June

“It is soooo hot,” Eve muttered, fanning herself.

“Mrow,” Marshmallow agreed, tail swishing as he lay across the floor.

“It’s not even that hot,” Evan disagreed, walking along the floor. Despite his assertion Eve couldn’t help but notice he was both shirtless and carried a slight sheen of sweat. “It’s just the humidity, this house’s plot is practically on an island with all these wetlands around.”

“You’re a shrinkee,” Eve murmured, “you’d live under a goddamn heat lamp if you could.”

“Could you get me one next winter?” he asked with a playful grin, “I mean, I know you’re joking, but just get like a lizard terrarium and-“

They heard the crunch of gravel out on the road and the slam of a car door. A moment later Laurie pushed her way in, a large box in hand.

“I’ve got it!” she said excitedly.

“Oh, thank god,” Eve muttered, wiping a sweaty lock of hair out of her face.

“What?” Evan asked with a confused grin. Laurie and Eve evidently had gotten to a level of friendship where their conversations didn’t always involve him. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“Inflatable above-ground pool,” Laurie said with a grin, holding the large box up, “every redneck’s best friend!”

“Let’s set it up in the back!” Eve said excitedly.

…

Some time later Eve and Laurie were in bikinis, lounging against the side of the inflatable pool, sunglasses on and drinks in hand. Evan dove in off the side, swimming through a pool large enough to be a lake to him as he spied the expanse of the women’s legs under the water. He surfaced with a gasp, smiling and wiping water out of his eyes as he bobbed in the cool water.

“Oh, this is just what I needed,” Eve muttered, “Evan, when is that guy coming to fix the air conditioner?”

“He’s supposed to be by around five,” Evan said, floating gently on his back, “do you think you can survive until then?”

“I could stay here all day,” Eve muttered, sipping a lemon-flavored soda and looking at the puffy clouds overhead.

“Not me,” Laurie muttered, standing up and letting the water run off her. “they’re repouring my back patio, and I’m going to watch them do it this time…” She stretched, her empty bottle of cola glinting in the summer sun. “You two take care!” she said with a grin.

Eve’s hand circled under Evan and scooped him up, lifting him so he could wave goodbye to Laurie. The two watched her towel off before tossing a t-shirt and shorts on over her swimwear. The crunch of the gravel road and a tall trail of dust trailed after her marked her departure.

“We’re lucky to have her,” Eve murmured with a smile.

“I’d be in a cage or a dollhouse somewhere without her,” Evan chuckled, “I’m sure of it.”

“Enough of that pet talk,” Eve laughed, “that’s only a thing for another few weeks, after that it officially becomes illegal to keep a tiny against their will.”

“I’m sure there will be people that will try anyway,” Evan muttered.

“Hey, no more serious talk,” Eve giggled, “We’ve got an inflatable pool and a few hours to kill before the air conditioning guy arrives to make the house livable again.” She bumped the edge playfully, causing it to compress and Evan to fall backwards into the water with a splash.

“Hey!” he sputtered, splashing to the surface.

“Badum,” Eve said, doing her best Jaws theme, “badum badum badum…” she lowered herself into the water down to her nose, moving through the water and continuing to hum under the surface as she approached him.

“Oh shit,” he laughed, paddling as quickly as he could. In his head he heard the dramatic spike in the music as Eve’s mouth opened, and a shadow fell over him as her lips overtook him. He heard a click as her teeth closed around him, sending him into darkness. He felt her tongue reaching for him, cradling his body and forcing him into a tight position against the top of her mouth. He felt her probing around his waistband, and with slow delicate motions, her tongue worked his swim trunks down.

“Oh yeah,” he muttered, kicking them free as her tongue force them down. His manhood sprang free, and he felt her tongue take that as a sign to get to work. He groaned, hugging the powerful muscle like a lover as it ravaged his body, dancing against his manhood and teasing it, up and down, back and forth.

Eve leaned against the inflatable edge, relaxing as she toyed with her tiny man. She looked over the edge at her soda, propped in the grass. She suddenly had an idea…

Evan’s world brightened suddenly, and he looked up, squinting as he saw something approach Eve’s lips. His eyes went wide as he recognized the soda can. Lemon-lime flavor cascaded over him like a waterfall, tingling his skin and causing him to thrash as the bubbles of the soda burst against him.

