Chapter 16: In Wolf's Clothing

When Allison and Tom walked into their safe room, they weren't expecting someone to already be there. And they certainly weren't expecting it to be Henry.

"Henry! What are you still doing here?!" Allison said. "How did you even find this place?"

"By accident," Henry said. He looked away. There were bags under his eyes. "Felt safe though. Sorry. Didn't mean to intrude."

"No that's not the..." Allison sighed. She ushered Tom inside and shut the door, locking it a moment later. "You were supposed to leave the park and go back home. Did you not make it out?"

"No. I could have made it out," Henry said. "The gate was right there in front of me. But I..." He put his hand on his forehead. "...they got Norman. I saw a GENT guy take him. And I...I did nothing. I just watched it happen. I saw the fear in his eyes. I knew he was in trouble. And I...I didn't do a thing." Henry met Allison's eyes. "By the time I finally came to my senses, by the time it finally hit me that I needed to help, he was gone. But I couldn't just leave after what I saw. I have to make sure he's alright."

"Shit," Allison muttered under her breath. She set down the box of parts on the ground and plopped on one of the cots, running a hand through her hair. Tom tried to cross him arms, but resorted to putting an arm on his hip instead, eyes narrowing at Henry.

Who was this guy? Why did Allison know him? Wait...this was Henry? THE Henry?! The Henry that helped start this whole mess? If Tom could talk, he'd have quite a few choice words for this rotten ba-

"If they got Norman, it's only a matter of time before Joey figures out I'm involved," Allison said. "I trust Norman, but I know he'll crack under pressure. I'm not sure I would be any different, faced with everything that Joey is capable of. But why'd you come here, Henry? Why not go straight to the studio and try to get him? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad you didn't. That would have been suicide."

"I know it would have," Henry explained. "But it was getting late and I knew I couldn't be caught out at night, so I thought it'd just be best to call Linda then find a place to hide."

"You called her? From where?" Allison asked.

"Some of the pay phones around the park. I know it was risky, but I couldn't have her worrying about me, so I just told her I'd be a bit later than I thought and not to wait up for me," he said.

"Does she know you're here?"

"No. Not directly. But she's smart. It won't take her long to figure it out. After I called her and let her know, I knew I needed to find a place to hide. I was hoping I'd be able to find you. Figure out what your plans were, and let you know what was going on. But it was getting dark, so I headed down to the tunnels and found a place that I thought might be safe. And now, here we are," Henry said. "Just what's been going on up there? I thought I heard alarms."

"Long story," Allison said. "I'll tell you in a bit. Right now, I just...I just..."

Henry looked passed Allison, his brow raised in confusion. She looked over her shoulder to see Tom writing on the wall again. She hadn't noticed that he'd taken more ink and paint.

Rest

"Tom, I'm fine, I don't have time for that, we need to find a way to barracade you before the sun rises, we need to figure out a plan on how, or if, we can save Norman, we need to figure out how to save you..."

Tom shook his head.

Sleep. I'll block the door.

"You can't do that alone," Allison said.

He pointed to Henry.

"I can help," Henry said quickly. "I'm a bit confused as to what I need to do, but just give me the word. I'm Henry, by the way."

"This is Tom," Allison said. "My Tom."

"Oh! Yes of course, you're the Tom that she cares so much about," Henry said. "That makes sense then."

Tom had to resist the urge to smile, trying really hard to keep his stern expression focused on Henry.

Her Tom.

He liked that.

Allison sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll get some sleep. Just wake me when it's your turn, okay?"

Tom shook his head. Don't need sleep.

"Oh. Well...still. Wake me before it gets too late, or if you need me, or-"

Tom huffed, gently pushing her, and she laughed.

"Okay! Okay. You sure are bossy," she teased, but moved to lay down on the bed. Tom walked over to some of the cupboards in the room, hoping to find a blanket or pillow. He found some blankets, but she'd have to do without a pillow. That didn't seem to matter much though. By the time he returned to the cot, Allison was already fast asleep. He put the blanket over her and sat at her side, then finally turned to look at Henry.

"You need me to barricade the door?"

Tom's eyes narrowed. Henry swallowed.

"Is there...something wrong?"

Your fault.

"My fault? What's my fault?" Henry asked.

Everything. You made Bendy. And Boris.

Henry looked away. "I...I didn't think it would end up like this."

