Most things I have a hard time remembering. I couldn't tell you what I ate yesterday. I can't recall my best friend's name, or even what school I went to. I'm no fool, though. You always remember emotional and signicificant moments in your life. And usually, they're negative ones, as well. I can still remember the event a year ago like the back of my hand.

I was out in city with my pals. We stopped inside of a Friday's and waited for quite some time before we were seated. It was the July 4th weekend, so that might have explained the long wait. We had a really hot waitress who was pretty good at her job. I ordered a burger and a Coke. It's funny how I remember nearly everything that happened that day so clearly.

We took our time and didn't finish our meal for at least an hour and a half. When we'd finished, we traveled through the city, exploring shops and contemplating purchases. We went to a shop that I strangely cannot remember the name of. I do remember, though, that in that shop I bought a Swiss Army knife. I didn't know that it'd be so useful.

By this time it's about six o'clock. And that's when we first heard and saw the thing(s) that would change everyone's lives forever.

You know, I'm a bit reluctant to tell you what happened. I mean, it's so bizarre and unbelievable that you'd likely dismiss it immediately. Maybe even call me crazy. If you told me this happened, I'd have laughed and thought you were either a fool or insane. Then again, how would anything progress if I didn't tell you? I'm warning you, it's pretty hard to believe.

A foot. Yep, that's what it was. A really, really, really big foot. It was so utterly huge! Now, I always did fairly well in school, but when I said I wasn't a fool, I meant in practical things. I knew some survival things and I had a lot of common sense. What I'm trying to say is that I don't know how big this foot was. I'm not sure it was the largest foot I've seen, either. At the time it sure was, but now, I might have seen bigger.

As one might expect with an enormous foot hanging in the sky, everything was dark. And loud. Very loud. People were screaming and running amok. There were a few people who stood their dumbfounded, but the majority, including my friends and me, ran like hell. It was instinctual. No one was getting anywhere. This foot was much, much too large. The distance it could cover in one step was likely more than we could cover in a couple of hours. It was hopeless, but we kept running.

As I ran, for some reason I was thinking to myself,
"where did this foot come from?" Pretty stupid, right? My life is literally at stake from this colossal foot, and I'm concerned with where it came from. My common sense wasn't very profound that day. But then again, I did have a point. Where the hell did this foot come from? We had literally just left the store, and bang, there's this giant foot in the sky. I know now where it must have came from, but I'm not gonna tell you that now. I want you to keep reading, and you want to keep reading too, right?

So, there we were: hundreds of screaming, clamoring people, running from an inescapable threat like a flock of sheep. The foot kept coming nearer and nearer to the earth, and I realized I'd underestimated how large it was. The toes alone were gigantic. Again, I'm not sure how large they were, but I think it's safe to say the toes must have been larger than the city. And it's not a small city, either. I kinda wish it was. The toes seemed to grow larger and larger as they came closer. My friends started slowing down in their flight. Call me selfish, a bad friend, cruel, whatever, but I didn't slow down for them. I kept running. At the time, I thought I was more important than them.

The air started to get really smelly all of a sudden. It wasn't a bad smell, though. It was like some fresh lotion. I don't know how to describe it. Hopefully you know what I mean. It was that sweet, almost flowery scent, you know? Anyway, the toes never stopped their rapid descent. They actually seemed to take a long time to reach the ground. I eventually just stopped and marveled up at the mountainous toes. People pushed past me and bumped into me. The toes were basically on top of me right now, and I closed my eyes, preparing for the worst.

Well, I'm writing this to you right now, aren't I? So you obviously know I didn't die. I can't say the same for many others, though. As the being was so incredibly huge, the ridges on their toes were valley sized, and as you can probably tell, the toe just so happened to land on me on that exact spot. I'm making it sound like a right fit, when it really wasn't. The ridge must have been at least 50 feet across, so quite a few people were saved. However, I must've been in like the 5% or something, because many did not survive.

When the toes hit the earth, a thunderous, all encompassing, terrifically loud boom crashed into my ears. The sweet lotion scent grew stronger, as I was literally inside of it. Naturally, I fell to the ground almost instantly from the sheer force of the toe. I didn't hear buildings collapse or anything. They must've been immediately demolished, pulverized. No time for them to make a sound as they were destroyed. The screams stopped suddenly as well. I reached over and touched the huge toe. You know, just cause why not? It was smooth but firm. I had a hard time touching it, though. I had to reach up, since there is a gap between the bottom of the toe and the actual ground. To a larger person, the toe would be rough, as it was filled with ridges. Since I was so small to it, I was feeling the inside of the ridges, which were indeed smooth.

I sat there for around 15 seconds when the colossal white foot lifted off the ground. I'm lucky I wasn't crises by the literal tons of debris that fell from the foot. It rained down from above with extreme force, easily enough to kill a man. As anyone would do, I watched the foot as it left and saw, you guessed it, another foot next to the one that nearly crushed me. As it lifted into the sky, I saw the toes again. The toenails were painted dark black. Well, that confirmed what I was already pretty certain of. That titanic foot that nearly crushed me, and actually did crush an enormous amount of the surrounding land, belonged to an even more gargantuan woman. I thought to myself that it was actually kind of sexy. What? That's "strange?" Well, excuse me. I'm writing this journal for myself, anyway, so I can write whatever I want. And besides, what's so weird about it? People like Godzilla and King Kong and all that. This is just like that, but instead of an ugly monster it's a sexy woman.

To continue the events that unfolded from there, the huge woman thundered off in the distance, causing unprecedented amounts of damage to everything she came near. I surveyed the damage she'd caused. It was total and complete. Worse than a dozen earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes combined. There was literally nothing left. Buildings were mere piles of rubble, completely destroyed. The roads had been changed. It was then I realized that this woman had actually changed the landscape. The city was now much farther down. I looked up and I could see very tall walls below on all sides. It must've been the land she hadn't stomped. I'm not sure how far down it is, but the whole area was sank down hundreds of feet in a toe shaped crater. Luckily, I was outside said crater.

I thought it was over, that this horrible act of destruction was one unexplainable event. Remember how I said I wasn't gonna tell you where she came from? Well, I'm telling you now. Why? I didn't want to wait any longer.

She's an alien. A gigantic, human shaped alien. And she wasn't alone. Hundreds of more giant women came, causing destruction as well. None of them were anywhere near her size, though, luckily. Most were around 500 feet tall, which is still huge, mind you. They destroyed almost everything everywhere they went. The big one was just the beginning. And truth be told, the damage she caused by walking across the country that day was probably far worse than any damage the smaller ones had caused. She was the beginning of the apocalypse. Seriously. You think a woman likely over a hundred miles tall could destroy half the country (and maybe the world) accompanied by hundreds of smaller giants wouldn't have a lasting effect. They did. Everything is in ruins now. Life is now just day to day survival.

That big giant must have been the leader or something. The aliens patrol the cities, trying to kill anything they can. I don't know why they're here, thigh. If they really wanted to destroy us, the big one could have just walked around the world a few times. But she hadn't. She'd let us live for now. They obviously didn't want to destroy everything, but I guess they were fine with obliterating some cities.

And that brings me to the current day. I kinda rushed through everything, I know. But like I said, every day is scary and a fight for survival. I don't really have time to write down everything that's happened. It's not really that important anyway. Surviving is. I never heard from my friends after I left them. Likely crushed under the big one's toe. I'm alone now, trying to survive like everyone else, though there aren't many to even survive. The event I described occurred nearly a year ago, so by now I'm already in another city, one that, luckily, the big one hasn't crushed. The smaller ones still patrol the city everyday though, looking for people like me. I don't know what they do when they find you, but I know for a fact that you're never seen again. I just hope I don't end up like some of the people I've seen caught.

I'd love to continue and keep telling you my wonderful day to day life after the big one nearly crushed me, but I've got more important things to do. See you later. Or not. I don't know. I might be caught by one of the giants. We'll just have to find out.

Another typical day, for the most part. Except the part where a 500 foot tall woman nearly stepped on me and almost found me. And... another thing, one I will reluctantly tell you about. Yeah, so after I finished writing the first journal entry I went out to scavenge. I started writing at 5 in the morning and didn't finish till 6. I like to go out early, since there are less people (and giants) around at that time. I "live" in the back of a small shop. It used to be a video game store, from the looks of the sign on the outside and its contents when I first found it. It's good because no one would really come in here for anything. No one needs video games anymore.

I went out and about, looking for whatever i could find that might be useful. Before I left, I'd checked what I had and what I needed. I threw on a face bandana and a beanie. They help keep me a bit warmer and they... ah, forget it. What's the point in lying. I wear them because they look cool, okay?

I grabbed my assault rifle I conveniently found early on during the apocalypse and my knife I'd bought that fateful day. Not to mention by backpack, gloves, coat and everything else you'd expect me to have.

I've only been here for a few weeks, so I haven't explored everything the immediate area has to offer yet. Each day, however, I have to go further and further from home to find anything. Right now, I really need food. It's been a couple of days since I ate. I've got water, which is arguably more important, but food is necessary as well.

Everywhere that had anything of valuable was immediately raided and looted after the first day the big one came. Pharmacies, shopping marts, weapon stores, you name it. That didn't stop me from checking out the nearest shopping mart, though. You probably know this but never have thought about it: all the stuff you actually need in the market, like bread and milk, is in the back. That gave me a little bit of hope that maybe everything wasn't gone.

I neared the shopping mart. It was still mostly intact, though some of the left side was destroyed. A ruined sign, with some letters missing, read "Stop and Shop." I saw no one anywhere around. Not even the giants. Maybe most of the people around here had been killed by them. I don't know.

I continued my journey and entered the store. The whole place was a mess. Displays were knocked over, baskets and carts were strewn everywhere, magazines were ripped up and lying on the ground. Looters had hit this place hard. My heart sank a little. There likely was nothing left that I could have a use for.

I ventured through the aisles, my gun raised and ready all the time. I headed towards the back, as I knew the good stuff would be there, but nothing was there. I headed to my left, to the canned food section. It was my next best bet. Then again, it'd likely be scraped clean by now.

Aisle 14. Canned food. I didn't enter immediately; rather, I leaned against the side of the aisle, with my gun's barrel pointed towards the ceiling. I sighed to myself.

I quickly turned the corner and raised my gun. No one was there. I walked down the aisle, constantly turning around to check my six. No one showed up. I didn't see anything as I walked down the aisle. I was feeling crestfallen, but I noticed something hiding behind a circular column. I got a little hopeful and looked there. I felt elated. There were two cans of sardines. Someone must've passed by them and not stopped to check behind the column. They were hidden fairly well, after all.

I continued going throughout the store but I didn't find anything I could use. As I'm about to leave the store, I heard footsteps behind me.

