It took another full minute walking steadily but nervously for the pair to reach the grate. Luke turned around and set his sack down. Aisell had stopped a few paces behind him and was watching and waiting for him to arrive at the entrance to his home. Luke was feeling a lot happier now he could dive into safety in just a few seconds. He did feel a bit more comfortable with Aisell now she had showed she would let him get close to her and then return home safely. Of course, he wasn’t out of her reach just yet.

Luke took a few quick steps back and readied to drop down through the grate to safety as Aisell lowered her long, thin frame to the floor. She reached her berry filled hand over the grate and released them one by one through the gaps, dropping them just outside of Luke’s home. Aisell then rested her palms on the floor and placed her chin on top of them. She focused her eyes on the little man standing about a hand’s length from the end of her nose.

“Don’t look so nervous Luke. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to hurt you and I’ve not done anything, I’m not about to start now.” Aisell said trying to hide some of the building impatience she felt.

Luke smiled nervously and took a few steps forward. Even with her head on the floor her eyes were still over seven feet above him. A thin smile grew on her face showing her approval of his cautious approach. Luke had never been this close to the face of one of the giants. He looked straight ahead to her red lips, just below his eye level. He felt his pulse pick up as he realised just how big her mouth was. Her mouth was wider than he was tall when she smiled and her plump lower lip was as thick as he was.

“Well at least it doesn’t look like they eat people…” he thought as he forced himself to return his gaze to her eyes.

“Will you tell me why you’re so nervous with me? Did someone try to hurt you?” Aisell asked forcing the smile from her face and adopting a serious but caring demeanour.

Luke shuffled on the spot anxiously and rubbed his upper arm. He tried to look away from her but her looming, ever widening eyes held on to him. He felt like he was a small boy being asked by a teacher to tell on a bigger kid.

“Yes…” he answered simply.

Aisell drew closer, her expression a mix of concern, curious and upset. It made Luke feel more at ease, she seemed genuinely upset by the fact people had tried to hurt him.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“People tried to step on me, kill me.” He said flatly. It felt odd talking about this with someone who he had been convinced had tried to starve him to death.

Aisell gasped unable to comprehend someone deliberately setting out to kill a Human. For one thing they were harmless creatures but it was also illegal, they were sentient creatures after all. “Are…are you sure it just wasn’t an accident?”

Luke shook his head. “They chased me…tried to stomp on me…” His words caught in his throat as he relived each terrifying moment. He could hear the sound of their laughter and boots crashing down as if it had happened only minutes ago. “…they called me vermin…”

“Oh Luke, I’m so sorry! That is awful…those terrible, terrible people!” Aisell said.

Luke could see her big eyes start to shimmer as they welled up. He felt his knees start to tremble in response. It was the first time he’d ever talked about it. It was his first moment of opening up to someone, of true vulnerability since his ordeal began all those months ago. He mashed his lips together trying to stop himself from breaking down in front of her. He’d closed himself off to help stay sane during the long, lonely months living underground. He could feel a torrent of emotion within him desperately trying to get out. He felt something behind him, a warm, soft wall braced itself gently against him. He jumped and looked up to see her hands, as tall as he was carefully curving around to embrace him.

He lashed out with his fists trying to drive them back. He was breathing heavily and incredibly frightened given his already heightened emotional state. They stopped moving forward but did not retreat.

“Hey…hey…hey Luke. I won’t hurt you. I didn’t mean to…” Aisell said quickly in a hushed tone. “It’s ok. I’ll back off…”

Luke’s heart rate began to drop as the hand directly behind him moved back slightly and the other disappeared altogether. It was still pounding incredibly quickly and he could hear its distinct rhythm in his ears. He was still trapped between her massive, sympathy filled face and her hand waiting behind him.

“I got you something else…” Aisell said as her free hand reached into a pocket at the side of her shirt. It came back and dangled a thick, red cloth to his side. “I use these to clean the delicate computer equipment. They’re especially fine and soft. This one has never been used. I thought you might get cold…”

Luke eyed the red cloth blanket enviously. He reached out and stroked it with his fingertips. It was incredibly soft and warm, far nicer and bigger than his current rag of a blanket. It also smelled like her from having spent time close to her. It would be far nicer to sleep in than his existing dirty blanket.

