Thomas awoke on his cot in his tent. He had no idea how long he had been asleep. The long walk, and climb, away and back to the campsite took so much energy out of him that he instantly collapsed on his cot as soon as he got back.

He turned to the bag that was set besides him. He reached inside and pulled out what felt like a beverage bottle. He looked at the label. Pepsi. He reached inside again, and pulled out a package of Doritos.

He had his breakfast for the day.

Gloria stood at "Melissa's Hole," as she dubbed the hole outlooking Melissa's room. Melissa was sitting at her desk, writing something on an index card, with an open book besides her. On her other side were two stacks of index cards, one of which have apparently had its cards written on.

It could not have been any earlier than noon, but Melissa had not started any of her "games" yet. Odd, as, by now, she'd usually be right in the middle of one.

Suddenly, Gloria started to hear an unfamiliar rap song play, albeit muffled. She saw Melissa reach into her pocket, and pull out her cell phone. She looked at the Caller ID screen, sighed, flipped it open, and held it to her ear.

"What do you want? I told you not to call here. ...Yes, of course you have to come here tomorrow. ...I don't care. As long as you're not naked." Melissa was silent for a few seconds, and then let out a laugh. "That's my secret. You'll find out when you get here, alright? ...Alright. Bye." She flipped the phone closed, probably right as the person on the other side was returning her farewell, and shoved it back into her pocket. "Man... That is one neurotic chink."

"That must have been that girl..." Gloria said. "Sayuko, I think that's her name."

Melissa had gone back to writing on the card. Gloria was very curious as to what she was doing with them. However, she had been at this for an hour now, and Gloria figured that she would not be done any time soon. She stepped away from the hole, and made her way back to the campsite.

~~~

Thomas twisted the cap back on his soda bottle. He decided to try to conserve his beverages, so he only drunk half of the bottle. The Doritos, however, were all gone. Perhaps he got a bit carried away?

With a burp, he stood up and made his way out of his tent.

"Hey, Thomas!"

He turned to his left, and saw Gloria walking towards him.

"Good morning, Gloria," Thomas said.

"It's not morning anymore," she replied.

"Are you serious?"

"Well... barely, anyway."

"Oh... Did you need me for something?"

"Yeah. I don't know what she has planned out there, but do you want to watch?"

"Sure, I guess. What is she doing, anyway?"

"...Writing."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah."

Thomas crossed his arms. "Homework, maybe?"

Gloria shook her head. "I doubt it. She has all day to do her homework. Why would she be doing it now? Especially since she'd usually be killing some people around now?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right..."

"Of course. Anyway, let's go to Melissa's Hole."

"...Um... Could you wait a minute first?"

"...Why?"

"...I have to pee."

Gloria sighed and shook her head. "Hurry up."

Thomas turned around and ran behind his tent. This was not usually where he relieved himself, but he figured that Gloria was in a bit of a rush, so he decided to choose somewhere close.

He unzipped his pants and released his putrid stream on the ground.

~~~

Melissa closed the text book that sat on her desk besides her.

"Okay! I think that's all for now," she said as she took the stack of index cards in her hands, and pounded them on the desk a few times to straighten them.

She set them back on the desk, neatly stacked, and stood from her chair. Preparations were complete, albeit a bit later than she had hoped. That's what she gets for sleeping in that day. Her prisoners were probably thinking that they would be spared from any games today.

"I hope they didn't get too comfortable," Melissa said to herself as she walked into her closet.

The tiny eyes of her captives were suddenly focused on her as she made her way inside. They were filled with fear, anxiously watching her and trying to figure out what she had planned for them. She had felt there gazes many times before, and she relished in the fear and hatred that they all had for her.

"Good afternoon, my toys," she said. "I bet you all missed me, huh?"

She heard a few responses, mainly comfirmations of her question. Of course, she knew that they were lying through their teeth.

"Excellent! Okay, here's what we're going to do... I need 8 volunteers, first off."

