GENETITECH/BIOENG. confidential file
SUBJECT: --GOLDMAN, David
A.U. No.: --NC 654 55 D
S.C.I.D. No: --7474HHD
SUPERVISING DOCTOR: --Dr. Terrence LYNCH
ITEM: --Transcript of recorded testimony regarding subject's current condition. File for ASSESSMENT/INFO
[cont.]
God, it makes me sick to think about them now.
When Linda started on her shrinking spree, Julie and I had our misgivings, but we rationalized it by telling ourselves that it would eventually lead to our rescue. Every person Linda zapped would draw more attention to her, and eventually SOMEBODY would figure it out. Right?
And I kept telling myself that there was nothing I could do about it. There was nothing I could say or do that would talk Linda out of her plans. In fact, I'd probably get punished for even trying.
So I kept my mouth shut and Julie did the same, and we just kept hoping that salvation would come before anybody got hurt.
Eddie and the others... they might all still be alive today if only we'd done things differently.
Yeah, okay. Where was I?
***
Linda's next intended victim was Chad Taylor, a college dropout who worked at Blockbuster. Chad, however, had dreams that went beyond ringing up rentals and shelving DVDs. He and his friends had started a Christian rock band called CrycifyX last year, and even though they had yet to get paid for a gig, Chad kept insisting it was only a matter of time before they hit it big.
Chad also had a huge crush on Linda. He always let her slide on her late fees, and he would occasionally set aside a popular DVD for her, even though it was against the rules. He'd been promising her since January that he was going to write a song about her.
So when Linda showed up at the Blockbuster and invited him to her house for a home-cooked meal, he jumped at the chance. And when Linda requested that he not mention it to anybody because she didn't want word getting back to her husband, Chad readily agreed.
Her plan was simple. Once Chad showed up, she'd ask him to park his car in the garage so the neighbors wouldn't see. And once he was in, she'd zap him.
However, it didn't quite happen that way. Chad threw a wrench in the plans when he showed up at Linda's door with his buddy (and CrucifyX bassist) Denny.
"Denny's my ride, Missus Greenwood," Chad explained sheepishly. "But he's cool. He won't tell nobody." He elbowed Denny. "Right, dude?"
"Whatever." Denny shrugged. "So, Chad says we might be able to score some weed from you?"
"Dude, be cool!" Chad gave Linda an apologetic look. "I mean, I told him you were cool and everything and you *might* have some, but..."
"It's okay," Linda said sweetly. "Why don't you boys move your car into the garage, and I'll see if Randy's got anything stashed out there."
***
And so Linda added two more to her collection.
She came into the bedroom, grinning merrily as she set Denny's beat up Ford Escort on the dresser next to all the other cars. She held her hand, displaying the two tiny figures curled up in her palm.
"Chad was a naughty little boy," Linda said, "and he brought along a friend. I'll have to punish him when he wakes up." She giggled. "Maybe I'll just punish both of them."
"Ms. Greenwood!" Mr. Nichols startled all of us by stumbling to his feet and shouting. He waggled a fat finger at Linda, who just smiled down at him. "I don't know what you've done to me, but if you don't undo it right now, I can assure you..."
"Kinda mouthy for a hamster, aren't you?" Linda said. She reached down with her free hand and flicked at Mr. Nichols with her finger. He stumbled backwards a couple of steps, then fell hard.
"I'll fix you guys some leftovers in a bit," Linda told us. She grinned down at the two captives in her hand and slowly closed her fingers over them. "Right now, I think I'll have a bath with my boys."
***
"Okay," Julie said quietly. "Anybody else starting to have second thoughts about our plan?"
"Plan?" Mr. Nichols scoffed in his petulant, whiny voice. "You mean that brilliant scheme of letting her shrink half of Midland County until somebody finally realizes what's going on?"
His tirade was made even more ridiculous by the fact that he was stuffed into a pair of sweats and a Tweety Bird t-shirt several sizes too small for him.
"I'm wide open to any alternatives you guys may have," I said.
"We need to escape," Mr. Nichols said, pounding his chubby fist into his palm. "Get out of this box and get to a phone. Or maybe make our way to one of the neighbors. Surely we could find somebody sympathetic to our plight."
"I still think it's too risky," I said. "Right now, we've got the benefit of Linda's goodwill. If she catches us trying to escape, there's no telling what..."