My gun was on my shoulder, the barrel pointed behind me instantly. I didn't see anyone there. Instead of leaving, I stupidly went to investigate. I should have, could have just left right then with my food and I'd have been fine. But no, I just had to be curious, didn't I?

I was standing at the door and I'd heard the sounds to my right, so that meant since I'd turned around, the sounds would be coming from my left now. Gun raised, I started walking towards the sound as quietly as I could. I checked each and every aisle. 1, 2, 3, 4... I kept going until I reached 14. Canned food. The one everyone would go to. I hadn't seen anything yet, and the sounds did sound a bit faint when I initially heard them.

Like I did before, I rested against the wall of the aisle, only this time it was the opposite one. It was the same position as before, with my gun against my chest and the barrel facing the roof. I was breathing heavily, and, after becoming conscious of it, tried to quiet my breathing. I stopped breathing for a few seconds, listening intently. There was no sound now. If anyone was here, they'd be in this aisle. It was now or never. For all I know, they could be wrapping around the back now and going for me. I needed to act now. Mustering up my courage, I turned the corner and raised my gun.

A tall and heavily built man was standing there. He wore a beanie, like me. He heard me and turned around. His face contorted in surprise and he quickly grabbed a pistol from a holster I hadn't seen.

"Dr-drop it!" I shouted, my voice faltering. I may make myself seem like a tough guy, but I'm actually a big wuss.

"Now..." He said in a deep voice, "let's not do anything brash here. You drop your gun and I'll drop mine. We can talk."

My mind was screaming at me. Telling me, shoot him. Shoot him. He wasn't my friend. I didn't know him. He might shoot me. I ignored my conscience for now and did nothing.

"No, you first," I replied nervously. "C'mon, we can talk."

"I can't do that."

I stood there, eyeing him. His brown beard was pretty long, as he likely hadn't shaved in months. He was a gruff man in his, I'd say, mid 30s. He was big, too. Strong. And here I was, a scrawny 19 year old kid. I was watching him intently, my eyes mainly concentrating on his hands. He held a small silver pistol. His finger wasn't on the trigger, but it was close to it.

"I'm not putting mine down, either. Not until you do. I don't want any trouble," I said to him.

"Then why don't you go, kid? Get out of here. Leave me alone and we can both go our separate ways." His voice wasn't exactly friendly.

I considered his offer. I turned around and got ready to leave, but my mind was shouting at me so loud I couldn't ignore it. I had just turned my back on this man, who had a gun in his hand...

I whipped back around almost immediately. I raised my gun as I did so. My eyes instantly went to his right hand. His finger had moved. It was on the trigger.

I recoiled sharply from the force of my gun. I had never really used it before, if I'm being honest. It's pretty useless against the giants, especially the big ones.

The man crumpled over and fell hard to the ground. He let out a small gasp and I heard a clang as his gun fell with him. There was a hole in his chest. And blood. Lots of blood. It was everywhere. The white tiles became overtaken by the red liquid. His beanie stayed on his head as he lay there on the ground, surrounded by a pool of his own blood.

I was out of there almost as fast as I'd pulled the trigger. I can't believe I'd done that. I ran as fast I could. I wanted to get away from there as soon as possible. My mind kept saying to me that it wasn't my fault, that it's better him than me. If it had to be one of us, it sure as hell wasn't gonna be me. My heart was working double time as it struggled to pump blood to my body. Adrenaline courses through my veins and my breathing increased. I kept running and running.

I wasn't close to home, and it wasn't smart to keep running like I was. I wasn't in danger at the moment, and I'd need to keep energy for the journey back. I didn't stop though.

After a long time running, I realized how stupid I was. I stopped and gasped for air while my mind raced, nearly as fast as I'd been going. If this guy was dead, and he surely was, then his stuff... well, it wasn't his anymore. Anyone could take it. Why wasn't it me? I sighed to myself and kept breathing heavily as my tired legs led me back towards the grocery store.

My legs burned from my pointless run and my chest hurt. I didn't run back this time, though it would have been more fitting to run to the store than from it. I reached the store after some time and entered it. I made my way to aisle 14.

A short trail of blood went from the spot where my bullet hit the man for a few feet where it ended in his motionless body. A pang of guilt and remorse shot through me. I killed this man. He was dead, lying in his own blood, because of me. I kept trying to convince myself that what I did wasn't wrong. After all, how did I know he wasn't going to kill me? I didn't. Better safe than sorry, right?

I walked slowly towards his lifeless body. He was on his stomach. I saw a small red hole near his right shoulder where my bullet had left his body. It had gone clean through, I guess. I turned him over onto his back. He weighed quite a bit, and I could only get him halfway onto his side before gravity or some force pulled him down onto his back.

His once brown beard was now stained red, as was most everything he had. His gray jacket was a dark red. The blood must have seeped through. His eyes were closed, and I didn't really feel compelled to open them. I decided that I should do what I came here to do, then get out.

I searched his pockets and his jacket. He had a few more cans of food on his jacket. I grabbed his pistol as well. Couldn't hurt to have more weapons. He sure wasn't gonna use it again. After a more thorough search, I found a bottle of water in his pocket. Finally, I checked his sack. In it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Some more food and some painkillers. Nice. I took the whole sack with me. Some extra storage could be helpful.

I left the store, still shaken by my actions. But hey, it was a successful mission, wasn't it? I needed food, and I gotten it. Sauntering slowly towards my base, I reflected over my actions. I still couldn't seem to convince myself that I wasn't wrong.

As I was walking home, I heard a slight rumbling noise.

"Ah, fuck..." I cursed to myself.

Those noises really could only mean one thing: it was a giant. I'm just glad it wasn't one of the big ones, or I'd really be done for.

I stopped my canter and broke into a sprint. I wasn't too far from home now. The booms got louder and the earth started to shake more. I thought she was behind me, but as I looked over my shoulder I saw nothing there. Just the usual deserted cars, looted stores and run down town.

I continued my run and came to a crossroads. I recognized it. It was only a few blocks from my base. I turned around again and again didn't see anything. I looked back towards the crossroads and BOOM.

A huge foot, about as large as the crossroads, slammed down in front of me. I was knocked back a few feet from the force. The giant's red toenails shone bright. I sat there on my ass in sheer terror. I was helpless. I looked up at the giant. Her brown hair flowed down past her shoulders. If she looked down, I was about as well off as the man in aisle 14.

Cowering in fear, I stared at her large left foot. Her right passed by overhead in the same direction her left was facing. It came down with a large thud and her left followed suit. She stomped away, and I was just about as lucky as can be. Bewildered and frightened, I staggered the next few blocks back to base.

I was just about the enter home when I looked out in the distance. The Toes stood there, just like usual, powerful and menacing. The Toes are, well toes. Colossal, enormous, gigantic toes. They must belong to the leader or mother or something. They're even bigger than the toes of the woman on the first day. Almost since the beginning, they've just been there. They must be dozens, maybe even hundreds of miles tall. They're probably visible from most parts of the country. Twice they've lifted up with loud creaks and moans, then slammed down with thunderous force, crushing multiple towns and cities instantly and shaking the earth violently for miles around. I don't know about others, but I live in constant fear of them. You never know when they might raise again, and since they're so massive, there's a good chance they'll step on you, and the undersides of a woman's toe could be the last thing you'll ever see.

That brings me to now. Writing this to you. I guess I needed to vent my emotions and get them out of my system. My fear, my guilt, my thoughts. The day to day struggle never gets easier. Only tougher.

I woke up early in the morning again. I yawned a bit, as I was fairly tired. The past day's events had still left me shocked and rustled, so sleep had been hard to come by. I ate a small portion of the sardines I'd found yesterday. I had to ration it to make it last as long as possible. As I ate, I took long gazes at my "home." There were numerous posters, many ripped in half of on the floor. The gray walls were dirty and the purchasing area's glass panes had been destroyed. By looters or by the force of the giants' footfalls, I don't know. Most of the racks and shelves were knocked over onto their sides, with the games strewn all over the floor. I might need to clean up a bit eventually. If I was gonna stay here a while, which I plan on doing, then I suppose it could be nicer.

After finishing my relatively tasteless meal, I grabbed my gear and prepared to set out again. I needed to formulate a plan this time. I'd thought it over last night and wondered why I never had had one before. I couldn't be running in to more would-be killers and giants.

Yesterday, after leaving base, I'd headed to my right and taken another one after that, following that path for most of the journey. I'd already gone straight ahead many times, so my least explored option was to the left. Unfortunately, the left is where most of the dangers lie. There are more giants over there and probably more people as well, since I kinda live on the edges of the city and to the left is the "main" city. And, of course, the Toes. Can't forget them.

I didn't really have much of a choice. There wasn't much undiscovered to me to either my right or ahead, so left it was. I sighed as I grabbed my rifle and pack and headed out.

The cold morning air shook my bones and I involuntarily shivered. Almost since the beginning I'd lost track of time. I mean, I know the general time like morning or night, but I have no idea what month it is. Judging by the cold weather, it was probably December or January. I pulled my jacket tighter and adjusted my hat as I continued walking.

There were plenty of buildings on my right and left, as well as intersections, but there weren't any straight ahead of me. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. I could see anyone coming down the street clearly, but then again, they could see me. I also had a great view of the Toes in all their might. They stood there, motionless, as if their owner was dead. Not one movement. Believe me, if they'd even so much as wiggled, it would've been felt for miles around. I questioned them in my mind. How could they be so still? Is the alien who they belong to seated or something? Surely not, as I would have seen a throne that large. So how could they stand there, day in and day out, without any movement? I guess I really shouldn't question them. I mean, they're the toes of an alien. Who knows what they're like? They might not need food or water, or talk like we do, or even have any emotions. Maybe they could just stand still like that forever. I don't know.

I really wished that the aliens we'd got were those little green men with space guns you used to see on TV all the time. We might have had a chance against those aliens. These ones, they're much worse.

Our aliens, the giant women, they're so much worse than the little green men. Those aliens might have abducted us or something, but I doubt they could have basically destroyed the planet like these ones have. Their destruction is total. Here, it's not as bad as some other places I've seen, but it's still pretty bad. The buildings I walked past earlier were some of the few left standing over here. As I walked further on, the building condition started to get worse and worse. This area was closer to one of the areas that the Toes once stepped on. Their effect on this area was obvious. If a building was still standing, it was in horrible condition. In many of the ones I saw, half or more of the building was missing. Rubble was everywhere. The street was riddled with cracks. Debris filled the streets and fallen buildings created obstructions in the road. And the thing is, the Toes hadn't even stepped on this area. Not even close. It's fairly close to where I live, but still a good ways away. And I live dozens of miles from the Toes. If this is what the shockwaves from them can do to a city, one can only wonder what happens to the ones that actually get stepped on...

