I carried Rachel through the streets securely in my closed fist. She had offered to guide me through, but it was quicker to simply cut across the blocks than to follow the road. Most of the houses were below three storeys and I stepped over them easily.

It didn’t seem she felt like talking. She was probably still getting over the shock of my size. Since she wasn’t giving me directions, we walked on in silence.

I could feel her little form shifting in my grip, trying to find a comfortable position. She felt so worm and soft there in my hand. I could have killed her just by accident, stepped on her or squeezed too hard, but she had come into my hand willingly. She trusted that I would protect her as she had once done for me. What can I say; it made me feel good inside.

I looked down at her little head sticking out of my closed fist. Not being able to move her head she looked straight in front. “Rachel, isn’t that uncomfortable?”

“Yes, could you open your hand please?”

“I don’t feel good about carrying you in my open hand, might drop you. But I have an idea.” I stopped by the side of the road and slowly opened my hand, turning it slightly so that when I finished she lay on her back looking up at me. “Just move up until your shoulders are out of my grip. You’ll feel much better with your arms free.” She did as I asked and I wrapped my long fingers back around her. Now free of my hand she stretched her arms and neck. “Well, feel better?”

She looked up, her head free now.

“Yes, thank you.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have held you in a fist like that. So, where’s Howard?”

“He went with Sal back to SPRT HQ.” Salvador Frazio was another “familiar” in SPRT (Shrunken Person Rescue Team) like Mike. What that meant was that Mike and Sal had mounted a rescue of one shrunken town on their own, but were not yet trusted enough to become full members of the team. Which was fine by me. Mike and I had enough problems with Lyndon and his personal mob without having to worry about the global threat the SPR were responsible for.

“I came back to get some things. Oh, they’re probably still waiting at the train station. They’ll be worried sick.”

“It’s ok Rachel, you can ring them once we get to the hospital.” She nodded and relaxed her body into my hand. Leaning slightly over to one side, she sort of snuggled her little head against my thumb.

It was then that I realised that she probably hadn’t been to sleep yet. After Lyndon and his gang had run us off the road, the five of us had split up. That made it less likely that we’d all get captured. It also meant that the ones that got away could regroup and form a rescue attempt. Every one had escaped except Mike.

It was only four forty-seven in the morning. A cool breeze flowed around my body with the scent of fresh dew, causing goose-bumps to crawl up my arms and legs. It had been light for about thirty minutes now, but the sun hadn’t yet crept its way over the horizon. And the world was a tranquil wash of soft pastels, like everything was coming back to normal after having all of the colour sucked out of it.

I walked along the empty streets. A dog barked, and some early risers looked up, frozen in shock. Of course, the homeless people I had chased out of the slums still scampered about the place as well. I knew I was safe for at least another hour or so, until people started going to work. Then the shit would really hit the fan.

The hospital was an 8-story brick building, which would come up to just above my belly button. It had been built in the 1890s, and over the last century, instead of ripping it down and building a new hospital, the government had just built extension upon extension. Why build a whole new hospital if you can just “enhance” the old one? The result was a motley building that, despite the mismatched styles ranging from its Victorian core to the 1980s psychiatric ward, somehow managed to fit well together.

The core of the structure was the original Victorian red brick and sandstone. The original wooden front doors had been replaced with modern sliding glass. The large open verandas now had thick wire mesh glass separating the sick and injured from the healthy world. The east wing, which must have been added in the 1920s, had a defiant art deco feel to it. Its harsh angles, the small slits used for windows, and the stark stone finish made it feel cold and uninviting. Sinister even. Then there was the bland prefabricated 80’s style psychiatric ward. Sterile and devoid of any personality, it was a contrast to the rest of the building.

I bent down, very slowly, and opened my hand palm up on the ground. Rachel picked herself up and without a word started for the front door. As she approached the door she turned around and took one last look at me. The look on her tiny face said she was still trying to cement the reality of it all in her mind. A smile spread across her face.

