Many apologies for the lack of updating lately. SUPER busy with my summer job, but now that it's done for the summer, I've FINALLY been able to start the second half of this story. Enjoy :)
Ashley opened her eyes to nothing but pitch dark, the only source of light being the red "1:22" on Haggard's alarm clock. She groaned as she rubbed her eyes, needing to use the bathroom. She lifted the covers off of herself and put her feet on the ground, tiptoeing across the room. At least until her foot hit something and sent her hopping across, nearly causing her to fall face first into the floor.
"Son of a bitch!" she hissed.
Now that she was more alert, she saw a lump of a human in a sleeping bag on the ground.
"Oh right," Ashley said, "I remember now."
Helga, Rhonda, and Lila were still currently on their own due to their dads being Kroger's prisoners. Miriam and Brooke were placed in protective custody courtesy of Mr. Smith, and Olga was supposed to be as well. Olga, however, refused to leave her sisters' side, taking her, as well as Rhonda and Lila, into her [temporary] custody during this crisis. As such, Haggard offered them refuge in the small little apartment he and Ashley had been living in for the past few weeks. It was a tight fit, but they had all felt a lot safer just from being in each other's company.
Ashley had walked across the hall to the bathroom, turning on the dim lights that just barely reflected across the walls at night. Washing her face with the warm water coming from the dinky little sink, she kept thinking back to the confrontation at the MacGuffin warehouse. No matter how personal her beef with Kroger was, she never thought he would actually reappear in her life. Nor did she think he would take even more from her the second time they met. Yet now three men, fathers of kids she had started becoming...well acquainted with, were his prisoners. And whatever he was building, he was more than likely to use them as test dummies. But no matter how badly she wanted revenge on him, she knew she was just a kid. If it came down to physical combat, Haggard had a much greater chance against Kroger than she did. If she wanted to beat Kroger, she would have to do it with her mind, not her strength.
Ashley heard footsteps outside the bathroom. Wondering who else would be awake at this hour, Ashley left the bathroom and, even in the dimly lit hallways, she saw a familiar redhead walking down in a bright pink bathrobe.
"Lila?"
Lila turned around, somehow surprised to see Ashley.
"Oh, h-hi," Lila replied, turning around with her hands in her robe pockets, "I was ever so certain no one else would be awake at this hour."
"You'd be surprised," Ashley said, "What are you doing up at this hour?"
"Couldn't sleep either," Lila replied, "Too much on my mind."
"I hear that," Ashley said.
"How do you get yourself to sleep when you have so much to worry about?" Lila asked.
"Honestly," Ashley replied, "Sometimes I don't. But when I do, it's just letting go of the small stuff."
"Really?"
"And sometimes a little bit of melatonin," Ashley said, "You know, for the really rough nights."
"Gotcha," Lila said, "Well, goodnight."
Lila didn't even take two steps forward when she heard Ashley calling her out.
"Lila," she said, "Give me the gun."
"Wh-what?" she asked.
"I see the bulge in those pockets," Ashley said, "And I know those aren't your hands, which incidentally you have not removed once since we started talking."
Lila froze where she stood, and even with little light, she could see just how serious Ashley was.
"Give it to me, Lila," Ashley said.
Lila finally removed her hands from her pockets, walking over to Ashley and handing her the .44 Magnum she had been trying to hide.
"What exactly was your plan, Lila?" Ashley asked, "Just waltz over to where Kroger is and pop a bullet in his head? Do you even know where he is?"
"Well...n-no, not exactly..."
"And even if you found him, are you ready to take on whatever goons he's got protecting him?"
"...probably not..."
Ashley moved in closer and lowered her voice to emphasize her point.
"And do you think for a second that he's above killing a child, let alone anyone that stands in his way?" Ashley asked her, "Believe me, I was supposed to die in that fire with my parents."
Lila was never good at holding back her emotions. She didn't exactly hide her tears this time either.
"Trust me, Lila, I know how you feel," Ashley said, "I want him gone too. More than you do, if I'm being honest."
"I-I know, but..."
Ashley thought back to her previous thoughts while in the restroom. It almost seemed like fate that it should happen.
"We're not the only ones Kroger has wronged," Ashley said, "But rushing in guns a-blazing is not going to stop him. He's got some ruthless people on his side, people who could easily take us down. If we want to stop Kroger, we need to outsmart him."
"...why would you stop me?" asked Lila, "You just said you know how it felt! Why would you keep me from..."
"Because you're not that kind of person," Ashley replied, "You're better than that. Haggard and I, we've...been around. We both made our own graves, but there's no reason for you to throw your life away by being something you're not."
Lila finally smiled a genuine smile for once during that conversation, wiping tears from her eyes.
"It's strange," Lila said, "It's almost like I was talking to Arnold again. That just sounds like something he would say."
"Well, then maybe he and I are more alike than anyone thought," Ashley said.