Enough about that. The mission at hand was to get more supplies. I started to regret coming this way, as the further away from home I got, the less and less there was. I took some turns here and there. The closer I got to the Toes, the more destruction there was. Resources would be very hard to come by in this area. I searched around all day but found nothing.

I kept walking, checking everywhere I thought might offer something useful, but to no avail. After some more time looking around, and just when I was about to call it quits, I stumbled upon a pharmacy that was only half destroyed. Although it was in pretty bad condition, it was better off than most things around here.

I entered the pharmacy with my gun over my shoulder, as per usual. I remembered that I'd gained a pistol yesterday, but due to my forgetfulness it wasn't on me. An extra gun's always handy, especially in times like these.

From the outside it was nearly impossible to tell what kind of store it was, but once I entered I saw CVS markings everywhere. I already knew it was a pharmacy, but at least I knew I wasn't in some place like Walgreens.

Like I expected, there wasn't much to be found. It was either already taken or destroyed. I looked around some more in hopes that I'd find something, but all I came across was a pack of band aids. Whoop-de-doo. Frustrated, I kicked them forcefully across the main hall of the store.

Suddenly, I heard some movement towards my right. Readying my gun, I experienced a wave of deja vu, as so far this was feeling very similar to yesterday's events.

I turned right around the corner, gun loaded. There was no one in sight. I heard a coughing sound, this time ahead and to my left. Wherever this sound was coming from, it was from the back of the store. I inched my way forward and popped my head around the corner. I was prepared for the worst, unlike how I was yesterday.

A young man was lying against the wall. He was surrounded by blood, but he wasn't dead. I saw his chest rise and fall. His brown pants were stained red. I couldn't see a weapon in sight.

He looked up at me, startled. He coughed again and an expression of fear flashed across his face.

"Pl-please, don't hurt me," he whispered.

I ran up to him. I checked the floor for any weapon, but I couldn't find one. Neither of his hands were concealed, so he couldn't be hiding one there.

"What happened to you?" I asked him, genuinely concerned.

"Shot," he managed to get out. Another cough. He was clearly not in a state where he could answer fully.

I looked him over. The man around the same age as me had a bullet wound in his left shoulder. I couldn't really tell if it was bleeding anymore, but I didn't think it was. I got up and threw his right shoulder over mine. After what happened yesterday. I had to convince myself I wasn't a bad guy or something. He didn't resist but he didn't help either. He winced in pain and looked as if he wanted to sit down again, but I wouldn't allow him to.

"Sorry," I said to him.

He nodded his head and we began to walk out the door. It was dark now, but I wasn't sure what time it actually was. It didn't really matter, though. It was dark out, and that's what really mattered. The giants, they must have some sort of schedule or plan or something. They're out and about during the day, but at night there are more of them and they're more violent as well. Now was definitely not the time to be out. And now I had this guy slowing me down. It was too late now. I couldn't just abandon him and leave him to die. We had to move on.

I'd come some miles from my base since I'd left, so we didn't exactly have a short journey ahead of us. I checked the sky again. I came to the conclusion that it was likely around five. This meant it was just about to start getting really dark, which in turn meant we had very little time.

I led us a medium paced jog. He left arm hung free so it wouldn't be in as much pain. His legs were actually fine, but his arm would affect his ability to run. I guessed we were about 2 to 3 miles away from base. Not very good. At this pace, it would take us about 30 minutes. Who knows what could happen in that time.

We kept pushing onwards, and as we went, I explained the current situation to him in between breaths. He didn't say anything but he nodded his head again in tacit agreement. We picked up the pace a little bit, but nothing too substantial.

After about 15 minutes of walking, jogging and running, we felt some light tremors. I cursed under my breath. We were only about halfway home, and we really did not need this now. At this new threat we increased our speed quite a bit. He was clearly struggling and I wasn't sure how much longer we could keep this up.

The tremors started to grow louder, as did the booms. I turned around as we ran, and far off in the distance, but rapidly closing the gap, was a giant. She wasn't running but was still covering a lot of distance with each stride. I cursed again. Hopefully she hadn't seen us, but I doubted that was the case.

The giant woman seemed to increase in size as she got closer, and it became evident she'd seen us. I had to think fast. We weren't gonna make it home in time. That much was obvious. We weren't gonna outrun her. That was also obvious. That meant we had to hide. The 500 foot colossus shook the ground as she stomped closer. The poor guy next to me looked like he was about to collapse.

We kept running for a short distance and we came to a turn. It was our only hope. In this area the buildings were actually mostly intact, though I could see some of them swaying and shaking from the force of the giant barreling towards us.

We ducked quickly around a corner. We were getting very lucky, as it seemed just the right things were destroyed. There was a gap for us to squeeze through and get inside of a partially destroyed building. Quickly, we positioned ourselves in what we thought would be a hard to detect position among some rubble and debris. The ground shook quite a bit under the alien woman's weight. She'd seen us turn the corner, but hopefully she hadn't seen us enter the building.

The footfalls slowed down and they came less frequently. I heard her walking to our left. She was basically on top of our position now. Each step rocked the earth.

The man and I were as quiet as rocks. We looked out through a hole in the bottom of the side of the building and saw a huge foot slam down, followed shortly by another. I saw that she had red toenails like the giant I'd encountered the other day. Her feet stood still. I saw her ankles twisting a bit and I assumed she was turning her hips, looking for us. I held my breath.

Her feet stayed there for at least 30 seconds. She knew we must have been over here, or else she'd have already moved on. Honestly, I had no idea how smart these aliens were, but I'm assuming that they're pretty intelligent. My chest was starting to hurt.

Her bare feet swiveled about from side to side, like she was making up her mind on which way to go. Suddenly, she picked her right foot up, the closer of the two to us, and slammed it forcefully into the ground. Both the man and I were caught off guard and were quite startled. I got really nervous, not only because of the fact that the giant was angry and was right outside, but because I heard the foundation of the building start to give way a bit. The building moaned slightly from the force of her stomp. I was surprised it held up so way, considering the fact that she was literally right outside.

The two of us were cowering in fear when we heard yet another loud boom. This time it was not her feet. I saw large hunks of debris hit the ground. I assumed she had punched a hole in the building next to ours. I'm just glad it wasn't our building. Unfortunately, it seemed I had spoken too soon. Before we could recollect our thoughts, a gigantic foot came crashing through the bottom of the building we were hiding in on our right. We instantly shrank back and couldn't stifle our screams. Chunks of building came flying in our proximity and nearly hit us. The debris smashed into the opposite wall and weakened that area as well, creating a few holes there. Her foot hadn't left the building after she'd kicked it in, and it stood there menacingly in the wreckage of the building. Her foot stood well over ten feet tall.

The two of us had instinctively huddled together in fear. I don't know about him, but I felt like this was the end. He huge foot was right there and we were surrounded by destruction on all sides. She kept her foot there for a good minute, presumably contemplating whether or not we were in here. Her red toenails looked very dark in the night light, around the same color as the blood on the man's pants. After what seemed like an eternity, the titaness thundered off, leaving the two of us huddled together in the corner of the building, surrounded by rubble. We definitely were not going back to base tonight.

We waited there in silence for a long time. I didn't move from my position the slightest bit at all. I'd felt the tremors decrease in strength and eventually cease, but I wasn't taking any chances. I wasn't going to leave that building till at least tomorrow morning.

The injured man looked over to me and stared for a short time. Then he spoke.

"Hey... thanks for helping me back in the shop. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't had come. Died, probably."

"No problem," I replied. "I was just looking for supplies and I saw you there. I couldn't just leave you there. That was a close one, eh?"

"Which time?"

"Both."

"Yeah," he laughed, then winced a little in pain. "Well, thanks, stranger."

"I'm..." I didn't answer for a little bit. "I'm Joe."

"Derrick."

"Well, nice to meet ya, Derrick," I said to him.

"The same to you, Joe."

When I finally felt like the coast was clear, I meandered over to Derrick to see if I could do anything to help him. I asked him, and he asked for some painkillers, which I had conveniently acquired yesterday.

He downed them without anything to drink, which I found a bit remarkable. I'd always struggled with taking pills, and when I finally learned how, I needed something to drink with them. He thanked me for them and we decided to settle down.

Derrick seemed like a good guy, but I wasn't taking any chances. As we weren't at base, we had nothing comfortable to sleep on. He layed across the room from me. I layed down, too, but I didn't go to sleep. Honestly, I wasn't that tired, as it was only about midnight, but I also didn't feel comfortable being asleep around him. I rested my gun up against the wall next to me and just sat there, looking up at the ceiling. I think the building had been weakened, but it should hold up fine.

While I sat, I thought a lot. About lots of different things, too. The giants, Derrick, my old life, music. I'm not sure how long I was up for, but after a while I let my eyes close. I rested a bit, still awake, but eventually sleep overtook me.

----------

I woke up, frightened and prepared for the worst. Luckily, Derrick was still asleep. That was good. I let my body recover from the sudden shock and watched him as he slept. He could have woken up many times in the night, but I don't know. If he had, he hadn't done anything. My gun was still in the same position, and everything was fine. I was starting to trust him a bit more. Even if he turned out to be a bad guy, he was still weakened from his injury and I'd have an advantage.

The morning light crepeed through cracks and holes in the building.I sat there for a while, pondering what I'd do in the future now that all my resources would have to be split in half if he was to stay with me. It'd be nice to have someone to work with, but it would be hard to adjust to considerably less of everything.

A sudden movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention. Derrick was rousing himself from his sleep. He sat up, looking very groggy.

"Morning," he said tiredly. Like me, he didn't seem like a morning person.

"Morning," I replied. "How'd you sleep?"

"To be honest, not too well. This isn't your place, is it?" He asked.

"No. I just had to get us somewher fast to get away from that giant. I don't live too far from here, so we could head out soon if you wanted."

Derrick layed down for a bit more. After a large sigh and some annoyance he sat up and started to get his stuff ready to move. He didn't have much, just a backpack with who knows what inside and some clothes he'd taken off last night. With his stuff ready, and a few minutes of preparation on my part, we set off towards my base.

We weren't too far, only about 15 minutes from home. The walk home was uneventful. We didn't encounter any giants or any other people. We didn't say much to each other, either. A light snow had started.

We eventually arrived at my base, the old video game store.

"It isn't much, but it's enough," I said to Derrick. He looked over the store and seemed content with it, but I wasn't sure.

We walked into my base and dropped our stuff off. Derrick explored the interior of the place scrupulously.

"Like it?" I asked.

"It's pretty nice. I haven't had a permanent home at all, so it's the best I've seen so far," he replied. Well, that confirmed it. He already thought he was staying here permanently, so it'd be that much harder to turn him away if I wanted to.

