Gemma a plump redheaded girl of twenty four stped out of the tram on to an unusual quite station platform. As she was joseld along by the crowed spilling out of the doors she had time to wounded at why it was so quite. Most days she had to fight her way past an army of bleary eyed people pushing the orther way. Most of them where on their way to work just like she was. But today the station was empty. She did not think of it for long. As her size eight trainer clad feet slapped along on the concrete of the floor she did not even look down to see what might be under them. If she had she might have noticed a few tiny black bugs. Most likely she would have just kept walking and thought nothing more of the bugs if she had noticed them. But these where not bugs. Theses where men and women who until five minuets ago had been the same size as normal humans. What had happened five minuets ago to reduce them to the size of bugs? Not a one of them could say. One second they had been big the next small. There was no flash, no black out nothing. Just a change. There had been over one hundred people on the platform and it would be pointless to describe how each one of them reacted to finding them self around the size of a ant. There where screams, some people fainted. Some could not work out why they had moved to a huge gray plane. Orthers could work out logical that they must have shrunk even if they could not wrap their head around it as something that could happen. Even before the tram pulled up the newly tiny people started to die of. Some had the bad luck to be standing on drains when they shrunk. Before they could even work out what was going on they had gone from standing to falling thew the air in to dark vile warter deep below them. Needless to say this few where never seen or heard from again. They died with out even knowing where they where drowning while looking up at the daylight high above them.Yet more where stood to close the the rails. As the tram pulled up the air picked them up along with all the orther tiny bits of dirt and they where either batted in to the hard side of the tram or drifted down under it. The ones who where slammed in to the side died on impact but their tiny limp body's where flung around and still ended up under the feet of the morning commuters. The ones who drifted under the tram either died as they feel to the floor or if they did stay alive where picked back up by the wind as the tram moved of and slammed in to the underside of the tram. The first of the tiny ones to die under the well worn pink sole of Gemmas size eight shoe was a girl she had talked to a few times as they both waited on the tram. Her name was Gabby and she was the same age as Gemma. Upuntill she shrunk she had been thinking about whether it would be a good move to give up smoking or if she enjoyed it to much to quit and then....wel Then she was tiny. There was nothing inbetwen. The first thing she tired to do after she got over the shock was to pull out her phone. No luck it was just black. She knew as soon as the tram pulled up that things where about to get bad. The Tram was full of people heading to the offices and university and the door that lead to them was behind her and the orther tinys. It was barely seven in the morning and the hundreds of people heading of the tram where to busy looking at their phones or morning Coffey to take any notice anything tinny and buggy that might be trying to stay alive on the floor by their feet. As the doors slid open and the giant people began to push out Gabby sank to her knees in fear. What could she even try and do to stay alive? Eatch of the people was bigger than anything she could even copperhead. The ground began to shake as they started to walk. She thought about running but what was the point? She was not going to die like some dumb bug running around. She would most likely just run her was under someone foot anyway. She would kneel here and wait to see what fate had in store for her. As the giant feet began to pass all around she all missed past out. But non of them seamed to be coming close. For a few seconds she began to think she might be OK. She did not see Gemmas face so she had no clue who's foot it was all she knew was that the giant pink and black trainers where going wide of her. High up above Gemma took a small side ways step to get around someone who had stopped to look at his phone. She did not feel anything odd under the sole of her shoe as her foot came down. Or the step after that or as she walked out of the door. But eatch of those steps ended a life. From the point of view of the tiny girl the giant shoe swung in the air moving over a huge amount of space quicker than a flash. For a split second Gabby could look up at the well worn pink sole. She could see ever details. The worn down trees. The specs of dirt on the sole. What looked like a spiders leg stuck to a small clump of mud. Then the shoe dropped. That was the end of the tiny one. Nothing was left. The weight of the shoe and the woman in belonged to turned her in to less than mush. Eatch bone was powder. Her body was liquid. If the giant women had turned her shoe over at this point she might have noticed if she looked closely a tiny grease stain just under the ball of her foot. But after a few steps that was gone to. The next two people she crushed had the same fate. A man of fifty who was running away as fast as his tiny legs could move was the victim of her next step. His body was smashed under the heel of her orther foot. A tiny woman stood near the doors who was screaming up at anyone and everyone for help meet her end next. Crushed out of life by the toe of the giant shoe. Gemma was a kind woman. She hardly even crushed bugs. She had no clue that her feet had ended three life's so far that day.
