An icy wind blustered through your hair and cut through your skin, biting at your bones and drawing life back to your senses. A rude awakening after … something you couldn’t quite remember. Your eyes flickered through the cold blasts of air and your mind lumbered sluggishly to catch up to where you were. You remembered the phone call, then driving through street after empty street. You left your animatronic friends behind, and for what?
Sammy. You remembered meeting with him and those twin cats, that blank slate of an animatronic, and weighing your options. A sudden weight of realisation fell upon you as you remembered the shit you got yourself into or perhaps you weren’t to blame, and this was all part of Sammy’s fucked up game. Given the circumstances you were surprised you were allowed to wake up at all.
Your eyes strained to focus on something, anything, through the cloying darkness. In the distance the silhouette of a water tower loomed over the fenced area you found yourself in, moonlight coating everything with a gentle glow. You rolled over to your side with a groan, nursing the splitting headache you’d been given by the lumbering beast coupled with the sharp pain of an incision to the back of your head. You patted it a few times and checked your hands for signs of blood, but it was thankfully dry. You tried to get a good look around, finding a cellar door with a padlock right before you. Atop it was a simple flashlight of a familiar make and model, beneath which was a note. You jutted forwards and leaned down to grasp the fluttering paper, slipping the flashlight into your pocket for now.
Blake.
I know you said not to but I’ve made a few adjustments to your hardware. Think of it as a gift from me to you. I don’t want there to be bad blood between us, but you have to see things from my perspective. I understand you’re confused and afraid, but there isn’t time for feelings when there’s so much work to do.
I know you’ve grown attached to that body, but you need to learn that it’s not entirely yours. You also need to learn how to use it for something other than fucking my creations if you’re going to do some good in this world.
If you want to keep your body, prove to me that it’s worth keeping. There are five keys to find here if you wish to escape,, and a few of my most whimsical creations standing in your way. Remember, hardware can be reassembled, but flesh cannot. I’d rather you make the choice to work with me of your own accord, but if you defy me again I’ll remove your ability to make that decision.
Samuel.
For a moment you considered yourself lucky to still have your ability to think critically intact, but grew angered that he believed himself so far above you that he had the right to make that choice. You couldn’t sit by and let him continue to kill and manipulate life as he had. He wanted, perhaps needed you on his side, but you resolved that it was creation against creator now.
You folded the note and slipped it into your back pocket, getting another look around you. It seemed as though you were in some Halloween corn maze, albeit without much corn. It wasn’t even close to Halloween anymore, but having been left up and abandoned made it a good location for Sammy to play this out.
Flicking on the flashlight you wondered what he’d meant by adjustments to your hardware. You’d seen that Cindy was WiFi enabled, and presumably Candy was too. It would make sense that he’d added that now basic ability to you, but out here in the middle of nowhere there wasn’t much of an option to test it. Besides that, you couldn’t really ponder what had changed. Your speed of thought felt very much the same, your memory felt just as it had before, and nothing had changed with your body either. You’d need to find some more answers from Sammy himself. All of that would have to wait until you were out of here though; if you could make your way out.
You hadn’t really made your way though many mazes in your time, but you eyed the water tower in the distance once again and noted its position in your mind as you took your first steps inside. Keeping to the left or right walls was a safe bet for finding your way out of a regular maze, but this wasn’t any regular maze. The tower would be your anchor and waypoint through this, a beacon through the darkness.
With a few tentative steps forwards you already found yourself at a four way crossroads. With a wave of the flashlight down each pathway you saw glowing cut-outs of ghosts and ghouls, polystyrene headstones and mausoleum statues, and littered about the faux graveyard were contorted faces of gleaming jack-o-lanterns. It didn’t seem to make much difference where you started; you’d likely need to make your way through the whole maze nonetheless. You made your way down the path to the left which ended up splitting into more paths along the way, but you resolved to start closest to the water tower and forgo the branching paths until you finished the first one.
You turned a right, stepping your way around tombstones and mausoleum doors sticking out of the ground. From a turn along the path you noticed a light flickering more strongly than the gentle throb from the jack-o-lanterns. You approached the turn cautiously, peering around the corner to see what was causing the twinkling radiance.
