Ray did not know how much time had passed since he had initiated his attempt to free himself. However, considering that Melissa had not yet arrived to feed her prisoners, perhaps morning had not broken yet.

His legs were aching, as was the rest of his body from taking so many falls onto the hard ground. Despite this, after each fall, he got right back up and lept for the wall again. There were times where he felt the jar tip slightly, and he could tell that it was slowly but surely being inched forward on the small box that it set upon. These two details made him much more determined to escape.

He took another deep breath, before running for the wall yet again. He jumped as high as he could, and drove his foot into the glass wall. Like many times before, he expected to fall back to the ground so that he could try again.

Instead, he stayed affixed to the wall.

He felt and saw the world around him seemingly fall to the side.

He felt the jar topple from its box and onto the closet's floor. It's lid fell off and rolled somewhere else.

Ray stood there in astonishment, staring through the jar's opening into the dark closet beyond, fighting to contain his joy.

He had succeeded.

Wasting no time, and despite his aching body, he ran through the opening, and then onto the closet floor.

He would be reunited with the Refugees soon enough.

Thomas stood before the colony, beside Gloria and Carlos. He was apprehensive; all eyes were on them, or more specifically, on him. Monday had finally arrived, and it was nearly time for the trio to depart for their first "food hunt." All three wore backpacks, the last remaining ones, and flashlights. Carlos, being the appointed leader, also wielded a pin needle, the very same one he had thrown at the centipede the night before.

He looked towards Gloria, who looked to be trying her hardest to ignore him. Ever since last night, since he had fled from the centipede, she had been avoiding him. He tried to talk to her again after things had settled down, but she turned him away. He wondered if he was now at risk of being thrown out of the colony. After all, Bruce had a very obvious liking toward Gloria, and if she were to tell him that she lost interest in Thomas, no doubt Bruce would immediately kick him out as soon as he heard how Thomas reacted to the intruder.

Luckily, Bruce had not appeared at all since Saturday. Thomas was safe. At least, for the time being.

Dawson approached him, and placed his hand on his shoulder. "This is it. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Thomas replied, barely convincing even himself. "Melissa's gone, right?"

"Yep. Took her books and everything."

"If we hurry, we should be able to get does before she gets back," Carlos said. "I don't expect her to be back until late today, anyway."

"I hope you're right," Thomas said. The news that Melissa would be out for most of the day still did not slow his racing heart.

"You're not going to run like a little bitch again, are you?" A snide male said from the colony, which gardered laughs from many of the Refugees. Even Gloria chuckled a little. Thomas merely muttered to himself as Dawson glared in the direction of the perpetraitor.

"Be quiet, all of you," Carlos ordered. "You all can't say that you weren't scared, either."

"He's the only one who made such a show about it!" The same male replied. "Are we supposed to trust him with finding food for us?!"

"When he does, I'm sure each and every one of you are going to shut up."

"Carlos, forget it," Gloria intervened. "Let's just go."

Thomas heard Carlos mutter something in Spanish, which garnered a harsh sigh from Gloria, before the two began to walk down the dark corridor of the large house's wall. Thomas took one last look at the distrustful faces of the Refugees, before following closely behind them.

He hoped that if they did return with rations, the Refugees would at least begin to consider rethinking their opinion of him.

~~~

Seemingly an hour had passed since Thomas' group left the Refugees, though Thomas was not exactly sure of how much time had passed. In that time, they had descended several floors down during their trek to Melissa's kitchen, using pipes and strings that had been set up by the Refugees beforehand. The journey was also rather quiet, none of them barely saying anything other than what was necessary.

He looked towards Gloria, in front of him to his right. She did not even so much as look at him at all since leaving the campsite. He wondered if he could somehow get back on her good side; the risk of her getting him expelled from the Refugees was eating at his mind since the night before, and he felt that he had to somehow make things right. He tried explaining his reason for his action earlier, but she merely turned away; now, there was no turning away for her, he figured.

"Gloria," he called.

There was no answer. Despite this, Thomas continued anyway.

"About last night, I know I freaked out. I'm not exactly fond of centipedes, so seeing one so huge...I kinda just acted on instinct. I couldn't help it, so-"

"Carlos," Gloria called, seemingly ignoring Thomas. "How long until we reach the kitchen?"

"It shouldn't be that long now," Carlos replied. "We still have a ways to go, though."

"Okay."

Their walk became silent once again.

"Gloria, were you even listening to me?" Thomas suddenly asked.

No reply. Carlos glanced back at Thomas, and gave him a somewhat worrisome look. Thomas merely sighed heavily.

