Study of Microfauna By Ben G Thomas - 3

The town of Charmouth was in complete disarray, people had been going about their day with only the usual day to day worries of life plagueing their minds. Now however they found their world turned upside down as on the outskirts of their small town stood a monster. Only this monster wasnt a kaiju in the usual sense; instead it was an unidentified athletic young man looming nearly a thousand feet into the sky.


To Eddie, however this man was easily identifiable, it was Ben his friend and co host of their science podcast. He'd come to Charmouth today to meet with Ben ready for their trip further down the coast to go fossil hunting the following day, this now seemed unlikely now that Ben dwarfed the landscape beneath him.


Thousands of questions flooded through Eddie's mind at this point as he stood outside the hotel on the far side of the town from the titanic form of Ben. The most frequently occurring questions though were "how the hell was Ben so big?" And "what the hell does he intend to do" neither answers were particularly forthcoming, however as he watched Ben stand the equally dumbfounded.


While hundreds of other citizens of this town screamed and fled in every direction many including Eddie were frozen to the ground as they watched this immense figure, the sunlight glistening off Ben's huge bare chest. Suddenly this figure shifted, sending tremors across the town causing the pavement to crack and shatter, sending people flying or face first into the ground.


Eddie just stood there watching as this vast figure lowered himself onto his haunches so he could, assumedly, get a closer view of this town. Now fear started to creep into Eddie's mind, for what reason would Ben need to get closer. Then he spoke, the deep voice shaking the earth and travelling through the bones of every citizen.


"Wow this is crazy, everythings so small, how the hell did this happen?" Ben thundered.


Eddie was vaguely relieved to hear that Ben hadnt caused this himself but even still the lack of worry for those below in his voice was concerning, perhaps he just hadn't realised the chaos he was causing below. It was then that Eddie noticed the helicopter approaching Ben from his right, it was clearly a news helicopter from the large Sky news logo emblazoned on the side.


—


Far above the town Ben stood unaware of the chaos below as he simply surveyed the town below. He recognised landmarks like the large caravan park near his right foot but beyond that anything else was difficult to discern, it was then he made a decision.


Shifting in his position Ben began to lower himself onto his haunches, his powerful leg muscles tensing and his heels raising from the ground forcing his converse deeper into the soil at the toe. Unbeknownst to him this shift in mass had caused a few buildings and caravans on the outskirts of the park to crumble and tumble into the shadow of his left heel, the sky for those in those ruined pieces of infrastructure replaced with the dirt caked rubber soles.


Now he had lowered himself to a better vantage point Ben could see the roads and buildings below easier the streets packed with people and ant sized vehicles all of them either staring at him or moving away for some reason. The idea that people would be terrified had yet to even crossed his mind. It was now he let his incredulity out in the statement that had shook the town.


When his voice faded however, Ben noticed the soundscape of the world below though and the cacophony of car horns and screams were a surprise to say the least. But before he could investigate further Ben was distracted by an irritating buzzing as something flew into view in front of him.


"Shit what is that!" Ben exclaimed, reflexively lashing out with his hand to swat away the bug, not realising it was in fact the news helicopter reporting his growth to the wider news channels.


The pilot had only miliseconds to respond as the immense palm and slender fingers rose into view. Panicking he pulled the stick to the left, but unfortunately it was too late as the huge object made contact with the helicopter, the reporter sat in the back screamed as this flying capsule shook with incredible violence at the impact, beginning to spin downwards uncontrollably.


The pilot wrestled with the controls but to no avail as they watched the ground shoot into view as they plummeted towards a cluster of buildings at the edge of town, his last seconds spent shaking in fear as the explosion of the impact engulfed all inside reducing them all into nothing.


Ben fell back onto his heels in surprise as he watched what he now realised was a helicopter spin to the ground from his swat. The sudden lowering of his heels reduced those ruined caravans and trapped people beneath his right foot into nothing but gore and rubble.


The spinning burning capsule flailed for a moment before Ben watched it impact into a row of buildings on the outskirts of town sending a plume of flames into the sky causing the area around the impact to instantly catch fire.


"Shit!" Ben boomed in surprise as he reflexively reached forward to snuff out the flames with his hand to stop the spread, unaware of the damage he was about to cause.


—


In the area around people were reeling from the sudden explosion sending them onto the pavement as flames whipped up around them causing chaos. Yet they would get no moment to escape or react as soon a huge object ranged into view over head and with horrifying speed descended. This object looked soft with its long slender fingers snaking out for several streets nearby covering an area much larger than the impact zone in its shadow.


Soon though it neared the ground, they could hear the very buildings around them begin to crumble as the flames licked at the pale flesh that descended upon them. The hundred odd people beneath it unleashed futile and short lived screams as soon they along with the flames and several nearby streets were reduced to atoms beneath this vast mass.


–


Eddie had witnessed this whole event and at the point of impact he felt a deep quaking rumble spread through the ground shattering windows across the town and sending a blast of air into him throwing him againsts nearby wall.

As he flew backwards he saw Ben raise his hand towards his face to examine it as an eyebrow raised.


—


Ben stared down at his palm a little confused as to what he'd just done. He'd stopped the fire but now the area was reduced to nothing. He had completely failed to take into account the sheer power he held. Instead now he realised that he'd wiped out a major landmark in that brief reflexive movement as he looked at the rubble on his slender palm, he could spot the ruined church spire and the tiny bell that had been held within that now lay flattened into sheet metal against his skin. What he failed to notice though was the tiny specks of gore that now littered his hand as the smears that remained of men, women and children mixed with dust from nearby buildings.