Derrick sat down again and sighed. I told him he could help himself to some food, so he did so.

"Just don't eat too much," I said, "we need to save it. There isn't a lot and it will be harder to keep now that there are two people."

He quickly ate an entire can of sardines but stopped himself after that. At least he knew when he shouldn't eat anymore. It's an important thing to know in times like these.

His face abruptly contorted into one of pain and he started to squirm a bit. It must've been his shoulder. I started scrounging around for some more painkillers. The ones from last night must've worn off. I couldn't find any, though. Did I misplace them? Or was I really out already?

"Do you have any painkillers on you?" I asked him.

He shook his head. And now I had a choice to make. Leave him here, alone, where he was vulnerable or could take all my stuff, or stay here and watch him suffer agonizing pain. I couldn't let the latter happen, so I was basically forced to go out, again, in search of medicine.

"Stay here," I told him. "Go into one of the back rooms. If someone comes by, they won't see you. And if you're in danger, do you know how to use a gun? Are you able to?"

He nodded that he could use one. After all, he'd been shot in his left shoulder, and he likely was a righty. I hesitantly left the base with my trusty gun ready.

The snow had accumulated about an inch already, and didn't show any signs of stopping anytime soon. I was getting tired of going out everyday into dangerous situations. I'd nearly died at least 3 times already in the past few days. Maybe once Derrick got better he could help me. Or maybe I could find more people and we could make a group. It sure would make things easier, but it wasn't exactly my style. I was a loner.

I had unconsciously gone to the left when I exited the base, so I was headed into dangerous territory. It was morning, so it was safer out, but it didn't mean that there weren't plenty of dangers about. The giants were more aggressive and common at night, but they would still be merciless during the day. I walked on through the snow, thankful for my beanie, bandana and heavy jacket for keeping me warm.

The decay and destruction increased as I went on. I can't remember, but I think that when I found Derrick, I'd turned right, so this time I went left.

My footprints were obvious in the snow, so I could easily be tracked or followed. I decided to pick up the pace and hurry up with my mission. By going left I was also moving further from the Toes, so the state of the buildings got better as I went on. Maybe this also meant that there would be more to scavenge.

The white snow started to come down a bit heavier, and I pulled my jacket a little tighter to myself. My eyes were constantly scanning, looking for places where I could find something. I was in a neighborhood of sorts, so finding a store would be a bit more difficult. Then a thought occurred to me: why did I have to go to a store? There was probably a bunch of stuff in these apartments, and most people would go to the stores, so it might even still be there.

I stopped my walk and looked around, examining the apartments. They were all packed together tightly. I mean, this was New York. At least I thought it was. Some were taller than others. If any of these had already been raided, it would have been those ones. I chose a brown complex that was somewhat shorter than all the others and entered it.

A staircase was immediately ahead and to my left, against a wall. On the right was a small hall that I assumed led to a public place like laundry or something. I wasn't sure. I headed up the stairs. Thinking as if I was a raider again, which I suppose I was, I assumed that the floors closer to ground level would be looted first. I headed up a few levels. I didn't want to go all the way to the top just yet, but I was prepared to if I had to.

On my way up I passed by some fairly strange sights. I saw numerous apartments with the doors boarded up. There was a lot of graffiti, both on the outside of the building and in the halls. I even thought I heard some sort of scratching and banging at one point. It spooked me out. Maybe I wasn't alone here.

I kept climbing the stairs until about the 15th floor. I was pretty confident that this area would have been relatively untouched.

There were doors on either side of the hall, but only 8 in all. I went to the first door on my right and surprisingly it opened up without any hassle on my part. Inside the place was a mess. Chairs were knocked over, as were tables and numerous other items like cups. A window on my right was broken. The floor was carpeted and was a tan color. Glass littered the floor and the place had a very pungent smell that I couldn't quite place my tongue on. It wasn't a good one, though.

I walked through the trashed place, looking for anything valuable. I wasn't sure how the place had gotten to be as it was. It was important to know, as well. If it'd been affected by shockwaves from the Toes, then there could be good stuff left. If the previous owners had fled the house in a hurry, maybe at the beginning, and taken their stuff with them, it was likely there wasn't anything left of use to me.

As I explored more, it seemed like it had been the former. I didn't find any bodies here, so the owners weren't dead, or at least hadn't died here. I went into the bathroom, as there might have been medicine there. The shower was in poor condition and the mirror was incredibly dirty, so dirty that I couldn't make out my reflection very well. I saw my overall shape, but couldn't determine any specific details from it. I grabbed the mirror to see if it would open and maybe reveal some medicine, but it wouldn't open up.

I left the bathroom and headed to the kitchen. It was an open one, so it connected with the living room and led into a hall that led to the bedroom. I found nothing in the kitchen, except a few cups that had survived whatever has happened here. I looked around a bit more and made my final venture into the bedroom before I was to leave and try another room.

There were paintings and pictures all along the hall. Many were either abstract or of something like a lake, but one at the end caught my attention. It was a woman in her mid 20s with a young boy sitting on her lap. A thin layer of dust covered the picture.The woman was smiling and had brown hair. Her blue eyes stared right at me. The boy was blonde and smiling even wider than his what I assumed to be his mom. He had spiky blonde hair and was holding a toy rocket ship. I felt really upset when I saw this. As much as I hated to admit it, they were both likely dead. The woman had likely been caring for her son, working hard to provide for him, and bam, the giant women come and destroy everything. They really ruined everything.

I trudged on to the bedroom in a bad mood. I looked through the closet and under the bed but as expected found nothing. Defeated, I slowly walked out of the room.

As I was about to leave the room, I saw a cup jiggle a bit and felt an all too familiar feeling, followed by the sound that strikes fear into the hearts of people. My heart skipped a beat and I got really scared, even though she likely wouldn't see me. The mini earthquakes' power and intensity increased as she came closer. I saw a huge tan leg pass by through the broken window. The picture of the mom and her son flashed through my mind. I raised my gun and aimed at the giant's leg. I was enraged. I almost shot it. My finger was on the trigger and it nearly pulled back. Luckily, my mind started to reason with me and I put the gun down. The woman and the kid were already dead, so shooting wouldn't do anything to help. The giant wouldn't even be hurt by it, but she'd know I was there and I'd be a dead man. I sighed loudly and walked out of the room.

I started to head down the stairs. I actually noticed the floor numbers this time. I had been on the 17th floor actually. I went down and so did the numbers. 17, 16, 15, 14, 12, 11. On the tenth floor I looked at one of the boarded up doors. This was the one where I was certain I'd heard banging from inside. I stopped my descent but I didn't want to check it out. Who knows what could be in the opposite side of the door? I wasn't about to find out. I kept going down the stairs till I reached the second floor. I heard something again. This time I went to investigate.

I heard it from the third door on the right. I was sure of it. It sounded like a clang, like something had hit the ground. I put my hand on the knob, and with my gun ready, began to turn.

The creak of a door filled the hall, but I hadn't turned the knob yet.

I whipped around and raised my gun, ready to shoot.

A young woman stood in the half opened doorway. Her blonde hair was a mess, and she wore a large backpack. When she saw me she sprung back in fear. She darted back into the room and I followed her, slowly but surely. I didn't want to be led into a trap and killed, but I couldn't just leave now.

This apartment was just as run down as the other, but I didn't pay much attention to the details. I heard the woman breathing heavily in another room, though she was trying to stifle them.

"Hey! I don't want to hurt you!" I called out. I wasn't sure what good it would do, but it was something. I received no answer and I went into a bedroom on my right.

I was moving very quietly so she wouldn't know I was there. I heard some light breathing from inside a closet that was a few feet away. I turned on the safety on my gun and put it on a bed next to me. Then I called out to her again.

"Please, just come out! I'm not gonna hurt you," I said to her. When I spoke she made a small shriek in surprise. I couldn't go and open the door; I mean, who knows what she had on the other side? She could have a knife and could be waiting for me to open it.

After a bit more pleasing on my part, and more reassuring that I wasn't going to do anything, she slowly opened the closet door a few inches. I saw blue eyes peek out and stare at me.

"Look," I said, "my gun is right there. The safety's on, so I'm not gonna shoot you or anything. I would have done it by now if I wanted to."

I wasn't so stupid as to leave myself defenseless. I had a knife concealed on my belt, just in case things got out of hand. The woman opened the closet door but didn't come out. She looked like a mess. Her converse were all scuffed up and her jeans were ripped. Her thin jacket was dirty and she looked like she hadn't washed in a long time. I hadn't, either, but I used some water from time to time to wet my hair.

"Who are you?" She asked me nervously. She really looked frightened. I'd be scared, too. In times like these, it's really hard to trust anyone.

"I'm just looking for supplies here," I said.

"Me, too," she replied, not really looking at me.

"You live here?"

"No. I don't really have a home. I just go looking around every day."

I'd thought about it for a whole, and I realized that going solo wasn't the best strategy. If she came win me, it'd be better for the both of us.

"I used to be like you," I said to her, "roaming around by myself with no one to watch my back. But recently I've found someone else, and I have a feeling everything will be easier with them. Why not join us? You'd get a home, and everyone would get extra help."

She pondered this for a moment. "Why would I want to join you? How can I trust you?"

"Like I said before, I would've done whatever I wanted to by now if I wanted to do anything to you. And again, you'll get supplies and help. We've got food, water, some medicine-"

"Medicine?" She blurted out. "You have medicine with you?"

"Not on me, but it's-"

"Come on! Let's go!"

She sprang up out of her position and ran towards the exit of the room. I clumsily grabbed my rifle and followed her.

"Alison! Stacy!" She called out. She headed down the flight of stairs to the first floor and entered room 103. I stepped in after her.

The woman called out the names again as she looked through the apartment. She stepped into a small room and I peeked in. She motioned for me to come in.

In the rook were two women, who I assumed were Alison and Stacy. One of them, who was a bit on the heavy side, was lying against a bed and looked in pain. The other was standing up, holding an assault rifle and looking at the doorway where we were.

"Amy, what's going on? Who the hell is this?" The woman with the gun aimed her gun in my direction.

"Whoa, calm down, Alison!" The woman who I'd been with, apparently Amy, said to her friend. "He isn't gonna hurt us. He said he can help!"

Alison lowered her gun a bit but not fully. "Who is he?"

"He's..." Amy's voice trailed off.

"Joe." I finished for her.

The woman who could only be Stacy moaned a bit, seemingly in pain.

Alison looked at Amy. "How can he help?"

"He said he has medicine! And other supplies! He has a home for us and everything!"

I didn't say anything but I watched them as they discussed. Honestly, I hadn't planned on bringing anyone back when I'd left today, but I figured one couldn't hurt. Three, though? That would take a toll on our resources. And with Derrick in his condition, I couldn't be the only scavenger for five people.

