Somewhere in the middle of the country lies an abandoned house and an unsuspecting dreamer about to awaken. He has visions of a time, long since passed with toy stores, smiling children, and television commercials. What feels like a lifetime eventually vanishes into a blur as the dreamer awakens in a place of what was safety but now ruin. He pulls himself up and staggers shortly as his consciousness is starting to fall into place. He looks around at this strange and usual place wondering if this was once his home, after a while he wanders with intent to find someone else. After almost an hour of searching, he finds no one and is truly alone so he finds the front door only to discover a vast wasteland seemingly devoid of life. With a moment of mental preparation, he leaps from the front porch on a quest to find someone, anyone.

The world seems so big, and he feels so small gazing upon the relics of giants and titans from a bygone era. The ground is hard, black, and cracked from years of disrepair due to the disappearance of its maintainers. Trees reach out to the sky as though attempting to grab its attention for the care they once had. Roots are gnarled and grabbing the ground as though its trying to claw its way out from the underground. The sun is high in the sky lighting everything beneath it in a bright haze as the dreamer calls out for a soul. Hours of travel and calling have led to nothing but more wasteland and darkness creeping across the sky. The dreamer kept calling in spite of the odds with hope that he would eventually find a kindred spirit.

He heard a sound approaching; claws as big as his hands scraping the pavement with a low growl. He saw it, a large hairy beast as tall as three of him with a toothy maw eyeing him as either food or a threat. He was alone with this strange creature unsure of what to do, should he run and if so, where? Questions flooded his head on what he should and shouldn’t do as the beast slowly came ever so closer. With time running out he made the decision to try and outrun the beast, hoping that he would see another day. It took the creature little effort to keep pace and knock him down, as the dreamer was face to face with the beast something unexpected happened. An upright bear of stained, pastel pink fur wielding a large blade ran up to the creature from behind and sliced its leg. The beast yelped in pain and quickly changed targets as the bear stood firm and ready for attack. The creature was quick, but the bear was quicker, fighting it like a pink David against a four-legged Goliath. The creature trails off with its face cut and leg wounded, the bear approaches the dreamer and lends a paw to help him stand. The bear was as tall as a one and a half of him with a torn off ear, black stitches with various patchworks of fur, a blue left glass eye, and a sewn-on right black button eye.

“Are you alright?” asks the she-bear

“Y-yes, thank you.” He says.

“What’s you name?” She asks

The dreamer ponders for a moment, never really thinking about his name before, Bobby feels familiar, so he answers with that.

“Bobby? I’ve met a few like you.” She says

“A few like me, what do you mean by that?” Bobby asks

“You’re not the only Bobby doll in existence, you never were. You’re the first I’ve met on this side of the road though.” She says

Bobby can’t help but be confused by this news, what’s a Bobby doll and how many are there?

“If there are several Bobbys then who are you?” He asks

“My name is Teddy, I know, real original but in all fairness, she was three.” The she-bear says.

“She? Who is she?” Bobby asks

Teddy looks at the landscape somberly before answering “My child, Mary.”

“You have a child?” He asks

“I did.” Teddy states “I don’t know where she is or even who she is, all I know is that I’ve been searching far and wide for her. Come with me, we’ll walk and talk.” As she extends her paw for Bobby to take which he does.

“How long have you been searching?” Bobby asks as they walk down the old, cracked road.

“Years.” Teddy answers “But it feels like an eternity, and I fear that I’m no closer to finding her than when I started.”

“Have faith!” Bobby says optimistically “I was searching for someone for hours and I found you.”

“That’s different.” Teddy says “You weren’t looking for someone in particular, I am. I found you by chance, if I’m lucky I’ll find her the same way.”

