The Lost Part 3

Chapter 13:
Drip, drip drip...

The sounds of rain pounding on metal pipes resonated throughout the tunnel. Jacob stood on the stairs, gazing out at the location where his father had been alive two weeks ago. There were still blood drops on the ground, and Jacob stared at them, wondering if they had belonged to Isaac, drops of his life. He took a hesitant step off the stairs, unable to deny anymore that he was scared and probably shouldn't be doing this. Seeing the blood, though, reignited his desire to find Antonio. To give himself a better, less selfish reason for killing him, Jacob told himself that it would stop Antonio from hurting anyone else. Yes, that was why he was doing this. He was definitely not doing it for revenge and revenge alone.

Remembering that it had taken a while in a car, Jacob wondered how he could get to the base on foot faster than a car. He came to the conclusion that that was impossible, as he wasn't Sonic. He would jog there as fast as he could. That would take forever, but it was all he could do. There was no way he would steal someone's bike or scooter, so he stretched his legs and began to run slowly. He had to conserve his energy. Thank goodness he brought granola bars.

Clang!

Jacob stopped at the sound and looked behind him. A can was rolling slowly on the ground, obviously dropped there by someone. Great. He decided to ignore it, not wanting to waste time investigating who would throw a can in here. He kept to the side of the tunnel in case anyone came barreling down in a car. The last thing he wanted was to become a bloody, smushed human pancake.

Eventually he came across a dark spot of vital liquid from when the creature had killed some random nameless background dude. It was here where another ominous, loud crash sounded through the tunnel. Jacob actually paused here, looking around again. That sound hadn't come from someone throwing a can. In fact, it hadn't even sounded like a can. The noise had clearly come from a much larger metal object.

After concluding that nothing was there, Jacob turned around... to see a woman standing right behind him. Jacob screamed and threw his backpack at her. She stepped out of the way, and it thudded on the ground. The woman raised an eyebrow at Jacob.

"Seriously?" she said.

"I need to go somewhere!" Jacob yelled, grabbing the backpack and starting to run. The woman sighed impatiently and grabbed his arm. Jacob stumbled, dropping his backpack.

"I'm not going to harm you," the woman said. "I actually didn't even know someone was in here."

Jacob refused to say another word to this person, in case she might be one of Antonio's minions. After all, who else would be in the tunnel. If he resisted, she might take him to Antonio, which was what he wanted.

"What were you doing?" the woman asked. Jacob pursed his lips, willing himself not to make a snarky remark. "Not going to say anything?"

Yes, he wasn't. He stared into one of the lights above, not caring that it hurt his eyes. Then he noticed the bag the woman was carrying. It contained lots of stuff, given that it was bulging out like it was too full. Curiosity took his eyes off the light and onto the bag. What would she be carrying down this tunnel that was so important?

"It's classified stuff," the woman said when she saw him looking at the bag. "Lost kids aren't supposed to know what is inside."

A lost kid? Jacob felt indignant. "I'm not a lost kid," he snapped like a lost kid.

"Finally, some noise." The woman looked around. "We better hurry to the entrance. It might catch up to us at any moment."

It? Jacob checked behind the woman. Nothing moved in the distance, nor did anything move around them. Was there really something else in here, besides the two of them? It wouldn't be hard to avoid cars, so that must not be what the woman was worried about.

Another loud clang reverberated through the tunnel, sounding closer than before. Fear entered the woman's eyes, and she ran the way Jacob had come. Despite the fact that he, too, was scared, Jacob continued to walk in the direction of Antonio's base, determined to not let anything stop him. Whatever the woman was so scared of, he would get by it. It was probably nothing, just some weird paranoia.

Then out of nowhere a light flashed in his face, and he fell to the ground screaming and writhing in pain. His body felt like it was on fire, and he covered his eyes, which felt like they were melting out of their sockets. His skin crawled, and a liquidy substance ran over it. Jacob curled in on himself, trying to close his eyes, but they wouldn't close. The light was blinding, and he couldn't protect his eyes. Something grabbed his shirt and dragged him down the tunnel. Tears ran down Jacob's face, a result of his body trying to protect his eyes. They fell to the ground and sank into it as he was taken away to be the last trace of him in the tunnel.