Eve couldn’t help but giggle, feeling his reaction to the fizzy drink. Against her better judgment, she took another long sip, letting Evan thrash and squirm as the soda stung him just ever so slightly, but when it happened all over his body at once… the effect was quite stimulating.

She licked against him faster, her tongue quickly seeking to add another flavor to the lemon sweetness that filled her mouth. A moment later Evan began spurting his seed down into her throat, and his orgasm reached new heights as another wave of the soda came, tingling his body and washing his seed away with like the tide.

Eve pressed her lips together and made one last sucking motion, creating a tight vacuum around Evan and slurping every last drops of the soda off him. With a smile she cupped her hands and spat him out loudly, letting the soaked and naked tiny flop into her palms. Slowly she lowered him back down into the water, letting him float in front of her.

“Ugg…” he muttered, running his hands over his arms, “that felt weird.”

“But good, right?” Eve asked, shaking the can back and forth and causing what little remained to slosh back and forth.

“Maybe next time try it with a cola,” he laughed, “but yeah, it felt nice.” He looked down at his nakedness as he treaded water and frowned, “hey, I had a set of swim trunks.”

Eve burped suddenly, covering her mouth with her free hand. Her cheeks went rosy, and she giggled at Evan’s reaction.

“I think I swallowed them!”

…

“See you later!” Eve said with a smile, waving to Evan and Marshmallow.

“Have fun at work,” Evan said, directing the cat to carry him up the stairs. He heard the door close, and he leapt of Marshmallow’s back and walked along the hallway wall. He intended to spend most of the time inside the walls today, he had an interesting western e-book he wanted to read on one of his phones. He would have liked to have it in hand as a real book, but reading the old-fashioned way was too much of a hassle at this size.

He'd been at it a few hours, relaxing and scrolling the words on a screen larger than he was, when he heard an approaching car. Odd this far out, and in the middle of the day when Laurie and Eve were both busy… His heart skipped a beat when he heard the car, no cars, he was sure of it, stop making noise on the gravel road as they turned onto his paved driveway.

He leapt up, quickly activating his exterior cameras to get an idea of what he was looking at. His eyes went wide as he saw a large windowless van, followed by a smaller car driven by… Amber, she stood down there, looking up at the house with a madness in her eyes that could be seen even on the blurry camera screen.

…

“He’s in there,” Amber said, tittering madly to herself, “we’re going to get him, squish him good!” She stomped the concrete for emphasis. “Then I’ll get my job back, and it’ll all be like it was!”

“Fuck,” Mohawk chuckled, leaning over to Bern, “she’s far into it huh?”

“Yeah, they all get real crazy in the last few hours before it happens,” Bern muttered.

“Hours?” Mohawk laughed, “she looks like she could go tiny any minute!”

“Okay Amber,” Bern said with a smile as the three women fanned out from the van, “why don’t you tell me where he stays, in a dollhouse maybe?”

“In the walls,” Amber said, a slightly glazed look in her eye, “he’s in the walls…”

“Okay, we’ve got a tunneler,” Bern told the women, “Charlotte,” he gestured to a heavyset woman in a leather vest, “get the gopher stick and start poking around the edge of the property for escape routes, collapse any of them that you find.” He glanced at Amber, “Bethany,” the fourth member of their crew, a wiry dirty blonde in sunglasses, looked up, “Go keep Amber company.” The woman smiled and walked over to Amber, helping steady her slightly.

…

Evan swore angrily as he saw the group circling the property, collapsing his outlying escape tunnels. These people were professionals, and they looked rough. They were all carrying guns too, not just the glue ball shooters tiny-hunters usually wore, but full-sized firearms.

Where the fuck did you find these people Amber? He thought miserably. At the very edges of the property, they started hammering stakes into the ground, motion detectors. These people aren’t kidding around, he thought with a sigh.

Running wasn’t an option.

He texted Laurie their emergency code, then pulled up Eve’s contact info.

“Tiny hunters at house, armed,” he texted, not sure what else to say. He paused a moment, and felt like he was going to cry. Everything had gone so well, for it to end here… like this? “I love you.” He messaged, blinking a single tear away.

He breathed out slowly and thought over his next move. Police? No, in theory police were supposed to assist “protection” of shrinkees, at least until the act expired next month… The last thing he needed was for the wrong cop to show up and start helping these people. By the time they were done here, there would be plenty of cops and firefighters anyway.