“Where are we going anyway?” Bobby asks

“We have a ways of travel but there’s an apartment a good few blocks away that we can stay at, at least for a while.” She says

“What’s there?” Bobby asks

“People, supplies, and most importantly shelter.” Teddy answers

After over an hour of walking and talking they eventually make it to the apartments formally known as “Far Horizons Apartments”. Teddy approaches the front doors and pulls a nearby string three times to signal her presence. Each pull lets out a gentle ring of a bell and a voice emerges from a nearby speaker “State your business.”

“We’re weary travelers looking for shelter for the night, we’re willing to barter.” Teddy says

After a few moments of silence, the doors eventually pull open with a simple mechanism as Teddy ushers Bobby inside as dozens of toys are in the lobby. All of the toys are various shapes, sizes, and material from large teddy bears to tiny army men. Teddy pulls Bobby aside to give him a run-down on how to behave.

“Remember, we’re guests for the night so we have to be on our best behavior or they’ll either lock us in a box or throw us out.”

“What do you mean they’ll lock us in a box?” Bobby asks

“Exactly that, they’ll lock us in a box with the other troublemakers until either we serve our sentence or get kicked out.” Teddy answers

“What-uh-what should I know to not get locked up?”

“Pretty simple stuff; don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t go into places you shouldn’t be in, and don’t hurt anyone who isn’t hurting you. Got it?”

“Got it.” Bobby responds

They walk past various toys that are congregating to make their way towards the front desk, there’s a service bell on the floor. Teddy rings the bell to ask for assistance.

“Just a moment!” a voice yells out

After a few moments of hearing grunting noises, a marionette appears from behind the desk and wanders to the bell.

“Hi, Teddy! How can I help you?”

“Hey Strings, is there a free space we can stay for the night?” Teddy asks as Bobby waves at Strings.

“The top floor’s been refurbished for visiting toys to stay so a few rooms are free, all on the left side.”

“We’ll take the closest one.” Teddy says

“Alright, it’ll be the first door if you take the elevator and the third door to your left if you take the stairs.” Says Strings

“We’ll take the elevator.” Teddy says

“Of course. Billy J.!” String shouts as a clown-themed Jack-in-the box hops over to the front desk.

“These fine toys want to use the elevator.” Billy nods and hops over to the cardboard box stairs set up by the elevator buttons as Teddy and Bobby follow him. Billy pushes the button to summon the elevator and after a few short moments it arrives as Bill ushers them in. There are more box stairs in the elevator but these are wooden and appear to be fixed in place. Billy hops up the stairs and punches the button for the 7^th floor waving two flags beside him to warn of the doors closing. One by one the floor numbers light up as they ascend to the top floor with a clear ‘ding!’ signals the final stop.

The doors open and Billy waves them off so he can return to the first floor, Teddy and Bobby step out of the elevator into the hallway. All of the doors to the apartments are open for accessibility to smaller toys that can’t reach the doorknobs. There are many toys also congregating up here, mostly to catch up on the latest news and recent gossip. Teddy takes Bobby’s hand to guide him to the first room and what lies ahead are dozens of cardboard boxes spread out as makeshift houses. Each one has a little sign to signal whether or not a toy is staying in this box but all the ones in front are taken. There’s one in the back that’s free but is rather small and misshaped, beggars can’t be choosers so they take the box.

Inside is a small, stained blanket wrapped up in a corner and a mini LED candle that just had its battery changed recently.

“It’s not much but for one night it’s plenty.” Says Teddy

“So, who’s taking the blanket?” Bobby asks

“What do you mean? We’re both taking it.” Answers Teddy

“Are you sure? I’d hate to impose.” Bobby says

“Non-sense. Toys like me were made to cuddle, I’ll make sure you stay comfy.”

