The elevator landed, the door pulled open, and Bobby fell out on his side on creaking tiles. He caught his breath, his eyes swimming in his head. Meshes of piss-yellow and dark blue swirled in his vision. He shook his head, his brain pounding, but the feeling reminded him of what was important.
Chloe's brain remained in his arms. He hurried to his feet, grimacing as a slick, viscous liquid coated his sweaty palms. It was colorless, and he picked up a slight hint of pepper. He immediately held her brain away, feeling its pulse between his hands spreading down to his fingertips.
It was the only part of Chloe that remained. Her body was still with the mad doctor. He couldn't return for it, the grim awareness causing him to grind his heel into the tile. If he had thought more clearly, he could have beaten Loboto with the PSI lock halfway to unconsciousness or broken his shins. Either would have been acceptable, imagining him writhing on the ground, just as terrified as he made Chloe.
But he hadn't been thinking straight. He took Chloe's brain and ran. He could only hope her body would remain in one piece, but he wasn't one for blind trust.
A humid wind caught him by surprise. It brushed through the thick curls of his matted hair. Lifting his gaze, he found the sky, dark and stretching through the horizon. From his angle, the crescent moon was a mere sliver against the plethora of gray-blue clouds that seemed so close he could touch them.
Bobby hesitated. The shape of the clouds was abnormal. Usually, he knew them as wispy or full like cotton swabs. But when he inspected them, the clouds were stretched like deformed masks, lips twisted in grins that pulled their cheeks. Shivers ran down his spine, his fingers twitching against the damp undulations of Chloe's brain.
But he quickly shook his head. Focusing on something as stupid as clouds only distracted him from his real mission. He needed to find a way back to camp. With Chloe's brain in his arms, he risked her life if he failed, the thought making him swallow hard.
Slowly, Bobby directed his attention to the asylum he had ignored. Forgotten mattresses, slabs of metal, broken wheelchairs, and ceramic shards littered the floor. Cracks spread across the tiles, threatening to break with the slightest pressure. Bobby took in the mold growing on the curved, dilapidated walls. It almost reminded him of Drywell, the odor of mildew and something acrid churning his stomach.
He inched forward. He cradled Chloe's brain to his chest as he approached the elephant in the asylum. He looked down through the massive hole in the center, and his mouth dropped.
It seemed bottomless. Shadows covered the structures and visible paths. Hallways appeared to twist and turn, and a shockingly green mire oozed across one of the floors. Rusted rails and staircases arched in nonsensical ways. Moans and creaks reverberated as the wind howled, pounding against the asylum, pushing Bobby forward, but he steadied himself, narrowing his glare.
That's gonna take too stinkin' long to figure out. I don't have time for this bullcrap, Bobby thought, and he pivoted on his heels, threading his fingers through his hair. He leered over his shoulder. And that elevator didn't have any other button. It must only go up and down from here and there.
He groaned and tugged on his ear as he shuffled toward the sneering clouds sneered. Taking a breath, he leered out. Jet black water illuminated by moonlight filled the lake. In the distance, he found the trees where he had roamed freely with Chloe while they explored for alien artifacts. A few lights caught his eye, and he located the docks in the distance on the other side of Lake Oblongata, his chest squeezing.
A few hours ago, he had been in Milla's class. Levitation was his second-best ability, second to tightly controlled telekinesis. At her party, he dashed across the colorful platforms, defeating all who stood in his way of the race. Clem and Crystal were pitiful next to him, tumbling into the tiniest Censors, and he was king of the contest.
But again, he was usurped. The new kid, who had never even used levitation, defeated Bobby on his first try. Milla congratulated him with such praise that had once belonged to him. It infuriated Bobby, who could only run by Raz when it ended, getting the silver medal for the first time in his entire duration of camp.
Goggle girl could backflip his way through the asylum. You can't.
Bobby snorted like a hog seeing red. The muscles in his arms tensed, Chloe's brain shaking in his grasp. Summer camp was supposed to be his kingdom. He was the strong man. He ruled with an iron fist, tempered only by Chloe's companionship.
But everything had gone wrong the moment Raz jumped on to that stage. It was like his presence brought about disaster. The counselors were entranced with him, but they couldn't see like Bobby. Raz was nothing more than a parasite leeching off their attention, not that Bobby wanted their approval; their fascination with Raz just disgusted him.
Raz had learned ability after ability without breaking a sweat. Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, invisibility, levitation! He was given four merit badges in the span of the morning and afternoon. Bobby had to work for so many summers just to re-earn his Psychic Scout title, his skin bristling and burning at the realization, and he wanted nothing more than to squeeze his hand around Raz' throat.
He scoffed and banished the thought. He didn't need to think about Raz at such a tumultuous time. Imagining Raz plummeting to his doom was far better, easing his nerves as he fantasized about the clown mistiming a flip and screaming as he fell, guts splattering out from torn skin when he crashed.
Now, he couldn't forget about Chloe. He reminded himself as much. Chloe was a brain without a body, and it was up to him to return to camp. Even if the counselors aggravated him, they were his best shot for rebraining.
But his options were painfully limited. Bobby twisted his head over his shoulder and down the long, shadowed slope of the asylum. He couldn't see the ground if there was any earthy foundation. Frustration swelled in him as the seconds silently ticked. The crazy doctor was already more likely than not on his trail. Bobby didn't know how much time he had, nor was he aware of the asylum's layout. Everything was against him, and he gnashed down on his few good teeth.
And then, something squeaked.
It dashed his agitated thoughts. Bobby's shoulders hitched. It wasn't like a spring on one of the many mattresses. It wasn't like a hinge on any broken door. Instead, the peeping continued, and an army of pitter-pattering steps came closer from the ramp coiling up the side of the asylum.
