As Lorelai drove down the highway, there was a soft and tiny thunk against her windshield. She thought it was a bug, seeing an orange shape wedged in her windshield wiper; it was actually a cigarette butt. The likely point of origin was the blue Sudan in front of her, but it turned off the ramp.

Lorelai scoffed a laugh, "Well, that's vindicating."

She didn't normally drive an hour away from home on an early Friday evening, but she had the explicit goal of visiting Red Trails Nature Preserve. It was new, it was weird and, most importantly, it was awarded 'Cleanest Nature Preserve in the State'.

The thing was, Lorelai liked to take walks after work, with it being one of life's simple pleasures. She preferred it over riding a bike and even walked in rain and snow. This fun was shattered when Lorelai stepped on a rusty nail, which punched right through the bottom of her shoe and into her foot. She had to get stitches and recovered for an agonizingly long month. After her foot healed, it left a circular, keloid scar that almost disguised itself as a cute mole, but her walks were never the same. As a result of constantly watching her step, she came to realize just how much trash littered the ground. Every other stride had at least one white, withered shred of a napkin paired with rusted washers and usually a shard of colored plastic from an unidentifiable origin. There was a certain mystery to trash, of wondering what kind of journey it went on to end up tucked in the concrete gutter line of her neighborhood. But any allure of the voyage of trash was overtaken by the gardens of glass bottle fragments, used diapers and a nauseating number of cigarette butts that seemed never-ending. It felt like, no matter where she went, there was always a scrap of trash somewhere. Lorelai itched for a reprieve.

This started her hunt for a nice park with as little trash as possible. There were natural preserves and hiking trails closer to Lorelai's house than Red Trails but…it was just too strange to ignore.

For one, Lorelai didn't realize that nature preserves could be privately owned, instead of state-regulated. She wasn't sure who the original owners had been, but the current owner was Fazbear Entertainment, of all companies. After pretty much all their restaurants over the years shut down for health concerns and were surrounded by rumors of disappearances, everyone had thought the company faded into obscurity. Yet it had a sudden resurgence, like some resurrected zombie. She had trouble fathoming how a company known for pizzeria chains and party events came to acquire a nature preserve. Fazbear did seem to be branching out lately—pun not intended—ever since they launched the Fazbear Funtime Service. She saw some of the commercials online about how they rented out their animatronic entertainers to events and households. A part of her wanted to believe their ownership of Red Trails was part of their re-branding and was a way of giving back to the community. Admittedly, she was mostly driven to the trails by curiosity.

Lorelai drummed her fingers against her steering wheel and decided to switch on the radio. The reception for radio stations was rather poor, so it sounded like the variety of rock singers, pop stars and radio hosts were trapped at the bottom of a pool full of electric static. The only station that came out clearly was a Spanish talk radio show, and Lorelai only took one measly Spanish class in college some eight years ago. She decided to switch on her CD player instead. Her dad had given her a jazz CD as a gift, along with the American-flag patterned fuzzy dice that currently hung from her rearview mirror. He told her that him and her mother used to dance to this music, claiming they could really cut a rug. Lorelai's mom overheard this and later whispered to her, "Don't listen to him. We're lucky didn't accidentally kick somebody's teeth out while we danced, we were so bad. We sure had fun though."

Music made the ride go by quicker. The sun still hung in the air with its yellow gleam, but as it inched downward, the light blue sky grew into a dark shade, more like the mascara Lorelai liked to wear for nice dinner dates. The trees on either side of the highway became increasingly crowded and wilder as she drove farther away from the urban areas and eventually turned off her exit. She quieted her radio and could better hear the rumble of her wheels against the muddy roads.

It was easy to tell she went the right direction when she passed a large sign declaring RED TRAILS. It almost looked more like a sign for an amusement park as a trio of characters peaked out around the sign. She only got a glimpse while driving, but it looked like a bear-shaped tree, a grey rabbit with green patches and a little boy that seemed to be covered in spinach. She wasn't too familiar with the Fazbear characters, only knowing there were a lot of them. The trio had big cartoonish smiles and the words 'Cleanest Nature Preserve in the State' were highlighted at the bottom. It was obviously a big selling point.

She wasn't sure what to expect after she paid the automated parking toll and stopped her car in the space beside a silver minivan. Exiting her car, she was greeted by casual bird song from the surrounding towering birch and fir trees. Their leaves were a mixture of deep green, lighter greens and splashes of yellow. The parking lot was rather crowded, which could have been due to a mixture of the lovely weather and Fazbear's popularity. Lorelai could see where the trees parted and allowed room for a pale gravel pathway leading into the trails, but she didn't approach it yet. She wanted to test something first.

Lorelai knelt on the ground, feeling the warmth of the asphalt against her skin. She peeked under her car, probably looking like she lost her keys. It was very common for bits of napkins, straw wrappers and timeless classics like cigarette butts to end up clumped in parking lot corners, sprinkled inside piles of pine straw and leaves. To her surprise, there wasn't so much as a plastic bottle cap on the ground.

As she pushed herself up, her knee lightly dragged against the pavement, yanking her Band-Aid halfway off. There was a little pinch from where her hairs were uprooted, and the adhesive strip dangled loosely. Earlier that day, she was doing dishes but clipped her knee on the corner of the dishwasher door, which cut a little chunk out of her mocha skin. The wound still gleamed like a strawberry's innards. She re-closed the Band-Aid and smoothed it back over her knee. It made her feel like a patchwork doll.

Lorelai headed for the trail pathway. There was a large sign that said 'HIKE AT YOUR OWN RISK.' Next to it was a big bulletin board that had the trail rules and a map, made up of helpfully colored coded ant trails that dictated scenic routes, biking routes and something called Hike-and-Greets. She wasn't sure what those were.

The parking lot was set up at the top of the hill, with a short, paved path westward that connected to the visitor center and gift shop. The trails wove their way down the hill, towards a small river at the bottom where more parking was located. Lorelai tapped her finger to the blue river line and traced how to get there from where she was. Her town only had muddy little creeks, so an actual river piqued her interest. She decided she'd go down in a circuit, head back uphill and stop by the visitor center on her way to the upper parking lot. It was only a little past 5 PM and she felt like she had plenty of time to explore.

Starting her descent felt like entering a different realm. It was a dome of green leaves, overhead and as far as her eyes could see, only broken up by the narrow trucks of trees that stood like frozen bolts of dark lightning. Some trees were skinny and curled out invitingly, but most others were impossibly large. One tree she passed was so wide that three people would have been needed to link their arms around it, and its roots were thicker than Lorelai's arm. She felt like a little girl among giants.

The paths alternated between paved, gravel and dirt trails, which were covered in brownish, flattened tree debris and dead leaves. But still no sign of any trash. She passed a park ranger giving directions to an elderly couple. It seemed that, instead of having federal park rangers, this nature preserve had employed its own rangers with a custom uniform. The khaki shirt had a gold badge that said 'Faz-Ranger' and the green pants matched the green campaign hat, which had cute little bear ears attached to the sides.

Lorelai paused to pull a plastic bottle from her small backpack. The plastic made a kirsch noise under her fingers and the sunlight flickered off the water's swishing surface. It was refreshing, until Lorelai noticed the park ranger woman watching her. The ranger's face was unsmiling and watched her carefully. When Lorelai put the bottle back in her bag, the ranger turned away and moved to a different path.

When she reached the Peach Trail, it was to Lorelai's surprise when she saw little kiosks set up along trail. It was more like walking into a carnival. The games were fairly simple. The first one she saw was Woodland Toy Freddy's Stick Stacks. It had a tall cut out of the tree-like bear laughing as he held his round belly. The goal was to build as tall of a tower as possible using the twigs given in 60 seconds.

After that was Boulder Toy Bonnie's Geo Jar, which had a cut out of the grey rabbit waving with a sleepy expression. The game was simply 'count the rocks' with a massive glass jar. It was full of rocks painted like geodes that glittered in the light. The blends of purples, pinks and blues almost resembled a face with a grin.

The last game stand was Swamp Balloon Boy's Bobbing for Prizes. It had a shorter cut-out of the boy. She didn't understand exactly what his theme was. Perhaps the idea was that he was covered in swamp water? Whatever it was, he seemed happy about it. The game was odd. There was a tiny model of a swamp with a bowl shape full of a murky green liquid. The idea was that you stuck your hand in and fished out a prize. She saw a little girl win a keychain, all the while other children kept daring each other to drink the swamp water, to which the game operator would tiredly respond, "Do not drink the swamp water."

As fascinating as it was, it wasn't long before she drifted away from the crowds, getting back to the quieter trails.

Every time the wind blew, the canopy overhead swayed and leaves shushed like waves. Old leaves were knocked loose and fluttered down in sideways pirouettes, then swallowed up by the crowds of green bushes and tall wild flowers surrounding the paths.

Lorelai took a wrong turn on her way to the river, ending up on a longer path than she intended, but that was fine. The walk had been so tranquil and she felt submerged in the forest's atmosphere.

A childish laugh struck her ears.

Lorelai didn't see anyone else on the trail. She continued around the bend, still with no one in sight, but there was a strange pattern across the paved path. Large, muddy splotches full of moss and slimy leaves were spread out like tracks. These didn't look like animal prints, more like shoe prints of some kind.

The footsteps looked only far apart enough for a kid, but the prints seemed too big. Lorelai finally reasoned that maybe it was a kid wearing oversized shoes and playing the mud. What concerned her was that the footprints seemed to come from out of the trees, cut across the trail and went into the thick brush on the other side. Was a kid wandering alone in the preserve? When Lorelai looked past the trees, she only saw walls of vegetation and green shapes staring back at her, no sign of a kid. Lorelai told herself she'd tell a ranger about it once she found one.

She then came across another park employee, but it wasn't a ranger. This one had a wooden hawker tray strapped over his shoulders, and the tray was full of merchandise and a portable coin dispenser attached to his belt, like he was selling snacks at a baseball game. This particular employee looked thin and had a perpetual tiredness etched on his features.

"Hi there," Lorelai gave a friendly smile.

The vendor's lips didn't so much as twitch upward. He slowly blinked, "Hello, ma'am. What would you like to buy?"

His voice was so exhausted-sounding, Lorelai felt like she need a shot of Espresso just listening to him.

"Um, actually, I wanted to report something odd. I saw these mud tracks and I think a child might be wandering by himself?"

