Bread Boi wandered through the halls of the house. It was dark, with all the lights turned off except in the kitchen he'd left behind. The five year old was anxious in the dark but he still preferred it to what he'd seen in the kitchen. At least the darkness was warm. The others were supposed to be warm too, but they weren't acting right. He ran his hand along the wall while trailing his way through the house, his head down. He noticed the soft, carpeted floor. It was nice. Just pleasant quiet as the sounds of song grew distant.
The pictures on the wall were sort of scary. They were mostly of people but there were a few that looked like windows, but weren't. The fake windows looked uncomfortably realistic, and BB tried to not look at them. It just made him feel more disoriented. The portraits were unsettling. The people's faces looked sad and droopy, and their eyes were filled with black goo. He could've sworn they didn't look like that when the lights were on. But perhaps he was just too tired or distracted to notice before. It had been a very long car ride and a very exciting day.
BB rounded the corner and spotted a large metal door. It was tucked away behind one of the smaller halls but it wasn't all too far from the living room they'd been in when they first arrived. He was surprised he hadn't noticed it before. BB swung his head around to make sure no one was looking before heading in. He had the feeling he wasn't supposed to be there, but curiosity got the best of him.
The door was very heavy, but he managed to pull it open after a short struggle. Maybe that was the first warning sign, that it had been slightly too easy. The moment he stepped foot in however, it slammed behind him and he heard a latch click. BB swallowed nervously and took in his surroundings.
The floor was a checkered black and white pattern of tiles. It was very very dark, save for a single bright light shining on a weird looking machine. BB heard it humming and pulsating. It felt... alive.
BB inched towards it and laid his hand on the side of the machine. It was warm and beat rhythmically, like a very slow heart. He recoiled after a palpitation occurred and sidled away from it. But as he did so, he slammed into a pair of legs. He whipped his head around to see Mr. Roy.
"Oh! Uh.. sorry. I- I don't think I'm s'posed to be here... I got lost. I can go now, i- if you could open the door please." BB shuffled his feet around and held his hands behind his back. He made sure to be in a slight bow, like the Family said was polite. "It- it was really heavy, so..."
Roy smiled and hushed the small child. His grin appeared strangely warm, although not at all welcoming.
"No no. You're exactly where I want you to be..."
Roy pulled a long screwdriver out of his pocket.
...
"Oh... so that's what your job was..."
Pete sighed and placed his head in his hands. He didn't know what he expected. OF COURSE there was a catch. Of course he couldn't just leave without having to kill anyone. What a silly idea he'd had. A fantasy he deluded himself into believing. He'd never get out of this stupid cycle, would he? Never.
Tam and Sam fidgeted with their collars before continuing. "We're sorry we couldn't tell you," said Tam. "But hey, at least YOU weren't the one that killed the kid, right?" finished Sam.
"That's- that's not the point. I just wanted a break you know? I didn't want our visit to the outside tainted like this."
"We're sorry..." Their faces fell slightly.
"No. It is not your fault. I should have seen this coming." Pete stood up and cracked his neck. "At least it's over right? Now we can go home and it'll all be over with. Why don't you go find Roy or BB? We can't leave without them." Earlier, he would have been eager to linger around at let the others get their fill of normalcy, but now he simply wanted to get it all done, as selfish as that felt.
The twins nodded and walked out the room. Pete fell back onto the couch and glanced at Sally and Frankie.
We can go home he said...
Home...
It wasn't home...
He'd never get to go home...
...
Sally tilted herself back and forth while balancing on her toes. She and Pete were still waiting. The twins hadn't returned. Neither had Frankie... She edged closer to her older brother as she felt a chill run through her inky skin. Something wasn't right.
"Uh, how about I go look for them?"
Pete considered for a moment. Sally was disturbed by the look of worry on his face. She knew he cared, but she had never seen him look this stressed.
"Yes. That's... go ahead."
Sally hopped off the couch but Pete quickly grabbed her arm before she could leave. His eyes were flitting all over the place and his body was shaking.
"Be careful. Please."
"Uh okay. How come?"
"I have a horrible feeling about this. Don't get hurt, please..."
"Hmm, okay!" Sally put on her classic unsettlingly wide smile to cheer him up. "Everything'll be fine! I'll be right back!"
Sally strutted out the room and wandered around the halls, calling her teammates names. She wondered how many times she could say them until they felt like foreign entities. After... ten straight minutes of this, her voice began to grow hoarse. Ah, maybe she should go back the way she came and try to take a different route. How large was this house anyway? There was no reason for her to still be seeing new rooms and corridors this far into her exploration. She turned around to go back down the hall and slammed right into the wall. A dead end? But... that was the way she came...
