Mickey Mouse in the Public Domain - Chapter 24
Minnie stared at the zombies surrounding her, her heart beating inside her so hard she feared it'd knock the plug in her chestwound loose.
Then, there was a horrific screech, like that of someone in horrific pain. The zombies stopped, turning their heads, opening a path to a cage behind them.
In the cage lay the flesh-ridden skeleton of a mouse- a lopsided neck, head hanging limply, propped in a sitting position against the bars of the cage, as if her spine had been broken.
But slowly, the mouse rose to her feet, her wedding gown falling gently around her. Minnie looked at her, and her heart went still.
And she knew in her heart of hearts this was the same Minnie she had dreamed of in the Cantino all those chapters ago.
The zombie version of Minnie approached, through the parted crowd of undead. She stepped up to Minnie and looked at her closely, a face so hopeless, it was as if the world could never be right again.
Minnie felt her heart beating inside her again, but this time, the fear departing; she could feel tears beginning to build in her eyes.
"I'm sorry he did this to you," She said weakly.
But the zombie's face hardened, and then she was shrieking. "You did this! You trusted him and allowed him to do this to me! YOU ALLOWED HIM TO DO THIS TO YOU!"
And then she lunged, claws extended, as if ready to rip Minnie to shreds.
Minnie attempted to evade, but the zombie had already caught a grip of her, sending the two spinning. They tumbled backwards into the cage, and the door slammed shut as Minnie fell backwards. The zombie was over her, pinning her to the back of the cage, a knife held before her.
"I'll kill you before he does!" The Zombie cried, "I'll stop this from happening!"
Minnie scrambled, for anything that might stop the zombie, might stop her from plunging the knife into her!
The plug in her chest! Frantically felt for the same plug in her zombie counterpart's. She didn't know how zombies worked, but it was her only shot!
There!
Minnie fumbled, just grasping the chain hidden under the dress, and yanked!
The Zombie went still, all the strength in her body seeping out from the plug that had held her together so long.
Then, "Don't let him do this to you," she whimpered weakly, "Don't let him do this to me."
And then she was quiet.
Minnie pulled herself out from under her, and the zombie turned to dust, the plug no longer holding her together. Minnie felt her own plug and swallowed deeply. She hoped she didn't become that depended on her plug that that would happen to her if she took it out.
The rest of her team was outside the cage fighting their own zombies. Well, except for Henrietta Hen who was running around in circles in absolute terror. The Mechanical Cow was making a number of these zombies with her flamethrowers, but it wasn't enough. Minnie pushed at the cage door, ready to rejoin the others, but it wouldn't budge.
Not Again.
Then an explosion rocked the entire hold, zombie bits flew everywhere. And in the clearing dust stood Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, giving it a little spin, and blowing smoke from the barrel of his bazooker.
The Mechanical Cow's eyes lit up, and so did Fanny and Sadie's.
"Oswald!" The two girls cried, "Ahhhh!"
Then they looked at eachother, and both rolled their eyes. But then they both held a hand to their mouth and burst into laughter.
Now Minnie was rolling her eyes. Yet how many times had she done the same thing around Mickey?
"This is all nice, but could somebody let me out of here?" Minnie asked, pulling at the bars of the cage.
"Oh, Minnie, you're alive," Oswald observed. Then he lifted the bazooker and blew off the door of the cage. Minnie stepped out into the open and dusted off her skirts.
Then they heard it...
More zombies were coming their way.
Oswald and the Mechanical Cow exchanged glances, Oswald readied his bazooker, Mechanical Cow wielded her udd- uh, flamethrowers, the two back to back, stood at the ready.
And then the blasting began.
Oswald and the Mechanical Cow were the Dream Team! But could you expect any less from such an inseparable duo who'd been together since 1927, in their one-time collab? Zombie parts went flying! Everywhere! It was unbelievable, you had to see it.
In the cacophony of explosions, Minnie joined the battle, grabbing one of the broken bars from her cage, and bashing one of the zombies in the head with it again and again. When she was done, and the zombie collapsed with serious brain damage, even for a zombie, Minnie looked around and the area was already cleared, she hid the cage-bar behind her back and blushed bashfully.
