"ARE YOU FUCKIN' CRAZY?!"

"Yeah!! What's wrong with you?! How could you even suggest something like that?!"

"Crazy bitch!!"

They were irate. Understandably so, as for the 30-something Homeless that stood in the glass cage, their leader Sheryl had just suggested the unthinkable. That they should cast away their contempt for the ones called the "Refugees," and work together with them? It was unacceptable.

"Please, everyone!" Sheryl tried to calm her enraged comrades. "Petty grudges won't get us anywhere! We need-"

"SHUT UP!!"

"Us work with them?! You're mad!!"

"Why don't you all shut up?!" Marcus yelled out. "Don't you get it?! If you all want a chance of getting out of here, we're going to have to work with them!!"

"Marcus is right!" Sheryl said.

"No, he's not! Some leader you are!"

"I knew we shouldn't have chosen her!!"

"Get her!"

The mob then began to charge towards Sheryl and Marcus. Marcus tried to fend them off from her, but he was only one man. One man against thirty.

Thomas sat out on the desktop, watching the television. Spongebob Squarepants was on, though he did not particularly enjoy the zany antics of the possibly mentally unstable talking sponge. At least it wasn't the rap music from hours earlier.

He thought that Sayuko had turned on Spongebob so that she would watch it, but instead, she was sitting on her bed, reading a Japanese magazine. She had since changed her clothes as well, now wearing a white T-shirt and pink pajama pants. In addition, she had her dark red hair tied into two pigtails.

Thomas still did not know the exact time, but the sun was setting, so he estimated that it must have been past eight.

"Thomas," Sayuko suddenly said. "I'm going to get some food. Do you want anything?"

"Sure," he answered. "I haven't eaten anything since this morning, and that wasn't even much."

"Oh my... You must be starving."

"A little, yeah. What do you have, anyway?"

"Umm... I could make you a turkey sandwich. But I'd end up eating most of it."

Thomas laughed a little. "True. I'll just have some of the turkey, then."

"Okay." Sayuko placed the magazine upside-down on her bed, leaving it open on the page she was reading. She then turned to the side of her bed, slipped her barefeet into fuzzy pink slippers, and stood and walked out of the room.

Food. Probably refridgerated turkey, but Thomas didn't care. As long as he had something to stop the rumbling in his stomach. Speaking of which, his stomach growled as soon as he thought that. The mental image of a just a mere turkey sandwich in his head sent his hunger into overdrive.

He held his stomach as he turned towards the TV and waited for Sayuko to return. On the TV, he watched as the tiny antagonist Plankton was crushed underfoot by one of the denizens of Bikini Bottom.

The scene sent shivers down his spine.

It reminded him of the many people who were in a similar situation with Melissa.

Except that, unlike Plankton, they were dead.

~~~

Sheryl could not believe what happened. She was the leader, and as her followers, they were supposed to go along with any plan that she came up with. That's why she was chosen in the first place, right?

Yet, in a matter of minutes, she and her confidant were mobbed, beaten, and thrown into a dark corner of the glass prison, surrounded by boxes.

Her body ached as she turned to Marcus besides her. He seemed to be in a worse state than she was, as he took most of the assault from the rebellion.

"Marcus," she called.

She heard a grunt.

"How are you feeling?"

Marcus slowly turned his head towards her. "...I'll live. ...Believe it or not... I've had worse beatings."

Sheryl moved closer to him. "I can't believe that they did this to us..."

"I can't either. ...Especially to you, a woman..."

Sheryl sighed. "Was I the leader in name only? Was I supposed to make decisions that they could all agree on, at the risk of... this happening?"

"...Now I'm sure... that they want a leader that thinks exactly like them..."

"They did... I DID think like the rest when I was starting out, but then I started to think about my position on things..."

"Yeah... I know..."

Sheryl chuckled a little. "I guess they didn't want to hear any of it."

"Hm."

There was a short silence between the two.

"So, what now?" Sheryl asked.

"There'll probably be anarchy," Marcus said, "as they try to decide who will be the new 'leader.' And I use that term loosely."

"...What'll happen to us?"

Marcus chuckled. "We'll probably be sacrificed, if you know what I mean."

"Yes... Offered to that woman... Melissa..."

"Exactly... We're as good as dead now. We're traitors, according to them."

Sheryl sighed and leaned further against the glass wall. He was right. They were traitors. How else would they describe someone who would suggest working with "the enemy"?

How soon would it be before they were given up to Melissa, and killed?

Something inside of her felt certain that it would be sooner than she thought.

~~~

Thomas did not have to wait long. Minutes earlier, Sayuko had returned, and was now sitting at the desk while eating the sandwich she made.

