Chapter 1: White Mask

It's been a terribly hectic last few days, none of us are even sure how this happened in the first place but it's all or nothing now, there's no escape. Whoever is behind the scenes pulling the strings is untouchable and is orchestrating one of the biggest operations in human history, it's more likely a mega corporation of some kind, the kind of man power required to pull this off is incomprehensible. All I want to know, is why? 

"Joel, I've been waiting two days now for those budget sheets on our deal with FunTime. Where are they?"

"Sorry, Sir. But they didn't exist when you asked me."

"Do I look like I care? it still shouldn't take two days if you started them immediately. I won't refer you again Joel, because I'm a real nice guy. However I will ask you one last time to get them done and hand them over. You have till the end of the day."

"But sir that's in two hours?"

"Better get to it then, eh?"

Joel turned back to his PC. He didn't hate his boss, he just assumed that's the sort of attitude a boss needed because there was someone breathing down their neck as well, same as him. No doubt John would get fired as well if he didn't scream at him for the sheets that someone else probably asked him for. Joel wanted to stay out of trouble, his coworkers made that difficult to put it lightly. But Joel was forgiving, everyone was the way they were for a reason, including him and our response to these actions is truly what matters.

Some time later

"Hey!" someone shouted in the right of Joel's ear, his earphones managing to block 10% of the volume causing him to jump out of his skin.

"God, did I scare you that much? let's get out of here, I'll give you a lift home." 

"Lisa, Jesus Christ. If I ever have a heart attack in my 30s it's going to be because you keep appearing out of nowhere." Joel responded clutching his chest in the area where his heart was, his breathing becoming elevated from the jump scare.

"Why are you so jittery?" she asked confused

"I'm not jittery, you just thought it was a good idea to shout straight into my ear hole!"

"You were wearing earphones! I was playing the hand I was dealt." a smirk formed on her face.

"They were on low volume... but yeah I can't come with, I've got to get this sent away, John's gonna show up at any second." Joel raised himself in his chair slightly doing a scan over the computer monitors around the room seeing if anyone was heading his way.

"How long have you spent on that?" Lisa leaned forward scanning the document, her mouth agape with curiosity.

"Two days."

"Two days!!? you are definitely not trained in this field. You really gotta learn some excel tricks, I could do that in 5 hours."

"Five hours? what the hell?" his head hit the desk as he gave up trying knowing fine well that everyone else was out of his league in this department.

"Tell you what, we'll leave before he shows up then we'll present it to him finished tomorrow, he can't be mad because he wasn't here when you finished your day." Lisa grabbed his hand pulling him out of his chair, doing double takes around her to see if John was around so they could make a quick escape out the building. Both of them managed to break free from their 9 to 5 for the day, eventually slowing down and walking up the street towards Lisa's car. The street outside was nearly pitch black, lit by lamp posts with bulbs that were on their last legs barely managing to light up anything at all. Their warm breath visibly blasting through the winter air.

"So besides ball buster busting your balls, how was your day?" Lisa asked whilst crossing her arms and tightening her neck looking visibly cold in her grey blazer jacket.

"Is that even a question? do we ever have anything interesting to talk about in our field? it's honestly ridiculous how many people in the world do boring ass Admin & IT. I'm probably the only person in our office who gets grilled and pushed with deadlines." Joel stressed towards Lisa who looked at him with interest, visibly responding to his words.

"You sir, get bombarded with deadlines because you are incredibly slow as I've just proven back there."

"Like you proved anything, you're all talk for now. For all I know you made it up."

"Alright then, when you get home send it over to me and I'll have it done before tomorrow. You'll see how good I am at this stuff."

"Oh no honestly it's fine, don't bother yourself with it."

"Shut up and send me the file, I don't find any of this stressful because it's easy. So let me take care of it."

"You're too kind."

"I know, right? Us oldies need to stick together. All the kids in our office are weird."

"We're only in our thirties. We're hardly elders." Joel replied confusedly looking her in the face, jokingly shocked by her comment about their age.

"Correction, half way to forties for me. I'm old enough to be your mother."

"Not even close." Joel laughed and Lisa joined him. She pulled out her keys giving them a little jingle in the air, requesting for him to jump in. Her car turned out of the car park heading into the winter darkness in the distance.

Joel headed into his apartment, placing his jacket on the hanger behind the door. Making his way into the front room onto the sofa. Sitting back he thought deeply giving that he now had an opportunity to not think about work since Lisa offered to take over his supposedly easy administration work. He exhaled heavily, taking in the silence. Which was quickly disrupted by a small impact ahead of him in his dark dining room ahead. He quickly lunged forward lowering himself down towards the small table in front of his sofa as if taking a defensive position, he quickly scanned his left and right looking for a weapon resorting to a white coffee mug on his table that he'd used this morning. Lifting his arm behind him and placing his left arm forward ready to strike whatever approached him in the dark room.

"If somehow you've accidentally stumbled into my apartment just let me know and I'll move out your way." he spoke with a shake in his voice. Suddenly a masked black figure appeared out of the darkness, not charging him but just standing there. Joel stopped in his track pulling his head back in shock. Both of them standing looking at each other, taking a strong mental note of the mans eerie white mask which was in the shape of a baby's face with very little detail, just pure white.

"Hello? are you stealing from me?" Joel asked due to his observation in the mans getup which was all black with a mask for cover, likely to conceal his identity for some form of crime.

"This isn't personal." he uttered just as another black figure appeared behind Joel striking him in the back of his head sending him to the ground instantly.

Awaking suddenly with a killer headache he looked around frantically, dazed and confused. He was in a white sterile room. Looking down at his attire he noticed he was in a white tank top and white jogging pants, strangely no shoes or socks. Padding his pockets and chest for any objects he may have on him, maybe by some miracle a phone. To no avail, taking a walk around the room looking around, everything was drenched in white, the bedding was white, the bed frame was white, the walls were white, the floor was shiny and white, his clothes were all white. That man he saw at his apartment, he must have struck him, Joel struggled to remember fighting the man but it was the most likely outcome. The door had a strange design, it was also shiny and white but fit so perfectly into the frame of the wall that it was barely visible in the wall from a distance, it had no door handle either. Joel could do little else but wait in his bed to find out why these people required him and what his fate was to be.

What felt like an eternity had passed, Joel had been walking around and sleeping for an incomprehensible amount of time. He was passing the time by stretching on the floor, trying different body positions when a loud gush of air could be heard looking forward to see the camouflaged white door parting into the wall revealing a white hallway.

"EXIT" a robotic voice could be heard bellowing from the hallways.

Joel stood up slowly, inspecting the doorway as he approached slowly, his mind was shocked that the door was open, this timeless vault had actually changed, he thought it would never happen. Peeping into the hallway he saw others on his right at the end of the corridor, they looked less confused and more scared. On his far left he noted what looked like hundreds of people, the corridor was so immeasureably long he couldn't even ballpark how many people were here as the end of the corridor was too far away to see, white clothed people becoming dots in the distance. After standing in the corridor for ten seconds the person on his right emerged from their room, stood before him was Lisa, his coworker.

"Lisa??? you are here too?"

"Oh my god, Joel. I was sitting at my computer doing something- oh yeah, your- your- your sheets and then I don't remember what happened. I assumed I was drugged or something."

"They got me at the same time, they were already in my apartment when I got there. That explains why we are next to each other because they kidnapped us at the same time, we must've been targeted since you give me rides home all the time." Joel explained whilst looking at Lisa, his eyes rapidly darting from hers to everyone elses, his mind constantly surveying for danger in this confusing circumstance.

At the end of the corridor another camouflaged automatic door sat, before emitting the same air release noise, emerging from the door was a figure dressed in all black wearing the same strange white baby mask that Joel recognized from his apartment.

"That's the face I saw in my apartment!" Joel shouted at Lisa.

"It's probably not the same person... they are covering their face."

"ATTENTION" the robotic voice bellowed over the comms, echoing all the way down the expansive corridor, taking a full ten seconds to close out it's echo.

The guard lifted their arm, pointing down the corridor.

"TRAVEL IN THIS DIRECTION."

Everyone looked around at each other confused, unsure as to whether they should listen to this singular person. Behind him multiple black guards appeared all of them carrying what appeared to be a white firearm. Some of the guards were wearing black heeled boots as opposed to others who had flat black boots.

"DO AS ORDERED OR YOU WILL BE ELIMINATED."

People quickly started walking backwards whilst looking at the guards, as the corridor of people moved forward the guards followed closely behind pushing the crowd down the corridor with their menacing prescence. A man stood in the same spot becoming disjointed from the crowd, he held his head high as the guards approached him, the lead guard providing directions looked straight into his face with his baby mask.

"FOLLOW ORDERS."

The man who was acting bold as brass, stood his ground whilst profusely sweating. Looking down at the guard, able to look way over their head due to his height. Joel looked behind him watching these two people have a stare down, inspecting the altercation.

"DENYING ORDERS ALLOWS US TO ELIMINATE YOU"

The guard hovered their left hand outwards in the direction of another guard, palm up as if waiting for something to be placed inside their hand, which occured as another guard promptly handed their white firearm to the guard. They wasted no time pressing it into the tall mans chest and blasting him just as he began to speak, he instantly evaporated into this air. Joels body jumped in fear, his eyes wide as he watched a man being completely disintegrated, removed from existence by a small handheld firearm, clearly more powerful than the average guns on the street. What kind of sick place were they in. The guard who fired the shot passed the firearm back to the other guard, he began pressing forward again towards the back of the crowd. The other guards looking at where the tall man just stood before he was erased.

"Joel stop looking, you never know what they will do."

"They just did something to that man." Joel frantically stuttered whilst wiping the quickly forming sweat off of his head. 

"What? where is he?" Lisa asked after looking back, confused as she didn't see him.

"They- they- they hit him with something and he disappeared like- instantly. Like- like-. I was looking and he was there, then he wasn't!" he stumbled becoming shocked and scared as he kept repeating the scene in his head. Causing a bewildered look in Lisa's face.

The corridor crowd were now entering a large room, also shiny, sterile and white. Up ahead was a large white screen. Joel kept tugging at the collar of his tank top, frantically trying to get air into the space between his shirt and his body. Still shaken from the danger he knew everyone was very much in.

"WELCOME ALL." the robotic voice continued, the heads of the crowd looked upwards at the screen as it blinked on, simply displaying black text over a white background as opposed to any form of video call, the text reading what was being said.

"YOU HAVE ALL BEEN GRANTED AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE ON OUR GAMESHOW." everyone looked around confused, murmuring being heard in the crowd making passive comments about the words being read.

"YOU HAVE BEEN TAKEN AGAINST YOUR WILL AND THIS WILL NOT CHANGE. OUR PREMISE IS SIMPLE, THERE ARE 249 OF YOU IN THIS ROOM." The TV screen read 250 instead of 249, causing Joel to lick his incredibly dry lips whilst still panic breathing.

"ALL 249 PEOPLE WILL COMPETE AGAINST EACH OTHER FOR A LARGE CASH PRIZE OF 100 MILLION DOLLARS, GENEROUSLY AND COLLECTIVELY DONATED BY THE VIEWERS AND COMMUNITY SUPPORTING OUR SHOW." People began to warm up to the guards and robot voice, such an amount of money would make anyone excited.

"UNFORTUNATELY, SUCH A SUM DOES NOT COME EASY. ON OUR GAME SHOW WE CHALLENGE COMPETITORS TO BATTLE EACH OTHER IN SIZE BASED GAMES. GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY AN EXTERNAL OPERATION, WE USE SHRINKING TECHNOLOGY TO SPICE UP OUR GAMESHOW. A GROUP OF YOU WILL BE CHOSEN, OTHERS WILL NOT."

Most people had heard about this tech, it had been talked about for a while and the company involved had explained that it was being outsourced to other parties for commercial use. Was this their intent? to use it for entertainment?

"WE WILL NOW SPIN A WHEEL TO DECIDE WHAT GROUP WILL BE PRESERVED. THE REST WILL HAVE THEIR SIZE DEPLETED."

A wheel appeared on the monitor, it appeared to have various groups labelled on it. Some races, specific age groups, gender & class. They were going to shrink everyone except the group that won? The murmuring amongst the crowd was rising in volume by the second.

"WE WILL PREFACE THAT THIS DECISION WAS ALREADY RANDOMIZED IN ORDER TO CHOOSE OUR COMPETITORS HERE TODAY, WE ARE SIMPLY REVEALING THE RESULT TO YOU NOW." the wheel began to spin, everyone's eyes were hooked on the big wheel as it turned, creating clicking noises every time it passed an option. Coming to a slow halt on a final option.

"Females." Joel uttered as he turned to his friend, both already looking straight at each other. "Lisa."

"IF YOU BELONG TO THE GROUP THEN STAND IN THE DESIGNATED AREA.

"Sorry Joel, I'm in the other group. But don't worry, we'll see each other afterwards, let's both try to win, yeah?" she said positively with a shy smile on her face as she walked away.

"Lisa, I'm- I'm getting bad vibes from this place. It feels dangerous."

"It's 100 million dollars, Joel!" she shouted as she distanced herself from him, unable to hear his voice over the chatter of the large crowd."

"Lisa!" Joel shouted at her back turned.

"This isn't fair, why did you pick those groups? Male wasn't even on there! How is that fair?" a man shouted from the crowd, he was large and strong. His body was granting him enough confidence to call out the game-show runners. He began storming towards the front where the guards stood, a guard held his hand out in a gesture that implied "stop". He turned and did another gesture with his hand to a guard in the back.

"PROCESSING..."

"Hey, I'm talking to" before the man could even finish his sentence, in the blink of an eye all the men felt their line of sight drop immediately, feeling closer to the floor. There was no charge, no process and no effects. Almost instantly they were reduced and tiny.

"200 MINIMIZED INDIVIDUALS, 50 REGULAR INDIVIDUALS. MINIMIZED ARE SET AT 1 INCH IN HEIGHT."

"EXCELLENT, LET THE GAMES BEGIN."

Chapter 2: The Chase

Joel was still struggling to get himself together and now the issue was exacerbated by the fact that he was tiny, causing him to freak out even more. The man disappearing, the guards with weapons, covering their faces, the fact that they were all kidnapped! Why was nobody picking up on the vibes from this place, the tension was unbearable, no amount of money was going to relieve this stress. Another man spotted him from inside the crowd and began approaching him, coming down to his side.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." the man said with a straight face

"This is bad, I don't think this is safe at all. I don't trust them, we- we- we have to get out of here." Joel responded whilst tapping the mans shoulder.

"You're right, it's not. Listen, we need to prepare. It's very important that we work together and play defensively. The rest of these people are not expecting danger, but we are. We'll be the most ready. Work with me."

"Did you see the man disappear as well?" 

"What man? no, I worked at the company who produced the technology. They are unforgiving and ruthless. I know everything about this place, I intend to escape but I need a strong teammate. Someone who I can work together with, are you up to the task?" the man held his hand out whilst looking into his eyes, he seemed exceptionally calm. Having known about this place in advance. Joel shook his hand.

"Call me Thomas."

"Joel."

"If you worked for them, why are you here?"

"I'm sorry but that's too long to explain at this time. All you need to know is it was deceitful and entirely for revenge. You can't trust anyone, Joel." Thomas lifted a finger, pointing it closely to Joels face, his unblinking eyes staring into his soul.

"Anyone?" he asked bewildered by the statement, curious to know why he said that as they were working together now.

"That includes me and anyone else you know here. I'll tell you now, Joel. You don't know them anymore." Joel looked behind him into the distance where the women were being kept away from them, thinking about Lisa. She has always been there for him when he was powerless in the workplace, nothing changes here because he's seen her actions in the real world. They have an advantage with their friendship here. He suddenly felt a large thump as the floor dropped beneath him, the impact threw his body into the air, gathering himself off the floor quickly to realize that due to him being distracted he had wondered off course. Looking forward he saw the matte sheen of a black leather texture. Lifting his head slowly knowing exactly what he was about to see, towering above him was a guard, a pure white baby mask stared back at him. The boot tapping the floor using its high heel for support.

"GET IN LINE." the voice ordered, sounding notably lighter.

Joel frantically scrambled fully to his feet towards the line whilst not removing his gaze from the guard, their gaze also following him all the way into the crowd. Thomas pulled him in from the shoulder.

"Watch where you are going! I need you for this first section, don't freak out on me, Joel. We may not be friends but we're the best shot we both have of staying in this and that should be good enough reason for you to pay attention." He finished grilling him, Joel nodded as they proceeded forward, not looking back at the guard.

"Look at them walking away, it takes them so long to even reach that tiny door there. We could probably make it in 6 seconds."

This random woman had started conversating with Lisa, Lisa smiled back whilst agreeing with the observation. "Hopefully we've got a real advantage here." she added.

"There definitely is, they said it was pre-decided what group what going to be minimized. There was already a considerably lower amount of women picked." The woman explained whilst twirling her hair with her arms crossed.

Lisa turned, her eyes rolling whilst thinking about what point the lady was trying to make. - "I- I don't know what you mean."

"If they randomly picked it'd be a 50/50 split, they deliberately chose less women, which means there are going to be more men eliminated from the games by a factor of 1 to 4." she moved her hands a lot whilst explaining, giving Lisa a little smile as she finished.

She was right thought Lisa, that made perfect sense, they must be less likely to get eliminated because they will need to balance the games going forward since size is their main entertainment factor. 

"I totally understand you now, what's your name?"

"Beth." the girls shared a moment, many among the group were quickly becoming friends and plotting plans together. Some simply liked having someone to talk to. Lisa felt as though this lady could be useful to the rest of the games, if she was this quick to hand her over useful information, why wouldn't she do it again?

"WELCOME TO THE FIRST GAME. LET IT BE NOTED AMONG COMPETITORS THAT YOU ARE NOT TWO TEAMS, YOU ARE SIMPLY DIFFERENT. YOU ARE ALL AGAINST EACH OTHER. THAT BEING SAID YOU CAN TEAM WITH WHOEVER YOU LIKE REGARDLESS."

The men were walked into a small glass container, from looking outside it they could see what appeared to be a bunch of random walls connected in a maze like fashion, they were huge though, clearly regular sized. Down below the maze walls were gaps underneath, the maze could be entirely dodged by them, they could walk in a straight line if they choose to. Their glass pen had no ceiling but kept them from moving around the floor at the start of the room. They heard rumbling and thumping begin to creep up on them, their floor shaking more and more. To their far left they saw a flood of the female competitors exist a giant door, stepping into the room and surveying the maze. The giants began spreading out across the line, some making their way to the glass pen.

A woman with long black hair stopped above them smiling. "Well hello boys, how are we doing today?" her white teeth glistened in the light as she let her smile shine over them, enjoying the attention below.

One guy bantered to his acquaintance next to him. "My god, Kevin. The things I'd let that woman do to me." he blushed.

His friend Kevin laughed. "I wouldn't be far behind you, buddy."

The man decided to try his luck speaking to her individually. - "Hey darling, whats your name?"

"Which of you spoke just now... you, bald head." she pointed her gigantic finger down at them. The man raised his hand with a smile on his face.

"I am Andrea, and I'm going to win this game-show. Just so you guys know."

"Don't worry Andrea, when I win, I'll take you out and finally give you something worth using that body for." he shouted before bursting out laughing, him and his new friend both enjoying the view.

Andrea rolled her eyes, not impressed by his attempt at flirting. She never gets any real compliments without tacky power moves from guys, she tuts at the men before walking away.

Thomas was inspecting the room, figuring out the best course of action for them. He had a fairly strong idea of what the game was, it was a fairly simple starter. He approached Joel - "I'm figuring out our strategy, I need you to do personality checks on the other competitors, the women. Figure out who is aggressive, who isn't a threat, who is fast, who is scared. All of that." Joel nodded and began looking out the window at the various women. There were so many so he targeted a few.

There was a girl with long straight brown hair at the back, her hands were behind her back whilst she was leaning on a wall, her hair covered some of her face and she stared deeply into the smooth floor, avoiding eye contact. Joel made the conclusion that she must be shy, she likely won't make first moves or attempt to finish first.

His eyes darted to the girl from earlier, Andrea. She liked attention and seemed confident, she may be someone to watch out for, however she could be all talk. She didn't look athletic. However, there was another woman in front of the shy girl, she was stretching and seemed fairly good at it, her body is lean and she looks serious. She was ringing alarm bells for Joel, she seems the most serious and will likely be the fastest competitor in what appears to be a movement game.

His eyes fell upon Lisa, she was discussing something with another girl. We'll need to ask for their help when we get through this one.

"Joel, what are you thinking so far?" Thomas asked whilst joining his survey. Joel pointed to the very back.

"The athletic girl, she's going to be a tough one, she seems serious and agile." 

"Definitely agree, the quiet ones are always the most focused. I've also got a good idea of the game. Let me explain-"

Moments later.

"WELCOME TO GAME NUMBER ONE; THE CHASE. IN THIS GAME OUR MINIMIZED AND REGULARS HAVE DIFFERENT GOALS, MINIMIZED YOU MUST REACH THE END OF THE ROOM TO AVOID ELIMINATION. REGULARS YOU MUST TRAVERSE THE MAZE WHILST ELIMINATING MINIMIZED INDIVIDUALS, YOU MUST ELIMINATE 5 AND REACH THE END TO PASS. THIS GAME WILL TERMINATE AUTOMATICALLY IN 15 MINUTES."

Andrea had a big smile. "Capture five? far too easy." she thought to herself whilst looking down at the two men from earlier.

"MINIMIZED RECEIVE A 30 SECOND HEAD-START. LET THE GAME BEGIN."

"I believe the game is a balanced race, we must avoid giants whilst navigating freely under the maze. We need to choose the optimal path where it will take them the longest to reach us and jump between sections that are further apart as well. I can't see the full maze but I believe we should start in the entrance for the giants."

"You want us to start in their entrance? are you insane."

"Joel, you don't have to listen to me. It's up to you, I know the structure of mazes, as soon as we pass under the wall of the entrance we should be pretty far ahead, the maze should go on a tangent on the right side. It'll give us the best head start possible.

"I don't have another plan so we're gonna have to go with it.."

Thomas' plan echoed in Joel's mind, pointing his body in the general direction of the entry point for the women. Taking a huge deep breath he looked to his right and saw Thomas nodding at him with determination.

The glass lowered immediately causing all men to go straight forward onto the right side of the maze, hundreds of them grouped together. From the perspective of the regulars, they saw a small blob of moving dots heading in the same direction together, they were then distracted by two dots going completely left out the front of them heading towards their entrance.

"Those two guys are so stupid..." Beth whispered under her breath to Lisa.

Going entirely left in order to reach the entrance had put a strong dampener on their head start as they finally started reaching a wall just as the regulars were released. All of their eyes were on the two at the entrance, two easy targets right out in front. They started sprinting towards the two tinies.

Joel turned around to see tens of stamping feet rushing towards him.

"Don't look behind you!" Thomas shouted whilst pointing forwards at the first wall they could pass under. "We're safe there, run, run, run!"

Joel screamed for his life as he looked up to see multiple faces closing in on him running, they wanted his point by capturing him, he wouldn't let them. Both men dove under the wall turning around to see hands slamming right where they were, trying to grab them like they were a 90% off TV on Black Friday. As far as those girls were concerned, him and Thomas were worth nearly 100 million dollars.

"Joel, we must keep moving. We've likely taken the lead now, they will probably be redirected to the other group who went together. Let's run!" Thomas tugged at his shirt, pulling him forward as he was still catching his breath, but it quickly left him again as they kept running.

On the right side the man flirting with Andrea & his friend Kevin both stumbled whilst running, surrounded by 40 other men going in the same direction. - "Why are we following these losers? we can take a better route under this maze and win alone!"

"Hell yeah, you are right Mark. Good thinking." both Men passed under the wall on the left into the next maze lane, thumping surrounded all the men on the right who were scared of this violent thumping feeling being exerted on their bodies. Over on the left side Thomas and Joel felt more confident as they could feel light rumbling. Thomas continued to unravel what he believe to be the layout of the maze. - "It's quiet here, which worries me greatly. Because there are still lanes here, meaning the right side will likely unravel and come back this way, we could be running straight into someone for all we know." he explained.

"We can run right where the wall crosses over, so if someone shows up we can cross over into another maze section." Joel suggested to Thomas. Which he nodded and accepted this thought process.

"Sounds like a plan. Lets keep going."

Mark & Kevin, moved diagonally through many lanes, the stomping not becoming any quieter, but louder and surrounding them more and more. 

"Mark I don't feel good about our plan, at least with the group we could use them as a distraction but this-" Kevin was cut out suddenly by Mark.

"No, Kevin. If we reach the end with those bozos then we're getting a smaller piece of the pie. Don't you want the full 100 million??"

"Yeah but-"

Two loud stomps began pressing towards them very quickly, Kevin turned around to see Andrea's hand falling out the sky scaring him into a panic attack, such a large object falling onto them activating their bodies danger reflex. She gripped both men in her hand as she rose back to her full stature.

"I captured two! Not only that but the exact ones I wanted." she smirked at them with an evil look, her cute Asian complexion from earlier vanishing and ruining their attraction they once had. Mark used his fists on her hand in anger.

"Just our luck, we take a detour and get captured by the same girl from earlier! Now we're eliminated and we get none of the money!"

"I told you Mark, we should've went with the crowd." Kevin remarked as they both lay in her lightly clutched hand.

Andrea had her hand raised in excitement, holding up her prized score points. Looking up at the scoreboard on the wall she noticed her score was still 0. Maybe it takes time to appear she thought? her eyes were drawn to the words next to her number. "0 eliminations". Why didn't it say captures?

There were a total of 0 eliminations yet, before Andrea could figure out why her captures didn't work a tip came on the scoreboard.

"MINIMIZED MUST BE ELIMINATED, NOT CAPTURED."

"How do I do that?-" Andrea looked down at the men, her eyebrow raising with curiosity. She plucked Mark out with her left hand, clutching him between her index finger and thumb. Looking back at her hand splayed out at Kevin. She slowly closed her hands with strength.

"What are you- stop- AHH- AHHHH"

Her hand came to a full close creating crunching and snapping noises, Kevin's screams faded out as she clutched harder and harder. Feeling her hands becoming wet. Releasing her grip to unveil a red splodge of goo. Her mouth agape with surprise but not out of disgust.

"FIRST POINT TO PLAYER 23"

She turned her head to Mark in her fingers. Who was crying and screaming with panic, his friend being totally crushed in a powerful hand setting him totally off the rails with the realistiation of the term "elimination". 

"This wasn't part of the deal! Don't kill u-" Marks words were cut off by the G-force he experienced as she raised her hand into the air with Mark between her fingers, the forces moving his organs around as he moved across the sky in her clutch at the speed of sound, only able to make groaning noises as his body panicked. She paused aiming at the ground. "Don't-" he uttered before the forces started again, she swung her hand full force towards the ground releasing the tiny man hurtling towards the ground. He slammed into the ground so incredibly fast, his organs kept travelling as the rest of his body came to a full stop splashing out into the floor surface still as such speeds that they also instantly exploded. Bones colliding with an immeasurably harder surface than them with zero capability of giving way for his body causing him to shatter into million of pieces like glass. His body was totally unrecognizable from the powerful impact.

Andrea's score rose once again to two, she flicked her hair behind her as she figured out how to play. She began continuing her way through the maze with a smirk on her face.

"Joel, the crowd of men are spreading out, they will likely end up in our section."

"So?"

"More of us means more giants looking for us."

As they were talking Joel saw two figures not moving, they were their size and in the middle of a pathway. He went towards them.

"Joel we don't have time!" Joel kept looking but followed Thomas anyway, he didn't want to risk elimination by stopping.

"What's your name?"

"Theo.. I'm- I'm scared."

"I'm Sergio. It's okay to be scared, it's pretty scary here, friend. But you have to keep moving. That'll keep you out of danger, you feel me?"

Theo nodded back at the man, sensing some trust in his father-like tone. This man must be a father to someone on the outside.

"I believed we were just competing here, but I've seen some pretty violent things since the game began a few minutes ago, it's not safe at all. We'll reach the end together, come on." Sergio began rising to his feet anticipating that Theo would follow him.

"You don't understand, I can't be in here in the first place. I don't have time-" Theo explained before Sergio was interrupted by a regular coming around the corner scanning the floor, Sergio noticed her immediately, her shoulder length blonde hair swaying from her corner turn.

"We have to move now!" He grabbed the short teenager by his arm with his fatherly reflexes & burly figure, pulling him to safety. He heard a loud gasp from the girl behind him followed by intense booming, they had been spotted and the woman was rushing towards them to score her points, there was no way he'd get under this maze wall before she reached them. He glanced above to see the woman lifting her foot above the two boys, Sergio instinctively made a split-second decision, turning his body 360 degrees to build momentum whilst clutching Theos arm. He released the arm from his grasp sending the small teenager barreling sidewards towards the outside of the maze corridor they were in. Theo thumped on the ground looking forward to see a monolithic foot landing on top of Sergio, a horrible violent crushing noise was heard from Theo who was 30 feet away, he looked on in horror at his only friend here being compressed underneath a huge peach wall.

"Joel, where are you going?? We can't get distracted by other competitors!" Thomas shouted whilst signalling towards the direction where the finish line was, still far out of reach. His partner not sticking to their plan and not understanding the repercussions of his actions was incredibly frustrating to watch. Maybe this man wasn't the best choice afterall, he has too much care & sympathy for others, a notable trait on the outside, but in here it's going to be the death of him. Thomas' face began to shake as his frustrating rose from inside his head to the outside, now visible on his face, gritting his teeth and unleashing a-

"Fine, die on your own, you idiotic hero!" quickly turning around and continuing his journey to victory, this time alone.

"Two at the same time!" The woman exclaimed after slamming her foot onto Sergio below, she looked at the scoreboard noticing a zero on her player number, causing her to be frustrated. She lifted her barefoot off the tiny man below and lifted it upwards to her face surveying the sole of her foot, noticing one red corpse bent around the curve of the ball of her foot. - "I definitely have at least one..." she thought to herself confused. Sergio groaned out in horror and pain as he stared above into the giant face of the blonde haired girl blood covered his eyes making it hard to see any details of her face. His body pumped so much adrenaline into his body to cope with the pain but it simply couldn't, his chest had erupted and most of his bones had shattered. He was coated in red on almost every part of his body. As he screamed with no intent above to the girl she noticed his noises and body movements.

"Oh, I didn't quite get him. That explains it." She lowered her foot close to the ground, hovering it over the hard white floor. Theo looked at the mangled mess stuck to her foot, Sergio looked at him with his jaw broken mumbling incomprehensibly. Her foot then broke its hover by slamming straight onto the ground creating another crush noise, she twisted this time with the ball of her foot in order to guarrantee elimination. Her point appeared on the board, giving her a little hop of joy unfortunately creating another big squelch noise to Theo below, mashing up more of whatever was left beneath her. Her eyes fell to the floor in hopes of finding the second point she thought she had, her eyes fell upon Theo who was sitting down with his arms supporting him, unable to move.

"You're a fast one" she said as she approached him, the blood stained marking on her foot fully visible to Theo who stared up in shock. Only to be grabbed out of danger once again by someone, Joel tackled Theo 10 feet. Barely dodging the mega weight that collided with the floor behind him. Turning around he saw the french pedicured foot twisting, the girl couldn't feel anything, lifting her foot to disappointment, no point again. Joel noted the destruction before him and the mess she had made of the other man he saw whilst passing by causing his stomach to ache and his heart to skip a beat. He looked up at her face, it was the girl Lisa was talking to earlier.

"Hey Beth wait up." he turned to see Lisa walking into view in the distance, distracting Beth. Joel took off sprinting whilst tightly holding the teen boy in his arms.

"He's gone again! Lisa, help me get him." - "Sure"

In the distance miles ahead of Joel, Thomas was still running, behind him he could hear the footsteps of two approaching giants, both of them frantically running through the maze trying to find Theo, or a free point as they saw it, Joel had Theo over his shoulder. Theo kept struggling and pushing Joel's head managing to squirm his way out of his grip and took off running in the same direction as Joel, this time on his own. Blasting his way forwards with ease, he was incredibly fast, passing maze lanes faster than Joel by a fair margin. He felt better seeing the boy sprinting ahead to safety, he had a huge advantage with speed like that, unfortunately Joel had effectively placed himself in danger in order to protect this teenager from imminent danger, so now he had to do the same for himself. From his sound assessment he could tell they were approaching him quicker than he was evading, he noted a corner that connected underneath to two different lanes, he stopped and turned around. Facing the direction of the booming, sweat drenching his face as he waited for company to arrive, looking into the distance he could see the feet underneath the walls in the gaps designed for minimized they had been running under, they were one corridor away.

The pair came around the corner, eyes tightly focused on the floor and identifying Joel in the corner swiftly. Beth wasted no time diving to the floor with her hands cupped together in the hopes of catching the tiny man between them, landing on her elbows. As her hands zoomed towards Joel he dove backwards under the wall as Beth's hands rammed straight into the wall, causing her to let out a "Ow! Fuck!" on the other side, he quickly turned right heading under a different wall.

Lisa took over as Beth struggled to stand up as her hand was now partially injured from ramming the metal wall with her body weight. She quickly looked for the section the man was in, finding absolutely nobody on the floor.

"He's gone!" She exclaimed to her friend finally approaching from behind.

"What do you mean? He was right there, I almost had him." Beth shouted back angrily.

Joel heard the words in the distance as he tricked them into thinking he had went forwards, when in fact he dove under the right wall immediately separating them entirely from each other. How could Lisa even participate in this? had all the money went to her head? she chased him down like he was some insect, admittedly she didn't know it was him, but he couldn't guarantee she would be able to identify him in the moment. Avoiding her was the best thing to do for now.

He approached the longest corridor he had seen before, still sticking close to the maze walls so that he could evade any giants if they spotted him. He could hear the echos of the game being played around him. "Shit, I missed!" - followed by scary laughing on his left, all noises melted together by the consistent thumping noises vibrating across the floor and into his body. None of these audios sounded particularly close to him allowing him to jog with ease, preserving his energy. Joel stopped for the briefest of moments, thinking this was a great time to rejuvenate his energy and check the scoreboard. It wasn't particularly useful as it displayed player numbers instead of names, doubtful that anyone had remembered the numbers of people other than themselves. It did however act as a useful informational tool for loss of fellow competitors, what he was most interested in was the timer, 5 minutes remained. Joel leaned forward with his hands on his legs whilst violently exhaling carbon from his lungs, a strong sign that he was out of his depth running this much as a man with a desk job.

Suddenly he sat up slightly, inhaling and holding his breath as he heard & felt something. He listened carefully for a few seconds hoping that the silence would linger forever and that his instincts were wrong. After 6 seconds of silence what he heard was a faint exhale of air, instantly setting off his reflexes as he dove to the right. A giant weight slamming on his now left, landing on his shoulder violently from throwing himself, he looked to the left to see a massive dainty hand attached to a long arm extending above him, the nails painted a pastel pink. The hand lifted off the floor revealing a reddish palm, not only red from the impact but also red stained from blood. He looked above seeing a pair of scared puppy-like eyes and straight brown hair, the shy girl.

"I'm sorry but please stand still. I wanted it to be fast so you wouldn't notice." the girl spoke, at the same time she was lifting her arm in the air again with the intention of slamming down a second strike, hopefully scoring her a point this time. Joel shrieked using his legs to throw himself backwards away from her, her hand landing straight on top of him with great force, he flinched closing his eyes. Opening them slowly after hearing the impact to unveil that he had survived between her giant fingers, swaying his head quickly left to right feeling the warm emanating from the fingers. Her hand lifted once again but this time turning towards her face, she was inspecting her hand for the same bloody mark she created earlier on the same hand. Joel stole this opportunity immediately by running full speed once again. The girl was crouched over him when she tried to smack him, meaning she's on the ground, if he goes straight left to get under the maze wall there is a good chance she could grab him before then, instead Joel decided that the best thing to do was to sprint forward making some distance before turning into the wall as he felt her booming approaches.

His body creaked and the stitch in his stomach from running worsened, awaiting the vibrations for his cue to run for the wall. But they never came, had she left him alone? He turned his head whilst running to watch behind him to be greeted with a foot on it's own, which meant the other one was...

Joel turned 90 degrees to his right whilst moving backwards as the foot landed inches in front of his body, the sheer power of the stomp sending giant vibrations into his body blasting him backwards in front of the maze wall. He sat up to see the foot already lifting off the ground swiftly, he rolled backwards under the wall to yet again have a close call with the pale foot landing right where he was, missing him by a metre. Looking directly at the left side of the left foot pressed as close to the wall as it could physically go. He stood there with his hands on his knees taking in the near-death situation he had avoided. The foot moved away from the wall instead an eye taking its place looking under the maze wall inspecting him, she was on the ground looking at him.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I don't have a choice. I don't want to die either." the young girl explained, her voice sounded somewhat sympathetic and sad, which made sense in relation to her words. Joel didn't let her speak much more and continued pressing forwards in the new lane he found himself in. He eventually found the finish line in his view, he just had to cross underneath one more wall ahead then he would finally reach a real wall, the end of the game. He picked up the pace hoping to get there sooner rather than later. As he started his sprint he heard heavy sprinting around him so well timed to his sprint that it felt like his own footsteps but it definitely was not, he turned to once again be greeted with a distant enemy. The athletic girl was now in full sprint, covering so much ground to his tiny perspective that it was mind boggling, she had spotted his white clothing clad body from a large distance away and intended on finishing up her game. Joel pushed himself further than he ever thought possible, his body wanted to collapse and give up, it couldn't handle a walk at this exertion level, never mind a sprint but he persevered, the wall coming ever closer just as the stomps did. He crossed the wall, his arms splayed out with the essence of an athletic sprinter who had just cleaned up gold. The athletic girl wouldn't give up that easily, slamming her foot straight under the gap under the wall hoping to clip the man underneath instead striking him with lethal force like a football sending him flying right across the victory line and onto the ground, his body crayoning across the floor, the friction of his body slowly bringing him to a stop.

He took in the horrible pain and impact, opening his eyes whilst groaning heavily. His eyes met those of Theo on his left and Thomas on his right.

"Oh my god, sir, are you okay??" Theo leaned over him with his hand behind Joel's head, lifting it off the hard floor. His eyes twitching open and shut whilst his head swayed from the dizziness of the impact.

"What happened...?" he briefly uttered trying to regain control of his motor functions. He managed to open his eyes fully seeing a shadow in the distance behind the wall he ran under. "I definitely made it under that wall, I don't understand." he placed his hand over his forehead whilst shaking his head towards the ground, trying to shake off the trauma.

"Someone on the other side kicked you, we saw you flying past us and her foot was sticking out from underneath. Looks like she just barely managed to clip you with the tip of her toes." Thomas pointed whilst explaining the situation to Joel, making a lot more sense out of his situation.

"I see." He turned towards Theo whilst trying to get up. - "What's your name, kid?"

"Theo, sir."

"Call me Joel, please."

"I'll stop calling you sir when you stop calling me kid."

Joel let out a quiet laugh "Sure thing, kid." managing to get a small smirk out of Theo. "You're very fast. You left me in the dust back there."

"I'm so sorry, I was scared. I just couldn't stop running all the way to the end."

"No no, not at all. I'm glad you managed to get here in one piece."

"Thanks to you, sir." he smiled at Joel.

"I'm glad you made it out, Joel." Thomas said, giving him a small friendly jab on his shoulder. Joel's positive facial expression melting into an irritated one.

"No thanks to you." he snarked at Thomas, walking past him without making eye contact. This man had no support, they were supposed to be a team.

"I said you couldn't trust me! I wasn't going to help you make a reckless decision, what if you ended up dead out there? We both would've been toast!" Thomas shouted passionately, trying to be reasonable about the stakes at play in the situation they found themselves in.

"Well instead it was just me and the kid, so I'm glad you'll be able to sleep at night." Joel expressed with clear distaste for Thomas' actions and lack of empathy for the other competitors. Thomas shook his head in disappointment at Joels inability to understand the situation strategically, would Joel truly risk his life for Thomas had the roles been reversed? If he would then he's a fool he thought to himself.

Theo followed up behind Joel choosing to stick with his savior instead of the other man he'd barely met. 

" I saw you sitting out there, you shouldn't have been relaxing with all that danger surrounding you. That was reckless." Joel explained to Theo who was closely sticking next to him as they walked together, heading towards the middle of the success strip where all the finishing minimized wandered waiting for the game timer to end. "I'm going to assume that's what the other guy was explaining to you back there."

Theo swallowed quite heavily as he remembered what happened to the poor man that was looking out for him. - "He died because of me.."

"That might be true, but he did that for a reason. You need to stick this out, for him. He'd want you to get out of here because you're young and you've got so much to experience. I know this because I was prepared to do the same thing for you, I know exactly what was going through his head. So stick with me and I'll help you." Joel held out his fist offering a friendly fist bump to Theo, who lightly smiled giving him one back. Joel looked up at the scoreboard examining the status of the game still in progress.

"MINIMIZED ELIMINATED: 96

REGULARS ELIMINATED: N/A

TIME REMAINING: 4:06"

"Sir, why does the regulars eliminated say that? have none of them been eliminated at all?" Theo asked looking worried at the potential of their strength.

"Don't worry, kid. It means "not applicable" because their eliminations are determined at the end of the time limit. We'll see how it shapes up then." Joel explained to Theo who nodded back at him.

Joel and Theo looked ahead at the giants who had already passed the game, there were ten of them awaiting the timer ending. As they inspected their successful opponents another lady exited the end of the maze and made her way to the other girls in front of them, it was the athletic girl who had almost killed him.

"What took you so long, Alessia? I've been here for 4 minutes already." the girl she was approaching asked her.

"I got distracted by two of them, nearly got the last one right at the end. Had to back track to find one. He got so lucky-" She turned and looked down at Joel & Theo. "Him! On the right, he was the one I missed. You barely got away from me." the other girl snickered at her friends comment to Joel, Alessia snared down at him in disapproval, her toned muscled legs glistening in the light from sweat. Her face totally drenched, she must've struggled to find anyone in there as it definitely was not decided by her strength or speed because she had plenty of that.

Theo & Joel were once again distracted by a man running towards the completion line, raising hands arms in the air as he approached the line in relief, a pose of victory as he went to cross the finish line. - "Finally! I thought the line would never appear, I've been running for-" *SMASH*

A foot had suddenly appeared where the man had intended to cross the finish line creating a vibration for all tinies surrounding the slam. Theo & Joel looked on in shock.

"I got my fifth one, honey!" the woman exclaimed excitedly whilst crossing into the finish line after barely securing her fifth point. Her foot leaving the corpse smashed in the floor behind her. She crouched down to the floor right in front of Theo & Joel both of them taking a step back as they were covered in her shadow as she blocked out the light for them, they flinched in fear despite knowing she likely wasn't allowed to harm them as they both passed. She lowers her fist shaped hand in front of them releasing her grip revealing her palm with a man lying in it, he quickly jumped out to the ground in front of the boys. 

"Thanks for the lift, Kristen!" he shouted up at her with a smile on his face, waving. 

Alessia & her friend both looked at each other totally bewildered. - "You can't do that. She- she can't do that. The tiny cheated, this woman gave him a free lift to the end!" Alessia's friend exclaimed at a guard on her right. The guard turned to her slowly.

"THERE ARE NO RULES ON ANY COMPETITORS WORKING TOGETHER, NO MATTER THE SIZE." then turned to face Kristen instead, she slowly walked towards her, then stopping in front of her and the tinies below getting a giant shot of their boots.

"SUCCESSFUL TINIES CAN NO LONGER BE ELIMINATED. THIS IS AGAINST THE RULES" the guard explained, referring to Kristens recently obtained fifth point. Kristen turned around looked at the corpse.

"It's below the line, meaning he didn't reach the finish line. He hadn't won yet, so my point should stand." Kirsten explained to the guard firmly.

"VERY WELL." the guard turned and looked at the three men below Kristen for a few seconds before resuming their guard duties in the corner of the room.

Kristen quickly got excited as her point stood and she was able to proceed with her partner. "We did it, Michael! We'll have that money in no time." she hopped up and down in excitement, creating tremours for the trio below. 

"Great job, honey! You were amazing." he turned around to the face Theo & Joel who looked curiously at the man. "That's my wife, what an advantage, right?"

Joel's eyes widened, leaning forward. They had met a man with a friendly giant who was helping him win, this could be their ticket through the games. - "Oh wow! So she's helping you? maybe you could help us get through a few games." he pointed at Theo as he said "us", hoping to see some support from the positive man.

"and why would I ever do that?" Michael asked Joel with a bewildered look on his face. - "I have the advantage here, not you and we're going to ride with it until the very end. But I'll tell you what, when my wife is carrying me to victory I'll ask her to make it quick when she crushes you in her hand. Promise." He then nodded and walked past them. "Good luck, boys." he walked into the distance with a smug look on his face. His wife, Kristen following him from behind, her massive feet slamming in front of Joel & Theo, carrying her immense weight as she passed them with a smile on her face.

Joel looked very disappointing, how stupid could he be, thinking that guy would help them. He was only in a good mood because he had a nearly 100% chance of winning by being probably the only person with a giant partner. He turned to see more giant victors exiting the maze, his eyes noted Lisa & Beth. It was time to fight fire with fire.

Chapter 3: Tag Team

"30 REGULARS HAVE FAILED TO ACQUIRE 5 POINTS & REACH THE END, ELIMINATE THEM." a voice commanded around the room from a communication system somewhere. Multiple guards abandoned their posts to head into the maze, screaming could be heard around the room, mostly feminine vocals and they were quickly silenced. The guard in the corner who questioned Kristen mostly stayed put but then decided to approach the survivors in the victory area. They looked around at multiple people and down at the tinies, their mask stopping on a lady in the other corner who looked nervous, avoiding eye contact with the guards line of sight, she was sweating and staring into space. The guard approached her with  robotic soldier-esque steps. Stopping before the woman she turned her head to inspect her.

"Wha- what.. I'm here, I won."  the woman said very nervously.

The guard lifted her arm abruptly pointing towards the scoreboard. - "YOU ARE PLAYER 3. YOU HAVE ACQUIRED 4 POINTS." Her hand returning to her side acquiring her white weapon from her belt.

The woman's breathing shot up quickly as she took scared steps backwards, backing right into the corner. - "BUT I'M HERE, I MADE IT. LEAVE ME ALONE"

The guard took evil slow steps towards the woman, looking down on her as she fell to her bottom with her knees against her chin, frantically trying to compress her body into the wall even though it would go no further, attempting to avoid whatever was about to happen to her. The guard pointed their white weapon at the woman blasting her with it in front of the audience of victors who watched in curiosity for some, horror for others. What they saw was the very same woman they saw a moment ago lying on the ground at approximately an inch tall.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" the woman yelped out below before a boot smashed straight onto her body destroying her instantly, the stomp was so fast and hard that the noise of the impact drowned out any violent noises below, the guard lifted it immediately and started walking back to the center of the victory area. The guards were robotic in every sense of the word, they took no emotion in their actions, the guard simply eliminated her and left immediately without savoring the moment or surveying her destruction.

"YOU MAY ENTER THE NEXT ROOM." the guard spoke to the others around them, everyone began moving into their relatively sized doors for each size. Joel began pressing forwards at the back of the queue, a big black boot appeared in front of him with creaking noises as it landed. The guard looked around at the others proceeding to the next room, checking to see if any of the competitors were looking in their general direction. Turning back to Joel who looked up in fear, they gestured with their hand by lifting two fingers up to indicate "two". But "two what?" Joel thought to himself. The guard then lifted their shoe and proceeded through the big door behind the other regulars.

30 REGULARS & 159 MINIMIZED ELIMINATED.

20 REGULARS & 41 MINIMIZED REMAIN.

All the survivors entered a large white room, it had a shower section and the same comfortable looking beds from the corridor rooms they started in. The remaining survivors tally was left on a giant monitor at the front of the room for all to see.

"REST. GAME 2 WILL BEGIN TOMORROW AT DAWN." the guard briskly walked away leaving all remaining survivors in the room together alone.

Most people were quiet and headed for the showers or a bed immediately trying to make use of this calm time they'd get to themselves.

"159 people... gone. Just like that." Joel thought to himself whilst zoning out staring at the monitor, the number "159" burned into his brain, whilst he was fighting his own battles, over a hundred and fifty other people were losing theirs. Him, Theo or even Lisa could've been part of that loss.

Joel & Theo resorted to two nearby small beds for their size as they were both utterly exhausted, it seems as though most of the minimized wanted to hit the beds immediately due to their exhaustion whereas the regulars did not, they hadn't had to work or panic nearly as much in the face of violent death constantly, as well as having a much easier path to victory. Both of the boys lay there in silence, not uttering a word. Murmurs filled the air as well as the constant thumping vibrations from passing regulars above. Joel let his eyes close slowly as he drifted off...

