“Welcome to the afternoon news. As record breaking temperatures continue well into January...” droned the radio in the chic suburban cafe “government insiders claim that the recent global crop failures mean they do not have enough rations to...” The station was quickly changed before anyone noticed and the cafe once again filled with the latest music. The barista knew none of his customers were concerned with such matters. This was one of the most exclusive districts in the city, no one here worried about where their next meal would come from and no one wanted to hear about those who did. This was where the sons and daughters of the elite came to show off their latest fashions and enjoy the year round sunshine. Here everything was perfect, or almost everything. Out on the street, amongst the handsome young men and beautiful girls shuffled a lonely figure, his tatty rags hanging off his emaciated frame. Most people around ignored him, others glared, angry that his very presence shattered their perfect bubble. Slowly a police car pulled up to the curb and out stepped a uniformed man, baton drawn ready as he approached the intruder. “Excuse me,” he said with thin veneer of politeness, “you don't look like you're from around here, care to explain what you're doing?”

“Please officer, I'm not here to cause trouble.” The man quickly responded, with a sense of fear and desperation in his voice. “I just thought... I thought I might be better off here.” He handed the policeman a crumpled piece of paper.

The police man took it without a word and began reading, he stopped for a second to glance back at the man before finishing. “Fair enough.” He smirked, as he handed the paper back. “Do you know the way?”

“Just down here on the second left, I'm told there's a large gate.”

“That's right, you can't miss it.” The officer smiled before leaning in close to the destitute man. “Now hurry it up. This is a nice neighbourhood and I don't want you wandering around here any longer than necessary.”

Soon the man saw the entrance to the large gated community, an armed guard stood outside eyeing him as he approached.

“Don't approach any closer, what's your business here?” The guard demanded as he raised his weapon menacingly.

“I'm here to speak with a Miss Matryona or a Miss Katona. I'm told they live here.” The man stood, raising his hands slightly.

“And why would they want to speak with the likes of you?” The guard demanded.

“I saw this advert in a paper, they say they'll take on anyone.” Replied the Homeless man as he slowly held the piece of paper out in front of him.

The guard slowly approached and took the paper from him. He carefully read the advertisement. “It says to call first, are they expecting you?”

“I don't have a phone or any money for a payphone, at least let me speak to them, even if just to find out when to come back.” The man pleaded.

“Wait here.” the guard instructed as he handed back the paper and walked back to his guard station to begin making a call.

A short distance away beneath a large desk. A tiny figure, no bigger than an inch, was hard at work, trying frantically to scrub what was to him a large red stain off the insole of a woman’s sandal. He'd been told he wasn't to leave the sandal until it was clean, he knew all to well what that meant if he took to long. On either side of him sat two gigantic feet, their every movement sent chills down his spine. Above him an elegantly dressed woman of 40, though still very attractive for her age, sat typing intently as the phone started to ring. She sighed angrily as her concentration was torn from her work.

“Hello” She answered, hiding her annoyance.

“Hi, this is the guard tower here. Is this Miss Matryona?” Came the voice on the other side of the phone.

“Speaking.”

“I've got a guy here who wants to speak to you about this, uh, this job offer you've got advertised.” Came the voice on the other side of the phone.

“We've already had one batch just a week ago, we normally take in a group every month. The advert clearly gives a number to call, tell him to call it and they will make the arrangements with him.” She instructed, her irritation now evident in her voice.

“Um, well I told him that, but well... he doesn't have any money for a phone call.”

The women let out another angry sigh, she was about to tell the guard to send the man on his way but she paused for a moment, she was in no rush to finish her article and it wouldn't hurt to take in an extra servant. It might even be fun to meet him while he's still full sized. She drummed her fingers on the desk as she thought about it, the sound of which boomed down to the tiny servant working at her feet.