Bonnie. Or, what looked like it had been Bonnie at one point in time. This was a nightmare rendition with rows of red hot glowing teeth and a yellow flame flickering from inside its hollow head, eyes completely missing save for that hellish glow. Its exoskeleton was tattered, completely missing from its right hand leaving cold metal claws exposed. You held your breath and stared at the beast, unable to advert your gaze. For a moment you simply watched as it fumbled around in the dark, hunched over and twisting its head around as it seemed to attempt to listen through the wind.
You didn’t want to go anywhere near that thing with its wild claws and needle teeth that would sear the flesh from your bones. Regardless, you’d need to move past it at some point. You weighed up the options available to you, either move back and try another path or attempt to squeeze quietly past it. Reluctantly, you took a few steps forwards on the tips of your toes and moved towards the monstrosity.
With your mouth wide open you took long breaths, avoiding making a sound as you grew closer and closer to where it shuffled in the corridor of fences. Occasionally you noticed it bumped into its surroundings only to hobble away from them. Its steel joints grunted away as it shunted its way around and you took your chance to tip toe as far away from its path as you could, sidling around headstones and keeping your eye on the metal monster as you moved.
Your hands began to shudder as you passed Bonnie, the heat from its insides warming your skin. Being unable to draw your gaze from it your feet kicked into a jack-o-lantern and your heart jumped out of your chest. Bonnie quickly turned around to face you, hunched and ready to lunge, ears up and to attention facing right at you. You held your breath again, wide-eyed staring at the lurching brute as you held every muscle in your body perfectly still. Shadows danced about the hallway as the breeze blustered through the holes and tears in Bonny’s exoskeleton and through the holes where its eyes should be, knocking the flames within around. All else was silent, static, as if its predatory gaze had stopped time around you both.
After what seemed like minutes, its ears began to twitch around and point in different directions, searching for where you might have gone. It finally relieved its hunched expression and stood upright again but made its way to where you stood. As quick as you could you scrambled away but you weren’t quiet enough – Bonnie started sprinting towards you at full speed. As it stomped you could feel the ground thudding beneath your feet and checked behind you for just a second to see the flames now billowing out from its eye sockets and licking out from its mouth as it hunted you. Your heart felt like it might explode as it pumped fiercely to fuel adrenaline to every part of your body which suddenly felt quick and light as its effects took hold.
There was no time to think, you needed to run as fast as your feet would take you and it didn’t matter where as long as it was away from that thing. You skidded around a corner to the right, nearly losing your footing in the process and gripped whatever you could to throw into its path. Sure enough it stomped into the foam and polystyrene but they barely even slowed its stride as it smashed them underfoot, kicking them away wildly.
Another path led off to the side and you made the snap decision to stop running, toppling over more decorations down the other path and lying down on the floor with haste amid a pile of pumpkins. Bonnie sprinted around the corner, taking your diversion, and once again you held your breath. Step by step it made its way into the distance, and you took your chance to continue, shaking violently with fear as you tried to consolidate your senses and take control back of the situation. You eyed the skyline for the water tower to get your bearings and pressed on into the maze.
You hadn’t moved far past where you’d encountered Bonnie before you saw something a little different than the usual décor that you had become used to in the maze; a coffin with a raven statue above it, open, inviting. Checking behind your back to make sure you weren’t being watched, or that some mechanical monstrosity might jump out at you, you peered inside to find a small key. Quickly you scooped it up and dropped it into your pocked. Part of you wished the girls were here to help you, the other half thankful that they were not. You took that moment to wonder what they were doing, and if they were safe. Right now Sammy could be employing his machinations upon them, whatever devious ideas they may be.
You removed yourself from this small alcove and stepped cautiously once more through the maze, clutching the flashlight tightly in your hand. You passed through a small clearing with a guillotine, your light sweeping over beheaded figurines of its victims. The lone heads stared back at you with contorted faces, seemingly mocking your situation, while their bodies were collected in a pile of limbs and torsos wrapped together in their sullied clothing.
You continued through into another dark alley, waving your flashlight around to light your path. Behind you came the sound of scampering and scurrying to which you spun around quickly, pointing your light in the direction of the sound. Between the shadows and coffins your eyes darted back and forth, but you couldn’t see where the noise came from. Steadily you backed away step by step with a fearful slow pace, still darting the light between piles of items. You were about to turn back around when the scurrying started again, peaking your senses and you tried to focus on a fast moving object dashing into and out of cover.
