*ring*

*ring*

*ring*

...

"Hello. You have reached Edgar Cruz. I'm sorry, but I am much too busy to take your call right now, but if you leave your name and number, I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Have a wonderful day."

Sayuko sighed. It had been the same story all week.

"Mr. Cruz? It's me again. I've been trying to call you all week, but you never seem to be available. Please call me back. It's very important. Arigato."

She flipped her phone closed and placed it into her purse. Afterwards, she walked forward, and soon stepped out of the front door of her house. As she closed the door behind her, she looked upward towards the blue morning sky, and let the soft breeze blow through her hair. She then took a deep breath.

"It's going to be a nice day," she said, before walking away from her house.

Today was the day she would get her test results back, and she was a bit nervous over how she performed on it.

~~~

Melissa stood in her backyard, looking towards the morning sky. Although it was Thursday, the day she would usually intern at her law firm, he had gotten a call from the company the day before that they had given her the day off. Not having to go to work, Melissa had dressed herself comfortably in a blue tanktop, black tight-fitting shorts, and her favorite black flip-flops. She knew how she was going to spend her free day.

"Today's the day," she said.

She looked downward, towards the ground, and saw a rather large black beetle crawling past her feet.

Melissa knelt down over it. "Why, hello there. How are you doing today?"

The bug did not pay her any mind.

"I remember when I used to step on you guys all the time, before they came along." She shook her head. "Sorry, but I've gotten bored with you guys. You're not fun anymore." She smiled. "I bet you're disappointed."

The beetle merely walked further away from her.

"...Aw, what the hell. One more wouldn't hurt."

Melissa stood upright, and then lifted her foot over the bug, before bringing it down on top of it. She heard and felt its hard shell being destroyed underneath her sandal. She then twisted her foot to grind the poor insect into the dirt.

"Nope. Not satisfying anymore." She sighed is disappointment. "...Welp. Gotta get things set up."

She then turned around and walked back inside of her house through the back door.

~~~

The Refugees gathered around Bruce in a circle. They all seems apprehensive, yet excited.

"Refugees!!" Bruce vehemently yelled out. "Today's the day! The day we go out there and give them what we're made of!"

Bruce turned towards Sheryl, who stood in the crowd to the left of him. "Are you ready to take down your former friends?"

Sheryl scoffed. "Friends? They're no friends of mine! I'm going to choke the life out of as many of them as I can!"

Bruce smiled. "Good. Leave the leader to me! You all deal with the rest of 'em! Got it?!"

"YEAH!!" The crowd shouted.