The closet suddenly became buzzing with commotion as the tiny captives began to talk amongst themselves. She tried to listen in on them, but there was so much of it going on, and they were so small, that she probably would not be able to make out what they were saying.

"Know what?" She said, causing the room to go silent again. "I'll just choose the eight myself."

She walked to the glass cage to her left, inside of which were her "main prizes." After looking through the people inside, she reached in and plucked out four males, one with brown hair, one with blond hair, a raven-haired Latino, and the one-armed red-head.

"Hey, I remember you," she said in a playful tone as she picked out the red-head. "How's your arm, huh?" She laughed.

She held all four in the palm of her other hand for a few seconds, and then stuffed them in her pants pocket before moving away from that cage, and onto another one: one with her homeless captives.

She reached in and picked out four males, all of whom seemed old, or at least no younger than 40. She held them in her hand, and pulled away from the cage.

She gave the prisoners a smile. "Don't worry. They'll be back. ...Some of them, at least."

She then walked out of the closet.

~~~

"Did you hear what she said to me?!" An angered Dawson said. "How's my arm... The nerve of that bitch!"

Dawson and Carlos, along with two other men, were inside of Melissa's pocket. They tried to hold their footing as the fabric around them were shaking from the steps she was taking.

"Calm down," the blond man said. "You know that's how she is."

"I don't care!" Dawson kicked the cotton wall.

"I hope you didn't just kick her," Carlos said.

"I can't tell if I got her or air! I just want out of here and to get whatever she wants to do with us over with!"

"For all we know, this could end up being a massacre."

"Hmph... Maybe..."

The motion of their tight prison suddenly ended, and a dark hand reached in. It closed around all four of them, and pulled them out into the open room. They were then placed onto the floor, along with four Homeless men that she had apparently picked out as well.

The eight men all looked up at the giantess as she stood upright and looked down on them. Dawson, of course, was taking quick glances at her large feet, once again clad in those black flip-flops, even though she had enraged him just minutes before.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," Melissa said. "I'm going to test your knowledge."

"Knowledge?" The brown-haired Refugee asked. "On what?"

"Oh... anything." Melissa walked to her desk, and grabbed a stack of index cards. "Before we start, why don't you all introduce yourselves?"

The small men looked at one another, before one decided to speak up.

"My name is Carlos."

"...I'm Brady," the blond Refugee said.

"Dawson."

"Logan," the brown-haired Refugee said.

The four looked to the Homeless, who seemed reluctant to tell them their names.

"C'mon, you four," Melissa said, leaning against her desk. "Time's wasting."

After a few more seconds of hesitation, they finally gave their names.

"I'm Oliver."

"...Reagan..."

"Abe."

"Larry."

"Excellent," Melissa said. "Now, let me explain today's game. These cards I have here each has a question written on it. I ask you the question, and you answer it. Sounds simple enough, right?"

"...I guess..." Brady said.

"What happens if we get the question wrong?" Larry asked.

"I was just getting to that," Melissa responded. "If you get the question right, you move on to the next round. If, however, you get even one question wrong, you go to the Danger Box." She walked to her bed and picked up an empty shoe box, and showed it to the men, before setting it back on the cushion. "You must answer two questions correctly to be safe from the game. The goal is to either answer two questions correctly, or to outlast everyone else."

"What happens in the Danger Box?" Carlos asked.

Melissa winked. "That's my little secret."

The Refugees glances at each other. With a name like "Danger Box," they all had a clue as to what would happen to anyone who was unfortunate enough to end up there.

"Now, are you all ready?" Melissa asked. "...Of course you are." She looked down at the stack of cards, and pulled off the top card. "Carlos!"

Carlos perked himself up. He was not expecting to be the first one to be selected. More importantly, he had no idea what kind of question she would give him. If it was one based on current events, he would be doomed for sure.

"Where is the city of Madras located?" She asked.

"Madras...?" Carlos said to himself. The name sounds Spanish, but there were so many Spanish countries, that choosing the right one would be a matter of luck. "Um... Chile?"

"Wrong!" Melissa said. "The correct answer is India."

"What?!" Carlos' eyes widen. He could not believe that he failed the very first question of this game.

Melissa walked closer to the group, reached down and picked up Carlos, and walked to the bed. "You're the first guest of the Danger Box." She dropped him inside of the shoe box. "Make yourself at home, alright?" She smiled at him before returning to the other seven.

