"Hey beautiful."  I called out to the young woman as she passed by us.   Joe made kissing motions with his lips at her while Eric stood on the other side of us, doing his best to look cool.   I knew I was kind of being a jerk but it was one of the various means I used to keep my status as the unofficial leader of our little group.  I wasn't as athletic as Eric or the natural goofball that Joe was but I tended to take the lead and they followed.  It was just a natural thing.

As for the woman in question she rolled her eyes at us.  I didn't take offense.  This was a common reaction.  Although I was being honest.  She really was pretty.  She stood about five and a half feet give or take an inch.   Long straight dark black hair cascaded down her shoulders and over the strap of her blue denim purse that was hooked over her right shoulder.  Brown eyes looked upon me with annoyance framed by an olive skinned face.   Her lips turned downwards in a frown revealing carefully applied red lipstick.  If I had to guess her age I'd assume middle twenties unless she told me otherwise.   Her outfit was a simple black tank top and matching short shorts with thin soled sandles with a single strap.  

"Don't you boys have something better to do than harrassing people?"  Her tart tone was a warning.  Not that I'd heed it of course.  Especially not when I heard Joe's snicker from behind me.  Appearances needed to be maintained.  

"Aww.  Come on.  Don't be like that."  I walked up to her and gave her what I considered my most charming smile.  "How about you join us for lunch.   Look at that outfit.  You know you want guys to hit on you.  We're just giving you what you want."  I reached out and put my arm on her shoulder, continuing to smile widely.

"Assholes."   She practically hissed the word as she stepped back from me.  Her hand reached down into her purse and came out holding some strange metalic device.  She pushed something on it and there was a bright blue flash followed by a wave of dizziness.  The ground felt like it was shaking although I assumed that was from whatever she'd just used.  Some sort of taser maybe?  Although shouldn't that have caused pain, not this nausea?  The dizziness got worse and as I fell into unconsciousness I heard her voice, sounding like it was far above me, rumbling like thunder in the sky.  "Fucking pests.  You're no better than flies or ants."  

Some time later I woke up.  My head was pounding.   What had happened?   Focusing was hard at first but my brain cleared up pretty quickly.  That girl.  She'd tasered me or something.  Looking around I saw Eric and Joe, both still unconscious.  Going over to them I shook them both, gently but constantly until muttered grumbles informed me they were alright and waking up.  

Knowing they were safe now, I turned my attention to the world around me.  Which brought up the question of where I was.  I seemed to be in a large circular enclosure with white walls that rose high into the sky above me.  They almost seemed to be made of a porcelain type substance.  Even weirder was looking up into the sky and realizing that some sort of glass dome seemed to cover us.  "Guys?  Do you have any idea about this?"  I turned back to Eric and Joe as I asked this.  I had to admit the whole thing was surreal.  

"No fucking idea.  But it looks like there's a way out over there."  Eric pointed to the other side of the room, where there seemed to be a tube shaped hallway heading into another location.   Not really having any better idea the three of us went through the strange hallway.  Which got even stranger as it seemed like we were walking through a clear tube made out of some sort of plastic.  Looking down under the tube I could see we were crossing over some sort of brown wooden terrain.  I didn't really get the need for the tube.  We could've just walked.  Looking out one way I could see a wall rising in the distance, it seemed to be made of the same wood that was below our tube.  Looking the other way I saw what looked like a large black building that blocked my ability to see beyond it.  Strangely it seemed to have a massive wire or something coming out of it and connecting to something outside our line of sight.  

Reaching the end of the strange tunnel we walked into yet another weird location.  Extending in all directions was a world of sand.  The only thing breaking the monotony of sand were what looked like a massive tree that had fallen over and had long since died based on its lack of leaves.  Trudging through the sand I noticed there seemed to be a large white pool, almost like an oasis adjacent to the fallen tree.  And what a tree it was.  I think it was longer than my house.  The white pool was likewise weird.  It rose slightly out of the sand.  Reaching in I took a small taste and realized it was water.  I could almost see the bottom of the pool and suspected if I climbed in it it' would probably only go up to my waste.  On the other hand  what it lacked in depth it more than made up for in it's diameter.  It was almost a small lake in that way.  

Joe and Eric seemed to be as weirded out by this as I was.  Eric especially seemed to be on the edge of breaking down.  I mean, where were we?  What was this place?  Continuing to lead them I went what seemed to be the edge of the desert, opposite of where we entered from.  It seemed to have a wall made of glass that rose up into a ceiling made of the same material.  Outside the glass I could see a black structure rising high above, thinner but taller than the black building I'd seen from the tunnel.  Like the other building this one also seemed to have some sort of massive electrical cord coming from it, even thicker than the one from the earlier building.  

I started to turn towards one of the directions we hadn't explored yet when suddenly the ground started shaking violently.  Earthquake!  I fell to my knees in the sand and from the grunts near me could tell that the others had failed to keep their balance as well.  The ground jolted sideways sending me rolling again before the movement finally stopped.  Standing up I realized that there were large lines of shade crossing over the desert now.  Plenty of light still leaked through and the shade didn't cover the whole desert.  Looking up I saw...well I don't know how to describe it.  It was a massive object.  A light shade of brown that seemed to be wrapping itself over the strange world my friends and I were in.  Even freakier was the fact it seemed to be alive.  I could see it moving and looking around I realized that there were five of these  strange things, all seeming to press against the glass walls as if they wanted inside.  Despite having never seen anything like it before they seemed strangely familiar.  I looked to figure out where they were coming from and noticed they all seemed to meet in a large fleshy object that was pushing against the side of the enclosure.  

My eyes widened in shock as I finally comprehended what I was looking at.  I was about to warn Eric and Joe when a voice came down upon us.  Like the voice of a god.  Or in this case a goddess.  A bubbly voice.  That pronounced our doom.  "Looks like our lunch date is canceled.  But I figured we should all make the best a bad situation right?  You get what you wanted.  Namely to be around a beautiful woman.  I get some new ants for the farm.  I've been meaning to get some more since the last ones died."  

I looked up as the hand, and yes, that was what I was looking at.  A hand the size of a city block which lifted up off the enclosure revealing an impossibly huge face which was smiling down upon us.  A bright smile revealing perfect white teeth,  each over twice as tall as I was.  Familiar red lips I'd last seen frowning at me.  "Oh, I guess I should introduce myself.  Not that you'll actually get to talk to me of course.  I mean, I couldn't understand you guys even I put you in my ear.  Not that I'd do something as disgusting as put ants my ears.  Still it's polite.  I'm Eileen.  Welcome to your new home."