The next morning when I arose, like a vampire from its coffin, I felt much better. In fact, I almost felt like a new person. The sun was shining, but a cold wind was blowing from across the ocean, and the world around me seemed a lot more beautiful than it did yesterday. I don’t know why, but suddenly I felt ready to begin a new life, to make the most of what fate had dealt me.

“Look out, new world, giant-size Katie is here, and I’m not letting you beat me down again!”

I actually said that silly-sounding line out loud, and I didn’t care that anyone might have overheard me. I did care that someone might be watching me while I got dressed, though, so I went over to the seaward side of the hill and climbed down its side a short bit. Feeling a bit more sheltered, I took of all my clothes from yesterday and put on some new ones I’d found in the cocoon: fresh underwear, a pink T-shirt, denim jeans, a white fleece jacket and a pair of sneakers. After that I ate some breakfast – bread and biscuits, mostly – and began to organize my things for the trek to the lake. I was craving a warm bath by then, but I decided to wait until the day’s work was done before trying out the lake’s waters.

It would take me at least three or four trips back and forth to bring everything I needed. On the first trip I took the tent and an inflatable mattress, packed into two bags, one on my back and one in my arms. They were made out of the lightest, most modern materials, but still weighed a lot in my opinion. I was quite fit, luckily, but I knew I would feel completely exhausted by the time I was finished. I could see the blue waters of the lake from up here, and headed off in that direction, trying to keep going straight.

Down in the forest the cold wind had slackened to a cool breeze and, since I could go most of the way in the shade, it wasn’t as tiring as I’d thought. It took me about forty minutes to reach the lake, and I realized it was totally worth it. Almost a mile across, its blue, blue surface looked like heaven, and I wanted to jump in right then and there. The trees of the forest came right up to its sandy shores, and when I dipped my hand in quickly it felt gorgeously warm. But duty came first, and I began to look for a place to camp. I didn’t bother looking far, and set up camp as close to the water’s edge as I could.

Erecting the tent was easy – all I had to do was read the instructions and pull a few cords, and the self-erecting mechanisms did the rest. Ditto for the mattress. I chucked it in the tent, zipped up the entrance to keep out any unwanted guests, and headed back for the next batch of things. Without having to carry a lot of stuff, I practically jogged back, and twenty minutes later I set off again with another heap of things I felt I would need. Five trips later I called it a day, and began the task of sorting out everything I’d brought.

I’d brought all my clothes, even ones I wouldn’t really wear a lot, because I didn’t want to do the laundry any more than was absolutely necessary. I’d also brought all the canned food and other supplies – they wouldn’t last for long, I realized, and I would be forced to learn how to fish, or gather fruit in the forest, or maybe even catch small animals. I’d also brought a portable electric light, flashlight, rechargeable solar batteries, portable stove, cutlery, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, toothbrush, hairbrush, other small cosmetic items, walking boots, blankets, pillows, the box with the books – everything I would have taken on a normal camping trip, I guess. I couldn’t believe how thorough my parents had been when they packed that compartment – they’d clearly expected the worst to happen, and it did – and I thanked them with all my heart, even though I knew they couldn’t hear me.

The only things I’d left behind were a crate filled with electronic equipment – useless now, I thought – and the inflatable raft, which I didn’t want to drag anywhere unless I absolutely had to. By the time everything was in its place it was way past noon, and I was pooped. I yearned to take a swim, but I decided to take a short walk first along the lake’s shore, just to get familiar with my environment. I was sweating by this time and took off my jacket. I grabbed a still relatively fresh looking apple from my supplies and set off towards where the river which drained the lake must lie.

Eventually I found the spot where the river flowed out of the lake, but that wasn’t the only thing I found. A miniature canoe, less than a foot long, with a tiny sail and everything, was drawn up on its bank, and three tiny figures were standing next to it. I recognized one immediately – it was Ryu, of course – and the other two were boys of about his own age. I approached them and decided to say ‘hi’.

