Chapter 9:

Caught In Crossfire

Lily stretched her arms, bending the knuckles on her fingers before returning to her usual business – sketching. She had just been into drawing a few months ago, before that, she couldn't even draw a circle properly, and it was infuriating. Now, she could quickly sketch the base of a human body, although not being precise in ratio, she was somewhat contented. With that being partially done, as she would come back to improve later, she switched to the next part – the surroundings, which was twice as hard as the former one since it took a bit of calculating the depth of the environment. Not everyone liked Math, it was common sense, and she was no exception.

After sketching for a few minutes or so, she stopped to look at the draft. Were she to show it to some random person on the street, they would gasp in awe and thought she was gifted in art. Contrarily, were she to show it to a person with an artistic experience, they would write a long essay pointing out the mistakes without mercy. The difference between the two sides varied significantly, it made Lily question her creativity and imagination. Of course, she ought to listen to the professionals, who would considerately help her improve her skill. But at the same time, she didn't want to make paintings too realistic and detailed within each inch of the canvas, for she took drawing and sketching as a way to kill time – a hobby, no more, no less.

"That looks terrible.", said a masculine voice in a British accent.

Upon hearing that, she turned around, and saw a tall man dressed in a white t-shirt covered with a red flannel jacket and dirt-coloured cargo shorts. The man was in his early 20s, as seen from his brown shaggy hair and a few unshaved spots of five o'clock that still stuck on his chin. His eyes colours were the same as hers – blue like river water - a distinctive feature which they both received from their mother, she also get the blonde hair colour from her mother as well, while the earth brown hair of her brother was from their father. The man bore a face like that of a typical easy-going dude who you would occasionally stumble upon on the beach.

It was none other than her big brother – Daniel.

"Thank you very much.", she said, eyes rolled.

"Hey, I was just kidding. It looks pretty nice.", said Daniel as he raised his hands up in defence.

"I was just kidding as well.", she replied sarcastically.

Her relationship with her brother was somewhat unusual, to say the least. Since she was born, he had already passed his twelve years of life. He told her that she used to be very stubborn and hot-headed as a toddler, and that she would get anything she wanted either with "conventional diplomacy", known as negotiation, or the use of force, known as crying. Of course, she didn't recall having tortured him with her otherworldly wheel and deal skill, but hearing that made her feel a little bit of pride, for some reason. Well, didn't anyone when their brother was just plain annoying? She would love to do that again to trigger the man's past trauma, though it seemed that after years of enduring, he had managed to develop immunity towards her special ability. Probably because she was eleven now and the fact that she couldn't do the crying trick again because of how embarrassing it was…

"I thought you were hanging out with that kid.", he said. "What was his name again? George? Georgia?"

"It's Gregory.", she corrected. "And I asked him to meet me in the afternoon because didn't you say that we are going to go on a short trip around the forest this morning?"

"Well, we can pay a visit to the kid's place while exploring.", he replied. "You can go play with the little guy until I come back to pick you up."

"I don't even know which part of the camping site he came from.", she sighed. "He only told me which direction and nothing more. But… according to that, he came from a… restricted area? I'm not really sure, I just knew that because I have seen it on the map."

"Huh, weird.", he remarked, then a smirk grew on his face. "Do you think he is a ghost of this forest? Hehe."

"Seriously?", she exclaimed in utter annoyance. "I literally touched him and saw him eat chips. How is that a ghost to you?"

"I don't know. Maybe there's actually a type of ghost that is physical and can eat and drink."

"Sounds like you."

Daniel was a funny and sociable guy, although his sense of humour could sometimes drive a person into madness and insanity. A noteworthy example was when she had a breakdown after having a quarrel with her friend, instead of cheering her up with some encouraging speeches, he started telling puns and jokes, which undoubtedly triggered a domino event. You could say that there was a hurricane in the house. And what would happen if there were to be a hurricane inside a house? Yeah…

Lily stopped sketching; she then turned the notebook a few pages forward until it reached the end. There, a picture showing an angle of the woods covered by the excessive greenery of the leaves and bamboo-like tree trunks plunged into the ground was stuck on the surface with a tape. In the middle, hung a strange-looking humanoid stick figure tightly bound by white threads on one of the branches. It was the picture Gregory had given her so that she could help him study what it actually meant. She asked her family and relatives, no answer. She asked her friends through texting, no answer. She looked up on the Internet, well, there were answers, but they mostly consisted of complicated backstories and didn't deliver a definitive explanation.