~~~

Mouth watering, Dawson approached Jenna, who's back was turned against him and was talking with a few of the other females. They pointed towards him, and she turned around to see him drawing closer. The look on her face could be best described as a mix of disgust and horror.

"Oh, no no no!" She exclaimed in anger. "Get away from me, you pervert!"

"Don't be like that," Dawson said as he reached the group of girls. "I bet that you enjoyed our session last night."

"In your dreams! Get away from me!"

"Denial is a vicious beast, you know." Dawson winked at her.

"I said leave!"

"Aw, c'mon, Jenna," said Beatrix, a raven-haired female with Jenna. "Why don't you give him something else to remember you by?" This comment was met with giggles from the other women.

Jenna quickly turned towards her. "No way! Why don't YOU do it?!"

Beatrix blinked her eyes twice. "Not a chance."

"Now that you mention it..." Dawson said. "I want to see ALL of you ladies' feet! Come, come! Take your shoes off on the double!"

Jenna's group all looked at each other, before giving their collective answer: "NO!"

Dawson flinched. "You ladies are so cruel. I just want a lttle peek-"

"Hey, niggas! I bet y'all missed me, huh?!" Shouted a sudden, yet familiar, voice from the dark corridors.

Dawson and Jenna's group all looked towards the direction where the voice originated from. Soon enough, a figure emerged from the darkness; a figure none other than Ray. Dawson could not believe his eyes.

"Ray!" he exclaimed.

As soon as they caught sight of him, the other Refugees--Jenna and her group included--rushed to his side, all surprised and some even excited to see a man they thought as good as dead returning from the abyss. Dawson followed after them, and joined the marveling circle that was now surrounding their once-lost companion who wore a cheerful, if not slightly arrogant, expression on his face.

"That's right!" Ray said. "I'm back from the dead!"

"Unbelievable!" Dawson exclaimed. "How'd you escape?"

Ray laughed. "It's amazing what steel-hard determination can do. I managed to tip over that jar I was in by jump-kicking it over and over again, and from there I made my way up here. But not before taking a little detour."

"'Detour'?" Shawn repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I wanted to see if I could find a way out of this house on my own." Ray looked around, as all of the Refugees' eyes were upon him expectantly. He grinned. "...I found one."

There were several gasps heard from the surrounding circle.

"You mean you actually found a way out of here?" Dawson could hardly believe Ray's words. It was not as if Ray was a trustworthy person.

"Didn't I just say that?" Ray replied. "So, what do you all say?" He looked around himself. "Why don't we all make for our freedom?"

The Refugees all began to cheer at this notion.

"Hold it!" Shawn interjected, which ended the cheering. "When are you planning this grand exodus of yours?"

"Right now," Ray answered.

"That's not a good idea."

Ray grunted. "And why's that?"

"First of all, you need Bruce's approval, and he's been gone for days. Second, we sent out a new Food Squad a while ago, and they haven't returned yet."

"You made a new one? Who's in it?"

"Carlos, Thomas, and Gloria," Dawson answered.

"Oh... Well I'm sure they'll catch up with us later."

"Are you really planning to leave them behind?"

"Yeah," Ray nonchalantly answered. "If we wait any longer, Melissa will come back."

Some in the circle voiced their agreement with Ray. It seemed with them that, now that this opportunity was looking them in the faces, it was now or never.

"So, everyone!" Ray vehemontly yelled. "Are you all tired of rotting in this house, and waiting for Bruce to lead you out of here? Don't you want to leave as soon as possible?"

The Refugees, sans Shawn and Dawson, agreed loudly.

"Then follow me! Follow me to freedom!" Ray walked through the crowd, and started to walk towards the very path from where he had arrived. The Refugees started to follow after him; before long ony Shawn and Dawson were left behind.

'I can't believe they're all following him like that," Shawn said. He then turned towards Dawson. "What do you want to do?"

Dawson sighed. "Let's follow him and see if he's not just talking out of his ass."

"What about Thomas and the others?"

"If Ray's telling the truth, you can come back in and lead them out."

"Why me?"

"I'd do it myself, but..." Dawson drew Shawn's attention towards his missing arm. "It's hard enough for me to get down there, so getting back up here by myself would be impossible."

"True... Well, let's go then."

Both Dawson and Shawn started to follow the Refugees, making their way out of their campsite and into the darkness.

~~~

"I think this is our target floor," Carlos said as he watched Thomas and Gloria slide down the string tied to a post above. "We just have to find the way into the kitchen now."

Thomas jumped from the string and planted his feet onto the ground. "Do you know what the kitchen looks like?"

"Yeah," Carlos replied. "I've been in there before, right before Melissa shrunk me."

"Oh. Okay then."

Thomas looked towards Gloria, who stepped away from him rather suddenly as soon as his eyes gazed upon her. Both she and Carlos, and soon Thomas behind them, continued on through their dark path, illuminated by their flashlights.

