The morning sun shone into Sayuko's bedroom as Thomas sat on her desk and watched Sayuko once again tried to call Mr. Cruz on her cell phone. When she had first started to call him, she had a somewhat optimistic and hopeful aura about her persona. Now, however, she seemed a bit more frustrated and forlorn.

She held the phone to her ear for several seconds, before she muttered what sounded like an expletive in Japanese. She dropped her phone onto her bed, placed her hands on her face, and let out a heavy sigh.

"Sayu," Thomas called. "Are you alright?"

"Every day," Sayuko said while keeping her hands on her face, "my hope fades away. I want to rescue Taro, but Mr. Cruz never answers his phone..."

"I'm sure that we'll get him."

"...I'm going to get some milk." She headed for the bedroom door. "Do you want anything, Thoma-kun?"

"No. I'm good."

Sayuko nodded, and walked out of the bedroom.

Thomas looked towards the window, and the morning sky outside.

"This isn't working," he said.

It was a sunny Saturday morning, not past 10:30, as Robbie drove his car down the road. He was a young man of Korean descent with short dark brown hair, and stood at about 5' 10".

Today was usually the day that he would rest after the week at his community college. He had planned to once again spend his day with his girlfriend Kim. However, there was a sudden change of plans the night before, when he received a call from a classmate by the name of Melissa. The two had been paired together for their Business Economics project, and she had called him to come to her house that Saturday, so they could "get the hard stuff out of the way."

"Are we there yet?" asked Kim, who sat in the passenger seat. She was a young woman, also of Korean descent, who stood at 5' 5" and had her black hair tied in a ponytail.

"Almost," Robbie answered. "I just never thought that Melissa lived pretty much in the boonies."

Kim sighed. "Why did I even let you talk me into coming?"

"...Because I want to go straight to the park after finishing up with Melissa."

"So, what am I going to be doing while you're there?"

"I dunno... Watching TV, maybe? Or you can help us."

Kim scoffed. "Yeah, right!"

"C'mon..." Robbie begged.

"No way! I just want you to hurry up so we can get out of there."

"That's what I plan to do, sweetie," Robbie said with a smile.

"...Hey, when do you have classes with her?" Kim asked.

"Tuesdays," Robbie responded. "Why?"

"And you said that she called you last night for this?"

"Yeah. I repeat: Why?"

"...I just find it weird that, for something as big as you say this project is, she wouldn't call you days before."

"...Meh. Maybe it was a spur the moment thing."

Kim turned towards the opened window on her side of the car. "Well, I guess that while I'm there, I can ask her about Thom-"

"I already did," Robbie said, quickly interrupting her. "She seemed worried when I told her that he never came home that day."

Kim sighed. "Thomas went missing right after his date with her. I hope she didn't do anything to him..."

Robbie shook his head. "I don't see Melissa as the type of person who would do something like that."

"...You sure?"

"Positive."

"Mmm..."

The two said very little during the remaining trek to Melissa's house. The subject of their missing friend dampened their mood a bit. It did seem odd that Thomas had disappeared without a word after his supposed day out with Melissa. Not only that, now that he thought about it, when he told Melissa about Thomas, she seemed a bit too worried.

Did Melissa know something about Thomas' disappearance? Worse yet, was she involved somehow? As he said to Kim, he did not believe that Melissa had anything to do with it, but what if she did? What then?

Thomas' mother was understandably very frantic about him missing. Hell, she did not even want him to move into the apartment he rented a few months ago, as the strange disappearances that the various news outlets have been talking about had her on edge. Thomas assured her that he would be fine; that nothing was going to happen to her. Unfortunately, her worst fears were realized in late June.

Thomas was Robbie's best friend, and he did not just want to see his return for his sake, but also his family's.

"Here it is," Robbie said as his car approached a white-walled house with a grey roof. "It's pretty big..."

"Wow, she lives here?" Kim said in amazement. "I've seen this house before, but I didn't think that someone who went to our school actually lived here. ...You'd think they'd get into an Ivy League college or something."