Some said it was just an ordinary mark to tell the direction, but who would spend their time making such complex work craft when they could have just marked it on the tree trunks or built another guiding stand? Some said it was the doing of a tribe to mark their territory, but how was that possible when no tribes were living here? Do they live in some kind of cave system? Some said it was a sigil for a dark ritual, this sounded more appealing as she had already made a guess about it. But there was very little information about this dark ritual, as there hadn't been any record of this particular event since the past hundred of years. The more she read about it, the more she realised that it was just a part of a creepypasta told by people on the Internet, which was not meant to be taken seriously. What a letdown.

And then there was this source that said that these odd symbols were made to warn people about a creature called "Sasquatch", which was basically Bigfoot. What the hell? And the list went on…

"What's that?", her bother probed as he leaned over for inspection. "Oh, this. Have you found anything about it yet?"

"Not a lot.", she responded. "The information I got from many sources about this… figure thingy was nowhere near the same. They all talked about different things. But I'm sure this is something related to witchcraft."

Daniel snorted. "Witchcraft, for real? Don't tell me you believe those things."

"Of course not!", she exclaimed. "I only meant it was the most appropriate explanation. Have you ever seen something like this before?"

"Nope."

She sighed again. Well, that was expectable. Nonetheless, she had finished sketching, it was time for a trip around the forest and took herself some pictures of the woodlands.

[An hour earlier…]

It had been thirty minutes, and Freddy could not stop looking at the photos.

Gregory found it amusing, he took pleasure in explaining what the creatures were called in each image. Most of them were insects and flowers alike, as he didn't encounter any animal nearby. Well, he did come across some birds, but taking a shot of them was already difficult enough since they wouldn't stop flying around. Also, it took him a solid minute or two in order to calm the bear down when he told the bear that he had gone into the forest alone to take the pictures. As expected, he was given another lecture from the bear, though he felt somewhat grateful knowing the bear really cared about him.

He told Freddy what a ladybug looked like and how colourful they were, what a bee looked like and how it made honey, what an ant colony looked like and how they hunt for food, what a caterpillar looked like and how it was able to transform into a butterfly. And after each explanation, he could see the bear's eyes and jaws slowly widened the more abstract and complex it sounded, especially the butterfly morphing part. Perhaps the bear was only taught how babies were born and grew up with no drastic changes in their appearances, like humans, for example, which probably explained why the bear had this face of severe disbelief when knowing there would be such a concept of growing through transformation. Imagine being born as a human, only to grow up into an extremely bizarre-looking creature that mostly lived in mud and swamps. Yeah… Just wait until he told the bear about the life cycle of a frog, then things would get even wilder.

"In case you don't know," he said, "there are insects living inside the Pizzaplex as well."

"There are?", asked the bear in surprise.

He nodded. "Cockroaches, they mostly live in dirty places, like the sewers and garbage dumpster, for example. That's why you don't see them often."

"I see…"

With an ominous intent, but not really, the boy mischievously grinned as he was preparing to say another mind-blowing fact for the bear to hear. "Do you know that they can live for a week without their head?"

"What!?"

Gregory burst into laughter. Oh, how he dearly loved the bear's reaction. He imagined the bear's mainframe sizzling in smokes while trying its best to comprehend the fact that a living creature could actually continue to live like everyday normal while missing its most vital and fundamental part that almost every living animal needed. Sure, the bear could function with his head detached - an interesting knowledge he had learnt when he found the bear inside the protective cylinder in the maintenance room after seeing him being dragged away by Moon. But unlike the cockroaches, they were able to control their body, while the bear could only speak with his jaws, blink with his eyes and wiggle with his ears.

