Twisted Wonderland 2

How Irksome

You and the boys run into the bazaar, not stopping until you all duck behind a booth. You take a moment to catch your breath. Leona still holds you, his eyes narrowed and looking out for any of the puppets.

Cater sneaks a glance over the booth. "I think we're finally rid of them."

"Geez Louise," Ace lets out a breath. "those puppets just wouldn't let up! We kept shaking them off, and they just kept coming back. Those were all the puppets that we saw working here, huh?"

Ortho nods. "Yeah. They turned aggressive so suddenly..."

Terrified screams and shouts cause you to freeze.

"W-what was that?" You say in a terrified whisper.

You and the boys glance over the booth to see what's going on. You watch in horror as a small group of guests cry out desperately as the puppets drag them along the path.

"Please, I wanna go home!"

"Please, please! I don't wanna be a puppet!"

"CaPTuRe THeM! ThRoW ThEm IN tHe CRaTe!" The puppets wooden limbs create a clattering sound as they move.

"It's other visitors." Ortho eyes widen. "Their bodies are being covered in wood... They're turning into puppets!"

Jack flicks his tail with a glare to the puppets. "That would explain how oddly empty the park seemed to be..."

"Looks like they already turned everyone other than us into puppets and hauled 'em off." Leona growls.

"Oh, no!" Kalim leaps up. "Hold on, I'll save you!"

"Whoa, slow down!" Trey grabs a hold of Kalim and pulls him back down before he could get far. "Are you just gonna jump out in front of those things? You saw what happened to Lilia and Jade. Them, of all people. Who knows what those things are capable of. Rushing in without a plan's just asking for it!"

Vil nods. "Agreed. We were hard pressed to escape this far."

"But..." Kalim looks back to the guests sadly. "I can't just stand here and watch!"

You place a hand to Kalim's shoulder. "I know it doesn't feel right to do nothing for them right now. I felt this when we hade to leave Jade and the others behind. But we can't rush into things without a plan."

"Yeah, but not much we can do, either." Cater adds. "Especially without phone signal..."

Ace shakes his head. "If only we could contact the school. Getting caught cutting class is definitely the least of our concerns now!"

Ortho narrows his eyes determinedly. "Okay. I can try hacking into the park's network." He closes his eyes but a sharp buzzing noise jolts him back. "Huh? I failed to get in? ME?"

Ortho tries again but the same thing happens. He brings a hand to his head in shock. "This is weird. I keep getting errors every time I try to connect, hich makes me suspect there's a powerful jammer set up somewhere in this park."

"That means we can't get through to anyone on the outside!" Jack growls.

Leona scoffs. "Guess they've covered their bases to ensure no inconvenient intel makes it out of here."

Floyd rubs his shoulder. "So uh, I've got some other bad news on top of the whole communication thing. There were sea birds flyin' around earlier today, but now there ain't any. I think the park's on the move."

Your eyes widen. "You mean, we're not at the docks anymore?"

Vil glances over the booth and checks for any puppets. "I'll go take a look over the wall with Leona. You all wait here, and stay hidden."