Little Brother in the Big City (Chapter 4) (Patreon)

At last, relying more on luck again than anything else, Jacob outlasted the first stage of his sister’s boot-shedding routine. Evidently satiated by a few minutes of firmly caressing her soles upon those easily-mashed fibers, Gabby sighed and brought her feet to rest once more. Unfortunately, though, she was still focused on her phone instead of looking at the ground, no-doubt toying with filters and edits for her latest photoshoot, which told Jacob he probably wasn’t going to catch a break just by yelling and jumping like a shipwrecked sailor. He had to get closer, and into direct contact with Gabby, before she did anything else that might unknowingly end his life. Her left foot had ceased its carpet-smushing dance close by, looming so hugely from his lowly vantage that it obstructed his view to the rest of her behemoth silhouette beyond, so he quickly set off in that direction.

Even when not actively in motion, Gabby’s peacefully-stationary bare foot still made Jacob’s stomach churn, knowing it could unleash another rampage at any instant. No matter how prim and proper this foot-shaped isle of massive anatomy appeared – with her radiant tan complexion, buttery-smooth skin, pithy dimpled arches, creamy toe crevices, and mirror-shiny nails all exuding such grace even through this lowest part of her body – he couldn’t forget that he was looking at a deadly force right now. Yet Jacob had no choice except to place himself in the gravity of her foot, holding out hope that a combination of blind luck and their sibling bond might preserve him from an accidental treading.

“Gabby. Please, please, please. Please see me. P-Please don’t step on me,” Jacob begged in whisper, far too quietly for his sister to actually hear, since he was speaking more to the universe at large, as he came closer. Now within touchable range of Gabby’s big toe, which bowled outward and stretched far overhead like an enormous apricot-shaped mountain outcropping, he could spy every detail, from the gleaming pores in her immaculate flesh to the ringed grid lines making up her toeprint. He felt the leftover heat wafting away from her skin like an oven, and took in another heady gulp of that flowery perfume-soaked leather essence. Just the presence of Gabby’s unthinkably huge foot, resting so regally before him while she played on her phone above in total ignorance of his endangered being below, again flooded Jacob with a mix of awe and horror. But he didn’t let it overcome him this time. He had to act, and fast.

There was no “safe” way to do this, but at least he could try to be smart. The way he saw it, his best chance was to hit Gabby’s toe with all his might in hopes that it might register as a feathery tickle in her distracted senses. Then, guessing she might instinctively flick her toe as if to swat away an insect, he knew he’d next have to leap away immediately, and then keep running, all the while hoping she was made curious enough to lean down and investigate whatever had poked her, rather than unconsciously pouncing her heel down and massacring him without even taking her eyes off the screen. It would work, he told himself. It had to work.

So Jacob drew a deep breath in preparation, summoning his courage again even as nightmarish fear still seethed at his core, and reminded himself that his big sister would technically be with him throughout this whole calamity – even though she herself was also the unaware source of his strife. Then he made his move. Charging at Gabby’s monolithic big toe with all the thrust he could impart at the size of a flea, Jacob crashed headlong into the squishy yet staunch wall of her tender flesh. He bounced away, mildly disoriented as though he’d gone careening into a fully-inflated bounce house, but staggered up again in a blink. That was the hardest prod he could muster; now he had to run for his life. Too scared to look back again, Jacob took off sprinting again the same way he’d come. If only he could get a half-inch away from Gabby’s foot, he might avoid the violent blowback when her toe unconsciously twitched in the aftermath.

His heartrate skyrocketed as he heard the rustle of shifting carpet fibers and felt the ground unsettling from behind him, as the giantess’s toes curled taut then flexed outward again. Still, Jacob kept bolting forth, faster than he’d ever run in his life. Yet even as he forged onward, he could see those oblong wiggly-shafted shadows rearing up and overtaking him, just like her boot had earlier before it crashed down and caught him in the treads like chewing gum. His guts knotted in terror; Gabby’s toes were reaching for him.

Yet Jacob heard no curious murmur from her to accompany this impulsive gesture, nor experienced any seismic shudder to signal that his sister was crouching down from the sofa to explore whatever pitiful force had just jabbed her toe. Instead, her capacious foot was lurching forth of its own accord, a wholly separate entity independent from the giantess herself, with those burly gumdrop-bellied toes spread apart like huntresses on the prowl for easy prey. Exactly as he’d dreaded would happen. She hadn’t even actively clocked that anything had touched her, but just reflexively nudged her foot forward to bat away the itch. Far above, Gabby herself was still focused entirely on organizing her latest photoshoot, sighing and giggling with ego-boosting aplomb as she swiped through every eye-catching pose, and utterly oblivious to the torment she was possibly about to bring upon someone who mattered so much to her. Still, Jacob didn’t give up sprinting, even as the shade of her giant toes bloomed larger overhead like a slow-motion avalanche. If only he could outrun the edge of that darkness and leap to safety, before-

PLOOOOOOOMMMMPPPP!

Jacob’s ambitions for escape, along with his millimeter-tall body, were instantly flattened by the collapse of Gabby’s immense toepad right on top of him. Once more, his first presumption was that he’d been instantly killed in one splat, but again wasn’t the case. Apparently he was just small enough that, when pinned down under the swirly-printed swell of his gigantic sister’s toe while it wasn’t pressing down with full-bore oomph, there was just enough cushy yield to her skin that he wasn’t immediately crunched. Of course, this time, Jacob didn’t come out unscathed, either. The wind was instantly knocked from his lungs like a prizefighter sucker punch to the gut. As her toe depressed lower and lower upon him, the peachy pedicured flesh smushing outward like a beanbag the size of a building, Jacob felt the physical tension mounting upon him to a horrific degree. His limbs began to numb; his bones turned sore; his joints felt like they were being stretched in seven directions at once. Out of resurgent panic and overloaded duress at once, Jacob began to squirm uncontrollably. Even his most savage thrashing wouldn’t have a prayer of worming him out from under Gabby, though. If she smashed down much harder than this, he’d have no chance. This might be it for him.

But it wasn’t, at least not yet. Though even if Jacob’s body hadn’t been irreparably crippled by that body-slam under his sister’s toe, his previously optimistic spirit had been thoroughly squashed. Gabby’s hulking bare foot slid an inch back into that same cratered span of carpet fluff it just occupied, still with her brother obliviously pressure-glued to the rounded flesh of her digit pad like a stray speck of toejam. Upon slumping back to rest, her toes scrunched inward again, as if making a gentle fist. Try as Jacob might to wrench himself free, he discovered he was still stuck onto the giantess’s body by a combination of taut stress and lotion residue practically molding him against the divoted grooves of her skin. As a result, he was brought along for the ride as the underbellies of all five toes were plastered into a snug curl against the plump upper shelf of her sole, where he quickly became sandwiched. At once, no light or air could reach Jacob’s quivering micro-form, as he was submerged completely in a sweltering flesh-padded bear hug by the smushed-in contours of his own gargantuan unknowing sibling’s naked foot.