The screams of the second wave filled the air as her mouth yawned wide before them. A cathedral of hot flesh and pearly white teeth, it was more horrifying than anything the veteran soldiers had ever seen.

--

Nearly three whole generations had been born in Haven and there were few left that had ever seen a human before. The tales that had been passed down from their forefathers seemed laughable to the young men and women that occupied the tiered city. Nothing alive could be that big, that powerful.

Her first footfall had shaken their world, bringing the story to life and chilling their souls.

They had flown out to meet her. Four dozen warriors had left the citadel, their boost packs zipping them through the air, arrows notched in their bows.

She had killed a third of their number before she even realised they were more than insects. The human moved faster than they could imagine. Her outspread hand swatted them from the sky, splashing their broken corpses across her steel hard skin before sending them spiralling down to the distant earth below.

Their arrows had bounced harmless off of her head and neck as she plucked their squad leader from the sky. Her thumb and forefinger, their nails painted as black as night, closed around the fierce warrior with ease. She screamed as the human’s lightest touch obliterated her legs and boost pack, letting loose a fountain of blood and smoke. The squad leader squealed in agony as she was brought to the girl’s eye.

The human’s pupil dilated as she focussed on the tiny creature in her grasp, heedless to the swarm that buzzed around her. The broken woman was barely larger than a pin head; it had taken her every effort not to crush the fragile thing completely.

The scout’s attack wavered as the girl’s lips twisted from a surprised gasp into a cruel sneer. Her fingertips twitched, smearing their leader between them. The human watched as tiny fragments of metal and flesh fluttered from her grip and descended to the moss covered floorboards below.

Her gaze followed them, her eyes widened, her smile spread.

She leaned forwards, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, her chunky SLR camera swinging out on its strap from where it had rested against her flat, exposed stomach.

The floor of the shed was alive with movement. Barely a foot away from the toe of her brown leather boot a crowd of tiny people scuttled around a cluster of ramshackle buildings. She peered down at them through the dim light that filtered through the milky glass windows, excitement and fascination fizzing within her.

They scurried away from her, weighted down by their meagre belongings or dragging tiny carts made heavy by possessions and those too old or weak to run. They were just one of a handful of similar such dwellings spread out across the dusty floor, each one cobbled together from scraps of wood and cardboard.

The human straightened, her eyes sweeping the derelict shack before her. She tightened the knot that held her cream cardigan in place about her waist. The soft fabric kissed her exposed thighs before they disappeared into her tight denim hot pants.

The creatures continued to dance through the air around her, their arrows shattering across fabric of her vintage leather jacket or burying themselves harmlessly into the cotton of her white cropped top. She swatted them away from her, their bodies popping as the back of her hand destroyed them.

The rest flew about her in panicked formations, their ammunition running low. She ignored them, turning her attention to the rapidly emptying settlement before her. She smirked as she lifted her foot.

The ground team assisting the refugees leapt to the air as the world was plunged into darkness, the farmer’s cries chasing them as they fled the endless mass of black rubber that filled the sky. They could do nothing for those still in the town, they were doomed to die.

She hovered on one leg as the sad collection of buildings was obscured by her boot. Their screams grew louder as she began to slowly lower her foot on top of them. She answered them with laughter, her chuckles drowning out their final pleas.

The scouts watched on in horror as her boot engulfed the town. The unstoppable weapon could have consumed the scattered dwellings twice over; those beneath her didn’t stand a chance.

The impact of her heel hitting the ground was felt all across the district. Her black laces, thicker than a cart, scythed through the air as the ball of her foot began to descend. Chunks of mud the size of boulders rained down from the grooves of her shoe, exploding around the fifty or more farmers that were still within her shadow. They looked up in horror, desperately urging their families forwards as her sole connected with the roof of the main hall. Many had dropped to their knees, weeping, praying to her for mercy.

‘Boom’ she whispered as her foot settled upon them, silencing half a hundred screams in a single footfall. Her smile broadened, her teeth flashing brilliant white in the gloom as she twisted her foot back and forth, reducing the settlement to nothing but broken splinters and pulverised flesh.

Her fingers flew to her soft, pink lips, her bangles jangling like the tolling of bells as she suppressed a burst of laughter. Lifting her foot away nothing remained of the once bustling town. In its place was a rough boot print, scraped from the moss and highlighted in blood and mud.

