It had just passed 7:30 in the evening, as Melissa sat on her bed while preparing herself for the night ahead. Donning a white singlet top and black mini-skirt, she held her cell phone aat her ear against its shoulder, while using both of her hands tie the straps of her black stilletto sandals.

"The club isn't that far from the school, actually," Lauren said on the other side of the line. "We're going to meet up with Kate there, and go from there."

"Oh?" Melissa sounded slightly surprised. "Kate's going?"

"Yep. She sounds eager to try and find a guy this time."

"I hope so." Melissa finished tying the straps on her shoe, and released the phone from her shoulder, only to grab it with her right hand. "The guys around here like those Barbie-looking blondes. Sometimes I wonder why, if she's so desperate, why she doesn't just dye her hair."

"She's proud of being a ginger."

"Uh-huh, and how's that working out for her?"

Lauren laughed. "Not too well."

Melissa stood up and grabbed her purse from her bed. "Well, I'm about to head out, so I'll meet you at your house in a few."

"Alright, gurl! See you soon!"

"Bye!"

Melissa closed her cell phone and started to head out of the bedroom. Before exiting, she looked back behind her. It would be a fun night, no doubt, but not even the club could compare to her newfound passion. Perhaps she herself would be lucky enough to bring home an unsuspecting guy. She hoped that to be the case as she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Several hours had passed since Thomas had joined Gloria at her "special spot". The two had talked for a while, though now they were both tired, as Thomas' head was bowed down half-asleep and Gloria was resting her head on his shoulders.

He was awakened from his drowsiness when he heard footsteps from his left. He looked in that direction and saw that it was Shawn who was approaching them. Thomas lightly nudged Gloria's head with his shoulder, and turned her attention to Shawn.

"Well, this is a surprise," Shawn said. "I can't believe you were here all this time, Thomas."

"Yeah," Thomas replied. "We just chatted, that's all."

"That's good, though. Good to talk to people, get to know them, get things off your chest. And you two aren't the only ones spending time with someone else right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Dawson is with Jenna."

"Are you kidding me?!" Gloria exclaimed. "He actually got someone to pleasure him?!"

"Yep," Shawn answered.

"Pleasure?" Thomas asked. "You don't mean..."

"He managed to get one of the girls to let him play with her feet?!" Gloria was disgusted almost to the point of anger.

Shawn nodded. "Exactly."

"Ugh..." Gloria slapped her palm against her forehead.

"Dawson once told me how the girls here didn't let him do it to them because they thought it was weird and disgusting," Thomas said. "I wonder what changed?"

"Well, he pretty much begged," Shawn said. "I guess Jenna either felt sorry for him, or just wanted him to shut up. Either way, there's no telling that she's doing it out of pity. The rest of us got a good laugh out of the whole thing, though."

Gloria balled her fist. "Damn. I can't believe I missed that."

~~~

Dawson kneeled before Jenna, who looked down at him with a pathetic expression on her face; seemingly looking at him as if he was indeed pitiful for going so far as to beg her for this private session. Jenna herself was a pale-skinned, brown-haired young woman with a striking pair of green eyes. As if to match her physical features, she also wore a green T-shirt and brown jeans; in his eyes the jeans served to enhance the fact that she was barefoot.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into doing this," Jenna said. "I'm still thinking about just kicking you out."

"C'mon," Dawson begged. "Girls like getting massages, I know that much. Just think of this as that."

"How can you even give a good footrub if you only have one arm?"

Dawson smiled. "Sit back and relax, and I'll show you."

He reached out and grabbed Jenna's left leg, and pulled her foot towards him. Then, with her sole facing him, he started to rub it with his thumb while holding her foot tightly so that he did not lose his grip. A challenge for him; he had given foot massages many times in the past before, but this was the first time that he did so with only one arm thanks to his encounter with Melissa.

"You do have very pretty feet," Dawson said. "You should try to keep them clean, though."

"I can't exactly do that," Jenna replied. "My shoes wore out, see?" She pointed her thumb behind her, towards a pair of ragged white tennis shoes. "And it's not like we have any showers here or-"

Jenna's words were interrupted as Dawson pressed his lips against her sole. He looked up to her face, which wore a disgusted look.

"What are you doing!?" Jenna tried to pull her foot away, but was unable to do so; Dawson himself was surprised at how strong a grip he had with even his single arm.

"Why don't I clean your feet for you?" Dawson asked with a sly look on his face.

"How?!"

"How else?" Dawson winked.

"Oh my God..."

Dawson pulled her foot closer to his face, and then started to lick on her sole. He ran his tongue up and down on the ped, and then started to work its way between each of her toes; this one of which caused Jenna to flinch. Afterwards, he gave the sole another run along with his tongue, before turning the foot's instep towards him and planting a kiss on it.

"Are you done yet?" Jenna asked, obviously annoyed and disgusted. It seemed that even though she agreed to this, she did not fully understand what she was getting herself into.

"No, not yet," Dawson answered.

"My foot is drenched in your slobber now! What are you going to do now?!"

Dawson did not reply with words. Instead, he pulled the foot--or more specifically, her toes--closer to his face, and engulfed its big toe with his open mouth, and began to suckle on her digit and lick its underside.

"Oh God..." Jenna groaned.

Obviously Jenna was not enjoying this in the least. Dawson figured that he should perhaps enhance it for her in the next "activities".

