Tales From Beacon City: Betty and the Holtson Monster

When the Nandroid Betty hears Polly's campfire story about an android cryptid, she thinks it's total hogwash...

...but when an unexpected visitor comes to camp, Betty realizes that some tales are not as tall as one might think.

Notes:

This is a Krampus gift for @H98B of Nandromeda.

Be warned, this be a scary one!

RAGGLE FRAGGLE!!!

To join Nandromeda, simply follow the link: https://discord.gg/nandromeda

Work Text:

Tales of Beacon City: Betty and the Holtson Monster

A Spooky Fanfiction Created by Uncle Scraps

[*]

Mayweather: Coldbridge National Park

{*}

Coldbridge National Park, found just outside the city of Mayweather, is one of the many parks scattered across the state of Newburgh that served both as a national park, and as a natural reserve, protecting select varieties of endangered species, from the White Breasted Warbler to the Striped Tauter, from the cold embrace of extinction.

But aside from its services to mother nature, Coldbridge National Park was also known for its miles upon miles of hiking trails, ample grounds perfect for camping, picnics, parties, and of course, its overabundance of plants and animals as far as the eye can see. Coldbridge is an ideal place for any nature lover to come and embrace nature’s bosom at every given opportunity.

However, today would be an interesting day for a small group of campers. For today marked the arrival of the Hawthorne After-School Club (HASC), which was an after-school program for Hawthorn Elementary students to not only enhance their studies but also allow for said students to embark on new opportunities that could help them enhance their development, and of course, to have fun.

Last month, HASC had been selling chocolate as part of a fundraiser for s Hawthorn Elementary. The money earned would be put towards helping with the purchase of school supplies and for getting some much-needed repairs, with some of the money even invested into getting new parts for Eugene, the custodian android.

Should HASC reach their goal by the end of the month, which they clearly did, the students of HASC would earn a weekend (from Saturday morning until Sunday morning) camping trip to Coldbridge National Park (Of course, the children wanted to go to Twin Pines instead, but this was a more…erm…economical choice.

{*}

The sign for Coldbridge National Park was composed of three logs stacked on top of one another with a large piece of plywood bolted to the front of it. The words “COLDBRIDGE NATIONAL PARK” were spelled out in emerald green letters, and a small cartoon racoon poking out of the first “O.” Below this was a smaller subtitle that read “A home for campers and critters alike!” was written below in emerald green cursive.

Next to these words one the sigh was a wooden statue of a large cartoon oak tree dressed as a park ranger with a wide smiling, his cold unmoving eyes stared at the van that passed by into the campground.

The van driving into Coldbridge was a commercial van, maroon in color and large enough to carry ten passengers, excluding the driver and the front passenger of course. In the front passenger’s seat was a short African American woman with black hair, blue eyes, and freckles on her face who was also wearing a long-sleeved jacket and tan shorts. This was Janet Hakbar, principal of Hawthorn Elementary and one of the chaperones for this camping trip.

“Augh! Whoever came up with that mascot needs to see a shrink. That’s nightmare fuel right there.” Janet said to the driver as she turned away from the window and took a sip of water. “You put that outside a kid’s window and that’s something that’ll follow them into adulthood.”

The driver of the van was a man with short blond hair, hazel eyes, and a trademark beard who was wearing a tan hiking jacket with matching cargo shorts. This man was Raymond Stemley, special educator for Hawthorn Elementary and also the teacher in charge of HASC.

“Come on Janet, it’s just a mascot, not some possessed animatronic.” Raymond reassured Janet before he peered into his rear-view mirror at the passengers behind him. “Okay ladies and germs, we’re here! Get ready to disembark any minute now!”

In the back of the van sat a small assortment of students who were part of HASC, and their respective Nandroid. The front row consisted of Madeline Delaire, who was reading an old boy scout book of her father’s, alongside Michelle Spiegel-Pryce, who was sound asleep. On the seats next to them were the Nandroids Betty and Polly, gossiping away about this and that, as many-run-of-the-mill Nandroids did.

Sitting behind them were the Flagg Twins, Nathan, and Ryan, while Ajay Khatri sat on the seat next to them with Molly by his side, and while Nathan and Ryan talked to Ajay and Amy about the animals and creatures they might find out in the woods, Ajay peered out the window, uninterested in this conversation and the camping trip at all.

Amy on the other hand was fully enamored by the twins knowledge, her optics wide with wonder as the twins spent the entire drive to Corbridge telling her their tall tales of the many beasts of myth the two boys had met, with Amy eating up every word.

“Yeah! Bigfeet are intimidating at first, cause of their size, but honestly, they’re total pushovers when you really get to know them.” Nathan bragged as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a small green spiral notebook, brushing off the imaginary dust as he handed it to Ryan, who then handed it to Amy. “All you need to do when meeting a bigfoot is to stand your ground, and don’t show fear. Bigfeet, like many cryptids, can always smell fear…even in androids.”

The spiral binder Nathan and Ryan handed to Amy had the words “The Flagg Twins’ Guide to Bigfoot and Other Cryptids: By Nathan and Ryan Flagg” written on the front in permanent marker. As Amy opened the notebook and began to read it, her optics soaking in page after page of misspelled names for these majestic creatures, and their less than accurate drawn portraits, she basked in this wealth of knowledge at if she had been handed some ancient tome of yore. Ajay, on the other hand, looked over to see what Amy was reading and scoffed before he went back into his daydreams of rescuing a displaced outmode Nandroid named Molly and caring for her.

Eventually, the van pulled up to the main registration lodge, where the park ranger was waiting for them. This park ranger was a middle-aged Asian man, bald, and had a face that screamed “Yeah!!! I was in the army all my life!!! Effin Deal with it!!!” He was wearing a navy green park ranger’s uniform to which the crest for Coldbridge was embroidered in the corner of his button-down shirt, right above his nametag that read “Silvester Hung” in white letters. In one hand was a clipboard with a stack of papers clipped to it, to which he held it tightly under his armpit as if he were holding a secret document for only the eyes of his superior officer.

As he watched the van pull up and park on the parking lot, Ranger Hung’s eyes squinted in distrust from behind his shades as he watched Raymond and Janet exit the vehicle and approach him.

“Uh…Hi there! I’m Raymond Stemley, this is Janet Hakbar, from Hawthorne Grove Elementary.” Raymond said to Ranger Hung, who glared at them as he pulled a small plastic container of toothpicks from his pocket and popped a pick into his mouth, the act caused Raymond and Janet to look at each other awkwardly before they looked back to Huang. “Well…anyway, we’re here for our weekend appointment…Hawthorne Elementary School.”

“Yeah, I know who you are.” Ranger Huang replied coolly, chewing on his pick as he pulled the clipboard in front of himself and looked it over before he looked up to see the children and Nandroids stepping out of the van. “You two are aware of the safety standards, right? The one’s you signed before coming here?”

“Yeah…Yes, we are, and we filled out the paperwork.” Janet replied, chuckling awkwardly as Huang turned his attention to the principal, his face solemn and cold like a statue made of ice. “We’ve submitted everything online and…and everything should be…good to go…and…”

“Oh, everything is accounted for, Ms. Hakbar, but there is a *big* difference between checking off a box on an online tab and understanding why you’re doing it.” Huang said dramatically as he took off his shades like an 80’s cop to look into Janet’s eyes, the act caused her to feel scared…and a bit turned on as well. “You see, this forest isn’t just some tourist attraction for Mayweather, it’s a sacred temple to mother nature, full of her vast, wonderful, and delicate children. Park rangers like me, well, we’re the last line of defense against both the ignorant…and the reckless. So if you’re neither of those, then I just have one thing to ask of you…sign in please.”

“Uh…well, rest assured that none of us are…er…any of those, so thanks for the heads up” Raymond stammered awkwardly, stepping in between Ranger Huang and Janet and scooting her away before he then took Huang’s clipboard and sighed it. “…and…there! We’re ready to go, right ranger…um…Ranger Huang?”

“That you are, Mr. Stemley. Welcome to Coldbridge, we hope that you and your students have a wonderful weekend among all of nature’s bounty.” Huang replied as he took his clipboard from Raymond, only to interject quickly by raising a finger at Raymond. “But know this: If you, or you’re kiddos do anything to hurt said bounty. I’ll know, and when I finally hunt you down, I’ll show y’all a new meaning of “when nature calls.” Comprende mi amigo?”

“Yes! Got it…message received…” Raymond awkwardly said as he and Janet quickly rushed over to the van to help the Nandroid and kids unload supplies from the van while muttering to Janet under his breath. “Sweet Christmas! What’s his deal?”

[*]

The hike to the camping spot consisted of a brief a five-mile hike upon a dirt trail surrounded by tall green trees, to which the repeating choir of birds could be heard in the cool spring air. Occasionally, the HASC group would spot a deer or two, to which Nathan and Ryan would try to chase after it, much to the chagrin of Raymond and Janet.

