Dave sat Brittany back down, but she didn't want him to. She was so afraid that something might happen to her if Dave wasn't watching her.
"Come on, Brittany," Dave said, "let's go look for the others... they have to be around here somewhere..."
"Can... can't you still hold me?" Brittany asked, through her tears.
Dave sighed, "I would, but you have to admit, Brittany, you're growing... I'm getting older... frankly, you're getting just a little too heavy for me..."
"Well, I never!" Brittany said, offended.
"I didn't mean to offend you, Brittany," Dave apologized, "when you get to be my age, you just can't lift certain things like you used to... I even have trouble trying to lift Alvin anymore these days... come on, let's go look for everyone..."
Dave continued walking down the sidewalk, and over to the metal staircase at the end of the building, to ascend to the second floor to look for the other kids, while Brittany stayed put.
"Too heavy..." Brittany scoffed. "I only weight 30 pounds!"
"You should weigh less than that." A voice caught her by surprise.
Brittany nearly jumped out of her skin, when she turned around, and found Dr. Henderson behind her. "Hey, Buster!" She barked at him, also recognizing him as the manager from the front desk. "I've got a looooooong list of complaints about this place, starting with the disappearance on my sisters!"
"Don't worry about that," Dr. Henderson smirked, "you'll see them again soon enough."
"What?!" Brittany asked in confusion. "What did you do to my sisters?!"
Dr. Henderson slowly tried to make a grab for Brittany, but she slipped away and ran. In the woods across the road from the motel, Alvin and Simon plopped down in the grass.
"What was with that guy?!" Alvin asked.
"I don't know..." Simon said, "... but I bet he knows about the others' disappearances..."
Brittany ran down the road, but stopped when something caught her eye. She saw and uncovered manhole in the middle of the road... with the same, eerie, green glow coming from it, that she saw coming from the toilet in her room. Brittany, slowly, and carefully, walked over to the hole, and looked down. She debated in her mind whether she should check it out, or try to find Dave. When Brittany heard a loud horn blowing, and a huge, tractor-trailer barreling towards her, she knew she only had a split second to react, so she jump in, and plummeted downwards, until she landed in the sewer.
Brittany shrieked, when she surfaced from the sewage. "More poo water!!!"
Brittany cringed, as the current of the sewage system carried her further down the large drainage pipe. Pretty soon, she was coming upon a sub drain, where she saw the green light. The pipe must have led to whatever was caughing the light, but she would never make it. She tried to swim towards it, but the current of the sewage grew stronger, and stronger, as the drain went down a slant. Brittany struggled to keep her head above the water, but she began to freak out when she saw she was heading towards what looked like a waterfall. Brittany held on for quite a ride, when the sewage drained deeper into a larger pipe. Brittany didn't know what happened, but a few moments later, she woke up, and found herself hanging onto some kind of metal bar for dear life. She looked up, and saw it was a ladder, leading up to another manhole cover. With no other alternative in mind, Brittany climbed up the ladder.
Dave came back down the metal staircase. "Brittany!" He called out. "Alvin! Simon! Theodore! Eleanor! Jeanette! Brittany! Kids! Where are you?! Kids!?"
"Looking for something?" Dr. Henderson asked casually, as he met Dave at the bottom of the staircase.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am..." Dave said, "I wanted to file some complaints about the acommodations here, but my kids went missing..."
"Ah yes... your 'children'... come with me..." Dr. Henderson said, as he took Dave's hand.
"You wouldn't happen to know where they are, do you?" Dave asked, hopeful.
"Perhaps... but I'm more concerned about you..." Dr. Henderson said.
"Me?!" Dave asked, in confusion. "What about me?"