“All right Unkie Armstrong,” he said, “let’s see how much of that shit you hid in the basement still works.” He sighed as he realized that, if he made it out of this alive, he’d have to admit to Laurie that his uncle was, in fact, a gangster.

Somewhere in heaven, or more likely hell, an old mobster smiled.

…

“Six tunnels,” Bern laughed, “man, this guy sure likes digging.” The group met back up at the van, slipping on gloves as they prepared to enter the house. They had a number of tools designed to detect hidden areas, heat signatures, and the like. If the tiny guy was in the wall, they’d root him out.

“Try not to tear the place up too much,” Mohawk warned, “we’re going to need to flip this place fast once it’s in our name.”

…

Laurie was watching her brother Gerald and her cousin Dominic smooth the concrete on her back patio. This was the third attempt to get the job done right, and she took a swig of coffee and swore angrily. After the second botched job, she’d just decided to sue the contractor and pay a few of her family members to do it. If they fucked it up? Well, she could always chase them down and kick their asses over the family barbecue.

She growled in annoyance as she got a text alert, then froze, almost dropping her drink as she read the message.

“Excitable Boy”

It was a code phrase, a silly idea when she’d always thought “help” would convey the message just as well, but Evan had always insisted they use them. They had several, mostly silly references they’d come up with over drinks in the weeks following his shrinking, some just meant unknown person on the property, others meant Tiny-Hunters with the implication that they could be dissuaded by a full-size person. This one though… this one meant shit had truly hit the fan, this was the call for rescue.

“Confirm?” she texted back, hands shaking

“Y”

Dominic and Gerald looked up at her, noticing her mood, “Laurie, everything okay?” Gerald asked hesitantly.

“Evan,” she said, looking up, “h-he-“ She swallowed and took a breath, “He just sent out the call for lawyers, guns, and money, and… this family’s really only got one of those.”

…

Eve was enjoying her return to work. Things were busier, to be sure, but Charles was hiring new people as fast as he could. For now she was back to most of her old clients, along with some of the managerial duties Amber, and now Charles, would occasionally delegate to her.

She clicked away at her keyboard, filling out a quick report, when her phone buzzed. She frowned and reached for it. She almost dropped it when she read Evan’s texts, shakily she got up and walked, then ran towards the Elevator.

“Hey Eve, where’s the fire?” Charles joked from the palm of his assistant. He had lengthy hair now, looking like a metal fan, having been without hair for so long apparently the tiny man was beginning to overcompensate now that he had it back.

“Home,” she said feebly, “Evan’s in trouble!”

Charles eyes went wide, “Just go Eve, I’ll take care of everything!”

She nodded, and as the elevator dinged, she stepped in, her heart pounding like mad as it began it’s descent.

…

“So, two at the front, one at the back,” Bern said, readying his glue shooter.

“W-Why not two at the back?” Amber muttered, beads of sweat on her forehead, “t-there are four of you-“ she suddenly had to lean against the van for support.

“Bethany here is going to stay out here with you,” Bern said in a patronizing voice, “In case… of space aliens.”

The four of them laughed, but Amber just blinked, confusion setting in, “d-do you think they have those out here?”

“Yeah,” Mohawk giggled, “just stay real close to one of us.”

“Man, she’s fucking clueless,” Charlotte whispered.

“Easy to guess how she picked it up,” Bern chuckled, “she was probably stepping on tinies for fun and never bothered to see if it was safe for her to do that.”

“Idiot,” Mohawk said in a low voice, “you want to play with the world’s best toys, you’ve got to get a doctor’s note.”

Bern just nodded, checking his equipment one final time. The rate of shrinking virus vulnerability was a lot lower for women, and a lot harder to catch, but they’d all heard stories or in some cases seen their fellow hunters learn the hard way that they were in that group. He smirked, there was something funny about someone going from seller to merchandise though.

Music suddenly played through external speakers on the house. Bern paused, looking for the source of the noise.

I went home with a waitress, the song began, the way I always do

“He’s playing music?” Mohawk asked with a chuckle.

“He’s sending a message,” Bern said quietly, scanning the house, “he’s saying he’s here, and he doesn’t intend to run away.”

“Fine,” the pink haired woman muttered, “makes our job easier-“

The crackle of gunfire filled the air, and Bern instinctively grabbed Mohawk, diving with the woman to the ground. Sparks flew as bullets peppered the driveway, and he heard someone scream.

