When I was a kid I remember my parents told me not to wish for what I could not get. It didn't seem too inspirational or meaningful at the time; why would they tell me not to wish, not to dream? But I soon caught on to their meaning: wishing for the impossible only brought pain. I didn't wish for this, but it sure brought pain. All I wish for these days is that I could be normal again. I wish that the doctor had foreseen his own consequences before they became my problem. I wish I wasn't naked, that clothes could be as big as me. I wish there were more options for food, or even that I didn't need it at all.

I'm not sure if I made it clear yet, but I'm huge now. I'm no math genius so I'm not in any spot to scale myself with the buildings and towers that I have to carefully tiptoe around, but my guess would be around five or six hundred feet. It should be impossible. I wish I could say it was. When the doctor ran his experiment, he said it was to make the body stronger, that it would make me more defined for my next model shoot. I guess he didn't lie: I'm clearly defined now. It's impossible to miss me. 

I'm on my hands and knees, crawling slowly down the street into the city. Tiny little people are running away, screaming horribly, and I have to place every hand and knee carefully so as not to crush any of them. Sometimes it was frustrating -- I understand a six-hundred foot tall naked woman is pretty horrifying, but just get out of the way, people -- but I wouldn't allow myself to be careless. It's that time of day again, when I search for the most densely populated area of whatever city or town I happened to be nearby. The landmarks looked so disproportional under my shoulders, I couldn't recognize them. One house between my fingers looked just like the next one.

After a few moments I found myself in a small circle of buildings, a strange cul-de-sac-like formation. I was in the opening, a crowd of people who had been fleeing were inside: none of them would try to run under me, as much room as they had, so they were effectively trapped.

I hate listening to people scream. It's such a dreadful sound, like I'm hearing them shatter completely. And they're shattering because of me. Just a look at me could be enough to break a grown man or woman, but there was more to their fear; this wasn't my first time doing this, they probably knew what I was doing.

Looking down to make sure no one was lingering underneath me, I sat down, legs crossed, the ground quaking underneath my weight. Just another thing I hated about being a giantess: nothing was quiet. There was so much noise, between my every motion and the screaming crowds, that it was not uncommon of me to have frequent migraines.

It became difficult to think: I was starving.

This is where things begin to get... monstrous. I take a deep breath and extend my arm towards the crowd of people, pushing inwards on themselves to escape me. I tried, I remind myself. I tried to live on a healthy diet. But they were portioned for people, not monsters. I can't even distinguish normal-sized food from where I stand: I can hardly see terrified little people without lowering to a seat. Besides, if I took all their food, I'd still be a problem. But then again...

I couldn't let myself debate it any longer. It was awful either way. I couldn't be wrong because I couldn't be right. There was only one thing that I could eat that would have enough nutrients, and still be in a big enough supply.

People.

Yes, I became a cannibal. I don't let myself live it down, not now, not ever. I caught my hand lingering for a moment, hovering over the frozen crowd, and quickly snapped out of it. I picked people carefully, but I didn't want to give them unnecessary mental torment, I didn't want to tease them.

My fingers slowly wrapped around someone and I felt a chill as their tiny struggles became apparent. I rose my hand to my face and looked at the person.

This was the worst part. It reminded me that these weren't just snacks, some wrapped candies I had the right to enjoy. These were real life people, screaming and crying people that didn't want to die. But I had to check, I had to make sure it wasn't my boyfriend, or his parents, or worse, my parents. I hadn't seen any of them since the incident, and I longed for their company and support. Deep inside of me I knew they would fear me, and rightfully so. Tears begin to climb up as I contemplate if I've caught any of their friends. All I wanted was to see them again, maybe say a goodbye and walk in the other direction. Just to see them would be enough.

This wasn't anyone I knew. It was just some businessman. Here's another thing I hate: when you're big you look down on everything. Just a little man. Just a little woman. Just a sprawling metropolis. It all looked so small, and so they felt small. But this man was a person just like I was, he had every will to live as I did, he had dreams and ambitions, he probably had a family back home. I used to have all those things, now I merely have my life, and just barely. By no means should my will to live, to feed, have overwritten everything about this man's life, erase it entirely. But it did. I was going to eat him.

A tingling sensation ran through my fingers as the man kicked and pounded his fists against my thumb. I could hear his wailing as a little squeak, joining the waving sea of screams that filled the air. I had to be merciful; I couldn't let him suffer any longer. I opened my mouth and brought him inside.

It was a brief moment where terror became panic. When I sealed his fate entirely, and had no chance to hide it from him. I gently closed my lips around my fingers and slowly pulled them out, leaving the poor man behind. His screams seemed to echo inside of me, bouncing off of my cheeks like my mouth was a cave, and it shook me to my core. I wasted no time, I made it quick for him. I bit down.

I try not to think too much about what that implied, though I knew fully well. A tiny pop of warm salt was all it felt like, but I shuddered to imagine the truth. It was like tiny pieces of raw salted ham, but I refused to let myself enjoy the taste. I shuddered as I chewed, desperately trying to finish it off in as few bites as possible. Then I swallowed. Dumped what was once a living, breathing person into my stomach, never to be seen again, making room for another.

One person was huge. That was a life. But it wasn't enough to survive; I made it a rule that whenever I had to eat, it was no more and no less than ten people. That hardly sated my hunger, but it kept me from devouring entire cities in a night.

More than ten people were cowering in that corner, more than ten people were sobbing and shaking, trying to wake up from the same nightmare I was in. I looked at the crowd for a moment before I reached for another, trying to apply some logic to who would be next, as if it were a logical decision to make. Was it more humane to scarf down those who were most afraid, to end their misery? Would it be any better to watch me munch down on those around them? Again, no right answer. It had to be random, that was the only way it could be fair.

Fair. As if this were fair. They were completely helpless. There was nothing they could do to prevent me from picking them, from eating them alive. Some people would kill for this kind of power. My fingertips had the power to decide who lived and died, and I put it up to chance. It was anything but fair. My size couldn't get to my head, I couldn't revere myself as a goddess. Wasn't it human to feel pain, to feel sadness? I plucked another person from the crowd and was reminded of what pain and sadness looked like.

How could I go on like this? Was this to be the rest of my life, ending others in this most mortifying of ways? I was the creeping fear that kept people up at night, kept them staring out their windows, silently praying that I wouldn't be there in the morning. Unfortunately for some people, praying doesn't work. Trust me, I've tried.

This was no one I knew. It was a scrawny man in a pizza delivery outfit, and I felt a wave of guilt. Was I to rob this man of his chance at life, to succeed? Then I thought again; maybe this was his dream I was about to gobble up. I started to salivate a bit, noticeably distressing my little person. I wiped it clear with my free hand and tried my hardest not to blush. I wanted to apologize, but that was out of the question. Truthfully it wasn't the young man that made me drool in anticipation, it was the thought of pizza. Real, cooked food. Cheese, tomato sauce, pizza crust, pepperonis, sausages, roasted vegetables. Just a few weeks ago I hated pizza. But now it sounded heavenly.

I came to from my dream as the delivery boy wriggled himself loose a bit, climbing upward through my fingers. For a few moments I considered letting him drop to the ground and escape. It would look like a mistake on my part, and he would be spared. 

But before I had even brought up my own reasoning, my other hand was clenching two fingers around him, uprooting him from my previous grip and dropping him into my mouth. Why didn't I place him inside like I did everyone else? That drop must have been a big distance for such a little guy. No, no, he's not little. I'm huge. That's a parked automobile my big toe is nearly crushing. That's an office building I'm looking into, seeing my own reflection covering each and every window. That's a human being squirming inside my mouth.

My teeth snapped shut on him, as if I had forgotten to do it earlier. I felt disappointed that he didn't taste any different, expecting by some bizarre chance he might have a pizza flavor. I shook my head as I swallowed him; I was thinking differently. Being an unstoppable giantess was getting to my head. No, not unstoppable. I'm still mortal, I know: three days ago I choked on a police officer. My face was red, I was coughing like mad, and all the while he was inside of me, struggling frantically, making it worse. Finally, with one hoarse bellow, he was forced up my throat and I nearly puked him up into my lap. That was the first time I openly apologized to someone before I ate them; he didn't deserve to go through it twice, especially as a police officer. He was only number eight, but I stopped there that day.

Now I was on three. I wanted to get it over with, so I quickly picked another, examined them, and ate them. A young woman in a designer jacket, gone forever. 

I grabbed my fourth and glanced at my right foot as I felt something tickle against it. A speck; no, no, people, it's a person, but smaller than most. A child perhaps, or maybe a teenager. I wiggled my toes, hoping the titanic motion would scare him off, but he stayed there. He must have been pressing against my foot, or pounding on me, as I continued to feel his efforts. Under any other circumstances I would've taken the little volunteer as a fifth, but I wouldn't bring myself to eat a child. I picked him up with my other hand to verify my thoughts.

He wasn't actually that young: eighteen at least. He was shouting something I couldn't make out, reaching out towards my fourth. I followed his gaze and my heart sank; this must have been his mother. She was reaching out to him, and crying something out. Why did people have to love each other? Why did I have to pick them of all people from the crowd? Surely not everyone there is married with children. Why didn't I just eat them instead? I couldn't make an exception, however. I couldn't expect everyone's kids to be as brave as this one, fighting against a six-hundred foot titaness for their parents' sake. Even the pizza delivery guy might have had a child for all I know.

My hand holding the mother opened, and she slid into my palm. I placed the boy beside her, and I saw them embrace each other one last time. I opened my mouth and popped my hand to it, like they were pills, and ate them both at once.

Two bursts of salt, two pieces of ham. The layered taste was much better, the depth was notable. And it got two people out of the way: I should do it two at a time more often, and be done sooner. Duo number two was selected between my fingers and popped into my mouth, then duos three and four followed suit. It felt so much more humane this way, by ending it quicker. In my haste, I had duo number five waiting in my fingers before number four had even been fully chewed. I regretted that, but couldn't exactly put them back down. All I could do was finish quickly, make it less of a show, and then do the same to them. Then duo number six was invited to the stage; they took two bites total. Number seven was next, but when I looked at the crowd, I was in shock.

There was only one person left, quaking in their boots and staring at me. There was so many people just a moment ago. I only ever picked up to ten of them. What went wrong? I thought it over for a moment and realized there was an opening between this building and my left foot; some of them must have snuck past me. Good for them, I thought. I'm willing to give them a chance.

But not this poor sap. He sat here and waited for me to choose him. If I had known he wanted me to eat him, I would have pinched him up first. I granted his wish, and in one upward swipe, he was off the ground and in my mouth. I even stuck out my tongue and let him enjoy the view; I had read online somewhere that some people had fantasies about being eaten alive, and I felt good that I could bring that to life, my teeth coming down onto him.

I swallowed and sat in the relative silence; they were all gone. An entire throbbing crowd of terrified city folk had ceased to exist. I was looking for my fifth, hoping soon I could end this and go find somewhere to sleep, which was an entire battle in itself.

Looking around I noticed the buildings on either side of me and leaned in towards the office building on my right. From this close I could see a few people inside it, some beginning to flee, others staring back at me in a stupor. I brought two fingers crashing through the window and took one little man between them. I watched as he melted into soul-searing panic, maybe he couldn't believe what was happening. Frankly, neither could I. All I knew was that I was unbearably hungry. I brought him to my waiting mouth, listening to him shriek. It was truly awful that I had to do this to people. But I never ate more than ten... surely this city had more than ten people in it.

I swerved to the right only just in time to avoid an incoming surge of panicky traffic. By now I should be used to these public reactions; I've been following her for about a week, ever since she appeared in Newburgh. The first day was just a warning, when she exploded into downtown and tried to hide herself. Even the second day was quiet, but she was still there, huddled in the woods. It wasn't until the third day that she started eating people.

 I can remember it clearly. They had begun evacuating the city, unsure of what else to do in response to her setting camp in the nearby trees. I was refused permission to follow her into the forest for my own safety. But I fought for it. I tried to explain myself, that it was no harm to study this oddity, but they didn't want me to be a liability. I remembered the earth beginning to tremble and I turned to see she had ambushed them; they had directed everyone away from the forest, but she knew this, she was crafty, and somehow managed to creep behind them.

 In those first few days she walked, and holy hell did it show how gigantic she really was. Newburgh's greatest buildings hadn't even scraped her knees. You practically had to lie on your back to see all the way up to her face, only god knows how far up she went. Her feet took up the entire lengths of streets, and in her massive strides it was almost impossible to predict where they would fall: at one time she could stand in two different streets several blocks away. I watched as people pushed and fought to get away, but it was no use. Her feet corralled them into the center of town.

There was a certain horror to it that took me some time to grasp: it wasn't being done intentionally. She was just walking along. While some had perceived that she was crushing people flat as a warning, I saw the truth. They were accidents. They were bugs that she had trodden on without thought or notice. To think that we had become so helpless, so insignificant that an absent-minded footstep was the death of us... it was a feverish terror.

Eventually she lowered herself to her knees and I thanked my stars that she hadn't decided to stop near me. Very slowly, and very carefully, she took a seat and spread out her legs, giving me a rather extensive view of the cavern in between them. I'm sure some would think there would be a certain charm in seeing that familiar sex symbol expanded to such sizes, but it was so mind-bogglingly enormous that it made my stomach turn in cold fear. Her legs were slowly coming around the crowd, trapping a portion of the crowd inside. She was so precise with it, deliberately cutting off a throng of screaming people without so much as a single fatality. But there was no time to appreciate the care she took: those who had brushed past her ran as far as they could, those who had been swept in cried even louder. I remember seeing some police officers and soldiers trying to arrange a way to save them, but I could see even they were scared shitless.

I could see her face at her decreased elevation, but she revealed no emotion. She stared at her catch, her eyes darting from person to person. Her hand rose and then lowered towards those few pour souls. The world watched as they came back out holding someone in two fingers. Two fingers -- a thumb and a pointer -- had someone dangling between them. Even she seemed uncertain of what was next, looking upon the person. From where I stood I could almost see them as she did: nothing. If I weren't a person myself I might think she was holding a crumb or a speck of dust. She diminished everything absolutely.

Then came history. Then came horror. Those same fingers that held life between them were inside her mouth. Slowly they retreated, separated, holding nothing. A resounding wail seemed to come from everywhere as that person became the first ever human being to be eaten by the monster. Fucking hell, she chewed. And she didn't stop: five more people were scooped up and eaten, swallowed by the maw of the giant woman-like creature. I noticed a strange quirk to her feeding patterns; each person she chose was studied carefully before their consumption. Perhaps she was hunting someone, or perhaps she was curious of how such tiny people could exist. Neither explanation really justified then eating said tiny people, but it was something I hoped to learn in due time.

