In this Chapter: Kristen communicates with the tiny
people. Kristen asks for help after an
accident. Kristen receives some
troubling words after a surprising situation calls her into action.
Main
Tags of This Chapter: Crush.
Unaware. Tiny POV.
Kristen
– Age 27 Madelyn – Age 3 months
Lakeside
Suburbs, USA
A few weeks passed by since the
moment Kristen received the texts to stay away from both the country and the
cities, but she continued to message and communicate with them, getting to know
the situation a little bit more with each exchange. She avoided coming into physical contact with
them as much as she possibly could and trying to respect their wishes for her
to stay away from the rooms. Kristen
often getting conflicting messages though, as if there weren’t a designated
person to perform the task. Each message
had a different personality, a different tone and emotion. It was difficult to process each one as if
everyone, both micro and nano, weren’t working together, but Kristen was
overwhelmed by their words regardless.
Kristen halfway trying to live a
normal life in between communications with the masses of millions, meeting the
other women in the neighborhood, playing and tending to Madelyn more often and
trying to a good mother. Kristen
becoming closer friends with Ginny as they jogged in the mornings most days or
shared dinners at each other’s houses, but still, no matter what Kristen was
doing, she couldn’t get the thoughts out of her head that she was a murderer.
It didn’t help that the tiny people
made it more difficult for her, many of the messages Kristen had been receiving
were ridden with guilt and blame. Deaths
tolls and pictures of displaced families and destruction had been sent to
Kristen over and over again as she broke down each time she looked at them,
unable to keep up with the constant feeling of regret and whishing so badly she
could correct her mistakes, constantly deleting their pictures and sad
messages, not wanting to face what she had done to them.
Kristen trying so desperately to
understand them better with endless questions when they weren’t emotionally ripping
her to shreds. How did they get here?
where they came from? what the blue storm was? but there wasn’t a lot of
clarity sometimes and there were mixed answers, some rather religious
explanations, some scientific, and some that sounded insane, but never enough
information for her to put any pieces together to sate a satisfiable answer.
Until one day, Kristen realized she
needed more help…
Kristen, as usual, would clean the
house here and there each day to maintain its pristine appearance, the cleaning
of course, helping distract her from the intense feelings she had been struggling
to deal with. Still wondering if she
should seek therapy or confess her problems to a friend or her sister, but she
didn’t, almost too embarrassed about the situation, thinking nobody would
believe her anyway. How would she even
explain that there are millions of tiny people living in her house, already
hearing Leslie’s sarcastic laughter, or imagining Ginny not wanting to be
friends anymore, or a therapist committing her to a mental health hospital. Desperately needing to clean the house to get
those thoughts away.
Placing Madelyn in her crib before
Kristen stepped downstairs to retrieve some cleaning supplies. The utility closet, though, was just down the
hallway from the two rooms that contained all the shrunken people, Kristen not usually
worried though as they were further down the hall, knowing that the length of
the hallway had to be a significant journey for the micros and even worse for
the nanos, as if walking across an entire country.
Taking a few steps up to the utility
closet to grab a broom, planning on sweeping up the kitchen from dust and food
crumbs like she normally would have, reaching for the door handle before she
heard and felt a tiny and feint wet crunch under the toes of her right sock
covered foot. Kristen’s eyes widening
immediately, assuming the worst, but not wanting to believe it. Her hand gripping on the door handle tight as
her heart raced, “please just crumbs, just be crumbs…” Kristen whispered to
herself, trying to calm herself down.
Slowly raising her sock off the ground, angling her foot upward toward
her face so she could see what she had stepped on, her heart dropping.
Kristen raising a few trembling
fingers up to her mouth as she was in shock, picking out the little blood
stains across her comfortable white running sock she had used jogging that
morning with Ginny. The blood stains
soaking into her sweaty sock as Kristen counted dozens of the tiny red specks
squished into the fibers, the crunch she heard was their bones snapping and crunching
underneath her weight. “What were you
doing out here!?” Kristen shouted.
“You’re not supposed to be out here!” Kristen shouted again as was too
scared to move, hyper vigilant towards the floor, seeing if there were any more
wandering specks around her feet.
