All characters belong to Total Drama, Jennifer Pertsch, Tom McGillis, and Fresh TV. And this isn't an OC ship fic.
/
Later, the three reached the mall, seeing the place was almost deserted. Jordan jumped out of the car and made a mad dash to the entrance. "Are fans always like that?" Lily asked as she retrieved the flashlight.
"Sometimes," Hatchet admitted as the two headed for the entrance, "It gets scary after a while."
"I could imagine so…" She uttered, "Did you or your…partner ever get any fan mail or something?"
"We get a little love," He answered, "My partner gets it more though; old fans and what not." They joined Jordan at the entrance as he threw a garbage can through the glass doors, only for it to bounce off.
"Dang it!" He cursed, "Hey, Hatchet! Punch through the glass for me, will you?!"
"Did you ever think of trying to open the door?" The larger man asked as he pulled said door open.
"Lindsey!" The fan screamed as he ran through.
"Rude." Lily remarked as the two entered. The mall was deathly silent, save for Jordan's frantic footsteps. "Jordan! Wait up!" She shouted, "You don't have a flashlight!"
"Let the nut go," Hatchet uttered, "We'll probably find him again on the ground when hetrips over his own shoe laces." As the two continued, they heard Jordan's steps and shouting grow slowly distant. "Man, for a skinny kid, he can cover some ground." He commented.
"I hope he remembers this mall has a basement floor." Lily uttered.
"Wait, what?" Hatchet asked.
"Where we are now is considered ground level," she continued to explained, "But around the middle of this building is a small basement level, filled with some specialty shops. The only way up and down though is a pair of escalators and a set of stairs. There is also a second floor, but the escalators and elevators are at the east and west extensions."
"Pretty big mall." He uttered.
"I'm surprised the whole place didn't collapse." She commented.
"All that space for an overpriced shirt," He uttered, "It's insanity." A loud scream made the two ran as fast as they could, the flashlight's beam bouncing along the walls.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Jordan screamed, "NO-AAH!"
"Jordan!" Lily screamed, "Are you okay? Jordan!"
"HELP ME!" A new voice screamed.
"That sounded like…" Hatchet uttered, "GWEN!"
"HELP ME!" Gwen screamed again, "SOME ONE PLEASE HELP ME! ANYONE!"
"That sounded like they're up ahead," Lily figured, "On the basement floor! They're cornered with the killer!"
"Perfect!" Hatchet uttered.
"We can bring the criminal to justice!" Lily panted.
"That's…corny." Hatchet uttered as the two reached the basement stairs. As they made their decent, the sound of something crunching could be heard. Lily shined the light low to the ground, and the two could hear rapid footsteps approach them. Soon Hatchet felt someone collide with him, nearly knocking him over.
"You have no idea how glad I am…" Gwen sniffled, "I owe you big time!"
"Gwen," he sighed, "You alright?"
"Where's Jordan?" Lily asked. A loud swallow caught their attention, making the three look to the direction of the noise.
"We gotta get out of here, now!" Gwen urged as she started to run up the stairs.
"We gotta catch the killer!" Lily urged.
"You can't!" The teenager screamed. A low growl made the trio freeze. "He's way too big to catch!" She finished. Something large moved into the moon light, the eyes shining a dull yellow.
"What is that thing?!" Lily screamed.
"Who cares!?" Hatchet yelled as he picked up the girls and ran up the steps. The creature roared again and swiped at the trio, barely dodging the sharp talons. As he stepped onto the ground floor, he looked back and caught a glimpse at the monster's face. "No…" he gasped, "It can't be." The creature pulled himself up onto the floor and crawled towards them, rapidly catching up to them and slapping them to the side. The trio slid across the floor and into a store, knocking a stand over and covering them in sweaters. Hacthet quickly stood and pulled the security shutter down, hearing a deafening scrape on the other side. "C'mon, get up." He urged as he helped the girls, "I don't know how long the shutter's gonna hold."
"Where are we gonna go?" Gwen asked, "We sealed ourselves in!"
"Not exactly," Lily said as she pointed the flashlight to the back door behind the front desk, "That probably leads to the underground work of the mall."
"Underground?!" The teen repeated nervously.
"It's more of 'the behind the scenes' network." The older girl clarified, "Probably the way people could deliver stores their products without being bothered by customers. We're not going underground."
