"Come out, pets." A voice sneered above them. "I've come to get my payment."
"We can't." I mumble to my parents, who are huddled in the corner, terrified. "We can't let him take away one of us. Not again."
"You're taking too loooong!" The giant rumbled above us, making the ceiling crumble slightly, dust falling on our faces. "And you know I don't like waiting."
We heard groaning and crashing, and the roof of our house was lifted above our heads.
My parents screamed, and I whipped out my gun. "Don't touch them! I won't let you!"
The giant's bright orange eyes glinted with malice and interest. "You're a fighter, I'll give you that."
And then I was hundreds of feet off the ground as he plucked me up.
"But even the best fighters tire out eventually."
"No!" My parents screamed, clutching eachother and gazing at me, struggling in the air.
"Let go of me!" I yelled, pushing against his massive fingers. It was no use. He was just too strong.
"Do you know what happens to poor, little humans who try to resist like you?"
His hands started to clench tightly, and I thought I might've heard something crack. I yelled in pain.
"They die."
He squeezed me harder, and I felt my body straining to keep consciousness, my vision darkening on the edges. He laughed gleefully, continuing to tighten his grip on me.
Ever since the sudden takeover of the giants, I'd never thought I'd ever feel so much pain and suffering.
"Oh?" A louder, much more powerful voice rang out. "What's this?"
My "owner" snarled, "Who's there?!"
The unbearable pressure on my body was released, and I was in a much gentler fist as the giant's focus went to the swath of forest behind us.
Two massive, bloodred eyes gazed at us. They looked cold, and calculating. "You know, this is my territory that you're in."
"Says who?" The giant sneered. He was trying to play it cool, but I could tell through my barely coherent thoughts that his palm was getting sweaty.
I heard a massive CRACK, and suddenly, I was falling. "Says me."
My landing was softened by the fact that the giant still had me wrapped in his fist, even when he was unconscious, and face-first on the ground. I stumbled out of his lifeless fingers and limped over to my parents who were staring fearfully at the red eyes that had now focused toward us.
"Well, what do we have here?" The voice boomed, and the red-eyes leaned closer to us. His voice sounded so familiar...
"Don't touch my family, giant!" I shouted, shakily pointing my gun at him. Through that whole being-snatched-up ordeal, I somehow hadn't dropped it.
"First of all, I literally just saved you. Ouch." The giant's eyes expressed mock hurt.
You sound so familiar.
"Second, the gun will do nothing, not sure why you're trying." The giant's tone was factual, not mocking.
Why do I recognize that tone?
"Third of all," The giant's massive face leaned even closer, his eyes filling my vision, "Grant,"
How do you know my name?!
"Why can't I come by and say hello to our family?"
'Our'?
"No..." I breathed, slowly taking a step forward, despite my parents' protests. "No, it can't be..."
"Oh yes." He smiled. That smile wasn't patronizing. That smile wasn't cruel. That smile wasn't even remotely malicious.
It broke me all the same.
"Chase!"
He couldn't have survived. He didn't come back that day. There wasn't any way that he was...
But he was right there. That familiar face, with a full-on grin, happy and excited.
I was running toward him now, tripping and stumbling. His hands opened welcomingly, and I sank into them, closing the distance between me and him.
Me, and my little brother.