Over the next few days she began to wander, dining on Cornwall, Peekskill, Cortlandt, Chappaqua, Harrison, The Bronx, and Manhattan. Now was the inevitable main course: New York City. And I followed her all the way.

I liked to consider myself a monster hunter. Back in the day I would go hunting for such cryptids as the elusive Bigfoot and the mysterious Jersey Devil. I could sit at my desk for hours, digging up every single piece of information I could find to expose these creatures. There's something strange about the unknown that I can't resist. So when a monster makes itself public, a monster so horrifyingly exotic to us that we can't even begin to understand it, it was no surprise I found myself giving chase.

It was no ordinary monster, I knew that. She was just an enormous young woman; or at least, that's what she appeared to be. That's what made her so horrifying: monsters of fantasy could be dismissed with their gnashing fangs and matted fur, or their grisly scales. When we looked up to this monster, we saw ourselves. We saw green eyes that looked like ours, and looked into us. We saw long brown hair, hanging low towards our cowering position. Her mouth... well, that was the issue, wasn't it? It never smiled or laughed. It never frowned or shouted. It served only to consume us. The only thing that seperated her from someone like me was her tremendous size, but that was enough. Any one of us might have been the monster. But we weren't so fortunate.

The driver in front of me abandons ship and decides to make a run for it -- I'm not exactly sure why, considering she's going in the other direction -- so I drove around him. Expecting everyone to have all their sense with them might have been too much to ask; it was an occupational hazard I had to live with.

I pull off the gas as I see I'm getting closer to her, blocking the road with toes that would put Bigfoot to shame. Interesting, she was still crawling. 

I'm sorry, I've completely forgotten I was explaining myself. Sometimes I get in the zone like that, I guess. When I tracked down cryptids, studying behavior was crucial. If you knew that, and had a little critical thinking skills, you knew everything. Where they went, why they went there, what they did there. Before it was for the sake of a hobby, now it could save lives. One day I could predict her next move, and help people counteract appropriately. 

Already I knew largely what she would do: lumber through the city until she could split off a sizable crowd and entrap them. Always she would crawl; I hadn't seen her walk since the first few days of her reign. Then she would feast, selecting on average eight to ten living little morsels. Each one was inspected before she dealt them their fate, but I had not yet found any reasoning to it: no one passed the test, no one made it out alive once she chose them. Then she would just leave, sparing any leftovers like dinner scraps, losing all interest in them. 

I rode the brake behind her foot, shuffling along. It was surprisingly clean; occasional patches of dirt and asphalt were sprinkled over the ball of her foot and her heel, and into her toes, but there was no blood. Seeing as she had stepped all over a small crowd, this was odd. She must have cleaned it, I suppose. There were so many questions that needed answers, and admittedly, the cleanliness of her soles was of little priority.

For a few more miles we went onward together, into New York City. I sped up and turned around her foot, trying to get a view of her face. It was like a slow-motion tour of the human body as I cruised along, and everytime she made another motion I was put further behind. Buildings and skyscrapers entered my field of vision and I caught glance of a crowd of people a mile or two down, who had ran inside the square. A foolish decision. I knew they were giant monster food even before she followed them inside.

She sat down and I felt a strange sensation as my car was momentarily lifted off the ground. I began to think of a plan. Keeping the car hidden from the chosen ones was critical. They would try to hitch a ride for sure. Don't get me wrong, I would help them if I could, but that would attract her attention, and I don't want to be eaten any more than the next guy.

I quickly and quietly sputtered by her rear and crossed ankles, parking the car in the perfect blind spot: underneath one of her mountainous legs. I had a roof to save me from her vision, and a foot to block away the people. Of course, I had no intention of staying this close. I gathered all my important things and crept inside a nearby building, taking a chair by the window. A few people gave me strange looks, too threatened by her presence to attempt to flee, but I ignored them, taking out my notebook and observing.

Still she was checking each catch, and still no one seemed to be who she was looking for. I looked at the list of traits of the fallen: male, female, brown hair, blonde hair, black hair, red hair, short, tall, skinny, fat, young adults, old adults -- she didn't seem to enjoy the taste of children or the elderly -- entrepeneurs, cashiers, salespeople, unemployed... it was so vast. What was she looking for in them?

Oh, shit. My phone's ringing. And it's her. Who else would it be? I answer it,

"Hello?"

"Micheal, where are you?" my wife demanded.

"I'm on the job," I told her.

"Please don't tell me you're in New York right now, Micheal."

I finished the line I was writing and looked up just in time to see her hand snatch up another victim. 

"Uh, yeah, I am in New York."

"God dammit, this is serious, Micheal! You need to come home! It's not safe for you to follow around that... thing."

"I need to do this, Carrie. What I learn could stop this one day."

"What you're doing is not hero work, Micheal! It's suicide!"

"My only other option is to wait around 'til she catches the three of us, and I'm not not about to let that happen. She's moving south from Newburgh, you should be safe for a while."

"Don't you think you should be spending time with your family when the world goes to shit like this?" As she berated me I held my breath and watched the monster's foot twitch and begin to press down onto my car. I could see the glass crack, but she readjusted herself before it was completely lost. "We may not have a lot of time, Micheal. We should spend it wisely."

"This is the wisest way I can use my time. We'll never be able to save ourselves just by waiting for some saving grace or something. I'm doing what no one else will."

"There's a good reason other people aren't following the people-eating monster," Carrie replied quietly. I could tell from the tone in her voice she was tearing up. "Don't do this to me, Micheal. Please, come home." I watched the monster eat the same person I had watched it grab and found my eyes dampening as well.

"I'll come home soon. I promise. Put Jared on the phone."

"But..."

"Please, let me talk to Jared. You can take the phone from him after," I reassured her, and I faintly heard her call my son's name, and some static noises as they exchanged the phone.

"Dad?"

"Hey, Jared. How's it going?"

"Who's that lady, daddy?"

"The lady on TV?"

"Yeah, she's on all the channels. I can't watch Spongebob anymore." I couldn't help but laugh, despite myself.

"Yeah, I don't know who she is. That's why I'm gone, I'm gonna figure out who she is."

"Do you see her, daddy? Have you met her yet?"

"I've seen her a few times, but I haven't introduced myself yet."

"You should say hi! When I talk to new people, I say: 'Hi, my name's Jared! What's yours?'" I leaned over the table and saw as she used her palm to shove two people into her mouth; something I had never seen her do before.

"I'll have to try that, thanks for the tip, champ."

"When are you coming home?" Something was wrong. I froze. It was as if something had snapped inside of her. She was taking them two at a time, stuffing her face with them greedily, not even bothering to look them over. I was almost sick; I had seen her eat a fair amount of people and had grown somewhat insensitive to it, but now she had unleashed some twisted, savage hunger. My stomach twisted in knots. A crippling weakness ran through me.

"Daddy?" Jared's voice brought me back to our phone call, in a cold sweat. 

"Um, I don't know, champ. As soon as I'm done with the lady, ok?"

"When is that?"

"I don't know, Jared. Hopefully soon."

"Ok. I'll give you back to mummy now. Bye, dad!"

"Bye, Jared," I choked, hoping he wouldn't notice my tears. 

"Micheal?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you tell him?"

"Just that I'm coming home as soon as I can." Carrie said nothing for a few moments until I heard her take a deep, watery breath.

"Micheal. I want you to really think about this. You can come home. You can be with me and Jared to the very end. Or, you can chase after the monster like you're some kind of... superhero or something. What can you do to stop this? What can anyone do?"

"That's what I'm gonna figure out," I said. My bones trembled as I watched her seize upon the lone survivor in the crowd. She stuck out her tongue, playing with her food. It was as if I was studying an entirely different monster; she never did anything like this. "Once I've gathered enough information, I'll try to contact the military. We'll devise a plan, a path of action, anything to--" my voice was interrupted by the shattering of glass. I looked out the window and turned pale as I saw she had broken into the building across the way, picking out its inhabitants. This was ruthless. Her average people per day was around ten. That man was the nineteenth.

"What was that?" Carrie asked, noticably worried.

"Nothing, I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me, Micheal."

"I'm really okay, it's not me. I'm going to keep doing this for just a little while longer. I have to keep you and Jared safe. What would I do if she got you? If she got him?" There was no response, so I added, "I'll be home soon."

"Promise me," she said, sobbing. I wiped my eyes and promised her, bidding her goodbye and closing the phone as she hung up. I looked over my recordings in disbelief. Nineteen people in a single day, bringing her up to the grim total of ninety-two. Staring out the window, I waited for her to clear away, when I would climb back in the car, still hot on the trail.

My legs were sore, my eyes were baggy, my arms were stiff. I was on the verge of collapsing in exhaustion. But the sirens and screams pushed me forward. I was still hopelessly lost in this expansive city, shambling through the streets under the moon.

A tiny ray of light flickered across my face as helicopters buzzed around me. Police cars scattered around underneath me, slowing my crawl tremendously by forcing me to second guess every step of it. It seemed like everyone in the world was after me all the sudden. There had never been resistance like this before, but did I really expect to mosey on in, take a bite from the populace, and leave unscathed?

It must have been a learned habit.

I think they were shooting at me, but it was hard to tell when their bullets were so ineffective; I felt poked and prodded from every direction but it wasn't painful in the slightest. Finally pulling myself forward a few feet (or a few dozen feet?) after trying to find safe landing zones for my hands and knees, I was at an intersection.

Again people ran this way and that, this time not even sane enough to make sure they were running away from me rather than towards; for some ungodly reason a handful of them turned in my direction, as if trying to hide underneath my own monolithic body.

They're scared, I remind myself. More than that, they're terrified, they're panicking. What would I do if a giant person was crawling around my home? I certainly wouldn't run towards her. 

Just eat them, my stomach tried to convince me. If they won't get out of the way without a little help, so be it. Besides, we really need something to eat. We're famished.

No. I've already fell for the temptations of my hunger once today, I stepped way out of line. I didn't lose count, I was fooling myself. No one escaped, that was a false reassurance. That man wasn't waiting for a turn, he was trapped just like the rest, and I had toyed with him. And taking people from buildings? Inexcusable. 

What's the difference between someone on the ground and someone on the fifth floor, huh? They both taste the same, don't they? They both die at the end, don't they? Who's fooling who?

I held my forehead in the palm of my hand, supressing a sudden headache. What was wrong with me? Looking down I saw zero progress with the crowds, still flooding the streets without any real goal. I slowly brought down my palm and held it over the ground, and the immediate response of shrill screams prompted I bring it back. 

Stand up, why don't you? Take a walk. You'll be outta here in no time.

I can't, last time I walked in a city it was on top of people. When I first saw their splattered remains all over my feet, like squashed insects, I vowed never to tread on them again. I was just being careful.

Oh, we are being rather careful, aren't we? Hunting people, ripping them apart with our teeth... I did notice how carefully you yanked that man from his office today. He didn't even get to finish his weekly report before you guzzled him down.

That wasn't me, that was you, you made me do that! You made me do all of this! I would never have eaten anybody if it weren't for you! 

You'd be dead if not for me. It's not our fault we're bigger than them. We don't punish the frog for eating the flies, that's just how it works.

They're people!

And we're much more.

This was insane. I was insane. Still I hadn't moved, still the crowd ran circles around itself. A stinging on my backside brought my attention to the armies trying to whittle me down, quickly becoming a nuisance. One of the helicopters pointed its spotlight directly into my eye, making me flinch and intensifying my headache. And the noise; everyone was screaming bloody murder, police sirens blared ceaselessly, even the tiny guns were discharging little buzzing noises. My ears were ringing and I noticed I was breathing heavily. 

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" I suddenly screamed at the top of my lungs, smashing my fist into the pavement of the street. It cracked under the force and I heard the quaking tremor, knocking everyone down and making cars jump. They were quick to obey now, gathering themselves to their feet and clearing away. From the corner of my eye I could see them barely avoiding my impatience as I huffed across.

Had I been here before? That tower looked familar. Now that I looked around, they were all familiar. Everything looked so similar, so small. I was briefly blinded again by swarms of helicopters, and I could faintly hear voices over a loudspeaker; were they trying to communicate with me? I guess I hadn't really shown many people that I could talk back. I couldn't understand it, and couldn't quite place where it was coming from, so I just trudged forward.

They were getting bolder, perhaps to try to get me to answer them. Helicopters flew inches (feet?) from my face, until I could hear their irritating rotors spin and had to turn my glance from their lights.

Eat them. Eat them.

Are you crazy?

Is that a trick question? Come on, it'll be like hard candy with a people filling. Doesn't that sound delicious? 

My hand shot up and took a helicopter between two fingers, its rotor blades struggling to turn against them. In an instant the others fled. Holding it up close I could peer inside and see a tiny pilot, but his heavy gear made him difficult to read.

He can't eject, we've got him. Now eat him. Eat the whole goddamn thing. That'll teach them to bother us.

Maybe they did need some persuasion. Maybe I would think more clearly on a full stomach. 

I'm sure it's after midnight. We can start a whole new ten. Eat him now and you won't have to eat him later.

Before I had even finished listening to my own psychotic banter I could feel a gentle scraping on the side of my tongue and I was biting into the helicopter's thick shell. The metal and machinery was putrid, but the familiar human taste was intact deep inside. What had I done? I had just made it worse; this was my response to attempted communication.

We don't need to listen to what they have to say. 

They could've helped me! 

We've been making meals of them for days now. They don't want to be friends. 

Oh, I'm such an idiot! 

No, we don't need them. What do they do for us? 

I used to know so many great people! I still have a family that raised me, I have friends that love me!

Not anymore. Don't you understand? We've grown beyond all that. We're a goddess now. They are nothing but food.

I am not a goddess! I'm... I'm... I was about to think that I was just like them, but I looked down and saw that was not true. I'm... different. But that doesn't mean I'm above morality, that didn't mean I could simply wipe them out.

Are you suggesting a coexistence? I'm sure they'd be glad to talk about it over lunch. Oh wait, that's right, they're lunch.

You're sick and twisted! I'm nothing like you! I can control myself! I can restrain myself from being the monster you think I am, as if I might expect them to worship me or something! I'm gonna get outta here, and go to bed, and it'll all be better in the morning, won't it? Won't it?

