Kim and Sabrina ran through the flower bed jungle away from the gardener’s assault. Stumbling over dirt mounds and ducking under flower roots as they went, the two just wanted to put as much space between them and the gardener as they could. With adrenaline raging through their systems and their hearts pounding, they couldn’t stop thinking about Piper and what could have happened to him after he disappeared in the patch of earth the rake was tearing up. They both wanted to say something, but neither could find any words. Together, they slowed their pace from a frantic sprint to running to jogging until they were able to bring themselves to a full stop. Sabrina put her hand on a flower root, and Kim flopped down against one of many chunks of dirt. The two women tried to calm themselves and find a feeling of safety in the dense jungle, both panting heavily as they looked around and surveyed their surroundings. Sabrina could not see anything noteworthy, just dirt, tall flower stems, and beams of light peaking through the canopy. Finally, Sabrina decided to break the mounting silence.

"We couldn’t have done anything for him, right?" Sabrina said, looking at a slumped Kim.

"N… no. If we tried… to save him, we would have fallen into a crevice... or been crushed." Kim responded through labored breaths.

Uhhhhh, maybe we should go back... at least see if there is any sign of him?" Sabrina said as she straightened herself and started to pace around.

He... ugh... he will probably be f-fine." Kim said as she continued to pant.

"Kim, are you ok?" Sabrina said as she walked over to her wheezing friend, placing her hand on her back and giving it a gentle pat.

"My fucking allergies... I need… need to get a-away from these flowers" Kim said, looking up at her friend. Her nose was almost as red as a strawberry.

"Come on, stand up; we will continue down the hill towards the pathway. Maybe once we are back outside from under this canopy, your airways will start to open again" Sabrina said, offering her hand to Kim.

“Yeah, that sounds great," Kim said, accepting her hand and letting Sabrina pull her back onto her feet.

Once the two were standing, Sabrina wrapped her arms around Kim, pulled her in close, and embraced her in a hug. Deep down, they both knew they needed this. Kim gave no resistance, as feeling the warmth from her friend like this temporarily distracted her from her inflamed allergies. Then the two felt their hearts drop. It sounded like they were inside a building where the floors above them were collapsing. Then the ground started to vibrate, and the vibrations turned into a rumble. Kim pulled Sabrina in tighter as the two turned around and felt their stomachs drop as they saw a massive wall of loose debris coming at them. Being pushed by an even bigger wall of water behind it.

“OH FU-“ Sabrina started to scream before being cut off.

The water slammed into the two tiny girls with extreme force. Kim was ripped from Sabrina’s arms and swallowed by the attacking torrent. Sabrina’s feet were yanked from underneath her as she too was picked up and engulfed by the raging flood. The two girls were pulled through the flood waters, smashing into plant roots and stems and being battered every way by loose debris also caught by the waters might. The two girls would breach the surface and scream for each other or for help, only to find no response before getting sucked back under the surface for another beating. Breaching the surface once more, Kim found herself facing down the garden slope, green vegetation whizzing past her as she slammed into more roots and low-hanging leaves. She became pinned to one of the roots by the rapids, and she was left flailing her limbs in vain as the water wore her down. Thankfully, the root she was pinned against chose to break first as it snapped and folded under the water's weight, causing Kim to be sucked back under the whitewater’s surface. Sabrina was faring no better as she was being rolled across the dirt floor of the garden. pushed up to the surface, she called for Kim to no avail. Her stomach was churning just as fast as the water as she was helplessly thrown around without mercy before she was pulled back under. Her screams were drowned as water filled her lungs, weighting her down further. Exhaustion overtook her from the tumbling and turning and the abuse from the loose debris swirling around in the flood waters. Her vision started to grow distant, and the sound of the rushing water grew more muffled and started to fade. In what would have been her final moments, she felt the push against her. As the ground leveled out, the water started to slow. It quickly decreased from raging rapids to a gentle stream, allowing Sabrina to regain control of her movement. Using her remaining strength, she swam upward and took huge gasping breaths as she breached the surface. Coughing and gagging for air as she tried to call out again.

"Kim! *cough* Kim! Help. *cough cough* Ugh, help! Where are you?!" Sabrina sputtered, disoriented, as she tread water, being gently pushed by the now calmed waters.

"Here! Don’t move! I’ll come to you." Kim said she was already swimming over to her.

Following her friend’s orders, Sabrina tread water as Kim approached. The girls met and grabbed onto one another, treading water together as they looked around, surveying their new situation. The flash flood had pushed the girls through the flowerbed and into the pathway that ran behind it. Along the fence in the corner of the yard, flowers taller than most people were huddled together in a single long bed that wrapped around a seating area with three stone benches around a tree. The seating area was connected to the lawn by a dirt and stepping stone pathway, with tall flowers running on either side of it. A puddle started to form as the water pooled at a low point in the terrain.