I must have stopped paying attention of something, because after I'd finished that thought, Amy was starting to leave and Alison was helping Stacy to her feet. I followed Amy, as she was the one leading the way. Out of the three of them, Alison seemed like the leader. If she hadn't been helping Stacy, she probably would be in Amy's position.

We left the building and we paused, the snow piling up quite a bit. Amy looked at me, and I looked back at her, puzzled. She threw her hands up, like she was saying "well?", and then I remembered I hadn't told them where we were going.

"Oh, uh, my base is that way," I said, pointing towards our right. "It's not that far away, but it's not the closest, either."

"C'mon, Stacy," Alison said to her. "We can make it. Do you think you can walk on your own?"

Stacy nodded and let go of Alison's arm. We began the trek home, with Amy and me walking together up front and Alison and Stacy walking together a few feet behind. Before us were huge footprints that were made easily visible by the snowfall. They must've belonged to the giant I saw walk by earlier. They were spread a good length apart and dwarfed our tiny footsteps.

I looked over at Amy. She was looking down at the ground. I couldn't really discern her feelings. When I first found her, she was scared. Then she was happy about the medicine. Now, she just looked kinda glum.

"What happened to Stacy?" I asked, genuinely interested but also trying to make some conversation.

"She slipped going up some rickety stairs. I think she broke something in her leg, but I'm not sure."

"Ah," I said, not really sure how to respond. Then I asked, "How long ago did this happen? Has she gotten any treatment for it yet?"

"No," Amy replied. "We haven't found anything that might help her. That's why I was so keen to join you when I heard you had medicine. As for when it happened, I think it was last week. I hope it's not infected or something."

"There might be something back at base to help. Were you three friends before 'it' happened?"

"Yep. We all went to the same college. We were roommates, me and Alison. Stacy was in the room next door. I studied law."

"Interesting. I had only just finished high school so I hadn't really done anything yet. I didn't have a college picked out or even an idea of what I wanted to do."

"Yeah, well, it's too late to start now, isn't it?" Amy laughed, but stopped herself when we heard some rumbling.

"Oh, no," I heard Alison mutter from behind us.

"This happened to me yesterday," I said to all of them in a hurried manner. We had limited time. "I was bringing someone back and we had to hide in a building. Quick! We need to find a good one fast!"

The rumblings started to get louder as we scrambled about, looking for a suitable building to hide in. It had to be in somewhat good condition, but we were in a pretty ruined part of the city, so it would be hard to find.

"Over here!" Alison called out to us. We were all spread out, as we thought it would allow us to find cover faster. Alison had found a good place. It was a bakery, nestled in between some other buildings. They were in bad condition, but the bakery itself was okay enough.

Alison was already in the building, as she had found it. Amy and I ran into it quickly as the shaking got more intense. Stacy was struggling to reach the place, but I thought she would be fine. Suddenly, she fell to the ground. I don't know what happened. Maybe something snapped, but I wasn't sure. She yelped in pain and tried crawling towards the bakery.

I got up and ran back out towards Stacy. I grabbed her shoulder to lift her, but she was on the heavier side and it was not as easy a task as I had assumed. I managed to get her up and leaning on my shoulder. The booming was now making it difficult to walk without staggering a bit. With Stacy leaning on me, we half ran and half hobbled our way to the bakery. She was about 20 feet out, and it was taking longer than I'd thought to bring her back. I looked over to my right, as that was where the booms were coming from, and I unfortunately saw a large foot step around from behind some buildings, followed by an even more massive woman. She turned her head to her right and looked down the street. I literally pushed Stacy along and started hopping back towards the bakery. We needed to get there now. But it was too late. The giant had seen us.

We stumbled our way into the building and fell onto the floor. Alison and Amy immediately started asking Stacy if she was okay and all that. I was concerned for her, too, but the giant was more important right now.

"The giant is right out there," I said in between breaths. "She is right there."

The booms were slower now, but more forceful. She was taking her time with each step. The four of us went to the back of the store to distance ourselves from the giant as much as possible. To my dismay, there was no back exit.

Two giant feet slammed down in front of the store with great force, shaking the shelves inside and jarring us all. They were parallel to the building and facing the direction of the feet, but turned towards us. Like almost every other giant I'd seen so far, the toenails were red. I started to wonder if they all had red nail polish. Well, the one on the very first day didn't. Or did she? I couldn't remember. Did that really matter right now, though?

The feet stood there ominously. Everyone held their breaths, and we all huddled together. Then, the left foot pulled back into the air, and the next thing I knew there was a loud bang and debris was falling everywhere. Some, likely all, of the girls screamed. It took me a second to realize the giant had kicked the building, as I was disoriented. Shelves were knocked everywhere and some were cut in half. The counter, which had been attached to the wall, now was not. The right wall had crumbled, revealing a small gap in between the bakery and the building next to it.

"We need to go! Now!" I shouted. "To the right, in between the buildings!"

A large hunk of stone had fallen onto Alison's arm, and it looked like she was in pain. She threw it off with her other arm and got up as we all left, though. Amy and I were the only ones left unscathed, somehow. Stacy staggered her way out the bakery's newly made exit and through the alleys. She had a heavy limp and each step made her wince with pain. We followed the alley into another street. We were close to home now, only about 10 minutes. I was experiencing some serious deja vu right now. Finding a person with a leg injury, walking back home, an encounter with a giant who kicked the building we'd decided to hide in... it was just like with Derrick. Almost to the tee. It was strange.

My train of thought was interrupted with a large groan. The bakery and the building on top of it were collapsing because the giant had walked right through it. Her powerful legs smashed through the building easily and it came down with almost as much force as her foot did. We all stumbled a bit but pressed onward. The giant was now behind us once again, but this time we were in the middle of the street. We ran, but everyone was feeling like this was it.

Stacy let out a sharp yell and fell to the ground again. Her leg must've given out for a second time.

"Stacy!" Amy screamed, a horrid, bone chilling scream. Her voice cracked as she did so. Her love for her friend was obvious in her distressed voice. She began to run back towards Stacy but I quickly grabbed her arm to stop her. She screamed again, yelling Stacy's name out once more. Stacy lay on the ground on her stomach, looking at us. She had a terrified expression on her face, one that is made when you know your time is up. It was hard to look at. If that had been my friend, I probably would've acted like Amy. Stacy put her right arm up in the air and motioned for us to go on anyway, to leave her behind. Amy tried running towards her, tears streaming down her face, and I had to switch my grip to stop her.

"Amy!" I yelled, my voice faltering as well. "We have to go! It's too dangerous! We can't save her! We have to go!"

"No!" Amy screamed.

"Go!" Stacy shouted to us, though it was barely audible over the footsteps and screaming. Alison shot her gun at the giant's foot, hoping to distract her. The gun had no effect on the giant, though. She wasn't distracted and showed no signs of even feeling pain. It was possible she hadn't even heard the gunshots.

The giant reached Stacy as she lay there on there ground.

"We need to go now!" I screamed to Amy and Alison. They wouldn't go. Amy kept at her attempt and Alison did nothing.

The giant's toe dwarfed Stacy's diminutive form. I looked up to the giant's face but I couldn't see anything. Brown hair covered most of her face, and I couldn't make anything out of the little I could see. I looked back down. Her giant toes wiggled, sending light tremors through the ground. She was Saborit this moment.

"C'mon!" I yelled again. Amy finally gave in and reluctantly stepped back. Alison retreated too, firing at the toes in a vain attempt at saving her friend.

The giant had her left foot closer to Stacy. She raised her foot up in the air, then put it back down. She raised her big toe up instead of her whole foot. Stacy wasn't worth her whole foot, apparently. Debris feel from the bottom of her big toe, pelting Stacy, forcing her to cover her head. She whimpered in fear and looked up at the huge toe that would be her end.

The giant seemed to let her toe hover above forever. She finally lowered her toe, very slowly and deliberately. As it made its descent, she scrunched her other toes together, preparing for the moment. She stopped her toe as it hung mere feet above Stacy, taunting her. Then she lowered her toe into Stacy.

Stacy screamed in pain, as did Amy. I heard Stady's screams become distorted as they tried to travel through the flesh of the giant's toe. I cringed at the sound of Stacy's bones cracking under the sheer pressure of the toe. The act was horrible to watch. Stacy was completely engulfed by the toe. She tried to stick her hand out, asking for help, but was unable to. Her screams abruptly ended as the toe completed its descent. The giant ground Stacy into the earth, as one would do to a bug. She twisted her single toe back and forth, smearing blood on the pavement and changing the color of the surrounding snow.

The giant reached down and picked up her foot, examined her toe. She ran a finger with matching color nails over her big toe. A tiny dot of blood was there, in the bottom of her toe. Tiny to the toe, at least. There was a pasty substance on the ground where her toe had been. I could only assume it was a mixture of bone, skin and other human components of Stacy. I nearly got sick. Amy did. We had managed to get some ways away by this point, but everything was in plain sight. The giant had failed to notice our escape, as she had been too caught up in her merciless killing. Luckily for us, instead of going the direction we'd gone, she stomped off the opposite way. She'd left enough of an impression on us, anyway.

With the coast clear for now, all three of us were able to safely expel everything we'd eaten that day. Amy sobbed and shook with great force from her own crying. Alison snapped out of her daydream like state and gave in too. I just sat there, running the image through my mind over and over again. I felt bad for Amy and Alison. It was truly a horrible death for Stacy, but I couldn't say I felt the same as they did. I didn't know her as well. But if I did, I would have been like they were. We sat there, in the open, leaning against a building, for who knows how long. They didn't care if another giant came along. I did, though, and I reluctantly told them that we needed to get moving.

The three of us trudged through the snow, past the street where the act had happened and towards the base. It was getting dark now, so we couldn't dilly dally any longer. This was the world now. That's how things were. Murder and death were commonplace now. The giants didn't care what harm they did, so anything could happen to anyone. Losing your best friend was an everyday thing in the country now.

We slowly made our way to base, with everyone in poor spirits. Amy still sobbed endlessly, but Alison had let up a bit. This sure would be quite the tale to tell Derrick when we got back.

The three of us drew nearer to home. An eagle soared overhead. Amy had stopped crying for the most part, though an occasional sob slipped past and shook her. The snow had let up for the time being. I wasn't sure how much, but I'd guess there were at least 6 inches by now. Somehow my adventure had taken all day, and it was near sunset now. I saw the base only a few hundred feet away, but some graffiti on a nearby wall caught my attention. I'd walked through this area plenty of times before, and I hadn't seen anything like this before. The letter C was drawn in a large ring around two letter F's in the middle. Then the letter S was drawn in front of the F's. It was pretty strange and ambiguous.