“Tell him to wait there as I'm a little busy at the moment. Check him for weapons as usual, I'll call you back when I'm ready for you to send him in.” With that she hung up without even waiting for a response. She immediately began making a call to her servants central office. “I'm having a guest around, call all servants back to their quarters immediately.” She ordered and again put the phone down without waiting for a response. “I'm afraid time's up.” She said as she got back to typing, the tiny servant working below her screamed in protest as she slid her feet into her sandals, pinning him against the mess he'd been trying to clean. She enjoyed feeling him struggle against her sole as she finished the paragraph she was typing. It didn't take her long to finish and with that she stood up, crushing the helpless servant into another red stain on her insole, and went to check her other servants were out of the way, ready for her guest to arrive.

The homeless man sat waiting by the guard tower, reading through the advertisement over and over again. How had it come to this? He couldn't help wonder. He remembered hearing about a time when food had been plentiful and most people could get a job and a place to live without too much trouble. Everything seemed to fall apart so quickly. The population had exploded, the climate had gone to hell, no one had enough food, there were no where near enough jobs or homes. Soon most people were living of high energy crackers produced by the Soylent Corporation. Rumour had it some of the crackers were made from people, no one knew if it was true, but the choice was between eating them or starving so the truth was no one really wanted to know. Things got really weird when some scientists discovered how to shrink people, The idea was they could break down the body, discard most of the body tissue and rebuild an exact replica of the person at a fraction of it's original size. They hailed it as the answer to all of our problems, they could shrink the human race to an inch and suddenly we'd have plenty of space and resources. Naturally the idea wasn't popular and never got wide spread acceptance. But the Soylent Corporation quickly stepped in and bought the technology and as it lobbied aggressively for it to be used it slowly became more common. Again it was rumoured they were using the left over body tissue to create their soylent crackers. First people found guilty of serious crimes were shrunk to save space in prisons. Obviously accidents happened to these tiny people so it was decided it was impractical for them to receive the same legal protections regular people had, soon ruled that those who had been shrunk were no longer legally recognised as people. Eventually more and more crimes resulted in shrinking and eventually it was decided that consenting individuals could be shrunk. By now all but the most minor offences resulted in shrinking and some areas had even gone as far as rounding up the homeless to be shrunk. Voluntary shrinking was also becoming more popular, it had become fashionable for the wealthy to have tiny pets or servants. Though you put yourself at the mercy of whoever took you in many felt the promise of a home and regular meals made it a risk worth taking. While many families who took in tiny people treated them well, it just so happened that those who took care of their tiny servants or pets rarely had openings for new ones, while houses where tinies needed to be regularly replaced were always looking. So unfortunately most people ended up with owners who saw them as disposable or worse. Still, there was no shortage of desperate people willing to take that risk for the chance of a safe home and regular meals.

That's why he was here. He hadn't eaten for days, there was a shortage of soylent crackers. “Real food” the advert promised, with a picture of a steak, his mouth watered just looking at it. The idea of eating anything other than processed crackers was just a fantasy to most people. “Your own bed.” The advert went on to offer. He knew being an inch tall must be dangerous but it couldn't be worse than living on the streets and he'd have luxuries he could only have dreamed about before.

“Miss Matryona will see you now.” The guard said, waking the man from his thoughts. “Number 23, just on the 2nd left.” The homeless man looked around as he walked through the gated community. He'd never seen a place like this, wide open streets, no crowds, huge houses with even bigger gardens. He had no idea people still lived in such luxury, no wonder they had to keep it behind armed guards. As he reached number 23 he had to stop and catch his breath at the sight of the mansion. Slowly he walked through the garden, up to the door and rung the bell. After a short while the door was opened by an attractive and well dressed middle aged women with long brown hair, she spent a moment looking over the man, her brown eyes looking up and down his tatty clothes, before breaking the silence. “Come in.”

“Thank you very much, Miss.” The man replied as he followed her into the house.

“My name is Karen Matryona.” She continued. “I expect people I employ to call me Ma'am. I'm afraid I wasn't told your name.”

“It's John, Mi- uh, Ma'am.” The man replied.

“I've contacted my lawyer who will be around shortly with the paper work.”the women continued without acknowledging his response. “Would you like some food while we wait?”

“Yes.” John quickly responded, almost forgetting how he was expected to address her. “Yes please, Ma'am.”