Bruce threw his fist into the air. "Then let's go out there and kick some Homeless ass!"

~~~

The Homeless stood in columns, each one facing Reeve. They were all anxious over the battle that was about to take place.

"...We spent days training," Reeve said, "and now it's time to see just how worth it it was!"

He brought his fist to his chest. "We're going to show them that we're not filthy pushovers! We're going to stomp down each one of them like Melissa did to many of us! We will beat them so mercilessly that even their ancestors in the 12th century will feel it!"

The Homeless all started to cheer.

"Because we're the Homeless, dammit! We had to fight for our lives every day on the streets! We weathered the elements and have gone days without food! We will not be that easily beaten by a bunch of snot-nosed brats!"

The cheering became louder.

"Now, when we go out there, I want you all to take care of the other Refugees and leave the leader to me! I will easily defeat him and join you all in the battle! Got it?!"

The Homeless shouted in agreement.

Reeve nodded. "Great! Now, let's get ready to kick some asses!"

"There," Melissa said as she stood upright.

Using the same kind of styrofoam she used for the mantis battle last week, she had constructed a rather large ring in the middle of her bedroom floor. There was a sheet of cardboard standing in the middle, seperating the two sides of the ring. On each side were a few sewing needles that she had decided to let the tiny people use.

No doubt that this war would be very interesting to watch. Not until recently did she ever consider doing something like this. She prefered to be the one killing off these Bugmen, not letting them slaughter each other.

However, she had plans for the future. Her future. She would have to move out of this small town in Southern California, and unfortunately, she would not be able to bring any of those Bugmen with her. Before that happened, she would have to wash her hands of these tiny pests.

But that was still a few months away. She still had time to play with them, but at least now, after this war, she would probably not have too many of them left to deal with. It would make managing them a lot easier.

So, in the end, both her and the Bugmen would benefit from this battle.

"Time to get my little warriors out here."

Melissa then headed for her back closet, and then walked inside. She made her way to the far back, where the glass cages were contained. The tiny prisoners inside stared at her, each one with seemingly anticipation and eagerness.

"Are you all ready?" Melissa asked with a smile. "I'm sure you all have been waiting for this, haven't you?"

They let out a loud cheer.

"Good! Let's get you all out there!"

Melissa walked to the cage to her left, the "Refugee" cage, and pulled it slightly from the small chest that it was sitting on, before placing her hands underneath to pick it up and carry it out of the closet. Once she was back in her bedroom, she placed the cage onto the floor and began to pick out each of the inhabitants from inside of it and place them inside of the right side of the foam ring.

After setting the last of the Refugees into the ring, she went back inside of the closet and grabbed the second cage, the "Homeless" one, and brought it outside into her room. Then, she began to pluck out each of the tiny people inside and place them on the left side of the ring.

As she did so, she counted how many of the Homeless there were compared to the Refugees: 35 to 16, just as she had planned it before. It would be very interesting indeed to see how her more prized prisoners would overcome the odds that had been set against them.

"Now that you all are out here," Melissa said, "Let me explain the rules."

"Rules?!" Bruce yelled out to her. "We don't need any rules for this!"

"Is that so?" She looked at each of the sides. "Well, I guess having only guys fight guys, and girls fight girls would really put you all at a disadvantage, wouldn't it?"

"Seperation of the sexes?" Reeve said. "Then how would we deal with the traitor?!"

Melissa sighed. "Fine. Fight whoever you want. I just don't want to see any of the guys ganging up on a girl. That shit wouldn't be right."

"Anyway," she continued, "You have sewing needles to use, though there's only a few of them, so you all have to decide who gets one and who doesn't. I'll give you an hour... maybe an hour and a half, to see how much damage you can do to the other side. The winning side will be determined by how many people are left compared to how many they started with."

"So, if the Refugees had 9 people left alive, but the Homeless had 11, the Refugees would still win, because they only lost 8 people, as opposed to the Homeless who lost 24." Melissa smiled. "Got it?"

"You're making this sound like one of your games," Reeve said.

Melissa laughed. "That's 'cause it is! Except this time I'm doing something you all want to do as well! See?"

She walked towards the ring and knelt down, and placed her hand on the standing sheet of cardboard.

"As soon as I pull this thing up," Melissa said, "the fight is on. Ready...?"

As soon as she said "Ready", many of the people on both sides braced themselves, as if they would make a sprint towards the other side as soon as they saw their opponents' feet under the rising cardboard.

Melissa lifted the cardboard from the ring. "...GO!!"

As expected, many of the tiny captives made a mad dash towards each other, seemingly ignoring the needles behind them. The remaining people rushed for the needles, grabbed them, and then also joined their comrades in the battle.

Melissa walked to her bed and sat down, and began to watch her Bugmen started to pummel each other.

~~~

Thomas stood in front of Sayuko's bedroom window, looking outside towards the sky. At his request, Sayuko had turned her television off before she left, leaving Thomas with a quiet room, to be alone with his thoughts.

"I wish I could go outside," Thomas said to himself. "I could use a nice walk."

Thomas turned and looked around the room. He was confined to this desk, and a fall from here would not be pleasant at all. Plus, he would be left with no way of getting back to the desk until Sayuko came home. However, at the very least, he could explore her house; Sayuko's bedroom was the only room he had seen in her house. He didn't even know what it looked like on the outside. Of course, with him wandering the house, it would put him at risk of accidently being crushed to death by Sayuko, something he wanted to avoid at all costs, for both his sake and Sayuko's sake.

