In this Chapter: Kristen communicates with the tiny people. Kristen asks for help after an accident. Kristen receives some troubling words after a surprising situation calls her into action.
Main Tags of This Chapter: Crush. Unaware. Tiny POV.
Kristen – Age 27 Madelyn – Age 3 months
Lakeside Suburbs, USA
A few weeks passed by since the moment Kristen received the texts to stay away from both the country and the cities, but she continued to message and communicate with them, getting to know the situation a little bit more with each exchange. She avoided coming into physical contact with them as much as she possibly could and trying to respect their wishes for her to stay away from the rooms. Kristen often getting conflicting messages though, as if there weren’t a designated person to perform the task. Each message had a different personality, a different tone and emotion. It was difficult to process each one as if everyone, both micro and nano, weren’t working together, but Kristen was overwhelmed by their words regardless.
Kristen halfway trying to live a normal life in between communications with the masses of millions, meeting the other women in the neighborhood, playing and tending to Madelyn more often and trying to a good mother. Kristen becoming closer friends with Ginny as they jogged in the mornings most days or shared dinners at each other’s houses, but still, no matter what Kristen was doing, she couldn’t get the thoughts out of her head that she was a murderer.
It didn’t help that the tiny people made it more difficult for her, many of the messages Kristen had been receiving were ridden with guilt and blame. Deaths tolls and pictures of displaced families and destruction had been sent to Kristen over and over again as she broke down each time she looked at them, unable to keep up with the constant feeling of regret and whishing so badly she could correct her mistakes, constantly deleting their pictures and sad messages, not wanting to face what she had done to them.
Kristen trying so desperately to understand them better with endless questions when they weren’t emotionally ripping her to shreds. How did they get here? where they came from? what the blue storm was? but there wasn’t a lot of clarity sometimes and there were mixed answers, some rather religious explanations, some scientific, and some that sounded insane, but never enough information for her to put any pieces together to sate a satisfiable answer.
Until one day, Kristen realized she needed more help…
Kristen, as usual, would clean the house here and there each day to maintain its pristine appearance, the cleaning of course, helping distract her from the intense feelings she had been struggling to deal with. Still wondering if she should seek therapy or confess her problems to a friend or her sister, but she didn’t, almost too embarrassed about the situation, thinking nobody would believe her anyway. How would she even explain that there are millions of tiny people living in her house, already hearing Leslie’s sarcastic laughter, or imagining Ginny not wanting to be friends anymore, or a therapist committing her to a mental health hospital. Desperately needing to clean the house to get those thoughts away.
Placing Madelyn in her crib before Kristen stepped downstairs to retrieve some cleaning supplies. The utility closet, though, was just down the hallway from the two rooms that contained all the shrunken people, Kristen not usually worried though as they were further down the hall, knowing that the length of the hallway had to be a significant journey for the micros and even worse for the nanos, as if walking across an entire country.
Taking a few steps up to the utility closet to grab a broom, planning on sweeping up the kitchen from dust and food crumbs like she normally would have, reaching for the door handle before she heard and felt a tiny and feint wet crunch under the toes of her right sock covered foot. Kristen’s eyes widening immediately, assuming the worst, but not wanting to believe it. Her hand gripping on the door handle tight as her heart raced, “please just crumbs, just be crumbs…” Kristen whispered to herself, trying to calm herself down. Slowly raising her sock off the ground, angling her foot upward toward her face so she could see what she had stepped on, her heart dropping.
Kristen raising a few trembling fingers up to her mouth as she was in shock, picking out the little blood stains across her comfortable white running sock she had used jogging that morning with Ginny. The blood stains soaking into her sweaty sock as Kristen counted dozens of the tiny red specks squished into the fibers, the crunch she heard was their bones snapping and crunching underneath her weight. “What were you doing out here!?” Kristen shouted. “You’re not supposed to be out here!” Kristen shouted again as was too scared to move, hyper vigilant towards the floor, seeing if there were any more wandering specks around her feet.