"HEY GUYS" Joel jolted awake standing up with his fists up in an instinctive defensive stance, behind him Theo was sitting with his knees up at his chest looking ahead. Joel looked up at the face of a stranger he hadn't seen so far, she was squatting over them, her big blue eyes scanning over them, her blonde hair was drooping down her side in front of Joel. He stayed with his fists up knowing he probably couldn't even take on her finger in a fist fight if he tried, his defensive stance made him feel safer so he kept with it.

"Oh my gosh, sorry! Did I wake you? I didn't realize you were actually sleeping, that's an incredibly brave thing to do in here. Luckily you had your little friend watching over you, you never know what some of the girls in here might try to do." She spoke lightheartedly towards the boys, her face was steam covered and her smell was emanating over them. She must have been fresh out the showers. Joel licked his dry lips still scanning this girl for any hint of danger, but he simply couldn't find it. - "Hello? Come on, talk to me. I'm probably the only friend you'll find in here. I just wanted to talk to you both, I heard rumours you've been protecting the kid there, is that true?" she asked whilst tilting her head forward at Theo. Joel looked behind him and then back to her, giving a quick nod. - "That's so cute, I love that. Everyone here is looking out for themselves, I want to be better than that too. Let's all work together, I also think there's probably a game coming up that will be advantageous with cooperation between sizes. Well even if there isn't, it's worth teaming up anyways. Right?" She smiled wide and her eyes glistened in the light.

Joel couldn't help but trust her.

"I'm Joel, this is Theo." He spoke briefly without any energy to her, still implying his cautious behavior towards her.

"I'm Lara. Your new teammate. If you'll have me"

Joel nodded. - "Great." she exclaimed. "Now feel free to get some shut-eye, I'll keep watch for you." she stretched her legs out and lay on her back next to them, leaning against the wall behind them. She was unbelievably massive next to them on her back. There was no way he was going to let this stranger look out for him, he would rest but Joel refused to sleep another second with her sitting there, she didn't seem to be looking at him at all anymore. Almost like she didn't care if he even slept, everything about her demeanor suggested she was trustworthy. He turned towards Theo on his right as Lara wasn't looking, he used his two fingers and pointed towards both of Theo's eyes then back towards Lara, a gesture that implied to watch his back, Theo nodded three times quickly to show he understood the assignment. Joel turned over and began to lie down under his blanket.

"Whoever you knew on the outside, you don't know anymore." A guard stares at Joel, he couldn't see his own arms anymore, he was in the white room from the corridor.

"YOU ARE DESIGNED TO NEVER MAKE IT OUT ALIVE, A TINY HAS NEVER WON THE GAMES. WHY PRETEND YOU ARE ANY DIFFERENT. YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUMP TO YOUR DEATH AND GET IT OVER WITH." he looked over to the guard getting bigger and bigger into the sky, scaling twice as big as they were meant to when they are shrunk. - "I'LL TAKE CARE OF THE KID FIRST SHALL I?" their boot lifted directly over a bloody Theo on the ground who reached out for him.

"NOOOOO" Joel jolted awake in a great sweat as his own internal scream echoed in his mind, did any of that come out of his mouth he thought as he began to look around. He heard giggling as he came to his senses, becoming confused by this interaction faintly climbing into his ears. He turned to his left to see Lara with her knees up at her chest, Theo was sitting atop her knee in the air, they both had big smiles on their face. 

"That's so awesome, tell me more about her." she looked at him with curiosity and happiness.

"She would make really terrible pancakes, but- but they were like still her signature dish because only she could make them so terribly!" Theo shouted and laughed causing Lara to throw her head back with her mouth open in a smile, trying not to laugh. 

"How could you say such a thing about your mothers pancakes! Such an evil boy." she performed a fake angry facial expression whilst pointing her finger at his face. - "I'm sure she'll still be waiting for you Theo, I'm going to help you get back to her. No matter what" She wrapped her hand around him as he gave her arm a big hug. - "We should probably keep it down because Joel is probably-" she turned making eye contact with Joel who looked up with a smile on his face at the wholesome interaction he did not expect to see before him, a polarizing experience compared to the nightmare he woke up from. - "...sleeping. Never-mind, did we wake you? I'm soo sorry.. we tried to whisper but this little funny clown wouldn't stop making me laugh." Lara booped his nose with her finger as lightly as she could.

"Not at all, I just uh- had a nightmare. It woke me up." he explained whilst shaking his head trying to shake off the shivers from his night terrors.

"Aww. Well I'm sure you'll feel better soon." Lara said in an attempt to make Joel feel better.

"I already do." he smiled at her, causing her to smile back.

Over the speakers a loud chiming noise could be heard echoing around the room, causing lots of heads to jolt up, giving the noise the attention it demanded. Followed by the robotic words over the very same speakers. - "YOUR MEAL FOR TODAY WILL BE GIVEN OUT, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE TABLES."

"Nice, I thought they were never going to feed us, was starting to get worried there." Lara placed her palm out for the boys to jump on, which they did. She then got to her feet and began approaching the tables. All three of them noticing a set of tiny tables far right of the bigger one, separated by a fence and a couple of guards. To their right the black haired asian; Andrea passed them heading towards the tiny table which had 12 men already seated at it.

"Look at these amazing survivors down here, so small yet so strong. Maybe I'll recruit one of you for my team, wouldn't that be exciting..." she placed her hand on her chest gesturing towards herself whilst pouting, feeling her oats. - "...or I could just." She lifted her foot above the table, some of which began to scatter as an evil smirk crossed her face, some couldn't get out from under the table quick enough as her leg came down. Instantly stopped by a black gloved hand holding her knee up with great strength, Andrea looked up at a white masked guard, causing her to become afraid that she may have messed up.

"KILLING IN-BETWEEN GAMES IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. THOSE WHO BREAK OUR RULES ARE TO BE ELIMINATED." the guard stared into her soul with it's creepy emotionless white mask. She backed off a bit putting her hands in front of her, showing her palms.

"I don't hurt nobody, look they are fine. Right guys?" the guard didn't look down at the men below just as Andrea did, instead still looking at her identifying any quick movements she may attempt to make. - "See? they are fine. So we're good here right." The guard went back to their post behind the tiny table whilst Andrea headed to her regular table, blowing a kiss to the men below who were still recovering from their heart attack inducing near death experience.

"Sheesh, she's insane." Lara whispered to the men in her palm.

"Tell me about it, good thing we have you." Theo said looking up at her as she gave him a friendly protective smile.

"I think you guys should sit at my table next to me. It doesn't seem safe to leave you here, you have the guards but I fear they will still miss something. I can hold you close." She explained to them, Joel nodded in return.

"I agree" moving his head to Theo, not looking for a response from the kid but instead suggesting where his priorities were, protecting him from danger.

Lara headed towards the table finding a seat, she placed the boys onto the table, Theo was inspecting the food being placed trying to decide what he wanted to eat, knowing he was a picky eater and would have a hard time choosing. Joel instead chose to keep his eyes at who was at the table near them, attempting to be cautious of any dangerous people. On Lara's left appeared to be a random woman he hadn't seen yet with ginger hair and pale skin, she looked at him with a disgusted & confused look as she chomped into a piece of bread, ripping a chunk out. Joel shuddered at the violent mouth tearing looking into a different direction. On Lara's right was the athletic girl, "what was her name again? Alex- Alesha- no, Alessia! That's what her friend called" her he thought. In the far corner of their long rectangular table was Lisa, she was sitting next to Beth, they were both leaning into the table surface every few seconds, they must be talking to a minimized. He listened carefully to hear what they were saying...

"You're so smart Thomas, I love that idea." Beth said whilst Lisa nodded in agreement. Joel shook cursing at himself, that Thomas the scheming rodent, he'd went and scored a partnership with Beth & Lisa, not one but two giants. Looking to their left he could see Amy with her arms down by her side staring into the food, she wasn't talking to anyone and the girls around her seemed disinterested in speaking to her. Joel was surprised she managed to make it through even with her sympathetic personality, she was also quite slow during the first section, he would've thought any of the other 25 would've beaten her.

The other seats at this specific table seemed to be populated by giants he didn't know at all so they likely had no real vendetta against him but he'd have to be cautious still.

The food at the table appeared to be fairly mundane, bread, potatoes, plain biscuits that crumpled when you lifted them and water jugs. Lara asked Theo what he wanted whilst lifting him in the air with her fingers, he pointed towards the biscuit. She went in and picked it up for him placing it close to her chest on the table where he was safely able to snack in her protection. Joel looked on his far left past the fences towards the alone minimized on the floor, the guards were shrinking meals with their white firearms and placing them on the tables below, reminding Joel of the man from earlier who disobeyed and lost before the first game, they must've simply eliminated him after shrinking him.

Many of the girls appeared friendly with each other, acting like royalty without a care in the world, conversating more with each other than he thought they would. Andrea reached over for a biscuit causing Lara to instantly slam her palm sideways-up in front of Theo creating a wall immediately for his protecting and staring at Andrea. Andrea widened her eyes in a bit of a surprise. - "Relax, god. I was just going for something to eat." giving a light exhale of air from her nose in laughter. Lara bit her lip as she slowly lifted her palm away from Theo.

"Good reflexes." Joel said to Lara who looked down at him nervously nodding once.

"God these biscuits are so tasteless." Andrea said dramatically after taking a bite of a biscuit, she kept chomping whilst inspecting the biscuit.

Receiving a follow-up from Alessia "Tell me about it. I'll lose all my gains and ruin my diet with this serious lack of nutrition." she said refusing to touch most if and instead settling for a glass of water. 

"Oh woww we're sooo worried about your nutrition." She said sarcastically whilst rolling her eyes. - "I only care about the taste." She began reaching into the side pockets of her bottoms. - "Lucky I've got a topping for this biscuit." lifting a minimized person between her finger tips pulling him out of her pocket. Alessia's mouth widening in a smile.

"No. Way." Alessia said whilst laughing. - "Don't let the guards see you."

"I won't" she said as she winked at Alessia who was looking on in morbid curiosity. Joel was shocked staring at this man flailing between her fingers as Andrea dropped him onto her biscuit right where her first bite mark was. Darting his eyes up to Lara who wasn't paying attention to anyone other than Theo, he turned behind to see if any guards had noticed but they were all focused elsewhere, the redhead on his left watching Andrea and the man whilst finishing her bread. Andrea held the man from the head between her index finger and thumb, he was frantically using his arms to smack her nails on either side fearing that she was going to squish his head between them. Suddenly dropping him he fell onto his legs breaking his ankle and landing on his back on the corner of the biscuit. Andrea readied her hand around the biscuit elevating it up to her face, the man sitting upwards looking around to see fast approaching pink lips, looking down at his injured ankle and the bumpy sweet smelling surface. Quickly attempting to pull himself up to his other foot to start hopping, falling over almost immediately shouting "FUCK!". 

Joel started shouting at Lara. "You need to help him!" he said whilst pointing at Andrea.

The giant plump pink lips separated, strings of saliva bridging the parting flesh cushions, some snapping as the mouth got wider, her teeth then extending out more as the biscuit entered the darkness, the man was dropped closest to the edge exactly where she was intending on biting. "Please! You're not allowed to do this, stop!" he cried frantically hopping in the opposite direction, the travel speed of the biscuit was faster than his hopping as the inside of the lips and the outside world of the food table got further away. Looking up he saw the glistening white teeth directly above him, horror drooping all over his being.

"Help who? what?" Lara looked at Joel obliviously on her left, when the action was occurring on her right. She turned to see where he was pointing, seeing the side-wards silhouette of a man in Andrea's agape mouth atop a biscuit hovering inside her maw. Lara flinched gasping loudly Andrea chomped straight down through the biscuit closing her mouth over the minimized man instantly pushing the biscuit pile and the man to her molar on the left. Lara's loud gasp alerted a guard who looked to their right, coming over to inspect the table for trouble. Andrea started pasting the biscuit in her mouth, grinding through the hard surface with her large molars. The man looked at the biscuit being destroyed whilst leaning against the frantically moving wet tongue, suddenly pushing him face first into the wet paste in the molar, looking up he saw it falling as he fell off the tooth onto the cheek instead it slammed another smaller piece between the two teeth, the tongue retrieved him again and rolled him all the way back around. His body was drenched in saliva and brown biscuit paste, his ears were bombarded with violent crushing noises and growling coming from the back of her throat. The tongue pushed him onto the other molar on the right, he placed his hands up in panic as it finally fell onto his body.

The guard leaned onto the table causing all the competitors to stop eating and look at each other suspiciously, the guard stared at all the girls faces from left to right inspecting them for any sign of trouble. Andrea's face was incredibly still as the guard stared at her, not daring to move her jaw, she squinted her eyes into daggers as if challenging the guard. The guard turned to Lara who was leaning in talking to Joel but nobody could hear them.

The man lay on molar with another one pressed on top of him, the pressure was immense but not increasing and not enough to cause damage to him. Why had she stopped? he tried not to squirm for fear of changing this circumstance in any way, he didn't want to ruin his chances of staying alive.

"You have to help him!" he shout-whispered at her.

"Joel, I don't think you understand where we are or how any of this works, but not everyone is going to make it. We can't be superheroes and save everyone." she whispered back whilst leaning so close to him that she covered both Theo & Joel is a dark shadow.

"At least it'd be in a game where he gets a chance to try! Please!" He had his arms out practically begging her to help the man Andrea had just eaten.

"I can't do it Joel." she said in disappointment towards the man, Theo looked at both of them in the same way he had watched his parents fight when he was younger.

"Oh yes you can!" He shouted at her for real this time. Lara's face turned stern as she looked at Andrea smirking at the guard not speaking for fear of opening her mouth. Lara sighed really loudly whilst shaking her head, quickly rising her head and looking at the guard letting the words-

"This woman just ate a minimized!" she shouted at the guard causing everyone at the table to turn around and look at her in disbelief, she had just ratted her out and protected someone for no reason, effectively making her chances of winning slightly lower. Andrea slowly turned to her with a poker face mixed with passive anger for what she had just said. Everyone at the table watched this showdown happening with anticipation, Andrea slowly used her tongue to reposition the tiny man in the middle of her wet tongue, he frantically gripped the buds of her tongue to hold himself up and prevent his body from slipping or sliding around into places he didn't want to go, staring into the complete darkness of her closed mouth, it was exceptionally hot in here and he couldn't breathe for much longer.

The guard leaned in quickly with their hand out reaching for Andreas jaw, suddenly the people at the table all jumped in fear as the shatter of a glass was heard, everyone quickly turning to their left to see a shattered glass on the floor. Lisa was sitting there gritting her teeth. "Oops, fuck. Sorry." she said.

One moment was all it took, Andrea smiled instantly throwing her head back generating instant saliva and throwing it with forcing into the mans body, he went flying downwards slithering down her tongue. Screaming for his life as he went barreling down her throat. Joel & Lara watched the guard looking away for the briefest of moments whilst Andrea had her chin sticking upwards seeing her throat move at the same time just as the guard looked back at her, her chin was already lowered. Joel looked shocked to his core.

The man bounced in eternal darkness slamming into the slimy surface that was constricting him from above forcing him downwards and side-wards, hearing strange gurgling noises, the temperature absolutely skyrocketed within seconds as he groaned from the force on his body. Eventually splashing straight into a foul smelling hot liquid that he couldn't see, dunking under the surface frantically trying to swim to the surface as his muscles weakened.

The guard gripped her jaw once more forcing her mouth open, her gaping maw visible to the entire table with nothing visible. The guard looked at the regulars then back to Andrea, who shrugged in fake confused expression. Finally standing up and walking back to their post without ever saying a word. Andrea turned to Lara and snarled with the most foul expression quickly switching it up by turning to Lisa on the corner and lifting her head up in a quick respectful nod, which Lisa returned. Joel couldn't believe his eyes, Lisa had deliberately helped Andrea rid of the man, she didn't even know who he was and yet she helped this woman commit murder unfairly outside of the game-show setting.

Lara lowered her head in shame. - "It's fair to say we've likely made a lot of enemies today, Joel. We need to be very careful from here on out..."

Joel cursed internally at himself, this heroic attempt was different from previous ones, this one put other people in jeopardy rather than himself. As much as he wanted to commend himself for trying he couldn't, he had to admit to himself that he had made a mistake attempting to save that man who was already doomed and now the guard would never know as the evidence did not exist anymore.

Andrea looked down at Joel & Theo whilst patting her belly, Joel looked up in anger, his body containing inhuman levels of rage. Theo was simply shocked to his core unable to comprehend what had unfolded before him.

The man slowly bobbed lower and lower in the pitch blackness as his muscles melted away, his nervous system broken and destroyed by the ruthless acid around him, unable to feel anything anymore, his body went numb as his body turned to bones below the liquid line. He passed out falling backwards into the acid, it slowly dissolving the rest of the flesh on his face. Sinking below, his fate sealed as the 160th elimination within the game-show.

REMAINING LIVES

20 REGULARS, 40 MINIMIZED

Chapter 4: Wipe Out: Part I

20 REGULARS & 40 MINIMIZED REMAIN.

"PLEASE PREPARE FOR GAME NUMBER TWO." the voice bellowed over the speaker, the sound waves rocketing between the walls of the giant room, jolting everyone from their slumbers.

"GAME NUMBER TWO WILL BEGIN SHORTLY. YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES TO GATHER AT THE DOOR." 

Lara mumbled herself awake, lifting up her head with her eyes barely open and her hair a total mess, she turned towards Joel. "Looks like this is it."

"Yeah..." he responded whilst quickly rising out of bed.

The lights flickered on fully as people readied themselves, both physically and mentally. Lara walked over to the door with the scared boys in her hand, looking forward trying to focus on what was to come. The door open as the guard held their hand out as if signalling to the players to enter the next room via the corridor. Lara looked down and nodded at Joel with frantic nervous breathing, he nodded back with a thumbs up, a firm look of determination on his face.

The players entered a long white room, it stretched approximately 120 metres forward, 2 metres in front of the door was a massive drop into pitch black, it must have been at least a hundred feet deep into god knows where. This stretch of nothing went on nearly all the way to the end of the large room, connecting both ends was a large glass corridor filled with what looked to be...

"WELCOME TO GAME NUMBER TWO; OBSTACLE COURSE"

Lara's heart sank as she looked down at Joel with a scared look in her face, "I'm not athletic.." she said with a frown, her face struck with serious worry about her fate in this game already.

"Me neither" he said as he looked down holding his forehead in stress.

The glass corridor bridging the gap was filled with various sections, some with hoops or rocks on a wall, there was even a large staircase, they were matte red in order to stand out from the glossy white, however they were still a hard material with no padding. However down the middle of the obstacle course on the ground was what looked like a tiny version of a different obstacle course that stretched for the entire length of the big one despite being much smaller, it was directly inside the same corridor.

"I WILL NOW EXPLAIN THE GAME, THESE INSTRUCTIONS WILL NOT BE REPEATED." this caused everyone to walk closer whilst looking at each other, hoping to soak up every detail possible.

"TEAMS WILL BE TWO MINIMIZED TO A REGULAR, EACH MINIMIZED CAN CHOOSE A PARTNER TO MAKE THEIR TEAM HOWEVER THEIR REGULAR ASSIGNEE WILL BE DRAWN RANDOMLY." this caused a distressed look from Lara who realized she likely wouldn't get drawn with Joel so they couldn't work together.

"REGULARS AND ONE MINIMIZED OF THE TWO MUST RACE EACH OTHER IN THE SAME OBSTACLE COURSE CORRIDOR, MINIMIZED RECEIVE A 20 SECOND HEADSTART. THE GOAL OF THE REGULAR IS TO KILL THEIR MINIMIZED OPPONENT BEFORE THEY REACH THE END OF THE COURSE, IF THEY SUCCEED THEY WILL BE ALLOWED OUT THE OTHER END WHERE THEY CAN ELIMINATE THE OTHER MINIMIZED. THE MINIMIZED MUST REACH THE BUTTON OUTSIDE AT THE END OF THE COURSE, IF THEY MANAGE TO DO SO- THE FOLLOWING WILL HAPPEN..." the guard turned whilst signalling to a guard at the far back, who proceeded to press a button in his hand. The ground inside the glass corridor quickly threw itself open allowing anything inside to fall into the depths below, luckily it was empty, but it soon wouldn't be. The regulars would fall to their death if the minimized beat them to the end. The floor made audible mechanical noises as it lifted itself back up from it's trap door formation to create

"HOWEVER THE MINIMIZED'S OTHER PARTNER WILL BE IN A GLASS WATCH AREA NEXT TO THE CORRIDOR ABLE TO OVERSEE THE ENTIRE RACE, THEY CAN INTERACT WITH THE CONTROL PANEL INSIDE TO SABOTAGE THE OBSTACLES THAT THE REGULAR WILL BE USING. THAT IS ALL."

"Wha- what? do they seriously expect us to race you guys? There's no way.." Joel said whilst frantically throwing his arms around in a panicked confusion at Lara above. Contrary to her previous thoughts she was now worrying about getting put with Joel or Theo because they'd need to compete against each other to avoid death.

"No no, your partner sabotages them. It's a balance of strategy and athleticism, us regulars will need to be both at the same time. We likely have the upper hand on a base level but it largely depends on how well the two minimized work together. It's an interesting design." Lara inspected the course whilst figuring out all the details. - "I think I can win this Joel, this isn't what I was expecting but it's a turn for the better. I wonder what the sabotages can do to each obstacle, if I can figure it out I can avoid them-"

"I CAN'T- I cant win this! I'm- I'm me, I'm like fat and slow. I don't know what to do-" Joel silently paused his dramatic meltdown, stopping his hands in mid-air from waving around angrily, almost as if time froze for a brief moment, he slowly turned his body around to look at Theo who was staring at his with a blank expression, itching his head. "You!"

"Me? me what?" Theo muttered confusedly whilst pointing at himself with both hands.

"You are fast as hell, you can run the course with me in your corner. I remember, I saw you, you were like The Flash you blinked past me at the speed of sound. You were like BAZOO" Joel did a strange air sound effect whilst waving his arm from right to left, simulating someone moving really quickly. Theo looked at him with his head turned confused. - "I can be the sabotager, I'll protect you whilst you outrun all the competition! We'll be a great team." he held his fist in determination with a smile on his face. Theo started to understand and get behind the idea as a smirk crossed his face, he nodded as he understood the assignment. They looked up at Lara.

"Let's get out of this together, okay boys?" she said getting pumped up and ready for a tough game.

"MINIMIZED YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES TO CHOOSE A PARTNER. IF YOU FAIL TO SELECT ONE, YOU WILL BE RANDOMLY PAIRED WITH SOMEONE ELSE WITHOUT A PARTNER." the guard grabbed everyones attention away from their mumbled discussions, causing them to start focusing on the objective again, multiple minimized began scouting the floors looking for the right partner. Andrea rolled her eyes above as she watched the insects on the floor try to think their way out of this game, "how pointless" she thought, knowing most of them had the odds stacked against them.

"APPROACH ME WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR TEAM." this request caused Lara to lower Joel & Theo down to her feet, they turned to look up at her one last time in all her massive might, she smiled mouthing the words "good luck" silently at them. Joel nodded up as he began walking towards the guard with Theo.

4 minutes later...

"I WILL NOW DRAW THE COMPETITORS." everyone twiddled their thumbs nervously except for a couple of people who seemed overly confident, Joel noted their demeanour, notably Jenny the redheaded girl from the table that Joel briefly met. Andrea the violent asian girl & Alessia the athletic tanned woman. Alessia's confidence made sense, this was her church. He crossed his fingers hoping to avoid certain people.

"TEAM A" the guard pointed at one Martin & Michael, Michael looked terrified without the wifely protection of his other half; Kristen, who carried him through the first game figuratively and literally.  - "PLAYER 18" he pointed to a dainty asian woman in the crowd who looked to be no larger than 4'4 and was fairly thin. She was known to the outside world as Kim, a 19 year old art student. Martin & Michael didn't seem shaken by this choice, they were feeling lucky with this pick. - "ENTER THE CHAMBER" the guard ordered as Michael entered the chamber, shaking constantly on the way there. Martin entered the control room, getting a full view of the obstacle course. Above Michaels door was a staircase, he heard ground shaking thumps vibrating him as he approached his door, above him Kim stomped up the stairs to her starting point, which was directly above his by about half a foot.

"MINIMIZED HEADSTART. READY. SET." the guard spoke as Michael took his sprint stance. A buzzer went off giving him the signal that the obstacle course had began, he took off sprinting, quite slowly for a man rocking a dad bod who hadn't hit the treadmill in what looked like 14 years. His breathing already started to get too heavy as he hauled himself over a red cuboid obstacle quite poorly, causing him to roll off the other side barely landing properly heading into a protective tube that went through the staircase, it was his height thus designed to be a checkpoint of some kind. As he kept running and jumping over pads into the second section he felt booming starting distantly behind him, the vibrations becoming apparent to him that Kim had entered the race after his grace period. His speed suddenly rose by 130% as he became a dart, driving forwards with greater force.

Kim sprinted up the stairs as quickly as her short legs could push her upwards, she reached the top, pausing briefly to see Michael heading under her 2nd obstacle ahead. Suddenly the steps below her vanished turning the staircase into a ramp, she slipped all the way back down to the bottom landing on her ass then falling back onto her head. "What the fuck happened to the staircase?" she thought to herself as she looked up whilst holding the impact zone of where her head slammed the floor, the ramp then transformed back into a set of stairs.

"RAMP SABOTAGE USED UP." the voice said over the speaker. Kims eyes darted to the control room window on the far left seeing a small man looking at her in the distance, frustration forming on her face as she jumped to her feet, jumping up the stairs again. Martin quickly slammed the sabotage button again to make the ramp but it didn't do anything. - "SABOTAGE ALREADY USED." the speaker inside his control room said as he hit the button twice. - "Once per obstacle? I guess that makes sense, just need to make it count." he said whilst moving left to his next set of controls.

Kim reached the top of the stairs, seeing a set of rings floating from a pole, it looked like she had to cross these to get to the other side. "What is the sabotage she thought as she looked at the floor and rings, as well as the pole holding the rings." Unable to figure it out she just went for it and starting climbing across from ring to ring, each ring was wide enough to place her hands on only. Martin slammed the other sabotage button causing Kim to shake frantically sending her straight to the floor. "The fucking ring electrocuted me!! What the fuck?" she shouted whilst holding her palm upwards at her face. She turned heading straight for the ladder to return to the start of the ring swing, she limped this time as the impact to the ground had injured her lower back.

She quickly crossed the rings knowing this time they couldn't be sabotaged anymore, Michael was getting closer to the end door every second that she messed up. Her third obstacle presented itself after she finished the rings, it was a rickety moving bridge, it had large gaps between the wooden planks on the bridge. Surveying the dire situation she was in, Michael was going to beat her to the end and there would be nothing she could do about it if she didn't take some risks, she couldn't play it safe anymore. Kim closed her eyes and took a deep breath, almost immediately afterwards sprinting across the bridge at break-neck speeds, risking falling between the wooden planks. Martin quickly slammed all the buttons on this section sending planks behind her falling as he missed her cues due to her speed, she blasted through the bridge finishing the obstacle in 2 seconds. Martin frantically ran for the next button as Kim kept her momentum.

Obstacle number four quickly approached Kim, the rock wall. She darted up the wall quickly, Martin slammed a button, causing the rock she was hanging onto to disappear into the wall, she placed this hand on another nearby rock, Martin had not selected this specific rock strategically as it was next to another and she had both of her hands on the wall at the same time. "You stupid idiot, Martin!" he shouted to himself as Kim easily rebounded from his sabotage attempt. The rock wall and rickety bridge gave him 3 sabotages due to their design, so he went ahead and hit another one, again Kim completely dodged it. He was flustered and panicking due to her completely skipping the bridge. Kim completed the rock wall, rising the top and dropping to the ground on the other side. She saw in her vision, the victory door. But also about 2 metres away from the tiny door underneath it was Michael, closing in on his victory door.

Kim darted forward into the final sprint section, Michael turned to see Kim blasting towards him, her 4'4 height becoming a deception as what was approaching him was a determined giantess of a woman, she was going in for the final kill as finally the opponent was in her vision now that she had avoided multiple sabotages in a row. Michael couldn't get near the door quicker than Kim, distracted entirely by eliminating her opponent, multiple tiny spikes shot straight up into her left foot as she took off of it, sending her into a world of pain, so perfectly timed to her take-off that her other foot also landed straight on them as they came in for a landing. Her entire body tipped over in an instinctual reflex to avoid the spikes as well as removing her bleeding feet from the floor, slamming to the ground onto her shoulder, her speed carrying her further as she slid in Michaels direction. Stopping just before his tiny door. "YES!" Martin shouted as he let go of his sabotage button, Kim was completely unaware that even the final sprint had traps, her face struck with fear as she looked forward from the floor to see Michael on the other side of the tiny glass door with his right hand positioned on the side of the door, he waved with his left hand as he slammed the button next to his door.

The white floor beneath Kim opened up in the blink of an eye, so fast you couldn't hear it move. - "AHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh..." her blood curdling scream echoed into the depths below as she fell for four whole seconds before a massive thump was heard in the pitch black cavern below, the noise echoing up the chamber. The floor then returned upwards, the contraptions mechanisms securing it in place again coming to a stop with a loud metallic thud.

"TEAM A WIN. PLEASE PROCEED TO THE DOOR."

Joel thought watched on with a lump in his throat as he watched the woman plummet below to her death, the fall must have been deep. He couldn't feel any postivity from it even if it was a giant, if he was in their position he would've done the same. His thoughts were interrupted by the guard announcing the next round.

"TEAM B" he pointed towards two younger looking men, both looked fairly lean, they could've have been older than 24. They were known as Brock & Justin, their nervousness was showing on them as Justin's hands held each other and Brock looked at the ceiling with his hands behind his back. - "PLAYER 28" the men turned to look at their opponent, Andrea Sai. She waltzed up to her steps near her door, as the men recognized her as the crazy girl that the guys were talking about, how she violently enjoyed killing people in the first race and ate a man whole during the break. Justin and Brock both broke eye contact with her due to her firm gaze that struck them with fear. Brock entered the control room as Justin took his place on the starting line.

His grace period began as Justin took off, much faster than Michael previously did, making good ground. Andrea then started off, jumping onto the first step then quickly backwards off again as it converted into a ramp causing Brock to waste his sabotage, completely deceiving him. She smiled quickly darting up the stairs with no time lost, she slowly progressed through the ring swing but as she reached the last ring attempting to grab it with her finger tips the shocking began causing her to fall, landing on the end platform with her elbows she barely managed to stop herself from falling to the ground, which would've meant having to backtrack and redo the hoops to get across. She used all her strength to slowly pull herself up. Brock cursed at himself for failing, he once again missed an opportunity to set the evil Andrea back.

She made her way to the rickety bridge, hanging onto the ropes on the side of the bridge and moving slowly forward, hoping to use the rope as a safeguard irregardless of whether she gets sabotaged. The planks started vanishing below her due to the sabotage of Brock in the control room. Andrea stepped right onto the missing step, her weight falling downwards but managing to keep herself on the bridge by firmly gripping the rope, making it across the rickety bridge. She jumped down in front of the rock climb rubbing her hands together to get ready to climb only to notice a man running between her legs heading for underneath the rocks, Andrea suddenly realized she had already overtook him without realizing it. She visibly shrugged her shoulders with an expression of amusement. - "Where do you think you're going?" she shouted whilst pulling her leg back behind her "This is MY GAME." throwing her foot forwards, Justin turned to his right to see a set of toes hitting him with extreme force right in the hip, snapping his spine and breaking most of his ribs from the force which also sent him flying through the air spinning frantically as he hit the glass wall of the obstacle course container with a splat. The force of the impact nearly exploding his body as it began to slip down the wall leaving a trail of blood above it.

Andrea smiled as she finished the course with ease knowing she had a guarranteed win, she skipped through the victory door as she went around to the control room sticking her hand in and pulling out Brock. - "I'd say you need to work on your trapping skills but you won't get another chance ever again." the man banged his hands on her thumb that was holding him, she clutched him between her thumb and index finger. She stared at him for three seconds before bring him towards her lips and opening her mouth wide, the man remembering the story he heard last night before bed about the other man being eaten. Brock began to scream and panic as she released him, dropping him onto her nearly vertical tongue. He slipped all the way down as his eerie screams were silenced by her mouth shutting, instead resorting to a pathetic muffle. That too was silenced as she swallowed him whole, directing his tiny body down her oesophagus. Splashing into her stomach to keep the now-skeleton from yesterday company until he too would slowly melt away in her belly.

Andrea strutted towards the end of the room where the two successful minimized sat, looking down at them on the way past. - "Thanks for saving yourselves for me, boys. I'm only just getting started." she uttered with an evil grin across her face, waving her black hair behind her shoulders. Michael shuddered under her words, he had a habit of losing his arrogant attitude towards other competitors when they were massive and he wasn't under obvious protection from his partner, instead resorting to looking at the glossy white floor to avoid her gaze.

"You're welcome..." Martin whispered into Michaels ear, grabbing his attention abruptly.

"For what?" Michael returned looking rather confused by this comment.

"I saved your skin out there against that Asian lady, y'know a thank you would be nice, is all I'm sayin'." he shrugged his shoulders whilst tutting with his mouth at Michaels lack of appreciation.

"Let's get something straight, old man. First thing's first, you barely fucking saved my ass out there towards the end, that girl was about two seconds away from turning me into mashed potatoes. Secondly, I was doing you a favor by running the course, look at you, you look like melted ice cream. You're brittle and wrinkly, if I'd have let you run then you would be dead already. I just thought that whatever you lost in physical strengths you'd make up for in strategy and mental strength, apparently I was wrong." Michael shouted at the man, quickly storming off as he finished his sentence. Martin looked slightly amused but not upset in the slightest, the attitude of a man who has heard it all. Martin was a debt collector on the other side, little did Michael know but he was rock solid and didn't walk away from anyone who threatened him, he sensed Michael was upset and let him solve it on his own. He was a firm but fair man, giving anyone the benefit of the doubt where it was deserved. Strength came in numbers so he'd likely need to make other friends as Michael was slightly unhinged and uncooperative, Martin believed Michael wouldn't act this way if he didn't have his partner in this place with him but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Multiple teams were called to the course back to back. Team C minimized managed to win followed by a minimized win in Team D, the tinies were on a solid roll in this game where their strategy gave them a fighting chance, motivated by the fact that the regulars could get eliminated directly by their actions. After many action packed games Team G stepped up to the plate, consisting of two minimized by the name of Chris & Jake, two gym nuts who looked like they could lift ten cars between them, picking each other in hopes that their combined muscle would allow them to pass the course with ease, this destiny was placed in their reach when confronted with their opponent, Amy. She was standing still at her starting step whilst moving her arms around in a circle, as well as stretching her thighs, warming up for her chase. Jake was off running, his pace was decent but not amazing due to his build being more suited to lifting large weights, he pushed forward as fast as he could. Amy approached the ramp as she was finally allowed to start after the minimized grace period, hitting the middle of the stairs before Chris initiated sabotage, she quickly placed both her hands on the ramp as well as placing her barefeet flat on it, granting her enough grip to not even move from her place. "That's bullshit! How the fuck did she do that?" Chris shouted from his control room, punching the ramp sabotage button numerous times in frustration, "how could he time it so perfectly and yet the girl avoided it entirely?" Chris thought to himself.

Amy move swiftly but not at great speed, her movements were quick but her speed was not. She headed for the rings, jumping and placing both of her hands onto one ring swinging forward once then backwards letting go, landing back where she started, hearing the jolt into the metal handles. She then repeated her movement this time swinging forward safely, tricking Chris into shocking the rings when she swung backwards. Amy proceeded by crossing the rickety bridge, clutching both the ropes on either side, she progressed very slowly, each time she pressed her feet softly onto each plank, some dropped and some did not, she constantly kept herself on two planks at once. Chris was unable to slow down her pace even a little bit as she passed the rickety bridge. She jumped down to the rock wall to see Jake passing under it just in time, Amy began climbing the wall moving her hands swiftly between each rock but not pulling herself up quickly, instead choosing to focus on not slipping off rocks, her tongue stretched outside her mouth in concentration. She made it to the top of the wall making her way down to the final sprint she saw Jake in the middle of the final sprint at least 6 metres away from his victory door.

Amy's final stretch was in clear view, her energy and stamina had been totally conserved the entire game by her slow and careful approach to the obstacle course, swiftly bursting into a sprint heading towards Jake who looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. Hearing the gigantic thumping approaching him at the speed of sound, he turned to see feet slamming against the ground in his general direction, she stopped behind him readying her foot in the air as Jake looked up, his eyes widening and his mouth agape, she aimed properly before lowering her foot only for spikes to shoot out the ground around Jake, scraping his shoulder as they shot out the ground barely missing him, it was for naught however as he walked straight into a spike that had erected in front of him banging face first into it like a lamp post and landing straight on his back. Her sole in full view above him hovering above the spikes, it hadn't sunk into them at all. All because of her slow approach she was able to stop in due time and predict the spikes she saw trump Kim, her pacing had saved her for the final time. The spikes then sunk into the ground again, catching the attention of Jake. - "well fuck-" was all he could utter as the sole came down with full strength this time, the ball of her foot blasting straight through the center of his body leaving everything above his chest in tact, however causing blood to projectile out his mouth onto the arch of her foot. She pressed hard and fast, quickly lifting her foot to avoid indulging in the gross feeling for too much longer, the man stuck to her foot as he kicked her foot forward, the force sending the man hurtling towards the side of the course rolling onto his back. She walked slowly towards the victory door. Jake wheezing air through his blood filled mouth as his life faded away entirely. Amy walked around the control room pulling out Chris who too fought back like all of them before her.

"How did you do that, I got you multiple times. It's complete bullshit!" Chris screamed whilst trying to pull himself free of her grip.

"I'm sorry, it's really not personal." she said as she simply chucked him into the dark pit where the other regulars had been dropped into by the obstacle course, not allowing herself to take his life by her own hand if she didn't have to. Chris screamed all the way down to the bottom where he would join the giant bodies of the regulars who had died before him. She turned and proceeded to the victory area where quite a few minimized were lingering, as well as Andrea & Kristen, Michael's wife. They seemed to be happy that they once again made it through, this time thankfully without each other.

Andrea chuckled at Amy after watching her take care of Chris. - "Well that was boring, why don't you spice it up? get a little fun in your life?" she said to the shy girl.

"You find this fun?" Amy said disgusted at her suggestion. Andrea simply shrugged back, her usual response to everything; uncaring & unbothered.

"TEAM O" the guard once again directing at another couple of minimized, made up of Thomas & his new companion, Larry. 

"Why do I have to run? I'm quite clever, I could make great sabotage decisions!" Larry pleaded, Thomas pushed his glasses up towards his face whilst wetting his lips.

"Did you know I finished first in game one? do you want to know why? It was because I was fast or because of my stamina, it was because I'm an excellent strategist, I know exactly how to trick whoever comes our way. You've got to trust me here." Thomas explained thoroughly and clearly to Larry.

"Oh yeah? and how is that? how do you trick everyone?" 

"Well it depends, Larry. I change my strategy for whoever comes our way, I've been monitoring these ladies for the entire game so far, I have most of them figured out. My theories on how they will act towards us in the course is likely to be accurate. I can protect you with certainty, that I am sure of." he tapped him on the shoulder. - "Remember, if we lose, I die too. You shouldn't trust me to protect you, but you most definitely should trust me to protect myself. Understand?" Larry nodded at his remark slowly but bewildered at his crass comment about trust.

The guard then pointed towards their opponent. "PLAYER 30" Thomas recognized the number, turning his eyes to the pointed finger of the guard, following its direction as it landed on... Beth. Looking unamused at Thomas, they had been turned against each other, unfortunately for him she was the one person who knew his sneaky tactics, perhaps he had become too friendly with the regulars and now it was going to bite him in the ass. She began heading for her podium, avoiding looking at Thomas below.

"What's up? What's wrong with her for an opponent?" Larry looked at Thomas who was looking at the ground thinking strongly.

"Unfortunately, Larry. She's a friendly to me, so she may know quite a lot about my strategies and tactics." He said looking up at Larry whose mouth was agape at this comment.

"Are you shitting me?? I- I'm the one out there, you said you'd get me through and not to worry? I knew I should've been the controller!" Larry shouted frantically waving his hands at Thomas who kept thinking.

"I need you to shut up for ten seconds, this friendly relationship goes both ways. Thankfully for you, I know one crucial detail about her. Which is that she's not exactly the brightest bulb in the box." Thomas smirked at Larry, who gave up his angry rant and nodded at Thomas once again.

"MINIMIZED READY. SET" the guard shouted, the loud buzzer followed allowing Larry to begin his run, jumping hurdles at a strong pace. Thomas stared down at Beth who was in her prepared running stance, he watched her closely with a smirk on his face, he had the whole thing mapped out. Beth was released, allowing her to take off towards the ramp, Thomas hit the button almost immediately as she went for the first step causing her to slip and bang her knee off the ramp and falling forwards. Nobody was expecting a sabotage at the start of the ramp, in addition she was now injured. She limped forwards after finally getting to her feet, her mouth open so she could breath easier due to the pain she was feeling in her knee. "The knee is one of the worst pain receptors in the body" thought Thomas to himself, his fingers under his chin in a sophisticated thinking stance. Beth made her way up the stairs, sucking in air attempting to ignore her damaged knee.

Beth approached the ring swings, double taking to the left to look at Thomas in his control chamber. Shaking her head from side to side unable to figure out what he was doing, she grabbed the ring then quickly let go, failing to bait out a shock from Thomas who knew she'd be too slow to get across the rings in time, Beth knew she'd had a terrible start and had to take this risk, jumping to the rings attempting to swing fast but failing she missed her first leap to the safe platform, pulling herself up so close to the rings that her back was facing downwards, she looked to the left. Why hadn't Thomas zapped her yet? she thought to herself. She then decided to lower herself so her legs were facing downwards in order to begin a swing then the zap hit her, causing her to completely let go landing leg first onto the ground below, further damaging her knee which made a snapping noise. "FUCK" she screamed whilst clutching her knee. tears beginning to stream down her face.

"Thanks for playing." Thomas whispered under his breath before walking away. In the distance Beth couldn't see Thomas at the control panel anymore, looking around confused and then realizing why.

The ground opened beneath Beth as she shouted "Thomas you son of a biiiit........." collapsing into the black void below echoing a loud snapping noise and a thump combined into one upwards into the ears of the all the players.  Lisa stood at the start shocked, her only friend in here had just been bested by Thomas and now she was dead. The realization of the games was creeping on her more and more every game as she imagined how terrifying it must be to fall into that black pit, she began shaking thinking about the same happening to her, Lisa's breathing nervously increased.

"Damn, Thomas. We did it, whereabouts was she in the course when I beat her?" Larry asked with his hands on his knees trying to get his energy back.

"Oh you know, on the floor at the rings." he told him with a large confident grin on his face.

"The rings? my god you must've set her back strong, my friend." Larry laughed as the two walked their way into the next round.

Joel looked upon the remaining regulars they could get paired with, there was Lisa; his so-called friend from real life, Lara his new-found protector from inside the games, Alessia the insanely fast athletic woman, the redheaded woman from the cafeteria who didn't look upon him favorably and finally a dark skinned woman with her arms crossed, she hadn't said much and Joel hadn't observed her at all. She was a wild card compared to the rest of them, however he didn't want any of them for wildly different reasons. This would end up badly regardless of their competitor. No, they had to win at all costs. Joel gazed over at Theo who was kicking the ground lightly out of boredom. He had to do it, for the kid, he had to make it out of here alive, no matter the cost. Even if it meant Lara's life.

Chapter 5: Wipe Out: Part II

"TEAM P" the partners presented themselves, one heavier man who already looked out of breath in a partnership with a skinny 17 year old blonde kid, they must've been the last remaining people since nobody wanted to partner with them. The guard then pointed towards the redheaded girl. - "PLAYER 26". She calmly walked towards her step, not worried or fazed at all. The blonde boy was trying to explain something to the heavier man something using his hands, the man seemed distracted and couldn't stop looking at the girl above who was looking at them arguing.

The blonde kid started off the course by running, obviously leading the charge as to not rely on the heavier man to act as the speed of the race, knowing full well he wouldn't stand a chance. The ginger girl took off after his grace period, darting up the ladders at a mediocre pace, the bigger man of the minimized completely missing his painfully easy mark to sabotage the girl. She crossed the hoops, unfortunately getting zapped by the man who didn't let her get off twice, thudding on her elbows letting out an "ouch..." before swiftly getting over it and rising up the ladder to cross the rings, which she did. The girl hopped across the rickety bridge with few problems at a brisk pace, getting over the rock wall she looked over it to see the blonde kid making his way through the final sprint, he was half way towards his victory. Deciding to get a move on she quickly spun her body around on her bottom to get her legs facing forward, accidentally mismeasuring her spin and sliding off the top of the rock wall and falling sideways onto her arm. Her eyes opened staring up at the far away ceiling gritting her teeth in pain as she lifted her very clearly broken arm, using all of her remaining strength to turn over to see the kid completely gone. - "oh you've gotta be shitting me..." she said as the ground opened up sending her down to her ultimate demise.

"Fucking Jenny. Imagine losing to a fat guy & a child who desperately needs a sandwich. Can't be me." Andrea tutted in disgust at her friend totally blowing her chance at winning.

"TEAM Q" Joel looked as the finger was now pointed in his direction, the guard then turned to the now-small crowd of regulars, Joel looked down and covered his entire face with his hands, feeling like he was about to have a panic attack. - "I can't look, Theo."

"That's okay, sir." Theo patted his back as the guard revealed...

"PLAYER 20" Joels heart sank, not remembering the player numbers, he kept his face covered looking at the ground as the gigantic impacts of walking approached him causing his body to jostle from the ground moving, the vibrations felt close after a few stomps, hearing heavy breathing and strong wind on his body.

"Uhhh, sir. You might want to-" Theo uttered as Joel split his fingers apart so his eyes could see through them, noticing they were engulfed in a large ominous shadow, his gaze slowly rising to someone squating down in front of them. His eyes seeing their feet first as his head rose slowly, he was greeted with bright pink glossy nails contrasted heavily by a black skin tone surrounding them, his head fully rose to the dark skinned woman looking at him.

"I'm Iris, baby. Are you ready to go?" she smiled at him with her shiny pink gloss across her lips.

"Not really..." Joel squeaked like a little mouse.

"Don't worry, honey. I'm just doing what I gotta do, if I win I'll make it snappy, for both of you." she rose from her squatted greeting pose to her full height, she must have been nearly 6 feet tall, the trackpants covering her undoubtedly long black legs. She put her hands on her hips looking down at the minuscule boys. - "Anyways, good luck honies." she spun on the heels of her feet to turn and headed towards her starting position. Joel was feeling dizzy just from looking at her standing there inches away from them.

"Are you okay, sir?" Theo asked him whilst holding him from the back, trying to support him as he looked like he was going to fall over.

"I think I almost had a heart attack." Joel said whilst widening his eyes looking at Theo who nodded in consideration.

"She was nice though." Theo answered back to him whilst shrugging and pouting his lips in his innocence.

Joel sighed "It doesn't matter that she was nice, because she's regular- you know what, never-mind. Let's get ready." - "Kid, you've gotta run like the wind, this woman, she looks tall and fast. You've really gotta push yourself, I'll do everything I can to protect you, I'm supporting you out there. Remember that." before Joel could finish his sentence Theo hugged him, placing his head on Joels stomach area, squeezing him tightly.

"No matter what happens, sir. I'm thankful for what you've done." Joel slowly lifted his hands, hesitating to hold the boys head, but he did it anyways.

"That's okay, kid." he said back to him, feeling a strange feeling he'd never had before. Is this how fathers felt? - "Now let's knock em dead, literally." he said receiving a strong nod from Theo.

"MINIMIZED READY. SET" the buzzer bellowed from the ceiling sending Theo into a sprint, Joel still being taken aback by his speed for a kid his age. Turning his focus back to Iris who was looking at the ramp behind her gate, she was setting up her move. Joel had no real tactic in mind, his goal was simply to time it with her movements, when she was in the middle he would sabotage and that should give him the best balance. Before he could rationalize any longer Iris took off running as her gate released her into the race, Theo was under the the rings section. Joel scrutinized Iris' movements as she stepped onto the first step of the stairs and launched herself up three stairs at once with her long legs, Joel was taken aback by this huge move forwards and resorted to hitting the button earlier than anticipated, the stairs converted to a ramp just as she took another huge leap forward, she missed the third stair causing her to tip backwards ever so slightly as she landed on the newly formed ramp causing her to fall to the bottom.

