Chapter 3 - Irony of Being Safe and In Danger
Everyone gathered around the monitors, unable to believe who was waiting outside. A group of humans near the pipe where the Bad Guys usually travel through. They were all staring at the camera with uncanny zombie masks. The masks were ridiculous themselves, but what made them creepy was the guns and axes they were wielding, and the too-casual clothes they were wearing.
Wolf snorted. "Whatever. They can't get in."
"Hold on," said Webs, jumping off Mira's shoulder to type on her laptop. "They seem to be saying something."
In the front was what must be their leader. Unlike the others, his skin was reddish as if he was sunburnt. His mask was purple unlike the green zombie masks. For attire, he wore a red and white flannel shirt, a black belt with a golden bull symbol as a buckle, skinny denim shorts and winter boots. The most laziest outfit worn by a feared villain.
"Hey there, fellas," said the leader, his voice laced with venom and cheerfulness. "I know you're in there, swine."
Snake glared at Baron. "I thought you said they didn't follow you here!"
"I swear they didn't see me!" said Baron, putting his hands up in defense. "What do you think I'm supposed to do? Buy a jet and fly all over to see who else is looking for my head like your tiny murdering friend right there?"
"Hey, that's pretty offensive!" yelled Hornet, insulted, "And I don't buy a jet. I already have wings!"
"I'm not going to spoil someone else's night," continued the leader, adjusting his collar. "We should be gentlemen on a night like this."
"Yeah, by murdering people," snarled Mira.
"Shh!" shushed Shark. "What if they can hear us?"
"I can hear you all panicking now," chuckled the leader, pretending to be nice. "We know that our target would have gotten into a home like this. One of the special 'secret lairs' I say. Respect to another criminal or mastermind behind this. We want to treat you fairly, so listen closely."
A gulp each from everyone except Wolf.
"We are educated people," said the leader, sounding like a goofy teacher. "All fed, dressed and cared for in our little homes. But as time goes by, we have to look out for ourselves. The Zombie Gang hold no accounts of any weaklings. Tonight, it's judgement day. We all go around to make our enemies pay, the ones who chose to make mistakes intentionally because of us lately. And let me tell you this; nobody gets away from us."
Wolf rolled his eyes. "Classic intimidation. That might work on the other criminals, but we all know what will happen when they go with us."
That didn't calm down any of the Bad Guys.
"Tonight took a turn," said the leader, slowly sounding angry. "Our target escaped. He refused to repay his debt to us. You see, we heard from other Purgers that he found shelder here. Crime doesn't pay, but trade does. And we don't ignore money that is supposed to come back to us."
"I knew we should have left him out!" said Webs, losing her cockiness about her security system. "Alright, it should be all set to go, but all hands on the trap system."
Hornet nodded, typing on his wireless keyboard.
"Let's make this quick before morning rise," snarled the leader. "Bring us back our pig, so that we may purge as we are entitled to. And this is all for a fair trade. You won't be harmed by us. But trust me; we know how to get in." He started to laugh insanely. "I mean, we can enter any house we want! To rest our feet to feel like we are at home. The homey homes are for those homes to feel like they are homes."
Wolf was already getting annoyed. "What are they going to do? We are already secured. Nothing but empty threats."
"Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way," said one of the Zombie Gangsters, cocking his gun like a gangster. "The choice is yours."
"Exactly!" said the leader in delight. "Now! You have 5 seconds to decide. Shake this camera to tell us that you will bring him out."
"OK," said Shark.
"5."
He immediately carried Baron upwards.
"Wait, WHAT?!" shouted the boar. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Shark was too scared to even talk. His first time experiencing the Purge and they are all going to die in mere seconds. Screw the security systems. They are going to tear all of them apart! And he didn't feel safe with Baron around since he was like a beacon. It was a good thing that he wasn't the only one as Snake slithered next to him, cheering on.
"Throw him out!" shouted Snake in defiance. "Toss him out! I don't care!"
"LET GO OFF ME, BABY HIPPO!" screamed Baron, flailing around.
Shark grunted, whimpering in high pitch. Boy, that guy placed on a lot of weight lately. How much calories did he took?
"4."
"Hold on a minute!" said Mira, sliding in front of Shark. "Maybe we should think about this. We shouldn't throw him out."
"Better that he dies than all of us dying!" snapped Snake.
"I know that we don't have a choice, but this is getting too hasty! What if they'll come in if we do toss him out?"
"Somebody shake the camera right now!"
"3."
"OMG…OMG…" said Tiffany, hugging herself as she shook. "What are we going to do?"
