Naomi’s voice thundered and shook the windows of the train as she spoke. “Mary, you and the kids need to get out here right now.”

“Go on, get out!” shouted a woman from the terrified crowd inside the train.

“Is it safe?” Ben asked Mary, “Do you need to escape? Because I can get you out of here!”

“No… it’s no use,” mumbled Mary, “she won’t stop chasing us until she catches us.” Mary sat up and tried to stand, she wanted to get out as quickly as possible before Naomi called down another reprimand.

“Mom, what do we do?” asked Max nervously.

“Do what she says...” Mary stood up and motioned for her two children to come toward her. Sasha, who had been hiding in the shadows, emerged completely shaken to her core. First, she had witnessed her own mother getting lynched by the crowd, and now this giantess had summoned them to come to her, she was terrified.

Mary grabbed both her children and stepped out of the train. No one else in any of the cars had attempted to leave, they were too frightened from the presence of Naomi. The giantess spotted Mary and the two kids climbing down the train.

“Mary! There you are!” she declared loudly. Max and Sasha put their hands over their ears when they heard the deafening sound of her voice, but Mary was used to it. “I was so worried about you! Here, come here…” Naomi put her hand down next to the tree tiny people. “Hop on!”

Mary obediently obeyed, but Max and Sasha were terrified, they had never seen a giantess in real life before. They had never been spoken to or handled by one. They just stood there like idiots, frozen in shock, as Mary climbed into the soft warm hand of the giantess.

“Come on,” said Mary, motioning for them to hurry up. “You don’t want to make her upset.”

But before the kids could climb in her palm, Naomi lifted Mary up to her face. “Mary, are you okay?” Her gigantic eyes examined Mary. “Oh no… it looks like I was too late, my poor Mary, what did they do to you? You look awful!”

Mary started sobbing, “They recognized me and tried to kill me.”

Naomi shook her head back and forth. “Well, what did you and Will think was going to happen? There isn’t a tiny city on earth that would let you in. Of course, everybody is going to recognize you! And as you can see, they don’t take kindly to giantess folk, Mary.”

“I- I’m sorry…,” Mary sat in Naomi’s hand, hanging her head in shame and embarrassment.

“And how dare they hurt you! What would I do without you, Mary? I mean, I can’t do these rampages without you!” Naomi pandered on. “But what matters now is getting you home. But first, I think we need to teach these awful people a lesson, don’t you?”

“But they’re from Fullerton, they’re protected,” answered Mary.

“Uh, are we in Fullerton, Mary?” asked Naomi rhetorically. “Nope! We are still technically outside those city limits.” Naomi paused for a moment. “Although, to be safe, we ought to have you do it, huh?” Naomi smiled at the tiny woman in her hand. “I can’t stand fines.”

“How in the-,” Mary asked, only to be interrupted by Naomi pulling out a portable sizer from her purse as she set Mary back on the ground.

“Well, since you’ve already been scanned by our portals at HQ, all your info and molecular makeup is already in our computer system. I just have to shoot this at you and…” *ZAP* Mary started growing almost immediately, “there we go…, just like that,” Naomi said with a smile.

Naomi’s voice became less booming as Mary grew bigger. Just like last time, the portable scanner also modified her clothes; her shoes grew bigger and bigger, plowing over trees and bushes. Max and Sasha ran away from their mothers growing feet as the sound of trees snapping under her shoes pierced their ears.

Mary stopped growing and looked around at her new surroundings. It felt familiar, yet different, than it did in New Mexico. Naomi was still much bigger than her, but compared to the tiny train at her feet, Mary was colossal. People had still not tried running from the stalled train. Everyone was still inside looking at what was going on, watching not one, but two giant women.

Mary briefly looked at Naomi, who only smirked. Mary didn’t need to be told what to do, she was convinced of what Naomi wanted from her. Mary started breathing heavy and her heart grew heavy. Was she really going to do this? Any lingering doubt she had was extinguished when she touched her lip with her hand and felt the sharp pain of her split lip flare up. An anger surged within Mary that she hadn’t felt before. Her anger only grew when she saw the bruises on her bare arms.

“Kids, back up,” Mary said coldly.

