Gwen's Scouting Mission: First Contact

The forest seemed perfectly normal to Gwen, but she still fought her fatigue and tried to stay alert in what could very well be enemy territory. This had all started when an extraterrestrial ship that had been spotted several time prior had appeared above this forest, but engaged in new behavior. In all previous incidents the ship had hovered in the sky above a human settlement and proceeded to abduct as many as it could before fleeing the system, but this time the satellites observing it witnessed it appearing to eject a multitude of living entities before leaving once more. Equal parts nervous and hopeful, whether this was a hostile drop-force or an apologetic return of the hostages was still to be seen. Gwen wasn't the only one who had journeyed to this forest to find answers, but her friends and family were forced to split up in order to cover the massive amount of ground that needed to be searched. So far her scouting mission had turned up nothing but normal woodland creatures, but they knew something living had been dropped off nearby and she didn't like the idea of giving up before finding it. Still her supplies were still limited so she would eventually have to make her way back, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it. As the sky grew darker and darker though she stopped to think for a moment, just as she felt her shoe flatten a pinecone beneath her. With how dark it was getting and how tired she was she should really regroup with the others at the basecamp they had set-up, sleeping without anyone to keep watch in these circumstances seemed needlessly suicidal. First contact with whatever landed would just have to wait for tomorrow...

Except in the case of Gwen at least, first contact had been established moments before that thought crossed her mind. The human abductee's had indeed been returned to Earth, but their form had long since been altered by the countless experiments performed on them. The aliens tried all manners of shrinking devices on them which varied in the height they were reduced to, their durability and countless other quirks. They were then all subjected to a series of bizarre tests and tortures, before simply dumping them back on the planet they had found them on. The poor tinies had no clue what goal the aliens held to subject them to all this, nor did they know what to in the terrifying environment this forest now was to them. Throughout the forest countless lives were snuffed out by the titanic beasts of this massive jungle, while the survivors frantically fled or burrowed for their lives. One "lucky" soul however had stumbled upon what was clearly a walking trail, and had decided to linger their in the hope of someone coming down it that could rescue him. The fact he survived in the open for the hours it took for night to fall really did take luck, as did the young ginger girl actually coming across this small section of a massive forest. After he spotted her heading towards him her frantically jumped and screamed at the top of lungs, crying in relief that he was finally going to be safe. But while the girl slowed down a bit her gaze never lowered to where the tiny man was, a fact he failed to notice in his joy until her unforgiving footfall slammed onto him. He barely had a second to register the filthy sole of the sneaker rushing down towards him before he splattered across it like a bug, his long, arduous journey ending with him as a decoration for an oblivious girl's mucky sneaker sole with a small CRUNCH. It seemed his durability kept while shrinking was rather low, although given his quick end that may very well have been a blessing. Many more were certain to join him there in the following days and many would pop far slower, and some might even face more humiliating deaths...