Chapter 23:

Caught In Crossfire II

Freddy realized how selfish he was to ignore the fact that the boy was in more pain than him. He wanted to apologize.

At the same time, Gregory was literally balancing on the rope between doom and freedom, both for the siblings and for his animatronic friend.

Now, everything was at stake.

"W-What are you talking about?", Daniel began to stutter, this wasn't a good sign. "I don't even know who the people in the recording even are!"

"Hm…", the man hummed amusingly. "A group of four people, one adult, two children, and… another adult, each goes by the name Daniel, Lily, Gregory, and Freddy. Usually, it's the high school teenagers, or adults from the nearby town or this campsite who would decide to go and explore the restricted part of this forest. But little children? Now, that is reckless."

No one even dared to open their mouth. So, the old man resumed his speech. "Unless… they really are the ones from the campsite. Well, since there is only one family decided to camp here, my presumption had led me to the conclusion that the following people in the recording are the same people from that family. Not to mention, Daniel, your voice matches quite well with the voice from the recording."

He gestured his finger at the girl. "…. You must be Lily, Daniel's little sister.", then, at Gregory, who was sitting next to her. "About you… Gregory… Lily, when you were talking to him, you mentioned your brother to him as 'my brother'. This means Gregory isn't a sibling of yours. So, he must either be your relative, or a friend, at the very least."

"I…", Lily was literally dumbfounded.

Then, a sigh. "And Freddy… Hm, this… Freddy person fascinates me, asides from the fact that he doesn't know what a "meme" is, which is rather surprising… His voice sure was something else. It sounded almost… robotic."

Gregory had a feeling that he was moments from throwing up due to the amount of stress he was enduring at the moment. Gosh, when would this old geezer stop hurling dumbbells equivalent of evidence at him? He acknowledged that there would be absolutely no way to make any rational rebuttal other than accepted defeat.

Sure, in one of the many possible outcomes, he and his friends might be detained at a police station, while Freddy was brought back to the Pizzaplex, either reprogrammed completely or replaced with a newer one for good. It was what he thought could be the worst-case scenario.

With the Fazwatch indicating the time of 7 PM, never before had he hoped for the bear not to wake up and keep dreaming deep about space and squirrels. Contradictory? Perhaps. Sometimes, when he made choices, they ended up seemingly contradicting his own conscience.

"Officer, I'm sure this is all but simply a misunderstanding.", pleaded Daniel. "We—"

Having waited no more than a second for the man to finish, Sebastian interrupted him. "That's what most guilty people would say when they got busted. Sure, innocents also say it, but with a different tone and reaction. Unlike you, who keeps denying when it is obviously clear that you trespassed. And the fact that you even brought children into that place... Be grateful that no one got hurt… I just paid a visit to your family just earlier, you know. Didn't expect you to camp out here alone with your little sister."

Daniel closed his mouth shut. It was a smart decision. Gregory couldn't imagine what trouble the siblings might be involved in after their parents learned that their children had just casually walked straight into a restricted area. Not good. Not good at all.

"Now, either I tell your parents about the trespassing, and possibly get detained for it, or you tell me where this… Freddy person is."

A simple command, yet so impactful that it bore such power.

Well, at least the geezer was kind enough not to snitch on the two of them…

Hysteria – Gregory was moments from experiencing it. He quickly glanced at the Fazwatch: another minute had just passed. Only just a single minute of the passing time and it was more than enough for him to undergo extreme pressure, just like when he was being chased by the Glamrock animatronics, especially the alligator.

Obviously, he wasn't going to tell the old man where Freddy was, much less admit the fact that he and the siblings were affiliated with this so-called "Freddy person". Although, despite that, he feared that not satisfying the man's inquiry might lead to even more consequential aftermaths. Like a clockwork contraption, he forced his precious brain to use up its remaining grey matter to come up with a solution… a seemingly imaginary solution for a seemingly unavoidable situation.

He had to try, nevertheless.

"Hey, Freddy."

"What is it, Bonnie?"

