Return To The Machine

Chapter 35

Audrey grabbed Parker's hand and brought them back down to the ground. None of them expected both Tom and Allison to arrive. But they were honestly grateful that someone saved them in time. Allison looked up and smiled upon seeing her old friend. "Well, it's good to finally see you again! I was worried about you know..." she told Audrey. "I've been better!" Audrey replied. The two embraced each other in a hug, not leaving the other. Eventually, Tom broke them up, annoyed by the lengthy closeness. "Alright, enough." he grumbled. "Woah, jealous much Tom?" Audrey teased. Tom waved her off and crossed his arms, still annoyed.

Both women laughed and looked at Rosa and Parker. "I'm so glad we finally found you! Audrey managed to handle the both of you at once!" Allison added, hugging them both individually. "Thanks! We appreciate you coming after us."  Parker sighed as he was embraced by Allison. He felt the warmth of her soul as she smiled. Then he looked at both of them. Tom chortled upon seeing the ink that stained his clothes. "Looks like someone had fun while we were gone," he pointed out. "What all did we miss?"

Parker and Rosa together gave them a summary of what had happened to them while they were away for that amount of time. All about how they found Sammy, he came along, when Buddy saved them, how they found Brant, Bill, and Constance, the attack from a man named Wilson, the number of times they had to run from Bendy and the other ink monsters, the moment they found Audrey, and the riddle they had to solve to get away from Alice. "And then you guys showed up and saved us! By the way- is she dead?" Rosa asked, pointing to the lifeless Alice. Tom shook his head.

"For once Allison managed to control herself. The witch isn't dead, just... sleeping," he said, giving her the softest kick anyone could possibly give. "Oh well, now that we're all together, we must get out of here." Audrey told them. "Wait, what about Sammy? And Buddy? And the Lost Ones that saved us! We can't just leave them hanging!" Parker cried. "Parker, it's too dangerous to do any of that. We know they helped you out but, if we go back, there's a chance we get captured too. That's dangerous. If we get captured that leaves the Resistance vulnerable."

Stunned, Parker backed away. "You mean you're not even gonna try?" he exclaimed. Tom opened his mouth but Allison interrupted him. "Look, I understand you're upset. I do. I would be too after all you've been through. But just because our numbers are bigger now than ever, it doesn't mean we have the manpower to do anything. There's only so much we can do." Parker shook his head in disbelief. "Buddy, Sammy, the Lost Ones... they saved us so we could stop the curse! So we could continue our journey! They didn't get captured just so that we can just hide away all over again! Please... There's gotta be something we can do!"

Tom shook his head. "Do you want everyone to get killed!? Not to mention that you are the only one who is able to bring the curse to an even bigger scale! You'd bring everyone into a world of despair! Do you want that demon to take over everything that is still good in this world?!" Tom snapped. Parker bit the inner part of his cheek. "No... I don't... I don't think anyone would. But I'm tired of letting Bendy put fear in all of us. C'mon, I know you're tired of fighting too!"

While glancing at each other, they heard a loud crash in the other area. They stopped to listen for the same sound again. The same loud crash happened again. Audrey squinted her eyes trying to see what it was. From around the corner, a large shadow emerged from the dim light that remained. The top of the shadow revealed a pair of horns that curved slightly, followed by low hissing and growling. The group retracted and sunk back. It kept coming closer and closer. Audrey put a finger to her lips signaling them to be quiet. The shadow only grew once it got closer to the area where they were. "Where are you...?"

The sound of the voice made the group shiver in their spot. Knowing they had very little time, Audrey and Allison led them to a safe space as quickly and quietly as they could. Tom grabbed Alice and began running after them. Bendy came out from the corner and began limping around the area. Except for this time, he was much bigger than ever. As if he almost went full ink demon.

"Don't be scared. I just want to see your face again. I want to know you're still alive... That you're still here within the darkness of the shadows... I know why you're hiding. You don't want someone as ugly and terrible as me to get exactly what I desire. But I don't understand why... You'd finally have everyone be exactly like you. Everyone would forever be the same! And we'd no longer have to hide in ink. Isn't that what you want? To no longer be alone! ISN'T THAT WHAT EVERYONE'S EVER WANTED? TO NOT BE ALONE? TELL ME WHAT MORE DO I HAVE TO PROVE!" 

Bendy used one of his huge claws to rake against a wall, leaving huge marks and small ink blobs behind. Parker and Rosa were covered by Audrey and Allison who didn't want them to be spotted while hiding under a structure. Bendy hissed as Tom held his breath hearing the demon growling just beside him. Bendy growled loudly once more before walking off. "When you're ready once more, you know where to find me..."

Suddenly the room felt calm once more. Everyone slowly came out of their hiding spots to face one another once more. "Well, there you have it, Parker! What would you possibly do against that?! All of us hid from that thing! Just as we did now! Tell me, what wonderful plan do you have?! What do we have that Bendy possibly doesn't?!" Tom snapped. The fury in his voice didn't knock Parker down a peg. He turned to Rosa who was pulling out Sammy's record from her pocket. He walked over to Alice and found her Bendy plushie then motioned for Tom to give up his. He grumbled and handed over his Wrench. Putting the three together, they had three items next to each other. "We have three of the tokens. We're ahead of Bendy in the game."

Audrey cleared her throat. They turned to her and saw her pull something from her jacket pocket. "Correction, we have four tokens."

In her hand, she held a book titled Illusion of Living written by none other than Joey Drew.