Abruptly I burst into hysterical tears, my head feeling as if it were constricted, pressed down. My arms and legs gave way and I fell to my stomach, wallowing and sobbing. I covered my eyes with my hands but knew they hadn't stopped firing as I could still feel the pinches of their shots.

With eyes still watery I rose to my feet, a strange determination filling me. Now I could see over some of the buildings, and saw a body of water with a bridge crossing over it. I could lose this army in the water. I looked down and made sure I knew where they all were before I made my first step.

Don't bother sparing them. Crush them and they won't pester us any longer.

I stepped over the army and left them behind, headed for the water. I wouldn't listen. I won't be a goddess. I don't deserve to be a goddess, giantess or not. There was nothing powerful about me, I was running away from myself just like everyone else. I began to feel afraid and broke into a sprint, desperate to get away, to go anywhere that wasn't here.

But I had become careless, I wasn't watching where I was going. The streets had suddenly deformed into twisting and turning highways, and my foot was caught in an arcing roadway. My heart skipped a beat as I tripped, falling into the bridge with a mighty crash. My weight was too much; the connection between the city and the bridge snapped, dumping me into the water along with some hapless other people and cars, and plenty of rubble. I pushed off the floor of the river and saw with dismay the pummeled assortment of vehicles that laid where I had been. 

I stood to my full height, taking my breath back. The water only reached just above the knee, almost to my thighs, but I could see people flailing widly to stay afloat, some right below me. 

Eat them, my stomach roared.

I turned away from the gruesome scene and saw some stray police cars coming my way, the helicopters not too far behind.

Eat them.

I shook my head, sending water in all directions as my hair battered to and fro. I won't. I won't. I won't. I began to step forward and saw as my leg brought upon a tidal wave that nearly drowned the people below me.

Eat them.

Eat them.

EAT THEM.

You know what, I will, will that make you fucking happy!? I bent down at the knees and scooped up everyone swimming under me in a single hand. Without ceremony I practically threw them between my teeth and cracked open every single one of them. I didn't even close my mouth as I chewed: do you see me?! Do you see me eating these people?! Am I satisying you?! 

Is this what you wanted? I waded forward and saw another gathering of swimming people, panicking and trying to paddle away. I tuned out their screams, proving to myself that I didn't care, and ate them by the handful. Seizing them from the water and crunching them down to pulp. Then I turned to the bridge and saw people running across it, completely horrified at the sight of me gorging their fellow men and women, and still looking for more.

My fist came crashing through another part of the bridge, crumbling down into the water and taking scores of doomed little people with it. Look at me, I'm eating them too. I went out of my way to eat more, because that's what's they're for, right?! Wait, I can still see people, I should eat them too, right?! Why don't I just eat everyone on the whole fucking bridge?!

I kicked out at the bridge's foundation and saw as it collapsed, dying out with a rumbling noise and filling the water with shrieks and car horns. Watch, I won't bother sparing any of them, I'll make sure they all die, just like you wanted. Chasing people through the water, snatching them up and feasting on them. Isn't this great?! Listen to them cry and beg for mercy, isn't it great?! Isn't it great how I'm murdering all of them because they dared be smaller than me?! I'll even eat the cars; they taste like crap but after a while they have that taste you like so much, the taste of death. Who knows, maybe one of these people I'm about to eat, or one of them I've already eaten is someone I know, but who cares, right?! Because I'm a goddess and goddesses shouldn't care, right?!

There, everyone's dead, I did it. Now they'll leave me alone, right? Now that I've slaughtered countless innocents I'm sure they'll just drop everything and submit to me, won't they? I don't even need to give any orders -- there's nothing they could do for me anyway, right? -- I just need to tell myself I'm the one in control of the people that I feed to myself. Isn't that what you want?  What more do you want?! 

I slowly cross the river and climb ashore into a small park, pushing aside trees to make a clearing for myself. I look over my body, see the blood and guts staining my hands, feet, legs, and chest, and feeling a thick coating of it on my teeth. There you go. I gave you more than ten. What more do you want?

I curled into a ball and cried.

An unwelcome sense of consciousness comes to me; why didn't I just roll over and die? My eyes flitter open lazily, looking out at the river and the demolished ruins of the bridge. As I climb up to my knees I'm reminded again of last night's horrors, feeling a terrible dried stickiness all over me. Dead people are literally all over me. 

I need to clean this, and fast, or I'll lose it again. The river should wash it off well enough, but first I bend down and drink from it. I was parched, but not hungry. It was strange, not having a desire to eat something, both a pleasant privelege and a haunting memory.

After drinking my fill I stepped into the river, occasionally feeling the rigid pebbles of capsized cars underfoot. I sat down, the water thankfully muting the smash of my rear hitting the soft sand. Raising my right leg I saw once again the bloody sole of my foot. The pasty mush had even crept between my big and second toe; what the hell had I been doing? It didn't matter anymore, I scrubbed it off with my hands in disgust. It was wiped into the ebbing water, the people that had been crushed merely fading away.

Turning to the other side of the river I noticed a large congregation of people and cars. I had a feeling I was being watched by quite a few of them, washing myself. There wasn't a single bone in my body that wanted anything to do with people right now -- I could hardly tolerate myself -- so I let them gawk. I knew with certainty they were talking about me, but I was curious as to what exactly they had to say.

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

"You're a what?"

"A cryptid hunter. You know, like Bigfoot?" I said, using the popular example.

"You hunt Bigfoot?" the officer raised his brow, looking fed up of me already.

"Now, I hunt her," I pointed to the monster, bathing herself in the Hudson. "What have you been doing about her?" I asked snarkily, throwing him into the spotlight.

"Well, we just got results back from the analysis team that she matches the description of a young woman who had missed a few appointments last week. Jessica Tammy from Newburgh. It all comes together."

"She's human?" I asked, stunned.

The officer stared at me for a few moments, then turned to see the monster for himself as if to be absolutely positive.

"Isn't it obvious?" 

I suppose it was, but I couldn't shake using the term monster. I hadn't really thought that a human could possibly do the things she had done. She ate people, that's not a human thing to do. Destroying the Brookyln Bridge wasn't human. Being that large was certainly not human.

"We're finding everyone who knows Ms. Tammy and questioning them as we speak. What have you done?"

That was a damn good question. It took me a few moments to think up the proper way to respond.

"I've been studying her since she first appeared, learning her habits. There has to be some reason for all of this, I can't imagine she just decided to grow huge and eat people."

"We can never be sure," the officer muttered under his breath. "There are some weird-ass people out there." He idly watched Jessica splash water onto her breasts, cleaning away the stains of squashed civilians. This was our apocalypse, I thought to myself. A giant, hungry woman in a tiny world. 

"They're gonna nuke her soon," the officer suddenly said, breaking my imagination.

"I'm surprised they haven't already."

"They weren't sure it would actually kill her; they were too stupid to see she's a human just like you were. Thought she might have been some alien or something. They're coming up with the plans now."

"Mind giving me a heads up when they get it set in stone? I'd rather not be following her when you decide to drop the bomb."

"That's outta my hands. I'd suggest you just leave her be and get the hell outta here. There isn't anything left to learn, anyway. You know everything now, don't you?"

No, not yet. Alright, she was human, that was good to know. But it wasn't nearly enough. I wouldn't be satisfied until I had completely dissected everything about this so-called 'Jessica'; I had spent too much time on this to walk away from it. What could I do next? 

"What the hell is she doing?" the officer blurted as Jessica seemed to be squatting on her heels in the middle of the river.

"She's urinating," I answered him. "She prefers to do it in the water." The officer gave me a strange glance, speechless.

"You really have been studying her, haven't you?"

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

The official led me through endless corridors and hallways, to a room reading 'INTERROGATION' on the door. Interrogation? Wasn't interrogation when they questioned suspects of a crime? I hadn't done anything illegal.

God, what could they possibly want from me?

He opened the door and motioned for me to enter. I did, powerless under his will. It looked just like it would on Bones or CSI: Miami or something; just a table and two chairs. This wasn't right, this wasn't where I should be. But we both took our seats.

"Dustin Hoffins, is that correct?" the official said, looking over some paperwork. For a moment I was dumbfounded: how did he know my name? But then again, they knew much more, didn't they?

"That's correct," was all I could think to say.

"And what again is your relationship with 'Jessica Tammy'?"

I swallowed heavily before responding,

"Boyfriend."

He glances up at me for a second and then continues to read over his papers. What were the odds, huh? You like a girl, ask her out, and she becomes nearly a hundred times your size and starts eating people. 

"Where were you on April seventh of this year?" he asks, pointing his pen towards me as if in accusation. How could I forget?

"Jessica had told me she was doing something for work... she was a freelance model and getting a place in an advertisement or something... so I told her I'd meet up with her after... then a few hours later she just... I heard these loud crashes and... explosions so I looked outside my window and couldn't see anything... then she was on the news... I didn't know what to do, so I just stayed... then two days later she came back and... you know what happened... so I got my stuff and left."

"So you know her fairly well?"

"Well... before all this, I guess, yeah." The official checked over his papers one last time and brought his hands together as he pushed them aside.

"We have a proposition for you. We're looking for answers, and it seems the only reliable way to get these answers is to ask Jessica herself. Are you willing to approach her with our questions?"

I felt like my stomach was caving in, like I was falling apart.

"No! No, I can't, I can't! Do you see what she's doing?! Don't you see the way she looks at everyone, like she's looking for something... or someone in particular? She's looking for me, I know it!"

"Why is that?"

"Because I cheated on her," I blurted from my mouth like poison. "I was with another girl for a while and she must have found out. She's looking for me! She wants to kill me! She wants to fucking eat me!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Hoffins, we won't make you do anything against your will. But thank you for your time."

"Am I free to go?" I asked impatiently, eager to escape the prison of one-way glass. Thankfully he nodded and I nearly broke down the door, practically ran to my car. I needed to call Melissa.

Melissa was always late when we arranged get-togethers, but I was getting frustrated that she couldn't bring herself to come on time in a situation this dire. I had called her about the Jessica situation and she simply said: 'We need to talk, I'll be there in an hour' and had hung up. It was about an hour and a half since that call, and I just sat on the sofa in front of the television. I felt in a living coma, sleepwalking, you might say.

Footage of my girlfriend snacking on crowds like they were screaming little candies ran over and over. I flipped the channel and watched her bring the Brooklyn Bridge to ashes like she was some sexy Godzilla. Next channel showed her in the park across the Hudson, sitting with her knees to her chest, motionless. Then interviews, tear-ridden and shaken people sharing their unintelligible babbling, then back to square one.

I turned the TV off as I heard Melissa pull in, making sure I looked presentable. In hindsight that was a silly worry, but that's how I tended to be. Mistakes are much easier to identify once you've already screwed them up.

She knocks once and I open the door. Something about her was off; it was the same thing everyone was 'off' with for the past week, a grave look that robbed all emotion. She doesn't even give me her usual smile as she walks into the room.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, as if I didn't know.

"Shut up, Dustin," she utters, shaking her head. "This isn't the time for that."

"I... I know," I whisper, blushing a bit at my own stupidity.

"I know we're here to talk about Jessica. What did they ask you at the questioning?"

"They wanted me to ask her their questions. Can you believe that? They wanted me to just walk right up to her and ask her some questions!" 

"So I'm assuming you said no?"

"Of course. She's looking for me, you've seen the footage. She must have found out about us... and now she's looking for me!"

"Did you ever tell her about us?"

"No, of course not."

"Then how would she know?"

My mind seemed to halt for half a second, trying to reason with me. But fear quickly overran it again; there was no other explanation.

"I don't know... but who else would she be looking for?"

Melissa stared at me for a moment, completely still. She must have been processing that question for herself. She had never really known Jessica that well, and for good reason. I really had liked Jessica, but she hadn't changed since senior year of high school when we got together. It had been three years and still she was the same. The relationship wasn't interesting enough, so I met Melissa. 

Melissa was quirky and imaginative. Jessica had been real and uninspired. Sure, she could have a fun time, but Melissa was a fun time. Of course, I couldn't help but regret Melissa standing in the room now, couldn't help but regret my own boredom. This must have been what it was like to be FBI's Most Wanted, but I'm not on a hitlist, I'm on a menu.

"I don't know," Melissa finally said. "But if she really wants to kill you so bad you should make a plan with the military or something to draw her out. Then they can bomb her and it'll be done."

I was shocked, no, flabbergasted. I felt betrayed, in a sick sense of irony.

"You want me to go out there and see her?"

"If that's what it takes, Dustin. Jessica needs to die. Deep down, you know that too. It's her or the rest of the world, we can't both make it out."

"We can escape!" I stutter, desperate for an excuse to save myself. "We can run away, she can't be everyone at once!" Melissa slowly shook her head, her stare piercing right through me.

"No. No, I can't escape. Because when she attacked that first day she took my sister. You're fucking girlfriend ate her!" she screamed, reverting to an untapped anger inside of her. "And now you're standing here in front of me and telling me you just want to run away?! You just want to pretend this never happened?! You're the one person who has even a chance at stopping this and you're too cowardly to even try!?" Her face was red as she tore through me, her eyes leaked like faucets but it never became evident in her voice. "I can't escape," she repeated. "I have to live with her for the rest of my life. But will you be able to live with yourself in the end?"

I was a statue as she collapsed into the couch, rubbing her eyes. I could vaguely remember Melissa's sister from a bar one night: she had looked very little like Melissa with her black curls. Maybe it was the tequila shots, but she was rather beautiful. The one thing I remember clearly was when she had danced on the floor. Nothing could stop her. It was an ultimate showcase of individuality, swinging around the stage without a care in the world. It wasn't necesarrily an elegant dance, but it had struck me in its vibrance. It was brilliant.

And now she was gone. It didn't matter how beautiful she was or how well she danced when Jessica came.

God dammit, Jessica, what the fucking hell is wrong with you?!

But I brought myself back to the question: how would I live with myself? If Jessica was deranged enough to do what she had already done, I severely doubted my death would be the end of it. It might just be a new beginning.

"I won't live with myself if I'm dead," I replied. Melissa looked up from her sorrow and glared at me.

"What did you say?"

"I'm going to die if I talk to Jessica, don't you see? What will that accomplish? Who's to say she'll stop once she's had her way with me? This is something much larger than me and her... she's crazier than that. I can't stop this with a few questions. We need something better."