“What’s up, little guys?” I said cheerfully. “Come to pay your new neighbor a visit?”

The two unknown boys didn’t move or say a word, but Ryu came running up to me with great eagerness. I sat down on the river’s edge and waited for him to reach me. When he did I stretched out my hand and gave him an embrace with my fingers, but I didn’t pick him up. He seemed really pleased to see me, and came right up to me and stood next to my thigh, looking up at me in admiration.

“Hello, Katie!” he said. “It’s really good to see you again!”

“Why, thank you, Ryu, it’s nice to see you too! I hope it hasn’t been too hard for you, spending a whole day without me – I was worried you might not make it!”

He blushed quite conspicuously, and there was no doubt left in my mind that he had a crush on me.

“Relax, I was just kidding!” I said. “Why don’t you introduce your two friends?”

“Uh, sure. Hey, guys!” he called. “Guys, come over here!”

The other two begun to move in our direction, definitely not in any kind of hurry.

“They’re still a bit…scared, I think,” Ryu explained. “It was really hard to get them to come with me, they really didn’t want to meet you.”

“’Cause I’m a giant, right?”

“Well, not just that – it’s mostly because you’re a giant…girl.”

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t really fancy becoming the object of lust for every teenaged boy in the village – but, then again, that did give me some sort of…status, I guess, in their eyes. The boys had joined us by now and I could see them more clearly. One looked exactly the same age as Ryu, though he was a bit shorter. The other one was tall and athletic-looking, and definitely a bit older than the other two – about fourteen or fifteen years old, I guessed.

“Katie, these are my friends, Sai and Emmon. Guys, this is Katie, she’s – well, I guess you already know who she is. Everyone does.”

The two of them mumbled greetings, but backed away when I tried to touch them. Ryu went over and grabbed Sai, the younger boy, and dragged him towards me.

“Say hello to Katie, Sai. She’s not going to eat you, so you don’t have to be scared of her.”

“But…but she’s so…so big and…and huge…”

“Yeah, tell me about it!” I joked. “A grand total of five feet and eight inches – freakin’ massive, that’s what I am!”

“Wow!” Sai lost a little of his fear and walked up all the way to my knee. He touched the fabric of my jeans. Then he grabbed on tightly and scrambled up onto my leg.

“Wow, this is just…wow!”

“Lost for words, huh?” I laughed as he ran all the way to my shoe and climbed onto it as well. Ryu soon joined him, but Emmon hung back, uneasy.

“We should go back!” he called to his friends. “Come on, there’s nothing more to do here!”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong,” I said. “You see, I’ve been working my ass off all day, getting my camp set up and all, and I’d really, really like to go for a swim in that lake. I would have been fine going alone, but, with you guys here, it’ll be a lot more fun. What do you say?”

There was no answer, and even Ryu looked hesitant. I wanted to egg them on, but then realized that what might be a safe place to swim for me wasn’t necessarily for them.

“Damn, I forgot – you guys are a lot smaller than me, aren’t you? You’d be an easy meal for a fish – or whatever else lives in there. Crap, now I don’t feel like going either…”

“It’s all right, Katie,” Ryu said. “There’s nothing living in the lake now. It’s autumn, and the fish only come in from the sea in spring. You can swim there if you want – just, please don’t tell anyone about it.”

“Uhh, okay. May I ask why?”

“There’s a bit of…trouble in the village. More and more people are saying that it’s better if you just leave, and never come visit again. People are scared of you, and they don’t like the way you behave.”

“They sound like a bunch of grouches to me…but I guess I’ll just have to show them I’m not a threat, or they’ll be coming for me with pitchforks and torches, haha! Hey, why don’t I take you back home after our swim…that is, if you’re still keen on joining me…”

“I want to go!” Sai said excitedly – he’d quickly turned into another admirer, I thought amusedly.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll come too,” Ryu said. “You’ll look after us, won’t you, Katie?”

