LOVELY LYDIA

Mandy’s fate should have been the first warning, in retrospect.

In the early hours of the morning of his 18th birthday, Josh was roused from slumber by the chiming of the doorbell downstairs and the usual thunder of his sister’s footsteps passing by in the hall and clomping down the steps. Josh simply turned over and bunched the bedsheets up around his ears to muffle the distant sounds of conversation. His eyes shot open at the sound of Mandy’s indignant shriek.

“Oh my God! Eww, get off me! Mom! Dad!”

Josh scrambled out of bed, tripping as the sheets twisted briefly around his ankle, and stumbled to the door. He rushed to the banister and leaned over the edge, staring down at the scene by the front door.

The visitor, it seemed, was Mr. Halbrook, the retired Marine who lived a couple of houses down. He stood with one foot halfway through the front door, as though he had simply leaned forward to claim what he’d come for. Which apparently was Mandy.

Josh’s eyes widened as his sister’s irritated squawking turned to frightened whimpers that were quickly muffled as her upper half was enveloped by the tight embrace of Mr. Halbrook’s slimy gullet. The man released his grip pinning the struggling girl’s arms to her sides as his throat took up the task of restraining her movements, instead resting his hands casually on her firm buttocks as her dangling legs kicked and flailed in the air above him.

The fabric of Mr. Halbrook’s olive-green polo shirt stretched taut across his expanding belly as Mandy descended into her final resting place. Josh watched, dumbfounded, as his sister’s legs disappeared rapidly into his neighbor’s gaping maw, each swallow dragging her further and further out of sight until…

*ULP!*

One last gulp and a satisfied smacking of lips and Mandy was gone.

“Oof, that sure hit the spot,” Mr. Halbrook sighed, rubbing his swollen stomach, chuckling as Mandy kicked out furiously against the tight confines of her prison. He paused a moment, thumping his chest and letting out a belch that echoed loudly in the otherwise silent house. He glanced up, smiling genially as he noticed Josh for the first time.

“Hey there, kiddo! Or now I suppose I should say young man, right?” He winked, absentmindedly scratching at his belly, ignoring the muffled pleas for help from within. “Just stopped by to wish you a happy birthday. Seems like just yesterday you and your sister were just knee-high, running all up and down this street without a care in the world.” He grinned and gave a two-fingered salute, taking a step backwards as he took hold of the door. “Well, that’s all, son. I’m sure you have a busy day ahead of you. Tell your folks hi for me!”

The door snapped shut. Josh stood frozen, speechless.

The sound of the sprinklers going off in the backyard pulled him back to reality. “Mom! Dad!” He hurried downstairs, rushing into the kitchen where his parents were still making breakfast. “Mom! Mr. Halbrook-”

“I thought that was his voice,” Josh’s mother said, pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Come by to wish you well?” She turned to look at him, frowning at his state of undress. “Honestly, can’t you put on some clothes before coming down? Oh, and don’t forget to write Mr. Halbrook a thank you card. That was so nice of him to remember.”

Josh clenched his fists, staring helplessly as she turned back to preparing her breakfast. “Mom, he ate Mandy!” He turned to his father. “Dad!?”

His father flipped to the next page of the newspaper, not even bothering to glance up. “Hmm? Oh, alright then. I’ve been needing a better home office space anyway. Her room will do nicely, I think.” He took a bite of bagel, munching slowly as he adjusted his glasses. “Oh, and happy birthday, son. Go get dressed, do as your mother says.”

Josh’s shoulders tensed up, mouth wordlessly moving for a moment or two before he slumped in defeat. “Ok.”

He turned and left the kitchen, feeling numb, still half-convinced he was still asleep until he heard the soft, knowing exchange of sighs behind him. He didn’t need to turn back to know exactly the matching looks on his parents’ faces, the mixture of amusement and mild-mannered exasperation. The same look everyone gave him when he was being too . . . “sensitive.”

When he was younger, he never could have imagined the extent of his isolation. When the first of his classmates tested positive as preds, he’d assumed they were the outliers, the anomalies. But they were just the early bloomers. More classmates, more friends, seemingly every peer around him soon discovered that they, like their parents and their parents before them, had the capacity to consume and digest another living person.

Of course he wasn’t literally the only one who lacked the ability. There had been about 16 or so other kids at school in his grade alone who had tested negative as well. But even a few of those proved to be late bloomers, finally testing positive years after the rest of their peers.

And no one seemed to share his . . . hangups. Everyone else seemed to accept this a normal part of life, as mundane and inevitable as needing sleep before a test, as needing sunlight to feel less gloomy. Just another biological function, just a natural end to the lives of any deemed more appealing as a bulge than a human being.

Unbidden, an image of Mandy crossed Josh’s inner vision as he reentered his bedroom and closed the door behind him: her at the wheel, dropping him off at school, rolling her eyes as he chided her for texting while driving before pulling the door shut and speeding out of the parking lot.

A small lump formed in his throat. He knew what everyone else would say: his sister had been a bitch, and even if anyone shared his “sentimentality” she would not be missed by many. But she was his sister. And she was gone.

Josh shook off his idle thoughts, opening the closet to look through clothes. No time to be a wuss, he scolded himself. There were more important matters to attend to. The Alpha Phi Omega end of the year kegger was tonight, and Lydia would be picking him up for their lunch date soon. Mandy was history, time to look to the future.

It was difficult, however, a tiny voice in the back of his brain insisted, to not view the morning’s events as an omen of things to come.

* * *

Like a vision straight out of a movie, the silver corvette turned the corner at the end of the street with soundless precision, the muted rumble of the engine dulling to a pleasant hum as the car pulled up to the curb where Josh was waiting. The tinted window rolled down to reveal Lydia: head cocked ever so slightly, a playful smile turning up the corners of her lipsticked mouth, the mischievous sparkle of green eyes hidden behind rounded shades.

