Grace walked out of the Mall Car, rejuvenated. Simon had, after some debate, agreed to watch the Apex all by himself. Whether or not he would succeed remained to be seen, but it was of little concern to her.  It was the perfect opportunity for her to unwind, and maybe get her number up. 

A new car, new adventure, she thought. She threw open the door and walked in. The entire floor was covered in some sort of tiny village. It was a beautiful town, Victorian in style, with bustling factories and smoke filled skies. People dotted the street, scurrying around like ants. 

Her arrival had not been unnoticed. A small crowd had gathered near her, looking up in curiosity and awe. At her size, they might as well have been figurines. 

Tiny people… at her will…

She smiled as an idea popped into her head. Moving over to a nearby clocktower, she raised her shoe above it. Letting the moment set in, she stepped down on it.

It crumbled to dust, collapsing like a soda can as her shoe came down on it. She put her hand on her hips and smiled, admiring her handiwork. The familiar swish of her number ticking up could be heard as it fell to the ground. So destroying their stuff would bring her number up…

She basked in the glory for a moment. It occurred to her just how powerful she was now. At least nulls, pathetic as they were, had put up some sort of fight. But these ones? At their heights they were practically bugs. Hell, they were bugs. She figured she could effortlessly snuff out their lives with a single stomp.  Plus, her little display of power had brought her number higher. Why not let herself unwind? 

“I think I’m in charge around here now,” she said, cheerfully.

The crowd stood frozen in shock. She looked down at their terrified faces, relishing in their fear.

She kicked her shoes off, both of them crashing into one of the taller buildings and sending it collapsing to the ground. Casually stripping herself, she threw her shirt and pants to the side. Her bra was next, landing on top of a group of an unfortunate group of tinies and encasing them in the fabric. 

“Okay…” she said, looking down at the crowd gathered in front of her. A few of them had fallen to their knees, preemptively begging for mercy, while most of them watched wide-eyed for what she would do next. 

All that walking sure was hard work. She sat down, a few people narrowly avoiding being crushed under her ass as it dropped to the ground. She laid back fully and stretched out her legs, presenting her feet to the crowd. 

“I could go for a massage, don’t you think?”

Those below couldn’t run to her feet fast enough. They practically threw themselves at them, rushing over each other out of fear. A few rubbed their entire bodies against her soles, while some simply licked as hard as they could. Even at their sizes they felt amazing against her skin, and she groaned out in pleasure. She was definitely going to have a lot of fun here.

…

Two days had passed, and the inhabitants of the city were hard at work at following Grace’s orders. Their lives had one purpose: pleasing her. The denizens were forging frantically tributes to her, from statues to dazzling jewelry.  

A group of tribute payers had gathered on her stomach, waiting for her to awake. Some carried gifts, while some tended to her nails and hair, and others simply basked in her glory. They made sure she felt like a queen, or else.

Grace yawned, knocking a few of them onto her backs. 

“Good morning!” She felt pressure on her feet, and knew they hadn’t disobeyed her. They were good for that, at the least.

“What do you guys have here today?”

Two men stepped forward, holding out a golden toe ring, adorned with jewels and Grace’s name. Clearly, they had put a lot of effort into their gift. She gave them a thumbs up and waved them down, and they placed it on her big toe. It complimented her well, she thought. 

A woman stepped forward, carrying a round disk with a pointed end sticking out the back. It was an earring, or at least a shoddy attempt at one. She seemed to be holding back tears as she knelt down and held the object out.

“For you, my liege.” she said, choking on her own words.

Grace scoffed. “My liege? Are you serious? Why can’t you talk normally?”

The girl was crying now. “I apologize, my lord!”

This is pathetic, Grave thought, rolling her eyes.

“My liege, my lord, whatever.” 

Grace carefully plucked the ring from her hands and flicked it into the distance. The woman had become absolutely incoherent. It was almost comical, the way she cried in big, panted sobs. Grace peered down at her and pointed towards her feet.

“Massage my feet and I might let you live,” she said, mustering her most dramatic voice.

“Yes, right way ma’am!” She couldn’t run fast enough. Despite that little odd behavior, Grace closed her eyes and let herself relax. God, who knew being worshipped felt so good?

Sunbathing was fun, but she had royal manners to attend to.  There was a statue of her being unveiled in the town square.  Last time she checked it had only come up to her ankles, but she appreciated the effort. 

“Alright, I’m getting up,”  she said. All this time, she had taken extra care not to crush any of them. They were well behaved enough, and making an example would surely only cause more panic.

The worshipers all broke off from her feet, and she made sure to give ample time for them to clear.