But as for those that did not die under her shoes? Well they did not get away that easy. All most all of them where killed with in a minuet of the tram doors opening. A gaggle of teenagers who tried to get close to eatch orther for safety found them self in the path of a forty something Asian businesswoman . Even tho her feet where only size three all of the eight teenagers fitted neatly under the ball of her black leather heel. As her foot lifted back up all that remained of the young people was a faint sticky spot on the sole of her shoe. This would be rubbed of on the carpet of her work latter. A runner called Dan made it quite far dodging around between the huge office shoes and high heels. He could see the huge black woman stamping his way. Her black flats thudding in to the ground. Tensing his legs he dived to the side at the last second. He yelled out as he stood up. He had made it. The last of the passengers had walked past and he was safe! Joy overwhelmed him for a second before the wheel of the case the woman had been pulling rolled over him turning him to paste. Over and over the same fate fell from on high for the tiny ones. Office shoes,heels,boots. Some tiny ones died on inpact some had parts of their bodys crushed but stayed alive for a few more seconds until a second foot crashed down on to their tiny bodies. Dave a man of thirty who had been standing near the bench where he had shrunk watched all this from his hiding place under the bench. He could see a young women barely more than a teenager running to the bench diving out of the way of shoes and feet. He could make out all the fear on her face as she got closer and closer skipping out of the way of the giants. Then she was hit. Not crushed just skimmed with a black office shoe. He lost sight of her. As the platform emptied he tired to think what his next move should be. Then he found her again! She was limping but alive. "Over here! Quick run to the bench while its clear!" He yelled to her. Her eyes lit up and she started to run.
Fiona was a forty five year old tram woker. On this morning she had to go up on to the platform and get on the next tram to come along. As she walked down the steps she noticed how quite things where. "Stranger I wounded where everyone is?" The tanned blond said to her self. "Still can't complain I am glad of a quite shift!" She ideally reached down and picked up a few wrapper of the ground near the bench and dropped them in to the bin. "Good its cool today." She muttered noticing a tiny ant running around by the toe of her dirty black work boot. With out even thinking she lifted the toe of the work boot slightly and lowered it down on the bug. It was not a stamp she just taped her toes once. With out even checking if the bug was dead she turned on her toe and began walking back and forth.
Dave could only watch on numbly as the tiny girl looked up and screamed as the thick dirty black rubber sole lowered down on to her slowly. The giant work boot did not even seam to crush. The girl just folded up under it. Blood burst out everywhere as the toe touched the floor. But then as it lifted and walked of. Nothing. Even at his size there was nothing left of the girls life. It had been wiped out by one idle tap of this giant woman's toes. The worst thing was the giant had been bending over. Her face had been closer to the tiny girl than any of the others. In fact her eyes had fixed right on her for a second. But still she had died under the boot sole. "How the hell do I stay alive! She looked at her for gods sake could she not see she was human!" But no he looked like a bug now. And the truth was most people when they noticed a tiny bug would think nothing of crushing it to death. If he was going to stay alive he was going to have to be smart and fast. And above all very very lucky!
Selene rubbed sleep out of her eyes as she climbed the stars. "Its way to early for this bullshit" She thought to herself. It had taken all she had to climb out of her bed in the student hauls that morning and make it to her nine o'clock class. Selene was a nineteen year old English student.
The best way to describe her look would have to be Goth. Her hair was jet black, long and dreaded. Her skin was pale and her lips and eyes painted dark. Her clothes lived up to her face. She had on a pair of dark black pants,a black hooded top and a pair of mid shin leigh Demnia boots with a four inch thick rubber sole. She threw her bag down on the floor and slumped in to one of the chairs. "Early again ...shit." She kicked her boots up and pulled out her phone.
"Hi your early today!" Said a voice by her elbow. She turned " O Hi Luke." She said before turning back to her phone. Luke was not a bad kid. He was thin and geeky and but he did go out of his way to be helpful. At least to the girls in the class something that Selene and the orthers where not shy to take advantage of. "So did you catch it?" Luke asked sitting down next to her. She flicked her eyes up from her phone. "Did I catch what?"
"The worm silly! Eary bird catched the worm. " He grinned from under his mop of light hair. Selene raised one black eyebrow. "The only bird I want to see at this time of the morning is a chicken. And that's only if I am about to take a bite out of it."
Luke burst out laughing. "Your funny as well as cute! Can I get you a drink or something to eat from the vending machines?"
"Well I don't want anything but I guess if your going to be paying you can get me a coffee and a fresh pack of gum." Selene lowered her face back to her phone as Luke trotted of.