“Hey, baby,” she said, lowering the sunglasses to give him a wink, smiling wider as he awkwardly rubbed at his arm. “Happy birthday.”

“H-hi,” he said, hating the break in his voice. But Lydia just grinned sunnily as he came around to the other side to enter the passenger’s door.

Lydia Thornden. What a goddess. His first and still-greatest love. The fact that she’d ever given the time of day to a skinny little nobody like him was still baffling to Josh, much less the fact that they’d maintained a relationship for nearly three years.

She’d been a junior, him a sophomore. She’d cornered him in the parking lot after school one day while he’d waited for Mandy to pick him up, and he’d been certain that she was just looking for an easy meal. But she’d just looked at him thoughtfully for a moment or two, considering. Then clearly come to a decision within herself because she said, “You’re pretty cute. You’re going to take me out this weekend.”

He’d spluttered, cheeks flushing almost as red as her natural auburn hair. “I-I’m a year younger than you.”

She smirked. “Alright.”

He blushed harder. “And n-not, uh. Not a pred.”

He’d never forgotten the way she’d laughed; somehow disdainful without being unkind, the gentle peal of her giggle conveying instantly that this was a girl he couldn’t hope to match even if he had been a pred. That this was a girl destined to rule the world, and he was just the lucky bastard she’d chosen to cast her gaze on in this moment of immense fortune.

And they’d been together ever since.

She was way out of his league, they both knew that. But that was halfway the point, and, he suspected, a large part of why they hadn’t broken up, even when she went off to her first year of college while he was stuck finishing out high school. Because a girl as sharp and smart and talented and beautiful as Lydia Thornden needed a boy she could dominate without even trying.

And Josh, as his friends so very much enjoyed pointing out, was practically genetically guaranteed to be dominable.

“I have the whole day planned out,” Lydia said matter-of-factly, pulling the car into reverse, turning them around to head back down the street. “We’re going to that Thai place you like so much for our lunch date, then to the mall so I can buy you a present, then a nice stroll along the lakeside until my friend David picks us up to go get booze for tonight.”

“Sounds like you did all of the thinking for me,” Josh said, biting back a smile.

Lydia cast him a sharp look out of the corner of her eye, though he could see her fighting back a grin too. “Well, someone has to,” she sniffed. “Otherwise you’d just sit around all day and mope.” She glanced at him again as she pulled up to a red light. “You seem a bit off. Everything ok?”

“It’s nothing,” he said, feeling his smile fade a bit as the events of the morning resurfaced. He squirmed awkwardly as she continued to stare at him. “Mandy got gulped, that’s all.”

“Ah.”

He turned away, not wanting to see whatever look was on her face. But she simply reached out and took his hand, giving it a small squeeze. That was one of the things he loved most about her. It’s not that she shared his hangups, but she understood. She never made fun of him for it. And while she was a pred herself and he knew that she still . . . “indulged,” she took great effort to keep those activities as hidden from him as possible. The most he was ever forced to observe was an extra layer of softness around her midsection that would recede over the course of a few days.

It was a small kindness that no one else in his life ever afforded him.

Josh pulled his hand away as he felt his phone buzz. A text from Spencer.

[heard that Mandy got gulped. sux bro lol she was p hot]

Josh rolled his eyes. Case in point. Although that was a bit unfair to Spencer; his childhood best friend was another of the increasingly rare breed born without the ability. He was just much better adjusted to “nature taking its course.” Probably because he fit in well with the popular crowd when he wanted to, both charismatic and attractive enough that most people didn’t even know or remember that he wasn’t a pred. It was hard not to be envious of him most of the time.

[*eyeroll emoji* whatev dude, are you coming to the party?] he texted back.

[you know it! oh and happy birthday booooiiii *party face emoji*]

Josh closed his phone and turned to smile at Lydia. “Thank you. For planning everything. You’re the best, I seriously don’t deserve you.”

She brushed her hair back over her ear, letting the soft waves flow over her shoulder. “And don’t you forget it,” she teased.

* * *

The stillness of the crisp air left the water untouched, gentle ripples among the reeds along the shore the only blemish on an otherwise glassy surface. Even the ducks seemed to have retreated elsewhere for the day.

“He just said that to you, straight up?” Josh said, incredulous. “You serious?”

Lydia snorted softly, eyes flicking up and down his torso approvingly as she examined the new jacket she’d bought for him. “You act like no one’s ever threatened to gulp you before.”

“Yeah, but I’m a guy. It’s like an intimidation thing. An ‘I’m better than you’ thing, not . . . not pervy. Can I see?”

She pulled up the message thread on her phone, passing it over easily. Josh scowled at the name ‘Travis’ emblazoned in bold over the message:

[hope 2 c u tonite, still wish i could churn u haha. u sure u have a boyfriend?]

“What an asshole,” Josh grumbled. Lydia laughed.

“Relax, my knight in shining armor. He’s harmless.” She gave him a once-over, pausing mid-stride with her hands on her hips. “Is this some macho jealousy thing? Pissed at him for hitting on your girl or something?”

“What? No!” Josh crossed his arms, glaring off at the lake. “No, it’s just. Look, guys don’t really say stuff like that to girls just as a joke. Sure, he might not actually come after you because you’re taken, but if you weren’t, then he probably would try to . . . you know, ‘churn’ you . . .”

Lydia rolled her eyes, affectionately exasperated. She linked her arm with Josh’s, continuing their walk along the trail. “Yeah, I know that. I’m not a dumbass, bro, so don’t talk to me like one.”

“Sorry,” Josh muttered, gazing down at the ground.