"Goodwill?" Mr. Nichols' face turned beet red. "I spent the night trapped under a glass, for God's sake! That [EXPLETIVE DELETED] woman takes delight in tormenting me!"
"Well, she's got a couple of new toys now, so maybe she'll cut you some slack," I told him. "Besides, you think she's bad, her sister Carolyn is a hundred times worse."
"Anyway," Julie said, "my point is that I'm a little uncomfortable with sitting around and waiting for GenetiTech to rescue us."
Eddie, who had been silent up to that point, chuckled. "What's the matter, sunshine? Losing faith in your masters?"
Julie sighed. "I had faith in Rachel Foster, but now she's in a coma and God only knows what kind of shakeup's going on with their security now."
"But you know they're keeping tabs on Carolyn," I told her. "And once she and Linda's husband go missing, they'll figure it out. They'll come rescue us."
"I guess," Julie said. "So, you still think we should just wait and see what happens?"
"Yeah. I do."
"Me too," Eddie said. With a grin, he added, "if my opinion still matters."
"Fine," Julie said. "But we need a Plan B, too. If GenetiTech doesn't come to our rescue, we need to make our own way out of here."
"Linda did make a remark the other day about this shoebox getting a little too crowded," I told them. "Maybe we can talk her into a dollhouse or something. Be a hell of a lot easier to get out of than this [EXPLETIVE DELETED] box."
"All right," Mr. Nichols said. "We'll do it your way, for now. But just so you know, the first time I get the opportunity to escape, I'm going to take it. And if you are foolish enough to remain behind, you can damn well face Ms. Greenwood's wrath in my absence."
***
It was about an hour later when Linda came into the bedroom, her hair damp and her face scrubbed clean of makeup. She was grinning when she set the two naked, shivering boys down in the shoebox.
"Ya'll introduce yourselves and find them something to wear," Linda said. "I'm gonna go get your dinner." She slipped into her bathrobe and left the room.
Chad and Denny were both staring wide-eyed at everything, jerking their heads around, desperate to take it all in. Denny still looked a bit shaken, but Chad was actually smiling.
"Dude, this is [EXPLETIVE DELETED] awesome!" he said.
"What are you, retarded?" Denny shoved him. "I just came here for some weed! Not to be some giant bimbo's bath toy!"
"God, she's so hot," Chad said. "And did you hear the way she was talking to me? She's totally into me, dude!"
"Dumbass." Denny regarded the rest of us for the first time, looking back and forth between us. "So, what did she do to us, man? Are we tripping, or what?"
***
As it turned out, Chad and Denny were far more amenable to the idea than any of the rest of us had been. Denny was pissed about it, to be sure, but still seemed to be taking the whole thing in stride. Chad, on the other hand, had already embraced his destiny as Linda's pet. He actually felt as if he'd been chosen, like some honor had been bestowed upon him.
So when Linda brought our dinner to us (reheated enchilada salad on paper plates), Chad made a show of approaching her hand and kissing her finger. And Linda, of course, ate it up. She gently grasped Chad and lifted him to her face, where she stroked him with her finger and nuzzled him against her cheek.
"Dude, I think I'm going to blow chunks," Denny muttered.
"I think Chad will be sleeping with me tonight," Linda said. "Any other volunteers?"
She looked down at us, then shook her head. "No? Well, you'll all get a turn sooner or later."
***
For about an hour, we listened to the coos and giggles of Linda as she toyed with Chad. Somehow, the fact that Chad was a willing participant only made things worse.
I couldn't help but remember my time with Carolyn, when my terror had become such a constant that it had been reduced to a background buzz. Torment and torture had become such a way of life that any kindness, no matter how minute, felt like the act of a truly benevolent goddess. I trembled at the thought of her anger, but I felt a sense of satisfaction when her mood was good because I knew that, somehow, I had made my goddess happy.
And when Eddie or Julie would resist her and invite her retribution, I would get angry with them. I couldn't understand why they had to make things so hard, when it was so easy to just surrender.
God, just thinking about it made me sick to my stomach. I found myself praying that Linda's scheme would work, because I couldn't bear the thought of being Carolyn's pet again.
I didn't want to lose myself again.
***
I don't know when I eventually drifted off, but I had that dream again where I was home and surrounded by family and friends. This time, I knew it was a dream because the furniture in my house was all plastic and the pictures were painted on the wall, frame and all. I heard the grandfather clock chime twelve, but when I glanced at it, the sticker face read ten after one.
