Outside

Chapter 9: Accidents Happen but This Wasn't an Accident

Scout sat through the whole rest of the movie, and then two more with the same characters. By the time she'd finished the last one, the rain and wind had stopped, but it was still dark. A look outside showed the streetlamps on, and nobody around. The road was really shiny though, and Scout watched for a while before turning back to the dark apartment.

"Okay." She thumped the side of her head, blinking as her flashlight turned on. "It's late, so let's go to bed now." She hopped down from the couch, then Jumped her way to the bedroom. From the doorway, she could see the blanket covered lump that was her Host. She made her way to the bed, then Jumped up on to it. With in moments she had wormed her way under the covers and pressed up against Stacy, ready to sleep herself.

Five minutes later she was crawling out, feeling far too hot. "Geez..." It was burning under the sheets, and also a little bit damp. It was almost worrying, and made Scout remember some of the more... unpleasant aspects of Hosts.

"Hey. Hey, Stacy. I think something happened." She pushed against the woman's cheek, but drew back at the wetness she felt. She also felt far too warm, and her breath was coming out in short gasps.

"Stacy, this isn't funny. It's time to wake up now." Ignoring the grossness, she pushed harder. "Something's wrong! Stacy? Stacy!" She pushed harder, but the Host didn't react. It wasn't even like when she'd pretended to sleep last night, there was nothing. She was completely nonreactive. It was just like when the Hosts back in the studio were used up.

"Oh no..." She fell back as the realization struck. "No no no NO! No! I'm not even doing anything! You shouldn't be like this! Wake up! Stacy!" She tried harder, beating her fabric fists against Stacy's face, but nothing worked. "Wake up! Please!"

Her eyes burned, and she looked around the room. "What do I do?!" What do I..." Her gaze fell on Stacy's phone, sitting on the side table. She lunged for it and swiped, only to be met with a request for a security code. "No!" She threw it onto the floor and, with one last glance at Stacy, Jumped her way to the living-room, where she'd left the phone she'd been given. Stacy had told her there was one other number on there, she just hoped it worked.

()()()

Will was supposed to be sleeping, but instead was staring down at the mess of circuitry in front of him. Off to the side was fully mangled and blackened body of an almost cat-like toy, it's head sitting upside down in his lap. It had attempted to move once, and he'd tazed it until had caught fire. He was currently poking around in the skull cavity, when his phone rang. Without looking at it he braced it between his shoulder and cheek.

"You've reached the phone of Will Carson. Unless you're the government or a scammer in which case you're having a bad trip and none of this is real." He spoke in a monotone, not even looking away from his work.

"Will!" The voice of that weird Puppet crackled through the line, and Will hung up immediately.

"Ew." He muttered, though he couldn't even put the phone down before it started ringing again. He answered quickly. "Whatever you want, I'm sure Stacy's more equipped to get it to you."

"Something's wrong with Stacy!" She spoke quickly, likely scared he'd hang up on her again. "Sh-she won't wake up, and she's hot and-and wet and she can''t breathe and she won't wake up-!"

Will felt his heart stop as she rambled on, unable to follow her words anymore.

"Will run! I found out what happened to Jerome! She's in here with me! Mom's-"

Will hung up the phone, dumping the head in his lap on the floor and grabbing his shoes as he dialed 911. He was just getting into his car as they picked up.