Automatics? Bern thought in a panic, who the hell is this guy!?

…

Evan peered out through what would have been a pinhole sized viewport to anyone else. Evan had used to love guns, but realistically for someone at four inches tall even a pistol was a crew operated weapon, useless for defending the home. Still, when he was big, he’d managed to rig a few of his Uncle’s off the books weapons up behind some thin aluminum siding. They were on pull strings and already pointed at random spots on the driveway and entryway, he couldn’t really aim any of them, and reloading was out of the question, but they made a good opening salvo.

…

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” Mohawk shouted, staggering to her feet.

Bern blinked, realizing the music was still playing over those damned speakers

“I was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk-“

He pulled is pistol, and with a snarl fired three shots into the black box next to the doorbell. There were some sparks and the song went quiet.

“Sound off!” he shouted.

“I’m winged,” Charlotte shouted, clutching her bleeding shoulder.

“Fuck this!” Bethany said angrily. She pulled her own handgun, and her glue shooter in the other hand. She barreled towards the front door, a snarl on her face.

“Wait!” Bern shouted, but it was too late, as soon as Bethany made contact the door exploded outwards off its hinges, smoke and a gout of flame following it as the woman was tossed backwards into the yard. Bern’s heart raced as he sprinted over to her, quickly checking the limp woman for a pulse.

“She’s alive,” Bern said with a swear. He looked at the still smoking doorway, “Nobody else go near the house!”

“WHAT!?” Amber screeched. Her clothes were almost soaked through with sweat now, and she staggered as she walked up to Bern angrily. “You get your asses in there and get that tiny fucker-“

“Fuck no, this is like if Rambo watched Home Alone,” Mohawk muttered, “Bern, I say we torch the place.”

“Agreed,” he muttered, walking back to their van. “He either comes out, or he cooks, at this point I don’t care which one he picks.”

Bern opened up a storage locker built into the side of the vehicle and began rifling through it. A moment later he produced a can of gasoline and several rags and bottles. Burning tinies out of hiding places wasn’t a new thing to him, you just had to make sure nobody was around to see you start the fire, and at this point Bern was beyond caring about collateral damage.

…

Evan watched through the camera as the first bottle burst open against the roof, spreading flames. He swore under his breath and slung his quiver of steel arrows over his back as he took his bow. He cursed himself again for never finding a viable method of poisoning them, he’d just have to make every shot count if it came to that.

One of them is down, he thought to himself, another wounded… they’ve got the house surrounded, motion detectors…

His best bet was to get into the wetlands, he could go under the surface of that murky water for hours, and he didn’t need to worry about snakes or any other wildlife they way they would. That would be it, he decided, he’d have to make a run for it.

“MROW!” Marshmallow cried pitifully as he entered the hallway. The gunfire had terrified the poor cat, and he was scrunched as close to the wall as he could go, his ears flat against his back.

“Hey buddy,” Evan said with a smile, “it’s okay.”

Marshmallow seemed to relax, nudging him slightly with his nose, climb on, the cat seemed to say, let me carry you someplace safe.

“Not this time Marshmallow,” he said, stroking up the cat’s nose. “Go out the back, run into the swamp and wait for Laurie or Eve to come home.”

“Mew?” the grey tabby looked at him curiously.

“Go man,” he laughed, wiping a quick tear away, “I’ll feed you at the end of this, I promise.”

With that Marshmallow bounded down the stairs. Evan breathed out slowly, and then slipped another of his entrances open, one that would lead him down under the porch. He blinked another tear away and forced himself to chuckle.

Look at you, crying over a goddamn cat, he sighed and started running.

…

“I’ve got motion, rear,” Bern said as his phone gave him an alert from their equipment circling the house.

“Just a cat,” Charlotte said over the walkie talkie.

Bern kept scanning the base of the house, come out you little rat, he thought, you’ve got no tunnels left, your nest is on fire, you’ve got to come out…

“THERE!” Amber screamed excitedly.

Bern and Mohawk both spotted the fleeing shrunken man at the same time, he was sprinting as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, bare chested and with something slung over his back. Bern closed the distance first, glue shooter in his hand. Suddenly there was flash of steel, and pain shot through his head as half his vision went dark. The big man tumbled to the ground.

“My eye!” he screamed, holding a hand to his face, “little fucker got my eye!”

