Project Chaos: Disneyland

Chapter One

Someone was screaming his name. He could hear the terror-filled shouts echoing through his ears. Heart thundering, he forced the darkness aside, fighting to reach out for the source of such distress. But as the darkness leeched away, so did the voice, until he was staring out at the unfamiliar world around him with only an echo in his head.

Teddy...

Blinking against the glare of a nearby street lamp, Teddy tried to get a feel of his surroundings. He was standing in the middle of a large town square, buildings surrounding him on every side and continuing down a street straight ahead. He couldn't see far at all through a heavy fog that obscured the world just beyond his area.

It was night, and everything was still. But it was not the normal hush of the evening. This stillness was heavy, an actual deadening weight over the place that stifled all sound and brought unease creeping through Teddy's chest. Wherever he was, it was not a friendly environment.

Crouching low on instinct, he crept forward, stepping out onto the street and keeping an ear perked for any warning noises.

He tried remembering how he got here, but nothing seemed to exist in his mind before opening his eyes to the sound of his name. He couldn't recall whose voice he'd heard, nor even any other name than that – Teddy.

Frowning, he padded down the street between the two rows of shops, every one of them neglected and foreboding. There was an empty café area, the chairs tossed around, tables on their sides. Glass from busted windows littered the street and sidewalks, and trash rustled as it drifted across his path, collecting in corners between walls and in the metal tracks laid down the center of the street.

Teddy moved onto the sidewalk, feeling oddly exposed in the middle of the street. What exactly was supposed to be threatening, he didn't know, but thought it wiser all around to stick to the shadows. As he passed yet another broken shop window, he spied an odd silhouette inside. It appeared far from dangerous, and Teddy caved to his curiosity, wondering if anything in these shops would tell him more about where he was.

He glanced over his shoulder before ducking inside.

It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the gloom, the lamp light outside barely offering a glow to the interior of the store. But there was just enough light to discover that the odd silhouette he'd seen belonged to a stuffed toy. Tugging on a lock of his dark hair and a frown wrinkling his forehead, Teddy reached out to pick it up.

The toy was some sort of animal, black, with two ridiculously large ears on its head. As he looked at it, he began to notice that it was just one of many of the same animal, crowding the shelf. Turning on the spot, he saw an actual silhouette of the creature's head and ears painted on a nearby table. And a shelf. The shape was even fitted into the archways of the doors and on the walls.

Teddy looked all around him and wondered what was so special about this toy to get so much attention.

He just placed the silly thing back on the shelf with its friends when there was a harsh sound from outside – the shattering of glass. Teddy froze, thinking it was probably just a cracked window finally falling out onto the ground.
But then there was a rowdy yell, followed quickly by loud shouts of encouragement.

People were coming down the street.

Some instinct he couldn't explain pulled Teddy down into a crouch, shrinking back beneath the shelf full of toys with a careful eye on the open doorway. A small voice in his head suggested that maybe they were friendly, but something much more powerful refused to let him wander out in front of them.

They were laughing and talking in over-loud voices, cheering every time one of them broke a window. They seemed to be content with forging a distractive path down the street outside, and Teddy decided it was best to wait them out.

But as he kept watch, light outside the shop shifted. The glow which had been steadily coming from the right was joined by another glow coming from the left. This new illumination was bouncing, zipping around outside. The sight of it caused an inexplicable flare of alarm to blaze up his spine.

One of them is probably carrying a light of some sort, he tried to reason with himself. But that explanation was hardly more reassuring. All it would take was for them to shine it inside this room and he was caught. Teddy's pulse was rushing in his ears, fear trickling through him.

He had a moment to wonder why he was so scared, and then the light flew right past the door to the shop.

His heart skipped a beat and then kicked into overdrive. It was a flying light. A little ball of light whizzing around out there. Teddy's instincts battled over staying put or booking it out of the nearest door into the connected shop.

But somehow, it was too late.

The light reappeared in the doorway, hovering, bobbing up and down. Teddy knew what would happen before it did – the light suddenly gave off a sharp jangle of chimes, like some kind of angry bells. The sound bounced through the shop, ringing in Teddy's ears, and he heard it echo down the street outside.

He was caught.