But there were no other visible specks, which made Kristen feel worse, having crushed an entire group of wandering micros that somehow made their way outside of the office door, leaving no survivors, their remains embedded into the threads of her sweaty sock. Kristen slowly placed her bloodied sock covered foot behind her, breathing heavily as she rushed away from the door and into the kitchen, ripping off the smelly, sweaty, and bloody sock from her foot and throwing it into the trash before she hung herself over the sink, using both arms to hold herself up as she began having, on the verge of throwing up, but nothing was coming up her throat to vomit as her face just remained hot and strained.
She wiped a bit of saliva from her mouth before dabbing her eyes from the involuntary tears. “I can’t keep doing this…” Kristen exhaustingly whispered to herself as she slowly paced upstairs, hugging onto baby Madelyn as a comforting mechanism. Laying down against the crib and rocking the baby gently as she stared down her outstretched legs, realizing she hadn’t taken the other sock off, almost laughing to herself at the pure and depressive absurdity of the whole situation.
Kristen deciding to ask for some help that evening, cleaning herself up and dressing into some comfortable tights and a simple shirt before she invited Ginny over. Kristen wincing her eyes and gritting her teeth as she used a paper towel to wipe up the bloodstains off the floor in the hallway where she had crushed a group of micros under her sock, not wanting Ginny to see the feint glow of crimson in the dim light.
The two chatting a bit in the kitchen for a while as Kristen pretended to be as normal and put together as possible. Madelyn on the floor on a comfortable mat rolling around on her stomach and back as Kristen and Ginny sat on the couch near her.
“Aww… she’s sooo adorable… but… I can’t help but be curious about what you meant by you wanted to talk about something more serious?” Ginny questioned. Ginny’s black hair slicked back into a ponytail, sat comfortably against the cushions with her hands on her lap as she bounced one of her bare feet up and down across from Kristen.
“Yeah… uhh… just experiencing a lot of grief and guilt lately…I uh, don’t really know who to talk to and I don’t really want to get a therapist, but like, I also don’t want to dump this on you, it seems unfair” Kristen said with some dejection in her voice, Ginny clicking her tongue and smiling.
“I’m that friend though, I always have people coming to me for things and help, so I don’t mind playing therapist if you’re in a bad place, but I can’t promise you that I’m any good at it!” Ginny chimed brightly.
“Are you sure?” Kristen nervously asked.
“Of course! Did you lose someone in your family recently or anything?” Ginny asked.
“No, no… it’s more like personal guilt, uh, I guess… it’s making me very… not good. I almost don’t even know how to talk about it” Kristen admitted as Ginny tilted her head with curiosity. Madelyn still cooing and rolling around her back in between the silences.
“What’s going on? Or at least, what are you comfortable sharing?” Ginny asked. Kristen looked around, staring at the floor for a moment, and then down the hallway to the two rooms occupied with millions of micro and nano lives before sighing deeply.
“What would you do if felt like you had to help of a lot of people, but no matter what you did to help, you would end up hurting them badly?” Kristen asked.
“And who are these people?” Ginny asked.
“Just… some people” Kristen stressed. Ginny thinking for a moment, tapping her fingers together as she curled her lips.
“Hmm… is helping them something you absolutely have to do?” Ginny asked.
“Yeah… kinda? Like, but also not really, more like an obligation, uh… I don’t know how to say it” Kristen said with a little nervousness in her voice.
“What do you get out of helping whoever these people are?” Ginny asked.
“Nothing, really, just more guilt…” Kristen said as she sighed.
“Kris… that doesn’t sound like a very healthy relationship to me” Ginny said.
“Yeah…I know…” Kristen anxiously bit at her lip.
“You and your daughter are the most important people in your life, you gotta take a little bit more control of the situation, I think, right? Help when you can, sure, but then only if you want to, but don’t force yourself if you’re not getting anything out of it… like… you’re just going to drive yourself crazy if you keep doing that to yourself. You’re already in a difficult place enough as it is…by yourself with a child…you don’t need that extra stress” Ginny said as Kristen sat in silence for a moment. “Oh! I can get you some healing crystals, maybe some nice incense from my house! I’ll be right back!” Ginny said excited, wanting to show off her holistic side as she quickly put her shoes on and opened the door, “wait, wait! What’s your astrological sign? I need to grab the right crystals for your healing” Ginny hastily asked.