“Thank you Teddy.” Says Bobby

“It’s a little early for bed, isn’t it? The sun just went down.” Teddy says

“So, what should we do?” Asks Bobby

“We can either barter with someone or play some games, what do you say?” Asks Teddy

Bobby ponders for a moment before deciding that he would like to play some games so Teddy takes his hand and goes back to the elevator. A toy robot emerges from the stairs to man the elevator and when told that they would like to play some games summons the elevator to send to the third floor. When the doors open all of the room are label with signs saying which game is dedicated to which room. The first stop on the right side of the elevator is “Spin the Wheel” where toys place their bets on where the arrow will land when the string is pulled. A game with a two other toys is about to begin and they’ve already placed their bets of two AA batteries and a needle. Teddy places a bet of a small brown button she pulls out of a small rip in her side while the house bets a thimble.

Everyone says where they think the arrow will land on, the two toys say the dog and cat respectively. Teddy says the cow so Bobby after a moment of pondering says the mouse so the house pulls the string. After a few moments of spinning the wheel lands on the cow and moos signaling Teddy won the round. She take the needle, batteries, thimble, and button back. Bobby wants to spin the wheel some more so Teddy leaves him with the prizes so he has something to bet with. After six games he loses the batteries and needle but wins a spool of thread and a plastic hairbrush.

He decides he wants to play different game so the go across the hall to the first room on the left to play a game of “Go Fish”. Bets are not required for this game but can be added as an option for more fun and the players are separated with paper partitions to avoid cheating. Teddy and Bobby grab a pack of unclaimed cards and  go behind a partition to play by themselves. Teddy explains to Bobby that both receive a hand of cards at the start and one of them asks the other for a specific card. If they don’t have it the player has to “go fish” for a card in the deck to see if they get it or not. After about an hour Bobby wins so Teddy congratulates him and asks if he would want to play another round. He says no but still wants to keep playing so they go the next room beside them to play a game of “Capture the Flag”. A new game is about to begin so Bobby and Teddy sign up to be on the same Blue Team so both teams start on opposite sides of the room. The room still has the old, damaged furniture of the previous residents to acts as the obstacles. Several toys are sitting on the sidelines placing bets on which team will win.

A large teddy bear blows a whistle signaling the beginning of the game so all of the toys from both sides rush in to either grab the other team’s flag or to stop them from trying. A slinky jumps on top of Bobby restraining him until Teddy pulls the slinky off and throws it back. Teddy notices a rival car toy going towards the blue flag, so she backtracks to stop them while Bobby pushes forward. Bobby goes up the dresser and starts to climb the drawers like a mountain while the rival toys are trying to stop him. Teddy catches up with the toy car and tosses them off the end table before they can take the flag. Bobby eventually makes it to the top of the dresser with some help from a fellow team member and together he takes the flag while they act as defense. He rushes down the dresser and makes a run for the end table on the opposite side of the room but is tripped by a toy pulling a doll’s pull string. “He he, that was fun!” the doll’s voice box says as the doll takes the flag and starts running back to the dresser. Another toy managed to get past Teddy and take the blue flag, so Bobby tries to take the flag in a tussle of tug of war. A blue team toy rams into the tugging toy so Bobby dashes back to the blue base to continue the game. Teddy goes into the open drawer and reaches down to help Bobby up so he can put the flag back where it belongs. A toy car from the blue team managed to snag the red flag and is able to reach the end table but can’t climb it. Bobby jumps down to take the red flag and climbs the table as Teddy once again reaches down to help him up. He ties the red flag with the flag, proudly hoists it above his head, and shouts “We won!”. The blue team cheers on while Red Team jeers and Teddy unties the flags so that the red one can go back on the dresser.

“That was fun!” Bobby exclaims enthusiastically

“It was.” Teddy happily responds.

“I don’t know about you Bobby, but I’ve had my share of games for one night. Wanna come with me to barter?” She asks

“Yeah, I’d like that.” He answers

So with that they leave the room with some of the other toys as a few of them decided to play another round. They head back to the elevator where the toy robot is waiting patiently to assist in travelling between floors.

