The Giant (G/T)

The Beginning

The storm was terrible. My car practically swam through the rain. The windshield wipers, despite their frantic swiping, failed to make a dent in the deluge. Occasionally a flash of lightning lit up the black storm clouds, followed by rolling thunder. Even though the sun had just begun to set, the sky was already dark as night. I sighed and glanced at my cell phone. Still no service. I was driving through the middle of nowhere and had a long way to go. With the weather this bad, I wasn't making much headway. Even with no other cars on the road I had to drive slowly due to low visibility.

Just as I considered pulling over and finding a motel, a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and slammed into my car. The suddenness of the event caused me to swerve off the road as I was momentarily startled by the loud explosion and blinded by the bright flash. My car rolled down a long, steep embankment, crashed into something, and everything went dark. I sat for a moment in shock, listening to the pouring rain. Tried to start my car. Nothing but smoke. Tried again. Nothing. The lightning bolt had fried the electronics. Great.

I sat for a moment, pondering what to do. I couldn't call anyone without cell service. I certainly didn't want to go out in the rain, but staying in the car was not exactly a viable option either. The windshield was broken, allowing rain and cold to seep into the car. Waiting here would not solve my problems. My car needed to be towed and repaired. If I got lucky and followed the road I might be able to hitch a ride from a passing motorist. Resigned, I grabbed my raincoat, phone, and flashlight and stepped out into the rain.

I started to trudge through the mud toward where I assumed the road would be. My car had slid down pretty far into the tall weeds. The vegetation here was odd, like grass but the blades were thick and came up to my chest. I stepped over a few fallen tree limbs on my way up the hill. When I finally reached the top I stopped, confused. The road was gone. I tried looking around with my flashlight but the terrain was completely different, just more mud and that weird tall grass. What the hell was going on? I turned and shined my flashlight toward my car at the bottom of the hill. The way it had rolled, the road would have to be here. Maybe the car had slid farther than I thought? I continued walking in the only possible direction the car could have come from.

The rain continued to pour in huge fat drops splashing all over, obscuring my vision even with my flashlight. Not to mention the night seemed to have gotten even darker, except for the sporadic flash of lightning. I walked past a large boulder, another tree limb, large wet puddles. A deep consternation began to well up inside of me. None of this was right. I should have reached the road by now. Unexpectedly, I stepped on something crunchy and looked down. The sight gave me pause. I had stepped on a leaf--but this was no ordinary leaf. The leaf was bigger than my entire body. I pondered this mystery for a moment and looked around. What about the trees? I hadn't noticed before because of the darkness that I hadn't seen any trees, but now I could just make out massive silhouettes spaced out around me in the gloom. If those were trees, they were the biggest trees I had ever seen in my life. Forgetting about the road for a moment, I waded through the muck towards one of the large shadows to get a closer look.

I didn't think that redwoods were native to this area--hell, I hadn't seen any on my drive over--so naturally I was curious. Finally, I got close enough that my flashlight could shine a light on one of the huge shadows. Except what I saw wasn't a tree, rather than bark it was a smooth brown texture, almost like leather. I felt the rounded surface with my bare hand. Whatever it was, it was not a naturally occurring structure, but rather man-made. As I shined my light over more the mystery object I felt a jolt of shock as I recognized the details. I was touching the toe of a gigantic boot that was easily the size of a school bus. And the boot was not alone. I slowly raised my flashlight up to illuminate cloth pants, a towering leg, and the colossal shape of a man so gargantuan the light beam could not reach high enough to illuminate his whole being.

My blood ran cold and I froze in place, unable to make the slightest movement. Had the giant seen me? I was so miniscule compared to his massive size. He towered over me like a skyscraper. A crash of lightning flashed across the sky, and for just a moment the colossus was fully visible. He was staring directly down at me from a terrifying height. At that moment my heart jumped into my throat and I turned to run as fast as I could. Despite my panicked efforts the mud sucked at my shoes and I could not run very fast at all. I blindly sprinted into a puddle and started treading water frantically, adrenaline coursing through my veins. In my haste I dropped my flashlight and one of my legs got tangled in some roots. I cried out in fear and struggled to free myself. Before I could escape an enormous hand plunged into the water all around me and scooped me up with ease. I couldn't help letting out a squeak of panic as huge strong fingers thicker than my torso closed around my body, pinning my arms to my sides.

I was then lifted up what felt like hundreds of feet into the air as the giant straightened to his full height. I felt dizzy and disoriented. Another bolt of lightning revealed a huge human face with intelligent eyes closely scrutinizing my tiny form. I could only imagine what he was thinking. I must've looked pathetic--drenched in water, shaking uncontrollably, like a drowned rat. Hopefully I didn't look tasty to him. I felt a wave of nausea at the horrible thought that I could easily fit inside his mouth. He could probably swallow me whole without even chewing. I started to cry tears and squirmed in his iron grip, knowing all the well how futile my actions were.

After staring at me for a long, agonizing moment, the giant opened the lapel of his coat and gently placed me underneath it against his vast chest, as if to shelter me from the rain. This action was the last thing that I had expected but it wasn't entirely unwelcome. Finally, I wasn't being pelted by pouring rain; his shirt was thankfully dry, his body soft and warm. I could hear the slow, rhythmic beating of his massive heart, so different from the frantic knocking of my own. His chest rose and fell with steady gusts of breath from immense lungs. Despite my fear the sensations were strangely soothing. The titanic wall of flesh I was pressed against began to move as the giant walked forward with powerful strides. I shivered and curled up as best I could to get comfortable.

I felt confused, frightened, and exhausted. I was powerless to move or try to escape. What was going to happen to me? I could only speculate. Would I be gutted like a fish? Dismembered in a gory mess, my limbs torn off one by one? Dropped in a pan of sizzling oil and boiled alive? Or perhaps eaten raw, savored on the tongue like a piece of candy before being sucked down a dark gullet and dumped into his cavernous stomach still alive? As brutal as my imagination was, it was the last thought that made me shudder in particular. I collapsed inward on myself and wept until I was completely drained and lost consciousness.