Chapter

Buzz leaped out of a pile of shrubs, ran down the sidewalk, and took cover behind a mailbox. The night sky was dark, but the toys still had to be careful that no one saw them. Buzz looked back and motioned for the other toys to follow him.

Rex jumped out of the shrubs first, camouflaged in a bundle of leaves. As he ran toward Buzz, all but one of the leaves fell away. He laughed nervously, realizing his cover had been blown.

Slinky and Hamm appeared next, scurrying along quickly. Hamm tripped over a crack and his cork popped out, sending a handful of coins clanging to the ground. “All right, nobody look till I get my cork back in!” he cried.

Buzz stared down at the map he’d made earlier from Etch’s drawing. “Good work, men. Two blocks down and only nineteen more to go,” he said.

“Nineteen!” cried the other toys.

Buzz waved his arm to quiet them. “Come on, fellas. Did Woody give up when Sid had me strapped to a rocket?”

“No,” said the others.

“No!” chimed Buzz. “We have a friend in need, and we will not rest until he’s safe in Andy’s room. Now, let’s move out!” Buzz marched down the street, and the other toys followed.

A loud snoring sound rumbled through Al’s apartment. From his glass case, Woody watched as Al slept on the couch, the TV blaring static in the background. Al’s arm fell to the ground, dropping a bowl of cheese puffs and scattering them all over the floor. Woody could see his own broken arm in Al’s shirt pocket. Now was his chance!

Woody pushed open the glass case with a quiet creak and hopped down to the floor. Suddenly—crunch!—Woody looked down to find that he had stepped on one of Al’s cheese puffs. Not wanting to wake Al, Woody tiptoed across the floor, being careful to avoid stepping on another cheese puff.

Crunch! Woody turned to find Bullseye standing on a crushed cheese puff, wagging his tail excitedly.

“Bullseye, go!” Woody whispered. “Come on, you don’t want to help me! Now just go!”

Bullseye responded by giving Woody’s face a big lick.

“All right,” conceded Woody. “But you have got to keep quiet.”

Bullseye nodded.

Woody quietly led Bullseye over to Al. When they reached the couch, Bullseye crouched down and allowed Woody to climb onto his back like a stepladder.

“Okay, Bullseye. Upsy-daisy,” whispered Woody. Bullseye stood, raising Woody so that he was level with Al’s head. Woody climbed onto the couch near Al’s shoulder and stretched to reach his arm into Al’s pocket. But it was too far away. Carefully, Woody tiptoed onto Al’s chest and leaned toward the shirt pocket.

Suddenly, Al began to chuckle in his sleep. Woody looked down to find Bullseye licking cheese from Al’s fingers.

“Stop it, Bullseye!” cried Woody in a loud whisper. Bullseye stopped, and Woody continued to creep across Al’s chest. Just as he reached the shirt pocket and began to slide his arm out, Al’s stomach gurgled, and a large belch escaped from his lips.

Woody began to gag. He waved his hat around to try to get rid of the terrible odor. Then, holding his breath, he grabbed his arm out of Al’s shirt pocket and began to retreat across Al’s chest.

Woody was nearly safe when the TV suddenly began to blast an episode of Woody’s Roundup. Woody froze, wide-eyed, and then went flying to one side as a startled Al jumped up.

“Ahhhh!” Al cried when he spotted Woody lying on the floor below him, his broken arm beside him. He picked Woody up and put him back in the case. “Get in there. Cheap case,” he muttered. “Now, where is the remote?” Woody looked over to see the remote sitting suspiciously in front of Jessie’s case. She must have been responsible for waking Al!

Al picked up the remote and turned the TV off, then left the room carrying Woody’s arm. As the door closed behind Al, Woody pushed open his case and marched over to Jessie.

“What is your problem?” he asked angrily. “Look, I’m sorry I can’t help you guys out. But you didn’t have to go and pull a stunt like that!”

“You think I did that?” replied Jessie.

“Oh, right. The TV just happened to turn on and the remote magically ended up in front of you!” said Woody.

“You calling me a liar?” asked Jessie.