The scouts hovered about her head, the tiny creatures frozen by shock and awe. ‘What do ya think boys?’ she purred, flashing a wink at them, ‘giving up yet?’

The scouts broke into two detachments, spiralling around her in a pincer movement. Her movements shook the earth, bringing the thousand or so people who ran from her crashing to their knees. The first detachment had barely travelled six inches before she captured them in an enclosed fist. Their muffled cries were replaced by the crunching of fibre thin bones as she drove her iron hard fingertips into them.

Discarding the fresh corpses with a wave of her wrist, she span on one leg like a dancer, her slender form pirouetting. A vicious downwards strike slaughtered ten more, another was vaporised by a flick of her finger. Barely a dozen shots were fired before only six remained, racing towards the heavens and away from her reach.

‘Ah ah ah,’ she chided, leaping up after them. Her fingernails clawed the air beneath them as they darted out of reach, safe for less than a second before the hurricane that followed ripped them out of the sky.

The thunder of her landing shook even the tallest buildings atop haven, causing their metal foundation to shudder. She slapped three more to the earth, her foot pulverising their splattered corpses and claiming the lives of more refugees.

Of the three survivors, the first turned and sped for the city, tears streaming from beneath his goggles.

The second, consumed by grief, howled with rage and charged her foe, her pack open full throttle letting loose a fat grey trail of smoke. The human’s eyes tracked her lazily before turning away, a casual backwards swat ending the soldier’s life.

The final scout just watched her. He watched as she turned to him, his ears were deaf to her as her voice rumbled through him. He hung in the sky, pale and numb as her fingernails tore through his boost pack. His lip trembled, urine soaking his legs as she drew him towards her, her mouth opening, a tongue as large as a homestead reaching out for him.

She closed her eyes, one hand trailing across her throat the other resting on her stomach as her lips closed around him. She purred with delight though she could neither feel nor taste the tiny creature that perished inside of her. This was all for show.

The people below would be watching. So too would those in their city, the thousands cowering in the buildings that clustered across the shelving cabinet before her.

She could only just make out the speck that was the final scout, the trail of its weird little jetpack racing away from her. Let it tell its little friends, she thought, let it fill them with fear. As soon as she had heard of this place she knew what she was going to do.

The city could wait; she had already a plan in mind for it. The people at her feet, the tiny farms and villages, they were an unexpected bonus, they were expendable.

She took another step into the shack and closed the door behind her.

‘Run, run, run,’ she cooed, ‘here I come.’

The second battle for Haven was over in seconds.

With a single, lightning strike of her hand she reduced two thirds of the second wave to a pink mist. Their boost packs and weapons, so effective against raiding bands of giant wasps, were dashed into splinters that fell upon the city like bloodied hailstones.

The boom of cannon fire punctuated the sounds of battle, their smoke drifting through the streets while their shells bounced harmlessly off of her skin. She was ruthless, unstoppable. Those that survived her first attack were buffeted by the hurricane of her movement.

The screams of the second wave filled the air as her mouth yawned wide before them. A cathedral of hot flesh and pearl white teeth, it was more horrifying than anything the veteran soldiers had ever seen. Their thrusters had barely stabilised before she began to inhale, summoning a monstrous cyclone that drew them helplessly towards her. Those in the city watched, awestruck, as almost fifty souls were dragged within her.

Her expression was one of pure ecstasy as her slaughter continued.

Her tongue swished sideways, smashing those imprisoned within her mouth. The hot muscle pulverised them, its mottled surface slick with saliva that ensnared them to its bulk. She chuckled as they died, the sound waves knocking into those agile and experienced enough to avoid her predatory tongue. Unbeknownst to her, this small band soared towards the roof of her mouth, regrouping before speeding towards her lips. Their throttles opened as daylight began to die, the outlines of her teeth consuming their last hopes as she began to close her mouth.

Those at the front tried to stop, pulling hard on the air brakes to no avail. The sounds of their collision echoed around the dark, dripping cavern. Those that survived had little time to mourn, their prison of teeth and flesh quickly becoming an execution chamber as she began to chew. 

The giantess moaned their funeral dirge as they died, her fingers drumming lightly on her stomach. Of the two airborne squadrons that flew out from Haven, not a single soul survived.

At her feet the massacre was just as brutal.

Her brown boots had been discarded, their weight shaking the city as they rolled across the plain like leather mountains. Trenches of mud and blood marked where they had torn through wagon trains of refugees and pulverised homesteads. The rubble of a town, the bricks slick with bodies, lay beneath the right one. Around it survivors scrambled like ants, desperately digging at the devastation in futile hopes of rescuing loved ones.