“We would like to trade.” Teddy says to the robot as it beeps in confirmation and pushes the button to summon the elevator. They step inside the elevator and are taken to floor four where most, if not all, of the trading and bartering happen. One again all of the doors are wide open with toys trading and bartering in both the rooms and the hallway, so Teddy takes Bobby’s hand to guide him through this make-shift bazaar. Toys left and right are shouting either what they will trade or are willing to do in exchange “Buttons for AAA batteries!” exclaims one toy “Will patch up rips for a pen!” exclaims another. Teddy approaches one of these toys to ask who wants a plastic hairbrush and is pointed to a toy on the other side of the hallway. She makes her way with Bobby to make a trade and hears a shout of “Hairbrush for travelling companion!”

Teddy approaches the toy and asks, “Would you like to travel with us?”

The toy, a Transfigure toy, asks if she has a hairbrush and she presents it.

“What do you need a hairbrush for?” Teddy asks

“It reminds me of simpler times.” The Transfigure toys say as he puts in it his make-shift backpack.

“What’s your name?” Asks Teddy

“Officially it’s Air-Cutter, but you can call me Jack.” He says

“Well, Jack, welcome aboard!” says Teddy as she extends her paw and Jack shakes it

“So, where to?” Asks Jack

“We’re not leaving until tomorrow, so we’re staying on the top floor. Wanna join us?” Asks Teddy

“That’s cool.” Says Jack

As Bobby approaches Jack he realizes that Jack is twice his height and feels a little intimidated. All three head towards the elevator and reach the top floor as they head back to their cardboard box. All three decide to sleep together on the blanket so all three spoon each other with Bobby, Teddy, then Jack. Morning comes so all three wake up and emerge from their box as they make their way back to the elevator. They go down to the lobby, so Teddy wishes Strings goodbye and walks towards the side of the front door to be let out.

Both Jack and Bobby look to Teddy on where to go so she decides to go left, when asked why she says that she hasn’t been down that side for a while. As all three are travelling for a little while Bobby cuts the silence by asking Jack “What’s your story?”

“I was a toy of twin girls, one was really girly and the other was a tomboy but both of them loved me.” Says Jack

“Oh? Tell me more about them.” Says Bobby

“The girly girl was named Elizabeth, and she loved to play tea-time with me and would brush my non-existent hair. The tomboy was named Olivia, and she loved what would be considered ‘boy’s toys’ like me and Captain Viper.”

“They sound nice.” Says Teddy

“They were, sometimes they would both play with me at the same time and that was when all of us had the most fun.”

“What happened to them?” Asks Bobby

Jack pauses for a moment and answers “The bombs happened.”

“Bombs? What bombs?” Asks Bobby

“You don’t remember?” Asks Teddy “Not long after I was adopted by Mary the news shared that we, and the rest of the world, were under attack.”

“Who attacked us?” Asks Bobby

“It’s been so long that I don’t know, and honestly it doesn’t matter at this point. We can point fingers all we want but that won’t change anything.”

“She’s right.” Says Jack “The quarrel of humans was just that, the quarrel of humans. If we spend our time trying to figure out everything about them nothing would get done.”

“So… How did you get separated from your children?” Asks Bobby

Both Jack and Teddy look at each other sensing similar loss and Jack gives a slight nod to Teddy.

“Mary was playing with me like she always did when her parents rushed through the bedroom door and told her that they have to go. There was no time to pack, let alone think, so Mary took me as the only thing in her hands, and she held me close. We made it to a subway station, but she was bumped by someone from behind and dropped me. The last time I saw her she was being pulled away by her mother while she desperately reached out for me. I've been thinking about that day for years, wishing I woke up sooner so I could say all of the things I wanted to say.” Teddy says somberly

“If you could, what would you say to her?” Asks Jack

“That I love her, that I missed her and have been searching since the moment I could move. I don’t care if she’s old and gray or doesn’t remember me, I just want to see her one last time.”

“And you, Jack?” Asks Bobby “What happened to Elizabeth and Olivia?”

“Much like Teddy I was being played with but the difference was that their mom called them downstairs, and I never saw them again.”