You trailed it with your light as it moved around, but it was approaching you with each move. Suddenly a shape burst from the shadows and ran up towards you parallel with the wall. You quickly tracked it with the light and it ran directly past you with a hiss and a squeak until it was around the corner. You made your way back into the opening, giving yourself space for when it inevitably came back around. You waited and waited, pointing the light down every pathway, unsure of where it’d come from next.
Chittering sounds came from seemingly every direction accompanied by the clicking of teeth and scampering of paws. Panicking now you backed yourself right into a corner to cover your back, answering the direction of the sounds with your light. Abruptly, all fell silent. You could feel your heartbeat in your ears as you focused every ounce of attention to the darkness and shadow, waiting for a blur to dash towards you.
Long, sinewy fingers suddenly grasped your shoulders and attempted to pull you upwards, clawing at your flesh and clothing. You kicked wildly, attempting to free yourself and swung the hefty flashlight as hard as you could behind you, landing it with a crack on the creature’s face. It released you and you spun around to see a long face attached to those dangling arms, screaming right back at you. You swiftly whipped the flashlight to get a better look and perhaps stun the creature, but it had a better effect than you’d thought. With a hiss it retreated behind the wall and back into the shadows.
You took a few steps back away for a moment, keeping your eyes on where it sunk off to in case it returned. Faster, and faster you started running now as far as you could in the direction you went before its approach. It lunged out of a passing opening to another part of the maze, tackling you to the ground. Its brown leathery body seemed stitched together, with nails protruding along its limbs. It screamed down at you now, holding down your body with its weight on your arms. Again, you kicked and attempted to free yourself from its hold, the flashlight rolling away from your hands. The tan face and long teeth snapped down towards your neck but you managed to push it up enough to interrupt its attack, attempting to forumulate a plan in the split seconds it had afforded you. Without thinking, you rolled up your knees and pushed your feet under its torso in an effort to push it right off you, but its light body lifted up and dropped back down on you, its clawed hands still gripping your wrists as it bore down on you. It raised its head to ready another attack, long tail curling in the air to brace itself but out of nowhere another creature pounced on the two of you and rolled the monstrous rat off your body. It squirmed and writhed between the teeth of a similar creature, leathery, stitched together, and with the same protruding nails and hollow red eyes.
This one was bulkier, more muscular, and had pointed ears like those of a cat. With the monster rat stuck in its jaws it gave you a piercing glare and a thunderous growl. Quickly, you scrambled to your feet and grabbed the flashlight from the floor, spinning around to see that the rat was now fighting back as best it could. It’s thrashing claws managed to distract the cat’s gaze momentarily and you took your chance to run. Panting, you hid yourself as best you could inside one of the coffins once you’d managed to get away.
Between the sounds of your panting gasps, feline screams and hissing filled the air coupled with yowls and occasional thuds. Eventually, all fell silent once more. You took a moment to gather your senses, catch your breath, and conjure the courage to leave back into this maze of monsters.
With a slow lift of the coffin lid you peered out into the lingering darkness before shining the flashlight over all that you could see. Mentally you prepared yourself for more of this, and wandered out cautiously. You came back to the open area with the guillotine to the messy scene of the monster rat’s remains scattered about with the decapitated heads, its own missing an eye and half of its face. For a second you were thankful to the other monster that it hadn’t been you.
With the cat still prowling this section of the maze you thought it best to move on, approaching a covered area that had been styled with a portcullis and castle walls. The space was more enclosed, with tight walls and skeletons hanging from metal cages above you. Replica skulls littered the floor alongside barrels and carts filled with more of the dismembered bodies you’d seen by the guillotine. The area wasn’t massive but you made it into what looked like a throne room with little problem, only to see two round yellow eyes and rows of flat teeth gleaming through the shade. Sat in the grand replica throne was a version of Freddy that’d been mashed together from other parts, stapled and sewen into a hulking creature that grinned with a wicked delight at the sight of you. At its feet was another key, glinting in the beam of your flashlight.
You stumbled backwards and aimed your light at the bulky Freddy and its grin immediately turned to a scowl as it covered its eyes with an arm. It lurched to its feet heavily and gripped the throne from behind its body, hurling it with ease in your direction. You jumped back instinctively and shielded your face as wood splintered and fractured about the room. Out of the shadows came a low, croaking voice that glitched and stumbled through its words.
“You’re no-not running from thi-this one.”
You didn’t have time to think about where the voice was coming from, instead turning on your heel and sprinting back out of the castle area. The portcullis dropped as you reached it, your surprise coupled with a cackling laughter from every direction around you. The Dreadbear approached with lumbering, thumping steps, and you quickly darted down another hallway to try to find another way out.
