Chapter Six: The Surgery Car
"So why are giving Brooke this tape, anyway?" asked Zac.
"You didn't see much of the effects that the tape gives a passenger here because it wasn't your own" said the cat. "When anyone else watches a tape, it's almost like they are watching a movie, except they are watching it from inside the setting, if you know what I mean. But when a passenger watches their own tape, they are forced to relive their memories until they learn to deal with how their memories actually happened. Only then can they escape."
"Are you sure that's safe? I know Brooke isn't the kindest person around, but I don't want the train to kill her."
"I accidentally discovered this trick when I tested it on another passenger. I couldn't believe it worked, either!"
There was a moment of silence, before Zac said "Fine, you can give her the tape."
"Great! It's best if Brooke watches it on her own this time, in the meantime you can play some carnival games".
As Zac and Oliver left the tent, the cat called Brooke over. Zac and Oliver then proceeded to do everything in the carnival from playing games like target shooting, to riding rides like the ferris wheel, to eating deep fried hamburgers with deep fried donut buns and somehow not dying. After several hours, Brooke emerged from the tent, clearly upset at the cat, who was following close behind.
"Usually, passengers only get to exit the car once a month, but a know a secret exit I'll let you use, since this kitten clearly needs more help" said the cat.
Zac and Oliver simply nodded and followed the cat out the secret exit.
"Au revoir!" said the cat, as she stayed in the car as the door shut behind the gang.
As they headed towards the next car, Zac noticed that Brooke was unusually quiet. She also had a traumatized look on her face. Not even Oliver constantly trying to start a silly conversation with her got her to speak.
The next car was a dark room. All the room had in it was a surgical chair, and a table next to it with the various tools needed for surgery. There was a human-sized frog fast asleep on the chair, hooked up to general anesthetics that were keeping it asleep. Next to the entrance were a bunch of neatly organized aprons, surgical masks, and gloves for protection. Zac, Brooke, and Oliver all put on their gear and headed over to do the surgery. As they tried to figure out what to do, Brooke's claws came out and she tried to claw the patient open. This made Zac realize something, but he decided to save talking about that for later.
In the meantime, he blocked Brooke from clawing the patient and said "Careful. You have to use a clean tool like a scalpel to cut a patient open. Please get a new set of gloves and I'll help you continue the operation".
As Brooke did so, Zac and Oliver got to work on the patient. Soon, the three of them were working together. They did surprisingly well for a group of people who had no medical training whatsoever. As they stitched up the patient when the surgery was done, however, Zac decided to bring up his concern to Brooke.
"So, did you claw Savvy when you were trying to get Gigi back?" asked Zac.
Brooke finally decided to speak up. "Um… how do you know about this?"
"We saw your tape, too!" Oliver chimed in.
"Oh dog," said Brooke, "I didn't want you to see those memories. I really don't like looking back at them. And the more I look back at them, the more I realize that I've made a huge mistake. Say, I wonder what my number is now, anyway, it's been a while since I last checked."
She gasped when she saw her number. It was at 63.
Zac couldn't help but be impressed at her number. "Oh my gosh. That's the same as my number!"
Their excitement woke up the frog. Thankfully, the surgery was done by this point, so he wasn't hurt by anything. The exit door of the car then unlocked.
"Another puzzle solved!" barked Oliver.
"We know, Oliver," said Brooke "but what's more important right now is that we're getting closer to getting off this train. But I have a feeling there's something we still need to figure out before we get off this train".