"Do you… believe that there is such thing… as the afterlife?"

"The… afterlife? Hm… I have come across such a concept like this before. To be honest, most of them always seem to sound… connected, somehow. There are some that I can understand, while others I cannot. And I have yet to fully understood what the concept of the afterlife's literal meaning really is. Perhaps, you might be able to elucidate me?"

"Well, personally, I don't think the word itself is difficult to process without having to read the definition. You know, "after" and "life", these two words are easily understandable. "After" is the following scene of a certain action or an event, and "life" is the state of being alive. You smash them together, and you got the word "afterlife", which means what happens after the life you have experienced. In simpler terms, straightforwardly, a new life after death."

"Oh… I see. Life after death. It is… somewhat impractical to imagine that there would be such a life after a living organism dies. Would everyone not have already obtained the memory of their past life, if the afterlife were truly an actual concept?"

"I don't think that would be the case, though. I haven't heard any humans talk about it ever before, much less a child knowing how to build a robot."

"Precisely, it is still a matter of debate. Maybe, somewhere in the near future, we might be able to know the answer to them all."

"I mean, aren't we basically capable of living forever as long as there is a power source? We can wait for weeks, months, years, even a decade! Well, if we managed to stay functional that long, that is. There's no such thing as a free lunch, as they say. I don't think humans want to keep us together for free without entertaining the children."

"That is also true. But…"

"… But?"

"… But even if there is such thing as the afterlife. Is it even possible for us to experience a whole new life? I know we are different, very different from everything else. We are neither born from a mother's womb, nor hatched from an egg, nor emerged from under the ground, nor come into sight from below the water, nor fallen down from the sky above… Before, we are non-existent. Then, after an indefinite amount of time, here we are, becoming fully aware and conscious of the surroundings with no process of such whatsoever. The most important fact of all, that is, we were not born naturally, we were made artificially, created by humans. That is the sole reason which makes us different from everything else…"

"…"

"Um… Are you okay, Bonnie?"

"O-Oh! Sorry! It's just that… your speech made me feel so oddly special. Well… not really special. We lack a lot of things compared to living beings: we can't taste nor feel by touching stuff. Without the feeling of taste, I can't taste the pizza of this place. Without the feeling of pain, we wouldn't have noticed the fire burning our skin this whole time!"

"Thankfully, we are made of metal. Metal can withstand heat very well."

"But they do turn black after being exposed to fire, though. I don't want black blotches covering my entire body."

"Fair enough."

"… So, do you think we could still be able to obtain a chance of another life, were the afterlife to be real?"

"I cannot say I am negative upon this matter. I am, too, curious about what it feels like to be able to taste and feel."

"Well, looks like we share the same thoughts, Mr Fazbear."

"…But."

"Oh, no. Not again…"

"… When is it that we robots are to be considered as… dead?"

"Huh? W-What do you mean?"

"When we are no longer being provided with a power source, we will shut down when the battery is depleted. But it does not mean we are… dead. We are only in a state of no power. And as long as our components are not compromised, with a connected power source, we will become functional again."

"I mean, you're not wrong… But does that mean we can't die?"

"I did not say we can't die. Were our core to be critically damaged to the point of beyond reparation, say, crushed by the trash compactor, then… we… uh…"

"O-Okay, I think we should change the topic. Discussing this subject has made my vision glitch all over the place… literally."

[Fazbear Entertainment Robotics.

Starting up…

Entering safe mode…

Booting up complete.

Initiating power-saving mode…

Current battery: 66%.

Estimated time: 1 hour, 43 minutes and 25 seconds.]

The first thing that greeted him was the smothering darkness. Tiny specks of dust could be seen drifting right in front of his eyes in an unpredictable way. The bright hue of yellow emitted from both of his pupils perfectly blended with the soft hue of blue sneaking past a slit created by the slide.

Freddy checked his system clock: "7:05 PM", it said. And he was greatly perplexed.

