The television illuminated the dark room, flickering like a candle in the night as the picture changed from scene to scene. The snoring of the home owner drowned out the sound as the sitcom being rerun for the umpteenth time was cut off and brought viewers into the news room where an attractive women stared into the camera with a serious look on her face. 

"Evening, I'm Milena Agate with Channel Four News alongside Dr. Amy Trill, here to bring you a breaking update on the mysterious SHRK-2 Virus going around. Now, Dr. Trill, is it true you're beginning to believe this isn't a virus at all?"

"Yes," Amy said, turning towards the camera. "We initially believed it to be a virus due to the lack of confirmed information, it was the only logical assumption."

"But for the first time we've gotten a survivor of this SHRK-2 Virus?" Milena asked, already knowing the answer.

"We did," Amy confirmed. "A young man who will remain unnamed. He was found at the size of only one centimeter by his girlfriend a few days ago. Thankfully she brought him to the ER and they were able to reserve the effects of this and return him to his normal size."

"That's a relief to here," Milena said. "We've gotten used to hearing horror stories of people vanishing one day, only for their bodies to turn up weeks later the size of an ant. Was this man okay?"

Amy stopped for a second, to give thought to her answer. "Physically, yes. However the man has developed severe PTSD after the situations he found himself while at a diminished size. The curse of-whatever this is-is that your body is able to withstand much more pressure and abuse. In fact, every victim we've discovered didn't die from being crush, but instead other means."

"Dr. Trill, why is it that you believe this is no longer a virus?" Milena asked.

"Our reasoning is due to the information we obtained from this victim. We believed it was a virus because all of the previous victims were found naked, but the survivor informed us that his clothes shrunk with him. We presume everyone's clothes were instead torn off and destroyed due to their environment. If this was simply a virus, their clothes wouldn't shrink. We are unsure of what this is, but we advise everyone to exhibit extreme caution at all times."

"What is some advice everyone should hear now that we know people can survive this?"

"Always know where someone is," Amy started. "This thing can happen suddenly, at any time. If someone you know seems to vanish, please inform the proper authorities so a search can be preformed. We can all survive this so long as the people we care about are looking out for us. We are in this together. The worst thing to happen to anyone is to be affected by this, and have nobody realize."

"Thank you, Dr. Trill," Milena said. "Now, about..." she continued speaking.

The television keep flickering in the dark room, the sound of them talking taking up the entire space. The room was quiet otherwise, there was no snoring. The sleeping man had shrunken down to the size of only 1mm in height, his body lost amongst the fabric of the soft chair he was sleeping in. He lived alone and spent most of his days indoors. He would never be seen or heard from again, his malnourished and frail body forever lost inside the fibers.

----

My name is Tim Glice, just an average everyday thirty year old guy. By day I'm one of the managers at Rocket Café, by night I'm...asleep. Yeah, average, I told you. Being a manager of some casual café isn't the more glorious or rewarding job out there, but it pays the bills and I've got a team of great associates. Can't really ask for more. Maybe you're wondering what Rocket Café is? Probably not. Well, it's just a pretty basic chain of fast-casual restaurants. We serve sandwiches, salads, breakfast, pastries, everything, really. It's a nice place, with nice people. I enjoy it, and that's what matters most, isn't it? 

Anyway, today was a special day. Why? Because it was my last day before I went on vacation! Nothing is better than getting to relax and enjoy some time off, especially when you're getting paid for it. All I had to do was get through one last shift and vacation would be all mine. I got ready and headed out to Rocket Café. I actually lived close by, close enough to walk, and I could use the exercise to be honest. I head over to work and begin my shift.

My job as a manager was to ensure the associates were following the rules and making food and helping customers in a positive and efficient way. I had to help out from time to time too. One thing I always had to watch for was the dress code. Rocket Café had a pretty lax dress code, allowing associates to wear most things with few exceptions. They couldn't wear hoodies or 

leggings, and had to wear slip-resistant, closed-toed shoes. Most people followed it with no issues. As I was walking around to check in with everyone, I noticed one of the employees not following the dress code. 

Mindy was a 24 year old woman and one of our better employees. She worked hard and did well, she just had a habit of wearing shoes that didn't fit the dress code. As I was walking around I glance down and notice she is wearing a pair of white Crocs, with holes along the top. They were worn down from use but not in bad condition at all. After greeting her I let her know that her shoes weren't appropriate for work. She would be fine today but next time she would have to wear proper shoes. "My sneakers are dirty," she told me. Well, it was a good thing they were only for work.

As the customers slow down for a slow period, I take the time to walk around check in with everyone. I head over and see a couple employees watching a video on Yancy's phone. Yancy was a young 21 year old woman who worked hard when needed, but was pretty lazy otherwise. I never wanted to be some dictative authority, so I let her watch so long as there were no customers or orders to be done. Plus it gave me an excuse to watch some funny videos too. We all need a nice short laugh at work now and then, don't we?

A little while later I got into a conversation with one of the older employees. April was a 49 year old woman and mother of four. She had been with the company for twenty years already. She had a lot of experience both in the job and in life. We started talking about SHRK-2 and how lucky we were not to have gotten it, or know anyone that got it. She told me to be careful while I was on vacation, I told her to be careful here. I warned her that a restaurant would be a terrible place to have it affect you. I'd at least be at home away from danger. She told me still to be careful, and jokingly said she promised not to step on me if I did it.

The rest of the day proceeded smoothly. Busy, but smoothly. Everyone showed up, work got done. It was a good shift overall. All that was left to do at the end of the night was close up and clean up the place. The associates worked in the front closing down, and cleaning the place while I was in the back doing the paperwork and money handling for the day. As I'm working someone knocks on the door of the office.

Abby was a young 19 year old working here part time. She told me that the vacuum cleaner we used to clean the carpeted area wasn't working. I head out to check on it and give the vacuum a quick examination. I first look at the dustbin to see if that the issue. It was filthy. Globs of hair and dust coagulated together with bits of crumbs and an assortment of other debris. But it wasn't the issue. I checked the brush at the bottom and sure enough found an object lodged in there. I yanked it out and told her that was the problem. I told her next time to sweep up the large pieces of debris first, the vacuum was for small stuff, too small to get yourself. "What about bugs?" she asked me. Well I hope we didn't have bugs in the place we serve food. As long as they're dead, I told her.

On my way back to the office I saw Maria lift a garbage bag out and toss it to the floor. Maria was 27 years old and a good worker, at times. As the bag of trash landed it fell over and spilled out some bits onto the floor. She starts to pick it up and I head over to help her. I grab some piece and my hand gets some gross fluid on it from the trash. I clean it off and remind Maria to always tie up and seal the trash bag when she removes it. That way none of that garbage tries to escape. It's in the trash because that's where it belongs. 

The rest of the night went well. I finished my work, locked up the store, and went back home to finish getting ready for my vacation, and most importantly, to sleep. I got ready for bed, got comfortable, and let myself drift off, prepared for tomorrow.

---

I woke up feeling great! I was on vacation officially, but it was still early. I sat in bed and came up with an idea. I was gonna head back to Rocket Café and get some breakfast. Yeah, going to work on the first day of vacation? Well, I wanted some fresh coffee and Rocket Café really was the closest place to where I lived. And I got it for free. Just a quick stop in, get some warm delicious coffee to start my vacation, then nothing but relaxation, great food, and a calm atmosphere. Sounded like a perfect idea.

I entered the place and greeted the few associates that where there at the moment. Kelly and Sarah were two women who usually worked the morning shift and set up the bakery side of the restaurant. They questioned why I was there when they knew I was on vacation, so I told them. It was a pretty quiet morning like usual, not a customer in sight at the time. Both Kelly and Sarah headed to the back to get something while it was busy. There was nobody around. Behind the counter I grab a cup to get my coffee and begin to walk back to the front.

*SMACK*

*Smack*

I caught myself from falling with my hands. I don't know what happened, I was just walking and then I was almost hitting the ground, lucking stopping myself with both hands to prevent any harm. Both hands? What about my cup? I must have dropped it. And what was that loud noise? It was deafening, someone had to have heard it other than me. I push myself up from the ground and stand up straight and tall and...

What looked like miles away was a towering white structure that was in the exact same shape as the paper cups we used at Rocket Café. There looked to be a picture of a rocket on the side of it as well... I found my cup. But that couldn't be my cup, it was huge! That was when my eyes began to adjust to everything else. Everything was kinda blurry, like when you're driving and you see mountains in the distance. You just see a fuzzy shape because the mountains are hundreds of miles away. That's how everything looked. I looked straight ahead and didn't see much, just walls on either side. Then I looked up. They weren't walls, not strictly. They were fixtures. A small mini fridge. A counter. And they stretched up and up and even further up. I craned my neck just to see the fuzzy top. Despite the distance I was able to make out what they were due to just how massive they were. My heart was pumping. Fear and uncertainty filled my stomach giving me a terrible sensation across my entire body. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. My eyes darted back to the Rocket Café paper cup and...was it bigger? No, surely it...It was moving, rolling to be specific. Directly towards me. Dread washed over me in an instant. I felt my body become flushed as a horrific realization dawned on me. The paper cup rolled towards me, as it got closer I understood just how fast it was moving relative to my size. I stood there in panic, my body unable to move from sheer anxiety. It happened. I had gotten SHRK-2. My eyes went wide as the cup got larger and larger. I had to do something. Now! But first, I opened my mouth and let out the loudest scream I had ever produced in my entire life.

^^^

It was completely silent in Rocket Café. There wasn't a customer in sight, nobody was out front, nothing was even beeping at the moment. It was relaxing. Kelly came back to the front after bringing some dirty containers to the back. Kelly was a young 23 year old working here part time while she was working on becoming a nurse. She had a bad habit of being away from where she needed to be during work, but she was still a good employee otherwise. She entered into the rather small bakery just looking straight ahead. Kelly was a short woman, only 4'11" but she was tall enough to not be staring at the ground. That's why she was surprised when she stepped right onto a paper cup that was on the floor.

"What the?" Kelly exclaimed aloud to herself. Stepping on the cup made a small crunch only audible due to how quiet it was in the store. She lifted her foot off the now crushed and flattened cup and stepped back a small bit. "Stupid cup," she said as she bent down to pick it up. She tossed the worthless thing in the trash without a care. Just then a customer enters so Kelly heads to a register to help them, just carrying on with her day.

vvv

Run. I had to run! Think later, run now! I quickly turn around and begin to sprint as fast as my legs would allow. I got about five feet before an figure in the far distance caught my attention due to the sheer size. My eyes instinctively followed the figure upwards, and upwards, and ever farther up until they landed on what, even through the distance blur, I was able to see was a face. It was Kelly.

I stopped dead in my tracks at the magnitude of the woman hundreds of miles away from me. I forgot about the cup, I forgot about SHRK-2, I forgot everything. I just stood there in stunned silence as my mind struggled with the fact that I was looking at one of my employees. Just like the cup before, the massive figure of Kelly was getting larger as she approached me, but she was moving at a much, much faster rate. Within a second or two the figure had travelled hundreds of miles and was nearly at my position. In was unfathomable seeing a human move that fast. There was no time to react, no time to even think. She was just here, just like that. I keep craning my neck upwards as she grows taller and taller the closer she gets until she is right on top of me. I watch, still stunned into silence, as her shoe soars dozens of miles above my head. What came next shook me to my core.

A horrific and destructive crunch erupted behind soon followed by a ear-splitting slap and earth-shattering tremor. I immediately cover my ears due to the sound and turn around to look at the source, all while the floor I was standing on shook and trembled from the recoil. The shaking make it difficult to keep my balance, especially with nothing to hold onto. I caught a glimpse of what caused such a massive quake, and for the briefest of seconds I saw the crushed corpse of the giant cup I had been running from just seconds before. On top of the cup? The massive grey wall that was Kelly's shoe. I was unable to see anymore as the tremors from Kelly stepping down took over and sent my tumbling to the floor.

I hit the ground and started rolling from the shakes. It all happened so fast, and I had absolutely no control over what was going on. In an instant I hit a drop off, falling a solid foot before landed on some slanted ground. I didn't realize it before, but I had been right next to a groove in the tile floor. I scream aloud as I lose all control, picking up pace rolling down into the pit of the groove. This was the place where all the grime and dirt built up, the divot providing the opportunity for filth to avoid being cleaned, where it was cemented and caked into the floor. As my body rolled it picked up and gathered grime and dirt, almost making me become part of it. I kept rolling and tumbling, parts of my body and clothes being stained black from pure filth adhering itself to me. I shut my eyes to help with the whiplash and nausea I was getting from the constant fast-paced movement. It helped only a little. I finally came to a stop, but my head was still spinning. Even with my eyes closed I could feel everything moving, it was very disorienting. I just sat there for a second to catch my breath and let my brain catch up with the rapid turning that just occurred. A second later I opened my eyes, and all I see the sole of Kelly's shoe come hurtling down towards me.

I let out a scream as the shoe slammed down, extinguishing all light and sending me into pure darkness. I was safe, completely. The deep groove actually made it impossible for the sole of her shoe to come crashing down upon me, I was simply too low to be reached. That didn't change the fact that seeing the ceiling from crashing down was a sight I'll never unsee. I laid there in the pitch blackness beneath Kelly's shoe, terrified of moving even an inch. The scent of rubber wafted into my nostrils to remind me where I was even when I couldn't see. My mind was doing everything it could to avoid thinking about the fact that at this very moment I was under the shoe of my employee. I could hear my heart beating rapidly in the silent darkness, my mouth agape from confusion and fear. I never saw it coming due to the darkness, but a small fleck of dirt had fallen from Kelly's shoe sole, and landed directly onto my face. It crumbled instantly, sending little bits and pieces of dirt into my eyes and my mouth. I yelled as my eyes stung and tried to spit out the dirt. As I do so the ceiling rises above and blinding light floods the area, causing me to cover my already stinging eyes. Kelly had moved, freeing me and allowing me to get out of this groove. Not that I knew where to go.

I lay down looking at my body, stained with patches of brown and black from the dirt I rolled in. I push myself to my feet and start to carefully climb up the slope of the groove to get out of this place. I reach the top and finally get onto the red tile floor once more. As I get up I'm startled by a giant object directly in front of me. I stared at this giant white thing for a bit, wondering what it was and where it came from. It's size was comparative to a bus. It rose above me, and stretched out far on both sides. I could have easily gotten on a ridden the thing if it had a door. But what was it? It was all white, and the shape that I could make out was a little weird. I stared at it some more until it dawned on me.

It's a sesame seed. A singular sesame seed that had dislodged itself from Kelly's shoe when she stepped down. Many thoughts came rushing into my head from this realization. I had looked up the size of a sesame seed before from pure curiosity, that information was at the top of my mind now. One of them was only about three to four millimeters long and, even more troubling, usually about a single millimeter thick. I had to look upwards to see the total thickness of the object. I was smaller than a sesame seed. That's when it truly sunk in. The cup from before wasn't giant. Kelly wasn't massive. Kelly was just a 4'11" woman. It was me that small. Dozens of thoughts came and went and came through my head as I stood there stunned. My phone! I just had to call the store and let them know what happened. I'd be fine! My clothes shrank, so my phone must have as well. I reached into my pockets and came out empty handed. Panic struck as I kept searching everywhere for it. That's when I remembered. I left my phone back at home so it could charge before my vacation. I'll be gone thirty minutes, I told myself before leaving. 

The ground began to tremble just as it did when Kelly was walking near me. I look in fear over where Kelly last was, and see she is indeed walking back towards me! But, she was still extremely far away, from my perspective at least. I turned around and found the answer to my question. Just like before a towering figure was heading towards me. I craned my neck upwards and caught a blurry glimpse of the face. It was Sarah, and she was approaching fast.

^^^

Sarah had finished putting stuff away in the back and came back to the front. She was a 39 year old woman working here, and another place, to help support her kids. She was also rather short, only 4'10" in height. She took a few steps into the bakery area just as Kelly was walking back from helping a customer. The two stood near each other and began casually chatting. Despite the age difference the two were pretty similar and had quite a lot to talk about. 

The conversation led to Kelly's nails that she had just gotten done. Sarah mentioned she had gotten a pedicure just a week ago. Kelly asked to see so Sarah slipped her foot out of her shoe and held it just above the floor. Both woman looked down at the shiny, green toenails, impressed at the work. After a short look, Sarah slipped her foot back in and the two kept talking for a little bit before another customer entered and they left to go help them.

vvv

I stood there, smaller than the sesame seed next to me, and did the only thing I could think to do to try and get someone's attention. The only way I was going to get back to normal and cured from this was to get someone to see me. I had to try anything, I had to. I started shouting out as loud as I could, calling out Sarah and Kelly's names. I was waving my arms, moving every body part in a desperate bid to be seen. I had to stand out, had to be shown I was down here, and moving was the only way to do that, so I kept moving. Kept shouting. Kept hoping.

Both Sarah and Kelly kept walking towards me. In a couple seconds both women were standing over me. I had to crane my neck completely to look up at them. The two of them towered over me, it was unfathomable how high up they stretched. I continued to shout and wave and do anything and everything I possibly could at my size to get their attention, but they never looked down. They just stood there talking, completely oblivious to the fact that I was right here, right next to them. But I couldn't give up, I had to keep trying! 

While I kept shouting and waving and jumping the sheer size of them still overwhelmed me. I knew these two. It was Kelly and Sarah, two of my associates. I had just talked to them a few minutes ago. Now...they towered over me, taller than any building I'd ever seen in my life. They just rose and rose into their air, their heads were practically in a whole other dimension from where I was. That's when I stopped yelling. I stopped waving. I stopped jumping. I just stopped. Neither of these women were over five feet tall. They were what the world would call short. Heck, I called them short. That's what they were: short people. But if these two women who were currently towering over me, rising thousands of miles into the sky, were described as short people...what was I?

I was never going to get their attention by shouting and waving my arms. I was smaller than a fucking sesame seed that was the size of a bus. My voice was never going to reach them. I was wasting my energy on useless tasks when I needed to be using it on some method to actually get someone to notice me. And being on the floor, directly between their shoes, was not the place to do that. I was a human, I had to think like a human. I had to come up with some plan or idea to get myself to safety. With a renewed sense of hope and determination, I stood strong and prepared to get help. Until the floor shook from the movement of a short woman. I panic as I see the large shoe of Sarah begin to move, but all I can do is attempt to hold onto the sesame seed for support. It doesn't work and I fall flat on my back. The sesame seed looked ever larger from my perspective, as did Sarah and Kelly. As did the utterly massive ceiling that appeared above me, with five gigantic protruding objects jutting out from it. 

I screamed helplessly as the fleshly ceiling got closer and closer to my position. I put my arms up instinctively to stop the oncoming mass and protect myself, not that it would have done anything. It never hit me. The wall of flesh that was Sarah's foot stopped a few dozen feet, to me, above my body. Even at that distance, it was still too close for comfort. I looked straight up from my place on the floor with my view blocked on either side by the pillars that were Sarah's toes. It was like looking through a scope, only making the two women above appear even larger and higher up. Unlike everything else that appeared blurry due to the distance, I was able to see all the details from the sole of her foot.

 All the ridges that made up the print of her toe were clearly visible, even with the diminished light reaching under her foot. I saw some callous patch of skin and a part where old, dead skin was peeling away. It was kinda red as if it had been stuffed inside a shoe and walked on, because it had been. I saw little flecks of dirt scattered around on her sole, giving the flesh a bit of color. It was the same as looking up at the night sky and seeing all the stars. I could make constellations with the flecks of dirt on Sarah's foot. It was the sky to me. And just like the stars, I tried not to think about the fact that I could only see those pieces of dirt because they were larger than me. Being smaller than a piece of dirt adhered to a woman's foot was not the thought I needed at this moment. Yet that's all that was going through my mind.

The scent was going through my nose. It wasn't awful...it wasn't good either. It was clear Sarah had taken a shower or something recently. The scent of soap lingered around me. But nothing was going to change the fact that this was a foot, and the odor that accompanied feet was wafting down into my face, sliding into my nostrils. I coughed as the scent invaded my lungs. I tried to plug my nose to avoid the smell but it just seeped into my mouth. It was then that I noticed, far far above, the faces of the towering women above me were looking down. Right where I was!

I disregarded my own decision and started waving my arms around wildly to gain their attention, let them know that I was down here. This was my chance, their focus was right down on the floor. I waved and shouted and waved some more but all that happened was nothing. My calls for attention were ignored completely. Just as rapidly as it had appeared, the massive fleshy sky that was Sarah's foot vanished from sight, and the faces of the towering figures returned back upright. My hopes were gone. 

The two short women then start to walk away, their shoes soaring far above my head before crashing down. In just one step they were far enough away to barely shake the ground where I was. They were able to move that quickly. After a second or two of watching them leave, I sprung up and knew I had to get into action. The floor was not where I wanted to be. I dropped back down into the groove where it was filthy, but at least safe...well safer. I sat down and started to give some serious thought. I knew Rocket Café fairly well. Granted, it was different at this size, but I knw the place. I just had to figure out the best place to get up high and get someone's attention. 

While I was sitting there thinking, I felt the ground quiver once more. I peeked out from the groove and looked towards where Kelly and Sarah were, but they weren't anywhere near me, and weren't even moving. I quickly turned around and saw another towering figure that was actually just an associate that worked it. It was Isabella, and she was walking right towards where I was.

"I'm Tasha Nia and I'm here today with a special guest," an elegant interviewer spoke to the camera. "He's the first and only survivor of SHRK-2 and for now we'll just call him John. For his safety and protection we are keeping his identity and voice a secret, but all you need to know is that he has lived through one of the most deadly issues our world has seen. John, welcome."

"Hello," John said.

"Now John, you came to us," Tasha declared. "Why was that? What did you want to tell the people?"

"I wanted to share some advice, so others have a fighting chance to survive this."

"Wonderfully noble of you. Thank you John, millions will appreciate this. Please, tell us what you can. What is the most important piece of advice you can give the listeners at home?"

John was quiet for a second, thinking about what exactly to say, and how to phrase it. "When it first happens, you'll likely be on the ground. I need to say this to everyone listening, if you're on the floor when it happens, you must get off. Either get to higher ground, or get under something. You cannot be on the ground for any period of time. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. You will get stepped on, and it will ruin your entire life."

---

Isabella was a young 18 year old who was just about to start college in a few months. This job wasn't anything glamorous, but it helped pay for tuition. She was also rather short at only 5' tall. Isabella walked into work and stepped into the bakery area, saying hello to Sarah and Kelly. She walked back a bit and stopped near where the toaster was. It was radiating warmth and she liked that.

vvv

I duck and hide in the groove as the towering figure that was Isabella walked towards me. I had my plan, I was going to wait until she walked past, then I would make a break for it beneath a counter. I had to get under something, and I had to do it now. With three people walking around, it was just too dangerous on the floor. The tremors increased as she walked near me, and despite even being supported by the edge of the groove, I was still tumbled and lost balanced, face planting into the caked in grime and dirt on the floor. 

A little bit of dirt got into my mouth, sitting on my tongue with some dry, grainy feeling that was a little gross but more annoying. This was my chance though, I had to run. I climb out of the groove and start my fast, yet slow, sprint towards the area beneath the counter. It was the counter where the toaster was, I'd be safe under there. As I started running the small bits of dirt on my tongue were itching. I stuck out my tongue to try and scrape it off with some success. I was too preoccupied with doing that I never noticed the area turning dark and the ground shaking. I fell to the ground on my back, my tongue still out and exposed. Before I even had a fraction of a second to retract it back into my mouth, the massive shoe of Isabella's came crashing down onto my body. The dirty sole of her shoe touched down and squished onto my tongue, instantly filling it with the taste of dried filth.