“I’ve lasted a whole year at college without you by my side, and I don’t really see some horny lacrosse guy changing that. I can hold my own, got it?”

Josh slowed the pace again, pausing as they circled back near the parking lot. “I know you can. It just makes me nervous, watching you be so . . . whatever about this stuff.”

Lydia sighed, reached out to pat his cheek. “Not all of us want to live our lives afraid of every moment,” she said, gently but reproachfully. “You should try going with the flow a bit more.”

The sound of a car horn blaring cut through their conversation, stomping on whatever response Josh might have come up with. They turned to see an exceptionally handsome guy with a short well-trimmed beard leaning out of the window of a truck. “What’s shakin’, party people?” he called, grinning broadly. “You ready or do you need a minute?”

“Hey, David! No, we’re good, just one sec,” Lydia called back smiling. Her expression softened as she turned back to Josh. “You good, sweetheart?”

Josh forced a smile, shrugging his shoulders. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

She nodded. “Ok.” She raised an eyebrow, pointed a finger at him. “Be nice,” she said playfully.

David was everything Lydia had promised. In addition to his good looks, he was nice and unobnoxious in a way that belied his football player’s build, had good taste in music, didn’t make any nasty jokes about the squirming bulge in the cashier’s gut at the liquor store when he came out with the booze. Josh immediately disliked him.

“So you planning on pledging Alpha Phi Omega in the fall, dude?” David asked once they were all squeezed into his truck again.

“Eh. Not sure if the frat thing is my scene,” Josh said.

David nodded. “Word. For what it’s worth, though, if you do make it through rush week, brothers tend to be pretty good about looking out for their own. You know, in case you feel anxious walking around campus alone or anything.”

Josh sucked on the inside of his cheek, glancing at Lydia who just shrugged and slouched back against the window. “So I guess Lydia told you I’m a negative-tester.”

“Nah, you just have that look about you. No offense, it’s not a bad thing.” David cleared his throat.

“Thanks,” Josh said dryly.

The light was starting to dim as they arrived at the frat house. Cars were already parked end to end around most of the block, the thrum of music emanating from within making the walls shake. Streamers tossed haphazardly across the rooftop and over tree branches adorned the outside in a gaudy display of color.

David pulled right over the curb, the truck jolting with the bump, and pulled onto the front lawn.

“You’re going to get ticketed again,” Lydia scolded, though she was smiling as she punched David in the arm.

He grinned and lifted his hands in surrender as he kicked the door open. “I’ll just have my dad pay it off,” he joked.

Josh’s dislike deepened.

Beer in hand, the three marched up the front steps and entered the lions den. The party was already in full swing, it seemed. The main room was packed with people, all standing close and drinking, some swaying together in a facsimile of a dance, some just openly making out. The furniture had been cleared out to make extra room, but the TV was still mounted to the wall, playing some Youtube loop of psychedelic colors while the giant speakers on either side thrummed with music.

“I’ve gotta help Chris with the punch, but I’ll catch you in a bit!” David yelled, leaning in close so he could be heard. He grinned at Lydia’s dismissive little wave, ducking in further to give her a peck on the cheek before pushing through the crowd.

Lydia turned to face Josh, her mouth twitching with amusement. “Don’t look so sour!” she said, leaning in and rubbing his arm reassuringly. “Try to relax! Have fun!”

Josh nodded unhappily. “Ok.”

He startled as a pair of hands clapped down on his shoulders. “Joshy boy! Lyds! How ya hangin’?”

Lydia laughed as Josh turned to look up at his best friend’s dumb grinning face. “Hey, Spencer!” she said. “Here to schmooze with the big boys?”

“Oh, you better believe it!” Spencer waggled his eyebrows and flexed his muscles teasingly. “Josh here may not have any interest in pledging, but I’m gonna make a good first impression.” He whistled approvingly as he gazed out over the crowd and spotted a group of girls standing together near the kitchen door. “Might even see if I can score!”

“Just don’t say something stupid and get yourself eaten, dude,” Josh said.

Spencer ruffled his hair, grinning as Josh knocked his hand away. “Aww, always so worried about me. I’m touched, bro.” He pointed to the case of beer in Lydia’s hand. “May I?”

She made a dramatic flourish with her free hand, ducking her head in a playful bow as she offered up the case. “You may.”

Spencer tugged out a couple of bottles and saluted her as he stepped back into the crowd. “Try to have fun tonight, dude!” he yelled at Josh. “I’ll come find you after I’m done with this!” He pushed into the throng, heading towards the group of girls.

Josh rolled his eyes, but with an affectionate smile. He turned back to Lydia, who observed his expression with a soft smile of her own.

“Come dance with me!” she said, craning her neck to lick playfully at his earlobe.

Josh allowed himself to be pulled into the crowd, ignoring the near-painful volume of the music in favor of easing into the way Lydia wrapped her arms around his neck, placing his hands on her hips. Even in the periphery of his vision he could see the way other dudes, and even some of the other girls, found their attention captured by the sway of his girlfriend’s hips, by the twist of her hair flipping back over her shoulder as she casually tossed it back. For the first time all day, he found himself settling into a more comfortable feeling of possessive pleasure. Lydia could have anyone she wanted, and everyone here wanted her. But she had chosen him.

*UUUUURRRRRRRPPP!*

A loud belch caught his attention as Lydia spun the two of them around in a close embrace, grinding against each other. Looking over her shoulder, he spied a huge muscle-bound blonde guy thumping his chest, letting loose another obnoxious belch. His sweaty, shirtless stomach bulged and writhed with the movements of constricted limbs. The guy’s friends laughed, clapping his back, one of them reaching out to give his bloated belly a rub.

“Damn, fucking finally, dude!” one of them laughed. “I thought that bitch would never shut up!”

