Chapter 21:

Cryptic and Panic II

Things weren't going well with Freddy's system.

And there seemed to be another person within the area.

Just moments before, he was admiring the scenic beauty of the woods.

Now, here he was, motionlessly standing in front of a lifeless animal corpse. A lifeless corpse of what seemed to be a bear with black fur.

What? And why? Two questions immediately popped up and hindered the flow of information as though it was critically necessary to give them an appropriate answer.

What just happened? And why would he be so unfortunate to come across such explicit sight that shuddered the entire circuit system of his?

Having acknowledged that despite the peacefulness and tranquillity mother nature had, not always did she allow those times to last long. Living beings must and were forced to eat if they wanted to survive in this world. It was a given law, a universal rule that all had known from the moment they began their existence.

Animals devoured other animals – a repeating food chain cycle which was not meant to be broken, for there would be dreadful consequences if one ever dared to break the rules. They cared not if the meat tasted raw, nor came from a youngling, nor the pain of their victims… as long as it contributed to their survivability. That was the very nature of nature – a harsh yet inconvertible truth.

It was quite brutal and savage were it to be viewed from humans' moral perspective.

"Yes… That is a bear.", the boy was reluctant to give an answer, but did it nonetheless. "A-A black bear, to be exact."

He thought for a second. "I see… So my assumption was true, then." And another one for a moment of silence. "Why did you not tell me earlier? Why were you reluctant to give me an answer?"

No one replied. No one dared to look at him in the eyes.

Since when did his monologue begin?

"… Why? Why did you not? Was it because that animal, the one that got its organs spilt out, was in fact a real-life animal counterpart of me? Or was it because you thought that it would be better if I did not know its name, for the sake of my innocence?"

That last sentence caught their attention.

W-What…

His gaze grew wearier… but robots don't feel fatigued. "And what seemed to be the problem with me knowing its name? Why should I sympathise with an animal that looked like me? We are neither related, neither brother nor sister, nor a family, nor a friend. We are simply just lookalikes… barely lookalikes, that is."

…What am I even saying?

Without looking, Freddy was certainly sure that his friends were taken aback upon listening to his cold and monotonous speech.

Without looking, he was certainly sure that Gregory knew he was lying. Just this morning he told the boy that he did feel bad for having killed the fish, despite not being able to see their painful expression. And now he stated that he felt less than a pity toward an aminal whom he was inspired upon. Oh, the hypocrisy! How could he lie to himself like that in front of the boy in broad daylight like that?

His fists tensed as the fingers were intensely clasped against each other. His eyes wouldn't divert away from the corpse. For every five seconds of forcing his eyes to stare at it, he began questioning his own mentality after realizing how sane and collected he managed to maintain instead of being visibly terrified like the others who were standing beside him.

He was staring at a corpse. I am staring at a dead body.

The corpse was a dead black bear. It is a bear with black fur, very close to the real-life animal counterpart compared to my robotic appearance.

Organs that were exposed to the air instead of belonging inside the body. Is that what a stomach supposed to look like? What is that long, squishy, tube shaped… meat thingy? Why are they red-coloured? Was it because of blood? And are those… digested food?

Too much – This was too much for him to make sense of.

"W-What happened here?", Lily managed to utter a sentence with her covered mouth and nose. "W-Why is there… a—ugh", even though she couldn't smell it, she could see it. And seeing it was more than enough for a girl like her, let alone having to suck in those horrid smells.

She continued. "Why is there a dead bear lying in the middle of the forest?"

"A bear fight, I think.", said Daniel with his strange-sounding tone thanks to his blocked nostrils. "But… I didn't know they were this brutal! Normally, there would only be bite marks and some permanent scars. Not… Ugh… Rips out their opponent's belly like that…"

Of course.

Of course, bear fights! What else could have logically explained what he was looking at? This fact had just become one of the many reasons why he couldn't grasp the concept of making him based on such vicious and savage predators capable of tearing their own kind apart in a fight.

"That still doesn't explain who left those scars on the tree back then, though.", reasoned the girl. "It couldn't have been a bear! There must have been another predator stronger than them!"

The man scratched his chin with the other hand. "Well, this is a black American bear, like Gregory had just said. And… they aren't that big compared to their relatives – the grizzlies. Oh, yeah, now we're talking."