^^^

Isabella stood there by the toaster for a small bit. There were still no customers at the moment and not much to do. It wouldn't get busy until a while later as it usually happened. In the meantime she pulled out her phone. She had recently begun doing a daily word puzzle known as Wordle, and wanted to get it done for today. As she was thinking about the word and guessing, Isabella started to absent mindedly glide her shoe across the floor. She wasn't even aware she was doing it, it was just some small action she did while her mind was occupied on the word puzzle. For several minutes she glided her shoe back and forth and back and forth.

vvv

In the pitch black darkness beneath Isabella's shoes, the dirt and grime on her sole was agitated by the saliva of my tongue, causing it to seep onto my taste buds and dribble down into my open mouth. The awful taste of rubber and filth filled my senses as I desperately tried to retract my tongue back into my mouth, but the sheer weight of her stepping down was enough to hold it in place, not allowing me to do anything. I had fallen awkwardly too with my arms pinned behind me, completely preventing me from even attempting to yank it free. All I could do was just lay there and be forced to taste the bottom of Isabella's shoe. Taste all the dirt and grime that had adhered itself and caked into the tread, and taste the rubber that held it all together. I kept trying to struggle, or rotate my head sideways, or pull my tongue back, or anything to get this taste away, but every single thing I did was hopeless. The weight of her standing on me was enough to immobilize me completely. I was stuck here with my tongue pressed up against the tread of my employee's shoe.

The ceiling above started to move, but kept the same pressure on top of me. Isabella's shoe moved backwards at a slow yet rapid pace, grinding and scraping my tongue across the tread. I squirmed and whimpered as it felt like sandpaper being dragged across my my tongue. The grainy dirt stains scratched at me and the dried globs of grime rehydrated from my saliva and painted my tongue with a vile substance that tasted of pure nastiness, all while the scent of rubber futilely tried to mask the overpowering stench of filth. My tongue pressed into the sole of Isabella's shoe, absorbing every little bit of dirt it came into contact with as the shoe move. The backwards movement caused my tongue to be yanked out further than it should be, allowing for even more grime to be slathered all over my tongue, and the taste of shoe to be enhanced even further. Tears started to well up in my eyes as I laid there, unable to do absolutely anything except to accept the fact that I was being forced to lick the bottom of Isabella's dirty shoe, and she had no idea. The whole stroke of one lick lasted only about five seconds, in that time my tongue gathering over a mile of pure dirt and grime that had once found a home on Isabella's shoe. It's new home was on my tongue. The five seconds had felt more like five minutes to me due to the pure agony of the situation. After the longest five seconds were up, Isabella's shoe stopped moving and my tongue stopped scraping against the filthy sole. I thought it was over and she would lift her foot up any second now and I could get out of this mess. It had only just begun.

Instead of lifting up, Isabella's shoe just started moving again, this time in the opposite direction. She had moved her foot just a slight amount, which was enough to cause a shift of where her shoe was moving. My tongue was grinded and scraped against another portion of her shoe tread, causing a fresh layer of dried and caked in dirt and grime to be transferred and slathered over my exposed tongue. The grainy and vile substances were effortlessly cleaned off her shoe with my tongue acting like a rag to hold all of the filth. Globs of dirt and grime were accumulating at a rapid pace, so they either got squashed deep into my tongue and buried in my taste buds or fell around me into my open mouth. My tongue was beginning to get dry from being outside, and the dry dirt didn't help either. If anything, the dryness made the licking worse, as instead of gliding over all the filth, it caused my tongue to grind against the sole, scraping even more dirt and even more grime off her treads only for it to get lodged more and more into my taste buds. The rare taste of rubber was welcomed at this point, because all I was tasting otherwise was filth. I continued to squirm and writhe from the situation but I was held fast by this petite woman. No amount of struggling was going to do anything to help me. More tears welled up in my eyes, streaming down my cheeks as I just laid there with my tongue grinding and scraping more dirt off Isabella's shoe. The only thing I could do was just lay there and let it happen.

^^^

Isabella had just entered her first guess into the word puzzle, and got it wrong. "Aw man," she quietly said aloud to nobody. As she thought about the next guess, she kept gliding her shoe back and forth across the ground. She wasn't even consciously aware she was doing it. The movement was so small and meaningless that it didn't even register in her head as something to take note of as happening.

vvv

Another five seconds of licking had finished, once again feeling like five minutes. With only two long strokes, my tongue was already completely covered with dirt and grime, stained black with a vile substance that oozed into every orifice. As soon as the movement stopped, I silently begged for it to be over, but it was not over. Isabella's shoe started to move back the other way, again with a slight shift of direction, once more causing my tongue to scrape off and gather another fresh layer of dirt and another fresh layer of grime. Another five seconds of licking, just for more dirt than I knew existed to be embedded into my tongue. Again her shoe stops. Again her shoe shifts direction. Again I am force to lick even more dirt and grime. Again, and again, and again. And again. Every single time she stopped and started her shoe was moving in a very slightly different direction, driving and forcing fresh filth onto my tongue. She went back and forth across my tongue over thirty times, every stroke forcing me to lick a new spot. She was inadvertently forcing me to clean her shoe sole with my tongue, being sure not to miss a single spot. 

By the tenth stroke, my tongue was dry and rough, and it felt like I was the sandpaper roughly scraping against the sole to get off every little bit of dirt. By the eighteenth stroke, my tongue was so covered and embedded with pure grime that it was oozing out of me, spilling into my mouth and onto my face. By the twenty-ninth stroke my tongue had been rubbed raw and burning from the constant, unending licking. It was beyond dry from the lack of moisture. It wasn't even fair to call it a tongue anymore. It was nothing by a rag, a sponge. It was a tool used to clean this 18 year old's shoe sole. Tears were streaming down my face as my tongue kept grinding against the sole. Even after this long I couldn't believe the situation. I couldn't believe I was really being force to lick Isabella's shoe. Isabella! I had just talked with her a day ago. She was a nice, gentle person who worked hard and just wanted to enjoy life. She even called me her favorite manager! Yet here I was with the bottom of her shoe on top of me, my mouth filled with the dirt she had stepped on. Tears kept falling as her shoe stopped, only for Isabella to start dragging it back the other way, with more dirt to scrap off onto my tongue.

^^^

"Ugh," Isabella expressed after getting another guess wrong. Kelly and Sarah came up to her after this and asked what was going on. Isabella explained the game to them and how she was stuck on the work. Kelly told her to step aside and see if she could figure it out. Isabella took a step to the right, leaving her phone on the counter. Kelly then stepped over and took her place and began to look over the word to figure it out. Kelly stood there putting in some serious thought about what the word could be. As she stood she maneuvered her foot around as some subconscious fidget. After a little bit of thinking and another failed guess, Kelly figured out the word of the day: SMALL. 

vvv

Isabella's shoe stopped moving once again, but I gave up hope of it ever lifting up. Just then, I felt some pressure release as a blinding bright light blasted my eyes. Isabella had in fact lifted her shoe up to step elsewhere. My eyes instinctively shut due to the light and my adjustment to the darkness. Without the weight on me, I attempt to retract my tongue back into my mouth. However, it has been so rubbed raw and so filled with dirt that it refused to move at first. It just laid there exposed and limp as if it were some dead animal. Well if it wouldn't go in itself, I'd just push it in with my arms. I would be able to free my arms due to Isabella no longer pressing down on me. Just as I begin to move about to get my arms out from under me, the sky went dark again. I stopped moving from panic as my eyes shot open, expecting to see Isabella's shoe coming down again. Instead, for the briefest of glimpses I caught sight of Kelly far far above me, right before her shoe came crashing down on me, and just as before, right onto my still exposed tongue.

I thought it was over, I thought I was going to be done with this. But just as soon as Isabella's shoe moved, I was instantly put beneath another one. I had thought my tongue had lost all ability to taste anything anymore, but I was wrong. Kelly's shoe brought along a whole new taste and a whole new world of dirt and grime to be slathered all over my already filthy tongue. Kelly was standing differently from Isabella, and was thus putting more pressure onto me than before. My tongue was squashed harder, mashing the dirt deeper into my taste buds than ever before. She also didn't move her foot around the same. Rather than the long strokes I had grown accustomed to, Kelly moved her shoe around sporadically, causing my tongue to lick up and down and every which way. Dirt and grime from her shoe was getting lodged in places it wouldn't normally due to the movement. Her shoe was hunting for every little part of my tongue to have filth on it, all the while scraping excess dirt into my mouth and my eyes. 

Some glob of gook made of unknown substance had made its home within the confines of Kelly's shoe treads. It had been there for months, turning black from grime. It was likely the amalgamation of filth all mashed together to form some sticky disgusting goop. Kelly never noticed and even if she did she probably wouldn't care that much. 

The shoe kept moving dragging my tongue along the tread until it ended up being shoved right into a giant sticky glob of something. My tongue instantly stuck to it, while the force of Kelly's movement forcefully dragged it through all the sticky goop. Globs of the powerful grime oozed through my tongue, sticking in little globules all over, seeping deep into my taste buds while the rest dripped and dropped down into my mouth. The taste was terrible. Having to lick dirt off a shoe wasn't pleasant, but it was dirt. This muck that had slathered itself over my tongue had been fermenting with grime for months, developing it's own disgusting flavor that outmatched everything I had licked up prior. To make matters worse, Kelly had picked this place to stop moving her foot, forcing my exposed tongue to just stay there stuck and mashed into the sticky goop, absorbing all of the flavor into my taste buds.

^^^

"I got it," Kelly said, slightly satisfied with herself but keeping it contained. 

"You did? What was it?" Isabella gasp. She took a step closer to Kelly to see her phone. "Small? How did I not get that!"

"Hmm, I wonder if they picked that word because of the whole SHRK-2 thing," Kelly wondered aloud. "It must be scary, being so small and helpless like that. Anything could be a danger to them." She shook her head thinking about it. "I'd feel awful if I stepped on one of them," Kelly said, completely unaware that her boss was currently beneath her shoe as she spoke. She unconsciously put a tiny insignificant amount of pressure down on her shoe as she said this.

vvv

I was completely helpless as a massive burst of pressure came barreling down. My raw and filthy tongue was pressed deeper into the glob of gunk on the bottom of Kelly's shoe, encasing it in grime. I didn't think there was anywhere left for dirt to go on my tongue, but the glob oozed and squeezed its way into places to fill every single crevice and melt into every single taste bud. My tongue was pulled and stretched out even further than it should be allowed, just to have more dirt and more grime coat every inch of it. Tears of agony and humiliation streamed down my cheeks as I just laid there unable to even move a muscle. I was at the complete mercy of whatever Kelly was doing with her shoe. I couldn't even squirm and struggle anymore from the increased pressure. I could just lay there with my tongue coated in grime and accept that this was happening and wait for it to be over.

^^^

"I'd feel terrible," Kelly said, repeating herself, again putting just a tiny little more pressure down on her shoe. 

"Hold up what's this SHRK-2 thing?" Isabella asked, having never heard of it. 

"It's some virus, or I think they changed that, that's going around. People are just shrinking down to some really small size," Kelly explained. "Only like one person was found alive. It's terrible, you could just be walking and one of them will end up under your shoe."

"Oh my god," Isabella exclaimed. "I had no idea. Are we supposed to be watching where we're going right now?"

"Not here, no," Kelly said. She lifted one of her legs to give it a quick scratch, thus putting the entirety of her weight onto the shoe her miniscule boss was currently under. "That's why we work in pairs and they are more of us here, to make sure if something does happen someone sees it. Back here you should be safe without needing to worry about it. Look it up," Kelly said, taking a step back.

Isabella took her place a second later and began to search up information about SHRK-2. "That's good, I'd hate to step on somebody like that."

vvv

I thought my tongue couldn't get any more covered, but Kelly's constant increase in pressure kept shoving it more and more into the glob of grime. Finally after far too long the pressure began to lighten and Kelly's shoe began to lift up. Light flooded into my eyes again. However, my tongue was so mashed and molded into the sticky glob of gook that it was violently yanked out as her shoe went up. My body was lifted up just a bit as well, freeing my arms from under me before my tongue snapped out of the gook and send my body back to the tile floor. My back slammed into the ground. My raw, burning, and dry tongue slopped onto my cheek, it was completely coated and stained in dark black globs of grime and filth, and all I could taste was pure disgusting grime. I desperately had to get my tongue back into my mouth, it couldn't take much more of this. It was still impossible to retract it, but my arms were free. I could put it back in myself, I just need one second to do that.

In half a second I had grabbed my limp tongue and raised it, ready to reinvigorate back into my mouth. Before I could finish though, everything went dark as Isabella's dirty shoe came crashing down onto my, once against smashing into my exposed tongue. This was her other shoe, the one I hadn't already licked cleaned, meaning I was once against welcomed to a fresh layer of dirt from the bottom of her shoe.

I couldn't taste any new dirt, but the sticky coating easily adhered the dirt to it. I could barely even feel her shoe against my tongue due to the layers of grime built up. But I knew it was in contact. More tears came as I struggled underneath her shoe. Every time she went back and forth I would be gathering more and more dirt from her shoe. At this point I was just a living, breathing human shoe cleaner to her.

^^^

Isabella scrolled through websites on her phone, against absentmindedly gliding her shoe back and forth across the floor. "Wow," she said after skim reading information from various sites. "This sounds awful. I had no idea. I hope I haven't done anything to hurt anyone who has this," Isabella said as she gently moved her shoe back and forth, unknowingly grinding my tongue into the dirty sole of her shoe. 

"Oh look at this. '10 Ways to Help SHRK-2 Victims'. Let's see," Isabella said opening the page and quickly scrolling through it. "This one says to make sure your shoes are free of patches of debris. 'People suffering from SHRK-2 won't be crushed, but they can get stuck to splotches of debris' it says." Isabella lifts up her leg and turns her foot over, inspecting the bottom of her shoe. Doing this, she puts the entirety of her weight onto her other shoe, unknowingly flattening me further into the dirt. "My shoe is pretty clean already," Isabella says, ignorant of the fact that she had inadvertently and unknowingly forced me, her 'favorite manager', to clean the bottom of her shoe with just my tongue. 

Kelly checked the bottom of her shoe as well, and found a really small patch of some black colored gook that was lodged in her tread. She had a brief look of disgust on her face, but just put her foot back down. It was such a small little patch of gook, Kelly thought to herself. No way one of them would be small enough to ever get stuck in that. Besides, it was disgusting looking, bleh. She didn't want to touch that.

Isabella put her shoe down and went back to her phone. She raised her other foot up onto the toes for a brief period while she kept looking through her phone. She never bothered to check the bottom of her other shoe. If she had, she might have noticed the very small splotch of dirt residue adhered to the sole. She tucked her phone and and stepped back down before getting back to work.

vvv

My tongue had gone back and forth along Isabella's shoe several times, absorbing layer after layer after layer of dirt and grime. Finally, after being used to clean the bottom of her shoe, the pressure releases and light comes blinding in. I recoil for a second and bring my arms up to block the light. Then I remembered. My arms were free, and no one was on me! I quickly grab hold of my raw, burning tongue, coated and covered in several layers of grime, stained pitch black from pure filth. I had to get it back in my mouth, right now. I take my limp tongue that had been used a shoe rag and lobbed it back into my mouth. A feeling of relief comes over me as I can finally relax. At the same time, the saliva in my mouth hydrates all of the grime, and fills my mouth with a filthy fluid. A single layer of the dirt built up on my tongue mixes with my saliva, the other several layers were so dried and caked into my tongue and taste buds that it would take a lot more liquid to break that down. I turn onto my side and spit out the liquid. I felt exhausted, I just wanted to get out of here and get back to normal. I slowly roll onto my stomach, needing the extra effort to push myself to my feet. I barely even begin to get up before the sky goes dark.

I was only able to turn my head a little bit, just to see the massive ceiling of Isabella's shoe coming back down ready to step on me. For the briefest of seconds I see a huge splotch of dark brown dirt adhered to her shoe with something sticky, and it was heading right for me. In an instant I was immediately pushed to the ground as the splotch of dirt enveloped me and I felt my back squelch into something sticky. All went dark as a huge pressure crushed down on my body.

^^^

Isabella heads over to the drink station to make some drinks customers ordered. The information about SHRK-2 was still in her mind, thinking about how it must feel for the people affected by it. She was glad it was safe for them in the back here at the store. She really didn't want to risk stepping on anyone while at work. If Isabella had any idea that someone, especially someone she knew, talked to, worked with, respected, was currently stuck beneath her shoe at that very moment, she would have helped. She would have done whatever to get them to safety. But she had no idea, so she walked without holding back anything, stepping down with full force each step, with a smile on her face.

vvv

Pitch black. I couldn't see anything. I knew there was dirt on all sides surrounding me, but I could only feel it. All I had to do was wait until Isabella stepped off of me, then I'd make a run for it. Safety beneath the counter was right there, I could make it. I'd figure out how to get someone's attention soon, but right now I had to make a run for it. It would be awkward to explain what I went through to Isabella and Kelly, but I'd deal with that later. For now, once the light came back, I'd make a run for it. Just on cue, pressure started to release, and blinding light was flooding back into my eyes.

I immediately tried to run, but nothing happened. When my eyes adjusted I noticed that I was no longer laying on the tile floor. In fact, the familiar red tile was now miles below me, as if I was flying...Oh no. The ground below whipped by in a blur. It was like the tress when you were driving fast on the highway, just a blur as you rushed past. A second later everything stopped, except the red tiles were getting closer and closer. Until finally my body was slammed into the tile floor, buried beneath the weight of Isabella in pitch black darkness.

The pressure lessened and the light returned. I desperately tried to move anything, but nothing reacted. My arms and legs were completely adhered to something sticky. My legs were likewise stuck fast. Even my head was squished sideways into some questionable sticky goo. Literally no part of my body was able to be moved. As the red tile floor came rushing up, and my body was smashed into it with the full weight of her body pressing down on me, I came to the horrible realization. I was stuck to the bottom of Isabella's shoe, by the same substance that held tight to the rest of dirt that surrounded me. I had just been forced to lick off all the dirt on her shoe a few minutes prior. Now, I was that dirt.

^^^

Isabella made the drinks, and as she did so she had her foot propped up on the toe. She absentmindedly and haphazardly moved her foot about, swinging from left to right, putting it back down on the floor, tapping it up and down. 

vvv

Again my body was pressed hard into the unforgiving tile floor, the dirt and grime coating my clothes and body. I was lifted up again, but not like before. Instead I was given a glimpse of the outside world, albeit upside down. Everything was still, but only for a moment. A second later the world rapidly shifted from side to side. The world was a blur as I felt myself get lightheaded from the constant rapid motion. It continued for several seconds non-stop, making me ready to puke, until finally and instantly my body was slammed back into the floor. Isabella's shoe skidded along the ground, grinding my body across the tile floor, smearing grime and dirt all over my face and clothes. Right afterwards I was lifted up again, hovering above the ground before being slammed back into the tiles, over and over again as Isabella tapped her foot for a small bit. 

I was repeatedly slammed and smashed into the tile floor for a minute or so until finally it stopped. Only for my world to be flipped upside down as Isabella put her shoe up on her toe once more. Again, I was rapidly swung left to right, my vision blurring and my nausea returning. It lasted for a few seconds but felt like hours before the world went dark. My body was slammed into the tile floor, where again I was dragged and smeared into the grime of the floor. From the repeated steps and all the drag marks, I was coated. My face, my arms, legs, and all my clothes, were stained brown and black from the grime and dirt I was mushed with. I was completely and utterly indistinguishable from the rest of the dirt that littered Isabella's shoe. I couldn't even move to differentiate myself. I was dirt.

^^^

Isabella leaves her shoes planted on the ground as Sarah comes up and the two begin talking. They talk about various, mundane topics just making small talk until the next customer came. Isabella let out a little giggle as they chatted. Again she lifted her shoe up and bounced on her toes for a second, before planting it back down.

vvv

Tears were welling up in my eyes. I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything except breath. Even my fingers were completely stuck. Whatever goo had found itself on Isabella's shoe was so sticky and adhesive that there was no way I was strong enough to get myself off. Was this it? Was I going to spend the rest of my life trapped to the bottom of my employee's shoe? Nothing more than a speck of dirt beneath some 18 year old's shoe? My question was answered as light erupted into my face as the world appeared upside down. Only to immediately be plunged back into darkness as my body was dragged and ground across the floor, once again smearing even more grime onto my body. Yes, this was my life now.

^^^

For the next hour or so Isabella was on her feet constantly working. Whether it was taking orders, making drinks, or whatever else was needed, she was walking around. The bakery floor was littered with little crumbs from fallen bagels and other assorted pastries that fell forgotten to the ground. Isabella stepped on them without care or any attention. She was just always walking, and even when she wasn't walking she was standing still with her weight pressing down on her shoes. 

On multiple occasions she even had to take orders outside for people that wanted curbside pick-up. She had to walk all the way outside onto the sidewalk and even the road pavement. What a bother! At least it was a nice day. It was over an hour of walking before things settled down a bit. 

vvv

I lost all track of time. Everything was the same down here. It was dark, then a blurry rush of red flying past before I was smashed into the ground and plunged into darkness. Over and over and again and again I was lifted, rushed, smashed, darkness. To make matters worse, the ground Isabella was walking on was littered with massive boulders that exploded into bits and pieces when she stepped on them. Some giant round boulder that was twice my size, which I assumed was actually just a poppy seed, found itself lodged in the same goo I was stuck in. Welcome to your new life, fellow crumb. She kept walking over massive bits of food. I was fortunate enough that none of them ever made contact with him. Well, as fortunate as a human being literally plastered to the bottom of someone's shoe could be.

Every step Isabella took, and she took well over a hundred, covered my body in more and more filth. The grime kept building up, it was getting thicker and greasier and seeping into my clothing. The filth was also slowly starting to cover up my only unblocked eye. The only thing that let me see, the only thing that reminded me that I was still human in this world, was slowly being covered up by grime. If I lost my ability to see, then...what else would there be for me to do?

At various points it was clear even to me that Isabella was walking somewhere other than the bakery. Even from my position beneath her shoe, I could sense the increase in light as she stepped outside. Also, my body noticed the change as the smooth tile I was used to getting crushed into was replaced with the jagged, rough pavement of the sidewalk. Her first step outside shook me to my core as my body was smashed into the bright pavement. Bumpy hills protruded into me, threatening to stab me, but never actually doing it. Just a lot more pain than the normal step. Then she took another step and smushed my body into the jagged pavement once more. That's when she stepped down onto the dark asphalt of the parking lot. Isabella actually stepped down onto a massive boulder, actually just a tiny insignificant pebble, right where I was under her shoe. The pebble pressed into my entire body beneath her weight, shoving me more into the sticky goo, as if it's only purpose was to ensure that I never escaped from this predicament. Then she walked back into the store, smashing me with each step until after what felt like hours passed she eventually stopped walking.

^^^

Isabella stood there during a slow period talking with another coworker. She was talking about SHRK-2 and what she learned earlier today. She mentioned the little tidbit about making sure your shoes are clean so the victims can't get stuck. She lifted her shoe up to check the bottom, but found there was a tiny little splotch of dirt. Oh no! Isabella didn't want to cause any harm to any poor people affected by this. The coworker suggested wiping her shoe on the mats to clean it off. Isabella agreed it was a good idea, and began to walk out to where the mat was, ready to do her part and help prevent the victims from suffering.

vvv

After the repeated steps and stomps I had been under from Isabella, my body was nearly completely coated and covered in layers of dirt and grime. My only exposed eyes was almost smeared over as well, leaving just the smallest bit of room for me to look out of. It was like looking through a telescope, except it was made of grime and it didn't magnify anything. All it would take would be a couple more steps and my eye would be blocked as well. Luckily, Isabella had stopped moving for a bit, giving me much needed time to rest.

