Craig of the creek: From beyond the creek

Old Friends and New Fiends

Sarah froze in fear, in front of her was a twisted machine, its skeletal frame shone a dull cyan, it had string-like wires throughout it's arms and legs that pulled and loosened to make it move, the giant claws at the end of its hands should have been enough to make her shriek even more, but perhaps it's head was the most unsettling, for it wasn't a face on its shoulders, but rather a microphone with horn-like antennas. Its clawed hand reached towards her, but stopped suddenly. the world was quiet, save for Sarah's shallow breaths, and the pouring rain from the world above. The skeletal robot stood still, as if waiting for something to happen. after a bit of time, the machine seemed to lose interest in the terrified girl and wandered into one of the doorways. Sarah took a minute to process what just had happened, she put her hand on her chest to make sure that her heart was still beating, and after making sure that she was still alive, she took a deep breath to calm down before continuing to read Ozzy's note while trudging trough the darkened hall "- did you see it? if you did... that blue thing that was behind you is called The Stalker, one of three robots meant to protect the factory from intruders like... well... you-" Sarah raised an eyebrow reading this, it didn't make any sense ! after all, if she had made these she surely would have remembered building them, and they looked too advanced to have been built by her dad (he was never exactly as good at manipulating technology as he was manipulating others...) "I think this is the only one that remains... I hope at least... what I do know is the fact that this thing can't see you ! its got no eyes, so if you feel as though you are being followed, just check your back before standing still (that way you don't just stop and wait for hours like an idiot. since it won't make a noise until it's too late...) -Signed, someone who already looked like an idiot before" Sarah giggled at the thought of Ozzy having stood completely still for no reason, especially since he didn't make a single noise when walking or even running... so why was he afraid of this thing ? she stopped to think about this, trying to think of why... she then heard metal footsteps retreating. Sarah quickly turned around and managed to catch a glimpse of the blue beast as it slinked into one of the doorways, she shuddered to imagine what would happen should this terrible abomination get her hands on her... perhaps it was best to not get caught. She quickly continued to head for the door at the end of the long hallway, stopping every time she thought she heard the beast approaching, however, every time she turned there wasn't a trace of the stalking Menace. Sarah started to lose her patience, this process of taking a few steps before turning around to check behind her to check for a hunk of junk that seemed to lose interest after the second time it got close to her was tedious, especially knowing that the door to the stairs was just a couple steps away from her. She took one last look behind her to make sure the blue beast was gone, before making a mad dash towards the door, her footsteps loudly echoing against the walls. She got to the door, basically gulping down air through her quick and shallow breathing. Once her breath had steadied she reached for the handle but was stopped when behind her she heard loud clangs behind her, she turned around just in time to be grabbed by her arms and lifted forcefully. she was barely able to hold on to the turtle plush and her flashlight "Woah-Woah ! hey ! put me down !" Sarah complained as she tried to squirm free of her captor's arms... before realizing who she had been caught by, for it was none other than the mechanic threat that had been pursuing her. It tilted its head as Sarah continued to struggle to free herself, she squirmed and tried to kick at the robot... eventually, she landed one of her kicks right into the machine's mid-section. Loud feedback came from the robot, piercing Sarah's ears, she felt the grip of the machine tighten as well as hear garbled noise from its head when the feedback stopped "LET ME GO !" shouted Sarah... however she felt the grip on her arms tightened even more, Sarah sighed "look... if you're going to end me, just do it quickly, just do it now !" she begged to the cold machine... she closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come... until the blue robot started shaking her "Woah-hey-stop ! STOP !!!