Getting Out Alive: Chapter 4

We saw Tanezumi standing there with a smoking gun. The wall next to her had a bullet hole in it. She cackled. "Having a fulfilling dinner?" she asked us as she propped herself up on the table. We began to shield our plates of food to make sure she didn't step on it. "What's the matter? Am I not invited?"


"Not really, we don't want you here!" Dennis retorted. The pink rat pouted and lowered her head. "What a shame, this dinner is so boring without me!" she laughed. She trotted down to the middle of the table before standing in a heroic pose. It was ironic, because she was anything but heroic. "Anyways, are you ready for your incentives?" she asked us. "Incentives? What are you talking about?" Festro asked as his mouth was filled with food. "Your incentives to start killing each other already so you can get off this island! Duh!" Tanezumi mocked and belittled the purple beast man. "We're not killing anyone!" Mr. Gus insisted. She only laughed at him in response. Did she take anything we said seriously? "You'll change your mind when you find out this little tidbit of information I'm about to give you..." she giggled. Everyone glared at her, but seemed to be on full attention. "Are you wondering why there's only twenty seats here?" she asked. I widened my eyes. I was thinking about that earlier! "Yes, what's wrong with this numbering? We had twenty-one people here originally, and these seats seem to be connected to the table, so it's not like you can just take away a seat." I leaned in more, interested in hearing the response. "Mary, what a smart girl you are!" she complimented me. "I'm so glad you noticed that!" she giggled. "Well, the reason there are only twenty seats, because there was only supposed to be twenty of you here!" she told us. "W-What do you mean?" Susie asked, trembling a bit. "What I mean is, one of you aren't supposed to be here! You sneaked in to help my endeavor of chaos!" she laughed. Everyone gasped, completely overtaken by surprise. "Y-You mean one of us is working for you?" Tiger's eyes were wide as she asked. "Yep!" Tanezumi cackled. "You can't trust anybody here because one of you is working for me!" The pink rat's gloating was cut short when Izzie gritted her teeth and began to speak. "That's stupid! Why would you give us that vital information. What if your helper is the one that gets murdered?" Some people were nodding their heads and muttering "yeah" in agreement to Izzie's question.


"Sacrifices must be made!" she told us. "I bet it's Uncle Grandpa!" Melvin hissed. "Nice try, Melvin! Uncle Grandpa isn't included with you guys. He's kinda on my status level, except he has less privilege." she told us with a giggle. "Good luck trying to find out who the traitor is, and hopefully someone will be dead by tomorrow morning so we can get this show on the road!" she told us with a cackle. "Good luck!" and with that Tanezumi disappeared. "WAIT A MINU-" but before Dennis could finish his sentence, the pink rat had disappeared. Dennis got up and punched the wall. "This is INSANE!" he screeched. "I bet that dirty rat is lying to us!" Eric speculated. "Yeah, no one could really be working for that scoundrel!" Izzie responded. "What a crock of shit!"
"What if she's telling the truth, though" Gweelok twiddled his thumbs in a worried manner. "Well if you're working for Tanezumi, turn yourself in now and help us get out of here!" Pizza Steve demanded as he slammed his hands on the table. "It's very clear who the person working for Tanezumi is!" Festro said. Everyone turned their heads to him. "Huh?" we all were puzzled by his statement. "Yeah, the person working for Tanezumi is..." he got up and pointed at Beary Nice. "You, you little creep!" Beary Nice gasped. "M-Me? W-Why would you say that?!" Beary seemed offended and deeply hurt, his happy tone seemed to disappear. "Yeah! You're way too happy all the time, even when we found out we had to kill each other, that stupid grin on your face never faded!" Festro slammed his fist on the table. "You are working for Tanezumi! You know alot more than we do and you better spill the beans!"


Beary Nice sniffled as his eyes teared up. "W-Why are you treating me this way? I'm Beary Nice, I don't want to spread chaos and death!" he was crying now. "You're just trying to make us feel bad for you, but it's not working! We know what's up!" Festro stomped his foot. "Tell us all you know!" Dingle began to tug on Festro's muscle shirt, but Festro just swatted him away. Dingle cowered behind the chair in response.


"I-I don't know anything!" Beary sobbed. "TELL US NOW, YOU CREEP!" Festro screamed. Beary just cried more in response. Suddenly Frank stood up. "Hey! You stop that! Beary isn't working for Tanezumi!" Frank had a stern expression as he scolded Festro. "Beary Nice is my friend!"