Oswald turned to her, a look of relief on his face. "Minnie, thank goodness you survived."
He gave her a fist bump, and Minnie returned it proudly.
...
"Oh, well why not?" Oswald said, and then he gave Minnie a strong embrace, letting himself feel the relief that she'd survived.
"Remind me to survive getting stabbed through by some horrible villain at some point," Sadie whispered over to Fanny.
Fanny nodded agreement.
"Good thing you came in here with that bazooka when you did," Sadie said, going up to Oswald to Congratulate him.
Oswald looked at his weapon, "I think it's a bazooker actually."
"What's the difference?" Minnie asked, confused.
"I'm not sure, maybe bazooker sounds cooler?"
"It doesn't really."
"Well I'm not the one naming these things! Perhaps its weird off-brand/trademark thing to avoid getting sued by the Bazooka Corporation! You should go ask the worldbuilder!"
I don't think any of us really know what's going on in the head of the worldbuilder; I'm pretty sure bazookas are still in the Public Domain.
Oswald looked from Minnie to Henrietta Hen to the others.
"Is it just you two down here, or are there others?"
"I don't know," Minnie said, "I only know of Henrietta Hen."
This caused Oswald a look of surprise. "Henrietta Hen? I didn't think you were real?"
"Not real?!" Asked Henrietta Hen offended, "Why, I never-"
"So you haven't seen anyone else?" Oswald asked Minnie.
"Not that I know of," Minnie said.
"Not Peter Rabbit? Or Br'er Rabbit? Or Winnie-the-Pooh's best friend Rabbit?"
"ENOUGH WITH THE RABBITS!" Henrietta squawked, "DO ANY OF YOU ABSENTMINDED SCALLYWAGS UNDERSTAND WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!?"
"We probably should hurry," Fanny advised, "We still don't know what could be awaiting us around the next corner."
"I just wanted to make sure all the rabbits were safe," Oswald huffed.
"All the rabbits are safe," Minnie assured him, "It's just me and Henrietta."
Oswald was silent a moment. "Rodger." He said finally.
Thunder rumbled overhead, giving a dangerous warning, which was strange, because they were inside a boat and out of the weather.
"Rodger that," Oswald corrected, feeling he had swayed dangerously close to he-knew-not-what, according to his Public Domain knowledge. The rumbling stopped.
"Hmm," Oswald said passively.
Time to get back to war. Sorry, but all those rabbits would have to fend for themselves. Oswald readjusted his bazooker and rounded a corner. The Mechanical Cow gave a sigh of disappointment. She thought she had looked more cool doing that.
"Besides, if there was anyone who would be worth saving, it'd be Jemima Puddle-Duck," Henrietta Hen clucked to herself kind of randomly at this point because the moment had already passed, but we have to cram it in there somewhere.
Ignoring the last paragraph like we should because it interrupts the flow of the story, Oswald reached over and gave the Mechanical Cow a kindly pat on the head, signaling he understood her misgivings, "Don't worry, you can take the next corner."
And then he did a front-roll around the corner, landing flat on his back, the bazooker (I'm not going to call it that) falling flat onto his stomach. (It would've landed a little lower, but I feel I've already passed my quota for that kind of humor in this book. You'll have to wait until my next book.)
The Mechanical Cow took the lead from then on.
Most of the ship had gone eerily silent, and Minnie didn't like it one bit.
"What's the plan?" Minnie asked Oswald as they reached another corner and looked around it.
Oswald looked at Minnie, "I need to find The Mickey and confront him."
Minnie nodded. "That was my plan too. I'm coming with you."
"Oh no!" Henrietta declared, "I am not taking another step deeper into this ship, mark my words!"
Oswald looked at the Mechanical Cow, "Do you think you can get the rest of you back up to the upper deck. That's where the main fighting is going on. They might need you."
"Main fighting?!" Henrietta clucked in horror.
"Well, technically, I'm pretty sure it's the B-Plot, but that's where most the fighters and the zombies are, so I'll call it the Main Battle." Oswald replied.
