Angie tiptoed down the streets of New York suburbs to make her footsteps as quiet as possible. She had seen what the model had done with her newfound size and was terrified by the prospect of it. Would the chemical drive her to be a killer too? Or could someone actually want to do those things on their own accord? It couldn’t be, there couldn’t be people that depraved. I am not a monster, Angie repeated over and over in her head.

She slid her sneaker forward and bumped a parked car the slightest bit. For the vehicle it was a heavy shove that jostled it about and set off its alarm. The noise was tiny but still made Angie jump, and she stumbled backward. A horrible grinding noise came from the bottom of her backpedaled foot and she jumped it back as quick as she could. Looking over her shoulder she saw a small van crumpled up like a tin can. A hollowing fear filled her stomach and she picked it up, examining its insides. She let out a breath of relief when she found it empty and gently placed it back on the street.

It was absurdly surreal to stand so high. Angie could hardly wrap her head around the fact that stepping on cars was now a very real danger to her. There were houses everywhere that didn’t even reach her knees. Streetlights that hardly reached her ankles. People like Angie were definitely not cut out to being giants. Everyone would stare at her, run away from her. I am not a monster, she kept chanting to herself in her head.

Her attention moved away from herself as three young men, no older than twenty five, turned around the corner of the street. They got one look at Angie and ran in the other direction.

“Wait!” she called out to them, moving in pursuit. “I’m not going to hurt you!” As they saw the giantess following them they screamed and fled faster. “Please! I just want to ask you something!” But it was no use. They split up and hid between houses and into alleyways. Just as she had predicted. No one would consider her human anymore. Her vision went foggy as she began to tear up.

“Vanessa!” Angie called out, hoping she would hear. She had driven them both out for the trial and said they would meet after for lunch. She could only pray the model didn’t already kill her. This city was alien to her, and Vanessa was the only person who she had even a chance of talking to. “Vanessa!” she cried again, her tears beginning to flow more freely. She didn’t even realize how loud her voice must have been as it went through the sky. “Vanessa, where are you?!”

As she aimlessly moved through the streets she encountered a few more ragtag groups of people, all of which screamed and ran in terror at the very sight of her. Angie tried to convince them to stop, that she just wanted help, but none listened. And all the while she called out for Vanessa’s name.

Once she reached the end of the street she had lost all hope. Vanessa was probably either dead or didn’t care about Angie anymore. After all, why should she? She was just a giant freak now. Her restraint disappeared and she began to sob, curling into a ball in the middle of the abandoned road. How could something like this even happen? It was just supposed to be perfume, how can perfume do this to people? This Teaho thing was a mistake from the very beginning, and now she was paying for it.

“Angie?” a familiar but tiny voice said from a few feet away. Angie opened her eyes and saw Vanessa standing before her, looking to be an inch tall. “Angie… Angie, are you alright?” she asked, her voice audibly choking.

“Vanessa! You’re alive!” Angie cheered in excitement, unfurling herself and sitting upright with her legs crossed. The sudden motion frightened Vanessa and she backed up a few steps.

“You… you can hear me, right Angie? You’re not like… you’re not like that other one?”

“No, it’s just me, Vanessa! I don’t want to hurt anybody!” Vanessa looked way up at Angie’s face and was silent. Angie noticed she was breathing heavily and watched her approach. She leaned her head against Angie’s legs and burst into hysterical tears.

“Vanessa, are you okay?” Angie asked slowly.

“I… I barely got away…” she explained in between tears and gasps. “She… she…” but she was unable to continue and her tears brought her to her knees. “Don’t let her get me, Angie!” she pleaded in a near scream. “You can’t let her get me!”

Angie was at a loss for things to say as her best friend sobbed and cried. Vanessa had always been the strong one, she was the one Angie turned to. It was uncomforting to see her so terrified. But it also proved to her that she wasn’t a monster. Not only did Vanessa still trust her, she depended on her.