"Everybody just calm the hell down," said Wolf, reassured that they were untouchable. "They can't get in."
"This is a little worse than having PTSD moments," squealed Hornet to himself.
"Should we have a think about that?" said Zee, raising a finger. "Any second now and they might break in!"
"2."
Piranha growled, jumping onto the table. He cracked his knuckles together, his eyes flashing to nearly being unhinged again.
"Let them in!" he barked. "I'll smash them!"
"Don't go out to get them," said Webs. "We don't have a good advantage over them!"
"Piranha, this is brave of you," said Hornet. "But please don't fight against them!"
"1 and a half~!"
"Screw that!" said Webs. "Get your flexibility into gear! We're gonna activate those bombs really soon now!"
The two bugs typed on their laptop and keyboard, and turned off the safety of the bombs for the user's side.
"Permission to fire on command, Wolfie!" said Webs like a soldier.
"This is too fast, but OK," said Wolf calmly.
"1 and a third~!"
Shark already reduced to trying to push Baron across the floor. All while Baron kept flailing his arms and legs around without noticing that he wasn't carried anymore. Even if he was rolled around like a spring roll. Mira was on the other end, pressing her feet against the floor. However, she was no match for Shark and Snake as they desperately tried to roll Baron towards the garage escalator.
"HOW ABOUT YOU GO OUTSIDE, FISH?!" shouted Baron. "YOU'RE MORE TASTY AS SHARK MEAT!"
"Hey!" shouted Shark, offended. "That's racist! Or at least xenophobic. And that's too cruel!"
"1!"
Things were falling apart. Piranha was already livid. Hornet and Webs were paranoid. Tiffany and Zee were about to book it. Baron was freaking out. Shark and Snake were losing their minds. Mira was trying to get to be the logical one.
And Wolf was still calm.
"I'm OK with the events that are unfolding," he said sarcastically.
"Time's up!" roared the leader.
Everybody gasped, turning to the monitors.
The leader's face got really up close to the camera…and when he pulled out, his entire Zombie Gang disappeared.
It was dead silence. Whether they teleported right inside or just ran off was up to them to decide. The air was suddenly thick as they waited. The next few seconds were agonizing, all of them holding onto their breaths for the Zombie Gang to do something. They could still hear gunfire and explosions from the faraway town. This led to them wondering if they placed bombs all around.
Webs and Hornet checked through the live footage. There were none of the Zombie Gangsters. Not outside. Not in the pipe tunnels. Not even on their apartment. It was as if they disappeared out of thin air. Even the security and trap systems were intact. The two of them shared confused looks.
"See?" said Wolf with a big grin. "Told you. There's nothing to worry about!"
CRASH!
It came out of nowhere, but a hole in the ceiling was made. Followed by several criminals of the Zombie Gang dropping in, all wearing identical green zombie masks.
"Hello there!" said one of them in a chipper tone. "Shouldn't have painted all that graffiti all over your house. That appeals us."
All of their hard work to protect their place was for nothing.
The Bad Guys and the ladies all screamed in horror, knowing that they were already doomed. Even Wolf lost his cool upon being proven wrong, screaming like a girl as he hugged Snake. Even Mira and Tiffany hugged each other without noticing. Only Piranha didn't panick yet since the rush from his earlier fight got him somewhat prepared for a jump scare like this.
Of course, like every 'excellent' horror movie, everybody split up.
"Every man for himself!" declared Baron.
He wasn't going to be the first to be killed. Not after the Zombie Gang grew a grudge against him. He immediately ran towards the wall and using his strength, burst through it. He could only hope that the hallways on the other side were his way out.
"No. No. NOOOO!" screamed Hornet, profusely sweating.
He flew away, screaming in fright. He and Webs had things under control, but now it came all crumbling down. And the Zombie Gang passed through all their traps, so it made them useless. Hornet wasn't looking where he was going, so he ended up flying through the tunnel.
"Oh wait, boys!" cried Tiffany. "Wait for me!"
Tiffany didn't expect the day to come for her. And she was going to be slaughtered here alive when she did nothing wrong. She saw the tunnel as an easy way out, so she fled through there.
Webs latched onto Snake who slid out from Wolf's grasp in a panic. The two of them screamed with Webs hugging Snake's face. When more Zombie Gangsters surrounded and blocked them from reaching their friends, Snake immediately climbed up a nearby support beam. They reached the ceiling vent and went in.
"Wait, no! We're supposed to stick together!" called Piranha. Feeling that this fear was getting to everyone, he growled and turned to the Zombie Gang. He was ready to go crazy again. "Bring it on, chico!"