"Hell yes!" Joel shouted whilst fist bumping the air, watching Theo dart through the rickety bridge section on the floor, vaulting hurdles like a champ. As Iris was getting off the ground she looked at Joel in his control room, she didn't look disappointed or upset or... well anything really. Instead she stared at him, he couldn't quite pin down the emotion she was projecting towards him with her eyes. She promptly set off up the ramp rapidly just as quickly as she nearly climbed the stairs earlier, on her way up she used her right hand to remove her white tank top as she was running revealing a white bra frantically trying to hold her bouncing breasts in place, using her left hand to wrap her right hand in the clothing she jumped straight onto the ring swing. Joel blasted the sabotage button instantly to no avail, she swung forwards without any electricity surging through her arm. Landing on the other side quicker than any player had so far. Joel was stunned, darting over to the next button as he saw her rocketing down the rickety bridge. Her strides were immaculate, she jumped four to five planks at once throwing Joel off entirely expecting her to take three steps at most, the wrong planks dropping beneath her. She made it across the bridge in no time at all.

Iris approached the rock wall, dropping to the floor to look into the tube designed for minimized to pass through she saw Theo barely making it out the other end. - "I got you sweetie!" she shouted down the tube causing Theo to turn around with horror drenched on his face as he saw her face rise upwards, she quickly began climbing the rock wall. Joel stuck his tongue out in concentration, waiting for the perfect queue. Iris slowly reached for a rock turning her eyes towards where Joel was with a slow grin forming on her face, she quickly gripped it then moved her right hand immediately to another rock watching the one she just clutched for the briefest of moments disappear into the wall. "I got you" she laughed as she used all her strength to pull herself up most of the wall in one firm tug. She drooped her legs over the top of the wall at the top, allowing her to drop down to the floor. Iris looked up spotting Theo only 35% through the final sprint, she turned her neck sideways both left and right cracking it as she started to sprint for her victory. Theo turned and burst into a supersonic final sprint, astounding Joel who realized Theo wasn't even sprinting at the beginning, this was his full potential. His speed however wasn't much compared to a long-legged giantess like Iris who was in full swing at him, if he stuck the spikes up he had a chance to impale the kid, he couldn't risk this but he couldn't let her kill him either. His breathing escalated so quickly he thought he'd pass out right there and then, Theo is agile and fast, his reflexes are also great, he can do as long as he survives the first spike.

"Good luck, kid." Joel whispered as he began pressing the button causing the spikes to rise up and down, Iris descended upon Theo, a spike shot through the ground causing Theo to dive sideways evading it entirely, above Iris stopped her feet from landing so quickly and resorted instead to hopping frantically around the spikes, waiting for their drops to stomp in Theos general direction. - "Come on, kid!" Joel shouted at Theo dodged all the gigantic spikes whilst still making good ground, Iris couldn't say the same as she couldn't stomp him flat with all these spikes. How was he even avoiding impalement with all these spikes? she thought angrily in her head. Theo was 1 metre away from his victory door as Iris captured the moment in her eyes where the spikes finished and Theo was right in front of his door where there were no spikes, the door frame wide open yet so was he. Iris took this last ditch opportunity jumping forward stretching her leg out sending her sole barreling towards Theos body just as he cleared the door. Her foot landing right before the door but her momentum carrying her head first into the glass wall bouncing her backwards, Joel hit the button one more time sending the spikes up just as Iris landed on her back, the spikes piercing her thighs, bottom, back and head. Her mouth fell open as she felt the sharp object in the back of her head. Theo slammed the button causing her to fall just as she began to fall into unconsciousness, presenting a silent death drop to the audience of competitors watching.

Joel ran out of the control room as quickly as he could waving his arms at Theo who was watching the victory door he had just ran through. - "That's my boy right there, hell yeah!" they both ran togethe and hugged each other. "I'm honestly so proud of you, kid." Theo clutched him. So this is what it feels like... he thought to himself.

Team R presented themselves, Nabil, a lanky Israeli man who spoke exceptionally good English & his partner Noah, a young Australian boy. The guard pointed towards Alessia causing Noah's face to completely drop simply by watching her body structure, she looked incredibly fit. "I don't want to run anymore, you run."

"No, I'm not running. We had an agreement already, you're a better runner than me." Nabil responded.

"I don't give a shit, I'm not getting obliterated by this beast of a woman." Noah panicked, quickly heating up and sweating from his nervousness.

"I'll protect you, do not worry. I'm watching, man." Nabil explained keeping him calm.

"Please. You need to do this well. So I've got a chance." Noah explained trying to control his breathing.

Alessia decided to break her silence by playing mind games with the men finally speaking to a minimized for the first time in the entire games. "I see you've rolled your way into the second game. Dios mio. I'm gonna fuck you up." her face didn't break there was no obvious emotion behind her words, it rolled out with confidence.

"Yeah, well you know that's just like, uhhh your opinion, man." Nabil responded, he seemed exceptionally calmer than Noah likely due to the fact that he didn't have to race physically. Alessia accepted this response and carried herself to her starting podium.

Noah got off running, doing a much better job at jumping hurdles than running, he vaulted over the red blocks like a parkourist at a great pace without losing any speed. Alessia was released and took off into a strong sprint, her feet stomping into the crowd hard as she ran, she cleared the stairs before Nabil could respond, he hit the sabotage button too late and tried to recuperate this loss by nailing the next one, awaiting her cross of the ring swing he hit the button as she jumped straight for it, there was no way she could avoid this. Instead she jumped over the gap, clearing it entirely without even touching a ring and without losing speed. Nabil went into full panic mode as he went for his next button only to watch on in horror.

Noah turned to see Alessia dropping off the end of the rickety bridge above him, how was she so close already? this was absurd! Noah panicked internally. He watched behind him seeing the tanned lean muscles of her legs slamming into the ground blasting her weight forward, feeling the excessive force of her stomps as she sprinted towards him. She was upon him in no-time. - "NABIIIL!" Noah screamed out his lungs as the foot crushed onto him squishing his body into the hard white floor, the air instantly being blasted out of his mouth like a dogs toy from the ridiculous force Alessia had stomped onto his body, continuing her run using the same foot she landed on Noah to take off, this force much greater due to the pushing of the body weight thus compressing him on the way up as her toes left his body last. His face bloodied and all of his bones turned to dust, he was unrecognizable. Alessia gunned through the rest of the course without stopping clearing her victory door, going around to the control room she punched straight through the door crunching Nabil into the wall behind him leaving two massive knuckle prints in his body, one had crushed his heart into the wall instantly ending him as he hit the floor.

Alessia turned to enter the victory area completing by far the fastest run out of all the competitors so far, throwing her hair behind her and walking past all the minimized below. Andrea smirked at her friend giving her a slap on the shoulder. - "That was juicy, babe." getting a nod upwards and a light smile from Alessia.

All the minimized below feeling as though they had just won the lottery by avoiding Alessia who would've demolished every single one of them no matter what they did.

The 2nd last team presented themselves, Team S. Adam & Curtis made up Team S. - "Don't worry I get it, I'm a fit runner I'm not stupid like these guys, I know I gotta do the run bro, it's just physics, man." Curtis explained to his partner, they were both consolidating in front of each other about how they'd tackle their round. - "But you've gotta be on the top of your game man, protecting me out there bro, you know?" Curtis explained calmly, the two reached an accord on this discussion knowing full well what they had to do, they seemed to be an incredibly strong duo. Adam is a fairly clever young man studying medicine in university, he'll likely have the reflexes and judgement to set anyone back, Curtis seemed toned with the understanding and kindness of a grandmother allowing them to discuss all strategies calmly whilst playing to their strong points in this game.

"Which one of these two regulars do you suppose we should hope to get?" Adam leaned over Curtis whispering to him, they both had their arms crossed whilst inspecting the build of both Lisa & Lara, trying to reveal their disposition.

"They both look like they'd have the same physical performance, bro, but like if you had to ask me man. I'd say the tall one." - Curtis pointed forward at Lara who stood there with her hands behind her pouting her lips, waiting to see if she was next in the games, having to wait an unbearably long time to see when she'd get picked. - "I'd want her, because shes tall & skinny, she doesn't look like she works out much. I reckon you'd catch her out, plus I saw her hangin' out with two guys who already passed so she's probably got a soft spot for minimized." He seemed confident in his explanation.

"Yeah but that means she's probably got a reason to win, if she wants to protect them. She's not going to throw her life away for ours, so don't get complacent, Curtis." - Adam explained firmly to Curtis, who nodded back in understanding of his comments, Adam was right thought Curtis, the shy girl made it through and she's admittedly worse. They'd have to go out guns blazing irregardless of who it is.

"TEAM S" the boys readied themselves up, mentally preparing for their opponent, everyone awaited the 2nd last game announcement as the guard spoke- "PLAYER 6". 

The boys hit a fist bump with each other as they looked upon their draw as Lara. She was likely their best bet in the current circumstance but not the one they would've wanted if they had a choice out of all regulars so far. Lara calmly walked to her podium whilst taking deep breaths, getting ready for the performance.

"Hey." Lara heard speaking as she looked below her confused trying to figure out who was talking. She saw one of her competitors below her. - "Good luck, lady. We'll both do what we need to." Laras cheeks rose as she smiled whilst still attempting to contain her nervousness, she was struggling to speak for fear of throwing up accidentally, but decided she had to try. - "It's Lara. Good luck to you too, I promise I would never do this if it wasn't life or death. What's your name?" - "Curtis." he responded. Lara smiled and nodded looking back up to look forward at her obstacle course. Curtis moved himself along searching for his starting door, giving the thumbs up to Adam in his control room on the left who returned the hand gesture.

"MINIMIZED READY. SET" the buzzer revealed itself whilst shooting Curtis' door open allowing him to begin his expedition, as expected from Adam he was tackling it like a champ, not only was he fast but he was vaulting hurdles fast, he was the perfect balance of speed and muscle. Curtis could be one of the quickest runners second only to the ridiculously fast hispanic kid out of everyone in the entire gameshow. 

Lara's gate shot open kicking her reflexes into high gear as she blasted off her podium towards her stairs, Adam took massive inspiration from the tactics of Thomas & Larry by hitting the ramp sabotage immediately, however he did so before Lara even reached the stairs causing her to fall into it, she let out a yelp as she collided with it. She got herself up waiting for the ramp to convert, which it did. She darted up the stairs attempting to make up for lost time. She jumped straight onto the ring swing, getting shocked immediately and falling to the ground landing on her left shoulder after falling through the air. Lara groaned but shrugged off her pain and climbed the ladder, she swung poorly across the ring swing without it's sabotage, her swing not sending her far due to her injured shoulder. Her feet landing on the ledge of the end podium causing her to wave her hands in a circle anti-clockwise in an attempt to re-balance herself. Lara fell forwards with her hands to the floor, sucking for air whilst holding her shoulder. - "Goddammit." she whispered as she felt the pain reverberating in her shoulder. Lara continued her pursuit of Curtis on the rickety bridge.

Theo & Joel watched together from a side angle as they tried to survey the game, Joel began to understand the situation as he saw Curtis half way under the rock wall section. - "She's not gonna make it.. Lara is still at the bridge." sweat formed on Joels head as he licked his lips, frantically trying to figure out how the tide could get flipped in this game. Imagining Lara falling to her death, admittedly they had only just met her yesterday but she was a gold mine in this game, everyone was else was nuts and didn't want anything to do with them, she was a big chance for their survival going forwards. - "We're going to have to interfere."

"Interfere? what are you talking about, sir?" Theo looked totally confused as usual.

"Lara is our biggest shot at winning the games, it's important we keep her for as long as possible. It's worth the risk."

"I- i- I dunno sir, that seems... that seems like a terrible idea." Theo took a step backwards attempting to distance himself from this dangerous concept, Joel lifted his hands attempting to calm Theo and explain further.

"Listen. You don't want Lara to die do you? Think about it." Joel explained, Theo granted his request by looking at Lara in the distance frantically trying to cross the rickety bridge, making her way to the end finally, he watched Curtis starting the final sprint. He thought about everything he and Lara talked about that night, his mother and Lara's life as a preschool teacher. Lara would do anything to protect them, why would he be any different?

"What do you need me to do?" Theo said stepping forwards again with his back up straight as if taking orders from an army drill sergeant. - "It's what we're both going to do." Joel responded to Theo.

Lara knew she was very far back, her body was shaking whilst she was attempting to climb the rock wall knowing that the floor would open and all the rocks would enter the wall any second and she'd fall to her death. The rock she was holding vanished into the wall causing her to fall, slapping her other arm in the wall instantly to grab something, luckily landing on another rock stopping her from falling completely down to the bottom of the rock wall. She pulled herself over the wall in due time to see Curtis half a metre away from his victory door, he had won. She could feel tears welling up as she threw herself to the bottom of the wall at the start of the final sprint, she wasn't going to give up though so she began her run. Looking her left to survey Adam who no doubt would stab her with the spikes before she even got remotely close, instead what she saw was Adam being tackled by a smaller person in the room causing him to disappear below the window, she was wide open, something had occurred in that room and now was her chance for a clean run. She blasted into a powerful sprint staring straight at Curtis with no caution of the spikes.

Joel eyed up the victory door of the minimized which was open, he was standing about 8 metres away from it in minimized-size awaiting a man approaching it which he saw, his legs were shaking in his running stance, he frantically looked around to see if guards were watching. He began sprinting for the door frame as he saw Curtis approaching it ready to push him backwards to give Lara a few seconds to reach her door, half way through his sprint he looked up at the guard who was next to the small door to see they were staring right at him with their eerie white mask, they slammed their black boot in front of him to prevent him from interfering with the competitor. The giant guard looked at the door way and swing their foot forward above Joel, who flinched in anticipation of elimination for interfering, the foot came flying down and swung backwards as Curtis passed the door frame, the heel of the boot whacking him in the stomach hard, so hard that it sent him flying backwards about half a metre as he slid across the white floor. Joel stared up at the giant guard who quickly placed their foot next to their other and looked up facing forward, acting as if nothing had happened. Joel was perplexed by this action from the guard.

Joel watched as Curtis stumbled to his feet whilst clutching his stomach he started running again, his head was as red as a cherry, attempting to nullify his nerves and the terrible pain in his belly from the giant impact on his body, to push through to avoid elimination. He realized he was going to make it a second time as he arrived before the door frame, Joel stood there 4 metres in front of the door frame seeing Curtis running towards it, Joel shouted "stop right ther-" his words were cut off by blood slamming into his face as the speed of sound and seeing Curtis being instantly smashed into the white glossy ground by a gigantic foot, it crushed him vertically causing his head to compress into his chest then his chest through his legs squishing him into a deformed ball, exploding blood in all directions including all over Joel, as all the blood vessels in his body had no idea where to put his liquid as the force pushed on them, thus deciding to throw itself in all directions as quickly as possible. Joel stood there shocked, his mouth agape with blood dripping off his lip, he looked up through the glass to see Lara sucking for air whilst shaking her head, she was visibly exhausted. She twisted her foot frantically attempting to guarantee elimination due to the urgency of the situation as Curtis was inches from the door, Joel watched as Lara went overkill, the outsides of her light skinned feet were coated in the mans blood as she popped him like a grape instantly, even her white painted nails had drips of blood on them contrasting heavily on the white paint, she lifted her foot off finally after ensuring for 16 whole seconds that the man was obliterated. Lara looked upon the unrecognizable goo on the floor as she stepped backwards, she swallowed in her mouth as she got her breath back turning around and going towards her door.

Lara crossed through the door falling to her knees as she realized she had barely made it by the skin of her teeth, she was having a nervous breakdown in front of Joel, who approached her whilst looking at the guard on the way past who didn't acknowledge him at all. - "I- I made it Joel... my god."

Joel swallowed nervously in his mouth as he approached her with caution, he saw her soles behind her, stained dark red, a marker of the previous scene that played out before him. - "Yeah, you got really lucky there."

"I need to go eliminate the control operator, but I think I'm having a heart attack..." she said she covered her face with her hands. - "Where is Th-" before she could finish Theo entered her vision from the left coming from the general direction of the control panel room. Deciding not to question it she rose to her feet, Theo's eyes then saw the red stains over her nails and the sides of her feet as they planted on the ground in front of him, he looked at Joel with wide-eyes as if shocked by the image in his head of Lara violently killing someone, he knew the whole time that she had made it past the first game for a reason but seeing evidence of it was grim regardless.

She headed towards the control panel room pulling out Adam, she turned towards everyone else at the end of the course holding Adam in both of her hands. - "This isn't fair, that stupid kid ruined me. This gameshow is rigged, we won, fair and square!" Adam shouted whilst wriggling around in her clutch, she saw Andrea & Alessia approaching her as this minimized cursed them out for cheating, he was going to get her and Theo killed. She frantically looked at the girls approaching her and the man shouting in her hands about Theo cheating. Lara quickly grabbed the mans legs in her right hand and his torso in her left, pulling him apart like cotton candy, his body split right down the middle instantly as she used all of her strength to rip him in two, throwing his torso & legs behind her into the dark pit below just as Andrea approached her.

"That was a close call, snitch. What was Adam saying just now? I like to hear their last words." Andrea smirked with great interest in what Adam was screaming about.

"Uhhh.. he just said how it was Curtis fault he lost because he fell over." Lara lied through her teeth towards the pair who looked upon her with their arms crossed.

"Ah, the excuses. They never get old, constantly blaming each other when they can't even work as a team. Anyways you're lucky game number two was us against the tinies because I would've went straight for your ass otherwise, snitch. Watch your back." Andrea turned and strutted away, swaying her hips as she headed towards the victory area with the rest of the players. Alessia followed behind her. Lara decided to reconvene with her partners.

Theo ran up to Lara still slightly shaken she picked him up quickly with a smile on her face. - "We did it!" she said to him, he threw his hand up in the air in celebration. "Good job, Theo." she then leaned in really close so that her lips were inches away from his face and whispered- "thank you". Theo gave her a small nod back whilst still basked in the shadow of her face in front of him, she drew her head back away and approached Joel.

As Theo & Lara were distracted celebrating with each other Joel looked up at the guard who still made no attempt to look at him below, how could they act as if nothing happened, why did they help him? He stared at the bottom of their chin from his angle then their head swung down, the mask staring deep into his soul. He took a step back not expecting the guard to actually look at him, they raised their hand again, lifting their index finger to create a "one" gesture. They then quickly went back to their formation of looking forwards with their arms behind their back. They seemed to be counting down to something, but what was it? Joel tried to think but nothing obvious came to mind. 

"Come on Joel, get on" Lara presented her large hand in front of him her words bringing him back to reality, he jumped on and the hand took off towards her chest.

"TEAM T, FINAL ROUND." Owen & Jacob prepped themselves to take on the fairly lean blonde girl by the name of Lisa. Owen took the responsibility of runner and Jacob opted for sabotage operator. 

Their round began as Owen made decent ground, he was a fairly average runner, Owen was pushing himself too far for his level of athleticism, he seemed to be stumbling at the half way mark as Lisa cleared the stairs, she attempted to copy Iris by removing her white tank top, revealing her voluptuous breasts in a white bra. She wrapped her hand in the cotton and jumped for the ring, unable to swing high enough to leap off and clear the gap in one swing she swung backwards and realized she was stuck, without touching the metal with her bare hand she wasn't going to be able to make it across, which she tried to do quickly. Her hand firmly gripped the ring in front and she let herself swing far just as it shocked the metal surface of the ring causing her to fall onto the side of the end of the podium, her feet dangling above the drop, she slipped and fell onto the white floor. This was going to set her back far, she thought to herself as she climbed the ladder to reset. She placed her white tank top in the waistband of her pants as she didn't have enough time to put it back on.

Lisa tackled the ring swing and then the rickety bridge, but only after slipping once almost completely through the bridge. She arrived at the rock wall, she looked under the wall into the minimized tunnel to see where Owen was but she was unable to locate him ahead, which must mean he's behind. She turned around whilst still on the ground looking into the tunnel that goes under the rickety bridge wall, seeing a cowering Owen who was leaning on his knees, totally out of breath. She sighed realizing that she'd already lapped him, she attempted to push her arm through the tunnel but was unable to reach him, Owen was simply hiding out of reach. Lisa stood up to her full height looking down at the tunnel, what was she meant to do now? she decided to simply finish the course as there was nothing she could do to touch him.

Lisa crossed her victory door and noticed a button next to her door, she pressed it and the doors inside the obstacle course flew open, this mechanism was designed for the bigs but wasn't the only purpose behind it, Owen fell to his death in the cavernous pit below, joining the other decaying bodies of his fellow miniatures but mostly regulars. Lisa was the only regular so far who didn't even need to make contact with her opponent minimized to even win, however that was about to change as she turned to the control room. She approached the door to see Jacob slamming his hands on the panel of buttons and dials shouting "That coward! That motherfucker!" Lisa reached her giant hand in to grab the man. - "That stupid son of- no, no please." she pulled him out deciding to not let him cry for much longer, she moved her right hand out the way of the left where Jacob was sitting in the middle of her palm sobbing, Lisa then brought her hands together fast effectively clapping her hands incredibly hard destroying the man inside the clap, some small blood splashes landed on her face. She removed her hands from each other as the corpse fell to the floor, she flicked her hands up and down to rid of the liquid on them.

"Well that's that." she said as she walked towards the area containing everyone else.

"WELL DONE ON YOUR SURVIVAL."

"Jesus.." Andrea muttered as she shook her head. - "We lost nearly all of us." she spoke louder whilst looking at all the other girls who had survived. "That's natural selection at work."

"PLEASE ENTER THE NEXT BREAK ROOM."

LIVES REMAINING

6 REGULARS & 28 MINIMIZED REMAIN.

Chapter 6: The Night Watch

The survivors walked into their common area, sweaty, bloody and tired. Some were emotionless and others were fired up, ready for more. This room was new and had a different layout so Lara would have to find somewhere else for them to relax, she chose a corner, knowing they had made enemies, their defensive positioning was important if they were attacked at any point. The regulars all made constant eye contact with each other, trying to figure out their plays being that there were now only 6 of them remaining, their last game was a total wipe out compared to the minimized. The minimized were in control for the entire game, removing 14 regulars from the game-show. Andrea kept her dagger-like eyes firmly planted on Lara, who cowered away from her clutching Joel & Theo in her grasp.

They settled down at two beds with their backs to the wall, Lara resorted to sleeping on the floor same as last night in order to stay close to the ground where she could protect the boys, putting her padding from her bed onto the floor Joel attempted to speak to her to break their silence whilst Theo wasn't paying attention. - "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Not really, no. That poor man, screamed for his life in front of me. In- in- in the first game it.. it was easier because I couldn't see them, it was like- you know." 

"Killing bugs..." Joel uttered quietly.

"No! Well- yes... but you see this time I had to pull him out and hold him in my hands, the same way I held both you and... Theo. I saw his hair, his features, heard his voice and the mannerisms he had when he spoke. His personality splashed all over me, people show their true colors in death, it felt like I knew him. Then I had no choice because he was going to tell everyone you guys cheated for me. I had- I had-" she converted her vocals to whisper, lowering her head to Joel in order to avoid Theo hearing her. "I had to rip him in half instantly, to avoid us getting into danger, if the guards heard that Theo cheated, he would've been killed." her voice was shaky. "It wouldn't have been so hard if he wasn't so close to me and I could feel the humanity in him, which I hadn't before, not even with the other guy I killed a minute before."

"I'm sorry you had to do that, but I appreciate you making that sacrifice on you mentality  for us. We didn't do it to be selfish, we did it to save you."

"I know Joel, you're both very sweet and I'm going to be honest, I didn't think you guys would be able to help me much. I mainly wanted to protect both of you but you managed to anyway. Thank you." she leaned over him and lowered her giant lips onto the top of his head, giving him a large kiss. Joel blushed whilst looking at her smiling back at him.

Theo rolled over to face both of them in his bed. - "I can hear you guys."

"Sorry Theo." Lara said whilst grimacing.

"I wasn't complaining, but like- don't assume I can't hear you or don't understand what you are talking about, I'm 14 you know. I'm old enough." Theo said to the pair

"Then let's talk about how FAST YOU WERE. GODDAMN." Joel jumped up on his bed waving his hands in the air causing Theo & Lara to laugh. "I told you, you'd blow everyone away with your insane speed. Where'd you learn to run like that?" Joel asked.

"Well when I've been running to school my whole life, we've always lived too far away from the school & mom said we couldn't afford the bus or a bike so I just ran always, it got me there so she just assumed it was fine for me to keep doing that. I guess I just got fast? I was late quite a lot when I started school but I never miss class anymore." Theo explained, garnering a sad reaction out of Joel at moments even when Theo didn't intend to generate sympathy, but rather just explain himself.

"Well I thought you were exceptional, I was the 2nd last to go so I saw everyone run, you were the fastest." Lara explained whilst smirking, hoping to get Theo pumped up.

"Was I really??" Theo said whilst getting really excited.

"Absolutely." she smiled.

Theo smiled whilst thinking about his achievement he became distracted by Lara's bloodied feet, causing him to remember all the violence causing his breathing to go shaky as deeply inhaled and exhaled. 

"Lara, did- did you kill someone?" He said whilst watching her feet, she noticed his gaze and tucked them away behind her to hide the red stains on her soles, choosing to sit on her knees instead. 

"Theo, I didn't get a choice, I did what I did in order to get through so that I can protect both of you. I was forced to kill that man back there like that. But I'd die before I let that same death happen to you... Do you believe me?"

"Yeah.." he nodded allowing a small smile to enter his face once again.

"I suppose that's my cue to go wash up. You guys didn't wash yesterday, it might be a good idea to do that today. Plus it's not safe for me to leave you here. Not anymore." She explained before dropping her hand for them to join her.

"Larry how would you like to stick with me if further team-modes come up?" Thomas explained with his hands clasped inside each other not allowing his hands to fidget in order to avoid breaking his facade of confidence, Thomas eagerly awaited Larry's response.

"100% Thomas. I think you're a great strategist and as long as you help protect me by giving me directions, I'd be a great asset in doing the dirty work."

"Excellent, that's the stuff I'd want to avoid, you see. Because my strengths are not in that camp so you'd understand where I'm coming from there, right?"

"Yeah, I do." Larry replied.

"Unfortunately because of our earlier removal of Beth, the giant. I've likely lost both of my large partners who I befriended earlier in the games, Lisa who is..." he turned with his index finger pointed and raised, spotting the lean blonde girl in the distance sitting alone looking in the direction of Lara & Joel. "That girl there, she was friends with our opponent in the obstacle course. So she's off the table" Thomas turned back and stopped pointing at Lisa.

"Are you suggesting we make another?" Larry asked confused.

"Absolutely, we're definitely going to need one, in my opinion. The probability of a game directly involving a giant partner is coming up, game-shows need to spice up their content and that would make for an interesting dynamic. I'd put serious cash on the game-show creators having a game like that ingrained into the system." Thomas seemed incredibly confident and well spoken whilst explaining to Larry.

"Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Not at the moment but that's what me and you need to discuss. Being that we are a team and all." This response from Thomas caused Larry to nod his head multiple times, clearly in agreeance with this team-like collaboration. Thomas turned once again to survey all the giants in the room. - "Lisa. Off the table as I explained. That girl she is looking at, the one walking towards the shower, I can't recall her name, if you look closely she has two minimized in her hand. I've had a previous negative altercation with one by the name of Joel, it's highly unlikely he'll trust me enough, thus his giantess will not either." Thomas continued to turn around further looking for other girls in the room. - "Shy girl Incredibly timid, doesn't want to do harm, seems protective."

"Protective? then there we go" Larry said with strong emphasis on this idea.

"Not so fast, she's not a big fan of violence or killing. We can't trust her to stick her neck out for us in the event of our danger." Thomas continued "This athletic girl, toned, fast, strong. I believe her name is Alessia. She's strong but shes also a lone wolf, she likes to focus on herself." - "This woman, I believe shes been forced into the games with her husband so they've been working together, I remember him saying her name but it's lost on me. But whilst she's likely a great protector, that protection is limited for her husband at this time." - "That brings me to my suggestion-" he turned to face Andrea who was sitting on her bed relaxing next to Alessia.

"You can't be serious!" Larry exclaimed

"I am Larry. Andrea is ruthless, strong & wants to win at all costs, she's willing to get dirty when it's needed."

"She's a psychopath, especially towards the minimized people. Why would she want to work with us?" Larry genuinely wanted an explanation here but he didn't think there could be any real reason that would convince him.

"Andrea is in desperate need of direction, strategic direction and she knows it. She won't admit it which is why we won't patronize her but rather let her choose for herself, she'll team with us. She saw our play last game, she knows we're strong. If we can get a ruthless psychopath on our side, we'll be the strongest group in here. She'll tear down anyone we recommend to her for strategic reasons, big or small. Can you imagine that power?" Thomas explained his plan with fury and energy, feeling like his plan was fool-proof.

"Thomas, you have to remember. That power can easily be reflected back onto his, she may have zero feelings or care for anyone in here but that also applies onto us. She'll take us out in a heart beat." Larry was shaking in fear at this reckless course of action Thomas was going to take.

"At a point yes, in which case we're already in the home stretch, we won't need a giant anymore." Thomas smirked.

"I think it's a terrible idea. But the last time I doubted you, you proved me wrong. I'll follow you." Larry put his hand out, Thomas responded with an agreeable handshake.

"Excellent." Thomas began making his way towards Andrea with Larry at his side.

Lara made her way out of the shower, feeling steamed and fresh. Getting a breath of the clearer air in the main area with all the beds, the two boys in her hands also seemed incredibly relaxed from being cleaner. - "I didn't realize how much I needed that..." Joel said whilst lying on his back in her palm, feeling the warmth on his now-soft skin. Lara shot him a smile, Theo appeared to be falling asleep next to him. Suddenly a voice came over the speaker system.

"ATTENTION. TOMORROW FOR GAME THREE YOU WILL BE PARTICIPATING IN A TEAM GAME, YOU MUST FIND THE PARTNERS NECESSARY BEFORE THIS GAME STARTS. YOU WILL REQUIRE 5 MINIMIZED AND 1 REGULAR TEAMMATE FOR ONE TEAM. NOTE THAT TWO TEAMS WILL BE MADE UP OF 4 MINIMIZED INSTEAD DUE TO AN IMBALANCE OF PLAYERS, PLAYERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO SEARCH FAST TO AVOID THIS DISADVANTAGE."

Joel looked up at Lara who looked back at him. - "Looks like we're finally going to be working together for once."

She returned with a "Yes, but we're gonna need more players and unfortunately due to our bad blood with Andrea nobody wants to be on our team, Joel."

"We'll get some people, don't worry." Joel looked out at the room surveying all the players, with confidence.

"I called it, didn't I? Isn't that proof enough that I know my stuff?" Thomas explained to Andrea who glared down at him.

"Why would I work together with you and not another weak-ass tiny instead?" Andrea bewilderingly looked at him, thinking this man was out of his mind.

"I might be small but my brain is not, my intelligence doesn't change when I get smaller. You saw how we performed last round, didn't you?"

"I did. That was a fluke, that dainty bitch couldn't have finished that race any slower."

"Ah ah ah" he tapped his finger as he interrupted her. "Only because of my intervention, I managed to avoid 100% of all danger in the first game. You think I got lucky twice?" Thomas explained whilst retaining his high level of confidence, attempting not to break in front of this evil figure. Larry couldn't say the same as he shook and cowered behind Thomas.

"You've piqued my interest. What do I call you?" Andrea said with a smile

"Thomas. This is Larry behind me."

"Yeah whatever, I don't give a shit about Larry." Andrea said whilst snickering, Larry turned his head back and forth from Thomas to Andrea, hoping he heard her wrong. If he didn't have her protection as much as Thomas did then she couldn't be trusted.

"You know other people in here? you know me, I'm not so popular with the insects." Andrea asked Thomas whilst leaning in. He attempted not to flinch from her approach or change his facial expression in order to keep his confidence and thus her respect, Larry inspected a sweat droplet travelling down Thomas' head, revealing his nervousness.

"I believe I do. I'll construct us a team." said Thomas.

"Good. Get to it." Andrea commanded, Thomas turned and headed out with Larry on a recruiting mission.

"I'm Peter"

"Nice to talk to you, Peter. I'm Joel, this here is Theo and up there is Lara." Joel explained, above Lara gave a short wave with her hand as she squatted over the group talking, enveloping them in a protective shadow.

"I was a solider, just got discharged and then got brought into this shit hole, but it's not all bad, I can handle a lot of what I see here. Just a hard blow to go from a war zone straight to this." Peter explained whilst Joel & Lara nodded, following along with the man. - "I believe in the greater good and you guys are the only people here that fit the description, I'm fast and strong and I can follow orders. I'm highly trained in the use of weaponry and on the field tactics, most of which aren't useful here but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Would you like to form a team?"

Joel smiled and looked up at Lara whilst nodding. - "Definitely."

"You'll be happy to know that I've gotten some people, fairly quickly." Thomas explained to Andrea, she opened her hands out indicating "show me" which Thomas did.

"This here is Neil, Brandon & Richard. Neil is tall and fast, Brandon is short and strong and Richard is well a decent balance. They should be able to handle most things we need them to." Thomas awaited Andreas response to this, instead she just nodded and waved them away using her hand, dismissing them from her presence. The men settled down near the leg of Andreas bed, Richard gravitated towards Larry who seemed nervous.

"What's got you so worked up, pal? You've got a full team, and not one of 4, one of 5. Meaning you've not got the handicap." Richard spoke to Larry who couldn't stop sweating lightly on his head from nervousness.

"You don't understand man, that girl, Andrea. She's crazy & violent." Larry frantically waved his arms, they were around the other side of the leg, speaking firmly yet quietly.

"Sounds good to me, she'll rip up the competition, man. What's to worry about?" Richard seemed totally clueless.

"Or she'll rip us up." The realization then dawned on Richard who started to frown.

"So what do we do? we can't back out now." Richard asked.

Larry looked to his right around the bed leg to see if any of the guys were listening. - "We'll keep an eye on her, same as the other teams, all we have to do is not get comfortable and don't do anything she says that we think is unsafe. But I just want you to know that she isn't going to protect us, but that's my opinion."

"Yeah, I feel you, pal. Appreciate it, we'll stick close, me and you, watch each others backs." they both nodded in agreement, forming a new alliance within their own group already. Around the corner Andreas feet planted on the ground off the bed and walked towards the bed leg, stopping right before all the inch-tall men who were crowded around her bed leg relaxing or talking, they all got uneasy seeing her gigantic feet inches away from them, her black nails reflecting in the light, they heard creaking as her body lowered itself to the ground. Allowing her face to present itself in front of them as she got on her side, holding her head up with her hand on the skull and the elbow on the ground.

"So. Thomas. I want to hear some of your strategies." She explained awaiting his response.

"Right now? I mean the game hasn't even been announced yet... I-" before Thomas could explain himself she interrupted.

"No shit, but I'm talking about general ideas, not game specific. Who can we trust, who should we target. Maybe we could sneak a kill in tonight? What's our play?" Her eyes stared him down, ready for any direction. Thomas realized he had her under his thumb, this was what he wanted, she knew she didn't know what to do, she was just being aggressive and going with the flow. Now he could pilot this destructive creature like a kaiju and destroy everyone and everything, his mind lit up with evil thoughts about all the things he could get this girl to do, remaining professional and calm on the outside he began with-

"There is one thing we can do." His eyes lighting up with violence.

Lara lay on the floor staring at the ceiling her eyes struggling to stay open, her exhaustion from today had gotten to her, she didn't have to work this hard in the first game. On her right Joel was also falling asleep, Theo already was. - "So who is taking first watch?" Joel asked her, sitting upwards to give his attention.

Lara also rolled over, her breasts rolling over in her bra pushing sideways as she rolled on her side to also give Joel her attention in conversation. - "I can take the first one."

"Are you sure? you look tired." Joel looked concerned.

"I'm not, it'll be fine. Honestly." turning onto her back to stare at the ceiling again, Joel did a quick scan of her body that he hadn't seen before as she had her tank top off, able to see her breasts held within the captivity of her bra and her belly showing, she then put her tank top back on as Joel quickly darted his eyes away to pretend he wasn't watching.

"Alrighty, good luck tomorrow and good night. Wake me up in 4 or 5 hours." he rolled over to face away from her.

"No problem, good night." she placed her tank top over her head and then her chest, looking down at Joels back as she flipped her hair out from behind the clothing. Lying back again, thinking. What if we had met on the outside, would we like each other? Maybe it's just because of dire circumstances. I wonder what he'd look like normal sized, maybe I'd see more details of his face? Lara thought to herself about Joel, she liked him a lot but she wasn't sure if he felt the same, they didn't have time to discuss such things in this life & death situation. Maybe things would change one day but only one of them could get out of this alive.

"JOEL! LARA!" Joel's eyes darted open instantly from hearing Theo's voice call him by his actual name, he sat up in the darkness thinking he had a nightmare again, looking to his right to see Theo flying away between a pair of fingers. Joel dove out from under his blanket shouting- "LARA!!!".

Lara let out a "huh?" as she rolled over seeing Theo vanish into darkness. "NO!" she sat up attempting to jump up to her feet, suddenly something wrapped around her neck and pulled her towards the ground, the pressure rose around her neck like a snake constricting her with it's body. Joel turned to see Alessia as his eyes adjusted to the dark, she had her thick leg wrapped around Lara's neck.

Alessia whispered into her ear. - "Struggle more, give me an excuse to snap your little neck."

Joel sprinted forward towards the hand that stole Theo only to be tackled to the ground by two bulky men, who then lifted him off the ground holding a shoulder each. The tall man on his right lifting Joels head for him to direct it upwards, his eyes adjusted fully to see the goddess before him, Andrea. Clutching Theo between her fingers, Theo struggled whilst screaming. - "YOU LEAVE HIM THE FUCK ALONE. HE'S JUST A KID." Joel exclaimed.

"A kid who is going to be a big pain in our ass going forwards, we saw him run. We aren't going to let potential like that go to other teams." her evil smirk drenched fear all over Joel as she spoke, then lowering Theo and wedging his tiny body beneath her right foot, she rested the ball of her foot on top of his body. On the left of the foot was Thomas, who stood staring at Joel, the same evil smirk on his face. The perfect evil duo coming together to enact the devils work.

"Take me. Please, leave the kid." Joel pleaded, tears falling down his face as he watched a hulking mass press on top of Theo lightly, Theo looked forward from under the foot constantly looking Joel in the eyes.

"You? oh please. We'll kill you in the regular games easily anyways, this boy on the other hand. Too fast."

"He doesn't deserve this, it's not fair." Joel pleaded, screaming out for Theo's protection. Lara held her arm out, unable to speak from the constriction on her vocal chords from Alessia's powerful leg, tears also streamed down her face.

"The games would've gotten to him anyways. The true injustice isn't my actions, but the actions of the owners of this entire operation. Take it up with them. Anyways, I think I've soaked up the moment long enough. Let's get this over with." Andrea looked down at her foot and started pressing causing Theo's body to shake from the pressure as the monolithic weight crushed him. Joel screamed "NOOOOOOOOO" one last time before Peter cracked the short man on the left with a powerful elbow, the tall man on his right attempting to keep Joel under control as Joel twisted his arm and threw him over his shoulder to the ground. Joel sprinted forward watching the woman press harder and harder as Theo vanished behind the foot. Joel reached out with his hand. Out of nowhere Andrea's head flew backwards from a strong impact on her forehead, causing her to catapult backwards onto her back, the foot releasing from Theo.

Lisa emerged from the shadows holding a metal cylinder, more specifically what appeared to be a bed leg. Lara took her chance by throwing her own head backwards colliding with Alessia's and pulling the powerful leg off her. "Catch" shouted Lisa as she threw the metal pipe allowing Lara to catch it in mid-air and thump it straight off Alessia's head knocking her out cold. Lisa then grabbed the tiny Theo off the ground in her hand. "Sorry" she whispered to him in her hand as she looked at Lara giving her another order. "Swap." Lara noticed she was throwing something at her, it must have been Theo, Lara's eyes went wide as she realized this, throwing the metal leg with her left hand towards Lisa as she threw Theo through the air. Lara jumped to her feet catching Theo in both of her hands creating a basket as Lisa caught the pipe turning around and whacking Andrea on the nose with it sending her falling backwards again.

Down below Joel was being grabbed violently by the shorter man who was then violently punched by Peter again sending him flying backwards, Peter was carrying a fair amount of muscle allowing him to pummel the man into the ground. Lisa then turned back around from batting Andrea's head a home-run. - "Take care of those two." she pointed towards the quad of men below. Lara nodded understanding her orders, sending her foot straight into the ground between Theo and Joel's bed forgetting that Peter was a part of their squad now, Peter watched as Lara attempted to stomp on him. He quickly rolled under his bed as the foot landed straight on top of it causing it to bend downwards onto his body, the metal legs of the tiny bed violently shook, Peter hoped to god they held out otherwise the weight would push onto him instead. Watching the other men evade the crush as well, what was she doing? Theo was passed out in her palms, Lara thought he was likely dead as she cried whilst attempting to exterminate the vermin who helped do this to him.

Lisa attempted to deal with Thomas who walked backwards with his hands up as Lisa stomped closer to him. - "Long time no see." He joked nervously. But before Lisa could eliminate him her legs were swept by Andrea who lunged forward after she fell and scooped up Thomas, taking off backwards with blood dripping down her face. "I'm going to kill all of you." Andrea said, her evil emanating over them all. Alessia kicked herself backwards away from Lara who couldn't stop her from evading because she was using her hands to take care of Theo. The two men in front ran backwards towards Andrea, punching at her toes as she dropped downwards and also lifted them up. Peter slipped out from under the bed to see Lara had stopped her blind rampage on the beds.

The group of Alessia & Andrea walked backwards away from them, evading to head back to their sleeping area. Allowing Joel's group to rest easy as they all took deep breaths, Joel collapsed onto his bed just as Lara fell onto her ass.

"Theo.. Theo.. please wake up" Joel got back up and ran towards her palm as she placed him onto the bed Joel was just on. Joel shook him and whispered to him quietly as his eyes were shut. "Hey, kid. You gotta wake up. Please." They waited a few seconds hoping for a response, Lara watched down on them in sorrow. To their surprise they heard- "Dad...? are you back...?" Theo mumbled out, slowly opening his eyes. Joel clutched him tightly. "Oh hey, sir. What happened?" Joel wiped his tears.

"Are you- are you okay?" Joel asked him with strong concern for his well being.

"Oh." Theo remembered what just happened, he thought he'd just dreamed it as he woke up there. - "My body hurts... why did that woman try to hurt me...?" He asked looking at Joel. 

He responded to Theo with "Because you're exceptional and she doesn't like that, kid." Theo smiled and slowly fell asleep in the bed. They decided to let him rest as he really needed it after that nightmare that almost occurred.

Joel turned to Lisa, making eye contact for the first time since the start of the games. "Thank you." he spoke to her.

"You know me, sticking up for the little guys. Always." Lisa said as she smiled and walked away. - "You can keep the weapon, you'll probably need it." she waved her hand in the air as she walked into the distance. Her words resonated on Joel, sticking up for the little guys, she did with him at work all the time. She stuck by him always when the powerful bosses were always pushing down on him and abusing him. He knew he could stick by her, why did he ever doubt it? because he trusted Thomas' words, about how he didn't know anyone and look what Thomas had done.

"I heard shouting so I came running. If you allowed me to sleep closer I could've helped quicker. But I understand your caution, I'll be heading back." Peter spoke briefly before turning and heading away towards his own sleeping area.

"Why weren't you on watch? What happened?" Joel said through gritted teeth towards Lara who looked down at him with wet eyes.

"I'm sorry, I fell asleep. I'm so sorry." her voice shook as she spoke, on the verge of crying again. - "I didn't mean to, I just got distracted by my thoughts."

"Well now you know why we keep the night watch. I'll take over from here, god knows I can't sleep anymore." He got off the bed next to Theo and moved to the other bed, sitting down in it and slumping down the middle as the bed had a massive dent in it. - "That's just great."

Chapter 7: The Cat and the Mouse

A man with bright white hair made his way across a fancy room with expensive architecture, he was moving from his seat on the far left to the center seat. The room was packed with over 80 people wearing absurdly expensive suits, some an average persons yearly wage in cost simply for a one-time use. Some ladies displayed fancy masks on their face, others did not allowing their identities to be seen by all in the room. None of the men wore masks with the exception of the man in the middle who sat in his large throne-like chair. All these elites sat around conversating quietly and politely with one another with a pompous attitude whilst watching a large screen at the front, playing on the screen was Alessia darting through a course at light-speed and obliterating a man in her tread as she ran past him. The stomp garnering a small cheer from the crowd as they clapped lightly, generating smiles all round from the posh nobles.

The droning voices of the well-spoken wealthy crowd clashed in the air, creating a quiet yet calming chatter in the room. Various conversations could be heard.

"I'd pay anything to have a piece of that girl for a night. What a marvelous creature."

"Tell me about it, J."

"Such great definition and resolution, it's spectacular that the competitors cannot see these face tracking cameras."

"Cameras are easy to hide when you can shrink them to any size you require. I designed them myself, PQ."

"Wow, amazing."

"-what you get is effectively a system that can track all the players who go missing by counting all the players in break rooms and corridors, creating an accurate tally without having to microchip the competitors. Me and A have been working on this since the first games. It's a truly optimal use of technology, I must say."

In the midst of the chatter, the white haired man reached the golden throne in the center of the room, creating conversation with the menacing man on said throne.

"My my, you have outdone yourself this time, Arthur. These competitors are so tenacious, so delicious. But I am curious, why did you alert the guard to ignore the asian girls kill? it's against your own written rules." The man approached the gold colored throne in the center of the room, attempting to speak to this 'Arthur' who was seated in this throne.

"I'd love for our competitors to fight it out at night, unfortunately the last time we did that nearly all the minimized died, the rules exist only to reduce. Also avoid using my name during events, but I do welcome your compliment, E." the man said towards the man he called E. E responded with a slow nod in understanding.

"The last games before this one, number three. What was the category again..." E looked up at the ceiling attempting to recall his last visit two years ago to the area.

"Teenagers." Arthur answered.

"Oh of course. They were so violent and insensitive to their tiny competitors, what a lovely display it was. One of my favourites, however I must say... women for the first time this time around? marvelous, beautiful. So passionate and elegant." he gestured heavily with his fingers in his hand as if describing an exquisite Italian dish. "I personally feel as though all of your events where societal roles that are typically not in the drivers seat get placed in positions of power are the most delightful." E spoke with such enthusiasm about Arthur's events.

"Did they not all indulge your pleasures, E?" Arthur turned to E who implied that not all of them were great. - "As you know I take great pride in my personal projects for you and all these lovely visitors here. I'd hate to hear any negativity." Arthur spoke firmly causing E to take a step backwards fearing he had mispoken, attempting to backpedal.

"Oh- no- no of course not!" sweat formed on E's forehead. - "It's just the competitors for the 2nd games were.. disruptive as you recall. Right Arth- I mean- sir." E grinned nervously fearing he was in the danger zone. Arthur leaned forward towards E giving him his full attention.

"You mean the girl?  Since you ask me if I recalled this mess up, I'll ask you if you recall what I did. Do you?" Arthur spoke firmly with passive aggression towards E.

"Yes.. I do. But-"

"But nothing, E. We dealt with her after she killed K, we shrank her smaller than anyone ever has. She died."

"She didn't."

"E, the lady was the size of a grain of sand. Whilst I respect your opinion in that we didn't take care of her ourselves I do say..." Arthur's voice got softer as he progressed in this sentence only for him to return with.

"Sir.." E blurted out interrupting Arthur.

"-THAT SHE WAS THE SIZE OF A GRAIN OF SAND PERMANENTLY, IF SHE'S ALIVE THEN HER LIFE IS PROBABLY MORE TORTURE THAN DEATH ITSELF." Arthur shouted with pure energy into E's face causing all the suited posh people in the room who were watching the large screen to turn and face the two men in silence, realizing it was the operator shouting they quickly acted as if it did not happen, continuing with their conversations immediately. Arthur's glass shattered in his hand as he screamed at E, the energy from his anger blasting into all parts of his body as he roared.

Arthur instantly calmed down, going from 100 to 0 in no-time. - "Great. Glad we could clear that up, E. I really value our conversations. Enjoy the show." Arthur turned dropping the broken glass onto the floor and facing the screen, turning his attention away from E. - "Another drink." two men presented themselves as waiters wearing white, one cleared up the glass promptly and the other handed him another glass and a napkin for his hand.

"Why do you think they are doing this?" Joel spoke quietly to Lara beside him, he sat on his dented bed with his legs crossed looking into the darkness where other people lay, he and Lara had been awake for 5 hours now, talking or enjoying the silence but both unable to sleep another wink.

"I'm- I'm not sure. To send a message?" She shrugged even though Joel probably couldn't see her doing it.

"But look around, Lara. This place must've been expensive, I've never seen anything like it. All that for a message? people don't invest without a little return. You know what I think?" He paused briefly awaiting her response.

"What's that?" she said, her curiosity peaked.

"I think it's for entertainment. I don't know who for but it's for someone. It could even be one person, they could be orchestrating all of them just for themselves. We've got trillionaires now so it's very possible anyone above the billionaire line could afford such an operation. They'd spend the same percentage of their money that we do on a streaming subscription, same idea." Joel finished explaining and they sat in silence for 30 seconds.