"Yeah, I know..." Robbie said as he turned and pulled into her driveway.

Once the car came to a complete stop, Robbie pulled the lever into park, pulled both of the front windows up, and finally pulled the key from ignition. Both he and Kim opened their respective doors and stepped out of the car. Robbie closed the driver's door, and then walked to the back door and opened it, before pulling out his backpack from the backseat and pulling it onto his back. He then closed the door, and pressed the "lock" button on his key's remote. The chirping sound from the car confirmed that it had been securely locked.

"It's bigger than I thought," Kim said as she marveled at the size of the house. "You sure you have the right address?"

"Yep," Robbie answered. "She also said that it was a big white house. Does that look like a big white house to you?"

"...You don't have to get smart with me."

"Yes I do," he said in a joking manner.

Kim folded her arms. "Whatever."

"Hey." Robbie called.

"What?"

"Did I mention how nice you look today?" Robbie said, taking notice of her red tank-top, blue jeans, and red flip-flop sandals.

"...What brought that up, all of a sudden?" Kim asked, blushing.

"I dunno. I guess you don't look like a geek like you usually do."

"What? It's not like I never dressed like this before."

"Yeah, but you don't do it often enough, sweetie." Robbie smiled.

Kim stared at him for a few seconds, before walking towards the house's front door. Robbie followed after her, and met up with her as she rung the house's doorbell. The pair waited for several seconds, before the door opened, revealing Melissa. From the look on her face, Robbie could see that she was surprised that he had brought someone with him.

"Hello, Robbie," Melissa greeted with a smile. "You made it."

"Of course," Robbie answered, before turning towards Kim. "This is my girlfriend Kim."

"Pleased to meet you," Kim said as she extended her arm.

"The pleasure's mine," Melissa said as she also extended her arm, and gave Kim a firm handshake. "Are you going to be helping us."

"No," Kim said as she shook her head and retracted her arm. "I don't know anything about business or economics."

"Aww... What a shame... ...Anyway, why don't you two come inside?"

"Sure," Robbie said as both he and Kim walked into the house.

"You can both go upstairs," Melissa said as she closed the door. "My rooms the furthest on the right."

"Okay," Robbie said, before he and Kim headed towards the stairs that stood in front of them.

~~~

Melissa watched as the newly arrived couple climbed up the stairs. She sighed quietly, before following them onto the floor above.

This was not what she had planned. One of her "finalists" had died after the war she staged two days ago. Because of that, she had to get a replacement, and, due to the school project they were supposed to be working on, Robbie Yun was the first person that came to mind. So, she had called him the night before, under the pretense of wanting to work on their project.

She just did not expect him to bring someone with him. This was the first time that she would have to shrink down two people at once. The problem was that she was certain that the shrink ray could only shrink one object at once. What would the other person do after she shrunk one of them? Would they try to attack her?

Maybe she should just forget about shrinking him and actually work on the project. After all, it DID count for 30% of their final grade.

Before long, the three were inside of Melissa's room. She closed the door behind her.

"This room is pretty big," Kim said. "I would kill for a room like this!"

"Maybe when we get a house of our own," Robbie said, "you can have your super bedroom."

"Oh?" Melissa said. "You're thinking about moving in with each other?"

"Not really," Robbie answered. "She wants to get married before we move in together."

"Oh, that's right," Melissa said as she walked towards her dresser. "Cohabitation is wrong and all that stuff."

"I don't believe that," Robbie said, "but she does."

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Kim said. "Anyway, while you two are working, what am I going to do?"

"Oh, right!" Melissa said. "I guess you can use my laptop for a while. We shouldn't be long. ...Hopefully."

Robbie walked to her bed, pulled his backpack off of his back, and placed it onto the bed. "Hey, help me take some of this stuff out."

"Okay," Kim said as she approached Robbie and assisted him in pulling out books and papers from the backpack.

Both of their backs were turned against her, and Melissa saw this as the perfect opportunity. She made up her mind about her earlier dilemma. She quickly opened the top drawer of her dresser and pulled out the Shrink Ray. She powered it on, and then pointed it at Robbie's back, and pulled the trigger. A flash of light burst from the ray, and struck Robbie in the back.

Kim jumped in surprise and gasped as she saw the flash hit her boyfriend. She then watched in horror as he rapidly reduced in size, eventually stopping at less than 2 inches. She then looked from the unconscious young man on the floor at her feet, to Melissa. She had both a horrified and angered look on her face.

"What did you do?!" an indignant Kim asked, before noticing the contraption in her hands. "What the hell is that?!"

"Kim, was it?" Melissa said as she shifted the Shrink Ray towards her. "I'll give you an ultimatum. ...Squish your boyfriend, or I'll shrink you as well."

"What?!" Kim exclaimed in shock. "Why the fuck would I do that?!"

Melissa sighed. "Too bad."

"Make him back to normal!" Kim ordered. "What are you thinking?!"

Melissa grinned. "I'm thinking that this is going to be fun."

She then pulled the trigger, causing another burst of light to fire from the ray, and hit Kim in the chest. Like her boyfriend, she also rapidly lost her size, and ended up as a small, unconscious person laying on the floor.

Melissa looked from Kim to Robbie, who was coming to, and smiled.

"I guess two won't be so bad," she said.

