Cautiously, Drink peered out of the hole, his heart pounding as he scanned the toilet. Satisfied no one was there, he beckoned the others to follow his lead. With trepidation and determination, they each took their turn, jumping down from the hole.

"I'm scared," Kiel admitted to Curtis, clutching the spatula tightly in his trembling hands as they cautiously exited the restroom.

"We need to be careful," Iza muttered as she glanced at Kiel worriedly.

"You don't have to tell us that," Spade retorted.

"Shh!" Drink said, retreating behind the cover of a nearby toilet stall. He peeked around the corner, observing Tanya engrossed in her book and oblivious to their presence. "Tanya's still awake. We need to keep quiet and stick together."

"No!" Kiel protested, his legs threatening to give out from under him. Rose shot him a disapproving glare before urging him to stay calm.

With measured steps, they followed Drink towards the exit. But just as they neared the door, Curtis's eyes lit up like beacons in the darkness as he caught sight of a jar containing a succulent roasted fish. His excitement was palpable, his gaze fixated on the jar.

Every one of the rats turned to look at Curtis and traced the direction of his twinkling eyes.

"Hey! Curtis, you have to focus. Right now, nothing should distract us unless you want to die," Drink warned quietly.

Curtis nodded as he glanced at Drink, and Drink thumped him up. But surprisedly, Curtis whoosed to the jar.

In an attempt to open the lid, Curtis stood on his toes, straining his neck to catch the fish with his mouth. Unfortunately, he couldn't. In Curtis's desperation, he began jumping, and the jar skidded away on the tiled floor.

The others froze, watching with eyes wide with horror; their hearts pounded as the only sound vibrating in their ears was the screeching jar.

Shaking his head, Kiel trembled while eating the spatula very hard.

"Don't! No!" Kiel cried. "I can't go anymore. I'm going back."

"Don't!" Drink snapped his head to Kiel as he heard him. Baring his teeth, Drink turned to look at Curtis.

"Oh-damn! Shit!" Rose grunted. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"We should go with Curtis. This damn guy!" Drink muttered under his breath. "I will go get him."

Kiel cried, "I'm going back." And just like that, Kiel whizzed back to the toilet.

"Oh! Damn!" Drink grunted when Kiel ran back.

"Kiel, no!" Iza shouted. "We have to go get him back!"

"Why?" Spade snarled. "He's gone. I'm not going back now because of him. We have to move, and if you want to go get him, you can fetch him yourself."

Looking at the toilet's door with worry glinting in her eyes, Iza bit her lower lips, and guilt swelled in her mind since she didn't want to go alone to get him. She glanced at Drink but was disappointed that Drink was looking at the door. 'Don't he care about Kiel.' She bit her lower lip harder while looking at the toilet. What_ _ _

PA!

The sound of the broken jar, echoing ominously in the silence, jerked Iza out of her thoughts. The whole room fell into deadly silence for the rats; the only sound they could hear was the ticking hands of the clock as if counting the seconds to their death.

"Rat! Oh! Oh! Ah!" Tanya shouted when she saw Curtis. And when she heard screeching and saw the rats squeezing themselves underneath the door, her scream pierced the air, reverberating through the walls and waking her parents from their slumber.

"Tanya!" Her mother called worriedly. "What's the problem?"

"Let's go!" Drink yelled at Iza when everyone was out of the room. Fear gripped them as Mrs Thomas's footsteps were getting closer and closer, but Iza seemed to be busy with something else.

"Curtis!" Iza cried, holding Curtis, still struggling to get through the door. "He's in there. Let's get him out."

Iza gritted her teeth, beads of sweat rolled down her face when pulling Curtis out. Drink ran to assist her; both held Drink's hands. As Mr and Mrs Thomas arrived at the door, they dragged Curtis out.

"Rats! Oh my God!" Tanya's mother exclaimed, shock written across her face as she stumbled into the room.

"Oh! There are still many of you? Hun?!" Tanya's father grunted. "Where's Mike? (The cat)." He gruffed, searching for their pet cat.

While the rats looked up at Mr Thomas with adrenaline coursing through their veins, the rats were sprung into action by Drink as he yelled at them,

"Run!"

As they ran, fear driving them onwards, they glanced back severally. With a heavy heart, Drink knew their ordeal was far from over.

"You're all going to die, you filthy aratttt!" Thomas yelled while searching for the cat.

*******************************************************************

Drink panted with his hands on his chest after they found their way into the store room.

"Oh-shit!" Rose cried, out of breath. "You jerk almost got us killed."

Iza slid to the ground, breathing heavily.

"You useless thing!" Spade kicked Curtis, and Curtis fell to his knees with a painful groan.

"You saved him!" He pointed at Iza. "You just want to behave like a heroine, right?" He spat.

"I shouldn't have followed you. I should have gone back with Kiel," Rose grumbled, still out of breath. "Now, we're all going to die. We can't even leave here anymore. I shouldn't have followed you; you should have left me in the hole. "

"Then go back!" Drink yelled, pointing at the door; "Just leave if you want to! I've had enough of you."

"What are we going to do now?" Iza said fretfully.

"We have to leave here," Drink sighed and poked out his head; " We have to keep going. We have to put our minds together and form strength. It's either we fight or die," he stressed, looking at everyone sturdily.