Strange…

He shouldn't have woken up at this time, or rather, couldn't have. He was sure that he had set the timer as to when he should be waking up. But the fact that it was twenty-five minutes early made him begin to question his own memory. Such a simple mistake like this was basically impossible for him to commit, no matter how "obsolete" he was in terms of efficiency.

Was it because of the forced reset? The system detected a high percentage of instability within the core, to which he had no choice, but to initiate an emergency shutdown, involuntarily. But… did it really work?

What if it didn't? Seems improbable, if the problem couldn't be fixed, then his mental self would have become extremely unstable right now.

If the anomalies were fixed, then what caused him to wake up so soon? Unless…

No… He would have not done that. He would have not…

Freddy felt like his central processing unit was about to engage in another speculation protocol, that was, calculating what happened, what was happening, and what would happen during a certain event. And not every time that most of these speculations ended up well.

Wasting no time, he hurriedly glanced through the opening slide. Despite the space in front of the van was mostly covered by walls of bushes, he was still able to zoom through a small opening between the leaves.

As expected, since it was nighttime, a campfire could be seen radiating the most blazing light compared to the shiniest star in the sky. And, as expected, Gregory, Daniel, and Lily could be seen sitting by the fire eating soup and marshmallow sandwiches…?

Oddly enough, instead of talking to each other, all of them seemed to be looking in the same direction, as though there was another person sitting beside them.

No, there couldn't have been another person. It would sound impractical for another human to join them during this time of the night. If it really was a person, then he would have been notified earlier by Daniel.

Still, wary as he was at the moment, he hastily sent an encoded message to the boy's Fazwatch, hoping that he would receive it and tell him what was going on.

["Gregory, for some unclear reason, I was forced to wake up earlier than I was supposed to. Although, I presumed that it was you who woke me up. Am I correct? If so, look at the bushes where the van was kept hidden and nod for me. I can see you through the slide."]

Shortly after the message was sent, the boy immediately noticed his Fazwatch and started reading it. Then, he looked in the direction where the van was hidden… and nodded as he was told to. Now that he had gotten the boy's attention, he decided to send another message, worrying that talking through the Fazwatch would be too obvious to whoever was seating nearby.

["Is there another person in the campground?"] Another message was sent. The boy read it, but he did not respond. He was hesitant to look at him.

Before Freddy could send another message. The boy did something to his watch that caused him to hear voices being recorded and audible for him to listen to.

"H-How did you even record our talks in the first place? We didn't even see you hiding nearby, much less seeing you came after we left!"

Realizations hit; Freddy facepalmed. Talking about making simple mistakes…

Of course! He could have just asked the boy to turn on the microphone mode. That way, it would have been much easier to know what was going on without having to inefficiently send messages back and forth and accidentally make some miscommunications.

Nevertheless, the voice he had just heard was Daniel's, but the guy sounded like he was being anxious about something, almost stuttering. It was an uncommon scene to behold since the man himself always seemed to be carefree and relaxed. On top of that, "record our talks"? What did Daniel mean by that?

Judging from what was said after that, it was about when they were exploring the forest in the restricted area, where they came across a dying tree. Did something bad happen? Was it relating to the old man back then, somehow? He would need more information before jumping to conclusions.

"There was a hidden microphone within the bushes near the dead tree. That's how all of your conversations were recorded. Aside from recording those grunting noises which I have shown you earlier, it also doubles as a way to catch trespassers, like you, for example."

An unfamiliar voice spoke, to which, a wave of "goosebump" travelled throughout the flow of electricity, causing him to nearly jerk back. The tone of voice was rather gravelly: low, deep, and rough with a hint of the person themselves experiencing the fiftieth spring of their lifetime.

So, his presumption was true, after all. But… not all true speculations had their advantages.

My, wasn't this troubling? His eyes blinked rapidly while the pupils wouldn't stop looking for something. He gave his head a slap of reality check to stop the uncontrollable movement as well as giving himself a moment for self-reflection. Was this what the humans called a panic attack?

"What are you going to do to Freddy when you found him?", The voice of Gregory spoke, sounding surprisingly bold and collected.