~~~

"Hey... Hey!!"

Kim awoke to the sound of Robbie's voice, as he shook her awake with his hand. The sight of his worried and frightened face filled her vision as she opened her eyes. Off in the seemingly distance, there stood a great giant. It took her mere seconds to figure out that this giant was Melissa, and that she was no giant at all. Both Kim and Robbie were just insignificantly small, on the floor of this now massive bedroom.

"Robbie..." Kim called. "Is this real...?"

Robbie looked around, before nodding.

"But... This can't be!" Kim stood to her feet, and then turned towards Melissa. "Why did you do this to us?!"

Melissa pressed a button on the side of the strange device she held in her hand. "Well, I actually planned to do this just to Robbie there, but you just HAD to come. So, I had no choice."

Kim looked towards Robbie, who held his hands up and shook his head frantically.

"So," Melissa continued as she placed the device into the top drawer of her dresser, "since I have two of you today, I think we'll play some games."

"Wh-what kind of games?!" Robbie nervously asked.

"You could say 'Survival' games."

Kim's heart sank. With Melissa's massive size compared to them, coupled with the demand that she gave Kim before she shrank her, she had a clue as to what Melissa meant.

Melissa walked closer to them, until she stood over them like an imposing skyscraper. With a mischievous grin on her face, she lifted her right foot over the duo. Kim stared in horror at the black sole of now lowering flip-flop, before Robbie pulled her by the arm.

"Run, run!!" Robbie frantically said as he ran as fast as he could from the shadow of Melissa's foot.

Guided by her boyfriend, Kim managed to dash out from underneath the falling foot, before it crashed down behind them. Not stopping for an instant, both Robbie and Kim continued to run as far away from the giantess as they could. Kim's heart was racing, and she found it somewhat difficult to keep up her pace with the flip-flop sandals that she was wearing, but at that point, all that matter was their survival.

Suddenly, Melissa's foot slammed down right into their path. The couple came to a complete halt as they stared in horror at the massive foot before them, before shifting their heads upward, towards the face of this sadistic giantess.

"You're both pretty fast," she said. "...For Bugmen."

Kim had no idea what a 'Bugman' was, and she was not given any time to even consider asking about it, as Robbie pulled her back the other way, and the two resumed their fleeing. This time, however, they did not get far, as the massive foot once again came down and blocked their path.

"C'mon..." Melissa said. "You're both so small. You can't run away from me."

"What do you want from us?!" Kim cried out. "Are you going to kill us?!"

"I might," Melissa casually said.

Both Kim and Robbie gasped.

