[BATIM/BATDR]A Lonely Sepia Melody

Part 6

Keeper: *Explodes*
My Editor: "fly high 🙏🙏🕊️"

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Bonzy's mouth dropped when they watched Bendy, who was a beast just seconds ago, get up and lightly limp over to a corner, disappearing from view. Their ears still rang from whatever those colorful electric sparks were from those two beams on either side of the massive doors, and their head was thrumming uncomfortably. Audrey had her head in her hands, rubbing her temples from where she sat against the ground. Charlie was somewhere behind them;, whether he was okay or not, Bonzy didn't know, but they were gonna guess it was a big 'no' on that one.

Pushing to their feet, Bonzy scooped up their hat as they quickly made their way towards where Bendy had disappeared from. They skidded to a stop when they saw nothing but a wall, ink splattered around the place. "Darn," they muttered.

"Did you know he could do that?" Audrey asked and Bonzy turned to Charlie to help her up. Bonzy shook their head, glancing back at the wall before joining their two companions.

"Nope, not a clue, though..." they pressed their lips together as they looked around the very open space in front of the massive door just a few yards in front of them, "I gotta say that makes a lot of sense. Doesn't make me wanna hug 'em any less," they told Audrey as they got a hold of her elbow, letting her lean against them for a moment while Charlie quickly retracted back into his own space.

A scoff came from Charlie's direction and Bonzy twisted their head around. He was lifting his satchel off of the ground and sliding the strap over his shoulder and across his chest once more, "Of all the people that could've fallen down here, it's deathwish hat-man." He sent them a dry look as Bonzy threw them a thumbs-up.

"You know it, Charles."

"Boys," Audrey chastised lightly, "we need to focus on what's ahead. What happened was a little bit of a startle, but we need to push on." Charlie nodded as he sided up with the two Archgate coworkers.

"My sentiments exactly." The shake in his hands didn't go unnoticed by Bonzy, but they felt they weren't in a position to question him on it. So up the steps and into the massive doors they went, the sign of the KEEPERS looming over them like walking down the steps of hell. Oh, that's a good line, Bonzy thinks, keeping a hand on Audrey's elbow in case she trips over herself from the effects of the colorful electric towers, I should write a book.

Down the flickering hallway, a sign that read Gent Corporation had a Condemned label smacked over it. Off-limits. A sheet lay over a lumpy mass on a table under the sign and Bonzy itched to tug it off, see what was underneath. But they simply looked up at the Condemned sign and shrugged at the other two, "That's never stopped me before," and headed off to the left, moving deeper into whatever big building this was. The only problem? There were more bodies. Everywhere. On nearly every floor and open surface.

"Jesus," Audrey murmured in horror, no doubt making the connections as she stared at the bodies.

"He plays no part in this," Charlie spoke plainly from behind them.

"They should invest in a morgue," Bonzy eyed the bodies, a nervous smile on their face as they pressed on to a security door. "Damn, what's with all the security in this place?" Charlie stared at the locked door, unwavering, before turning back to a small reception space next to the large metal security door.

"To keep people out of places they shouldn't be going into."

"Damn Charles, you always this cryptic?" Charlie didn't reply, but Bonzy took that as a confirmation when they heard rustling from behind the desk to their right. To their left, Audrey was gripping her gent pipe tightly, white-knuckled, with her back to the bodies in the musty-smelling room. Everything about the building reeked of an old-dead-inventor's-attic, specifically. "You okay, Audrey?" They asked, realizing just how distressing this could probably be for someone like her (which is to say anyone but Bonzy). Her eyes met theirs and she sent them a wobbly smile, nodding.