Chapter Six

(Before you begin the chapter, I would like to say that I give credit to the guy who wrote Secret Of Survival for the awesome movie: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I even give credit to the guy who wrote various songs for the various Winnie The Pooh movies.

All right, that's all!)

Beatrice:

When I was beginning to regain my strength, I began to think over the activities that happened before I got dragged out of the river by Gallagher's ghost, just in case if I might've hit my head too hard. Let's see: My name is Beatrice Elaine Birchwood…I'm seventeen years old…I have a twin brother named Tommy…I got myself and Tommy in the world where Toons coexist with humans… I found out that Lexi was kidnapped by the Toon Patrol…Tigger invited himself over to my house and gave me a letter…the letter was from the weasels…I leave my house…ran through Gallagher Woods…heard someone laughing…I smelled poppies and began to hallucinate…Yep, my memory's still good.

Right now, I am regaining my strength and checking my hoodie pocket. Thankfully, the sandwich bag with Lexi's allergy ointment was still in it, along with the waterproof flashlight. Even my tennis racquet was beside me.

I still don't have any idea on how I hallucinated after smelling poppies. I mean, there just flowers but I don't know why I hallucinated. My allergy records don't say anything about hallucinating after smelling flowers.

Anyway, I got back on my feet and became familiar with the area after turning on my flashlight. I saw seven mounds of dirt in front of the house, littered with dead plants, and one big mound with a tomb stone on top. I knew where I was…I have been carried to William T. Gallagher's house by Gallagher's ghost.

I wasn't sure if I was getting good luck when I heard a familiar cackle. I turned around to see and I didn't see anybody.

"Well, well, well," I heard Wheezy's voice say to me.

"If it isn't the broad." I heard Smarty say to me. Although I don't see them, I can hear them just fine.

I stood in a fighting stance and I prepared to swing my tennis racquet.

"I'm not afraid you guys." I said with a mixture of courage and nervousness. "My little cousin wants my help and I came here to take her back home."

I heard Smarty chuckle.

"'Help'?" He asked in a mocking tone.

"Yeah." I replied.

Then I turned around and I saw the Toon Patrol. They were standing like they were in the Terminal Station when they figured that Roger was hiding there. Smarty was grinning evilly, Greasy was standing behind him (he was behind Smarty but he is on Smarty's right side), Pyscho was standing in front of Wheezy with a big crazy grin on his face, Stupid was looking at me with an evil smug on his face and whacked his left hand with his baseball bat, and Wheezy was also looking at me evilly, even while he had a coughing fit.

"Listen here, little girl," Wheezy began in a raspy voice. "In a place like this in this world, even outside of the woods, there's no such thing as helping other people."

"Oh, yes, there is." I said.

"No, there isn't." Smarty said.

"Yes, there is, Boss." Stupid interrupted. I guess he couldn't stay serious too long.

Smarty turns to Stupid and hits him on the head.

"Shut up!" Smarty said. "But anyway, everyone is out for 'them-shelves'. Take us, for 'es-scapel'."

Wheezy puts his forefinger and his thumb in his mouth and whistles to somebody that I didn't see.

Then, I heard ominous music beginning to play.

"What is-?" I began to say.

Then, I realized that there was another musical number coming up. I knew that I wasn't going to listen to any ordinary song…I was going to listen to a villain song.

"First, you see us..." The weasels began.

"Then, you don't!"

A bright light flashed and the Toon Patrol disappeared before my eyes.

"Now, you hear us…" I heard the Toon Patrol's voices say to me, echoing.

"Now, you won't!" The voices said to me, barely even in a whisper.

Another bright light flashes and the next thing that I knew was that the Toon Patrol was surrounding me with evil grins on their faces and having their eyes aiming at my face (I did my best to not show any fear on my face and try to find Lexi and bring her back home.).

"It's our secret of survival in a very nasty world!" All members sang to me and I took off running.

I ran into something invisible and felt ten hands touching my back and my shoulders.

"Now, you feel us! Now, you can't!"

The hands stop touching me and I turned back to the weasels, who were lined up in a single file line.

"Are we REAL?" They sang to me.

"I don't think so." I immediately replied.

"Perhaps we aren't!" Smarty exclaimed.

Then, immediately, all five weasels spun around in circles and disappear into nothing. I watched in surprise.

"It's our secret of survival in a very nasty world! It's our secret of survival in a very nasty world!" All weasels sang in unison.

"Oh, come on!" I exclaimed. "The world's not all bad! There's some good, too!"

"Oh, yes, the world is definitely nasty!" Smarty replied, although he isn't seen. I began to look for the weasels and try not to have any of them sneak up and surprise me.

"It's nastier than you can ever dream of!" All weasels sang.

The upper half of Psycho's body drops down from a tree branch and I was almost bumped in the face.

"From up above!" Pyscho exclaimed.

"And from beneath!" Greasy said.

I looked down to my right and I saw Greasy lying down on the ground with a dead flower in his hand. I jumped back in surprise.

"Eyes and jaws!" Stupid exclaimed.

Then, I felt Wheezy (I knew because of his bad, smoky breath) grab my wrist, twist it back, and used his free hand to represent his part of the song.

"Claws and teeth!" Wheezy coughed and flashed his disgusting yellow teeth. He released me after the other weasels came back to singing in unison.

"Ready to attack you, you're not a snack, but you better run!" The weasels said in unison.

I began to run but Psycho tripped me and Smarty grabbed me by the collar of my hoodie.

"Don't go walking in the woods…" Smarty pulls out his pistol with his free hand and aims it at my right temple. "…if you haven't got a GUN!"

I prepared to face the excruciating pain of the bullet but all I heard was a CLICK. Nothing was shot out. Smarty drops me and I ran to the closest tree while Smarty and the other weasels laughed. I began to climb to the thickest branch of the tree while the weasels still continued to sing their song.

"Every creature for survival has to look out for itself!

Got no aunties here, no grannies here,

To look after your health!

Girl, you're in the wood!

And every person could,

Tell you that you've got no business to be here!"

I grabbed the wrong branch and it snapped. I fell down ten feet and I listen to the weasels vocalizing an 'Ahh', not making things any better. Thankfully, I landed on a thick pile of leaves and I didn't get seriously injured. After getting back on my feet, I saw Psycho wrap me around in this silky, blood red cloth.

"First, you see us! Then, you don't!" Smarty, Wheezy, Stupid, and Greasy sang.

Psycho places his left hand on my head and he pulls the cloth really hard. His hand was off my head when I started spinning around Gallagher's house like a top. I seriously didn't think that the real world could integrate with the laws of scientific physics and Toon physics (I'm saying this because no human on Earth can spin around a house like a top.).

"Now, you hear us! Now, you won't!"

After the weasels said 'won't', I stopped spinning and I started to see two of every Toon Patrol member.

"It's our secret of survival in a very nasty world!"

The Toon Patrol surrounds me and they push me around, making the dizziness slightly less better.

"Now you feel us!" Smarty said after he caught me by my shoulders. "Now you can't!"

Smarty drops me and I land on a thin layer of leaves.

Then, all five of the weasels got their faces in to my personal face space and with evil grins, they exclaimed,

"Are we REAL? Perhaps we aren't!"

They all jump back and turn their backs on me. I got up on my feet again and began to back away. The weasels turn back towards me and they surround me again. As the weasels continued to sing, their voices grew louder and louder by the second as they danced.

"It's our secret of survival,

It's OUR SECRET OF SURVIVAL…"

Every Toon Patrol member grabs a handful of leaves.

"IT'S OUR SECRET OF SURVIVAL IN A VERY NASTY WORLD!"

(To be continued…)