Epilogue

Kelly woke up. She was feeling like hell. She felt some pain in the back and she had the strongest headache ever.

She was naked. That was the first thing she noticed. Incorporating, she looked around. She was in the middle of a wasteland. What the hell had happened to her?

Memories of the previous day started flooding her mind. They overwhelmed her at first, but she was finally able to focus enough to filter the stream of images and start remembering what had really happened.

“Am I big?” she wondered

A shadow cast over her made her feel otherwise. She looked back and saw something resembling a natural wall. It was well over a hundred feet tall. The late afternoon Sun was still peeking through its top, but the wall was casting a shadow that extended as far as her. Turning, she saw that the valley she seemed to be at ended in a similar wall a few hundred feet away.

This triggered the first warning in the back of Kelly’s head. She had not been looking up at anything for a very long time.

She was about to start walking along the valley, to try finding out where it led, when she caught herself looking at the wall to her right once more. There had been something that had caught her attention. A closer look told her what it was. It looked like… part of a crumbled building.

An icy feeling was forming in her stomach. She started advancing, her heart rate accelerating. She stopped when her path brought her next to a flat metal layer on the ground. It was shiny red and it did not take too much imagination to picture it as the very compressed remainders of a sports car, since that is what it was.

Walking quickly around a tall boulder that was blocking her way, Kelly saw may more similar layers of metal. Then, she realized about a slight change in color in the brownish ground. It looked as if the soil had got more reddish there. She quickly found many more spots where the pattern repeated. She was getting very nervous. A flowered dress partially buried in yet another reddish spot finally took her out of doubts.

“I… I’m small” she thought

Without knowing too well why, Kelly started running. She had to stop where the ruins of some buildings had formed a twenty foot tall pile of rubble. She hesitated between moving around it or just trying to climb it, and decided for the latter. She was in good shape, so despite the fact that her bones ached, she reached the top easily enough.

Her jaw dropped and her blood froze when she stood there and saw what was lying beyond. Her findings until there had been scattered, even if indicative enough. The plateau that extended beyond the hill of rubble she was standing on was literally filled with dozens of flattened metallic shapes and hundreds of reddish stains that were surrounded by drags of cloths of all different colors.

She realized where she was. She was in one of her own footprints. She had shrank and she was now standing inside one of her footprints! She realized that she had probably woken up in the area where her heel had rested and that now she was looking at the larger area that had been under the arch.

Kelly realized that she should feel frustrated. But she didn’t. The willpower and feeling of superiority that had fueled her all over the last couple of days was gone. She could not even find a trace of it inside her.

She felt something else, but she did not know what it was.

Kelly decided to climb down the pile of rubble and advance through the area right in front of her. Things seemed to have crushed slightly less in that area, so she could recognize the remainders of some more buildings, street furniture and directional signs. It was not hard to guess where the streets had been.

Turning around a three-foot tall brick wall that was all that remained of a building, Kelly was suddenly at a street. The effects of her foot were easy enough to see there. She walked past two-dimensional cars and gory rests. Her mind was beginning to take it all in.

“I crushed all of this people. Under my foot. I killed thousands. And there are dozens of footprints like this one scattered across the country” Kelly thought

She kept on walking, almost without knowing. She almost looked like a zombie. Two blocks down her footprint, she stopped at a partially crushed signed. The red cross was unmistakable. It had been a hospital. Or something similar.

The dam in Kelly’s mind finally broke. She dropped to her knees and started crying.

“Oh God, what have I done” she muttered as she sobbed

The sound of rotors took her out of her trance. Looking up, she saw the shadows of two helicopters approaching her from two different directions. The choppers stopped a respectful distance away and hovered fifty feet above the bottom of her footprint. Ropes fell from their sides and soon Kelly could see men in weird protection suits climbing down.

There had to be a dozen of them, half a dozen from every chopper. Their suits had greenish camouflage tones, but they felt quite bulky. And they were all wearing masks.

Kelly stood from the ground and looked at the two groups of incoming people. She tagged them as soldiers for lack of a better way to refer to them.

“I… I surrender” she finally yelled at the soldiers

Both groups stropped about twenty feet away from her. Finally, two men from each group moved forward and aimed at her with something that looked like a flamethrower.

Kelly got nervous.

“I surrender!” she repeated louder

The men ignored her screams and pulled the trigger. Kelly had been expecting hell. It was not what it happened. A dense white mist shot from each of the four devices and as she was hit by them, Kelly felt the coldest cold she has ever been exposed to. She wanted to yell, in pain. Words did not come out of her mouth. By the time the men let the triggers go, the frozen statue of Kelly had her mouth wide open and her arms still over her head.

