Five Nights Till Freedom

Fifth Night

It was 12:05 by the time we arrived at the pizzeria and it was pitch black all down the street, so the only way we managed to get there was because of Thomas' headlights.

Thomas drove us close to the front entrance but I had my seat-belt off and was out the door before he had even put the car in park.

"Rachel!" Thomas yelled from the car as I made my way to the front entrance, fumbling the keys from my pocket before they slipped out of my hands and fell to the ground in front of the door.

I cursed myself for being so clumsy and made my way to quickly pick up the keys.

Thomas was out of the car and ran up beside me as I put the key in the locks. He looked at me, running a hand through his hair, "Rachel, don't be so reckless, you could have hurt yourself if I wasn't going so slowly."

I shook my head as I turned the key, the lock making a satisfying click.

I swung the door opening, the smell of pizza and children flooding back into my memory. I couldn't hear anything inside, it was strangely quiet and that was making me very anxious.

As I was about to step inside, Thomas suddenly gripped my shoulder so tight that I thought it was going to pop out of its socket. I turned back toward him, yelping in pain.

His eyes were wide and he looked terrified.

But he wasn't looking at me.

He was looking at something across the street.

Luckily Thomas had left his headlights on so that we could see where we were going but we could only see in a wide diameter. Across the street, right where the light faded to darkness, you could see a pair of glowing red eyes shining in the darkness.

My blood ran cold.

I felt Thomas move himself in front of me protectively but I barely noticed because I couldn't take my eyes off the glowing ones in the distance.

Then the eyes began to move and we began to see what body the eyes belonged to. 

The first thing that stepped into the light was two paws that were covered in pitch black fur with razor sharp claws. Then the paws led to a powerful pair of muscled legs, and then led to the face of a black Labrador. It's face curved in a snarl so large, you could see it's yellow fangs from where we stood. It's eyes glowed venomously, blood red with cat like pupils despite the animal being a dog. 

"He dumped me back in those boxes where you found me and took the host of a black Labrador instead."

My heart was thumping loud in my chest and my eyes were widening from the realization.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. 

Hard and unmerciful.

"T...Thomas, we need to get inside now!" I spoke frantically in his ear and he turned towards me.

"What is that thing!" 

The Labrador perked its ears and snarled in our direction before with an immense bolt of speed started charging toward us. 

It was so fast that in the second that it took the both of us to comprehend what was happening, it was already directly in front of us.

I knew I was screaming but I couldn't hear myself. Everything had gone silent. I couldn't hear the dog, Thomas, or anything else in the background.

But I could see everything that was happening.

And what happened terrified me.

I saw the black Labrador lunge toward us, bearing its fangs as it's red eyes glowed like that of a demon from hell.

But that's not what terrified me the most.

Thomas turned towards me quickly and pushed me inside the pizzeria so hard that I fell onto my ass. When I turned back up to look at him, I saw him slam the doors behind him, just as the Labrador landed on his back.

"Thomas!" I could finally hear my voice and it was loud and high. I got up and almost fell down as I ran to the front doors, tugging on the handle with as much force as I could.

Tears were running down my cheeks as I kept screaming his name, but the doors wouldn't budge.

I couldn't hear anything outside the door and I had to choke back my sobs.

He's gone.

Thomas.... The guy who just wanted to help in anyway he could.

And it's all my fault.

I pressed my back against the door, shutting my eyes as tightly as I could as I slid down the door until I fell on the floor.

My thoughts were a jumbled mess and I couldn't separate any of them that were running through my head. The only thought that I could clearly determine was that he sacrificed himself for me. He pushed me inside while I froze. He should have saved himself but he saved me instead.

God, stupid Thomas..... Why did you have to be noble?

"Rachel?!"

My head snapped up as I saw the tiny form of BB running towards me down the hall. He was wearing an over-sized brown vest that almost came down to his knees. As he ran towards me he almost tripped over it.

It must have been Fred's.

As he came closer to me I saw the worry in his eyes as he looked me up and down, "Rachel, what's going on? Isn't Thomas supposed to be protecting you?"

His gaze was like looking at a puppy sitting out in the rain. The look he gave me almost broke me. How could I tell him that Thomas had sacrificed his life to save my own. That he was outside with a Labrador with growing red eyes. That he's outside in the hands of the Puppet.

I stretched my arms towards BB and wrapped them tightly around him, holding him close to me as I hugged him as tight as I could, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."