“Go on…it’s yours.” She encouraged.

Luke reached out and pulled the blanket into his arms. It was thick and heavy, about ten feet by eight feet across. He rolled it up into a large ball and stroked it with his palm enjoying its softness. Suddenly there was a touch at his back which sent a jolt of panic through him. Luke dropped the blanket and ran straight to back to the grate and dropped through it. He didn’t stop to wait for Aisell’s reaction and he immediately ran through the crack under the wall and squeezed under the pipes. He was breathing heavily, his mind drowning in panic and adrenaline.

Aisell didn’t have time to react as Luke bolted from her touch. She just wanted to stroke him, reassure him everything would be ok. He wasn’t like any of the Humans she had handled before. He was beyond afraid of her even though he knew she was trying to help him. Her heart dropped as he disappeared through the grate and then from sight completely. He left his food and the gift she had given him.

“Luke…I’m sorry Luke…” she called through the metal grate. “Will you please come back?”

She waited for a minute but there was no reply and no movement.

“Please come back, I didn’t mean to scare you…we were doing so well. It was my mistake, I pushed too hard. Please…please will you come back?”

Aisell waited a while longer before she remembered about Luke’s food.

“Luke…you forgot your food and your blanket. Will you come back for those at least?” Aisell said losing hope. It had been going well but then she had overreached, potentially scaring him off forever.

Aisell waited a while longer but there was still no sign of him. She picked up the tiny sack of food between her thumb and forefinger, the weight barely registered it was so small. She couldn’t believe this was enough to feed him, it wouldn’t even count as a bite for her. She carefully lowered it down into the grate as far as she could and then dropped it to the floor. She picked up the cloth Luke had abandoned and rolled it up so it was long and thin and stuffed it too down between the grate.

“I have to go work now…I’ve left your things for you. I’m really sorry Luke, please come see me tomorrow. Bye…”

Luke lay prone under the pipe half panicked. He could hear Aisell’s voice but he didn’t trust anything she was saying, his now deeply ingrained survival instincts were telling him she had tried to take him and he needed to stay away at all costs. She would try to hurt him like all the others. He kept huddled in the damp, dark corner of his room too afraid to come out until he eventually drifted off to sleep.

Luke awoke with a pounding headache. He felt wet all over and he was shivering. He slowly crawled out from under the pipes and rolled on to his side before sitting up. He searched his groggy mind trying to recall what happened that led him to fall asleep in possibly the most uncomfortable, wet and cold place in the whole room.

“Oh Luke you idiot…” He muttered as he recalled what had happened. He felt awful. Not only did he feel like he had a fever from sleeping in the worst place he possibly could but his clothes were soaking wet and he’d probably now alienated the only person who had tried to help him since he got to this place.

“Eugh…” he said as he rose to his feet, his legs wobbled under him. He pulled off his wet shirt and shivered as the cold air from the pipes nipped at his bare skin. Luke wrapped his arms around his torso and tried to rub himself warm. He looked over to the only piece of dry material he had left, his dirty, old cloth blanket and wrapped it around his freezing body.

“AAACHOOO!”

“Eugh…” he said wiping away liquid running from his nose. He felt a cold coming on. His stomach rumbled, he hadn’t eaten before he slept. He had been too busy gathering up food and watching Aisell. He looked around the room for any sign of his bag of food. He couldn’t see it and he couldn’t remember where he’d left it.

“Damn…get your shit together Luke…” he muttered to himself. “Where did I have it last? Think! I definitely had it when Aisell dropped the berries through the grate…the berries!”

Luke rushed out through the crack in the wall and a broad grin drew across his face.

“Yes! Yes! Oh I love that woman!” He said as he surveyed the area below the grate. His bag of food, all the berries and propped against the wall, a big red blanket. Luke rushed over to it and pulled it around him. It was so big he had to fold it, doubling its thickness. He didn’t care though. He was freezing cold and the soft fabric felt great on his clammy skin.

Luke picked up a berry and threw his food sack over his shoulder and trudged through to his bed. He still felt awful but he was wrapped up warm with plenty of food. Things couldn’t get much better than that. He could smell something familiar, something nice, something that made him feel good. He lifted the blanket to his face a breathed in deeply. Aisell, he could smell her on the blanket. Her smell made him feel like he was not alone.