Sally rubbed her face after the impact and pushed herself to her feet. A part of her wanted to whine and cry in frustration, but that wouldn't help matters at all. Oh, she did so terribly wish that man hadn't come to the Food Family. This was too much effort, no matter what the reward was. With her friends' luck, they probably wouldn't even get anything out of this! She rubbed her eyes again as she turned around and spotted a large metal door straight down the hall. It was directly opposite to her down the hall, how had she not seen it before? Sally sprinted across the soft green carpet and slammed into the door. She was just not having the best of luck today.
The 11 year old heaved trudged up to the entrance and opened the door, shutting it behind her to be polite. She almost immediately regretted that decision though, as she was struck with a horribly pungent stench. It was near pitch black in there. She took a step forward and felt her foot sink into a thick liquid. Reaching down to touch it, the liquid quickly seeped into her glove. It smelled... familiar. She'd smelled this dozens of times before at... work...
It was ink. Object blood...
Sally threw herself against the wall in terror, and felt around in the dark for the door. Her hand clasped it's way around a light switch and in her panic she pulled it. A blaring white glow flooded the room for a moment before retreating to the center and she caught a glimpse in the now dimly lit room of her teammates hollow corpses.
For a moment, everything in the world screeched to a halt. She could feel the sensation of absorbing every gruesome detail of the image in front of her. Their bodies twisted and writhed infinitely and forever still.
Sally could not bring herself to scream, she simply froze even as time moved again. Approaching footsteps preceded Roy dragging himself towards her. He was splattered with the dark liquid but his empty expression remained. His eyes pierced her soul. The man's motions were beyond robotic, and had devolved into nothing more than a husk being controlled by strings.
Then he started talking.
"You know little girl, I was going to kill you like the rest of them." He loosely gestured to the others lying still on the ground. "But it would be more effective if I did this the hard way." Roy lifted his hand slightly and the image of a baseball bat wavered in the air, as if it were underwater, before spawning into existence. "Hopefully that will make killing him easier."
She may be young, but she saw right through his tactics. He was going to kill her in a horrific manner in the hopes that her big brother would be so shocked that he'd be easy prey. But Pete was strong. Even if Roy did kill her, she knew he could avenge them all with ease. Regardless, her survival would still be ideal. "Ha. Ha... I'm sorry Mr. Roy sir, but I promised my dad I'd stay safe, so I'll have to decline your offer to bash in my skull, if that's quite alright with you." Her eyes sharpened into a glare while still retaining the smile.
Sally spotted the door out of the corner of her eye and jolted forward. She ran past Roy, knocking his legs out from under him as she sprinted by and hopped over the splotches of ink coating the ground that would impede her progress. Unfortunately, Roy was simply too tall, and he outpaced her moments before she reached the door even with her head start. She felt a great cacophony of pain in her ribs as she slid to the floor from the impact. She desperately tried to shove herself to her feet, but those fleeting moments were not enough; she saw a shadow over her, and that was the last of it. Roy lifted the bat above his head and slammed it into her skull over and over again until it caved in. Sally's corpse was splayed across the ground and her eyes were permanently wide open.
...
Pete waited in the room alone. He didn't like being alone ever since he got his first friend in the Family. It let him think too much.
He really was stuck like this, wasn't he? He'd never get to leave the Food Family, or even get a different job from them. He couldn't just die of old age, his stupid corruption had left him ageless for decades. Even if he could leave, did he deserve it? After everything he'd done, after all he'd gone through... did he even deserve to get a happy ending? Maybe even death was too good for him.
Well, at least he had his friends. Before them, he'd been hollow and empty and cold. Practically an automaton. He didn't feel anything except guilt and regret in those days. At least now he had a reason to stick around. At least now he had a REAL food family.
Pete's thoughts returned to that green-haired kid. His corpse was out there in the rain; his blood was draining into the sewers. The object's missions entailed getting rid of enemies. None of them had ever been children before. Welp, there's another new low, he thought sarcastically to himself.
Where was everyone?
Pete stood up, he couldn't wait any longer. He'd lost his cleaver somewhere around the kitchen so he didn't have any weapons, but that was okay. He could tank anything thrown at him.
He awkwardly made his way through the house, having to bend down to even fit in the tiny halls. He wished his corruption hadn't involved growing to such a monstrous height, it was such a horrible inconvenience, along with a daily reminder of things he'd rather not think about.
He spotted a large metal door that IMMEDIATELY drew suspicion because it was just the right size for him... No door in a normal human's house had any reason to be over 10 feet tall. Then again, he had trouble believing Roy was a normal human. Considering the absolute nightmare fuel he'd just gone through, it wouldn't surprise him if Roy's house frequented people like him.