You sprinted down the few hallways available to you but the portcullis was the only exit – you were trapped. With the thudding steps still approaching, you pressed your back up against one of the walls and took a second to catch your breath and grip the flashlight tightly in your hand. To your left the wall shattered and a menacing hand gripped and flailed around in an attempt to grab you, but you dropped out of its reach and ran further down the hall, back around to the throne room. There, you waited for its approach and eyed around for an opportunity. From the raised dais, you eyed the walls, the skulls, the barrels, and a glimmer of hope stood out at you. You grabbed the key from the floor and slipped it into your pocket as you watched for the bear.
Dreadbear came stomping back into the throne room now, its eyes locked directly on you as it increased its speed and began to lunge for you. You darted your way down towards the portcullis again, but stood slightly off to the side against the wall. Dreadbear sprinted with all the speed it could muster at you, its arms outstretched, and you took a dive to the side as the creature ploughed its way into the wall. Getting back to your feet, you ran back in the direction of the throne room but stopped in the hallway by a barrel, having noticed it was full of rainwater. The bear shook off the impact from the wall and hurtled towards you again but you made another lunge away, rolling along the floor as Dreadbear crashed into the barrel and smashed it into shards. The open roof had allowed the barrels here to fill with rainwater after its period of disuse, which now splashed and cascaded across the floor and coated dreadbear.
With a growl he turned to face you, a menacing look in his eyes. Now you were out of ideas. He took a few slow steps again, grumbling and groaning as he approached, but suddenly began jerking. With a twitch his arm flailed out slightly, followed by a leg. Now hobbling as his body began to fail he roared at you, holding out his arms and grasping for you. One of his eyes flashed and blinked off and on and his expression faltered from outright rage to fear as his entire body began to fail. You breathed a sigh of relief as his circuits finally shorted and the heavy limbs came to a complete halt and the body came collapsing to the floor, stiff and lifeless. You weren’t out of the woods yet – that voice called out once more.
“Cle-clever, but you can’t kill wh-what you can’t – can’t see.”
You didn’t think you wanted to hang around to find out what was threatening you and ran to the hole in the wall made by the dreadbear, clambering through legs first. Back in the maze proper you dashed away from whatever had been calling to you, the beam of your flashlight jerking around as you ran. That same cackling laughter called from behind you, but you still ran with gasping breaths as your lungs burned and your muscles scorched, until it grew closer and closer to the point you couldn’t outrun it anymore. You turned and pointed your light from the source of the sound, seeing for a split second a body of black leather ribbons and a creepy, smiling white masked face with eyes far too small for their sockets glaring back at you. As the light passed over it the body vanished as if it had never even been there. Part of you wanted to run, but now you didn’t know where to run to. Every patch of darkness around you burst into laughter and a claustrophobic dread washed over you.
Swiftly you span about looking for whatever that was, pointing your light in every direction available to you. You thought you saw flashes of it, but as soon as it came it dissipated again in the light. You had no other choice – you’d have to make a break for it. You continued running, turning corners and trying to find more light. You came across a portion of the maze with more jack-o-lanterns, picking one up and placing it in the opening of the path you’d come from, all the while holding your flashlight up in case it came for you.
Though dim, the light from the jack-o-lantern seemed to halt its advance. It appeared for you, its face still stuck in that smile, out of the shadows from which the ends of its needle-like legs were firmly planted. You stared at each other for seconds that seemed like minutes before you realised that it could only move through shadow. With a grin you placed the flashlight down on the floor, blocking it from going back down the way it came. With an almost casual stride, you picked up another jack-o-lantern and carried it around the corner in which it hovered, taking care to stay out of reach of its long arms. The light carried far enough to lock the skeletal creature in place, confined to a small prison of shadow. It could still reach out to you, still watch you, but it could no longer move.
“I supp-suppose you think yourself clev-cle-clever.” It said, tilting its face to the side. You picked the flashlight back up off the floor. You decided not to shine it on the demon in case it would manage an escape, but pondered if it would bring about its demise. When the sun came up, you figured, that would be the end of it anyway. You wanted to ask it questions, but through the dread of this place nothing important enough came to mind. As you walked away it emitted a deafening screech, not dissimilar to the screeching modem sounds you’d heard from the phone calls from Sammy. You turned to look at it, face up into the air as it cried out, fearful of what it might be doing. In the distance, an unnerving rumbling sound echoed.
