Return to Pale City

Chapter Eighteen

Six POV

  Seven is trying to warp through the tv himself as he practically pulls out his hair at losing Buddy. He sits down and sighs sadly. I look down at all the nomes, they're gathered around Mono worried. "Hey, he just passed out. He's fine. How about you cheer up Seven?" I say pointing to him. They all run over to Seven speaking in their nome language and soon he's smiling at them. I look at Mono and I worry about him. He had to warp eight bodies. I'm sure he'll be fine. And then again, he may not. I sit next to him and move some of his hair off of his face. I'm worried about Buddy.

Buddy POV

  I'm holding onto Ash. I don't think we're dead but it's extremely dark. "Ash, you okay?" "Mhm. You?" "I'm fine." I stand up and I hear Ash do the same. I don't want to lose him in the dark so I reach out and grab his hand. I lead us forward and I hope we come across a light source soon. I look around in the darkness but I see no defining shapes or anything. "This will take forever." I complain. Suddenly I run into a wall and I groan. "Mental note. Wall there." I say. Ash chuckles and I turn to where he is. "Hey, do you think it would feel good to run into a wall?" "It was funny." I sigh. "Whatever. Let's just find a way out of here." We continue walking. I feel like we're going in circles.
  I reach my hand out and wander around until I find a wall. I trail my hand against the wall as we walk. Suddenly the wall is gone from my fingertips. Maybe a hole. I turn and walk forward towards the assumed hole. I step forward but end up tumbling down into more darkness.

Seven POV

  I wish we didn't leave Buddy behind. I look around at the nomes, they're trying to cheer me up. One wraps it's arms around itself trying to keep warm. "Oh, you guys must be cold, come on. There's a shop nearby where we can find all of you clothes." They cheer and I smile. "Hey Six, will you and Mono be okay while I go get them clothes?" She nods and me and the nomes leave. Walking through the snow is hard for them but I can't carry all of them and I don't want to look like I'm favoring one. Soon we reach the shop and I stand under the window.
  I pick a nome up one handed and put them up into the window. I continue doing this until all five nomes are in the shop. I jump up and grab onto the window sill with one hand. I pull myself up and roll over the sill, landing on the floor of the shop. I stand up and help the nomes look for clothes. Lily finds a green sweater with a Lily on it.

  I see another nome putting on a brown shirt with fur sleeves. It's hard to keep track of all the nomes but I find five pairs of boots and I give a pair to any nome I find without shoes. Soon enough every nome has on warm clothes and I help them back outside. We go over to the park with the swing set and the nomes start making snowballs and throwing them at each other. "Looks like you're having fun." Says a voice behind me. I turn to see Six helping Mono walk over. 
  "Yeah. They're all having fun." A snowball hits me in the back of the head. "And I have become a target." I say. Six giggle and Mono smiles. I pick up some snow and form a ball with one hand before tossing it at a nome with a purple jacket. It lands in front of them and they give a thumbs up. I shrug and turn back to Six and Mono. Six is scooping up some snow and she throws her handful at Mono. It hits him in the face. "Hey!" He laughs and picks up some snow of his own before throwing it at Six. The get in their own little war and I can't help but smile.
  It's almost perfect. We're just missing one person. And I have no clue if he's okay or not.

Buddy POV

  I sit up and I look around. There's a small glow coming from a corner of the place I'm in. I look around and see Ash laying next to me. I shake him. "Ash!" "What?" He sits up and I sigh. "I thought you were dead!" He laughs. "Takes alot more then a fall to kill me." I stand and go over to where the light is coming from. It's a hole in the floor. And below and see a tile floor. "Ash, come here." I wave him over. He walks over and looks at the hole himself. "The floor doesn't look too far away." And before I can stop him he jumps down the hole. I follow him and we both land on the floor below safely. I look around and see we're in a elevator.
  The cage like door is closed. I look up and see a lever. "Ash, can you boost me up?" He nods and boosts me up. I grab the lever and pull it down. The elevator starts to slowly descend while screeching. I cover my ears as the sound of metal on metal gets to be too much. The elevator reaches the end of the trip and I breath a sign of relief as I uncover my ears. The door opens a little and me and Ash walk out. I see a hallway with a open door at the very end on the left. I creep forward and peek around the edge of the doorframe. In front of me is thousands of tvs all embedded into a wall of flesh. I walk forward and the tv in front of me turns on.
  I see Seven, Six, Mono, Lily, and all my other friends. They're all throwing snow at each other. The tv zooms in on Seven and his voice comes through the tv. "We don't need Buddy. He was just a nuisance." It switchs to Six. "Why did you even save him?" Back to Seven. He shrugs. "I don't know. He's the one who got me hurt. He's the one who got me trapped. Good thing he's gone." I want to cry. My friends don't care about me. I fall to my knees and watch my friends give up on me. I feel something being tugged. It doesn't matter. Suddenly everything goes black.

The Signal Tower takes the life of a defenseless nome as he loses all hope in his friends. The Signal Tower is still feeding even without the future Thin Man in it's grasp. The Signal Tower is it's own being. But it wants the Thin Man back. It needs to keep the loop going, if it doesn't it will soon die. The Tower uses the small energy of the nome to send out a Signal. Only Mono can hear.