“You do realize you’re completely naked.”

“I know, but there’s not much I can do about that right now is there?”

“I’ll ask about something inside” Ok, what did she mean by that? It’s not like they’d have some gigantic tunic out in the back in case a giant showed up on their doorstep.

Well, now I was feeling like a fifth wheel. There wasn’t much I could do until Rachel came back outside. Even then, if he was not in the hospital I had no idea where else to go. We could go back to SPRT HQ or I could go to the police. I knew I’d be confronting them sooner or later anyway.

I looked through one of the windows in the psych ward. They were reasonably large and I could see into the hall quite clearly. As I was staring into that lifeless sterilized hallway, a nurse came out from a padded room. For a moment she didn’t notice me. Suddenly her eyes flew wide open in terror, showing far too much white. Her body cringed in a scream silenced by the glass and distance between us. She sprinted down the hall, away from the monster.

Yep, she’s going to call the cops. I kind of felt sorry for her. She’s probably going to spend the next twenty minutes trying to convince them that she’s not crazy.

I stood back up from the small building, stretching my arms out to relieve the tension. I had to figure out a way to prove to the police that I wasn’t a threat, or at least didn’t mean to be. I know from experience that it is very hard for a giant (even a kind one) to appear non-threatening to a shrunken person. These people weren’t shrunk but the same rules applied.

They’d be frightened of me. Now, I’d frightened a lot of people this morning, but none of them had heavy duty fire power at their disposal. I’d heard that some SWAT units even had tanks. Dead centre between three major cities, the town was not huge, but held some importance as a major trading hub. More than one would-be-terrorist had come here to cut supply routes or gain access to the big cities by stowing away on a rig. I wasn’t sure what they’d have, but it would be substantial.

Ho god, what if they thought I was part of some plot? Paranoia is pretty rampant these days. I took in a deep breath and let it out. I’d cross that bridge when I came to it. One of the major things that was so terrifying about giants was there height. Perhaps if I lay down and didn’t tower over them I wouldn’t seem so huge. It seemed like a good idea, but I guess time would tell.

The lawn in front of the hospital felt strange under my bare feet. When I put my foot down it gave way, leaving an imprint, but it didn’t spring back up like normal. I slowly lay down on the grass with my arms folded under my head. If I was going to be waiting awhile, then I might as well be comfortable. As I felt the soft earth contour to my body I looked up into the sky, which was only now beginning to get its blue back from the night.

“Ronny, Veronica!” I turned my head to look at my little friend. “He’s here.” “He’s here,” I repeated, sitting up abruptly. Suddenly it was like the world had been lifted off of my shoulders. I reached over to pick her up and she move away from me. It seemed all the sudden movement had startled her.

“I’m sorry Rachel. How bad is it?”

“It’s bad, Ronny. He’s in stable condition now, but they’re not certain if he’ll survive.” Rachel motioned toward the door. Beckoning with her hand for someone to come out. When whoever it was wouldn’t come out, she went back through the small door.

When her small form reappeared from the building, she was dragging another person in a white coat, probably one of the doctors who were treating Mike. Rachel was a large woman, tall and muscular, but the other woman was fighting for grim death. Digging her heals in, hitting franticly at Rachel. Desperately trying to escape the woman who was leading her to the monster outside her hospital. Finally I reached around and picked up the smaller woman between my thumb and forefinger.

She went ballistic, kicking, screaming and bashing her little fists on my hand. I shifted her to my other hand and tried closed my fingers around her, but she was wiggling so much it was hard to get a grip. I fought the urge to squeeze the fight out of her.

It was, after all, a pretty natural reaction she was having. Most people, when first confronted with a giant, do one of three things. They freeze, they run or they do whatever the monster wants. If she continued struggling like this I was liable to drop her. Given that even sitting down I was taller than the building, she would have fallen to her death.

Eventually I decided to pin her with my thumb. I slowly opened my hand, turning it up so she’d be on her back, all the while closing my thumb over her tiny midriff. Rachel looked up at me in shock.