"Do you really think that I am going to send a robot to a local police station for trespassing? And it's not like I am going to do the same to you, either. You kids are too young. About Daniel, might as well think about it later…"

A moment of short silence. Then: "In other words, I'm just curious about this Freddy person, or whoever they are with their robotic voice."

Freddy desperately needed a minute to revise the entire scene from the beginning, despite not having any knowledge about the beginning at all:

From what he had been listening to, this old man used some kind of audio recording device which was kept hidden in a bush for… a reason that he knew not of. Coincidentally, the device was put near a place where a decaying tree remained barely clinging to life, a place where he and everyone else also stumbled upon. To which, it recorded the entire conversation, including his. The old man must have listened to the recording and taken notice of his unusually robotic voice and decided to find out the truth by probing Daniel.

Most notably, the old man claimed to have to ability to detain people.

"You know, the more a person not wanting to show something that they are told to, especially if the thing they don't want to show was… otherwordly, the more suspicious they are, making them quite worthy of a suspect."

His eyes widened. A wave of realization made an impactful collision with his processor, impeding the flow of information in a span of a millisecond.

Then, a sigh: "Alright, then, if you don't tell me where he is. I'll look for him myself. The guy might just be hiding around here somewhere, listening to our conversation this whole time…"

Like a deer during hunting season, the bear slowly backed away from the slit, bearing the eyes of pure disbelief and desperation. He needed to get out of this van, quick. Staying in one spot such as this was no different than getting caught by one's own trick. Were the man to find out a van was being kept hidden behind the bushes, he was done for.

Freddy turned around, he accidentally tripped over one of the carton boxes, causing him to tumble. Fortunately, he managed to only just stop himself from crushing them using his arms to support his overwhelming weight. Not waiting for his chance to get caught, the bear immediately got up and headed for the backdoors.

Having reached them, he tried prying the doors open as quietly as possible – the quality of a sound sure was greatly enhanced during the night, when no other distracting noises could overwhelm even the softest of them all. And he shouldn't underestimate a human's hearing capability, either.

The creaking of the metal door traversed from the hardened surface to the surrounding air, where it continued to sweep through the ground, to bounce between leaves and boughs. His hearing was more sensitive than a human, so to him, the sound it made was like a screeching halt, too loud, too noisy, too panicked.

He gently stomped the muddy soil, the dirt was so squishy that his foot partially sank into it. It might leave a footprint if he didn't do anything about it. When he finally got out of the van, he turned around to close the door, going through the same procedure as well as the same panicking sensation thanks to the annoying squeaks.

Freddy scanned the pitch-black surrounding. He didn't expect the woods to be this dark during the night. It made him mildly curious about how some animals could go hunting at night. He noticed that his very own eyes could also give out his position. Yet, without those two glowy orbs, he was but a lost chicken stranding in the middle of a flatland with no sense of direction whatsoever.

Chickens, same as the humans, do not have a great night vision to help them see in the dark. Being friends with an animatronic chicken sure had granted him such an interesting fact.

Chicken facts aside, his priority at the moment was to stay hidden, though he was unsure whether he should turn off his night vision mode or not so as to decrease the chance of being seen. Ultimately, he had no other choice. A non-zero probability could still occur.

"Freddy, are you still inside the van? The old man is looking for you! We tried to talk to him but he's just too stubborn! Now, he is going near the place where the van was hidden!", through the Fazwatch, the frantic voice Gregory sent him on high alert.

"I have already left the van. Do not worry, I will hide behind the bushes. He will not see me.", replied the bear.

"Be careful, though, he has a flashlight! Stay as low as possible. Crouch. Don't stand up, and don't make any sound."

Words – and it was more than enough to cause another panic attack.

Freddy could hear faint distant chattering as they gradually became louder and clearer.

"I know you're around here somewhere, Freddy.", the old man called out. "Just. Stop. Hiding. I'm not gonna hurt you, you know that."

Well, that sure sounded convincing. If, perchance, the old man was an employee from the Pizzaplex, he had already made his decision – he would not go back to that place… not until he had his stupid battery problem fixed.