You travelled deeper into the maze now, eyeing the water tower through the hazy moonlight. You happened upon a pumpkin patch, each one with a menacing face glowing through the dusk with eyes that seemed to follow you with every sweeping step you took. It was bright enough that you could turn off the flashlight, which had started to grow dim. A little hut had been erected on the edge of the patch with appropriate décor, broken windows and crooked roof, and fake cobwebs hanging from every corner.
One of the jack-o-lanterns abruptly lifted up, held by rusty steel tipped claws. Turning to face it, bracing yourself to sprint again, a tall body rose with rows of shining needle teeth some three inches long and the blazing hollow eyes of Chica aimed right at you. The Jack-o-lantern she held was slightly different, her eyes having been placed inside of it now peering back at you. While she was blind, you knew immediately that the Jack-o-lantern was doing the seeing for her. With a screech she barrelled towards you, stomping through plastic pumpkins and kicking them around. Her ‘let’s eat’ bib flapped against the air passing through her hollow body as she darted towards you, her one arm out holding the pumpkin from beneath. Quickly you scrambled up on top of the shack and stood on its roof, unsure of where to run. In an open area like this one, well lit, there wouldn’t be much room to hide before she caught up to you.
With wild thrashes she clawed at the top of the shack but you stepped back to avoid her grasp and fell through the poorly constructed roof directly into the shack. You hit your head on the ground and had a throbbing pain in your wrist from landing right on it. You’d lost sight of each other, but a bright glare erupted from the cracked window through the curtains as Chica blasted flames from her eye sockets onto the wood, starting it up in flames.
Panicking you tried to figure out a solution and eyed everything around you, eyeing another key and swiping it – you didn’t want to die at the hands of Chica, nor did you want to be burned alive. You flicked the curtain back to see Chica’s pumpkin staring back at you before a claw burst through the glass and snatched at you. She was right in front of the door. Flames now lapped up above the broken roof and the walls of the shack grew dark as the wood burned through. You had to do something – you took a step back, the heat of the fire scorching your torso, and made a run at the door with your shoulder. With a crack the door burst open and knocked Chica back, the jack-o-lantern falling from her hands. Without even thinking you scrambled to pick it up before she had the chance to work out where it had fallen to and tossed it into the burning building. The hollow, blind Chica now fumbled around searching the floor for her eyes, stumbling into the wall of the little structure. You didn’t want to wait until she managed to find it, running off on your path.
You arrived at another intersection, one path leading left and another leading right. Two animatronics already approached, a nightmarish version of Chica with mismatched eyes and the same teeth you’d seen on the other nightmare animatronics with a cupcake to match, and a horrifying version of Foxy with exposed framework on the top of his muzzle but lacking his usual eyepatch. Chica had already worked closer to you by the time you appeared, but they both immediately began sprinting towards you with howling screams.
“Ah, FUCK.” You hushed to yourself and sprinted back to where you came from, avoiding the flaming Chica and taking an alternative path. Screeching around the corner of the intersection came Chica first, followed by the faster Foxy who pulled her down to the floor with his hooked hand around the back of her neck. The cupcake rolled away and she quickly scrambled to pick it up before hunting you again. There was no way you were going to outrun this mangled, neglected Foxy but still you ran. A twisted ‘yar har har’ called out as he began to close in on you, jumping atop you and dropping you to the ground. You rolled your feet under him and kicked him off, scrambling to collect your flashlight. With a sudden pop of light he winced and covered his face while standing himself up and attempting to run back in your direction, but Chica had now caught up and ran past him right in your direction. With a blast of light you stopped Chica in her tracks, but Foxy was free to give chase again and wasted no time in lunging in your direction and toppling you to the ground once more.
With wild swings he threw his pointed hook hand at your face, but you swung your head and upper torso as best you could to avoid it. There was a sudden crunch from above you and shards of hard plastic rained on you. Chica had placed her jaws around Foxy’s head, his eyes still glaring at you through the rows of razor teeth. Without looking away, he pulled the hook behind himself around Chica’s leg and yanked her feet from under her but her maw remained attached, bending Foxy back as she fell. This was enough to free you and you took your chance, struggling to your feet. The cupcake lay on the floor, staring at you, and you noticed the fourth key dangling from its jaws. Foxy began to swing wildly at Chica now, penetrating her shell with his hook and gnawing at her neck with his jaws. While they fought for your flesh you decided to let them and took off running again. Chica eyed you and tried to make a move to follow, but Foxy held her back as he hooked into the back of her head and chomped down on her shoulder.
