(Matilda's POV)
Matilda? Are you okay?
I hear a voice in the distance, calling out for me. I slowly open my eyes to reveal, as my eyes adjust, lights and a group of people, and animals crowded around me.
"Good! You're awake!"
I look up to see the others crowded around me. I still hear water dripping, but I don't hear any animatronics.
Sitting up and rubbing my head, I look over to my left to find that Captain Jack and the other animatronics seem to have…well….exploded.
"Good Golly, what the heck happened here?" I exclaim.
"And what happened to me?"
"You passed out after the animatronics started going all haywire," Violet tells me.
"Augustus managed to override the panel and, eventually, make them combust."
"Where are we now?"
"We managed to find a bridge over the log ride," Alfie explains.
"As soon as you're ready, we're gonna take the next logs out of here."
My head still feels like it's throbbing slightly when all of a sudden, I detect a familiar scent.
"Does anyone else smell….chocolate?" I ask.
Immediately everyone begins to sniff the air.
"I do smell it a bit," says Uncle Nigel.
"Me too," Veruca replies.
"It gets stronger the closer I am to the edge," Billie exclaims.
Going over to the edge, I look down to see thick, brown water. No, that's not water. It's….
"Chocolate?" Billie and I ask simultaneously.
"Wait, if it's chocolate," I ask.
"Then why is there an iron-esque smell as well?"
"Oh, that's not something you should worry about," Alfie pipes up.
"Chocolate has a high iron content."
"No, she's right," Dani adds.
"The iron smell is overwhelming."
I look closer at the chocolate river; within the brown concoction, I see small streams of dark red.
"That's not just chocolate," I whisper as the blood rushes from my face.
The others come over to take a look and they gasp.
"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Violet exclaims.
"Whose is that anyway?" Sophie asks.
"I don't think I want to know," I gulp.
Is it possible that….there were people here before us? Were being the keyword here. And is the same thing that happened to them going to happen to any of us? I mean, it's become clear that Wonka has the capacity to commit murder. Who's to say this whole thing isn't just a cover for murder?
I try to push the thought out of my mind when I see two more logs coming our way. Hoping that there are no more killer animatronics up ahead, I jump into the first log that comes through. The squirrels follow suit and the others take the second log.
For the vast majority of the trip, it's uneventful, save for dead animatronics. But later on in the trip, we start to hear rushing rapids up ahead. Up ahead of us is a raging waterfall, er-chocolate fall I guess. I look around, but there's no alternate route, and we realize we're going to have go through this.
"Brace yourselves, y'all," Violet tells us as we near the edge.
I shut my eyes and do just that. And I suddenly feel my log tip forward.
Quickly opening my eye, something I immediately regret, I see that it's a straight 90 degree angle drop, I cannot see the bottom, and we're falling pretty fast. As I see my decade of life flashing through my mind's eye, I'm just hoping that the impact doesn't kill us, at least not painfully.