"The… grizzlies?", muttered Gregory before speaking out loud. "You mean grizzly bears? Brown bears?"

Freddy's ears perked up upon hearing that.

"Yep, they're huge. Three to four feet when walking on all fours, but as tall as our buddy Freddy here when standing on twos. Oh, and they are hella strong, too. They can easily break your bones and fit your head into their jaws… literally. Biting you off will be just like biting a tendon, crunchy and brittle. They could have been the one making those claw marks."

As tight as his fists already were, he clenched them harder, and harder…

Much as persuasive the man might sound, Lily just couldn't buy it immediately. There were still some things left unexplained, and she still hadn't had a clear hypothesis for them yet. "I don't know. It's just that—"

The girl was given no time to finish when a grunt was heard coming from the animatronic bear.

Suddenly, an emergency sign popped up, blocking his vision.

Freddy's eyelids jerked uncontrollably. His head was jerking uncontrollably, he had to hold it still using his hands.

[WARNING: Multiple unknown anomalies were detected within the system.

Begin scanning the entire system…]

Gregory had his heart almost fell out. "F-Freddy? What's wrong?"

[…Scanning complete.

Certain anomalies were detected originating from the core. ]

Everything started spinning around like a whirlwind.

"Freddy! Freddy! Are you okay?"

He felt like his head was going to explode. Grunting wasn't going to help, nor standing there doing nothing. Then again, what else he could do?

He felt like his sense of the surrounding world was beginning to fade away. By the time he noticed it, he had completely lost it. High pitch ringing noise echoed his sound processor back and forth, causing them to vibrate violently despite not perceiving any external sound. Imaginary earthquakes caused his inability to balance on the ground and became even worse as they trembled more intense.

[Calculating core instability…]

"Freddy!"

He heard his name being called out, but they were muffled to the point that the only thing he could hear was TV static. He felt his legs were trambling on the dried leaves, mindlessly heading to nowhere, occasionally bumping into trees and bushes.

Even Daniel stopped his usual carefree attitude. "What's happening to him?!"

"I… I don't know! W-Where are you going, Freddy?"

He couldn't. He just couldn't stand it any longer.

[Calculation completed…

WARNING: Core instability reaches an alarmingly high amount of percentage. Rebooting the system is required to fix the anomalies.]

What… rebooting?! This… cannot be happening! "Stop it, stop the reboot!", he shouted.

But it wouldn't respond. And only caused his friend to panic even more.

"Stop what?! What are you talking about, Freddy?", Gregory's voice became so distant that words barely made sense to him. But he assumed that they were meant to inquire about his chaotic state.

A few more unbalanced steps were made before he stopped feeling the electricity course through his digital veins. Then, he fell down and collapsed on the ground as he helplessly let the program do its job.

Since when did he stop being the one in control of… himself?

[Commencing shut down… ]

"Hm…"

"What is it, Bonnie? You… don't feel comfortable lying on the floor?"

"Oh! Stars! Not that I don't like it. It's just that I don't lie down this often… Huh. Are we even allowed to do this? I'm not sure if this could stiffen our bolts or make them rust. You know, since it is recommended that we should be walking around whenever possible to keep our movement smooth and fluid like what the mechanics have said."

"That sounds unlikely, in my opinion. I am certain that lying on the floor is completely harmless and does not cause anything bad. Besides, we would still have to do the same when being in maintenance in the cylinder."

"You're not wrong, though. Welp, whatever you say Mr Fazbear. You sure have an unusual way to kill the time. I didn't know whether this could even be considered a hobby or not."

"How have you been feeling so far?"

"Eh… I don't know. Relaxed, I guess? What about you?"

"Same as you. I suggest that you should pay attention and listen closely to the sound made by the neon lights hanging on the ceiling."

"Hm… Well, I hear humming and buzzing. They seem to always make these particular sounds, right? Humming and buzzing."

"That is correct!"

"So… What about it? Do you… find it relaxing?"

"Absolutely!"

"Oh, how predictable. I know you too well."

"I wonder what these peculiar sounds are called. They sound like they should be regarded as a specific type of noise. Do you know what type of noise are they?"

"…No idea. And I doubt everyone has an answer to that strange question of yours, Freddy. Now, if you don't mind, I am going to continue listening to the humming."

