CHAPTER 5
Paulie tossed and turned in his cot. Sleep didn't come easy to the pretztail, but he got a few periods of solid shut-eye. But for him, it just wasn't enough. he couldn't convince himself to just fall asleep as much as he wish he could. It wasn't until he heard the jingling of metal on metal was he fully aroused from his napping. Blinking his eyes open, the pretztail's eyes were attacked again by the sharp flickering of the lit torches on the walls. Wiping his vision clear, he pulled himself up to a sitting position, seeing Hudson fiddling with the door lock.
"...Hudson, what are you doing?" Paulie grumbled, finding the noisy horstachio to be an annoyance.
"Busting us outta here!" Hudson kept his voice down, keeping his eyes on the prize as he fiddle around with two small rods of metal jammed into the lock.
"...Really? And where did you learn to pick locks?" Paulie was too groggy to put on any sort of amused visage.
"I put all that showbiz money to good use when we all became nobodies…" The horstachio muttered under his breath, fearing that breathing wrong would jinx the whole operation.
"...I guess looks do deceive, huh Hudson," Paulie offered a weak chuckle, "and here all this time I didn't think you'd grow past being some washed up celeb," the pretztail admitted.
"I've told you I infiltrated Pinata Central and you STILL believed that?!" Hudson's train of concentration was completely broken as he turned to face the pretztail, the horstachio's whole being was filled with disbelief.
"Er… Yes?" Paulie answered back awkwardly, regretting revealing such information to the horstachio.
"Bah!" Hudson snorted, feeling the sting his friend unintentionally gave him. He returned to work with a scowl, though with time the bitterness would fade. He couldn't stay mad at a friend as close as Paulie forever. Looking back, Hudson was quite a bumbling idiot who was full of himself more than he would like to admit.
"Sorry…" Paulie apologized, scooting off to the edge of his bed to observe the horstachio's handywork. Hudson kept silent, not wanting to deal with the pretztail at the moment. His major concern at the moment was busting out of this dreary place. A few more moments of fumbling went on before a huge latch gave way, hudson exhaling a huge sigh of relief. "Y'know, El Sketcho is keeping an eye out for us as well as Tina… Right?" The pretztail warned his friend, knowing that escaping this room was only half the battle.
"Yeah, I overheard," Hudson had no use for recycled information. The fact that Hudson already knew this had Paulie put off for a moment.
"But you were sleepin', how could you hear them?!" The pretztail was surprised. He had to ask himself if the horstachio was really out or not during that conversation.
"I was only putting on an act! When I knew exactly where I was when I first came to I kept my eyes closed and kept an open ear," Hudson started to let his prideful side show, "all those years of acting had really paid off I'd say!" He gave the pretztail a sly grin. Paulie rolled his eyes, realizing he should have figured that out by now.
"Oh whatever! Just don't get caught," Paulie hopped off the bed and stepped over to Hudson's side. The horstachio already flew the door wide open, having it nearly slam against the wall.
"One step closer to free-…" Hudson turned around, spotting Marvin Mallowolf standing in front of them with his arms crossed over each other. "Dom…"
"...Well we tried," Paulie shrugged his shoulders, about to head back into bed just before Hudson decided to throw a punch into El Sketcho's face. Unfortunately for Hudson, the mallowolf had years of more training than the horstachio and his acting career put together. Marvin caught the punch with his stubby paw before the swing could even get close. Without heistation, El Sketcho crushed Hudson's hoof single handedly, an audible crack followed by a sharp whinny came from the horstachio.
"That's my… Dominant hoof!" Hudson squeaked through the pain as El Sketcho released his hoof. A moan escaped the horstachio as a few bits of candy leaked from his wound while he rubbed the pain away.
"Whoa!" Paulie witnessed the whole spectacle, "calm down guys, no need to get physical!" He put his paws up and out to get the two to calm down. Though it didn't help that El Sketcho was looking for any excuse for some action.
"I ain't the one who started it," the mallowolf grumbled, eyeing up both pinatas, his eyelid twitched with anticipation, ready to throwdown if the situation called for it. Paulie approached Marvin, his paws still mid-raised.
"El Sketcho, we just wanna get outta here!" The pretztail pleaded with the unbudging mallowolf, who only gave a piercing glare in return. "Look, we don't have much to give you, and I can't really give you the gun off my back." Paulie was in no position to make a deal, but attempted to anyway. "...But if you think you can fit, I'll give you my clothes!" The pretztail offered with the most convincing grin he could muster.
"Tch, I wouldn't be caught dead looking like some towel-headed sandrat," El Sketcho growled, insulted he was even propositioned such a trade. Paulie's ears drew back as his smile faded into a fearful frown upon hearing the mallowolf's harsh words. "...Listen here," Marvin kept his voice low, taking a few steps inside before waving the duo in closer. "The only way I'm letting you go is if I'm tagging along with ya," his strange terms left the two pinatas in shock. Paulie was the first to recover from it.