Max and Sasha ran as hard as they could before stopping and turning around to watch what would happen. They saw every horrific detail that they would never be able to erase from their minds. Mary lifted her foot and stomped on the rear train car as if it were second nature to her. Max and Sasha saw it happen, and it seemed like it was in slow-motion. They watched their mom’s shoe came down, caving in the roof with an ear-splitting metallic noise. The windows burst and shattered into a thousand pieces as the shoe kept descending. Mary’s foot was unstoppable. The tiny passengers ran in a panic toward the exit door, but the quickly compressing ceiling squished them in their tracks. Some found a brief reprieve under the shelter of the seats, but it was short lived as Mary’s foot kept crushing the train. The sounds were horrid, Max and Sasha couldn’t distinguish between crunching bone or twisting metal. People screamed as their bodies were squished to a pulp. Finally, Mary’s shoe was settled on the ground. Everything and everyone unlucky enough to be under her foot was flattened like aluminum foil. It felt like stepping on an empty coke can to Mary, and it had taken all of two seconds for this to happen.

Max and Sasha were stunned. Max started gagging while Sasha covered her face and started sobbing. Mary’s swollen and bruised face was decorated with irritation and anger, there wasn’t even a hint of remorse. How could this be their mother? Max knew what she had done in New Mexico, but this was so different seeing it up close. He felt a fear come over him that he had never experienced before, but he also felt a surge of bravery blossom within him. He saw that the people in the next 2 train cars were trying to escape and run away from his gigantic mom, he had to do something.

Max ran to his mom as she stomped on the next train car. It was only half full of tiny terrified people, some had managed to get out in time. One man wasn’t so lucky, and half his body was crunched beneath Mary’s shoe. His legs and hips were completely smashed. His torso was free, and his arms flailed wildly as he reached out to anyone to help him. But no help would be coming, they were all running as far away as possible from the giant shoe.

In a moment of snap judgment, Max ran toward the half-squished man and tried to pull him free. But it hadn’t occurred to him that his body was too badly smashed and it would only be a matter of minutes before he bled to death and lost consciousness. Max had almost reached him when Mary lifted her shoe, revealing the gruesome bloody mess of his lower body. Max started gagging at the sight. Mary repositioned her foot and brought it down on the doomed man, popping his body like a grape. Mary twisted her shoe back and forth, giving the poor unfortunate soul under her foot a grim finality to his life. Max couldn’t hold it in anymore and started puking everywhere.

“Careful, Mary,” called Naomi. “It looks like your son is getting a little too close for comfort.”

“Max, I told you to back up! What are you doing?!” Mary scolded him.

“Mom, this is nuts!” screamed Max. “These people didn’t do anything to you! They didn’t hurt us!”

“Look at me, Max!” Mary said pointing toward herself, “I have bruises and cuts that will take weeks to heal!”

“So that justifies killing them?” asked Max.

“Yes!” sneered Mary coldly.

“Well then why not target the ones who ACTUALLY beat you! The ones escaping from car 3!” shouted Max. He couldn’t believe he had just condoned his mom killing the people from the third car. But if it could possibly save the lives of the rest, then it was worth a shot.

“Max,” Naomi chimed in, “any of these people would have done the same thing to your mom when they found out who she was. They are all the same. She has to do this.”

“She’s wrong, mom,” yelled Max.

Mary paused for a moment, she looked at her tiny son and back at the running people. She reached up to touch her face but winced at the pain. Her eyes hurt when she moved them, and her face was growing more and more swollen as time passed.

“No, she’s not wrong, Max.” Mary let her eyes adjust to the pain. “Back up, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Mom, you can’t be serious!” Max desperately replied.

Mary started casually stepping on and squishing people with her shoes, right in front of Max.

“Oh, I’m afraid I’m very serious, Max.” Mary smiled confidently. Max yelled in anger and took off toward the crowd, running with them. Mary lost him as he blended in.

“Max, what are you doing!?” yelled his mom.

“If you keep trampling these people then you might crush me too! So, if you don’t want to squash your son, then you’d better stop!”

“Ha! Smart little boy,” Naomi smiled. “I see he takes after his father.”

Mary wasn’t deterred, this only served to piss her off. “Fine! Have it that way!” Mary fell to her knees, sitting above the crowd streaming out of the train cars. “I guess I’ll just have to go through everybody one by one!”

Mary started picking up the tiny people individually between her thumb and forefinger. Once she assessed them and realized they weren’t Max, she pinched her fingers together and squashed them to paste. The first few felt weird, she had never done it before, and feeling their squirming bodies break was surreal. Seeing the expressions on their faces made it even more intimate.

