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Shelly didn't know how she got here.
Well, that wasn't exactly true. She was currently standing in the elevator, waiting to go down into the facility.
She had accepted an invite to a run.
She didn't really like the runs, like many other toons. Really it was just that Shelly didn't like seeing other people get hurt, something that happened a lot.
It also wasn't one of the necessary runs to get food and stuff, items which were somehow prevalent down there.
But, Vee had asked her. She didn't want to disappoint the other toon and make the process of finding someone to join her longer. Well, that and her crush on the television.
So, she accepted.
Now, she was stuck in the elevator with her, well, unrequited lover.
She paused to look over at Vee. She was reading something, a book of some sorts. Maybe something about the facilities? Rodger had a few journals filled with observations from his time down the facility. Maybe she had borrowed one of those?
Just as she was about to ask what it was, the elevator opened. Vee put the book down and gestured for Shelly to leave the elevator.
“We're looking for medical supplies this time,” Vee suddenly said.
Oh right, she had completely forgotten to ask what she was looking for.
“Oh, okay.” Shelly gave Vee a thumbs up.
Vee just rolled her eyes, “try not to get hurt so we don't have to use them all before we can store them.” The toon added.
Shelly just nodded before wandering off into the daycare, hoping to find the machines easily.
Shelly got the first machine quickly. Vee seemed to find another one right after her.
She had just finished filling up her second machine. There was one more, but Shelly was pretty sure Vee would find it before her.
She decided to leave the last one to Vee while she wandered her way back to the elevator.
Sure enough, as soon as she got there the elevator opened.
She walked inside, just.. waiting for Vee.
The other toon came running back into the elevator. She must have been trying to get back as quickly as possible. Shelly hoped she hadn't left her friend all the way across the room.
As the elevator closed, she looked back at Vee.
“Good job!” Shelly exclaimed, “we were really fast!” She added.
Vee paused, “I suppose we are.” She said, Shelly could have sworn she saw a smile on the television's face.
She was pretty sure this run would turn out to be quite enjoyable.
More floors passed, going quickly by.
Shelly was right, they were really fast together!
They had some.. close calls with twisteds, but so far they hadn't gotten hurt. Which was great!
Currently they were on the fifteenth floor. It was quite high for only the two of them. She made sure to celebrate that with Vee, who seemed to be happy about their success.
As soon as they stepped out, though, Shelly heard something. Footsteps. Big footsteps. Shelly had never heard them before, they sounded new. They sounded dangerous.
Vee didn't seem to notice the change. Or, if she did, she wasn't worried.
“You got two machines, I can take the last three.” Vee said, trying to plan out how they could do the floor more efficiently.
Shelly paused, “..do you hear that?” She asked. Maybe Vee knew what it was?
Vee gave her a quizzical look, “hear.. what?” She asked.
Well, obviously she didn't.
“It's.. it's probably nothing. I might just be hearing things, y’know?” Shelly suddenly said, maybe she was just stressed from her last close call. Even if it was something different, she was sure it wouldn't be a problem.
“Mm… maybe.” Vee looked slightly concerned, “maybe I should take over the machines this time.. I don't want you to be put in danger if you're hearing things..”
“Ah! Nono! I'm fine, don't worry about it.” Shelly interrupted.
Vee looked skeptical, “well.. okay.” She looked like she wanted to add more, but refrained from doing so.
Shelly decided to stop stalling and get to work on the machines.
She looked over, giving Vee some final words of encouragement, before going off.
She wandered off into the diner slowly, looking around.
She found her two machines quickly. She looked at the counter, deciding that she should go help Vee now.
As she wandered, she swore she could still hear footsteps.
It's probably just a regular old twisted.. you're just overreacting. She told herself silently.
She finally found Vee, and she was about to rush to her and help her.
Then she saw it.
She stopped in her tracks, looking at the thing. It wasn't able to see them, it's back turned from Shelly.
It looked like a twisted, but it was huge . She had never seen it before.
And it was going right in Vee's direction.
She needed to warn her, to get her away. But.. she didn't want to attract the thing to her direction. It wouldn't help if Shelly was hurt and Vee had to pause to save her.
But, then it saw Vee.
It let out a quiet growl that Shelly could just barely hear. She doubted Vee could hear it at all. She had to do something now.
“OVER HERE!!” Shelly suddenly yelled.
Vee turned around, getting her attention. Then, it got the beasts attention.
“Shelly, why are you yelli-” she started scornfully while turning around to face her. Then she stopped as she saw the thing. It was towering aggressively as it turned to Shelly.
Then, all hell broke loose.
The beast let out a sudden gut wrenching screech, going for Shelly.