“Don’t worry. I wont hurt her” I turned back to the little doctor struggling in my hand and put on my best comforting voice. “Shhh. Please. Don’t be scared, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want you to tell me about my boyfriend’s condition.”

She wouldn’t stop struggling. I took in a deep breath and let it out. I looked into those small eyes and waited. Waited for her strength to be exhausted, for her adrenaline to run out, for her to calm down. After a few minutes she finally fell limp in my hand. I slowly lowered her to the ground. As I let go, she doubled over and Rachel caught her fall. The little doctor managed to stand with the support of Rachel. She looked up at me with a mixed expression on her face. No one had gotten hurt, but I could tell she wasn’t quite satisfied with how I’d handled the situation.

“Do you feel better now?”

“y..ye…yes.” The Doc had a nice voice. Melodic, like it would be really good for singing. She was really short, less than five foot four I’d say. She had long black hair tied up into a neat ponytail, full lips and deep brown eyes which were still showing too much white.

“What’s your name doctor? And please speak up. I can hardly hear you from down there.”

“Mmm…my name’s Dr Ellen Lisheng”

“Well doctor Lisheng, could you please tell me what condition Michael Lake is in?”

Dr Lisheng stared up at me with her big doe eyes. Wiping the tears away, she responded. “Hi…. His two bottom ribs are broken, along with his left arm and leg and a fractured skull. He’s also got heavy bruising but we managed to stop the internal bleeding”

By the tone of her voice I could tell it was even worse than it sounded. My chest suddenly felt like it was being crushed in a vice. How could any one survive that? My throat became tight with the strain, tears began to well in my eyes and then, and then the memories came. The piercing crack of his bones snapping, the dull sound of cold brass ramming soft flesh and Mike’s tortured screams in the darkness. It was too much, I slumped over and the tears began to run down my face.

“Can I see him? Please?”

“I’m sorry ma’am, but there isn’t much more we can do with this kind of injury. We’ve patched him up, but now all we can do is keep him comfortable and hope he pulls through.” The good doctor seemed a lot more sympathetic towards me now. Perhaps it’s that I’m a grieving loved one; something she would have had more experience with than giant she-monsters.

“Please, I need to see him.”

Dr Lisheng seemed adamant about not letting me see Mike. Rachel grabbed her by the arm and pulled the doctor toward her, saying something in anger, but I couldn’t make out what. Finally the small woman agreed to lead me to my boyfriend. She directed me to one of the windows in the 80’s portion of the hospital, which she told me was not a psych ward alone. It was merely better known for that because of some colourful incidents that had gone on there.

The window looking into Mike’s room was on the fourth floor and I really had to bend down to see in. Looking through the tinted glass, I could see a figure with its left arm and leg in traction, tubes and wires going from the body to various machines. I couldn’t see his face but I knew it was Mike.

Rachel and Dr Lisheng came through the cloth dividers and stood by my little love. Rachel leaned over and opened the window, but it was the doctor who spoke first. “I don’t recommend you talk long. He needs his rest.”

I leaned my face close to the glass and tried to speak very softly. “Mike, Mike, it’s me Veronica”

“Rrrnnn….Ronny? Is that you? I can’t see. You got a way, sssafely?”

“I’m fine Mike. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“I’ll…. be ffffine, I just….. need some time to…… heal” A harsh phlegmy gag escaped his throat and he went into a coughing fit. I reached for him and Rachel shook her head and waved her hands in a cross. I froze in mid motion. My head felt heavy; with all this power I now had, I was completely powerless to help the one I loved most. I had only ever known Mike as a Giant. When times got tough he would wrap his big, strong fingers around me, cradle me against his wide chest, and tell me everything was going to be all right. Part of me wanted to reach in and do the same for him. But my rational mind knew that would kill him.

I broke down with fresh tears. Then in the distance, coming up fast: Sirens. The cops. Fuck!