Chapter 14:
The rock hit the lake with a loud splash and sank under. Yana stared after it, breathing heavily. After leaving Ed in the backyard, she had come to the lake to get any extra emotions out. Her anger had only grown with regret for snapping at him, though, so she had to get that out of her now, too. The lake shone in the sun, and it lapped peacefully at the shore. Yana envied its calm, serene nature. If only her mind could be like that. If only all their minds could be like that. Everyone was stressed, mad, or sad about something. it was getting sickening to be in that air for long.

She sat down, the dirt crunching under her shoes. Closing her eyes, she steadied her breathing, listening to the waves of the lake. They were loud enough to completely focus on them, so she did, imagining herself floating on them. Her muscles relaxed, but she had to open her eyes as she was starting to feel tired. This usually happened when she tried to calm herself down. She just fell asleep.

Leaves crunched under feet behind her. She turned her head to see her mom walking up to her. She was frowning, worry creasing her face.

A chill went down Yana's spine. "What happened?" she asked, instinctively inferring that something bad had occurred. That was probably a terrible sign of how horrible their lives had become. That thought just made it worse.

"Jacob, Margie, Amethyst, Ed, and Malcolm are missing," Victoria said. "Your dad and I are into the city to try and find them."

"Why would they be in the city?"

"It's better to look there than in the forest," her mom replied. "They might have just decided to wander around there."

But judging from the look on her face, Yana guessed she thought they had gone to the tunnel. Her stomach twisted.

"Can I come?" she asked, now eager for something else to do.

"No." Victoria shook her head. "It's better for you to stay here."

Without waiting for an argument, since that usually happened with these kids, she left. Yana bit her lip, unable to stop the storm of apprehension and fear forming in her brain. Something in her gut was telling her that bad things were happening. She took off her glasses and rubbed the lenses with her shirt, wondering why Margie, Amethyst, Malcolm, and Ed had disappeared. Jacob she understood as he had been pretty bent on being a problem. The others, though, were as equally subdued and stressed as the rest of them, so why would they go missing? Amethyst and Margie had been the most vocal about not doing anything for fear of anyone else dying. They would never join Jacob on some foolish quest to go murder someone.

As much as her gut urged her to go after her parents, the logical part of her mind refused. Yana was sick of going after people, risking everything to save them only for someone to die. It happened twice, after all. There was no point in going out. Putting her glasses back on, she headed up the trail to the house. Her parents' car was driving away on the dirt road, but her parents didn't see her waving from the house through the mirrors.

The house seemed colder and unfriendly without anyone else inside. Sighing, Yana sat down on the couch, picking at the stitches on her sweatpants. It was pretty cold for a spring day, and the house was colder due to the tile and wood being mean and sucking the warmth up. At least they had tea. Deciding that would be nice, Yana got up from the couch and restlessly walked to the kitchen. She opened a cabinet and took out the tea. Turning to look at the table, she had to stifle a gasp.

There was blood on the floor. Only drops, but still blood. Quite unsettling. Yana set the teabags down and went over to examine it. Someone- or something- had been injured. Had it been her friends? Had something taken them? Was this blood why her mother had looked so scared?

You're here for tea, Yana, not mysteries, she told herself strictly. Remember, you can't do anything. So she grabbed a teacup and put the tea in the microwave. Leaning against the counter, she began to wonder what on earth she could do now. Napping was off the table as she was literally making tea, so what could she do? What should she do? How could she take her mind off the disappearance of her friends? Was she going to have to wait here all by herself for however long it took to find them? But what if it took hours?

Oh heck no. Yana couldn't stand being stuck here all by herself with nothing to do for hours. There was nothing interesting to read. There was nothing interesting to do. Was she doomed to die of boredom?

Resting her head in her hands while groaning in frustration, she slumped her shoulders. Life sucked. Like, really, really badly.