“It’s over” Joe whispered to Lisa as they got back into the office they were letting them use for some privacy.

The two soldiers had guided them there from the command and control center once the images of the shrinking Kelly had made the hundreds of people working at Rockwell cheer almost in unison.

“They need to find Casey. She is the dangerous one” Lisa said, even if the millions of deaths at Kelly’s hands over the last few hours contradicted her observation

“They are looking for her. She cannot hide. And now they know how to make her small too. It’s over, Lisa”

Lisa let herself drop in the couch and started crying.

Joe sat next to her and hugged her, being careful not to push too hard, considering how bruised his wife was.

“What happens, darling?” he whispered

“I could no nothing. They killed thousands… millions of people and I could do nothing to prevent it” Lisa said, sobbing

“It’s not your fault. You know it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise” Joe said, his voice firm

“Then, whose fault is it?” Lisa asked, her eyes red, tears running down her cheeks

“Ron, to start with. He lied to you. Lied to us. And put us in danger, together with everyone else on the planet. Then, the people that have been investigating this over the last six years, using you as a guinea pig. And, of course, anyone that knew what was going on and did nothing to prevent it. These are the people to blame, not you” he said. Then, he added: “At least Ron finally managed to atone his sins, in the end”

Lisa did not say anything about the death, sacrificing himself, of their hometown friend, who they now knew had been researching on her all the while he was acting like the best friend of the family.

“We will never be able to live a normal live again” Lisa said, changing gears, her voice cold as she made the realization

“It’s unlikely”

“I will never see my daughter again” she then said

“It’s for her own good” Joe said

He was fully convinced that what he had done was the right thing, but he felt very guilty nonetheless when his wife looked at him with accusing eyes.

“You don’t know what would have happened. You just assumed that they would use her, but why should they?”

Almost as an answer, a hissing sound filled the room. Joe was startled by it at first. Then, he located its origin in two ventilation grids, close to the ceiling.

He jumped from the couch and ran for the door, while he yelled at Lisa to follow him. The heavy door was locked. He slammed his fists against it and then kicked the door a few times. It was useless. His last kicks started feeling feeble. His sight started clouding.

“What is happening?” Lisa asked

“We need to get out of h…”

Joe dropped on his back. Lisa started screaming for help. She crouched down and tried to bring her husband back to consciousness. It was no use.

“What the hell is going on, here?” she yelled

Joe’s mouth opened slightly. Foam started getting out of it. Lisa screamed louder.

“Please!” she yelled. “Please, help!”

She looked back at Joe. The foam was now covering half of his face. She tried to clean it up, but her arms felt heavy. Then, she started losing focus on Joe’s face. Finally, Lisa felt everything going black.

Fifteen minutes later, the heavy metallic door opened. Four men in white suits and masks got in. Two more men got in with a stretcher just behind them.

“Take her to Level 23. Put her in a cryogenic tube as soon as you get there” the man who was apparently in charge said

“What do we do with him?” someone else said, pointing at Joe

“I did not think that the bitch would be able to hold so much. It had something to do with her growth, of course. In any case, she took much more than what a regular person can handle” the man in charge said

Someone kneeling next to the fallen body of the young man confirmed these words.

“No pulse”

“So?” the first man who had talked said. “What do we do with him?”

“Bring him to the incinerator”

“It has been less than 24 hours since President Carlson pronounced his first speech from Air Force One. The choice of Hollner, the city where the giant women showed up first, as the venue for his first public appearance has caused a lot of expectation. Unconfirmed rumors that the President would unveil new secret information about the events during his speech have done nothing but increase that expectation.

Some of his critics have, off the record, begun censoring the secrecy, claiming that it was precisely this secrecy what caused the tragedy the country lived over the last two days. Some of them have gone as far as claiming that today’s appearance will be nothing more than a publicity stunt trying to divert the attention from the shadows that have been cast over the overall management of the crisis by the Government”

The anchor kept on describing the situation with a neutral tone. The images on the television screens showed thousands of people cramming the Millennium Park, in Hollner, one of the areas that had been less affected by the antics of Kelly, Casey and Lisa. A large stage had been built. The Marine 1 showed in the distance and quickly approached the area. It landed in front of the stage, the President, together with his Secret Service detail came out, and they climbed the stage as the rotor of the chopper slowly stopped.

Two very large screens magnified the President’s face. He was dressed in a black suit, with white shirt and black tie. There were many flags in the audience, but the crowd did not seem enthusiastic at all.

Everyone was expecting President Carlson to begin speaking. Instead, a curtain dropped right behind him. Thousands of people let out a collective sight when the screens showed them a close look at what had been unveiled: the frozen body of Kelly Hanson inside a ten feet tall tube.

