The smell was so bad that Richard almost found himself unable to sleep, despite the sheer physical exhaustion. His eyes were heavy, as were his limbs, and any slight movement made his muscles scream in agony. Still, the smell rolled his stomach and the nausea clawed at him. The fact that he had eaten some chewed fragments of his wife's past meals also did not help. Various fluids, as well as the smell, had been absorbed into the “food” and calling it unappetizing would be extremely generous. But there was no other option, and so he, and his family, had forced their poor meal down. Eventually, sleep did finally, and mercifully, overtake Richard, plunging him into a dark, dreamless abyss. And he remained there until he was ripped from that pleasant darkness by the roaring light from the overhead lamps.

He heard her before he saw her. The low, heavy sound of her footfalls reverberated within their smelly metal coffin, shook the insides gently. Finally, the towering form stood over the lid of trash can, blocking out the horrible, blinding light from above. There were no words to adequately describe the bigness of the thing before him. The miles of flesh he had crossed yesterday, the immense landscape he had traversed...it now was alive, moving. It was as if Mount Everest had stood up and begun walking. What made it worse was what he could recognize. The flesh was now covered in a brilliant white shirt that had a U-shaped neck cut, giving a big window to whatever big assets may be below. These mountainous assets currently stretched out far enough from the chest to completely block the face, though he saw the hair draped around it. The mountains swayed easily from side to side, free from any restraint. The flesh of the thighs, in a similar manner, jostled with every small movement, and when the immense figure turned, the ass bounced and jiggled, swallowing up all of his vision. Dimly, he could see a black outline of a thong through the white yoga shorts. Finally, the figure rumbled out of view, allowing the light to flood back.

“I gotta hand it to you, pal,” The Voice suddenly spoke up. Richard could feel the radio vibrate against his leg as it spoke. “You sure scored a lovely bride. Surprising, really. When I saw you in person I couldn't believe that you were married to THAT.”

Richard didn't respond. There was no point. Instead, he sat up and looked around. He spotted Jenny and Sammy huddled under the wadded tissue that had brought him into this foul prison. The snot had dried and the paper hardened, but they still clung to it like a blanket. James was sitting on top of wrapper, while Henry stood behind him, evidently urinating onto an old scrap of paper towel.

“You all okay?” He croaked towards them, struggling to get to his feet.

“No...” Sammy replied just as weakly.

“We're okay,” Jenny said.

“No we're not!” Sammy cried.

“Sammy...”

“Look around! We're the size of ants! Probably smaller! We're in the fucking trashcan! And she's...she's...she's fucking GIGANTIC. How are we ever going to get her attention!?”

“We don't have to.” James said. “We just have to stay alive until Sunday night and...”

“And what!? You think he's just going to unshrink us!? We're going to die! We're going to die or be stuck like this forever!” Sammy began to sob, burying her face into Jenny's shoulder.

“Sammy...” Richard began, but his throat hurt and he couldn't continue.

“If it well help settle the family drama here...” The Voice garbled. “I am a man of my word. Should you get her attention or survive till Sunday, I will unshrink all of you.”

“How do we know that?” Henry said, turning towards the sound of the walkie on Richard's belt. “There's no way you want us to survive. You'd be afraid of us reporting you. Calling the authorities. Just admit it, this 'game' of yours is rigged.”

“Report me?” The Voice actually laughed. “Please enlighten me...what exactly do you intend to tell the cops? That you got shrunk to tiny size and accidentally fell inside your momma's panties?” Henry just stood there, his fists clenching once again. “No cop alive is going to believe you. I don't think even she'd believe you and you'd be able to tell her just about everything she'd done over the weekend.'

'But you're right. If, hypothetically speaking, you DID survive, you'd be the first group to ever do so. Sure, it's unlikely anyone would believe you, but the possibility is there that someone might make the connection between your wild stories and other disappearances around the nation, the previous groups, of course. So, with that in mind, I guess I'll go ahead and politely request that you keep this incident to yourselves should you manage to survive. Otherwise...well, if you don't know what will happen by now, you're not fit to live anyway.” And with that, the walkie hissed and the Voice went silent.

“Well that's fucking great...” Henry growled through barred teeth.

“There's no point arguing about it,” Richard said. “We need to get out of here before she empties the can and throws us out to the curb.”

“How do we do that?” James asked, standing up.

