"What... What is this?!" a shocked Carlos said.

Thomas, Gloria, and Carlos had just returned to the campsite. Upon their return, they found it completely deserted. A rather abrupt desertion from the looks of it. There was not a soul there.

"Where is everyone?" Thomas asked. "Wait... you don't think-"

"That Bruce finally took everyone out of here, and left us behind?" Gloria interrupted. "It's possible..."

"Let's look to see if anyone left a note of something," Carlos said. Both Thomas and Gloria nodded.

The Refugees--still coming to grips as to what happened--looked towards the closet door as it suddenly opened, and as Melissa walked inside. They watched in horror as the giant woman walked toward them, stopping in front of the cage and looking down on them with a sadistic smile on her face.

"Hello again, my toys," she said. "Did you miss me?"

The prisoners did not answer.

"What's wrong? Speechless? I was only gone for about an hour. I was doing away with that other guy."

"You mean he's dead?" A male said.

"Of course. You'd think I'd keep him alive? He tried to take my property away from me. He had to be thoroughly punished."

Some of the Refugees gulped.

"Now, as for why I'm here. I need three of you to come with me for a minute. Who will it be...?"

She scoured the cage as the Refugees began to panic. She reached in and picked out Shawn, Beatrix, and a brown-haired male. While the latter two screamed as they were plucked out, Shawn remained relatively calm.

"Damn! Shawn!" Dawson called out.

"Don't worry about me!" Shawn yelled out.

Melissa laughed as she stuffed the three small people in her shorts pocket. "That's right. Don't worry. They'll be back. I'm just going to have some fun with them. In fact, you could say that we're going to have a ball." She winked at the Refugees before turning around and leaving the closet.

"Dammit!" Dawson exclaimed. "She better not kill Shawn!"

"Well, she said that she'd bring them back," Jenna said.

"Yeah, right! This is Melissa we're talking about! If anything she'll bring them back in pieces!"

~~~

After a while of searching, Carlos came to the center of the campsite, where Thomas and Gloria sat.

"Nothing," he said in disappointment. "They just up and left without letting us know or anything."

"Bastards..." Gloria said in disdain.

"Maybe someone will some back for us," Thomas suggested. "Or better yet: Why don't we just leave? No point of staying here if we're the only ones left, right?"

"You may be on to something," Carlos said. "The problem, however, is that we don't know which way they went, how they got out, or where they are now."

Gloria turned to Carlos. "We could just... explore down there."

Carlos thought for a minute. "Might as well. But let's wait until we've rested up a little."

"Mm." Gloria laid down on her back, folding her arms behind her head and closing her eyes.

"Alright," Thomas said as he watched Gloria laid back.

He stared at her for some time; he did not know why, but seeing the resident "tough girl" relax if only a little bit served to calm him slightly. The three of them were alone, left behind. As if their earlier failure near the kitchen could not have made his day worse, Thomas could not believe that not even Shawn or Dawson--his two greatest allies here--did not wait for him. There were many unanswered questions cycling through his mind.

As if she sensed him staring at her, Gloria opened her eyes, and looked at him. "What?"

"...Hey..." Thomas said. "Can we talk...?

"Not now," she answered.

"Oh. Okay..."

She closed her eyes again, and seconds later, Thomas too laid his head down on the ground.

He was not going to push his agenda with Gloria, at the risk of pushing her away instead. The good thing, he figured, was that she answered with "Not now," which suggested that she was considering hearing him out. This knowledge served to ease a few of his worries.

~~~

"Ha! Look at them!" A Homeless male said, looking out toward the newly recaptured people. "They were so sure that they were safe! Now they're stuck here with us, and they just lost three already!"

"Yeah!" Another said. "There's not too many of 'em! We outnumber them easily!"

The Homeless began to talk amongst themselves, some cheering in triumph at the situation of the Refugees. They made no effort to hide their satisfaction, as their laughing caught the attention of the Refugees, who, one-by-one, began to look towards their cage.

Sheryl was walking along the glass facing the Refugees, watching them at the same time. "So, any sign of this Bruce guy?" she asked one of the females she came across. "It's a little too dark, so..."

"Ha! That's why you can't see him!" she answered. "You know those darkies use the dark as camoflauge!"

Sheryl ignored the woman. It was not the first time that this woman had made racially insensitive remarks, and Sheryl had gotten used to it, as did everyone else in that imprisonment did.

