Hi! Sorry it's been so long, things have been hectic. But you don't want to hear about my boring life! You came here for the new chapter, so here it is! Enjoy!

"I wonder what's taking those two so long?" Ryou grumbled, shuffling so that he could remain in the ever-shrinking patch of dubious shade cast by the minivan.

"Maybe they've died," Kaiba suggested snidely. "That would do everybody a favour."

"Oh, be quiet," Yugi sighed. He'd taken his jacket off and hung it on a nearby bush in an attempt to stay cool. He'd been unsuccessful. Staring down the road, his attention was caught by a small dust cloud. He turned back to the other two and called excitedly.

"Hey, you guys! I think there's a car coming. Come on!" Kaiba and Ryou exchanged a glance and Kaiba nodded resignedly.

"I'll stay with the van," Ryou said tiredly, gazing up at the blazing sun with distaste. "Why don't you two go down the road a bit and see if you can get their attention?"

"Great idea, Ryou!" smile Yugi excitedly. It seemed that the possibility of rescue had revived his flagging spirits. He grabbed hold of Kaiba's hand and began pulling him towards the growing dust cloud.

"I can walk just fine by myself, Moto!" Kaiba snapped, yanking his hand free and striding ahead. Yugi ignored him in favour of peering into the distance, bouncing anxiously on the spot.

Pretty soon, a dirty old pickup truck came trundling into sight. Its original colour was uncertain as it was now an indeterminate brown from the dusty road. When the driver spotted Yugi and Kaiba, the truck slowed and came to a halt beside them. Yugi took a step behind the teenage CEO. Two very large men in grubby plaid shirts were sitting in the front of the truck and a third was lounging in the back.

"Well, lookee 'ere, boys. We got ourselves two young fellers with a bit o' car trouble, I reckon," the driver drawled, giving the teens a yellow-toothed grin.

"Yes, sorry, you see…" Yugi began but was interrupted by Kaiba.

"I don't suppose any of you know where we can get a spare tire and some gas for our van? Or do you possibly have a cell phone we might borrow?" he demanded, ignoring the tugging on his jacket by a nervous Yugi.

"We got us no phone, but ya'll welcome to join us fer supper an' me, Darryl and Billy Joe can help you fellers our with yer van after. I'm Carl, by the way. Climb on up," the driver replied, jabbing a finger towards the back of the truck.

"Well, that's very kind of you, but you see…" Yugi was once again cut short as a large meaty hand clamped down on his shoulder and hoisted him into the back of the truck. Kaiba's yelling indicated he'd also been manhandled into the back with Yugi. Quick as a flash, Yugi unhooked the clasp of his leather collar and dropped it over the edge onto the road as the truck roared to life. A minute later he'd dropped another one as the truck turned off the road onto an extremely rough dirt track. He didn't know where they were going, but he was sure the others would not be able to find it without a trail. He only hoped that they reached their destination before he ran out of accessories…

Twenty horrifying minutes later, Yugi was seated in a ramshackle building surrounded by the ever-affable Carl's numerous relatives, about to be fed a pie made with what he suspected to be roadkill.

To make the situation even more terrifying, Kaiba was grinning. That's right. Not frowning, not even smiling, but grinning. A full-blown, genuine grin of pure and unadulterated happiness. Yugi didn't think he'd ever been more afraid.

"I can't believe you made actual possum pie. I haven't had proper possum since the orphanage!" the usually stuck-up teen was exclaiming to a blushing, middle-aged redhead called Suanne, who was apparently Darryl's wife. Poking doubtfully at the meal with his fork, Yugi bit back a yelp as something scuttled from behind his pie to hide under a cabbage leaf. Laying down his fork, he smiled weakly up at their hosts.

"Thank you so much for inviting us to join you, but we really shouldn't be imposing on your family like this. Perhaps we should go?" he suggested, edging towards the door, steadfastly refusing to glance at Kaiba, who had paused in his enthusiastic tasting of the wretched pie to pin him with a surprised look, which quickly became a death glare.

"Don' be silly, son. You jus' set yerself down an' make yerself at home. Possum?" asked Suanne, waving the plate under his nose. He forced himself not to back away.

"It's quite alright, thank you. I've had more than enough and I wouldn't want to spoil what I've had of your lovely cooking by eating too much." Her smile revealed several prominent gaps where teeth should have been. Gingerly sitting back down between Kaiba and one of the dozens of grubby children with the slightly crazed smiles that seemed to be in every corner of the house, Yugi prayed that this would all be over soon. Yes, Carl and his family were very hospitable, but the others would be frantic and he wasn't sure how long he could fend off Suanne's increasingly persistent attempts to fatten him up.

"Now what?" Malik asked, glaring suspiciously at the farmhouse they'd been led to. There was a chicken coop around the side and what looked like a small barn. A dirty truck was parked outside the house and they could see lights shining from the house windows. The whole yard was surrounded by a rusty barbed-wire fence.

"We gotta find where they're holding Kaiba and Yug'," replied Joey, his brown eyes scanning the area and Yugi's jacket clenched in his fists. Ryou didn't bother to make a sound. He was still winded from running all the way from the minivan lugging both of Kaiba's briefcases.

"Explain to me again why we brought these?" he eventually gasped.

"In case we need to pay these guys some ransom or something for our friends!" Joey hissed back, then paused. "Well, friend and annoying walking wallet."

"First things first, let's get past that fence. It should be pretty simple," said Malik, beginning to stand from where he'd been crouched behind a thorn bush. At that moment, a large, mean-looking dog loped around from the other side of the house and spotted him. It gave a fierce bark and ran up to the fence, where it began pacing, growling thunderously.

"Yeah, simple. Anyone got any bright ideas on how to get past the newly materialized hell-hound?" Ryou snorted sarcastically.

Before either of the other two could reply to that, the air was split by a shrill shriek.

"Was that…Kaiba?"

Has Kaiba succumbed to Suanne's terrible cooking? Has Yugi been eaten alive by the demon children of Carl? Has the hound from hell had his rabies shot? Who knows? Keep reading to find out.

Love

DeadFoxy

P.S. My apologies for Carl and his brood. I live in South Africa, so we don't really get American-style hillbillies here. I had to improvise. So if I offend anyone, a thousand apologies and it was never intended to be insulting.

P.P.S. All critiques and reviews welcome!