As he requested, she had torn off a rather large piece of turkey and bread for Thomas, and placed it in his box area. She also refilled his tiny plastic bowl with the tea from earlier.

He picked up the piece of turkey with both hands. The entire thing was nearly as big as he was, so he knew that he could not eat the entire thing by himself. Regardless, he bit into it. It was rather hard to chew, as at his size, the usually thin slice of turkey was anything but. Yet, he savored the taste in his mouth. After swallowing what was in his mouth, he took another bite. And another.

"I see that you're enjoying your meal," Sayuko said.

Thomas swallowed the turkey in his mouth. "Yeah. It's pretty good. Better than what I had back at Melissa's house."

"Really? What did you have there?"

"...Bread and stale water."

"Oh... I guess I'll take the bread away, then. You must be sick of it." Sayuko reached for the box.

"No, no," Thomas said. "The bread we had was also pretty stale. It's nice to have some fresh bread for a change."

"Oh. Okay." Sayuko smiled before taking a bite from her sandwich.

Several minutes later, Thomas was full. His stomach was satisfied, and he was downing the tea remaining inside of the bowl. He barely made it ¼ through the food that Sayuko gave him.

"Are you done?' Sayuko asked.

"Yeah," Thomas responded. "I don't think I can fit any more inside of me."

"I see." Sayuko reached into the box, and picked out the remaining bread and turkey, and placed them inside of a napkin. She crumbled the napkin in her hand, and tossed it into a nearby trash bin.

"Oh, and Sayuko?" Thomas called.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Thank you."

Sayuko blinked twice. "It was nothing. It's the least I could do for a starving person."

"Well, that too, but I also want to thank you for getting me out of Melissa's house. I never thought that I would ever come out of there alive."

"Thomas..."

"Really. If I was my normal size, I'd give you the longest hug." Thomas chuckled.

"...Would you?"

"Well, yeah."

After a second or two, Sayuko brought a small smile to her face. "I wish I could help you again... Help you get big again. Maybe I could find whatever Melissa used to shrink you."

"The Shrink Ray? Nah... That'd be a bad idea. Especially if Melissa caught you."

"Yeah..." Sayuko's smile faded, and she sighed deeply.

Thomas walked a bit closer to Sayuko. "But there could be another way."

Sayuko perked up. "Really?"

"Yeah. Melissa's father is supposedly an inventor. He's the guy who made the Shrink Ray. I bet that if we contacted him, he could get everything resolved."

"Thomas, I think that's a great idea!" Sayuko said, somewhat excitedly. "Do you know his name? Where he is now? His phone number?"

"Sorry, but all I know is his name. Edgar Cruz."

"Oh..." Sayuko calmed herself. "But I think I could find him on the Internet." She looked towards her computer.

"You sure? You do know that a lot of Hispanic names seem to be pretty common, right?"

"But it's our only chance..."

Thomas sighed. "I guess that's true, but..."

Sayuko then looked towards the textbooks on the desk, and gasped, as if she just remembered something. "Umm... I know that this is urgent, but do you think Taro is safe?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well... I know that we need to find Mr. Cruz as fast as we can, but I have homework, and I've been putting it off all weekend."

"Oh. Well, Melissa hasn't harmed Taro so far, has she? I'd say that he's... as safe as he can be."

"I hope so... I have less than two months to bring up my marks. But I haven't been doing a good job so far..."

Thomas stared at her, and, after realizing what she was implying, he began to laugh.

"What's so funny?!" Sayuko asked, slightly irritated.

"Sayuko, do you want me to help you?" He asked. "Just like old times?"

An increasingly excited expression formed on Sayuko's face. "You would help me?"

"Of course. It's the least I could do for a nice person such as yourself." Thomas smiled.

"But you missed so many classes..."

"I learned most of this stuff in high school. It's pretty easy to me."

Sayuko nodded. "Thomas... Thank you." She smiled back at him, and then reached for the top textbook: College Calculus. She then reached down to the side of the desk, and pulled out several sheets of loose-leaf paper, and a pencil, and placed then in front of her.