"It's not just the questions, Dustin. You'd be bait to lure her into a trap. She'd trust you--"

"No, she wouldn't! She's looking for me! She found out about us and wants revenge! I won't do it, Melissa, I don't want to die!" She looked down and shook her head again.

"You selfish piece of shit," she remarked loudly. "I didn't want this to happen, you know, I told them it wasn't a good idea. But you deserve every second of it."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, but I was soon answered by the shattering of windows and everything went black.

When I came to I was inside a dark room with two men standing above me, one dressed in a full suit, the other in a spring coat.

"Finally waking up, huh?" the coated man laughed on the left. I went to move but found myself handcuffed to the chair I was sitting in.

"What's going on?" 

"We've received word that you're not too keen about helping us with our problem, Dustin."

"How--"

"After you stormed away from the questioning we tapped into your phone network and listened in on your scheduling chat with Melissa. She agreed to try to convince you into being cooperative, but you still fell flat."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean 'cooperative'?"

"You're going to come into contact with Jessica." My face flushed and I thrashed in my seat. This can't be happening. Do they not see what's happening? They're tying me to a string and dangling me over her mouth. 

"You can't do this to me! This can't be legal!"

"The law's a little busy right now," the suited man said with a dry grin. "He'll overlook this little slip-up."

"You can't make me talk to her! You can't make me go anywhere!"

"Oh, yes we can. Micheal here will be taking you."

"What?" me and the coated man both exclaimed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I was never a part of this," the other man begins to say, holding up his hands.

"Yeah, listen to him, this is crazy!"

The suited man walks to the back of the room for a second and comes back with a suitcase. "There's no one in the world that knows more about giant Jessica than you, Micheal. You're the perfect tracker. And as for your motivation..." he unclicked the briefcase and exposed the hefty sum of dollars inside of it. 

"How much is this?" the stunned receiver asked.

"Five million. What you're doing could save a lot of people, Micheal. We'd like to pay you appropriately." The briefcase was closed and Micheal seemed to wake as from a dream. "After you've delivered Dustin."

"Alright," he said, much to my horror. "I'll do it. But if you skimp me out of this..."

"No worries, Micheal. It'll be waiting for you right here." The suited man placed the brieface down at the back of the room. Micheal started walking towards me.

"Let's get you ready to roll, Dusty."

"NO!" I screamed, kicking my legs and trying to free myself. This was absolutely ludicrous. They couldn't possibly be making me do this. Micheal unbound the cuffs and I tried to dash to freedom but was caught in a surprisingly powerful bearhug. He put the cuffs onto my wrists and escorted me out the building.

I still couldn't believe a single second of what was happening was real. The law enforcement, who I had trusted for my safety all these years, was sacrificing me to Jessica. Did it make me a coward that I didn't want to die? Was no one else afraid of her? In that moment, I was more afraid of my own girlfriend than I'd ever been afraid of anything my entire life.

We approached what must have been his car: a shoddy red Honda with a shattered windshield and cracked windows. He opened one of the back doors and pushed me inside. I struggled as he tried to put on the seat buckle, trying to be as difficult as possible. Eventually he gave up and simply left me unfastened; not quite what I was going for.

I try to make myself comfortable while I can, seeing Micheal start the car in the corner of my eye.

"Do you even know where we're going?" I ask him, hoping for the littlest reassurances.

"Well, last I saw her she was across the Hudson by the other end of the Brooklyn Bridge. She's not there anymore, so I can only assume she went deeper into Brooklyn. If I could just go across the river I would, but my legs aren't the size of skyscrapers so we have to drive around it. Could be a while."

"Where are we?"

"New York."

"How'd you get me all the way to New York?"

"I didn't bring you anywhere, the other guy did. He's the chief of a task force working to stop this Jessica thing."

"Jessica 'thing'?"

"Sorry if I'm offending you or whatever, but I'm not gonna refer to Jessica as a person. It goes against my profession, and quite honestly, she hasn't been one lately."

"Profession?"

"You're just full of questions, aren't you?" he laughed, pulling out of the empty parking lot. "I'm a cryptid hunter. And before you ask, think Bigfoot."

"I'm being driven to my giant girlfriend by a Bigfoot hunter?!"

"Sounds about right," he said, looking at me in the rear view mirror. "Aren't you just the luckiest guy? Listen, there's gonna be some heavy traffic in a bit when people start to lose their shit about Jessica, so things are gonna be slow. While you're here, why don't you tell me what you know about Jessica."

I was petrified in the seat of that scrapped car, taking me on a one-way trip to my doom, and had trouble trusting this Micheal, but decided I had nothing to lose.

I walked through scenes of chaos and devastation, only to leave them behind in a second or two. No, I didn't leave them, I picked them up and took them with me, I was the source of their hysteria. I disappeared in a flash anyhow, these city blocks were so tiny I could almost completely step over some of them.

 I kept myself to the side, away from the crowds as best I could, but I was honestly getting fed up of worrying for them. No matter how hard I tried people would get hurt, because panicked people are stupid people. I found it difficult to feel bad for someone I stepped on even when I was making every conscious effort to avoid them. They were too small to notice, but I knew it was inevitably happening at least once or twice. At this point, I didn't care.

 All I wanted was somewhere to rest for a bit, somewhere that wasn't an urban jungle. Trees weren't very forgiving, but they were more comfortable than buildings. I'd assume, anyway. Never tried sleeping in a city. Don't plan on every trying.

The fiasco last night must have set off any attempts to stop me: I could see small armies assemble and watch me for a few moments as I passed them by. They knew they stood no chance. But they followed me anyhow, maybe in the hopes that their presence would reassure the populace that everything was under control. Even I knew I was no tamable beast. Had I been an animal the world might have been better off, but I could think, I could rationalize, I could go crazy.

Boy, am I crazy.

I couldn't deny it. Sure, I hadn't gone so far as to stomp through downtown and go on a rampage, but I was slowly losing regard for human life. I must have wept out my humanity last night. It's quite frightening to watch this happen to myself. When I see small handfuls of people I calmly contemplate eating them and decide not to simply for the sake of time. Just a few moments ago I acknowledged that I'm crushing people underfoot, and I couldn't even be bothered to move out of the way. I froze and pulled back the foot I was about to lead with, watching a speck move from where it would have landed. I tried to empower the speck in my mind, but everything it did was so futile. It couldn't help or harm me, it wouldn't speak or be spoken to, and it couldn't chase nor escape me. So then what did it matter?

I brought my foot back and stepped forward, the ball of my foot landing squarely on the speck. Even when I concentrated all my effort into it, its death could not be felt. It was tiny and unnoticable, just like everything else about them. I can't imagine ever squishing people for the fun of it -- there was nothing to it, it was like playing a game but only pretending you had the toys -- but, perhaps more horrifying, I simply didn't care.

Things continued this way for about an hour. I guess I covered a pretty big distance, but it didn't feel like it. The first field I saw was where I stopped. It wasn't a park like the last one had been, but there were still people that fled as I crawled in. I didn't heed them as I found somewhere to stretch out. 

I found water in the form of a pond or lake and washed my feet again. Soon I regretted it; it was much more shallow than the river and it turned a gastly red color. I decided to keep moving, I didn't need to see that every day. As luck would have it, there was another body of water in the field, this one more expansive.

I took the smallest sips I could afford to try and ration the water for as long as possible. I could make this field a home of sorts, a base of operations. Like camping, I think to myself. Tiny camping. Or giant camping, I guess, depending on how you look at it.

Sometimes I missed the little things. Watches so I knew what time it was. Cell phones to text and pass the time. Books to read so I could pretend I was someone else. And clothes... don't get me started on clothes. I hated being naked, I felt so exposed. Fortunately it was the spring months so the weather wasn't too much of an issue, and the winds were mere annoyances. I began to think of what rain would be like this, or even thunder storms. A pit grew in my stomach as I realized what a thunder storm would mean for me.

Or maybe that was just my hunger, ready for another round. I hadn't eaten since last night, and as hefty a meal it was, it wouldn't hold me forever. Part of me secretly wished for some officers and soldiers to come and combat me so I could give them the fate they probably expected. I fantasized about the food they probably ate: turkey dinners and steaks and meatloaves...

Suddenly my attention was drawn by a miniscule movement from the bushes: was that a person? Had a wish of mine come true for once? What would a single person be doing wandering in this park anyway? Oh well. My fingers were upon him in an instant, bringing them close so I could give it the procedural check-up, expecting no results as always.

"DUSTIN!" I squealed upon seeing my tiny little boyfriend in my hand. I sat up straight and let him stand in my open palm, holding my hand up. My grin was ear to ear, but Dustin looked afraid, he was waving around in a fit. I thought I heard him try to speak, so I moved my face closer.

"...Jessica!" I faintly heard him.

"What?"

"Please don't kill me, Jessica!" he squeaked. I pouted as my worst dreams came true: he was afraid of me like everyone else. The emotion was overpowering and I broke into tears, embarassing myself in front of Dustin. I was a fool. I was a monster. I had killed so many people. I had lost everything.

"...Jessica!" I could hear my name again, so I quieted my tears and focused on him.

"Huh?"

"Why are you crying?"

"Because I'm a monster! I'm losing everything because I'm nothing but a big monster!"

"You haven't lost everything. You still have me... right?" I started crying again, but these tears were of joy. I nodded and smiled: he still loved me. Even after everything I had done, Dustin still wanted to be with me. I wanted to kiss and hug him, but it was impossible. I physically couldn't express how much I appreciated Dustin's undying loyalty.

"Are you alright?"

"I think so," I replied, wiping away the tears.

"Could you put me down?" I nodded and lowered him to the ground, laying on my stomach so I could still hear him.

"How did you find me?" I asked.

"I had some help from a friend," he said, looking over his shoulder. My eyes raised and peered over but I saw no one. "Why are you here?" he asked. The casual tone was refreshing.

"Where else can I be?" was the only reply I could think of that made sense. "Can't exactly be at your place anymore." I heard his tiny laugh, short and stifled. "You don't have to be afraid. I won't hurt you. I promise with all my heart." He still seemed unsure, fidgeting a bit, so I made a final ultimatum. I kissed the tip of my pinky finger and extended it towards him. It was larger than he was, but he knew exactly what I meant.

A pinky promise. We had made them all the time. I pinky promised him that I would get us a puppy if we ever got a house. He pinky promised me that he would buy us both fancy cars when he became rich and famous. We pinky promised each other than we would be together forever.

He slowly brought up his own pinky and touched mine. This was truly amazing, I thought. My massive pinky and his diminuitive one rose for so much more. This was a sign, we were meant to be. Dustin was so committed he wouldn't even abandon me now. Despite everything, I felt fortunate.

"I'm exhausted," he said as we retracted pinkies. "Mind if we talk more tomorrow?"

"Of course," I whisper, feeling quite tired myself. "Dustin?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you sleep with me?"

If there was one thing I loved the most about being with Dustin, it was cuddling with him. I felt so safe when I was wrapped up in him, the warmth of his body and jacket were irresistable. 

"How?" he asked, confused. My hand opened up like a platform and after a moment he climbed onto it and sprawled out. I curled my body around my hand as much as I could: now it was my turn to wrap up him. 

"Good night, Dustin," I whispered soothingly.

"Good night, Jessica," he said back in his small voice. This was absurd. This was amazing. Absurdly amazing. I still had Dustin. I always had Dustin. For the first time in weeks, I wasn't alone.

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

Jessica never ceased to amaze me.

Who I had watched cause untold carnage and destruction was now the culprit behind uninhibited love and affection. Dustin had told me she was hunting him down over some girlfriend drama, but this didn't look anything of the sort. I had expected to see a bloodbath and instead I saw them sleeping together. Dustin had that expectation as well, but he seemed happy to go with this alternate, less fatal path.

But Jessica was still Jessica. If anything, this only proved my theories that she was affected deeply by mental trauma or sickness. She kissed her finger and they pinky promised, that was cute and all, but I just got reports on people missing from the Brooklyn Bridge incident and she has thus far eaten two hundred and thirty two people. She had likely ended many more in her strides, accidents or not. That was a lot of dead people to simply kiss goodnight. Dustin might have his ass saved, but I wasn't done yet. I made sure I had the park saved in my GPS so I could easily return before driving off. 

"Noooo!"

A somewhat hushed, lengthy cry that woke me. How could anyone sleep in times like this? Jessica was still here. My heart skipped a beat as I acknowledged the softness of my makeshift bed; I was in her palm. Quickly I scrambled off my side and looked up, her massive fingers beginning to curl inwards, dangerously closing in the distance.

"Jessica, it's alright, it's alright!" I shouted, pounding against her hand. Her fingers bent ever towards me, and I frantically backed up to avoid their crushing embrace. "Wake up, Jessica, it's alright!"

"Dustin?" she suddenly asked, her voice as giant as she was. Her hand opened like a flower and revealed me to her gaze, thankful to be alive. 

"I'm here, it's okay," I assured her, trying to match my volume to hers the best I could. I still couldn't be sure if she knew about my affair with Melissa: she seemed so genuinely happy to see me. It might not be the right thing to do, but I went along with her oblivious happiness. Melissa didn't exist right now. But I had to tread carefully. This misunderstanding had made me slave to Jessica's every whim.

She was silent for a few moments, breathing in and out and in again, before the fingers of her other hand approached. Oh god, is she going to pick me up again? The height was dizzying when I could balance on her palm; I couldn't imagine being suspended between her fingers.

A single pointer finger -- although that truly gave the behemoth no justice -- rested on my head and stroked me slowly and gently, as if she were testing if I were actually there. 

"Careful!" I warned her as the force of the finger increased ever so slightly. I can see it now: she bores of me and taps down, squishing me into the expanse of her hand. That's all it would take.

"...Dustin..." she repeated, her voice softening by the second. I looked up and saw she was about to cry again.

"What's wrong, Jessica?"

"I had a nightmare," she whined, her booming voice betraying her fearful tone.

"It's alright, it was just a dream," I tried to assure her. "It was just a dream."

"It felt so real, though. I dreamt... I dreamt... I dreamt that I was so hungry I ate you," she sobbed. A chill went down my spine. This was my reality. "And for a while," she added, tears streaming down her face. "I actually considered it."

"Please... please don't eat me, Jessica," I said blankly, knowing deep down that it was all I could do to save myself.

"I told you, I'm a monster!" I had to think fast, I had to cheer her up somehow. 

"You're just hungry, I understand."

"Hungry people don't eat their boyfriends! I'm a monster!"

