ToyTown: Discovery (ToyTown)

They were a concerted ten-man team, led by Sergeant Maria Divan. She was the only one of the so-called “Loser’s Squad” to have half a chance at advancement. Unfortunately for the rest of her team, she knew it.

“Sarge, why do we need to move like we’re in enemy territory?” Donnie Gret, the squad’s comms-operator, slumped back against a tree with a loud sigh.

Maria’s second, Becky Granille, responded for her. “Because we are in enemy territory, numb-nuts. Ain’t that right, sarge?”

Maria nodded, checking their flanks for the dozenth time. “And you know what that means.”

“No unnecessary chatter.” Her squad chorused, falling in behind her as she raced down the hill.

In truth, they weren’t in ‘enemy’ territory; not exactly. They were on a training assignment, but Donnie had gotten them lost. And of course, their current location wasn’t on any of their maps or GPS systems.

Fearing the worst, Maria had organized her unit into a loose formation. Now all ten of them were looking for familiar scenery, and failing miserably.

Maria sighed, letting her rifle fall on its sling. She put her hands on her hips and looked to Becky with a tired smile. “‘Squirrel’’, see if you can get a better view from that tree.” She inclined her head towards a particularly tall spruce, and Becky nodded.

“Aye aye, sarge!” Becky hurriedly scaled the tree, her eyes widening as she got two-thirds of the way up. “Y’all ain’t gonna believe this…” She muttered, pulling out a camera and snapping a few shots.

“Believe what?” Maria looked up to her second, the woman already on her way down.

“There wasn’t a village on the maps, right?” Becky frowned, holding out the camera display-first.

Maria looked to the camera with a similar frown. Sure enough, there was an image of a model town directly ahead of them. That is to say, it was a ‘model’ town in the sense that it looked like it was a miniature display straight out of a children’s book.

“Okay…” Donnie spoke from over his sergeant’s shoulder, looking apprehensively at the image. “What the hell is that?”

“Something they need to know about back at base. Come on, covered advance.” She waved her team forward, doing her best to quell the butterflies in her stomach.

That wasn’t like her: she was never one to get the jitters when out on the field. But something about this little toy town had set the hairs on the back of her neck on end.

Squad L moved forward in disciplined silence. Half of the team would seek cover, then lay braced while the other half advanced. This process repeated for the next few terse minutes, until Donnie noticed something odd.

“Hey… Beck. It just me, or these trees look bigger than the one you climbed?” He kept his gun braced as he spoke, glancing to the squad’s second-in-command.

Becky paused her advance, tilting her head. “Yeah… They kinda do.” ‘Kinda’ was an understatement. These trees were at least twice as high and double the width. “You seeing this, Sarge?”

Maria nodded. “Yeah… Something’s not right.” She flexed her stiff muscles, gritting her teeth at how bunched-up she felt. Maybe they had been working a little too hard.

She looked around to see that the rest of her squad was having similar aches, and she sighed.

“Something wrong?” Becky asked.

“Just…” Maria sighed. “Permission to get a little looser. But stay frosty.”

“Music to my ears.” Donnie sighed, settling into a relaxed stride. The rest of the squad followed suit, and they continued through the increasingly larger trees.

Finally, the forest parted to reveal the model town from before. Only now it was a proper size for the soldiers.

“Funny, that must have been some sort of optical illusion…” Becky paused, looking back at her camera; then at the town.

“Caused by the bigger trees? That makes sense.” Maria nodded, looking apprehensively at the sky. It was already getting dark, so they should probably set up camp for the night…

Maria nodded, her decision made. “Move into the town. Let’s impress any of the locals and use parade-ground step.”

“You heard her, fall in!” Becky waved the squad into a pair of uneven columns with Maria alone at the head. “After you, boss.”

“All right, move out!” Maria barked. Her troops responded instinctively, their boots going from crunching on the forest’s leaves to clicking on the brick ground.

