"This way," Buzz said over his shoulder as he proceeded forward up a steady slope.

From behind him, it was Jessie's turn to assist Woody. His limp left leg dragged uselessly behind him, oftentimes causing him to inadvertently get his boot caught in something protruding from the uneven ground. Using Jessie's body as a crutch, the two managed to keep up with the fast-paced space ranger through the entrails of the unusually active complex.

Buzz hopped over a thick duct bolted to the ground. "Stay here," he instructed them. He scampered farther up to a power box and climbed it. Standing on the top, he stared beyond the empty conveyor belt up farther in the distance. That's when he saw the bright orange light illuminating from the ground. But beyond that, to his exhilaration, he saw what they had all been hoping for.

He hurriedly climbed back down and returned for Woody and Jessie. "We're almost there. I saw our exit."

Jessie was beaming excitedly, as was Woody, at the good news.

"Hurry. We can still make it in time."

With effort on all of their parts, Woody was aided over the protruding duct. As Jessie readjusted herself readily as Woody's much-needed support, Buzz looked past the conveyer belt. "We should veer off course from that thing," he recommended, turning to Woody. Woody nodded in agreement.

With Buzz leading the way once again, the three of them continued up the slope. As they drew nearer to their way out, Jessie was beginning to notice the increasingly bright orange light. "Buzz," Jessie said, "is that…"

"We'll be fine, Jessie. We'll try to go around."

Despite her uncertainty, she trusted Buzz with this. Woody, who was already aware of the plan, suddenly also began to doubt when he saw how far the fiery light extended across their path in the distance.

As though the activation of the machinery was not loud enough, the growing sound of the incinerator began to overwhelm their ears. A look of anxiety cast over Buzz's face when he too noticed how they had not been able to swerve away from the sweltering illumination from below without swerving away from their exit. He ran forward to the edge of their safe path.

The moment he reached it, Woody and Jessie close behind, he immediately backed away when he looked down at the angry flames blazing several feet below. A mechanical sheath was left amateurishly partly obtruding at least a quarter of the way down to where the stimulators of the intense blaze were. He scanned from one end to the other only to sorrowfully realize there was no way around it.

"Buzz," Jessie shouted in an attempt to make herself heard over the intense loudness of their surroundings. "What do we do?"

Buzz looked to Jessie; she stared at him with fret and anticipation. He turned to Woody, who appeared weary from their long journey and his exhausted, damaged legs.

He looked around desperately for any path across; but the incinerator was boxed in on both sides with flat, even walls extending all the way up to the high ceiling. They had come so far, the last thing he wanted was for it to all be a waste of effort.

But before hopelessness settled in, a crazy idea clicked into his head. Buzz glanced down at the large, red, circular button situated on the left side of his space suit. He then looked up at the footbridge on the other side.

Woody, who also had his eyes fixed on the pondering space ranger, eventually came to understand exactly what Buzz was considering. The decision was made the moment their eyes knowingly met.

Jessie waited uneasily for an explanation of any sort.

~ O ~

"'You sure about this?"

Buzz tugged on the old electrical cable to ensure its security on the overhanging steel pipeline. He turned to Jessie, who was tentatively gazing down over the edge of the power generator they were standing on.

"The only time I've ever seen you fly was when Andy was pretending."

As Buzz adjusted his position, Woody was looking up at them from below. Regardless of what he tried to convince himself, both he and Buzz knew that it was not a sure-fire plan. The way the space ranger was manufactured only allowed him to know how to angle and manoeuvre, not to actually do so.

"If we're able to attain the proper projectile motion," Buzz finally said to her, "I should be able to angle us correctly in order to catch my wings in the air." He smiled encouragingly towards the concerned-looking cowgirl. "But if we obtain a decent velocity, it may not even be necessary."

Jessie nodded. "Right," she muttered.

Buzz extended his arm out, holding on to the cord with his other hand. "Trust me."