Even buried under all the filth, I felt the world fly by as Isabella's shoe moved. Despite most of my view being blocked, the bright light exploded into my eye nearly blinding me for a second. When my eye adjusted I looked up and saw Isabella's giant face looking down, right at me! This was my only chance to be seen. Her eyes were literally looking right were I was. I just had to...I couldn't move, not even a single finger. My entire body was coated and stained the same color as the dirt I was surrounded by. I did all I could do, and scream interally at her, hoping beyond any logical reasoning that she would hear my thoughts and help me, save me from this situation she was putting me through. She didn't. My heart sank as her face vanished from view and my world starting movie. I saw the red tile floor from my telescope view, before I was once again smashed into it unceremoniously. 

As her shoe came down I felt more grime smear all over me. As it lifted my view was already more limited then before. I knew she was taking a step because of the weightless feeling in my gut. Once again her shoe comes down and I'm smashed into the floor. Once again layers of grime smear across my face and body. I feel the weightless take over, a sure sign that Isabella was mid step, but my world was still entirely dark. It had happened, my eye had been coated over with dirt. I was now completely covered in grime on the bottom of Isabella's shoe. What would happen now? Just getting walked on over and over again. All there was anymore, was darkness.

She took several more steps, further cementing my place beneath the grime, as just another speck of dirt helplessly trapped to the bottom of her shoe. I was crying but the tears had no where to go so they just pooled up at my eye. Each step I felt the soft crunch of the hard floor squash me just a little bit more, reminding me that this is really happening to me. Several more steps occurred, before an awful, awkward crunch sound was made. In the darkness it was impossible to see, but I felt some massive spear jab into the dirt next to me. 

A deafening scraping sound roared into my ear, sounding like small explosions in rapid succession. It all stops for one second, but the weight increases as Isabella steps down again. Some large pointy thing poked into my cheek, before being roughly dragged across my face, taking a large glob of dirt with it, allowing me to finally see once again. As the shoe lifted up and readied itself to slam down, I saw what was going on. Down below me was the floor mat we had in the dining room for people to wipe their feet on. Isabella was wiping her shoes right now. I scream internally as her shoe plants down again, the giant spines of the floor mat poking into my body, before being forcefully dragged along my body. Layer by layer the dirt and grime smeared over my body was peeled and flicked off, cleaning both me and the sole of her shoe. The spines of the floor mat are repeatedly prodded and poked into me multiple times with a lot of force before being dragged across with globs of dirt along for the ride. I could only scream in terror.

^^^

Isabella walked over to the floor mats. She stepped down and began to wipe her shoes back and forth, attempting to dislodged the small dirt that had made itself home on her shoe. She put a lot of force into it and really tried her hardest to get every little speck of dirt off. Isabella dug deep to let the floor mat do all the work. The last thing she wanted to do was cause any harm to the poor people that may have been affected by this SHRK-2 thing. After several times, she felt enough was enough. She stepped off the mat with a slight smile. "There, all clean," she said. "Now no one can get stuck."

vvv

I was still stuck to Isabella's shoe sole. Even a floor mat literally designed to remove dirt couldn't remove me. The familiar rush of Isabella walking took over as I saw the ground I had become accustomed to race towards me. I was slammed into the floor as a layer of dirt coated my body once again. In the darkness pressed against the floor, I thought it was over. I thought it was inevitable that I would be adhered to this shoe for the rest of my life. As it rose again, I felt a glimmer of hope as my leg started to move, indicating that the floor mat had done something, and started to loosen me from the sticky goo that held me tight. There was a chance!

^^^

Isabella walked back behind the counter where she took a customer real quick. As she helped them, she put her shoe up on the toe and mildly rocked it back and forth before putting it back down onto the floor. After the customer she walked into the back really quick to get something before returning to the front bakery. In the short time she was gone several more customers had already gotten in line. Today was gonna be a long day.

vvv

Slam. Isabella took another step, squishing me against the tile floor and coating my body with a layer of dirt. The rising took place and my leg was still dangling. Slowly the rest of me started to peel off. With enough time, I would--Slam. Isabella stepped down again, pressing me into the tile floor once more, covering my face with more dirt. I felt my leg that was free push back into the sticky goo. We lifted up once more and I could just tell the progress had been undone of freeing me. If I had any chance of getting off, then--Slam. Another step, another layer of dirt. If she didn't stop walking, then I would end up completely stuck once more. But what could I do about it? I was at the complete mercy of Isabella. Slam. She took one more step, I felt the dirt piling up on me. My only chance of getting free was for her to stop walking. My fate, the entire rest of my life, was being decided by this 18 year old girl, who didn't even know I was here. Slam.

With just the few steps she had taken, my body was already coated with layers of dirt. My face had grime slathered all over it again. At the very least, I could tell my leg still hadn't been sealed back completely. There was still a chance Isabella could stop walking for just a moment. I silently begged her to as she stepped down again, coating me in another layer of dirt. 

She must have heard me thoughts, because soon after I was lifted up and my world upside down, a sure sign she had put her foot up. I felt my leg start to peel off, slowly but surely removing me from this cursed place. Then Isabella started to move as wel. Her shoe started rocking back and forth rapidly. I felt myself whipped by the wind pressure from her movements, but I also felt it helping to speed up the process of peeling me off. It was happening, I was finally going to be free. I could finally start attempting to get--Slam.

In an instant all went dark as Isabella slid her foot down across the floor. I cried out internally in the darkness as a wave of grime smeared all over my face. I felt my body smush back into the sticky goo, threatening to reverse all the work that had just been done. It was only for a second, but the darkness under her shoe felt as if it lasted an hour. Finally the light returned as Isabella began walking again. As I felt myself rise, my heart began to sink as I felt my body wasn't moving. Had I really been smashed back into the goo again? Then it happened. Again my leg peeled off first. I had to endure a few more steps, each one threatening to trapped me here forever, but eventually the time was up. As Isabella started to take another step, my body gave way all at once, peeling from the sticky goo. My hair was the last thing to come off, the good trying it's best to keep hold, pulling at my hair before it's grasp let go. As Isabella completed her step, I went plummeting towards the tile ground.

I was free. I was no longer stuck. I was no longer getting stepped on. I got to my feet and quickly took note of how I was. Half of my body was stained dark brown and black from all the dirt and grime that had accumulated on me during the time. The other half was coated in a layer of half dried, half sticky goo. My hair was congealed together with both the grime and the goo, forming some ball of slob. I didn't even dare open my mouth to check my tongue, I was not risking that again. I could taste the dirt anyway. Despite all the filth that was covering my body though, I was fine. Yes, I hurt all over, but nothing was broken. Nothing was sprained. I could move and walk and everything just fine. Must have been something with SHRK-2 and how it effects the body. Well, I was alive. That's what mattered most. I could take a shower when I got back to normal. For now, I had one mission: get help. And get off the floor. I learned the hard way this was the absolute worst place to be. I had just been stepped on for hours. I didn't think it could get any worse than that.

"I have a message to those that aren't affected by this," John said, his voice stern and serious. "Think about what you're doing. Really think about each and every action. Even the most mundane, innocent thing you're doing could be causing hell for someone effected by this."

There was a small pause, before Tasha broke the silence. "Did you want to elaborate further? I don't wish to bring up anything too hard."

"It's fine," John said, taking a deep breath. "It happened on the first day I shrunk, not long after my girlfriend came home. You see we have this Roomba. I've used it a million times. It's some small crummy machine, I could stop it dead in it's tracks with my pinky. My girlfriend came home. She had no idea what happened to me, so she....she turned on the Roomba. It makes this low humming noise as it moves. but all I heard was a sound beating in my ear. When I saw it, it was heading right for me, charging at me. This thing I could have stopped with a finger towered over and and threaten to suck me up. The only reason I managed to survive was because I hid from it. I could have--I could--" John said, his tone breaking down as he started to cry, reliving the ordeal.

"It's okay," Tasha said, assuring him he didn't have to speak if he didn't want to. 

John took a bit to recompose himself, before offering another message. "I just want to tell everyone who isn't affected...be careful. That vacuum you never think twice about? The pen you dropped? All of it could be a dangerous monster to anything with this...this thing. Just please, think before you do anything."

---

First and foremost, I had to recompose myself. Take a deep breath, in and out. Where was I? I knew this place well, I would be able to figure out where I was, even at my current size. That was step one. There was a large table above me, and a giant metal wall...No, that was just the large oven we used to bake our food. To my other side were the slicers we used to cut the loafs of bread we made. Oh, and on the ground was a large drain. I didn't know where it lead, and I didn't want to find out either. But I knew where I was: the back of the store. It was quiet back here when the oven wasn't running, and thankfully it was off at the moment. The table would be perfect for me to climb up. 

Actually climbing it was going to be a challenge though. It was smooth metal all the way up, with my only chance being imperceptible grooves I could use as rest holds. Even then, it looked from my position to be nearly hundreds of feet high. Of course I knew it was only like three feet in reality, but it sure wouldn't feel that short when my energy was drained. However, that was the only choice I had, other than stay on the ground and I was not doing that. Before I could make any moves though, a familiar rumble occurred, letting me know someone was coming. 

I frantically glance around and see the giant form of Sarah approaching me. She stopped short thankfully, but then stood there for a bit, doing something up above. It took me a second to realize she was getting the soufflés we served ready. They were pretty good to be honest, made with egg, cheese, dough, and some other ingredients, and--I look up and see a massive meteor that was a soufflé coming down right at me!

^^^

Sarah went to the back to finish getting the soufflés ready to be served. They were already cooked just need the final touch and be moved over to the front. As she was picking them up, one fell from her grasp to the floor below. "Oh no!" she exclaimed as it crashed face down onto the floor. Sarah bent down and picked it up, then tossing it into the trash can. A glob of the filling had smushed to the floor, so she had to clean that up as well. Sarah grabbed a paper towel and effortlessly scraped and scooped the small little bit of soufflé up, before crumpling the paper towel into a little ball and carelessly setting it on the table nearby. She finished up the soufflés and brought them to the front, her duty done for the moment.

A little while later Francis came by to start slicing the bread they would need for the day. She got to the table in the back and saw someone left some trash sitting there. She grabbed the crumpled up paper towel and carelessly tossed it into the garbage where it belonged, before getting started with cutting the bread loaves.

vvv

I am instantly plunged into darkness as a warm, wet feeling envelops my entire being. At least, it smelled delicious, and it tasted good. A second later light exploded into my eyes as I watched the massive form of Sarah easily lift the giant soufflé into the heavens before walking away, leaving me there on the ground. I found myself lodged within a giant glob of sticky good, likely the inside filling of the soufflé. My whole body was covered with mushy eggs and cheese and I did my best to scrape it all off but I was just totally coated in it. It wasn't long before Sarah returned. I looked up expecting to see her but instead I only saw a giant brown ceiling coming down fast. 

I was instantly flattened onto my back as the world around me began to compress upon itself. I was dragged across the slick ground, easily gliding from the food coating I had. Mush from all angles bombarded into me, further covering me in all of the soufflé filling, not letting an inch remain untouched. My body was pinched tightly as the goo seeped all around and I felt myself get lifted up higher and higher. For the briefest of instances I saw Sarah looking down at where I was, without even a single care in her expression about my predicament or what she was doing to me. Next there was just darkness as she crumpled the paper towel up.

I grunt in pain as I feel myself get bent a little bit as the world collapses upon itself. I had no idea what was going on but I had to assume the worst. I was in some paper towel with fallen food. I was given a one way ticket to the trash can. The only thing that could save me now was a miracle. Unable to see or really sense anything I waited until my world inside the crumpled ball stopped moving. Then when I was able to compose myself I wiggled and squirmed and did everything I could to get out of the folds and bends of the paper towel. Luckily the soufflé gook that covered me help to slide my body out. My worst fear was that I'd find myself deep inside a trash can with no escape. I was gladly surprised to find myself on top of the very table I had just wanted to get up. Things had a way of working out!

Not a second or two after I had escaped from the paper towel, did another associate, Francis, come by and snatch it, no doubt throwing it away. Horror struck as I realized just how lucky I was. If I had hesitated in there even a bit I'd be in a much worse place. This was my chance, I had to get Francis' attention right now while she was still around. She stood near the table and I began to shout and call out to her, desperately waving my arms around and jumping up and down. Doing whatever I could possibly do to make myself noticeable. 

^^^

Francis grabbed some bread loaves and set them down on the empty table nearby. One at a time she picked up a loaf and placed it into the bread slicer. It was an machine that easily sliced whole loaves into slices with some pretty sharp blades. The bread never stood a chance. She did this for all the loaves and made sure to bag them up as well so they'd stay fresh. Once she was done the table was completely littered with crumbs. She effortlessly brushed them all off onto the floor below and left to take the bread over to the production side.

vvv

I kept shouting and screaming and jumping and waving but there was nothing. Instead, Francis brought a loaf and set it down right next to me. For a brief second I notice she looked directly at me, right at my body. But she made no apparent expression of seeing me. Instead, she walked back away leaving me beside a gigantic mound of bread. It was unreal that this was food. I had eaten this bread before. Now, it was massive, I could see little imperfections in the crust. Little spots jutting out creating a rough surface. It was all rough and raggedy and covered in yeast too. I was so focused on the bread, I never noticed that Francis returned. I turned around just in time for her giant gloved finger to crash into me.

I was forcefully shoved backwards from her finger and shoved right into the hard jagged crust of the bread loaf. My puny body easily found a tiny crevice in the crust and I found myself lodged there, unable to move. I struggled to get free until the loaf was effortlessly lifted into the air, then I did what I could to stay on. The world moved by in the blink of an eye and in a second I found myself enclosed in some metal prison, staring upwards at the ceiling with a series of long thing shafts running from each end. I scream in terror when I realized where I was.

The bread slicer. Of course. Francis was slicing the bread, and I had found myself pushed into the crust of one of the loaves. Those thin metal bars were deadly sharp blades ready to viciously slice through this hard bread with ease. And I would be heading right towards them too. Sure, I had survived the immense pressure of being stepped on, but this was a blade. I don't think SHRK-2 did anything to prevent me from being sliced in half. My only hope to not be torn apart is ending up between the gaps. It was all chance.

The world of bread I was on began to vibrate horrifically as Francis started the machine. My screams of terror would completely drowned out as the bread loaf and me slowly inched closer and closer to the vibrating blades of death. I was unable to move on my own accord due to the constant motion, leaving me at the mercy of the machine. I looked straight up and saw the blade directly above me, I was heading right towards it. Tears began to stream down my face as I began crying, terrified that this was how I was going to die. Slowly but surely I got closer and closer, not moving from beneath the blade. I screamed as loud as I could as the blade was inches from my body. At the last second the machine vibrated enough, sending my puny form bouncing over a little, pushing me just outside the range of the blade. Right after the blade made contact, effortlessly slicing through the thick hard crust of the bread in a fraction of a second. The blade went through the rest of the way, with me safe from death. Finally it sliced through the whole loaf and shut off. The jolt from ending dislodged me and sent my puny form tumbling down.

The machine was off so there was no danger from the blades, but I was falling down into the depths of the machine. A second later I crashed landed into a massive pile of bread crumbs. I was in the tray underneath the bread slicer, here just to catch and crumbs that fall off. Down here I was safe from the blades, but there was another, much more pressing issue. Just then Francis puts another load of bread into the machine high above me and turns it on. When the bread makes contact with the blades above, a downpour of giant crumbs and a dust storm of yeast rains down onto me. I try my best to cover myself but the crumbs are much larger than me and smash into my body, pelting me in the head and body. Knocking me down into the pile of crumbs below. The yeast lands in my eyes stinging them as I fall into more bread crumbs. Every single time I attempt to stand up more bread crumbs crash into me, pushing me down once more. Finally the machine and the downpour of crumbs stops. I'm able to stand and see the pile has grown even more. That was just one loaf. I knew how it when, they usually sliced over a dozen of them. There was about to be a lot more crumbs in here.

Another giant loaf entered, and before long another downpour of crumbs rained down. It was impossible to stand up, so I did my best to crawl through the ever growing pile of crumbs while I continuously got pelted and slammed by hard crusty bread crumbs. My clothes were getting torn and ripped from the jagged edges of the crumbs. All of them were piling up in the center of the tray due to the location. I had to crawl my ways to the edges to avoid being buried alive, but that was harder said than done. Pretty much my only chance to move was in-between bread loaves, which gave me only a few seconds to move. With my small size, that didn't amount to much distance. Not to mention I was exhausted from constantly being pelted by bread. By the sixth or seventh loaf Francis had cut I was waist deep in the pile of crumbs, making crawling an hard. Add on the yeast that kept stinging and burning my eyes and it was just impossible to get anywhere. But I had to try!

Francis kept putting in and slicing more and more bread. She was unconcerned with the bread at all. She did this almost every day, it was just her job, nothing more. She put in another loaf and kept slicing. Francis has cut over ten loaves and I was buried up to my neck in a huge pile of jagged, crusty bread crumbs. Moving was not an option anymore. Francis just put another loaf in and began cutting. Another round of downpour came down. Large heavy chunks of crumbs crashed onto my head, I took the blow with no way to defend myself. I was getting mercilessly attacked by freaking bread crumbs. Another large crusty crumb slammed into the back of my head and shoved my face forward right into a pile of jagged rough bread debris. I slowly lift my head back up as bits of spiky crumbs stick to me. Just then another large chunk crashes down onto my head and slams my face back into the prickly crumbs once again. This chunk stays where it is, pinning my head down. Francis put in the last loaf and sliced it, unaware that her miniscule boss was being buried alive beneath all the bread crumbs she was creating. 

^^^

After dropping off all the bread, Francis returned to the back and cleaned off the slicer, dumping all the spare crumbs onto the floor. Next she removed the crumb tray from below, shaking it a little to spread apart a very small little pile that had grown right beneath where the bread was cut. She carefully moved the tray and dumped its contents into the nearby trash can, with on a few spare crumbs missing the destination.

vvv

It was mostly dark, with one a few tiny rays of light seeping in through the cracks. My neck was bent fully horizontal with a heavy weight of bread pressing down on it. My face was pushed into some jagged crusty crumbs with a dull constant pain. My body was surrounded in an entire pile of them. It was over, there was nothing I could do at this point. Being forced to lick shoes and be buried in dirt was humiliating, but here I was literally being buried by crumbs. Bread crumbs. It wasn't as gross, but it was still humiliating. 

I don't know how long I was under the bread, but time seemed to fly by. Not soon after I felt movement as I assume the tray was being pulled out. A violent shake sends the heavy bread crumb off my neck. I straighten my neck back with some pain as the mountain of bread crumbs I was buried in slightly evened out, giving me just a little bit of wiggle room. Light shines down from above illuminating my world. My arms were still by my side buried in crumbs so my eyes were defenseless from the harsh light. As they adjust I see the massive form of Francis standing above me, literally holding my world in her hands. 

I uselessly shouted and screamed up to her, knowing that she would never hear my pathetic cries for help. Still, I had to do something. My heart was racing and my stomach was sinking as Francis easily lifted and carried this massive tray I was on with millions of bread crumbs. It had one destination. I screamed louder and more desperately but she completely ignored me. Soon my entire world began to shift and I was filled with dread. All of the crumbs started to roll. The pile I was in disintegrated and I began to tumble as well. My body was pelted and prodded and poked by thousands of large jagged crusty bread crumbs as I uncontrollably rolled down the ever steeping tray towards the open maw of the trash can. 

I had no idea where I was. My eyes were closed due to the movement and the fear. After a lot more rolling I felt the ground below me vanish as I entered free fall. This was it. I didn't even dare open my eyes, I didn't want to see it. I couldn't help myself and screamed as I fell, terrified of what was going to happen. I'm pretty sure I hit something on the way down, but I didn't know what. After a second or two my body finally made contact, and it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I lay there for a brief moment or two, trying to recover from the fall. Reluctant, I open my eyes expecting the worst.

The first thing I saw was red. It was the same red tile I had grown accustomed to quite a lot recently. It was the ground. By some miracle I had managed to avoid landing inside of the garbage. I don't even get a chance to move before a downpour of giant crumbs crash land onto me. Big chunks smash into my legs. Jagged pieces slam into my back. A heavy crusty piece smacks into my head, pushing my face right into the grimy tile floor with force. I continue to be assaulted by literal crumbs for a second or two until the barrage stops, leaving me laying there in pain with a mess of bread crumbs larger than me.

^^^

Francis puts the tray back beneath the slicer and takes a quick glace at the floor, covered in small crumbs everywhere. She had one thing left to do before she was done with all the bread cutting. She heads away for a few seconds and returns carrying and broom and dustpan. She had to get this place clean.

Francis plants the broom down on one end and effortlessly begins to sweep all the fallen crumbs towards the center. After that, she starts towards the other end and brushes all of those crumbs into the main pile. She gathers any stray piles of crumbs before getting it all together into one neat pile, ready to brush into the dustpan. 

vvv

I lay on my stomach hurting from the barrage of bread crumbs and the fall I had endured. At the very least I wasn't in the trash. There was that. I lift my head and look forward. In the not so far distance I see the massive structures that were Francis' shoes, confirming for sure I was on the floor. Then a giant wall slammed down in front of them. It looked to be a wall made up of hundreds of tall, skinny trees. The bottom ends of them were stained black and large chunks of dust and dirt clung to them. My eyes went wide as I stared as this looming wall. I gazed upward and saw a massive pole reaching into the sky attached to the trees. It was the broom.

In an instant the huge broom moves, Francis's shoes soaring as well. A tremor in the ground let me know she took a step as the crumbs vibrate around me. I hear a loud smack as the broom bristles crash down. A horrific scraping sound ensues as the bristles grind against the tile floor, carrying a wave of bread crumbs hurtling with them. I stared on terrified. I was in the middle of a pile of crumbs. It would be our turn soon. I had to get out of here, now.

I quickly got to my feet and looked for the nearest cover. There was a small gap under the trash can, that would be my safest--smack! Francis took a step, sending a tremor along the ground and tossing me back down onto the floor, crashing into some more jagged crumbs as I did so. The familiar scraping sound occurred once more as I hoped she wasn't sweeping where I was yet. Fortunately, she was still a ways away, but time was running out. I attempt to get to my feet again, only to be helplessly flung back to the ground as she took another step. As the very least I was making progress away from the pile of crumbs. Maybe that was all I needed?

I was getting closer to the small gap that would save me, and I was a decent distance from the pile. Not a lot, but...I wasn't inside them anymore, so there's that. My only problem was, I wasn't paying any attention to where Francis or the broom was. Another step send my sprawling to the ground, and then a large smack filled me with dread. My stomach dropped and I began to scream. In front of me where the massive trees of the broom, looming over me like a horrific monster about to devour me. I saw the details of the bristles up close, they no longer looked thin but instead huge pillars stretching miles into the sky. The bottoms of the bristles were disgustingly discolored and giant balls of dust and hair were attached with bread crumbs and debris caught up and tangled in them. Then it came rushing at me.

A horrific, ear-grating scraping sound blasted into my eardrums. I desperately scream out to Francis to stop, but my pleas were completely ignored as the monstrous bristles rapidly encroach upon me. In an instant the filthy broom bristle collided with me. It felt like getting hit by a bus but it was actually just a regular broom. My pathetic body got effortlessly stuck via friction to the bristles. It kept going, scraping along the ground, the noise louder than ever in my ears. I panic even more as I see the same pile of vicious bread crumbs ahead, the same I had just managed to get away from. The bristles and me violently collide with the jagged, rough crumbs. In the next instant a tidal wave of crumbs and me were being brushed alongside the ground, picking up more and more as it went. The impact of the crumbs dislodged me from the bristles, if only for a second. My body dropped, but was instantly caught up in some stringy, wiry net. 

I found myself looking at the world upside down, my arms and legs tangled up in a web of dust and hair and gook all tangled and clobbered together into some disgusting ball of filth. All the way the broom was still pushing forward, shoving my face constantly into the oncoming bread crumbs without mercy. After a horrific ordeal, the scraping sound finally stopped, Francis has finished her brush. I had a second to catch my breath and figure--the second was over. My entrapped body was lifted up at Mach speed as Francis moved the broom elsewhere. For a brief moment I felt like I was hovering in the air as Francis decided where to plant the broom down next. She decided, and I was going down.