He gave another slow blink, "There's lots of tracks on the trail. Since it's a hiking trail. If there's something you want to report, you'll need to take it up with one of the Faz-Rangers."

"Where can I find them?"

The vendor shrugged, "Around. If there was a lost kid, they probably found him already. Plus, the robots would have notified somebody if they saw something."

Lorelai almost forgot there were animatronics somewhere in the nature preserve. She felt a little better, but she still hoped, if there was a lost child, that he was okay.

The vendor lifted up the tray, with metal bits jangling inside it, and he tiredly asked, "Would you like to buy something, ma'am?"

The colorful plushies were quite eye-catching, and they seemed to be based on the same characters from the billboard. She decided there was no harm in browsing.

Lorelai was disappointed she didn't see a hat with bear-ears like the Faz-Rangers had, but maybe there would be one in the gift shop at the visitor center. The tray also had little metal buttons with graphics and phrases. The one for the rabbit said, 'Don't Take Me for Granite,' one for the bear said 'Wood You Be My Friend?' and one for the boy said 'Best Friends Rot Together.'

Lorelai rose an eyebrow at the last pin, but she decided that the doll of Freddy seemed cute enough to buy. However, a quick rummage through her bag told her she left her wallet in her car. She looked apologetically at the vendor, "Oh, sorry."

His tired expression didn't shift and he immediately turned away. So much for that.

Before the vendor walked off completely, one of the metal pins jolted and jumped off the tray. It clattered onto the ground with a metallic snigger. His sleepy face lit up in panic.

The vendor clutched the tray to keep anything else from spilling and snapped up the pin. Instead of returning it to the tray, the vendor threw the pin in a trash can like it carried the plague. He even wiped off his hand on his shirt and his eyes nervously darted back and forth. The vendor quietly fled the spot.

Lorelai blinked in bewilderment. She wondered if the vendor was just overworked.

Not sure where else to go nor where to find a Faz-Ranger, Lorelai kept going towards the river. Or at least, she attempted to. Taking a wrong turn threw her off more than she expected. Lorelai wished she had taken a picture of the map, and she paused at a railing to get her bearings. The trail she was on had a sharp drop to the left, with a lower path parallel to it. Beyond that, she could see where the trees thinned and sunlight reflected off the river, but there was a football field's worth of distance between them. If she followed her current path then went south, it seemed like it would eventually connect.

Overlapping voices and laughter drifted up to her ears. On the path below, there was a group of college freshmen, or maybe they were just tall high schoolers. Either way, they wore binoculars like necklaces and their conversation bounced between good footwear and most punch-able cheeses. Lorelai lingered at the railing to watch them with a light smile, wondering when the last time was that she spoke with her old friends from school. A girl in a striped shirt lagged behind the group as she fussed with the wrapper of a granola bar.

The group passed one of the many trash cans set up around the trails. It was in a circular, metal basket, somewhat resembling a birdcage and being difficult to knock over. The girl in the striped shirt pulled off the granola bar's silvery skin and flung it at the trash can. However, the wrapper didn't have much in aerodynamics and plummeted straight down, just short of the bin. The girl didn't seem to notice as she rushed to catch up with her friends.

"Hey!" a man barked behind them.

The group stopped and all eyes went to a Faz-Ranger stomping over. His thick black mustache paired with the little bear ears on his hat would have been funny if not for the anger twisting his features. He sharply pointed, "You! In the striped shirt! Haven't you read the signs? No littering!"

The girl held up her hands defensively and granola crumbs jumped from her mouth as she tried to say, "Woah, sorry! It wasn't on purpose!"

"Doesn't matter if it was an accident. Just pick this up now," he insisted.

The girl scowled while her friends muttered behind her. She fully finished her bite and retorted, "What is your problem?"

"You have to pick this up or you're going to get in trouble."

This only riled them more. One of her friends cupped his hands around his mouth and shot back, "Back off, man! It's just a piece of trash. It's not like she set a tree on fire!" Another chimed in, "Yeah, you're closer. Why don't you pick it up?"

Now the group clamored like a hive of angry bees. The park ranger gnashed his teeth and snapped, "You better pick this up right now or you will be forced to leave and fined!"

The girl's face switched to panic. She bolted to the trash can and slapped the wrapper into it. She slid a cold gaze over.

"Jerk!" the girl hissed before she ran back to her friends, who huddled to her protectively, and dozens of glares stabbed at the ranger.

But the ranger no longer paid attention once she threw away the wrapper. He intently stared at the bushes beside the trail. The group left in a flurry of jeers and insults directed at the Faz-Ranger. He only stayed where he was, staring at the undergrowth. Nothing moved except for a squirrel in one of the trees. It was pitch black. Lorelai could hear its little claws hooking to the bark while its fuzzy tail twitched like a nervous pulse.

The Faz-Ranger then turned away and moved down the path. His head watchfully turned back and forth, like a starving vulture searching for carrion.

Lorelai's stomach flipped uncomfortably. She really hoped that not all the rangers were so strict, that this one was just having a bad day. But there was still the possibility that the reason this park was so clean because of such tactics; that didn't sit well with her.

After some uneasy debating, Lorelai reasoned that she was much closer to the river than her car. She would take a picture by the river, then decide from there if she wanted to stay.

Lorelai continued to make her way down the winding paths. The way the sun filtered through the canopy made it look like a starry sky. Those stars, however, changed color from a white-yellow to a light shade of orange, as the sun behind the trees slowly inched downward.

A strange voice filtered from behind her, "Right this way, friends!"

It sounded cheerfully dopey, with a stuffed nose and a metallic reverb that bounced off something hollow and wooden. Lorelai turned and her eyes went wide at what looked like a creature out of a fantasy book.

It was as if someone molded an oak tree into a humanoid shape with shelves of red mushrooms along his body. His portly stomach had a lightning-shaped opening with a gap that seemed big enough for squirrels to climb in. His round snout, big dark nose and coiling branches out of his head was vaguely bear-shaped. He carried a thick branch as a walking stick and bared his teeth like a nutcracker. The whites of his eyes were black and his iris was a warm, honey-colored orange with no pupils. He appeared to be leading a group mostly consisting of children and their parents.

Lorelai stepped aside to let Woodland Toy Freddy go past. He was a head taller than her at 6 feet, even without the branches jutting from his head. His footsteps were heavy, wooden clunks. She could briefly hear mechanical scrapes under his wooden shell, and her nostrils filled with the sharp smell of bark, with a spongy tinge from the mushrooms and moss. There was a creak as his head turned and he pointed to a nearby tree, his projected voice filtering out of his clacking teeth, "Over there is a pine tree! It's an evergreen because it's a conifer tree with needles that stay on for several years. So it never changes color! How would you feel if you were green all the time?"

She realized she gaped at Freddy and shut her mouth. The last thing she expected was that the animatronics would be the tour guides. And was that real tree bark for his suit? Curious and enamored, Lorelai followed along with the group.

Woodland Toy Freddy seemed to have a set path, and it was hard to tell if any of his lines were pre-recorded, considering he pointed out whenever they saw a bird or chipmunk in the trees. Everything he said was punctuated by a cheesy tree pun that he himself gave a goofy laugh at, but Lorelai ended up finding it endearing. They paused at a circular landing that overlooked a ravine, which looked like someone messily dragged a knife across the forest. Its trickling water pointed in the direction of the larger river. Freddy had his back to the ravine and faced the group as he talked, this time detailing the kinds of wildlife that live in trees, sang a little song even, and all the while discreetly wove in an advertisement for the gift shop. His wooden teeth clacked together noisily as he spoke and his eyes bounced around the group.

All the while, a Faz-Ranger passed by and hung around the outskirts of the group, carefully watching. Lorelai thought she recognized this Faz-Ranger. It might have been the same woman she saw walking around earlier. Her hair was reddish, she had a narrow nose and there were dark marks under her eyes. Her name badge said 'Trudy B. Elkin.'

Lorelai shuffled her way to the Faz-Ranger. She spoke just loud enough only for the ranger to hear, so as not to disturb the rest of the group, "Excuse me. I'm not sure about this, but I think there might be a child wandering around by himself."

Ranger Elkin's full attention went to Lorelai, "Where did you see this?"

"I was on the…Honeysuckle trail, I think? And I didn't see the child, but I saw all these muddy tracks leading in and out of the woods."

Her brow furrowed and the ranger asked in a low voice, "Did you hear laughter?"

"Um…yes, actually." Lorelai smoothened her hands, feeling uneasy all of a sudden. "It sounded like a little boy."

All the while, Woodland Freddy was in the middle of a monologue, "Trees talk to each other, just like friends and neighbors! They can communicate and defend against invading insects. Scientists find it to be very in-tree-guing behavior! That's why—"

Woodland Freddy's jaw froze half-way open. His head made a loud shunk as it whipped around and clacked to a stop. His half-lidded eyes were snapped open and he stared at the group. His voice was still friendly and goofy, but there was a chiding and pointed tone, "Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!"

Lorelai watched Elkin's eyes go wide and her face turn pale. The Faz-Ranger abandoned their conversation and hurried into the group.

Freddy continued to stare and repeat, "Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!"

Elkin made her way through the confused crowd and kept looking at Freddy, tracking his gaze.

"Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!"

Elkin approached what looked like a mother with her two sons. Lorelai was a bit too far away to hear exactly what the ranger said to them. Elkin pointed at what looked like a gum wrapper at their feet, then an outcry rose from the boy in a green shirt, "But I didn't drop it! He did!"

The other boy shook his head and sharply said, "Nuh-uh! No, I didn't!"

"Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!" Woodland Freddy repeated, his eyes fixed on them.

"Yes, you did," Elkin responded to the green-shirted boy. Her fingers wrapped around her flashlight on her belt, and she gripped it so tight her knuckles turned white. "Freddy saw you drop it. Please pick it up and put it in that trash can over there."

The boy's mother leaned over and urged, "Come on, Harry. Don't make a scene."

Harry sucked in a breath and let out a huge whine, "No! It's not mine! I'm not gonna pick it up!"

"Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!"

Harry squealed and angrily bounced his feet, completely red in the face. All eyes were on them. Harry's mother looked completely embarrassed.

She stooped down and reached for the wrapper, "I'm so, so sorry. He's been stressed about school and it's put him in a mood. I'll take care of it."