She propped herself up and braced to stand when she felt something warm crunch under foot. A worshipper, either hesitant or too enamored with her feet, had failed to move out of the way in time. He was rewarded with the full force of Grace’s sole coming down on him, flattening him like paper and reducing him to a red streak. 

That didn’t sound good, thought Grace. She turned her foot over. It was covered in a layer of red mush, the only remnants of the unlucky denizen.  

She stared at the stain in shock. The crowd, who had seconds before revered her as a goddess, screamed and frantically broke away.

“Wait, I didn’t mean to kill him!” she said, attempting to persuade the panicking crowd. This wasn’t good. She stood up fully and stamped down, attempting to scare them into submission. It worked on most of them, but there were still stragglers attempting to flee.

“Stop that!” she said, stomping down again. Another crunch could be heard as her foot hit the ground. Too late, she realized that she forgot to look down. A familiar ticking filled the air. Her number had gone up again, by ten.

She laughed. All this time, her number had only gone up by a few digits. What had she been thinking? 

Before any of them could react, Grace placed her foot on top of the closest man and slowly pressed down. There was a loud crunching sound as his body compressed against the ground. With a little bit of pressure he popped too, a slurry of gore shooting out from under her foot. The feeling was even more amazing than their pitiful foot massages.  Her number ticked up again, this time by fifteen. At this rate, her entire arm would be covered in no time. 

Maybe being worshipped was overrated.

 A cold smile swept across her face. She began to walk forward, not caring where her steps landed. With every footfall she caught at least one person under her feet. It was like a constant massage against her aching soles. Their panicked screams before she snuffed them out was just an added bonus.

A group of tinies cowered in an alleyway, attempting to make themselves less visible. They had no such luck. Grace moved her foot over and pinned the group to the ground. The feeling of so many struggling was absolutely intense. One of the unfortunate souls was pinned directly underneath her toes. She scrunched them, his head popped like a grape before the rest of his body cracked as well. The rest of his friends quickly followed, being mashed to paste under the force. 

She hadn’t had much to eat ever since she entered the car, just a few nutrition bars. Rampaging monsters eat people, right?

She had an idea…

A group of fleeing villagers suddenly found themselves trapped between her hands. Grace plucked one of them up and held his head between her fingers.

“Let me go!” he screamed, shaking in fear.

She peered at him one final time before popping him into her mouth. She swished him around for a moment, hesitant. Best to get it over with, she thought, and bit down. He screamed out as the teeth came down on him, splitting him nearly in half. Blood pooled in Grace’s mouth, and she found herself enjoying the taste. Mercifully, the second bite ended his life, splitting his head apart. She then chewed slowly, letting the taste settle in her mouth. It was quite different from her expectations, but still pleasant. His blood dripped down her lips, dribbling onto the crowd below.

Those who weren’t begging for mercy were either crying or attempting to escape. Grace finally swallowed, then coldly looked across the city.

“Let’s see - who’s next?” 

She leaned down and snatched them up, as many as she could fit in her hands, messily shoveling them into her mouth like popcorn. They screamed, cried and thrashed in her grasp, but their efforts were for naught as Grace made quick work of them. Those unlucky enough to survive unmasticated dissolved among the bloody remains of their friends. A few she chewed slowly while walking, enjoying the way their bones and guts popped in her mouth.

.

The city was alive with the melody of crunching, crushing, and the sound of her number slowly ticking up. She had been so entranced by her rhythm, she hadn’t bothered to check it.  With every person she stomped or ate it had grown, still ticking up even as it reached the top of her shoulder. Her feet and mouth were completely stained red. Now that would be hard to explain to Simon.  

Their numbers were dwindling by the minute. There were certainly more cowering in buildings, but the effort to catch them didn’t seem worth it. How long had she been gone now? Three days? Simon was good with the kids, but he wasn’t her. He’d need her help. Walking back over to her clothes, she put them back on and laced her shoes up. 

She was walking over to the door when she heard another shriek. A woman, whose legs had been completely crushed, was doing her best to crawl to safety. Grace loomed over the terrified lady, intensely studying her pitiful attempts to escape her, then spat on her. She watched intensely as the pathetic creature struggled against her saliva. Better to get it over with. She lifted her shoe over the woman and slowly pressed down. The body contorted against the ground, her bones popping and skin cracking against the force. The bottom of her shoe was the last thing she ever saw as her body finally popped against the pressure, her blood mixing with the spit and turning her into a gooey puddle. 

As she walked out the door, she remembered something Simon had said earlier. Something about his number being too low. Grace smiled. Maybe there was more use to this car after all.