Russel sat at the table with his wife, Isley, and his daughter June. The three picked at what Russel had managed to scrounge up for dinner with a sullen reluctance that came from months of eating scraps. It wasn’t that there weren’t places for people like them to get food; but money was hard to come by, and any expenses they could afford to lose, they did. On the counter by the wall, a radio broadcast to the otherwise silent room. “At five fifteen today, the Supreme Court came to a decision regarding the Size-Blind Act. We go now to the recording of the decision:”

“As you all know, this is a very delicate issue, with no clear answer.” A deeper voice came through the radio. June stared at her plate, while Isley shared a worried look with her husband. All three of them felt sick to their stomachs with anticipation. “In the past seven months since the incident, my fellow justices and I have reviewed hundreds of cases, each highlighting different complications on either side of the issue. This is not a decision that any of us take lightly, nor is it one that will be set in stone. That said, we also feel that continuing to ignore the situation and delay a response will only harm everyone involved. It is with a heavy heart that we must find that the infected are considered not human. Starting today, they will be considered animals, and have all the same protections afforded to them.”

Isley let out a choked sob before burying her face in her hands. Her daughter shortly followed suit. Russel felt impotent rage course through him, but he rose and went to his family’s sides.

“It’s okay,” He said, trying to sound like he believed it. “They said that this isn’t permanent. I’m sure they’ll see their mistake soon enough and rectify it.” He understood their tears. It was a stressful time for the infected, as they were called. Infected by something that was apparently imperceptible. Nobody knew what caused it, but almost twenty percent of the world’s population had been affected. Over the course of a few weeks, millions of people had shrunken down to only a few inches in height. Many had been gathered up for study, but so many more were left on the streets, or in their own homes. “Come on.” He said, ushering them to stand up. “It’s late. Let’s get to sleep, I’m sure this will seem easier to cope with in the morning.” He forced a smile, trying to look the two in the eyes. His daughter looked up and met his gaze, and responded with a weak smile of her own. She nodded silently and rose, shuffling off to her room.

“Isley, honey, come on. This isn’t so bad.” He reassured as she continued to cry. She paused briefly, and looked at him with a look that expressed her incredulity.

“How is this ‘not so bad’? I’m- I’m a fucking animal!” Her voice rose in volume and pitch as she shrieked shrilly at her husband. From in her room, June screwed her eyes shut, holding her hands over her ears. Russel tried to calm her.

“Look at it this way,” He began bitterly. “The giants have always treated us like animals, and the three of us have made it this far. We’ll survive. We always do.” Isley stared at him for a moment, then barked out a humorless laugh

“S’pose you’re right.” She said. She got up, and the two of them walked to their bedroom. “And if you’re not, there’s nothing we can do about it, right? We’ll be... poached. Like animals are.”

“Shush. Does no good worrying about that. We can’t change politics. We have people fighting for us, I’m sure everything will work out.” He laid down in bed, and his wife laid beside him.

“I hope so.”

---------------------------------------------

At some time in the night, Russel awoke to a soft, repetitive beat. He tried to think of what it was. He felt like it was right on the tip of his mind-

“Dad?” A small voice carried through the house. “Is that...” His eyes flew open.

“Underground!” He yelled, flying to his feet. He wrapped his fist around his wife’s wrist and yanked her out of bed. She was stumbling onto her feet in a moment, and the three rushed to the path to the basement. Just as they reached it, the roof of their house was brushed aside, and a giant face peered in.

“Oh, score!” The boy said happily, watching the three scurry frantically beneath him. With trained quickness, his hand darted out, knocking all of them onto their backs. Once they’d been momentarily stunned, he snatched them up in one fist, and began looking them over.

“Let us go!” Russel yelled up to the boy, who looked to be about nineteen years old. His wife and daughter just screamed incoherently, and all three struggled against his massive fingers.

“God, you three are so loud for such tiny things.” The giant said with a chuckle. He pinched Isley’s head and lifted her from his fist. She dangled, her body weight supported painfully by her neck, before he stretched out his pants and lowered her inside, nestling her up against his testicles. He pulled his hand out and grinned down at the other two. Russel stared agape.

“What... what are you doing?” He shouted up angrily. “Get her out of there! Now!”

“First off Pipsqueak - can I call you Pipsqueak? Or, how about Pippy?” The giant grinned. “First off Pippy, you’re a nobody now, and you can’t tell me what to do. Ain’t you heard? You’re an animal now. All I got down there is... like a little hamster or somethin’.” His shit-eating grin grew wider as he focused on her weak struggles. “And people have been shovin’ those up their asses for years.

