Greeting: Today we will find out what the mysterious bus is about.
Hello, readers, and welcome to this chapter.
Enjoy yourselves, people!
( Rachel, Doug, Bane and the kids. In the main room of Rachel and Doug's)
The animatronics' eyes peered at the dreadful sight. It was full of both hope and fear.
Rachel was the closest to the window and Doug was right behind her. Bane and the children were staring at the light from far away.
Bane counted on the driver's skills. Even if he hit the monsters in front of him, he would not hit the pizzeria.
Bane was less scared than his friends, due to which the children weren't all that afraid either.
Rachel was shouting at the approaching bus even though it was useless. The driver seemed to be so focused on the pizzeria that they missed the monsters.
The creatures would not allow the driver to live, they were too eager to eat the kids.
Rachel and her friends were their catch and they would defend it.
" Please. Do something. Don't die", Rachel begged in her head.
At that point, the driver seemed to figure out the situation. The lights hit the creatures, standing by the pizzeria.
They had formed a circle around the building.
It was like a ritual where the creatures were worshipping the pizzeria. They had been holding each other's hands for many days at that point.
The animatronics had tried to ignore them but it had caught the kids' attention.
The monsters' ability to remain still was so eerie and extremely upsetting. It was even more terrifying when the lights hit them.
They were like deer, stopping in the middle of the street.
The bus driver yanked the steering wheel to the right and the bus reacted with certain delay.
The bus drifted on the muddy road and slid sideways. The bus was not stopping no matter how hard the driver tried.
Maybe he had come to save the people in the pizzeria but he changed his mind suddenly. Doug embraced Rachel as it seemed like the bus would hit the front window.
The bus had driven over some monsters.
They were stuck on the side like a bunch of leeches. The faces glanced at the animatronics as the bus stopped right before the window.
Rachel broke free of Doug's embrace and put her hands against the window.
" Help us!", she shouted to the driver.
The driver's window was right where Rachel was. She could see a man inside and there was a light shining at his face.
He was an old guy, probably in his seventies. He glanced at Rachel and grinned.
Rachel hoped the guy could read her lips.
" Help us!", Rachel had put her palms against each other.
She was so desperate for a saviour. The man looked forward and hit the gas pedal.
" No! Don't leave us!", Rachel fell to her knees in hopelessness.
The bus was trying to turn around to drive away. Needless to say, the monsters were jumping around the bus and trying to get to the windows.
Rachel and Doug didn't get it at first. Then one monster grabbed the edge of the roof and swung in through the window.
" He had some of the windows open. He must have forgotten to close them. Poor guy", Doug said silently.
The driver was as good as dead at that point.
Another monster got into the bus. It joined its friend.
The bus started to swerve like a leaf in a tornado. The driver was driving around like a lunatic.
Rachel and Doug watched the bus drift around their yard. The bus' door, on its right side, was towards the animatronics at one point.
They saw that the driver was covered in monsters. They were wolfing him down and he couldn't see anything.
The bus turned towards the pizzeria and Doug ducked.
" It's gonna hit!", he exclaimed and grabbed Rachel.
Doug tripped Rachel for a good cause. Bane protected the kids who shrieked.
The bus almost hit them but then it did a quick turn and disappeared to the left side of the pizzeria.
Doug, Rachel and Bane felt blessed, that had been so close.
They got up and Bane calmed the kids down. Doug went to the window and pushed his face against it.
" Where is that bus?", he asked.
A monster jumped down from the roof and its face appeared in front of Doug. The dog shrieked and fell backwards.
" Doug. Are you alright?", Rachel helped him up.
Doug nodded to her, he had been scared that was all. The monster was happy to see the fear on Doug's innocent face. It banged on the window.
Rachel would have wanted to show it her middle finger. She chose not to since there were kids around.
Instead, she just stuck her tongue out. The monster was concentrated on Doug for a moment.
Then it looked to its right. Rachel presumed that it had heard something too silent for her to hear.
The windows were pretty sound-proof. The bus drove to the yard again.
The monster went after it like a dog chasing a stick. Rachel hoped it would end.
The driver was still alive even though he was eaten down to the bone. Rachel didn't know that, she just presumed.
" Just let him die", thought Rachel.