"You see him?" Sheryl asked one of the males standing at the glass wall.

He was also looking through the Refugees. "...Nope. I also don't see that new guy from two weeks ago."

Sheryl was impressed. "Your eyesight is pretty good."

The man smiled. "Of all the things I've lost over the years, I'm just glad that I managed to keep something."

Sheryl smiled back, and then looked back out at the Refugees. It seemed almost sad that the two sides were now to be engaged in some sort of a "Cold War" with each other.

~~~

Melissa reached into her pocket and pulled out her three victims. Croutching down, she placed them on the floor in front of her. Afterwards, she stood back up, looking down at them all the while.

"What are you going to do with us?" Shawn asked.

Melissa laughed. "I told you, we're going to have a ball." She turned around and reached on her bed. She then turned back towards them, holding a small blue beach ball. "Literally."

"Oh, no," Beatrix said. "You're not going to run us over, are you?"

Melissa smiled. "Not if you're fast enough." She then stepped back from the group, walking further away from the group. "You lose if you're hit. Try to last as long as you can, okay? The winner will get a prize from me, and the losers... well, they get to go back inside the closet... if they're not flattened by this ball."

Shawn turned to the male. "Joshua, it's obvious that she's going to roll that thing at us."

"Yep," Joshua agreed. "Got any ideas?"

"The only thing I've got is for us to run in three seperate directions. She may have to think about which one of us to go after. That may give us just a little bit of extra time to hide. What do you think, Beatrix?"

"I'm fine with that," she said. "I'm going under the bed, though."

"That's not safe," Shawn said. "What happens if you get caught between a box and the ball? You'd be smashed. That goes for the walls, too."

"Yeah," Joshua said.

"Hey!" Melissa called out to them, while taking a stance not unlike one seen before one bowls a bowling ball. "I'm almost ready. Are you?"

Shawn turned to Joshua and Beatrix. "We're going with the seperation thing! Got it?!"

The two nodded, and all three began to run further away from Melissa; Beatrix towards the left, Joshua towards the right, and Shawn straight ahead.

Melissa shook her head as she watched them run. "Doesn't matter where you run. I am going to get you."

With all of her might, she roller the ball straight ahead, towards Shawn. Shawn looked back, and quickly changed his direction, just barely able to dodge the oncoming ball. It rolled past him at ferocious speed and crashed into the wall with a loud, rubbery, smacking sound. It became slightly airborne as it bounced back toward Melissa. She stopped the ball with her foot as it rolled back to her.

"This is going to be fun," she said.

~~~

True to her word, and despite Shawn's protest, Beatrix did indeed seek refuge under Melissa's bed. As Shawn said, there were several boxes underneath. Empty shoe boxes, it looked like. She ran behind the boxes, deciding that it would be the perfect hiding spot from the malicious giant who stood outside.

She peeked from the box, and saw the feet of Melissa walking past. She breathed a sigh of relief, as she thought that, at least for now, she was safe. She didn't know where her comrads were, and frankly, she didn't care. As long as she was out of harms way, she did not care about what would become of Shawn and Joshua.

~~~

Melissa, holding the beach ball, walked around the room. All three of her victims were hidden. She scanned back and forth through the floor, looking for any sign of the small people.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," she said. "If you don't, you'll make me sad. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

She looked at her bed. Perhaps one of them were hidden underneath. She began to walk toward it, but stopped. That would be too obvious, she figured. She decided to look through the room first, before going under the bed. If any of them were under the bed, they would at least have a bit of a reprieve; her own way of showing mercy, if only for a few minutes.

She walked to her desk. There was quite a bit of room behind it against the wall, at least for someone no taller than 2 inches. She peeked behind it, and sure enough, there was one of them hiding behind: the blond one. He looked up at her and ran the opposite way, out from behind the desk. Melissa could not help but laugh at his plight.

"You think you can run away from me?" she asked. "To be frank, you were probably safer behind the desk."

The man exited his formerly safe haven, and ran across the floor. In fact, he was now in the open space of the floor.

"Easy prey," she said as she took her bowling stance again.

~~~

Shawn did not know where to run. Under the bed was out of the question, for the same reasons he stated to Beatrix, and running against the wall set him at risk of the ball smashing him against the wall, possibly breaking several of his bones, if not killing him.

