In this Chapter: Maggie is out enjoying her day before she grows in the middle of downtown.

Main Tags of This Chapter:  Setup.  Growth.  Unaware.  Crush.  Gore. 

              “Come on, Gracie, aww… that’s a good girl” Maggie spoke in a cutesy baby voice as her dog eagerly trotted up next to her on the sidewalk.  It was a sweltering hot day in the bustling coastal metropolis, buildings and skyscrapers towering upward and all around.  People out and about on the walkways, heavy traffic flowing through the busy streets, a partly cloudy sky up above not nearly giving enough shade for the million people who called Hartsport home.  Maggie gently tugging at the glittery pink leash wrapped around her fingers, pulling against the fake sparkling diamond collar of her tiny, fluffy, panting Pomeranian. 

              Maggie had adopted the adorable Gracie when she went off to university at 18 so she didn’t have to feel alone during her time at school, now at 24 years old, Maggie was living in her own nice apartment near downtown after landing a decent paying job in the ever-booming tech industry of Hartsport. 

She felt even luckier to be working from home most of the time, only having to go to her office two days a week.  Her company’s building was conveniently only a few streets away too, Maggie almost always coming home during her lunch break to walk Gracie as it was much more fulfilling to her than getting food with any of her fellow colleagues.

Maggie considered her little pup her best friend in the entire world, Maggie having a few acquaintances she would go out with sometimes, but nobody whom she would consider very close to her.  Graice being there with her every single day for the last 6 years.  Through difficult classes, through depressing job searches, through two bad boyfriends, and on to her eventual success, but it was just her and Gracie, exactly how Maggie preferred it.

              Since the temperature only seemed to be rising each day, approaching the middle of summer in the busy city, Maggie opted for simple blue denim short shorts, a white crop top, and comfy high-top sneakers.  Her olive tanned skin soaking in the afternoon sun’s rays as she sweated a bit, the intense heat was something she would never get used to, growing up in a much colder city across the country before making the drastic switch. 

              She sat down at a table shaded by a large umbrella, the small café a few blocks away from her cozy apartment.  The café becoming her favorite local spot as the owners were kind enough to put out dog bowls full of water and some tasty treats for passerby’s and their pets.  Maggie scrolling through her phone and responding to a few messages on some dating apps while Gracie gulped down her water and a few nibbles beneath the table.

Maggie giggling as almost every message she opened on the dating app complimented her pup, uncoincidentally, as each picture she posted of herself on her profile also happened to be with Gracie with the caption in her about me, “I’ll never like you as much as I like my dog!”. 

              Maggie chuckling more as many of the men happily agreed while others were so desperate to take her out on a date that they would say anything just to get the brunette beauty’s attention.  Then came the more insulting messages, pretty typical as Maggie had thousands of likes, there was bound to be angry men taking out their jealousy and frustrations on her.  “Your dog is almost as ugly as you are…” one of the messages read as Maggie grumbled and quickly reported the sender for harassment. 

              “Oh, he’s cute…” Maggie mumbled under her breath as she swiped on a guy who had liked her, Maggie beginning to reply to his sweet message about Gracie before the waiter came out of the cafe and walked up to Maggie’s table. 

Immediately, Gracie started to yap and bark at the waiter to protect her owner, “Gracie, shh!” Maggie quickly hushed the fluffy Pomeranian as Gracie sat and quieted down, listening to her master, Maggie politely setting her phone face down on the table. 

              “Hey again, may I get anything started for you?” the younger waiter said with a humble smile, doing a great job of maintaining direct and unbroken eye contact as Maggie adjusted her crop top upward to hide her larger cleavage, sitting up and clearing her throat. 

              “Just an iced chai latte with oat milk for now, thanks” Maggie said as she politely smiled back, recognizing the waiter from the last few times she had visited the café. 

              “Sure thing!” the younger waiter said before he walked back inside.  Maggie tapping on her lap as Gracie immediately leaped upward and nuzzled herself atop Maggie’s thighs, Maggie patting and petting the well-behaved pup.  A few minutes later, the waiter came out with chilled glass filled with creamy chai and ice, setting the drink down in front of Maggie who simply smiled and kept petting Gracie.  “I also got you a little something…” the waiter said as he sat a small paper cup down on the table filled with whipped cream. 

