For the first time in a while, Zee, Samuel, and Lisa have something to celebrate. Dealing with personal loss and a struggling paranormal investigation business, Zee gets a tip that may be just what she’s been looking for. After a year of unemployment, Samuel gets a new, decent job, although some of the conditions are a bit uncomfortable. And Lisa finally gets the pizzeria party she’s wanted for years, and even gets to be the first to try out the establishment’s latest animatronic attraction. But in the unpredictable world of Five Nights at Freddy’s, even the most joyous of moments can easily take a tragic turn.
Story 1: Remnants
“For the last time, Mrs Calloway, my tools picked up no spectral activity. I’m quite certain your canary’s spirit has moved on to the beyond. Goodbye, and if you have other paranormal problems, I hope you’ll choose Zee & Micah Ghost Hunters.”
Zee slammed the phone back onto its base. “Crazy old lady…” she muttered, rubbing her temples. She’d taken the canary job several times, mainly because she was desperate for cash. Still, she had standards. She was a legitimate paranormal investigator, and was ready for some serious cases.
“Let’s see.” she said to herself, checking her messages. Nothing.
Zee sighed. “I knew this whole business was a bad idea. We needed a way to make real money, and we chose to chase ghosts?”
Still, she thought to herself, it had seemed like a much better idea when Micah was still around. He had been so passionate about it, ever since they had first met in high school. Some kids may have been put off by their classmate talking about ghosts, demons, and the undead in general. Zee, on the other hand, ate it all up. Her parents had told her many spooky stories from Hispanic culture- La Llorona, el Cuco, the Duende- so she was already into this stuff, and she loved what Micah was saying. While she loved ghost stories, she also enjoyed science, and felt like the two were at odds. But Micah had changed that. As he taught her, the dead created electricity that could be measured, and heat that could be detected.
Honestly, Zee had never been sure how seriously either of them had taken it. But being able to tell people you’d gone ghost hunting last night was certainly a conversation starter, and it was incredibly fun. They’d started doing it after Micah got Zee an EMF meter for her birthday. While the rest of their students were at the Prom, the pair were searching for paranormal activity at the nearby graveyard- and having their first kiss in front of some old mayor’s mausoleum. From then on, they were a couple- and they dreamed of being together forever, of hunting ghosts until the hunt led to them.
“Well, best-laid plans.” Zee said bitterly.
Suddenly, her phone rang. Zee picked it up, and angrily said into the mouthpiece, “Mrs Calloway, I swear to Christ…”
“Uh, I don’t know who Mrs Calloway is, ma’am. I’m just calling because I’ve got a job for you.” responded an unfamiliar voice.
Zee blushed. “Ay dios mio, I’m so sorry. I’ll take any job you’ve got, as long as it doesn’t involve canaries or-”
“Or Fazbear Entertainment?”
Zee froze, then answered with venom in her voice. “So you know I have no interest in those places. Look, whatever you saw in there was probably paranormal activity. It’s an established fact in the ghost hunter community that those pizzerias are haunted. I have no interest in beating that dead horse. If that’s all…” she moved to hang up.
“Well, you see ma’am, the place I’m talking about isn’t exactly a pizzeria. And it’s never been investigated before, far as I know.”
Zee paused, then hesitantly returned the receiver to her ear. “I’m listening…”
“There’s this place, underground, where they used to have these really advanced animatronics. Apparently they were rented out for parties.”
“Underground?” Zee laughed. “Is this some sort of prank?”
“No, it’s real. It was called Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rentals.”
Zee pondered this. “Any relation to that short-lived restaurant? I investigated there a while ago, and to be honest it’s one of the less haunted locations.”
“Yeah. After that gas leak that closed it down they took those things down to that fancy basement where they were stored and repaired.”
“So what happened to it? Why isn’t it operating now?”
There was some hesitation, the man clearly doubtful if she’d believe him. Finally, he answered. “The animatronics disappeared.”
“Wait, what?” Zee said incredulously. “From what I heard about the restaurant, those animatronics were huge, even assuming someone could steal normal sized ones without getting caught.”
The man sighed. “Listen, I honestly don’t care too much about missing robots. I want that place investigated because my friends died there.”
“Oh, um… my condolences. Do you believe them to be the ones haunting the place?”
“No. Something there killed them. Something unnatural.”
“How do you know?”
“They were hanged.”
Zee’s blood ran cold. “Wh-what do you mean, hanged?”
“In the rooms the animatronics were kept in. They were hung from wires. Both on the stages the animatronics used to perform at. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“…No, probably not. When did this happen?”
“Couple of months ago. I would have contacted someone like you sooner, but I just kept trying to deny it. Figured I’d sound crazy, even by your line of work’s standards.”
Zee tried to get a little more upbeat. “At Zee & Micah’s Ghost Hunters, no one’s crazy.”
“So, you’ll take the job?”
Zee stopped. She’d gotten so invested in his story, she’d forgotten- she never wanted to investigate Freddy Fazbear locations again.
But then again, she needed notoriety. While several people had died in the restaurants, the company refused to admit that paranormal activity was to blame. They blamed ordinary glitches in the animatronics, when they acknowledged the deaths at all. But if what this guy was saying was true, even Fazbear Entertainment couldn’t cover up something like this if it was brought to the light. She’d be famous for blowing this mystery wide open.
“Fine.” Zee answered. She slammed the phone down. “Let’s roll.”
Her new car was nice.
It was red- her favorite color. Not exactly a brand new model, but only a couple of years old. Definitely a lot nicer than the Dead Car Rolling, as Micah had called their old ride. That name hurt now.
It was about four months ago when it happened. Micah and Zee had been driving along an old country road, towards an abandoned Freddy Fazbear location. It was late at night, and raining. Still, together they felt warm.
Zee had seen the decrepit building up ahead and eagerly pointed to it. Micah smiled and prepared to pull into the parking lot.
From the left, lights suddenly flashed at them. A moment later, the truck hit.
The car had flown off the road, careening into the lot. It hit a long-lifeless lamppost standing on a curb stop.
Zee had hit her head, and began to lose consciousness. Before she did, she noticed two things.
First, Micah. His head was on the dash, and was basically cracked open. Blood poured from the gash. His eyes were lifeless, and he wasn’t breathing.
