CHAPTER 32: THIS MEANS WAR
Mrs Hampton's getaway train was blasting through the forests of France at an incredibly fast and unstoppable speed,for after she left the shack where she had locked up the kids and supposedly killed them all with an explosive she stole from the prison she broke out of,she seemingly believed that her revenge had finally come to a satisfying sense of closure after spending such a long time planning and carrying it out,and now the only thing left for her to do was flee the country with the inmates she rounded up as her henchmen,while the other two she sent out would catch up with her later.
The lady was standing at the front car of the train with her henchmen and starring up ahead at the seemingly unending scenery of trees and forestland as she blissfully remarked while she reminisced about her supposed revenge being a success "Gentlemen,words cannot begin to express how good it feels to finally have those wretched kids and animals be wiped away from the face of the world,and how it feels to look back at them with nothing but contempt,but do not think that this is the end,because this is only gonna be the beginning…...once we reach mother Russia." to which all the escaped inmates maliciously cheered in excitement while they raised their guns in the air,for this was only the start of their life under Mrs Hampton's wing.
Meanwhile back at the abandoned train yard,Tyrone was busy looking around at the tracker he placed on the train while the kids were sitting on a bench and gawking at the messy state that the yard had been reduced to as Charlie Brown remarked in awe "Look at this place,it's a complete mess from top to bottom." before Marcie promptly added in a much more calm tone of voice "I think the property value for this place is in the negative numbers." only for Linus to shake his head and respectfully disagree with the brunette "Negative numbers? I'd say more nonexistent than anything." to which Franklin jokingly stated when he saw how rusty everything looked "I'd say if we didn't already have our tetanus shots,we'd be infected just by breathing the air in this place."
"It definitely seems like the kind of place where a psycho would take their hostages." Eudora nodded her head and nonchalantly added in agreement before Ed timidly whimpered in response with his head hung low "And murderers too,we can't forget about the murderers." and it was pretty obvious to the rest of the kids that he was talking about Herman's death as Freida meekly stated while Rebecca wrapped her arm around her boyfriend "I'm very sorry about Herman,Ed. You must have cared about him a lot." to which the hermit sighed and somberly confirmed that he did "Yeah,he was a great friend,one of the first that I ever had,and he especially liked hanging with Snoopy, his brothers, Woodstock, Gracie and Roger when he could. He was always the super lively one of my crew,and he often liked to lighten up the mood when everyone else seemed down in the dumps. I'm really gonna miss him."
It was at this point that tears started to slowly build up in Ed's eyes only for him to quickly wipe them away before Peppermint Patty angrily lamented "I'm really starting to hope that lady gets what's coming to her and more,that is some messed up stuff to do right there." to which Lucy pointed over at Tyrone and confidently stated "Well that's what Tyrone is here for because it's the job he's been given,once he finds her,he's probably gonna bring her back tied up like a road hog."
"That is if I'm gonna be able to even catch their train,it's now on the move and on route to Russia from what my tracker is saying." Tyrone suddenly joined in on the conversation and calmly retorted after hearing Lucy's sny comments before Eudora rolled her eyes and jokingly remarked "Russia huh? Well I hope that lady likes the cold or is at least used to it because she's gonna be feeling a lot of it." which caused a light chuckle to come from Franklin and Franco before being followed by a mostly awkward silence from the kids.
After about another minute of complete silence from the kids due to them reflecting on their trip and what it had come to,Sally finally decided to kickstart another conversation as she meekly wondered at the realization that they were now free "So what do we do now big brother?" to which Charlie Brown perked up and calmly guessed at the seams "I suppose we could all head back to the hotel,that is if we even knew where we are and where to go." which prompted Claudia to politely suggest as she glanced over at Tyrone and saw him walking towards them "M-maybe we could see if Tyrone could give us a l-lift."
"That actually ain't too bad of an idea." Skylar nodded his head and happily agreed with Claudia's idea before Peppermint Patty looked up at the man and asked upfront "Hey Tyrone,what are you gonna do now that we're busted out?" to which the man nonchalantly stated in response "I'm going after Mrs Hampton's train,I still got a job to do and I can't let her leave the country. When I'm done I'll come back for y'all and take you back to your hotel. Stay safe out here kids." before the man slowly proceeded to make his way back to his car,only for Ed to suddenly get off the bench and firmly announce "Wait! I'm going with you." which caused everyone aside from Lucy to gasp at the mere idea while Tyrone turned around with a raised eyebrow.
