Through the night, the car's headlights revealed a once gravel road, now forming into a dirt-covered path. Bendy immediately picked up that familiar sound of wheels treading on soil as they rode down the way. A short period of time passed, the duo seeing nothing more than green, leafy surroundings until an apparent building came into view just up ahead. Over to the left stood a moss-covered barn home with boarded up windows along with a front lawn that hadn't been trimmed in ages; giving off the impression that it was abandoned. Boris followed the house with his eyes until the vehicle pulled to a nearly complete stop, his gaze jolting to the demon beside him. Bendy disregarded the look and gave a husky sigh as he sharply twisted his wheel to the left, leading the car into the west pathway.

Slowly but surely, the vehicle pulled up to the apparent 'abandoned home', stopping in its tracks five or so feet away from the front door. Carelessly, the demon pulled his car into park and stopped the engine, yanking out his keys and popping open his side door without a second thought. Boris slowly followed in his leader's steps, cautiously pushing the passenger door open and steadily rising on his feet as he exited the vehicle. The wolf placed his fedora atop of his head, adjusting the ridge as he fastened it neatly on his noggin. As his hands fell back to his sides, Boris found himself staring at the building in wonder. Meanwhile, Bendy was waiting with very little tolerance in his expression, tapping impatiently on the hood of his car as he watched the wolf across from him gawking. As soon as he'd had enough, the demon cleared his throat, snapping Boris out of his blank trance within moments. Bendy raised a brow before beginning to walk, not seeming to care whether or not Boris followed. As swiftly as he could, the wolf curved around the side of the vehicle and opened up the trunk, hoisting his suitcase out of the back. He neatly shut the trunk and quickly caught up to Bendy, the gravel giving soft crunches underneath the canine's shoes as he hustled to catch up. "This is where y-you've been hiding?" The wolf stammered as he began to catch his breath. "Yep." The demon replied flatly, "It's not much, but it's home."

After all the talk of Bendy being so notorious, it was difficult to register that the demon and all his fiends were hiding away in such a dump. One would have thought he stashed away in some sort of fancy underground bunker or even a half decent motel in the middle of nowhere. But no, they stayed in a rotting, old building that appeared as if even a single gust of wind would cause it to collapse on itself. The front door and windows were nailed shut with slick pieces of oak, the wood was caved in and peeled from all the rain that was seeping into it. Boris kept his gaze on the building as they began to walk around the side. 

"How did you even find this?" The wolf questioned with wonder. Bendy slowed a bit in his steps. "Eh? Oh, that." The demon muttered, pausing to rub his face with exhaustion, "Chester's grandparents used to live here, he said they liked the isolation, er somethin' like that." Bendy explained, fatigue lining every word he spoke. "Chester?" Boris repeated. Bendy audibly yawned, "One of my boys, yeah.  I'm sure you two will get along fine." The demon muttered slowly. Boris innocently traced his fingers along the rotting wood, being incredibly careful not to put too much pressure on it. Taking a glance at his gloves, the wolf was displeased to find a gross green color staining the tips of his covered fingers. The toon scrunched his nose in disgust, "Just needs a bit of elbow grease and it'd be a fine house." Boris murmured, more to himself than anyone as he casually rubbed his dirty fingertips on his trousers. When they arrived on the other side of the building, the fidgety canine noticed a decaying door placed innocently next to a window; this one not bearing any boards to cover its view. Boris peered inside as Bendy nonchalantly fiddled with his keys. The wolf almost immediately noticed a dimly lit room just across the hallway as his eyes flickered curiously left and right. With the door giving a satisfying click, Bendy shoved his chain of keys back in his pocket and opened the door slowly.

