“So why didn't we wrap my mom in bandages?” Ron asked.

“Well,” Tommy began, “Most of the damage she has is on the inside, it's mostly just small cuts and bruises on the outside.”

“And I'm not much of a doctor, to be honest. If there was a major cut or rip to her skin that I could see, I'd know what to do...But this amount of inside damage is beyond me, sorry kid.

“Oh,” Ron sighed, trying to understand what it all meant.

“It's a mess inside of her though,” He thought to himself, “It was so bad I could see the damage from the outside! I couldn't even figure out what to wrap in bandages, I might have caused even more damage...”

Tommy looked to his side—the kid's mood had fallen.

“Were just gonna have to trust that Kim's milk will work it's magic until we can get a real doctor! But trust me the stuff is impressive, I had a deep wound in my back that was healed with just her milk alone!”

“Wow, that's super cool! I never knew Lyrians could do that!”

“Ugh no, just her...”

“Wow, that's amazing!”

“Yep, she should really consider selling the stuff, call it Kim's Miracle Milk!,” Tommy said with a laugh.

“That's not a bad idea!” Kim conjectured as she rapidly walked along with passengers in tow.

“Hey, you were listening?”

“Of course Tommy! I'm always listening, it IS the top of my head you're having a conversation on.”

“So anyway, the colony is somewhere in this park?” Kim asked.

“Yeah, Mom said so, she said that near the bathrooms there is supposed to be some thick bushes and trees. Around those bushes there is a manhole that leads down to a sewer system. It's supposed to be down there.”

“Usually the humans I rescue just tell me to leave them near this park; they never trust me enough to tell me exactly where the colony is,” Kim said with a pout, “I can’t really blame them I guess, considering what other Lyrians have done.”

“How’s my mom doing?”

She patted her chest gently, “Don’t worry she’s doing much better I think, I can hear her heartbeat. She’s asleep, safe and sound!”

“Hey mom, who’s that lady talking to?” Asked a passing Lyrian girl.

“Just stay away from her okay, she’s probably a little cuckoo,” The mother whispered, “Just look at how she dyed her hair and how long it is...”

Atop her head, Tommy giggled and whispered something to Ron.

“I heard that!” Kim yelled.

“Oops, I’m sorry!” The mother uttered and clasped the Lyrian girls arm, “Let’s go!”

“Mom, maybe she has an ear-phone? I forgot about those.”

“Who cares, just stay away from that weird looking woman!” She said as she tugged the girl along.

“I think she’s really pretty,” The girl mumbled.

Kim blushed with both hands on her cheeks, “Anyhow, hold on little passengers, I’m gonna run to the bathroom building.”

Soon after they arrived at a modest stone building with two doors on either side.

“Here we are!,” She declared.

“Okay, now look for--”

“Hold on, Tommy!” Kim interrupted.

Her little boyfriend was taken aback by the sudden stop, “What is it?”

“I heard something!”

“Somebody please...”

She turned her head with catlike reflex, “There it is again!”

The sudden motion from her head turning sent Tommy and Ron flying, luckily Tommy had wrapped himself in a strand of hair and quickly caught the kid before he flew off.

“Hey Kim, don’t forget that we’re up here!” He shouted.

“Hee, hee, I’m sorry about that. I would've caught you if you fell though!”

Tommy handed the boy a stand of hair, “Here Ron, wrap yourself up like me!”

“Thanks!”

Ron tied himself securely.

“Wow, that's a pretty good knot Ron!” Tommy exclaimed.

“Thanks! They teach us all sorts of survival things in school!”

“Well I'll be darned.”

Suddenly, the ground they were on turned sharply, once more.

“I don’t wanna die...,” Kim heard.

She walked over to a scruffy looking teenage boy sitting on a park bench.

“What do you have there?,” She asked him.

“None of your business!”

“Just tell me, and I’ll go away,” Kim replied.

“Fine,” He uttered with an annoyed voice, “I found some humans running around here, I like screwing with them, so I took em'.”

Atop her head the two little humans felt their stomachs churn.

“Just to screw with them,” Tommy reiterated to himself.

“Can I see them,” Kim asked, trying to keep herself pleasant.

He opened his hand, “Whatever.”

Kim was taken aback.

