CHAPTER 27: IMPENDING DARKNESS
It was a little bit past sunset in the evening time and the rest of the kids were sitting around in the living room of their hotel room and doing other things,for it took them about an extra hour to get to the hotel after they dropped Ed and Herman off in the forest where the chateau was. Charlie Brown and Freida were looking through a window to see some of the lovely evening scenery,Linus, Eudora, Sally, Marcie, Franklin, Claudia, Skylar, Peppermint Patty and Franco were sitting down and watching some TV,with Snoopy, Andy, Olaf, Gracie, Roger and Woodstock sitting down next to them,Lucy was talking on her cellphone on the patio and lastly Rebecca was sitting on the couch and slowly becoming a nervous wreck due to Ed not answering her numerous phone calls.
"I don't get this,he said he would be answering my calls. This isn't like him at all." Rebecca nervously lamented as she glanced over at the hotel's phone on the table next to the couch to which Linus calmly tried to rationalize the whole situation "I think he may have just put your phone on silent so he could fully have some alone time with his mother,at least that's what I think." which resulted in Rebecca forcing herself to agree with a sigh "Yeah I guess. I still just hope he's doing alright." before Peppermint Patty shrugged her arms and retorted "I don't see what the big fuss is,he can handle himself perfectly fine in the woods."
"I think it's more so that we're in a different country and that the chateau is a pretty suspicious place sir." Marcie looked over at her friend and respectfully disagreed with her statement before Sally firmly wondered in response "I still don't get why she wanted to meet him all the way out there,couldn't they have met up at a carnival or someplace nice?" to which Eudora calmly guessed while she looked around at some of the free brochures the hotel offered "Maybe she's just as much of a nature nut as he is and wanted to be close to it?"
"Stuff like that can run in the family." Franco lightly nodded his head and couldn't help but agree with Eudora before Rebecca grabbed ahold of the phone again with the intent to make another call which Skylar quickly noticed and decided to confront her about it "Are you seriously about to make another call? I seriously doubt he's gonna answer." only for Rebecca to nod her head and nonchalantly confirm that she was "Yup,I'm not stopping until I know that he's alright." to which Claudia sighed and politely offered her own point of view "I'm sure that if E-Ed got himself into t-trouble,t-that Herman would come over here and t-tell us." and surprisingly enough Rebecca actually agreed with that statement while she held the phone up to her ear and waited for an answer "Yeah he would,but I still can't be taking any chances here."
However much to Rebecca's disappointment,the phone would yet again go to voicemail instead of her getting an actual answer as she dropped the phone on the couch and meekly whimpered on the verge of tears "Still no answer,I know I'm probably being over dramatic here,but I just don't want anything bad to happen to him." before Roger suddenly got up on her lap and licked her on the cheek in an attempt to apply some comfort,for he was feeling genuinely worried for his owner and her boyfriend,and didn't want to leave her side for the time being.
Charlie Brown and Freida were also continuing to look out one of the windows and take a look at some of the lovely scenery they had as the former quietly told his girlfriend "I'm feeling kind of bad for Rebecca here,all she wants is to know if Ed's alright,why I felt the same way about her when I first found out that she was still alive." to which Freida lovingly kissed him on the cheek before agreeing with him "Same here sweetie,it's natural for anyone to worry over their significant other. I'd be feeling the exact same way if it was you out there by yourself." which resulted in the round headed kid blushing before happily thanking Freida with a hug that she quickly joined in on "Thanks a lot Freida,I'm very happy to be here with you."
"Me too." Freida smiled and happily added in agreement before the two of them let go of each other and continued to look outside,all the while Lucy continued to talk on her cellphone phone on the patio as she happily stated "The trip has been going very good so far,I'm actually surprised I've been able to stomach all these beagles so far." only for her to be suddenly cut off when she saw that she was getting another call from Cobra to which she politely excused herself "Oh sorry Schroeder,I'm getting another call,I'll call you right back." and after she hung up on her boyfriend and answered the new call,she was immediately being assaulted by a panicking Cobra yelling "Lucy! I got really bad news here! Widow told me that she got in contact with the warden at Minnesota's federal prison,and it turns out that Mrs Hampton has escaped with twenty other prisoners and is hiding out in France!"
"What?!" Lucy gasped and frantically exclaimed in response on the verge of nearly dropping her phone before Cobra nervously continued "You better warn Ed and the others girl! If she's over there in France and is indeed trying to trap him like you suspected,who knows what could happen!" to which Lucy gritted her teeth and heroically reassured Cobra that she would "Yeah! I'll tell everyone right away,tell Widow I said thanks for the help!" all before she hung up and burst back inside as she frantically demanded "Rebecca! Call Ed again!"
"What? Why? I just did and he still didn't answer." Rebecca raised an eyebrow and questioned Lucy's demands in confusion to which the typically crabby girl held up her phone and explained herself in a panic "I just a call from Cobra,and she told me that Ed's walking himself into a trap,because Mrs-" only for the girl to be suddenly cut off when their hotel room down slammed open before a hooded figure walked in with a gun and shot a tranquilizer dart right into Lucy's neck,which resulted in the girl instantly fainting on the ground,the rest of the kids gasping in shock and the beagles fearfully yiping.
"Hey what's the big i-" Peppermint Patty got off the couch and fiercely tried to confront the sudden intruder only for the figure to fire yet another tranquilizer dart at the tomboy and knock her out in an instant before she quickly fired a dart at everyone else in the room before they could even react,even Woodstock wasn't spared,and once it looked like everyone was fully knocked out,the figure slowly walked up to Rebecca and devilishly stated as they took off the hood to reveal none other than Mrs Hampton wearing a maniacal grin "Hello my dear,surprised to see your mommy?"
Afterwards a bunch of other men with tranquilizer guns started to storm inside the hotel room as one of them walked up to the lady and questioned "Alright boss,everyone else in the hotel has been tranquilized and there are no witnesses to be found,what do we do now?" which prompted the woman to calmly demand while her grin reduced itself to an emotionless frown "We'll take the kids and the dogs to the trainyard,I'll personally deal with them there while the rest of you set up the getaway train. My revenge is finally at hand." to which the men promptly took the kids and the beagles and started to load them up in a black van in the parking lot while Mrs Hampton stole one of the other cars and drove off to the countryside,with her henchmen shortly following suit in the van with the kids.
NEXT CHAPTER: ONWARD