Zee, horrified, tried to look away. She turned, and saw one other thing- the Freddy Fabear’s Pizza sign on the roof of the establishment. The cartoon bear smirked at her from it, as if this was the most entertaining thing he’d seen in a while.
Then everything went black.
The truck driver had been found guilty of drunk driving and manslaughter, and sentenced to ten years behind bars. Still, no sentence would bring Micah back.
Zee had returned, several times, to the sight of the crash. She’d tried out every one of her tools, searching desperately for evidence of Micah’s presence, but came up empty over and over again. And every time that bear sign mocked her, reminding her she was all alone in the world. After that, she’d never wanted to see a Freddy Fazbear’s again.
And yet, here she was, driving to one. Sure, it was called Circus Baby’s Pizza World, but she’d been. It was barely different- basically a reskin of the original restaurant.
Finally, she pulled into the lot. She walked around to the side, where she’d entered last time.
It was like Zee remembered- abandoned and lifeless, everything from the tables and arcade machines removed (well, there was one machine left in the room over, but Zee had investigated it last time- didn’t work). And of course, the stages, barren of animatronics.
Zee ventured deeper into the restaurant. She made a quick pit stop in Party Room E, which was the place she’d picked up the most paranormal activity last time. She scanned the room, but didn’t find any differences. The only thing that made it stand out were all the Circus Baby posters- she suspected it was designated for birthday parties with her.
Zee came to the back room entrance, on which a sign read !EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATRONICS SHARP PARTS AND LIVE WIRES- CAUTION! Last time, Micah had advised against checking it out, promising they’d return more prepared.
Well, she’d returned. And with all she’d been through, what could be behind that door that she wasn’t prepared for?
She pushed it open, and poked her head inside.
The backroom had also been cleared of everything- no robotic parts, no tools, no workbenches, nothing. Only one thing remained- an elevator shaft in the center of the room.
Zee smiled. She’d hoped what the man said was true, but until now she hadn’t fully believed it. The elevator was cylindrical in shape, about twelve feet wide and eight feet tall. A window wrapped around the entire structure, and pipes formed a network between the inside and out.
Hesitantly, she pushed the button beside the entrance. With a rusty creak, the doors slid open.
She prodded her EMF meter into the elevator to test for paranormal prescenses. If these spirits were willing to kill, she wouldn’t want to meet them in a tightly enclosed box above a deep shaft.
Some small wavelengths, but nothing significant. Zee shrugged, and entered the elevator. A red, obvious button caught her eye. She pressed it, the doors closed, and she began to descend.
As the vent fan in the elevator span above, it cast weblike shadows that blocked out the eerie blue lights illuminating the shaft. The posters on the elevator’s wall flapped with the breeze sneaking through the vent. Other than that, it was completely silent and still.
Zee examined the elevator itself. For all the exposed pipes and wiring, it looked advanced. It was 2003, not 2023. And yet everything was sleek, smooth, and worked well despite barely being used.
A jingle suddenly burst out of a wall mounted speaker. Zee jumped, startled, before groaning at being so easily scared.
The jingle was kind of creepy, though. It was like upbeat circus music, just a little too energetic for her liking.
“Well, whatever.” Zee muttered. “Ghosts or no, this fancy basement will be a lot worse than some weird music.”
Soon enough, the elevator hit bottom. The doors didn’t open automatically, but all she had to do was press the red button. Stepping back out, she found herself staring down a long hallway.
“Jesucristo, how big is this place?” Zee groaned.
Luckily, there was a cart [add identifying features here]. It had only two front seats, with the back converted into a large bin, probably for transporting animatronics. As of now, it was empty except for a few screws and nuts. The key was still in the ignition.
Within a minute, Zee was cruising down the hallway in style.
And within ten minutes…she was still driving.
Zee was completely baffled. Judging from her starting point and the direction she was going, the tunnel was going under the forest north of Circus Baby’s. Why the heck would it lead there?
Finally, she saw a light at the end of the tunnel- or, more accurately, a door. She also noticed another cart outside it- one whose owners had never driven it back.
In the cart’s bin there were some more little mechanical components, as well as a full animatronic hand. The thing was creepy- pale white with fat, jointed fingers, and wires spilling out of it. It definitely gave truth to the claims of the animatronics’ enormity.
One other thing was a small sketch, sort of like a floor map. There was a long, thin strip, with an arrow pointing off the paper that was labeled Elevator.
“So that’s this hall…”
The rooms beyond the door were arranged in a cross-shape that she was at the top of. The room she was entering was labeled Circus Gallery.
Zee tested out the doorknob. To her pleasant surprise, it opened. She pocketed the drawing, knowing it’d be useful.
Eagerly she stepped inside. “Hello, murderous robots?” she joked. “Mind if I snap some pictures?”
The room was laid out weirdly. There was a stage of sorts- really it was more like a platform- in front of some windows. Through them, Zee could see more of that advanced tech aesthetic, as well as some weird looking dolls hanging from a control panel.
“Guess this was Circus Baby’s old hand.” Zee took out her ghost box and turned the dials, hoping to pick something up. There was about twenty seconds of crunchy radio static. Zee sighed, and moved to turn it off. However, at the last second, some audio came through.
“Daddy, why won’t you let me play with Her?”
Zee gasped. The voice was like a little girl, definitely not one of the mechanics. Was she the original ghost? And who was Her? The way ghosts work, that line had to be significant, probably related to the girl’s death.
“I should head deeper.” Zee grinned. “I knew it was worth coming here, this might be the biggest find of my life!”
There was a hallway to the left. Zee excitedly ran down it. There was a ninety degree turn halfway down it. She pulled out the sketch again, to see she was heading into the Funtime Auditorium.
Entering the auditorium, she noticed there were four doors. One, to her right, was locked, with a scanner on the side indicating she would need a keycard. “Probably not getting in there…” Zee said, then winced. “Ugh, what’s that smell?!”
A scent like rotting meat and sickly sweet fruit drifted along the air. Zee looked over at the stage, suddenly realizing the man had never said if his friends’ bodies had been removed. But nope- the stages were empty, save for some suspicious stains. Trying to trace the smell, she quickly realized it was from a door- one of two, right next to each other- across the wall. She looked down at the map, which identified the one on her left as Scooper Room and the one on her right as Scooper Controls. The smell was coming from the Room, so she nervously walked across the Auditorium and opened the door.