There were four humans: two middle aged males, a young woman and a toddler. One of the males was crumpled over in pain, with a puddle of blood to his left. And the young woman was hushing the crying child and assuring “everything was going to be okay” with tears in her eyes.

“Where’s his arm?” Kim asked—the pleasant tone was gone.

“I pulled it off,” The boy nonchalantly said, “It was fun.”

From atop her head, Tommy knew what was coming...“Oh shit!”

“Honey, d-deep breaths, okay? D-Don’t do anything rash now!,” He pleaded with her.

“Hey kid, how would you like it if I pulled your arm off?,” Kim asked with deathly calm.

The boy looked up with a bored expression on his face, “It would suck I guess, but who gives a shit, it’s not like you could actually do it.”

She hunched over the kid, and smiled, “Would you like me to try it?”

The teen had a front row view of her cleavage, not that Kim cared.

“Nice tits lady, now leave me alone before I call my dad over here!”

Kim took a deep breath.

“Dear lord, please don’t do anything to that kid! Just get the people away from him,” Her little lover appealed.

“Can I have them please?,” She sighed, trying to keep herself in check.

“Hey, I found these little shits fair and square! Go get your own!”

“Why you little--”

“KIMBERLY!! Control yourself please, now's not the time, we still have someone in poor health we need to take care of!” Tommy cried, “The milk helped out big time, but she still needs to see a doctor!”

“What the fuck was that whispering?”

“I'll give you a hundred dollars for them,” Kim stated calmly.

“Wow, really!?” The teen squealed.

“Yes, now hurry up! Give them to me or the deal's off.”

Kim handed him five folded twenty dollar bills and gently took the humans from him.

“I made bank!” The boy yelled, flipping through his earnings.

She loomed over him and whispered softly, “If I catch you hurting humans again, your gonna be sorry, do you understand?”

His entire body shivered, unlike before he was compelled to be polite, “Y-yes ma’am!”

She then walked off, and dumped her new passengers atop her head, “Take care of his wound would you, Tommy.”

“Sure.”

“Gaaah!” The man cried. He had an iron grip on the dripping elbow where his arm was severed. It was probably the only reason he hadn't died of blood loss.

Ron turned away from the sight.

The other man Kim had collected was in shock.

“My whole family...,” He mumbled like a zombie.

“Everyone, please tie yourselves down with her hair!,” Tommy announced, as he made his way over to the injured man.

He noticed that the landscape he was on was breathing far faster than normal.

“Shes definitely pissed. But maybe not just that...”

He was about to remove his shirt to use as bandage, then remembered the first aid supplies she carried to keep Lyrians from dying of drained blood.

“Hey can we use your first aid stuff, Kim?”

“Yeah,” She groaned, “Just let me take a seat so I can dig through my purse.”

A few moments later, Kim sat onto an empty bench with her bag to one side.

“Okay, now lets see,” She began, as she felt around inside, “Here's it is.”

Kim opened the blue container and pulled out a gauze and some alcohol wipes. With the other hand she picked Tommy and the wounded man off her head.

“O-Okay, I'm gonna give you a w-wipe to clean the wound.”

She opened the wipe packet and tore off a tiny piece with her fangs.

“You okay?” Tommy asked, pulling the piece off the tip of her pointed fingernail.

“Y-yeah, just remember, I'm bad with the s-sight of leaking b-blood.”

“Your right, I'll handle this, just get me the supplies!”

Next she extended a tiny piece of gauze.

“Alright,” He uttered, taking the piece, “Now what's your name man?”

“It's D-Don.”

“Listen, I'm gonna need to clean this, the blood should have set by now. If you remove your hand it shouldn't leak as much as it normally would.”

“Alright,” Don responded as he slowly peeled his hand away. It took a bit of effort; the coagulated blood had pasted his hand in place.

“Mmmmmphhh, O-okay, I moved it, hurry!”

Wasting no time, Tommy pressed the wipe again the wound.

“Oooooohhhhh!!”

“Grit your teeth man, it needs to be done!”

Once he cleaned as best he could, he began to wrap the stump in gauze. The white cloth quickly absorbed red as it made contact.

“Alright Don, we're almost done here.”

He pulled the final knot tight, “All done.”

Don looked at the wrapping, “T-thanks a lot man, you're a life-savor!”

“We need to get a move on,” Kim interceded as her hand lifted, “We now have two passengers in need of medical attention.”