But there were no other visible
specks, which made Kristen feel worse, having crushed an entire group of
wandering micros that somehow made their way outside of the office door,
leaving no survivors, their remains embedded into the threads of her sweaty
sock. Kristen slowly placed her bloodied
sock covered foot behind her, breathing heavily as she rushed away from the
door and into the kitchen, ripping off the smelly, sweaty, and bloody sock from
her foot and throwing it into the trash before she hung herself over the sink,
using both arms to hold herself up as she began having, on the verge of
throwing up, but nothing was coming up her throat to vomit as her face just
remained hot and strained.
She wiped a bit of saliva from her
mouth before dabbing her eyes from the involuntary tears. “I can’t keep doing this…” Kristen exhaustingly
whispered to herself as she slowly paced upstairs, hugging onto baby Madelyn as
a comforting mechanism. Laying down
against the crib and rocking the baby gently as she stared down her
outstretched legs, realizing she hadn’t taken the other sock off, almost
laughing to herself at the pure and depressive absurdity of the whole
situation.
Kristen deciding to ask for some
help that evening, cleaning herself up and dressing into some comfortable
tights and a simple shirt before she invited Ginny over. Kristen wincing her eyes and gritting her
teeth as she used a paper towel to wipe up the bloodstains off the floor in the
hallway where she had crushed a group of micros under her sock, not wanting
Ginny to see the feint glow of crimson in the dim light.
The two chatting a bit in the
kitchen for a while as Kristen pretended to be as normal and put together as
possible. Madelyn on the floor on a
comfortable mat rolling around on her stomach and back as Kristen and Ginny sat
on the couch near her.
“Aww… she’s sooo adorable…
but… I can’t help but be curious about what you meant by you wanted to talk
about something more serious?” Ginny questioned. Ginny’s black hair slicked back into a
ponytail, sat comfortably against the cushions with her hands on her lap as she
bounced one of her bare feet up and down across from Kristen.
“Yeah… uhh… just experiencing a lot
of grief and guilt lately…I uh, don’t really know who to talk to and I don’t
really want to get a therapist, but like, I also don’t want to dump this on
you, it seems unfair” Kristen said with some dejection in her voice, Ginny
clicking her tongue and smiling.
“I’m that friend though, I
always have people coming to me for things and help, so I don’t mind playing
therapist if you’re in a bad place, but I can’t promise you that I’m any good
at it!” Ginny chimed brightly.
“Are you sure?” Kristen nervously asked.
“Of course! Did you lose someone in your family recently
or anything?” Ginny asked.
“No, no… it’s more like personal
guilt, uh, I guess… it’s making me very… not good. I almost don’t even know how to talk about it”
Kristen admitted as Ginny tilted her head with curiosity. Madelyn still cooing and rolling around her
back in between the silences.
“What’s going on? Or at least, what are you comfortable
sharing?” Ginny asked. Kristen looked
around, staring at the floor for a moment, and then down the hallway to the two
rooms occupied with millions of micro and nano lives before sighing deeply.
“What would you do if felt like you
had to help of a lot of people, but no matter what you did to help, you would end
up hurting them badly?” Kristen asked.
“And who are these people?” Ginny
asked.
“Just… some people”
Kristen stressed. Ginny thinking for a
moment, tapping her fingers together as she curled her lips.
“Hmm… is helping them something you
absolutely have to do?” Ginny asked.
“Yeah… kinda? Like, but also not really, more like an
obligation, uh… I don’t know how to say it” Kristen said with a little nervousness
in her voice.
“What do you get out of helping
whoever these people are?” Ginny asked.
“Nothing, really, just more guilt…”
Kristen said as she sighed.
“Kris… that doesn’t sound like a
very healthy relationship to me” Ginny said.
“Yeah…I know…” Kristen anxiously bit
at her lip.
“You and your daughter are the most
important people in your life, you gotta take a little bit more control of the
situation, I think, right? Help when you
can, sure, but then only if you want to, but don’t force yourself if
you’re not getting anything out of it… like… you’re just going to drive
yourself crazy if you keep doing that to yourself. You’re already in a difficult place enough as
it is…by yourself with a child…you don’t need that extra stress” Ginny said as
Kristen sat in silence for a moment. “Oh! I can get you some healing crystals, maybe
some nice incense from my house! I’ll be
right back!” Ginny said excited, wanting to show off her holistic side as she
quickly put her shoes on and opened the door, “wait, wait! What’s your astrological sign? I need to grab the right crystals for your
healing” Ginny hastily asked.
