As the trio continue forward the sky changes from blue to orange as Teddy’s and Jack’s demeanors change to unsteadiness.

“What’s wrong?” ask Bobby

“Night is falling.” Says Jack, “The roads won’t be safe for any of us soon.”

“What do you mean?”

“All kinds of dangers lurk at night” says Teddy, “It’s not just cats we’ll have to worry about.”

“It’ll be okay!” exclaims Bobby “You guys can fight them off!”

Jack and Teddy share an unsettled look before Jack points to a nearby building with a tall wall-less roof in front of it’s glass door and many windows. They walk beneath the roof surrounded by tall machines with handles, buttons, and a screen on the front.

“What is this place?” Bobby asks

“Humans called this place a gas station, it’s how they made the big cars go.” Answers Jack

“Are these big cars toys too? Why don’t they move like us?”

“They aren’t toys.” Says Teddy, “They were some kind of machine that humans used to get to places fast, or at least faster.”

“Could we have cars too?”

“Maybe.” Says Teddy, “But the only cars I’ve met are toys like us.”

Jack approaches the door but is far too short to reach the handle, with some ingenuity he pushes and stacks nearby boxes to make shabby stairs with the help of Bobby and Teddy. Bobby climbs the 'stairs' to reach the door’s handle and pulls it open, Jack holds the door open at the ground level so Bobby and Teddy can walk in before him. What awaits them inside is what appears to be a simple labyrinth of food and drinks long expired with flickering lights above and in front of them behind more glass doors with various items inside them.

“What is all of this?” asks Bobby

“Humans didn’t just come here to make cars go.” Answers Jack “They also came here to trade money for snacks and drinks.”

“You ask a lot of questions.” Remarks Teddy

“Oh, sorry.”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with asking questions. If anything, it’s good to ask questions. Humans had a saying that knowledge is power. I like to think that I’m fairly powerful.”

Jack pulls out his meat cleaver and carefully searches every aisle, looking to see if anyone else is there. After a few minutes of searching, he says that the coast is clear and all three of them spilt up to do some exploring. Bobby finds what appears to be discarded paper with numbers, symbols, amounts on them in front of a large green machine with picture buttons. He keeps the machine in mind to ask the others what it is and what it was used for so he continues on. Jack climbs up on the cashier’s counter and opens the register, he finds a few quarters, a couple of dimes, a bill. He takes out his backpack to put the coins and bill in there, if not to trade then to find some use for them. Teddy looks around and starts to remember a time when she was asleep, Mary accidently left her at a gas station but came back the next day to pick her up. The cashier kept her in a lost-and-found box with various items like loose batteries, a jacket, and a purse. After a moment of reminiscing, she decides to find the others so they can camp for the night.

“Jack!” shouts Teddy

“Yeah?” responds Jack

“Did you find anything up there?”

“Yep! Some coins and a green sheet.”

Bobby approaches from one of the aisles “What are the coins and sheet for?” he asks and Jack responds, “This is the money we talked about, humans like to collect it in places in containers like this one.”

“I found a big green machine with weird paper on it, does anyone know what it is?” asks Bobby

Jack chuckles “That’s what humans called a Lotto Machine, my girls’ dad loved to come home with some.”

“What did they do?”

“Apparently the humans would use a coin to show numbers and symbols hiding beneath and sometimes they would get money from it.”

“How did it give them money?”

“So, dad would go to a gas station and, I guess give the machine the paper for money? I’m not sure how it works.”

“What do you know about lotto, Teddy?” asks Bobby

“They called them tickets.” She answers, “But I don’t know much beyond that, what I do know is that we should settle in for the night.”

“Agreed.” Says Jack as he hops off the counter to help make camp. He finds an old dingy blanket in the corner so he decides to create a makeshift tent from it. With Teddy and Bobby’s help they find two boxes of long expired food to hold the blanket up and around them. Realizing that they need a light source Teddy looks around various to supplies boxes to find one. She stumbles upon a knocked over, open box that contains a small flashlight so she takes it back to the others. She places it light up so they can see each other and around them but Jack and Teddy still look unsettled.

“Why do you guys look so scared?” asks Bobby “There’s no one else here.”