So he just ran towards the middle of the room. Probably a stupid move on his part, but he had a theory. And if he was right, he intended to get his ordeal done as soon as possible.

Suddenly, he heard the floor rumble below him, and the sound of a rolling ball. He knew what was coming: the beach ball. Instead of changing his direction like before, he stayed in the balls path. Before he knew it, the ball had overcome him. It knocked him onto his chest, and rolled over him.

He lay there, stunned, amazed, and relieved. His theory was right: there was so much air in the ball, and the rubber so thin, that it could not have crushed him by simply rolling over him. He raised his head and looked ahead of him. The ball rolled into a wall, and bounced away from it. Since it hit the wall at an angle, it bounced even further away from him.

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief, but his relief was short-lived, as he heard the footsteps of Melissa drawing near. When they stopped, he found that he was laying between her feet. He rolled over to his back, and looked up at the giantess, who was looking back down on him with a grin.

"Well, my friend," she said, "you just lost the game."

She reached down and grabbed him with her right hand. Shawn flinched as her fingers wrapped around him.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'm not going to kill you. Not today, at least."

She then carried him over to her desk, and placed him on its surface.

"Don't move. Stay here, and you'll be with your little friends before you know it." Melissa winked at him before resuming her hunt.

Shawn sighed. "Thank goodness..."

That may have sounded selfish, but he was glad that he was safe. At least for now.

~~~

Melissa picked up the beach ball after it lost its momentum and slowed to a stop. She began searching around the room, other than her bed. After a few minutes of looking, she did not find her two remaining victims. There were two places where she did not look yet: behind her dresser, and under her bed.

She moaned. "I really don't want to move that dresser... Maybe I should go for the bed now..."

She turned towards the bed, and began to form a sadistic smile. "Yeah. The bed."

~~~

Beatrix sat in the fetal position behind the giant shoe boxes behind her. Just by looking under the bed, Melissa could not see her from any side, she figured. It was the best hiding spot, at least to wait out the eventual capture of Joshua. She managed to peek out and witness the fall of Shawn, so she figured that she was one step closer to winning this "game."

She heard footsteps. Melissa was still looking for Joshua, she assumed. As the sounds of the footsteps came to a stop, she stood up and once again peeked out from behind her box. She was horrified to see Melissa, laying on the floor and reaching under the bed. However, she managed not to scream, and decided to take cover behind the other boxes. As she began to run for the box opposite to her, her small dark world suddenly became more illuminated. The box she hid behind before had been moved out of the way.

Beatrix was petrified as she peered into the face of the giant woman in front of her.

"Found you!" Melissa said with a smile.

Beatrix tried to run, but was grabbed by Melissa's hand. She screamed as she was pulled out from under the bed, and, as the Melissa stood up, brought to the face of the sadistic giantess.

"Thought you could hide from me?" Melissa asked. "Well, too bad, because you just lost."

Beatrix, with all of her might, tried to struggle free from her grasp.

"What? Do you want to get free?" Melissa asked. "Fine, then."

Melissa released her grasp on the small woman, letting her fall to the ground. Beatrix hit the floor below with a thud only audible at her size. Also due to her size, the fall was not fatal, but she was still slightly injured. Beatrix struggled to stand, but as she looked up, she saw the blue beach ball quickly descend on her. She had to time to react, before the ball fell on top of her, and pounded her small body into the floor.

She expected to be crushed to death, but was relieved to be still alive, albeit in pain from both her fall and the ball. She watched the ball roll away from her, only to be grabbed by Melissa, and dropped on her again. This time, it did not roll away. She felt more pressure being pressed on the ball, and she began to scream as she was being squeezed between the floor and the ball.

~~~

Melissa had her foot pressed on the ball. She began to apply more pressure onto it, relishing at the screams of the small woman trapped underneath. However, she was careful to not step down on the ball too hard. After all, she did not want to kill the woman.

She lifted her foot off of the ball, and picked it up. Underneath was the woman, laying on the floor, and breathing heavily and sweating. Melissa crouched down to the woman, giving her a wicked smile.

"Aww... was that too much for you?" She laughed a little. "Just consider that a taste of what's to come for you."

Melissa then reached down and picked the woman up. "But for now, you're... well, safe."

She stood back up and carried the woman to her desk, and placed her beside Shawn.

"You two are the losers," Melissa said. "Which means that this game is over. Now, where is that last guy..."

She turned around, and as luck would have it, she saw the final man, creeping along the wall from behind the dresser, and heading towards the door. She wasted no time in rushing to him.

