Chapter 3
Oswald and Horace followed Gus into the rarely used dungeon towards the sounds of chains rattling, screeching, and monitoring equipment beeping. They came closer only to realize the zomblot was someone they knew.
"It's one of the Mousin twins." Horace exclaimed, walking over to the glass observation wall.
"That's why we haven't tried anything." Gus explained.
"I thought we already determined they all were toons before." Oswald said, turning away from the poor girl's sight as she screamed at him. "Why's that stopping ya'll from trying to revers it?"
"That would be my call." A voice said as an old cat walked over.
"Pop Weezil?" Oswald looked up at the old cat in surprise. "They called you to be in charge of this?"
"Why not?" Weezil shrugged. "The Mad Doctor taught me a lot before turning evil. Anyway we did try paint, but cut that after it seemed to be hurting her."
"Have you thought of electricity?" Oswald asked.
"We've thought of a few things, but, well, come look at her vitals and you'll probably see for yourself." Weezil led them over to a computer as a dog pushed himself away in his rolling chair.
Oswald and Horace looked at the screen only for Horace to admit, "I'm no good with this stuff, what does it say?"
Oswald sighed before explaining, "Pretty much, she's just the shell of the toon she was."
"According to what we could tell, she's only got about ten percent paint still in her." Weezil admitted. He shook his head as he said, "I don't think they can be reverted."
"There's gotta be a way." Oswald tried.
"Well, while they're down here, trying to come up with a way, there's almost a thousand of them running around Wasteland." Horace pointed out.
"A bit of an exaggeration." Oswald rolled.
"We could try and capture them." Gus suggested. "Though I'd recommend we put them elsewhere while the Bunny Children are staying here."
"Would the underground be able to work?" Oswald asked. "We could make a cage in the center cave and tell the gremlins down there to watch out."
"I'll get Blue and we'll get to work on that." Gus nodded before teleporting away.
"What about her?" Weezil asked.
Oswald turned to face the zomblots, catching green eyes staring back at him. He could see what used to be her round mouse ears hanging in shreds. "Keep trying to find a way to bring them back. I hate that that means experimenting on her, but if something you do reverts her…"
"Alright Oswald. You're the boss." Weezil nodded his head. He stroked his whiskers as he said, "We could attempted pure oxygen."
"I'll send some down." Oswald said.
"I guess I'll head back to Jack and tell him what happened to the twins." Horace said, taking one last look at the girl fighting against the chains holding her to the wall.
"I'll come with you." Oswald said, leading the way out of the dungeon.
-.-.-.-
"Oh thank goodness you're safe!" Ortensia exclaimed, tackling Oswald in a hug as soon as the rabbit had stepped foot in the Misadventures Club. She gave him a few kisses before pushing him to arm's length and stared him down. "You gave me a heart attack, what happened!?"
"The zomblots had broken a window and working their way in." Oswald admitted. "All the bunny children made it to Dark Beauty, but your house might need a cleanup now."
"As long as my family's alright." Ortensia said, pulling him back in a hug.
"And sadly, we found your missing waitress." Horace said, moving around the couple to talk to Jack. "They've been turned into those zomblots."
"Any hope of turning them back?" Jack asked, leaning on his bar.
"We're working on it." Oswald said as the two walked over to the counter, hand in hand. "I'm going to head over to Ventureland and convince the pirates to help, but the aim is to get all the zomblots underground in a cage Gus is working on now."
"Captive first, that's a plan." Jack nodded his head.
Screams from the street got their attentions towards the doorway. Oswald quickly squeezed his wife's hand before letting it go to rush over and look out the window.
"Oh no." Oswald groaned.
Horace and Jack looked over the rabbit to see what was causing the commotion outside. A toon ran by the window before running inside. The cow tied to catch her breath, holding a hand to her chest as she leaned against the door.
"Laralee, are you alright?" Ortensia asked, gently taking the cow's free hand to lead her to a chair.
"I almost got dissolved by those blot creatures!" Laralee gasped.
"So much for getting the pirate's help." Horace sighed.
"I thought Mean Street was safe from those things." Laralee looked at Oswald for answers.
Oswald shrugged before more screams passed by the club. He looked up at Horace and said, "Come on, you've just been dubbed official zomblot catcher."
"You wanna help, Jack?" Horace asked.
"Somebody's gotta watch over the woman." Jack said, shaking his head. He reached under the bar and pulled out a ring of rope before tossing it to Horace. "But here's something to help you."
The two burst out the door caterwauling, trying to be louder than the cries of the scared toons and the screeching the zomblots where making. Once they got to the center of the road the two could see they were dealing with at least fifteen, all turning towards them.
"Throw me an end of that rope, hold tight to the other end." Oswald ordered, quickly getting hold of the rope.
Horace went to the side of the street as Oswald did the same opposite him, blocking the road as the zomblots rushed them. "You think they're really stupid enough to fall for this?" Horace asked.
"Oswald Junior 399 called them part zombie for a reason." Oswald shrugged. He pulled the rope tight as the zomblots came near. As soon as they were close enough he ordered, "Charge!"
The two rushed forwards, surrounding the zomblots with the rope before closing off the back end. Oswald grabbed Horace's end of the rope and quickly tied it tight to hold them all close. "There, that should hold them for a bit." Oswald said, stepping back to admire their work.
"At least until we can get them under-Oswald!"
The rabbit turned around only to find a burlap sack thrown over his head. A nauseating stench filled his nose as he called out, "Let me out of here!"
"Ozzwal." A broken voice growled as the bag dropped sideways, knocking him out.