The high noon sun hung bright in the afternoon sky, casting a light over the suburban cul-de-sac. A gentle breeze rustled the trees lining the street while the soft hum of distant lawnmowers and the occasional bark of a dog filled the air. A beautiful woman knelt in a flowerbed, her feet resting in the dark soil and her skin glowing warmly under the sun’s rays. Strands of wavy blonde hair tumbled around her face as she hunched over, diligently pulling weeds and loosening the soil.
As the woman tended to her begonias, her gaze shifted downward, and her face immediately morphed into a frown. A colony of tiny black ants, no more than specks to her, had emerged from the uprooted dirt and scattered in every direction.
"Great," she muttered under her breath, shifting her weight onto the balls of her feet as she scowled, her eyes narrowing. "Every fucking time…"
The ants were always there, creeping along the borders and finding their way into her garden of carefully cultivated flowers. She sighed and her lips curled into a grimace as she leaned closer to inspect the tiny pests that disturbed her peace. Her grip tightened on her trowel. She was getting sick of this.
With an exasperated grunt, the woman leaned further forward and reached for a spray bottle lying in the far corner of her garden. The plastic was well-worn and faded from exposure to the elements, and its pink nozzle gleamed in the sunlight. She gripped it in her hand and aimed directly at the ants, the creatures utterly unaware of the massacre they were about to face. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she repeatedly squeezed the nozzle and shot out a fine cloud of mist that descended upon the garden below. The tiny droplets landed on the ants, causing them to scatter even more frantically, their tiny bodies trying to outrun the invisible death that they couldn’t avoid.
“Dumb little things,” the woman muttered to herself, the faintest trace of irritation seeping through her tone.
She leaned in closer and watched apathetically as the ants helplessly scrambled over each other and fought against the spray that slowly took its toll. The smaller ones were the first to drop, their tiny bodies curling up with their legs still twitching before going completely still. She squeezed the nozzle again, released another burst of the spray, and smiled watching the remaining ants fight against their fate. Their efforts were futile however, as every ant shriveled into a ball, and the woman’s garden was left a graveyard.
“They never learn…”
Across the yard a young man stood partially hidden behind the wooden fence separating their yards, fixated on his neighbor’s every move. He hadn’t meant to spy on her, but his eyes couldn’t help but trace the curves of his neighbor’s figure as she crouched over her garden. She wore a pair of snug, low-rise denim shorts that hugged the curves of her hips perfectly, and her toned tanned legs stretched out beneath her as they held a squat, while her hands dug into the soil. Her gorgeous blond hair cascaded over a loose crop top that shifted upward as she reached over for a spray bottle, granting a gratuitous view of her lower back. Below that, he could see into the waistband of her jeans leading down into-
The young man's thoughts snapped back to reality when he realized he’d been staring for way too long. His cheeks flushed as he pushed himself off and walked around the fence, trying his best to sound casual.
“Uh, Honey! Hey!” Kevin called out, his voice shakier than he intended.
His neighbor paused and looked up from her task, her eyes squinting against the sunlight before she saw him and gave him a warm smile.
“Oh, hi Kevin!” she called back, rising from her work and walking over to the fence. “Back from grad school for the summer?”
Kevin gave a half-smile and shifted his weight. “Yeah, got back a few weeks ago,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Just tryna keep busy. Messing around with this project in my parents’ garage while they’re out of town.” He hesitated, then added, “Figured I’d take a breather, and happened to see you over here, so I thought I’d say hi.”
Honey laughed lightly, a playful glint in her eye. “So, I’m the lucky one who gets to see you step foot outside huh?” She crossed her arms and tilted her head. “Let me guess, some kind of science project?”
“Yeah, something like that,” he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. He shifted his weight, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Been working on it for a few months. Got it set up in the garage if you want to check it out. Nothing fancy, but kinda cool.”
Honey raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Alright, sure. I gotta see what you’ve been cooking up.” She gave her spray bottle a little shake and shrugged. “Just gimme a minute to finish up here, gotta take care of some business first.”
"Cool, yeah, no rush," Kevin said, doing his best to sound casual, even as his heart pounded. He turned on his heel and speed-walked up his driveway, fighting the urge to break into a full sprint.