“What the fuck was that? what happened?” Kim sputtered coughing and gagging.

"I think she watered the flowers with the rusty can she almost dropped on us. This is fucking awful! Is this what being a bug is really like? In the past 30 minutes, we were almost crushed to death twice and drowned in a massive flood."  Sabrina spoke in a completely defeated tone. 

"This must be some kind of divine punishment. My most sinister nightmares have never been this twisted before!" Kim said, looking up towards the bright blue sky over her head.

"The w-water has settled enou-ugh… enough it should be s-safe to head for the shoreline now" Sabrina said, intermittently spitting water between words.

Kim silently agreed with her, and the two set out across the now still waters towards dry land, hoping to escape the confines of the puddle. By the time they reached the edge of the puddle, they were exhausted. Their bodies ached, and their muscles were burning as the two tiny women dragged each other out of the water. Multiple near-death experiences had completely destroyed any remaining strength and will that the two women had left in them. They were both ready to collapse on the spot but knew that being in the middle of a footpath would certainly lead to only more disasters, and more disasters would come quickly. The ground started to rumble with a rhythm again, and the two girls froze in place as their blood ran cold. Their gaze was turned towards the pathway entrance, where the returning sight of the gardener towering high between the walls of flowers filled them with a heavy, sinking dread once more. This time her entire body was visible to them, including her dirty old work boots that were stomping towards them. And even worse, her adult daughter was trailing close behind her.

"OH FUCK NO! NO NO NO NO!" Sabrina cried as the gardener took another step towards the tiny girls. 

"We have to go NOW!" Kim grabbed her hand, but it was pointless; the gardener and her daughter were already towering over the two bugs.

The boots and shoes of the giants pressed down into the soft soil of the pathway as the gardener and her daughter made their way down the hall of flowers. As the giants were distracted by the beauty around them, the tiny girls watched from below as the gardener's boot passed over top of them as she marched past. The daughter, however, posed more of a threat. Walking offset from her mother put the two tiny girls directly in the path of her worn and dirty running shoes. The two girls tried to run out of her path, but their legs were weak and their spirits even weaker. By a stroke of grace, the shoe slammed down into the puddle in front of the girls, creating a gust strong enough to knock the girls off their feet as water droplets rained down on the surrounding area. Mustering what they could from within, the two once again made an attempt to contact the giant above. Begging and screaming for help or mercy, they got a response this time. But it wasn’t from the giant woman. The tiny face of a woman peered down from up on the sneaker. Kim and Sabrina couldn’t believe their eyes as they saw the form of Carrie waving back at them!

"CARRIE! HOLY SHIT!" Kim screamed in excitement.

"OH MY GOD THEY GOT YOU TOO?" Sabrina said it out of shock.

"Jump! Hurry before she lifts her foot again!" Sabrina yelled, cupping her hands in front of her mouth to direct her voice.

Not wasting any time, Carrie backed up from the ledge to give herself a running start. Space was limited on the edge of the shoe, but she tried as best she could, sprinting and hurling herself over the edge. She plunged down towards the puddle below. She splashed down into the water, disappearing under the surface and coming up a few seconds later, waving to the other two girls on the shoreline. She made the right choice, as shortly afterwards the giant sneaker lifted into the air and sailed away through the air down the garden path. The two girls, ignoring the burning and aching in their bodies, rushed back out into the water, wading their way towards their once-lost friend. Carrie, as tired as she was, worked out her athleticism to work and was the same towards them. Meeting at the edge of the shallow waters, Kim and Sabrina both grabbed an arm each and took hold of their friend. The two shot each other a concerned glance, but they both knew they should get her back to dry land quickly first. The two wadded through the waist-high water, dragging Carrie behind them. The two girls reached the shoreline and collapsed out of exhaustion on either side of Carrie. All three girls coughed and sputtered as Sabrina rolled over onto her stomach and slowly tried to rise to her feet. She was lightheaded and nauseated, and her legs felt like they could barely hold her weight and even gave out, dropping her to her knees more than once. The three lay there for what felt like hours, heads spinning and muscles burning. In total disbelief at their situation, the girls were finally able to gather their strength and stand once more. All three hobbled themselves upward and were swaying side to side on their feet. Kim and Sabrina stared down at Carrie, who stared back up at them.

"Carrie… Why are you so much smaller?" Kim was the one to break the silence.

"Me? I have been this way since waking up! Who are you all so much bigger?" Carrie said demandingly back

With all three girls standing while Kim and Sabrina could meet each other at eye level, Carrie, on the other hand, just barely made it to their knees. The athletic girl who used to tower over the rest of the group along with Sebastian was now four to five times smaller than their already diminutive size.