It gave a soft creak as they both entered the building, Boris following closely behind Bendy's footsteps as he was led inside. Bendy began removing his coat, "Close the door behind you." The demon muttered flatly. Boris did as instructed, twisting around to carefully shut the door. As the wolf breathed in through his nostrils, he immediately noticed the faint aroma of lavender, mixed with the stench of rotting wood. To the right of him, he noticed a dying potted lily plant placed neatly on a small coffee table in the corner of the room. Bendy wrapped his coat carelessly around his arms and began to walk while Boris' eyes drifted all over the area. Shattered glass lying in a pile in the corner of the hall, torn wallpaper, broken lightbulbs... the wolf silently made note of even the littlest flaws. As they made their way down the hallway, Bendy began to pick up his pace ever so slightly, Boris so sidetracked with his inspecting he didn't even notice.

The demon walked over to the dimly lit room that was all the way to the very end of the hallway, hearing a chorus of voices mumbling to each other as he moved closer. Bendy peered inside, finding his comrades playing a game of cards on a foldable table. To the right of the room, there was a television set. A couch with a faltering shade of tan stood in front of the screen, VHS tapes scattered everywhere; even in the case of a shelf being right beside the TV. To the left of the room stood a riggity old pool table, some sticks snapped in half out of rage and thrown aside. Posters of bands were placed all over the walls, no organization in mind. The room was generally a mess, but nobody seemed to care.

At the folded table, the seated feline was the first of the bunch to even notice that Bendy was by the doorway. The toon mustered up a smile and gave a warm wave, "Hey Ben!" he called happily, "How was it?"  The largest of the three twisted his head towards the doorway. The hefty canine gave a soft nod in acknowledgement while the raccoon didn't even bother to look up from his cards. Bendy tiredly beckoned from his spot, "Chester, I need your help with something."  The demon called.  Said toon stood up from his place happily, "Sure thing!" The cat exclaimed as he made way for the doorway, no hesitation in his walk as he sidestepped a few items lying carelessly on the floor. Bendy turned as Chester followed, the demon leading him where he had come from not even a minute prior. Chester immediately caught sight of Boris as they headed down the hallway, his ears perked in curiosity. 

Boris heard the footsteps and turned his attention towards the sound, his posture going weary as Bendy and a unfamiliar fellow neared him. The demon paused as he stood a few feet in front of Boris, turning his gaze towards the cat beside him. "Chester, Boris," Bendy motioned towards the feline and then to the canine, "Boris, Chester." The demon gestured vise versa before allowing his arms to hang loose. Boris cautiously extended his hand in greeting, and Chester took a step forward, excitedly meeting the wolf's hand with both of his own. The feline rapidly shook his arms up and down, "Pleasure meetin' ya, Boris!" The feline exclaimed, genuine glee in his tone. Boris managed a soft grin, his arm feeling as though it were getting shaken out of its socket. "N-Nice to m-meet you t-too." The wolf replied, his voice stammering as the feline continued to shake his hand. Chester pulled away, the wide grin not leaving his lips as he turned his head back to Bendy, whom of which appeared to be dozing off in his standing position. "Did'ja need my help greetin' the new recruit, Ben?" Bendy jolted a bit in his place as his name rang in the air. Quickly, the fiend shook his head as he tried to wake himself up, "No," Bendy slurred, rubbing his eyes roughly. "Well... er..." the demon's voice trailed as his fatigued mind struggled to find the right words.  Bendy groaned with annoyance at his own incompetence, "Just show the kid around, alright?" The demon instructed firmly. "I think I'm gonna hit the hay." 

Chester's grin widened- somehow. "Righty-o, have a good rest up, Ben!" The feline replied, energy in his voice. The demon mustered a sloppy grin before he made his way up the stairs to the left of the hallway. The duo of toons watched as Bendy climbed the steps before Boris slowly shifted his trail of sight towards Chester, whom of which met his gaze with a smile. "I feel like you're gonna like it here, Boris." The feline purred as he whacked the wolf's back. "You seem like the quiet typ'a guy, and boy howdy is it quiet around here." Chester scoffed, "Too quiet, I say."

