Having made his way down onto the insole of Donna’s flats, Oliver let out a sigh of relief that he was done climbing. He quickly regretted this, as the muggy air within the shoe sent him into a coughing fit as soon as he finished inhaling, causing him to fall on one knee and try to calm his nerves.
Sweat seeped out from the insole, drenching his knee and soaking most of his leg in sweat as his jeans absorbed Donna’s fluids. Trying to control his breathing, Oliver lifted his shirt to cover his mouth and nose, filtering the briny air if only slightly. Regaining the strength to stand up, Oliver rose up, the overwhelming salty scent of sweat reminded him of the ocean, odd that at this scale that was what Donna’s feet would remind him of.
Walking forward, he knew he had to hurry. At his scale, her body really was like its own planet, and if he was in its way when Donna was moving there was no doubt in his mind which of them would win. Darkness grew, as he walked deep into the cave, until the light from the shoe’s opening no longer illuminated his way, leaving him blind to the way forward.
Oliver felt tremors growing. Donna was coming this way, he was out of time. He frantically scrambled forwards, feeling with his hands into the dark hoping he would find the shoe’s tip any inch now.
Darkness fell over the opening of the shoe, as it began to shake. The leather material creaked, as something moved.
Crrrrrr…
Oliver’s body was thrown to the sole of the shoe violently as it skyrocketed into the air, the G-forces pinning him to the floor and causing him to nearly black out as blood rushed from his brain to the lowest parts of his body. As the velocity slowed, for a second he was weightless, then thrown up at the flat’s ceiling as his momentum sent him careening upwards, smacking head-first into one of the flat’s seams, the force of the movement cutting a deep gash into his forehead.
Gravity normalizing as the shoe was held mid-air, Oliver grunted as he once again made contact with slimy, moist insole. The angle the flat was at sent him sliding face first along the sole and the copious sweat instantly getting into his fresh wound, the salt in the sweat causing a terrible searing sensation. As he tumbled to a stop, Oliver could only hope that he had landed at the toe section, because he was out of time.
“Hey Dan, I’m gonna go get Grace for the party. Ryan said he’d be here to set up a while ago, but I guess he’s running late, so we might as well get the party started without him…”
Donna’s voice came through the thin material easily, at least giving Oliver the small comfort of knowing his pain would be worth it for the chance to save his sister. Provided he survived that long… A brief flash of light illuminated the shoe, at least for long enough for him to see Donna’s toes dipping in and slithering towards him as he scrambled backwards desperately.
Oliver’s back made contact with the wall of the shoe as he was shrouded in darkness again. A rough scraping grew louder as Donna’s foot slid into the flat, and he could feel heat radiating from the toes that were surely inches away even at his size. The rapid descent of Donna putting her foot down and adjusting her shoe in her flat made him crash into the toe, her toenail digging deeper into the cut as he felt more warm blood starting to drip down the side of his face.
If Donna felt anything at all, she didn’t comment on it. But the worst for Oliver was yet to come as she began walking, the repeated up and down motion making him sick to his stomach. He was repeatedly tossed between the rough insole and seams along the flat’s toe section, and throttling back forward into Donna’s sharp toenail and skin, the small whorls of her toeprint were like sand paper against his skin at this size, each step resulting in some small cut or bruise. The only thing keeping his hopes up was that it would only take a minute or two of this torture to get in range to save Katie. Fumbling in his pocket, he turned the radio on, praying he could get the screen to light up enough to set it to the right channel.
But as soon as he turned the knob, the radio crackled to life once again, and before he could start setting channels, his soul was chilled by the sound of his sister sobbing.
“O… Ollie… Please answer me… th… they’re… Oh god… I can’t take this anymore, I… I just want to die… It hurts so much… and they’re…”
In the background he could make out something resembling voices, though not what they were saying.
“Katie! I’m on my way, just hang on for a couple more minutes!” Oliver screamed into the radio, but when he released the button, his sister just kept sobbing. She had to be holding the button down, which meant she couldn’t hear a word he was saying. He began to sob as well, knowing that realistically, there might not be time to save her even if he got in range in time. Trying to brace himself so that he wouldn’t die before he was close enough, he listened in horror, trying to imagine what his sister might be going through.