I had to get her something to eat. Something, anything. Some fruits, or vegetables, or some loose animals. But for the love of god she was not going to eat me.

"You know," she continued, breaking my train of thought. "I only started eating people because I had to. Everything else is too small." Something about that made me almost chuckle; we, the gnats we were, were the biggest option.

"What else did you try?" She sniffed and thought over my question. I prayed I hadn't upset her.

She looked away for a moment and said: "You know, food. Like food normal people would eat."

That seemed like an excuse; maybe she was afraid to try anything. But then why start with people? She was truly psychotic.

"Come on, let's try to find you something," I said, as if I might lead the way. She seemed to understand and lifted me up to her shoulder as she stood up. After a bit of wobbling I managed to sit somewhat comfortably, her ear right above me.  I started to hear her thunderous footsteps and not long after some stray people started screaming. We were moving so fast, so suddenly. 

"Where should we go?" she asked, turning her head to see me. I was looking down at the ground far below, watching her foot carelessly grind a patch of traffic into dust as she walked across a street.

"Anywhere with food," I said, not so sure myself. "Let's try something other than people," I added, making absolutely sure she knew. She stomped around for a bit until we found what looked like a farm; this height distorted everything and it was hard to tell. I directed her towards it and we were there in a single bound.

"Bring me down, please," I said gently. She lowered to her knees and helped me to the ground by the stables. Part of me expected someone to be here, an owner or the owner's daughter or whoever took care of farms, but no one came. Directly ahead was a small pasture of cows. This would work.

"There, Jessica!" I pointed to the herd. "There's a bunch of cows, you can eat that, right?"

"I could try it..." she said, not sounding too excited. Her arm reached over me and grabbed a cow, mooing and blurting like crazy. Even the cow could easily fit into her mouth with room to spare, and she began to chew.

"What do you think?"  She gagged and vomited the bovine mess into the grass, coughing and wiping her mouth.

"Alright, you don't like cows, let's try something else. Over there's some apple trees, here, I'll get you some," I said desperately, running over to the harvest. For twenty minutes I plucked apples from branches until I had a sizable amount of them. I rolled them into the clearing and Jessica took them all in her hand, eating them cores and all.  "How about that?"

"Hardly felt it," she said quietly. I sighed in exasperation: that was half the orchard. "Dustin..."

"Yeah?"

"...I need people."

I couldn't believe this. I was trying to help her but she was too picky to eat anything but human beings. She cried all night about how much of a monster she was and she wanted nothing else.

"What do you want me to do?!" I exploded. "Just round up some people and feed 'em to you?! This isn't fucking Little Shop of Horrors, I have a conscience!" I'm so dead. She reached towards me. "...Jessica!" I began. "Let's talk about this!"

I was pinched up and brought to her shoulder again. "You gave me an idea," she said, taking off. 

"Where are we going?" I asked uneasily.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I have an idea."

"What's that?"

"A prison."

"Why?"

"To eat the prisoners."

"What?!"

"The problem with eating people is conscience. If I eat people who committed horrible crimes, who have no conscience, it won't affect mine."

"No, the problem with eating people is that you're eating people!"

"I'm sorry if this scares you, Dustin. But I don't have a choice."

"We just walked away from tons of choices! What about those?"

"It's hard to explain, Dustin. It's not the same kind of food. It's less... filling."

Quite honestly I was floored. She had practically admitted to enjoying eating people. Maybe, just maybe, I would have thought differently if she ate people as a last resort. But she was doing it because she wanted to. That was evil. Who is this girl I'm riding the shoulder of, because it certainly was not Jessica. Where did the old Jessica go? I missed her, if only because her absence quite literally brought armageddon.

I sat the rest of the ride in silence as she lumbered about, looking for a prison. Surprisingly it didn't take long for her to find one, a puny little jail under her knees. She knelt down and took me in her hand. "I'll put you over on the ground. Don't watch if you don't want to," she told me like I was a child, placing me on the ground, by the far side of the prison. I was quite far from her, she was just so massive it was hard to tell.

Without a moment of hesitation she pried apart the roof and looked in at what I could only imagine as horrified people. I didn't want to watch, but I did anyway. I was frozen in my fear, unable to turn away. Her arm fished through the building for someone in an orange jumpsuit. They were snatched in a second, smashed in her teeth a second later, and swallowed right after. One man, two man, three man, four, all down the hatch. When she did this the first time back home, at least she was careful to a certain degree. She even looked a bit remorseful, now that I think about it. But this was different, this was feeding a hunger beyond what her stomach demanded.

Within moments I saw prisoners and guards alike bursting from the building, running in all directions. Order had been lost. I guess Jessica was really good at making that happen. The surging mob caught her attention and she leaned over and started picking people from it. Did she...? Yep, that was a guard. It was all an excuse all along. That's all Jessica was, was excuses. Did she believe in them herself? 

"Hey!" someone suddenly shouted, tugging on my shoulder. "What are you doing here?!" It was a prison guard, sweating profusely. "Whatever, it doesn't matter, we gotta get you outta here!"

"No, I... I can't...!" I stuttered, wrenching free of him.

"Whaddaya mean you can't!? You wanna be eaten or something?!"

"No, it's..."

"It's what, huh?!"

"She wouldn't let me leave," I say somberly. "She knows me."

"What?"

"I can't leave her, you don't understand!"

"...you're helping that son of a bitch?!"

"No, I... please, let me..."

"Hey!" a giant voice boomed through the air. "Leave him alone!" Jessica roared, crawling towards us. I felt a strange coldness as the guard handcuffed us together in the blink of an eye. 

"If you're giant bitch wants to eat me, she's eatin' you too, you fucker," the guard barked. Jessica's fingers swept up the guard and yanked me along with him.

"Let go of him, Dustin," she said, the look on her face one of pure anger. "I'm gonna give this guy what he deserves for trying to hurt you." That broke all of the guard's strength and he began to cry. 

"We're cuffed together, Jessica, I can't!"

"Please don't fuckin' eat me, please!"

"You're gonna have to trust me, then, Dustin," Jessica said, opening her mouth and dangling us over it. It was my worst nightmare come true: held by a string, hung over her mouth. She readjusted us so the guard was on the bottom and dipped him inside.

"PLEASE, NO!" I heard him scream as he struggled. Then I heard a gunshot and Jessica winced in pain: it had struck her in the eye. Her grip was made loose and the tuggings of the guard dragged me inside Jessica's mouth with him.

I was thrown onto the wet surface of her tongue, like an enormous pink snake. All around me were her teeth, like white chunks of concrete, splashed with blood and with loose scraps of skin and limb and clothing between them. Her punching bag of a uvula seemed miles away, and past that was nothing but black.

The guard tackled me, pressing me further into the stickiness of Jessica's tongue. It was hot and terribly humid, completely dark if not for the pockets of light as Jessica spoke: "Dustin? Dustin?!" 

The ground undulated with her every word, knocking us off balance. I was wrestled across her tongue when I saw he was trying to hurl me down her throat. It reminded me of when I was a kid and we pushed each other off rafts, but no one would swim out of that river down there. Melissa's sister was down there.

"We're still chained, you idiot!" I screamed. Thrusting with my legs, I kicked him off of me and he managed to keep himself safely in Jessica's mouth, falling off the tongue and into the canyon of gums directly below. Jessica's tongue pressed down for a moment, stealing his breath, and I was jerked to the side. Like a slimy rodeo, some macabre amusement ride, her tongue reared back and tossed us to the roof of her mouth.

Looking at my heels her esophagus was right behind us.I dug my fingers into an opening between her teeth, disregarding for now the human goop it rewarded me with, and held for dear life. 

"JESSICA GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I screamed, crying like a baby.

"AND ME TOO, PLEASE, GOD PLEASE!" the guard chanted with me, on his stomach amidst the saliva.

Suddenly a ray of light washed over us and two larger than life fingers appeared over her tongue. They blindly held the guard and pulled outward, taking me along with him. But he was brought into the light, and her lips closed before I had made it.

"JESSICA! I'M STILL IN HERE!" I wailed. Her teeth crashed down inches from my hand and the chain between me and the guard was broken. The lips parted and I fell into her palm, drenched and shaking.

"Are you okay, Dustin?" Jessica asked me. I was so disturbed I hardly noticed the sweetness of her voice.

"I... I... guess..." She smiled and seized the guard in her other hand. He screamed and cried and begged, but it fell onto ears deafened by hunger. She was still smiling as he was doomed by her lips, tongue, and teeth. Even as she chewed she grinned at me, as if her charm might lighten my spirits. 

"When I'm done we'll get you cleaned up, okay?" she set me back onto the ground and returned to her meal. No one came my way after that; Jessica didn't even spare them long enough to get that far. Every last one of them was hunted like animals, and dealt the very fate she had become so feared for. I held my knees in my hands and sat there, dripping in my girlfriend's saliva, remembering the chewed-up people on my fingers.

After another ten minutes, she was done. She licked her lips clean and knelt down to see me. "All set?" she asked calmly. I nodded in response and was brought once more to her shoulder. "Let's clean up," she said, again making me feel even more insignificant than I already did.

I guess this was it. I was Jessica's little excuse to carry around. My being let her pretend eating people was okay, and she liked that. She didn't seem all too worried that she nearly ate me. But what about Micheal?

My arm shot to my pocket, hoping Jessica hadn't swallowed my phone, and I nearly sighed in relief as I felt it's bulge. Not right now, but soon. This was too much. Melissa was right. Jessica needed to die.

What can I say, people are addictive.

I don't know what's changed exactly since this all began, but my opinion on the matter reversed dramatically. It was a sensation almost like getting drunk: a good feeling when I ate one, a phenomenal one when I ate a lot. Each extra person makes me so excited, so happy. The screams were all but silenced to me now, the lives ended were but an aftertaste.

And that makes me sound horrible, I know, but I got over that. Dustin tried to dissuade me and show me other 'choices', but he was just in denial. I don't blame him, either. He's so tiny he can't help but be afraid of me, especially after he ended up in my mouth for a while. I never did apologize for that little mistake, even though I meant to. All I wanted to do was bite off their chain while the man who attacked Dustin was in my mouth and eat him then and there, but that shot to the eye threw everything off. There was a strange sense of satisfaction in eating people I had particular qualms with. Revenge is a dish best served live and squirming. It's something no one in this world will ever appreciate as I do, when I effortlessly munch on those who cross me, sensuated by the tickles of their laughably futile resistance.

Of course, random people taste just as good.

Sometimes I wish I could explain the situation to everyone I pick; and I'm not picky, I'll pick anyone. I'd be gentle but straightforward:

'I'm going to eat you, little person. It's really a shame you won't live through the experience, it's quite amazing. But don't feel bad about it. I just need to eat to survive, that's all this is, is survival, it's nothing personal. Sure, I've come to enjoy it, but that's just an adaptation to my horrible lifestyle. I'm not happy that I'm eating you necessarily, I'm more happy that I'm eating at all. I'm not some psycho murderer killing for the thrill, I'm just getting by with what I have and scraping what I can from that. And now I have you. Wrong place at the wrong time, I guess, so sorry about that. I really wish you didn't need to die for this to work, but that's not really my problem. Unfortunate, is all.'

I'm feeling it already, visualizing the imaginary person I'm lecturing to in my fingers, that person so very small. And I feel it again, I wanted to eat, and I wanted to eat people, because I was so hopelessly drawn to the taste. No, not the taste, it was really the whole experience. Taking a living thing and popping it into my mouth without a second thought... it was powerful. Power people would kill for, and I killed with it. It took me on such an emotional high I could forget myself.

'It won't hurt,' I'd tell them, wondering if it was a lie but not really caring, wanting to take that bite so very badly. Now I had given my reasons, I was ready to eat. In they went. They would thrash and fight, but it meant nothing. Maybe if I were feeling playful I'd tease them and savor them like hard candies; maybe I ought to try that. Suck every last bit of their life away, turning it into pure satisfaction. It's all mine, everything about them is mine. Complete and total domination. And it tastes so good.

I don't know how long I'd keep on with that. Just long enough, I'd suppose. I'd glance to the side and see crowds running for their lives, but after I'd felt one person inside of me, it couldn't be the last. So I'd finish them off, and chew them down as quickly as I could afford. Then more, there'd be more. They've done nothing to deserve this, part of me pleads. Neither did I. It's not my fault this happened to me. I'm a frog among flies, quoting a darker side of myself. I've evolved. Even if this was just for pleasure, for enjoyment -- which it's not -- there would be nothing they could do about it. Maybe people just aren't the dominant species anymore. Maybe I am. The food chain couldn't be locked in place, it had to change at some point. They'd have to learn to adapt to a life as potential prey, that was nature's way. That was fair.

How did I even come to this, eating people? I honestly can't remember, and now it's my exclusive dish. It wasn't too strange to be that way: I'm sure Dustin can't recall when he first had apple pie and he scarves that down like nobody's business. And Dustin... he's still with me. He still loves me, so I can't be the only one who knows this is simply what has to be done. He knows there's no other way. I have to eat, and people can be eaten. But not Dustin, I'll live to my promise and never hurt him. That I would never forgive myself for, but I'm so fucked up that maybe that didn't matter.

Maybe it's not too late, I hear in my head, the sensible side of me desperately trying to claw through and win the battle for my brain. Maybe we can stop all of this. Don't you see you're letting it win? The hunger, the urge to be a goddess, to be a monster... you're letting it win. Is this what you want?

I don't give a damn what you think. I've fought for so long to stay human, but it just doesn't work, because I'm not human anymore. I'm not a goddess yet, but I am a monster, that was merely fact. I had to accept that. If people had to accept their fate, so did I. If in the end, that made me a goddess, so be it. It could be interesting.

It was still late as I carried Dustin to a river, a new bridge. Hopefully I wouldn't have to break this one apart; I might hurt Dustin. I waded into the waters and set him down on the shore. With an almost lustful intention I watched all the people crossing it, conveniently getting out of their cars so I could skip the process of crunching the metal. It was kind of silly, honestly. Isn't the car faster? Some of them kept driving, but so many more thought they could outrun me, never mind outdrive me.

I remembered why I had come in the first place and addressed Dustin, kneeling down so he could hear me clearly.

"You can clean yourself with the water over here. If you don't feel comfortable undressing in front of me, I'll look away." I hardly noticed my own nakedness anymore. It just felt natural now.

