The Ravenous Bug
Chapter 1 – The Birth
Somewhere in the middle of night, a phone rang, waking up a sleepy and now irritated beautiful woman.
“What now?” said to herself Lizzie, as she picked up the phone.
“I’ve done it! I’ve done it, Lizzie! It is ALIVE!” said her close friend Amy.
“Do I want it to be alive?” was Lizzie’s sarcastic answer.
“Just come here quick, Liz. Trust me, this time it is nothing short of awesome!”
“Fine, I am on my way”. God… Another one of her crazy-ass experiments, thought Lizzie. I shouldn’t have agreed to come, that will just signal her I can be constantly bothered at 2 A.M… But she came anyway. She just loves her friend too much.
And so Lizzie drove to Amy’s house, wandering what to expect from her weird friend. Amy was an independent inventor, dreaming of making a fortune from creating some kind of useful… thing… Many times, it ended in disaster. Yet optimistic to the core, Amy keeps trying. It’s not that she didn’t have the talent or scientific intelligence; it is just another case of being too creative for her own good.
As Lizzie knew she was getting closer to Amy’s house, due to a weird smell that never left the area after one of her experiments exploded.
Lizzie entered the house using her copy of the key that Amy gave her. It was a most unusual looking house. Filled with colorful fumes that occupied specific corners of the house, constant bubbling noise and the eerie-but-cute Blimper (Amy’s cat, that Lizzie was almost sure could teleport, as he ended up in places impossible to reach).
“Amy, I’m here. Where are ya?” yelled Lizzie.
“Down here! In the basement!” was the reply.
The basement was so populated by colorful and noisy things, it took Lizzie a moment to find Amy between all her Work-In-Progress inventions.
“So what am I going to be disappointed by this time, Amy?”
“THIS!” said Amy as she pointed towards a glass animal box.
Lizzie looked closer and saw a tiny moth.
“What twisted tortures have you put this little bugger through?” asked Lizzie.
“I managed to replace the enzymes in charge of this moth’s metabolism with MUCH more efficient ones. We are talking about millions of times faster conversion of food to energy! Do you realize what this MEANS”
“No.” said a confused Lizzie. “I never do. Why don’t we jump ahead and get to the part where you explain it so simple minded fellows like me could unde…”
“Watch!” Amy cut her mid talk as she pulled out a red sock. She made sure the insect wasn’t near the opening of the cage, when she quickly opened it, threw the sock inside and closed it as fast as she could.
Lizzie gasped as she saw the entire sock being devoured by the tiny insect in less than a second, as it moved at unbelievable speed. If she wasn’t aware of the bug’s presence, she might have thought the sock dematerialized by itself!
“Sweet mother of all that is good and pure… It’s a super moth!”
“Exactly!” said Amy with the biggest smile her face could handle. “The only weakness it has is its huge appetite. It is capable of eating almost constantly as it burns the food VERY quickly, and weakens in energy faster than the regular moths.”
“This is all very impressive Amy. I mean it. But except having it save little lady-moths from sinister villain-moths, I don’t see how this super-moth is gonna be useful for anything.” said Lizzie with a skeptical voice.
“Ah but this is only the beginning, my dear friend. Imagine we could manipulate human enzymes the same way! We could create supermen! Or help people lose extra fat by temporarily enhancing their metabolism! And who knows, maybe this ravenous bug could be a new source of energy! Like Flubber! A horde of these, fed with simple clothes could lift cars into the AIR!” said Amy with the most uncontainable excitement.
“Holy!... But for stuff like that you have to learn how to control it. You can’t train a bug like a dog”. Said Lizzie, sensing her friend already has an answer for that (as she always does).
“On the contrary, Liz, you can associate a certain smell to the bug’s food source. The bug will smell the specific smell we taught him and he will be drawn to it expecting food.”
“Like a moth to a flame, haha!” laughed Lizzie at her own wittiness.
“I have already experimented with a specific pheromone and it works- the bug is drawn to it!” said Amy in a victorious manner.
“What pheromone did you use?” inquired Lizzie.
“Well, ummmm, pretty much the only one I have constant supply of. The human female pheromone. Mine, to be exact.”
“It is drawn to you?”
“To all women, actually. When he smells a woman he will come expecting food.”
“Not very useful, Em.”
“Well, it’s not like I have unlimited resources. I use what I got…”
“Not blaming ya. Splendid work. Sorry if I was a little cynical earlier.”
Their conversation was cut when they heard a muffled yell.
“Blimpy! He must have gotten himself stuck inside my closet! Don’t know how he enters it in the first place… I lock it all the time… ever since that experiment on him…
I’ll be right back Liz.”
Amy took her key out of the pocket and opened the closet. Out came rushing little frightened Blimpy. “You silly animal…” Then Amy was startled as she heard a loud scream coming from the basement.
“Oh no! Was Lizzie eaten alive by my predatory plant?” thought Amy.
“AMY GET DOWN HERE NOW!” said Lizzie hystericaly.
Amy rushed to the basement. There she found Lizzie almost crying.
“I am so sorry, Amy. I just wanted to try and feed it myself, just to see it again cause it was so amazing. I didn’t mean it to happen.” Said Lizzie. “The moment I opened the cage it flew out. I thought we might still catch it when I called you but if flew into the ventilation.”
Amy was trying to listen but was a bit distracted. Lizzie noticed her friend’s shocked face. “God, I just ruined her most promising experiment, she must be in shock or something.” thought to herself Lizzie. “Please Amy, say something…”
“Whoahh… will you look at that…” was the response.
This confused Lizzie. And then she felt it. The lack of weight on her body, he coolness of the air, the lightness… “AAHHH!!! What the HELL?!?! WHY AM I NAKED!!??!” shrieked Lizzie as she looked down to see her magnificent hooters and pussy in full view of Amy. Lizzie immediately ducked behind a table nearby to hide herself from Amy.
“Aren’t you cute, hihihihi.” giggled Amy at her red-faced friend. “But this is no time for laughter. This is nothing short of a disaster. This being could do unspeakable damage. We must catch it at once, before it claims more victims like you.” said Amy in a worried voice unlike her. “Oh no…” She continued.
“What is it, Em?” asked Lizzie.
“What if it were to… mate? It could pass its super powers and create a new super moth species… This is a danger on a biblical scale. I must think of a way to track it down, and FAST!”
“Could you give me some clothes first?” she couldn’t stand being naked and exposed for one more second.
“Wha..? Oh, hihi… sure thing.” And there went Amy to get some of her clothes for her nude friend. However, she returned empty handed. “It seems the bug went through my entire house… I can’t find a single piece of clothing!”
To be continued…