The Fox

Flea shook his head. This all felt suspicious to him. A new kid, separated from the group, just showing up? It didn't feel right.

"What if, what if..." he muttered to himself. He was still glaring at Oliver, feeling a little bit guilty about doing so. He might have been disabled, but there was no real reason to think that maybe this wasn't Mr. Foxy.

A thought at the back of his head caught his attention. What if, what if, what if the button doesn't stop it from exploding... what if it's the detonator?

Casey began to feel around the wheelchair. Flea grabbed her arm.

"Casey, listen to me. I don't know if we should push the button. Think about it; this Fox is cracked. Why wouldn't he want to mess with our heads. What if the button is like the trigger for all those bombs to go off? I don't want to tell the others, because, well, I might be wrong. I just think we need to be careful about all this."

As Casey stared at him with the 'What the?' expression, he began to try and think again. Think outside the box, think outside the box...

"Lydia," Flea said, as she started shaking. "Lydia, I'm quite sure that the bombs are in your stomach right now, there hasn't been time for them to get into the small intestine or anything."

"Why are you telling her this? What the hell is your problem?" Kricket snapped.

"Listen, I've had an idea. What if we don't need to press the button? What if, all Lydia needs to do is, well, throw up? Then, hopefully, the explosives will go along with the flow."

Flea felt more than the usual pair of eyes fix on him. He turned around, and faced just about the entire group staring at him.

*This can either be approved or 'Flea-is-embarrassed-and-suspected-to-be-The-Fox-as-Casey-saves-the-day'*

Lydia

"Throw up!?" she exclaimed, frankly horrified.

Kricket put an arm around Lydia. "I think it might be a good idea," she said just loud enough for only her to hear, "if you want we can go somewhere else..."

This was too much for her. Lydia was way to embarrassed to even attempt something like that in front of people she'd only just met. But she trusted Kricket, and let her help. When Lydia was standing, Flea added, "we'll keep looking for the button."

"Ok," she sniffed, following Kricket into the darkness.

Oliver seemed a little disoriented through it all.

"I found it!" Casey exclaimed. The button was clinging under the arm rest of Oliver's wheelchair.

"Don't push it," Flea reminded, "we're not sure if it's a trap yet."

"Where's the food she ate?" Casey inquired, shining the flashlight on their discovery. Griff stepped forward with Lydia's biscuit and handed it to her.

"I don't see any micro-bombs or anything," Flea evaluated cautiously.

Casey

This was too much to decide at once. First, there was the button under the arm of Oliver's wheelchair. But then, there was the idea that it could be a detonator. Flea had a point, the Fox was cracked.

"Lydia," she said at last. "Throw up."

Lydia's face lost all color it had left. "D-Do I have to?" she asked.

Casey nodded. "Either way, it'll get them out of you and then we don't have to worry about the button."

Lydia sighed and Kricket led her over to a corner of the room. A few seconds later, Lydia was puking and Kricket was holding her hair. Casey felt bad, she had never liked getting sick herself, but it could save Lydia's life.

Oliver

Oliver looked completely bemused.

"Bombs? Why...? I don't understand." He moved back a little when Lydia began throwing up. Flea grabbed the armrest before he could go anywhere though.

"The detonator's on there," Casey said sternly.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said mildly, "I just don't want to get anything on my shoes. Is she going to be all right?"

"Who, Lydia?"

Oliver nodded.

Kricket

Lydia straghitened up, looking green. I held her steady and helped her sit down.

"So is it gone?" she asked.

"Maybe, we'll have to check," I said.

"Well, it doesn't look like it's in the biscuit," Casey responded.

"If it was still in her stomach, where it would have been, she should have vomitted it up," Griff added.

Just then, the phone rang.

Lydia

Poor Lydia was fully embarrassed at this point. Her face was redder than a candy apple. All those guys had seen her throw up and it was torture. She just wanted to disappear into the darkness.

Then, to worsen matters, the cell phone rang.