"Maybe you're in cahoots! There's more than two traitors!" Festro hissed. "W-We're not traitors!" Frank frowned and put his arm around Beary in an attempt to comfort him. "Maybe it's Festro, because he's being a huge jerk-wad by accusing other people in an attempt to try and take the suspicion off himself!" Pizza Steve suggested with an annoyed tone in his voice. "You shut up, Pizza Man! You don't know what you're talking about!" Festro growled. "Don't you talk to the Pizza Prince that way! Know your place!" Ramona hissed. "Shut up, stupid girl! Go help Tiny Miracle in the kitchen!"


Ramona gasped before slamming her hands on the table. "PIG! Why I oughtta punch you in the face you ignorant slime!" Pizza Steve seemed a bit irritated. "Dude, don't talk to 'Mona like that!" Festro tugged on his own hair. "Don't tell me what to do! Look, all I know is we need to find the traitor and make sure to get rid of them!" Mr. Gus held the bridge of his nose as he let out a frustrated sigh. "This is exactly what Tanezumi wants! Stop this right now! I don't care WHO the traitor is, no one is getting rid of or killing anybody!" Unfortunately, Mr. Gus's usual voice of reason fell on deaf ears. "I think we need to get rid of you, Festro" Pizza Steve pointed an accusing finger at Festro. Festro growled. "We'll all get rid of you!" he screamed in response. "We should get rid of both of you, you're both stupid!" Izzie laughed. "Excuse you, girlie! Pizza Prince is not stupid!" Ramona hissed. "Oh look it's little miss kiss ass!" Izzie sneered. "Does that luscious ass of his taste like sausage? Or is it meatball? Pepperoni, maybe? I don't know, you tell me considering you lick it so much!" Ramona clenched her fists and seemed to make some kind of angry gurgling noise. Pizza Steve lowered his sunglasses and turned his gaze to Izzie. "Don't bring my anatomy into this. That's rude as fuck!" Izzie laughed in response. "I'll bring whatever I feel is necessary into this conversation!"


Ramona tugged on her own hair in irritation. "You better mind your manners when speaking to my Pizza Prince!" Izzie stood up. "How about you go lick your Pizza Prince's ass into oblivion, shut the hell up, and don't tell me what to do!" Izzie flipped her off as she mocked them. Pizza Steve let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, whether or not someone is royalty like I am, the kind of things you're talking about right now are really personal, quite vulgar, disgusting, and extremely rude!" he took off his sunglasses to reveal a stern and frustrated look. "Knock it off!" he bellowed. "Pfft, whatever! I'm out of here!" Izzie shrugged them off as she turned to walk away. Dennis had his head down on the table. I was surprised he didn't join in the argument, considering he was quite outspoken himself. However, I could tell he was as frustrated with everyone arguing as much as I was. I kept quiet, though, as I didn't want anyone yelling at me. Pizza Steve put his sunglasses back on. "That girl is vulgar and rude!" Ramona shut her eyes and shook her head. "Tsk tsk!"


"Guys, we should stop this fighting! It's really scary!" Slog bit his lip as he looked at everyone with concerned eyes. "You don't say a word, Mr. Target-Practice! You're trying to learn how to aim a gun so you can kill all of us!" Festro accused. Slog sniffled, and Billy immediately got up in anger. "Leave Slog out of this!"


"Oh here we go, Creep Number Two is ready to pipe in!" Festro mocked Billy. "I don't care what you say about me, but if you torment Slog one more time I will not hesitate to bite you in the nose!" Billy threatened. "I'd like to see you try!" Festro laughed. "Don't tempt me, buddy!" Billy narrowed his eyes. "Guys we shouldn't be fighting! Mr. Gus is right, this is EXACTLY what Tanezumi wants!" Tiger tried to reason with everyone. That, of course, fell on deaf ears as everyone began to bicker and argue with each other some more. Dingle was cowering behind Tiger now as Tiger gently placed her hand on his head in an attempt to comfort him. Mr. Gus had his head in his hands as he let out a frustrated sigh. Dennis finally put his head up, his eyes closed tightly in a frustrated expression. "Ugghh," he clenched his teeth before getting up, going over to the wall, and punching it several times. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU! SHUT UP!" Dennis shouted as he pounded his fists against the wall. Everyone fell silent as they looked at him. He turned to face us, his face bright red. You can tell he was fuming. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to sit here and play point the fingers! From the information we just heard, we cannot trust ANYBODY!" he pointed at all of us. "I don't know for sure who is the traitor, but I'm sure as hell not going to find out by getting killed!" He clenched his fists. "If you want to play point the fingers and argue with each other, go right ahead! I don't want ANY of you near me! Don't touch me! Don't even LOOK at me! I am NOT sticking around to get murdered, and if any of you had half a brain, you would do what I'm gonna do right now and that's lock myself up in my room!"