“Vanessa… do you… do you want me to hold you?” she asked in a hushed voice. It sounded really silly but Vanessa nodded her head with a sniffle. Angie opened her hand and lowered it before her friend, who carefully stepped onto it. Very slowly Angie lifted her hand to her midriff, just under her chest, supporting it with her other hand. Vanessa sat there, the flow of her tears gradually slowing as she rested against Angie’s gigantic body.

“...thank you, Angie…” she said quietly. Angie smiled.

“It’s okay, Vanessa. You’re safe with me. I guess it’s not so bad I ended up huge after all, huh?” she said with a light laugh. Vanessa chuckled with her.

“If anyone I know had to turn huge, I’m glad it was you,” she sniffled, beginning to calm down. “I can hear your heartbeat from here, you know. It’s so… relaxing.” Her back was still against Angie, the rhythmic pumping soothing her.

“You can sleep if you want. I guess I’ll just try to find someone who can help us.”

“No, I can’t sleep. I need to help you too. I kinda know the way around here and you don’t, I can’t sleep yet. Police station is… that way, I think,” she pointed to the right.

“Alright. Well, get ready, we’re getting up,” Angie warned her friend as she stood to her full height. Vanessa almost lost her balance but Angie helped keep her steady. Once they were both ready they walked the empty streets together, looking for something, anything that could give them some hope.

“Look at how big we are!” Giselle giggled like a child to her friends as they stomped through a sparsely populated portion of the city. “We can do anything we want now!”

“This must have been what happened to that first chick,” Emma said as she marveled at the little world around her. “No wonder that guy was such a freak. Teaho makes girls into giants.”

“It’s giantess, Emma,” Mandy corrected her, looking down on the small crowds dispersing away from the three titans. They had practically become goddesses, and she was excited to see just what kind of things they could do as goddesses. “Does this city have a beach?” she asked her friends.

“Just over there is Coney Island, right?” Emma pointed forward. Giselle’s eyes lit up with a gasp.

“Coney Island? We get to go to Coney Island? I bet we’re so huge we can touch the top of the Wonder Wheel! Or even the roller coasters!”

“Yeah, probably,” Mandy agreed indifferently. They wedged themselves between the apartment complexes and were on the beach, where there was a large sum of people who hadn’t even been aware of the model’s rampage. The three new giantesses incited fear and panic, and the beach started to empty.

“We can have the whole beach to ourselves! Any beach we want, we can have it!” Giselle cheered, quickly undressing into her bathing suit. Using her feet to push aside mobs of screaming people, she made a clearing for herself in the sand and stretched out. Her head rested on the edge of a parking lot, her toes dipped into the water.

Mandy smiled at her friend’s showing of power but knew there was so much more they could do. The model’s little incident was a perfect sign of that. What Emma had said about the first giant girl rang in her head, and a naughty temptation was driving her crazy. Of course she would submit to it; no one could tell her otherwise anymore. She too changed out of her jacket and jeans, placing them atop a nearby apartment. Once she was in nothing but her bikini, she simply rose her bare foot and stomped it onto a fleeing passerby, crushing him flat.

“Jesus christ, Mandy!” Emma said in a stifled laugh. “I never knew you’d have it in ya.”

“I wouldn’t have when I was one of them. But I don’t think we’re really one of them anymore,” she said with a wicked grin, looking to crush another. Emma quickly threw off her over shirt, pants, and shoes and joined Mandy in her bug squashing.

“Now that’s a feeling I could get used to,” Emma laughed as her victim’s blood gurgled between her toes.

“What are you guys doing?” Giselle asked with closed eyes, enjoying the sun.

“Squishing stuff,” Emma said matter-of-factly, her foot raised and looking for a new toy.

“Wait, what?” Giselle opened her eyes and looked over just in time to see Emma’s foot fall onto a young woman in a bikini, futilely holding up her arms and screaming before she became jelly. Giselle could hardly believe what she was seeing, her mouth agape. “That’s so disgusting! You guys can’t just kill people like that!” she stammered, her face paling.