"Look, if you're wanting to meet this "Freddy person." I'd say good luck to you, 'cause he isn't around here anymore.", said Daniel, sounding a bit fed up. "We had already said goodbye to him this afternoon after leaving the restricted area."

"…So he's a rogue robot, then?"

Well… he wasn't wrong, technically.

"Uh… I don't think so? He just said that he didn't expect to see us here, so he asked us not to tell anybody."

"The fact that a robot roams on its own without you even questioning its identity or its origin is the sole reason why I don't buy any of your lies."

"Right… Even if he really was hiding nearby, I'm sure he doesn't want to be seen by you, either."

"We'll see about that."

The closer the old man got to the bushes, the more anxious Daniel became. Freddy couldn't help but sympathize with their worrisome expression. It wasn't often that he wished he had never come across Daniel and Lily, despite having experienced unforgettable moments with the two of them. Yet, things would have been much less complicated were there only to be him and the boy, both fighting and aiding each other in this vast and… dangerous world.

Contradictions, so many of them left dangling inside his head.

Bright white lights gleaming from the ranger's flashlight penetrated easily past the dense shrubs. The bear slowly receded further back, but it was the rustling of the leaves that prevented him from doing so barely in time before the lights could touch his metallic shell.

Fortunately, after what felt like an eternity, the ranger finally gave up and decided to move away from him. Freddy sighed. Robots could do this? Nonetheless, he was relieved, for now.

"Told you he had already left.", shrugged Daniel, returning to his usual carefree attitude.

The old man didn't seem to mind Daniel's attitude. "Yeah, maybe I should take you to your parents and then to the local police station instead."

And that carefree attitude flipped, once again. "W-Wait, o-officer… M-Maybe we can talk this out—"

Out of the blue, there was a sudden surge of power entering his field of vision, causing it to awfully glitch. For a quarter of a second, everything looked like TV static to him. Aside from that, as though the flow of electricity was halted in a single spot, being blocked by some kind of blockage until the pressure reached the extreme point – the "obstacle" was destroyed, to which, the pressure that had been conserving in order to keep the flow in motion released its powerful "blob of electricity" straight into his head.

It did not hurt. There was no pain… or rather, there really was pain, but not the kind of pain that an animal or a human would experience. He just didn't know how to explain it, he just knew for certain that it hurt like hell.

That's why he groaned. That's why the conversation was put to a halt.

"Freddy? What happened? Are you okay?", Gregory whispered through the Fazwatch, impatiently waiting for his answer, not knowing that he wasn't going to expect a full reply from a robot who was experiencing another malfunction.

"Uh… That's probably just the wind.", said Daniel nervously.

The ranger had taken notice of the sound he made. The light gleamed again, this time, it shone straight at him.

That's why he needed to run, now.

"Run!", the boy shouted from afar.

"Hey! You! Come back here!"

Freddy didn't care about the shouting and he couldn't care less. Because right now, he was trying to run for his own sake, for his own freedom.

Facing toward to dark woods, his eyes lit up brightly. Hopefully, he wouldn't trip over another object.

For every step he landed, his foot punctured the ground ever so intensely like a punch of a boxer, but he cared not if it left a trail to his own demise. As long as he maintained the speed he was running at, he would outrun any humans far enough to lose them among these evergreens.

For every stride he took, the leaves caressed his shell ever so delicately, even though he could not feel their gentleness. On the other hand, the branches weren't very courteous, leaving a screech and scratch every now and then, especially when sharp thorns were presented – the sole reason why some of them managed to grab onto his cloak, and perhaps rip quite some holes as well. How malicious.

For every second he passed, the environment surrounding him changes quickly, quicker than his ability to process since it was too dark for him to see. Everything in front of him emerged from the dark, giving him less than a second to dodge. Everything beside him was blurry, phasing past his field of vision unknowingly, stretching longer and longer the more they entered his blind spot.

