CHAPTER 10: Into The Void
Alex began to stumble to his feet, dashing along the piles of trash, feeling stuff crunch and crush under his weight. This was becoming more like walking through progressively deeper snow. The wall to the left appeared to be the closest as Alex noticed a section of that wall was not in use as it ground to a halt and a loud HISSS of the hydraulics leaking. That was not going to move; that was where safety was! He began to quickly make his way off the trash pile and to make his way to the clear spot.
"NOO!" came the demented scream of Ms. Delight from the trash pile, followed by the feeling of having his legs swept and falling.
Alex was barely understanding what was happening as he became aware of being on the flood and something grabbing his leg. He turned and remembered just who it was as he felt a tug and his body slide backwards. She was pulling him in by his leg!
"HOW DARE YOU! You know, I'm pleased your colleagues are dead. We ate them all up here. Not one remained. If I kill you, I'll finally be free! That crazy cat will see my devotion to him by giving him what he wants, and he'll reward me with freedom from that prison! All you had to do was be a star student and DIE! BUT NO! YOU HAD TO BE DIFFICULT! AND NOW YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!" she roared!
Alex kept dragging himself along. He had to get into the clearing. He was almost there! The compactor was getting tighter and tighter, and the space was vanishing. It didn't take long for Ms. Delight to begin to notice how close her own peril was. Her sentences became cries of pain as Alex just pulled and pulled until he suddenly popped free and fell forwards and collapsed. Getting back up he saw Why he had escaped: the compactor had crushed the teacher, with only her arms and half of her crushed face being intact.
A couple kicks managed to dislodge the arms from his ankles, at which point the lights above went out and the machine seemed to power down for a reboot. The whole room was shrouded in darkness. Alex began to worry, he needed to be able to see. Patting his pockets he found his flashlight he'd become worried he'd lost in the scuffle. The light flickered for a moment and Alex's light immediately illuminated a snarling slumped form of a Bunzo toy!
Alex screamed and dropped the light. He covered his face for protection and then realized nothing was happening. He wasn't under attack… he'd been startled by a dead body! This Bunzo was dead. A cartoonishly designed bucket, and crayons sat nearby. Child-like scribbles drawn onto the floor. A look at the scribbles told the story that this Bunzo had fallen down here and cried and begged for help, but none came. And by the many white lines scribbled on the concrete, his death had been long and miserable and lonely.
But his eyes were drawn to another thing that stuck out. The small rabbit had been wearing a child-sized grab pack, but it was fitted with the larger industrial hands, not the gentle child safe weak grip. One was red, which Alex admitted he kinda missed when he had the red hand. The other was also red, but it was unlike any hand Alex had ever seen. The hand was molded to look like it was making a finger gun. The pointer finger was hollow and the thumb held upwards like a crude sight. Looking at it, Alex saw this hand had fit his extra GrabPack slot. He needed it.
Gently reaching over and whispering a couple "sorry"s in regard to the body he was stealing from, Alex quickly disconnected the hand from Bunzo's GrabPack to his own. The arm snapped in and Alex had to flick it out to see what it did. A gun might be useful. After dealing with a monster who had made her own weapon, Alex was ready to be able to answer back. The moment the hand snapped into position, the black screen on the thump lit up. On it was a counter reading "5", and below that was an indicator reading "In Magazine:" and had 5 yellow lights lined up in a circle. And below that was red text saying, "Magazine Limiter: ON." This bit of text made no sense, but he felt he'd find out. A squeeze of the trigger resulted in a surprise shot that Alex wasn't expecting! A massive fireball erupted from the barrel and the bright glowing fire was suddenly launched away into the extended hydraulic rams of the compactor. On the screen, one of the five lights next to the counter went out, and the number turned from "5" to "4." It didn't last long before it turned back to "5", and the fifth light came back. Seemed this gun was self-reloading.
"Whoa… it's a flare gun! That's…. useful?" he said to himself.
"Was it too much to hope that after dealing with her, the universe would give me something that's more useful? Like an actual gun that's a bit too dangerous for the kids to play with? Come on, for once I would welcome a dangerous toy that I can use to actually help me down here."
As Alex reached over and picked up his flashlight the lightbulb chose that moment to burn out.
"Oh come on…."
Using his new flare gun to light up the space, Alex was able to find a walkway that was wide enough for a person between the compactor wall's sections. At the end, he could see an open hatchway with light shining down on the bright yellow ladder leading up and out of this area
"Whew, at least there is a way out," Alex sighed.