Absolute nothingness. That was what he had just felt for… for a definite amount of time.

The feeling of absolute nothingness was neither a good nor a bad thing. If he felt nothing, then there would be nothing to worry about, since there was already nothing to feel. There were times when he was glad that he didn't possess any human perceptions. In this case – the sense of touch. To bear such sensibility was to bear crushing heavy responsibilities and potential risks.

He had witnessed the pain given by injuries, from minor to critical, judging from each person's reaction, from calm to horrified. He wondered what would it feel like to experience pain. At the same time, he wondered whether he would regret it later on or not. After all, how could he possibly predict the outcome of a subject that even himself obtained no knowledge of?

[Fazbear Entertainment Robotics.

Starting up…

Entering safe mode…

Booting up complete.

Initiating power-saving mode…

Current battery: 75%.

Estimated time: two hours, five minutes and thirty seconds.]

He heard voices, they were faint, just about enough for him to hear.

"Hey, hey, look! He's waking up!"

"Freddy! Freddy! Freddy, can you hear me? Are you okay? What happened?"

Light infiltrated his vision preceptors, materializing a field of orange-reddish silk bedecked with transparent white smudges that looked like cotton candies. Oh, that would be the sky and clouds.

Freddy turned his head to the left, and saw trees, lots of trees. He turned to the right, more trees. Oh, that would be the forest he was currently in, or rather, the "forbidden forest" since he was a trespasser of a restricted area.

Freddy then returned his head to a relaxed position, facing upwards. It was then he finally noticed the blurry faces of his friends. A few seconds later, they became clearer and clearer along with his hearing sense, until everything became so pure and vibrant that his eyes started blinking in adjustment.

Having completed the reboot, the first thing he heard was sobbing, and the first thing he saw was the boy's desperate face damped with tears dripping onto his shell.

He could finally use his voicebox now. "G… Gregory?"

The boy became more emotional. "F-Freddy, are you okay? I'm so worried! W-What happened? Just before, you were fine… a-and then… t-this! You started shaking uncontrollably and running away from us!"

"Not to mention, you're a quick sprinter as well. We almost got lost track of you after getting through the bushes.", added Daniel. "Thanks to your buddy, who had the endurance of a horse, we might have never spotted you."

Speechless, Freddy turned to look at Gregory, who was now wiping off the tears on his face. He noticed Lily was somewhat trying to hold back her tears, seeing how watery her eyes were.

Damn, look what he had just brought upon his innocent children. Well, maybe not really innocent. How could he even keep the boy safe if he couldn't able to control himself, let alone the countless danger of the outside world? It was already hard for everyone to get comfortable with, he mustn't let another burden block his way to safety and freedom.

"I… I am very sorry, for causing trouble to everyone.", well, at least he still managed to utter an apology.

"That's not important at the moment.", said the boy. "Besides, I don't think it's your fault, anyway. Something must have gone wrong with your programming, right?"

He was reluctant to give an answer, but did it nonetheless. "My system detected a high amount of anomalies. They mostly originated from the core, causing it to be unstable."

"The core!?", exclaimed the boy.

"Well… that sure doesn't sound good.", remarked the man.

Of course, it didn't. His core was the equivalent of a human heart, literally speaking!

"So you… had to reboot?", the boy continued asking, to which, he received a nod.

"Yes. I think the anomalies are all patched up now."

With a sigh of relief, the boy could finally relax on the patch of grass he was lying upon. Heavy breathing could be heard escaping through his lungs, it bothered the bear. "Are you alright? You must have run quite a distance."

"Don't worry about me!", the boy rolled his eyes as he let out a huff. " Worry about yourself! You should take care of yourself as well. Be grateful that you didn't head straight to a cliff and fall into a river."

Gregory was… right. Now that the boy mentioned it, he couldn't recall having run away from everyone at all, as if those memories had just gone poof – vaporized into nothing. Either those memories were deleted after rebooting or they simply didn't have time to be processed moments before his system was shut down. It was like closing a video game before it could finish calculating the player's scores.

Daniel lifted his narrowed eyes to look at the sky above. "Hm… We should get going now. The sky may look bright, but that won't be the same when we arrived at the campground… Uh…"

Freddy slowly got up, he then reached his hand out for the boy to grab it. But before he could pull the boy, he was interrupted by the man's unfinished speech.