As Janet and Raymond discussed the plan of action for tomorrow’s activities, and joked with each other about the intense Ranger Hung, Madeline was still reading her scout book, making mental notes about the trail that she and the others were set on. Eventually, Madeline stopped as she noticed something on the trail, with Michelle and the others stopping in response, as they did the past two times already.

“What’s the hold up now?” Ajay whined as he slumped forward in exhaustion, agitated by all the walking he had to do. “Can we please just get to our campsite already?!”

“Mr. Stemley! Ms. Hakbar! Over here!!!” Michelle exclaimed as she flagged down the two adults, to which they both rushed over to Michelle to see what she found. “Look at this! I’ve found deer tracks, and there are more tracks over here that are not deer tracks.”

“Well done Michelle!” Raymond replied as he knelt down to examine the animal tracks, placing his hands on the cold damp ground while looking in Madeline’s book. “Hmm…now these’re too big to be wolf tracks, and based on the pad size, theses must be the tracks of something more like a b-.”

“CHUBACABRA!!!” Amy shouted frantically, interrupting Raymond, drawing everyone’s attention towards the panicking Nandroid. “Those are the tracks of Chupacabra!!! A beast that drinks goats!!!”

Raymond looked to Janet, and then looked over to Nathan and Ryan, who were snickering to each other before they noticed Raymond and quickly looked away “innocently.”

“…bear…these are bear tracks. Must’ve gone after the deer.” Raymond continued, standing up as he walked over to Amy and patted her head while giving her a warm and reassuring smile. “No worries Amy, there aren’t any goats here in Coldbridge, so no Chupacabra’s gonna like being around here.”

“Whew! That’s a relief!” Amy sighed in relief, before she looked to her guide intensely before she looked back up to Raymond. “But Mr. Stemley…what if *these* aren’t the tracks of a Chupacabra but are the tracks of some other kind of Cryptid? You know, like a …a…PEOPLE EATER…THAT…THAT’S PURPLE…AND…AND FLIES?!”

All of the children, save for Madeline and Ajay, who groaned in sheer embarrassment by Amy’s antics, chuckled at the Nandroid’s panicking. Betty simply sighed in sheet disappointment, placing a hand over her face while Polly chuckled lightly, stopping only when she noticed that Betty was glaring at her.

Raymond and Janet didn’t respond to this at all, simply looking to one another and sighing before they redirecting everyone back to the trail.

[*]

Mayweather: Coldbridge National Park: Campsite 12A

[*]

The campsite was a quant stretch of dirt in an open field with a large firepit in the middle that was surrounded by three long logs, their surfaces smooth from the millions of buttocks that had used them as seats. There was a small lake nearby the campgrounds, which made it an ideal spot for fishing. All around the campers there was nothing but a long blade of grass that swayed in the breeze as if it were water, a sea of green as far as the eye could see, accompanied by the creaking of tree branches and chattering of birds.

The sun was already setting by the time everyone was finished with their tents. The last tent to be set up was Ajay’s, partially due to Amy misreading the directions and getting herself tangled in everything. Had it not been for the help of Janet, Raymond, and the others (save for a reluctant Ajay), things could’ve been worse.

By nightfall, Raymond and Janet had set up a roaring campfire, cooking hotdogs for the kiddos as they sat by the fire and talked. Janet was sitting alongside the Flagg twins, Ajay, and Michelle, with Janet serving hotdogs to the kiddos while she talked with them about fire safety and what to do in case of an emergency. Meanwhile, Madeline was sharing her scout book with Raymond, who couldn’t help but reminisce about his days as a scout.

“You know, this brings me back… Did you know Madeline, that I had a book just like this one when I was the scouts?” Raymond said as he skimmed through Madeline’s scout book, examining the name “Ted Delaire, Troop 399” written on the back cover. “497 was my troop, and I even made it to Eagle too. Do you plan to do the same Madeline? Being a scout is a wonderful way to learn new life skills and make great friends.”

“Maybe, I’m still on the fence about it.” Madeline said as she took the book from Raymond and opened it to a page on fire safety. “Maybe if Michelle and Jackie go too it would be nice, but if Corbin or Ajay join, then count me out!”

As Raymond chuckled at Madeline’s response, The Nandroids sat by the fire, save for Betty, who was, as a “proper” Nandroids do, stand properly and wait for an order. Polly and Amy, however, were sitting on a log bench, with Amy reading from the Flagg twins “guide” and sharing her knowledge of Cryptids with Polly much like a zealot with their religion, much to the chagrin of Betty, who found that she actually preferred Amy’s Alloyist preaching over this dribble.

“Now, if we’re lucky, we might even meet a Bigfoot, otherwise known as a “Sash-squash”!” Amy explained to Polly, who was responding to Amy’s innocent nature and mispronouncing of sasquatch by smiling and nodding at the nonsense running from Amy’s mouth. “Luckily, we won’t have to worry about moth man since it’s too cold…unless…the fire…like a MOTH TO THE FLAME!!!”

“Amy, for the love of Sterling, could you please *try* to control yourself.” Betty sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “Honestly, as a Nandroid of Sterling Robotics, you should know better than to fall for such tripe. All of those creatures in that book, and I use that term loosely, are fictional, made up by wild imaginations.”

“But Betty, these creatures are real! If they weren’t, then people wouldn’t write books about them. Why do always have to be such a Debbie downer?” Amy protested, despite the fact that she had never even seen a Cryptid or even heard of such things until hours ago, as she waved the book in front of Betty, who glared and the guile Nandroid with contempt. “You know Betty, when a bigfoot or…L…Loc-… “Nessie” …comes wandering into our camp, you’ll thank me for knowing how to stop them. Trust me Betty, I’m a professional.”

“Yes you are…a professional buffoon.” Betty scoffed as she approached Amy, ready to rip the book from Amy’s hands and throw it into the fire, only for Amy to anticipate this and pull the book away. “Come on now Amy, stop acting like an outmode and rid yourself of this childish nonsense! For Sterling’s sake, you do not see Polly and I acting in such a way. Unlike humans, we Nandroids do not believe in such things as these “Cryptids.” Am I right Polly?”

It was then that both Amy and Betty were met with silence from Polly, who simply stared at the crackling fire before her. Both Betty and Amy looked to each other before they looked back to Polly. As she continued to stare deeply into the orange and while blaze set before her optics, feeling the warmth upon her sensors, Polly finally responded to Betty’s question with a simple question of her own.

“In that case, you’ve never heard the tale of “The Holtson Monster”?”

“No I have not…Wait…what did you say?” Betty asked Polly with a look of confusion, cocking her eyebrow at the Nandroid sitting ominously by the campfire before she registered what Polly was talking about. “Oh no! Polly, for the love of Sterling, please do not encourage this. That’s just a myth and you know it!”

“I’m not too surprised you’d say that, especially about an android cryptid like Holtson’s Monster.” Polly said sinisterly as she grinned towards Betty and then to Amy, who was instantly transfixed. “I remember hearing this story from Molly long ago when Amy and I were still undergoing our training.”

“You did?! That means Franny and Emmy know it too! Polly, how could you keep this from me for so long?!” Amy exclaimed with glee, bouncing in her seat as she clutched the Flagg’s cryptid guide close to her chest. “Tell us the story Polly!!! Please!!!”

“Say, what’s going on here? You have a scary story for us Polly?” Janet asked, having heard the excitement from the bubbly Nandroid. “Gather around y’all, Polly’s got a scary story for us.”

With that, everyone gathered around the campfire to hear Polly’s story. Ajay sighed as he sat next to Amy, who’s optics were wide with anticipation. This anticipation was shared by the Flagg twins, who picked up on the possibility of a new Cryptid to add to their guide. As soon as everyone was seated, and while Raymond passed out hotdogs to everyone, Polly began to tell the tale of “Holtson’s monster.”

{*}

Long ago, during the early years of robotics, Thomas Holt was a pioneer in the building of complex robots for many tasks. This led him to founding General Robotics and cementing himself as a titan of robotics for America.

However, while Holt was in a visionary in the ways of making robots, he was not a visionary in the ways of making children, or finding love. Right up until his death, Thomas never married and never had any children of his own, and despite his legacy with robotics, Thomas wished with all his might that he could have a child that could inherit his business and carry on his legacy long after he was gone.

One day, Thomas Holt brilliant mind hatched upon himself a brilliant idea:

“If I cannot find a wife to conceive for me a child, then I’ll make a child myself!”

With a plan in mind, Thomas set to work, building the perfect child for himself. Thomas used his vast fortune to construct an ideal offspring, a literal giant of a child, with a mechanical heart that would never stop beating, a brain that would carry on all of Thomas’ knowledge, and a body that would never succumb to the thralls of entropy. It would be a perfect child for Thomas, and bear the name “Holtson”, for it would be known as “Holt’s Son”.