For several hours she wandered through the house. She was so bored she played a card game with a broken vase. She won, but it only increased her impatience and boredom. Lying on the couch, facedown, she turned on her phone and checked the time.

It had been at least six hours. SIX HOURS. How had it been that long? No wonder she felt like she was going to die or go insane!

"What's taking them so long?" she grumbled angrily, pulling up the text app. No Wi-Fi or not, she could still text her parents. Where are you, she typed out furiously, making sure to add a few mad emojis.

Ten minutes later, there was no response. Her foot tapping fast against the floor, Yana turned off her phone and decided she was going to take no more. She would go out and try to find everyone else and actually do something useful. She put on her shoes and headed out the door, following the dirt road her parents had driven away on only six hours ago. It was five in the afternoon now, and Yana refused to waste any more time on useless, boring activities.

It was good of her to leave when she did because as she was going, something was creeping into the house to get her just at that moment.




Chapter 15:
For the first time in her life, Yana saw the city of Brigadiero Superior empty. There were no cars, no people walking about. Nothing cut the light inside buildings, and there wasn't any sound. There weren't even birds chirping their beaks off.

Yana walked along a sidewalk on one of the more busy streets in the city. Not that it was busy today. The only thing on the road was a crumbled bag. The city was silent. Unnervingly silent. It was as if everyone had just disappeared. The idea of an entire city just poofing out of existence made Yana's gut twist in fear, but she continued walking.

Near the lab building where the tunnel was, Yana spotted her parents' car parked right in front of the building. They must have assumed the kids had gone into the tunnel. Or at least Jacob had, and the others had followed trying to stop him. That made sense. Yana pulled the handles of the entrance doors, but they didn't budge. The building was locked.

Why had her parents locked it? It would be quicker to leave if they were unlocked. How confusing.

A gun suddenly clicked, and a chill of fear ran down Yana's spine as she felt metal getting pressed to her head. Her throat tightened, and sweat began to form on her palms. A hand touched her shoulder and tightened there, keeping her in place.

"Don't move," said a cold, familiar voice. "Unless you want a bullet in your head."

Breathing heavily, Yana shoved down the instinct to run and stood as still as possible. The person who had caught her forced her to walk down to a black car parked across from the labs. Stopping in front of the passenger door, the person handcuffed her wrists with one hand while keeping the gun pressed to the side of her head. He opened the door and pushed her inside, quickly closing it before she could throw herself out. Yana shook the handcuffs, panicky wondering how to get them off. The person put the gun into his pocket and sat down at the wheel.

This was bad. Now Yana was getting kidnapped. She wondered briefly where her friends and parents were and what they would do if they came back and found her gone.

The car drove deeper into the city, and the core was just as barren and desolate as the outer parts. Yana took a glance at the person sitting in front and wondered with a chill if he was the one responsible for the silence. Since the events of six months ago, Antonio had taken on a sort of mystical, dangerous image in her and her friends' minds. They feared him as they feared the unknown. Antonio was silent, and Yana was surprised by that. He loved to brag, so why was he so quiet?

The car parked in front of a massive stage laid out in front of the mayor's mansion. Yana's stomach flipped when she saw a person tied onto a stick in the middle of the stage. It was the mayor, Jonathan Meyers. His eyes were wide in terror, and he squirmed fretfully as Antonio stepped out of the car. Antonio slowly walked up the stage, clearly enjoying watching Meyers quivering in fear before him.

"We're almost ready to begin," Antonio said calmly. Only his eyes betrayed the hatred he felt for the mayor. "Take one last look around. It'll be the last time you see anything."

Tears ran down Meyers' cheeks. His mouth was uncovered, but he didn't speak. He must have guessed that talking would only end his life sooner. Yana felt a tremor of fear run through her skin as Antonio turned to drag her out of the car. She dug her heels into the ground, trying to stay in place, but Antonio was stronger. He threw her forward, and she landed on the ground. Her breath stirred the dirt below her, and she sat up coughing. Antonio continued to force her to the mansion.