"…Where did we come from again?"

Upon hearing that, he froze motionlessly.

"W-Wait, hold on.", the man remained calm as he took out the map from his pocket. His eyes scanned the piece of paper rapidly like a child uninterested in reading a textbook. "The hell?! How come most of the restricted area doesn't even appear on this map? This is such bullshit!"

"That's because it's a restricted area!", explained the girl. "Why would anyone waste their money making maps about a place where people aren't even allowed to step into?"

Daniel shoved the map back into the pocket and dipped his hand into another one. "Ugh… Thank gosh I brought the compass with me."

Freddy had lost count on how many times he started panicking and was relieved immediately after that since he escaped the Pizzaplex. It didn't seem to affect his programming much, needless to say. Although, after considering how his emotions had been shifting to one another in such a short amount of time lately, he might have to think about that again.

Moments passed, and there was yet a confirmation from Daniel himself.

"What is it? Don't tell me the compass is broken…"

The man shot Lily a gaze of approval. It wasn't meant to approve that everything would be fine, but to approve of the girl's speculation instead.

Oh, great. "Seriously?!"

"Relax, princess.", shrugged the man with a carefree attitude. "From what I remember, we came from… Hm… this way, right?"

This was going to take forever, maybe until he had entirely depleted his battery, which was two hours left until he could charge again!

The girl looked like she was receiving all the secondhanded embarrassment from her brother's childish and immature mindset. "Stop acting like we have just run a mile, we didn't even get far from that old withered tree. If you don't remember, then let me lead the way instead."

And just that, the girl became the new pioneer of the expedition team.

Yet, something told Freddy that Daniel was actually pretending to know nothing and wanted to see if his sister could remember the way instead. Well, the man asked for it.

The car stopped in front of a bare hill distinguishable from its lack of greenery. The engines quieted as Seb turned the key. He then opened the door, and waited no more than seconds before heading to the back of his car. The fresh air and the greenery born from the trees and shrubs came together in their own ballet dance. The sweet breeze gave air richer in carbon dioxide to the flora, and the flora gave air richer in oxygen in return.

He promptly opened the trunk, taking a quick scan at the devices which were put inside. Through an eye of an inexperienced youngster, all they would see were complex contraptions, intricate gadgets that one didn't normally see at a pawn shop. Well, it was him who crafted these things, needless to say.

By combining all different kinds of tools, he had created a piece of machinery so bizarre that it seemed alien to this world. Whatever invention he had designed, its only purpose was already clear from the start: To serve as a part of catching the "beast" responsible for the infamous urban legend that had been a part of this region for a long while.

It seemed the rumours were actually true, after all, unlike most of the time.

Seb coughed a few times, which made him remember Samantha's advice to help him stop being an extremist smoker. It was a little too late for that, smoking was a part of his life now.

Talking about smoking, he kinda needed a one at the moment.

After lighting up the cigarette, he took a deep inhale, sucking all those "pain-relievers" into his pitiful lungs. Ah, yes, tasted like… powdered ginger. Now, he could start working.

Within the trunk, he took out some… objects, and put them in his handy side bag.

Aside from being a monster hunter, or a myth-buster since he was trying to catch an urban legend creature, he doubled as a ranger of this forest as well. Pretty neat, huh? The reason for this wasn't the fact that he found the rumours themselves believable, as if he would care, it was just that his job was kind of… dull, to say the least. All he had to do was sit on a ranger tower and looked out for reckless teenagers who would likely start a forest fire rather than a harmless camping trip.

He had considered quitting in the past, but having some friends as companies always changed his mind in the end. Besides, wasn't it him the one who wanted to seek freedom from mother nature? And he still had Samantha to talk to, as well as the store's whole heap of heavenly cigarettes.

Seb sighed as he let all the smoke escape through his burning throat. He then began walking towards the hill, where a dying, withered tree could be seen still not giving up to Death. Even a tree had more reason to live than him, what a shame to bear…

He stopped before a bush. To everyone, it would appear like any ordinary bush, a bush that didn't seem to be concealing something. Little did they know, as he pushed the leaves away, there it was, revealing what seemed to be a teeny tiny rectangularly shaped object that looked like a microphone… or something similar to that.