"I mean, it's not like you two are the first ones I've done this to."

Upon hearing this, Kim looked towards Robbie, who was also looking back at her with the same shocked expression she had. He had apparently come to the same conclusion that she had; it seemed that the mystery behind Thomas' disappearance, and perhaps the rest of the disappearances that the media had been reporting about, had been solved, though in a most horrifying way.

"Anyway," Melissa said. "Robbie, I want you to lick my toes. ...Lick, or I'll kill your girlfriend."

Kim looked towards Robbie, who had a look of both fear and concern on his face. She nudged her head towards Melissa, signaling him to do as Melissa said for her safety. Robbie released her hand from his grip and slowly made his way towards Melissa's foot.

"Attaboy," Melissa said as she slipped her right foot out of its sandal and set it in front of the tiny man.

As he reached her foot, Robbie briefly glanced back towards Kim, before placing his hands onto Melissa's big toe, and pressed his face against it. From her position, Kim could not see him licking Melissa's skin.

This whole situation horrified Kim. She wanted to believe that this was just a dream, or rather, a nightmare. After all, shrinking is not possible. It should not be possible. Surely science had not advanced that much under the noses of the media? Worse yet, there was now no doubt that Melissa indeed was the cause of Thomas' disappearance, so what became of him? Did Melissa kill him, or was she keeping him somewhere else?

Looking at Robbie being forced to such a task of licking Melissa's massive foot sickened Kim. Not because he was doing it, but because she knew that he was secretly enjoying it; Robbie had a mild foot fetish. Not as bad as in other men that she had seen, though it played a big part in their intimacy. It was actually because of this that Kim wore her occasionally worn flip-flops in the first place today.

Kim was shocked out of her thoughts by the loud sound of Melissa's other empty flip-flop hitting the floor beside her. Melissa had kicked it off of her left foot, and whether she tried to hit her with it or not, Kim was unsure.

"You there," Melissa called. "I want you to kiss my other foot."

"What?!" Kim exclaimed.

"You heard me. Or..."

Melissa lifted her right foot from the floor, causing Robbie, who was leaning against it, to stumble and fall to the floor. Melissa then slowly dropped her foot onto Robbie's body, the sight of which caused Kim to scream his name.

"...Or I'll make him a stain on the floor. It's your choice," Melissa said. "Kiss my foot, or I'll step down on him hard."

Kim was appalled, and yet, she knew that she had no choice. She slowly headed towards Melissa's left foot, and once there, leaned down onto Melissa's second toe and reluctantly began to press her lips on it.

"You can do better than that," Melissa taunted. "Or do you not care about your boyfriend? 'Cuz I don't mind squishing him."

Kim quickened her pace, planting as many kisses on her toes as she could, a task made somewhat more difficult whenever Melissa decided to wiggle her toes. She could not believe that she had been reduced to doing such a task, but in order to save Robbie, she knew that she had no choice in the matter.

After a minute or so, Melissa withdrew her foot from Kim. She then lifted her other foot off of Robbie's body. Kim rushed to his side, and helped him to his feet. He was breathing heavily; he must have gotten little air while he was underneath Melissa's foot.

"Are you alright?" Kim asked with great concern.

"...Ye... Yeah..." Robbie answered.

"...Did you like that?"

"What?"

"Nevermind..."

"Lovebirds," Melissa called. "You should start running again."

Melissa once again lifted her left foot over the couple, this time without her sandal. Despite his current state, Robbie mustered the strength to run out from underneath Melissa's foot, taking Kim with him, though this time, she seemed to be moving faster than he was.

Melissa's foot came down behind them. However, she then lifted her other foot over them and began to bring it down onto the couple. Unfortunately, this time, there seemed to be no escape, as they would not be able to avoid her toes before they came down onto them. At that point, Robbie, shoved Kim out from underneath the shadow. Kim fell to the floor and looked behind herself, and saw Melissa's massive toes landing on his diminutive body.