Therefore, he had no choice but to remain here, on the safe desk.

He decided to think about something else.

"Melissa's probably at work now. I guess the others are doing... whatever."

Thomas smiled. "Shawn's probably taking command or lecturing someone. Dawson's probably licking someone's toes. Carlos... is just being Carlos. And Gloria could be carrying my child."

The thought of Gloria possibly being pregnant never left his head. It was something that he most certainly had to deal with. However, what would it mean for him and Sayuko? After all, he already told her that he and Gloria were not in a relationship, but if they did manage to free the others from Melissa's clutches, how would Sayuko handle him being a father to another woman's child? Would she feel betrayed? Thomas did not want to deny this child, but he also did not want to destroy everything that he had worked for with Sayuko.

It almost made him wish that Mr. Cruz did not answer Sayuko's calls, so that both of them could spend as much time together as possible, even in his current state.

"...You selfish bastard."

No... This was not just about his friends. This was also about Taro, as well as Claudia and Rebecca. Thomas still was not completely sure what it was that caused Melissa to turn on her family, but he did know that they did not deserve what they got from her. As for Taro, he knew that Sayuko would do anything to get him back. Even kill, which had been proven countless times already.

If anything, rescuing Taro would put Sayuko's mind at ease. That alone was reason enough to get him back where he belongs. Claudia, as nice as she was, would have to administer some punishment of some kind for what Melissa had been doing for the past several months.

As for Bruce... As much as Thomas hated to do so, even Bruce would have to be restored to his original size. It was what Claudia would want, even if he was just using her to regain his true stature. Unfortunately for her, Thomas knew that Bruce would just leave her as soon as he got the chance, not caring about the heart he trampled on.

Thomas looked back towards the window.

"It is a nice day out there," he said. "I wish the others could see this. Hopefully they're alright, and not in any danger."

~~~

This battle was much like one fought by armies of two opposing countries on an open plain while being watched by God. Except the two armies were not countries but tiny prisoners; the open plain was just Melissa's room; and God was Melissa.

Dawson ran through the carnage that surrounded him. He had been attacked twice by Homeless males, but he easily subdued them with a few kicks. With only one arm, kicking was pretty much the only thing he had in the way of offense.

He looked around himself as he ran. Armed with the needles, many of the Refugees were managing to fend off their Homeless assailants, despite being outnumbered. However, he did see a few of his male comrades being overwhelmed and taken down. He pretended to not notice. He had one thing on his mind.

He had to find Jenna. Even if Melissa had kept the sex seperation rule, Jenna would still be in for a hard time, as she was a rather small girl. No doubt that without those restrictions this would be her nightmare.

"Dawson!!"

Dawson pretended to not hear his name being called.

"I need help!"

It was a male voice, so he did not pay it too much mind. The main thing on his mind was Jenna.

~~~

Bruce and Reeve were locked in battle. Each one had gotten in quite a few blows on each other already, but they were not phased by it at all. With this opportunity being placed in front of them, they were both determined to take full advantage of it.

Bruce threw a punch at Reeve's face, which collided with his cheek. Reeve recoiled for a moment, before responding with a punch of his own, which hit Bruce right in the nose.

Bruce could feel the moist sensation of the blood coming down his nostrils, but he did not care. He threw another punch, which Reeve dodged by ducking underneath the approaching fist. As Bruce looked downward to assess the situation, he was met by an uppercut to his chin. Bruce stumbled backwards and nearly lost his balance as he nursed his aching jaw.

Reeve gave him no time to rest, as he dashed towards him and delivered a kick to his chest. Bruce clutched his chest in pain, and as a result of doing so, Reeve kicked him again, this time in the face. This impact knocked Bruce to the floor, falling on his buttocks.

Reeve took what looked like a fighting stance as he stood over him.

"You're not so tough!" he confidently said. "I don't see what the big fuss was about!"