"No," Elkin snapped.

Harry's mother flinched her hand back.

The ranger forced a smile and softened her tone, "He dropped it, so he has to throw it away. Freddy won't stop until he does."

"Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!"

A rumble went through the crowd, mostly the other children. Those closest to Freddy covered their ears and all of them were upset by the tour being interrupted. Their little voices sprang up like bubbles from the bottom of a steadily boiling pot, "Freddy's scaring me!" "Pick up your trash!" "Make him stop!"

Woodland Freddy kept repeating the same like every other minute, his tone never changing and his eyes stayed fixed on Harry. But as time went, Lorelai thought it looked like that Freddy subtly moved, slowly leaning forward.

After a flurry of coaxing, stern-talking and Harry's mother talking into her cell phone, Harry's father then appeared, dressed in fishing gear. He apparently was at the lake with friends at the opposite end of the nature preserve up until a few minutes ago. A compromise was finally made where Harry picked up the wrapper and was scooped up into his father's arms. His father carried him over to the trash can, so all Harry had to do was hold out his arm and release the wrapper. It fluttered silently like an autumn leaf and it disappeared into the mouth of the metal bin.

"Please dispose your trash. Don't—"

Woodland Toy Freddy's jaw froze again. His head shuddered and his eyes flickered as his jaw jittered, "Thank you for disposing your trash."

With a sharp shunk and clack, his head turned back to the general audience. His eyelids half-lowered and he resumed his usual goofy talk, "The inside of a tree is made of cork, phloem, cambium, and xylem. Tree bark is the tissue on the outside, and it's certainly nothing to bark at!"

A ruffled relief came over the group. Lorelai's heart pounded without her realizing. If the robots always responded like that to trash, she could better understand why the park was so clean.

As Feddy resumed his tour, Ranger Elkin walked away, with her lips urgently pressed to her pocket radio. Lorelai caught her saying something about "Honeysuckle" and "Wandering BB". She wondered if the ranger was investigating the missing child. Harry's parents, even Harry himself, gave some parting apologies before the family left the group. The forest seemed almost silent now, if not for Freddy's continuous stream of fun facts.

The sun was setting, dragging a fiery orange glow down the bodies of trees. In between Woodland Toy Freddy's dialogue, Lorelai could almost hear the river trickling. If she wanted to get any pictures, now was the time.

Lorelai split off on the paved path. As Freddy's voice grew farther away, she caught one last fun fact, "When you're looking at trees, most of what you see is dead! Only 1% of a tree is actually alive. A truck is mostly dead tissue that serves only to support the weight of the tree crown."

The air got cooler, in part due to the falling sun and as she moved closer to the river. The gurgle and hiss of water grew louder as the trees thinned out. The paved path she followed had a wooden incline that led into a rocky shore of smoothed pebbles. The sunlight reflecting off the water made it look as if someone poured orange, liquid metal onto the ground, yet the droplets that splashed against the rocks felt so cold. Past the light, if Lorelai peered close enough, she saw specks of fish darting through the water like blood cells in a vein. So many of her thoughts were swallowed up by the sound of the water.

Sapping from her daze, Lorelai dug her phone from her backpack. She put her back to the river, catching the sunset in a cage of trees over her shoulder, and snapped a picture of herself, with as big of a smile as she could muster. She attempted to then text the photo to her mother, but the reception was poor. Lorelai walked a little farther along the river's edge, with rocks grinding and crunching underfoot. Something almost-fleshy tapped her knee with each step.

Lorelai's Band-Aid was coming undone, with only half of it clinging to her skin while the rest flapped loosely. She pressed it down, flattening it against her knee again. She then checked her phone, but the photo still loaded. Staring at the sluggish percentage bar, Lorelai felt aware of the lack of voices around her. For a moment, it felt like the only company were the fish silently rushing through the water at feet and whatever creatures hid around her. The trees surrounding her were too tall for Lorelai to see the tops of unless if she craned her neck back. Her throat felt dry, so she pulled out her water bottle to hastily drink.

A childish laugh came from behind.

Lorelai turned towards the river and, at first, she didn't see anything but the green undergrowth on the other side of the river. But some of the plants looked wrong, more like a small human-shape. It was in fact some kind of little boy, but he was positively covered head-to-toe in moldy, slimy gunk. The things he held looked like a snotty balloon and a sign post that said 'ROT' just like the pictures she saw for Swamp Balloon Boy.

But, the pictures for the character were much more cartoonish, making his body look like it was covered in spinach and giving him expressive, smiling eyes. The real one looked more like the forest regurgitated him after days of digesting him. He also didn't have any eyes or teeth. His eye sockets and smile were just gaping, black holes. The river was between them, and this was a small comfort, until Lorelai noticed a little wooden bridge just a little farther down.

Without any movement, Swamp Balloon Boy made another laugh sound effect. It sounded muffled, bubbling up from behind layers of damp gunk and leafy ooze until it emerged from his mouth and eye sockets.

A creep went up Lorelai's spine. She twisted around and hurriedly walked back the way she came. She tried to make her way back to the parking lot, but wandering with Freddy earlier made it difficult to retrace her steps. She chose paths that went up the hill and hoped for the best.

Lorelai's eyes scanned the trees. Woodland Freddy's last fun fact still hung in her head, and she wasn't comforted by the thought that all the trees around her were mostly dead tissue.

Lorelai paused at a landing and this time there was a statue on the pedestal. It was almost 6-feet tall, not including its segmented rabbit-ears jutting out the top of its head. The humanoid figure had pudgy fingers and a bow sculpted on its chest. It would have looked a lot cuter if not for its empty eye sockets, and all the cracks along its body. Some moss and overgrowth had started to split the stone, as if the fuzzy green plants were trying to break out of the body. Lorelai reasoned that it was a statue of Boulder Toy Bonnie, but it seemed weird to have a sculpture, instead of the actual robot.

The statue's jaw opened with a stony grate, and it turned its head towards her.

Lorelai gasped. Its ears stirred and its joints moved with faint, mechanical clicks overshadowed by rocky scrapes. A high-pitched and mechanical voice filtered out from its stone mouth as its teeth clacked, "Ready for some cool facts that really rock?"

Boulder Bonnie leaned forward, which made a loud rumble that Lorelai felt in her teeth, and he said, "The most common rock on earth is sedimentary rock. It forms about 66% of the earth's surface."

As the robot moved his limbs, Lorelai was fairly certain that his shell was made of real rock and it surprised her that it was able to move at all.

"Most instruments are made of plastic or wood, but did you know, the lithophone is made out of rocks! Personally, I prefer Rock-and-roll."

As Boulder Bonnie asked his question, he tilted his head and his heavy ears shifted to the side. The motion would have been endearing, but Lorelai couldn't get past his lack of eyes. Even when Lorelai shifted to the side and Bonnie stared ahead, the gaping eye sockets still seemed to follow her, taking in everything at once.

Her throat itched, so Lorelai pulled out her water bottle. Boulder Bonnie's head gave a grating screech as it turned towards her.

She flinched and instinctively dropped the water bottle back in her bag.

The robot's head turned back to the front and he said, "Extrusive igneous rock is used to construct buildings and statues while intrusive rock is used to make countertops and gravestones."

Lorelai decided she heard enough rock facts.

She clutched her bag without zipping it and hurried away. Around the bend, the path split in two directions and Lorelai approached the sign post. It was so dirty and covered in a green film that she couldn't make out the name. When getting closer, Lorelai's foot slid from under her. She lurched and slammed onto her shoulder, landing right next to a bench. Pain punched her shoulder and her water bottle flew from her bag. It rolled across the ground with a plastic crackle.

Lorelai groaned and her shoulder burned. She pushed herself to sit up and the ground felt wet. Mossy, green gunk clung to her skin and clothes, and she had slipped in a patch of the slimy liquid and mud.

A man jogging slowed to a stop and tugged his ear buds out, "Are you okay?"

He helped her up, and she tested her shoulder, thankfully not broken. She smiled sheepishly at the jogger, "Thanks."

She ventured to ask where to find the parking lot and he gave her some helpful directions, as well as a new band recommendation, after she asked what he was listening to. It was enough for Lorelai to feel more at ease. She knew going into this that the nature preserve was going to be weird, it was fine. Maybe this just wasn't her ideal hiking spot, so she'd just look for a new one.

"Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!"

Lorelai jumped at voice behind her and pivoted.

Boulder Bonnie stood a few strides away, with his gaping holes for eyes fixed on her. The sunset barely reflected off his grey body, sinking into the clusters of moss, and inky shadows pooled in every crack along his skin.

"Uh—" Lorelai swallowed dryly. "I don't have any trash."

"Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!" Bonnie repeated. The rumble of the robot's stony jaw cut the air and made her teeth hurt.

Lorelai looked to the scuffed-up water bottle, "Is it this? Because I dropped it?"

The animatronic didn't answer. He only repeated, "Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug!"

There wasn't a trash can nearby. However, she spied a familiar bin shape about 30 yards away. Lorelai spoke to the robot as if it could understand her, "Alright, I'm throwing it away."

When she walked towards the trash can, Boulder Bonnie followed. His stone casing grumbled against itself, each step made a bone-cracking clunk and she heard faint scratching from his mechanical innards against his stone shell. Lorelai didn't look behind herself, but she could imagine his gaping eyes on the back of her head. She unthinkingly quickened her pace, and so did Bonnie, not allowing any increased distance between them. All she could hear were his footsteps like stone mallets against the ground. Only when she reached the trash can and stopped did his footsteps finally stop.

Lorelai dropped the water bottle in the bin with a satisfying glunk. She turned, and Bonnie stood within arm's length. She held up her hands and gave an overly big smile, "There. See? Trash is all gone now."

Boulder Bonnie stared. When he stood still, his body was silent and looked incapable of moving. Being so close, despite the dim light, Lorelai could see the back of his inner skull through his eye holes. They were meant for cartoonishly large eyes, yet there were still angles inside his head she couldn't see. It felt like something could crawl out of Bonnie's eye socket at any point.

Her smile wavered, and Lorelai backed up. He kept staring. She only turned away when there were a few meters between them.

The orange glow of sunset was gone. Only a pale white of the sun's light remained while clumps of dark blue clouds sat as stains, growing darker as dusk lumbered towards night. There were no more crowds and the only stragglers that Lorelai saw were a few mountain bikers, who darted by on their separate bike path like elusive deer.