“Yes we can. Now that we’re goddesses we can do whatever we want. That’s what you said, isn’t it?” Emma grinned to her friend as her foot grinded the woman even further into nothing. “Why don’t you try it, Giselle? It’s really fun.”

“How can squishing people be fun? Wouldn’t that get blood all over your foot?”

“Yeah, but that’s part of the fun,” Emma smiled.

“That’s so gross!”

“You don’t have to think of them as people, Giselle,” Mandy said, taking a break for the moment. “They’re just bugs now. Me you and Emma are people. These are… whatever,” she gestured vaguely at the mortified crowd at their feet.

“Yeah, but we wouldn’t squish a bug barefoot just for fun when we were that small,” Giselle tried to reason.

“Well those bugs didn’t scream and run,” Emma said with a glimmer in her eye as she crushed her third little person.

“Emma!” Giselle shouted, knowing she probably shouldn’t be so surprised.

“We have to show them who's in power now, Giselle. Let them know that we as their goddesses dictate everything about their life now. Including when it ends.” And she slowly lowered her foot onto a straggling man, pinning him to his chest with just her toes. “Look, Giselle. He’s powerless. I’m not even trying and he can’t get away. He’s useless to us.” She let her toes sink into the sand, not even hearing the man's’ pleas before he burst like a grape. “Pathetic little bugs,” she scoffed.

“We used to be like that too, you know!” Giselle called over to them. Mandy just shook her head.

“We’ve always been different, Giselle, you know that. Now we just have the power to show them. It’s not fair, I know. But that’s how life works. Are you sure you don’t want to try it? I can save one for you if you want.”

Giselle frowned and looked out at the tiny people desperately trying to escape the two girls’ pounding feet. Emma was grinning from ear to ear and Mandy was indifferent. And she was right, they had always been different. But this was a whole new kind of different. They were practically a different species now. She supposed she might as well get used to it.

“Fine, I’ll squish one.” Mandy smiled and turned to the crowd.

“Guy or girl?”

“Does it matter?”

“Guys are a little more crunchy, I think,” Emma noted. “But other than that it’s pretty much the same.”

“Just get me whatever,” Giselle sighed, standing up from her sunbath. Mandy plucked a young man from the crowd and brought him towards Giselle.

“I can hold him down if you want, otherwise he’s gonna try to run. It’s not to hard to squash ‘em running, but it might take some getting used to.” Giselle shifted her attention to the man between her friend’s fingers, who had gone ballistic at this point.

“No, it’s okay. Might as well practice, right?”

Mandy smiled. “Atta girl. Alright, he’s all yours,” and she lowered him to the sand. Just as Mandy had said he began to run, but there was nowhere to go. The patch of sand where he stood was between two giant girls, and the crowd he had been taking from was being guarded by a third, still having her way with it. But he ran anyway, towards the closest freedom there was. He had heard everything they had said about him and wasn’t about to be crushed like a bug for the hell of it. He was a human being, he had a life that meant more than that.

But he didn’t have it for much longer, as Giselle’s bare foot came upon him like a meteor. All he could do was look up at his murderess’ sole and scream. She shuddered as he splattered underneath her.

“Ewwwww, it’s so gooey,” she whined, retreating her foot away from the gory mess.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it. But I’m glad you showed them that you’re one of us,” Mandy said with an evil grin.

“Hey guys!” Emma called out to them, suddenly right behind them. “I’ve got an idea.” She opened one of her fists and revealed three beachgoers, two men and a woman, huddled on her palm. “We should eat them.”

At the sound of that the captive little morsels began to scream in horror, so Emma closed her fist back up to quiet them. Giselle was dumbstruck.

“Eat them? That’d make us cannibals!”

“No it wouldn’t. They’re not people, remember?”

Even Mandy didn’t seem convinced, however. “I don’t know about this, Emma. It’s one thing to crush a bug, but you don’t eat bugs.”

