Dilemma
By: wildcatman
The fog had started to dissipate, slowly fading out, and the three men were able to see a little further around them. The sky was still cloudy and had a strange, odd, blueish-green hue about it.
Joe, had started to gather up some small twig's and sticks. He knew that they would need to build a fire before sunset, and he causiously ventured away from the safety of their hiding place under the huge rock.
James joined him, and they searched around the area staying close to the rock, and collecting as much kindling as they could, the two men stepped around quietly as possable, as they foraged for some of the dryer bark, and dead limbs.
Mike was busy clearing out the space under the rock. Making it a bit more roomy, and removing some lumpy clumps, and small rocks...
He used a short, folding shovel, and smoothed out the floor, by shaving the surface of the ground and shaping it to a more comfortable pocket for the three of them to shelter in, and protect themselves from the elements, and whatever else was lurking out there.....
The opening under the rock, was just large enough for the three of them to completely conseal themselves, and had enough extra room so that they could sit-up, and move around a bit. It would serve as a good shelter, the huge boulder was the size of a city bus, and the thick moss that had covered it consealed it from being seen from anyone not passing by too closely...
***
James inspected the 'imprint' of the huge 'Foot', that was just a few feet from the rock. The rain had washed out nearly everything else, but the remaining 'track', of that 'thing', that had stepped-down there, and it was still 'clearly' visable. He squatted down next to the long, heavily-depressed, footprint...
It, whatever 'IT' was, had packed the sand down tightly, and James estimated that it was about eight feet long, and three feet wide....
"My God...", James whispered to himself, as he ran his finger's along the rim of the huge 'human-looking' footprint.
Joe causiously stepped over and joined him. The 'footprint', dwarfed the two men as they squatted next to it, it's size alone was simply incredable!
"What'd ya' make of it?", Joe asked.
"I don't know,...but, it's 'really', BIG", James whispered over, as his eye's glanced all around, continuously searching the surrounding jungle for any signs of movement...
"By the looks of it, it appears to be.....'Human", Joe stated, matter-of-factly. He pointed out the perfectly formed 'toe-print's', at the front of the huge track. It definitely looked to be of a giant human footprint, monstrously huge!
The jungle around them was deathly silent. A constant splattering of raindrops, as the tree limbs dripped down upon them was the only sound, aside from the waves, of the ocean in the distance.
The greenish-tinted fog was steadily lifting, and their visablity was opening-up, allowing them to see alot further into the thickly over-grown jungle. The sound of the birds had strangely disappeared. It seemed as though everything that was 'alive', had hidden itself somewhere, and wasn't about to reappear anytime soon...
James stepped down into the compacted sand of the large track. He stood in the center of it and scratched his head...
Looking along the outside edge, he studied the track with an inquisitive eye...
"If my estimate is anywhere near close, this 'giant' person, or 'humanoid', is well over thirty-feet tall", James whispered.
Joe squatted-down inside the track, and tried to dig his finger's into the compacted sand. He scratched his finger's into it, trying to remove some of it. The tremendous 'weight' that had smashed it down, was very obviously massive in size, and immeasurably extensive...
Both men tried to appear to be calm, but the underlying tension of the unknown, and the 'fact' that they were standing inside a human-like footprint, that was created by a being so large, that it could easily 'step-on' them, and smash them like an insect, sent a terrifying image into their mind's....
"I'd say, at least, Fifty-feet, and it could go well over a hundred ton's", Joe added.
"But, That's impossable!", James said, raising his voice in an irritated tone of disbelief...
"There's no such thing as Giants!", he complained, feeling that, 'all this', had to be some kind of 'joke', or something, and that someone was pranking on them.
Joe stood-up, and stepped closer to him raising his open hand toward his mouth...
"Lower your voice, it'll hear us!", he frantically protested...
"What, your afraid that some group of island kid's are gonna hear me?", James was looking all around expecting to see someone peeking-out from around a tree, hoping that someone was pulling a 'prank' on the three of them...
"There's no way someone could have compacted that sand, that tightly, in just a few moments,...it's 'not', a joke James, this is very,...'real', I can't explain it,...but, It's REAL!", Joe retorted, while grabbing his shoulders' to force him to stand still and quiet down...
"It would take several hours, and a very strong man to physically compact that sand, to such a compressed point!", Joe continued.
"We can't afford to take any chances, we'll have to 'assume', that's a giant's track, and if it is,..then God Help Us!"
***
Mike had finished up cleaning out the shelter-rock. He slowly, walked over to the other two men. He listened to them arguing, and scuffling around, while standing there, 'inside' of this 'monstrous' 'footprint'...
He felt a deep down sinking feeling, as he let his eye's study the image of what he was looking at...
The unexplainable fact, that his two older comrade's were standing 'Inside' a footprint, that was so large, that in comparison, he himself, and the other two men, would appear like tiny, little, rodent's, to the being that had made that track!