Shelly started running. She could hear it behind her, it's footsteps not getting any fainter. She could swear she started feeling it's breath on her neck.
She ran and ran, but it didn't work .
She could still feel it behind her, and she was starting to get tired.
She turned her head for a split second.
It was still chasing her, baring fangs and looking like it was going to bite her.
She screamed as it caught up to her and caught her arm. Unbearable pain seared through her shoulder. As she looked at her arm she saw blood running down it, it looked like an actual chunk of her arm was pulled out.
The thing stopped for a split second, chewing on the fragment it tore off. Blood covered it's teeth and it chewed slowly, looking directly at her as it did.
She was backed into a corner.
It knew she couldn't get away.
It was taking it's sweet time.
She looked around, looking for an escape.
She was on a small platform now, just barely above the floor. There was a small railing there.
If.. if she jumped it maybe it would slow the thing down a little.
Just as she thought it, the twisted looked stepped closer to her.
She tried her hardest not to scream and freeze up. It was now or never.
She used all her energy to jump the railing, making sure not to fall. She looked back at the beast, it's eyes looked full of malice.
She couldn't stop, though, she needed to get away. She kept running.
Eventually, she couldn't hear the footsteps anymore.
As the adrenaline faded, she could suddenly feel all the pain in her arm. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from screaming out in pain.
Her legs collapsed as they couldn't hold her weight anymore. She desperately crawled into a small corner, trying to stay hidden. She buried her head in her knees, doing anything to stop herself from making any noise.
Suddenly, she heard a whisper.
She jerked her head up, looking at the area around her.
She was about to run again, afraid it was the monster again.
Just as she was about to get up, she heard the whisper more clearly.
“..Elly?” The voice asked, “Shelly? Ar… ou… there..?” She could barely distinguish the words.
Twisteds don't talk… she thought.
Then suddenly, Vee came into view.
“Shelly?!” She whispered, “oh God where are you?” She worriedly mumbled to herself.
“I-im here. ” She forced her voice to work. It was sore from screaming so much.
Vee suddenly turned to her, dashing straight over to the sitting toon.
“Oh thank- your alive- I can't believe-” Vee kept interrupting herself with sudden worries.
“I- yeah I- did it.” Shelly coughed.
Vee closed her eyes like she was trying to stop herself from yelling at the injured toon. She was about to say something when she saw Shelly's arm.
“Oh my God your arm-” Vee started, looking somewhere between sick, worried, and angry.
“I got bi-bit.” She coughed again, “i-it feels like part of my arm got torn off.” Shelly said.
Vee untied her bow suddenly, then took it to wrap around Shelly's arm. Vee turned Shelly's head back to her face, trying to make sure she didn't see the full damage.
“I- uh- sorry..” Shelly mumbled.
Vee hummed in response, tying up the make-shift bandage. She looked back at her watch, checking the amount of machines left.
She pressed a button suddenly, “Poppy? Are you there?” Vee asked quietly.
Suddenly a small buzz came as a reply. “Vee? What's going on, why are you contacting us during your run?” Poppy's voice responded.
“We need you to activate the emergency exit protocol,” Vee paused, grimacing at Shelly, “... Shelly got hurt. Bad. ” She said, putting emphasis on the word ‘bad.’
Shelly could've sworn she heard a gasp from someone else on the line. “..” Poppy didn't respond, but she could hear a keyboard, “okay, I've activated the protocol. You can get out of there now.” She paused, “I'll make sure to have Sprout and Cosmo out there for Shelly.” She added.
“.., thanks.” Vee said, before ending the transmission. She looked back at Shelly, “can you walk?” She asked.
Shelly pushed herself up, with some help from Vee. “I think so.” She breathed out before suddenly falling. Vee caught her.
“Dammit…” she whispered under her breath, “okay, let me help you.” She said while positioning herself to help Shelly walk.
Shelly gladly took her help, practically putting all her weight on Vee.
They slowly made their way across the room, checking to make sure that thing wasn't there. Vee stopped at a few doorways to check, making Shelly tense up. The television assured her that she was just checking, though.
They were almost there when the growling and the footsteps came back.
Both of them froze, though only for a second. They could see the elevator, they couldnt go back. But, there wasn't anywhere to hide. At least nothing that was safe.
Vee acted first, dragging Shelly to an old play table. They both crouched behind it, trying to stay out of sight. The footsteps got louder and closer.
The thing was right there. If Shelly looked up, she would probably see it. She practically stopped breathing, afraid she would start hyperventilating.
Vee looked over to her, then back at the elevator. Shelly thought she understood. If they made a break for it, then maybe they could get away.
It was risky, but they didn't have any other option. If they waited for it to pass, they ran the risk of having it see them when they weren't ready.
