After many hours of fruitless searching, Boots and the rest of his search party--Ling, Yao, Vitani and Race, remember--made their mournful way back to the Newsboys Lodging House, where a funeral for Crutchy was being held. Boots gazed off into the distance as the coffin was placed into the hearse. He saw a policeman with a young boy--presumably his son. The policeman removed his hat, paying his last respects to Crutchy.
Boots wondered who he was.
Suddenly, just as the hearse was about to drive away, a man wearing glasses, a blue shirt, black pants, and a tie ran down the street, screaming, "WAIT! STOP THAT HEARSE!"
The hearse obeyed. Well, actually, it was the guy that was driving the hearse that obeyed. The man finally reached the mourning newsies, lion, and Chinese people. He stuck out his hand and introduced himself, "Herbert West."
"You look like Doctor Mordrid, Master of the Unknown," Boots said. He didn't shake Herbert's hand. He didn't feel secure doing so. Herbert West creeped him out. "Why are you here?" he asked tearfully.
Herbert whipped a syringe out of his front pocket. It was filled with a day-glo green liquid. "We can bring him back to LIFE!" he exclaimed, punctuating his words with a shake of the syringe.
Ling, Yao, Vitani, Race, and Boots gasped. "You can do that?" Ling asked, tears sparkling in his eyes.
"With my re-agent? Yes, of course." Suddenly he glared at the people gathered around him hopefully. "But let's get one thing straight--you'll never get credit for MY discovery."
"Just bring him back!" Race cried, clinging to Herbert's arm.
Herbert pulled his arm free and approached the coffin. Conveniently, there was a shovel laying in the road. He picked it up and hit it against the coffin with all his strength until it broke open, revealing Crutchy's body. "Look at that," he murmured to himself. "And NO tissue damage." Lightening flashed as he raised the syringe above his head. And then it flashed again as he plunged it into Crutchy's chest and injected the day-glo green liquid into the dead boy's heart. "Time!" he called.
"What?" Boots asked, very confused.
"I said, TIME!" Herbert yelled.
Vitani sighed in exasperation and glanced at her watch. "Fifteen seconds." After many more seconds, she informed him, "Forty-five seconds." After many more seconds, she informed him again, "Three minutes, fifteen seconds."
"It's going to take time!" Herbert snapped. He looked back to Crutchy's corpse. "C'mon..." After staring intensely at the body, he muttered, "I'll show you. I'll show YOU!" He slammed his fist down on the coffin...but nothing happened.
Boots looked up at West, his eyes reflecting betrayal and hurt. "You said you could bring him back! You lied!"
"No!" Herbert yelled desperately.
"This is all your madness!" Boots accused.
"Just what are you insinuating?"
"I think you know exactly what we're insinuating!" Race jumped in, his tone just as furious as Boots's.
"Oh really?" Herbert retorted. "I didn't see you rejecting my work when CRUTCHY was lying there dead! Where were your great ideals then?!"
Suddenly, Crutchy groaned and his eyes opened. "Re-animation! We have re-animation at five minutes fifty-five seconds!" Herbert cried in excitement.
"What?" Crutchy asked. He was, as Boots had been earlier, very confused. "What's going on? WHAT is going on?! WHAT IS going ON?!" The re-animated newsie put his hands on the side of the coffin and pulled himself to a sitting position, then bothered to actually look down at his surroundings. "Why am I in a coffin?" he asked in a puzzled tone.
"My god!" Herbert yelled. "It worked! Finally, my re-agent didn't produce violent tendencies and the need to kill!"
"Excuse me?" Boots and Race questioned simultaneously.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...whoa whoa whoa whoa," Boots went on. "Whoa. Are you telling me that he might've woken up and wanted to kill all of us?"
"Yes," Herbert admitted. "But it was worth the risk. Do you have any idea what I've done? I can save EVERYONE'S life! There will be NO MORE death!"
"You're insane," Crutchy stated.
Herbert drew in a long breath. "Yes, I am. I am insane. But even you can see what my insanity has brought about! Without my insanity you'd still be lying it that coffin, about to be taken to some cemetery and buried, where you'd decay, that is until someone came along and dug up your grave hoping to find something valuable. They they'd probably deface your coffin and your headstone because you DIDN'T have anything valuable, and where would you be then?! I'll tell you where you'd be!"
"Um, in the ground?" Crutchy guessed. "What happened, anyway? The last thing I remember Swifty was spending hours and hours examining me.
A look of amazement crossed Ling's face. "Maybe you died of BOREDOM!!"
"He could have died four times over and my re-agent STILL would have brought him back!" Suddenly, the mad scientist collapsed in tears.
"What's wrong?" Boots asked him, tears beginning to stream down his face as well at the sight of someone else in emotional pain.
"I...I'm sorry...I can't stay here any longer!" Herbert ran down the street again, sobbing uncontrollably.
And Boots, Crutchy, Ling, Yao, Race, and Vitani wept.
"Run!" Snipes gasped with his last breath.
Nuka bounded after the two New Yorkers as the Mighty Huntress chased them down the dark and spooky path.