“Uhh… Scorpio, I think?” Kristen
replied before Ginny bolted out of the house down the street as Kristen sighed
and slumped down into her cushion, staring at baby Maddy flailing on the ground
and smiling. “What a weird house you’re
going to grow up in… huh?” Kristen whispered towards Madelyn.
That same night, Ginny had
performed a calming and therapeutic crystal cleansing on Kristen as she laid on
the couch, Ginny slowly hovering multicolored gems and stones over her friend’s
anxiety ridden body as the scent from the incense wafted through the living
room as Madelyn was asleep upstairs. The
room dim and cool. Kristen, not really
believing in the practice, but she couldn’t help but feel less pressure and
somewhat of a reliving feeling as Ginny slowly waved her hands over and above
her head peacefully and methodically.
Hearing the crystals clicking around her ears as she peaked her eyes
open, there was something almost trancelike with seeing her friend so
concentrated at trying to make her feel better, feeling a pleasant tingle in
the back of her neck.
The two saying their goodnights as
Kristen relaxed for a little bit alone in a quiet, dark, and calm house. Taking a few deeps breaths as she curled her
legs together under a soft blanket for a much-needed peaceful few hours.
Her phone buzzing next to her on the
cushions, ruining the relaxing feeling, praying it wasn’t anything from the
micros or nanos, hoping it was her sister Leslie, or a funny meme from Ginny,
or maybe a video from one of the other women in the neighborhood she had met, but
she looked over, seeing encrypted numbers as she soured her face, undoing
almost all the pleasantries that Ginny had given her.
Kristen hesitated but opened her
phone, “A few days ago, a small contingent of citizens had made their way out
of the room, they come from a from a city that has been particularly struggling
with adjusting to the situation we find ourselves in. 72 people in total, have you seen them? Their families want them home” the message
read. Kristen trying to calm herself,
repeating Ginny’s supportive words in her head for comfort, trying to decide
whether to tell the truth or not to the tiny communicator.
She began tapping on her phone, “I
haven’t seen them, hopefully they are safe somewhere, I’ll look for them”
Kristen lied, rearing her head back on the couch.
“Very well, thank you” the message
simply responded as Kristen sighed, waiting a few moments as she stared at the
ceiling before reluctantly reaching back for her phone.
“No, wait… I did see them… but it
was too late, I accidentally stepped on them, I didn’t mean to” Kristen
admitted as her heart pounded.
“Thank you, that is good” the
message came back.
“Wait what, why good? What I did was awful” Kristen quickly
responded, shaking her head at the strange reaction, expecting harsh and stern backlash.
“The people from that city are
scum and delusional, the less of them, the better” the bitter message came
through as Kristen put her phone down.
Looking around confused and wide-eyed.
“What the fuck is going on in
there…?” Kristen whispered to herself atop her couch, looking down the hallway
towards the rooms as no more messages came in for the night….
Kristen having a somewhat decent
night of sleep for the first time in weeks prior, wondering if Ginny’s healing
touch had anything to do with it, almost debating to ask Ginny to do it again
the next day just for the sake of it.
Feeding Madelyn and going about her day as if normal after a refreshing
shower and breakfast.
Kristen getting a little worried
though as messages stopped coming through completely but remaining sincere to
her promise to stay away from the micros and nanos. She was little more careful with where she
stepped each time now, she approached the hallway to get cleaning supplies out
of the closet, relieved every time there wasn’t a little wet squish under her
toes.
But a few weeks went by without any
messages coming through as Kristen grew more concerned, sure she was adjusting
a bit more to being alone in the house, getting use to being a mom, getting
used to Ginny and the other women in the neighborhood, but the curiosity was
building. How did it seem to go from the
angriest and guilt-inducing messages to absolutely nothing at all. Where they even still in there? did they
manage to find a way back home?
Kristen kept weighing the options in
her head repeatedly, but she needed to know.
She needed to know if she had her home back, she needed to know if she
could raise Madelyn in a micro and nano free home like a normal child, so, she
would have to break her promise of staying away and take a look inside.
She wiggled her feet into the soft,
brown boot slippers, tucking her loose sweatpants into the ankle openings,
tugging her large hoodie down over her waist, still remaining as unattractive
as possible, just in case the tinies were still inside her rooms. The squish of the inside of the boots felt
good on Kristen’s bare feet and toes as she approached the long, dark hallway
towards the backrooms, studying the floor with careful eyes as she softly
tiptoed down the wooden floors without stepping on any rogue group of tiny
people, at least she thought, the nanos couldn’t even be seen, let alone felt
under the thick soles of the boots, but she sincerely doubted they would ever
venture out of the couch room.