"You wanna come with us?!" The pretztail asked, still unsure about the offer. El Sketcho was sketchy in more ways than one. Who's to say he would randomly decide to turn his back on them down the road? Paulie struggled with the thought, but eventually came to the conclusion that this was their only choice and chance at freedom.
"Of course I do!" The mallowolf's eyes widened as his voice cracked to its original southern hick tone for a moment. Marvin cleared his throat before speaking again with his feigned rough and tough outlaw voice, "I mean, of course I do. It's really boring down here an' I haven't seen a shootout in… Well, no one really keeps a track of time down here anymore," El Sketcho was slightly ashamed to admit the latter tidbit. It garnered a chuckle out of the pretztail.
"I'm all up for you guys getting some sun and all," Paulie began, empathizing with their lack of sunlight. "But if you're coming with us, we can't have you stirring up trouble wherever we go. We gotta keep a low profile until we reach inside Pinata Central again," the pretztail had to lay down the ground rules.
"Alright," Marvin crossed his arms, casually gazing at Paulie, "but if we got any of them Pinata Central goonies tailing us, all bets are off." The mallowolf wasn't afraid of a little violent altercation, granted if the group they encountered was small enough to be dealt with quickly and efficiently.
"That's what we're trying to avoid!" Paulie exclaimed quietly while the horstachio continued to rub out his hoof. Suddenly, El Sketcho lit up with an idea, eyes bright and a grin pressing through his cloth mask.
"I might just know a guy who could help us get a little bit closer to Pinata Central unnoticed! Wait here!" Marvin shut the door on them for a brief moment, only to open it again a few seconds later. He presented to them a large open wooden crate, propped up on a flat bed cart. Taking a dramatic pose with arms extended, El Sketcho gestured them inside enthusiastically. Hudson and Paulie exchanged confused glances, shrugging at each other. "Oh come on! Just get in already!" Marvin growled, stomping forward at them. The pair gasped and jumped at the angry mallowolf's outburst, following orders instantly after. Paulie was the first to hop inside.
"I guess it's better than rotting away in that boring ol' cell," the pretztail commented, remaining positive over the situation.
"You've got a point," Hudson chimed in, tip-toeing into the large box cautiously, "It still doesn't help that this makes me a bit claustrophobic…" The horstachio admitted as he sat down with the pretztail.
"Oh come on Hudson! You've been through worse!" Paulie tried to encourage his friend. Things only got worse for the horstachio as El Sketcho began to pour a large bag of packing peanuts into the box, swiftly filling up over his snout.
"This isn't help-ping…" The horstachio spoke through the pile of styrofoam bits, making sure none of it got in his mouth. His whining didn't go unheard, the mallowolf's ears twitch at his words.
"Quiet!" Marvin gave the crate a swift kick, "cargo ain't supposed ta' talk!" He barked at them before applying the top over them, shrouding them in total darkness. The sharp hum of a drill could be heard from outside the crate, soon driving in screws to the top, securing the duo inside. It also proved to spike Hudson's anxiety even more, causing his teeth to chatter. The crate was convincing cover, but it wasn't sound proof. Paulie out of all pinatas knew this very well.
Keeping calm, the pretztail sifted through the styrofoam to physically quell the horstachio's chattering with his paws. "Hudson, you need to be quiet if we wanna get outta here!" Paulie kept his voice to a whisper. The horstachio nodded with a nervous, brief hum and brushed off the pretztail's paws, replacing them with his own hooves.
Things were going smoothly as the wheels began to turn, pushing the duo into motion. Scooting back to his side of the box, Paulie dug about to search for a crack between the planks to spy through. He peeked through as Marvin navigated the damp, solid terrain. They had passed by a few unfamiliar faces, nobody had suspected anything. That is until they came to a full stop at Tina. Paulie pulled back slightly as he swore the twingersnap could see right through to him. Keeping his eye on her, he saw her glance up at was he assumed was El Sketcho.
"I thought I put you on watch duty..." She glared at the mallowolf. The pretztail longed to see the look on Marvin's face. El Sketcho cleared his throat before going on, wishing he hadn't bumped into the twingersnap in the first place.
"Uh, forgot there was a few things I needed to send off to Prewitt before he leaves for the big trip to the um... Other base," El Sketcho worded his sentence carefully, not wanting to bring up the name of the twingersnap's other half in fear of incurring her verbal wrath.
"Yeah?" Tina eyed up the box once again, wondering what the mallowolf was really up to. "Well make it quick, I don't trust those two by themselves for a second," she hissed, expressing her suspicion before leaving, slithering past Paulie's view.
"I hear ya," Marvin nodded, resuming their pace towards their destination. A short sigh of relief slipped out of the pretztail's mouth. With the worst behind them, they were clear the rest of the way there, or until Tina would eventually find out that the pair busted out with the mallowolf.