It was dark, all the lights out. Antonio took her to a large sitting room with a large TV. He tossed her onto the couch and shut the door without a word. Yana sat up, breathing heavily. The only light came from the TV, and it illuminated a glass wall behind the couch. Yana squinted to see beyond the glass, but the light from the TV didn't go that far. Whatever was behind this was beyond her line of vision.

Not long after Antonio had left, the doors opened again, and a woman walked in. She carried a tray, and Yana wondered with a shiver what type of horrible objects lay on it. The woman rested the tray on a side table next to the couch and picked one of the objects off it. As it came into the light, Yana saw that it was a ponytail. She lifted an eyebrow, confused as to how that was a torture device. After all, why would this person be here except to torture her? Maybe Antonio wanted to know where her friends were which would mean the torture would be useless because she didn't know.

The woman didn't seem to be interested in talking. She took Yana's hair and tied it up. A frown etched her face, and her lips were pursed. A sign of disapproval or discontent. Yana tapped her fingers, distracting herself as the woman went back to the tray.

"You need to drink this," she said, lifting up a small glass filled with a dark red liquid. "Cooperate, or I will have to force it down your throat." She held out the cup, and Yana obliged to drink it. There wasn't anything she could do to escape.

Cringing at the sharp smell of the liquid, Yana forced herself to drink it and not immediately spit it out. It tasted as bad as it smelled, and she gagged, wondering what it would do to her. Oh no, it could have been poison. Shoot. Was she going to die? Was it going to kill her? She wiped her tongue against her teeth, wanting to get the taste off her tongue.

A vibration sound rang through the air. The woman pulled a phone out of her pocket and typed something. She set it down on the table and met Yana's eyes. Expectation filled the look.

Yana's head began to feel weird, as if it was deflating and becoming as light as a feather. Every other part of her body, though, became numb and heavy. Panic sparked her senses. She couldn't move her limbs! What on earth had that drink been?

"It paralyzes your body," the woman said as if in response to Yana's thoughts. She had gone out and pushed a giant cart, big enough to fit several people, outside the door. "It makes it easier to... move people." She walked back inside and half-carried, half-dragged Yana to the cart.

Sitting slumped against the hard, cold wire of this seemingly-built-from-a-shopping-cart, Yana could only watch the woman go to another door across from the entrance to the TV. She opened it and came back to push the cart to that door. Yana wondered if there were more people inside. How many people had Antonio taken? The entire city? No, that would be impossible.

To Yana's surprise, the woman came out dragging Jacob, Margie, and Amethyst. Like her, they were unable to move aside from breathing and their eyes. So this was where they had disappeared to. The theory that Jacob had run off to find Antonio was true. Her friends were put into the cart beside her, and the woman began to push the cart to the entrance of the mansion. Wait- where were her parents and Ed? The cart bumped on a random piece of glass. Why was there glass on the floor? Sweat dripped down her forehead. How had it become so hot in here?

Jacob had an angry look stuck on his face, and his eyes kept darting from side to side. Amethyst and Margie somehow looked very uncomfortable; there was an awkward air forming around all four of them as none of them could move or speak.

The woman took them down to the stage just outside the doors. Yana's eyes widened when she saw that there were two more people tied to chairs on the stage. It was her parents. She glanced at her friends, and they solemnly met her gaze, sharing her distress and terror. What exactly did Antonio have in store for them? They did not know. Antonio stood next to the mayor, who now had a noose tied around his neck. The woman rolled the cart onto the stage and forced the kids to look at Antonio and the mayor.

"Any last words?" Antonio asked Meyers, deep bitter hatred vibrating through his voice.

"I-I didn't do anything wrong." Meyers' voice shook with tears.

"You took credit for my creations. Don't you agree that's worthy of punishment?" Antonio rested a foot on the stool the mayor stood on.