"B-But… how is that possible?", demanded the bear, who remained trapped in oblivion. "For I am aware that the head is where the brain is, and the brain is somewhat similar to that of my central processing unit, which is a very crucial part in performing instructed tasks and making calculations. Without it, I would be no more than an empty shell. How can a living being survive with its head off?"

"I don't know, I'm not a bug scientist.", he shrugged, still laughing.

"Do insects have brains?", the bear probed again.

"Maybe?"

"Can they feel pain?"

"Probably?"

"Do they have a heart? Can they speak? What do they eat in order to survive? Why are they so tiny and not big like you and I?"

Okay, this was getting a bit out of control like last time. Some questions were hard to answer, some were just straight-up nonsense and ridiculous.

"I don't know, and I don't really know.", he blankly said. "Sorry if the answer doesn't satisfy you, I told you I'm not a bug scientist. Maybe we can hook you up to a computer and let you surf the Internet. Haha! Yeah, that would be cool!"

"The… Internet?", rephrased Freddy.

The wind came in whistles until it returned to the sky. Both exchanged their gazes.

"What?", he shockingly exclaimed, he wouldn't think the bear would be this antiquated. "You don't know what the Internet is!?"

"O-Of course I know what it is!", exclaimed the bear in defence. "Do not misunderstand, I only know what the concept of the Internet is. For I have never been able to operate a computer or a smartphone or even a connection through the main system, the Internet seems to be something abstract and intangible to me. As far as I know, it is a place where an unlimited amount of information is stored. Were I to scan every single piece of it, it would take me a few years to fully read it, perhaps a decade or so."

"Hold on, if you could plug yourself into a computer hard drive, wouldn't it mean that I don't have to teach you anymore?", he asked. "I mean… I want to see your reactions whenever you learn something new because it is so funny and hilarious."

"I do not think hooking me up to the Internet with a cable is a good idea.", commented the bear. "I am not like other robots who are designed to absorb information in such a short amount of time, for my programming is different from them. I can learn, yes, but not as quick as they are. Having to comprehend an excessive amount of data in a span of seconds or minutes would likely cause a malfunction in the mainframe. That is unless I was implanted a chip contains that information, then I would efficiently familiarize myself with the new data and use it with the best optimization."

"Well, I guess the company couldn't care less.", he remarked. "I mean, you are a robot designed to perform onstage and always have to stay inside an enclosed building, so you don't have to learn everything at the same time. Probably a reason why it wasn't mainly focused when making you."

The more he took effort in thinking about it, the more sympathetic he became. When Freddy spoke up his inner thoughts, he was quick to jump to conclusions instead of mindfully processing each detail. He didn't realize it, and might never be able to, had it not been the bear had told him about it. Now that he thought about it, the bear and the rest of his friends were no more than puppets that acted as money attractors. All were created with their freedom of choice taken away since the beginning, all were forced to listen in blind, dance in torture, sing in sorrows. They did not know it because they were not told about it, as the bear had said. The animatronics, although might not be considered as truly living beings, they still had the free will and privilege to be born in this world. They were a part of the material world, real and authentic.

Under the thoughtful gaze of mother nature, any creatures that roamed and thrived under her protective arms were all considered to be her children, albeit artificial or not. And the animatronics were no exception. It made him regretful for not knowing sooner. Then again, there were millions of children and adults like him, too young and innocent to acknowledge, too busy and distracted with their life to even care. No one, nobody, not even a single soul knew it, but he understood that, for he was once used to be like them - blinded by the happy and decorative walls of neon lights, distracted by the stimulating yet repetitive melodies of the "money attractors". As if fate had brought him and the bear together, it must have been taken aback by the company's sickening deeds as well. If so, then he would take the pleasure to be the one exposing the true greedy and evil nature of the so-called Fazbear Entertainment.

"Perhaps, it is indeed so.", replied Freddy, whose voice became heavier after each spoken word.

Gregory noticed the changes within the bear's tone, he wanted to say more shocking facts to delight him but he had already taught him everything he had known about insects. He could change the subject and began teaching another aspect of science, though he fear that he would have nothing new left if he decided to tell everything he knew about the outside world in one go. And then, when he returned on the road again, the likelihood of the bear asking about his life in the orphanage would be alarmingly high. Oh, how he hated talking about it, especially it.