An automated message blared over a small speaker, spoken by a calm, flat voice: Warning: You’ve entered a highly dangerous area. You’ve entered from Maintenance Entrance 1B, reserved for cleaning and repair of The Scooper! Entering this side of the room is strictly prohibited by unauthorized personnel. If you are authorized personnel, proceed with caut-caut-caut-”
The voice cut out, and lights flicked on loudly from the previously darkened room.
Zee’s eyes took a moment to adjust, but they quickly located one thing- a corpse.
Zee screamed and stumbled backwards. Sure, she’d been told two guys were dead down here, but their bodies had been removed. What, had they just forgotten about the third one?
It was an ugly thing, and strange. It had no skin- nothing but exposed muscles and bone. There were only stubs for arms and legs, the body mainly consisting of a rotting torso and a gaping, bloodied skull. All in all, it looked less like the skin had been removed from the body, and more like the body had been removed from the skin.
After Zee vomited (look, what do you think you’d do?), she looked around in fear, trying to find something or someone that could have done this.
She found her answer quickly- sort of. There was a gaping hole in the wall that was shared with the control room. Unattached wires jutted out of the cracks.
“There was some kind of machinery…” Zee guessed, wiping some vomit off her chin. “But who’d make a machine capable of ripping people apart?”
There were small animatronic pieces on the floor in front of the machine- a finger, a few sharp teeth, and a tiny red bowtie, for example. There wasn’t any machinery in them like the hand she’d found; rather, they looked more like hollow plasticly shells.
“Almost like all the animatronic parts were torn out of them.” Zee deduced.
Shuddering, she decided that was enough for today. Already this place’s death count had been raised to three, and it didn’t seem like they were even the ones haunting the place.
Zee stumbled back through the door, preparing to leave. However, from the last door- against the leftmost wall- a banging noise echoed. Something was hitting from the other side.
Zee should have ran. She should have ran down the hall, back to her cart, and left this place in the dust. But, like so many before, one part morbid curiosity and another part misplaced confidence convinced her to stay.
The door gave, crashing down onto the cold, tiled floors. And an abomination pulled itself out.
It was the machine- it had to be. It was an enormous mechanical limb ending in a scoop. But this thing wasn’t for ice cream: it was closer to construction equipment, with an angular shape and bladed edges. But that wasn’t all.
A metallic, silvery fluid leaked out of it, like oil. But the liquid was strange- it moved and pooled with the Scooping Machine, towards Zee. And aiding it in its crawling were dozens of those plastic shells- bulky arms, a pinkish torso with a speaker embedded in it, a robotic woman’s head with hair pulled into a tight blue bun, legs that ended in curly red shoes. All of them had the fluid pouring out the seams, taking the place of their mechanical parts, helping to form a nightmarish body that dragged itself along the ground.
Zee stared, horrified. The main rumor about Fazbear animatronics had always been that they were possessed, but this was on a whole different level. And she took a moment to ponder: if this thing’s animatronic innards were gone, had they escaped? Were they out there, hiding in dark corners, waiting to claim more innocent victims?
Shaking, Zee held out her ghost box. “What- what do you want? Please, tell me!”
The thing stopped for a moment, thinking. The box began to hum with what sounded like a symphony of voices, all in incredible pain. Finally, from the gibberish a few words emerged.
“T̸̠̗͛͆͗O̴̩̊̅̃ ̷̧̥͐̑͆H̵̡̻͌̋͋U̷̢̝̹͝R̸͔̫͈͌̑T̴̳̾͂ O̵͉͠T̶̫̂H̶̋ͅE̸̝͌Ŕ̷̯S….L̷̡̲̍I̵̗͎͕͛͌̉K̸͕̄̆Ḛ̸̆͆̕ ̸͙̍̓W̷̲̋͂͠Ę̴̓̈́’̶̱̿̆̄V̸̝͚͐̏Ẹ̶̩̩̑̒ ̵̘̥͕̿͌̇B̸̢̛̻̠͛̆E̷͍̔̃͘É̸̲̭̊̂N̴̖̩̞̐̒ ̸̛͖̈H̷͙͂̑Ư̷̡̢̬̆͗R̷̥̰̜͆̾̍T̴̨̡̙̍̓.”
A beeping noise came from the scooping machine. There was a pause, and then it activated. Zee barely dodged the mechanical scoop as it flew at her. It slammed into the wall, and peeled out a chunk of concrete. The limb retracted, ready to try again.
Panicked, she looked around. All of the exits were behind the Scooping Machine, and it was moving closer. She threw the ghost box at it, but the metallic fluid stretched up and plucked it out of the air, absorbing it.
Zee was backed up against the wall, no way out. She turned her head away, disgusted by the metallic monster. Her eye caught something on the wall behind her, though- a vent, level with the floor, big enough for someone to crawl through.
Relieved, she kneeled down and crawled through the opening. The echoey metal tube was tighter than it looked, but still passable.
As she crawled, she looked at her map again. She was headed towards a room labeled Primary Control Module. One vent, on the wall to her right, would lead her to the Circus Module, the room behind the window in Circus Gallery. But there was no vent leading into the gallery; she’d be cornered.
From behind her, she could hear metal scraping and machinery beeping, as the Scooping Machine creeped towards her, dragging itself along the metal walls.
“Stupid thing, how can you even fit?” Zee yelled, as if an insult might slow it down.
Finally, she stumbled out into the relative openness of the Module. Zee frantically scanned the map, desperate for another way out. She found one, but not one she expected.
There was a vent on the wall to her left. At the end of it, there was a round chamber labeled Elevator.
“Another one?” Zee said incredulously. “Where does this thing even go up to?”
But as the metal monster emerged from the vent, she realized she didn’t have much choice. So she turned, and began crawling once again.
As she did, she began to think about what the Machine had said, all that stuff about getting hurt and hurting others. She felt kind of sorry for it, but on the other hand, why attack random people? If she had been the one who’d killed whatever souls resided within it, sure, but that wasn’t why it was attacking. It just wanted to cause pain. Why couldn’t it just let go?
