Frederick and I slept on the second floor. It would be impossible to get him down there again. Alex and Stephanie took a rest on Stephanie's bed. After about eight hours we woke up, feeling refreshed. We prepared to continue on our journey. Frederick said his leg wasn't bothering him as much. I took off his bandage and cleaned him up. I wrapped him up with a fresh sheet that I prepared by ripping it down to a more usable size.
 "Well," said Alex, "What are we going to do now? I think that we should go through the hole, and continue on the second level. There's nothing else down here that can help us. Frederick killed the beast, so it's no worry to us anymore. If there are more . . . well, we'll just have to be careful."
 "I guess I can't really argue with that," I said.
 "If only it weren't so dark." began Frederick.
 "Stephanie, don't you have anything that can be used to light up the hallway?" asked Alex.
 "You damn well better not!" yelled Frederick.
 "Fred!" cried Stephanie, "I may not like you, but I'm not about to pull such a dirty trick! I wouldn't send you up there without light if I had some. Give me some credit."
 He grumbled a bit. "I'm not givin' you nothin'!" he muttered.
 "What was that?" she asked, innocently.
 "I didn't say a thing." said Frederick. "Maybe you should get the wax outta your ears so they work better."
 "Maybe you should keep your mouth shut so I don't have to do it myself. ‘Cause ya know, my way will be much more painful." shouted Stephanie.
 "C'mon, try it! I may have an injured leg, but I can still take you."
 "You little" she cried, as she jumped at him.
 "Don't even think about it." I threatened, from behind her. "Or I'll throw you both back down that hole and me and Alex will leave you there."
 The two of them stopped and looked at the ground.
 "Sorry." muttered Frederick.
 "Don't worry about it." said Stephanie. "I accept your apology."
 "I wasn't talking to you, you fool. I was apologizing to Andrea. I couldn't care less about you."
 "Well at least the feeling's mutual."
 "Oh shut up you two.  You're giving me a headache." Alex finally interjected.
 "Same goes for me." I agreed.
 "Now," Alex changed the subject, "you're sure you don't have a lantern, a torch . . . She didn't give you anything?"
 "Well, yeah." Stephanie exclaimed. "She gave me a lantern, but only enough matches and gas to last about a year! I ran out when I was 11. What good is that!"
 We sat quietly, catching the glances of each other as we looked around. My eyes met Frederick's. I felt my knees buckle and was glad I was already sitting down. I looked away when I began feeling faint. I put my head in my knees and took in a long breath.
 "This sucks." I eventually mumbled. "It really, really sucks."
 "Penny for your thoughts?" asked Frederick.
 "'This sucks' is my thought!" I sighed. "Pathetic. I think this situation is actually making me stupider."
 "Hey!" Alex yelled, as he jumped up. "I've got matches in my pocket! I remember grabbing them when I got the maps!" He pulled out a box of them, and laid them in front of me.
 "Excellent!" I yelled. "Now we're getting somewhere!"
"You know, remarked Frederick, I think that you could probably light that slime that's all over the floor down there. It's full of oil."
"Fred, you're a genius!" I cried and slapped him on the back. He shrugged and tried to hide his red cheeks.
Alex went and fetched some of the slime. He put it in the lantern and lit it. A huge flame burst from the lantern and he dropped it. The fire died down and soon the lantern was emitting the same glow that we saw downstairs in the hallways.
 The four of us crawled up to the second floor and Alex got out his map. We finally figured out where we were. The area was also unmarked, but according to the rest of the map, there should be a hallway leading North. Stephanie grabbed her lantern and we checked out the room. It looked exactly like Stephanie's room, only in worse shape.
 "Oh man!" cried Frederick. "Out of one cell, into another! This must be the cage of the beast I fought."
 "Well, how are we gonna get out?" asked Stephanie.
 "I dunno," I said, "let's examine the area."
 We walked around the room, but couldn't find anything that helped us. We went through the door. I was expecting it to be like Stephanie's cell.  It wasn't. Instead there was a huge hallway leading North.
 "All right!" yelled Stephanie. "Jackpot! That was easier than expected."
 The four of us practically skipped down the hallway. Maybe things would be easier from now on. It couldn't possibly get harder than this. We felt confident that we could prevail.
 Moments later, Frederick, who was now at the front carrying the lantern, let out a high-pitched scream and jumped back a step.
 "Woah!" I shouted, looking at the ground. "Is that . . . it?"
 "Sure smells like it." said Frederick. He couldn't bring himself to look at it again.
 "That's disgusting!" said Alex. "Look at those fangs, and those sharp, sharp claws!" Frederick winced upon every word.
 "Very disgusting." echoed Stephanie. "How could you possibly have fought that thing, Frederick? I would've been frozen to the spot!"
 "Well I didn't know it looked so scary!" he cried, burying his face in his sweater. (Which I was still wearing) "I probably would've been paralysed too if I could've seen it in the light!"
 I uttered a revolted little ‘ugh' as I checked out its face. It was gross . . . and it was blocking our path.