~~~

With as much force as he could muster, Felipe drove the knife he wielded into the large wall in front of him. It burrowed into the wooden frame, lodging its blade within, before Felipe pulled it back out. Left behind was a slit, joining the many others already in the wall all arranged into a triangular shape as tall as he was.

He could see small rays of light shining through half of the cuts in the wall. Figuring that it was time to try the next phase again, he took a few steps back, and ran at the triangular shape. He jumped towards the wall, and kicked it with all of his might. Upon making impact with the wall, he stumbled a bit but regained his bearings. No movement. He had to dig--nay, cut--deeper.

Again and again, he stabbed the knife into the wall, working diligently to carve his way through. Despite the giant house being cool via central air, he still found himself sweating during this task. This task that took weeks to even get as far as he did; he was determined to find a way out of this house and reunite with his family.

Minutes later, the slits had become longer, with more light shining through the thin cuts. He took a deep breath, and ran for the wall once more. Upon kicking it, the triangular shape gave away, and both it and he fell through the wall and into the outside world.

He looked up, and marveled at how huge this world was. Blades of grass and flowers towered over him. Trees seemed to stretch as high as mountains. The sky itself looked like it was as far away as heaven. Excitement welling inside of him, he ran back inside of the house, with the intention of informing his companions about what he had just done.

~~~

Having exited from the small restroom, Nathan approached Peter and D'Marco, who were both standing near the outside edge of the couch and talking to one another. D'Marco spotted him first, and then after Peter looked towards him.

"Hey, dawg," D'Marco greeted. "How was your night?"

"Not good," Nathan replied. "I didn't get much sleep."

"That's normal," Peter said. "You just have to get used to life here."

"That's the thing," Nathan said rather defiantly. "I don't want to be here. I want to be in my own house, not in here serving some sick, twisted bitch."

"Don't we all," said Peter, "but this is the reality of our life now. As much as we all want to go back to our lives, our families, and whatnot, there's a giant blocking our path."

Nathan sighed in frustration. "Whatever. One day, I'm going to get out of here, whether you all or Tina likes it or not."

Peter and D'Marco briefly looked at each other, before turning their attention back to him.

"If you ever do find a way out, I guarantee you that we'll be following you," Peter said. "It's just that this is a rather well-maintained house, and we already searched for cracks and holes that we could crawl through a long time ago."

"We ain't find a damn thing," D'Marco added.

"A few holes leading into the walls, maybe," Peter continued. "But nothing leading outside; if we did, we'd've been long gone. So we're stuck here until something happens. IF something happens. Until then, we're just going to have to put up with Tina."

"She'll kill you before that happens, though," Nathan stated. "She's gone, right?"

"Yep," D'Marco answered. "To work. She's a waitress."

"Well, we can try to look again, can't we?" Nathan asked. "Or maybe bust our way through with something."

"We'd need some sort of tool for that," Peter said. "And I don't think we can ask her for something strong enough to break through the walls without making her suspicious."

Nathan walked past them, towards the open floor outside of the couch, before turning around to face the two men. "I'm going to look for myself. Maybe you guys overlooked something."

"Be my guest." Peter shrugged. "I guarantee you that you won't find anything."

Nathan grunted, before heading out into the living room. As he wandered away from the couch, he wondered if Peter and D'Marco had actually looked everywhere that they could; perhaps they missed a spot or two. Nevertheless, Nathan was determined to get himself out of this house, even if he had to dig his way out himself with his bare hands.

He looked ahead of him, and saw another man rushing towards his direction. Nathan looked closely at this man, and his physical features; he had tan skin and seemingly black hair, as well as an equally dark mustache. His body looked rather fit, as if he was the type of man who spent much time at a gym.

The man was running fast, so much so that he nearly collided with Nathan as he passed by.

"Watch it!" Nathan said, slightly aggrivated. "...Whatever, dude." Choosing to ignore the man, Nathan continued along his way, towards the opening to the front hallway.

Minutes later, he heard a somewhat frantic voice call out to him from behind.

"Hey, Nathan!!" said what sounded like Peter's voice. "Nathan!!"

Nathan stopped, and turned to face the couch where Peter, D'Marco, and that man all stood.

"Come here!!" Peter ordered.

"Why?!" Nathan yelled back.

"We gotta tell you something!!"

Nathan let out an annoyed sigh, and made his way back to the group waiting for him underneath the couch. As he approached, he saw the few other men who were also in the vicinity--Edward, Guy, and Stephen--also draw to the group; he could make out looks of morbid curiosity on their faces. This perked his interest as to what it was that Peter wanted to tell him.