He followed her to the kitchen where she offered him a seat and began to prepare a bacon sandwich. He looked around as she cooked, “You don't have any other people working at the moment?” he asked.

“I've relieved them of their duties for the time being, I assumed you weren't used to being around shrunken people. We wouldn't want any accidents.”

“Of course not, Ma'am. What sort of duties do they have?”

“At the moment they would normally be cleaning in here. There's a wide range of jobs for them.”

“What sort of work would I be doing?”

“I don't concern myself with managing the staff. When you start you will be given a role.”

With that Karen brought the sandwich over to the table and placed it in front of the man befgore taking a seat herself, he locked at it for a moment, taking in the sight and smell, he'd never eaten real food like this. Soon his hunger got the better of him and he began wolfing it down.

Karen watched the man as he ate ravenously, slightly amused by how pathetic he was. “Hungry?” She asked with a smirk. “I assume that's why you applied.”

“Yes, Ma'am.” The man replied, not noticing the mocking tone in her voice. She continued to watch in silence as he finished eating.

“Now you've finished let's discuss the terms of your employment, I live here with my partner, Natasha Katona, we will your employers and we both expect to be addressed as Ma'am and any instructions to be carried out promptly and without question. Is that clear?”

The man nodded, he didn't think anything of her being in a lesbian relationship, same sex partnerships had been encouraged by the government for some time in an attempt to keep the population under control.

“I expect you to reply.” Karen said sternly. “We find it disrespectful to just not and vague gestures aren't always easy to see coming from a shrunken person.”

“Yes, Ma'am. Sorry, Ma'am. I meant no disrespect.”

“Don't let it happen again. “In addition to my partner my daughter also lives here, and her boyfriend is a frequent visitor. You will also address her as Ma'am and him as Sir and obey any instructions given to you by them. The same courtesy will be granted to any other guests we have. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Ma'am.” John replied. “You and your partner have a daughter?”

“From a previous relationship.”

“And, if I'm not intruding, can I ask what you and your partner do?”

“I'm a fashion designer, I run my own company and I also the editor of a successful fashion magazine. My partner is a lawyer for the Soylent Corperation.“

The conversation was interrupted by the door bell. “That will be my lawyer” Karen said as she got up and left the room, she returned with her lawyer who explained to John that by agreeing to be shrunk he would be giving up all rights and legal protections and become the property of Karen Matryona and Natasha Katona, who would in turn provide him with a bed and regular meals. John agreed to the terms and signed the agreement. The lawyer agreed to drive him to the Soylent labs where he was to be shrunk. The labs almost seemed like a hospital, doctors and technicians examined him and asked questions about his health almost like they were preparing him for surgery. They even gave him an anaesthetic. As he he felt a sharp pain followed by a cold sensation run up his arm as he drifted off to sleep he thought about what his life would be like from now on. Karen had seemed a little strict and unpleasant, but at the same time she was offering him somewhere to live and he would never go hungry again. 

John could hear strange sounds that seemed to vibrate through him as he began to stir. As he started to regain consciousness he began to recognise these sounds as muffled voices, he opened his eyes only to be dazzled by the light. “He's awake.” He heard a familiar voice say. As he struggled to his feet, trying to gain his bearings. “Finally.” he heard another voice boom down from above. As his vision cleared he looked up to see the two giant women looming over him. Suddenly everything came flooding back to him as he realised where he was. He quickly covered his genitals with his hands as he looked up at the women gazing down at him. He recognised one of them from earlier, Miss Matryona, the other women, who was standing behind her, he assumed to be her partner. She appeared to be younger, in her early 30s, she was wearing an expensive looking business suit and had her light brown hair tied back, with her fringe combed over to the side. The look on her face terrified him. Her cold grey eyes seemed to pierce through him as she examined every detail of his frail body. Her lips were pressed tightly together and there was no hint of a smile. She didn't seem impressed with what she saw before her. They continued to look down at him for what seemed like an age, John too terrified to say anything and unsure if he was expected to do anything, until the new women broke the silence.

“Move your hands.”

