Savant pulled up next to them and gestured behind him. “They’re still coming!”
Jake looked back. Three of the Riders were running along the beam. And they were pretty good runners.
“They’re coming,” Mason said.
“I just said that, Mason.” Savant sighed. “No one listens to me.”
Mason jumped on the back of Jake’s cycle and pointed to a metal stairway on the side of the track. “We’ve got to go, and what’s with the monkey?”
“I’m Commander Mike McMonkey, TM, leader of the Monkeynauts, TM.” Commander Mike stuck out a paw. “And what’s your name, young man?”
“Where’s Glitch?” Savant asked. “Didn’t we leave you in charge of him?”
Mason’s eyes dropped. “They took him.”
“Who took him?” Jake asked.
A Bearberry bear appeared on the track in front of them and giggled. He shouted back down the staircase. “Hey, everybody. They’re up here.”
“We have to go, Jake.” Mason sounded defeated. “There’s too many of them.”
Mason never cut Glitch a break. The insults and the teasing never stopped. But Jake knew Mason would do anything for the man. And he’d never seen Mason this shaken before. He was a curmudgeon and a pain in the ass, but he wasn’t a coward. They would find Glitch and they would save him, but they were going to need time to plan.
Jake opened the throttle and the cycle shot down the track. Savant followed and the pair passed in front of the staircase moments before a dozen Bearberry Bears flooded the track and joined the surviving Dark Riders in the chase.
20
He itched. The net was made of a rough natural rope and the Bearberry Bears had most likely pulled it from some forgotten play area to use for their own nefarious purposes. And it did the trick.
Glitch had struggled at first to no avail and then switched his tactic to wishing he had his new arm back. That would have made getting free a lot easier. But he didn’t, and after a while he had gotten used to being dragged across the park’s walkway by the small army of bears.
He’d grown accustomed to the itching and pinching of the ropes and he had found a way to position himself so the path didn’t grate against his body too much. He came to expect the sudden jerks and learned to maneuver around the more abrasive bits of ground as he saw them coming. It was second nature after a while. But he never got used to the song.
Away from the tree’s powerful sound system, the bears relied on their own internal speakers to make their music. And ten years of missing their regularly scheduled maintenance had taken a toll on their ability to harmonize or sing in key. Cracked speakers and garbled tones turned the tune Glitch had whistled as a child into a nightmare’s soundtrack filled with warped horns and Satan’s piano driving the march to God knew where.
Let’s go for a walk today
A stroll that takes us far away
From our boring every day
And to somewhere new to play
If we sing, it’s a parade
On this walk we walk today.
Originally it had been a cheery march. Glitch remembered the colorful parade of happy bears waddling to the solid beat Tiddlysmirks had beat out on a drum hanging from his neck. In that episode, the bears had been in search of an adventure on a rainy day, so they marched around the Great Bearberry Tree in circles while singing this happy tune and extolling the virtues of a good hearty walk. Then, it took them to magical lands, but now the descending bass line that had driven the rhythm was warped and off pitch and turned the tune into a twisted march into hell.
Let’s go for a walk today
A hike, a stroll, a promenade
We’ll saunter all along the way
We’ll amble as we laugh and play
We’ll roam and toddle on our way
On this walk we walk today.
The next portion of the song had always been Glitch’s favorite. Each Bearberry Bear would take a line and the pace would build in intensity and excitement. Now it terrified him.
Traipse and trudge and tramp and trek
Rove and tread with every step
Plod and prance and ambulate
We’d better run, it’s getting late!
They ran out of verses quickly but refused to let a lack of lyrics stop them. They whistled through scratchy speakers and Glitch imagined it was the same sound a canary made in a mine when it first realized the jig was up.
