I crawled though the padded tunnels and corridors in the Playhouse, not for the first time thinking just how much bigger this place used to feel.
I was both relieved and suspicious that I hadn't seen any of the small Smiling Critters about. The little crawling stuffies were little more than animals now and with every day that passed, I had more and more trouble thinking of them as anything but.
Maybe that was for the best. I would have gone mad long ago if I was always wondering which of the little toys attacking me had once been my friends, my mentors, my coworkers...
There was no time to think about that. I hadn't heard from DogDay in nearly five days--that was the longest he'd ever been out of touch. I couldn't help but think CatNap or perhaps even the Prototype himself may have been behind it this time.
As I went round a corner, I finally saw him...and it was so much worse than I'd feared.
DogDay lay in front of a metal shutter door, torn in half and being picked over by the little Smiling Critters who, despite their cute and cuddly appearance as a variety of adorable and market tested animals, were little more than grinning vultures now. Their eerie grins faded only long enough for them to bite at him and pull at the plush "flesh" of his toy-like body. But there was nothing toy-like about the blood that oozed from his wounds, staining the once bright and cheerful padding of the play tunnels.
One of the CatNap Critters hissed at me, and for a brief moment I hesitated as I realised there was about two dozen of the little things.
But a canine yelp of pain as one of them pulled on DogDay's ear caused me to go from cautious to enraged before I could even realise what I was about to do.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" I snarled, firing a few flares from my GrabPack.
The Critters hissed and whimpered as they scrambled back from the bright light, but I didn't wait for them to fully clear off as I dashed forward, kicking the stragglers off DogDay. I heard a crack as my foot collided with a CraftyCorn's horn, and the creature let out a pathetic whine and scurried off.
Whatever sympathy I had for the wretched things was gone for the moment. It had been impossible to see them as anything but mindless monsters as they had crawled over DogDay's limp form, gleefully biting at him. Torturing him.
Once the Critters had scattered and hid, I crouched beside DogDay.
"DogDay? DogDay!!" I cried, fighting back tears as his dark, empty eyes stared blankly upwards, his permanent smile looking lopsided and slack.
I gently stroked the fur on his head, scratching behind one of his ears to try to wake him. I tried not to think about how I never could reliably get a pulse or measure the breathing of the Bigger Bodies, how I had no idea how much blood he could afford to lose, what being torn in half could have--
His voice box let out a staticky crackle, almost like a half-digitised cough, and at last I saw the white pupils in his eyes flicker faintly back to life as he mumbled my name.
"Yes! Yes, DogDay, I'm here, I'm right here. Come on...let's get you out of here..." I said.
"I...I don't think I can..." he mumbled, his eyes unfocused as they seemed to wander around the room. Finally his gaze settled on me, and he lifted a hand, resting his thumb against my cheek, gentle as always. "I-I'm...glad I got to see you again..."
The sentiment was like an icicle in my heart. "D-Don't say things like that...w-we'll see each other plenty. N-Now, come on, hold onto the GrabPack hand..." I said, angling one of the hands towards him.
He took it, and I launched the other hand down the hall, letting it grab onto one of the plastic beams that enclosed the tunnels. I retracted the cables, allowing the GrabPack to do the work of pulling DogDay.
As much as I wanted to sling him onto my back and carry him out myself, he was still considerably taller than me even without his legs.
I shuddered at that thought. He'd been torn in half. The toys--especially the Bigger Bodies--were far more resilient than humans, but I had never known one to be maimed like this.
DogDay roused himself enough to occasionally pull himself along with his arms, and together we made our way through the Playhouse's back maintenance entrance and into the cave system outside Playcare.
I was surprised at how easy it was. I must have really scared off the Critters this time--usually they would've come back for round two by now. Not to mention CatNap.
Had he and DogDay had it out at last? Was CatNap just as bad off as DogDay, off licking his wounds elsewhere in the Playcare dome? It was hard to imagine DogDay doing something like this, even to CatNap. But I had to find out all that later.
I wasn't sure how I was going to navigate the cave system with DogDay. The GrabPack had always had trouble finding purchase on the uneven surface of the cave walls.
After some deliberating with myself, I loosened the straps and helped DogDay slip the pack onto his shoulders, apologizing any time a movement caused him to groan or whimper in pain, which was far too often for my taste. I guided one of the hands to grab onto the bar above the maintenance door, then looped an arm around one of the straps. DogDay managed to lift an arm and wrap it around me, but I could tell he was too weak to hold me in place if my grip slipped.
But bless him, he was certainly going to try.
I let the GrabPack lower the two of us down to the darkened cave floor, far below Playcare's dome, far below where other toys or humans dared to tread.
I touched down on the rocks below, and DogDay let out a sharp whimper as his wound brushed against the rough ground.
I quickly pulled away from him, helping him steady himself in the darkness before taking back the GrabPack and retracting the hand. I resisted the urge to ask if DogDay was alright. He clearly wasn't.
"Come on, just a bit further," I said gently, helping DogDay pull himself along the rocky path.
There was little to see in the inky blackness of the deep parts of the cave. The lights from the Playcare dome didn't reach down here, so I had to rely on the small light from my GrabPack.
The walk that normally took about ten minutes took nearly an hour as me and DogDay struggled to make our way back home, inch by agonizing inch. Occasionally I managed to hook the GrabPack onto a rock formation to help DogDay pull himself along, but after one abruptly gave way in an explosion of dust, I realised that even that approach wasn't without risk.
But we did make it, finally. I pulled DogDay through the opening of the little home I had carved out in the past decade. Not literally carved out, of course--it was a natural alcove in the cave system that I had found, but us two had made it ours now.
In the darkness, DogDay dragged himself onto the rug--something I had stolen from the Home Sweet Home building in a moment of reckless desire for normalcy years ago. His eyes briefly flicked to the pile of pillows and blankets us two called our bed. Not even ten feet away.
A raspy sigh escaped his voice box. "I-I...can't move anymore...I-I'm sorry..."
"No sorries, DogDay. We're home. It's okay," I murmured as I shrugged off the GrabPack and put it aside. I had only intended to kneel beside him for a moment, but I collapsed next to him, my head resting on his shoulder. I needed to get up. Clean up the blood, make sure his waist was closed up...
I was dizzy from exhaustion, and my eyes drooped shut as I felt DogDay's large handpaw rest on my shoulder, hugging me close to him.
He spoke, his voice raspy. "Do you think...if we'd both been adopted...we'd've kept in touch?"
I didn't open my eyes, but I replied without hesitation. "We'd've been pen pals."
"C-College?" he asked, before letting out a sputtering cough.
"We'd've gone to the same one," I said immediately, my voice breathless from fatigue.
"A-And...then...?"
"Gotten jobs in the same town. I'd be a florist, and you'd be..."
"A firefighter," he finished.
I gave a soft murmur of agreement, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze as I rested against him. I felt myself beginning to drift into unconsciousness when DogDay spoke again.
"...You know...I've been a toy longer than I was ever human..." he said softly, his tone distant and contemplative.
My eyes blinked open and I looked up at him. His white pupils had faded, leaving only the darkness in his barely open eyes. I reached up, lightly touching the long fur on one of his ears. "But you're still you. That's what matters," I said softly, though the assurance rang hollow even to me.
The only response I got was a soft, gravelly sigh as DogDay finally faded into exhaustion, followed by me shortly after. I had found him. I'd never let anything like this happen to him again. Ever.