The noise levels seemed to increase the farther down Buzz and the group went; following the catwalk down a flight of stairs, the toys became increasingly intimidated by the whirring machinery around them. A sudden loud, ominous bang in the distance – one that immediately faded into an echo – caused Mrs. Potato Head to quickly grab onto her husband's hand in alarm.

Buzz looked beyond the skywalk at the colossal enclosed area from which the incline his friends had climbed from seemed to be directed into. It was a tough call considering how the ramp was now upright once again, and he had been paying too much attention to the wellbeing of his friends to notice exactly how it had angled.

Finally, Buzz turned around. "Listen, it's time we split up."

"But Woody said for us to stay together," Rex reminded him.

"No matter what," Jessie added.

Buzz heaved a disheartened sigh. "I know, but that was before. I'll look for Woody, and you guys find the nearest exit."

"Come again?" Hamm insisted.

"It'll be easier that way for all of us."

"Not a chance," Slinky asserted. "We're all in this together. Right, guys?" The others were in agreement.

"If we all go gallivanting around this place, something else is bound to go wrong." The toys did not dispute this. Buzz turned to the troubled cowgirl. "Jessie, it's up to you to lead them out. I saw an exit sign upstairs somewhere. Just follow it and you'll be safe."

Jessie was ill at ease. She looked at Buzz sceptically.

"I'll come back with Woody. I promise."

Eventually, she did nod her head, although still on edge. "Be careful," was what she said to him.

He looked her in the eyes once more before turning around and running down the skywalk. Jessie watched him along with the others; she was the first to turn the opposite direction. "Let's go."

Buzz came to another staircase, this one leading down closer to the long, wide conveyer belt several feet below. Rather than leaping down the steps, he used the handrail, clasping his hands together so his arms were linked around it, to slide down, and then slipped down the bar to the floor. Buzz scanned the factory, which despite its sudden liveliness, was much darker down here. Squinting to see, he ultimately noticed, far down below, the familiar bookshelf, now in far worse condition than before, lying among the trash. Buzz frowned downheartedly at the sight of its mangled condition.

Before proceeding with his search, he suddenly noticed a strong light emitting through a series of windows further down the footbridge in another direction. Furrowing his brow, Buzz's immediate curiosity drew him towards it.

~ O ~

"Home free, baby," Mr. Potato Head exclaimed when he saw the glowing exit sign above a door. The toys were equally excited to have their long, gruelling journey through the factory come to an end.

Jessie jumped up as high as she could to reach the door handle bar, managing to thrust it down. "Push on it," she instructed the others. They did just that, and the heavy door opened. The refreshing sight of night sky and open planes made them cheer in delight.

However, Jessie was not excited at all; she knew that, in the back of all of their minds, they too were worried sick. She looked over her shoulder, then back at the toys sadly, remaining inside as the steel exit door gradually returned to its closed position.

Bullseye neighed as loud as he could when he noticed what Jessie was doing. The others spun around, but there was no chance, as the door clicked into its locking place after their final glimpse of her apologetic face. There was no handle bar on the outside of the door.

"Jessie," Mrs. Potato Head called through while the others frantically searched for a way to open it. "Honey? Can you hear me?"

"You guys keep going," she said to them from the other side. "We'll catch up with you." Without another word, she scurried back down from where they came from.

The toys exchanged apprehensive looks. Bullseye lowered his head.

~ O ~

Buzz mounted the last step to where the small, windowed room was situated. The doorway was wide open, but he heard no voices or footsteps. Having no prior knowledge of whether or not the city landfill was monitored during the night, he was hesitant about taking a gander. Still, he took the risk and leaned his back against the wall, slowly crawling down towards the doorway.

When he peeked inside, his mind was both put at ease and slightly puzzled at the same time. The control room's vacancy would not have been an unusual site if not for the machinery mysteriously starting up.

Remaining cautious, he walked into the room and looked around. Using a nearby chair, he climbed up to have a view of the actual controls of the factory. He was taken aback by the complexity of them. Lights blinked, unlabelled knobs were lined up – the only one he recognized was an 'On/Off' switch.

From the corner of his eye, Buzz noticed movement. He quickly looked up from the controls near the doorway, but saw nothing. He never let his guard down as he silently watched the doorway, only to be left with the eerie feeling that he wasn't alone.

