Return to Pale City

Chapter Sixteen

  Seven POV

  I look at the snow angels and feel a little upset that mine only has one arm. I look down at Buddy and he gives me a thumbs up. I don't know if he is a boy but it's easier then thinking of Buddy as "they" it would get confusing. I turn to see Mono with his arm around Six's shoulders. I want to live in this moment forever. All of us happy, no monsters. I pick up Buddy with my good arm and hold him off the ground. He's so light. Eventually the sun starts to set and we all go back to the house. Mono and Six take the top of the mattress and me and Buddy take the bottom.
  I hold Buddy close to me as we drift off to sleep.

Buddy POV

  I was so lonely in that cage. When that thing caught me it put me in a cage it set up a trap and left me. I would go days on end without food. Sometimes the thing would give me scraps of stale bread, or even some meat. It's been so long since I've had food. My stomach is used to it by now though. I turn onto my back and see the boy who named me Buddy is asleep. I wiggle out of his grip and sit on the edge of the mattress. I like the name Buddy. I can't even remember my name before.
  I play with the strings on my boots. I like being with this boy and his friends. I believe the boy who saved me is Seven, his friends called him that. There's the other boy Mono. And the girl is Six. So many names. I used to spend time with others. They were trapped by that thing too. I used to draw pictures for them before I was taken away. I wonder if they're okay. There was this one kid, he had a bracelet that he had his name on. I was a little jealous that he could remember his name but I still liked talking to him. He was one of my close friends.
  I want to go save my friends. I turn around and go over to Seven. "Wake up!" I say. He can only understand me. I shake him gently. "Buddy what is it?" "I had friends, and I want to go save them. Can we?" He opens his eyes and looks at me. "Only if Mono agrees to take us back. Okay?" I nod. Seven stands up and goes over to Mono. "Hey Mono." I hear a groan. "What?" He asks sleepily. "Buddy wants to save some friends he had, they were back at the last city we were at. We need you to take us there." I cross my fingers and hope Mono says we can go.
  Mono sighs. "Alright." "YAY! I CAN SAVE MY FRIENDS!" I celebrate. I jump up and down and Seven laughs. "I think he wants to go now." Mono sits up and smiles at me. "Alright Buddy, let's save your friends." I wave my hands in the air excitedly.

Mono POV

  Buddy waves his hands excited. I turn to Six and shake her. "Hey Six, wake up please." She mumbles something but I don't hear what she says. "Six." She opens her eyes. "What?" Her voice is already thick from sleep. "Buddy wants to save some of his friends." She seems to wake up more. "Did you say yes? Please tell me you said yes!" I laugh softly. "No, I deprived the poor guy from saving people he cares about." I say my voice dripping with sarcasm. She lightly punches me. We stand up and Seven picks up the still celebrating Buddy.
  We need a tv. And I think I remember the location of the tv that brought us here. We walk around outside but I can't find the tv. We go into buildings and we eventually find a tv playing static. Thank God it's just static. Seven sits down Buddy and tells him to hold onto his leg. Buddy does so and Seven grabs my arm with his good arm. Six wraps her arms around my waist and I know this will drain me again. I put my hands against the tv and warp through it. We all land on a hard wooden floor and roll away from the tv as it breaks from all of us coming through it. I sit up with a slight headache and wonder how I'm going to handle warping a bunch of nomes next time.
  Maybe in groups. Six sits up next to me and so does Seven. Buddy shakes his head and stands up looking around. "Hey buddy? Is this place it?" Asks Seven. Buddy nods his head enthusiastically while chattering. "Buddy says this is the right place, his friends should be in the next room. But we have to be careful. There's a thing here keeping them prisoners." I nod my head. "Ok, save nomes and outrun monsters. Seems like a normal day in this world."

Buddy POV

  I can't belive I'm back here. I'm scared that thing will find me and lock me up again with my new and old friends. I want to save my other friends though. They deserve freedom like me. I sneak through a vent hole in a wall and I look around for the thing. When I don't see it I wave Seven, Mono, and Six over. "My friends are in that cage." I say to Seven pointing to the very top cage. He nods and quickly tells the others what I said. I go over to the cages and start to climb up them. Halfway up I hear the loud footsteps of the thing that brought me and my other friends here.
  "HIDE!" I scream to Seven. I could be fine getting captured but losing my new friends would hurt. Seven pushes the others behind a box and I climb around the stack of cages hiding myself. "Run, run children, hide and tremble in fear. You will not escape and I will hunt you down my dear." I forgot this thing sings a sadistic song as it works. "Run, run, run." The thing isn't much of a singer it has a broken voice. As it steps into my line of sight it finishes the song. "Found you..."