The Mouse Who Didn't Like Musicals

Chapter 10: The Impost-Dot

"Hey, can I talk to you?" He asked.
Wakko barely looked up from the cellar floor, but nodded. The two walked away, while Buttons' phone began to ring.
"Sooo...a lot has been happening lately..."
"Yakko, you shot and KILLED our little sister!!" Wakko yelled.
"Don't do that thing where you act like it's nothing, because this is a big SOMETHING!!"
"I'm not saying it isn't! I...I know this is my fault. I let her stay behind and Skippy infected her."
Yakko said bitterly.
"And she would have gotten you too if I hadn't taken care of her! So...you're welcome!"
Wakko slumped down onto the cold linoleum floor of the bunker, covering his ears.
"Look I know you're mad at me, there's no way you wouldn't be mad at me. But what I did, everything I have ever done, has been to protect you."
Yakko slid down beside him, trying to comfort him.
"And! And, you can never hate me, as much as I hate myself right now!" He chuckled, desperately trying to diffuse the tension.
"Wakko? Wakko, please talk to me. Heh, now don't start singing or anything, or I'm gonna have to-"
Yakko's rambling was cut off by Wakko throwing his arms around his older brother's waist. He hid his face against Yakko's chest, crying softly.
"I just...don't know what to say." Yakko murmured, his voice shaky.
"That's a first." Wakko said, his voice muffled in Yakko's fur. After a moment, Wakko let go, standing up and dusting himself off.
"Wakko? Are we okay?"
Wakko didn't respond, he just walked back towards the cellar.

"Woah, woah, woah, Mindy! Mindy, what's wrong?"
Buttons had answered the phone, hearing Mindy panicking on the other side. He had the phone precariously balanced on his paw towards his ear, he didn't want the mice or the Warner brothers to hear their conversation.
"Cindy? She's doing WHAT!?" He yelled.
"Mindy, get away from her, get far away! No this has NOTHING to do with me not liking Cindy! Where are you?! Okay, okay just hide, and I'll be there as soon as I can. Please don't say that...everything is going to be okay. I love you."
Before he could hear Mindy's response, she hung up. Buttons dropped the phone, pacing back and forth before abruptly stopping.
"Alright, somebody get me some water, and come celery! Dang it, I KNEW we should have had sugar free options!"
"Poit! What happened?" Pinky asked, concerned.
"It's Mindy, she's at the high school, dang it! I've got to hurry, she's hiding out in the choir room-"
"And you're gonna save her?"
Wakko walked back into the cellar, wiping his tears with the sleeve of his shirt.
"G.I Buttons? Running and jumping your way through a city of singing and dancing zombies? Like some kind of video game? Wake up, Buttons!" He ranted.
"She's already dead!"
"Wakko! How can you say that?!" Buttons yelled back.
"You'll find her, but she's gonna be dead and then she'll kill you too! That is exactly what will happen!"
"What choice do I have?! Not go downtown?!" Buttons said, beginning to panic.
"Exactly." Brain spoke up.

"Don't go downtown, take the interstate and exit on I-12. At this hour it isn't busy at all. That and it's the apocalypse. Logically, it should get you to the high school without passing through a single highly-populated area." He explained.
"Oh! The windows in the teacher's lounge are never locked!" Pinky interjected.
"A wise old frog told me that before he was dissected, NARF!"
"This is a lot at once..." Buttons mumbled.
"This is just a waste of time-" Wakko grumbled.
"Well, you can stand to be a bit more hopeful!" Pinky said, crossing his arms.
Wakko froze, staring at Pinky in horror.
"Hopeful? I can be a little more hopeful right now?! Listen, everything, everyone has changed. There...there isn't any HOPE anymore..." He scowled.
"There's people who are alive, and people who are DEAD!! Like Dot!! And Mindy? Mindy's dead, and so is Buttons if he goes to save her!" He paused, struggling to not cry.
He looked at Brain,
"Right?!"
"I know the chances are...incredibly slim. And Buttons doesn't have the capacity to remember the shortcut. It's an 8 out of 10 guarantee that Buttons will not make it."
Brain looked at everyone in the cellar. Normally, Brain wouldn't even consider endangering himself for a work colleague's adopted daughter, or whatever Mindy was to Buttons. But Wakko was right, nothing was normal anymore. If there was a chance, shouldn't he try?
"So, I'll go with you."
"Really? T-thank you, Brain!" Buttons said, smiling.
"Let's go!" Pinky cheered.
"I think we can get there and back in 20 minutes if we're super-duper fast!"
"Pinky I don't-" Brain objected, but he was cut off by Yakko, who had now re-entered the cellar.

"Pinky I need you to stay here, I need my favorite lab mouse to help me do some further research."
Yakko quickly rubbed his eyes, then picked up the shotgun he had discarded previously.
"Buttons, Brain...good luck."
He hung the strap of the gun around Buttons' neck. Buttons ran out of the cellar, and Brain went to follow, but Pinky grabbed him by the wrist.
"Brain!" Pinky called out.
"You stay safe out there, poit! If those nasty aliens get you, they'll make you sing and dance, which is fun for me, but not for you!"
Pinky put his hands on Brain's face, pulling him closer.
"So don't let 'em!"
Instinctively, Brain wanted to push Pinky away, swat his paws and call him ridiculous and stupid for initiating such close contact, but he didn't. Instead, he sighed, softly pulling Pinky's hands away.
"Pinky, there comes a time when a lab mouse has to draw a line in the sand. And I...will never...be in a musical."