"That's.. interesting. I don't really think it matters." 

"Me neither." Joel turned to look at Theo who snored lightly, he was heavily sleeping with his face planted firmly on his pillow, the other half of his face sticking out and drooling. Joel let out a sympathetic smile at his innocence, contrasting the red stains still on his face, blood that belonged to Curtis.

"Joel. How do you know that Lisa girl? Did you meet in here?" Lara asked him, she said with her legs stretched out along the floor, her back planted on the wall behind them. On her left a bed had been pushed fully against the wall, closing the gap that Alessia used to sneak up on her.

"We uh- we know each other on the outside. She was pretty kind to me."

"Oh, are you- did y- did you guys date at all?" Lara struggled to get this comment out of her, for fear of looking nosey and intrusive.

"Nah, it never really crossed our minds. We just hang out because we're both in our thirties and everyone in our place of work is early twenties, their obnoxious enthusiasm can be unbearable sometimes, which is fine. But we just avoid it and protect each other from our corporate overlords. But to be honest it's mostly one-way." Joel explained that last comment, implying that he was not really there for Lisa but she was always helping him out by driving him to work, sticking up for him and recently helping him complete his work.

"An office man... interesting."

"I do IT. It's... empowering" he said sarcastically on the last word, as if mimicking the buzz words his managers use on him.

"That sounds calm." she quietly muttered.

"Calm?" Joel acted jokingly insulted, not feeling the connection between stressful office job and calm in the slightest.

"Yeah, like you don't have to deal with people needing your attention."

"Well, what do you do?"

"I'm a preschool teacher." Lara seemed proud of her job as she spoke, saying it proudly for Joel to hear.

"Wow. That makes a lot of sense." He laughed.

"What? oh you mean because I have to watch out for tiny people all the time?" Lara laughed through her nose, getting a bit too loud.

"Exactly. But mostly your demeanor, especially towards the kid." He signaled his heads towards Theo on the bed. - "Maybe if you win the money you can quit, or you could just do the same job and splash out money on the kids. Buy them nice gifts for Christmas or something."

"Money? oh, right. I actually forgot there was prize money for all this... all this stuff. Because-" Lara was then interrupted by Joel.

"Because we've been just trying to survive." Joel finished her sentence indicating his understanding of his situation.

"Yeah..."

"So what would you do if you had the money?"

"I really don't know. I read that rich people are depressed because they don't have anything fulfilling in their life and no goals, so I'd probably keep doing my job. Y'know it's important." she said, Joel nodded in agreement and understanding.

"Raising the next generation is a huge part of society and it's noble to want to keep doing it even if you are SHIT-RICH. Me personally, I'd quit immediately, enjoy my life for a while, I think after this experience I'd be sick to my stomach of serving rich people with way too much time on their hands."

"You could buy the company and then demote them to your position. Chaotic good." Lara suggested.

"That. Is a great idea, I'm stealing that." Joel got excited from Lara's evil idea, laughing as he thought more about it.

"I've never thought about my goals as a teacher, I just protect the kids, help them figure stuff out. My only real goal was to avoid doing harm to any of them, I'd kill myself if I hurt a single child or let it happen without acting." Lara spoke with sadness, thinking about what could or would. - "One time, we had this shy kid called Charlie, he never said anything ever. I tried to get him to talk to other kids but he wouldn't even talk to the other shy kids but he really liked me, he would stand close to me and grip my trousers, constantly hiding behind my leg away from other kids. He was precious and I loved his company but it wasn't right for him, I tried to break the cycle and get him talking. One time we were all in the preschools playground and uhh, you know that play-set with the slide and ladder?" - "Yeah." - "Well. A boy and a girl started punching each other up there, I had to go up, Charlie just kept following me even when I was grabbing their hands to split them up. I was just distracted, I turned and struck him in the face with my hand by accident."

"Oh well I'm sure he knew you didn't do it deliberately-" Joel attempted to comfort her before she cut him off.

"He fell off the height of the playset, landing on his head. His crying would've calmed me knowing he was okay, but the silence was even more terrifying." Lara's voice got shakey as she tried to finish her story. - "He was just there, limp. He did survive but I've not seen him since, there was no reason to let me see him in hospital and his mother wanted nothing to do with me so nobody ever told me what happened."

"Lara, you made a mistake and it's fine. Because you'll never do it again." Joel tried to comfort her, she didn't seem swayed by his words as she was already aware of this.

"I know that. But now you know, I'll never harm a child, I find it hard to even survive in here as I need to harm others. But you gotta press on, you know?" 

"I do." Joel whispered, they both shared the silence after their conversation, reveling in their new found understanding of each others lives. They were no longer teammates, but friends. They sat in silence and thought about their lives for the next 20 minutes before the lights shot on immediately.

"GATHER YOUR TEAMS, THE THIRD GAME WILL BEGIN IN 20 MINUTES."

In the distance Peter came running towards Joel from his own private sleeping area, he had moved his tiny bed under a large one so nobody knew he was there. - "Morning all, we should prepare."

"Did you get the fourth guy? because we also still need a fifth." Joel explained in a bit of a nervous panic. - "It's looking like we're going to be one short and I don't want to be the disadvantaged team."

Peter nodded in understanding. - "Our fourth is a little uneasy because he knows Andrea has it out for you guys but he also doesn't have a lot of choice himself so we'll get him, his names Ethan. A fifth.. I don't know, Joel."

"I'll go look for our fifth, Lara stay here with the kid." As Joel was explaining his plan Theo was rubbing his eyes to the bright white lights that were entering his retinas. Lara nodded at him.

Peter approached Ethan once again as he did last night. - "Sorry Ethan, your window to get with another team has closed. It's likely you'll be with us buddy." Ethan looked upon Peter, sitting on his bed. He sighed heavily, the 19 year old boy with curly hair clearly knowing his odds had dropped significantly ending up in the snitch team. He stood up to his full height, same as Peter.

"Whatever. Better than no team. Please tell me you got the full five minimized and not the handicap of four." Ethan pleaded towards Peter, hoping for the right answer.

"We're working on it." Peter said causing Ethan to sigh heavily.

Joel walked all over the large room, everyone he found had a team already. It looks like they had totally missed out, not that anyone would've went with their team anyways. They had no choice, they must progress as a four.

He made his way back to Lara and Theo. - "Nobody?" she asked receiving a head shake from Joel. - "That's okay, we'll just play careful. No matter what it is."

"We may not get that choice." he said.

All the team approached the next door, where a guard was waiting. "REGULAR." they pointed towards Lara. "YOU ARE TEAM A, PLEASE PRESENT YOUR TEAMMATES." - She lifted all the boys in her hand, Joel, Theo, Peter & Ethan. "YOU ARE ONE SHORT, YOU ARE THE FIRST DISADVANTAGED TEAM. PROCEED." She walked forward, carrying them all in her grasp. On her left Andrea gave a snicker and smile at Lara's team, this was going to be much easier than she thought. 

Lara entered into the room, it was pretty large, on the floor there were six flags of different colors in each section, the flags themselves were the same height as the minimized, they were all equal distance from another flag giving no one a specific disadvantage in positioning. Inside the floor were minuscule trenches, she could probably barely fit her pinky finger in there. The group tried to break down what the specific design was for as the other teams behind them flooded in. The giant monitor on the screen lighting up with details of their team structure and layout.

"WELCOME ALL TO GAME NUMBER THREE; CAPTURE THE FLAG."

"IN THIS GAME YOUR GOAL IS TO CAPTURE THE FLAG OF ANOTHER PLAYER WHILST DEFENDING YOUR OWN, YOU MUST ELIMINATE YOUR FELLOW COMPETITORS IN THE PROCESS. THE FIRST TEAM TO LOSE THEIR FLAG WILL HAVE THEIR ENTIRE TEAM ELIMINATED AND THE GAME WILL STOP IMMEDIATELY."

"THERE ARE RULES, THEY ARE AS FOLLOWS; REGULARS CANNOT LIFT FLAGS OR PLAYERS CARRYING FLAGS, ONLY MINIMIZED CAN TRANSPORT FLAGS USING THEIR OWN BODIES AND EACH OTHER. REGULARS CAN PARTICIPATE IN ANY WAY THEY SEE FIT OUTSIDE OF THIS REGULATION. MINIMIZED MUST TOUCH THEIR OWN FLAG WITH THE OPPONENTS FLAG TO CAPTURE IT."

"FINALLY I WILL NOW DISCUSS THE DESIGN, EACH SECTION HAS TRENCHES FOR MINIMIZED TO PROTECT THEMSELVES INSIDE THE GROUND. THE FLAG SITS UPON A GLASS PLANE WHERE A LARGE TRENCH IS UNDERNEATH. THE CENTER HAS A SIMILAR TRENCH SYSTEM. THERE IS MORE TO DISCOVER BUT THAT IS ALL FOR NOW." the guard stepped back into formation against the wall allowing the teams to soak up the information, they all inspected each others teams.

Joel didn't recognize anyone in Lisa's team except Lisa, Thomas was of course working with Andrea. Amy had the disadvantage same as them, this must be due to her shy nature he thought, she wouldn't have a great time approaching other people. Kristen was with her husband Michael as to be expected. Finally Alessia's team, made up of nobody he directly recognized.

His team were yellow, they appeared to be sandwiched between both Andrea & Lisa's team.

"This is too perfect. Too perfect indeed" Thomas tapped his fingers together trying to remain calm in his giddy optimism.

"What's perfect? the game?" Andrea asked him confused, she had Thomas in her left palm and the other boys in her right, keeping them away from each other so she could privately converse with Thomas.

"Coordination, strategy, speed, strength and power. This team has it all, our odds of survival are 98% or higher in Capture the Flag." He turned and smirked at Andrea who smiled back at him, their ideologies totally aligned.

"How exciting. What is our play for this game?" she asked him with anticipating of running wild and ripping teams apart.

"Are you willing to do anything I suggest, strategy wise?" Thomas said to her.

To which Andrea responded with a resounding "Sure."

"Let me break it down for you." Thomas began explaining his play to Andrea.

All the teams entered the chamber, Team Lara took to the yellow flag, Team Andrea on their left took to the blue flag, Team Alessia on their left took the pink flag, then Team Kristen on Orange, Team Amy on Red and finally Team Lisa on green.

The regulars lowered their minimized, most headed straight for the trenches. Almost everyone in the room was confused at the approach taken by Team Andrea who has Thomas riding her shoulder clutching the strap of her tank top.

Joel waved up at Lara diving out the trenches, she lowered herself to the ground to listen to him. - "He is providing strategic advice to her, we need to be very careful. They are our number one focus." She nodded at him and rose back to her feet as Joel entered the trenches again. Kristen had Michael clutched in her right hand, instead allowing the rest of her team to sit in the trenches below.

"GAME THREE WILL BEGIN IN 20 SECONDS."

Joel ran through the trenches under his own flag, looking up to see the glass protection and the flag in the middle of the plane, as well as Lara standing directly above them looking between her legs. Her feet parked on either side of the flag. They found crates in their headquarters area, opening them up were various weapons of different kinds, timed explosives, spears & tranqulizer darts. Peter looked upon the weaponry with Joel. - "Get every man a spear" he explained.

"A spear? the hell is a spear gonna do, give me the explosives any day." Joel lunged forward to grab the cuboid shaped explosive, Peter pulled his arm back.

"Explosives only hold a finite amount of energy for every single thing, spears are relative because the momentum of the object gives it its power. Giant tries to grab you? stab, tries to step on you? stick it in the air. It's a perfect defensive weapon that every man on this team should have. There are only two, so give one to attackers always." Peter explained his thoughts thoroughly, Joel nodded, letting Peter use his expertise within their team, he needed to trust him but he couldn't.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1." The buzzer erupted as the game went into full-swing, Kristen made the first move by sprinting straight towards Amy's disadvantaged team, causing her to flinch and step backwards not expecting to get attacked immediately.

Kristen bashed into Amy with her shoulder sending her straight into the wall banging her head, her teammates watched in horror as their defender collapsed onto the floor with her back against the wall, Kristen sent another fist flying striking Amy in the face, all the other teams stayed put watching defensively as Kristen beat into Amy. Kristen's team back at base were sitting in their trench panicking. - "How can I relax? Kristen left our flag wide open!" Takuo shouted at his fellow teammate who was handing him a spear. - "Kristen and Michael will capture Team Red's flag long before anyone gets ours, plus we are are here to defend it so let's get up there and do it!" Ed shouted getting his other three teammates motivated as they split up in various directions within their trenches, watching their flag for any minimized incoming.

Kristen lowered her hand behind her as she beat Amy allowing Michael to hop off right on top of the flag, grabbing it but before he could take off four men from Amy's team emerged from the trenches surrounding Michael who held their orange flag. - "That belongs to us." one man spoke in his extremely deep menacing voice. Michael started to shake as two of the men who were wielding spears pressed in on him.

"HONEY!" he shouted causing Kristen to stop violently beating up Amy and turn around. "Oh dear what do we have here?" she jumped to her full height off the ground and stomped right onto where the men were causing them to dive backwards into their trenches. - "Keep moving, Michael." she commanded her husband below as he vaulted over the trench where the men fell just as Kristen lifted her foot, planting her foot over the trench containing two men and then her hands on either side of her foot, she felt punching on her sole and palm as the men struggled to get out of the trench to defend their flag. Amy quickly launched herself into Kristen pushing her over causing her to roll over Michael sending him to the floor, Kristen pushed herself off the ground to check on her husband. - "Michael! Are you okay?" he leaned up and looked at her to show he was conscious, he picked up the flag he dropped with Kristen now behind him he ran between her legs just as the men from the trench pushed out towards him, Amy jumped in high-gear as Kristen eyed up Amy's team on the floor. Amy socked her in the face sending her onto her ass completely blocking Michael from pushing forward as her legs covered each of his sides and her bottom covered his entire front, turning around he saw three men cornering him against his own wife's body. They stole their flag back and quickly backtracked.

They men knew they could've killed Michael right there but his wife was extremely close and it could've been their death, instead resorting to defensive tactics. Amy wiped the blood off her face and she didn't look pleased at all.

Andrea whispered to Thomas giving him various nods, staring at Lara's team the entire time, not breaking eye contact for a second. She began a slow approach on them, Lara and her team below knew this was going to happen and all eyes were on Andrea's team now who wanted every piece of them gone. Lisa watched this happening but had to still look our for her own team who were now being targeted by Alessia, she may have been fast but her team were the capturers not her. Andrea's team in her flag area watched her leave the fort carrying Thomas heading towards Lara's yellow team, readying for their next course of action.

Alessia's strategy was simple, send everyone attacking Lisa in a straight line, Andrea was more concerned with Lara and Kristen was violently going for Amy in front of her, Alessia had full ability to go offensive, commanding her team to attack Lisa's green team and leave one behind on their flag. They marched forward and met in the centre, both teams having the same offensive advantage to fight with their huge portions of their teams in the middle. - "You ruined our kill, Missy." Alessia uttered to Lisa, creating tension in the conversation as they flash backed to the attack from last night.

"He was just a kid, who do you guys think you are?" Lisa snarled at her and her minimized below her.

"We're the strongest group in here, we don't need to think about morals at a time like this." she sprinted forward kicking Lisa in the diaphragm, she took this hit hard as it send her backwards, bending her knees to stop herself from falling completely backwards. Lisa saw one of her teammates by the name of Henry leaving the circle trench to attack one of Alessia's who was alone next to her, Henry was wielding a spear and charged for the sneak attack. Lisa was not close enough to Alessia to protect him she watched as Alessia's eyes turned to her right, instantly lifting her foot and slamming it down in front of her teammate; Martin. Her foot collapsed onto Henry splatting him instantly just outside of his trench, his spear providing no protection from the weight as it was pointed forward towards Martin. Martin fell backwards from the impact of the giant foot striking in front of him, realizing she had just protected him from an attacker.

"First blood." Alessia spoke to Lisa with a straight face. - "You're one down already against the strongest team." Lisa could only watch as Alessia exterminated one of her teammates within the first minute, her leg movement and stomp was so incredibly fast there was nothing she could've done, no reflex would've been fast enough to prevent it. Alessia lifted her foot scraping it along the floor behind Martin whilst still keeping eye contact with Lisa, Martin watched the gore get spread along the floor as his body shook in fear from the violence. Lisa backed up slowly, her team watched her movements and did the same, leaving the trench and following her. "That's right, back it up." Alessia whispered to herself, watching all the movements closely.

Lisa knew she had no chance of beating this athletic champion, especially at a disadvantage. They had a zero percent chance of taking her flag. Alessia knew her advantage and pressed forward throw multiple fists at Lisa, missing then pulling her hair instead. Holding her head in her grip as she dragged her to the middle of the game area. One of Lisa's teammates, Eugene ran in towards her attempting to make some form of a difference. "Don't!" she shouted as the tiny Eugene realized what she said, Alessia spotted this opportunity and threw Lisa forward, landing chest-first onto the man, her breasts smooshing him into the floor against her tank top, she quickly lifted herself hoping he survived a brief impact but this wasn't the case, he wasn't totally messed up with blood but his limps were bending in all kinds of directions. Most of Eugene's bones collapsed under the fast impact.

Kristen turned to the direction of her flag- "We need more offense!" she shouted, two men came charging outwards, one carrying an explosive and another carrying their last spear. She quickly coated her arms around Michael and raised him onto her shoulder. Kristen watched the two men charge underneath her towards Amy's group, she needed to push her in order to give the men a fighting chance of reaching the flag. Which she did, they both grappled each other trying to force on or the other to the ground, Kristen tugged on her hair and pulled her around, putting her arm around Amy's neck and pulled attempting to put her to sleep. Amy watched as Michael sat on Kristens shoulder, watching her get strangled. To win these games, you had to fight dirty and she knew that.

Amy threw her head back and bashed it off Kristens nose and threw her head to the side, biting Michael in her mouth and lifting her head up towards the ceiling, as he barreled down into her mouth. - "NO, MICHAEL!" Kristen screamed as she kicked Amy's back legs and wrapped her arm around her neck again hoping to close her neck long enough to avoid the man slipping down it, she used her other hand by putting it in Amy's mouth to stop her mouth clamping on the man, using her fingers to find him. Michael splashed around on her tongue that furiously attempted to throw him into it's meat hungry teeth. She didn't intend to hurt him first, just to keep Kristen busy. The molars of Amy's mouth came crashing down on Michael instead biting onto Kristens finger as she protected Michael from being smashed. She plucked the man and pulled her hand out, pushing Amy forward onto her knees.

Kristen coddled her husband in her palm who was coated in saliva. Down below, John; a member of Amy's team had shot Kristen's incoming teammate, Alan with a tranq dart causing him to hit the ground in front of Amy. Kristen was too busy protecting her Michael, she didn't care about anyone else. Amy knew this to be the case, hence why she endangered him. Taking her opportunity.

"Clear out the way, guys." she lifted her pink nailed big toe pressing it into the unconscious mans back, compressing his head and chest into the floor flat, erasing his life from the world. Kristen watched realizing that Amy had gotten the better of them, now they were on even terrain.

On their far left Lara was backing up as Andrea made her way up close with Thomas on her shoulder, she could see him waving his hands as if explaining every little detail to her. Lara expected her to violently swing at any moment but she didn't, Andrea was moving around her like a predator eyeing up its prey with patience. Andrea lunged forward grabbing Lara's arm and slamming her elbow off her chin, Lara attempted to push Andrea back with her other hand but instead she was swung around and pushed towards Andrea's side. Andrea was now standing over Lara's yellow flag above her team who were in the trenches, Lara had her back to Andrea's blue flag where her team were likely defending. Down below Theo sat inside the main headquarters under the glass below the flag, looking up he saw Andrea's foot smeared on the glass as she stood inches away from their flag.

Lara knew this play, Andrea wasn't going to fight dirty because she had Thomas, she was dispositioning her and playing the field. She had Thomas on her shoulder to grab the flag then she'd defend him back to theirs, Lara on the other hand had been pushed away from her team to Andrea's side because she had no minimized on her who she could drop off. It was a smart play. Lara couldn't figure out what to do as she wouldn't be able to take Andrea in a fight, she awaited her lowering Thomas to grab her flag before running for her, but she never did. She just stood there waiting. Andrea leaned in to Thomas who kept shouting information at her she then nodded and started walking towards Lara again.

Lara was totally lost in this, they were making moves and succeeding, she had no idea what to do, she looked at Andrea's trenches behind her to see if there were any teammates she could attack to bait out Andrea, but they were all invisible to her, likely inside the trench. All except one as she stepped onto their glass a man came down her right trench line holding a spear, Lara then looked at Thomas on Andrea's shoulder, he was not wielding a spear. She must have no intention of putting him down otherwise he'd equip himself a spear for protection, which means they have no intention of capturing her flag. What was their play? Down below in Andrea's trenches there was chaos as Thomas hadn't told them what was happening. - "Where is Brandon?? Is he dead?" Neil shouted at Larry & Richard in the headquarters under the flag & glass.

"I haven't seen him since the start of the game." Larry said as he looked at Richard who nodded in agreement of that observation. 

"-and Thomas, what the fuck does he think he's doing? taking our only protection and wandering off to fight a personal vendetta! We've got no protection here." as Neil ranted, Richard made eye contact with Larry upon hearing the words about Thomas, everything Larry said about not relying on those two was turning out to be true, his trust was building for Larry who had gave up a free heads-up for no reason. Neils shouting was interrupted by vigorous thumping as they all jumped slightly from the ground shaking, they looked up to see the girl from team yellow with her back to them, she was walking backwards over their base. Her foot stepped onto the glass filling up most of their visions. They saw Andrea pressing forwards pushing her back towards the wall. 

"Listen up. We can trust them to win us the game but we cannot trust them to protect us along the way. Do whatever you can to survive but also defend our flag as that is my guess as to what Thomas wants us to do, despite him telling us shit." Larry commanded his troops who all nodded in agreement, Neil headed to the right of headquarters leaving the area into a trench wielding his spear. 

Above their base Lara stood there slowly figuring out this strategy, there had to be a strategy because Thomas was there. But it looked like they were simply attempting to kill her and fulfill a personal vendetta, do they think someone else will capture a flag so they can just wreak havoc? that must be what they are doing. "I'm not going to lie down and take it." she muttered as she removed her pants unveiling her white legs and underwear, placing the clothing in her right hand holding it from the waistband and holding the ankle on her left. 

"Your ass is mine, snitch." Andrea spat with venom.

"Then come and get it!" Lara shouted setting Andrea off the rails, Thomas frantically waving his hands, this must not be according to plan. Lara side stepped Andrea as she came in for a swing of her fist, throwing her pant leg around her neck and throwing her body weight backwards pulling Andrea to the ground with her by the end, her knees bending, Lara using both of her legs to grip Andrea's arms to stop them from flailing in an attempt to hit her. Thomas dangled from her shoulder trying not to fall off.

"Goddammit, Andrea needs help, we need to do something." Larry shouted at Richard, both were operating as a duo and traversing the base together. Larry wielded their second spear.

"Her and Thomas ran off without us, why would we help them?" Richard angrily retorted.

"Because if she dies then the yellow team can claim our flag easily, it's for our own protection." Larry explained as he pulled himself over his trench to gape in awe at these two monolithic kaijus before him wrestling on the ground, Lara was strangling Andrea with her pants wrapped around her neck pulling harder and harder, Thomas could do nothing except cling onto her for life as Andrea got weaker and weaker. Larry waved over the left side of their base at Neil who was standing outside the trench in front of Andrea who was losing her life force. Larry waved over at Neil pointing upwards with his spear. - "Protect her!" this causing Neil to charge forward around Andrea then around Lara, Lara watched to her side whilst attempting to close Andreas blood circulation to her head, watching Neil going behind her. What was Andrea's teammate doing? she thought to herself.

Neil charged forward towards Lara's bottom pushing his spear straight into her bare skin as hard as he could, hearing a shriek above as she flailed from the pain. He walked backwards to distance himself from her as her movements from pain could be fatal. Andrea lowered herself to the ground even closer, allowing herself to slip under the grip of the pants, turning around to face Lara who quickly rose to her feet to tackle Andrea again, her neck was red raw from the strangling as she attempted to get her breath back. Neil raised his arms and spear upwards horizontally cheering and jumping up and down as he'd saved their giant from death, he had an impact on this game and any win they get now would be as a direct cause of him, his smile was tore off his face as Andrea darted forward her rage overtaking her pushing Lara with both of her hands onto each of her shoulders as she toppled backwards from the force. Neil looked up as the bare ass he just stabbed to save Andrea came falling onto him at great speeds. Lara's ass collapsed on him as her weight hit the ground in great force, his body crushed into the ground by the gargantuan woman, the cushion of her cheeks did nothing for him as his life was squished out, he felt terrible rushes of pain as he died from the impact. Lara felt snapping for a brief moment, she quickly checked underneath her to see an unrecognizable smear. It could've been anyone but she'd have to assume for now that it was Andrea's teammate who stabbed her, she flicked off her corpse from her bottom as she stood up to face Andrea.

Thomas watched as Lara sat on Neil with all her weight, his teammate crunched out of the game by accident. His plan was almost complete anyways, Neil had served his purpose however Andrea was being reckless to her teammates and that was a notable factor in the strategy he attempted to tackle.

Lara clutched her pants in the same method as last time, one hand on the waist one on the ankle, in an attempt to use it to grip Andrea. Andrea lunged forward pulling the clothing off of her and throwing in behind her into the corner of the room. Lara walked backwards bare legged but feeling more confident that she had nearly taken down Andrea and eliminated one of her teammates, this was by Andreas hand, why was she uncaring towards her teammates? didn't she need them to win? Andrea suddenly struck her in the face with her left hand causing Lara to fall to the ground on her left.

"Richard we can stay here now if Andrea keeps up the fight, we don't need to risk anything anymore to protect her, to save ourselves." Larry explained to Richard, not knowing where Neil had gone to since he ran out to protect Andrea. - "Where is that lad? We need him back here-" his eyes gazed upon Andrea striking Lara as she fell, noticing a red smear on her bottom and visualizing which direction Neil came from. - "He's dead." recalling when she fell backwards, it was because of Andrea.

"What? how do you know?" Richard exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter, trust me. We've got to hold the fort, at all costs. Andrea will eliminate that girl and if we properly hold the flag then we will advance." Richard nodded back in agreement with him once more. - "Let's do our duty."

Lara's base were a wreck, Andrea had marched in and forced Lara out of their protection. If Lisa's team decided to attack they'd have to defend with their lives but it looked like they were occupied, thankfully. They watched on in horror as Andrea beat Lara up, Theo attempted to run out but Joel stopped him.

"We have to help her, sir!" Theo wriggled as Joel held him down.

"No, NO! You listen to me, kid. There isn't anything you can do here, remember their size. We cannot act on emotion of we'll get ourselves killed. She'll pull it back, trust me." Theo stopped moving, Joel released him and lifted him up the trench so he could watch. Peter held their right side in Lisa's direction to stop any unlikely attackers and Ethan held the front.

Theo & Joel watched as Lara removed her pants and did a crazy maneuver, pulling Andrea to the floor. Theo watched with glowing eyes as she strangled the beast who had attempted to kill him, Joel bit his lip watching the situation unfold. - "Come on, Lara. Kill her good." they watched in anticipation as if watching an action-flick at the theater. They saw Lara flinch in the distance as Andrea pulled out and pushed her backwards. Theo started shaking again watching Lara end up on the wrong end of the fight. Andrea leaped onto her and started beating on her, each time her head would flick backwards and collide with the ground behind her. Theo tried to run out again, Joel gripped his hand. - "THEO. YOU ARE NOT GOING OUT THERE." using his name for the first time, Theo's facial expression filled with surprise upon hearing his name for the first time from Joel.

"I can do it, sir. I'm fast, exceptional. Like you said. Right?" Theo said with glowing eyes and a smile. Joel couldn't tell him he wasn't, but he couldn't let him die either. Joel let his grip slide slowly releasing Theo, he took off running in a straight line towards Andrea & Lara. Joel darted through the trenches, grabbing a tranquilizer pistol and vaulting over the trench. He watched as Theo made fast ground in the distance, he was closing in on the two giants beating each other up on the floor, Andrea was on top of Lara who was on the verge of passing out.

"Ethan!" Joel shouted, the 19 year old kid turned to his left as Joel threw something at him, he caught it, it was a tranq gun. - "What's this for, Joel??" Ethan shouted in the distance, totally confused by this. He watched Joel running in the same direction as Theo. 

"When we come back around, shoot anyone that follows!" Joel shouted turning his head back to face forward. Ethan realized he was on defense here as they were making a dangerous play, their lives were in his hands.

Andrea stood up to her full height, with her legs parked on either side of Lara as she stared down at her, she was bested in combat. - "Your biggest mistake was fucking with me, snitch." Andrea's eyes drifted away from Lara's bloody face and caught a minimized darting past her on the left and he was fast. - "That stupid kid again." she lifted her foot and went for a crushing elimination on Theo hoping for a succession this time. Lara's eyes noted Theo risking his life to distract Andrea, she saw her foot coming in to ruin him, she instantly rolled over onto her side and slammed her hand where Theo was as the foot slammed down onto her hand. Lara successfully used her hand as a break between Theo and the floor ensuring the foot couldn't compress him unless it was strong enough to get through her hand, which it wasn't. She winced in pain as she felt her hand bones crack from the impact.

Theo kept running as fast as the wind, Andrea re-positioned for another attempt. Lara's hand got free as she send her fist flying straight into Andrea's groin causing her to lean forward in agony, Lara rose to her feet and punched Andrea square in the face, unfortunately she caught it, moving Lara's arm sideways and throwing her own head into Lara's. Sending her back down to the floor again, Andrea turned and went on the prowl, running towards Theo.

Theo jumped over an entire trench using his speed to carry him over the gap with ease, he sprinted across the glass plane. His feet slapping against the glass as he ran towards the blue flag, his hands wrapped around it as a man presented himself in front of him. - "Boy, don't move with that flag. Please." Larry tried to calm him and grant himself enough time to leap forward and grab the swift teenager. Richard watched from inside the headquarters underneath the glass, he frantically pulled out a tranquilizer gun and armed it whilst watching from directly below Larry & the kid. Theo wasted no time here anymore and turned running away with the flag, Larry leaped forward and fell on his chest missing him entirely, he attempted to push himself off the glass to get to his feet.

"LARRY!" Was all he heard as a foot smashed onto him, the force burst through his body and into the glass, shattering it immediately. Sending both the foot and Larry's body blasting through the headquarters ceiling and into the floor below, her weight landing on him and the glass. Richard was sliced up from the glass but alive, bleeding. He ran over to the foot and looked under it, Larry was breathing but pretty messed up, the glass in-took lots of the force and allowed his body to only take a fraction of it. Richard recognized the black nails as his eyes followed up the pants to see Andrea. She then lifted her foot carrying Larry away with it. - "Larry! No!" Larry held his arm out towards Richard as he flew into the air. Richard could only plead as the foot came in for another step this time out of sight, no doubt in Richards mind that she ended him for real that time.

"You're going to die with that flag in your hand, stupid kid!" Andrea kept screaming as the flag soared out of her crushing distance, Thomas had just watched her stomp straight through Larry knowing that there was no way she didn't notice, she simply didn't care. They were going to lose if this stupid kid reached their flag before the plan came to a close. 

"Andrea! You need to get me down there, I can return the flag." She listened and put Thomas in her right hand, running in front of Theo and slamming her left hand in front of him and dropping Thomas with her right. Andrea's right hand then swept in to pluck Theo's body, a spear lunged into her palm before she could grab him as the crazy guy from yesterday dove into view and kept prodding her with a spear.

Kid, get the flag to base!" Joel shouted whilst stabbing with the spear, Andrea plucked his spear out of his hands and dropped it in front of Thomas, he picked it up and began chasing Theo. Joel started running towards him to stop his spear from harming the kid but Andrea grabbed Joel's tiny body with her fingers, ready to end him.

Thomas then hit the ground face-first like a rag doll, his spear falling to the side rolling away from him. Ethan had nailed Thomas with a tranq dart before he could hurt Theo from behind, allowing Theo to make good distance. Andrea then used Joel's body as a projectile throwing him in the kids direction, his adult body blasting into him sending them both barreling sideways to the right. Ethan then followed up his tranq shot on Thomas by throwing a spear through the air hoping to nail him whilst he was out. Andrea lifted her right foot and slammed it on top of Thomas, his head & torso perfectly positioned between her toes, his right arm fell under the gap underneath her smaller second toe, his left arm however fell under her big toe that compressed itself with force into the ground crushing his left arm to pieces. The spear barreled through the air colliding with her foot and sticking into it, she plucked it out and threw it away.

Now able to remove her foot from Thomas she did so, the arm stuck to the toe and pulled off of his body as she stomped towards Ethan. She leaned down and plucked him throwing him directly into her mouth, she dug her teeth right through his body chomping him to multiple pieces, first his arms then his legs then twisting her molars grinding straight through his torso, splashing all his blood & organs everywhere. Joel got off the ground in pain, lifting Theo up and handing him the flag. They both turned to see Andrea staring them down smiling, blood coating her teeth. Joel turned immediately to Theo. "Go."

Theo darted across the last trench along the glass plane heading towards their flag, Theo closed in, mere inches away from touching the flag before a buzzer sounded causing everyone to freeze.

"GAME OVER. SOMEONE HAS CAPTURED A FLAG."

Everyone frantically scanned around looking for their flag, Andrea fell to her knees, Theo had captured her flag. His teeth grit furiously in our mouth at her own failure, Thomas began punching into her and shouting.

"Andrea, look. The plan, it worked!" she slowly turned around to see the pink flag touching theirs.

"THE PINK FLAG HAS BEEN CAPTURED"

Alessia was standing over Lisa as she turned to see her flag totally gone, shock erupted over her face trying to figure out who, when and where this could've possibly happened. She saw her flag on top of Andrea's flag, touching. Andrea then began speaking to her with Thomas in her hand in front of the yellow base. Her head was scratched and bruised, her mouth bloody and her head dripping.

"You truly are the strongest, babe. But now we've become the smartest." Andrea didn't smile evilly at her the same way she did to everyone else. - "We were never going for Lara's flag, it was just a distraction to eliminate you, the strongest other team in the games. Your intelligence is your weakest factor according to Thomas and he proved it. We sent one of our teammates to sneak around and get your flag at the start and he got it. Sorry it has to be this way, babe." Andrea didn't seem angry or deceitful towards Alessia.

Alessia's guard dropped, lowering her fists by her side as she had been defeated, her team watched from behind her on the ground. They couldn't make sense of it, they were pushing forward and making eliminations and then suddenly they were out, all because of a sneaky move from a friendly team.

A guard emerged from the closed door and pulled out their firearm, shooting, as Alessia looked towards the ceiling taking in a deep breath. She quickly shrank down to the floor watching the ceiling get distant. Her teammates absolutely horrified seeing their unstoppable beast of a giant being turned into the same as them. The guard then shot a glance at Lisa and walked back inside. Lisa then got to her feet slowly, walking in front of Alessia who stared up at her, totally blown away by the sheer scale of her, this girl she was beating up moments ago, attempting to kill and slaughtering her teammates, now towering before her like a skyscraper with limbs. She didn't cower away in fear although she was petrified, she simply looked up as Lisa stood as close to the girl as she physically could. Lisa soaked in the ridiculous power that she was emanating onto Alessia, this once menacing powerful girl now cowering in front of her like a mouse.

Alessia had been sucked of all her power and knew what it felt like to cower beneath a giant. She thought to herself whilst shaking, is this what all those people saw when looking at me? was this the last thing they saw? Her vision in front of her was taken up quite heavily by Lisa's big toe that stood about an arm's length away from her body, she could see the bumps of the skin texture on it, it was the same height as her. The nail drooping over the top, coated in a blood red polish. Lisa showed no change of expression in her face, just a straight face. Alessia's chest started to shake in a panic attack as the hulking mass of the foot was raised from the ground, how could such a large and heavy weight move with such ease? she thought about all these things whilst beginning to break down. The foot made it's way above her seeing the dirty sole encompassing her entire vision as it hovered 2 metres above her, then it fell hard as Lisa pressed her body weight strongly into her foot as the colossal weight compressed onto her body. Alessia's fit form was ripped to shreds as her muscles were flattened into paper, her chest containing her important body functions also crushed down into a paste, Lisa twisted her gigantic weight as she pressed giving maximum violence. Alessia's head exploded like a grape as the organs of her face blasted outwards splashing over the floor.

Even once the deed was done, Lisa kept her weight pressed down, stopping the twisting of her foot but enjoying the flattened gore beneath her drool it's way out from under her weight. People watched in curiosity, most didn't seem bothered and the minimized definitely did not, she had received a taste of her own medicine at the feet of Lisa.

Lisa finally decided to move on by removing her foot, the blood now mixed with the dirt of her sole. There was quite literally nothing left of Alessia, whatever she once was, was now erased from existence. Her mind erased as her brain died and her body erased as it's was obliterated into dust. What remained was red smears along the floor and tiny pieces of bone, no sign of recognizable bones, just random pieces. Not even a skull. Lisa placed her foot back to the side next to the other, contrasting each other now as one was pale and the other had red underneath it. She came back to reality as her frustration with the girl subsided, her angry energy dispersed through her soles at the cost of Alessia's life.

The trenches all started to rise out of the ground pushing all the minimized onto equal footing with the regulars. - "ALL PINK TEAM MEMBERS ARE ELIMINATED." the voice bellowed from the speaker system. - "DEAL WITH THEM".

Andrea progressed forward, wanting to be included in the free eliminations as per the game rules, smashing as she saw fit. Kristen also joined in. Lisa had already had enough and walked towards the next door.

Chapter 8: The Girl Who Won

Joel and his group all exchanged glances as they had survived yet another game, Joel noted Theo's down expression as he dropped the flag to his side. - "What's wrong, kid? we survived." he said in his attempt to cheer up Theo who shouldn't be reacting this way.

"We were so close to eliminating the weird lady. If I was faster then she'd be gone then she wouldn't threaten you guys anymore..." Theo stared at the ground disappointed in his lack of ability, Joel approached him slowly, taking him by the shoulders.

"Listen. The only reason Lara is alive right now is because of you, whether you captured their flag or not, you don't have to do everything 100% to be good enough, you already are." he attempted to push a smile out, Theo just sighed as Joel walked away urging him to come with as the group headed out. They approached the next open door, giving one last glance to the room behind them watching as Andrea & Kristen eliminated the last remaining members of Alessia's team who had nowhere to run below, Joel had already had his fill of watching the violence occur and quickly turned to continue pressing forward to the next room.

They made their way through a broad corridor, Joel limped forward behind Theo & Lara, they all looked beaten to death but Lara looked by far the worst of every one of the remaining competitors. Andrea had beaten her to the edge of life and her brain was barely hanging on, still on the brink of passing out from the concussions, the pants from earlier clutched in her left hand, he grip was loosening on them as they drooped lower to the ground, the ankle of the pant leg scraping the ground every swing. Andrea & Kristen approached from behind, passing by the group below, both carrying their minimized partners. Kristen was carrying Michael who seemed to be in one piece which bothered Joel, yet again the man had received a free pass, or so it seemed, every game it felt like they were grasping on the edge of survival. Andrea carried Thomas who was missing an arm due to her reckless attempt at a protective step earlier, she didn't seem bothered at the time and certainly didn't seem bothered now either, he was still unconscious somehow. They walked fast to get in front of them attempting to take their defensive positions early in the next resting room, acquiring the corner of a room was important and there were realistically only 5 teams maximum assuming the same teams stick together from last game.

Theo shouted to get Lara's attention, but she didn't turn around and instead kept stumbling forward. He shouted again and again yet she didn't respond, he turned to Joel shrugging his shoulders - "What's up with her? is she okay?" as he spoke Joel's eyes widened watching Lara fall out of the sky. Joel dove forward attempting to move Theo out the way but he simply wasn't close enough to the impact zone as Lara landed on her back smashing into the ground, they both dodged out the way landing on the ground as they leaped through the air. Her head turned to the side as she passed out completely.

"Lara! Lara wake up." Joel shouted up at the giant now immobile, lying on the ground on her back. Joel punched into her massive thick shoulder, barely creating any impact on the skin due to how dense it is. Her arms were drooped entirely by her side generating worry in the boys as she had no movement in her body at all. - "I need to wake her up. Stay here." He quickly scanned up and down her body from her shoulder on the floor, looking for the lowest climbable entry point, noticing her wrists were the lowest to the ground he ran down her arms to reach them. Holstering his way onto them and running along her arms like a thick tight rope upwards to reach the top of her shoulder. He moved onto her stomach area, lifting his legs high to get over the fabric as he sank into it like walking on cushions, falling multiple times as his ankles sank deep into the fabric. He reached the middle looking right up the gap between her breasts covered in the tank top, he ran through the middle towards her chin which was now in full visibility. Joel walked around the right side of her head to reach her head that was lying on the right side of her face, making contact with the ground.

Joel used all of his strength to pull open her right eye-lid. - "Lara do you see me? I need you to wake up, it's important! Lara!" he frantically tried to get a response from his friend, fearing the worst had happened since they could not check her pulse or move her elsewhere. All the other competitors had passed them, some watching briefly before moving on with their walk to the next room. Amy passed by showing a lack of empathy, totally unlike her, acting as if Lara wasn't potentially dead on the floor. Joel looked around for anyone, a guard or anyone who cared, spotting Lisa in the distance she quickly ran over getting onto her knees in front of her.

"What happened?" Lisa shrieked looking down at the girl on the floor.

"I don't know she just passed out and nearly landed on us. She's not responding to me." Joel screeched above in a panic, Lisa used her index & second finger to check her neck, looking for a pulse.

"She's alive." she said as she lowered her right ear to the woman's face, feeling a light breath on her face. - "and breathing, thankfully. She just needs some rest, she did receive quite a beating today. I'll carry her, don't worry." Lisa picked up Joel in her slender hands and lowered him to the floor below, making her way around the front she took Lara's hand and pulled her body upwards with a huge heave of effort, placing her head underneath her arm pit and hauling the girl onto her shoulders. Lisa walked away, her footsteps heavy from carrying 265 pounds of weight. - "Stand clear as I'm walking, this would be a really bad time to get in the way." she joked as she hauled the girl towards the end of the corridor making her way into the room, Theo closely followed behind looking into Lara's face from behind as she was carried away.

Joel trailed behind as he limped from the pain, watching the group get away from him quite quickly, he fell onto his knees clutching his stomach, writhing in pain. - "God it hurts more by the minute. Fuck." he used all his strength to pull himself up to his feet, stumbling forward towards his friendlies. Thumping dawned on him from behind, assuming it was another regular who had fallen behind, he turned slowly to see a guard walking very quickly towards him. Not the type of solider-like marching he was used to, the walking that looked like they needed to get somewhere fast, as they got closer to Joel he realized their mask was looking directly at him and not at the end of the corridor. He stopped walking and looked up at them as they approached.

"You- you've already missed her, my friend took her away and she's fine. You certainly took your time coming to help." he said with a raised voice at the guard, questioning their care for the participants in a sassy tone. The guard then stopped in front of him turning and looking down at him, the guard looked at the end of the corridor, behind themselves then back to Joel, looking for anyone else. They held their right hand up quickly using their fingers to create a hole with their hand, creating the symbol "O". This gesture was zero, he knew it because another guard- potentially the same one created a two then a one after each game so far. He was on zero now, what did it mean? The guard did another quick check around then lowered themselves to the ground, squatting downwards creating a leathery squeak in their boots from the weight bending them.

Joel walked backwards as the guard approached him, falling onto his ass as the giant black gloved hand of the guard flew through the air towards him, gripping around him as he screamed. - "Let me go! What are you doing?" the guard then raised their index finger up to the white mask on it's mouth, a gesture for "shhh". As the gloved hand surrounded him, compressing him tighter in it's grip. He felt the guard stand and behind walking, his body felt the G-force on his body as he accelerated fast using the strength of the giant.

7 minutes later.

The glove finally opened after an eternity, it felt like so long as Joel was baked in the heat of the gloves, the warmth from the hands emanating through the leather into his body, his body heat had nowhere to go within the glove, containing him within a microwave box in the hand. He slipped out of the glove, hitting the floor and landing on his back, opening his eyes directly onto a bright light burning his vision, relieved from the heat prison and enjoying the colder air on his skin. He sat up to the guard standing menacingly in front of him, Joel surveyed their surroundings to see where he had been brought. The room he was in was small, like a closet, looking to be approximately 3 square in size. It was nothing like everything he'd been to so far since the start of the game show, there weren't wasn't glossy white floors, it was a grunged & eroded floor. The door behind the guard was dark grey with hints of green, as well as scratches on the door. The sick yellow light exaggerated these tones making the room look like an amalgamation of vomit colors, he heard the buzzing of the fluorescent tube light above, sitting in it's shattered casing. 

"Why- why have you brought me here?" Joel shook, scared he was going to be killed for whatever reason, the guards were unpredictable and the deaths within the game show were so sudden, he prepared for it at every corner, including now. He moved backwards frantically as the guard watched him, using his arms and legs to propel him backwards on his bottom, feeling the painful and rough carpet below him, it smelled foul. This place must have been very far away from the main areas to be this abandoned and unkempt. Before Joel could back away far enough the guard crouched lightly and held their hand out, palm facing outwards. Joel read this expression as "stop" or "stay calm". To which he did, slowly coming to a stop.

The guard used their other hand by raising it to the back of their head, keeping their other held out towards Joel. He watched as they removed their mask from the back pulling it entirely off their head, the long black hair flowed through the air as they shook their head out of the mask, the guard threw it to the ground. He watched as the guard revealed themselves to be a black-haired Asian woman, she looked down at him. She didn't look evil or scary to him anymore, able to read the intentions behind her face as non-violent, a scar trailed down the left side of her face all the way under her chin. The girls skin seemed damaged but healed as if it had been damaged a long time ago somehow. Her mouth opened multiple times as if about to speak but nothing came out, she paused again as the silence held for 30 seconds. - "My name is Mineko, I'm just like you. I'm sorry for scaring you, I know what that feels like but I need you to listen now-" 

"You're nothing like me, don't you dare say that. How can you help these people do this? What- what's wrong with you? have you no shame?" Joel continuously angrily spoke, Mineko's mouth kept opening to speak as he went on and on, trying to dart her way in to interrupt him speaking.

"I participated in the games." She spoke much louder, her voice blasting Joels frail voice out of the air waves. Joel instantly fell quiet upon hearing this. She stood up straight and confident this time as she spoke again, knowing Joel would listen. - "My name is Mineko Nonaka, winner of the second Minimized Championship Games." she looked back down at him, ready to be bombarded with questions.

"You- you've done this before? and- and 'second'? What number am I in then??" his confusion elevated by the second as questions flooded his brain, unable to ask all of them at the same time.

"You are currently participating in the fifth Minimized Championship Games." Mineko spoke with sorrow as she read this number, knowing how much death there had been so far since she'd finished.

"Were.. did you- where did- how many- I- I-" Joel stuttered as the questions pushed into his conscious and all gained sentience, trying to force their way into his lips to be read at the same time, all fighting for first place, just like he was. Mineko sensed he was panicking and needed to be calmed as quickly as possible.

"Listen. You have too many questions, we've got time to kill, which is what I was hoping for which is why I nabbed you before you entered the common area. You are so very important for what's going to happen next and I need to tell you everything, don't freak out on me, Joel." Mineko spoke firmly and to the point, lightly mentioning his name at the end grabbing his attention fully as he realized she knew his name, what else did she know about him? he thought.

Mineko leaned against the wall of the musty wall of the backroom closet they appeared to be stationed in, pushing her body down to seat herself on the floor with her knees up to her chest. She took a huge deep breath and exhaled slowly, preparing herself.

"Back when I was a young girl...."

"Mineko! Foods ready!" the man shouted upstairs to the young girl as she sat in front of her desk, her bedroom coated with pink on most walls and surfaces it could plaster itself on. Her desk was a light birch wood type, the paper was stacked in front of her, scribbles and notes of all kinds filling the page looking like a first draft with all the markings left on the words in-between the lines. To her right was a small metallic bin, filled to the brim with scrunched up pieces of paper. She heard the shouting below causing her to close her eyes and flinch, elevating her stress from the paper she struggled to get her mind onto the way she wanted. She quickly dropped her pen, fearing if she held it any longer she'd go insane, kicking her bin out the way letting the paper roll onto the floor she stormed out the room.

"Are you okay?" the man said, his shiny white smile showing for her to see as she came downstairs, her angry demeanor shifting in favor of being more passive as the man of her life presented himself in his glowing personality. The muscular Asian man kept up his happy smile as she came in for a kiss to the man, wrapping her arms around his neck, letting her fingers feel around the back of it. - "You don't have to hide your feelings from me. I know you're stressed, Miko." she removed her hands and sighed, turning away from him.