You’d had enough of this by now. Your muscles burned and your focus was waning, you were so close but you were also surprised you were still in one piece. Still, your feet were sore, your body ached from falling through the roof, and your eyes stung from squinting through the darkness. Fuck Sammy for this – for all of this.
There was only one part of the maze you hadn’t yet explored – the last place you’d need to go before you would be able to even think about getting out of here intact. You knew they were still out there, somewhere, still hunting you down. Perhaps, you thought, there’d even be more of them still. As you edged closer and closer to the centre of the maze you entertained the idea of just letting them be done with you so you wouldn’t have to deal with this anymore. You thought about what Sammy said – mechanical parts can be replaced, even if flesh could not. Perhaps if you let go of this body he’d give you a new one that wasn’t quite as fragile or mortal as the one you sported now. Maybe it was better to just give in after all.
Shaking the intrusive thoughts from your head, you arrived at the centre of the maze to a decrepit fountain, cracked and crumbling, dry and packed with decaying leaves that’d fallen the previous autumn. Gnarling gargoyles watched over in four directions, overlooking the scene with flickering lanterns hanging from their jaws. The final key had to be around somewhere, and you started rummaging through the pile of leaves, pushing them aside with the dying flashlight. Nothing. You looked around, checking the gargoyles and the posts they were attached to, but the sound of approaching danger halted your search. You hid yourself behind the fountain, peering out to see another animatronic approaching – a withered version of Freddy himself, patchy and broken, with the tips of his fingers replaced with thick visceral claws and rows of deathly teeth. His red eyes shone like lasers through the pitch black, moonlight softly coating him as he made his steady approach.
As he entered the small plaza you noticed he wasn’t alone. Another Fredbear came along with him, crafted of shadow in the very image of the one that had just entered. Like the marionette previously, it walked with the shadow. As Freddy entered the lit area with the gargoyles the Nightmare stepped behind in his shadow, flickering between the four directions in which it was cast. The two moved as one in the light and stomped through the square in search of you. As Nightmare Fredbear’s head turned your way you quickly dipped below the fountain out of sight, hoping that he would miss you though the dim light.
For a moment there was silence, followed by a sudden quickened stomping in your direction. From the other side of the fountain Nightmare Fredbear’s head appeared, the two glowing eyes staring at you without expression. Panic set in once more as you scrambled for the button on your flashlight, nearly dropping it in the process. Before you had time to do anything his hands had already clasped around the base of the fountain and it was lifting in your direction. There was no way you were going to be able to move out of the way in time and instead rolled closer, the second tier sinking into the dirt below and holding it up with the central column with just enough space between its base and second tier to not crush you instantly. You crawled your way out of the fountain’s remains between rubble and dirt, fearing for your life as Nightmare Fredbear continued encroaching upon you with Nightmare right behind. Now you managed to reach the button and pointed it right at them, the shadow Nightmare dissipating entirely and reforming back against the wall in the shadow of one of the Gargoyles. Fredbear turned his head and stormed back to collect his counterpart, allowing him to step back into his shadow as you ran to the other side of the square. With a roar, Fredbear turned back to face you and stormed back towards you with his arms outstretched. His eyes glowed brighter as his rage burned and his mouth opened wider than it naturally should, preparing his teeth for your flesh.
As he passed the toppled fountain again Nightmare vanished from behind him, passing through its shadow in a dusty cloud and condensing back into a solid form right next to you with his arms ready to strike. You gave him a panicked flash from your light and his body vanished at its touch but he formed again to your side. With another weak flash you sent him running back into the darkness and scampered your way to safety in the twinkling light from the Gargoyle’s lamps – right into the path of Fredbear. You were so focused on Nightmare that you hadn’t noticed him approaching and he swiftly knocked you to the ground with a swipe of his claws. Your flesh ripped open; three deep lacerations opened up on your chest. With a shrieking cry of pain and abject fear you froze on the ground as he towered above you, Nightmare consolidating behind him with a menacing grin. Your gaze drew distant and you lost focus entirely and a tingling feeling shot through your spine and outwards through your limbs, raising the hair on your skin and twitching your muscles. Before you knew it your hand reached out in a punch straight into Fredbear’s groin and there was a loud crack and a blue flash as electricity jumped between you. Without realising it, you’d made use of one of the alterations that Samuel had made to your body, emitting an electrostatic discharge directly into Nightmare Fredbear. He began twitching like the Frenkenbear before him, limbs seizing up as you looked on shocked. Even Nightmare seemed surprised, his beady eyes fixed on his counterpart. As you eyed him you knew this would be your chance and there might not be another – you repeatedly flashed your light with what little strength remained within it and cast away the shadows, dissipating Nightmare along the wall of the area and trapping it beneath the shadow of one of the Gargoyles. You stared right at him and made sure he wasn’t moving before running away as fast as you could with what little strength you had left.