On the way to the door leading to
the micro cities, she hoped and wanted so badly for them to have found a way
home, picturing in her head that she would open the office door and reveal a
barren floor, her black leather chair in the corner a little dusty, the windows
open revealing her future office, excited by the feeling that she wouldn’t have
to deal with them anymore and live her life, raise Madelyn in a nice house, build
her own business, maybe even try to find someone to date later on.
She reached for the handle and
opened the door, and much to her dismay, every city was still there, but
something immediately caught her off guard, she smelled a subtle odor of smoke. She sniffed a few times, confirming the smell
was indeed smoke as she looked around the room with winced eyes. Eyeing up each tiny city near her feet spread
out across the floor, the intricacies so apparent in the sun, each little inch
high skyscraper, all the neighborhoods, it was something Kristen still couldn’t
believe was real.
Until she saw a little puff of smoke
in a city to her right near the corner of her room. There was a small, towering billow of grey
plumes puffing upward from the city’s center as Kristen looked at it
confused. She took a closer step,
watching her foot placement, settling her feet outside of the outskirts by some
neighborhoods as she slowly bent down and eyed the city aflame from above. What she saw took her by surprise as she
tilted her head.
Over the city were hundreds of
flying dots, below were orange bursts of explosions as Kristen realized that
the hovering dots were military planes dropping bombs on the city. Kristen pulled her hair back with both hands
as she was in shock, not being able to understand the phenomenon. Keeping her hair behind her head as she
rotated her face around the city, bending down near the tiny metropolis to get
a better idea of what was happening, she could see little speck sized tanks
rolling around neighborhoods and teeny tiny houses exploded into flames,
hearing the pops and slightly louder cracks of cannons and bombs going off all
around the city.
She couldn’t believe it, like a
little video game of war strategy happening right below her face as the soft
orange glows lit up all around, the pops and cracks only silenced by hundreds
of thousands of screams across the city.
Kristen swallowed deep, nervous, anxious, unsure of what to do, but instincts
took over.
Kristen knelt, nearly burying her
knee into a neighborhood as she shook the city from her leg impacting the floor,
a few houses collapsing near her leg, but she didn’t notice. She brought her hand down from her head and
hovered it on the opposite end of the city being attacked, keeping it parallel
with the city as she slowly blinked before she waved her hand over the city
like an angel; each attacking war plane, jet, and helicopter exploding on the
palm of her hand in less than a second as she could feel the tiniest amount of
heat on her skin as each aircraft crumbled on her hand.
Kristen unaware that this caused a
massive gust in the streets as windows shattered and thousands of people were caught
in the gusty slipstream. They were blown
from their feet along with trees and cars, only to land hundreds of feet away
in a bloody crunch as they screamed their entire way down, including the
innocent people of the city and the attacking soldiers.
But it saved many more lives than she
took in that moment of mercy. Kristen
bringing her hands up to her mouth and she cringed and retreated, not knowing
if she did the right thing or not by swatting all the attack planes out of the
sky. Out of the corner of her eye she
could see a few planes flying towards the next city over, closer to the wall of
the room.
She followed the planes with her
eyes as they landed safely on the outskirts of the city in a small neighborhood
looking patch far away from the main city center. “What the fuck is happening?” Kristen quietly
mumbled to herself, her booming voice shaking the besieged city below her and
rumbling across the room as millions stared at the giantess they hadn’t seen in
almost a month. “Stop it, right now”
Kristen demanded as she still saw orange pops around the smaller neighborhoods
in the city below her face from the tanks and micro soldiers, but the pops and
death continued as she saw tiny little speck houses splintering into puffs of
smoke.
“Ugh!” Kristen groaned. Kristen stood up and took another step across
her room as she carefully brought her other foot around the city she had just
been kneeling next to. Now looming
herself over the aggressing city, watching as the planes were landing at what
now looked more like a little air force base as Kristen got a better look at
the little aircraft tower and long runways.
“What the hell are you people doing, stop hurting them!” Kristen raised
her voice, hesitantly and nervously looking over towards the city under siege,
still seeing little orange glows and plumes of smoke. Kristen bit her lip as she twiddled her hands
together with anxiety, looking back and forth as her heart raced, her mouth
open as her she couldn’t help but have jitters shaking her body, unable to tell
if it was adrenaline.