"You're gonna have to come out of your room eventually for food!" The Fart told him with concern in his voice. "Maybe I do, but I'm not going to discuss that with any of you if I want to stay alive, which I do!" Dennis stomped out of the cafeteria. Melvin soon got up too. "D-Dennis has a point! I-I don't wanna die!" Melvin bolted out of the cafeteria after Dennis. Festro crossed his arms. Ramona put her hands on her hips and looked around. The room had a disturbing silence. "So, there's not a single person in this room that can be trusted." Ham Sandwich broke the silence, forlorn in his voice. "NOOOO!" a familiar voice shouted. It was none other than Uncle Grandpa. He ran in frantically. "What has Tanezumi done to all of you?! You're all fighting and hating each other!" he was genuinely and deeply upset. "Please do not hate each other! You are all friends, even if you don't know everyone that well yet!" Uncle Grandpa put his hands on Pizza Steve's shoulders. "C'mon, Pizza Steve!" he then went over to Ham Sandwich and put his hands on his shoulders as well. "Ham Sandwich, c'mon!" he pranced over to Festro. "Festro, lighten up!" He twirled and put his arm around Ramona. "Ramona Desdemona!" He pranced up onto the table and looked around at everyone with his arms open. "Don't let Tanezumi ruin your existing friendships or friendships that you could be making right now!"


Everyone looked around at each other, but remained silent. "No one here is committing any murder, okay?" Uncle Grandpa smiled with tears in his eyes. "I believe in each and every one of you!" Pizza Steve nodded. "Uncle G, you are absolutely right! We let Tanezumi's tricks get the best of us!"


Festro didn't seem to pleased. He smacked his forehead. "What about the traitor?" Uncle Grandpa shook his head. "If there even is a traitor, which I highly doubt, I'm sure the traitor will come around and not do what they originally set out to do, because they'll realize friendship, happiness, and Uncle Grandpa-i-ness is more important than death and chaos!"


Despite the "Uncle Grandpa-i-ness" part of his speech not making sense, I had hope in what he was saying. If there was a traitor like Tanezumi said, they will hopefully come around and try to help us rather than destroy us, especially if they run the risk of dying themselves. "Thanks, Uncle Grandpa" Mr. Gus smiled and nodded. "No Problemo, Mr. Gus!" the old man grinned and did a little jig off of the table. "It's getting late, but you all still have some free time, why don't you all try and get along now rather than fight?" he suggested to us. With that, he disappeared. Festro laughed. "HA! Screw that! I STILL don't trust any of you!" he said as he began to walk toward the exit. "I'm not gonna stick around here!" he immediately exited the cafeteria. Everyone was silent for a few moments, but soon Mr. Gus's voice broke the silence. "Alright, we have about 3 hours before 11 PM when everything closes, which is plenty of time, but let's talk about setting up some rules we should follow to keep things organized and everyone safe." Mr. Gus suggested. Again, that sounded like a reasonable plan. Mr. Gus was very reasonable and logical even through all of these disturbing events. He was our rock and almost like the unofficial leader. "Let's start with bed times" he told us. "Aww man that's dumb!" Pizza Steve put his palm against his forehead. "I'm not saying you have to go to sleep by a certain time, but I am saying that we should all be in our rooms by 11 PM when everything closes. It's too dangerous to be wandering out here late at night when nothing is opened. It's risky and can get somebody killed" he told us. Tiger nodded. "Yeah, and we'll stay in our rooms until 9 AM when everything opens back up!" she told us.


"Exactly!" Mr. Gus nodded. "Next thing is by 9 AM we should all meet here in the cafeteria for breakfast!" Guillermo said. "Well, I think they serve breakfast." Ham Sandwich put his hands on his hips. "They BETTER serve breakfast!" Gweelok nodded in agreement. How are those two not twins? "Yeah, good idea! We'll meet here for when they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner!" Eric added into the conversation. Everyone seemed to agree. "Alright, now that those ground rules have been established, we can all continue exploring." Mr. Gus told us as he got up. "Or we could just hang out and try to enjoy the attractions." Pizza Steve suggested as he tipped his sunglasses. "I mean, we had a pretty rough day, Pizza Steve thinks we all need to take a break and have some fun!" Did he really just refer to himself in third person? This guy is even more self-absorbed than I thought. At least he can be reasonable at times.


"I wanna go on the rides!" Guillermo jumped up excitedly. He then turned to Susie and Eric. "C'mon, guys! Let's go!" he practically grabbed their hands and dragged them off. "C'mon Mr. Gus, we can go on the rides together and take a break from all this serious stuff!" Tiger put her hands on his shoulders as she encouraged him to come with her. She began to give him a mini massage. Mr. Gus sighed. "I feel like I need to look into more things about this place, but thank you for the offer, Tiger." Tiger sighed. "Aww, alright." Tiger turned to Dingle who has been kind of hanging around next to her from when they were all arguing before. "Hey, Dingle. Do you want to go on the rides with me?" she asked. Dingle gave her a big grin and nodded. Ramona laughed. "Tiger, Dingle! Join me and my Pizza Prince!" she said as she hooked arms with him. Pizza Steve grinned. "Surrounded by two pretty ladies~" he waggled his eyebrows before losing his grin and looking at Dingle. "And... whatever you are" Dingle looked a bit upset. "My prince! Please be kind to Dingle!" Ramona seemed a bit frustrated. They all exited the cafeteria. I decided to get up and take another look around, myself.