“Yet.” Responds Jack “There’s no one else here, yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just because we found this place empty doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way.” Says Teddy

“That just means we’ll have new friends!” Bobby exclaims excitedly, Teddy and Jack look at each other as though contemplating what to say next.

“Bobby.” Teddy says gently “Not every toy you meet is as friendly as we are, some are…cold to say the least.”

“That’s okay, we can warm them up!”

“What Teddy means is that there are toys who won’t like you, and there are some that will hurt you. It’s important to know which is which.”

“What do you mean hurt me? Who would want to hurt me?”

“More than a few. They call themselves harvester because it’s a nicer name but most toys like me call them what they are; cannibals.”

“Cannibals?”

“Yes.” Responds Jack “These are toys who only care about themselves and are all too willing to hurt another to help themselves. Some even do it for fun.”

“Fun? That’s not fun!”

“No, it isn’t. But that seldom stops them from doing it.”

“What do they look like?”

“That’s the thing.” Says Teddy “They could look like anyone or anything, the only thing that stops a toy from being a cannibal is choice.”

“Okay, I won’t be a cannibal then!”

“Just because you say you won’t doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way.” Jack says somberly

“What do you mean? Are you a cannibal?” asks Bobby

“Not willingly. There was another Air Cutter I travelled with, I think he called himself Peter but we didn’t travel long together. We were attacked by other toys who wanted to ‘see how much we could take’…”

“What does that mean?” Asks Bobby

“Don’t interrupt.” Teddy says somewhat harshly

“Sorry, please go on.”

“They tortured us for days, they pulled pieces of me off and melted Peter, he was in horrible shape. When they were done he looked like a half-formed plastic puddle that barely passed for a toy. He couldn’t move on his own and he could barely speak; he struggled but the last thing he said was he didn’t want to continue like that and to ‘finish what they started’.”

“What did you do?” Teddy asks concerned

“I’m not proud of it and neither of us wanted him to suffer, so I…melted him down.” Jack says struggling to admit it

“That’s awful!” Bobby exclaims

“Like I said I’m not proud of it, but I couldn’t leave him like that and he didn’t want that either. I just hope if his essence is still travelling somewhere that he finds more peace in his next body than he found in that one.”

“Next body, what do you mean by that?” asks Bobby

“I believe that all toys have an essence that makes us move, think, and live. When I melted Peter I let his essence leave his destroyed body, to inhabit a new toy. He might not remember what happened and he may even have flashes, but I think he’s better now than he was then.”

“I don’t know if that’s the case.” Teddy says skeptically

“Well, if that’s not it, what is it then?” Jack says a bit annoyed

“I think we have a part of humans inside us.”

“No duh, we exist because of humans.”

“No, what I mean is that I think when humans made us they unknowingly put some of their essence in us.”

“What do you mean?” Asks Bobby

“I think we have a piece of what humans called their souls, their life essence.” Jack scoffs in disbelief

“You don’t think so?”

“Of course not! It sounds like a bunch of hocus pocus to me.”

“You may disagree but I think humans gave all of us a piece of their souls without knowing it.”

“And what makes you think that?”

“There are toys that can move and speak, but not on their own. Humans always had to pull a string or push a button for toys to do that but I have no button nor strings on me yet I can move and talk on my own.”

“So...just so I’m understanding this; you think when humans made us that gave a piece of their life essence called a soul that makes us move and talk on our own?” asks Bobby

“Yes.” Answers Teddy “I wholeheartedly believe that.”

“If that’s the case, why did we wake up so much later?” Questions Jack

“I don’t know, all I know is that we didn’t think on our own when humans were around, but now we do since they’ve been gone.”

“Ever heard of coincidence?”

“It might be, but I have no other explanation, so that’s what I came up with.” Jack ponders for a moment before turning to Bobby.

“What do you think makes us alive?”

“Me?” asks Bobby “I really don’t know, I just woke up not that long ago. Both of you make good points, but I’m not sure which I believe in if I do at all.”

“That’s fair.” Says Teddy “Don’t feel pressured to choose a belief, we don’t know who’s right or wrong, just what we feel and think. That’s your choice and no one else’s.”

“Thank you, Teddy.” Bobby responds.

