The lights came back on. Well, regular ones did. One-by-one, individual yellow lamps flickered to life all about the warehouse, until everyone was bathed in gold, and a man stood at a podium beside the tables of food. Sam could swear it hadn't been there before, but it was way too fast to just have been wheeled in.

He couldn't have been much older than Mike. With his slicked-back black hair and button-up white shirt, Sam was, for an instant...a little concerned they'd all been tricked into coming to some sort of weird 'teen church', but a glance back at the video games immediately trashed the idea. No church would induct kids into their fold with 'Gauntlet.'

"Glad you guys could make it," he began to talk. Ed and Alan slowly pried their arms from around Sam's torso and shoulders, and he was finally able to breathe as he listened in to whatever this guy was about to say. Maybe he was going to hand out coupons to a new arcade or something, have them fill out a survey…

"Don't worry, we've got more pizza coming soon, plenty of awesome shit to do," he went on, and several kids laughed, immediately hooked on this guy, apparently an authority figure, who wasn't afraid to cuss around them.

"We're gonna be here, every weekend, and the doors are always open for you guys, same time, same place. Buses are pretty much in Santa Carla all day, so you can even come by even earlier if you want. No strings attached...except one,"

Strings. There were always strings attached. Sam had been waiting for this.

"Enjoy yourselves." He finished with a flair. "Alright, kids, I'll be back later to take dessert orders. For now...like I said, just have fun."

Sam didn't like it, it was way too good to be true. He'd seen Pinocchio! He knew how this was going to end! He needed to talk to Mike. Maybe his brother had heard of this group or something at whatever place he was apparently working.

"I think I like this guy," Edgar grunted, leaning back against the arcade game. They were quickly flickering back on all across the building as the guy shifted and left his podium, making his way around the crowd and leaning towards a pair of kids here and there, pausing to chat, leaning in a little too close to a few of them in a way that would make Sam immediately react with a ball-kicking defensive reaction.

"I think I wanna go home," Sam sighed, glancing back at the Frog brothers. "Stop following me. I mean it. You guys need some serious help, and I'm not gonna tell Mike to take it easy if you run into him and he decides to kick your asses." At least that shut them up real quick, "I'm going home, if you guys want to stay here, that's on you." He stormed away from them, heading for the door, maybe someone could give him a ride.

"Hey," a guy at the door nodded to him. "Not liking the games?" He had that same funny look about him that a lot of people here seemed to have...a little moody-looking...a little withdrawn. Someone with serious issues, if Sam had to guess. Made sense, though, most kids who came to youth groups or whatever...they usually had problems, didn't they? He wasn't sure. He'd never actually been somewhere like this before.

Sam eyed him wearily, "No, they're fine, just ready to go home."

He smiled, flashing all of his pearly whites...if that was even possible, "already? Night's still pretty young. You sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, my brother's gonna be pissed if he finds I've been out so late." Because there was no way in hell he was ever going to let mom find out he'd gone to god knows where instead of the library like he'd promised.

He shrugged, glancing over at the guy who'd given his speech at the podium earlier. Funny...there were a lot of people looking at them, now, he realized...all at once…

"Alright," the guy pushed open the door, nodding at Sam, "I'll give you a lift. Buses aren't going to be running back for a couple more hours, but I think I can use Fa…Frank's car."

Now Sam was even more suspicious but what other choice did he have? He knew grandpa wasn't at the house. So, what, was he just going to call home and hope that Mike was there?He didn't have a number for his new place, no, this was his only option, "Alright, thanks."

"Any time," he nodded, offering a hand to Sam, "the name's Ryan. You need anything, just ask me."

"Sam." He replied softly, taking it slowly and shaking it. It was like ice.

Michael let out a puff of smoke, passing the joint back to David on his bike. They were still waiting for Paul to show up before heading back to the hotel. He must have found something fun to play with, because they'd been looking for him for the last half hour. David took it, taking in a slow breath before shaking his head.

