Welcome to Bendyland Chapter 10: Walk, Don't Run
Bendy couldn't roar or scream, so the studio answered his call. The walls and floors shook with his rage as the lights wobbled unsteadily above, throwing sparks down on their heads. Allison shrieked and ducked away, covering her head as Bendy turned to Alice and shadows erupted out of his form, reaching toward her.
Alice could scream, and her melodic voice turned to a banshee's cry as she dove away from the shadows and toward the band chairs and stands. Her eyes were locked onto Allison, wild, crazy, moving toward her as Allison ran for the door. Sammy reached out to catch her arm, but failed as Bendy spun around and inadvertently smacked Sammy out of the way. Sammy cried out, bouncing off of the now cracked recording booth glass and crawling to his hands and knees. "Milord...milord, please, please make me like you! A heavenly, inky body, a creation that exists in the dark puddles, I beg of you, I've brought you these sheep, just for you, now please just-"
It wasn't even on purpose. Bendy had barely even looked at Sammy, barely even passed him a glance, he'd just barreled passed him to get to Alice, thrown him against the wall again with a thud, only for Sammy to sink away, drown in the shadows that were quickly spreading to cover every ink of the room. The mask he wore cracked, revealing eyes that changed from crazed, to horrified, to scared, to angry, and then to nothing as he was swallowed up completely. Gone. Just like that, the ink had grabbed Sammy and pulled him away in the chaos.
The room continued to shake as Bendy made lumbering movements toward Alice, grabbing her. She cried out at his touch immediately, the ink around her face melting as if trying to join Bendy's own form. She grabbed a chair and smacked it at his head. It sunk in with a sickening plop. Bendy bat at his face to dislodge the chair as Alice again ran toward Allison.
Allison ran to Norman, who was cowering in the corner, covering his head. "Norman, get up! We have to go!" Allison shouted, dragging the whimpering man to his feet. "We have to go now!"
"YOU!" Alice screamed, standing between Allison and the door. Ink pooled and leaked from her eyes, her chest rising and falling with every raspy breath. "You...you took EVERYTHING FROM ME! You took my job! My life! You took everything from me! EVERYTHING!"
Allison's eyes darted wildly around the room, looking for a way out. She wanted to ask Alice what the hell she was talking about, but she was afraid that speaking anymore would just make things worse, somehow make the delusional angel even angrier. Bendy had given up on trying to dislodge the chair, tearing it apart piece by piece and flinging inky wooden shards around the room as the shadows continued to stretched out, grabbing onto planks and ripping them from the walls, dragging the lights down from the ceiling and crashing onto the floor. The creak and groan of wood was deafening.
Boris broke Allison's frantic glances, stepping between her and Alice. He had an old axe in his hands. Allison recognized it as a fireman's axe, really only supposed to be used for emergencies. This definitely qualified.
Alice's angry face broke for a moment into a wide grin. "Pffft...ahahaha! You're the first of the Boris's to ever stand against me! How cute! Ohhhh I can't wait to rip you apart...will you be the one to finally make me beautiful? Or do I need her?" she snarled, pointing to Allison.
The Boris was protecting them? He ignored Alice, looking over his shoulder to Allison and Norman for just a moment.
There it was again. That look in his eyes. A feeling Allison couldn't describe. Something right there, some piece she couldn't quite grasp.
"A-Allison, there's a back door this way, up through Sammy's studio!" Norman whispered, grabbing onto her arm. His hands were cold but sweaty, tugging at her insistently as Bendy finally dislodged the chair and turned to the group with a hiss. "Just let the Boris die, we can get out of here!"
She couldn't. This felt too familiar. She couldn't move. She just kept staring at the Boris, who had turned his gaze away from her, was staring at Bendy and Alice as they both moved toward them, backing up step by step.
"Tom?" she whispered.
He tried to hide it. Tried to hide his reaction. But she saw his grip tighten around the axe. She saw his form stiffen.