He did use cameras, but they just failed… magically, as if there was some kind of force field that prevented them from working. It confused him at first, but when he changed to using the sound recorder, nothing happened. Thanks to it, though, he was able to hear strange sounds on occasion: Sometimes a growl, sometimes a huff, sometimes a grunt… Sure, it was just animals making noises, but they just sound… off to him, somehow.

Not to mention, last night the recorder received many grunts and growls, including the strange ones. Probably a fight between two animals – a bear fight – as he theorized. It was a dreadful match, for he could even hear one scream in agony. If that one unfortunate bear happened to die after the fight, its body should be around here somewhere.

After checking the microphone for any damage, he started to look for it – the corpse of the unfortunate bear… if there was still any of it left.

Moments later, he found it.

"Jesus Christ! What the fuck?!"

As expected, it smelled beyond horrible. Yet, the most disturbing thing would always be the spilt organ coming from its stomach.

What the fuck happened here?

The chance for a bear fight to even occur in the middle of the night was already as unlikely as any animal dared to step their foot upon this cursed ground. Even so, how violent and brutal must that brawl have been to cause such ruthlessness aftermath that not even a bear was capable of?

Much as Seb had seen animal corpses during his time working in this forest as a ranger, a sight like this wasn't what he would come across occasionally. Sure, he did get used to the rotten smell, but perhaps blood and gore were never enough. There was no limit to how destructive one could achieve, anyways, albeit total annihilation.

What animal, or thing, was responsible for this fateful black bear?

Could it be… it? Although he had never gotten a chance to bear witness to its real appearance, he did get to hear what sound it made. And those strange grunting and growling from yesterday were the same as what a thing like it would make.

Nevertheless, the reason he wanted to come here was to check whether his assumption was right. And he was right – there was a bear corpse. With that confirmed, he went to the car trunk and took out a shovel…

"I am fine, Gregory. This is the third time you have asked that question."

"No, you are not. I can tell you're lying."

"I assure you that there is nothing wrong with my system. After the reboot, every anomaly has been fully eradicated."

"It doesn't matter what happens to you after the reboot. What I want to know is what caused the reboot, not what the reboot caused."

"I…"

The more he told the boy how normal his system was, the more… guilty he felt. It made him remember when the boy insisted on him not being too overprotective, and that he should start taking care of himself. He even promised the boy. Now that he thought about it, he felt regretful for making that promise. Not that because he was a promise breaker, it was simply because he had failed that promise, miserably.

Gosh, he wished that he hadn't made any pinky promise. Since he was now in the outside world, promises now served as nothing but a heavy burden to his mechanical back. Everything that once had a strong connection with the Pizzaplex had either disappeared almost completely, or remained as a fading sensation slowly being overwhelmed by other feelings.

"Well, robots can't lie, right? That seems obvious.", said Daniel curiously.

The boy crossed his arms. "He literally lied to a security guard back then to distract her."

Freddy frowned. "Please, Gregory, can this matter be talked about later? Our top priority right now is to get back to the campground before the Sun sets."

Gregory said nothing other than a discontented huff. The bear imagined how chaotic the conversation between him and the boy would turn out: more reasoning and desperate attempts. Oh, no… he did not want that to happen again, after what happened just this morning. It might have been the first time he had ever gotten involved in an argument, let alone arguing with a child.

But one thing for certain, it was one of those rare moments when he felt most helpless in life… mentally speaking. It made him feel fatigued, despite the impracticality.

"Wow…", mused Daniel amusingly, "you guys reminded me of my little sister, especially you, kiddo—"

"Shh!", it was Lily's sudden noise that startled everyone to be on guard. "Get behind the bushes!"

"What is it?", feeling anxious, Gregory crouched down by a wall of tall bushes. "Lily, what is it? Is somebody here?"

The girl cautiously moved towards the shrubs as she carefully peeked her head over. "I think… there seems to be an old man standing at the place where we have just found… the bear corpse."

Too curious, Freddy crawled closer to the plants. Through a narrowed opening, he used his mechanical eyes to zoom at the man, who could be seen using some sort of tools to dig up the soil, creating a hole for a purpose that he knew not.

