It's not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.
- Unknown
Koa didn't want to know the conditions of what was in the black body bags hanging in these rooms. The very idea that she was in a massive graveyard made her uncomfortable.
DogDay was right. This place was a graveyard.
Seeing a note nearby, she picked it up to read as it was a short one.
'Dear Mr. and Mrs. Ayers,
We can give him back to you. Your son Jack can live.
Show this message to no one.
Six weeks from the time of receiving this letter, return to the Playtime Co. factory. Someone will be waiting for you there.
A Friend'
In the corner of the note was a picture of a young boy holding a Doey the Doughman action figure. The boy, whom was most likely Jack from the letter, was peering over a railing in the factory.
Koa's hand went to her mouth in shock.
She didn't want to know what exactly happened to the child. This hellhole had destroyed enough lives.
Pressing forward, she saw the hallway was blocked by a knocked over refrigerator. It was still angled as it was leaning against shelving.
Seeing a chain, she hooked it to the fridge, but the handle bar to activate the chain was missing. Traveling through what was no doubt a kitchen, she noticed a trail of decaying blood on the floor.
After following it a short distance, she paused. There was a smell in the air.
"Rain?" she questioned.
It smelled like rain. None of the Smiling Critters smelled like rain. Remembering there were other plushes back in the Prison, she guessed it was one of them. Prepping the Grab-Pack's flare gun, and her other hand on her knife if it was just one toy, she walked forward carefully.
Right outside a walk-in freezer, a large toy rat jumped from the wall. Koa pulled out her knife and swiped to the side, decapitating the rat instantly.
When the rat landed on the floor in two separate pieces, she listened for more movement. When nothing else happened, she looked back to the blood trail and saw a chewed up PickyPiggy plush. Finding the missing lever behind the plush, she sighed sadly and retrieved the lever, sheathing her knife as she did.
Once the lever was in place, she pulled it and the chain straightened up the refrigerator.
Seeing a doorway up ahead, she ran for them…
Only to be grabbed and pulled into a small side hall.
Her assailant covered her mouth before she could scream and hugged her biceps tightly to her sides. She tried to dig her heels into the ground to save herself, but stopped when a familiar smell hit her nose.
The welcoming smell of DogDay's vanilla. But there was a familiar metallic, irony smell of blood mixed in.
Before she could look behind her, she saw Kissy and Poppy, Kissy Missy's face half burnt and her right eye half swollen shut. Poppy was on her shoulder, looking Koa dead in the eye and held a silencing finger to her mouth.
"Shhhh!"
Before Koa could try to question what was going on or what had happened, loud metallic sounds echoed the halls.
Whatever was moving in that hall was huge!
At the end of the hall, three large robotic legs designed like crab legs came into view. They stopped right at the end of the hall in plain view.
Koa's unwrapped eye widened in horror and her grip on DogDay's arm tightened. She felt him hug her tighter in fear. Kissy and Poppy watched as the large figure stood there.
The figure then twitched one of its legs, metallic gears grinding and cogs clicking. The figure then walked away, revealing three more legs behind him, chains clanking and metallic gears grinding.
Poppy looked away, clenching her chest in hopes of calming herself. Soon, the footsteps faded. DogDay switched his grip on Koa, removing his hand from her face and picking her up carefully, to which Koa didn't protest.
"Through the showers," Poppy instructed quietly. "We should be able to make it into the Save Haven from there."
Kissy led the group through the back hall and around a corner, stopping before leaving their hiding spot.
Poppy checked their surroundings, "when I say so, we go." Looking again, Poppy pointed in the direction to take and instructed quietly, "go!"
With that, Kissy and DogDay left the side hall and quickly yet quietly traveled the showers. Koa looked over DogDay's shoulder to watch from behind. Seeing a tape, Koa used the Blue Grab-Pack canon to retrieve it. Once she had it, she pocketed it.
The group rounded a corner and eventually made it to blast doors. Kissy slammed in the door twice while DogDay glanced behind them anxiously.
"Hurry! Let us in!" Poppy called out.
The blast doors then opened up and Kissy and DogDay rushed in. Koa was amazed at what she saw. There were dozens of makeshift tents in the area. Little Smiling Critters and Little Huggy's and Kissy's stood by their tents or along the room.
It was a repurposed safe room.
"Hurry! Close it!" Poppy exclaimed, and a little toy robot next to her taped on a key pad and the doors slammed shut.
Once the doors were shut, DogDay set her down and dropped to his knees, hugging her tightly.
"Angel!" he cried into her torso.
Angel responded by hugging him tightly in relief. She then looked to Kissy and got a proper look at the large pink toy. Her right arm was in a makeshift splint, and half her body was covered in burns.
Before she could say anything, someone else beat her to it.
"What's going on?!" Doey demanded, running their way. "What's – KISSY?!"
He ran closer to her but didn't touch her, not wanting to cause her discomfort.
"Goodness! What happened?" he asked gently.
"We need to get her help! Now!" Poppy exclaimed, getting his attention.
"Poppy? Is that really-"
Poppy glanced to Kissy to remind Doey they had other things to worry about.
"Right. Take her to one of the beds," he instructed as he walked up to the doors, which opened slightly enough for him to peek through. "I'll check the defenses. See if something's still outside."
With that, DogDay looked to the doors and hugged Angel tighter.
"Not just 'something,' it's HIM! HE'S OUT THERE!" Poppy yelled.
Doey whirled around and looked Poppy dead in the face, his hands looking like they were ready to strangle her.