“Yeah, thought you were gonna gulp her like two weeks ago, Trevor?” the other said.

The blonde guy, Trevor, shrugged his shoulders, his expression bored. “Eh, she was a good lay. But yeah, fuck, probably wasn’t worth it with all that fuckin’ complaining.” He poked his stomach meanly, chuckling as the bulge inside squirmed in response. “Guess you should have listened when I told you to shut it, whore.”

“Chug! Chug! Chug!” Josh’s attention was drawn away from the scene to a group gathered in a circle further in the corner of the room near the TV. A bunch of guys were gathered together in a circle around a girl with a pair of kicking, high-heeled legs dangling out of her mouth. The boys were all laughing and red-faced with drunkeness and lust; a couple of them looked ready to just start openly masturbating right there.

The girl was putting on a show, that much was clear, based on the performatively sensual way she slid her hand up her prey’s leg and tugged off the shoes one by one. But the look of bliss making her eyes flutter closed as she swallowed her victim down suggested she was enjoying this for her own reasons as well. Slurping down the last of the other girl’s legs, she licked her lips and stifled a burp with her hand. The guys around her went nuts, hollering and clapping and jumping up and down. One of them rushed forward and pulled her into a rough, messy kiss. “That was so fucking hot, babe!” Josh heard him yell over the music.

Josh felt Lydia’s hand on his chin as she turned his face back towards hers. “Still with me, daydreamer?” she asked, smirking.

He flushed, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry.” He kissed her apologetically, melting as her tongue licked teasingly between his lips.

She pulled back with a knowing twinkle in her eye, letting her hand linger against his for a moment before letting go. “I’m going to get us some drinks!” she called, stepping away into the crowd. She gestured vaguely at the people surrounding Josh. “Try to mingle!”

Josh felt his smile fade slightly as the waves of her auburn hair vanished into the sea of party goers. He felt a brief resurgence of anxiety and awkwardness before a stranger’s arm around his shoulder jolted him out of his thoughts.

It was a college guy, some dude he’d never seen before. Josh blinked. “Uh. Hello?”

The guy took a sip of beer, pointing in the direction Lydia had gone. “Yo, that was Lydia Thornden. Are you two, like, together?” He whistled and took another swig, shaking his head admiringly. “You lucky son of a bitch, man. That girl is mad hot. Smart as fuck too.” He cocked his head consideringly at Josh. “You’re still in high school, aren’t you? That’s a hell of a pull, bro. You thinking about pledging?”

Josh found himself smiling against his will, glancing fondly off into the crowd. “Yeah, I don’t know yet. Maybe.”

* * *

The sudden shutoff of the lights startled Josh back to reality. All around him in the dark he could hear people yelling, girls screaming and then giggling hysterically, someone shouting something about the backup generator in the basement. An uncomfortable few minutes where people kept bumping into him as they tried to move around in the pitch-black, and then an electric hiss as the lights flicked back to life and the music started up again. Josh covered his ears with a wince as everyone around him cheered.

What time was it? He’d lost track. That first guy had introduced him to another group of people, names he couldn’t hope to recall. One of the guys’ girlfriends (Lauren? Sarah?) said she was friends with Lydia, and he’d gotten roped into a conversation. She’d said goodbye at some point, and he’d gotten distracted by a text from Spencer (an eggplant emoji followed by a smirking face). He’d tried dancing a bit, then came into this other room to sit down a minute . . .

He pulled out his phone, eyes widening. It had been a little over an hour since Lydia had gone to get drinks. He groaned, standing up and pushing his way back to the main room. She’d probably been looking for him for ages.

The living room was emptier than when they’d arrived. Most people had stopped dancing and had emptied out to other spaces: to the kitchen for more booze and munchies, out to the porch for fresh air, upstairs to find a good spot to fuck. A few minutes of scanning the room told Josh nothing of substance.

He poked his head into the kitchen. The energy was pretty low-key: some people gathered around the island and scooping more booze into their cups from the punch bowl, a couple or two making out up against the cabinets. Josh spotted the pred girl from earlier passed out on the floor, drooling and snoring, the round bulge in her belly much smoother than before, liquid gurgles and groans emitting from inside.

The night air was cold as Josh stepped out onto the porch. He shivered and zipped his jacket up, gazing out over the lawn. A loud *pop!* drew his attention to the street. A couple of guys darted out of the way, laughing and shouting as some firecrackers exploded on the concrete. A guy bumped into Josh’s shoulder as he stumbled drunkenly down the front steps, pausing to belch wetly and double over coughing before thumping his chest and groaning as he staggered away. Josh saw an ooze-covered wallet with a pretty girl’s photo I.D. staring back at him from the grass below.

His cell phone dinged.

He pulled it out and frowned at the notification: Lydia Thornden has updated her profile on Twitter.

He unlocked the phone and clicked the notification, waited absently for the page to load. When it did, his heart seized up in his chest, his body understanding what he was seeing even if his head hadn’t caught up yet.

Everything on Lydia’s page seemed largely in place. Bio was the same, no new tweets since her last earlier that afternoon (a selfie of her and Josh at the mall after buying his new jacket). But her picture had been changed. The photo wasn’t the best quality, clearly snapped haphazardly as it was a bit blurry, the lighting a bit off. But Josh had seen this sort of thing enough times to know what he was seeing.

It was a gut. Some fit guy’s bare stomach, abs swollen in a huge ball shape, the faint imprint of (Josh’s heart skipped another beat) a hand or an elbow pushing out against the fleshy prison.

It was a pred, announcing to the world that he had claimed a new prize. That he had claimed Lydia.

