Chapter Six
They're Called Killjoys for a Reason
Two weeks later...
Calvin sat nervously by the phone. It had been his fourth call in the past ten minutes alone and Hobbes hadn't answered the phone. "Come on Hobbes" Calvin said to himself in desperation, "I said I was sorry what more do you want!" At that moment, a large zipper appeared, out of it came Hobbes' arm, which began searching for Calvin. Calvin walked over, causing Hobbes to yank him violently up and pull him into the zipper, almost choking Calvin on his shirt collar as he was dragged back into Wackadoo Land.
Hobbes was on the other side in the middle of the bowling alley, holding Calvin up away from his body as if he were a fish. "Hobbes!" Calvin exclaimed, as he attempted to hug his tiger who just as quickly dropped him on the ground and embraced him, "I'm sorry Hobbes" Calvin continued, "I really am. I promise I won't get in the way of you and Tamilia, I won't mention GROSS or any of that okay?" Hobbes simply smiled and ruffled Calvin's hair, "Now why would I want you do that? It's who you are." Calvin stared at him with confusion, "But what about Tam-?" Hobbes cut him off before he could finish, "Don't worry about it Calvin. We had a long mull over it, a long mull. Everything's cool."
In truth Calvin was just thankful that things smoothed over so easily, he was afraid that Hobbes was going to maul him. Instead, Hobbes pulled out a Hershey bar, "Let's play Calvinball" Hobbes said excitedly, "the Wackadoo way." Calvin shrugged, "Okay, how do you play it the Wackadoo way?" Hobbes stared at him as if he were a mental patient, "Seriously? You forgot the most important rule. There's no right way to play it and it's different every time. What's not hard to follow? The only difference is that the Wackadoo way is in Wackadoo. That's it. Everything else is the same."Calvin took a bite of the Hershey bar as Hobbes pulled out a large soccer ball. While Calvin was eating, Hobbes lobbed the ball his way, "Calvinball!" he screamed, and the game had begun.
Hobbes' bathroom was located on the other side of the room. Hobbes ran inside but before he could close the door, Calvin had made his way inside. Hobbes immediately turned around, "This is a safe area Calvin. If you're ever in danger, make your way to this bathroom. I'll find you okay?" Calvin nodded in understanding as Hobbes turned the doorknob.
They found themselves on the surface above Jessop just on the verge of a large amusement park. The rollercoaster, affectionately named ROAR due to the sound that it made during its launch sequence, was happily allowing its passengers off and on, and practically shook in its blots and boots when he saw Calvin. Calvin saw this and patted the gentle giant lovingly, "How we doing today?" Calvin asked. ROAR simply smiled open mouth like and opened his gate, patiently waiting for Calvin and Hobbes to board him. Hobbes turned towards ROAR, "Take it easy the first time around okay?" ROAR continued smiling and moved his gate slightly, begging Calvin to get on. Hobbes though, gave ROAR a death stare, "ROAR, I know. You haven't seen him since he was five years old and I know that you miss. But you have to promise me that you'll take it easy okay?" ROAR let out a huge sigh and gently complied.
Getting in ROAR, Calvin looked up at the track, the first hill was an almost vertical 90 degrees, this led directly to a loop and a corkscrew before it reached the top of the hill and made it's sharp descent into a large tunnel full of banks, more corkscrews, a big loop, three smaller ones in rapid succession before making a final bank out of the tunnel, which wrapped up and around to the left. Almost as soon as the car exited out of the tunnel it would hit a switch, sending the cars from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds, then a series of small hills bringing it back down to the ground and a small turn that slowed it down until it finally reached the entrance gate once again.
Hobbes strapped himself in and patiently waited for ROAR to begin. Calvin turned towards Hobbes, "Ain't this neat Hobbes?" Hobbes nodded in agreement, feeling a bit nervous, "Yeah" he said, "real neat." At that moment Hobbes heard a sound from one of the rear cars, looking behind him he saw another passenger. This passenger was short in comparison to Hobbes, wore a dark trench coat and glasses and had a stoic face. Hobbes' inner voice looked at this passenger and spoke to Hobbes, "I smell trouble Hobbes. You might want to keep an eye on that guy." Hobbes rolled his eyes for now his inner voice was just stating the obvious, "No shit Sherlock. Who do you think he is?" Hobbes' inner voice shrugged and answered him, "Probably a Killjoy spy or a rouge imaginary, either way best to just kill him and be done with it." Hobbes sighed heavily, "I can't just kill him in front of Calvin. It wouldn't be right!" Hobbes' inner voice huffed, "It's your duty." he said almost screaming in his head as he began to berate Hobbes, "As an imaginary friend to Calvin and your sworn oath to the Council as the member of the Order, it's your job to keep creators safe by any means necessary." Hobbes sighed and unsheathed his claws in preparation. At that exact moment, ROAR began to launch them.
Halfway up the hill, the passenger moved up a car, obviously he was an imaginary. Hobbes turned around, prepared to face him, instead the passenger sat down in the car behind him and smiled warmly, "How's it going?" he began, "I'm Zip." Hobbes cautiously extended his paw in greeting, "Nice to meet you." Zip huffed, "You ain't goanna tell me your name?" he asked. Hobbes shook his head, "I'm sorry. Don't talk to Killjoys or anyone affiliated with em. Bad luck." Hobbes turned around, as soon as this happened, Zip pulled out a rope, wrapped it around Hobbes' neck and began strangling him.