“Do you miss them?” Asks Bobby

“Of course I miss them! What kind of question is that? Not a day goes by where I don’t think about them.”

Teddy speaks up “Don’t be so hard on him, Jack. He was just asking. What about you Bobby, can you tell us about your child?” Bobby thinks for several moments but can’t remember a time when he was adopted by a child.

“I don’t think I had a child.” Bobby says, “I remember a grown man snatching me off a shelf and running past a crowd to adopt me. He kept me in the box for the longest time until one day he took me out.”

“Sounds like you were adopted by a collector.” Says Jack

“Collector?” Asks Bobby

“There were humans that liked to collect toys like us. Some collected toys that were scarcely made, others collected toys from the same ‘family’. Can you tell me if there were other toys that your adult had?” Bobby ponders for a moment.

“Yes.” He answered, “He had a few toys that kind of looked like me but in the end, I was the only one left.”

“Left? What do you mean?” Asks Teddy

“He would take them in their boxes out of the house, and I didn’t see them again.” Bobby responds, “What do you think happened to them?”

“It sounds like your human was a seller and the reason you never saw them again is because they were adopted by someone else.”

“I don’t understand, why would he adopt toys only to give them to someone else?” Bobby asks

Teddy responds, “Because humans had this thing called money that was valuable, I’m not sure what made it valuable, but humans would go as far to fight each other for it.”

“Do you think the big fight happened because of ‘money’?” Asks Bobby

“Again, I don’t know. I only know that humans really liked this money.”

“Is it something that makes them work?” Asks Bobby

“I don’t think so.” Says Jack, “I think it was just another thing they collected.”

The three of them keep walking and talking for hours until they decide to take a break at a nearby abandoned house. Teddy explains to Bobby that she’s a Scavenger and as one she spends her time exploring the ruins to find valuable things. These things can be buttons, needles, and thread but can also be batteries, glue, and tape for trading. The house is two stories, so they start on the first floor while Teddy and Jack show Bobby what to look for and how. Bobby turns out to be something of a natural and even spots things that both Teddy and Jack had missed. Together they find three buttons, two AAA batteries, and a meat cleaver for Jack so they set their sights to the second floor. The stairs are a little taller than usual, so Jack has Teddy ride on his back while he helps Bobby up. They eventually make it to the second floor and start the trek all over again but unfortunately some of the doors are closed. They make their way to the rooms that are accessible but find less items, only two strings of good yarn and a stick of glue. They make their way back down to the first floor and continue their journey to the horizon beyond.

As they’re walking peacefully another beast approaches the trio, this one is smaller but faster than the last one. Teddy and Jack ready their weapons as Teddy tells Bobby to stay back while they prepare for any sudden movements. The creature trots towards Teddy and unleashes its claws against her, slicing her belly open. Jack dopes the meat cleaver down around the beast a couple of times to try and scare it away. It doesn’t work so Teddy swings her blade and manages to cut the beast’s face just narrowly missing its eye. The creature looks like it’s about to pounce but quickly scampers away as Jack and Bobby rush over to Teddy.

“Are you okay?!” Asks Bobby

“I’m fine.” Says Teddy “I just need a needle with some thread and I’ll be back up in no time.”

“Let me help you.” Says Jack

“You know how to sew?” Asks Teddy

“Both of my girls liked sewing and when I woke up, I figured I’d give it a try.” Says Jack as he pulls the needle and thread for his bag and begins to work on Teddy’s injuries. With a few sutures and a gentle pull Teddy’ belly is no longer open, so Jack cuts the thread with his mouth.

“Thank you.” Says Teddy

“Of course, it’s the least I can do.” Says Jack

“What was that thing?” Asks Bobby

“Humans called it a cat.” Answers Teddy “It’s not just the teeth you have to look out for; it’s the claws too.”

“Let’s keep moving before more show up.” Says Jack, Teddy and Bobby agree as they continue forward.