Though, ultimately, wasn’t that what ghosts were? Shadows of their living selves that stubbornly persisted, all for the sake of the long-dead, long-abandoned, and long-forgotten. Zee didn’t want to end up like that.
But she couldn’t help but begin to think she was.
She missed Micah so much, which- y’know- made sense, of course. But only now did she realize how much it was consuming her. There had been times where she’d considered just ending it all to be with him again. She had tried to let go, to move on, but it was just so…impossible.
“Why am I worried about this now?” Zee cursed. She pulled herself out of the vent. To her pleasant surprise, the sketch hadn’t lied. There was an Elevator there, almost identical to the one she’d first come down in. Eagerly she ran inside and hit the red button. She began to ascend just as the Machine emerged from the vent, but the rising floor quickly cut off her view of it.
“Yes!” Zee cheered. “So long, you robotic freak!”
Her excitement was dampered when, from below the elevator’s floor, there came sounds of scraping metal and shifting parts. It was climbing up after her.
The elevator wasn’t particularly fast, so within a few seconds it was scratching against the floor, and grabbing onto the mechanism. To Zee’s horror, she could feel the floor shift, beginning to give.
After far too long, as the floor began to peel open, the elevator reached the top of the shaft. Well, almost. It stopped a few feet below the floor’s surface, but the space was big enough to crawl through.
Zee climbed, and stumbled a little, but managed to pull herself out of the chamber. She looked back inside the elevator, worried the Machine was going to follow.
It didn’t seem likely. The Machine had left most of its plastic shell parts behind in the vents, having only a teeth-filled snout, a skinny clawed arm, and some bearish looking legs. It was struggling to pull itself up, and the elevator looked like it was about to fall.
But Zee noticed something else- her EMF reader, lying on the elevator floor.
“It must have fallen when I was climbing out!” Zee realized. “I- I have to get it.”
Desperately she reached back in, her fingers scraping against the small device, but not quite gripping it.
“Please…” Zee said to no one in particular. “It’s all I have left of him…”
But then she realized that maybe it was time to let go- literally.
So she retracted her arm, pulling it out of the gap. Not a moment later something in the shaft snapped, and the elevator plummeted.
The creature screamed as it fell, an ear-bursting, shrill, metallic sound. But screaming did it little good, because from below there was an enormous CRASH! A fiery orange light reflected off the shaft walls, and a wave of heat burst upwards- but before any of the real explosion hit, the elevator door slid shut.
It was odd- when it had fully closed it blended right with the wall. In fact, looking around, this whole place was weird- a sort of storage basement, but not filled with Circus Baby animatronics and props. There was normal stuff- an old, cobwebby fake Christmas tree, boxes full of knick knacks, and a treadmill with a couple of old work shirts slung over it.
Zee cautiously moved to the stairs, and climbed. Sure enough, she emerged not in some kind of robotics facility, but a house. It looked pretty normal by abandoned house standards- dusty furniture, burnt out lights, and a strange emptiness. The only thing that looked amiss were the stains all over the floors and walls- some sort of oil and rusty red substance.
“Well, that’s enough for today.” Zee muttered. She quickly found the front door and left the house. Like she’d suspected earlier, it was situated in the middle of nowhere, in the forest.
An old road led out of the clearing, probably back to town. Zee followed it.
As she did she thought of Micah- his smile that lit up her life, his curly black hair, the happiness with which he did everything. He wouldn’t want to hold her back like this, would he?
“No.” Zee confirmed to herself. It wouldn’t be easy moving on, but she really had to.
The forest was peaceful and serene. The trees waved gently in the cool breeze, and birdsongs echoed quietly.
Zee smiled.
What a beautiful day.
Story 2: Facing Facts
How?
How could something so painful not kill him?
He stared into the darkness, praying for death.
“And remember, the rumors surrounding our establishments are just that- rumors. We here at Fazbear Entertainment pride ourselves on our advanced animatronics and delicious pizza, but we also have top-tier safety measures in place. Rest assured, families and employees alike are in good hands. Now, it’s time to begin your journey as part of the Fazbear Family!”
The screen faded to static and the tape ejected from the VCR. Samuel sighed with relief.
The man interviewing him returned to the room. “So, uh, what did you think of the training tape?”
“It was…fine, I guess.” Samuel responded blandly. Truth be told, it had been the most boring half hour of life, but the guy had been bragging about him being the editor, so honesty may not be the best policy in this case. “Say, what’s your name again? I was so swept away by the video that I forgot.”
“Oh, thank you! Graphic design is my passion. My name’s Alex, Alex Gramble. And now that that’s done with, it’s time for your first day as a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza employee!”
“Hooray.” Samuel said dejectedly.
Alex smiled. “Listen, this is a small town, and news travels fast. I know why you had to come out here, and I figure that wasn’t your plan. But chin up! This job is full of opportunities.”
“This is a dead-end career.” Samuel lamented that evening over dinner. “It won’t get me anywhere.”
“Well, Sammy, I’ve told you you don’t have to stay.” Grandpa Harry reminded him. “I’ve lived a long, happy life. I don’t want you to give up everything to keep an eye on me.”
Samuel felt a wave of guilt wash over him. “No, Grandpa, I didn’t mean it like that. Even if no…critical events happen..you still need someone taking care of you. You were an incredible father to my dad, and an incredible grandfather to me. This is the least I could do. Besides, I needed a job anyway. Maybe it was time I settled for something more realistic.”
“Well, Freddy’s does have those fancy new robots, right?” Grandpa Harry added, poking at his peas. “You’ve always wanted to work with stuff like that.”
“I don’t get to lay a finger on those.” Samuel rubbed his temples. “They think I’m too inexperienced. For now, they’re just having me harvest parts from the old animatronics.”
“Those things are still there? I saw ‘em once, they gave me the willies.”
Samuel sipped some water, a bit nervous. “Trust me, now, they’re much worse.”
He wasn’t exaggerating.
Freddy’s jaw had been pulled loose, making his once cheery grin much more sinister. Holes in his plush suit indicated the removal of parts. Foxy’s legs had been completely stripped, leaving nothing but exposed, oily metal rods. Chica was probably the worst of them, though. Her beak had been forced open, exposing her toothy endoskeleton, and her hands had been ripped off, leaving dirty wires to trail out her stiff arms.