The look of sheer terror on the mayor's face made Yana's gut flip. How could Antonio be so sick and unfair? Her heart pounded as Antonio pushed the chair out from under the mayor's feet. It flattered to the ground with a loud thud, and the mayor choked as he hung in the air with nothing to keep the noose from pressing into his skin. His hands reached up and clung to the rope, desperately trying to pull it away from his neck. His eyes rolled wildly as blood collected in his face. Antonio watched with a grim, sadistic, small smirk. A grudge of his had finally been repaid.

After a couple long, agonizingly horrifying minutes, Jonathan Meyers stilled, dead. Margie and Amethyst had their eyes closed. Yana felt her stomach lurch, and she realized she might throw up the second her body could move again. Antonio untied the corpse from the stand and threw it off the stage onto the road without a care. He strolled over to Victoria and Alexei, who had become very stiff and pale after realizing they might be about to die in that terrible, cruel way.

Antonio glanced at the woman. "We're going to the hole." He gave Yana's parents a scathing look. "I know the perfect way for them to be executed."

The woman nodded. Antonio pulled Victoria and Alexei, who chained on two rolling chairs, while the woman pushed the cart. Dread washed over Yana now that she realized her parents' death might be happening in a mere few minutes. She looked around at her friends for comfort, relieved to find sympathy in Margie and Amethyst's eyes. Jacob, however, was deep in the murky, angry puddle that his mind now.

The hole Antonio had mentioned was the large ditch right next to a small park barely anyone went to. It was surrounded by a circle of yellow tape to keep people away from it. The only people who went into the ditch were the construction workers hired to fill it in. Why would Antonio be taking them there? It wasn't a very deep pit; it was only fifteen feet deep, and no one had ever killed themselves falling into it.

A section of the yellow tape was cut, and Antonio stopped them there. From here, they could see into the pit. Yana strained her eyes to look down and would have shrieked had her body not been paralyzed.

A crowd of strange, crazy-looking creatures sat on the floor of the ditch. Some were like malformed animals stitched together while others looked fairly normal, although that probably wasn't the case. The creepy part about them wasn't their looks; it was that they sat on the dirt without moving a muscle. It was like they were all statues.

"So sorry to keep you waiting," Antonio called down to the creatures. In unison, their eyes flicked to him. Tonight the kids would have trouble sleeping. Antonio looked at Victoria and Alexei. "I've brought you dinner."

That was when they realized Antonio was going to feed Yana's parents to the creatures alive.

Chapter 16:
No! Yana screamed inside her head.

Antonio had one hand on the rolling chairs already. Victoria and Alexei, paralyzed like the kids, couldn't do anything except watch helplessly as their deaths approached faster and faster by the second.

"This is what happens to people who get in my way," Antonio whispered to them. "But I'm not sorry that I am ending your worthless lives."

His muscles tensed in his hand as he prepared to shove the two adults down into the pit of creatures. As he was about to push, a bucket came flying through the air and landed straight onto his head. Antonio stumbled, slightly pushing the chairs forward. One of Alexei's wheels went over the edge, and it seemed like the rest of the chair would follow. To everyone's relief, it stayed put, though it clung to the perilous edge.

Fury burned in Antonio's eyes as he righted himself. He looked around, angrily searching for the culprit. "Who threw that?" he demanded.

"We did!"

Ed stepped out from behind a tree, Malcolm crouched on his shoulder. It was Malcolm who had spoken.

Antonio gaped at them, shocked. "How did you get out?" he asked in amazement. "The lock was remote!"

"We broke the door lock!" Malcolm declared proudly, wagging his tail like a dog when it was a good boy.

Antonio threateningly put his hand back on the chairs. "Come close, or these two will die," he challenged.

Malcolm flattened his little ears and growled, but if he was trying to be scary, it wasn't working. Antonio hid a chuckle, amused by Malcolm's attempt to be threatening. "I'm afraid you're too late," he said. "And too far away. So say goodbye to Alexei and Victoria." He pushed the chairs off the ledge.

