"Damnit, Raspberry!" cursed Jessy, throwing her arms up. "Don't tell me you accidentally forgot to tell us there's a freakin ocean we must cross here?"

Cisco, whose byname was Raspberry, earned by the color of his hair and goatee, stepped out of his jeep and walked up to Jessy, his lover.

A vastness of water is what Cisco saw, stretching out in front of him, reflecting the beams of the sun scorching above them into his eyes.

"This wasn't here before," he said, scratching his head.

Jessy, a comely-looking brunette with aging lines adorning her eyes and the corners of her mouth, snorted. "Well, it is here now, and whether we like it or not, we must deal with it."

"It's just a puddle," Cisco said.

"For them it is, Cisco!" Jessy waved her arms theatrically while speaking. "It's a freakin ocean to us."

"You're exaggerating," Cisco said while looking over his shoulder to the line of trucks and jeeps idling with the engine running. He was wracking his brain to deal with this sudden setback. Hundreds of hopeful eyes were peering at him as he stood crested upon a rock that was merely more than a pebble for ordinary people. All these people, friends, allies and families had all placed their fate in his hands as he was the one who promised them he could drag them out of hell.

Cisco was determined to succeed them. He looked about and noticed a stranded dead leaf further ahead. After a quick assessment whereby Cisco scanned his eyes over the convoy behind him, his brain quickly concluded that this one leaf could function as their boat.

Cisco turned around and faced his people. "Okay, everyone, drive up to that monstrous huge leaf over there. We'll use it as a ferry to cross this lake."

Jessy hissed in her boyfriend's ear. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like? Finding a way to overcome this hurdle."

She questioned him with a stare, "With… that?"

"If you have a better idea, I'm open to suggestions!" Cisco retorted. "Thought so," he added when Jessy remained silent.

"You're going to get us all killed!" Jessy said.

"Going back is getting us all killed, Jessy! Is that what you want, huh?"

A shiver crackled along Jessy's spine at the thought of returning to the hellhole they came from.

"Three weeks we've been journeying." Cisco continued upon noticing he got his girlfriend's attention. "Our provisions are running dangerously low. Even if we choose to go back, we don't have enough provisions to make it. We need to face this crossing, Jessy. It's the only option we have."

"But then what, Raspberry?" Jessy said. "Have you thought about anything beyond this point? No, you haven't, have you?" she added. With a single look at Cisco's face, she could tell he hadn't given the matter much thought.

Cisco gazed longingly at the forest of pointy green giants rippling in the wind that was nothing more than blades of grass to an ordinary human. "There's a lot of game there in these woods, Jessy. Insects. We can hunt them down and survive. Our ration may be low, but we still have more than enough bullets. We can fight anything this impermeable jungle can throw at us. We will also be concealed from sight from the Deities wandering above us."

Jessy scoffed disdainfully. "These wenches are anything but divine!"

"You know what I mean," Cisco said, his hand resting gently on her shoulder.

Cisco and Jessy's eyes widened in shock as the rattling of gunfire blasted through the air. A jeep, with a machinegun mounted on top, was shooting at a mosquito the size of an airship. The critter had set his sights on the convoy and descended upon them.

"Aaaargh! Die, you beast!" the gunner screamed in rage. Several of his buddies joined the fray, battering the beast from all sides. He resumed his assault, barely flinching by the rain of bullets hitting him. Eventually, he reached his breaking point and soared off to become a vanishing dot in the sky.

A collective cheer went up at successfully warding off danger. Relief echoed through the air as they were spared from this terror that could cut a serious swath through their ranks if not stopped in time.

Jessy sighed and averted her eyes from the scene, looking at her boyfriend. "Is this your brilliant plan, Raspberry? Your so-called haven? To live in the wilderness with dangers prowling about in every corner."

"It's freedom, Jessy! Something most of these people following us have never known. Do you still recall how freedom tastes?"

Jessy's thoughts returned to that fateful day that forever changed their lives more than twenty-five years ago. Jessy and Cisco were still young lovers in their teen years back then.

As an 18-year-old Cisco kite surfed at a lake while vying for Jessy's attention with his slick moves and cheeky grin, something blocked off the sun, cloaking the whole city in darkness. The imagery that followed next as Cisco and Jessy gaped up into the sky was beyond conception. A monstrous, massive silhouette ascended from beyond the rows of high rises in the distance, peeking over all. It loomed ominously over everything until the delicate features of a feminine face of a young woman in her early twenties could be discerned, filling up the sky, glaring a calm-eyed and yet victorious smile at them with cheeks dotted with cute freckles.

That day, neither Cisco nor the eight million people residing in Saint Rock realized that this very same woman would come to dominate their existence in the upcoming years – and her offspring after that.

