Author's Disclaimer: Chapter Eleven is in the previous page.
Chapter Twelve
When the Baudelaires got out of Rusty's rusty trailer, they quickly noticed something was wrong. Everything was
very quiet, like one would expect in a junkyard, but quiet in an unnerving way. They could feel eyes were watching them, very hungry eyes at that.
'Let's get out of here, shall we, Violet?' Klaus nervously said, grabbing one of the fuel gallons, and heading away from the trailer. Violet followed him, with Sunny and Beatrice in tow. But their walk was cut short when they heard a growling sound. The Baudelaires froze. Looking back, they saw a lioness. A literal one. Than, more lionesses and lions began to appear out of the maze of junk. A whole pack of lions surrounded the Baudelaires, except for one path in the middle, out of which came Rusty. He was limping, and held his hand close to his chest.
'B-Baudelaires. I f-found you!' Rusty said, crumbling onto the ground. The lions advanced. 'Violet...Any inventions come to mind?' Klaus asked, hoping his sister's skills would again save the Baudelaires from an early death. Violet reached for her hair ribbon, but a lion growled and advanced.
'If I make another movement, it will leap and attack us.' Violet whispered. Never before had the Baudelaires faced such dangerous animals, and the volcano flies from Jupiter Island and the snow gnats from the Mortmain Mountains just couldn't compare. The Baudelaires were in a jam.
'B-Baudelaires...The kids, at the camp...They escaped. Colette and Kevin too, but the camp's been set on fire!' Rusty said, between breaks of coughing up blood. He was badly wounded, and his shirt was bloody.
'Rusty, what happened to you?' Violet asked, desperately, seeing such a kind man in such bad shape. 'They got me...at the Camp. I came here on my bike. I knew you'd come back'
'But...' Klaus said, but Rusty interrupted him. 'There's no time...There's a safe route through the junkyard...By that red refrigerator, follow the trail of...red junk. It will lead you out of here, to your motorcycle. I put in everything ya'll need...'
'Rusty!'
'Don't worry about me...'
'Yeah, don't worry about him.' said a
very familiar voice.
'He's as good as dead.' said another familiar voice.
'Just as you will be.' Said yet another familiar voice.
Out of the maze of junk walked Esmé Squalor, Carmelita Spats and Felix Casanova. They seemed to not fear the lions at all. As a matter of fact, the lions seemed terrified of
them. Felix was holding a whip, and he swung it, cracking the whip and scaring the lions even further.
'Felix here spent months disguised as a lion tamer in a circus.' Esmé explained. 'He
is a Master of Disguise, after all.' Esmé walked menacingly towards the Baudelaires, with her high heels. She still had her hair rolled around soda can curlers, and she now wore Felix's round, black dark glasses with extra lenses that made it look like glasses for a four-eyed person.
'We already know where Cindry Fulfillment was taken. We are going there after we burn this junkyard in it's entirety.' Esmé said. 'That was very smart of you not to eat at the diner. I guess I kinda gave it away earlier during our meeting at that freaky children's camp.'
'Yeah, you did.' Violet said. 'What happened to Kevin, Colette and the children? What did you do to them?'
'We didn't do anything. They were gone before we got there. Of course, we burned the camp.' Esmé said, with great indifference.
'Of course you did.' Klaus said. 'Yes, we did.' Esmé said in return. 'We have also set In'N'Out Burger on fire. No one will discover what went down there now. We've made sure of that.'
'Don't you ever get tired of setting fires all around? Doesn't that wear you out? Eventually, the whole world will burn and you'll be in the fire too!' Klaus said, unable to contain himself. 'Now, now. Look who's growing a spine!' Esmé mocked, breaking into her usual villainous cackle. 'We weren't looking for you, Baudelaires, but now that we found you...Tell me. Where is the sugarbowl? Tell me, and I'll let you in on where Cindry is being taken. You can
try to save her, but you won't succeed.'
'We already know.' Violet said, daringly. 'You will not have the sugarbowl.'
'Violet, Violet, Violet. May I remind you...You're in a lion's den. Quite both literally...And figuratively.' Esmé said. She had a point. The Baudelaires saw no mean of getting out, what with the villains and the lions all together, all around them. They were cornered.
'Violet. Pull that rope next to you.' Rusty whispered. 'And run.'
Looking to her side, Violet noticed a hidden rope. She quickly ran through her eyes and realized something. The junkyard's junk piles were disposed in such a way that if any of them was knocked over, it would create a domino effect, and each falling pile would cause the next one to fall, trapping everyone inside. The Baudelaires just need to get into the right alley and run as fast as they could to get out.
'Thanks for everything, Rusty!' Violet gave her strongest pull to the rope. It was wrapped around a wooden board that was holding up a large pile of junk. That pile knocked the pile next to it as it fell, and the villains were distracted by it, along with the lions, and the Baudelaires wasted no time in running. The whole junkyard was falling apart now, every towering pile of junk falling and crumbling. I can not imagine what the Baudelaires felt as they ran through the corridor of junk, following a cleverly set trail of red cars, refrigerators, bikes, tables, chairs, car engines, large stains of red paint. The whole place crumbled just as they ran past it, but soon the Baudelaires saw themselves out of the junkyard. They still heard the screams inside, and they saw a pack of lions leap out of the junkyard and run into the hinterlands.
'Quick, everyone! To your seats!' Violet proceeded onto filling the tank of their motorcycle. Once the tank was filled, Violet started the bike.
'We'll get you, Baudelaires! You'll PAY for this!' Esmé's voice was heard from the inside of the junkyard.
'Let's go!'
And the Baudelaires headed north, leaving the troubled hinterlands behind. But what they did not know is they left a troubled place just to find more trouble up north.