"My dear little children," The Fox's voice surrounded the room, "you have disappointed me. I thought you all were just a little smarter than that. Press the button, see what happens..."

Then the line went dead and the lights came on.

Griff-

The Fox told them to press the button. He was being cryptic and trying to mess with them and they all knew it. But what could they do at this point? What could any of them do? The only way out was to play the game and follow the Fox's rules. The only light in the room was the beam from the flashlight, shining on the button. The button had been taped to the arm rest of the new kid's wheel chair but now it hung limply from the tape, swaying slightly from all of the commotion.

"I think we should push it," Griff said calmly. He knew Kricket was next to him even though he couldn't see her. He reached through the darkness and found her hand, "what else can we do at this point?" He could only imagine the looks on the other's faces. They all must have looked shocker or scared, or both.

"I don't know," someone said. The new kid maybe.

"Fine," Griff stepped forward and snatched the button from the wheel chair, "I'll push it," he said. His left hand was still wrapped around Kricket's but his right hand held the button, shaking slightly. The button was red and fairly small. He hesitated for only a moment before pushing it.

Kricket

Griff's hand squeezed mine slightly as he pushed the button, as though he was bracing himself. Nothing happened. A few seconds later, the lights flicked on.

"It must have really deactivated the bomb I guess," Casey said.

Lydia sighed with relief.

"Either that or just turned on the lights," Flea muttered. Lydia looked at me nervously.

"Flea, how could you say that?" I asked him. "Lydia's going to be fine, the bomb's deactivated!"

"Sorry for being realistic," Flea yelled back.

"No, you're being pessimistic and you're scaring her!" I pointed out.

"Yeah, just back off, Flea," Griff said.

Flea scowled at him and then looked to Casey for support. Casey shook her head. "Dan, you really shouldn't scare her like that."

"I agree, she's-" Oliver started before Flea cut him off.

"No! You're not going to criticize me when none of us know who the hell you are! You could be the Fox or his assistant or something! Why else would you have the button on your chair? I bet that you can really walk, too!"

"How could I be the Fox if I'm in a wheelchair and you just heard his voice on the phone?" Oliver asked, clearly contemplating Flea's sanity.

"I don't know! Mind tricks or something!" Flea blurted. "But I tell you all, he's working with the Fox!"

There was several moments of silence as we stared at Flea.

"You don't believe me? Fine, I'll prove it!" Flea marched over to Oliver's chair. "He's not just going to stand around and let me hurt him if he can really walk, will he?" Oliver's eyes widened. Flea smiled wickedly and slung his arm back as though to punch him in the face.

"Flea, don't!" Dahlia screamed.

Casey

Dan pulled his arm back as though he was going to punch Oliver in the face. He was acting crazy! This was not the Dan that Casey knew.

"Flea, don't!" Dahlia screamed.

Casey ran and grabbed Dan's arm before he could hit Oliver. "Dan!" she yelled. "Chill out!"

Dan relaxed and took a step back from Oliver, who looked very releaved now.

"Please," Casey said quietly, trying to calm him down. "Oliver is safe, I have a good feeling about him. Besides, even if he is with the Fox it would still be two against seven."

He sighed. "I still don't like him," he mumbled.

"I don't care if you like him or not. As long as he's with us you will act civil. We need to stick together. The Fox wants us to fight, he'll want us to split up." Casey said. She then turned to the others who were watching awkwardly. "Come on guys. Let's try to find a way out of here, we don't have any time to lose."

Oliver

Oliver rolled back away from Flea as far as he could. "What's your problem?" he said angrily.

The others were talking to the other boy, trying to get him to relax. Oliver watched him, eyes slightly narrowed.

"Come on guys, let's try to find a way out of here, we don't have any time to lose."

With a sigh, he followed the others.

((sorry it's short, but there's not much left for me to do until the next time something happens))

Kricket

We followed Oliver out, Flea trailing behind.