She saw him smile for just a moment.
Her breath caught in her throat, somewhere between a cry and a hysterical laugh of joy, but Alice reached for Boris, her fingers as sharp as claws, and Bendy made a move to grab for him as well. Their hands were on Boris in an instant. Clawing. Grabbing. Ripping at him to get to them, to get to her, and he fought as much as he could but the two monsters didn't care who he was or why he stood in their way.
Allison was grabbing for her kitchen knife instinctively. Her other hand reached down to grab the axe on the ground as Norman's hand fell from her arm and he disappeared down a door, down another hallway and out of sight, leaving her to her own fate. That was fine. If he wanted to flee up to Sammy's studio and through the back door, she wouldn't stop him or blame him. But she wasn't going to abandon Tom a second time.
She swung the axe at Bendy, his gaze turning to her in shock for just a moment before it sunk into his face. He stumbled backward, nearly pulling Boris with him. Alice pulled him in the other direction. There was a snapping sound. Allison couldn't focus on that though. She turned to Alice while Bendy was stunned, lifting up the kitchen knife and diving it into her chest. Her mouth opened in shock, a tiny squeak of horror as ink bubbled out of the wound. The both of them toppled to the ground, Alice's claws digging into Allison's skin and making her cry out. She didn't let up though, she pulled the knife out in one motion, ready to lift it up again if she needed to.
But she stopped. Alice's face was different for a moment. Scared. Her mouth twisted up as her eyes watered.
"I'm sorry, Allison..." Alice said. "She...she made me do it...it wasn't my fault..."
Allison blinked in confusion. "You...-ack!"
Bendy barreled into her, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her into the air. She kicked wildly, her mouth opening and closing, gasping for air, gasping for breath as she felt his ink grip onto her. He ripped the axe out of his head and tossed it aside, the ink reforming him a moment later. His mouth was shaking up and down so quickly now it became a blur of motion, of teeth, of darkness, and every time she tried to grab at his hand, pull it away from her neck, her fingers just slipped or sunk into the ink, grabbing onto nothing and tainting her fingers black.
She didn't want to die. And she was scared. She kicked out at him with her feet until one of her shoes got stuck in his chest and fell off, but that still didn't stop him as he pushed her harder into the wall, too hard, her bones pressing into the wood and feeling like they might break or snap.
Allison looked down at the Boris on the floor. He wasn't moving. Was she too late? Had they killed him before she could get to him, after finally finding him?
This wasn't exactly how she hoped it would go. If she was going to die, she at least wanted it to mean something. Get the studio shut down. Keep this from happening to anyone else. But she would just be another cover up. Another missing person. Never to be seen again.
Right as her arms started to fall limply to her sides, bright light lit up the room, sweeping over to Bendy and blinding him. Loud cartoon music erupted overhead, and Bendy reared back, dropping Allison and covering his face.
"RUN MISS ALLISON!" Norman shouted, up in Sammy's booth, wildly moving the spotlight back and forth to blind the inky devil.
She tried, but it was still hard to breath and she fell over again when she rose to her feet, fell over and was tumbling down into unconsciousness, even as an arm was lifting her up, grabbing her, supporting her and leading her away from the room and away from the studio.
She knew. She knew who he was. She had figured it out. The second his name left her lips again, Tom was ready to die. He was ready to die before then, die protecting her, but when she called out his name, it felt like everything he'd been through was worth it, just to hear it one last time.
Remembering was getting harder every night, and impossible during the day. The others, Bendy and Alice, turned into monsters at night, but Tom turned into himself again. Rather, he remembered himself again. Days were a blur of forced smiles, words and lines and music shoved into his brain, taking over his thoughts and forcing him to act like someone else entirely. He acted out a script unknowingly, uncaring, only remembering his name when darkness fell over the studio, where "Tom" would return to him, and soon, "Allison." He'd curl up in some random corner, unable to even cry or speak the names aloud, but repeating them over and over. Tom. Allison. Tom. Allison. He tried to force himself not to forget, to paint on walls or the floors, but without fail, the second the sun rose and the park opened, those names were swept away from him, and Boris took the stage.
