Growth Malfunction Part 3

Growth Malfunction Part 3

Linda stretched her limbs as she slowly opened her eyes. “Ahh. That was a pleasant nap.” She shivered and pulled herself into a tighter ball. “What a horrible dream. I thought I was growing further and further out of control.”

She blinked as she realized in her hand was someone’s house. “Holy crap.” She quickly sat up and threw the home to the side. “I am sorry.” Linda winced as she heard the sound of crushing concrete as she slammed her hands down behind her. “Please don’t tell me.” She looked behind her to see she had just slammed her hands down on some kind of two-story structure.

“Damnit all.” She shook her head. “How could I let myself doze off?” Linda looked down. “It looks like I even grew on top of some buildings.” She blew her hair to the side. “This is just a swell way to wake up in the morning. This is why I need my medication.” She made her way to her feet. “Otherwise, I just get too big for my own good.”

She dusted the debris off her body. “Now then. If I remember right, the pharmacist yesterday said I should try and get to the distribution center on the other side of the state.” She turned her head. “But at this size, I can’t tell which way is which. I am too high up to see a landmark.” Her stomach groaned. “Besides, I haven’t eaten in almost sixteen hours. I am working up an enormous appetite.”

She raised one massive leg and stepped on a grove of trees. “Where am I going to find something to eat, though?” Linda sighed. “And while I am on that thought, where am I going to find something to cover my body? I can’t walk around at this size completely exposed.” She shivered as a gust of wind washed over her. “It is freezing being this tall.”

She could feel her body grow, but now the change in size wasn’t that noticeable. “Well, at least it slowed down.” She crossed her arms. “Or I am so big that a few extra feet is nothing to me now. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.” She carefully walked further into the wilderness. “All I know is it will take me months to work off this size.”

Her stomach growled again. “Ugh.” Linda knelt down in the middle of the forest. “I need to find something to eat.” She closed her eyes. “But what?” She looked up to see a road just ahead of her. “There is a sign down there.” She carefully lowered herself onto her hands and knees, so she was close enough to see and read the tiny little wooden sign.

Ben’s Cattle Farm. Mooving our way from the fields and into your hearts.  There were some smaller words scribbled onto the sign that she couldn’t read.

“A cow ranch?” Linda pushed herself up, the trees around her swaying back and forth from the vibrations she sent through the ground. “I didn’t know there were still any this far north.” She scratched at her chin and blinked her green eyes. “Maybe I could. . .” She shook her head. “No way. I couldn’t.” Her stomach growled again, this time sending a jolt of pain through her body. “Ugh, maybe just a cow or two? Before this size issue becomes any worse.” She sighed. “Just think of it like a burger.”

She turned her head and spotted the farm on the horizon. “Well, that was easy.” She began to walk towards the green fields and pearly white buildings, careful not to crush any more trees. “At least it is easy to find what I am looking for at this size. Before, it would have taken me ages to find a farm like that hidden in the forest.” Linda chucked. “Who even hides a ranch this far in the woods?”

A few moments later, she stood over the ranch, her shadow casting a shadow over the entire farm. “Hello?” She bent down. “Anyone there?” Linda scratched at her head. “I wonder where everyone is. I don’t even see any cattle.”

Linda noticed some cars by the two-story house. She knelt down and lowered her head near the roof. “Hello in there. Is anyone home?”

A tiny man ran out of the house and looked up at her. “What the hell.” He pointed his rifle at her. “What in the world are you?”

“I am sorry, but I am just really. . .” She raised an eyebrow. “How do I say this?”

“Look. Just go away. We are not going to have some mountain of a lady ruin this for us.”

She lowered her head and narrowed her eyes. “What in the world are you talking about? Ruin what?” She peered inside the house. “Hey, why are people inside tied up? Oww!” She raised her head as the pop of a rifle shot went off.”

“I don’t care how big you are. You are not going to ruin this for us.” He ran back inside.