Samuel spent hours in this room, alone with these…things, occasionally called to remove a part. With every piece removed, they only got more disturbing.
His walkie-talkie buzzed. Samuel sighed, then answered. “Hello?”
Alex’s voice came over the radio. “Hey, Sam. So, Balloon Boy’s eyes are malfunctioning. They keep rolling back into his head. We think there’s something wrong with the sockets. Could you open Bonnie’s faceplate and take out his eyes for replacements?”
“Faceplate?” Samuel inquired.
“It’s a feature unique to him. There’s a button located on his neck. Pressing it should cause his face to retract into his head. Easy access to all that stuff, y’know.”
Samuel was impressed. “Wow, whoever designed these animatronics must have been a genius.”
There was a pause. “Um…yeah. They were. Anyway, get those parts. And remember, take the animatronics apart gently.”
“You make it sound like I risk hurting them.”
“It’s just for safety.” The line went dead.
Samuel walked over to the Bonnie animatronic, slumped against the wall. While Chica was the outright creepiest of the gang, there was something about Bonnie that unnerved him. The only real damage was his arm, which had been ripped off for use in that plastic fox thing (A horrible use of good parts to be honest; that fox was poorly constructed, practically falling apart at the seams). Still, something about his blank stare was scary. Samuel would be glad to rid it of those eerie eyes.
He quickly located the button and pressed it. Nothing happened.
Samuel groaned. “We haven’t removed anything from that area. The wiring for that button should still be in place.”
He pressed it a few more times. Still nothing
Samuel began to get angry, and started trying to jimmy open the faceplate. “Come on, come on…stupid animatronics, I don’t want to waste the rest of my life here!”
His anger caused him to use a little more force than he meant to, and the faceplate ripped off. Samuel fell backwards, gripping it in his hands. There was the sound of wires ripping and metal scraping. Samuel hit the checkered floor, his head banging on the hard linoleum. He struggled to push himself up, dizzy from the collison.
“Oh, geez.” Samuel muttered, gazing at the plate. It was cracked down the middle, not to mention the damage around the edges from when it was first ripped out.
“Well, probably not a big deal.” Samuel reasoned, setting the part aside, on a small workbench next to Chica. “These things are being scrapped anyway.”
He quickly got to work removing the eye sockets.
He couldn’t taste anything.
That may not sound that strange. He wasn’t eating a meal or chewing gum after all, so why would he?
The thing is, while they pale in contrast to that of food, there are always flavors that we detect. From the salty taste of phlegmy spit, to even the subtle bitterness of our own breath.
He had none of that. It was like a bizarre, mouth-centric sensory deprivation chamber. Of course, most of his other senses were being overstimulated due to how much pain he was in, so it took him a while to notice- a few hours in, at least. But it didn’t take too much muddled, bloodied thought to understand why.
After all, his tongue was halfway across the room.
Have a great day, Sammy!- Grandpa Harry.
Samuel smiled softly at the note. Grandpa seemed to have stuffed it into his toolbox, a kind little gesture from a man who’d spent his whole life making them. It was far better encouragement than the sticker Alex had given him for the box- a picture of that bright blue rabbit with exaggerated eyelashes, with the words You’re A Rockstar! written around it.
Still, he was starting to warm up to this place, at least a little. Alex, while a bit irritating, was a kind boss, and it wasn’t too stressful around here- after all, the restaurant wasn’t open yet. He’d even brought a book today, knowing he’d have some free time.
Whistling, he headed to his back room, and gently pushed open the door.
He wasn’t prepared for what he saw.
Alex had mentioned that the old animatronics might move around during the night because of minor glitches, but the door would guarantee none made it out as long as it was locked. Samuel had seen some evidence of this- their arms changing position, their heads being turned a different way, even Foxy having moved a few feet to the left once- but not like this. Bonnie was on his knees, and he held an old soldering iron in his only hand. It was frozen, held right up to his head. Said head was pressed against a wall, keeping Bonnie’s faceplate in place.
Samuel was stunned. “Did- did that thing…try to repair itself?” he stuttered. “No, no, there’s no way. Something that advanced just isn’t possible.”
After removing the sockets, all that had remained of Bonnie’s eyes were two small, reddish lights. Those seemed to stare at Samuel now, almost angrily.
Samuel walked towards it, and gently pulled the plate out of its grasp. He didn’t know why- maybe just to see if the robot would snatch it back. Nothing happened.
Samuel tucked the faceplate under Fredddy’s torso, hoping to keep it out of Bonnie’s sights.
With that done, Samuel pulled over a stool, and sat down to read. He watched Bonnie out of the corner of his eye, daring him to move.
“So, how was work today?” Grandpa Harry asked as Samuel walked into the room.
“Eh, it was…fine.” Samuel said, trying not to speak over Grandpa’s shows. He tapped his shoulder. “Hey, Grandpa, I wanted to ask you about…the incident that occured with the animatronics last year.”
Grandpa Harry froze, then slowly grabbed the remote and paused the show. “Uh, why do you want to know about that?”
“I’ve heard some other employees whispering about it. I didn’t really care at first, but working with the animatronics…it’s just, they have some odd behaviors. I know the company tried to keep it quiet, but you live in Hurricane. Surely you heard something?”
Still staring blankly at the paused TV, Grandpa began to explain. “It was a young man named Walter, just over twenty I believe. Wanted to spend some time away from the big city, and moved out here for the summer. He was such a kind boy- volunteered at the local soup kitchen, polite to everyone- even gifted me some books he’d finished reading. But that doesn’t pay the bills, so he took a job as a night-shift Security Guard at Freddy’s. Two nights went by with little incident- then on the third night, something happened, and he never came home.”
Sniffling, Grandpa Harry grabbed a tissue from the side table and dried his eyes. “Such a kind boy…”
Unnerved, Samuel prodded further. “But do you know what happened to him? Like, did they find his…y’know…”
“They found his body, but the details are ‘classified’.” Grandpa Harry said bitterly. “Fazbear Entertainment putting money in the right mouths to keep them shut, yeah? But two things are very clear: those damned moldy old robots were responsibles, and their handiwork wasn’t pretty. I’m glad they’re being scattered and scrapped. They won’t hurt anyone else, right, Sammy?”