The man looked old. He rarely came across the elderly unless it was a child's birthday party, where their so-called "grandparents", which he was later told that they were the parents of a child's parent, would show up.

The man wore a thick, brown cotton jacket, navy-blue trousers, and a pair of mud-brown boots. He bore a full dark beard around his face and mouth, where the bear could see a burning tube-shaped object made from paper sticking out between the lips. It did not take long for him to realize what that odd-looking object was – a cigarette – an addictive drug that he would never understand the reason why many people would risk their health just to get a packet of it.

"What is he doing here?", asked Gregory, he was observing the mysterious man as well. "Is that… a shovel? Is he… burying the bear?"

"Shit! He could be the ranger of this forest!", said Daniel. "I mean, who else would have the reason to be in this place other than him? Oh, we are so busted..."

The girl went on observing, before widening her eyes in realization, "Wait… I think I have seen this man somewhere before, just this afternoon!"

Daniel raised a brow. "Really? I don't even remember."

"Remember the store at the gas station where we bought the stuff for Gregory? When you went to refuel the car, I saw him walk into the store, right past us."

"Welp, looks like we're on his watch list."

The girl continued mumbling something under her breath, then widened her eyes again. "Okay, I don't know if this was true or not. When you were refuelling, I saw that man talking to the cashier lady. Her name was Samantha, I think…"

"Huh…", the man smirked, hand scratching his chin. "Since when did you start prying into other people's private matters?"

The girl pouted. "Shut up! A-Anyways, I heard them talking about something, something… It's pretty muffled. But I'm sure that I heard… urban legends and creepypastas?"

Gregory blinked. Daniel looked like he was trying to hold back a snort. And Freddy was confused as always.

The girl shook her head in dismissing. "Well, I also heard that this man working on something as well. He was trying to catch something. I don't know what kind of animal that was, but I heard that it was smart and cameras won't do any good and stuff. I-It's just what I managed to get from their conversation… So don't take my words seriously."

"Well, yeah, we're definitely not, obviously.", shrugged the man. "But I won't mind believing in it, just in case it could be… I don't know, true?"

Gregory thought otherwise, though. "Don't you think it's oddly coincidence how the man just randomly stumbled upon a dead bear corpse, as if he knew he would find its body here? And he doesn't seem to pay attention to that decaying tree over there, either. Why didn't he do anything about it?"

A moment to process. "I think… I think he was the one hanging those wooden stick figures all around the forest!"

"Wait, what?! The old man? The ranger?", said Daniel. "Well, now it sounds somewhat convincing. But… if that's true, then what for? What did he do it for?"

"Shh! Lower your voice!", warned Lily as she checked if the old man noticed anything, then turned at her friends. "Let's get out of here as soon as possible. If the man really was the ranger, then, when he left, he might lock the gate and it would be hard for us to climb over, especially Freddy."

The boy thought about it, and without hesitation, he nodded firmly. "You're right. We should go now."

So many questions to ask, so many questions to seek answers. But that desire could be fulfilled later, the bear needed to return to the campground immediately. Chances of him being discovered by another human had just raised significantly. During these stressful times, every of his yearning was at a stake.

One mistake, and he was done for.

[Core instability: 32% ~ 52%]

After burying the bear corpse, Seb thought about putting two sticks together to form a cross and planting it on top of the pile of dirt. At first, he wondered if that would make the grave too "visible" and plain in sight since it would attract people and end up being disturbed by them. In the end, he decided to do it anyway. It wasn't common for people, reckless teenagers included, to come to this sacred-looking place, other than him and his other ranger friends.

When the cross was crafted using two long sticks and some ropes, he carefully shoved it at the head of the burial ground so that the rain wouldn't erode the dirt and cause the cross the fall over.

Well, he would occasionally check on it, perhaps.

Another cigarette, another sigh.

"Rest in peace, little one."

Another cough.

Having done what he needed to do, Seb returned to his car, putting the tools inside the truck before relaxing himself by the car door. He turned to look at the withering, lifeless tree being hung with bizarre-looking wooden stick figures.

In silence, there was contemplation.

In contemplation, there was silence.

He stood there for a while, gazing at… whatever he found interesting. And when he had finished the cigar, he tossed it into the little trash bin in his car before leaving this place.

"A comforting lie is more acceptable than a painful truth."