Boris grinned warmly, he felt as though he would get along just fine with this cat. "Say, Bendy called ya 'kid', didn't he?" The feline questioned, receiving a shy nod from Boris in return. "Golly, how young are ya, Boris?" The cat asked as he raised his brows. The wolf fiddled with his gloves, "Nineteen." He replied softly. Chester chuckled, "No wonder!" The feline exclaimed. "Looks like Ricky's gonna have a blast not bein' the youngest no more." A few moments of quiet passed between them before Chester's expression twisted into realization. "I almost forgot what I was even doin'!" The feline exclaimed, grabbing hold of the wolf's arm, "Come on, Boris, I gotta introduce ya to the boys first." The wolf followed after Chester, feeling a little more confident in his stride.

Though he was a little bitter, Boris didn't think that the fellow canine- William- was that bad. He had a soft English accent that he seemed shy of, kept his replies short and sweet, and was respectively distant with the wolf. But then there was Ricky. There's no way around it; Ricky was a dicky. He growled and snapped whenever Boris so much as blinked, he refused to spare the weary toon anything aside from a nasty glare, and he made it incredibly clear that he wanted nothing to do with the newest recruit. The feline insisted that Boris should pay no mind to him, but after hearing that they all shared the same room- he wasn't too sure.

Their upstairs bedroom was small, all things considered. Two bunkbeds were stashed on either side of the room in addition to a smudge-covered window with broken drapes plastered in-between. Though the organization of the furniture was nice, clothes and wrappers were scattered everywhere; throwing the neatness off balance. To the left of the bedroom, there was Bendy's office, or so he had been told. Chester explained that the demon spent essentially the entire day in that one room, rarely coming out to check on the others. The feline emphasized that whenever Bendy comes out of his office, it's truly a treat. Though his experience with the demon had been bitter thus far, Boris took Chester's word for it. On the business end of the building, Chester showed off the ink machine room. The small space was quiet on it's own, but it was apparently as loud as a jet engine when they were producing their product.

Even with the tour of the bunkbeds, the storage rooms, the outhouse, what Boris found the most interesting was the kitchen. It was filthy; laced with mold and even worse stages of rotting wood. The room reeked, and Boris was surprised they didn't even bother to clean it because of the smell. But then again, nobody seemed to give off a single hint of care in the wellbeing of this house. The floorboards creaked, the ceiling leaked, the wallpaper was molting its old layers, and it smelled...

Awful.

Chester explained that nothing was clean or polished because everyone was always preoccupied, but Boris could tell that the real reason was because of laziness.

The duo of feline and canine eventually found themselves to be happily talking while they sat on the staircase after the tour wrapped up. Boris listened to roughly an hour of Chester chattering away like a bird, but he didn't mind in the slightest. It was comforting to know that at least someone in the house enjoyed his company. Though in the midst of the lighthearted conversation that passed between the both of them; little did they know of the bitter toons that made their way towards them. Chester was facing their general direction and waved in short greeting, causing Boris to turn his head ever so slightly to get a glance at whom the feline was waving to. "You boys callin' in a night?" Chester questioned as Ricky and William began to make their way towards the staircase. Boris shifted his leg position to made a bigger pathway on the stairs, receiving a low growl from the raccoon as he climbed past. William gave a curt reply and a gentle grin to Chester before following after Ricky's footsteps. "Must be gettin' late." The feline exclaimed, pretending to check his bare wrist as if a watch were attached. "Say, Bori, whatta ya say to gettin' all curled up in a nice warm blanket?" The cat suggested. Boris shrugged loosely and Chester jumped to his feet. "Ain't ya even a wee bit tired?" The feline questioned as Boris began to hoist himself up from his seat on the stairs. "Kinda." The wolf replied with a weak grin. Chester leapt up a triplet of steps at once with excitement in his jump.

"Well you know what they say, early to bed, early to rise makes a mobster stealthy, wealthy, and sharp-witted for lies!" The toon beamed.