Evan readied another arrow for the pink haired woman, but with a sneer she brought a combat boot up over him, and stomped down mercilessly. Even heard a series of snaps, then a flash of agonizing pain as the woman rose her boot again to repeat the action.

“He’s down,” Mohawk panted, leaning down to grab the small weapons away while Evan’s body recovered. Once he seemed like he was breathing normally again, she reached down and scooped up his fingers.

Evan struggled when he realized what was happening, the woman’s greasy fingers curled around him like pythons. He grunted as she squeezed him, and he wondered if she would try to crack his ribs a few times, they’d heal up right away, that just meant she could do it again…

“You have been such a pain the ass,” Mohawk said with a smug grin.

Bern hissed with pain as he pulled the small steel projectile out of his eye, with a grimace he reached for a bandanna on his belt and tied it around his head, masking the injury. He walked over to Mohawk, a look of pure fury on his face.

“This little fucker better be worth every penny,” he hissed, “Mohawk, I know I tell you not to play with the merchandise too much, but… for this guy, go ahead.”

“Oooh, fun,” the pink haired woman laughed. “Want to know something cool about shrinkees?” she said, leaning close and letting Evan smell her tobacco scented breath.

“I’m all ears,” Evan said tersely, meeting her gaze with one of steely determination.

“Pretty much everything on you guys grows back, if it gets… broken,” she said in a low voice, “except your heads, you gotta keep those on… Medical miracle though, cutting edge stuff.” She had a wild grin, “everything still hurts you just the way it does to full sized people though, but I’ll bet you knew that.”

“Let’s wrap this shit up,” Charlotte said, coming around the side of the house, “That’s a pretty clear-cut case of arson we just committed. We’re not going to be able to do the whole flip the house thing, we’re going to need to get over the border ASAP.” As if on cue there were sirens in the distance, but out here in the country that could mean they were still miles away.

“Agreed,” Bern muttered, holding the soaked bandanna to his eye, “someone help me carry Bethany and-“

The group froze as they heard the sound of tires crunching gravel, a column of dust appeared at the end of the road as a battered blue truck approached, doing speed that was doubly unsafe with the young man in the truckbed. There was a screech of tires as the truck skidded to a halt, blocking the property’s long paved driveway.

“Oh shit,” Bern shouted as the three people in the vehicle stepped out, rifles drawn, “take cover!” the next round of gunfire peppered the van as the three tiny hunters dove behind it.

“This is beyond fucked!” Charlotte shouted, “he called a redneck roundup or something!”

“Listen up,” Laurie shouted as the rifle fire stopped. “You guys give us Evan; everyone walks out of here alive!”

“I’m guessing you’re Evan?” Mohawk asked bitterly, looking at the tiny man in her clenched fist.

“Pleased to meet you,” he chuckled, “you might say I get by with a little help from my friends.”

“I say we give up,” Charlotte said, peering around the corner of the van. She grimaced as she saw a blonde in a straw hat slamming another magazine into a deadly looking black rifle. The two men behind her, taking cover behind the truck’s doors, were doing the same.

“Bern?” Mohawk asked, reaching towards her pistol with her free hand.

The man growled a moment, “Okay!” he shouted, “we’re coming out!”

“WHAT!?” Amber screeched. Bern blinked his remaining eye; in the chaos he hadn’t even noticed her dive behind the van with them. She truly looked ill now, with her hair frazzled and her eyes bloodshot, a crazed look in them amplified by the madness of a late stage shrinking virus infection.

“It’s over,” Bern said calmly, not sure why he was bothering, “We’re giving this guy to those hicks, then we’re going to try to get out of here before the cops come.”

“It’s over when I say it’s over!” Amber moved with lightning speed, pulling Bern’s pistol from its holster and suddenly holding the three tiny hunters at gunpoint.

“Lady, you need to put that down,” Mohawk said angrily.

“Give me the fucking tiny or I put you down!” Amber hissed, “best tiny hunters there are,” she mocked, “fucking worthless!” she held out her hand, and Mohawk grudgingly put Evan into it. Amber peered around the side of the van, then at the three former allies and smirked.

Without another word Amber dove around the car, firing the gun wildly in the direction of Laurie’s truck. She, Dominic, and Gerald dove for cover, but all of Amber’s shots were going wide anyway. She didn’t have any idea how to use a firearm beyond what she’d seen in movies, but it was enough to let her get to her car.

