Paralogues to the "The Hybrid Incident" stories.

Better Hide! P3

“Now that little chase was fun and all, and I’ll admit, my equivalent to muscles could use the training for the future, but let’s be a good boy and follow me.” Abria, now only a few feet away, held out her hand. He could feel that aura around her, making him want to take her hand and give up the chase, let her take care of things.
But Edward knew that he couldn’t just give in. If he took her hand now, there was no telling when—or even if—he would go outside again.
So he sprinted past her back down the hallway and zig-zagged randomly, on the sole basis of one assumption: If there were other people down here, and huge cages built for animals, there had to be some sort of entrance for those people and for equipment to get in and out.
He ran until his lungs hurt and the energy he’d felt from the drink Abria had given him wore off.. He could hear Abria behind him, though he couldn’t see her pursuing him yet.
He had to find a place to hide. The next optimal room he found, he’d rest in until he wasn’t panting like a dog, and then he’d keep running.
The hallway he was pounding down split off in three directions. He chose left, found himself staring at a blank dead end, then turned and ran in the opposite direction.
Edward skidded into the first open doorway he saw, diving behind a couch in the room.
He tried to control his breathing. This seemed like a sort of relaxation room, or maybe someone’s bedroom.
The door to the room shut, and he hear the click and snick of a lock and key.
“How convenient, that you try to hide from me in the very room I was going to bring you into. Welcome to my real bedroom.”
How did she know he was here?
“That was a fun run, but now that you’re here, let me tell you a story,” Abria said.
He heard her flop onto the couch.
“There once was a rich man who owned a large corporation. He was very kind, and paid his workers well, but he suffered from a chronic illness. His wife died before his only daughter reached teenhood, and so when his daughter suffered in an accident when she was driving, he did all he could to keep her alive. He bought all the world’s best doctors to work on her, but they said she wouldn’t heal the grave wounds inflicted upon her body. So he researched other methods.”
Edward could smell that relaxing aroma, dulling his mind and beckoning him to sleep.
“One day, while looking through his daughter’s things dejectedly, he came across her collection of animal specimens. He considered his options, then had a very risky and painful experiment done on her. She not only survived, but her body healed back even better than it had been before.
“And the daughter liked the effects the experiment had on her. One of which she found out when her father wouldn’t let her help other people to become as powerful as she was. She wanted him gone, and poof! She made him disappear nearly entirely.”
Abria shifted on the couch. Edward held his breath.
“That girl was me. And now, here I am, the leader of my father’s old company, helping others to become hybrids as well. I’ve even sent some of my researchers out with equipment to make hybrids  around the country. And you know what’s neat? The combination of human and non-human genes yields some impressive perks. Like this, for instance.”
Edward felt a cool, slick rope sliding around his leg, seeming of its own accord. “What kind of animal are you, then?” he asked, knowing for sure he was already found.
“I’m not. I’m a hybrid of plant and human, and I have a unique ability to control the growth of my cells in such a rapid pace, I’m able to do this.” The tentacle-like thing around his leg widened from the thickness of a pencil to the width of his thigh in seconds.
“Stop that!” he protested.
The thing tightened and pulled him up in the air.
He could see it connected to her body. A dozen more green tendrils extended from her neck, waist, and hands.
“For some reason, having one’s human genes combined with something else in a particular way seems to give oneself the ability and desire to devour human flesh. My father didn’t last long, and neither will you. But I’ll enjoy your squirms. You silly humans—you inferior ants—you all seem to think that, if you just struggle a little more, you’ll survive to see the next day.” She chuckled. “Evolution has finally begun. ‘Tis survival of the fittest, and soon it’ll be extinction time for anyone not advanced enough in their thinking to join us and change to be like us.”
Edward suddenly remembered the pocketknife he’d left in his pocket. He usually would’ve taken it out at his locker this morning, but he’d gotten a bit distracted with trying to escape Abria… not that that endeavor had worked.
Abria pulled him close, into a hug, and he now knew why he suddenly felt so at ease. She was a plant, or at least part, so wouldn’t it make sense for her to have some kind of pheromone to lull her prey… namely, him?