Entering the garage, Kevin took a steadying breath to shake off his nerves. His eyes darted around the cluttered space, trying to figure out how he was going to impress his neighbor. Shelves lined the walls, crowded with tools, wires, and half-finished experiments that had never come to fruition. And right in the center of the garage was his younger sister, Lily, kneeling next to a messy pile of scrap metal and wires she’d helped him build over the last few weeks.
Lily was dressed in her usual oversized tee and overalls, with her dark hair pulled up messily into a ponytail. Her face was set in deep concentration as she tightened a screw on the device. It looked like a giant bulky hairdryer, with a steel chamber and several blinking lights connected to a haphazard mess of wires that spilled all over the place.
Kevin walked up beside her, leaning on the device as he let out a soft sigh. “Guess who’s coming over to check out the project,” he said with a hint of excitement.
“Your girlfriend,” Lily deadpanned, not even glancing up.
“Very funny,” Kevin rolled his eyes. “No, Honey.”
That got her attention. She looked up and raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Oh, so I was right. I bet you’re thrilled about that.”
Ignoring the jab, Kevin nodded at the machine. “Did you finish routing the power supply? It should be ready to go after that.”
“Chill Romeo. Maybe we’d be done by now if you weren’t off trying to woo our neighbor,” Lily teased, giving him a sly look. “You think this thing is gonna impress her?”
Kevin shot her a look. “Could you at least pretend to be supportive? And it’s not about wooing her. I was just walking by and she just, seemed interested, that’s all.”
"Oh, right. She used to babysit us, Kevin. No matter what you do, even if it’s building a freaking shrink ray, she’s still always gonna see you as a little kid."
“It’s a molecular compressor, not a shrink ray,” Kevin muttered, adjusting some dials. “It won’t shrink things down to crazy sizes, just make them a little smaller. It’s more of a proof of concept.”
“Oh, I believe that,” Lily mumbled, connecting some power cables. “And you’re sure it’s safe to show her? Since it’s, y’know, untested?”
Kevin sighed. “Yes, it does work. It will. It should.”
Lily snorted. “Yeah, sounds super reliable, Kev.”
“Look, I’ve done the math. I’d just, like to do a quick test run before Honey shows up.”
“Yeah well, you and your girlfriend can have all the fun you want with your toy. “I’ll be watching from a safe distance if that’s alright.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Kevin exhaled, brushing off his hands as he glanced over at the tangle of wires. Just help me finish routing the power, alright?”
Lily rolled her eyes but leaned back down, shifting a few cables aside as she adjusted the power supply. “Fine, but don’t blame me if this thing blows up.”
Kevin shot her a glare, giving the wires a final check. “It’s not gonna blow up,” he muttered, more to himself than her, as he tightened a connection.
The siblings continued to work in silence, and the garage was filled only with the faint hum of electricity. Then a crackling sound snapped from inside the machine.
"Uh, Kev? Is it supposed to sound like that?" Lily asked, taking a step back and glancing between the machine and her brother.
“It’s under control,” Kevin said, waving it off. “Probably just the power warming up or something.”
But as soon as the words left his mouth, another crackle sparked from within the machine, louder this time. His brow furrowed, eyes narrowing as he glanced between Lily and the machine. A burst of sparks shot out from the machine’s base, followed by a thin wisp of smoke snaking up into the air.
“Fuck…”
Kevin bolted to the other side of the garage to shut down the generator.
But he didn’t make it. The machine let out a sharp pop, followed by a rapid series of snaps and crackles like fireworks going off.
"Lily, get back!" he shouted, throwing an arm up to shield his face just as a burst of sparks sprayed across the garage like tiny shooting stars. The machine unleashed a blinding flash of light. Kevin felt the wave of heat and pressure hit him, forcing his eyes shut as everything disappeared in a flash of white and he collapsed to the ground.
