What is it about dismal displays that captures people’s attention? No matter how grisly, no matter how horrifying or somber, a crowd always comes to watch. A crowd of people, young and old, all trudging out of their own tents to see what awful scene was to be put on today. Like it was some macabre theatrical performance. Like life was just another work of drama. An opera, a ballet, a tragic comedy. They stared, all of them. I saw the wall of people before I saw anything else. When our vehicle drew closer they parted. The mass of onlookers warily shifted off to the sides of the road, leaving a small hole in their numbers through which I was able to catch a glimpse of the appalling spectacle.

Between two rows of pedestrians I saw a pair of grey-clad Psyn Corps operatives gathering a corpse onto a stretcher. A physician stood nearby with a withered hand on the shoulder of a hysterical woman. The victim appeared to be a young man, not much older than myself, with a gaping bullet wound in the side of his head. The splattered blood and oxidized traces of gore masked his facial features and scattered across the soggy earth. Above the soft putter of the car’s engine I could hear the tortured woman’s wails. Wide streams of tears ran down her reddened face. Her movements were struggled and spasmatic. I couldn’t tell exactly what happened. The man was shot, that was all I knew. One thing I was certain of was that rumors would spread quickly.

“Damn shame…” my plucky young driver added. “Heard about it on the radio just before I picked you up. Fella shot himself.”

“Wait just a damn minute now!” the other militiamen in the front passenger seat interjected. “I heard that those Psyn Corps bastards shot him!”

“Now why would they do that?”

“I don’t know, do those bastards even need a reason?”

Hmm, seems the rumors were circulating a lot faster than I thought. Lucky for me the calamitous attraction faded just as soon as it appeared. I tried to push the image from my mind.

“So, errr Gulliver right?” my driver asked.

“Ellis please,”

“You work with those giants don’t you?”

“That is correct”

“Damn, that must be like...really awful. How do you keep ‘em from killing you and what not?”

“Yeah” the other soldier burst out. “What do you do to them anyhow?”

At first I just shifted across the leather upholstery nervously. My thumb fiddled with the leather strap on my satchel as I continued to stare out the window. For a few brief seconds I completely forgot about their questions.

“I just...talk to them.”

Both turned their heads to peer back at me.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah...pretty much.”

Another journey over the hills and plains of the midwest. A trip from the lush, wooded interior to the dry and dreary outer edge. Oddly enough though, it felt like I was going home. Sure, at that point Camp Echo was just as much home as Camp Juliet, but still something about it helped me regain my composure. The day before, during my interview with Amora, some dreadful sense of congeniality had grabbed ahold of me. Somehow, for a second, I was truly convinced that she was a god of sorts. That they all were. I understood that they came here to forget their home world and each other, but at what cost? Were their lives so awful or was the idea of dominating a smaller race just that appealing?

Vera, I felt, would be the key to it all. If I was to understand the extremes of giant behavior I would need to understand how someone as mild mannered as Vera could still derive pleasure from this wretched subjugation. Plus, what was this river incident? It didn’t sound good.

At last, beyond the broken treeline on the edge of the horizon I saw the crest of Vera’s prison. Its plexiglass and titanium exterior scattered the early evening sunlight as the last rays were split by one of the capsule’s antennae.

I knew at this point we were only about twenty minutes out. Although I was dreading my return to the torn lean-to that was my tent, I was eager to follow-up on my newly discovered leads. No doubt I’d be met with the same animosity that had assailed me before I left. Grim would not be happy to see me, that’s for damn sure. I could do for a day where I wasn’t physically harmed. I mean, is that really too much to ask?

“Alright, looks like we’ll be pullin’ in soon. You still good back there?”

“Yep”

“Good to hear…”

The second man then turned back.

“So I also hear you know Cinna?”

I nodded.

“Wow, that’s incredible. I’ve heard so much about him! Well, we all have I guess. What’s he like?”

It felt like a loaded question. The best thing to do was be honest I guess. Well, maybe not too honest. I didn’t have to tell the whole truth.