Inside a poorly-lit room, a manhole cover was removed from its respective place, and a soaking wet, foul smelling Brittany made her way through the hole, and into the room. She collapsed on the floor for a few moments, her body, still feeling the water, her heart beating faster, and faster. Brittany slowly sat up, and saw hundreds, maybe even thousands of caged animals. Mostly domestic animals like dogs, cats, rabbits, but even some wild animals like bears and monkeys. Brittany couldn't quite tell, but something inside her told her that these animals were trying to tell her something. She observed them, she could tell they didn't like where they were, but it was almost as if they were telling her to get out while she still could. Just then, she heard a click, turned her head, and found a huge, metal door slowly creep open. Brittany ducked behind a crate she saw off to the side, but spied very carefully on what was going on.
"How did it go?" One voice said.
"Pretty good," another voice said, "no complaints at all."
The two men laughed. They were Dr. Henderson's assistants, Orson and Seymour. They carried another cage into the room. This cage contained two, real chipmunks. They sat the cage on a table that was in the middle of the room, before they headed out again.
"Dr. Henderson still working on the other, little butterball?" Seymour asked.
"Don't know," Orson asked, "I think..."
They walked out of the room, and locked the large, metal door behind them. Curious, Brittany walked over to the caged chipmunks, who acted really happy to see her.
"Hi there..." she said to them softly.
The chipmunks stuck their little hands through the cage, trying to grab ahold of Brittany, but they couldn't reach her.
"What's the matter?" Brittany asked. "Scared?"
The chipmunks grew sad. Brittany didn't seem to understand them. They tried communicating with her, but all she could hear were simple little squeaks. Brittany were concerned for them, they seemed scared to her. She opened the cage, and the two chipmunks jumped into her arms, climbed up her shoulders, tried to snuggle up to her neck. Once more, they tried communicating with her, but she could only hear squeaks.
"What's wrong?" Brittany asked them, as she took them into her hands.
"What in the world is going on here?" Dave asked, while Dr. Henderson grilled him.
"Are you familiar with bestiality?" He asked him.
"What? What are you getting at?" Dave asked.
"Man is not meant to mate with beast!" Dr. Henderson yelled.
"I still don't understand where you're coming from!" Dave said.
"Your... 'children'..." Dr. Henderson said, through his teeth. "They're chipmunks... they should live like chipmunks... not like man..."
"What do you mean?" Dave asked, more confused than ever.
Dr. Henderson pounded the table. "What went through your mind when you mated with a chipmunk?!"
"Sir," Dave said, "I have never mated with a chipmunk!"
"Then how do you explain your 'children'?!" Dr. Henderson continued grilling Dave.
"My boys were left on my doorstep when they were babies!" Dave insisted. "Their mother wasn't able to take care of them, it was a harsh winter, there was a food shortage in the forrest!"
"What exactly were you doing in the forrest?!"
"I had a cabin there! It's where I lived for a while!"
Alvin and Simon had snuck back to the motel, but then time, they went into the main office to look for answers. Simon snuck behind the front desk, and into the back room that read "Employees Only". The only thing Simon found that struck him curious was an identity card with the picture of the manager on it.
"Alvin!" Simon cried out. "Alvin, look at this... this belongs to the guy who owns this motel..."
"Let me see that!" Alvin snatched the card out of Simon's hand, and read over it. "Dr. Ben Henderson... he's a scientist..."
"Exactly!" Simon said.
"So what?" Alvin asked. "You're an aspiring scientist, just because he is, don't start..."
"No," Simon interrupted, "look, he's trained in biology, chemistry, and animal testing!"
"I'm against cruelty to animals!" Alvin said.
"So am I, technically, we are animals!" Simon said. "We're chipmunks."
"So what?" Alvin asked.
"Don't you see?" Simon asked. "What else could explain the others' disappearances?"
"Oh, what?" Alvin asked. "You think... this Dr. Ben Henderson kidnapped them and is performing tests on them?"
"Alright then, Mr. Logical, you tell me what you think happened to them!"
"I don't know what happened to them..." Alvin paused. "Maybe you have a point..."
"There must be a lab around here somewhere..."
Brittany held the two chipmunks close to her face. "What are you trying to tell me?" She asked them.
They just stared into her eyes. They hoped she might be able to see in their eyes who they were, but Brittany had no idea what they were doing.