Bruce wiped the blood that the trickling out from the corner of his mouth with his fist. He then use the same fist to punch Reeve in the gut. As Reeve gasped and backed away, Bruce stood back up and began to punch him repeatedly in the face and head, before kicking him in the chest. Remarkably, despite being such a hard kick, Reeve retained his balance. Bruce attempted to kick him again, but Reeve caught his leg before his foot made any impact with his body.

Bruce tried to break free from his grip, but it proved to be too strong. With his leg, Reeve threw Bruce to the floor to his side. He fell onto his stomach, and tried to get back up, but at that point, Reeve began to stomp on his back repeatedly. With his boots, each impact sent a shock of pain up his spine.

He cursed himself.

He underestimated the Homeless leader.

~~~

Shawn and Carlos had their backs against the foam ring, surrounded by about 7 Homeless. They were doing their best to fend them off, a task made easier with the needle that Shawn was armed with. As one of the Homeless males approached him, Shawn shoved him backward, pushing him well within adequate striking distance with his needle.

Shawn thrusted it forward, piercing through that man. As he pulled the needle out of his body, the man fell backward and fell onto the floor, clutching his chest and breathing heavily. The other Homeless looked with shock and concern over their face. With their attention briefly off of them, Carlos grabbed one of the males by the shoulder and spun him around, then punched him in the face.

With the Homeless' attention back on the Refugees, they began to attack again. Three of them started to pummel Carlos, while the remaining two tried to wrestle the needle out of Shawn's hands.

Shawn kicked one of the men in his groin, and as expected, he fell over in pain while holding his ailing genitalia. He then shoved the other man, causing him to lose the grip of the needle. Now with the Homeless' grip free of his weapon, Shawn slashed it towards the second man, slicing a gash clean through his chest. The man fell facedown to the floor and laid in his evergrowing poll of blood.

Turning his attention to Carlos, who was being overwhelmed by the three Homeless who had ganged up on him. Shawn thrust the needle into the side of a female assailant, who yelped in pain as Shawn tried to push the needle deeper into her body. Noticing this, the other two males quickly rushed to her aid and tried to pull the needle out of her. With those two against Shawn by himself, he was surely losing this show of strength.

Seconds later, Carlos rose from behind them, and punched the two men in the back of their heads. Both of them fell to the floor, unconscious. Shawn pulled the needle out of the body of the woman, before she was kicked in the back by Carlos and knocked to the floor.

Shawn looked at each of the fallen Homeless and sighed.

"I can't believe we have to do this," he said in contempt.

"You don't want to?" Carlos asked.

"Not really. ...But if I want to live, then I don't really have a choice."

"Hmm."

The two dashed away from the area, and headed back towards the fray.

As they ran, Shawn noticed a motionless body to his side laying in a poll of blood, a female body. He quickly turned in that direction and headed for it, with Carlos soon following closely behind.

As they reached it, Shawn knelt down and examined it. She had a hole clean through her body. He then shook his head in grief.

"Beatrix."

Carlos grunted. "Fuckin' shit."

Shawn could feel that his eyes were starting to water, but now was not the time for crying. He took a deep breath, wiped his eyes, and stood up and faced Carlos.

"Let's go try to save as many of us as we can," he said.

Carlos nodded in agreement, and the two dashed back into the battle.

~~~

Armed with a sewing needle, Sheryl ran through this now bloody battlefield. Several of her old comrades had already fallen, but a few of the Refugees had also been bested.

Could the side that she was currently affiliated with stand to lose any more people?

Two Homeless, a male and a female, suddenly stepped into her path. She stopped in her tracks as she faced the angry obstructions.

She sighed. "Again?"

"You traitor bitch," the female said.

"Yeah?" Sheryl casually said. "What's your point?"

Both of the Homeless dashed towards her. She prepared her needle and took a fighting stance as they neared her. The female attempted to punch her, but she nimbly dodged out of the way and used her needle to stab her in her back.

Despite this, as she pulled the needle out, the woman remarkably stood her ground and tried to punch her again. She dodged again, but soon found her arms being grabbed by the man. He forced the needle out of her grip, causing it to fall to the floor, as he held her arms behind her body and against his chest. The woman then began to repeatedly punch her in the chest. Each fist into her gut caused her to gasp out a breath of air from her lungs.

