Shrunken women board

I'm replying to push this story back to the top because I think NWO stories are amazing and this is one of the better ones. You should read it if you haven't already.

ltltb wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 27, 2022 3:55 pm

I just found your story and I thank you for spending so much time working on it! I can tell you firsthand that epic alternate-universe scenarios require a lot of work and a lot of thought to avoid continuity errors. I marvel at how much the humans in this scenario have preserved in three generations, including literacy and at least some knowledge of the existence of electricity. I find myself wondering what the dominant species will be in this reality. Bears? Wolves? Evolved pets? Eventually the Store people will discover other humans. (Wonder what the people who took refuge in the bar are like.)
Will communities find ways to unite or face more struggles like the one in the store? The theme of civilizational breakdown empowering cruelty is powerful and familiar. I'm not sure it was so different for a resident of Rome in the sixth century, looking at the towering ruins of a decaying city over their heads.

While it was mostly beyond the scope of this story, I find myself wondering how human sexuality evolves after people shrink. It's well known that smaller creatures reproduce more than larger creatures, to replace losses due to predation. Would such an instinct kick in after the reduction? Would the generation of women that had been large and planned careers and delayed family formation do battle with their daughters who were born tiny and feel compelled to start families? I'm sure the difference in size groups would create interesting relationships as well, as it's too soon for them to have evolved so much that they can't mate with each other.

I know it feels like well-worn ground but you gave it a new twist. Thank you!

Hello there!

I appreciate your kind words and thoughtful questions. If I was able to spark your imagination like that, then I feel incredibly humbled. Trust me, I’ve thought about a lot of the things you brought up. The reordered food chain, sexuality among the different sized humans, the structure of the new nuclear family. How the people outside of this isolated community have fared. I even pondered if there were astronauts stranded on the ISS who were unaffected by the event… and slowly starved to death, never knowing why Houston stopped responding.

Keeping things isolated to this little community felt like the right move to really create a sense of claustrophobia. We know as little about what’s happening in the big city as our characters do, which I think helps to add to that loneliness and fear. They’re on their own, and no one is coming to help. It’s like the lone little valley unaffected by the nuclear war in Z for Zachariah.

As far as family structure, with only so much room and materials available, homes would become generational. With women tending to live longer than men, I kinda see the society as becoming more matriarchal. Women like Keri, who hold so much information that their children and children’s children aren’t privy to, are the heads of the households. With the men off hunting or retrieving rations or whatever other busy work they do to fill the mundane days, the new society becomes more like a Native American tribe in structure.

As far as their literacy, I specifically didn’t want them to have devolved into complete idiots. They’re still human beings, they’re still intelligent… just naive and ignorant. I remember sitting through Cloud Atlas and hearing Tom Hanks speak in some kind of future Ebonics and thought it was the most pathetically laughable thing I’ve ever seen. Lol. I do wonder if humans would evolve differently outside the valley now that everyone in the world has been kicked back into isolated tribal living.

And finally, in regards to societal breakdown… humanity is a race with involuntary amnesia. We never seem learn from our mistakes, because we keep making the same ones over and over and over again. There’s always someone who wants to pounce on the vulnerable. I love your Ancient Rome analogy, it’s absolutely spot on.

Anyway, thanks again for reading. Feedback like this really helps push me forward and encourages me to get even better at this whole writing thing. Some personal events in my life over the past year really informed a lot of the emotion I tried to convey here, so when someone else can connect with that emotion, it really touches me.

BTB

(… and I’d imagine those who had to survive on bar nuts and Miller Lite didn’t last too long )

I just found your story and I thank you for spending so much time working on it! I can tell you firsthand that epic alternate-universe scenarios require a lot of work and a lot of thought to avoid continuity errors. I marvel at how much the humans in this scenario have preserved in three generations, including literacy and at least some knowledge of the existence of electricity. I find myself wondering what the dominant species will be in this reality. Bears? Wolves? Evolved pets? Eventually the Store people will discover other humans. (Wonder what the people who took refuge in the bar are like.)
Will communities find ways to unite or face more struggles like the one in the store? The theme of civilizational breakdown empowering cruelty is powerful and familiar. I'm not sure it was so different for a resident of Rome in the sixth century, looking at the towering ruins of a decaying city over their heads.

While it was mostly beyond the scope of this story, I find myself wondering how human sexuality evolves after people shrink. It's well known that smaller creatures reproduce more than larger creatures, to replace losses due to predation. Would such an instinct kick in after the reduction? Would the generation of women that had been large and planned careers and delayed family formation do battle with their daughters who were born tiny and feel compelled to start families? I'm sure the difference in size groups would create interesting relationships as well, as it's too soon for them to have evolved so much that they can't mate with each other.

I know it feels like well-worn ground but you gave it a new twist. Thank you!

Thank you so much for reading! After a year working on this story, it’s a surreal feeling to finally have it all out there.

Post Script-"An Old Man in a Box"




One month and six days following The Twenty-Four Hour War...



While the rest of The Store were still trying to figure out how to move on from the past, for one old man... time had lost all meaning.

There was only the empty... and the dark.

The emptiness of his life, the loneliness, and lack of nearly any sensory stimulation had already driven him mad, well... even more mad than he already was, I suppose. Only the sounds of his own insane ramblings reverberating against the aluminum walls of his claustrophobic prison offered him any company. That, and the pitifully hopeful wait for the next occasional feeding day, were all he had left. Even then, he had grown so accustomed to the black that even the rare and dimmest of light had become blinding.

The old man's enclosure didn't grant him enough room to stand, not that he could anyway. A long cut through his calf muscle may have been enough to prevent that from ever happening again, but just to be sure he couldn't attempt an escape, his captors had severed his achellies tendons. They allowed him to bandage his own wounds, but that was the extent of any treatment given. After a month of stewing in human remains and his own excrement, it was probably best that the absence of light relieved him from seeing his conditions and the extent of his wounds' infections.

But he could still feel it... through the pain, through the dizzying illness taking him more and more each day. For the old man, it was like feeling himself slowly rotting away.

His days were numbered... and he knew it.

Where once the he would occupy the boredom with scheming thoughts and murderous intent, now there was only the dark. At first, reminiscing about his favorite victims with the echo was enough, but as time went on, even those thoughts faded away. Eventually, they only pained him... reminding him of things he would never live to enjoy again. The echo never had anything to contribute anyway, it only told him what he wanted to hear.

And the games... his precious games... they were no fun to play alone.

The sudden sound of someone outside, fumbling with the latch, gave the old man's heart quite a start. Like a dog waiting for its owner to walk through the door, he was filled with excitement. It's hard to say how long it had been since he last ate. For him, every day could have been minutes... and vice versa. The ache of an empty stomach was certainly there, but it may as well have always been there.

The lid to the toolbox creaked open, and the old man inside expected to be blinded immediately. The freezer was never a bright space to begin with, but even the shallow light beaming in from The Salesfloor through the great glass doors was too much for his sensitive eyes. He winced them shut and covered them with his hands, just to be safe.

"Fucking hell!" He heard a male voice exclaim. He recognized it instantly as Michael's, as there were only three voices he ever had the privilege to hear anymore: his own, Michael's, and the third...

"Hello Conrad," the final voice greeted him with little courtesy.

That little Nelson bitch. Oh, the hate he harbored towards her, with every fiber of his being. But now in his maddening isolation... he also longed to hear her voice. It meant food. It meant conversation. It meant a break from sinking further into a living hell of his own making, if only for a few seconds.

"He-wo... K-kewi," he tried to reply. His busted jaw hindered any kind of actual conversation, but he was still going to try. For a man who once prided himself on his independence and superiority over everyone, now just a few moments of company meant more to him than anything in the world.

"That fucking smell," Michael complained, "I think I'm gonna be sick." His voice sounded quite nasally, meaning he was pinching his nostrils shut. The old man in the box realized how accustomed to the smell of his own shit he had become, and immediately felt ashamed for keeping such an atrocious home for his visiting guests.

"I lost track of time, Michael," Keri began. There was a hint of sarcasm in her words as she continued, "how long has it been since we last fed our little pet here?"

"About five days," Michael replied, sounding like he was choking back vomit.

Five days.

The old man in the box didn't concern himself with the fact that he'd been starved for nearly a week. It had been five days, and just the gracious knowledge of a determined space of time was rewarding in and of itself. It hadn't been an infinity since last he ate... it had been five days... and for that nugget of knowledge he was grateful.

A sudden wet slap of meat would have struck the old man in the face, had he not been covering it with his hands. It slid down the back of his hands and then hit the metal floor with a sickening splat. Conrad pulled his hands away from his eyes and frantically felt around for his meal until his fingers grazed its wet, slimy texture.

He stuffed his face as quickly and greedily as he could, trying to fill the painful hole inside him. The cold, raw meat was all he had been allowed to eat. It was ground up, and often contained chunks of bone he'd nearly choked on several times before. This was all he could chew with his broken jaw. This particular glob of flesh was refreshingly bone free, and for that he felt even more thankful.

"What do you say, Conrad?" The little Nelson bitch asked condescendingly, as if he were a fucking child. As per usual, her voice projected from somewhere above him, so the tiny woman must have been perched on some kind of platform outside the toolbox.

"F-fank... you... Kewi," he mumbled through a full, drooling mouth. It was demeaning, yes, but one's dignity was a small price to pay for a full stomach. Recycling his own urine only offered so much satisfaction.

"What do we feed him now?" Michael inquired of his miniature companion. "That's the last of Boyd."

The old man, busy cleaning the meat slime from his fingers, froze with the tip of his ring finger still pressed between his lips. Sounding more like Igor in Frankenstein than his former, smooth-talking self, "wha... wha diz you thay?"

For the first time, the decrepit shell of a man attempted to open his eyes. His instincts to cover them from the blinding light were found to be unnecessary. Any clarity of vision was gone, as the long dark slowly chipped away at his ability to see anything at all, but he could still make out vague shapes moving around in the dark. The old man in the box stared intently at the shadows moving where his hands should be.

What did Michael mean when he said it was the 'last of Boyd,' the old man's grandson?



They wouldn't...



She wouldn't...



Of course she had.... because it's exactly what he would have done. He knew the taste of human flesh as well as the insides of his own mouth, yet hadn't made the connection in his deepening insanity and desperate hunger. Food was food, and it all tastes good when you're deprived of it.

The old man in the box turned his attention upwards, in the general direction their voices always came from. He repeated, "wha dith you thay?!"

Neither of the shapes at the edge of toolbox's opening answered him. Why would they, does a man answer to his dog? Even though he couldn't see her face, the old man could feel the bitch's glare burning through him... or perhaps it was just the infection eating him away.

The "little Nelson bitch," as he always regarded her, loomed over the man of more than three times her size. His ribs had already begun to show through his liver-spotted skin and his naked body was soiled with his own filth. Such a pathetic fate for someone who, just a month prior, had set himself up as divinely placed royalty.

Watching the way the old man's eyes darted back and forth as they tried to find their focus... the serious progression of the infection spreading through his legs... and the overall unsanitary conditions he was forced to wallow in, Keri almost felt sorry for him.



Almost.



It was obvious that the old man in the box wouldn't last much longer, "I don't think it's something we're going to need to worry about, Michael."

To the old man, Keri's belated response to her larger companion's question felt less like it was to satisfy him, and more like it was directed towards their prisoner. He was dying... that much was certain. The only question that remained was whether he should panic... or welcome it. Was death a blessing or a curse?

"Perhaps we'll see each other again, Conrad," Keri said as the lid began to creak back down.

"No... pweease... don... weave!" The old man pleaded... but it was too late. The lid slammed shut.


"Pweease... pway... uh... game... wif... meee!"


Left alone, once again, with the worst mental chess partner in the world... himself.

The latch clanged back into place. Their footsteps faded away until only the sound of his own shallow breathing was left. Once again... it was just the darkness and he. A loveless mistress, indeed. The old man finished licking what remained of his grandchild from his fingertips, then curled up into a ball on the sticky aluminum floor of the box.

The old man's mother would often beat him as a child, but he never gave the crazy old bat the satisfaction of seeing him cry. He didn't cry when he was arrested for rape... and he didn't cry when shrunk to the size of a doll. A knife to the leg and a broken jaw squeezed a few drops of moisture from his eyes, but that's all... an understandable reaction to such serious and painful injuries.

Not a mournful tear was shed for the fall of his would be empire, nor witnessing the death of the grandson he'd groomed to take his place... and now licked the remnants of from his fingertips.

But that day, the old man finally learned what it was to know true sorrow. He weeped openly and freely for the first time in his life. He had never known what it was like to love anyone but himself, so as the reality of imminent demise slowly crept in, he cried for the only thing he knew how to love.

The old man in the box would eventually move on from this existence, but not that day... or even that week.


No one would mourn his passing.


There... in his aluminum tomb... he would remain...


...alone.




For Conrad Hartman... the game was over.

Chapter Fifty-"The First Day of the Rest of Your Life"-Epilogue, Part Five




"You see that patch of yellow up there on the mountain?"

Lacey pointed to an outcropping of sulfur bearing rock amid the grey and red, iron-stained igneous intrusions that made up the surrounding mountains. The sulfides locked in the granite, such as pyrites, weather and degrade out of the host rock over time, exposing the iron and surfer bearing material to literally rust the steep, rocky hills.

Once upon a time, men flocked to those mineral-rich deposits, hoping to strike it rich mining the gold and silver buried deep within. The remnants of their efforts scattered the hillsides with tailings piles, derelict mine frames, and crumbling mills... the likes of which the four women resting on the river bank knew little about. When combined with the lush, dark greens of the pine forest that was slowly reclaiming the town and the changing leaves of autumn, the slopes of the rugged peaks that circled the valley could take your breath away with inspired beauty.

It had been the first thing she, or any of the pondering foursome had uttered in over an hour. Each had been lost in their own thoughts as the time slipped away from them. Lacey's question pulled their attention away from watching their toes appear as they rose from beneath the surface of the stream, and disappear again into the refreshingly cool melt water.

"Yeah, what about it?" Rob replied, responding for Sarah and Faye who maintained their silent ambience.

Lacey submerged her legs, enjoying the sensation of the water flowing across them as she kicked first one, then the other against the force of the current. "Some of the older folks on the Council were talking about sending an expedition up there to retrieve some of it."

Rob raised an eyebrow as she turned to give Lacey her full attention. "Why would they wanna do that?"

"They think they can use it to make something called 'electricity.'" Lacey replied.

She now had Sarah's attention as well, "what's that?"

"I don't know...," Lacey admitted, "it has something to do with that metal rope inside the walls we saw when we broke through to the office. I guess the walls are filled with it. The old timers call it 'wire.' Anyway, they say that they might be able to use the two to create light without fire... if you can believe such a thing."

"Light without fire?!" Faye asked in amazement.

"Heat, too," Lacey added.

"Sure," Rob laughed skeptically. She lifted what remained of her leg from the water and snarked, "next thing you're gonna tell me is if soak my stump in this river long enough, my leg will grow back!"

Though it felt awkward to do so at Rob's expense, as well as her own light attitude towards it, the others couldn't help but laugh. Thoughts of their fallen friend didn't leave their mind, but the mood lightened a little. With the rarity of circumstances for all four women to be able to enjoy each other's company like they were, Faye decided to let them in on something else she'd found. Something she'd been hoping to show them when the time felt right. Following the spreading of Alana's ashes, it may not have been what she had in mind, but Faye thought the others deserved something rare within the suffocating walls of The Store... a little bit of fun.

It was time to start living life, and living it to its fullest, instead of dwelling on the past. Alana's memory would remain with Faye and the others... locked in their hearts until their dying days. One thing she never would have wanted to be was a burden weighing on those hearts. She gave her life for a better future... and now... it was time to take advantage of the gift they'd been given...


... freedom.


"Can I show you guys something?" Faye asked cryptically as she stood up and swatted away the sticky mud from her posterior. The others looked at each other and shrugged, then stood up themselves. Faye tilted her head, gesturing upstream, "follow me."

It only took maybe twenty minutes or so of hiking to reach their destination. Had the plant life growing along the bank not been so thick and difficult to get through, it might have taken five. Faye remained coy about her little surprise, no matter how many times Sarah asked her where they were headed. Their efforts would not go unrewarded though.

Cutoff from the rest of the river, an arrangement of river-smoothed rocks (gigantic boulders to the tiny Kenners) had been pushed by erosion into a circular grouping, creating a kind of natural dam. The main channel of the river rushed by even faster than where they previously rested. It roared as it cascaded down a small drop, but this miniature lagoon of sorts remained still... and inviting.

"Oh, Faye... it's so beauti-," Lacey began to express, before Sarah cut her off in distress.

"What the hell are those!" The little blonde exclaimed, with finger extended towards the movement she'd spotted in the water. A small school of minnows had staked out the little pool for themselves and were feasting on the flying insects resting on the water's surface tension. The fears Sarah had tried so hard to quell since she first forced herself out the front door that morning were rushing back with a vengeance. "Are they monsters?! Are they going to eat us?!"

Sarah backed away from the pool, her knees visibly clanging against one another in terror. She stopped herself, barely avoiding tripping as she felt her retreating feet hit Faye's immense toes with the back of her ankles. Without warning, Faye snatched the tiny Kenner from the mossy bank and tossed the screaming girl into the pond. As she released the panicked little blonde, Faye suggested that Sarah, through a mischievous smile, "why don't you ask them yourself."

A creature as minuscule as your average Kenner doesn't tend to splash so much as plop when it connects with liquid, and itty-bitty Sarah was no exception. Her surprise entrance into the icy-cold water was barely enough to ripple the otherwise mirror-like surface. The pool was only a few inches deep, but for someone who'd never swam before, that fact offered little reassurance as Sarah went into full-on panic mode. The shock of the cold only added to the burst of adrenaline now coursing through her pint-sized body. The seconds ticking by felt much longer than they really were as she tried to correct herself through the floating disorientation. When her feet finally found solid earth beneath her again, Sarah rocketed herself upward until she breached the surface.

"FUUUUUUUUCK!" She began screaming before she even felt the air hit her face. Sarah had never been one to favor the use of foul language, so her reaction came as quite surprising to the rest of them. "IT'S S-SO-O-O-O-O C-C-C-O-O-O-O-O-O-OLD!" Her words carried a vibrato with with them as her lips quivered and her teeth chattered in the frigid water.

Her efforts to avoid what most assuredly would have been death by drowning, in her mind anyway, had blinded Sarah momentarily to the real danger lurking beneath the surface.

Those monsters were still down there.

Sarah was about to be torn to shreds by bloodthirsty, Lovecraftian terrors from the mysterious depths. She screamed even louder, kicking and flailing about as her survival instincts kicked in, hoping to fight off the lurking death awaiting her.

Why would Faye do this to her?! Weren't they friends?! Had she done something to Faye to deserve to die this way?! Was this the beginning of another Mattel takeover?! Did Faye want them all out of the way so she could rule over The Store herself?! The questions fired one after another in Sarah's mind while she continued to fend off the invisible threat with every ounce of strength she had.

A booming and almost hacking cackling coming from back on the bank gave Sarah pause. It was emanating from Faye, who had fallen backwards, her arms wrapped around her own aching gut as she laughed herself stupid. Sarah looked under the surface of the crystal clear water to find... nothing. Her sudden intrusion into their otherwise peaceful habitat had sent the little fishies retreating back into the roaring river, more scared of her than she was of them.

Seeing that she was no longer (or really ever was) in danger, the fire of panic inside her flipped to anger in a heartbeat. She slapped her hands across the surface of the water in frustration, "what the hell, Faye!"

Faye continued to roll around on her back, trying to catch her breath. Her face had turned beet red and her head actually began to ache as well from the sheer intensity of her laughter.

"Jesus, Faye," Rob stated in a rare moment of sympathy for Sarah, "you really scared the shit outta her! Don't you think...," before she could even finish her chastising thought, Rob felt her crutch snatched out from under her armpit. At the same time, a forceful kick in the ass sent the little Asian pixie falling face first into the pool to join Sarah. She popped back up much quicker than Sarah had, but her reaction wasn't entirely different.

"WOOOOOOOOOOAH!" She screamed as her head bobbed up from below. While Sarah thought she was facing her own mortality when she hit the water, the shocking cold made Rob break into involuntary laughter. She looked back to the bank to find that the perpetrator was none other than Lacey, her best mate. She held Rob's crutch in one hand and braced herself against her knee with the other... bent over, and laughing just as hard as Faye was. "What the fuck, Lacey?! Picking on the cripple now are we?!"

"Oh god! It's too much," Lacey howled with laughter.

Unlike Sarah, Rob wasn't actually angry, more just wanting to bust Lacey's chops. In fact, the feeling of treading water with a one foot in the silt felt... liberating. There, in the water, Roberta didn't need a crutch to remain upright. She didn't need someone to help her along, or feel obligated to ignore the pitiful looks she always received when entering a room. Pulling herself through the water with her arms and hoping along on her remaining foot, Rob made her way to Sarah... then teasingly dunked her golden head beneath the surface. Sarah bobbed back up with a gasp and tried to return the favor, only resulting in both losing their balance and falling over.

Back on the edge of the water, Lacey, still in a fit of laughter, felt a strange sensation beneath her feet. The mud she stood in began to move and lift, and before the dark-skinned beauty could even think to react, Faye had lifted her and the very ground she stood on into the air with enough force to flip the young Council member head over heels into the drink.

"COOOOOOOOOOLD!" Lacey flipped her hair long, black hair back as she too emerged from beneath the chilly, biting sting of the water. She covered her chest to try and warm herself against the instant chill. Standing taller than the other two wading ladies, Lacey could easily expose her chest above the surface, where Sarah and Rob's shoulders remained submerged. The wind blowing across the pool hit the freezing droplets clinging to her breasts, which made Lacey's nipples stand up as hard as a night in bed with Kevin and Reggie. She was caught off guard once again as both of her childhood friends jumped her from behind and tackled her, pulling the taller girl under once again.

"You midgets aren't gonna hog all the fun, are you?" Faye announced (more than asked) from shore. She had already began to remove her loincloth and tattered top, preparing to join her tiny friends in the pool. She turned her bare ass to the others, feigning modesty like a 50s pinup, then stretched her arms straight out to both sides. "Lookout below!"

"Oh shit!" Rob shouted as the monolith of a woman began to teeter towards them like a falling tree. The Kenner trio scattered in opposite directions as quickly as their lack of swimming skills would allow, barely escaping the hulking weight of Faye's falling form.

Faye, of course, timed her back flop just enough to freak her friends out without actually hurting them. She, unlike them, had more than enough mass to cause a splash when she hit. Her impact caused so much displacement that a wall of water overtook the other girls like a tidal wave. When the little Kenners' heads appeared above water once again, they didn't expect to find their gigantic friend screaming in pain. Anyone who's ever had misfortune enough to experience a belly or back flop can relate, I'm sure.

"Oh fuck! What's happening?!" The giantess bellowed in pain as the tingling burn ran its way down the back of her body.

Faye sat up in the middle of the pond with her legs crossed in front of her. The water only came up to her shapely waist from her seated position, and her knees bobbed above the surface like fleshy islands. Her breasts hung bare and exposed for all to see, but that was the furthest thing from her mind. If not for the lingering scars of battle and torture blemishing her otherwise statuesque body, Faye could have been mistaken for some oceanic goddess of ancient myth. That is, except for her awkward attempts to reach and sooth the reddened sting spreading across her back and ass... along with the flurry of expletives firing from her mouth like a machine gun. Luckily, the pain faded fast and the towering woman was able to enjoy the rest of her evening soak with her former sisters in arms.

That day, and despite the emotional formal farewell to Alana, these four women got to experience real freedom for the first time in their lives. The only thing louder than their joy-filled laughter was the river itself that night. They floated and played like children, and even used Faye's convenient stature to leap from. Not since their youth had any of them experienced such carefree contentment. If you were to ask any one of them what single moment they considered to be the beginning of the next chapter of their lives, none would mention the war. It was that special day together in the water. Only Alana's presence could have made it better, but even the most cynical among them liked to think she wasn't far away... watching over the people she loved with that big, warm smile of hers.

Faye's heart warmed as she watched her little friends enjoy themselves. She found herself paying especially close attention to their faces for some reason. It was as though she could see Alana's visage in each of theirs. Those three girls had been such a huge part of her life, and were instrumental in turning the tragically absent girl into the woman she became. Faye cherished every last second she could spend with them.

The sun dipped below the mountains, basking the sky in rich reds, yellows, and oranges. It also signaled that it was time to head back, as getting caught outside in one of the cold, high-altitude nights could mean a slow, painful death. But thoughts of such unpleasantness were far from anyone's minds... even little Sarah. She laughed and joked with the others on their way back home without a care in the world. Taking a break from helping Lacey escort Rob across the challenging gravel, she had a question to ask her larger friend.

"Faye?"

"What's up, Blondie? You need another ride?" Faye stopped moving and crouched down, expecting Sarah to take her up on her offer.

"No, I think Im ok... though I think Rob might want to take you up on that offer." Sarah paused, feeling almost embarrassed to even ask, as Faye was kept pretty busy most days, "I was just wondering..."

Faye asked again, "well? What is it?"

Sarah erupted with enthusiasm like the world's happiest volcano, "can we go back out there... to the pool again... tomorrow?!"

Faye couldn't help but chuckle a little to herself. Even though Sarah was only a couple of years her younger, the little Kenner's size and all around naïveté often felt like talking to a child. Just that morning, her little friend was stricken with terror just stepping outside The Store, and now... she couldn't get enough!

"We were planning another expedition for tomorrow," Faye informed her, but seeing the visible disappointment on Sarah's face made her change direction. "But maybe we'll have time afterwards? I'd like to go back, too. Just make sure you wear something on your feet this time."

"Whoooohoo!" The little artist exclaimed. She clapped her hands together and started dancing in place with excitement. Lacey and Rob's heads had little trouble finding their palms as they looked on. If nothing else, they knew Sarah was always good for a laugh.

Before resuming their hike back home, Sarah had one last request of her enormous, but gentle friend, "um, Faye?"

"Yes?"

"Are we gonna pass by any of those plants with the yummy berries on the way home?"

"Faye smiled even wider than before, answering, "you bet!"






The End




(And for those of a prying nature... little Sarah did eventually figure out what Roberta meant by "brush fire." Nathan was more than grateful that she had.)

Chapter Forty-Nine-"Eulogy"-Epilogue, Part Four




"Is this everyone?" Keri asked Faye as the larger woman finally joined those who'd already arrived.

"Yeah... Sarah and I were the last," Faye replied. She took a spot with her fellow Mattels behind the Hasbros and Kenners, allowing the smaller peoples unobscured viewing. She herself completed the semi circle, creating a sort of human amphitheater, with Keri and Sarah standing center stage on the water's edge.

"Go be with your friends, dear," Keri instructed the younger woman, gesturing in their direction, "we're about to begin."

"Begin what exactly?" Sarah asked. Keri only replied with a grin, but it was clear that the old woman was doing so to keep from breaking into tears. Sarah refrained from asking any further questions, and promptly took a spot between Lacey and Rob in the front row and sat down. Each of Sarah's lifelong friends put an arm around her as she settled in.

"I feel like we've put this off for far too long," Keri began. "The Council asked me to speak today," she raised her voice so she could be heard over the roar of the rushing river behind her, "I suppose it's because, depending on how you see it, I'm either to thank... or to blame for bringing us to this juncture. I want you all to know that it weighs on me each and every day that peace had to come at such a high price. It certainly cost me more than I ever could have feared."

Keri had mentally prepared herself to give this speech, hoping she could get through it without breaking down. But standing there in front of everyone else who had lost someone, seeing all of the urns in their hands, it proved so much harder than she'd imagined. The tears began to flow and the old widow had to pause to collect herself. William, stood up from his seated position and put his arms around his mother to help her get through it. Keri held his hand against her chest while she tried to power through what needed to be said.

"My granddaughter, Alana... she wanted to see the world so badly. She hated being confined inside The Store, yet she gave her life trying to save it. We didn't deserve her... I know I didn't." Keri released William's hand and lowered hers inside the little pot she held in her other arm. She extracted a handful of Alana's cremains in her fist, then raised it for all to see. Tiny specks of ash drizzled from her hand like the sands of an hourglass, some getting whisked away in the wind before they ever had the chance to touch the ground.

"This river winds its way through this great mountain range, then into an even greater river that snakes through beautiful deserts of red and orange. Eventually, it will find its way to the ocean, a vast body of water so incomprehensibly large that it covers most of the planet."

Keri paused momentarily, whispering something unheard by anyone else to Alana's remains.

"Alana couldn't have the adventure she dreamed of in life, but her ashes will travel further than any of us could ever imagine. They'll feed the plants of the earth and perhaps come to rest a the bottom of the sea. She deserves so much more... but it's all I can give." As the her sadness grew too burdensome to carry on, Keri opened her hand and released her granddaughter to the winds and the waters. She then opened her tear-filled eyes and looked directly to Alana's friends, "come... help send your friend on her journey."

The three girls from Aisle 17 looked to one another, then stood up and stepped forward. Keri tilted the pot in their direction, "go on... don't be afraid. Just... before you release her ashes... send your love with her."