"Oh my," said Henrietta Hen, feeling faint.
"You could always stay down here," Oswald said, matter-of-factly.
Henrietta looked even more horrified.
"Don't worry," said Sadie, laying a gentle hand on the chicken's shoulder, "The Mechanical Cow here will make sure we all get out of here alright."
Henrietta looked at the cow doubtfully. "I've had more than a few dealings with cows in my life, and I doubt that very much," she said. "But I'll take my chances up there over whatever this atrocious place is."
"Good choice," said Fanny.
So, at the next corner, they split up, each group going their own separate ways.
"Good luck Oswald," Fanny said.
"Keep Minnie safe," Sadie added, "And yourself."
Oswald nodded, not feeling very confident, but he turned to the Mechanical Cow, "Keep my girls safe. I know I haven't been good to either of them, and I'm not in a place to choose between them right now, but I don't want either of them getting hurt."
The Mechanical Cow nodded, and the two embraced.
Then Oswald looked at Henrietta Hen.
"Yeah, I don't need to hug you."
"And I wouldn't want you to anyways," Henrietta shot back, crossing her wings.
"We should get going," Minnie said quietly.
Oswald nodded, and so the two groups split, heading down different corridors.
Oswald and Minnie traveled on, deeper into the ship. Oswald was determined, each step leading him closer and closer to his final confrontation. Minnie tried to keep up, but the aching pain where the plug was holding her together was slowing her down.
"Please," Minnie said to Oswald panting, after they had made it down a few floors, "I can't keep up."
"You'll have to," Oswald said, "Or you'll have to catch up later."
As he took another step forward, prepared to leave Minnie behind, Minnie cried out, "I don't want to end up in the envelope!"
Oswald turned back and looked at her funnily.
"Sorry," Minnie said with a blush, "Must be some addressed trauma I can't quite remember."
"Alright," Oswald said finally, "We can slow down a few clicks, but I fear we don't have much time."
They made their way down another flight of stairs, and then they stopped as they took in the carnage that lay before them. Many characters were just lying there, strewn throughout the halls, their bodies torn apart like they had been attacked by zombies.
"It looks fresh," Oswald said.
"I guess it wasn't just me and Henrietta down here afterall," Minnie whispered.
Oswald couldn't contain a gag.
"Yep, that's Peter Rabbit," Oswald said, "I'm pretty sure that used to be Peter Rabbit."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Minnie said.
Oswald shook his head. "It's too late for them. Right now, we have to be careful - this means there are more zombies down here, and if we're not lucky, any of these ones could rise up and become one at a moment's notice as well."
Minnie nodded, and they made their way down the hall, careful to not disturb any of the corpses.
And then they heard a sound from one of the cabins up ahead, they reached the open door, and they could only stare at what happened inside.
"Give me your Heart!" Cried the Zombie Tin Woodsman.
"BRAINS!" declared the Scarecrow.
"I don't have the Courage for this!" Whimpered the Lion pathetically.
We don't need to know what the Lion didn't have the courage for, because a few seconds later, he was actually going through it.
And as for us, we don't have the stomach. Fortunately for the Cowardly Lion, that was one thing he needn't have worried himself about having, because he wasn't going to have one at all anymore in a few moments anyway.
...
Maybe next time, I'll ask the Wizard for a stronger stomach.
Zombie Scarecrow, Zombie Tin Woodsman, and the stomachless Zombie Lion turned their heads to the doorway to where Oswald and Minnie stood watching the whole thing, too frozen to move.
But, ready to move they were now.
"Yeah, let's get out of here," Oswald said, discretely backing away from the door.
Oswald fired his bazooka, but it was empty. Oswald looked at it, then discarded it to the side, straight into the Lion's face. (Which wasn't exactly to the side, but it still sounded better that way.)
And him and Minnie fled.
The three Zombies gave chase, but they weren't the only ones, the corpses scattered across the hallway also began to pull themselves to their feet, all of them rising up one after the other, the line of zombies closing in closer.