Kevin blinked, disoriented. He slowly pushed himself off the ground as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He saw Lily pushing herself up to his right, and their shrink ray still in front of them, right where it had been. Beyond that… walls and ceiling that stretched thousands of feet in every direction like the looming interior of a warehouse. The gentle hum of the overhead light was now a distant roar, and the once smooth concrete floor was now a rough uneven landscape. He was still in their garage, but was viewing it from a warped perspective that shouldn’t have been possible.
Lily groaned as she staggered to her feet. She looked around, her expression rapidly shifting from confusion to horror as she too realized the enormity of their situation.
“Kevin, what the hell did you do?!” She rounded on him, eyes blazing in panic. “You said it was fine! You said everything was under control!”
Her brother winced, rubbing his temples as he tried to piece everything together. "Lily, I... I didn’t expect this. It was just a glitch in the molecular compressor’s calibration. The system’s feedback loop must’ve triggered an error, and it, well, it overshot. Okay? I didn’t know this was gonna happen!"
“Just an error!?” Lily’s voice climbed, raw with frustration. “You said this was impossible! Kevin, we’re the size of fucking bugs! That’s not just an error!!” She grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him against the floor. “You said you knew what you were doing!!”
Kevin caught her wrists, his face flushing. “Lily stop! Hitting me isn’t gonna bring us back to normal size!”
Lily threw her hands up. “I knew this was a bad idea!” She stormed over to the tiny machine and kicked it. “Your stupid shrink ray’s probably fried now, and we’re stuck like this!”
Kevin opened his mouth to argue, but a rhythmic booming cut him off and the siblings whipped their heads around. Beyond the garage was the most terrifying thing they’d seen in their lives: Honey approaching from the driveway.
Lily’s voice was barely a whisper. “What, the fuck...”
Even from several miles away, their bombshell neighbor still looked massive. Each powerful stride only caused her form to grow larger and larger, until her titanic feet, clad in strappy leather sandals, dominated the horizon.
“Kevin?” Honey's once-sweet voice now deeply thundered off the walls as she peered into the garage with innocent curiosity.
She slowly thundered into the room, her booming footsteps now becoming powerful quakes that rippled through the concrete floor as her overwhelming presence continued to grow. Each earth-shaking step was punctuated by the sharp snap of her leather sandal flipping against her heel like a deafening thunderclap, echoing throughout the vast garage.
“You in here?”
Kevin was too stunned to move, as his mind failed to comprehend his beautiful neighbor’s overwhelming form. Another footstep landed just a few thousand feet away, sending a shockwave through the ground that rattled his skull, yet his knees remained firmly rooted to the ground. Kevin could feel Lily desperately tugging at his arm, but her insignificant voice was drowned by Honey’s oppressive presence.
“We have to fucking move! Now!”
Honey’s foot once more lifted skyward, followed by a roaring rush of wind as her leg swept forward above Kevin in casual stride. Time slowed as he witnessed the underside of her sandal surge overhead, then begin its descent directly upon him. The city block-sized sole eclipsed his entire view, and as it grew closer like a collapsing leather sky, he could see its surface was peppered with specks of dirt and fragments of grass wedged into creases too small for Honey to ever notice. Even the scattered remains of unfortunate insects clung to her sole like a battlefield massacre, obliterated beneath thousands of tons of her foot without a moment’s notice or care from the titan above. Just as he was about to be.
A sharp THUD slammed into his ribs as Lily tackled him. They hit the ground hard, skidding painfully across its rough surface.
“Wait!” Kevin screamed as his mind snapped back into focus. “The shrink r-”
THOOM
Honey’s foot slammed inches from the kids, and the force from the impact sent them flying even further across the floor and left them sprawled on the concrete. Through ringing vision, Kevin witnessed her city block-sized foot towering above them as it slowly peeled off the ground, followed by another leathery thunderclap. And where her foot once stood, he spotted the twisted remains of his shrink ray; a mangled sheet of metal and glass embedded in the cement.
“Lily? Anybody home?”
Honey thundered deeper into the garage, her steps still sending tremors through the concrete as Kevin and Lily lay on the floor. She hummed softly to herself as she idly looked around, then came to a stop and fished her phone out of her pocket. Her thumb began lazily flicking across the screen, blissfully unaware of her neighbor’s almost obliterated beneath her feet.