"YOU BROUGHT HIM DOWN-" He stopped himself. He leaned his head back with a sigh, his right hand on his forehead.
"That was the Prototype?!" Koa exclaimed in question to DogDay, whom nodded in confirmation.
In response, she hugged DogDay tighter. The Prototype was RIGHT BEHIND her in that hall, and almost had all of them!
"We'll talk about this later," Doey said in a quieter level, looking back to Poppy, "for now, I'll make sure out there is where he stays!"
Doey then ran as fast as he could in the other direction, the sounds of his footsteps and his jiggling body fading as he got farther away.
"Locking down Safe Haven! Reactivating the defenses!" the little robot spoke up.
After she tapped a few buttons, blast doors were sealed and locked up tight.
Poppy then guided Kissy, limping the whole way, to a tent that was nearby.
"Over here," she gently instructed.
Once Kissy was inside the tent, she let herself collapse, finally able to rest
Koa then pulled away from DogDay and gasped in shock. DogDay had four long gashes to his head. His chest also had some pretty deep lacerations as well. Thankfully, they had stopped bleeding. Fresh bruises also littered his body. But other than that, there was nothing major.
"What happened?!" She demanded.
"We got jumped," DogDay whimpered.
"What?!"
"Right after that train took you, we got jumped," DogDay repeated.
Koa knelt down and hugged DogDay close.
"Guys, I'm so sorry! I should've been more vigilant! This is my fault," she apologized.
"Angel it wasn't your fault!" DogDay exclaimed. "We all fell for the trap."
Angel closed her good eye tightly and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. DogDay was right, and she knew that. Opening her eye again, she saw Poppy at the foot of Kissy's tent. Anger began boiling within.
"Speaking of…" Koa growled and stood up.
DogDay released her and watched as she approached Poppy. Once she was behind the doll, her face contorted in rage as she viciously grabbed Poppy by her head and lifted her up.
"You little bitch!" Koa roared and turned the doll to look to her.
Poppy cried in pain and clawed at Koa's fingers. In response, Koa grabbed Poppy's dislocated ankle, earning a squeal of pain from the doll.
"You have some explaining to do," Koa warned darkly.
"I told you all I know!"
"Not everything! You failed to warn us of someone by the name of 'Doctor.'"
All the toys in the Safe Haven were heard gasping and scurrying to their tents.
Though at the moment, Koa paid them no mind.
"I- I thought the Prototype would've killed him by now," Poppy whispered.
"NONE OF YOUR EXCUSES!" Koa roared as she released the dolls leg, and adjusted her hold on the doll, holding her by the neck and the middle of her back.
"I'm telling you right now, Poppy, if you don't explain yourself, I will snap your spine like a pencil," Koa warned darkly.
"I SWEAR I'M TELLING THE TRUTH!"
"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"
"Angel," DogDay called out. "Maybe we shouldn't take it this far. Especially not here."
He then glanced behind him to show what he meant, and Koa followed his glance. She saw dozens upon dozens of little toys in the Safe Haven, looking right at her with fear.
Realizing that she was making a scene in front of toys that were once children, she shuddered. Taking a few calming breaths, she loosened her grip on Poppy, who was shedding a few tears.
"Oh don't give me those crocodile tears! You're not out of the woods, Poppy! If I were you, I'd start talking. Why didn't you warn us!?" Koa demanded again.
"I swear, I thought the Prototype would've killed him by now!" Poppy insisted. "But I was wrong. I'm sorry!"
In response, Koa dropped the doll to the ground, and Poppy landed on her bad ankle, earning a squeal from her. When she tried to get up, Koa pinned her down with her shoe.
"I don't accept your apology, Poppy. If you lie to me again," Koa pressed her booted foot down on the doll harder in warning. "For now…"
She trailed off and looked to Kissy. Taking her foot off of Poppy, she slowly approached Kissy and sat next to her.
"Hey, you doing okay?" she gently asked her.
Kissy just tilted her head to either side, as if saying 'I've been better.'
Koa took Kissy's uninjured paw in her hands and rubbed it in comfort, and smiled to Kissy.
DogDay was about to join them when he heard voices behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw a mini Hoppy and mini Bubba.
"What's POPPY doing here?!" one growled.
"I don't know, they just let her in!" the other responded.
"WHY!? That's inviting a whole lot of trouble we don't need! I mean, how can we be sure we can trust her this time?" The first toy complained.
"We don't know. So let's just be careful. Especially around her… new friend."
"The employee~! Can't forget that!"
"Shh! I think DogDay is listening!" the one toy shushed when he noticed DogDay looking right at them.
"I thought he was dead! What's he doing here?! With them?!" The other asked as they slunk away to their tents, their eyes on him the whole time.
DogDay growled in anger. How dare they talk smack about Angel?!
Sure, that little display was a bit much, but Poppy, once again, failed to warn them of all the dangers down here.
"DogDay," he heard Angel call out. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he responded calmly.
"Why don't you come lay down. We should get those wounds patched up," Angel beckoned him over to the tents.
Deciding that wasn't a bad idea, he approached the tents at the same time as little robot toy rolled up to the tent, who introduced himself as a medic.
All three of them then supported each other as they got their wounds looked over, and to get the rest they desperately needed.
Giving into anger destroys the soul.
- Karen Dawn
AN: Starting this upcoming Saturday, I'm going to start posting Wednesday and Saturday mornings instead of the afternoons. I think that schedule will work better and I'm just as excited for posting as you guys are.