Chapter 2
As the group are making their way back to the Outpost, dragging the Animatronic on a piece of scrap they salvaged from somewhere around the area, along with a rope to make dragging the Animatronic around much easier, the Commander and Rapi dragged the very heavy Animatronic while Anis and Neon stayed on the sidelines keeping an eye out.
"Man this thing is heavy…" The Commander said in frustration. "How are you holding up Rapi?"
"I'm fine on my end, Commander" Rapi said as in the Commanders eyes it looked like he was the only one struggling in this situation.
"Sure you are… Anyway, how much further do we have left to go" The Commander asked.
"Not too far I guess… In fact, I'm surprised we haven't run into any Raptures at all during this trip" Anis said, as she kept her grenade launcher close by just in case.
"You know, that's a good question, it's been a bit too quiet around here for my liking" The Commander said, readying himself for anything.
As the four of them continued their banter and chatter, unbeknownst to them, the very animatronic they dragged behind them was watching them with its eyes glowing a dim shade of green. Rapi, who had the sudden feeling of being watched, suddenly stopped and turned around just as the Animatronics eyes went black seemingly turning off, Rapi's actions did not go unnoticed by the others though.
"Something wrong Rapi?" The Commander asked, confused by her sudden halt.
"No not really… It must have been my imagination" Rapi said as she decided to not think too much about it and continued to move forward as everyone else did the same and continued on.
After an hour of walking they finally encountered a group of Raptures blocking their path forward as they immediately took cover the moment they saw the group of Raptures.
"I count a total of 14 Raptures in total, Master" Neon said as she readied her shotgun to fire if necessary, as did Anis and Rapi.
"Permission to open fire, sir?" Anis asked as she held her grenade launcher steadily aimed at the closest Rapture.
"Stand down Anis, we'll wait for them to pass, we can't risk going into battle while this thing is around, but if we're spotted then you know what to do" The Commander said.
As the four were all distracted by the Raptures, the Animatronics eyes began to have a dimmed greenish glow as it began to slowly move its limbs, from claw to legs. Slowly it began to try and sit up but couldn't do so as it had expected. The Animatronic then decided to shift its gaze to the four before then noticing the Raptures in front of them as it then seemed to aimlessly stare at the Raptures with its dimly lit glowing green eyes. Neon who grew tired of just waiting around decided to take one quick look at the animatronic.
The moment Neon turned back to face the animatronic, she thought that she had seen it's eye's glowing for a second but it was still off and unfunctional, like the way they had found it. The animatronic who had seen Neon start to turn her head back, quickly turned off its eye's before the Nikke could see it. Neon on the other hand was left perplexed at what she thinks she might have seen as she just stared at Animatronic.
"What's wrong Neon?" Anis asked as she noticed Neon staring back at the Animatronic.
"Oh, it's nothing…" Neon said as she brushed it off and went back to keeping an eye on the Raptures in front of them.
"Ok, if you say so" Anis said also then returning her focus to the Raptures, as the Animatronic's eyes flashed green for a brief moment behind them.
The journey back to the Outpost continued after the Raptures had all left, the group continued their journey home this time with Anis and Neon dragging the Animatronic with Neon taking occasional glances back at the Animatronic from time to time, which did not go unnoticed by Rapi.
"Are you ok Neon, you've been looking back at that thing for a while now" Rapi asked in concern for her friend.
"Oh uh… yeah, I'm fine" Neon said as she looked at the Animatronic. "Actually, that thing just gives me the chills for some reason, I don't really know why though"
"I think I get what you mean Neon" Rapi said this time the conversation now piquing the interests of Anis and the Commander.
"How so, Rapi?" The Commander asked.
"Earlier I got the feeling as if we were being watched, but I did not think much about it" Rapi said as she too looked back at the Animatronic behind them.
"Maybe it's just in your heads" Anis said.
"C'mon Anis" The Commander said, as to dismiss Anis's words.
"Maybe Anis is right" Neon said as she continued to focus on just returning home and bringing this thing with them.
"It is highly unlikely that it is within our heads, because the signature that was coming from this thing, had been shifting at certain points in our journey" Rapi said.
"How so?" The Commander asked, now intrigued by this new information.
"First, when the signal was first intercepted, it was faint but still noticeable, next was when we dug it up and were discussing how to transport it, the signal somehow got stronger but only for a brief moment" Rapi explained to them.
"Wait are you saying that this thing might still be functional" Anis said as she looked back at the Animatronic.
"There's a possibility of that being the case" Rapi answered.
"Whatever it is, we'll deal with it when we get back, because right now the Outpost is coming into view" The Commander said as he tried to push everyone's worries about what exactly they had found.
Behind them however, the Animatronic in question was listening to every word of their conversation, it was waiting, watching… 'pretending' as it has always ever knew how to do best…