"Okay, then," Thomas said as he walked closer to the paper. "Let's get started!"

~~~

It was Monday afternoon, some time after 2pm. Melissa stormed into her room, slammed the door shut behind her, and threw her purse on her bed. Afterwards, she sat on her bed, and let out a frustrated sigh, and dropped her face in her open palms.

The exam she took the week before was returned to her. Despite studying vigorously for beforehand, she received a score of 62%, a very low D.

To say that she was disappointed with herself was an understatement. In fact, after she left the class, she immediately ripped up the exam, and tossed the shreds to the floor, leaving the janitor to deal with the mess. She was so angry that she could barely drive straight after leaving the campus. She even blurted obscenities at other motorists who she thought were driving erratically.

She wanted to shrink her professor for giving her such a low score, but she knew that she couldn't do that. She had no idea where he lived, and taking the Shrink Ray on campus and reducing him there would be a bad idea, especially with all of the cameras around. Plus, doing that would practically reveal everything about what happened to the many missing people that had disappeared in the many months before.

However, she knew who she could use to vent her frustrations.

She stood from her bed, and walked towards her closet. She opened the door, and walked inside. She moved the hanging clothes aside, and made her way further back, where her tiny captives were being contained.

"Listen, you fucktards," Melissa said in a malicious tone. "I'm in a bad mood now, and some of you are going to pay."

She walked towards her right, towards the farthest cage. "You all! I need ten of you!"

"Ten?!" exclaimed a tiny man inside. "There's barely 15 of us in here!!"

"Okay, nine then." Melissa reached inside of the cage, and pulled out the brown-haired man and held him up to her face. "Little cunt." She spat on him, before stuffing him in her pants pocket.

Afterwards, she reached back into the cage, and plucked out nine more of the small people, placing most of them in her pockets, before walking out of the closet without another word.

~~~

"God-DAMN," Dawson said after Melissa left the closet. "She was mad..."

"No kidding, right?" Carlos said. "I wonder what happened."

The Refugees were apprehensive when they heard the closet door open, and became more frightened when they saw that she was very angry. Though, after the fact, they were relieved that she ignored them and went for one of the Homeless cages instead.

"So, I guess they're all as good as dead," Carlos said. "Oh well... At least it isn't us, huh?"

"Yeah," Dawson said. "But who knows when she'll come for us? I mean, some of us have already been taken. Even I almost died."

"Oh yeah... That Trivia game she made you all play."

"Yep. Though I guess some good came out of it."

"What do you mean- Oh wait... I remember now... You saw her step on one of the Homeless guys. Up close, right?"

"You know it! Man... I wish I was out there right now... Have another front row seat to another stomping... I'd love that."

Carlos shook his head. "...You're a freak."

Dawson laughed. "Oh well. We're all weird in our own little ways."

"...Maybe."

"In the meantime... I have to find my buddy." Dawson got a mischievous smile on his face.

"Would you leave Jenna alone already?" Carlos said, annoyed. "Hasn't she made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with you?"

"Ah, but that's what she says, but she's warming up to me. She just doesn't want to admit it." Dawson then walked away from Carlos. "You'll see... She'll soon be begging me to suck her toes!"

"Ah, you idiot..." Carlos watched as Dawson made his way towards the center area of the cage. He could not help but notice that Dawson's obsessiveness reminded him of a certain someone that was in his life long ago, someone that he had since shut out.