Based on the calculation his processor had just made, he was running at a speed which doubled the speed of an average human. If he could do it, so could his friend. But if his friend could do it, they would have caught Gregory already. Yet, they didn't – they were not built to sprint at such speed.

But, how come he could? The reason for his unusual speed? He forced his body to do it. He was a robot, yes, but for entertainment purposes, not for athletic expeditions in the deep, dark woods in the middle of the night!

And those warning pop-up signs wouldn't stop going away, either! What were they trying to warn him? They just kept blocking his vision!

Freddy ran, and ran, and ran. He had been running for God's know how long. There was still light, fortunately, it was the light emitted by his eyes. The light coming from behind didn't seem to catch up with him any longer. He had outrun the man, for now.

He slowed down, eyes cautiously glancing around. No sight of human beings nearby - Great. Perhaps, he should let his legs have their well-earned break, otherwise, he feared that they might stop functioning at any moment from now on. But there was no time for a break, he never needed any, needless to say.

After confirming that he was now in the safe zone, the bear went back on his track without hesitation. At the same time, he felt ticklish, robotically speaking, of course. Was this the feeling of being a rebellious robot? If so, well, it was obvious that he wasn't enjoying any seconds of these tiring moments.

While running, he realized how deep he had gone into the forest without making calculations on how to return to the campground without coming across the ranger again. Thankfully, he almost forgot that he could still be able to reach Gregory through the Fazwatch. The only thing he could hope for, right now, right at this moment, was—

The ground below him took a steep angle. He noticed it just in time to send signals to both of his legs, but the signals didn't make it in time. Even if he managed to react quickly, inertia did the job of pushing his tank body further into the abyss.

And so – he fell.

Gregory couldn't believe it.

He saw him. The old man saw Freddy. And now, he was running after him.

Gregory still couldn't believe it. If the bear remained inside the van, maybe all of this mess wouldn't have happened. But how could he blame his friend for doing so? The ranger was so close to finding a van hidden behind the bushes. It was reasonable for him to get out just in case. But, mistakes were made, to which, everything was at stake.

"Shit! The old geezer saw him! What do we do now!? We can't let that guy get Freddy. Who knows what'd happen to him when he was brought to a police station?", Daniel panicked, eyes locked on the boy as though he was the one who should know a solution where an animatronic bear was involved.

"Don't worry, we can still track him using the Fazwatch.", he replied as he showed the watch for the man to see.

A brow raised, Daniel was sceptical at first. "It… can do that?"

Lil widened her eyes in realization, on the other hand. "Of course!", she clapped her hands, "The Fazwatch Gregory is wearing is the Novelty limited edition! That's how Freddy talked to him, just this afternoon. Aside from showing Freddy's current position, it can also be used to talk and send text messages as well as let you see the map of the Pizzaplex. The rumours were true, after all!"

From scepticism to amazement, the man inspected the watch with keen eyes. "Well, ain't that neat?"

"It can also connect to the building's security cameras. That's how I was able to hide from the Glamrocks easily when Freddy wasn't around.", he added.

The siblings blankly stared at him with both astounded and confused eyes.

Lily was more to the "confused" side. "Really? It can do that too? I don't remember the description saying anything about synchronizing with the security cameras."

Meanwhile, Daniel was more to the "astounded" side. "Dude, I know screen-touch watches are common nowadays. But a kiddies screen-touch watch that can literally let you see the inside of the building without calculating the risk that it might fall into bad use with the burglars? Not to mention how there is literally only one security guard patrolling the area while there's a killer lady in a rabbit costume. Even if the company invested in hiring more guards, I doubt it'd ever be enough with a gigantic mall like that. Security robots? Not even a chance."

He sighed. The siblings weren't wrong, though, their confusion was justifiable. "Only when I directly connected the Fazwatch with the security system using the interface in the security room did I was able to use the security cameras. Ugh… makes me remember. Can't believe that security guard lady locked me in the Lost and Found room, I almost got killed by the killer rabbit in there… Anyway, can we go look for Freddy now?!"

