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It was the early morning when they were finally able to escape.
After such a tense confrontation, the prototype was finally defeated with the negation compound to the poppy gel packed inside his body.
The conclusion of it all was quieter than they expected it to be. They didn’t cheer, but they did let out a big sigh of relief much like the toys gathered around them. Poppy had started to cry into Giblet’s shoulder once it was all done. It was to be expected.
After all, she found out that the prototype, the one who has been keeping her trapped and away from everyone else, was actually her adopted older brother. An older brother who was tortured and abused as the first experiment. The one who’s mind trained on her in an obsessive way as he established himself as a twisted older sibling role.
It took a lot of work to piece it together and explain to the porcelain doll. But after all of the hurt he caused her, Poppy urged him to continue on with his plan.
The prototype disappeared into parts and his yellow eye extinguished with one metal claw still reaching out towards the stained blue dress adorning her body. Giblet comforted her as she turned away from the sight. She gathered herself enough to turn back to the corpse and say, “Maybe in another life, we can be the family that you and I wanted.”
Doey reluctantly let Poppy have her moment, walking away with the small number of Safe Haven residents that were able to scramble away from the blast. A Dogday and Catnap that refused to be apart from one another. Izzy, a mini Bobby Bearhug that refuses to leave Doey’s shoulder. The Itsy Bitsy Kissy Missy who had a missing leg and arm that was haphazardly covered by felt and string. And Scout, the Boogie Bot that was in charge of the doors, was limping beside Doey.
Dogday was looking worse to wear. The wheelchair he was temporarily using was bent and cracked in the final showdown. So the bigger smiling critter was back to crawling in his hands towards Doey with the last of the Safe Haven residents, Medic, right next to him.
Kissy Missy and Huggy Wuggy were standing by each other with both of their red lips closed in a smile. Huggy held on tight to Kissy who only leaned her head into his shoulder in response.
The last of them was Chum Chompkins. Somehow, the silent toy was able to escape from the prototype and help them with the last of the plan. It wasn’t without sacrifice since now Chum had injuries from broken teeth to the stab wound in his upper arm from where the prototype‘s claws went straight through him.
It was finally over.
And as Poppy’s cries slowly faded, it became clear to them that they would need to start moving up.
“Finally,” an annoyed voice piped up from the star-shaped flashlight attached to their wrist.
Oh. Right. The doctor was still here.
They could have sworn that the doctor had their new body since that was the part of the trade off for getting the formula they needed. And like the doctor was reading their mind, the eye flashed on the screen.
“You will plug my body back in once you’re done with this. It lost its charge,” Harley Sawyer demanded.
...
They would have to if they wanted to get rid of the mocking eye off their wrist. Maybe they can find a corner in their house they can shun him to...or the shed in the backyard. Yeah, that would be better.
Once everything had calmed down, Giblet looked up to the ceiling. “Well, I guess this is our time, huh?”
“Yeah.” Poppy sniffled. She turned her porcelain face towards the ceiling. The side of her head still had her hair growing back slowly with the cracks on her face faded due to the poppy gel that the prototype had her in. “We... we can all leave now.”
Slowly, they started to backtrack throughout the factory. It took time to figure out which paths to take. Doey was too on edge to engage in puzzles, so most of the time he was brute forcing his way through as Safe Haven residents cheered him on. They couldn’t help but cheer him on too... They really hated those time consuming puzzles.
All of them made their way past the prison, through the playcare, and turned away from the game station to follow the train track towards the outside. It was difficult trying to climb over the wrecked train that was severely damaged from the fiery crash.
When they ran into a wall at the very end, they stood there staring at it, then turned around to look at the crowd of toys that were waiting to see the real world. It didn’t take long for Doey to form a massive hammer fist and blast it away before they could even suggest finding a different path.
Once the debris and dust cleared, the sunlight was starting to peek out from the trees. The sight stunned most of the group. Gasps of disbelief filled the air along with some light coughing due to the lingering dust cloud from the broken wall.
The Angel took the first step forward. Then the second.
And then they were left behind as all of the children that have been trapped for years rushed outside onto the grass like it was a piece of heaven that dropped to earth just for them.
Doey was rushing through the trees, stretching his body to wrap around the trunks as the critters and little toys ran around on the soft grass.
Dogday dragged himself out then immediately face planted into the grass with a happy whine. If he had a tail, they think he would be wagging it right now.
Chum Chompkins was silently watching the clouds move through the sky. Giblet and Poppy leaned on each other as they started looking around past the abalones factory and towards the almost overgrown forest.
Huggy and Kissy were laying down in the grass watching the sky as they held hands.
“Ugh. It’s too bright out here.” The doctor’s voice came out from the flashlight once again as the player dragged half a Harley body behind them. They turned around to face the factory they escaped from and heard the doctor scoff from their wrist. “Hah. This disgusting building looks ever worse than before.”
“Hm,” they mumbled their agreement.
Silently, they walked away from the toys who needed this time to unwind from all of the years of being locked away in this toy factory. They didn’t walk too far away since they spotted their car.
Their rundown car that had over 180,000 miles on it. The paint chipped in several areas. The one rear window that still had a crack in the glass from when they accidentally shot a rock towards it when they were mowing the lawn. The old car that was good enough for a grocery trip, but not transporting large toy children back to their house.
They kissed their teeth in frustration. Dammit. Would they have to take multiple trips now? Would they even be able to fit Doey in there?
They started to look around the area. Surely there must be something they could use. The last thing they want is to have a half or third of the group wait for them to come back with their car.
Then, their eyes lingered on a van that had the Playtime company logo on the side that was mostly scratched off.
Bingo.
They would probably need to try and hotwire it since there was no way they could find the keys unless they were inside the car somehow after all these years. Hopefully the battery was still good after a decade. If not, they could try and jumpstart it with their car battery.
They were so close to getting home and raiding their pantries for the children.
A joyful screech of laughter reached their ears.
When they looked back towards the children, they could see that Dogday was now chasing after the mini critters with an attempt at a menacing giggle as Doey tried to play the role of the Word Wizard against him.
At the sight of it, they smiled, ignoring Doctor’s grumbles about him leaving his half baked body on the pavement.
Maybe they could wait a little bit and let the children have their fun.
They had more than enough time.