It was something about the tone of Mary’s voice, the way she relished her new size and power, that made Jennifer realize that this wasn’t a game anymore. As soon as she heard it, Jennifer bolted in from the patio, not caring about Josh or anyone else at the cocktail party. She ran blindly down the halls, not knowing where she was going, until she saw a nondescript door. Without thinking, she pulled open the door and found a staircase leading down. She descended as fast as she could.
She wasn’t a second too soon. Suddenly she felt an earthquake that sent her falling down the last four steps. All the light from the top of the staircase went out, and Jennifer knew: Mary had stomped her foot down. Probably close to them too. Jennifer had just barely glimpsed the room she now found herself in, and knew that it was some kind of basement or storage room. She felt her way along in the darkness for a few frantic seconds before finding what seemed to be some sort of cold, metal table or workbench. She dove under and curled up.
Mary must have been having fun up there. The earthquakes kept coming, one after another, and soon things started falling around Jennifer. She screamed involuntarily the first time something fell onto the table, but it kept happening, over and over. Jennifer just prayed that she would be okay. The table, somehow, was holding up, but things were crashing all around her.
Then the ceiling collapsed, and Jennifer was knocked out.
She woke up to bright light, seeing a group of people pulling the rubble off her. She knew it wasn’t healthy to be unconscious for that long, and it must have been a while. She let the rescue workers pull her out, and she let them wrap a blanket around her and give her food and water. Her head hurt and she felt sore, but nothing seemed too bad. She couldn’t believe she was alive. From the looks of the rescue workers, it seemed like they couldn’t believe it either.
That’s when Jennifer took a look around. The first thing she noticed is that she was the only person there who wasn’t a rescue worker. Was she the only one who made it out alive? Then she looked out into the distance, and she saw a long stretch of ... nothing. Just flattened trees and houses going as far as the eye could see. Mary must have gone on quite a rampage.
Jennifer turned to the EMT next to her. “How bad is it?” she asked.
The EMT looked at her. “It’s bad.”
Jennifer was soon helped into an ambulance and driven to a hospital, where her initial suspicions were confirmed by the doctors. Nothing too serious, but she’d have to stay a night or two for observation. No one would tell her much about what was going on with Mary.
A few hours later, a police officer showed up to ask Jennifer some questions. She had been expecting that. But she had no idea what to say.
The officer took out a notepad. “So,” she began. “Did you know the giant?”