Succumbing to Menudia Ch. 02

Paranoid much? Well, after what he'd just seen happen to Emily, it was hard to know who to trust. No, they all seemed to be themselves -- or at least as much "themselves" as the menacing situation allowed.

"Wasn't somebody with you?" Rachel asked. "You've got sweat all over your face."

"Emily ..." was all he said, and the others immediately understood.

"We'll have to get her back somehow," Ellis replied. "We'll have to get them all back."

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault." Rachel consoled Mason with a quick pat on the arm, which, like Emily's touch had done, made him flinch, but Rachel barely noticed. "I didn't expect her to make it too much longer, honestly."

"I ... I saw the whole thing."

"Oh, Mason ..." Now Rachel felt even worse for him, and gave him a hug. Tempted to recoil again, he was somehow able, given the dramatic circumstances, to allow this not-unwelcome contact from his lovely tennis-playing schoolmate.

"It's the eyes."

"What do you mean, the 'eyes'?" Ellis asked.

"That's how they take people. They take people with their eyes."

"A-ha!" Ellis nearly leaped off the ground. "So that's how it works." He turned to Curt and Haley. "When they took Angela, did something happen with her eyes?"

"It's like their eyes glow, and then their victim's eyes glow in response, right?," Mason added.

Haley was hesitant to confirm. "It was just ... so weird and ... I was so scared and ..."

"It's all right. It's all right." Now Rachel rubbed Haley's arm to comfort her too ... which Haley quickly realized she enjoyed a little more than she, um, wanted to.

Mason went on. "Emily wasn't treating it seriously at all, she just went right up to a Menudian boy and asked him how they were 'taking' people, and he outright said it -- once you look into a Menudian's eyes for at least five seconds, then they ... control you."

"Well, too bad for Emily, but ... now we know," Ellis replied. "I mean, that's easy enough, right? Don't look into their eyes! We know what the others didn't know. I don't see how they can get us now!"

"We've got to find Julie, and Danielle and Karen," Rachel pointed out. "We've got to let them know the secret, before they get taken too."

"Where did you see them last?" Mason asked.

"At the general store, just like you," Rachel said. "They could be anywhere. It's amazing the four of us even managed to stick together somehow."

"I feel like Danielle and Karen were sprinting toward the old barn, you know, near the trailhead," Ellis said. "But ... that's only a guess."

"Just remember," Mason said, his supremely non-Menudian eyes meeting Haley's, Ellis's, Rachel's, and Curt's, in that order. "Remember our pact."

"Never be taken," Curt replied.

"Never," Haley affirmed.

"Vanessa, Emily, Jen ... they were all easy prey," Mason added, "but we're different."

"You got that right." Ellis began planning. "OK. Mason, maybe you and Haley should team up and try to find Julie, while me and Curt and Rachel will head towards the barn. Then we can ..."

A splendid speech, surely -- perhaps more stirring than Danielle's back at the general store -- but just like that speech, it was once again rudely interrupted, this time by a rustling in the bushes behind them.

And instead of one of their own popping out to provide them with critical information, out popped the face of a stranger -- one with that unmistakable Menudian veneer. And so, Ellis's brilliant plans flew high into the air (almost like a good Menudian), while the five untaken picnickers scattered in five separate directions.

*****

Only the sudden appearance of a fence crossing his path caused Mason to take a much-needed breather. To his left he saw a barn and a stable, although only the ghostly remnants of horses' presence remained. Which way to go? And who had designed this lousy village, anyway? Some third-rate Amish wannabes?

As he sprinted north toward the water tower, he swore he passed three or four Menudian couples floating in the distance. Why did they have to exhibit that sort of behavior, you know, out in the open like that? So rude. Whatever happened to a little "class"?

It was hard to be sure, but he thought he recognized, among the writhing bodies and waving limbs, Jen's short plaid skirt and black leggings, although she must have removed her white top because ... wait, did that mean she ... was he really catching a glimpse of her ...?

What a strange fate to befall one of his first and most intense objects of affection. Indeed, the other students at the picnic probably weren't even aware of it, but Mason and Jen went back quite a ways, having both attended the same public high school an hour north of Sacred Saints. And like every other heterosexual male who knew her acquaintance, he'd had a raging crush her ever since he'd spotted her that first day in Spanish class, in her white silk short-sleeve blouse and thigh-revealing jean shorts.