I turned away as Dustin washed himself and was bored. Yeah, I was starting to like being a giantess, but it was always the same. I needed to mix things up a bit. With only a bit of force I tore down the side barriers of the bridge so I had a clear shot at its occupants. I lowered to my knees and held my head over it.

Bending my neck I stuck out my tongue, aiming it right on top of a frantic passerby, its weight nearly crushing him. How about that? I could almost kill people by licking them. He flailed wildly, but I was too much for him. I could taste him already, taste his every scream, his every struggle. He looked like a helpless, twitching bug.

I drew my tongue back in: he was stuck to it. My spit had trapped a man against his will, stolen his life away for me to enjoy. And I did. I savored him just like I had thought, and it was better than I could imagine. His not-so distant screams intensified, his desperate efforts thrilled me to my core. It excited me so much I had to stifle a giggle. Poor, poor little man.

I bit into him and officially kissed my sanity goodbye. It was a new era: the era of Goddess Jessica.

Moving on my knees with my head still lowered, I mischievously slurped people up like bobbed apples. Running, screaming bobbed apples. I was overcome with unbridled pleasure every time I felt someone new on my tongue, until I couldn't contain my laughter anymore. I experimented with how many people I could stick at once and found it to be around five. I got six once but he fell off as I brought them in, so I didn't count it. When my tongue had tired of being stuck out I toyed with taking people in my mouth, engulfing them with my lips and pulling my head back with their legs kicking out. They pounded onto my tongue and the back of my lips in the most fantastic way, and when I pursed my lips and sucked them in, the feeling of their legs being absorbed into me was brilliant. After that I snatched a car that drove by, thinking me distracted.

I spent a few minutes trying to pull them out. It was two young men and two young women, maybe coming from or going to a bar. I didn't care about that. My tongue and fingers were both too big to fit inside, so I put the whole car in my mouth. I pressed on it a bit with my tongue and cheeks, trying to break the car just enough, and then tossed it around my mouth. I felt the first one fall out, and then the second, and the third, but I couldn't for the life of me get the fourth. I pulled the car out gently, careful not to disturb my unwilling little friends, and examined it.

It was glistening with my saliva but I cleaned it with my finger and looked around. One of the women was there in the back, curled into a ball. It almost made me feel bad. With my front teeth I ripped off the front of the car and flicked it into the river. I stuck out my tongue and was reminded of the three people already on it, shaking the last passenger to join them. When I had them all I smashed them against the roof of my mouth, rewarding me with their taste. I couldn't compare it to ham anymore. It was something else entirely.

Something pinched my waist and I turned to the shore to see a little army, not unlike the one that chased me around before. But they weren't screwing with little old Jessica anymore, they were really playing with fire now.

"Ooh, I'm scared now," I found myself teasing them as I approached. "Do soldiers taste any better than civilians?" My hand was like a hurricane as it swept up the front line of men; who used rifles to fight me, anyway? Made it all the easier. "Let's find out," I whispered to them as I shoved them all inside. "Nope," I said with a muffled mouthful of men. "Just as good, though."

Those who remained in the battalion turned tail and fled back to the depths of the city as I finished off those brave and stupid who brought guns to a goddess fight. There was plenty more.

"Aww, don't leave just yet, I can't eat you all that fast!" I giggled. I hadn't really considered the full extent of my hysteria until I heard myself say that. "I'll have to resort to other measures to get rid of you." And with that I rose my foot from the water, checked to make sure I knew where they all were, and lowered it upon them.

It couldn't get all of them, but a sizable amount were squashed like insects; men, women, tanks, and cars alike. When I got so many in a single bound, I actually felt it for a brief moment. A small pop was all, the tiniest of explosions under the bare flesh of my foot. The explosion of vehicles and bodies. I pivoted my foot on the heel and turned it to smash everyone I had missed, and they felt the same. One strike felt particularly gooshy; it must have been exclusively a horde of people. My toes tingled as tiny blood was splashed under them, but it wasn't so enjoyable. Eating them was probably just more fun because I did it more often. Practicing squishing them would most likely heighten my enjoyment of it: after all, I'd need something to do between meals.

I decided to check up on Dustin before I got too carried away. He was back on the shore, evidently done cleaning. Maybe I had been busy longer than I thought.

"All cleaned up?" I asked him sweetly. He nodded in response. "Okay. Let's find a place to rest, I'm beat." That wasn't a lie; you could only have so much fun in one day. I placed him on my shoulder again, still marveling at how he found balance there, and wandered off towards the nearest open field, wherever that may be.

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

What the fuck.

Why isn't he here? Screw that, why isn't she here?

I had specifically told him to try to do everything here, so that I could easily trace back to it. But lo and behold, I came back the next morning and they were both gone. Both of them. Did she take him on some giant date or something? They really were both kids, they thought this was a game. This was terrorism.

My phone rang; it could be one of three people: Carrie, Dustin, or the Commander. I really hoped it wasn't the latter, but it was.

"Hello?" I picked up, just in time to hear him explode on me.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! I THOUGHT WE WERE CONTAINING THIS ISSUE!?"

"As did I, sir, but..."

"SHE'S GONE LOOSE! SHE FLUSHED OUT AN ENTIRE BROOKLYN PRISON AND ATTACKED THE WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE! WE CAN'T EVEN KNOW HOW MANY MORE LIVES WERE LOST!"

"She's doing all this with him?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'WITH HIM'?!"

"Dustin's not here either..."

"WHAT?! THEY'RE BOTH GONE!?"

"I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, Commander, but don't act like this is my obligation. I did this on my behalf."

"IT BECAME YOUR OBLIGATION WHEN WE MADE A DEAL!"

"I'm not breaking our deal, I said I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. But I'm not the babysitter, that's supposed to be Dustin's job."

"THEN TELL THAT SORRY ASS TO DO THAT JOB, UNDERSTAND ME!?"

"Yes, sir," I said, hanging up. As much of an annoying prick he was, his words were serious. Jessica was loose, and Dustin might have been in on it. I went to call him... but was it the right time? Was he with Jessica? Would things go wrong if I called? Fuck it, she can't get me here, I'm calling him.

It rang once. Then it rang twice. Pick up, goddamn it. Third ring.

"Hello?" he came through in a quiet huff, interrupting his own message.

"Where the hell are you?"

"I gotta be quiet, Jessica's sleeping."

"Oh, don't be dramatic, just walk a few feet away from her and she won't hear you for crap."

"...alright, one second," he whispered.

"Your second's up," I replied, digging my palm into my eye as if I could wake up from this.

"Okay, I'm back," he said, his voice restored.

"Now where are you?"

 "I don't know, she took me to this forest or field or something to sleep. She had a nightmare last night and I tried to help her find other options for food... but she insisted on people."

"Jesus christ, Dustin, you're girlfriends' a sociopath."

"So she found a prison," he continued. "And she... ate everyone in it. Then she brought me to a river to clean me--"

"Why the hell would she do that?"

"Well, I... I was... in her mouth for a while."

"Did she try to getcha'?"

"No, it was an accident, but I was filthy so she brought me to a river to clean up, and while I did that she... found a bridge and... fucking... went to town, I mean I don't know what to say, she's gone completely bonkers, Micheal. I'm scared outta my fucking ass right now, you know that?"

"Welcome to the club, kiddo. You need to gimme some context on your surroundings so I can at least guess where you are."

"Well the bridge was a... a bluish color, I guess, and part of it was roofed but she just tore it off... and then... OH, there was a sugar place on the other end of it I think, like a, um, a, um, sugar factory."

"Domino?"

"Yeah, that's it!"

"Okay, but I already knew you were at the Williamsburg bridge. Are you nearby that?"

"Kinda, I guess. There's a... Kent street over there..."

"No, that's Kent Avenue, are you at Havemeyer park?"

"I guess so... how do you know all these things?"

"I'm a hunter, I gotta know my surroundings. In fact, I have my map with me, gimme a second." I held the phone between my head and shoulder and rummaged through my trunk.

"Make it quick, I don't know when she'll wake up."

"She had a helluva night, I'm sure."

"It was awful. You've never seen anything like it."

"Oh, haven't I?"

"This wasn't like before, this was... this was crazy, she's crazy!"

"I could have guessed that. Hunter's instinct. Let's see," I drifted off, looking at the map of the New York area. "Me and you are gonna make a plan right now, alright?"

"A plan? Of what?"

"I'm gonna find a nice open spot to blow her brains out, and you're gonna make sure she gets there."

"I don't know if I can do that!"

"Well it's either you do it or she eats the whole goddamn world so make a choice, sport. If she's as crazy as I know she is she'll kill me on the spot, so I'm not doing it."

"I don't know what happened to her... she was so... so nice before..."

"Was Melissa nicer?"

"Fuck you."

"Hey, if you're infidelity literally comes back to bite you, that's not my problem. It's not my problem until she gets my family. But I'll make sure that won't happen."

"How?"

"I'm sending her in the opposite direction. We need to get her back into the Hudson, but deeper East, towards the New Jersey border. Lots of open water fresh for the nuking."

"How do you expect me to get her all the way over there?"

"I dunno, we'll talk, this is just the planning stage of things. For now, try to keep her under control. If she has any more massacres they may not care for civilian casualties when they drop the bomb, and that means the two of us are toast. Count yourself lucky they haven't done that a long time ago."

"Fuck, why does this have to be me?"

"A lot's riding on ya kid. Don't screw up." And I hung up. I'm probably screwed, because what I said was true. And, as a sick little bonus, I had to call the Commander again.

I looked over my shoulder to see Jessica, unstirred, sleeping in perfect serenity. She was my problem now, my caravan to escort. How the hell was I gonna get her to the Hudson? What would I even tell her? I wondered how much longer I'd have until she found out about--

"Dustin!" Jessica suddenly exclaimed, startling herself awake.

"What's wrong, Jessica?"

She darted her gaze around frantically for a while, fear in her eyes, then settled on me and smiled.

"I'm drunk," she whispered, though I heard it clearly.

"How can you be drunk?" I asked.

"'Cuz I'm fucked in the brain!" she laughed, swatting her hair around like some giant cat. I wasn't sure how to respond to that; it was true, but what was she getting at? "I need you to do something for me, Dustin."

"What's that?"

"Call the army and have 'em kill me. I'm tired, I'm ready to go to bed and never wake up. You know how you have the little angel and little demon on your shoulder? Well my demon's strangling my angel and it's coughing out its last words," she giggled. "It's silly, isn't it? But I'm done with living, so if you could drop a nuke on me or something that'd be cool."

"Jessica, I--"

"Shhh, don't tell me," she said, holding a finger to her mouth, her eyes half-open. She giggled again and added, "I wouldn't like if you told me that. Other Jessica wouldn't like that at all."

I understood and closed my mouth.

"I'm gonna cry myself to sleep later, and when I wake up, I'm probably gonna wanna kill people." She rolled over onto her back and looked at me with upside down eyes. "'Cuz I'm fucked in the brain, remember?!" she added with a laugh, responding to my silence. "So tomorrow, try to do something to distract me, I guess, I dunno. What do people usually do to stop giant women from eating them?" She broke into laughter as she said that, tears in her eyes. I was becoming rather uncomfortable, watching her fall apart like this. But I was entranced to listen on.

"I wonder how many. Do you know? How many I've eaten?" I slowly shook my head no, restraining myself from saying 'a lot' or 'dozens' or even 'hundreds'. "I wonder what it's like. You know, to be eaten. Just walkin' along, going on with your day and BOOM! I've gotcha and you're suddenly flying through the air and trapped in my mouth. And you're so scared because you're not sure what's happening, and I'm just smiling and laughing because that's what I do for fun is make people scared and dead. Do you think it hurts when I bite them open, do you think that's a painful death? I've got an idea, go find that guy that did this to me and give him another girl to make huge, but make her soooo huge, huger than me, and then have her eat me. Then I'd know and I could be dead." Rising from her back she sat upright, sticking her legs out and supporting herself with her hands.

"Do you think I even can die? Like, maybe I'm invincible now. I'm talking to you right now, Dustin, when you're the size of my pinky toe, and not even, and I'm wishing for death, and I give it out and take it in like free candy, so I wouldn't doubt it. Then what? Do I just eat forever? Eat until there's nothing left to be eaten? There isn't an unlimited supply of people, especially when I keep eatin' 'em, and look at all this crap!" she laughed, swiping her hand across the bottom of her foot, dripping in a red sludge. "Look at all this crap! Squished, squished, squished!" she chanted on and on, louder and louder, shaking her hand in a wild craze and sending the remains all over, some onto her body, some into the grass. It took a few seconds for her to calm down, now bits of the blood all over her.

"They're all squished! I stepped on them! Did you know the other Jessica wants to do that more often? Can you believe that? She only managed to convince me to eat them so I wouldn't starve, but what do I get outta stepping on them? This crap! That's all I get!" Her hand shot to her stomach, to a patch of red, and smeared it across her lower abdomen, staining the bottom of her breasts. "Have you ever stepped on a bug, Dustin?" she asked me after a few moments.

I shrugged my shoulders, at a loss, but she kept staring at me, waiting for an answer, so I gave her what I could.

"Probably--"

"Barefoot? Ever done it barefoot?"

"...no..."              

As if her feet knew they were being discussed, they began to twitch, her toes wiggling and her soles twisting. She leaned back a bit, as if losing control, and they were looming closer and closer, until I had to back up for fear of joining their mess.

"It's such a strange feeling, Dustin. I could feel them burst under me. Little grapes, pop pop pop. And that's it, they're gone. They cease to exist because I felt like putting my foot there. She loves it. She loves all of it. Be careful, she might wanna squish you soon," she said with a sly giggle, pointing at me and paling me in an instant. "She told me she wants to try using her toes. Catch you between them and just slowly curl--"

"Stop, please! I get what you're saying!" She grinned and pulled her legs back, running her fingers through her toes.

"Now I'm crazy and wanna try it. But not on you. Know anyone who wants to die? I'd be glad to help."

"Jessica, you know I can't--"

"Never mind, I just wanna try something," she said, plucking me between her fingers before I even knew what was happening.

"NO, JESSICA, NO! THINK ABOUT THIS!"

"I'm not gonna squish ya, I just wanna feel ya in there," she said, tucking me between her big and second toe. I tried to squirm to the side but the walls of toes moved with me and kept me trapped. I began to panic, trying to push out or pull in, anything to escape. All the while Jessica was laughing to near deliria.

"It tickles!" she managed to squeeze through her laughs, falling on her back and bringing her legs up with her. My stomach felt inside out as I was swung a few hundred feet up, but she still managed to keep her grip on me. I looked down at her laughing face until she noticed me, opening her mouth and making extended 'aaaahhh' noises.