~~~

"Damn..." Gloria said. "Carlos lost on his first go."

"Well, I don't think anyone could have gotten that one," Thomas said. "Unless they're a wiz at Geography."

"Hm... What about you?"

"Come again?"

"Are you good at that?"

"Geography? No... I'm more into Math and Science."

"Oh yeah... That Sayuko girl did say that you always helped her with Calculus, didn't she?"

"Yeah... I wonder if she's coming tomorrow..."

"Yes, more than likely. Melissa was talking to her earlier on the phone."

"Really? How do you know it was her?"

"She called her a 'neurotic chink'."

Thomas sighed. "If Sayu's neurotic, it's only because Melissa did it to her. And how dare she call her that... c-word..." Thomas shook his head.

Gloria's eyes widened as she faced him. "'Sayu'? What's that about?"

"Oh, it's just a nickname... Though I've never called her that."

"I see..." Gloria stared at Thomas for another second or two, before turning back to the hole.

~~~

"Next!" Melissa said as she shuffled the first index card to the bottom of the stack, and pulled off the next card. "Oliver!"

Oliver stepped a few steps forward.

"Give me the genus name of the ibex."

"Ibex... What's that?"

"It's an animal."

"Oh..."

Logan leaned in towards Dawson. "I've never even heard of that animal."

"Me neither," Dawson replied.

Oliver was silent for several seconds. "...I don't know."

"Hm... That doesn't surprise me. You lose." Melissa grabbed Oliver and placed him into the shoe box. "The answer was capra ibex."

Melissa sat down on her bed, besides the box. "Next question!" She shuffled to the next card in the stack. "This one is for... Brady!"

"Great..." Brady said.

"Who is the 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate?"

"Oh, that's easy!" Brady suddenly perked up. "Hillary!"

"Bzzzz!! Wrong!" Melissa laughed.

Brady's jaw dropped, and he fell to his knees. "Are... are you serious...? They actually chose... Obama?" He pounded the floor with his fists. "What the fuck is wrong with those Democrats?!"

"Wow!!" Melissa was awestruck at Brady's showing. "You must have been a really BIG Hillary supporter! Well, too bad for you, huh?" She reached down and picked up the enraged Brady, and placed him in the box.

Logan leaned in towards Dawson again. "Were you a Hillary supporter, or an Obama supporter?"

"Believe it or not," Dawson replied, "I'm a Republican."

"Oh..."

"Okay!" Melissa said as she pulled out the next card. "This one is for... Reagan. Ready?"

Reagan nodded.

"This one is a math question... What is the square root of 2025?"

"Geez..." Dawson said. "Why such a large number?"

Reagan stared at her, and then gave his answer. "...45."

"That's... right..." Melissa did a double-take on the small man. "...You actually got it right! Congrats!"

Dawson and Logan's mouth were completely open as they looked over to Reagan, who was receiving a few pats on the back from his companions.

"Unbelievable..." Dawson said, dumbstruck. "What is he, Rainman?"

"Lucky guess," Logan said. "That number... it was so big. For all he knew, it could have been anything, and he just happened to choose the right number."

~~~

"So, could you have gotten that?" Gloria asked.

Thomas laughed. "No... What am I, a calculator? I may be good at math, but I can't answer questions like that in my head."