Cannon fire and the strikes of those flyers doomed to die had fallen uselessly upon her as she drew her long, black socks from her feet. The casual way she discarded sent them moving through the sky like storm clouds, their shadows filling those below with dread. They landed with a thud, their length changing the landscape. Their weight settled unstoppably, slowly crushing the buildings and suffocating those caught beneath the warm fabric. They scrambled through the darkness, the dwindling air laced with her sweat.

She didn’t spare them a thought as her bare feet settled on the floorboards. Around her the tiny people scattered, civilians and military fleeing together. A small number steeled themselves, their long lances raised as she moved towards them. In an instant they were gone.

On the ground shouts of fear went up as lances strong enough to kill a spider splintered against the side of her big toe. The pikemen could only watch as the huge digit moved above them, hovering impossibly through the sky before slamming down upon them. ‘Pathetic,’ she had smirked as they were ground beneath her like a spent cigarette.

With the last of Haven’s loyal troops reduced to paste, the giant woman stepped towards the city. Beneath her countless lives were spent, whole towns and families reduced to nothing but dirt and grease. Her tan soles plunged them into darkness, smothering their screams before they were obliterated.

In two steps she was upon the city. Across the walls, sergeants screamed at their cannon crews to concentrate their fire. The guns swung on their disks, their operators sweated as they shot round after round at the titan that approached them.  A thousand windows were shattered, roof tiles and adornments falling like rain onto the streets as she swept forwards and gripped the sides of the iron shelf that held the top tier of Haven.

A frown passed across her perfect brows as she raised a hand, deflecting a volley of fire to flutter to the floor below. ‘Enough!’ she growled, shaking the city, ‘If you little fucks fire one more shot I’ll pick up a school and send everyone inside down to join those insects burning in my belly. Do you understand me?’

Her face loomed over the city, the blood of their troops still fresh on her lips. The screaming had become constant and rose as her eyes swept hungrily across them. The city before her teemed with life, the streets that wound between the coral like buildings were thick with tiny humans that either fled towards the crumbling brick wall behind it or moved out of sheer fascination towards one of the many viewing towers that hung over the lip of the shelf.

Though only four feet wide, it could rival any of the world’s great cities such as London or Rome. The city resembled a wasp’s nest, the majority of the buildings made of thin wood salvaged from the surrounding shack. Here and there she recognised items, tools or equipment repurposed into villas and libraries.

To either side of the city, a crude human figure made of aluminium foil stood sentinel. Temples clustered around their bases and these now heaved with people praying for deliverance from her. The giantess scowled at them, her eyes darkening with disgust, her lips becoming a sneer.

‘Are these your gods?’ She asked in a mocking tone, ‘These pieces of garbage, these little dolls? You stupid little shits.’

She reached out a lazy hand to the one on the left, knocking it from its base and sending it crashing onto the worshippers below. She laughed as their temples crumbled, the insect like humans wailing at the desecration of their idol. The one on the right she lifted into the air, studying the beaten foil as it lay in her hand.

‘Cute,’ she sneered before closing her fingers and crushing the silver god. The people of Haven watched as her fingers opened, her wrist twisting to discard their protector like the trash she deemed it to be. It fell past each tier, the devout weeping as it passed them in its descent to the earth. It landed with a boom that shook those nearby, deforming further as it collided with the worn wooden boards. Her eyes followed it, amusement lighting her expression as it came to rest before her toes. From this angle it was as if even the statue worshipped her.

She smiled at them, her eyes lifting from the fallen idol back to the city. She winked, the action brimming with mischief. A thousand eyes watched as her foot rose into the air, the movement now synonymous with destruction. She bathed in their attention and the screams of those who now scrambled in her shadow. ‘Boom,’ she whispered as her foot came down. Instantly the idol and those around it were flattened, the metal becoming wafer thin, the people liquidised.

Her voice became a silky purr as she rounded back on the city, her face once again filling the sky. ‘I guess it’s your lucky day, huh? You get rid of those eyesores and in exchange get a new god to worship.’ Her smile grew ever wider, her brilliant white teeth glistening in the half light, ‘Now, unless you want to make your goddess angry, I think you’d all best get on your knees and pray. You hear me? I want every one of you pathetic little bugs, everyone on every level, on their knees. If I see even one of you little things standing without my permission I’ll set your crappy little nest on fire, do you understand me?’