“Uhh… Scorpio, I think?” Kristen replied before Ginny bolted out of the house down the street as Kristen sighed and slumped down into her cushion, staring at baby Maddy flailing on the ground and smiling. “What a weird house you’re going to grow up in… huh?” Kristen whispered towards Madelyn.
That same night, Ginny had performed a calming and therapeutic crystal cleansing on Kristen as she laid on the couch, Ginny slowly hovering multicolored gems and stones over her friend’s anxiety ridden body as the scent from the incense wafted through the living room as Madelyn was asleep upstairs. The room dim and cool. Kristen, not really believing in the practice, but she couldn’t help but feel less pressure and somewhat of a reliving feeling as Ginny slowly waved her hands over and above her head peacefully and methodically. Hearing the crystals clicking around her ears as she peaked her eyes open, there was something almost trancelike with seeing her friend so concentrated at trying to make her feel better, feeling a pleasant tingle in the back of her neck.
The two saying their goodnights as Kristen relaxed for a little bit alone in a quiet, dark, and calm house. Taking a few deeps breaths as she curled her legs together under a soft blanket for a much-needed peaceful few hours.
Her phone buzzing next to her on the cushions, ruining the relaxing feeling, praying it wasn’t anything from the micros or nanos, hoping it was her sister Leslie, or a funny meme from Ginny, or maybe a video from one of the other women in the neighborhood she had met, but she looked over, seeing encrypted numbers as she soured her face, undoing almost all the pleasantries that Ginny had given her.
Kristen hesitated but opened her phone, “A few days ago, a small contingent of citizens had made their way out of the room, they come from a from a city that has been particularly struggling with adjusting to the situation we find ourselves in. 72 people in total, have you seen them? Their families want them home” the message read. Kristen trying to calm herself, repeating Ginny’s supportive words in her head for comfort, trying to decide whether to tell the truth or not to the tiny communicator.
She began tapping on her phone, “I haven’t seen them, hopefully they are safe somewhere, I’ll look for them” Kristen lied, rearing her head back on the couch.
“Very well, thank you” the message simply responded as Kristen sighed, waiting a few moments as she stared at the ceiling before reluctantly reaching back for her phone.
“No, wait… I did see them… but it was too late, I accidentally stepped on them, I didn’t mean to” Kristen admitted as her heart pounded.
“Thank you, that is good” the message came back.
“Wait what, why good? What I did was awful” Kristen quickly responded, shaking her head at the strange reaction, expecting harsh and stern backlash.
“The people from that city are scum and delusional, the less of them, the better” the bitter message came through as Kristen put her phone down. Looking around confused and wide-eyed.
“What the fuck is going on in there…?” Kristen whispered to herself atop her couch, looking down the hallway towards the rooms as no more messages came in for the night….
Kristen having a somewhat decent night of sleep for the first time in weeks prior, wondering if Ginny’s healing touch had anything to do with it, almost debating to ask Ginny to do it again the next day just for the sake of it. Feeding Madelyn and going about her day as if normal after a refreshing shower and breakfast.
Kristen getting a little worried though as messages stopped coming through completely but remaining sincere to her promise to stay away from the micros and nanos. She was little more careful with where she stepped each time now, she approached the hallway to get cleaning supplies out of the closet, relieved every time there wasn’t a little wet squish under her toes.
But a few weeks went by without any messages coming through as Kristen grew more concerned, sure she was adjusting a bit more to being alone in the house, getting use to being a mom, getting used to Ginny and the other women in the neighborhood, but the curiosity was building. How did it seem to go from the angriest and guilt-inducing messages to absolutely nothing at all. Where they even still in there? did they manage to find a way back home?
Kristen kept weighing the options in her head repeatedly, but she needed to know. She needed to know if she had her home back, she needed to know if she could raise Madelyn in a micro and nano free home like a normal child, so, she would have to break her promise of staying away and take a look inside.
She wiggled her feet into the soft, brown boot slippers, tucking her loose sweatpants into the ankle openings, tugging her large hoodie down over her waist, still remaining as unattractive as possible, just in case the tinies were still inside her rooms. The squish of the inside of the boots felt good on Kristen’s bare feet and toes as she approached the long, dark hallway towards the backrooms, studying the floor with careful eyes as she softly tiptoed down the wooden floors without stepping on any rogue group of tiny people, at least she thought, the nanos couldn’t even be seen, let alone felt under the thick soles of the boots, but she sincerely doubted they would ever venture out of the couch room.