~~~

Ray sat against the glass wall of his jar prison. In this dark, dimly lit world, he had lost all concepts of time, and he had no way to entertain himself. It came as no surprise that he was bored. All he could do was wait for the day when Melissa would finally put him out of his misery.

With the Refugees, he at least had some kind of fun, despite the situation they were all in. When he was first recaptured by Melissa, he did not care what happened to them, but now that he had been kept alive longer than he initially thought he would, he found himself actually missing his companions. Though he mainly thought highly of Bruce, but that was justification enough to reunite with them.

He looked out in front of him. Darkness beyond the glass. The three cages filled with the Homeless to the right side. The dim lightbulb hanging from the ceiling of the closet.

He stood, and ran towards the glass wall. He jumped, and with all of his might, kicked the glass. He fell back to the glass floor, his leg aching.

He stood up and ran for the wall again.

~~~

"Gloria," Thomas called. "About Joe... Were you two close?"

Gloria turned to him, and let out a sigh. "I guess you could say that. He was one of the few decent people here."

"Joe was sorta like you, Thomas," said Shawn, who was now sitting behind them. "He didn't like how Melissa basically used the Homeless as fodder, and that the rest of the Refugees seemed to enjoy watching them get slaughtered. He was also chivalrous; he showed women respect, something a lot of guys here don't seem to do."

"He sounds like he would have been a better leader than Bruce," Thomas stated.

"Of course," Gloria agreed. "Bruce... I'm not denying his strength, but he just doesn't seem to have the drive. He talks about leading us out of here, but when will that be? He's been spouting the same bullshit for the longest. I'm starting to think that he actually wants to stay in here."

"Why wouldn't he want to leave?" Thomas asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he's already satisfied with what he does down in the Lower Levels."

"What's down there, anyway?"

Gloria shrugged. "I have no idea."

"You could ask him the next time he comes up here."

"I doubt he'd tell me. I don't even think Ray knew what he does down there."

"Oh..."

The three sat quietly in the amber light eminating from the bathroom outside; the day looked to be nearly over. Thomas could not help but become a bit nostalgic; back in his old life, he spent a few evenings in the local park, either with his younger brother or just to get out of the house.

"So, Thomas," Shawn called. "What did you do for fun before coming here?"

"'Fun'?" Thomas replied. "Well, I guess when I'm not studying or working, I was either on the Internet or playing my games. I have a Wii and a DS."

"I see," Shawn said. "I'm not really a gamer, but the whole motion thing the Wii has interested me. I was trying on-and-off to buy one, but they were always sold out."

"Yeah, I heard about how hard it was for some people to find one. I was lucky enough to get mine on the launch day. Anyway, I also watch anime and read manga." Thomas chuckled. "I am such a geek."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Shawn said. "Geeks run the world, you know? But I'm guessing that you aren't that successful with the ladies?"

"How could you tell?" Thomas asked.

"I had a few friends who were like you."

"Oh. Well, yeah. They don't seem to want me, and eventually I just said 'Fuck it', and just decided to focus on school. But I just had to try with Melissa. I should have known that something was up when a girl like her actually didn't outright reject me. I didn't think too much about it, though, and now look what happened..."

"Hey..." Shawn said in a rather comforting tone. "How were you supposed to know that Melissa was going around shrinking, kidnapping, and killing people? I know that the disappearances were in the news, but how were you supposed to suspect Melissa?"

"You're right," Thomas said. "But still, when I think that I could have just cancelled on her or not even have asked her out, all this could have been avoided."

"But then you wouldn't have met us," Gloria said.

"True."

Shawn stood up. "Why don't we head back?"

Thomas nodded, and turned towards Gloria. "Are you coming?"

Gloria stared at him for a few seconds, before replying, "Sure, why not?"

Both Thomas and Gloria stood to their feet, and the three of them left the glow of the bathroom outside and into the dark corridors of the walls, heading back towards the campsite.

Gloria was right, Thomas thought. If this ordeal had not had started, he would not have meet her, Shawn, or Dawson. They were all rather interesting people, all of whom were willing to stand by him. Through this rather tragic event, he may have found new friends.

