Gregor had been keeping an eye on the city of New Athens for a while now—ever since he started to hear reports of Griffin readying its forces for an offensive in the area. The place had been captured by Sangvis Ferri years ago, around the time when those machines first turned against humanity. It had remained under their control ever since, but Griffin's troops had been pushing those bots back in sector after sector recently, and if all went well, New Athens would be the next place they liberated. Once word of it got out, every scavenger in the vicinity would rush in to grab any valuables around, and Gregor was perfectly positioned to be the first one there, if indeed Griffin could secure it.

The battle was something terrible to see. Not that Gregor had been to witness it—he'd only seen clips people had posted online—but even that painted a chilling picture. It wasn't only the vicious SF troops that made him feel that way, either, or even mostly them. What really scared him were those monstrous T-Dolls Griffin had been using recently—Dolls big enough to crush a man, or even a whole house, in a single step. What kind of madman thought it was a good idea to build those things? It made him shiver just to think about what one of those could do if it turned against humanity like Sangvis Ferri before them.

But no point in dwelling on what-ifs; not when he had a city to loot.

As soon as he heard the SF forces had been pushed out of the city and the Griffin troops were busy chasing after them, Gregor seized the opportunity and drove to New Athens. Ruined roads and buildings as far as the eye could see greeted him on his arrival. Some of the destruction was still fresh, but most of it was much older—over a decade old, in fact, dating from the third World War. The place had been abandoned ever since, except for those SF units he supposed. In the years since then, just about everything of conventional value must have been scavenged and sold off—normally there would have been little point in looking for anything new here, but there had been a bit of a fad for memorabilia of the great war, and Gregor was sure he could find enough otherwise-useless trinkets here ignored to satisfy any too-rich-for-his-own-good collector.

Failing that, he could at least sell off some of the SF units, of which there were plenty in various states of destruction: burnt down, pumped full of lead, blown to bits, circuits fried... and stomped flat in the middle of giant shoeprint-shaped craters.

... Well, maybe he'd stay away from those last ones, but everything else was fair game if he could take it back to his truck. Unfortunately the streets were so wrecked and full of rubble and that he couldn't bring his vehicle any further than a couple blocks into the city, so he had to make many trips of increasing length to get all his findings back to the mostly-intact building where he'd left it.

Gregor was right in the middle of his deepest foray into the city yet—“The last one for today,” he told his tired legs, as he had the last time around—when his ears perked up at the sound of a distant impact. Another one came soon, telling him it hadn't been his imagination, and another two followed. “What was that?” he wondered. It didn't quite sound like artillery fire, nor explosions, nor collapsing buildings. If anything, it sounded like...

Gregor hurried back to his truck with his bag full of what trinkets and doodads he had managed to collect, keeping his strides smooth so his cargo wouldn't make noise. For a while all was quiet, but about halfway to his truck the noises started up again somewhere to his right. Whatever their cause, they were getting closer by the second, and at the risk of someone, or something, hearing him, he quickened his pace.

Then, while he was crossing an intersection, he saw it: the giant Doll behind all the sounds he'd been hearing. She appeared a mile or so to his right—too close; much too close for comfort—a monster taller than any of the buildings still standing in the city, so massive the asphalt crunched beneath her feet with each step. Also a cutie with a black and white outfit, light-blonde hair styled in a pair of buns, and nylon stockings going halfway up her thighs. “Why do they have to make these monsters look like fashion models?” he thought.

It was funny how fear and attraction could mix at a time like this, almost canceling each other out to make one stand in place like an idiot. Had the Doll looked less human he would have quickly scurried away before she could see him. Instead he stood dumbfounded until she turned her head and her gaze passed right over the intersection. He then bolted for the nearest building, instantly regretting it as the knick-knacks in his bag clattered against each other, each clacking sound a gunshot to the frightened man. Hiding behind the building, trying to get his breathing under control, he waited to find out if she had noticed him.

“Yoo-hoo. Is anybody there?”

Her voice made his heart skip a beat. She was walking again now, right towards him. Gregor stayed put, and made sure not to move a muscle.

“Hm, that's funny; I thought I just saw a little mouse run by.”

She was getting closer. Gregor thought he could feel the ground tremble with each step. Not only thought; it really was shaking now.

“Where are you hiding, little mouse? Come say hello. I promise I won't bite... I'll just swallow you in one go!”