The zombies by their running feet began to writhe, and then rise up; Minnie was still limping, she couldn't anymore, in moments, the corpses in front of them would rise-
"The stairway down," Oswald cried, pointing to a doorway up ahead to the side.
He grabbed Minnie's arms, and swung her forward, Minnie went sailing down the hall, passing the line of rising zombies, and spinning into the doorway.
Minnie tumbled down the stairwell quite comedicly, Oswald bursting through the door right behind her. He slammed it and locked it, then chased Minnie down the stairs.
As they made it to the next floor down, Oswald peaked out of the stairwell.
"The coast is clear," he said.
"Why can't they just put all the stairs in one place?" Minnie complained, pulling herself to her feet and shaking the dizziness from her head. She checked her plug, but it was still securely fashioned in place.
This hall was empty from zombies fortunately, but the tentacles of darkness writhing their way up the walls and ceilings were more apparent than ever.
"We're getting close," Oswald said.
He took a step forward and-
CRACK!
The floor collapsed out from under them.
They plummeted 90 or so floors - indicating they had not actually been close at all - and splatted with all the plot armor of cartoon logic in the waterlogged lower deck of the ship.
"Now we're close," said Oswald, pulling himself up.
"Yes we are," Minnie said, noticing how the water underneath her had become tinted red. She looked up, following the trail of crimson water to its source and gasped. She pointed, and Oswald turned.
Before them was a swirling wall of absolute darkness, expanded beneath the underdeck, pulling in all the light around it, absorbing it, and corrupting it into something that could never shine light again. This was Mickey. The Mickey. Radiating with the singular conscious of The two Mickey's becoming one.
"I have to get in there!" Minnie said, pulling herself to her feet, and taking a step forward.
And in that instant, an onslaught of memories flashed in her mind; memories of her and Mickey together, memories of them playing with the animals together on the steamboat, memories of them dancing together in Argentina, their steps together in perfect sync; the years and years they had spent in eachother's company; how it felt to be young again, with memories behind them of how their hearts had grown together as one.
She stumbled, collapsed back to her hands and knees, her breaths coming in gasps as panic began to overtake her.
"Minnie! Minnie! What is it!" Oswald gasped, hurrying in front of her and kneeling before her.
"I can't do it!" Minnie gasped, "I can't see Mickey like this!" Tears started to build in her eyes, desperation, "But I have to! I have to- Mickey!"
She tried to pull herself to her feet, but they fell out from under her, sending her sprawling back into the water. She began to scream, to gasp and heave for air; she grasped desperately at her chest-plug, she could no longer breathe.
"I can't do it!" Minnie wheezed, her body trembling all over, "I can't do it!"
The wall of darkness swirled behind Oswald, but he just stayed there, resting his hands on Minnie. He may have failed Fanny and Sadie, but he wasn't going to fail her. Minnie wasn't his girl, but he had become her friend all the same, and maybe right now, being a friend was all he needed to focus on.
As he stayed there, Minnie's panic began to ease; understanding dawned in his eyes, and suddenly he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what he had to do.
Oswald grabbed her shoulders and looked at her. "Minnie, look at me. You have to stay here, okay? I have to do this alone. Do you understand me? Even before you came here, I knew: I had to do this alone."
Minnie looked up at him, her eyes still wet with tears.
"But I have to save him."
Oswald's expression softened. "Minnie, you can't save everyone, not even Mickey."
"Then why do you get to go!? Why do you get to save him!?" Minnie cried.
"Because..." Oswald hesitated, "Because I think I know how he feels. I don't know if I can help him, but I'm the best chance he's got. And if I fail..." He looked seriously at Minnie again, "You have to get out of here, get Fanny and Sadie and even Henrietta and get out; if I fail, this could be the end of the Public Domain- the Public Domain may become nothing more than a zone for senseless horror. Get out of here, hide yourselves, try to become forgotten before your chance is gone."
"But... You're not going to become a horror villain too are you?"
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
Then, before Minnie could object, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit stood up and turned to face the swirl of corruption that lay before him.
And then he threw himself directly into the Wall of Darkness.