~ O ~

Jessie looked up from where she was, having to shield her eyes from the light shining directly above. Four corners threateningly close boxed the trash in. Through it all, Jessie climbed down, grateful for the many larger objects that created gaps within the pile.

"Woody," she called in a hoarse whisper. It was surprisingly quiet down there. "Woody, are you here?"

Behind the strong hope that motivated her, doubt and fear for the worse could not help but seep through to the surface. The distance between where she stood and where he had tumbled from was large and potentially fatal for a human being. For a toy, she had no idea.

Her already short breaths suddenly halted when she discerned some of the trash shift. Staring straight at it, she closed in slowly. "Woody?"

It took a moment of vigilant approach, but within seconds after yet another almost unnoticeable movement in the trash, her guard dropped, and she sprinted towards it. She pushed away several layers of debris until she saw that familiar face.

"Woody!" she could not help but cry. Falling to her knees, her arms awkwardly wrapped around him.

It took energy just for Woody to adjust his head so he could look at her. "Jess…?"

"It's okay, Woody. I'm here." With that, she proceeded with her effort to get him to his feet. "Let's get you out of this place. Can you move?"

Woody leaned his head back as though trying to verify. "No," he wheezed. He had been ineffectually pushing against something beneath the trash that covered the lower half of his body.

Jessie was swift to push away the remaining debris, including a broken crate and a partly torn trash bag. In shock, she put her fingers over her gaping mouth and reeled back as she desolately looked upon the crushed remnants of an old microwave, or so she could barely recognize.

Without hesitation, she began to push as hard as she could at it. But despite it being smashed in, its weight was still too much for their thin, cloth arms.

Jessie eventually realized this and flopped down next to Woody, catching her breath. "We… We need Buzz," she said to him. "He'll get you out."

But Woody didn't answer. When she looked over at him, she saw that he had closed his eyes, keeping his hands pressed against the worthless kitchen appliance resting on top of him. Jessie spotted an old plaid rag beneath the rubble. She bunched it together and slipped it behind Woody's head.

~ O ~

Standing so high above the ground was intimidating, but Buzz knew better than to be afraid of heights. Taking a deep breath, he made the jump from the skywalk into the huge mass of garbage below. He landed on top of what used to be the backrest part of an armchair, bracing himself for the impact with his knees.

Jessie perked her head up at the sound. Keeping her hold on Woody's hand, she looked around anxiously for the source of it.

Not far away, Buzz began to wander through the debris in search for his long-time friend. "Woody," he called.

"Buzz," Jessie exclaimed, zealous.

He was stunned to hear her voice instead. "Jessie?"

"Buzz, over here."

With no delay, Buzz was hurrying down the mass of debris until he spotted the cowgirl sitting there as though having been expecting him. His bewilderment was overshadowed by the panic he felt when he saw Woody lying face-up next to her.

Jessie moved over to where the remnants of an old microwave oven were laying on top of the cowboy's midsection and legs. "Buzz, give me a hand with this."

The space ranger didn't waste any time; he rushed around to Woody's other side and slipped his hands underneath the appliance. "On three," he said to her, bending his knees. She nodded. "One…two…three." Both he and Jessie attempted to lift it up with all their might, Woody anxiously assisting the way he could by pushing up against it.

Eventually, their strength gave in to its weight. Jessie collapsed against it; Buzz loosened up his arms without changing his position, instead looking at the heavy piece of debris for a way to lighten the load. But the metal outer case, despite it being crushed in, did not allow for many options.

"All right. Again," Buzz finally said after Jessie had her moment of rest.

Jessie gasped at the sudden loud clanking noise sounding not far away. But as time passed without anything else to follow it, they were able to relax. Hardly.

"Come on," Buzz said once more.

Woody was shaking his head. "Guys, go." Much to Buzz and Jessie's despair, Woody dropped his hands from the appliance in defeat. "You can still make it to Andy's."

Jessie would not accept it. "We're not leaving without you," she guaranteed him, kneeling by his side in the rubble. Her hand stroked the back of his neck.

This truth dismayed Woody, as Buzz solemnly noticed. "You gotta go…" he said under his breath.

As much as Buzz always knew that it was almost always the wisest decision to go by his friend's directions, this time he would not abide, he promised himself. "We're not going anywhere." With that, he sat down on the other side of the fallen cowboy doll, staring hopelessly at the simple, useless old kitchen appliance that was in the way of them reaching their owner.