Rob bit the bullet and reached in first. She held Alana's remains to her head for a moment, then submerged her hand into the flowing water before releasing the fine dust into the care of the river. Lacey went next, taking another handful and telling Alana how much she loved her... before opening her hand and letting the water carry more of her friend away. She stepped back to rejoin Rob, and the two of them held each other as they began to weep.

Tears were already pouring from Sarah's eyes when she reached inside the little pot. As she retracted her arm, she couldn't help but squeeze and roll the powder and bits of bone around in her hand. This was Alana... this was all that remained. "I miss you," she sobbed, "and I love you..."


"My friend... my sister..."

"Forever."


Sarah rolled the ashes into both of her cupped hands and gently set them in the ice-cold water. She didn't release them as the others had... she just watched as the river took her friend away grain by grain... until her hands were bare and clean once again. Staring at her now empty palms, Sarah backed away, then ran back into the waiting arms of Roberta and Lacey.

Keri cocked her head back as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat, and futilely wiped away at her ceaseless supply of tears. She turned her attention to one Mattel in particular... one who was failing to fight back her own emotions, "Faye... will you please come forward?

The crying giantess sniffed, then ran her forearm across her crying eyes. She left her spot in the semicircle and carefully stepped through the tiny people in front of her. Once at the river's edge, she knelt down on both knees in the soft mud. Keri affectionately placed her tiny hand onto one of Faye's large fingers, turning the giant palm upwards so she could empty the remaining contents of Alana's urn into it.

Curling her fingers back, Faye clenched the tiny pile of precious dust in her fist. She kissed her own knuckles as if it were Alana herself with her eyes winced shut in loving concentration. She too whispered something to departed lover... something only Alana was meant to hear. Then, turning on her knees, she laid the last of the woman she cared so deeply for into the water... and watched her disappear forever.

Faye fell apart, as if she were right back there on the day Alana died... and had lost her all over again. Rob, Lacey, and Sarah ran to the larger woman's side as she doubled over in grief. Her lengthy wingspan enveloped them all in a group embrace and the four of them mourned together... saying goodbye to Alana for the last time.

Keri stepped away and readdressed the waiting onlookers, "from this day forward, to have one's ashes laid to rest in this river will be considered a tremendous honor. Reserved for the bravest and most worthy among us. That is why all of you have been asked here today. Some of us fought together, some of us fought against each other. Victories and defeats that no longer matter... we all lost people we loved. So we offer every one of you this... come forth... tell us all about your loved ones so that we might know them as well. Then, if it so be your choice to do so, allow them to leave this valley... and accompany Alana on her journey."

With the exception of the sound of weeping, most gathered there that day were struck silent. They looked at their pots... to those standing next to them... to Keri herself, each wondering who should go first. Finally a young child, not much older than eight or nine, with matted hair and a heartbreaking pout, approached the water's edge with the urn she had carried with her. She held it up to Keri as though it were an offering and asked, "can my mommy go with Alana?"

"Yes... of course, child... I'm sure my granddaughter would be glad to have the company," Keri kindly assured the adorable child. "Why don't you tell us something about her first."

The girl felt shy at first, but when Keri knelt down to her level, she began to open up a little more. "She was nice. She always told me stories before bedtime. She really loved Alana... she talked about her all the time. Then the bad giant man came and killed her with a sword."

Keri pulled the girl close and kissed her on the top of the head as the poor little thing began to cry, "what was her name?"

"Laura... Laura of 14, mayam," the girl whimpered.

"And what's your name?" Keri asked.

"I'm Leslie of 14, Mrs. Keri."

"Well, Leslie of 14... can I hold your hand as we walk out into the river?"

Little Leslie nodded her head and clumsily rubbed at her crying eyes. Keri stood back up and took the child's hand, guiding her safely into the water. She helped her with the pot, which was slightly too big for the little girl to control as she tilted it. When Laura's ashes were finally emptied entirely into the briskly moving water, Keri helped the girl back to shore, not letting go of her hand until the sad little thing was safely back on dry land.

William watched his mother with the little girl and got choked up at the sight. It reminded him of how she had been with him when he was just a small child... the way she had been before his father was murdered. Even on this saddest of days, he felt his heart warm with the return of the kindly woman he remembered. He put his arm back around her when she returned to his side.

Meanwhile, in the surrounding crowd, if there was a dry eye left before little Leslie stepped forward, there were none to be found afterward. One after another, Kenners and Hasbros took turns telling stories about the people they'd lost, then set them adrift to be carried away to unknown lands. When every one of the smaller folk had emptied their last pot, the Mattels stood by apprehensively, unsure if they should do the same. Keri laid their worries to rest.

"Who among you would like to go next?" The old Nelson woman asked as she looked up at the crying faces of the towering Mattels.

"Y-you would want... I mean... you would grant us this honor as well?" A young Mattel man stutteringly queried in amazement.

Keri assured him, and the rest of them for that matter, "we wouldn't have asked you here today, and had you bring your urns with you if we weren't."

"I-I-It's just that-," he began, before Keri interrupted him.

"It's just that nothing. We may have been at odds before, but that time is over. As far as any of us are concerned, the guilty parties have been dealt with. We are one Store, one people now... and we won't, and don't, hold grudges. What is your name, young man?"

"Arther of 1, mayam."

"Ah, a kingly name, indeed," Keri replied with a soft grin. "Do you know your proper surname, Arthur?"

"Um... no... I'm afraid not," Arthur replied.

"That's ok... and who do have there, Arthur?" Keri asked.

"M-my brother, mayam... Richard."

"Another name of kings," she added. "Your parents must be very proud of you both."

"They died a long time ago... but I hope so, ma'am." Arthur caressed the pot and cried as the weight of being the last of his family alive hit him with the force of a storm.

Keri beckoned the young Mattel man to step from his spot in line, "come forward, Arthur... tell us about your brother."

So Arthur did... and the next Mattel, and the next.. and on and on until the final contents of the final urn were emptied and vanished with the passing of the stream. It was nearing evening by the time the ceremony had reached its conclusion. The effect it had on those present was profound, with people of all sizes conversing and commiserating with one another on the journey home. It wasn't a planned, or even an expected effect, but it acted as a major step forward to build camaraderie and understanding among the different sizes.

The human race are still tiny creatures in a hostile world. If all but two people were wiped from the face of earth, there would still be conflict among them, but understanding and a willingness to help one another was as fine a start as any. Avoiding war will always serve everyone's best interest, and even to this day, the residents of Rasmussen's Grocery make sure to settle their differences with words instead of swords.

With the sun inching towards its hiding place behind the western mountains, all but four little figures were making their way back to The Store. Three Kenner girls and one Mattel to be exact. They sat on the bank of the river with their toes in the chilly water, each quietly imagining their own version of the exotic and fantastic lands Alana's ashes may be whisked away to.





End Chapter Forty-Nine-Epilogue, Part Four

Chapter Forty-Eight-"Carry"-Epilogue, Part Three




A nervous little Kenner anxiously scratched at her elbows and held her arms tightly across her midsection. She stood watching wave after wave of people before her step out into the blinding daylight, while she and her friends' turn to do the same drew ever closer. While Lacey and Roberta seemed to be holding it together, especially with the nature of what they were about to do, Sarah's anxiety was ramping up to panic attack levels. The Store was safe and certain, but out there...

"Sorry I'm late," Faye announced as she arrived. "I can't believe I overslept... today of all days. Are we ready? Where's Keri?"

Having her gigantic friend there to look after her helped to ease a little of the tension Sarah was experiencing in her chest, but not by much. "She's up ahead of us," Sarah informed her, "with... Alana."

"We wanted to wait back a little longer," Lacey added. "We knew this was going to be difficult for you, Faye. I started to wonder if you'd decided you couldn't do this... I think we'd all understand if it's too hard."

"Thanks, Lacey... but I'd never forgive myself if I didn't come... and it was my idea, after all." Faye knelt down and put her expansive arms around all three of her minuscule friends, "and I don't have a monopoly on missing her, you guys. The three of you loved her just as much as me. I think she would have wanted this... and to know the four of us are ok."

'Speak for yourself,' Sarah grumbled to herself. 'We're going to die the second we step outside.'

"'Monopoly, huh?" Roberta snarked. "Look at the big girl with her fancy-shmancy new education."

"Watch it, mouse-girl," Faye teased back, "or you'll be hopping around on one foot out there when I take your crutch away."

With Faye's belated arrival, Lacey and Roberta followed the last of the procession out the door. The two of them had stepped out onto the old plank sidewalk before, but the intense brightness of the outdoors was still something needed adjusting to. Roberta had never made it past the edge of the wooden walkway on account of her leg, but as she approached the edge, she found Michael waiting patiently for her at ground level next to the steps.

"Can I offer you a ride, little lady?" He politely asked.

Roberta looked down as she nodded. The strong-willed little Kenner was still struggling with accepting that sometimes she was going to need help, and she hated it. "Thank you," she muttered with embarrassment.

Michael plucked her from the old weathered plank she stood on and placed her on his shoulders. "Hold on tight, ok."

In spite of her own hangups, and what they were leaving The Store for in the first place, Rob couldn't help but laugh a little as she bounded around on the shoulders of the giant. Behind them, Faye was assisting Lacey and Sarah to the ground... the last of those to attend the coming vigil.

A small herd of deer stood nearby, grazing on the wild grass growing in the deserted streets. One can't help but wonder what the massive, yet gentle creatures thought of the procession of tiny humans crossing the old roadway. None of these animals had ever known what it was to live in fear of people the way their ancestors once did. Seeing the size of the strange little bipeds, they probably wondered why they ever had. The munching herd paid them as little much mind as they would the rabbits or squirrels bounding about amongst the flowers.

Many members of the procession carried small ceramic pots with them as they marched onwards. The earth surrounding The Store had been found to be rich with clay, so several people began to experiment with firing pottery. Several kilns were built outside by stacking pebbles to try and keep up with the demand for new ceramics. The convenience of having basic receptacles instead of having to retrofit whatever oversized objects were available can't be overstated. Especially when it came to the precious contents of those they carried away from The Store that day.

Immediately after the war, the staggering cost of life was sobering. The Kenners had only lost a couple of dozen to the conflict, and the Hasbros even fewer, but the Mattels had been devastated.

Half... actually more than, had perished.

Conrad Hartman's selfishness and mismanagement had sent more than a hundred and sixty Mattels to an early grave, and nearly all of them were young... just like any other war, I suppose. For argument's sake, if the deviation of sizes had actually split the human race into three different species (as far as Silverfalls was concerned anyway), then the Mattels had truly become an endangered race.

With so many bodies to tend to, the only way to deal with them was cremation... especially with the knowledge of what the Mattels had been doing with the dead having come to light. Several pyres were constructed from what was left of Dan Rasmussen's stack of unused bricks, left over from his so-so foundation repair back in the 90s. The inside of the cooler space was selected, as it would reduce the risk of a fire should something go wrong, and it would help contain the smoke... and the smell of burning flesh. At such a small scale, it was difficult to get the fires burning hot enough to turn even a tiny human to ash, so the men tasked with the gruesome job were forced to work in shifts around the clock. Day and night they toiled, trying to get through the mountain of corpses as putrefaction made the job more and more unbearable.

The families of the deceased were offered the ashes to keep, but the remains had to be kept in whatever was available; soup cans, cola bottles, empty salt & pepper shakers and the like. Hardly fitting receptacles for any lost loved one. There they would remain out of necessity throughout the winter, until it was found that simple ceramics could be produced. When the kilns were finished and started baking, the first items to be fired were urns... and with so many casualties to account for, the hardworking men and women crafting them had to crank them out at a staggering rate.

While some chose to keep their cremated loved ones in their homes, when the Council announced how they planned to commemorate the first anniversary of the war, most chose to participate. It had been discussed at great length among those in charge how to go about handling the day in question. A celebration like the Fourth of July hardly seemed appropriate, and ignoring the day altogether would be disrespectful to those who had sacrificed everything. Some kind of service was decided upon, but what kind was still under discussion. It wasn't until Faye and her team had returned from an expedition one fateful afternoon with intriguing news, that a plan was set in motion.

So... on that morning... those who chose to do so took up what remained of their dearly departed and marched sullenly towards a memorial service they knew little about. The Council wanted to keep the details mum, mostly because they felt Faye's suggestion was special enough to warrant a bit of secrecy. It was going to be an emotional day for everyone, so the Council set to work to ensure the event was as meaningful as possible.

As Sarah inched her way across the rugged gravel, she noticed that some of the chalky, grey rocks beneath her feet were damp, making them slick in spots. For a woman just cracking three inches in height, making her way across the overgrown pebbles was like trying to navigate a boulder field. She continued to curse herself for agreeing to be apart of, well... whatever this was going to be.

It hadn't yet rained that day, so it seemed strange for the pebbles to be wet. When she realized the rocks were only moist in line with the procession, it finally occurred to Sarah what was happening. They were tears, shed by those ahead, particularly the enormous Mattels who had lost so many. The frustrated and terrified little blonde now had guilt to add to her stew of emotions, worrying about her own struggles as opposed to what she should be focused on... Alana.

"You ok back there, Blondie?" Faye asked without turning. Unbeknownst to her, the gap between Sarah and herself had grown quite significant. When the smaller woman didn't answer, Faye spun around quickly... her heart skipping a beat with the thought that she may have allowed something to happen to her tiny friend. Sarah may have been lagging, but Faye was relieved to find her unharmed... or worse yet, missing.

Initially Faye thought to just pause and let Sarah catch up, but seeing how she was struggling over the cumbersome gravel and through the tall weeds, the larger of the two decided she should lend her friend a hand. "Hey... is everything ok?"

"No," Sarah grumbled, "the floor out here hurts to walk on." Even to Sarah, this seemed like an odd thing to be focused on, but she didn't want Faye to know how absolutely petrified she really was about being outside The Store. The second the words left her mouth though, she regretted having said them. It just sounded petty.

Faye crouched down as she reached her little friend and lightly chastised her, "Well first of all, it's not a 'floor,' it's called the 'ground,' and second... I told you you needed to wear something to protect your feet."

"I know," Sarah plopped herself down on a pebble for a breather and to rub her aching soles, "I tried to wrap them... but it felt weird... and my toes got all sweaty inside."

Trying to contain her urge to laugh, Faye pursed her lips, but failed to hide her growing grin. That's when she noticed Sarah's eyes darting around and her head turning to and fro. The humor drained from the situation as Faye realized this wasn't just about Sarah's lack of footwear. The brave Mattel had become so accustomed to the outdoors that she'd forgotten just how big and imposing it could be... and Sarah was so much smaller than she.

"Would you like to ride on my shoulders, like Rob?" Faye offered. Sarah's nervous gawking ceased and she finally looked straight up into Faye's eyes. She nodded wordlessly, then Faye lifted the nervous little wreck over her head so Sarah's legs could wrap around her long neck. "There... how's that?"

"Thank you, Faye," Sarah replied timidly.

"Don't be afraid to ask me for help, ok?"

"Ok," Sarah replied, even more sheepishly.

"And the next time you come out here, make sure you put something on your feet," Faye playfully scolded.

Sarah didn't respond this time. If they somehow lived through this, she desperately hoped her first trip beyond the walls would also be her last. At least she had Faye close to protect her should things go awry. The big ol' gal always seemed to know how to make Sarah feel safe... or at least safer.

Sitting so high off the ground, while moving faster than she ever had before, actually felt quite exhilarating to little Sarah. For the first time, she allowed herself to feel the wind blow across her skin and through her natural curls. The air smelled fresh, and the wildflowers even better. Below, she could see Faye so easily move over the immense pebbles she herself had struggled traversing with each of the huge woman's tremendous strides. Sarah couldn't help but wonder if this was how these giants felt all the time, how magnificent it must feel to be like real life versions of the superhumans she loved to read about in those old, fraying comics back in The Store.

Across one street, then a vast green lawn, the many residents of Rasmussen's Grocery marched onward. Rusting vehicles whose tires had rotted off the rims lined either side of the street, strange looking structures with such mysterious purpose to the young. They came to another wide road on the other side of the lush, grassy patch next to the gas station, this one much muddier and even more overgrown. It took more effort to push through the tall, thick grasses and weeds... but what the tiny travelers found on the other side took the breath away from each and every one of them as they arrived.

When Sarah saw it from high on Faye's shoulders, she was no exception. "Oh my god... Faye... what is this?"

For those on the ground, it could be heard before seen. A wide gash had been carved into the ground stretching the entire length of the valley and beyond. And through that gash flowed something few there ever knew existed, while others wondered if they'd ever see such a sight again in what little remained of their lifetimes.

"I've heard some of the old folks call it a 'river,'" Faye replied.

She and her scavenging party had mostly kept to the north side of Main for most of their exploring, with the exception of their first trek out to the old filling station. One day, a couple of weeks prior, the group decided to see what lay beyond the crumbling convenience store... and that's when they stumbled upon the great torrent of rushing water.

The second she saw its majesty, and the incredible speed at which it flowed through the valley, Faye felt the gooseflesh rise on her skin. It started as a feeling, not even the seed of an idea yet. But on the slow trek back to The Store, that seed blossomed... and Faye knew in her heart that Alana herself would approve.

Bending down on a single knee, Faye gently lifted the little Kenner from her shoulders and set her down in the softness of the lush green ground cover. With her feet gaining purchase of the ground once again, the fears that had gripped Sarah so tightly just minutes before simply fell away. Gone were the painfully sharp edges of the gravel pebbles, replaced by the cool touch of earth and moss. Sarah had lost sight of the great body of water momentarily, with the grasses and flowers rising before her obscuring her view. With the eagerness of a child, the little Kenner pushed her way through the miniature jungle until the incredible wonder revealed itself once again.

There on the bank, the solemn parade had ended. It didn't matter if they were as tall as a Mattel or as small as a Kenner, each individual standing on the muddy edge of the river were struck with just as much awe as the other. And standing right in the middle of them all... near the water's edge... was Keri. She held a small grey pot in her hands, caressing it like the cherished item it truly was.

Sarah stumbled down the steep slope of river growth in her haste to reach the bank. She rushed by the others, not even seeing Lacey and Roberta as she pushed her way past them. She didn't stop until she could feel the waters flowing around her ankles.

"Be careful, my dear," Keri's voice warned from behind her, "if you go too far out you'll get swept away."

Sarah's eyes bulged wide and her mouth hung open in disbelief. She knelt down to scoop some of the cold runoff into her hands, enjoying the refreshing sensation as it washed down her arms. "I...I didn't think there was so much water in the whole wide world," she mused.

Keri walked forward into the water as well and placed her free hand on Sarah's shoulder. "This is just a small mountain stream, my dear child. There are waters out there in the wilderness so immense that they make this look as insignificant as a tear falling from an eye."

"I can't believe it... it's been here this entire time?" Sarah turned her head up valley to see the unbelievably beautiful waterfall that fed the very river she stood in. "Look at that! Does it pour right out of the sky like that?"

Keri chuckled, "not quite. It's just the snow melting higher up in the mountains. In the highest spots it never really melts away. It is beautiful though. I'd almost forgotten how beautiful."

"I'll say," Sarah whispered. At that moment, all she could think about was how much she wanted to paint it on her bedroom wall... so it would be the first thing she saw when she woke up in morning. Turning her head down the other end of the valley, she eyed the river's path downhill until it disappeared out of view. "Where does it all go?"

"That's why we're here today, Sarah," Keri explained. "That's why we're here."




End Chapter Forty-Eight Epilogue, Part Three

Chapter Forty-Seven-"The Terror of the Filling Station"-Epilogue, Part Two




Earlier that spring, when the deep high-altitude snows had finally melted away to expose the already sprouting green of the wild grasses beneath, the decision was made to open the front doors of The Store. The front gates would crack open for the first time since the oldest among them were but young men and women themselves. There were anxious stirrings among the residents, worries about what horrors could be unleashed upon them when exposed to the outside world. The excitement that Alana had instilled in them before her death had had plenty of time to cool off over the long winter, allowing the fear of the unknown to creep back into their minds.

The amount of food remaining had been grossly overestimated. Only a single can of shucked corn and four cans of green beans remained by the time the snow that piles high against the building each winter had disappeared. Even though the Mattels had done their best to integrate into a society that didn't fully trust them, with the food disappearing faster each day, mutterings among the the smaller classes began to arise. Fears and rumors that the giants could revert back to their cannibalistic ways circulated like cruel gossip among those that loved nothing more than to spread it. And on the other side, the Mattels began to worry that the little people might rise up against them once again out of fear of such possibilities.

Despite Alana's desire for a peaceful unification, tensions had grown high. Infighting over scraps of food between once friendly neighbors had become commonplace. The frightening reality of starvation hung on every mind. Something had to be done.

The reconstructed Store Council settled upon a gathering, actually... more of a celebration, for when the great glass doors would finally swing open. They needed people to be excited about about the event, to join together again in purpose like they had at the end of the war... and the proposal worked.

The entire population turned out to see the massive twin gates swing open and invite them into the world. Some were fearful of course, those convinced that titanic monsters would swarm in to consume them all the second their only defense was compromised. Others cautioned that whatever had shrunk them in the first place could still be lingering out there... and exposing themselves to it all over again could shrink them all out of existence. Their concerns were as valid as any, but the need to find food enough to feed thousands trumped any apprehension. After emptying what little WD-40 was left into the seized-up locking floor pegs, along with a lot of elbow grease to lever them free, the first burst of fresh mountain air blew into The Store in nearly half a century.

When the cheers began to ring out, even those still skeptical about the nature of what they were doing found themselves caught up in the excitement. Faye would lead the first scouting party, made up solely of Mattels to begin with, for safety's sake. Their sole mission... to make it across the street to the gas station and back alive. Michael and Heidi would join her, as well as Aaron... of all people.

The crushing revelation that the man he so admired, Conrad Hartman, was nothing more than a charlatan and a murderer had filled him with such shame and guilt for his involvement. Aaron soon realized that only Alana's desire for peace had saved him from a violent death. He could also sense the Kenners' understandable distrust of him and the others of his kind... so throughout the winter, he dedicated himself to trying to remedy that any way he could. Giving up portions of his own ration shares to those who needed it more, helping deliver food to those injured in the war who were unable to retrieve it themselves, even coordinating scouting plans with Faye and the others once spring finally rolled around. The young man proved himself worthy of forgiveness ten times over, and one wonders how things might have gone had he seen the light earlier.

The four explorers crept through the gaping entryway, filled with uncertainty and uneasy stomachs. Faye was the first to step over the threshold, cautiously moving forward over the strange feeling surface of weathered wood beneath her bare feet. It took time for her eyes, so used to the darkness of the Stockroom, to adjust to the unbelievable brightness the sun bathed the world around her in. The tall weeds and grass that had grown up through the cracks in the sidewalk, as well as having overgrown the street itself, appeared so alien to her eyes. The mountain wildflowers had already begun to bloom, speckled among the green sprawled out before her with pinks and purples and yellows. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, or even dreamed of.

It was so beautiful... and she wished Alana could be there to share it with her.

The party made their way down a pair of steps and initiated their trek across the expanse before them. The gravel hidden beneath the overgrowth made the journey slow and painful. Faye and the others made mental notes about what they would need for further expeditions, something to cover and protect their feet, a ramp or raise to make bringing what ever they may find easier to lift back onto the elevated wooden sidewalk. For this initial trip, they only brought weapons.

The towering gas pumps rose above their heads as they passed them, making the small party's imaginations run wild with the strange monoliths' meaning and purpose. Moving forward, the entryway to the convenience store was still propped open with a wedge, as it had been ever since that terrible day, oh so long ago.

Upon entry, the place looked like it had been ransacked... evidence that the fur-covered monsters of the world had taken advantage of the humans' sudden disappearance. Empty bags, shredded cardboard, leaves, and candy wrappers littered the building. Claw marks from paws, too frighteningly large to even comprehend a beast gargantuan enough to wield them, had torn long gashes in the walls and floor. Even the canned food was empty, the cans themselves crushed and bearing strange puncture holes... bite marks from crushingly massive and powerful jaws.

"I don't like this," a frightened Heidi cautioned, "we should go back."

"It's ok," Faye tried to assure her, "this didn't just happen... look around... it's been this way for a very long time."

"Maybe she's right," Aaron sounded in, "we made it here... that's all we planned to do. Let's get the fuck outta here."

Faye continued to scan her surroundings, ignoring her companions' reservations.

"Faye! Let's go before something bad happens," Michael added to the collective unease.

"Not yet," Faye finally spoke up. "We can't go back empty handed."

Heidi protested, "what do you mean?! Look at this place! There's nothing here!"

"What I mean," Faye snapped back, thumbing in the direction of The Store, "is that those people back there are terrified they're going to starve to death. If we come back without some evidence of food, some... tangible hope for them to see and touch, then what was the point of risking our lives out here in the first place?!"

Faye's question was rhetorical, which was for the best when she was met with silence. "Look, there is a wall way back there with big glass doors, just like back home," Faye pointed out. "Maybe there's food in them, like ours used to have."

"What makes you think the monsters didn't already beat us to it?" Aaron asked.

"Because they're the only thing in here that isn't trashed or broken," she replied. Their collective apprehension hadn't eased, so Faye's next step was bargaining, "tell ya what, lets go check them out... and if we don't find anything right away, we'll go straight home. Deal?"

The other three looked to one another for their wordless approval, then Michael reluctantly nodded. The reluctant quartet made their way between the strange looking browsers towards the cooler wall. The shelving units were smaller than the ones in The Store, and made from the same material as the sidewalks. Not unlike their own, they were mostly barren and coated in a thick layer of dust. The wrappers and leaves beneath their feet crinkled as they walked, adding even more fear that their very footsteps might attract a hungry predator.

Before long, the group had reached the huge glass doors, craning their necks to fully take in their grandeur. They couldn't see inside, as the interiors were coated in a disgusting layer of dark mold, so they spread out and began to search for something they could use to pry it open... that is, if these opened like the doors they were used to.

Behind what must have been the register corral, Michael stumbled upon a huge tool caddy. It had been knocked over by whatever titanic nightmares had scavenged the building long before any of them had even been born. Rummaging around in the large, crumbling leaves and prickly pine needles that covered most of the enormous tools, Michael found a long-handled, flat-headed screwdriver... perfect for what they needed. He rushed back to rejoin his comrades, looking over his shoulder the entire way.

It took the strength of both Aaron and Michael to jam the end of the oversized screwdriver beneath the door seal, and all four of them pressing their weight against the handle to crack it open. Portions of the once squishy seal crumbled instantly from age and rot, then rained down on the Mattel foursome like an avalanche of dried out rubber. The all too familiar smell of mold wafted from inside, oddly reminding the Mattel foursome of their home inside the Stockroom.

Then... a rustling...

Motion... emanating from the small hallway in the back corner.

The sound halted the group in their tracks. The ripping of the old seal breaking for the first time in forty years was enough to startle something lurking in that dark corner. Some nameless horror waiting patiently for tiny creatures such as them to wander into its deadly trap.

No one moved. No one dared to.

Images of razor sharp fangs and terrifyingly piercing eyes raced through the minds of the helpless foursome. Each imagined watching one or more of the others getting torn apart, chewed up and swallowed by this invulnerable beast straight out of their worst nightmares.

Faye was afraid she'd doomed them all with her insistence. She forced herself out of her fear stricken paralysis, knowing she couldn't fail them... not like Alana. Looking down at her custom blades, she worried that they wouldn't be enough against the terror skittering ever closer through the crinkling leaves. Faye dropped them at her feet with a clang, then extracted the long screwdriver from the door like Excaliber from the stone.

"Stay here," she instructed. "I'll draw its attention. When it attacks me, that'll be your chance to get away."

"Faye! No! Wait!" Despite Heidi's attempt to stop her, Faye crept towards the ominous sound.

Her heart pounded in her chest with each agonizing step forward. Sure she had trained to fight off invading creatures such as this, should they ever find their way into The Store, but there Faye was a part of an army. She had the comfort of knowing her turf and a plethora of weapons at her disposal. As the corner rapidly drew nearer, Faye felt sick with nerves and vulnerability. 'It' was close too... just around the corner. The brave Mattel pressed her back against the wall and took one last look back at her companions before preparing to strike.

The creature hopped forward from the shadows, revealing its dreaded form, and Faye immediately began to size it up. The animal was large, having to weigh two or three times more than her, by her best estimates. It's entire bulky body was covered in thick, grey fur. The ears were freakishly long, as were the back legs it used to propel itself forward, despite resting its weight on all fours. The pink triangular nose on its face wiggled tirelessly as it sniffed its surroundings. This clearly wasn't the animal responsible for the deep claw marks found throughout the edifice, but that didn't make it any less dangerous.

For a moment, Faye thought the animal appeared quite cute... if she wasn't certain she was about to bitten in half by the long, grotesque teeth protruding from its mouth. Clearly this was an evolutionary trait this particular terror had developed to lure its prey into a false sense of security before striking them down. She could only pray it's bite wasn't venomous.

Faye took a deep breath and whispered to herself... accepting her inevitable fate, "I guess I'll see you soon, 'Lana."