The woman in front her her then walked towards her dropped needle and picked it up. With a sadistic look on her face, she brandished the needle and looked as if she was preparing to run both her and her comrad through with it.

Sheryl did not wait for her to attempt this. Using the support of the man holding her, she lifted both of her legs into the air and kicked the woman in the face with both of her feet. She dropped the needle as she recoiled back. The man holding her then released her, and attempted to slap her across the face. She dodged his open palm, and then kicked him in the chest.

She then rushed to her needle and grabbed it off of the floor, and then stabbed the man in the forehead with it. The man, now motionless, fell to the floor as she pulled the needle out of his head. She then turned her attention to the woman... as well as the two more Homeless who were dashing towards her.

Sheryl stabbed the woman again, this time causing her to fall to the floor. The newly arriving Homeless, two males, wasted no time in assaulting her, punching and kicking her in the chest and back. Between the attacks, she managed to pierce one of the males through his heart, killing him instantly.

The other man pushed her to the floor, and prepared to stomp her, but using the needle, she stabbed him in the groin before he got the chance. He staggered back as blood started to pour down his legs. Sheryl stood back up and stabbed this man through the heart as well. The man then fell over, dead.

That was the second time her former comrades had ganged up on her. She did a good job of enduring their assaults so far, but how long could she hold out? Furthermore, why were her new "allies" not coming to her aid like they were for each other? Actually, she knew the answer to that... They still did not fully trust or like her.

Suddenly, Sheryl was pushed to the floor. She turned around to see who it was that had attacked her.

Instead, she saw a large Black man being stabbed through his chest from behind by one of the Homeless who also wielded a needle. The needle came clean out of the other side of the man's body.

She gasped as she realized who this man was: Marcus, her old confidant. He had saved her from a sneak attack from behind, though he used his body as a shield to protect her.

Using the last of his strength, Marcus elbowed the man in the face, and attempted to pull the needle out of his body. The man ignored Marcus and charged towards Sheryl. She quickly stood up and kicked the man in the face, before thrusting her needle through his neck. The man fell to the floor, struggling to keep what was left of his life as blood spilled from the hole in his neck.

Sheryl then rushed to Marcus, who had succeed in pulling the needle out of his back, and held him as he struggled to stand.

"Marcus!" she said in a worried tone. "Are you alright?"

Marcus smiled. "...I never lost faith in you."

"Answer the question!" She yelled.

"I... never did like Reeve. He was a bastard. You were a much better leader than he was..."

"I know that! Stop talking like that!"

"I don't care what... your reasons are... but you... have to... live through this..."

"Marcus!"

"...Bye..."

Marcus then fell towards the floor, taking Sheryl with him.

"Marcus?" Sheryl called as she shook his body. "Hey!"

His breathing seemed to slow down.

"Dammit, Marcus!" She became frantic. "You can't die!"

Unfortunately, that was exactly what he seemed to do, right in front of Sheryl's eyes.

~~~

Dawson had finally found Jenna. She was surrounded by a few of the Homeless females, and despite wielding a needle, she seemed a bit overwhelmed. Dawson contemplated whether or not he wanted to actually beat up these women just to get to Jenna. Though his mind was quickly made up.

"HANG ON, JENNA!!" Dawson yelled. "I'M COMING!!"

This sudden outburst seemed to take Jenna by surprise, as she briefly looked towards the source of his voice, and her mouth dropped as soon as she realized who it was.

Dawson dashed towards her and, with his only remaining arm, shoved each of the Homeless women aside. Using this opportunity, Jenna slashed at each of them, cutting through their skin and causing them to fall to the floor in pain.

"You..." Jenna said. "I didn't need your help!"

"Yes you did," Dawson said. "Admit it."

Jenna shook her head, and began to walk away from him. She then seemed to step in a blood puddle left behind by one of the women who was attacking her. She lifted her foot quickly, and looked at the blood that was now dripping from the sole of her bare foot.

"Yuck!" she said in disgust. "I wish I had my shoes!"

Dawson looked towards her foot, and then towards one of the fallen women. Without wasting a moment, he knelt down to her and pulled off her dirty brown boots.

"Jenna."

As Jenna turned towards him, he tossed each of the shoes towards her, which both landed near her feet.

"Are you kidding me?!" she said. "I'm not wearing these!"

Dawson stood upright. "If you want shoes so badly, you don't have a choice, do you?"

Jenna looked towards him with a repulsed look on her face, and then towards the shoes. She sighed heavily and quickly placed her feet into both of the shoes. She knelt down so that she could pull the shoes tightly onto her feet with her hands.

"Happy?" She asked as she rose back up.

"Oddly yes," Dawson answered.

Jenna grunted, and began to walk away from him. Dawson smiled, and followed her as she walked through the fallen bodies of the Homeless... and a few Refugees as well.

