Penny snapped a picture of the worm as it swam through the water of the mid-sized aquarium/terrarium hybrid and sent it to Lindsay with the caption "what the fuck?"
"So what is it?" She asked Cece.
The room was filled with a cacophony of buzzing motors and trickling water from several different aquariums and terrariums, both large and small. They even covered one of the bed frames, the mattress having been removed and replaced with a sheet of plywood.
Cece shrugged her shoulders.
"Wormy is whatever she wants to be."
The girl tracked the worm in the water with her finger affectionately. It followed her finger relentlessly whenever she got near.
"So you have no clue," Eliza said.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"What do we do? My roommate's gone psycho. Why would she put this thing in my panties drawer?"
Eliza peered at the thing as it swam frantically through the water.
"I mean, it kind of fits, in a sick way. It has a rather familiar shape," she said.
Penny looked at the thing and at first didn't understand. She traced her eyes along its wiggling, tube like mass, up to the bulge of greenish-black flesh that seemed to be its head. The creature looked like an eel, but that didn't have anything to do with panties. Penny tried to imagine it crawling through narrow burrows under the sea floor. Squeezing through narrow passage ways. Pushing its head into tight openings.
It clicked.
"Ew! Stop being gross!"
"I'm not the one who stuck this monster with your panties."
"Hey!" Cece snapped. "Sweet Wormengarde is not a monster."
Eliza and Penny both gave the girl baffled looks, but back off when they saw the sheer level of anger and sincerity in the girl's face.
"Thanks for taking it, Cece," Penny said sheepishly.
"Yeah," Eliza added. "Thanks for, um, helping me."
"That's better," Cece said with a smirk.
She grabbed a label maker on her desk, one of two surfaces not covered in animal habitats, and printed out a label reading "Sweet Wormengarde - Unknown". Then she carefully slid the label across the very top right corner of the aquarium.
"How do you know it won't drown?" Penny asked.
The creature seemed to swim just fine, but it must have spent a while in the air waiting for Penny to find it. At the very least, it seemed to survive just fine in land.
"I got this habitat for a bullfrog. It's got a mix of aquatic and land environments, as you can see," Cece pointed to a dismal gray island with a pot of fake grass that took up nearly a quarter of the tank. "It's sloped so wormy can get back on land if she needs to. I stuck her on land first while you were cleaning up, but she seems to like swimming better."
"Are you sure it's safe to have this thing?" Eliza asked. "I mean, it straight up attacked Penny. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was going for your crotch!"
Eliza grinned maniacally and jabbed Penny in the ribs. Being around the little pixie bitch was getting old quick.
"Very funny," Penny said.
Cece grabbed a glass jar full of cubes of dried brown matter labeled "brine shrimp" and pulled out a handful. Through the grating on top of the aquarium, she dropped these cubes one by one. They plopped into the water and started to break apart.
At first, the creature within the aquarium did not react. It swam up and down, bouncing against the disintegrating brine shrimp. Then, perking up its bulbous head, it approached one of the more solid cubes.
The girls watched in awe and mild disgust as the head of the creature expanded, revealing a hole that they could only assume was the mouth. This hole was big enough to fit a marble when fully opened. In an instant, the worm inhaled the cube of soggy brine shrimp into its mouth and swam back down into the depths. A moment later, it popped back up and grabbed another cube.
It repeated this process until nothing was left. It never slowed down its feeding and seemed perfectly read for more. It wiggled its body and seemed to look at Cece expectantly.
"To answer your question," Cece said finally. "I have a tarantula and a scorpion as well. Safety isn't big on my list of concerns."
"Suit yourself. That thing gives me the creeps," Eliza said.
"Well it's a good thing you won't be caring for her then," Cece said.
At that moment, Penny's phone chimed with a text message. It was from Lindsay.
"I take it you didn't like your homecoming gift?" It read.
Penny furrowed her brow. Was Lindsay really trying to joke through this? The level of immaturity was astounding.
"What? What is it?" Eliza asked.
"It's our favorite person."
Penny showed Eliza the text.
"Tell her you want to meet up and talk."
"Fine," Penny said.
She texted this to Lindsay and a minute later got a response.
"I'm at Carter Hall. Room 124. Meet me there?"
"She wants to meet at Carter Hall. This sounds weird."
"Tell her you're coming," Eliza said. "Don't mention me. I want to catch her off guard."
"Fine," Penny said.
She had a sinking feeling in her gut. Something was wrong, that much was obvious. There was so little they actually knew.
"Alright," Eliza said. "Carter is a ten minute walk. Let's go. Cece, thanks for the help and good luck with your worm."
"Au Revoir," Cece said as she dumped another heaping of brine shrimp into the tank. The creature within guzzled down the particulate.
Before they left, Penny dashed back into her room and came out holding a wooden softball bat.
"What the hell are you bringing that thing for?" Eliza asked.
"Between the worms and the deaths and Lindsay being all weird, I don't feel safe."
"Come on, that's stupid. Put that thing away."
