Snips raced down the winding halls and dark corridors, using his phone as a flashlight. He searched every room he could find that wasn’t locked for something that was sharp enough to cut Sunset loose. His hope was to stumble upon an object made for cutting or slicing, like a knife, hacksaw, or even a rotary blade. It mattered little what he found, as long as it was portable and easy to carry.
The first room that Snips searched was littered with torn sheets of paper, some of which had been marked with various messages and code words that he couldn’t make any sense of.
Not wanting to waste any time, he fled down the hall into another room. The only thing of interest that he could see was a dusty old computer, which still appeared functional, despite having its front screen missing, and a folding chair made out of metal.
After the tenth or eleventh room, Snip’s determination had begun to falter. Each room that he searched was either empty or contained miscellaneous items that he had no real use for.
It wasn’t much longer before Snips finally collapsed against the cool concrete floor, tired and out of breath. Why was he having this much trouble finding something sharp inside of a factory? That was all that factories did, cut things up and put things together, right? Then again, if it was abandoned, then maybe the people that used to work there took all of their cutting materials with them. It didn’t sound impossible and he was getting tired of running down the halls and always coming up empty. Perhaps it would have been best if he doubled back and trying untying Sunset by hand?
Snips turned to leave but stopped midway when something caught his attention. A final door at the end of the hall to his right. It was much smaller than any of the other doors that he had seen. The door had a sign next to it, although he couldn't read what it said.
As he crept closer he saw that the sign had been covered by a thick layer of dust. He cleared some of it away with a brush from his hand and saw the words “Broom Closet” written in large black letters. His heart jumped with excitement when the door creaked open with a twist and a light tug on the handle.
The closest's contents contained the usual assortments that one would typically find inside. There was a broom and dustpan, a mop, some garbage bags, and what looked to be a container filled with glass cleaner.
Snips, however, didn’t pay much attention to any of that. His focus was instead drawn towards a rusty light blue rectangular box. After giving it a test shake, he could hear the sounds of several different objects jingling around inside.
He pried the box open and took a peak. What Snips found inside brought a victorious smile to his face.
***
Sunset had been waiting patiently. It was the only thing that she could really do given her situation. She kept her mind distracted by counting all of the holes in the ceiling tiles. She used her previous score as the record to beat whenever she lost count.
One of the challenges that came along with her little game was how the darkness lowered her visibility. The light from the moon that snaked in from the windows helped a little, but not by much.
She had almost broken her high score of sixty-seven when she was pulled from her concentration by the sound of Snips calling her name while waving something around in his hands like an idiot.
“Hey! Hey, Sunset! Look what I found!” he shouted.
“Do you want someone to hear you? Keep it down!”
A light red flush flashed across his cheeks and the enthusiasm that Snips displayed diminished a little. “Sorry! But, look what I found!” he exclaimed while hurrying over to Sunset.
He opened his palm so that she could have a better view of whatever it was that he was so excited about.
In his hand was an oddly shaped, somewhat rusted, piece of metal. It was only a few inches in length and had a large crack along its base. It had obviously once been a part of some sort of tool until the blade had broken off.
That was all irrelevant to Sunset however. The only thing that mattered to her was that the edge was still sharp.
“Nice work, Snips! Now hurry so we can get out of here!”
The stubby teen dropped to his knees and began working the blade back and forth like a saw, slowly cutting his way deeper and deeper through the ropes. It didn’t take long before Sunset could feel her bindings begin to loosen.
“You know, this whole rescue thing’s been going a lot better than what I thought it would. By the way, where’d Snails go?”
“I told him to go find me something warm,” Sunset replied. “But looking back on it now, I probably should have told him to go with you. We’ll have to go look for him after this.”
“Well, that’s not too bad. He couldn’t have gotten far.” Snips had cut about half way through the ropes. “After you’re free, we just have to track him down, and then we can finally see about getting back home! Piece of cake!”
Snips was so excited that he failed to notice the sound of slowly approaching footsteps closing in from behind until he found himself eclipsed underneath a shadow. Absentmindedly, Snips turned around and looked up.
“Oh, hey, Dumbbell. What’s up?” Snips turned back around and continued to cut for a few more seconds. Then his eyes widened in alarm and he dropped the blade onto the floor. He spun around, jumped up, and quickly stepped away from Sunset.
“Oh, hey, Dumbbell!" Snips repeated with a nervous smile. "How's it going? I thought you already left!"