“Not seeing any contacts…” Donnie muttered, glad for the natural pace. He never thought he’d be homesick for Basic, but marching was oddly comforting.

“Maybe they’re asleep for the night?” Becky muttered beside him.

Maria had overheard her conversation and she frowned. Soldiers weren’t supposed to talk like that. “You two just earned first watch tonight.” She frowned, smiling a moment later with satisfaction. They’d bed here for the night, then head on out in the morning.

Donnie groaned under his breath, and Becky sent him a sharp glare. Then her eyes widened as she caught a better glimpse of his face. It looked like he had an unnaturally pink blush on his skin. “Hey… You have paint on your cheeks.”

Donnie frowned. “How in the hell would I have paint on my cheeks?” He turned to her, his frown deepening. “Wait. If I do, then you sure as hell do, too.”

Becky instinctively let a hand fly to her cheeks in worry, faltering in her steps as she brought out her camera again. Its flash briefly lit the night as she snapped a selfie; then she turned it to find Donnie was right.

A hand grabbed the camera from her, and Becky yelped aloud, glancing up to see her C.O. smiling at her. Except this was less of a friendly smile, and more the smile their drill instructor reserved for disciplinary infractions.

“Becky. Donnie. Patrol the perimeter. Report back later. We’ll set up camp.” Maria didn’t notice how stilted her voice sounded, and she didn’t care, either. All she wanted was to impart some discipline in her troops.

“Y-yes ma’am.” Becky snapped to attention, giving Maria her finest salute to date. She and Donnie fell out of line, watching the rest of their squad move closer to the center of town.

It had to be a trick of the town’s street lamps, but it looked like the further the other soldiers went, the redder their jackets got. Becky sorely wished she had her camera, just to take a picture to be sure.

“Something’s wrong here.” Donnie muttered, turning on his heel to march back to the perimeter.

“You think? We. Disobeyed. Orders.” Becky hissed, feeling dread settle in the pit of her chest. What if Maria was disappointed in her? A good soldier should never let down their commanding officer!

“Sheesh, okay.” Donnie smiled at her reassuringly. “I’m sure that the sarge was… Just… Hungry. After a day’s work. Yeah, that’s it. We’ll get back, and you’ll see.” He chuckled, turning on his heel to expertly march to the town’s outskirts.

“Yeah. Right.” Becky muttered to herself, falling in behind him. For a moment, a pang of disappointment ran through her: since when was Donnie better at marching than she was? She grit her teeth in a self-satisfied smile. She’d just need to use that as motivation to improve.

The two paced around the town’s entrance for a few moments, their heels clicking in synchronous order. Finally, Donnie broke the silence. “Hey. Are your joints feeling… Weird?”

Becky halted her step. “No. But. My. Back. Is.” She used the brief reprieve to run a hand along the center of her spine.

“Why are you talking like that, Beck?” Donnie looked at her funnily, working on his sleeve to massage an elbow. She might not be aching, but he sure as hell was.

“Talking. Like. What.” Becky blinked in mild surprise. “Oh.” She kept feeling at her back, picking up a small bump there. She must have bumped it somehow.

“Yeah, right--holy crap!” Donnie yelped, pulling his jacket back enough to see the afflicted joint. It looked like there were lines running along it; seams.

“Donnie. When. Did. You. Get. A. Prosthetic?” Becky asked, her heart beginning to hammer as she realized that she couldn’t speak normally.

“I didn’t!” Donnie looked up to his squadmate with wide eyes. “Something’s going on, we need to warn the sarge!”

“Maria.” Becky’s eyes widened in turn, and she spun back to the town’s center. “Let’s. Double. Time. It.”

The two of them began jogging towards the rest of the squad. As they got deeper into the town, they found themselves marching once more--albeit at an increased pace.

Becky couldn’t shake the feeling of dread in her gut. Or the ache in her back. “Hey. Donnie. Check. My. Back.” She  muttered, still marching at her quick step.

