Tyler quickly turned the device at Josh, pulling the trigger and emitting a bright flash before Josh could even react to what was going on. Rubbing his eyes and looking around, Josh felt the blood drain from his face as he looked up at Tyler's massive frame coming toward him. Trying to back away, Josh moved as fast as he could away from Tyler's fingers as they reached down to get him. Ultimately a fruitless effort on Josh's part, Tyler easily pinched the tiny man between his fingers and set him down in his hand. Sitting down in Tyler's palm and trembling in a little fear, Josh looked up at Tyler's face. The look he wore seemed to be one of mixed feelings.
"This isn't personal, by the way." Tyler spoke down somewhat softly at the tiny man. "You actually seem like a decent guy. But you gave me a ticket out of this hell hole."
"W-what do you mean?" Josh asked nervously, shaking in fear over Tyler's sudden actions. Tyler sighed and shook his head with a slight grin.
"Don't be so scared. I'm not gonna hurt you. That being said..." Tyler paused for a second to think of how word his next sentence. "You'd still be a witness when I shrink my dad. With him missing I may finally be able to live my life."
"Please! I won't tell anyone!" Josh begged feeling like Tyler was just going to get rid of him.
"I don't know you so I can't trust you, dude." Tyler replied raising his eyebrows. "So eventually we'll have to think of a way to take care of you."
Josh shivered at the words "take care of" know it meant "kill him off". Trembling with fear Josh watched as Tyler lazily strode over to a desk and slid Josh off his hand onto the table. Sitting down and grabbing the shrink ray, Tyler propped up his feet and waited. Josh looked around the table. The drop to the floor alone would kill him, so there was no where to run. Josh walked over to the edge, looking over. Josh wanted to have faith in his new acquaintance that he would have pity on him, but part of him felt like jumping would just make the whole ordeal easier on him. Suddenly Tyler's massive hand moved in front of him, stopping him from jumping.
"Dude, don't jump from there. That's gotta be like crazy high for you." Tyler said setting down his feet and pushing Josh more toward the middle of the table.
"What do you care? You're just going to "take care of me" anyway!" Josh yelled, feeling like there was no point to him not jumping.
"Well I don't want you to kill yourself." Tyler said with a frown. "At least let me live with the guilt of whatever I end up doing with you."
Josh sat down dumbfounded. Here Tyler seemed like a legitimately nice guy, in yet he was still intent on going through with this crazy plan. Just as Josh mulled it over, Josh watched as his giant professor opened the door, looking directly over at Tyler with an angry expression. Even if Josh had yelled anything, it was already too late as Tyler pulled the trigger instantly at his own father. Watching as the man shrunk in wild confusion, Tyler walked over to where his tiny father was and rose his enormous shoe. With a tremendous stomp, Tyler slammed his foot to the ground on his own father. Shimmying his foot side to side Tyler made extra sure the bug of a man that was once his father was nothing more than a tiny bloody smear at the bottom of his shoe. With his jaw dropped, Josh watched as Tyler casually took a paper towel, wiping the bottom of his shoe and tossing it in the trash.
"You really hated your dad..." Josh said as Tyler walked back over to the table and set down the shrink ray.
"Yeah. I did." Tyler replied simply, looking like he had no regrets on his face. "Either way, what's done is done. You're a witness."
"Yeah? Who am I going to tell?" Josh replied smugly, figuring there wasn't any way out of this anyway.
"Stop dude. I'm not letting you go. If someone somehow found you I would be in trouble." Tyler said with a frown as he looked down at the tiny man.
"How would anyone find me? I'm so small an ant would mistake me as an even smaller bug." Josh questioned seriously. "How would it be any different than whatever you plan on doing with me?"
"Look I don't know!" Tyler shouted, feeling like he's finally broken down from the situation. "I don't want to abandon you is all. It feels cruel."
"Why do you care?" Josh asked, feeling annoyed about Tyler indecisiveness after he caused this whole situation in the first place.
"Because I'm not a bad guy!" Tyler yelled, looking like he was sweating a bit. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You've said that." Josh sighed, feeling like they were getting no where. "Why don't you just unshrink me and we can just go about our business forgetting this ever happened. It's like you said it's just like your dad went missing, right?"
"I can't trust you." Tyler said with emphasis. "I don't even know you, dude."
"What if I can earn your trust? You're obviously a caring guy, we could be friends!" Josh asked desperately, hoping to get through Tyler's thick skull. Tyler put his hands on his hips looking nervous as he thought it over for a minute. After mulling it over, Tyler decided to...