I had difficult sleeping that night after seeing Kay carelessly murdering two poor women. My lack of quality sleep was made worse when I was suddenly awoken by banging on the door. I glanced over at the clock, wiping the sleep dust from my eyes before squinting at the flourescent red lights on the clock next to the bed. It was five in the morning still. The relentless knocks continued to pound on the door. I was assuming it was my boss on the other side and after opening the door, I was unsurprised to find Kay standing there. She was fully dress in what appeared to be hiking gear. She looked at me and thew a backpack into my arms, which hit me hard enough to knock me back one step.

“Wake up, Ben and get ready. We are taking a little field trip.” 

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I was with Kay, it seemed like life never gave me a break. It was always one thing after the next - it was the way she did business and they way she lived life. I took the bag back to my bed and began getting ready. Kay took the liberty of letting herself in while debriefing me on the news she had just received in regards to the intruders.

“So I was told some interesting news this morning. The people that keep trying to sabotage our little company here tried again last night. Security chased them off, but not only that. They sent a team to follow them into the amazon forest and guess what. They found them in a small encampment, serving as a hide out for their people. It’s only a few miles from our crops, but deep into the forest, and we are assuming this is where they are plotting against us. We are going to drop by for a little visit and see what our new friends are doing exactly and hopefully squash this resistance once and for all.”

Her words left her mouth with a sprinkle of vengeance on top. This was more than just an expedition to fight the resistance. Maybe Kay’s bloodlust was growing. At the very least, maybe I could be there to prevent more murder from happening and talk some sense into her. I slowly put on pants and packed some gear for the trip ahead. My heart began to race as I imagined the violence that could ensue by invading their camp. Obviously they weren’t very fond of our presence and they certainly weren’t going to show mercy to the foreigners harvesting their land’s resources. I zipped up the bag and threw it over my shoulder while following Kay out. We made our way to the elevator, where Kay had to duck  down to enter. Her finger tapped R for “Roof”.

“The rooftop?” I asked, unsure if that was intentional.

“Yeah we are taking a helicopter there to avoid moving through the dense forest.” She replied. 

Clearly, Kay wasn’t wasting time with her security’s intel. As we scaled the building, I yawned and looked over at Kay once more who stared coldly at our reflections in the chrome doors. She had on some shorts and some hiking boots with long socks going up to her calf. It was rare to see her outside of the usual business attire and I found myself staring at her as thought it was my first time meeting her.

“What?” Kay asked, noting my looks.

Embarrassed, I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Oh, nothing. Just weird seeing you in hiking gear.” 

“Well what the fuck am I supposed to wear? High heels with a coat?” 

“No. Of course not. I’m just saying—“ My sentence was scut short as Kay palmed my face with an oversized hand. Her fingers dug into my chin, clamping it shut. Her palm blocked my view momentarily while making her point clear.

“Yes Ben, I know what you meant. I’m a lawyer, not an idiot.” 

The elevator came to a slow stop and the metal doors parted to the side, revealing a helicopter on the helipad with its blades still spinning. We quickly made our way to the chopper, holding our belongings and ducking our heads as we pushed through the vortex created by the blades. Kay entered first, cramming herself in to the small cabin. I followed, finding an adjacent seat. A security detail latched on to the sides railing before the pilot took us into the air. With four guards on our helicopter, we made our ascent and headed straight for the encampment. Soon we were accompanied by two additional helicopters filled with additional personnel. We looked like a squad of special forces as we cut through the air. Each security guard was armed, dressed in camo, with state of the art technology attached to their body. Goggles, lasers, grenades, along with a host of other goods. Looks like peace wasn’t in the cards.

After flying through the air for 10-15 min, each helicopter dropped several repel ropes down to the ground, followed by the armed guards slithering down them. With guns drawn, the quickly made their way to the camp where we could see village members scrambling throughout the camp. Some pointed at our helicopter while others took shelter. It didn’t take long for the squad of guards to infiltrate the camp. People were thrown to the ground, while others tried to fight back. It seemed to be going okay as far as casualties given a bullet hadn’t been fired yet. Person after person was placed in zip ties until finally the last of them retreated to a nearby cave. Kay was eager to get to the ground and signaled the pilot to land in a clearing. After doing a quick circle, our chopped made a quick and tactful decent, allowing me and Kay to hop out before taking off back into the sky. I couldn’t hear much and followed Kay as she pushed up to the cave entrance. Our military personnel moved quick and were already clearing the cave. Green lasers traversed the cave as live weapons scanned the surround areas. The last thing we wanted was to be caught in their path.