Suddenly, she saw a plume of grey smoke
racing towards her face, the trail coming from the tiny aggressor city’s air
force base. Kristen lunged her head back
as a reaction to a speeding dot coming at her eyes as there was a little black
and orange puff in front of her eyes, feeling the slight amount of heat on her
face from the explosion. Kristen
realizing the city at her feet had just launched a missile at her. “Did you just…?” was all Kristen managed to
say as she shook her head.
Looking back at the tiny city being
destroyed slowly, Kristen made another tough decision, raising the toes of her
slipper boot over the air force base, cringing her teeth, closing her eyes and
looking away as she couldn’t face what she was about to do. Slowly lowering the thick brown sole into the
base as she felt the crunch all across the toes of her boot slipper followed by
the pleasant, soft squishing feeling between her toes of the soft insoles
surrounding her warm skin inside the boot.
Kristen carefully lifting her soft
boot off the base as there was a perfect half circular curve where the base
once stood. Kristen executing tens of
thousands of military soldiers, flattening planes, helicopters, jets, all now
embedded into the soft sole of her slipper.
Kristen slowly opening her eyes to inspect her damage, seeing little
tufts of smoke around the completely flattened landscape, only looking at the
crushed base for a split second before turning away in disgust and shame. “I’m sorry…” Kristen whispered.
She looked over to her side, seeing
the pops and orange bursts stop in the city that was being attacked, the cracks
and pings coming to a stop, the screams quieting down, but they still rang
out. Kristen ashamed, quickly stepped
out of the room and to her couch and plopping herself down on the cushions. Resting her elbows on her knees as she
massaged the sides of her head to try to calm herself down. Her phone vibrating again and again, trying
her best to ignore the buzzing.
***
***
***
“Let’s get rolling” the tank
commander said as he tapped a few times on his display within the metal beast,
the engine roaring as the black smoke plumed from their exhaust. The tank crew of four following the columns
of other tanks and various armored vehicles and troop transports toward the
open floor, no man’s land. The vast
spaces between each city in the massive woman’s room, miles of separation
between each metropolis gave the men inside the tight space time to check their
equipment over and talk amongst each other.
Ordered to drive into their
neighboring city and besiege them, attacking critical points and establishing a
blockade around them so that they would be unable to leave, subjugating the
city to dissolve along with its people.
The commander was all for it, wanting to finally see some action,
finally being able to live up to his leadership role having never been a part
of a conflict in his life on their world.
“Why are we even doing this?” the younger
driver said over the tank’s radio.
“Because this is just our lives now”
the commander said as the tank rolled over the gigantic and smooth wooden floor
beneath them. Never having a surface so
flat and glossy to drive over. The
people of the room still not used to the towering four walls that surrounded them,
the gigantic window only showing them glimpses of a sky other than the massive
woman’s white ceiling miles above them, her black chair sat in the corner
bigger than anything they could comprehend besides the woman herself.
“No, I mean… those people… they’re
just a little crazy right, and their leader said they’re all pacifists? So, what’s the point if they won’t even fight
back” the driver said.
“They’re more than crazy, they’re
going to get us all fucking killed by that bitch if we don’t get them under
control” the gunner said.
“Whatever, can we just blow shit up
and do our job?” the loader said. The
driver shaking his head as he continued to do as he was told.
It was a several hour ride over the
flooring. The commander could see fire
in the city as the men started to feel the deep rumblings in their armored
home, approaching the city as their air force roared over them with dozens of
planes and helicopters, dropping endless bombs in the streets. At first, they hit strategic targets,
communications, power plants, then they moved to political buildings, but finally,
the tanks and troops were ordered to move into the civilian areas as bombs
continued to explode all over the city, targeting whatever they felt like, no
matter who was in their path…
“Hit that fucking house!” the
commander yelled. The loader and gunner
working together as a shell left their cannon with a boom. Half of a quaint neighborhood house
splintering into charred scraps of wood and burnt furniture. Hundreds of screaming families running around
the tank and fleeing in every direction as their screams could be heard
slightly through the thick armor.
Hours of waiting outside the city
while it was being bombed made the men thirsty to get into the carnage, all but
the driver. The commander was savoring
every second, watching house after house explode, the roar of the jets and
attack planes, the soldiers gathering families and restraining them. Almost every soldier thought it was
justifiable, everything they did, no matter how much death, the people of the
city being attacked were seen as insane and needing to be put down.