The way she had put the broom down had caused me to land parallel with the ground. My entire body was mercilessly smashed into the tile floor. Due to the distance, Francis was putting more pressure down at the end where the bristles were to ensure to collected all the debris. While it was a miniscule amount to her, it was equivalent to the weight of truck pressing down on me. My body was smushed flat into the filthy floor under the pressure, my face was mercilessly pressed down into the unforgiving tile. Then she began to sweep, scraping the bristles along the floor.

As I was dragged, I was smeared with a layer of grime. From head to toe my entire body was completely covered in thick viscous grime, some of it even getting into my eyes. All the while the bristles continued to push the large crumbs towards their destination. My body was essentially acting in tandem with the broom. My face was scraping off thin layers of dirt and filth from the floor, and the bits that didn't smear all over me ended up getting swept up by the bristles behind. I was basically a cleaning device at this point, an extension of the broom, being used by my own employee to clean the floor, and she didn't even know. 

She completed the brush and my filthy, grime coated, crumb sized body was flung from the tangle of dust and hair sent tumbling along the ground. I pull myself up, disgusted at the substance that had covered me once again. I clear my eyes to see again, only to scream in terror. Ahead of me is an actual tsunami of bread crumbs and other debris rocketing towards me, propelled by the massive broom bristles. I was completely helpless as the wave of massive crumbs collided into my puny body, effortlessly sweeping me up alongside them. I was mercilessly battered and prodded and smacked by mere crumbs as my body helplessly tumbled and rolled along the dirty floor, buried amongst the thousands of other worthless crumbs I was apart of. 

I come to in the middle of a vast ocean of bread crumbs. My body was partially buried beneath them, preventing any and all movement or escape. Every way I looked was just more crumbs as far as I could see. Even if I could move, there was no where to go. I look up and see the massive form of Francis towering over me, not even giving the slightest concern for my predicament. My arms where free and I began to wave and shout up to her. I knew it was useless, but I wasn't about to just give up and not try. Her face didn't even look down. I stopped my waving when I felt the ground tremble beneath me, the familiar sign that people were walking nearby.

^^^

Francis finished sweeping everything up and went to grab the dustpan when Kelly, Sarah, and April came to the back where she was. She stopped what she was doing for a few minutes while the four of them talked and chatted about whatever mundane or boring topic they had on their mind. Several minutes passed until Francis eventually began to sweep the waiting pile of bread crumbs and debris into the awaiting dustpan, all the while not really looking down and continuing to chat with the other women. With the dustpan full of garbage, she lifted it up and carelessly dumped all of its contents into the trash can where it belonged.

vvv

I watched in awe as the massive forms of April, Kelly, and Sarah appeared above me. It was horrifically surreal looking up at four gigantic tower figures above me. It was almost impossible to comprehend that these were four women I knew, who just yesterday I was talking with face to face. Now, I was lost amongst a pile of literal crumbs.

I scream and shouted and waved and did every single thing I could possibly do to get the attention of at least one of them. Nothing. Even from my angle down below I could see what looked like smiles on their faces as they talked, completely unconcerned with my position down below. It was both humiliating and frustrating to have my pleas completely and utterly ignored. They were my employees, I always treated them with respect and they treated me the same, making sure to help me out when I needed it. I could hear April and Sarah let out a hearty laugh from above. I was literally crying and begging these women to help me, and instead they were just laughing. I was nothing to them at the moment. Not even worth of a fraction of a second of their attention.

A scraping sound ensues as I see the giant maw of the dustpan appear in the distance. I look upward and see Francis holding the broom, ready to sweep the entire ocean and me into the monstrous dustpan. I let out a scream as loud and ear piercing as I possibly could, in a desperate attempt to get her to stop. My scream just gets utterly drowned out by a roar of laughter from the women above, wholly indifferent to what was about to happen to me.

Me and the ocean of crumbs are effortlessly brushed into the maw of the dustpan, where I get completely buried by jagged crusty crumbs that stab and prod into my miniscule body. All light goes out as I feel the world that was the dustpan lift up. Tear stream down my eyes as I realize this is the end. I feel everything being to tilt as I prepare myself for my trashy fate. Only a miracle would save me now. I just had to hope something would happen to cause me to miss it.

Chapter 4 - Drenched

"When are you being promoted, Tim?" April asked me. This was a couple weeks back, before I had caught SHRK-2 obviously. Back when I was normal size, back when I was actually a manager. "You deserve it, you know."

"I don't know," I replied. "There's a lot of better people to pick from."

"Nonsense," April said. "You know, you're my favorite manager here. You actually respect us and treat us like people,  not just objects to do work for you." 

"Well you are people," I said. "I can't imagine treating people as if they were some object, that's not right." 

"Well you should try," April said. "Don't let those higher ups walk all over you. You should be the big guy, not them."

I gave it some serious thought. "Maybe after my vacation I'll talk to them," I said, having no idea what was to come.

***

A miracle occurred. After falling for a brief period of time I dared to open my eyes and saw that I was not inside of the garbage can. Instead, I was once again plummeting towards the ground. Only this time it wasn't just an empty place. I was falling right beside where April was standing, and my landing zone appeared to be shoes. 

^^^

April stood right beside the trashcan in the back, chatting with the other women. She subconsciously slipped her bare foot out of her shoes, and used it to scratch the back of her other leg. After a brief bit she reinserted her foot, gliding it against the small little bumps of the insole. They felt nice against her sore feet, providing some makeshift massage with each step she took. She hadn't worn socks today for whatever reason, probably a mistake due to the high temperature it was. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt anyone.

vvv

I crash land onto the soft insole of April's shoes, bouncing a little bit deeper inside. It was cushioned well enough that I didn't suffer any damage, thankfully. I take a brief moment to reconfigure myself and my bearings. The smell was the first thing my mind took notice it. It smelled of feet and sweat and other unpleasant odors. The ground was certainly soft, but it had this awful damp feeling to it, from sweat that had seeped in and dried itself to the insole. It wasn't wet, but it wasn't dry either. It was quite uncomfortable.

Large hills were scattered around the entire landscape in a uniform pattern. It looked extremely unnatural seeing such large landmasses spaced out so evenly. The tops of the hills, in reality little tiny bumps, were higher than me. I would have to climb if I wanted to get on top of one. That wasn't my goal though, what I really wanted was to get out of here before--

I turn my head to the exit and am greeted by the sight of five massive digits blocking the only exit. April's foot. My eyes grow wide and I began to scream as the gigantic fleshy wall proceeded to advance towards my position. Rapidly. Within a fraction of a second her foot was upon me, utterly dwarfing me. Her second toe was aiming straight for me, perched between the large bumps on the ground, gliding along the insole. Her toe smashed into me and dragged me across the surface. I was tossed head over heels and ended with my face being smushed into the damp insole. As she continued to insert her foot, my still open mouth was scraped alongside the ground, picking up littles bits of dirt and grime that had made its home inside her shoe. 

April's foot slightly lifted up as she was inserting it, freeing me briefly from the hellish grinding was I enduring. The momentum kept me moving though, and my body was launched up one of the little hills before landing directly onto the peak with my face looking up to the ceiling. Except the ceiling was actually the sole of April's foot. I barely had time to instinctively open my mouth and scream before the flesh of April's foot came crashing down onto my body and the little bump.

Due to my position on the very top of the bump, my entire body was effortlessly pressed directly into the soft sole of her foot. My face was mushed into the hot flesh of her sole, and my whole body was restricted from moving due to the weight. I was completely immobilized beneath April's foot. As she finished inserting her foot, she lowered it back down, cementing my fate beneath her foot for the time being.

^^^

April walked back to her position, feeling the small bumps each step she took, giving her a brief massage. Her feet were sore after working all week, and she needed it. She would be on her feet for the rest of her seven hour shift, so any little comfort would go a long way. Especially cause she could already feel her feet start to sweat from the heat in general, and all the movement she was doing. 

vvv

The pressure being put upon me was nearly unbearable, but as soon as April began to walk, it increased tenfold. As she stepped, the entirety of her weight pressed down onto the foot I was under, onto me the little bump in her shoe, onto my body. My face was mercilessly mashed into the sole of her foot. The flesh on either side enveloped around me, feeling as if I was sucked into her skin. The hot flesh from her sole was suctioned into my open mouth, pushing against my helpless tongue. The sheer pressure caused my tongue to spasm and recoil, gliding repeatedly across her sole. I was effectively being forced against my will to lick the bottom of April's foot. Bits of caked on dirt and a nearly imperceptible layer of sweat was lapped up by my tongue, making me taste and swallow salty, sweaty, filth. The only air I was able to get was tainted with the musky scent of feet and sweat, causing me to instinctively recoil, only causing my tongue to further lick and glide over April's feet.

Finally the pressure released a little as April lifted the foot I was under for her step. However, the lightened pressure caused my body to shift around a little. Not enough to free me from my prison, but enough to glide my body across her sole back and forth. At this point I was essentially just a part of April's insole. My position on the peak of the little bump meant that I fulfilling it's purpose. With my body slightly moving, it was being used as a massage. My body, my face, was massaging this middle aged woman's foot as nothing more than a little part of her shoe's insole. I was supposed to be her boss, I was supposed to be in charge, but now I was nothing more than her personal foot massager for the sorest part of her foot. And she had no idea. 

The weightless feeling lasted for but a second before April completed her step. The entirety of her weight crashed down onto me, mercilessly mashing my body into her foot flesh, shoving my open mouth into the sole. The soft skin melted around me, sealing me in a tomb made of hot, sweaty flesh. The only air I got was stale and musky. My body had shifted slightly to a new position beneath her sole, and my tongue again recoiled and spasmed, forcing me to lick her sole non stop. I had become her personal foot cleaner now, lapping up all the dirt from her sole, and swallowing the salty foot sweat she was creating. All of this was one step. April continued on, taking step after step after step, completely oblivious to the hellish torture she was putting her boss through. While her foot was in the air, I was nothing but an instrument to massage her sore feet, my face grinding against her sole to provide relief for her. When she stepped down I was nothing but a foot cleaner, licking up all the dirt and sweat that found itself on her foot. I was no longer in charge, I was no longer her boss. Every step she took I was nothing but a part of her shoe insole, being used as nothing more than some tool. All the while she was completely oblivious to my presence there. If she had any idea I was inside her shoe, if she had any clue of what she was doing to me, she would have helped me, would have felt terrible about it. She would have gotten me out of there. But she didn't know. As far as she was concerned the only thing in her shoe was her foot, so she didn't hold back anything as she walked, putting her entire weight down upon my body. Meanwhile, all I could do was lay there trapped beneath April's bare foot, forced to be used by her over and over with each step, completely and utterly hopeless. 

This cycle continued nonstop for over an hour. Lick. Massage. Lick. Massage. I had cried and sobbed during the ordeal, but my tears mixed with all of the sweat. My entire body was drenched in sweat. Some of it was mine, most of it was April's foot sweat. It was all over. My clothes were completely soaked, nearly dripping from how much sweat they had absorbed. My hair was sopping and matted from the sticky liquid all over. I must have swallowed over a gallon of April's foot sweat already, and there was no signs of it stopping. My wide open mouth was filled to the brim with the salty liquid, acting as funnel as it drained down into my throat. There was no where for it all to go except down into my stomach. Every time I choked down a huge gulp, it was instantly replaced with another glob of sweat. All of the liquid sitting in my mouth had reinvigorated my dried tongue from before with Isabella's shoe. All of the caked in grime had loosened, and began to mix with the sweat, turning it into a muddy, congealed thick goop, tasting like salty putrid filth. Still, it was liquid and flushed itself down my throat, forcing me to swallow the sweaty muck. 

This continued for another three hours without any changed. Gulp after gulp after gulp I swallowed April's salty foot sweat, my mouth continually filling with more and more. On the plus side, all of the dried grime from before had diluted out, so at least now I was only drinking pure sweat. I began to wonder if I was ever going to get out of this. Everyone above was just going about their day like normal, nothing was out of the ordinary to them. None of them suspected what was going on down below inside April's shoe, least of all April herself. This was my life now. April's personal foot bitch.

^^^

It had been a busy lunch and April was tired from walking around and moving non-stop. Her feet were tired and sore, and not wearing socks was a big mistake. Oh well, it was just a little sweat, it wasn't causing any problems to anyone. Finally things had calmed down. April took the opportunity to briefly remove her foot from it's shoe to give it some rest and fresh air. The cold air was refreshing against her hot and sweaty foot. She could feel the small layer of sweat against her foot, pretty unpleasant for sure. After a short break, she shoved her foot back into her shoe and struck up a conversation with Mindy.

vvv

I swallowed another few gulps of foot sweat before something finally changed. The pressure lifted off of my body completely, and the massive ceiling that was April's foot retracted out of the shoe. My beaten body slumped down the hill, tumbling round and round. The pool of foot sweat spilled out of my mouth, finally giving me some much needed air intake. It was still musky, but it was a lungful for sure. I stand up, staring up at the massive hills that I was just on top of. Way off in the distance was the opening of April's shoe. There was no chance I was going to escape before her foot came back in. And the last thing I wanted was to be trapped even more beneath the ball of her foot. I figured my best bet would be to get to the edges, and perhaps sidle my way out. I booked it as fast as my puny self could across the hilly range of the shoe. I made a short length before the landscape shook, sending me tumbling down and skidding along the insole a bit closer to the edge. Just then, the light dimmed. I frantically looked towards the exit, horrified at the massive figure that was rapidly entering. April's foot once again.

The massive entity of April's foot was upon me in a second. Fortunately, I was no longer on a raise hill, and I was no longer where the ball of her foot was. However, I was right where her toes were coming. In an instant one of April's toes overcame me, smushing me flat against the insole and the weight of it set down upon my puny body. Once again I was completely helpless and immobilized by April's foot. As if it wasn't humiliating enough, I had been caught beneath April's pinky toe. The smallest, weakest part of April's foot was completely dominating me. I was so helpless, so insignificant, that this middle aged woman's pinky toe had unrelenting control over me. There was nothing I could do except accept whatever it wished to do to me.

^^^

April stood talking with Mindy. As she talked, she subconsciously scrunched her toes, not really thinking about what she was doing. After some casual conversation, the topic shifted to the current SHRK-2 virus going on. 

"What do you think about that virus?" Mindy asked.

"I don't care," April said bluntly. 

"What?" Mindy gasped. "What about the people that shrunk? You could step on them."

"They should be watching where they're going," April said. "I don't want to look down constantly just in case. They should be watching for me." All this time April continued to scrunch her toes, not even realizing she was doing it.

Mindy shook her head disapprovingly at the response. "But what if it happened to you? What if you shrunk? Wouldn't you want people to watch out for you? I can't even imagine getting stepped on." Mindy lifted her shoe up and flipped it over, revealing the sole. The thin treads were filled with thick, greasy muck. "Man, if someone got stuck in this, we'd never find them. Scary."

"Exactly. If they're out in the open enough to get stepped on they deserve it," April said, again scrunching her toes, more harshly this time as she spoke. 

vvv

The calloused wall of flesh that was April's pinky toe came crashing down onto me, smashing into my face and body, before lifting up just enough to give me hope it was over, before coming crashing down once again. Over and over again the smallest toe on her body scrunched up, smushing me between the hot flesh and the soft insole of her shoe. I screamed in agony each time but my puny cries were drowned out and lost before they even left her shoe. Nobody would ever hear me down here. 

^^^

"Hey wasn't Tim supposed to work today?" Mindy asked. "You don't think he got it, do you?"

"No, he's on vacation," April said. 

"Okay but what if he did get it, wouldn't you help him?" Mindy asked.

"Of course I would!" April said, scrunching her toes pretty hard once again. "But Tim's not dumb. If he did shrink here he wouldn't be dumb enough to get stepped on." 

"Hmm, yeah, but at that size maybe he couldn't move fast enough. That's why you should always be looking out," Mindy said. "Just in case." 

"Yeah, maybe," April said, dismissing it entirely. "Well he's not here anyway. He's off on vacation. Wherever he is, he's having much more fun than we are at work."

vvv

April's pinky toe came smashing down on me once again. There was no escaping the massive digit's movements. I was simply too small and helpless to defend myself against a mere toe. A wild movement cause me to flip over and land on my stomach, with my face pressed sideways against the insole. Before I could even attempt to move a muscle, April's pinky toe came crashing down once more. The weight pressed down mercilessly, squashing me into the insole, my eyes dropping below the floor. Small amounts of sweat that seeped into the insole squirted out, stinging my eyes and burning my nostrils. For a fraction of a second the pressure released, only to come smashing down once again. 

Then things got worse. My drenched, sweaty back adhered itself to April's pinky toe, so each scrunch she did stopped pressing me down into the insole. Instead, it violently and mercilessly dragged me back and forth across it. Each scrunch I was scraped along the insole, my cheek being burned from the constant back and forth movement along the damp insole. This happened over and over for several minutes, before it finally stopped. The pinky toe stayed still, lightly pressing down on my miniscule body. It was at that moment I noticed something had changed with my body during the ordeal. There was a noticeable pressure down in my groin area.

I had developed an erection. Not because the situation was pleasurable, but because of the continuous force being forced upon me. The sweat acted as a lubricant, allowing my crotch to glide effortlessly along the insole, only further feeding my growing erection. I felt it dying down though, and it nothing happened, it would have gone away. Except that was when April decided to continue to scrunch her toes, and once again I was grinded against the insole, and once again I felt it growing harder.

I began to sob and cry as I felt the burning pleasure increase further and further. I wanted it to stop, but I had absolutely no control over it. April relentlessly continued scrunching, dragging me back and forth over and over until finally I couldn't hold it anymore. I blew my load all over her insole, feeling it instantly moisten my crotch. Despite all of this, April kept scrunching, completely oblivious to the large glob I had just added beneath her shoe. She didn't even notice, that's just how insignificant I was to her. 

I kept being grinded against the insole, with my body being dragged through my own fluids. My chest was coated with the sticky stuff. I kept going and my face was splashed into the fluid as well, getting into my eyes and coating my hair as well. Just as soon as my head entered it, it was dragged back out. Only to be dragged back in a moment later. Even after just one back and forth my entire body was covered with my own gunk. All the while, April kept grinding me, stimulating my groin past the point of pleasure. I cried at the helplessness I was enduring. This woman's pinky toe was completely manhandling me, and I was too small and pathetic to do anything except let it happen. 

She never stopped, overstimulating my groin past the point of any pleasure at all, instead replaced with just agony and humiliation. Finally the grinding stopped, and was almost immediately replaced by sheer weight crushing down on me, sinking me deeper into the insole from the pressure. My fluids pooled down into the divot and swirled around my face, burning into my eyes and nostrils. I attempted to scream in pain and agony but instead a glob of my own fluid seeped into my mouth, mixed with April's foot sweat to create a disgusting paste. 

The horrific cycle of April walking began anew. Immense pressure smushing me down into the insole, a feeling of weightlessness, only to be crushed down once again. Over and over this occurred while I was dominated by this pinky toe, lasting for over another two hours or so. During this time the sticky fluid surrounding me had dried, creating a crust coating my entire body. Despite this, April's foot sweat still seeped in. I felt the sweaty liquid all around my body, it had even managed to invade the crust around my face. The crispy crust of my fluids prevented her foot sweat from escaping. As the pressure increased my eyes were slammed into the puddle of sweat, the salty liquid stinging them relentlessly. Unlike before, there was no where for her foot sweat to go, so my eyes continued to suffer under the burning salty sweat for hours. There was no fresh water to rinse my eyes out, the crust even prevented the insole from possibly clearing my eyes. The only thing that came into contact with them was even more of April's foot sweat, being splashed into my burning eyes again, stinging them with more force than ever before. Every time I reluctantly screamed out in agony, my mouth was flooded with waves of her foot sweat that had no where else to go. Spitting it out wasn't an option, it would just end up back in my mouth again. The only thing I could do was swallow it. During this whole ordeal I must have swallowed another gallon or so of April's foot sweat again. Even if I did get back to normal, I doubted I would ever be able to get rid of the taste of her salty feet and sweat out of my mouth. The aroma was so infused into my skin that I would smell like April's feet for the rest of my life. 

Finally after a few hours, my position beneath her pinky toe was changed. I had no idea what caused it, but my miniscule body was flung out from under her toe, landing on the insole not far away. The impact shattered bits and pieces of the crust that had formed around me. That was when I realized what happened inside a shoe when you weren't being held beneath a foot. As April took another step I was flung forward smashing into the toe section, before being flung back and slamming into the insole. Every step she took I was bounced back and forth smashing and slamming and bumping and banging into the insole of her shoe and even her toes. The constant battering completely shattered the crust that had formed around me, freeing my body. Once again I was helplessly tossed back and forth like a worthless speck of lint inside her shoe, unable to do anything to stop myself. I knew I was flying around like lint, because there happened to be a small little glob of it inside the shoe as well.

Toejam would be the more accurate term. I noticed it when it slammed into my cheek at one point. It was smaller than I was, finally, but still sizeable enough to make an impact. We crossed paths more than once with nothing more than a light tap, until finally things took a turn for the worse. I was once more flung down onto the insole, screaming with my mouth wide open as most people would be in such a position, only to be slammed down right onto the small sphere of toejam. The glob of moist lint was instantly shoved into my mouth, beyond my teeth, trapping it inside. However, it was too big to go down my throat, causing the filthy glob to lay stuck inside my mouth, perched right on my tongue. As if on cue, April stopped walking right after this occurred, leaving me laying there with a lump of lint stuck inside my mouth. 

I obviously wasn't going to swallow this disgusting thing, so I tried my best to spit it out, but it was to no avail. I even tried to reach in and grab it out with my hands, but the thing didn't budge. It was actually too big to fit into my mouth, having only being shoved in there due to the sheer force at which it was pushed in. It was humiliating. I was so small and pathetic that a little tiny piece of lint was too much of a hassle for me. I was losing a fight against toejam. Admitting defeat, I came to accept that the only way to get this glob of lint out of my mouth...would be to swallow it. 

^^^

During a slow period, April had struck up a conversation with some of the other women. It was casual and mundane but someone said something funny causing April to let out a hearty laugh, enough for her to rise up her foot and stomp it down due to the hilarity.

vvv

Reluctantly, I began to chew. Each time my mouth came down, built up sweat absorbed into the lint ball seeped out, and again I had to swallow it. Bit by bit I struggled to remove little fuzz balls of the toejam that I brought to the back of my mouth and swallowed. I repeated this until the lint ball was small enough to finally spit out, but before I could, I heard a large rumbling from above. It sounded like...laughter? Yes, I recognized it. Even at my puny sized, trapped inside a shoe cavern, I could make out her laughter. It was that loud. Here I was the size of a speck inside her shoe, drenched in her salty sweaty foot fluids with a glob of her toejam in my mouth, and she was laughing. 

I began to spit out the toejam but before I could, the entire shoe erupted in movement, launching me into the air before slamming me back down into the insole. I bounced and smashed against the floor. When everything stopped, I lay on my back to get my bearings. I discover that the lint ball inside my mouth had moved, now being shoved deeper back into my throat due to the impact. It was impossible to spit out now. I literally had to swallow the last big glob of it. I gulp it down and feel the lint glide down my throat into my stomach. It was unfathomable to the amount of April's foot sweat I had ingested at this point. I thought it was the lowest I could possibly get, that was until the massive figure that was April's foot and toes began to move again. In an instant, one of her toes appeared above me, and smashed down onto my puny body once again.