Mostly everyone was enjoying the rides, which were all being operated by Uncle Grandpa. He cheerfully shouted Good Morning before starting every ride. At the game stands, Billy and Slog we're playing a game of Roll-A-Ball with The Fart. Frank stood on the side lines of the game watching them. I decided to go in the arcade. As I made my way to the arcade, I bumped into Beary Nice, who looked like he was in a big rush. "Excuse me, Mary, I need to get a Beary Nice surprise for Hot Dog Person!" he told me as he continued to run off to the gift shop. He ran off so quick I didn't even have a chance to respond to him. Why does he call Frank Herbert the Hot Dog Person? That's a silly name! I shook my head and proceeded to the arcade. There, Gweelok and Ham Sandwich were delved into one of the first person shooter games. Good, they are distracted! Now is my chance to play a few games before they get upset with me. I grinned deviously as I made my way over to one of the win a prize game. It was the stacker game, I was always good at that game! Or so I thought. I'd get all the way to the top and mess up on the last one. I continued to try and try, but to no avail. I was finally going to win, but a voice broke through my concentration. "What happened to everyone hating each other?" the voice asked me. I let out a frustrated sigh as I turned around to see Izzie. Izzie? I thought she was done dealing with everyone for the day? "I'm sorry, did I screw up your gaming zone?" she asked rather sympathetically. "It's okay, Izzie. It's just a game" I reassured her. "Well I feel your pain, man. There's nothing worse than when you're in the zone and someone interrupts you! That's the worst!" she confessed to me. "I hate it when I'm in the art zone, drawing my drawings or painting my paintings, and some loser comes in and tries to talk to me! Ugh! So annoying!" I laughed and nodded at her little story. "Anyways, how did everyone manage to start getting along again?" she asked. "Uncle Grandpa gave us a little pep talk, then we established some ground rules that we should all follow to remain safe." I told her. "Oh, I see" she giggled. "What kinda rules?" she asked. "Be in your room by 11 PM and don't come out until 9 AM, and meet everyone for breakfast, lunch, and dinner" I told her. "Ah, okay" she nodded. "That sounds pretty reasonable, I think I will attend to the festivities" she giggled. "That's cool, but I think you should apologize to Ramona and Steve when you do." I told her.


"Why? They we're being such morons!" she told me. "Well, what you said to them was kinda vulgar and not nice at all. You can express your opinions without doing that, you know." I tried my best to be stern without coming off as too naggy. Izzie just smiled in response. "Something tells me you're one of those goodie two-shoes!" I sighed. "No, I just think you went to far, is all!" I told her with a bit of a whiny voice. I didn't mean to whine, but I want her to be nice to everyone else like she slightly is to me. "Fine, fine," she pinched my cheek. "Anything for you, Mary~!" she giggled.Creepy... "Now where's Franky boy? I want to touch his crazy hair!" she giggled and ran out of the arcade. I shook my head and continued to play the stacking prize game. I got a bit tired of that game and began to play some of the other games. Gweelok and Ham Sandwich noticed me there, but I guess they didn't really care. I guess as long as I'm not playing a game they want to play, then they are okay with me being there. I played a bunch of games, even played a few games with Eric and Pizza Steve when they came in to visit the arcade. Before I knew it, it was 11 PM. We knew it was 11 PM too because a loud and obnoxious chime was sounded before the TVs next to the surveillance cameras all turned on in unison. On the screen, Tanezumi was sitting in a chair in what looked like a newscaster station. She had a wig on that was styled to look like your typical newscaster's hair style. "Hey you little shits! It's 11 PM, the amusement park is CLOSED! You better get your stupid butts out of attraction buildings and off the rides because after this time of night, there is nothing here for you! Come back at 9 AM when the park reopens. Au Revoir~" and with that, the TV clicked off.


Everyone shuffled back to the hotel and went up to their rooms. When I got into my room, I felt quite exhausted. I freshened up in the bathroom a bit and got into a nice pair of pajamas provided for me in one of the dressers and immediately plopped on the bed. I have to admit, having a surveillance camera eyeing me in the middle of the night made it hard for me to fall asleep. Honestly, I didn't get that much of a good night's sleep. I did drift off to sleep eventually, though. Tomorrow begins a new day.