Chalky footsteps loudly clacked behind her. Lorelai's head snapped over. Bonnie towered over a bench, his eyeless gaze fixed on her, and his electronic voice filtered from his hollow insides, "Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug."

Lorelai glanced around, certain he wasn't talking to her. But there was no one else nearby.

The footsteps resuming made Lorelai flinch. Bonnie took several steps forward, getting closer. His jaw scraped against his mouth, almost drowning out the words, "Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug."

"I threw my trash away," Lorelai responded. He made no indication of having heard her and his stare remained. The thought 'Like talking to a brick wall' briefly amused her, except this brick wall could walk and track her movements.

When the animatronic didn't move closer, so Lorelai backed off again. Not even a minute of losing sight of Bonnie, Lorelai could hear clacking footsteps steadily moving down the same path she did. In her attempt to lose him, Lorelai found herself on the Peach Trail. Her heart stirred hopefully as she recognized the game stands along the path.

With the sun setting, it was significantly quieter and only one employee remained at Woodland Toy Freddy's Stick Stacks. He called out, "Would you like to play, miss? Only $5 for a round."

"Um, not this time," Lorelai answered, glancing over her shoulder. She kept expecting Boulder Bonnie's grey shape to suddenly emerge from around the bend. Lorelai pressed her fingers to the counter and said, "Actually, I have a problem. The stone rabbit keeps telling me to throw away trash but I already threw it away. Now he won't stop following me. Is he…broken or something?"

The game operator seemed to shift uncomfortably. His eyes shifted to the side as he answered, "The robots have a Litter Prevention Protocol. When Red Trails was first established by Fazbear Entertainment, the animatronics originally picked up all trash on the trails, but the company found that this didn't encourage guests to clean up after themselves. Utilizing the advanced facial recognition built into these models, Freddy and friends are able to identify a litterbug and helpfully encourage them to pick it up. So…if Bonnie's following you, you just need to throw away your trash."

It sounded like he read from a script. Lorelai chewed her lip, "I'm fairly certain I threw out my trash. Have the robots ever bugged out in the past?"

The game operator looked even more uncomfortable, avoiding her gaze entirely. He responded, "There is not an issue with the robots' litter protocol. The only known issue is a rare error where the animatronics might accidentally identify a littering guest as trash to be disposed and follow them, but that is very unlikely. All a guest would need to do to fix it is to throw way their trash."

"What?" Lorelai dug her nails into the counter now, "But that's not the problem. I threw away my trash, and he's still—"

"Please dispose your trash."

Lorelai and the game operator jumped. Bonnie's feet struck the ground with stony clacks, and the grinding of his limbs grew louder.

"Don't be a litterbug."

There was metallic rattle and almost frantic shuffling nearby. Lorelai looked back at the game operator, who hastily locked up the game stand, fumbling with his keys to keep from dropping them.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Lorelai asked.

"The trails close at 7. It's 6:56," he muttered and finished locking up.

"But wait, what do I do about this?"

The employee practically threw himself on his bicycle behind the station and answered hurriedly, "Ask a Faz-Ranger. The company won't be liable for guest negligence."

He sped off, and Lorelai shouted, "Hey!"

But he was long gone. When Lorelai turned, she was met with Bonnie's cracked bowtie and the straight teeth of his lower jaw. Lorelai gasped and jumped back.

"That's too close!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Bonnie's empty eye sockets remained fixed on her, "Please dispose your trash. Don't be a litterbug."

"I-I threw it away. You saw me throw it away," Lorelai murmured.

The animatronic took a step towards her, "Please dispose your trash."

Lorelai backed up. She walked away as quick as she could, unsure of what else to do. She hoped he would lose interest or go back to his Hike-and-Greets. He was a robot and probably had a designated area he needed to stay in. After some hurried walking, Lorelai looked over her shoulder and didn't see Bonnie, confirming her hunch.

She was on the Apache Trail. According to what the jogger told her, she just needed to follow it upward, take a right, keep left and then she'd be back at the upper parking lot.

Lorelai stopped.

Boulder Bonnie stood in the middle of the path ahead. His rabbit ears made him seem taller than he already was. His black holes for eyes stood out, even from a distance. There was technically room to walk around him, but Lorelai's stomach twisted at the thought of getting close. She turned around. The Green Glen Trail branched off the Apache Trail, and she hoped she could follow it to reconnect to the Apache or even skip to one of the other trails she needed to get to.

She now understood why the trails closed at 7 PM. There were no lampposts or lights set up, so there was absolutely nothing to combat the dark. The clouds were only ink stains on a dark blue sky, obscured by the fingers of branches and the writhing shapes of leaves. Lorelai's eyes strained in the grey slivers of light leftover. She nearly tripped while making her way down a flight of wooden stairs. Once she reached the bottom, she'd go left and keep going northeast, since that was the direction of the parking lot.

"Don't be a litterbug."

The words came from the top of the wooden stairs. Lorelai's head snapped around. With her at the bottom of the steps, Bonnie's face was obscured by the low-hanging branches of oily green leaves. She could only see from his sculpted bowtie down to his bulky feet. Shadows bled into the webs of cracks along his legs. He took a step forward and the wooden stair groaned.

Her neck hair stood up and panic cut her nerves. Lorelai practically broke into a run, away from the stairs. Everything felt wrong and out of place. She felt she couldn't hardly hear over her thumping footsteps, the hissing at her feet from leaves she crushed and her increasingly heavy breaths. Her ears itched to catch the stone footsteps, but she wasn't sure if she imagined them behind her. Lorelai looked back; her frantic eye caught in a veil of her messily wavy, black hair.

She slammed into a park ranger, nearly knocking off his hat. He managed to plant his feet so he didn't fall over, and instead Lorelai bounced off. She stumbled back, and it took everything to not topple backwards.

Lorelai gulped air as her mind rattled, "Sor-sorry."

The Faz-Ranger eyed the muddy stains and her disheveled, wild-eyed appearance, "Ma'am, are you alright?"

She recognized him by his dark mustache. He had heavy eyebrows and weathered creases around his dark eyes. She remembered him yelling at visitors earlier, but now his face was knitted with concern. The name patch on his uniform said, 'Harold P. Sparks.'

"U-um, the stone guy won't stop following me," Lorelai's words petered out, and she felt like a little girl tattling to a teacher.

The Faz-Ranger's face intensified and his voice sharpened, "That means you didn't throw away trash you dropped."

"I did!" Panic entered her voice, "I threw it away but he's still chasing me."

"No," Ranger Sparks snapped. "There's still something you haven't tossed. Did you drop anything by accident? Anything from your bag? Your pockets?" Lorelai checked her backpack and pockets, but everything was accounted for, all the while Sparks hissed, "It can be anything; a hair pin, bottle cap—"

Lorelai's head snapped up, "What? How am I supposed to know if I dropped something like that?"

"Think! Is there anywhere you might've dropped something?"

Lorelai exhaled and shook her head. She dropped her gaze, and stress crawled through her skin. She smoothened her leg, trying to calm down and remember. With her eyes lowered, the red patch on her knee caught her eye. Her eyes went wide. She looked around her feet, only seeing leaves, then she touched her knee and whispered, "My Band-Aid's gone."

"Where?"

"I don't know!" Lorelai squeaked, her throat tight. "I didn't notice until just now! I had it on at the river. But I—I walked everywhere. It could be anywhere."

Faintly, they heard Bonnie's voice, "Please dispose your trash."

The ranger's face turned pale. Sparks seized her arm and tugged her down the path, "You need to leave."

Lorelai wouldn't have normally let a stranger yank her around, but there was a strange urgency that overtook that. She wanted to leave as soon as possible, even if it meant getting fined. She told him where she parked when he asked and quickened her pace when he snapped for her to walk faster. As they walked, he urgently muttered into his pocket radio. Lorelai didn't feel like she was being escorted out for littering; she felt like she was being led out of a bear's den.

They went up a paved trail, perhaps it was called Arrowhead, but Sparks forced them to a stop.

It wasn't Bonnie on the path ahead. Woodland Toy Freddy stood like a tree planted in the middle of the trail. In the dimming light, his orange pupils glowed like little embers from a campfire. Lorelai didn't realize how tall he was, even from a distance. Freddy's pupils were locked on her.

Sparks hissed under his breath. He yanked her back and they went from the paved path onto a gravel one. Every crunching step was so loud. The nearly black shapes of trees surrounded them.

Gravel cracked beneath sharp, stone footsteps in front of them. Boulder Bonnie came around the corner and headed straight for Lorelai.

Sparks pushed Lorelai behind himself and clacked on his flashlight. Its white beam snapped on and seized the path in front of him. Bonnie froze mid-step when the light struck him.

"Hey, Boulder. Easy now," Ranger Sparks greeted lowly, like a trainer might for a tiger.

Ranger Sparks grabbed his pocket radio while keeping the light on Boulder Bonnie, "Trudy, come in. I've got Boulder in lights and the litterbug with me. Woody in possible pursuit. Need escort to upper lot. Over."

A woman's voice responded through the crackling static.

As Sparks spoke coordinates into the radio, his kept his flashlight on Bonnie. The light pushed around the darkness in its head, exposing the empty insides of its skull. The moss resembled bruises and the thick vines buried beneath the cracked stone were shaped like muscle tendons. Bonnie stayed frozen and didn't look capable of moving, but Lorelai knew better.

Sparks let go of his radio and pulled out a second flashlight, murmuring to Lorelai, "Freddy might be headed here, so I need you to help me listen for him. Ranger Elkin is on her way to help."

Lorelai nodded silently, not realizing that Sparks was too busy watching Bonnie to notice. When they went quiet, the near-metallic trill of crickets and frogs seeped into their ears. Leaves rattled in bursts. There were little snaps from branches, appearing in a different spot each time. Sparks pointed his other flashlight at every noise, so the second light kept snapping in a different direction.

Thunderous crashes of wood came from the hill on their left. Sparks pointed his second flashlight at the trees, but the pale light barely got through the thick brush. They could hardly tell what was approaching them until a dopey voice exclaimed, "Did you know oak trees can withstand a max of 50 mile-per-hour winds without falling over?"