The toe pressed down on me, mushing me into the insole once again. In the brief time I had been out from under her foot, I had forgotten just how hot and steamy the flesh of her feet where. Instantly after being beneath her toe, my body was drenched in sweat, and my skin was flushed with the heat of her foot. I could still feel residual lumps of lint caught in my throat, an issue that was solved as drops of April's foot sweat again filled my mouth and forced themselves down my throat. Once again, I was being forced to swallow this middle aged woman's foot sweat. I didn't think it was possible for someone to produce this much, but when you were the puny size I was, even the small amount she was producing in reality was like a waterfall. All of it pouring into my mouth. 

April's toe moved just a hair, and found it's new pressure home: directly onto my crotch. Almost instantly I felt a crushing bearing bearing down on my groin, nearly flattening it down and smushing the whole area. I screamed out in pleasuring agony as she didn't relent. I began to sob as it was happening once again. I felt it get harder and harder as April mercilessly pushed down and glided over my crotch over and over. The sweat acting as a lube to make the ordeal even worse. She didn't let up until I felt myself ready to blow, but then as suddenly as it started, she left off and all the pressure was released. I managed to stop myself from releasing, but if even one more stroke occurred there would be no stopping it. With the brief second April's toe was elsewhere, I sat up to try and protect my crotch from further stimulation. I could feel it in my groin. It was rock hard, pulsing almost, ready to release everything that had built up. That's when it happened.

April's toe returned, smacking me in the back of my head and pushing it forward and downward. My mouth was open from instinct of the impact, and ended up right where my erect member was. I felt my shaft glide into my mouth and hit the back of my throat. That touch was the last stimulation it needed, and I helplessly began to blow my load, directly into my own mouth. Glob after glob of my own fluids spew down my throat, and I am forced to swallow it. To make matters worse, April's massive toe sat on top of my crumpled body, pushing down on it lightly, forcing my upper half to move up and down, up and down. April's movements were effectively causing me to suck myself off, with my mouth moving up and down my shaft, only causing more and more of my fluids to spew into of my mouth and down my throat. While this was going on, I heard an roar erupt up above. It was April's laughter once more. The sound of laughing seeped into my ears, humiliating me even further than I thought possible. I was the size of a speck, trapped beneath one of her toes, with my crotch shoved into my mouth spewing out my fluids, and she was just laughing. April had absolutely no regard for my well-being. She had no concern at all for the torture she was inflicting upon me. Because she didn't even know I was down there. She didn't give a single shit about the hell I was going through, because I was too small, too worthless, too insignificant to matter to her. As far as April was concerned at the moment, I didn't even exist down in her shoe. As far as she knew, I was off on vacation having a great time. She held absolutely nothing back as she continued to laugh and make jokes with the other woman, her toe pressing down relentlessly on what she assumed was just her insole. All the while my member was being shoved deeper into my mouth, still leaking out fluids that began to seep out of my mouth. 

^^^

While April was unceremoniously laughing and chatting with the other woman, she briefly removed her foot from her shoe to scratch at her leg. Doing this, she unknowingly dragged a small little speck out and flung it onto the ground. She didn't even notice, and she especially didn't notice that little speck was in actuality her puny boss that she had just abused and dominated with her foot alone for the entire day. Who she had just discarded and flicked out of her shoe like a worthless piece of dirt. She just went about her day like normal afterwards.

vvv

I felt the immense pressure of April's toe resting on my change, before I was being violently dragged along the insole. Even with my face shoved into my crotch, I could still sense that I was rapidly moving forward, and that light was growing closer and closer. Before long I felt the ground drop from below me and I was free falling, until I crash landed onto the familiar tile floor. I spent the next few minutes struggling to get myself unfolded, thankful that no one decided to step down where my puny body had land. Thankful, and extremely lucky. I finally managed to get unstuck, straightening myself out. My mouth was in pain due to the excessive force apply to it, and I could still taste everything on my tongue. Perhaps because I had drank so much of it, but I was wishing for some more of April's foot sweat just to get the taste of my own fluids out of my mouth. I had become so low I was automatically replacing water with foot sweat. I needed water, but at my size, and my position, I doubted that was going to happen anytime soon.

After taking a moment to rest and reorient myself after that sevenish hour ordeal I had gone through inside April's shoe, I had to check my surroundings and figure out what I was going to do next. It seemed I was over on the food production side, which made sense. I was right at the base of one of the stations, used to make sandwiches. The only person around was Mindy, who towered over me. She was only five feet tall normally but appeared to stretch high into the sky. She was making a sandwich at the moment, at least I assumed she was. Not like I could see that high up. I looked away for a brief second to check somewhere else, and when my eyes returned, I didn't see Mindy anymore. I only saw a massive white object coming down straight for me.

^^^

Mindy was about to leave for the day, but had one more sandwich to make. As she was doing it, she accidentally dropped a piece of mozzarella cheese on the ground. She was focused on work, she didn't even notice it feel, that was until she took a step over, and stepped right onto it. The soft cheese flattened beneath her dirty sneakers, smushing itself into the tile floor and down upon whatever dirt or filth it happened to fall on top of. She looked down at disgust before kicking the fallen piece of food under the station. The night crew would sweep it up later, she thought to herself. And under there, nobody would see it. Out of sight, out of mind, she thought. 

Chapter 5 - Nightly Clean Up

"How come you never help me clean, Tim?" Allie asked playfully.

"Well that's not my job," I teased her back. "That's yours." I flashed her a genuine smile to let her know I'd always be there if she needed help. That was my job as the manager. To make sure my employees had the tools and skills available to do their job to their best ability. I'd never say I was the best, but I'd say I did the best I could.

***

A huge fluffy weight landed atop me, pushing my face into the soft texture. The overwhelming scent of mozzarella cheese invaded my nostrils. It was pleasant, for once. Having a glob of cheese sitting on me wasn't a good feeling, but it was a lot better than ones I had before. Things got a whole lot worse when an immense pressure was inflicted upon me, no doubt from Mindy having inadvertently stepping onto the cheese. Mozzarella invaded every orifice on me as the weight relentlessly pressed down. I could feel the sticky cheese getting stuck to the hair on my uncovered arms and legs, even my head. Then, just as quick as the pressure came, it was gone, but the damage had been done. There was a calm for a brief second for me to regain my composure, but that too was abruptly ended when the cheese and I were sent forcefully tumbling along the ground into the dark abyss that was beneath one of the food stations.

I was screaming the whole time we were tumbling, but my miniscule screams were muffled and absorbed by the cheese. With my face being shoved deep into the glob of white, I couldn't really see anything either, just feel the wild twists and turns of the tumble. Eventually things settle down, and fortunately the cheese had landed with me on the top; I could tell because there wasn't any weight above me. If it had landed the other way...there'd be no hope of me getting out. I began to struggle and pull my limbs out, eventually ripping and tear my arms and legs free from the sticky grasp of the cheese, and finally my head as well, letting me get a fresh breath of air. 

I bounce off of the jiggly cheese onto the tile floor below. Despite being crushed flat beneath someone's shoe, the top of the cheese was still higher than I was tall. It was extremely dark underneath the station, but some line still shone through from the ground, providing enough to see. Not a lot, but enough. From what I could tell, this piece of cheese wasn't the only piece of food to be left down here to rot. Giant mountains of chicken, hills made of avocado peels, hundreds upon hundreds of crumbs, and more I couldn't see. It wasn't just food, either. Impossibly large sheets of paper for wrapping sandwiches found themselves here, as well as cavernous plastic bags used to hold portioned meat in. This place was a graveyard for garbage and waste, and I was now amongst it all. 

I looked out towards the outside where the light was coming. Several pairs of shoes moved back and forth out there, even from the distance they still appeared massive. So much so that even far away I still felt residual shakes from the footsteps occurring out there. I had to come up with a plan, sooner rather than later. It was apart of the closing duties to sweep all of the trash from under the stations. If I was still here when we closed...I'd become part of that trash. But, I couldn't exactly just leave this place either. I looked again at the stampede of shoes outside. If I went out there again, I'd just be letting myself get stepped on easily. So basically, being under the station was dangerous, and getting back in the open was dangerous. There was no good option. Sitting around wasn't going to be much help, so I began to walk around beneath the station to brainstorm some ideas. The most crucial thing I had to do was get off of the floor. There was a less than zero percent chance I'd get any help when on the floor, so I needed to get up higher. 

That was easier said than done. I heard a noise elsewhere beneath the station, a noise that sent a horrific chill down my spine. I was instantly brought out of my brainstorm to search for the source. I found it. Off in the relative distance was a massive beast. It's antennae were wildly shaking about, as if sensing my presence. There was just enough light shining beneath the station for me to identify what it was. Now, it's not something I'd be proud to admit being a manager at the store and all, but there really was no helping it when we work in the food business. We had cockroaches. Not an infestation, but enough to be a nuisance. And now, when I was the size of a worthless crumb, I was staring down one. Or rather, it was staring me down. Instinctively I scream when I see a giant creature like that, which just alerted it to my presence and location. It began to scuttle towards me as I continued to scream in terror.

I killed a number of the little pests back at my regular size. It was gross, but it had to be done. I always had a bundle of paper towels or whatever to crush it in. That wasn't happened today, not now. The beast scuttled closer to me, and as it did so I truly began to comprehend its size. The cockroach was absurdly massive compared to me. It's leg alone was taller than I was. Meaning it's head--the horrific monster looking head--was staring down at me as it approached. If I wasn't already terrified, I would be based solely on the fact that a cockroach--a damned insect--was looking DOWN at me. I was beneath a cockroach. It probably just saw me as food. A fact I was pretty sure was confirmed as I heard and saw the snapping of its mandibles. I had to run, I had to do something, but I panicked. I stumbled backwards onto my butt, falling down on my back. All that did was make this enormous beast appear even larger. I couldn't believe it. After everything that has happened, after everything I endured, I was going to become a meal for a cockroach. I watched helplessly as the gigantic beast appeared over me, ready to go for the kill.

^^^

The store had closed up for the night, and all Allie had to do was sweep and clean up the floor. First things first, was moving the heavy station away so they could sweep up whatever filth found itself beneath them. The day crew was always kicking whatever food bits or trash that fell under there, leaving it for HER to clean up. They were making her life so difficult, ugh. Whatever. Allie moved one station away and began to sweep it all along the path. There were empty bags that once held meat, avocado peels, stray pieces of chicken, and more. With one down, Allie moved onto the next one. After moving it aside, she looked down at the floor and noticed a small scuttle. 

"Gross," Allie said quietly aloud. It was a cockroach. It was small, must have been a baby roach given just how extremely tiny it was, but it was a cockroach none the less. She quickly raised her shoe and brought it down upon the tiny creature, instantly flattening and killing it. She didn't even notice that its corpse fell from her shoe onto the floor again; it was instantly lost amongst the rest of the filth down there. That's where it belonged, regardless. Maybe if the day crew wasn't so filthy there wouldn't be cockroaches anyway. Moving on, Allie continued to sweep up. She brought everything together into one neat, big pile before brushing it all into the dustpan. With that done, she dumped everything into the trash can, which Maria tied up and brought out to the dumpster outside. Only one thing left to do before she could head home.

vvv

All of the sudden a brilliant, blinding light flooded from up above. I put my hands up to shield from the light on reflex. At the same time, I felt the overwhelming presence of the cockroach above me disappear. Someone must have moved the station I was under aside, spooking the bug and in effect saving my life. As my eyes adjusted I saw the towering form that was Allie standing above me. I'd have to remember to give her a raise for saving my life, haha. In an instant I see her leg rise into the air, giving me a glimpse of the bottom of her shoe before it came crashing down. The gust from the impact blew me away, sending me tumbling end over end before coming to rest a few feet away. When I settle, I look up and see Allie's leg rising into the air again, with her shoe miles above me. Even from my distance I saw something dislodge itself from the treads and come crashing down...right near where I had landed! There was no time to react as it slammed down inches from me, before bouncing off the ground once and flung its way towards me. In the blink of an eye I found myself being compressed down by a heavy force...it was the very cockroach that was just about to eat me! Only now, it was dead. Very dead.

In addition to the heavy pressure I felt weighing down my abdomen, I began to feel a wetness building all over as well. And no, it wasn't coming from me. I kinda wish it was. No, it was the blood and guts of the mutilated cockroach spilling out onto my body. I begin to squeal as my entire torso and waist was coated in a mess of thick viscous blobs and were only running down my sides because of the amount of it seeping out from the lifeless corpse atop me. As my mind began to fully process what was happening, my body caught up and began to reactively panic, attempting to squirm my way out from under this creature. I pushed and pulled and clawed about to dislodge myself from under it, in the process getting my hands and arms coated in all the gunk as well. I made some progress when the limp antennae of the cockroach fell right on my face. The flaccid feeler began to caress my face as I wiggled and shook and struggled to remove myself. With one push I managed to get most of my body free, with the one exception being my leg, still trapped beneath the creature. I slumped back for a second, tired from the exertion, as I stared to the sky above. 

Despite everything that had happened, I had never felt this small and worthless before. Way, way, way up in the sky was Allie, still standing there holding a broom. She stretched to unimaginable heights. I had a a few good inches on her normally, but now she was near incomprehensible to me. Here I was, literally being held hostage by a fucking cockroach, a dead one at that, while my employee towered over me, completely oblivious to where I currently was. She had absolutely no idea how much power, how imposing she was to me at the moment. She could end my life in one quick movement--just as she did to the massive beast that was currently on top of me. And the worst part...she wouldn't even notice. 

And she was about to use that power over me. It started when I noticed massive boulders coming flying in from behind me, almost as if a wind storm was coming. I turned my head back and was greeted with a gigantic wall made of straw poles, with a tidal wave of dust, dirt, discarded food, and pure filth coming right towards me. With my leg still trapped, I was unable to move at all. The only thing I could do was scream as the cockroach body and myself were effortlessly absorbed into the maelstrom of garbage. 

The next several moments were a blur, quite literally. It was near impossible to keep my eyes open. For one, I was spinning around so rapidly I was going to puke, and two, I was being pelted with who knows what the whole time. I felt my body being violently scraped between the rough tile floor and the unforgiving bristles of the straw broom. Every inch was beaten and bruised due to the constant rolling I was enduring. This continued for an unknown amount of time. When I finally opened my eyes, I had no idea how long I had been laying motionless. My head was spinning, my stomach was queasy. My arms were sore. My body beaten. Even lifting my arm up to rub my temples put me into immense agony. Tears streamed down my cheeks from the pain. No, not only the pain. Tears from how pathetic and low I had gotten ever since this happened. I truly didn't believe it could get any worse. But it can always get worse.

Tremors. Light at first, but they quickly picked up. More and more the ground beneath me shook, and it was at that moment I realized where exactly I was. Smack dab in the middle of the floor. There was no protection from the station above, it wasn't even close to me. My heart was beating faster and faster as I turned to look at the immense form of Allie heading straight for me. She had already caused me a great deal of agony, but apparently she wasn't done with the torment I had to suffer through. That's when I noticed the instrument of destruction she was holding. I would have breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it wasn't another broom, but I quickly realized what she was holding was worse. Much, much worse. Allie was about to mop.

^^^

Allie went to the back and grabbed a mop and a bucket. All she had to do was clean the floor and she could finally end this stupid day. It had been busy all night and of course she had to do most of the work. The floor was an absolute mess and she had to work again tomorrow. So annoying. Well, regardless, she was a hard worker and she was going to do the best job she could. With the mop all set and ready, she walked back to the line to clean up.  With a smack, she plopped and soaking wet mop down onto the grimy tile floor and began to swipe back and forth, picking up all the grime and muck that adhered itself to the tiles, making them shine again. As she was swiping, there was one particularly grimy spot that a simple swipe wasn't going to take care of. Determined to get the place clean, she positioned the threads of the mop over it, and forcefully put her shoe down onto it. She then began to grind her foot back and forth with some serious force, making sure those threads did their job and scraped up and absorbed all that stubborn grime. "Looks great," she said with a smile on her face she kept swiping, happy to see the dark spot had been taken care of. After, she took the time to squeegee out the mop, draining it of all the disgusting grime water it had accumulated. It was super full, so she had to squeeze hard on it. The water had already turned a nasty shade of brown. Yuck. With that done, she went back to mopping. She got nearly to the end of the line when she encountered yet another stubborn spot. Well, it worked last time, might as well do it again.

vvv

There wasn't anything I could do. Within a couple seconds, the monolith that was Allie was standing right above me. Fear set in the moment I stared up at her form. I was supposed to be Allie's boss, her superior, yet here I was quaking in fear as the 20something year old woman simply stood there, doing her job. I made a last ditch effort to garner any attention I could from her, but it was meaningless as the sky quickly turned into a blob of threads as the mop came slapping down upon me. 

The powerful scent of floor cleaner assaulted my nostrils, the acidity burning them with ease. My eyes were on fire. Obviously the stuff had gotten into them, and given my sized compared to how much it was, it wasn't just a few drops. I attempted to close my eyes but the damage was done as tears formed and welled up, forcing my eyes to stay open just a bit. A bit was enough to allow more of the fluid to flood into my eyes, burning them even further. Of course I opened my mouth to scream in agony, which just caused the cleaner to spread into my mouth. In an instant my throat was burning as the liquid effortlessly flowed down my esophagus. My entire body felt like it was on fire, and I was in complete and total agony, all while the cleaner-ridden mop sat atop me, pressing down and letting the fluids leak onto me. And she hadn't even done anything yet. 

With everything going on I didn't give it much thought, but coming into contact and ingestion that much floor cleaner probably would kill someone, but that is the curse of SHRK-2. The sheer resilience of the human body under such conditions was near miraculous, but it came at the cost of being able to withstand more than anyone should. The worst part was, despite how resilient my body was, how resistant it was to being poisoned from ingesting such things, I still felt all of the pain. I still had to endure all of the suffering that came along with it. This wasn't a virus, this was a curse.

I must have squirmed or moved about or perhaps I was just that unlucky, but at some point my arms had gotten tangled up in the threads of the mop. Before I had time to even attempt to free myself, I was violently whipped sideways. My face smacked harshly into the tile floor, before I began to be dragged across it. The rough, bumpy tile scraped and scratched at my face tearing small little cuts into my skin, which the floor cleaner instantly flowed to. All the small cuts exploded with burning pain as the cleaner kept trying to find every other orifice of mine to insert itself into. 

I was whipped viciously to the other side. The mop thread I was tangled into slapped down onto a pile of others, giving me a brief moment of rest, if you could call non-stop burning agony a rest. It didn't last long as I was whipped back around again. This time the mop thread and I were smashed down into the tile floor, my body and face slamming into the unforgiving and filthy floor. Once again I was brutally dragged along the ragged tiles, my body collecting bits of grime and muck as I went. All my tiny open cuts, my eyes, my nose, and even my mouth were being filled with both floor cleaner and pieces of grime. I was whipped aside once again.

This punishment continued for an ungodly amount of time, or at least it felt like it. In reality it was likely only about 15 seconds or so. The amount of times I had been whipped and slammed into the tile floor was uncountable. I was wishing, no begging to be knocked out from the force, but it never came. Instead I was being forced to endure and accept the savage beating I was taking, and feeling every single action. Whipped. Smashed. Dragged. Whipped. Smashed. Dragged. Whipped. Smashed. I waited for the drag, but it never came. 

Whatever my face was pressed against, it wasn't the tile floor, and it wasn't the other mop threads. It felt sticky, and filthy. I had no idea what it smelt like, as my nostrils were still burned from the scent of floor cleaner. Before I could even get another thought out, an immense pressure crushed down upon me. I let out a yowl of pain as the cleaner-grime water mix was squeezed out of the mop threads. The liquid helped release the muck from the floor, causing it to rise and turning it into a thick paste, like a swamp. The merciless pressure crushed down even harder upon me, causing the mop thread to flatten out, which in turn pushed me down further. I was completely submerged beneath the thick goo. Despite being as close to the ground as I felt I possibly could be, the overwhelming pressure increased even more. I was forcefully and mercilessly crushed down to the absolutely depths of this grimy bog. And when I finally felt my body hit the familiar feel of the tile floor, the pressure increased again. My face and body were utterly flattened into the grimy tile. I felt as if I had been submerged 20 feet into the muck. In reality, the dark spot was only about 1 centimeter thick at its worst.

The pressure had squeezed out a lot of tainted cleaner from the mop, flooding the entire place I was in, dunking my head beneath the water and the sludge. That's when the drag came. My body grinded and scraped along the vicious tile floor. With the amount of force being pressed upon me, I felt every single sharp groove and bump stabbing and piercing into my skin. One of my eyes was still shut, but the other was wide open. Both of them were still burning with intense heat and pain from the chemicals that had gotten in them. Globs of sticky muck was shoveled into my open eye as I was dragged along the ground. I thought it was impossible for my eyes to feel anymore pain, but having thick, greasy grime forcefully shoved into them did it. Finally the dragging stopped, but it was far from over. For a brief second, my closed up eye had stopped right atop a smooth hill. It was the only spot on the entire floor that was sharp and jagged, and it had ended up directly beneath my eye. Intense, blunt pressure stung into it, threatening to blind me. If it had been sharp, or if there had been a little more pressure, I probably would have. Instead, I just had to deal with it. Then the dragging started again, this time going back the other way.

The brutal, jagged hills of the tile floor dug into me once again as I was violently pulled along the floor. My nostrils were instantly filled with the foul smelling sludge I found myself in. The thick, viscous substance refused to exit my nose, forcing me to open my mouth to catch even the faintest hint of oxygen. While I did get some good old oxygen, I also got a mouth load of sludge thrust into me. The muck coated my tongue instantly, seeping into my taste buds. The remains of the cleaner was still there, burning the innards of my mouth as well. My body had been coated pitch black from the muck. Even if Allie knew exactly where I was, even if she had the best magnifying glass in the world, and looked directly at me, she wouldn't see me. I was perfectly blended into the grime and muck, one with it. 

I was painfully and mercilessly dragged back and forth a dozen more times, with the relentless pressure never letting up even a little bit. If anything, I feel the pressure actually increased just a tad. My entire body was torn up with small little cuts, with each one being blasted with burning chemicals and vile sludge constantly. Every inch was searing in pain, screaming out in agony while the torment continued. My arms and legs were twisted about in extremely painful angles. Nothing was broken, but that didn't really help. My arm was bent behind my back, my ankle pressing into my ass, my torso facing sideways. It would make a contortionist jealous. My eyes were coated in a thick layer of muck. Beneath all the filth and grime they were entirely bloodshot from the chemicals and sludge. A non-stop searing pain. My nostrils were beyond clogged with the muck. It felt like a stuffy nose, except instead of mild discomfort it was immense and brutal pain. My mouth was overflowing with a vile mix of floor cleaner and grime. My cheeks stuffed full with globs of gook sticking to my tongue and teeth and the roof of my mouth while the liquid passed through and burned my throat. 

Finally the pressure released. Given how much and how long it was sustained, it felt surreal not having that much force bearing down on me. It felt almost like I was floating. If I had been able to see out of my eyes, I would have seen that I was in fact dangling miles above the floor as the mop had been lifted up. My body dangled from the mop, adhered to the threads in a thick layer of grime. The feeling of weightlessness ended as a series of sopping wet pressure began to slowly lay atop me, a feeling I recognized as the mop threads. Drips of fluids dropped down onto me from above. That's when it happened.

I thought I pressure I was put under on the floor was intense, but that was a mere poke compared to the force being inflicted upon me now. An unforgiving and relentless pressure began to compact me in-between the threads of the mop. My entire being was mashed and crushed together. My shoulders were so pressed they were both touching my cheeks. My groin was being crushed into itself. My already contorted body began to wrap around itself. And the pressure continued to increase. My shoulders ground into my cheeks, my arms were shoved into my abdomen, my legs pulverized my crotch. I was gasping for every breath I could. My mouth was forced open from the pressure. Any movement was impossible, unless that movement was my own body being forced into itself from the ever increasing pressure being forced upon me. 