She didn’t wait for an answer, she didn’t need to. Across Haven the citizens dropped to their knees, many openly weeping or trembling with fear. It was delicious.

‘Good,’ she smirked, roving her hungry eyes across the levels of Haven, ‘It’s nice to see my new toys know how to follow orders.’ She extended a hand to the top level, her fingers running across the rooftops. Several crumbled at her touch, disintegrating into shards of wood and tiles. The rubble splashed into the street, striking the kneeling worshippers. Her huge eyes bored into them, daring them to flee.

‘Good,’ she repeated, her attention turning to the two buildings at the centre of the city. The first was a great tower that rose over the city. At seven inches, it was the tallest structure in haven and the seat of government. The giantess extended a finger towards it, stroking its sides with her iron hard fingertip. It shuddered at her touch, those inside cowering as parchments and scrolls rained down from the walls. ‘What’s this?’ she cooed, ‘this looks like it could be fun, just the right size for, well you know.’ She was already imagining the shots.

She bit her lip as she moved closer, peering through the windows to observe the bureaucrats within, ‘Oh it just gets better, are these cowardly little things your leaders? Amazing. Well now you have me, there’s no need for them. Are you listening to me?’ Her voice rose, shattering what little glass remained in Haven’s windows, ‘I want these little fuckers boarded up in there, not a single one gets out ok? Windows, doors, everything sealed. I want every one of your little lords and leaders trapped in there later on when I have my fun.’ She paused, the first whisper of a frown beginning to weigh upon her brow, ‘So get to work.’

In an instant a crowd formed, tiny people scrambling with leaden arms to fulfil her request. Those inside, their minds racing with what she had planned for them, raced to escape the tower only to be met with the tools and fists of the populous. She watched them briefly, enjoying seeing their bloodied bodies beaten back into the tower that would soon become her toy. The sounds of hammering drowned out their protests and so her attention shifted.

The newest object of her desire was the second of the two buildings, an opulent villa lined with balconies and supported by lines of columns. Here and there she saw servants and civilians, kneeling in the grounds, their speck sized bodies trembling beneath her gaze.

Her fingers danced through the air, her nails pulverising chimney stacks and towers. She spread her grip wide, her palm casting a shadow over the palace. ‘I wonder what’s in here?’ she asked aloud, her voice dripping with faux innocence, her other hand upon her lips, ‘Well, only one way to find out.’

With a flick of her wrist she plunged her fingers into the rooftop, ripping it away as though it was little more than tissue paper. Within the palace was like an ants nest, a hundred miniscule servants scurrying back and forth as they gathered up their masters belongings.

‘Oh you dumb little shits,’ she scolded, her eyes narrowing. Those below had barely time to scream before she pushed her fingertip down onto them. The floors of the palace gave way as she obliterated her victims with ease. She moved carefully, dragging her fingertip through the building in a deliberate motion. She had already spotted her prize.

The royal family cowered on a shelf of broken floor, their little bodies dripping with finery. A retainer tried to shield them, a dozen sabres raised to the sky as their new goddess looked down upon them.

‘Tsk tsk,’ she chided, waving a bloodstained finger at them, ‘I sure hope you weren’t trying to escape me, especially since I had something so special planned for you.’

The huddled mass shrieked, the servants grouping around their masters as she reached down and plucked the broken shard of building from the earth as though it was no more than a flower. The wind tore at them as they were lifted to her face, her vast, cruel eyes filling the world before them.

‘Listen up insects,’ she snarled to both the humans in her hand and those watching from the tiers. Her voice rolled over them like thunder causing them to clasp their hands to their ears, ‘Your lives are over. Every one of you, every one of you snivelling little insects belong to me now. Whatever you think you are, whatever your hopes and dreams were, all that is over. I am your god and the things you have seen me do to you, they are just the beginning. You just wait until, well, you just wait. But before then there’s something that needs to happen.

In my hand I have your king, your queen, your princes and princesses. While you worshipped and died they scrabbled at their jewels and finery, they tried to escape from me and leave you all behind. And for that they are going to be punished. I thought you stupid little fucks had got the message by now but clearly you haven’t.’

Her stare fell like a storm upon the fragment of stone in her hand and the creatures that desperately clung to it. Those in her hand could only look up helplessly as her terrible beauty scowled down in judgement. Her fingers plucked the building from her palm and shook it, throwing the tiny people onto the great pink expanse of her palm. They groaned in pain, nursing fresh bruises and broken bones.