“Don’t worry too much about anyone missing you. The school and I have an agreement. I grant them money, they don’t inquire as to the absences. And they allow me to stay at school, year after year. I usually only take a boy every week or so, so they don’t run out too fast. And then there’s the next year of boys coming up too.” Abria looked smugly at him. “You’re just one of my many pieces of sustenance, and there’s nothing you can do to stop yourself from keeping my body alive.”
Edward hoped the battery in his phone was poisonous. Would it be possible to poison a plant?
“You might enjoy this, but then, it will be some of your last moments. Whether you have fun or not, you are my food now, and in a couple of hours, you’ll be nothing but nutrients for my continued existence. Now do you understand why you are so inferior? You have no fight against me. I could kill you with a twitch. But I won’t. I prefer my meals alive.” She opened her mouth wide, wider than Edward thought physically possible, but didn’t her existence already challenge the impossible?
And then he was falling, falling deep into that cavernous mouth, finally coming to a soft rest in a squishy bag.
It was hard to see much, but a faint green light filtered in enough for him to see that the small cavity he was in was half-full with the sticky liquid that was seeping through his clothes.
The warmth, the vibrations from being inside something living, the sweet nectar-like smell of the goo surrounding him, it tired him, begged him to give in, just give up, enjoy the experience while it lasted.
But no, that’s not what humanity was about.
The one thing that Abria thought futile, the characteristic she counted as a weakness… could persistence, even in the face of impossible odds, be humanity’s actual strength?
Half terrified for his life, half asleep from the sap merging into his bloodstream, half defiant of the fate that was handed to him, and half wondering how so many halves could make one whole, Edward pulled the knife from his soaked pocket and began cutting the wall of Abria’s stomach.
He cut in a square, then pushed. There wasn’t any give. No hole to speak of.
Just to make sure he was actually cutting through, he made a small slit in the area he’d been slicing and stuck his finger through. Yes, he was cutting through.
“You don’t know when to give up, do you?” Abria giggled sadistically. The hole around his finger shrunk until it squeezed his finger, wrapped around until it reached the tip of it, then pushed the finger back inside.
How was he supposed to get out now?
“You remember how I can easily grow and manipulate my cells, don’t you? You can’t get out. It’s impossible. Give up,” she said mirthfully.
No, giving up was exactly what she wanted.
So if Abria’s skin was able to heal so fast…
What if Edward cut faster than she could heal?
He sliced deep and fast, pushing his body through the slit before she could close it.
“Oh,” was what she said as he stared up at her, half-in, half-out, transfixed by her mild surprise.
He mentally shook himself and pulled out before she could push him back in.
He was up on his feet before she’d fully filled in the crack.
“I must say, I didn’t expect you to be so persistent,” Abria admitted.
Edward poised with the knife, his eyes darting. What were the chances that she had really locked the door? Would it be easier to take the keys and run, or stab her to distract her first?
Why was he even thinking of running? If he ran now, she’d only catch up to him later. And then the circle would continue, and more people would die to her.
She was a killer, albeit a very pretty and nice-smelling one.
If he were to attack her, he would be justified by the lives he would save, wouldn’t he? Just like the United States had been justified of their nuclear bombing by the war they mitigated (the only thing he recalled from his history class)?
Either way, she’d tried to kill him too, so surely he was in the right.
Why was he even debating this?!
“Your move,” Abria said calmly.
Edward felt a sense of unease, but leapt towards her anyway, knife arm extended.
He felt the small blade slip right into its mark, in the middle of her chest. She stood there, calmly, as he twisted the knife deeper into her chest, until he was wrist deep inside her flesh.
The same flesh that closed around his wrist a second later.
He pulled as much as he could, to no avail, before Abria’s green tendrils bound him.
”Now, with a move like that, I’m half-tempted to painfully torture you with some simple digestion techniques…” she waved a huge version of something reminiscent to the mouth of a Venus Flytrap in front of his face tauntingly, “but you’re the first to try to get out and be successful after you’ve reached my stomach, and I’m not sure I want to entirely ruin that for you now.”
“Why aren’t you dead?” he asked somewhat sleepily, curious, as well as a little terrified at what his failure to at least incapacitate her spelled out for him.