Consideration delayed her for another moment, but eventually, Jessie did muster up the courage to put her faith in him. Timidly, she wrapped her arms around his bulky space suit. Buzz took a step closer to the edge of the power generator; he held onto Jessie with one arm while pulling once more at the cord with the other.

"'Ready?" he asked her.

Jessie shook her head no. She was staring down at Woody.

Woody gave her a reassuring, confident look to ease her tension. "Good luck," he called to Buzz.

Buzz gave him a thankful nod before stepping off the power generator. Jessie was wide-eyed the entire time they were swinging down. The instant before he released the cable, Buzz secured his grip on her.

Jessie's eyes immediately squeezed shut when they began to soar over the conflagration. She hid her face in Buzz's suited chest. Buzz, all the while, managed to adjust his position in order to get his wings caught in the air, just enough to carry them farther across the depths of the unfathomable incinerator. Through his helmet, he watched the skywalk with immense intent.

It was a close call, but Buzz and Jessie successfully landed on the skywalk. The perplexed toys soon heard Woody's hearty, relieved laughter from the other side. Jessie gradually overcame her speechless bewilderment and joined Woody and Buzz in a state of exhilaration. On her hands and knees, she just started laughing.

"Woody, did ya see us?" she shouted excitedly.

Woody was giving her a thumbs-up, beaming with such relief, he could barely control it.

Buzz returned to his feet; he removed the second electrical cord off of his shoulder. "Hang tight, cowboy. I'll be right over."

~ O ~

Not far outside the trash incineration complex, the other toys sat desolately around, hiding behind a series of trash bins. Slowly but surely, night was turning into day as they saw the glow of late summer daylight appearing far off in the East.

"How long has it been?" Slinky inquired. The spring that formed his tail was slumped between his legs.

Hamm looked over at the working watch laying among the trash. "Eh… Where were we at last time again?"

"Oh, forget it," Mr. Potato Head finally said. "They're not gonna make it out." The grief in his voice reflected in the other toys' expressions. Bullseye lowered his head and whimpered.

After a moment of silence, Rex spoke: "So…what do we do now?"

They all looked at each other uncertainly.

~ O ~

Buzz landed much more smoothly the second time around. The sound of his plastic boots thudding against the metal edge of the incinerator created a loud echo that was rapidly drained out by the other sounds of the operational building.

Pushing the button to remove his helmet covering, he hurried to Woody's side just as he was attempting to balance himself without the aid of the duct he was leaning against.

"Here," Buzz said. "Lean against me." He pulled Woody's arm over his shoulders.

Just as the two were getting adjusted, Jessie, who watched attentively from the safe side of the incinerator, suddenly screamed, "Buzz! Look out behind you!"

Buzz turned just in time to react. Still holding onto Woody, he dodged the thick, swinging plank directed at his head. He turned them around so they could face their aggressor. The two were equally startled to see his furry face.

"Lotso-" Buzz tried to say, but Lotso swung again. This time, Buzz and Woody became separated in order for them to successfully avoid potential damage from the robust piece of lumber. Both landed on their backs on either side of the angry toy bear.

A glimmer of rage was in Lotso's narrowed eyes. "Thirty years, I ran that daycare centre. Thirty years, I was in complete control of my own fate. And, in some way that I still don't understand, you managed to take it all away in a single night."

"Lotso," Buzz urged, anxious to distract him from Woody on whom Lotso was focusing. "Lotso, we can help you out of here." He extended his hand, motioning the bear to lower the plank. "Just, please-"

Lotso laughed. "I'm beyond help now, Lightyear. But hey, I've got you all to thank for that."

Without a hint of remorse, Lotso swung the plank at Buzz as hard and fast as he could. Buzz's graceless position did not allow him to move quick enough to avoid it. He could've sworn he heard something crack as he was whacked across the chest. He felt for any damage.

"I gave you the chance to make something of yourself; to control your own destiny."

Buzz was still clutching his chest. He narrowed his eyes in return. "You were asking me to turn my back on my friends."