The Monster of the Filling Station reacted instantly to Faye's muttering with its long, sensitive ears. It turned to look directly at her, then rose up on its back legs out of its own sense of curiosity. The creature had never seen another animal quite like the one its emotionless, pink eyes were gawking at... and was just as unsure of its threatening nature as Faye was of it.

Standing up tall on its back legs, the fury animal dwarfed Faye, and that wasn't even including its lengthy ears. It curled its paws at its chest and continued working its busy nose as it processed the smell of this strange visitor. Again, the animal offered a harmless, if not submissively adorable appearance.

Faye wasn't falling for it.

Ever the Mattel warrior, Faye charged forward with the screwdriver raised above her head and drove it straight down into the, deceptively cuddly, monster's chest. The animal screamed in pain and fell onto its back, kicking wildly in agony. One of the aimless kicks hit Faye square in the chest and knocked her backwards through the air into a pile of collected leaves.

The brave woman popped back up to her feet. She instinctually felt around at the impact spot on her chest, thankfully not finding any broken bones. Recovering from her broken ribs after the war was no picnic after all, and Faye had little interest of going through that again. With the screwdriver still embedded in the creature's chest, she bolted back to where her blades lay, realizing how foolish of her it was not to bring them with her in the first place. The others were still standing there, staring slack-jawed in disbelief at what they'd just seen.

Faye screamed, "what the hell are you idiots still doing here?! Fucking run!" The sprinting leader of the party slid to the floor, scooping up her blades, then spinning back to her feet in a defensive stance... and all in one fluid motion.

"Faye... look," Aaron said with a raised finger pointing back at the writhing monstrosity.

Faye was so amped up on adrenaline that it took her a moment to process that the creature wasn't moving.

"You did it... you killed it!" Heidi shouted and leaped in the air with excitement. "You saved us!"

Faye slumped to the floor to catch her breath, and a chance for her nerves to settle down. Through deep, panting breaths she scolded the rest, "the next time... I tell you... to run... FUCKING RUN!"

While Faye took her well earned break, the other three ran towards the still twitching corpse of the felled beastie. Michael climbed on top of it and flexed his muscles while Heidi and Aaron pried the screwdriver from the animal's chest, a sight that made Faye chuckle and roll her eyes.

"Sure, you guys... take credit for my hard work," she laughed. "Can we just pry this door open so we can go home?" Her brush with death had made Faye as eager to leave as the rest of them.

Once again, the four of them wedged open the cooler door, and they wouldn't be disappointed. The racks were still stocked floor to ceiling, wall to wall with bottles full of various colors of liquid, each nearly as large as any one of them. The sugars and dyes had mostly settled to the bottom, but it was at least drinkable water.

"It's gonna be a hell of an undertaking to get even one of these out of here," said Michael. "I bet they weigh a ton, too."

"Then we take that," Faye replied, thumbing towards the lifeless body of the monster. "Then we come back prepared."

"You think it's edible?" Aaron asked.

Heidi replied, "only one way to find out."

---------------

Upon the exploring party's return, the quartet were met with joyous applause. The first people to (actually) leave The Store had returned safely. Not only that, but hanging by its paws on a tire iron and hoisted upon their shoulders was some fantastical cryptid, the likes of which few who dwelt in The Store had ever seen.

"Faye Nelson risked life and limb to save us from this monster," Michael announced to the awestruck audience of thousands. "She pitted herself against it alone, knowing it could cost her her life! Let's hear it for Faye!"

While the younger generations cheered Faye and the others on like rockstars, those old enough to know what this mysterious creature truly was couldn't help but break up in laughter. Among the first to greet the daring Mattels who'd braved the unknown and returned unharmed was Keri... and she was laughing as hard as anyone.

Spotting the strange reaction from what would have been her mother-in-law, Faye raised an eyebrow and grinned. "What? You think Alana could have done better?"

Keri dropped to the ground and rolled with latter, something especially strange to see from someone of her age. Between her breaths and billowing laughter, Keri exclaimed, "oh my heroic friends! Only you could have faced this fearsome bunny wabbit and lived to tell about it!"

The cheering had stopped, leaving only the sound of the elderly laughing up a storm to confuse the rest. Through some intuition, Faye managed to piece together why she had become the butt of some inside joke. "It's not dangerous, is it?"

Keri howled, "oh yes! Absolutely ghastly creatures! They're every bit as much of a threat to you as I am!" The laughter intensified among the other elders with Keri's sarcasm.

Michael, Heidi, and Aaron hung their heads with embarrassment with the revelation that this animal they feared so much just a short time ago, was only a docile rodent, once kept as cuddly pets by their gigantic ancestors. Each member's pale skin turned beet red, and the instinct to flee the situation began to feel like a good one. That is, until Faye began to laugh as well.

"You weren't there, old woman!" Faye joked, "that thing pounced on me! Held me down as it tried to sink its fangs into my skin!"

Keri was laughing so hard that it hurt, "oh god! Stop! It's too much! She called its stupid buck teeth 'fangs'!

Faye continued, "it slashed at me with its deadly claws and its pink eyes turned red as fire!"

"No more! No more!" Keri pleaded. Faye just knelt down and started tickling the tiny woman's stomach, becoming consumed by laughter herself. "No don't! I'm an old woman, don't pick on me!"

"Ah, you can dish it out, but can't take it, huh?" Faye replied, playfully.

Sarah appeared from the crowd, looking as perplexed as always, so Faye quickly pinned her to the floor and began tickling her as well. "So! You want some too?!"

Even those who didn't understand what was so funny couldn't help but get caught up in the moment. It was an entertaining and joyous one for sure. The four Mattels, one of whom was considered an enemy less than a year previous, had returned from the outside world... something thought impossible not long before. They had returned with fresh meat as well, and news that more provisions awaited.

The next day, the explorers would venture out again, this time finding the entrance to the small, untouched stockroom at the back of the convenience store. A lot of what was there was unusable, but there were cases upon cases of canned foods, dried meats in sealed plastic bags, bottled drinks, as well as other non-edible supplies like matches that they so desperately needed. And there was enough of all of it to last for several years to come.

Newly established forces of Kenners, Mattels, and Hasbros worked tirelessly together to bring the supplies the scouting team found back to The Store day after day, like a line of busy ants rebuilding their colony. For many, it was the first time their lives felt like they had any purpose. They had work to do that was necessary for their survival, not just wasting away the days in boredom behind locked doors.

Meanwhile, Faye and her growing group of adventurers pushed further and further into the vacant town. With the sole exception of the aforementioned incident with the Hasbro woman and the hawk, their excursions had been without incident. Some of the abandoned homes were easier to get into than others, but the ones that took more effort tended to yield greater quantities of food, as they hadn't been ravaged by wildlife.

The warmer months were few in the mountains, so the importance of getting as much done before late fall brought the first snows wasn't exaggerated. As sure as the sun rises, spring gave way to summer, and a couple of months after that, the first leaves turned red and orange in as dazzling a display of beauty as nature had to offer.

But... as the front doors were forced open once again by a dozen or so Mattels, digging their heels in and using their combined weight to do so, the day Faye and Sarah had been discussing would be different. This would not be a day for exploration, or for back-breaking labor. As decided by the council, this... the anniversary of what would be referred to from then on as The Twenty-Four Hour War, would be forever held in reverence as a day of remembrance and mourning.

Hundreds, if not thousands had gathered at the gate once again, this time not to celebrate, but to grieve together. It was a day for all, from the smallest Kenner to the tallest Mattel... the latter having suffered the most loss of life in the concluding battle. This was to be a day to not only honor the dead, but also served as a reminder to work diligently to prevent such a thing from ever happening again.

For some, it would be their first frightening steps outside the safety of the walls. Even with The Store coming together to work as one, just as Alana had hoped, and the myths of what awaited them outside being dispelled... there were still those that couldn't get past their own fears of the unknown.


Sarah was one of them.





End Chapter Forty-Seven-Epilogue, Part Two

Chapter Forty-Six-"A Portrait in Autumn"-Epilogue, Part One




"BOO!"

Sarah was focused and lost in the details of an enormous work she had spent the last few months trying to perfect, concentrating intently on the the most minute of imperfections. If Faye had approached her banging a drum, she probably wouldn't have noticed, but the suddenness of the little prank jolted Sarah out of her artistic trance and made her little heart skip a beat. She was leaning a little too precariously near the top of the ladder she had scaled, stretching her arm to its limit in an attempt to stroke in a single line. The jarring fright that she'd just received from her oversized friend nearly made her jump off the supporting rung.

"Jesus Faye! You could have killed me!" Sarah chastised her larger friend.

Faye chuckled to herself, but tried to reassure Sarah, "like I'd ever let you fall." Even as high as Sarah had perched herself on the tall ladder, Faye's gifted height allowed her to speak with the tiny blonde with barely a tilt of her neck.

"Yeah well, it still wasn't very nice." Sarah redirected her gaze to the spot she had been painting, only to find that she'd smudged it as a result of her unwelcome start. "Oh, Faye... now look what you made me do! I'll have to wait until it dries to fix it!"

"Will you quit whining?" Faye snarked, "you sound like a little kid." She added, "and besides, who got you all those pretty colors to paint your little masterpiece in the first place?"

Sarah didn't respond, she just pursed her lips and groaned. She knew Faye was just teasing her, but taking it from someone she knew she hadn't a chance of ever intimidating in any way whatsoever didn't exactly make it palatable. The toe-headed girl wiped her hands off on a rag that she kept draped over an overhead rung and began to work her way down the ladder... which Faye had also built specifically for her and this project.

Sarah hadn't noticed over her own grumbling that Faye had fallen quiet as she descended the tall ladder. When she reached the bottom, the diminutive woman planned on giving her giantess friend a swift kick in the ankle for messing up her morning's efforts. That was, until she turned on her heels and nearly slipped on something wet... a tear. Craning her neck skyward, Sarah realized that Faye had cupped a hand over her mouth, and was crying.

"Faye? It's ok... I'm not really that mad... I didn't mean to upset you!" Sarah, as per usual, had misread what she was seeing.

"Her eyes," Faye's voice cracked and muffled through her own hand. "How did you...? It's so beautiful, Sarah."

It took a moment for Sarah to realize that Faye wasn't actually upset, but moved. The little artist had toiled over her enormous mural, ever since Faye had returned from one of her scavenging missions outside the walls with a menagerie of different paints. They weren't a necessity for the rest of The Store, of course, but she thought her tiny friend would enjoy them.

The gentle giantess had actually grown quite close with Sarah. With Alana gone, Sarah no longer had someone to stick up for her when she said or did something strange. With the thought in mind that Alana would have appreciated it, Faye decided to take up that mantle. What she found though, was a dear and sincere friend in little Sarah. She wasn't the charity case that so many others made her out to be, but a thoughtful and intuitive individual who just happened to look at things with a different perspective... an artist's perspective. Alana had seen it, too.

And when things had grown their darkest during the long and dreary months of winter... when the hole Alana's absence had left in Faye's heart grew too much to bear... when thoughts of putting an end to her own ceaseless sorrow nearly took her...

...Sarah had been there to pull her back.

The two of them had been closest to her, after all. Both loved Alana in their own separate ways. It made sense that a bond would form between them in their common loss. Each helped the other deal with their pain, both physical and emotional. Sarah helped nurse Faye back to health after the extended check list of injuries she'd sustained during her battles, and Faye became the companion Sarah needed in Alana's stead.

On top of all of that, one of the more shocking revelations that came with the reintegration of the Mattels into the rest of society, was that most of them were illiterate... Faye included. It was just another way for Conrad to control information among his followers, and thereby... control them. When she'd see the others reading and writing, Faye had struggled to understand what they were doing, but also felt ashamed that she couldn't do what they could herself... so she hid her inability to read from the others.

Keri, always the teacher (whether she liked it or not), took it upon herself to teach the Mattels, something Faye was eternally grateful for. It also helped the old women build a report with the giants... and perhaps a little trust.

By the time the snows first began to thaw, Faye realized she wouldn't know what to do without Sarah and Keri in her life. With the many talents that Faye possessed, few made her as proud as when she could write out her full name for the first time: Faye Nelson.

Over the course of the winter, the citizens of The Store inexplicably began to drop their ridiculous aisle monikers in favor of their actual surnames. Perhaps it was because Alana had done so before she died. Faye didn't have any family left, and with both of her parents having passed away, she didn't know what her last name really was. Since she had planned to marry Alana, she asked Keri if she could take on her surname... and Keri graciously gifted it.

Faye Nelson... it had a lovely ring to it.

Snagging a few nonessential items here and there, such as paint or crayons or markers... things that she knew would make Sarah happy, was the least Faye felt she could do for her strange little friend. The Mattel woman would never forget the face the tiny Kenner made the first time she and her exploration party returned with fresh, wild raspberries from the many bushes that grew around town. Watching how excited Sarah got as she bit into a berry larger than her head, then getting covered in sticky purple juice, made Faye laugh and warmed her heart. For Sarah, it was like biting into one of those delicious fruit snacks her exceedingly tall amigo had brought the first night they'd met... only so much better.

Faye had done something similar for Keri when she and her exploring party stumbled upon the Nelson home during one of their expeditions through the eerily silent ghost town that Silverfalls had become. She didn't know it was the Nelson home upon discovery, of course.

After entering through the front door, now hanging off it's hinges, the team immediately went into scavenging mode as they explored the dilapidated home. Years of leaves and debris had accumulated through the open door and broken windows, and signs of animal habitation were everywhere. Like on any of their previous excursions, the team, mostly made up of Mattels and a couple of Hasbros for convenience sake, could only hope there wasn't something they couldn't handle lurking in the shadows. The group hadn't lost anyone since their third excursion, when a Hasbro woman from 19 was snatched into the sky by a hungry raptor and carried away... never to be seen again. Faye and the others worked hard to prevent such an event from happening again, but the world was new... with countless dangers to account for.

Upon scaling the leg of an end table next to the family's massive sofa, in an attempt to get a better read of the home's layout, Faye found a photograph leaning on its easel at the top. It was in a frame as tall as she was, coated in dust and mold beneath the decorative lamp that rose above her like a tree. With a few swipes of her hand across the glass, the fading image revealed a happy family of three. One of them, a smiling, confident looking young woman couldn't have been mistaken for anyone else. Faye pushed the frame over the edge to shatter the glass against the floor, then once back at ground level, removed the aging photograph so it could return it to its rightful owner.

The delighted Keri burst into tears the moment she laid eyes it on the old portrait. A most welcome memory nearly forgotten. A sunny day back in the city, enjoying the mild weather with her family at the park. She'd asked a stranger passing by to snap the photo for them, the first picture they had together as a family. It's amazing how something so simple can jog a thousand memories.

It was also the first time Keri had seen the sweet face of her late husband in so long. He was mugging, like the prankster he could often be, with his tongue hanging out and his eyes crossed... while holding their son in his lap. Not a frightened man disappearing beneath a gigantic coffee can, this was exactly how she wanted to remember him.

The picture was obviously too large to fit inside the new Nelson home, so Faye posted it to the peg board behind the house so that Keri and her son could enjoy it whenever they stepped out back.

As for William and Keri, he learned quickly that his mother was not the same bitter woman he was forced to endure growing up. She was more like he remembered her as a child, before they'd lost Alan... sweet and outgoing, the kind of person who lights up a room when they enter. He was more than happy to welcome her back into his life, and Keri was so grateful to be forgiven.

With her family gone, William invited his mother to move to Aisle 2 and come live with him and his own family, a lovely wife named Brianna... and their two beautiful young daughters, Brittney and Melody. Keri graciously accepted, and would live out the remainder of her life in as much peace as her guilty conscience would allow under their care.

As for Lacey and Rob, one of the first orders of business after the war was to restore the democratic process. Once again, two representatives were selected from each aisle, and when the election was held, Lacey was chosen as one of the two for Aisle 17... just like her father once was. The girl was a natural fit for the role, and worked tirelessly towards rebuilding the devastated aisle she'd grown up in.

You'd think Roberta would have been the second representative, but the cynical young woman had no interest in the tedious nature of politics. Representing an aisle was a lot of work, and having experienced leadership during the revolution, she found she had little taste for it. Besides, having lost a limb, Rob had a long road to recovery ahead of her. Learning how to walk again with the assistance of a crutch, pieced together from the many spent match sticks that littered the floors after the war, was such a frustrating affair for her. Little by little, day by day, it got easier for her until she could finally hobble around the aisles with relative ease. Dealing with the phantom limb pain was a whole other matter, though. Some days it got so bad that she couldn't get out of bed. She would deal with it for the rest of her life.

The four girls remained good friends, even though the obligations of adulthood would soon begin to chip away at the amount of time they could spend together. Lacey was constantly busy, and Rob was rarely around as she struggled with her disability. Even when things worked out so that they could get together, it only served as a reminder of who couldn't be there with them... the conversation always turned back to Alana.

The subject of Sarah's greatest masterwork.

When Faye had shown up that day in early summer with more colors to work with than she ever could have imagined, painting a portrait of her dearly departed friend was the first thing that came to mind... and something small enough to simply hang on a wall wouldn't do. This painting needed to be grand, as large as her love was for Alana was... a mural.

Scouting The Store for the best place to undertake such an enormous project, Sarah settled on the glass of one of the cooler doors. There, she would start a labor of love that would carry on for months, on a transparent 'canvas' big enough for all to see. Most brushes were too large for her to use, and teetering on the edge of a ladder trying to use them would prove far too dangerous, so she decided to simply use her fingers. This way, she could truly work in the fine details, and feel a closeness to her subject through touch.

Faye had paid close attention to Sarah's progress, but that morning was different. The eyes... Alana's eyes... and they were just how the still-grieving giantess remembered them. Sarah had painted them in such a way that no matter what angle you viewed the mural, it appeared like Alana was looking right back at you, accompanied by a warm, slight grin... the kind the little blonde always received from the lovely redhead after being teased. In her heart, it felt like her friend was still looking after her that way.

Seeing Faye's reaction to what she'd accomplished meant the world to Sarah... that she was getting it right. Instead of kicking Faye in the ankle, as she'd planned, she placed a comforting hand on the back of Faye's towering leg and rested her head against it.

"Sarah... this is astounding," Faye glowed. "I can't believe... I... I... don't know what to say." It was like she was staring right into Alana's face, and for the first time, Alana's face was much larger than her own.

Sarah admired her own work for a moment, then replied, "I've been trying to finish it as fast as I can... but... I keep finding things I'm not happy with. I have to finish it... before...," Sarah cut herself off.

"Before what?" Asked Faye.

Sarah's eyes began to well up as well, just thinking about it, "I'm terrified that I'll wake up one day... and I won't remember what she looks like."

Faye pulled her trance-like gaze away from the painting and set down next to Sarah, crossing her legs in front of her. "You're not going forget her, Sarah. I don't think it works that way."

"But, my brain," Sarah sobbed, "people always say it doesn't work right. What if that means I'm going to lose her... up here, too." Sarah tapped on the side of her head to emphasize her point.

Faye picked Sarah up around the waist and placed her in her lap, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl and resting her enormous chin on the top of Sarah's head like a child clinging to their favorite doll. "There's nothing wrong with your brain. Look at what you've made, Sarah... and you did that from memory. I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Faye took a breath and continued, "our memories do fade, like how the things we remember from childhood are fogged over and blurred when we think about them. As much as seeing Alana's face up there makes me happy and sad all at the same time, it's not what she looks like that matters... does it? It's what she meant to us... and the things she did that showed us how much she loved us back that's important, and we'll never forget that... I promise."

The former Mattel warrior and the budding Kenner artist were quiet for a while after that. They continued to sit in the same spot on the floor of Aisle 1, and in the same position... staring up at the beautifully rendered image of the young woman they missed so much. Her flowing red hair swirled across the glass, and her loving gaze would forever watch over The Store.

"You know what tomorrow is, don't you?" Faye asked, breaking what could have been hours of silence for all either of them knew.

"Yeah," Sarah sighed in response.

Faye stroked Sarah's hair lightly. "Are you still scared?"

Sarah admitted, "yes."

Faye turned Sarah around so she could look her directly in the eye. "You know I'm always here to protect you, right?"

Sarah nodded, then quickly dropped her gaze from Faye's face.

The coming day wasn't like any of the others. It marked the one year anniversary of the end of The Battle of the Dividing Corridor... and of Alana's death.




End Chapter Forty-Six-Epilogue, Part One

Chapter Forty-Five-"Martyrs"-Part Two




Cracking the tense quiet that had enveloped the crowded hallway, a single voice managed to pull attention away from the dire situation taking place on top of the brick. Not so much a voice really, but a cackle... low and menacing. Conrad's broken jaw prevented him from speaking, but he could still laugh... and seeing the expression on Faye's face was all he needed to get there.

The Constable couldn't quite hear what the little would-be doctors had said to Faye, but from her reaction, he knew things looked quite dim for Keri's lineage. His grandson Boyd may have been dead, but at least the boy had the good sense to take that little shit out with him. The throbbing pain pulsating in his face couldn't damper the pride he felt in the young man, and the tearful faces of those close to that little Kenner bitch filled his black heart with satisfied content. So much so in fact, that Conrad found himself laughing out loud at the entire situation. His open-mouthed, idiotic sounding bellows echoed across the walls, chilling everyone who had to hear them... even his own people.

With a quick jerk and a pinch from Heidi, who had taken over his reigns after Faye left to join Alana near the brick doorstop, Conrad's boisterous laughter was cut short with a forceful choking at his neck... and a speeding fist delivered from Michael. The blow knocked Conrad out cold and the wannabe dictator collapsed to the floor.

Heidi squeezed his head under her dirty foot to pin the unconscious Conrad to the floor, just in case he came to again. "That will be quite enough of that bullshit," she snarled, then hocked a gob of spit into his hair.

Meanwhile, Faye was ready to come completely unglued. "Don't tell me you can't do anything! Please save her! Pleeee-e-e-ease...," the giant woman's pleading degraded into a sorrowful vibrato as she dropped her head onto her resting hand, bowing and submitting herself to the tiny medics like it would somehow change the unfortunate way things were.

"Faye," Alana breathed more than fully spoke. She repeated, "Fffffffaye..."

Sarah still sat by her side, pressing down on the wound in her chest and squeezing Alana's hand with the other. She spun her head around to try and get Faye's attention for her, "Faye! She's asking for you!"

Faye's head sprung up again, her face shinning and moistened with streams of tears. She crawled over the brick so fast to get to Alana that the pair of medics had to dive out of her way. "Yes?! Yes, my love?!" Faye's enormous person hovered above Alana like a human roof.

Alana, in a state of unimaginable pain, offered Faye the slightest pout of a smile to try and comfort her. She fought another deep breath down into her leaking lungs and told her, "its... ok, Faye. Its going... to be... ok."

Faye's tears spilled down on Alana like a waterfall. The words escaped her, realizing that the woman she loved was telling her she was ready to go.

"No!" Lacey shouted, falling to her knees and clutching Alana's other hand. "Don't give up! You have to fight this! Since when does Alana of 17 just up and quit?!"

Sarah kissed the back of Alana's hand and nuzzled it like a loyal pet, "don't go, 'Lana... please don't go."

Alana gave her friends the same weak grin she shined at Faye. "Oh, Lacey... Sare-Bear... I love you... both... so... much. And... Roberta. The three... of you... will... be fine. You'll do... great... things... together. I... know... it."

Thinking Alana was delirious as she began to slip away, Sarah looked at Lacey with noticeable concern, "it's just the two of us here, 'Lana"

The dying girl, still smiling, turned her head towards the onlooking crowd. Somehow, Alana was the only one who noticed Roberta's arrival. Her arm was draped over the shoulder of one of her subordinates, using them as a human crutch. The stump of her lower leg was burned nearly black in an attempt to cauterize the awful amputation... that candle she'd hoped was still burning on top of the browser did so brighter than any candle she'd ever seen. It had been a harrowing journey for her and her platoon, saving her from the shelving support shaft and getting her back to terra firma. Alana had already been stabbed by the time they passed through the Stockroom door.

"I... saw her... when I... was in... the air. I was... a little... pre... occupied... at the... time," Alana tried to joke, winding up coughing more blood up as she made herself laugh.

For Sarah and Lacey, the moment was bitter-sweet. One friend feared lost had returned to them... while the other would be leaving them forever. Roberta herself was in a lot of pain, understandably, but it seemed of little importance as she overheard what was happening. She, like Faye, felt her muscles give in her remaining leg, and released her grip on the assisting Kenner's shoulder. She crumpled to the floor... as if her shock and growing sadness had robbed her body of her bones.

"Go," Alana whispered to the other two, "she... needs you. You'll... need... each other... just like... always."

"B-but," Sarah stuttered, "I-I have t-to k-keep p-pressure..."

Alana lovingly patted Sarah's hand covering her chest wound, "I don't... think... it matters... anymore... Sare... Bear."

Sarah and Lacey took turns kissing Alana on the forehead, leaving little tear drops to bead up and fall down into the ailing girl's face. Sarah held her suffering friend's hand once more, knowing it would be for the last time. They reluctantly stepped away and helped each other down from the brick to join Rob. It pained them to do so, but their dear friend was fading fast, and they understood she had other goodbyes to make.

"I'm so sorry," Keri sobbed as she caressed her granddaughter's freckled cheeks, still supporting her head in her lap, "this is all my fault."

"No... it isn't," Alana disagreed. "It's... no one's... fault... but Conrad's... and... I think... maybe... Boyd... may... have had... something... to... do with... it," again, Alana's attempt at humor only threw her into another gargling coughing fit. The others felt it odd that she continued to try and make light of something so serious, especially when amusing herself only caused her more suffering. Alana didn't see it that way at all, I suppose it was her way of trying to assure them that she could accept death... and that she was going to be ok.

"I did this'" Keri continued to punish herself, "you wouldn't even be here if I hadn't pushed you into all of this."

Alana held her grandmother's hand against her face and flashed a tearful smile, "maybe... but... look at... all of... those... people... out there. They're... free now... and... I'd... call this... a small... price... to pay... wouldn't... you?"

"It's cost me everything," Keri replied.

"Don't... worry... grandma," Alana wheezed. With each passing minute, it grew harder and harder for her to breath, let alone speak, "I'll... have... mom... and dad... to look... after me... soon... enough."

Keri broke right down, now holding Alana's head with both her hands... as though if she held her tight enough, Alana wouldn't slip away from her.


"Grandma?" Alana whispered.

"Yes, my dear Alana?"

"May I... have... a moment... with Faye?"


Nothing since Alan's death had pained Keri as much as having to stand by and let Alana go, but she knew just how much her granddaughter loved that giant girl at the edge of the brick... as much as she herself loved Alan. "Faye... Faye?" The old woman tried a third time to get Faye's attention over the towering woman's complete meltdown. "Faye... Alana... Alana would like to speak with you."

"I can't!" She cried, "I can't say goodbye!" Faye rocked in place, gripping her knees and hiding her face against them, not unlike how Alana had looked just a day prior, locked away in the toolbox.

"If you don't," Keri told her as calmly and sympathetically as possible, "you're going to regret it for the rest of your life. I'd give anything to speak with Alan... and my daughter again."

Faye stared at Alana with eyes so full of fear. "I love her too much to just... let her go."

Keri tilted her head and winced more tears from her eyes, knowing exactly how Faye was feeling. When Alana's choking cough startled them back open, it was even more noticeable how much color had drained from her granddaughter's skin. "Faye... she doesn't have much longer. Come... hold her."

As strong a woman as The Store had ever seen... in at moment, Faye knew true helplessness. She forced herself to crawl to her fallen love, because she knew Keri was right. Despite her great and imposing size, Faye felt so small. As she drew nearer, Alana's grandmother gently slid her legs out from under her granddaughter's head, but still supported it with her hands.

"Come, Faye... be with her."

The sobbing giantess lowered her trembling hand to Alana's broken body, then Keri guided it beneath the poor fading girl... then slipped away. Faye had trouble believing what she was experiencing... that this fragile shell of a woman lying against her arm, her tiny head resting in her palm, was really Alana. Then the little figure nuzzled against the pad of Faye's thumb... and reality struck with the force of lightning.

"This can't be," Faye whispered, "we... we were supposed to get married... we were supposed to grow old together."

Alana took a deep, gurgling breath, "from what... I hear... I won't... be... walking... down... any aisles... anyway."

"Please don't do that... please don't make this a joke," Faye sobbed.

"Sorry... old... habits," Alana coughed.

"This isn't fair." Faye laid her head down on the brick, touching the tip of her large nose to Alana's chin.

"I... know," Alana replied, "when... I wanted... us... together... in front... of our... friends... and family... this... isn't... what... I pictured." Alana coughed up some more blood... and she struggled to hold her eyes open. "If... you're... right... and... there is... design... purpose... to... the... uni... verse... I guess... my... role... is... over."

Faye pinched some of Alana's hair in her fingertips and rolled it gently between the pads. "What an I supposed to do without you?"

"Go on," Alana whispered. She began to stroke the side of Faye's nose with the back of her hand until it led her to a stream of tears, which she attempted to wipe away.

"Easy for you to say," Faye snarked through her sobs.