~~~

Sheryl walked to the far corner of her group's glass cage, where several of her Homeless allies were huddled together and watching the jar off in the distance. Though it was dark, they could still make out the green-haired man inside of said jar jumping at and kicking the inside of the jar.

"What is he doing?" Sheryl asked them.

A male turned towards her. "We don't know. He started doing this a while ago, and hasn't stopped since."

"Is that so?" Sheryl responded. "Maybe the kid's finally had it."

~~~

Dawson laid on the ground, face-up and looking at Jenna, who stood over him with her hands on her hips. She looked thoroughly annoyed with this entire situation.

"I think you're going to love this one," Dawson said. "With this next thing, you can pretend that you're getting back at me."

"And what am I supposed to be doing now?" she asked.

"You're going to walk on me."

Jenna's disgusted look returned. "What?"

"That's right. My neck, my chest, and especially my face! Feel free to stomp as hard as you want, too! I don't mind at all!"

"How am I supposed to be getting back to you if you're going to be enjoying it?!"

"Just pretend that I'm not." Dawson smiled.

"I swear to God, you are such a freak..." Jenna sighed, before stepping forward and walking onto his chest.

Dawson gritted his teeth at the weight being pressed down onto his body, as Jenna looked as if she was trying to balance herself, to keep from falling off of him. Then, with her right leg, she held its foot over Dawson's head and then lowered it onto his face. Afterwards, he felt her start to step down with more and more force; between her foot and the floor, his head was aching, and yet he could not help but become aroused. He started to lick her sole once again, and upon his tongue meeting her flesh, the weight briefly lightened, as if she had flinched again. Before he could go any further, she removed her foot from his face.

"What's wrong?" Dawson asked, a bit disappointed.

Jenna did not answer. Instead, she once again lifted her foot over his face, and stomped down hard. The back of his head smashed against the floor, as she lifted her foot from his face, and repeated the process by stomping down again. And again. And several more times.

"You." Stomp. "Are." Stomp. "Such." Stomp. "A." Stomp. "Freak." Jenna drove her foot into his face a last time, this time twisting and grinding her foot onto his forehead.

Then, she moved her foot down to his neck, and started to pressed down with more and more force. As such, Dawson found it harder and harder to breathe, but that did not deter from the excitement that he was feeling at the moment. After a nearly a minute of her foot pressed against his throat, she released her hold. Breathing heavily, Dawson watched as she stepped down on his groin, and felt her foot against his stiff member through his pants. This only served to further disgust Jenna.

"I can't believe you're getting off on this," she said.

"There... are much... worse... things people... get off on... in this world..." Dawson replied between breaths.

Jenna sighed, and stepped off of his groin. Then, she walked to his head, and stood on his face; 100+ pounds of a human body balanced right on his head. Afterwards, she started to jump up and down on him as if he were a trampoline. Dawson was surprised that she even considering going this far into this session; he never had a woman jump on his face before. Inside, he was happy that, even in imprisonment, he found something new to incorporate into his footplay; that is, if he were to ever make it out of Melissa's house.

Soon, Jenna stepped off of Dawson's face, and walked to her cot in the back of her tent. Dawson wiped his face with his arm, and felt a liquid eminating from his nose. Blood. His nose may have been broken; having another human stomp and jump on your face would do that to you, he thought.

He sat up and looked towards Jenna, who merely shook her head in pity.

"I hope you're satisfied," she said as she wiped the blood from her foot with a loose sheet of cloth. "Because that's all I'm doing for you."

"Hell yeah I'm satisfied," Dawson said with glee. "You'd make a very cute foot model. I'm sure lots of guys would love to be trampled under your cute feet."

Jenna twitched. "Get out of here."

Dawson stood up to his feet. "So you're going to kick me out? That's okay. I have to thank you, though. You have no idea how long I was in withdrawal. Combined with the earlier show with Melissa, I think I'll be sleeping happy all night."

"I said get out!" Jenna said indignantly.

"Okay, okay... But when do you think we can do this again?"

"Are you kidding?! This was a one-time thing! I'm not going to do this again!"

"C'mon, Jenna... We have to get together again-"

"ERRR-AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Taken by surprise, Dawson turned around towards the tent's opening. "What was that?"

"Sounded like a scream," Jenna replied.

Suddenly, there was a lot of commotion outside in the campsite, filled with more screams and yelling.

"A monster!"

"Noo!! Get away!!"

"Kill it! Kill it, please!!"

Dawson looked back to Jenna, who now had a worried and fearful look on her face. "Stay here."

His heart racing, he ran outside of her tent and emerged into the campsite itself, to see what exactly was going on.

What he saw next made his heart sink into his chest in absolute horror.

~~~

As Thomas, Gloria, and Shawn approached the campsite, they took notice to the loud commotion coming from what sounded like the direction that they were headed in.

"What's going on?" Shawn asked. "What's all of that noise for?"

