Playerhood18: I guess.
GBond007: Probably.
South Down: We'll have to find out.
I am a burglar: Indeed.
Guest tea: Thanks.
When Kyle's eyes opened, he was back in bed in his house, in the real world. He let out a deep breath, as if he had been submerged underwater, and quickly ripped the headphones off of his head and tossed them away, pulling the plug out of his phone.
Turning around, he saw Stan and Ike, still lying on the bed, wearing the headphones. "Guys, wake up!" He shouted, shaking them violently. Abruptly, Stan sprang upwards, followed by Ike.
"Oh, thank God!" Kyle exclaimed, taking off their headphones. "You're back!"
"Kyle, what is going on?" Stan asked, rubbing his head.
"It's Leslie Meyers!" Kyle replied suddenly. "She's behind all of this!"
"The ad?" Stan replied, perturbed. "Didn't PC Principal kill her? I thought-"
"No, the real Leslie!" Kyle corrected. "Look, it's a long story, but everyone that entered the game has been mind-controlled by her, except us and the others I freed with the Purify spell."
"Uh, guys?" Ike said, hanging from the windowsill and staring outside. Kyle and Stan exchanged worried glances before joining him in looking outside.
Their hearts dropped at what they saw. Out in the streets, dozens of people were walking in a zombie-like fashion, a blank expression on their faces. Their pupils were shrunk and their mouths were hanging open. It didn't take long for the boys to realize that these were all people who had entered the game.
"Oh, shit!" Stan said, and quickly grabbed his iPhone, dialing in a number. "Mom? Mom, are you there?" He waited for a response, but got none.
The door to Kyle's room opened, and the boys turned around to see Kyle's parents at the door, a confused expression on their faces. "Kyle, what is going on?" Sheila asked. "Half the people outside are acting like zombies."
"We'll explain later," Kyle said. "But you can't leave this house. Barricade the entrances and don't answer the door."
Kyle's parents looked confused, but they nevertheless left to do just that.
Kyle sighed and turned to Stan and Ike. "Leslie knows I wasn't affected by the Mind Control," He told them. "She'll probably be looking for me."
At that moment, Kyle received a call on his phone. He slowly checked to see who it was from, and saw it was coming from Token. Hesitantly, he answered the call. "Yes, Token?" He asked.
"Kyle, it's so weird," Token replied. "Me and the rest of the gang are at my house. My parents are wandering around like zombies. They keep mumbling the name 'Leslie' over and over. I'm trying to talk to them, but they won't listen."
"I-I'm scared," Another voice said, which the boys recognized as Clyde's. "What do we do?"
"Come to my house," Kyle instructed them. "Avoid attracting any attention, got it?"
"Uh, okay," Token replied, before the call ended.
Kyle set his phone down, sighing heavily. Stan walked up to him. "Seriously, Kyle, what is going on?" He asked.
"I'll explain when the others arrive," Kyle replied, an exhausted look on his face. "But to keep things brief, everyone in the town is in danger. And we're gonna need all the help we can get."
Ever since Kenny had entered the game, Karen had scarcely left his side. She'd stayed next to his body, only leaving for brief moments to get food or water before returning, watching over him closely, waiting for him to awaken. She still wasn't sure what was going on, or why he'd entered the game, but she was certain that whatever his reasons were, he had the best of intentions.
When Kenny's eyes finally opened, Karen nearly jumped for joy. "Kenny!" She exclaimed as her older brother got out of bed. "I was so worried! You were in there for so long!"
She enveloped her brother in a hug, pressing her face against his chest. "What was it like in there?" She asked, not letting him go. "Kenny?"
Karen felt a sense of unease quickly, however, when she noticed that Kenny wasn't returning the hug. She stepped backwards to stare at his face, and was confused when she saw that he was staring off into space, not looking at her.
"Kenny?" She asked. "What's going on? Kenny?" She hopped into the air, waving at his face, but he didn't respond to her.
Karen stepped backwards, confused and a little scared. She was about to call for their parents when she heard the sound of police sirens downstairs.
"Police, open up!" A voice called out from downstairs.