"Now... who's... making... jokes?" Alana playfully snarked back. Faye laughed a little, then brushed a lock of Alana's gorgeous red hair away from her paling face. Then Alana began to feel herself... drifting... fading away. "I need... you... to promise... me... something."

"Anything," Faye answered quietly.

"Don't die... under this... fucking... roof. See... what's... out there. See... as much... of... the world... as... you can. For me."

Faye nodded her head slightly against Alana's face, "I promise."

The dying girl added, "and... stay... away... from guys... like... Boyd." This one nearly made Faye pull a spit take. Seeing Faye's smile... the kind that can light up the darkest room... one last time, was all Alana really wanted.

"I love you, Alana of 17. More than anything."

"I love you... too... my... sweet... Faye."

Alana's breathing became more erratic and the breaths spaced further and further apart. When she could breathe, she coughed violently. Reflexively, she pawed at Faye's face... trying to hold to something solid to save herself... like anyone would whilst drowning.

Alana's eyes turned from sleepy to bloodshot and wide, "Faye... I'm... scared."

"Can I... is there... what can I do... to... can I help?" Faye wasn't sure what was worse, watching Alana die... or watching her suffer. She was sure it would stop her own heart, but she wanted to offer Alana an out... an escape from the pain. "I... I could make the pain go away."

Alana stared into Faye's big, blue eyes... and uttered her final words...



"Just... hold me."



A fair universe would have allowed Alana to go peacefully and quietly in her sleep... but the universe rarely deals in fairness. Stars are born, and stars die. Galaxies drift off into the endless nothing, or collide together, creating something new from catastrophe. Civilizations grow and thrive for thousands of years, then get wiped out in the blinking of an eye. The universe is chaos, random and unknowable... and we are all at the mercy of it.


But sometimes... that chaos comes together in just the right way that it makes you wonder...



Alana didn't pass quickly or gracefully. She convulsed and gasped, choking to death on her own fluids. Faye clutched her tightly to her breast, wishing that her love's suffering would just end. Alana's final request was for Faye to simply hold her... so hold her she did, lovingly and with the heaviest of hearts.

When the body in her arms finally stopped moving, Faye once again found herself in the position of not wanting to look... of not wanting to see the woman she loved vacant from the lifeless body she embraced. She laid Alana back down on the surface of the brick and kissed the most amazing woman she'd ever met goodbye. And there she kneeled, crying over Alana's empty vessel... with an audience of thousands to mourn with her.

Among the congregation of Hasbros and Kenners, a dry eye was rare to find. Alana's three best friends sat on the cold, hard floor... head to head with their arms wrapped around each other. Sarah took it the hardest, completely losing herself to sorrow as Roberta and Lacey squeezed her ever tighter. Alana would always be more than just her best friend, Sarah loved her like she was her own blood.

Nathan, who was not far from where Sarah and the others held to each other in grief, wanted to rush to the little blonde's side more than anything. Seeing her in despair only made him realize how much her cared for her... that he'd do anything to take this pain away from her. He understood that at that moment though, she needed her friends and family, but the need to do something still nagged at him. So, turning his attention back to Faye and Alana, he did the only thing that felt right. Nathan threw his sling to the ground in front of him and dropped to a single knee in honor and respect for their fallen leader.

A few of Alana's earliest followers were also nearby, and when they saw the blonde-haired Hasbro boy drop to his knee, they did so as well. Then, those around them threw down their weapons and kneeled as well. One by one, like a wave retracting from the shore, people knelt before the occupants atop the crumbling brick like a sacred altar.

The sight took Faye's breath away. Seeing how so many's lives had been touched by Alana... it sent chills coursing through her. Faye offered them a slight nod and a broken-hearted smile in deepest gratitude.

Keri, on the other hand, couldn't take any more. In less than a day, she had lost her daughter, her son-in-law, and now her granddaughter. An entire society's respect wasn't enough to fill the void of her unimaginable sense of loss. She attempted to make her exit, lowering herself over the edge of the brick, only for her age-weakened hands to betray her grip. She crumpled to the floor, with her bad leg unable to support her weight alone.

The weight of the years, as well as that of guilt and shame, made pushing herself up onto her shaking hands a difficult task. Collapsing on the first try, Keri buried her face in her arm and began to weep. She had lost everything... and cared little if she'd ever get up again.

But... the touch of another hand, strong and rough from years of hard work, wrapped its fingers around her own fragile fingers. "Mom?" The unfamiliar male voice asked. Keri opened her eyes to a shocking sight, indeed. For a brief moment, she was certain she was looking at Alan, reaching down to usher her on to the hereafter. "Mom," he repeated, "can I help you up?"


It was William.


The boy had grown into the spitting image of his father, but Keri could see little hints of herself there too. He was more muscular than Alan ever was, and the grey above his ears showed that he had grown older than Alan ever had the chance to.

Her estranged son had actually joined the resistance in one of the cells Roberta had set up, having no knowledge this "Alana" Rob spoke of was his own niece. It had been so long since he'd been referred to as William Nelson, and not William of 2, that he didn't realize the revolutionaries calling themselves Nelsonists were doing so after his very own family's name. Not until he saw the old woman his mother had become attending the rally in the men's room earlier that day, that is.

Keri accepted William's hand and he gently lifted her back to her feet. Once at eye level with her son, the old Nelson woman took in the aged face of the boy she drove away. She caressed his cheek and touched his hair, as if she needed to make sure she wasn't hallucinating him.

"Are you ok, mom?"

Keri's lips began to quiver and she wrapped her arms around the only family she had left, a moment she'd wished for for years, "oh, William!"

As strange as it felt to embrace the woman he'd grown to hate so long ago, William hugged her back and allowed her to cry against his chest. She was still his mother after all.


As mentioned before, there are moments in the seemingly indifferent nature of the cosmos that make one question if it really is randomness and chaos after all. Small alignments we're just too insignificant and small minded to understand. Coincidences? Probably... but, still... we wonder.


The Mattel army, beaten and broken... and just having had their entire view of the world upended, were still present. They stood as spectators to the striking scene of an entire Store kneeling and mourning for a single Kenner girl. A Kenner girl who could have had them massacred at the wave of her hand, but instead showed them kindness and mercy. Michal and Heidi, two of their own kind, kneeled and weeped for this girl as well.


And Faye...


One of the strongest among them, but branded as a traitor and punished horrifically for it. Faye knelt over this insignificant woman... and ached with grief. She had loved this 'lower being' with every part of her soul, and risked her own life on multiple occasions to protect her. It was unthinkable... a fellow Mattel had loved a Kenner, and that Kenner had loved her back.

These were not cattle, as Conrad Hartman had tried to convince them. The Salesfloorers weren't primitives or "lower beings," these were people... just like them. How had it been so hard for them to see that? Even for those most devout, like Aaron... who couldn't admit it to themselves immediately, the seed of truth and compassion had been planted inside them... ever growing and getting harder and harder to ignore.

In the end, it wasn't war that changed the hearts of the Mattels, or even the devotion shown by Alana's own people. It was the love shared between one of their own and one of them. Not just any Mattel, but Faye... one of the best of them.

A Kenner and a Mattel... who would have believed it?

Now... The Store could begin to merge as one and progress into the future... together.




End Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Four-"Martyrs"-Part One




What truly makes a martyr?

Is it the faith of the devoted to the ideas of the sacrificed... or is it the strength in belief the dying carries with them when they're cut down too soon? Perhaps some combination of the two? Conrad Hartman certainly fit the mold of the former, though the man never truly believed in anything but satisfying his own selfish and twisted impulses. Human history is filled with his ilk, exploiting the needs of others... selling them god and salvation to amass great personal profit. Truths and lies interwoven into a complex tapestry that only the the singular vision of its creator can appreciate.

It's a rare thing for such an individual to attain the status of martyrdom, as their own self righteous nature would prevent them from dying for any worthy cause. But lies are powerful, and humankind has proven time and again that believing in lies can lead to truly horrific acts... because belief can be just as potent as the deceit. It's not easy to change a believing mind because every ideology is based in a hope for something better, however misplaced.

Then again, perhaps occasionally... the universe has to find ways to correct the blemishes that result from freedom of will. If so... then true martyrs are chosen...



At first, Sarah thought her ears were only deceiving her. A low, barely noticeable moan coming from Alana's motionless body. She could even feel the vibration through their touching foreheads. It had to be some post mortem reaction... the air leaving her friend's body as she gave up the ghost.

But then... Alana took another breath. It was labored and wheezing, but most certainly a breath. Sarah immediately called for help to anyone who would come, "MEDIC! MEDIC!"

Faye's tear reddened eyes shot open at the sound of Sarah's voice. Like the crazy little blonde, she too was apprehensive about getting her hopes up, but Alana's back was clearly rising and falling with each painful breath. Faye crawled on her hands and knees, stumbling over the busted shell of Boyd's corpse, to the tiny redhead she held so dear.

"Alana? Alana! ALANA, can you hear me?!" The distraught giantess called out as Sarah heaved herself onto the surface of the brick. Lacey and Keri had already rushed to where Sarah had just stood and the elder was patting Alana gently on the cheek, attempting to bring her back to consciousness.

Meanwhile, a pair of Kenner medics, one from Aisle 2 and another from Aisle 11, had forced their way through the crowd and were just arriving on scene. 'Medic' is a very generous term for those practicing medicine inside The Store, but no one knew what else to call them. Dan Rasmussen kept a limited supply of first aid items on the shelves... pain relievers, bandages... things to treat the minor injuries common in the outdoor activities of the time. There was only so much anyone could treat, and as the pair of middle-aged Kenners saw the extent of Alana's wounds for themselves, they shared a worried glance.

Faye plucked the newly arrived duo from the floor with haste and placed them beneath her where Alana lay. "Please... please help her...," her trembling voice faded as her fear choked the words in her throat.

"We'll do everything we can," the female medic tried to assure the looming titan above them.

The male medic turned his attention to Sarah, "you... Blondie... what's your name?"

"S-Sarah, sir," she replied.

"Alright Sarah, you're gonna be our assistant, ok?" He told more than asked. Sarah nodded enthusiastically, wanting to do anything she could to save her friend. "Very slowly now, we're gonna turn your friend here on her back. Can you help us with that?"

Sarah nodded again and eased her hands beneath Alana's torso as the female medic instructed her. "Alright... on three we're going to flip her over. Ready? One.. two... three!"

The three of them rolled Alana over and away from the edge of the brick. Faye cupped her mouth in even greater fear as even more blood began to pour from the hole in Alana's stomach. "Please help her," she repeated again.

The male medic grabbed Sarah by the wrist and placed her hand on top of the gory hole. "Keep your hand here, put as much pressure on the wound as you can," he instructed. Sarah put one hand on top of the other and leaned her weight into trying to suppress the bleeding. She too began to sob as the medics tried to asses the second gaping hole in Alana's body.

For the first time, Alana's eyes began to flutter. One eye opened and rolled around out of disorientation, then the second joined it. The pain hit the little woman in such an intense wave that it nearly knocked her out again.

"Alana! Alana?.. stay with us, ok." The female medic pleaded as she patted Alana's cheeks, just as Keri had. She adjusted herself so the fading girl's head rested in her lap, trying to stop the bleeding from the second wound with her free hand.

Alana's eyes popped open again, combined with a deep gurgling breath, "my... legs... can't... feel...," each word strained to pass Alana lips as she gasped for air. She coughed up a small geyser of blood as she continued to drown in her own fluids.

"The sonofabitch must have severed her spinal chord," the female medic observed.

The male medic then shouted to the crowd, "TAPE! SOMEONE FIND SOME TAPE, PLASTIC WRAP, ANYTHING WE CAN USE TO STOP THE BLEEDING!"

"Is there anything we can do to help," Lacey asked. She had hoisted herself to the top of the brick by this point, as well as having pulled Keri up with her.

"Just stay clear," the female medic ordered, "give us some space to do our work." She looked to the other medic across Alana's body with the same worried glance as when they had first arrived. "She's lost an awful lot of blood, Stanley."

"I know, Erin," Stanley snapped back, less angry with his partner than frustrated with the situation.

The two medics had begun their training together when they were teenagers, but hadn't really seen much of one another since they lived on different sides of The Store... until the Mattel raid the previous day that is. Neither had slept, each with dark luggage forming beneath their eyes, as they had tended to the injured throughout the night. Stanley hadn't meant to lose his cool with Erin and regretted it the second he had. He was simply at the end of his own rope... and the hopelessness of Alana's condition was staring him right in his tired face.

Beneath their feet, the smaller people atop the brick could feel the surface vibrating. Faye's anxious nerves were rattling the entire block as she clung to its edges in terrified anticipation. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest through the busted hand she still favored against it.

Faye had never felt so utterly helpless in her entire life. She didn't know what to do. This wasn't a problem she could punch her way out out of. She was afraid to even touch Alana's fragile body with her huge, cumbersome hands. Her tears rained down on all of those beneath her, and her long dark-blonde hair hung behind the scene like a curtain to the drama unfolding before the silently hopeful masses.

"Here!" A Hasbro man announced as he emerged from the crowd with a scotch tape dispenser resting on his shoulder. He pulled his arm from its spool and set it down on the brick, "I found one stashed away in the office!"

Erin, the medic, pulled the end of the sticky tape over the serrated cutter and removed the dirty, hair covered piece until fresh tape was exposed. Tossing it aside, she unspooled a long length of adhesive with both hands, then waved Lacey closer. "You want to help, right? Well grab the other end and don't let the sticky part touch the ground, understand?"

Like Sarah, Lacey simply nodded wordlessly. The tall, ebony Kenner girl severed the tape from the dispenser and held her end tightly as they moved it carefully to Alana.

"Alana, sweetie, can you hear me?" Asked Erin. The dying girl was struggling with staying conscious, but managed to nod her head. "Good. Good girl. We're gonna have to lift you a little... and I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna hurt like a motherfucker".. but we have to seal off your wounds. Can you be strong for me?"

Alana gripped Sarah's elbow to brace herself and nodded again. Erin then craned her neck to Faye and mimed lifting Alana up. Faye extended her still useable, but quivering hand. As gently as she possibly could, she pressed her fingers into Alana's sides to raise her slightly from the brick's pitted surface. Lacey and Erin moved quickly to strategically lay the translucent strip beneath the mortally wounded girl. Erin then directed Faye to carefully set Alana back down.

"You still with us, Ginger?" Erin asked, trying to calm Alana with some humor.

"Y-yes," Alana answered before succumbing to another blood-spraying fit of coughing.

Stanley had already begun to wrap one end of the strip over Alana's abdomen as the girl was placed back on the ground. Erin joined him on his side with the other end and instructed Alana to brace herself once more. "Alright, love," he began, "I need you take the deepest breath you can, then exhale all the air in your lungs. When you do it, suck in your stomach. We're gonna pull this tighter than you're gonna be comfortable with, ok?"

Alana squeezed Sara's arm tighter, then sucked in as much air as her punctured lung would allow. She gurgled and wheezed as she did so, then forced everything she could from her chest. As her breasts fell, Erin and Stanley together pulled the tape taut, then wrapped its sticky surface around Alana's expressed abdomen. As soon as the wrap was secure, Erin grabbed Sarah by the hands again, and placed them right back on Alana's covered wounds.

"Keep putting pressure on them. The wrap will help, but she still needs the pressure," Erin explained.

"Fucking... hell that hurts!" Alana groaned. "My... legs... where... are... my... legs?"

"They're still there," Sarah tried to assure her, "can't you feel them? Try wiggling your toes!" When Alana's toes remained still and limp, Sarah looked to the two medics, who had stepped aside for a moment to discuss their next steps, for answers. "What's wrong?! Why don't her legs work?!"

Having their backs turned to Alana's entourage failed to hide the concern on their faces from Faye. Retracting her hand from the far edge of the brick to the near, the enormous woman lowered herself enough so her eye level reached the height of the little Kenners, looking like a giant child peaking over the edge of a table. "What is it? What's wrong? She's gonna be ok, isn't she?!" Faye's warm breath blew more intensely over the minuscule medics with each new question.

Stanley and Erin paused their conversation, both beginning to worry if their answers might put their lives in danger. Faye was clearly an ally, but people do rash things when distressed... and Faye was a very, very large person... and very, very distressed. Just as they had worried, their lack of immediate response sent Faye into a panicked outburst, bringing her good fist down on the edge of the brick with thunderous force, upending the block enough to knock the two of them off their feet.

"Answer me, goddamnit!"

Not wanting to risk pushing the intimidating Mattel woman any further, Stanley stepped forward with the heartbreaking diagnosis. "Her... Alana's spinal chord has been damaged. Even if... if her lungs..."

Erin covered her eyes with a blood soaked hand and began to weep as well, causing Stanley to pause his explanation out of concern for his old friend. Unlike Stanley, who had only joined the resistance after Alana's restroom speech, Erin had been one of the few of the second generation that had joined the movement as soon as the word had reached Aisle 11. She didn't know Alana personally, but she'd seen her speak and had been just as inspired by her words and deeds as any of the others. She turned her head away, unable to face Faye as Stanley resumed his delivery of the unwanted news.

"What are you saying?" Faye felt her knees buckle beneath her as she slumped to her side. "She won't ever walk again?! It doesn't matter... I'll carry her anywhere she needs to go!"

Stanley cleared his throat and reluctantly continued, "if only that were the case, my dear. She's lost a lot of blood... and with that hole in her lung... she's still bleeding internally, and fluid is most likely filling up inside her lung. She's... she's basically drowning."

Faye's eyes darted to Alana as she had begun to cough up more blood. Keri was holding Alana's head in her lap now, keeping it tilted to the side so the thick red liquid could spill out and not choke her granddaughter.

"Can't you stitch up the wound?! What about my blood?!" Faye desperately offered. "Take it all! Just save her!"

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that," Stanley sighed. He was right. Alana would need a blood type match, or at least someone with type O, but the problem was... no one knew what blood type they were. The knowledge of how to test for such things had been lost long ago.

Faye's gaze was wide and distant, like she was staring through the two little people more than at them. She understood what Stanley was telling her, but accepting it was a whole other matter. Straining to ask through a trembling whimper, Faye slumped even further as her muscles turned to jelly, "huuuuuh... hu-ow l-long d-doessss she hu-have?"

Stanley folded his hands in front of him and lowered his head in exhausted defeat, "I would suggest you use this time to say your goodbyes."




End Chapter Forty-Four, Part One

Chapter Forty-Three-"Deborah"




It was supposed to be a moment of triumph... the dawning of a new hope. A Store reborn. The first step to where Kenner, Hasbro, and Mattel alike could throw aside their ridiculous monikers and walk into an uncertain, but exciting future together... as one people.

Alana believed it, and through her, others did as well. So long had the people of The Store waded through the monotony of a daily life so empty and without meaning that the idea of leaving The Store hadn't even occurred to them. The outside world was frightening and vast, and anyone who dared to step outside of the security Rasmussen's Grocery offered them was met with a level of vulnerability they'd never known. The fact that their resources could actually dry up wasn't even on most people's radar, and if it was, no one wanted to admit it to themselves. The Store had always been and always would be.

All it took was one little redhead from Aisle 17 to show them the error of their ways. Armed with nothing but the truth, Alana set the wheels in motion that would end the decades long cycle of lies and denial. Whether or not she wanted it, the tiny woman had become a beacon. Her return from 'exile,' something seen as nothing short of a death sentence before being revealed for its far more gruesome reality, was perceived as Christ-like to some. But now that beacon hovered above the fear struck faces of those she had inspired... not lifted up in victory, but impaled on the end of a mangled eating utensil.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance," growled the one voice the Faye had hoped she'd never hear again, "this is what you get for what you did to me!"

"No...," Faye gasped in breathless horror.

The woman she loved was dangling above the crowd on the end of a fork like a bite sized morsel. Not just any fork, this one's prongs had been twisted and bent. Its edges sharpened to slice through flesh with ease. This was Conrad's personal weapon, the very one he had discarded in his haste to escape the overwhelming encroachment of the Salesfloor army.


Deborah.


The old man never knew the pleasure of using it, but his grandson managed to give the steel-fanged lance its first and only taste of Kenner blood.

Alana's feet kicked and curled beneath her while her hands held a death grip on the sharpened prongs petruding from her body. It was the only way to brace herself from the immense pain her own weight was inflicting as she hung helplessly from the end of the modified fork. For those who mistook Alana as the barer of some grand divinity, seeing her true vulnerability and mortality hanging by a thread was soul crushing. Alana's blood had already began to trickle down the stainless steel spikes towards the handle, pooling and dripping from the hands of its hate-maddened holder...

...Boyd.

The disgraced captain had emerged from seemingly nowhere, and to this day no one knows how he managed to sneak in behind Alana during her speech, avoiding detection from the thousands in attendance. Conrad's grandson was a ghastly sight to behold, indeed. He had shed his remaining armor, as well as his dirty and tattered Ken doll trousers, laying the evidence of his mutilation bare for all to see. I'd imagine the still-bleeding wound, a wet crater where his genitalia had hung not an hour prior, caused him excruciating pain when coming into contact with anything... including his pants. Boyd was most certainly going to bleed out, but not without robbing Faye of that which she cared most about in this world... just as she had taken that which he loved most.

This psychotic bastard was right though, about Faye having the opportunity to kill him and not taking it. She had had every chance to kill him, but she chose to watch him suffer instead. Her mind continued to race with all the things she could and should have done different. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, but ultimately useless... hindsight wasn't going to help Alana. The little Kenner woman was clinging to her very life because Faye had allowed this monster to get away.

Boyd brought the fork back down hard on the brick and Alana could feel the metal vibrating against her spine from the sheer force of the impact. The castrated grandson of the Constable then pinned Alana under foot and peeled her off the end of the implement. Alana's agonized scream could be heard throughout the stunned silence of the Stockroom, but fell silent as she slumped motionless to the ground like a rag doll. Faye feared the worst and began to motion towards Alana's seemingly lifeless body, only to be halted with the business end of the fork, aimed directly at her face.

"Did you think you could just do that to me?!" Boyd placed a hand into the bloodied mess between his legs and raised it again to present the gore to Faye. "You think I'd let you and that little bitch live happily ever after... after this?!"

Faye took another step towards Alana, but Boyd quickly stopped her, coming just centimeters from plunging Deborah's steel spires into her eye sockets, spires reddened by Alana's blood.

"Move again and I put this through your skull" he screamed in desperation. Boyd's teeth were clenched so tight he risked shattering them, and the amount of drool oozing from his mouth rivaled that of his grandfather. "You were mine, Faye... and that little cunt took you from me! I fucking loved you, bitch!"

"You've never loved anything but yourself, Boyd!" Faye screamed back in frustration as tears poured down her face, "I'm going to kill you!"

"Try anything and you're dead," Boyd reiterated. "You took everything from me, you fucking cunt... so I think it's only right that I return the favor!" The color was leaving the bleeding man's face. He struggled to hold his balance as his head grew light from blood loss.

At the end of her rope, both physically and emotionally, Faye still knew an opening when she saw one. Whatever pain... whatever misery she was dealing with simply faded into the background. None of it mattered anymore. Her heart ached for Alana worse than any cut, break, or bruise that plagued her body. Boyd wouldn't leave that hallway alive, no matter what may happen to her. The scheming psychopath was right again... he had robbed her of everything, of her entire world... of Alana...

...but she would be avenged.

With the reflexes of a cat, Faye ducked beneath the extended utensil, somersaulting across the brick in the process. As her feet found ground once again, she forced the fork upwards and launched her entire body into Boyd. The last Mattel holdout was caught off guard in a way he never would have had he not been driven to the brink of death by what Faye had taken from him. The two of them fell against the wall with a thud, with Faye landing on top of him and Boyd disarmed by the wall itself.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" She screamed until her voice cracked. Faye squeezed the sides of his head with both hands in the heat of pure adrenaline fueled rage, then pressed her thumbs into Boyd's eye sockets, leaning forward with all her weight and remaining strength. Boyd frantically flailed and shrieked as what little light there was in the hallway went out. Faye continued to press further, squeeze tighter... still screaming. Boyd's deep blue eyes were gone... just dark red pools overflowing the sides of his face as Faye's trembling digits displaced more and more blood.

In a last ditch effort to save himself, Boyd's franticly searching fingers found Deborah's handle just above his head. He swung it as hard as he could through the darkness, using his remaining senses and instinct to gauge where Faye's head must be as she held him pinned to the ground. Faye reacted quickly, pulling a single thumb from an oozing socket with a sickening slurp, and catching the handle mid swing. She yanked it from Boyd's hand, spun it above her head, and brought the prongs down forcefully into her ex's terrified face... killing him instantly.

The grief stricken woman wasn't done though... it just wasn't enough. Faye began to sob, yanking the fork from Boyd's skull, and bringing it down yet again... and again... and again... and again. Faye continued to aerate Boyd's skull until it served as little more than a bowl to hold a gory stew of bone and brains.

It still wasn't enough.

Running out of face to pulverize, Faye dropped the fork to the floor and started pounding on Boyd's chest with her fists. She could hear his ribs crack and break with each repeated blow. Her sobbing turned to outright wailing, interrupted only by the occasional, 'fuck you,' or, 'why.'

I guess you just can't kill an enemy enough to sate your broken heart.

The chemicals in Faye's brain that had been driving her began to wain, and the unrecognizable corpse she straddled failed to offer the vengeance she thought she craved. The pain returned as surly as the seasons and the bruised and broken Mattel slumped against the wall in defeat. She held her eyes closed as she cried, knowing the second she opened them she would see Alana's lifeless body sprawled out on the edge of the masonry.

Sarah, Lacey and Keri franticly pushed their way through the crowd to get to Alana as the showdown began. Just as Faye had been, Alana's friends were powerless to do anything about Boyd's surprise attack. By the time they reached the improvised stage, Faye had already reduced Boyd to a pile of tenderized meat, not that they could see his sorry state from their lower perspective anyway. All they could see was Faye propped against the wall behind the brick, crying her eyes out...

...and Alana.

Her body lay still, her head and a single limp arm falling over the side of the heavy block. Blood slowly dripped from her lips, and what precious fluid wasn't soaking into the brick from her gaping wounds was falling over the side, pooling on the concrete floor. Lacey covered her mouth in horrified disbelief at what she was seeing, even as that image fogged over with tears. Keri was struck speechless and numb.

Save for Faye's haunting weeping, the hallway was deathly quiet and still.

Sarah was the only one with the will to step closer to her fallen leader... and dearest friend. At first she only stared at Alana, taking in the tiny details of her body before the tears could blur the reality and cloud her memory. She extended a hand into Alana's hair, running her calloused fingers through the long crimson locks like she had since they were children. She took three locks into her her hands and gently folded them over another... one final braid for best friend... her sister.

Sarah kissed an exposed cheek and touched her forehead to Alana's. "I'll miss you, 'Lana. Thank you for what you've given us... and thank you for being my friend."

Faye couldn't move. What was left for her? How could she possibly go on living without Alana, and what would be the point in doing so? She pleaded with whatever God might be listening to take her instead, but her prayers would go unanswered. She continued to keep her eyes clenched tight, unwilling to accept reality.

That was, at least, until Sarah broke the silence... repeatedly screaming, "MEDIC!!!"




End Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Two-"Life Flashing"




"Alana, it's time to get up."

The little girl rolled from one side to the other in an attempt to ignore her father's unwelcome interruption of her slumber. It was early in the morning, so early that the sun had not yet come up. The young girl had asked for just one thing on this, her eleventh birthday... for her father to take her with him on his next hunt. She had begged and pleaded with him for the past couple of years to allow her to tag along, but Bennett still felt she was too young. It was her mother, Evelyn, who finally convinced her husband to indulge the eager youngster. The world they lived in was cruel and unforgiving, and the more capable little Alana was of taking care of herself, the better chance she stood within it. Kids had to grow up fast in The Store.

But a child Alana was, and like any parent trying to wake their offspring, getting them out of bed was a battle in itself. "Happy birthday, sweetie," Bennett whispered and nudged her again. Alana just groaned and buried her head beneath the cotton-stuffed sugar packet she used as a pillow. Bennett was lightly amused by his daughter's stubbornness, knowing very well what he was about to tell her would make her world.

"If you don't get up, you'll miss the prime hunting time," he lovingly teased.

Alana instantly tossed the pillow aside and crawled out of the mouth of her fluffy sock bed. Her face was impossibly bright and cheerful for the early hour. "Really, daddy?! You really mean it?!"

"Shhhhhhh," her father instructed, bringing his index finger to his lips. "We don't want to wake your mom and grandmother."

Little Alana was so excited by the prospect of joining her father that her hands balled up into little shaking fists before she leapt from bed. Had she been any bigger, the embrace she locked around Bennett's midsection would have been smothering. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She repeated over and over in a shouting whisper.

"Alright, alright," he chuckled as he tried to peel his daughter off. "Get dressed and I'll meet you out front."

Alana finally released the death grip she held on her father, then pulled her tattered and stitched together nightgown over her head. She searched around the cardboard floor for something specific, a soft and smooth tunic fashioned from a clothing tag. A series of vague instructions she didn't understand, along with the emboldened letters "XL" were printed across the well-worn garment. It wasn't so much about the look itself, but the comfortable texture of the article. She had no idea what she was in for, but Alana wanted to make sure she was comfortable and could move about freely.

