*Hey guys! This is published on December 28, 2019. The next episode will come out next week. I hope you all have a blessed day and thank you for taking the time to read this. If you like this part, please give it a vote or/and comment. That would be much appreciated. 

Breakfast was already finished as the group entered the Bar Cart. It's a playground inside of the cart with a bunch of long ladders turning into monkey bars and long slides that spin and twirl their way down towards the ball pits placed in front of them. There were kids climbing and sliding everywhere while both E.B. and Sam awed at the cart.

"You are so right!" Sam gasped while turning to E.B. "This is like a playground!"

Guy chuckled at both of Sam's and E.B's fascination. "Go on, you two. Have fun."

"We'll be watching," Michellee added while Sam and E.B. bolted to play in the fun playground. Michellee rubbed her arm nervously. "This...looks dangerous."

Guy shifted his attention to Michellee with a soft smile. "Do you think everything is dangerous?"

Michellee shot a withering glare at Guy but she showed off a smirk at the corner of her mouth. "You can't be too oblivious."

"You also can't be too careful." Guy grinned teasingly, his voice sounding alluring.

Both Guy and Michellee shifted their focus on E.B. and Sam, which they were far from sight.

Meanwhile, Sam hanged on the monkey bar with a cute smile and giggled. "Whoa! This is fun!"

"Yeah! It's a playground!! Have you ever played in a playground before?" E.B. grinned but curiosity took over her tone.

Sam stopped and frowned at the thought. E.B didn't know anything about him being an orphan...was Guy and Michellee going to tell her? 

Sam sighed while plastering a smile and climbing on top of the monkey bars. "I guess I never have played in the playground before."

E.B. climbed on top of the monkey bars with him. "Why not?"

"Well...it's because...I grew up an orphan."

E.B. gasped, a bit surprised. "Oh."

"I thought it was kind of obvious...you know...to find my mom."

"I-I thought you haven't contacted her since you turn to crime. I mean...you lost contact of her until now."

"No." Sam chuckled nervously, mostly at himself. "I-I mostly grew up in an orphanage...actually...I ran away from it."

E.B's eyes trembled. "Oh...Sam, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault I was always alone...well...until I met Guy."

"Did...you grow up to be a criminal?"

"Mostly...I thought that is the only way to live until well...again...until I met Guy. And until I met you and your mother. Even until you named the chickeraffe Mr. Jenkins. I never told anyone this...well, except Guy."

"So...all those stories about your mother...you made them up?"

Sam nodded his head slowly and sadly. "Yeah...I wished those were true. But...I hate facing the fact that I'm alone. That I'm always alone."

E.B stared at Sam sympathetically and crawled over to him on top of the monkey bars. She wrapped him into her small tight embrace while smiling. "You won't have to be alone ever again, Sam. You won't ever go through your battles alone. You have us now to help you fight...you have us as your family and nothing is going to tear us apart."

For the first time, Sam couldn't contain his tears. It's heartwarming for him to take in her words. Despite her being a naive child, her heart was bigger than a balloon. Sam never wanted to feel alone again and it gave him relief through the tears to hugged E.B. back.

"Thank you, E.B," Sam uttered, clearing his throat from his temporary tears.

"No problem."

Both of them dispersed while exchanging soft smiles at each other.

"So...should we continue?" E.B. requested sweetly.

"Yeah."

Out of the corner of Sam's eyes, he suddenly noticed the dark hooded figure hiding in the corner near the monkey bars. E.B. didn't notice the figure when she climbed back down to hang on the monkey bars.

"Uh, E.B, m-maybe we should go back to Guy and your mother," Sam stuttered, climbing back down to hang onto the monkey bars behind E.B. quickly.

E.B. turned to Sam with a raised brow. "Why?"

"Dark corner," Sam responded in a hushed voice.

E.B. shifted her gaze over at the dark corner to notice the dark hooded figure hopping onto the monkey bars they were on. Sam swung by E.B. and hanged in front of her.

"Go...get your mother and Guy out of here...I'll fight him off."

"Wha-! But, Sam-!"

"I'll catch up with you. Just warn Guy and Michellee that The Ghost is back."

"I thought that The Ghost is dead."

"I thought so too. Hurry!"

"Okay!"

E.B. had no choice but to swing through the monkey bars back to Michellee and Guy. She hopped on the platform and slid down the slide while Sam climbed on top of the monkey bars again to face the hooded assassin.

Meanwhile, Michellee and Guy noticed the panicked look on E.B's face.

"Is it just me or is E.B...panicking about something?" Michellee whispered to Guy.

As soon as E.B plummeted into the ball pit, both Guy and Michellee approached her without hesitation.

"E.B, what's going on?" Guy immediately questioned, reading terror in E.B's eyes.

"It's The Ghost!" E.B. shrieked, blurting out the problem.

"The Ghost?!" Michellee gasped, grabbing her chest to calm her scared heart.

"The Ghost?!" Guy bulged his eyes out in shock. "Wait! Where's Sam?!"

A gunshot was heard suddenly, causing widespread panic and screams within the kids in the cart.

