Giant Solidarity G/T

Chapter XXI. Adventures of Long Piggy

Disappointingly, my pursuit of our escaped GRUDAT hostage was unsuccessful. Only after fifteen miles driving down the street, following Evan's big boot-prints on the roadside, the trail went cold. Pulling over, I studied the ground and realized near where his boot tracks ended, there were equally fresh narrow, singular tire tracks. "Thor's Hammer!" I exclaimed at the deserted road, stomping my foot. I'm nobody's mechanic, but it looked to me from the markings that Evan was picked up by a motorbike. Whether it was a GRUDAT giant motorcyclist who gave him a lift, or if he was just hitchhiking, I had no way of knowing. However, before jumping in my car and heading back to Harley's, I did know we had to seriously consider another human evacuation. Now, it was only a matter of time before Evan touched base with his goons.

         Passing the vandalized Human Shelter again, I spotted more graffiti I overlooked before. On the sign beside the building, some giant or another had spray-painted over the word SHELTER, so it now read "HUMAN ROOKERY." My phone vibrated in my pocket as I pulled back into Harley's hilly driveway. Queen Killer Bee was calling. Right, it was 10am on a workday. Petra was most likely calling because of my no-call-no-show. Declining the call, I murmured "Bite my ass," running to the front door.

         Much to my surprise, I entered the foyer, hearing Harley shouting from the living room. I was worried the domestic terrorists had returned, until I heard a high-pitched human voice yelling back at him. Entering the living room, I saw Harley shaking his head in bemusement, while Crystal stood atop the couch backrest, shouting up at him, like a yodeler on a felt mountain. Could they be having their first lover's spat? It sounded like Crystal was opposing the runaway plan as she squeaked "I've been running and hiding from predators all my life, Harley! I'm tired of running. Haven't I proved I'm a fighter?"

         "Sweetheart," said Harley, crouching down, bringing his billboard-sized visage closer to her toylike frame "What part of "hopelessly outnumbered" are you not understanding?"

         Crystal scoffed. "I understand! Do you think my tiny, human brain inside my little cranium can't comprehend that kind of-?"

         "Arguing amongst ourselves solves nothing!" I shouted, entering the living room and dropping my phone on one of the couch cushions. Petra was calling again and Hitherto was the last thing on my mind at that moment. "Harley, Evan got away. Where's... oh, there you two are." Last second, I noticed Alma and Rey sitting in Harley's cupped fist. Strange how unfazed by Reagan's diminutive size I had become.

         "Crystal's refusing to go to the Ettinsmoor shelter, Vic," Harley said, looking flustered, keeping the other two tinies against his chest. 

         "How do we even know those Giants will come back here?" asked Crystal, craning her neck to look at me on the other side of the couch. "There aren't as many now, right? Vic, didn't you say those guys in the Colossus Army were shipping out this morning?"

         "Uh, last I knew," I said, hesitantly. "Haven't heard from Troy. Not that I've wanted to."

         Reagan chimed in at this. "Wait, Harley put me down on the couch." Harley obediently lowered his palm so the little blonde could slide down the backrest, and approach my phone, seeming giddy. "Since I got shrunk, I've wanted to do this with a giant cellphone," she said. The same way Crystal had texted, Rey hopped on my phone with her bare feet, and did a pseudo quickstep on the touchscreen, bringing up the internet search engine.

         Everyone else remained silent, as Reagan seemed to research the weather. "See?" she said, indicating my phone's sidewalk-sized lit screen beneath her. "Weathercast says that storm system in the Zanclus Sea broke into two or three typhoons." She looked up at me, fear in her eyes. "Their leave probably got extended again."