Upon finding the elusive tag beneath her bed itself, Alana pulled her head through the cutout hole and tied a pice of yarn around her wait to secure it. "No need to wait, daddy... I'm ready to go!"

"Fine then," he chuckled again with much amusement at his daughter's eagerness. "Lets head out then."

Alana followed her father out the front door, skipping with excitement. The seasoned hunter picked up his trusty toothpick, which leaned against the door, without missing a step. The pair marched off into the darkness, while unbeknownst to them, a proudly grinning Evelyn watched them disappear from the doorway behind them. There was no way she was going miss such a big moment in her daughter's life.

Alana tugged at her father's soiled frock and asked him, "where are we going, daddy? Are we gonna catch a mouse? Oooo... or a squirrel?!"

Bennett turned and shushed the exited little birthday girl once again, "we have to be very quiet, sweetie," he whispered as quietly as he could. "Consider this your first lesson... the animals we hunt have far better hearing than we do, so if you want to have any chance of killing one, you need to learn to move so quietly that they don't know you're there. Do you understand?"

Alana cutely squeezed her lips shut with the tips of her fingers and gave her father a big enthusiastic nod. Bennett always thought it was adorable the way his daughter's lovely red hair bounced when she nodded liked that.

"Good girl," Bennett approved. He looked from one direction to the next, then back at his daughter. "The second reason we have to be quiet is that we aren't supposed to be out here at this time of night. There's a curfew for a reason, you never know what might be lurking in the dark. It could be something that might eat us... or... it could be another person... a bad person, who might do bad things to you. Does that make sense, Alana?"

Ever the speedy learner, Alana nodded once again. She was so smart for her age, and well spoken... her grandmother saw to that. Keri was diligent in making sure Alana was as educated as the law would allow. The old woman often joked that it was better to at least sound like you knew what you're talking about, even when you didn't.

Alana could barely control her jittering excitement. Before they really got started, there was already so much mystery and intrigue building in what they were about to undertake. What would they find? What trouble might they get into? It was scary, sure... but so exciting, so much more so than the boring day to day of life under the great roof.

The father/daughter team made their way through the twisting pathways that penetrated the oversized discarded food packaging and crude homes that littered the floor of Aisle 17. Some of the debris had to be climbed over while in other areas they crawled under on their hands and knees. They were heading towards the back of The Store... to the back hallway, somewhere the child had never been allowed to venture before.

They passed through the massive doorway, a structured archway so unbelievably large and grand that Alana thought that it had to have been built by gods. What little light the moon provided through the glass window in the roof was now gone. The hallway was nearly pitch black, so Alana clung to her father's hand as they snuck deeper into the unknown.

"Here's your second lesson, Alana," Bennett continued. "Once your eyes have adjusted to the dark, don't focus on what's directly in front of you. It's strange, I know... but if you pay attention to what lies just to the left and right of your direct line of sight, you'll see better than staring at it directly."

Alana squinted some, but all she saw was black. "I don't think it's working."

"You'll figure it out," he assured her. "It takes time to train yourself to do it properly. You can also use your hands and feet to feel out your surroundings. Use your ears and nose as well. Your other senses will help you compensate for the loss of one."

Bennett lead them around the mountain of clothing solely by touch until they reached a narrow space between it and the wall. "We'll stop here. Use your hands to sense the space in front of you, Alana... what do you feel?"

Alana did as instructed and reached out with both hands. Her fingertips grazed along a smooth and somewhat chalky feeling surface. "It's... flat... kinda like paper, only hard."

"Good," her father told her. "Keep moving your hands along its surface."

Alana continued to follow what was a long baseboard that ran the length of the wall separating them from the outside world. She continued along until there was a break in the consistency. "There's... a crack, I think." She felt around its edges, feeling the interior crumble a little at her touch. "It's strange, like... like it's falling apart. And air... I can feel cool air moving through it."

"It's a crack in the drywall," he explained. "Somewhere within there's a hole to the outside... places like this are how mice and insects get into the Store. There are many locations like this throughout the building actually, but I've always had the best luck at this one."

A primed and ready Alana asked, "so do we go in after them?"

"No, no," Bennett replied. "The third thing you must learn is patience. We wait until our prey comes to us. We don't want to get lost in there. Whether it's a spider or a mouse or one of those squirrels you were so excited about... they're all much, much faster than we are. The rodents are stronger too... they'll overpower you easily, and then... YOU become dinner."

Little Alana gulped at the terrifying thought.

Bennett continued with his lesson, "but what we lack in size and strength we more than make up for in our intelligence. They're all simple animals, with simple drives and needs. Our job as hunters is to learn what those are and exploit them. Their patterns, their weaknesses, the things they like to eat. Do you know what your most useful weapon is, Alana?"

Alana thought for a moment and answered, "your spear?"

"Not quite...," her response was too cute for Bennett to keep from laughing a little, "it is important, but the MOST important weapon we have is surprise. If you can catch your prey off guard, they won't stand a chance."

Alana took a moment to consider the hole and where the best place to be was. "So... we wait, right here... outside the hole... right, daddy?"

"You're catching on quick, sweetie. I think we'll make a hunter out of you yet." Bennett gave his daughter a loving squeeze as a reward.

So, the father and daughter waited silently in the dark... for hours. Alana continued to struggle with seeing peripherally, but she kept on practicing. Bennett tried to treat the experience like any other hunt, but it wasn't. What if something came through that wall that he couldn't handle? What if he was putting his daughter in harm's way just by being there? The sun was beginning to illuminate the valley outside as dawn crept ever closer, and Bennett almost hoped they would get skunked just to keep his child out of danger.

But a scurrying echoing from inside the crack made both of their ears perk and their arm hair stand on end. By that point, there was enough light to see one another again, and also whatever might be heading their way. Bennett mimed with intensity to his daughter to watch with his fingers pointing towards his eyes, then motioned towards an open pant cuff sticking out from the mountain of old fabric. It was a hiding place he had used himself many times before.

Alana nodded wordlessly, then crawled under the thick, heavy seem of the aging Dickies. She peaked outwards, shaking with excitement for what was about to happen. Bennett remained crouched next to the crack, twisting the neck of the toothpick in his hands out of nervous anticipation. He was as skilled a hunter as they came, but he'd also seen his fair share of monsters as well... monsters that had taken men and women away, never to be seen again.

The creature buzzed as it stepped into the light, its smooth, dark shell catching a glint of the morning light from the Salesfloor. It's six legs were adorned with claws and bent in more places than a human limb would. It's black head probed its new surroundings with grotesque looking antennae. It was only a simple beetle, but one that was easily bigger than Bennett's own child watching close by from the shadows.

From his crouched position Bennett rose, lifting the toothpick spear above his head... preparing himself for the kill. The massive beetle opened its wings and flapped them for a second before retracting them into its shell once again. The displaced air kicked up a small cloud of dust, nearly blinding the unsuspecting hunter in the process. That's when Alana's father closed his eyes and plunged the sharpened end of the wooden staff into the insect's brain.

He held firm to his weapon while the creature twitched and struggled to get free. Alana's father wouldn't lift the spear away until the bug stopped moving altogether. As he retracted the implement, a thick, foul smelling dark-green goo stretched and stuck to the end of its tip. Bennett wiped it off on the animal's exoskeleton, then turned back to his daughter. Alana had already rushed out from under her hiding spot and was holding her nose as she regarded the beetle's strange alien form.

"It'll smell a lot better once we cook it," Bennett tried to assure her. "I don't think I've had one of these since before you were born."

Alana's attention moved from the bug back to her father with concern, "h-how does it taste?"

Bennett laughed and placed his hand on her shoulder, "oh, you know... terrible."

"Then why do we eat it?" Alana asked in confusion.

Bennett kneeled down so he could look his daughter in the eye. "Because things are bad here, my sweet Alana. Really bad. Your mother and I have tried to shelter you as much as we can from the reality of this place, but things are getting very dire. We're going to eat this creature because we don't know where our next meal may come from."

Alana tilted her head, even further perplexed, "then... why don't we leave? Find somewhere that isn't bad?"

He wanted to tell her then. He wanted to let all of their secrets spill out and let her judge him for them, but Bennett knew it could snowball into something worse than knowing. As much as she wanted to grow up, Alana was still a child... innocent and carefree, and he wasn't about to ruin that for her.

"I can't tell you that right now, but you'll find out one day... I promise." He stood back up and placed his hand on her shoulder once again. "I will tell this right now... don't turn your nose up at a hard earned meal, because there are plenty of those under this roof that would hurt you for it... even kill. Consider that your final lesson for the day."

Alana looked back to the oozing corpse of the beetle and lightly nodded, "we should probably get it back home before someone finds out, huh?"

"Smart girl," Bennett grinned through his shaggy beard. He tussled her hair to make her smile, as it always did, and returned to the fresh kill.

The two of them managed to get the beetle home before the rest of the village of Aisle 17 started to muster, though it was no easy feat. Alana's mother was both shocked and delighted by what they'd brought through the door on her first outing. She immediately began to prepare a fire in the mushroom-can stove out back to roast the invertebrate for breakfast. The shell crackled, and the soft parts boiled and popped as it cooked. Her father was right, it did smell a lot better once prepared.

The three of them enjoyed their meal, laughing and celebrating the birth of their only child. I say three because, even over time, Grandma Keri never developed a taste for insect. The very sight of the horrendous thing sitting on their playing card table was enough to make her lose her appetite. Alana repeated to her grandmother what her father had said about accepting a meal when it presented itself, but Keri just waved her off and tried to control her urge to vomit.

It was a fond memory, one of the few truly happy times Alana could remember from her childhood, but that's all it was... a memory. Seeing one's life flash before their eyes was a common cliche... even in this dystopian hell of a world, but the entirety of Alana's life hadn't flashed before her eyes... just... this lone, happy memory.

And in the blink of an eye... it was gone.

That entire morning had replayed in her mind over the course of a single second. One moment she was looking at the beautiful faces of her smiling and proud parents... and the next...

A familiar pain resurfaced in her abdomen and she found she was having trouble breathing. Suddenly, she could feel herself being lifted off the ground, above the table even. Blood began to trickle from the corner of her mouth... and then also poured from a pair of holes above her stomach.

"Mom... dad?"

In another blink, the safe, happy image of her family was gone... and in its place, was the welcome sight of Faye, staring down at her. Beautiful Faye... the strongest, most caring, and wonderful person she had ever met. Each time she saw her face, she fell even deeper in love with her. She'd pushed her away, and Faye still came running back to forgive her. She loved her so much it hurt inside...

No... this pain... this pain was different. It was real, physical...

The blood... there was so much blood.

Faye's face looked terribly distressed and tears were falling down her cheeks in slow motion. Her quivering jaw hung slack with shock and horror. She seemed to be about to scream...

Alana could no longer feel the rough texture of the brick, on which she had been standing, beneath her bare feet. Her hands gripped at something... something cold and hard, protruding from inside her.

Something was terribly wrong.

It was getting even harder to breath, and it was all Alana could do to say her lover's name...



"Faye?"




End Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-One-"The Unknown Future"




What met Lacey and Sarah, the first to emerge from the cut in the wall, was unlike anything they had ever seen before. The dim hallway was packed wall to wall with people, and every one of them... that wasn't a captive Mattel anyway, erupted into a celebratory cheer. The greeting left the two lifelong friends dumbfounded, both of them unsure how to respond to such an unprecedented moment. They dangled their legs over the rise of the wood-grain trim and eased themselves down to the floor, allowing for Michael and Heidi to crawl through one at a time.

The cheering masses didn't silence, but there was a noticeable confusion in their assessment to the pair of Mattels. Most of Alana's army knew they had been allies, but there remained a lingering distrust of anyone larger than a Hasbro. The two of them hadn't been nearly as involved in the day to day preparation as Faye, having burrowed deeper undercover within Conrad's cult. Heidi and Michael weren't interested in credit anyway, they were just happy to be standing there together and alive. They stepped aside quickly to allow the others through the hole.

The sight of Keri and Nathan sent the crowd screaming with joy. For so many, Keri had been just as much their leader as Alana... a grandmother to them all. As the old woman regarded the people she had cut herself off from for so long, she felt conflicted in her emotions. Losing so much time feeling contempt for them over Alan's sham of a trial left her hollow and lost. It wasn't until she laid eyes on this inspiring sight that she realized most of the people standing before her weren't even there. It was their children... and their children's children. None of them were to blame. In fact, if it weren't for them, Conrad would have gotten away with murder once again... and would have continued to do so.

Viewing so many people of different sizes and backgrounds standing together as one brought Keri to tears. She raised a hand to acknowledge them and cupped her mouth with the other trying to quell her overwhelming emotions. The kindly Nathan gently helped her to the floor and assisted her as they too made room for the main event.

"You hear that out there?" Alana asked Conrad. "That's the sound of an entire Store united against you."

Conrad didn't even make eye contact, he just gargled and drooled some more on the scattered papers beneath his feet. The tendons in his lower leg had been severely damaged, prohibiting him from walking, so the girls forced him to crawl. On top of that, Faye had bound his wrists in front of him by tightly twisting a paper clip around them, one of many she'd found attached to the various folders scattered about.

Meanwhile, Alana fashioned a few more clips to link a chain together, making sure the old bastard remained tethered to Faye. The wire had already began to dig into his wrists as he crawled along and his slashed open calf left a streak of blood across the old business documents along the way. If the unimaginable pain in his leg and jaw weren't enough, now Conrad had to endure the humiliation of being dragged along like a whipped dog on a leash.

Humiliation was the key, just as Keri had predicted.

Alana and Faye eyed one another as they prepared themselves to meet the waiting people. "You ready for this?" Faye queried, almost asking herself as much as she was Alana.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess," the little ginger replied.

"You wanna go first," Faye offered.

"No... you go ahead and take him through the wall. I'll follow close behind... that way I can stick him in the ass if he tries anything." Alana waved the knife playfully in the air and smirked. The sentiment brought a smile to Faye's face.

Faye took a long, slow breath, then stepped into the hole. "Here we go."

Before her foot even touched the floor on the other side, Faye was met with the kind of reception once reserved for rock stars. Thousands of tiny people cheered and whistled and waved their hands in the air with excitement. She ducked her head under the wall and emerged with mouth agape. Even the Hasbros, who had been firing upon her not that long ago, were clapping and smiling. Faye hadn't the foggiest idea what to say or do.

Emerging from the thick crowd like they were fighting through rows of corn were two small Kenner children. Each dragged behind them one of Faye's custom made blades. The first child, a little boy not more then ten years old, laid it at her feet... then the even smaller little girl dropped hers.

"We saw you use these to fight the giants," the boy said, "we thought you'd want them back."

"Thank you for saving my mommy and daddy," the little girl added.

Faye was deeply touched by the two little Kenners at her feet. She had no idea who their parents were, or if she herself had anything to do with their parents' favorable condition... but that didn't matter. She knelt down and thanked the little children by kissing them on the tops of their heads. The kindhearted Mattel tussled their hair a little bit before sending them back to their families. Now she had to acknowledge the rest of them...

"Uh... um... h-hey... everyone."

It wasn't exactly Faye's most eloquent moment, oration was more in Alana's wheelhouse after all, but the congregation didn't seem to mind or even notice. If she had broke wind they probably would have applauded it. The masses reacted by hooting even louder, something that really took the tired warrior aback. The nervous feeling she experienced was completely unfamiliar to her. For the first time in her life... Faye had to deal with stage fright. She handled it the only way she could think of, by turning the attention to someone else. With a hearty yank of the paperclip chain, Conrad came tumbling out of the wall. He landed awkwardly on his neck and then rolled onto his back, completing the summersault. Getting their first view of the orchestrator of their oppression , understandably... the crowd had a decidedly different reaction.


"Boooooooooo!"

"Kill 'em!"

"Hssssssssssss!"

"String him up!"

"Off with his head!"


Conrad ducked his head and hid behind his elbow to avoid taking any of the artillery of flying spit hurling his way directly in the face. He caught a glimpse of his captured soldiers to the left, what was left anyway, all tied... all kneeling. The looks on their faces, those of hurt and confusion at the unbelievable sight that filled their vision. How could their leader, the voice of god on earth himself, be beaten and kneeling like... like... a commoner. Any other general would have felt shame and regret for letting his men down, but not Conrad. He regarded them with contempt for spoiling his plans and blamed them for the situation he now found himself in. Not that his broken jaw would allow him to voice those opinions, that is.

The sour energy in the crowd changed the second Alana appeared at the mouth of the tunnel. It was as if people had lost their minds with excitement. There, at the end of the war, Alana had become a superstar. I wish there were a better word to describe the way the people felt about her, but there really isn't. Children rushed towards the hole just for the opportunity to touch her. Adults couldn't wait to shake her hand or even hug her. It was pure bedlam.

Faye leaned back to her tiny fiancé and whispered, "I hope you've got one of your famous speeches ready. This could get out of hand."

Alana understood what Faye was alluding to. She had promised not to let the crowd at Conrad, no matter how much he deserved it. With the way things were escalating, they may not stop with just him and go after the prisoners. A decision had to made fast. "Faye, can you get me over to the brick again?" It was the same doorstop she had used as a soapbox before, only now it would serve as the stage to try and calm the same crowd she had riled up in the first place.

Faye lifted the pint-sized general from out of the wall and tread lightly through the crowd, taking care not to step on anyone in the process. Conrad was dragged along as well, receiving more raining wads of phlegm and tiny kicks to his arms and legs. Faye set Alana down on the brittle, reddish-orange block. Even with Alana now perched above the enormous crowd, Faye still towered above her. She stepped to the side of the brick to get out of the way, but not so far from Alana that she couldn't protect her if need be. She kept her naughty new pet on a very short leash.

Alana looked from one end of the sea of people to the other, a sight more overwhelming than she could even begin to process. She felt self conscious and exposed, looking herself over, not so much in vanity, but in presentability. Most of the blood that had coated her body had sweated away in combat, leaving only patches and streaks. She then turned her attention to the Mattels, huddled and frightened, pressed up against the wall. For the first time in her life... these giants among men appeared rather small.

"Well," she began, her voice cracking slightly with nervousness, "I said I wouldn't return without Conrad's head... guess we got a little carried away and brought the rest with us as well."

The crowd laughed perhaps a little harder than the joke deserved, but it helped give Alana the confidence to carry on. A lone male voice shouted "I love you," from somewhere near the back which sent the majority chuckling again. Alana blushed and grinned.

Keri looked on from near the door with the others from Alana's inner circle, feeling proud of the woman Alana had become. "The kid's a natural," she muttered to herself. "She has them in the palm of her hand."

The next thing Alana asked surprised everyone in the room, "can we get someone to take the bonds off from the Mattels?"

It was quite something to hear nearly two thousand people gasp in unison. Those that didn't laughed, thinking Alana was joking again.

"I'm serious... we need to start acting like we're one in purpose again... like when our grandparents first came here. This division of sizes has to end right here... and right now. These people shouldn't be held accountable for following orders from their commander, nor should they have to answer for his crimes. Let them go!"

The apprehension among the smaller people was less than subtle, some even scoffing at the very idea of releasing prisoners of war. It was hardly the speech they were waiting for, but it would be the one they needed.

"Listen!" Alana ordered with a lone foot stomp. "Just because they're bigger than us doesn't mean we have to fear them. Look at Michael... and Heidi... and my dear Faye here... they're every bit as Mattel as these others. They just as easily could have fallen under the Constable's spell... but they fought side by side with us because they knew it was the right thing to do. I'm not going to ask again... let them go!"

A few of her soldiers reluctantly gave in and began untying the conquered giants. As soon as all were free, Alana resumed her dialog.

"Remember this moment," she directly addressed the tallest members of her audience. "We could have made you suffer... or killed you outright, but we didn't. We didn't because that's not who we are... and I'd like to believe that's not who you are either. The war is over... and now... now have to figure out how to get past this. We need to learn to live with each other. It doesn't matter that some unknown force decided to gift some of us with a few more inches than the rest... we are still all human beings."

The Mattels rubbed at their chafing wrists while listening, albeit skeptically. Conrad had warned them in the past that the Kenners were a scheming lot and to trust them was to ensure their very downfall... just another of his many deceptions. They were listening though, and that was a solid start.

"I don't fault any if you for believing in him," Alana assured the Mattels. "You needed answers to large questions, and he provided you with them. I'm only standing here because these people believed in me... because I could offer them hope. I don't answer to any higher being like Conrad claims to, everyone here just needed to hear that all was not lost... and that there was a chance to do something about it. They did the rest themselves... not because of me. I'm just a girl... I'm just... one of them... and one of you."

Faye gave Conrad a swift kick between his shoulder blades to get his attention. He lost his balance slightly, but righted himself as best as he could. "Tell them! Tell them how you lied to them, you sick bastard!"

Conrad glared over his shoulder at her with such contempt. He continued to gargle and moan in pain, while his fine rat-fur robe grew increasingly damp with his own drool.

"Perhaps 'yes and no' questions might be best, babe," Alana joked, which helped relieve some of the tension that had built in the narrow hallway. Faye chuckled to herself and eased up on Conrad's leash.

Alana began the process of exposing the good Constable to his devout. "Conrad Hartman... did you in fact engage in conspiracy against the people of the Salesfloor?"

Faye leaned down and whispered a bluff in the old man's ear, "the truth now... or I'll let these people haul you off in chunks."

Conrad hesitated for a moment... then reluctantly nodded.

Alana continued, "did you not also engage in the heinous acts of murder and cannibalism?"

The urge to grit his teeth was strong, but his busted mouth wouldn't allow it. The Constable hesitated once again, only to earn a slap across the back of his skull from Faye. This time he closed his eyes before nodding.

"One last question, Constable Hartman...," Alana sounded like the confident lawyer she never knew she could be... or ever really knew existed for that matter. "Are you, in fact, the voice of god on earth?"

The old man was visibly shaking by this point. He looked pleadingly to his followers, then to Alana, then back again.

"Answer the fucking question, Conrad," Faye growled.

Not even the abuse Conrad had suffered at the hands of his drunken mother had managed to squeeze a tear from the burgeoning psychopath, but this inquisition finally cracked him. Not so much out of guilt, as the man lacked any kind of conscience or empathy. No, this single tear was shed for himself, having never found a situation he couldn't talk or scheme his way out of. He looked the remnants of his army directly in their faces and shook his head. This was shocking for the Mattels... you could see it written all over their faces. None of them knew how to take it. He was their prophet, their lord... their entire lives revolved around his every whim. Reality itself was coming undone before their very eyes.

Scattered calls for Conrad's life once again sprung up through the crowd, followed by applause and shouted agreement. Alana gestured her hands to quiet the people once so she could resume. Faye stood by loyally, but it was obvious she wasn't going to last much longer as she teetered in place.

"Trust me, my friends... I feel the same way. I'd love nothing more than to bleed this monster after what he's done to my family." Alana and Conrad locked eyes as she continued. "But that's not what we're gonna do."

The crowd groaned with frustration and disbelief. They wanted blood, and Alana and her friends kept denying them the satisfaction.

"You misunderstand me...," she tried to clarify, "Conrad Hartman will not go unpunished for his crimes, but a quick death is too good for him."

"Torture him!" Someone yelled.

"Take him apart!" Screamed another.

"We can't do this!" Alana exclaimed. "How can we ever move forward if we keep giving into these primitive urges?! I'm not innocent of lusting for blood vengeance either. I don't know how many times the people I love have had to talk me down from doing something drastic, but they made me realize that we can't start over by continuing to make the same mistakes."

She continued, "we will not kill Conrad Hartman today, or anyone else... ever again. Instead, he'll spend the remainder of his days locked in the same metal box where he held his victims... where he held me... where he killed my family. The very same one Faye rescued me from. In the darkness... time will hold no meaning and the echoing of his own voice will be his only companionship. There, his poison tongue will hold no longer hold influence. There he will stay... until loneliness drives him mad or natural death takes him."

It's hard to believe that sweet, ditzy Sarah thought up something so twisted, yet so fitting for the old cannibal, but she did. People were little more than puppets to be manipulated to Conrad Hartman, just pieces in a larger game of his own self interest. Perhaps it took a simple girl to see how simple the solution should be... just clear the game board. Deny him the satisfaction of having power over anyone by cutting him off from society and let him torture himself with his own twisted mind. It wouldn't even begin to make up for what he's done to the people of Rasmussen's Grocery, but like Alana had already stated, a quick death would be too merciful.

Alana took the people's stunned silence as approval.

"With that settled," Alana changed the subject, "I want you all to take a good look behind you. I know it's dark, but look anyway."

The perplexed crowd did as instructed.

"Do you see it? Not what is there, but what isn't," she questioned. "Food. Do you see how bare the shelves are? That is why we need to unify... that is why the killing has to stop. If we don't work together to find a solution, there will be no future. We will die out. Whether you're a Kenner or a Mattel or a Hasbro... it won't matter... we'll end up fighting and killing each other over scraps. No one will care how big you are when they're hungry."

Alana raised a hand to draw people's attention back to the Constable. "Conrad's methods may have been done out his need to satisfy his sick mind, but inadvertently, he has revealed the limitations of this place. The Store has supported us for nearly half a century... but it can't anymore. We're going to have to take the biggest risk of our lives, one even more terrifying than standing up to this psychopath. If we are going to have any chance of surviving and carrying on for future generations, we are going to have to sacrifice our security... and venture outside."

Those who weren't stunned into silence gasped and shrieked with horror. To them, the world beyond the glass was filled with monsters and death, not prosperity.

"We have to see this place for what it is. It's not a sanctuary, it's a cage... and human beings weren't meant to live in cages. From what my grandmother tells me, people had conquered every corner of the planet, the size of which I can't even begin to fathom. They explored and learned, and taught what they learned to others. They even walked on the surface of the moon, if you can believe that!"

The last observation seemed a little too far fetched for most of the congregation, eliciting giggles and snickers at the very notion of space travel. Alana allowed the people their laugh and resumed once they got it out of their system and quieted down again.

"I guess... I guess what I'm saying is... we need to be like that again. We can't live in fear anymore. I'm sure those old explorers faced many dangers we couldn't even imagine, but they still pressed on in the name of discovery. We have to think like that, like every step away from here is a chance to see something new and exciting! And if that's not good enough for those of you who've become so accustomed to fear that they know no other motivation... I don't want to us to go extinct. Just like the dinosaurs."

"The Store hasn't been a sanctuary for a long time... and if we don't decide to do something right now... it will be our tomb."

Thousands of eyes fixated on Alana, the hallway so quiet you could hear a pin drop. She wasn't sure if she'd lost them with her grandstanding or just scared them. But... one old woman in the front row began to clap, then the young man next to her. Then another...and another. It wasn't long before nearly everyone in the crowded hallway were applauding Alana like she'd just given the performance of her life, and in a way... she had. She raised her fist in solidarity and the people grew more boisterous. Even the stunned Mattels seemed entranced by her.

Near the cut in the wall, Alana spotted her friends and grandmother jumping up and down with joy. Everyone in attendance could feel it... this was the dawning of something new and important. The little redhead was brought to tears by what she was seeing and her bright, beautiful smile glowed across her face. She looked up to the woman whom she loved, who was smiling right back down at her... and creating quite a rumble herself with her applause.

A store united. It was everything Alana had hoped it would be and more. To see smiles on the people's faces and celebrating for the first time in her life. Everyone in attendance knew this would be a day they remembered for the rest of their lives. Even the defeated Mattels, though still skeptical and guarded, got chills from the way Alana spoke.


And then... the optimistic atmosphere came to a crashing halt.


Everything happened so quickly. One second the people were in the middle of the biggest celebration The Store had ever seen, and the next... they were screaming in terror.

Faye would spend years afterward piecing the events together in her mind, moment by moment... torturing herself with what she might have done to stop it. She wasn't at fault in any way, but that never kept her from blaming herself.

"Faaaaaaaaye!" Michael shouted over the ocean of smaller humans that lied between him and the brick stage.

In the fraction of a second it took Faye to whip her head around to where Michael was standing, the terrified screams had already begun to belt out from the masses. Their friends were pointing and shouting for her to, "lookout!"

Then... the sound that halted everything.

It was guttural, like... someone had just been punched in the stomach. The sound of someone gasping for air after having the wind knocked out of them.



The sound a person makes when they've been just stabbed through the lung...



... and that very sound came from none other than Alana.



Over and over again, Faye played out what she could have done differently... if she'd just been faster... if she wouldn't have been so caught up in the moment... if she'd just had her blades in her hands.

The reality was... there wasn't anything she could have done.

Faye turned her head slowly, terrified by what she was about to see. There was Alana, eyes wide and pleading. A trickle of blood had escaped her mouth... her wide, frightened eyes wordlessly begging for help.

Just below her breasts, Alana's shaking hands clung to something... a pair of silver spears protruding from her abdomen. What Faye saw was so much worse than she could ever have imagined...

Alana's quivering lips barely uttered a single word...


"Faye?"




End Chapter Forty-One

AB23 wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:16 pm

I mean like I watched bits and pieces of it but your stories… Like you can very much feel the crescendo of Keri and Alana's desire to upend the system buckling and bending over the course of what, a month or so? It's amazing to read.