~~~

Leaving behind her deceased rescuer, Sheryl ran towards the center of the ring, where Bruce and Reeve were fighting. Despite his words, and her words days before, she felt that she had to at least get a few hits in on the man who usurped her position.

However, three Homeless rushed into her path, one of whom wielded a needle. She had seen them attack and kill two of the Refugees just minutes before, a male and a female. Sheryl stopped and prepared herself to face them.

"Just who we were lookin' for!" a taller male said.

"Is that right?" Sheryl said. "And what do you intend to do?"

Without another word, the three began to charge towards her. Sheryl turned around and began to run away from them. With the three chasing her, she ran through the ring, in a bit of a circle, though not one too obvious.

Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. The female of the group was right behind her. She used her needle to stab her in her chest, and then kicked her off of the pin. The other two men were a bit further away.

Sheryl smiled. Her plan had worked; the three all ran at different speeds, so she would use that to her advantage by running away from them, and once there was enough space between them, she would take them out one at a time.

As the man with the needle neared her, she took up running again. A minute later, she stopped again and faced the man with the needle. She ran towards him and tried to thrust her needle into his chest, but he dodged her attack and nicked her clothes with his weapon.

She cursed herself, as she did not want to spend too much time on him and let the second man catch up to them. She ran behind the man and kicked in the back of his knee, knocking him off balance. She then ran her pin through his back.

Upon seeing this, the second man stopped dead in his tracks, turned around, and ran away from her.

"Coward!" she yelled out towards him, before pulling her weapon from the man's body, and then kicking him to the floor.

~~~

Bruce had managed to turn the tide of the battle. Now holding Reeve over his head, he threw him to the floor with as much strength he had. As Reeve struggled on the floor, Bruce began to kick him in the chest.

"Not so tough now, are you?!" Bruce taunted.

Suddenly, Reeve grabbed Bruce's foot before it made any contact with his body, and pulled him off of his feet, and causing him to fall down to the floor.

Both quickly stood up and went at each other again, unleashing a flurry of punches onto each other's already battered, bruised, and bloodied faces.

Reeve punched Bruce in the gut.

Bruce responded with a kick to the jaw.

Reeve charged towards Bruce and tackled him.

Bruce pushed Reeve off of him, and then grabbed his neck and began to throttle him. Reeve tried to pull his mighty hands from his neck, but they seemed to be too strong for him. As his hands began to fall limp, Bruce believed that he would finally succeed in choking the life out of his rival.

"Okay, everyone! Time's up!"

~~~

Shawn and Carlos watched as Melissa stood from her bed and walked towards the ring. Had it truly been an hour already? It did not feel like it at all.

"Wow!" Melissa said as she looked throughout the ring that was littered with the bodies of dead and half-dead people. "You all really did beat the shit out of each other!"

Shawn looked to his left, and saw Dawson and Jenna approaching them.

"Glad to see that you two are still alive," Shawn said as they reached them.

"Of course!" Dawson exclaimed. "There's no way I'm going to die here!"

"Don't get too overconfident, little man," Melissa said. "I still have to count who's left."

