Chapter Four:

Every Bob For Himself

Mario, Luigi, and Bob hid in the Tick-Tock Clock room, making sure that the star door was closed shut and tight. And yet, they didn't have many ideas in mind and were uncertain of how things were going to play out from here, especially with their friends as T-posing zombie, drone, things.

"MARIO!" Luigi panicked, "Is there anything else we can do."

"We're all going to die." Mario flashed a thumbs up along with a derp-y expression on his face.

"Let's set the place on fire, burn the T-posing b****es to the ground!" Bob suggested.

"NO, BOB, WE CAN'T!" Luigi screamed, "THOSE ARE OUR FRIENDS!"

"Don't-a worry, Meggy's gonna kick their asses." Mario quipped, he popped open the star door to look outside, "It-a doesn't look like they're coming up here anymore."

Just then, Meggy appeared several feet from the door, near the top of the stairs, T-posing and staring blankly at Mario while SMG4, Toad and Shroomy appeared. Mario yelped and closed the door shut, then he turned to Luigi and Bob.

"Oh no. What now?" Luigi asked, he already knew what was going on.

BAM! The door began to shake, the T-Pose zombies on the other side had gotten closer and were trying to get in. Mario and Luigi made haste and pressed their hands against the door, trying to keep it closed, even as they saw their T-posing friends on the other side through the crack.

"BOB! HELP US WITH THE DOOR!" Mario cried.

"O' Lord, help these two get into Heaven." Bob suddenly said, "They were cool and, now, they're about to die."

"BOB!" Luigi pleaded.

"I'm going to the roof." The Garo announced, "Peace out, b****es."

Mario and Luigi could not believe what was happening, Bob was leaving them at the mercy of the T-Pose Zombies without a second thought. As if this day could not get any crazier and things couldn't look more bleak. Their train of thought was cut off as the door burst open, knocking Mario and Luigi back several feet, and a horde of T-posers entered.

While that was happening. Bob darted up the stairs above the door and made his way to the star door that led to the Endless Stairs, which led to both the door to the roof and the chute to the place that had once been Bowser's sky lair.

The door opened and Bob grabbed some wooden construction planks that were laying close by, then he picked up a box of nails, and ran up the stairs. He ran as fast as he could, despite the steepness of the stairs and the weight of his load. Bob nearly expected a jingle-dingle tune that accompanied a flight up the endless stairs, he almost thought he wouldn't get to the top.

But he did. Bob could hear the faint cries of Mario and Luigi panicking and he betted the T-Posers had gotten to them.

'Sorry that I couldn't save you, guys.' Bob thought, 'I wish it didn't have to end up like this.'

No regrets bubbled to the front of his mind, the robed Garo looked towards the nearby door and opened it, stepping out onto the red-colored roof of Peach's Castle to a bright blue sky and fresh air. Bob closed the door behind him and put down the box of nails, then he slapped the two boards over the door, grabbed a hammer and some nails, and started boarding up as fast as he could.

'Can't let 'em get me, can't let 'em get me.' Bob thought, 'Gotta ride out the apocalypse as best we could, perhaps it'll be up to me to find a way to fix things.'

Back inside the castle, Mario and Luigi faced the incoming T-pose zombies alone and filled with uncertainty, then they recalled where Bob said he would be going. Even though he'd ditched them, maybe he still had some grace left to let them join him on the roof.

Mario and his brother made a mad dash to the stairs, ran to the star door, and ran through it to the Endless Stairs. Behind them, the T-pose zombies weren't far off. Meggy, SMG4 and the others glided after the two plumbers, following their path up the stairs towards the door in the seconds after the brothers had gone through.

Panic-driven, their hearts beating intensely, Mario and Luigi dashed up the Endless Stairs and reached the area where the portal to Bowser's old Sky Keep was located. But they knew, the zombies would follow them into the paintings, to Bob-Omb Battlefield and the others, even into the Tick-Tock Clock. And there was no doubt they wouldn't be safe in Bowser's various lairs.

The roof was the only way, they would board up the door, and wait it out. Mario and Luigi ran to the door and turned the knob, only to discover that the door would not open.

It wouldn't open?!

"BOB, NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Luigi screamed, "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US!"

"LET US IN, YOU BASTARD!" Mario shouted, "UNBLOCK THE DOOR!"

On the other side of the door, Bob finished hammering and put away his tool along with the box that was filled with nothing but extra nails. The Garo's eyes closed briefly to indicate he was letting off a somewhat bright smile, despite the chaos going on.

"That ought to do it." Bob quipped, "I will be safe and will be the last dude alive. Now all the women will have to make love to me in order to ensure the survival of what remains of civilization as everything else crumbles to the T-posers. Bob, you are a genius! In fact, perhaps this is a good time to fly and leave the castle before it gets run down by those zombies."

Feeling sure of himself, Bob walked away from the door and approached the edge. But when he looked down, his heart sank.

Down below, standing in the courtyard and the dried-up moat, surrounding the castle, was a large horde of Thwomps, Koopas, Toads, all T-posing and staring blankly. Bob looked around, backing away from the edge. It seemed like there was no way out. One wrong move, one fall from the roof, and it was over.

"Piss." Bob muttered; he had underestimated how large the T-Pose crisis was. Surviving and riding out the zombie apocalypse was going to be way harder; the Garo didn't know how he could save the people of the Mushroom Kingdom and everyone else all on his own.

Today looking to be a very grim day. As far as Bob knew, it was the beginning of the end...