I mean like I watched bits and pieces of it but your stories… Like you can very much feel the crescendo of Keri and Alana's desire to upend the system buckling and bending over the course of what, a month or so? It's amazing to read.

AB23 wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 12, 2022 6:02 pm

GOT wasn't as methodical as this…

Not the last season anyway

But, WOW! Thank you!

GOT wasn't as methodical as this…

Chapter Forty-"Much Ado About Hartman"




The bones in Faye's hand shattered with the force of the Constable's falling foot. The pain was so brutal and intense that, had Conrad's weight not been the only thing holding her in place, she would have let go and fallen. The scream she released echoed so loudly through the office that she could be heard by the thousands waiting outside in the hallway. Conrad just snickered and gloated.

"You fucking cunts don't get it, do you? There's no world where useless... fucking... bitches... like you and those Kenner shits down there get one over on me." Conrad continued to grind Faye's hand into the desktop as he made his final point. "I've survived my mother... I've avoided capture by the police, masterfully if I do say so myself... and I even watched the world as we know it come to an end. I've been through too much... done too much... to let some miserable nobody like you put an end to me. Say goodbye, Faye."

Faye was too blinded by pain to care what Conrad had to say. What finally caught her attention was when the weight that held her firm began to slowly lift away. "No! Don't!"

Conrad waved goodbye and lifted his foot completely.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Faye's hand was too broken to grip anything... and she began to slide over into precipice. With the ground threatening to rush up and greet her, survival instinct took over once again. Faye couldn't say if it was a conscious decision or not because she barely remembers the following chain of events. It was like she'd left her own body and someone else was driving.

But she still had Boyd's knife.

Faye's free hand pulled it from where it was tucked away in her waistband. She'd forgotten it was even there, or for that matter, ever even taking it in the first place after castrating her old flame. Just as her fingers were about to betray her, Faye swung the crude pocket knife and buried it so deep into Conrad's calf that she penetrated the bone.

Conrad's mouth stretched so wide to release his pained howl that his jaw actually locked open. He tried to back away, but now it was Faye's weight that held HIM in place. The knife lodged in Conrad's calf muscle saved her from what could have been a deadly fall. Her weight on the blade made is slip and slice it's way further down the bleeding leg, which sent Conrad mad with wide-eyed panic and searing pain.

Snapping back into the present, Faye pulled herself up by the knife handle and crawled onto the desk's pale-grey surface. Conrad rolled onto his back, clutching at the gushing hole in his calf. Faye quickly crawled over the top of him, kneeing the screaming man as hard as she could in the balls and laying the blade beneath his open maw.

"I should just kill you right now, you son of a bitch!" Faye growled. "I could just slip this knife into your throat and all this shit would be over."

Conrad could only gargle and moan in response with his lower jaw widened so grotesquely. But more importantly, he was visibly very... very afraid.

"You had me tortured, Constable," Faye began. "I'm not sure I'm even going to survive to see tomorrow. I've been through hell, but I was built for it. You made me the bitch... cunt... whatever hateful, degrading thing you wanna call me, that I am today." Faye leaned in close to his ear so she could feel him shudder... and whispered, "but that little redhead down there... she didn't choose any of this. You and your shithead grandson forced her into it. You forced all of them outside that door to stand up to you... and they won."

Conrad grunted a few more times while a trail of blood slowly spread toward the desk's edge and dripped over the side. The Kenners below could only hear faint, distant voices... holding out hope that Faye was alright. Michael and Heidi were watching the show from the ladder, frozen with anticipation.

"I would love nothing more than to keep the pleasure of killing you all to myself, but that would be incredibly selfish of me," Faye continued with her intimidation. "But you ATE her fucking parents, Hartman. You killed them... and ATE them... and you made her watch... and mocked her as you did. I love Alana more than I ever knew I could love another human being... so if anyone deserves to kill you, Conrad Hartman... it's her."

Faye dragged him to his feet and held him precariously over the edge by his rat-fur coat. Conrad waved his hands and grunted some more. He gripped at her arm for his own precious life. If his open-mouthed mumblings were to be interpreted, they were probably something about how Faye just told him she wasn't the one who would get to kill him.

Faye smiled a little as she shook him by the collar, "she can still kill you with a broken back."

Faye released her hold on the soft, furry coat and let Conrad fall. His arms flailed wildly as if flapping them would slow his descent. Much to his and Faye's surprise, he landed softly in a shirt-stuffed box below... the same box which once held his arsenal of fireworks.

Michael and Heidi placed their feet to the sides of the ladder and slid back down much quicker than it took to climb it. Faye, on the other hand, took it one rung at a time... slowly... and methodically. She felt so broken and numb... just wanting this all to be over with so she and Alana could get on with their lives.

At the bottom, Heidi asked, "why'd you save him?"

Lacey replied, "it wasn't for him. We thought Faye was going to fall, so we scrambled to move the box so it would soften her landing."

Alana simply waited at the bottom of the ladder for the brace woman she loved so much to return to her. As soon as Faye's toes touched the floor, Alana wrapped her body around the bandaged column that was the giantess's leg and wept against her knee.

"I'm so glad you're alright...," Alana confessed, "I thought I was going to lose you!"

Faye dropped her armor and sunk to the floor, propping herself up against the ladder. She pulled Alana close to her breast and embraced her. "It'll take more than Conrad Hartman to keep us apart, Alana of 17." The diminutive redhead stretched upwards so her lips could meet Faye's.

Meanwhile, Conrad was clumsily struggling his way out of the cushy fabric lining the inside of the box. He fell over the edge and crawled into a dark corner beneath the desk, cowering like the weak old dog he really was. Sarah, Lacey, and their two Mattel allies followed and surrounded him.

"I brought you a present," Faye quipped and nodded in Conrad's direction. Alana followed her gaze and locked eyes on her rival. Her eyes narrowed with hatred. Faye placed Boyd's knife in Alana's tiny hands. "Would you like to do the honors?"

The knife was large and the handle a bit unwieldy for a person as small as Alana was, but she took it into her arms just the same. She set it aside for a moment to caress Faye's trembling and broken hand, feeling more concern for the woman who had given so much of herself for Alana's sake than for the scared, evil man quivering in the shadows.

"Thank you, Faye. I love you."

Faye cupped the side of Alana's entire head in her palm and replied, "I love you more than you'll ever know... and I'd do it all again... I'd do anything for you. Now please... go end this."

Alana offered a single nod and laid a gentle kiss on Faye's hand. She picked up the knife with both hands and turned to face her destiny. It was hard for her to wrap her head around the fact that this was indeed the end. Witnessing her friends and allies gathered around the greatest threat they would ever know... and seeing the fear in his eyes as he regarded them was a sight almost too surreal to believe. But there he was... right in front of her.

The human semicircle surrounding the Constable parted to allow Alana passage to the enemy. His jaw hung loose now, having broken at the hinges when he landed. Blood still trickled from his leg and more drooled from the sagging lips of his shattered mouth. For the first time in his life, Conrad looked pathetic.

The youngest member of the Nelson clan continued to advance slowly. She could feel the eyes of her comrades on her, but she didn't acknowledge them. Alana's seething hatred for the man burned like a furnace inside her. He continued to make indecipherable moans and gargling sounds, but from the way he gestured to her with his hands clasped together, he was clearly begging for his life.

The little redhead held no pity for Conrad, but more importantly... she no longer feared him. She stepped up close to his side, holding the knife high in case he tried one last desperate attempt to escape. Conrad froze stiff as Alana climbed onto his lap, feeling just as terrified as if she were an enormous spider. If Alana were a deadly arachnid, then her lone fang now grazed at her prey's jugular, ready to drain him of his juices.

She stared intently into his eyes, making sure the last thing he saw before she took his life was her empowered visage. "This is for my parents, you son of a bitch."


"ALANA! DON'T DO IT!"


Alana nearly put the knife through Conrad's neck just from getting startled during such an intense moment. The fact that the voice belonged to her grandmother was even more shocking. Alana turned her head to find Keri standing there, accompanied by Nathan, who had helped her through the tunnel in the wall. Alana paused, but never pulled the knife away from Conrad's throat.

"Stay out of this, grandma... he needs to die." Alana turned back to Conrad, who's eyes were darting between her and Keri and back again.

Keri repeated her warning from before the battle began, "if you kill him, he won't be the last!"

"Ignore her, Alana," Michael spoke up, offering his opinion. "Cut him up!"

"I say kill him!" Heidi joined in.

Lacey on the other hand wanted to hear the old woman out. "What do you mean, Keri?"

"If she walks out of here with Conrad's blood on her hands," Keri cautioned, "to every Mattel left, he'll become a martyr. Like some kind of savior who died for them. They'll never believe the truth... and they'll blame you for it."

"Let them!" Alana snapped back. Her hands began to shake with frustration and Conrad recoiled to avoid getting cut. "What would you have me do?! Show him mercy?! Forgive and forget?! He killed my parents for fucksakes! YOUR DAUGHTER!"

"I know, my sweet girl... I want vengeance as much... maybe even more than you." The argument turned into a repeat of the previous one they'd had. Keri hoped like hell that Alana would understand this time, but if anything, her granddaughter had grown more angry and vengeful than before. Keri stepped forward, pleading with her granddaughter as she did so, "I know it's difficult to understand... and I can guarantee it will be the hardest thing you ever do in your life... but if you kill him... things will only get worse."

"How?! We already beat them! What can they possibly do to us?!" Alana asked with increasing frustration.

"Perhaps we only won because Conrad gave them a 'no kill' order. With him gone, they'll have a cause to fight for. Someone to avenge... just as you do." Keri limped closer until she too was inside the circle. "And without him to call the shots, what's to keep them from slaughtering every last one of us in our sleep?! Where does this cycle of violence end?"

Alana turned to Faye who looked so tired and was staring off into space, her neck resting against one of the rings of the ladder. "What do you think, Faye?"

Faye lifted her head slightly and her eyes fluttered a little as she tried to abstain from passing out again. "It's not up to me."

"And if it were?" Alana pressed.

Faye closed her eyes and answered, "if it were up to me... I'd just end him as quickly as possible..."

Alana returned her attention to Conrad and prepared to shove the knife into his neck. Faye's approval was all she needed.

"Alana... please don't do this!" Keri sprung forward, and in doing so, fell to her hands and knees.

"...but," Faye continued, "your grandmother is smart. She's seen far more than we have... and she's a lot more knowledgeable about how things used to be. My opinion doesn't matter." Faye paused for a moment, "I'm just a tool... point me at whatever you want killed and you can consider it dead. I wasn't brought up to understand politics... that's what people like her are for. To me... it seems pretty cut an dry... but what if she's right? And more importantly... can we afford to be wrong?"

The silence following Faye's remarks was so thick and suffocating... the others could practically hear Alana grinding her teeth with anger. She wanted, no... desired to plunge the edge of the cold, broken razor blade into the spotted, wrinkly flesh of Conrad's neck. She needed to see his blood spilled... to watch him suffer. How could any of them ask her to give that up?

"W-what if," Sarah stammered, "what if we do something else to him? Something worse than death?"

"I thought we already agreed not to resort to torture," Lacey stepped in.

"No... not torture," Sarah clarified, "not physically anyway." The little Kenner with the golden hair stepped forward from her place in the circle, eyeing her companions sheepishly, then helped Keri back to her feet. She then waved Alana closer so she could whisper her idea to her conflicted friend and her grandmother. Years of ridicule from even those close to her, with the exception of Alana, for her strange ideas had made Sarah more cautious about saying something that might come across as silly or dumb.

"Wow, Sarah... that's pretty dark," Alana exclaimed.

Sarah let her head hang a little, feeling ashamed of what must have been her stupidest idea yet for Alana of all people to shoot it down.

"I love it," Alana assured her. Conrad began to shake his head frantically... as he had heard Sarah's proposal as well. Alana turned her attention to her grandmother, "you think it will work?"

Keri adjusted her position so Conrad could see her face. She didn't say a word... just flashing the faintest of grins and the slightest of nods. Finally... so many years after Alan's death... Keri would see justice properly done.




End Chapter Forty

Chapter Thirty-Nine-"Behind the Green Door"




With nails and fish hooks and the Mattel's very own weapons, the Kenner/Hasbro army began to chisel away at the base of the door. There was a narrow gap between the floor and the bottom of the massive hinged plank, but not wide enough for even the thinnest Kenner to squeeze under. Wood slivers splintered and sawdust began to fill the air to try and widen the gap, while others kept sentry over the defeated doll-sized giants.

Lacey, Sarah, and Faye reconvened with Alana, each of them feeling a little worried about their crimson-locked leader.

"Are you alright, 'Lana?" The concern in Sarah's eyes couldn't have been more obvious.

"Yeah... why?" Alana came across as worryingly passive about Sarah's question.

"Because you just threatened pain in a speech about mercy," Lacey replied for Sarah.

"And?" Alana was clearly more focused on the progress the other Kenners were making than with her friends' inquisition.

Faye crossed her arms over her chest, "do you really think it's wise to get these people riled up and bloodthirsty?"

Alana finally turned to face her friends, "it's nothing the bastard doesn't deserve."

"Maybe," Faye admitted as she crouched down, "but you just asked two thousand people to spare the lives of those they were just at war with. You told them we were different."

"Conrad deserves no mercy," Alana started. "He showed my parents none. I mean, fuck! Just look at you, Faye! Did he show you any mercy while he had you tortured?! What do you want me to do? Send him to bed without supper?!"

"Conrad will pay for what he's done, no one is saying otherwise," Lacey cut in. "I just don't think making a spectacle of it is the right move."

Alana sneered, "if these people tear him limb from limb... it still wouldn't be enough."

"Again, my love," Faye continued to try and reason with Alana, "we are supposed to be different. How is dragging him into an angry mob any different than tying someone to a cross and blowing them up?"

Alana was getting increasingly irritated with her friends line of questioning. Who were they to tell her how Conrad should be handled?! She had watched that monster kill and eat her family, and laugh while he did it. Pieces of their bodies were spit at her while she waded in their blood. How could they ever know what that was like?! Wasn't the whole point of all this so they would never have to?

She wanted to snap back, to put them in their place... but the way Sarah was looking at her... she'd never seen Sarah look at her with fear before. Alana didn't want to fight with her friends, obviously, and she certainly didn't want to do anything that might drive Faye away.

"Ok then. What do you guys propose?"

Faye stretched back up to her full height and pointed at the door. "Just the four of us. We go in there and we drag Conrad out, dead or alive... but preferably dead. We just end it. You still get your pound of flesh and we get to live with ourselves. I don't think I could just stand by and watch a man get tortured... even one like Conrad. It'll just be over... then we can begin trying to figure out how to piece our world back together."

As much as Alana wanted to stretch Conrad out on a cross herself, she knew Faye was right... and it pained her to admit it to herself. "So how do we keep two thousand people from flooding into that room when they've finally cut their way in?"

Faye stepped over her much smaller friends and picked a spot next to the wall. She began to rap her knuckles on its surface until it made the hollow sound she was looking for. She then picked up a discarded steak knife that one of the other Mattels had been using as a sword.

"You guys make things too difficult for yourselves sometimes," the titanic beauty joked whilst shooting her companions a crooked grin. She took a step back, inhaled a deep breath, then sliced into the wall with the knife's business end. She began to saw through the drywall and didn't stop until a rectangle had been carved out from its surface. She kept her eyes closed tight, not just to avoid getting the powder in her eyes, but to try and shut out the pain in her ribs. Faye set the knife aside then kicked the wall in with as much force as she could still muster. The cut rectangle gave with little resistance and slammed to the ground inside the wall. A narrow, cavernous and dark space was revealed within that few had ever seen.

"Beats trying to cut through a wooden door, doesn't it?" Faye asked rhetorically. She picked Alana up and placed her within what amounted to a mouse hole. The base trim lining the bottom of the wall was about three inches high, so it made for a bit of an obstacle for anyone but a Mattel to climb through. After helping Sarah and Lacey in, Faye grabbed the knife and climbed up herself. The other Kenners began to flood towards the hole, but Alana stopped them from attempting to climb in themselves.

"Wait here, my friends! Let us handle this!" Alana ordered.

An audible groan carried through the crowd.

"I promise you... I will not return without Conrad Hartman's head!" Alana words suddenly turned the jeers into cheers. She waved back, thanking them for their support.

Another wall stood between them and Conrad, and Faye set to work at cutting another hole. She tried to hide it, but the others could tell that each motion of the knife was causing her excruciating pain. The few minutes of rest Faye had allowed herself was only enough to make her muscles stiffen. She couldn't bend over much and she was walking with a noticeable limp.

The smell of age and mold permeated the air inside the framework of the wall and cobwebs larger than blankets grew thick with dust. Faye sawed through the chalky drywall as quickly as her weakened state would allow, then kicked the rectangular cut free, exposing them to the light once again.

A single small window, positioned high above the desk, provided the room with sunlight... the only natural light in the entire Stockroom area. Dust swirled and floated on the beam projected across the room. Huge tan folders and sheets of paper littered the floor. The girls were expecting an assault when the slab of wall fell, but the room was eerily calm and empty. No Mattel elders... and no Conrad. Faye slid out of the hole first and shook the white powder from her arms, then helped her tiny friends down to the floor.

"Did he get away?" Sarah asked.

"He could have escaped into the walls just as easily as we got in," Lacey added. Waiting for the mob outside to get in, then doubling back through the walls seemed like a logical move... but none of them could shake the feeling that they were being watched. Cautiously, the four of them moved further into the office.

"Stay close," Alana instructed, "keep your eyes open. Conrad may have the place boobytrapped."

Their eyes scanned the towering filing cabinets and the nooks and crannies beneath the desk area. The quartet continued to creep along, trying to remain ready for anything Conrad had planned. It was far too quiet.

A clicking sound above them sent their heads spinning around in the same direction. There wasn't anything there but a massive filling cabinet, except one of the drawers that had just been cracked open was now closed.

"They're in those metal towers!" Lacey shouted.

Another click from the other side of the room had the girls doing a one-eighty. Another drawer had shut, but in the one above it, an elderly woman's face could briefly be seen staring down at them. She too disappeared with the closing of her drawer.

"He has to be in one of those," Faye figured. "How the hell do we get him out?!"

The long ladder that led up to the desk suddenly tipped away from the edge and came crashing down onto the floor.

"I don't think so," Alana pointed upwards, "I think the fucker is up there!"

She didn't see Conrad, but Alana could feel it in her gut. The man wouldn't want to corner himself in a drawer with the rest of the geezers, he'd want options in case he had to make an escape. "Quick, get the ladder!"

Even with the four of them pushing it upwards, the length of the makeshift ladder made it difficult to set back up. Faye was the only one big enough to gain any kind of leverage. With it standing straight upwards, she began to carefully maneuver it back towards the edge of the desk.

"Wait a second, Faye," Sarah interrupted. "What's to keep him from kicking it over again?"

Alana agreed, "she's right. If it were me, I'd wait until we were at the top, then send us flying to our deaths. Set it up against the side of that tower... that way one of those old fucks inside won't be able to knock us off by opening a drawer."

Faye nodded and then walked the ladder's base towards the gap between the desk and the first filing cabinet. Conrad wouldn't be able to knock it backwards, but he might still be able to send it toppling to one side. Faye wedged it against the wall which would limit his ability to tip it as well. It was very risky, but there didn't appear to be any other way up. And just to make the matter even more frustrating, the first rung came up to Alana's neck, so it became frustratingly obvious that the rungs were spaced too far apart for anyone but Faye to climb them.

Alana asked, "can you carry me up there?"

Faye lowered her gaze from the top of the ladder back down towards Alana. "I could... but there's no point in both of us getting killed." She placed her foot on the first rung and started ascending as fast as she could... and before Alana could protest.

"Faye! No! Wait!" But Alana was too late, the brave Mattel was already out of reach.

The pain Faye fought through as she scaled the ladder was unimaginable. With her slashed up thighs rubbing against each other and her aching ribs, each step up... each raised arm above the other was pure agony.

But this was the endgame.

This was what everything had led to, and what so many had given their lives believing in. Faye had left her custom blades behind, but she wouldn't need them. She could kill Conrad a dozen different ways with her bare hands. A simple twist of his neck and his tyrannical reign would be over.

No... sitting out the final stretch because of something as temporary as pain wasn't an option in her mind. Just a little further... and their whole world could change. She thought about standing next to Alana on the day they would be wed, and the happy life they would soon share together. Just a little bit further... just a little more pain.

Before she knew it, Faye had nearly reached the top. She started thinking about how to leap the gap between the ladder and the desk. It wasn't that far, but one misstep and she'd fall back to the floor. In good health, it would probably be a survivable fall for someone the size of a Mattel, but this war had taken its toll on her... and Faye was far from her best self.

As certain as the sun rises, Conrad revealed himself when Faye neared the top, putting an end to Faye's fantasies of the future. He knelt down and stretched himself across the gap far enough to take hold of the ladder.

"Die, cunt!"

Not the most eloquent thing he had said to someone he was about to kill, but the confidence Conrad had oozed not an hour prior had all but evaporated away. The war was lost.. all he man had left was self preservation. Kill... or be killed. The time had come and gone for grandiose pontification... "die, cunt," was the best he could do.

Faye's eyes bulged and her jaw dropped as she felt the ladder begin to arc across the olive-green metal surface in front of her. She gripped the rung tighter and tried to redistribute her weight so the ladder would fall back into place. Conrad just pushed harder.

The three Kenner girls looked on helplessly as their enormous friend fought for her life high above them. Alana didn't know what else to do but wrap her legs around one of the supports and pull herself upwards. "Quickly! We have to try and put some weight on the bottom!"

Lacey and Sarah joined Alana as she climbed her way up to a second rung. The little revolutionary hoped their combined weight would counter the force Conrad was putting on the top by clinging to the leg opposite from the direction he was pushing it. One of the many problems that comes with being the size of any Kenner is that not even three of them equaled the weight of a single Mattel. The ladder tipped back and forth, dancing in place as Faye struggled against Conrad's resolve to kill her. Alana wished, as she clung to the rocking ladder, that she'd allowed the angry mob outside to follow them into the office... she needed the extra hands now more than ever.

Two had, in fact, ignored her order. Michael and Heidi appeared from seemingly nowhere to take hold of either leg of the teetering ladder. Their combined strength was more than enough to steady it and give Faye a chance.

Alana couldn't believe it. "Fuck me! Where did you two come from?!"

"We were watching through the hole, it looked like you little ladies needed some help," Michael explained proudly.

"Only all we can get! Do we ever owe you one!" Alana said with excited relief.

Feeling the ladder stabilize beneath her feet, Faye turned and launched herself over the edge of the desk. Conrad took a step back and began plotting a getaway. The second Faye landed on the surface though, she began to feel herself sliding back over the smooth, rounded edge. The armor she still wore created little friction which caused her to slide back down the formica. Only the exposed skin of her hands and arms gave her enough grip to keep her from plummeting back to the floor.

Ever the opportunist, Conrad wasted approached the dangling woman and casually hovered his sandaled foot over her fingers. "I told you to die, cunt." He ground the heel into the back of her hand... hands already injured from her battle with Tony and Fat Ben. She tried to resist the crushing burn in her fingers, but it was just too much. Her hand gave and she found herself dangling by a single, slipping appendage. Hartman placed his hands behind his back and his foot on her remaining hand. Faye screamed, instinctually trying to build up adrenaline to withstand the unbearable pain.

Below her, Michael and Heidi were already rushing up the ladder to offer help. The three tiny Kenner girls could only watch helplessly... and hope. Faye's legs kicked wildly above them as her feet tried to find any kind of purchase. More and more of her became visible as she continued to slip. Even from that far below, the Kenners could make out the smile on Conrad's face.

Faye stretched her toes to reach the ladder, but it was too far out of reach. Panic set in. Her breathing quickened and her heart beat fast, like that of a small animal. The two former spies were still only about half way up the ladder, and the prospect of catching the woman if she fell seemed nearly impossible. Conrad loomed above her like a statue of unjust condemnation. He lifted his foot slowly, savoring every second of Faye's fear... and brought it down with maximum force.




End Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Eight-"Mob Justice"




Not since the early days had so many non-Mattels set foot inside the walls of the Stockroom. Kenners and Hasbros alike stormed through the door like a great flood of vengeance. The Mattels had tried to close the door, but the sheer numbers of the Salesfloor folk kept them from ever gaining enough leverage to do so. The giants found themselves cornered in the narrow hallway leading to the office. Their numbers had been so depleted by that point that some say less than a hundred Mattels were left to fend off the tide.

Conrad and a small host of elder Mattels had taken refuge within the office, closing the massive door behind them... leaving their own kind to die. Outside, those who were not still trying to fend off the invading "lessers" were clawing and pleading at the door for their prophet, seer, and commander to grant them sanctuary. Conrad being Conrad, had no intention of doing so. The great pine door was two inches thick and locked automatically when closed, a safety precaution Dan Rasmussen had installed in the old days to protect his daily profits. Self preservation, as always, was at the forefront of the old man's mind. He would have forced the others from the safety of the office if he could have to sustain it.

From a higher vantage point, atop an empty wooden pallet, Lacey observed the scene with mixed emotions. This is what they wanted... this is what they had worked so hard to bring to fruition... but what now? From her position, she could see a sort of no-man's-land that had developed along the front line, just enough room for the smaller peoples to keep safely clear of the Mattels swinging weapons. The fighting was at a standstill, with both sides anxiously waiting for the other to make the next move.

Looking out over that great congregation, fighting valiantly for their freedom, Lacey felt completely overwhelmed. Were her friends still alive? If they weren't, did she have the strength within herself to make the tough decisions going forward? How far would this go? The compassionate young woman's thoughts bounced from one question to the next with no clear answers. Luckily for Lacey, a familiar voice calling to her from the crowd offered a much welcomed distraction.

"Lacey! Oh my god! Lacey!"

A small hand could be seen waving above a cascade of curly blonde hair, as its owner pushed its way through the sea of people.

"Sarah! Oh thank god, you're alive!" A wave of relief washed over Lacey. Seeing Sarah gave her the hope she needed that the others were still ok. As the equally relived blonde finally forced her way to the pallet, Lacey reached over the edge and pulled Sarah up with her.

As soon as Sarah's feet touched the coarse wooden surface, she tackled Lacey in a loving embrace. "I'm so glad you're ok!"

The two laughed and hugged some more, like they hadn't seen each other in years... when in reality, it had only been about a half an hour. Sarah and Lacey had come out the other end, and as the latter spotted Alana and Faye limping through the doorway, the two little Kenner women couldn't have been happier.

"Faye! Alana! Over here!" The two perched on the pallet shouted in unison, jumping up and down with excitement.

The two mismatched lovers spotted their friends above the crowd immediately and wanted nothing else but to be reunited with them. Faye lifted Alana onto the pallet, then climbed up herself, then dropped to her knees and joined the others... already crying with joy.

"What about Roberta? Anyone seen her yet?" Alana asked the group.

The rest shook their heads and began scanning the crowd for their missing companion. The warm, inviting atmosphere was suddenly soured with the very real possibility that their cynical friend hadn't made it. A choking silence struck the four of them.

"I won't believe it," Alana tried to convince the others... and herself. "She's just hiding or something. She'll be here, I'm sure of it." The others nodded sullenly, hoping Alana was right. Dwelling on the thought that Roberta may be lying out there injured... or worse, was a hard pill to swallow, but Alana couldn't allow herself to fall back into her grief. If she did, she wasn't sure she'd be able to escape it this time. Everything they had worked and hoped for was at their fingertips, and she needed to show strength more than ever.

Alana changed the subject, trying to get herself and the others to focus on the the present. "Fill me in, Lacey. What's the status here?"

Lacey explained, "we have what's left of their army cornered by the office door. We suspect Conrad is cowering behind it?"

"Have you seen Boyd?" Faye interjected.

"No," Lacey replied. "He could be inside with his grandfather."

"He's not," Faye informed her, "I just cut the fucker's dick off, but he still managed to get away from me."

"Woah! Really!?" Sarah asked with amazement.

"Yeah," Alana answered for Faye, "we followed the blood trail in here, but lost it beneath the crowd."

Another coin whizzed by Faye's ear and plinked against the metal wall of the cooler behind her, pulling the giantess's attention away from the conversation. There, in the crowd, was yet another Hasbro girl, reloading her sling. "Goddamnit! Stop trying to kill me! I'm on your side, for fucksakes!" Faye screamed at the girl with all the fire of hell. The girl lowered her sling with fearful embarrassment, then did her best to fade back into the crowd.

Faye let her weight fall against the cold, rough surface of the outer cooler wall and slumped to the ground. She stretched her feet out in front of her and shook her head in frustration. "Just give me a minute. I... I just need to rest... I'll be ready to go again."

Alana affectionately rubbed at Faye's enormous arm and told her, "I already said you were done, Faye. You've been amazing, but you need to stop."

Faye closed her eyes and attempted to reiterate that she, "only needed a min-," but the war-torn warrior passed out from exhaustion before she could even finish her sentence.

"Is she gonna be alright?" Asked Sarah.