On top of all of this was a torrential downpour of brown fluids being dumped upon me. The mop thread I was tangled in was the first one into the squeeze bucket, meaning all of the liquid being squeezed out had to go through me. Gallons upon gallons of dirty mop water rained down into my body like a horrific form of water torture. The flood washed all of the thick goop from my eyes, and instead replaced it burning chemical-laced grime splashing directly into them. The pressure being put on me also forced my eyes open, rendering me unable to close them so they took the full brunt of the rain of mop water with no protection. My nostrils were instantly unclogged only to act an alternate path for the water to go into my mouth. Speaking of which, my mouth was now filled to the brim with the filthy mop water. I didn't even have to swallow, there was so much coming down in such force that the liquid forced itself down my throat. Gallon after gallon after gallon of brown muck water drained into my mouth. Just when I had thoughts that this torture was never going to end, the pressure increased even further. My body compacted itself again, more water came pouring down at a faster pace, and the pain I was enduring multiplied. All together, the squeezing pressure lasted a total of 5 seconds.

The torture finally stopped. The pressure was released and the downpour ceased. I swallowed the last of the water in my mouth before the feeling of floating came again. My eyes cleared from the grime build up, I could see what was happening. At least for a second before I was brutally slammed back into the tile floor as Allie continued to mop. Once again I was whipped and dragged and whipped and dragged along the jagged floor. It was not pleasant, but it felt a hell of a lot better than what I had just endured. After a few more whips, my body landed in a familiar texture. Oh no. It was another thick glob of grime. No. No, not again. This one wasn't nearly as deep and wide as the other, but I knew what was coming. Instinctively I let out a scream, just as the immense pressure bore down upon me. 

My face was flattened into the sharp and vicious tile floor. There was a lot less cleaner left in the mop threads, so this time it was less swamp and more thick goo. As the mercilessly grinding began, I learned the hard way that the last time it had been the liquid that helped lift up and release all the caked in grime from the floor. This time, it was me that was being used for that purpose. My open mouth was crushed flat against the floor, my teeth parallel with the tiles. As the grinding commenced, my teeth were used as a tool to scrape all of the muck off of them. Like a shovel my jaw plowed through the dark grime, scooping heaps and mounds of it straight into my mouth. Back and forth I was grinded against the floor, being sure to not miss a single spot. After several passes, my mouth was filled with copious amounts of thick, dark goop. It forced itself into the far etches of my throat and stuck there, making room for more and more of it to come plowing in as I was continually being used as a mere tool for cleaning. Eventually, the entire black spot was gone, almost all of it now being lodged inside my mouth instead of on the floor. Barely anything had made it onto the mop threads. At least the floor was clean.

With one last scrape I successfully completed my new purpose. With that, the mop began to rise once again. I knew where it was going: back to the squeeze bucket. A thread of the mop hung slightly slower than the rest, and on that thread was my mangled and disgusting form. I was covered in several layers of thick greasy muck, coating quite literally every inch of my body. My mouth was agape and filled with the grime I had just been used to clean. I made no attempt to even try and get out of the predicament. Why bother? I was on mop duty now. Night after night I would be used to clean the floors from all the filth. At least I was good at it, based on the sparkle the floor had. I didn't notice that my body had become untangled from the mop thread due to the constant beaten it had endured. The only thing keeping me attached was the layer of sticky grime, and that was quickly falling apart. As the mop hung over the vast ocean that was the mop bucket, it finally gave way, and sent me plummeting downwards, landing with an unnoticeable splash into the brown water.

The lukewarm water had awoken me back to my senses, reminded me that I was a human and not an instrument used for cleaning purposes. Though exhausted and drained of all energy, I still managed to break the surface. The water had brought to life all the grime that was inside my mouth, turning it into sludge. I was amidst an ocean of dark brown with faint hints of green--no doubt the cleaner that still had traces left in here. The edges of the ocean crashed into a massive wall of yellow that rose into the sky, making escape a literal impossibility. Even further up was the towering figure on Allie, standing above the bucket. She had one had on her hip, and a smile on her face, no doubt pleased with her cleaning performance. She then turned her attention to the mop perched above me, inside the presser. I knew what was coming next, I was just glad I wasn't inside it again. 

As she began to squeeze, a waterfall of muck water came crashing down, right on me. I was instantly forced beneath the surface of the water again, pushed far deeper than I had ever been before. The impact blasted my mouth open, forcing me to swallow mouthful after mouthful of the tainted liquid before finally reaching the surface and gasping for breath. I had all of a couple seconds to breath before another torrent came down, repeating the process again. When I came up this time, the flow had stopped, and the mop perched above was gone. Allie had already removed it to swipe up the last bit of filth from the floor, leaving me floating alone in the brown ocean, with no chance of escape. If I didn't get out of here, the water would be dumped down the drain along with me. And if I went down the drain...I didn't even want to think about what would happen from there.

^^^

Allie repeated the process. She pressed her shoe down onto the mop thread and began to slide it back and forth across the dark spot. She was amazed at how well the grime was coming. Whatever cleaner they were using must have been pretty strong! After a few more rounds, she lifted the mop and was pleased to see the grime was all gone. She took a second to admire her hard work. If she had any idea of the hellacious torture she had just inflicted on her boss, she would have felt guilt, sadness, and an overwhelming sense of regret. Instead, she felt joy and pride over the great job she had done. Allie returned the mop to the squeeze part and gave it a gentle push, just to get a small bit of the water out. She went back for one more round to finish off the floor, and finally she was finished. All she had to do know was dump the bucket. 

vvv

A miracle came when Allie returned the mop to the bucket. A thread had fallen and landed down into the ocean, into my realm. It was like a giant rope ladder sent from the heavens above to save me from this predicament. Now climbing back onto the mop threads was one of the last places I wanted to be after that whole ordeal, but if the choice was that or being dumped into the drain, the choice was obvious. I reached the thread, the sheer size of it reminding me how pathetically small I was now. I dug my hands into the fibers and hauled myself out of the water. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I was out of the ocean. I would figure out the rest soon. I heard noise from the world above, and looked up to see Allie wasn't alone. She was talking to another employee--Trish. I was much too tiny and far away to hear what was being said, but I saw enough. Allie handed the mop handle over to Trish, a gesture which I took to mean only one thing. Trish still had to mop her section of the café. And with a single motion, Allie had transferred the mop, and the fate of me, into the hands of Trish.

^^^

Trish was an 18-year old working at the café part time to save up some cash on the side. College was expensive man she had to do something. It had already been an annoying day and all she wanted to do was go home. All she had left to do was mop the floor of the bakery. It was a place people walked back and forth on all day, so the floor was pretty scuffed and had grime all over it. Ugh, but she really didn't want to set up a whole new mop when all she wanted was to go home. Luckily, Allie had just finished mopping, so Trish headed over and asked to use hers. Yeah, it was dirty, but some of that cleaner had to still be in it.

Trish rolled the mop bucket back to her area of the store. Her airpods were pumping out music loud enough for others to hear. She grabbed the mop and held it suspended in the air for a second as she took the time to change the song on her phone, before unceremoniously plopping the mop down onto the dirty floor and getting to work.

vvv

I did the only thing I was capable of doing and kept climbing up the mop fibers. I made as much progress as I could before the entire world stopped moving, telling me that Trish had reached her destination. I looked upwards to the world above and saw her standing there, looking down right at me. Rather, she was looking down at her phone in the general direction I was. Still, I took what I could and used the opportunity to wave and shout as much as I could, hoping to garner any attention I could from her. I was completely ignored. 

The mop began to rise upwards at a rapid pace as Trish grabbed the handle. In an instant I was removed from the yellow walls and the brown ocean vanished beneath me. I had a split second to make a decision, and I made one. I let go of the mop fibers and started free falling towards the tile floor. I knew I'd survive the fall, and it got me the hell away from that mop. I faceplanted onto the ground, it hurt like hell but otherwise I was okay. Far up above the mop hovered in the air like some sort of alien ship. Even further up Trish had begun to look at her phone again. 

I had landed right next to Trish's shoes--a pair of dirty old vans. I could see dirt stains all along the sides from lots of use.  It was weird, I felt safe next to her shoes for the sole reason that I couldn't imagine her setting the mop down so close to where she was standing. That's why panic set in when her massive shoe went soaring backwards several miles in the span of a second. A giant splash landed next to me, and hesitantly I looked up. All I could see was the massive alien ship that was the mop, hovering directly above of me. And then it fell.

The familiar weight of the mop flattened me into the floor. I flailed about as it settled on top of me, once again tangling my arms and legs inside of the arms and adhering my body to it. Luckily I was caught up in-between several fibers meaning I wasn't in direct contact with the floor, or the filth. The nauseating motion of whipping returned as I figured Trish had begun, but it didn't last long.

^^^

Trish had dragged the mop back and forth a couple times only to see that it wasn't removing any of the caked in grime at all. This mop sucks ass, she thought to herself. It was way too dry. So she lifted the thing back up and looked down into the bucket filled with dark brown colored water. It looked disgusting but there was some cleaner left and it was wet so it would help remove all those stubborn bits. She plopped the mop into the liquid, completing submerging it before lifting it back up again. Then she repeated the process a few more times. Submerge, lift, submerge, lift. She held the sopping wet mop above the bucket, brown gunk pouring out of it. Perfect, she thought. She smacked the mop back onto the grimy floor and began to swipe back and forth. There we go, it was working now. She jammed out to music as the mop effortlessly erased all the grime and muck to make the floor appear clean. 

About halfway through she took the mop and dunked it into the bucket, turning the already brown water even darker. She then left the mop submerged in the bucket as she pulled out her phone to text her friend, having a quick back and forth about their plans for tomorrow. Trish was supposed to hang out with her friend, but that had to be canceled due to something coming up. Just great. She left the mop submerged as she hit up her other friend about plans; Trish was not gonna spend her day off doing nothing. She stood there waiting, tapping her foot impatiently, staring at the dumb bubble indicating her friend was currently typing a replay. Hurry up, she thought to herself. After a full twenty seconds of waiting, her friend finally replied. And it was a no-go. Ugh, cool. Whatever, she'd figure it out tomorrow.  Disgruntled, Trish tucked her phone into her back pocket and lifted the reinvigorated mop from the bucket, getting back to finishing her work.

At one point her music stopped playing, so she whipped out her phone to figure out the issue. As she fiddled with her phone and airpods, she unknowingly stepped directly onto one of the mop threads. She was so distracted she didn't even notice she was standing on it. She subconsciously began to grind her shoe back and forth on it, still absorbed into seeing what was wrong. As it turned out, her airpods were dead. Just fucking great. Flustered, she put her airpods back into their case and then finally noticed she was standing atop some stupid ass thread of the mop. She ground her shoe into it hard once more just to take out her frustrations before finishing up the rest of the floor. What else could go wrong today?

vvv

A weightless feeling took over meaning the mop had been lifted once again. From my position tangled up in the fibers I couldn't see much, but I was able to see the ground below turn back into an ocean of brown. Before I could even get out a thought of what the heck was happening, we all began to freefall into the drink. I hit the liquid hard as I was quickly forced to the bottom. I didn't even have time to get a breath before the gunk swirled around me. Almost as quickly as it happened, I was yanked back out of the water. I attempted to get a huge gasp of needed air, but we went back downwards immediately. I went under the surface mid breath, causing all of the tainted fluids to be sucked into my mouth. We rose again as the water dribbled from my mouth. I couldn't even spit it all out before again I was plunged down into the depths. Unable to keep my mouth close, it popped open and more and more brown drink flooded into my mouth and down my throat. And then instantly I popped back up above the surface, and it was quiet.

All I heard was the splashing of huge waterfalls of gunk falling down into the ocean below. With how rapid everything had been, time seemed to stand still while we just hung there above the ocean, unmoving. It gave me much needed time to regain my breath and my composure. Everything started to move again as the ocean vanished and was replaced with the tile floor yet again, and in an instant it came rushing up to me as the mop landed with a loud and wet slap.

Then the whipping came again. Unlike before, when Allie was doing controlled swipes, Trish was instead just going wild. At some points I was dragged across the ground, before forced to scrape up and swallow globs of grime, then the next swipe I'd be sitting on the top riding the wave free of any danger, only to be ground into the grime and muck once again next time. There was no predicting where I would end up or when it would happen, I would just suddenly be lurched one direction only to be buried in a swamp of muck the next instant. The constant changing made it impossible to focus on anything other than being flicked around without a care. Despite spending overall less time being ground against the floor, I think I had swallowed even more grime than before, due to the sheer amount that was adhered to this part of the floor. On one particular instance, after being smashed face first into the tile, I had been used to scrape off a mouth full of grime in only a fraction of a second. The rest of the three seconds had been used to continually scrape off bigger and bigger globs of muck, forcefully shoving the previous globs into the back of my mouth and down the depths of my throat. 

Eventually the whipping motion stopped before I felt myself being raised into the air again. Having an idea of what was happening, I looked down at the floor and sure enough saw it turn into the dark brown ocean once again. I took the opportunity to take a deep breath and prepared for continuous impact back and forth. As expected, I was slammed down beneath the surface, awaiting the rise, but it never came. The mop and I just stayed there, motionless, at the depths of the murky grime ocean. I opened my eyes in a vain attempted to see if I was able to glean what was going on. All I saw was dark brown and all I felt was cleaner-laced grime burning my eye balls once again. I continued to hold my breath, thankful that I had taken a large breath of air. I had learned the hard way my body was extremely durable and able to withstand many things normal people wouldn't be able to. I doubted drowning was one of those things. I gathered that I didn't need much oxygen at all to stay alive, even the smallest bit could maintain me, but submerged in this ocean without any? That would be a death sentence. I kept holding my breath, struggling to stay alive.

I had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt like hours. Nothing was moving, it was completely still inside this place. I didn't think Trish was moving then, but if she wasn't, then what was she doing? My mind began to process all sorts of horrific scenarios, and I came back to several instances where I had to tell Trish to get off her phone during work. Given my limited intel down in the dark brown depths of the mop bucket, I could only come to the conclusion that now was no different. Instead of doing her work, Trish was on her phone. My stomach sank as I thought about the very real situation of drowning inside a disgusting mop bucket while she simply stood there on her phone, completely and utterly unconcerned with my fate. Panic started to set in making it harder and harder to hold my breath. I didn't have much longer.

How long had it been since I was submerged? Hours? Days? Thirty seconds? Every second that passed made it harder to keep ahold of my breath, causing more and more panic and dread to set in, further increasing the difficulty. I began to squirm and writhe in pain as the lack of oxygen was beginning to set in. That's when it happened, I couldn't take it anymore. My mouth popped open desperate for the oxygen that wasn't there. At that exact instant, the mop and me finally were beginning to rise. We broke the surface as my body inhaled as much oxygen as possible. I had lived. My mouth was open just long enough to be forcefully fed a few mouthfuls of putrid grime water, but I got the much needed oxygen. There wasn't any time to do anything other than breath before the mop and I were carelessly plopped back down onto the filthy floor and the whipping began again.

The constant whipping and swiping remained much the same as before, only now I was happy to at least be able to breath. After a few rounds of scraping off grime, I was whipped around to the top of the mop thread, facing upwards to the sky above. Then we stopped. I had an unobtrusive view of the world above, giving me a great sight of the towering Trish standing above me. And sure enough the first thing I see of her is her being on her phone. Basically confirmed my previous thoughts. I just stared up at her motionless because there wasn't much else I could do. My eyes were still reeling in pain, so I took a long blink. When I opened my eyes I no longer saw Trish. I instead saw the massive sole of her vans right above me, heading my way.

The waffle treads of her vans were pretty much clean, except for one small section when had some caked into muck stuffed into the holes. It appeared to be some gray blob, maybe it had been gum or mud at some point, but now it was just thick grime. And of all the places her shoe could have landed on my incredibly small position, it was that exact dirty spot that smashed down onto me. My face was forcefully shoved into the thick, greasy muck with no resistance at all. She then began to rock her foot back and forth. My face was shoved further in, flooding my nostrils and mouth with the viscous goop. Mop water was squeezed from the thread, turning the muck into more of a fluid, causing it to more easily slide into my mouth. As her foot rocked back, the sticky grasp of the muck attempted to take me with it, but my arms and legs tangled in the mop threads refused to let go either, and the amount of water built up into the thread weighed it down enough to keep it firmly planted. My head was being pulled one way and my body was being pulled the other, putting all of the strain on my neck. The further back Trish rocked her foot, the greater the force. My neck felt like it was going to be torn from my body until she finally let up and rocked her foot forward, smashing my face further into the caked in goop again, forcing more of the grime to be stuffed down my throat. She rocked her foot back, threatening to tear my neck in half once again. This horrific game of tug of war went back and forth, repeatedly shoving grime into my mouth and tearing at my body, over and over and over again. Eventually when she brought her foot back down, it contained a lot more force than previously. I felt my face get shoved deeper than ever before into the gooey slime that had formed in her shoe treads due to the mop water. Glob after glob after glob filled my mouth with no choice but to swallow it. The amount of liquid must have softened the grime, because as her shoe lifted up my face was forcefully plucked from it's grimy prison, flinging me back down into the mop fiber I was tangled in. And then the whipping continued again.

After the rest of the abuse, I was lifted up along with the mop. If I remembered the ordeal from before, I knew what was coming. The squeeze bucket. My arms and legs were still tangled up in the fibers despite the ordeal I had been through, preventing me from escaping the incoming fate. After a short trip flying through the air, it was time. The mop and I were placed inside the squeezer, and I braced myself as best as I could for what was coming.

^^^

Finally she was done. All she had to do was put the mop away and get the hell out of here. Trish lifted the mop up as a downpour of water rained down. She had let it sit in the bucket for so long that is absorbed a lot of liquid, and that excess was still dumping out now. The drips splashed down and landed right onto Trish's vans, right where she had a small hole, getting her socks and feet slightly wet. "Oh my god!" she gasped audibly as she let the mop fall into the squeezer part of the bucket. You had to be kidding me, she thought to herself. She could feel a small puddle of water settle beneath her foot, and her socks weren't feeling great either. How fucking uncomfortable. 

Ugh, this was awful. Her friends had bailed on her, her airpods were dead, and her foot was damp. This had to have been the worst day ever. What the hell did she do to deserve all of this suffering? She turned her attention back to the stupid dumb mop that got her wet. She glared at it for a bit before grabbing the handle of the squeezer and putting as much force as she could muster on it. She was angry, and she was going to take out her frustrations on this dumb mop.

vvv

Back when Allie had finished mopping, I had assumed there could be no greater pressure than what she had put upon me. I realized now that she was being gentle. In an instant I was forcefully pressed into another thread of the mop. The sheer speed of it had caused me to open my mouth, a terrible mistake as almost instantly a thick fiber from the opposing thread was jammed into my mouth. I felt the stringy rope glide down my throat. As the pressure increased it went further and deeper in, all the while leaking brown mucky mop water. The rest of my body was mercilessly pulverized into the rest of the thread. I was sandwiched between two massive, soaking wet threads of a mop that were constantly pouring out disgusting liquid all over me, all while a thick fiber of the mop was brutally and forcefully shoved deeper down my throat. The pressure kept increasing, pressing me further and harder into the thread. While it was soft, it was not comfortable. It had some give but the sheer force being inflicted negated any of that. The texture of the fibers tore at my skin as I was pushed deeper inside, likewise the spiny pins of the fiber inside my mouth was tearing apart my throat and releasing waves of grime water into it constantly. My arms and legs were already twisted from being tangled, but now the force being applied to them threatened to mangle them even further. They were bent in extremely awkward and painful positions, and they just kept getting bent more and more. Eventually the two ends of the mop threads met each other. They were thick enough to block out any and all light coming to my position. It created a kind of tiny gap that began to get flooded with disgusting mop water. As the pressure continued, the frayed fibers of the thread began to become entangled with each other, bonding the two different strands together into one, and casting me into a cocoon of sorts. The fibers kept tying around themselves, tighter and tighter until they were completely sealed together. The pressure finally let up, but the damage was done. I was now entombed inside of the fibers of the mop thread.

That's where I found myself. Encased in the pitch black darkness between two strands of a mop that were adhered to each other into one. Anyone looking at it would think it was simply only one thick strand, never knowing that in a tiny little gap was me, tangled up in the fibers. My arms and legs were awkwardly bent and caught up in the fibers behind me, putting me in a constant, sharp, unending pain. A thick, spiny fiber of the mop was forcefully shoved halfway down my throat, draining mop water down to my stomach. Every single part of my body ached in pain and exhaustion. I couldn't move an inch. I could barely breath. And I was constantly soaked in a foul smelling liquid, with no chance of ever getting dry in this condition. 

The unending sharp pain in my limbs, the constant wetness, and the fiber in my throat made it impossible to fall asleep regardless of how tired I was. So I just stayed there, awake and conscious, for the entire night in the pitch black and rancid hole. 

^^^

Trish felt better after that. Taking out her annoyances on that dumb mop felt pretty good. It was smart to do it on some inanimate object too, no harm done, haha. She took the mop, put it up in the back, grabbed her stuff and finally got out of there. The drive home was uneventful, but made her realize how tired she was. Getting home, she took a quick shower to get nice and clean, then crawled into her nice warm bed and under her comfy blankets. In an instant she was out, having one of the most comfortable and restful sleeps she's ever had.

My body was cold and wet. It was pitch black inside the giant fridge so it was impossible to tell what time it was, but nobody had come in for a very long time, so I believed it had been overnight. I didn't get any sleep, my body was too busy shivering as best it could to stay as warm as possible. I had been in the fridge for a while before when I was doing inventory--ha, the idea of doing that now was lost on me--and I got a little cold. I could just wear a jacket. Now I had wet, cold sauce all over me. A jacket made out of food. Great. If I had anything positive to say about this situation, at least I didn't have a putrid disgusting mop thread shoved down my throat. Yeah, a real gem of a situation I was in now. 

What was even the end goal here? I couldn't move. I can't get out of this thing. It's just a ticking time bomb until I'm scooped up with this stuff and served to some hungry customer. I had just been a cleaning instrument, and now I was food. Well I felt sorry for the poor sap who was going to end up eating my disgusting body. Man, if I ended up in food, makes you wonder how much other stuff from the floor ends up here, huh? 

This was all my mind could think about to distract myself from the inevitable reality I was in. I wasn't getting helped. It was impossible to get anyone's attention. What was even the point anymore...

I awoke when a bright light assaulted my eyes. I must have passed out from pure exhaustion. Well, any sleep is sleep, I suppose. I felt the world around me shake as a massive figure walked into the giant fridge. I immediately recognized it as Mindy, one of our longest tenured associates. She was a good worker. I saw her briefly searching for something before a hand reached out and my world started shaking violently. She was grabbing the container of chicken salad I was in. I guess this was it. My time was limited. 

^^^

Mindy had just gotten into work, ready to begin her long eight hour shift for the day. She worked on the line, helping to make and prep food for all those hungry customers. She herself was pretty short, only barely reaching five feet tall, so she needed some help getting to things situated high up. Otherwise, she was great at her job and well liked amongst all the other associates. Her favorite manager? Tim, of course! He knew she was a great worker and would usually reward her hard work with free food and the like. 

Mindy really cared about other people, and hearing the news of this bizarre sickness going around that shrank people scared her. What if it happened to her? What if it happened to her child? In a way she was glad to be at work, cause she knew that if the worst case scenario did happen, there would be a whole lot of people around to keep her safe. Not like anyone could miss a whole person getting shrunken down so easily. Obviously this wouldn't be her first choice, but if she did end up catching, this place would be pretty safe.