              “Oh my god!  That’s so sweet of you, thank you!” Maggie happily chimed.  Maggie grabbing the cup and holding it in front of Gracie’s mouth as Gracie instantly started to lick the whipped cream in a frantic craze, slurping it up and wagging her cute tail as fast as she could with obvious excitement. 

              “You’re welcome, let me know if you need anything else… or if you… uh… never mind… just holler if you need anything, I’m Zach” the sweetly anxious waiter said as he shuffled off to help another table full of customers.  Maggie sighed, Zach was okay looking, but not really Maggie’s type, instead she took a sip at her cold drink as a nice breeze blew through the city, cooling off Maggie for a few blissful seconds.    

              “I can’t wait to take you the park today!” Maggie cutely said down to Gracie’s as she wagged her curled tail, Gracie obviously thrilled upon hearing the word, “park”.   Gracie jumping off Maggie’s lap and running around the table legs a few times, Maggie laughing at the excitement of her best friend as the half-filled paper cup of whipped cream fell to the ground. 

              Maggie reaching under the table to grab the cup, bending back up placing the cup down on the table, “ahh…” Maggie relaxingly sighed as she leaned back into her chair, enjoying the subtle sounds of quiet chatter, the hum of cars and busses in the distance, the cool breeze blowing off the Hartsport Bay across town.  The subtle gust wafting against her exposed skin perfectly as she shivered and giggled, but the summer heat quickly returned.

              She took another sip at her cold chai before reaching for her phone, wanting to finish her reply to the cute guy on the dating app.  Maggie starting to put herself out there since her last relationship ended two years prior during her last year in college, but before she could start typing, she heard a noise that made her heart drop with sheer panic. 

              A low and ominous growling overtook the buzzing sounds of Hartsport.  Maggie picking up her eyes to see a man in a yellow and white Hartsport baseball jersey walking by the café with his own dog.  The tiny six-pound Gracie snapping forward to confront the much bigger Husky and to protect Maggie from the perceived threat. 

Maggie gripping tight at the glittery pink leash and pulling Gracie back as her pup calmed and heeled, but the man couldn’t catch his leash in time from the sudden forceful tug.  The Husky lunged forward aggressively and tried biting at Gracie, the two dogs rolling around underneath Maggie’s table as the entire café full of people looked over in shock.  A few chairs were knocked over as Maggie desperately tried to grab Gracie and pull her away from the sudden scuffle. 

              “Dax no!  No Dax!” the bearded man tugged at the leash as hard as he could while he yelled for his dog to stop, the horrific yelping sounds from Gracie broke Maggie’s heart.  The animalistic snaps and growls from the Husky drowned out Gracie’s whines and cries soon after. 

After a traumatic few seconds of mismatched dog fighting that seemed more like 10 minutes to Maggie, the man managed to tug his Husky back and away.  Maggie jumping to the floor and rushed to pick up Gracie into her arms, cuddling the whimpering pup tightly to her chest that was fluttering with a rapid and terrified heartbeat. 

              “What the fuck is wrong with you!” Maggie yelled out as loud as she could.  Maggie at 5’4” fearlessly staring up at the much taller and well-built man who appeared to be in his later 30’s. 

              “Your dog jumped at mine, what was I supposed to do?!” the man frantically replied. 

              “I don’t know, maybe hold the leash while you walk your animal?!” Maggie yelled back.  Maggie’s face growing redder by the second, her body filling with white hot rage.  The Husky quieted down but was still trying to jump up across the sidewalk towards Gracie as the man held the leash much tighter in both of his hands.  Maggie gently patting Gracie’s head to calm her scared girl down. 

              “Dax has never done that before, not with anyone or any other dogs, I’m sorry, alright!  Is your pup okay?” the man worriedly asked. 

              “She’s fine… you’re lucky I don’t call the police…” Maggie said, irritated, gritting her teeth, she could feel her body shaking almost, never having felt so angry in her entire life with the idea of almost losing her best friend to some random dog attack. 