Shelly propped herself up, trying to prepare her legs to run with Vee. Vee was beside her, waiting for her to be ready. As she looked at the other, they both nodded.
They both got up quickly and ran.
The thing noticed them almost immediately, letting out that wretched growl.
This time, though, it didn't stalk them like it did Vee. It charged at them, just like when Shelly had sacrificed herself to save her.
She looked back, seeing it gaining on them. Fast.
She was trying her hardest to run, but it was obvious she was making them both slower. If she hadn't gotten so hurt or exhausted, they would almost be there already.
Then she looked again.
She saw the beast standing right over her and Vee.
She made a panicked noise, alerting Vee. It was just like before, the thing staring at them like food.
And to think they had almost made it.
Shelly didn't think, she acted. She shoved Vee forward and into the elevator. Shelly didn't even think she had that much energy left in her arms.
Just in time, though.
The thing bit into her, just like before. This time though, it wasn't just her arm.
This time, it grabbed her entire body.
Pain exploded through her. She let out a guttural scream.
Huh, she didn't even know she could be that loud.
It took a few seconds for her voice to start feeling raw from the screaming.
She heard Vee yell out for her. She sounded horrified.
Shelly never heard so much from Vee.
She never wanted to again.
You'll never hear her again unless you live. Her brain helpfully supplied.
Then, she felt hands in hers.
Vee had stepped out of the elevator to try and pull her out of the beast's mouth.
It was like some sick game of tug-of-war.
She felt her body being ripped apart as the teeth scraped on her.
The thing really wasn't letting go, too. Vee was struggling. It was.. Sweet, in a terrible way. The television was so smart but too dumb to just.. Let her go. To save herself.
Huh, she never thought she would die like this.
How unfulfilling, really. To die by the hands of a twisted. She never got to tell Vee how much she loved her. She never got to hug her or kiss her. She wishes she did a lot of things with Vee.
Should've told her sooner…
Well, maybe in another life she would have.
Maybe in another life she would’ve done a lot of things.
She closed her eyes. Breathing was getting harder.
Then, she was flying.
Not really, of course. Her eyes flew open to see that Vee had actually gotten her out. The twisted let her go, but Vee hadn’t had enough time to react. Shelly fell into Vee, pushing both of them to the ground. Luckily, just into the elevator.
Vee quickly picked herself up.
Gosh, she really put her all into saving me. Didn’t know she cared about me that much.
Had she not been in so much pain, she would’ve smiled at the thought of Vee caring about her that much.
She blinked away the blurriness of her vision, looking at the other toon. She was covered in blood, ew.
Vee didn’t seem to care though, immediately turning to Shelly.
“Oh my god oh my god-” She half whispered, half screamed. Shelly didn’t know someone could sound like that. That… worried.
Vee quickly rolled Shelly over and onto her back. She started murmuring things. She tore off the sleeves of her game-show vest. She wrapped them around the most major wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t super effective, but it slowed it well enough.
Shelly looked up at Vee’s face. The.. the other toon was crying?
Oh, thats not good.
Shelly slightly propped herself up, but ended up failing and falling onto her back. Vee freaked out at that.
“ Vee-” Shelly started.
“Shh- You- You cant use up your energy speaking. Just.. just try to-” Vee stammered out.
“ ‘M sorry…” She coughed out again. Vee paused.
“I- Stop! What- Whatever you want to say can wait for when we get back-” She started up again.
Shelly forced her hand up to Vee’s mouth in an attempt to get her to be quiet.
“ I- I love you- Vee-” She coughed out, “ ‘M sorry I didn’t tell you earlier…”
“Stop it!” Vee yelled desperately, “stop acting like your going to die! You’re gonna- You’re gonna be fine- ” She breathed out. “Stop saying goodbye.” She finally whispered.
Shelly faintly smiled, “You’ll be ‘kay Vee..” She tried to reassure her friend, “ even wih’out me..” She tried to say, her words slurring together from exhaustion.
Vee just stared at her, horror washing across her face as she sobbed.
It was getting harder and harder to breathe.
Crap.
The edges of her vision were getting blurry and dark. Tiredness was creeping upon her, it was getting harder for Shelly to stay awake.
“Shelly- please please- stay awake you’re gonna- you’re gonna get help soon just-” Vee sobbed out when she noticed the change.
She wanted so desperately to stay awake, at least until Vee wasn’t able to stay with her.
But, she couldn’t. She couldn’t fight it anymore. It was getting too hard.
Hopefully Vee won't think I’m weak… I tried my hardest.
The elevator dinged as it stopped.
The last thing Shelly saw was Vee’s face before she stopped fighting.
Then, it was nothing.