Linda narrowed her eyes. “You shot me!” She ripped off the door from the house. “Come out here, you little jerk.” She was just able to fit her index finger inside the doorway. “And let those people go.” She moved so she could see what she was doing. “Come on out of there.”

Her finger quickly trashed the farmhouse's kitchen and knocked the people in the room about the room. The couple who had been tied up bounced into the next room while the pair with the guns were slammed against the wall. Linda tried to hit them again, but they ran up the stairs. She slammed her free hand down onto the ground, the vibrations causing the house to vibrate.

The man who had shot her ran to a window on the second level, opened it, and pointed his rifle at Linda’s forehead. “Go away.”

She took this opportunity to yank him out of the house. Linda underestimated her strength, though, and sent the poor man flying off into the distance behind her. “Opps. I do hope that he will be ok.” She turned her head and looked at his accomplice. He walked to the window with his hands up. “Ok, I will come out now.” He set his rifle down at the windowsill.

Linda waved her hands. “I didn’t mean to toss your buddy. But ok.” She gently picked him up and set him onto the ground.

The old man who had been tired up rushed out of the doorway that Linda had ripped off. “Who do you think you are trying to steal from me?” He used what looked like a cane to hit the man over the head. “You couldn’t even wait for us to leave. You had to do it while we were still sleeping, didn’t you?” He then turned his attention to Linda. “And you. Did you have to wreck my home dealing with these parasites?”

“Oh, Jeffery. She was only trying to help.”

He turned to look at his wife. “Nora, did you see what she did to the kitchen?”

Linda’s eyes widened. “Nora? Nora Estermen?”

“Yes, dear.”

“It is me. Linda Glesser. You taught my ninth-grade class.”

“Linda?” She looked up at her. “My how you have grown. I guess you listened when I told you to eat healthy, unlike everyone else.”

Linda sighed as she felt her body grow again. “Trust me, it is more than just eating healthy.”

Nora walked over and patted Linda on the side of her arm. “Nonsense, dear. What brings you all the way out here?”

“Well, I am looking to find some medicine.”

Jeffery raised his arm. “You won’t find that crap around here.”

“Hush now.” Nora raised her head. “He means well.”

Linda sighed. “I umm also need something to eat.” She rubbed her stomach. “I haven’t had anything to munch on in ages, and growing this large has put me in a bit of a situation.”

Jeffery slammed his foot on the ground. “Oh no. You are not going to have my cows you. . . you big—

Nora put her hand over her husband's mouth. “It is only fitting. You helped us. Take what you need, honey.” She smiled.  “You were always the best little student anyways.”

Linda blushed. “Well, thank you.” She looked down at the other robber. “Want me to do something about him?”

Nora shook her head. “Oh no. You have already done enough. We can just call the police and have him picked up.”

Jeffery shook his head. “Fat chance. She knocked out the phone lines. Look.” Linda looked behind her and noticed she had accidentally knocked over the telephone poles with her foot.

“Oops. It is a bit hard to see what I am doing at this size.”

Jeffery waved his hands. “Look, just take your meal and get out of here.”

Linda looked down at the young thief. “I will take this man to the nearby town and drop him off at the jail. It is only right.”

He looked up at Linda. “You have got to be kidding me.”

She gently picked him up between her index finger and pinky. “Deal with it.” She turned her attention back towards Nora. “Thank you again.”

“No problem. Keep on growing up, right honey.”

Linda stood up and sighed. “I am trying not to.” She let the robber slid into her right hand. “But I guess things are not so bad being this big.” Linda turned her attention towards the herd of cows in the field. They were all staring at her as she approached, and she waved with her free hand. “Umm, hello.” Linda sighed. “Why does everyone and everything have to stare at me?”