              “I can take you two to a veterinarian if you want, I- I’m so sorry” he said. 

              “I’m not getting anywhere near you… leave us alone” Maggie sternly said.  The man angrily gritting his teeth and walking away, tugging hard at his leash to get his dog to follow him down the sidewalk.  The man turning his head every few steps and shooting bitter glances back at Maggie who stared him down in return until he disappeared around the corner in the distance. 

              Maggie sitting back down and looking over Gracie, her pup appeared to be fine apart from a little patch of fur missing from her back, no blood, no scratches, just Gracie’s cute face and big happy eyes looking up toward Maggie.  Maggie hugging Gracie tight, “you fought off a Husky, sweet girl!  You were so brave!” Maggie spoke with her baby talk, leaning down and started kissing Gracie all over her face, Maggie’s heart still fluttering. 

              Zach slowly walked back up to the table, “is everything okay?” the waiter nervously asked. 

              “Yeah… just… I’ll take the check…” Maggie said with dejection, barely looking up at him. 

              “Oh, don’t worry about it, I… I already covered it for you” Zach said with a half-smile.

              “You didn’t have to do that…” Maggie replied. 

              “I just… uhh… thought you were really cute, so I… yeah… I did it before all that happened” the waiter anxiously explained.

              “Well, thanks, that was sweet of you” Maggie simply said, standing up and gently setting Gracie back on the ground.  Maggie walked away not acknowledging anyone else as Gracie trotted alongside her down the sidewalks toward the park a few blocks away.  Zach sighing before he went back to another table of customers.

***                                        ***                                                                        ***                                                       ***                      

              Maggie gripped the pink leash especially steady in her fist, her mind spiraling out of control with thoughts of never wanting to lose her baby.  Maggie’s nose sniffled, clenching her jaw and teeth together tightly as she replayed the scenes of the attack in her head over and over.  She was so angry that she couldn’t help but cry, unable to contain her rage over almost losing one of the only few things that had been so meaningful in her life. 

              Maggie gently closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down for a few moments, breathing slowly into her nose and out from her pursed lips.  Opening her eyes and carefully wiping away a few tears from her cheek as a few people on the streets glanced over at her but continued walking right past her without concern.  Part of Maggie wanting someone to ask her if she was okay, but part of her would be okay with never seeing another human for the rest of her life. 

              Feeling somewhat calmer, she turned the corner and approached the entrance of the dog park, seeing happy dogs living their best lives carefree, running around, and playing with each other.  Maggie smiled as she walked over the grass, her stress starting to melt away, fantasizing about owning a big house one day with dogs running all around a massive field with a happy Gracie leading the pack.

              Maggie and Gracie relaxed in the grass for a moment in the shade of a looming tree.  Maggie allowing Gracie’s a bit of longer slack, letting her roam around the immediate grassy area in front of her, troves of dogs running up and sniffing one another along with the Pomeranian before resuming running around.  Maggie giggling some as she took a deep and relaxing breath before laying her head back against the softly rustling tree, closing her eyes with relief and satisfaction, a little slice of heaven as she focused on the pleasant breeze and the sounds of dog barks and wispy leaves.

 She slowly opened her eyes after a few relaxing minutes, scanning across the park to further observe more cute and happy furry friends running all around and playing with their owners, but walking out from behind a large oak tree across the way was the man and his Husky that had attacked Gracie earlier.  Maggie’s heart dropped again as the rage came rushing back to her in an instant, pumping through her body with venomous ferocity. 

              An icy cold shiver rushed down Maggie’s spine as her bright brown eyes widened.  Gripping the leash as hard as she could, digging her press-on white nails into the skin of her palm, but the pain wasn’t enough to let go of the precious leash.  “Ahh!” Maggie yelped as another frigid shiver shot up her spine.  Feeling as if she had been submerged into an ice bath, her body started to freeze despite the summer heat from the sun high above. 

              Dogs and people continued to run around the park with glee, including the man with the Husky, nobody noticing Maggie’s body twitching underneath the shady tree.  Maggie wincing her eyes shut as the overbearing pain started to radiate within her body, Maggie couldn’t help but let go of the leash as Gracie ran off toward the main garden in the distance. 