"JESSICA!" I screamed, but she probably couldn't hear me.

"In the toes, in the mouth... that could be fun to try next time. I'll start catching 'em with my feet, they'll never expect it. I can squish and eat at the same time!" She let out her last laugh and wiped away her mirthful tears, only to be replaced by ones of sadness.

"Oh, Dustin, oh Dustin!" she wailed, pulling me down and curling into a ball around me. "I'm so sorry, Dustin! I know I sound like a total lunatic but you gotta listen to me! I don't know how much time I have left, she's taking over me! I don't know if I'll ever see you again... but you have to promise me that you won't let her hurt anyone else. It's too late to save me, but you gotta stop her, Dustin. You have to..."

She couldn't continue, her tears drowning her voice out. I was thrown off by the genuity of her sadness; she had cried so many times before but now I could feel the anguish, I could hear the despair. Me and Micheal had planned on killing Jessica, but I saw part of her was already dying in front of me.

I held my pinky finger up to her gargantuan lips and she miraculously noticed my touch.

"Shhh," I calmed her. "I pinky promise, Jessica. I'll make this better." I found myself tearing up; why would I cry for her? For this monster? These lips have had countless lives pass through them, and I was comforting them? I saw now that she was not the monster, the monster was something deep inside of all of us. It was a hunger for power, a power impossible to exert. Except for Jessica. Her mysterious circumstance granted her that horrible wish, and she fell prey to its tempting. She already had been eaten; by herself, by that human desire. It felt like I was at a funeral, watching Jessica pass.

She continued to cry as she leaned forward ever so slightly and kissed me, her lips nearly enveloping me in their embrace.

"I love you, Dustin," she said, and she cried her eyes out and fell asleep.

"Goodbye, Jessica," I whispered, kissing her finger and gently unraveling myself from it, climbing out of her. But I wasn't leaving. No, I still had work to do. I made a promise with my girlfriend, and I intend to stick with it.

But it would be hard for the both of us.

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

"What do you need from me, Commander, I thought I had obligations to fulfill," I spat at him across the table, with as much of an attitude as I could. It didn't please him.

"I'm putting a deadline on this. We can't wait around any longer. Tomorrow at noon we are firing the missile at her, regardless of her location."

Ah, shit. I should have seen this coming. I just told Dustin to be careful of this.

"Sir, me and Dustin are going to be directing her into the Hudson by the New Jersey border. If you just give us the time to bring her there, it'll be open space with no chance of--"

"I don't care anymore, Micheal. We've lost too many good men and women. This is a national disaster and we cannot afford to let it linger. Killing Jessica is so critically important to the wellbeing of this planet, never mind this nation! If that requires a few extra causalities, so be it. It's them or it's everyone, Micheal. It's them or it's your wife and boy."

"You keep them the hell out of this!" I snapped.

"Don't make me the bad guy here, Micheal, I'm just being realistic! It will happen soon if we don't act. She keeps going North like she's been doing she'll get to Bridgeport eventually."

"SHUT UP!" I couldn't stand to hear him say these things, to even suggest my family might be in danger. I couldn't deny it however; New York was not too far off from Bridgeport, especially for Jessica.

"Originally we were going to plan on a traditional air drop for the bomb, but with Jessica's immense size and relatively high speed, we decided that was simply not efficient enough. We've managed to get our hands on one of these," he gestured behind him as a team of men wheeled in a cart holding a black missile. It looked rather small head on, but as the cart turned I could see just how massive it was.

"This is the Diamondback," the Commander explained. "It's a nuclear alternative to the heat-seeking AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. It was an idea brought up in the fifties but back then we just didn't have a use for it. Times sure have changed, huh?" he asked with an awkward little laugh before continuing. "We've already done some radar scans and Jessica's heat signature is more than easily traceable. We can load it into a fighter jet and off she'll go." He rose his hand and the men took off with the Diamondback, then swiveled in his chair to face me.

"Tell Dustin about this. Pull him out if you want. But if this little rampage of hers is because of their high-school drama break-up, I think he should get blown to bits with her."

A light bulb went off in my head: that wasn't the reason, she didn't know about Melissa. Jessica wasn't that simple of a puzzle to put together.

"Dustin's not the cause of this," I piped up. "Yeah, he's stupid, but Jessica still treats him like a boyfriend, even now. I've seen it with my own eyes, when you sent me. She was trying to cuddle with the guy."

"Look, I don't care. She could be the nicest person in the world, she could be the most caring and loving person I'd ever seen, she could be the goddamn President of the United States, but she's eating American people and having a damn good time doing it, and I'm gonna blow her to hell for it. Anything else I need to explain to you?"

"No, sir. Down with Jessica," I rallied mockingly. He was fed up of me and I was dismissed. As I left the base I dialed Dustin's number, and he picked up again. I must have been a master of good timing.

"Hey, Dustin, it's me. Bit of a situation, I just got back with the Commander and they're firing a heat-seeking nuke at her tomorrow at noon whether or not she's in the Hudson, sooo--"

"Of course they are. Of course, of course," he droned on, his unsurprised tone hiding what I knew to be cold fear.

"What are you thinking of doing next, hot shot?" I got into my car and started it, listening to the engine drum to life.

"She just spilled everything out to me... she sounds seriously sorry about all of this, and not like in a boyfriend-girlfriend way but in a real way. She refers to herself as 'she' like... like it's something else and it is, Micheal, I know that now."

"That's some hippie shit, Dustin."

"No, I'm serious. Jessica wasn't a bad person, she would never dream of anything like this. She just lost control to her more... savage side, I guess. I don't think that's too abnormal."

"No, totally," I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Every night I think, 'you know what, if I were six hundred feet tall, I'd eat everyone. But I'm not, so it's okay to consider it. Oh, look, I am that big now, guess that's it, then'."

"You're not getting it."

"Clearly."

"I'll handle this, I'll handle this," and he hung up. Well wasn't that just a fine dandy goodbye. I guess I was done with Jessica, though. Kind of sad, actually. It was the loss of ultimately the most exciting and mysterious cryptid I had ever hunted. The thrill of the chase had almost faded out of me if not for her. On the other hand I was glad. I could finally see Jared and Carrie face-to-face and tell them the good news. We could sleep easy soon.

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

I stretched out my arms over my head and stood in the sunshine. What time was it? Had I slept in to the midday? I didn't think last night took that much outta me. A grin crept across my lips as I recalled the events of the previous night. I was so glad I had finally let go. No more worries, no more battles with myself, just good, hearty fun.

What was it I wanted to do today...? Oh, right, practice the squishing. People could be so much more than food, they could be playthings too. I went through the motions of different crushing maneuvers with my foot on invisible crowds: a direct strike with the ball of my foot, followed with a violent twist. A ruthless stomp with the full-length of my foot. Grinding them down under my heel, then crashing down with the sole. More than anything I wanted to get my toes involved; they were so ticklish that the wiggly little people were bound to make their use as weapons of mass destruction no less than great.

I noticed Dustin hadn't tried to catch my attention yet. Or perhaps he had and I didn't notice. My breath stopped for a moment, but there was no little stain; I didn't get him in my test runs.

"Dustin?" I called out, looking over the trees for my diminutive boyfriend. "Dustin where are you?" From a patch of the largest trees I saw him appear, so I went down to my stomach, swinging my legs behind me.

"Sleep well, Dustin?"

"Yeah... yeah, I did, thanks for asking," he said slowly.

"Are you hungry? What do you say we hit the town for lunch?"

"Jessica... there's something we need to talk about," he said seriously. I frowned a bit; what did he have to be serious about? This was all just good fun, I didn't want to be serious. That was boring.

"Why so serious?" I smiled, hoping he would play along.

"It's a serious subject." He didn't.

"...oh," I said, holding my chin in my hands, resting on my elbows. "Well what's up?"

"Jessica, I don't know what... mental state you're in right now, but you've been through a lot since this happened to you, and before... before this morning I promised you I would do something. You've been acting differently, and I think what you need to bring you back is a little reality. And sometimes, reality can be painful."

"What are you talking about?" I was getting nervous, scared even. Dustin was never one to be dramatic.

"Jessica... I... I cheated on you."

I blinked. Then I blinked again. Only after the third blink did I feel my eyes watering, my mouth creaking open like a loose door. Dustin loved me, didn't he?

"You're... you're lying!" I declared loudly but not angrily. Really I wasn't angry, I was just confused to the point of sadness, sad to the point of confusion.

"I wish I were," he said in a near whisper. "I wish I were." I could see him try to retreat in himself, scared of what I would do. But I didn't want to eat him. I didn't want to step on him. I didn't want to do anything with him. I wanted to run away.

So I did. If Dustin didn't love me, who did? I never even asked him who he had picked over me, but it didn't matter. No one could love me anyway, I must have just stumbled across Dustin and intimidated him too much to try and escape me. Who could escape me?

I felt like utter shit, and I only knew one way to make myself feel better. I stormed into a city nearby and soaked in the screams of the crowd I drew. I expected myself to disregard them, but they ran through me completely.

No matter, I was probably still just fussing over Dustin. Here's a little pick-me up, I thought to myself, bending down and picking up a little man. I stuck his legs into my mouth and he kicked frantically, beating my tongue horribly. Slowly and gradually I sucked him in deeper and deeper, but it just became worse and worse. Why would Dustin do that to me? With what I must have done to him, it was nothing. I thought over what I had done as the man was inside me... and I saw it.

I drooled the man back up and placed him on the ground as if nothing had ever happened. I couldn't do it. Dustin's betrayal had changed something inside of me, made me more like the little people.

It was all part of his act, I convinced myself. Of course he wants me to sympathize with them, he's one of them, he doesn't want me to take my place of power. I'd show them just how powerful I was. The ultimate act of insignificant killing: I'd step on them. Just when the people thought I was to spare them, my foot was overhead. I was ready to try each and every one of my squish tactics on these little bugs. But just before my foot came down, I heard it again.

The screaming. But more intense, more shrill, the scream of someone who knows their death is imminent. God, these aren't bugs, these are people. Had I really been imagining different methods to murder, and in fun? I felt a bit embarrassed and ridiculous holding my foot up like that and pulled it back. What kind of sick fuck crushed living things for the hell of it?

So I had changed. Was this normal, to feel empathy to things less powerful than you, smaller than you? I stood motionless as everyone ran away. I had done this for so long... and only now I saw the truth?

"I'm sorry, okay?!" I called out, so everyone could hear. Of course it didn't slow their fleeing haste, but I kept crying it out. "I'm sorry!" I couldn't believe I was crying over them, but at the same time it felt right. All along, I had been one of them, in a way. And you don't eat and kill your own.

I sat by the bay for hours, thinking about my life. I looked out to the water and saw open horizon, and considered running headlong into it. Maybe I could just keep running and running through that water. Come back when this craziness had passed and maybe be accepted by the tiny people. Would they eventually come to forgive my misdoings? Would I?

The sun was smothered by dark clouds and they opened into rain. Even I was no match for the clouds, and I was still subject for their heavy tears. I discovered I had been crying all this time, but quietly, not hysterically. I tried to let the rain cleanse over me, let me begin anew, wash away the blood on me. No longer did I want anything to do with blood. Too much came along with it: a sticky regret, a soaking fear, a looming death. I threw my head back and opened my mouth as if it could purify my monstrous appetite. If never eating people again meant never eating again... I would be content to die. My conversion was near religious: in minutes I had gone from a rampaging goddess to a broodingly careful deity.

But that had to go too. Nothing made me holy at all. If I wanted people to even like me, no, tolerate me would be a better way to put it, I needed to change. Worship was a decision, a very deliberately thought out one. Those who demand it... would probably never get it. Being worshipped sounded like too much. It's a lot to expect from anyone: total and complete dedication. I just hoped they could like me one day as a person, but anyone who wanted to like me as a goddess could. I couldn't stop them. That was fair.

Police sirens suddenly blared in the distance. What had I done now? I stood up and saw they weren't headed in my direction at all, they were flocking around a tunnel of some sort. Curious, I snuck around the city and found out what was wrong for myself.

The tunnel had caved in, blocking it off to the road. A somewhat large crowd had gathered there; maybe they had already forgotten me, or just thought I was of no harm. No, they were probably just betting on their luck. As soon as I appeared they screamed and ran. I've made too much of an image of myself to expect any less, I suppose. Even then, I'm a giant naked woman. Pretty freaky.

No longer having to worry about any accidents, I went down to my hands and knees and took a closer look at the rubble avalanche. Several chunks of stone and maybe concrete, but nothing I couldn't handle. I carefully pulled them away, chunk by chunk, starting from the top, and set them aside. Only in five minutes time was the road cleared. I stood up and admired my work, but the drivers who had been trapped inside were a bit reluctant to show themselves while I was around, so I took the mess I had cleaned and dropped it into the water back at the bay.

I looked up at the sky again and it was still down pouring. I heard a smack of thunder and saw a lightning bolt in the distance. Maybe this would be it after all. I could end on a good note. Slowly I walked further into the water, still staring at the clouds, holding out my arms to embrace them. If I was good enough, they might reward me.

If not, I'll keep trying to please them.

I awoke to the noise of my phone ringing; it wasn't noon yet, the alarm couldn't have gone off yet. I was really looking forward to sleeping in. But when I lazily flipped the phone and saw Carrie's number, I jumped out of bed and answered.

"Hello?"

"Micheal, where are you?" she asked before I hardly finished.

"Still in New York, why?"

"You're not here?"

"No, why would I--" But then I knew, and my heart sank. No, not now. Of all the times, not now. I wished and prayed, I crossed my fingers and hoped, maybe she'd say something totally unexpected, maybe I'd be pleasantly surprised and I could go back to bed before seeing them tonight.

"She's here," my wife said through her tears. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, but I wouldn't do it in front of Carrie.

"Where?"

"The radios say she just passed the border into Bridgeport ten minutes ago... I'm scared, Micheal," she cried, but our house was deeper into the city, they had at least some time before they were in real danger.

"Where's Jared, is he alright?"

"Jared... oh god, Jared's at school! I gotta get him... I gotta go get him now!" she screamed, and I heard the phone drop to the floor.

"Hello? Hello?" I kept talking, but she had likely already gone. School? Kids still went to school like this? I guess the whole world couldn't stop for one giant girl. That wasn't important right now, they only had a few hours before the nuke was fired. Then it wouldn't matter how close to Bridgeport she was. If she were in the city at all, there would be no escape.