As Boris and Chester both arrived to the bedroom, the wolf immediately took note of the other toons to the left of the room. Ricky was sitting on the bottom bunk while William was lying on the top. Ricky was carving something with what looked to be a pocket knife while William appeared to be reading. From closer inspection, Boris realized that it was a copy of the Bible. The large canine slowly skimmed his eyes along the open book, pausing to glance at Chester. William gave a soft nod of greeting towards the feline before continuing in his reading. Chester barely took notice of the gesture before turning towards Boris. "I'm gonna go check on Bendy, get comfy on the bottom bunk, Boris. But don't touch the top, that's mine." The feline instructed with a friendly wink. He turned towards the other two in the room, "Be nice, now, I don't wanna go an' tattle on ya ta the boss man, y'hear?" Chester added before twisting heel, his bare feet giving off soft pitter patters as he walked down the hall.

Boris found his attention turned towards the bunkbed to the right side of the room; which was noticeably neater than the opposing side. It didn't bear any cuts or dents, but there were crude drawings scribbled all over the sides as well as a huge array of stickers placed in random places on the wood. Although it made the wolf scratch his head, in a weird way, it was comforting. The skinny canine slowly walked over to Chester and his side of the room, feeling a little relieved for the first time that evening. After setting down his suitcase carefully beside the bed, Boris cautiously took his place on the bottom bunk. The bed gave a soft creak, and Boris was almost scared that it was going to give way underneath him until the noise faltered. As he got himself situated, he found himself glancing in the direction of Ricky, the raccoon still harshly chipping off pieces from a thin slice of wood with a relatively minuscule dagger. Small, loose shavings fell to the floor as he carved the plank into a pointy tip, no thought appeared to be put into it. Ricky pausing abruptly to glance at the gawking canine from across the room, holding a sour glare as his eyes met with the wolf's. Boris caught himself staring, flicking his gaze elsewhere as to not make more than a moment's eye contact. Ricky narrowed his eyes, "You don't belong here." The raccoon growled under his breath, Boris' eyes slowly moved back in the direction of Ricky. 

"W-What?"

"I said, you don't belong here." Ricky firmly repeated, causing the wolf to jolt at the volume. The raccoon's glare steadily shifted back to his carving. "I can't believe Bendy would allow someone like you into a group like ours." The raccoon snarled, "That exhaustion must have really messed with his judgement." Boris felt his mouth go dry, remaining silent for a while as his weariness got the best of him. The skinny canine took in a brief breath before gathering the courage to reply, but by the time his vocal cords expressed even a hint of sound, Ricky shot it down.

"I'm gonna stop you right there." The raccoon snarled. "If you ever want to survive around here, there are a few rules that would be in your best interest to follow." Ricky interrupted with an unnerving expression. "Don't look at me, don't talk to me, don't even breathe in my general direction, or so help me I'll skin you alive and feed on your insides." Ricky growled with a snarl in his lip. Boris swallowed shallowly and quickly looked away, finding his fingers to be fidgeting with discomfort. In response, the wolf didn't say a peep, as he was too frightened to speak. The raccoon gave a scoff of amusement, "Yeah, that's what I thought." He muttered before continuing in his carving.

Boris wearily laid himself down, staring up at the bottom of the top bunk. As his gaze moved along the wooden bars and structure of the bunk, Boris found a smiley face staring right back at him. The simple and innocent carving made him grin through the fear. But just as his eyes shifted ever so slightly to the left, he found a different, and much cruder piece of graffiti that wasn't as pleasant to look at.

With nothing more than a moment's notice Chester swung into the room with a bright expression, "He's sleepin' like a baby." The feline exclaimed before swinging his legs onto the wooden ladder and swiftly climbing upwards. William turned a page on his novel, "He looked exhausted when he left." The canine noted as he proceeded to read without a word more. "It was probably the disappointment that did him due." Ricky added as he smugly glanced in the direction of Boris. "Naw," Chester countered, a lashing undertone in his voice, "he's just been stressed."

