this what you want?

I don't give a damn what you think. I've fought for so long to stay human, but it just doesn't work, because I'm not human anymore. I'm not a goddess yet, but I am a monster, that was merely fact. I had to accept that. If people had to accept their fate, so did I. If in the end, that made me a goddess, so be it. It could be interesting.

It was still late as I carried Dustin to a river, a new bridge. Hopefully I wouldn't have to break this one apart; I might hurt Dustin. I waded into the waters and set him down on the shore. With an almost lustful intention I watched all the people crossing it, conveniently getting out of their cars so I could skip the process of crunching the metal. It was kind of silly, honestly. Isn't the car faster? Some of them kept driving, but so many more thought they could outrun me, never mind outdrive me.

I remembered why I had come in the first place and addressed Dustin, kneeling down so he could hear me clearly.

"You can clean yourself with the water over here. If you don't feel comfortable undressing in front of me, I'll look away." I hardly noticed my own nakedness anymore. It just felt natural now.

I turned away as Dustin washed himself and was bored. Yeah, I was starting to like being a giantess, but it was always the same. I needed to mix things up a bit. With only a bit of force I tore down the side barriers of the bridge so I had a clear shot at its occupants. I lowered to my knees and held my head over it.

Bending my neck I stuck out my tongue, aiming it right on top of a frantic passerby, its weight nearly crushing him. How about that? I could almost kill people by licking them. He flailed wildly, but I was too much for him. I could taste him already, taste his every scream, his every struggle. He looked like a helpless, twitching bug.

I drew my tongue back in: he was stuck to it. My spit had trapped a man against his will, stolen his life away for me to enjoy. And I did. I savored him just like I had thought, and it was better than I could imagine. His not-so distant screams intensified, his desperate efforts thrilled me to my core. It excited me so much I had to stifle a giggle. Poor, poor little man.

I bit into him and officially kissed my sanity goodbye. It was a new era: the era of Goddess Jessica.

Moving on my knees with my head still lowered, I mischievously slurped people up like bobbed apples. Running, screaming bobbed apples. I was overcome with unbridled pleasure every time I felt someone new on my tongue, until I couldn't contain my laughter anymore. I experimented with how many people I could stick at once and found it to be around five. I got six once but he fell off as I brought them in, so I didn't count it. When my tongue had tired of being stuck out I toyed with taking people in my mouth, engulfing them with my lips and pulling my head back with their legs kicking out. They pounded onto my tongue and the back of my lips in the most fantastic way, and when I pursed my lips and sucked them in, the feeling of their legs being absorbed into me was brilliant. After that I snatched a car that drove by, thinking me distracted.

I spent a few minutes trying to pull them out. It was two young men and two young women, maybe coming from or going to a bar. I didn't care about that. My tongue and fingers were both too big to fit inside, so I put the whole car in my mouth. I pressed on it a bit with my tongue and cheeks, trying to break the car just enough, and then tossed it around my mouth. I felt the first one fall out, and then the second, and the third, but I couldn't for the life of me get the fourth. I pulled the car out gently, careful not to disturb my unwilling little friends, and examined it.

It was glistening with my saliva but I cleaned it with my finger and looked around. One of the women was there in the back, curled into a ball. It almost made me feel bad. With my front teeth I ripped off the front of the car and flicked it into the river. I stuck out my tongue and was reminded of the three people already on it, shaking the last passenger to join them. When I had them all I smashed them against the roof of my mouth, rewarding me with their taste. I couldn't compare it to ham anymore. It was something else entirely.

Something pinched my waist and I turned to the shore to see a little army, not unlike the one that chased me around before. But they weren't screwing with little old Jessica anymore, they were really playing with fire now.

"Ooh, I'm scared now," I found myself teasing them as I approached. "Do soldiers taste any better than civilians?" My hand was like a hurricane as it swept up the front line of men; who used rifles to fight me, anyway? Made it all the easier. "Let's find out," I whispered to them as I shoved them all inside. "Nope," I said with a muffled mouthful of men. "Just as good, though."

Those who remained in the battalion turned tail and fled back to the depths of the city as I finished off those brave and stupid who brought guns to a goddess fight. There was plenty more.

"Aww, don't leave just yet, I can't eat you all that fast!" I giggled. I hadn't really considered the full extent of my hysteria until I heard myself say that. "I'll have to resort to other measures to get rid of you." And with that I rose my foot from the water, checked to make sure I knew where they all were, and lowered it upon them.

It couldn't get all of them, but a sizable amount were squashed like insects; men, women, tanks, and cars alike. When I got so many in a single bound, I actually felt it for a brief moment. A small pop was all, the tiniest of explosions under the bare flesh of my foot. The explosion of vehicles and bodies. I pivoted my foot on the heel and turned it to smash everyone I had missed, and they felt the same. One strike felt particularly gooshy; it must have been exclusively a horde of people. My toes tingled as tiny blood was splashed under them, but it wasn't so enjoyable. Eating them was probably just more fun because I did it more often. Practicing squishing them would most likely heighten my enjoyment of it: after all, I'd need something to do between meals.

I decided to check up on Dustin before I got too carried away. He was back on the shore, evidently done cleaning. Maybe I had been busy longer than I thought.