"I don't think you'd appreciate them too much, even though they aren't directed at you, Tetsu." she walked towards their small table on the floor, placing the small round plates on them and the cushions around the table. Tetsu came in with the food and began placing it on the plates as Mineko placing her knees onto the cushion, positioning herself in front of the table. They both kneeled at the table and began eating whilst avoiding eye contact, their table looked rugged and old, it has scratches in it as if it had seen four users before them. Tetsu stopped eating and looked at Mineko who didn't make eye contact, he kept looking hoping she would return the gaze.

Mineko stopped eating and looked up at him waiting for a response. - "What's got you so stressed, Miko?" he did that warm supportive smile he usually does garnering sympathy for him, she'd been so horrible not thinking about how he felt, she lightened up and decided to be honest, if that's what he really wanted the most right now.

"I'm sorry." she said, Tetsu quickly spoke back-

"You don't have to be sorry for feeling-" Testu was quickly interrupted as she kept speaking.

"No. I'm sorry for all of this." Mineko waved her head around, signalling to the rest of the room, a frown forming on her face, biting her lip.

"This?" he pointed to the various walls. "What do you mean? this is great!" he said with his cheery enthusiasm.

"No, Tetsu. It's not. This place is a dump, we've downgraded twice now and we still can't afford rent. Back then I thought leaving home to be independent and take up my stupid writing career- which frankly doesn't exist would be a good idea. You've carried me for so long with your job and working alone and I've barely made us a penny... I- I-" Mineko started to break.

"Mineko. We're partners, we support each other, always." Tetsu spoke each word with the softness of a golden sponge cake, his exceptionally calm demeanor and smile reassuring her at every turn.

"Yes! Exactly! So how is it fair that the support is one way? What can I do for you, Tetsu? You've lost your job and now.. now we're bound to have nothing left." she looked down at her plate as the steam faded away, the half-eaten meal getting colder by the second, Mineko didn't care- she was losing her appetite from the emotions. Fearing that if she ate she'd probably be sick immediately.

"I'll get back on my feet and so will you, your writing career is a big thing, so if it's to pay off you'll need to be patient. We'll be fine until then."

"What if we're not? How can you be so calm?" Mineko exaggerated her last words as she bobbed her head forward.

"Because panicking gets us nowhere, Miko." He spoke, she nodded as a tear fell from her eye, the two shared a silence whilst holding hands across the table.

"Why are you so good to me-" Mineko let out one last smile as a huge gust of dusty air blasting into her face at great speeds sending her flying sideways across the room, the table flipping through the air sending the food catapulting across the room, splashing into walls. She opened her eyes slowly to see the table on top of Tetsu who was unconscious, blood was dripping from his head with the table leaning against his skull.

"Tetsu!" she leaned in to lift the table, getting a firm grip of the table she began to lift as hard as she could. As she got into her full strength lift a cloth pressed against our mouth, a black gloved hand pressing against it, furiously covering her nose and mouth, she threw her hands behind her frantically, trying to swat away whatever being was attempting to hurt her. Mineko felt her mind go dizzy as her eyes began to fade shut, before they did she noticed a figure in front of her lifting the large table with no effort, pointing a white firearm at her unconscious partner on the ground.

"Don't..." was all she could softly get out her tiny soft lips before the world went dark.

"They got you in your own home too?" Joel said to her, much softer as her relatable story gave him time to think & calm himself.

"Yeah and they weren't subtle about it either and I still don't know why." - "When I woke up.. it was instant panicking for hours, not because of where I was or such. But rather because I thought my partner could be dead even if I wasn't. I must've sat in that grey room for nearly a month, it felt like forever..." Mineko started to let her mind wander back to those memories once again.

"We didn't know what was going on, the place was so dark, the lights were flickering in the corridor and we couldn't see each other very well. We huddled closely throughout the corridor as the guards poked us, getting us to move forward."

Joel chimed in with a question- "We? meaning.."

"Tetsu was there with me, he was okay. He had stitches on his head so they took care of him for whatever reason. I'm sure you know what comes next so I'll spare you the details, god knows you don't want to hear them again. But they did the same thing they always do, picking a category to protect and minimize the rest, we didn't understand this at first, nobody could make sense of what they were doing. I remember watching that wheel spin for hours, or what felt like it- it slowly landed on women then trickled off barely onto another category... employed."

"We watched as they huddled us together like farm animals, separating the correct people. They knew us all already, they knew who should go where, who was employed and who wasn't then- they minimized us, just like that. Two inches they said, so a tad bigger than you guys. It's important to note, the games were all different, none of the ones I've seen in your participation are the same. Ours were... horrendous. Your games are much more balanced, I don't expect you to feel lucky but I do think you need to understand how incredibly unlikely it was for us to survive game to game. So much violence and horror, every day." She took yet another deep breath, this one shakier as the words got harder for her to speak, the memories raising her heart rate.

"When I lost him, I couldn't believe it, it was so fast and... horrible- all because of that stupid kid.." she spat as she visibly started to shake, covering her mouth with her gloved hand. - "These people had taken me and my Tetsu in our own home and forced us to participate in their vile entertainment, we didn't deserve this. We worked hard, despite being unemployed. If only I had gotten that job, maybe the tables would've been turned in our favor, enough for me to protect him.. from- from those evil EVIL people."

"It was tough for me to get through, as you can see-" she ran her finger along her massive head scar, indicating to Joel across from her. - "But I did it, I was the first minimized to win. The firs time they ever ran this game they were massively in favor of regulars, I read their documents, they had a poor balancing issue, they didn't know what they were doing. None of the 100 minimized they started with made it past game three, over 30 regulars made it to the final. Me winning the second time they ran it... that was important for me, but also very important for them. I was living proof that their game show formula worked, a minimized always had a chance if the games were designed right. It's my fault you are here, Joel, indirectly but it's still the case."

"I don't think that's fair-" He spoke back as Mineko quickly raised her palm up, telling him to stop.

"-but. That's why I'm here, Joel. I was in the surveillance room during your first game, the way you ran in for that kid, it was the same as my Tetsu. You remind me oh so much of him and I believed in him, that belief is now on you and you've made it so far and kept your friends alive as well. I need you to make it all the way, no matter what happens." She began to rise to her booted feet again, standing in front of Joel with all her might.

"Let's make the fifth Minimized Championship Games the last games ever held, ever again." she stared firmly at him, a strong woman on the mission of her life.

"How? This place is like a fortress." Joel quickly rose to his feet walking towards her slowly.

"The last game is always the same, whilst I don't know the line-up of running games. I do know that the last is the same, always. We can tear this place down, but I need your full cooperation, I need to know you'll go all the way, Joel."

"I will. No matter what it takes."

"I have chosen you. You can't get distracted by others, you cannot put the lives of others before you. Can you do that?"

Joel paused thinking about Lara, Theo, Peter & Lisa. Could he let them die simply to give himself a chance of stopping this operation? It was the only chance future competitors had at survival, at not being roped into this torture pit.

"I believe I can."

Chapter 9: Hide & Squish

5 REGULARS & 16 MINIMIZED REMAIN

"I didn't see him disappear, we must've walked away from him! We need to go back!" Theo shouted at Lisa who sat on the ground next to him.

"They shut they doors, he must be in here somewhere. Just keep looking, we haven't covered the whole place yet." Lisa ordered Theo who kept running around looking for Joel. Lara was out cold on the regular sized bed, her arm drooping off the bed allowing her fingers to lightly touch the floor. Lisa followed behind Theo as they walked away hoping to do another final successful search. Mineko approached their sleeping area slowly and robotically, lowering herself to the floor next to Lara and allowing Joel to jump out of her gloved hand. She rose to her full height.

"IT'S IN YOUR HANDS NOW." her mask voice modulator making her voice sound menacing, shocking Joel as he forgot Mineko was under there, he nodded profusely. She marched away, making her movements look like a routine patrol around the common area.

In due time Lisa & Theo made their way back spotting Joel. - "Sir!" Theo came running towards him giving him a big hug.

"Where were you guys? I've been here for a while now." he lied towards them, being dishonest about his previous whereabouts in the game show backrooms. Lisa drew daggered eyes at him, making him uneasy.

"Well since you are okay, I'll be getting back to my team now. See you-" 

"Why don't you join our team?" Theo shouted at her excited, thinking they had made another giant teammate, making them unstoppable.

"That wouldn't be fair on my minimized comrades, Theo. I'll be an ally, but I won't be your teammate. Sorry." Theo developed a disappointed look on his face.

"Good luck though. She'll be fine, just give her a few hours." Lisa then turned and stomped away, her footsteps lightly booming away into the distance.

Theo looked up at Joel on his left. - "Was worth a shot." Theo shrugged, Joel returning a smile at him.

Thomas sat up feeling as though he'd been asleep for centuries as his head came back down to Earth with a crashing headache, he put his right arm on his head. - "Evening, sleepy head." He looked up at Andrea who was in front of him, he was at the bottom of her regular bed between her feet as she lay on her back, able to see the massive bottoms of her feet. Look between them she saw her eye contact, suddenly feeling an immense pain on his left.

"Ow!" he shrieked as he grabbed the area of his left arm where it hurt only for his fingers to press into his palm as he grasped at air, he turned confused. He watched the nub of his shoulder move as nothing presented itself on the end of it, his mouth flying open, his breathing accelerating extremely quickly as he began to scream. - "MY ARM!!! WHERE- WHAT. WHAT HAPPENED." he began to screech with horror on his face. Andrea quickly threw her feet left onto the floor, leaning her upper body forward getting her face close to his tiny body. She smiled with her hands holding up her chin, elbows dug into the cushioned bed.

"What's got you worked up, Tommy?" she spoke as if totally oblivious to his missing limb.

"MY FUCKING ARM, ITS GONE!" he answered her serious, it never crossing his mind that she knew this fact already. 

"Don't worry about it." - she waved her hand forward in the air. "Not your greatest asset anyways."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??? ITS MY ARM!!" Thomas frantically waved his invisible left arm up and down, watching the nub twitching, he could feel its prescence, his brain telling him it was there, just so clear he couldn't see it. - "HOW COULD YOU LET ME LOSE MY ARM, YOU STUPID BITCH. YOU USELESS FUCKIN'-" two fingers violently gripped him by the bottom of his tiny head, elevating him into the air, his body weight pulling him down, putting all the pressure of his own weight on his neck, like he was being hanged. Squealing for air as she brought him closer to her mouth, beginning to venomously whisper at him as he was inches from her mouth.

"Listen here, you ignorant insect. All I need is your head in one piece, your arm should be the least of your worries, I could've crushed all of your legs and arms off instead back there and you'd still be useful enough to get me through. I know you've been using me, Tommy. The powerful psycho chick will get you through don't you worry, I only need to protect the parts I need-" Thomas watched as her giant white teeth appeared and disappeared constantly, her lips lifting as she spoke, her warm breath washing over him as she held him in front of her torturous mouth. "-that precious head of yours." her tongue leaped out of her mouth slamming into him and dragging it's bumpy and wet surface up his tiny body, drenching him in it's saliva. He spat air out of his mouth causing the thick liquid to push away from his face giving him enough time to breathe.

Her tongue slithered back into her mouth as she licked her lips. - "Continue to help your pal Andrea for a little while longer and I promise to make it fast for you. She winked at him releasing him from the neck as he fell 30 metres to the cushioned bed below, falling onto his back. Watching as Andreas giant feet lifted over him and planted themselves back on either side of him, her bloody soles foreshadowing a fate for him that was right around the corner. He thought about the terrible mistake he had made as he cried a stream silently, only able to wipe his tears with his last remaining arm.

Tomorrow...

"Joel.. I don't know if I can go on, my head feels like it's going to fall off, I can barely move." Lara whispered into her legs as she tucked her head between them, clutching it with both of her arms.

"You've made this far, I know you can keep going."

"We aren't going to get much further, Joel. We need to face the facts here. Every game knocks off more and more people, in the next 2-3 games it's going to be impossible for all of us to survive." Lara explained how she felt about the games to Joel, her head in pain from the fighting and her heart in pain from the terrible truth they faced.

"As long as we press forward and abstain from fighting each other- what are they gonna do? If we all survive as a three then refuse to play their game, what do they do?" Joel tried to make a point, not really truly understand what he was getting at, perhaps grasping at straws to negate the thought of having to fight his teammates, his friends.

"I- I don't know. But I don't really want to find out. I can't imagine it'd be pretty." They both made eye contact once again, Lara looked terrible, getting rougher and more injured by the day. The next two games were going to be the hardest and they didn't know how to avoid it, they had to continue forward, there was no escape.

"GAME NUMBER FIVE WILL BEGIN IN 10 MINUTES. READY UP."

Lara sighed deeply, slowly lifting her head. Her head had a scar on it from her injury as well as many bruises. The pants were stretched and visibly torn too far from when she attempted to strangle Andrea with them, her hair was also messy from the violent wrestling. She rose and began walking off, irregardless of Joels whereabouts not even offering to lift him there. It was apparent that her stress levels reaching their maximum, unable to contain her frustration that the inevitable was coming. Joel gathered Theo and headed for the next door.

All the competitors seemed to lack more energy by the day as their numbers dwindled, some still trying to stay alert as the fight wasn't done yet. Most of them still looked beat up even after their showers & rest.

The guard opened the door and allowed them to press forward through the corridor into the next zone, the competitors made contact with fake plastic grass on the floor within the room, the walls were painted blue simulating a sky. In the center of the room was a medium-sized house with two floors, it looked fairly suburban and American, so perfect and still like the set of a TV show or movie rather than a place that anyone would live, it looked like you'd walk forward and suddenly discover it was a screen and it was never real, when in fact it was. All of them looked upon this house doing their usual gear turning in their heads trying to piece together the entertainment they'd be providing to whoever was watching.

"THIS IS GAME NUMBER FIVE; ESCAPE ROOM."

"AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS GAME MINIMIZED PLAYERS WILL BE GIVEN 30 MINUTES FREELY IN THE HOUSE TO POSITION THEMSELVES WHEREVER THEY WANT. AFTER THIS TIMER THE DOORS AND WINDOWS WILL BE CLOSED, AT THE SAME TIME THE REGULAR PLAYERS WILL BE RELEASED INTO THE HOUSE."

"THEIR OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO ELIMINATE TWO MINIMIZED PLAYERS, IF THEY SUCCEED THEY INSTANTLY PASS. MINIMIZED HOWEVER MUST ESCAPE THE HOUSE BEFORE THE HOUR ENDS."

Andrea lifted Thomas up to her face, whispering into him so nobody could hear. - "Tell me where you plan to hide, if you're not there then I will hunt you down, understand? If you do tell me I'll use your judgement to find others then there will be no need for me to kill you." Thomas nodded quickly like a scared mouse, desperately trying not to anger his holder, who held great power over his life.

Lara didn't communicate with the boys, instead staring into space, zoned out. Joel was certain she wasn't doing this deliberately in order to distance herself from her feelings, but rather had severely damaged her head and couldn't focus. She made eye contact with nothing but the blue walls and ceiling around the house. It was unlikely they'd be able to work together this round due to her condition. - "We're on our own. Lara isn't responding and we won't have time to plan anything cohesive." he explained to his teammates, Theo did his usual going along with whatever his leader said and Peter nodded in agreement with Lara's condition, knowing the condition that war can place on one mind and its effects.

"LET US BEGIN." they lowered themselves to the floor placing out their palm for the minimized to get on, after they did the guard transported them towards the movie-set looking house. The fancy front door was already opened, leaning through the door frame to unveil a beautiful living room filled with furniture & decorations of every kind, plants, sofas, TVs, bookcases with items on them and a fancy beige carpet below, where they were now headed. The guard dropped them in front of the door frame.

"YOUR TIME STARTS... NOW." they quickly stood up and left to go and monitor the regulars, knowing they were sneaky and manipulative towards the games in order to win.

On the jungle carpet below in the house, Joel, Theo & Peter came together to discuss the game and potential directions they could take. - "Okay so-" Joel began to speak but was instantly interrupted by Peter. - "We have a 50% chance of death." he said with his eyes inspecting the floor underneath the carpet strands, trying to comprehend the numbers he had just done in his head.

Joel opened his mouth to respond but couldn't, enacting the same behavior as Peter, trying to comprehend this ridiculous statistic. - "I'm- I'm sorry? you said what?"

"They said regulars need two eliminations to pass, if we assume all of them get their full score then that equates to 9 minimized eliminations, there are 16 people currently. Leaving 7 survivors. Technically that would make the odds of death 44% in a worst-case scenario, a worst-case scenario that is actually very likely." Peter finally looked up at Joel as he finished his explanation, both trembling and looking at each other. - "Those odds of death get much higher if we count all three of us and not just one."

"-well... there's no time to cry about it, Peter. Otherwise we're just dooming ourselves anyways, let's give ourselves the best chance and get moving, we'll have to scout upstairs, I'd imagine that's our best chance as it's the furthest away."

"I suppose it's a place to start." Peter agreed once again, as they started their journey.

Peter spent much of their travels watching other players who watched each other, attempting to avoid the gaze of players who had befriended giants, which had been quite a lot of them up to this point, they all feared being ratted out by other players to save their own skin. Gazing around they could see a fairly normal looking interior, how were they being monitored? how did they track everything that was occurring? thought Peter, this place was riddled with mysteries that he hoped were answered before anything bad happened to him.

The boys reached the stairs, looking 12 metres upwards they saw it tower above them, the realization that this was one step of many, the step was coated in fibers as the carpet didn't stop, the stairs were made of the same material, the fibers stuck out acting as a grippable surface for them to climb. They quickly got a move on proceeding with their plan.

Thomas walked through the house causing other players to move further away from him, everyone wanted to avoid this man who piloted a giant monster, even killing her entire team in her wake without a care in the world. Word got around that Thomas was a dangerous man to befriend, Lara's team were no longer the talk of the show. Thomas turned frantically trying to spot someone who would help him, or provide some form of company. He fell to his knees allowing his head to fall below the carpet horizon line as he understood he was truly alone, he had tamed a beast who had gotten him through two nights but at what cost? his team and his arm? Thomas drowned in his sorrows as he looked towards the stairs seeing Joel and company climbing their way to a newer area. His eyes lit up as he lifted himself up by his only arm and began sprinting to join the group.

Michael looked at multiple areas around the living room, he didn't believe he needed to think too much about his hiding spot as long as he could get Kristens attention fairly quickly then it'd be smooth sailing for him, she'd help him escape easily. Michael turned to his right spotting a slipper, it was white and fluffy, they looked brand new as if bought purely for this 1:1 house reconstruction, it wasn't open-toed meaning it would likely act as a great hiding place. He ran towards it, jumping onto the fluffy heel, his body sank slowly downwards for 10 centimetres emphasizing just how cushioned this surface was. - "Hey! Get lost. I was here first." another player shouted at him from inside, both unable to identity each other. - "Screw you!" he returned, jumping off and looking for somewhere else.

Michael spotted tiny movements at various parts of the room, one person checking out a closet but going to the bathroom instead, another going into the kitchen, one using string to climb a wooden chair that was in the corner of the living room. Too many spots in this room were taken, deciding which room to search next his eyes fell upon a shelf, drawing a clear path in which he could realistically climb high on it, the deliberately tipped books and items specifically placed on the shelves made it obvious that the game designers had deliberately crafted this path to allow minimized to get high ground. Michael thought to himself that if he could get to eye-level and jump around as he saw Kristen pass that he'd get her attention quickly and easily, beginning his mission to the top, traversing the carpet to get there.

The boys reached the top of the stairs, their muscles tearing from the climbing they were not used to, with the exception of Peter who was tired but looked fairly calm about the activity. The corridor had four closed doors, giving them a lottery selection. They could find a gold mine of hiding spots or end up in an empty room where they'd be caught immediately. Peter used his judgement and pointed towards the first door on the right, they decided to check it out as it was as a place to start as any. They ducked under the bottom of the door. The gigantic room presented itself, a large single bed with a closet on its right, left of it was a white window. There was a TV, shoes, a wash basket and a closet built into the wall.

"We have five minutes already, we're gonna have to get settled quickly to make that climbing worth it." Peter explained whilst looking around.

"I see a closet there down front, we could definitely reach the bottom of it and climb inside." He suggested to the group, trying to find them some form of direction.

"If I was in their position I'd search that immediately, it's too obvious." Joel responded.

"Under the bed?" Peter counter offered.

"That too. I don't even think we should consider hiding unless we have an escape plan, that's the game, right? Look, over there." Joel pointed forward towards the large white window, through the transparent glass was an overly saturated blue color, obvious to the human eye that it wasn't real and was in fact a fake wall. - "That window is probably our best bet considering the fact that we have 5 minutes left. We can go to the closet you pointed out and maybe reach the window using that."

"That might be but the window is definitely closed, that'd be too easy." Peter explained, unsure of his suggestion.

"Yeah that's probably the case, however if Lara is nearby she can open it for us then we're on easy street." Joel responded  "If that one sliver of hope pays off, we all pass immediately as a group."

"Couldn't she just leave out the front door?" Theo asked Joel.

"I mean- I don't see why not? sure." Joel answered.

"Joel. I need you to listen, putting all of your chips on someone else is a bad idea. You can work together with people but relying on them for 100% of your safety, usually backfires. Always have a solo backup plan. Trust me." Peter worried, the memory of a distant mistake he had once made entering his mind.

"Trust you? I don't even know you, we met yesterday. No offense but we have no reason to trust you, we've been back-stabbed enough already so no, I won't trust you, what I will do is trust my friend to show up, someone who has actually been there for us the entire time." his voice elevated in volume the more he spoke, Peters expression drooped lower and lower as Joel spoke. - "Come on, kid." Joel commanded Theo as he started continuing with his window plan, walking towards the large single bed at the other end of the room. Peter shook his head in disappointment and began following behind, the more the merrier, whether they trusted him or not he thought.

"30 MINUTES ARE UP, REGULARS MAY BEGIN." the guard announced to the room, the minimized in the buildings hearing the voice audible outside, readying them for the coming conflict.

The regulars began looking for different entrances into the building, Andrea & Kristen both got ahead and went straight for the front door where the minimized entered from. Lara took the garden which connected to the back door. Lisa entered via the basement around the back-right of the building, it was a staircase that went downwards into the basement from the outside. Amy simply stood there looking at the various entrances, unsure of which way to enter, she decided to pick someone at random and piggyback off their discoveries, watching as Lara creeped into the back garden through a white picket fence she sneaked towards her.

Lisa snuck into the basement, noticing how nearly pitch black the room was, as to be expected of a room under a house. Fumbling to her right frantically trying to accidentally flick a light switch, her eyes adapted to the darkness enough to see a light bulb in the center of the room, notably it had a small metal chain dangling from it. That must be the way to turn the light on she thought, still unable to see the room at all she pointed her arms out and waved them left  to right as she took slow steps attempting to safely make her way to the center.

"Oscar someone's in here, you heard that noise. They came from the side door not the one next to the kitchen." the man explained to his new friend he'd met at the start of the games, both men had met at the basement area going straight for what they believed to be the secret weapon of the games.

"Bro, it's silent in here. Giants make lots of noise."

"Not if they are sneaking they aren't."

"Listen bro, seriously listen-"

"John. There's nothing-" a pale foot slammed in front of them as they watched it walk past their shelves, the steps it took were short. Looking up they saw a pair of legs vanish into darkness, unable to identify who this person was that almost stepped on them. Both men watched as the feet stopped in the middle of the room, then the room blinked into existence with light alighting every surface in the room, areas in the middle were fully visible to the dim orange light and the outside areas of the room were still too dark.

Oscar & John both panicked immediately fearing that they'd be compromised walking backwards further under the shelf against the wall, above them were multiple stories of storage, various items parked on the surfaces. There was no way for them to traverse this high, resorting to hiding underneath the shelf.

With the room alight, the potential to identify their hunter was viable however they had snuck further back for protection thus covering her face again. Both men placed their backs as far to the wall behind them as it could go, dust fell from the shelves onto them, due to their size they were able to see them in great detail.

The feet walked between the shelves, hearing rattling and scraping as objects were moved. The men sweating profusely trying not to move. John looked to his right to see a box that was three times bigger than them and wasn't fully pushed up against the wall, it would be better to be against the wall and behind it. He started shuffling to the right as the feet moved in front of their shelf.

"John what the hell are you doing?? Stop moving!" he shout-whispered at the man who kept moving slowly trying to keep his breathing under control.

"She won't see us if we're behind the box, come on!" John returned causing Oscar to quickly start shuffling. Ahead the feet bent forward leaning on the toes causing the heel to stick up, she was leaning down closer to the ground sending fear into Oscar's eyes.

"Move quicker, John! She's looking!" Oscar whispered to the man, the contrast of his panicked mental state and his quiet words was unbearable to him, instead wanting to scream at the top of his lungs in fear of his life. The head lowered towards the ground, seeing the long hair touching the concrete floor first and folding in on itself as it was fed more from above. Hinting to Oscar that she was four seconds away from looking under the shelf.

John dove into cover behind the box as the face presented itself, Lisa looked straight towards where the men were. Oscar was 1 metre out from behind the box, in full view of Lisa's face however basked in the shadow of the shelf as they were pressed against the wall, he quickly froze himself in place, closed his eyes and held his breath. Denying himself the ability to move even an inch as he felt air on his skin and the heavy breathing of a large behemoth. 

Oscar listened to the deep noises ahead, looking into the complete darkness of his own eye lids as he refused to look. But the anticipation was unbearable, she wasn't moving at all because he heard nothing except breathing, slowly opening his eyes, instantly connecting with a pair of emerald eyes staring right at his, he let out a terrifying shaky exhale finally letting himself breath as he realized he'd already been caught, John was right, they should've went for the box. She must've been staring at him that entire time waiting for him to look.

Lisa waited for his move as he quickly dove towards John on the right attempting to evade her by diving behind the box. Before he could cross half way across the 1 metre distance to safety her hand slammed him into the wall behind him, her hand splayed out leaving his head in the gap between her middle finger and side finger. John heard numerous cracks and the scream of Oscar as he was slammed into the wall. The hand released from the wall allowing Oscar's body to fall forward into the palm as she curved her fingers around his body pulling him away from the back wall towards her face.

John poked his head out watching his partner get dragged through the air, Lisa stood to her full height and held the man close to her face, who had fractured a couple of bones from her hand slam. He writhed in pain as she spoke to him causing his to jolt in attention.- "Where is the other guy in here?" she said calmly and firmly.

"What other guy? I'm here alone!" Oscar shouted up at the womans face looming above him. This was Oscar's closest encounter with the giants so far and it never ceased to amaze him how such beautiful and dainty looking women could be so ruthless and controlling, maybe it was simply their size but he'd never know.

"It's the basement, it's a fairly likely hiding spot for you guys. Just tell me where he is and then I can make this fast and easy. Otherwise I'm going to need to get the truth out of you." Her green eyes pierced his soul making it hard for him to speak under the ruthless threats of Lisa who demanded information of him, holding him in her strong hands.

"I didn't see anyone down here. You have to believe me, I'm telling the truth!" He shouted with passion one last time pleading that she'd believe him and let him leave this plane of existence peacefully, hoping she'd just clap him between her hands at light speed instantly.

Lisa leaned in as he spoke inspecting him all over, letting the moment linger for a few seconds then lowering him towards the floor. Oscar watched this giant lower his body weight like it was nothing towards the concrete floor below dropping him onto his back thumping his head off the floor, then lifting her arm all the way back up, standing before him.

It didn't look like he was going to get the hand death for some reason, Oscar was ready for his quick death to come as he didn't attempt to run away knowing he might not be able to with his injuries and jeopardizing his chances of a fast death. He lifted his head up slightly watching her standing before him, her red toes moved slightly as they pressed into the floor. The left foot elevated off the ground heading towards him, he smiled with a tear falling from his eyes as his death approached him, he may not have won but he would no longer have to play this hell of a game and that was a win in his eyes.

John watched in fear from behind the box as Lisa lowered her foot onto him, already losing his new teammate in this game.

Both men watched from different perspectives as the foot moved forward but then kept moving, instead watching not the ball of the foot above Oscar but rather the heel, it came down slowly as Oscar waited for it to slam down fast but it never did, it came down slowly. He began wriggling in panic attempting to use his undamaged arms to push himself up just as the heel collided with his body pushing him back down, the weight pressed on him making it hard to breath. The heel pressed on his entire body with the exception of his feet that stuck out the back of it.

"I didn't want to do this. Tell me where he is!" Lisa shouted pressing down slightly, Oscar felt his body shaking trying to get him to move from the ever increasing pain.

Oscar screamed heavily outwards in Johns direction seeing him peeking out behind the box in horror. - "I DON'T KNOW".

"Yes you do!" Lisa errupted as she pressed on the bottom of her foot, she tilted her foot upwards so that it ramped 45 degrees, pressing all of her weight onto the smallest point at the back of her heel, allowing it crush right through his legs, knees and shins. Oscar screamed in pain as the foot heel destroyed part of his body, his legs turned into paper.

"The other guy..." Oscar looked at John who watched in horror as she tortured him, he saw the terrified reflection in his eyes. Why would he subject another man to his fate when he'll die any way? How could he? I will absorb all the pain so this man doesn't need to. Finishing his sentence after a pause as Lisa stared at him listening closely wanting to know where her last point was. - "The other guy doesn't exist." he accidentally spat blood outwards towards John as he spoke, the heel was giving his body no room to move or breath.

"Do you want this to get worse?" She pressed more and more, the pain got so great on the still functioning parts of his body that he physically couldn't create thoughts anymore, his brain was being melted by the pain signals that his nerves were sending unable to focus on anything else nevermind speech. She continued again and again. "Tell me and this will be over!" she kept shouting as he screeched, making more inhumane noises by the second as his brain was on fire.

"Hurry up!" Lisa didn't realize how high she'd set the level of pressure, thinking to herself that it was only a bit more and he'd tell her, elevating it to an unbearably high level for the mans body as it crushed flat into paper under the rough texture of her heel. She stopped speaking as the screams stopped, she waited for a few seconds before finally lifting her weight off and looking at her heel, seeing complete gore over it. - "Dammit..." she said under her breath.

Lisa had finally accepted that there was truly nobody else in here, or at least nobody the man had seen when he was down here. - "Sorry person, whoever you were. You didn't deserve that." She scraped her heel off the floor and pressed for the basement stairs, before climbing those very stairs she had a realization that the man was diving for behind the box, she turned and began walking back towards where the death had occurred and lowered herself to the ground to look at the box.

John had watched this unbelievable torture occur, the sacrifice Oscar had made for him was astounding, he'd never be able to repay the man back, he didn't breath a word of his existence for no reason. John quickly dove into a hole in the side of the box fearing Lisa might look for him, which she did, John stood in pitch black inside the box unsure of what he was standing on. Lisa pulled the box quickly causing him to jolt backwards from the sudden movement sending him flying off something inside the box, clipping his head on the way down and knocking him unconscious.

Lisa pulled the box out, it was taped shut and there was nothing behind it. There really is nobody else here she thought as she got to her feet, leaving the box out in the open and stepping up the staircase to the kitchen. John lay inside the small cardboard box unconscious for an indefinite amount of time.

Andrea & Kristen both raced into the living room doing checks of the most obvious places such as closets and other storage units and behind objects. Kristen glazed past the shelf and turned to look at Michael jumping on the shelf with his arms in the air. - "Michael!" she shouted with glee and she grabbed him and hugged him in her hands. - "We found each other already, that was smart." she said as he smiled upwards at her, another easy run for him he thought. - "Now tell me where they are and we'll get out of here."

Andrea watched the couple discussing locations knowing Kristen was going to acquire all the kills here in this room due to Michael, gritting her teeth in anger as she went into the kitchen instead hoping to find Thomas so she could also get an easy pass. In the kitchen there was a ladder on the floor next to the sink and it rose upwards onto the counter, allowing minimized to hide/traverse on the kitchen surface. Andrea didn't believe anyone would stay on the floor and instead inspected the surface, moving objects around and searching behind them.

She removed fruit from fruit bowls, looked in drawers, searched the sink and even cupboards. There was nobody behind any objects in this room. Her eyes drifted from various parts of the room trying to figure out what possible ways they could hide, she stared at the microwave in the corner, noticing the gap underneath it as her eyes glowed at the idea. She lifted the massive object revealing a cowering minimized by the name of Scott who attempted to run away, she clutched him and pulled him out dropping the massive appliance back down.

"That was easy. Damn, mini. You suck at hiding." The man rumbled around in her grip trying to break free, not that he'd get anywhere as he was a hundred metres off the floor. Andrea looked around the room looking for an entertaining way to kill the man, her eyes once again on the microwave. - "Normally I'd just kill you in my hand or something but I'm bored so..." she leaned forward opening the door and moved her arm forward to place the man inside, he realized she was going to microwave him. Scott believed this would cook him alive over a long period of time, however he was unaware to how this device actually functioned...

She turned it to two minutes and watched as the plate began to spin, Scott jumped up and down with his hands in the air at the woman as he shouted for her to pull him out, Andrea snickered- why did they always think that would work? Scott stopped jumped and stood there with an expressionless face as he placed his hand on his belly as if he were about to vomit, the skin on his body warping violently as if large bubbles were being created underneath his skin from the blood vibrations. As quick as they started they came to a stop, his body exploded in all directions immediately sending blood onto every surface other than the ones the liquid couldn't reach.

Andrea flinched backwards from the explosion with genuine shock on her face. - "Jesus christ! That was insane." she shouted as she just watched the blood slipping down the surfaces, his body was simply gone. She shook her head in confusion as she stood up and began planning her next attack. Deciding now was a good time to find Thomas.

Kristen spoke to Michael in the living room as he tried to recall where people were. - "Alright honey, where do you remember seeing people?" Kristen whispered to him. His mind wandered back, tracing back his steps. He remembered the guy shouting at him from the shoe, that was his original hiding place he went for.

Michael leaned over her palm, she placed her arm further forward giving him a full view of the room so he could point it out. Which he did, she followed his arm pointing towards the ground towards a pair of closed white slippers.

"There's nobody on the ground, Michael." she looked at his face confused.

"No, Kristen. Someone is hiding in the shoe." He shouted, the situation dawning on her. She smirked a bit at him.

"Well that's great." she said as she closed her hand more, beginning to walk forward slowly. Presenting her feet in front of the shoes.

Down below Essam lay at the end of the shoe with his head against the soft inside, relaxing and waiting for the room to empty so he could go for the now-open front door. He didn't hear anything outside but he suddenly saw a pair of barefeet present themselves in front of the shoe as he watched from inside, this person must be looking on the table above he thought as he stayed alert. Kristen then gave him no time to react at all as she lifted her foot and sent it flying into the shoe, Essam panicked immediately jumping to his feet as the toes blasted into him sending him onto the ground. The natural unpainted toes landed on him, pressing him into the cushioned surface.

Kristen placed both of her feet in the slippers, feeling the brand new cushioned fabric touching her feet. Feeling a minimized touching her left foots toes, she couldn't press hard enough to kill him and the shoe was cushioned likely giving her a hard time at attempting it. He could survive the toes but he wouldn't survive the ball or heel she thought, deciding to leave him in there as she went for her 2nd point. - "We'll keep him in there, he'll die soon. Where is another?" she asked her husband bringing him up to her face again, he pointed towards the wooden chair in the corner, it was pushed under a table allowing the seat to be hidden under a shadow. She nodded and began walking towards it.

Essam felt the toes pressing on his waist and below, it hurt greatly from the pressure but it wasn't damaging as the cushioned surface below gave his body some room. This all changed when the slipper started moving as the speed of sound. Essam went flying in the air as the foot raised as Kristen walked, giving him a full view of underneath the toes, sole and heel as everything inside raised from the force for the briefest of moments, suddenly blasting straight onto the ground as all of her weight pressed through her foot. Essam fell slightly forward, the toes now compressing into the middle of his chest and below, he felt this movement nearly sending him down under the ball of the foot where he knew he wouldn't survive the impact.

Essam used his hands to clutch the fibers of the slipper on his left and right, holding himself in place as the slipper catapulted off the ground again sending him into the air, this time he didn't move down, the toes landing on the same place of his body, it continued to hurt and the g-forces made him dizzy. The toes pressed into him again as they landed for the third time already, they tipped forward as they landed giving him a full view of the well kept natural nails. The torture continued as Kristen pressed forward with her mission.

Kristen stopped in front of the wooden chair, gripping the top of it and pulling it out revealing a minimized sitting right in the middle of it, shocked that someone had even looked where they were, he had string next to him, likely how he got up here Kristen thought, he started shouting and waving his hands. She wasted no time listening to him, turning around and taking a seat on the wooden chair.

Takuo watched as a giant uncovered him, 'how did they know I was here?' he thought to himself, not only was it a regular but it was Kristen and Michael who were both his teammates in the last game. - "Hey, Kristen! It's me, Takuo. What- what are you?" Kristen turned and began going for a seat, did she even see him? was this deliberate? Takuo had wasted time trying to comprehend the situations rather than evading it, missing his survival window as the large white poly-cotton coated ass slammed onto his body. For a second he felt nothing as he landed perfectly between her cheeks however this hope was snuffed out immediately as both of her cheeks pressed into the chair, the muscle spreading out looking for somewhere else to go, the muscles slammed together crushing Takuo between them as the weight compressed onto him.

Above Kristen wiggled from side to side trying to get her huge weight all over the tiny below, feeling a few noticeable pops she stood up and only noticed a blood stain. - "Damn, I didn't think the weight was that heavy." she said, turning around and walking away, Takuo's crushed corpse stuck between her cheeks as they shook from her strut. His body got loose and collapsed to the carpet below landing between the fibers, giving Kristen her first point.

She walked forwards focusing on the feeling in her slippers, she circled the sofa in the living room giving her room to walk freely attempting to tire out the man. He must be clinging on she thought, otherwise he would've let go by now. She stopped walking and looked down at the slippers, wiggling her toes. Essam felt like he finally had a break, wasn't she trying to kill him? what was she doing? the toes started bouncing up and down on his body, feeling like he was getting sucker punched in the stomach, gasping for air.

Kristen decided that it was time to end this minimized and move on to the next game to get her and Michael closer to the big cash prize. She started running around the sofa sending Essam into a panicked fit as he slammed up and down in the shoe, his grip loosening on the fabric, he didn't get any chance to re-grip the fabrics due to how quickly the shoe was rising up and down, not to mention the dizziness he was facing from the g-forces. His grip loosened until he was hanging on by a thread, looking over his shoulder to see the underneath of the foot slamming down into the soft strands below it which were now flattened by the foot creating a dented foot print inside these soft shoes.

Essam screamed one last time as his hands lost all grip of the strands sending him falling downwards into the danger zone, the ball of the foot hit him first at full speed and full weight crushing him into the shoe, the cushioned surface did nothing for him at this level of force as he was compressed in a fraction of a second. His inhuman screams bellowed from inside the shoe as her second powerful step came crashing down immediately after the other crushing him again. The crashing kept occurring, a third stomp, a fourth, a fifth. All within one second of another, shortly his body was literal human paste spread all over the inside of the white slippers, staining them forever.

Kristen stopped running and looked below. - "I definitely felt that." she said slightly out of breath, kicking her feet backwards out of the shoes. She looked inside the left slipper to see red paste coated all over the foot print. - "Shame. These were a pair of nice slippers, I would've worn these at home." Kristen seemed genuinely disappointed at how the white was ruined by the gore, Michael snickered at her comment, euphoria erupting in him now that they had made it through.

"PLAYER 2 PASS." the voice erupted from outside over the house.

They both glided through the front door as the first victors.

Max walked through the jungle of the garden, having made his way out the backdoor of the kitchen, the garden definitely counted as part of the house he thought, thinking he had an easy ticket to safety. Max believed the grass would be an excellent way of hiding, not to mention that escaping the garden to get off the property would be a super easy way to win, the back door was practically open for minimized to escape easily. The grass blades towered over him like trees twice his size, they drooped in different directions due to their height toppling them over.

He enjoyed the scenery as it was quiet, unable to comprehend that he was traversing a garden like it was a country park. Pushing his blonde hair out of his face so he could see everything clearly. The dirt ground below him was rocky and hard at times and soft/muddy at others. Max was careful with his steps, getting stuck out here would be bad as he'd need to escape within the timer. 

He paused and stood still, trying to figure out if this was definitely the most efficient direction for him to take to escape the property. Max looked around trying to identify objects or things in the sky above the grass, but the grass was covering most of his vision only able to see straight up. He heard a strange noise, it sounded like grass moving, looking around him to see where it was coming from. A shadow cast around him sending him into a panic as a giant foot landed in front of him, stomping all the grass flat into the dirt, the bottom of the foot sunk into the dirt, this section was more like mud, it took off from the muddy floor, the white painted toes flicking dirt behind it as it powerfully blasted off the ground, carrying the incomprehensible weight of the woman above. Passing right over Max and disappearing.

Lara walked through the garden, her feet getting dirty and green grass stained as she stepped on the plants and the ground below, heading up the steps and through the back door of the house into the kitchen.

Max caught his breath as the foot had landed literal inches in front of him, dodging a bullet. The woman had left a humongous foot print in the mud below, Max couldn't comprehend it, it was a true sense of scale as he walked into the middle of it, comparing himself to the foot size, finding it amusing. As he basked in the size difference, distracted by the muddy impact another shadow appeared over him without his knowledge this time. Another gigantic foot coming straight down, this time stomping him straight into the same foot print, sinking just as deep into the ground this time with Max buried underneath the padded ball of the limb.

The foot took off the ground once again leaving Max in its wake, as the legs stormed off in the same direction as the other giant.

Amy walked through the garden swiftly, following Lara into the kitchen. Ignoring any potential minimized in the garden, not crossing their mind that people could be here.

In the distance another man came running to see Max crushed into the muddy step. - "Damn.. nasty way to go." Mark whispered with his arms down his side, looking on in fear of his own life. The body then started shaking, the arms lifting out the ground and pushing back into it trying to thrust its body upwards out the mud but the arms simply slid deeper, gaining no push. Mark was shocked and ran in, lifting the man by the chest out of the mud, Max's face appeared out the mud, totally covered in it, taking a huge breath of fresh air.

"Jesus, mate. You survived being stepped on! That's gotta be a first."

Max groaned heavily trying to keep his lungs moving after being withheld from oxygen for 20 seconds after being exposed to a crushing weight. - "I don't think that's on my bucket list..." Max joked to the man, who laughed as he pulled him out the large step.

"Did you see who that was by any chance...?" Max groaned, still recovering from the weight pressing on him.

"Amy. Shy girl, brown hair. She was my teammate last game." Mark explained.

"How did I even survive that? my god." Max held his head as it thumped with pain.

"Looks like it was because of the squishy mud, mate. Must've cushioned the blow so that the step wasn't instantly flat." He explained the situation based on what he saw from behind. - "Well I'm glad you are okay, I'm going to continue trying to escape the garden so we must part ways but good luck, mate." Mark then set off in the same direction he was originally headed in, the same as Amy.

Max was taken aback by how quickly he split up and moved on, clearly not a team player and was just playing it solo. A respectable strategy in this place. He wiped the mud out of his eyes and mouth, trying to recover from the near miss that just occurred. Since Mark was going in the same direction as the giants he figured he'd go in the opposite, they must have come in from somewhere, so this was likely the direction of the fence. He continued his journey, muddied and weak but alive.

Ed & Zeke had decided to go up the stairs the same as the other group, proof that it could be done, taking their chances with an empty room further away from the rest. They reached the upstairs corridor deciding on one of the back rooms. - "I'd say left man, because why not?" Zeke explained to his pal.

Ed shrugged back and they both entered under the door way, coming to a calm room with a dark wooden floor, a book case, shelves, a desk with paper on it and a laptop. There were plants in various places too. It appeared to them to be a study room. - "I can work with this." Ed said.

"Yeah man, this is good. Lot's of hiding spots, plus an open window if we can find a safe way down." said Zeke. The pair decided to tackle the shelves, they got close to the ceiling and supported minimized climbing making them viable as a hiding spot, it'd be hard for a regular to get high enough to see them on the top shelf.

The two reached their third shelf sitting now at about eye level for regulars, the fourth and final shelf above them. Ed spoke of an idea to Zeke- "There's some books here right, what if we tear a page and make a paper plane to ride in?"

"Folding it will be hard man but yeah? It'd be a good way of reaching the open window up there because otherwise it's impossible. Flying it might be difficult but it only needs to glide for three seconds. You get the paper and I'll look for a take-off location." Zeke responded, Ed nodded in agreement.

Ed found the smallest book on the shelf, he squeezed between the giant pages and tore off one with the help of Zeke. - "Alright you go fold a prototype, just like when you were a kid but this time with a giant sheet of paper. Same deal. I'll try tear another piece of paper or two just in case we mess up."

"Sure thing, man." Zeke responded to Ed, climbing to the next shelf holding the small piece of paper.

Lara walked upstairs knowing that both Andrea & Kristen took the front rooms and were likely dead ends, coming to four doors at the tip of the stairs she went to the left one on the end. Entering into what looked like a study room. There were shelves on the wall that looked like it supported minimized climbing allowing them to reach those areas. Lara looked around at the various areas of the room, then began looking at the shelves knowing it was unlikely someone had traveled this far.

Ed tore at a page in the same book as earlier hoping to attain a few more pages for Zeke above. He tugged at it then heard a noise at the door, sneaking outside the book to look in the room, suddenly he was looking right at a girl with long blonde hairs eye-level as she wandered past the shelf. He ducked down then realized she wasn't paying attention to the shelf, not yet anyways. He moved along the shelf closer to the ladder point to get to Zeke, stopping just before the biggest thickest book on the shelf, this would act as great cover.

Lara's face hovered in front of the shelf as she moved books side to side on each shelf, using her hands to feel around for people. Ed panicked noticing her hands on the end of shelf feeling around knowing she'd catch his body, he used all of his strength to parse the pages in the large book and create a gap to sneak inside. This gigantic book split apart a tiny amount allowing him to squeeze himself inside. Compressed between two massive sets of pages. This book was 15 times taller than him, as well as a hard cover, as thick as an encyclopedia.

The giants hands felt around, he saw her fingers feeling around the outside of the book, if he hadn't gotten inside her fingers would have felt him so getting inside here was a good move and he'd stay until she left. Lara had searched three shelves and decided to do the last one way above her head before ditching this room. Ed heard the awful scraping of a wooden chair on the ground, predicting that she was pulling a wooden chair, hoping to himself that Zeke was hidden.

Lara stepped onto the wooden chair, looking onto the wooden shelf, her eyes were not quite eye level and instead had to stand on her toes and jump to see anything for a brief moment. Knowing she only needed an extra three to four inches she surveyed the third shelf. Ed felt her feeling up the shelf again as the gigantic book he was hiding inside shifted, suddenly the book tightened causing the pages to press harder on him, the ground vanished beneath him causing Ed to dangle from inside the book, the friction of the tight pages holding him in the air.

Ed turned 90 degrees to the left, slamming onto a surface, gravity now pulling the entire right side of the book straight down on him, effectively asserting 50% of the weight of the book on his frail body. He tightened up and exhaled from his nose and mouth in pain as he attempted to keep his body spacious and safe. What was even happening? he thought. He felt his book moving again and the same chair scraping noise as well as steps.

Lara had placed a large book she founded that was around 3-4 inches thick on the wooden chair. - "This should be enough to see the top." she muttered. She stepped onto the chair, holding the back rest for balance as she stepped onto the book.

Ed heard her mutters from above giving him the understanding of what was occurring as he felt the book weight get slightly heavier from Lara resting her foot on the front cover, her other foot still holding 99% of her weight on the wooden chair. Ed frantically tried to shuffle forward between the pages but the book weight was holding him and he was wedged tight in place, tears formed in his eyes as his predicament worsened quickly.

Lara then pressed all of her weight onto the right foot elevating herself all the way on top, lifting her left foot onto the book as from the chair, placing both on top. As soon as she did this the book front cover plunged rapidly by an inch, giving her a little drop which she ignored and started scanning the fourth shelf.

Ed instantly crushed between the pages, his organs and body gore mulching between the delicate pages of the large book, the blood soaking through page after page after page. Even his most strongest bones crush immediately as the thousands of layers of the book pressed into each other like a domino effect with the force of 30,000 tonnes. Lara's womanly weight destroyed Ed's entire body in the book, Lara did not know that a minimized was hiding between it, she simply stood on the book looking for what she believed to be her first, unaware that she had crushed a man to death underneath her.

Her hand came flying in on the fourth shelf feeling around, it came darting to the left in Zeke's general direction, attempting to evade it he decided it was now or never, jumping into the rushed paper plane and shuffling forward. The fingers closed in inches away from him as he tipped off the edge of the shelf. The paper plane caught no air as this wasn't a house outside, they were in a facility with no breeze. The plane went into a straight nose dive barreling towards the ground, Zeke flew out of the plane before it hit the ground landing on his legs crushing them to dust under his own weight on the floor.

The shelf at the top had been scanned and felt in its entirety by Lara who deemed this room to be empty, she finally stepped down from the book and chair, placing the book back on the shelf without a care, as well as the wooden chair under the table. She looked at the furniture one last time before leaving to look in another upstairs room.