Tom knew he was right. He knew that this wasn't really fair. But he still needed something to be angry at. Seeing Allison curled up beside him, barely able to keep her eyes open for more than a few minutes but still trying to push on, keep fighting, was breaking his heart. She shouldn't be like this. She should be smiling and singing, dancing on stage and doing what she loved. But instead, she was stuck here, fighting for her life, fighting to protect him, refusing to leave his side. It was heartbreaking. It was infuriating. Tom hated it. He hated everything about it. He'd done enough hating on himself, and enough hating on Joey. Henry was the only thing left he could direct his anger toward, and he knew it wasn't fair, but dammit, he needed something to get mad at.

Tom smeared away his last words on the wall, then stood, pointing to the door.

Block. When the sun comes up, I'll try to escape. Stop me.

Henry nodded and stood up. "Right. Do we have any tools, or wood, or...?"

Tom headed beside him with his tools.

I'll help. Just do what I say.

Throughout the night, Henry and Tom worked to barricade the door with wood and nails. Occasionally, Tom would stop to make sure they hadn't woken up Allison. But even through all of their hammering and work, she'd slept soundly. How long had it been since she'd had any sleep? Too long, clearly. Eventually though, their work was done, and after letting her sleep a bit longer, Tom begrudgingly woke her up.

Allison rubbed her eyes and sat back up, looking at their handiwork at the door. "Oh...you guys did good work. How long until daylight?"

Henry check his watch. "We've still got a couple hours."

"Good," Allison said. "Tom, I'm going to make you a new arm."

Tom tilted his head and furrowed his brows.

"Well I'll need your help of course," she said. "But these spare parts I picked up from the factory can help, right? I'm no engineer, but you can help me. Show me what to do. Write blueprints on the wall. I can help. Besides, some of these factory parts are already designed to move since they're attached to mechanical attractions, like the Haunted House."

Tom put his hand to his chin, but then nodded. This could work. But they didn't have much time.

"Let me help too," Henry said. "Even if it's just handing you the tools you need."

Allison nodded. It wasn't easy. In fact, it was painstakingly difficult, and with their time quickly dwindling, every second was precious. They'd take breaks only so Tom could write more instructions, and Henry and Allison would work on tightening screws or attaching wires while he wrote out what to do next. Allison wasn't used to this kind of work, but Tom was patient, using his one free hand to point out what to do or where to put parts, even taking his tools back into his own hands now and then. Ten minutes before sunrise, they finished.

Tom squeezed his new hand one, twice, three times. He was surprised how quickly it responded, but it was Henry's idea to pump the same ink in Tom's body through small tubes down to even the smallest digits. And it worked like a charm. The arm was quite naturally, it didn't quite feel as right as his other arm, but this whole body was one big culmination of unnatural parts, so he adjusted quickly.

Allison sat back with a smile. "Success...now you'll have a better means to defend yourself. Once we make some tools that is."

"It's bizarre," Henry said. "Living like this, just below the park. Everyone up there just goes about their daily lives, while we're talking about weapons of survival."

"It does feel weird," Allison said. "But eventually, you just get used to it. It was even weirder having to force myself to try to continue my work here as a voice actress."

"You don't anymore?"

"No," Allison said. "Sammy brought an end to that."

"Sammy Lawrence? The music director?" Henry asked.

"Was. I...doubt he survived that attack with Bendy," Allison said. "He'd gone crazy, worshiping Bendy and some sort of divine being, claiming that the inky bodies were a higher form of some kind. He'd completely lost his mind. Even if Joey's hired a replacement by now, he's gotta be looking for me. I can't go back."

"Missing music directors, mechanics, workers, and even factory accidents...surely we're doing something with all of this? Joey has to be feeling the pressure, right?" Henry asked. "It's got to be hard to keep all of this under wraps."

"I thought so too. But then I came across the missing person reports," Allison said. Henry's eyes widened, but she continued. "Stacks and stacks of reports of people who'd gone missing. And not just adults. Children. Anyone who gets separated from the group seems to go missing, and yet it's all covered up somehow."

"To have that kind of power...Joey has to have the police in his back pocket."

"With as much money as this park makes, I wouldn't doubt it," Allison started, but then looked over at Tom, who was shaking his head and blinking. Her eyes softened. "...sunrise?"

Tom nodded. She saw him clench his fists over and over, grip at his arm and tense his whole body up. His mouth moved up and down, mouthing soundless words over and over again. It was hard to read what they were behind a wolfish face, but Allison could make out what he was saying to himself.