“He’s...a character. Its hard to say exactly. He’s not what I expected him to be.”

The man just stared back at me. I guess he didn’t really catch my meaning. Well what else could I do? I wasn’t going to say that he was batshit crazy!

“Well, not exactly sure what that’s supposed to mean but I was just wondering if you knew anything about where he went…”

“Went?”

“Yeah, didn’t you hear?”

Admittedly I hadn’t heard from Cinna since I last left him on the docks. It would make sense that he’d gone off and gotten himself into some kind of trouble. What it was, well, that was a mystery to everyone but the old man himself.

“No, what happened?”

“Well,” the driver piped up, “seems he’s disappeared. Haven’t heard from him in a little over a day. Quite odd, but this sort of thing’s happened before…”

“Yes...that is odd…”

Ahhh, the familiar dust embraced me like an old friend. Mere minutes passed before my clothes were coated in its pallid residue. A heavy wind whipped up across the hills that hid the camp from view. Aside from the grumble of the car’s motor, the camp was rather quiet. My drivers bid me farewell and I decided to head back to my tent. With an exasperated heave I lifted my duffel bag up over my shoulder so that its strap overlapped my satchel’s.

My natural assumptions led me to believe that everything would be just as I left it. After all, it had only been two days. However, I quickly learned that was not the case. As I passed road after road I noticed a greater military presence. Whereas before only a few Blue Shirts would wander the camp, I now saw entire companies marching down the street. The commanding officer gave me a glare as I passed. He looked familiar.

When I finally reached my tent I found a horrible mess. Half the support beams had been knocked over. Large, jagged serrations etched out across the canvas cover. Layers of graffiti littered it as well. It was all accented by several shattered liquor bottles strewn out across its threshold. God, what a disaster. Whoever did this was certainly thorough. I could feel my usual tremors kick in as I ran my fingers across the words “DIE CUNT” written hastily in yellow spray paint. I wanted to cry. An ancient sadness that I sense was born years ago welled up in my throat. It was like I was a child again. I couldn’t do anything. There was just so much hatred around me it made me sick.

To be honest, I thought about leaving right then. Just packing my things in one of the reserve jeeps and speeding out into the wilderness. I wouldn’t make it far though. Luckily my reason was still intact. The crunch of glass beneath my shoes was an unhealthy reminder of the bakery. In the distance I thought I heard my mother scream. NO! I wasn’t going to fall into that pit again. Too much was riding on me now.

In a sudden burst of fury I kicked one of the empty handles of vodka across the dirt and screamed. Another minute passed. I thought of nothing, except the steady beat of my breath. After a while I noticed a couple of shapes in the corner of my eye. Two strangers, children, peeked out from behind a tent flap. They looked terrified.

With a fatigued gasp I let air flood back into my lungs. I wiped the sweat and dust from my brow and gathered my things. There was no home here anymore, so I picked myself up and turned toward the containment facility.

The path to the main control center was blocked. A line of soldiers in their usual dark blue jackets and black kevlar vests waited outside with rifles against their shoulders. At first I paid no attention to them, I was too eager to get back to work. As I stormed up to the brigade one of them thrust his hand out and caught me by the collar.

“Hold up there sir, no one gets in without a level three clearance pass.”

The acid in my throat poured out as a vicious words:

“Excuse me, I work here, I have to get inside. Let go of me!”

Yet, the more I struggled the tighter the man gripped. I had the urge to strike him across the face but again my common sense directed me otherwise. Suddenly, another two sets of hands seized my arms and began hauling me back.

“Get this lunatic out of here now!”

“Wait no, you don’t understand I’m Gulliver! Jung! Whatever, I have to get in there. Where is Constable Treble?”

By this point it had become quite a scene. Soldiers, base personnel, and passing civilians turned to see what all the fuss was about. I can’t imagine how foolish I must’ve looked, kicking and screaming like a child while two burly militiamen dragged me away. But, just when I thought I was about to receive another beating a female voice called out.

“Ellis, there you are!”

