Nicky gently gripped Travis’ knee and looked over at him. He smiled back faintly. He had been distant lately, and it worried her. They’d had an unusually close relationship; they’d met in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. They’d both also had more serious addiction problems, but with each other’s support, had finally kicked it. She was his rock, she knew, and he was hers. That’s what made her despondent about the way he was acting. He seemed preoccupied and wasn’t engaging with her as much. A red light in the distance briefly stopped her mind from wandering. She was driving Travis to work in their only car. His work, the 3-11 PM at a warehouse, was only a few blocks away. When they arrived, he kissed her goodbye and went on his way to a grueling shift. When he was out of sight, the petite 25-year-old sighed and ran her hands through her wavy blonde hair. She would have to figure out what was going on, but she knew she couldn’t afford a private detective. There would have to be another way…..

…..

Sonia was not adjusting well to the “new normal”. The wealthy doctor was used to (outside of work) a life of pleasure and of being in charge as she ran her own medical practice. But now she was in this foul smelling, humid and dark environment. Then, once again, she saw him……

Travis often went to the gym after work. He had always wanted to keep himself in good health after his addiction issues. He also wanted to do his best for Nicky and in many ways he felt that he couldn’t. They were poor. They were both psychologically vulnerable. He knew she loved him, but he sometimes wished that she didn’t, and that she had someone better. Because of this, he felt a diminishing sexual attraction to her, but he did feel a sadistic attraction to those who felt were lesser than him. Someone for whom he could always perform. That’s what saw him, post-workout, wearing a headset, in an empty gym locker room in the early morning hours. On a bench in front of him, on trays, there were three microscopic civilizations. He was lightly glistening with sweat after working out. The thought of what he was about to do gave him motivation to get through the day and his workout.

Sonia had been prepared for this day for a while, but she still felt horrified as the incomprehensible giant looked down on them. He’d done this to the other cities he’d stashed in a putrid gym locker, withdrawing three every night for whatever the fuck this was. She had just had to watch, but now, she would have to be a plaything. She had no choice. Consciously, she hated that. But subconsciously, it turned her on. He was young but gruff-looking. Among his kind he was surely poor, someone that Sonia would’ve normally had power over. But none of that mattered now. Nothing she had done for her entire life mattered now…..

Travis smirked down on the three cities. He was a brobi and Each one, on microputian scale, had about 900 square miles and 5 million people each. “Let’s play a game” he boomed at them. “I don’t know if you mites have heard of this, but we call it ‘fuck, marry, kill’. Let’s begin”. Travis slowly removed his gym shorts and underwear. Sonia gasped…..

…..*

Sonia had survived! 2 demolished civilizations and millions of casualties later, Travis finally turned to hers. They were in the “marry” category. Nobody had any time to comprehend what he meant by this. And judging by the hundreds of millions of lives he’d just snuffed out for no reason- they weren’t feeling to optimistic about their chances. “I hope you termites know that your digital history is kept. Same as us I guess. But it’s good for me”. He grinned, pretty cutely, for a mass killer with obscene psycho-sexual demons, Sonia thought. The giant continued “my app knows some of your demographics and will hook me up with some random from my chosen demo”.  “And most women don’t get to marry a giant. They have to please their husband, or else, who knows what he might do”.

……

That night, Nicky tossed and turned. Obviously, she liked having Travis with her in bed, but she knew he wasn’t back until 1:30 or so in the morning. He’d told her he spent an hour and a half at the gym and an hour walking home. But she wasn’t sure she believed him. These ruminating thoughts triggered a nightmare. She saw him at some sort of dance with another girl, and she wanted to try and reach him, but she couldn’t get to him through the crowd. She just had to watch. That reflected how she felt. Her skin felt hot to the touch and she’d been so perturbed she was sweating and thirsty. She pushed off the covers and went into her bathroom, downing two 8-ounce glasses of water from the sink. She looked over at her alarm clock. It was 11:51 PM. He claimed he was at the gym now, and she could find out if he was lying. If he wasn’t, then she can be nice and pick him up so he didn’t have to walk home. If he was….she didn’t know what she would do yet. So she slipped on some jean shorts and a tank-top and got in her car.

When Nicky got to the gym, it was deserted. She didn’t see anyone, not even Travis. But she had gotten sort of pre-occupied. Downing the 16 ounces of water and then driving made her have to piss desperately. She felt the rumbling below her navel and made a beeline to the women’s locker room. When she approached, she saw it was closed for cleaning. Damn! She knew the best time to do it was probably in the middle of the night, but that didn’t help her situation. The place was empty, and nobody would notice if she went into the men’s locker room. Better that than peeing herself. As she approached it, she heard Travis’ voice. She was surprised, and it took a second to make out the words he was saying. He appeared to be both angry and taunting someone. It made no sense. Was he on the phone? She paused for a second and lurked outside the locker room, where Travis couldn’t see her. “Haha, well you’re a real Freud there Sonia. I am using you as a stand-in for someone. But I wouldn’t deign to tell your kind what that is”. He paused for a few seconds. “Stop blubbering. I thought you were hot at first, but this is just pathetic”. What the fuck? Nicky thought. “Your kind”? Then it hit her, he was probably referring to those of the smaller races. But Travis was someone who would never do that! He would never torture the lessers. They after all, were not the biggest, and prodigans had bullied and killed many brobis. She was grateful that there were worlds were mostly segregated, both in fear of getting abused prodis, and sympathy for the smaller races prodis might abuse. She entered the locker-room….