“Think of it this way. Now that we’re so huge, what else are we gonna eat? You know how many people there are in the world? We could probably live on a diet of ‘em for years. So long as we don’t go crazy, I guess. But we need to try it unless you guys wanna starve.”

Her two friends were silent, staring at the squirming little things in Emma’s fist. She just looked at them with a smirk, waiting for their responses.

“She’s right,” Mandy admitted. “We’ll probably have to learn to use them as food. Give me one,” and she opened her hand for Emma to hand her one of the little men. “Giselle? You should at least try it.” She didn’t look happy about it but held out her hand, and Emma gave her the woman.

“What do you say we all try it at the same time, huh? Three, two, one,” and they dropped their catches into their mouths. Mandy and Emma immediately started crunching away, but Giselle was a little more hesitant. She could feel the hapless woman struggling inside and it felt wrong to bite into something that lived.

“Not bad," Emma decided, cleaning her teeth with her tongue. “Kinda salty.” Mandy agreed, picking out the man’s clothing with her fingers.

“I don’t wanna!” Giselle suddenly complained. “I’m not gonna eat ‘em!” She fished the shaking woman out of her mouth and held her by the chest between her two fingers.

“Fine, you don’t have to,” Mandy submitted.

“Give her to me, I’ll have seconds,” Emma reached out. Giselle placed the woman in her hand and Emma looked her over. “That bikini really doesn’t work on you,” she said to the hardly conscious swimmer. “But I’m sure you taste sweeter than that last guy did.” She pinched her up by her naked ankles and dangled the tiny woman over her mouth, tongue extended. The poor soul thrashed and screamed, trying to pull herself up from the cannibal cavern below her, but it was a lost cause. Emma dipped the living appetizer into her mouth until she disappeared and bit into her flesh, tearing her apart. And Giselle watched with fear in her eyes.

“Why do you like killing them so much?” she asked quietly.

Emma shrugged. “I dunno,” she said with her mouth full. “Why don’t you?”

“Because…” She was about to say that it was because she was a person, but simply sighed instead. “I don’t know.”

“Me and Emma are going to keep playing with these bugs for now,” Mandy told Giselle, dusting off her hands like she had been dealing with filth. “Join us if you want, otherwise just chill out for a while.” Giselle clenched her fists as they returned to the crowd that was just beginning to escape, Mandy squashing them left and right, Emma snatching up those she missed and turning them into quick snacks. She wandered into the amusement park, finding the Wonder Wheel only rising to her waist. With a sigh she played with it idly, turning it back and forth against its supports like a steering wheel.

Shaun took a sip of his beer, eyes glued to the television. Yankees versus the Red Sox, the classic matchup, bottom of the fifth inning, 1-1. Tanaka was scoring outs left and right with fastballs and curveballs, keeping the game even. Shaun was less interested in how strong the Red Sox’s offense was. He was more or less waiting for Tanaka to strike them all out.

Just as Tanaka threw the pitch that would make the third strike, the channel abruptly flickered to the breaking news. He tried to change the channel but the station could not be escaped, so he simply took another sip of his beer and laid back into his chair.

“This is Hallie Gibs of 7 News coming live from downtown New York City where yet another giant woman has attacked with even more brutality than the first. She is estimated to have killed approximately a hundred and nine people, a few dozen more than the last giantess encounter, and yet that’s not where the true horror lay. According to eyewitnesses, this attacker seemed to target civilians in particular and murder them in rather unsavory ways. It is believed that this new giant woman has spawned as a result of the first run of trials from the up and coming personal beauty company known as Teaho, which transformed all six of its participants into these monsters. Gabriel Donahue, mayor of New York City, is set to make a public announcement about these attacks tonight at eight to address much-warranted concerns regarding these attacks. I’m Hallie Gibs, and we’ll continue to bring you details on this story as they come.” And then it went back to the game as if nothing happened (although the Yankees had scored again).