"I hope so," Alana replied. "For now... just let her sleep. She's earned it."

Lacey led Alana to the far end of the pallet so she could see for herself where they stood. "It's been like this for maybe five, ten minutes," the tall dark-skinned girl explained. "The Mattels start to swing their weapons around wildly if we get any closer, and no one on the front line wants to get that close. Until they give up, we can't go after Hartman... and that's a whole other problem in itself."

Alana scratched her chin for a moment in thought, then suggested, "perhaps it's time I go have a chat with our gracious hosts." Alana sat down on the rough hewn edge of the pallet and dropped her legs over, preparing herself for the long drop back to the concrete floor.

"Alana, wait! Look!" Yelled Sarah. She was pointing to a familiar black cylinder bobbing it's way above the heads of the crowd, being carried like some kind of idol.

Apparently, there were still some Black Cats left.

The firecracker danced its way towards the front line, and as others in the surrounding sea of people became aware of its presence, they began to cheer and sing.

Alana stood back up, feeling a little awestruck by what was happening. A part of her felt like cheering them on herself, but another part felt sorry for the cornered Mattels. They were surrounded, with no chance of escape. Blowing the shit out of a beaten enemy hardly felt like justice. The next words out of Lacey's mouth proved to Alana that she wasn't the only one thinking it.

"We have to do something!"

Alana nodded in agreement, but she also worried that it might be too late to do anything. As Lacey, Sarah, and herself worked their way down from the pallet, the daunting task of penetrating the hoard revealed itself to them. They pushed and shoved their way towards the front, but there was no way they would get there in time.

An even wider clearing opened near the front of the crowd, where the firecracker was handed off to an overly enthusiastic Leon, obviously wanting to take the credit for the victory for himself. The overconfident Hasbro leader placed the explosive in his sling while a pair of Kenners struggled to strike a match across the smoothness of the concrete floor.

Another deafening cheer rang out as the match finally flashed to life. One of the Kenners lit the dangling fuse, then Leon swung the firecracker towards the screaming Mattels. The giants dropped to the floor and covered their heads, bracing themselves for the inevitable blast. None of them knew where the explosive would land... all they could do is pray for Conrad's pretend god to save them. The paper stick, packed with sulfury black powder, bounced against the wall and began its decent. The surrounding Salesfloorers plugged their ears and turned away.

The Black Cat went off in mid air, with Leon's windup having used up most of the fuse's burn time. The Kenners and Hasbros were just as disappointed as the Mattels were relieved. In their brainwashed minds, the Mattel god had just delivered them from destruction. The giants threw their weapons aside and raised their hands to the sky in praise of their nameless savior. The rebels seized the opportunity to charge the preoccupied giants and bound them right where they kneeled.

"Cut off their heads!" A voice demanded from the crowd. It was met with cheers and raised fists. Dozens of lined fish hooks streamed through the air and bit into whatever Mattel flesh was exposed. Groups of Kenners and Hasbros gathered on the fishing lines and pulled the giants painfully to the floor one by one, like they were clearcutting a forest. As soon as the Mattels' enormous faces met the concrete, the smaller peoples swarmed over top of the giants like ants on a carcass.

The sudden surge forward allowed for space to run, something without which Alana and her friends would never have reached the office door in time. "STOP! STOP THIS!" They each yelled, but the crowd was way out of control. With the Mattel's hands bound, they couldn't protect themselves from the angry mob. Their cries for mercy fell on deaf ears.

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" A scream echoed through the hallway, freezing everyone on their tracks.

The firecracker blast had been more than enough to bring Faye back to consciousness. When she awoke and found Alana gone, panic sent her heart racing and she darted towards the commotion, certain the woman she loved would be in the middle of it. It didn't take her long to spot the others near the captured Mattels thanks to her height, but what she saw happening there terrified her. She didn't even realize she was screaming until her throat grew sore.

With the people finally quiet and still, Alana used the opportunity to try and broker some kind of peace. "Everyone! Please listen to me! I implore you not to do this!" She gestured towards the terrified Mattels and continued, "I know how this sounds, but I beg you to spare these men and women's lives!"

The crowd erupted in a hail of boos, which forced Faye to scream at them again, "SHUT UP, LET HER SPEAK!"

The crowd resumed its uncomfortable silence.

Alana continued to plead her case, "Trust me... I know how you feel! I had to watch helplessly as Conrad Hartman picked his teeth with my mother's bones! No one wants justice more than me!" A single brick which Dan Rasmussen used to prop the office door open lay against the wall, so Alana pulled herself up onto its red, ceramic surface to give herself a stage.

"Look at them! They're done!" She exclaimed. "What happens on the field of battle is one thing, but if we kill a surrendering army, that makes us no better than Conrad... or Boyd... or anyone else who has made our lives so miserable. These people's minds have been poisoned by his lies and corruption. They're not evil, they just need to be shown the truth."

"Do you think they'd show you any mercy if the roles were reversed?!" Leon interrupted. The crowd vocally agreed with him.

"Probably not," Alana admitted, "but that's why we're different. We've had each other to show us right from wrong. We try to take care of each other... even you Hasbros hiding behind your walls. You too look out for your own. The only truth these Mattels have ever known has been Conrad's word. This is our chance to show them that we're not what he says we are. That we're all human beings, capable of forgiveness and mercy."

The crowd mumbled amongst themselves.

"I wish things had never come to this," Alana resumed. "I wish my parents were still here... but they're not. Conrad took them from me... not these people. How does executing the defenseless, praying on their knees, honor the people we lost?"

Alana's question was met with silence.

"The real enemy lies behind that door. Instead of wasting our need for vengeance on those who don't know any better, I say we scrape... and claw... and dig our way into that room... and we make Conrad Hartman answer for his crimes! And when we have him... his people will truly know how merciful we've been when they witness the hell we are about to bring down on him!"

It was an unexpected end to Alana's speech for sure, but the desired effect had been achieved. The crowd erupted into cheers and fists raised in solidarity. All except for a familiar few. Sarah and Lacey side-eyed one another with unspoken concern. Faye, though thankful that Alana had halted the massacre of people she had known her whole life... was also worried about Alana's impassioned proclamation.

It sounded an awful lot like Alana meant to publicly torture Conrad Hartman.




End Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Seven-"Showdown in Aisle 3"-Part 2





Boyd held Faye's arm at such an angle behind her back that the slightest bend sent jolts of pain through her shoulder. His weight on top of her as he pressed her aching torso into the floor left her in a state of near paralysis. With his right hand he shoved her face into the filthy floor, squeezing her lips against its surface grotesquely.

"Would ya look at that, babe... we have ourselves an audience!" Boyd removed his hand from Faye's head momentarily to wave at his cronies, high above the scene. There were four of them, hooting and hollering from the top of the browser, save for one who seemed preoccupied with something inside the support structure. "I suppose we should give 'em a show then, don'tcha think?"

The sound of clanging metal followed as Boyd fumbled around with trying to remove his armor with his free hand, a sound that filled Faye with anticipatory terror. She felt her former lover rip her loincloth away beneath her own armor, giving him access to her most intimate areas. Faye couldn't move, and it hurt too much to scream... or so she thought.

"I asked you a question, babe... you should be polite and answer your man when he speaks to you." Boyd twisted her arm higher into her back causing her to howl reflexively. "There... was that so hard?" Faye began to sob as the bastard jostled his stiffening cock free of his slacks.

Alana had rolled onto her stomach in an attempt to breath normally again. Faye's pleading eyes felt like they were burning into her very soul . Alana had no idea how to stop a golem like Boyd, but as the relief of a long, deep breath filled her lungs, she launched to her feet and charged towards the giant with fist cocked.

"Get away from her, you fucking bastard!" The tiny teenager screamed. Although her heart was in the right place, she was no match for Boyd. With the slightest swipe of his hand, he sent the diminutive redhead flying backward onto her ass.

"Try that again, Killer," he promised, "and I'll shove this sword so far up her cunt you'll cut your lip the next time you kiss her." Boyd shoved Faye's face back into the floor once again and forced himself inside her, a violation worse than any pain she was enduring. "Come on, babe... try to enjoy yourself. It's the last bit of pleasure you'll ever experience."

"NOOOOOOO-O-O-O!" Faye screamed. She felt even more helpless than she did strapped to the cross in the freezer.

"Yeah! Give it to her, Captain!" One of Boyd's goons shouted from above, followed by a round of cackling from the others.

Alana could only watch as the psychotic giant raped the woman she loved. She knew Boyd meant it... if she tried to help Faye, he'd kill her. And what could she do anyway? She was just too small. The terrified Kenner sat splayed out right where Boyd had knocked her and began to cry along with her suffering fiancée. "Boyd! Please don't do this!"

Boyd ignored Alana's plea, pushing himself in and out faster. "Maybe I won't kill you, Faye. Maybe I'll just cut off your arms and legs so you can't ever get away from me again. Then I'll always have some warm pussy waiting at home for me to park my cock in."

As Alana began to unconsciously bring her hands to cover her mouth, she bumped something next to her... one of Faye's blades. Her eyes bounced from it to Faye and back again. Finally, there was a chance. She had to time it just right... if she made her move too early, he'd most certainly kill her. She needed him distracted... she needed him on the verge.

"You enjoying the show yet, Killer?" Boyd taunted. "This is how a man fucks his woman... your little whore pussy will never give this bitch what she really needs!"

"Ple-e-e-ease stop!" Faye begged, the pain and shame becoming too unbearable for her.

"Faye... look here... look at me!" Alana was trying to give Faye a distraction from the misery. "Focus on me."

The immobile giantess stared back at the tiny woman she loved so dearly, still begging to save her with her eyes. Alana made sure Faye could see that she was gesturing to the large blade next to her, but took care to keep Boyd thinking otherwise.

Alana repeated, "just focus on me."

Faye nodded and winced her eyes closed to try and shut out the painful and humiliating act behind forced upon her.

"No, Faye!" Alana snapped Faye back to attention. "Look at me. I'm here. Don't stop looking at me." Faye opened her eyes once again. Her tears blurred her vision, but she could make out Alana's hand on the blade.

Boyd, never having been the type to last long in bed, was almost there. His back began to arch and his breathing intensified. Then, the moment Alana was waiting for happened. Boyd closed his eyes and waited for the sweet release of orgasm to wash over him.

The second his eyelids dropped, Alana gave the aluminum weapon a hard shove, skidding it across the floor into Faye's free and waiting hand. Before Boyd had the opportunity to finish inside her, Faye spun around, nearly breaking her arm in Boyd's grip. She hit the side of his head so hard with the broad, shield-like surface that it left a dent the size of Boyd's head permanently imbedded.

The onlookers at the top of the gondola called for their leader to, "lookout," but they were too late. The second they saw their captain go down, the men began to scramble down from the top of the gondola. Some took the supports they used to scale the tall edifice, while others swung themselves over the edge, dropping one shelf at a time in an attempt to get there quicker.

Faye pounded Boyd once more across the head, knocking him flat on his face. He quickly spun around, even though the world itself seemed to be spinning as he tried to regain his bearings. The sharp end of Faye's weapon came to rest on his throat instantly.

"You... you... you motherfucker," Faye grunted in pure, unfiltered.... but earned... rage. "Never... again." She pulled Boyd's trademark knife from his waistband and waved it over his face. She repeated, "never... again."

"W-w-w-wait," he stuttered, his hands outstretched for mercy. "What are you gonna do?!"

Alana appeared next to Faye's leg, so the larger woman handed her blade over to the smaller. "Can you lift this?" She asked. Alana took it from her, and although it was large and awkward for her, she managed it. "Good. If he moves, put it through his goddamn neck."

Alana had never seen Faye like this, wild-eyed and crazy with hatred. As much as she herself hated Boyd, it became apparent to her just how much Boyd had gotten into Faye's head. The victimized giantess kicked Boyd's legs open and then knelt down between them.

Boyd couldn't see what was happening with the silvery wing of metal blocking his view, but as his heart began to race, he had a pretty damn good idea. "Wait! Faye! Don't! Don't do it!"

"Never... again," Faye repeated for a third time. She made a single cut into Boyd's trousers at the groin, "not to anyone." She made another cut, "but especially... not to me."

She sliced through the pants enough to reveal Boyd's still erect phallus standing lordly over his overgrown patch of short and curlies. She took his balls and shaft into her hand and squeezed them like ripe fruit, which got the exact reaction from Boyd that she wanted.

"Aaaaaaaaaargh! Please! PLEASE! FAYE!" Boyd squirmed in place, so Alana pressed the blade harder into his neck. Blood trickled down his skin to floor and he gargled a little as the edge pinched his windpipe. "NOOOOOOOOOrrrggh!"

"Never again."

Boyd's men froze mid-climb when they heard his blood curdling scream echo across the walls of aisle. There, on top of their captain, was the traitor Faye. She was holding a bloodied piece of meat above her head, allowing the deep red liquid to drip down her arm. The man who took Roberta's leg called to the others to 'hurry'...that 'Captain Boyd needed their help.'

Alana allowed the blade to drop away, not even conscious that she had. Seeing what unspeakable act Faye had just committed... though justified, was still shocking. The former Mattel warrior continued to squeeze Boyd's genitals shakily, draining them of their sanguine juices. Boyd continued to scream in agony and rolled across the floor like a fish out of water. He tossed Faye from on top of him and she landed painfully on her side.

Boyd writhed and screamed, holding the empty space where his manhood once hung. He kept feeling around for it, as if he'd simply misplaced his sex and needed to tuck it back where it belonged. Faye tossed the now useless meat back at him and spit on the ground near is head.

"Faye?" Alana asked timidly. "Are you ok?"

Faye didn't speak. She just trembled in place.

"Do you think, I mean... should we put him out of his misery?" Alana asked cautiously.

"Yes," Faye finally responded, "just let me enjoy watching him bleed a little longer."

"YOU TWO... HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" A male voice barked from a fair distance behind them.

"Fuck," Faye sighed, "can't they just let me enjoy this in peace?" The question was of course rhetorical. She and Alana spun around to be greeted by the first of the four Kenner men who had heckled Faye's rape.

"You're gonna die for what you did to the Captain," the same man shouted.

"Should we just run?" Alana proposed.

"Nope." Faye replied calmly.

"There's four of them, Faye. Are you sure? You're-"

Faye cut her diminutive soul-mate off. "Go take cover... I'll deal with them."

As intensely as Faye was acting, Alana thought it best not to question her. She backed away, then ran beneath the nearest low shelf and faded away in the darkness beneath the gondola.

Faye took a deep breath and peeked over her shoulder at Boyd. "Wait here, 'babe'... you and me aren't finished yet."

Faye turned back and barreled towards the latest batch of competitors. She instantly recognized the four of them, and knew they would not go down easy. These men were well trained and loyal to their dickless captain. Of anyone she could have faced off against... why did it have to be them?

The battle worn Mattel was in no shape to take even one of them on... but reducing Boyd to a eunuch had filled her brain with enough endorphins and adrenaline to push forward through the pain and exhaustion. She snatched up her matching blade without even slowing and hurled herself into battle once again.

She met the first comer with a ferocious uppercut which shore his face clean from his skull. He dropped to his knees screaming, trying in vain to reattach the flesh to his face. Faye kicked him over, and with her bare sole held against his neck, she redistributed her weight to snap his spine. The crack came quick and mercifully, but there wasn't any time to relish this latest victory. No sooner had she ended one life that another seemed anxious to have their shortened.

This one could have been quite handsome if he had been introduced to some kind of personal hygiene. It was a strange thing for Faye to think as she dodged his lightning fast attack with a ducking roll. This was the man with the sharpened butter knife... the one who took Roberta's leg... Luther of 1 was his name. Faye knew nothing of the trauma her little dark-haired friend had succumbed to at his hands... to her, he was just another obstacle. The opposing blades clashed and sliced for a short time until the next Mattel in their unit arrived. Without even looking, Faye slit that one's throat with a sweeping blow while still holding off the other.

Faye had seen Luther fight before of course. She had sparred with him herself many times. She too had been one of Boyd's underling goons after all, once upon a time. With Tony dead and Faye turning coat, Luther and Aaron were Boyd's best fighters. Luther's skill with the long knife, one he'd sharpened daily... and even slept with, was exquisite... but he was no Faye.

A healthy Faye anyway.

She had pushed herself too hard, the human body only able to take so much abuse. As good as Faye was, Luther began to wear her down... and then she made a mistake. The exhausted fighter misjudged a block and the long-bearded Mattel managed to sweep her leg with the broad side of the knife. Faye's legs lifted beneath her and she fell flat on her back. This time.... she wasn't sure she was going to get up. Pinned against the floor, she continued to try and block Luther's attacks, but she was cornered and out of juice. Her vision began to blur, and in the distance... she could make out another Mattel dropping to the sales floor. Another former comrade
coming to finish her off.

'A little late to the party,' Faye thought to herself.

Luther was relentless. If not for Faye's armor, the skillful warrior would have sliced her to pieces. She had so little energy left to fight that all she could do is use her blades to shield her face and torso from Luther's attempts to slice her up.

"You ready to die, you fucking traitor?!" Luther barked at the fallen defector. He lifted his blade above his head for a killing blow, "this is for the Captain."

Faye was done for.

Allowing her arms to drop to her sides, Faye released her trusty weapons... accepting what was about to come. She closed her eyes, on the verge of blacking out anyway, and pictured Alana's face. She wasn't sure where the woman she loved was just then, but for the time being, she was alive and safe... and that gave the fading giantess comfort. Faye had given everything she had to make sure of that. In what she thought were her final moments, she found peace.

But the moment stretched on. Did time get weird just before you die? Was Luther just taking his time and savoring the kill?

Faye's consciousness began to waver, but she could still hear Luther grunting and shouting above her. Things became murky for her at that point... as even Alana's image faded to black.

The dark only took her for a few brief seconds. Faye was jolted back to reality again by the touch of a pair of soft, tiny lips gently touching her own. She opened her eyes to find Alana's face looking down on her like an angel. This time, it wasn't just a vision.

"'Lana?!" Faye asked groggily and disoriented. "What are you doing here?! I told you to run away!"

Alana grinned and kissed Faye again. She caressed her cheek and replied, "did you really think I would just leave you behind?"

Faye started to smile back, but then began to panic as she realized it wasn't a pleasant dream. "Luther! He'll kill you! Run!"

"What? Him?" Alana asked, thumbing to Faye's right.

Faye rolled her head to find Luther's lifeless face staring back at her. I suppose you could call it staring, as he had a fish hook dangling from one of his eye sockets. Faye rolled her head back to Alana feeling stunned.

"You did that?!"

Alana was done with cowering in the darkness. When Faye sent her away, the skilled little huntress simply used it as an opportunity to arm herself and sneak up behind Faye's attackers. A good general knows where all her resources are located after all. She had returned to the field of battle with just seconds to spare. Luther was already raising his weapon when she swung the hook around his legs and pulled as hard as she could. Such a task was hard enough with a partner, so getting the giant off balance enough to fall on her own merits was nothing short of a miracle. Luther toppled like a redwood, hitting his head when he met the floor. This dazed him just long enough for Alana to finish him off.

"Don't act so surprised," Alana replied, "I was a damn fine hunter before I met you. Took a big ol' rat down all by muh lonesome."

Faye allowed herself to grin again, "what the hell did you just do with your voice?"

Alana just shrugged, "I don't know, just something grandma does from time to time. Guess she really is really rubbing off on me."

The two shared a light chuckle and then Alana stepped away to yank the imbedded hook from Luther's face. She placed a foot on his nose to create enough leverage and fell on her ass as it released with a sickening slurp.

The gutterall cry from the final Mattel charging in their direction rocketed Faye's attention back into fight mode. "Oh fuck!"

"Wait here... I've got this," Alana assured her towering lover. "It's about time I save you for a change."

Faye tried to stop her, but Alana was already out of reach as she charged towards the mighty giant. The grapple twirled above her head as she ran, spraying Luther's blood in all directions. Surprisingly, the Mattel stopped in his tracks less than a foot from Alana, making her halt her own advance as well. His face bore a look of both confusion and amusement.

"You have to be joking," he mocked.

Alana just stared up at him, still spinning her hook in the air. It didn't really occur to her then, but any fear she held for the Mattels had completely evaporated. As far as she was concerned they were just two people sizing each other up... something not terribly difficult to do when one of them could barely see above the other's knees.

"If you're looking to die, you've come to the right place," Alana shouted.

"Unless you have a firecracker hidden behind your back, little girlie... I'd say you're the one in trouble." At this point the tall son-of-a-bitch was outright laughing at her.

"Test me," Alana replied. "Look at your buddies. Faye back there made pretty short work of two of them. The one with the bleeding holes where his eyes used to live was my doing. Pretty good for two 'girlies,' I'd say." Alana quit spinning her grapple to make her final point. "I'm giving you an out here. If you think you can do what these rotting piles of meat couldn't, then by all means... show us what you've got. I'm warning you though, you are going to die... painfully and slowly. You might take one of us with you, or both even, but you... are... going... to... die."

Faye slammed the point of one of her blades into the tile to help pull herself up as she wobbled to her feet. She lowered her head and glared at the man ferociously. Suddenly, the giant standing before Alana was no longer laughing.

Alana continued, "...or, you can leave. Walk away. Your life will be spared to squander as you please. As my grandma used to tell me when I'd act up... how 'boutchu fuck around and find out."

It's difficult to say if Alana was bluffing, but if she was, she'd successfully stared down... er... uh... up(?) someone many times her size. Faye hadn't the strength left to fight, but he didn't know that. This man was well aware of what she was capable of. With the clang of a dropped spear and the slapping of his feet on the tile, the Mattel sounded his retreat. He disappeared behind a pile of debris left over from the siege, and from there... who knows.

Alana turned back to Faye, grinning proudly and with confidence.

Faye just shook her head and lightly laughed to herself. She lost her balance and fell back to the floor, which sent Alana rushing to her side. "That's it, Faye... no more. You're done."

The distant sound of thousands of voices coming from the direction of the Stockroom caught both of their attentions, especially now that the Aisle 3 was relatively silent.

"No way," Faye contested as she dropped her breastplate to the floor and began to rub at her aching ribs. "Do you think there's any way in hell I'm gonna miss watching that mob tear Conrad apart?" She began to laugh but the painful jolts in her side halted that quickly.

"Fine," Alana relented, "I'll go kill Boyd and we can... ah, fuck!"

"What?! What is it?" Faye creaked herself around, only to be disappointed by the sight that just shook Alana.

Boyd was gone. Only a trail of blood, leading around the corner into the Dividing Corridor... towards the Stockroom, remained.





End Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Six-"Showdown in Aisle 3"-Part 1




A new beginning.

That's what Conrad promised his followers anyway. No longer would they be forced to dwell in the endless darkness of the Stockroom. No more would the many oppress the few. The lands beyond the door that had been stripped away from them would be theirs once again. Most importantly, they would soon taste the freshest meat under the sprawling roof... a great sacrament only to be partaken by god's chosen. This would be the ultimate test before the riches of The Store could finally be bestowed upon them for their devout service to the Constable.

It was all bullshit of course. The only residents of The Store taking anything were the Mattels, and none of them had ever known true oppression the way those who dwelt on the Salesfloor had. There were only lies and false prophesy, cooked up by a narcissistic psychopath seeking only power, self preservation, and the satisfaction of his depraved desires. Two generations... indoctrinated with size-aphobic nonsense and promises of divine intervention. It was all they knew. Serve the Constable, nay... the prophet... and you shall receive your great reward.

As what remained of Conrad's army hastened their retreat, the reality of their leader's deception began to sink into their consciousness. How could this be happening? Had they not been loyal and true? Years were spent preparing for such an event... and for all their skill and superior weaponry, the Mattel army was being crushed by a people a fraction of their size.

As Conrad reentered the field of play, he was met with the distressing sight of his own men charging back towards him... in the wrong direction. This was unacceptable. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!" He chastised. "Get back out there and do your goddamn jobs!"

The wave of battle beaten soldiers pushed past their leader as if he weren't even there, eliciting yet another tantrum from their would-be prophet. "You fucking cowards! I'll see every last one of you crucified for this!"

As Conrad continued to scream at his followers, a great cheer erupted from the direction they had retreated from, a battle cry voiced by a thousand mouths strong and more. Conrad turned his head with reluctance and fear, forcing himself to the horrible sight closing in on him. A great congregation of both Kenners and Hasbros were charging his way with a full head of steam.

"Uhhh...uuuuugh," he whimpered in terror. The Constable dropped his precious Deborah, of which he was so proud, and retreated into the Stockroom with the others. "Close the door! Protect me! You must protect your prophet!"

---------------

Boyd's sword scratched a long, fresh divot into the tile as he menacingly creeped toward Alana and Faye. The blood soaked blade dripped and filled in the shallow gash in the floor he lengthened with each new step. Chunks of fresh gore splashed down with a sickening sound. A pair of Kenner sized fingers dropped to the floor as well, a final desperate attempt from one of Boyd's victims to shield themselves from the killing blow that would ultimately cleave them in two.

"Fuck me," Faye groaned. She was in such excruciating pain and exhausted from combat. The thought of having to face Boyd made her stomach hurt as well.

"You can take him," Alana tried to reassure her.

Faye didn't say a word. She grabbed Alana by the wrists and flung her arms around her neck like she was flamboyantly throwing a cape around her shoulders. She turned on her heels and sprinted towards the great crowd rushing through the Dividing Corridor, the cuts in her legs stinging with every agonizing step. Boyd howled, put on some extra gas, and gave chase after them.

"What are you doing?!" Alana asked in confusion. She held onto Faye's neck for dear life as the browsers rushed by her faster than she'd ever seen.

"I can't beat him," the worried brunette replied.

"What do you mean?!" Alana exclaimed, "I just watched you carve through two dozen Mattels like they were made of paper!"

"I've never beaten Boyd," Faye admitted, as much to Alana as herself. The gentle giantess huffed heavily as she tried to reach what she thought would be safety among the crowd. "He taught me how to fight... that's how we," even the thought of saying the words out loud made Faye want to purge, "how we ended up together." She hated having to say something as disgusting as that to Alana, but it was the repulsive truth. "He always won... and that's when I didn't have a chest full of broken ribs."

As Faye rounded the corner into the Corridor, a metallic disk ricocheted off one of her blades, sending painful vibrations through her forearm. She stopped just in time to raise her wing-like weapons over her face, protecting Alana and herself from another coin that came just seconds away from taking her head off.

"What the fuck was that?!" Alana screamed.

Faye parted her weapons enough to peak through, "it looks like... Hasbros!"

"The Hasbros have joined the fight?!" Alana yelled with excitement.

"They're flinging something at the other Mattels," Faye observed. "What the fuck?! Don't they know I'm on their side?!"

"I don't think they do," Alana gasped, "Oh fuck! Unless they were at the gathering this morning-"

"I'm just another Mattel!" Faye finished Alana's sentence for her. "Shit! As if we don't have a big enough problem already."

Towards the rear of the charging masses was a lone Hasbro woman who had halted in her tracks. She began to wind up, spinning her cradled dime in the air. Her eyes were locked on Faye. The battle worn woman braced for another impact, but out of seemingly nowhere, Boyd swiped his sword through the crowd to clear his congested path, killing a half a dozen in a single swing... and removing the head of the uninformed Hasbro woman.

"Fuck! Run! Everyone... run!" Faye screamed, resuming her escape.

Boyd sneered through his blood-spattered face, pursuing his targets with even more determination. He swung his sword wildly, killing everyone and anyone in his way. With Faye having to navigate through the unaware Kenners, bumping into and tripping over them as she tried to run, she realized that joining the crowd was a huge mistake. The pain and exhaustion were almost too much to bare, and carrying Alana's extra weight was only making it worse.

The hate-maddened captain of the Mattel army was closing fast as he cleared a bloody path through the Kenners and Hasbros, most never seeing their death coming as he cut the down them from behind. Faye weaved her way through the crowd, stepping over some while trying to be cautious not to step on them. When she found that Aisle 3 was unoccupied, she spit off from the larger group. It was the only thing she could think to do, she needed to draw Boyd away from everyone else to save their lives. She had no plan... and there was nowhere safe to hide. The panicked defector was running solely on adrenaline and primitive survival instinct. It wouldn't be enough.

Alana held tight, but kept a close eye on Boyd's position behind them. He was closing fast, his sword raised, ready to strike. "Faye! Lookout!"

It was too late.

The blunt side of the blade came down on Faye's calf and knocked one leg into the other. She fell flat on her stomach, sending throbbing and excruciating pain through her ribs. Her blades skidded across the floor from the momentum, coming to rest far out of reach. Alana was sent flying over her head where she landed hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her lungs. The armor covering Faye's lower legs had protected her from the sting of the blade's edge, but the impact from Boyd's sword still hurt like a motherfucker... just the latest addition to her wealth of injuries.

Boyd stepped forward and knelt down on Faye's back, causing her to scream out in agony. He pulled her head back by the hair and brought the wet, crimson coated edge of his weapon to the soft skin beneath her chin. His penetrating glare directed straight at Alana, who was still gasping for breath.