Karen felt her heart drop. Not the police again, she thought.
"Ah shit, not again!" She heard Stuart exclaim in an annoyed tone. Karen quickly exited the room and rushed towards the staircase, peaking down to see what was going on in the living room.
From upstairs, she could see her parents opening the doors. "Hey, you got no business showing up at our house!" Stuart was saying. "I already told you last month, we're not dealing any drugs here!"
"We're not here to search for drugs," The police officer replied. He and his comrade parted, and a girl appeared, entering the house.
Karen snapped to attention, fixating her eyes on the girl. She appeared to be around Kenny's age, with long black hair and striking eyes. Despite her young age, she carried an odd sense of authority as she entered the house.
"Who are you?" Carol asked, eyeing the young girl suspiciously.
"Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. McCormick, but I have personal business here," Leslie Meyers said as she strode past the two. She glanced upwards, and Karen's heart stopped as the girl spotted her.
Leslie stared at her for a few moments, then called out, "Kenny McCormick! Come here!"
Karen whipped her head towards Kenny's room, and saw her brother exit it. He passed by her and headed down the stairs towards Leslie, who extended a hand towards him.
Leslie turned towards Stuart and Carol. "Your son here will be accompanying me for the time being," She said. "The rest of you are being placed under house arrest until further notice. Kenny, come." She turned and headed out the door, Kenny following her.
"What the Hell?" Stuart asked, stepping forward. "You can't just barge in here and take our son! That's-" Before he could continue, one of the police officers stepped forward and struck Stuart across the face with a baton, sending him crashing to the floor.
"Daddy!" Karen shrieked in horror, rushing down the stairs towards her injured father.
"Don't make this difficult," Leslie warned. "This is for your own good." She exited the house, along with Kenny.
As Carol tended to Stuart, Karen rushed outside, and froze when she saw numerous police officers outside. She couldn't help but notice that they all had a blank, emotionless expression on their faces.
"Make sure these people stay inside," Leslie ordered the chief officer. Striding over to a police car, she opened the door and hopped inside, and motioned for Kenny to follow.
"Kenny, please!" Karen called out, even as she was kept from rushing forward by the cops. "Don't leave me, Kenny!"
Kenny turned around and locked eyes with Karen. For a brief moment, Karen saw Kenny's eyes return to normal as he faced her.
Abruptly, Leslie snapped, "Kenny!" Quickly, the blond shook his head and his eyes spaced out once more, and he obediently followed Leslie into the car, shutting the door behind him.
Karen could only watch as the car drove off down the street, a tear slipping down her cheek as it vanished from sight. Seconds after, she was grabbed by one of the officers and carried back inside her house, her new prison.
Craig's Gang sneaked through the neighborhood, passing by the zombie-like townsfolk as they made their way towards Kyle's house. All of them wore a frightened expression on their faces, but Craig steeled himself, trying to look brave, even as he himself was in the midst of a panic attack.
Clyde let out a squeak as he accidentally bumped into a man, looking up and recoiling when he saw the man's lifeless eyes. "Oh man," He muttered in fear. "Oh jeez, oh man. . ."
"Quiet!" Craig hissed, slapping a hand over Clyde's mouth. "Look. We're here." He pointed towards Kyle's house, which was down across the street. He eyed the wandering townsfolk for a few moments before motioning for the gang to follow him.
As they made their way towards the house, they ran into another group of children who had rushed out from the shadows. "Please don't hurt us!" Clyde immediately cried out, jumping into Token's arms, who quickly dumped him onto the ground.
"Calm down," A familiar voice said. "It's us." The other group moved out of the darkness, revealing themselves to be Wendy, Butters and the other girls, including Annie.
"What are you doing here?" Craig asked.
"Same as you; going to Kyle's house," Red replied, placing her hands on her hips. "Butters here came to get us as soon as he could. Said that Cartman, Scott and Dougie were acting like everyone else."
"What's going on?" Annie asked, shivering. "Why is everyone acting so weird?"
"I dunno, but I think Kyle knows the answer," Wendy replied. "Come on!"