Russel felt sick. He hated himself for being slow to recognize the pounding of giant feet. He hated how desensitized to violence against tinies the world seemed to have become. And he hated how this uncultured youth seemed to think it was okay to impose his will on other people like this. “She’s not a fucking hamster!” He screamed. “She’s a human being!”

“No, see, she ain’t.” The young man’s voice took an authoritative tone. “She’s an animal. Everybody’s sayin’ so. And anyway, we been treatin’ y’all like shit forever anyway. Ain’t you used to it by now?”

“Please...” June sobbed. Russel tried to silence her, but she continue her pleas. “Please let my mom go...”

“Aww... well now doesn’t that just break your heart?” His grin reappeared. The boy set Russel down on the ground, then sat beside him, taking June up in both hands. He teased gently at her shabby scraps of cloth that she used for clothes. “You know, for one o’them malnourished poor infected, you really do have a nice body.” He easily lifted her shirt away, exposing her breasts. June tried to hide them, but her efforts were futile. Russel yelled angrily from beneath the boy.

“Put her down! Fucking... fucking animal put her down!” He raged uselessly, but the giant did notice him, looking down with contempt.

“You just don’t know when to quit, huh?” He asked. Reaching down with one hand, he took Russel’s right leg up and snapped it at the knee. The tiny man screamed out in agony, collapsing to the ground. “You just keep quiet now, and everything works out fine for you. Ain’t like I give a shit about your body anyway.” The giant snickered, turning back to June, who was screaming in his hand.

“Daddy!” She yelled, beating against the fingers that held her tight.

“Don’t you worry about him. You got much bigger things to deal with first.” He pulled away her pants, leaving her exposed in his hand. She tried squirming away to hide her nakedness, but he turned her back easily, his eyes drinking in the sight of her young, fit body. He felt something itch on his heel, and looked down, noticing Russel pounding uselessly on it.

“You just don’t learn, do ya?” He asked, exasperated. “Look, I ain’t tryin’ to kill ya. I just wanna have a little fun with your daughter here. Now are you gonna behave, or am I gonna have to make you behave?”

“Fuck... you...” Russel breathed through teeth gritted in pain. The giant just shrugged.

“Suit yourself.” He looked briefly to June. “Hang on a minute sweetie, this won’t take long.” He brought the young girl up to his mouth and dropped her inside, batting her around with his tongue for a moment before refocusing on Russel.

“Let her go!” The tiny man yelled. The giant just smirked silently, and grabbed a nearby twig in one hand, scooping Russel up in the other. He twirled the twig around in his fingers momentarily, savoring the taste of the young girl in his mouth, and the growing realization in Russel’s eyes.

“No... no, you can’t do this! You can’t do this to me! Let me go! Put me down, you fucking shithead let me go!” The giant just grinned harder, and brought the end of the twig up to the tiny man’s ass. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pressed it inside, heedless of any resistance he encountered. Russel screamed in unearthly pain, tears rolling down his cheeks from the agony and humiliation of the experience. The twig was forced deeper and deeper inside of him, until he was sure it would burst through his insides. Then, he was set down on the ground again. The giant bent forward slightly and opened his mouth, letting June tumble into his cupped palm.

“Sorry about that, sir, I just felt you weren’t really understanding what I was trying to tell you. Be. Quiet.” Russel whimpered, writhing slightly on the dirt. June’s eyes went wide when she saw him.

“No! Daddy!” She screamed. The giant laughed.

“That all you ever say, sweetheart?” He turned her around to face him, then shrugged. “I s’pose that’s okay, long as I’m the one you’re callin’ daddy. Think you can do that for me?”

“N-no...” June sobbed. “You’re... you’re disgusting...”

“Now now, you ain’t even gotten a good look the way your momma has. How can you know such a thing, hmm?”

“I don’t need to look!” She yelled up in frustration. “They say you can tell a person based on how they treat the infected, and you... you’re...” She struggled to find a suitable word, something that would really cut to the core. As she searched, the giant reached up and grabbed her long hair, pulling her head sharply backwards. She let out a squeak of surprised pain, her entire body spasming desperately.

“What am I, sugar?” He whispered dangerously. “Spit it out. Tell me what I am.”

“P-please...” Her voice came out hoarse and choked.

“I’m please? That don’t make no sense, does it?” He pulled harder, and June was sure her neck would snap.

“Oh m... my... G-God...” She trembled. The giant eased up the pressure

“I’m your god, now, am I?” He thought that over. “Yeah, I like that. Tell you what, sweetheart, how’d you like to be my girlfriend?”

June rubbed at her neck, every exhalation a terrified whimper. “Wh... what?” She asked softly.