"Did you wake up in a different room?" I asked Oliver.

"No. I woke up and I was right outside that room," he said.

"Well, maybe we should go back iun the other room," Griff suggested. "The one with the lion in it. There's probably something there."

"A lion?" Oliver exclaimed. "You guys saw a lion?"

Griff chuckled and squeezed my hand. "Not only that, Dahlia killed it."

"Good to know we're not battling past it," Oliver muttered.

"Guys, I think I've found something!" Lydia called.

Casey

"Guys, I think I've found something!" Lydia called.

Casey ran to where her voice had come from, followed by the others. They found Lydia staring up at a decently sized crack near the ceiling. There was a small stream of light coming through the crack.

"Is that...outside?" Kricket asked.

"I think so," Lydia said.

"What good does that do?" Alasdair asked. "We can't fit through it. I don't even think I could fit an arm through that."

"But look at the wall around it," Casey said, pointing to the area around the crack. "That wall doesn't look very strong, I bet we could break through it if we found the right tools." She turned to everyone else. "We've got a whole factory here, I bet we could find something."

Lydia

The fresh air kissed Lydia's cheek as they suggested ideas for escape.

"Ok," Griff filled in the leadership role again, "Lydia, Oliver and Dahila, you three go back to the lion room. Flea and Casey, you two go to the warehouse, and Kricket and Alasdair will come with me. Is everyone ok with that?"

"Fine," Flea nodded, turning to Casey, "Let's go."

Lydia helped Oliver along as Dahila followed.

"Did you really kill a lion?" Oliver inquired. His face spoke of intrigue.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Wow," the boy in the wheelchair smiled, "That's pretty awesome."

Lydia was growing slightly jealous of Dahila's attention from Oliver. It must've been her personality, or maybe the fact that Lydia thought she could've taken that lion down herself. But Oliver's fawning over Dahila's deed was growing annoying.

Oliver

"It's pretty nuts, really. How did that old loon get a lion in here?" He turned to look at Lydia. "What do you think?"

Lydia shrugged, looking a little sullen. Oliver frowned. "Cheer up, we'll get out of here. Promise."

Casey

Flea followed closely as Casey led the way back to the warehouse. She was still angry at him for how he had acted, and couldn't help but to let it show a bit.

"Casey, I said I was sorry," Flea said.

Casey glared at the space ahead of her. "I heard you, Dan," she said. "Just, look around this place. We need something to break through the wall."

She walked away from Flea, not looking back to see if he had gone off in his own direction or anything. Her hand stung still from grabbing the knife and she was pretty sure it was till bleeding, but she didn't care. All she could think about was how angry she was at Flea.

Out of the corner of her eye, Casey noticed something. A small, florescent green square. It was stuck to an old conveyor belt type piece of machinery. Upon closer inspection, Casey realized it was a post-it note.

There was writing on it. The note read:

Little bunnies should learn not to fight with their friends.
Cordially,
The Fox

"What the-"

Before she could do anything else, something - or rather, someone - grabbed Casey's arms from behind and pushed her down onto the conveyor belt. Straps of some sort were then tightened over her, holding her to the belt.

"There, there, my little bunny," a maniacal voice whispered in her ear. Casey could feel his breath on her cheek. The Fox was right there, and she was immobile. "Perhaps your little friend will forget your fight long enough to come save you. Or perhaps he won't even hear you. And if he doesn't hear you, then there is no chance all your other bunny friends will hear you either."

"Your sick," Casey spat.

The Fox just laughed. "Next time think twice before splitting up. You kids really are making this all too easy. It's only the second day, usually they make it at least four days before such danger ensues."

Then his presence was gone. Casey squirmed and tried to free herself. "Dan!" she shouted when her efforts proved futile. "Dan, please I need you to come here!"

No response. And to top it all off the conveyor belt began to move, carrying Casey god-knows-where. It likely wasn't going to end well.

"Dan!" she screamed. Please, oh please let him hear me...