On the way to the door leading to the micro cities, she hoped and wanted so badly for them to have found a way home, picturing in her head that she would open the office door and reveal a barren floor, her black leather chair in the corner a little dusty, the windows open revealing her future office, excited by the feeling that she wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore and live her life, raise Madelyn in a nice house, build her own business, maybe even try to find someone to date later on.
She reached for the handle and opened the door, and much to her dismay, every city was still there, but something immediately caught her off guard, she smelled a subtle odor of smoke. She sniffed a few times, confirming the smell was indeed smoke as she looked around the room with winced eyes. Eyeing up each tiny city near her feet spread out across the floor, the intricacies so apparent in the sun, each little inch high skyscraper, all the neighborhoods, it was something Kristen still couldn’t believe was real.
Until she saw a little puff of smoke in a city to her right near the corner of her room. There was a small, towering billow of grey plumes puffing upward from the city’s center as Kristen looked at it confused. She took a closer step, watching her foot placement, settling her feet outside of the outskirts by some neighborhoods as she slowly bent down and eyed the city aflame from above. What she saw took her by surprise as she tilted her head.
Over the city were hundreds of flying dots, below were orange bursts of explosions as Kristen realized that the hovering dots were military planes dropping bombs on the city. Kristen pulled her hair back with both hands as she was in shock, not being able to understand the phenomenon. Keeping her hair behind her head as she rotated her face around the city, bending down near the tiny metropolis to get a better idea of what was happening, she could see little speck sized tanks rolling around neighborhoods and teeny tiny houses exploded into flames, hearing the pops and slightly louder cracks of cannons and bombs going off all around the city.
She couldn’t believe it, like a little video game of war strategy happening right below her face as the soft orange glows lit up all around, the pops and cracks only silenced by hundreds of thousands of screams across the city. Kristen swallowed deep, nervous, anxious, unsure of what to do, but instincts took over.
Kristen knelt, nearly burying her knee into a neighborhood as she shook the city from her leg impacting the floor, a few houses collapsing near her leg, but she didn’t notice. She brought her hand down from her head and hovered it on the opposite end of the city being attacked, keeping it parallel with the city as she slowly blinked before she waved her hand over the city like an angel; each attacking war plane, jet, and helicopter exploding on the palm of her hand in less than a second as she could feel the tiniest amount of heat on her skin as each aircraft crumbled on her hand.
Kristen unaware that this caused a massive gust in the streets as windows shattered and thousands of people were caught in the gusty slipstream. They were blown from their feet along with trees and cars, only to land hundreds of feet away in a bloody crunch as they screamed their entire way down, including the innocent people of the city and the attacking soldiers.
But it saved many more lives than she took in that moment of mercy. Kristen bringing her hands up to her mouth and she cringed and retreated, not knowing if she did the right thing or not by swatting all the attack planes out of the sky. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a few planes flying towards the next city over, closer to the wall of the room.
She followed the planes with her eyes as they landed safely on the outskirts of the city in a small neighborhood looking patch far away from the main city center. “What the fuck is happening?” Kristen quietly mumbled to herself, her booming voice shaking the besieged city below her and rumbling across the room as millions stared at the giantess they hadn’t seen in almost a month. “Stop it, right now” Kristen demanded as she still saw orange pops around the smaller neighborhoods in the city below her face from the tanks and micro soldiers, but the pops and death continued as she saw tiny little speck houses splintering into puffs of smoke.
“Ugh!” Kristen groaned. Kristen stood up and took another step across her room as she carefully brought her other foot around the city she had just been kneeling next to. Now looming herself over the aggressing city, watching as the planes were landing at what now looked more like a little air force base as Kristen got a better look at the little aircraft tower and long runways. “What the hell are you people doing, stop hurting them!” Kristen raised her voice, hesitantly and nervously looking over towards the city under siege, still seeing little orange glows and plumes of smoke. Kristen bit her lip as she twiddled her hands together with anxiety, looking back and forth as her heart raced, her mouth open as her she couldn’t help but have jitters shaking her body, unable to tell if it was adrenaline.
