4 Chapter 4: Child’s Play

Mikey sat on a barrel as he used his finger to draw a small circle an inch or two above the village on his map, and labeled it Stein's Inkwell. He and his friends had recently discovered a small, comfy room an hour or two after leaving the Inkwell. It was behind a boarded up door that Robin had opened up with an axe, courtesy of Charley. All it had inside was two sofas, a table, and the barrel, but they decided to rest there anyway.

Mikey looked up at his friends. Jake, Allie, and Robin were all sitting on the couch eating cans of bacon soup, and Army was on the table, making a corny joke every now and then.

But Mikey couldn't stop thinking about something. Something that made him feel doubtful, and down. Robin looked over, and saw Mikey with his head low. "Hey, Mikey, what's wrong?"

"Oh," Mikey replied, "well, it's just that...before the arm, I thought that we'd go on the map's intended route. But now I don't know where this new route will go. Or whether or not it'll lead us to Exit."

"Well, things don't always go the way we think they'll go, honey," Allie said. "I mean, I never thought I'd leave the Inkwell, or build up the courage to sing. Whatever can or must happen will happen."

"And besides," Army said, "If the arm wasn't there, you guys'd be going to a dead end, or running into a couple unfriendly folks. Or the Demon 'imself. And I bet my other arm and faceplate that this'll get us to Exit."

"They're right," Jake said, "and even if this doesn't lead to Exit, then..."

"Then at least we tried," Robin said. "That's what's most important."

Mikey smiled. He had never heard this much encouragement and positivity out of anyone before, and it made him feel that hope feeling again. This trip had really influenced them, and in the best way possible. It had given them the hope feeling, too. "Thanks, guys," he said, "that makes me feel a whole lot better."

"No problem," Allie said. "Now, let's get some rest. Tomorrow will be better, I'm sure."

Mikey rolled up the map and slid it into a metal tube with a lid called a "thermos", also courtesy of Charley, that he kept strapped to his side. That would prevent the map from getting damaged in any way. Unless the thermos itself got damaged in any way, which hopefully wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Army preferred to sleep on the table ("I'd get ink and the smell of burnt metal all over the sofas, and who'd wanna sleep there after that?" he said) while Mikey shared one sofa with Robin, and Allie shared the other with Jake. Which, of course, made Robin and Jake both blush.

The next day, the five made their way through winding staircases, dark corridors with ink bleeding out from inbetween the wood on the walls, and on some occasions, fellow Searchers wandering through the halls. Since the Searchers seemed to know which were the good ways to go, the five followed their directions. As they went along, Mikey continued to draw various places on the map, marking them with whatever stood most out of place, like a statue of the cartoon demon, or a poster featuring a cartoon wolf named Boris. Just so they wouldn't lose their way.

Another day passed, and the five travelers soon found themselves in front of a huge, dark shaft, with a staircase leading down to a wide opening on the other side. Jet black chains were rising from the darkness below, and going up into another dark opening in the ceiling.

"Watch your step, guys," Robin warned, holding onto her axe tightly. "One false move, and any one of us could fall into...wherever those chains are coming from."

They barely made it halfway down the first flight when Army heard a noise.

"Do you hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" Mikey asked back.

"It's...singing. Like Allie's, but...it's coming from down there." The animatronic gestured to the opening.

"I think I hear it, too," Allie said, "but we need to be careful. It could be anything singing like that."

Jake muttered, "But it's still not half as beautiful as you or your voice."

"What was that, Ja - "

"NOTHING."

"I'm gonna go check it out," Army said, "see if it's friendly. If not, I'll holler to you guys."

"Army, wait!" Mikey called, but the animatronic was already heading towards the opening.

Through the opening was yet another corridor, but this one led to a room with a stage, similar to the Inkwell. On the stage was a cartoon that Army had seen in some of the posters littered all over the place.

Alice Angel stood on the stage, singing her heart out, her back to Army. Army was already in love with the voice, but when Alice turned to face him, he let whatever bad feelings he had about this slip away at the sight of Alice's beauty.

"...Well, hellooooooo there," Army said as he headed closer to the stage. Alice extended her hand and helped him onto the stage, and Army was so hypnotized that he barely noticed the thin line running down the middle of her face, or the fact that her arms were long and robot-like.

Alice continued to sing as Army came closer. "Come to me," she said. "See what an angel's kiss truly feels like..."

"Well, don't mind if I do," the animatronic said happily. As he leaned in for said kiss, the angel's face split in half, and opened wide to reveal a huge, sideways mouth with sharp teeth. Her head leaned towards Army, preparing to chomp his metal head clean off.