She gently rolled them onto her head and stood up. Tommy quickly tied Don down with hair since he couldn't with one arm.

“The names Tommy. If you wanna thank anyone thank her,” He said touching the scalp he now sat on, “She's the one that saved you.”

“Yeah thanks, Lyrian,” He mumbled.

“This ride has a name you know, my name is Kim.”

“Thanks Kim.”

She didn't like his tone, but couldn't really blame him after what happened. She was a Lyrian after all, or at least Lyrian-sized.

“Thanksh Kim, that boy wash too mean to ush!” Came a toddler girl's voice from atop her head.

“Aww, thanks sweetie,” She replied, “Your not hurt are you?”

“She has some bruises, but my Shelly is fine,” Answered a young woman's voice.

Kim gritted her teeth, “If I had gotten there even a little later...”

“Hey wait a minute here!” Don interjected, “How can she hear us? Does she have a hearing aid?”

“I was wondering about that myself,” The lady with the toddler added, “I'm pretty sure most Lyrian's can't hear us without help!”

“I just can okay, lets just leave it at that,” Kim answered.

As she began to walk, she heard some sobbing once her ears focused.

“Who's that?” Kim asked.

“Oh that's Phil,” The young woman said sadly, “His wife and newborn are gone, that Lyrian boy, well...”

Kim froze in place sending her little acquaintances floating a bit. Thankfully they were all secured with strands of hair.

Tommy had to say something before things got out of hand, he knew where things were going to go from here...

“Y-You know dear, I don't think going around s-scarring Lyrians for life is gonna help humans much,” Tommy said, fumbling his words in fear, “B-Besides we need to get t-to the colony! What good is h-hurting that bo--”

“QUIET!!” She boomed suddenly, getting glaces from passersby.

The tiny man shot from his perch, along with everyone else she was carrying. He didn't anticipate just how furious the mountainous woman he stood upon really was. It felt like he was standing on a live volcano, ready to erupt!

Tommy gulped as his ears healed from the ringing—it really went to show him that it was only through her good-will that he could even argue with her in the first place.

“That little cretin's gonna be history!,” She growled; Lyrians in the park began to whisper.

“Tommy I-I'm scared...” Ron mumbled from nearby.

“Mommy, why ish the nice lady being scawy?,” The tiny girl asked, hugging her mother.

“P-Please K-Kim, your frightening Ron and Shelly, and don't forget about his mother who's y-your passenger too!”

“He killed a newborn,” She firmly stated, “I'm trying to stay calm.”

Kim listened to tiny Phil continue his sobs atop her head.

“H-How am I s-supposed to just let that go!”

“H-His name w-was Phil, Jr,” The father blurted in tears, “I was g-gonna teach h-him how to m-make good s-shoes!”

Kim put a hand on her mouth, the tears ran down her face and dripped down the back of her palm.

“Hey lady, you okay?” Asked a man near her.

“Stay away from me,” She barked.

“Okay, okay!” The man exclaimed and ran off.

“My little b-boy was gonna s-surpass his old m-man!,” Phil continued, “H-he was g-gonna find a nice girl someday, and start a---”

He broke into full sobbing. Kim soon followed, “P-People are dying l-left and r-right! T-This is my c-childhood all over again and t-this time I know what is happening!”

“Please Kim, we need you,” Tommy begged, “I know your sad and angry but we need your help! There are still people depending on you!”

“All t-this so called 'strength',” Kim began, “And I c-can't even save someone the size of a g-grain of rice!”

People throughout the park began to circle around to see why this silver-haired woman was bawling her eyes out.

“Kim please, not this again!” Tommy croaked.

“What the?” Tommy asked himself in surprise, as someone caught his eye, “That guy...”

Near the front of the crowd was a man in a full black suit with a hat and shades.

“Who dresses like that to go outside on a hot day like this?...”

His thoughts were shattered when Kim yelled, “WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT!?”

The crowd quickly dispersed, but it was obvious they were still looking and whispering behind her back.

Again, her passengers suffered the onslaught of her voice.

“Please Kim,” The young woman began, “My daughter's ears can't take all that!”

Kim slapped her mouth, spraying tears outward, “I-I'm really s-sorry.”

“Listen,” Tommy began, trying to sound reasonable, “I know you're frustrated about what happened to these people, but getting this way isn't going to help anybody! Getting to the colony is!”

