Chapter 21: Breakout!
Exactly two minutes beforehand…
"Woohoo! I win again!"
With nothing better to do while they waited for their rescuer to arrive, Ness had challenged Paula to whatever games were available for them over the course of the night. Neither dared to fall asleep in case Megane or the woman returned to attack them, so they resorted to keeping themselves entertained. He soon found that Paula could easily cheat by using her telepathy to read his mind, which he hadn't been able to do on humans yet. By this advantage she'd beaten him in charades, tic-tac-toe, and (most frustratingly) 20 questions. "I spy," they agreed, was pointless given the blandness of their prison. They didn't say much about their adventure, as it would remind them too greatly of the current predicament and create a tense silence for a few minutes.
They'd since moved on to rock-paper-scissors, where once again Paula was beating him without fail. Ness didn't mind; it was nice to see her smiling despite the situation.
"You're really bad at this," she giggled after her fourteenth win in a row.
"Nah, I lost on purpose that time."
She raised an eyebrow.
"You know it's just as hard to lose as to win in this game."
"Nuh uh. There's a whole strategy involved-"
Just as he was about to make up an explanation, the ground above them exploded inwards in a gigantic cloud of dirt. He sprang to his feet, bat in hand, wondering if their rescuer was too late. Had their captors come to finish them off? Ness grit his teeth; he wouldn't go down without a fight.
The thing which had crashed through the ceiling revealed itself to be a metallic ball once the dust cleared… or at least, it had been a metallic ball. Now it was just a pile of scrap. A door opened on the side, and a faint yellow light shone out. Someone- a boy around his age, by the sound of it- could be heard inside, grumbling to himself between hacking coughs.
"Ugh… that was bad even for my first landing…"
His dust-caked blond bowl cut emerged from the crashed ship before the rest of him did. He seemed… small, with his slim fitting school uniform and narrow build. Even though he was about the same height as Ness, he didn't look it at first. The unexpected guest noticed him raising his bat and put his hands up defensively.
"Uh… e-easy there…"
Behind his glasses, his hazel eyes traced over to Paula. He swallowed nervously before speaking again.
"Y-you're… you called me in my sleep, didn't you?"
She gasped and took a step forward.
"Yes, I did! Are you from Winters?"
"That's right. Um… I guess that makes you Paula, yeah? And you must be Ness. My name's Jeff Andonuts."
His face was very red as he introduced himself. Jeff must not have been much of a people person, Ness figured.
"Do you have anything that can deal with this locked door?" he asked, pointing to it.
"Oh- yes, I do! One second…"
Jeff retrieved a duffel bag from the wreckage of his ship and dug some kind of metal box out of it. He made his way to the door, pulling the lock around to their side. Sticking a metal rod on the box through the keyhole, he pushed a button and caused the lock to explode. Ness didn't know if that was supposed to have happened, but when the box itself sparked and burst into flames he was pretty sure that wasn't based on Jeff's panicked reaction.
"Ack! No, no, no!"
He dropped it, and the device clattered to the floor with a burst of smoke.
"Shoot, I'll never be able to fix this… ugh, Maxwell's gonna chew me out big time."
With the door unlocked, Jeff pulled it open and gestured for them to follow him. Retrieving their items, they marched out through the narrow tunnel.
"You must have come a long way," Paula said from the back. "I'm sorry we had to put you through the trouble."
"Don't worry about it. I was glad to finally leave Winters, even for just a bit. Actually… speaking of which, do you think I could maybe, um, join you in whatever you're doing?"
Jeff cleared his throat.
"I'm, uh, not very strong… really near-sighted, too. A-also, I'm pretty shy and I can be reckless now and then. T-this is just how I am, but I hope we can, um… b-be friends, and stuff…"
Ness looked back at Paula, who was smiling just as much as him. She nodded to show her approval.
"Yeah, of course!" he replied at last. "You saved us, so I'm sure we could use your help."
Jeff heaved an enormous sigh of relief. Had he been holding his breath while waiting for their answer?
"Thank you… I won't let you down. So, um, what are we doing?"