~~~

Joshua cursed his luck. He has planned to hide behind the dresser until Melissa was distracted, or busy, with either Shawn or Beatrix, and he would have used that chance to sneak out of the room, and seek his escape from there.

However, his plan was foiled, as Melissa spotted him when he was halfway to the door, and as she was quickly headed towards him, he frantically wondered which way he should continue. Back toward the dresser, or continuing toward the door.

Not that it mattered, anyway, because Melissa was so large compared to him, he would be caught before he could make any headway.

And that's exactly what happened.

Joshua squirmed and struggled as he was grabbed by her hands and brought to the woman's face.

"Looks like you're the winner," she said with a smile. "Congratulations."

"'Congrats,' my ass," Joshua muttered to himself.

Melissa carried him to her bed, and dropped him on it. "Now, I bet you're wondering what the prize is, right?"

"Not really, no," Joshua flatly said.

"Oh, stop it!" Melissa laughed as she reached under her bed and pulled out a black shoe box. She lifted off its covering, revealing a pair of two barely worn black tennis shoes. She then stood back up, and sat on the bed beside Joshua.

"I don't usually wear gym shoes," she said. "I don't like my feet being all cramped-up inside like that. I hate wearing closed-toe heels, too, but my job requires it." She sighed as she pulled off her flip-flops. "That's why I usually wear these. They're so comfy, don'tcha think?" She smiled as she dropped the sandals to the floor.

"Whoever made flip-flops should be given a Nobel Prize," she said. "Probably one of the best inventions ever. But..."

Joshua found himself being pulled up by his shirt.

"I think I should break these in," Melissa said, before holding him over the mouth of the right sneaker. "And you're going to help me."

Joshua looked down at the giant sneaker below. His heart sank. All of a sudden, he had a strong feeling as to what was about to happen to him. "Please..."

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"Please don't do this to me," Joshua begged. "I thought that you would return us back to the closet."

"I will," Melissa said with a smile. "After you help me. Okay?"

"Wait-" Joshua could not finish his sentence before he was dropped inside of the sneaker below him. He fell onto his chest, though he was largely uninjured. However, as he stood, he found the already dark world becoming darker. He looked up and saw Melissa's foot entering from above. He tried to run, but he soon found that there was nowhere for him to go, as he would be trapped inside either way. Melissa's sole pressed down on his body, pushing him on his back and pressed between the shoe's sole and her foot. He shifted his head to the side, in an effort to breathe in what little air he could.

After another minute or so, he felt the weight of her foot on his body increase. She must be standing up, he figured. However, the pressure was proving to be too much for his small body, and he began to black out.

Before losing consciousness, he found it ironic that the "winner" of Melissa's twisted game would be the one who would end up dying.

~~~

"There!" Melissa stood up and looked down at her shoes, now with their laces tied. "Hang in there, little man! You have a job to do, remember?"

She laughed as she walked to her desk, where the two remaining horrified people stood.

"What a shame," Melissa said. "This could have been one of you if you had tried harder. Maybe next time."

She grabbed the two of them and carried them back inside of the closet. Once at their cage, she dropped them back inside.

"Be sure you're ready for the next game!" Melissa gave the small people inside a smile before leaving the closet, and closing the door behind her.

Standing in her room, she pondered over what she should do next. What she could do to make her little helper's job harder for him.

"Hmm..." she said to herself, "I think I'll go for a jog."

~~~

Minutes later, Shawn and Beatrix had just finished explaining the ordeal that they had gone through to their comrades.

"So, Joshua is gone?" Jenna asked.

"Unfortunately, yeah," Beatrix responded.

Dawson moaned loudly. "Dammit, Joshua. ...What a lucky way to go..."

Shawn slapped his palm against his face. "Oh, of course. That's all you can think about..."

"Seriously," Jenna said. "I bet he wants to be out there, getting stomped like a bug."

"Hey, if I had to choose one way to die," Dawson said, "I'd love to be stomped, grinded, and smeared on the floor."

"But you'll be dead at the 'grinding' part, if not the first stomp," Jenna said. "I don't see what's so appealing about being stepped on. ...Unless you're a hardcore masochist. Which I know you are."

"Jenna," Dawson called.

"What?"