“Well, if the boot fits,” said Woody indignantly. Jessie’s eye began to twitch with anger. She slowly reached up and pulled her hat down tightly. Sensing trouble, Bullseye jumped out of his case and hid in a nearby cookie jar.

“Okay, cowboy,” said Jessie. She kicked open the door of her case. With a yell, she leaped from the case, landing on Woody and pinning him to the ground. She began to twist his only arm. “Take it back!” she cried. “Take it back!”

“Don’t think just because you’re a girl, I’m gonna take it easy on you!” shouted Woody as he struggled to free himself.

“Jessie! Woody! You stop this at once,” the Prospector called suddenly. The wrestling toys looked up to see the Prospector’s box on the shelf above them. He rocked his box back and forth as he tried to get Jessie’s and Woody’s attention, but suddenly, the box fell face-forward onto the cabinet. With a horrified gasp, Bullseye and Jessie rushed to help him.

“I don’t know how that television show turned on, but fighting about it isn’t helping anything,” the Prospector told them sternly.

“If I had both my arms…,” Woody growled in Jessie’s direction.

“Well, the fact is, you don’t, Woody!” snapped the Prospector. “So I suggest you just wait until morning. The Cleaner will come, fix your arm, and—”

“And then I’m out of here,” finished Woody. Bullseye looked up, a hurt expression on his face. Jessie scowled at Woody as she tried to comfort the sad little horse. “Oh, no, Bullseye—don’t take it that way,” Woody tried to explain. “It’s just that Andy—”

“Andy! Andy! Andy! That’s all he ever talks about!” cried Jessie. She turned and walked away, and Bullseye followed. Woody watched them sadly.

The sun rose as Buzz and his rescue party made their way through a group of hedges. Buzz was in the lead, karate-chopping a path through the leaves.

“Hey, Buzz, can we slow down?” asked Hamm. “May I remind you that some of us are carrying over six dollars in change?”

“Losing health units…must rest,” panted Rex.

Buzz stopped and waited for the other toys to catch up to him. “Is everyone present and accounted for?” he asked.

“Not quite everyone,” someone chimed.

“Who’s behind?” asked Buzz.

“Mine,” said Slinky, whose rear end was trailing far behind. The group waited while Slinky’s back legs tiredly caught up with everyone else.

“Hey, guys!” said Hamm, looking out from the bushes. “Why do the toys cross the road?”

“Not now, Hamm,” said Buzz.

“Ooh! I love riddles. Why?” asked Rex.

“To get to the chicken on the other side!” Hamm answered. He pointed. Al’s Toy Barn was directly across the street. A giant statue of a chicken loomed in front of the buildng.

“Hooray! The chicken!” shouted Rex. Everyone whooped with excitement.

Suddenly, the honking of horns made them realize that there was a busy two-way street between them and Al’s Toy Barn. A truck rumbled by, shooting a crushed soda can toward the toys. They ducked and scrambled out of the way.

“Oh, well. We tried,” said Rex, inching away from the street.

Buzz grabbed him by the tail. “We’ll have to cross,” he said.

“I may not be a smart dog,” said Slinky. “But I know what roadkill is!”

“There must be a safe way,” Buzz insisted. His eyes narrowed as he studied the street scene.

Moments later, Buzz had worked out a plan. Construction workers had left a pile of orange traffic cones at the edge of the street, and each one was the perfect size to hide a toy. Soon the entire rescue party was standing under the cones, completely hidden from sight.

“Okay, here’s our chance! Ready…set…go!” ordered Buzz.

The cones began to move, wobbling slowly across the street. For a moment, the street was empty. Then the traffic light turned green and a stream of cars sped toward them. “Drop!” yelled Buzz. All of the cones dropped to the ground, looking like ordinary traffic cones. “Go!” he shouted when it was clear. The toys did their best to hurry forward, but it was slow going. All around them, cars veered and screeched out of their way, honking and even smashing into each other.

But before long, the toys had arrived safely on the other side of the street.

“Good job, troops,” said Buzz. “We’re that much closer to Woody!”