"That asshole went and got himself lost again."

Lost? Again? "How long have you been in Santa Carla?" He asked out of the blue, scratching at his neck and glancing about at them.

"About a week," Marko snarked, biting at the thumb of his glove.

Dwayne caught at a girl's trailing braid as she brushed a little too close to them in passing, and winked when she jerked it from his hand and stormed off, "I lost track."

David looked thoughtful, "Hmmm, eighty years? No, longer than that…"

"How do you not know?" Michael leaned back, "were you human before you came here?"

Their leader let out a snort, "No, I wasn't human."

Now, that was interesting…he was just about to dig deeper, when a familiar bobbing head appeared in the crowd. Paul. He was very nearly falling on his ass, too. No, didn't look like he'd be capable of riding on his own tonight…

"Heeeeeeey," Paul laughed, throwing an arm around Dwayne's shoulder and squeezing it, "how's Dwayney-boy doing tonight, huh?" He reeked of an industrial level of rubbing alcohol. Enough to disinfect a hospital.

"Fuck, Paul, what did you get into?" Dwayne's nose crinkled up as he pushed him away, "Gonna have to drag you home tonight."

He snickered, just barely managing not to fall on his ass, "I feel...awesome…"

Michael gave David a sidelong glance, and then looked back at Paul...he wasn't really that sure he wanted to be around the idiot for the next few hours until whatever the hell he'd been drinking had a chance to level out, "I think I'm gonna go visit mom and Sam."

David raised an eyebrow, "Gonna go mess with the human pets?" He questioned, looping an arm around Paul's shoulders and pulling him up.

He shrugged, "beats doing detox tonight with the dipshit…" He looked at Paul, who was stumbling back against David and almost giggling at some unspoken joke nobody else got.

"Hey, guess what, Paul." David grinned, pulling him up again, "Marko gets to bring your bike home!" Marko rolled his eyes, giving Paul an exasperated look. This very likely wasn't the first time he'd been put on babysitting duty for Paul's antics, "Oh, and Marko, feel free to give it a dent or two."

"You know, three's a luckier number..." Marko replied dryly.

"You guys have fun," Michael hopped onto his bike, giving them a two-fingered salute before taking off.

First thing he noticed when he got to the house was grandpa's missing jeep. After that, he realized all the lights were off...except for the one in Sam's bedroom. Well, looked like he was going to be playing a couple of pranks on his little brother tonight.

He slipped into the house silently, leaving the front door open behind him, as he crept quickly upstairs. He'd been tempted to take the window route, but for the sake of one joke, he wasn't really keen on letting the cat out of the bag yet. The night they all found out was the same one he'd probably have to eat them.

"Sam," Michael knocked softly on his brother's bedroom door. "You up?"

"Mike? Yeah, I'm up, what're you doing here?" He opened the door, looking up at him.

"Just got outta work," he lied, pushing past him, "mom's asleep," he strolled over to Sam's bed and flopped down in it, kicking up his heels and crossing his ankles as he tucked his hands behind his head. "How've things been, huh?"

"Well, there's a bit of a problem…" It was obvious he wasn't sure where to start.

Michael relaxed, "yeah? What's the problem?" Now that he'd settled in, he realized there was an odd smell...mostly coming from Sam...he bit back the urge to growl. That was the same scent they'd picked up off the fuck back at the hotel...but it wasn't directly coming from his brother. It was just...wafting about him. Like he'd maybe run into one of them…

"What's the problem, Sam?" Michael repeated, unable to keep the slight edge from creeping into his tone.

"There's this group and, well, it just seems too good to be true! They've got a shit load of games, pizza, everything."

"Where are they?" He sat up, uncrossing his ankles.

He shrugged, "I dunno exactly, it was in Luna Bay, I know that." He scowled, "Why?"