However, Piranha's snarl turned into a gasp when the Zombie Gang pulled out their weapons. Ranging from crossbows, bombs, knives and baseball bats.
Piranha's eyes widened, suddenly losing all confidence. This wasn't the fair fight he expected! He couldn't manage to tear through them without a proper weapon of his own! Knowing that he was outnumbered by their weapons, he tried to think of where to run.
Fortunately, he didn't need to decide.
A screaming Wolf grabbed Piranha by the hand and pulled him away just as they fired arrows on them. Wolf didn't expect this night to go this way! He got things prepared and they were all safe! Thanks to his cockiness, he didn't think through of how murderers could enter the place. They were everywhere!
He caught up to Mira who quickly took hiding through a door she bumped right into. The two fled towards it, slamming the door shut.
Shark backed against the wall as many of the Zombie Gang pointed their crossbows at him. If this was a nightmare, then he wanted to wake up! All those reassurances that they were going to be fine, but they weren't! They are all going to die here during an event in which other criminals could get back at them. All hopes for escaping were slim at this point.
"Stay back!" he pleaded. "Stay back! Stay b-!"
As the arrows fired, Zee quickly grabbed him by the hand and pulled him right through the crowd. The Zombie Gangsters were surprised that they quickly parted to avoid getting hit. The duo ran towards the laboratory door and slammed it shut behind them.
As nearly the entire Zombie Gang entered the room, the red-shirted leader dropped in. He waved his axe around, looking forward for this moment in his entire life. He couldn't wait to drink the pig's blood.
"Let the purge commence, boys!" he shouted.
All of his goons cheered, lifting their weapons in the air. With a loud battle cry, they all ran after the separated Bad Guys.
Wolf and Mira screamed their heads off as they raced down the hallway. Piranha followed behind, not screaming, but concentrating on not getting left behind. They were REALLY unprepared on the occasion if the hideout got invaded. And that 'if' was already happening right behind them.
At the end of the hallway, they entered into another room and Wolf quickly slammed the door locked. For context, the room they were in was the Bad Guys' glorious treasure room. This is where they now store all of their goodies they stole or earn through their business work. Any valuables that they can't keep storing in the main room due to needing to clear space to set up an espionage-like lair.
It would nearly look like an actual vault since it was mostly piles of golden coins, bars, diamonds and dollar notes crowding the place. Empty vaults, arcade machines, statues and even a cinema screen were included amongst the cash. There was a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling, but it looked more handmade since nobody could recognize it as a public artwork.
"Whoa…" said Mira, her eyes sparkling. "This…this is where you kept all of your possessions?"
"It's a work in progress," said Piranha, lying back against the door. "We did have a plan of making a large hot pot to melt all the gold and-"
"This is NOT the time now!" growled Wolf, nailing wooden planks against the door. "We're under attack!"
"Right, right. I thought you said that the security system is going to protect us."
"I didn't know that it would be THAT easy for them to break through our ceiling!"
"I guess that's what you get for being too confident that your apartment is too visible," muttered Mira.
"Any smart ideas around here?" said Wolf, wildly looking around for at least something to use.
"If I can get my hands on one of their weapons, then I can tear off their heads!" said Piranha.
Mira picked up what appeared to be a golden royal specter. "How about this?"
Wolf could only give her a blank stare. "That's not going to work if they have a flamethrower."
"Maybe we can use that firewall we purchased yesterday?" asked Piranha, having ideas.
"It's out of reach! It was part of the tunnel system. At this rate, they would have torn all of our traps apart!"
A large blade cut right through the door. The trio screamed, quickly diving right into a pile of coins on the left. Just in time before the chainsaw tore the entire door down and a flood of Zombie Gangsterss burst through. All of them were wielding crossbows and baseball bats, but the way they spun them around proved that they weren't to mess with.
"Here, little fishies," whispered one of the gangsters menacingly. "Here, fishies, fishies, fishies!"
Underneath the gold coins, Wolf, Piranha and Mira peeped through the gap, watching the zombie-masked criminals wandering around. They didn't give up on the hunt, but that didn't mean they were going to leave this place untouched. Some of them were already looting the golden coins around them. One guy was even trying to drag out the large cinema screen.
"No fair!" whined Piranha quietly. "We stole that fair and square!"
"OK, what's the plan?" whispered Mira.
"I-I don't know," said Wolf nervously. "To be honest, I never thought we would have an invasion THIS intense. But…what I'm seeing is that we need to get out of here to find the rest of our friends."
"Do you think they would be killed already?" asked Piranha worriedly.
