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.
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry for the long delay. This chapter is a bit gruesome, so be warned.
Chapter End Notes:
Again, sorry for the long delay. Please leave any feedback you want!