“No, Graice… Ahhh!  Wait!” Maggie yelled out, but the pain only worsened as her shoulders and arms seized and trembled.  Maggie desperate to try and stop Gracie from being attack by the Husky again, but she was frozen stiff from the growing torturous ache erupting into every nerve across her being. 

              “Hey, are you okay?” a worried woman walking by with two golden retrievers asked Maggie. 

              “I-I… ahh… can you call an ambulance?” Maggie painfully spoke as she clutched at her chest and tried to open her eyes.  “Gracie!” she yelled out again, trying to get her dog to come back, but the little Pomeranian ran off to the grassy fields in a blitz of zooming energy, dragging the pink leash behind her. 

              Maggie started to hear a cracking sound and winced her eyes tightly yet again, but the searing, skin-ripping pain and soreness in her body felt like a hot knife stabbing into all of her nerves at the same time.  Another loud cracking noise and a sharp sting in her legs and body made her gasp. 

She fought through burning pain in her face and managed to slightly open her eyes before looking down, seeing the faces of people and dogs somehow below her, the mouths of the people wide open as Maggie was suddenly much taller, hearing some whimpering barks becoming quieter and softer. 

Maggie confused by the scenery as the helpful woman next to her was shrinking even smaller, along with the cars and people around and behind her.  “Ahh…” Maggie groaned aloud again in total anguish, dropping down to a knee in pain and hearing a loud crash followed by a few scared fleeing dog barks. 

              Maggie’s view of the landscape beneath her started to get smaller and smaller as she heard frantic, visceral screams sound out all around, spotting tiny people running away as her body seemingly kept growing outward.  Her stylish white sneakers crawling across the sidewalk as the dirty rubber heels of her footwear pushed into the busy street behind her and crumpled a parked car, the broken glass from its windows spraying outward into the street. 

“What’s… happening?” Maggie achingly said as she started to cry from the anguish of her body expanding, another wave of ice-cold chills shot all throughout her body as she thought she was dying.  The concerned woman’s Golden Retrievers broke loose from their owner’s leash and ran away down the street as Maggie struggled to pick herself up, rising up from her knee buried in the ground.  Maggie now towering over the park as she labored to open her eyes and see that the landscape below was even tinier than before. 

Maggie losing her balance as her body felt heavier and slower, sluggishly reaching her hand outward to grip onto something to keep from stumbling, but there was nothing within reach.  Instinctively reacting and stepping to her side to keep herself from falling as she slammed her white sneaker onto the concerned woman trying to run away, Maggie both hearing and feeling the squishy crunch of the body splattering underneath the sole of her shoe but couldn’t comprehend that the feeling came from stepping on a living person.

The screams of people instantly grew louder as the crowds around started to run away from the towering young woman.  Cars rendered immobile as the traffic of the heavily populated city was already too compacted to begin with and just a few panicked car crashes halted the streets in the immediate vicinity.  The growing Maggie still expanding upward, looming over almost everything with ease, her shadow casting a long gradation across the streets and onto the buildings in the distance. 

Her sneakers pushing outward almost faster than people could run through the dense traffic of gridlocked cars.  A few people shoved down to the ground by the rolling dirtied white rubber as it expanded.  The frightened people screaming loud from the sudden cold and heavy weight rolling over them.  The thick material of her shoe pushing downward on them as their bones started to snap, the people frantically hollering as their bodies were slowly steamrolled, spurting blood from underneath her shoes or the side of her foot as her body continued to grow over them.  

Maggie groaned with pain again from the ice-cold feeling stabbing at her spine as she looked down trying to spot Gracie.  The people starting to look like bugs as they grabbed their dogs and ran from the park, Graice was nowhere to be found though, trying her best to pick out the glittery pink leash attached to a blip of speedy brown fur. 

Instead, she noticed the yellow and white jersey that the owner of the Husky was wearing.  The little bug-sized man was trying to run down the street between cars and away from Maggie’s expanding white rubber by the toes of her sneakers.  The man chasing after his Husky who was farther down the street and away from the danger, but the man couldn’t run fast enough as Maggie took a little step to her right to maintain her balance and keep from falling. 