"Shit i'm sorry, I didn't realise my own strength" Ben bemoaned, failing to fully address the death he brought to the town. Realising that he wasn't going to find answers to his growth here Ben decided he best head to the nearby city of Portsmouth yet he couldn't fully orient himself, standing to his full height he spotted a hill on the far side of the town. He could get a better view of his surroundings from there. Taking a step in haste he failed to realise his was stepping straight into the town, his immense sole sending dust and rubble into the sky around his converse as it impacted the centre of the town.


–


Dazed from his impact against the wall, Eddie watched horrified as Ben stood back to his full height and simply stepped forward. Surely Ben wasn't so unaware that he hadn't realised the hell he was creating. Eddie could do nothing however but cower as he listened to the thunderous gale caused by Ben's immense movement drowned even the screams of terror as people fled from this immense rubber sky descended on them.


Watching frozen, terrified and helpless, Eddie watched as with each step Ben grew closer looming higher into the sky, each time he raised his foot the sole of his shoe loomed larger and larger as fewer and fewer screams reached his ears. Finally Eddie watched as Ben raised his foot over his position, what would usually just be dirt and stones in the rubber tread of Ben's shoe now contained mangled corpses, flattened cars and ruined buildings. The oppressive darkness causes the few street lights still standing to flicker to life in a futile attempt to illuminate this apocalyptic event.


As he watched this sole rush overhead Eddie braced himself for the inevitable, clenching his eyes tight still struggling to comprehend the fact he was about to be reduced to atoms beneath his friend's foot. Yet as he waited the inevitable didn't come instead a gale force wind blew through followed by an immense boom that shook the world around him. Peeling his eyes open Eddie was relieved to see Ben had simply passed him by his foot coming down several streets away. His relief given way to remorse at the fact so many others had just died under his friends foot.


Yet he sat there watching as Ben's other foot flew overhead heading even further from his location, however, this time a huge plume of flame burst from under the impact sending flames whipping up onto the fabric of Ben's converse. Reorienting himself Eddie realised that Ben had just crushed the local petrol station, the step causing the fuel held within to ignite sending huge plumes of flame onto his converse. Suddenly Ben's thunderous voice erupted from overhead.


"Shit, what was that! Oh god my shoe's on fire, did I step on something?" Ben's obliviousness infuriating Eddie to his core did he not realise what he was doing, the death he was causing?


Soon though a new threat emerged as Eddie watched as Ben's huge torso bent down casting a huge area of the town into shadow, he watched as Ben reached forward towards his burning converse, his immense fingers batting at the flames, the impacts sounding like thunder.

Then Ben spoke again


"Well these are ruined!" The frustration in his voice clear "Damn I loved these shoes as well"

Then to Eddie's and every other survivor's horror Ben shifted and began to pull his foot from his ruined warehouse sized converse, revealing that today of all days he had decided not to wear socks.


Ben peeled his foot from his shoe sending a quake through the landscape. Eddie became aware of a thick aura of musk permeating the air as Ben's barefoot finally escaped its prison, his long slender toes flexing in the fresh air his soft sole gleaming in the bright sunlight, revealing each smooth bump of his slender soles. Fortunately Ben's musk wasn't overwhelming to the point of causing hundreds of people to gag.


Then as soon as this event began it ended as Ben's now freed bare sole descended on another nearby cluster of buildings. Only now he began to repeat the action with his other shoe, the action equally as destructive as before. This time, however, instead of simply lowering his now freed foot he aimed it at his now loose converse, aiming a powerful kick at the immense object.


Eddie watched in awe as this discarded converse tumbled through street after street towards him, again bracing for the end this time he was relieved to see the shoe come to a halt on its side a street away, the cloud of dust it picked up thundering past him. Now his view of Ben was partially blocked by the looming opening of his discarded shoe; the heat it emanated raising the temperature across the town several degrees. Captivated by this sight Eddie stared at the shoes as he felt Ben's thunderous footsteps fade as he strolled towards a distant hill.


The imminent danger having passed Eddie stood and began to stumble towards the discarded footwear. The sheer ludicrousness of the event fading from his mind now replaced by morbid curiosity, whatever happened to Ben must have had a cause and perhaps a clue could be found there, in the cavernous opening of Ben's sweaty shoe. Yes it was a long shot but its worth a try, and maybe if there is an answer they can find a way to reverse it and show Ben just what he'd done and make him aware of the death he'd caused.


—


His feet now freed and unaware of the chaos below Ben revelled in the fresh air flowing between his long toes. The ground beneath his soft soles feeling soft, with the occasional gravelly feeling area, which happened to be several buildings but Ben failed to notice this. Infact Ben in his single minded focus on reaching the hill had totally forgotten about the town beneath his feet, he was totally unaware of the death and destruction beneath his soles. Oddly given his size and the looseness of the soil his soles were remaining relatively clean so far nothing was really adhering to his sweaty soles.


Reaching the hill he spotted Ben surveyed the landscape taking in the beauty of the British landscape, a beauty that now seemed far smaller than he'd ever imagined. That was when he spotted it, on the distant horizon to the east, the city of Portsmouth, his current home and location of his university. Standing firm as he took it all in, however, Ben began to feel something odd.