Glitch spent the song cursing himself for being overwhelmed by a bunch of teddy bears. He remembered being swarmed by a wave of pastel fur and thought he was doing okay fighting them off at first. He remembered sending more than a couple of them flying through the air and it had felt like he was going to be okay. He didn’t remember much after that. He wasn’t sure what happened next, but he was pretty sure that little bitch Baby Boo had choked him out with his diaper. When he came to in the net and tried to remember what happened, he decided to leave that last part out should he ever get to tell the story.
He tried struggling once more and the result was the same as before. Some grunting, some rope burns and the bears stopped dragging him and started beating him, pummeling him with fur covered metal fists that hurt as much emotionally as they did physically. And they never stopped singing.
To his surprise, they didn’t take him to the Great Bearberry Tree. They dragged him past it and turned down a darkened path that twisted several times. Their final destination was a mystery. All the directional signage he could make out had been defaced or destroyed. The park got darker and darker the farther they went. The twisted and toppled lampposts were useless and it was several minutes before there was any light at all.
Trashcan fires lit the entrance to what was once Enchantasia. Two trolls with green skin and fuzzy purple Teddy Bear ears stood in the firelight with crossed pikes guarding the gate. They moved aside with a grunt apiece and let the Bearberry Bear party pass with not so much as a glance at the man being dragged in the net.
Glitch guessed the trolls’ height at eight feet and half that across. They paid him no mind and moved back into sentry position once Baby Boo had finally waddled through the gate, tripping once as he struggled to hold up his falling diaper.
Enchantasia was nothing more than a wasteland now. Once filled with fairytale dreams, the shops and citizens had been transformed into haunting visions of a post-apocalyptic storybook realm. Burned out buildings, scattered trash and a mangled Prince Charming suspended from a darkened lamppost were signs that the transition had not been a peaceful one.
Many of the citizens had suffered the same fate as the Presidents and had been transformed into Bearberry Bears. Snow White was now covered in polar bear white fur and followed around by six cubs armed with picks and shovels. Pinocchio wore a defeated expression as he toiled away at the command of a tiny cricketbear on his shoulder. Goldilocks and the three bears were carting materials deeper into the park while Rumplebearskin tried in vain to spin gold into straw stuffing.
Glitch sat up as much as the net allowed and tried to see where the Bearberry Bears were taking him. Once Upon a Time Ago castle lay ahead of them and it was the only building in the area that still appeared to have the lights on.
As they grew closer he could see the reason for the darkness in Enchantasia. Power lines from all over were rigged and run to the castle, turning the storybook palace into something out of a steampunk version of Cinderella.
Mufkin raised his hands and yelled ahead to the castle, “Open sesame!”
Gears turned, chains clanked and the drawbridge lowered slowly over a foul-smelling moat that neglect had turned into a thick green liquid that burped and bubbled. The drawbridge crashed to the ground and Mufkin giggled, “That never gets old.”
The march resumed and the Bearberry Bears dragged Glitch across the bridge and into the castle. The smooth stones of the floor were a nice respite from the asphalt but the ride got rougher once they hit the stairs. They weren’t real stones but they were
hard enough to serve the purpose. Each one hurt as they dragged him up the circular staircase. They hurt even more when they accidentally let go and he fell back down a story or two. All three times.
He tried to climb free of the net with each drop, but it was secured too well and the giggling monsters were on top of him too quickly. They kicked him and laughed and started dragging him back up once more. On the fourth try, they made it to their destination, Dr. Frankenstein’s lab. Or a close enough approximation for Glitch to find it absolutely horrifying.
The whole room hummed with electricity that hung about the room in cables he was certain weren’t up to code. Gray metal cabinets scattered about the room appeared to be filled with nothing but exposed copper coils and smelled like ozone and burning wires. The room even had the requisite metal table suspended from the ceiling by heavy gauge chains. This is where they dropped him.
They pulled the net off him and Glitch made a run for it. He got as far as sitting up before a hand the size of his chest grabbed him and forced him back down. The Cyclops had one eye, a giant horn and cute little teddy bear ears. The monster leaned over him and held him down while the Bearberry Bears secured the straps that would hold him in place.
