Chapter 69:
Nice.
Sam... I couldn't believe he was in the same room as me again. I'd found him. I know it hadn't been too terribly long without him, but it felt like am eternity when I knew he was somewhere as unsafe as this. And all my fears were well founded. He looked absolutely miserable.
He didn't even cling to the bars to look out at everyone who would soon partake in devouring his pizza. He was in a ball on the floor of the cage, trying to hide from everyone. I'd never seen him in such a bad way.
The shadows spread out, bringing whole pizza boxes to each individual person. No one seemed very happy to be where they were, but no one turned down the pizza, and boxes all over were flung open. Dozens of people being exposed to Sam's incredible pizzas, all at once.
It should have been a happy occasion, for Sam and everyone involved. But, instead, it was only the devourers that got any joy from it. Sam didn't stir in his cage.
Exclamations of "Yum!" and "Amazing!" erupted but I had only eyes for Sam. The remaining wave of shadows brought the cage crashing down at our feet and for a brief second I was eye to eye with Sam. He looked even worse up close, so devoid of joy and life. I couldn't handle seeing him that way, I wanted to rip my mask off right then, scream it was me, and run off with him.
But that couldn't happen. Not yet. So I swallowed those feelings, and stayed motionless and silent.
Three pizza boxes were thrown at me and the other two survivors. The masked man came up behind us and hit us on the backs.
"Eat! You won't believe how good it is. Chef's guarantee, ain't that right, chef!?" He kicked the cage and Sam just whimpered.
"Why is there a salmon in a cage?" Netta whispered so only Dowser and I could hear her.
"Who da fuck cares when da 'za is dis good, man!?" Dowser exclaimed through mouthfuls of whole slices of pizza.
"Jesus, Dowser," Netta hissed. "What if those are poisonous!?"
I laughed a little. "He wouldn't explain all that and then kill us. It's okay, try it."
I went as close to the cage as I could, took out a slice, and handed it to Netta, making sure that she was in full view for Sam.
She still seemed hesitant so I took a bite, and then threw the rest at her. She caught it, awkwardly. But in her hands she could smell it and there was no resisting a Sam N. Fillet slice once you've smelled it.
She took a bite... and it was like she'd seen the face of God. She lit up, having a whole ass religious moment from a bite of pizza. She ate the whole rest of the piece in like three bites.
"That was the best thing I've ever tasted!!" She exclaimed.
I watched Sam and, there it was, a hint of his former self. He smiled, his eyes sparkling.
But then they spilled over into tears.
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My heart ached for him. I went closer, holding my hand out to him. But, of course, all he saw was a scary person in a skull mask coming toward him. He slinked back to the far end of the cage, cowering away from me. Jesus. I didn't know how much of these upsetting sights I could take.
I decided to risk revealing myself, just to him.
"Sam," I whispered, and he perked up a bit at his name, shock on his face. "It's okay, it's me Dar—"
But the at that moment Dowser had gotten curious of the tiny meat man and pushed me aside as he bent down to look inside the cage.
"Da fuck is 'at thing?" He asked, still shoveling in pieces of pizza.
Sam cowered away even further, becoming so small I wondered what prevented him from just squeezing between the bars and running away.
"That my boy, is the chef behind that pizza you're scarfing down," the masked man said as he came up behind Dowser and smacked him on the back.
He tipped forward and jostled the cage, making Sam squeeze even smaller while also throwing him backward where Sam slid straight through the bars. Holy shit. I totally called that.
For a moment, no one really knew what was going on. We all just sort of stared at Sam, watching as he slowly realized he was free.
He exclaimed, no way to know what he was feeling, it was just a noise—and he ran around the cage, heading toward the door to the room.
I bolted after him as the masked man recovered and bellowed, "SEIZE HIM!!"
He made a grab for him but I put a mental push at Sam's feet and sent him forward enough to dodge out of the way. And then I built energy in my legs and shot forward. I didn't know what my plan was exactly but the masked man gave me an excuse to be chasing Sam so I was, literally, gonna run with it.
As Sam darted down the aisle, a crazy thing happened: he turned a little more to his left and caught sight of Stephen. I couldn't see Sam's face, obviously, but I could only imagine how it morphed with recognition and excitement.
The really crazy part was that I saw a similar expression on Stephen's face.
"Unkind Sir!!!" Sam shouted and jumped toward Stephen.
Shit, his allergy! I pushed off with my energy again and flew the rest of the way, grabbing Sam's right foot, stopping him from jumping into Stephen's arms. But my precaution was all for naught as Stephen reached out on his own accord and took Sam's hand.
We just stood there, holding Sam at both ends. I looked down at Stephen's hand, seeing now that he was wearing gloves.
The masked man clapped. "Well done! You two are awfully impressive! As to be expected of the Struggler King."
He DID know it was Stephen. What the hell did that mean? Why did he want to be here and why did the masked man allow it!?
"Let go," Stephen whispered.
I focused back onto his face. He was glaring at me. Sam wiggled in my grip, desperately trying to get into Stephen's arms, tears going everywhere.
"Wait," I whispered back. "Stephen, it's—"
But he wasn't willing to listen. A wave of energy clocked me on the chin. I could feel the remnants of his familiar warm energy, but I'd never faced it as a foe. The power packed a huge punch and my head jerked up from the blow, my hold on Sam loosening.
Stephen kicked me in the chest, freeing Sam fully, and pulled him into a hug. And then he took off. I blinked and the next second he was halfway to the door, running for his absolute life.
I just watched for a moment, in complete shock. He was doing the very thing I was about to do, even though, seeing it from this position I knew logically it was the dumbest move of all time, but, damn it, how could we not act on this chance?
No one else but Stephen and I had made any moves to chase Sam which gave us all an advantage. I could follow after them and still look like I was following orders.
"Where the fuck are you going Struggler? Stop him!" The masked man shouted, looking at the User Killers side of the room.
Tiny Giant just shrugged. "I don't see any ghosts. Not my problem."
The masked man's skull went to a whole new shade of red. Before he could explode I jumped into motion, shouting, "It's okay, I'll get him!" as I darted after Stephen.
That seemed to pacify the man but didn't prevent him from snapping his fingers and the shadows began to bubble at the corners of the room, waves of body parts rushing toward the doors.
It didn't look good for Sam and Stephen. I ran faster but mentally I felt helpless, I had absolutely no way of saving them from this far back. My power could stop the leaders of the packs but they were so packed together that it would basically just be like throwing down a speed bump in front of a runaway semi.
Sorry TWO runaway semis, with my on and off again best friend and the greatest pizza chef of all time in their headlights.