“Well, it’s getting a little late. How would you guys like me to take first watch?” Jack asks

“That would be nice, thank you Jack.” Teddy answers

Jack goes outside the tent with his meat cleaver in hand as Bobby watches mildly concerned.

“I wouldn’t worry too much, Jack seems to be pretty vigilant to danger.”

“Is he going to watch all night?”

“I don’t think so, he asked to take the first watch which probably means he’s going to get either you or me for the second.”

“Is there anything I should know about the watch?”

“It’s pretty simple; watch for danger. If a beast gets in or you see an unknown toy get either me or Jack so we can take care of it.”

“You both have knives, should I have one?”

“You probably should, there’s a knocked down box with supplies in it towards the back where a slightly opened door is. If I’m next to watch I see if I can grab you a weapon, if you’re next go straight there and see what you can find. Understand?”

“Yep!”

“Good, let’s get some rest, we have another day of travel tomorrow.” Teddy lays on the ground near a ‘blanket wall’ and Bobby sit upright to sleep next to her. They both peacefully drift off to sleep and after some time Jack enters the tent again for the next toy to take second watch. He gently pushes Teddy awake while leaving Bobby undisturbed.

“It’s your turn to watch.” Says Jack

“Anything to report?” Teddy asks groggily

“Not really, there was a cat putting its paws on the window, but it left. I don’t think it was the cat from earlier.”

“Okay, stay by Bobby and keep him safe, I’ll be back for him later.”

“Gotcha.” Jack says as he carefully lays himself in front of Bobby acting as something of a physical barrier around him. As promised, Teddy goes back to the fallen box to search for a weapon to give to Bobby. After a bit of searching she finds a packaged switchblade, using her kitchen knife she cut the switch blade free of its plastic prison. She pushes the button on the weapon to see if it’ll still launch and it does, so she presses it again to retract it. She grabs the blade and holds it beside her to give to Bobby when she wakes him for the third watch. She patrols up and down the aisles occasionally climbing on top of the counter to get a better view. Teddy’s watch is uneventful with no beasts or toys to be seen so after a few hours she goes to the tent and carefully steps over Jack to reach Bobby. She nudges his awake.

“My watch is done, it’s your turn.”

“Okay.” Bobby says gently rubbing his eyes.

“Remember, if you see anything strange or dangerous in or around the area wake either me or Jack.”

“Yep!” Bobby says as he pick himself up and steps over Jack almost falling in the process.

“Oh!” Teddy says “One more thing. It’s dangerous to be alone so take this just in case.” She says as she hands him the switchblade “Push the button to make it sharp, press it again to make it blunt.” Bobby pushes the button, surprised at how long the blade is and pushes the button again.

“Thanks, Teddy.” Bobby says

“Be safe.” Teddy says as she lays down by the flashlight so Bobby wanders around the aisles and the backroom cautious, curious, and simultaneously bored. After a while he perches up on the counter dangling his feet and occasionally playing with the blade by pushing the button repeatedly. At some point he looks towards the door and sees a small shadow standing still, Teddy said to wake either her or Jack if he saw something strange but curiosity gets the better of him. He climbs down from the counter and approaches the door with the blade unsheathed, slowly side-stepping all the while. Bobby stares at the shadow and it stands in place, barely reacting to his presence, Bobby taps the glass and the shadow flinches for a moment.

“Who are you?” Bobby asks, unsure of what to make of this mysterious stranger. The shadow is unresponsive, but it appears to be watching him as he moves his hands above him and the shadow’s head follows. After a few tense moments of staring at one another the shadow eventually turns around and walks away.

“Where are you going?” Bobby asks but the shadow ignores him and keeps moving forward. Bobby is spooked yet pondering to himself, who was that being and why were they just standing there staring at me? He climbs back on the counter gazing at the door more often than not, waiting patiently for dawn to arrive. The day breaks through and light starts to pour in outside like an overfilled bowl, so Bobby decides now’s as good a time as any to wake Jack and Teddy. He waltzes into the tent and nudges Teddy awake.

“It’s morning!” Bobby says

“Oh?” Teddy says, “Anything happen?”

“There was a weird shadow by the door last night, it was just staring at me.”

