Mono tried to wrap his head around what happened earlier. He entered the room with all the others, the TV turned on, blinding him and then he just blacked out. He shielded his eyes from the light and then he was on the floor with a concerned Six asking him what just happened. As he sat in the lobby of the apartment the Maw-velous kids were taking shelter in, he decided to write in that notebook he found in the Hunter's cabin. Notebook on his lap, pencil in hand, Mono looked around the room for something to write about. He finally settled on the Twin Chefs, who were playing around with some of the younger kids. Mono began to write, remembering back to what Hadrian had told him about the chefs.

The Twin Chefs used to work on the floating prison known as The Maw, cooking up food for guests coming to dine in their halls. Now they seem to be friendly towards children, perhaps as a way to redeem themselves for all the horrible things they might've done. Mono once again drew a picture of the chefs with way more detail and even improved the Hunter's sketch, having more time and less threats to escape. Mono admired his work and, the exhaustion of all the past events finally catching up, drifted off to sleep.

Mono was woken up by Hadrian the next morning.

"Sorry to wake you so early, Mono" Hadrian apologized, pulling him to his feet. "We need your help." After slipping the notebook back into his pocket, Mono asked, "What is it?"

"We've decided that we should send small groups outside to explore, look for other people and stuff like that. Seeing as how you seem to know your way around here," Mono had to admit, he seemed to know more about this city than anyone else, seeing has how he was the only one to notice the foldable ladder and the rope back in the crumbling building. "We've decided to sen you, Six, Benny and Five out first." Hadrian continued. "Come back around noon and tell us anything you found." Mono nodded and after a quick meal, set out with the others. The city was empty, as usual but with the rain gone, Mono could see a lot better. Trash lay scattered across the ground, occasionally being thrown around by the wind. A thick layer of clouds obscured the sky and left the city dark, barely any light shining down. Mono wondered what this city was like before. What did the people here do? What was life like? Was it always this cloudy and dark? Mono had a million questioned but had to put them on hold when the small group came across-

"A...school?" Benny said. It certainly LOOKED like a school. It had a seesaw, a soccer goal and a ball outside steps leading up to of a set large doors. Surrounding the entire building was a chain-link fence.

"I say we explore." Six spoke up.

"I mean, something could be in there that could be useful, right?" Five agreed. Twenty Benny searched near the fence and found a hole being blocked by a dumpster.

"Help me move this! I see an entrance!" He called. Mono, Six and Five ran over and, with their combined strength, managed to shift the dumpster shut enough that the kids could squeeze through the gap. Five walked over to the door and gave it a tug. Then a push.

"Locked!" She called to the others.

"Now what?" Benny questioned. Mono saw a makeshift rope near a window.

"Maybe we could climb up that?" He suggested. He ran over, tugged on it and began to climb. Halfway up, Mono called, "Yeah, it's safe to climb!" Once all of the kids made it up, they walked down a long hallway filled with paintings, lockers and barrels. Mono pulled out his flashlight and switched it on, illuminating the dark hallway. Suddenly, a long cracking noise echoed through the building. Mono saw a shadow of a woman roll her neck before shutting a door and said, "I think I saw someone. Like, another human!"

"Really?" Six asked.

"Yeah." Mono answered.

"Let's go!" Five said. She ran ahead and Mono followed. Looking down, he suddenly froze.

"Five, STOP!" He called. Five skidded to a stop and looked back at Mono, who, along with the others, looked confused.

"What?" The young girl asked. Mono ushered her to the side and took out his notebook. He tossed it at a piece of wood that was sticked out just above the rest of the floor. The book bounced off the plank and a bucket filled with bricks swung down from a rope. Mono stepped to the side as the trap swung past where he and Five were just standing.

"G-good eye, Mono" Six said, staring at the bucket. "One hit and Five would've been dead."

"Yeah...T-thanks." Five said.

"Who the heck would do something like that?" Benny questioned. Mono shrugged and motioned to continue. After a while of exploring, Mono thought he saw a child dart across the hall from one door to another.

"Hello?" He called. He turned to the other three kids and asked, "Did you see them too?" They all nodded. Suddenly, a childish laugh cut through the silence as a massive locker fell down on Mono, who only could watch, frozen with fear, as the metal rectangle landed on him with a BANG!

A/N: Welcome back to school! :) Thank you for staying with me for this long.