Dmitri opened one of his cargo short pockets, pulling a travel sized water bottle out from within it. The label it read "Super Gruel: now with 10% more nutrition." He had to massage his own throat to force the disgusting liquid down, but it gave the desired effect of restoring his stamina.
"Ugh! Here is my license!"
The solid gold card clacked loudly on the ground between them; embossed on its front was a fancy looking letter S.
"Now tell me who these others are; maybe I can help."
"... Fine. We are the teenagers!"
What? But I didn't see a bus out front."
"Well duh, Dusty's bus turns invisible when its parked. Now, do you know where they went? We split up to search the house, and they suddenly disappeared from my senses."
the John thought about the situation for a moment, and then responded with another question.
"Did you last feel them in the basement?"
"How did you know!?!"
"I said I was here on an investigation, didn't I? Why don't we team up? You help me search the place they disappeared to, and I'll help you find them."
"Deal! Now remove this goop! We must find them before Sandra picks up another stray!"
"That's easy," the John said while unzipping his fly.
"Dr Goop's sticky slime dissolves with ammonia."
"No, no, no! I can do it myself! Put that gross worm away!"
3 minutes later, the duo arrived in the basement. It was a cramped space, containing only 3 rooms; a laundry room, a wine cellar, and a boiler room. The John made a beeline to the wine cellar, where a 200 bottle wine rack could be seen crashed on the floor. Behind its original position, a secret passageway could be seen.
It was a hallway of double-wise proportions, and was constructed from metals that don't even exist, at least according to the average human. It descended in a gentle slope, and curved to the right in equal increments. This made it to where one could not see the hall's end from its beginning.
The duo traded emotions upon discovering this hall; mister Whiskers became so happy his tail wagged, while the John became grim and sullen.
"I can sense one them! I can sense one of them! MEOOOOOW... No response, maybe we are still too far apart?"
"The door should be locked. Why is it off the hinges now?"
The duo looked in each others' eyes, nodded, and proceeded down the secret passage. It curved as they descended, cutting off their view of the surface within a only hundred yards.
"You know a lot about this place, what is it? It looks closer to where I was born than any haunted house we've visited before."
"How to explain... When a guy commits a crime, but he's too strong to put in regular jail, they throw him down here."
"Does that mean the Teenagers are trapped with a bunch of lunatics!?! We must hurry!"
"Relax, something appears to have happened since I last visited. I'm not sure if anything living still remains here."
The cat monster gulped in response to that comment, and silence fell as they continued descending into the facility. Finally, they reached a fork. About 150 yards in front of them, there stood a door labeled "Central Tower." To their right, another hallway labeled "Juvenile wing" branched off in a similar spiraling fashion as the current passage.
"I need to go that way," the John said while pointing to the central tower entrance.
"Give me a minute, then. I'll give a call, see if anyone went to the right."
MEEEEOOOOOOWW!
They stood in silence, waiting a response. Unfortunately, the response they got was not one they wanted.
"Oh my god! A Kitty!"
"Move! I pet it first!
"No, me first!"
Child-like voices continued this argument as a rumbling could be felt through the metal floor. Hundreds of semi-transparent children in pajamas reached the door to the juvenile wing at the same time. The door was lock in a half open position, causing them to squeeze tightly together as the children all tried to reach the kitty at once.
"AAAH! It hurts!"
"Go back! Go back!"
"You're crushing me!"
"Mommy!"
A crush formed, causing several of the voices to go silent. Ghostly children continued to rush the door, crushing those already stuck in the frame further. Their cries and groans gradually melded into a single voice; the bodies meanwhile, also melded together. The thing in the doorway now resembled a gigantic blob of tiny bodies, undulating in a coordinated rhythm.
"PET... THE... KITTEN!"
CRACK! SLAM! CRASH!
The door to the juvenile wing finally gave way, exploding into a storm of splinters under the weight of the ghost blob. The duo, for their part, were already halfway through sprinting to the central tower at this point.
"We are so dead. We are so dead."
The John repeated these words, his face the saddest it has appeared since the start of this journey. Whiskers, meanwhile, continually meowed as they ran.
"Can't you quit that!"
"But Dusty is close!"
"What can a teenager do here?"
HONK! HONK!
The door to the central tower exploded off its hinges, and a sparkling gold bus barreled through it. The vehicle took up the entire hallway, scraping the walls and ceilings as it charged forward. Its headlights bathed Dmitri and the cat monster, compelling them to jump under it.
THUNK! THUNK!
The last thing the John remembered was seeing row upon row of teeth where the undercarriage should be.