"...it sounds fun," he replied flatly. It wasn't a very good lie. Michael hadn't ever really been into the kinds of games Sam was crazy about. He preferred real sports.

His scowl deepened, "It's weird, Mike, like they're some kind of freaky cult."

Yeah. No fucking kidding. "You going back?"

"I dunno, I dunno if I should but my friends…" He was obviously worried about them.

He'd kind of seen David doing this, once or twice, but Michael wasn't really sure whether he could. Still, he tried, "Sam, look me in the eyes and tell me, honestly, that you don't know where it is."

He looked at him, "I dunno, I wish I did."

"How did you get there, then?"

"We went by bus, hopped on and headed out." He scowled slightly, "Took awhile…"

"You going back?"

"Yeah, maybe," he sighed, "I dunno." He felt so conflicted, "What should I do?"

"When's the next time they're meeting up?" Michael threw his legs over the side of the mattress and leaned a bit closer.

"Next week."

A week? "Meet up with them, Sam. Stall for time, and I'll meet up with you." He paused, "I work late." If they were still coming into Santa Carla, and just taking their meals elsewhere...or recruiting...or whatever the hell those crazy shits were doing, Michael had no intention of letting that slide, and he doubted the others would either. Sam, mom, grandpa...they were his, and he wasn't about to let anyone else eat them if he could help it.

Sam had the funny feeling he was being interrogated. Funny thing was, he almost felt compelled to answer all of his questions...like he couldn't keep his mouth shut even if he tried. It was kind of freaky, and almost made him think twice about the bullshit the Frog brothers had been pestering him about.

But...this was Mike...his brother...Maybe he just wanted to talk to him, and it was just the nervous energy betraying his ability to keep his mouth shut.

"Where do you work?" It suddenly struck him that he pretty much didn't know anything about Mike anymore. Where he lived, what he did, or just about anything else. Like his brother was systematically cutting them all out of his life for reasons neither Sam nor their mom could even begin to understand.

"I work at a hotel," Michael shrugged, scooting over to give Sam space to sit down on the edge of his bed.

"Really? What do you do? Make beds?" He laughed, giving him a small smile.

He looked thoughtful, "maintenance. Extermination."

"I guess that's a step up. From picking up trash on the beach to the bug guy."

"I get by," Michael smirked. There was a joke he wasn't getting here. "There's plenty of huge bugs...keeps me busy."

Sam made a face, "Sounds gross." He paused, debating if he wanted to tell Mike about what the Frogs said, "Umm, hey, there's no more vampires, right? The Frogs told me they think you're one, totally crazy, right?"

"No, they're right. I'm definitely a vampire. Bonafide bloodsucking bastard. Just biding my time until I'm hungry, then I'll probably have a three-course dinner with Nanook for dessert." He grinned, slugging Sam's shoulder just a little too hard.

He yelped, laughing, "Asshole."

"I've gotta get going," he suddenly stood up from the bed, "I'll swing by for a visit in a few days. You give me the details about where you'll be and when." He paused, "and Sam…"

"Yeah?"

"Take a bath. You smell like death." He was gone before Sam could snap out a comeback. Not long after, there was a frantic scratching at the door.

Sam glared after him, "Hey! How would you know?!" Nanook whined in the hallway. Sam hopped up and opened his door, "Hey, buddy."

Immediately the husky rushed into his bedroom, nearly tackling Sam as he pressed up against him and pressed his head against his knees, barking and panting. He hadn't freaked out like this since…well, since ever. He rubbed down his sides, kissing the top of his head, "Do you miss Mike?"

Obviously he couldn't answer, but Nanook kept on, nervously pulling away from him and pacing the room, pausing only to scratch at the carpet in places. He shook his head, sitting up, "What's with you?" He grumbled, scowling slightly, "Did you get into something? You don't smell like skunk."

He huffed, striding back to the door and circling in front of it, before settling down on his haunches and staring at it intently, as if he were guarding Sam from some unseen thing lurking on the other side.