Once standing above the compactors, Alex inspected his surroundings. There had to be an exit from here. One that led back into the school or somewhere else. He paused to look down through the floor grates to see the compacted trash as the compactor began to pull back. He was thankful he couldn't see where Ms. Delight was, she hidden behind a chunky power junction box. After the compactor had fully reset, there was a grinding and a section of the floor opened up under the compacted mass. Eventually it slid free from the wall and fell downward into a deep dark void. Falling to who knew where.
"At least I know I won't be hearing from her again," he huffed, turning his attention back to the room he was in.
The room above the compactor had a few exits, but a look at each dashed his hopes. One door opened to a stairway that was blocked with rubble while another led to a small restroom. Standing next to the last door was another cutout. This of a green rabbit, another critter. Alex gave the button some pushes. From this he was reminded this rabbit's name was Hoppy Hopscotch, and the tape quickly became a panicked message of Hoppy trying to jump to the moon. Though it sounded like it quickly became less about reaching a goal for fun, and more like trying to get away from something before the last recording turned into a garbled scream.
"What happened to her? Where has she gone?" Alex wondered.
Leaving the cutout behind, he pushed the door open. Beyond, it opened into a black void with a catwalk just outside. Stepping through the door to see where he was, Alex saw a high curving concrete wall behind him and exposed walkways under the dull yellow lights that jutted from the wall, or work lights left pointed at the wall or structure of the cave. It became instantly obvious where he was now; he was on the outside the Playcare structure.
"Alright, I'm out of Playcare, but I can't stay out here," Alex said, talking out his options. "I can't really go back, I have to go forward."
Going forward was easier said than done; the catwalks branched off in two directions. The catwalk that would lead towards Home Sweet Home appeared to be the least wise choice; the lights illuminating the path were fewer and further between. And even if he shot flares to illuminate it, the catwalks that were still in place all hung in unnatural angles and looked as if they would collapse under his weight. The other way had more lights and the catwalks seemed to be more intact or sturdy enough to stand on. Alex knew this path would likely lead towards the Playhouse; a place that it seemed all the critters feared and Bubba had dismissed sending him to. If they were scared, Alex felt he needed to fear it as well.
"Maybe there is an exit or something between here and there so I don't need to worry about going there," he said to himself.
A part of him felt that wouldn't be the case, but the glimmer of optimism fueled his desire to continue further. Optimism or self-deluding to prevent him from thinking about the alternative. As he walked, Alex had time to admire the surroundings of the cavern he was in. It was huge and he wondered how crazy lucky Playtime Co. had to be to find a cavern below them that was just perfect to build the factory into. Massive stalagmites and stalactites loomed in the gloom just beyond the lights.
Encountering the first gap in the walkway, Alex paused to judge the distance. It was pretty wide with no hope to reach it, even with a running jump. There was no purple hand pad either so he couldn't employ a high jump. And it seemed the rest of the catwalks beyond had collapsed so continuing forward would be pointless. With no way forward, Alex turned to find another path. A bit of a walk back found him a simple lift elevator with no doors. With it being at the top of the shaft, down was the only way it could go. Climbing in, he pressed the button and he descended downwards at a pretty good speed. Descending downwards into the darkness, the elevator traveled for 30 feet or more before suddenly shuddering to a stop and settling in a crooked position. Clearly the track it rode in was damaged in some way and would not move any further in any direction.
"Ugh, just my luck."
Alex didn't have much to really worry about as he saw the elevator stopped 20 feet from the bottom. Crouching under the support struts of the elevator shaft, he climbed out and jumped down, the air jets whooshing loudly to soften his landing. These lower levels appeared in better condition as the rest of the catwalks appeared within jumping distance.
Then, before he could continue walking, a sound grabbed his ear.
"What's that?"
Whatever it was, it wasn't the sound of his own breathing. It was very faint, barely audible, but from how it sounded, it sounded like a voice.
"A voice? Down here? I must be imagining… but what if they are real?" Alex thought.
He looked down the path he had to go, and then back towards the voice that drifted in the darkness behind him. It could be nothing. It might even be a trick from Catnap. Or maybe Picky had managed to get back to the bunker and the others had left to help him. Or, for all he knew, it was just a TV playing something in a loop. But he had to know, so Alex turned and headed into the darkness, his flare gun popping balls of fire to illuminate his way which soared into the darkness before hitting the cavern wall and falling like stars into the abyss below.
The further Alex walked, the louder the voice got. Soon he could pick out that it was not one voice, but two; a girl and a boy talking. But they didn't sound like anyone he'd met. The boy's voice wasn't Bubba's and the girl's voice was none of the girl critters.
"You should just leave me behind!" shouted the girl.