“What!?” Teddy shouts startling Jack awake.

“Who-What-Huh!?” Jack sputters

“Bobby saw a shadow last night and didn’t wake us up!”

“What, why? Why didn’t you say something sooner, Bobby?” Jack questions

“I don’t know, it was just standing there and looking at me.”

“You approached it!?”

“Is that bad?”

“Yes!” Teddy responds “It’s dangerous out here, you should woke one of us up. It doesn’t matter how well we’re sleeping, we need to know these things.”

“I’m sorry.” Bobby hangs his head in shame

“Please take this lesson to heart, Bobby, never trust a toy you don’t know unless they give you a reason to do so.”

“Okay, I’ll try to remember for next time.”

“Don’t try, do.” Jack says

“Yes, I will.”

“Alright, looks like we still have our parts on us so let’s loot this place and get the heck out of here.”

“Agreed.” Jack responds and the trio search up and down the gas station for anything that can be traded with but there’s not much room let in Jack’s backpack so they pack as much as they can of batteries from various shapes and sizes. Teddy grabs the flashlight so they can see in the dark and after that they’re ready to leave so Jack stacks boxes by the door, climbs up, and pushes it open almost falling down. The trio push forward using the cracked, dark pavement as their walking path with the sun at their backs.

“Where are we going now?” Bobby asks

“Wherever this road takes us.” Teddy responds

“I’m guessing you don’t have a place to call home?” Jack asks

“Not for a long time, hard to stay in one place when you’re looking for someone.”

“What about you, Jack?” Bobby asks, “Do you have a home?”

“I did, and it was quite nice. There were toys of different shapes and sizes but I was one of the tallest there.”

“What a surprise.” Teddy remarks, Jack chuckles as he continues “It was a small tribe in a house but we were happy.”

“What happened to it? Why aren’t you there anymore?” Jack answers Bobby’s question in a somber tone

“Not all toys play nice, they wanted a home but they didn’t want to share with us. It was dark and I was about to turn in for the night when I heard a horn bellowing. I looked out a window and I saw toys with beasts and torches, I knew what they were going to do. I ran and screamed that we were under attack to wake everyone up but by the time I made it downstairs they got through the door. We were overrun and outmatched by their weapons and animals, I tried to save as many as I could but in the end it was only me and few others that escaped.”

“I’m so sorry.” Bobby says empathetically

“Did you know those toys or seen them before?” Teddy asks

“I remember seeing one of them about a week earlier, they said that they were looking for a place to stay. Looking back that was probably a warning.”

“You couldn’t have known, and it sounds like no one did. I’m sorry you went through that but you did manage to save some toys, and in the end that’s what really counts.”

“I still feel like I could’ve done more.”

“It sounds like you did your best, that’s all anyone could ask of someone. I think your girls would be proud of you being a hero.”

“I’m no hero, just a toy that wanted to survive.”

“Hero is subjective Jack, you stopped to help toys in need when you yourself were in danger, that sounds like a hero to me.”

“Yeah, Jack!” Bobby says, “You’re a good toy!”

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. All I know is that I don’t want it to happen again.”

“We’re all in this together, We’ll have your back and you’ll have ours.”

“I will, thank you Teddy.”

“So, were you attacked by cannibals before or after the attack?” Bobby asks

“It was a few days after, most of us stayed at a hotel like Far Horizons but Peter and I decided to strike out on our own.”

“Hopefully that weird shadow Bobby saw was just that, a shadow and won’t try to come for us.”

“You said it was just standing and staring at you?”

“Yeah! It didn’t say or do anything. It was just standing and staring until it walked away.”

“Did you see where it walked off to?” Teddy asks

“It went to the road and I couldn’t see it after that.”

“I don’t like that, I think that was a toy looking for trouble.” Jack says

“I like I said let's be hopeful that it’s gone and that nothing happened to us. Bobby, you’re not taking another watch alone. Either Jack or I will be up with you.”

“I’ll wake you up next time, I promise.”

“You can promise all you want but actions speak louder than words, until we know that you’ll wake us up to danger we can’t trust you to be by yourself.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, be better.” Jack says as the trio continue their walk down the street, gazing upon the tall remnants of humanity in the horizon.