Suddenly, she saw a plume of grey smoke racing towards her face, the trail coming from the tiny aggressor city’s air force base. Kristen lunged her head back as a reaction to a speeding dot coming at her eyes as there was a little black and orange puff in front of her eyes, feeling the slight amount of heat on her face from the explosion. Kristen realizing the city at her feet had just launched a missile at her. “Did you just…?” was all Kristen managed to say as she shook her head.
Looking back at the tiny city being destroyed slowly, Kristen made another tough decision, raising the toes of her slipper boot over the air force base, cringing her teeth, closing her eyes and looking away as she couldn’t face what she was about to do. Slowly lowering the thick brown sole into the base as she felt the crunch all across the toes of her boot slipper followed by the pleasant, soft squishing feeling between her toes of the soft insoles surrounding her warm skin inside the boot.
Kristen carefully lifting her soft boot off the base as there was a perfect half circular curve where the base once stood. Kristen executing tens of thousands of military soldiers, flattening planes, helicopters, jets, all now embedded into the soft sole of her slipper. Kristen slowly opening her eyes to inspect her damage, seeing little tufts of smoke around the completely flattened landscape, only looking at the crushed base for a split second before turning away in disgust and shame. “I’m sorry…” Kristen whispered.
She looked over to her side, seeing the pops and orange bursts stop in the city that was being attacked, the cracks and pings coming to a stop, the screams quieting down, but they still rang out. Kristen ashamed, quickly stepped out of the room and to her couch and plopping herself down on the cushions. Resting her elbows on her knees as she massaged the sides of her head to try to calm herself down. Her phone vibrating again and again, trying her best to ignore the buzzing.
*** *** ***
“Let’s get rolling” the tank commander said as he tapped a few times on his display within the metal beast, the engine roaring as the black smoke plumed from their exhaust. The tank crew of four following the columns of other tanks and various armored vehicles and troop transports toward the open floor, no man’s land. The vast spaces between each city in the massive woman’s room, miles of separation between each metropolis gave the men inside the tight space time to check their equipment over and talk amongst each other.
Ordered to drive into their neighboring city and besiege them, attacking critical points and establishing a blockade around them so that they would be unable to leave, subjugating the city to dissolve along with its people. The commander was all for it, wanting to finally see some action, finally being able to live up to his leadership role having never been a part of a conflict in his life on their world.
“Why are we even doing this?” the younger driver said over the tank’s radio.
“Because this is just our lives now” the commander said as the tank rolled over the gigantic and smooth wooden floor beneath them. Never having a surface so flat and glossy to drive over. The people of the room still not used to the towering four walls that surrounded them, the gigantic window only showing them glimpses of a sky other than the massive woman’s white ceiling miles above them, her black chair sat in the corner bigger than anything they could comprehend besides the woman herself.
“No, I mean… those people… they’re just a little crazy right, and their leader said they’re all pacifists? So, what’s the point if they won’t even fight back” the driver said.
“They’re more than crazy, they’re going to get us all fucking killed by that bitch if we don’t get them under control” the gunner said.
“Whatever, can we just blow shit up and do our job?” the loader said. The driver shaking his head as he continued to do as he was told.
It was a several hour ride over the flooring. The commander could see fire in the city as the men started to feel the deep rumblings in their armored home, approaching the city as their air force roared over them with dozens of planes and helicopters, dropping endless bombs in the streets. At first, they hit strategic targets, communications, power plants, then they moved to political buildings, but finally, the tanks and troops were ordered to move into the civilian areas as bombs continued to explode all over the city, targeting whatever they felt like, no matter who was in their path…
“Hit that fucking house!” the commander yelled. The loader and gunner working together as a shell left their cannon with a boom. Half of a quaint neighborhood house splintering into charred scraps of wood and burnt furniture. Hundreds of screaming families running around the tank and fleeing in every direction as their screams could be heard slightly through the thick armor.
Hours of waiting outside the city while it was being bombed made the men thirsty to get into the carnage, all but the driver. The commander was savoring every second, watching house after house explode, the roar of the jets and attack planes, the soldiers gathering families and restraining them. Almost every soldier thought it was justifiable, everything they did, no matter how much death, the people of the city being attacked were seen as insane and needing to be put down.
