They had finally made it. But what stood in front of them was a pristine and brightly colored house with a well-kept lawn. There was even a guy bent over pulling up weeds. John knew this was where the Level 5 person was located, however, after hearing the name Dollhouse and seeing this perfect looking house, he couldn’t help but put two and two together.

But the worst part was there was only one life signature from the building. The man bending over and weeding the garden was a corpse that was moving against his will. He must have been a real gardener with his overalls and thick gloves, but his eyes were sunken in and his skin was bloated. Yet for some reason, the stench of death was not evident. When they had walked up, John saw someone in the garden and said his greetings, however the man did not reply.

At that time, Chance had tapped him on the shoulder, pointing to the radar. The life signature was inside the house! Then the man stood up, carrying the weeds away. They had gotten a good look at his face at that time, so they realized what was going on.

John noticed among the pile of weeds, he saw several flowers. It seemed as if the puppet had no idea of the commands and just ripped out any plant that wasn’t meant to be there, leaving most of the garden bare, save for the vegetables. Maybe that’s what it was ordered to do?

They were about to walk forward when the Skeletons all rushed away, hiding behind another building on the other side of the street. Chance merely shrugged it off before going to his monitor and saying that they were here.

The door opened and a dead lady dressed in plain maid’s clothes led the way. The building inside was just as beautiful as the outside, with decorations and pictures everywhere. John noticed several pictures with a man, a woman, and a little girl. They were all dressed really sharply, with the little child wearing frilly dresses.

However, in none of the pictures was anyone smiling. John didn’t notice at first, but when he thought, ‘did someone’s dog die?’ he realized the problem. This was a sad house. There were no pictures of family outings or having fun. Just the usual family photo. In fact, most of the photos had only the girl and the mother.

There were all sorts of Christian related items with crosses, a nativity scene set up on a side table, and even a Bible nearby. They seemed like the ‘perfect’ southern white family. However, something didn’t feel right. The two waited in what would normally be called the living room, but here it was called the foyer, with a couch and chair facing the stairs on the opposite side of the hall.

Chance chose to sit down and politely wait, while John paced around, looking at all the pictures.

The two saw several corpse puppets walking around like servants, catering to the needs of maintaining a pretty home. They were currently in a ritzy part of New Orleans, with other places looking like mansions or manors. It felt strange to John, who lived a very normal and unoppressed life. He was left confused as to why go through all the trouble for this place when they were alive.

Were they stinking rich? If so, what kind of job was necessary for a pay like this?! But…wouldn’t that mean that the father wasn’t around much?

John had some issues with his mom and dad’s divorce when he was younger, so he knew the problems of a botched relationship. They normally don’t hurt the spouses, since they can just decide things and be on their way, no. It hurts the children.

But they couldn’t have been divorced and still stay here unless the mother was rolling in dough as well. It didn’t seem like it from the photos, she appeared to be more like a stay at home mom. So if that was the case, then the two never split. But that would just create trouble between the two, leaving the poor girl in the crossfire.

It was at this thought when a door opened and closed from upstairs. Down walked a pretty girl a little older than Lucy, probably around 10 or 11. She had on a beautiful dress that was probably as expensive as a day to live here. She walked with precision and purpose, looking formal and presentable.

She walked like she was gliding down the stairs and politely bowed to both of the men. A small smile was on Chance’s face, but his eyes seemed sad. John was confused as to how such a young girl was able to survive the apocalypse like this.

Instead of being awed by her beauty, John was shaking from the realization that this young girl was fine having the dead around her. She invited them to the dining hall around the corner and some servants brought some roasted fish. It didn’t look professional and looked more like it was made in the wild. However, the fish wasn’t infected, which surprised the both of them.

They ate, not expressing how burnt it was. The little girl giggled and gave a cute smile that dazzled John. But he didn’t forget the weird feeling that seemed to crawl down his back at every moment. After they had eaten, the girl led them once again to a new place, this time, the living room.

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After being seated, the girl introduced herself as simply Sam. Sam always sat with her back straight and her hands on her lap, looking the person talking to her dead in the eyes. Unfortunately, it was John that mostly had to talk. It shouldn’t take long, since they were here to receive her and go back.

But…

“I am sorry, Mother and Father forbade me from leaving the house.”

Chance was visibly affected, widening his eyes and tilting his head in confusion.

John continued,

“Where are your Mother and Father?”

“They are upstairs. They are still busy entertaining our previous guests.”

The two men slowly stared at each other before realizing that she had to have these puppets dead somehow, could she have done this all by herself?! Chance was finally shaking off his reminiscing of a friend he knew and started to pay attention to the situation.

He was here for a person that reminded him of a girl he used to know, but that would have to wait. They were in someone else’s territory and one wrong move might make them just as dead as these servants.

“Well, we just thought that you and everyone else would like to live with others.”

“Thank you, but Father says we must live here since this place has belonged to our family for some time.”

“I understand. However, it would be difficult for us to come help you out in case of trouble.”

“Then wouldn’t it be easier for you to stay here?”

The two immediately felt their skin crawl as a door slowly creaked open from upstairs.

“Oops, we have a messed up door. Charles!”

A tall corpse appeared, moving his mouth but no sound escaped.

“I do believe Mother and Father will be busy with our new guests, so if you could get someone to oil their bedroom door, that would be most delightful!”

The butler puppet bowed and left. Soon, two tall and dramatic corpse puppets entered, the parents.

Seeing as how the girl had captured her own parents, John had some unfortunate fish come back up slightly. He was forced to swallow the stinging bile back down so as to not cause problems.

Seeing John’s face turn green, Chance looked over with worry in his eyes. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make a move. It felt like he was back in that jungle, practicing his assassin techniques. Animals and enemies surrounding him on all sides until he ended up trapped. It was a lot like that, since he was in a foreign place with enemies around every corner.

However, Chance couldn’t help but remember the little girl he made a promise to all those years ago. If he didn’t somehow help this girl in front of him, he wouldn’t be able to face her in hell!

“Mr. Smith, is something the matter?”

“No, Miss Sam, I am fine. It must have been a while since I went to the restroom. If you don’t mind the…um…if you don’t mind.”

“Of course. The restroom is down the hall on the left side, opposite of the kitchen.”

“Thank you.”

John quickly left the room and noticed that the parents had sat down on either side of Sam. He looked at the rooms as he passed and heard the conversation of the others. But when he passed a certain room, he held his mouth shut and rushed to the bathroom, lifting the toilet seat and releasing the contents of his stomach all over the porcelain basin’s insides.

What he had seen would leave nightmares in its wake for several weeks!

“Charles! I remember explicitly telling you to close the door to the storage when we had quests! Now they saw something unsightly!”

Sam’s voice came from directly outside the restroom!

What unsightly?! That was gross! So many decaying bodies and such?!

They hadn’t walked into a safe house! This was a mad house with only one participant!