My head was clouded with that red smoke. It felt as if I was falling into a big pillow of it. Eventually it started to thin out. An image of the bustling factory began to materialize. I found myself back at my post near the entrance of the building. There I stood, still as a statue. My right arm lifted high in a friendly wave. A big smile on my face. It used to hurt after a full day of smiling wide with no break. A group of people stood in front of me. Four families and one employee giving a tour guide. I noticed one kid in particular. It was the one who came to visit me often. He and his family had done that tour probably a dozen times.

"And this is Huggy Wuggy. Most of you are probably familiar with him." The tour guide said. Every one of the kids said they had a toy version of me.

"Can I touch him?" The one kid said. Oh no….this was that day. That's when I realized I was reliving that day the Hour of Joy happened. The employee hesitated to let him touch me, but ultimately said yes. The kid's small hand gently caressed my leg. "So fluffy….and tall!" He cooed.

I listened to the tour guide's rant. Probably could have recited that whole part myself for as many times as I had heard it.

Suddenly, there was a loud, high-pitched sound ringing through my head. I tried my best not to break character. But it became too unbearable. A gurgle rose in my throat. Every human in the room looked up at me. Both hands went to the sides of my head. They squeezed and rubbed all over it as my mouth curled down into a frown. But I just couldn't get that awful ringing to stop.

"Huggy Wuggy, assume your position!" The employee said. But his words sounded muffled and slurred to me. When I didn't obey the command, everyone began to back away from me. The poor unsuspecting visitors had no idea what was going on. Fear began to escalate inside them. I squeezed my eyes shut and began to open my mouth. The sight of my shark-like mouth caused the bystanders to shriek in utter fear. And that's when I snapped. My black eyes flung open as I let out an ear-piercing roar.

Everyone scattered…or at least tried to. The factory was so filled with humans that they bounced off one another as they clamored to get to an exit. This made them easy targets. Driven by that sound in my head, I began to tear into the humans. If they didn't fall victim to my teeth, they would get lashed with my long arms. There was something satisfying about feeling the humans' blood on my teeth. A taste that was addictive.

I scooped up a lady in my jaws. My head shook around as my teeth sunk into her internal organs. Her screams quickly dissipated. Blood gushed from her crushed body.

"NOOO!" A scream caught my attention. I tossed the carcass to the side and approached the kid that uttered the scream. It was the same one that had touched me. I got down low and approached the boy. Fangs bared and a gurgle in my throat. I was preparing to clamp my teeth down on him when the noise in my head changed frequencies. Something told me to spare the child. Instead, I scooped him up in my arms. "Let go! Put me down!" The kid panicked and thrashed about in my grip.

"Adam!" A male voice said. "Put my boy down!" I felt a human wail on my leg. It didn't hurt but it was definitely annoying. I snarled and whipped around. My fangs came down around the man's head. I went to lift the human up. The head ended up detaching from the body, causing a big explosion of that delicious blood.

"Daddy!" The boy in my arms sobbed. I spit out the head. The ringing sound reminded me that I had a different mission with the child. I killed off some more humans as I took the child deep into the factory. My arms finally plopped the child down in Home Sweet Home. Catnap patrolled around the building, making sure the children did not escape and no adults got in. And then off I went to kill more adults and collect more children per that noise in my head. It would get unbearable if I tried to stop this mission. I had no choice but to obey.

"Huggy Wuggy! Stop this right now!" The CEO of the Bigger Bodies initiative had found me. I stopped what I was doing and turned to this human. A low growl of pure hatred boiled in my throat. "You heard me! You and your other toy friends are going to get punished severely for this!" I rushed the CEO, roaring loudly. "Do it now!" He demanded. All of a sudden, ropes got tossed around me. They squeezed tight and pulled me down to the ground. I squealed in pain as the ropes dug deep into my fur. My yellow hands tried to push me up, but that only resulted in the humans pulling the ropes tighter.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Huggy." He said menacingly. "You'll be lucky to ever come out of your cage again. And just to make sure you comply….here's a little shock therapy." And then he prodded me with one of those electric sticks. I squealed in pain and my body went limp.

A few minutes later, I woke up to find that I was still being dragged away. That noise in my head got even louder, more intense. My head whipped to the side and cute through the rope with one bite. With a shriek of rage, I found a new strength. It pushed me up and pulled the ropes away from the employees. I ripped through all the ropes and then chased each of them down one by one. All of them finding their end in my jaws. Until there was only one left: the CEO. He tried running away but only succeeded in cornering himself. The man shivered with his back to a wall. He looked pathetic as he tried to curl up in his pristine suit.

