Chapter Ten
'AAAAACK!' Cindry's high-pitched shriek sounded, and Esmé stopped singing, and Carmelita stopped tap-dancing, as every single customer dropped dead at In'N'Out Burger that evening. Violet, in a truly inspired moment, whispered to her siblings;
'Quick, play dead!'
'Playing dead' is generally something a dog owner orders his dog to do, which consists of the dog pretending to be dead. Generally the dog is rewarded with a bone, a dog cookie, or with another tasty dog treat, but the Baudelaires were certainly not dogs, despite living a dog's life, wandering without destination and without a home, and their reward was not a bone, a dog cookie, or a another tasty treat. The Baudelaires' reward was as follows; the villains, as soon as every customer in the diner fell unconscious, started discussing their plans. But before I narrate their dialogue, I must inform you, dear reader, of the reaction to the mass murder that had just occurred. Because, every action generates a reaction, but sometimes that reaction is neither equal nor opposite; it is
over-the-top. Such was the reaction of one Cindry Fulfillment, who ran to the kitchen, disappearing from everyone else's sight. Soon the disturbing sounds of breaking dishes started to come from the kitchen, and even one plate or two came flying through the open counter where the orders were put so the waitresses could pick them up.
'Quite a cold audience we have now, isn't it, Esmé?' Felix Casanova said, examining the dead, poisoned audience. 'We got rid of all these volunteers. Now, the hinterlands are
theirs for the taking.'
'Felix, darling. You forget. We still have two places left to ravage. Rusty's Junkyard...And
Caligari Camp.' Esmé Squalor said, descending from the stage she had been performing on. Carmelita followed, and the villains converged to the center of the hall. Harold Potter came out of the kitchen, rubbing his forehead.
'The girl tossed a plate at me! She's insane!' Harold said. Of course, tossing a plate at someone may not be considered regular
etiquette, a word which here means appropriate, but it certainly can be forgiven when you have been kidnapped and forced into work by a handful of evil villains.
'The poisons worked perfectly. Your toxicology skills certainly have helped our cause, Harold. You will be rewarded by the leaders.' Felix Casanova said to Harold, who seemed very disturbed, even if he was a villain - and now, a mass murderer. 'Fex-m3, rat poison, tiberium and meta-cyanide.' Harold enumerated. 'Together, they are unstoppable.'
'Well, well, well. Let's get to it, shall we. Burn down this place, and erase all evidence. It is a very
in thing to do after such a plan.' Esmé Squalor said, removing a lighter from her leather jacket - which was on a table - and lighting it up. 'Yes, but let's not forget the girl in the kitchen. If she dies, we're dead.' Felix said.
'I should be the only important girl in this group!' Carmelita protested, as she detested Cindry. 'You are, to me, Carmie. But see, there's one person specially interested in Cindry, and I must bring her to them.'
'Well, after we burn down this place and Caligari Camp, let's go to Rusty's Junkyard. We need to burn it
all.' Felix said. However, the villains were interrupted by the sound of an arriving car. The Baudelaires did not dare take a peek as they were playing dead. It still shocked them none of the villains had recognized them, which was a first in the Baudelaires' unfortunate lives. But then again, the villains were too distracted with their mass murder plan to bother examining every one individually.
The only sound was that of Cindry breaking dishes in the kitchen. The silence inside the diner was intense despite that, and they could hear the footsteps of four - or was it five? - people walking out of the car and heading to the diner.
'The Sanity Squad. Darn! We forgot about them!' Esmé whispered to the others. 'Quick, there's an emergency exit, let's go before they find us!' The villains stealthily followed in Esmé to behind the stage where she performed. A sound of a door opening, and sneaky footsteps walking out of the diner, and the noise of a door closing. The villains were gone, but they had forgot something.
'Cindry. They left her here!' Klaus whispered to his sisters as he could hear the sound of Cindry's relentless dish-breaking rampage in the kitchen. His instict was to go and silence her, but as Klaus feared, it was too late. The Sanity Squad entered the diner. The only one who could see them with enough clarity was Beatrice, because she was beneath the table, hidden, pretending to be dead, and she could see five people, but not their faces.
They were four men and one woman, all varying in build and height. The woman, however, had very long red hair, which resembled wine in coloration. Their faces could not be seen but Beatrice was not sure if it increased or diminished their menace. But the fact that even an evil bunch such as that of Esmé Squalor, Carmelita Spats, Felix Casanova and Harold Potter was scared away by them added to the overall feeling of nefariousness that they gave off.
'Agent M. Check the kitchen.' Said a low, grave male voice. Then, the sound of footsteps characteristically given by high heels. 'There's a girl in there.' The just as low and grave female voice sounded. 'She's
clearly suffering a mental breakdown.'
'You know how to proceed.' Then, a clicking sound was heard, and the dish breaking in the kitchen stopped. To the Baudelaires' horror, one of the five strangers went into the kitchen and retrieved an unconscious Cindry, minutes later, in a straitjacket, which is a word which here means 'a type of jacket with overly long sleeves used to restrain lunatics from doing harm to themselves or others'. Every impulse in the Baudelaire's bodies was to rescue Cindry, but they
knew that it would be a very bad idea for them to try to do so, and they
knew, and this later proved very true, that those five people were more trouble than they seemed, and they already seemed like a lot of trouble.
As Cindry was taken into their ambulance, a purple light was lit on the ambulance, and it speeded off towards the hinterlands leaving In'N'Out Burger and it's plethora of dead customers behind. The Baudelaires were all stiff from pretending to be dead for so long, but they waited a good ten minutes to see if Esmé Squalor and her cohorts wouldn't arrive to set fire to the diner.
'We have to go to Rusty's Junkyard. If Esmé wants to destroy it, there must be a strong reason for it.' Violet said to her siblings as they got on their motorcycle and headed off to the junkyard, further up Rarely Ridden Road. They could do nothing to save the In'N'Out Burger customers, but Rusty, the junkyard owner, had helped them. Rusty was also the father of Earl, one of the Caligari Camp kids, they didn't wish for Earl to become an orphan, like themselves. The Baudelaires were done with being passive. They were about to
do something, and they were filled with courage.