Her steps were so loud now; the earth shook so much. And still she wasn't here. How much further did she have to go? How loud would it sound, how much would it shake, when she finally stood next to him? Gregor didn't want to find out; he had to leave, now.

He put down his bag as gently as he could and ran. Then the Doll's voice rang behind him like cannon fire.

“There you are!”

A glance back showed her standing at the intersection, those demonic red eyes of hers staring right at him, as if calling for his soul. With a cry, Gregor turned left down an alley, putting her out of sight. He zig-zagged, turning left and right by turns, to try and lose her in this maze of ruined streets and half-fallen buildings, sticking to the alleys when he could and making sure he was at least moving in the general direction of his truck. If only he could get to it ahead of her, he would be free.

But though he managed to stay out of sight, the Doll always remained a street or two away; never could he lose her, no matter how he tried to mix up his movement. Could she hear him, even over the sound of her own booming steps? Or did she have some other way to track him? God help him if the madmen who built her had given her infrared vision.

Maybe she was only guessing at his movements, though, and if he stopped running she would walk right past him and never look back. It was worth a try, at least—Gregor knew he couldn't keep running from her forever—so he stopped in the middle of a particularly tight alley, under the doorway of a building that didn't look very likely to collapse on him, and waited.

On the next street over, the Doll continued at her usual leisurely pace, until she stopped exactly opposite the block between them. There was the shuffle of giant feet on the ground, and then Gregor heard a faint cracking sound overhead. He looked up... and saw two full sets of gloved fingers gripping the roof of the very building he stood under, chipping the walls and sending a shower of tiny brick fragments raining down to either side of him.

With the door behind him tightly shut, Gregor could only flatten himself against it while the monstrous Doll's head loomed over the building to scan the little alley.

“Come out, little mouse,” she whispered softly. “I know you're hiding from me. I don't want to trash the city to catch you but I will if I have to.” Her hands tightened on the building until she crushed the upper ends of the wall, and rubble from them pounded the earth. “What are you so afraid of? Don't you see that being eaten by a superior being like myself is a blessing you should be honored to receive? The only purpose of a mouse like yourself is to serve as sustenance for a goddess like me, so do yourself a favor and come out now, will you?”

Gregor didn't even dare to breathe with the Doll so close to finding him. He covered his mouth with his hand, and did his best not to shake too much so it wouldn't give him away. It felt like he spent an eternity down there, but at last the building groaned as she straightened up and a bit of dust fell when her hands let go of it.

“Where did you get off to?” she muttered. A moment later he saw her walk past the far end of the alley without so much as a glance his way. “Come back here, little mouse~. Don't bother hiding from me; you know I'll find you, sooner or later.”

Not until the Doll had been walking away for a minute did Gregor feel safe enough to move. It looked like his plan had worked, at least somewhat; she wasn't running from her anymore, but now she was patrolling the streets ahead; he'd have to find a way around her if he was going to make it to his truck and escape.

Slowly he made his way forward, moving ahead only when he knew he wouldn't be spotted, hiding inside whenever she was passing by, and generally keeping his head down as much as he could. Progress was slow, but better slow than dead, as much as it wracked his nerves to have to sit still when he could feel the ground shake with her footsteps.

And all the while she kept closing in on him, passing more and more often through the very streets he had just been traversing. Even the alleys weren't really safe anymore, as every so often she would reach in and feel around for him. Besides, as he approached the outer parts of the city, the buildings grew shorter and more damaged, making it easier for her to peer into more and more streets from her towering height.

Progress became even slower—he had to be more careful now than ever, slinking right up against the buildings and making doubly sure she wasn't looking his way before even thinking about crossing a street. And through it all she kept calling him in that same chillingly-playful manner.

“I can't wait to finally meet you, little mouse! To see your adorable eyes going wide with fear, hear your cries for mercy, and feel you squirming in my hands and in my mouth and in my stomach. Won't you come out and let me taste you?” This she said while he was cowering in a half-ruined building, waiting for her to leave. “Ah! You're so scared, I think I can even smell your fear!” Now standing right next to the building, the Doll made a show of sniffing the air. “Fe, fi, fo, fum! I smell the blood of a little man!” As she knelt to peer in through a hole in the wall, Gregor lay flat behind the dusty, broken sofa. “Be he alive or be he dead... Well, seeing as I can't make bread, I think I'll eat him whole instead!”

