All sound faded into oblivion as Noah sprinted. The awesome scale of the woman above him had been replaced by the terror and fear of what it really meant to be this size.

He wasn’t just small; he was in another world entirely. Far too small to be recognized as human for anyone unwilling to take a close look, it was clear that he would be mistaken for the other pests that crawled along the floor, subsisting on scraps that fall from above.

And as a pest, he would immediately be sentenced to death by the first stranger to lay eyes on him.

He sprinted towards the edge of the endless shadow cast by the boot raised high above him. He didn’t bother to look up, but as he sprinted, he could feel crushing air coming down as she no down lowered her boot to snuff out the unfortunate bug that crossed her path.

The air came down, harder and harder, crushing out the ambient sounds of the environment around him. It felt like what running beneath a lowering helicopter must feel like.

In his deepest fantasies, Noah had always known the reality of being crushed by a giant woman would no doubt be frightening, but this was on a whole other scale. And it was absolutely terrifying.

The sky darked as he sprinted. It had only been a second or two or running, but the boot sole was nearly upon him. He had been running towards her, sprinting towards her heel. It wasn’t a conscious choice, but rather a primal fear to run on any possible direction.

Finally the past ahead of him was obliterated by the crushing force of her chunky heel. Was he out from beneath her boot sole?

There was no time to think. Noah dove forward, handing hard on his back. He slammed his eyes shut and waited to see.

The impact of her sole on the brick sidewalk sent a shockwave deep into Noah’s chest. The air seemed to rip past him, and all was still for just a moment. He dared to open his eyes.

Looking down at his feet, he could see that, relative to him, he had dodged her sole by inches. Above him, the shoe angles upwards, about twenty or thirty relative feet, before connecting to the base of her boot sole above.

If she hadn’t been wearing heels, he would have been dead.

Noah let out a strange sound of relief, but before he could crawl out from beneath her boot, the massive structure rose again.

Air whoosed past him now, filling the space where her foot had landed. The benefit of slowed time seemed to fade, as the boot lifted and moved sideways to reveal his would-be murderer.

She looked down to him, silhouetted by the sun, and paused.

Was she waiting to see if she had crushed him?

Noah stood still as a statue, but from this scale, he know he could move his head slightly without detection from the goddess above. About thirty feet to his right, the brick he stood on ended—and the mortar binding the brick to the others devoted into the earth just enough.

If he could make it inside that crack, she could stomp all she wanted.

A moment of decision was all he needed. He made a break for it.

This time, he didn’t bother to look up to see her reaction. He could hear her almost grunt in disgust, and he hadn’t gone ten feet before the shadow of her boot positioned above him, following him, anticipating his movements.

The crushing air started again, but this time, Noah was ready. He lept forward and dove into the mortar’s divot.

The rough surface bit into him as he rolled, and he felt the sting of friction burns all upon him, but it didn’t matter now. He rolled onto his back and looked up just in time to see the rushing black sole blot out everything.

The slamming force of her boot sole nearly shattered his eardrums, and he screamed in shock. His head lifted without thinking, and he struck the sole of her boot with his forehead.

The divot caused by the mortar was enough to safe him from being crushed, but only by relative inches.

His eyes burned from the dust flowing though the narrow channel of the mortar, stirred up by the woman’s footfall. His nose burned with the overwhelming smell of rubber and a faint stench of cigarettes.

But the stillness above didn’t last long. Suddenly, a terrible scraping sound rang out from all around him. Far above him, the woman had had enough of the bug in her way. Her boot heel raised from the sidewalk and her weight shifted onto her right foot. She began to twist her boot back and forth to obliterate the aggravating pest.

For Noah, the ground shook all around him as the sole above ground at the brick holding it just far enough away to save him. He knew the brick would hold, but it didn’t stop him from screaming. Tears filled in his eyes.

Just a few minutes ago, he had been walking probably a few feet ahead of this woman. Now, she was doing everything in her power to kill him.

Eventually, the grinding stopped, and for a moment, all was still.

Until her boot lifted again.

This time—entrapped by the channel created by the mortar which had saved him, air rushed in from either side as her shoe lifted. The end result?

Noah was swept up in the powerful air, which forced him into the air and sent the world spinning.

He didn’t know how long he was in the air or how many times he spun, but what felt like minutes of swirling in the air finally came to an end as he landed on something with enough give to not break his bones on impact.

The wind was forced out of him as he landed, and his eyes opened just quick enough to see the now-familiar back bootie crash next to him. But this time, it was only walking.

He had landed on the welcome mat of the Sephora the woman had been heading into. Content enough with her grinding, the woman hadn’t bothered to even check if she had killed the creature this time. The amount of effort it took to crush a bug just wasn’t worth the inconvenience, and the woman had turned to enter the Sephora.

It just so opened that her wake had taken Noah along with her.

He watched, prone on his stomach and catching her breath, as the woman moved past the sliding glass doors. The slid shut quickly, and everything was still.

His eyes darted to the sidewalk, glancing both ways. A few people were milling about several shops down in either direction, but as for the immediate future, he was safe.