There was a terrible irony in Woodland Toy Freddy shoving his way through the brush and snapping branches on his way to them. But Lorelai was more preoccupied by the fact that the animatronic abandoned the trail and cut through the trees to follow them. The ranger's second flashlight stayed pointed in Freddy's direction, waiting for him to finally emerge from the brush, while he kept his first light trained on Bonnie. Their ears filled with the wooden chuckle of snapping branches and shriek of shuddering leaves. Lorelai stared at the bushes closest to them, waiting for them to move as Freddy got closer.

A slimy, rotten smell slid into Lorelai's nose. Cold wetness stuck to her arm and Lorelai uttered a little shriek.

Swamp Balloon Boy pushed himself between Sparks and Lorelai. The ranger tried point his second light at the little robot, but he was too late; Balloon Boy's molded sign hooked on the ranger's wrist to yank downward while the robot swung its balloon-like prop at his other hand. There was a wretched squelch of the 'balloon' striking his hand and swallowing the flashlight whole. All that was left was the little pool of light from the remaining flashlight forced to point at their feet, reducing Lorelai's visibility to near nothing.

There was the shriek of grinding stone and loud, rapid stone thuds raced across the gravel, punctured by Sparks shouting, "Run!"

Lorelai turned heel and ran blindly into the dark. There was a heavy whistle behind her head, and Bonnie's stone fingers scraped the ends of her hair.

She stumbled through the gravel and only the ghost of a path was visible. Lorelai tried to follow it to the right, hoping to get back to the paths that led upward. Low hanging branches reached for her and scraped her skin. One of thick tree shapes stepped in her way. Lorelai crashed into Woodland Freddy and the twisted bark on his stomach cut her. His wooden shell creaked and crackled, but the metal body beneath was far heavier than her. Lorelai fumbled back and Freddy lurched forward. She wasn't sure if the robot meant to grab her as she was instead pushed backwards.

Lorelai tipped off the edge of the path, her feet losing the ground entirely. Her shoulders slammed into the hill and her body involuntarily tumbled down an onslaught of rocks, dirt, straw and snapping branches, while pain punched her all over. She only stopped when her back crashed into the foot of her tree. Electric pain exploded through her spine and several nerves screamed at once. Lorelai choked a cry. She was a crumpled mass of heaving breaths, dirt and leaves clinging to bloodied cuts and lights swimming in her vision.

Heavy footsteps moved next to her. Cold, grainy fingers seized her and picked her up like a machine claw.

A scream rose from her throat and she thrashed against Boulder Bonnie. His stone shell cut her skin and her strikes only sent pain through her own nerves and bones. He held her sideways like a pile of firewood and marched through the undergrowth. His feet slammed against the dirt and sent a clinking ripple through his shell, making a noise that was like a hammer to her teeth. Lorelai picked uselessly at his fingers until her own started to bleed and all she could do was curl in her head and legs to avoid the low-hanging branches, crying out and hoping someone could hear her.

Lorerai was held so she could only see from where they walked, not where they were going, but, without any flashlights, everything was dark and shapes were near-indistinguishable anyways. The trees suddenly opened, and his footsteps clacked against a paved trail. When they came to a stop, Lorelai twisted her head around to try seeing where they were. Instead, Bonnie moved her around until she found herself pointed at a metal trash bin, its body faintly gleaming.

Lorelai was thrust head-first into the bin's mouth. She threw her arms over her head in time for her wrists and elbows to crash through plastic, cups, rotten food until slamming into the metal bottom, barely cushioned by the trash. Her whole-body weight followed in crushing her. Lorelai breathed in a blackened banana peel and choked on dirtied water. She was stuck in a horrible handstand of trying to push herself up and over, to free her face from the slimy plastic and half-chewed chunks of food. Her breaths were hard bursts, trying not to gag as oily vapors and clumps of dirt seeped into her throat and tongue.

Everything lurched. Lorelai slammed back into the trash, and the bin lurched again with a metal shriek. A horrible scraping noise screamed in her ears and the entirety of her body as the whole bin screamed. The rumbling and screeching clawed through her bones as the bin remained tilted at an angle. Lorelai tried to roll and push her way out, but her hands slipped against the grimy rim of the bin and the whole thing would violently jerk, forcing her back to the bottom with a sticky piece of melted candy and cracked bottles almost hitting her eyes. She couldn't feel her arms aside from a burning tingle. Blood roared in her ears as it rushed into her head and her thoughts turned fuzzy from being upside for so long, her lungs feeling crushed.

The metal shrieking stopped and so did the bin. Lorelai felt a delirious relief as the bottom of the bin tipped upwards, only to realize that she and the trash now slid out of its mouth. She saw open air like a flash of lightning before she fell into a larger metal mouth.

There was a rancid squelch as feet plunged into a pool of lumpy, plastic bags. She didn't stop until she was waist deep in garbage. Crinkling squishes and squealing flies filled her ears. The stuffy, dirty air was contrasted by the chilly air from the opening she came in from. Lorelai threw herself at the square opening, clawing to get out.

Boulder Bonnie's stone snout knocked into her forehead, his teeth grazing her skin. The cold, rough hand pressed onto her face and shoved her backwards. Trash bags ruptured as she landed on them, feeling oozing chunks of unknown origin and broken plastic cut her arms. Bonnie's gaping eye sockets and half-hanging jaw filling the opening. He stepped back.

A rusty creak wailed as the hatch slammed shut. Stinking darkness ate her whole.

Lorelai cried out, and her voice harshly bounced at herself against the metal walls. She struggled to breathe. The taste of burnt mold choked her, and the air was thick with heat. Her fingers clawed through trash until they pressed against the metal ceiling, which seemed to bite her skin. Her body itched and rotten masses squeaked beneath her as she tried to find the opening, her tongue wrapped in acidic and slimy tastes.

A loud slam against one of the walls punched her ears. Voices scratched the outside of the box. Then Lorelai could only hear her huffing and the flies.

The hatch came open with a whine and faint light came.

"Get out!" a voice hissed outside.

Lorelai dragged herself the opening and the fresh air felt like diving headfirst to a pool. She grabbed a handle on what seemed like a dumpster and tugged her body out, despite her arms burning protests. Her legs flopped onto the pavement with wrappers hissing beside her like fallen leaves and the raspy croak of plastic cup tops against the ground. Pain raked through her and it felt like knives in every cut, but she could breathe.

Ranger Elkin stood with her back to Lorelai. Her flashlight was in one hand, and her other hand had its wrist squeezed in Bonnie's massive, stone fingers. Her light shone against Bonnie's face as it was frozen inches from hers, the jaw craned open.

Lorelai uttered a horrified sound.

Elkin's head flicked in Lorelai's direction and back at Bonnie, "Good. You're out." Her voice was low and steady, "What's your name?"

"L-Lorelai," she answered, staring at the stone robot.

"Lorelai. I need you to listen close. This robot's real mad at the both of us, but we're gonna help each other through this."

Lorelai made a shaky, affirmative noise, still sitting on the ground.

"The first thing I need you to help me grab my radio. It's attached to my shirt pocket, so you need to walk over to me," Elkin said. As Lorelai worriedly eyed Bonnie, Elkin added, "He can't move while my light's on him. But you need to hurry so I can tell my partner where we are."

Lorelai forced herself onto her shaky knees. The ranger was within arm's length. Lorelai took a tiny step forward, and there were icy crunches under her feet. Looking down, Lorelai saw little glints of light bouncing around Elkin and Bonnie's feet. A second flashlight was crushed under Bonnie's large, rabbit foot. Lorelai suppressed a shudder and moved to Elkin's side.

Bonnie was near enough to Elkin's face that Lorelai could hear the ranger's short breaths moving through his eye sockets, making a faint whistle. Lorelai reached between the two and her knuckles brushed against Bonnie's cracked stomach, causing her to flinch. She reached under their arms and grabbed the black plastic box attached to Elkin's shirt.

"Press the button on the side," Elkin directed.

The radio blipped.

Elkin spoke into it, her voice tight, "Hal, come in. Get to the ash box asap. I tossed my hat and Boulder grabbed me but I got him on lights. He killed my backup light. The litterbug is with me, but other robots may be en route. Over."

A man's voice leapt from the static, "Copy that. Hang tight, Dee. Over and out."

Elkin said to Lorelai, "Okay, let go now."

Lorelai didn't hesitate to pull her hand back to safety, but she worriedly eyed Bonnie's hand around Elkin's wrist.

"Alright. Now, you just dragged a whole lotta trash out, so the next thing I need you to do is pick up every piece of garbage on the ground and put it back in. Make sure you get every scrap, but do it quick. We don't have a lot of time. Don't worry about the busted flashlight. The robot broke it so it'll pick it up later, after it deals with us."

Lorelai looked down. The residual light from the flashlight and the dull glow of the veiled moon wasn't much, but it gave Lorelai enough to see the white of crumpled napkins against the black pavement and the glassy gleam of plastic cup caps. Lorelai scraped up what was immediately in front of her and threw them back into the yawning, black square of the metal container. She scrutinized the blacktop, not sure if the little glints of light in some spots was piece of plastic or just a loose piece of tar from the lot. She didn't take any chances and threw those away too. The Faz-Ranger remained where she was, with her flashlight trained on Bonnie and Bonnie still gaping at her.

While plucking a tangled fishing line from the ground, Lorelai quietly asked, "Is the robot just trying to put us in the dumpster 'cause it thinks we're trash? We could hide in the dumpster then, couldn't we? Maybe until a dump truck arrives?"

Elkin's face was grim, "Dump trucks don't come to Red Trails. All trash is incinerated; trucks only come to pick up the ashes."

The square, black opening for the metal container suddenly seemed much worse. Lorelai more urgently threw trash into it. Nothing else seemed to be heard aside from the scrapes of Lorelai's fingers against the ground, her uneven breaths and the hiss of garbage.

Lorelai circled in place a few times, checking and re-checking the ground before she finally said, "I think I got them all."

Elkin's eyes flicked to Lorelai then back at Bonnie, "You got something in your hair."

Lorelai's heart sunk. Her hair was very wavy and thick, to the point that she remembered a desk mate at school tucking a note in her hair and she didn't notice it until after she got home hours later. She very carefully sifted through her hair until she found and removed a shredded piece of a candy bar no bigger than her pinkie nail. She had no idea how the Faz-Ranger even noticed it.