"I'll never forgive her," Eddie was saying as he spooned a mouthful of cake into his mouth. I glanced behind him and saw Carolyn's enormous brown eye peering through the window.
"Forgive her for what, Eddie?" I asked. It didn't seem odd to me that he was there at the party. Such is the logic of dreams. "For shrinking us?"
Eddie shook his head and offered me an insane smile, his teeth blue with frosting. "No, for killing my dog."
And suddenly, it wasn't Carolyn's eye at the window. It was Linda's, and her voice was saying, "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!"
***
When I woke up, Linda was peering down into the box, all smiles. "Okay, guys. Carolyn's going to be here around eleven or so, so we've got to be ready."
She reached down into the box and grabbed Denny and Mr. Nichols, both of whom protested grumpily. She set them in her hand, next to Chad. "I need to find someplace to hide you guys, just in case Carolyn starts nosing around."
She glanced around the room, then knelt and picked up a pair of discarded pantyhose. "Sorry about this," she said. "I trust you, Chad, but I can't take a chance on these other two getting loose. So..."
She dropped the three of them into her nylons, then tied them in a knot. We could hear Mr. Nichols' indignant shouts as she wadded the hose into a ball and tucked them into a dresser drawer. She picked up Denny's and Mr. Nichols' cars and set them down in the drawer as well. She shuffled some clothes around, then finally pushed the drawer shut.
"As for you three," she said, "I think you know what to do." She smiled nervously. "If we can pull this off, all our troubles will be over."
She picked up our shoebox and gently carried us into the living room.
***
Linda was so nervous, she didn't even play with us. She just sat on the couch, her attention moving back and forth between the clock on her mantle and the TV set. A televangelist was demonstrating how, by applying certain arithmetic formulas encoded in the Book of Daniel, you could add up the letters of Bill Clinton's name and get the number 666.
"There's no reason why this won't work," Linda kept muttering, more to reassure herself than us. "Carolyn will back her car into the garage, and I'll just zap her. That's all there is to it. No reason why it won't work."
We heard Carolyn's car pull up outside, and Linda gulped. She stood up, took a deep breath, and whispered, "Here we go." When Carolyn knocked on the front door, Linda went and answered it.
"Good morning," Carolyn said cheerfully as she came in. She hugged Linda and pecked her on the cheek.
"You okay?" Carolyn said.
"Yeah," Linda answered. "Just didn't get much sleep last night. I was..."
Carolyn glanced over at us and smiled. "Just saying goodbye, I bet." She walked over to the coffee table and peered down into the box at us. "I've missed you, my darlings."
She reached down and brushed me with her finger, touching her shield-like nail to my chest. "Especially you, my special little guy."
My heart was pounding and my legs were trembling, but I didn't want to give Carolyn any reason for suspicion, so I kissed her finger and gave it a pat.
"So, why is your car parked on the street?" Carolyn asked. There wasn't any edge to the question, but Linda's face paled just the same.
"Um, I had to move it yesterday." Her grin looked a little forced. "Since Randy's out of town, I finally called J. J. and had him tow Randy's piece-of-[EXPLETIVE DELETED] car away."
Carolyn giggled. "Oh my god! What are you going to tell him when he gets home?"
Linda shrugged. "I don't know. Any chance you'll reconsider and let me use your machine on him?"
Still laughing, Carolyn shook her head. "Sorry, sweetie. It's tempting, but we can't risk drawing any more attention to ourselves until this whole thing blows over."
Linda sighed. "Yeah, I know. Just thought I'd ask."
"So, where's the machine? Still in your spare room?"
"Actually, I moved it to the garage last night," Linda said.
Carolyn's eyes narrowed. "Why would you do that?"
"Just thought it would be easier that way," Linda said, shrugging. "With Randy's car out of the way, you can back your car in and we can load it up without the neighbors seeing or anything."
"That's not a bad idea," Carolyn said. "I might just make a master criminal out of you, yet." She giggled again.
"Okay," Linda said. "I'll go open the garage door. You can go back your car in."
Linda went out into the garage and closed the door before Carolyn could glance out and notice the machine was fully set up. But Carolyn didn't even notice. She was fishing in her purse for her keys.
"So, did you guys miss me?" Carolyn said as she pulled out her keys. "How about you, Davey Boy? Did you miss playing on my pretty feet?"
