Poking the Anthill (Patreon)

I pushed the stick in further, and I knew that I’d found a good one. It wasn’t just dirt shifting and moving around; I could feel things bending and snapping and crunching in there. Structures, furniture, maybe one or two of them actually breaking themselves, but I hoped not. I wasn’t trying to be vicious about it. I just wanted to stir them up flush them out.

“Come out, tiny ones.” I was nearly singing as I twisted the stick around in the hole. “It’s not safe in this little nest of yours.”

I’d noticed it on my way to class, and coming back for them was all I’d been able to think about. I snapped a few pictures of my boots for my Twitter fans, and when I posted about what I’d found and my plans to go back and pay them a visit, there was no shortage of excitement. 

They called me Giantess, Goddess… they tweeted their envy and eagerness, their desperation to be helpless at my heels. Mostly they were horny and needy, but usually I liked how they made me feel.

One of the inch tall people came dashing out of some opening in the warren. He and his friends were going to be the ones that gave me what I really needed. I pulled the stick back and poked him with it, knocking him down hard. By the time I’d gotten back up from my crouch, there were several more pouring out of the same hole and taking off in different directions.

“That’s right, run from me, little ones.” I covered the first one with the tip of my boot and smashed him into the ground with a single firm twist. “Run for your stupid little lives.”

They were trying to spread out in every direction, because they thought they were going to have a chance to get away. They must not have known me, which made sense. I’m pretty sure I’ve never left any of them behind.

I swept my boot sideways across the ground, and on the way back I knocked down the few that I’d missed. They weren’t going anywhere.

“Die,” I whispered as I stepped on one, enjoying the crumpling and crunching under my toes. I liked how it sounded. I liked ending their worthless lives.

“Die. Die.” I sighed happily, breathing the words as I squished another and another. They vanished under my foot with hardly a sound. I pressed down and transformed them to lifeless lumps and wet spots of dirt.

Then I was done with them too quickly. Maybe I’d expected more of them, or maybe I’d been anticipating this too much to hold back. Already there was nothing left but smears and motionless, flattened bodies buried in compressed dirt and leaves.

There had to be more. I’d only seen young men scurrying about at my feet. The rest of them still had to hiding in their hole.

A soft moan left me as I playfully prodded the mound with the pointed tip of my boot. These ones were more crafty than most. They’d sent out their strongest to try and escape. They’d let their men dash from the entrance as their only hope.

They’d given them to me, offering them at my merciless feet. A sacrifice to appease their wicked goddess.

I wanted more than they were willing to give. I wanted all of them--each and every one.

I aimed my stiletto heel at their home and jabbed it in, tearing through the dirt I’d already loosened. I twisted my boot and ripped it apart. I pulled back and kicked at it, clumps of dirt piling up in front of me until I started to see tiny bodies mingling with the pile.

“It’s so cute that you tried to please me.” I pushed the tip of my boot into the pile and flexed my toes, watching several more of the tiny things shake loose and spill down around the sides of my shoe. Others were almost certainly smashed in the compacted dirt beneath my sole. I didn’t care. They were all going to end up there eventually.

“But I’m going to crush you.” Saying it gave me the most delicious chill. These ones weren’t as quick or smart as the other ones. They weren’t going anywhere, and they knew it.

I might have imagined the screams, but that didn’t matter. I could hear them as I brushed my hair from my face, as I ran my fingers along the length of my body and smoothed out my dress. Screaming was all they could do.

Well, they could beg. They could plead for their lives, crawling before my massive black boots and praying for mercy. I wouldn’t hear them, though, and it wouldn’t matter if I did.

I took my time. Two of them were close together, huddled against one another like there was anything they could do for each other. I planted my heel before them and carefully lowered the ball of my foot onto their bodies.

“This is what you’re for,” I informed everyone that was left. My heel stuck in the dirt the faintest bit before popping free, rising just slightly as I shifted my weight forward and savored another set of crunches and pops. They were all watching me, so I showed off for them, grinding my boot back and forth to draw out every squelch and scrape I could.

Another group was doing their best to crawl away together. I didn’t look too closely, but they were different sizes--maybe a family? I pushed the pointed toe of my boot towards them through the dirt, plowing into them and sending them spilling off in different directions around my foot. “Squish,” I whispered as I picked out one and flattened them beneath that same pointed toe.

“Squish,” as I stepped down again and erased another little thing from existence.

“Squish, squish.” I pushed the ball of my foot into the ground and pulverized the last two with quick, firm steps. They were nothing to me. They had no way to resist, no chance of escape. Whatever they had been for all the days of their lives, it all led to today, to being stupid tiny things for me to enjoy smashing under my shoes

I scanned the ground for any other small, wriggling shapes. I thought I might have spotted one, so just in case I pushed my heel into the spot, tearing what might have already been a lifeless body in half. The whole colony hadn’t lasted more than a few minutes, but those minutes would stick with me for weeks. I let out a long sigh, and finally turned away.

Someone was staring. A man, maybe ten years older than me, must have been watching the whole time. Immediately I imagined pushing him down and walking right over him, wiping my dirty boots on his face.

Instead, I smiled. I looked right in his eyes and met his bewildered gaze, then walked right past him towards my home. After all, some fantasies really ought to be kept imagined.