"I don't know, but they don't have their lethal weapons over. That might mean they are going to kidnap us first. Knowing them, they would kill later when all of us are together. Doing those weird rituals and stuff."
"Never knew that they are a cult," said Mira.
As if on cue, a couple of the Zombie Gangsters were right on top of the few golden coin mountains and began to dance. More specifically, teabagging as if hoping that they were on top of their prey. And they were all rapping to 'Swigggity Swooty' at the top of their lungs.
"We're gonna get you, Wolfy!" sang one.
"I'm coming for that arse, boi!" said another.
"No, find the woman's one!" said a third one, a woman.
"But I want that wolf's butt!" complained another.
"Nobody wants to get some piece of furry flesh."
As the Zombie Gangsters argued with each other, Wolf and Mira shuddered. They hoped that no one would get near their butts.
"Ugh…" grumbled Piranha, narrowing his eyes. "And I thought I was the crazy one…"
"I know, right?" said Mira. "Know what? This is another stereotype of cults right here."
Wolf quickly moved downwards when he heard one of the zombie-masked criminals taking a swipe at the golden coin pile they were hiding in. A sharp katana in their hands. If Wolf stayed still, his ears would have been chopped off. He whimpered a little, his ears flattening as they gave into the weight of the golden coins above. The three of them held onto their breath, watching carefully as the masked felon observed the pile.
He finally left thankfully. While they were still cornered, at least no one grew suspicious of where they were hiding at. Still, they need to get out before they were caught or took too long.
"Follow me," whispered Wolf.
Making sure to hold onto each other, with Piranha holding Wolf's tail and Mira gently grabbing Piranha's suspensers, the trio crept through the golden coins. It was truly agonizing as every shift they make cause the the pile to crumble a little. But that was nothing compared to the other piles of coins falling apart naturally or by force of the Zombie Gangsters playing around for their amusement.
"Man, Piranha," whispered Mira. "You're the same size as my daughter."
"Can you blame me?" barked Piranha quietly. "This is my original size. My family can tell the same."
The trio made sure to be quiet and took a second for each move so that they wouldn't make too much noise. Neither of them could breathe or feel the cold air as they felt sweaty. By the time they quietly got out from behind the coin pile, they sighed a little when they felt the cold air. But they weren't out of the woods yet.
Piranha pointed to a vault nearby with its back facing the Zombie Gang. It was a bit far away from the wall, but better than nothing. The trio crept slowly when no one was watching and took cover in the vault. They heard someone turning around, their footsteps coming closer to them.
Gulping, Mira slowly closed the door.
The footsteps on the floor slowly developed into footsteps on the vault itself as the Zombie Gangster stood right on top, having the high ground. She looked around, whacking the end of her baseball bat against her palm as she neared where the door of vault should be at. She looked around, hoping to see a shadow of her three victims.
Wolf, Piranha and Mira were nearly screaming internally, their eyes darted upwards and back at the door. The awful silence didn't make them feel comfortable as this would mean the Zombie Gang found them. They felt trapped. Like a mouse in the hole away from the cat.
Wolf clenched his teeth, whimpering like a lost puppy. His ears flattened against his head in case they are met by a loud scream.
Mira placed her hands over her eyes, unable to look at anything. She kept forcing herself to think happy thoughts.
Piranha was squeezing onto Wolf's tail like a plush tail, nearly tempted to bite it.
"I'm so close to crapping my pants!" he thought to himself.
There was a low sigh from the criminal on top of the vault before she hopped off and walked away. They could hear the majority of the Zombie Gang focused on the other side of the room.
Wolf, Piranha and Mira let out sighs of relief, slowly opening the door.
There was already a Zombie Gangster waiting right in front of them
"Hey," he babbled dumbly. "Do you know what the time is-?"
All three screamed. "AAARRRGGGHHH!"
On instinct, Wolf pulled out the royalty specter he was given and threw it at the zombie-masked criminal's eye. Right through the mask eyehole. The criminal screamed in agony, catching his colleagues' attention.
All promises on sticking together went flying out of the window as the three scattered, chased by laughing Zombie Gangsters. The air was thick with arrows, but Wolf, Piranha and Mira were able to dodge every single one of them. They took one huge lap around the room before each of them went to do their own seperate thing. Wolf and Mira split up in an attempt to hide while Piranha quickly dived headfirst into another coin pile.
Wolf found three opened vaults lying on their backs. He hopped into the left one as a group of Zombie Gangsters arrived. They looked into the left vault to see nothing.
Wolf's head appeared from the right vault. He quickly ducked down when they ran towards him.