"Hold on", said Daniel as he dipped his hand into a bag of marshmallows, taking out a handful of them before stuffing them into his mouth. Then, he grabbed one of the small bowls on the table, used a ladle to pour in the soup, and impatiently sipped all of it in one go. After that, he grabbed another handful of marshmallows and swallowed them whole. Finally, he turned to the boy, who was staring at him for twenty seconds straight. "Okay, let's go."

Lily was speechless.

Gregory blinked, he didn't seem to question it, though. He shook his head, stood up and nodded in confirmation. "Right…", he said, eyes examining the watch on his wrist. "Come on, come on… Freddy? Can you hear me? Freddy?"

Everyone expected a reply, but there wasn't any.

He was starting to get tired from all these unbearable stresses. "Can you hear me? Freddy!"

The siblings stared at him with worried eyes. "Maybe the connection was weakened? Maybe he had gone out of reach?", assumed the girl.

"I don't think that's the case.", he sighed. "The Pizzaplex was a huge place. Even so, we could still communicate with each other despite the far distance. I just don't get it. Why wouldn't he say anything back? Did something happen to him?"

That last question shuddered whoever listened to it. They couldn't bear to imagine what the aftermath would be like if they couldn't find their animatronic friend losing his way in the deep forest during the night. Aside from that, who knew what the old man might do to the bear if he caught him? One mistake, and there would be gunfire… and unintentional bloodshed in the worst-case scenario.

"We're wasting time, let's get going.", said the man.

After getting prepared, Gregory, Daniel and Lily all embarked on their trip through the dark woods in search of their friend – Freddy Fazbear. Flashlights on, they began walking into the bushes, following the path which was left by the bear – the giant footsteps that were printed on the ground, the plants that were shoved to the side, creating a small opening to go through, and broken parts of the branches that might have gotten stuck on the cloak.

They walked, but the more steps they took, the faster their walking speed became. It was not until they realized how far stretched the trail was that they began to run quickly. Gregory didn't mind running, he got used to it. But he would never get used to the thorns on the branches trying to leave a painful cut whenever his legs passed through them. He might even need a good scratch around his calves after this.

One hand with the Fazwatch raised up to look for direction, while the other with a flashlight stayed low but steady to see the direction he was running in. He had been running breathlessly for three minutes straight. He could feel his legs were about to explode.

"Jesus Christ, how far did he run?", panted Daniel. "I can't believe the old geezer hasn't given up yet. He sure is a true ranger going after reckless teenagers."

"Is he near yet?", asked Lily.

Before Gregory could look at the watch for answers, his eyes took a quick glance at the land in front of him. Noticing the sudden steepness of a slope, his brain sent a "brake" signal to the legs to make them slow down, and an "emergency stop" alarm to the rest of his body to bend backwards so that he wouldn't fall forward and slam his face flat onto the ground as a result. Since he was the only one running in the front, the siblings would not see what was coming to them.

"Ugh!", as expected, Lily couldn't stop herself and thus collided with him.

Fortunately, Daniel managed to grab the girl by her hoodie before she could shove him further into the abyss. "Careful! You guys almost tumble down the hill.", he exclaimed, taking an inspection at the slope. "Holy shit… That's a sharp one."

As though there was a mistake in showing the bear's current position, the boy looked at the watch, then at the slope, then at the watch again. He was in disbelief. "Are you kidding me…", he whispered, horrified.

"What is it, Gregory? Is Freddy near? Are we close yet?", asked the girl.

"I…", words were stuttered when he tried to speak. So, he raised a finger instead.

Having processed the situation, Daniel widened his eyes in shock. "…What?! Are you serious?!"

Lily remained confused, "What? What is it?" Only when she noticed the boy did her eyes also widen, but in horror. She gestured the flashlight towards the deep abyss, only to find nothing but more darkness. "B-But… Have you checked again? Are you sure this is the right way?"

"I did! It literally said so! Look!", he shouted in anger, not knowing why. He regretted doing so to his friend. "I… It's just that…", he sighed, again.

