The hours of the day rolled on, and Hannah’s breathing and posture had become more uncomfortable, and the groans from her stomach were becoming more and more deafening, not to mention longer and more frequent. Her stomach was practically eating away at itself, yet she continued to stare at the trucks of meat, not touching any of it, not that is was of an edible quality any longer anyway.
Hannah’s lengthy blond hair had become dishevelled, as it told a tale of a woman experiencing nothing but fearful new life, with any access to privacy or clothing stripped from her, a pain like a never ending wax strip being pulled across a leg.
Courtney approached the speaking platform with a stern and severe look on her face, a look that spelled out that she did not have a clue how she was going to manage what she was about to demand. She strode at a slow speed, like a child stalling for time. Tightly, she griped a scrunched up piece of paper, clearly the source of her uncomfortable stance and expression. Once she rose up the platform, Hannah’s fearful, pained eyes glared at her eagerly; Courtney seemed to be the only thing her giant, powerful, forest green eyes focused on.
“Hello again, Hannah! How are you today?” Courtney bellowed in a chirpy tone, in the vague hope of enticing an expression or sentence out of the immense titan. She was met by a blank wall of a face, yet it was a face that showed a strange kind of interest… as though they were eyes of hunger and desperation. What if she does develop a taste for…? Courtney didn’t dare finish the thought.
Looking down at the ground and back up again at Hannah’s face to transition the mood. “Hannah, I’m afraid you’re going to have to do something for me. For us…” Hannah’s eyes darted around; if she could talk she would be begging not to do it.
“We need you to move locations, so we can observe and search the…” she paused. How would Hannah react if she used the word… “Rubble. The evacuation of the city was pulled off with a 99% success rate, however a remaining zero point six remain unaccounted for” she read from the sheet. She looked up at Hannah once more, and saw that her expression remained consistent; she had not reacted as emotionally to the word as the boffins had feared. In fact, her clueless neutrality was probably one of their biggest advantages.
Hannah gripped her legs to her chest harder, and she grunted with a mixture intense scepticism and pain, as her figure had become visibly more frail in the two days since she’d eaten or drank; for as many, many times larger as Hannah was than anything else, she appeared far weaker, as indicated by her cracked, dry lips.
“Can you do that?” Courtney asked, with a distinct force to her voice, demonstrating what little choice Hannah had. After considering for a few seconds, Hannah scrunched up her face, and gave a slow nod. The scientists gave a collective cheer, not many out loud but certainly in the backs of all their minds.
“Excellent!” Courtney exclaimed. She pointed to the left of Hannah’s location, over some hills. “Two miles in that direction, you will notice there is a vat of clean, safe drinking water, just for you.” Courtney pointed out in a slow, reassuring voice, before her tone suddenly became much heavier. “You need to move to its location.” The researcher authoritatively requested, though it was much more likely a demand in disguise. Hannah slowly moved her aching neck in the direction being indicated, and indeed there was what looked like a shot glass of water. She subconsciously licked her lips; her throat was parched and dried out, having had nothing to drink for two entire days, an amount of time that would have resulted in the death of a lesser person.
“On the count of three- stand up…” Courtney’s heartbeat thumped in her ears… anything could have happened at that point. “One…” Hannah shifted herself, her hands impacting the ground with a deafening thud that spewed dust and dirt in all directions. Shielding her eyes, Courtney blasted “Two...” Shaking, Hannah’s weight began to lift up off the ground, met with a pained and determined look on her face. “Three!” with an intense pain spiking through her entire body as a result of sitting huddled for two days, Hannah rose up off the rubble she had been stationed on, slowly. She had her eyes closed tight, so she would not have to focus on her monstrous height. Truly, she was feeling the weight of her new body; she looked like she could have toppled over at any second, every movement felt like walking on broken glass. She stood, huddled over, covering her private areas with her quivering arms. Bricks and other such objects that had stuck to her were now falling off her titanic frame, in a steady and regular fashion.
Having glared in awe at Hannah merely standing up, Courtney cranked her neck all the way up to her face, stating “Hannah, you’re doing fantastically… it’s only a few steps in that direction!” she pointed, as though Hannah could not already see the alluring water. “Just a few steps, Honey…”
Hannah’s steps were sudden and miniscule, never going further than the tip of her opposite foot, but regardless of this, each footstep was thunderous and booming, and left a gargantuan footprint in its wake. Courtney could feel the wind being pushed around and influenced by her feet. She had walked a mile in four difficult yet powerful steps, and for the first time in two days, she looked determined and hopeful, despite the shame and humiliation she felt from being naked in front of hundreds.
She came to a set of hills, they were the only obstacle between her and her drink. Suddenly, Hannah opened her eyes, and glared downwards, nauseating her slightly. She just had to have a fear of heights… However, even with her vision blurred, she noticed what she thought was a wild animal looking up at her, a light flashing on its face… Hannah’s body was, at this point, on a pre-determined course; she could not stop. Her face turned from one of determination to one of unfathomable terror as she realised something horrific… animals can’t run on two legs… it was a person photographing her! “M…mo….” She attempted to yell, as her foot stomped down, immersing the person in surely millions of tons of woman. Along with the thunderous stomp of her feet, she also heard something quite unnerving: a lengthy, squishy, gruesome crunch. She didn’t have a doubt in her mind that the person she had just stepped on had been killed, crushed flat, and reduced to a pile of red goo on her sole. Hannah attempted to scream, but all that came out was a breathy, defeated sigh.
Along with this, she made an all-too-late attempt to prevent the miniscule person’s death; her body fell through the air, seemingly in slow motion. Courtney’s hands covered her mouth, her eyes those of pure dread. This isn’t happening… Hannah thought, as her body smacked down on the earth, creating a deafening explosion sound that rung in the ears of anyone within at least a ten mile radius. Hannah gave a painful gasp as the air was knocked out of her body. Remarkably, even though the ground itself had cracked and broken at the force of the impact, the vat of water had remained upright, which Hannah was quick to rectify, despite her new founded panic. The titan rolled over on her back, and promptly forced the liquid container out of its scaffolding, which she had landed conveniently landed next to.
As she gulped the lake-worth of water down, her throat was greeted with a paradoxically soothing pain. Like a cracked wall being given a new coat of paint, Hannah’s throat and lips felt energized once more, albeit only slightly; her stomach was still groaning painfully to remind her of its barrenness. She grinned before her mind turned once again to the man she had obliterated…
As much as she tried to feel guilt and sorrow, the emotions could not come naturally… while she was undoubtedly saddened that she had killed someone, she somehow felt… it wasn’t her fault. In some deep corner at the back of her mind, Hannah though, He knew the risks of getting in my way… it wasn’t my fault… not my fault… though little pain was felt by her at the paparazzi’s loss, striking pain was felt at her empty belly.
Courtney, however, did not share those feelings immediately. Grabbing a fellow biologist by the shoulders, she screamed in his face “She killed him! Just crushed him there and then! Who the fuck was he?” She held the top of her head with both arms. “Christ… how are we going to explain this one…? How did he get past the… this whole area is cordoned off!” Courtney’s stressed out voice was straining her vocal chords immensely, as she paced up and down the platform and struggled for the right words to express what she was thinking.
After a few moments of painful silence, Courtney stated, trying to salvage something out of the incident, “Well… at least now we know she can process sea water with no problem, actually looks like she can’t tell the difference… you’re hypothesis was correct, Jenkins…”
Jenkins, who was standing below the platform, nodded awkwardly.
“I still think we should have told her what it really was she was even drinking, though…”