He appeared right again at the middle vault, ducking when one tried to grab him.
Once again, at the left vault and he was quick in hiding before the criminals could get him.
The next time, Wolf took glee when he teleported to the right vault. "Over here!"
One criminal fired his crossbow inside the vault, but when he looked inside, he didn't see Wolf.
He appeared again in the left vault. "Peekaboo!"
Another fire, but he missed.
Wolf's laughing head appeared again in the middle vault.
A round of fire by all five zombie-masked criminals, but they didn't find a body.
"Yahoo!" whistled Wolf, appearing from the right vault.
One tried to attack, but only to hit the side of the vault. This still prompted Wolf to hide again.
"Aaawooooooooooooooo!" howled Wolf beautifully, appearing from the left vault.
"Come back here, you disgusting slob!" roared one of the Zombie Gangsters trying to shoot several times in the left vault.
Wolf only disappeared and blew a raspberry when he appeared in the middle vault.
Cue the Zombie Gang screaming in rage as they tried firing all at once in the vaults.
No sign of Wolf and his sly grin.
"THAT'S IT!" yelled one of the zombie-masked criminals, pulling out not just three, but SIX bombs. "TAKE THIS!"
She threw two bombs in each of the vaults. Wolf, oblivious to the bombs now with him, teleported in the right vault, dancing away.
"You'll never catch me!" he sang naughtily. "Cause I'm so hot! You'll never-!"
KABOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
But he would never be able to learn how to fly cause he's so hot since the force of two bombs blew him out of the vault and send him crashing in the chandelier by his head. He dropped down to the floor, bouncing around like a pencil. Dizzy, drooling and blinded from the ash in his eyes, Wolf found himself surrounded by the ticked-off Zombie Gang.
Far from him, Piranha did hear the donnybrook that happened, but he was desperately trying to find some kind of weapon in the golden coins that he forgot how much noise he was making. Though, because of the chaos that unfolded, it seemed that the Zombie Gang didn't found him just yet. As he remained in one spot, trying to recollect his thoughts, he found himself to be alone.
"Dang," he thought. "I got separated again. How are we gonna stop them?"
Piranha realized that through his panic, he ended up near the long rows of arcade games. A large gap between them which would be an ideal hiding place. But how would staying in there prove to be a good idea when he might make too much movements? He couldn't stay still! And surely, he wouldn't get to the other side of the row. It was only when he heard noises coming close that he ducked right into the gap.
He dropped to his hands and knees, forced to go on all fours. With the wall and the arcade games between him, he could only try to crawl right through. To his luck, he couldn't get through easily with all of those tangled electrical cords. It was like crawling through barbed wire except thicker and more annoying. The only way he could get out was getting to the other side of the row, but he couldn't if any of the Zombie Gangsters found him.
"Here, fishy, fishy, fishy…"
Piranha gulped, slowly crawling. He was careful in not trying to trip over anything. He was grateful that he was born with a small body, but not small enough for him to get to the other side. He muttered himself on asking Zee to turn him into a tarantula like Webs. That would be much easier to walk around.
He froze when his foot got caught on a cord. Looking behind, Piranha could see electric sparks coming out from the halfway-out cord and the electrical outlet.
If he moved more, then that would turn off the arcade game he was hiding behind.
That would be a dead giveaway.
There was a loud crash from an arcade game far from him. The sounds of glass breaking, the slam of an ax and the laughter of a maniac were deafening. Especially the laughter. In contrast, this would make Piranha's laughter more like an excited child than a psychopath! Another crash, but it was behind him at the last arcade game of the row. They were trying to test if he would jump out if they break the games around.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are~!"
Piranha screamed to himself that he needed to get out of there before he ended up being in the wreckage of the nearest arcade game. However, his panicked thought was of no help. He tried to untangle his foot, but combined with him wanting to go forward and feeling the need to burst in unwanted adrenaline made things worse. A human would get into this sort of reaction.
He flinched when the arcade game just near him was ripped apart and thrown to the side. He was next. He tried to crawling forwards and the cord finally gave way, setting itself free. Piranha's eyes widened as he heard the game console shutting down. Similar to the sound of when the player lose.
You lose indeed.
The console on his side was wrenched away, thrown right at the chandelier. This broke down half of all the lights in the room. Piranha twirled around, nearly scratching himself upon seeing a zombie-masked gangster lifting his baseball bat upwards.
Realizing that he had enough space to move around and that there was a good weapon he could reach in, Piranha jumped backwards, bounced off the wall and kicked the guy in the face. The baseball bat went flying before he grabbed onto it. That was enough to help Piranha defend himself from the Zombie Gang.