I looked up and saw Cyan bolting down the stairs. She wore her usual turquoise getup, although this time she had a small security badge clipped to her shirt pocket.

“Release him, he’s with me!”

“Ma’am with all due respect…”

“No, don’t you “ma’am” me, release him he is working with me.”

The soldier looked sheepishly from her to me. Then, with a nod of his head, the four iron grips baring down into my flesh were released. I smoothed out my clothes out and quickly stepped up to greet my savior.

“Thank you Cyan, what are you-”

“Ellis, come with me.”

Cyan grabbed my wrist and tugged me violently up the wooden stairs. As we fled the scene I jerked my head back to get a look at the troop of men behind me. The soldier who had stopped me had an indifferent look of judgment on his face as he watched me disappear into the facility’s interior.

“Cyan what was all that back there, why are you up here and why are you-?”

“Ellis, keep your voice down…”

“Ok”

The two of us sped down the hallway, dodging the usual flock of workers that swam across the corridors like schools of fish. Finally, when we reached the main monitor room she pushed me inside. I nearly fell on as I stumbled backward. She drew in closer and began to speak in a hushed tone.

“Ellis, Psyn Corps has been here. They’re trying to change everything. Look while you were gone they got a bunch of us doctors up here and told us to start, well...monitoring her. Telling us to ‘let them know if anything out of the ordinary happens’.”

I stared back with a puzzled expression. Why was she telling me all of this now. What did it have to do with me?

“Ok, that is weird. But I guess it explains why I’ve noticed a lot more security. But what do I-”

“Look!” she cried out a bit louder. She quickly looked over her shoulder and turned back to me. “Something weird’s going on ok. I can’t explain exactly why right now, I have to get back to my post but I needed to tell you to watch your back. For some reason they’ve been taking a great interest in you.”

“I know...but what makes you think they aren’t just interested in my work.”

“Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, all I know is these Psyn Corps guys are bad news. Just promise me you’ll keep an eye out for them ok? I can explain more later, but I have to go-”

“Alright, just remain calm Cyan! Things will be ok. Good luck”

Cyan turned to leave. Her feet clacked down on the linoleum with a surprising intensity. I watched as she curled her fingers into tightly wound fists. Then, she began to turn back around.

“Ellis...one more thing. They’ve been testing on her again.”

I swallowed hard and gave her a nod. With what effort I could muster I shielded my emotions. I didn’t want to give the impression that I was too attached to Vera. Admittedly I can’t say that I was, but it just seemed cruel. After she was clear of the room I bolted out the door and ran down the hall toward the far stairwell.

Two soldiers waited by it, but all the commotion in the corridor covered my hasty approach. I easily sprinted past them and began to descend the stairs. I could hear them calling after me, but they gave no indication as to whether or not they were giving chase. When I finally reach the bottom of the stairs I saw the usual guards waiting by the door. When I entered, however, they did not stir.

“Open the door” I commanded. Both looked at each other then back to me.

“Sorry sir, no one gets in, Constable Treble’s orders.”

“What are they doing to her in there?”

Again they exchanged looks of concern. “Nothing that we know of…”

“Then let me in.”

“Sir I-”

“Soldier, I have been given a direct order to get in there! Do I need to get the Constable down here? Open the damn door!”

God, I don’t know what had gotten into me. I’d never been so assertive before, it was really quite invigorating. The two men were also taken aback. My meek demeanor had finally chipped away after days of abuse. Between the thick skulled officers and the abrasive giants I had had about enough.

Much to my surprise though, both men stood and left without saying a word. I guess I’d have to do it myself.

I won’t bore you with how long it took me to figure out what latches did what, but somehow, after what seemed like a short eternity, I managed to get the right combination. The heavy vault rattled open, revealing the customary pale white light within. With all the adrenaline in my system I knew I’d need to collect myself before going in and facing her.