She felt so bad for the driver. It didn't matter if he had been about to abandon them, Rachel was an animatronic.
She wouldn't have saved herself either if she had been the man. That guy had to be almost dead.
Then the bus hit a tree as it was drifting sideways. The base of the tree broke and it fell to the ground.
Suddenly, it was over.
The bus stopped moving and its lights turned off. It was like the driver had pulled the ignition key out of the ignition switch.
Why would have he done that? Had it been his last action before dying? Rachel got the answer soon.
The monsters came out of the bus and one of them looked at the animatronics.
It was holding the keys in its hand. It showed the ignition key to Rachel and kissed it.
Rachel knew what it was doing. It was showing Rachel and the others that the bus was not an escape route.
The monsters, around the first one, were eating something. It was the driver by all accounts.
The monster with the keys put them in its mouth and chowed down. Its teeth broke the metal easily.
Rachel was broken as their only hope for salvation was eaten. The bus would remain there since it was useless to them now.
Rachel had been sure that they would be saved. She fell to her knees and buried her face into her own hands.
" No! Damn you! God damn you!", she hit the window.
It had been so close. Bane shook his head at the kids.
" I'm sorry, kiddos. We were not to be saved today", he was truly sorry.
The children had waited to be rescued and they had had high hopes. It was so sad to see how the disappointment hit them.
Doug went to grab Rachel's hand.
" Come on, Rachel. That was not our rescue. There's nothing we can do anymore.
He's dead and we have no way of escaping by that bus not to even mention getting to it.
Come on, honey. The children need us", Doug pulled Rachel away from the window.
Rachel was sniffing and looking down.
" Okay, Doug. You're right. Back to being a sweet animal", Rachel wiped her eyes with her palm.
The few tears vanished from her eyes. The children were safe so their group broke.
The children went to eat pizzas to relax and began to talk with each other.
Bane glanced at the two other animatronics as they were coming. One boy looked up at the bunny and ran to Rachel.
The boy buried his face into her lower stomach. Rachel bent down to hug the boy.
" I'm sorry, dear one. It was not to be our rescue. If it calms you down, I'm just as sad as you are", Rachel told the boy.
Bane felt good about that. He had been worried that the children would start to panic or burst into tears.
Bane was another one of the animatronics for older kids, he wasn't meant to bring comfort.
Rachel and Doug were the only animatronics that could really comfort young children.
Pete had been able to do that but he was dead. Ray was able to comfort some kids but they couldn't be too young.
Bane thought about Ray and smiled a bit.
After Lynn's suicide and the horrible realization, Ray had had to spend time with toddlers.
Most of them had never been closer to Ray than five meters.
Ray had looked as scared as the children. Bane had laughed at him.
" A gunslinger isn't afraid of thieving coyotes but toddlers terrify him", Bane had laughed.
Maybe Ray wasn't too bad.
Nevertheless, Rachel and Doug were the best for kids after Pete was gone. Rachel's care was what the boy needed.
Doug gave him a pat on the head before being distracted by some other kids. Rachel raised her head and glanced into the boy's eyes.
" So, Rachel. What do we do now? You said we had to hurry. Do we still have to do that?", the boy asked Rachel.
The animatronic bunny stood right in front of him and said nothing. The boy looked pleading.
He was begging for a comforting answer. Rachel wanted to lie.
She had been lying her whole life when she had been pretending not to have killed a man.
Lying was normal for Rachel and it would have been good for the boy as well.
Rachel shook her head and petted the boy's back.
" I don't know. I don't know what to do", Rachel answered the boy.
The small child was shocked. He wrapped his hands around Rachel's wrist as she moved it to pet his cheek.
The boy pushed his cheek against Rachel's palm.
" But you always do. You always know what to do. You're my friends' hero. You're my hero", the boy told her.
It was heartbreaking.
Rachel recognized that the boy had been in the basement. He knew about Rachel's past.
After knowing all that, he still thought of her as his hero. Rachel sighed and let go of him.
" I'm sorry. I really am", Rachel's ears drooped and she walked away.
The boy was joined by his friends. They all watched as Rachel glanced back at them.
" Please don't give up", mouthed the boy.
Rachel saw the monsters, outside, right behind the children. They were having fun on the yard.
The lamp posts were still standing and some were working. The monsters climbed up to the light like a group of mosquitoes.
