Voodootown

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Squat

Squat sighed and shook his head.  They had spent far too much time sneaking around from alley to alley instead of just heading to the portal where they had seen the human last.  Ahead of the group, Blink teleported to the next corner and looked around, then waved them on.

Without waiting for the others, Squat started forward.  Twister frowned at him, but he just walked past her.  Even she hadn't noticed the pattern, and he had hoped she was smarter than the others. 

As he neared Blink, the others caught up to him.  They stopped as a group, but Squat walked forward on his own down the middle of the street.  He felt a hand grab his shoulder and saw Ju Ju trying to hold him back.  "What?" he asked.

"What yourself," she said.  "We're trying to find him without being seen."

He let her pull him back to the corner.  He stared at the group a moment, felt the frustration grow inside him.  "Okay, listen," he said.  "Hasn't anybody else figured it out?"

No one answered and he nodded his head.  He kept having high hopes for these dolls, kept thinking they would surprise him and show some guts, but they kept letting him down.

"Can anybody remember the last two nights we've been here?  No ambushes, no sentries.  Just the human guy who attacked us on his own weird schedule."  He waited, but still no answer or insight from the crowd.  "Anybody?  Anybody?"

He felt like finding Petro and sitting down with some potion that would help him forget all this for a while.  But that would be a weakness, and he couldn't let himself be weak.  His human, James, had enough of that for the both of them.

"Okay, try this.  We're actually trying to find the creepy human guy, right?  So, why are we sneaking around, hoping he won't find us?"

"Oh," Flow said.  The others were silent.

"Whatever," Squat said.  "It's two blocks away.  Just do your thing."  He stepped back and waited for Blink to scout ahead.  But, the teleporter didn't.  Blink started walking and the others began to follow.

Sticks stepped up beside Squat and they stayed at the back of the group.  "It kind of freaks me out when you're smart," she said.

"Wanna say hi to Sputnik?" he asked and mimed throwing her into space.  But he smiled at her.

"So, what do we do?" Sticks asked.

"We follow the plan," he said.  "Ju Ju gets Bricks working for us and then we take the human down."

She shook her head.  "No, I meant what do we do if it doesn't work out."

Squat looked at her.  "Then we follow the other plan.  You, Ju Ju and I will take care of things."

Sticks looked away, but before he could ask her anything, he heard Ju Ju.  "There he is.  One second."

Walls began to form up around them.  They reached knee height, then stopped.  After a long moment, the new walls trembled, then sank back into the ground.  When they disappeared, Squat looked up.  Over the nearest building, he saw a narrow tower with a clear cage at the top.  Bricks, the doll who had nearly captured them all, stood motionless inside.  He thought about complimenting Ju Ju on her work, but everyone else was already moving.

They cleared the building and saw the glow of the portal ahead.  Before they got to the street, Squat saw the human.  He was sitting in front of the portal, studying it.  Behind him was a crowd of dolls with collars on their necks.  All of them stood motionless.