The tank crew found itself in
another neighborhood, running down their shells as they shot at cars for fun,
or put a shell through the window of a bedroom while the city was engulfed in
chaos and carnage. Indiscriminately
picking targets, occupied houses, feeling vehicles filled with panicked families. Metal warped and exploding, houses being
driven though by other tanks, bulldozing everything in their path. Laying waste to an entire city one street at
a time.
The driver stopping the tank
suddenly as the rest of the crew braced at the sudden dead stop.
“Mertz, get this fucking tank moving
to the end of the street, right now” the commander ordered. Mertz could all but sob, seeing countless
dead bodies of innocent people lining their gardens and streets while houses splintered
and burned all around them as columns of their fellow brethren moved in every
direction causing destruction at will.
“Stop being a fucking pussy, Mertz!”
the loader yelled.
“You’re holding up the line!” the
gunner said as countless tanks and armored vehicles were now stuck motionless
behind them.
“Enough!” the commander yelled, quieting
his men. “Mertz, move the fucking
Banshee” the commander spoke more seriously, only rarely using the name of
the tank itself, thinking it was bad luck, hearing his young driver, barely 20
years old, sobbing in his seat over the radio.
Mertz couldn’t though, no matter
where he could drive the tank, the treads of the Banshee would run over dead
bodies, not wanting to feel the bumps underneath his tank, Mertz refused.
“If you refuse my orders, you will
be removed and tried as a criminal back home, do you understand that?” the
commander calmly spoke.
“Sir…” the young driver managed to
speak between his sobbing cries. The
loader and gunner rolling their eyes as they counted the rest of their
munitions in the meantime.
Something felt wrong though, a
deeper thud rocked the tank. Then
another as the city seemed to grow quiet.
The men were tossed upward and down even in the thick armor as another
deep quake bounced the tank a bit. The
commander opening the top lid to see out of the tank.
There she was. Kristen. The commander looking upward towards her,
rearing her head and neck all the way back just to see her body in full view. Her slipper boots in the distance, the padded
sole edge alone towered almost over nearly every skyscraper in the city. Her loose sweatpants growing all the way up
for miles, her face, so concerned yet naturally beautiful. Her hazel eyes and dark blonde hair cascading
down the side of her face as she swept her hands up and brushed it back behind
her ears.
Her eyes darting all over the city,
the commander staring up at the monolithic woman with war planes flying all
around in the airspace between them, the planes looking so insignificant
compared to her body, like little flies.
She started to kneel, thankfully on the other side of the city of the
Banshee, her knee digging into the outskirts as the quake rocked the crew
inside as they grabbed onto their seats and harnesses to keep from falling
over.
“Commander?” the gunner questioned
with obvious fear in his voice.
“Uh… I don’t know…I don’t know what
to do” the commander said, his menacing will to be so involved in the chaos and
war crimes stopped the moment he saw the miles tall woman towering and looming
over the city, her shadow casting down over all of them put his life into
perspective. No matter what he did, he was
only dust compared to the giant woman leaning over him.
“I knew it! I knew we shouldn’t have come here!” Mertz
yelled as he wiped tears from his eyes, “we’re all gonna fucking die, we should
have just listened to these people we’ve been killing!” Mertz yelled as the
tank quieted.
There was a sudden whirring sound,
something dark and ominous, a deep whooshing, humming slowly as Kristen lowered
her hand parallel with the city, the shadow eclipsing them darker, her peachy
skin only revealed on her hands and face in lieu of the thick sweatshirt she
wore over her body to hide her perfect figure.
Her nails clear as they hovered and spread slightly, her fingers alone
were a mile long each as they started to wave over the city.
The commander could see dozens of
explosions as planes, jets, and helicopters couldn’t avoid the approaching wall
of flesh of the palm of her hand. The
slight orange bursts lighting up her hand with each aircraft she waved away,
hundreds of crews dying in a few seconds as the crumples messes of war planes
rained over the city in heaps and black smoke.
The commander bracing against the
lid of his tank as his men screamed inside, a massive gust of wind followed
behind the wave of her hand, the commander watching in awe as he saw thousands
of bodies being lifted in the air and thrown across the city in the current
gust of wind that her hand waving displaced.