Maggie planted her sneaker into the pavement and the man was ruthlessly squished under Maggie’s rubber sole.  The man’s body, along with dozens of cars and people were crushed flat into the street as Maggie breathed heavily, barely able to handle the pain, the freezing cold, and the wet, metallic crunch under her foot all happening simultaneously.

“Gracie!” Maggie breathily groaned as she bent over, placing her hands between her thighs and bending forward from another immense wave of the intense cracking of her bones.  Her feet now spread far enough apart to keep herself upright and balanced. 

Maggie blinking a few times before she opened her eyes fully, the freezing feeling suddenly stopping as the heat of summer returned to her tanned skin.  Her body suddenly feeling energized and awake as if she had gotten the best rest of her life, finally free of the pain of what felt like her bones being melted by ice-cold magma.  Although her movements still felt slow and sluggish, she curled her lips as she looked around for her baby, ignoring the sudden burst of powerful energy coursing through her body that felt rather satisfying.   

The screams she could hear earlier were more feint, she could see inch tall people scattering in all directions beneath her.  Maggie took a small step forward into the empty green park with her right sneaker, knocking over a few trees before she settled her other foot carefully next to her right.  Turning her head and seeing two bloody footprints embedded in the street and sidewalk.  The footprints themselves were horrific, smushed bodies smeared into the pavement and rock, unrecognizable as people, rather just as puddles of gore and red blobs. 

              Looking around, she was standing easily at a few hundred feet tall, she could see over buildings in every direction apart from the larger skyscrapers in the distance.  The sunlight reflecting off the glass windows of many buildings of the massive city.  Tiny cars and busses lining the streets up and down, hundreds of thousands of people all walking around that hadn’t yet caught wind of the towering woman, the tiny citizens still going about their day as normal.

              Maggie tilted the sole of her shoe and looked downward, seeing a smear of blood and flattened flesh stuck to the bottom of her left shoe that vaguely resembled the human figure of the concerned woman, Maggie’s eyes widening as she remained silent for a moment, wondering if it was all really happening.  She lifted her right shoe upward to inspect it, seeing a few more splatters of bodies and a crumpled car stuck inbetween the rubber treads. 

Maggie breathing a sigh of relief as her mind went back to what was most important to her.  “Gracie, where are you girl?” Maggie softly called out, looking around the empty park from her position hundreds of feet over the greenery and trees. 

              She bent down and started ripping thick oak trees out of the ground like simple twigs, clearing the view of the park so she could search for her pup.  The streets all around her started to empty and clear with troves of abandoned cars left behind.  The environment starting to quiet down some.  “Gracie, baby, where are you?  Come to mommy…” Maggie whispered softly.  Maggie growing more and more anxious the longer she couldn’t find her. 

              Maggie pursed her lips together and started to whistle a few times in short succession, but the pitch was too loud as she shattered the windows of the office building in front of her, hearing a few screams, she looked upward and saw hundreds of occupants in the building all staring at her from across the street next to the park. 

She gritted her teeth in annoyance and returned to her frantic search for Gracie.  Her eyes darting right to left and she ripped more trees from the ground and threw them randomly behind her, sending them crashing into unpredictable sections of the city thousands of feet away.

              Her face grew to worry and panic, her brows lowering as her eyes tightened up to tears, her lips parting as she twitched with nerves and worry, “Gracie, please come to mommy…” she desperately pleaded as a few tears dripped down her cheek.  Maggie’s heart soaked with relief as she saw a spot of tiny brown fur dart out from behind a tree she had ripped out, but the body was too long for it to be Gracie. 

              Maggie stood up, her lips quivering as she looked around, twisting her body, being careful of where to step, not wanting to step on her loyal pup by accident.  There was no sign of her best friend anywhere.  Maggie thinking where she could have gone, starting to look around the streets instead for answers and hope. 