Jacob suddenly got up and tripped out of the cart, almost falling flat on his face. He grabbed the back of Victoria's chair just in time. The weight hurt his arms, and he gritted his teeth. Antonio lifted his hand to slap Jacob away, but Malcolm had already raced over to them and leapt onto Antonio's arm. He sank his tiny, sharp teeth into Antonio's flesh. Antonio screamed as blood welled up. Malcolm let go and spit, disgust showing on his face.

"You taste terrible," he informed Antonio, shaking his head as if it would erase the taste.

Antonio replied by grabbing Malcolm by his ears and throwing him to the ground. A loud snap sounded as the force and the concrete broke one of his front legs. Malcolm yelped.

"NO! MY BONES!"

Antonio grasped Malcolm's neck and threw him into the woman. "Get the chip in him!" he snarled. "Or I'll put it in you!"

The woman's eyes widened, and she hastily nodded before scurrying back to the mansion. Antonio turned back to Alexei and Victoria. Jacob was still trying to pull them up, but his feet were starting to slip from the weight.

"So you pretended to drink the paralyzer," Antonio noted. "Clever, but stupid, like Isaac."

Jacob stuck his tongue out at him. He was furious that Antonio dared to talk about Isaac to him. He utilized the energy to yank the chairs to him. Victoria's wheels touched the ground, and Jacob rolled it back until he could pull up Alexei. Antonio tried to step in while he was doing this, but Ed had walked over and put the bucket over his head. Antonio screamed in rage and flung the bucket off his head. Ed, who had gotten the idea from Malcolm, pushed Antonio into the ditch. Antonio was caught off guard and fell, screaming angrily, onto his creatures. Surprisingly, they didn't turn on him or eat him. Ed froze, confused.

"Wait, how are we going to get them out of here?" Jacob suddenly asked, gesturing to Yana, Margie, Amethyst, Alexei, and Victoria.

Ed took the handles of the cart and pointed to the mansion. He knew they would find a quick counteractant to the paralyzer and Malcolm in there. Jacob nodded and grabbed the edge of Alexei's chair.

The crunch of dirt alerted their attention back to the ditch, and they gasped when they saw the creatures climbing up the side. Antonio stood in the center, unharmed, looking like he was about to burst into flames. Jacob and Ed wasted no time in running to the mansion. Jacob looked over his shoulder and gulped at the sight of the mob chasing after them.

"Ed, they're slowing us down!" Jacob looked at the carts and chairs.

Ed scowled at the air, wishing he could be able to glare at Jacob and tell him what a stupid idea it was. The creatures would probably eat their friends if they left them behind! As the thought came into his mind, one of the faster creatures had caught up to them and grabbed Ed's legs. Ed tripped, and the cart rolled into the wall. Shaking, Ed got up to see Jacob turn to run off into the city, away from the mansion. Some of the creatures jumped into his path and tackled him into the ground. The rest created a ring around them. They were trapped!

"I am getting really sick and tired of all of you existing," Antonio panted, coming into the circle. Dirt smudged his pants, and his hands were covered in it. He must have climbed out of the pit himself. Ed and Jacob stood in front of their friends, trying to look protective and fierce even though they were chanting "we're dead" over and over on the inside. Antonio brushed his shirt and straightened his spine. "Take Victoria and Alexei to the blood lab," he ordered his creatures. "The kids come with me."

Several of the creatures converged on them. Jacob kicked one on the nose for being an incessant jerk in his opinion.

"Knock those two out," Antonio said, giving Jacob a disgusted, how-dare-you-injure-my-creation look.

The bucket, which had been such a great distraction for them to use, was now weaponized against them. Ed winced at the thud as the bucket banged against Jacob's skull. For him, the pain only lasted a second.

And they were all dragged unceremoniously into Antonio's new and improved evil lair.

Chapter 17:
Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Can we shut that thing off?"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Why isn't it shutting off?"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Is it seriously getting more aggressive, or is that just me?"

"I think it's just built to be aggravating."

"No, it's built to fill you with dread because you know that if it stops, you're dead."

"Thanks, Margie. That was very comforting."

"SHUT UP!"