It took Thomas many years, but eventually, he completed his work, and all that was left to do was flip a switch and bring his son to life. But when he did, and his son came to be, Thomas knew that something went wrong. The first thing the child did upon awakening to the world was to scream, a loud screech that curdled Thomas’ blood.

As his child looked upon its creator with its cold optics. It demanded only one question from his father, a question that only Thomas could answer, a question that terrified Thomas even more than his creation and perhaps was the very thing that sent him to an early grave.

No one knows what happened to the monster after it was “born”. Some say that it escaped from Thomas’ workshop and fled into the wild to feed on outmodes and other unfortunate androids. Others claim that Thomas destroyed the body of his creation…but not its soul, and it has been the android’s ghost that wanders the world, hunting down androids to eat their parts and rebuild its mangled body.

Regardless of what became of this cryptid, what we do know is this: Many androids all over the world swear to have seen the Holtson Monster, and many more have made attempts to try and capture it, either on film or via traps. However, many have failed, and those who didn’t were never heard ever again.

So, if you be an android out alone on a moonlit night, you might hear the faint screeching of the Holtson Monster carried across the wind, dancing beyond the trees where nobody sees, and then hear the very sound of rusty feet…

*chick-haah choom!!!*

…looking…for fresh…prey…

{*}

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

A round of applause was met by the campers, including Ajay, who seemed to have enjoyed the story and was feeling a lot better. Betty, on the other hand, wasn’t moved by Polly’s story one bit…at least not on the surface at least.

As for Amy, she was shaking so much, that she nearly rattled herself to pieces, a consequence of telling a ghost story to the faint of core.

“Uh P-P-Polly…th-th-that’s just a st-st-story, right? N-n-n-not real…r-r-right?” Amy stammered, her optics welling with coolant tears as she looked around at the surrounding woods, afraid that something was about to pop out from the darkness within them. “It’s…th-th-th-that m-m-m-monster’s n-n-n-not real, r-r-r-right?”

“Oh…I don’t know about that Amy, I wouldn’t think Polly’s the kind of android to make up tall tales on the fly.” Ajay sniggered, a sinister grin stretched across his face before he stood up and pointed behind Amy, stating the already upset android. “But whatever the case, I, from my personal option, believe that the Holtson Monster is in fact real, especially given the fact that, oh! I don’t know, that…IT’S STANDING RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!! RUN AMY!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!”

Amy shrieked as she leapt from her seat and felt backwards onto the ground behind her before she quickly rose to her feet and bolted into her tent headfirst. Raymond, Janet, and all the children, especially Ajay, had themselves a good chuckle at Polly’s story, the only exception of this was of course Betty, who sat beside Amy with a look of distain.

[*]

With the sky now pitch black, nighttime had fallen on the camp, the bright light of the campfire illuminating everything and everyone surrounding it with a warm glow. There was not a single sound in the air, save for the crackle of wood in the fire, and the chatter of voices talking to one another.

Since hearing about the Holtson Monster, Ajay had gotten out of his funk and decided to finally embrace the experience of camping. Having been inspired by Polly’s story, Ajay decided to share his own scary story about a hook handed maniac, which was met with a moderate approval (save for Amy, who was still hiding in her tent in fear of the Holtson Monster).

This of course was followed by the rest of the children sharing story after story, with Michelle providing a story about an undead bride looking for her husband, Madeline sharing a story about a ghost train that crashed, and the twins, of course, sharing their stories about all their “encounters” with various cryptids and how they defeated each and every one of them, such as how they managed to hunt down the Loch Ness Monster with a nuclear submarine…on dry land…in space!

As the children spun their stories, Raymond and Janet stood guard by the fire, adding wood as the two educators began making smores while sharing their own stories with each other, with Janet sharing with Raymond a story about how this week, Janet had to deal with a defiant student who was stealing other kids money and took to insulting everyone around him rather than owing up to it. While Raymond pulled out his phone to show Janet a series of pictures sent to Raymond earlier today from his mother which would help describe a story that occurred earlier this week.

The pictures depicted Raymond’s wife, Franny, dressed up in overalls, a red plaid button-down shirt, and a green hat, trying to help Raymond’s father Donnie, who was wearing overalls as well, but a black t-shirt and an orange hat, with the springtime tradition of attempting to vacate of a massive opossum known as “El Peste” from the crawlspace under the house (Something that Donny has been trying to do for the past ten years with no avail). This album of pictures was also accompanied by a short video of Franny and Donny pulling the El Peste’s “corpse” out from the crawlspace, right before El Peste stopped playing opossum and provided a surprise attack by latching onto Franny’s face, sending the Nandroid into a panic.

*HISS!!!*

“AIEEE!!! DONNIE HELP!!! IT’S BITING MY FACE!!! IT’S BITING MY FACE!!! GET IT OFF ME!!! GET IT OFF ME!!!”

“Hang on, I got ya! Ach! For God’s sake Franny! Hold bloody still, won’t ya?! Okay…NOW!!! HYAH!!!”

*CLANG!!!*

“AUGH!!! MY FACE!!! WHAT THE HELL’S DONNIE?!?! HIT THE DAMN OPOSSOM, NOT ME!!!”

*Hiss!!!*

“Right!!! Come get some, ya bloated pea-eyed shite-weasel! Anne!!! Franny!!! Get me the bite kit and a sewing set! Tonight, Imma make me a nice pillow outta this overgrown rat!”

*Hiss!!!*

“Now Donny!!! Ya be careful with that beastie now and watch out for me gnomes! If I find out ya dinged even one of me babies with that bloody shovel, then ya can count on sleepin in the crawlspace with ya fuzzy friend there! Ach! Come on Franny luv, ya let Donnie deal with El Peste while I make ya something for ya nerve…and for ya face too?”

“Thanks Anne I apprec-…wait…are you recording this? Anne…give me that phone…don’t you dare send that thing to Raymond! You…ANNE STEMLEY!!! YOU GIMME THAT PHONE RIGHT NOW!!!”

As Raymond and Janet were both laughing at the video, with Raymond making a mental note to himself to call his wife and check up on her, Polly sat next to Betty, who scowled and gave off a glare of absolute disgust towards her sister.

What? Are you still sour over that story? C’mon Betty, It’s just a story…well, allegedly.” Polly asked defensively, confused and a little taken aback by Betty’s sour face. “I know you wanna be a “proper Nandroid and follow the rules but sheesh. You’re more uptight than Molly, and that’s saying much. It’s not the 90’s anymore, Nandroids can be proper and still have fun.”

“Polly, I would expect something like this from Amy, Dolly, or…*Franny*, but you…I cannot believe that you would sink to such a level as stringing such a tale of dross.” Betty lectured Polly with a huff as she held her finger in the air like a disappointed parent. “We Nandroids are above such childish acts like telling scary stories. Honestly, Polly, what would Molly think if she were here?”

“Aw come on Betty, you really need to lighten up a little.” Polly chuckled, hearing the scoff of disbelief from Betty as she looked at the offended look on her sister’s face. “Besides, I could see that my story scared you. Come on, admit it.”

“Oh p-please, as if something so childish could do such a thing as…frighten me.” Betty huffed as she crossed her arms. “A true Nandroid should never scared of anything. Such fears impede our duties to our wards, and besides, to be scared is something more akin to humans.”

“Sure Betty, you keep telling yourself that…” Polly said with a smile before a thought crossed her mind, and she gave a smug grin towards Betty. “…or better yet, maybe you can tell the Holtson Monster that when he…GETS YA!!!”

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

It would be invisible to the human eye, but to Polly she could see it, the ever so slight flinch Betty made in response to Polly’s remark, followed by the way Betty scoffed at Polly before she decided to move over by Nathan and Ryan, who had been stuffing their faces with smores. It was decided by the posh Nandroid to ignore her sisters for the rest of the evening and wait until tomorrow morning to give both Polly and Amy a sternly-worded lecture on being childish.

{*}

[WARNING: RECHARGE INTRRUPTED! TO ENSURE OPTIMAL SERVICE, PLEASE RETURN TO SLEEP MODE IMMEDIATELY TO RESUME RECHARGE (Code 49)]

[WARNING: CORTEX SYSTEM ERROR! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

Betty suddenly awoke from sleep mode and looked around at her surroundings. The tent she was in was devoid of any light, save for the moonlight that penetrated the thin fabric of the tent walls, but for a Nandroid, who was designed to see in the dark, this was no issue.

The tent was no different than the other tents at the camp site. While each kid brought their own tent, and while Raymond and Janet brought their own as well, the Nandroids, seeing as they didn’t need much, agreed to share a tent together. The Nandroid tent was olive green and shaped like a flower bud. It was large enough for three people, or Nandroids in this case, but one was needed to crawl or squat to move around due to the height.

