206. In Over Her Head
Amy decides the vines are the best option. “If I can just swing over to the Venus Flytrap, I can drop the herbicide in its mouth and be done with it! Besides, I’d rather not risk trekking all the way across this greenhouse; who knows what else is waiting for me here?” She looks at the vine and bites her lip. She had never actually managed to climb the rope in her middle school gym class. Now, despite her insistence to the contrary when Coach Procopio had screamed at her (motivationally!) all those years ago, her life depends on her ability to climb a rope.
Amy stands up and grabs a vine. She pulls on it firmly to test it out and it seems sturdy. She then wraps her bare legs around it, clenching the vine between her thighs. She grabs the vine with both hands and heaves herself upward. Even with all her weight on the vine it holds strong. Amy begins pulling herself up. Her arms ache. She takes frequent rest breaks by shifting her weight to her legs and letting them hold her up, but even so Amy doesn’t really have the upper body strength to make this easy. She is, however, pleased with herself; she's made it much farther up this vine than she ever did on the rope back in school. Maybe it's all those trips to the gym in college, when she finally started taking an interest in her physical fitness. Maybe it's the vine, which is smooth and slightly sticky, as compared to the rough, scratchy ropes at her middle school. Whatever the reason, she is slowly ascending toward the ceiling.
“Just a few more feet and I’ll be at that pod thing,” she thinks to herself, “I can hang onto the top of that and take a break while I plan my next move.” Amy pulls herself up, inch by agonizing inch, until she can finally reach the pod. She stretches her hand out to grab it, getting closer and closer until…
SHLOORP!
Just as she makes contact with the pod a giant hole opens up and a tremendous vacuum force sucks Amy upward. First her arm is pulled in, then her head and shoulders. As it does so the opening forms a tight seal around Amy’s body; tight enough to tear off her shirt and bra as she’s pulled upward. Within seconds Amy is up to her waist, her upper body now inside the round green pod. Her hands try to pry the opening apart so that she an fall out while her legs kick to keep her from going in further. Her efforts are not enough. The pod slowly pulls her in further, its opening making way for the curve of her buttocks as it pushes her jean shorts and panties downward. As the last of her butt is pulled upward the shorts fall heavily to the floor below; the heart-print panties flutter downward a bit more gracefully. Her hips now held tight in the pod’s lips, Amy kicks her legs below the knees in a futile attempt to dislodge herself. With a final SLUURP! the last of Amy is pulled in, her boots and socks falling to the ground as her wiggling toes are sucked into the pod.
Now Amy sits, naked, in the dark greenness of the pod. “Well, now what?” Amy says aloud, disappointed in herself for not realizing that something was up with this mysterious plant. Her question is answered when a clear, viscous liquid begins pouring into the pod from above. The liquid stings to the touch. Amy’s eyes widen as terror seizes her. “Oh my God, I’m going to be digested alive!” Amy panics as the reality of her situation sets in. She begins trying to tear at the bottom of the pod, hoping to find some way out, but it’s no use; the plant is just too strong for her nails to penetrate, and without her clothes she no longer has a knife or anything else that could puncture the pod. Amy’s skin burns as the liquid rises to mid-chest. By now Amy is so seized by fear that she’s no longer making a concerted effort to escape; she’s just flailing her limbs because there’s nothing else to do. Amy’s skin begins to flake off and dissolve, exposing red muscles beneath. Finally, liquid covers her head and Amy mercifully asphyxiates.
A few hours later, the pod opens its maw to release Amy’s remains, a pile of yellowed, partially-digested bones and a pair of glasses. They land on top of the pile of her clothes, a grim warning to future visitors that these vines are not as innocuous as they may seem.
Amy is in no condition to continue this adventure or her life.