That Cracked Doll

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Yin had never done drugs harder than nicotine but he was fairly certain he was high to some degree. Or about to pass out.

Whatever the case he could see clearly enough to know where he could put his feet and hear clearly enough to know Huggy hadn't slowed down.

DogDay must have been a little high too, considering how well he was keeping up despite actively bleeding through the carpet around his waist. Yin couldn't keep track of where they were going but he could duck and slide through the conveyor belts well enough to stay ahead of the blue freak behind them.

Halls blurred to narrow points and a rise of catwalks. Then more halls and more halls and don't stop don't stop don't stop—!

An elevator. Dead ahead. The doors were open, just had to get through them.

"Hey!"

Who was DogDay calling to?

Yin balked. He saw it. Something was in the elevator already, something big, vaguely egg-shaped. The doors shut it in.

No matter. Another elevator. Got into it. Which button closed the doors?

Close the doors close the doors!

Huggy rounded the corner and lunged. His teeth scraped across metal.

Silence. Mostly. The two were wheezing.

Yin held his head. DogDay held his waist. Both groaned. Yin's left eye wasn't working right, a doughnut of darkness blotting out most of his vision. His right eye was watering. He really had to take it easy with his head the way it was. And his body. If only the only doctor left in this place wasn't a sadist. Or dead.

DogDay looked up. "Do you hear that?"

A second later it was all they could hear, that familiar screech of a lanky blue security measure that then landed on top of the elevator. Its brakes pulled the car to a stop and the doors partially opened.

Yin went to pull the doors open a little more to get a better look. Meanwhile Huggy punched through the roof and groped around for them. DogDay grabbed the arm and yanked. A heavy thud resulted, followed by a howl.

Yin flinched but managed to get the doors open a ways. There was a hand scanner on the shaft wall to open the outer doors which Yin aimed for.

Huggy decided to return the arm pulling favor and grabbed the GrabPack arm, yanking hard. The cable whined but Yin was pulled against the elevator wall. The GrabPack crunched. DogDay made a grab for Yin's leg. Huggy pulled again and Yin's head hit the wall. Something on the GrabPack snapped and it slipped off his shoulders.

DogDay pulled him away from the ajar doors. "H-hold on, Angel! I think it's going to—!"

The negative G's worsened the stars sparking through Yin's eyes before they hit the bottom of the shaft and everything, again, went dark.

Yin lay on his side, watching... something move. The something was large, vaguely egg-shaped, and fluffy, though that might be his vision blurring. It was leaned over something and handling it. He heard DogDay groan weakly. Was the toy nearby? It was too dim to make much out.

The big something parted from the middle and opened up. DogDay's limp body was dragged into the open space and then closed inside. Yin squinted, trying to make sense of it. He reached out. He wanted the big thing to give DogDay back. His hand shook and he had to let it fall.

The big thing padded closer. Large yellow hands waved and signed. "Friend," they said. "Safe."

Yin could make out some details now. Red fur, a big yellow belly, huge eyes. No visible teeth or claws or threatening monologues so hopefully this one was friendly. Yin curled his hand. "Help," he said weakly.