That might have prompted a normal person to come to their senses, but Mary was fueled from the surging pain she was in. Mary didn’t ask for this. Just a half hour ago, she was tired, cold, and hungry, trying to escape this thing that she had become, namely, a murderer. But now here she was, gigantic, and murdering people once again. And she was still tired, cold, and hungry! But this time she was in a lot more pain. Mary squashed a tiny woman between her fingers and was reaching for another when she realized how hungry she was.

Naomi was captivated as she watched Mary holding the next little person close to her face. Mary had a plain expression on her face as her eyes examined the tiny screaming woman she had pinched between her fingers. Mary’s face looked bored, but she was contemplating something deep within her. Naomi knew what she was thinking and started to smile excitedly. She wanted Mary to reach the conclusion she was hoping for.

Mary’s mouth was agape and was breathing heavily on the tiny woman. Her breath was rotten, but she couldn’t close her mouth comfortably, it was just too painful. The tiny person stopped screaming long enough to see the giant observing her with interest. Her bruised eyes looked her over, one eye was black and swollen shut. Blood was running down her nose, dripping down her split lips. Mary was a sorry sight.

The giant lips spread, and Mary’s hot breath flowed from her mouth. The woman was unceremoniously shoved into her mouth like a mint. She started screaming again as she was horridly swallowed alive. The tiny screams were silenced by the suffocating esophagus that had claimed the tiny woman. She was pushed further and further downward until it released her into Mary’s stomach. She landed with a splash into whatever was already in her stomach. The little woman didn’t get a chance to catch her bearings before Mary’s stomach started rumbling. It had hungrily accepted the tiny person as food and was asking for more.

Mary understood what her tummy was telling her and felt extremely hungry. She started using both hands to pick up the tiny people and began eating them left and right. She made sure to keep an eye out for Max, though. Mary couldn’t bring herself to chew the people she was eating. She didn’t know if it was because she wasn’t ready to feel that gruesome sensation between her teeth or if because she thought it was less cruel to swallow them whole. Unfortunately, the little people in her stomach were literally being burned alive as her stomach acids ate away at them. Some drowned as they screamed and clawed at each other trying to stay afloat.

Mary reached for the next person but noticed him wearing a familiar orange hoodie; it was her son. Mary quickly withdrew her hand back instinctively and looked in horror at Max’s sniffling face. Him seeing his mom crushing and eating people was just too much for him. He couldn’t stand it; he couldn’t believe this was his mom.

At the sight of her son’s horrified face, Mary stopped eating and burst into tears. There were very few people left running around. Some had managed to escape into the woods on either side of the tracks, but most had either been stomped or eaten. Mary was still in excruciating pain, but it started to dawn on her what she was doing. She felt humiliated that her children saw what she was doing. What had she become? Her wounds would heal, but these people could never come back.

“Oh god…,” muttered Mary.

“You did good, Mary.” Naomi knelt beside her and put her hand on her back reassuringly. “These people got what they deserved. Don’t feel bad for them, even for a moment.”

“Naomi, I can’t do this anymore,” Mary said between sobs. “I can’t stand having my children view me this way. It’s just too much.”

“You can’t change the past, Mary,” Naomi said. “Besides, I think your kids will get used to it,” Naomi winked down at Max. “Won’t you, hun?” she asked. “Now come here, it’s time to go back home.” Naomi picked up Max and started looking around. “Now where did that sister of yours go?”

Mary saw Sasha running out of the corner of her eye. She quietly reached for her and held her in her fist, hiding her from Naomi, who was still chastising her.

“Naomi, just please let us go and forget about us,” begged Mary.

“And where would you go? Nowhere wants you, Mary! Especially now that you’re a murderer,” explained Naomi. “And what about William, don’t you want to make sure he’s safe?”

“What do you mean?” asked Mary nervously. “What happened to him?”

“Well I got a little upset when he told me where you were going and-,” Naomi stopped mid-sentence, “Oh I see, so…, you are worried about him, aren’t you? Now where could you possibly want to go if it wasn’t back home to see your precious husband, safe and sound?”

“Fine!” chided Mary.

Naomi looked at Mary and smiled sweetly. “Mary, I think you have something I’m looking for.”

Mary sighed and held out her hand and dropped her daughter into the waiting palm of the even bigger giantess.

“Hiding her from me, were you? Hmm, you have a lot to learn about working for me.” Naomi deposited Max and Sasha into her purse and pulled out her portable sizer. “I was thinking about leaving you this size so you could get used to being a giant, but I think you need some more training.”

Naomi zapped Mary and shrunk her back to her former size. Naomi carefully picked her up and held her in her palm. “I think we need to have a conversation.”