"No! You weren't the one with the monster worm crawling all over you!"
"Fine," Eliza said, sighing. "Come on. Let's head out."
Now that she could move her arms and legs, Melissa was bound. That cruel irony seemed to define her night.
Her wrists and hands were bound with duct tape and each ankle was bound to one bed post by rope. She could wiggle a little, but otherwise was rendered immobile. There was a strip of duct tape covering her mouth.
In her mind, memories flashed at irregular intervals. Visions of Erin, of her crying for help. Memory of the feeling. Melissa, feeling her pussy throb like never before, unable to get up and help. Unable to even register the situation. Just watching vacantly as her friend was defiled.
The girls were talking amongst themselves.
"I don't see why we don't grab one of the eggs that's ready to hatch and just leave it between her legs. It's not like she can fight it," the blonde one, Lindsay, said.
"Because," Megan said. "It's not fun that way."
"Well then what is fun? Turning other girls in fun."
Megan sighed and walked over to Melissa, running her hand along the girl's belly.
"What's fun is letting our newest sister turn her former friend when she's finally ready."
Melissa's blood ran cold. She could barely wrap her head around the last few hours and what she did understand terrified her. What was happening to Erin? What was that thing they put inside of her?
"Great," Lindsay said. "That could take hours. You don't even know where the little bitch went."
"I'm sure she's around here," Megan said.
"How are you sure?"
Megan shrugged.
"A hunch."
"Well what are we supposed to do?"
Lily was clutching her belly and looking on the verge of tears. Lindsay just looked pissed.
"One of you is going to have to watch her."
Melissa shifted herself slightly, trying to get a good idea of how much mobility she could manage. Her legs were secured tightly and spread in a way that made her feel vaguely ill having seen Erin's fate only minutes earlier. Her wrists were bound tightly as well, but they were not attached to the bed. That was something, at least.
"Nose ghost!" Lindsay said.
Lilly refused to look up. The girl seemed dejected. Every few minutes, she would eye Melissa with a mix of desire and sadness.
"I feel so empty," she muttered. "Why did you take it from me?"
"What is she on about?" Megan asked.
"I think she's upset that you took her baby from her," Lindsay said.
"Oh. Sorry, I guess."
Lily looked up at Megan, her eyes glistening with tears.
"Will there be another one? I want a chance to give it to someone. It was feeling so good."
"Sure," Megan said. "Just go find someone to fuck."
"So is that how it works?" Lindsay asked. "Because I'm empty right now and I haven't fucked a guy since last night."
Megan shrugged. Her patience with the other two was clearly waning.
"I don't know. Seems like it. I fucked two guys to death yesterday and pushed out that monstrosity a couple hours later. I haven't had anything since."
"So if I fuck, then I'll give birth to another one?"
"Yeah, sure. Just don't kill someone. Why don't you run along, Lily?"
Lindsay stared daggers at Megan. Melissa watched as the girl tensed, looking ready to punch Megan. Then she relented.
"I can't fuck. I can't turn anyone. You owe me if you let her go have fun."
"Oh my God, you really are going to drag your feet on this. Yes, fine. What do you want out of this?"
Melissa watched the girls carefully. The last thing she needed was them getting suspicious of her. Her heart pounded harder than it ever had. She was trapped, tied up, and apparently living in a crazy science fiction story.
After seeing Erin violated by that creature, nothing felt real anymore. It only seemed stranger to have the girls bickering like this. This never happened in the movies.
"I want you to bring me a really hot girl to turn," Lindsay said. "I'm talking ten out of ten babe. One of your cheerleader friends, maybe."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about those," Megan said. She looked pensive for a moment and then refocused. "Fine. I'll find you a really hot girl or whatever. Just watch this one right now."
"Deal."
At least I have a little time, Melissa thought. She looked down and saw the bump of her phone in her pocket. Her fingers were almost completely immobile, but the tips stuck out from the duct tape. If she could just get it out of her pocket, there was hope. Especially with the girls bickering.
"Alright, we're agreed then," Megan said. "I'm going to find our newest convert. You're going to watch pepperspray bitch over here. Lily, put on some clothes and find someone's bone to jump."
Melissa kept a close eye on each of the girls and dipped her hand into her pocket, pulling the phone out and letting it fall slightly to the mattress. Then she pushed it under her right buttock for later.
Megan and Lily left shortly after, leaving Lindsay alone with her. The room seemed to grow more tense as it came down to the two of them. Somehow, Melissa felt more vulnerable.
Lindsay walked over to the bed and started to run her hands along Melissa's body. Closing her eyes, Melissa tried to imagine herself far away from her own body. The girl's fingers pried more and more as the seconds stacked up.
"You both put up a good fight. A lot better than the girls last night," Lindsay said. "You really nailed Megan with that mace."
The girl cupped Melissa's breast and began to massage it through her shirt. Suddenly, she felt a growing warmth matched with tingly pleasure that vibrated through her skin like small lightning bolts. Melissa started to get wet between the legs.
TBC