As soon as Lorelai threw the scrap away, there was a stony creak and Elkin sharply inhaled. She tightened her grip on her flashlight and said through gritted teeth, "You got'em all. He's back to being mad at me. You see my hat on the ground?"

She did.

"Bring it here. I dropped it to get his attention so now I need to toss it."

Lorelai approached with the hat, but she wasn't sure how Elkin expected her to give it to her without any free hands. And she didn't like what the ranger's solution was.

"This is the real important part, Lorelai—I'm going to give you my flashlight, and you need to keep it on the robot."

Her stomach shrank and twisted. Elkin was swift to add, "Just keep it pointed at his face. That's all you need to do, then I'll take the light back. You can do that for me."

Lorelai swallowed hard and it felt like a wire sponge in her throat.

"Come on now. Don't overthink it. You're just holding a flashlight for me."

"Just holding a flashlight," Lorelai repeated lowly. She forced her head silent as she reached over Elkin's arm and grabbed the neck of the flashlight, just beside the ranger's fingers.

Elkin let go of the light, and Lorelai tightened her grip. The flashlight felt twenty times heavier. Despite the light directly on Boulder's face, his eye sockets and widened jaw looked cavernous and like miles deep of darkness. Maybe there were shapes in his throat, but she couldn't tell if they were his mechanical innards, undergrowth or something else completely. Her heart jumped when the flashlight flickered, only for her to realize it was just her hand trembling. Lorelai almost forgot to give Elkin the hat. Once she gave the hat, Lorelai gripped the flashlight with both hands in a vain attempt to steady them. She was holding back possibly 500 pounds of stone and metal with only a beam of light.

When Elkin got the hat, she focused on the opening to the incinerator. The ranger carefully reached over, edging the hat to the opening. It was just an inch too far away for her to just drop it in. Elkin angled her wrist down, like pressing down a diving board, and her flicked so the hat flipped into the opening. The hat disappeared in the container's mouth and there was an extremely soft thump.

Bonnie's fingers gave a stony screech as they opened, releasing Elkin. With another granite shriek, Bonnie's arm moved and thrust for Lorelai's face.

Lorelai didn't have time to scream as she lurched backwards. No matter how far back she moved, so did Bonnie's hand, following a few inches from her nose.

"Stop-stop-stop!" Elkin snapped and seized Lorelai's shoulder.

Against all her instincts, Lorelai was forced to a stop. With a gravely creak, Bonnie stopped as well, his hand still outstretched. Without moving the light from Bonnie's face, the older woman eased the flashlight from Lorelai's hand and murmured, "Don't twitch the light."

Lorelai heaved breaths, with spots in her vision. Elkin had the flashlight fully fixed on Bonnie, and her hand was free, though there was a nasty bruise wrapped around her wrist. The Faz-Ranger let out a slow exhale.

"Now what?" Lorelai mumbled. Her body felt numb and she badly wanted to lay down.

"Now you're gonna shut the door to the incinerator and lock it for me," Elkin answered. Lorelai mechanically did as she was asked and the incinerator was closed with a rusted creak and clank of the heavy lock. Elkin continued, "Good. That'll slow the robots down if they get their hands on anybody again. All we have to do now is wait for my partner—"

There was a childish laugh directly behind them, making them jump.

"BB!" Elkin hissed. She grabbed Lorelai's arm and made them both sharply turn in a wide half-circle around Boulder Toy Bonnie. The rabbit turned with clanking footsteps to follow them. As they were now behind where Bonnie stood, bits of glass crunching underfoot, Elkin's light also caught on the glistening body of Swamp Balloon Boy, who now stood next to Bonnie. In the dark, his body looked like someone skinned plants and molded them into a vague, child-like shape. His eyes and mouth were horrible, gaping holes like Bonnie, but the eyes were smaller and it looked like his smile was carved by a knife.

Both robots were caught frozen in the light, but Elkin's fingers dug into Lorelai's arm.

The Faz-Ranger spoke quickly and tensely, "The last one is probably on his way. He'll probably get here before Hal does. Do you have your car keys?"

Lorelai confirmed they were still clipped to her belt loop. She realized her backpack and, subsequently her phone, was missing and probably fell off in the now-locked incinerator. She didn't have time to dwell as Elkin continued, "This is the lower parking lot. If something goes wrong, then you need to cut through the swamp and keep heading north."

She flashed a panicked look to the Faz-Ranger, "Please don't. Don't leave me by myself."

Elkin squeezed her arm and hissed, "I'm trying not to! But these things will try to get you alone, so listen; Follow Cherokee Trail, make a left onto Arrowhead Trail, a short right to Gamesy, go right then you'll follow Hilltop all the way up. That will get you to the upper lot."

Lorelai ventured to look in the direction of the trails, trying to ignore the gaping faces in the corner of her eye long enough to envision the paths. Her head snapped back to the robots when Balloon Boy uttered a noisy laugh and a childish voice rattled from him, "Hello."

There was a wooden creak behind them. Lorelai heard a short whistle of air that ended in a thwack against the back of Elkin's legs.

The older woman cried out as her legs gave in. Elkin's light plummeted with her and its beam jerked across the empty parking lot, flung to the distant trees.

Unnatural footsteps rushed from three separate directions to Lorelai. She all but threw herself out of the way. Lorelai could only see the vague shapes of the towering figures stomping after her. Elkin was against the ground and flicked up her flashlight, catching Bonnie and Freddy under their chins, which slowed them but cast horrid shadows across their faces.

Balloon Boy moved from the dark and stepped onto Elkin's arm holding her flashlight. Her bark of pain was like a gunshot, and her light twisted off the animatronics.

The wooden thuds and squeaky creaks charged at Lorelai again.

She ran. Something whistled behind her and grazed her back, but she wasn't sure what. All she heard were thunderous footsteps.

A smell like rotten eggs flooded Lorelai's nose. The ground squelched and sucked her at feet as she stepped into the swamp. It was so dark and the tall grass felt like spider legs against her skin. There were so many times that Lorelai nearly fell as she moved deeper through the water. She expected the animatronics to be right behind her.

It was to her shock that the animatronics were significantly far behind. Boulder Bonnie sunk in the mud, and Woodland Freddy was also slowed, though his buoyant body gave him more of an advantage. Their eyes were still locked on Lorelai.

Lorelai pushed forward.

The only thing guiding her was the faint red light from the radio tower that was supposed to be near the visitor center, which acted as her north star. The faded clouds allowed enough of the moon to reflect off the murky water, between the curtains of frayed and drooping leaves. Lorelai didn't like looking at the ripples her wading created, afraid that they were actually made by something else.

Lorelai's foot caught and she fell to her knees. The slimy water from being waist-deep to seizing her neck. She yelped and spat out the grainy water that slapped her mouth. As she fumbled to pick her self up, her hands brushed against a cluster of something hard and smooth, as thick as a wrist. She flinched to a freeze. Then she cautiously tapped the shape again, as it seemed familiar. She was able to wrap her fingers around was felt like a cylindrical base and, pull it out from the cluster, it felt shorter than her forearm. She used her other hand to feel out the rest, barely able to see, and it had a thick end with a flat, circular front that felt glassy—it was a flashlight. She felt the submerged cluster again. It was dozens of flashlights trapped underwater like rotting skeletons that someone left to die.

"The primary tree species in southern swamp forests are bald cypress and water tupelo, two trees adapted to the flooded conditions of their environment," Freddy's congested-sounding voice filtered between the molded trees several meters away and getting closer.

The skin on her neck prickled. Lorelai scooped up an armful of flashlights and stood. The swamp resisted this motion, trying to pull her back down. She pulled loose with a sucking pop. Stinking mud and chunky water clung to her and weighed her down, and the wind soaked in, sending cold through her skin to her bones. The dirtier flashlights rattled in her arms like plastic bones.

Lorelai waded onto shore, with long grass tangling and tugging her feet, only letting go when she snapped them loose. She pushed to dry ground and low-hanging pine branches scratched at her face. The clunk of her heels against a wooden floor came as a relief. The trees were less crowded on the trail, which allowed more shreds of moonlight.

She didn't stop until she reached a trash can. She looked over her shoulder and listened. Crickets trilled mindlessly and scattered leaves shuddered, but she heard no footsteps. Lorelai picked up the first flashlight, scraping off enough grime to find the button. She clicked it on and nothing happened, so she threw it away. Lorelai then tested another flashlight. Then another and another.

Four flashlights in, Lorelai's chest itched and the back of her mind screamed at her for wasting time. She inwardly argued the robots were faster and knew the park better, so a head start wouldn't matter. But the consequences of being wrong hung over her like a weight. There were three left and she chose to commit to the decision, testing them all. Murky light burst from the second-to-last flashlight, cutting the dark. Lorelai let out a joyful noise and clutched the light like a Christmas gift.

She ran her light over the sign post, which said Arrowhead, and found the fork in the trail, but she then turned off the light. The dark sunk its teeth in her eyes and made her stomach flip, but she wanted to preserve the battery. For now, the moonlight was enough.

Lorelai tried not to breathe too loudly and her ears hurt from how much they strained. Her own footsteps were obstacles and she didn't trust any of the shapes around her. The massive trees that had been so awe-inspiring now stretched to the sky like mangled fingers of a colossal hand waiting to crush her in its fist. Every shadow had the potential to move and everything seemed to watch her. The crunching leaves and twigs beneath her feet seemed to croak and creak mockingly at her attempt of a silent getaway. She felt like a trespasser.

In the vague light, she could make out a new split in the path and its little sign post, with wild bushes standing tall behind it. Lorelai turned on her flashlight with a satisfying click. The brown, rustic sign indicated Gamesy was on the right and a round-jointed hand rested on the top of the sign. Lorelai froze and stared at the thick wooden arm jutting out of the bush. With soft creaks, the fingers slowly released the sign and the arm drew back into the bush with a leafy hiss. She couldn't see the animatronic behind the crowds of leaves.

Lorelai backed onto Gamesy Trail and kept her light aimed at the bushes. She couldn't tell if the shifting she saw was just the shadows moving from the light or the robot moving. Lorelai slowly turned herself forward but kept her flashlight on the bushes as long as possible. Once her light was no longer in range, other bushes nearby rustled. Lorelai pointed her light at those instead.