I yanked on Kay’s legs, hoping to grab her attention. She stopped and turned, looking at me in disgust. “What the fuck are you doing?” 

“Kay, let’s wait back here. If shit goes south, I don’t want to be in the crosshairs for it.” 

As though my words were marked with a curse, I felt a sharp pain as something struck me in the side of the neck. I cupped the right side of my neck where the impact was, and felt what appeared to be a dart in the side of my neck. All my fears had just become real. I was going to die here. I fell to my knees, wincing in pain, as my head began to throb. I could feel Kay’s hand on my back as I dropped. 

“Ben, Ben!” She screamed. 

Bullets went off around us as the guards defended themselves from what seemed to be a more coordinated attack. Kay drug me to a nearby corner behind a rock, out of harms way. She glanced over the top as shots continued to ring out. For several minutes, the battle continued, with less and less shots being fired until finally a guard cried out on the radio, which both me and Kay had in our bags.

“This is echo-two-three, we need help down here. The whole team is hit. Not sure who is still in the fight, but we need—“. His words turned to silence when he was struck by something. 

Kay glanced over the edge as I remained immobile, holding onto the side of my neck. The effects were starting to kick in, and my head was beginning to spin. I looked up at Kay and reached a hand out, mumbling words, hoping for a miracle. 

“Stay here Ben, I think there’s only a couple left.” She said before darting away into the darkness, leaving me alone to fend for myself. 

My eyes began to feel heavy and my breathing began to slow. As though things weren’t bad enough, the radio went off. 

“Echo-two-three, this is Bird’s Eye. We are making an emergency landing, you are on your own.” The sound of the radio pierced the silence of the cave. If they didn’t know I was here before, now they did. I did my best to keep my head up, when the silhouette of two people appeared before me. As the neared, I could make out two men holding spears that were pointing directly at me. I couldn’t move, and as far as I could see, this was the end of the line. I held an arm out, in hopes of finding some mercy, but the motion only confirmed I was still alive. The man on the right cocked his arm, preparing to launching the spear, when suddenly the two men were bowled over by a large mass. That mass was Kay. My eyes shut and the world went black as the sounds of Kay’s struggle faded away.

—

The sensation of ice cold water hitting my face awoke me. I took a deep breath as though breathing life back in to myself, and then scanned the area around me. I was still in the cave, although things seemed different once more. A familiar voice called out.

“Wake up, Ben. Wake up.” A voice demanded, before my body began to shake violently.

I squinted as I slowly regained my senses, piecing the world around me until finally regained full consciousness. Unfortunately for me, that reality was far less exciting. I was surrounded by wooden poles, as if I was in a cage. Wait, I was in a cage. My panic grew as I realized I was in fact a prisoner to these people, and to make matters worse, that dart must have contained some of that plant extract. I was probably under a foot tall, if I had to guess by my surroundings. Looking over, I could see Kay in a similar predicament. Her hands and feet were tied up and she was staring right at me, with her eyebrows raise. 

“Ben!” She yelled again.

“Fuck, what happened?” I asked, realizing it didn’t really matter. 

“We got fucked, that’s what happened. Are you tied up?” She asked.

“No. Just locked in this cage.” 

“Well we need to figure out how to get out of here, or we’re screwed.” 