He took a bite from a juicy mosaberry. “Yeah that settles it. Next time I see her, I’m gonna ask her to marry me.”

Luke’s eyes shot open. Today was the day. Aisell would be back shortly, she may even be up there already waiting for him with a pile of food. He quickly bound across the room to a water bucket, dunking his face in it in an attempt to clear the grogginess from his stuffy head. He pulled his rag shirt on and quickly made his way out under the grate.

He was determined today would go well. He was going to talk to her, thank her, let her hold him if she wanted. He only had three more evenings with her and he wanted to make the most of them. He pulled himself up the wall and through the grate without stopping to check if the coast was clear. He stood up and looked around. There was no pile of food, no smiling blonde giantess waiting for him. He could see scraps of food further up the aisle. Either he was early or she was late.

“Well best get to it then…” he said unfurling his sack and walking up the aisle.

“Oh Emperor spare me!” Aisell shouted as she span round her room getting ready. She had overslept, her sleeping pattern thrown out of step by working the night shift and spending too many long hours lying awake in bed thinking of poor, frightened Luke. She had wanted to get up early and get to the canteen before him to set out some food for him. She was worried he might get up, get his own food and leave before she got there and missed her chance to apologise. She pulled her nightie off over her head and pulled on the old, worn t-shirt she used for cleaning. She looked at herself in the mirror, pressing her face up to it closely.

“Oh, I’m a mess…no time! No time! I’m late!” Aisell fussed and fretted tossing her yellow hair into a state that sort of resembled orderly. She quickly grabbed her things and rushed out the door.

“Mmm…that looks good…” Luke said eying a chunk of cake just slightly taller than he was. It was deep brown with what looked and smelled like chocolate icing on top. It was only missing a bite having looked like it had been dropped. There was a large chocolate smudge nearby from where it had hit the floor.

“Well their loss is my gain!” Luke said cheerily trying to push Aisell to the back of his mind. He dug his hand in deep to the dark, creamy layer in the middle of the cake and stuffed it in his mouth. It tasted like very dark chocolate and was slightly bitter.

He lifted out chunks of the dark cake and placed it in his sack. Luke heard something behind him and slowly turned around. It didn’t sound like Aisell sneaking up behind him. This was something else, something much smaller. It set him on edge.

“Oh fuck…what the hell is that?!” he whispered. His hands trembled and his eyes bulged out of his head.

Less than five metres away and slowly getting closer was a monstrous looking creature. It was the size of a large dog. It had a long, thin, deep green body and walked on six sharp pointed legs which had long spikes on the top at the knees. On its head were two blood red compound eyes and massive, snapping mandibles. It had two large scythes at the front which were twitching in anticipation of the kill to come. It raised itself up on its legs becoming nearly as tall as Luke and hissed loudly.

Luke jumped up on to the cake and scrambled up its side trying to put an obstacle between him and the monster. He was nearly on top when he felt an incredibly sharp pain in this leg.

“AHHHHHHHH!!” He cried out in agony, pain shooting like lightening from his leg. He screamed again as the beast ripped its razor sharp scythe from his leg. He threw himself to his stomach and used his hands to pull himself forward along the slippery chocolate icing. He could hear the beast hissing behind him beneath the sound of his heart beating in his ears. He dropped off the back of the slice of cake and fell roughly to the floor.

Luke instantly flipped to his back and crawled backwards with his arms and one good leg, dragging his now useless leg behind him. Blood trailed from the gaping wound in his leg as he retreated. His heart was pounding at a phenomenal speed, even considering his impending death it was well above normal. He could feel his head starting to cloud over and his arms grow weak. He pulled himself back as fast as he could, his strength rapidly failing. The beast jumped up on top of the cake and hissed horribly at him, spit spraying from its mouth. Luke kept retreating as fast as his weak arms could carry him. The beast dropped down to the floor and pressed forward.

“Oh fuck…” Luke cried, panic in his voice and tears running down his face. “HELP! Somebody please help me!”

The beast got closer, its sharp legs making a distinct tinkling noise as it walked. Luke’s eyes focused on to the snapping mandibles and drooling saliva as it prepared for the meal to come.

“Help…” Luke whispered weakly as his strength started to fail.