"I suppose not."

~~~

"Dawson, you're next," Melissa said. "Can I call you Mr. Mono-Arm?"

Dawson twitched. "No."

Melissa briefly stuck her tounge at him. "Well, too bad. I like it, so that's what you're sticking with."

Dawson moaned heavily.

"Anyway, your question is this: What year was President John F. Kennedy assassinated?"

"I believe it was... 1963, right?"

"Correct! You're safe for the next round!"

Dawson breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God..."

"Larry, you're next," Melissa said as she pulled out the next card. "How many planets are there in the Solar System?"

"Nine," Larry responded.

"Wrong. The correct answer is eight."

"What?! That's wrong! There ARE nine planets!"

"No... There were nine. It is kind of stupid, but they changed Pluto's class. Now it's a... little planet, or something like that. Whatever." She reached down and grabbed Larry, and placed him in the box with the other "losers."

"There's four more of you left now," Melissa said as she turned back to them. "Half of you didn't even make it past the first round, and two of you haven't even gone yet! How sad..."

"Only sad because she made some of those questions near impossible for us to answer," Logan said.

"Yeah..." Dawson agreed.

"Hey," Melissa said. "What are you two talking about over there?"

"Nothing..." Logan responded.

"Hm... Anyway, it's your turn, Logan."

"...What kind of question is it?" Logan asked.

Melissa ignored his question. "Where is the habitat of the minnow fish?"

"Another animal question?' Logan sighed. He pondered over her question. He had heard of that species beforehand, but he never quite knew where it lived. "Here in America?"

"Close!" Melissa shook her head. "The correct answer is Europe. I would have also accepted Asia."

"What do you mean by 'close'?" Logan asked as he was being lifted off of the floor by Melissa's giant hand.

"Well... Apparently there's a species here in North America called the fathead minnow." She dropped him into the box. "Anyone could have made that mistake."

Abe stepped forward as Melissa turned back to the remaining men. "I guess I'm next."

"Yes you are," Melissa said. "This is the final question of Round 1. Abe, your question is this: Give me the Chemical name of salt, and its formula."

"Salt?" Abe repeated. "Isn't that an element itself?"

Melissa laughed. "I take it that you don't know."

"No!!" Abe exclaimed. "I dropped out of high school in the 11th grade! I don't know shit!"

"What a shame... Education is the very foundation of this society that we live in."

"What society?! Here?! This is a dictatorship!!"

"The answer is Sodium Chloride, and that is NaCl." Melissa grabbed the irate man, and place him in the box. "Calm down, okay? It's just a game."

~~~

"You both are the only ones who made it past the first round," Melissa said. "You two should be proud, because now, your chances of being saved from death this time have gone up."

"So... What do you think is going to happen to the people in the box?" Thomas asked.

"I don't know," Gloria responded, "but I could tell you how it will most likely end."

"Yeah... I really hope that Carlos can get out of there somehow. Maybe the guys there have to play some kind of... bonus round."

"I think you've seen too many game shows."

"Isn't that what this basically is?"

