Chapter 8 -
Dani collapsed to the floor as they entered a safe house, the door of which was quickly shut by a Barley clone.
"Oh god…I'm out of breath…" Dani panted as she laid on her side, holding her arms.
"Hmm. Don't think we got any water. Would bacon soup help?" Bendy asks.
"Sure. Are we safe though?" She asked as Bendy nodded to a Butcher Gang clone, Charley if she remembered right, and he started cooking.
"Yep! That angel can't get us here!" Bendy replied. "Now, let's get this thing off of yah. You mentioned Sammy. I take it he did this to yah?"
"Uh huh." She nodded, sitting up as he cut the rope off.
"Where is he?" Bendy asks.
"I don't know. The… monster version of you showed up and he told me to run while he took care of him." Dani said, trembling a little at the thought of him and what he did.
"Take it easy. He won't hurt you while I'm here." Bendy frowned, noticing how afraid she got. "Let's talk about something else now. What's your name? Didn't get a chance to tell me earlier."
"D-Dani." Dani stuttered.
"I take it that's short for Danielle?" She nods. "Well, nice to meet yah, Dani!" Bendy grins, stepping back to give her space.
"Thank-" She was cut off by the sound of shoes running on the floor.
Looking over, she saw a Boris clone run up to her and even tackle her back onto the ground since she was starting to stand back up.
"Ow…" Yeah. Her back and basically her entire body ached.
"Boris!" Bendy scolded. "Poor girl's been through enough!"
The one on top of her drooped his ears with a whine at the scolding and practically shook in her arms that she had around him.
"Boris…?" Dani muttered, wondering why this one hugged her.
The Boris clone turned to her with a small smile.
"My Boris?" She asked, smiling now, hoping this specific clone was him.
His smile grew and she knew instantly it was him.
"I'm so happy to see you!" She hugged him as he hugged her back.
"You know each other?" Bendy asked, confused.
"He's the one that Alice took from me at the elevator." Dani replied.
"Ah. The perfect Boris…" Bendy said, understandingly.
"Odd how he's apparently perfect yet he can't talk." The Edgar clone added as he stepped into the area.
Dani stared at the spider with the strangely familiar voice.
"What?" Edgar asked, noticing her stare. "First clone that spoke to you?"
She gave a slight nod.
"Well, I'm not really Edgar." He said, coming up to her as Boris helped her up to her feet. "I'm actually Thomas Conner."
"How do you remember who you once were?" She asked without thinking.
"I don't remember much. None of us do. We were just lucky enough to know who we used to be before Mr. Joey Drew went and killed us all."
"Can all the clones talk?" Dani wondered. "I know Norman couldn't… that I know of anyway. Kind of hid from him. As far as I know, Sammy doesn't seem to remember anything at all. And I take it Susie is Alice since she talked about Sammy and other things."
"Most of us can. But the ones so badly corrupted can't remember anything like Sammy and make noises like those that became a Searcher." Thomas replied. "But this Boris can't talk."
Boris looked away and rubbed his arm.
"Has he spoken to you?" Thomas asked.
"No." Dani replied, looking at Boris before turning back to him. "He wrote on paper to answer me and that's it."
"Odd." Thomas said. "It'd at least be nice to know if he was one of us or really the toon version like Bendy here."
Boris shook his head at that.
"What? You aren't the real toon Boris?" Thomas asked, noticing this.
He shook his head again before gently grabbing Dani by the arm and dragging her over to a table in the room.
Boris then wrote down on a piece of paper.
"Afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Dani asked, reading it out loud.
"He'll hurt me again."
"Who?" Bendy asked once Dani read that one out loud.
"Joey."
"Joey isn't here and if he was, we wouldn't let him hurt you." Dani replied.
"Yeah! We'll keep you safe! We just want to know who you were. That way we can stop calling you 'Boris' and start calling you by your real name!" Bendy added.
"I…" Boris said in a quiet tone. "…was…"
"I didn't hear that." Thomas said.
"Neither did I." The Barley Clone that shut the door said with Grant's voice.
"…Wally…" Boris muttered.
"Wally?" Dani repeated and got a nod from Boris as a response.
"Great! We can call you Wally now!" Bendy clapped.
"Franks, you're the perfect Boris?" Thomas asked, remembering the janitor.
"Uh huh." Wally replied, nervously.
"What did Joey do that scared you into silence?" Grant asked.
"H-he threatened to rip out of my vocal chords. Said that a mute Boris was better than one with the wrong voice. I remember him hitting me too. Before he… yah know…" Wally said in a tone that didn't sound right to the few workers there that remembered him. "That's why I've been acting more like Boris than me. The real me."
"Sorry to hear that, buddy." Thomas said. "But you're safe now. We've been keeping each other safe."
"What about Alice?" Wally asked.
"She won't hurt yah as long as I'm here!" Bendy replied.
"Okay." Wally nodded then pointed to Dani. "What about her?"
"What about her?" Bendy questioned.
"She won't survive here! We need to get her out!" Wally said.
"…I know." Bendy said after a moment. "But let's rest for a bit. I'm sure you're hungry and tired, doll?"
"Yeah…" Dani nodded, unconsciously rubbing her eyes.
"Well, once you eat, one of these fellas can take you to another room that has a bed in it. You'll be safe in here. The only exit is the door we came through." Bendy replied.
"Okay." Dani nodded again then gave a real smile. First one in what felt like forever. "Thanks. Nice to meet more ink creatures that aren't total monsters that want to kill me for no reason."
"I bet!" Bendy replied as Wally gave her a comforting smile back.
"Like he said, we'll keep you safe here. Yah know, a lot of us had kids. Wonder how they are now?" Grant said, making Dani and Wally give each other a frown.