He'd even had the good fortune to be cast together with Jen in one of their high school plays, although his bit part certainly wasn't much to boast about alongside Jen's rapturously praised lead role. But, well, there was that one night when she came to rehearsal wearing a black t-shirt with some phrase on it that he didn't recognize. When, on a whim, he asked her what it said, she immediately tugged on the bottom of the cloth, essentially inviting him to stare at her breasts through the shirt. God, the amount of times he'd rubbed one out to that memory ...

But now Jen had been taken by ... this "hive"? He knew she'd been sexually active for quite some time, but ... the things Menudia was making her do ... what would her boyfriend say?

Then, amid this noble concern for Jen, his thoughts unexpectedly switched to Danielle again. Now, if anyone was strong enough to escape the Menudian menace, surely it was Danielle. The students being taken by Menudia was one thing, but Danielle had a husband, children, a whole other life -- it simply wouldn't have been right!

Of course, despite the family obligations, and the strong dedication to her professional field, deep down he knew that Danielle ... clearly would have made an excellent Menudian, there was no doubt about it. That one session, in her tight black turtleneck top, long white skirt, and ponytail, telling him how all his weird thoughts about girls in shiny vinyl clothing were perfectly OK ... boy, if she ever got her hands on Danielle, Menudia would certainly have had plenty to work with there.

Only a few steps from making it around the bend that led to the water tower, Mason suddenly heard a familiar voice traveling across the valley, but a voice laced with an unfamiliar tone of panic and desperation.

"No! Please! What do you want? Leave me alone! Just ... help! Anybody, please, help!"

Julie!

Mason raced around the final curve. He had to hurry, wherever she was. Far across the valley, he could see not one, not two, but a veritable sea of Menudians surrounding the light brown-haired girl in her green midi cami dress. A lump formed in his throat. He knew he was likely too far away to intervene.

"Don't look into their eyes!" he shouted.

"Mason! Oh God, Mason!"

"You have to fight them off! Just don't look into their eyes! That's how they take people!"

"What? Mason, they're everywhere! I can't hear you! Help me!"

"I'm coming! It's OK! Just close your eyes! Don't look!" Shouting at the top of his lungs hardly seemed to be doing any good. Yet Julie would put up a gallant struggle -- he was sure of it. Perhaps all she needed to do was to start going into one of her rants about sexism in the entertainment industry? That would've scared off just about anybody.

"There's too many of them! I can't handle it!"

"Just push them aside! I'll help you fight them off!"

But alas, in his haste, he tripped and fell on an exposed tree root. Curses! Time was of the essence! Gathering himself as quickly as possible, he raced down the hillside, now struggling with a slight limp, before noticing that only a few Menudians remained to bother Julie. The odds had certainly seemed stacked against her, but ... perhaps she'd managed to fight off the horde successfully?

Sprinting toward the oddly-paced aggressors, Mason tossed two 20-something males and a 30-something female aside, clutched Julie's right arm, and forcefully whisked her away. Like a colony of confused insects, the Menudians scattered forth and crept into the foliage, leaving Mason and Julie alone together in the valley.

"It's OK! It's OK. We've fought them off."

"Oh thank you Mason! You saved me." She gave him a hug that was a good deal more affectionate the one he'd just received from Rachel, as her hands slowly rubbed the back of his beige sweater.

"Boy, that was a close call. But see! Now you're OK."

"I certainly am, Mason ..." She then leaned against his arm and began stroking it. He noticed that the straps of her dress were suddenly dangling around her biceps. Gone was the distress and hysteria that her voice had radiated only moments earlier. "I like the way you rescued me ..."

Something wasn't right.

"What were you saying about their eyes? Do mine look OK?" She turned and fixed her gaze upon him, coyly adjusting her glasses.

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

It was a trick.

Mason 's face turned pale as he averted his pupils. A shiver of dread coursed through his spine. He was too late.

Julie had become one of them.

"No ... Julie ... snap out of it ... you aren't really ..."

"And so you know our secret," she stated in an alarmingly and yet beguilingly altered tone of voice.

"Why did you ... couldn't you ..." He did his best to stare at the grass and at Julie's light blue mary janes instead of her fetchingly inviting face.