"Maybe she has been slowly shrinking more as the day has gone on, " Sabrina said, turning to Kim with concern on her face, wondering if the same was true for them.

"Or maybe she and the others shrank more than us when what ever happened originally happened..." Kim said, turning to look back down at Carrie.

Their conversation was interrupted, however. No one said a word, as they all felt it. There was a steady rumble in the ground that was quickly growing in strength. All three girls looked towards the flower wall that scraped the sky as a second stream of water burst from the seams. Up in the flower bead, a reservoir of water that formed when the gardener was using her watering can had broken loose and was rushing to the lowest point of the area. And the three little girls were directly in its path. Sabrina grabbed Carrie in her arms and dashed to get out of the way, Kim following close behind her. Sabrina looked over her shoulder just in time to see the water stream slam into Kim, consuming her again. Sabrina stopped, holding Carrie in her arms as they watched the raging torrent rushing in front of them. The water slowed and soaked into the soil as the two girls called out for Kim. Before them lay the freshly eroded ground, but there was no sign of their friend. 

"There! In the puddle!" Carrie said to point out across the water.

The strength of the stream was enough to carry Kim almost directly into the center of the newly formed puddle in front of them. Both girls knew she was in trouble from the rapid splashing coming from Kim, who had gone into complete panic mode. Completely losing all sense of direction after being swallowed by the water stream, Kim franticly splashed in the water, trying to grab onto anything solid around her that did not exist. Sabrina put Carrie down without saying anything and was just about to start her sprint to the water's edge to try and help as the ground started to shake once more. In a matter of moments, the quickly approaching titanic form of the colossal sister was already almost over top of them. Now holding her shoes in her hand, her bare feet were pressing into the cool, soft soil of the path. As her left foot came down, crushing the soil beneath it, her right foot raised up into the air. And moved forward directly over the puddle.

"FUCK! NO!" Sabrina screamed, tears instantly breaking from her eyes and running down her cheeks.

Time almost froze as the sole of the girl’s foot hovered in the air over their struggling friend. Her feet were already covered in dirt from a couple steps in the soil. Grime lined the wrinkles of her sole, some of it coming out as the skin stretched and retracted as her muscles moved and rotated her foot throughout the step. Her toes almost seemed to be outstretched in anticipation of what was about to come.

"Kim… no.." Sabrina said softly. Stretching out her arm as if she could just grab hold of her friend despite the distance between them.

The sister shifted her weight, and the foot started to come down. A shadow formed over the girl in the water as she watched grimy skin consume the sky above her. The foot pressed down into the puddle, sinking deeper into the wet soil at the bottom. Water droplets the size of houses were shot up into the air and quickly rained down around the two smaller girls on the shore. Up above, the sister swung her left foot forward, soil debris falling loose to the ground and adding to the chaos between her legs. It sounded and felt like the girls were going on a bombing run. Explosions all around, and none stopped shaking as the two girls curled into balls and screamed. The impact of the left foot in the distance signified the passing of the danger. The girls raised their heads just in time to see the right foot pull itself from the puddle. As the foot burst from the water, a sickening squelch sound followed as it rose out of the mud that had formed at the bottom of the puddle. More droplets were sent into the air, but the girls were unphased by these as they watched the mud-covered foot lift up. When the foot shifted, water ran down her sole and dripped from her toes. The sister gave her foot a little shake, trying to loosen the bigger, heavier, and lighter chunks and droplets already loose. And as she did, the two girls stopped. Their blood ran cold as their raging heartbeats came to a standstill. Through the sound of mud sliding off the foot and colossal droplets of water falling down, they heard it. Then, following the sound, they saw it. Stuck to the mud of the sole over the puddle.

"HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPP" It was Kim, still alive, stuck to the sister’s now filthy foot.

Sabrina cupped her hand over her mouth as tears rolled down her face. She took heaving breaths as she cried in agony at the sight before her. The foot started to move forward as Kim screamed out again.

"NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" before she was silenced as the foot slammed down into the soil once more. And again as the sister's foot lifted back up and sailed away.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Kim's screaming only stopped when the foot was pressed into the dirt. As the sister walked away, the two girls were forced to listen to their friend cry out. Completely helpless to save her. Her screaming only stopped when the Titan was too far away for them to hear their friend. And so, in silence, the two sat there crying. Tears rolling down their cheeks as they mourned the fate of their friend. Stuck to the muddy underside of someone’s foot, like a helpless insect. As for the two small girls themselves they started to come back to their own reality when they felt a rumble grow in the distance.