Josh felt his knees wobble. He sank down, sitting on the front steps, numbness in his fingers as he clutched the phone, staring blankly at the page. He knew this would happen. He’d said this would happen, over and over. Warned her to be careful, to be less trusting, to watch her back. The brief flicker of anger he felt towards her (“How could you let this happen!?”) immediately died, giving way to a painful surge of grief.

A teardrop fell on the phone screen.

“Oh, hey. What’s wrong, are you ok?”

He looked up, greeted with the concerned faces of two girls. “I’m . . . I don’t . . . my girlfriend, she-” he struggles to get out.

One of the girls leaned in, placing a hand on his shoulder. Her expression of concern faded fast, however, once she spotted the open phone screen. “Oh.” She pulled back, looking relieved and a little annoyed. “Someone gulped his girlfriend, that’s all,” she told her friend, sounding bored.

“Oh.” The other girl relaxed as well, though she seemed less irritated by Josh’s emotions than her friend. She patted Josh comfortingly on the back. “Don’t be sad! You’re pretty cute, I’m sure you’ll find a new girlfriend soon!”

He didn’t respond. The girls exchanged a glance, the first one shrugging as they made their leave.

Josh sat silently for a minute, the phone screen going black in his hand. His jaw clenched as he heard the sound of a loud belch followed by several voices laughing somewhere around the side of the house.

His phone dinged again, and he glanced at the notification.

Lydia Thornden has updated her profile on Twitter.

He opened the phone immediately, his grip on it tightening as he read the newly updated bio: Prime, grade-A girl meat! Would recommend

Josh stood up, heat rising in his cheeks as he turned and reentered the house. His heart was hammering in his chest. He knew he should just leave. There was nothing for him here now. He wasn’t sure what he was even going to do. He wasn’t a pred, he couldn’t take revenge, not in any substantive sense. But he had to know. He felt crazy, like his whole body was on fire. He had to know who had done this, find the bastard, look him in his fucking face.

His nostrils flared as he scanned the living room again. Every loud sound drew the sharp focus of his fury: the crack of a bottle cap popping off and hitting the floor, the squeak of someone’s shoes sliding against the hardwood floor.

He zeroed in on the sound of obnoxious male laughter, something about the cruel note striking a chord of familiarity. It was coming from the back hall leading to the downstairs master bedroom. He followed the noise, footsteps carrying him quicker than even his mind was prepared for, rushing headlong into a situation that might otherwise have set off his animal instinct to run and hide.

Three guys were grouped together in the dark hallway, snickering as they crowded together around the light of a phone. Josh felt his chest tighten as the light caught their faces; it was the blonde meathead, Trevor, and his buddies from earlier. And as Trevor muttered something to his friends and they stepped back to give him room, the light of the phone screen illuminated the grotesque swell of the jock’s bulging gut. Even bigger than it had been after gulping that last girl.

Trevor lifted the phone above his head, tilting it down at an angle and making a smug expression as he showed off his belly. Josh’s eyes widened as he saw faint, weak movements beneath the surface of the pred’s skin.

He could still save her.

He moved forward without even thinking, ignoring the startled exclamations from the other guys as he shoved past, balling his hand into a fist and lunging forward just as Trevor turned to look directly into his eyes before Josh connected with his face with an oh-so-satisfying *crack!*

Trevor staggered back, clutching his nose, a muffled, “What the fuck!!” yelled between his cupped hands.

Josh felt his arms seized roughly on both sides, his vision whiting out for a second as he was slammed against the wall. He winced as he felt his hair seized roughly in a tight fist, his head jerked up to meet Trevor’s furious face, a small dribble of blood oozing out of one of his nostrils.

“What the fuck! Bring that asshole in here! Bring him here!”

The guys on either side of Josh hoisted him up by his armpits, dragging him into the master bedroom and tossing him bodily down on the floor. He hissed as the back of his head hit the carpet, rubbing the spot ruefully as he spotted a girl indignantly pulling her top back on and dragging a half-naked guy out of the room with her as she flipped off Trevor and his friends.

The jock slammed the door shut behind them, glaring down at Josh, though with more confusion than rage now. “Who the fuck are you?” he snarled, wiping his nose.

Josh opened his mouth to respond, but paused as he noticed the phone dangling from Trevor’s hand. The one he’d been taking a selfie with. It was tall and slender, with a thick purple case with sequins dotting the back.

It wasn’t Lydia’s phone.

“Nobody.” Josh’s shoulders slumped defeatedly, the heat rushing out of him as he stared at the ground. “I made a mistake.”

“Fuckin’ A you made a mistake,” one of the other guys growled, but Trevor put a hand in front of his chest, holding him back. He looked down at Josh curiously. Glanced at the phone in his own hand, then back at Josh with a sly look.

“Thought I gulped your girl, huh?” he said, amusement smoothing over the rough anger in his voice. He straightened up, his posture less aggressive, more casually smug as he folded his arms and grinned down at the younger boy. “I don’t mess with other dudes’ territory, man. I’m not here for that drama.”

“Like I said, I made a mistake,” Josh gritted out, feeling his cheeks flush with embarrassment. He glanced up as he heard a loud, gloopy gurgle emanate from Trevor’s stomach, the muffled moan of the girl within just barely audible as she weakly pushed out against the slimy walls.

Josh shuddered. It was too easy to imagine her predicament: this nameless, faceless girl he would never meet, trapped in the tight, smelly confines of some jock asshole’s belly, begging desperately for help that would never come while sloshing in the softening, increasingly liquid remains of the most recent victim, knowing that she would soon look and feel just as soft, would soon melt into sludge herself.

Was that what Lydia was experiencing right now, too? Screaming for help from uncaring, possibly even amused peers while she slowly melted away? Was she still in denial, maybe, unable to accept that someone had actually decided to end her life on a whim, stolen away her bright and promising future, taken her beauty and intelligence and reduced it all to a cheap meal? Or was she already gone . . .