“What, did you think I had a heart? No, I have no need for one, nor do I really need to eat humans, but on the latter issue, it comes down to a lack of taste when going through photosynthesis. The only thing I really have that I couldn’t grow back easily is my brain, but that is very well protected. But you don’t have a thing to worry about now; you’re less than a plaything to me, though closer to being one than any of my other morsels. Maybe I should keep you?” She looked over his body long and hard, considering. “I could have you around whenever I wanted to have a bit more fun than the usual food gives me. And then put you in my stomach whenever I wanted to feel full. And then I’d always have a meal on hand, in case of some dilemma preventing me from getting another.”
“Please,” he begged.
“But, on the other hand, keeping you alive would be costly, and you could escape when I’m not here to watch you. And you could spy and sabotage my work and my company when my back is turned. No, I think I’ll eat you now. But should I? Caimjhan!”
Who?
A knock came on the door. Still holding Edward tight, Abria opened it to reveal a well-dressed servant.
Edward wondered how such a servant could be so punctual to a verbal call. Was this servant one of Abria’s hybrids?
“Hello Caimjhan.”
The servant bowed. “Good afternoon, Miss Predge. I see you have some… company at the moment. How may I assist you?”
Abria turned to Edward. “This is Caimjhan, my most faithful and favored servant. He’s served me my entire life, even after my evolutionary advancement. He has expressed little interest in becoming superior himself, but he and I have arranged that as long as he continues his service, he’ll be one of my most honored officers when we finally take over the world. I trust him with my life.” She turned back to Caimjhan. “Thank you, Caimjhan, though I still wish you would address me properly, even in front of other humans. Now, I have a technical question for you to calculate. Would the benefits of keeping this boy outweigh his possible costs? I’m in need of something to keep myself occupied when I have downtime.”
“As you wish. It will take but a moment to write down the pros and cons and make my own opinion for the matter.” He pulled a pen out of one pocket and a pad of paper from another. Even when writing, he lost no composure, merely looking as stately as a statue.
Edward shifted in Abria’s grip. Being held so long in such a position wasn’t comfortable.
“Just a second… done.” Caimjhan held up his pad. Abria took it. As she read, Caimjhan said, “There’s as many benefits as negatives, it seems. They balance each other out with the information I have. But tell me, do you like his taste? Whether or not he brings enjoyment in such a way could sway the decision.”
Edward closed his eyes as Abria acknowledged her servant’s wisdom. Please be disgusting please be disgusting please be disgusting…
She slid her tongue up my cheek. “Hmm… He doesn’t really taste bad, but not that good either…  If he tasted any better, I might be swayed to keep him, but as it stands… no. Thank you, Caimjhan.”
The servant bowed and exited, leaving a crushed-spirited Edward alone with Abria.
And then back down her tight gullet he dropped.
Edward curled up into a ball, miserable as could be, until he remembered what else he had in his pockets. It’d be risky, considering he might get as much of a shock, but worth the chance that he might survive.
He pulled his phone from his pocket, awkwardly shifting his body around to find a way to squeeze his hand in. Abria giggled delightedly. Maybe he really was a toy to her, despite what she’d said? The phone was sopping with the thick, sweet-smelling stuff. It probably wouldn’t work, even if he somehow made it out alive.
As he slid the case and battery cover off, Edward considered how little fear he actually felt now. He’d been scared witless just walking down the stairs, considering all of the horrible possibilities, but now that he was actually in danger, knew he was almost certainly going to die, he was hardly afraid at all. He knew what he had to do, he knew the consequences if he didn’t succeed, and those two solid facts coalesced into a hard resolve.
Or maybe it was her digestive enzymes, naturally removing his fear and numbing his nerves for the imminent death that awaited him hungrily.
Either way, he held up the battery, glancing at it, hoping that if it didn’t shock her to death (along with him, of course) that she’d at least be poisoned by the chemicals inside.
And then he plunged it into her side.
He felt a weak jolt of electricity run through the entirety of his body, and knew, even before he heard Abria’s laughter, that his last ditch effort had failed.