The Gamesy trail was flanked by walls of tall grass, colorful flowers and lush greenery that would have felt like a fairy's getaway during the day. At night, the plants became the only thing separating Lorelai and the six-foot tall robot. Her flashlight couldn't get through the leaves and petals, so it couldn't stop him. As she moved, so did he. Her flashlight followed the sound of his stomping steps and the crunching of plants in his way. Then his footsteps moved faster, getting ahead of her. Lorelai found herself breaking into a panicked jog and her arm jerked to keep up with where she thought he went. Then the stomping stopped. Lorelai nearly skidded to a stop. She huffed and her heartbeat rattled her ribs. She kept her light fixed on the slick grass and some white, spotted flowers. Lorelai couldn't hear anything moving. Was she even still pointing her light at him? She couldn't hear his steps. Did he stop or did he move somewhere else, trying to flank her? Her light unsurely inched to the left, then the right, hoping for some sort of reaction. An itch crawled up her spine and she turned her head over her shoulder, afraid something was on the other side. Maybe he was just the distraction for something else.

Lorelai's breaths quickened and her light shook from gripping it so hard. She flicked the light to her left, at the other bushes, then back to her right in a large, half-circle. She pointed her light at the leaves directly next to her, where Woodland Freddy's face had emerged. His large jaw hung open and his teeth were level with her forehead as her light shone down his wooden throat.

Her scream was barely suppressed. Lorelai covered her own mouth and backed up. His head didn't budge, but his glowing pupils followed her as she continued up the path, keeping the light on him. Lorelai hated starting at his eyes and mouth, even the twisted shape of his head, so she only kept focus on his black nose as she walked backwards up Gamesy. She knew she needed to take one more right turn then it was a straight shot. Just a little bit farther. Her light slipped farther and farther off of Freddy, letting his pupils glow brighter in the dark. Then his head ducked back into the bushes.

Lorelai turned and ran.

Her leg muscles roared in outrage but Lorelai still ran. Her light flung about wildly and unhelpfully with her hand until she mostly steadied it, pointing at the path ahead. She was on Hilltop Trail. Freddy's wooden feet banged up the incline, steadily catching up.

The hill was steep. She approached a fork where it split to the right, towards the visitor center, and she just needed to walk past it, uphill and then the lot would be right there. Just a little farther!

"Two of the heaviest or densest rocks are peridotite or gabbro. They each have a density of between 3.0 to 3.4 grams per cubic centimeter."

A soft cry left Lorelai when she realized Bonnie blocked the way ahead. She tightened her grip on her flashlight, hopeful she could use it to stop him long enough to reach her car. These hopes were dashed when she heard a childish laugh in the same area that Bonnie's voice was. All three animatronics were going to trap her.

Lorelai ran to the right, where the trail split, and she bolted towards the visitor center instead. The path was a lazy wind to a rectangular, one-story building with all its lights out. Not as many trees surrounded it, so the moon could more easily cast its faded glow on the dark, metal and wood shape. The awning was stylishly slanted, though the angle looked wrong in the dark, and thick pillars held it up, leaving large gaps for the glass that served as the front walls, meant to give a scenic view of the trails below. Her flashlight harshly reflected off the glass like a burning eye. This eye winked at her, and Lorelai realized her light was flickering. She skidded to a stop and faintly rattled the flashlight between wheezing breaths.

While she was stopped, she could better hear the sharp, stone footsteps moving through the winding path. Lorelai wanted so badly to point her flashlight over there, but her instincts shrieked for her not to. Instead, she ran to one of the thick pillars and turned off her flashlight. Lorelai crouched behind a trash can, trying to keep her breaths short. The smell of the plastic garbage bag made her stomach spin nauseously as she remembered being stuffed into the bin.

Boulder Bonnie entered the clearing. Small rocks cracked underfoot. Lorelai sucked in her breath. The grinding of his joints grew closer, vibrating under her skin and to her bone.

He moved past the pillar and moved farther through the clearing.

The glassy front doors were several feet away from Lorelai. She listened for Bonnie, not daring to peek out.

Bonnie continued to circle the front of the building. He knew she was there but hadn't found where.

Lorelai slipped to the door, quickly testing them. She was able to turn the lock and let herself in. She ducked behind another pillar and stared at the moonlit floor. She saw the shadow of rabbit ears crawl across the floor like fingers stretching out. The shadow remained. Then the ears slid away, as Bonnie moved from the door, perhaps to make another round. Lorelai shuddered an exhale. She moved farther inside.

It was far quieter inside the building. The constant scratching of insects and wind-nudged branches was replaced by a sterile silence. She could hear nothing but her own muddied footsteps scraping against the tile floor with a slight echo. Lorelai avoided the glass window at the front and was too scared of getting cornered in the bathroom to hide there. The lounge area had olive green couches that looked painfully inviting, but they were in too open of an area.

The visitor center had a small, museum-like area, with a plaque detailing the founding of Red Trails and a shopping corner. There were empty, circular stages sitting among fake models of a forest, a mountain and a swamp. Lorelai could only assume the animatronics sometimes stood there, and she was grateful they weren't there now. There were also glass display cases with preserved plants, cleaned animal bones and a glass beehive. The bees were mostly asleep, but the faint stirring of their black-yellow bodies revealed them to be very alive. The only other living thing in the center was Lorelai.

Her heart skipped when she noticed a camp supply store, but it had a metal shutter over its entrance.

"Welcome."

Lorelai jumped and spun, pointing her half-dead flashlight. Nothing appeared to have changed, aside from a monitor blinking at her from the counter of the gift shop. She cautiously approached the gift shop. It did not have its shutters down, and the lights were still on, giving her a clear view of the rows and rows of plushies, keychains, novelty cups and other gaudy-colored merchandise.

When she got close enough, the electronic, cool-toned voice continued, "The gift shop is currently closed but I am an automated merchant who can assist if you would like to make a purchase during off-hours. If you are actually a trespasser and attempting to steal merchandise, please use the nearby phone and report yourself to local authorities."

"Where's the phone?" Lorelai yelped.

"The phone is located on the wall to the right."

Lorelai turned to the large, black box of a wall phone. She rushed to it and pulled the corded phone. Her fingers left smudges on the keys while typing 9-1-1. She felt the hum of the phone ringing in her collar bone. There was a click and a robotic voice answered, "Please insert $0.75 to be transferred to your dialed number."

She grabbed her shorts pocket, which was full of nothing but scraps of leaves. All of her money was in her car.

With a dismayed groan, Lorelai slammed the phone back into the receiver. The noise was like a gunshot and made her flinch, but she was almost too upset to care. She looked to the blinking monitor and asked, "If I steal something, will you please call the police?"

"If any property is stolen, the security footage will be flagged for the next store clerk to report and contact local authorities. The next store clerk is scheduled to arrive in: 9 hours and 18 minutes."

Her stomach plummeted. Her car was so frustratingly close, but Bonnie was probably still circling the building. She clutched at her hair, but feeling of the dried mud clumps and molded leaves in her tangled hair only made her feel worse. Her joints ached, bruises simmered in pain, cuts throughout her body were jammed full of dirt and every inch of her itched with filth. The crunch of her muddied feet sent an icy cringe up her spine. She wanted so desperately to lay down and cry. She wanted to give up.

Her father's warm voice drifted up her mind like a balloon, "My baseball coach had this saying I never forgot, 'Always persevere, always persist!' I carried that with me through school, through my career and, most importantly, got me to propose to your mom. If I ever gave up, I wouldn't have been blessed with you."

Her heart ached. She wanted to see her parents so badly. When did she last call them? When did she last take time off work to visit? More than wanting to scrub off the dirt, she wanted to see her father, to hug him and not let go. She had to escape this nightmare. She couldn't give up here.

Lorelai let out a deep exhale.

Getting to her car was the surefire way to escape. She still had her keys attached to her belt loop. But Bonnie was circling the building, and there was no doubt Freddy and Balloon Boy were close by. It would be risky to run to it without a clear shot.

She turned her flashlight back on and fussed with the head, managing to get the bulb to stutter just a little less.

The visitor center seemed safe for now. Maybe she could wait here a little longer, hope that a Faz-Ranger will find her. A worry squeezed her stomach, remembering how the little robot stepped on Ranger Elkin's arm. She really hoped the rangers were okay.

She decided she would wait as long as she could in the visitor center. If there was an opening, then she'd go for it, but there was no point in taking unnecessary risks.

As she looked for a good place to hide, Lorelai's eye slid across the polished floor, catching on her muddy footprints. There was a mixture of green footprints, separate from hers.

Her heart leapt in fear.

She flicked on her flashlight to follow the footprints as increasingly fast squishes filled her ears. Her light struck Swamp Balloon Boy slimy skin, and his squelching footsteps halted. Even as he stood still, bits of moss drippled from his arms.

This robot was still very unsettling, being mummified in rotten-smelling, swamp gunk, but he was less threatening than the others, at least in comparison. He constantly held the stick of mud and moss and his sign post, as if they were fused with his hands, so Balloon Boy couldn't grab her like the others. He was only as tall as a five-year-old, which still made his cartoonish proportions unnerving, but it felt easier to get away from. Lorelai had no intention of finding out what Balloon Boy would do once he reached her, but she felt like she could manage this.

Then Balloon Boy's face made a continuous clicking noise, and the mushy skin squished as his smile opened wider. She could better see his teeth, straight like a human's but stained with mud, and the inside of his mouth was a cavern of slimy mud, rotten leaves and glimpses of metal. Loud, echoing laughter ripped from his mouth.

"Eh-hah-hah-hah!" the robot repeated in a relentless loop. His voice bounced off the floors and walls and drilled into Lorelai's skull. Panic shot through Lorelai when she heard stone against stone rapidly approaching.

Boulder Toy Bonnie appeared from around the corner and moved faster when Lorelai came into view.

Lorelai's flashlight beam snapped onto Bonnie, freezing him. Balloon Boy then resumed racing towards her. Her light flicked back to him, so Bonnie continued to charge until she moved her light again.

"Nonono," Lorelai murmured as the robots subsequently inched closer. She tired to back herself away and her arm started to burn from the constantly flicking. The robots' jaws opened wider the closer they got.

She backed into a half-circle and, finally, got them both caught in a single beam. They both stared with their empty eyes. Her heart slammed against her chest.

Lorelai shouted to the monitor, "Help!"

The monitor answered, "Helpful maps are located in the slot of the cork board by the entrance, to ensure you don't get lost."

