Chapter 2
Mike and Martin pulled up at the gates to the fairground and Martin showed his ride owner's ID to the guard so he would let them in. They drove to Martin's horror ride and pulled up to unload the animatrons. Martin excitedly flung open the truck and took in the sight of the disused mechanical mascots all in the back.
"Let's get the five of them inside and clean them up." Martin ordered to his crew of engineers, who were finishing up final preparations on the main ride and walking over to inspect the animatrons for themselves.
"Hang on; there were only four in the lock-up." Mike said.
"No; there are Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy and the golden rabbit." Martin said.
"What golden rabbit?" Mike asked. He went round to have a look for himself. Sure enough, four animatrons were tied down in the back of the truck, and a golden rabbit animatron sitting with its back propped against the right wall. "Where did he come from? There was no golden rabbit!" Mike was struggling to get his head around this. "You were there, Martin. We never loaded that gold animatron. I would have tied it down if we had."
"Does it matter?" Martin asked. "An extra animatron means extra profit. I for one am not going to complain."
"You can't just use an animatron that isn't yours." Mike said.
"Why can I not?" Martin countered. "It was in a scrap yard lock-up. No one was going to come back for it, so no one's going to miss it." He signalled to the engineers who started unloading the five animatrons. "Get the metal polished, the fur washed, the electrics thoroughly checked and replaced as needed and use soap when you clean them. These guys literally smell like death. I'm trying to scare kids, not stink them out."
The engineers carted the animatrons inside and instantly started work. Several buckets of hot, soapy water later, the worst of the grime was gone, but the smell was still strong. The animatrons were looking slightly better, but the rabbit, which the Engineers had nicknamed Golden Bonnie, still looked neglected. The engineers had all heard the small argument between Mike and Martin, and it unnerved them that he would just blindly use something that didn't belong to him with no clue as to where it came from or any and all problems t may have had. They sat it down in a corner and focused on the others for a while. But they made one mistake. It was just one brutal, tragic mistake.
Mike and Martin were outside the doors to Martin's horror ride. Martin was paying Mike for all he'd done so far. Mike was about to close the back doors to his truck when something caught his eye. Shafts of light shone through the right wall and on to the floor of the vehicle. Curious, Mike walked round to the side and screamed. Someone had vandalised his truck. Plain as day, the words: 'I'M STILL HERE!' were scratched into the metal. Whoever did it had to have been outside the truck, because if it had been done from the inside, it would have looked backwards from the outside. Suddenly, a dreadful scream rose from inside the doors. The two men raced inside to see one of the engineers sitting in a pool of blood, with the bodies of the others around him. Then with one swift movement, he plunged his screwdriver through his own throat.