Jessy sighed. "In my head, Cisco. I'm free in the head. And that's something neither you nor that wench will ever understand. Come, your people need you."

It took two valuable hours to pull the leaf into a tilted position with ropes, making it possible for the convoy to get on board. Despite the crispy and thin structure of the leaf, its strength proved good enough to bear Cisco and his people's weight, including their vehicles.

While standing at the prow of the leaf as the wind danced through Cisco's raspberry hair, he breathed a sigh of relief when he felt onward movement. Their vessel was moving!

He shook his head in amazement. Ha! They actually managed to do it.

At the other end of the leaf that functioned as their ship, Cisco peered over his shoulder and saw two men standing, holding their thumbs up while flashing a triumphant grin at them. These two bright gentlemen succeeded in creating a forward motion for their ship by converting two jeep engines to marine engines with limited means and tools. It took them four hours of precious time, though.

Cisco looked at the sky and saw clouds forming on the horizon. He sincerely hoped that it would not start to rain, at least not before they reached the safety of the grass

.

He hadn't experienced a natural rainfall since his body drastically shrank all those years ago--and he didn't relish facing droplets that would be like houses to him.

An arm was draped around his shoulders. Cisco looked to the side and was met with Jessy's smiling face. "Beautiful, isn't it, Raspberry?" She tipped her head back and looked into the heavens.

Cisco could only agree with her sentiment. They hadn't seen the sky in years. So witnessing it now after all these years made you cherish its magic even more.

The only thing they'd ever seen when craning their necks to peer up was a giant face as vast as the sky from time to time and a freakin flickering light, inducing epileptic seizures among some, that was merely more than a two-dollar light bulb.

Cisco was feeling hopeful. After a bumpy ride escaping their hellish prison from a megalomaniacal woman who loved to play God, everything went smoothly. As Jessy snuggled into Cisco's arms, resting her head upon his shoulder, he kissed her head and peered out towards the unmown lawn that would function as their haven.

Living there would be anything but ideal and challenging to endure. Still, at least they would have their freedom back - a precious commodity, especially after existing without it for many years. This alone made it worth the struggle of surviving in an undesirable environment. At least, that's how Cisco saw it, and he hoped the rest of them with him.

And who knows, someday, they will be able to find help and perhaps grow back to their former self and a dignified existence. Because that blasted woman not only stripped away their size but their humanity with it, treating them like intelligent lice who could be whipped to dance to her tunes.

Their vessel rocked violently as a hurricane-force wind lashed them from the side, sending two jeeps toppling off the edge into the water.

An object as vast as several city blocks had plummeted down in close proximity to the terrified fugitives.

"The Goddess! It's the Goddess!" one guy screamed, terror trickling from his voice, pointing frantically up into the sky.

Cisco followed his gaze and saw a pink Nike logo as broad as several cruise ships imprinted on a white background. His heart clenched with fear. It was a damn shoe that fell from the sky, nearly crushing them into nothingness. Cisco gulped as his gaze followed a bare leg soaring up into the sky to staggering heights, where it vanished beneath a pair of raffled denim shorts at the apex of its reach.

A deafening thumb rang out, sending heavy tremors through their ship when another object crashed down several miles away.

A voice boomed as if it emanated from Heaven itself. "Fuck! Dropped my phone."

Cisco recognized that voice. He'd heard it before. It had a feminine quality but didn't belong to the Goddess. The speaker sounded much younger.

Awe filled, Cisco and his crew gaped as the planet of girl above them began descending, lowering down on her haunches. The girl's countenance peeked over her shoulder, ready to pick up the phone she'd dropped just a second ago when her eyes suddenly shot in her direction. It was the Goddess's daughter and the granddaughter of the woman who shrunk them all those years ago. A young sprout of ten years old, with ruffled neck-length black hair and eyes as green as freshly mowed grass. Her eyes narrowed as she took note of the leaf where Cisco and his posse were standing upon.

Despite her young age, Cisco and his people couldn’t do anything less than be overwhelmed by her sheer presence. To them, this mere fifth grader was a being of unimaginable power. They were nothing more than insignificant specks in her vast, god-like realm. Even the bravest warriors in Cisco's crew dropped to their knees in worshipful fear at the sight of this young Goddess who could even be the granddaughter to some.

"Mom? I think I found something," the youthful deity spoke.

"Say again, sweety?" another voice, the familiar voice of the Goddess, reverberated further ahead, igniting a wave of terror in the hearts of everyone. They were about to be discovered by the one from whom they had attempted to flee. They feared her relentless wrath that would inevitably follow.

"I think I…" the girl stammered. "Come, see for yourself."