The tank crew found itself in another neighborhood, running down their shells as they shot at cars for fun, or put a shell through the window of a bedroom while the city was engulfed in chaos and carnage. Indiscriminately picking targets, occupied houses, feeling vehicles filled with panicked families. Metal warped and exploding, houses being driven though by other tanks, bulldozing everything in their path. Laying waste to an entire city one street at a time.
The driver stopping the tank suddenly as the rest of the crew braced at the sudden dead stop.
“Mertz, get this fucking tank moving to the end of the street, right now” the commander ordered. Mertz could all but sob, seeing countless dead bodies of innocent people lining their gardens and streets while houses splintered and burned all around them as columns of their fellow brethren moved in every direction causing destruction at will.
“Stop being a fucking pussy, Mertz!” the loader yelled.
“You’re holding up the line!” the gunner said as countless tanks and armored vehicles were now stuck motionless behind them.
“Enough!” the commander yelled, quieting his men. “Mertz, move the fucking Banshee” the commander spoke more seriously, only rarely using the name of the tank itself, thinking it was bad luck, hearing his young driver, barely 20 years old, sobbing in his seat over the radio.
Mertz couldn’t though, no matter where he could drive the tank, the treads of the Banshee would run over dead bodies, not wanting to feel the bumps underneath his tank, Mertz refused.
“If you refuse my orders, you will be removed and tried as a criminal back home, do you understand that?” the commander calmly spoke.
“Sir…” the young driver managed to speak between his sobbing cries. The loader and gunner rolling their eyes as they counted the rest of their munitions in the meantime.
Something felt wrong though, a deeper thud rocked the tank. Then another as the city seemed to grow quiet. The men were tossed upward and down even in the thick armor as another deep quake bounced the tank a bit. The commander opening the top lid to see out of the tank.
There she was. Kristen. The commander looking upward towards her, rearing her head and neck all the way back just to see her body in full view. Her slipper boots in the distance, the padded sole edge alone towered almost over nearly every skyscraper in the city. Her loose sweatpants growing all the way up for miles, her face, so concerned yet naturally beautiful. Her hazel eyes and dark blonde hair cascading down the side of her face as she swept her hands up and brushed it back behind her ears.
Her eyes darting all over the city, the commander staring up at the monolithic woman with war planes flying all around in the airspace between them, the planes looking so insignificant compared to her body, like little flies. She started to kneel, thankfully on the other side of the city of the Banshee, her knee digging into the outskirts as the quake rocked the crew inside as they grabbed onto their seats and harnesses to keep from falling over.
“Commander?” the gunner questioned with obvious fear in his voice.
“Uh… I don’t know…I don’t know what to do” the commander said, his menacing will to be so involved in the chaos and war crimes stopped the moment he saw the miles tall woman towering and looming over the city, her shadow casting down over all of them put his life into perspective. No matter what he did, he was only dust compared to the giant woman leaning over him.
“I knew it! I knew we shouldn’t have come here!” Mertz yelled as he wiped tears from his eyes, “we’re all gonna fucking die, we should have just listened to these people we’ve been killing!” Mertz yelled as the tank quieted.
There was a sudden whirring sound, something dark and ominous, a deep whooshing, humming slowly as Kristen lowered her hand parallel with the city, the shadow eclipsing them darker, her peachy skin only revealed on her hands and face in lieu of the thick sweatshirt she wore over her body to hide her perfect figure. Her nails clear as they hovered and spread slightly, her fingers alone were a mile long each as they started to wave over the city.
The commander could see dozens of explosions as planes, jets, and helicopters couldn’t avoid the approaching wall of flesh of the palm of her hand. The slight orange bursts lighting up her hand with each aircraft she waved away, hundreds of crews dying in a few seconds as the crumples messes of war planes rained over the city in heaps and black smoke.
The commander bracing against the lid of his tank as his men screamed inside, a massive gust of wind followed behind the wave of her hand, the commander watching in awe as he saw thousands of bodies being lifted in the air and thrown across the city in the current gust of wind that her hand waving displaced. He could see the blue and grey uniforms of his fellow military being thrown amongst the crowd, doomed to fall to their deaths helplessly.