Shaun bit his lip as he had a brief mental freak out. No way could this be happening. What is this, the apocalypse or some shit? And of course, New York of all places. He had always felt like he had been living in a movie. Except the part where the hero rises up hadn’t quite happened yet. Laughing at his own jokes, he took a swig of his beer, trying to wash away the thoughts.

Another thought filled his mind and he spat his drink all over the carpet. The Teaho trials? That meant…

Suddenly there was a loud cracking noise and his front door was sent barreling down his front hall. He made an audible yelp and his Samuel Adams fell to the floor.

“Woops,” her voice came through the hall, much too loud. “I didn’t mean to do that.” So it was true. But, just maybe…

“Tara? Is that you, babe?” he called out, not sure if he should hope for her response.

“Yeah, it’s me. Why don’t you come on out, I’ve got something to show you,” she said giddily. Shaun went red and cleared his throat.

“You wouldn’t happen to be one of those... giant girls, would you?”

“Aww, who told you? Was it on the news?”

“Well… of course it was.”

“Mmm. Oh well. Just come on out anyway, I want to talk to you face to face.” Shaun clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and walked out the broken hall.

There she was. Some odd three hundred feet tall, her kneeling body taking over the whole yard and then some. Still wearing the same brown tank top and shorts as when she had left for the Teaho trials. She held out her arms to present herself as Shaun craned his head back to see her.

“Ta-da!” she giggled.

“Tara, I…”

“Just like you always talked about! What was that nickname you gave me when we played those games? Tarasaurus, right?” Shane’s face turned red as a Christmas light and he looked around for anyone watching.

“Please don’t be so open about that, babe… it’s embarrassing.”

“Oh, sorry,” and she covered her mouth and looked as well, but they seemed alone. “I don’t think anyone heard. But seriously, it’s not fantasy anymore, Shaun. It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

Shaun had no idea what to think about it. He had hardly even finished comprehending his gigantic wife in front of me as she asked that question. As he tried to spit out an answer all that came out was, “I… I don’t know, hun.” Tara noticed his oddly quiet nature and simmered down a bit.

“Is something wrong, Shaun?”

“I… this is a lot to take in, Tara…”

“Yeah, I know. You like it though, right?”

“Of course… of course I do, it’s just… I… I don’t really know what to do.” Tara just smiled.

“Well, that’s the fun part, sweetie. First I guess we should talk about the serious stuff. I don’t know if you saw what the other girls like me are doing, but it’s not good. I want you to call up as much of our friends and family as you can and get them here. I can keep them safe here. Okay?” Shaun swallowed and nodded. “Alright. I don’t think you’ll have to worry much about me. I should be able to get myself food and water without running you dry. And I don’t mind sleeping out here in the yard. I guess nothing can be done about the door… I’ll try to fix it but you may have to, sorry.”

Shaun turned around to see the broken entrance to his home and took another breath.

“Okay.”

“But once we’re done with all that, I’m willing for some more… fun stuff,” Tara said with a voice like a chilly wind, sending shivers down Shaun’s spine. He could feel sweat forming on his brow. “If you want, that is.”

“What kind of stuff?” Shaun asked, already knowing fully well what she meant.

“Anything you want, sweetie. I figure since I’m like this I might as well make the best of it, right?”

“Um… yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m… I’m gonna start making phone calls to see who I can get back here, okay?”

“Alright,” she nodded, readjusting herself and audibly a little disappointed. “I’ll be out here if you need me,” and she winked at him. He smiled uneasily and carefully moved around the rubble of his front door. Tara tapped her fingers on her thighs and looked around at the whole new world. She got off her knees and sat down, legs arched. It was understandable that he would be hesitant to do anything rash. He had always been a macrophile, and it was something Tara had enjoyed fulfilling with him, but it must have been too stunning for him to accept as reality.

“Hey, sweetie?” she called out.

“Yeah?” he cried back from inside.

“I’m gonna go get some food. I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

“A...alright, babe!” Tara climbed up to her feet and walked into the abandoned streets, beginning the hunt for something a colossal woman could eat.