I could hear voices approaching in the distance and quickly silenced myself. Two men approached with spears, speaking in their native tongue which neither I or Kay could understand. They neared Kay’s cell and began chatting as they unlocked the door. One pointed to Kay, and then tapped the other firmly on the shoulder. He timidly took a couple steps towards Kay, and pointed the spear in her direction. Rather than intimidate Kay, it seemed to piss her off instead.  She immediately kicked the spearhead to the side, before loading her legs once more and delivering another blow directly to his body. The impact sent the man flying out of the cell and into my cage, rattling me inside and shattering several of the wooden beams holding me captive. He laid dazed while his friend quickly slammed the cell door closed and locked it. He began yelling at Kay as he helped his friend who remained immobile on the ground. After helping his friend up, the two hobbled their way to the exit, calling out to others nearby. There wasn’t much time for me to react, but I needed to escape while I could.

I picked myself up and darted from the broken enclosure. As I scanned my environment, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was like a scene from a shitty action movie - the keys had fallen from one of the guards belts and were left lying on the ground. I quickly snatched the keys and awkwardly carried them over to Kay’s cell and gracefully slid between the bars. Kay smiled at my small success and our moment of luck. Each of her feet were bound together by a lock, so I made that my first priority. Unfortunately for me, there was nothing to distinguish the keys from one another with labels of any sort so I no choice but to work from one end to the other. Carefully, I tried each of the keys, and was becoming anxious as the first couple failed. My panic only grew as the voices suddenly returned to the nearby hall.

“Get in my sock, Ben.” Kay urged, knowing this was only going to get worse if we didn’t stick together.

The thought was a little repulsive in the sense it would be incredible hot and uncomfortable, but we didn’t really have a choice. I bundled the keys back together and made my way to the edge of her sock. I slowly peeled it back to create an opening for me to slide into and was immediately struck by Kay’s aroma. Ignoring the scent I pushed myself in headfirst with the keys pressed to my side and wiggled side to side like my life depended on it. In this case, it did. I wriggled against the sole of Kay’s foot, pushing myself further and further up until my feet were able to slide under her heel and out of sight. I kept my body between Kay and the keys to avoid any potential discomfort from the metal keys jabbing into her sensitive soles. The air was thick and made it difficult to breathe. Kay’s sock was compressed tightly over my chest, forcing my body directly against Kay’s arch and sole. I slowed my breathing to avoid hyperventilating and hugged the keys firmly against my body to prevent any jingling noises.

“Holy shit.” I heard Kay mutter as someone approached the cell.

At this point, I was so focused on breathing in a confined space, I couldn’t get a sense of what was occurring outside. It wasn’t until I heard an unfamiliar voice that I silenced myself to enhance my hearing.

“You have been causing a lot of problems with my people and my plants.” The voice stated calmly. “Your actions are that of evil. And evil has no place in my home.”

Suddenly it felt like gravity had been put on pause as we were hoisted into the air. To my surprise, Kay did little to fight back against whatever was holding us up. Maybe it was to ensure my safety. She couldn’t exactly walk with me under her foot. My mind raced with ideas of what to do next. We were going to need a plan fast if we were going to escape this mess. Kay’s foot continued to bob with me next to it, causing me to get motion sickness. I needed fresh air. Carefully I reached down to the first available key and slid it up near my face. Using it as a saw, I began to cut a small whole into the bottom of Kay’s sock in hopes of getting some fresh air and to understand our exact predicament. It took a few moments, but eventually the fibers began to give way and a hole formed in the bottom of Kay’s sock.

I pressed my mouth against the opening and gulped in the fresh air like I had just been actively drowning underwater. A cool breeze seeped inside, relieving me from the heat filled sock I had been shoved in to. More importantly, it allowed me more visibility to my surroundings and the predicament we were in. Given I was at Kay’s foot, which appeared to be pointing at the ground as it swayed to and fro, I quickly spotted the oddity. Kay was somehow being carried… by someone much much larger. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Kay’s feet were dangling above the person’s waistline, who was carrying her with ease. The gladiator sandals that housed two feet with porcelain skin and red nail polish implied this giant was actually a woman. I rubbed my eyes, assuming they were betraying me, but the reality never changed. As we made our way through the caves, I could see small lamps lighting the path below, and then finally we stopped. And then, like a sack of potatoes, Kay was heaved to the ground, causing both of our bodies to smash into the ground. 

The impacted jolted my body, but fortunately the tight sock held me in place without too much whiplash. Kay meanwhile, had hit the ground much more harshly and winced in pain. 

