Chapter 21: The Chase


It had taken a while for Linda to be rid of her nightmare as Henry and Boris did the best they could to cheer her up as they spent time with her at the table.

Boris was strumming on the banjo that had been resting against the wall near his spot at the table; both Linda and Henry had encouraged him to keep playing as he was a bit rusty and seemed to be self-conscious of his playing. Linda smiled as Boris kept playing, showing he took their encouragement to heart.

He wasn't that bad.

Linda found she preferred the toon wolf's music compared to how Sammy had played. Boris' style was a lot more relaxed and playful.

Turning her attention to Henry, she watched as he drew out a scene of all three of them out in an open field, enjoying a day in the sun by having a picnic. Linda thought it was cute how Henry had drawn the both of them in the same cartoon style as he would draw Boris. She then suddenly remembered the Bendy drawing in her purse and decided to pull him out. As she unfolded the drawing, Bendy shook his head after tumbling around a bit. The moment she placed the drawing down on the table, Henry stopped what he was doing.

"He's moving." Henry said in awe. "Bendy's alive!"

Bendy grinned as he stared at Henry, giving him an excited wave of his gloved hand.

"Hey there, Bendy." Henry smiled, though it was a sad one.

"He's been keeping me company after I found him on the first floor." Linda explained. "Though he is a lot more lively now than before."

Boris leaned over the table to have a look at the toon devil himself only to seem a bit weary of it as he whimpered.

"It's alright, Boris." Linda assured. "He's not going to hurt any of us."

Boris still seemed to be on edge, but his shoulders relaxed slightly as Bendy waved to him as well. The toon wolf waved back slowly in response.

Henry let out a sigh as he shook his head.

"There's so much I want to say to him. To the Ink Demon roaming around the studio."

Linda placed her hand on top of his as his fingers touched the edge of Bendy's page.

"Why not practice with Bendy? He'll listen."

Henry stared at the Bendy drawing, the small drawn out toon returning his gaze as he tilted his head out of curiosity.

"Bendy, I..." Henry began, trying to find the words as he thought them over carefully. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you behind when I left the studio; for leaving you under Joey's control. You were never meant to be treated as a monster."

Bendy's smile had faded, but he continued to give Henry his full attention.

"After leaving the studio, I still continued to draw you, even if I couldn't make cartoons of you for the public. Joey owned the rights to your cartoons." Henry continued. "I was always anxious to know what kind of direction Joey would take with your cartoons, but I never expected anything like this to happen. I hope-"

The moment was interrupted as the safe house began to shake and ink leaked through the ceiling, soon flooding the floor.

Bendy's ink was melting over his face a bit as he became distressed, Linda quickly picked up the toon drawing to try to comfort him before safely tucking him back in her purse.

Boris scrambled over to the door to the exit and pulled down the lever to open it. Henry grabbed on to Linda's hand and went to follow Boris out into the hall. He still had a limp, but it was slowly starting to get better, allowing him to move slightly faster than before.

Ink continued to leak from the ceiling as they now stood outside of the safe house.

Boris cowered and trembled in fear as inky trails moved along the walls and surrounded them.

"We need to get out of here!" Henry shouted over the shaking and rumbling of the machinery in the walls.

Linda took hold of Boris' hand with her free hand as Henry began to lead the way down the hall.

A loud splashing sound followed by a roar came from behind the trio, forcing them to start running as they knew they were now being hunted down the Ink Demon.

Henry quickly grabbed the flashlight from a desk before they ran through darkened halls, only stopping for a second to catch his breath as a pair of metal doors closed behind them. They were trapped in a small room as the metal doors ahead of them were sealed shut. The break didn't last long as there was a loud bang against the metal doors they came from and ink began to spray into the room. The doors began to dent out towards them as something large repeatively smashed against them to get in.

Boris scurried over to the floor vent and lifted the cover as another loud roar was sounded off. Henry fell to his hands and knees as he immediately started to crawl into the vent.

"You go next, Boris!" Linda insisted as she saw how frightened the toon wolf was.

She didn't want to risk leaving him freezing up and be torn apart as they surely didn't have much time to waste before the doors would be broken down.

Boris didn't waste any time as he quickly crawled into the vent after Henry.

The doors were smashed open as soon as Linda had crawled in after them, not daring to stop and look back.

The vent shook violently around them as the Ink Demon attempted to reach for them, but did not continue to give chase.

Linda could only imagine the horrible inky beast from her nightmare as they had managed to escape the Ink Demon's wrath.

She wondered what it was exactly that set him off.


The trio stopped to rest for a bit as they crawled out of the vent. Henry rested against the wall, holding his bad leg as he waited for the pain to subside. Linda and Boris sat on both sides of him, trying to catch their breath and slow their pounding hearts.

"He gets worse with each loop." Henry grimaced as he tried to stand, Boris offering him support as he stood up with him.

"I don't know how much more of this hell I can take..."

"We can't give up, Henry." Linda replied. "We have to find a way out of this place."

Henry was silent as she stood up and hugged him from behind.

"We're in this together."

She tightened her embrace as she felt him begin to shake and started to sob. Linda silently wept with him and Boris whimpered as he wrapped his arms around the human couple.


A/N: First of all, I want to thank all of y'all for the follows and faves. Your support really helps keep this story going. :)

A special thanks to portgas d ace forever for showing love and support for this story. Your positive reviews really make my day and boost confidence in my writing as I am a bit shy about my story-telling.