We were outside of the base now, but just as we were about to enter, I noticed some more graffiti. It wasn't as extravagant as the last one, but it was just as mysterious and maybe even more frightening. The only thing on the wall was the word "close." I'd gone through this area countless times before, and I had never seen this before. The others didn't seem to take notice, maybe since they hadn't been here before and didn't think it was out of the ordinary.

We entered the store, and I remembered that Derrick was supposed to be in the back room.

"Derrick, it's me," I called out, "you can come out now. It's safe."

No answer.

"Uh, you guys can put your stuff down if you want," I said to the girls. "Derrick is another person I found. He's supposed to be in the other room. I'm gonna check on him."

"Alright," Alison said as the two of them began to get settled in.

I left the girls and headed towards the back. Maybe he was asleep? I had been gone for a while. I turned the corner, but I didn't see him there. I saw a small spot of blood but other than that there was no sign of him.

"Shit," I muttered to myself as I ran back to the girls.

They quickly noticed my panicked actions.

"What's the matter?" Alison asked.

"Derrick," I sputtered out. "He's- he's not there anymore!"

"What do you mean, 'he's not there anymore?'"

"I told him to go in the back room so he could be safe since his leg is hurt, but now he's gone! We need to go find him!"

I started to run for the door but the two girls quickly pulled me back.

"Are you crazy?" Alison shouted.

"We need to find him!" I retorted. "We can't just leave him out there, wherever he is, without us!"

"Joe, it's night time now!" Amy told me. "There are giants everywhere, and they're in their 'aggressive mode' now. Going out there is suicide!"

In my frenzy I'd completely forgotten about the giants. Now that Amy mentioned it, I heard rhythmic boomings with steps from them, and I saw a pair of feet patrolling far down the street. She was right. Going out there now would be asking to be killed.

"You're... you're right," I admitted, defeated. I hated to say it and leave Derrick with whoever, but it just wasn't safe to go look for him. We'd have to wait for tomorrow. I'd gone out too many times and had too many close calls with giants, and I was actually looking forward to not having another encounter with them.

Everyone was in poor spirits. I was distraught over Derrick and the girls seemed like they hadn't gotten fully over Stacy. Everyone got settled in and they began to fall asleep when I remembered when needed watches. I don't know how I forgot.

"Okay, sorry girls, but we can't go to sleep just yet," I began. "We always need someone to be on watch so nothing happens, and it's even more important with Derrick gone. It'll be harder without him, and we don't want to end up like he did, wherever he is. I'll take first watch. Alison, how about you get second and Amy third?"

The girls agreed and went back to bed. I sat on the counter with my gun ready. I was pretty tired and accidentally let my eyelids close from time to time. Nothing noteworthy happened during my shift. The giants did their walking and occasionally woke me up from my light sleep when they stomped close by the store. I eagerly woke Alison up after some time, but I'm not sure how long exactly. I just did it when I thought it was time. Both of us were very tired and didn't make any exchanges. After getting myself in a comfortable position I quickly fell asleep.

I woke up after a few hours and it was early morning. Amy was on watch now, but she didn't look tired. She didn't really seem to be paying attention to the surroundings, but her shift was basically over now anyway. Night was over and there weren't any immediate threats in the area.

"Hey Amy, see anything interesting?" I asked after a long yawn.

"Nothing really," she replied. "Just the giants. I thought I saw someone one move at one point in that building over there, though."

She pointed to a partially destroyed building a bit over halfway down the street. I didn't see any movement, but I didn't immediately dismiss the belief.

"We should be careful, then," I said. "Well, let's wake Alison up and look for Derrick, I guess."

We roused Alison and, after a quick meal, headed out. Somehow I knew he wouldn't have ran away. Firstly, he wouldn't be able, and second, he had no reason to. He wa a probably taken, and if so, well, they could have taken him anywhere. Closer to the Toes? Possible, but it's dangerous living there. Away from them? More likely, but I wasn't sure. I asked the girls for their input.

"I think if he was taken, he's probably closer to the center of the city," Alison said. "I mean, whoever took him would want us to think they went farther away, since that's the logical thing, right? So they might have gone to the center to trick us."

"That's... that's some pretty good thinking," I replied. "I probably would have thought he went the other way and fallen for the bait. I'm glad you're on our side."

With that we started walking towards the Toes. I didn't know exactly where the "center" was, but the Toes are like a landmark and could be considered the center, I guess. As we walked, I tried to make some conversation and change the somber mood, since they seemed to still be brooding over Stacy.

"So, Alison, I know Amy wanted to be a lawyer," I began, "so what about you? What did you want to be?"

"I wanted to be a doctor," she said. "I studied a bit about medicine but I didn't get too far."

"Well, that's good," I replied. "Even if you don't have much knowledge, it's better than nothing. You could be of much assistance in the future if something happened to someone."

"Oh, no, I couldn't do much. I really don't know that much. I'd just make the injury worse instead of helping!"

"Ah, come on. Don't put yourself down. You know way more about medicine than us. If anyone could do anything to help, it'd be you."

"Well, thank you, but I'm not sure I'd be too helpful in helping someone." She smiled and we continued our walk.

We were once again in an area where the destruction became progressively worse as we went on. Buildings went from fully complete to partially destroyed to really destroyed to piles of rubble. Most were only partially destroyed. This looked kind of similar to that place where Derrick and I hid a few nights ago.

Suddenly we heard something none of us had heard in a long time: music. I spun around, gun ready, as did Alison. I listened intently, trying to find the place where it was coming from, but I couldn't discern it. Amy stood there with a fearful expression on her face, while Alison remained stoic.

The music was very odd and somewhat unsettling. It was some sort of classical music, but none I'd ever heard. It sounded like it was coming straight from a music box, like it was straight out of a horror movie. It had to have been from one; phones were long since dead and there was no way to recharge them, since there hadn't been power in many cities for months. It could have been a record player, but they were becoming increasingly uncommon. Anyway, it didn't really matter; what did matter is that there was music being played.

Alison and I began to walk back the way we came for a short while until we came to an intersection. The music seemed louder now. Amy lagged behind. A sudden movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I quickly turned to the left, but saw nothing.

"Did you see that?" I whispered to Alison.

"No, what did you-"

She was cut off by the sound of laughter. Strange, twisted laughter. It was high pitched, but it didn't sound like it came from a little girl like in the horror movies.

"What the hell..." I said, as Amy looked around in distress.

"I heard it, too," Alison said to me. "What did you see?"

"I saw something move, out of the corner of my eye. When I turned around there was nothing there."

"Strange. What's going on here?"

Another movement caught my attention. I turned faster this time, and I saw a shadowy figure dart past a building at the end of the street and out of sight.

"Quick! There!" I shouted.

I began to run to down the street, with the two girls close behind. I explained between breaths what I'd seen.

We reached the end of the street and came to another intersection.

"I saw them go this way," I said, pointing to the left.

The music's volume had decreased, as we had ran away from it. We continued on down the street at breakneck speed. I heard some sort of rustling noise and stopped abruptly, causing the girls to bump into me.

"Why did-" Amy began, but I quickly put my finger to her lip. She stopped and we listened carefully. The rustling had stopped, presumably when we did. We waited for another noise but we only heard our own heavy breathing. Just as we were about to continue I heard some footsteps in a building next to us.

"Go! Go!" I yelled to Alison and Amy.

I darted into the nearby building with my gun ready. There was only one floor and the place was a mess. Papers were all over the floor and chairs were knocked down. There were some broken windows. As I was quickly evaluating the building, I looked at a stack of papers across the room. They were stalled and some of them fell back down into the stack, like a breeze had come through. But there was barely any wind today. Someone had just been through here.

I shouted to the girls to follow me and I jumped out of one of the broken windows. The music was louder now, but it was the same as before. It must have been on a loop or something. That, or someone was repeatedly opening and closing the music box...

I saw the shadowy figure again, this time turning right and dashing past the building. The girls had caught up to me now. I ran down the street again and was about to turn when I heard a thumping noise. I stopped running and turned around. Alison did the same. Amy was lying on the ground on her back. She'd just fallen.

"Shit..." I muttered.

Alison and I ran up to her. She wasn't dead, luckily, just unconscious. What had happened to her? Had she tripped? It didn't look that likely. Her shoes were tied, and there was nothing really in the road that she might have tripped over.

"What happened to her?" I asked Alison.

"I'm... not sure," she replied. "Doesn't look like she fell. She... what's this?"

"What?"

I looked over at where Alison was pointing. She was pointing at her shoulder. A tiny dot, extremely small compared to Alison's finger, was in Amy's shoulder.

"Is that...?"

"A bullet hole?"

If it was, it was a really, really small bullet. What was in it? Poison or something?

I started to grab Amy to carry her when Alison let out a small yelp. She grabbed her head and started to tremble a bit before she finally fell to the ground.

"Shit!" I yelled. I grabbed my gun and stupidly started firing in every direction. I had no idea where the shooter, if there was one, was shooting from. I wasted tons of bullets, but maybe I'd scared them off?

It didn't seem like it. I'd filtered the music out in the confusion, but now it returned, louder than it had been so far. And the laughter came back as well. This time, it was a maniacal and downright terrifying. It rose higher and higher in pitch. I would have been lying if I said I wasn't scared out of my mind.

Suddenly a person appeared at the end of the road, less than 30 feet away from me. I raised my gun and had my finger on the trigger, ready to fire, but I felt a searing pain in the back of my leg. I winced and, out of instinct, grabbed my leg and dropped the gun.

"No, no, no, no, no..." I began to mumble to myself. I dropped the ground, looking for my gun, but my vision had become distorted and my balance was off. I looked back up to see where the figure was and was frightened to see that they'd closed the gap fairly quickly.

I studied the figure well in the few seconds I looked at them. My vision was really messed up, so I couldn't be sure if what I was seeing was true. The figure was a man; I'd figured that out quickly. He was skinny and didn't have clothing. He had a brown ish sort of skin. He had some sort of underwear on, but that was about it for his body. His head, though, was a whole 'nother story.

He wore a lager headdress, complete with feathers and everything. He wore red facepaint in many different patterns so that it looked like it had been put on haphazardly. He had black circles surrounding his eyes, but they also looked like paint. He looked like someone straight out of some sort of tribe.

The music grew even louder now and the man came closer. The mad laughter started up again. It looked like it was coming from the man, but I wasn't sure. I looked back down for my gun but when I did everything became really distorted. My vision started to go black and everything became started to echo. The laughter sounded awful and frightening with the echo on it, and the music creeped me out.

I looked back up at the man. He was standing over me. In his left hand he held what looked like some sort of blunt weapon. I backed up instinctually but he followed me. Through my almost completely black vision, I saw him raise up his weapon and slash it across his body. Then my vision went completely black.