Lotso drew back the plank and propelled it at Buzz once more, this time striking him in the side of the head. Buzz reeled back in ache.

Woody, all the while, was pushing himself up to his feet as best and silently as he could.

"You could have had it all. You don't need no kid; 'never did. What exactly is next for you now, Space Ranger? Hm? 'You just gonna go on back so you can keep collectin' dust until he works up the nerve to finally throw you away?"

Buzz watched the rising lath.

"Some life that'd've been."

Before Lotso even had the chance to swing, Woody was clinging to his arm with both of his. Lotso stumbled backwards, causing Woody, with his non-functioning leg, to stumble slightly as well. Woody wrestled to get Lotso to drop the piece of lumber with eventual victory.

Lotso fought to get out of Woody's grasp, a task which would've been simple if it were not for the cowboy's strong determination. "Let go of me!" Lotso ordered angrily.

But he took one step back too far as he found himself losing his footing on the very edge of the incinerator's aperture. Both he and Woody began their long fall down towards the flaming inferno.

"No!" Jessie screamed.

"Woody!" Buzz hollered after them. He rushed to the edge.

Woody and Lotso were less than fortunate when they brutally struck the metal sheath. Lotso's plush body simply absorbed most of the shock of the impact; Woody, on the other hand, remained still afterwards, arms and legs sprawled awkwardly around him.

Jessie was panicking. "Woody!" she yelled, hoping for a response.

Instead, she watched nervously as Lotso slowly pushed himself up, shaking his head to clear it. He turned to Woody, whom he noticed was non-responsive. Lotso took this opportunity of weakness to avenge what he had lost. He shakily got to his feet.

Standing over the Sheriff, Lotso pushed him with his foot towards the brink.

"Lotso, no!" Jessie cried out, futile.

Woody became conscious of what Lotso was doing only when he was pushed off the edge. He exclaimed in a fraught effort to keep himself up.

Lotso took hold of Woody's arm and, using the sharp rim of the connective part of the sheath, tore through the threads of his forearm. Woody cried out, intensely feeling each of the individual threads in his cloth arm being broken. Lotso let go of it, allowing it to drop down by Woody's side and dangle uselessly.

"Lotso! Please!"

Jessie's desperate cry fell on careless ears; Lotso pressed his foot against Woody's other working arm. A single trace of compunction in Lotso's expression as he looked at Woody's pleading face took a moment to vanish. With one swift motion, he shoved Woody's arm off of the ledge.

"No!" Jessie screamed.

Lotso watched with nefarious satisfaction. "So long, Sheriff," he said.

The stuffed bear was startled by the sudden rush of air by his ear. He jumped at the abrupt and blurry sight of Buzz Lightyear whizzing past him at full speed.

Buzz extended himself as far as he possibly could in order to achieve maximum acceleration; the flames below grew bigger and burned brighter very quickly. Woody reached up for Buzz's reaching fingertips. Both felt the scorching heat rising frighteningly fast. In due time, the two came within reach of one other to grab each other's wrists.

"Buzz!" Woody shouted as he was pulled in closer.

"Hang on!" Buzz pushed the big red button on his space suit, allowing his wings to pop out immediately. Woody instinctively held on to his hat.

Buzz and Woody could feel the sweltering flames flicker against them as Buzz angled himself enough to swerve upwards. In the substantial amount of velocity they had obtained over such immeasurable freefalling, they could only hope that it would be enough power to make it to the skywalk.

In intense relief, Jessie watched the two just barely make it to the skywalk, both gripping on to the edge almost gracefully. She was swift to aid Woody up, wrapping her arms tightly around him from behind and laying him down in her lap as he breathed heavily for the air he had lost. Buzz climbed up after him, remaining on his knees as he too took a moment to catch his own breath.

Lotso was enraged; but as the three watched him throw his fit, they quietly came to see him in a different sort of light. The purple bear never stopped glowering as he slumped down against the wall.


I'm grateful that all of that action is out of the way. Look for Chapter 4 soon.