“What’s going on? What are you doing to me?”
“You’re a special boy, Glitch. Did you know that?” Brexbin stood at the lab’s doorway with a smile on his face. He was dressed in a white lab coat that was far too big. The sleeves fell well past his hands and flopped about as he walked across the room.
“Why are you doing this, Brexbin?” The Cyclops backed away and Glitch struggled against the straps. They held him tight against the table. “What have you done to all of these people?”
“We made them happy. We couldn’t make any more Bearberry Juice, but that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be happy. So, we had to improvise.” Brexbin walked over to a metal bin and pulled out the head of a small deer with large blue eyes. Glitch heard the servos whir as Brexbin played with the woodland creature’s mouth. “It wasn’t easy, though. Was it Mr. Deer?”
“You monster!” Glitch shook the table and it began to sway on the chains.
“Now, now. Name calling isn’t nice.” Brexbin dropped the deer head back into the bin with a clatter. “Mr. Deer notwithstanding, turning all the residents of the island into Bearberry Bears was easy.” Brexbin reached back into the bin and pulled out a bare white bone. It may have been a femur, but Glitch was no doctor. “But the guests have proven more difficult.”
“Let me go!”
“We can’t do that, Glitch. You’re too important.” Brexbin dropped the limb back in the bin and waddled closer. “Don’t you see? You’re the key. We could turn the Presidents into Bearberry Bears. And the Fairyfolk, TM. And the dinos. But whenever we tried to turn a guest into one of us they just… stopped working.”
“You killed them!”
“But then we met you. You’re part guest. Part us. And with your help we’ll be able to turn everyone into Bearberry Bears and we’ll all go on great adventures together and be happy. You’re going to help us change the world, Glitch.”
A woman in a nurse outfit rolled a tool chest next to the table. Glitch recognized her as the wicked stepmother from his childhood nightmares. He didn’t remember the little black nose though. She saw him staring and flashed a wicked smile, then pulled her mask up to cover the teddy nose. “We’re ready for you, doctor.”
Metal scraped across imitation stone. Glitch couldn’t see what was happening despite doing his best to raise his head. An orange furry butt appeared above the edge of the table as a Bearberry Bear climbed onto a footstool. Its head appeared a moment later.
“Butterfingers!” Glitch groaned.
“Dr. Butterfingers, TM,” the bear insisted and held up the end of the stethoscope that hung around his neck. “You can tell because they gave me one of these things.”
“Please,” Glitch said to Brexbin. “Anyone else.”
“Don’t worry, Glitch,” Brexbin said as he stroked the man’s hair. “It will be fine. Butterfingers is really good at pretending to be a doctor.”
Dr. Butterfingers pulled his mask up and stuck out his paw. “Knife thingy.”
The nurse responded and held out a scalpel which Butterfingers immediately stuck in his paw. The Bearberry Bear looked at the instrument sticking out of his hand and yelled, “Ouchey!” before falling backward off the stool.
Glitch stared at Brexbin, who patted Glitch’s leg sweetly. “He’s still the best we’ve got. He pretends to be a doctor more than any of us.”
Dr. Butterfingers climbed onto the stool and pulled the scalpel out of his hand.
“Why are you doing this?!” screamed Glitch. “You’re supposed to be everyone’s friend. You’re not supposed to be bad.”
“We’re not bad, Glitch,” Brexbin said as Butterfingers wrapped way too much gauze around a paw that wasn’t even bleeding. “We’re helping people. Helping people is good.”
“But you’re killing them.”
“Only so we can make them happy. And that’s what’s important. You want everyone to be happy, don’t you?”
The whir of an electric saw drowned out the sound of the electric sparks that shot around the room. Butterfingers lifted the saw above his head. This wasn’t easy considering one paw was completely bandaged up.
“I’m not going to lie, Glitch.” Brexbin said. “This is probably going to hurt. You should probably think of something else.”
Glitch screamed as the saw drew closer.