Your body was warm and wet as blood poured from your wounds and your focus waned further. All you could do now was stagger your way through the maze, resting yourself along the walls to regain composure and panting shallow breaths that puffed into the cold air. You managed to make your way back to the beginning of the maze and with the trapdoor in sight you slumped against a wall, unable to remove your eyes from it as you tried to decide your next move. You tried to muster thoughts but all of your focus was on staying alive. You clutched the wound on your chest and pressed your sore back against the wall to nurse it.
Slowly you turned your head to face the path you came from in response to a flicking light and gentle thudding approaching. Everything in you wanted this to be over already, but sure enough another animatronic appeared from around the corner, licking flames lapping from inside his hollow body. A long bare muzzle appeared from the corner, followed by not a hook but a long scythe that glinted in the moonlight. Foxy. Not content with just an eyepatch, his other eye was a hollow cavern filled with hellish fire but his two pointed ears spun towards your direction, dragging the rest of his head with them. In that moment he looked right at you and you could’ve sworn he could see.
The key. You saw the key dangling right from that Scythe of his but you knew you couldn’t deal with this in your current state. You managed to roll onto your knees and begin crawling, groaning in pain and fatigue as you inched your way out of his path. Grimm Foxy knew you were on death’s door, inching towards you in response. You weren’t going to put up a fight and he wanted to enjoy this. He made his way closer and closer until you could feel the heat of his flames heating your frozen skin.
“no, no nono-” you whimpered, tears forming in your eyes as he loomed above you with his scythe raised. There was a sudden sharp burning in your leg as he pierced through the flesh right through to the soil below. You screamed with what little strength remained within you would allow but it was cut short by his other hand grasping the back of your head and squeezing tight. It felt like your skull would crush under his strength – you screamed and wailed, your heart beating faster and faster inside your burning chest.
You tried to swing the flashlight back to strike him like you had the rat but you couldn’t muster the force to do any real damage. With a push of the button you turned it back on and started waving it wildly behind you, not entirely sure where you were pointing it. He didn’t seem to flinch, but instead seemed mildly irritated as he shifted around to avoid it while gripping your head tighter. The flames burned at your skin now and your whole body stung and throbbed. Consciousness began to fade from you bit by bit and the throbbing sensation pulsed throughout you until it reached your skin, passing through Foxy’s hands and scythe. You weren’t sure what was happening or how to make it work, but whatever Sammy did you were suddenly very thankful for.
A glimmer of hope sparked through you as the blade was released from your leg and your face dropped into the dirt. You rolled to your back and pointed the light at the recoiling fox, but it dropped into darkness after a second. ‘Not now, not now!’ you thought to yourself as you bashed it against the floor in an attempt to get it working again. The key had dropped off the scythe with his strike, and you clutched it in your spare hand. He made a few more steps towards you and you pushed yourself away closer to the trapdoor, mashing the button on the flashlight. With a few more flashes you stunned him long enough to reach the covered hole. The electricity that coursed through him had seized one leg and he limped in your direction slowly, tripping to the ground and dragging himself by the hook as he loomed threateningly towards you. There was one last thing to do.
You lay the flashlight down pointed right at him and scooped the keys from your pocket, hastily pushing them in their holes with trembling hands. With a click the lock opened but the fox was upon you now, hacking at your legs. You lifted the latch and tried to kick him away before rolling your body down into the depths below, pulling the lid with you.
All was dark. You couldn’t see a thing, but you could smell the heavy, musty air of the subterranean hold. From above the scythe banged against the wood repeatedly but you could do no more. You’d made it as far as you could. You weren’t sure if the girls would ever get to hear about your escape, or if they’d come looking for you, but you hoped that you’d at least made them proud.
Stuck in the darkness, your eyes closed.