Rachel saw them having fun while the innocent children were forced to watch Rachel do nothing.
She couldn't.
The monsters were chewing on the base of the lamp post until it broke. The light fell to the ground and hit the dirt.
It let out a loud thump.
The ground trembled as the shockwaves shifted through the dirt. The lamp broke and flames shot out of it.
The fluid within the lamp was set on fire and the ground lit up around the fallen lamp post.
The monsters shrieked like they had in the basement. One was on fire and it ran around trying to put it out.
The other monsters backed away from it on all four limbs that had been twisted disgustingly.
Rachel's gaze focused on the children again. They were begging for her to come back but she went to her stage and sat down on Pete's chair.
Rachel touched the drums gently as if they had been holy relics or something along those lines.
" Oh, Pete. If only you were here. I don't know what to do. You're probably angry at me as well since my panic attack got you killed.
But in case you're not, please help us. I am helpless. I want to save our children.
They are innocent and frail little things. Help me", Rachel thought, staring at the drums.
The drums gave her no answer. Pete was dead and he was not coming back.
Rachel had not gotten used to living with the fact that her friend was dead. Sometimes she could hear Pete's happy singing in the distance.
It was a pipe dream. She was helpless. She couldn't rescue the kids nor her friends.
Rachel thought they would die. She would want to spend her last moments snuggling with the children and the other animatronics.
She wanted to die in peace.
" At least my sins will be gone after this", she thought.
Right then, Nick, Ray and the adults came back. They had had hard time securing the door to the Raccoon hut.
" Good job, guys. Drinks for everyone", Nick nodded to the parents.
Ray gave Nick a high-five.
" My home's gone but at least they won't get out", he told Nick who smiled at him.
The raccoon went to Bane and Doug who were cutting the pizzas into smaller pieces.
" You okay? We heard some noise coming from here", Ray asked his friends.
Bane nodded silently.
" A bus entered our yard. It was probably trying to save us", Bane told Ray.
Before the raccoon could smile, Doug placed his hand on Ray's shoulder.
" It turned around through. The monsters killed the driver and disposed of the keys", Doug explained further.
" Oh", was Ray's short response.
He understood how the others felt about it. Ray saw Rachel by the drums and felt sad for her.
" Rachel looks disappointed. Is she alright?", Ray asked his friends.
Doug and Bane shrugged at him.
" She thinks we should hurry with the escape plan. According to her, we will die soon", Bane sighed.
Ray nodded towards Rachel.
" Nick said the same. We have no plan yet. Not a good one at least", Ray said to him.
Right then, Nick noticed the bus.
" Hey! Why is there a bus in our front yard?", he looked at his animatronics.
The other adults saw it too and started talking. Bane spoke up and told Nick and the adults what had happened.
" The keys were eaten by one of the monsters. We can't use that bus, sorry to say", he added.
Nick glanced at him and then at the bus. The doors were closed and there was no way of opening them from the outside.
One of Nick's employees was standing beside his boss. Nick looked at him and whispered something to him.
It was impossible to hear what they were saying. Nick seemed to be thinking about the bus.
The temptation was irresistible.
The bus was right there and despite the keys, missing, it was functional.
The monsters had been stupid and turned it off so the battery would stay almost full. The gas was not depleting either.
Nick seemed to have an idea.
" We can't use that bus? Says who, Bane? The monsters?", Nick asked with a smile on her face.
Rachel got off the stage and joined her buddies. The adults were listening to Nick, he had a proposal by all accounts.
" Does anyone in here know how to start an engine without keys?", he asked the other adults.
A hand was put up immediately. A guy, who was a cook, walked through the crowd.
" I can. I'm a technician. Or I was before I discovered this place. I've still got the skills in the back of my head.
I can get it started but I need to get inside first", the man spoke to Nick respectfully.
Nick smiled and nodded to the man in a pleased manner.
" See, Bane? We don't need keys to start up. I think we can do it. You forgot that I was once in the military.
This may be our only hope so we might as well use it", Nick told Bane.
The bull animatronic was shocked. Nick wasn't actually going to try something so insane, was he?
Bane didn't know what to say but Doug did.
" Nick! That is crazy! We can't cross the yard. Children will get hurt and we might not be able to break the door down", Doug glanced at the kids.