Kevin clutched his forehead as he blinked away the dizziness. He struggled to comprehend what had just happened, but a rush of adrenaline and urgency broke through the terror clouding his mind.
“Lily, we have to get her attention,” he said, pulling himself up and glancing at Honey’s massive feet resting like mountains in the distance. “She’s the only one who can help us.”
His sister’s eyes widened. “Are you insane?” she hissed, grabbing his arm. “She’s a fucking mountain Kevin! How’re we supposed to get her attention when we’re literally smaller than fucking ants?”
“I know, I know,” Kevin clenched his fists as frustration boiled beneath his terror. “Lily, the machine is decimated. Nobody else is home. Nobody is coming home for weeks. If we don’t get discovered by her, we’re trapped at this size.”
Lily looked around, lingering on the dark corners and the wide open door. Her eyes drifted back to Honey, still on her phone.
“It’s… it’s still crazy,” she muttered. “What if she crushes us without realizing it? What if we’re too small for her to even see?”
“It’s a risk,” Kevin took a deep breath, his gaze hardening. “But it’s better than getting eaten by a spider, or just being left here to die. Honey’s our only shot at being saved.”
“Fine,” Lily swallowed. “But if we get killed, it’s on you.”
With that, they sprinted across their vast garage floor toward their giantess neighbor, who’d begun absent-mindedly tapping her foot. As her immense feet approached on the horizon the impact from these taps grew from distant booms to subtle quakes. But the siblings miraculously managed to stay on their feet, and close the distance before she grew bored and walked away.
Now they found themselves in front of her leather sandal that stood like the base of an imposing monument, and craned their necks back to behold their mountainous neighbor who loomed further into the sky. Their eyes ran along the form of her toned, tanned, towering legs, past her midriff, and up to her breasts, which jutted out like overhanging cliffs that obscured any view of her face. Beyond those voluminous cliffs, a frustrated sigh rumbled from thousands of feet above. Their only hope of salvation was growing impatient, and wouldn’t hold still for much longer.
Newfound fear fueling their urgency, Kevin and Lily scrambled to climb up the sandal, digging their fingers into the uneven leathery wall. High above, the undersides of Honey's toes idly scrunched and gripped the edge of their perch, taunting the gnats on her shoe, and daring them to climb closer. Kevin's hands gripped the platform’s edge and hoisted himself and Lily up, then collapsed from exhaustion. As they caught their breath, they found themselves face to face with those massive predators that had been waiting for them.
Her toes reared up a five-headed beast and flexed menacingly in the air, wafting the scent of sweat and faint vanilla lotion toward the shrunken pair, then returned to rest upon their leathery bed. Honey herself was a formidable mountain, but each toe was an elegant monument on its own, well-pampered and crowned with blood-red nail polish.
Lily clutched her aching ribs. “Okay… so what’s the plan here?” she gasped. “There’s no way you think we’re climbing all that.” She threw a weary hand up at Honey’s smooth skyscraper of a leg.
No… that’s not gonna work,” Kevin looked up and swallowed hard. His gaze returned to the massive toes in front of them. “The skin on her feet has to be sensitive. If we scratch at it, maybe she’ll feel it.”
“You hope she’ll feel it,” Lily grimaced. “Or maybe she’ll feel it, and pulverize us.”
“Got a better idea?” Kevin yelled over his shoulder, already sprinting toward the house-sized digits. “We’re running out of time before she leaves!” His minuscule fists began beating against the wall of Honey’s index toe, and with a sigh, his sister ran over to join him.
“Honey, please! We’re on your shoe, you have to notice us!”
The siblings relentlessly pounded on the underside of her toe with all their strength, but it was like punching a brick wall. The thick and calloused skin offered no give as they continued to beat at it until the sides of their fists swelled, and they resorted to clawing against the ridges of her toeprint. But despite their best efforts, the only response they received was a lazy unconscious wiggle that wasn’t even elicited by them.
“We have to go further in!” Kevin desperately shouted as he made a beeline between her toes. “The skin will be softer!”