~~~

Having been given a flashlight, Ray led the Refugees through the darkness. Perhaps an hour had passed since they started this journey. Some of them were apprehensive, some were already exhausted.

"We don't have much further to go," Ray said. "I was able to make a landmark if you will, so once I see that, we should be good to go."

Following behind in the back, Shawn leaned in towards Dawson and whispered, "I feel bad about leaving the others behind. Too bad we seem to be the only ones who care about Thomas, though."

"Yeah," Dawson agreed, right before he came with a sudden realization. "Wait a minute...!"

Dawson ran through the crowd in front of him, and then stop right in front of Ray and turned to face the green-haired man, causing him and the rest of the group to stop in their tracks.

"What do you want now?" Ray asked, annoyed.

"If and when we do get out of here," Dawson started, "what then? It's a whole different ballgame out there; animals and bugs will try to eat us, and we'll get stepped on by people who don't care enough to look down. That's not even getting into the fact that it'll take days, or even weeks, until we find someone who gives two shits about those of us who remain to help us."

Ray's look of aggrivation slowly shifted into a more manical expression, before he began to laugh. This behavior confounded Dawson, as well as the other Refugees.

"Still, you gotta admit," Ray finally said after laughing, "going out there and actually doing something is better than sitting in here doing nothing, right?"

With these words, doubts were cast upon the Refugees' minds. Dawson heard them chatter amongst themselves, and could make out that some of them were taking into account what Dawson had said about the outside world.

"So you're just leading us to our deaths?!" Jenna angrily asked Ray.

"Think of it like this," Ray replied. "You all would be in the exact same situation if it was Bruce doing this instead. Don't tell me you're about to chicken out..."

The Refugees all looked around at each other, before a male's voice was heard from the crowd.

"No way!" he said. "We've been waiting months for this chance, and we're not about to just give up on it! Ray's right! Whether it be him or Bruce, we'd still have to deal with the outside world! We just have to man up and accept the risks!"

The others slowly started to agree with this spirited speech, and before long, they were all cheering.

"Wonderful!" Ray applauded the renewed enthusiam of his comrades. "Let's press onward!"

Dawson stood in place and watched as Ray and the Refugees walked past him, continuing towards the path that Ray was leading them through.

Shawn passed him as well. "I guess we have no choice but to keep going," he said.

Dawson let out a sigh, and reluctantly followed after the group.

~~~

Still walking through the dark wall interiors, Thomas looked ahead and squinted his eyes. He could see rays of light off in the distance.

"I think I see light," Thomas said.

"That must be the kitchen, then," Carlos said. "We finally made it."

Within minutes, the trio reached the source of the light. Sure enough, it was the opening that led into Melissa's kitchen. Thomas calmed his nerves. This was where his drive to serve the Refugees would truly be tested.

"Now comes the hard part," Carlos said. "I don't know where Melissa leaves the food, nor do I know where Ray's group found their's. We're going to have to look in as many places as we can."

"I'm up for it," Thomas said.

"At least you're up for something," Gloria snidely remarked.

At this point, Thomas' patience had worn out. His mood now sour, he turned to face Gloria.

"Okay, you know what? Fuck you," he said. "I tried explaining myself, but you wouldn't listen. And that's the first thing you say to me?! You're just as fake as the rest of them!"

Obviously, Thomas' words served to anger Gloria. "What did you say?!"

"You heard me!" Thomas stepped closer to her. "I don't care what you do! Tell Bruce and get me kicked out! I know you want to!"

"I think I just might!" Gloria's fiery eyes stared right into his.

"Do it, then!"

Carlos moved inbetween the two, and seperated then from each other with his hands. "Chill! Stop it, both of you!" He turned toward Gloria. "Gloria, you HAVE been acting unfair to Thomas since last night, and that last comment was uncalled for."

"I can't help it!" Gloria said. "The way he acted last night was just pitiful! Here I was, thinking that he was pretty brave to volunteer for this scavenger hunt, and then he goes and act like a little girl! What am I supposed to think?!"

"Thomas already explained himself," Carlos said. "Or at least, he tried to."

Gloria sighed deeply. Thomas could see that her eyes had become watery.

Carlos walked towards the opening into the kitchen. "Look. We'll settle this when we get back to the camp. Until then, not a word to Bruce about any of this. Okay?"

Gloria wiped her eyes. "Fine..."

"Yeah," Thomas agreed.

"Good." Carlos smiled, which Thomas could barely see in the silhouette of his figure. "Now let's go out there and do our best."

Before Carlos could even take a small step out into the kitchen, a large object fell onto the floor outside with a loud thud; the object being a familar ebony foot adorned in a black flip-flop. Carlos immediately retreated further back in the wall upon seeing this.

The trio all were equally surprised and horrified.

"What?!" Gloria exclaimed. "She's back already?!"

"Move back!" Carlos ordered. "All the way back!!"

The three quickly backed further away from the opening, until they reached the wall behind them. They watched as Melissa's foot lifted up and away from the opening, and disappeared from sight.

"I don't think we can go out there now," Carlos said. "Not while she's here."

"Another failure..." Gloria added.

"So, what now?" Thomas asked.

"Let's go back and think of something else," Carlos replied. "We're really low on food right now, so we have to break tradition and try again in a few days."

Both Thomas and Gloria nodded in agreement, before the trio made their way back the way they had come from; towards the Refugee campsite.