"Well, I suppose it is, but still..."

~~~

Melissa rose from her bed and stood before the two remaining men. "Okay, I'm going to change the rules, since there's only two of you left."

"What do you mean?" Dawson asked.

"I'm glad you asked, Mr. Mono-Arm." Melissa chuckled.

Dawson grumbled at her remark.

"Now, if you get a question wrong, you won't do to the Danger Box. No... Instead, you'll be killed."

"What?!" Dawson exclaimed. "Why?!"

"To make things more crucial for you both. Look at Reagan there. He doesn't seem to mind."

Dawson looked over at Reagan, who was staring blankly at the giantess without a word.

"He even looks like he's ready for his next question," Melissa said. "Look at those eyes... Staring at me like, 'C'mon... give me the next one.' Well... Here you go, little man."

Melissa looked at the top card, and instead of pulling it out, she began to shuffle through the stack until she found a card that she wanted.

"Reagan, what is the cosine of 76, rounded to the thousandth decimal?"

Dawson looked expectantly at Reagan. Another math question? What was Melissa doing? Was she trying to see if this man was some kind of genius or something?

"... Zero point 824..." Reagan answered.

Melissa's eyes widened. "Wow... That's right. That's... You're not a robot, are you?"

Reagan did not respond.

Once again, Dawson was dumbfounded. This man had correctly answered another math problem, one that most people would need a calculator to solve. More importantly, the man was now safe from the threat of death, and now it was Dawson's turn. He had no idea what kind of question he would receive from the sadistic giant before him. He knew that there was a large chance that she would choose an impossible question for him, just so that she could snuff out his existance.

"Now, Mr. Mono-Arm," Melissa said. "It's your turn."

Dawson braced himself. He was preparing to run, in the likely event that he answer incorrectly.

"What is the largest island in the world?"

Suddenly, hope returned. Dawson knew the answer in an instant. "Greenland."

"Correct!" Melissa said. "That's right! You both win!"

Dawson fell to his knees. He expected a much harder question. He figured that she thought that he would have said something else.

"Actually," Melissa said, "I think that one was a bit too easy, but whatever. You both live to play another day."

"Oh, whoopdie-doo..." Dawson muttered to himself.

Melissa reached down and picked up both of the men with her free hand, and then set them on the nearby desk. Afterwards, she walked to her bed, and turned her attention to the box. "Now, for you guys... This is a very critical situation for you. I'll ask one question, and the first one to answer will join the other two over there. Ready?"

Dawson did not hear any responses from the box. Either they were all silent, or he was too far away to hear anything. Either way, Melissa went on with the final question.

"What percentage of the world is water?"

Dawson heard several answers. He assumed that they were from his fellow Refugees, as the voices sounded young enough.

"That's right!" Melissa said. "You're free... Carlos!"

She reached in the box and pulled out Carlos, and walked to the desk, setting him besides Dawson while there.

"You three don't have to worry about dying," Melissa said, placing the index cards on the desk as well. "Not today, at least." She turned back to the bed. "But I'm not done yet. I need to... sacrifice one of you right now." She walked back to her bed. "So... which one of you old men wants to volunteer?"

"She's going to kill a Homeless guy?" Dawson asked.

"I guess so," Carlos responded. "Maybe to even things out. Two Refugees, and two Homeless."

"Hm... What do you think is going to happen to the rest of them?"

"...Death?"

"Yeah, but she said that she needed to kill someone right now. What of the rest? When will their time come?"

"I don't know..."

"You!" Melissa said, before reaching into the box, and pulling out Abe. "You snapped at me earlier, so I have to punish you."

"No, please!!" Abe pleaded while in her grasp. "I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"

"Too late." With that, Melissa began to squeeze the tiny man in her grasp. He screamed in agony, as loud as he could. In fact, despite his tiny size, his scream seemed to fill the entire room. After a minute, she threw him to the floor, a few feet away from her.

Dawson walked to the edge of the desk, and saw the broken and battered man trying to crawl away from the giantess. However, in mere seconds, Melissa was standing behind him. With her right foot, she stepped on the man's body, completely destroying him underneath the sole of her flip-flop. Afterwards, she twisted her foot, grinding the man's body into nothing more than a mass of blood and organs.

"That's that," Melissa said, before turning to the three men on her desk. "Did you enjoy the show?"

None of them answered, though Dawson answered in his own way. It was his first time witnessing someone being crushed to death while he was this close to the event, and seeing that man die underneath the foot of Melissa aroused him.

"I'll have to clean up the mess he made in a bit," she said. "But first, I have to put you all away."

Melissa walked back to the bed, her right sandal making sticky sounds from the blood still there with each footstep. She picked up the shoebox, and carried it to the dresser, and placed it on top of it.

"You all have a big day tomorrow," she said. "I think you'll love what I have planned for you." She then pulled its cardboard lid over the opening, closing the people inside off from the outside.

Melissa walked back to the desk, and grabbed the three men there. She then carried them back into the closet, and placed them back in their respective cages.

"You three did wonderful today," she said, smiling at them. "Keep up the good work, and maybe you'll die of old age. Okay?" Melissa laughed as she walked out of the closet, and closed the door behind her.

"So..." Shawn walked to Dawson and Carlos. "What did she have you do?"

"Well..." Dawson explained Melissa's game to the rest of the Refugees, including what happened to Logan and Brady, and the apparently intelligent Homeless man.

"You're saying..." Beatrix said. "You're saying that those two are most likely going to die?"

"Probably," Carlos said. "Though we don't know what she's going to do to them tomorrow."

"Isn't tomorrow Sunday?" a male asked. "That's when that Asian girl usually come sover, right?"

"Yeah, it is," Dawson responded. "But still... That guy... Reagan, he was a math monster. Though he seemed a bit on the quiet side, and a bit blank, too."

"An idiot savant?" Shawn asked.

"Maybe. You'll never know with those Homeless what kind of people they are." Dawson then turned to Carlos. "What was the answer to that world water question, anyway?"

"Seventy percent," Carlos responded.

'"Yeah... I thought so."

"I must say," Shawn said, "it's ironic that what she did was actually a game, and not just a killfest like it usually is."