Josh looked up at the sound of the door opening, Trevor and his friends already filing out the door. The jock glances back at him, chuckling as he strokes his belly. “Look, I haven’t seen you around before, so I’m guessing you’re a freshman or even younger, so I’ll let this slide. You get one free hit, dude. Just don’t ever come for me again, got it?”

And with that, he left, closing the door behind him, leaving Josh alone.

*Ding!*

Another notification. Josh quickly pulled out his phone, opening it up to Lydia’s twitter to read the new update. A tweet:

[do they all squirm and beg this much? or is it just miss popular lol]

A new notification appeared almost immediately. An embedded video. Josh’s fingers trembled as he clicked play, afraid of what he was going to see.

The clip began with an awkward shot of the ceiling, the sound of a hand rustling against the edges of the cell phone as it was gripped tighter, angle adjusted. The camera tilted down, showing a top down view of a ballooned-out expanse of swollen skin framed beneath a toned chest. Josh’s stomach lurched as he watched gentle bumps push out weakly against the taut skin. He felt the rush of panic hit him again. It was so different, so much worse to see it in real-time.

The guy in the video was breathing hard, letting out little sighs and smug sounds of, “Mmm, yeah . . .” A barely audible whimper could be heard over the loud gurgling of the swaying stomach, and a muffled sentence Josh strained his ears desperately to make out but could not. The guy in the video chuckled and gave his stomach a mocking pat, letting out a satisfied burp before the video cut out.

Josh closed his eyes, breathing hard. Okay. So she was still alive. For now. And clearly he needed to be going about this differently. There was no point in harrassing every dude with a prey-filled gut he ran into. Besides the likelihood of that creating a very bad situation for himself, it was just a waste of valuable time.

He took a moment to collect himself, rubbing his head ruefully as he picked himself up off the floor. Stepping quietly back out into the hallway, he pulled up the new profile pic on Lydia’s account again, examining it more closely.

There still wasn’t much he could tell about the dude himself. The guy clearly worked out a lot, but this was a frat party so that didn’t really narrow anything down. No visible tattoos or anything distinctive like that. But perhaps the dark lighting was a clue. Maybe one of the upstairs rooms?

Josh’s stomach twisted uncomfortably at that idea. Had Lydia gone upstairs with someone? Like David?

The thought was compelling in all of the worst ways, and he hurried back through the living room, rushing up the stairs past to the second landing. The hallway was dark, most of the doors were closed, and the smell of sex hit him square in the face over the general haze of booze and weed smoke.

The first door was cracked open, and Josh peered through, watching as the light caught a naked guy leaned up against the wall as a topless girl went down on him. The guy took a drag from his cigarette, scowling as he made eye contact with Josh, flipping him off. Josh closed the door silently.

He heard the sound of a sink turning off a few doors down, turning his head as light streamed into the hall as another guy exited the bathroom. The guy glanced at Josh and winked, patting his stomach and chuckling as he walked past him and headed down the stairs. Josh hesitated, then walked to the bathroom.

His nose wrinkled at the smell from the unflushed toilet bowl, bile rising in his throat as he forced himself to lean forward. Some small shards of bone amidst the mess, and the undigested remnants of a keychain. Josh relaxed a little. Again, not Lydia’s.

He sighed and closed the lid of the bowl with disgust, going to the sink to wash his hands. Maybe this was all stupid. He looked at himself in the mirror, meeting his own red-rimmed eyes.

He pulled out his phone, tapped out a quick message to Spencer.

[let me know whenever you’re done hooking up, i need a ride home]

The sound of voices outside the window made him look up. Two figures passed by in silhouette, walking carefully along the flat part of the roof above the front porch. Josh frowned, cupping his hands together as he peered through the window. The guys in the street downstairs set off another firecracker, and then a single firework, which shot directly up into the night sky and exploded in a burst of green sizzling lines. The glow illuminated the faces of the two guys on the roof, one unknown to Josh, the other -

David.

Josh swallowed, hesitating a moment before making up his mind. He unlatched the window, grunting as he lifted up the glass and hoisted himself out onto the rooftop.

The older boys turned at the sound of his presence. “Oh. Hey there, Josh, what’s up?” David said, mild surprise coloring his voice.

Josh blinked, eyes adjusting to the darkness as he came closer. Another flash of light from the street lit up the rooftop again, and his eyes immediately flickered to David’s toned stomach, seemingly as flat as ever, not even straining against his tank top. Well, there went his best guess.

“When’s the last time you saw, Lydia?” he asked, unable to keep the frustration out of his voice.

David raised his eyebrows. “In the kitchen, a while ago. She came to get some punch, we talked for a minute. Why?”

Josh squared his shoulders, glaring down at the lawn below. Considered lying, but ultimately relented. “She got gulped. Someone has her phone, I’m trying to find him.”

“Oh, gotcha,” David said, infuriatingly indifferent. “Sorry, I don’t know anything more than that.” He frowned, scratching his beard and leaning forward to rest his bulky arms on his knees. “Hey, I know you said you’re not interested in pledging, but you still shouldn’t just run around bothering people, bud. You don’t want to alienate everybody that could be a potential friend before you even start school here.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” Josh said icily. He looked David up and down, a frustrating feeling of incompletion roiling in his gut. “You sure you don’t know anything more?”

David shot him an annoyed look. “Look, I was nice to you because you were Lydia’s guy, but since she’s belly fat now, I’d prefer if you get out of my face. No one likes the overly possessive boyfriend act, especially when the girlfriend is just slosh.” He leaned closer and jerked his head meaningfully towards the boy sitting beside him. “Besides, I’m generally looking for more of a protein boost than girls can provide, if you get what I mean,” he added in a lower voice, smirking.

