PopCap-Topia: Neighborville has Moved!

Chapter Four: Pancakes

There's a faint ticking in the background.

Tick. Tick…

“I've been watching you.”

He turns. Someone else is here?

“You've survived much longer than I expected.”

Tick. Tick. Tick.

“Done much more than I expected.”

Tick. Tick tick tick...

“I must have underestimated you.”

He's… falling. But… slowly. The void of this nightmarish reality is starting to swallow him whole.

“It's a shame you won't make it to the end.”

Something grabs him.

Grabs him by the neck.

“Really. I think you've done wonderfully.”

Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick-

He's choking. He can't breathe. He claws at whatever is holding his throat; he can't get it off.

“You know… I'm almost proud of you.”

He manages to turn his head, trying to find whoever is doing this to him. He catches a brief glimpse of... someone. Their shadow is... oddly familiar...

Because it's just like his.

His thoughts are derailed by a loud, violent screech. The thing around his neck gets tighter. He feels pained tears run down his face as his brain is overworked between the pain and the noise.

Everything goes numb.

●●●

Zomboss gasps as he wakes, taking in quick, ragged breaths (that he doesn't need.) He can still feel it, feel the tight grip around his neck, the pain, can still see the shadow of someone who looks just like him...

He shuts his eyes. Tries to forget. Just like every other nightmare he's ever had.

The sun is beginning to fade outside of the van, stars twinkling in the Poptopian sky. The stars, they remind him of a different time. Of a giant robot, on top of a red thatched roof.

Even if he lost in the end… he enjoyed that battle. It's been a while, since he built any giant robots.

That's what he'll do when this is all over, he decides. He'll build a giant robot, and use it to terrorize Crazy Dave and his family.

Speaking of his family...

Patrice still snores in the seat across from him, David's shovel clutched in her hands. A smile is painted on her features - unlike Zomboss, she is clearly having pleasant dreams.

He stretches his hands. Feels the stiffly bound ropes holding him. Well… it's worth a shot.

He takes a look at it. Just a classic double knot, tightly woven. He can get it undone.

But should he?

He thinks back to the dream he just had. Shudders. Yes, he needs to distract himself from that somehow. Even if it costs him a bit of trust.

He calculates, recalculates, and then sinks his teeth into the rope.

●●●

Finally, Dave thinks as he pulls the van to a stop. PopCap Town is a short walk away - the Great Library an even shorter one.