"No! I'm not gonna leave you here!" shouted the boy.
"Look, I appreciate you staying here with me throughout everything but I'm just a dead weight! You have to leave me!"
"No way! You said we'd leave this place together!"
"I also am the one who got us stuck here! I should have known I couldn't make it!"
"You tried your best! But I'm not leaving you behind! That's double plus uncool!"
Alex blinked. "Uncool?" Who even said that? This side of Playcare was built closer to where the cavern wall came in before curving down into the dark void. The cavern wall closest to the walkway sloped outwards under it, becoming a steep slope that anyone would just slip and slide right down.
The voices became louder, until it sounded like he was right on top of them. The walkway came to an end with a wide gap between the ends; the other side being anchored to the cavern wall instead of the Playcare structure. Alex leaned over the edge of the railing and looked down. In the gloom he saw a faint little light that was perched on a ledge. It looked like something was moving but the light was so faint he couldn't tell. Reaching over the side he shot a couple flares to cast further illumination. This was welcomed with two very fearful screams.
"AHH! WHAT'S THAT?!" cried the boy.
"AHH! WHO'S UP THERE!?" cried the girl.
The light source below got brighter and Alex could see it was held by a small green rabbit. And on the ledge above was a yellow bird. Two other toys, and by their wide toothless smile, it was clear these were more critters.
"Hey, uh, whoever's up there, we need help!" shouted the bird.
"Kickin'! What if that's Catnap! Or someone working for him!" cried the bunny.
"Kickin '? Oh that must be Kickin' and Hoppy."
"I'm here to help! Hold on, I'll be there in a second!" Alex called back.
Noticing a sturdy lamp post that hung out over the gap, Alex GrabPacked to it, swung himself out and over the dark void and then carefully let the winch lower him into the darkness below
"Careful! The ledge is steep!" Hoppy cried.
"I got it, thanks!" Alex called back.
Reaching the bottom, Alex stood before the two toys. The yellow chicken regarded Alex with a mix of nervousness and fear as he looked up at him. Alex figured he'd not seen a human in a long time.
"O… Oh gosh… Uh.. you're…. you're a human," he said nervously.
"A human!? In here?! How?!" Hoppy called from below.
"Long story, but I guess you two are Kickin' and Hoppy?" Alex said.
"Uh, yeah, that's us. C-can you help Hoppy? She's stuck down there!"
"No problem," Alex replied as he shuffled over to the edge of the cliff to see the stone ledge below him.
Fifteen feet below, he could see the bunny better. She held a single lightbulb in her hand which flickered as she looked meekly up at him. A bunch of food wrappers littered the ledge she was stuck on. Clearly she'd been here a long time, and the walls were so smooth there was no way of someone climbing back out.
"Okay, Hoppy just stay still. I'm going to shoot a GrabPack hand close to you. Don't grab the hand part, or it might crush your hand instead. Grab the cable and I'll pull you up," Alex explained.
"O-okay," she said nervously.
The lightbulb flickered out in her hand before she unzipped her front down enough to slip it inside and zip it back up. Alex felt a bit of nervousness seeing this. He'd figured that beyond the zipper of the critters was their intenals, but it seemed to be more like a pocket instead. As to the light, he had no clue how that worked without it being in a power source, he'd need to ask later. He aimed the hand and shot it. The hand THUDDED to the ground heavily, sending wrappers over the side of the ledge, fluttering into the abyss below. Hoppy flinched before she gripped the cable and waited.
"Okay, gently," Alex mumbled to himself as he lightly squeezed the trigger to retract the cable.
The winch responded as slowly as he pleased; tugging the green rabbit up and up until her feet crested the edge of the ledge and she pulled herself over the side. The moment she felt herself on solid ground, she charged up and grabbed onto his leg. Alex was thrown off guard until he realized she was hugging him.
"Thank you!" she cried. "I've been stuck there for… years!"
"Years?! On that ledge?" Alex asked, stunned.
"Yeah, it happened when… I tried to leap across the gap," she said, looking up past Alex, towards the broken walkway above.
"That's not true," Kickin said. "It was my fault!"
"Kickin', it was not!" Hoppy said, turning to the toy bird.
"It was! I tried to run and jump like you! But I couldn't! I came up short! You grabbed me… and I pulled the both of us down," Kickin' said, guiltily.
"It was my fault too, I should have held on."
"But I should have ran faster."
"But nothing," Alex said, interrupting the two toys, turning to them in turn. "What matters is, you are off the ledge at last and you didn't abandon her. You both ended up in a situation but you stuck together through it no matter what. That should make up for any fault or mistake in the past."