Upon arriving, he now saw that the others were more excited then curious, except for arguably Stephen. Especially the man that he had nearly collided with minutes before.

"What's going on?" Nathan asked.

"I got us a way out!" said the runner from earlier.

Nathan could not believe what he had just heard. "What!? Are you serious?!"

The man nodded excitedly. "Took me weeks to dig through with my knives, but I got us a way out!"

"...I was wondering where those knives went," Peter said. "I'm sure Tina was wondering if something was up when I kept asking her for replacements."

"Who cares?!" said Edward. "We're out of here! When do we leave?"

"Now, hold on," said Peter. "Let's not rush this. First, I want you all to bring everyone else here, so we can see what to do next."

"The answer's going to be obvious," Nathan responded. "Everyone's gonna want to get the fuck out of here."

"True, but I at least want to get their opinions on this development."

"...Fine."

Peter turned towards D'Marco and Edward. "Split up and find the others, and bring them here."

"Aight," D'Marco replied, and Edward nodded in agreement. Then, the two departed from the couch to seek out the remaining men, wherever they were in the manse.

Peter then turned to the tan-skinned man. "Felipe, I want you to show me the opening that you made."

"Of course," Felipe repled.

Peter looked towards Nathan. "Just relax here for a bit."

Nathan nodded, and as Peter and Felipe departed towards the opening that the latter claimed that he had made, Nathan walked to his sleeping bag futher underneath the couch, and sat down upon it.

This was quite a turn of events. Just as he was preparing to seek a way out of Tina's house, one was created by that man who stood well across from him, trying his hardest to hide his excitement. He could not help but hide his smile. His ordeal could very well be over sooner than he had expected. What happens afterwards, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

~~~

Nearly an hour later, all ten men had assembled in the large room, outside of the equally gigantic couch they called home. Everyone had been informed of this latest development, and nearly everyone was excited that this was their chance of finally escaping this place. Nathan could not fathom spending as much time within these walls as the rest of them had, though he was perhaps more eager than the rest to escape from the mad clutches of Tina.

As they spoke, it was revealed that Percy had actually known about Felipe's project, as the two planned it together; Felipe opted to work on it by himself as he was physically stronger and so that it would be less suspicious if the two were constantly seen leaving together.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Larry asked.

"I didn't want to get everybody's hopes up," Percy responded. "If I said something, and we wasn't able to get through, you all would look at me like a liar."

"Still," Peter added, "it would have been nice to know what you two were up to."

"He also didn't want to risk anyone snitching to Tina," Felipe said.

"But now that we know, what's stopping one of us from telling her?" Peter added, looking a bit slighted that Percy and Felipe did not trust him of all people to let him know of their project.

"Well, then, before anyone gets the chance to tell her," Percy responded, "why don't we hurry and get the fuck out of here before the bitch comes back? Whaddaya say?"

Nathan let out a short laugh. "Shit, you got my vote! I don't want to spend any more time in this hellhole!"

"I hear you, man," agreed Percy.

"Wait," Peter sounded. "When you do get out there, do you know how long it'd take for you to reach someone who could help? Yo don't even know where this house is. Not to mention that at our size, you would make easy prey for the animals out there. And what about food and water?"

"You think it's any better than waiting in here for help that will never come?" Percy retorted.

"All I'm saying is that you need to consider the risks before just jumping in like that."

"...He's right," Stephen remarkably spoke up. "It's safer to stay in here."

Nathan grunted. "Don't you have someone worried about you out there?"

Stephen stared at Nathan, and shook his head. "I don't have anything to go back to."

"I have to agree with Stephen," said Geoffery. "It's too dangerous. I think I'll stay here."

"Dude!" Guy sounded surprised. "What about your kids?"

Nathan looked towards Geoffery, this latest revelation stunning him. "You have kids? Don't you want to see them?"

"Not like this." Geoffery's mood became more somber. "It'd be embarrassing. I'd rather them think that I disappeared, at least until you all came back here with help." Then, his mood shifted to a more bright one. "Besides, I'll have more time with Tina's lovely, lovely feet!" He laughed, which garnered a collective groan from the men around him.

"Well, Geoffery and Stephen are out," Percy said. "Who else are too scared to do this?"

The other men glanced around at each other, looking to see if anyone else would speak up against this idea. There did not seem to be any more objections.

Percy and Felipe looked towards Peter. "Well...?" Percy said. "What's the verdict?"

"You and D'Marco DID say that you would be right behind me if I found a way out of here," Nathan said. "Don't tell me you were lying..."

Peter placed his right palm on his face, and sighed. "That's not it. I just didn't expect it to happen like this..." He was silent for a moment or two. "...Fine."

This answer was met with glee from the men who were willing to take this chance to escape.

"I'm going to stay here for a bit--to tie up a few loose ends, if you will--but I'll probably follow soon after," Peter continued. "Anyway, you all get ready, and I'm going to put Felipe in charge of taking you to the exit."

With these words, the majority of the group dispersed towards the couch. Stephen shrugged, and slowly walked to his dark corner, where he then laid back against the couch's leg.

"Dude, you're really not going?" Guy asked Geoffery, a bit disappointed and saddened.

"...Sorry, but I said why," Geoffery replied. "I still want to enjoy Tina while I can. Once the authorities get involved, she'll be locked up, and then I can go see my kids. Once they reverse what was done to me, that is."

"...Enjoy your toejam," said Nathan in a snide tone.

"I sure will," Geoffery responded with a smile, ignoring the tone of Nathan's comment.

Guy sighed, before stepping forward and reaching his arms out to hug him. "I'm gonna miss you, man."

Geoffery's face looked a bit embarrassed. "Stop it. Really, I'll be out of here soon. Can I ride this all the way through? Afterwards, we have have ourselves a big-ass reunion barbeque!"

A smile appeared on Guy's face. "Sounds good to me. You better not die, or I'll kill you." He said in jest.

Geoffery chuckled.

Nathan watched as the two bid their farewells. He could not believe that Geoffery actually intended to remain within the hellish house; one would think that he along with everyone else would be eager to escape from Tina's manse. Perhaps it was as he had said, that he did not want his children to see him as he was now. Or perhaps Tina had too strong of a hold on him to pull away from. Then there was Stephen, who claimed that he had nothing to look forward to outside. Earlier, Stephen had given him the cold shoulder when he tried to talk to him, and Peter said that he knew what went on in Stephen's life. Even so, Nathan could not fathom why even he would not want to seize this opportunity. Speaking of Peter, he claimed that he was going to follow after them, but why not now? He, the supposed leader, who said that he would be leaving right with the rest of them? Perhaps these "loose ends" were something that he did not want anyone else to know about, or perhaps he had no intention of following after all.

Either way it went, Nathan did not fully understand, and he instead left the two chatting men and walked towards the center of the large living room, to await his comrades. Unlike Geoffery and Stephen, he was not willing to let this chance slip through his fingers. No, he intended to grab ahold of it and hang on for dear life.

