Chapter 28: Left For Dead
Fortunately, nothing had really happened after Henry's talk with the drawing of Bendy. Linda had tucked the drawing back into her purse before finally going to sleep.
As what felt like days passed, Alice opened up a bit more towards Henry and Linda. She was still uncertain about Boris and the Butcher Gang (more-so about the latter), but she still offered them a smile every now and then. Once Tom was away on some excursion, Alice had shown Henry the looking glass; allowing him to look through it and observe any hidden messages around them. Alice even let him keep it as she mentioned how she thought she wasn't meant to leave the studio.
"Alice, you have to let us out of here." Henry said after a bit of silence.
"Tom thinks you're dangerous." Alice replied with a frown as she turned away slightly.
"And what do you think?" He asked as he stared at her, the question seemed to have caught her off guard.
Alice thought about Henry's question for a couple seconds."
"I...I think...You're the hope I've been looking for."
When their conversation ended, Henry walked back over to the cot where Linda remained sitting. She could tell he still wasn't happy being denied freedom; neither was she, but they were at least safe for the most part.
"Alice seems to have taken a liking to you." Linda teased, wanting to lighten the mood. "Should I be concerned?"
Henry smirked and shook his head.
"No. She's Tom's." He replied before sitting next to her. "Besides, I like you more. You are my wife."
"I like you more too." Linda chuckled as she kissed his cheek.
Henry then turned his head and kissed her lips, only stopping when he heard the Butcher Gang garble in disgust.
"What? can't I kiss my own wife?" He asked as he looked over at the three deformed toons.
Linda giggled as they garbled some more in response.
"I guess that's a 'no'."
"These guys think they run the joint, I swear." Henry replied in a joking manner as he shook his head. "What do you think, Boris? Can I kiss my wife?"
Boris perked up from his spot by the corner as his attention was called upon. The toon wolf gave Henry a smile and quickly nodded his head.
Henry smiled back.
"Thanks, buddy."
He went to kiss Linda again, but the sentient ink on Linda rose in defense. Linda quickly stood up and backed away as far as she could from Henry and the others so she wouldn't accidentally harm any of them.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She apologized over and over. "I have no control over this!"
"Linda, it's okay." Henry assured, remaining calm. "I know you wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone."
"What's going on back there?"
Linda and Henry looked over to see Alice poking her head into the cell, now staring at the ink that was rising off of Linda.
"Everything's fine, Alice." Henry replied.
"It doesn't look fine to me." She replied warily. "That ink is dangerous."
"I-I have no control over it." Linda repeated, trying not to panic.
"No one has control of the ink except for the Ink Demon." Alice said. "I'm surprised it isn't trying to claim you."
Linda thought back to the last nightmare she had when she sank into the inky abyss and Henry appeared before her; he had told her to not let Joey get a hold of her.
"I think it did try...but it hasn't gotten a hold of me yet."
"Hopefully it won't." Alice replied. "Otherwise you're stuck here with the rest of us once it turns you into a 'searcher' or 'lost one'."
Suddenly the door to the safe house was slammed open, and the ink returned to a dormant state on Linda's body. Tom stood in the doorway, oblivious to what had happened just a bit ago, and stepped inside holding his busted mechanical arm. Alice rushed over to check on him as she closed the door behind him.
"Tom! What happened to you?" She asked as she guided him over to the work table.
Tom gave her a silent stare only Alice could understand.
"You ran into the Ink Demon and tried to fight him, didn't you?" She asked as she began to work on fixing his arm. "That was really stupid, Tom. Now that he knows we're here, it's only a matter of time..."
Linda looked over at Boris and the Butcher Gang, they appeared to be nervous from the Ink Demon being mentioned. She looked at Henry to see how he was fairing; he was still rather calm about the situation. He held up the looking glass, giving it a slight wiggle in his hand.
"This will come in handy."
Linda wondered what he meant at first, but then figured that the hidden messages may help them find a way out. However, she knew it would be unwise to do so now as Tom was still hostile towards them and Alice was just beginning to show some trust.
For now they would all just have to wait.
Hours had passed since Tom had his arm fixed and now everyone was heading to bed. It took a while for Boris, 'Charley', 'Barley', and 'Edgar' to settle down; they had been on edge since the possibility of the Ink Demon finding the safe house was brought up, but Linda eventually calmed their nerves by telling them more stories of her and Henry's life outside of the studio.
Even Alice stayed up a bit longer to listen to a story or two.
Henry would interject once in a while to correct or explain some details, but he allowed Linda to continue on with her stories.
Soon enough, the toons grew tired and quickly fell asleep. Alice had already gone to the back a while ago. Linda joined Henry on the cot, hesitantly at first, but relaxed as the ink on her remained in place.
"You have always been quite the storyteller." Henry said to her as he laid back. "You would've been great working her, but I'm glad you were a teacher instead. Joey would've driven you crazy."
"I once thought about working with you and Joey when you two started out." Linda admitted as she laid down next to him. "But I don't think Joey would've allowed it and I didn't want to distract you."
She cuddled against Henry and stared at his ink stained shirt.
"If he saw talent in you, he would've put you somewhere." He replied. "Then he would've found ways of keeping us from seeing one another. Heck, he already did during the first two weeks of the company."
"Those were hard times." Linda sighed. "I just had our first child and you were constantly away at work, not coming home until the late hours of the night. I'm glad you quit when you did, Henry. As hard as I know it was for you, I'm glad you didn't stick around for this horrible mess."
Henry kissed her forehead.
"I'm glad too, but I can't help but wonder if things would've been different if I had stayed...If I was around to push Joey in the right direction-"
"I don't know if there was anything you could've done." Linda interrupted. "Joey Drew was an awfully stubborn man with ideas."
"And only ideas..." Henry added.
While they slept, something dripped on to Linda's forehead, waking her up. She wiped it off and checked her hand to see it was ink.
Before she could begin to guess whether it was from a pipe above or a sign the Ink Demon was coming, there was a low rumble and the room began to shake; startling the others awake.
Boris cowered and covered his eyes while the Butcher Gang stumbled around in confusion. 'Charley' garbled loudly as he hobbled towards the boarded doorway of the cell and began to pound a board with his fist. 'Edgar' joined in, but neither of them had much luck. 'Barley' made his way over and swung his head like a wrecking ball; needless to say, his attempt didn't work either and only gave the sailor toon a headache.
"We can't just leave them here. Not with the Ink Demon right outside our door!" Alice tried reasoning to Tom, but the stubborn wolf wasn't having it.
She then looked up towards the ceiling as more ink began to leak in and rushed over to the cell to try to pry off the boards with her hands. After a few more hopeless attempts, Tom placed his mechanical hand on Alice's shoulder and shook his head once she looked back at him. Alice then looked at Henry and Linda with a look of defeat.
"I'm sorry..."
The couple watched the angel and her companion run out of the safe house, leaving them for dead.
A/N: Not going to lie, I laughed at poor 'Barley's' attempt to break free as I wrote it. I'm such a mean writer.
Response to Zephyr's review: A sad Henry is a bad time. But it brings me joy to know you're enjoying the story so far. I hope you and my other followers/reviewers find this chapter just as enjoyable.