Luke collected the gum first from the machine before walking a few steps to the coffee machine. He checked what change he had on him and muted "Shit!" under his breath. He was out. Not a penny left. "How the hell am I going to keep this charm up if I can't even bring her a drink!" He muttered. He sighed god she was hot if only he could impress her! Then he noticed. A cup of coffee right there on the table! It was still stemming. He bit his lip...It Looked freshly poorerd. He cast a glance around to make sure no one was coming back for the drink before grabbing it and heading on his way. "Got your stuff! Do you want to head in to class or just hang here for a bit?" He asked setting it down on the table. And then....
"You can head in I am just going to stay out here and wait for my friends. Thanks for the drink and gum." Said Selene looking up from her phone. "Where the hell did you go?" Luke was gone but the pack of gum and the stemming drink where on the small table near her knees. "Odd, the little creep normal hangs around for as long as he can do. God maybe the loser found someone else to bug!" She thought reaching for the gum. She unwrapped it and tossed a peace in to her jaws before sliding the pack in to her pocket. She retched for the cup but it still felt to hot to her fingers so she placed it back down. She opened twitter up on her phone and propped her boots up on the table next to the cup. Over the next few minuets her friends started to arrive and she forgot about the drink by her feet. She chatted away as they waited for class to start. "There where so many bugs in the student flats today. God it was so gross." Said another girl.
"I know right!" Said Selene. "I think we need to pick up some bug spray on the way back or something these are £100 shoes I don't want bug guts on them! I crushed a few this morning in the lift with a text book. At least it came in handy for something!" She said laughing. "Do you have any clue where Ruby is?" Asked one of the girls. "Nope" Said Selene "Not seen her today. She must be ill or just skipping haha. Want to go in now"
Even tho it is not part of this story it might interest the reader to know that the girl in question had meet her end that morning as her tiny ant sized body ran down the hall of the student flats screaming for help. I could go in to how her tiny body was crushed flat under the huge platform sole of the Goths boot but then I would have to talk about the orther six people she crushed to death on the way to uni. All died fast. All where crushed to mush under the four inch's of solid rubber. The £100 shoes on Selenes feet had become £100 killing machines body's where pulped and meshed to a paste under the teenagers soles. But we don't need to get in to that...there Is more than one way to kill a tiny as we shall see....."Ah shit nearly forgot my drink!" Said Selene grabbing the all most cold cup as she walked of in to class. She set it down on the fold down shelf on her chair put some books down next to it and got ready for class.
Roy hung on for all he was worth to the polystyrene lip of the whole in the edge of the coffee cup. About ten feet below him was a boiling hot see of black coffee that looked as it it would strip the flesh from his bones if he where to drop in to it. Only a second ago he had poured this drink to take with him to his early class. Then everything had changed. He had no clue how he had shrunk all he had known was that he was falling threw the air. It was only by a mix of quick thinking and pure luck that he had grabbed hold of the lip of the cup before he had plunged all the way in to the boiling liquid below him. Even tho his mind could not wrap around the fact that he was now about the size of an ant there was no way he could denie what was going on. His whole body was dripping in sweat and his arms where burning from trying to pull him self up on to the lid of the cup. "Shit shit shit this can't be real what the hell is going on!" He yelled out. Then the world moved. He screamed like a baby as he was shaken this way and that. Drops of burning liquid splashed up over his legs and feet burning him badly even threw his pants and shoes. Someone has picked the cup up. He thought threw the pain. O god what if they drink me. What if they tip me away god I don't want to die not like this! What the hell is even going on people don't shrink this is just fucking mad. If he had the time to think about it more he might have found it odd how his mind got used to being tiny so fast. But that was how it was for all the tinys. The either apated or they died. Or they adpated and then died. Life is hard for the small and week. The cup stopped moving. "O thank god!" he yelled. Then everything seamed to drop out from under him. He felt like his was in a lift that had just broken free of its ties and dropped right down the shaft. His sweaty hands where jolted free of the lip of the cup. "Fuuuuccckkkkkkkkkkk....." He splashed in to the liquid below him with a faint plop that was drowned out by the huge voices above him. He had said the newly made drink looked so hot it would boil the flesh of his bones. He had been right. It had cooled down a bit since then but whether this was a good thing or not was up for debate. It burnt. That was the first thing. Every inch of him was drenched and burn. His skin peeled back and bubbled up. He wailed in pain as he bobbed up the the service. Every inch of him hurt. Eatch neve screamed out in pain. He might not be dead but he was in hell.
Luke went the same way. Not in the the liquid but on to the lid of the cup. He bounced once on the plastic and sat up spitting blood from he busted lips. I will spare you what went on in his head...Lets Just say with all tinys its a lot of "O god I am tiny..." And so on. He looked up at the giant figure of Selene towering above him. Her massive voice washed over him. "Where the hell did you go?" He jumped up and down. "I am right here look down. God help me look at me I am right here on your cup! Help my for gods sake!"