"Why the heck would you phrase it like that in the first place?!" Gwen exclaimed, "I'm already at my wits' end nearly getting eaten alive! What is with that monster?! Is this some sort of stunt?! Please tell me it's all a joke, Hatchet!"
"'Fraid not." Hatchet uttered, "Wish it was though."
"So I actually watched a guy getting eaten by a giant snake monster?!" She squeaked.
"Apparently so." He answered as he moved to the back, "Now c'mon, we gotta keep moving."
"No, it's gotta be a joke, a big fat joke." Gwen reasoned, "I mean, that monster…heh, I swear, it looked a little bit like Chris..."
"That was Chris." Hatchet uttered as he forced the door open.
"What?" The teen asked, "Oh I get it; it's a giant robot. Kinda like back at the abandoned movie lot. He's probably controlling it somewhere, or actually piloting it-"
"No, you nut ball!" He barked, "That really is Chris! He turned into a monster!"
"You mean…that was your partner?" Lily gasped.
"Hate to admit it, but yeah." He replied.
"It's…all real?!" Gwen uttered, "Chris actually turned into a monster?! We've all been joking that he was a snake, but, really?! Hatchet, what the hell happened?!"
"I'll explain everything! Let's move!" Hatchet barked as the metal squealed with a hard blow.
/
"…And I never seen him ever again," Hatchet finished as the trio reached a storage room filled with spare furniture, "At least, until now."
"…Geez…" Gwen gasped, "I always hated him, but…sorry you had to go through that, Hatchet."
"It's…fine." He replied as he took a seat on a stool, "I just wished I could've been able to help him in some way. But, now I can do something."
"Do something?" Gwen repeated, "What are you going to do? Cover yourself in steak sauce and scream 'come and get it!'?"
"We…need to get out of here." Lily voiced, "The three of us cannot take your partner down; not even with all the junk in this mall."
"We can't just leave him," Hatchet argued, "He'll break out and start destroying the city!"
"Think of this more as a strategical retreat, Hatchet." Lily uttered, "Currently, we don't have a lot of stuff to take him down."
"But…" The older man uttered.
"We semi-saw what happened to Jordan." The spectacled girl continued, "I just don't want that to happen to you."
"…Alright," Hatchet gave in, "The new plan is to get out of this mall and get to the car. But where exactly are we?" Lily walked over to a door in the back and opened it, the two join her in peering at the dim store.
"This is one of those home stores," Lily remarked, "The car's south-west from where we are right now. But we will inevitably reach the middle of the mall, and…meet up with Chris again, if he hasn't crawled away by now."
"So we'll be walking a while, and possibly get eaten alive." Gwen uttered as the three stepped out.
"It's either we sit and wait for him to find us, or take a chance," He said, "Take your pick." Gwen shut up and the three make their way to the open maw of the entrance, moonlight filtering through the large skylights. "Take your shoes off," He instructed as he slipped his loafers off, "No need for unnecessary noise."
"At least we won't be yelled by mall security." Lily joked.
"So…" Gwen stared, "When did you and Chef…y'know?"
"Huh?" The spectacled girl asked before it clicked, "Oh. No, we're friends."
"We just live in the same apartment building," Hatchet butted in, "And…Lily's been trying be a friendly neighbor. That's all."
"I don't know," The teen mused, "You two seem…close. Like, 'close' close."
"So says the girl with two boyfriends." Hatchet remarked, "Actually, one now. Or are you single?"
"Never mind." The teen grumbled as they began their small journey.
"Don't you think it's too quiet?" Lily asked.
"Usually snakes don't make a lot of noise," He explained, "Unless you piss them off. He's probably still where we last were."
"Well, what about other people in this mall?" The spectacled girl pointed out, "You couldn't have been the only person here, right Gwen?"
"No, there were other people," the goth replied, "When the power went out, everyone went nuts and some started to steal some things. I ended up taking refuge in a changing room until everything calmed down."
"And when you got out, you got cornered by Chris?" Hatchet asked.
"Not at first," Gwen replied, "But I saw him eat a few people before he found me. I ended up running into one of those 'new earth' stores, and he just stared at me until your friend fell on his back."
"Maybe that's a way to get him off our tails," Lily suggested, "Maybe he can't stand very strong smells."
"I am not risking anything to rob a hippie store," Hatchet uttered, "We just need to be careful."
"Onward and forward then…" She uttered.
/
To be continued.