"From the disappointment." Ricky slyly mumbled under his breath as he continued to chip away at whatever he was carving. Chester was visibly furious, but held his tongue in the presence of new company. "Anyway..." The feline bitterly grumbled under his breath, "mind tellin' us what it was like in the 'Drew Crew'?" Chester asked the wolf below him, his long tail drifting over the side of the bed frame. Boris briefly shrugged, even if the toon directly above him couldn't see, "It was fine, I guess." The wolf replied slowly. "Ya guess?" Chester repeated light-heartedly. The skinny canine scratched the nape of his neck. "Well, it's always been super slow. I didn't do much, so more than anything I was just happy to get a change." Boris remarked with a tiny chuckle. "That, and it's pretty exciting to be working beside Devil." The wolf added, quieter than his last reply.

The feline caught it and perked his ears. "Are ya an avid follower o' his or somethin'?" Chester questioned as he peeked his head over the top bunk. Boris couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, "I mean, I read about him in the papers and I loved to listen to the reports on the radio, so..." The wolf gently sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, "Yes?" The skinny canine replied with a questioning shrill in his tone.  Chester giggled, "He'd have a mad ego boost hearin' that." The feline exclaimed. The cat adjusted his position to get more comfy as he met gazes with the canine below him. "Y'know, he used ta work with Drew once upon a time, too." The feline remarked, gesturing an index finger in the wolf's direction. Boris' expression went perplexed at the statement. "Are you s-sure?" The skinnier toon asked.  The cat gave a nod.  

"Yep. Always told us how he hated bein' bossed around by a man like Drew." Chester replied as he softly scratched the side of his head. "Somethin' 'bout how he was a great chum but a 'nightmare for a foreman'." The feline scoffed with amusement at the statement. "I think that's jus' his fancy way of sayin' he was a bad boss." Chester commented with a sly smirk. Boris thinned his lips in a line and lifted his shoulders, unsure how to respond.  The cat's arms went loose over the top bunk's railing.  "Welp, at least yer here with us now." The feline remarked when he noticed the change in behavior. "That's all that really matters, right?" Chester questioned with a smile.  Boris gave a shy nod at his newest companion's positive note, "Right." The wolf remarked, mustering a weary grin.

"You're one to talk."

Chester's gentle smile vanished as his glare rested upon the snarky raccoon that sat on the bottom bunk across from him. "Oh shut yer yappin' trap and go ta bed already." The feline snapped back. Ricky harshly rolled his eyes and gave Chester a silent scowl. "And stop carvin' yer gay lil' trinkets. Lights out." Chester added with the same expression of distaste. William folded the corner of his page inward and calmly closed his book. The large canine extended his arm to the side of the bed before lazily tossing the literature to the floor. Ricky slunk his pocket knife back in its place and stuck both the weapon as well as the sharp plank between the wall and the bunk. Shortly afterwards the raccoon reached over for the lamp and pulled its string sharply.  It gave a soft click and the room went dark. The only illumination being the moon, and the only noise being the rustling of covers as the toons got situated. Moments passed, Chester gave a gentle sigh, and then the room went still. 

Boris couldn't sleep.  The idea of closing his eyes even for a moment with a hostile raccoon merely feet away was unheard of. Foolish, as described by any sane toon. The wolf couldn't stop thinking about how effortless it would be for Ricky to pull out his pocket knife and slice him to pieces while he peacefully slumbered. The thought alone made him shiver, but the rough breathing of the raccoon only made him more uneasy. His gaze eventually found itself on the wall across from him, a clock placed elegantly by the doorway. It was probably the neatest thing he's seen in the building so far; only the short arm was pointed towards the six, which couldn't possibly be right. Regardless, the wolf fought the urge- only by the stimulation of fear- to fix the clock. He would do it in the morning, but as of right now, he would just sit back and watch the seconds pass... hoping- no, praying- that the night would go by quicker.

Needless to say, it didn't.