“Right.” Samuel said, clearly not confident in his answer. Grandpa didn’t pick up on that, though. He unpaused the TV, and relaxed back into his chair.
Samuel quietly left the room.
He hoped the thing suffered.
Yes, this thing- this metal abomination- would be broken apart, split into pieces. If this thing was capable of hatred, it should be capable of pain. But he wanted more.
He wanted his blood, dripping into the machine, to cause all the circuits to malfunction. No part of the robot would ever work again. It would be smashed, crushed, and forgotten forever- made to suffer, like he was suffering now.
When would he be free?
“See you tomorrow, Samuel. Um, be careful, and like I said, stay away from the animatronics.” Alex reminded him as he put on his coat.
“Right.” Samuel muttered in response. He’d been given a night shift, since there’d been reports of vandals in the area. After hearing Grandpa Harry’s story, he’d been resistant to the idea, but Management had promised him extra pay, so he relented. And, anyway, the dangerous animatronics were behind the door, so he was safe, right?
He hardly felt so within an hour. The sounds of whirring gears, electrical sparks, and clamping jaws began to resound from within. Samuel tried to ignore them, continuing to search the street in front for delinquents.
Eventually, everything quieted, as if the robots had only woken briefly from their slumber to check if the door was locked. But a few minutes later, there came a new noise- the louder, heavy thudding of metallic feet.
Samuel turned hesitantly, looking down the hall to that foreboding metal door. “It’s just a glitch.” He reminded himself with little confidence. “It’s not…fixing itself.”
His actions showed his doubt, though. Earlier he’d been sure to remove the soldering iron from the room. Bonnie wouldn’t lay an animatronic finger on it.
Clearly, that wasn’t enough. Banging began to resound from the room- like metal hitting concrete. The thing seemed to be trying to hammer its face back on with the wall.
Unlike the others, this sound didn’t stop quickly. It went on for at least ten minutes. Samuel almost felt bad for it- it was just trying to fix itself, right?
And yet, he remembered Grandpa Harry’s story again. These robotic abominations had cut a good man’s life short. They deserved whatever pain they were going through. There was nothing good in them.
Finally, Samuel had had enough. He abandoned his post, getting up to storm down the dark hall. Taking the key out of his pocket, he shoved it into the lock and turned firmly, pushing at the same time. The door flew open and hit the adjacent wall with a THUNK!
Sure enough, Bonnie stood nearby, looking pretty surprised that someone was stupid enough to barge in there. He backed away, moving into a position to leap at Samuel, but dropped the faceplate in the process. Samuel quickly snatched it out of the air as it fell, and slammed the door in the things lack-of-face.
It shrieked, banging against the solid metal slab as Samuel quickly locked it again. He looked at the fuzzy purple thing in his hand, and noticed something- a small, bloody stain just below its left eyehole.
Samuel narrowed his eyes and walked away, as Bonnie continued to rage behind him. He ran into the kitchen, turned on one of the ovens, and tossed the faceplate inside.
The faux fur quickly caught flame, and the rest of the piece quickly followed. All the while, Bonnie was screaming louder, banging harder against the door-
The faceplate was completely engulfed in fire, and Bonnie fell silent.
Samuel turned nervously as he shut off the oven. Hesitantly, he returned to the door and knocked, eliciting no response.
“Uh, Bonnie?” Samuel called out. The silence was far worse than any mechanical scream or furious banging.
He put the key back in and opened the door slowly. Peeking inside, he saw all the animatronics were still in their proper places, but Bonnie was nowhere to be seen.
From his left, Samuel heard mechanical shifting. He tried to pull back, but it was too late.
A rough, bare animatronic hand grabbed him by the face. He felt the sharp metallic parts scratching his nose. Bonnie’s finger jabbed him in the eye. He screamed with pain, hoping someone would hear and come and to help him, unlikely as that was.
The robot’s grip grew tighter, its claws beginning to break through the skin. It slammed him against the wall, putting its weight against his body, and pulled on his face.
It used more strength than any cheap pizzeria animatronic should have. From inside his own head, Samuel could hear bone cracking, blood rushing, and tissue snapping. Finally, with one
horrible CRUNCH, his skull was ripped loose from his head.
Samuel should have died at that moment- but he didn’t. His mind, his soul- remained trapped in his skull. He watched his body fall down limply, his jaw hanging loosely as blood cascaded down his neck.
He looked up at Bonnie, holding his head in its hand. Bonnie tilted his own faceless head, studying the mess of bone and flesh he held.
After a moment, it slammed the skull into its empty head. Samuel felt sharp crossbeams penetrate his brain, and screamed with agony- or tried at least, lacking a mouth and all.
Seemingly satisfied with the replacement, the robot collapsed against the wall again, forcing Samuel to stare at his own mutilated form several feet away.
How long would it keep him alive?
Several hours passed, every moment of them agonizing. Samuel’s soul, trapped with his disembodied head, begged- to Bonnie or a higher power, he wasn’t quite sure- to put an end to his suffering.
It did eventually.
Harry sat on his porch in a rocking chair, slowly swinging back and forth as he sipped a cup of tea. This was how he’d spent all his mornings since he retired- here in his house on the outskirts of town, watching the sun rise.
It had been better when his love Margaret was still around though. She’d passed on a decade ago, leaving Harry all alone. His family visited, of course, but his house was empty most of the time.
Samuel was a blessing. One he felt guilty for having- Samuel had a life of his own to lead, after all. Still, Harry had felt more alive in the week Sammy had been here than he had for years.
He frowned, and checked his watch. 6:57 AM. Samuel had promised he’d be back no later than 6:45. Was the traffic in town that bad?
“Oh, well.” Harry chuckled. “I’m old, I’ve got nothing better to do but wait.” He gazed out the road, hoping to see Sammy’s car driving towards him any second.
He waited for quite a while.
Story 3: Let’s Eat!
…Lisa finally gets the pizzeria party she’s wanted for years, and even gets to be the first to try out the establishment’s latest animatronic attraction…
Lisa thought she was too old for Freddy’s, but she had to admit- it was a lot of fun. Besides, better late than never.