Nick was suggesting a suicide mission, crossing the yard would be a massacre.
Doug could see with his mind's eye how the children would get slaughtered.
Nick nodded to Doug. His smile drained away.
" I know we can't break the door. That bus is from here. It has been built to withstand a bear attack.
We need a child to climb through the window and open the door from the inside.
It's gonna take some time and most of us will not survive but if we stay here, none of us will. This is our only chance", said Nick.
Doug understood that Nick was indeed suggesting a suicide mission. Lots of children would die but Nick was ready to sacrifice them.
Doug couldn't even imagine so cold-hearted an act. It was logical and Nick had no other choice but Doug was angry at him anyway.
" How can you think of that? They're scared, they're kids. We can't try that", Doug was growling.
Bane and Ray touched Doug to make him calm down. They petted his back.
Doug was staring at Nick.
" We can't do such a horrible thing. I can't live anymore if I escape while some children don't", he whimpered.
Doug's hand was touched by another, smaller hand. He looked to his right and saw a girl.
" It's okay, Doug. We know you love all of us", she said to the dog and walked forward.
She was young but not too young. The girl was about the same age as Julisa.
" I will do it. If you help me in, I'll open the door for you", the girl said in a sure manner.
Doug didn't continue. He was proud of the brave girl but also worried about her.
Nick looked at the girl's parents who shrugged.
" We have no other choice, do we?", her father asked.
" I'm afraid not", Nick shook his head.
Everything else was set apart from getting through the yard. It was the bit that would kill almost every single one of them.
Doug was whimpering and hugging himself. Nick was looking at Bane and Ray.
" We need you to protect the kids. Maybe if you sacrifice yourselves first, more kids will make it in the end", Nick asked them.
Ray touched his own hat and nodded to Nick.
" We are ready. It has been an honor to play with all our children. We will finish our job, Nick. Right, everyone?", Ray looked at both Doug and Bane.
They nodded to him.
" How about you, Rachel?", Ray looked at the scared rabbit.
Rachel was shocked and her eyes were wide. She was horrified by the deadly plan.
She would, without a doubt, be a hero one last time but the plan was too bloody.
Rachel was not going to be killed in a massacre with the children. She would not spend her last minutes bathing in children's blood.
Rachel did not know what to say. She couldn't give up and remain in the pizzeria.
What would Rachel do?
She had zero answers and her core was cold. She was suffocating in her own anxiety.
Rachel looked outside and saw the last flames, on the yard.
The electric fluid was still going. The flames were high and looked like straight from Hell.
Most of the fluid had evaporated but some still remained. Rachel was like one of those monsters.
She had to go through the flames but she was too scared to go. She was staying still, not knowing what to do.
She had to get to the other side but the flames were in the way.
" The flames. Hot and sweet", the thought lasted in Rachel's head.
Then her pupils shot as wide as the sun.
" The flames!", she exclaimed and her mouth shot open.
Ray jumped back in fear and Rachel shook like a broken machine. She was not broken though.
On the contrary! Rachel had never felt so good in her life.
" No! I will not die in a suicide mission. None of us will. I know what we must do!", Rachel exclaimed seriously.
Nick looked at her confusedly.
" What, Rachel? What can we do?", he shrugged at her.
Rachel looked at everyone.
" The monsters are afraid of fire and warmth. The fire protected us in the basement just like the warmth has protected the vents.
These monsters can't stand fire.
There's a lot of fuel and electric fluid here.
We can use those and lighters to make a barrier between us and the monsters", Rachel told them.
Nick was impressed.
Rachel's idea might work.
" Okay, Rachel. We'll give it a try", Nick shrugged.
" Yes! This will save us", Rachel jumped in the air.
She looked at the children. They were happy too.
" You're my hero", mouthed the boy who had hugged Rachel earlier.
" He is safe with me. See, nightguard? I'm not all bad. I am a hero bunny", Rachel smiled upwards.
She could feel the ghostly hand of the nightguard pat her in the back.
" I'm a hero. I'm a hero", Rachel repeated in her head.
Farewell: There's about to be something bad ahead. For now, this chapter is done.
We're getting close to passing the amount of chapters that were in Act 2.
Keep rocking, guys!
THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE IS TO WRITE.