“Oh, duh!” Maggie yelled out.  She reached for her back jean pocket.  Maggie had gotten a tracking chip inserted under Gracie’s skin, a smile of relief across Maggie’s face knowing she could just pull out her phone and see a little live geolocation of where Gracie was, problem solved.  Maggie’s smile disappearing as she felt her back pocket, her phone was nowhere to be found, “god dammit…” Maggie mumbled in anger.

Remembering why she got the tracking chip in the first place.  A year prior, Gracie had accidentally run away from her apartment building.  Maggie cried all night, desperately calling animal control and searching the streets by herself.  Maggie tiredly stumbling back home in the early hours of the morning to find that Gracie had made her way back to the front door of their apartment, patiently waiting all night for her owner to return. 

              Maggie shook away her disappointment, “I know that’s where she would go…” she whispered.  Maggie took a deep breath and gathered her surroundings, squinting her eyes and spotting her apartment building in the distance before uncaringly taking a step into the streets and crushing droves of unoccupied cars underfoot. 

Keeping her eyes firmly on the ground to potentially pick out a tiny Gracie running around.  Maggie knowing her apartment was a few blocks over the busy downtown streets, but she didn’t care who was in the way, she wasn’t going to lose the most important thing in her life, thinking she could figure out the rest of her problems later once she had her pup with her again. 

              The immediate streets were mostly empty apart from abandoned cars and a few confused people who didn’t yet know what was approaching.  The feeling of deep earth-shaking quakes rattling the city all over as more and more people who weren’t aware of Maggie’s presence came to a standstill with a slight worry that an eerie and continuous earthquake was striking downtown Hartsport. 

              Maggie passed up the half-shattered glass office building, people still scrambling down the stairs inside, seeing the men and women inside panicking and backing up into the hallways, from her face down to her shoes.  Maggie didn’t care, taking another step into the street no matter how many fancy or cheap cars had to be crushed, feeling their metallic figures crunch like brittle shells underneath her soles.  Webs of cracks in the pavement spreading outward from her footsteps, leaving behind footprints the shape of her sneakers embedded into the ground with a recognizable crisscross pattern and pancaked vehicles in the imprints.

              Maggie turned the corner of the busy downtown streets, seeing thousands of fleeing people running away at her height from at least 400’.  Maggie witnessing hundreds of people all looking up at her with disbelief, their mouths agape and their eyes filled with shock and awe of the walking impossible.  Despite the crowds of horrified citizens, Maggie continued on, not caring who ended up beneath her, keeping her eyes glued to where she stepped, on the lookout for the poof of tiny brown fur as nothing else was of her concern. 

              She took another step, watching from above as a group of occupied cars disappeared underneath her toes, feeling the distinct crunch as she pressed her sneaker into the street, unaware of how big she actually was, her right hip collided with an office building that was a bit taller than her. 

Her hips’ impact propelled rubble and debris outward onto the street below as she reached out and caught herself from falling, digging her white nails into the floors of the building, and staying upright.  The sounds of screams erupting all around her as she could feel real human bodies creepily wiggling and struggling against her hand and fingers dug inside the building. 

              Pulling her hand out of the building as she regained her balance.  Maggie’s face still filled with worry as she shambled down the street, knowing she didn’t have long to go, but the bug sized people couldn’t get away from her fast enough, leaving a wake of deep footprints behind her with filled horrifically with squished people. 

Some footprints had people who just barely dove to the side, only to be squished in half, their upper or lower bodies pressed into the ground while their other half remained mostly intact, severed by the edges of Maggie’s dirty sneakers. 

              Maggie’s ankles and shins ripped electrical wires and tore out streetlights.  Each shoe was almost the width of the entire street as everything she stepped on was pulverized, people and cars only spared by her long strides, watching the giantess walk over them from beneath her massive body.  Her mostly bare tanned legs leading up to her fashionably ripped blue denim short shorts, her flesh towering over screaming and dumbfounded people trying to hide or look for cover behind a car or within a storefront. 

              “Oh god no!” Maggie could hear a tiny squeaky feminine voice shout beneath her before taking another crunching step, but she continued on down the street despite the panic and chaos engulfing everything around her looming figure.