~~~

Once everyone was prepared--most of them wearing backpacks containing whatever valuables they had come to possess during their time here--Felipe began to lead them out of the large living room. Peter and Geoffery watched as the group departed further and further away from the couch, until they eventually apparently gave up and retreated back under their former lair.

The group of seven men exited the living room, walked through the front hallway in front of the staircase that led to the second floor. Nathan looked at those gigantic stairs; he imagined climbing each one at his present size. He did not know how long it would take him to ascend the entire staircase by himself; perhaps that was why Tina installed elevators and such. Between the elevator and the water system in the living room, he had to give her credit where it was due: that she was apparently skilled enough to build such convinent fixtures for them, even if she expected full obedience in return.

The group reached the doorway on the other side of the front hall, which was another hallway. Across from them was the dining room, and from what Percy had shown him during his "tour" the day before, the doorways in this hallway--to their left--led to the kitchen and the den on the same side as the dining room, and on the opposite side were the basement, a closet, and the family room.

"Where is the hole you made?" Larry asked Felipe.

"In the den," Felipe answered.

After this, the group continued their trek down the long hallway. Nathan hoped that Tina would not unexpectedly return during their trip and thwart the escape. According to the others, she would not return until around 5pm at the earliest, and it had just passed 1pm. There was plenty of time for them to make good progress away from the house within those four hours.

Nathan approached Percy, and whispered to him. "I've been meaning to ask... What about trying to get Tina's Shrink Ray?"

"Didn't you say that was a last resort?" Percy whispered back. "Besides, it's hopeless. Plus, it doesn't matter anymore. We're outta here."

"Still, it would have been nice to give her a taste of her own medicine."

"Forget about it. It's done."

"What do you have waiting out there for you, anyway?" Nathan asked.

"My folks, of course," Percy answered. "Plus, I was helping them look for my brother. I don't want them to have to go through looking for two missing sons anymore."

Nathan looked puzzled. "Your brother is missing?"

"Well, not so much missing as he just up and walked out on us. He was pretty arrogant."

"Oh really? If he doesn't want to come back, then what's the point of trying to find him?"