The four looked up towards her in nervousness and anticipation, as she started to count how many people were left alive in the ring.

"There's you four, your leader, that woman, and him."

"'Him'?" Dawson asked.

"Yeah. Him." Melissa pointed to the right of the group.

They looked in that direction, and saw Matt staggering towards them. His face and body was bloodied, and he seemed to be struggling to even stay on his feet. However, as he neared, they could see that he had a grin of satisfaction on his face.

"Matt!" Dawson called out, before rushing toward him and helping him walk back to the group.

"Anyway, that's seven on your side," Melisa said. "Now, for the other side... ...Oooh... I can see that it's not good for you guys at all."

"So... we won?" Carlos asked.

Melissa looked around the ring once more. "Looks like it."

"WHHHAATT?!"

Shawn and the others looked behind them, and saw that the Homeless leader had fallen to his knees in disbelief.

"Sorry, but you guys just didn't pull it off," Melissa said.

"God-DAMMIT!!" He exclaimed again.

Melissa kneeled down. "Well, you all get to live another day, and you go on to what I'd like to call the 'Bugman Finals'." She smiled. "You'll know what those are soon enough. Now, time to take you six back in the closet."

She then reached down and plucked Shawn, Carlos, Jenna, Dawson, and Matt from the floor and then stood up and walked to one of the glass cages. Once there, she placed them inside. Then, she went back to the ring, and picked out Sheryl and brought her into the cage as well. She then picked out the sewing needles that they had with them, and dropped them to the floor.

Afterwards, she picked up the entire cage and carried it back into her closet. Once she was in the back area, she placed the cage back into the spot that it was in before.

"You guys won," Melissa said with a smile. "Celebrate."

"What about Bruce?" Shawn asked.

"He's going back in my special place. Don't worry about him."

She gave them one last smile, before she slid her hanging clothes back into place, and walked out of the closet.

"Celebrate?!" Jenna said in contempt. "How the hell are we supposed to celebrate?! Over half of us have been killed!!"

"That's true," Carlos said. "This really is a bittersweet victory."

"That bitch..."

Shawn folded his arms. "I think she rigged this 'war', anyway."

The others turned to face him.

"Think about it. There really was no way for the Homeless to win under the guidelines that she set. They had to either keep most of their people alive, or leave us with, like, three."

"I suppose you're right," Sheryl said. "But at least we got to go at those pigs. I really enjoyed that, even if I got my ass kick a few times." She sighed. "A shame that a friend of mine had to be among the casualties..."

The others stared at her for a few seconds.

Dawson turned towards Matt, whom he was still supporting with his arm over his shoulders.

"What do you think, Matt?" He asked.

No answer.

"Matt?"

Still nothing.

Dawson gasped. "Oh no..."

He kneeled to the floor and brought matt down with him. He held him in his arm and shook him a little. Shawn, Jenna, Carlos, and Sheryl surrounded the two, each one with a worried look on their faces.

"Matt!" Dawson called. "Hey!"

Matt slowly opened his eyes.

"Good, you're alive," Dawson said as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God..."

"Dawson..." Matt softly called out.

"What is it?" Dawson asked.

"...If you ever get out of here... Tell Milly that I love her..." A tear streamed down Matt's face. "...And that I'm... sorry..."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Dawson exclaimed. "You're getting out with us!"

Matt closed his eyes again, and his body then hung limp.

"Hey! Matt!" Dawson called again in a much more frantic tone. "Wake up!"

Shawn covered his mouth with his hand, as he felt his eyes start to water. He looked towards Jenna, who also seemed close to tears. As she looked at Matt's body, she gasped as if she realized something.

"He's bleeding out!" Jenna said.

Dawson looked up towards her. "What?!" He then look at Matt's chest, and saw that blood was being pumped through a cut in his body at an alarming rate.

"Shit!" Dawson exclaimed as he tried to apply pressure to the gash to restrain the bleeding. "Matt, c'mon! Don't die! Don't let Milly and your kids down! Please!"

No response.