He could see the blue and grey uniforms of his fellow military being
thrown amongst the crowd, doomed to fall to their deaths helplessly.
“STOP IT, RIGHT NOW” her voice rang
out through the tank, only echoing louder within the armored Banshee. Mertz covering his ears and writhing from the
loud yet soft voice of Kristen.
“UGH!” her voice rang out again
across the room as everyone grew nervous.
The commander collapsing back into his seat in pure terror and fear as
he saw Kristen take a step over the city, her leg moving over the city followed
by the slipper boot, a sight that he almost couldn’t comprehend, she was moving
in slow motion, but quickly as her body towered over everything.
All of the commander’s desire to
fight and be a part of conflict died in an instant as he saw Kristen approach
his own city, the city he grew up in, wanting to fight for his whole life. A stray missile was fired up at her face, he
realized, even from miles away he could see her lift her boot over his home
city, the slipper coming down, feeling the quake radiate outward as she made
impact with the floor.
The communication line back to the
base suddenly dying off. Communications
across the entire military force dying off apart from a few choppy, short-wave
comms of panic and fear from the ground forces spread out across the city.
“I’M SORRY…” her words rang out
again as her quaking steps shook everyone in the room. The giantess leaving after having killed tens
of thousands of military personnel, leaving behind an ominous quiet in her
wake.
“What do we do?!” the gunner yelled
out. The commander silent. Mertz popping open his lid as he looked
around, he saw his fellow tank crews getting out of their armor. Mertz dizzy at the sight of dead families and
gore all around him, knowing his own commander was partly responsible for such
atrocities for something that Mertz didn’t see as a big problem in the grand
scheme of life.
The young driver slowly lifted
himself out of the tank, stepping onto the street and taking off his helmet,
collapsing to the ground in sobs as the rest of the Banshee crew got out,
slowly stumbling around as the screams and explosions all over the city
stopped, left with fires and smoke all around.
Mertz could see blood-stained sidewalks and grass, dead bodies young and
older lifeless in houses that were merely splinters after being shelled or
bombed.
The commander’s eyes were hollow, struck
with the realization that his dreams of glory and combat were all fantasy,
having looked the giantess in the eye before she flattened his home in the
distance in less than a second. The
power that she had was barely demonstrated in that moment, he fell to his
knees, unable to speak as his loader and gunner ran around the tank in
hysterics, yelling at each other.
The eerie calmness, the smoking and
besieged city in the background, the soldiers and crews left abandoned as they
had no communications with their leaders and people back home across the vast
empty open floor of Kristen’s room.
Mertz picked his head up, seeing other younger men and women crying in
the same uniform he had, thinking maybe they were experiencing the same regret
and anger he was feeling, never wanting to be part of such a conflict in the
first place, wanting nothing more than to just run back to his home across the
open floor.
But like a horror movie, the citizens
of the besieged city eventually started to emerge from the wreckage, through
the streets, from behind walls and fences, ripped clothes and burnt skin from
the fires and bombs. Covered in blood
and angered with rage after seeing countless friends or family die at the hands
of the invaders.
“Sir…” Mertz said as the commander
looked up. Like zombies the people of
the city approached them with rope and twine by the thousands. Some of the soldiers shooting back at them,
but they kept coming like an endless horde.
One by one, the invading soldiers were tackled to the ground. Their equipment ravaged, their tanks and
armor left all over the city as each soldier was tied up and taken
prisoner. Shoved into cramped and
confined spaces, dark and hopeless rooms, only left with their thoughts of if
just following orders was worth all the death and imprisonment.
***
***
***
After a few minutes, Kristen finally
picked up the phone that had been vibrating near constantly, “Why the fuck did
you do that? I told you they were scum;
you should have let us finish them off!
You giant fucking bitch! You
killed my men!” the angry message read.
“Why did you even attack another
city?” Kristen responded on her phone, her body running on pure adrenaline,
nearly shaking on her couch from the anxiety and the rush. Not even being able to think of how many
people she had just crushed under her foot.
“I told you they are delusional! They’re leader thinks that you’re some kind
of goddess here to save us from eternal hell.
How does that sound for your ego?
But I know you’re just a giant, regular bitch, not some fucking deity”
the message read back. Kristen was
dumbfounded.