The two toys went silent as they looked up at Alex. They seemed stunned. Then they turned to each other.
"Heh, he sounded almost like Dogday, didn't he?" Hoppy said.
"Close, can't compare to the top dog. But, yeah, he sure did," Kickin' said in agreement.
Hoppy let go of Alex's leg and stood by the toy chicken.
"So, uh why are you here?" she asked.
Alex sighed and gave the two lost toys the quick rundown of why he'd returned to the factory and what had happened since his return. From Huggy to Mommy, to covering half of the space of Playcare, to right now.
"So.. is everyone okay still?" Kickin' asked.
"Everyone I've met except for Catnap who wants to kill me… or Dogday. I… I've not seen him," Alex said.
"Oh no… you don't think Catnap-" Hoppy said nervously.
"No... No he couldn't have Hopscotch. Catnap's… well... crazy… but I don't think he'd do anything to Dogday," Kickin' said, trying to sound reassuring. "Maybe he's just hiding somewhere in Playcare."
"But Dogday wouldn't do that!" Hoppy insisted. "He'd make sure we were all safe if he was. And Alex said he's not seen him. What else could it be?"
Kickin' tried to speak but his voice faltered. He couldn't reason that away. Alex could feel the mood had shifted and he had to pull the toys back into reality.
"Hey you two, we can speculate all we want, but right now I have to get out of here and back into Playcare. The others are depending on me," he said.
The words were out of his mouth before he could recall them. It struck Alex suddenly that this was the first time he started to feel the weight on his shoulders. It had been him at first, his life on the line. Poppy's life only entered his mind when he'd felt he needed her help to escape. Then it was back to himself, even after crossing paths with the Smiling Critters he'd met. They deserved to live, just like anyone who had managed to keep their minds intact over the years, trapped in this hell. But it was still his own life he was trying to save mostly. He had stepped into help when they needed him, but in the end so long as they didn't hinder him like Catnap or intend to use him as Poppy was, he felt content to leave them be. If they hadn't figured out an escape route by now, why bother helping them? But then Poppy had hinted that escape wasn't so straight forward. And looking up at the massive structure that was Playcare, it seemed escape from there was just as impossible for the critters. Had Hoppy and Kickin' been trying to do that when they ended up here?
"And… us?" Kickin' asked. "Whe… where do we go?"
"You two have to get back into Playcare as well. I'm sure the others will be relieved to see you alive after so long," Alex said. "I don't think it's safe for anyone outside here," he added, looking down at the dark cavernous pit to their side. The two toys stepped away from the edge nervously, understanding what Alex was getting at.
"Okay. Uh, can... can we go with you?" Kickin' asked.
Was he ready? Could he be responsible for the lives of two living toys? Picky had certainly shown she was able to take care of herself, but then it seemed she'd been doing that for a while. And she had helped him to escape Ms. Delight nearly twice. He never asked her to help, but she had done so to help him. Hoppy and Kickin' might not have that same fighting spirit, but then they had been trapped out here. And they certainly had no options out here if he left them behind.
"Yes. Yes you can," Alex said at last.
This made the two child sized toys rush up and embrace his legs.
"Thank you!" Kickin' cried.
"Thank you so much!" Hoppy said.
"Okay, okay," Alex said, trying to not let the wholesomeness of this distract him. "First, we have to get back up."
It had taken a while to bring the three back up onto the catwalk. Alex had basically played the role of an elevator: holding one critter with one arm while controlling his ascent and descent with his other. The first was Hoppy. She'd wanted Kickin' to go first but the chicken had insisted she go so she had.
Everything had gone off without a hitch and now, the three were starting to make their way along the catwalks. Hoppy and Kickin' weren't sure about any other ways back inside besides through the Playhouse, but they hoped there would be as they seemed very afraid of going through there. As they walked, Hoppy trailed behind, trying to keep up.
"Hurry up, Hopscotch. I thought you were supposed to be fast," Kickin' called back.
"I'm trying," Hoppy huffed. "But I've been on that ledge for years! I'm out of shape."
Alex stopped and looked back at her.
"Would you like me to carry you?" he asked.
Hoppy looked up at Alex with surprise at the offer. She was silent for a moment before giving a small nod, her green bunny ears swaying. Alex kneeled down and brought the green rabbit to sit atop his shoulders.
"Thank you," she said tiredly.
"Don't mention it," Alex said and the trio continued forward.
"So, stupid question, why were you two out here?" Alex asked after a while.
The two toys didn't say anything for a moment. Alex figured it was out of embarrassment, clearly they'd never intended to be stuck. But soon, Hoppy spoke.
"We had to get out, there was no other way."