Dumbbell looked down at Snips, completely unamused. “Me and Gilda have been waiting almost thirty minutes for you and Snails to come back from the bathroom. She asked me to go check and see what the hold-up was.”
“Riiiight … that … so, uh … I know what this probably looks like … and I just want you to know that it’s not how it looks, and I’m waiting on Snails to get back. He’s got a bad case of the runs.”
Dumbbell raised an eyebrow and looked back and forth between Snips, and Sunset, who was rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
“Sunset isn’t wearing her blindfold, or her muzzle. I just saw you cutting away at those ropes. And right before that, I’m pretty sure I heard you say something about freeing Sunset and going home.” Dumbbell took a single step forward while Snips took a step back.
“Oh, no, no, no. See what I actually said was -”
Dumbbell reached forward with both hands and grabbed Snips by his shirt, slightly lifting the heavyset teen off the ground. “Save it, you little slime ball! It wasn’t funny the first time!” Snips was pulled so close that he could see his own terrified expression reflected in Dumbbell’s eyes. “So, should I pop you like a zit, or knock your teeth out so you can’t run your mouth to anyone?”
“Let him go!” demanded Sunset.
“And what are going to do if I don’t? Stare me to death?” Dumbbell taunted.
Sunset tugged against her bonds. “This is your last warning. Put him down, now!”
“Tough talk for someone who can’t even move,” Dumbbell replied nonchalantly. “Besides, I’m not the bad guy here. You are.”
A wave of anger was beginning to stir within Sunset. “Look, if this is about Anon-a-Miss then -”
“Anon-a-Miss?" Dumbbell cut her off and laughed. "Do you really think that I’m here because of that little circus on Mystable? Please. I never even got targeted, so it doesn’t matter much to me.”
Sunset's expression changed from anger into confusion. “Wait, if you don’t even care then why are you helping Gilda?”
Dumbbell glared at Sunset and tightened his hold on Snips. “Long story short, I’m still a little sore from that power trip you were on. For three years, all you did was cause pain and humiliation for me and everyone else. And how did you get punished for it? They made you apologize to the school, fix a busted wall, and then a few months of detention. They let you off so easy it's not even funny. Even more ridiculous than that is how everyone at CHS has been acting like they forgot all about what you did ever since that one good deed of yours back at the Battle of the Bands.”
A twisted grin slowly spread across Dumbbell’s face. “Then along comes Gilda who made me a deal too good to pass up! I get to slug you around as much as I want, without consequence, and with no strings attached. At first I thought her plan sounded too good to be true, until she reminded me of something wonderful ..."
Dumbbell's expression went back to being serious as he stared at Sunset. "You're not even from this world! So even if a few classmates get curious and start asking questions, all we have to do is start a rumor saying that you ran back home after you realized just how badly you messed up! It sounds believable enough, and I doubt too many people would question it after this little incident at school. If you ask me, Anon-a-Miss was the best thing to happen to CHS in a long time!"
Dumbbell returned his attention back towards Snips. “I don’t know how we’re gonna explain you ... but I'll worry about that later. Lights out, rat-face!”
Sunset watched helplessly as Dumbbell pulled his fist back and took aim.
Snips, tried one final time to free himself, and then –
“Hey, Sunset! I’m back! Guess what I found?” Snails had returned. The good news was that he had completed his assigned task, as evidenced by the light-blue lab-coat that had been slung over his shoulder. The bad news was that he had terrible timing. His eyes traveled from Sunset, to Snips, to a very confused looking Dumbbell.
Taking advantage of the opening, Snips tapped his would be attacker on the shoulder. As soon as the bully was looking back in his direction, Snips outstretched his index and middle finger into a scissor formation, and jabbed Dumbbell in both of his eyes.
Howling in pain and momentarily stunned, Dumbbell released his victim while shielding his face from further harm.
Snips scrambled to his feet and took off. “Don’t worry, Sunset! We’ll be back in a few minutes!” he shouted as he ran towards a random hallway.
Snails dropped the coat and followed his friend’s example after taking note of the wild and enraged look on Dumbbell’s face now that he had recovered.
After watching her two companions get chased off, Sunset searched frantically for the metal piece that Snips had been using. She found it lying only a few inches away, and yet she couldn’t reach it thanks to her hands still being partially bound.
Sunset shook her head in disappointment. “Well, it looks like I'm not going anywhere for a while ...”