She didn't like thinking about this, it was already making her anxious. The first thing she was sent off to do when she clocked in was go to the fridge and pick up more chicken salad. Apparently there was an order for some and there was nothing on the line! Just great. Well, the work kept her busy, so for that she was grateful. She quickly grabbed the stuff from the fridge and headed back to the line to start helping out.

vvv

If I wasn't being held tightly in place by food, I would have flown all over the place. Mindy had grabbed the container I was in and effortlessly lifted it from the shelf it was on. She grabbed onto it and began to walk towards the line where it was needed. I couldn't move, not even my neck or head, so I was stuck staring in one direction. Facing right back at me was the giant width of Mindy's cleavage. Normally I would never look at such a thing at work--they're my associates and it would be wrong--but right now I had no choice. I could have just closed my eyes, but a part of me was mesmerized by it. Staring down into the void between her breasts made me feel smaller than ever. This plastic container was saving me right now, if I had fallen down between them...I would never get found.

Not like I had a chance in my current predicament anyway. 

The valley of Mindy's cleavage vanished as she set down the container with me in it. I heard the ripping of plastic wrap getting removed up above, before I was plopped down into a refrigerated station. The only thing in front of me was the gray slick wall of the station. Above me I hear a gooey slurping sound as multiple scoops of the chicken salad is removed from the container. It was only a matter of time before I was in one of them, huh? Well, that time was sooner than I thought. The food around me started shaking as I hear the familiar goopy slurp noise. And then I began to rise. Because of my place inside the container, I was right at the top of the scoop, nothing holding me in there aside from the sticky chicken salad I was coated in. I looked down from high above right towards the bed of tomato and lettuce that would be my grave. I wasn't even going to be able to see who would eat me. Perhaps that was for the best. I closed my eyes, not wanting to accept this reality. Before long, a falling feeling took over my body. I was going down.

^^^

Mindy grabbed another scoop of chicken salad and got ready to place it down to complete the sandwich. She noticed a small chunk of it fall out, but not like it mattered. The customer would be okay if they were missing a small bit. It landed on the floor with an inaudible plop. Mindy turned around to bring the sandwich to the counter, and inadvertently stepped right onto the tiny little glob of chicken salad. She didn't even react or care and kept going on with her work.

Mindy was wearing a pair of slip resistant work crocs. On the line the floor got messy and greasy and to be safe she wore the right shoes. They had some deep and big treads on them to easily grip the floor and prevent and dangerous slips. Of course the downside was that often bits and pieces of grime and food would get lodged in there. It was such a natural occurrence she paid it no mind at all whenever she accidentally stepped on something. By the time she had turned back around to keep making more sandwiches, she had forgotten that she had even stepped on anything at all. It was that insignificant to her, and everyone else, really. It was an eight hour shift, she was going to step on a lot of stuff during it. One little glob of meat was meaningless in the end.

vvv

I didn't feel the soft and wet landing of tomato, so I opened my eyes. Instead of the red coloring of a freshly cut tomato slice, I saw the dark, dirty red coloring of the tile floor. In an instant my face slammed down right onto the unforgiving floor with a splat. Some chicken salad had come with me and now covered my body completely. My eyes were open but all I saw was darkness as my face was flush against the dirty floor. I can only assume a small glob had fallen from the scoop right onto the ground. How fortunate that it was the same glob I was in. I could finally move again, all I had to do was remove this glob of saucy meat on top of me and I'd be free. There was a chance for me to save myself. There was a chance I could get out of this!

A resounding thump echoed around me as the darkness that surrounded me was made even darker. My arms and legs which had previously been free where shoved and mushed into the thick goop and chicken, effectively combining me with that food product. I felt everything compact around me in the darkness, as the thick sauce coated me fully. Any movement I had previously was gone. My arms and legs were bound inside the goop. My face and chest were exposed but I had barely any movement in them. My face was still flush against the tile floor, but there wasn't any force being pushed down on it thankfully. My only question was: what the heck happened? 

I got my answer. A massive force lifted me into the air as light flooded my eyes. For a brief--very brief--instance, I caught glimpse of the world around. Red tiles, the station where we make food. It was all a blur, happening in a fraction of a second. Before I could even register what I was seeing I saw the red tile coming in faster than ever, before my face went flush with the dingy tile once more. I knew exactly what had happened. I had been stepped on, again. The glob of chicken salad that had landed on the floor with me must have been stepped on, and now it--and me---were lodged inside the treads of someone's shoes, likely Mindy's.

I was violently flung into the air again before images blurred past me and I was slammed into the tile floor once more. Everything was happening so fast. Within one second I was risen into the air, flew across the sky, and slammed back down into the floor. Multiple times. Most steps weren't even full ones. Just a quick rise only to be moved over a bit and right back down. My brain couldn't even process what I was seeing with each blur, because it was already been shown a new vision by then. Things were simply happening too fast for me to keep up with it. My eyes were straining to adjust to the constant swapping between light and dark. It was like rapidly covering and uncovering your eyes, while constantly swirling back and forth. I felt myself getting light headed and ready to pass out. It wasn't just the sight, either. My ears were being confused as well. In the darkness all I heard was muffled noises, but for the brief instance I was in the air I could hear everything. It was as if the treads were amplifying the sound from above, channeling it to my ears. Of course all I hear was fractions of words, but I could hear them regardless. 

Then everything stopped. It was muffled silence. It was dark. There was no movement. Mindy must have stopped moving at all. My mind took a moment to catch up to everything my body had just endured, syncing up the ordeal and processing what I had dealt with. One thing I noticed was that my face was no longer against the tile floor. It appears the glob I was in had gone deeper inside the treads, sparing my face from the punishment of the floor. At least there was that. I took advantage of the calmness to try and free my arms and legs from the bond they had formed with the sauce. It was easier said than done. The time that had expired and the air currents had begun to congeal the gooey sauce. If I didn't do something soon, this stuff was gonna form an unbreakable paste--with me still in it!

Everything started up again in an instant. All I could do was scream at the sudden motion as a blur of familiar images raced past me before I was unceremoniously sent into the darkness once again. Only for it to repeat, and repeat, and repeat over and over again. Multiple steps within seconds, for several minutes. Hundreds of steps building up in no time at all, and none of them with any concern for my safety or well-being at all. After several dozen cycles of small steps and periods of darkness, things changed. Mindy started walking with regular steps, changing how I was flown across the world. 

I was lifted into the air like normal, but instead of only going up I was thrown backwards as well, feeling myself tilt upside down as Mindy began her step. For a brief instance I saw the world behind Mindy, albeit everything was flipped. I saw other associates standing there working, and the place I knew so well as my job. Everyone was going about their day like nothing was different. To them, nothing was. I was rushed forward at a speed faster than I've ever felt as Mindy took her step forward. All I could do was scream as the wind current blasted me with force before things slowed down for a fraction of a second. I was left looking down at the familiar red tile before her shoe slammed down and all was dark again.

Once again I was lifted up and facing upside down as Mindy began her step. I saw the other associates, this time a bit further away, before the rush started as she began to go forward. This time, the force was too much for the miniscule blob, and both it and me were flung out from between Mindy's treads and smacked right onto the ground with a loud plop...to me anyway. Nobody above heard it. During the fall the glob and me had flipped, so I found myself facing upwards towards the ceiling. Looking forward, I saw the other associates standing where I had just seen them a second prior. I was evening seeing them upside down again. Four of our women associates were all standing there chatting, going about as if I wasn't mere feet away from them. Then I started laughing. I was free from Mindy's shoe treads. Haha, this was perfect. There was still time to get myself out of this glob before it congealed completely. I began to struggle and move about to free my arms and legs, and that was when I heard a loud thud from ahead. I looked forward, and my stomach sank. The four women who were just standing there chatting, were now walking right towards my position.

I let out a panicked scream as the hoard of women casually strolled toward my puny place on the floor. I wiggled and struggled to free myself from the bonds I was in, but it was useless. In an instant they were all upon me. The noise from their combined footsteps blasted at my ears, drowning out the tears and sobs I was creating as I helplessly laid there. I looked up at them and could make out smiles on their faces. They weren't even looking down. Any one of them could have stepped on me and wouldn't even know or care. Then they were there. In an instant I was surrounded by various pairs of shoes on every side. By pure luck, none of them had stepped on me, but I did look ahead and see a massive mass of rubber. Someone had stepped right in front of me, and as they began to take another step...I was sent flying.

The blob and I were violently kicked forward. I was sent spiraling through the air. We landed with a smack, the thick goo plopping down on the tile and sticking where it landed. I once more found myself with my face flush against the tile floor, unable to see anything. But I heard the thuds of their steps fading away. They were past me, and I was safe. Well, safe may not have been the best word, as I was still right in the middle of the pathway completely helpless. The sauce glob that covered my arms and legs was getting thicker, and it was getting harder and harder to move at all. I had to do something, fast.

^^^

It had been a busy morning with lots of walking back and forth making sandwiches, but Mindy got through it just fine. Once things slowed down she headed to the back to restock some things before going back to her position. During the breakfast rush, lots of stuff had fallen on the floor, and Mindy had inadvertently stepped on a lot of it. The treads of her shoes had collected a good deal of this debris. Not a big deal, it was nothing a good cleaning couldn't remove. But she had to get through the rest of her shift before any of that. 

As Mindy was walking back, she unknowingly stepped right down onto a tiny little glob of chicken salad--the same one she had stepped on earlier. She didn't even notice it happened as the glob was so insignificant compared to what else was lodged in her shoe treads. As she stepped down on the glob, it compacted and was pushed into the groove. As it was, that specific groove already had a bunch of grime and debris built up in it. The sticky sauce of the chicken salad congealed and combined with the other filth, creating one big block of muck, and essentially cementing it inside the tread. It wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon. A small bit of the gunk was sticking out past the edge of the tread, but with enough steps it would be flattened out in due time. How else would it make room for even more gunk to get stuck? Completely unaware of everything that had happened under her shoe, Mindy kept working, focused solely on doing her job, and doing it well.

vvv

An immense weight pressed down upon me, instantly flattening me against the grungy tile floor. I let out a cry of agony as I felt the thick gooey chicken salad bend and contort upwards along with my arms and legs. I hear a sickening slurp sound from above me as my arms and legs go fully vertical and get mashed up against the side of the rubber treads of the shoe. I screamed out in pain as my body contorted under the crushing weight. My arms and legs were shooting straight up in the air, covered with thick goop and smushed around inside of it. My face and chest was flat against the tile floor with a heavy weight pushing down on me. And then I was lifted up.

Once again I was in the air, facing upside down at the world behind me, before being flung forward. The red tile floor came rushing up as Mindy stepped down, and I was mercilessly smashed into the unforgiving floor. My face was brutally crushed into the floor with absolutely no remorse. I scream out in agony as Mindy puts the full force of her weight down upon me. As she begins to take another step, she lightly drags her shoe across the ground. An insignificant gesture to her. To me, my body was viciously scraped against the merciless tiles. While unnoticeable to regular people, the tile floor was jagged and rough. Filled with sharp and spikey bumps all over. Getting through it was easy when I could walk, but being forcefully drug across it was complete and pure agony. As I got pulled backwards, the bumps stuck into my clothes and began to puncture holes into them. My face was scratched up and brutalized. And all of that was only one step.

^^^

As soon as Mindy got back with a few things to restock, she realized she forgot some things. She had to walk all the way back to the fridge in the back, only to find it wasn't even there! Just great! With that, she had to walk even further back into the store where all the unprepped ingredients were stored to grab some. Not to mention she'd have to walk all the way back! At least she was getting her steps in today. 

vvv

Once again I was mercilessly smashed into the jagged floor as Mindy put her foot down. I didn't feel as much force against the floor as last time, as if I was further away from it. It still stung horribly though. It happened once more as she started up, dragging her foot against the tile. My clothes got more and more holes and my face got more and more brutalized. This continued step after step after step it felt as if it would never end. By the eight step, my clothing had been torn to shreds. I was left with nothing but tatters, exposing my body and removing the last bit of substance that made me feel human. By the twelfth step, I had been coated in a slick layer of grime picked up from constantly being pressed into the floor. By the twenty-seventh step, I was indistinguishable from the very grime and debris I was stuck in.

^^^

Mindy got back to her position with all the stuff she needed. She stood as she put everything in it's proper place before taking a small step forward, where she inadvertently stepped directly onto a small chunk of avocado that had fallen on the floor. Yuck. Unlike other debris she had stepped on previously, the slick paste of the avocado would ruin the "resistant" part of her slip-resistant shoes, that was a hazard she didn't want to deal with. To counteract that, she began to gently stomp and grind her shoe across the tiles to get off whatever bits and pieces of it that she could. 

Once she was satisfied with that, she finished up before a coworker came up. They two got into a nice conversation about whatever mundane thing they talk about. As they chatted Mindy raised her shoe up on her toes and began subconsciously shaking it back and forth, just a habit she had. 

vvv

After an uncountable amount of steps, I was smashed down into the tile floor once more and left there under the immense weight. Mindy had finally stopped walking, if only for a brief time. As she stood there the entirety of her weight bore down upon me. It stayed like that for a few moments before I was lifted up again and flung forward, expecting to see the red tile floor I had become so acquainted with. Instead, I saw a field of green.

With a loud splork sound, my body melted right through the green paste, which I discovered was avocado when it was forcefully mashed into my mouth and nostrils. I felt myself rising up in the air, but the green paste had covered my entire face and coated my eyeballs completely. All I saw was darkness. Everything stopped moving for a second, before I felt the world begin to fall. Fast.

In an instant I was smashed into the floor with more force and pressure than any normal step. I cry out in complete and utter agony as avocado paste is shoved into my mouth. I was lifted up once again very briefly before being pulverized into the floor once more with the same force as before. Even through the layer of avocado paste coating me I could feel every little bump and jagged spike from the floor piercing me. I was squashed and smashed and slammed over and over onto the unforgiving and merciless tile floor. My agonizing screams and pleadings were ignored completely as the relentless onslaught of stomping continued, the force and pressure being exerted on me never once letting up. In fact, they only increased in strength and brutality. By the sixth stomp, the avocado paste had been embedded into my skin and sunk deep into pores all over my body. Any cut or scratch on me had been patched up with grime and muck. And with one final stomp, everything stopped. The assault was over.

Then the grinding started.

Instead of being lifted up, my body was instead forcefully dragged backwards. The rough, bumpy, jagged hills of the tile floor tore into me as I was rushed past it. On the bright side, my eyes weren't covered with avocado gook anymore. That was because the tile floor has tore it completely off my face. By now whatever shreds of clothing had still be attached to me were totally obliterated, leaving me exposed and naked. For a fraction of a second, everything came to a stand still. Then without even lifting off the ground, I began to be dragged forward the way I had just come. Only now there was more weight and pressure being pushed down on me, crushing me deeper and harder into the jagged spikes that made up the tile flooring. 

My now exposed groin was being flattened directly into the rough and ragged hills, there was no pleasure to be gained from it. My face, still facing directly downwards into the floor, my nose flush and flat against the tile, was drug and scraped through the crevices. All the while spiny pokey chips stabbed and struck into me, cutting me up, only for those wounds to immediately get filled and patched up with some grime. Without ever leaving the floor, I was ground back and forth, front and back across the tiles. Each swipe had the pressure increase further and further until there was nowhere left for my body to go. By the third swipe, my exposed private parts had been so smashed and flattened they were like crudely drawn pictures on a piece of paper. Strands of my hair that hadn't yet gotten matted down with grime got tangled up on spikes from the tile floor. The sheer force of the grinding caused those patches of my hair to be ripped straight out of the roots. My pained cries turned into agonizing sobs as I begged and pleaded for this horrific ordeal to end. My pleas were completely ignored, and it only got worse.

Even more pressure was exerted down upon my body, smashing and compacting me even further into the hellish landscape. Three more swipes ensued, each with exponentially more weight bearing down on me than the one prior. By the end, my entire body was coated with grime. Muck had been ground and mashed deep inside of my skin. Open wounds had been sealed off with the filth. My eyes had been plastered with pure grime, the likes of which stopped them from getting torn to shreds by the jagged tiles. My nostrils and mouth were packed with rancid foodstuff. My clothing had been torn apart and I now wore muck all over. There was nothing even recognizable as human anymore.

But hey, at least there was no more avocado on me!

With one more swipe backwards the gunk covering my eyes was ripped off and blinding light blasted my sight. Looking forward I saw the expanse of the world ahead of me, but it was all upside down. Then things started to move. It was slow at first, just a slight sideways movement, left to right to left. Back and forth. Then the speed picked up. Then it got faster. And faster. And the movement became erratic. Everything became a blur. My gut filled with muck was coming back up from the constant motion. I began to feel light-headed from the unending rush. 

Things died down and became calm, letting me rest. I realized that, despite being far down below them, I was able to hear voices from above. Something about the acoustics that allowed their voices to drift down to my lowly position. It gave me hope that if I shouted loud enough, perhaps my voice could carry to them. Perhaps I could get someone's attention. Perhaps, I could escape this hell. I begin to scream as loud as I possibly could. I called out for help, begging and pleading for rescue. I said my predicament. Told them my situation. Said anything to get my voice out there. I laid out my entire ordeal in the hopes that someone would hear and help me. There was a short pause from the voices above, as if they had heard my plea and were letting it sink in. Then there was a response.

A boisterous laugh, bellowing out and exploding into my ears. A laugh. I had just poured my heart out in a plea to be saved, and all that came from it was my unknowing tormentor laughing at me. It was clear that she wasn't actually laughing at me. I was kidding myself, I was simply too small and insignificant for my voice to ever even dream of reaching their ears. But a laugh was a laugh. I was down here in agony, suffering through an ordeal no human should have to suffer through. Being treated as less than dirt. And the person doing it to me was meanwhile enjoying themselves. Chatting up other regular people and laughing at jokes and probably smiling without a care in the world, completely oblivious to the hell I was undergoing by their actions. 

Tears began forming in my eyes. I started crying uncontrollably. The reality of the situation was more sunk in than the grime in my skin. I was never getting help. I was never getting out of there. This was my life now, like it or not. Another laugh erupted from above, as if my thoughts were hysterical. My eyes filled with tears and muck, I could barely see before everything rushed forward and the world went dark once more. I was scraped and ground across the floor again, just the like the dirt I was.

^^^

Mindy's phone was ringing. She checked who it was real quick and saw it was from her babysitter. If she was calling Mindy at work, then it must be something important. Mindy excused herself from the line and headed to the back where it was quieter to take the call. She stopped just near the mop and cleaning area. She was focused on the call she didn't even register the fact she had stepped down right on a little puddle of water. It was barely any, not like it would cause any problems anyway.

Her babysitter had called because she was certain Mindy's kid had gotten smaller from the virus. In reality, that wasn't the case and the babysitter was simply overreacting to perceived danger. Mindy herself was understandably worried about the possibility of her child contracting that virus, but that wasn't the case here. She did her best to calm the babysitter down and reassure the precautions they've set up in case something does happen. The entire call, Mindy had been subconsciously lifting and lowering her foot. It was another habit she did when nervous or worried. It was only like an inch or less. Funnily enough she was doing it to the same foot that had stepped down in the water. Harmless, really.

During the call Mindy had nothing but the utmost concern and care for her child. That was all that was on her mind: her kid's safety and livelihood. Her kid who was currently asleep in a deep and peaceful sleep, away from any danger or any harm whatsoever. Meanwhile, she had not even a single iota of concern or care for the well-being of her boss who she was currently, and unknowingly, putting through a cycle of hellish torment. He was the furthest thing from her mind right now, never even hearing the puny, inaudible pleas begging her to stop. 

vvv

I endured several more steps. They were familiar, a comforting pain. I knew I could count on the horrific crushing weigh of being stepped on to remind me of the place I was in. Of the world I now belonged to. My body was getting desensitized to it. What was another step when I've already endured several hundred of them? I was beginning to resign myself to the fact that this was my life. I was going to be here forever. My mind went numb as I started to accept that fact. Then I was brought back to reality as a splash of water exploded into my face.

It happened in an instant, giving me absolutely no time to prepare. I was completely submerged within the water, taking in gallons by the mouthful and struggling to get any air as I was unable to hold my breath before. Just as quickly as it had happened, I was lifted out of the water. I desperately gasped for breath, trying to get any air I could. I only had a fraction of a second before I was slammed down and submerged once more. Again I took in mouthfuls of water as my scream continued from the descent. 

I was only underwater for a fraction of a second but it felt like an eternity. My body once again rose from the depths and I gasped for breath once more. I was only in the air for a fraction of a second but it felt like instantly I was rushed back beneath the water. I was only surviving on the molecules of oxygen I was able to breath in before being submerged. I had been dunked over and over several times, and in reality it had only been ten seconds. I had endured a lot of stuff since this all happened, but this...this was actual torture. Hellish, demented torture I wouldn't wish on the evilest of people. And it was being inflicted upon me by my young employee, who had no idea I was even there. 

Despite each rise and fall only being a fraction of a second, it was never the same fraction. Meaning it was impossible to time my desperate breaths for air. Half the time I managed to get a particle of air, and the other half I only ended up sucking in mouthful after mouthful of water. Due to my new body structure thanks to this forsaken virus, I was in no actual danger of dying, but my body still felt as if I was drowning. That feeling of just barely gasping for air never left. The horrific agonizing pain of struggling to breath. The crushing feeling of my chest about to collapse on me. I was forced to endure all of this while being completely and utterly helpless to do anything. Literally the only thing I was able to do was scream out for this torture to stop, something that just caused more water to flood into my mouth. Every second felt like an eternity.

This hellish cycle continued for ten straight minutes.

^^^

Mindy hung up the phone. Apparently she had been on the call for ten minutes? Wow, felt like it had only been a minute or two, haha. She walked back to the line, never even noticing she had stepped down on a small puddle or the wet footprints she left behind. Once she got back she apologized for her absence and started helping them out with a small rush that had formed. Once that was done, things were calm again and they could take a short break, restock, and prepare for whatever came next.

During the downtime, Mindy's co-worker Yancy came up and they started a conversation. It started out simple enough until Yancy brought up the whole SHRK-2 virus going around. 

"Did you hear?" Yancy asked. "They found another one. This poor dude was found stuck in some gum under someone's shoe. Turns out his whole airway was blocked with the stuff and he couldn't breath. What a way to go."

Mindy looked on, horrified at what Yancy had just told her. "Why are you telling me that?" she asked, annoyed. "I don't want to hear that!"

"Yeah but we should all know, right? So we can keep those virus people safe. That's what they say at least," Yancy said, with a nearly inaudible chuckle to herself. "Imagine you stepped on some poor sap, they're down there struggling and you're the only one that could save them."

Mindy's eyes widened as she hurriedly took her shoe off and brought it up. She flipped it over to observe the soles. "You don't think..." she trailed off.

"You never know," Yancy said, hiding a giggle to herself. 

Mindy held her shoe in her hand and looked over the sole of it. It was actually fairly clear, like it had been washed fairly recently. There was only a small area with a bit of gunk built up in the treads. She leaned in a bit closer to this tiny blob and looked for any signs of a person.

vvv

The torture ended. I was brought back to the welcoming comfort of being trampled on over and over again. I was crying tears of joy to finally have the cold embrace of the grimy tile floor slammed into my face mercilessly once again. This continued on for a good while. It's wild that I had grown accustomed to the horribleness that was being stepped on over and over. Maybe I was really starting to become my role...

NO! I couldn't think like that! I'm a human, and I have to keep thinking like one. As soon as that thought occurred, a radically different feeling happened as I was whisked upwards and sideways. A blinding bright light burst into my eyes as the shoe and I were flipped upside down, facing the ceiling and the fluorescent bulbs attached to it. And something else was up above as well. Mindy.

Hovering above me like a goddess was the face of Mindy staring down into my world between the treads of her shoe. I was in stunned silence for a moment, unable to move or act or do anything. I have no idea what had transpired to lead to this fortunate fate, but this was my one, my only chance at getting someone's attention. I could tell she was talking to someone, but I was so lost in the mesmerizing view that I couldn't really comprehend what she was saying or who she was talking to. After a few seconds, my brain caught up with everything that happened, and I knew I had to spring into action.