I smiled at his straightforward request, glad that it didn’t make him feel ashamed to ask for my protection.

“Sure I will. How about you, little fella? You coming too?” I addressed Emmon, who still didn’t look comfortable. He gave me a bad look.

“My name is Emmon, and I’m not little!” he yelled back. “I don’t have to come if I don’t want to. And I don’t need a girl to look after me! I can do that myself!”

“I never said you needed…”

“You’re not better than me, you know! You’re still just a girl, no matter how big you are, and I’m not scared of girls!”

“Oh, I can see that. Well, suit yourself, big man. Guess I’ll see you back at the village then.”

I lifted the two boys off of my leg, then got up and looked back in the direction of my tent.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” I said. “I’ll go and change, and then I’ll meet you back here. That okay with you?”

They nodded in agreement, and I turned and started to leave. I hadn’t walked two steps, however, before I heard screams behind, and frantic calling of my name. I looked down and saw the three of them, Emmon included, running across the grass towards me with great speed. Ryu reached me first. He jumped onto my shoe, climbed up it like a miniature monkey, and grabbed hold of the bottom of my denims. The others had climbed onto my shoe as well, and I could tell they were all intensely scared.

“What’s the matter, guys?” I asked. “Did anyone follow you here?”

They didn’t answer, so I looked around. I immediately saw what they had run from, and screamed loudly. Not ten feet away, at the edge of a grove of bushes, stood a large, frightening and deadly-looking creature. It must have snuck up on us, I thought, and was now looking at me, an unfamiliar entity.

Upon first seeing it, I immediately thought ‘dinosaur’, though it was really more like a lizard. It was six feet long, brown in color, and walked on all fours. From its upper jaw hung two lethal, dagger-like teeth, five inches long each. On its back were three rows of spines. Two of the rows stuck out at an angle, and the spikes on the tips looked painfully sharp. The third row stood upright, and between the spines there was a blood-red sail of skin. I looked down at the frightened boys, then quickly bent down and gathered them up in my hand. They looked so terrified, even though they were relatively safe up here, next to my torso.

“What…what the hell is that thing?” I whispered. It still hadn’t moved, and neither had I.

“It’s an ishiloo!” Emmon blurted out “It…it eats people!”

An ishiloo – the same creature that had killed and eaten Ryu’s parents. I began to get alarmed, but I didn’t dare move. It might not attack me – I was pretty big to be its prey, or so I desperately hoped – but the boys were in real danger, and I knew that, whatever happened, I couldn’t let it get to them, or they’d be dead. Trying to be as quiet and deliberate as I could, I took a small step backwards.

Without warning, the beast snarled and leapt in my direction, teeth bared. I screamed again and turned to run, but tripped over my own feet and fell on my butt. This was fortunate: if I’d kept standing I would have been dead. Instead, the ishiloo’s jump carried it right on over me, and it landed ten feet from me in the other direction. However, I was still screwed, unless I could find some way to defend myself. I spotted a short, thick stick, and my free hand lunged instinctively for it. The ishiloo turned and readied for another attack, but I was ready. Emboldened by the fact that I had three lives depending on me, I started swinging the stick wildly in front of me. As soon as it got within range, the monster received a mighty whack on its snout. It roared in pain, startling me and almost causing me to drop my weapon. But I kept at it, all the while shouting things like: “Back! Get back, you piece of shit! Leave us alone!”

Another well-placed blow on its face and it began to back off. I kept screaming like a possessed girl, and eventually it skulked back into the bushes. I could breathe again, but didn’t dare to hang around for a millisecond longer. I was up and away, running back towards my tent, while looking back every now and then to make sure it wasn’t following me. Only when I felt safe again did I slow down, and I opened my left hand to check on the three guys. They seemed to be unhurt, though they must have been squashed together a little while my hand was closed, and all three of them looked up at me with both wonder and obvious gratitude.