"Ed are you serious?!" Charlie Brown frantically asked at the whole concept of such an idea before Rebecca added equally as bewildered and dumbfounded "That woman's even more dangerous now,you're just gonna get yourself killed!" to which Peppermint Patty nodded her head and sternly lamented "You know we may have grit here,but we don't have THAT much grit!" followed up by Skylar nervously asking in response "Ed did you hit your head at that chateau? Because I think you need to stay put for a while."
It was at this point that all of the kids aside from Lucy started to go at Ed over each other for the very idea of him going to face Mrs Hampton with Tyrone for about ten more seconds before the boy suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs "GUYS LISTEN!" which prompted everyone to cease their attempts to stop him before he continued much more calm and down to Earth "Look,I know y'all are worried,and I know that this is a ridiculous idea even for me,but Herman died in those caves because I went to that chateau and gave that lady the opportunity to do what she did,and she's about to leave the country and stay away from the law like nothing ever happened. I can't let her leave the country,I can't let Herman go out the way he did with no closure….and I can't walk away. I'm done walking away from the fight. I walked away from the salvage yard and I even walked away from the Lizard Ladies,but I'm not walking away from this. So who is with me?!"
The kids were left absolutely astonished after hearing Ed's reasoning for wanting to go after Mrs Hampton and stood there in complete silence for about thirty seconds until Rebecca suddenly spoke up "I'm going with you." to which everyone gasped yet again before the blonde continued while she hugged her boyfriend "I keep on forgetting that there's no stopping you babe,but if you think that I'm just gonna let you go at it alone after the chateau? You give me way too little credit." which prompted Lucy to smile and surprisingly join up with Ed as well "You can count me in too Eddo."
"I guess if you're going,then I have no choice but to go too." Linus sighed and reluctantly decided to go along with the idea before Eudora nodded her head and fiercely added in agreement "And I'm going to make sure no one hurts my baby boy!" which was followed up by Skylar walking forward to signify that he was coming as well only for Claudia to suddenly grab his hand and announce in determination "Me and Skylar will go too."
"We all tragically lost Herman today,so we have to make sure we don't lose Ed now do we?" Marcie smiled and heroically asked as Franklin nodded his head in agreement before he ecstatically remarked "I don't know why,but this is starting to sound kinda fun!" to which Peppermint Patty pounded her fists together and angrily lamented "That lady deserves to get a beating by some very angry kids,and those kids being all of us of course!" which was followed up by Charlie Brown and Freida looking at each other for a few moments before smiling and happily stating in unison "Count us in too!"
"And if you go,I go!" Sally furiously added in determination as she grabbed her big brother's arm and held it up in the air before Snoopy, Woodstock, Andy, Olaf, Gracie and Roger heroically saluted with smiles to which Ed laughed and cheerfully exclaimed while he held out his arm for Tyrone to shake unaware that Snoopy had miraculously wandered off "All right! That's everyone! What do you say Tyrone? You just have to know you'll need a little help SOMEWHERE down the line." which caused the man to lightly chuckle before he couldn't help but shake the boy's hand and oblige "You kids are some of the craziest little rascals that I've ever seen,but that doesn't mean y'all can't be of some help. I don't normally condone swearing in front of children,but let's go flame broil this bitch!"
The kids then proceeded to heroically cheer in agreement before one of the henchmen's own vans that just so happened to be sitting behind the shack suddenly drove on by as the windows slowly rolled down to reveal none other than Snoopy in his World War 1 Flying Ace attire before he happily signaled for the others to get in with a wave of his hand,and the kids couldn't help but get in the van with him as they all quickly piled inside,even Tyrone managed to bring himself to get inside despite the fact that a dog was able to drive. Once everyone was in the van and accounted for and after Tyrone brought the knocked out Gibson aboard for convenience,the most looked over at Snoopy and sternly commanded "Dog….step on the gas." to which the beagle saluted before he slammed his foot on the gas pedal and proceeded to go after the train. It was time for war.
Together we're gonna make it.
Through the darkest night.
Together we're gonna make it.
Gonna make it back home.
Together we're gonna make it.
Gonna stand up and fight.
'Cause together is better.
Together we'll make it right.
Together we're gonna make it.
(Stand up.)
'Cause together is better.
(Than whatever I've done yeah.)
Together is better.
(Than the power of one.)
Together is better.
(Than whatever you might have planned.)
(Here I stand.)
In a foreign wonderland.
NEXT CHAPTER: SHOWDOWN
"Together." Written By Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy.
©️Sony Music Entertainment.