John stood there and looked between the two women, he was to terrified and embarrassed to process the instructions. The women brought her face down closer to him as a hint of anger flashed through her eyes.

“I said, move your hands.” The women repeated, this time with a touch of menace in her voice.

“Remember our conversation earlier.” Miss Matryona interrupted. “We expect you to obey our instructions immediately.”

“S-sorry Miss, I mean, Ma'am.” John stammered as he lowered his hands.

“We shall forget about it this time.” Miss Matryona smirked as she looked down at him. “I'm sure this must be a lot to take in.”

“No we shall not.” The other women sternly interrupted as she reached down towards John and suddenly plucked him up by his arm. John let out a cry as he was hoisted into the air, he hung down at an awkward angle which combined with the crushing pressure on his arm caused him significant pain. He was brought up to the women’s eyes, he tried to struggle as she examined him, almost as if he was trying to hide form her gaze though he was powerless to move.

“He's a scrawny one, do you think he's even up to the work?” She said.

“I'm sure he'll be fine once he's having regular meals.” Miss Matryona responded. “He was obviously on the streets starving, but then most of the people who come here probably were.”

“We'll see.” The women said after a short pause, clearly unconvinced. “As my partner has said, you are expected to do as you are told.” The women said, now addressing the tiny man before her. “Consider this your punishment.” She added as she relaxed her fingers letting the tiny man slip from her grip. John screamed and grasped desperately at her fingers he began to fall, but it was no use, time seemed to slowdown as he fell, he watched as he fell past her nose and mouth, her expression didn't change, she didn't seem to care that she had sent John plummeting to what he believed would be his death, just because he hesitated to obey an order. He almost thought he could grab he jacket as he fell past her breasts but he was just out of reach, he took in every detail as he fell, past her jacket, her skirt, her her long legs covered in black nylon, as he passed her knees he closed his eyes and waited for the end. Suddenly a pain shot through him as he landed on top of her foot, he bounced slightly and rolled down over her toes landing in a crumpled heap at her feet. “Get up.” the women instantly instructed.

John opened his eyes, he couldn't believe he'd survived such a drop. Though he wasn't sure if he'd survived unharmed, every part of his body hurt and the air had been knocked right out of his lungs. He gasped for air only to have his senses overwhelmed by the smell of the woman’s foot.

“As you should have learnt by now, I don't like to repeat myself.” Again the women’s voice came down. John struggled to his feat only to collapse against her toes and once again crumpled onto the floor.

“if you cannot stand I have no use for you.” Once again the woman’s voice boomed down as she slowly lifted her foot.

“No.” John tried to shout, but didn’t have the strength to raise his voice. He again climbed to his feet and this time was able to stay upright. He breathed a sigh of relief as the woman’s foot lowered in front of him.

“Good.” He heard, her voice now sounding much softer. “Now, to show how sorry you are for not obeying me, kiss my foot.” John didn't stop to think, he quickly stepped forward and lent towards the black nylon that covered the women’s foot. The smell filled his senses as he leaned in and pressed his lips to the warm damp fabric. The women's toes wiggled as she let out a little giggle, knocking John back a few steps. “Maybe, he'll be ok.” She said, a slight smile now visible on her face. “I need to get into something more comfortable, I'll leave you to play with him.” she continued as she stepped forward, ignoring John scurrying at her feet, and gave Miss Matryona a quick kiss. Before turning and walking out of the room. John watched as she walked away, he could see he was in the same kitchen he'd been in earlier, this time there were several tiny people on their hands and knees scrubbing the floor. As the women walked through them she only just missed stepping on some, though it seemed more down to luck than any attempt to avoid them. John turned around he could see Miss Matryona still sitting at the kitchen table where he had eaten earlier and only just regained consciousness. She looked down at him, still with that superior smirk on her face.

