Alice in Wonderland

The rest of the gingerbread soldiers follow after their commander, with the grizzly gummies climbing back through the blown-out windows of the lobby. Chris follows Danielle back into the building. Instead of going to the door to the stairwell, Danielle goes to the elevator instead, pressing the button for one of the higher floors. The two teens wait in awkward silence as the numbers tick down.

With an enthusiastic ding, the elevator arrives. Danielle and the plant creature enter ahead of Chris, who stands motionless, obviously wracked with indecision. When the doors start to automatically shut, Danielle resets them with a shove. 

"Well?" Danielle asks impatiently. "Aren't you getting on?"

Chris looks at her speculatively. "I don't trust you."

Danielle is unsurprised. "I understand. I'll explain everything, but we need to get going."

Chris remains in place, unconvinced. "Where are we going?"

The elevator doors attempt to close again. Danielle slaps her hand against them irritably, thankfully not breaking the cookie that lies just beneath its metal-colored appearance.

"My room. I need to grab some things before I try to help you escape."

"You're going to help me escape?" Chris is surprised.

"Yes."

"And what if I don't want to escape?"

"What do you mean?" Now it's Danielle's turn to be surprised.

Chris looks at Danielle very seriously. "I want revenge." 

"Revenge? How?"

Danielle stares at Chris, silently daring him to elaborate. Unfazed, he obliges, "I want to kill her. Your mother, I mean."

"I won't let you." Danielle responds defensively.

"Why not?!" Chris fires back angrily. "She murdered my family! She's a monster!"

Before Danielle responds, Chris continues like a runaway train, now firmly in the throws of despair. It seems that the events of the night have finally caught up to him. "How could you just sit there and watch her kill them!?" He drops to his knees, holding his head in his hands as he relives witnessing his family's dying moments. "Oh God..." 

Danielle watches Chris with pity and sorrow of her own, but his sadness quickly fades back into determination. He lifts his head, staring at Danielle with teary eyes. "She needs to be stopped, why can't you see that?" He rises to his feet, maniacal hope surging into his expression as he staggers toward Danielle. "You have powers too, right? We can put an end to this, forever. I'll help you. I'll do anything." 

"There's been enough death tonight!" Danielle yells in exasperation, the sound echoing throughout the empty lobby. Chris stops in his tracks, shocked from his reverie by Danielle's sudden outburst. She hangs her head, sighing sadly. "And unlike my mother, I am not a killer."

When Danielle looks at Chris, it is with determination. "I will help you escape. I can promise you that much. When the time comes, I will confront mother, but I could never kill her." Her piece said, she gestures impatiently for him to finally get on the elevator, which he does.

Danielle presses the button for the 15th floor. The doors silently slide shut and the elevator begins to rise. The two teens say nothing as muzak plays from a speaker overhead. Chris rests his head against one of the walls, exhausted from all the running and his emotional episode.

"Sorry that I broke down for a moment there." Chris mumbles. "I'm not usually like this."

Danielle gives him a sidelong glance. "Don't worry about it. I think anyone that hs gone through the things you have tonight would be mentally unstable."

Chris looks at Danielle with slight annoyance. "I'm not mentally unstable, but thanks for understanding." 

With a musical chime, the elevator stops and the doors slide open. Chris follows Danielle into another office space. The gingerbread employees go about their business, seeming to ignore the teens entirely as they go about their monotonous tasks. Danielle pays them no mind in turn, while Chris watches the monsters cautiously. 

After traversing the  office, Danielle stops at a door that has JANITOR emblazoned on it. She turns to look at Chris, making sure that he's still close behind. He looks back and forth between the witch and the door, raising his eyebrow in confusion.

"The next area is quite busy, so stay close." Danielle cautions.

All kinds of sounds emanate from the room ahead, from the baying of animals, to the shrill beeping of trucks in reverse. In a normal world, the area that Chris and Danielle find themselves in, would just be a loading area for shipping trucks, but in this place it is so much more unusual. The loading dock resembles a train station in terms of size and length, consisting primarily of a wide concrete platform that bustles with activity. 

Faceless gingerbread men hustle from one side of the dock to the other, grabbing boxes of various sizes from stacks that are constantly being replenished from chutes in the ceiling. These examples all sport the massive upper bodies of the one that attacked Chris earlier, with iced-on bowties of various colors decorating their necks. They lift boxes that range in size from a shoebox to a small shipping container, carrying them with ease like ants across the platform.

There aren't just trucks lined up on the other opposite end of the dock, waiting to be loaded. All manner of transportation sits side by side, from tattered carriages pulled by undead steeds, to giant roly polies with wooden platforms strapped to their backs and everything in between. There are plenty of normal trucks as well, many emblazoned with bizarre company names like "Ms. Milly's Masked Monolith" and "Fantastical Laundry and Human Disposal Co.". Garage doors snap open and closed like eyelids, admitting and ejecting vehicles with magical efficiency. Chris spots the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower for a brief moment before a blue Peugeot rockets through the opening, disappearing down a dark street before the garage door slams shut.

Danielle leads the way, weaving through the chaos as her plant creature watches from above. Chris focuses on the witch's purple hat, a lighthouse guiding him through a see of supernatural chaos. Despite the innumerable questions bubbling up in his head, he stays quiet in order to avoid any unwanted attention.

The pair make it to the other end of the platform without much issue, where another door lies. This one is made from a beautiful hardwood with polished silver accents. Danielle grabs the handle, which is covered in an ornate filigree. She doesn't bother to explain where they are going next over the din of the loading dock, instead opening the door and motioning for Chris to go through. 

Chris finds himself standing in a long hallway with a very tall ceiling. There are no windows. Instead portraits and paintings line the walls, displaying vivid scenery and imperious women wearing purple dresses and witch's hats. The walls and ceiling are made from the same finely-aged, dark wood as the door. Danielle's plant creature flies past Chris, perching on one of the shiny silver chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceiling. 

The noise of the dock is suddenly cut off as Danielle shuts the door, joining Chris.

"Where are we now?" Chris asks. "And what the Hell was that?" 

"That was the loading dock, where mother's clients come to pick up their confections." Danielle nods at the opulent hall. "This is the manor. My room isn't far."

Chris follows Danielle down the hall. "I feel like Alice."

"Who is Alice?"

"You know: Alice in Wonderland? By Lewis Carroll?" 

"Oh yes! I know what you're talking about." The pair turn a corner, finding another, much shorter hallway. "You know that Wonderland is a real place, right?"

"Really?" Chris slowly rubs his temples. "Why am I not surprised?"

Danielle stops at a door that bears her name in beautiful silver lettering. "Of course. After all, you're standing in one right now."

"What do you mean?"

"There are multiple 'Wonderlands'." Danielle explains as she opens the door to her room. "This particular one is mother's. The one that Lewis Carroll went to was controlled by a different witch."

Chris only has the energy to respond with an unenthusiastic, "Wow." as he follows Danielle into her room.