"Odd, the little creep normal hangs around for as long as he can do. God maybe the loser found someone else to bug!"Selenes voice boomed. Luke screamed up at her. "For fucks sake just look down here is it so hard! Am I that small!" But that small he was. Hope flashed over him for a second as the giant pale hand reached down but it was crushed in a second as her fingers closer over the gum and lifted back up. He watched as the gum was tossed between her huge teeth. Gulping to him self he tried to think of the pros and cons of staying on the cup. The pro that he could see was that sooner or latter it would be close to her face. That might give him a good shot at getting noticed. The con? Well that he would soon be close to her face and there for those mighty teeth. The hand moved back again but this time the fingers hit the cup. He started as the ground seamed to move under him and found him self tumbling back down on to the cup again. The fingers moved of fast tho, she must not feel like the cup was ready to drink from yet. He tired to stand up and gather his thoughts. "Well it might be best if I...agggg!" The scream came at the time Selene lifted up her boots and slammed them down on the table right by the cup. Crossed at the ankles they loomed over the cup and the tiny man on the cups lid. The dirty soles towered up height over him. Eatch ridge looked deeper and wider than his whole body. The inpact of the boots on the table top sent a shock wave that knocked him flat once more. The sound of it made his ears ring. The shear power of it was what shocked him. If he had been under those shoes he would be dead right now for sure. "I have to move I can't just stay here and risk death I should jump of and try and make a run for it or something." He said out loud standing up and walking to the side of the cup that was not flanked by the giant boots. As he passed the hole in the lid that would be used for sipping at the drink he could hear a faint screaming coming from below him. "Shit it can't be. Well I guess that explains why the cup was just there with no one around to start of with. God." He turned and started to walk back to the hole. "Hang on what am I doing its not like I can climb in there and help anyone out and if she try's to drink this with me climbing inside then I really am fucked!" He said turning back. BOOM! A massive copy of war and peace slammed on to the table by the cup. His knees turned to jelly. If he had jumped of the cup when he was first planning to with out wasting those few seconds by turning back he would have been right under that book when it dropped. As he looked up he could see giant people moving around the table, bags and books crashed down all around him and giant voices thundered high over his head. He put his head in his hands. There was no point trying to make a run for it now. If any of the girls noticed a "bug" On the table it might well be the end of him anyway and even if they did not notice him a stray bag or book would mush him. Yep much better to stay here and yell and jump as Selene lifted the cup to her lips. Yell, jump and pray. Time passed. The girls just sat and talked Selene did not even look down past her boots to the drink on the table. Luke began to pace back and forth. As he passed near the hole he could still hear the faint mones. "Ahh shit." He said bracing himself and bedding down to look in to the hole. Around ten feet below him was the dark black liquid. The walls of the cup where smooth and if he where to fall in there would be no way to climb back up. Right under him looking at the hole was...what? It looked all most like a head and arms bobbing up and down but it was hard to tell it was so badly burnt. "Help me...." It screamed as its head twitched. "I can't!" He yelled. " Sorry I wish I could but how the hell can I get you out! Look I will get her to notice before she drinks anything or tosses it away I swear but that's all I can do! " As he stood up everything shifted again. "Fuck!" He yelled as the ground seamed to move from under his feet. He tumbled back head first down in to the hole. " He was still screaming as he hit the liquid below him. He fully expected to burn as he hit. But the coffee was all most cold. He sank under the surface the black liquid flooding in to him. The drink was still warm but no wormer than a pool. He spluttered and gasped as he broke the surface taking huge gulps of air. For a few moments the liquid moved in waves sloshing over him and sending him this way and that. Sometimes pulling him under, sometimes slamming him in to the sides of the cup. Then all was still once more. As he swam to the light shining down from the hole in the lid he did not need to be a genius to work out what must have happened. High up above him Selene must have picked up her drink and headed to class. That meant he was on her desk right now. In her morning coffee on her desk. And the liquid around was getting cooler by the second. She would have felt that when she lifted the cup so she knew the cups contents where ripe for drinking...and Right now he was a part of those contents.
Selene took out her note book and pen placing them on the self by her elbow. Reaching out she picked up the Luke warm coffee and raised it to her black painted lips. She took a long gulp of it before lowering it back down as she reacted out and signed her name on the sheet. She lifted it up again and took two longer gulps before setting it down about half empty now but keeping her fingers on it. She hated cold coffee but she was dammed if she was going to waste a free cup. She got caught up in chatting to her friends for a few minuets and then as class started to reached down and picked up the cup. She drank most of it in three long gulps before rolling it around between her hand for around a minuets. With a small sigh she shook the cup hearing the last dregs slosh around and set it down on her desk again. The rest of the class went by with out any incident. Apart from the fact that it seamed half the class where not there.About an hour in there was a brake. She stood up stretched, bent to pick up her cup and walked to the door. Spitting her chewed up gum out in one hand she mashed it down on the lid of the cup before chucking the lot in to the bin on her way out of the classroom door.