              “Just a few more steps…” Maggie whispered, seeing city bus disappear under the heel of her left foot, the heaviest crunch she had felt so far.  Up ahead, a police car in a packed intersection had their flashing lights on, two police officers waving and guiding people to the side streets to get them to safety, but most people were in a frenzied free for all and took off in every direction away from the approaching Maggie decimating the people filled streets with sickening wet crunches.

              One of the officers pulled his gun as the young giantess approached, seeing her long legs towering over him as suddenly a shadow was cast high above.  His last image was the gruesome and gory scenery of her right shoe’s sole.  Dozens of bloody corpses and crumpled cars stuck between the crisscross pattern as he yelped out in fear.  The other officer trying to run away but wasn’t quick enough himself. 

              Maggie pressed down without care, thankfully not spotting any tiny brown fur running around still as dozens of screams were silenced instead with another stomp.  Maggie’s heart racing as she hoped and prayed that Gracie would be at the front entrance of their home, “please… please…” Maggie whispered as the intersection by her apartment building narrowed some. 

              Maggie pivoting to her right and squeezing herself into the street between the buildings.  Her larger breasts blowing through the roof of a mall and sending everyone inside scattering away from the falling debris.  Her firmer and slightly curvy rear plowed through a bank office, a few people falling out of the caved-in windows and splattering on the ground far below.  Maggie shimmying her shoulders and legs, her sneakers carving up the bottom floors of each building in front and behind her as debris lined the streets, numerous people buried in the upturned rubble. 

              The street widened a bit closer to her apartment’s parking garage as Maggie pivoted backed to normal, “Gracie, baby, mommy is comin’…” Maggie said aloud as her apartment was just around the corner.  Maggie took one final step into a busy interaction, feeling the deep crunch of countless unsuspecting occupied cars stuck in gridlock traffic. 

              Maggie turned around the corner and looked down, her eyes met the front entrance of the building.  Maggie gasped, a deep relieving breath parting her lips as her brown eyes widened with joy.  She spotted the familiar yet tiny pink leash, following the tiny leash to a little dot of brown fur sitting down righting outside the front entrance of the high-rise apartment building.  “Gracie, oh girl, oh thank god…” Maggie whispered with immense love and reprieve as she squatted down over the street, hearing an eruption of screams from underneath her lowering rear. 

              Maggie could see Gracie raise up from the ground, hearing the little squeaks from her favorite familiar barking best friend.  Even from Maggie’s new height, she could see Gracie’s little curled tail wagging with excitement.  “Don’t worry, Gracie baby, mommy will get you out of there” Maggie said she started to reach down, but hundreds of people began running away from her lowering hand, flooding the sidewalk and the entranceway near Gracie, causing her baby to panic. 

              “Hey, get the fuck out of the way!” Maggie yelled out in annoyance.  Furrowing her brow in frustration and biting her bottom lip as a crowd of people were stampeding away from the entranceway, nearly trampling her little pup to death.  More and more people running out of the building, many of Maggie’s own neighbors that she had never bothered to talk to in her two years of living there. 

              She continued to reach down, gripping her open fist onto groups of fleeing people and throwing them away across the city like crumbs, sending their bodies splattering against buildings or onto the streets in the far distance.  Maggie swiping her hand to the side, watching as a dozen people exploded into a pink mist against her fingers and palm, their bodies almost disintegrating from the intense power of Maggie slapping them away.  Gracie still running around, barking up toward Maggie as if begging for help from the mobs of panicked people. 

              Maggie’s wiping her bloody hand into the white fabric of her crop top, staining her shirt with crimson.  The streets clearing up as Gracie continued to wag her tail.  Maggie smiling as she reached her palm down, placing the back of her hand on the ground as if to allow Gracie to jump up into her palm and up to safety. 

Breathing slowly and calmly as to not scare Graice.  “Come on girl, up!” Maggie said with a cheerfulness, finally saving her baby.  Maggie already thinking of what to do next, how she was going to process becoming a giant, how was she going to live like this or if there was a way to get back to normal, but as long as she had Gracie, she felt at ease. 