"All cleaned up?" I asked him sweetly. He nodded in response. "Okay. Let's find a place to rest, I'm beat." That wasn't a lie; you could only have so much fun in one day. I placed him on my shoulder again, still marveling at how he found balance there, and wandered off towards the nearest open field, wherever that may be.

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What the fuck.

Why isn't he here? Screw that, why isn't she here?

I had specifically told him to try to do everything here, so that I could easily trace back to it. But lo and behold, I came back the next morning and they were both gone. Both of them. Did she take him on some giant date or something? They really were both kids, they thought this was a game. This was terrorism.

My phone rang; it could be one of three people: Carrie, Dustin, or the Commander. I really hoped it wasn't the latter, but it was.

"Hello?" I picked up, just in time to hear him explode on me.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! I THOUGHT WE WERE CONTAINING THIS ISSUE!?"

"As did I, sir, but..."

"SHE'S GONE LOOSE! SHE FLUSHED OUT AN ENTIRE BROOKLYN PRISON AND ATTACKED THE WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE! WE CAN'T EVEN KNOW HOW MANY MORE LIVES WERE LOST!"

"She's doing all this with him?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'WITH HIM'?!"

"Dustin's not here either..."

"WHAT?! THEY'RE BOTH GONE!?"

"I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, Commander, but don't act like this is my obligation. I did this on my behalf."

"IT BECAME YOUR OBLIGATION WHEN WE MADE A DEAL!"

"I'm not breaking our deal, I said I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. But I'm not the babysitter, that's supposed to be Dustin's job."

"THEN TELL THAT SORRY ASS TO DO THAT JOB, UNDERSTAND ME!?"

"Yes, sir," I said, hanging up. As much of an annoying prick he was, his words were serious. Jessica was loose, and Dustin might have been in on it. I went to call him... but was it the right time? Was he with Jessica? Would things go wrong if I called? Fuck it, she can't get me here, I'm calling him.

It rang once. Then it rang twice. Pick up, goddamn it. Third ring.

"Hello?" he came through in a quiet huff, interrupting his own message.

"Where the hell are you?"

"I gotta be quiet, Jessica's sleeping."

"Oh, don't be dramatic, just walk a few feet away from her and she won't hear you for crap."

"...alright, one second," he whispered.

"Your second's up," I replied, digging my palm into my eye as if I could wake up from this.

"Okay, I'm back," he said, his voice restored.

"Now where are you?"

 "I don't know, she took me to this forest or field or something to sleep. She had a nightmare last night and I tried to help her find other options for food... but she insisted on people."

"Jesus christ, Dustin, you're girlfriends' a sociopath."

"So she found a prison," he continued. "And she... ate everyone in it. Then she brought me to a river to clean me--"

"Why the hell would she do that?"

"Well, I... I was... in her mouth for a while."

"Did she try to getcha'?"

"No, it was an accident, but I was filthy so she brought me to a river to clean up, and while I did that she... found a bridge and... fucking... went to town, I mean I don't know what to say, she's gone completely bonkers, Micheal. I'm scared outta my fucking ass right now, you know that?"

"Welcome to the club, kiddo. You need to gimme some context on your surroundings so I can at least guess where you are."

"Well the bridge was a... a bluish color, I guess, and part of it was roofed but she just tore it off... and then... OH, there was a sugar place on the other end of it I think, like a, um, a, um, sugar factory."

"Domino?"

"Yeah, that's it!"

"Okay, but I already knew you were at the Williamsburg bridge. Are you nearby that?"

"Kinda, I guess. There's a... Kent street over there..."

"No, that's Kent Avenue, are you at Havemeyer park?"

"I guess so... how do you know all these things?"

"I'm a hunter, I gotta know my surroundings. In fact, I have my map with me, gimme a second." I held the phone between my head and shoulder and rummaged through my trunk.

"Make it quick, I don't know when she'll wake up."

"She had a helluva night, I'm sure."

"It was awful. You've never seen anything like it."

"Oh, haven't I?"

"This wasn't like before, this was... this was crazy, she's crazy!"

"I could have guessed that. Hunter's instinct. Let's see," I drifted off, looking at the map of the New York area. "Me and you are gonna make a plan right now, alright?"

"A plan? Of what?"

"I'm gonna find a nice open spot to blow her brains out, and you're gonna make sure she gets there."

"I don't know if I can do that!"

"Well it's either you do it or she eats the whole goddamn world so make a choice, sport. If she's as crazy as I know she is she'll kill me on the spot, so I'm not doing it."

"I don't know what happened to her... she was so... so nice before..."

"Was Melissa nicer?"

"Fuck you."

"Hey, if you're infidelity literally comes back to bite you, that's not my problem. It's not my problem until she gets my family. But I'll make sure that won't happen."

"How?"

"I'm sending her in the opposite direction. We need to get her back into the Hudson, but deeper East, towards the New Jersey border. Lots of open water fresh for the nuking."

"How do you expect me to get her all the way over there?"

"I dunno, we'll talk, this is just the planning stage of things. For now, try to keep her under control. If she has any more massacres they may not care for civilian casualties when they drop the bomb, and that means the two of us are toast. Count yourself lucky they haven't done that a long time ago."

"Fuck, why does this have to be me?"

"A lot's riding on ya kid. Don't screw up." And I hung up. I'm probably screwed, because what I said was true. And, as a sick little bonus, I had to call the Commander again.