Carlos quickly shook any slight image of that man out of his mind, and followed Dawson.

~~~

She was gigantic. Though Randy realized that the moment she picked him out of the cage and spat on him. His clothes were still soaked from her saliva, but nevertheless, he ran as fast as he could. He looked back, and saw one of his comrads, further away from him, being stalked by the giant woman.

"Alex!" Randy called out.

It was too late. Alex soon disappeared underneath the sole of Melissa's black flip-flop sandal. She twisted her foot on the spot a few times afterwards.

"That makes four," she said.

The game was Last Man Standing, though he was certain that all of them would end up dead.

"Hey!"

Randy turned his head towards his right, and saw another one of his comrads hiding under the giant bed. The man looked to be in his early 30s, and had jet black hair.

"Reeve!! What are you doing?!" Randy asked.

"Hiding, of course!" Reeve responded. "The goal is to be the last person alive, right?"

"Yeah, but do you honestly think-"

He heard a woman scream. He turned around, and watched as a female was snuffed out as Melissa walked on her. As her foot moved off of the spot, he could see the flattened, bloody remains of what was once a human.

"Ha... Five," Melissa said.

Luckily, he doubted that Melissa saw him at that point, and ran to join Reeve underneath the bed.

"Poor Sondra..." Reeve lamented. "I've talked to her many times... She's been through a lot in her life, and now she was just tread on like a bug. ...That bitch is going to pay."

Randy turned towards Reeve. "How? What do you have planned?"

"...Nothing yet." Reeve chuckled. "But just wait... I'll get her."

"Really..." Randy shook his head. For as long as he had known him, Reeve had always been a bit too overconfident in himself, and what he believed that he could achieve.

The two moved further back under the bed as they saw Melissa's feet walk towards the bed. They watched as they walked past it, and then saw her bend down. She reached for the side of the small table that was next to her bed, and pulled out a tiny, screaming man.

"Well, he's boned," Reeve said.

"Did you think you could hide from me?" Melissa said. "You fuckin' bug."

They heard the man's screaming intensify, until he suddenly went silent. However, they saw some blood drip down on the floor in front of Melissa's feet.

"Six." Melissa turned around and walked on the opposite side of the bed. There, she made her way towards her desk and stopped at it, seemingly waiting there for a minute.

As they watched her, they saw a man peek out from under the desk. He looked upward, and then attempted to run the distance towards the bed.

"There's Donald," Randy said. "C'mon, Donald..."

His tone was a bit forlorn. He knew that there was no way that Donald would be able to make it under the bed, and even if he did, Melissa would just catch him anyway.

Unfortunately, he was not to be that lucky.

Without a word, Melissa stomped on the man, twisting her foot on the spot, and then sliding her foot back, leaving behind a bloody smear in her foot's wake.

"Seven."

"Dammit..." Reeve said. "What an idiot..."

Randy looked around. "So... Where's Dora?"

"...Dora's out here?" Reeve asked. "Oh no..."

"Didn't you see her when the woman set us all down?"

"No... This 'game' started so fast that I didn't have time to exchange pleasantries with anyone."

'You mean that you were lookin' out for your own hide."

"Well, yes!"

Randy sighed, and continued watching Melissa's feet. He wondered which one of the two would end up being Melissa's final victim: him or Reeve. Though, as he thought before, it could very well end up being both of them.

"You think I don't see you?" Melissa suddenly said. "Bring your ass out here."

No one seemed to appear. Randy's heart began to race. Was she talking about them? Maybe she saw a glimpse of them under the bed when she bent down earlier?

"I said come out."

Randy looked towards Reeve, who was looking back at him. He could tell that he was thinking the same thing that he was.

They waited for a minute, before Melissa seemingly lost her patience.

"Son of a bitch!"

They heard, and saw, several papers fall from the desk. Melissa made her way towards the bed, and knelt down. At that point, both Randy and Reeve's hearts sank. They bent down, to try to hide themselves against the floor. As she reached her hand further under the bed, they prepared themselves for the worst.

They heard female screaming, and saw Melissa's hand, now closed, pull out from the bed. As she stood up, so did Randy and Reeve breathing a sigh of relief.

"You little bitch. Didn't I tell you to come out?" Melissa's tone was very irritated.

"No! Please don't kill me! Please!!" They could barely make out her words.

"Fuck you."

They saw the woman, Dora, fall to the floor. They then saw Melissa's right foot rise, and then lower onto the helpless woman. Dora let out one final scream before the weight on her body increased, crushing her to death. She lifted her foot, and then stomped on the flattened body again.

"When I tell you to do something, you damn well better do it!" Melissa said to the deceased woman. "Fuckin' eight."

"Dammit," Reeve said. "Now she's really gonna pay!!"

"Quiet!" said Randy.

"No way! I'm going out there!" Reeve walked towards the open floor.

"What the hell?! Are you stupid?!"

Reeve did not respond. Instead, he rushed out from under the bed, and towards Melissa. Randy shook his head in disappointment. What did Reeve hope to accomplish? All he would end up doing is being killed.

He watched as Melissa swiped her foot towards Reeve, sending him flying towards the wall. He seemed to hit it pretty hard, as he laid there motionless. However, instead of going for the kill, Melissa walked towards the bed, and knelt down again.

"Why do you all always try to hide under here?!"

She then got on her chest, and began to crawl under the bed. Randy backed away as he saw Melissa's face come closer to him. However, he soon found that he could back away no further, as he collided with a giant shebox behind him.

He was trapped, and Melissa appeared to have seen him, as she was looking straight at him. Randy shuddered as her hand reached for him, and then wrapped its fingers around his comparably small body.

Soon after, he was released from the grip, and placed on the floor. He opened his eyes, and saw the giant woman standing over him. He looked up towards her face, and saw that she had a look of utter contempt on her face.

"No..." Randy tried to back away from her.

"And you, my friend, make number nine," Melissa said.

Randy saw as the vision of her face was replaced by the black sole of her right flip-flop. He stood up and began to run.

...He narrowly dodged the footfall, as he heard the large thud behind him.

"Dammit!" Melissa was frustrated. "I said that you're number nine!"

As Randy was running, he saw an oval-shaped shadow appear around him. He didn't even need to look upward. He made a sharp turn to his left, and once again dodged her foot. However, he did not expect her other foot to come at him as he avoided her right foot. Her left one collided with his body, and sent him flying across the floor, knocking him just short of the wall.

His chest hurt. He was sure that Melissa broke several of his ribs when she kicked him. He struggled to his feet as Melissa walked in front of him. He tried to run again, but was kicked against the wall. This time, he heard several more cracks from inside of his chest. As he laid there on the floor, he tried to pick himself up, but his efforts came to a halt as Melissa stepped on his legs, grinding them into a pulp. He screamed in pain. He was now completely at her mercy.

"You see?" Melissa said. "If you had just died when you were supposed to, you wouldn't have to suffer."

At that point, Melissa stepped on his left arm. The pain was unbearable.

"Now, let's try this again." Melissa lifted her foot over him. "Here is number nine."

As Melissa's foot lowered on his body, the last thing he saw was Reeve, coming to and picking himself off from the floor.