They all charged right towards him, vocalizing a battle cry. Piranha decided to do the simple and best trick he could do. On one knee, he spun around and whacked any criminals he nearly came towards him. He would have been more than happy to scrap with them now that he had a weapon fair and square, but he got to get out of here and find his friends. After knocking off the first wave, Piranha ran and even kicked one guy in the chest.
There were shooters on the top of the golden coin piles, firing arrows at him. Piranha growled, using his baseball bat like a sword to defend himself from getting shot at. The last time, he caught an arrow, but one shot could get him distracted. It wouldn't kill him, but it would have knock him out for a while.
However, this distraction allowed one guy to grab Piranha from the back of his collar. He yelled in gibberish, frustrated. He swung around, trying to hit his captor in the face. After a couple of times, this allowed Piranha to land back on the ground. The criminal tried to snatch the baseball bat, but Piranha moved it away before placing the tip of it right at the criminal's throat.
With a nasty snarl, Piranha managed to lift the man up by the chin quickly and threw him behind.
While there were no faults in his fighting, Piranha failed to notice how easily cornered he was when one of the Zombie Gangsters shoot a fishing net. He screamed, rolling around as if he was a loose burito. It was too tight with those ropes. They didn't look like they are chewable, not that it matter since the pressure applied to his squished legs and arms wasn't helping at all.
"Finally got you now!" said a nearby Zombie Gangster. "You nasty, stinky piece of-!"
Piranha, who was already in a high energy frenzy, barked as he charged forwards towards him. The guy opened his legs for Piranha to go through the middle, but the latter turned around and leapt upwards to take a bite the former would never forget.
A loud ladylike scream echoed through the room.
From Wolf's end, as he was forced into a fishing net, he groaned, placing one hand over his snout.
"Please don't tell me that he bitten another butt again…" he sighed.
Meanwhile, Mira was running around, rolling on the ground and ducking at arrows shooting all over the place. It already felt like a warzone except that there were more pursuers chasing after her. She was too far from Wolf and Piranha, and any chances of getting away peacefully was not an option at the moment. She would have to try to fight back, but with what?
Wait a sec…
Her eyes widened as an idea came to mind.
She halt, spotting two goons right in front of her. Taking out her pen from her jacket, she rolled it around her fingers before tossing it right towards the left one. One could imagine her surprise as it actually got right into the guy's mask's eyehole! He screamed in pain, holding onto where his eye should be at.
Mira gulped. She really had no choice and she wasn't gonna be charge for it anyway. She rushed up and pushed the guy down, yanking the pen out. Thank God that it wasn't covered in blood. The guy near her gasped before trying to land a punch on her. Mira quickly ducked before trying to stab him on the shoulder with her pen.
While he did yelp in pain and jumped back, this only caused him to be confused for a while before Mira pulled it back and pushed him to the side. She didn't check back, but it was clear that it did had a mark on the human skin. She spotted three Zombie Gangsters rushing towards her. One was way ahead of the other two.
Quickly rolling on the ground, she threw her pen right across the floor. Small and shiny, it was a floor hazard. The criminal in front slipped on it, leading to their two comrades to crash into them. They scatter like bowling pins as Mira ran passed them and retrieved her pen.
Looking to the side, she found Wolf and Piranha in a pile together. A fishing net covering them to ensure that they couldn't escape. She looked in front of her to see the exit and another Zombie Gangster getting ready to pounce on her.
There was one thing she could do.
She threw the pen and it went through the mask's nosehole. The guy yelped, nearly feeling the tip of it going through his nose. This gave Mira enough time to swap his mask with her glasses before diving into a nearby golden coin pile.
"What just…happened?" said the dumbfounded guy, wearing Mira's signatured red glasses.
And that was when two Zombie Gangsters pointed a MISSILE LAUNCHER right at him.
"Enemy spotted!" said one of them before firing.
It took 3 seconds for the guy to realize what is going to happen.
"OHWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT-!"
KABOOM!
Unfortunately, he went out cold when the missile exploded right underneath his feet and he slammed his head right into the brick wall. He slumped to the floor like a ragdoll.
That was when the two guys realized their mistake.
"Wait a minute!" said one of them. "That wasn't the girl."
"Why don't we all just search in another room?" asked Mira, right next to them.
The only thing she changed was having the zombie mask over her face and her jacket absent.
The two Zombie Gangsters glanced at each other, flabbergasted.
Mira laughed nervously, hoping that they buy her disguise.
They didn't.