“That.” Richard pointed. Up above, just beyond the lip of the trash can, was a massive white plug. “The cord from the toaster. The trash can is right by the island counter. We climb up the trash, get to the cord, and then get to the counter. We might be able to get her attention up there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Henry nodded. “Let's get moving.”

And so they got moving once again. They were able to climb a discarded magazine that was propped up towards the edge of the can, which they carefully walked across as if it were the ledge of a mountain. When the reached the great white plug, Richard tried to hoist his daughters up, but his arms were to weak. They were barely able to hoist himself up when Henry and James lifted him up to climb it. James was lifted up after, and then he helped the girls climb up. All three of them then hoisted Henry up. The ascent up the cord proved even more torturous. Several times, Richard thought his arms would simply give out, sending him falling to the hard floor several hundred miles below. Fortunately, his legs were not quite as worn out, and he was able to hold his place with them until he felt he could use his arms again. At long last, the reached the sprawling plain that was the granite countertop, something Richard, in another distant life, had been very proud of when it had been installed.

“So...what now?” Jenny asked, looking around skeptically.

“Look!” James cried, pointing.

Richard saw it immediately. Ahead of them were several large rocks, or at least that's how big they were. Crumbs. Ordinary crumbs left from whatever had come out of the toaster this morning and possibly the morning before. Had Richard seen them yesterday, he would have been giving a chilling reminder of his predicament. However, now they only caused his stomach to growl with eager anticipation. Forgetting his pains, Richard sprinted for the “rocks”, hearing his family running off with him with the same enthusiasm. The crumbs were stale and difficult to eat, but compared to the literal garbage they had been forced to survive on the following night, the taste was absolutely divine. Behind him, he could hear the sound of his family munching away as well. Halfway through his “rock”, Richard could feel vitality begin to seep back into with a speed that was almost alarming. Where ever they would go, and whatever they would do after this, the trek would not be as daunting as it had been mere seconds ago.

That was when the shadow draped over them.

He'd been so focused on eating that he hadn't even heard her coming, nor even the soft tremors that reached this far atop the counter. But when the shadow forced his eyes upward, he saw the hand lowering towards them.

She's going to swat us, he thought with strange calmness, she thinks we're ants and she's going to squish each of us.

But instead of extending its massive tree trunk fingers, the hand rotated onto its side, the wall of flesh of the palm looming over them. Then, it began to slide towards them. Before he could even think of yelling for his family to run (and it was far too late for that anyway) he and them were swept up. The large “rocks”, which had been their salvation moments ago, were now piling on top of them as more and more of them got caught up underneath the hand. Richard, his pain again completely forgotten, now flailed like a man in the midst of a raging current, trying desperately to keep up with the crumbs. If he got swept underneath the hand that would be the end. He would be crushed as the massive flesh rolled over him. Another, more primal part of him instinctively tried to locate his family. Faintly, he could hear Sammy's shrill screams over the din, but he couldn't pinpoint the direction she was in.

After what seemed like an eternity of him being dragged, fumbling and spinning with the crumbs, he was suddenly falling. For a brief moment, the image of him losing his grip back on the cord returned to him. But, instead of a massive plummet to the tile floor below, he collided with a cold, metallic surface and found himself sliding horizontally. He covered his head as the crumbs landed around him. When stillness finally arrived, he quickly looked up.

“Sammy! Jenny!” He cried, looking around frantically. The feeling of metal had been correct. The area around him was nothing but miles of stainless steel. “Henry! James!”

“DAD!” Sammy's voice. He turned to it and saw his family stumbling to their feet.

“Over here!” Henry waved, trying to steady himself.

Richard ran towards them, leaping and stepping over all the crumbs that littered the ground. He almost reached them when he heard it.

A heavy sound of something falling shook the ground, followed by the unmistakable sound of water flowing. Richard had only been ten feet from his family (or whatever ten feet meant at this ungodly size) when water was suddenly up to his waist and began pulling him, his family, and the litter of crumbs along with it. Richard leaped like a football player diving for a Hail Mary and grabbed Sammy's arm. Jenny and James appeared behind her, latching onto her legs, while Henry collided into Richard. Where they had just been fighting a current of rolling crumbs, now they fought a literal raging river. Richard, in the moments when he could keep his head above water, tried to see where the stream was taking them. He could smell the pit before they got too close. And he didn't need to see the giant word, INSINKERATOR, etched into the metal, to realize where they were going.