Well, as safe as any other bug resting on a door mat.

Sephora didn’t seem like a safe enough place to be, but outside, there were more than women to be scared of. The hot sun backed the bricks like a desert. The exposure would kill him if the foot traffic didn’t.

‘No,’ Noah thought to himself, ‘I need to get someone’s attention.’

But how could he? At this scale, roaming the floors was an easy way to be noticed—and squished.

He would need to get on a countertop, a chair—something, anything to be noticed.

So he turned and ran towards the Sephora.

He crossed the gap between the doormat and the sliding glass doors somewhat easily. As is turned out, he could get some considerable distance in if when he wasn’t being actively targeted and stomped on. Those years in cross country were certainly doing him good now.

Once he reached the massive glass doors, however, his second problem arose.

He would have no way in or out without the help of someone else.

Thinking quickly, he walked to the edge of the sliding glass door—out of the main path of the giantesses, but still where the door would open just enough to let him past.

Soon enough, the thudding in the earth began. Looking through the glass, Noah could see an older woman—about mid 50s—carrying a shopping bag towards the exit of the store. The doors thundered across their tracks and slid in front of Noah as she approached.

Her footfalls were about a hundred relative feet from him, but the clack clack of her strappy heels were still enough to send shivers down Noah’s spine.

None of this was going to be easy.

The door slid all the way open, giving Noah the chance to enter inside. He had just crossed the threshold and watched as the doors shut behind him.

No turning back now.

Now inside, he moved quickly to the walls edge on the right-hand side. He moved slowly and continued forward.

On the edge of the room, someone would have to actively notice Noah now to try and kill him. But inside, with the darkened lighting and myriad of products to check out, the odds of wondering eyes spotting something small crawling along the wall was low. Not zero, but low enough.

As he walked, he yanked his phone out from his pocket. To his surprise, the phone could still power on—but there was no signal or wi-fi to be had.

“Probably too small to detect anything,” Noah said aloud, softly.  

No, there wasn’t going to be any way to call his way out of this. He would need to get someone’s attention, no matter what.

Several minutes past as he moved against the wall of the Sephora, entering deeper and deeper into the store. Here, the glass walls of the store gave passers-by a glimpse towards the outermost aisle of the store, where foundation was sold.

As he moved, several women should enter the aisle, peruse the selections, and either pick something up or move on.

Noah was surprised at how quickly he got used to the sounds and shaking of the women stomping around so close to him. It felt like walking alongside a massive highway where all of the cars were going hundreds of miles an hour. Sometimes a women would step closer to him, and the air would nearly knock him down, before she continued on her way.

After about a half hour of walking, Noah collapsed down to the floor, putting his back against the wall.

He looked into the store and craned his head up at the current goddesses on the aisle.

It looked to be two friends, by the sounds of their voices. The taller one (or rather, the one taller than the other; they were both truly massive) had a coffee in one hand and used the other to pick out foundations for the shorter friend.

His gaze lowered down to what lay straight ahead of him.

The taller one was wearing Fila Disruptors. The all-white shoe turned a grayish-brown just before meeting the ground—no doubt the consequence of the miles they walked and things they stepped in.

The other wore simple, all-black converse. These blended into the black floor of the Sephora, and let out a terrible squeaking sound as they ground across the perfectly polished floor.

‘Could I survive under there?’ he thought to himself. It was a terrible thought to have, but one he would now have to consider. Here, the polished black floor offered no mercy if a woman chose to snuff him out. His only hope were the treads of the shoes and heels they wore.

So quickly did this feel like life now. The only things running through Noah’s mind were getting discovered and surviving.

But things quickly felt hopeless. Moving about a world this much larger than his own was next to impossible. It took him thirty minutes to walk what took these women five seconds. How could he possibly get up to a height they could see?

For now, all he could do was wait.

Maybe he would stay leaned against this wall, dodging footfalls until nighttime. Then, he could cross the store in peace—maybe find something to climb and get on a desk or product by morning. Maybe then they could see him as more than a bug to be crushed.

It was a pleasant thought, actually—because it offered hope. And right now, he really needed that.

‘Okay,’ Noah thought to himself. ‘I wait till nightfall. I get on top of something, I get help.’

The thought calmed his nerves, and he closed his eyes. He breathed slower now, in and out, in and out.

He had a chance.

“Oh, shit!” a voice cried from above.

Noah’s eyes slammed open. His moment of respite had come to an end.

Far above him, the taller giantess had lost her grip on her coffee. Noah watched as it free fell from the sky above him.

The air begin wooshing around him yet again as the massive cup fell closer and closer to his position. He froze.

There was no getting around what was about to happened.

The cup smashed into the ground sideway—with its lid facing almost directly at Noah. The lid ripped off from the cup with the terrible weight of thousands of gallons of coffee directly behind it.

A tidal wave of light-brown liquid flowed directly at him.

He stood up, took a wide stance, and braced. He sucked in a big breath and closed his eyes.

This was going to hurt.