The deeper they ran, the more the musky scent of Honey’s sweat grew and clung to their bodies like a thick haze. The air was saturated with the overpowering aroma of worn leather and salty perspiration that burned their noses and filled their lungs with every desperate breath. The spongy sole of her sandal was now damp with moisture that squelched beneath their feet, and beads of sweat clung to the canyon walls of her toes like condensation on a humid day. Yet the diminutive duo persisted and fruitlessly clawed against the slick surface as they continued deeper in.
“Come on, come on,” Kevin desperately muttered as he raked his fingers against the clammy skin. “Just feel something!”
The canyon rumbled as thousands of tons of weight shifted onto the sandal beneath them. Before Lily and Kevin could brace themselves, their entire world lurched forward abruptly.
Honey was back on the move.
A deafening groan of creaking leather filled the air as Honey began her first step. The mites between her toes were thrown into the air like ragdolls, then slammed face-first back into her rapidly ascending sandal. The impact knocked the wind from Kevin’s lungs, and he struggled to regain his breath within the thick humidity of her foot sweat.
Lily let out a muffled scream, her face forcibly pressed against the damp insole. “K-Kevin-”
BOOM
Her voice was drowned out by the deafening impact of Honey’s heel striking the ground and sending a seismic sequence throughout the canyon that threatened to shatter their bones. Kevin’s stomach lurched as he slid against the slippery sole of Honey’s sandal toward the ball of her foot. His fingers clawed helplessly at the surface until the rest of the foot fell flat on the ground, and he was finally offered a moment of reprieve.
A choked sob broke through the silence.
“Kevin…”
His head was heavy, and his vision blurred. He forced himself to peel his face off the moist insole and look at his younger sister sprawled in front of him.
“Kevin… we can't do this, she’s too fucking big,” Lily’s voice cracked. Her face was streaked with tears, and her clothes and hair were drenched in foot sweat and filth as she sobbed into the surface of Honey’s grimy footprint “We’re gonna die here.”
“No…”
Before Honey’s foot could take off again, Kevin pushed himself up with all the strength he could muster. His muscles burned as he stumbled toward the webbing between Honey’s toes, and in one last Hail Mary, threw himself forward and sank his teeth into the delicate folds of her skin.
The overwhelming taste flooded his mouth, a pungent cocktail of salty sweat, old leather, and dirt that had festered into toe grime, with the faintest taste of old lotion. Kevin’s stomach lurched and bile rose in his throat, but he forced himself to bite down harder. His resolve to live was stronger than his gag reflex.
“OUCH!”
A piercing shriek split the air as Honey’s foot violently jerked, and Kevin was thrown off from her toes and back on the sandal beside his sister. He barely had time to lift his head when he saw a building-sized fingertip come barrelling down from above. It bulldozed through the canyon and steamrolled the powerless siblings across her sandal, then slammed them back into the skin between her toes.
____________________________________________________________________________
“Ugh, what the hell?” Honey recoiled, her face twisting into mild irritation. She had been waiting forever for Kevin to show up, but when boredom finally won, she lazily began to walk back home. As soon as she took her first step, however, something sharp bit between her toes, causing her to flinch. Probably another bug. Gross.
She instinctively reached down, and with a casual swipe, pressed her fingertip between her toes. With a slow, absent-minded motion, she rubbed the irritation, letting out an annoyed sigh.
____________________________________________________________________________
Kevin’s world was nothing but heat, pressure, and grime as the massive fingertip continued to smear Kevin and Lily between her toes. He tried to scream as they continued to be steamrolled and mashed into the moist folds of her skin, but all he could do was inhale the pungent musk of Honey’s foot and taste a mouthful of her salty flesh. Their minuscule bodies were folded together like a tiny ball of lint as the massive digit kneaded the two of them deeper into the crevice between their neighbor’s toes.
“Lily…I’m sorry.”
Then Kevin passed out.
____________________________________________________________________________
Honey let out a small grunt of satisfaction. Whatever had irritated her was gone now, rubbed away like an afterthought. She flexed her toes lazily, relishing the brief relief, before continuing to walk back to her house. Kevin wasn’t going to show up, and feeling the sweat beneath her toes reminded her how much she wanted to be inside, away from the heat, and from the pests.