Luke tried to hold back the screams as the burnt body of the man or women who had poured the coffee to start with bobbed up next to him. The burnt lips where still trying to call for help. He called out " We can get out of here! I don't know how but we can. If we just sit around in here with out doing anything we will die for sure." As the cup lifted up again Luke retched out and clung to the orther man. "Stay with me keep your head up!" The cup tilted and Luke found him self slammed in to the lid thick black coffee washing over him.Legs kicking and arms flailing Luke grabbed at anything he could find. As he trashed about he lost contact with the orther tiny in the cup and found him self batted against the plastic lid of the giant cup. As the dark liquid poured away he remained pined to the Plastic of the lid. As the cup was set back down he face planed straight down when he looked around he could not longer see the orther tiny he had been sharing the cup with. Like as not he or she had been slurped up with the drink.
He had no clue who he kept himself alive for the rest of the class. It went on and on. The routine of treading Coffey to keep him self from drowning just waiting in the darkness knowing what was to come. And then it would come. The huge hand would lift the cup high up in to the sky and drain the liquid from around him. And he would fight for his life. Clinging to the plastic lip or digging his hands in to the wall of the cup. Time after time he made it until he was just standing in dregs up to his knees. The last time had been close and he had be sliding down out of the whole his feet touching her black lips. Then he was sure he was about to die but no. She had taken her lips away and set the cup down. He had crashed back down to the floor screaming out in pain but thanking god at the same time. As he lay there most of his body burnt, his ribs feeling as if they had been smashed with a hammer and his spirit crushed he began to think. Maybe just maybe now that the drinking was over there was a way out of this. A plan began to take shape in his mind. It might not work but the more he thought about it the more he could see it was his only chance. There was no way he could climb out of the cup now it was just to high. There was a slim chance that if he had time he could dig his way out threw the wall but even if he did what would he look like now crawling around on a desk? His skin was stained black by the Coffey he would look like a half dead ant to be crushed or flicked away. No getting free when Selene was right there was pointless. But if he waited till she threw the cup away. It might sound odd but in a way it was perfect. Yes he would be in the bin but so what. He could scale the walls of the cup he knew he could. Not know when it might be picked up at anytime but when it was in the bin and still then he could. And it might even land on its side so he would not have to climb. Then he could scale the rubbish and get out on to the compute desk by the bin. If he waited till the class room was free then he could make his move. That was the great thing about the computers they where always left on. He would just have to jump on the power button to start it then he could type away a note asking who ever it was to pick him up and help him!
Of course there where a lot of ways it could go wrong. She might crush the cup in her hand before throwing it away...No! He stopped himself he was not going to die in some old cup. His world shook as he was thrown to the floor again. He thought she was drinking but it seamed she had just been moving the cup in her hand. He waited looking up at the whole in the lid. He could see quite a bit out of it now. Her face high above slightly plump framed by dark hair.Then she moved. Standing up. This was it! Brake time. Time to be free. He hand snatched up the cup and he fell back on to his back. It was hard to see anything until she stopped to open the door. The cup moved. "Yes do it! Drop me in the bin you big bitch I dare you! Make my day!" Joy coursed threw him. Yes it would be hard but here it was the first step. He took one last look up at her pretty face...and sore her lips part. Her fingers retch up and take out..Gum! "No god no!" He screed as the fingers lowered the spit drenched gum filling more and more of his view. "You can't do that no for gods sake don't!" he scrmed as her fingers meshed the gum down over the lid...and Over the hole. It was filed in totally darkness flooding the cup. The fingers let go and he was sent crashing in to the depth of the bin. His one hope of being free blocked by used up gum. All he could do now was sit and cry waiting for death.
Even after Selene found out about the shrinking on the news she did not think about Luke. Well that not true she did think he might have been crushed under the foot of some classmate but not even once did it cross her mind he might have been in her cup. Witch is a pity as it took him three days to die in the bottom of the bin and if at any time she had thought to check the cup she could have saved his life. As it was she did not check and like all most everyone in this new world she had to come to terms with the fact that she could be killing people with eatch step. Not easy but when its a fact of life you have to deal with it or go mad. It was all most scarier how fast most people did learn to deal with it....