She laughed maniacally and charged after them, screaming, "I'll get you, my pretties!"
Suddenly, Snipes tripped and fell. He didn't see the root sticking out of the earth below him.
"Help!" he screamed.
"I'm comin', buddy!" Blink called, quickly changing direction and going back for his young friend.
Unfortunately, the Mighty Huntress was right on their tails. Blink picked his friend up and ran towards Nuka.
Mulan plunged her spear through the air right towards Blink.
It hit him. Right in the back. The center of his back.
Blood splurted everywhere (mostly all over Snipes).
"BLINK!!!" Snipes screamed. "NO!!!!"
Mulan knelt over Blink's limp body. I'm sorry," she said.
"You're not sorry!" Snipes yelled through the tears streaming down his face.
"Yes, I am."
"You are not!! You KILLED him! YOU killed HIM!! YOU KILLED KID BLINK!!! MY BEST FRIEND!!!"
"Look, kid. You think I like my job?" she asked. "I hate it! I hate killing innocent people! I hate KILLING in general!"
Snipes shook his head and dropped to the ground, shaking uncontrollably.
She put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay." Mulan took out a rope and quickly tied Snipes's hands up, dragging him away.
Nuka, on the other hand, kept running. He could run all day if he had to.
Five minutes later, he got tired and laid down to rest.
Distantly, he thought he could here voices. But that wasn't real. He was imagining it. He was imagining it all.
The pool of water is sitting oh, five feet away from him. That was all his imagination.
But that didn't matter, he was falling into a deep sleep...
Maybe I should keep going, he thought when he finally woke up. Maybe I should keep resting. Maybe I should eat Blink's corpse. So many maybes, so little time.
Nuka got up from where he had been laying for the past few hours. He shook his head. For once, there were no fleas! For once! (I mean termites) For once, there were no termites! For once!
The sun was high in the sky. It was burning, scorching and deadly that day. It could burn a hole through your skin (of fur).
That's why Nuka was afraid. He didn't want to die of starvation, or even die at all, for that matter. He wanted to live! Live to be old. Live to share a sunny day in the Pridelands with his family. Live to eat meat!
But that wasn't going to happen. He was going to die out here. All alone. Which was the exact opposite of what he wanted. He wanted to die with his family at his side. Not that he had much of a family.
But Nuka kept walking. It was really getting hot now. He felt his skin burning underneath his heavy fur coat. But he kept walking. He'd walk until he found his sister's group. He wanted her to be there when he died of starvation.
But am I really, really going to die of starvation? he asked himself. Am I really going to die? I sure hope not.
Still, he trudged on. Through the sparkling desert sand.
Finally Nuka saw something. And this time, it was real. The other group. The other group!
"Run!" he told himself. And he ran. He ran like the wind on a breezy autumn day. He ran like the water in a babbling brook. He ran like a deer, trying to get away from it's hunter.
"Vitani!" he shouted to his sister.
She turned and looked at him. "Nuka!" She was waving her paws at him. Maybe trying to tell him something. "Stop! Don't move!"
Nuka stopped, almost toppling head over feet. "Why?" he asked. "Why do I have to stop?"
"Look!" She pointed all around him. There was some energy field. But what was it?
"What is it?" he called.
"Don't worry about what it is! Our friend can get you out of it!" Vitani yelled back.
Doctor Julian Subatoi Bashir stepped up to the blue energy field. "Hello, little fellow. What's your name?"
"I'm not a little fellow and I'd appreciate it if you'd get me outta here!" Nuka screamed.
"Alright."
The doctor looked hurt. But Nuka didn't care. He just wanted out.
Bashir took out a strange looking, mechanical device and began tapping it in different places.
"Something seems to be malfunctioning," he muttered.
"What?!" Nuka screeched. "Malfunctioning? You gotta get me outta here!"
"Well, well, well. Doctor Julian Bashir. What a pleasant surprise," came a new voice.
"Weyoun," Julian gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"That's none of your concern, Doctor," Weyoun answered.
"I think that it is," Julian stated coldly.
"I have no time for foolish games, Doctor. I'd like to take my specimen and leave."
"You're not going anywhere."
Weyoun gave a soft chuckle at Julian's expense (well, hell, who wouldn't laugh at him). "Do you really think you can stop me? You and what army?" With another laugh, he faded away into thin air, just as Vitani leapt at him, claws extended, to HURT him.
"Argh!" she yelled. "I almost had him! I almost killed him! I want to kill him! I want to kill him! I WANT HIM TO DIE!!!" She stuck her jaw out and opened her mouth slightly, displaying her sharpety-sharp teeth. Sharpety sharpety sharp. Ha ha ha. "Vitani!" Ling grabbed her shoulders (only she's a lion, so that would be kind of hard) and yelled, "Get a grip on yourself! We'll get your brother back! Don't worry!"
"Yeah!" Mush, a newsie who hasn't said anything up to this point (I bet you didn't even realize he was there) exclaimed. "Take care of yourself! We need you!" He ran a hand through his hair and collapsed to the ground.