“STOP IT, RIGHT NOW” her voice rang out through the tank, only echoing louder within the armored Banshee. Mertz covering his ears and writhing from the loud yet soft voice of Kristen.
“UGH!” her voice rang out again across the room as everyone grew nervous. The commander collapsing back into his seat in pure terror and fear as he saw Kristen take a step over the city, her leg moving over the city followed by the slipper boot, a sight that he almost couldn’t comprehend, she was moving in slow motion, but quickly as her body towered over everything.
All of the commander’s desire to fight and be a part of conflict died in an instant as he saw Kristen approach his own city, the city he grew up in, wanting to fight for his whole life. A stray missile was fired up at her face, he realized, even from miles away he could see her lift her boot over his home city, the slipper coming down, feeling the quake radiate outward as she made impact with the floor.
The communication line back to the base suddenly dying off. Communications across the entire military force dying off apart from a few choppy, short-wave comms of panic and fear from the ground forces spread out across the city.
“I’M SORRY…” her words rang out again as her quaking steps shook everyone in the room. The giantess leaving after having killed tens of thousands of military personnel, leaving behind an ominous quiet in her wake.
“What do we do?!” the gunner yelled out. The commander silent. Mertz popping open his lid as he looked around, he saw his fellow tank crews getting out of their armor. Mertz dizzy at the sight of dead families and gore all around him, knowing his own commander was partly responsible for such atrocities for something that Mertz didn’t see as a big problem in the grand scheme of life.
The young driver slowly lifted himself out of the tank, stepping onto the street and taking off his helmet, collapsing to the ground in sobs as the rest of the Banshee crew got out, slowly stumbling around as the screams and explosions all over the city stopped, left with fires and smoke all around. Mertz could see blood-stained sidewalks and grass, dead bodies young and older lifeless in houses that were merely splinters after being shelled or bombed.
The commander’s eyes were hollow, struck with the realization that his dreams of glory and combat were all fantasy, having looked the giantess in the eye before she flattened his home in the distance in less than a second. The power that she had was barely demonstrated in that moment, he fell to his knees, unable to speak as his loader and gunner ran around the tank in hysterics, yelling at each other.
The eerie calmness, the smoking and besieged city in the background, the soldiers and crews left abandoned as they had no communications with their leaders and people back home across the vast empty open floor of Kristen’s room. Mertz picked his head up, seeing other younger men and women crying in the same uniform he had, thinking maybe they were experiencing the same regret and anger he was feeling, never wanting to be part of such a conflict in the first place, wanting nothing more than to just run back to his home across the open floor.
But like a horror movie, the citizens of the besieged city eventually started to emerge from the wreckage, through the streets, from behind walls and fences, ripped clothes and burnt skin from the fires and bombs. Covered in blood and angered with rage after seeing countless friends or family die at the hands of the invaders.
“Sir…” Mertz said as the commander looked up. Like zombies the people of the city approached them with rope and twine by the thousands. Some of the soldiers shooting back at them, but they kept coming like an endless horde. One by one, the invading soldiers were tackled to the ground. Their equipment ravaged, their tanks and armor left all over the city as each soldier was tied up and taken prisoner. Shoved into cramped and confined spaces, dark and hopeless rooms, only left with their thoughts of if just following orders was worth all the death and imprisonment.
*** *** ***
After a few minutes, Kristen finally picked up the phone that had been vibrating near constantly, “Why the fuck did you do that? I told you they were scum; you should have let us finish them off! You giant fucking bitch! You killed my men!” the angry message read.
“Why did you even attack another city?” Kristen responded on her phone, her body running on pure adrenaline, nearly shaking on her couch from the anxiety and the rush. Not even being able to think of how many people she had just crushed under her foot.
“I told you they are delusional! They’re leader thinks that you’re some kind of goddess here to save us from eternal hell. How does that sound for your ego? But I know you’re just a giant, regular bitch, not some fucking deity” the message read back. Kristen was dumbfounded.
