Wakey Wakey

The warehouse was silent. Deathly silent. Working hours were long since over. Everyone had gone home after a hard day's work. The various stored items, ranging from kids toys to industrial rigging remained in their designated storage spaces. The only sounds came from the occasional scampering of a rat or the faint sounds of cars passing by outside. Nothing stirred.

Well, except for one place. One of the warehouses. One of the windows had opened and a rope was tossed inside. Moments later, a man descended the rope with as much care as he could. He hit the floor with a bit of a stumble, but he took out his torch and shone it around. This was the place, he thought.

There were stories about this particular warehouse that they'd found out during their investigation. Warehouse number 15. During the day, it was just like any other of the warehouses. But at night, strange things were said to happen. People had heard what sounded like carnival music echoing around inside. The sounds of heavy footsteps moving around. The lights flickering on and off. They said that it was haunted.

That was exactly what Ernest Matheson was here to find out. Well, not exactly. The thing was he'd worked at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza as the night guard. One of a few who had. Then he'd found out on his first day what they were concealing from him and gotten out as fast as he could. He'd gone to the management but they'd denied everything. Everybody thought he was crazy.

Until he found out about the others. They too had worked the night shift before they found out about its dirty secret. There were only five of them, but they were determined to unearth the truth and expose what they were hiding. Their tip off and their researches had led them here. They were so close now. All they had to do was find what they were looking for.

Wasting no time, he hurried to the door. He unlocked it and let it swing open. Four other figures crept inside and they shut it behind them quickly. He shone the light over them. They all wore hoodies, but he could still see the mousy face of the young woman in front of him.

"Nice work, Ernie!" she praised. "Knew you could do it!"

"Thanks, Jenny," he mumbled. "It wasn't that bad, really."

She was the only girl in the group. He'd met her, along with the others, through the same site. They talked quite a lot and these days, Ernest came along mainly because of her. She was the only one he let call him Ernie.

"Alright, let's not get distracted here," urged Daniel. "Remember why we came here. Split up and spread out. When we find what we're looking for, signal and we'll gather. Everyone got your radios?" They all nodded. "Get moving then."

Wasting no time, he assigned them directions to search in. Ernest ended up getting the north-east part, while Jenny got the north. She waved him off, wishing him luck and hurried away. His cheeks still warm, Ernest got to work.

Their basis for searching here was that they all believed, from what they had seen, that the restaurant was hiding something. They all knew about the Bite and had seen the animatronics moving around at night. Their most recent encounter had dispelled any doubt of that. They'd never been told any of that when they signed up and they'd all left messages for one another for when they'd find out on the phone.

Ernest had been the most recent, with the exception of that guy Mike. Ernest had been the one to leave him his message but he was on their side. They couldn't count on him.

This had been a real undertaking though. They'd monitored the restaurant during the day and had tried scouting the place. But whenever they'd get somewhere they weren't meant to go, a member of staff or even one of the characters, had spotted them and escorted them off the premises. They'd had a hard time getting their story out, even on the internet. Whatever forum they posted on, they'd be immediately debunked and banned.

That was why Daniel had decided to take things a step further. It was time to get some real, decisive proof. They couldn't or wouldn't in most cases, go to the place at night, especially not after their most recent attempt. So, with a little digging and a tip they'd been given, they'd found about this place. It had the name on the manifesto, so they had to keep something important here. After much debate, a break in was decided. Just to get what they needed and nothing else.

Ernest, like many of the others, was very apprehensive about this undertaking. Until their other break in, they'd never done any explicit criminal activity. They'd violated the contract with the restaurant and gotten into some minor legal issues, but they'd been told just to keep quiet. If they were caught doing this after everything else that had happened, they could wind up in jail.

But they all agreed it would be worth it. Hopefully.

Ernest jumped when his radio buzzed. It was Stuart, who'd been sent to the south west corner, asking them to respond. Forcing himself to calm down, he pressed the button.

"This is Ernest," he whispered. "What's up?"

There was a few moments of silence. He was probably waiting for everyone else to report first.

"I found them."

He gave his location. Ernest was the fifth one to arrive to see what he had found.

In one corner of the warehouse was what they had come here for. There was no mistake they belonged to Freddy's. The four animatronics were all here, leaned against a tall crate. Their suits were rather damaged and decayed, falling away to reveal the metal endoskeletons beneath. Their limbs and heads hung limply.

"Yo-ho-ho, matey!" Ernest whipped around to see Stuart, a bit of a clown, moving the fox's mouth up and down. "Who's comin' with me ta hunt some booty?"

"Stop kidding around," ordered Daniel. "This is perfect. Just what we were looking for."

"Why do they have them here?" wondered Jenny. "Why not at the restaurant?"

"They must be spares," suggested Ernest. "They keep these ones in case the others break down and they need spare parts, perhaps."

"I guess. But…" She knelt down, examining the duck. Or was it a chicken? "They look like they haven't been used for years."

"It doesn't matter," dismissed Danie. "They're not important right now. The file said what we were looking for would be in this crate. So, let's get it open."

Gordon, a silent kind of guy with glasses and a beard, stepped up with the crowbar he'd brought. He wedged it into the lid. With a few yanks, it fell away with the guys gently lowering it to the ground so it didn't make too much noise.

Inside was another animatronic. This one looked even older and more decrepit than the other ones. It sat in the crate, sat in a manner that reminded Ernest of a dead body. The mouth hung open in an eerie looking grin. There were no eyes, only black empty sockets. Wires dangled out of the left socket like someone had ripped it out. Its right ear was missing, with more wires left unconnected in its place. It looked like Freddy, but it was painted gold instead of brown.

"That's it?" remarked Stuart. "This is what we came here for?"