Josh sighed, stepping away reluctantly. “Bye, David.”

As he turned away, the other boy called after him. “You two talking about Lydia Thornden? I saw her talking to one of those lacrosse dudes a while ago. They might have come upstairs together or something.”

Josh froze, the wheels in his mind screeching to a halt. “What?” He spun around. “A lacrosse player?” He racked his brain, thinking back over the conversation he had with Lydia earlier at the lake. “Was his name Travis?”

The boy shrugged. “I dunno. I just saw them, dude, that’s all.”

David was saying something else now, but Josh was already turning and hurrying back to the window. He heard his phone go off in his pocke as he dragged himself back into the bathroom.

“GAAAHH!”

He startled at a loud screech, looking up to see an indignant looking college girl perched on the toilet, pants down around her ankles, tugging her shirt down over her swollen stomach to cover her crotch.

“S-sorry!” Josh choked out, ducking as she grabbed a bottle of shampoo from the shower and threw it out him.

“Get out of here, perv!”

He ducked out into the hall, closing the door quickly as he attended to his phone. A new tweet from Lydia’s account and a text from Spencer. He flipped to twitter:

[settling down easy now, think she’s about done for. that was faster than expected, guess she can’t be the best at everything lmao]

“Fucking bastard,” Josh growled. He clicked on Spencer’s text.

[finished up a bit ago, meet me outside?]

[give me a few minutes] Josh tapped back quickly. [something i gotta take care of first]

He started with the door at the end of the hall. A group of people surrounding a bong gazed up at him through a cloud of fog, blank faced, casually returning to the task at hand as he shut the door. The next room revealed a pair of girls languidly kissing on a couch while a frat dude lay passed out on the floor, snoring and stroking his gurgling belly in his sleep.

Each room presented a similar scene, with little variation other than the occasional irritated admonishment for Josh to get the fuck out. It was occuring to him that this, too, might be a fool’s errand since he had no idea what this guy actually looked like, until -

“That’s it, Travis, work it out, just a little longer, I promise she’ll settle.”

Josh paused rigidly, quietly opening the door a bit wider to gaze upon the scene within: a simple, sparsely decorated bedroom, clothes shed onto the floor at the foot of the bed, a guy and a girl tangled together on top of the sheets. The guy on his back with his arms folded behind his head, the girls straddling his waist, massaging the swollen mound of his belly.

“Fuck, keep going,” Travis groaned, hiccuping out a little belch as the girl pressed her hands into the soft sphere, poking at his bellybutton. “I still feel so fuckin’ backed up, but it’s getting better. Oooh, fuck! Right there, Jess . . .”

Jess chuckled, placing her hands on either side of Travis’ belly and giving it a good shake. The contents within shifted and rearranged with a liquid, burbling sound, provoking another burp from the pred as he panted heavily. “You should be grateful I’m so nice. You deserve a little discomfort for trying to go for me first.”

“Yeah . . . sorry about that?” Travis offered with an awkward laugh, groaning as Jess pushed down harder on his lower belly, aiding digestion with each vigorous rub.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I don’t hold a grudge. We’ve all gotta eat, right?” She paused at this point, glancing over her shoulder as she noticed the open door for the first time. “Uh, can we help you?”

Josh stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. “Your name’s Travis?” he asked coldly.

Travis propped himself up on his elbows, sitting up to squint through the darkness in Josh’s direction. “Umm, yeah? Do I know you? And can this wait? I’m kinda in the middle of something here.”

Josh flipped on the light, both of the bed’s occupants groaning and shielding their eyes. He ignored them, crouching down to rifle through the clothes on the floor, searching for something, anything recognizable.

“Hey, that’s my stuff,” Jess complained, climbing off of Travis and sitting back against the pillows with a pout.

“Dude, I definitely don’t know you, and I’d really appreciate it if you could kindly get the f-”

Josh stood at the same time as Travis climbed off the bed to confront him, reaching out to punch the pred in the throat. Travis gagged and fell back on the bed, spluttering and coughing.

“Seriously?” Jess laughed disbelievingly.

“What the fuck, bro!” Travis choked out raspily, massaging his throat and staring up in bewilderment.

Josh pointed at Travis’ stomach. “Is that Lydia in there?” he said, voice shaking more than he intended as a loud gurgle echoed in the room.

Travis got a shifty look on his face. “Wha-? Who? . . .”

Josh felt his eyes prickle with tears. He blinked them back, gritting his teeth. “Don’t play dumb, she showed me the texts you sent her. I know you know who I’m talking about. Someone saw you with her earlier tonight. Did you eat her?”

Travis sat up again, coughing and rubbing his throat. He scowled up at Josh, awkwardly covering his junk with the bedsheets and glancing at Jess, who just rolled her eyes and fluffed up the pillows behind her, leaning back and inspecting her nails. “No, asshole. I did not eat her. Yeah, I saw her, and I may have told her I wanted her again. But I didn’t gulp her, man.” He gestured down at himself. “Do I really look like I could?”

Josh glanced down warily, looking over Travis’ body. A feeling of dismay and embarrassment washed over him. While it was clear that Travis was an athlete, he was far too lean to be the pred in the picture. And Josh understood what Travis meant; Lydia was a pred too, and as she was always reminding him, she could hold her own. It was doubtful this guy could have forced her down his throat without her turning the tables.

“Okay,” Josh said, defeated, stepping away from the bed. He sank down, sitting on the floor, head buried in his hands. “Okay.”

“Like, yeah, I wanted to gulp her, don’t get me wrong,” Travis continued. “Girl was hot as fuck, I would have loved to churn her. But it was just talk, dude. I know when someone’s out of my league!” Jess cleared her throat next to him. “I, uh, usually know when someone’s out of my league.”