"I ... couldn't help myself. I was curious, Mason. And I know you're curious too. You're more curious than you even know."

"Never ... I'll never ..."

"That's what I thought too. But in the end, I couldn't resist ... I couldn't resist, and I'm glad I didn't ... I had Menudia all wrong. You'll see."

Her face glowed with an intriguing mixture of sweetness and raunch, while her body language exuded a newfound air of coquettish openness.

"It's so simple, you know. Just look into my eyes, and you can join us, and we'll do all the things we've always wanted to do with each other, but were too afraid to do."

"But ... this isn't you talking, you ... you don't know what you're saying ..."

"It's silly to resist anyway." She proceeded to float right against him, her flirtatious arm almost attempting to lift Mason off the ground with her. She did feel nice. Except ... except ... this wasn't Julie.

And yet, it was as if some distinct aspect of her, one that had always been present, was now merely amplified. The testy, combative Julie had given way to the other Julie, the one who had been quietly lingering there, hoping for someone or something to bring it to the fore ...

"Oh, we'll take you eventually," she cooed as she rose past him. "And when we do, I'll be there ... waiting for you ..."

With a swift jerk of his torso, he wrestled himself away from the girl whose opinionated, ultra-feminist leanings had clearly vanished in an instant.

As he bolted off toward the barn, he could hear a pair of Menudian boys introduce themselves to Julie, and Julie introduce herself to the boys, and ... the sounds of ... oh God ... a pair of boys ... it was even worse than with Emily. To think that such noises could have been coming from Julie, of all girls ... and it had unfolded so instantaneously ... and with just one look, he could have been there right alongside her, sliding those straps down her arm, stroking that light brown hair ...

Mason was always so skilled at finding the humor in any situation, but in this case, it was proving to be increasingly difficult. Although part of him was tempted to listen, he nevertheless plugged his ears with his fingers all the way over the hill ...

*****

Curt couldn't see them, but somehow he could sense it.

They were everywhere.

Not only that, but more disturbingly, he knew that they their eyes were on him.

His attempt to sneak along the pond, and thus potentially toward the parking lot, had been foiled by the presence of five or six Menudians -- he thought he'd recognized that dastardly Greg, along with ... well, it had appeared to be Liza at any rate.

The sun was finally making its sleepy descent over the western hills. He was running out of pathways to try, and night would be approaching soon.

Tired, confused, wavering, Curt stood in the grass and wiped his forehead. It was hard to explain, but he knew that he was slowly being surrounded, that the fellow female picnickers who'd already been taken were relentlessly homing in on him. Escape felt almost fruitless.

Maybe it was time to give in. Ellis, Mason ... they were tough, they were determined, but Curt? The boy just didn't have it in him. He couldn't stop thinking about how magnificent Angela had looked, her nipples poking through that crop top as Greg probed all the places Curt had often wanted to probe ... by this time, the image had grown into a three-headed monster that was blotting out any other rational thought. And just when he knew he needed to think clearly!

He ran toward the abandoned ranger station, which was nestled in a hillside and which, he began to realize -- perhaps too late -- left him with no clean exit route.

"Curt ..."

He turned to his left. It was Liza, having flown onto the grass with remarkable precision, still in her black top and green shorts, but with that subtle sensuality to her movements that, until she'd become a Menudian, she'd never managed to exude before.

"Curt ... it's time for you to join us." There was slightly less of a monotone affect in her voice, as if some semblance of her natural, pre-Menudian personality, though certainly not all of it, had returned by now.

To his right landed Vanessa, still in her black skirt, but now having lost her thin dark green sweater and instead sporting a white cropped t-shirt with a red heart graphic on the chest and lettuce-edge trim on the bottom (which she had apparently been wearing underneath the sweater?).

"You're wrong to resist, Curt. You'll enjoy being a Menudian more than almost anyone else. Just trust us and you'll see ..."

Seemingly out of nowhere, another familiar figure plopped down behind him and added her voice to the mélange. "We know you're afraid, but you'll find out very soon -- like we did -- that there's nothing to be afraid of."

He couldn't place it at first, so familiar and yet with a new, seductive flavor he didn't recognize. Then it hit him.

They'd ... they'd even taken Julie?

Well, it truly was hopeless now.