Joel, Theo & Peter found their way into a wardrobe, noticing it had a minimized ladder going up its side allowing them to reach the higher areas inside of it. They were attempting to reach the top of the wardrobe so they could jump to the window ledge. - "So glad this has a ladder inside like the other high surfaces in the house." said Joel passively to his teammates.

"Yeah, the creators have kitted this house out heavily. It's surreal." Peter responded to his comment.

"I expect nothing less of billionaires." Joel responded back, he looked up the ladder, each floor it went through had a hole cut in the wood, this furniture was custom designed for these access points for minimized, light peered in from the top letting him know that there was a hole in the roof thus the ladder allowed them to get on top of the wardrobe. This detail was crucial because if they can get to the top most shelf then that doesn't mean they can get to the window ledge behind them since they would effectively still be inside and the window would be guarded by the three walls surrounding them.

They climbed the ladder reaching the top most floor inside the wardrobe just before the roof of the furniture, Joel heard a lot of noise from the boys climbing the ladder below him, too much noise he thought. - "Theo, Peter, stop moving." They all obeyed immediately, hearing extra footsteps echoing up the ladder from below. - "Get off on this floor, now." they shuffled out from the ladder onto the shelf.

"You heard that right?" Joel asked Peter, not taking his eyes off the ladder.

"I did." Peter answered.

They stood there in a battle stance waiting for the person who had been following them. A man emerged from the ladder slowly looking at them.

"What the hell do you think you are doing here?" Joel shouted at Thomas, who was now before them on the ladder, pulling himself onto the same floor as them.

"Peter. Take the kid, we need to get out of here. He's brought Andrea!" Joel shouted whilst grabbing Peters tank top pulling him towards his face, Peter nodded obeying his orders and went for Theo. 

"No wait! She doesn't know I'm here, we're not working together... well she doesn't know that yet." Thomas placed his only arm in the air with his palm facing outwards, trying to calm the men and avoid creating a commotion amongst them.

"We can't trust him. I worked with him at the beginning, just go." Joel explained to Peter, who took Theo by the hand and guided him towards the ladder.

"Please. Listen Joel." Thomas tried to get their attention, which he did but not towards his voice, Joel stared at the nub on his shoulder noticing his entire arm was missing as he had his arm raised in calming gesture.

"What happened to your arm?" Joel asked, totally confused. Peter and Theo stopped as Joel didn't follow them and instead engaged in conversation with the man.

"Andrea happened. She had no care for my well-being or my teammates, I was too blind to see it. I took a big risk Joel, and it didn't pay off. Do you now understand why I wouldn't want to work with... with such an... EVIL person?" Thomas explained as if Joel wouldn't understand this concept.

To his surprise Joel retorted with- "I absolutely do know what it feels like to work with an evil person." Thomas realized where he was going with this dialogue. - "An evil person who refused to put anyone before himself."

"That's called survival, Joel."

"Oh yeah, Thomas, you've met the kid, right?" Joel said in a sarcastically friendly tone, moving his hand out to present Theo on his left to Thomas. - "Fun fact, he would've been killed if you prevented me from helping back then and even when I made that decision, you didn't help, hell- you didn't even wait. You kept going all the way to the end, protecting your own skin."

"I know..." Thomas muttered, lowering his head towards the ground in shame.

"Sure you do, but Theo doesn't." Joel turned towards Theo who looked at him sadly, unsure of the sir's leading point, just that he was upset and that upset him as well. - "Theo would be human paper if you were in charge. The man that saved him before me, he's worth twenty of you and I'd sacrifice you in a heart beat." Joel walked towards Thomas whilst speaking, getting right in his face, he was not amused in the slightest and had no intention of letting Thomas tag along.

"I've changed." Thomas whispered to Joel.

"Why? Because it bounced back onto you? All you do is scheme your next big plan or play without regard for human life. I can never trust anyone who does that and I won't. Contrary to all that I do wish you luck on the rest of the games because that's the human thing to do. But you wouldn't understand that. Goodbye, Thomas."

Joel turned quickly walking towards the ladder angrily. "Come on." he spoke to the boys on the way past. Thomas reached out his hand as Joel walked away, as if reaching for his support. Peter & Theo both looked at him with sympathy, unaware of the experiences Joel had been through with this man.

Joel placed his hand on the ladder as they heard movement in the room outside the closet, the two front doors of the wardrobe were drooped open slightly but they couldn't see any movement. Joel went into his protective mode, turning towards his teammates. - "Behind those folded clothes, now!" he commanded. Peter grabbed Theo under his arm and dragged him with him as he dove into cover behind the t-shirt pile. He army crawled whilst holding Theo behind him, pulling his entire weight with all his strength as they moved further along the cover. Joel joined them jumped behind cover before their location was revealed.

Thomas stood there looking out the doors trying to see who was there, without a care in the world. Joel noticed this wondering what this psycho was doing. - "Thomas, are you crazy? get behind here!" he shouted at him, pointing downwards at the ground. Thomas did a double take and ran towards them, diving behind the clothes next to Joel, he was the closest to the edge. The closet doors swung open as he got settled, they awaited a potential voice revealing who had shown up, the lottery had begun.

"Thomas. Are you in here?" They recognized the voice as Andrea's. Joel let out an angry whisper beneath his breath "Shit! Just our luck." He looked up at Thomas, both of their eyes connecting as Joel sensed the worse in him, he had a free play here, to reveal them and have Andrea carry him out to the next round. Joel saw his strategy clear as day in his eyes, knowing exactly what type of person he was and what he would do.

Joel didn't even shake his head or tell him not to do, he knew he would and they were going to need to escape the evil woman on the other side of the clothes pile. Thomas looked at him and smiled. - he stood up and walked out of cover. "Thomas don't-" Joel reached forward attempting to pull the Thomas back but missing his only arm on the right as he slipped out of reach and into Andrea's vision.

"Andrea! I'm here. I'm glad to see you!" He waved his arms up and down as he walked to the ledge up to her face as she stared into the wardrobe at him.

"Oh my god, Thomas. We got so lucky here, you know what to do, tell me where some people are. You've seen some right?" Thomas nodded at Andrea who put her hand out for him to jump on. Joel turned to Peter and Theo who were lying next to each other.

"We need to go for that ladder now, she'll kill us when he reveals us." Peter quickly grabbed Theo and prepared to get up and run.

"I sure have, I know someone is hiding in the bathroom." he shouted at her, Joel couldn't believe his ears, using his hand to wave downwards at Peter, gesturing for him to stay low, which he did.

"Sick, let's go." Andrea said as she lifted Thomas away. - "Is there definitely nobody in here?" she asked as moved away.

"Haven't seen anyone. I was just trying to get to that window up there so you could see me." He spoke as his voice got quieter for Joel's squad inside the wardrobe.

"Smart. Good boy." Andrea said as she left the room.

Joel looked towards Peter & Theo. Peter's eyebrows were raised when looking at Joel. - "I'm not gonna lie, I was not expecting that at all." Joel said as he calmed down from the near-death situation they just experienced. All three stood up and moved out from the cover. 

"Maybe he has changed, Joel." Peter tried to reason with him, he had personally experienced change in good men in the field of battle as a solider, he just wanted Joel to open up and feel the same way.

"I'm sure there was a scheme behind what he just did, we just don't know it." Joel explained.

"Come on, Joel... really?" Peter was unamused at Joel's protective shield, his complete lack of trust for anyone.

"Yes, really. You don't know this man." He snapped back.

"Neither do you apparently." Peter said as Joel shook his head, disappointed in his inability to refute this point.

"Joel. Trust is a risk, a risk that comes with rewards. You're taking that risk with me right now, you took that risk with Lara, she could've been just like Andrea and wiped you out with Theo back whenever you first met her. Lara has helped you get through a lot of games, reward. I help you protect Theo, reward."

"I'm sorry, Peter. I can't trust anymore, I can't risk it any longer, I've got too much to lose." Joel peered around looking at Theo who was staring at the ground, zoned out from the conversation. 

"When I was in the field, I needed to put trust into my comrades regardless of their person. If Jack had my back and wouldn't get distracted causing my death, I took that risk. If Daniel was waiting for us at the LZ so we could get home safe, another risk. Sometimes you don't get a choice, because I refused to work with those men that day and one of them paid the price for it. It doesn't just impact me Joel, it impacts everyone else." Peter spoke with passion and emotional maturity, he spoke clearly and to the point. Joel looked at the ground thinking about what was said and nodded in agreement taking the time to comprehend what an awful situation this man had lived through.

Andrea came downstairs looking for the bathroom to which Thomas said he couldn't remember the way, when in actual fact he did not know where it was. Thomas was deceiving her into believing he saw someone enter the bathroom, he hoped that someone had chosen this as a hiding spot so that she wouldn't call his bluff. The pair opened the door, being presented with a shower at the back, a toilet on the left facing the sink across from it and a rug down below on the tiles.

"Alright, Tommy. Point him out." Andrea requested, Thomas attempted to focus and guess where a likely spot would be for a minimized, he scanned the room closely looking for hints or possibilities. He thought for far too long trying not to make a terrible prediction blowing his distraction and potentially his survivability with Andrea.

"Hello? Thomas? Can you hurry up and tell me where they are." she demanded

The shower is open and behind a transparent door and wall, it's too visible, its also mostly inaccessible due to the large door needing moved, unlikely. The rug below the toilet could be a good hiding spot as people assume it's part of the floor decor however it'd be dangerous due to people walking on it, possible. The cupboards underneath the sink would be good hiding spots, however hard to get into for minimized and likely to be looked into by regulars.

"They- are..." Thomas began to make his final call, Andrea sighed as he took forever.

The sink is unreachable, the toilet is unreachable. Thomas' was stumped, it was unlikely anyone would stay here after looking at everywhere in this room he thought. It would take them a fairly large amount of exploring to figure out what I did from up here, by which time it would be too late for them to back track. Thus they would hide...

"Behind the door." Thomas said confidently out loud.

Andrea wasn't expecting this answer and tilted her head to the side in confusion, she turned and threw the door shut, feeling stupid for even looking only to see a minimized cowering in the corner, not backing up as far as they could.

"Nice one." Andrea said with a big smile. Thomas had an internal sigh of relief, feeling incredibly lucky that someone had even come in here once. His relieved feeling was contrasted by the minimized feeling below who was seconds away from collapsing from fear.

Andrea leaned over and plucked Samuel from his corner, looking over him as she dangled him in front of her face. She made it fast as she walked over to the toilet and dropped him in. This time not even reveling in the kill, unlike her. Maybe she was getting bored of killing minimized thought Thomas. Samuel reached up, pleading not to be killed as Andrea flushed the toilet sending him into a whirlpool of horror as he vanished into the pipes.

"PLAYER 23 PASS." the voice bellowed from outside.

"It's weird how they know that." Andrea said as she headed for the front door carrying Thomas.

At the same time...

Lisa had traversed from the basement into the kitchen, seeing the gore over the inside of the Microwave she figured this place had likely been gutted instead resorting to the garden intending to secure her last point right here. 

In the back of the garden Max has reached the white picket fence, his muddied face and limping body watched in glory as he waddled towards the fence like it was a religious landmark or a symbol of hope. Hoping to cross right under the fence into pass zone outside of the property. His eyes were unfortunately greeted with a 2 metre wide gap underneath the fence that dropped down into the middle of nowhere underground, they certainly weren't going to make it easy.

Max's breathing quickened as he turned around, his lungs inhaling and exhaling alarmly faster as he realized around him there was nothing he could use to pass this gap and he was too injured to cross it. This gap went around the entire garden from what he could see, for regulars it was nothing but for him it was a deadly wide gap. He had no choice, he had to take a leap of faith.

Max stretched in great pain, attempting to prepare for this insane jump. He began sprinting towards the gap, his face scrunching up as his body roared from the injuries, getting to him just as he stomped before the gap, his leg going out sending him head first barreling downwards into the death gap.

The man Max had met earlier, Mark, traversed the garden in the opposite direction for a large amount of time. As max was approaching the white picket fence, Mark was reaching the door to the kitchen, which was a large wooden step to reach, realizing he'd reached a dead end. There must be a fence on the left or right directions as straight backwards would be too far. Mark stood with his hands on his hips lost in thought as he gazed at the dirt below. His train of thought was shot down as he heard a squeaky door above, looking up to see Lisa stomping her bare feet onto the wooden step.

Unlike the girls from before she was looking down and he could actually see her face, her long dirty blonde hair drooped next to her, she surveyed the floor around the step looking for movement. Mark dared not to move, the eyes landed on him but she didn't press forwards with any immediate action. He was unsure of if he had been spotted, were the grass blades enough cover.

Above Lisa couldn't see any movement, she thought to herself that it might be a good idea to press forward and search the innards of the grass lawn. She slowly stepped down into the dirt, bending the weak grass blades under her feet, that threatened to conquer the entire land.

Mark felt the giant step vibrate through the dirt, shaking his entire soul. He couldn't handle the tension she still looked below, fearing he had been blocked and trapped he darted off running.

Lisa watched with surprise as she saw a tiny person sprinting through the grass blades in the dirt like it was a jungle. She wasn't going to let this opportunity pass up. She stepped hard onto him with pristine accuracy.

Mark screamed as the impact compressed onto him, it hurt but it didn't last long. It felt like a heavy weight was pressing on him but nothing deadly, the weight lifted as he turned around to see why he hadn't died. The grass was acting as just good enough of a cushion to prevent his crushing defeat. The grass was his safe haven. Lisa surveyed her foot to find no blood marks or bodies, watching down below once more as the man continued his frantic jumping and running through the jungle lawn.

The man continued to get thumped on, all it did was smack him to the ground with no injuries. Lisa couldn't get a grip on him with her hands because the grass was covering him. He was getting away and she couldn't kill him. She turned to her right to see a red lawnmower in the corner, it was violent but it was the only option she could turn to right now.

She pulled it in as quickly as she could, pulling the strimmer with all of her might hoping to get it up and running immediately, which worked. Mark below had a giddy smile on his face, the thought of his invincibility in the grass exciting him, the escape to the fence was a cake walk now. His happy moment was ripped to shreds by the horrific sound of a violent engine roaring from behind, it got louder and louder rapidly, his ears ruptured as his body began to get pulled backwards.

The grass acted as a connection to the ground as Mark's body kept pulling away with the rest of the air, he could no longer hear anything at all as his hearing was instantly broken by the ridiculously violent and explosive noise of the hulking machinery behind him. Mark still felt the pain in his ears as they bled from being shattered. He turned whilst gripping the tip of the grass blade to see multiple sharp metal blades 20x bigger than him spinning furiously, rolling closer towards him, hovering above the grass.

It passed over him, the force becoming too powerful. "NOOO!" was all he could scream in horror as the grass pulled from the ground sending him flying into the blades. They span faster than his body could go through them, they continuously sliced through his body at great speeds showing no mercy, chopping him into a million pieces as he was gored by the death machine. His blood splashed in the air forming a dust and splattering onto the under carriage of the garden appliance.

"PLAYER 38 PASS." Lisa's eyes shot up in surprise as she stopped pushing the lawnmower, switching it off.

"Yikes. I must've gotten him." She grimaced as she imagined what happened to him in the blades. - "Sorry, guy." Lisa walked left of the mower, passing over the fence and around the house to join the regulars.

"Who is Player 23?" Joel asked Peter after hearing the voice blast through the speakers outside announcing this player had passed. Joel backtracked in his mind unable to recall.

"Uhhh... hmmm. Andrea?" answered Peter.

"Not surprised. Let's get going, eh?" Joel smiled at Peter as they once again continued their journey to the wardrobe roof.

"Sure thing. Come on, Theo." Peter signaled towards Theo, who broke from his day dream and started walking with them towards the ladder.

Someone suddenly emerged from the ladder and charged towards them at full speed, Peter cut in front of Joel who was at the front and grappled the mans arms, turning and barreling towards the ground, they wrestled as Peter restrained the man. Richard stared up at Joel standing over him with confusion, Richard looked like hell, he had blood stained on him and lots of bruises, his clothing had nearly a hundred different rips on them that were 0.5cm wide and 2cm tall.

"Who the hell are you? and why is this wardrobe so goddamn popular?" Joel shrieked in confusion.

Richard cursed and shouted in a raspy damaged voice "Where is Thomas?? that son of a bitch, I'll kill him, I don't care if I lose. That mother-" Joel interrupted him.

"Thomas isn't here. Forget about it." Joel shrugged him off.

"How is he not here? I followed him from downstairs, he's definitely here! You liar, you're protecting that evil scum, get over here you-" Richard attempted to move but was perfectly restrained by Peter, unable to move even a little, his frail attempts at hurting anyone were not working.

"Well this certainly explains all the people, we've basically got a conga line following us." Joel facepalmed watching the angry violent man try to free himself. - "Andrea carried him away, you won't reach them in time. You might as well try to survive."

"To hell with surviving this place, as long as that Thomas & Andrea die I can kill myself in peace and escape this shit hole. They killed my friend, our teammate just because they could, to save themselves another elimination later. It's absurd- this isn't how the games are supposed to work!" Richard cried as he kept freaking out, his anger boiling over.

"You won't do it in this game. So survive this one and get them next time." Joel leaned down eye-level with the man. Trying to resonate with him. Richard slowly calmed down.

"Fuck! Fine... let me go." Peter released him and quickly stood up in front of Theo, as did Joel. Afraid that this man might lunge forward and try some crazy violent act.

"We saw Thomas, he said something about-" before Joel could explain the situation to the man the wardrobe doors threw themselves opened at light speed giving them no time to dive to cover, all four of them turned to look at the monolithic face staring right at them.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you guys." Lara spoke to them, her eyes lit up. As did theirs, knowing they were saved.

"Hold on someone's coming.." she whispered as she closed the wardrobe doors, the bedroom door opened presenting Amy, she watched as Lara had her hands on the wardrobe doors, lightly letting go whilst making eye contact with each other.

"Find anyone in there?" Amy asked whilst walking towards her. Lara shut the doors, giving Amy her full attention.

"Nope. Empty." said Lara

Amy nodded in return to this answer. - "Do you mind if I take a look?"

Lara paused briefly trying to calculate whether to attack or trust her friends to hide. Realizing she had to respond quickly to convince this girl. - "Uh sure, whatever." she responded, acting as if she didn't really care. Lara stepped aside watching over Amy's shoulder as she opened up the doors, staring into the shelf at nothing but an empty shelf with clothes.

Behind the clothes pile Joel & Peter were frantically trying to restrain the man who kept shouting. Peter covered his mouth and Joel held down his shoulders, Theo watched on in fear, scared of the crazy injured man. - "We need to run-" Richard shouted as his mouth came uncovered then muffled again. 

"Stop it!" Joel shouted far too loud. On the outside Amy turned her head confused by the noise she heard, using her hand to pull the pile of clothes out, revealing a kid and two men holding down another, they all looked up and paused. Amy's hand came thrusting into the wardrobe fast, Peter & Joel both lifted the man up and threw him forwards towards her hand, his body fell perfectly into her approaching hand, she felt the body collide with her palm signalling it instantly shut like a venus fly trap. She crushed him in her dainty skinny hand in two seconds then released his deformed corpse in front of them like a machine that converts life to death. Attempting to grab another as her hand blasted into the closet, stopping right before Joel's body unable to reach forward anymore.

Lara wrapped her arms around the girls neck from behind using her weight to pull her off, they both collapsed on the ground. - "Run!" Lara shouted above to the men who all went sprinting for the ladder, heading up to the roof of the wardrobe. They watched down below as the girls violently wrestled and attacked each other, Lara wouldn't be able to take another beating based on her health from the last games.

"Lara's protection is putting her in the worst condition, we have to stop this." Joel shouted, shocked by the fight happening in front of them, hearing grunts and large impacts vibrating through the air into their bodies.

"There's nothing we can do Joel!" Peter shouted back at him, Joel stood right on the ledge of the wardrobe watching above the heads of the girls. Lara hit Amy with a huge strike sending her head first backwards into the wall, knocking her down for a few seconds. Lara reached into the wardrobe pulling out three piles of clothes, vaulting onto the bed and grabbing the window handle, she firmly pushed it open and dropped the clothes to the floor outside, turning back to the men, her eyes were half open and the damage to her body was becoming even more evident.

"Go, now!" Lara shouted before being pulled by her feet off the bed, landing on her back on the carpeted floor. Amy jumped onto her, beating into her face. As the violence continued they heard a voice on the speaker outside- "PLAYER 38 PASS" generating a pained look in Amy's face.

"Our shot is gone. Don't make me do this. I don't want to kill them, we both don't have a choice." Amy strangled Lara whilst justifying her actions with guilt in her eyes and muscles as they struggled to go full force on Lara.

"I have... a choice... I'm making that choice... right now." Lara squealed out in short breaths from her throat being forcibly closed. Amy was taken aback by this comment.

"The third person passed just now, most of the other minimized are dead. There are three downstairs somewhere and three right here, we have 4 minutes. We cannot survive, don't you understand?! If you don't kill them then you'll die." Amy shouted at Lara, tears forming in her eyes, struggling to understand Lara's actions.

As Amy weeped her grip on Lara's throat became weaker, Lara slowly took Amy's hands and released them from her throat, now coated with strong red markings. They slowly gazed at each other. - "I'm okay with that." Lara whispered.

"I- I- I wanted to be the same, I never wanted to hurt anyone my entire life and I never wanted to ever. But I'm too scared to die, putting my life before everyone, all those people I had to kill. What kind of person am I? What makes you different from me?"

"I've already accidentally hurt someone before. I won't do it again." Lara muttered quietly to the teen girl above, Amy looked back with curiosity.

Her face quickly devolved into confused & angry, turning to the men who sat on the wardrobe watching them from above. - "I refuse to die in here." she spat whilst staring at them. Amy quickly stood up from on top of Lara.

"Don't!" Lara shouted with her arm out, Amy gave her a powerful and swift kick in the nose sending her head back down, Lara's eyes rolled around in their sockets as the lids moved up and down frantically trying to keep themselves focused.

"Joel, we need to take Theo and leave. It's not safe!" Peter screamed at Joel's back as he stared at Amy, Peter took Theo by his shoulder and dragged him towards the edge of the wardrobe, overlooking the white window sill.

"If we leave then Lara will die, for sure." Joel spoke calmly not breaking his gaze from the injured Lara below.

"and if we stay all of us will die, including Theo." Peter again shouted back with power, attempting to keep Joel under control.

"We'll be dead in the next games without her." said Joel

"It's likely but what are we going to do?" Peter responded, Theo's eyes darted between them as they spoke quickly, furiously discussing their predicament.

"I don't know-" Joel's words were interrupted as the wardrobe surface tilted quickly causing all three of them to lose balance and start falling. Amy pushed the entire wardrobe over towards the inside of the room, the heavy wooden furniture piece slamming into the ground causing all three men to hit the ground rolling.

Peter & Joel sat up holding their heads, Theo was unconscious with a blood trail slowly sliding down his face. Peter grabbed him by his chest and hauled him onto his shoulder. - "Our exit is gone, quickly let's go for the door!" Peter shouted, over and over again he tried to take control of Joel with logic but he wasn't following.

Two pale white feet slammed in front of Joel, he looked up to see Amy's eyes, dead inside ready to commit a heinous action that she would one day regret. Their stare off was interrupted by Lara spearing the girl from behind, sending her flying forwards onto the ground, barely missing the three boys below. 

Peter thought about the whole situation, what plays did they truly have left to get everyone out alive? the answer was none. Maybe just one? possibly. It clicked in his head as his eyes got wide, his mouth agape in his eureka moment. Peter marched forward as Joel held his hand out telling him to stay back.

"Joel." Peter calmly spoke from behind, carrying the unconscious and bloody headed Theo on his right shoulder.

The two girls stood up once more grappling each others hair and pushing each other back, Amy fighting for the death of two minimized & her survival and Lara fighting for the protection of two minimized & her death.

"Take the kid, Peter. We have two minutes, if you leave now then you & Theo can get out alive. I'm sorry. I just can't leave her, not after what she has done for me, it might not be logical, but it's moral." Joel had no faith that he could interfere and protect Lara, but at least he didn't cower away for his own protection, he looked around for a sharp object he could jab Amy's feet with but to no avail.

Peter crossed in front of him with Theo, holding a straight face with a frown forming slowly. - "Peter? Get out of here, what are you-?" Peter threw Theo off his shoulder onto Joel's arms making him confused and angry.

"Now you have a reason to leave." Peter looked upset, then a smirk slowly formed on his face as he turned around to see the ladies battling it out above, both were seconds away from knocking either of each other out. - "Remember Joel, good people exist. Trust people every once in a while." Peter spoke with passion with his back to Joel, who stared at Peter's back in turmoil. Who did this guy think he was? He didn't call the shots around here.

Suddenly Peter sprinted into the stamping feet without any weapon or protection. Joel began to panic realizing the danger Peter had put himself in. - "Peter!! What the fuck are you doing??" He turned quickly to see Theo mumbling into his shoulder as his conciousness slowly returned, however he was unable to lift his head. Joel felt foolish for even putting Theo's life at risk. - "Fuck!" he shouted, swiftly darting behind him towards the door in an effort to escape the house, tears formed in his eyes as he ran knowing he'd never see Lara ever again and he once again had to run away instead of being there for her. If only he weren't a tiny weakling.

Peter stopped in-between the legs of the girls as they grappled each other, staggering forward and backwards feebly as their bodies began to give out. He didn't dodge or move, he just stared up at their chins from below, unaware of him standing there. He moved in Lara's direction as the feet stamped powerfully up and down, compressing the carpet strands flat.

Lara lunged forward going for one last blow into Amy's face as she saw an opening, hoping to put this fight to bed and save her friends. Her punch completely missed as she stomped forward with all of her weight. Lara's foot came crashing down onto Peter, smiling as the rough sole crushed his soul out of his body immediately. His blood oozed into the carpet, it acted as perfect padding as Lara had not noticed the man beneath her feet. Amy grabbed Lara's neck as her punch missed and gave her an almighty push backwards sending her straight onto her ass, her back crashing into the side of the bed on the floor.

"PLAYER 6 PASS." the voice bellowed from outside.

Lara's pain filled face suddenly broke out of it as she met eyes with Amy, both with the same puzzled look on her face. "Are you Player 6?" Amy asked with a terrified look on her face.

Lara quickly began to choke as she nearly broke down crying, she must have eliminated someone to pass, but how? Amy's eyes wandered to the floor spotting the bloodied corpse attached to Lara's foot and the blood stain of the same size in the carpet. Her mouth went agape as she stared, more shocked that Lara had passed despite not intending to kill anyone. Lara watched Amy's gaze and her astonished expression on her foot, slowly lifting her leg to survey her sole, spotting a blood splodge, totally unaware of who it was she screamed a blood curdling scream that echoed furiously through the windows to the other competitors outside plus Joel standing at the top of the stairs with Theo over his shoulder.

The scream slammed Joel's soul causing him to freeze, he couldn't take another step. - "30 SECONDS REMAINING" blasted from outside, the final countdown had begun. He threw Theo off his shoulders shaking him frantically awake, he opened his eyes.

"Kid, you need to run like the wind to the front door, down these stairs and then straight on. No matter what, you got that?"

"I do, sir." he mumbled.

"Then go now!" Joel shouted as he went running back towards where they left Peter & Lara.

Joel ran up to Lara who had a blood stain on her foot, his brain figuring out immediately what had taken place as he couldn't see Peter anywhere and nobody else was present. This was deliberate thought Joel as tears began to well up in his eyes, the sacrifice this man had made for Lara.

Lara spotted Joel & Theo following him. She wiped her tears and leaped forward picking them up, she jumped up to the window and dropped them out.

"Lara, wait-" Joel muttered before he fell all the way to the ground, colliding with the cushioned padding of clothes stacked at the bottom. The slow down was powerful enough to create painful sensations on their internal organs but cushioned enough to protect them. They wandered out of bounds whilst keeping an eye on the window they fell from.

"TIME IS UP."

Both girls met up in the middle of the room, Amy still stood there not moving, she let out a deep sigh as Lara watched her calmly.

"At least I don't have to hurt anyone anymore." Amy whispered under her shaky breath, hearing footsteps all around them, a guard stormed up the stairs and looked into the room. Pointing their standard white firearm at Amy.

"I'm sorry." Amy smiled as she flew towards the floor as her size deteriorated. The guard looked at Lara.

"ELIMINATE THEM AND GO OUTSIDE." the guard demanded whilst marching back downstairs.

Lara looked down at the shy girl cowering between her feet. She felt a powerful anger in her, it was Amy's fault that they lost Peter. They all could've made it together. Lara gritted her teeth as Amy tried to keep her breathing steady below, unable to remove her eyes from this colossus. For a minimized protector she seemed absolutely terrifying.

The giant feet stepped in closer, inches away from Amy. Lara bent over and plucked the minimized Amy between her fingers, leaving the room and heading downstairs.

"What- what are you doing? Just end me already!" Amy shouted, frustrated that she wasn't being granted an immediate death, the tension for her was unbearable.

The giant stumbled into the kitchen, flicking on the food disposer inside the sink, hearing the metal mechanism echoing in the room, Amy began to squirm with terror between her fingers.

"Please, not that! Anything but that!"

"I'm sorry, I've had my fill for killing others myself for today." Lara muttered with sorrow as she dropped the girl into the disposer.

Amy got 10% into a scream before her body landed on the circular device inside, the two bolts on either side spinning incredibly fast bashing into her body sending her flying into the other side causing her to get ricocheted backwards, these two metal bolts blasting into her every half second over and over again breaking down her body. Her body lost more and more of itself from the powerful metallic impacts on her frail form, even when she died finally the mechanism kept slamming her body pieces, liquefying her and washing her away down a pipe.

Lara had no reaction to anything that occurred and simply walked away to the front door, stepping out of it and progressing to her partners, Joel & Theo watched from the floor below without Peter present, the pair didn't dare share any words together in this solemn silence as they processed what had occurred before them. Joel felt teary at the message he had been sent by Peter, the sacrifice he had made for Lara and thus for the pair. He couldn't forget it, ever, he should've trusted him with his life.

4 regulars & 4 minimized remain

Chapter 10: Gladiator

4 regulars & 4 minimized remain

The 8 remaining competitors lay in their new and much smaller break room, scaled down to accommodate the lack of competitors at this stage of the game. Gloom lay on many of the competitors who realized their number was almost up, as the common rooms got smaller so did their odds of survival. Their confidence couldn't be rejuvenated even by the fact that they had made it this far, fear is what kept them ready for anything. Andrea began to grow worried for the first time so far, her cocky attitude was depleting on the inside but not the outside, however this facade was broken by an intelligent bystander who carefully monitored the twitches in her facial muscles.

"Getting worried are we?" Thomas asked with his fake concern for Andrea's feelings continuing his veneer from last round. She swiftly turned her head in his direction as if angered by the way he spoke to her.

"Forgetting your place are we?" she snarled at him, this man dared to doubt her mental strength, resorting to taking jabs at his minuscule size and her power again. Her attempt at scaring the man on the bed didn't work, angrily exhaling out her nose and turning away again.

"What are you gonna do, rip off my other arm?" Thomas spoke quietly, sitting himself down onto the bed using his remaining arm as a brace for his weight to the bed.

"You're getting a little big for your tiny fuckin' boots, speak to me like that again and I'll show you what being a floor feels like." Andrea growled with anger, the audacity of this insect to speak to her with such an attitude, if he wasn't an advantage in the games she would strike him down right now as violently as possible for speaking to her like that.

"No, you won't." Thomas snickered whilst not making eye contact with her, relaxing on the bed. - "You have no cards left to play with me, Andrea. We're in it together till we die."

"I don't even have to work with you, runt. I can find someone else." Her eyes glared at him, furious that he was avoiding eye contact when she was speaking to him.

"Of course you do. You burnt bridges with everyone here, and those that happened to be on your side you killed!" Thomas burst out laughing as he spoke finally meeting her gaze to laugh in her face.

"We both killed them." she returned.

"You're right. We did. But it'll be your detriment more than mine." his face finally dropped it's forceful laughing, bringing his serious expression to the argument as he stared the devil in the eyes. 

Lisa held Lara's shoulders with her hands looking into her eyes, trying to find a sign of positivity. - "He made that choice, Lara. It wasn't anything to do with you." she tried to resonate with her, the boys on the large bed watched from the right, up to their knees in the thick bed cover.

"He was only forced into making that decision because I couldn't beat some stupid skinny teenager." Lara's head drooped, acting as a sign of her mental state, the lower it looked towards the ground the worse she wanted to curl up into a ball and die.

"You've got people to work together with, you need each other. If we worried about the outcome of every game we'd never get through another. You progressed this far because you put it behind you, you need to do it again, dear." Lisa smiled at her, hoping to burst through her wall of pain and bring her back to them, they all needed her as the next game was unknown and anything was on the table.

"It's pointless this time, more of us are definitely going to die next game." Lara began to raise her voice as well as her head.

Lisa couldn't immediately deflect this statement, taking a moment to think. The boys expected her to blast back immediately but were taken aback as she looked at the ground, realizing she was in some form of agreement since she couldn't rebut. - "If all of us can survive then we can refuse to participate. But we can't do that if some people are still trying to win." Lisa converted her gaze to the other side of the room, the listeners following her as she hinted towards Andrea, Thomas, Kristen & Michael on the other side of the room but still seperate from one another.

"What's that gonna do, Lisa? They'll just kill all of us." Joel shouted in disagreement with this ridiculous plan, attempting to march forward towards her in anger at the suggestion but sinking too much in the cushioned surface to walk.

"Think of it like a workplace strike, we refuse to participate in order to get what we want." Lisa explained, happy with her response believing the logic in the decision. Lara's eyes got lighter, her head raised as she was guided in the direction of an actual plan.

"Lisa, you are forgetting that companies have the option to ignore a strike and just fire everyone!" Joel shouted firmly.

"They could... if it was earlier in the game. If they were planning on letting one person walk with all the money at the end, why wouldn't they let 4?" Lisa questioned Joel, hoping to fill the hole in her plan.

"Because they have designed this game for a reason, likely entertainment. Whoever is watching will not be happy with such an ending."

"They won't have a choice. As long as we are the only remaining survivors." 

"You are doing so well, honey!" Michael shouted up to his brunette wife, she smiled with joy, the couple had an easy streak so far by avoiding relationships with others and only helping each other.

"You too, Michael. I'm surprised we're able to bypass most of the games like this. I thought they would've intervened." Kristen tiled her head with a giddy smile on her face, both of their faces blushing with glowing enthusiasm. - "We'll be able to tackle anything that comes our way with this advantage, we'll be even stronger as a couple and we'll be rich as a bonus!"

7 HOURS LATER

"PREPARE FOR GAME NUMBER SIX, FOLLOW US." the voice commanded waking everyone up, the rooms were now small enough for the guards to simply bellow from the front in their actual voices rather than the usual speaker system. The competitors sat up from their beds.

The players trudged along quietly in a solemn silence slowly coming to terms with the ever more likely death they were facing as the games went on, the fear of losing each other eating them up inside.

They entered a room which didn't follow the same white glossy design like the other rooms did, this one was glossy black with a dark chained cage in the centre which still had a glossy white floor. It looked like an MMA cage fighting arena, the ring was empty and barren.

"LISTEN CLOSELY" the guard commanded turning briskly to face the competitors who had all now entered the room and viewed the aparatus. - "WELCOME TO ARENA, IN THIS GAME THE REGULAR SIZED PLAYERS WILL ENGAGE IN COMBAT INSIDE THE CAGE. THEY WILL PARTNER WITH ONE MINIMIZED." A smirk formed on Thomas face as his eyes peeked up at Andrea towering next to him.

"YOU MUST TAPE YOUR MINIMIZED TO ANY PART OF YOUR BODY, TO WIN YOU MUST ELIMINATE THE OPPOSING TEAMS MINIMIZED AT ALL COSTS." the guard looked left to right at all the faces of the opponents, looking for specific responses from the competitors.

"What if the tape comes loose?" a voice spoke, the guard looked left to right again trying to see who spoke, looking down at the ground seeing a minimized trying to communicate with them. The guard noted them and stomped forward placing each of their black boots on either side of them.

"REPEAT" the guard commanded.

Thomas gulped at this figures terrifying looming stance. - "What if the tape holding us comes loose? Do we get re-taped or can our giants hold us?"

The guard didn't move an inch, staring straight at Thomas. He elevated his right hand slowly up to his ear, as if clutching an ear piece. The guard nodded a couple of times then lowered their hand back down.

"THE TAPE SHOULD ACT AS A DEFAULT STARTING SETUP, IF IT COMES LOOSE IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE FOLLOWED AGAIN." the guard let the answer linger for a few beats as Thomas slowly nodded, the guard turned on their boot heels and marched back to their previous position.

"FOR THIS GAME REGULAR SIZED PLAYERS WILL BE IN CHARGE OF CHOOSING THEIR PARTNER, WHOEVER THEY PICK FIRST IS THEIR IMMEDIATE PARTNER. BEGIN THIS PROCESS IMMEDIATELY." the guard wandered away to the side of the room to give more space to the players, all of whom looked at each other racking their brains.

"Are you gonna lift me up or what so we can get this over with?" Thomas shouted at Andrea above with his arms raised. She looked down at him with only her eyes not moving her head from its position, she smirked at him evily. - "What's that smile about?" Thomas asked as she lowered herself down to him, her long black hair surrounded him as it drooped from her scalp like curtains, surrounding his body like a tent. Giving privacy to the tiny and her evil expression.

"You are totally fucked." she spat with the giddiest evil expression Thomas had seen from her so far. She quickly stood up to her full height lifting her head away from his, pretending he wasn't there.

"What- what the fuck are you talking about?" Thomas shouted above with anger, butterflies formed in his stomach at the thought of being left behind by his only trump card. - "You need me!" he shouted as she began walking, her long white cotton padded legs striding over his body on the floor, her foot landed right next to him as she ignored his presence, the impact sending him off his feet painfully onto the ground. He watched as her legs left him behind.

"Come back..." Thomas muttered.

Joel turned to Lara who looked distraught at the realization that their team will have to split up and she would be forced to choose a partner. Her head flicked between both Theo and Joel who looked at her with curiosity, making up her mind she leaned down as her hand floated towards Joel.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" Joel shouted at Lara, her hand flinched back in fright as Joel violently shouted at her.

"What- what do you mean?"

"If you seriously think I'm going to let you leave the kid you are mistaken, Lara."

"But Joel, we need to stick together."

"We are, Theo is part of this group as well and he needs a protector like you." Joel explained, but Lara's hand kept floating in front of him, moving slightly forward in his direction as her mouth was agape at his response. - "Lara I swear to god, do not touch me! I can handle myself, the kid needs you, now more than ever."

"But..."

"TAKE THEO LARA, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE."

Lara looked as if she could cry any second as he wrapped her hand around Theo securing her partner. - "What about you? Where will you go?"

"Don't worry Lisa will select me-" a hand gripped around Joel and lifted him up. - "See? don't worry Lara, we're going to be just fine." Joel looked up at Lara expecting her to look relieved but instead she looked horrified causing Joel to have another attempt at comforting her. - "Lara listen... everything will be-" as he spoke his eyes fixated on the nails of the fingers constricting him, they were black, his mouth opened wide as he turned around be faced with Andrea giving him evil eyes.

He began squirming violently whilst screaming. - "Lisa! Lisa get over here!" which she did, pulling Andrea's shoulder back so that the women were facing each other.

"Give him to me, he's my partner." Lisa commanded, keeping a strong and proud face in an attempt to scare her into submission.

Andrea waved her black nailed finger from side to side at Lisa- "Ah ah ah, that's not what the rules said... Lisa." she said her name with emphasis followed by a smirk.

Rage filled Lisa's face as she grabbed Andrea by the shirt forcing her to walk backwards. A guard suddenly presented themselves behind Lisa pointing the white firearm at her head, she just knew what it was, expecting interference from the guard because Andrea was right, regulars chose their partners. - "DO NOT INTERFERE WITH THE RULES OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES." the guard waited for Lisa to respond as all three people stood frozen, everyone in the room watched with anticipation of what was going to occur. Lisa shakily exhaled as she loosened her hand from her shirt, Andrea's her evil smirk still glaring at her.

As Lisa's face drooped with sorrow he turned - "I'm sorry, Joel." as she turned away trudging in the opposite direction.

The final teams lined up together on the wall. Andrea & Joel, Kristen & Michael, Lara & Theo and matched due to being the last remaining; Lisa & Thomas.

"WE WILL NOW DRAW THE TEAMS." the guard spoke as he turned pointing at the monitor display on the wall.

Joel knew that because their group was separated into three teams that someone was destined to die and there was nothing they could do to avoid it. He just hoped to god up above that he wouldn't get matched with...

"PLAYER 6 TEAM VS PLAYER 23 TEAM & PLAYER 38 VS PLAYER 2." Joel's heart sank right through the floor as he made eye contact with his competitors, Lara & Theo who looked hellish as they watched him from Andrea's palm. Meaning Lisa was paired with Kristen.

"PLAYERS 38 AND 2, TAPE YOUR PARTNER AND ENTER THE ARENA."

Lisa & Thomas put aside their differences in an attempt to give themselves the best chance of survival, they weren't tasked with an impossible fight like Lara & Joel were. They simply needed to kill and proceed. Michael & Kristen had a free pass throughout most of their games due to their relationship and dedication, their odds of survival were high.

"Lisa, I need you to understand that I can't be forgiven for the things I've done and that's okay, but I want to make up for what I can with the little time I have left here." Thomas looked down at the fleshy palm floor of Lisa's hand, speaking of the terrible guilt he felt in his lack of regard for others thus far.

Lisa interrupted him as he prepared to move onto his next sentence- "I'm gonna stop you right there. I get it. You became greedy and violent, not thinking about the people who mattered to you and cared about you. What you do now matters so I'm glad you are going that far, I won't let you die until you pay back what you owe." she gave a determined look of confidence.

"How- how do you understand so much?" Thomas asked her, his mouth agape as she basically read his mind.

"I had this friend on the outside, I've always stuck by them and them by me, but after they were minimized I just totally ignored them. Their chances were minuscule, literally, so I figured I'd boost my own by working together with the regulars and focusing on myself. That's not who I am and I couldn't convince myself that they would've done the same had the roles been switched." Lisa's eyes drifted away from Thomas' staring in the wall, digging deep into the cavernous thoughts of her mind. - "He would've put his life on the line for me even after I betrayed him."

"You- you're talking about Joel??" Thomas shouted with surprise, taken aback by the sudden realization as was Lisa by his amazingly quick guess. - "You knew each other on the outside?"

"Yeah... which makes me worse than you. I ditched someone close to me who had been there for me. So trust me, we've both got a lot to repent for, if that's what we want." she smiled at him for the first time which he returned.

"Right. I know your strengths, so I need you to decide your own tape position, Joel told me your strategies were out of this world so I'll put my full faith in you." Lisa nodded, Thomas began thinking hard idly turning his head side to side as he charged his neurons, there was so much to think about.

"I believe the answer is the top of your head." he looked at her, awaiting a response to this request to which she nodded back.

"Makes sense I guess. We'll go with it." she said, Thomas began waving his finger as if coming to another realization.

"I also have some requests for how you should play the field to maximize this strategy." he explained

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear, call it." she smirked.

The two pairs entered the cage prepared for combat, Kristen had her game face on and was no longer the bubbly loving wife she appeared to be previously, knowing her husband life was on the line she refused to take any chances. Kristen stood in a crouching fighting position, her eyes drawn in dagger shapes as she assimilated her opponents body movements.

"Listen to me closely so you don't mishear me and this will be cake walk. Do not respond visually or audibly to anything I say, we cannot give away my position, I effectively have to act as your brain and you as the brawn." Thomas shouted on Lisa's hair padded head, she didn't respond as instructed.

"Based on the relationship of these two she is definitely holding him somewhere safe, within her audio and visible range. She knows it's not the best spot for combat but it dulls her paranoid thoughts about losing her husband. I predict two potential spots." Thomas continued to explain whilst keeping gaze on Kristen for any hint of which of the two it could immediately be, no clues were given so he began to command Lisa.

"BEGIN" the guard shouted.

"Between the breasts!" Thomas shouted, going for his leading spot of where Michael was being kept, it was comfortable, padded and visible.

Lisa paced forward with her fists in front of her face in a fighting stance, her feet moving her sidewards towards Kristen, the opponent threw a wild haymaker at Lisa giving her the opportunity of an easy dodge, backing up and avoiding the fist entirely. Kristen's body lunged forward as the momentum of the weight carried her forward after missing, Lisa pivoted forwards from the step back throwing her body weight into a powerful punch straight into the center of Kristens chest between the breasts.

Saliva came spilling out of Kristens mouth as the absurdly powerful impact rocked her chest, she kept her upper-body forward even as the rest of it fell backwards, she fell into a kneeling position as Lisa watched her, Kristen looked up at the girl with only her eyes, not lifting her head.

"Unfortunate. On the thigh underneath her bottom." Thomas was unsure about this one but it was as good as a guess as any.

Lisa swiftly shifted back into action using her right hand to violently grab the womans hair and pulled her head forwards, using all of her strength to kick Kristen on her right upper thigh, repeating this quickly for the other. Kristen barely reacted, steadily looking at the ground.

"I don't understand." he was shocked, his predictions had never been wrong before and this time he was certain, maybe he didn't understand this woman as much as he thought.

Kristen threw a punch straight into Lisa's stomach sending her stumbling backwards as the air shot out her mouth, winding her and refusing her the ability to breath. Lisa leaned forward clutching her stomach giving Kristen a perfect view of Thomas lying on his front on the hair, taped tight.

"Lisa. Problem!" Thomas shouted, terrified for his safety as Kristen ran towards him whilst he was still open for her to see, one slap and he'd be flattened into her scalp. - "LIFT YOUR HEAD, QUICKLY!" he screamed.  Lisa responded by returning to her stance and throwing a wild punch with her left arm, Kristen predicted this very same punch as it was identical to the first, dodging it entirely. As Lisa's head lifted incredibly fast the tape became loose, it wasn't as effectively sticky due to being applied to hair but this was the risk they attempted to play for lack of visibility to their opponents.

Kristen swiftly darted behind Lisa clutching her neck violently, pulling backwards. Lisa's head tipped backwards as Kristen's body weight pulled it further and further back. She tugged harder and harder bringing the top of Lisa's scalp down to her face, Thomas dangled from the loose tape as it strung down her hair leaving him swaying in the air as Lisa's body curved backwards due to the mass pulling her neck.

Thomas watched below as Kristens giant face watched him with anticipation, barely holding onto the yellow tape, her face was scrunched up from the maximum strength she was exerting attempting to pull Lisa to the ground who barely managed to stay standing. Kristens face leaned further in coming even closer to his body as her light pink lips parted revealing the pale rocks of her mouth as the cavern approached the dangling snack.

Thomas started shaking from the panic of death approaching, Lisa's head slowly lowered further and further back as Kristens face approached closer. Thomas lowered into the dark depths of her wet mouth still hanging from the tape, he cried as the teeth instantly snapped shut screaming "LISAA!" one last time as his body was buried in the murky darkness, her tongue pressed into his body soaking him in its slime, her teeth pushed into the tape he still clutched to for life attempting to chew through it and swallow him forever.

Lisa heard the screams realizing her partners life was in jeopardy, she released the tension in her right leg allowing her left leg to take the responsibility of holding her upwards from falling backwards, sending her right leg flying backwards into Kristen's shin with the heel of her right foot. Kristen's mouth flew open as she screeched in pain, Lisa shoved her head forwards as Thomas flew through the air dripping wet clutching the end of the tape.

"Are you okay?" she spoke whilst placing him back on her head, she did so without breaking eye contact with Kristen.

"I'm drenched in saliva, the bitch nearly chomped right through me."

"Well you spoke so I'm happy enough with that. Do you have any other regions we should check?" Lisa asked

"Well he's certainly not in her fucking mouth I'll tell you that much." Thomas angrily shouted as he shook his arms downwards releasing more sticky liquid from his body onto Lisa's head.

"That's not helping!" she shouted upwards at him as Kristen approached her.

That's when it dawned on him, Kristen hadn't spoken once, she used her eyes to watch them instead of moving her head, there was one part of the body that correlated with his theory about her placement as well as her actions. - "He's taped to the middle of her chin. I'm certain!"

"Her chin? she's coming towards me and we might not survive this part to get another shot at guessing. I can't put our lives on your certainty again, you were wrong twice."

"I'd literally put my goddamn life on it, now get in there!" he commanded as he attempted to secure the tape around him once more.

"Fuck! Fine!" she angrily spat as the two women ran towards each other, they both lifted their hands entering a viscous grapple as their hands held each other pushing their weight into each other trying to force the other to topple backwards. Kristen kept her head down, staring upwards past her eyebrows at Lisa as they pushed backwards and forwards.