While the Doll's laughter rang in his ears, Gregor watched through the thin gap under the sofa as her face left the opening and was replaced by her monstrous hand reaching into the room. Fingers longer and thicker than him brushed along the floor and walls, shoving aside furniture and rubble alike as they groped around blindly, like a group of great wriggling earthworms.

Gregor couldn't take it anymore. When those blind beasts approached him he ran for the door on the other end of the room, but before he could get to it, the giant hand brushed against his him and knocked him down.

“There you are, little mouse!” The Doll reached to grab him, but he had already scrambled away and was at the door. Something was blocking it from the other side, however, and he could just barely budge it pushing with all his strength. The Doll kept groping blindly for a second, but then, all of a sudden he heard a crash and a glance back showed most of the wall was gone and the monster was peering into the room. “I've got you now!” she exclaimed. Gregor squeezed out the door and ran for the open window, yet even then the giant hand punched a hole in the wall to keep chasing after him. He just barely made it out ahead of its fingers, jumping out the window to run into another building on the opposite block. From there he ran out to another and another, crossing three more streets before he heard her calling out again. “Have it your way, then; there's more than one way to catch a mouse,” she said, and before long he heard her start walking again.

It took him a moment to notice she was moving away and not towards him. He was confused, but still relieved. It wasn't until he tried to plan out his next move that her realized she was actually walking towards his truck.

“God dammit!” Gregor muttered. How had she known where to find it? He must have made his path too predictable. Even if she didn't know what he'd been running to, she at least knew where he'd been headed.

What was he to do now? He needed that truck—to leave the city and traverse the open fields around it on foot would make him easy prey to this monster. Yet all she had to do was stand in the middle of a street between him and the truck and keep looking both ways; eventually he would have to cross it and she would spot him easily. Unless, perhaps, there was something to cover his crossing.

Whatever the case, he'd have to try something or else be stuck playing this game of cat and mouse he couldn't hope to win, so he headed for his truck, moving as stealthily as he could while trying to think of how to get past the Doll.

The city was unnervingly quiet as he approached his destination, the Doll's footsteps having long since grown quiet. Strange as it was to say, he really wished he could hear the terrible thundering of her walking—better to know where the monster was than wondering each time he crossed a street if she was lying in wait around the corner. He almost would have welcomed even some small glimpse of her, if not for the risk of her seeing him too.

Come to think of it, it was strange he hadn't seen her yet either, with how short the buildings were here near the edge of the city. Were she standing, the Doll would surely be able to see and be seen by him from several blocks away or more. And yet there was still no sign of her.

Gregor wondered if she might not have left the city without him realizing. Maybe he'd be able to reach his truck without even seeing her again. He was almost there now; just a couple more streets and he was home free. But as he rounded the last corner, he found the Doll lying there, pushing his truck back and forth on the street. “Oh, there you are! What took you so long, mousey?” she said as she kicked her legs playfully behind her. “Were you looking for this little toy? Hope you don't mind me playing with it. I mean, it's not like you'll have much use for it in my belly. Anyway, now that you're here, why don't you hop right in? I've been keeping it nice and warm, just for you!”

The Doll opened her mouth wide and pointed right inside. It was the sight of her gaping maw that finally broke the spell keeping Gregor rooted in place. He turned around and sprinted as hard as he could, pounding the ground with his feet as he strove to escape this monster.

“How rude you are, little mouse! After waiting here for you all this time, you're just going to run off and ditch me? Well don't think for a second I'm going to let you get away! My belly's been rumbling all this time, and you look like the perfect snack!”

Gregor ducked behind a row of buildings just as the Doll stood back up. “Where are you running off to? Do you still think you can hide from me? Don't you know I've only been playing with you this whole time? But playtime is over, little mouse; now it's dinnertime.”

Chills ran down Gregor's spine as he ran down the city streets, trying his best to lose the Doll. Her steps were coming steadily closer now, the booming sounds carrying a beat not much slower than the frantic beating of his heart. Even at this distance the buildings around him shook and rattled more intensely than they had since yesterday's battle, loose bricks falling from the edges of damaged walls, and as she got closer the shaking even threatened to collapse the more weakened buildings.