“Just you and me now Tiny!” Amber tittered, tossing him to the passenger’s seat.

“You don’t look well Amber,” Evan said slowly, noticing the scratch marks up and down her legs.

“I’m fucking peachy!” Amber said with a wide smile as she leveled the gun at Evan, “now, you can survive all kinds of crazy stuff, but I’ll bet this will still splat you good, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Evan said cautiously. I remember this part of the virus, he groaned mentally she’s in lala land.

“S-So just stay put,” Amber stammered, blinking rapidly, “We’re going to drive to the scrapyard, and I’m going to build us a helicopter to get out of here.”

Evan swallowed nervously, in her state Amber really shouldn’t be driving, he thought, on the upside… I’d probably survive a car crash.

“Look out!” Laurie shouted as Amber’s car barreled towards them. She tried to ready her rifle, but Amber just banged into the side of the beat-up truck, bumping it out of the way and letting her escape onto the gravel roadway.

Laurie leapt into the driver’s seat and turned the key, but the engine just whined in protest. She looked with dismay at the engine block, now billowing steam and smoke.

…

“HA!” Amber crowed as dust rose behind them. “I did it!” she cackled, “fuck you Eve!”

There was a crash, and then the world spun. Evan flew through the air, and a moment later felt his body crunch as he collided with the dashboard. His world went black.

…

Eve fought against the airbag, stumbling out of her own vehicle in a daze. She’d knocked Amber’s car clear into the ditch on the side of the road, and the marshy water had enveloped the front hood, stopping just at the cabin. Eve’s car hadn’t fared much better, with a good chunk of the front hood caved in.

“Amber!” She screamed angrily, stumbling out of the door.

Sirens raged in the distance, and the column of black smoke rising from Evan’s house pierced the blue summer sky. Eve could smell it again, Evan’s home, their home, burning. When she’d spotted the redhead behind the wheel of her car fury had welled within her. There was no question in her mind who was responsible for this, and she’d only needed a second’s thought before she steered right into it. She grimaced as she walked, aches and pains beginning to surface with the adrenaline of the crash gone.

The redhead flopped out of her own vehicle, bobbing and weaving as she stood, a gun in one hand and Evan in the other. Amber blinked a moment, her eyes adjusting as her vision came back into focus.

“Eve,” she giggled, “oh good, once I get rid of you, I can have my job back!”

Eve froze, seeing the weapon her eyes went wide, “Your job? Amber what are you-“

“She’s infected!” Evan shouted, “she’s nuts, run!”

“No,” Amber said, blinking sweat out of her eyes, “you both fucked me over, and once I get rid of you, I’ll be back to the top, in a helicopter I’m gonna build myself!” She put the gun against Evan’s tiny form, and Eve sprinted at her, knowing it was too late.

“MROW!”

A grey blur flew up out of the marsh, and the cat was clawing at Amber’s face with a fury Eve didn’t know he could even possess. Evan fell to the marsh with a shout of surprise, and the gun splashed into a puddle as the redhead screamed, trying to pry Marshmallow off her. A moment later there was a squeal of feline pain, then the grey tabby was thrown bodily to the road with a thud.

Amber looked like a demon, blood streaming down her face and her red hair fluttering wildly in the wind, and Evan felt a moment of true fear as she snarled, looking down at him. He braced himself as she raised a heeled foot over him, the marshy soil made a sucking sound as she did so.

Eve was on her then, and while she’d never been in a fight, a physical one anyway, her clenched fist made contact with Amber’s jaw in a way that would make a boxer proud. Amber staggered backwards, collapsing onto a raised pile of soil and plants.

“What a fucking hit!” Evan called excitedly, “Eve, you should do MMA!”

“Ow,” Eve muttered, shaking her hand back and forth as she delicately picked up the gun, “I don’t think so…” She glanced up at the road, Marshmallow was struggling shakily to his feet, one of his legs hung limply behind him and she grimaced.

“Mew,” he managed, slowly dragging himself back to them.

“Good cat!” Evan said, bounding over to him and reaching up to hug the tabby’s face, “no more kibble, wet food for you every night, I don’t care what the doctor says.”

Eve took a moment to breathe, glancing over at the house, she saw a series of firetrucks and police cars around it. There were several people being arrested, and Laurie and what looked like two of her family members were talking to officers who were taking statements.