Tom. Allison. Tom. Allison. Tom.

She put a hand on his shoulder and he flinched, looking at her with wide, fearful eyes.

"It's okay," she said softly. "I'm right here. You don't have to fight it. You'll be alright."

He buried his head in her shoulder and gripped onto her shoulders tightly, afraid to let go, his whole frame shaking against her, but then he went limp against her. A moment later, he pulled back, and gave a large, wolfish grin at her.

"Hi Boris," she whispered, hoping he didn't notice the crack in her voice and the quiver of her lips. Boris the Wolf smiled at her and waved, bouncing back and forth happily.

Henry cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair. "He...he has to go through that every morning? Slowly forgetting who he is?"

Allison nodded. "That's why he barricaded the door. Boris will try to entertain people. It's who he is. Not doing so probably feels like going against his very nature, so he'll try to go where the people are to entertain them. But if Joey catches him without an arm, or in this case, with his new arm, he'll have him destroyed."

"He probably already made a new Boris by now anyway," Henry said.

"Exactly. And having two running around would be bad for Joey."

"...well then," Henry said, moving to sit right in front of Boris. His ears perked up and turned toward Henry. "Let's see if we can use this leftover wood and string to make Boris here a banjo. If he can entertain us, then he might not try to entertain other people somewhere else. Right? It might...be easier on him."

Allison smiled. "Thank you, Henry."

"...you know looking for Norman will be best during the day," Allison said.

It was well passed midday now. Allison and Henry were both starving, and had cleared through the room's reserve cans of bacon soup hours ago. Boris was plucking away at the banjo strings in the corner, happily entertaining them with the same songs he knew over and over again. Any time he started to get restless, Allison would come up with a new game for them to play, or request a new song or dance, this Boris would smile, sit down, and start the same process all over again.

Henry looked up at her. "Yeah, but it's not like we can just leave Tom here to go look. We'd have to remove the barricades."

"Not necessarily," Allison said, heading over to the door. "Tom is smart. If this room is really going to be our safe room for a while, he'd find a way to make the barricade easy to remove and put back together again, but too complicated for Boris to figure out on his own." She fidgeted with a few gadgets on the door, and sure enough, a few moments later, the boards lifted and the door swung open. Allison smiled to herself. "I knew it. Tom's brilliant. He designed this barricade like a heavy-duty lock. We can close the door from the outside, and it will lock back up automatically. And moving it from the inside is tricky, you have to move this pin right here," she pointed out. It's too small to notice unless you know where to look."

"So...what?" Henry asked.

"So I'm saying, I'm going up to look for Norman. At the very least, I'm going to get us some food to store down here. If this place is going to be our home for a while, we're going to need food and water," she said.

"What? Alone? You know they're going to be looking for you," Henry said.

"Yeah, and they'll be looking for you, too, but I know how these tunnels work by now," Allison said. "Not perfectly, but I've got a good idea of where everything is and how to find my way around. I can also slip in and out of the crowds easier than you can."

"No offense Allison, but...you're covered in ink and filthy. I think you're still going to stand out," Henry said.

"Already thought of that," she said. "Joey keeps changing rooms where park staff can store their uniforms and shower. He doesn't like it when staff take their 'custom Bendyland uniforms' home, so they all store them. I can get in, clean up, and take a uniform before I'm even noticed. Joey won't be looking for someone in a staff uniform, I come to work dressed business casual normally."

"And what if it doesn't work? What if Joey still catches you?" Henry said. "Then what? Then we've got two missing people and we're both separated."

"Stop worrying," Allison said. "I'll only be gone for a minute. I'll do a quick survey, see if I can get an idea of where they're keeping Norman, grab us some food, then come right back. I promise."

"You know if you don't make it back before dark and Tom wakes up, he's going to kill me for letting you go," Henry said with a sigh.

Allison smiled. "Then I promise to be back before dark."

Henry stared at her and then ran a hand through his hair. "...there's no convincing you otherwise, is there?"

"Nope."

"Alright. Then just...be careful, and be quick. I'll stay here and keep Boris entertained. But if you're not back an hour before close, I'm coming to look for you. Okay? That gives you an hour and a half," Henry said.

"An hour before close. Got it," Allison said. She looked over at Boris, at Tom, and her eyes softened. He looked at her and smiled, waving again. She returned the smile and waved. "I'll be right back. I promise."

Then she left, closing and locking the door behind her.