"Robbie!!" she called in horror, before looking up at the face of the giantess. "Stop this! Please!!"

Melissa did not answer. Instead, she shifted her foot position on Robbie's body, until his head was peaking out from under her foot between her big and second toes.

"Why are you doing this to us?!" Kim yelled out.

"...Because I can," Melissa answered. "And what are you going to do about it?"

Kim stood to her feet. She gritted her teeth, as her fear was giving way to anger, at Melissa, at this situation, and at her complete uselessness. Melissa was right. At her size, there was nothing she could do but watch this giant woman play with Robbie underneath her feet as if he was some kind of bug. Kim was worried about whether or not he would meet the same fate as most bugs that people come across.

Now with Robbie caught between her toes, Melissa lifted her foot from the floor and examined his body. With a smile, she tensed her toes, tightening them on Robbie's body. He screamed in pain as her digits seemed to be crushing him.

"Robbie!!" Kim called.

"Shove it," Melissa ordered. "You're only making it worse for him."

She continued squeezing Robbie between her toes, though she seemed to have added a bit more pressure to it, as Robbie's screaming became louder. At his size, even the smallest shift in pressure could be fatal.

Soon, Melissa released him from her toes, and let him fall to the floor. However, before Kim could even move the slightest inch towards him, Melissa brought the same foot back down onto his body and rested it there.

"Don't worry, Kim," Melissa said. "I didn't break him. Not yet. But can't a girl play with her toys?"

"'Toys'?!" Kim exclaimed. "He's a human being!"

Melissa scoffed at this notion. "Not anymore, and neither are you. I really hate how you bugs always insist that you're still people. I took all of that away once I shrank you."

"You're crazy!!"

Melissa smirked. "Maybe I am. But that doesn't change the fact that you two are completely at my mercy. If I wanted to, I could easily crush the life out of both of you right now, with no. Effort. At. All. Just like the others."

She lifted her foot off of Robbie, and, with her foot, shoved him towards Kim. He slid across the floor, and collided with her, knocking her over on top of him. She quickly recovered and tended to the aching Robbie. He was breathing heavily and clutching his chest.

"...But not right now," Melissa said. "What I called Robbie over here for was somewhat true. I need his notes for our project." She smiled. "Don't worry. I'll make sure that we both get A's, little man."

"You're stealing my notes?!" Robbie managed to blurt out.

"Yeah," Melissa answered as she walked towards the two. "In the meantime, I'm going to put you two away."

She then kneeled down and picked both of them from the floor and into the palm of her hand. She the stood up and began to walk across the room, towards what looked like her back closet door. She opened the door and walked inside. Sure enough, it was a closet; it was dark and filled with hanging clothes on racks. Melissa slid these clothes aside, revealing another space poorly lit by a dim lightbulb and a few glass cages against the wall. Melissa headed to the first one of her left, and placed Kim and Robbie inside.

"Now, you all be nice to each other." Melissa smiled. "After all, you don't know which one of you will die next."

With that, Melissa walked out of the closet, pulling the hanging clothes back into place as she left, and then closed the door behind her.

Robbie struggled to his feet. Kim found it amazing that, after all he had endured, he could still stand. Still, she held onto him, to help support him on his unstable legs.

"Are you alright?" Kim asked, concerned for his well-being.

"Yeah," he answered. "My chest hurts, but I'll live. ...But what the hell just happened?"

"I don't know..." Kim shook her head. "I... I don't know..."

Robbie sighed. "I can't believe that I let her trick me like that. And that I got you into it. I'm so stupid..."

"No, Robbie. How were you supposed to know that Melissa had the ability to shrink people? All you knew was that she was probably the last person to see Thomas."

"Yeah... But still... I'm sorry." Robbie had a hint of regret lingering on his voice. "Now we're stuck in here."

Kim kissed him on the cheek. "I'm sure something will happen soon, and we'll be free from that crazy bitch."

"...I hope so, sweetie..."