Calvin stared at Hobbes, "Hobbes" he asked, at first not seeing his situation, then he did a double take, "Hobbes! Hang on buddy I'm coming." Calvin unstrapped himself, Hobbes stopped him with his left paw and placed him back in his seat, "Don't..." Hobbes said struggling for air, "You'll fall." Calvin shook his head, "You're going to die Hobbes. Let me help you." Zip only laughed, "Ha! So the Great Tiger is sending a little kid to fight his battles. How cute, how sad, how utterly predictable, why don't you just go home kid? Leave me to my work." The car reached the top of the hill, Calvin looked down and spoke, "ROAR" he said, "stop the car." ROAR complied and stopped the car at the top of the hill, allowing Calvin to stand up.
Zip stood up bringing Hobbes with him, no sooner did this happen, did Hobbes wrap his tail around Zip's leg and flipped him over. Calvin, in an almost unbelievable burst of agility, front flipped over Hobbes and landed on Zip's stomach. Hobbes tried to pull him off but Calvin fought back with a punch in the stomach, turning back to Zip, Calvin leaned in, "This is my world" Calvin said, "Mine? Do you understand that? No one else's! Who sent you?" Zip laughed and pushed Calvin off, almost knocking him off the car. Hobbes grabbed Calvin's hand and attempted to pull him back to safety, "Hang on man!" Hobbes cried, "I can't!" Calvin screamed, "I'm slipping." Hobbes desperately tried to get a hold of Calvin, reached for him with his other hand, but before he could Zip struck him from behind. "A message from Mister X..." Zip said as he produced a crowbar from his coat and began beating Hobbes' back, who only remained as still as possible, not daring to let go of Calvin.
"Mister X" Hobbes said, "Is that who sent you? A common thug! You've got to be kidding me!" Zip shook his head in disbelief, "X is more than a thug. He's got agents all over Wackadoo, all over the world Hobbes." Hobbes laughed sarcastically, once again trying to lift Calvin; Zip hit him again, this time harder. Hobbes' grip began to slip, in a desperate attempt; Hobbes dug his claws into Calvin's arm, causing Calvin to scream in pain, "Hobbes!" he cried, "What the hell?" Hobbes shook his head, "Sorry buddy" he said, "its goanna hurt for a bit." Zip hit Hobbes once again, this time Hobbes let out a deafening scream, only causing Zip to smile more and hit him harder, Hobbes' back began bleeding, a rib could be heard cracking, still Hobbes held on.
"Why do you resist us?" Zip continued, "Just submit. Join us Hobbes, you can become powerful. Anything that you want...women, you got it, they'll be knocking down your door wanting to get in your bed. Money, okay, you're now richer than half of the leaders of the free world combined. Power, that comes automatically." Hobbes laughed sarcastically, "I'd rather die than join a gang of psychopath freaks on a war path." Zip sighed reluctantly, "Shame. You could've been great. Are you sure?" Hobbes nodded, "I'm damned sure you sick bastard. So I guess you're just goanna have to kill us both now." Zip smiled deviously and proceeded to hit Hobbes once again, more cracking of ribs and bones could be heard as Hobbes' back was broken.
Calvin tried to pull himself off, but before he could Hobbes stopped him once more, "Don't!" Hobbes cried, "He'll kill you." Calvin shook his head, "He's going to kill you Hobbes! And I'm be damned if I'm goanna let you die on me." Hobbes smiled warmly, "You're a good kid Calvin. Don't ever change okay? Promise me that. Don't ever change." Calvin nodded, "I promise Hobbes. I ain't changing for nobody." Hobbes looked to down to his right, "I love you Calvin..." Zip hit Hobbes once again, "You're like a son to me. I want you to know that." Calvin looked up , tears were in his eyes, "Hobbes...please. Don't let g-" Before he could finish Hobbes let go, the last thing he saw was Calvin falling, landing in the safety of the passing car below.
Zip looked on as Calvin disappeared through the tunnel and to the safety of the Jessop. He stared at the bleeding dead tiger and pulled out a cell phone, "Sir. Job's done. Hobbes is dead. Yes I confirmed it, killed him myself. No sir, Calvin escaped...It will be done." Zip hung up the phone and put it back in his coat pocket. He then threw both the crowbar and Hobbes body off the side of the rollercoaster, pulled out his zipper, stepped through and disappeared.
Calvin, inside Hobbes' house sat on the couch and cried. Walter, Tamilia and Charlie were across from him, doing their best to comfort Calvin and failing. "What happened kid?" Charlie asked, controlling his emotions for Calvin's sake and not breaking down and curling up in a ball like he wanted to. "It all happened so fast" Calvin answered, "We were on ROAR, just out for a good time. Then this guy, Zip comes up and starts attacking Hobbes..." Tamilia now started to cry, realizing that Hobbes was dead. "Did he at least die well?" Walter asked sincerely, Calvin nodded, "Like a boss" he answered, "Like a damned boss Walter." Walter nodded in silent agreement, "Good. That means he'll be back." Calvin looked up; Charlie stared at Walter, "What are you talking about? Hobbes is dead." Walter shook his head, "No he isn't" Walter turned towards Calvin, "not even close."