Donnie fell a little behind, turning his head to check for her. A large gold key was turning in place, but that somehow didn’t startle him as much as it should have. “Um. Becky. You have. A key. In your. Back.” He blinked. “Crap. My voice. Is. Going. Too.”

Becky paused. “A. Key?”  Panic briefly flitted to her mind, before she realized how silly it would be to panic. Good soldiers needed their keys, didn’t they? Of course they did.

The pair finally caught sight of a group of eight silhouettes, arranged around a small artificial fire. They drew closer, their uniforms seeming to change color in the firelight. Both Becky and Donnie’s jackets turned a bright red; their pants settling on a snow white.

“Sarge. Something’s. Happening.” Donnie approached the soldier in the middle, his eyes clearing enough to see that their uniforms had definitely changed. More than that… Did he always have a musket? That wasn’t a U.S. Army M4 carbine…

Before he could further assess his situation, Maria spun on her heel to face the pair. Her face seemed to be frozen in a smile, and her skin glistened like plastic. The woman’s close-cropped hair now looked like a mold more than anything else, and she had a spinning key in her back. She looked like some sort of toy, complete with a tall black hat.

Maria ratcheted an arm up in a stiff salute. “No. Everything’s. Perfect.” She said. Her mouth clicked up and down like a nutcracker’s as she spoke. “Come. Join. Us.” Each word had that damnable artificial tick to it. Her arm clicked and whirred down, and she began marching in place.

The other toys around the campfire began to march at that. Every fifth step, all eight of the changed soldiers would pause and crank out another salute.

“No. This. Is. Wrong.” Becky said, looking back at Donnie nervously.

“Then. Why. Are. You. Smiling?” He asked, seemingly oblivious to the smile that was affixed to his own face. His feet slowly began to march gently in place.

At his fifth step, Becky saluted for him, her key grinding in her back as she did. “Not. Smiling. What’s. Going. On?” Becky looked around at the rest of their troop, finding smiling blank faces rather than the panic that they should have been feeling.

Then she looked at Maria’s hat, her eyes wide in apprehension. If the changes were happening to her, then she’d have a hat, too. And her helmet felt the same as ever… She looked down to her shadow, a small whimper escaping her smiling lips. It looked like there was a peaked cap atop her head.

“No. We. Have. To. Run.” Becky managed, looking up at Donnie to find him nodding in agreement.

“Agreed.” He said, reaching out to grab Becky’s hand.

“Hold. On.” She snacthed it away, saluting in time with the rest of her changed squad. Then she turned, spotting her camera on Maria’s belt. It looked unchanged, and she managed to snatch it away with a deft turn of hand. “Okay. Now.”

Their hands clicked together with an uncomfortably plastic sound, and the pair of soldiers began quickly marching back to the outskirts of town. They kept running, their guns and uniforms becoming old-timey. Their faces froze into smiles, and soon every fifth step warranted a stiff salute.

But the town’s edge was finally in sight, and they stumbled to the exit. For a moment, the two toys paused, unsure of what to do.

“We. Should. March. Back.” Donnie said at length. His mouth clicked open and shut as he spoke, and he shivered as his key turned with approval.

“Yes.” Becky bobbed her head. She was rewarded a moment later with another gently reassuring turn of her key.

The two turned back to the rest of their squad, halting as they did so. Their hands were still wrapped around a small object: Becky’s camera.

A small bit of both of their minds returned to them, and they turned to face each other. The two soldiers looked down at the camera, hurriedly tapping the ‘transmit’ button. Then, as one, they turned and tossed the camera as far as their plastic arms could manage.

“Good.” Becky said, smiling at Donnie.

“Good.” He agreed and smiled at Becky.

The two took a step back, ratcheting up their arms to salute one another. Then, they spun on their heels and marched to rejoin their transformed unit. They were good toy soldiers, nothing more and nothing less.