"I'm gonna enjoy killing the both of you," he grunted as he panted. Alana's reddened, moistening eyes met his... which made him reveal his big, toothy smile. "...but first... I'm gonna make you watch me take her... one last time."

---------------

While Faye and Alana were fleeing for their lives, Roberta was still oblivious to the Mattel party inching closer to her position atop the highest shelf of Aisle 3. Her subordinates were still left awestruck by the blast patterns of random body parts and blood flowering outwards on the tile far below their perch. The spritely Kenner couldn't have been prouder.

The first giant's head appeared at the far end of the aisle along with a second at the opposite. The only thing those shelves had displayed in decades was a copious amount of dust, so a sneak attack from the Mattels was nearly impossible. They had to surround and corner the Kenners, corralling them to where they could either take the little people's lives by hand, or force them over the edge to their deaths.

"Roberta! They're here!" One of her soldiers announced in panic.

Rob's laughter died in an instant, her vision darting from one end of the platform to the other. By now, a third and fourth Mattel had appeared and were pulling themselves onto the blandly colored aluminum shelf. Roberta looked around at the people she had been tasked with leading, realizing her reckless decision to blow their entire arsenal at once had just royally fucked them all. They had nothing to fight back with... all they could do is run.

Her almond eyes scanned for an escape route, something she should have thought about before hand if we're being terribly honest. There was a gap wide enough in the center of the gondola for them to squeeze down to the next shelf, but that would only buy them seconds before one of the giants swung themselves over the edge and caught them. Precious seconds ticked away as the Mattels continued their advance.

"Rob! What do we do?!" The candle boy pleaded with her. He couldn't have been more than ten years old... just a frightened child. She wasn't about to let this boy die because of her foolhardy mistake.

"Everyone! There! Crawl in there!" Rob realized that their best chance of surviving would be to shimmy down inside one the hollow support posts the Mattels had just climbed. The posts were set every three feet apart, so there were a pair close by. The Mattels were closing fast, there was little time to waste.

Looking down into the long, vertical tunnel had to resemble staring down a narrow, claustrophobic elevator shaft, had anyone present ever seen one that is. Light cast dashed beams down its entire length from the empty adjustment notches. There would be no exit at the bottom, meaning they'd be trapped in there indefinitely... but more importantly, the Mattels wouldn't be able to fit inside. Rob ushered the young man in first, who took a nervous gulp at the dizzying depths that awaited him.

"Go now! We don't have time!" Rob ordered in anxious frustration, then pushed the kid inside. She sent them all in, one after another. Cautiously, they made their way down, one notch at a time. The Mattels were dangerously close, and with two more to get down the hole... Rob was out of time. Both of the Kenners left waiting and stranded near the mouth of the shaft screamed in terror as the first Mattel crossed onto their shelf.

"Keep going!" Rob demanded, "I'll try to draw them off!"

No sooner had she uttered the words than a massive hand snatched the girl in front of her and tossed her screaming over the edge. The other, another boy, was just inside the mouth of the post... but not far enough. The same Mattel reached in and grabbed the boy's tiny forearm, easily ripping him from the narrow sanctuary. He too was tossed over the side to his death as casually as yesterday's rubbish.

Roberta found herself surrounded by four vengeful Goliaths. These four nameless goons were particularly cretinous in nature, as they had been directly under Boyd's tutelage. Three kept their angry eyes fixed on the tiny, dark-haired beauty, each waiting for the other to reach out and take her. The fourth remained preoccupied with trying to extract another Kenner from within the cramped column.

"First two didn't," one of the three snarked, "but maybe this one'll sprout wings and fly."

The fourth one, still on his hands and knees, caught some movement far below them on the floor out of the corner of his eye, "hey! Looks like the Captain snagged that traitor bitch!"

The first giant was already mid-lean, with his arm extended to snatch up the tiny almond-eyed girl. He was just distracted enough by the other's announcement of Boyd's activities below that it allowed Roberta to seize the only opportunity she had for escape. His little finger dangled in front of her face, so she took the entire tip, nail and all, into her mouth and clamped her jaw down as tightly as she could. The giant screamed out in pain as she sunk her teeth further into his flesh... and she didn't quit until her teeth were reunited once again.

The Mattel pulled his hand away, spraying the small teenager with blood from his little finger's stump. Rob spit the portion of severed digit out of her mouth and frantically searched for an exit like a cornered rodent. She spotted an opening between the trunks of the bleeding man's legs and took it. With everything she had in her, the little teenager huffed it towards an empty column. The giant fell backwards, clutching his hand and wailing... gifting her a few more seconds of precious time.

The hole was so close Roberta could almost feel herself falling into it, but she could also sense the rumbling fall of Mattel feet behind her. A massive hand reached down to end her escape, but just as it did, Rob dropped to the floor and slid through the dust like stealing a base. Just getting there was so important that the fall seemed like the least of her problems. It was... and it wasn't.

Her forward momentum carried her feet first into the hole so fast that she had trouble finding any kind of hold. The walls bounced her back and forth as she continued to plummet down the shaft. The light coming in through the notches whisked by her at a dangerous speed. Finally, her hand caught one of the notches, which nearly yanked her arm right out of its socket in the process. Her bare feet instinctually scrambled for solid ground as she could feel her grip begin to betray her on the dust-coated notch.

Rob's toes successfully located a foothold in a lower notch, much to her relief. She spread her legs to the other side, finally able to stand above the long dark. The arm that saved her from the fall ached terribly, so she rotated it see if it still worked after what felt like something tearing inside it. She could still move it, but wouldn't be doing any heavy lifting for quite some time, with the exception of what was sure to be one hell of a miserable climb back out of the square-shaped hole. Looking back up towards the opening she fell from, the face of her pursuer could be seen in silhouette far above. She must have fallen an entire foot or more before coming to her painful stop.

The light above returned as the face pulled away, but then a more horrifying sight befell her. The notches above her head began to dim and brighten again one at a time, getting closer with each one... the bastard was climbing down to where she was! With her fingers and toes protruding through the notches, he'd find her in no time. Rob licked her palms and wiped the saliva across her soles to make them clammier, then pressed her hands and feet against the inside of the square-shaped tube, effectively lodging herself inside. Her arm hurt horribly, but she had little choice but to hold on as long as she could. As the shadow got closer, the end of a metal butter knife, sharpened and ground down to jagged serrations, began to protrude from the outside and clang around inside the shaft as he probed for her.

"Fuck... no...," Rob whispered to herself. Her arms and knees were beginning to shake from fatigue... and the knife was getting threateningly close. She had one chance... as the blade came through the hole above her head, Rob could leap and try to scurry back up the shaft. She watched the long implement and timed it... two notches above... one notch above. As the pointed end retracted from just above her head, she shoved her fingers and toes through the notches on the giant's blindside, then jumped to the next rung. She clambered upwards as fast as she could... but it wouldn't prove fast enough.

The stainless steel blade tasted its first blood.

It took every once of self control Rob had in her not to scream, though no one would have blamed her for doing so. The shock alone was enough to choke the vocalized agony she felt in her throat. The knife came in at angle and instantly severed her lower leg, just below the knee. It twisted around in the hole, just as it had above, sending more excruciatingly painful jolts coursing through her body. Rob cupped a hand over her mouth and bit down on a finger to try and quell the urge to scream.

The knife retracted, which released the appendage pinned to its tip, sending Rob's lower leg falling to the floor far below. The trembling girl was in more pain than she ever knew possible... and there was nothing to do but hang there and endure it. The sound of the leg hitting the floor echoed through the shaft, then suddenly... the knife stopped its incessant probing.

"I got her!" The Mattel tormentor called to his partners. "I stuck her! The little bitch fell to the bottom! You guys having any luck?!"

It was a hell of a price to pay, but the amplified sound of her severed appendage splattering on the tile below had echoed through the column enough to deceive this monster of a man into thinking he'd stuck Rob like a juicy mouse. She couldn't make out what the others were saying in response, but a few more minutes of shouting and laughing followed. The man's tone suddenly changed, sounding more distressed. He called to his 'Captain,' and slid his way down the support in a heated hurry.

Had they gone? They all sounded distant, but sound inside the support bounced around strangely. Rob wanted to stay there, understandably shaken, but there was a lot of blood draining from her where her leg used be. The pressure from the huge knife had nearly pinched the wound shut as it cleaved through her bone like a brittle cracker, but not enough to stop the bleeding completely. There was nothing else to use except the string holding her loincloth against her hips to try and stop the flow. She removed her lower garment, then pinned her bare back against the wall with her good foot braced against the other. The injured Kenner wrapped the article of clothing as tightly around the gory stump as the cramped space would allow, which upon touching, sent such pain through her leg that she couldn't keep from screaming this time if she wanted to. The blood soaked into the article quickly and began to drip into what seemed like infinite darkness below. She pulled the string as tight as she could, a sensation so excruciatingly painful that it nearly caused her to black out. Rob knew she had to get moving or she was going to bleed out, lose consciousness, and fall to her death.

A foot. An entire foot she had to climb. Her arms had to do most of the work as she could only use her good foot to rest on, and one of those arms was injured as well. One notch at a time. She had to press on, despite how much it hurt... despite the dizziness beginning to spin the shaft for the climb above. There was still some hope at the top, unless the Mattel's had put it out... a lit candle still burned.




End Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Five-"The Battle of The Dividing Corridor"




When Keri and Alana were going over their battle plan in the months prior, the two had originally set up defenses in every aisle, but that was when there were still homes left to protect. The horrible siege the Mattels had laid to both Kenners and Hasbros alike resulted in an unexpected change in plans. Alana realized that having the same attack structure in every aisle would only allow the Mattels to predict their every move, so some last minute changes were made.

That morning she made sure that there were aisles sporadically left completely undefended, to throw the armored giants off. Head to head they stood no chance against the Mattels, but if they could keep them off balance and confused, then there was still hope. The fact that they were taking Kenners prisoner and not killing them, just as Alana had expected Conrad to do, was putting them well in control of the battle. Within the first minutes of the conflict, they had wiped out a third of Hartman's soldiers... and not twenty minutes in they had taken nearly half. Even more astoundingly, not a single Kenner life had been sacrificed... at least, not up until that point.

An outraged Boyd would turn that tide soon enough.

Alana was manning the end of a line of monofilament with another Kenner boy who's name she didn't even know. Just like the hundreds of others swarming Aisle 5 with her, they were dropping Mattel soldiers like it was going out of style. Here, she wasn't a general... or any kind of figurehead really, she was just another Kenner, fighting for her right to live and be free... just like everyone else.

Faye tore through her comers like a tornado, her fighting style being unlike any of the others of her kind. The way she used her blades and her body to separate men from their limbs was both ruthless and graceful at once... a dance of death which none of her partners survived. Alana knew Faye had been considered one of the Mattel's finest warriors, but seeing her in action for the first time left her speechless. She fully understood how losing the beautiful giantess was such an enormous loss to Conrad's army, and just how lucky they were to have her.

As the last Mattel soldier invading Aisle 5 (that still possessed all of his limbs anyway) charged towards Faye, she touched the tips of her blades together and crossed them defensively, anticipating his next move. She sidestepped his clumsy attempt at tackling her almost humorously. Faye ripped her aluminum wings apart like opening a pair a scissors, severing the man's head in a single motion. It spun in mid air, spraying blood as it twirled and came to rest on the groin of another who mistakenly thought she stood a chance against Faye.

Panting heavily, Faye's eyes bounced from one area of her surroundings to the next, searching for Alana... praying she was alright. She turned to find the tiny love of her life staring up at her in slack-jawed awe.

"Uh... what?" Faye asked through strained lungs and aching ribs, as Alana hadn't said a word to her yet.

"Oh, nothing," Alana began with a crooked grin, "you're just so full of surprises."

Faye bent over and braced herself against her knees to catch her breath, favoring the broken ribs to one side. "How... so?"

Alana nuzzled up against Faye's leg and responded, "you never cease to amaze me."

Faye eased down to the floor to rest and Alana leaped, throwing her arms around her giant fiancée's neck. The little redhead gave her lover a gentle peck on the cheek, then whispered in her ear, "I'm not gonna lie... seeing you kick some ass like that got me a little wet downstairs."

Faye pulled away and smiled, "I'm glad you still think I'm pretty." She poked the tip of her tongue through one of the gaps in her teeth that Tony had gifted her, wiggling it around in the hole playfully. For a moment, it was as though a war wasn't raging all around them.

The battle could be heard echoing throughout the rest of The Store, but Aisle 5 was calm... then, a victorious cheer rung out with raised arms and beating chests. The people the two lovers had been fighting side by side with rushed to Alana and pulled her away from Faye in an attempt to lift their leader above their heads. Alana shot that down right away.

"There will be a time for celebration, but this isn't it! This is just one aisle and Conrad's soldiers could flood back in at any moment!" She instructed, "listen! Our comrades are still fighting out there... they need us! Spread out, help your neighbors! Show the Mattel's who the Kenners really are!"

Another collective shout rung out, the vibrations echoing through the metal shelving on either side of the aisle. The division split up and made their way beneath the gondolas once again to join up with others fighting throughout battlefield. Alana and Faye were the last remaining as they tried to figure out what to do next.

"I'd really like to see how the others are faring, I'm worried sick about them," Alana confessed.

"You trust them, don't you?" Asked Faye.

"Of course... how could you even ask that?" Alana replied, cocking her neck back.

"Then you know they're doing fine," Faye tried to assure her.

A figure appeared at the far end of Aisle 5... tall, chest heaving.... head lowered and brow furrowed. His hands and feet were drenched in blood, as was the long blade he dragged behind him. It made a screeching sound as its sharpened tip scraped across the floor that could make your hair stand on end. Faye and its owner locked eyes immediately.

"So where do you propose we join the fight from here," Alana asked, oblivious to the visitor behind her.

"I don't think our business is done here yet, my love..."

------------

"He's doing what?!" Conrad nearly exploded when Aaron told him of Boyd's battle strategy. "Why the fuck wouldn't he keep his men together and stamp this uprising out one aisle at a time?!"

Aaron nervously replied, "Boyd said they could put an end to this faster if everyone spread out, sir!"

"That little... how could he be so stupid?! We're fighting on enemy turf! They want us to divide our forces! Goddamnit, if he doesn't get himself killed, I'm gonna kill him myself!" Conrad came unglued once again and put his foot through the empty fireworks box he'd already heavily abused. Aaron backed away, not wanting to wind up as Conrad's next punching bag.

The frustrated dictator stuck his finger out at Aaron and demanded, "get your ass back out there and tell my grandson to pull back our troops. We need to regroup, then we'll sweep through each aisle. That's how you overwhelm an inferior opponent, make them play by your rules instead of conforming to theirs."

"Yes, sir!" Aaron consented and then raised a salute to his leader, "ABOVE ALL!"

Conrad returned the salute so limp-wristedly that it appeared more like he was waving Aaron away. With Aaron gone, Conrad put a few more holes in the box until it looked like corrugated Swiss cheese. Feeling old and out of breath, he pondered how the fuck he let things get so to this point. It had to be someone else's fault... he was Conrad Hartman, goddamnit... his maniacal genius wouldn't have allowed for this in a thousand years. It had to be his smart-ass grandson. Yeah... who else would it be? The Constable regretted not keeping the boy on a shorter leash.

Leaning against the base of the massive desk, near where Conrad had stashed the fireworks for so long, laid his own personal weapon. Once it was a well-used fork, one that old Dan Rasmussen kept in his office and probably hadn't washed quite as often as he should have. Conrad had bent two of the prongs at right angles from the other two to create a sort of defensive guard that also doubled as an offensive tool as well when swung like a scythe. Each prong was ground down to razor sharp edges, with points so fine they could penetrate flesh like warm butter. The long handle was perfect to maintain distance from his opponents, or in this case, when he could use it to pick off knee-high Kenner trash without putting undo strain on his knees or back.

Conrad's prized weapon was a bitch to be sure, so he christened it with the same name as the biggest bitch he'd ever known... Deborah.

What happened to his soldiers was of little importance to Hartman. He may have given his men the order not to kill, only arrest, but he wasn't about to let any of those little shits take him out... especially if he was going to have to head into the field of battle himself and teach his ignorant grandson a lesson.

-------------

Lacey found that she had little taste for the violence she was forced to engage in. She was the daughter of a councilman after all, not exactly the makings for a cutthroat warrior. Still, she and the divisions she led did their part and held their ground, either taking the giants hostage or bombing the ever-living hell out of them.

The looks of horror on the faces of those who were about to die... the tears that poured down the faces of those who'd surrendered... they were no different than her own. The Mattels were still people after all, and it wasn't their fault that Hartman had deceived them. Even in the thick of battle, she was sure that the hell unleashed before her eyes... and the screams of the fallen still ringing in her head, would never leave her. But she still fought, and admirably at that... tossing lit explosives and taking the ankles from any who dared violate her space like a deadly rattlesnake.

As Lacey mentally struggled with the morality of war, Roberta on the other hand... she was in her element. The little half-Japanese teen had positioned herself in Aisle 3, high above the sales floor with a hand-picked bombing squad. Instead of having a ground crew ready to start tripping Mattels up with their fishing line, she decided to leave this particular aisle with the appearance of being undefended.

Far below, a small group of Mattels... perhaps a dozen or so, were cautiously moving towards the center of the aisle. Judging from their wounds, blast marks on their armor, and darting glances... they had already seen battle in another aisle. Bundled together tightly for protection, each was fixed on the suspicious looking, undropped kickplates beneath the gondola... waiting for an attack that wouldn't come.

Not from the floor anyway.

"Are they really gonna make this that easy for me?" Roberta mused. She was laying on her stomach, watching the enemy creep through the aisle... waiting for just the right moment, where escape was completely futile. The way the Mattels were moving in formation, almost rotating as they progressed, gave the mischievous girl a devious idea.

She pushed herself up to her feet and quietly tip-toed over to her subordinates, who were removing the wrapping from a pack of Black Cats as stealthily as possible. Rob motioned her hand across her throat to get them to stop what they were doing. She beckoned them towards the edge with a curling finger... doing the same with the very young Mattel boy manning one of the lit tea light candles.

"We're gonna light the whole thing and toss it over," Rob whispered then pointed down towards their targets.

"Should we waste them all at once?" The candle boy asked.

"Trust me, this is gonna be awesome," Rob replied. "We'll line it up just right, then hit them with everything we've got. Just make sure to throw it as soon as it's lit... you've seen how fast these fuckers go up."

The others reluctantly obeyed their commander and readied themselves into position. When Rob dropped her signaling arm, the hissing red package was tossed over the side, right on target. The familiar sound of a burning wick drew the Mattels' attention skywards, but by then it was too late. The firecrackers exploded one by one so quickly that there was no chance of escape. Blood and body parts were projected across the aisle. The few that survived were too maimed to continue their march and took shelter, crouched beneath the lowest shelving overhang... awaiting a slow and painful death.

The small unit were horrified by the bloodbath sprayed across the sales floor below... but not Rob. The pixyish girl was leaping up and down like she'd just scored a touchdown. She didn't see the Mattels as misguided or lost souls as her friend Lacey had, but as canon fodder. Watching the bastards get blown to smithereens brought her a strange kind of catharsis. Roberta had no interest in taking prisoners, she was simply and purely out for revenge. Vengeance for those of her kind who had been murdered, and for using her family against her... they would suffer. Who but god is to say who was right, Rob or Lacey?"

The large explosion drew the attention of other Mattels nearby who witnessed the horrific massacre. Quietly, they snuck towards the hollow metal supporting columns that had held the shelving units up for decades. They began to scale them, using the notches meant for adjusting shelf height as hand and footholds. Roberta and her crew were completely unaware of the giants' encroachment... and with all their ammunition now spent at the bottom of the aluminum gorge, were left utterly defenseless.

-------------

Sarah was having far less luck than her friends in her corner of The Store.

Once the Mattels had traveled so far from the Stockroom, they'd already seen far too many of their own fall to lightly shake it off and obey orders... Boyd wasn't the only one who had begun to slaughter Kenners en masse. Sarah and what was left of her division found themselves cornered beneath the gondola between Aisle 17 and 18, with Mattels closing in fast. They were out of firecrackers and tripping the giants up was doing little when a single swipe from their weapons could wipe out a half a dozen her size with ease. The only advantage they had left was the narrow space beneath the gondola, easily maneuvered by a Kenner, but constricting for a Mattel giant.

That mattered little once surrounded.

The giants advanced closer and closer, snatching away Kenners and passing them back to the Wagonmen waiting in the aisle. The emotionless old men stripped the captured Kenners nude, then tossed them into the slowly rolling Radio Flyer. Of the two baskets perched within the bed, one was filled particularly full. The Mattels had stumbled across the space under the gondola between Aisles 14 and 15 where the elderly, young children, and injured from the previous day's siege were hiding... snatching them up and stripping the terrified Kenners before depositing them in the enormous basket cage.

Keri was among them.

Kenners piled up on top of one another, with those at the bottom suffering the suffocating weight beneath the human crush. Others clung to the grated sides, trying to escape, only to get flicked back inside by the the Wagonmen.

One couple clung to the corner of the basket, trying not to put any weight on the people below them. The woman was crying hysterically while her husband tried to console her. He was ready to crack himself.

"They're gonna eat us! Please! Anyone! Help us!" The woman cried through the latticed openings to anyone who would listen.

Her husband turned to the stranger next to him and asked, "what is this?! Why are they taking our clothes?!"

Keri had been pinned against the corner below them. She wasn't struggling. She had been weeping, as were so many others. The old school teacher felt more old and tired than ever... and in own way, had accepted her fate. Her daughter and son in law were dead, and the argument with Alana had been the final nail in the coffin for her will to go on. She didn't even put up a fight against the Mattels who took her, she just went willingly. Keri did feel obliged to answer the man's question above her though, as she knew the other one would have no clue.

"You always have to pluck a bird of its feathers before you fry it."

Back below the gondola, the Mattels had reached Sarah's cornered platoon. Their tiny, primitive blades were no match for the long arms of the giants, and each was dragged away into the light. Sarah was among the last, trying to keep herself between a terrified fellow soldier and the outstretched arm of a bearded Mattel man. She tried to fight him off, but he was just to big, and so much stronger than she. His gargantuan hand was large enough to wrap around her at the waist. When he pulled her away, it was with such force that it gave the little blonde whiplash.

Through the darkness and dust the giant dragged Sarah towards the widening and quickly approaching horizontal beam of daylight. She screamed and kicked and clawed at the powerful arm to no avail. The fear took her, as it had the so many others captured just outside. They had her... this was reality... she was going to die... and she was going to be eaten.

A loud roar of voices echoed through the air as enormous feet could be seen stampeding away from the area. Then, titanic bodies began to topple onto the tile in clouds of disturbed dust. Something had changed. Sarah could tell something was happening in the aisle, but she was too busy trying to escape her situation that she couldn't pay any of it much attention.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she felt herself lifted upward by the giant. The terrified girl shrieked, thinking he was going to swallow her right there and then... but suddenly... there was a dull thud. Something wet rained down on her... and then the giant softened his grip on her body. Sarah fell from the Mattel's grasp, rolling as she hit the floor to prevent injury to her ankles, something Faye had taught her to do during training. The massive head of the offending Mattel crashed down right in front of her, busting the teeth out of his mouth on impact. A strange copper disk with the image of an old bearded man, along with the numbers "2006" on its face, was imbedded in the giant's skull.

Another collective roar rang out, but now Sarah could tell it was a celebratory one. The massive red wagon beyond the giant was full of other Kenners, but they were cheering for something. That's when Sarah realized that the Mattel who had snatched her wasn't the only one, but all of them, each with a copper or silver disc of varying size protruding from their skulls.

Another Mattel crawled out from under the gondola, startling Sarah, with the girl she had been trying to protect dangling upside down from his fist. She screamed and flailed as the giant Mattel woman who held her looked the scene surrounding her over in confusion. Then, she too was dropped like the other titans that covered the floor.

Sarah spun around to see where the disc that killed this latest giantess had originated from. A line of Hasbros, thirty strong, was approaching from the direction of the Dividing Corridor. Every one of them was carrying a narrow swatch of fabric, which cradled one of the strange metallic disks.

Nathan.

Nathan was with them.

Sarah rushed to the tall, blonde boy... who greeted her with a smile when he realized whom he had just saved. Nathan dropped to his knees at the same time the smaller girl lunged into his arms.

"Oh, Nathan! Thank you! Thank you for saving us!" Sarah beamed. She unconsciously began to peck at his cheeks, repeatedly leaving big, sloppy kisses... something that caused the boy to flush red with embarrassment.

The other Hasbros made their way to the stockwagon to help the captives within to free themselves from becoming livestock.

"I can't believe you got this many to join us! This is amazing!" Sarah exclaimed, taking a brief pause from showering Nathan's face with affection.

"I... uh...," he began to reply before getting cut off by another man.

"It was I who organized this offensive," the self-important Leon of 20 bragged.

Sarah released her death grip on Nathan's neck and met with the Hasbro leader. "I... I'm confused," she began.

"That seems to be quite common with you, isn't it child?" Leon replied, teasingly.

"I thought you didn't want to help us," she continued. "You said it wasn't your fight. You even walked out on Alana's speech this morning."

"We were simply biding our time, waiting to see if there was going to be a clear victor before we took a side. War affects us all, young lady." Leon folded his arms in front of him with his own metallic disc dangling from his hand.

Had been Alana standing there instead of Sarah, Leon's comments would have royally pissed her off... so perhaps it was better that the gentle-natured blonde had heard it instead. Sarah was just happy that someone, even if it was Leon, came to help.

"DIE KENNER SCUM!" A voice shouted from beneath the lowest shelf. Another Mattel crawled out with a steel butter knife raised and ready to strike down anyone in his path. His face instantly exploded with the impact from yet another flying disk, and the giant fell backwards to his speedy death.

From the other side of the aisle, Regina came running. She headed straight for the felled giant, planted her foot on his neck, and yanked the silver disk from his head. She wiped the blood from its surface on the Mattel's garment then placed it back in her sling.

"Wow!" Sarah shouted with astonishment. "How did you do that?!"

Regina smiled back, proudly.

"Any Hasbro worth half his salt knows how to use a sling, you silly child," Leon gloated. "Just because you Kenners waste away the days lazily, unless you're planning to rob us that is... doesn't mean the rest of us aren't trying to make something of ourselves. We've been ready for an event like this for years."

This time Leon's comments actually did get under Sarah's skin, but as much as she wanted to put him in his place, the grateful girl just bit her tongue and took the win. Even as they spoke, hundreds of other Hasbros were rushing into the aisles, taking down giants with their otherwise useless coins and slings like something straight out of the Bible. They had the Mattels on the run, with the Stockroom existing as their last chance to find sanctuary.

Regina took a knee next to Sarah and placed a hand on the smaller woman's shoulder. She smiled at the little Kenner, then side-nodded in Leon's direction. "Ignore him. We're proud to fight along side the Kenners... but he'll never admit it." She winked at Sarah, which elicited a pleased grin from the tiny young woman. "What'dya say we go help your friends?"

Sarah returned an enthusiastic nod and shook Regina's hand. Once her team had reclothed themselves, they too joined the Hasbro war party. The large ensemble made their way towards the Dividing Corridor, where a stampede of frightened and bloodied Mattels could be seen limping their way in the direction of the Stockroom.

Sarah took Nathan by the hand and kissed the back of it, causing the tall toe-headed boy to blush once again. The others were right about her feelings toward him, though talking about such things filled her with such embarrassment. This brush with death made Sarah realize that feeling shy about such things was utterly pointless. She needed to live in the moment and quit denying herself the things she wanted. The diminutive artist thought back to the confusing conversation her friends were having earlier in front of the Stockroom door. As she did, she squeezed Nathan's hand and beckoned him lower with a whisper and a request of him.

"What is it, Sarah?" Asked Nathan.

"Um... I don't know exactly how to ask this," she began.

"Go ahead, you can ask me anything," he assured her.

"Well... it's just... when this is all over, if we don't die I mean...," Sarah struggled to piece the words together.

"Come on, Sarah... out with it already," he chuckled.

"I was wondering if you... might like to... maybe... burn some brushes with me?"

Nathan was confused, for sure. Perhaps this was some kind of Kenner tradition he was unaware of. It seemed to be difficult for her to ask, so he took it as an honor. "Um... yeah, sure... I guess... I'd love to."

"Really?!" She exclaimed. She nuzzled her cheek against the back side of his hand again, smiling ear to ear. When she next saw Faye and Alana, she'd have to ask them what brushes feel the best to burn.


Behind them another cheer erupted as the former captives of the, now deceased, Wagonmen had thrown their grappling hooks over, then toppled the stockwagon... with plenty of Hasbro help, for sure. Tears of joy fell as well as the humbling sight of complete strangers locking in relieved embrace. That is... save for one who had crept away as the celebration moved onward.

Keri had covered herself in rags, pulled from a nearby pile of destruction left over from the previous day's events. Hobbling her way towards the Dividing Corridor, she kept a distance from the growing Hasbro-Kenner war party ahead, not that she'd have been able to keep pace with them anyway. She too was heading to the Stockroom, but with the sole intention of confronting Conrad Hartman herself... she prayed it would be for the final time.




End Chapter Thirty-Five