“But I’m not, also… do you have to
be so rude to me? We can work this
out. Who even are you?” Kristen asked,
but the messages stopped. Kristen left
alone on her couch with thoughts streaming through her head endlessly. Kristen breathing heavily as she slowly
placed her phone down on the table in front of her couch, her hands hovering
above the table shaking as she phone dinged again. Kristen swiping on the phone to see a Madelyn
rolling around in her crib crying after waking up. “Oh, thank god…” Kristen sighed with much
relief as she went upstairs to tend to the baby.
That night, Kristen played with her
healthy food at the kitchen table. Kristen
rotating her fork around her green vegetables staring blankly at them as Maddy
cooed around the corner. Kristen’s phone
vibrating at the table as she opened the message. “Goddess, you saved our city today, their
soldiers are retreating, and our people are safe for now thanks to you… I am
finally free to message you, we are-“ Kristen read before she slapped her phone
back on the table screen side down to avoid further reading the message.
“I am not a fucking god! Ahh!” Kristen loudly shouted, finally letting
her pent-up anger and emotions out as it scared Madelyn, making her cry
instantly. “Oh… ohh… Maddy, I’m so sorry…”
Kristen softly and apologetically spoke as she quickly got up and hugged
Madelyn against herself, playfully patting her back as she cried and whined. Kristen nuzzling her face against her
daughter’s head. Kristen almost couldn’t
help but cry herself, but she fought off the tears as she choked up and had a
lump in her throat for the rest of the night before bed.
Kristen laid in her bad wide awake
at 2 in the morning. Madelyn sleeping
softly across the hallway from the bedroom.
Kristen felt the soft breeze from her fan blowing on the exposed parts
of her body that were out from under the thick covers in the spacious bed. Kristen replaying those moments in her head,
“saving” the city that thinks she’s some kind of “goddess”. Swiping her hand over the city, squishing the
air force base to death along with any micros down there. Only imagining what it must have been like to
be stepped on by her and her soft boot, “but they shot at me… and killed tons
of people… but so did I… ugh…” Kristen mumbled to herself as she tossed and
turned against her soft, cool pillows.
Suddenly, Kristen’s eyes focused on
her nightstand, her bedroom glowing some as she got a notification on her
phone. Kristen scooting herself up on
the bed as she sat back against her wide headboard, propped up by a few pillows
as she brushed some of her long hair out of the way of her eyes. Reaching for her phone and opening up the
message.
“You made the wrong choice today”
the message read.
“Is this the same rude person that
attacked another city and called me a bitch?” Kristen replied back.
“Actually, no, I live on the other
side of the room. I’m someone who wants
to get my people back home, and all you’re doing is making it worse for us. Many of us were getting tired of hearing that
freak talk about how you’re a goddess, over and over again, every meeting we
had, it’s all he would say about you” the message read.
“I’m not a god, I am not in your
way, I want you to go home, so why can’t you?” Kristen more aggressively
responded.
“We won’t be able to do that as long
as you’re here, you should leave” the reply came.
“I can’t just leave, this is my
house… and if I move, then what stops someone else from coming in and being even
worse than me?” Kristen asked.
“Oh, I understand, you and your…
daughter… right? You need a place to
live, you want a home, but do you know how many mothers and daughters you’ve
killed already? How many homes are empty
or gone because of you?” the message replied as Kristen felt ashamed, sinking
down into her covers.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’ll leave you alone, but you all need to stop
fighting, that’s childish behavior and gets you nowhere closer to going back to
wherever the hell you came from” Kristen replied.
“Childish… This is our one and only
warning to you, Kristen. If you
interfere with our lives again, we will kill your daughter” the cryptic message
said as Kristen’s heart dropped.
“What did you just say to me?”
Kristen replied in bewilderment.
“Do you know how easy it would be
to infect your child with a bioweapon, viruses don’t care how big a person is; such
a vulnerable immune system at that age, too… do not fuck with us anymore or you
can think about your life without her…” the message ended as Kristen was left
speechless and shocked. Wide awake.
Now Kristen couldn’t sleep for
another reason. Her motherly instincts
activating instantly, she would do anything to keep Madelyn safe. To protect her daughter meant everything to
her as she got up and slowly tiptoed across the room into Madelyn’s room,
sitting down at a small chair across from the crib and lovingly watching her
daughter sleep peacefully. Kristen
having time to think all night as she replayed those threating messages in her
head. Those words that Ginny said to
Kristen started to make a little more sense, take a little more control of the
situation…