“But I’m not, also… do you have to be so rude to me? We can work this out. Who even are you?” Kristen asked, but the messages stopped. Kristen left alone on her couch with thoughts streaming through her head endlessly. Kristen breathing heavily as she slowly placed her phone down on the table in front of her couch, her hands hovering above the table shaking as she phone dinged again. Kristen swiping on the phone to see a Madelyn rolling around in her crib crying after waking up. “Oh, thank god…” Kristen sighed with much relief as she went upstairs to tend to the baby.
That night, Kristen played with her healthy food at the kitchen table. Kristen rotating her fork around her green vegetables staring blankly at them as Maddy cooed around the corner. Kristen’s phone vibrating at the table as she opened the message. “Goddess, you saved our city today, their soldiers are retreating, and our people are safe for now thanks to you… I am finally free to message you, we are-“ Kristen read before she slapped her phone back on the table screen side down to avoid further reading the message.
“I am not a fucking god! Ahh!” Kristen loudly shouted, finally letting her pent-up anger and emotions out as it scared Madelyn, making her cry instantly. “Oh… ohh… Maddy, I’m so sorry…” Kristen softly and apologetically spoke as she quickly got up and hugged Madelyn against herself, playfully patting her back as she cried and whined. Kristen nuzzling her face against her daughter’s head. Kristen almost couldn’t help but cry herself, but she fought off the tears as she choked up and had a lump in her throat for the rest of the night before bed.
Kristen laid in her bad wide awake at 2 in the morning. Madelyn sleeping softly across the hallway from the bedroom. Kristen felt the soft breeze from her fan blowing on the exposed parts of her body that were out from under the thick covers in the spacious bed. Kristen replaying those moments in her head, “saving” the city that thinks she’s some kind of “goddess”. Swiping her hand over the city, squishing the air force base to death along with any micros down there. Only imagining what it must have been like to be stepped on by her and her soft boot, “but they shot at me… and killed tons of people… but so did I… ugh…” Kristen mumbled to herself as she tossed and turned against her soft, cool pillows.
Suddenly, Kristen’s eyes focused on her nightstand, her bedroom glowing some as she got a notification on her phone. Kristen scooting herself up on the bed as she sat back against her wide headboard, propped up by a few pillows as she brushed some of her long hair out of the way of her eyes. Reaching for her phone and opening up the message.
“You made the wrong choice today” the message read.
“Is this the same rude person that attacked another city and called me a bitch?” Kristen replied back.
“Actually, no, I live on the other side of the room. I’m someone who wants to get my people back home, and all you’re doing is making it worse for us. Many of us were getting tired of hearing that freak talk about how you’re a goddess, over and over again, every meeting we had, it’s all he would say about you” the message read.
“I’m not a god, I am not in your way, I want you to go home, so why can’t you?” Kristen more aggressively responded.
“We won’t be able to do that as long as you’re here, you should leave” the reply came.
“I can’t just leave, this is my house… and if I move, then what stops someone else from coming in and being even worse than me?” Kristen asked.
“Oh, I understand, you and your… daughter… right? You need a place to live, you want a home, but do you know how many mothers and daughters you’ve killed already? How many homes are empty or gone because of you?” the message replied as Kristen felt ashamed, sinking down into her covers.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’ll leave you alone, but you all need to stop fighting, that’s childish behavior and gets you nowhere closer to going back to wherever the hell you came from” Kristen replied.
“Childish… This is our one and only warning to you, Kristen. If you interfere with our lives again, we will kill your daughter” the cryptic message said as Kristen’s heart dropped.
“What did you just say to me?” Kristen replied in bewilderment.
“Do you know how easy it would be to infect your child with a bioweapon, viruses don’t care how big a person is; such a vulnerable immune system at that age, too… do not fuck with us anymore or you can think about your life without her…” the message ended as Kristen was left speechless and shocked. Wide awake.
Now Kristen couldn’t sleep for another reason. Her motherly instincts activating instantly, she would do anything to keep Madelyn safe. To protect her daughter meant everything to her as she got up and slowly tiptoed across the room into Madelyn’s room, sitting down at a small chair across from the crib and lovingly watching her daughter sleep peacefully. Kristen having time to think all night as she replayed those threating messages in her head. Those words that Ginny said to Kristen started to make a little more sense, take a little more control of the situation…