Talking about being on the road, the van had been left idling for forty-five minutes, the battery must have been fully charged up by now. It's time to take out the jumper cables. After that, he would feast on the fish, then he and the bear could go on exploring the forest.

Having eaten breakfast as grilled fish and fully charged the bear up, they were now able to freely explore the deeper parts of the forest without constantly worrying about the bear's low battery problems. He drove the van along the trail, looking for a perfect spot to teach the bear more about nature and its denizen while concealing themselves from the sights of any human. When he found it, he parked the van between the walls of bushes, far away from the dirt roads enough so that no one wouldn't notice.

After that, the fun began. Upon stepping out of the van, Freddy couldn't stop gaping his mouth, with excitement exceeded limit. Gregory couldn't help smiling at the comical scene, it filled him with hope and determination. On the other hand, he felt somewhat sympathetic knowing how long his friend had been living in an entertaining prison, being locked away from the world outside. Seeing the bear awing at a sight so ordinary to that of the eyes of a normal person was the same as seeing a toddler awing at a Christmas present, it made him want to pity, but he couldn't do that, it just felt wrong.

The two took a stroll on a short hill, it was then the bear stopped walking, he diverted his gaze at a nearby fallen trunk.

"Gregory, come and take a look!", the bear called out, sounding excited. "What are these strange plants called? Their interesting shapes and colours caught my attention."

The boy followed the bear, he looked at the pointed direction, eyes narrowed. "Oh, those are called mushrooms.", said the boy. "Though most are poisonous, some of them edible. You can cook them by grilling or boiling, they are pretty tasty."

"Are these edibles?", he asked.

The boy inspected the mushroom again, they were brightly red-coloured with a handful of white spots decked on top of their cap. "Um… I don't think so. They say that if you are to be in a forest, it is best not to touch and stay away from the plants and animals that are too colourful, as they're a sign of poisonous creatures. For example, these mushrooms."

"O-Oh, that is… dangerous."

They continued walking until they finally reached the top. There, Freddy could feel his processor slowly heated up from the information it received from such beautiful and magnificent surroundings: Here among the evergreens in this kingdom of root and branch, there was a place in the woodland where the river meets the holly trees, there was the tranquillity of nature and a sense of natural clocks at peace with time. The forest rose over what otherwise would be a bare rain-washed rocky scree, creating an artwork of untold beauty on a canvas. There's something magical about it. In the middle of it all is an old tree, gnarled by the years with heaven-bound limbs that dance in the air. Underfoot was nature's compost, the leaves never swept but gave their nutrients to feed the soil, the roots, the canopy above. And always there was the sound of the river, the laughing water, the chirping harmony of the flying creatures called birds.

He stared at everything that bore the lush green, for he could only remain silent despite how much he wanted to scream every sensational he was holding back at that moment.

"I can see a lake from here.", said Gregory as he pointed his forefinger at where the lake was. "We'll head there later."

While the boy was taking a stride around some bushes, Freddy walked towards the old tree that stretches skyward in a lace of silent bark situated in the middle. His claws caressed its outer layer, it was like curling cream, as if it couldn't help but become like a ribbon upon the most exquisite of gifts. Other than those delicate natural pages opening into the forest, it was quite smooth. He looked up, and saw leaves of the elder tree, the most ancient of green eyes, open to the sunny rays, filtered the light to a perfect dapple - each so bold and shy, glossy and humble, as only nature can be.

And then, there were branches that reached their limbs across the spring sky, clouds passing as ships above. They appeared as if brought into the world by oils upon canvas, by an artist who knew there was both beauty and order in chaos. For they reached this way and that, the buds now opened, gifting their new foliage to the community. They were not straight, nor curved, yet organic and each supporting perfect blossom amidst the green. He thought of them as arms rather than branches, and perhaps that was why he loved them so, the trees, deeply rooted and stretching upward, drinking in both sunshine and rain in equal measure.

"You know,", said the boy, breaking the silence as he did so. "trees can live very long. The one you're standing next to is probably a hundred years old now, if not more."