Her birthday parties had always been kind of lame before. Breaker’s Ridge, her hometown, was hardly a children’s paradise. The only real entertainment around here was the mini golf course on the edge of town, and she’d already had two parties there. All the rest had been at her house, and that got old, quick.
But last year, a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria opened! Well, sort of. Her mom had pointed out some odd things about the restaurant- a different logo, no company branding- and suggested it was some sort of knock-off. That didn’t make much difference to Lisa, though. The arcade games, pizza, and animatronics were real enough. She’d heard these restaurants were basically kid paradises, and she hadn’t been proven wrong yet.
Arcade games buzzed and flashed, occasionally spitting out tickets to the cheers of the children playing. Colorful lights swept across the audience enjoying their pizza, as they watched the animatronic performers- a bear, a bunny, and a fox- dance and sing.
The animatronics were incredible, though they definitely looked a little weird. All of them had a dollish look about them, with exaggerated eyelashes and plastic blush that resembled nothing more than shiny pepperoni slapped on their cheeks. Still, their creepiness was dwarfed by their movements, which almost made them look alive.
One thing did confuse Lisa, though. The advertisement for the pizzeria (oh, sorry- “Freddy’s Pizza Parlor”) featured four animatronics. The one missing from the stage was the chicken- Chica, Lisa believed, was the name of the official version.
Lisa rounded up her friends and asked if they had seen it. Bella, Jake, Logan and Maya all confirmed they hadn’t.
“And hey, didn’t your parents say we’d get cupcakes?” Logan complained.
“I can resolve both of your concerns.” a man proclaimed as he approached them. He was a middle aged, tired looking fellow, wearing a name badge that identified him as Kenny McIntyre. “With the birthday package your parents got you, you get to make your own cupcakes in Chica’s Cooking Class!”
“What’s that?” Maya asked, intrigued.
Mr McIntyre pointed over to a door next to the stage, which was decorated with a picture of Chica in a chef hat. “It’s a new little attraction.” He explained. “Chica will guide you through decorating cupcakes.”
Lisa marvelled. “That’s really cool!”
“Oh, yes. And when I say it’s new, I mean it- you’ll be the first customers to try it! Anyway, whenever you guys want to begin, just let me-”
“NOW!” Jake and Logan proclaimed. While Lisa probably wouldn’t have been so blunt, she felt the same way. “Yeah, I think we can start now.” She confirmed.
“Alright.” Mr McIntyre laughed. “You head back there, I’ll get her up and running.”
He hesitated. “Oh, and by the way, please don’t touch her. These animatronics are kind of…sensitive. Give her space, and you should be fine.”
Mr McIntyre wandered off towards the back, gesturing the kids towards the door one more time. The five eagerly followed his direction, and rushed inside.
Beyond the door, there was a room resembling a kitchen. The only part of it that was real was a white, semicircular counter with five chairs, plain cupcakes and frosting pipers at each spot. The wall was painted with a cartoony diorama of a pizzeria’s kitchen. And behind the counter a plastic Chica stood, still and lifeless.
As the kids approached, it suddenly sprang into motion, cocking its head at them expectantly as it began to speak.
“Hello kids! My name is Chica! Which one of you is the birthday girl?” Chica chirped in an enthusiastic tone.
“It- it’s me. I’m Lisa.” Lisa responded, a little startled..
“Awesome, LISA. Today, we will be making Chica’s special cupcakes!”
“Mmmm…” Jake mumbled. He was eating the frosting.
“Let’s not waste any time and start assembling these delicious treats!” Chica exclaimed with a girlish smile.
Within a few minutes, their work was nearly done. Lisa’s cupcake was coming together nicely, the girls’ looked beautiful, and the guys’… well, those were probably edible. After some careful piping, Lisa’s was done and it looked alright. Logan’s frosting was watery and dripping. Jake’s cupcake was a mountain of pink.
“Ok kids!” Chica says with a twitch of her head. “One more thing– decoration!”
The guys groaned. The girls cheered. Lisa swore she had the most stereotypical friends on Earth.
In her hand she held some bags. She laid them out on the counter.
“Um… what are they?” Lisa asked nervously.
The bag contained eyes and teeth made of fondant. They looked a little strange, though. Someone had gone to the trouble to make tiny red markings on the eyes like veins. The teeth were even weirder- instead of just being squares of sticky sugar, they were carved like real teeth, with little bumps and sharp roots.
“Have you never seen my friend Mr Cupcake? We’re decorating our cupcakes to look like miniature versions of him! How fun is that?!”
“Uh, sounds great…” Lisa laughed a little nervously. Truth is, though, she was freaked out. Lisa had always been a little squeamish about teeth. Maybe she just associated them with the dentist- a place stuffed full of blinding lights and prodding tools.
The other kids had no such qualms, and quickly completed their cupcakes. As they stuck the eyes into the frosting, the cupcakes began to look like Chica’s iconic friend.
Lisa followed their lead, before flashing a nervous glance at the teeth. Who the heck made fun cake decorations like that?
Silently, she swept them off the counter, onto the ground. She didn’t want the others to think she was a wuss, but she sure as heck didn’t want those bone-white bits on her cupcake.
“Alright kids! Remember, you can eat the WHOLE cupcake! Even the decorations are edible!” Chica exclaimed.
Jake and Logan ate their cupcakes whole. Maya and Bella, a little more restrained, finished theirs off in two bites. Lisa followed, a little hesitant.
The cupcake was delicious! Lisa laughed with relief as she gobbled the rest of it up. She’d been too paranoid.
“Well, kids, I hope you enjoyed your cupcakes. Now, if you’d be so kind as to stick around for about ten minutes, I’ll have a special surprise for you in store!”
Jake frowned. “That manager guy didn’t say anything about that.”
“Why would he? That’d spoil the surprise!” Chica suddenly shut down, the light leaving her eyes.
Bella raised an eyebrow. “Should we…wait?’
“At least a few minutes.” Lisa suggested.
And so they did. All stared at the dormant robot, occasionally piping more tasty frosting into their mouths. Time passed, and eventually Lisa stood up. “Eh, I’m bored. C’mon, let’s go back to the arcade.”
The others didn’t seem so keen on the idea, though. Jake and Bella were crumpled over, clutching their stomachs, moaning. Maya and Logan didn’t look much better.
Jake burped. “Ugh…feels like I ate a couple rocks.”