The unholy roar that erupted from the pit did more than enough to accomplish that!

“SHIT! SHIT!” Henry screamed.

Richard spotted a clump of something stuck to outer rim of the dark chasm before them. He and Henry managed to grab hold of it and, mercifully, it stayed glued where it was. The two held onto the others as they were ravaged by the waters.

“Pull!” Richard yelled.

“I'm trying!” Henry called back, his voice barely audible over the hungry roar.

“WATCH OUT!” Sammy's voice managed to pierce through.

There was no time to look away, but he didn't have to. A wet slap, like a lump of mud sloshing onto concrete, sounded behind them, and a thick sludge slowly began to flow onto them. At first, Richard thought it really was mud, and then concrete, but of course it was neither. The oatmeal coated all of them as the water coaxed it towards the chasm.

“I CAN'T SEE!” Sammy screamed.

“JUST HOLD ON!” Henry roared.

“DAD! HELP US!” James cried.

Another glob of the lukewarm mess flopped down on top of them and, distantly, Richard could hear the familiar, yet magnified, sound of silverware scraping along a dish. Now it was Richard's turn to be blind as the thick slop covered his face. He immediately dunked his head into the running waters, never loosening his death grip on his family. But just as quickly as he could clean himself off, another ball of goop fell onto them or near them, replenishing itself. Richard could feel it all over his clothes, in his hair, taste it in his mouth, and, pretty soon, it would end up in his lungs.

The heavy sludge eventually did cease from raining down, and it slowed the waters enough that Henry and Richard were finally able to pull the rest of the family onto the thankfully stubborn stuck on clump.

“WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!” James screamed.

“I KNOW!” Richard yelled.

Then, something else plummeted from the sky. A crust of bread, the thickness of a steel girder, dropped inches from them, splashing them. The soggy beam collided right into them, nearly shoving them right off their clump. Henry, Richard, and James hoisted the heavy mass over them, allowing it to continue towards the chasm. However, its shape did not allow it to fully fall into the dark pit. From up above, a large metal object the size of a building lowered and plunged itself down into the hole, pushing the crust into it. The roar the deep chasm turned into a series of low gurgles and grumbles as it greedily devoured the offering. Globs of gunk and goop flung up from the pit and splattered back onto the family in a small shower.

And then, just as quickly as it had all started, everything stopped. The roar of the pit quieted, and the raging rapids disappeared, swallowed down below. A moment of utter stillness followed before quickly being interrupted by a deafening clatter as the giant metal object crashed down onto the metal surface on the other side of the sink from them. For a horrible moment, Richard thought the bouncing metal would find its way on top of them, but fortunately it didn't, landing harmlessly on the other side of the pit.

That's just a spoon, Richard found himself thinking, that's all that is...it looks more like a damn cargo ship!

Then there was nothing again, except for the sounds of collected gasps for breath.

“Jesus Christ...” Jenny wheezed. “I thought for sure we were done for...”

No one responded. None had the strength.

“To be honest, I thought the same,” The Voice spoke up. Richard glanced down at the walkie, surprised not only to see it still clipped to him but that it still functioned.

“How...?” He asked without thinking.

“I told you how.” The Voice interrupted sharply. “Stop asking stupid questions.”

“But...”

“Now, now...” The Voice interrupted again. “You don't really have the time, you know. You know where you are right now. You almost got torn to shreds by your garbage disposal. Right now I'd be more concerned with getting out of the basin right now before she needs to use it again. You all just got VERY lucky, and, honestly, you probably won't the next time.”

“But...how?” Richard coughed. “There's no way we can climb out of here...”

“Sure you can,” The Voice replied. “There's a rag draped over into the sink behind you. Should be able to use that. I'd hate to see you all get washed away after all this. It really is no fun if you all die so fast. You guys have been one of the most fun groups to watch, I have to say!”

“How nice of you to say,” Jenny said, bitterly.

“Naturally,” The Voice replied, the sarcasm practically oozing from the walkie. “Don't worry, you've got time. By the looks of it, she's gone to watch TV again. So she shouldn't need to use the sink again for awhile. So, I'd make use of the time if I were you.”

“What do you mean 'by the looks of it'?” Henry asked.

But the Voice didn't respond, leaving them standing next to the deep dark pit with nothing but silence.