"I think you would make a great giantess."

"Say what?!" Jenna's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Wouldn't be fun to be several hundred feet tall, and have mere buildings crumble at your feet, and the people of the world revere you as a goddess? And if someone goes against your will, you can stomp 'em like an ant. ...Or swallow 'em whole. Your choice. Either way, it'd get the message across anyone else who would dare to defy you."

Several of the Refugees snickered at Dawson's ramblings.

"...I think you need to get some help," Jenna said. "...And I thought you were creepy before..." She sighed, and walked away.

Shawn stepped closer to Dawson, and the two of them watched as she, along with Beatrix, departed from them.

"Thanks for trying to lighten things up around here," Shawn said.

"We're going to be stuck in here for God knows how long," Dawson replied. "We have to try to make the best of it. No use of moping around all day."

~~~

"What the fuck's going on here?!"

Thomas awoke to the booming familar voice of Bruce. He had just returned, and was just as stunned as they were--to put it lightly--to find nearly everyone gone. Both Thomas and Gloria, who was also awoken by his outburst, stood up as Bruce approached the campsite center.

"Where the fuck is everybody?!" Bruce asked, obviously irritated.

Carlos sighed. "We thought that you took everyone out of here. Guess not..."

"If I was going to take everyone out, I would have let you all know in advance. Goddammit..." He placed his palm on his forehead.

"So, what now?" Thomas asked.

"Hmm..." Bruce calmed himself and began to ponder. "What indeed..."

Thomas was always mystified at Bruce's erratic mood-swings. One minute, he's as calm as a deer, the next he's a raging lion. He then looked at Gloria beside him. He hoped that she would not tell him of their falling-out from earlier. He wanted to stay on Bruces good side. Especially now that there were only four of them remaining.

"Alright," Bruce said. "I want you all to wait here. I need to think about what to do next." He began to walk towards his tent. "I'll let you all know in a day or two."

"Sure," Carlos said.

"Oh, and Mami," Bruce turned back towards the trio. "Would you care to join me?"

Gloria sighed. "Sure..." She started to follow after Bruce.

"Gloria!" Thomas called.

She turned to him.

Before Thomas could say anything, Carlos said something to her in Spanish, and followed it up with "Got it?"

Gloria stared back at them for a few seconds. "Si." She then continued to walk towards Bruce's tent.

"What did you tell her?" Thomas asked as he turned to Carlos.

"I told her not to say anything about your skirmish earlier," Carlos answered.

"You think she'll talk?"

"I doubt it," Carlos said.

"How certain are you?" Thomas was a bit worried.

"Oh... about 85%. Give or take 5%."

"That's reassuring..." Thomas said sarcastically. Regardless, it seemed that the chances were good that Gloria would not throw him under the bus. Especially now when it seemed like they had a small chance of reconciling.

~~~

"So, mi mamicita," Bruce said as Gloria arrived inside of his well-furnished tent. "How'd your first hunt go?"

"It was a complete failure," she answered. "Melissa showed up before we could even enter the kitchen. And when we got back here, everyone was gone."

"Is that so? Hmm... You think Melissa somehow managed to capture the others?"

"I don't see how."

"It's obvious, really. They lacked the leadership to make a successful escape, and could have been caught."

"You think so?"

"It's worth looking into. When you get back, tell them to check the closet hole."

"...Alright."

"Gracias." Bruce began to unzip his pants. "Now, what say we have some of our usual fun?"

"...Sure..." Gloria said, before she approached Bruce lowered herself onto her knees in front of him.

~~~

Having returned from her job, Melissa walked into her room, carrying a bag of junk food in one hand, and a half-full bottle of iced iea in the other. She pushed the door closed behind her with her right foot.

"That was a good walk," she said as she sat on her bed. She set the bag on the bed beside her, and the bottle on the floor. She then began to untie her shoelaces. "I'm glad to get out of these, though."

After loosing the strings, she first pulled out her left foot, and then her right. She looked in the right shoe, and found that the man she has place inside a few hours earlier was not inside. She looked on the sole of her right foot, and there he was. His now lifeless body was crushed, and plastered on her sole with his blood.

"Aww... Way to ruin these shoes, little man," she said as she peeled the man from her sole. "You didn't do a good job at all." She then grabbed a kleenex and crumbled him inside, before throwing it inside of her garbage bin. She also threw away the "ruined" sneakers.