He stepped closer and observed the huge footprint. James and Joe were still standing inside of it, and the sudden realization of this horrific image bloomed within his mind. He caught his breath, and tried to rationalize this preponderance. He felt as though, they had been thrust into some otherworldly reality. The sight of this 'barefooted-footprint', at such an incredable size, caused his adrenaline to instantly surge, and his heart began to race...
The 'thought', of that lingering 'scent', that this behemoth-like being had left behind, somehow lead him to believe that it was a 'female-giant',...or more percisely, a 'GIANTESS'...
His heart began to race even faster as he formed that image, and at that 'image', he felt dizzy, and light-headed...
Mike's imagination quickly took-over, and he estimated the sheer size of what this colosal-being would appear to look like...
Filling in the blanks, as he looked down at the footprint, he slowly raised his eye's and 'created' an estimated 'version', of this giant female...
"She would stand towering above the palm-tree's,...Hell, her hip's would be taller than that! She would easily cover thirty-feet in a single stride, and she would be,...she would easily,...she would definitely,...be able to 'stomp' the life out of all three of them, with one stomp, and might not even notice it!", Mike thought to himself.
He stepped closer to the huge footprint, and interupted the other two men...
"Maybe we should look for a better spot for our shelter", he said, as he stepped down into the huge footprint.
Joe turned to face him, and noticed the trembling of his younger body. The widened eye's, and his anxiously excited reaction to his sudden realization...
"We could move back 'further', into the jungle, and find a better place!", Mike continued, with a panic-stricken motivation...
Joe tried to ease his fear, and grabbed his shoulder's. He just got done explaining the 'Reality' of the situation, to James. Now, he was prepairing to 'Tone-it-down', for his younger partner...
"Mike, we can't just, 'assume' that this 'giant', will return back to this very-same-spot, I mean, the Odd's of that, happening, are very low", he tried to reassure him.
"There's no pathway here, It just appears that, it was just randomly walking through here", Joe explained.
"I don't think that we'd be any safer, by going deeper into the island either, Mike", James added, as he noticed the confusion in Mike's face...
"Yes, but-she, nearly stepped right on US!", Mike blerted out, as he pointed-out how close the footprint was to the shelter-rock...
"SHE?", Joe stated, questioningly...."How do you 'know', it's a 'SHE"
"Didn't you smell that,...that smell, that, sweet scent?", Mike tried to explain...
"Mmm, yeah? I did notice that, I just wondered if you all had picked-up on that too", James agreed, and smiled at the other two men.
"Hmmm, a 'female Giant", Joe whispered, trying to visualize it in his mind.
"A 'GIANTESS'", Mike corrected him, as he still trembled with fear at the thought of it.
"Maybe if it is, a giant 'female', that, maybe, 'she' won't be so,...dangerous?", James stated to the others, with a 'strange' glimmering, sparkle in his eye's...
"Anything 'THAT BIG', male or female, is going to be dangerous,....for US, anyway!", Joe quickly spoke, as he tried to make James aware of the 'true' reality of their situation...
Mike was terrified at the sight of the footprint. He blew out a deep breath, and squatted down...
Joe squatted down next to him, and patted him on the shoulder. Mike looked up at him with blood-shot eye's and was nearly in tears at the thought of this enormas giant, being on this isolated island with them, and no way to get away from it...
"Well Mike, I promised you an exciting 'position', didn't I?", Joe squinted at him, trying to keep a straight-face, as he asked this preposterous question...
Mike looked 'wild-eyed', for a brief moment, as he concidered Joe's remark, then as he noticed the corners of Joe's mouth turning-up, both men burst into laughter, and James suddenly sat down next to them, and all three men erupted into a frustrated fit of contagious belly-laughing...
All three of them mindlessly rolling around inside of the gigantic footprint, laughing like madmen, and childishly punching each other in the shoulder, and pretending to fight...
***
The stress of their prediciment, temporarily relieved, the three of them stepped up out of the footprint, and began building a small 'Tee-Pee' out of the stick's that they had collected....
Forming a 'starter-box' for their fire, they built up a tiny cluster of twigs, and when they had a fairly large enough stack of sticks, they ignited it and began swiftly fanning the flame's and adding more wood, and larger stick's...
Within moments, the three men had a nicely built cooking fire. The damp wood that they were forced to use though, did creat more smoke than what they would have liked, but the fire did make some light, and the smoke helped keep the bugs away...
The small amount of packaged food that they had was opened, and they divided it up amoung them, and they took turns watching out for any signs of that 'Giantess'....
James took the first watch, just as the sun started to sink behind the horizon. He climbed up on-top of the big rock, and found a place to sit next to the base of a small tree...
He kept a sharp eye out, as he scanned the contour of the interior jungle that spread out before him. He felt a sickening pang of fear try to creep back into his conscious, and he quickly pushed it back, and took a deep cleansing breath...
"Everything's gonna be fine", he told himself, although- he couldn't quite convince himself completely...
**********
Giantess World
Chapter End Notes:
Still creating an atmosphere, it's gonna get alot better. Please leave a review!