Quickly, the group rushed towards Kyle's house. Wendy and Craig started knocking on the door repeatedly. They heard movement from inside, along with the curtain windows opening for a split-second before closing once more. Finally, the door creaked open, revealing Kyle.
"Come in quickly," He whispered harshly. The other kids obeyed, rushing inside.
They found that the door and windows had been barricaded with whatever furniture they could find. Gerald and Sheila were in the living room, holding shotguns, their eyes bloodshot. Kyle himself looked tired and scared as he led the group upstairs into his room, where Stan and Ike were in currently.
"You guys made it!" Stan exclaimed, a hint of joy in his voice despite the dire situation.
"Alright Kyle, we're here," Craig said as he redhead hopped onto the bed. "Now what's going on?"
Kyle inhaled deeply before responding. "It's Leslie," He said. "Leslie Meyers. She's behind all of this."
"The ad girl?" Butters asked, confused. "The one PC Principal hated?"
"No, I mean, yes, uh, it's complicated," Kyle said, rubbing his face. "She's the real Leslie. She's the one who created the game, tricked everyone into entering it by promising that whoever got the key would be able to grant their wish. But it was all a trap! Now everyone who's entered the game is under her Mind Control spell!"
"Wait, so we were never going to be able to grant our wish?" Red asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "What a ripoff!"
"I can't believe we all fell for that stupid ploy!" Craig said, sounding disappointed in himself. "It was so obvious!"
"Guys, pay attention!" Kyle snapped.
"Wait, but who got the key then?" Bebe asked. She'd been killed in-game, so she hadn't been there to see who got it.
"It was Kenny," Kyle explained. "He was the one Leslie wanted to get the key. Now he's like a battery powering the brainwashing spell."
"Kenny. . ." Annie whispered, horror dawning on her face. "Oh, no! I helped him reach the key!"
"Wait, that's what you were doing this whole time?" Bebe sputtered in disbelief. "We let Butters into our group because you preferred being a boy's lackey?"
"No," Annie retorted angrily, putting her hands on her hips. "I did it because Kenny had a worse life than us, and if anyone deserved a chance for a better one, it was him."
The girls stepped back, surprised by Annie's heated response.
"Wait a minute," Stan piped up. "Why did Leslie want Kenny to get the key? Why not anyone else?"
The kids puzzled over the question before Tweek spoke up. "I was under her Mind Control spell," He explained. "When I was forced to be in Cartman's army. But I was able to snap myself out of it thanks to Craig!"
"Of course!" Kyle exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "The Mind Control isn't infallible; it can be broken with enough willpower."
"What does that have to do with Kenny, though?" Craig asked.
"Leslie told me he was trapped in a dream world where his wish came true," Kyle explained. "Remember what Annie said; he had a worse life than all of us. That was why Leslie wanted him to get the key! She wanted the person with the worst life, the person who would want most of all to change their fortune, because then they wouldn't want to snap out of her spell! They'd have to return to their miserable life!"
"Oh, man," Stan whispered, distraught. "We never should've turned a blind eye to his hardships! We should've been there for him more!"
"We still have to snap him out of it, though," Wendy pointed out. "If we can break the control over him, everyone else will be freed, too."
"You think Leslie will make it that easy?" Kyle asked. "She's probably keeping Kenny under her watch 24/7 to ensure he remains under her control."
"And all the people under her control," Token whispered. "Who knows how many grown-ups, our schoolmates, the President. . . we'll be slaughtered if we try to get to 'em!"
"No!" Annie suddenly exclaimed, stunning everyone else. "Our town is in danger; Kenny, our friend, is in danger! I did not travel hundreds of miles for Kenny, facing off against 5th Graders, and getting kicked in the crotch repeatedly by a kindergartner, just to give up on him now!"
"But even if we do get to him, how are we gonna break the spell?" Clyde asked. "Snapping Tweek out of the spell was hard enough, and it took his love for his boyfriend to do that! I doubt any of us could do that for Kenny."
Annie stood there, deep in thought for a few moments, before her eyes lit up.
"Maybe we can't," She whispered, smiling. "But I think I know someone who can."
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