Aside from her the only other occupant to the tent was Polly, who unlike Betty, was sleeping in a sleeping bag while recharging via a portable recharger (a 12-hour solar powered battery) and a charging cable, which was something that the artsy Nandroid insisted on having so as to “get the full camping experience”. Betty, on the other hand, was recharging in “the proper way” (which consisting on sitting upright in the fetal position) while recharging using a portable recharger. Across the tent from Betty was another sleeping bag, which belonged to Amy, that was unzipped and devoid of any occupants.

Betty looked back to Polly and sighed in disgust before she closed her optics and began to return to sleep mode, only for her optics to spring open as it hit her that Amy was missing. As Betty’s head sprang up, she looked back to Amy’s sleeping bag, seeing the portable battery, and charging cable that was sitting on Amy’s sleeping bag.

Before she could say anything, or even wake up Polly, Betty then heard a sound coming from outside the tent. It was the crackling of tree branches along with by a strange and faint thumping noise that sounded like a shovel stabbing into the dirt but kept getting louder and louder each second…as if they were footsteps. This was also accompanied by the sound of old hydraulics, barely noticeable at first but as the noises got louder they could be heard as well.

*chick-haah choom*

“Amy? Is that you? Do you have any idea what time it is?” Betty whispered harshly to what she assumed was Amy. “Just what in Sterling’s name are you doing up so late? All Nandroids need to be recharging as scheduled hours to ensure optimal service.”

But Betty didn’t hear a reply from Amy, just the continued noise getting louder and louder until her sound was practically outside her tent. It was at that moment that Betty saw the shadow of a looming figure slowly lumbered past the tent, it’s large figure blotting out the bright moonlight.

*chick-haah choom*

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

Betty felt her body freeze and her coolant run cold as she began to realize that whatever was outside the tent was clearly not Amy, but perhaps something else.

Coming to the concluding that the figure was perhaps hungry bear who had wandered into the camp, Betty moved over to Polly and tried to wake her.

“Polly…Polly wake up!” Betty whispered as she shook Polly, all the while her optics were fixated on the large dark shadow slowly moving past the tent. “For Sterling’s sake Polly, get up right now!”

“Hmm…who were you talking to…?” Polly murmured in her sleep, blissfully unaware of the situation Betty was dealing with. “Hurm-erm…it’s the eyes, isn’t it...?”

Betty shook her head and groaned in frustration at Polly’s uselessness. However, just as she was about to slap the slumbering Polly awake, the posh Nandroid was interrupted by the sound of the tent zipper unzipping. Betty froze, seeing that the large shadow was now looming over the entrance to the tent Betty and Polly were in.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“Polly!!! Polly, please wake up!!!” Betty exclaimed softly, trying not to make a noise as she kept looking to the tent door and then to Polly, all the while shaking her sleeping Nandroid sister so as to wake her up. But alas, Polly was fast asleep, humming “Ode to Joy” between her snoring. “Polly!!! There’s something trying to come in!!! I think it’s a bear!!! There’s a bear in the camp and it’s about to enter our tent!!! Polly!!! Polly wakes up!!! POLLY!!! WAKE UP DAGNAB IT!!!”

Suddenly, the tent zipper stopped moving, and Betty quickly looked to the door and froze in place like a deer before headlights. The next few seconds felt like decades as Betty knelt there, watching the door to see if it moved again. Did she startle the intruder with her shouting? Betty did remember Madeline talking about scaring bears away by making loud noises during the ride to Coldbridge, but if she did, why wasn’t it moving away? Maybe the bear was too bold or too stupid? Maybe it was braver, or smarter, than the average bear?

Maybe it wasn’t a bear after all?

“N-Nathan…Ryan…is that you? Is this some kind of prank to fuel this Cryptid dross of yours?” Betty asked the shadow at the door, trying to ignore her trembling hands a she began to pull herself together. “Whatever game that the two of you are playing, it stops now. Now reveal yourselves this instant, otherwise, I will contact your mother and have you grounded until the end of summer. That goes for you too Ajay, if you’re part of this prank…hello…anyone?”

The shadow did not respond to Betty, it just stood there before the door…menacingly. As Betty began to notice a noise coming from the door that sounded like a raspy metallic breathing, the small shred of confidence Betty had from believing that all of this was some elaborate prank by the twins (as well as Ajay and Amy), was now fading fast, and was out the window entirely after what happened next.

Betty then watched as something began to slowly protrude from the unzipped part of the tent door zipper, moving inside the tent like a stiff python. The intruder was a long robotic arm, composed of worn, rusty, and corroded metal. Multiple sections of the arm were either covered with small patches of cracked and frayed scrap metal or displayed crude welding marks, as well as small patches of what appeared to be dirty rubber, made brown from years upon years of filth and entropy.

The hand attached to the arm was composed of a broad palm made of oxidized copper, large enough to cover Betty’s face if given the opportunity, with the center of the palm jointed for flexibility four spindly fingers, with each finger composed of a different kind of metal and their form reminiscent of crude spears or fire pokers, formed the rest of the hand. Betty could see that the ring and pinky fingers of the hand were missing their pointed tips while the thumb was missing half its joint and middle finger was gone entirely, leaving three small and corroded wires to dangle from the empty socket.

Betty watched in frozen shock as the monstrous hand touched the floor of the tent and began to move around randomly across said floor like a hound dog sniffing for something to hunt. As the hand moved closer and closer towards Betty, each finger moving like the tentacle of a squid, the posh Nandroid felt sheer panic rise with her small frame each inch claimed by the appendage, until at last, the arm was half a foot away from Betty.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

Just as Betty was about to scream for help, or to simply panic, she then watched as the arm pulled away, moving towards Amy’s sleeping bag. Confused by the sudden change in behavior, Betty watched as the hand felt around the sleeping bag until the hand’s fingers touched Amy’s portable charger. Upon feeling the shape of the charger for a few seconds, Betty heard a labored metallic sigh of satisfaction come from behind the tent door before the arm grasped the charger and pulled it thought the opening of the tent door, the long charging cable was sucked thought the hole like wet pasta down a drain.

Within moments, Betty heard the sound of movement from before and watched as the shadow in front of the tent door began to get smaller and smaller as the sound began to soften, indicating that the visitor was starting to leave.

Now seeing that she and Polly were no longer in danger, Betty began to rationalize what just happened, and as she looked down to Polly, who was still out despite all that happened, her cortex hatched a conclusion:

Nathan and Ryan’s recent obsession with “cryptids” was fueled by Polly’s story.
Nathan, Ryan hatched a plan with Polly to scare me with a fake cryptid. Reminder to suggest disciplinary punishment for both children.
Polly’s lack of response was intended as part of the prank to induce a feeling of helplessness and fear. Reminder to have a lecture on professional conduct between Nandroids and report this to Molly.
Amy’s involvement in the planning of this conspiracy is not remotely possible, as a defective Nandroid like her cannot be capable of such complex thinking. However, she could’ve still played a role as a cryptid itself, given that such a role does not require any .complex actions aside from walking and making strange noises, which is not far from her norm. The dead giveaway for her role in this plot would that the “cryptid” chose to steal Amy’s charger, probably because Amy didn’t have time to recharge due to her role as the cryptid in the prank and needed to quickly recharge before shutting down. Reminder to contact reformation services to have Amy recycled and replaced with a real Nandroid, one that can actually think for itself and follow directions properly.

Conclusion: This all was an immature and asinine prank and that all parties involved will face dire consequences.

She could not believe it! How could a proper Nandroid like Betty fall prey for such a childish ruse? It was so obvious to Betty now that she might as well had been told the plan in advance, and she simply ignored it. The indignity of it all, and it was because of her wards, because of Nandroids like Polly…and Amy!

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 15)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 15)!]

“Why those little…” Betty muttered to herself, outraged by the deceit and humiliation as she crawled towards the tent door. She could’ve gone after Polly, seeing as she was the ringleader of this jest, but Betty knew who she wanted, she wanted to go after the weakest link first, to go after Amy. “I’ll show them all…I’ll show *her*.”

{*}

As Betty emerged from her tent and stood out into the cold quiet campsite, Betty looked around for any sigh of the twins, Ajay, or Amy, imagining the stupid costume that they had made wearing, probably some shoddy outfit composed of branches, a tent and other junk.

As she looked around for her perpetrators, she hoped that the encounter would be with Amy and Amy alone. Betty had tolerated enough of that Nandroid’s antics, and now this…this would be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Searching the camp grounds, Betty relished the idea of what she would say to the Nandroid upon seeing her, rehearing in her cortex the right words that would finally break that disgrace of a Nandroid and imagining how Amy’s reaction would be. Would she shed tears and cry? Would the light fade from her optics and she would become silent and hollow? Betty even considered the idea of even… hitting Amy too. But it would have to be discreet and…and only be done to help drive Betty’s point across.

