Battle Royale Between Toys: Living Toy Universe, #1

By John Rhymer

Toys may seem like inanimate hunks of whatever material they're made of, but when there are no people around, they can get jealous that other toys are being played with... even to the point where they'd kill said other toys.

 

This is a pair of stories where groups of toys try to kill each other. Combined, it's about sixteen thousand words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Rhymer
• Release date: Dec 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223596141

Book preview

Chapter 1: Intro

Seth Williams, a husband and father of two kids, was walking to the bathroom connected to the master bedroom of his house. He was holding eight identical action figures that looked like modern US soldiers dressed to camouflage in a desert. There were also two dolls that looked like nurses with him, and they were around the same size. His kids had taken both kinds to a playground and played with them in the sandbox located there. As a result, sand grains were all over them. Seth had a habit of talking to himself when no one was around, and here, he said to himself, The kids played with these in a sandbox. Even though we already have six other nurse woman dolls, action figures that were based on soldiers from a war that ended over two hundred years ago in the attic, science fiction soldiers camouflaged for a forest to promote a TV show, and Soviet soldiers from World War II camouflaged for winter. Ugh. Soviets. I remember the threat of nuclear war. Did that ever go away?

As he was about to turn on the sink to clean them off, an alarm on his smartphone reminded him he needed to get to work. He set them down behind the shower, where the kids had set up tents when playing with them, and he rushed to his car, turned it on, and left to go to work. He didn’t even bother to close or lock the door, but he trusted his neighbors.

As he left, the toys he was about to clean off got up on their own. One said to all of the others, Mr. Williams mentioned other action figures of soldiers. We want to be the kids’ favorites, right?

They all replied, Yeah!

Another said, We should destroy any soldiers not part of our team! We’ll be the favorites by default! The rest shouted in agreement. A third said, This will be our base. Four of us will stay behind, the medics and two others. The two others that stay will have better weapons and be guards,

They all agreed, and once they decided who would be the guards, they went to base. A guard said, Medics, you also have grains of sand on you... plus yellow paint splattered on you. Let’s call ourselves Yellow Team. The rest of us will be soldiers.

The rest accepted.

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In the computer room of the house, where the kids left eight action figures that looked like Soviet Union soldiers from World War II camouflaged for winter, as well as two nurse dolls, they all also got up on their own. One said, The kids love to play with us, but do we want to make sure that we’re always the favorite toys?!

The others replied, Yes!

A second said, We were left in the freezer overnight last night. Water froze onto us, so we have ice on us. Will that slow us down?

The others besides him replied, No!

A third said, Since you two nurses are splattered in white paint and have ice on you, we are all White Team. This will be our base, hidden by the couch. Two of us Soviet toy soldiers will stay behind with the nurses, and we’ll call you two ladies Medics for the time. The two others that stay behind will be Guards, with better weapons than the rest, who will be called Soldiers.

They accepted this.

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In the attic, which could be accessed from a room connected to the master bathroom, another group of toys started moving on their own. This group was made up of eight action figures based on American soldiers from the American Revolutionary War. They also had two nurse dolls with them with them, and theirs were splattered with blue paint and, like the soldiers they were left with, had quite a bit of dust on them. There were also tents left up there, with a vent system that sucked things from the ground level and deposited them at their base. One of these soldiers said, Why were we left up here while less worthy toys get played with on the main level?!

Another replied, Yeah, and we’ve been up here for years!

A third said, That’s it! We’re going to go down to the main level, kill the toy soldiers that are certainly stealing what is ours, and become the kids’ favorites!

The rest replied, Heck yeah!

A fourth said, Two of us older soldiers will stay behind with better weapons and become Guards. You two ladies are now medics. The rest of us are soldiers. Since the medics are splattered with blue paint, we are Blue Team!

They all agreed with that despite not having a formal leader.

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In the front yard of the house, a fourth group of toys got up on