‘Stand,’ she commanded, her eyes narrowing. They did so warily, forcing themselves to their feet.

‘You all dared to disobey me,’ the goddess hissed, ‘and you should all be punished, shouldn’t you?’

A few nodded, others cried yes in desperate hope that their compliance would be rewarded. In the centre of her palm the royal family stood together, silent.

She had turned to face the city now, her body rising up for miles to tower over them.

‘For those of you who were following the orders of these pathetic worms I will show mercy on one condition: pick up your king, his family, those who rule you and throw them from my hand and into my mouth. They are food, nothing more than flesh to be sacrificed to your goddess, and they will be treated as such. You have until the count of three to obey or I will throw your city to the floor and crush every last one of you. You have three seconds.’

The sounds of despair that rose to her were like warm honey in her ears. She lifted her hand high, tilting it so that it sloped towards her face. With deliberate slowness she parted her lips and pushed her tongue towards them, ‘One.’

Upon her hand the scene unfurled as planned. The king strode forwards, commanding the servants that approached him to stop. Her eyes widened with glee as she saw them hesitate.

‘Two.’

A man in a blue uniform was the first to lay hands upon the king. Though they were mere inches from her ears their voices were barely audible, just a rising flutter of squeaks as soldiers and servants manhandled the royal family towards the edge of her hand.

With barely a pause, as the word began to form upon her lips, the miniscule king and his family were thrown forwards. The screamed as they fell, her long tongue extending to catch them, her hot breath filling their lungs. She barely felt them; men, women and children, as they landed on the boiling surface of her tongue.

She smiled as she consumed them, her eyes watching those on her palm who wept in realisation of what they had done. ‘Three’

With the slightest of movements she angled her hand, throwing thirty or more terrified humans into her mouth. The look on their tiny faces was priceless. In an instant her lips closed, her teeth coming together, her tongue pulverising them as she chewed her victims and swallowed.

‘Ah um!’ she laughed, bowing down to take a fresh look at the expression of horror on the faces of her slaves. Her fingers twitched, bringing the SLR up to her eyes. The shots were finally perfect.

The last rippled across the city like lightning. She ducked, capturing the scenes of devastation on every tier. She laughed as she worked, revelling in her art.

‘You want to know why I’m doing this to you?’ she asked the room at large, dropping the camera from her face, ‘You want to know why I came looking for you?’

She paused, awaiting a reply she knew would never come. Her smile was captivating, ‘The money’

The goddess could almost make out the confusion on the faces of her captives. ‘It’s all about money,’ she laughed, ‘all of it. Every one of you is going to die so that my friends and I can party. You think you’re alone? You think this shitty little pile of scraps you call a city is the only one? There are hundreds of you, hundreds and hundreds of pathetic little towns hiding away from the big bad world and it’s my job to find you. It’s my job to search you out, to break you, to humiliate and dominate you. I need to leave you ruined and terrified, all so we can get the perfect shot.’

She leaned forwards and slammed a fist down onto a marketplace on the second tier. The whole unit shook causing buildings to topple on every level. She laughed as she drank in the devastation, her camera flashing to catch the perfect moments.

‘My friends and I, we film ourselves kill you, we film your kind’s sad little faces turned up in horror as we step on you, as we eat you and torture you. We do things to people like you that you can’t even imagine. And when there’s hardly anyone left, when the ground is slick with your sad little bodies, we put it on the internet and sell it for thousands of dollars. Can you even imagine? There’s hundreds of people around the world that are paying me to do this to you. You are all going to die and there’s nothing you can do about it!’

She laughed, drunk with power as terror overtook them. On every level people scattered, a whole city screaming in the face of their certain doom. She snapped shot after shot before switching to the camera on her phone. Her laughed shook her, tolling like a bell.

Her fingers flew across her key pad as she scrolled through her list of friends. Message after message flew into the world, images of tiny humans engulfed in despair as she stood victorious above them. Maybe some would be spared, though some of the girls were more vicious than others it was not uncommon for them to take a few home as pets after the shoot.

These though, she looked down at those on the lowest level, they were the smallest yet. The girls would love them, she could already see them: Lily, Rozalind, Tiff. This was going to be one of the best shoots they would ever have.

With the sounds of their exodus cloaking her she continued to send out the messages that sealed their fates. The time, the victims, the location.