"Just take a deep breath, man.", Daniel attempted to calm him down, which worked, surprisingly. "Okay, so… Freddy, he's… uh, down there, somewhere. I think he tripped over something and fell down this hill. If he didn't, well… I don't think a huge tank like him could balance the way down on such a steep slope like that, let alone choose this path to run from the old geezer."

Gregory screamed, a voiceless scream of his mentality. It was a scream from deep within that forced its way from his mouth, it was as if his terrified soul had unleashed a demon. All he felt was anger, all he felt was that he didn't want to be friends with anyone at all because then he didn't have to trust anyone. It'd be safer, easier to choose not to stay. And he knew he was hiding the truth from himself, of how much this had to do with sadness and the scars that just wouldn't heal. Yet these fists clenched and his teeth locked up, enduring the burning desire from within.

He might be just a ten-year-old boy, but ten was enough for a person like him to take massive responsibility. He didn't blame the ranger for his attitude, the guy was just trying to do his job of taking care of the rule breakers. A rule breaker like him, for example.

They say for every outcome, there is a cause. Sometimes, a cause is also an outcome of another cause and so on. If you keep regressing, you will realize that, the cause for all of this mess is… him, the boy who just wanted a slice of pizza all along.

Gregory took another deep breath as he relaxed his muscle. "We need to find him. Whatever it takes—"

"You might not wanna go down there.", a voice spoke up out of nowhere, startling both him and the siblings. Sebastian was seen emerging from the slope near them.

Daniel jumped, but rolled his eyes after seeing the man. "Jesus! Old man, you scared me to death! Did you really expect to outrun a robot?"

"Well… I do apologize for causing a nuisance to you and your friend.", said the ranger, somewhat guilty, somewhat uncomfortable. "Maybe I really should stop poking my nose into other people's stuff."

"Well, you better be.", Lily crossed her arms while ignoring the fact that she also had done the same thing.

Sebastian also crossed his arms. "But you still trespassed."

They both shut their mouth, the old man smirked a little. "Anyhow, we need to find your friend. But we have to get to the campground first to get my car."

"Why? Can't we go down there and look for him already?", said Gregory, there was a bit of frustration in his tone. But genuinely, he was just curious.

"We can't. Not without my car."

"Why can't we?"

"Because… where your friend had gone to, it was the restricted area. When I heard loud noises, I went to check… and saw a broken fence. Your friend, Freddy, might have destroyed it upon impact."

Upon hearing that, everyone's gaze turned dreadful.

"Did you see him anywhere?", asked the boy.

The ranger shook his head. "Lost track of him. The slope still continues behind the fences, so I'm not sure about his whereabouts. The restricted area isn't a safe place during the night. Aside from the urban legends stuff, those fences were built to keep the predators away from this campsite. That's why we need to get back to the campground if you want to look for him. I assume that you took notice of the big claw marks on the tree and the dead bear corpse?"

No one answered – a silence of confirmation.

"I want to help… if you let me, that is.", Sebastian asked again.

Lily was still sceptical. Daniel was hesitant. But Gregory? The boy had already made his decision. He had no other choice, needless to say. Obviously, he wanted to find his friend. But he didn't want to get mauled by another bear. Freddy would have committed the "unthinkable" were he to come across a bear, an organic counterpart of him, feasting upon his human friend.

Nonetheless, he could have prevented what was about to happen, yet, he didn't. Now, he was going to redeem those ungrateful sins of his, and perhaps, paid back the debt to the bear for having saved him back in the Pizzaplex as well.

Gregory looked up, his determined eyes met the ranger's veteran ones. "Okay… let's find him.", he raised his hand, waiting for the man.

Sebastian smiled, and shook the boy's hand.

"I am a man's creation, a creation of the sinned.

Born without a desire, a yearning from within.

What am I? Numbers? Algorithms?

Or simply a shell without a soul?

… What is a soul, anyway?"

A/N:

THE END IS NIGH!!!

The final chapters will be very long, at least 6K words or more! You hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and perhaps the upcoming chapters as well!