“You know, my girlfriend. You and I’d date. Of course, what with you bein’ so tiny and all it wouldn’t be a normal relationship. I’d go off and probably have human girlfriends, too, but you’d sit at home and look all pretty for me ‘cause you loved me.” He prodded her waist with a massive, intrusive finger. “Of course, I’d give you what you need, too. I ain’t a selfish man, after all.”

“P-please... I don’t... I don’t want that...” She tried to be as inoffensive as possible. The giant pretended to frown.

“Oh... I really thought we had something special here.” He rose to his full height, and let June see just how far she was off the ground. “Guess I’ll just have to... dump you then, huh?”

“No!” She screamed. “Please, no! Don’t drop me!”

“So you’ll date me?” His smirk returned with force.

“I... I mean...”

“Yes or no, doll. And remember, if you say no I’m going to kill you.” She looked at her father, still lying on his back. Sullenly, she turned up to the giant’s face once more. “Y-yessir.” She said softly. “I’ll be your girlfriend.”

“Well hey, ain’t that somethin’! I must be the luckiest guy alive, pretty girl like you sayin’ yes to me and all.” He looked down at Russel. “Y’hear that? Your daughter’n’me are gonna run away together. Don’t try to stop us now, we’re in love!” He prodded the tiny man gently with his big toe. “But I tell you what. Since you been such a gracious host, what say we make a deal. You crawl here and kiss my big toe, and I won’t go ahead and smash your shitty little house to bits.” He tapped his foot expectantly on the ground. Russel, who was still dealing with the pain from the twig inside of him, looked up at the giant teen who was kidnapping his daughter.

“I’ll... kill... you...” He managed. The giant just tsked, shaking his head

“That ain’t what I asked for.” He lifted his foot and kicked at the jury-rigged house, then stomped it a few times. They could all hear the furniture and tiny appliances snap and crush under his foot. Everything Russel had worked for was gone in a flash. He stared at the flattened remains of his home, the pain in his eyes easily apparent.

“Now, I’m a fair man. I believe in second chances. And what with me takin’ your daughter and all, I suppose it’s only fair you be given one last chance at redemption.” Holding June in his right hand, he reached into his pants with his left, drawing Isley out once more. Her matted hair clung to her flesh awkwardly, and she panted pathetically, desperately gulping down air as she stood on all fours in the giant’s palm. “Now it’s the same thing as before, I ain’t gonna make it any harder on you just ‘cause you’re a stubborn ass. You crawl your twig-sproutin’ patootie over here and kiss my big toe, and this little lady here,” He gestured to Russel’s wife. “doesn’t wind up roadkill.”

Russel stared at his wife, unbelieving. The whole situation was wholly inconceivable to him. He tried to understand how this was happening, he tried to remember some time in his life when he had wronged someone so thoroughly that they had sworn this level of vengeance upon him, and he could think of nothing. The randomness and brutality of this attack left him completely at a loss.

“I’m waitin’.” The giant’s voice rang down from above. Russel looked at the toe before him. It wasn’t very far away. He could manage crawling there. Slowly, he rolled onto his front, careful to limit his movements. Every tiny motion sent pain through him. He’d tried to pull the twig out, but had found that to be an excruciating task, so had decided to leave it in for now and deal with the constant, low-grade pain. Now he wondered if that had been the right decision

The teen’s foot loomed high above him as he came within range. A giant smirk from on high reminded him of his place, and exactly what he was doing just to ensure his family’s safety. He wouldn’t do this, except for the fact that there was no doubt in his mind that the boy would murder his wife and think nothing of it. He leaned forward and gingerly placed a kiss on the toe. He pulled away, and looked up expectantly.

“That’s a good boy. That’s real good.” He let Isley tumble from his fingers, dropping her carelessly to the ground below. She landed on her back several yards from Russel and let out a loud moan of pain, but other than that was mostly unscathed. Russel began to crawl towards her, when the giant foot that had been before him lifted up and hovered dangerously over his wife. He looked up furiously.

“No! You promised! You swore! Leave her alone!”

The teen just shrugged. “Y’all are just animals. I ain’t too concerned about keepin’ my integrity with a bunch of wild animals.” He brought his foot down hard, and a small jet of red squirted out from beneath it, in Russel’s direction. He gazed at it for a moment, then let out a long, keening howl of pain, collapsing to the ground.

“You still got a stick in your ass, you know.” The giant said, brushing it with his toe. Russel screamed and twitched, continuing to yell and cry helplessly. June sobbed from the teen’s hand, and he just turned and walked off, looking down at his young, tiny prize, and imagining what fun he would have with her.