~~~

Thomas and Gloria watched as Melissa walked out of her room.

"I guess that's it for now," Thomas said as he walked away from the hole.

"Yeah," Gloria said, following him. "And now that I know for sure that Sayuko's coming tomorrow, I can finalize my plan."

"Oh yeah. You did say something about that early this morning. What do you have so far?"

"Well, first, I had to make sure that Sayuko was coming before we could even attempt this, and now that I know she's coming, what we're going to do is try to make contact with her, without letting Melissa know."

"Really? How?"

"...I don't know yet."

"Oh..."

"Don't worry. I still have until tomorrow. I'll think of something."

"I'm sure you will."

The two were silent for several minutes, as they neared the campsite, before Gloria broke the silence.

"So... Are you in love with Sayuko?"

"What?! No!! I mean..." Thomas began to blush, though he doubt that Gloria could have seen it through the darkness. "She's a nice girl, and I'm willing to help her out whenever I can."

"And?"

"I... just don't think she'd be interested in me."

"...Maybe not. Maybe she's only interested in Asian men, or White men like so many Asian girls are. Or maybe, after all of those times you helped her, she's starting to develop feelings for her. You'll never know until you ask."

"I guess you're right, but I've been rejected so many times, that at some point, I just stopped trying."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. So, I cling onto a hope that a girl that I like would ask me out."

"I see... How's that working out for you?"

"Not well at all." Thomas sighed.

~~~

It had been several hours since Melissa's trivia game. Thomas was sitting in Bruce's tent, reading a book about Physics near the lamp. Since Bruce had pretty much abandoned them, Thomas figured that it was fair game to use his much larger tent. Besides, his flashlight had died, and he had finished the books that he had back in his tent.

"So this is where you are."

Thomas looked up and saw Gloria making her way inside.

"Yep. I was bored, so I came here and got another book," Thomas responded. "Tomorrow is going to be a big day for us, and I need to relax."

Gloria sat beside him. "Doesn't look like you're relaxing to me."

"Well, reading helps me relax. I don't know about you, though."

"Oh."

"So, did you finish the plan?"

"Yep. It's very risky, and our chances of success are slim, but at this point, it's our only hope."

"Is that so? What is it?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow. It'll be fresh in your memory then."

"Oh... Okay."

The two were silent for a moment, as Thomas turned his attention back to his book.

"So, you wanna know how I relax?" Gloria suddenly asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Thomas said, still focused on the book.

"Of course, my way of relaxing will help you relax."

"What do you-" As soon as Thomas turned his head towards Gloria, she leaned in and pressed her lips against his. Thomas's eyes widen, as the book he was holding was released from his grip, and fell to the floor.

For a few seconds, Thomas was too stunned to react. However, he soon wrapped his arms around her body, and began to make out with her. He felt her hand making its way into his pants, and began to fondle his hardening member.

Soon, he layed back on the cot, pulling her down with him.