“So how did you like Natasha?” She asked as she rose form her chair and without giving him a chance to respond bent down and wrapped her fingers around the tiny man. As she strengthened up she let him slide down into the palm of her hand. “As you probably guessed, that was my partner Natasha. Of course its Miss Katona to you.” Miss Matryona continued as she walked across the kitchen from the table to the worktop. “And you address her Ma'am remember. She won't be as easy on you if you disobey her again.” John didn't respond as he locked up at the women, he hated the way she looked at him like he was nothing, just a toy for her amusement. He realised now why there were no servants working when he first visited, she didn't care about accidents, she just didn't want him to see what he was in for. As she reached the worktop she dropped him roughly on the cold hard surface. Next to two waiting servants.

“This is the new recruit. Take him into the back and get him set up.”

“Yes, Ma'am. Right away.” The two servants immediately helped John to his feet as Miss Matryona turned and walked away.

“What have I done?” John muttered as they lead him through a small door in the wall.

John's mind was racing as the doctor looked over him, everything was so different here from the house, it was all built for people his size, if it wasn't for the pain still running through his body he could have almost forgotten he was shrunk. “I hear you had a bit of a rough start here.” The doctor finally broke the silence.

“She dropped me.” John replied blankly without changing his expression. “I thought I'd die, it must have been hundreds of feet.”

“They're roughly 400 ft tall to us.” The doctor informed him. “But they're still under 6 ft really, so you're only picking up speed for those few seconds. Not that we can pick up much speed at our size anyway, if you had fallen 400ft you'd feel the same.”

“We can't die from falling?” John's voiced showed his surprise as the conversation woke him from his trance.

“You can if you land the wrong way, and you're lucky not have broken anything.”

“It'd be luckier not to be here” John replied as he started to think about where he was. “Can I ask if you're a real doctor?”

“I am.” The doctor answered as he finished his check up.

“So why are you here? You can't have been starving, why did you want to be shrunk?”

The doctor looked at him for a moment before breathing deeply. “I didn't volunteer for this.” The bitterness was clear in his voice. “I was convicted of fraud and sentenced to be shrunk. Natasha works for Soylent, she heard they were shrinking a doctor and decided to take me home with her. Thought it would be useful to have me around” John nodded silently at the doctors story. “So why did you want to be shrunk? From the look of you I'm guessing hunger.”

John nodded again. “And I thought it would be safer here than on the streets.” He added.

“It's pretty safe when you're in here, there's thousands of servants, we've got our own little society. You just need to keep your wits about you when you're in the house and try to keep out of their way.” The doctor explained trying to cheer John up. “With a bit of luck you might eventually be able to a get a job where you don't even have to go into the house. Now come on, get some food in you and you'll feel much better.” The doctor added as he walked John out of his surgery, where a man was waiting.“John, this is Steve, he's gonna show you around.” The doctor introduced him. “John here's had a bit of a rough introduction, take him for some food first.” The doctor said to The man.

John took in the smell off the food in front of him, there was small chunk of steak, some potato and spinach. They were cut from full sized pieces of food, so to anyone used to eating real food they would have seemed incredibly tough, but the only food John knew were soylent crackers. It even brought a tear to his eye as he bit into the steak and felt to juices run into his mouth.

“Good, isn't it?” Steve said as he watched him eat. “Almost makes it worthwhile.”

John nodded in agreement before speaking “So what will I be doing here?”

“You'll be in my team, we mostly do cleaning, but any job we're given really.”

“When do I start?”

“Tomorrow, but I'd like to show you around the house today”

John stopped eating and was silent for a moment. “I've already been out there today.”

“Yeah, I heard Natasha and Karen greeted you personally. They're cunts but we'll be keeping out of their way.”

“Can it wait till tomorrow?” John asked, his voice shaking.

Steve could see how scared John was but didn't relent. “Sorry, but you'll have to start work tomorrow, I don't know what job we'll have so I want to show around today, make sure you're ready for whatever we need to do.” He looked John in the eye and tried to sound reassuring. “We're just gonna have a look around, we'll keep out of their way, they won't even notice us. We'll be fine, I promise.”

Soon Steve was leading John through a maze of corridors, they took a lift which seemed to go down for an age until they reached a large hanger like room.

“Any vehicles available?” Steve asked a man at a desk.

“All being loaded for tonight.” The man replied.