Before she knew it, she found herself being thrown right next to Wolf and Piranha. All three now sport fishing nets covering over them without even having the time to use their teeth to break free. Especially with the Zombie Gang about to pick them up.
"Hey," said Wolf and Piranha sarcastically.
An unlikely trio found themselves stuck together as they ran through the brick-walled hallways. These ones were the empty places the Bad Guys never used. Thrown away as if they were between the walls of the main rooms. It would be a nice hiding spot, but of course, Baron broke through, so that was ruined. Stopping by at one corner when they couldn't hear any more footsteps from the Zombie Gang, Hornet, Tiffany and Baron panted heavily.
"I-I-I don't want to die…" whimpered Tiffany, "I h-haven't even get to r-report about dimension traveling yet!"
"Any bright ideas here?" said Hornet, wiping his forehead. "Oh no. Where are the others?!"
"Beats me!" said Baron. "I don't have a clue since all of us panicked!"
Hornet groaned, face palming. "They would have come for you anyway. Or us."
"But not THIS desperate!"
"You know what? This is all your fault. If you haven't come here to hide or whatever you're doing with them, we won't be stuck in this situation, and my friends and my future husband are in danger!" He pointed an arm towards where they came from. "Haven't you seen what the Zombie Gang can and have done to people in an invasion like this? It seems that they even got it planned! They figured out our weak spot and they got right through. They could have broken into any other house they like as they please. It's the Purge tonight, remember?"
"Is there anything we can use right here?" asked Tiffany as she peeked around the corner. "Anything useful? Like a weapon?"
Hornet shrugged. "I'm not sure about that. We never did anything with this part. Me and Webs assumed that any potential invaders would try to take the pipe tunnels to get to our hideouts, so there goes our traps. This is basically nothing."
"You guys are really smart about this," commented Tiffany. "No wonder you two used to date together."
"So it's like the Backrooms?" said Baron, raising an eyebrow.
"What?" said Hornet, confused.
"Oh man, that one is never a good sign," agreed Tiffany. "It's this scary internet maze game where there is an infinite series of rooms with a lack of unique features. Monsters tend to pop out from nowhere."
"You mean those who are supernatural," said Baron.
"Exactly! And we are facing the Zombie Gang; one of the most notorious criminal gangs ever! They might cast ghosts right here!"
Hornet rolled his eyes. "This isn't a video game! And I don't think they stretch this maze ridiculously long. In fact, they would have cornered us by now!"
"But what do you know about these hallways?" asked Baron. "I only heard once about the hideout, but never coming here before."
"Look," explained Hornet. "The previous owner of this apartment left a lot of their belongings behind. Not sure if the junk around here will protect us, but if we can find something convenient, then we need to use it."
"Then we can fight them back and save our friends?" asked Tiffany.
"Uh, Tiffany, we are not your friends," corrected Hornet. "That's way too soon. Sorry. I was kinda an expert on that since I met the guys."
"Wait, you want to go BACK there?" questioned Baron.
"Got a problem with that?" asked Hornet, "My friends are more than my friends. They're my family. And I have to help them."
"It's in every adventure story whenever there's a team!" pointed out Tiffany. "Never leave your pack behind! The team must stay together."
"Huh, since you became Mira's messed up twin?" asked Hornet sarcastically.
"That's a bit stereotypical," deadpanned Baron.
"But it's a cool thing."
"You know that there are more important factors than teamwork."
"But the more, the merrier! When there are things in common we have!"
"Yeah, yeah, all about that 'differences don't matter' stuff like that."
"C'mon. You never heard the power of friendship before?"
"I thought that you're not allied with the Bad Guys in the past."
"Well, I am now because I can rely on them and they are a good team. So that reinforces the stereotype, right?"
"Yeah, but it's a bit outdated. What about hard work? It's always about effort, not teamwork."
"Guys, guys," exasperated Hornet. "Is this important now?"
Silence as the two stared at him.
"...it's obviously teamwork we need to use as our strength," said Hornet bluntly. "Trust me, I went through this before."
"I knew it!" said Tiffany, pumping her fist.
Baron snorted, rolling his eyes. "Whatever. But look, we need to wise up a little. Hornet, this is probably your first time getting into a battlezone like this before, so get yourself together. Girl-I-don't-remember-your-name, I agree with Hornet that this isn't a video game, so stop acting like a cheer-"
"WATCH OUT!" cried Tiffany.
She quickly, but gently not to squeeze him, grabbed Hornet and pulled him downwards. Hornet could see the tip of an arrow barely hitting his eyes as he was forced to duck down. The shine of the tip was enough to give him nightmares of his head drilled in. Tiffany eventually lost her balance and she ended up lying flat on the floor with Hornet on her stomach.