I woke up with a jump. I was being dragged uncomfortably by my arms. Two large men were holding on to them and dragging me on the ground. When they noticed I had waken, they jerked me up to my feet and forced me to walk. Ahead of me was Amy, in the same situation as me. I looked behind and saw Alison suffering the same fate as us. I felt a painful sensation in the side of my neck and turned back around. The man on my right had punched me, hard.

"Keep looking forward," he commanded. I didn't need any further encouragement.

We were in a pretty run down part of the city. The buildings were not in good condition, and there were numerous cracks all throughout the road. I had no idea what was going on. I looked at my captors out of the corner of my eye so as not to let them know I was looking. They looked similar to the man I'd seen earlier. They both wore matching headdresses. The feathers seemed to be from an eagle, but I wasn't sure. Unlike the first man, however, they wore quite a bit of bulky clothing. It looked like tactical gear, like something soldiers might have worn. It was all gray. They had matching red face paint like the first man as well.

Other than the sound of our own footsteps and an occasional bird chirp, everything was pretty quiet. Our captors remained stone faced, showing no emotion. We walked onward for a time that probably seemed longer than it was. The man on Amy's left side looked back towards me. He was smaller in stature than the other men I'd seen so far. His face showed no emotion at first, but then it changed. For a few seconds it displayed something else, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Guilt? Remorse? Fear? I didn't know. As quickly as his face had shown something it changed back into its stoic form.

Besides the man turning around and the peculiar exchange, nothing noteworthy happened on our walk. I was beginning to feel tired when we turned a corner and I saw a large, wooden barricade. There were some makeshift towers situated between two buildings. The whole structure spanned the entire length of the street. There were men situated in the towers, presumably guards. My first thought was that it looked oddly similar to some sort of prison.

Large, wooden gates were opened by the guards as we drew nearer. On a board right above the entrance, scrawled in black paint, were the words "The Ring." We passed through the doors and inside the place looked very different from a prison. It looked like a mini city.

The buildings already there were being used as homes for the residents. In the streets were some different stalls being used as shops. People were milling about, shopping and chatting. To my surprise, no one really payed us much attention. There weren't that many people, but the place had a considerable number of occupants.There were some other newly made structures, including what looked like a town hall and a place for food.

Taking in the surroundings was a short lived event, as we were forcefully motioned to start walking again, this time to our right. We were led at a brisk pace and after a short distance were turned to our right again. I knew what ever we had been taken here for wasn't good, but now I had a good idea of what we were in store for. A building stood alone in front of us. It was unlike most of the others, as it was made of stronger materials like bricks and possibly metal. We were lead into the place, and a crude sign let us know that this was the "town" jail.

The interior was a dull shade of brownish red. It must have been the bricks. Inside there were a few cells with the iconic metal barricade door. Unfortunately, we were not the place's only prisoners. In a cell by himself sat Derrick. He was slunched over and didn't look too well. Neither of us were happy to see each other, as now we both were suffering.

Alison, Amy and I were shoved into different cells, but at least the four of us were next to each other. I was in the furthest fell from the door, with Derrick on my right. The place was pretty well made, but there weren't any walls between the cells. They were just squares put next to each other, so we could all easily see into the cell next door. Maybe they didn't have enough resources.

"No talking and do as you're told," one of the men who had brought us here told us. We nodded our heads in tacit agreement.

"Trent, you stay here on watch for now," another man said.

The smaller man who'd looked back at me sat down in the only chair outside of the cells. His comrades walked out. He must be Trent.

With nothing to do, and not wanting to risk punishment by talking, I sat on the small wooden bench that was in the cell. It was a much preferable alternative to the floor. The five of us sat in silence for a while. The four of us were too scared to talk and Trent had nothing to reprimand us for.

The jail had no windows, but I could see out the door, since the men hadn't closed it when they left. I saw people performing their day to day tasks like they would have just two years ago. It was like they had rebuilt a tiny part of civilization here. It was almost normal. Almost. Something just seemed off. I looked away from the door and turned my attention back towards the jail. On the wall to my left I saw a wooden board hammered to the wall. There was writing on it, which was very ambiguous and ominous. At the top it just said "SP" and below it was a list of names and dates. I didn't really have any clue as to what it was.

"You know what you guys are here for?" Trent said suddenly, startling us. None of us spoke but we shook our heads. Then he whispered. "Well, I'm not supposed to tell you guys, so don't tell anyone I told you.

"I hate to say it, but you guys are here as a-"

One of the men from before busted into the room and Trent stopped talking.

"Yes?" He asked the man.

"We got news that she's coming today. They need you over at the headquarters."

"What? She isn't due till Sunday'!"

"That's correct. We don't know why, but she has decided to come early. The Sacrifice will still happen Sunday, but she will be here today."

My heart skipped a beat and I got all tense. The Sacrifice? That couldn't be good. Why were we here, then? Are we the Sacrifice? My mind raced and I started to sweat.

"How long till she's here, so you think?" Trent asked, seemingly a little worried.

"We were told just a few minutes ago, so we expect her to be here within 15 minutes. Now, head over to headquarters. I'll stay here."

Trent ran his hand through his hair and left the jail. The man who replaced him did not seem as hospitable as Trent. He didn't say anything to us and instead read a magazine. Why? I wasn't sure. Maybe it was Playboy or something like that, as there was no news published anymore.

My mind ran through hundreds of different thoughts about what Trent and the man had said. I was frightened. Whatever the Sacrifice was, it was happening Sunday. Why would we be here, other than for it? The others seemed to be distressed as well.

A slight rumbling interrupted my thoughts. The man with the magazine noticed it as well. It slowly became more powerful as the giant neared our position. This must've been the woman he mentioned earlier. The volume of the booms rose as well. People were shouting in the street. They just not have heard the news.The whole jail shook violently and suddenly it stopped. She was probably standing still now. Maybe she was right outside the entrance. For whatever reason she was here, it could not be good. The man with the magazine got up and left us alone. I looked out through the door and saw people panicking as the men with the tactical gear tried to calm them.

This whole ordeal went on for a few minutes, and eventually Trent ran back into the jail. He was out of breath and it took him a minute to gain it back.

"You can talk," he said in between breaths.

"What the hell is going on?" Derrick blurted out.

"I thought you'd ask that," he replied. "Look, don't be mad at me. I don't want to do this to you guys, and I don't really want to be here either. But it offers a lot and I can't leave safely."

"Just tell us what's happening!"

"Okay! These people, they're crazy. I can't get out of here. It looks nice, but reall, it's not. The giant comes here once a week. I don't know how it started, but now every week they choose someone as a sacrifice to the giant. It lets us all live for another week."

"And who is going to be sacrificed?" I asked.

"Prisoners are sacrificed before any citizens are. I'm sorry. I don't know what there is to do."

We were all shocked. No one spoke. Amy began to sob, understandably. Was one of us really going to die Sunday?

"Trent...why is she here already?" Alison asked in a small voice.

"I'm not sure. She doesn't seem happy, though. Hopefully she won't take her anger out on us."

One of the men came back, this time with some food. We were all hungry and grateful. We were each given a meager amount of what looked like chicken. Maybe they had some sort of farm here. I can't speak for the others, as I didn't pay much attention, but I wolfed my food down. It hadn't even been a day since I'd eaten, but I was starving. The little food we had wasn't enough. Preoccupied with the food, I'd failed to notice that Trent had left once again and been replaced by someone else. We all sat in silence, contemplating our futures. If what Trent said was true, and it almost surely was, one of us would not make it. Who would they choose? Even worse, what if they made us choose? Who would we choose? I didn't want to think about it.

I lay down on the bench and closed my eyes for a bit. After a bit I sat back up and Trent returned one final time. He brought some food with him.

"I know you guys didn't have enough to eat so I got you a little more," he said. "Eat it quick and give the plate back to me so they don't know."

We did as he said, grateful for the extra food.

"Are you like this with all the prisoners?" Derrick asked.

Trent stood silently for a minute before answering. "No, but I was never particularly cruel to them, like some of the others. I decided I'll try to help as much as I can without them knowing. It's only right."

We finished our meals and handed back the plates. As he was about to leave, I stopped him.

"Wait! Trent!"

He stopped and turned. "Yes?"

"When is Sunday?"

"Tomorrow."

With that, he left the building and closed the door. So that settled it. Was one of us really going to be sacrifice tomorrow? I pushed the thought out of my head and tried to get a good night's rest, but sleep didn't come easily, and whenever I fell asleep I awoke again within an hour. It was one of the worst nights I've had in a while.

If you didn't read the chapter notes, I highly suggest you do.

"Get up."

A harsh voice commanded the four of us to rouse from our sleep. It definitely wasn't Trent. It was one of our original captors, complete with their gray gear.

We got up and saw that there were multiple other men adorned in the same fashion as the man who woke us. We were let out of our cells and led out to the town center, where most of the stalls were. A large crowd had already gathered. Men, women and children all look at us with different emotions. I saw a woman look disgusted, a man look grateful and another look scared. I would have been like the second man: if we were truly getting sacrificed, and I was that man, then that would be I wasn't dying today, and I'd be happy.

"Okay, everyone, settle down," one of the soldiers said to the crowd as he pulled off his mask. His features were just like the man's voice earlier: rough and harsh. His eyes matched his clothing and his short cropped hair made him look like a real solider.

The crowd's chatter died down to hushed and murmurs before silencing completely.

"Alright everyone, it's that time of the week again," he began. "We're very lucky that we have these four here who are doing us a great favor. They are laying down our lives so we don't have to. Now, you're probably wondering why we've gathered you here, right? Well, we would like to present you with a choice.

"We, the scouts and soldiers, have already eliminated two of these four from being sacrificed today. As you all know, this is a rough world, and only the strong survive. Even though we have only a short time to observe them, we have found that these two are more able bodied than the others, and as such will not be sacrificed today."

He came over to the four of us and chose the two that were "stronger." He put his left hand on Alison's shoulder and led her forward. I heard her let out a relieved sigh. Then he came back to bring forward the other. He looked us all in the eye, smiling the whole time, feigning compassion and kindness. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see this whole thing down.

I felt a heavy hand set down on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, bewildered.

"C'mon, son. Today's not your day," he whispered to me.

In a daze I stepped forward next to Alison. I should have been relieved. I wasn't going to die today. Is that not call for celebration?

Behind me I heard muffled sobs from Amy. I turned around. Amy was a mess. Derrick stood there stoically.

"These two, in the back, show qualities that do not make them as able bodied as these two," the man said, gesturing at us. "Please, you two in the back, step forward."

Before they even had a chance to follow his order two soldiers were on them, grabbing their arms and pulling them forward.