“Oh, you’re full of surprises! I’m starting to regret deciding to digest you now… but I’m curious to see what else you come up with!”
Something poked Edward from above.
Abria cheerily said, “Here, let me take your clothes off. You’ll like it better that way, trust me. And if you really do want to end it, taste some of my sap.”
As her tentacles removed his clothes, taking the battery with them, Edward wilted. Drenched in the sap, knowing what it was doing to his body, yet hearing Abria’s words… “Why do you keep doing this? Are you trying to act like a hero? You’re literally killing me.”
“Because you’ve amused me. By the way, cute buzz toy you had there. But not many people have managed to make me have this much fun while trying to eat them. And because, despite your thinking, I’m not a monster. I’m merely taking advantage of what evolutionary progress I’ve been given. And also, because maybe I like you a little bit from all this fun you’ve given me. You’ll stand out in my list of meals, Edward. I’ll remember you.”
Now naked, dominated, nothing left to grasp for hope, Edward sat in the sweet-smelling acid, waiting for it all to end.
It didn’t.
“How long is this going to take?” he asked.
“That depends on how long I want you to be in there.”
He sat for another long silence, only feeling the warmth and wet around him. It wasn’t altogether a terrible experience; he didn’t feel any pain, and it was rather relaxing… but it felt so boring, just waiting for the inevitable.
“Mrs. Predge!” Fierce knocking pounded on the door.
Edward was shaken around by the sudden movement of his devourer. “What is it?!” he heard her ask.
“We’ve found a breakthrough! We’ve been able to construct a formula for a stabilizing drug that can prevent the genetic breakdown of the animal hybrids!” the excited man nearly shouted.
“Success! Hear that, Edward? We can keep our beloved superior evolution stable now! Sir, if you could wait another hour or two, I’ll finish up here and meet you at the labs. Meanwhile, prep some of our product lines and labs to make more of the stabilizer. We need to get this mass-produced as soon as possible. Once we complete that, our path to the top of the food chain is not far off. Also, while you’re here, you know that lottery trip we’re planning on initiating in schools throughout the nation sometime this month? Make sure you get me profiles on all of the female winners after it happens. I’m hoping to find an optimal second-in-command for my army. Thank you.”
The door clicked shut.
And then it was back to laying in the sap as its level calmly rose.
He waited. And waited. And waited.
I can’t believe I’m dying, and yet I’m bored with the process, he thought.
“Like I said, if you want to make it happen faster, just try a little bit of my sap. I’m sure you’ll find it to your taste.” Abria seemed to almost read his mind.
Edward didn’t have any other choice. If he refused to drink her digestive fluids, it would take longer. Though he’d live longer. But if she was right about her own stomach…
It couldn’t hurt to have a little taste, could it?
Edward dipped his finger down in the sap and lifted it to his lips. He poked his finger with his tongue, and sweetness exploded in his mouth. It lasted a few seconds before it gradually died down.
And with the lessening of intensity of flavor, his blood, his whole body felt suddenly warm. He felt a rush, roaring in his ears, making him cry out in ecstasy.
And then the high tapered off slowly.
“You didn’t have very much, did you Edward?”
It didn’t leave him wanting more, but he wondered how it’d feel if he swallowed a whole bunch of it at once.
“I made it really sweet for you.”
He scooped a handful and slurped it up.
“Enjoy my gift as much as you can. Let’s see if you can love it as much as I’m loving having you in there?”
His body spasmed with pleasure.
Too much. Too much!
The fire ran through his veins, searing them. He could feel himself dissolving from the inside out, and it felt wonderful!
All the pain, it was delicious. Edward held onto every bite, savoring the intense heat, knowing both that he was dying from it and that the pain should hurt, not be so pleasureful.
A strange, muffled sound of screaming reached his ears. It took him a moment to realize that it was his own, but by then it was dying off and he could feel his organs dissolving.
How could he still feel this?
He could feel his consciousness fading, yet he was aware that it was happening. And as his body thrashed about in mindless pleasure, he knew, without a doubt, that this was the most overwhelming thing he could have experienced in his human life.
He’d barely reached the peak of the stimulation before his body was too soft to function any more.