Bobby looked, and his eyes bulged. Gray mutated rats darted toward him. They skittered and squealed, their beady dark red eyes locked on him. Toxic, green sludge clung to their lips and over their deformed teeth. All of them charged, screeching battle cries at their target.
Unable to scream, Bobby lunged backward. He scrambled to the elevator, snatching the door with one hand. Grunting, Bobby hoisted himself up to the top, watching as they circled and clawed at the elevator, green fumes wafting off their fur.
He readjusted Chloe's brain in both hands, squatting by the tight pulley. He wasn't a fool. He knew what those fumes represented. If bears and cougars had psychic powers, rats could use confusion. One PSI blast would have them all blowing up in his face, just like the coach said in class, and he'd risk tumbling in a dazed stupor, dropping Chloe's brain to shadowy depths.
He was trapped. He was the real rat, prey, a weakling.
"This sucks! Stupid asshole doctor and stupid asshole fish monster," he seethed, digging his toes into the metal. "And stupid asshole rats that won't go the hell away! Can't you see I got a brain to put back in a body?"
The rats refused. They vigorously renewed their skittering and climbed over each other. They started to fill inside, jostling the elevator. Bobby furrowed his brows, his blood boiling as he tried subduing his rage. The last thing he needed was a PSI blast misfire.
He glanced at her brain. Chloe always had incredible ideas. She somehow knew everything, teaching him about theories and universes that he would never have conceived. If he thought like her, he wondered if she would have seen something he missed, her observational skills one of the many reasons she interested him.
"I'd like to get off this planet, you know. I'm trying to create a spaceship that will fly me directly to my people," he remembered her saying in the lodge. She had shown him a paper airplane with a strange device attached to it. "It has a flight path that I'm still controlling, but I hope to have it manual by the end of this week."
"How do ya know it's gonna work?" he had asked, turning it over in his hands.
"Because I timed it just right. I know that if I execute everything right, I'll fly out of here by the time camp ends."
He gasped at that precious memory. There was a solution. It was risky and crazy in concept. But just like Chloe, it was out of the box and genius.
Bobby carefully stood up. He focused on his positive feelings - being around Chloe, punching Tender Brains, running faster and faster from his home - and his levitation ball appeared under him. He careened to the side, but he quickly crouched, squishing the ball. As the rats cried out, Bobby smirked, flipped his middle finger at them, and he jumped out of the asylum.
The wind hit him. Hot air blew at his skin, and his eyes watered. They fell together, his levitation ball skidding against the building. It was like skateboarding, bolting faster like pink and blue lightning, the water coming up closer, so close that he could taste the earthy odor.
His arm shot upward, and he snatched his thought bubble. His body jerked, and he felt Chloe's brain shift against his chest, but slowly, he drifted. He was like a leaf carried by the breeze, the dirt drawing near, and he even spotted stray dandelions blowing in the wind.
His lips twitched upward. A pleasant rush swept through him. He felt alive as he floated, and when he landed, he understood why people kissed the ground. He pumped his fist in the air, his back pressed against the brick wall, and he couldn't help but let a short bark of a cackle.
"Yeah! Classic Zilch! I bet Raz couldn't hold on to a thought bubble for that long," he sneered, beaming down at Chloe's brain. He was sure if she could answer, she'd agree. "Alright, Chloe, now I just gotta find a way back to the lake, and we're in the home stretch."
The ground was damp as he trekked. His toes sunk inward, threatening to take him into the water, so he summoned his levitation ball again. He carefully rocked himself toward a spiked fence and snatched one of the bars. He jumped upward, easily avoiding its pointed tip. Bobby landed in the courtyard where untamed grass grew, and a strange statue of a disheveled man took center stage.
To his luck, he spotted a gate guarded by a stocky man. His broad backside faced him. Bobby took a breath, ready to call out to him when the man ducked from his sight. Bobby cocked his head, leaping off his levitation ball and rounding behind the statue. He remembered he was at an asylum, and there were still inmates living on the grounds. He decided it was best to observe than react. It was what Chloe would do.
The man waved before hurriedly moving aside. To Bobby's surprise, he opened the gate. As it creaked open, Bobby glanced around the man, and his gasp caught in his throat.
Coach Oleander shuffled inside, his fingers to his temple. He exchanged a few muttered words with the man before the gate closed behind him. As the man held out a piece of chalk, grumbling as it hit the wall, Bobby hoped help had finally arrived..
"Coach!" he shouted, running out from his hiding place.
Oleander gasped, his shoulders hitching. He stared at Bobby as if he had grown a second head. "What the-? Bobby Zilch!" he cried, and his tone lowered. "What in the Sam Hill are you doing here?" His eyes narrowed on Chloe's brain. "Wait. Hold on! Quiet, soldier! Stop yammering! Why do you have that?"
Bobby spoke in tune with Oleander. "Coach, I don't know what happened! A freaky fish attacked me and Chloe, and then there was this doctor, and he took out her brain, but her body-! Her body-! Her body…"
He trailed off. He had been so focused on Oleander that he hadn't looked down. Bobby's gaze fell on something dragging behind Oleander. Rather, they were people, counselors who had been the camp's superstar special guests. The limp bodies of Sasha and Milla reminded him of roadkill that had been picked clean, motionless, hushed.
The gears in Bobby's mind suddenly clicked.
Oleander was obsessed with the military. Loboto had no reason to steal brains for tanks. Oleander had access to psychic children, and Loboto had the cunning to mutate a fish into a monster based on the rumor Oleander tried stopping Bobby from spreading.
"You're behind this?" was all Bobby whispered before Oleander lunged.