With bated breath I crossed back over into Vera’s world. When I emerged from the hall I saw her sitting in the corner with her knees pulled tightly against her chest. I couldn’t see her face beneath the wall of hair surrounding her hunched head. I noticed there were new dents in the walls. The more I thought about it the more I began to realize just how shaky her mental health must be. Although she’s had a fair amount of time to calm down, the added stay in solitary confinement must have really started to drive her mad.

Vera must have heard the door open because as soon as I stepped into the chamber I could hear her muffled voice:

“Who is it now?”

“Vera!” I cried out. “Its me, I’m back. I told you I wouldn’t be gone long!”

Immediately her head shot up. At first I don’t think she recognized my diminutive form, but with a little bit of scrutiny she realized who I was. I distinctly remember her eyes lighting up for a couple seconds. However, she caught herself before she could show any more warmth. Instead, her face melted back to her usual coy expression. Then, it gave way to a slightly forced, tormented look.

“Why you little shit…”

Uh oh…

“Do you know what’s happened since you’ve been gone? It was...it got so dark. There were noises, they tried to get me to eat something and I...I was so hungry”

“Vera, please I’m sorry, I will fix all this, there will be hell to pay I promise…”

Suddenly her eyes narrowed. Carefully she began to stretch her legs out toward me. She was scaring me again. I had to remind myself that she just wanted me to feel bad, she wasn’t really mad, she couldn’t be, right? She knew it wasn’t my fault...I think.

“Get over here…”

“Vera I’m not sure-”

“You lied to me…”

Slowly she began to rise off the ground. I felt like I was staring up at a rising tidal wave. She seemed to grow larger and larger as she drew closer. The entirety of my conscious attention was focused on her face.

“Maybe I should come back later…”, I turned to go, but before I could even take a single step I heard a tremendous ‘thud’. A second later the ground shook so violently that I collapsed onto my hands and knees.

“No!” she cried. However, her voice wasn’t severe. If anything it was more like pleading.

“What?”

“Look, I might be angry with you but...don’t leave me in here. I don’t know what they’ll try to do next if you’re gone.”

I flipped over into a sitting position and peered up at her sheepishly. Vera regarded me with another expression of muted hesitation. I picked myself up off the ground and walked toward her. As I approached, Vera lowered her hand and gave me an encouraging nod. This seemed like an unnecessary risk, but I felt bad for her. I don’t know what they did while I was gone and I don’t know why but I would not let them get away with it.

“So…” she began awkwardly as she I cautiously stepped over her fingertips. “...Tell me about this other ‘assignment’”

When I finally reached her palm she lifted me upward. The g-forces slammed me down into her skin but I was able to quickly recover. Vera readjusted herself so that she sat cross-legged in the middle of the room with her hand held level to her chest. At first I stared ahead and her immense torso. I guess its natural to assume that Vera’s sexual appeal didn’t help me during our meetings, but now, especially since she started acting a little more friendly, it was positively flustering.

Vera gave her hand a little shake to snap me out of my state of hypnosis. When our eyes finally met I saw the familiar impish glow in them. Great, she knew.

“Yes?” I stupidly asked.

“You were about to tell me about this other...job or whatever you call it”

“Oh right! Well, it was...interesting.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, very different from here. It was by a lake, very nice and all. People were strange though…”

“How so?”

“I don’t know, they were either very sad or strangely happy.”

To this Vera said nothing, she just nodded apathetically. It was clear she was just interested in the other subject. With that in mind I became incredibly agitated. How would she react? I can’t imagine that’d she’d take it well. Especially after learning a little more about her relationship with Amora and the others.

“Well, and then there was the other subject…”

Vera noticeably perked up. Somehow, in the slight shake of her hand I could sense that she was just as nervous about it as I was. She would never admit it but I could tell she was either concerned for my safety or covetous of my attention. Whatever the case may be, I decided it was best to just be blunt.

“Vera, what can you tell me about Amora…”

At once Vera’s eyes grew wide. Her jaw dropped and a shaky breath seeped out. Then, her gaze wandered away.

“Wh-why?”

“Vera, it was her. I met Amora, I asked about you and well...now I want to know about her…”

“That’s...that’s impossible.”

“Vera it was her!”