She bent down in the field next to the cattle. “Ok. You can do this. It is just like having a burger.” She stared at the field of mooing cows. “A big furry burger.” She closed her eyes and grabbed the nearest cow, and without hesitation, threw it into her mouth. “Mhmm. That was better than I thought.” She took five more bovines to fill her belly before moving onward.

“Ok. I will drop you off at the jail, and then I have a medicine disruption center to visit.” She sighed as she grew once again. The growth sensation now felt calming and pleasant. “Maybe when I finally get the medicine, I won’t use it as strictly as before.” A smile crossed her face. “This isn’t as bad as I remembered.”

A few minutes later, a town came into view. “There we are.” She raised her hand and peered down at her little prisoner. “Soon, I will be able to hand you off.”

“Good. I don’t like heights.”

“Well, I don’t like how you are tickling my hand.” She lowered her arm. “It is taking all of my concentration to not drop you.”

As she neared the edge of the town, Linda lowered herself onto her hands and knees so she could read the signs of the buildings. “I do wish I had some better way of doing this, but everything is just so tiny. Hmm, let’s see. Auto shop. Diner. Pizza place. Book store.” Linda sighed. “Come on, where is the police station.”

She looked down at the growing crowd beneath her. “Umm, hello.”

They all spoke at once. “Hello.”

Linda winced. “Look, can someone just tell me where the police station is?”

“Two blocks down and on the right.”

Linda shook her head. “From where? What street? You do realize I am hundreds of feet tall, right?”

The man in her right hand laughed. “You could just let me go.”

“Not on your life.”

The crowd below her began to move. “Follow us.”

Linda sighed. “Ok.” She shook her head. “Thank you.” Her eyes followed the tiny swarm of people through the town. A few minutes later, they stopped in front of a two-story stone building and jumped up and down. “Thank you. Now can you move so I can knock on the door?”

She slid her hand down in the center of the street and pushed the mass of people to the side. “Ugh.” Linda then gently lowered her head to peer inside the station and used her finger to knock on the door. “Hello in there. I need to speak with you.”

Two officers ran out of the black double doors. “What is going on?” Linda squinted her eyes; she recognized the officer on the left as he looked up at her. He looked at Linda with a shocked look on his face while his partner took a few steps forward.

“Umm, what do you want?”

“I just want to hand over someone who was terrorizing a nearby ranch.”

“Umm. . .”

The officer she recognized ran forward. “You. I still need to take you in for speeding.” He looked from one side of her face to the other. “And don’t think you growing like this will get you out of your time behind bars.”

Linda sighed. “What kind of jail do you think can hold me? Seriously?”

“Umm. . .” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. It is the principle of things. If we let you go then, every Tim and Nancy will just walk all over the state police. An example has to be made.”

Linda sighed. “This is crazy.” She raised her hand where she held her prisoner. “Look, just take this jerk off my hand. I can’t take him crawling around inside my fist anymore.”

“Umm, maybe we should just take the guy. We did just have some random guy fly about ten minutes ago with a handful of cash screaming about a giant lady and screaming for protection. I think this is the accomplice.”

The officer turned towards his partner. “She is the criminal. Not some random person that may or may not be in her hand. Hey, what are you doing?” He shook his head as his partner put a pair of handcuffs on him.

“Look, I respect you and all, but this is crazy. She is over two hundred feet tall, and you want to do what? Anger someone who could crush our station with her hands? She is also offering to hand us a perp. Just calm down, sir. He turned towards Linda. “Now, if you don’t mind.”

“Umm, yes. Of course.” She opened her palm and let the robber slide down. “There you go.”

The officer caught him just as he left her hand. “Thank you. Now you. Get inside, and we can talk.”

“Please. I will tell you anything. I am just happy to be out of her hand.”

Linda stood up, careful not to step on any of the buildings below. “Wow. I can’t believe I did some good today.” She sighed. “But that officer was still a bit nuts.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe that he still wanted to take me in. Still, I should get to the distribution center and get my medication. Though I will have to say I will somewhat miss being this big.”