“That’s Beth, my roomie,” Jess piped up unhelpfully, gesturing to the bulge in Travis’ gut. “Former roomie. Bitch wanted the top bunk at the beginning of the semester and I never forgave her. Went down like a screaming, flopping fish, totally embarrassing. I’m gonna have way more dignity than that when someone manages to gulp me, I swear.”

“I’m sorry if you thought I was hitting on your girl or whatever,” Travis said, staring down at Josh on the floor. “I really wasn’t trying to hit on her even though she was hot, I just wanted to gulp her, that’s all. No harm no foul, right?”

Josh let out a wet, broken laugh, wiping his eyes before standing. “Right.” He left without looking back, closing the door behind him before either of them could say anything else. He pulled out his phone, staring at the two new tweets he’d missed:

[getting a little meltier now, think she’s given up. just whimpering like a kitten lol]

[all over now. a night full of churning ahead, folks! *winky face emoji* *eggplant emoji*]

That was it then. Josh stood numbly in the hall for a minute or two. He took a deep breath and texted Spencher.

[heading out front now]

The party seemed to be winding up again when he came downstairs. More people had gathered in the living room to dance, the enclosed space nearly stifling from all the body heat packed in close together. Most of the room’s occupants had shed some of their clothes, bodies on display for each other’s enjoyment. More full bellies than when Josh was last down here. As he pushed his way through to the front door, he was surrounded by the wet bubbling, gurgling sounds of digestion.

He glanced at the time as he stepped out onto the front porch, gazing out over the lawn at all the discarded beer bottles and empty solo cups. Nearly forty-five minutes since the blackout. He wondered what Lydia’s last thoughts had been. Did she think about him? Did she kick herself for not taking his concerns so seriously?

Or did he not even cross her mind? Maybe she had stalled out on the unreality of her predicament, that state of mind that constantly consumed Josh yet seemed forever out of reach for everyone else until the moment they became prey. That feeling of finality, no more adventures to be had. An entire life, reduced to sludge.

Josh looked up at the sound of a car horn, stepping off the porch as he crossed the lawn towards Spencer’s Camry. The sounds of the party faded behind him as he marched over the grass, the thrum of the music cutting off as he entered the passenger’s side door and slammed it shut.

“Let’s go.”

He gazed at the window, watching the house disappear behind the trees as the car pulled away down the dark street. Leaving all of it behind. It was strange, how beneath the grief Josh could already feel the wound callusing over. Was this that numbness his parents and friends had always promised? Was he finally getting used to the world as it was? Maybe it would be a relief, to stop feeling so alone.

He turned to face Spencer.

“So how was your n-” He stopped. Stared.

Spencer grinned at him, shifting a little in his seat to give Josh a better view. Tugging up his shirt a bit further to better show off the soft, still-reducing bulge bloating out the normally defined lines of his stomach. “What’s wrong, dude? Cat got your tongue? Whatcha looking at?”

Josh blinked uncomprehendingly. “I don’t . . . how? . . .”

Spencer chuckled, his face practically giddy with excitement. “I’m a late bloomer, dude! I swear I haven’t been keeping it from you for long, I literally just found out last week. Started getting hunger pains even after a big meal and my mom thought maybe we should get me re-tested. And, well.” He patted his stomach, the bulge noisily sloshing with the pressure.

“I don’t. I don’t understand.” Josh stared at him, wide-eyed. The world felt like it was caving in around him. He stared at Spencer’s stomach, reached out with a trembling hand to place it against the warm skin. “Spencer. Is this . . .” He didn’t dare finish.

Spencer licked his lips. “Dude, she was amazing. And you should have seen the look on her face!” He made a dramatic shocked expression, pursing his lips out and batting his eyes before dissolving in laughter. “Alright, it wasn’t that, but you get the idea. And you know, I figured, what better choice for my first prey, right? I wanted it to be a birthday surprise for you!”

“A surprise,” Josh repeated numbly. “You. You ate my girlfriend!”

Spencer rolled his eyes affectionately, reaching over to ruffle Josh’s hair. “Okay, be mad about it. I get it, you’re sensitive. That’s fine, buddy, you know I don’t mind. But just think about how great this is going to be for us! The guys back at school are going to lose their shit when they hear that I gulped the Lydia Thornden! And she was already a fuckin’ legend at college, because of course, so we’re gonna be like gods when we start here, man.”

His gut let out a high-pitched little gurgle that sounded like agreement. Josh barked out a sharp laugh, brief and mangled, like it was choked out around razor blades. Another chuckle, helpless and resigned. He gave Spencer’s gut a little push, watching it jiggle gently as the melty contents shifted inside the active digestive stew. Josh started to giggle, his eyes prickling with tears as he turned away, his mouth stretched in a grin in spite of himself. He laughed and laughed, the absurdity of it all overwhelming him.

It was perfect. Poetic even. Even without Spencer’s terrible impersonation, he could easily conjure the image of Lydia’s downfall himself: the cool ease of conversation with a familiar face, the shocked betrayal as the gaping maw descended around her, the uncharacteristic squealing and pleading for mercy as she descended into the depths of Spencer’s belly.

A dull groan emanated from Spencer’s stomach. He frowned, thumping his chest a couple of times before letting out a thunderous belch.

*UUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRPPP!*

With a splat, Lydia’s half-melted necklace landed on the dashboard, covered in digestive juices. Josh’s hysteria reached a fever pitch, contorting his entire body with something between a sob and a scream, though the sound itself was merely laughter.

Spencer nodded approvingly, patting his friend’s back with a grin. “That’s right, buddy. Let it all out. Happy birthday!”

The car sped off into the night, the sounds of manic laughter trailing behind and then fading into the darkness as the world went quiet once again.