"Well," Brittany said, as she placed them back in their cage, "I have to go, I have to find my sisters and friends."
The two chipmunks went completely spastic in their cage after Brittany said that. Brittany didn't know what had gotten into them, but she went about her way. She tried to open the large, metal door, but remember it was locked, so, she pulled a hair pin from her hair, and picked the lock. Afterwards, the two chipmunks simply retreated to a corner of the cage, and huddled together in dispair.
Meanwhile, in one laboratory, Theodore tried to chew through the straps, as he lay strapped to a metal table. He had no idea what was going on, but he didn't want anything to happen to him. Brittany looked through every door she came upon in the hallway she was walking down. She discovered a couple of broom closets, a supply room filled with scientific equipment, a small bathroom, until finally, she came across one of the laboratories.
"Theodore!" Brittany squealed.
"Brittany!" Theodore called back. "Help me!"
Brittany ran over to where Theodore was strapped, and began to undo them. "What's going on here?!" She asked.
"I don't know," Theodore said, "but that guy from the front desk is like some kind of mad scientist, or something!"
"Have you seen my sisters?" Brittany asked, finishing undoing the straps.
"No, I haven't..." Theodore said, as he hopped off the table. "We need to get out of here, this place is spooky!"
"Tell me something I don't know!" Brittany responded.
"And... you stink..." Theodore said, holding his nose.
"I had to swim through a sewer to get here..." Brittany told him. "Don't ask..."
Theodore and Brittany headed for the door, but Orson, and Seymour walked in.
"Hey!" Orson called out. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Brittany ask them.
"I asked you first!" Orson said.
"So?" Brittany responded. "First is the worst, and second is the best!"
"And third is the one with the hairy chest!" Orson pointed at Seymour.
"Not so fast there!" Seymour said. "We have to give you your medicine!"
"But we're not sick!" Theodore said.
"Oh, trust us," Orson said, "you're very sick!"
"We're not sick, he said!" Brittany barked. "Now back off, or I'll have to get rough with both of you!"
"Whooooooooooooooo!" Orson and Seymour both said, sarcastically.
"Rough?" Orson asked. "We'll show you rough..."
Orson turned out the lights, shortly thereafter, all that could heard were the sounds of a scuffle going on. Seconds later, the lights were turned back on, revealing Orson and Seymour had the daylights beat out of them, as they lay on the floor, each laughing stupidly in their daze.
"Maybe that'll teach you a lesson in not messing with Brittany Miller!" Brittany said, dusting her hands off.
"Come on!" Theodore took Brittany's hand, and they both ran out of the laboratory together.
"Seymour?" Orson said, out of it.
"Yeah?" Seymour mumbled.
"I think I see stars..."
"Are they spinning around your head?"
"Yeah..."
"Which way?"
"Clockwise."
"Mine are going counter-clockwise..."
"Maybe together we're okay..."
Alvin and Simon strolled around the back of the motel, looking for anything that looked unusual. The back of the property lacked grass. It was closed off by an old, wooden fence. Alvin walked over to what looked like the doors to a cellar. He opened them, and saw some kind of dim light and the bottom of a long staircase.
"Hey, Simon!" He called out, as Simon ran over. "Think we should check it out?"
"Let's do it..." Simon said, as he began to descend the staircase, followed by Alvin, just before the doors automatically locked themselves behind them.
"Gee..." Alvin said, nervously, "except for that dim light at the bottom of the stairs... it... it sure is dark in here..."
"I think I have a glow-in-the-dark pen in my pocket..." Simon said.
"Fine, while you look for it, I'll try to learn brail." Alvin said.
"Um... Alvin... how are you going to..."
"Chapter One - Getting to Know the Bumps..."
A few seconds later, Simon pulled his glow-in-the-dark pen out of his pocket.
"Got it!" Simon said. "It's not much, but it'll guide us down the stairs.
Alvin held up a glowing latern. "Neat! Where'd you get it?"