"If they're meant to be spares, they really don't keep them in good condition." Jenny bent down to examine it. "This one looks like it's about ready to fall apart."

"According to this information, this one is one of the very first models," read Daniel. "It also says that if access a port in its head, we can gain access to its memory files along with all of these other ones. But this one's the one we want."

Daniel moved Jenny aside and moved in behind the gold Freddy. Ernest could make out some kind of hatch at the back being opened, creaking from the years of rust and neglect. He could hear Daniel muttering to himself, trying to get it working.

A few of them exchanged looks with each other. It seemed like their leader was getting a little too ahead of himself, like last time. At least no one was around to get hurt.

"Daniel," said Jenny, "I think we should be a little more-"

"No," he said sharply. "We have them this time. Even if we can't find these files, we can still use these ones to… got it!" he cried. "That's the one!"

There was a click of a series of switches being pressed. For a moment after Daniel had finished pressing them, nothing happened.

"H-Hey. Uh, did its head just… twitch?" Ernest asked.

"What?" Stewart frowned at it. "Nah, you're just seeing things. It's dark, your eyes are playing tricks. So, what are we supposed to do now?"

Jenny gasped. "I think its hand just moved."

"Enough," snapped Daniel. "I understand you're both on edge, but calm down and focus. We have a job to do here. Now, what does it say to do next?"

"Might wanna figure that out fast," advised Stewart nervously. "I think I can see something glowing in its eyes."

"What is wrong with you all?" he demanded. "You're all acting like-"

But they didn't get to hear what they were acting like. The animatronics' whole body suddenly jerked, like it had just been treated with a defibrillator. Daniel stared at it then jumped when it twitched again, even more pronounced this time. He hurried out of the crate and motioned for them to back away.

The animatronic continued to twitch and writhe, like someone was running an electrical charge through its body. Golden light began to shine from its head. It was small at first, but it was growing ever brighter. The other ones appeared to start twitching too, just a fraction but they were.

"What the hell is happening?!" hissed Stuart. "What did you do?!"

"I… I don't know," muttered Daniel. "I just did what it said to do here…"

"We need to go," said Jenny. "Quickly, before it-"

"Wait, look," Ernest pointed. "I-It's stopping."

The twitching was indeed beginning to die down. After a few seconds, the twitches it did exhibit were only minor ones. Aside from that, the body remained motionless. The head continued sparked with golden light. They leapt away as it sparked and buzzed. It stopped after a bit, but it continued to hum and pulse with energy.

Almost like a heartbeat.

"This doesn't look good," murmured Stuart from the back.

"It's fine," Daniel said sharply. "We could still use it. Maybe it'll listen to us, we can tell it what we want from it. Or we can take it apart, take what we need and go."

But before anyone could do anything, the glow shone brighter. They suddenly became aware of a mechanical whirring. And it was coming from the animatronics. Like the head, the lights of their eyes flashed on, shining red in the dark. Slowly, jerkily, in a manner like the living dead rising from their tombs, they stood up.

And those horrible, red eyes all turned to look directly at them. They all stood frozen to the spot, unsure of what they would do.

Then, Freddy spoke, the actual one. It was in a jerky, stutter animatronic recording but… that wasn't all there was.

"Hey everybody!" he greeted, his mouth not quite moving in time with his words. "It's time to- time to-time to die- time to start the show!"

"Why are they all turning on?" hissed Stuart. "D-Did that one just say it was time to die?"

"Just stay calm," murmured Daniel. "Walk away slowly."

"I-I su-s-s-sure am hungry!" expressed Chica cheerily. "L-L-Let's e-e-e-e-eat! Le-e-le-le- leave no trace!"

"W-What do we do?" whispered Ernest, raising the metal pipe he'd brought. "What do- AGH!"

Something clamped hold of his wrist like a vice. The pipe fell to the floor with a clang. He saw the fixed expression of Bonnie piercing him with its red eyes.

"H-Hey kids! You r-r-ready to r-r-rock?" The way it asked that made Ernest panic even more.

"Ernie!" Jenny tried to pull Bonnie off. "Let go of him!" Bonnie just swatted her away to the floor with its other arm.

"N-N-No fighting k-k-kids o-o-or we'll h-h-have to- fix you- have to t-t-tell your parents," it warned.

Foxy darted forward, leering down at her. "I-I-I know j-just what ta do w-w-with this scurvy landlubber! Let's b-b-b-b-gutting her like a fish-let's be making him walk the plank!"

"Oh crud!" Stuart's eyes darted wildly. "I'm outta here!" He sprinted back into the darkened warehouse before anyone could stop him.

"Get back here, you coward!" roared Daniel. He raised his gun. "St-Stay away!"

He fired three times at Freddy. One of the bullets passed harmlessly through the suit. The other two clanged audibly off the metal, but didn't impede the bear's advance. It grabbed Daniel's wrist and a fourth shot went wild before it plucked the gun out of his hand.

"N-Now that's pr-pr-pr-pretty dangerous, sp-sport," scolded Freddy. "I-I th-th-think you sh-should a-a-apologise l-l-l-l-little man."

"LET GO!" he screeched "LET GO OF ME!"

But they had them. There didn't seem like there was anything they could do. As the animatronics stalked towards them, Ernest heard something else over their metallic footsteps and crude voices. Something that really chilled him.

A giggling. Like a woman laughing mockingly, from behind the animatronics. Like it was coming from the one they had never meant to turn on…

Hello my friends. So pleased you could join me once again.

I have been very much looking forward to this and to celebrate the end of my exams today, here's a treat for you all. As before, there will be flashbacks at certain points but I will make it more obvious when they occur so no one is left confused. Hope you all enjoy.

Be strong, be swift, be just.