“Okay, okay,” She sobbed, trying to wipe her face with a handkerchief, “I'm really sorry guys. And especially you Tommy, I shouldn't have snapped at you before.”

He rubbed her scalp, “It's fine, don't worry about it.”

Finally, after a couple of minutes of searching, they found a manhole. By then both Kim and Phil had stopped weeping, and everyone was silent. Kim's face was crusted over in dried tears and her cheeks were puffy and red.

“I need to clean my face,” She clucked, trying to lighten the mood, “All this crying is gotta be bad for my skin.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, “Anyway, how do we know this is the right manhole?”

There were two small, rectangular cutouts at opposing poles which were big enough for humans to slip in, but those were part of the lid originally.

Thankfully, the entrance to the colony was hidden by thick bushes and trees, so unless someone was looking for something, they wouldn't come near the area. But with the nearby bathrooms, it was a challenge to arrive without running into Lyrians.

“So this is everyone's first time at coming here?” Kim asked softly.

“I don't know about Tommy and Ron here,” The young woman atop her head began, “But we were all refugees from another colony before this happened so we didn't know exactly where it was.”

“There should be a small engraving of a bird with a circle around it, somewhere on the manhole lid,” Don informed them, “It's really small so most Lyrians wouldn't see it unless they had a magnifying glass or something.”

“Ooh, I see it,” Kim said happily.

“You must have like perfect vision!,” Ron chimed.

“Alright, then passengers, we're going in!”

“Hopefully we can trust you, Lyrian!,” Phil spat bitterly, “I'd really like for at least Sally and Tina to live another day!”

“Hey, come on Phil she's been helping this whole time, and you remember how emotional she got when she heard about your family!,” Tina objected in Kim's defense.

“Fuck that! She's a Lyrian, and I've never been proven wrong by one of THEM before.”

“Gotta say I kinda agree,” Don chimed in.

“Listen, I'm sorry, I just wanna help okay?” Kim replied.

“Well I hope you prove me wrong!,” Phil continued, “But just the thought of getting help from one of you behemoths makes me wanna heave!”

“Don't listen to him Kim,” Tina said, “You know what happened to us.”

“Sure...Don't worry, I'm done blowing steam for now.”

Carefully, she removed the lid, stepped down, and pulled it back in place.

“It's really dark down here,” Ron whispered.

“It's okay, I can see where I'm going,” Kim answered, “It's actually pretty spacious down here, all things considering.”

“I guess I shouldn't be surprised you can see in the dark,” Tina muttered, “Considering you can hear us without an aid and all.”

“Well lets hurry,” Tommy affirmed, “We may not have anyone in severe condition anymore thanks to your milk but we should still get there as soon as we can!”

“Milk?” Don asked.

“Kim's booby milk!” Ron replied, “My mommy drank it to feel better after she was hit by a Lyrian!”

“Whaaaaaatt!” Tina responded, “You're breastfeeding Kim, did you leave the baby at home?”

“More importantly, you breastfed a human woman?” Don asked in surprise.

Kim blushed as she walked along the tunnel, “Well if you guys really wanna know, I can tell you!”

“Figures a Lyrian woman would do something so appaling,” Phil bickered.

“Hey watch it buddy,” Tommy growled, “I get that your angry, but lets not forget who's helping you guys right now!”

“Alright then, I'll be quiet. But only because I want Tina and Shelly to be okay.”

“Great, that works for me,” Tommy replied.

“Anyway,” Kim continued, “I'm always lactating, it's just an odd part of how I am.”

“You seem special,” Tina replied, “I was gonna ask about your beautiful silver hair, it doesn't look dyed at all.”

“Really, you like it?,” Kim gasped, “I've always kind of hated it for being that odd color.”

“It's actually nice,” Don admitted.

“Tommy?” She asked.

“I've loved the color since day one, it's so exotic.”

“Itsh pwetty,” Shelly added.

“Wow thanks!”

After a bit more walking, she stopped.

“I think I hear humans up ahead,” Kim said, “Oh no...”

“What's going on!?” Tommy asked.

“They're sounding the alarms, it sounds like all hell's breaking loose!”

“Well what do you expect?” Phil snorted.

She pressed her hands against her temples, “What do we do!?”

Tommy shuffled in his spot, trying to think.

“Well, I got nothing.”