"As you can see here, the man, is lame. His leg has restricted him greatly thus far. And the woman, well... she does not have a physical defect, but rather an emotional one. She does not seem able to... keep her calm and may often give in to her emotions."

At this Amy started crying more heavily; if this was it for her, why hold back? A slight tremor caught my attention as well as some others'. The talking man, the commander, I presumed, arched an eyebrow but didn't stop his speech.

"And the choice we ask of you, our people, is which one?"

All at once the crowd began shouting and yelling, calling out their choice for the sacrifice. I felt bad for Amy and Derrick. One of them was going to die, that much was obvious, but this was just humiliating. I heard cruel remarks from in the crowd directed at both of them. Apparently prisoners were really disliked here. Both of their names were shouted a lot, but it seemed that Amy's was being yelled more.

"Okay, okay, everyone, please calm down," the commander shouted. "We are finding it very hard to get a good count of what everyone is saying. How about we do it like this: a show of hands? Who wants the man?"

Many hands shot up, and I heard someone counting to my right while another furiously scribbled something down.

"Alright, thank you. Now, who wants the girl?"

Again, many hands shot up, and it seemed like it was more than before, although I couldn't be sure. The same scene occurred on my right. The man who'd been writing waved his hand, beckoning for the commander to come over. I heard some whispering between them but I couldn't make out what they were saying. After a bit more discussion, the commander took the notebook and returned to his speaking position.

"Okay, everyone. This is the moment you've been waiting for. It was a close one," the commander said, smiling. "Very close. However, it seems that one of them was chosen slightly more than the other. The one who will be sacrificed today is the girl."

I heard a small outburst from Amy before she was drowned out by the roar of the crowd. I looked back and saw Amy being comforted by one of the soldiers. Derrick still showed little emotion, but the relief on his face was clear. Next to me, Alison cried a little. Her and Amy had been friendsfor who knows how long, and she just watched her best friend get sentenced to death. Me? I couldn't deny I was glad it wasn't me, and I was glad it wasn't Derrick, either. I still didn't want to see her die, though. She was a nice girl.

The commander walked back to Amy, and I could hear what he was saying to her, although with a little difficulty.

"I'm sorry this had to happen to you," he said to her. "I know it must be hard, but it's for the good of everyone else."

"It's not fair!" Amy bawled. "Why me? This is sick!"

"It's what the people chose," he said matter of factly. "Now, c'mon, we don't want to keep her waiting any longer."

Path 1

Amy was led out of the walls by some soldiers. I thought it was over, that she'd be sacrificed and we'd be put in our cells. I wasn't entirely wrong; I just didn't think they'd make us watch it.

"What the hell? Are you crazy?" Derrick yelled. "I'm not watching that shit!"

"Commander's orders," a solider said.

He was grabbed by two soldiers, as were Alison and I. We were led out of the walls. Amy was already ahead of us, putting up quite the fight against the soldiers. We were around 50 feet behind them.

We walked for about 200 feet before we turned to the left and there she was. The giant. Amy wriggled around, trying to free the men's grip, but to no avail. They held on to her with an iron grip. The soldiers holding us held on but left us behind Amy.

The commander came from behind us and then stepped between Amy and us.

"I know you're wondering why I brought you here," he said. "I know it must be hard for you, but you need to know what it's like. What you need to do when it's your turn."

He turned to the soldiers holding Amy.

"Alright, men. Let's begin."

The soldiers walked forward the giant's feet. They got around 10 feet away before stopping. They simultaneously released her arms and stepped about five feet away.

Like everyone there expected, Amy immediately bolted away but she barely got anywhere before she was grabbed and brought back. She repeated this a few times before the soldiers were forced to bring her right in front of the giant's toe.

Amy trembled before the toe that dwarfed her. The three of them stood there, mere feet away from it. I wondered how the giant would know which one to kill. The soldiers were masked, so she couldn't recognize their faces. Maybe it was their suits. That had to be it.

The giant looked down, blonde hair covering her face because of gravity. She raised her large toe overhead. Any stood there, fixated on it. The giant's toe lowered slowly, as if the giant were trying to get it in just the right position. It then stopped suddenly, and then rapidly came down with great force. Unlike Stacy, I couldn't hear the individual bones crack. I only heard the boom of her toe coming down. I was glad it was over quickly, but nevertheless I shuddered at the sight. Alison let out a small shriek. Derrick winced. Just like that, it was over.

The giant picked up her foot and rubbed her thumb over her toe. Just like with Stacy, her red nail polish matched the small dot on the underside of her toe. She set her foot down with a small thud. She stood there for a minute, doing nothing. I was afraid she was going to stomp on us all. She could easily have done it right then. The soldiers must have been confident that she wouldn't, as none of them seemed worried and none were even armed.

The giant did nothing after standing there for whatever reason and stomped away down the road to who knows where. The soldiers lessened their grips on my arm and led us back to the town, with the three of us in poor spirits.

The commander took note of this.

"I know you must be upset because of your friend," he said to us. "But think of it this way. She died so we could live to the next week. If it wasn't for her, maybe you would be dead now."

If he was trying to comfort us, it didn't work. No one said anything as we were led back to our jail cells. Trent said they'd put us to work tomorrow; anything was better than being in this cell with nothing but the images of our friend being crushed right in front of us. I hoped he was right. This place was getting worse as time went on.

Path 2

Struggling and crying, Amy was led out of the town and past the walls. Once she had gotten out of sight, we were led back to our cells.

"You know the rules," a soldier said to us under his concealing mask. "No talking and don't try anything funny."

At least they had the decency not to make us watch Amy die. Surprisingly, the soldier exited the room and left us on our own. Still, we didn't want to talk, in case someone was secretly watching us and waiting for us to do something wrong.

Another tremor snapped me out of my thought, this one a bit more powerful than the one I'd heard before the crowd chose who to sacrifice. Was that it? Had the giant killed Amy already, and I was hearing her foot making contact with the ground? It couldn't have been. They'd barely left and it felt a bit too loud for the giant's size.

The door, having been left open by the soldier again, gave me a good view of what was going on in the town. People were running about and I heard some screaming, though not too much. Some were running through the street with backpacks and other gear packed away. I thought this was all pretty strange.

A third tremor, much more powerful than the previous one, shook the flimsy jail about. I heard more screams in the streets and people were really starting to run amok. I looked over at Derrick. He'd dropped the stoic look and replaced it with one of fear. Alison looked pretty similar to Derrick.

Feeling brave, I decided to speak to my fellow inmates. The people were loud and it'd be hard for a soldier to hear me. Besides, they were probably more occupied with the people anyway.

"What the hell is going on?"

"You think I know?" Derrick retorted, and I couldn't help but laugh. Something about the way he said it was funny to me.

"I don't know, I just thought maybe someone might."

As it so happened, someone did know. Trent came running into the jail, seemingly looking for something.

"Trent!" I shouted. "What's going on?"

"Hurry... big one... gotta go," he said between breaths.

"Huh?"

"Trent, let us out!" Alison screamed.

Trent looked up, out of breath. He looked like he really did not want to open up and like he wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. After a short time thinking, he grabbed the keys off the wall and started to let us out.

He dropped the keys from the force of the forth tremor. As expected, it was evenmore powerful than its predecessors and it shook the small building.
Some debris fell from the ceiling.

Trent scrambled to pick up the keys and free us. He opened the cages one by one, starting with me. We thanked him once free, but he didn't stay around long. He bolted out of the building, forgetting whatever he'd come in for in the first place.

We follows him through the street, past small stalls and through little alleyways. Most people hadn't left the area and still milled about, not sure what to do. We dodged past them in a mad dash to anywhere but here.

I looked back and saw what had been causing the tremors. Now Trent's words made sense.

It was a giant, of course, but not just any giant. It was one of the big ones. The ones a mile tall. I'd only encountered one before, and that was on the very first day, one I'm very lucky to have survived. I couldn't see her whole body, just a long, long leg in the distance.

The four of us ran through the back ways out of the town. We were only a few dozen feet from the town. I dared to look back again and heard a moaning sound. Her leg was moving. Suddenly an intense scream and bang was heard all throughout the town. The giant's enormous foot crashed clear through one of the tiny buildings in comparison to her. It then proceeded to crash through dozens more, obliterating almost the entire town. Her foot rubbed close to the ground, clipping anyone in its path and immediately killing them. Black toenails might have been the last thing many people saw.

Debris rained down on whoever was still alive inside the place. There was too much to run from, as basically whole buildings fell upon them. The sound from all the creaking and collapsing buildings was overwhelming. The town was ruined.The giant's foot set down with a resounding thud that shook the ground and knocked us to our knees. I saw a colossal sole speed past though the air, far away from the town. It was caked with debris and parts of buildings. The other foot likely looked the same, just filled with insane amounts of blood.

In less than 30 seconds, and just by walking, the giant had completely demolished the town. Trent suggested we go back to try and help anyone and look for anything to salvage. We had, after all, lost all of our belongings to this woman.

We trudged back through debris that littered the streets. Entire mounds of rubble and support beams was not uncommon. We arrived at considerably larger mounds and could only assume this was what the town used to be. That's almost all there was: piles upon piles of debris. There weren't many bodies, just red spots on the ground. Every so often we'd come across an arm or leg sticking out from underneath tons of wreckage. I was nearly sick from all this death and destruction.

"There's nothing left," I said after some time. "Everything's destroyed. We can't salvage anything."

"There has to be something," Trent said. "Look, in that building. It's in good condition."

By good condition he met not a pile of debris. Half of the place was gone. The entire interior was exposed and I could see some sort of chest. I inspected it and inside found a backpack, along with some food and water. Barely enough for four people, but it was better than nothing.

"Wh-where's Amy?" Alison asked quietly after I had returned.

That... was a good question. I hadn't thought about that. She was probably dead. The giant was huge and very hard to avoid. We were lucky we had. Then again, since she was so big, each step had more room in between. Maybe, if Amy was lucky, she had been in between her feet and not had been crushed.

I voiced these thoughts to the group and Derrick asked what we should do now.

"Do we leave now without her or go looking for her, even though she might not be there?"

"We have to look," Alison replied immediately.

"I hate to say it, but she's probably dead," Trent said. "No use in looking for her then. We could get out of here and somewhere safer sooner if left now."

"I can't just leave my friend like that!" Alison yelled.

"Fine. We can wait her for her, but only for an hour. Then we're leaving."

Alison accepted this proposition. The three of them sat on a nearly destroyed support beam while I searched in vain for any more supplies.

After an hour, and with no sign of Amy, we reluctantly left the decimated town. Alison cried a bit as she left her friend. We had no idea where to go and just walked on and on. Anywhere was in better condition than this place. Well, maybe not right by the Toes, but this place was in really bad condition. No one said anything as we walked away from the complete and total destruction of the town and away from Amy.