Drip.

"Madman's here!" The southern accent boomed. I curled up, the voice still scared me. And it was only a voice.

"Fooooood." Britnay moaned.

"You know it." The man said laughingly.

There was a loud clang. I didn't know what was happening. There was a click after that, then another click. There was clashing of metal and heavy footsteps before the clicks were repeated.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Britnay asked.

"It's time I let you out to eat. I'm tired of watching you from screens." He murmured. Two more clicks. Z made a noise.

"Handcuffs. Are you kidding me?" Z groaned. Heavy footsteps made their way closer to me. Two clicks, Ari. Two more clicks and cold metal pressed against the skin on my wrist. I tried moving my arm away from Ari's lap where the man had dropped it. Ari's arm came with mine. "Wait. Who am I cuffed... to... dammit!" Z yelled.

"Oh stop whining." Britnay murmured, she was still sore from Jack;s death. Somehow.

"Oh... no. Please keep going." The man mumbled amusedly before dragging Ari and I to our feet and then pulled us after him. "Now how can I make this... good...?" He mused to himself. "Got it!" He grabbed my arm and stuck it next to some one else's. Two more clicks. I was stuck to someone else.

"Who... oh, God no!" Britnay yelled next to my face. Oh no. He wouldn't have.

Wait. No. Who am I kidding?

"Hypocrite." Z murmured quietly.

"You have got to be kidding me." Ari mumbled from my other side.

"No joke." Z muttered.

"Nope. No joke, not kidding." The man chuckled before rubbing his hands together. "This is gonna be fun!" He sounded excited, like a kid who couldn't decide which kind of candy he wanted in a full candy store. I felt my stomach lurch as if I had eaten too much of said candy.

Drip.

Movement.

"Don't touch me." Z growled.

"Okay. Arielle can lead then."

"What?" Ari piped up from beside me, as if she were just waking up from a daydream.

"You'll see."

We started to walk and a door opened, throwing light into our eyes and burning them. Cuffed on both sides I decided I'd just have to close my eyes. Britnay moved her arms, but I refused to let her and apparently so did Z.

"Oh c'mon!" She yelled before jumping angrily like a two year old who couldn't get her way.

I blinked my eyes to slowly get them to adjust to the light. I looked around me and saw the pulsing outlines of a hallway. Why was everything swimming before my eyes.

"Calm down." Z said in a somewhat soothing tone.

"Make me."

"He was trying to be nice." Ari mumbled and I nodded slightly.

"Not this again." I moaned.

"Jack." The man snapped. "Shut up."

"Jack's dead." Britnay murmured, the quietest I'd heard her yet.

"What?" The man was quiet for a minute before he fully understood. "Oh, the kid's name was Jack?"

"How'd you miss that, genius?" I muttered and rolled my eyes.

I could see now.

The girl in front of me, Ari, had wavy red hair like I'd thought and when she turned her head and laid her wide, scared eyes on my I could see they were a bright green. She shook her head before looking ahead again.

Looking behind me I could see a girl who's natural hair color was a dull brown but most of it was dyed a flat blonde. Her eyes were a deep blue and, though I knew Britnay would never admit it, there was fear in them. I couldn't see past her to Z, but flashes of tan skin told me I'd been wrong about him.

"Face forward." Britnay snapped, scowling. I rolled my eyes but complied. I didn't need to be tripping over Ari.

Soon the man had us stopping in front of a door.

"Okay, here's the deal." He paused. "That, is my kitchen. Make your own food. The cuffs stay on."

"Bu-" Britnay started.

"No. Deal with it." He then opened the door, shoved us in, and then shut it behind him. He then preceded to lock it before going over to sit at a small, round table in the corner. I watched him carefully as he bent over a piece of paper. Every now and then he'd look up at us and after the second glance he made a 'shoo' motion. Unfortunately we all tried to go in different directions.

I swung around to where I'd been, almost losing my balance. "We need a plan."

"Really, Leah?" Britnay muttered. "I woulda never guessed."

"Shut up." Z mumbled.

Shoving my hair behind an ear, I surveyed the room. "It'd be easiest if we just all ate the same thing." I stated.

Ari turned her slightly angular face towards me. It looked odd on a girl, yet strangely pretty. "How are we supposed to do that?"

"Hey! Dude! What all do you have?" I asked, getting the man's attention.

"Everything!" He said loudly, annoyed. "Just look." He mumbled quieter, going back to his paper.

"Okay... Britnay. What would you like?" I asked her only because I knew that if I asked someone else she would make a big fuss about it. Whether she liked what the other person wanted or not.

"Food."

I rolled my eyes. "No really?"

Z's end of the human train started moving towards the cupboards. I followed willingly.

"There's tons of stuff." Z murmured. I finally took a good look at the tan boy who was stretching for things in the cupboards. He had dark brown hair that could've passed for black and when he turned to look at me I could see his eyes were just as dark. "What do you think Lee?" I couldn't hear an accent.

It took me a minute to figure out he was talking to me. No one had called me Lee. Ever. I'd never liked it, it sounded too boyish, but the way that it rolled off of his tongue had me thinking about changing my mind about that. "Don't call me that." I wasn't going to let him know that though. "I just don't want us all to start fighting over stupid stuff." Britnay scoffed and I heard a slight 'boo' coming from the table. Children.

I rolled my eyes. "What about something quick and easy?" Z saved me from blowing up at them. He drug us closer to the counter and reached to the top shelf. "Macaroni and cheese." He said triumphantly and everyone made small noises of agreement.

"Grab another 2 boxes." I mumbled and Ari nodded.

"Who's making it?" Britnay asked and when nobody spoke up she wrinkled her nose. "Well don't look at me. I can't cook."

I scoffed. "You can't make macaroni and cheese?"

"I've never had to." She stated, trying to defend herself.

"Yeah, I bet you don't even know how to make a bed." I murmured, rolling my eyes.

She turned to me glaring. "I do too!"

"I'll believe that when I see it." I walked to a cupboard near the stove. "It'd probably be easiest if someone on the end did the cooking."

"I don't cook either." Z said quickly. It sounded like a lie, but I shrugged and turned to Ari who nodded.

"If I have to."

"Z can you reach the fridge?" I asked as the four of us moved towards the sink with the big pot I'd found.

"Yeah?"

"Then grab two sticks of butter and milk." I told him.

Ari filled the pot with water before all of us moved towards the stove again. Ari put the pot on to boil and all we could do was wait.

"That's not a very nutritious meal there." The man stated quietly.

I turned my head and said, "Shut up." playfully.

He chuckled. "You got it, boss."