Lorelai tried backing up, in an attempt to get closer to the center's exit. She moved as far back as she could with the robots still frozen by her light.

Her flashlight beam flickered. Both robots lurched a step forward.

Lorelai sucked in a breath and ran. Her feet pounded against the ground and she pushed back open the glass door, back to running across the paved trail. Balloon Boy's squishing steps were quickly overtaken by Bonnie's quaking sprint. Lorelai kept pointing her flashlight behind herself, causing Bonnie to freeze mid-run and slow significantly.

She had to make a break for it.

Lorelai tore through the winding path and raced up the incline. She had slowed Bonnie enough that she couldn't hear him behind her. Perhaps he might even hesitate at the fork and not be sure which direction she went.

The trees opened up in the parking lot. There were no streetlamps, so it was very dark. It looked so barren without any cars, but she could see one shape towards the middle edge; her car, right where she left it. Lorelai nearly wept with relief. A pair of glowing orange dots hung beside the driver's side.

Lorelai skidded to a stop. She put up her flashlight, shining it on Woodland Toy Freddy. In the limited light, his wooden body looked twisted and gnarled, like a mutilated burn victim. He rose his arms, holding the branch, less like a walking stick.

He plunged the twisted end into her tire, and the wheel squealed like a swine. The stick pierced through layers of metal. He rotated his wrist and yanked the branch out, so the tire gasped and her car sagged.

Lorelai's insides turned to jelly and Freddy's pupils pierced her just as the tire.

Bonnie and Balloon Boy raced up the hill.

"No. Please," Lorelai whispered.

The ground shook behind her. She turned and pointed her flashlight, stopping Bonnie and Balloon Boy again. The clunks of Freddy's footsteps inevitably approached. Just she turned with her light, a deep whistle flew towards her as Freddy swung his stick like a club. She jerked back and it hummed over her forehead as she shrieked.

"No!" Lorelai tumbled to the side, and her flashlight bounced against the ground.

The robots lunged collectively as Lorelai clawed for the light. She was barely faster and put up the cracked beam to freeze Bonnie and Freddy. Balloon Boy was behind them, hiding from the light in their shadow. But the light stuttered unstably. Bonnie and Freddy seemed to twitch as they inched forward with each flicker. Lorelai scrambled to her feet and the light went dark.

Night flooded her eyes and the air was a thunderstorm of robotic stomping, Lorelai's scrambling and her breathless screams. She raced out of the parking lot, and, amidst the fear was a terrible despair. Running downhill felt like the unraveling of all her progress. There was no escape, no where to go. They were going to catch her.

Her flashlight flickered like a dying firefly. She instinctively pointed it behind herself to slow the animatronics down, so they weren't in sight. But she could still hear their feet pounding the pavement, soon to catch her. Her light wasn't turning on anymore. She didn't know where to go, she only ran and desperately hoped.

Her foot slipped from under her.

Lorelai slammed into her shoulder, and she sharply cried in pain. Her flashlight rattled next to her, flickering back to life, but for who knew how long. Lorelai let out a sob as she scraped herself up. The weak beam of her light exposed the legs of the bench next to her. Flattened bodies of lights foggily reflected the light. They looked like withered fish corpses, but one looked too flat, too smooth and light-colored.

Her heart lurched and she grabbed the object. It was cold and limp like a film of skin. It was a Band-Aid.

"Oh please," she whispered, tears in her eyes. "Please, please, I beg you."

Thunderous footsteps roared down the path. A trash can was visible a few strides away, briefly visible by its glint, until her flashlight died.

She couldn't think of anything but running to the trash can. Lorelai all but slammed into it, narrowly knocking it over. Grinding stones and creaking wood screamed in her ears. She couldn't see the mouth of the bin, so she guessed and threw the Band-Aid and flashlight downward. There was plastic hiss and metallic slam. Lorelai dropped into a curled shape and locked her hands over her head, like bracing for a tornado. A wooden palm knocked against her head and his fingers clenched her skull. Lorelai wailed in terror. Pain shot through her skull, but the robot didn't squeeze further. His head shuddered and his eyes flickered as his jaw jittered.

"Thank you for disposing your trash," Freddy and Bonnie said in unison.

Then Freddy let go.

Lorelai panted, still feeling the pain from Freddy's fingers, but the stone and wooden footsteps retreated. New footsteps approached on the opposite side. Lorelai flinched and turned, getting the beam of a flashlight in her face.

Ranger Elkin pulled the flashlight away, looking even more surprised than Lorelai. She murmured, "You are one lucky son of a gun."

Lorelai let out a noise that was a mix of a laugh and a sob.

Elkin's almost smile drained when she flicked her flashlight past Lorelai, landing on Swamp Balloon Boy's glistening skin. He never moved.

Lorelai gasped and clutched the ranger's leg like a little girl grabbing her mother. He stared at them with his little grin.

Balloon Boy stepped backwards, sinking into the dark. His squelching footsteps sucked against the ground and grew faint.

Now Lorelai broke into actual tears. Everything built up in her chest felt like it was trying to burst out of her throat, making her hiccup and shudder, "I-Is it—is i-it over? Did I-I do it?"

The older woman took Lorelai's arm and her voice was coarse but trying to be gentle, "Almost. You're past the worst of it, but you still have to leave. Do you still have your keys?"

"M-my tire's busted," Lorelai whimpered.

Elkin didn't look surprised to hear this. She spoke into her radio, but Lorelai didn't quiet register it. Her mind spun like a carousel. Elkin barely managed to convince her to stand.

"Let's get to the upper lot," she directed.

Lorelai stuck close to the ranger. Her relief started to fizzle when she noticed that Elkin hadn't relaxed in the slightest. The moon had disappeared behind thick clouds, leaving the night so thick that you couldn't tell the hundreds of branches and leaves from the empty air. The only source of light was Elkin's pale flashlight, which she constantly slid across the trees and bushes surrounding the trail, as if trying to ward off animals. In the light, Lorelai could see the gauze wrapped around Elkin's wrists.

Lorelai's chest felt like it was full of mice.

"Why hasn't anyone done anything about this?" Lorelai asked, "Why haven't these things been destroyed?"

Elkin laughed without a smile, like Lorelai told a joke.

Lorelai couldn't even hear the wind, just the crackle of the dirt and sticks beneath their feet.

Elkin suddenly answered, speaking in a mutter, "We break 'em, the company sends a new one. We complain, the company fires us and hires replacements."

She ran her flashlight over the trees, making the shadows twitch.

"It's not just a glitch; there's an evil in them."

Elkin briefly settled the light on Lorelai and added in a low voice, "You know what I mean. You saw it too."

Lorelai shuddered, but said nothing. She didn't know what to say.

It actually surprised Lorelai when they reached the parking lot in a matter of several minutes. There was far more light. There was a jeep parked vertical to Lorelai's car, so its headlights were pointed at the flat tire. It was already hoisted up by a carjack. Ranger Sparks stoood nearby and greeted them with his flashlight.

"I got the spare," he stated.

Elkin answered, "Lend her your light. We'll cover you."

Lorelai found they didn't even ask before Sparks handed her his flashlight. Elkin explained, "He's going to change your tire. We're going to keep watch."

Inwardly, Lorelai really would have rather not, but she didn't feel she was in any position to refuse. She dutifully pointed the flashlight at the trees and bushes. The light made their bodies seem ashen and almost colorless. The dull pulse of the forest and its various creaks was a constant noise. Now the metal cricks and clacks mixed in from Sparks working on changing the tires. Every noise made Lorelai flinch, because of the new tension that filled the air. Sparks worked quickly, but he was extremely careful in his movements. He didn't allow anything to hit the ground. Elkin never took her eyes off the trees that surrounded the parking lot.

"They're waiting for us to drop something," Elkin murmured.

What made it worse was that Lorelai couldn't see any of the robots. Or she couldn't distinguish them. The twisted shapes of branches and the mangled way that shadows slid up bushes sometimes looked humanoid, so she couldn't tell if she stared directly at an animatronic or not.

There was a creak from Lorelai's car.

Sparks lifted his head and called, "I need help carrying this."

Considering Elkin's injured wrist, Lorelai gave the second flashlight to Elkin and helped Sparks. The flat tire was heavy, mostly unwieldy, but dropping it was not an option. They shuffled carefully to the back of the jeep. Just as they reached the open trunk, Lorelai felt the wheel wobble in her arms.

Sparks quickly adjusted his grip, steadying it. They placed the flat tire in the trunk. Lorelai then helped Sparks carrying the new tire over and carefully handed him tools. If not for the horrible, looming threat, Lorelai would have been reminded of helping her uncle and dad fix up their cars in the garage. The twisting of bolts sounds like the creaking of metal bones.

Finally, a new wheel was attached. It was technically not the same size at the others, but it would get Lorelai where she needed to be.

Her throat felt tight and disbelief filled her as she pulled open her car door. Her muddied, cut-up hands looked so unfamiliar on the steering wheel. The sound of the engine brought tears to her eyes.

"Thank you," Lorelai whispered.

Sparks tipped his hat.

Lorelai hesitated, her gut full of worms. She asked, "Is…is this really it? What about this place?"

Elkin answered, "Maybe one day the company will pull the plug if they lose enough money on it."

Her window was rolled down, so Sparks was able to lean his hand against the window rim, and he leaned over to say, "Never come back. The robots will remember you."

Lorelai shuddered.

She shifted her car into reverse. Once she was past the toll gate, her foot pressed on the gas. She sped off, her heart pounding as if she was being chased again. All that mattered was leaving and getting back home. On her way out, she passed a sign depicting a kid-friendly Woodland Freddy, Boulder Bonnie and Swamp Balloon Boy huddled together with big smiles. The words beneath them exclaimed, 'Come back soon! We'll miss you!'


CatCrescent: Four minutes to midnight at the time of posting this, so I think it techinically counts as not late for Halloween! Honestly though, I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween weekend and this may be a nice spook to end things off. Enjoy!

I've always wanted to try my hand at a proper horror story and Five Nights at Freddy's seems like a good way to explore some creepy concepts. I've actually been a big fan of the series for a while, so it feels good to actually post something for it. I started writing this on 10/15/22 after flipping through about 8 other ideas, so it is a bit rushed for my tastes, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I would love to hear what you guys think!