They listened for a few more seconds, before Shawn bolted towards the campsite. Thomas and Gloria looked at each other, before following after him. Upon arriving, all three were taken by shock to see a truly horrible sight: A giant garden centipede. Perhaps the exact same one that escaped from Melissa earlier that day. A few of the males were already holding it off with sewing needles and anything else they could get their hands on.

"How did that thing get in here?!" Shawn exclaimed, before rushing off to the side.

Thomas merely stared in horror at the beast. His legs were shaking. He could not believe how hideous and horrifying this beast was up close.

"Thomas?" Gloria called to him. "Thomas, are you alright?"

Thomas did not reply, or even move in the slightest.

"Move!" Carlos ran from behind them, clutching a pin needle in hand, and threw it at the monster as if it was a javelin. Unfortunately, it proved to be ineffective, as it bounced off of its body and fell onto the ground. It turned its attention towards Carlos, and Thomas and Gloria who happened to be behind him. It then started to run towards them, completely disregarding those who were already trying to ward it off.

"Oh shit!" Thomas exclaimed, before running to his left and inside one of the empty tents.

"Thomas, where are you going?!" Gloria called out.

Thomas did not respond to her words. He instead ran to the back of the tent, and hid inside, waiting for this to all be over.

~~~

Shawn watched as the centipede ran through the campsite, being chased by the other Refugees. As he checked with the others to see if they were not seriously harmed, he heard another scream from the centipede's direction.

"Shit! It got Terry!" said one of the Refugees.

"Let him go, you son of a bitch!" said another.

Shawn's heartbeat became more rapid as he looked towards the centipede's direction, and saw it disappear into the darkness, with Carlos and a few of the other Refugees in tow. It seemed that the monster had finally been chased away from the campsite. Shawn breathed a sigh of relief, and continued to examine the state of their campsite.

"Shawn!" Dawson called out to him as he stepped closer to him.

"Dawson!" Shawn said. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I almost blacked out when I saw that thing, though. It was practically in my face."

Shawn noticed his bloody nose. "Look at your nose! Did that thing do that to you?!"

"Oh, no. Jenna did this."

"Oh..." Shawn breathed a slight sigh or relief. It had not been caused by the centipede, but it was still a bloody nose nonetheless. "Let's check up on the others."

Dawson nodded in agreement, before the two went off to examine the well-being and state of the remaining Refugees and the campsite itself.

~~~

Hearing that the noise outside had died down, Thomas reemerged from the tent that he had sought refuge in. The Refugees were in disarray, with a few of the tents having been toppled and displaced objects strewn about.

He then noticed Gloria standing several feet away, looking right in his direction.

"Gloria..." he called out.

She merely shook her head in disappointment, and walked away from him.

Thomas watched her depart, and let out a sigh. Did his reaction to the centipede cause her to reconsider her feeling about him? He hoped that that was not the case, as he started to walk through the ransacked campsite and watching the shaken Refugees trying to clean and reorganize the place.

~~~

Ray stood back up, having fallen onto the floor again. He had lost count of how many times he had jump-kicked the glass. Although it did not look like it from an outside observer, he did had a plan: Melissa did not tighten the lid on the jar. In fact, she merely just placed it onto the jar's opening. Furthermore, the jar itself was placed on a small box, so it was elevated a bit from the floor. Ray figured that if he kicked the glass hard enough, the jar would tip over and off of the box, the lid would come off, and he could then escape and find a way to go back to the Refugees. Or maybe even lead them out of the house. He would be regarded as a hero if, on his way to reunite with them, he found a way out of the house that would lead to their freedom.

A man who was once considered lost would return, with a way to sure freedom.

Even Bruce would praise him.

Armed with this ambition, Ray ran for the glass again, and jumped and kicked at the wall again.

~~~

It was nearing 1am that night, as Melissa stepped into her house. She closed the door behind her, and turn on the light of the main hallway. It had been a fun night for her, though she was unable to lure anyone to her house tonight. No problem, as she knew that she'd get lucky next time. Besides, with school the next morning, she could not afford to be up and about too late.

She took a few steps towards her living room, before she felt something crunch underneath her sandal.

"What the hell?"

She lifted her foot, and looked down on the floor at whatever it was that she stepped on. It turned out to be a centipede, perhaps the same one that had escaped from her earlier. The bug had completely slipped her mind since her time with Sayuko, and here it was, crushed to death on the floor below her.

"Might as well clean this up now," Melissa said as she opened her purse and prepared to pull out a sheet of tissue.

As she kneeled down, she noticed something else: a tiny human body just barely in the centipede's mouth. He looked to he long dead, however; it was not Melissa who had killed him.

"Hmm..." She shrugged, before wiping the mess from the floor and then walking into the kitchen. Once there, she opened the trash bin by stepping on its pedal, and dropped the tissue inside.