“Where are you Amy?!” Betty seethed quietly as she paced the campsite, looking around for any sign of any costumed intruder. Eventually she heard a noise and saw something large standing over by the still burning campfire, the light of which obscured the figure in contrast to the moonlight. Betty was surprised to see that the fire from earlier was once again at a full blaze, but paid no mind to it as she set her sights on “Amy”. “Aha!!! There you are!!! If that’s you over there, Amy, then I have a few choice words for you! Now, turn around, and…and…c-c-come…he-here…St-Sterling help me…”

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

Upon approaching the large figure by the fire pit, Betty was able to get a better view of the “prankster”, who was hunched on the ground. As the figure slowly stood up, its limbs creaking and squealing loudly during this process, and slowly turned around to face Betty, the Nandroid felt all her anger flee from her cortex upon seeing the intruder’s face, become replaced by the same feeling she had felt moments ago inside the tent.

It was once again clear to Betty that this…this…thing, now standing before Betty was neither Amy, nor the Flagg twins, and clearly was an android of some kind.

The android was tall in size, about nine feet tall (although because of his hunched over posture, he could’ve actually been much taller than that) and had a thin body with a broad chest. The android’s legs were no different in appearance from its other limbs, save for the bent joints on its left knee that resulted in a limp. Its feet consisted of one foot shaped like a large business shoe, the faint brown paint chipped away to expose the rusty metal beneath, while the other foot, which was made from warped tarnished brass and rusty metal, was shaped like a human foot, minus three toes.

Much like the android’s arm that had creeped into the tent earlier, the rest of the android’s body was also composed worn, rusty and corroded, with many sections either replaced with mismatched metal parts, covered with metal plates that were also rusted or corroded, bore crude weld marks, had wires sticking out from between bent plates, or even small stretched patches of dirty old rubber, which to Betty, resembled human skin, what was wrapped around parts of the android’s body like a mummy or was sagging off said body in long strands, much like a mummy.

The android was wearing a makeshift cloak on its back crudely tied around its neck, and held together by some strange mishmash of parts, and the shredded remains of grey trousers, rotten from years of elemental abuse. The cloak looked to be made out of rotten and filthy children’s blankets, with each of them depicting different cartoon animals, like those a toddler would have. All of these blankets were crudely stitched together haphazardly, or were tied together using small sticks, pieces of scrap metal, and bones

However for Betty, the most striking feature of the android was its face, while she felt the sudden compulsion to look away yet finding it impossible to do so. The head of the android intruder resembled a human skull, made out of the android was of rusty metal with wires sticking out of broken gaps in the side of the head.

As for the very face of the android, and the very thing that was terrifyingly fixating for Betty, was what looked to be a male human face mask made of old dirty rubber that was crudely attached to the front of the android’s face like a mask for Halloween. The rubber face mask was saggy in appearance, looking like an old bald man who just had the stroke of a lifetime, and was missing the tip of its nose and upper right quarter, exposing the upper right part of the android’s skull and its right eye. There were several tubes of varied sizes that were protruding from the nose of the android that ran through the mouth of the rubber mask and attached themselves to different areas around the android’s head. As it drooped crookedly over the top of the android’s head much like a burlap sack, the facemask did nothing to hide the android’s exposed jaw and teeth.

Said jaws of the android were longer than that of a human jaw in length and the jaw hinge was dented, giving the android a perpetual and crooked smile, the teeth that were fitted inside the android’s jaw resembled that of an antique set of dentures, with the plastic gums inside warped and cracked while with the teeth themselves were composed of either various types of metals, stained ceramic that was either cracked or broken, old pieces of ivory that too was either cracked or broken, or were just missing in their entirety.

As for the eyes of the android, it had two distinct types of eyes. The left eye was composed of dirty glass and ceramic, much like a doll’s eyes, and had a distinct three-way fracture running through the eye as it sat motionless in the socket of the rubber mask. The right eye, however, consisted of a large black and while eyeball, much like a great white shark eye, which rested inside the socket of the android’s skull. Unlike the left glass eyes which was immobile, the right eye moved around, albert janky, and even blinked via a bent metal eyelid. Above this eye were two tiny metal prongs that shifted up and down like the base for a mechanical eyebrow.

Betty froze in place as she tried to process what exactly she was looking at. It did not take much to figure out that the abomination standing before her was quite possibly the Holtson Monster, the cryptid from Polly’s story.

It was then that Betty watched the monster look to Amy’s recharger that it was holding in its hand and then slowly begin to open its jaw, the sound of creaking and squealing of it’s crooked jaw made Betty flinch in fright as she watched the cryptid lower the recharger into its mouth and then bite down hard like a nutcracker…with Betty clearly being the peanut in his scenario.

The monster growled and gurgled as it chewed on the recharger like a candy bar, battery acid dribbled down its chest and stomach like molten honey, hissing and sizzling as the acid ate away at the metal on the monster’s chest. Eventually, the cryptid finished its meal, swallowing the last electronic morsel it carried within mouth.

Betty, mesmerized by the sight of the abomination’s eating habits, flinched back to reality as she noticed the monster’s large black eye locked on to the Nandroid before it.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: EMERGENCY SENSORS ACTIVATED! THREAT DETECTED! DANGER! DANGER! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 13)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“Wh-Wh-What in St-St-Sterling’s name are you?” Betty stammered, the feeling from earlier returned in full force, and upon seeing the monster turn itself towards Betty and begin to lumber forward in her direction, she finally realized what was this feeling that the was experiencing right now.

This feeling…it was fear.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: EMERGENCY SENSORS ACTIVATED! THREAT LEVEL ESCALATED!! DANGER! DANGER! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

As Betty began to back away, quickly planning to cry out for help and rush over to Raymond or Janet’s tents for help, she watched as a lone yellow light shot out from the center of the monster’s lone black eye and targeted its next meal before said monster opened its crooked jaw as wide as it could. It was then that Betty was then greeted with a loud eerie screech from the monster.

“GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!” The cryptid screeched towards Betty, its head rattling violently as it continued to lumber towards Betty, albert faster than expected, and reaching its arms out towards the petrified Nandroid standing before it. “GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

*chick-haah choom*

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

[WARNING: EMERGENCY SENSORS ACTIVATED! THREAT LEVEL ESCALATED!! DANGER! DANGER! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

*chick-haah choom*

The terrified Nandroid watched in horror as the face of the abomination charge at Betty, black fluids dripping down from the cryptid’s mouth like putrid blood oozing out from a necrotic wound. Betty could hear the strained breathing from before, which was now accompanied by the sound of the monster’s footsteps and the chattering of the monster gnashing and chattering its teeth.

*chick-haah choom*

Quickly, Betty snapped back to “reality” and started to run all the way to the other side of the camp where Raymond and Janet’s tents were, hoping that he would help save her from this monstrosity.

But as she was merely a yard from Janet’s tent, she felt her body fall to the ground with something grasping her foot. Looking behind her, Betty could see that the cryptid’s spindly hand was grasping her foot tightly, it’s fingers cracking her plastic skin.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

[WARNING: EMERGENCY SENSORS ACTIVATED! THREAT LEVEL ESCALATED! DEFENSE MEASURES ACTIVATED! DANGER! DANGER! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

“Augh! Let go of me!!!” Betty protested, trying to shake and kick off the mangled predator as it began to pull her towards its chattering jaw. “I said…LET GO OF ME!!!”

[WARNING: EMERGENCY SENSORS ACTIVATED! THREAT LEVEL ESCALATED! DANGER! DANGER! EMERGENCY DEFENCE PROTOCOLS COMMENCING! BRACE FOR IMPACT! (Code 87)]

In that second, Betty’s palm opened up, and she aimed it at the monster, spraying it in the face with mace. The android beast howled in pain as it reeled back, releasing Betty as it covered its face with its hands.

“GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

With the monster now confused and distracted, Betty turned to see Janet’s tent and rushed over to open it and crawl inside.

“MS. HAKBAR!!!” Betty shouted as she opened the tent, peered inside frantically. “It’s an emergency!!! There’s a cry-er…a monster…in…the…c-camp…”

Betty’s voice trailed off as she realized that Janet was gone, vanished into thin air. Her sleeping bag was open, as if she had gotten up to go somewhere, yet there was no sigh of Janet anywhere.

But the oddest thing, and the thing that terrified Betty, was the large blood stain that sat in the middle of Janet’s sleeping bag. There was no sign of blood or any kind of struggle anywhere else in the tent save for that exact spot.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“N-no…” Betty whimpered to herself as she realized what must’ve happened. “It…it can’t be…

Whatever this cryptid was, it got Janet, probably Raymond and even the children too. In fact, there was only one other survivor in this camp that Betty knew was still alive: Polly, her Nandroid sister who was still asleep in her tent and thus blissfully unaware of what was transpiring.