“E-everyone okay?” I asked, out of breath. My heart was pounding like a sledgehammer.

They nodded, and I sighed with relief. No-one spoke until I was back at the tent. I sat down on the soft grass and tried to calm myself down. I put the guys down on my leg, and they collapsed as well. Then Ryu got up and did something that, in my exhausted and heightened emotional state, really touched me. He walked up to my waist and hugged his entire body against my T-shirt.

“Thank you, Katie,” he said sincerely. “Thank you for saving us.”

“Aw, don’t mention it!” I said, trying not to get too emotional and do something girly like crying. “Of course I wouldn’t leave you guys alone at my feet – I could never do that.”

“You...you scared away that monster!” Sai exclaimed. “You beat it away…and you saved us! That’s…that’s so…cool!”

“Told you she was awesome,” Ryu said. “I bet she could have beaten that thing completely if it hadn’t run away…”

While they were discussing whether or not I was more powerful than an ishiloo, I was looking at Emmon. He was sitting quietly in my lap, not looking at me or saying anything. His ‘I-don’t-need-a-girl-protecting-me’ macho boasting had just been proven wrong, and it must have been a bit…hard on him. I could have rubbed it in, but right then I was just glad we were all alive, so I left him alone. I ordered them off of me, then got up and told them to stay while I put on my swimsuit.

“No peeking now, guys…I mean it,” I said. “You just stay out here, and I’ll change into something more suitable. And if you see that…that thing again, just scream, and I’ll come and fetch you.”

I left them standing outside – maybe not the best idea, but I was pretty certain nothing would happen to them. I took off my clothing and put on a red bikini swimsuit. I’d had it for over a year, so it was kinda too small for me now, but it was comfortable, and I didn’t think the guys would complain about it being too revealing. I stepped outside again, and saw that they had taken off their shirts and shoes, and were looking very nervous. Maybe they were a bit shy, but once they saw me they couldn’t take my eyes off me.

And no wonder. A hundred foot-plus girl in a bikini would be an eye-catching sight for any man to see, big or small. My legs must look like tree trunks to the little dudes – but a lot sexier than tree trunks, obviously. As for the little G-string covering my crotch…well, all I can say is I hope it doesn’t leave too little for their imagination. I stooped and picked them up, and held them at chest level.

“Okay, you guys look ready, so let’s go! By the way, what’s going on with you, Emmon? You had a change of heart or something?...um, guys?…I’m up here!”

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, no matter how hard I tried. The three of them weren’t looking at my face: they were staring most intently at my cleavage. Never underestimate the effect a good pair of tits had on a guy’s brain, I thought – especially if said tits were the size of small houses, relatively speaking. Carrying three guys in my hand was one thing, but to think that all three of them could be squeezed in cozily between my breasts was something else, and it gave me a serious…well, not a power trip, but something almost like it. I grabbed Ryu’s skinny torso between my fingertips and wiggled him like a little rag doll.

“Are you done, you little creep? If I’d known how my boobies would make you behave…”

“I’m…I’m…I’m sorry, Katie,” he muttered. “I…I…I…”

“Ah, don’t bother,” I said, putting him back in my hand. All three boys were looking seriously embarrassed, and they couldn’t look me in the eye. “I don’t mind guys staring at me – story of my life – so don’t feel bad. No harm done, you know? In fact, let me bring you guys closer, since I think it’s important you get comfortable around me.”

I held my hand snugly against my left breast, and the guys had an opportunity to lie against the red fabric of my bikini top. This couldn’t have been anything less than a dream come true for them – even Emmon seemed to be enjoying himself. I didn’t know whether or not I was making them aroused, but I definitely felt something. Perhaps getting intimate with a tiny guy wouldn’t be the nightmare I’d imagined it to be. But that would have to wait until much, much later. I wanted to get used to all this first, and to make friends. I headed towards the lake, ready to cool off, and to have some fun.