"I can see that well, judging from its ancient look.", he remarked, eyes a little widened. "It's impressive at how tall and mighty they could get. Some trees I saw might be even higher than the Pizzaplex, which is a three-story building!"

"You can say they are the largest living thing on Earth.", added the boy. "They are also the ones responsible for pumping out oxygen for animals and humans to breathe. Without them, you and I might not even be here in the first place."

The bear thought about it, it was no wonder why there were so many of them on this planet. Their mere existence was enough to drastically affect the world in many ways. He pondered why the Pizzaplex didn't plant as many trees as they could, since the boy had said that they could create air for people to breathe.

"How are they able to do that?", he asked, feeling a little nervous because he feared the question might be too hard for the boy to answer.

"Humans and animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.", said Gregory. "The leaves absorb sunlight from the Sun and carbon dioxide from the surrounding air, then they release oxygen into the air and some energy for them to help them grow. The process is called photosynthesis. This is elementary school stuff, so everyone knows the basics, even toddlers."

Oh, so they needed sunlight, which explained why there weren't any trees planted inside the building. With that part of curiosity filled, came another question.

"Hm…", he mused, "How interesting. Somehow the trees and the animals managed to live together in harmony, as both sides produced the needed necessities for the other side to use. Do you find it purely coincidence for that to happen in the first place?"

In this nature's hug of ever-open arms of brown, cosy beneath the canopy of greens, there was a welcoming spirit that called. It was as if there was something in him the trees could feel and they chatter to it, his intuition perhaps. There was a softness to the woodland floor, to the moss that supported and sprung back. The woodland was the birdsong, it was the playful light and it was the serenity of time that flowed without the clocks of man. In this forest, he was with his tribe of wood and leaf, among the giants whose roots hugged the earth. It was a place of ancient souls, of the creatures who dwell with the sweet sounds of moving water and bird song. Somehow this was more home than "home", perhaps one day he would know why.

The boy raised a brow. "What are you talking about?"

"N-Nevermind…"

"Huh, weird.", mused Daniel. "Why would someone make a campfire in the middle of nowhere?"

It was the question that made Lily have to squeeze her remaining grey matter in order to come up with an applicable explanation. Apparently, when she and her brother went on a trip around the forest, they happened to stumble upon a remnant of what seemed to be a campfire. The charcoal was still radiating heat, which meant was extinguished not too long ago. As far as she knew, the place they found it was nowhere near a camping ground. And she hadn't found any other people camping around here asides from their family and relatives. What was going on?

"I don't know.", said Lily, "Maybe they had just gone fishing?"

There was a brook nearby, so that might explain it somehow.

"They could have just done it at the lake, you know.", he reasoned. "Besides, the water current here is a bit too swift to even fish."

As much as she hate to admit it, her brother was right. The two continued looking around to see if there was any clue that would help them know more about the scene. Shortly after, she noticed wheel tracks imprinted on the soil.

"Over here!", she called out. "I found tire marks."

Upon hearing that, Daniel quickly bolted to her and took an inspection at the tracks. "They probably returned to their campground. Do you think it's the kid's family?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure.", she replied, then she took out a map from her backpack. Using her finger to identify her current position on the map and the tracks' direction, she began theorising. "So, we are right… here. According to the tracks, it should lead to somewhere near the lake."

"That's, like, opposite to the campground which we haven't visited yet.", said her brother.

"And near the restricted area as well.", she added nervously.

Things became eerier the more she tried to add up. There was someone or some group of people who happened to go camping in this forest. For some reason, she and her brother hadn't come across them yet. Not to mention, she had been walking around the woods for nearly half an hour and hadn't spotted any signs of the others until now. To add more suspense, the clues she found were literally on the opposite corner of the map, while they should have been discovered on the other opposite. It might be crazy, but she started to think her brother's regarding a physical ghost that could eat and drink was actually possible and legit.

"Man, the amount of free time these people have are four times as much as the combined free time we have at weekends.", Daniel joked.

Lily rolled her eyes, the guy spoke the truth, though. "Should we go to that place?"

"Why not?", he wittily replied. "We can explore more of the woods while on our way going the kid."

With that being settled, the two continued their trip through the forest.