Lisa thought to herself about Thomas' prediction, he better be right about this because she said she'd put her faith in him and that's exactly what she was going to do. She lunged her head forward bashing it into Kristen's creating an awful clunk noise as the bone surface of their skulls clashed, Kristen was shaken by this impact. Lisa followed up by repeatedly doing it unfortunately it equally damaged them. They stared into each other angrily as the tape began to loosen from the shaking, Michael began to dangle from the tape on her chin as one side of it held on for life.

Lisa saw him right there, if she eliminated the minimized right in front of her then they would pass immediately. Kristen's grip on her hands and the force of them pushing into each other through those very same hands disallowed them from attempting to grab each others minimized, effectively generating a stalemate, whoever gave out first would lose.

Michaels physique was finally becoming a detriment in the late stage of this competition as he couldn't hold up his own body weight for much longer, he let out one last scream as he knew his grip was loosening, he let go and began falling towards the ground below. He watched the floor approaching. At least my death will be caused by falling and not by the hand of one of these monsters, Kristen will feel better about a less violent end... I hope we see each other again somehow.

Lisa watched the tiny fall from Kristen's chin to which she was unaware, her opportunity was wide open, she pushed her strength to the left allowing her to face the left whilst still holding Kristen back. She kicked her foot through the air connecting with Michaels body like a tiny football sending him blasting towards the cage wall, the force was so great that nothing could stop his minimized body, connecting with the cage wall decapitating his body into multiple pieces. The pieces of his body skidded across the floor outside the ring in front of Lara's feet as she looked at them with a grossed out look on her face.

Lisa loosened her grip as she watched the man die violently to her left allowing Kristen to throw her backwards, she felt this reduction of strength, confused as to why. Panic erupted in her eyes as she touched her chin with her hand. - "Michael?" she asked with terror enveloping her expression. Looking at the ground to see nothing.

Lisa wasted no opportunity given to her and Thomas, uppercutting Kristen sending her head flying backwards as the same tape that Michael fell from flew off her chin and flew through the air to the side. Lisa lunged forward gripping her t-shirt collar and throwing Kristen over her shoulder onto her back on the floor with a loud crash, echoing throughout the room as the competitors watched with anticipation.

The crash of her body was immediately followed by a stomp as Lisa stamped down onto Kristen's chest holding her on the ground, she pressed all her weight to keep the girl in place. - "Michaeell! What did you do with my Michael!" she cried looking off to the side unable to process what happened, one second he was there and the next he was gone.

"Hold still and this will be over soon, the guard will reduce you soon. I just want to let you know that-" Lisa was abruptly interrupted by the guard inside the cage firing Kristen with the white laser shrinking her to 1 inch tall in the fraction of a second, Lisa's weight barreled downwards due to the gap being created by Kristen's body vanishing before she could even finish her sentence. The foot crashed into the floor creating a quick snapping noise, Lisa looked down shocked as she had just vanished into existence, lifting her foot to see the woman turned to mush below. - "...never mind." she said with a straight face as she transferred Thomas from her scalp into her hand, exiting the cage together.

"PLAYER 38 WINS. THE 2ND ROUND WILL BEGIN IMMEDIATELY, TAPE YOUR OPPONENT AND ENTER THE CAGE." the guard shouted once more, starting the next round that nobody except Andrea was prepared for.

Both Andrea & Lara stood staring at each other, this fight to the death would decide everything for them, their spat over the course of the games would finally be solved right here and now. Lara's group stood to lose no matter what, unable to think about what out they could use.

"I will kill you for this, you stupid bitch! Why couldn't you just stick with Thomas? why did you have to go and ruin everything?" Joel roared as he rustled violently from side to side, not moving an inch as the sticky tape held him to Andrea's bare skin. 

Andrea returned from above looking down at him. - "Because I know I'm going to win and you guys have been a great big thorn right up in my ass this entire game. I don't need Thomas for this one, I know that deep down your little- or should I say giant girlfriend isn't going to hurt you." her voice bellowed and vibrated down her vocal coords from inside her body into Joel's.

He  resided firmly between her big breasts, cushioned between them acting as his protection, her skin felt warm which was likely to get worse as she moved around. - "I swear to god I'm gonna-" Andrea pressed her breasts together smushing him and muffling his words to prevent him from speaking. - "I'll destroy your girl then we'll chat, okay? Great." she released causing him to inhale heavily from his lungs being compressed and the air removed.

Andrea watched Lara in front of her, she wasn't speaking to her partner, likely their strategy was to prevent her knowledge. She was unconvinced Lara would act, hence why she made no attempt to hide that Joel was plastered between her breasts.

"Quite the predicament you are in, hun. Wouldn't you say?" Andrea joked at the messy haired girl, she didn't look like she was going to stand a chance for a multitude of reasons. - "You shouldn't have snitched you do-goody whore." Andrea snarled as the guard shouted.

"BEGIN!"

Andrea sprinted towards Lara throwing a vicious swift punch towards her face, Lara saw this in slow motion anticipating fast moves from this girl who had nearly nothing to lose in this fight, she darted her head sideways sending her fist barreling past her in the chained cage wall behind them creating a ricketing noise as the vibrations shook the wall. Lisa & Thomas watched upon them with fear, their bodies jolting every time Andrea made moves.

Lara turned to anticipate another punch but was quickly socked straight in the face, Andrea wasn't letting up even for a moment. She'd waited all week for an opportunity like this. Lara collapsed onto her ass, her back and head swinging into the cage, struggling to retain her consciousness.

She came back to reality to see Andrea hands feeling up under her top in the chest area and sides. - "Where is that little brat?!" she uttered as the heel of Lara's foot shot straight into her nose sending her falling backwards. -  "You can't just defend all day!" Andrea stood to her feet again, both women stomping towards each other and grappling furiously, throwing each other sidewards in an attempt to topple the other one to the floor.

Andrea took Lara's her arm turning it painfully into an arm lock, turning around swiftly, lifting her blonde hair into a hand-made ponytail in order to survey the back of her neck, Lara returned with a backwards kick to Andrea's groin. She groaned in pain as she leaned forward. - "I'm going to make this harder for you, snitch!" she screamed. 

Lara daintily walked forward on her side in a fighting stance sending a furious high-legged kick straight across Andrea's head like a football, sending her to the ground onto her chest. Lara watched her body as she collapsed on her front with her arms by her side, unable to act any further, she just wanted to hurt this girl and postpone the inevitable.

The impact loosened Joel's tape as did the sweat from Andrea's chest, his head was ringing with a painful headache from the impacts and drops of Andrea's body. The breasts acted as a perfect cushion from her body, if she was a size smaller he would've been crushed under her chest. He ran out from under her body to see Lara stood ahead of him.

She watched as Joel waved his hands up to her trying to get her attention swiftly so they could act upon it as quickly as possible. - "Hurry up and eliminate me, Lara!" he commanded, he didn't seem scared of the death he requested.

"Joel I just can't..." she whispered whilst Theo shouted from his taped prison on Lara, crying out for Joel's life, afraid that he'd lose the man who protected him all this time, the first man who ever felt like a dad to him, something he'd never had before. The tape didn't let up, his teen body didn't help much not to mention Lara's insistence on his protection resorting to a strongly planted tape piece across his body securing him firmly.

"Lara we don't have time, you need to do it. For Theo's protection, otherwise you both die." Joel tried to get this fact into her, that which she already knew and understood well, she hoped that by drilling it out of her mind that it wouldn't come true. Lisa's idea & words echoed into her mind from earlier, about the work strike idea.

Lara turned quickly sticking her hands into the cage and shaking it, looking at the guard. "I abstain from combat! We aren't going to participate! Let us out!!" she screamed at the guard who didn't even look in their general direction, instead resorting to total ignorance. Lara cried her heart out for the game to end. - "I don't want this... please... let me out!" her weak legs were giving out below her, managing to hold herself up via the chain wall of the ring gripped in her hands.

"Lara-" Joel couldn't finish a word as he was gripped by Andrea, she vigorously span around thrusting her leg into Lara's in a sweep sending her flying to the ground. Lara screamed for mercy as Andrea dragged her into the centre of the ring, she jumped onto her chest pinning each of Lara's arms to the floor with her knees. Blood was dripping down one side of her face with a crazy look in her eye, in addition her nose also bled and was bent slightly to one side.

Andrea threw Joel along the floor causing him to skid to the other end of the arena, she began using her hands to violent slap various parts of Lara's body trying to pad out Theo. Lara squirmed around throwing her hands at Andrea in an attempt hit her. Andrea responded to this, gripping Lara's t-shirt collar with both her hands, she pulled violently forwards as she thrusted her forehead forward headbutting Lara violently sending her head crashing into the floor knocking her out.

Andrea felt all over her, searching over her body trying to uncover the tiny teenager she needed to eliminate. She searched her ears, mouth, breasts and arms. She felt nothing up Lara's left leg, quickly padding the other one as she reached the upper inner thigh she heard a dainty quiet- "owch." 

"There you are." she smiled with blood coating her teeth as she raised her hand for a violent fly swatting smack onto Lara's leg. Lara's head felt heavy as one eye opened to see an evil smile on Andrea's face as she went to slam her hand down in the place where she taped Theo, she had no energy push her off instead she used her remaining energy to turn swiftly onto her right as the hand rushed down.

Andrea missed, instead firmly smacking Lara on her other leg. She looked up at Lara in anger, standing up off the girl placing both of her feet on either side of her head. Lara had a full view of the girl from below giving her the perspective of what the minimized Andrea eliminated had seen in their final moments and it was terrifying. - "Stay down and it'll be over soon." she raised her barefoot above Lara's face preparing to cave it in so she could finish the round. Lara watched above delirious from the head injury, sincerely believing she was minimized and was about to be stepped on.

Andrea's head went fuzzy as the blood rushed away from her head after standing up combined with her violent headbutt from earlier, she toppled over to her left landing on her side. She passed out but it didn't look like it was going to be for long. Lara sat up looking at her hands realizing she was still normal, slowly standing up to watch Andrea from above once again. She stepped backwards trying to distance herself from this humanoid monster of a person. She wiped her face which stained her hand with her own blood.

Joel ran between her legs and stood in front of her as she gazed at him dizzily, Joel nearly cried at the sight of her face. She looked totally messed up, he couldn't let her take this endless beating any longer. - "Lara, you know what has to be done and please trust me, it's okay." he kept a brave smile at her trying to generate any hope that she would act upon what needed to be done to protect Theo. Her eyes watched him with happiness, that she was able to meet such an amazing person even in the worst of circumstances.

"For the kid, right?" - She smiled warmly trying to give him closure that she would protect Theo to her dying breath, anything for Joel. Theo beneath her pants furiously shook from side to side, he didn't want to be Joel's cause of death, he wanted them to survive together and become a family, no matter what.

"For the kid." he nodded which she returned. Lara heard Andrea mumbling as she slowly came to her senses. Lowering her warm face back down to Joel. - "Close your eyes, dear."

"You too." they both nodded in agreement as Joel brought darkness to his vision, remembering her beautiful face as his sense went dark. Lara took a terrified heart-broken deep breath as she elevated her foot off the ground above Joel. Down below he tried to pretend nothing was happening and that she was still smiling at him but he couldn't ignore the scraping as her foot lifted off the ground, the light that was seeping through his eyelids creating a red tint became black as he tried not to think about the fact that he was under a shadow.

"Goodbye, Joel." she thought one last time as her eyes closed, lifting her head up to the ceiling to avoiding looking in the general direction of her close friend.

Joel got shoved with an incredibly powerful force as he flew backwards onto his ass skidding his eyes barely managing to open before he hit the ground. His eyes opened to see a scared Theo standing right where he was. - "Theo!" he shouted as Lara's monolithic foot slammed into the ground crashing onto Theo, slamming him violently frontwards into the white floor. Tears streamed down Joel's face as he watched the violent slam, his body was still in tact. Lara pulled her stomp, clearly unable to make it quick due to her strong feelings, she realized that she hadn't struck hard enough and Joel was suffering because of it, pain entered her face as she spoke- "I'm so sorry, Joel! I won't let you suffer. Forgive me." as the muscles in her leg began to tense up forcing more body weight down them.

Joel lay there on his ass, useless and speechless as his lip trembled in horror, Theo's emotionless alive eyes stared right at his. - "Sir?" he helplessly called out as the sole lowered quickly, hundreds of bone snapping noises could be heard at once, meat crushing flat as the muscles tore themselves apart from the greater force pressing on them, his skull exploded sending red liquid blasting out forwards onto Joel. The foot finally flattened onto the ground, Joel felt bile forming in his throat as he attempted he close his senses, lowering his head and closing his eyes. Her foot began to twist causing the gorey crunching noises to slowly turn into wet squelching that deafened Joel.

Lara took a deep breath as she looked down and opened her eyes to be met with a cowering terrified crying Joel. She pieced everything together immediately, her lower lip began to tremble as she lifted her foot slowly revealing stringy viscera to Joel who finally began to scream. Lara attempted to remove her foot from the violence below but a foot crashed onto hers slamming it back down onto the gore, Andrea pressed all of her weight onto Lara's foot messing up the remains further.

Lara stared into Andrea's eyes as she stomped her foot flat. Lara screamed below- "Theo!!" as she cried, Andrea placed her fingers on Lara's chin lifting her face to connect their gazes together.

"You're talking to human goo, snitch." she smirked as a guard entered the cage and shot Lara. She watched as the red paste became huge giving her even greater detail of visceral gore that her weight left behind of the quiet teenager. Various bones could be seen in the pile some were dust. She looked up to see Andrea gigantic for real this time as she was plucked by her t-shirt into the sky.

Joel watched in grieving silence unable to process anything, he had no emotional reaction to anything following the horror he witnessed, unable to fight any longer.

Andrea dangled minimized Lara in front of her face. - "Remember back at the cafeteria, that poor man you attempted to save from the jaws of death? well you couldn't save him and you can't save yourself. You should never have attempted to snitch on me. Enjoy the consequences, bitch." Andrea finished her venomous spatting by opening her monstrous jaws revealing her solid white teeth, the tongue extended out from inside, glistening and wet, slithering like a krakens tentacle. Andrea released her in the cavernous depths of her mouth, throwing the girl around her teeth and tongue, tasting the remaining fear.

She pursed her lips together drowning the girl in permanent darkness as she forced her backwards down her throat, swallowing her life away. Lara slithered down the slimy chimney of Andrea's tube, eventually landing into a small pool of acid. Quickly feeling the burning sizzling all over her skin frantically trying to wipe it off.

Andrea swiped Joel off the ground. - "Listen to your snitching girlfriend." she violently used her fingers to press him onto her bare belly. Joel heard her desperate cries from within, calling out for him. - "Joel! Joel!!!" he could do nothing else but cry, her pleads for help being violently interrupted by Andrea's growling stomach. She lifted him up to her face closely. - "My body is making quick work of her and with that, we are now even." lowering her hand and dropping his tiny body to the floor.

He crashed to the floor banging his head and damaging his arm as he splashed into the red viscera, his entire body becoming drenched in Theo as he sank into the meat. He lay there sobbing in a red stain he once called "kid".

Chapter 11: The Second Winner

9 years ago.

"CONGRATULATIONS PLAYER 52, YOU HAVE WON THE MINIMIZED CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES." the old speakers blasted loudly into the echoing room blowing her ears out, a giant guard walked in her direction, their boots thumping into the floor as she anticipated needing to dodge or not. The guard vanished from her view instead presenting themselves in front of her at her own size, it was surreal to see a guard not towering over her for the first time ever.

They stopped an arms reach away from her, placing their black gloved hand out to unveil a syringe. - "THIS WILL RETURN YOU TO NORMAL." the guard explained.

She noticed how the guard had their other hand sneakily hidden behind their back, her initial thoughts indicating it was the white firearm but there was something else worth noting, how did the guard intend to regrow as well? Mineko stepped forward reaching out to take the serum grabbing it but at the same time throwing a lightning fast punch right across the guards left cheek, shattering their mask as they hit the floor.

She reached behind the guards back taking an identical serum from them, she now had two, true power resided in her hands. Preparing to plunge her neck with the first to return to normal she looked at the guard who lay on the floor in pain, it was a teenage boy who looked frightened. - "Please don't leave me." he called out.

She looked upon him in disgust. - "I have no mercy to show to you people." she stabbed her neck with the syringe and pushed the plunger.

"NO, wait, you don't understand-" the guard called out, his voice becoming distant as Mineko's ears grew and traveled away from the ground, his voice becoming dainty then quiet then silent. Finally seeing the arena in its normal sized state was jarring to her, forgetting for a brief moment that the guard was still below her. The guard attempted to run away from her sprinting slowly away from the feet below, she had to rid of the evidence immediately, throwing a powerful kick into the back of the guard snapping his spine and blasting him through the air.

His body span fast further severing his spine in multiple places, unable to make any noise due to the forces being exerted on his body, he slapped straight into the wall splatting flat ending him for good.

Mineko turned forwards acting as if nothing happened as two guards entered the room, between them was a man wearing a long coat, his face however was not concealed by a mask like everyone else. Who was he?

The man smiled at her with pure joy. - "Excellent work, absolutely flawless. It's so lovely to finally meet you my dear." he took her hand in two of his leaning over to show respect to the girl, she looked beaten to a pulp with cuts, bruises & blood on every part of her body, her shirt was ripped down the middle unveiling a brief sighting of her bra and bareskin. Her left pant leg ripped from the shin down and the right one as normal but bloodied.

Staring at the man who was glowing, without a care in the world at what he had caused, not even at what lay behind her- the result of the last game; the showdown. The violent blood streaks and dead bodies of the regular competitors sprinkled around a 20 foot tower.

The man slowly looked around at the destruction- "Your performance was impressive to say the least." he commended her, his eyes falling upon a tiny corpse smashed in the wall on his right in the distance. He leans over to the guard on his right with a confused look on his face. "Was this lady the only minimized in this game?" he whispered.

"Yes, sir." the guard responded evoking an interested look on the mans face. Furthermore he noticed she had her hand behind her back attempting to hide something which he pieced together based on her emotional and negative state.

"Seize her." he commanded, the two guards followed orders immediately going for her shoulders & arms, just as she lifted a syringe and attempted to plunge it into her neck being stopped by an inch away as the guards held her tight, she lightly pressed the plunger in anticipation of it breaching her neck, which it did not, droplets dripped from the needle end onto her neck having no effect as it didn't enter the blood stream.

"My oh my, I'm assuming you got that from one of my guards?" the man responded with genuine surprise.

"What guard? I have no fucking idea what you are talking about." she spat at the man.

"Surely you do, he's splattered on the wall right there." The man pointed to his right, Mineko's eyes looked unable to move her head as she was being held tightly.

The guard snatched the serum from her grip as she gave an angry snarl at him for doing so. - "Give that here." the man requested. Inspecting it in his left hand he equipped a company assigned firearm from his belt and fired at it, reducing the syringe back to its small size, he crushed it in his gloved hand shattering it entirely. - "Problem solved."

He slowly walked towards her with his hands behind his back. - "You seem very angry, such rage has built in you. What did you lose?"

"WHO, WHO DID I LOSE." she corrected him with venom in her words.

"Excuse me... ahem.. who did you lose? a son? no. a friend? no." the man gauged her response to each relation he listed trying to figure out which one she reacted to. - "A partner?" her eyes softened. "I see." he responded.

"What a small price to pay for salvation. Your experiences here as well as the funds you'd receive would change your life, the experiences more-so than you think. You'd never take anything for granted ever again, you'd never take slander from anyone, you'd stick up for yourself and have the money to do whatever you wanted. And you threw it away for some pathetic relationship that you would've split up from in due time." the man turned to the side placing his hand on his chin, thinking deeply about the circumstances presented to him.

"I'll tell you what. You are the very first minimized to competitor to win since we started this whole operation, my lifes work. I'd hate you have to ruin you just because you wouldn't behave. I'll give you one last chance, my guards will release you but you will have only one opportunity now to walk out that door in one piece, I recommend that you take it." he stared into her face for a few beats before looking at his guards and nodding his head lightly upwards to indicate release.

Mineko felt her arms loosen as she stood there quietly looking at the door behind the man wide open revealing a corridor that likely led somewhere she'd be able to leave from. She started trodding along next to the man about to pass him. She stopped next to him, shoulder to shoulder as he turned around to look at her face with a shit-eating smirk on his face making her blood boil.

She sighed and turned to face the door looking as if she was going to walk forwards, she quickly threw her hands onto the mans face scratching violently downwards on his face, her nails dragging through his forehead, eyes, nose and mouth. He shouted in pain clutching his face with his eyes closed unable to see. - "You stupid idio-" he was interrupted again by a violent punch into his face.

Rotating her body immediately on the spot to turn around and sock a guard in the face, sweeping the legs of the other she leaped onto the man sending him to the floor, she beat his face senselessly like she was mad. His face gushed with blood in addition to the huge scars on his face from her fingernails, which were now riddled with skin and blood underneath them. She let out her inhuman levels of powerful rage, everything had been taken from her, her partner, her humanity and her innocence. She knew she'd never be the same again, never able to restore her belief in humanity, unable to find joy in anything as the creeping thoughts of everything she'd seen plagued her mind every waking second.

The womans rage peaked, unable to exert enough power to put her feelings into actions, her hands were simply not doing enough damage, wanting to absolutely destroy this man. She stood up and began violently stomping on the mans face, hoping it would cave in from her strength. "You-" *stomp* "took" *stomp* "everything" *stomp* "from" *stomp* "me!" she screamed sending a massive life ending slam onto his face, it was unable to connect as she was tackled to the ground by the two guards who quickly attempted to stop her rampage and help their leader.

Mineko sat in a cold dark room with a bag on her head for what felt like hours, sitting in total silence as she heard the deep echoes of dripping water, landing into an audible puddle. She tried to sleep some but she was on a cold grunge concrete floor, it hurt too much. A guard entered the room placing a paper cup of water into her hand and leaving immediately.

After what felt like a week she heard someone entering her room, another water delivery, she held her hands out only to have them smacked violently with a heavy metal pole. She shrieked in pain, her hands shaking from the adrenaline. - "GET UP" the person commanded.

She was dragged between various rooms, able to tell as the footsteps from the persons boots sounded different every 20 seconds. She was placed into a vehicle with her head against the glass window, hands tied and head still submerged in this curse of a bag. Mineko was unable to take her mind off how hungry she was, her stomach kept audibly growling for everyone in the car to hear as she weeped into the glass window. The car came to a screeching halt.

Her collar bone was grabbed holding her still, the black bag over her head was loosened from her neck as it was removed allowing light to bombard her retinas blinding her, even though it was night time there was far too much input that she wasn't used to. Her eyes adjusted watching a guard pointing the white gun at her, quickly shaking from side to side in panic not wanting to be minimized again. - She felt a jolt of energy shoot through her she fell backwards onto a cushioned surface, almost as if the car vanished entirely.

The giant gloved hand of the guard clutched her and opened the sliding door of the van. Stepping outside, the guard removed his mask, he looked really similar to the teenage boy she kicked to his death earlier but her eyes struggled to focus. He underarm threw her lightly forwards 13cm off the ground which was still a fair fall, the momentum skidding her across the rugged freezing cold pavement. She stood up to watch the guard going back into the van, it drove away leaving her there.

"HELLO, MY DEAR." a modulated voice bellowed from behind her, her ears barely picking it up over the loud wind. She turned to see a man with a black mask on, it was the same as the white baby mask the guards wore but it was black instead. They both stood watching each other, minimized on a street pavement in the middle of the night.

"WHAT A TERRIBLE MISTAKE YOU HAVE MADE. YOU COULD'VE BEEN SO MUCH MORE, YOU AS THE FIRST MINIMIZED WINNING, YOU WERE PROOF THAT MY CREATION WORKED. YOU WERE EVERYTHING I WORKED FOR, MY MAGNUM OPUS AND NOW I MUST DESTROY YOU TO PRESS FORWARD ONCE MORE."

The realization clicked in her mind as they spoke, it was the same man she pummeled to death a few days ago, or attempted to so it seemed. Her face scrunching up into anger once more. She marched forward in an attempt to repeat her previous beating since there were no guards around this time.

The man quickly drew out a white firearm. - "ah ah ah." he waved his finger as he pointed it towards her, she quickly came to a stop as fear formed in her eyes. They were already minimized and he was threatening to minimize her again. - "STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE." he commanded, it was hard to believe it was the same man from earlier.

"That's a nice mask, I wonder why you'd need that." she snarled causing him to snicker to himself, he slowly felt behind his mask to remove it revealing a hideous amount of scars and damage. He still smiled evily, one eye still swollen and unable to open, the scars from her nails still visible down his face and likely to stay that way permanently.

"A comedian. You know I gave you a great opportunity and you spat it back in my face. After your actions I just decided to take control of your destiny, you aren't afraid of death, I can tell that much from the incredibly brave beating you gave me in front of my guards, they could've shot you down right there and then but you don't deserve that." he explained.

"Why because I'm your perfect little princess? just because I won your stupid psychotic games? You are out of your goddamn mind." she shouted at him, throwing her arms to the side trying to blast her voice louder at him, able to shout with zero repercussions due to their minuscule size.

"Oh on the contrary, you didn't deserve that because you deserved worse, we had to scrape my mangled guard off the wall because of you. He was 17 and his name was Karl." he sighed after thinking about the boy. Mineko swallowed realizing she had killed a kid, but why was he recruiting children and teenagers as guards? - "That's your fault for recruiting kids to do your dirty work. You pig." Mineko shouted passing the blame to the man. He waved her off as if not interested in her comment.

"But it's okay, sometimes you need to let go of the things you love. Or more accurately, destroy them." he lifted the firearm higher up pointing at her chest, now shooting to hit her seriously this time.

She felt the jolt hit her from the firearm as her body collapsed downwards on itself.

Mineko looked around this quiet barren landscape, she was surrounded by gray hills, a range with no wildlife or any life for that matter. The man came stomping into her view, a giant stepping over the bumps, she cowered between the huge hills and underneath his creepy mangled face.

"Did you think the gun wouldn't work? our technology is very intuitive, my dear. Minimized individuals are reduced 67 times smaller, the gun applies this regardless of the state of the human. In other words, you are now 4593 times smaller than regular people." his crooked devilish grin struck her soul, the man could sense that she was scared and confused.

"You look confused, my dear. So I'll give you some references, you are now only twice as tall as a strand of human hair, the size of a dust mite, 12 times smaller than a grain of rice and my favourite comparison; slightly smaller than a grain of sand." he kept up his smirk awaiting for it to fully click in her head which it did.

Mineko began having a mental breakdown, screaming her lungs out as she fell to her knees. The man gripped his shirt giving it a shake as if pleased with himself standing up to his full height he began walking away, Mineko began reaching out for him with tears in her eyes. - "Please don't leave me like this, I'll do anything!"

The man turned slightly to acknowledge her pleas. He inhaled a light snicker and walked away whilst injecting himself with a growth serum sending him flying into the sky thousands of miles away.

"Please end me!!!" Mineko screamed until her lungs burned. - "I- I don't- I can't.." she curled up into a ball and hoped this nightmare would end and she'd appear next to Tetsu and he'd hold her, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. But it never came, it just got colder and quieter as she lay between the microscopic mountains of the pavement drifting off as the extreme tiredness finally got to her.

Mineko shot awake instantly covering her ears hard as crashing enveloped them, an instant headache forming from the intense noise. She looked around her terrain to see what was happening, it looked like the moon surface, plagued with random holes and hills of grey. Mineko looked to the skies to see huge pillars of unreal scale passing over her, she turned to run away as a monolithic building crashed in front of her, the wind sending her flying backwards. The ground shook so violently like a magnitude 10 earthquake.

Looking up, Mineko was dwarfed by the sheer scale of this object, the bumpy pattern she stared up to like a ceiling, she could see it bobbing up and down lightly, listening closely she heard rumbling and scraping inside the object even when it wasn't moving. A god-like voice boistered from the heavens above- "JENNY, I ALMOST SPILLED MY COFFEE!" whoever this woman was, she was likely speaking normally but it sounded horrendous down below.

Mineko realized what grave danger she was out here, not only was she literally 4000x smaller but so to were her chances of survival, every danger she had as a minimized had been maximized, she'd slept off the shock and there was no longer any time to waste, she had to get busy living or get busy dying.

The memories flooded back to Mineko, the immense pain she consistently felt due to the unfair treatment she received from the monsters behind this operation. Watching Joel cry his heart out in the gore pile below as the girl he loved and boy he protected were erased and taken from him, her heart sank watching her own story repeating out for him, was Joel destined to repeat the cycle just like her?

Chapter 12: Showdown

2 regulars & 2 minimized remain

The remaining four competitors sat in their small dorm room, following the same visual design as the rest prior, two beds on either side of the room faced each other from a few feet away, there was a minimized bed to each side of the regular beds also by a few feet. Giving the beds all equal distance from one another.

Lisa was busy moving the two minimized beds as Andrea watched her, moving them to her side of the room. She placed them under her bed in the darkness, in addition to moving her bed padding to the floor giving any minimized sleeping in them great protection and positioning. They had to be careful in this final stretch.

Joel lay in his bed without saying much of anything, Lisa watched him sympathetically not surprised at all that he wouldn't want to speak or do anything. He wanted this to be over at any cost, whether that be his death or victory, both equally viable to him.

Thomas walked over to the area where they were sleeping as Lisa had moved his bed there as she got settled on the floor. - "You were great out there. I owe you." she smiled.

Thomas turned around confused, raising his eyebrow as he threw his blanket in the air flattening it to make his bed. - "I already owed you, remember? I guess you could say we are even, also my death was linked with yours so I can't really take credit for kindness there."

Joel sat up in an angry exhale. - "Here he goes again, do you ever do anything for kindness? do you ever do anything for anyone other than yourself?" Joel kept his back to them as he sat on his bed hunched forward, his hands clutched each other as he stared into the floor.

"I was just saying that it didn't make sense in this context, Joel. I would've done it even if my life wasn't in the balance!" Thomas raised his voice at Joel who continued to accuse him of selfishness, all he wanted to do was change but Joel would let him, he would never let him leave everything behind. Thomas turned to see Lisa shaking her head at him as if telling him now was not the right time to act this way.

"Yeah, sure." Joel spat sarcastically.

"Are you forgetting what I did for you back in the escape room? I veered Andrea away from you, would a selfish man do that?" Thomas stood his ground, attempting to prove to Joel he was a changed man, he, unfortunately, did not read the room, forgetting what occurred earlier in the arena.

Joel turned slowly to make eye contact with Thomas, his eyes were burning with a deep rage. - "What you did for me? You mean saving Peter, who is now dead. Saving Theo who is now paste? Saving Lara who is- who is now right over there probably still alive in that evil whores stomach? What part of all of this am I meant to be thanking you for? my own life? Whoop-tee-fucking-do, I attempted to give my life on a multitude of occasions for the safety of those people and now that they are gone, I don't care what happens to me." Joel waved his hands around like a crazy person, his voice reached powerful levels as he raged and spat, Thomas cowered as his face scrunched up realizing he was treading terrain he shouldn't be.

"I'm sorry." Thomas whispered lowering his head. - "Truly."

Joel turned and sat heavily back down again into his previous position, Lisa watched with further sympathy from his emotional breakdown as he breathed a heavy sigh from the apology. - "Stop apologizing, it wasn't your fault what happened."

"Part of my quest to be a better person involves honestly, Joel. The reason Andrea picked you in 'Arena' wasn't to take you down as she says, but rather to get back at me." Thomas' heart started accelerating at a ludicrous speed.

Joel kept his back turned but his head visibly lifted, looking away from the ground but instead forwards. - "What...?"

"I overstepped and started winding her up because I knew she couldn't team with another minimized, I made fun of her and deliberately attempted to anger her. This bit me in the ass when... when arena popped up and the giants were able to choose their partner without their say in it. I'm- I'm so so sorry, Joel. I didn't know." Thomas started to shake, the first time the man had genuinely shown sympathy thus far in the games, he'd gotten what he wanted for himself but caused suffering in others.

Joel stood up and began walking around the back of the bed in Thomas's direction, Thomas kept his head down refusing to make eye contact. Joel walked right up to him, Thomas was looking at his legs and feet. - "Look at me." Joel requested, speaking lightly and calmly.

Thomas slowly lifted his head until his eyes were about to meet Joel's, before he could even make eye contact Joel struck him across the face with a powerful fist causing him to fall backwards onto the bed, he clutched his face in pain as Joel shook his hand through the air trying to relieve the tension.

"Joel!" Lisa shouted - "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You're asking what's wrong with me? I can't tell if you're serious or not." - Joel paused for the briefest of moments soaking in the moment and preparing his thoughts as he stood in front of Thomas who rolled from side to side whilst coddling his face. - "This stupid asshole has been a pain in my ass from the second I met him, he only cares about himself, he takes and takes, he never gives, the only benefit you get is a bonus from working together that he never wanted you to have. Every single thing that's gone wrong for me in this game so far is because of this man so why don't you and your buddy leave me the hell alone." he marched around to the side of his bed pulling it further away from them creating a larger distance between them.

"Come on, now. I understand you are incredibly angry but moving your bed like that is just unsafe, Andrea could kill you." Lisa explained whilst shaking her head in disagreement.

"I fucking hope so. The pain of being digested by Andrea would be more bearable than working together with that moron." he waved his hand in Thomas' general direction as he got under his blanket and turned away from the pair.

Lisa sighed preparing to lie down as Thomas did so as well, not daring to say anymore. - "Oh and one other thing." Joel spoke one last time. - "I'm not going to try tomorrow so you better focus on each other for strategies, I'm done with this game and I refuse to provide any more horrific violent entertainment for these motherfuckers."

Thomas turned to look at Lisa with a sad look on his face, Joel felt like a completely different person, the events had totally changed him and was to be expected, he didn't really know what that felt like. Lisa lowered her head down to Thomas and whispered - "We'll just move closer to him after he falls asleep, it'll be fine." to which Thomas nodded in agreement.

"THE FINAL GAME WILL BEGIN SOON. YOU WILL HAVE 15 MINUTES TO PREPARE." the guard shouted in the room, blinking multiple eyes awake at the same time, they all turned to look at the guard, who turned and walked away without repeating themselves.

Lisa turned to check on both Thomas and Joel only to find Joel was gone, she quickly rubbed her eyes in order to make sure she wasn't blind but he appeared to be gone, his blanket was at the bottom of the bed bundled up, there was still a visible dent in the bedsheet from a person lying there, almost as if he got up and just left.

"We need to find him." Lisa remarked whilst signaling towards Joel's empty bed, she shook off her blanket, placing them into a pile of her bed as she stood up to her full height next to Thomas.

"You heard him last night. He doesn't want anything to do with me and is doing his own thing." Thomas made his bed neat for no apparent reason.

"He's not in the right headspace, he's unhinged." she explained.

"Which is exactly why we should let him. I don't want to get within five feet of the guy." Thomas felt his selfish desires seeping out, his attempt at changing had been shattered by Joel, feeling deep within that he should just give up trying.

Lisa paused for a brief moment pursing her lips together. - "He's a kind person, he's only a detriment to himself."

"What is it you want us to do? only one of us is going to survive this madness anyways."

"My original strategy can still work, more so now than earlier." said Lisa.

"Which is?" Thomas asked.

"To abstain for playing the games, if they kill all of us then so be it, but I don't believe they will do it." She looked determined at him, banking all of their lives on a bizarre strategy.

Thomas held his hands in front of him with a confused smile, he felt as though Lisa was grasping at straws here. "Don't you think someone has tried that before?"

"Maybe it worked. You don't know otherwise do you?" Lisa was getting shakey as the games closed in on their finale, attempting to prove to herself that everything would be okay in the end.

Thomas began holding his head, visualizing violent certain death at the ends of a guard or Andrea, and began to shake, unable to hold himself together. - "Fuck. Yes, fine. What else are we going to do right? But we need to get Joel onboard before it's too late, if it's just us then I don't think it'll work."

The competitors entered their next game room, they were met once more with a large white room, it was mostly empty with the exception of a tower in the middle, it was about 7 feet tall and had multiple pathways spiraling around it, it looked like a jungle gym for minimized with hundreds of branching pathways, it was 1 and a half meters wide and long. There were 3 ways to get onto the pathways from the bottom.

A door in the distance behind it opened up unveiling two guards who entered the room, behind them a man stood wearing a mask similar to the white ones the guards wore except it was black. He was wearing a long coat and stood out from the guards. His boot footsteps echoed in the large room as he walked through the silence towards the competitors.

The man took glances from left to right of the remaining competitors.

"WELL DONE ON MAKING THIS FAR, I AM VERY PROUD OF ALL OF YOU. WELCOME TO YOUR FINAL GAME, I CALL IT; SHOWDOWN." - "THIS GAME IS SIMPLE, ALL OF YOU MUST FIGHT TO THE DEATH, RIGHT HERE." all of them were taken aback by this, the final game wasn't a clever design or an intricate contraption with rules, it was to beat each other to death.

"INCLUDING THE MINIMIZED, WHICH MIGHT CONFUSE YOU." - "BEFORE YOU, YOU'LL SEE A TOWER." - he signaled his hand to his right to showcase the structure.

"AT THE TOP OF THIS TOWER IS A MINIMIZED SERUM THAT WILL RETURN ONE OF THE MINIMIZED TO NORMAL SIZE. ONLY ONE OF YOU MAY HAVE IT AND IT WILL GIVE YOU A FIGHTING CHANCE AGAINST YOUR FELLOW COMPETITORS." the man spoke through his obvious voice modulator with his hands behind his back, he had a polite and respectful demeanor about him.

"THE LAST PLAYER STANDING WILL BE CROWNED VICTOR." the man stared at the remaining four competitors for ten seconds. - "THE GAME HAS NOW BEGUN." he spawn on his heels slowly and began walking towards the doors he entered from, Lisa quickly looked around at the other players mainly at Andrea in disbelief, they had started already?

Joel and Thomas sprinted for the tower setting off Andrea immediately as she sprinted towards the entrance of the tower. Lisa spotted this just as quickly and tackled the girl unable to topple her over, they entered a vicious grapple together. - "You can't let them enter the tower, you idiot!" Andrea shouted at Lisa.

"Watch me!" she snarled, rotating around Andrea to her back area placing her hands on her chest and throwing her backward over her own body like a wrestling move. Andrea clashed with the ground on her head, not letting this get her down she climbed to her feet throwing immediate return kicks and punches. - "You're going to get yourself killed, don't you understand?" Andrea seemed genuinely concerned, not for Lisa's safety but rather her harmful behavior.

Joel began sprinting up the spiraling ramp around the tower as Thomas lagged behind struggling to keep up. - "Joel! Wait!" he shouted but no avail, Joel left his vision as he progressed too far ahead.

The two girls battled it out below, Andrea struck Lisa hard enough to discombobulate her for enough seconds to get a grip on her, smashing her head into the tower knocking her to the ground. She quickly began circling the tower looking for the boys, she stepped onto the spiral pathway on the outside using it as a step ladder so she could see higher up, spotting Thomas near the top, he paused like a deer caught in headlights.

"Don't you dare touch that serum." she spat struggling to hold herself up to see him, only her head poking through the gap into the mini tower.

"Maybe you should've removed my other arm then!" Thomas shouted as he bolted off.

"That's it, you're done!" Andrea growled putting more strength into her left hand to hold her weight towards the tower, she threw her other hand into the tower floor attempting to smash Thomas in one smack, throwing himself to the floor as the hand flew over his body he began army crawling, slowly due to his lack of another arm. Andrea's index finger and thumb began looking for his inch-tall body, feeling over for where he was as she could barely see, successfully plucking him between them. - "Gotcha!" she smirked.

Lisa immediately struck her in the back of the head causing it to jerk forward and slam off the tower sending her falling backward off the tower.

Making it to the next ramp Thomas sprinted up to the final level hoping to see Joel there but he wasn't. The serum was on a small wooden table in the middle, he was now at the highest point of the tower where Andrea wouldn't be able to reach, he was guaranteed regrowth if he wanted it. He approached the golden ticket to safety, his eyes welled up and glowed as he closed in on the magical serum, clutching it in his only hand and lifting it up to his face. - "Fascinating." he said as he nearly cried from the sight.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden reminder that Joel was nowhere to be seen, he quickly glanced around himself looking for that fool wherever he was, he took off back down to the next floor tightly clutching the growth serum in his hand.

Thomas jogged through the floor below, the sound of female grunting filling his ears as he searched for his partner. He stopped in the middle of the room with a confused expression feeling as though he just saw someone, he turned to his right to see Joel standing on the very edge of the tower, his toes poking out over the massive drop, he wasn't clutching a pillar or anything, simply leaning forward would end him. Thomas slowly snuck towards him with the serum in hand.

"Hey buddy, what- what are you doing?" Thomas spoke lightly in an attempt not to startle him, Joel's head jolted up realizing Thomas was behind him. - "Woah woah! Don't worry, it's just me. Don't move."

"I can't convince myself to do it." Joel said calmly, letting out a sigh of disappointment.

"Why not?" Thomas asked, hoping for Joel to unravel a reason to carry on.

"I promised Mineko, it's what I want but I can never seem to forget about putting other people first. Even when it backfires."

"Who is Mineko? your wife?" Thomas asked, getting more personal with Joel.

Joel snickered audibly exhaling air from his nose. - "No, no. I think that ship has sailed for both of us. She's just someone I met in the games, I promised her I'd win and destroy this place. It means everything to her." Thomas watched in fascination, creeping ever closer to Joel, noting how he said means not meant, who was this woman if she was still alive? how could she be?

"I find it very hard to give up on others. It's one of my biggest weaknesses, Thomas."

"That's not a weakness... friend." Thomas paused as he struggled to say friend again, just like he originally did, for fear of triggering Joels anger towards him. Joel smiled out into the air which Thomas could not see.

"I'm surprised you would say so, that's not really your thing." said Joel.

Thomas paused, thinking carefully about how he felt and who Joel perceived him as. - "You're right. I was scared for my life, I put my humanity behind me in order to win, I've done it my whole life and in this capitalist world, you are rewarded for such behavior. But I'm done being that way. I'll do anything to help you, Joel. Like you did for me and everyone else."

"Hmmm." Joel mumbled, thinking deeply about the words exchanged with him.

"Take this, please." Thomas held out his hand showing the serum to Joel, he was out of Joel's reach desperately trying to move Joel away from the edge by any means necessary. Joel didn't turn around to look. - "I don't need that serum, I'm going to make a decision for myself for once, I've lost my faith in humanity forever."

Joel looked down towards the floor, to his side out in the open he saw Andrea pummelling Lisa's face in, she could've been dead already going off her looks, if not she was a few punches away. Joel watched her sympathetically, that similar feeling of guilt and his mind pushing him to help everyone, he shook his head violently as if battling with this idea. He felt tears coming on. - "Why can't you just let me leave...?" he whispered to himself as he looked at the ground hundreds of feet below.

He'd made up his mind, he'd fight for a while longer to help Lisa and let her win. Before he could back up from the edge Thomas suddenly swung into his view from the front, wrapping his remaining arm around Joel whilst still clutching the serum and throwing him back towards the inside of the tower, Joel fell onto his ass watching Thomas from in front of him as he lost balance and toppled backwards. - "NO!" Joel shrieked diving forwards and blindly throwing his arm forwards grabbing whatever he could.

Joel clutched tightly at Thomas' shirt as he looked upwards at Joel's face, there were no grips around him and the floor was glossy white, giving him zero friction he felt himself slipping forwards as Thomas was heavier than he was. - "Aw fuck me!" he panicked, groaning heavily and screwing up his face trying to pull upwards with all his might.

"Why did you do that?" Joel angrily shouted as he felt his body slipping ever closer to the edge, Thomas lowered as his arm came further out from the ledge following his body.

"I hope that I could've been a better person and I promise you I would have been had I survived." Thomas smiled at Joel as sweat dripped from his face. Terror fell on Joel's face as he fully fell off the edge clutching Thomas falling to their deaths. - "Kick her ass for me." Thomas spoke before they went into freefall, jamming the serum into Joel's shoulder in front of him.

Andrea heard a huge clatter on her right, standing up from Lisa to inspect the impact, her eyes falling upon a skinny scruffy man who looked like complete shit lying on the floor holding his head. He grunted heavily and stood to his feet, towering over Andrea by 1 foot. Joel watched Andrea in all her evil glory feeling fear in him from seeing her face once more, this sadistic murderer that stood before him.

This was the first time he'd ever seen her face this small, it was also the first time he'd ever seen her eyebrows raised in shock and eyes filled with fear. Joel's eyes fell to the floor on his left looking at the blood splatter underneath Thomas's corpse as it lay there, like a flattened spider. He looked back up at Andrea. He internalized his fear and converted it into a rage, deliberately recalling everything she had done this far he felt himself begin to shake.

"Joel?" she squeaked, Andrea heard the black-masked man loud and clear, there was a growth serum at the top of the tower but still, it shocked her to see him standing above her for a change. - "I was just playing the game like everyone else."

"You made them suffer, you made everyone suffer." Joel vaulted towards her punching her in the face, the strongest punch she had felt thus far, her face crashing into the hard floor. Joel stretched his shoulders backward and forwards, furthermore rotating his right arm around in circles, warming up his muscles. He lay down on top of her chest and struck her again even harder, blood welled up in her mouth as he leaned in. - "Not even a fraction of what they felt."

"You have no idea how much worse I could've done!" Andrea groaned spitting out the blood from her mouth onto his face, combined with his expression gave the impression of a crazy killer. He wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed, lifting his face up to the ceiling unable to look her in the eyes. He drifted into his thoughts as he strangled Andrea to death. - It still hurt him to kill but he needed to end this. He wondered if she would ever kill on the outside or did she only turn evil due to power and zero consequences inside. 

Joel looked back down to see her pale face still as her arms hit the floor, he released her and stood up to his full height above her. Looking up to see Lisa beaten to a pulp, Andrea with vicious red marks on her neck and Thomas smashed against the floor. So what now? he thought.

His mind attempted to backtrack through his memories, through all the hideous violence to his conversation with Mineko in the back rooms.

"The last game is always the same, whilst I don't know the line-up of running games. I do know that the last is the same, always. We can tear this place down, but I need your full cooperation, I need to know you'll go all the way, Joel." Mineko spoke to him with determination.

"I will. No matter what it takes."

"I have chosen you. You can't get distracted by others, you cannot put the lives of others before you. Can you do that?"

"Yes. Yes, I can."

"Good. Then take this." Mineko plucked the fingers of her left gloved hand with the fingers of her other hand pulling the glove off to reveal her dainty skinny hands and long fingers. She reached into her pocket delicately and handed him a tiny syringe between her fingers. - "Careful." she whispered whilst releasing it down to him.

"What is this?" Joel looked curiously at the clear liquid inside.

"Protect this with your life, if the liquid is lost or you lose this then the plan is entirely out the window." Mineko explained. - "This is a growth serum, they make every minimized compete for it in the final battle to give them a chance at the combat. Years ago I had to find them to regrow myself- it's a long story but I got lucky and found another, I've kept it ever since."

"So I can grow immediately rather than having to race for the other one? a freebie basically?" Joel asked with a smile, glad that he had this advantage in his back pocket.

"Not at all. You need to fight for the serum in the finals like your life depends on it. If you use it, you'll grow and so will the serum with your body. And then-" Mineko was interrupted.

"-I use the one you gave me to... turn giant?" Joel looked at her confused.

She nodded with a big smile on her face. - "Exactly. I'll be there with you, try to remember that I'll be standing on your front left."

"You could've done this earlier when you had them. Why are you using them now and why on me?" he asked.

"Because when you win the games, you are presented with the runner of the games. He will introduce himself to you because he likes to meet all of his precious winners, you'll be able to take him out right there." Mineko felt great determination in her plan, even more so if Joel could do what she couldn't.

"I'll do my best." Joel nodded.

"That's why it's yours." Mineko responded.

The doors opened once more as Joel heard multiple approaching footsteps combined with a slow clap. He turned away from Andrea's body to see the man with the black mask approaching him. He was surrounded by four guards, two on each side of him.

"BRAVO. A MINIMIZED VICTORY, ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR." the man bowed beneath Joel who looked at him bewilderedly.

"YOUR PERFORMANCE WAS MAGNIFICENT- OH- EXCUSE ME-" the man lifted his hands to clutch his mask lifting it to unveil his face. Joel was shocked as the man's deformed face presented itself, he had an eye patch on his left eye and four major scars that went from the top of his face to the bottom. In addition to multiple in other places.

"We've been watching you for a while, your performance was nothing short of spectacular. Saving the teenager, protecting a regular, nothing short of heroic. A fine episode." the man spoke in his real voice with the mask and its voice modulator removed, his voice was raspy and old-sounding although he didn't look older than 36.

Joel was expecting to be angry from meeting this man but he didn't, he felt like he was receiving the answers he so desperately want. - "-episode?" Joel croaked nervously at the man who smiled back at him.