"Sam!" Guy shouted until he heard someone grunting down the slide. It's Sam...still alive and unharmed.

Sam dived into the ball pit and scurried out of it. "What are you guys doing?! Run!"

Sam immediately bolted while grabbing E.B's hand to take her with him with Michellee following behind them and Guy shutting the cart door behind him before peeking through the window to notice the dark hooded figure walking across the monkey bars. The figure hopped up the hole above him. Guy immediately sprinted towards his group.

They passed by the toy train carts where the trains were hung along the shelves with the table that had the forest and city built with the train riding along the small tracks in the middle. Guy peeked for a second to notice that the dark hooded figure was in hot pursuit after them from the rooftop of the train. He continued to run after his group as they broke through the dining cart. They zigzagged through the room, causing people dining to yelp. Guy followed after them until someone wrapped their arms around his throat.

Sam immediately whipped his head to notice Guy being strangled by the hooded figure. "Guy!"

Michellee and E.B. turned around quickly to notice the situation. "Guy!"

"Sam!" Guy choked while struggling to get out of the figure's hold. "Get out of here! Take the girls out of here!"

"I can't just leave without you!"

Before Guy could continue with his instruction, the assassin thrusted Guy towards the table beside them. Guy collapsed onto the floor while backing away from the assassin. The assassin took out his small blade to stab him with and raised it to ready it. But before the assassin can slash it at him, a staff slammed into the assassin's gut. Guy followed his gaze quickly through the staff and realized...wait...Terrance?

Terrance stepped in between Guy and the assassin with the staff as his weapon. The assassin took out his switchblade and charged at Terrance, attempting to stab him in the throat but Terrance blocked it. With a growl, Terrance pushed the assassin against the wall next to the doorway of the kitchen. The assassin kicked Terrance away from him but Terrance rolled back smoothly and stood up on his own two feet.

The assassin bolted at Terrance, pushing him onto the floor but Terrance kicked the figure over him. He quickly rolled over and jumped back onto his feet while swinging his staff at the figure in the head. However, the figure dodged it and sped towards Terrance but Terrance blocked the figure charging at him and thrusted him over at the table beside him, knocking down a couple's plates of delicious food.

Terrance gasped a bit. "Sorry."

He hopped over the table anyway and pinned the figure to the ground. The figure kicked Terrance away from him again. Terrance shuffled something out of his uniform to notice Guy about to dash out of the room.

"Guy!" Terrance called Guy's name, quickly grabbing Guy's attention. Terrance tossed Guy's old brown hat to him, which Guy caught it with a confusion shown all over his face. "Go!"

Guy didn't have time to ask Terrance about what's going on while he put his hat on top of his head and bolted out of the dining cart to leave Terrance to deal with the assassin.

Guy trailed behind his group to notice that they are waiting for him. "Go! Now!"

The group sprinted through the hallways, snatching their briefcases out of their rooms and ran towards the end of the train. They bust through the door to go outside. They glanced towards the edge to notice that there's a fog through the bottom of the canyons that the train was chucking through.

Sam let out an exaggerated sigh. "Great, now we have to jump off the train again."

"What?!" Michellee snapped, her heart skipping a beat.

E.B shook her head rapidly. "There has to be another way!"

"The assassin is chasing after us!" Guy informed loudly while checking to make sure the hooded creep wasn't following them. "Staying on this train any longer will only lead to death!"

"Jumping off a train will lead us to death too!!" Michellee argued, darting her focus between Guy and the cliff.

"That's why we have our briefcases!" Sam shouted, showing off a briefcase that belonged to E.B. since he already discarded his during the car ride to the train station.

Michellee twitched her brow. "What's having our briefcases have to do with jumping off a cliff?!"

"Trust me! You will have a safe landing!" Guy responded while hearing the footsteps coming towards them from the rooftop. The assassin appeared while glaring at them.

"Jump!!" Sam yelled as he leaped off of the train with Michellee and E.B. sharing the briefcase to jump off with Sam. Guy was the last one to hop off the train but the assassin leaped after Guy. He was out of the assassin's reach while Terrance stood on top of the rooftop and gazed down at the cliff.

Meanwhile, Sam was surfing on top of the briefcase through the fog while Michellee and E.B. were stuck together on top of the other briefcase like glue and screaming. Guy fell through the fog while the assassin dove after him. Before the assassin can grab Guy, the sharp tip of the rock impaled him while Guy swiftly passed through the tip. The briefcases were bumping against the orange rock walls, going to the bottom. It's sudden that Sam flew through the air at the bottom and missed the tree standing firm ahead of him. Michellee and E.B, however, crashed into the tree and fell into the small shallow pit. Guy zoomed past his group and tumbled through the fog and down on the slope ahead of him. He crashed onto the ground, hitting his head on a rock on the bottom of the slope. Before he blacked out, he saw a pair of legs that had red fur on it. Everything around him went dark.

To Be Continued...

The end credits song will always be Whispers in the Dark by Skillet. 

https://youtu.be/ZRG5oOL5WO0