“Looks like we're walking.” Steve said turning to John. “Don't worry, they're less likely to take notice of us on foot.” He added after seeing the look of disapproval on Johns face. Soon they were walking out of the large hanger door into the wide open plain of the kitchen floor. John recognised the room instantly, there were no giants this time but he was still taken back by the sheer scale of of everything. “It'll take you a while to get used to it.” Steve said, noticing Johns reaction.

Steve showed John around the kitchen, John was amazed at all the intricate systems which had been built into everything, lifts and staircases allowing them access to almost any part of the kitchen. Everyday objects seemed like massive structures to him. Knife holders, salt grinders, all of them dwarfed him. John felt a twinge of guilt as they walked across the kitchen table and he saw a group of men hard at work scrubbing off the grease marks he'd left earlier, bread crumbs the size of rocks still littered the table. As the tour continued they moved into the dining room, just as in the kitchen there was a way for them to reach almost any area, Steve made a point that each chair had a lift in one leg but there were ladders built into each leg for emergencies. John shuddered at the thought of dying in such a humiliating way. They took a lift up to the dining room table which was fixed to the wall. There was another large door, again resembling something from an aircraft hanger. “The kitchen's in there.” Steve said. “The tiny kitchen, thank Christ they didn't put you to work in there.”

“We cook for them?” John was shocked, he couldn't even begin to picture how they would cook for these giants.

“Sometimes, they cook most meals for themselves, it takes a while for us to get a full sized meal together.”

“How do we even do it?”

“I'm not entirely sure, I've never worked their, a lot of manpower and a lot of heavy machinery. It's hellish from what I hear. They've easily got the highest turnover of any department.”

“I'm guessing turnover means...” John frowned.

“Yeah, it's our little euphemism.” Steve laughed grimly. “The kitchen has way more accidents than anywhere, there's some real horror stories.” He sighed before continuing “You'll hear them soon enough, I don't wanna scare you too much on your first day.”

John was silent for a while as the tour continued, he was mulling over what he'd heard so far. “What's the point?” He finally spoke up. “Wouldn't it be easier to just cook for themselves?”

“Course.” Steve said laughing. “That's why they do most of the time.”

“So why have us do it?”

“I think they like the idea of us suffering for them.” Steve shrugged. “They could hire a maid to do everything we all do in half the time if they just wanted the work done.”

“Sounds like I really lucked out when I chose here.” John said dejectedly.

“Yeah, but places that actually look after their tinys don't tend to need so many new ones, I think most people who get shrunk end up in places like this.”

“Do you think a lot of people treat us like as bad as they do here?”

“Rich people are all the same.” The bitterness was clear in Steve's voice. “Natasha and Karen have friends over sometimes, some are just as cruel as them, some aren't so bad but they still don't care about us. Some rich folk might treat their tinys better, but they still only keep us around as pets, it's still just a power trip.” He paused for a moment. “That said... It would be nice to be somewhere where people weren't as sadistic.”

There was a long pause before John spoke again “Isn't there a daughter here? And her boyfriend lives here they said. What are they like?”

“Lenina & Sol, Sol doesn't really live here, but he seems to spend most of his time here. They're...” Steve trailed of before saying bluntly. “They're bad, you wanna stay out of their way as much as you can.”

As they were talking John and Steve managed to cover a significant distance on foot as they crossed the vast hallway they could hear the sound of a television coming out of the living room. Though John was apprehensive at the idea of entering a room where the giants were he followed Steve though the nearly closed door. As they entered they could see Natasha and Karen on the sofa, Karen was still wearing the same dress from earlier, at her feet were her sandals, John noticed someone inside the sandal scrubbing a reddish stain slightly larger than a person. Natasha was propped against her resting her head on her shoulder, she'd clearly showered since John saw her earlier and was wearing a white dressing gown and white open healed slippers. Her legs were crossed and she was dangling her slipper from the toes of her raised foot. John could see some stains on the sole which were the same red colour as was on Karens sandal. He felt sick looking at them, he didn't say anything to Steve though, he didn't think he could handle talking about it. As they made their way into the room the thick carpet made it difficult to walk. John thought about the times he'd been told to keep out of the way, he wondered how, should he find himself in this room at the wrong time, how he would get out of the giants way before it was too late. Almost as if he were a mind reader Steve spoke out. “This room is the worst. You can't get around quickly, none of our vehicles can drive on the carpet and hardly any of the furniture has any easy way to access it. If you wanna clean the sofa or arm chairs you gotta climb the fabric.”