Margie, Amethyst, and Jacob jumped at the sudden yell. Yana glared at them from where she picked the charger of a dead computer. Her eye bags, developed over the course of the past two weeks, had gotten bigger. She hadn't slept the night before.

"Stop complaining about heart monitors!" she snapped. "Mom and Dad could die at any moment, and we need to get out of here!"

"Isn't it obvious that we can't?" Amethyst pointed out, fear and exhaustion making her as snappy as Yana.

"Yeah, Jacob would have Hulk-smashed his way out by now, but he hasn't," Margie agreed.

BEEP! BEEP! SMACK!

Everyone looked up as Jacob suddenly slammed his hand onto the heart monitor. "This thing is going to drive me insane!" he shouted. He was sitting on a chair Antonio had strapped him in. Whatever he had in store for them, Jacob was going to be the first to get it.

"They have earplugs," Yana said, throwing a pair at him. She was right, and the box was open right next to her. She looked at the door. "Ed, Malcolm said you broke the lock of a door, so could do the same to this?"

Ed shook his head and wrote on a piece of paper he had found, I don't know how we broke it.

"GREAT!" Yana slammed her head onto the table. "WE'RE STUCK HERE! CAN WE GO AHEAD AND DIE NOW?"

"We could just knock out whoever comes in here," Margie said, a mischievous smile appearing on her face. "And then run, get your parents, and hopefully not get into any trouble."

"Can you guys get me out of this chair? It's cold," Jacob asked. Amethyst obliged and even turned off the heart monitor since it was driving everyone crazy.

"Are you all seriously just going to accept that we're going to die?" Yana asked her companions in disbelief, shocked at how casually and insignificantly treating this.

"No, we're purposely putting ourselves in denial to ignore the fact that we might just die," Margie said. "Or get turned into those creatures outside. Wait, that means we won't die, we'll just not be humans anymore. Like Malcolm."

Silence fell. Everyone looked at each other, processing images of what that would be like. Then, simultaneously:

"Nah, I'd rather die before becoming short."

"We might not even be able to speak after that. The one from the tunnels can't, I think."

Margie suddenly looked up at the walls. "Wait, what if we broke one of the cameras?" she wondered out loud.

Everyone glanced up at the camera Margie was talking about. They expected one of those small, round looking ones, but instead they saw what looked like a badly constructed thing of an Ipad screen and weird plastic/metallic parts.

"That could work," Yana said, her snappiness fading as she realized Margie had some idea of how to get out of here. After all, they had escaped Antonio before. They could do it again. In fact, they should be experts at it since it had happened several times. She grabbed a pencil sharpener and stood below the camera. Resting her feet in the right places, she squinted up at it and threw the sharpener into its side. It hung loosely off the wall and fell down after getting hit by the sharpener. Her friends clapped and cheered, having nothing better to do and just wanting to do something.

"Good aim," Amethyst congratulated.

"Soooooooooooo, what do we do now?" Yana asked Margie.

Margie put her hand on her chin. Her eyes skimmed around the room as she went deep into the thought. Then she shrugged and announced, "I don't know. Wait for them to open the door and knock them out like I originally said?"

"Would they be that stupid?" Jacob frowned doubtfully.

"It's not about whether or not they are that stupid," Margie said, "but whether or not they have the potential to be that stupid."

She went over to the door and stood in the space the door would swing in. The others stayed standing, unsure if they would actually open the door and be able to escape. They stayed quiet, trying not to get their hopes up too high. Antonio's creatures might still be out in the mansion; some might even be guarding them, if Antonio learned from his mistakes. And then they heard it: the sound of footsteps.

Someone was coming to the door. They held their breaths, wondering if Margie had predicted it correctly. A click sounded as the doorknob was unlocked; they could see the shadow of feet through the small space between the floor and the door. The door opened, revealing the woman from the execution standing behind it. She held a ring of keys in her hand, and she looked very nervous and kind of scared. Margie skidded out from behind the door, ready to push the woman, but the woman held up her hand to stop her.

"Calm down," she said. To everyone's surprise, she added, "My name is Jamie, and I'm here to get you out of here."