“You guys need me to get my parents?”
“No, no.” Maya groaned. “We’ll be fine. Just go, enjoy your birthday.”
Unsure, Lisa agreed. “Alright…just come find me if it gets much worse.” She left Chica’s Cooking Class.
Finding her cup of tokens, she moved to an arcade cabinet. She played the game- something about finding the bunny character’s hiding spots. To be honest, she couldn’t pay too much attention. Lisa was worried about her friends.
GAME OVER blared from the curved screen. Lisa groaned, and snatched the paltry few tickets pouring out of the slot.
She turned back towards the door. Y’know, it was weird…she couldn’t hear anything at all from within.
Suddenly, she felt a gurgling in her stomach. “Crud…” she mumbled as it got worse.
She spotted the bathroom- two doors, the boys’ marked with Freddy’s cartoon face and the girls’ with that same Chica insignia minus the chef’s hat. Lisa ran over, throwing open the entrance to the girls’. She stumbled over to a stall, positioned her mouth over the toilet, and-
“BLEGHHHHHH!” A stream of vomit cascaded from her mouth, filling the relatively clean waters of the toilet with half-digested food.
Panting, Lisa wiped her mouth. “Was there something wrong with those cupcakes?”
She glared down at the mess she’d made, preparing to flush it, but something caught her eye.
And she caught its.
Two beady, blue eyes stared up at her- whole and undigested. They pulstated with reddish-black veins which came together behind the eye, forming a stringy optic nerve.
Lisa gasped, horrified at the tiny whitish spheres. In a panic, she flushed the toilet, sending them spiraling down in a swirl of dirty water.
She sighed with relief as they faded out of sight. “Where did those things come from?! I didn’t-”
Lisa stopped dead. “Oh, no…”
Even faster than she’d entered, she sprinted out of the bathroom. A kid walked in front of her, eating a slice of pizza, but she pushed him aside. She didn’t stop, despite his protests.
She slammed into the Cooking Class door, pushing it open. Lisa dashed inside, hoping her worst fears weren’t to be confirmed.
They weren’t.
It was much worse.
All four of her friends were splayed out on the checkered black-and-white ground, though a new color had recently been added- thick rivulets of red blood pouring out of all their stomachs, staining the floor.
Bones and organs were exposed by the gaping holes. All of their faces were frozen, in a horrifying scream of agony.
Lisa was silent, unable to do anything but stare at the nightmarish, gory display before her. The only thing she was able to say was, “Wh-why couldn’t I hear them? Why did no one hear them?”
“Because, LISA, this whole room is soundproof.”
Chica rose up from behind the counter, but she was different. Her plastic skin had been given a splattering of blood, especially her lower half. Her head had also transformed- somehow, she’d ripped out her small beak, leaving an empty black smile behind. Her eyes had gone from sky blue to pure black, dotted with pinpricks of white.
“This was originally a repair room for us robots. The manager made it so the tools and tests couldn’t be heard in the main room. Lucky for me he didn’t take that out, right?”
Chica’s tone was mockingly jovial and friendly. Lisa gaped, overwhelmed by rage and fear.
“Unfortunately, not everyone could be so cooperative.” Chica shook her head as she opened her hand to reveal some fondant teeth- the ones Lisa had dropped.
“My pretty little friends are quite useless without a good set of chompers.” Chica sighed. “Why didn’t you just put them on your cake? It would have made this whole thing a lot easier.”
“Friends?” Lisa stammered.
As if on cue, her own friend’s bodies began to pulsate and shake- and with a visceral SPLURT, something small burst out of each one.
They were horrific little abominations in the shape of the cupcakes they’d made. Their disturbing bodies were a marbled mix of chewed up cake and flesh torn from stomach linings. Their mucusy bodies glistened along with their humanlike, wet eyes. One clear difference between these things and the one that had been forming in Lisa’s own stomach- they had teeth. The bloodied white bones protruded from a rift right where the frosting began. They remained disturbingly human, if a bit sharper and crooked.
None of them moved towards her, seeming content to guard their own territory. Chica gave Lisa a twisted grin. “Like them? You’re probably sad you didn’t get one of your own, but don’t worry.”
She raised her arm, revealing a plate that held another flesh cupcake. It gnashed its teeth.
“I always bake an extra!”
Kenny left the Secure Room, locking the door behind himself. He was glad he’d sprung for the soundproofing, as it drowned out Balloon Boy’s maddening laughter.
He had to go in everyday, to make sure that evil robot didn’t escape. It was his least favorite part of the day, because it forced him to stare at that mechanical abomination, covered in the blood of one of his best friends.
As Kenny returned to the main area, he pulled out the advertisement he’d printed out earlier and pondered it again.
HAVE YOU COME ACROSS VINTAGE ANIMATRONIC AND ARCADE ATTRACTIONS?
FAZBEAR ENTERTAINMENT IS WILLING TO PAY BIG FOR THEM!
ALL PART OF THE REJUVENATION INITIATIVE- USING PIECES OF THE PAST TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE!
Kenny sighed. He’d always wanted to run an establishment like this, could he really just sell the miracle animatronics he’d simply stumbled upon? After all, Balloon Boy was the only one that was messed up, right?
Screams sounded from near the stage, including one belonging to a young girl.
“Oh, no…” Kenny rushed over.
The girl- she was the birthday kid, Lisa, right?- was stumbling backwards out of Chica’s Cooking Class, trying to pry some fleshy, toothy…thing off her face, which was shrieking with delight. Kenny and the nearby customers only got a glimpse inside the door before it swung shut, but it was long enough to see the mutilated corpses of several children, and hear the now broken Chica animatronic giggling as it watched her scream.
A man (Lisa’s father, Kenny later found out) ran for Lisa. He grabbed the monster, and pulled it off her face. It came away with a good deal of hair and skin inside its deformed mouth. He threw it to the ground, and squashed it underfoot. It became silent, and stopped moving.
Lisa was sobbing, leaning into her dad’s embrace as blood dripped out of her wound, trying to explain. “My friends…they…they…”
Her dad comforted her, telling her everything would be fine. He snuck a glare at Kenny, a glare that read, How could you let this happen?
Kenny honestly didn’t know.
Trace Thompson's Guide To Monsters 