"S-stay back!" The CEO said, pointing that electric stick at me. I merely growled and swatted it away. My yellow fingers picked him up by his suit and lifted him eye level with me. "I-I am your creator! I gave you life! You should be grateful to me!" He argued. But I wasn't having any of it. My big mouth roared right in his face. Specks of blood from other humans got spit out and spattered his immaculate gown. "Y-you wouldn't really do this, would you?" He trembled in my hands. Another gurgle emanated from my throat. I aimed my fangs to go around his head.

"Huggy! Huggy, can you hear me? Wake up!" A voice penetrated into my dream. I felt a nudge to my arm. This caused me to awake with a start while I was mid-lunge for the CEO. I reactively bared my fangs and roared at the person waking me up. He yelped and fell back. When I realized it was my friend, I immediately put my fangs away.

"I'm sorry, friend. It wasn't you. It was-"

"A nightmare?" He finished for me. "Yeah, I had one of those too. It was very realistic." I had wanted to ask what his nightmare was about. But it was probably too personal for him to want to answer right now. "Anyway, I finished powering the generator. Let's get you back to the infirmary. You look hurt."

I panted and tried to stand up. My body was very shaky and weak after the fight with Catnap. After almost a minute of struggling to get up, I finally made it to my feet. I shuffled after my friend, who was leading me back to the safe place.

"Thanks for saving me, Huggy. If you hadn't been here to fight off Catnap, I'm sure I would be dead right about now." The man told me. There was a spark of warmness inside me. I think maybe….just maybe…I had regained his trust. If only he would share some things about himself now…

The infirmary was in sight now. Just a little farther and I would have relief. I had panted all the way back. My body ached all over from that fight. Hopefully I wouldn't have to tussle with him again anytime soon…

I squinted down and saw a figure standing at the door. Is that who I think it is? The tall pink, furry creature came rushing out to greet us. Oh, did I mention beautiful too?

"Huggy!" Kissy cried as she came to my side. "Let me help you in." She offered, slinging one of my arms over her shoulder. With her supporting some of my weight, the last bit of distance felt much easier. Kissy helped me in and gently led me to sit down. "Oh, Huggy, you're bleeding." Her yellow fingers reached up toward my stinging cheek. I winced a bit as she touched it. "Get the kits, quick!" She called to the little ones. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"Huggy totally saved me from Catnap." The human said, trying to make my efforts look valiant. "That cat would have killed me if he hadn't been there."

"That was very brave of you, Huggy." Kissy said to me. "But why would you challenge a powerful enemy like Catnap?"

"Don't worry, Kissy. He won't be bothering us again for a little bit. I got him good." I reassured her.

"Good to see you again, Huggy." Came Poppy's voice. I looked to my left to find the small doll approaching me. "It sounds like Catnap got away from you?"

"Er….sort of." I stuttered out. "He was pretty hurt so I….let him leave."

"What?" Poppy gasped. "You mean to tell me you had him in your jaws….and you just let him go? Huggy, don't you realize he's the last obstacle in our way of getting to the Prototype? Next time you have him like that, don't hesitate to kill him. He's hurt and killed so many of us. Don't you understand that?"

"I do….I just…." My gaze averted away from her. "You gave me a second chance…why shouldn't he have one?"

"You didn't kill your fellow toys, Huggy. HE DID." She responded, raising her voice a bit. Poppy then sighed. "We can talk about this again later. For now you should rest and heal up. I've got some intel to gather, so I'll see you all later." Her small figure turned to leave the room.

The mini Huggys got to work on my wounds and Kissy offered for me to rest my head on her shoulder. I winced every now and then as the wounds were cleaned and patched up. Poppy's words repeated in my head. Was she right? Should I have killed Catnap? It was a burning question that I wanted some additional opinions on.

"Friend, Kissy, do you think I made the right choice in letting Catnap go?"

"Of course, Huggy. If we can get him to see how awful the Prototype is, he'd be a strong ally to have on our side." The human explained to me.

"Agreed." Kissy replied. "Poppy can sometimes be a little short-sighted when it comes to our mission. So don't let what she said get to you. Our goal should be to save as many friends as we can. Catnap can be our friend, too. It was definitely the right thing to do." She reassured me.

"Make that three that agree." Came another voice. We all looked over to find DogDay approaching us. His legs and tail seemed to have been reattached. He slowly walked on all fours our way. "Thank you for letting Catnap go."

"DogDay! You're okay!" Me and the human rejoiced.

"Yes, thanks to you." He replied.

"His body seems to be taking well to the reattachment and healing correctly." Kissy said. The orange dog came close and gently lowered himself to the ground. His stitches were clearly still very fragile. DogDay panted a bit to get his composure.

"He really isn't such a bad guy. Catnap's just….lost his way. But I think he can be guided back." The canine insisted.

"Really? How so?" The man inquired.

"I strongly believe that the Prototype has altered Catnap's memory. You see…" DogDay began his story.