“We should probably go get the cops so they can take the wicked witch over there in,” Eve muttered.

“Uh, I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Evan said, pointing to where Amber had fallen.

Eve turned to follow his gaze, then started as she saw Amber’s rumpled clothes laying on the patch of raised soil. Inside her button up shirt a small lump moved.

Amber sobbed, naked and wet, as she crawled towards the neck of her own shirt. As soon as she’d shrank her mind had cleared almost instantly, and the last week of bad decisions made in a haze had come flooding back to her. There was no point in denying it now, she had the shrinking virus.

She squealed in surprise as someone lifted up her shirt, shaking it and causing her to tumble free through the air. She landed with a grunt, the soft marshland soil cushioning her somewhat. Shakily she tried to stand up, covering her breasts with one arm and her crotch with the other as the warm summer wind blew her hair slightly. She noticed that all the scratches up and down her arm had healed almost instantly, as had the stinging ones on her face.

“Hi Amber,” Eve’s voice called from overhead.

Amber’s eyes went wide as her head met Eve’s heels, the mud and filth of the marsh fouling them. Her head traced higher, up her nyloned legs, her skirt, shirt, and finally to that smug face, so far away. Amber’s heart skipped a beat, and she stumbled backwards, forgetting modesty and letting her breasts and fiery red pubic hair be seen as she held her hands up in front of her self feebly.

“H-Hey Eve!” Amber said with a weak grin, “Uh, I uh… I’m a tiny! Wild huh!”

“Wild,” Eve agreed, her grin widening.

“Maybe don’t make it too rough on her,” Evan whispered from his spot on her shoulder. “I know she’s done a lot to us… but this whole thing is really hard on you mentally when it first happens.”

“Evan,” Eve said calmly as she lifted her shoe over Amber, “Tinies get stepped on all the time, as someone used to tell me, they bounce right back.” The hard sole slammed down on Amber, who’s scream of terror was cut off by the familiar *crunch* of a shrinkee’s body being compressed under a high heeled shoe. Eve took a moment to grind her heel back and forth, a pointless gesture in the soft soil, but it made her feel good.

“Now, tell me that wasn’t satisfying?” She asked Evan with a smile.

Evan fought to keep the grin off his face, “Okay, maybe it was a little, but let’s not get carried away with this.” He looked wistful a moment, then chuckled, “you know, you never forget the first time you get stepped on.”

“Who was yours?” Eve asked curiously.

“Laurie actually,” Evan said with a laugh, “she was coming in from doing yardwork and had her headphones in, I was on the floor and neither of us were really paying attention and… crunch.” He shrugged, “she still feels bad about it.”

…

It took hours, but eventually the police had arrested the four tiny hunters, and the fire department had managed to put out the blaze the group had started trying to flush Evan out. Gerald and Dominic had called a friend of theirs who owned a tow truck company, and the wrecked vehicles had been carted off one by one, a sure windfall for whatever body shop they were all being brought to. Soon the only ones left were Eve, Laurie and Evan, staring at the burned upper floor of the Armstrong house.

“Well,” Eve said, “the Fire Chief said it can probably be rebuilt, and the lower story is almost untouched.”

“That’s going to take a while,” Laurie said with a sigh, “you guys want to come crash at my place? My brother loaned me his shitbox over there,” she jerked a thumb at an older looking sedan.

“Sounds good,” Evan said in a tired voice. “We need to bring Marshmallow by the vet too, I think his leg is broken.”

“Mrow,” the cat agreed weakly from inside his carrying kennel.

“I guess I’ll just address the elephant in the room,” Laurie said with a sigh, “what are you going to do with her?”

Eve looked down at the mason jar in her hand, tightly screwed shut. She held it up to her face, looking at the despondent looking redhead trapped, naked, inside it.

“Well, the police wouldn’t take a tiny, but I’ve got some ideas,” Eve said with a cruel grin, Amber shivered inside the jar, a fearful expression on her face.

“Look, I understand everyone wants some payback-“ Laurie began slowly.

“I get it, I get it, jeez,” Eve said irritably.

“Let’s just worry about her later,” Evan insisted, “we’ve all been through hell, let’s go pick up some food and go crash.”

“Sounds good,” Eve said, holding up Amber’s credit card, “you guys won’t go all tiny rights on me if I use Amber’s credit card to pay for dinner, will you?”

Nobody had any objections.