"Excuse me." A tall man approached the couple. Kim could not be certain due to the dim light, but it seemed that this man only had one arm. "I couldn't help but overhear, but did you mention a 'Thomas'?"

Kim and Robbie looked at each other, before Kim answered the man's question.

"Yes, Thomas Kirkland," she said. "He's a friend of our's."

The man's eyes widened, and then he turned behind himself, as if he was looking for someone.

"Is he here?" Robbie asked.

The man turned back towards them. "Sorry, but no. Actually, we don't know where he is."

"...So, he's still alive?" Robbie asked.

"Well, as far as we know, yeah," the man answered.

Deep inside, a small hope was renewed within Kim, as well as Robbie. Their friend was still alive, though he was still missing.

Another man approached them, a seemingly blond man with an unbuttoned jean jacket. "Small world... You both are friends of Thomas. I wonder how he will react when he finds out that you two also fell victim to Melissa..."

"By the way," said the one-armed man. "My name is Dawson. This here is Shawn."

"My name is Kim," Kim said. "This is Robbie."

"How many people are in here?" Robbie asked.

"Well," Shawn said, "now with you two, there's seven of us."

"That little?" Robbie seemed surprised at this revelation.

"There was a whole bunch more," Dawson said. "But Melissa killed off everyone else."

"...Shit..." Robbie muttered.

"Plus," Shawn added, "Melissa may start killing us off pretty soon, too."

Kim gasped. It seemed that this dark place was nothing more than death row for Melissa's 'toys'.

"Well, in the meantime," Dawson said, "you two are now members of our humble group called 'The Survivors'. Let's go introduce you both to the others."

Shawn and Dawson both turned away from them. Shawn began to walk away, but Dawson turned back towards the couple. He looked at him, and examined her body from top to bottom.

"By the way, Kim," he said, "you have some nice feet."

"Uh." Kim was flabbergasted, as well as blushing slightly. "Thank you?"

Robbie let out a short laugh. Dawson then followed Shawn further into the cage.

"What's so funny?" Kim asked Robbie.

"...I think Dawson's a cool guy," he responded.

"Just keep him away from my feet. I don't want you sucking on one foot, and him on the other."

"Of course, sweetie."

Kim sighed. "I knew I should have worn my gym shoes today..."

The couple then began to follow both Shawn and Dawson further into the dark cage. They had no idea how long they would be there, so getting to know everyone inside of the cage would probably be a good thing. Especially if they're in this so-called 'Survivors' group, even though it was fairly certain that no one would actually survive the wrath of Melissa.

~~~

The day seemed to be passing by very quickly for both Thomas and Sayuko; It was now approaching sunset.

With her cell phone once again held to her ear, Sayuko tried for the fifth time today to call Mr. Cruz. And once again, Sayuko let out a cry of frustration as she seemed to have gotten his voicemail again. All day today, she did not bother to leave him any voice messages like before; perhaps a sign that she was at the end of her rope. She was hoping that she could end this all before she went to Melissa's house tomorrow, but now, that did not seem likely at all.

She closed her phone and sat down on her bed. There, she let out a loud sigh, and muttered a few phrases in Japanese.

Thomas had watched her all day. He did not like the toll that this was taking on her. It was odd that Mr. Cruz had not picked up his phone all week, and that he did not return any of her calls. Was it possible that he was ignoring her? Even after she said that it was very urgent?

Whatever the case, their one hope of putting an end to Melissa's reign of terror seemed to die out like a light flame on a windy night.

Unless...

"Sayu," Thomas called.

"...What?" Sayuko answered curtly.

She was still flustered over today, so Thomas chose to ignore her current bad mood. "How badly do you want to rescue your brother?"

"You know that already," Sayuko responded. "I would give anything to get him back."

"I see..."

"...Why do you ask all of a sudden?"

Thomas stood up and walked towards the edge of the desk. "Mr. Cruz turned out to be useless, so I don't think we have a choice now. ...It's time we took matters into our own hands."