-" Sarah yelled as the robot continued to shake her as if she were a can of paint "oh- ow- not so rough ! oh... I feel sick..." complained Sarah trying to think of a way to get out of this sudden and a rather bizarre predicament, "eek! stop! I'm not a can of paint for goodness sake! is this how you treat a Dupont ?" the Blue machine stopped at the mention of Sarah's last name. Sarah was perplexed "wait... can you understand me ?" asked Sarah to the machine, it tilted its head as if confused "I'm Sarah DuPont, daughter of the owner, can you please put me down ?" she asked sweetly to the machine almost as if this could clear up the confusion, surprisingly the robot nodded as if it had understood her, a glimmer of hope shone bright in Sarah's eyes. The robot began walking towards an empty box sitting beside the exit door that Sarah failed to notice earlier, and still failed to notice now "oh you're taking me to the exit ? thank you, but it's alright, I can walk you know ?" she said to the blue robot cheerfully before realizing that she was being held right above the cardboard box. Before she could ask what the purpose of the box was, the robot quickly lifted her, before tossing her down into the box with all its might, packing peanuts flew everywhere as the robot quickly sealed the box shut "HEY ! what was that for !?" shouted Sarah from inside of the box, she was in a rather awkward position, one arm pinned behind her back and her legs crossed over each other. The turtle plush and her flashlight had also been placed into the box. The plush sat cozily beside her head, and her flashlight was... somewhere behind her back just between her shoulder blades. "Hey! What gives?! are you just going to leave me here ?! Let me out!" Sarah yelled out angrily as the packing peanuts stuck to her hair and gauntlets. She tried to move, but there was no space for her to do so, with her one free hand she tried to push open the box lids to no avail. She sighed defeatedly "so... I'm gonna be stuck here forever now ?... c'est mal..." she closed her eyes to try to think of a way out. It was quiet for a moment, other than the static crackling of the packing peanuts sticking to her. "oh... it seems the sun has gone to sleep already" said the turtle plush in a soft sleepy tone, slightly startling Sarah as she had forgotten the plush had been with her the entire time "I guess it's time for us to go to sleep as well" it muttered with a yawn. Sarah sighed although she was tired, it was still just a bit past noon, or at least it should be, it wasn't the time nor place to sleep "it must run on a light sensor..." she whispered to herself before yawning herself, unfortunately as tired as she was, the position in which she had been stuffed in the box prevented her from falling asleep due to the sheer uncomfortableness of it. She looked at the plush again as it started to tell a story and sighed again "well, it's not like I got anything better to do..." she admitted defeatedly as she paid attention to the plush's story... it was about a small crow that was dying of thirst, one day it found water inside of a pitcher... however the pitcher was too big, and the water was too low for the little crow's beak to reach the water, so the small crow tried to topple the pitcher to no avail, eventually it found a bunch of pebbles in the ground, which it then dropped on the pitcher to make the water rise until the little crow could drink from it. The moral of the story was that often it was better to have resilience than strength. Sarah sighed "well... that was fun, now what ?" she asked herself whilst looking at the sealed box flaps, she gently pushed against them to no avail, her other arm was beginning to feel numb. she tried to free it by rolling to the left. However, she couldn't move much as the packing peanuts were still in her way. She tried again with more force to no avail. She sighed defeatedly again as she returned to the position she was in from the start. She looked at the plushy helplessly, before remembering the moral of the story it had told her, and began pondering how it could help her now. "wait ! 'Resilience is better than strength' that's it ! maybe if I-?" she tried turning to the other side as much as she could then quickly rolling to the other way just as quickly. At first it seemed to not work, but the more she twisted and turned the more she got close to freeing her body from the awkward position she was in. She continued to rock back and forth, back and forth, back and forth ... until with one last turn she was able to unpin her arm and both of her legs. "YES !" she exclaimed excitedly at her accomplishment before pushing at the flaps of the box, which even after all that rocking, remained sealed. Sarah kicked at the box flaps, she felt them loosen a little, she continued to kick them again, and again, and again. Until with one last forceful kick, she pried the flaps wide open. She emerged from the box with a triumphant smile which soon faded when she remembered where she still was. "out of the conveyor belt and into the gears... great." she sighed as she stepped out of the box and picked up her flashlight and plush companion and looked around, she was still in the hall... however it seemed that the dull cyan assailant had returned her to the beginning of the hall, right next to the elevator door. She groaned in frustration before resuming her walk through this grim trail. The hallway seemed more empty than it did before, and the blue robot was nowhere to be found. Still she thread carefully toward the exit door at the end of the hall, turning around to check behind her every few steps... After the agonizingly long time of 3 minutes it took her to get to the door, she finally did, she opened the handle...