Neither girl could keep a straight face. They both knew Ashley was nothing like Arnold. Helga, maybe, but not Arnold.
"Let's just forget this incident happened, okay?" Ashley asked.
"...okay," Lila said, "I trust you."
Lila and Ashley started walking back to their room, both keeping what happened to themselves.
Despite only a few people staying with Ashley and Haggard at the Sunset Arms, it was a full house in the kitchen. Despite now knowing the dangers that lay ahead, nearly all the kids had gotten to the Sunset Arms bright and early to lay out their game plan. Poochie was more than happy to make breakfast for everyone, watching with great joy as the kids (and Phil) wolfed down their pancakes.
"So you really think this Lana Vail person can help us find Arnold?" asked Rhonda.
"I do think she will help," Phil said, "She probably doesn't know where he is, but she's got friends in the legal community. She can probably dig something up."
"She's got to," Gerald said, "I got another note from my man Fuzzy Slippers last night. Found it on my stoop, said Lana would have answers, so I'm gonna stop by her place for a chat."
"Count me in," Helga said.
"You?" Gerald asked.
"Trust me, I think I can get answers from her, one lady to another," Helga said.
"A lady?" Harold burst out laughing, "Who are you kidding?"
"Watch it, Pink Boy," Helga said.
"Fine, fine," Ashley said, "Haggard and I are going to the facility where they're holding Scheck. Maybe we can finally get the answers we came here for."
"Mr. Smith and I are going to meet up and try and track down where Kroger is now," Errol said, "Wherever he is, that's likely where his prisoners are."
"And what about us?" Sid asked.
"Yeah! What do we do?" Stinky asked.
"Just sit there and look pretty," Errol replied.
"Yeah!" Harold exclaimed, jumping out of his seat with a forkful of pancake in his hand, "...wait, what?"
"Kidding," Errol said, "You all just keep looking for your friend. You know these streets better than myself or Ashley, so it only makes sense for you to keep up the search."
"We seem to have searched nearly everywhere," Phoebe said, "It probably won't be that easy starting from scratch."
"Yeah, that whole 'sundown above ground' thing was a rotten joke!" Harold cried out, "I oughta pound whoever sent us on that wild duck chase!"
"Goose," Helga remarked, "It's goose chase."
"Whatever it is, it was a big fat waste of time!" Harold exclaimed.
"Not to mention it nearly got us killed," Curly said.
"There is a silver lining behind all of that," Errol said, "Now that you won't be misled by whoever planted those signs, you can search freely without distraction."
"As long as Harold doesn't get hungry," Sid said, "We'll be at Green Meats all day trying to get him fed!"
"HEY!" Harold screamed, "I'll pound you!"
"Save it for the playground, knuckleheads," Helga said, breaking the two of them up, "Just keep looking while the rest of us do our thing."
"For once, I agree with Helga," Ashley said.
"Let's just remember to be on our guards and that we're still on a time table," Errol said, "Kroger isn't going to wait around for us to catch up to him before he makes his next move. The sooner we all do our jobs, the sooner we can put a stop to all this."
Helga. Olga. Miriam. All lying dead on his living room floor. And all Bob could do was scream as his house literally fell apart, taking their bodies with it.
Rhonda. Brooke. Slaves to Gemini's malevolent experiments. And Buckley was unable to cry out for them to stop, his mouth and body stuffed to the rim with wads of money.
Lila. The only person Beau has left in the world. Joined at the hip with her mother, both flying away, leaving Beau all alone in the inferno he was burning in.
Beau, Bob, and Buckley fell out of the machine screaming, madly reaching out at nothing. It took several moments for them to realize they were no longer in their nightmares. They were back at the facility where they were taken prisoner, and had just gotten out of the machine. Well, more like forced out. Took long enough, given that only ten minutes in there was enough to drive them mad. The three started getting their senses back as they realized Kroger and Abbot were standing above them; Abbot jotting down notes, Kroger with a devious smile on his face.
"Even I did not expect the machine to work so quickly," Kroger said, "Abbot, take note of that when initiating the next phase."
"What...what WAS that?" Bob asked.
"That, gentlemen," Kroger said, "was the Nightmare Chamber."
"The...the what?" asked Buckley, out of breath.
"My pride and joy," Kroger replied, "It took me long enough to find the blueprints for it, so I'm quite pleased we could assemble it in just one day's time. As you can imagine, it uses the same neurological scanning technology Dr. Corr used in his own experiments. I just adjusted them a bit to hone in on a subject's fear. And once it knows your fears, it traps you in a nightmarish hallucination surrounded by them."
"That's what that is?" Beau asked, "THAT'S what you've worked so hard for?"
"Hardly," Kroger replied, "I have something bigger in mind. This particular Nightmare Chamber is just the groundwork for the others."
"...others?" asked Beau, "What others?"
Kroger looked down at Beau, grinning madly at the prospect of seeing his vision come to life.
"You'll see."