“What the fuck do you want?” Kay spit out.

“I want you to stand, you coward.” Replied an unsympathetic voice.

My eyes widened in terror. How was she going to manage that with me inside her sock? I needed to get out! I began to squirm, but Kay’s movements began to mask my own as my body was thrown side to side as she attempted to upright herself. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I didn’t want to die!

“Why should I?” Kay asked rebelliously.

“Would you prefer I squash you from existence like you did for two of my people?” The woman yelled back.

Kay was silent for a moment, and then made the choice to stand as asked. She hopped up in one motion, causing my world to rocket from the ground before crashing back down. This was it for me I thought, but to my surprise as I braced for impact, nothing came. Instead, I opened my eyes to my peep hole and I could see the ground just millimeters away as Kay balanced herself strategically to avoid crushing me. And then ever so gently, she placed her foot down to secure her stance. My world went black as Kay’s foot settled on top of me, pushing me into the unforgiving ground. Her sole molded to my body and emanated a thick heat around me as it enveloped me like a blanket. My appendages were frozen in place by the weight of her foot and all I could choose to do was breathe. 

“Wise of you, woman. Now I am going to teach you some lessons about respect.” The angry woman continued.

With one quick strike, Kay was back on the ground, stunned from the blow. I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel her pain with by the force of the fall. I peaked through the hole of her sock once more to see the giant woman approaching us once more. Her red toes jetted into the air above me before crashing down repeatedly with each step. Soon she was next to Kay’s body, and out of my sight. To better my view, I quickly began sawing at the sock to widen the hole. The weakened fabric didn’t take long to puncture and soon I created a hole large enough to stick my head through. Cautiously, I poked my head out to see the woman resting her foot on Kay’s chest in a display of dominance. I scanned the area in hopes of finding somewhere else to hide and quickly realized we were in the woman’s bedroom. There was a bed, clothing, and various pieces of furniture that suited a woman of such an enormous stature. I spotted a nearby hiding spot under her bed that I could make it to without being seen if I timed it right.

“How does it feel to be the insignificant one.” The woman yelled while stomping firmly on Kay’s chest, causing her body to jolt.

The jerk from Kay’s legs launched me from the torn sock and out into the open. There was no time for thinking now, so I made a dash for the nearby bed. Luckily the giantess’s attention was consumed by Kay. 

“You piece of American trash! My people have lived in peace for centuries until you came here.”

Her words were followed by a slap across Kay’s face. I could see blood coming from her nose as the blows continued raining down on her. I looked away in horror, hoping the giantess would show some mercy. I knew deep down Kay deserved this, but I wanted it to stop. I wanted this to be over. After a few kicks to her body, the enormous woman seemed satisfied for the time being and walked away down the hall, yelling in frustration.

This would be one of our only chances to make a run for it. I rushed to Kay’s side and kneeled down next to her face. She was not in great shape and could barely open her eyes. I pleaded with her to get up.

“Kay, we need to go! I need you to get up… please, Kay!”

Her response was nearly non existent, only managing to muster a small grin. Despite all the torment and stress she had caused, her suffering brought a tears to my eyes. “Kay… come on.”

I could hear the heavy footsteps of the returning giantess and knew I needed to leave her. But I wasn’t going to watch her be beaten to death without trying to stop it. We were a team throughout everything and I wasn’t going to leave her now. I looked over to see the monstrous woman approaching. She must have been around 15’ tall and was actually incredibly attractive. She appeared to be fairly fit and toned, but also slender. Her feminine features and youthful skin seemed to glow in the cave lighting, but her anger was just as evident. A scowl formed on her face she neared Kay’s motionless body.

“Your time has come.” The giantess grabbed a heavy rock and proceeded towards Kay.

I stood up and held out my arms in protest. “Stooooooooop!!!” 

My presence must have surprised her. It was obious there was no way I could inflict any harm and now I was giving myself up in the process. She threw the rock down near Kay’s body, and locked eyes with me. With my neck craned back to meet the giant woman's gaze, it was hard to gather the courage to stand my ground.

“Why would you defend this evil woman, little man?” 

=====