~~~

Finally, it was done. While she had to admit that the man's resolve to live was amazing, Melissa was glad to finally crush the life out the the tiny man. She closed her eyes, and rested her foot on the flattened body for several seconds, reliving the moments before in her mind.

She turned around, towards the other man she kicked before, and saw that he was struggling to his feet.

She walked towards the man, and knelt down in front of him. "You've won, little man."

The man just stared angrily at her. She could see the hatred he had for her in his eyes, and wanted very much to slience his life, as well. However, she was a woman of her word, and as this man was the "Last Man Standing," he earned the right to live. ...For now.

"Let's get you back in there with your friends."

She picked up the little man, and then carried him back into the closet. She then dropped him into the first glass cage she saw... not the one he was actually from. But she did not care.

She then walked out of the closet, and closed its door behind her.

Her agitiation had not completely vanished.

"Ah, what the hell. I guess I'll go to the gym..."

~~~

Thomas sat on his bed, watching Tom and Jerry on the television. Sayuko had been gone to school for several hours now.

He was bored. He knew how small household pets felt now. Being confined to one area may be nice for small animals, but as a person, he was built to seek out ways to entertain himself. If he was at home, he could have picked up one of his video games, or gone on the Internet. Of course, he could do none of that stuff here, in his current state. He could not even use the bathroom by himself. All he could do was sit on his bed, watch Cartoon Network, and wait for Sayuko to return.

Suddenly, he heard the front door open, and then close. He soon heard footsteps making their way up some stairs, getting louder. Finally, he saw Sayuko, textbooks in hand, walk into the room.

"Tadaima," she said.

"Hey, Sayuko," Thomas said as he walked towards the edge of the desk. "How was school?"

Sayuko sat on her bed facing Thomas, and placed the textbooks on the bed besides her. "It was okay... But I asked Mr. Evans to go over my homework." She started to unstrap her red sandals.

"And...?" Thomas leaned forward expectantly. "What's he say?"

Sayuko kicked the sandals from her feet. She then looked up at Thomas, and smiled. "He said that I did great!"

"Awesome!!" Thomas exclaimed.

"But I wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for you, Thomas. Domo arigato."

"Oh, it was nothing." Thomas blushed. "I'm always happy to help you."

Sayuko stood up. "So... I don't have much else to do today, so I can try to find Mr. Cruz."

"Great!" Thomas said.

Sayuko walked towards the desk, and cupped her hands around Thomas. Thomas was forced off of his feet as her fingers knocked him into her palm.

Seconds later, they released him. He looked behind him, and saw the large computer monitor. He looked in front of him, and saw Sayuko sitting down in the chair.

"Hey..." Thomas said. "You don't have to do this right away. Why don't you eat something first?"

"I'll be fine," Sayuko said. "I had a little something at the food court at the school."

"Oh. Okay, then."

Sayuko reached down below the computer desk, and Thomas heard the computer power on.

~~~

Sheryl found herself being pulled out of her confinement by two men. They led her to the center of the glass prison, and shoved her on the cold floor. She pulled herself up, and found herself face-to-face with a strange man she had not seen before. He had jet black hair, and did not seem to be too much older than she was.

"So..." he said. "Are you the so-called leader? Sheryl?"

"Yes, I am," Sheryl responded. "And who, may I ask, are you-"

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her right cheek. The man had backhanded her. The crowd around her started to cheer as she placed her right hand on her cheek to try to ease the pain.

"Then you're pathetic," the man said. "That giant bitch put me in the wrong cage, but it seems that fate threw me a curveball. The others here informed me of what you were planning to do, and I can't allow it. Working with... them? You're stupid."

Sheryl did not respond.

"Hear this, and remember it well... My name is Reeve Sardelli, and I'm the NEW leader of you all!"