With a deep breath to steady herself, Betty turned to see that the monster was occupied, looking around the camp for Betty. Seizing this opportunity, Betty took a deep breath and stepped out of Raymond’s tent, crouching down and crawling like an infant while using the tents for cover. All the while watching the cryptid moved around the camp and proceeded to rip open tents and containers in the search for more prey.

*chick-haah choom*

“GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Barely evading the monster’s detection, Betty managed to return to her tent and crawled inside, seeing that Polly was still fast asleep, her body wrapped up like a burrito in her sleeping bag. Quickly, Betty rushed over to Polly to wake her up again.

“Polly!!! POLLY!!! WAKE UP!!!” Betty exclaimed as she began trying to shake Polly awake. “Polly!!! You need to wake up right now, there’s some kind of cr-”

As Betty grasped Polly’s shoulder to move her upright, she was greeted by the sight of Polly’s body…minus her head.

Her face agape in shock, Betty slowly looked down to where Polly was sleeping…and there was Polly’s head, her optics black as jet and her face was barren of any expression. A blue coolant stain was forming around where the neck was severed and had soaked into the pillow and sleeping bad, just like Raymond’s sleeping bag.

“AAAAAIIIIIEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!” Betty screamed, pushing Polly’s body away as she crawled backwards until her back was to the tent wall, watching in horror as Polly’s body slumped backward and bumped into Polly’s head, causing it to roll forward towards Betty while small gushes of coolant were trickling out from the neck stump. “N-no…Oh no…no…no…no…”

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

Just then, Betty heard a familiar sound, the strange footsteps of the monster move towards the tent again. It must’ve heard Betty’s screams and came to seek out their source.

*chick-haah choom*

Betty, with coolant now tears running down her face, covered her mouth with her hands, lest she make a noise, as the cryptid’s footsteps get louder and louder with each passing second, the monster’s labored breathing and the sound of something wet and dripping were now added to the mix.

*chick-haah choom*

Shuttering violently and covering her audio receptors with her hands to drown out the noises surrounding her…suffocating her, Betty braced herself for the worst. Betty shut her optics tightly as she contemplated her choices and mistakes, and found herself begging, praying for some kind of salvation. The park rangers, Raymond, Janet, Amy, or even her Nirmata at this point, anything to stop all the noises Betty was hearing and come to the Nandroid’s rescue.

But then, all of a sudden, all the noises were gone, there was nothing but silence in the air, save for the sound of the nighttime wind blowing gently and the occasional owl hooting in the distance. Betty opened one optics and looked around before she slowly crawled out of the tent to look outside.

The cryptid was gone, it vanished into thin air, like it never existed in the first place. Betty stepped out from the tent and stood up, looking around the camp and seeing that it was bare of anything strange.

Betty sighed in relief before she contemplated her choices and decided to go back to the other tents to check for any survivors, then go find the ranger’s station to get help.

Suddenly, Betty began to feel small droplets fall upon her head and shoulders. As Betty wiped the top of her head and looked the fluid, she could see it was black as tar, and it smelled like battery fluid. In that instant, Betty’s optics widened as she slowly looked up to the large tree that was behind her tent, and seeing the cryptid that right above her, clinging to said tree’s trunk like a jaguar, it’s face looking directly at Betty before it opened its mouth to roar at her.

“GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!!!” Betty screamed as she ran from the tent just as the monster pounced on her from the tree like an animal on its prey, knocking Betty onto the ground. “ST-STAY AWAY FROM ME!!! STAY AWAY OR I’LL…I’LL KILL YOU!!!”

Before Betty could react, she felt the teeth of the cryptid bite into her shoulder, causing the Nandroid to howl out in pain as she felt the monster’s teeth and jaw penetrate the plastic plates of her body and cut through her endoskeleton like teeth with carrots.

[WARNING: DAMAGE DETECTED IN MAIN SYSTEMS! EMERGENCY DEFENCE PROTOCOLS COMMENCING! DANGER! DANGER! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

As the beast released Betty from it’s maws, the Nandroid quickly turned around and aimed her functioning hand at the monster to mace it again, only for the cryptid to quickly bite down on Betty’s hand, staining the rubber mask and teeth of the monster with blue coolant.

“AUGH!!! EEEEEAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGH!!!” Betty screamed, trying to break free of her assailant’s grip, but with one hand now broken, and her shoulder to the other one destroyed, there was nothing to stop what was to come. “NOOOOO!!! AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!!!!

With that, the monster finally bit thought Betty’s hand, and stepped back to consume the morsel it had in its mouth. Betty gasped as she looked to her broken, hand, everything but the thumb had been bitten away and small spirts of coolant shot out from the wound.

Betty then looked to the cryptid, watching it turn and stare at Betty crunching the “food” in its mouth and moaned in satisfaction before it let out a small chuckle. Knowing she had no chance to escape, Betty raised her hands in surrender towards the abomination, her emotional matrix nearly burned out from the fear she was experiencing.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[CRITICAL SYSTEM ERROR: MULTIPLE SYSTEM ERRORS DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIENTLY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

[WARNING: DAMAGE DETECTED IN PRIMARY SYSTEMS! EMERGENCY DEFENSE PROTOCOL MALFUNCTION DETECTED! CRITICAL SYSTEM ERRORS DETECTED! DANGER! DANGER! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

“P-P-Pl-Please…St-stay away!!!” Betty pleaded, tears running down her cheeks, as she watched the monster finish its snack and begin to loom over her. Hearing the monster’s dreaded teeth chattering and it’s labored breath, Nandroid’s the entire body shuttered violently as she felt her systems frying one by one. “Wh-what do y-y-you w-w-w-want fr-from m-m-me? P-Pl-please just tell m-m-me! I ca-can get it…anything you want if…if y-y-you just sp-spare me.”

The cryptid didn’t respond to Betty’s question, it simply began to chatter and gnash it’s warped jaw and teeth as it got on all fours and began to crawled towards Betty like some warped animal.

*chick-haah choom*

It took mere seconds before the monster was face to face with the Nandroid that it had been hunting with such obsession and hunger, staring right into her petrified optics. Betty was so close to the cryptid’s face, that Betty could see her terrified face in the reflection of its black optic.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“PLEASE!!! PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!! I’LL DO ANYTHING!!!” Betty cried out hysterically, weeping as she stared into the black optic of the monster, “JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME?!”

In response to Betty’s screaming, the cryptid growled in delight, chattering its teeth loudly before it opened its maw to scream right into Betty’s face.

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!” The monster screamed at Betty, its voice barely recognizable by the static and sound errors. Gobs of blackened fluids landed on Betty’s cheek and arms, stinging her as the acid ate through her rubber skin and plastic plates. “EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

It was just as Polly had said in her story: The Holtson Monster was hunting for fresh prey, and thanks to Betty, it now had its next meal right in its grasp. Come next morning, the rest of the campers, if they’re still alive, or those park rangers would come across the mangled and eviscerated body of a Nandroid by the firepit, and then that would they do then? Betty wondered about that for a brief moment, but it was only brief, for the cryptid would be kind enough to help her pay attention.

[WARNING: DAMAGE DETECTED IN PRIMARY SYSTEMS! EMERGENCY DEFENCE PROTOCOL MALFUNCTION DETECTED! CRITICAL SYSTEM ERRORS DETECTED! DANGER! DANGER! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

Suddenly, Betty felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as she looked down to see the spindly fingers of the monster slowly push into Betty’s stomach region. Betty then watched as the cryptid’s other hand placed itself onto Betty’s broken shoulder and begin to dig into her. The Nandroid screamed in sheer agony, fresh coolant tears ran down her face as she felt the pain course thought her robotic body.

As the monster’s hand slowly pushed itself deeper into Betty’s abdomen, the pain increased as well. Betty screamed until her voice box blew out and all she could muster were small crackly whimpers. Coolant trickled from Betty’s mouth and nose like small cyan rivers as she felt the spindly fingers of the cryptid rummage through her systems and slowly tear her apart from the inside, causing an avalanche of alarms and system crashes to fire off, one after another.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

[SYSTEM ERROR: UNKNOWN ERRORS DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIENTLY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE DETECTED IN PRIMARY SYSTEMS! EMERGENCY CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE DETECTED! DANGER! DANGER! CONTACT EMERGENCY SERVICES IMMEDIATELY! SYSTEM CRASH IMMINENT (Code 87)]

[[[[[CRI…CAL SY2ui54h2h24hiEM01001101 01111001 00100000 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101100 01101100 00101100 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101000 01100101 01100001 01110010 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100001 01110010 00101110 00001010R: M…. RRR SYSYSYSM D8WE9312…URE DET…01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 01101101 00100000 01100101 01101101 01100010 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100101 00101110 00001010ED! C----ER---CY SERSERVSERVNEEEEEEEEEEE8E039842DO0U32EJ]]]]]]]]!