I dressed myself and ran to the car, speeding to where the Commander would be waiting to make the order.

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

Another lesson learned: sleeping in forests is annoying, but don't sleep on beaches. I thought I got a lot of sand stuck to me when I sunbathed at five foot seven. I must have spent nearly an hour brushing myself off.

Now I was back on the path, walking to wherever. I didn't have a path, really. I just went. My birds-eye view lost all perspective of direction and location, although I had a hankering feeling I was now leaving the New York area. I moved along the shore, moving through the water where there was no one to accidentally hurt, save for some easily avoidable boaters.

Eventually the water came to a close and I was forced to crawl ashore. There was a park (go figure) but it was occupied so I didn't want to try to fit through it. Instead I found an abandoned area of lots, nearly breaking it as I climbed aboard. Quickly but carefully I moved my weight inland, where nothing could collapse.

As I came to the city the populace seemed to have foreseen my arrival; many of them had already begun fleeing, already way ahead of me. But that was no longer a nuisance, that was a blessing. I didn't want to keep pace anymore.

I kept walking until I heard the familiar and horrible noise of my stomach growling. I still hadn't come up with a food alternative. Finding the closest clearing I sat down and thought over what I might do.

Animals? But then what animals? Fish, maybe? Grabbing them by the handfuls might be easy enough, but would they be sufficient? Plants? I considered trees for a moment but reminded myself they only looked like broccoli; bark might not be so great. But then again, I could be surprised.

Suddenly I noticed someone on the ground near me, waving their arms as if to catch my attention. Slowly I lowered to my stomach to see them more clearly, and it was in fact a person waving their arms, but he was a small child.

"Hi, my name's Jared! What's yours?" I barely heard him say. I couldn't help but smile; he didn't know how dangerous I might be, how taboo I really was. He was just a kid.

"Jessica," I said in a relatively quiet voice so as not to scare him. "What are you doing out here, Jared?" I asked him, putting on the innocence he believed me to have.

"They cancelled school today so I wanted to say hi. I've always wanted to say hi since I first saw you on T.V. How come everyone's so afraid of you?"

"I've done... some bad things, Jared," I said, trying not to cry. I wasn't about to tell this kid just why they were afraid of me, tell him tales of the people who were eaten and crushed alive, and now ceased to be.

"When I do bad things, I just say sorry," Jared told me matter-of-factly, in his own wondrous way. "Apologizing can make anything better."

I took a long breath. "I wish it could, Jared."

"By the way, why are you naked?"

My face turned red like a radish and I adjusted myself to make sure I hadn't been thrusting my boobs out at the poor kid.

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

Morning came like a miracle.

She didn't kill me. I'm alive.

Quite honestly I couldn't believe I had been right, that hard cold truth actually would be the best way to resolve her humanity. Although for all I knew she ran away and started killing again. I was miles away from home, from my car, and had no idea what was happening in the world.

I dusted myself off and decided to call Micheal, he always had something to say. But the phone rang five times and all I heard was, "Hey, it's Micheal! I'm a bit busy right now, so just leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can, bye!" Sure, I thought as the tone rang. I can evade my hungry giantess girlfriend to answer your calls but god forbid I call you.

"Hey, uh, it's me, Dustin. She ran away and now I'm in the middle of nowhere, so an update on what Jessica's doing and maybe a car would be nice if you can. Call me back, like, soon, thanks." And I closed my phone.

"I guess I'll just wait here then," I said to no one in particular, sitting against an oak tree. Soon I thought of something else to do, however, something important. I dialed a different number and received an actual response.

"You're still alive?" Melissa asked me.

"Yes, actually, I am. I've called to break up with you, Melissa."

"...what?"

"I'm breaking up, I'm ending our affair."

"It's not an affair anymore, Jessica's... Jessica."

"No, she's more than that, I've been talking to her and she's been strong, she's been fighting, given the circumstances."               

"SHE'S FUCKING EATING PEOPLE!"

"Well what would you do if you this happened to you and you started to starve, huh?" She didn't respond, but what response was there, really. "It's over, Melissa, I'm sorry."

"I can't believe you're dumping me for a monster like her. What happened to her hunting you down, to you being afraid of her?"

I thought about that for a moment. What did happen? Was I in my right mind to not be afraid of Jessica any longer? It's only been a few days, and I've become a different person. Just like her, I suppose.

"I've changed, Melissa. People change."

Melissa started raising her voice so I think she was crying but you never could tell without seeing it yourself.

"Fine! If you wanna run off and get eaten instead of be with someone who really loves you, then go screw off and get eaten, you fucking asshole!" I could nearly hear her throw the phone across the room as she hung up. That was another person hurt, but hopefully I could find Jessica and explain everything.

If I knew where she was.

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

"Jared!" I heard the crowd call out across the way. "Come over here, get away from her!" A group of people had found Jared with me and mistaken our conversation as me trying to indulge on him. I wouldn't have done that even when I was crazy... well, probably not, anyway.

"She's a nice lady!" he yelled back at them. "You should talk to her, she's really nice!" I gave a nice, beaming smile to them as proof but they didn't buy it. In hindsight, my teeth were probably pretty messy. My thumb scraped along the surface of my front teeth and it confirmed my suspicion, so I made a conscious effort to hide them under my lips.

"Honey, she is not a nice lady, you need to get away from her right now!" Jared stood resilient, defending me after what little conversation we had. I had to hand it to him, he was a brave little boy. There were grown men who wouldn't do what he did, although that might just have been because they knew better.

Police sirens blared down the street; they had finally sent someone whose job was to be brave, but I somewhat doubted even they would approach. I wondered if even in their fear there were some who wanted to approach, to get a closer look. They must think me a siren or succubus or something, a monster who entrances those around her with her beauty and then strikes when they least suspect it.

Three officers slowly approached with their guns drawn, one of them calling Jared's name. I raised a single brow at them, lightly mocking their unneeded terror. Outright telling them would sound too ominous, too suspicious. For once, I had to be subtle.

"Don't you think she's a nice, pretty lady?" Jared asked them as two of them pulled him away. "Don't you think?"

"Kid, that's no lady you wanna be involved with."

"But I do!"

"I don't suppose she told you why we're so afraid of her?" I heard one of them ask.

"Wait...!" I said, reaching out a bit and drawing a gasp and even some screams from the small crowd. "I'll tell him." The officers looked at me, dumbfounded, and then gave the same look to each other. They turned around and let me have my audience.

"Jared, I've... killed a lot of people over this past week or two... that's why all of this is happening. Well, except for me, I'm not exactly sure how that happened. But I want you to know that I've past all of that. I'm a better person now... a real person. I'm truly sorry for what's happened. Don't be afraid of me... but do as they say." The silence was complete and unbroken until the cops pulled Jared away again.

"She said sorry!" Jared said frantically, tugging at their arms. "She said sorry!"

"Sorry doesn't cut it, kid!"

That broke my heart, but deep down I knew it was true. I had gone too far, I had stepped over the line days and days ago. Jared's appreciation was cute and commendable, but it wasn't enough. Even if I didn't think so, I'd always be a monster. Tears came and I began to cry once again. So much tears, I thought. So much sadness. And it's all my fault. I carefully stood up and left them, lumbering through the city.

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

"COMMANDER, STOP!" I shouted, bursting down the door, guards at my arms. At the sound of my voice the Commander made a motion with his hand and I was freed.

"What's the problem, Micheal?"

"You know goddamn well what the problem is, she's in Bridgeport and you're about to call in that strike."

"Very perceptive, are we?" he mocked me. In a situation this dire, this fatal, he was making a joke of everything, like we were children in a playground. "When I made those comments about your family yesterday, I had no idea this would happen. It was a painful coincidence." Behind him a few men were sitting at a row of computer screens. I thought I even saw a big red button, but that surely couldn't be the entire process of a missile launch sequence.

"How are you to know this will even work?" I tried to reason with him, desperate. "What if you do more damage than you fix?"

"She's still human, she can still die. We haven't transcended her, she's simply been remodeled into a larger mold. Listen, Micheal. You can plead all you want but I told you, I told you it would have to come to this. The fatality count has gone high enough. It's time to put an end to this--"

"Uh, sir..." one man spoke up.

"What, can't you see I'm talking!?" the Commander burst back at him.

"...you said 'we'." I said slowly, trying to wrap my head around it myself. The Commander broke eye contact with me for but a single moment, his tongue shifting in his mouth. "You... you did this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Get ready to fire, Garson."

"It was you, wasn't it? You created Jessica!"

"I will not stand here and be accused of something I did not do. Security, get this man out of here." But no one moved a muscle. One of the security guards who had been gripping me earlier piped up,

"Sir... is this true?"

"Garson, why haven't we fired yet?!" The Commander was becoming uneasy, pacing towards the men at the terminals.

"I'm... I'm not sure about this, sir... did you..."

"Fire the missile right now, Garson!"

"Don't do it!" I screamed over him. "Don't you see? If you fire that missile you're not saving anyone from the real monster!"

The Commander pulled a magnum from his coat and pointed it at Garson's head.

"Fire the missile or I'll kill you right now, Garson!"

All the guards and even some other technicians around the room pulled out guns of their own and pointed them at the Commander, and several inaudible shouts and grunts filled the air. Having no firearm myself, I stayed deathly still.

"Put the gun down, sir," one of them ordered. A missile engineer ordering a military Commander to stand down. What was happening? The Commander threw his magnum down to the ground but pushed Garson out of the way.

"I'll fire it myself," he said angrily, entering in the data and pressing a button (although not the red one) with conclusive finality. The deed was done. He looked around at those men who still held out their weapons.

"I did what you all wanted to do," he hissed at them, looking like a cornered animal. He turned to me and said, "This is what's best for all of us," and then went to storm away.

Before he could reach the door I socked a punch to his chest, sending him reeling with a look of bewilderment.

"That's for what you did to me," I snarled, punching him again in the lower chest. "That's for what you did to my family," I added. Then, finally, I brought my fist careening into his head, knocking him unconscious at my feet. "And that's for what you did to Jessica."

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

The sky became a muddy kind of gray as I shuffled through abandoned alleyways and other hidden passageways that I could take advantage of. I wished I could be invisible. I want to see people act like people again, I longed to see conjoining and not fleeing, hear conversation and not screaming. But I was the most visible person ever, and the least inviting.

I saw police officials herding people through the streets, directing them somewhere. Evacuations. Even in my darker days they never evacuated on this scale. But I suppose I never stayed this long, either. Nonetheless, I was curious. I knelt down and asked one of the cops in my quietest booming voice possible,

"Is this because of me?"

The officer nearly fainted and her partnering cop rushed in to support her.

"Of course it is!" he screamed at me, though even through his tough guy act I could see his wits spilling out his brains. "Now get out of here! It'll be here any minute now!"

"What will be here?" I asked, but they had gotten in their cruiser and sped away, bringing the evacuees with them. Coming? What's coming? It only took a second for me to understand. The time had finally come. I was being bombed.

There was no time to waste, I disregarded the hallowing fear inside of me and rushed out of the city. Further out still, past all the buildings, into the bay. But even still I trudged through the water, I kept going and going, letting the water envelop me like I had wanted yesterday. Water really had been a big part of everything. The bridges, the bay... everything I did seemed to come back to water. The fluid blue that rippled around me now, the entity that could kill as easily as it could heal.

Higher and higher up my body the water reached as the city behind me became a distant gray shape. I saw some stray ships and boats and yelled at them to get to shore, to get away from me as fast as they could. They were not hesitant to comply, speeding away, until I was completely alone in the deep stretch of water, where even I had to swim.

I could only barely see the city as a distant speck, like I had once seen other people. There were so, so many people. No more than ten, that's what I used to say. Well, now it was plenty more than ten. It was hundreds. It was thousands. I'd give my last effort to protect them, to give them what little hope I could.

Something became visible in the sky and I took a deep breath. Maybe this was how I started over, by entering some other plane of existence. I had never believed any afterlife tales before, but now, what had I to lose? The shape of the missile became clear. I said my goodbyes to my parents, and to Dustin, and even to Dustin's new girlfriend, wherever she may be.

There was a flash of green and then nothing.

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

"Micheal! You're dinner's going to get cold if you don't come down here!"

"Yeah, yeah, just one minute!" I was typing away like a maniac working on my novel 'The Hunger'. It had been three months since Jessica was killed by a nuclear explosion in the North Atlantic ocean, swimming out from the Bridgeport bay. She knew the bomb was coming and distanced herself from the city. Crazy as it was, she saved my family's life.

This novel was about her time as a monster, and what really the monster was. The media was still forbidding the portrayal of giant-sized characters as people slowly came to terms with the situation and tried to move on, and when that time came I would be a hit. It was a strange experience, writing in the place of Jessica. I always thought I knew exactly what to make her say but it would never fail to come out flat.

"Honey, it's been three hours, give the book a rest," Carrie said, suddenly behind me. She grabbed hold of my shoulders and I closed my laptop.

"It's almost too bad," I said, rising from my chair. "With her. If someone like us had gotten to her first none of this would've happened."

"Don't tell me you pity her," my wife started to frown.

"No, of course not, but still... it would've saved a lot of people. The military created her, I want to know why..."

"Let's not talk about this right now, come on, Jared's waiting for you downstairs." Jared had never stopped talking about his new friend Jessica since those three months ago, and the topic had been worn through Carrie.

"Alright," I submitted, kissing my wife on the cheek and following her down the stairs to the kitchen. "Afterwards wanna see what I've got so far?"

"I'm not reading that book, it'll creep me out."

"You know there are people who would read stories like this for fun."

"That's just weird. Now come on, let's talk about eating dinner, not people."

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

I took a breath and was overcome with washing rays of light of all colors, all over my body. A thick wire-like material was draped over me, encapsulating me in a net-like trap. My arms and legs were bound to my chest, my hands tied together. I tried to struggle free but the wires dug deeper into me and I screamed in pain.

As if my voice had triggered something, everything lit up and I could see people staring at me over a long fence, giving them safe distance. I looked to be in a laboratory of some sort, a metallic sheen covered everything from the floors to the computers; even the people looked glossy.

"Where am I?" I asked them in a panic.

"Scared of us, are you?" one of them laughed.

"Who are you?" I added, looking for answers. He merely laughed again and stepped forward, revealing his grotesque black eye.

"You're in a lot of trouble, little lady."