He smelled a horribly familiar stench exuding from behind the door and slowly clasped the handle, easing it open. He stepped inside, and thankfully, it didn't shut behind him. White light from the rest of the house streamed into the pitch black of the room, casting his tall shadow over the corpses of his family.
Their corpses were scattered all over the floor's room and ink was splattered everywhere, almost like a painting from a nightmare. The twins were leaned against each other in the corner, Frankie had a gaping wound in his neck and BB was crumpled next to a large machine in the center. Sally's corpse was right in front of him, with ink still streaming out of her skull.
It was utterly unreal.
Pete felt a horrible wave of fear spread out from his chest through the tips of his fingers; he swayed slightly before collapsing onto his knees. His head pounded and pulsated with raw emotion that threatened to spill out from every hole in his skull. The wave of fear quickly replaced itself with dread and anguish as he shakily grabbed Sally's body. She was so... limp in his arms as he pulled her in close.
He couldn't cry. He SHOULDN'T cry. He didn't deserve to mourn after all he'd done! This wasn't right, he was being selfish, how dare he try to mourn after all this?!
But people cannot help their emotions, now can they.
He was shivering horrendously.
He wished he hadn't left his home.
...
...
...
Roy stepped out from behind the machine, screwdriver in hand. This was perfect. That giant moron was too busy crying to see him coming. He flipped it around in his hand as he inched closer to him.
Pete looked up at the sound of his footsteps and slowly placed Sally back on the ground. He stepped forward to face Roy with a terrifying glare boring into Roy's skull. They both waited for a moment. He couldn't help but laugh internally at the object's reddened eyes and the tremors running through his body. He had to give him credit where credit was due though, the man was holding himself together better than he'd hypothesized. The deafening silence continued for a moment too long.
Pete lunged towards Roy and lifted him into the air by his neck, keeping him a good few feet off the ground. Roy struggled for a moment before jabbing his screwdriver into Pete's hand causing him to loosen his grip for just a moment. Roy broke free and dropped to the ground, shocked at how close that call was. Taking his opportunity while the enemy was still staggering, he plunged the screwdriver straight into Pete's chest. He instantly shoved Roy backwards and jolted the screwdriver out of himself. The freak stared at it for a moment, seemingly unfazed by what should have been a fatal blow.
Roy for the first time in a very very long while, felt fear. Pete held the screwdriver and the stab wound wasn't killing him; it barely even HINDERED him! He stood over Roy, only slightly wavering to indicate any pain. Ugh, of course something like THAT wouldn't kill him that easily. He KNEW better than to underestimate corrupted objects, and now thanks to his eagerness, all of his hard work was going to be for NOTHING. He mentally prepared himself to run out of there as fast as possible the moment Pete made a move.
But he didn't make a move. Pete took a long look at the screwdriver, turning it around as if to take in every angle of it. He then glanced around the room for another moment, his eyes glazing over. Finally, he turned his head to look at Sally one last time.
Pete flipped the screwdriver over and jabbed it right back into his chest! Then he did it again, and again! Over and over and over, he stabbed like he'd stabbed on that first day, but it wasn't enough. This hurt but it wasn't enough it would never be enough! No, he wasn't dying fast enough for his own tastes. He lifted the screwdriver and rammed it into his neck, tearing it out again. The gaping hole in his throat widened as he continued to slam the blade against it in a wild frenzy. He began to hack up ink and it pooled into his mask. He instinctively ripped it off his face and the ink spattered on the ground as he continued to cough it up. Everything in his body was screaming in agony but it wasn't enough! Even as he collapsed to his knees it wasn't enough. It was painful, but not fast, there was no guarantee he would die from this. He shot one more glare of seething hatred and sadness at Roy before lifting the screwdriver and STABBING it right into his skull. For the final time that day, everything in the world fell still. Then, Pete pulled out the screwdriver and collapsed on the ground.
Roy stared in silence for a moment as Pete's corpse bled all over the floor. There was so much pitch black ink pooling out across the tiles. Then he started laughing. It started as a small chuckle but he soon found he couldn't contain his jubilation. WHAT AN IDIOT! That moron could have ended it then and there but he decided to pull THAT little stunt! Oh it was TOO FUNNY. It was such a good idea that he went with this order, if he'd tried to kill Pete first, he would've been completely screwed! (Pun intended) He pushed himself to his feet and began dragging the Food Gang's corpses towards the machine. Oh joyous day inDEED!
Roy let out a sigh of satisfaction. He was rather pleased with how many nuisances died today.