Since it was clear JJ wasn't going to move on his own, Mikey took it upon himself to leave Connor for a split second to help him.
One thing was clear about killer clowns: When their victims tried to run from them, they would hunt them down in an instant, and end their life even faster. But when there were people who too scared to move; petrified, or simply in disbelief, then they would take it as slow as they could. Almost as if to rub it in how close they were going to be death - their appearance being a consistent reminder of that.
It seemed as though that was one detail that hadn't been changed about these things.
JJ felt a hand abruptly yanking his arm away, urging him to flee. After he still didn't move, Mikey took full control of him and started dragging him away, and after a few seconds of that, the feeling returned to JJ's feet, and he started to run with him.
Then, he turned and looked behind him. He wished he hadn't - the killer clown was charging after him at full speed. Knowing he'd be caught in less than a second, JJ threw himself down an covered his head with his hands, waiting for it to just be over with.
Next, he felt something pressing against him. Hesitantly removing his hands, JJ saw Mikey holding onto him tightly while glaring at the killer clown that had now paused in front of them both.
"You leave him alone!" Mikey shouted, the uproar of people screaming and being destroyed nearly drowning out his voice. It seemed to be having trouble processing Mikey and JJ being so close together, and eventually, gave up and ran away entirely.
"That's right," JJ realized. "Killer clowns don't attack animals; Mikey is a turtle. It couldn't tell us apart due to how close we were, and didn't want to risk attacking the wrong individual."
"Where's Connor?" Mikey blurted out. Realizing he wasn't in the spot he used to be, Mikey stood up while still holding JJ, and started looking around. "Is he hurt? Where did he go?"
If a clown got to him already... that wasn't something JJ didn't even want to fathom. Instead, he let Mikey do the procrasinating, while he let himself lose feeling in his body again. He tried to block out the constant noise of people dying, but he couldn't. One second there would be a scream, and the next, there would be a cry of pain as someone's throat or chest and decimated. It was something he couldn't ignore, as much as he wanted to.
Suddenly, Mikey gasped. "JJ, I found Connor! Somebody has him!"
JJ didn't respond. Mikey carried him over to some sort of parking garage door, which was closed. People were huddled around it, banging on it for it to be opened. Among them, Mikey pushed through the people while making sure to keep JJ upright, and pinpointed the women who was holding Connor's hand.
"Alexa, is that you?" He asked. "I've seen you before; I think I recognize you."
"I recognize you too," She said. "You two are the ones that stole my son! I'm taking him back now, thank you very much."
"I didn't steal!" Mikey defended himself. "JJ just wanted to spend time with him, so he took him here. Yes, he should've asked beforehand, and I tried to get him to ask you first, but he was a little bit of a hurry-"
"From what?" Alexa interuppted him, sounding contempt. "Before whatever this is- there was nothing to run from. Is that supposed to be some sort of excuse?"
"No-" Mikey was about to explain the real reason, but he stopped. He couldn't tell her that JJ had been running from the police for attempting to slit someone's throat on his front porch; that wouldn't help his case at all. Instead, he went silent.
"That's what I thought."
"Mom, stop being mean!" Connor tried to pull away from her hand, but she held firm. "Mikey is my friend, and JJ was literally just taking me for a car ride so we could go to the city and buy stuff. Stop acting like they're kidnappers!"