Running was no longer an option now; he needed to hide, but few options inspired confidence. In the end he could only make do with hiding in the first building that looked like it wouldn't fall over from a hard enough sneeze. He hunkered down inside, waiting and praying for the terrible monster to pass him by, and almost had a heart attack when he heard a crashing sound unlike anything he'd heard before. He thought at first this building was falling in on him, but no, it was another one, closer to the Doll. Had one of them finally succumbed to the tremors? But then there came a second and a third one, all at regular intervals, all getting steadily closer.

Without moving from where he stood, he ventured a glance out the back window and promptly saw the building across the street come crashing down. Where it had stood before now stood the monster's boot, half-hidden in a thick cloud of dust. A second later, her other foot came down right outside another window, dimming the room.

“Hm. I wonder, where could my little mouse be? Could he be in... this one?” A roaring crash came from Gregor's right a the neighboring building was knocked over, hitting the ground with an impact as sent dust falling from the ceiling. “Or maybe he's in this one...” Another crash came on the opposite side.

“Ha ha! Oh, P90, quit playing with your food! You already know the little mouse is right... in... here!”

Gregor curled up on the floor, waiting for the building to come fall in on him. But though there was a mighty crash, it all happened behind him, and when he opened his eyes he found himself looking up at the Doll crouching over him—the three upper floors had been ripped clean off the building and thrown out into the street. Now the fallen buildings had him fenced in with her.

He tried to run all the same, the animal instinct pulling his strings him not caring one whit for such things as the impossibility of escape, but only three steps had he taken when he was lifted up by the waist and wrapped up in those trunk-like fingers, imprisoned in a cage of the Doll's synthetic flesh. Soft yet unyielding her grip was, and however he fought he couldn't budge it one inch.

“Hoo hoo hoo! Is that really all you can do, little mouse? How pathetic. Why, even a mouse in the hands of a human could do better than that. I guess you're not mouse after all; a tiny bug is more like it. Or, could it be you're putting up such a poor fight because you actually want to be eaten? What do you say, little bug? Are you ready to become a part of me?”

The giant Doll turned Gregor around to hold him between her thumb and fingers. The next thing he knew, he was being pressed right up to her stomach, rubbed in tight circles around her navel. “You like it? That's gonna be your new home, you know. Oh, what's the matter with you? Are you scared? Don't worry; your miserable existence will be over very soon. Now be a dear and squirm a lot for me on the way down, m'kay?”

As the Doll held him over her face, her mouth opened wide, letting him see all of it in bone-chilling detail. Beneath him her tongue formed a platform to receive him, and as he was lowered towards it, dangled by his arms, he kicked his feet frantically, as if in so doing he would fly up and away from this nightmarish scene.

“Aaaaaahhhhhh,” said the Doll, drawing him ever closer, her hot breath rushing up at him from her throat.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, scene!”

Suddenly, Gregor was dropped, not in her mouth, but on her open palm. There he sat up—his legs were shaking so badly he couldn't hope to stand—and backed away from her looming head, until his back bumped against her half-curled fingers.

“How was that, little guy? Did I play the part well?” she asked, smiling warmly at him.

“P... P... Part?”

“Yeah, you know; the part of the evil giantess.”

“Evil... giantess? That was... a role you were playing?” Gregor stared at her blankly, breathing heavily all the while. 

“M-hm! Ever since I got this bigger body I started doing research into what roles I could play at my new size! Turns out there's a bunch of drawing and stories and other stuff online about giant people and giant women specifically—like, wayyy more than I was expecting!—and a bunch of them feature this sort of evil giantess character. I didn't really get it but I thought I'd try it out with you to see how it went. I had a lot of fun doing it, actually! I can totally see why people like it so much now! But, what do you think? Did I do well?”

The Doll lifted him right up to her big red eye, so close he could see his own reflection in it. A pupil bigger than his own head shrank to focus on him. Then, with a loud groan, he slumped over and passed right out in her hand.

“Uhh, little guy? Hello? You okay?” P90 nudged the little man, but she got no response. Looked like he was totally out cold. “Poor little thing; looks like he got way too into his part,” she thought. “I can't leave him alone like this; guess I'll just have to bring him with me.” Softly she lowered him into her chest pocket, and after patting him to make sure he was still sleeping, she went back to looking for whatever ammo dumps or other supply depots Sangvis Ferri may have left behind, happily reminiscing on this little roleplay session.

She'd definitely have to read some more of those stories when she got back to the base—get herself some new ideas for her next try at this role. Of course, she'd also need someone to play the role of the helpless victim for that. Maybe the Commander; he'd make a cute one for sure!