"Well of course. Welcome to the Minimized Championship Games, televised privately to a select few hundred people." the man looked proud of himself. He leaned to the side to look behind Joel taking note of the two bodies of the regular women, he snapped his fingers to his side getting the attention of the guards. - "Minimize those two, prepare the corpses for removal." Joel watched the guard approached the two women on the floor.

Joel clutched his eyes shut allowing his mind to blast through all the pain and torture of the games, all caused by this man. Where was his pride? where was his rage? The voice of Lara echoed in his brain, the crying for help from Andrea's stomach. His eyes shot open in an angry look at the man.

"What's that look for? What is it with you minimized winners always being so angry? The regulars always cry and leave with the money." the man sighed and tutted at Joel.

Joel's hand quickly exited his pocket holding the serum in the air ready to jab it in his neck. - the man held his hands out shouting "WAIT." which Joel did. All four guards held their fists out surrounding the man from a foot away ready to pounce at any second.

"I know what you are going to do. But I would like to explain something before you proceed." the man kept a brave face, he didn't seem afraid of Joel potentially becoming large and unstoppable. - "If you do this, for revenge or whatever. You will never feel whole ever again, you also won't receive any of the money from your victory."

"You think I give a flying fuck about money? I'm not like you!" Joel spat saliva everywhere from his mouth as he roared ferociously.

"You may not but the families of your friends might." the man revealed a huge evil smirk on his face, Joel's curiosity was peaked as his eyebrows raised and the man could see it.

"Lara Steiner has a daughter, did you know that? 7 years old and no father. She'll end up in a bad foster home with no finances, you never know she might end up like me." the man continued as Joel's lips shook, his heart was sinking into the depths of his soul.

"Theo Gonzales. His mother is incredibly sick and unfortunately poor, she cannot afford the hospital bills and will die soon without that care." - "You see, Joel. You cannot make every decision selfishly, you need to think about others. Their families could benefit from that money and they need your help.

Joel's hand slowly began to lower as his rage subsided, he felt like he could collapse at any second. Everything he did was for others, always. Would taking the money be for others or would it be for this man who stands to lose everything if I deny? Joel pondered.

So he did as instructed, he thought about others. What about all the people this man will continue to kidnap and ruin? what about Mineko who still has been beaten down over and over by society and it's rulers? Joel looked around at all the guards who were slowly creeping towards him as his arm lowered further from his neck.

"For Lara." he whispered as the guard in front quickly removed the syringe from his hands.

The leader held his hands up surprised. - "Fantastic. Well Mr. Robinson. You are now the holder of over 100 million dollars. Thank you for your participation." the man smiled once more.

Joel was facing the guard he handed the serum to, turning his head slightly as if trying to see through their mask which obscured their face. The leader watched him stare at his guard bewildered as to what was happening.

His hand formed into a 'zero' gesture with his right hand towards the guard. As the guard nodded firmly at Joel, generating a huge smirk on Joel's face. The guard stepped away from both men pulling their masks off.

The leader's face agape with complete horror, as if he had seen a ghost. - "Mi- mi- min-"

"Hey, Arthur." Mineko returned the look of the devil at Arthur who stood there flabbergasted as she jabbed her neck plunging the serum into her bloodstream.

Arthur turned to his guards and screamed. - "Get me the fuck outta here!!" to which they swiftly obeyed, grabbing him by his clothing and running out the back doors.

Mineko blew up into the sky instantly crashing through the ceiling as she transformed into a giant.

Chapter 13: Behind the Scenes

2 regulars remain

Joel spotted a closed door on his left quickly springing into action knowing she was about to tear this place apart. He jumped over Andrea's corpse and grabbed Lisa's body and threw her over his shoulder. - "You better be alive..." he muttered whilst firing his foot into the handle area of the door as his body weight carried him forwards it flew open and ricocheted off the wall from the impact allowing him to sprint up the empty corridor.

A guard presented themselves at the end of the corridor as he carried Lisa on his shoulder.

"HEY. STOP RIGHT THERE." the guard commanded whilst lifting the firearm up to him, the entire building shook violently causing lights to flicker, the guard fell into the door frame. Joel had plenty of experience dealing with the earthquakes of footfalls, he quickly lowered Lisa to the ground and sprinted forwards barreling his shoulder into the guard's masked face. They both collapsed on the floor struggling, the guard clutched their firearm tight as it slowly turned closer to Joel by the second.

Thrusting his head forward Joel crashed his skull into the guard's mask, grabbing the guard's wrist and throwing it by his side, the firearm released and skidded across the floor. He kicked it backward with his foot further down the corridor. He put the guard into a headlock and tried to remove the oxygen from his brain. The guard vanished from his grip as he got loose, Joel turned to anticipate an attack only to be met with nothing, he looked up the corridor to see Lisa's bloodied face pointing the firearm in his direction.

Joel looked at the ground to see the tiny guard walking backward away from him, he quickly ran up the corridor as the minimized guard scurried away to safety. Picking up Lisa and putting her arm over his shoulder. - "Thank god you're alive." he said.

"Thank me next." she mumbled through her blooded mouth, her head was wobbling struggling to place one foot in front of the other. Her body was barely functional it was a miracle she was able to land that shot. The building shook again causing them to bounce into the wall whilst holding each other.

"What.. the hell... is going on.. how- how are we alive?" Lisa looked up at Joel unable to open her eyes from being swollen.

"It's a long story but there's a giant on the loose." Joel explained as he kicked down a door, presenting the duo to a room filled with guards, they were frantically throwing their hands around panicking, in front of them were screens of the various game rooms. They turned around slowly to look at the open door looking at two of the competitors from the games wielding their special firearms, there were five of them.

Joel threw himself and Lisa backward whilst firing once forward hitting a guard. He rolled both him and Lisa around the corner as beams came flying out the door, he peeked and shot a few times, their room with effectively a corridor with no cover, they were like sitting ducks as he minimized all of them. He handed Lisa the gun as he lifted her back up to her feet to support her. - "Hold this. We're going through here."

They stumbled through the door watching the screens on the way past, inspecting one that showed two guards in a room they hadn't seen looking up, screams could be heard from the mini TV as a boot landed on them crushing them, the camera rigorously shaking then turning fully static from the damages. The building shook at the same time causing them to nearly fall over again. He noticed labels on all the the mini screens, they could use this as an escape guide

He lifted Lisa's arm off his shoulder and lightly lowered her towards the ground against a wall again, she landed on top of a guard crushing them. Her head dinked against the wall behind her unable to move most of her muscles. Joel frantically inspected the labels, the TV that just went out was labeled "CC", that's where Mineko went but this "Arthur" also left in that direction so it was likely a way out.

As Joel tried to figure out their direction Lisa was looking at a minimized guard on her right staring at her. - "Not nice is it?" she said bringing her hand up, charging up her finger one behind the other and pinging the guards head, it vanished into thin air generating a red mist as the body collapsed. Lisa sighed as she closed her eyes again.

"Okay. Okay. Okay. We're going now, Lisa. Let's go." the pair set off again through more sets of doors blasting every guard in their way.

"Why aren't... why aren't you killing the guards." Lisa breathed out the words with pain in her chest, her eyes constantly opening and closing. Joel knew most of them were doing the devil's work and they probably deserved worse, but he couldn't shake the idea that some of them were like Mineko even though it was horribly unlikely.

"It's a long story, Lis. Just keep moving." he encouraged her as he trod along, if she went any slower then Joel would be dragging her across the floor himself. The pair travelled from room to room, as they reached further away from the noise they started noticing considerably less guards and the detail in the rooms drastically decreased, the cleanliness dropped.

Joel bashed through what he believed to be the last door falling into a damp black room, it smelled like stained carpets and old furniture, the sick yellow light struggling to illuminate the room as it flickered frantically. It was similar to the room he was in with Mineko days ago but it wasn't the same layout. Both of them stopped in front of a sign on a set of double doors.

Destination Zone: In order to cross this region you must have a note from your supervisor as well as a growth serum. Do not exit this point without a growth serum.

Attempting to make sense of it Joel thought deeply- were they talking to minimized, this sign wasn't even readable from the floor. He couldn't figure it out for the life of him. - "Fuck this. Worth a shot." he bashed into the door but it didn't budge, instead having to lower Lisa to the floor once again. He kicked again and again but the door was incredibly sturdy. - "Open. Up. You. Bit-" he blasted through the door shattering the hinges as it collapsed from the door frame, he rolled over the door on the floor skidding on his chest.

Surprised at the outcome of the door not intending to remove it from its frame. - "That's one way to open a door." he whispered under his breath, quickly jumping to his feet he looked at the room he had entered, the so-called 'Destination Zone'. It was a monolithic room with no end in sight, stretching so far into the distance that he couldn't see where it ended in the horizon. Turning to jump back inside and lift Lisa once more.

The two made their way across the matte white floor as a light glared at them from the sky, there was no wind and there looked like distant walls, they couldn't be outside. It simply couldn't be anything other than a gigantic room. A giant black boot stomped into their view in the distance as it leaped over the building they had just left behind, they stopped in their tracks, distracted by the sight of Mineko looking up above at her scarred Asian face, her eyes met theirs as she violently stomped towards them.

Joel sensed murderous intent in her walking throwing his hands up causing Lisa to collapse to the floor as her support released her. The grips of Mineko's shoes went to work as she came to a grinding halt looking deeper at the pair. - "Joel! I thought you'd left already." she shouted from above, his theory was terrifying confirmed, she was two seconds away from removing their lives from existence had he not called out to her.

Mineko turned and press onto the wall in the distance. - "Quickly, leave through this door." she nonchalantly spoke the word "door". 

"Did she just say door?" Joel asked Lisa who couldn't piece together much of what he was saying.

The duo reached the door frame which was a slight bump for them, forcing them to climb upwards, it was a black strip that contrasted the white walls and floor as it travelled upwards around the frame. Joel looked over Lisa's arm wrapped around his shoulder to inspect the facility behind them one last time before they left the vicinity. He watched Mineko going to town on the large facility, she frantically stomped everything flat like cardboard, her hands were tightened into fists as she did so.

A man came running out a set of double doors, a different set that they escaped from. As he ran through the door frames he fell to his knees, two guards desperately picking him up from each arm to his feet and rushing him across the floor. They watched behind at the giant as she was distracted, letting out her rage. Joel identified the man as the leader from earlier Mineko called 'Arthur', Joel quickly moving closer to the edge of the door frame to conceal him and Lisa from him, he was incredibly dangerous to their wellbeing, instead watching to see if the man would escape and how.

Arthur turned to the guard on his left. - "Do you have the jabs?" to which the guard nodded reaching into his back pocket to slowly reveal two syringes. The two guards looked at each other as Arthur snatched one of them for himself. - "Just hurry up and decide who is staying behind. The guard without the syringe just looked slowly at his guard partner, somehow able to sense defeat in his body language.

The guard who brought the serums walked forward with Arthur as they both jabbed themselves in the neck, causing them to skyrocket into size as they passed through the door frame. Mineko spotted a black figure passing through the door behind her as she ignored the facility below her and chased after him.

Joel waved his hands once more hoping to get her attention, Mineko removed her gloves from her hands throwing them to the side as she quickly darted to the floor sweeping the pair up in her soft skinny left hand. She removed the guard assigned white firearm from her belt. Shooting straight down the corridor outside the room at Arthur and his guard, the shot was perfect in its direction for Arthurs back, instead clipping the guard who was blocking him causing him to vanish into the floor. Arthur shot through the door ahead closing it behind him.

The trio travelled through the newer and bigger facility. - "What the hell is going on?!" Joel shouted above to Mineko.

"The games facility is already minimized." she said without looking down at him, her head frantically moving in all directions as she checked corridors that crossed into theirs to avoid being shot.

"An- and you knew this?" Joel shrieked in surprise, this was important information he felt he needed to know.

"Of course I did." she explained whilst trying to focus on not being minimized.

Mineko safely moved them to the door Arthur just left from, deliberately repositioning her boot as she jogged to hit the guard below who held up his feeble arms as the boot treads compressed him into the clean matte floor below, the crushing noise audible to the pair in her left hand.

She peeked her head into the next corridor briefly seeing two guards at the end facing her with firearms, on her right were some elites who frantically ran out of a room and up the corridor towards the guards as quickly as possible, many noticing Mineko in the left door frame as they passed by. Many assumed she was just another guard and not the reason they were being evacuated.

The trio watched all these people dressed in lavish and expensive clothing running for their lives, women coated in sparkly dresses, some still holding champagne glasses, and men in pristinely tailored tuxedos. One such man came sprinting out stopping in front of Mineko's door frame as her eyes widened looking at the man's face, he frantically darted his head around him searching for someone? - "Lily? Oh gosh, Lily where are you, darling?" Instead, his gaze fell upon Mineko's as she stood to her feet pointing the firearm at him from a different room as people bumped into him passing through the corridor which he was now frozen in the middle of.

"Hey, E. Remember me?" Mineko smirked. The old man stared, petrified of the scarred face that threatened him. His fancy mustache and stubble added to his aesthetic, combined with his monocle he looked like a retired billionaire whether he was or wasn't.

"Mi- mi. I mean- how could I ever forget you?" E responded whilst swallowing, Mineko's existence seemed to shock him to his core, why was everyone so scared of this woman? thought Joel.

"I'm mainly here to kill Arthur, but I'll take a bonus." firmly clutching the trigger on her weapon, E lifted his hands in panic.

"Wait!" he shouted with his eyes tightened shut, disappearing into the ground below. E looked around him as the stampede of elites rushed past him, running to his left as a pointy black leather shoe crashed in his way causing him to fall to his ass, his nerves doing him no favors as he shook in terror turning in the opposite direction towards Mineko. He ran for the wall of safety his path becoming blocked again as a sparkly expensive high heel stomped in front of him. E turned once again running back into the middle, he looked up the corridor as a middle-aged woman stomped onto him, he sat between the sole and heel of the expensive high heel as it barely missed him.

A woman exited the room looking around for someone instead of following the flow of the crowd. - "Edgar! Oh, Edgar! Where have you gone?" she called out for E as he watched her from below, she tutted accepting that he had left her behind and escaped, saving himself. She strutted forward driving her high-heeled foot onto his body, his spine snapped in half as the weight collided with him bending him the wrong way, folding him like a chair, and crushing both halves of his body into each other leaving a mangled half of a man below. She felt nothing as she picked up her pace quickly making her way to the end of the corridor towards the guards who held the corner waiting for Mineko to pop out.

Mineko dropped Lisa & Joel on the floor next to the door frame. - "I need both my hands for this." she took note of the free cover she was receiving from these people, she threw herself onto her right shoulder into the corridor pointing the gun downrange as she supported it tightly with both hands gripping the handle. She let them have it, shooting consistently down the corridor, the guards returned fire but much slower trying not to hit the rich elites.

Mineko hit many of the elites as they made their way down the corridor, many of them started sprinting instead hoping not to be minimized as the people around them vanished into the ground. Down below tens of people ended up stomping and crushed from the stampede, many became aware of their fellow viewers who they'd squished into the floor unable to stop they kept sprinting mashing them up further.

Mineko couldn't get a good shot, the elites may have acted as good cover but that went both ways, she was unable to land a shot on the guards. The flood from the room behind had stopped, one last woman ran out, Mineko took her opportunity grabbing the woman by the neck and using her as a human shield. She walked up the corridor slowly hiding behind the woman's body, she looked glamorous and young, likely abroad for an older rich man. Unable to comprehend this mess, Mineko really didn't want to hurt her. - "What's your name?" Mineko whispered into the young woman's ear. - "Sofia..." she cried, feeling the weapon on her back, little did this woman know that it was a shrinking device and not a real gun, thinking she was going to be shot dead.

Joel followed them clutching the wall away from the center of the corridor for safety, dragging Lisa along behind him. He saw all the people in front of them at their size- suffering, some viscera was off-putting as entire unrecognizable ribcages were seen. They saw the corpse of a man, his skull fully intact but from the chest down to his knees was flattened. A woman crawled along with the floor mumbling without her legs, Joel shuddered. It didn't matter who this happened to he just couldn't stomach it.

Lisa pushed herself off Joel's shoulder, standing on her own. - "Are you okay?" he asked, her mouth agape and eyes wide as she saw the violence of the minimized for the first time at normal size, the detail was unmatched to anything she had seen before. It was almost as if the shock of the violence has cured her as she stumbled forward towards the crawling woman, she took the woman's hand as she drooled blood.

"Help..." the woman let out as the glint in her eyes faded forever.

"This... this is... I-" Lisa couldn't even find the words to describe this situation that she was experiencing. Bodies littered the corridor, in conditions that ranged from fully in-tact sprinting down the corridor crying to human liquid. Joel approached her from behind and took her shoulder. - "I know. I know. Try not to look." he supported her.

Her eyes looked into his, Joel could sense her innocence was shattered. - "This is what you... what you saw.. everyday?" her lip trembled. He nodded in return as they kept moving forward, he held both of her shoulders as they progressed alongside the two giant pairs of feet on their right.

A giant black pair of boots belonging to Mineko shuffled along behind a pair of soft-looking bare feet, they took dainty steps as they moved as slow as possible up the corridor, Sofia high heels dangled from their strap above in her fingers. Mineko quickly took the girl's shoulder throwing her around in a 180 spin so that she was facing the Asian guard, Mineko looked at her eyes still pushing forward which was now backward for the young woman, known as Sofia.

Sofia spotted the strange gun in the scary Asian woman's hand realizing she was trying to use her as cover to kill the guards. The Asian woman smiled at her and spoke- "I don't want you to see this." quickly peeking to the right and shooting over Sofia's shoulder dinking a guard shrinking him. The other guard saw his fellow guard disappear, realizing the predicament he was in, if he ran he'd be killed by his own and if he stayed he faced the same fate. Would anyone notice a young woman missing, he decided he had to try shooting straight through her to get to the Asian woman behind.

The guard jumped out of his cover pointing the gun forward, Mineko noticed the difference in his demeanor, he was shooting to kill regardless of Sofia. She pulled the girl violently to the left with her as they hit the wall, she then jumped right again shooting the guard successfully in the chest ridding of both guards. She caught her breath, feeling like she was holding it that entire time whilst fighting for her life.

Mineko lifted the woman from the floor looking into her face. - "You're free to go, also stop selling yourself to old men, you're worth more than that." she spoke down to Sofia.

"How do you know-" Sofia asked but was quickly interrupted by Mineko- "It's really obvious, just go." Sofia nodded in return and she turned to run away.

"You might wanna-"Mineko tried to speak to the girl again but she quickly ran away to the end of the corridor. Lisa flinched backward into Joel's arms as she watched a man missing his lower body reach out towards them get crushed into the floor by Sofia's giant foot as she took off into the distance, she looked horrified. - "Stop looking!" he raised his voice at her, she nodded rapidly turning away.

Sofia passed over one of the guards as he saw her dirty sole pass over him at extreme speeds, he watched forward as it crashed into the floor compressing his co-guard into the floor, he listened to the bone-crunching noises without flinching, the foot taking off the floor just as quickly as it landed, slapping away into the distance.

Mineko sighed. - "...-you might wanna put on your shoes." she finished her pointless sentence in a whisper towards Sofia who was now gone and out of sight.

She ducked down picking up Joel & Lisa. - "Are we okay?" she asked, Joel simply nodded not wanting to explain anything going on with Lisa, no doubt she just looked injured as normal and not mentally distraught so Mineko wouldn't question it any longer. Mineko elevated into the air again holding them in her left hand once again as they pressed forward.

Mineko sprinted down the long corridor after progressing through tens of rooms all serving a different purpose, some were entirely irrelevant to the game show and were used for some other operation the corporation was cooking up. She reached the end of the corridor kicking through a set of double doors. She caught many guards inside by surprise quickly shooting all of them one by one with a flawless marksmans accuracy, pointing to the last one she shot hearing no electric shot, Mineko realized her firearm was empty throwing it off to the side.

In the center of the room was a metal staircase that spiraled 50 feet into the air, looking above whilst still hiding behind cover she saw a man and three guards rushing up the stairs, they were nearly at the top. That had to be Arthur she thought, she peeked out of cover too far as a shot blasted past her nose causing her to jolt back in.

"Our window is about to close, we need to get past this guy!" she gritted her teeth, unable to see any way to get close without being shrunk.

Joel walked up to Lisa in the palm, lifting up her wrist he removed the weapon she was holding and had used, he lifted it into the air to show Mineko. - "We can use this."

"It's minimized for me and the guard, it won't work, not enough energy." she responded, Joel frowned into a disappointed expression. How else were they going to get through?

Joel leaped off Mineko's palm and began moving out of cover. - "Joel, what the hell are you doing?" she shrieked, fearing for the safety of her companion.

"I'm going to distract him." he responded, she couldn't believe her ears.

"Are you out of your mind? you're just a minimized right now, that guard will destroy you if they see you." she looked at him bewilderedly, was the trauma getting to his head? it must have been if he thought this was a good idea.

"I'm not just a normal minimized." he spoke proudly as he ran out in a full sprint towards the guard. The guard kept his firearm focused on Mineko behind cover hoping for her to peek so he could minimize her and end this situation. He finally noticed the tiny running towards him. The guard pointed his firearm downwards and began letting off rounds towards the man, only a minimized holding a growth serum would sprint towards a regular in such a suicidal way, he had to eradicate him right now.

The minimized got too close, the guard swiftly began stomping their boot around the man, hoping to kill them quickly, he kept missing over and over again. Who was this minimized? he was skittish, able to dodge all of his massive stomps effortlessly. Joel quickly ran between the guard's legs behind him, the guard looked back to the cover where Mineko was only to be greeted with her sprinting towards him clutching Lisa in her left hand, clashing her left shoulder into their jaw sending them crashing onto their back.

Mineko flopped onto his body from the momentum, she gripped his arm clutching the weapon with her right hand, the weapon shook violently from the pressure of both forces attempting to push it forwards and backward at the same time. The woman's strength prevailed as she pointed it under their chin and shot.

Joel watched the guard on the floor from behind as he flopped onto the floor out the air, now minimized to the same size as him. He walked forwards holding his own weapon. The guard stood up removing their mask, a black-bearded man stood there, he looked around 40. - "Who the hell are you?" he shouted at Joel in distress.

"I'm the winner of the Fifth Minimized Championship Games." he replied proudly, lifting his firearm and shrinking the man for a second time.

Joel looked up at Mineko waving his hands getting her attention as she got to her feet, trodding forwards to reach for him Joel watched as she pulverized the immensely minuscule man underneath her boot treads, it was like watching an ant go under a car tire turning to dust and blowing into the wind like ashes. She picked him up as she began sprinting up the metal stairs. - "Where'd the guard go?" she asked him.

"I took care of him." Joel lied to her, to which she replied with a nod.

The group reached the top of the stairs running out onto the rooftop of the facility, the wind and rain ferociously attacked them as Mineko tightened the grip on her left hand to protect her companions. She held her right arm in front of her eyes, shielding them from the falling rain and the wind that carried it. Pressing forwards they saw the helicopter and helipad it lay on.

Arthur turned to see them as he stood inside clutching the door handle of the chopper. - "I gave you 9 years to think about this operation and everything it achieved, if you're still here trying to destroy it then you truly learned nothing!" he roared over the trashing weather as it beat them down.

"The damage I could do to the real world with my power is incomprehensible but I choose to act upon a smaller section of the populace, if you prevent these games from occurring them you leave me no choice! The millions that suffer will be on your conscience!" Arthur slammed the helicopter door shut as it spun faster elevating it into the air, the wind throwing it from left to right as it disappeared into the clouds out of sight.

Mineko cried as she frantically padded her clothing looking for another shrinking weapon realizing she didn't pick up another one after hers ran out. - "Fuck!" she shouted falling to her knees. The rain splashed on her face soaking it, they dripped from her chin onto her hands below drenching Joel & Lisa who looked at her sympathetically, they wanted the psychopath dead too but not nearly as bad as this woman did.

She sat in the pouring rain and the strong winds for two minutes, letting the cold air and wet rain soak her soul. She climbed to her feet sighing, turning around to enter the facility again. She stepped down the stairs - "We'll need to go back and get you guys a growth serum."

As the trio back-tracked from their failed mission through the facility they found tens of regular-sized guards splayed along the floor, Mineko removed their masks, they were frothing at the mouth, all of them. They must've taken their own lives since the compound was evacuated, to avoid information being taken? Mineko speculated. Why would they go so far for Arthur, what did he have on them that made them so scared to disobey? She would never know.

Chapter 14: Financial Meltdown (Finale)

Joel & Lisa managed to grow themselves to Mineko's to reunite the trio once more, they lingered in the game show room where the minimized sub-facility sat, half destroyed by Mineko's rage.

"It makes so much sense but I could've never predicted this. It felt so expensive, but if it's this small then it's barely a drop in the bucket." Joel held his head, totally mind blown by this development.

"The tech is what's expensive, everything is a drop in the bucket compared to the shrinking tech." Mineko explained as she lightly trampled the rest of the buildings underneath her boots to make sure the deed was done.

"I've been researching this corporation for years but even I only have a fraction of the information about them. They invented this size technology, they use it in various ways for financial gain. They've exploded in the last 20 years, no other company even comes close since they can't replicate this technology. The ones that tried well... let's just say they are no longer in the industry." She explained.

"The corruption doesn't end here, it spreads and roots itself everywhere in the real world where you think everything is normal and innocent. I assure you it's not. But I can't sleep at night thinking about it, I can't rest until they are gone." She flattened the very last section of the mini facility below, twisting her boot reducing it to rubble bringing the rampage to an end.

"You can't do that alone." said Joel, a fearful look in his eyes knowing Mineko's mission was likely suicide.

"You're right. I will never take down the whole company, that's for sure. But I almost took down their entire operation here, Arthur just runs a small section of it, so it's at least something." She smiled, sighing with disappointment that she even failed at tearing down a small section.

"After I resized myself back to normal I met these people, they said they knew the corporation and had been working on private missions for the FBI to investigate them and tear them down if any wrong doing was happening. I didn't want to work with them, didn't trust anyone." as she spoke Joel nodded in understanding at her, he knew that feeling all to well but deep down after multiple experiences with others he knew it was- "-that was a mistake." she continued, Joel's eyes widened in surprise. - "After I saw you, Joel, my faith in humanity was restored, genuinely. That was the first act of raw human kindness I had seen in 12 years, after all the hell I'd been in... it was a breath of fresh air. I had to hold back tears in the surveillance room with all the other guards, they would've killed me." Joel felt tears well up in his eyes.

"That's why I decided to work with you guys and my odds of killing Arthur were increased massively for it. Thank you for existing, Joel. People like you really make the world go 'round. Saving the boy... Theo. It might not have gone the way you wanted in the end.- "Joel began crying as he remembered the people he'd met along the way, all dead for nothing, the non-stop action of the last hour made him forget about it for the briefest of moments. "-but your actions had a profound impact on people like me, it happened before the games and it will continue to happen so don't give up. There are people like Lara & Theo on the outside who need your help." she brought him closer and hugged him tightly. - "I can sense that part of my Tetsu lives on in you." she whispered into his ear. Lisa smiled at the pair as Mineko released him.

"Let's get you guys home, I know the way back but it's quite a distance." all three nodded at each other as they put an end to this specific facility.

"Doesn't it feel weird going back to work, even after everything that happened? It's like we've learned nothing. Instead, we turn back into slaves and pretend nothing ever happened." Joel complained clearly in distaste of having to see his boss and the inside of a spreadsheet again.

"Relax. It's just for this week so we can reach payday then we'll quit together." Lisa reassured him. 

"What if the corporation comes after us? They know we work here, they followed us home last time." Joel questioned Lisa, getting bad vibes all around from doing this.

"That's why I brought this." she flashed the white weapon from the facility out of her black handbag with a smirk.

"Are you crazy? Why do you still have that? You better not use that." Joel shouted in a whisper whilst pressing down on the gun pushing it back into her handbag, looking around to make sure there were no witnesses.

"They showed up in our homes, obviously I'm gonna use it for self-defense... among other things." she rolled her eyes on the back end of her sentence.

"No. No. Not among other things, this is dangerous tech, only use it on any corporates that show up in your house. I'll be fine with that."

"Okay, fine." she whispered as they entered the building.

Joel sat down in a different sector from Lisa, finishing his work that had been neglected for over 7 days now, he kept ducking every time the main office door opened hoping not to have to see the obnoxious face of Barry, his boss again before he finished his week. Unfortunately, Joel's luck was not in as the door opened and Barry presented himself, walking at a brisk pace totally blanking Joel and heading for another sector.  Joel took a deep breath, thank god for that.

"Yeah it was lovely, you should consider taking a week off and going to Hawaii. It was exactly what I needed." Lisa reacquainted herself with her coworkers, filling them with a cover story she made up for the game show, Joel and her promised they wouldn't discuss details to avoid the corporation coming after them, they could at any moment but they knew Mineko was the mastermind and didn't care for Joel/Lisa, they took a huge risk entering their normal lives again.

"I'd love to go when I save some money." the 18-year-old intern said with glowing eyes to Lisa, she looked up to her so much. Lisa was a strong and older woman, she had her own style and confidence that Maddison wanted to have so badly. Lisa always perceived her as shy as she never spoke to anyone but she always opened up to her. Maddison dressed professionally but not girly, she wore slacks with grey flats, a blouse and a blazer, her long brown hair flowed out in front. Her bright blue eyes fit her personality so well, Lisa loved her.

Barry furiously entered the room stomping along the floor. - "This isn't a fucking bar, get back to work. We've got money to make." The man dashed past in his expensive clothing with his sleek back hair, he couldn't seriously think he looked cool, did he? thought Lisa.

Before he passed by Lisa she kept her head down but he stopped immediately and turned to meet her gaze. - "Mrs... Huntington. Of course. How could I forget your name, silly me? Maybe it's because you've not come to work for an entire week. Luckily I never forget a face, especially not the gorgeous ones." he gave a hideous smirk thinking he was smooth.

"What's the deal, Huntington?" he leaned in close to her face in a sly whisper.

"My uhh.. my mother was in the hospital." she whispered back, forging yet another lie, thankfully nobody else could hear them talking now. Lisa looked behind Barry to make eye contact with Maddison on another desk, she kept double-taking to look at Barry and Lisa, she looked terrified.

"Oh right, so you were not in the hospital, correct? Your mother was, surely you'd need to come into work to pay the bills. No?" He pouted his lips, she wanted to smack the face right off him but she didn't want to make a scene, especially since her mother was not in hospital so she wasn't that bothered.

"I... figured the time we spent together was more valuable... sir." she gave a false smile back at him.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to let you go. Company policy, you know. However... my policy is a little different, you know- if we head back to my place and see what happens, I can you know forget it ever happened. All that good stuff." his smile got giddy as he watched her face.

"No thanks." she smiled back, no fear in her eyes after everything she had been through.

"Oh well, what a shame for your mother. Strong decision, that was very feminism of you..." he said as he gave her a playful fist bump on the shoulder which she ignored. He leaned back up straight turning towards Maddison. - "Hey Maddy." he said with a cringe cool guy tang. - "Go have your break in the break room whilst it's still empty, my gift." he nodded his head with a smirk.

Maddison nodded her head with an awkward smile. - "Thank you, sir.", she walked off, her footsteps trodding off into the distance. He turned back around leaning over again to hide their conversation quietly between him and Lisa.

"It's a shame that Maddison is not quite so strong-minded, see she really needs this job, so don't think I've lost, I've just won in a different way." he spoke, Lisa gave him a disgusted glance.

"What are you talking about..." she tightened her eyes as if listening closely.

"Well let's not get too literal but let's just say me and Maddy, we have fun. She'll never make enough money to go elsewhere but she also can't afford to quit. If only I had you then I wouldn't need to get with Maddy, you know what I'm saying?" he smirked once again at Lisa, attempting to guilt her into a corner.

Lisa swallowed hard, evil truly did exist in the real world. What separated this man from Arthur? or Andrea? nothing except consequences, whilst he could get away with a lot, murder and violence were not on this list. If he was in the games, given the correct opportunities he would've been a murderous mad man, he could be worse than Arthur. What would Joel do in this scenario? he would protect Maddy, no matter what.

"On second thoughts..." she muttered whilst licking her lips avoiding eye contact. - "I really do need those bills paid." she started shaking.

"Excellent, well we're happy to provide." he nodded.

"You got somewhere more private... where nobody can see us?" she asked, drawing her eyes back to his with lust.

The smile on his face got giddy realizing his plan had paid off. - "Well of course. Come with me Mrs Huntington." he lay out his hand pointing towards another room.

"Please. Call me Lisa." Lisa smirked whilst strutting her ass in her black striped formal office skirt.

Joel watched as Barry walked past with Lisa following closely behind, she was looking at his boss rather funny. Barry turned towards him. - "Joel. Don't think you can hide from me, you cost us a pretty fucking big deal and you're never going to forget it, Don't go anywhere, you'll see me in an hour, 10am." Barry had a pointed finger at him, speaking to him like his father always did, down to him like he wasn't shit. He groaned in anger, even after the games he still let corporate overlords speak to him like garbage. What was Lisa doing and why wasn't she receive a warning? Probably because Barry loved her and that was really obvious.

Barry locked the door to his office and rolled his blinds up, giving them complete privacy. He sat down in his office chair licking his lips, he pushed his hair back as he sat backward and watched Lisa who sat on his desk seductively.

"What would you like first, sir?" Lisa tilted her head as she spoke acting like a barbie and speaking to him like he was her sugar daddy.

"What the hell, why don't you choose?" He smiled, excited for the sexual pleasures he was about to receive.

Lisa got down on her knees and crawled under his desk, she put her hands on his knees as she elevated herself to be level with his pelvis. She felt her soul-shaking and Barry knew she was terrified, he wasn't falling for her lustrous acting as hilarious as it was but either way he was receiving sexual pleasure from a woman he was utterly terrified of him and what he could do.

She clutched as his zipper, looking up at him. - "Close your eyes.." she requested.

He leaned in scarily giving a deep voiced reply. - "I want to watch." she swallowed nervously again.

"You said whatever I want. So close your eyes." she sharply replied.

He had to commend this girl for her balls, she was so bossy, Barry knew deep down that he was the main man and as long as she knew it too then everything would be fine. He sighed, lying back and closing his eyes.

After a few brief moments of nothing, he sighed again whilst opening his hands in the air as if to say 'what's taking so long?'. Before he could ask that very question he felt cold metal touching his balls through his pants. His eyes shot open to see Lisa pointing a white device at his groin, it looked like a weapon of some kind.

"What.. what are you doing?" he asked shakily. - "What is that??" he licked his lips nervously, unsure of what was about to happen to him.

"I won't give you a complete history of everything but me and Joel were kidnapped for a week, basically forced to compete in a living hell for the entertainment of sick corporate rich people. And you know what, we're both sick of people like you."

"Wh-wh-what... I didn't do that to you. You've got it all wrong." Barry's hands clutched his leather chair cushion as he leaned back hoping she wouldn't shoot his dick off, trying to defend himself.

"You're right. You didn't but you know what?" Lisa leaned in real close whilst keeping the firearm in position. - "You're part of the problem and given the same opportunities as these men, you would." her finger tightened on the trigger causing Barry to begin to scream only for it to be shrunk into a little quiet eerie noise fumbling around on his own cushioned chair.

He stumbled to his feet trying to find his surroundings as Lisa stood to her full height. Barry looked up above him from his chair, a full view up Lisa's skirt to see her white underwear as she drew daggers at the minimized below. 

"What the fuck have you done to me? What is this? This is impossible!" Barry screeched as saliva blasted out his mouth from his anger.

Lisa leaned over and gripped him between her fingers hoisting him up to her shiny eyes. - "You probably think I'm a ditzy girl who'd do anything for a quick buck but you are sorely mistaken. And now that you've overstepped I can prove it to you." she lay him down on his desk and lifted her long red nailed finger, the gloss reflecting the light coming through the window. She pressed it onto him, holding him tightly against the mahogany.

"What did you do to Maddy?" Lisa asked with daggers drawn in her eyes as she watched him from above.

"What...? isn't it obvious?" Barry cried from below.

"Nope! I want details or else I'm going to break your legs." Lisa pushed tighter on his legs causing him to screech.

"Okay! Okay! I threatened her with losing her job into performing acts with me." he shrieked, holding his thighs hoping they wouldn't flatten at any second that he admitted exploiting the teenager.

"Go on." Lisa watched.

"What do you mean 'go on'? That's it!" he shouted up at her, confused.

Lisa started shouting down at him. - "I want details goddammit! Tell me what you did to that poor girl! I want to know everywhere your dick has been!"

"I- I- I-" he stuttered in fear.

Lisa lifted him off the table and threw him back onto the cushioned seat. - "You have five seconds to start confessing to everything you did to her or else innocent little me is gonna try out this expensive office chair you've got!" Lisa presented her behind as it filled Barry's entire vision above, she bent over to exaggerate its size even further as it stretched the skirt material it was covered by.

"She sucked my dick once and we had a bit of sex! But that's it!" he yelled up at her in hopes of preventing a horrible situation from arising. 

"I really do wonder how much more comfortable this chair is than ours..." Lisa teased as her ass came even closer, inches away from Barry's flailing body.

"Okay, I lied. We had sex five time- hey, HEY!" Barry screamed at the top of his lungs as the cotton-coated muscle sank onto him, silencing his voice and putting enormous pressure onto his body. Disallowing him the opportunity to finally tell the truth, his chances over.

Lisa twisted her behind side to side as she leaned back against the chair, slowly suffocating Barry's frail body below. - "This does feel great for my bottom, maybe I'll just stay here all day!" she teased further as Barry couldn't scream or make noise, the immense weight pushing all the air out of his lungs as his body squished into the soft meat. - "You know, Barry. You might think the suffocation is the part you should worry about. But it's not." Lisa said as she spoke to her ass. - "It's the part when your body gives out and crushes into itself, destroying all of your nerves, sending them into overdrive. The pain of watching your own blood pour out all over you as you scream for help, but find out you're totally alone. The only person in your presence in the giant above you, destroying you with their power. Think about that." she took a sigh as she let her thoughts linger for a moment, to the powerless man below.

Lisa finally rose back to her feet allowing the tiny body to be released from her weight prison, his limbs bent in funny ways but not broken. - "Alright, very last chance. What did-".

"I forced her into sex five times, oral like- ten! I groped her... twenty times- I don't remember! You know- I don't remember everything!" he cried with tears pouring down his face. - "Please don't do this. I'll let you keep your job!"

She turned to let him see her face again. - "You're not the one with the leverage here." said Lisa, letting her words linger on his mind for a moment before plucking Barry out of the chair, carrying him with her. She glanced around the room, opening drawers and cabinets, finding a small set of stationary in the first cabinet she saw next to the table, she pulled out a roll of transparent sellotape.

The tape placed onto the man enforced its heavy sticky properties as he physically was unable to move it a little, regular human strength could remove the tape with ease, the strength of a minimized was another story. Barry looked up at her with the tape gripping tightly to his body. - "What makes you think you can get away with these things? This isn't how the world works!" he screamed, his shoulders twitched as he tried to move his hands but the stickiness held them in place by the side of his body.

"I'm sick of waiting for someone else to solve our problems. Instead, I'm going to do it myself. Hell, you're not even remotely anywhere near the size of the fish I want to fry, but a girls gotta start somewhere." Barry received a high definition view of her eye as she hovered him inches from her face, the tight grip of her fingers putting pressure on his shoulders generating a light pain.

"You're hurting my shoulders!" he shouted scrunching his face up trying to bear the pain.

Lisa snickered blowing air over his body. - "You are so not ready." she began to lower him down to the floor, he passed out briefly with the effect of bungee jumping as he dropped through the air at an instant terminal velocity relative to his size. She kicked off her shiny black leather heel quickly shoving him deep into it and pressed the tape down within, he regained full control of his mind from passing out as he felt ground on his back and his body wasn't being moved around rapidly.

Her boss watched as her foot quickly descended, no quirky lines, no badass last words to her boss, she just got shit done and went to town on him as she cemented his coffin with her foot, her nails glistened a shiny red in contrast to the heavily chipped unkempt ones from her last hours trapped in the game show.

The mass sunk onto Barry as he screamed shaking from side to side, the weight collapsed onto him, tapping her foot a few times to get comfortable. Beginning her walk of victory out the office.

Joel watched as Lisa slowly walked through his office back to where she came from away from Barry's office, he looked around noticing nobody was watching her. He squinted his eyes still totally confused. Joel figured he'd go in early and quickly explain everything to Barry, which he did. Entering the boss' office and began speaking- turning around to be greeted with thin air. His blue eyes darted all over the room, he swore Barry didn't leave at all, he would've noticed.

His eyes widened, Lisa sneaking, Barry gone, them together. - "She didn't..." he spoke out loud in disbelief as he facepalmed in a sigh.

Joel gripped Lisa's shoulder whilst nobody was looking and began whispering angrily. - "I told you not to do it." he said disappointedly.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a confused look.

Joel sighed heavily. - "Where is Barry?"

"Gone." she said matter of fact. - "Trust me, this is what's best."

"People will notice him missing, the guy is a big deal. We are NOT vigilantes, we do not hurt others." Joel pressed his finger into Lisa angrily.

"Mineko is a vigilante." said Lisa.

"Mineko is also very experienced and doesn't just do things on a whim!" Joel shouted in a whisper hoping nobody heard him.

"We hurt others constantly for a week." she commented on his second argument with a confused expression.

"No. You did, I didn't and I don't plan to start now." Joel corrected her.

"Which you won't. I can make my own decisions and I'll be fine." Lisa reassured him, getting nervous as Joel didn't see her side.

"I know that and I'm not trying to control you, Lisa. But using this technology will backfire and I just want to make sure you are safe, I don't want to lose anyone else in my life. Do you understand that?" His eyes met with hers as his anger faded, trying to inject his emotions into her mind.

"No, I get it. But please just trust me on this one." she smiled.

Joel sighed deeply, trying to put trust in his friend. "Do I even want to know what you did with him?"

"No." she answered immediately.

"Okay." he nodded and walked away.

Inside the deep muggy coffin, Barry groaned and mumbled as he heard muffled bickering above him through the thick material that protected the foot and trapped him against it. Using all of his strength to disconnect his arm from the sticky tape, the mass pressing the tape onto his body didn't help, he needed to get this arm loose before she started walking again, his body wouldn't hold up.

As if granted a blessing from the gods, his arm flew out from the tape as he regained control of it, with very little space as the foot reduced it, continuing to press down stronger every second. He fumbled around in his pocket pulling out his mobile phone. - "You didn't think this one through, amateur bitch!" he spat in a panic, planting a number into his phone and placing it to his ear.

"Ayo, what can I do for-" the man casually spoke before being loudly interrupted by Barry.

"Listen the fuck up, Dane. I need you- AGH." he groaned as the weight lifted off the ground and collapsed onto him harshly. Dane held the phone away from his face harshly as the intense creaking leather bellowed through the phone.

"-I need you to pass on a message to your guy." he finished his sentence as blood made its way up his throat.

"My guy?" Dane responded, requiring clarification for this request. Dane might have been a chilled relaxed guy but he knew people who knew people, all Barry needed to do was get it up the chain.

"Yeah, your fucking guy. Pass on this message for me, consider it my last request."

"Last request? What the heck are you talkin' about man? At least tell me what's going on or the offer shan't be fulfilled!" he responded in a joking yet serious manner, the heavy breathing over the phone made him uneasy.

"Lisa Huntington is my killer, she stole some weird- I don't know- sizing technology."

"Barry, you sound like you are trapped in the boot of a car. Are you being roughed up? Do you need me to bring some guys? Barry?" Dane attempted to inquire further about the request. The last noise that would ever pass through the phone erupted as Barry screamed his soul out, spluttering all over the sole. His body gave up fighting as the violent crushing noises encompassed his phone's microphone shooting it straight into Dane's face as he heard the gurgling over the device with horror splashed on his face. - "....Barry?" he squeaked as sloshing was heard, he quickly hung up the phone.

Dane stared into the phone clutched in his hand swallowing hard in his throat as he believed he'd just heard the death of his friend. Dane leaned forward towards the glass coffee table in front of him, pulling out a little bag, pouring the white powder on his desk he chopped it over and snorted a mini line as he jumped to his feet and started dialing.

"Ayo, listen, man-" Dane paced around his room, his arm twitching constantly hitting himself in the thigh as his nerves got the better of him.

"I told you not to call this number." the voice commanded over the phone.

"Barry just called me, I think he's dead." Dane took deep breaths trying to explain the situation without recalling the exact noises.

"This is none of my business." the man returned with no emotion.

"I know it's not and I said the same thing but he was adamant. He was going on about something- me and Barry you know, we're tight, and if someone got to him, man. I wouldn't forgive myself." Dane rambled wearing the man's patience thin.

"As I already specified, that is your problem to deal with." the man ended his sentence as he intended to hang up the phone.

"Hey man! Just- just- do you know a Lisa Huntington? Just- you don't need to do any lookups, just off the top of your head, does the name ring a bell?" Dane clutched his hair tightly, hoping for a bite here, anything that'd lead to finding Barry.

The man sighed. - "No. It doesn't." 

"He just said her name like it meant something. Stupid shit about... siding tech? slithering machine? Aww, shit. No. Sizing tech?"

"Did you say sizing tech? Are you sure?" the man responded, the energy in his voice lifted.

"Well, Barry did before he croaked but yeah, I think so." said Dane.

"I'll deal with this, dump your phone, this line is now dead." the man immediately hung up leaving Dane in a confused pile in his apartment.

The man stood up from his office desk, turning around to look into the horizon above the city, lifting his phone from his desk as he blinded dialed a number without having to look back. Lifting the phone up to his ear as he observed the civilization below. - "It's me. Did you lose something belonging to your party?"

"I don't need you to describe it. Just answer the question."

The man listened to the chattering through the phone as he took a draw of his cigarette, making agreeable humming noises every few seconds to demonstrate his listening abilities to the figure on the other end of the phone.

"...I see. They got something that belongs to you and they are using it. Name's Lisa Huntington apparently, take it with a grain of salt, one of my mid dealers passed it on." - "Yes, of course, it's your division. I'm just passing along some information the board might want to hear." - "Understandable. Enjoy the rest of your evening, ma'am." he placed the phone back down hanging up the call.

"So what do we do now?" Joel asked as they stood outside the office, not long after 5pm.

"Well, I'm not going back in there. I'm going to contact Mineko, working for the man just seems pointless after all that shit we went through. Making a real impact like her, that's impactful. Y'know?"

"Agreed but I don't know if I'm the type for the fight. I think I want to go meet Lara & Theo's families, they won't appreciate a stranger too much but I'll see what I can do."

"Sounds a lot like you, they were very lucky to have met you." Lisa smiled.

"Maybe I'll see you around someday?" Joel spoke as the two shared a moment.

"I'm sure our paths will cross eventually" Lisa responded.

Joel nodded walking away thinking further about everything his mind held in the forefront of his focus, how was he going to make sure Lara's daughter got the care she needed without any funds? Was Theo's mother too far gone? Too many problems of others lay heavy on his mind. But one thing was for certain, he was certainly going to try as he always did.

"We've received word about our tech being in the hands of a citizen. One Lisa Huntington apparently has taken the life of her boss. Would someone care to explain?" the ancient man seated himself back down struggling to do so, slamming his luxurious-looking cane against the ground, his gaze watched everyone in the room sitting at the large round table.

A man stood up with his hands begin his back. - "May I, sir?" the man requested permission to speak.

"Of course, Arthur." the old man nodded in approval.

Arthur lifted his head showcasing his well-known scars to the board room. - "There was an incident at the game show facility, the first of its kind. I'm sure you've all heard rumblings and rumors, our tech was used against us as we were ambushed by the contestants. We counted 30 identifiable bodies that were not players."

"That's not too bad." an older woman responded with a confused look.

"30 IDENTIFIABLE bodies." he emphasized. - "There were many bodies we couldn't identify or... find. Made up of guards and our friends from other organizational bodies. I've done a great disservice to the corporation and I'll take any opportunity to amend this mistake, I will also gladly accept any punishment given to me." Arthur stood whilst clutching the table trying to avoid eye contact with the older man who watched him closely.

"Can you rebuild?" the old man groaned whilst leaning in, curious about the external impacts of the incident.

"Of course, sir." Arthur responded.

"Then that's all there is to it."

"With all due respect, sir. What about the loss of life, these friends, they were important figures to the company, their investments were very neccesary."

The man waved his hand in the air as if to disregard this comment. - "Tis' but a scratch, Arthur. They've already invested and there will always be more, they knew the risks. You're also not the first of us to have a severe incident." he turned to look at a 40-year-old looking woman who returned angry eyes. - "Admittedly yours was considerably less damaging but we grow nonetheless."

"The girl causing trouble with our tech, who is she?" the man asked.

"She's a contestant, sir. A nobody." Arthur replied adamantly about his assessment of Lisa.

"Make sure she stays that way and the rest will sort itself out. Dismissed." the man stayed seated as the board quickly cleared out.

To be continued...