“What if we need to get down quick?” John asked. “In emergencies.”

“You can't.” Steve sighed. “If you're really desperate you can jump. But you don't really wanna be rolling around injured at their feet either.” John shuddered at the thought.

Their conversation was interrupted as Karen let out a loud yawn and stretched out her arms and legs, she slammed her feet down again, making the tiny who was toiling in her sandal visibly jump.

“I'm heading to bed, Hun” She said sweetly to Natasha. As she rose from the sofa “Don't be to long.” She added before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. She seemed completely different from the domineering women who John had met earlier.

“I won't.” Came Natashas reply as she sprawled across the sofa and Karen made her way to the door.

“Don't worry, we're not in the way” Steve reassured John, they were still fairly close to the door as the giantess approached, they could feel the ground vibrate with every step, John watched as he saw her feet land firmly on the ground and sink into the soft carpet as she walked past. He could almost feel her power radiating from her in a way he couldn't appreciate earlier when he was still dazed from the shrinking and his fall. Steve gave John a moment to collect himself after she had gone. “You'll get used to it.” he said. The tour soon continued as they made their way upstairs, there was a large elevator alongside the stairs for tiny use. As they went up they saw a team of people cleaning the stairs. As they made their way across the landing they felt the vibrations of footsteps coming towards them. They kept walking close to the wall as Karen, now in grey pyjamas, made her way past them towards the bathroom, the ground seemed to shake even more now they were upstairs. They could hear her brushing her teeth as they continued towards the bathroom themselves, soon she came out and passed them again, John wondered how long it would take for him to get used to such encounters. The rest of the tour passed without event and they started back towards the kitchen. As they took the elevator down the stairs Natasha left the living room and started climbing them, as they passed the step being cleaned John thought he saw a worker disappear beneath her slipper, but the step had soon gone from their view as they continued downwards so he couldn't be sure.

John and Steve made their way through the dark and empty house back to the kitchen, as they entered John noticed their seemed to be a lot of people out working. “We have more people out at night.” Steve explained. “It's the safest time so we try to get as much as we can done.” Before John had a chance to answer they heard the sound of the front door opening, loud voices could be heard from the hall as it was slammed shut. John noticed a sudden change in the atmosphere as everyone stopped working. “We need to get out of here now.” Steve said as he grabbed John and started running. “They're heading this way!” One of the servants shouted as the voices grew louder. John could hear two voices, both sounded drunk. “We don't have time, quick under the table.” Steve said as he rushed towards the table leg, dragging an exhausted John behind him. “Just stay here, don't move and we'll be fine.” Steve said as they pressed against the table leg. John could hear Steves voice shaking as he said it, which hardly filled him with confidence, he was to terrified to say anything himself. He watched in horror as the two giants stumbled into the kitchen and he saw a Doc Martin land atop one of the hapless servants as they fled. They were all dazzled as the room suddenly flooded with light. As Johns eye's got adjusted to the light he looked over to the Doc Martins, craned his neck as he looked up to the legs clad in black fishnets, followed by a black leather miniskirt, he continued looking upwards to see a military jacket covering a black t-shirt and a modestly sized pair of breasts, above that was an attractive girl who appeared to be in her late teens, she had several facial piercings, deep brown eyes and short black hair. “I think we interrupted the help.” Laughed the other giant as he watched the servants scurry for their lives. John looked over at the pair of converse, he looked up past a slender pair of legs clad in black jeans followed by a black t-shirt to an incredibly feminine face with piercing green eyes behind black thick rimmed glasses, messy shortish bleached blond hair and a stud on the right hand side of his upper lip and a ring around the left hand side of his bottom lip. His arms were thin and hairless as he casually swigged from a bottle of beer. “Looks like the kind of kid I'd have beat up in school, John though to himself.” But he was soon brought back to the situation unfolding before him by the giantess's response. “And who told you that you could stop working? Hmm?” She said mockingly as she moved over towards the kitchen table and pulled out a chair. “Don't move.” Steve repeated to John as the giantess slumped down in the chair in front of them and began pulling her boots off revealing her thick black socks. “If we stay here they won't notice us. If they see you running they'll kill you.”