As the monster began to drag Betty towards the firepit, the preyed upon Nandroid tried with all her might to break free from the paralysis, to find some way to escape this nightmare and find some kind of protection. Hoping that someone would come to stop this monster and rescue her from utter demise.

But nothing happened…because no one would come.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[SYSTEM ERROR: UNKNOWN ERRORS DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIENTLY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

[WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE DETECTED IN PRIMARY SYSTEMS! EMERGENCY CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE DETECTED! DANGER! DANGER! CONTACT EMERGENCY SERVICES IMMEDIATELY! SYSTEM CRASH IMMINENT (Code 87)]

[[[[[CRI…CAL01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 01101101 00100000 01100101 01101101 01100010 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100101 00101110R: M…. RRR SYSYSYSM D8WE9312…URE DET…01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 01101101 00100000 01100101 01101101 01100010 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100101 00101110ED! C----ER---CY SERSERVSERVNEEEEEEEEEEE8E039842DO0U32EJ]]]]]]]]!

[CRITICAL SYSTEM ERROR: MULTIPLE SYSTEM ERRORS DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIENTLY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE DETECTED IN PRIMARY SYSTEMS! EMERGENCY CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE DETECTED! DANGER! DANGER! CONTACT EMERGENCY SERVICES IMMEDIATELY! SYSTEM CRASH IMMINENT (Code 87)]

Suddenly, within minutes of arriving at the firepit, Betty felt a huge shock of pain course through her body as she felt the monster’s hands suddenly grab hold and tear her body apart, splitting the Nandroid in half across the waist while the latter obliterated her shoulder joint and severed the arm below, her dismembered hand’s fingers twitching as the hand, and the arm that was attached, laid on the cold dirt and grass below.

Gasping in sheer pain from the dismemberment, Betty vomited up coolant and other fluids onto herself. Her system failing, Betty coughed up more fluids as she then looked to the large gash in her torso and her severed legs beneath, whimpering as she could see coolant oozing from severed tubes and forming small puddles onto the ground below. Betty then looked up to the cryptid holding up the coolant-soaked parts that it had just torn out from Betty’s body and then devoured them without hesitation or restraint.

It was then that Betty felt the spindly fingers of the monster grab hold of the top of her head and turn it to have Betty look at the monster’s face, its jaw now stained with coolant. Betty watched as the cryptid gnashed and chattered its teeth once more before it let out yet another eerie screech towards its prey.

“GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“P-P-P-P-Please-ease….” Betty whimpered, her voice crackling and stuttering as her voice box continued to fail, the Nandroid’s optics flickered on and off as she spit up more coolant. “…-n-n-no-o mo-mo-ore…ple-ple-pl-pl-pl-ase…jus…-ust…k-k-kill…me…”

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!” The cryptid screeched loudly at Betty as its head rattled violently, its jaw clamping open and shut rapidly. “EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

With that, Betty felt the fingers on her head pierce into her skull before it let go of her head and moved its attention downwards. Betty then watched as the monster tilted its head downwards and opening its maw as wide as it could before it dove its hands into Betty’s chest to slowly tear her chest plate open.

Once Betty’s chest plate was torn open, exposing her endoskeleton and vital parts, which included her core, the cryptid didn’t hold back (not that ever would), proceeded to dive headfirst into its meal, ripping out chucks of Betty’s systems one bite at a time like a hungry lion in the Serengeti. All the while leaving Betty’s core intact, possibly because it wanted to leave it for dessert.

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

Overwhelmed by all the pain she was experiencing, knowing that her other functions were either offline, failing, or broken beyond repair, and with the now-corrupted alarms blaring off inside her head, Betty could do nothing but stare up into the night sky and let out small whimpers and gurgles, lightly flailing her broken arm and hand as some futile attempt to stop the monster. All the while the Nandroid could still hear the shrill screaming of the cryptid as it continued to bite into her chest cavity and tear out her parts with its hands and teeth.

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

It felt like hours before the monster’s hand finally grasped Betty’s core and begin squeeze, Betty let out a fresh scream of sheer agony as she then looked to watch the monster’s jaws clasp around her head, feeling the strain and pressure of the cryptid’s teeth crack into her skull and begin to bite into her cortex, damaging her optic wires and removing her depth perception.

With the world spinning around her, and all of the noise surrounding Betty was starting started to become drowned out by an overlay of white noise, Betty felt her core systems finally start to fail and as everything became static, the last thing Betty would see and hear would be the monster’s screams as it started to squeeze Betty’s core like an egg within its hand…

…and then…that was that…

…there was no escape from it now…

…no hope of escape or respite from this…

…no last-minute rescue or salvation…

…this was the end…

…the end…for Betty.…once a proud, proper Nandroid…

…now nothing more than prey to the Holtson Monster…

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

[[[[[[CRI…CAL01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 01101101 00100000 01100101 01101101 01100010 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100101 00101110R: M…. RRR SYSYSYSM D8WE9312…URE DET…01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 01101101 00100000 01100101 01101101 01100010 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100101 00101110ED! C----ER---CY SERSERVSERVNEEEEEEEEEEE8E039842DO0U32EJ]]]]]]]]!

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE WAKE UP NOW! (Code 87)!]

“EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

[BETTY!!! WAKE UP!!!]

“GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“WAKE UP BETTY!!! WAKE UP!!!”

{*}

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

[WARNING: SLEEP MODE ERRORS DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

“Betty!!! Betty, wake up!!!” Polly exclaimed to Betty as she shook her awake from her sleep mode. To which Betty shot up from her charging spot and pushed Polly away from her.

“NO!!!” Betty shouted, her face widened with shock as she looked to Polly in confusion, looking around as if she had been teleported to another planet.

“Woah! Easy there Betty! Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a…ghost…” Polly asked, confused by Betty’s behavior initially, only then for a lightbulb to go off inside her cortex when she quickly realized what exactly was wrong with Betty. “Say Betty…”

Ignoring Polly, mostly cause she was still confused and agitated by the sight of her sister with her head still intact, Betty gasped as she quickly looked down at her body and ran her hands over it thoroughly, checking that everything was intact and where it should be…before any of *that* happened.

As she looked around at her surroundings, Betty could see that she was back inside the tent, and nothing was out of the ordinary. The morning sun was out, and Betty could hear the sound of birds and people talking from outside, as well as the sound of voices on a walkie-talkie.

“It was all…a dream?” Betty thought to herself, still confused by everything as she touched the tent wall. “No…that’s not…Nandroid’s don’t dream. Right? Right?”

Regardless of that, Betty sighed in relief that everything was okay, before she heard the voice of Polly exclaim one “A-hem!” towards her. A realization dawned on Betty as she turned to see Polly in front of Betty with a smug grin on her face reminiscent of a smug underage psychic while she placed her hands on her hips in a smug matter.

It did not take much for Betty to realize what Polly was smiling about (One important thing that I’ve forgotten to mention, is that in the years since the Expo Incident, Polly had begun to expand her interests into concocting ways to scare her Nandroid sisters, such as on Halloween).

“No! No! No! It is not what you think…this-this was just a memory malfunction, you have to believe me I-” Betty stammered to Polly, her cheeks now glowing from embarrassment as the flustered Nandroid tried to control the situation before it got worse. “Listen…I am telling you!!!! You better listen to me Polly!!!”

“Heh! You had a nightmare about the Holtson Monster, didn’t you Betty?” Polly teased in a sing-song manner, confirming her theory by watching Betty’s face light up with sheer agitation and embarrassment, and then nearly falling over from laughing too hard. “I knew it!!! I knew my story got to you too! You know, I knew that it would’ve scared Amy good, but never would I imagine that you, Betty, a “proper Nandroid” like Molly, would’ve *actually* had a nightmare about that cryptid! Oh! This is just too good! First Molly and that haunted house, and now you and this story!”

“What?! N-No! Polly, I did not have a nightmare!” Betty stammered defensively as she looked away to hide her glowing cheeks. “Proper Nandroids do not have nightmares…or dreams…of any kind…I …I was…I was just…just caught off guard by your abrupt interruption of my recharge. So do not…do not do that again…please.”

“Uh-huh, sssuuurrre it was...” Polly said with a small chuckle as she picked up Amy’s sleeping back and the rechargers. “Well anyways, since you’re awake now, you can help me clean up the tent so we can start packing.”

“Packing? What are you talking about?” Betty asked, confused by what Polly said. “I thought we were camping here throughout the entire weekend. Did…did something happen?”

Betty watched as Polly’s face turned solemn as she looked to Betty. The post Nandroid’s eyes widened with worry as she waited for a response.

