“Hey!” A call came, drawing Adam’s attention. Hurriedly he looked to the source, desperate for any form of interaction that could allow him to escape this nightmare. But as he looked he could only see more of the giant landscape, the open floor of the office before him. It stretched on and on, nothing to hide under, nothing to use as protection. Just an endless desert of agoraphobic hell.
But as he continued to look, squinting into the hazy void, a figure appeared. Tiny, like him, but alive. “Hey!” the voice called again as the small man came close enough for Adam to realize who it was. A fellow employee of the office, an intern named James. Adam’s face lit up as a small glimmer of hope sparked to life. At least he wasn’t alone.
“James!” he called, rushing into the open, crossing the few inches as quickly as his miniscule body would allow him. When the two finally reached each other they were panting, exhausted, but enthusiastic. “You shrank too?”
“Is that what happened?” James answered, stunned. “No way, that’s… that’s…” he glanced around again, looking at the towering objects with a new mindset. “Oh fuck.”
“Yeah, it's not good. I woke up trapped in… well, I woke up a while ago and I’ve been trying to get back. But I have no idea how.”
“I didn’t even realize we shrank! I thought this was a laboratory or something. Like, you know, with a…” He trailed off, a sound from the front of the office drawing his attention. When the two looked they found the door opening, two figures moving into the office, their steps huge, their forms dominating. “Oh god! The… the…. Fuck!”
A distance that seemed nearly impossible to cross for the two tinys was nothing for the gods that walked into their world. It took only ten steps for their feet to come into view, the girl’s boots trampling the floor with abandon. Now Adam recognized their figures. They were two of the young interns who worked for Mrs. Beth, Amy and Chloe. Usually they were the nicest people on earth, always bubbly and willing to help out with whatever you asked of them. Now they seemed far more likely to crush Adam to death than make coffee. Amy was wearing Ugg boots, with soft furry covering that looked delicate to the touch, and a hard sole that crushed the life out of anything so unlucky as to be under it. Chloe had on a pair of converse shoes, well worn and broken in, with a nearly black sole that had been crushed into the earth an unthinkable amount of time.
Amy took another step, her boot close enough that Adam could see the disgusting underside for a moment before she slammed it down again. The dirt wedged into her thick treads, the wear marks near the toe section that had been flattened, the tiny stains of some exploded creature that Adam didn’t even want to think about.
“We can’t stay here!” he shouted, grabbing the stunned James by the arm and dragging him back, forcing him to run. Both men went into a frantic sprint as they tried to escape the giants, each knowing that there was no real hope. These gods, these teenage interns, were completely untouchable. Adam and James were just insects scuttling around their boots, trying not to be crushed. Amy and Chloe didn’t care about them, didn’t bother looking down when they walked, don't concern themselves with the plights of insects. So they just kept walking, their boots crunching against the hardwood, steadily drawing closer to the boys.
“This isn’t happening,” Doctor Gray said, a dread filling him as he crouched against the hard tile of the hospital hallway. His entire body was trembling, whether that was from his own fear or the continuous vibrations caused by the hundreds of giants still walking around the hospital was unknown. Already he had been witness to nurses and patients as they simply walked past, their shoes threatening to squish him at every step. So far he had survived, but he knew that wouldn’t last long. He needed help.
A feeling of absolute dread fell upon him as a new group turned the nearby corner, chatting amongst themselves as they walked through the hall. They were a group of young nurses, some of them even interns still in their college years. He recognized most of them, having mentored the girls as they studied at the hospital. Well, mentored is probably a strong word. He had used them to do all the small annoying jobs that he didn’t have time for. Mostly dealing with patients, telling them the bad news. Why should he be the one who has to suffer to their stupid crying, right?
Well, now the girls were going to get revenge, and they wouldn’t even know it. “Hey!” Doctor Gray shouted as the first few came within a few steps of him, their shoes sending quakes through the earth. “Look down!” he shouted. “I’m your boss, you need to…” his boasts faded into nothing as the first girl lifted up her foot in answer, showing the doctor the waffled sole of her running shoe for an instant before bringing it down. “NO!” he screamed as blackness encased him.
The impact was deafening, the treads of the girl’s Nike slamming into the floor, trapping him between the mighty rubber walls. But not all of Dr. Gray managed to squeeze into the safety of the dirt filled crevasse. He screamed, a pain like he had never felt shooting through his arm as it disintegrated under the unimaginable weight. Then the girl continued moving forward, lifting her foot, letting her boss see the results of her step. From his elbow up, Dr. Gray’s arm was completely shattered, flattened, popped like a grape, blood painting the floor under it, with bone shards jutting out from the punctured skin. “No, no, no, no…” he mumbled in shock, not even realizing that another shadow had already fallen over him.
The second nurse was wearing as similar style shoe to the first, except hers had been worn long, with more dirt wedged into the few safe places, and the treads worn down considerably. When Dr. Gray was slammed into the earth he felt a pressure upon his entire body, the thinner treads barely giving him enough space to survive the crushing impact. This time he felt his foot crunching. His lounges were so compressed he couldn’t even scream.
And the girl walked off, and another girl came to take her place. The newest tortures in the doctor’s life was a young woman in her mid-twenties, long blond hair tied in a ponytail that fell almost to her waist. The flats that she wore didn’t offer the luxury of threads to be mashed into. When they fell on the doctors legs their desolation was total and complete. Dr Gray could do nothing but open his mouth in a silent scream, tears rolling down his face as he desperately tried to drag himself away with the one remaining limb he still had. His face slid over the tile, now wet with his own blood.
He looked upwards, realizing that there was no hope anymore, seeing the final girl in the group lift her foot over his head. Fitting it would be her… a new girl that had only come to the hospital a month ago, with a small form and overly giggly nature. A button nose, the lightest dusting of freckles, and the slightest tinge of red in her hair, and smart too… Dr. Gray had actually come to like her. And now, possibly the one nurse in this entire office he actually respected, was about to deliver the final blow to end his suffering.
He almost wished he could remember her name.
Without thought, without feeling, without remorse or even a glance down, the girl pressed her flat into the earth, popping the doctor below her like any other insect so foolish to be caught under a giantess’ foot. She continued on her way, giggling at every joke, never really noticing that there was a mangled corpse glued to the bottom of her sole.