Percy's expression changed from one of indifference to slight. "If you were a parent, would you be able to handle your kids leaving you and not hitting you up even for a 5 minute chat?"

"No, but-"

"Exactly. My folks aren't the kind to just let their kids not talk to them. They would turn the earth over just to find where we are."

Nathan silently looked at Percy, not responding at all.

"What about you?" Percy asked. "What do you have out there?"

"My friends, my job-- hell, any reason is a good one to get out of here," Nathan answered.

"True."

The remainder of the walk to the family room was rather silent, with barely a word out of anyone in the group. Perhaps they were too anticipated with the coming freedom, or perhaps there was nothing to say. It was no short trek, but before long, they had reached the den. Unlike the night before, the room was brightly lit with the light of the sun shining through the windows. The flat television that hung from the far wall had been switched off, as was the computer.

"What now?" Edward asked.

Felipe pointed in front of him, towards the far wall. "You see that bookself over there, in the corner?"

The group of men looked in that direction, and saw the shelf that he was referring to.

"We have to get over there, and then behind it," Felipe said. "Not too hard."

Percy took a few steps forward. "Then let's get to it."

"Aren't I supposed to be the leader?" Felipe asked half-jokingly.

"Then lead!" Percy replied.

Felipe stepped past Percy, who followed immediately after, and he in turn was followed by the rest of the group. They walked past the couch and the coffee table that stood in the center of the room, bypassing one of the other bookshelfs on their left, until they eventually reached the shelf in the far corner of the room.

The apprehension that hung over the men grew as they stood before the shelf. This was the last leg of their journey before reaching freedom.

"You all ready?" Felipe asked as he looked back at them.

"Of course," Nathan answered, while the rest nodded.

"Alright, then."

The group followed Felipe as he walked towards the back of the bookshelf, and then entered through a space between it and the wall. With their backs against the wall, they edged themselves forward at a rather slow pace, until they came upon a hole in the wall just big enough for them to squeeze through.

Upon entering the hole, they were amazed at what they saw: Indeed, there was freedom looking right back at them, an opening to the outside world. They could see the lush green grass wavering in the wind, unimaginably tall trees, and the blue sky above it all, as well as the breeze blowing into the wall and touching their faces.

Suddenly, there was a great cheer among the men, as they then quickly filed out of the wall and into the dirt ground of the outside world, which some had not even seen in months except through windows. As Nathan had seen this world the day before, the effect was lost on him, though he was unnerved at just how large it was at their present size.

This would indeed be a challenge.

"Okay, so I think the front of the house is this way..." Felipe said, looking towards their right. "That's probably where the road is, so once we reach it we'll be well on our way."

Percy looked back to the rest of the group. "Let's go."

They started to walk alongside the side of the house, headed in the direction that Felipe had pointed out. Nathan looked above him, towards the large manor that had been his prison. The walls were brownish-red in color, and he could not even see the top of the manse; a combination of him being too small and being too close to the wall. All the while, he looked around himself to stay alert of his surroundings; who knew when a large insect or a bird would appear to attempt to feast on them?

After a while, the group finally reached the front of the house. To the right--high above their small frames--was a porch and a few brick steps leading up to it. In front of it was a concrete path that led off to a gate in the distance.

"What now?" Edward asked. "If we walk on the pathway, Tina might come home and see us for sure."

"Yeah..." Larry agreed. "I think we should cut through the grass."

D'Marco turned towards them. "You sure that's safe?"

"I see what they're saying, though," Guy chimed in. "At least in the grass, we could duck and cover when Tina comes back. I don't know what time it is, so that could very well be any second now."

"It's 3:24," said Percy, looking at his wristwatch on his left wrist.

"Either way, she could come home early," Guy continued. "It's happened before. Plus, it'll help us hide from birds."

"Fine, we'll go through the grass," Felipe said. "I mean, as long as we get away from here, who cares, right?"

Felipe stepped towards the large field of grass in front of him, and pushed the blades aside as he walked into them. Nathan and the others followed after him, cautious of anything that could leap out from within the green jungle and attack them.

Nathan could hear rustling through the grass around him, perhaps from the bugs that call it home. His heart started to race; he did not have anything to defend himself with, and thus a larger insect could pose a serious threat to him and perhaps the entire group.

Soon, they came to a round clearing, one that was perhaps 30 feet in diameter at their scale, and the ground was rather rough and uneven.

Felipe stepped out of the grass and into the clearing. "Just a little bit more."

