Creek - Hero

Chapter 62

Craig reaches the console room where the rest of the team minus Tolkien is. "Hey."

Tweek waves Craig over, "This is it. Once Tolkien gets here we can get this done."

"He should be here soon..."
Craig talks through his earpiece, "Tupperware? Tupperware come in. What's your location?"

No response.

"Tupperware?"

Craig starts pacing. Tweek puts a hand on his shoulder, "He might just be busy with the subjects."

After five minutes Craig gets really worried. "We should look for him."

Tweek stops him, "wait, I hear footsteps."

A tall, blonde woman steps out of the hallway. She's wearing a uniform.

Tweek gets in position to attack, "It's a worker!"

"No way..." Craig steps forward. "Mom?"

Tweek puts his arms back down, "That's her?"

"It is... she's so skinny..."

The woman steps forward until she's directly in-front of Craig. "My sweet boy... you've gotten so big..."

"Mom..."

She hugs him, "Hello, Craig... I missed you."

Craig is in shock. "How did you- I thought-"

"I was locked up, a boy around your age set me free."

"Mom... you're alive... you're real and you're alive..."

"I am."

Craig finally hugs her back, "We are gonna get you out of here..."

Another pair of footsteps starts up the hallway. Tolkien limps slightly down the hall.

Tweek goes over to help him walk, "What happened to you?"

"Got snagged by a laser, I'm fine now.

"Let's finish this."

"Wait." Craig's mom steps forward.

"What is it, mom? We need to destroy that thing."

"My baby... I need to tell you something..."

"What?"

"When they took me, they extracted my soul. They took it and placed it in this thing here..."

Craig's heart drops. "No..."

"I'm not sure why, but that friend of yours did something to disconnect me."

Craig turns to Tolkien, "You did?! You genius!"

Tolkien gives a sad smile, "Craig, I really did try my hardest..."

"What do you mean... did you not get it..?"

"I did... but the only way to disconnect her was to transfer ownership." Tolkien limps over until he's standing right before of the console.

"You don't mean..."

Tolkien looks around at his team, "Yeah."

Wendy stumbles backward. Stan just barely catches her.

"Why..."

"She means a lot to you. Most of us lost our parents. I couldn't let her die. So I just... traded places with her."

"Tolkien, you can't..."

"I'm sorry everyone, but I think this is goodbye."

"Stop. There has to be another way. We can find a different way!"

Craigs mom turns to him, "Craig. I've lived for a long time... I can try and transfer ownership back to myself..."

Craig faced an impossible choice. His best friend or his mother. He had to choose one. One had to die.

Craig turns to Tweek. He has a horrified look on his face. Craig then looks back and forth between his mother and Tolkien.

An alarm sounds, they had taken too long. If they don't get out soon, they would all be captured. They were out of time.

"Craig, you need to go. It's okay. Take your mom and get out." Tolkien steps up to the console.

"Tolkien, wait! Just hold on!"

He turns to the team and smiles through a face full of tears, "You all meant to much to me. You were my family, and I will be forever grateful for that."

"Tolkien! I swear to god! Get back! Stop!"

"Craig... destroying Zen is all I ever wanted. This was my goal. And I did it. I saved everyone. The only thing left to do is destroy this thing. Then I can be at peace."

Craig takes off running towards the console, "STOP!"

Tolkien puts his robotic arm up, morphing it into a powerful laser. He aims it at the console.

Tweek sees the laser charging up, and Craig running for it. The only thing in his mind was the thought of loosing both of them in one instant. "CRAIG! DON'T GET CLOSE!"

Craig reaches out, "TOLKIEN DON'T YOU DARE!"

A bright blast fills the room. The impact sends Craig flying backwards, slamming him against the back wall and knocking him out instantly.