Now here she was. Allison. Why hadn't she left? Why hadn't she heeded his warning and gotten out like he tried to tell her to?
He knew why. Because of him. He should have just lied and told her that he was leaving and hated her or something. Even the thought of saying such a blatant lie made his stomach hurt. But it's what he should have done.
He was selfish in being glad she recognized him. He tried so hard not to give it away. Not to turn around and throw his arms around her. He thought it would be better if she didn't know. After all, Tom thought that he was about to die. He didn't want Allison to have to feel that kind of pain twice.
That hadn't exactly worked out as planned, because now, here they were.
Tom sat at Allison's side, pulling the blanket up further around her after cleaning the remaining ink off of her neck. The man she was with, who Tom didn't recognize, was sitting on the other side of the room, trying not to shake like a leaf. Tom shot him glares every now and then, even though he knew it was stupid to be jealous. He had saved their life, so that was something. But what was Allison doing with him anyway? Shifting, mousy guy like that...
When Tom had pulled Allison away from Bendy, Norman had nearly tried to take her from him, to pull her along and leave Tom behind, but one look from Tom sent the man shrieking and backing away.
If he could talk, he'd have quite a few choice words for him.
"Y-Y-You're not going to hurt her, are you?" the man stuttered. "B-B-Because I won't let you if that's, uh, if that's gonna be the case! She's a good friend a' mine who really helped me out. Or...well, I guess she kinda got me into this mess to begin with...b-but still!"
Tom scowled at him, and he clammed up immediately.
"G-Guess if you were going to hurt her, you would have done it by now, huh..." he stuttered. "Well, that there's Miss Allison. And I'm Norman."
Tom tried not to roll his eyes too obviously.
"Thank you for...well, for letting us get away."
Tom didn't want his thanks. He hadn't done it for him. If he hadn't been making so much noise in those tunnels, Alice wouldn't have found them at all. Tom had almost lost that crazy angel down there in the tunnels until Norman had to go and start screaming. Then they all ended up going right toward Bendy...what a mess.
"Sorry you...lost your arm," Norman said.
Tom didn't answer. He couldn't, of course, but he wouldn't have known what to say in this instance anyway. Small price to pay, he guessed. Not sure what Joey would think of an armless Boris. It might mean trouble. It might mean he gets replaced, or killed off. He might need to stay in hiding for a while, but he wasn't sure how that would work, turning back into "Boris" during the day. Would he mindlessly wander out of whatever hiding spot he'd manage to find, urged on by the sound of children laughing, knowing it was his job to entertain? He needed to find a place to lock himself away. Someplace he wouldn't be found, or be able to get out of if he tried. The place they were in now was just a temporary shelter he'd manage to set up underneath the studio, in an old abandoned room at the edges of the tunnels. It might do, but he wasn't sure.
Allison stirred, and Tom stiffened, waiting for her to wake up, to see her eyes open again, to hear her voice. But instead, she just rolled over. Tom breathed a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. This was...hard. Harder than he thought. Maybe he should just leave now. Try to find another empty room and barricade himself in.
She'd be mad if he left before she could wake up...but daylight was steadily approaching. He could feel it. Parts of his past and memories starting to slip away. He didn't want to be here when that happened. He wasn't strong enough to force that on her.
Tom stood and headed for the door out of the room.
"Y-you're leaving?" Norman asked. "But she, she hasn't woken up yet..."
Tom glared down at him, pointed to him firmly, then pointed to Allison.
"Stay and watch her. Got it," he squeaked.
Good. He was able to communicate something at least.
He looked over his shoulder at her. Allison. So many things he wished he could say, but goodbye wasn't one of them. Tom bit back a silent sigh and headed out of the room.