I belted out a scream as loud as I was physically able to. Help! I shouted at the top of my lungs. Mindy! Help me! I kept shouting non stop, desperate for her to hear me. The only body parts I was able to move was my head and my right hand. The rest of me was either buried in grime or too squished and compacted to move. I bobbed my head around as if I was in a heavy metal concert and waved my free hand about in any way it would move, all while shouting non-stop. 

Mindy's face grew massive as she approached my place. Her eye alone looked like an endless sea, and it was staring right at me. She was looking for something, looking for me! I kept shouting. I kept waving. I kept doing whatever I was capable of to get noticed. Her looming eye continued to stare down at my position. She was going to see me. I was going to get seen. I was going to get helped. I was going to get back to normal. 

As if to mock my thoughts, a rumbling laugh erupted up above. A powerful voice burst out, still laughing in-between words. Upon hearing them, my heart sank. No....NO! Mindy's looming eye moved away and her face rose up, away from where I was. My salvation was leaving. Then she began to speak. The proximity allowed me to hear clearly what each person was saying. I couldn't believe it. Tears formed in my eyes, and I began sobbing uncontrollably. 

^^^

Yancy let out a boisterous laugh seeing Mindy staring into the sole of her shoe. "You actually fell for it!" Yancy said, laughing. 

Mindy turned her attention off her shoe and back onto Yancy. "What?" she asked.

"I made it up," Yancy said, smirking. "There was no guy stuck in gum, haha. I was just trying to scare you, and it worked!"

"That's not funny!" Mindy said. "You made me think I actually stepped on someone." 

"Yeah right," Yancy said. "Anyone with SHRK-2 would have to be stupid to actually get stepped on. Besides, there's so many people here. We'd see anyone that it happened to. Probably the safest place for it to happen is here," Yancy said, laughing to herself. 

Mindy glanced back down at her shoe, at the small little glob stuck in her treads. She was annoyed that she fell for such an obvious trick. Of course she didn't step on anyone! She hadn't heard about anyone in the area getting effected by it. Not to mention, even if she had stepped on someone, she would have easily been able to see or hear them when she looked. And all she saw in that glob was some gross debris. Definitely no human, haha. 

"Not funny," Mindy said, not able to hide a slight smile at the practical joke. She lightly tapped Yancy with her shoe before dropping it down to the ground and putting it back on. 

vvv

No! You did step on someone! You did step on me! I shouted and shouted and waved my arms and did absolutely anything, but it was too late. Mindy hadn't seen me. She hadn't heard me. And now she was convinced it was entirely impossible for her to have even stepped on someone. Any chance of getting noticed was gone. That was it. It was over. My life was over. I was flung around again inside of the treads before a falling feeling took over. The familiar tile floor came rushing into me, my body slamming into it full force before an immense weight pressed down on me, smashing and crushing my face into the grungy tile. Right where I belonged.

^^^

"Hey, Mindy," one of the managers came up to the line. "We got a delivery that needs to go out right now. You up for it?"

"Yeah, I can go," Mindy said. A delivery? Sounded like an easy few bucks for the delivery fee, and a quick break from work. Mindy gathered up the food she needed and walked out to her car. She placed the food in the back seat, made sure it was secure, and climbed into the driver's seat and took off.

vvv

I spent several more minutes being trampled over and over again. It was just how it was, now. I barely even reacted now as my face was pulverized into the bumpy tile floor. That was just what happened. It still hurt, I was still in complete and utter agony, but I was just starting to give up. I didn't really think it could get much worse than it was right now.

I was wrong.

The floor below turned into a soft and plush carpet, which felt quite nice. But it was short lived, as after a couple steps, the ground below turned into something horrific. The sidewalk. Long gone was the red tile I came to love, instead replaced by the grey coloring of pathway. My body was smashed down into it with Mindy's full weight, and the first thing I noticed was just how uneven and rough it was. 

The tile back in the store had been bumpy and jagged, but for the most part was actually quite smooth. The sidewalk was nothing but sharp, pointy spiked hills shooting up into the air. If I had had any clothes left, they would have been instantly torn to shreds by the ragged hills of the pavement. Instead, it was just my body been mutilated. By pure chance, no sharp spikes had been pierced into my body, them narrowly missing me by mere inches. That didn't mean I wasn't being bludgeoned by rough jagged hills. All I could do was scream out in horrible agony as unforgiving and bumpy pavement was mercilessly pressed into various places all over my body. One bump was crushing into my free hand, pulverizing it into the depths of the muck and ensuring I was able to move it. Another bump was situated right under my eye, threatening to tear it apart if I even dared blink. One more bump was being smashed right into my crotch, flattening my private parts into the second dimension. And that was all one step.

The cycle of steps continued several times, each time the bumps blasting into another body part of mine, each time causing immense and horrific agony. On one step, Mindy had inadvertently stepped right onto a discarded cigarettes' butt, right where I was situated. My face was instantly smashed directly into the end of it. My screaming mouth was filled to the brim with ash from it. My nostrils were also clogged up with the smoky substance. The pungent taste of nicotine filled my lungs as I desperately wanted to cough and spew it from my mouth. The next step ensued and before I even had a chance to get a single particle of ash out, I was slammed back down to the pavement. This time a rough bump was located right where my open mouth was. Upon landing, all of the ash was thrust down my throat, forcing me to swallow it all. My throat burned in pain from the smoky ashes while my lungs scream in agony. 

Without a care in the world for the pain and suffering I was going through, my world lifted up once again as Mindy took a step before I started being violently slammed down and pulverized into the unforgiving sidewalk on repeat. The hellish cycle continued several more times, the sidewalk even changing to a deep black coloring to signify that Mindy had stepped onto the road. Different color, but still agonizing to be smashed into. It was only a few dozen steps after that when things changed. I felt myself get lifted up as usual, except this time it was higher than normal. The setting around me changed completely. I was no longer outside. Mindy had entered her car. My mind instantly thought of the nice mats on the floor. They would be much, much more forgiving than the brutal sidewalk from outside. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the plush carpeted mats below. But I got confused as they soared across with no sign of coming closer to where I was in the shoe tread. Instead, I scream as I saw I was heading straight for brake pedal.

^^^

Mindy drove to the destination. It was uneventful. 

vvv

The filthy, disgusting, dirt covered brake pedal came rushing up to me, and an instant later I was slammed right into a pack of caked-in dirt. Dry, flaky particles of dirt erupted into my mouth, mixing with my saliva to create a muddy paste that coated the entirety of my throat. My nostrils were completely clogged with giant mounds of old, dusty dirt that forced me to keep my mouth open just to obtain whatever air I could from my position. Because of this, I was utterly helpless when Mindy pushed down with a bit more force, driving my wide open mouth deeper and further into the caked in grime. Piles upon piles of dirt was shoveled brutally into my mouth as I was pushed more and more into the crud. There was absolutely nothing I could do as more and more and more dirt was forced down my throat. Finally the pressure began to relent, and I felt myself rising into the air. Light came back into my eyes as I saw the brake pedal getting further away as Mindy moved her foot. It didn't move far, as a mere half a second later, I saw the brake's counterpart: The gas pedal.

Even from my vantage I could tell the gas pedal was much dirtier than the brake, and naturally I was heading straight for it. In an instant I was once again smashed directly into a mound of dried up and crispy dirt that had been caked into the pedal for who knows how long. My nostrils were already clogged, but that didn't stop even more dirt from being shoved in them from the sheer force that was upon me, compacting everything even further. Even more mounds of dirt and grime from years prior was shoveled into my mouth. It constantly mixed with any remaining saliva in my mouth creating a muddy muck that easily slid down my throat against my will. My body naturally wanted to convulse against the force feeding, but it was so compacted and mashed into the grime in Mindy's tread that it did nothing. The only thing that fidgeted was my head back and forth, a motion that only served to scrape up and shove even more dirt and filth into my mouth and down my throat, repeating the cycle. I began to involuntarily cry due to the pure abuse my body was suffering through. My tears began to mix with the otherwise dry dirt and started making mud. I was in pure darkness beneath her shoe, yet my eyes had still be forced open due to the sheer pressure, coating them with the mud. As Mindy pushed down to drive, I was pressed deeper into the muck, and likewise, the mud was being pulverized into my eyeballs. As my face was mushed further in, the tears continued to produce more and more mud, all of which was violently compressed into my wide open eyeballs. All of this occurred within three seconds. The trip took twenty-five minutes.

During the trip Mindy would consistently switch from gas to brake, and took me along with it. Each time she was sure to place my puny body in a different spot, with fresh dirt to be shoved into me. With my body buried in grime and my face completely covered with mud and dirt, I couldn't see anything that was happening. I felt it though. I felt my body lift from the gas before being slammed down onto the brake and vice versa. I felt the thick dirt being shoved into all of my orifices. I felt the crushing defeat that this was to be the rest of my life. Literally all I could do during the trip was cry, something that just made everything worse as more mud was jammed into my eyeballs. For very brief periods of time I heard loud music emanating from above, no doubt the radio, and Mindy happily singing along to the lyrics, completely oblivious and utterly unconcerned with the hell she was putting me through. After nearly an eternity of being brutalized, the resounding rumbling of the engine shut off and I knew that to mean Mindy had arrived wherever she was going. And that meant one thing: she was going to start walking again.

^^^

Mindy arrived at the delivery address pretty quickly. She grabbed the food and receipt from her car and began walking to the building. Unfortunately there wasn't any sidewalk or pathway to the entrance, which meant she would have to walk through the grass for a bit. Mindy didn't really like walking on the grass all that much. It was so uncomfortable to step on the uneven terrain sometimes. Ah well, it was the only way to the building. 

At the door there was a welcome mat. Having just walked through the grass, Mindy took the opportunity to wipe her feet as she waited for the guest to pick up their food. Once done, she exchanged food and got the signature for the order, and headed back.

Mindy got back to her car, and as she opened the door she accidentally dropped the receipt on the floor. She bent down to pick it up and for the first time in her life thought about the pedals of her car. They actually weren't that bad, just a few bits of dirt on them. Not like it mattered, the pedals were where her shoes went. Nobody was getting up close and personal with the pedals, haha. She got in the car, buckled up, and turned on the radio to get back to the music for the ride back.

vvv

Mindy put her foot down onto the pavement of the driveway. I know this because the jagged, rough, spiny spikes of the pavement pierced through the dirt and grime covering me and jabbed me in the face and body. As she was going around and picking up the food from her car, her steps on the pavement tore apart at my body and the dirt that had been caked into my face. On one step I felt the bumpy hills of the pavement pressing right where my eyes were. If there hadn't been a thick layer of muck compacted into my eyeballs, those spines would have been in me. As Mindy began to step, she didn't lift her foot and instead her shoe dragged across the pavement. This caused the spines that had been pushed into the muck to violently tear off the mud covering my eyes. My nostrils were stilled completely clogged up, leaving my mouth to stay open just to gather any air I could. As Mindy took her next step, my newly freed eyes were blinded by bright light, until her step continued and I saw where she was stepping down next.

Down below was a massive jungle, which in reality was just a lawn. Mindy stepped down, pushing me through all the foliage and down to the deep dark soil below. Due to the terrain, I actually didn't end up getting slammed into the dirt. Instead, my face was just a mere few centimeters away. The next step I wasn't so lucky. As I flew through the canopy of grass, my face was slammed down into the dark soil. Unlike the dried, caked in dirt from the pedal, this stuff was damp and sticky. As she began her other step, all of her weight bore down upon me, pushing me more and more into the soil. My mouth was filled with the damp stuff, reinvigorating all the dried dirt from before. As Mindy rose her foot, several globs of sticky soil adhered to my face. My eyes were still clear, but that just allowed me to see the soil coming up as Mindy stepped down again. 

After another few rounds of being smashed into soil, my face was entirely covered with the sticky and damp dirt. As Mindy stepped off the grass, the globs over my eyes fell off, luckily not stuck on too deep. It would have been better if they had been stuck covered. On the next step I saw Mindy about to step down on a giant bed of thick fibrous threads jutting into the sky. A door mat. 

As Mindy put her foot down onto the mat, the prickly, rough and stiff threads of the door mat were smashed into me. My eyes were the first victims as the strands were mercilessly jabbed into my eyeballs with absolutely no remorse at all. Then she started grinding her shoe. I was pulled backwards as the threads of the mat tore into my body, threatening to rip off all the dirt, and the rest of me. After the first swipe, Mindy rose her foot a slight bit before lowering it down directly onto the mat once again with force.

This time I was doubly assaulted. One of the threads brutally smashed into my entire face, while the threads easily cut through the thick layer of grime coating my entire body and collided with my bare and exposed genitals. My crotch screamed in utter agony as Mindy's weight increased, pressing the thick, spiky strands even harder into my private parts. At the same moment the other strands tore apart my face scraping all of the sticky damp soil off of it with ease. Then I started getting swiped backwards. One of the thick strands had loosely wrapped around my member, and as the shoe moved, it was violently yanked along with it. A good layer of grime had been ripped off as well, slowly unveiling my body from the grimy tomb. A new thought entered my mind. If she kept doing this, the grime keeping me in her soles would be gone, and I would fall into the abyss of the door mat. I was actually hoping that I would stay with Mindy, now. 

This horrific ordeal went on another three times. Caught in the crossfire of the door mat was my crotch several times, along with my face and even my one free hand was forcefully shoved backwards. By the end of Mindy's swipes, a lot of the grime holding me in place had been removed. At the same end, my puny body had been pushed further back as well, keeping me sealed inside and unable to fall out. As Mindy stood on the mat, the threads no longer even reached me as I was so pushed back. In addition, nearly all of my body was now completely buried. The only thing not submerged inside the muck was my face. Even the back half of my head was engulfed in the grime, it was only the front half of my face that stood out just beyond my ears, and it was completely immobilized. While the door mat had removed a lot of the debris in her shoe treads, it had compacted and compressed the rest of it. I felt the tight cocoon of grime surrounding me all over. There was quite literally nothing I could do in this position except breath. I had become just a part of the grime in Mindy's shoe treads.

Mindy walking back to the car started pretty uneventful. I was so pushed in that my face no longer touched the ground as she walked, freeing me from the brutal abuse of her walking. After a few steps is when it happened. As Mindy took another step through the grass, I noticed something else down below in addition to the damp soil. It was a huge, massive creature with a bunch of legs and a few body parts...It was an ant. And I was heading straight towards it. The ant itself was too big to fit between the treads of Mindy's shoes, so instead as her foot came down, the ant was brutally crushed with body parts flung about from the enormous pressed of Mindy stepped down. As she put her foot down, all the light was extinguished, but I didn't need light to see what had happened.

Almost instantly after it happened, I felt a hot, sticky goop explode all over my face. The ants blood and guts. My mouth had been open due to my clogged up nose, so globs of the goop was blasted into my mouth. I even felt chunks of its mutilated body get thrown inside as well. My eyes weren't spared either as warm blobs of goo was spewn into my open eyeballs. I had no idea what it was but I felt either it's legs or antenna up against my face as well, with it being buried into the grime and wriggling against my body buried deep inside too. Mindy kept walking as if nothing happened. To her, nothing did. The ant was too small for her to even feel she had stepped on anything. 

As light floated into the treads from Mindy's step, the true realization of what had happened set in. Down between where my legs were buried as a massive chunk of the ant's body, jutting into the air. It was half buried into the grime, caught just like I was. Even worse, directly to my right was the massive head of the ant, staring right at me with it's big compound eye. It too was half buried in the grime and trapped. I first took note of just how big these body parts were. This was an ant, a freaking ant, and just a part of it's head and a part of it's body were giant compared to me. It's no wonder Mindy hadn't seen or heard me earlier. At my size I didn't even exist to her, I was in a completely other realm. Dread filled my stomach as the horrible conclusion sunk in. I was never going to get found. Even if I somehow got freed from this shoe tread, I was simply too small to be seen or heard. Mindy stepped down again onto the damp soil, plunging me into darkness and reminding me of my place in this world now.

The car ride back was largely uneventful. I no longer reached the pedal so I didn't have to suffer that ordeal again. Instead, I was left alone with my thoughts and the ants body parts to contemplate what to do now. What was there to do? I couldn't move. I couldn't even wiggle. What happened to me was completely out of my control, I just had to live with whatever Mindy did. All I could do was think about how this couldn't possibly get any worse than it was right now.

^^^

Mindy returned back to the café and got back to work. It was just her and Yancy on the line at the moment, so it was quite a bit of back and forth walking when there were orders to take care of. When there wasn't, that just meant more time for chit chat. During a break, Katrina, another manager at the café, came up and handed Mindy the tip money she had earned for the order previously. 

"That's it?" Mindy asked, jokingly. She was happy with whatever extra money she had. "Tim would have given me more," she said with a teasing giggle. "I'm his favorite employee." She said this as she perched her foot up on the toes and swung it back and forth.

"Is that so?" Katrina asked, teasing her back. "Thought he went on vacation to get away from you," she said with a smile. 

"Ha ha, funny," Mindy said. She brought her foot back down, dragging it across the floor. "Oh my god you know Yancy tried to trick me into thinking I stepped on one of those small sick people."

"Yancy!" Katrina scolded her while Yancy let out a chuckle. After a short pause, Katrina asked "You didn't, did you?"

"No of course not!" Mindy asserted. "I would never!" Mindy kicked off her shoe and brought it up. All three of them looked down at the sole. The treads were very clean, with only a couple small splotches of dirt here and there. "See if there was someone here they'd be like calling for help or something."

There was a short silent period where all three women looked down at the sole of Mindy's shoe, before Katrina broke the silence. "Oh my god is that Tim?" she gasped. 

"Oh I see him!" Yancy confirmed. 

"What?" Mindy shouted. She looked right where Yancy was pointing and only saw some dirt. She leaned in close but she was certain all she was looking at was some dirt. Just then, both Yancy and Katrina busted out laughing. 

"She fell for it again," Yancy said in-between giggles. Even Katrina was laughing, being apart of the joke. 

"That's not funny!" Mindy said. "What if I actually stepped on him?"

"You didn't," Katrina said, silencing the laughs. "He's hundreds of miles away, probably having way more fun than we are right now, haha."

"Yeah, but still," Mindy trailed off. She put her shoe back to the floor and put it back on. The three of them keep conversating about other topics and pretty soon the whole fake out they teased Mindy with had left her mind entirely. 

vvv

Being completely immobilized had pretty much drained any sense of urgency in me. What was the point? I was too small and nearly completely submerged beneath some grime between the treads of my associates shoes. Where I was now was beyond an afterthought. Even if Mindy did look at the bottom of her shoe. Even if she did look right into the groove I was in. What would she see? The crushed head of the ant was bigger than I was, not to mention literally only the front part of my face was exposed. I just laid there in silence as Mindy walked around the store, unconcerned with the filth under her shoe. 

Then I was lifted up rapidly, towards the bright light of the ceiling above. Staring down on my landscape was the massive face of Mindy once again. It wasn't just Mindy though, to the sides I also saw the gigantic faces of Katrina, my fellow manager, and Yancy, one of my other associates, staring down into my prison as well. All three of them were looking down, scanning the sole of the shoe. Had they realized I shrunk? Where they looking for me? Why...why else would all of them be looking at Mindy's shoe? 

I did the only thing I could do: shout. I screamed and yelled and shouted as loud as I was physically able to do. They were looking for me, and I was going to be found. I kept screaming, kept shouting, kept pleading and begging for attention and help. Tears fell down my cheeks as Yancy's eye hovered right over my position. I let out the most intense scream I ever have in my life, and in response...

"See if there was someone here they'd be like calling for help or something," Mindy's voiced bellowed down into the treads, echoing off the rubber walls. My heart sunk. I was calling for help. I was shouting. Yet it was clear Mindy hadn't heard me. But there was still Yancy and Katrina looking for me as well, so I didn't give up. I cursed my inability to move any single part of my body. Even if I could just fidget my head around it would help. As Katrina's giant eye scanned right over where I was, I let out another shout. That's when I heard something that got my heart pumping...

"Oh my god is that Tim?" Katrina's voice boomed down into my prison. She...she saw me! Katrina actually saw me trapped in here! I was going to be saved! A waterfall of tears cascaded down my cheeks as I happily shouted up to Katrina. 

"Oh I see him!" Yancy's voice blasted into my groove. Her massive finger appeared above, pointing down directly into the tread I was trapped inside of. They...they really did see me! I kept shouting and crying and smiling as I thought about finally getting out of this hell hole. This was going to be a crazy story to tell them, but anything would be worth ending this nightmare. Up above, Mindy's eye grew massive as it got closer and closer to the tread I was in. She was looking down directly at me, she was focused straight into my eyes. I just laughed in joy as this nightmare was finally over. Turns out I wasn't the only one laughing.

The loud boisterous laughs of Katrina and Yancy exploded down into my prison. I ceased all shouting as Mindy's eye hung over me like a massive UFO. All of my hopes were instantly crushed when I heard a mere five words.

"She fell for it again."

It was a joke. It had been a joke. Neither Karina nor Yancy had seen me. I was just being used to tease Mindy, with none of them realizing that I actually was there. Right under there eyes. Right where they were joking I was. It wasn't a joke. Everything around me went numb. I lost focus and just zoned out. This was it. The end. There was just nothing left anymore after this. I just stared straight ahead, motionless as Mindy's shoe fell to the floor again and the world went dark. 

^^^

Mindy still had a couple of hours left on her shift. She spent it just the same as always, making food, restocking, and just doing her job. After the shift she sat down at a booth for a brief period of time waiting for her ride. As she did she subconsciously dragged her feet across the carpeted area back and forth while scrolling through her phone. Once her ride was there she got up and left to finally head home. Later that night she cleaned out the treads of her work shoes as she usually did, dumping all the crud that fell off into the trash, right where it belonged.

vvv

Darkness. Blur of light. Darkness. Blur of light. That was my life as Mindy just kept walking. I didn't scream anymore, I hardly even reacted. My mouth was still open to breath as my nose was still clogged. I just breathed, it wasn't even voluntary at this point, just my body naturally trying to keep me alive in the hell I become accustomed to. I didn't even think anymore. I just lived my new life as grime under Mindy's shoe. My mind never even contemplated that it could get worse. But of course it did.

Instead of the usual red tile I had become accustomed to, Mindy managed to step down directly onto a piece of fallen chicken that had already been sitting on the floor for a while. Because of the previous ordeal with the door mat, there was plenty of room inside the tread to house more debris, so the warm slimy chicken easily got mushed and mashed into the tread with me. The old decapitated ant's head and it's body got smushed in closer to me, completely overtaking me to make room for the mounds of stringy chicken that were coming in. Not long after, Mindy must have stepped on something else as everything around me got even more compacted and crushed. 

Strands from the warm slimy chicken slid into my wide open mouth and down my throat. The giant eyeball of the ant was squashed down into my face, exploding into mush and spilling all over my own eyeballs and dripping down into my mouth, following the trail of the chicken right down my esophagus. For a while every single step Mindy took compressed and smushed everything deeper into the treads, and more into me. My face was swallowed up whole by the eyeball of the ant, leaking goop and guts down my throat. The same place that slimy, rancid chicken was being forced, with juice seeping off of it. I just accepted it. This was my place now. This was what I was.

There was just darkness and pressure. All light was extinguished due to the mass of muck I was concealed inside of. Even with my clogged nostrils, I could smell the scent of the grime I was in. The odor of decaying ant. The scent of expired chicken. It permeated through everything right into my nose. I was apart of that now. I believed that's all that was left. 

Then blinding light blasted into my eyes. I was flung and flipped and sent flying across the sky before landing down on a thick jungle of fuzzy colorful strands. As fate would have it, when Mindy was moving her feet back across the carpet, a rouge fiber had gotten latched onto the mess of chicken she had stepped on earlier. That chicken had molded with the decaying head of the ant, which in turn had absorbed my puny body into it. When the chicken was violently plucked out of Mindy's shoe tread, the ant head and my body was flung out with it, all off us going separate ways. 

I was free.