~ O ~

Buzz stood atop an obtruding tire in the rubble, scanning the spacious, enclosed area, using the time to give his arms more rest from yet another attempt at the cowboy's freedom. He glanced back at their latest effort; the long, steel rod stood straight out from beneath the broken microwave oven. The more tries they gave it, the more gaps of time there were between new, unsuccessful ideas.

Jessie was lying down, resting her hatless head by Woody's neck, worrying not about the filth that would now stain her yarn tresses. She had her arm rested upon him and was mumbling something quietly – to herself or to Woody, Buzz couldn't tell. Woody, all the while, had shut his eyes for a moment, conserving his own energy for the possible next try.

But they all knew it at the back of their minds: hope was slowly fading. With their existing luck, the three knew that they would not be home before Andy's departure. The more failed ways of lifting that piece of debris, the less chance there was.

Buzz sat himself down on the edge of the tire and stared towards the two Woody's Roundup dolls. Jessie turned her distracted gaze from Woody's badge to Buzz. For a minute, all they did was look at each other in deep grief, both coming to terms with the same reality.

Much to their surprise, there was a sudden shudder of their surroundings with a deafening pound of metal against metal. Buzz sprung to his feet, and Jessie sat up at once. The three of them looked around uneasily.

Before there was even a chance to question, there was another quiver, this one much subtler, but much more alarming as the toys noticed the walls on either side of them slowly beginning to close in.

"Buzz!" Jessie shouted over the loudness of the gears working the steel dividers forward.

Buzz was already sprinting back to them, stumbling over the shifting trash below his feet. He repositioned his hands beneath the heavy appliance. "Quick!"

She joined him as they tried one last time to lift the appliance off of Woody, the cowboy also giving it his all. But the moving trash, if anything, made it even more difficult, offering up an unsteady support for their feet.

"Get out of here," Woody insisted fretfully.

"Not without you!" Jessie returned to Woody's side, hoping to support him through it. But Buzz knew that there was no light on the other side for any of them if they didn't act fast.

As he looked around frantically, he noticed an old wheel barrel flipped upside down being pushed in their direction. An idea immediately clicked into Buzz's head; he pulled the steel rod out from underneath the microwave oven and adjusted it so it was now supported against the corner near Woody's torso. "Get ready."

Woody and Jessie were able to quickly comprehend his plan and prepare to move fast.

Just milliseconds before the wheel barrel passed its mark, Buzz forced the other end of the rod down, ramming it against the front edge of the wheel barrel. Wedged between the microwave and the barrel, the rod began to push up against the microwave, lifting it on one side. "Now! Move!"

As Buzz kept his grip on the rod, Jessie quickly pulled Woody from under the raised appliance. Woody kicked his way out with one leg, the other leg following limp.

Only seconds later after Woody was free, the rod snapped in half, and the microwave fell back down with a thud. Buzz ignored it and hurried to where Jessie was trying to get Woody to his feet. "Get on top," he exclaimed. He pulled Woody's arm over his shoulders, clutching the cowboy's wrist with one hand and wrapping his opposite arm around his torso. "I've got him."

Jessie did as she was told, leading the way and clearing a path for Woody and Buzz. But it became increasingly difficult as the walls closed in on them and the trash shifted to create less space for them to pass through.

The struggle was nearly over when they neared the top, now more of a simple climb what with the trash pile being less spread out. Still, the space was limited. Jessie hurriedly managed to climb out in time. But as she looked back from her safe haven, she saw that Buzz and Woody were still far behind. "Hurry!" she cried.

Buzz noticed long ago that Woody could not use one of his legs, and the other one was still rather weak from the heavy pressure against it. He found that Woody was partly limping, partly being dragged up the mountain of debris.

Jessie had her arm extended. "Come on!"

As they reached the top, Buzz pushed up against Woody so that he could reach for her hand. Once he was pulled out, Buzz immediately followed, in the nick of time too. They listened, catching their breath in the meantime, to the sound of crushing metal, wood and other materials in the trash compactor.

Woody felt obliged to speak first. "Thanks, guys," he said between breaths.

Jessie had moved on from relief to inspecting the damage, specifically on Woody. Straight away, she noticed the small but unmistakable break in the threads of his left leg, as well as a slight bit of damage done to his left side just above his belt. She was frowning.

They jolted when the compactor wall came to a halt and began to shift back into its original position. Buzz stood, apprehensive. "We'd better move."


Star Wars-inspired scene, I know. Chapter 3 is to come. Thanks for reading this far.