"Saving the world from an evil alien, and looking for eight places called Sanctuaries as we go."
"I… see," he muttered, no doubt trying to process that. "What're we dealing with right now?"
They came to a ladder at the far end of the passageway. Climbing up, the group reached the surface of Threed again. All along they'd been buried under the graveyard, with the zombies standing guard by the forest path visible once again. Even more of them were present this time, though fortunately they hadn't been seen.
"Zombies, mostly" Ness said, pointing at them.
Jeff looked like he was about to faint.
"You get used to it," Paula almost laughed. "We should probably get away from here, though. I don't think we can fight past that many."
They retreated from the area and made their way back toward central Threed. Ness was constantly on the lookout for Megane or the woman in black, but luckily neither had returned yet.
"Hm? That tent... was it there before?" Paula asked. She was pointing to a circus tent much like the one used as the Anti-Zombie Headquarters, but deep purple in color rather than orange. It sat unattended by the southern end of the town.
"I don't think it was. Let's go check it out," he said.
As they drew near, the tent began to shiver. Ness somehow wasn't surprised when a gaping, fanged mouth opened on the side facing them with two glaring eyes above it. After everything they'd been through, this wasn't much of a shock. Jeff, who had only just arrived, didn't think likewise judging by his startled cry.
"SO, YOU BRATS ARE HERE!" roared the tent. "WHO'S READY TO BE EATEN FIRST?"
Ness pointed his bat at it.
"The only thing you'll be chewing on is your foot by the end of this! If you had feet, of course. Let's get 'im!"
Paula flanked to the side of it, already casting PK Fire at the tent. It looked to be made of normal fabric, which meant it should have been flammable. They couldn't find out quite yet, because it dented inwards to curve itself around the attack. Once the flames had passed by, its shape returned to normal.
Ness wasn't in any hurry to get close to the gaping mouth, so he experimented with his own PSI abilities. Paralysis and Hypnosis did little to slow the tent down, and Flash only further enraged it. He rolled to the side when it spat a wad of something yellow and sticky at him. Though he avoided the projectile, there was no way to ignore how disgusting it smelled. Plugging his nose with one hand, he used PK Rockin' to counterattack. Paula added another Fire from the other side of the tent, and this time it couldn't avoid them both.
"GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
It wasn't as flammable as he'd hoped, but the combined abilities were able to tear chunks of the tent apart. To the side, Jeff had finally gotten over his initial shock and was pitching in by… shooting at it with metal pellets?
"I have no idea what's going on right now!" he shouted. "Uh… yeah, take that!"
His shots managed to rip small holes in the fabric, but aside from that he wasn't doing much. The tent's gaze swiveled to him, and a shadowy tongue extended from its mouth at a blinding speed. It stuck to Jeff's leg, slowly pulling him toward the ghostly jaws while he frantically tried to grab onto something.
"H-help!"
Ness slammed his bat down on the extended tongue, only for it to get stuck as well. Its progress was halted by Paula using PK Freeze, though the ice didn't look like it would hold for long. They each tried to attack the tent directly, but it was barely flinching from their PSI this time.
"In my bag, t-there should be a rocket!" Jeff yelled, clinging to the ground as the ice holding the tongue in place began to crack. "Bring it to me, quickly!"
The duffel wasn't far from them. Ness dashed over to it and looked inside. Sure enough, buried amidst the piles of spare clothing was a large bottle rocket. He ran back to Jeff and shoved it into his hands. Paula, who had been at his side to constantly refresh the icy grip on the tongue, backed away with Ness.
"H-here goes nothing! Taste the power of science!" Jeff yelled, pushing a button at the rocket's base.
It spewed a short burst of smoke into his face as it ignited, streaking through the air directly into the tent's mouth. For a split second its eyes widened in shock, then from within a massive explosion tore what was left of it apart. The tongue faded into thin air once the tent had been vaporized, releasing Jeff.
Ness felt his head spin, and more whispering could be heard. PSI Healing could now be used at its Beta level, like with Lifeup and Rockin'. Paula appeared to be going through a similar experience. When she stopped squeezing her eyes shut, he grinned at her.