Before I could answer, Eddie suddenly called out, "Carolyn, I have something to tell you!"
Smirking, Carolyn said, "What's that, Eddie? You're not jealous, are you?"
"Linda's going to try and shrink you," Eddie told her. Julie and I exchanged panicked looks, as Carolyn's hand reached into the box and snatched up Eddie.
"What the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] are you talking about?"
"That's been her plan all along," Eddie said. "Randy never went on any fishing trip. She just told you that so you'd let her keep the machine at her house."
"Bull[EXPLETIVE DELETED]!" Carolyn snapped. "What are you trying to..."
"The first night she had the machine, she hooked it up and she used it to shrink Randy. And then she killed him and flushed him down the toilet."
"You're lying!" Carolyn said. She gave Eddie a painful pinch and he yelped.
"No, I swear to God! She didn't have his car hauled away! She shrank it and threw it in the trash! It's still in there!"
"You're saying she murdered Randy?"
"She's been using the machine all week," Eddie told her, sobbing. "She's got three other shrunken people in her bedroom, sitting in her dresser drawer."
Carolyn glanced towards the garage.
"Go look if you don't believe me!"
Carolyn sighed and shook her head. "How the hell did she learn how to use the machine?"
Eddie shook his head. "It's not that hard. You figured it out without any help. Remember?"
"I can't..." Carolyn bit her lip. "Dammit." She set Eddie back down in the box. "Hang on."
She walked past the garage door and called, "I'm going to use the potty first. I'll be right out." She walked down the hall and into Linda's bedroom.
The garage door opened and Linda poked her head in. "Hurry up, okay?"
"Eddie, what the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] are you doing?" I demanded, shoving him angrily.
"I've got a plan," he told us. He smiled that insane grin I'd seen in my dream.
"Son of a bitch," Carolyn snarled, storming back into the living room. She held the panty hose in her hand, letting them dangle. Chad, Denny, and Mr. Nichols all struggled weakly.
She set the bundle of nylon down roughly in the shoebox, knocking over all of Julie's meticulous stacks. Then she reached into her purse.
"[EXPLETIVE DELETED] bitch," she said through gritted teeth as she pulled out the revolver. "I'll [EXPLETIVE DELETED] show her." She opened the door to the garage and pointed the gun at Linda, who screamed.
"What the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] are you doing?" Linda cried.
"You lying little whore," Carolyn screamed. "You were going to shrink me, weren't you?"
"Carolyn, it's not what you..."
Carolyn motioned with the gun, then stepped into the garage and closed the door. We heard their muted argument, then Linda's sobs. The lights flickered and the TV lost its picture for a second.
Carolyn came back in, still trembling with rage. In her right hand, she clutched the gun with white knuckles. And in her left hand, she held the tiny, unconscious figure of Linda.
"Did all of you know about this?" she demanded as she dropped Linda into the box. Linda landed on one of the beds of folded tissue with a soft thud. Her EAGER BEAVER t-shirt was stained with puke.
I honestly didn't know how to answer the question. Now that the plan was blown, it seemed best to get out in front of the whole thing and claim innocence.
"She said she'd kill us if we told you anything," I said. "I wanted to, but I was..."
"Shhh." Carolyn reached down into the box and picked me up. "It's okay, baby. I know she scared you guys, but it's okay. You're going home with me now, and nobody's ever going to hurt you again."
Carolyn kissed me with sticky, red lips and set me down. "Okay, I've got some work to do. You guys sit tight, okay?"
She grabbed Linda's car keys off of the dining table and went outside.
Eddie moved over to where Linda lay unconscious and knelt next to her.
"That was your plan?" I asked, furious. "You wanted Carolyn to shrink Linda?"
"Actually, I was hoping she'd shoot her first," Eddie said, grinning as he reached under his baggy sweatshirt. "But I planned for this eventuality as well."
I charged him before he pulled his hand out and knocked him away from Linda. The broken beer bottle, the one I'd taken away from him just two nights ago, fell from his grip and bounced on the cardboard floor. I kicked it away and wrestled Eddie to the ground.
His face was contorted, almost demonic. All trace of sanity was gone as he stared with hateful eyes and screamed, spit spraying from his mouth with every word.
"YOU KILLED MY DOG, YOU [EXPLETIVE DELETED] BITCH! YOU KILLED MY SIRE!"
Giantess World
Summer Job by Cayce