"Yeah… I found a picture of Norman and his family." Dani replied. "Poor guy. I'm assuming he's still upstairs?"
"Yes because he'll attack anyone. How did he not attack you? And what were those looks you gave each other for?" Grant asked.
"I just snuck around him. Came across a room with his picture in it. And Uhhh… I take it you don't realize how long it's been. Huh?" Dani said, rubbing her right arm nervously.
"No…?" Grant trailed off.
"It's been a long time. Like 70 or 80 years- long time." Dani replied.
All of the ink creatures in the room stared at her.
"What year is it now?" Thomas asked, not sure if he believed her.
"2017."
"Prove it." Thomas said, starting to sound like he was in denial.
"It couldn't of been that long! Our families… they aren't gone!" Grant added, getting upset.
"Okay…" Dani took her phone out. "Dammit. It's at 30% now."
"What the hell is that?" Thomas looked at it, curiously.
"A cell phone." Dani replied.
"What does it do?" Grant asked.
"Well…" She trailed off as Charley came up to her with a bowl.
"Soup is done!" The Irish voice of Shawn came out of Charley, who placed the bowl on the table nearby. "Enjoy lassie!"
"Thanks." Dani said, feeling a lot better that her Boris -Wally- was back and she was surrounded by a lot of friendly ink creatures that didn't want to hurt her instantly for no reason.
"Why don't we let you eat and you can tell us all about 2017 and what that… thing… is when you're done?" Bendy suggested.
"Works for me." Dani nodded. "I take it there are more clones… or workers… here too?"
"Yeah this safe house is big. They are off doing their own thing elsewhere. But they are inside safe and sound." Bendy replied as she blew on the soup and began to eat.
After she was done, she repeated what she told Wally and Sammy about her phone and showing them some stuff but not a lot due to wanting to keep some battery.
"So this is how you communicate now? No letters?" Shawn asked.
"I mean, you can still write letters but yeah. This is the main way to communicate now." Dani replied.
"That's so cool!" Bendy let out a happy noise. "And you can play games on it, listen to music, and take it everywhere you go!"
"What's that number in the corner?" Grant asked.
"The battery percentage. I really need to get home and charge it. If it gets to 0% then it'll die until I charge it." Dani said.
"Then you won't be able to use it?" Bendy asked, swiping the screen back and forth.
"Nope. Basically my only way to call for help. But I don't have any service in here so the call doesn't go through." Dani said. "I have error messages from my texts not going through too."
"So that's what the explanation mark is." Grant said, noticing this.
"Can we take a picture too?" Bendy asks, seeing the picture of her and Wally in the photos app.
"Sure." She nodded.
It's the least she can do for them helping her.
Dani got down on the floor and flipped the camera around so it was facing her. Once everyone was in position, with Bendy grinning in her lap, she took the picture.
"Cool!" Bendy says, as she shows him and the others the picture. "It's so clear and colorful!"
"You can record videos and stuff too but I don't wanna waste my battery."
"That's fine." Bendy responds. "Can you show me a game at least?"
"I guess that won't hurt." Dani said and brought a game up.
They played for a few minutes as they talked. With Dani explaining some other technology things and how far different forms of traveling has come. Like cars and planes.
"So what are cartoons like now?" Bendy asks.
"More colorful? There's also a lot of variety too." She rubbed her chin, thinking about it. "There's some for kids, some for adults, or a mix of both."
"Really?" Shawn questioned, confused.
"Yeah. Wasn't the Bendy cartoons aimed towards kids but had jokes older family members could enjoy?" Dani asked and the Butcher Gang trio nodded. "That's basically what I meant."
"Ooh I see now!" Shawn said. "Geez, I'll love to live in today's world."
"Yeah it has it's ups but also downs." Dani said. "There's still plenty of problems with war…racism… and whatnot."
"But it's still fun to live in 2017 right?" Bendy asked.
"I guess." Dani shrugged.
"So what job did you have?" Grant asked.
"I work in retail Hell." Dani replied. "And I go to college nearby too. Just doing basic classes right now."
"Is that fun?" Shawn asks.
"Not really. School is so expensive nowadays and you need to have a degree to get a well-paying job." Dani says.
"That doesn't sound fun at all." Shawn replied. "That sucks that it's a lot of money."
"Tell me about it." Dani said.
Eventually she got back up and sat down in the chair again. As she continued to talk to them, Wally reached over the table suddenly and tapped her arm to get her attention.
"Hm?" She hummed.
"What happened to you?" Wally asked. "You weren't…bitten up or anything like this when we got separated."
"I uh…" She trailed off, trembling again when thinking of Sammy. "I met Sammy and… some Searchers attacked me…" Dani lied, not wanting to explain what actually happened and give herself PTSD.
"Did he save you?" Bendy asked. "And tied that rope around you?"
"Sure…" Dani nodded. "Let's go with that."
Bendy frowned, knowing that she was lying but chose not to push the issue. It wasn't his business anyway. Besides, she was safe with them. Otherwise, the others believed her.
"Are you finished?" Bendy asked, changing the subject. Dani nodded silently to him. "Then how about Wally takes you to another room so you can get some sleep?"
"Okay." Dani nodded again and got up to follow Wally down the hallway.
"You can sleep here." Wally opened the door to a room with a infirmary bed inside it. "Just call if yah need anything."
"Thank you, Wally." Dani stepped inside and turned to him. "I'm really glad you're talking now. It would've been hard to talk without paper nearby."
Wally perked up at this.
"I'm happy to hear that!" Wally smiled. "Good night!"
"Night." Dani said as he shut the door. Then she went over to the bed and got some much needed rest. Knowing she was finally safe and sound.
Literally everyone in this chapter is a cinnamon roll.