“There…there was an incident last night…” Polly explained as she looked towards one of the tent walls, listening to the voices outside talking. “Mr. Stemley was the first one to wake up, and when he found it, he had Ms. Hakbar take the kids on a hike while Amy, you and I help pack up camp. Those voices you hear outside are the park rangers.”

“Wait…an incident…Park Rangers?” Betty asked, having quickly finished packing up her supplies before she looked over to Polly, her instincts telling her that something was off. “Polly…what happened? Did a student get hurt?”

“Just step outside…” Polly said, her tone flat as she returned to rolling up the sleeping bag. "…you’ll see what I mean.”

[*]

As soon as she stepped out of the tent, Betty gasped, rendered speechless placing her hands over her mouth as she was met with a grim sight.

As Betty looked around the camp, she could see blood splatters everywhere she looked. The entire campground looked like the aftermath of a vampire frat party. Even the tent was stained with spatters of blood as well, small red dots peppered its polyester surface like pimples on a teenager’s face. Betty looked to the ground and could see that on the ground but only a few feet away from her tent was a large blood stain on the ground along with small tuffs of fur, to which there were marks that looked as if something were dragged towards the fire pit…

As she walked through the camp and towards the fire pit, noticing the smell of spoiling meat and waste, Betty looked over to the fire pit and saw something there that stopped the Nandroid dead in her tracks (no pun intended). There, by the very firepit where just last night, everyone was eating smores and telling scary stories…where Polly told Betty told her story about the Holtson Monster…

…there was the eviscerated carcass of a deer, a doe by the looks of it, lying in a pool of its own blood by the fire pit…

The deer had been torn to shreds and already riddled with buzzing flies and vermin. The deer’s abdomen had been torn open like a Christmas present and its entrails spilling out onto the ground. Chunks of its body had large bitemarks and its front and hind left legs were missing. Half of its face had been chewed off, exposing its skull that had been cracked open, a lone eyeball dangled from the socket.

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

Betty slowly and carefully approached the deer carcass, remaining silent as her optics took in every last detail. Looking around for a moment, she could see several park rangers walking around the campsite while they took notes and pictures. Raymond was also there talking to Ranger Hung, who was squinting at the educators suspiciously while writing down notes on a yellow notepad, by the look of Raymond’s face and body language, as well as the fact he was rubbing his face in frustration, he was understandably upset about this.

As Betty looked back to the dead deer, she flinched as for a brief moment, she was looking upon her own body, crushed, shredded by the Holtson Monster much like the deer.

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

[WARNING: CORTEX SYSTEM ERROR! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

Betty closed her optics and shook off the feeling, and when she opened them, there was the deer again. It was then that Betty heard footsteps beside her and quickly turned to see Amy standing beside her, who was sniffling and wiping tears from her eyes with a pink hanky as she mourned the deceased deer.

“Oh…poor little deer-ie, first Bambi’s mom and now you. How, Betty, how could something so terrible happen to such a sweet and innocent creature? Don’t worry Mrs. Deer, I’ll be praying for you, and praying that these park rangers bring that mean ol’ Chupacabra to justice!” Amy said solemnly before she blew her nose with the hanky (a useless gesture) before she put the hanky away and closed her optics as she began to pray for the deer. “Hello? Mr. Nirmata? Yes, it’s Amy again…Uh-huh… Uh-huh …Yes, I can hold….”

Betty scoffed at Amy and her Alloyist beliefs, she turned away to walk over to Raymond and Ranger Hung, looking back to the deer carcass a few more times during her short journey.

“…you have any the faintest idea what kind of danger our kids were in?! Or how about how traumatizing this could’ve been for my kids if they saw that?!” Raymond shouted at Ranger Hung while gesturing over to the dead deer. Ranger Hung on the other hand, kept his cool as he took the brunt of Raymond’s anger and continued writing in his notebook. “I didn’t drive all this way to traumatize my students with a rotting deer corpse in the middle of our camp!!! Here’s a piece of advice for you and your park rangers: Maybe you can *actually* give your campers a heads-up that they might have to deal with *freaking* *bears* leaving their leftovers in their freaking camp!!! I mean sweet Christmas!!!”

“I think you may not even realize, Mr.…Stemley, that what a bear does in the woods is part of the circle of life, and it’s not my job to police wild animals, only wild people.” Ranger Hung said, his tone being the same as it was yesterday as he finished writing his ticket. “In any case, you signed the waver before you got here, so you agreed to our no-refund policy. Now if you still wanna tangle with the wolfs, then I suggest go get a lawyer. Otherwise, suck it up.”

“Gah!!! Forget it!!! You can keep your bears and dead animals for yourself cause we’re outta here!!! Goodbye and good riddance!!! “We rangers are the last line of defense for mother nature.” my bloody ar-…” Raymond huffed as he began to storm off, stopping in his tracks upon seeing Betty standing there behind him. “Oh!!! Hey Betty, good to see you’re finally up. Uh…sorry about all of…um…all of this. But by now we should be about finished packing everything up. Janet’s taken the kids on a hike and will meet with us at the van. So, once we finish with the tents we pack up said van and then we can leave this cursed place…*FOR* *GOOD*!!!”

Upon hearing Raymond shout “for good” in his direction,” Raymond felt that Ranger Hung presented the teacher with a flipped bird from behind his back, but he ignored it as he walked with Betty back to the camp. As they moved past the fire pit, Betty and Raymond stopping to look at the disemboweled deer, with Betty suddenly noticing something amongst the carnage that caused the Nandroid to feel a jolt in her systems.

[WARNING: CORTEX SYSTEM ERROR! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

“So according to “Ranger Rick” over there, this is the handy work of bears that wandered into our campsite. They tend to do this every now and then while they hunt, so eh…it’s a good thing nobody needed to hit the head last night, eh?” Raymond said with a dry and awkward chuckle towards Betty before he looked over to the Nandroid and saw her eyes fixating on the deer carcass. Raymond sighed sadly as he patting her on the back. “Yeah…too soon, I know, sorry. Poor little thing, Let’s hope that it was quick for her. Take it from me, a quick death is sometimes better than the alternative.”

Betty just stood there, still frozen in shock and confusion as she stared at the deer’s destroyed and bloody body, trying her hardest to process what she was seeing amongst it. But try as she might, there was nothing that she could calculate that would help explain to her the sight of something that was currently resting among the pile of blood and entrails.

There, laying right beside the half-eaten liver and mass of fat, was a portable recharger, broken in half as if someone bit into it, the broken end having corroded and melted from exposure to battery acid.

[WARNING: CORTEX SYSTEM ERROR! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: EMOTIONAL MATRIX MALFUNCTION! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)]

[WARNING: MEMORY STORAGE ERROR! MULTIPLE FAUX MEMORIES DETECTED! PLEASE CONSULT ANDROID TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY! (Code 87)!]

“Hey uh…Betty? Are you okay?” Raymond said as he looked over to Betty, seeing that her hands were trembling, and tapped her shoulder, snapping the Nandroid back to reality as she quickly shook off her state of mind and turned towards Raymond with a confused and alarmed look. “Hey? How’re you holding up?”

“Hmm? Oh! Y-Yes…I’m…I mean, I *am* fine sir. This…this is all...this is not…how I imagined this weekend would go.” Betty said as she looked to Raymond and gave a small smile before she looked back to the desiccated deer and seeing that the recharger was gone, having vanished into thin air. “I just…I never thought that I would have such an experience.”

“In any case, Janet’s found this great indoor waterpark slash hotel in Mayweather and has already booked us a few rooms for the rest of today and tomorrow. By noon today, we will be miles away from this place!” Raymond said warmly, providing the traumatized Nandroid a reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder. “But listen Betty, I know from experience that things like this is a lot to process for anyone, even androids. But I can assure you that everything’s gonna be alight. The important thing to note is that none of the kiddos got a chance to see the deer, so we don’t have to worry about any nightmares, am I right?”

Betty nodded her head and smiled as Raymond smiled back and went ahead to help Polly and Amy pack. As Betty paused for a moment and began to look back to the dead deer, wanting to whet that nagging sensation in her cortex. However, Betty instead shook it off all the thoughts dancing inside her head and continued to go help Raymond and the other Nandroids with the packing of camp.

“You are a Nandroid of Sterling Robotics Betty; what happened last night was just a small memory error and nothing more.” Betty thought to herself as she took a deep breath to compose herself. “Remember: Proper Nandroids do not have nightmares and there are no such things as cryptids…right? When you get back home, you will go get a check up with the bot doc and you will be right as rain. Right? Right?!”

It was upon that moment that Betty could hear a faint roar in the distance, miles away from the campsite. A roar carried across the wind, dancing beyond the trees where nobody sees. A roar that was faint enough to blend in perfectly with every other sounds of nature, but just loud enough to be hear by those who were listening for it, for those who were expecting it.

It was upon that moment that Betty could hear that roar as clear as day…

“GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

…and it terrified her.

[*]

The End

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