Brexbin shushed him and stroked his hair. “Just use your imagination.”
21
They had left the bikes on the monorail beam and rushed down the metal access stairway at the side of the track.
The three men talked frantically about Presidents and Dark Riders and Glitch and Teddy Bear versions of William H. Taft and how Roosevelt went down swinging. They covered a surprising amount of catching up by the time they reached the mammoth doors to Prehistoria.
One of the white apes that had rescued them from the Bearberry Tree waved them in with an excited grunt that only Commander Mike seemed to understand.
The Monkeynaut grunted back and nodded enthusiastically. He pointed inside the compound. “Your friends are inside.”
The drone-mounted cameras followed them as they raced inside the gate and followed two more of the white gorillas to the encampment.
“Thank God,” Hailey exclaimed as she raced across the village where she embraced Jake. She squeezed tight and whispered. “You’re all right. You’re all all right.”
Jake released her from the embrace and shook his head. “Not all of us. They took Glitch.”
Kat appeared silently at their side. “Where?”
There was more catching up to do. They repeated the bit about the Presidents and Dark Riders and everyone got to meet Commander Mike. Kat’s jungle princess get-up was explained, and Kat herself shared the story about her time on the island and her time with Thorne.
“Wait, you mean you—,” Savant cleared his throat. “And him? You—”
A look from Kat silenced Savant and anyone else that may have had questions or judgments to share with the group.
The updates continued until they reached the part about the signal fire. Thorne explained its significance and began to elaborate on its fictional history when Jake stopped him with the question, “So who all can we expect to come?”
Thorne looked grim. “I expect no more than those that are already present, friend Jake. My hope would be the Presidents would stop their bickering long enough to join us, but according to you it seems they have fallen prey to a combination of their own shortcomings and Bearberry Bears. We have heard nothing from the Enchantasians and I expect Commander Mike to be the only attendant from Futopia.”
Commander Mike sat in a tree overlooking the center of the camp. He said nothing and looked into the sky.
Thorne continued. “It seems now that we know what fate has be
fallen our friends and foes. We can expect many of them to come at us bearing animosity and little furry bear ears. Any that have gone missing are no doubt in the hands of the monster Brexbin and his horrible—yet admittedly adorable—army.”
Savant stood and looked around the group gathered in the village Thorne called Kandallaha. “So this is it?”
“I fear there is no one else,” Thorne said with a sadness in his voice.
The groan of the ropes was the first indication the gates were being opened. The creak of the timbers soon followed. But it was the frantic response of the Fengali that brought everyone to their feet.
The great white apes formed a line along the edge of the camp that faced the gate. They grunted and snorted at the approaching sound. Gestures grew more pronounced and the fierceness of their grunts intensified. Something was coming. Something they didn’t like.
Jake and the rest of the team stood their ground. Their weapons were mostly empty but those that had ammunition left drew their guns and waited for the visitor to reveal itself.
Something big was coming. It shook the ground as it neared. The sound of scraping metal followed and Jake was tempted to cover his ears to shield them from the shriek.
The Fengali roared as the dinosaur’s snout came into view. Black and red armor covered the Ankylosaurus’ head. The color scheme matched the rider’s uniform. He raised a red tinted visor and spoke to Thorne. “Call off your beasts, Jungle Man.”
Thorne made a series of gutteral shouts. The Fengali settled down but did not move from their place between the team and dinosaur. “Malcolm Miles, TM.” Thorne announced. “You have been invited here under a banner of peace. Do you agree that no violence will be exchanged here this day?”
The robotic rider in red and black made a motion as if he was spitting on the ground. “Yeah.”
“Very well. Then you are welcome here beneath our fire. May I ask, why did Blaxxton not come himself?”
“I haven’t seen him. I haven’t seen anyone. My men are missing. Blaxxton has been gone for weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if that jerk skipped time and left me stranded back here with you savages.”
Junkers Season Two Page 16