Sammy stirred on the ground, trying to pry himself to at least his hands and knees despite his body screaming out in pain. Every single part of him hurt like hell. Hurt more than words would describe. But the aching in his chest was the worst.
Betrayed. Abandoned. Barely even looked upon. Like he was just a bug. An ant. An insect. Worth nothing in the eyes of his god, even after all the trouble he'd gone through. All he needed was a glance, an acknowledgment. His request hadn't been too much, had it? Simply asking to be like him, to wander these halls eternally as a being of ink...
Maybe it was too much to ask for. But then, what else did Sammy have? This had been his life for years. His calling. His god. But no. Bendy really was nothing more than a devil. A horrible, terrible, awful demon who had used Sammy and then cast him aside.
Sammy flopped back down to the ground, his bare face landing in a puddle of ink. It'd be stained black by the morning. His recording studio was a mess. Ink was dripping from every corner. Bendy had long since disappeared, Sammy didn't care where anymore. Wooden boards and lights had fallen from the ceilings and walls. The projector screen had been ripped in half chairs thrown against the wall. The spotlight flickered, battery slowly dying, nothing but the dull, repeating sounds of the cartoon audio as the record hit a scratch and repeated the same tune again and again and again.
It was only a matter of time before Mister Joey Drew came by to see him, or maybe one of the other workers. They'd see the mess and go running, and Joey would march down. Probably fire Sammy. Take his studio and his work away from him. Sammy didn't have the strength to even try to protect anymore, his muscles still aching. He may have even broken a few bones or gotten a concussion. He wasn't sure. He didn't really care about that either.
Footsteps. Heels? That's odd. Maybe one of the workers was already there. He was sure he looked like a mess.
Someone leaned down. He struggled to look up and see who it was, to at least meet their eyes with his own blank, defeated ones.
Ah. So it was the angel. Alice. The deformed seraph.
She knelt down to him, lifted up his face in her hands. There was a wound in her chest, quickly sealing with ink as the sun started to rise, and her form healed back to its "true self."
"Hello Sammy. Do you know who I am?"
Of course he did. Alice Angel. He was too exhausted to care though, his whole head was pounding too much for him to even try to speak, and he felt the room spinning around them both. If she were going to kill him, she should just get on with it.
"I used to be Susie. Pretty little Susie. Do you remember?"
The room stopped spinning.
"But then...they made me an angel. A real angel, Sammy. I never went missing at all..." she giggled.
His mouth was open in shock, but she carried on.
"Sometimes I forget, you know. Forget I was never anything but an angel. They've made me so ugly...I just want to be beautiful. I just want to be the perfect angel. That's all. Bendy betrayed me too, you know. Bendy and Joey Drew. But I would never betray you, Sammy. Even though you betrayed me."
Her grip around his face tightened. Her nails dug into his skin. But his eyes never left her face. He barely noticed the pain anymore.
How could he have not seen it before?
"What do you say Sammy?" she cooed. "Want to help make me beautiful and perfect? Do you want to walk with angels?"
He couldn't speak. His jaw wouldn't form the words. He's not sure if the praise he babbled would make much sense to her anyway. His angel. His true goddess. His Susie. What a fool he was for looking to Bendy before now, when a true angel was here before him all along.
She laughed, music to his ears, pulling him away to somewhere he didn't know, but his heart felt light again, even as his bones ached and screamed their pains, her humming under her breath swept him away as the angel claimed a new follower.
Well that was a fun chapter~ And things will only get crazier from here~
Thanks for reading Welcome to Bendyland. Stayed tuned for the next chapter soon!
(Oh, also, random side note, but I haven't gotten a chance to purchase/read the new "Employee Manual" book, and likely won't be able to read the other Bendy book releasing soon for a while as well, so pretty please avoid spoilers for those two things in the comments. I'm going to get around to reading them soon, but not immediately, and have actually done really well in avoiding all spoilers thus far and would like to keep it that way. Thanks in advance!)