~~~

Dawson could not believe what his eyes were showing him. Right before the Refugees was an opening to a lush green field. Blades of grass taller than them blew gently in the wind, and the same breeze made its way inside and brushed against his face.

"Well, I'll be damned..." Dawson marveled.

"This is the side of Melissa's house, I think," Ray said. He turned to face the rest of the group, and gave a cocky smile. "I told you I'd lead you all out of here."

The Refugees all let out a collective cheer, some even commending Ray, before they all began to file out through the opening and into the outside world. As Dawson made his way outside, he could not help but marvel at this world. It had been months since he had last been outside, and therefore this world almost seemed entirely new to him. Of course, considering his present size, this world WAS new.

"Shawn," Ray called. "You might want to follow along a little bit before you go back in and get the others. That way you'd know which way to go."

Shawn nodded.

"Alright, then," Ray said. "Follow me!"

The Refugees trekked through the grassy yard, pushing aside the tall blades of grass that was in their way until they came to a concrete walkway. From there, they made their way down this path, passing several insects that remarkably paid them no mind.

With the sidewalk in view in the distance, Ray drew to a stop.

"From here, we go to the sidewalk and made a left," he said. "I think the police station is down that way."

"Got it," said Shawn. "I'm going back to get the others, and hopefully we'll meet up with you all."

Ray nodded, and Shawn turned around and headed back to the opening into Melissa's house. Dawson briefly watched him leave, before continuing after the rest of the group. However, what he heard next made his heart sink deep inside of his chest.

"Melissa!!" Shawn yelled out.

All of the Refugees stopped in their tracks, and turned to face behind them. Sure enough, Melissa was approaching them. In her hands was a plastic container; no doubt to contain them inside.

With a sadistic smile, she reached down and grabbed Shawn from the ground, and placed him inside of the container. Wasting no time, the pnicking Refugees all began to flee towards the sidewalk.

"Shit!!" Dawson exclaimed as he ran. "When did she get here?!"

"Why are you asking me?!" Ray replied.

It did not matter how far or fast that they ran; Melissa had reached them in far less time than it took for them to cover the same distance. With her shadow now looking over them, she began to pluck each of the Refugees from the ground, placing them into her plastic container. Some tried to escape back into the grass, but she stepped right in their paths to put an end to their plan. Before long, Dawson and Ray found themselves the last of the remaining Refugees. They tried their hardest to escape the giantess, but to no avail. Dawson was picked off of the ground and place in with the rest of his companions; Ray followed seconds after.

Dawson looked upwards, and saw Melissa smile at them, before she began to walk.

They had failed. Not only that, but they were right back in the hands of Melissa. Some of the females had broken down and started to cry. Others were unleashing a flurry of swears.

Ray sighed, and sat down in his spot. "Well, it was worth a shot."

Dawson held back all he could from pummeling the daylights out of Ray.

Minutes later, the Refugees had all been placed inside of an empty glass cage inside of Melissa's closet. Melissa stood in front of the cage, looking down upon them.

"I'm so glad that I got you all back!" Melissa said somewhat excitedly. "I missed you all! I'm sure that you missed me, too!"

The Refugees who were of sound mind, those who were not weeping or enraged, groaned at her assumption.

"But I want to know... Who was the ringleader of your little escape attempt? If you tell me, I won't be too rough on you all."

Nearly everyone pointed in Ray's direction. Ray looked around, and grunted. "You sellouts!"

Melissa smiled, and reached inside and picked him out of the cage. "Oh, you naughty, naughty man. I'm going to make you regret trying to take my toys away from me."

