The Order of the Slice

Chapter 14

Once Luigi finished putting pizza themed bandages on his arm he went to feed the prisoners. He worried he was going to run into Mary, but he luckily didn't see her. There were just regular people. One person tried to attack him with an old slice of pizza, but other than that it was just normal people. There was someone in the cell next to Barry's, Luigi didn't see who it was, it might not have even been a person, just a lump under some covers. He got to Barry's cell, He was lying in his bed, unlike normal prisons, and the prisoners didn't have any cellmates. Luigi unlocked the cell and put Barry's pizza on the ground.

"Um-Barry?"

Barry's eyes cracked open. He sat up, he didn't look as disheveled as Thomas did when he was in The Oven, Barry actually looked in better condition than Luigi, and he wasn't even a prisoner. "Have you-uh-figured anything out?" Luigi asked. Barry shook his head.

"I don't leave my cell often, and when I do it's just to fill the vending machines in the pizza break room." He said. Luigi sighed. If Barry barely left his cell, they would never figure out where Gertie was. Luigi couldn't ask Deep Dish, he would recognize him, but he didn't know Cheryl had betrayed the society.

"D-do you think Cheryl will help us?" Luigi asked. Barry frowned. As if remembering her betrayal.

"She already betrayed the society once, so why not?" Barry said harshly.

"Maybe if we-"

"What's going on over here?"

Luigi froze. "B-Ben..."

"It's Pineapple, you should know that." Ben said suspiciously. "What are you doing?" He asked again. Luigi turned to face him.

"I'm j-just feeding this-uh-prisoner." Luigi lied.

"It doesn't take that long," Ben said, he narrowed his eyes. "And I heard you guys talking about someone named Cheryl?" Ben said. Luigi's breathe quickened. He lunged at Ben and pinned him to the ground. Ben tried to scream, but Luigi covered his mouth with his hand.

"Barry!" Luigi nodded to his keys. "Use my keys to unlock the prisoner's doors!" Barry looked at the keys attached to Luigi's belt, he walked up to Luigi. Ben struggled under his weight. Barry removed Luigi's chain. "B-Barry what are you-" Barry put the chain over his own head, realization dawned on Luigi. Barry dashed to the exit, leaving Luigi to deal with Ben. Luigi felt something wet and slimy on his hand. Luigi immediately let go of Ben. "Did you just lick me?!" Luigi screamed. Ben laughed triumphantly.

"That's what you get!" He yelled. Luigi looked down at his hand, it had spit all over it. Ben tried to grab Luigi. Luigi took his keys and threw them the cell that was next to Barry's. It was a risk, a very stupid risk, but it was Luigi's only choice. Ben swung at Luigi, he punched Luigi in the eye and he stumbled. Luigi heard a cell unlock, hope filled his chest, despite the fact he could barely see anything.

"U-unlock the rest of the cells," Luigi called. He heard more cells unlock. He saw prisoners flooding out of The Oven. Ben was trying to subdue the prisoners. Luigi took advantage of the distraction and bolted out of The Oven. Hundreds of prisoners were fleeing The Order of the Slice's base. Some weren't running, they were destroying the pizza vending machines, yelling and screaming in glee or fear. Luigi recognized one of them. Mary was yelling and flipping tables. Someone ran in front of Luigi, his heart almost stopped. "Officer G-Gertrude!" He yelled. She swung her head in Luigi's direction. She stared at him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. Luigi frowned.

"You should be happy to see me! I just saved you!" He said, he had expected her to be a bit happier about the whole thing. She looked around.

"You did this?" She asked. Luigi nodded. The last of the prisoners started running past them. Gertie started running again. Luigi started running with her, but someone grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Luigi," A voice growled. Luigi turned to see who had grabbed him. Deep Dish. "You're not getting away from us," He said. "Not again."

***

Luigi sighed as he fetched Deep Dish's slippers. Deep Dish seemed to think that Luigi was a bit of an escape artist, so he had taken upon himself to keep an eye on Luigi. And of course that actually meant Luigi was Deep Dish's full time butler. Luigi tried to remind himself that it could be much worse, but he couldn't help but feel like he was being tortured. Especially when he made eye contact with a member of The Order of the Slice that recognized him. They would drag their finger across their throat and mouth "Soon" sometimes they would just hiss and scowl. Luigi definitely preferred the scowling. Luigi entered Deep Dish's private quarters, which was something he had apparently. He saw Deep Dish's pizza slippers, they were on a plush fur carpet in front of an expensive looking couch. Luigi's eyes darted to an open window. He strode closer to the window. Bright stars lit up the night sky. Luigi imagined walking on the roads under the night, or sleeping under the stars. He just had to go out the window. He shouldn't. He turned back to the slippers. If they saw him, they might throw him into The Oven. But should he? He turned back to the window, he thought about being free, never having to look at a pizza again. Yes. Yes he should. He stuck his leg out the window, then the other leg. Luigi felt himself smile for the first time in a while. Escaping these freaks was way too easy. He heard a low chuckle when he was already halfway out the window. Luigi glanced over his shoulder. Terror gripped his gut. "What do you think you're doing?" Deep Dish asked. He sounded amused instead of annoyed, which made Luigi even more terrified.

"J-just-uh-getting some fresh air!" He answered. Deep Dish grabbed Luigi and violently yanked him back inside. Luigi let out a yelp and stumbled to the floor, if only he had better balance. Deep Dish smiled.

"Why did you think that would work?" He asked. It seemed Luigi's failure was thoroughly entertaining Deep Dish.

"I-uh-"Luigi didn't really know how to respond to Deep Dish's question. Luigi just stood up without saying anything. "Should I-uh-"

"Spend the night in The Oven?" Deep Dish interrupted. Luigi gulped. He shook his head frantically. Deep Dish laughed, it wasn't a 'ha-ha that's funny' laugh, instead it was a 'you're suffering pleases me' laugh. Deep Dish yawned and pointed to the door. "Go get me a pizza," He demanded. "And something to drink, preferably alcoholic." Luigi quickly shuffled out of Deep Dish's private quarters. He knew pizza would be easy to find, it was everywhere. But there was a surprising lack of anything else. Luigi checked everywhere. He even checked the bathroom stalls. But he couldn't find anything. Luigi sighed. He could almost hear Deep Dish's mocking laughter. Luigi saw an Order of the Slice member walk into the hallway Luigi was in. "Oh! Can you-uh-help me?" Luigi asked. The Order of the Slice member frowned.

"What do you want?" She asked. She seemed to know who Luigi was, her face squeezed in displeasure the moment Luigi spoke.

"Deep Dish wants-um-something to drink." Luigi said nervously. The Order of the Slice member narrowed her eyes.

"There's plenty of water in Deep Dish's quarters." She said.

"Well he wants-uh-" Luigi wasn't quite sure why he was so nervous, he was just asking for some beer or something. "A-alcohol." Luigi finished. The Order of the Slice members frown deepened.

"We don't have anything like that here," She said plainly. "Most of us think it ruins their pizzas flavor. But I'm sure there is a bar around here." She said. Luigi nodded.

"Sh-should I go get it?" He asked. Luigi hoped this Order of the Slice member didn't know that Luigi had a habit of escaping. She thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Be quick."

Luigi nodded again and dashed to the door.