“That's right, back to work.” The giantess laughed as she watched the servants nervously return to their jobs, and discarded her boots near John and Steve, the sight of the servant mangled in the boot's tread combined with the musky odor of the giantess's feet was overpowering, John couldn't help but bring his lunch up. The male giant strode across the kitchen, one unlucky servant tried to dive out of the way of his footfall only to have his legs crushed beneath the giant's converse, the servant screamed as his legs were pulverised and he was suddenly hoisted into the air with the giants next step only for his top half to end up smashed beneath the giants sole as he brought his foot back down. The giant then glanced across the servants cleaning the worktops, noticing two close together he dropped his half full beer bottle on top of them, a high pitched screem was heard as one was trapped under the concave base of the bottle, the crushing weight breaking his rib cage but leaving him just enough room to remain alive, pinned against the worktop, the second servant had his waste crushed under the edge of the bottle, his arms thrashed against the surface of the worktop as he desperately tried to free himself. The giant smiled at the man’s vain struggle. He briefly considered grinding them both into oblivion with the base of the bottle but decided to leave them as they were, instead preferring to make some toast. He glanced back across the terrified servants, pondering how to pass the time as he waited for the toaster. Meanwhile the giantess rose to her feet and stumbled across the kitchen towards her lover, crushing another servant beneath her heal as she walked, he turned to her and she stood up on her toes to embrace him in a passionate kiss, giving everyone on the floor a view of the mangled corpse which was mashed into the fabric of her sock. Soon the giant broke away as he heard the toaster finish. “Shall we take a few of them up with us.” He said, gesturing towards the tiny people on the worktop. “Yeah, drop em in here.” The Giantess said as she made her way back to the kitchen table, John and Steve's hearts stopped as the giantess bent down towards them to collect one of her boots, without noticing the two tinys frozen in terror she turned around and walked back over to the giant, yet another servant disappearing under her sock as she did so, and handed him her boot. The giant swept his hand across the worktop gathering the remaining tinys, one tiny caught his arm between the giants hand and the worktop and had it ripped off as the giant swept him across the work surface, he then pushed the screaming tinys off the worktop into the opening of the boot. He turned around and crouched down, plucking a few servants up from the floor and dropping them into the boot, before handing it back to the giantess. With that he picked up his toast and both giants made their way to the door with several more tinys caught beneath their footfalls as they did, the male giant noticed a tiny fleeing for the doorway and ground him beneath his sneaker as he turned off the light, plunging the room back into darkness. The servants could hear their drunken laughter fade as they walked off, eventually leaving only the cries of the half crushed servants. The servants got to the task of assessing who was missing and who needed medical treatment, Steve walked a tearful John back to safety. “As you probably guessed, that was Lenina & Sol.” John remained silent from sometime, trying to make some sense of what he'd seen.

“What did they take those guys for?” John eventually asked.

Steve stopped and looked at him. “Do you really want to know?”

“I need to.” John said hesitantly, afraid of what the answer might be.

“They'll use them as sex toys.” Steve said blankly as they continued walking. “Don't make me go into detail.”

They both continued their walk in silence back to the servants accommodation as Steve took John to his new room. “Look, I don't really wanna leave you on your own after that.” Steve finally broke the silence. “But I've got to help them sort that mess out, if you want I can introduce you to someone around here.”

“I'd rather just be on my own” John replied blankly.

“If you're sure.”

John nodded, Steve nodded back and without saying anything left to help the clear up. John entered his spartan room, collapsed on his bed and wept.