“I would have thought that the President would veto me for anything above serving coffee” Catherine McAllister said

“He would probably veto you, if he was aware that this conversation was taking place” General Willis said

“I had always believed that the President had maximum authority over every Federal Agency” Catherine McAllister said, her tone sarcastic

“We found out, some time ago, that it was better to work with a little autonomy” Willis said

“I have been Secretary of Defense for almost three years. I never heard of any General Willis” Catherine said, keeping her tone

“I’m glad to hear that”

“So, are you going to tell me what exactly are you offering me?” Catherine asked

“Director Brown was very impressed with your performance. Especially when you prevented the President from using nuclear weapons for a second time” Willis said

“I don’t know what you are talking about” Catherine said, the smirk in her face suggesting otherwise

“He was stupid enough to limit the number of people he had direct access to during the events, but using the two man rule to your advantage was clever” Willis said

“Director Brown proved to be resourceful, too” Catherine said

Sitting to her right, it was Brown’s turn to sneer and say:

“I don’t know what you are talking about”

“We are trying to find a decent job for the agent in charge of the Secret Service detail. He still doesn’t have a clue on how it was possible that three members of the cabinet were sedated in the middle of a crisis” Willis said

“Guerrero was brave, too. He was a wild card. I could only guess what he would do” Catherine said

“I’m being told he is preparing his candidacy for the primaries. After his resignation, the press has been hunting for him, but he said that he would not talk until the mourning period was over. That is clever of him. Or from his communications director”

“I’ve been getting calls from the press as well” Catherine said flatly

“They are looking like crazy for any recordings of your speech to the President when he asked you to provide authorization for the launch, since you were still officially an authorized member of the cabinet”

“I was not aware that those recordings existed” Catherine said, sounding genuine

Brown turned and said:

“Of course they exist. I cannot stop listening to them. You have a talent for scolding people”

“I assume they will not be made public” Catherine said

“No. At least, not yet”

“So, what do you want from me?” she asked

“We need someone to help us clean the mess. Are you interested on the job?” Willis asked

“Which position, actually?” Catherine asked

“Director, of course” Willis said, winking

“Director of what?” Catherine asked

“We’ll figure that out later” Willis said

“Are we playing?” Catherine said

“Of course not” Willis replied

“Then, what would exactly be my job?”

“Right now we have three priorities. And unfortunately, after the events of the day, I have only two directors. Someone needs to safely shut down everything the FSD had been doing over the last 6 years, making sure that absolutely nothing leaks out. Someone else needs to start planning immediately on the appropriate way of responding to this type of threat in case it happened in the future or if any of our enemies managed to replicate it. And the answer cannot be to keep the FSD investigation going on. And finally, there’s the unfortunate circumstance that, despite all the official lies, Casey Morgan is still at large” Willis said

“Do you want me to chase Casey Morgan?” Catherine asked, surprised

“No. Director Brown is especially talented at that. I wanted you to lead our efforts so that in case anything like this happens in the future, we will be prepared” Willis said

“Can I ask a simple question?” Catherine asked

“Sure”

“Is there any chance that this happens in the future because of the efforts of our own government?” she asked

“No” Willis said plainly

“You seem very sure”

“I would love to be able to say that we have learned our lesson. I’m not sure everyone has. But by the time Director Tanaka is done, I’ll be able to guarantee that no agency of the government of the United States will be in a position to get even remotely close to replicating what has just happened”

“In this case, I accept” Catherine said

Willis smiled, stood up and extended a hand to her.

“People keep lining to get a closer look at the frozen body of Kelly Hanson, the woman that terrorized America and ended the lives of millions of people. Protests are still going on in neighboring areas of the city, the Hollner police having been reinforced by the National Guard. 

The President’s popularity rates keep on sinking as more details on the thirty-six hours of the crisis keep being leaked. In an attempt to claim responsibility over the final victory, the President made this short statement this morning”

The face of the President, surrounded by microphones, took the entire screen.

“My Government did everything it had to do to finish the threat posed by Kelly Hanson and her two accomplices. No nation on Earth has had to face a tragedy such as the one this nation faced earlier this week, but despite the tremendous amount of death and destruction it brought to us, we have emerged as a stronger nation”

Casey closed her hand around the remote control, crushing it into small chunks of plastic.

“Accomplice?” she muttered aloud

Standing up from the couch, she stepped over the body of a middle-age man on the floor. His head was turned in a very unnatural direction. Reaching the kitchen, Casey muttered: “Accomplice” once more and then punched the refrigerator. Her first easily tore through the door.

She took a long gulp of water. Then, narrowing her eyes, she said:

“When I learn how to make myself big again, I will make fucking sure that you remember my name, Mr. President”

End