"Matt..." Dawson called one last time in a depressed tone.

"Dawson..." Carlos called in concern. "He's gone..."

"No he's not!" Dawson snapped. "He's not! He's-"

"Dawson!" Carlos said again.

Dawson stared at Carlos with a look of pure agony on his face, and then turned back towards the lifeless Matt below him.

Then, he turned his head upward and let out a loud scream.

~~~

Bruce walked into the dollhouse in the basement of Melissa's house. After spending several days in that cold cage, he found it nice to finally be back in this warm house, with a decent bead and warm food.

Claudia ran into the front hallway. "Welcome back, Bruc-" She gasped as she brought her hand to her mouth. "Oh my goodness! What happened to your face?!"

Bruce pointed towards his face. "What, this?" He chuckled. "This is nothing! The swelling should go away in a few days! Now, I just need some rest."

"Oh... Okay, dear."

Bruce walked past the concerned Claudia, and then made his way up the plastic stairs, onto the second floor, and then headed for the master bedroom. Once there, he plopped himself onto the bed, and, in a matter of minutes, was fast asleep.

~~~

Thomas heard the front door open and close, and then footsteps as they made their way up the stairs. Within seconds, Sayuko walked into the room.

"I'm back," she said.

"I see that," Thomas responded.

Sayuko smiled at him. Then, she placed her bookbag onto her bed and unzipped it. She then pulled out a sheet of paper, and turned towards Thomas to show him. It had several mathematic problems on it, with answers written in Sayuko's handwriting. However, what stood out was the marking at the top of the paper: In red ink was the number 87.

"I passed," Sayuko said.

With these test results, Thomas became excited. "That's great! You did wonderful, Sayu!"

"I know," she said. "And it was all thanks to you. Arigato, Thoma-kun. I mean it from the bottom of my heart."

Thomas blushed. "It was nothing. Just me helping out a friend."

"You're so modest, Thoma-kun."

"Yeah, I know... It's just the way I am, I guess."

"Well, I like you the way you are, so don't change."

"I won't."

Sayuko looked towards the window. "I was right."

"About what?" Thomas asked.

"Today was a nice day."

Thomas stared at her for a few seconds, before also turning towards the window. The deep blue sky outside had quite a few white clouds in it. Watching the clouds pass by seemed to calm him even more than he already was before.

"A nice day indeed," Thomas said.

~~~

Reeve watched in frustration from Melissa's desk as she snuffed out the last remaining Homeless underneath her foot. There was nothing he could do. They only had 9 people left when things were all said and done. They lost, and that was that. Now on his mind was what would become of him. Was he going to be killed as well?

Melissa walked towards him. "Now, it's your turn."

"What are you going to do?" he asked. "Squash me like a roach or something, like you did to the rest of my people?"

Melissa shook her head. "Mm-Mmm. I have something else planned for you."

She then wrapped her fingers around him as she grabbed him in her hand. He felt himself being carried somewhere, though he had no clue as to what the destination was.

Less than a minute later, he was released onto a hard surface. He looked around. From the looks of things, he seemed to be in the kitchen. He looked onto what he had been set on. It was covered with a kind of thin sheet, though he could feel that there was some kind of metal underneath.

"What is this?" Reeve asked.

"Your punishment," Melissa answered as she reached down for something out of sight.

"What do you-"

Suddenly, Reeve's mouth dropped and at the same time his heart sank, as he saw Melissa pull up what she was reaching for: an iron, one that already seemed to be hot.

Reeve stood up in fear. "What are you doing?!"

Melissa did not answer. At least, not verbally. Instead, she moved the iron towards him. Reeve wasted no time and began to run as fast as he could from this menacing appliance.

Unfortunately, it was just too big and too fast. Extremely hot steam shot out from the iron and onto him, which severely burned his skin. He screamed in pain as he fell down to what he now assumed was a large ironing board. He looked upward and saw the iron coming down on him, before Melissa softly rested it onto his body.

He could feel the iron burning the flesh on his body, and literally cooking him alive.

A taste of hell before the real thing.