"Did you learn a new ability again?"
"A few! PK Thunder, PSI Shield, and PSI Magnet! I think Fire and Freeze are stronger now, too."
PSI Shield? He wondered what the difference was between that and his own PK Shield. Speaking of which, he could have blocked the tongue from grabbing Jeff if he'd used that… it was probably best not to mention that to him. He was learning so many new abilities, Ness found it hard to remember he had them on occasion.
"D… did we win?" Jeff asked, hesitantly opening his eyes.
Ness threw both hands in the air.
"We did! That was awesome, where'd you get a bottle rocket?"
He stood up with a mild blush on his face.
"Heh… I built it myself. I don't have any more, though…"
"Hey, check this out!"
Paula was kneeling where the tent had been. She held a sealed jar of some yellow substance, which smelled like condensed vomit even with the lid on. It was labeled "fly honey."
"I don't know what this stuff does, but it smells nasty. If the tent was there to guard it, it must have some use."
"At the risk of making all my clothes stink, I'll keep it in my bag," Ness offered.
She handed him the jar without argument, and he stowed it away to forever ruin the inside of his backpack. Admittedly, he wasn't sure what their next move should have been, but someone yelled his name just in the nick of time.
"You there, in the red cap! You're Ness, right?"
It was a man in a red cap of his own, wearing a white shirt with a red snail logo on the front. He carried a brown package under his arm.
"Uh, yes. That's me."
"I knew it! I'm from Escargo Express, the most reliable delivery company in Eagleland! Some kid dressed like an apple gave me this package and said to bring it to you."
Ness was taking the box from him when a question came to mind.
"Hold on, you came from Twoson? How did you get past the ghosts in the tunnel?"
"Nothing stands in the way of Escargo Express!" chirped the courier. "All our deliveries are made on time, no matter the obstacle!"
He frowned.
"That doesn't answer my ques… never mind. Oh, by the way! Does Tracy Harris work for your company?"
At the mention of his sister's name, the man practically exploded in a delighted squeal.
"Oh yes, Tracy is our employee of the month! She's only worked part-time for less than three days, to boot!"
He envisioned her wearing the same company uniform and broke into a laugh.
"Really? That's incredible, she's actually my sister! Do you think you could store something for me, while you're here?"
"For the brother of Tracy?! Absolutely! And for your special first-time bonus, we'll cut the bill in half. Only nine dollars for whatever goods you wish to store!"
Ness handed him the Pencil Eraser- which he decided he wouldn't need anymore- and the fee, waving goodbye to the man as he ran off to the Two-Three Tunnel.
"I'm… confused," Paula said. Behind her, Jeff nodded to second the notion.
He just chuckled while he opened the package from Apple Kid. It was a stack of some odd blue-gray paper, each sheet separated by plastic wrap. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What was this supposed to be?
The receiver phone in his bag started to ring. Ness pulled it out and answered, if only to stop the dreadful noise it made.
"Hello?"
"Ness? Hey, it's Apple Kid! I sent you a package, did you get it yet?"
"Yeah, I just did. What the heck is this stuff?"
The sound of a microwave hummed in the background, reminding Ness that he hadn't eaten all day. He really needed to stop forgetting that.
"It's my newest invention! I call it Zombie Paper. You know how flypaper works, right? Like that, but for zombies. Just lay it down on the floor of some wide, enclosed area like a tent, and wait a few hours for it to work its magic!"
Ness grinned, then immediately realized something.
"Wait… how did you know there's a tent here in Threed? Or zombies? I'm pretty sure the local news isn't recording because of the outbreak."
Apple Kid's "answer" was only more confusing.
"Huh? You're in Threed? And there's zombies around? Well, it's a good thing I invented that paper! If you're near a tent like you said, then it should be a big help for you. I have to go, good luck out there!"
He hung up just as the microwave beeped. Ness stared dumbly at the phone, then the Zombie Paper, then to Paula and Jeff, who were standing there giving him identical baffled looks.
"Now I'm confused."