With a quick glance, he could see that she'd jettisoned her white short-sleeve top, as well as her bra, and was simply wandering around in her green dress, one strap dangling down her right arm, her erect nipples poking through the fabric.

"Menudia will relieve you of all your fears," she added, quite persuasively.

Then Angela flew in near Vanessa, wearing the white "milk maid" crop top and long floral print skirt he'd last seen her wearing during that mesmerizing experience earlier in the day, but now with a look in her eye that he'd never seen her give him before -- a look full of longing, determination, tenderness, and mischief.

"I know you were watching when I was taken by Greg. Part of you was scared, but an equal part of you was excited, wasn't it? Because you wanted to be doing what Greg was doing, didn't you? Well ... just look into my eyes, and we can do all that ... and more."

While desperately attempting to avoid Angela's gaze, Curt looked up and saw Emily glide down and place herself directly between Curt and the ranger station, still in her pink button-up blouse (which had by now been re-buttoned) and black denim jeans. "See Curt, once you become a Menudian, you can sort of ... pick up on other people's thoughts, in a manner of speaking. So we know a thing or two about you ..."

"For instance," Julie explained, "we know that you're very attracted to all of us."

"No, I ..." he began to stammer.

"Don't try to hide it," Vanessa suggested, as she kneaded the bottom of her cropped tee in her hands. "I mean, you could, but it wouldn't do any you good. Besides, it's so cute watching you get all flustered and panicky."

"That shyness and nervousness ... mmm, so irresistible," Julie pointed out.

"Cause here's the thing, Curt," Liza added. "We know you think we're all really hot but, it turns out that ... we all think you're really hot too."

"Uh huh," concurred Emily. "All those times I'd teased you, mocked you? It's so funny, how attraction can express itself in the most roundabout ways. Silly pre-Menudian me ..." She turned to the others, who were forming a tighter and tighter circle around him. "What else do we know about Curt?"

"We know you're not very ... experienced," Angela mentioned. "Don't you think it's time we ... changed all that?"

"Don't you think you've been a virgin for a little too long? We can start out slowly, if that's what you'd prefer," Liza proposed. "There's lots of other things a boy and a girl can do besides have intercourse."

"All that pressure that's built up in your body ..." Julie said. "Wouldn't it be so nice to finally ... let it all out?"

"I can see your little Curt pressing against those cute cargo shorts," Vanessa observed. "It doesn't look very little, though. Don't you think it would be nice if someone relaxed it and let out allllll that horrible tension?"

"Maybe you'd like one of us to give you a massage?" Angela proposed. "A calm, sensual massage with a sweet little 'happy ending'?"

"Or maybe you could give one of us a massage ..." Julie suggested.

"Or maybe we can explore a secret fetish or two," Emily added. "What do you think about taking a little ... shower together? Don't you think my blouse would look nice all wet and see-through?"

How did she ... how did they ... but he'd never told the girls about that!

Curt backed into the wooden frame of the ranger station, trying to look anywhere but at the five seductively sexy girls creeping nearer and nearer, feeling like Odysseus tied to the mast, but without a crew of sailors around to help him fight off their ceaseless siren song.

"Or how about a dip in the pool?" Angela said. "Wouldn't you like to watch me take a pleasant, playful swim in a cute t-shirt and jeans?"

He tried his best to recall his pact with the others -- those who still remained, how they would resent him for being taken, how it would feel like the ultimate betrayal. The sight of the girls, and their enticing words, were scrambling his brains ...

Angela began fondling her skirt with her hands. So inviting, so encouraging. She seemed a good choice. Any of them would have brought him over.

In the end, he knew he had no recourse.

Without warning, his hands shaking from nervousness and agitation, Curt gazed up at Angela and stared straight into her dazzling blue eyes.

Her face lit up with unexpected delight. "Yes! That's it ..." As it began to sink into her predatory Menudian brain that her prey was deliberately abandoning all effort at resistance, Angela eagerly stared back and gave him a subtle, diabolical, anticipatory smile. "Almost there ... almost there ..."

He just had to hold his gaze long enough ... just a few more seconds ... and then the cute blonde Viking warrior would finally be theirs ...

His very last independent, non-Menudian thought was this: "Ellis, Haley, Karen, Mason, please forgive me -- if only you'd known what I'd been up against ..."