              Gracie approaching closer to the tanned flesh of Maggie’s upright hand, Gracie’s sniffing around Maggie’s expansive skin.  “Come on baby, jump on mommy’s hand” Maggie said with a smile as Maggie realized the side of her hand might be a bit too tall for her pup to jump up on.  “Hmm…” Maggie hummed as she tried to think of something else, ignoring the sounds of a frightened city all around her, sirens blaring in the distance all over. 

              Maggie retracted her hand slightly, instead placing her upturned press on white nail to the ground, giving Gracie the chance to jump up into her nail.  “There you go, baby, come on!” Maggie said with gigantic baby talk as suddenly the sirens grew to a point where Maggie couldn’t ignore them. 

              A large, armored police van and a few police cars drove up on the sidewalk next to Maggie’s left sneaker.  Graice backed away from Maggie’s nail out of fear as dozens of officers dressed in black Kevlar and helmets jumped out all with high powered rifles aimed at Maggie.  “Stand down at once!” a tiny male officer yelled up through a speaker toward Maggie, but she simply ignored his pathetically squeaky command as cries around the city continued to ring out.

              “Come on Gracie, up for mommy!” she said back down toward the ground with a wide smile.  Maggie suddenly heard a loud pop, watching Gracie running away from the sudden scary bang.  Maggie feeling a tiny sting into the side of her exposed stomach beneath her white crop top.  Looking to her left, she had witnessed an officer with a smoking rifle.  The officer shot a few more times, Maggie feeling little pricks of sensations on her cheeks and shoulders but ignored them. 

              Turning her gaze back to the ground, Gracie was hiding behind a tiny pillar under the entrance of the building after the frightening bangs.  “Stand down now!” the tiny man screamed once more as she heard a few more loud pops.    

              “You’re scaring my baby!” Maggie yelled back at the tiny officers, seeing a few of them dropping their rifles and covering their ears.  Maggie raising a fist and fiercely slamming it down onto the van and the pavement around it, obliterating a dozen officers under her knuckles and turning the armored van into sheet metal embedded into the street. 

The rest of the officers smartly running away as Maggie hmphed with annoyance.  “It’s okay girl, just had to get rid of them, come on…” Maggie said turning back to look at Gracie, but something was off, Maggie beckoning her upturned nail back towards the ground, but she first noticed that the entrance of the apartment was blocked off and some people were trapped within, a few other people running under her legs and behind her.  People encased in the entrance as Maggie gasped, noticing that the pillar had collapsed into the doorway. 

              The quake from slamming her fist down into the armored van rippled outward causing the entrance of her apartment to fall inward.  Maggie trembling as she saw a pile of rubble, next to the rubble was the tattered pink leash.  Maggie’s eyes instantly wetting with tears, her cheeks flushing pink with rage.  There was an eerie silence just beneath her as the trapped people all stared up at her without making a peep. 

              Maggie’s hand extending to the rubble, her hands shaking as her body felt weak, her stomach turning inside out, feeling like she was going to throw up, “no… no… Gracie please… no…” she said between lip quivering whines as she choked on her saliva. 

She reached toward the rubble, but she pulled her hand away, she didn’t want to see her baby dead… “No… no… she got away…she got away…” she mumbled, denying the thoughts, but it became more real by the second, she had lost her baby.  Instead, she turned to the people trapped in the building with an unbridled rage, her eyes reddened as angry tears streamed down her pouting face. 

              “You fucking assholes…” Maggie snarled as she stood up to her full height.  Maggie clenched her fists at her sides and winced her eyes shut for a moment, gritting her teeth in pure hatred of people, her tanned skin turned a shade redder as she looked at all the scurrying people around her, tracing her eyes toward the officers running away in the distance, their all-black armor easily discernable from the rest of the crowd. 

              Maggie’s vision blurred, the whites around her brown corneas reddened from the rising blood pressure in her capillaries, her mind went blank, almost dissociating from reality, unable to process losing her Gracie.  It was true what some people said, sometimes a person could be so angry that they see red… instead Maggie saw a swirl of stars in her vision before she felt as if there was only one thing she wanted to do, hurt as many people as possible…