Baron gasped, looking back at the arrow stuck to the wall and back at the shooters.
There were two members of the Zombie Gang, both wielding crossbows. They were chuckling creepily, but their eyes were on Baron.
"Here's our little piggy!" chirped one of them.
"That was nearly close, you idiots!" yelled Baron.
"Now's not the time!" said Tiffany, yanking him by the collar.
Tiffany and Baron broke into a run while Hornet flew. He settled with sitting on top of Tiffany's ponytail, watching their two chasers coming after them. They kept trying to shoot them with arrows, but since there was a great distance, it luckily didn't hit them. Some of them were nearly close to crashing into their backs, but they kept up with the speed.
During this, Hornet quickly placed on his helmet to check the camera feed. Things were already unfolding. The main room was ruined by the Zombie Gang, making it their turf. They were LITERALLY camping there with tents!
One camera footage showed Wolf, Piranha and Mira in a fishing net, dragged by a couple of Zombie Gangsters. Another camera footage showed Zee and Shark in the laboratory with the former trying to calm down the latter. He finally found Snake and Webs making their way up to the top levels, meaning that they might be safe for now.
Hornet shuddered, scared not only for what might happen to him, but to his friends. With maybe the exception of Baron, none of them were guilty targets and didn't deserve to have this happen. He feared that they might all be doomed this night and it might all end.
"Please be careful," he thought, pulling onto Tiffany's hair. "Please, do not let us die. Please be safe, Piranha." He got a chance to stare at the engagement ring around his thumb, actually hoping that his dreaming wedding with Piranha will happen.
The trio ended up at a dead end, but what kept their hopes high was an opened vent passageway. It would be enough for a human to crawl right through it. Long, but at least the room on the other side seemed to be empty.
"Alright, guys!" said Hornet, flying right through the vent. "Let's vent!"
"Wait, did he take that from that meme?" asked Baron.
Tiffany whimpered, her fingers shaking as she tried stepping closer to the vent.
"C'mon!" shouted Baron, shaking Tiffany by the shoulders. "What are you waiting for?!"
"I-I thought that they would be clean, but I didn't know that they would be that dirty!" said Tiffany. "Why don't you go first?!"
"I'm too large! I would block you out!"
"It's not too bad! It's clean inside, Tiffany!" called Hornet. Followed by what appeared to be gum glueing onto his head. "Sort of."
"I thought you were like the clean freak of the team, too," reminded Baron. "I mean, you hated your fiance's farts."
"Yeah, well, there are times I forgot to clean…I was busy," admitted Hornet.
This elicited a sly smile from Tiffany and a surprised raised eyebrow from Baron when Hornet referred to his "business" as something private.
Hornet saw the looks on their faces, flustered. "My schedule was booked, OK?"
Tiffany gritted her teeth. There was yelling nearby. They are coming close to her. The question remains; would she sacrifice her hygiene for a couple of masked killers coming to butcher her alive? And yet, she thought that crawling through vents would mostly be a breeze. Making up her mind, she pulled out a broom from nearby and started cleaning the first few areas in the vent passageway.
"Happy birthday to you!" sang Tiffany frantically, trying to put aside her ickiness. "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you, Fluffit!"
She hopped right into the vent passageway and cleaned through the whole way. She could hear Baron trying to fit right through, but she didn't focus on that. It was cold, cramp and dark. She could really feel the cold metal touching her cheek as she crawled through. She couldn't reach further with her broom!
Once she got to the other side to find Hornet waiting for her, Tiffany fell out and rested on the floor, trying to regain her energy.
"Maybe it would have been best that you stayed at home," muttered Hornet.
"I wish that it's just Marmalade and his guinea pigs who invaded this place," groaned Tiffany, getting up.
"Seriously?"
"No."
Before they could speak further, a loud screech of metal from the vent got their attention.
AN: It might be not what you expect~.
Piranha hiding behind the arcade consoles is based on the opening scene of the novel 'Five Nights at Freddy's - The Silver Eyes'.
Credit to Rally for coming up with the idea of Mira using her pen as a reference to Murder Drones! Mira even trying to disguise herself as one of the Zombie Gangsters take inspiration from "SMG4: Mario's Big Chungus Hunt'.
Tiffany singing 'Happy Birthday' to herself is a refrence to 'Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers'.
Hornet also showed a little hatred towards Tiffany since the events of the movie, displaying that Tiffany often criticize what she sees externally.
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