"Mush, what's wrong?!" Race yelled, falling to his friend's side and taking his hand.
Mush let out a hacking cough that wracked his steroid enhanced body. "Race...I have only one request before I die. For I know that is my fate--to die. And die I must. But I am not afraid of death. I do not want you to fear for me."
"Mush, your last request!" Race didn't want Must to die before he got wanted he wanted. Before Mush got what he wanted, not Race.
Mush coughed again. "Right. Sorry. I want you...to tell Blink...that I love him. I've always loved him. I always will love him. Tell him that. Tell him--"
He died.
"MUSH!!!" Race cried, tears streaming down his face.
Crutchy levitated over to his friend. The levitating was a side effect of the re-animation. Dr. West has really come a long way from the medical student bringing back violent zombies that he once was. "It's okay," Crutchy comforted his sobbing friend, placing a hand on Race's shoulder. "Mush never told you, but he had a horrible, horrible disease. He knew he was going to die anyway. Actually, he told me and Boots. He told everyone except you. It was the weirdest thing, he knew the exact hour. I don't know what that's all about."
"SHUTUP!!" Race screamed through the tears streaming down his face. "YOU DON'T CARE AT ALL!! I HATE YOU!! I HOPE YOU DIE TOO!! MUST DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE!! YOU SHOULD DIE!! YOU SHOULD DIE YOU SHOULD DIE YOU SHOULD DIE!!!!!"
Crutchy backed away slowly, beginning to fear for his life. He'd seen this before. Well, he really hadn't, but he liked to pretend he did. It made him seem smarter and more important than he really was. I mean, how important...never mind.
Julian sighed suddenly and spoke up for the first time in a while, saying sorrowfully, "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but I see now that there's no other way." The Starfleet officer reached behind his back and pulled out a chainsaw, which he turned on while advancing towards a quivering Race. Paying no heed to the boy's fear, he calmly chainsawed him apart, piece by quivering piece. I'm telling you, those pieces of Race were shaking like Jell-O. Green Jell-O, actually. If you can imagine.
Julian grinned while the rest of the people looked on in horror. Then, without warning, he began to melt (imagine a cross between the guy in the end of "Necronomicon: Book of the Dead" and Pretorious from "From Beyond" and you're set). His flesh slowly dripped from his face onto the ground, where it lay in steaming heaps. he began laughing maniacally as the rest of his body melted. "My mistress will see the death of all of you," he hissed. "And I will drink your blood and feast on your flesh...and it will taste sweet."
They all screamed in terror, until Boots snatched Crutchy's crutch from him and whacked the thing that had been Julian. It fell to the ground, a mass of rotting flesh and bones.
"Whew, that was a close one." Boots handed the crutch back to its rightful owner and danced a little jig. When he was done everyone applauded and cried, "Encore! Encore!"
Boots smiled modestly and blushed, the said, "Oh, I simply couldn't. Maybe some other time."
Everyone sighed sadly, for surely it was a great loss for talent like Boots's to go unnoticed and unused. But that's business, what can ya do.
Boots, Crutchy, Vitani, Ling, and Yao began to walk away. Away from the death and destruction of the place they had been standing before. They had to find Nuka. And Snipes. And Blink. So that they could...well, they weren't really sure what they wanted to do. What exactly was the point of this? As the narrator, I can say that I have wondered the same question throughout this beyond weird tale. Vitani just wanted to rid the world of Mulan so she and her brother could go back to the Pridelands. Ling and Yao just wanted to go back to China. Crutchy wasn't really sure what he wanted--after all, he was still fairly young. He didn't know what school he'd go to or what he'd do after college. And Boots, of course, wanted to be a professional dancer, but only in the deepest, darkest depths of his soul. No one else knew about that. It was kind of embarrassing. So to everyone else's knowledge, he just wanted to be a real boy. A real boy. A REAL BOY!"
Suddenly, they all heard a crackling noise behind them. Dear god. What was it?! It was the thing that had been Julian! They watched as it slowly oozed towards them and pulled its limbs together. "Ah!" Ling screamed. "Run!"
Boots grabbed the frail man's arm. "No! We have to fight this thing!"
Ling's eyes widened in fear. "We can't fight it! It's unstoppable! Can't you see that?! We're all gonna die!"
"No!" Yao stepped in front of all the people. "I'll stay back and fight the beast."
"But, Yao--" Ling protested.
"No buts, Ling. Go! Run! Save yourselves! You need to live!" You felt the tears streaming down his face. "Look at these faces. These are the faces of frightened people. These are the faces of--"
"Yao, it's right behind you!" Ling screeched.
Yao never finished his sentence. I know what you're thinking right now. You're thinking that Yao died, aren't you? Well, he didn't. He began to fight the thing that was Julian. He fought and fought and fought.
"RUN!" was Yao's last word.
Paying respect to their brave friend, they ran. They ran and ran and ran, until they couldn't run any more. Or in Crutchy's case, levitated and levitated and levitated, until he couldn't levitate anymore.
Finally, when they had all gotten their breath back, they stated simultaneously, "We should find Blink and Snipes."