With Ray in hand, Melissa walked out of the closet, and closed the door behind her, leaving the recaptured prisoners in relative darkness.

Dawson looked around. His comrades were bitter over what had just transpired. Understandably so, as now they had practically thrown themselves into Melissa's hands.

"Shit..." Dawson said. "I can't believe how bad we messed up... I knew we shouldn't have listened to Ray."

Shawn drew closer. "Plus, I don't think Carlos and the others can save us. It looks like Melissa moved this cage away from the hole we made."

Upon hearing this, Dawson let out a loud yell of frustration as he slammed his fist onto the glass floor.

~~~

Having exited the closet, Melissa--whose mood was in high spirits after having ragained what she had considered lost--walked to the center of her room, and looked down at Ray in the palm of her hand. She smiled at him, and he returned with a grin of his own.

"Good work," she said.

Ray laughed. "They were so desperate to get out, they jumped at the chance I gave them."

~~~

Having freed himself from his jar that imprisoned him, Ray dashed towards the closet door. He planned to squeeze underneath the closet, and make his way back to the Refugees.

As soon as he came close to reaching the door, blinding light shone into his eyes as the door opened. He stopped dead in his tracks as he looked up and saw Melissa making her way inside. He had no time to react before her foot unknowingly kicked him off of his feet and onto the floor several inches away. Laying on the floor, he looked upward and saw the sole of her sandal looming over him. There was nothing he could do to escape; he would be pulverized here, he believed.

However, he was relieved when she stepped over him and continued further inside of the closet. With her behind him, he chose to endure his aching body and resume his trek out of the closet.

"Hey!"

Ray heard those same footsteps approach him from behind. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to see a confused and slightly angered Melissa looking down on him.

"How the fuckin' hell did you get out?" she asked.

Ray backed away from her. "I tipped it over. But I guess this is it for me. You're going to squash me now, right?"

Melissa looked as if she was pondering over what he had said, before she kneeled down. "Maybe, but first I want to ask you something."

She took him in hand, and carried him out of the room. From there, Ray watched as she made her way downstairs, into and through the living room and kitchen, and eventually outside. It had been far too long since Ray had seen the outside world with his own eyes.

"We should be safe from eavesdroppers out here," Melissa said. "Now, I want you to do something for me. If you do, I'll grant you release from all of this."

Ray figured that "release" in her terms meant her putting him out of his misery. After being caught by her again, he was willing to just end it all.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want you to find the rest of my toys and bring them to me," she replied.

With a grin, Ray nodded.

~~~

"Good thing I found that little hole out there," Melissa said, heading towards her desk. "I'm glad that it DID lead to your friends after all."

"Please!"Ray scoffed at this notion. "They aren't my friends anymore! I look out for myself! ...But it wasn't a perfect haul, though. I missed four."

"I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere." Melissa walked to her dresser.

"What are you going to do with me now?" Ray asked. "Kill me?"

"Maybe, but first I gotta do something about your size." Melissa opened the top drawer of her dresser, and pulled out the Shrink Ray. Then, she grinned at the tiny man. "Don't worry. It'll be over soon."

~~~

Ray could not believe what had just happened to him. He stood in the front hall of Melissa's house, right in front of its main doorway. Except he was now tall, back to his original height of 5-foot-9.

Melissa stood near the top step of the staircase in front of him, holding the Shrink Ray in her hands.

Ray examined himself, his body and his clothes. Then, he looked towards Melissa again.

"You're just going to let me go?" he asked, part of him believe this to be a setup.

"Yep," Melissa replied. "I have plenty of toys to play with now thanks to you, so I guess you could say that I don't need you anymore."

"You could have just killed me. I probably don't have anything to go back to."

"I'm sure you'll find something. Now go." Melissa stepped onto the second floor, and looked down at him from the balcony. "And don't ever tell anyone about any of this. They won't believe you anyway, and I'll just deny it if confronted."

"Yeah, I know."

Ray turned around, and opened the door. As he exited, he heard Melissa bid farewell to him: "Bye!" Not replying to her at all, he closed the door behind him, and walked towards the sidewalk, and then turned to the left; the same direction that he had tried to lead the Refugees in.

He fought the urge to rush her and steal the Shrink Ray for himself while he was inside, but she must have anticipated that risk, which was probably why she stood so high up from where he was. Security on her part, he figured.

Either way, he was free. Free from months of imprisonment in those dark walls. He walked down the sidewalk, looking for a bus stop that he could use. However, he them realized that he had no money.

"Dammit. I guess I'll just be walking..."

He sighed as he pressed onward, further and further away from Melissa's house.