Coco hated that idea more than anything, but Rudy was right. There was no other way to get out of the Chamber, and the pointed heels of her shoes had already proven they could do damage to the floor. She tied another strip of fabric around her face, sat down and took off her shoes. She strapped them to her hands and began digging into the wall opposite the door.

Feces oozed out of each new wound she tore into the walls. It seeped into her shoes while she dug and squished between her fingers. The more the wall broke down, the more shit covered Coco’s arms. When she stopped, she was up to her elbows in human waste. She shook her arms vigorously before she heaved her entire body against the wall. It only moved a few inches.

Barefoot, with shit oozing between her toes, Coco backed up to the door and got a good running start. She threw herself against the wall full-force. A large piece of it fell over, and Coco rode it to the ground. The rest of the wall fell around her.

She wriggled and dug her way out from the pile of shit-filled diapers and looked around. Coco was pretty sure she knew which direction the Castle was, so she started toward it. She was going to save Adrian, and make the Queen pay for what she had done.

Coco trekked on, covered in shit and baking in the sun. She didn’t even care about the smell now that she had a true mission. She was going to save Adrian. She was going to save them all. Rudy had given up trying to talk to her. In her fury she stomped through the garbage muttering and swearing. Rudy took this opportunity to wallow around in the chunks of shit clinging to Coco’s dress and arms.

“Coco…?”

A familiar voice called from the surrounding garbage.

Victor sat beneath an old camper shell, hiding from the blazing sun. He squinted at her in disbelief.

“Victor?”

He scurried from his hiding place like an excited cockroach and threw his arms around her.

She shoved him away. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“You’re alive!” he said. He looked at his streaked shirt, “And covered in shit.” He grabbed her filthy, feces-coated hands. “Coco, I think I’ve gone completely mad. Arnie and I went for drinks after we… well, you know… and I crawled into that dumpster because I love you. I just needed to be near you.” He pulled her close and nuzzled her matted hair. “And now I’ve found you! But this place is so strange. The flies talk to me. And the rats. And that old woman in the rotting meat house. I think I must have snapped.”

Coco pulled away from Victor. She eyed him suspiciously. “You came to find me? But you threw me away. Like garbage.”

“No! It was Arnie! I mean, I helped him. But you know how he gets. He’s fucking terrifying. But I missed you. I crawled into the dumpster to be with you, and then I woke up here. There is something seriously fucking wrong with Waste Management Services.”

“That’s disgusting! You crawled into the dumpster to be with my dead body? You sick fuck!” She slapped him across the face with her shitty hand.

Victor stared at her, mouth hanging open and a shit-print pasted across his cheek. “But, but, I did it because I love you,” he stammered.

Coco kneed him in the testicles.

Victor fell to his knees before he toppled onto his side into the fetal position and moaned.

Coco kicked him in the ribs and turned to walk away.

“Wait! You can’t just leave me here!” he groaned.

She thought that she very well could. Victor was obviously sick. She wanted no part of his obscene lust for her. But it couldn’t hurt to have a full-sized ally going into battle. Coco agreed to let him come along with her to the castle on the condition that he help her bring down the Queen once and for all.

Victor had also made an unlikely friend on his journey through the landfill—a rat named Theo.

Theo and the rest of the rats had been banished much like the flies. While the flies had been left to their own devices, the rats were placed on reservations outside the kingdom. Much like the flies, they were enraged at having been ousted from their homes.

“We’re better off than the cats.” Theo twitched his whiskers. “They’re being held as a food supply. I guess that must be why the rats are still kept nearby, to feed the cats. Or in case they run out of cats.”

Coco gagged, recalling the taste of cat meat, pre and post digestion.

They marched toward town, and devised their plan. Rudy went to gather their troops and fill them in on the plan. They would need all the flies. Coco hoped her plan would work. She hoped she could count on them.