He walked further away, before the rest began to follow him into the clearing. As Nathan stepped onto the soil, he felt something rumble beneath his feet. He looked towards the men in front of him, and they seemed to have noticed it as well. Soon, in front of Felipe and to his left, two mounds of dirt began to rise up, before they burst. Nathan covered his eyes as dirt spread in all directions.

Once he felt that the pelting of the dirt clumps had ceased, he opened his eyes. His mouth dropped, and his heart sunk, at what he saw next: two crimson red lizards had surfaced from underneath the ground. At the small men's scale, they were as large as a St. Bernard, and with yellow stripes along their backs and their forked tongues slithering in and out of their closed mouths as if they were snakes.

Their eyes were on Felipe especially, who was frozen in place, no doubt too scared to move, as were the other men.

Then, without warning, one of the lizards let out a terrifying cry, revealing the sharp teeth that lined its mouth, and struck at Felipe. He was knocked onto the ground, having avoided being bitten by the lizard, but now had a ripped shirt with a bloody gash on his chest. He cried out in pain, as the lizards drew closer to him.

"Shit, run!" Percy screamed out, before all of them turned around and retreated back into the grass.

The exception being Felipe, whose cries for help they heard as they fled the clearing. They then heard another shriek from the lizards, before Felipe was silenced. They continued to run as fast as their tiny bodies would allow them to, even after they had emerged from the grassy field, and headed back towards the side of Tina's house.

Soon, they came to a stop, and caught their breath as their hearts still raced at a panicked rate. They could not believe what had just happened; they expected creatures to try to hinder their progress, but they did not expect such creature as what had just appeared. They were unlike anything Nathan had ever even heard of.

"...What the fuck just happened...?" Guy finally said.

"We just left him behind to die just to save our asses..." said Percy, still in a state of shock.

"Dude, what the fuck were those things...?" asked Edward. "Devil lizards?"

Larry looked towards where they had fled from. "I can't believe it... He's dead after all that..."

The group was silent. They all knew that there was no way that Felipe could have survived both lizards bearing down on him. His silenced screams confirmed to them that he had indeed been killed in perhaps one of the worst fashions imaginable.

"What now...?" Nathan finally asked. "Are we still going to try to get out of here?"

"How?" Larry asked, becoming a bit manic. "There could be a lot more of those monsters around us. There'd be no escape like last time if we get too far!"

Percy sighed. "I don't think we have a choice... For now, we have to go back and regroup. We'll try again later."

"I was looking forward to being out of that place..." Nathan muttered to himself in disappointment.

Faced with no other option at the time, the remainder of the group began to make their way back towards the hole that they had exited the house through, their hearts heavy with the loss of one of their comrades.

~~~

Having returned to the living room, Percy has just finished explaining the events that had transpired outside to Peter and Geoffery. They were grief-stricken at the news of Felipe's fate.

"I don't believe it..." Peter lamented. "Damn..."

"We're going to come up with a better plan," said Percy, "so nothing like this won't happen again."

"This is why I told you all to not rush into this," Peter said. "Poor planning costs lives."

"We need some weapons," Edward said. "I really want to rip the tongues out of those S.O.B.'s after what they did."

D'Marco, Larry, and Guy agreed with his statement.

"Well, either way, Tina will probably be back soon," Peter said. "You won't be able to do anything after that."

Percy let out a deep groan. "Of course. The bitch always has to ruin everything. I'm starting to wish that I did have that Shrink Ray right about now..."

Suddenly, a thought popped into Nathan's head, of words that Tina had told him the day before when she had first brought him into her home. "Hey... Tina told me that whoever leave the house would meet what she called 'a gruesome end'."

Peter and D'Marco looked at each other. "Yeah, I remember that," D'Marco said.

Nathan continued. "You don't think that she..."

~~~

Having parked her car in her garage, Tina made her way from it and onto the concrete pavement leading to her house. It had been a rather tiring day for her, as it usually was, but she found joy in that, once inside, she could use her tiny houseguests to help her relax. It was that thought process that kept her going through each day of her job; she did not know how she managed without them before being sent the Shrink Ray.

Suddenly, she caught sight of something scurring on the ground below her. She looked downward, and saw two of her special lizards running about, one chasing the other. A light smile appeared on her face.

"Hello, my children," she said in a lighthearted tone. "Are you two having fun?"

Then, something else on the ground caught her attention. She kneeled down to take a closer look, and then used her fingers to pick up the object. It looked to be a tiny plaid shirt, ripped and soaked with blood. It was also it bit damp with saliva.

At that point, Tina's somewhat good mood instantly soured, as she was now gritting her teeth in anger.

"Those little shits..."