After what seemed to be fifteen minutes of Lily enduring her brother multiple attempts trying to horribly tell puns about nature, she could finally rest her precious ears as she had arrived at the nearby hill situated next to the big lake. Grabbing the camera, which was being held around her neck, she took a shot of the hill, which was covered with million hues of brown, more than her eyes could detect. The differences were magnified by the moisture, variation on variation. Mingled in were some stones, adding their greys to the mosaic beneath her feet. The trees were khaki over the bark, kissed with moss; on their shaded sides grew lichen as if thrown there like powdered paint, so softly green as to be close to white.

While Lily was being mesmerised by the scenic beauty, Daniel decided to be the guy who would enjoy spoiling your fun.

"Wait!", he exclaimed suddenly.

"What?!", she snapped back, nearly having a heart attack from it. "What is it?"

"Nature's calling."

"Do you have to be that dramatic?!", she yelled in whispers, trying not to be loud, indicating that she understood what the guy meant.

Daniel chuckled to himself, before disappearing into nearby bushes. With the annoying brother gone, finally inner peace: The woodland was like a droplet of paradise, with tiny chunks of wood falling to the leaf litter below, the sound dissipating into the woodland around. The air was still, the sunlight streams in like it was purer than the light she felt on everyday normal, white, yet liquid gold at the same time. A bird landed on the dirt trail, its tiny legs skipping among the fallen leaves, dancing to the murmuring of the winds. As she was about to take a photo of it, her brother decided to be a jerk once again.

"Um… Lily?"

This time, though, he was serious.

"You have got to see this. I think… I think I have found their car."

Upon hearing that, her heart became heavy. Despite being somewhat excited since she was about to meet Gregory's family, some part of her excitement slowly turned into worry as there could be someone else as well. And this "someone else" could be a dangerous person. She speedily dashed to her brother like there was no tomorrow. When she arrived…

True to her brother's words, there was actually a van situated within the bushes. The discovery itself was already shocking, yet it wasn't the main factor that caused her heart to weigh like a thousand tonnes.

"W-Wait…", she stuttered, hardly a word could come out of her mouth, but she had to try. "Is that… a Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex logo?"

"Y-Yeah… no shit.", even her brother had difficulty adjusting to the current situation.

Lily could feel her brain start melting bit by bit. Countless questions began popping up uncontrollably: Why would there be a random van which belonged to Fazbear Entertainment in the middle of the forest, while incidentally happened to be near her camping site as well? Did this have any connection with the recently extinguished campfire she had come across earlier? Who even owned this car anyways? It couldn't have been an employee of that place, either.

Hold on…

"Orange and blue coloured. Serial number FAZ-#420. Rectangular screen encased in a Freddy Fazbear head with buttons on the side that can be used to change the volume. Oh. My. Gosh! I can't believe it! It's the limited-edition Novelty Fazwatch!" – "Freddy gave it to me."

"Is that… a Fazcam!? […] What matters is how did you sneak it out?" – "I… would rather not say."

That couldn't be, right? The coincidences, the chances, the happenstances…

Lily didn't even have a single second to process everything ensuing around her, and when she could, the bushes nearby started wiggling and speaking in murmurs. Emerged from it, was a boy.

Lily blinked. "G-Gregory...?"

Silence greeted.

"L-Lily…?"

The wind came in whistles.

"That's him? The Gregory kid?"

The canopies dance along.

"W-What are you doing here?"

The fallen leaves rustled along.

"I…I…"

Three people stared at each other, as no words were spoken during that time. Then…

"Gregory, how unfortunate, the squirrel has run away! You do not have to go get the Fazcam anymore. Let us go to the… lake…"

Came to the most unprecedented thing that one could ever behold. It was in that moment of absolute stillness that one could ever experience. The wind died, the leaves ceased to rustle, even the chirping of the birds died down. In those frozen seconds, she could hear the crunch of dried twigs under her boot, just enough to give her the feeling of absolute terror.

"What. The. Fuck.", said Daniel.

"Two straight lines intersect at a single point. In Math, one may find it ordinary. In life, one may find it life-changing."

A/N:

Oh yeah, things are gonna get wild.