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| �What the hell?� Leslie squealed. Mackenzie was the only one who dared to venture closer to Sherri�s newly vacated seat. Being the one sitting closest to her when it had happened helped, she thought she would�ve caught it already if it was contagious. She inspected the underwear cautiously, holding it close to her face. That was soon discarded and she reached into the top. Extracting a bra, she examined the black lace. After a few moments, she paused and gingerly plucked something from the material. �She�s damned puny,� Mackenzie finally stated. �She looks frightened and it�s hard not to squish her between my fingers.� She transferred her shrunken elder to her right palm. The others crowded around to view the squirming pink dot. �Yellow Number Five,� Hailey breathed. She saw the others looking and remembered that it was rude to start a thought out loud and not finish it. She had to say it, no matter how outrageous it seemed. After Sherri�s disappearing act, anything was possible. �My boyfriend used to joke that the stuff would make�� ���Nads shrink?� Mackenzie finished. She extended a pinkie to the insignificant speck that had once been Sherri. �I used to wonder what it was supposed to do to chicks if that was true.� �No!� shrieked Leslie. Her heavier body deflated before their eyes. The latest victim shed her garments in the midst of the madness the change brought about. The others could now see her body was not shrinking equally. �My tampon, it�s like it�s getting friggin� huge in there.� Her efforts to remove it were the epitome of the old saying: too little too late. Her body burst under the strain. The ladies huddled together, deriving strength from the physical and situational closeness. In turn, all eight of the remaining group members went through the horror. Each one was sure to strip down and remove any jewelry that could cause �unfortunate consequences� like poor Leslie�s. Each one waited for her turn to join the ones who had gone before. Hailey held the women in her hands before being the last to join the new club. They stayed clear of Leslie�s remains and milled about in that futile human way of making it seem that you either have a plan, or that one is on the horizon. �Now what?� asked Sherri. �Are we all stuck like this? I have a family and job. We all have lives and don�t want to end up in a vacuum bag or under someone�s shoes. We have to signal for help, or leave some kind of message.� Hope of that was dashed when Sherri spontaneously shrank further. After a point, her body trembled and a faint pop punctuated her passage into oblivion. The order of this new stage followed as before. None of the women were afraid anymore. The inevitability swallowed them and they all vanished into nothingness, leaving behind eventual confusion and sorrow for those they loved, but they could no longer care. Randy turned up the radio in his car. He�d missed the story the last time around and had to hear it. If it was about what he thought he�d heard, Hailey would have to hear about it. He needed to pay attention for anything identifying it as some sort of �War of the Worlds� crap. It was a local story, so she must be hearing it. �And we�d like to say it again,� the reporter intoned. �Representatives of the Pepsi-Cola bottling plant are warning people not to drink any Mountain Dew from their facility. An unknown chemical agent has contaminated several batches and the results in humans have been varied. Early reports have even indicated people getting� smaller. Officials have not yet ruled it out as an act of terrorism. They also say that the substance seem to only react with the compound Yellow Five in the mixture. The bottles in question include lot numbers-� Randy switched the radio off. What would anyone stand to gain by making people tiny? It could make a coup easier, true, and it inspired a few erotic thoughts about his lovely Hailey. Maybe he�d bring it up when he saw her in a few minutes. He�d gone a week without seeing her and going any longer without the presence of her lithe body, shimmering brown hair, infectious laugh and smile, and boundless sense of humor would destroy him. |
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