"Army!" Jake's voice called out, causing Army to snap out of his trance and turn around, still oblivious to the monstrosity in front of him.

"Wha..? Oh, hey, guys!" Army called back, seeing his friends now in the center of the room.

"Army! Behind you!" Mikey yelled frantically.

Army turned back around. "What do you me - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" The Alice creature hissed and lunged towards his head once more, but Army reared back and punched the creature in her sideways jaw as she came forward. She recoiled, which gave Army enough time to jump off the stage and run back to his friends.

"Army! Are you alright?" Allie asked.

"I just...I don't...WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Army shrieked, not sounding alright at all.

Alice then raised her head, and emitted a high pitched shriek of her own. It went on for about thirty seconds, and was immediately followed by the slam of a large door behind the five friends, and scratching noises coming from above.

Jake immediately started digging through the backpack, praying that Charley had packed more weapons. Thankfully, there was another axe, a wrench, a metal pipe, and...a plunger. What damage could a plunger do?

"Everyone grab a weapon," he said, "quick!"

Suddenly, four more creatures fell from the ceiling and landed in a circle aroynd the group, quickly surrounding them. Jake grabbed the wrench, Allie grabbed the axe, Mikey grabbed the pipe, and Army obliviously armed himself with the plunger.

The creatures around them were just as terrifying as the one on the stage. Three of them looked like the cartoon demon, but one came out of a small box and had long arms, and the other two were small and had one enourmous claw for an arm. The fifth creature looked like Boris, but he too had metal limbs, sharp teeth, an axe, and one of his ears was missing.

Alice's voice rang out from the stage, sounding angry and vengeful.

"The Toymaker told us about you," she said. "He told us you'd come by. But he gave us specific orders, and those were to make you die. Now! Tear them apart! Reduce them to dark puddles! Kill them!"

The toys lunged forward, but the five friends were ready. Jake swung at Boris and hit his open jaw hard, causing his head to spin around. Robin swung her axe at one of the big-armed Demons slicing his head clean off, yet he kept moving and attacking. Mikey took on the other small Demon, whacking it as many times as he could. Allie and Army attacked the box Demon as it tried to punch them with its huge gloved fists; Allie swinging her axe at its arms, and Army trying to climb onto its back to attack its head, but getting thrown off every time.

While all this was going on, Alice silently slid off the stage and out of sight. Her inky, black wings emerged as she prepared to put her other part of the toys' plan into motion if necessary.

With a few more chops, Robin had reduced her opponent into a pile of black fabric and white stuffing. She then slid over to help Mikey with his opponent, who had knocked the pipe out of Mikey's hand and was preparing to slice the small Searcher in half. Just as it raised its huge claw, Robin slid in front of Mikey, and with one well-placed blow, split the Demon in half right down the middle.

"Thanks, Robin," Mikey said, amazed and only slightly afraid.

"No problem," Robin replied breathlessly.

Meanwhile, Jake and Boris were really going at each other. Jake was deflecting the wolf's blows, and bringing on blows of his own. Boris roared and swung his axe, aiming for the Lost One's neck. But Jake ducked just in time and, as Boris almost lost balance from such a hard swing, Jake got back up, and swung his wrench at his face again. This time, the head came clean off, and Boris crumbled to the ground.

Meanwhile again, Allie had managed to hack off one of the box Demon's forearms, causing the toy to wobble a little with only its other arm as support. Army wrapped his legs around the torso of the toy to keep himself on, and raised the plunger behind its head, stick first. Allie chopped off the other forearm, and Army shoved the plunger through the toy's head just as it came crashing down.

It took a few seconds for the friends to catch their breaths. The mutilated toys were strewn around them, completely motionless.

"Is everyone alright?" Allie asked.

"I'm good," Jake replied.

"Probably scarred for life, but I'm fine as well," Army said.

Before Mikey or Robin could reply, another ear-splitting screech filled the room as Alice climbed onto the ceiling above the stage. In only a few swift seconds, she launched herself down towards the group, grabbed Mikey, and flew back up and down the hall, heading for the chain pit, taking the small Searcher with her.

"MIKEY!" All four of his friends yelled, and ran as fast as they could after the flying toy.

"GUYS!" Mikey screamed. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Unfortunately, Alice was quicker. By the time Robin, Jake, Allie, and Army reached the huge shaft, Mikey and the angelic nightmare had disappeared into the darkness above.