I came to work the next night. I know, I know. I'd just had a face-to-face encounter with death, I was likely traumatized, I must've been crazy to go back to work. Honestly, I wasn't not crazy. I really needed the money.

So on Thursday, I went back to the pizzeria. Inside, the manager was waiting for me. "Hello, Miss Thompson," he said.

"Mr. Crawn. How nice to see you." I replied. Mr. Crawn was a short man, but gaunt and pale, like a corpse. He had blond hair parted to the side, and a permanent sneer on his face.

"How has your job been going, Miss Thompson? Any troubles to report?"

I kept my poker face on, looked him right in the eye, and said, "Nothing, sir."

"Very well. Move along."

I walked to the office, passing by the kitchen.

"Hey! Alexis!"

I jumped and turned to see one of the cooks, Benny, waving at me. "I got something for ya!"

"It's Lexi." I said, rolling my eyes. He just kept beckoning, so finally I gave in to see what he wanted from me.

When I got over to him, he pulled out a personal pizza. "We had extra. I figured the new girl would like some."

I blushed slightly. "Gee… thanks, Benny." I looked up at him to see him smiling at me.

And then he realized the closeness. "Don't get any ideas, Alexis. I don't swing your way, remember?"

"With how long you've been single, you don't swing any way!" Someone farther back yelled. I laughed. Benny rolled his eyes.

"Well, I gotta go. Thanks for the pizza, Ben." And I went back to the office which may soon carry my doom.

My pizza went untouched for twenty minutes as I scanned the cameras. But the animatronics didn't move. They didn't even twitch. So I let my guard down and started eating. Halfway through, I heard footsteps from the West Hall. Not the sound of the fox charging at me. Just calm footsteps. But just to be safe, I closed the door and kept eating. And that's when they knocked.

It wasn't the usual pounding. It was the usual knock you'd hear when someone was looking for you and came to your door. I set down the last bits of pizza and turned on the hall light. Standing there was the fox.

Seeing it peer into the window caused enough of a fright that I fell over. Then I heard a voice. "Sorry, lass. Not tryin' ta scare ya."

I got back on my feet. What do I do now? There was a killer robot outside my door. But he apologized. And none of them seemed very aggressive tonight. So, against most common sense, I opened the door.

The fox walked in, the most unthreatening I'd ever since. At least since I took the job.

"I tol' the others ye be a lass. Tha's why they're no' comin' fer ya."

"What does me being a girl have to do with anything?"

"It means yer no' him."

Okay, well, that was specific. I changed the subject. "Who are you?"

"Me?"

"I don't know your name."

"Oh, lass, ye be lookin' at th' best pirate ta ever sail the seas! Foxy is me name. Cap'n of the mos' beautiful girl, the Red Fox!"

"Alright. Foxy. Now if I may ask, why were you trying to kill me?"

Foxy went quiet. "Tha's a painful story, lass. Maybe some o'er time." It was strange how well these animatronics emoted. I could completely read their faces as if I was talking to a person. "Wha's yer name, lass?" He asked all of a sudden.

"What? Um… Lexi. Lexi Thompson."

"Well, I mus' say, it's a pleasure meetin' ya. Maybe ye be wantin' to meet the o'ers?"

"Others? You mean…?"

"The rest o' the gang."

"Um… I don't know… It's already so much just meeting you… since… you guys…"

"The others aren't mean, Miss Lexi. They're my friends. And we're all sorry that we hunted you down for a while."

"What happened to your accent?"

"What?"

"Your accent. It just disappeared."

"Oh! Uh, nothin'. I's nothin'. So do ye wan' ta come with me?"

I gulped. Was I really so insane? I grabbed a flashlight and stood up. "Okay."

I quietly followed him through the hall, and that's when I saw all the damage. A lot of his metal legs were showing, along with a few tears to show metal arms, a hole in his chest to show wiring, and his broken lower jaw. It was too bad that he was out of order. Otherwise he'd probably be in much better condition.

What was I saying? He was a killer robotic fox who'd been after my blood for three days. And yet I was following to meet other killer robotic animals who'd been after my blood. I guess that made me insane without any sort of common sense.

When we reached the dining room, the three animatronics had left the stage and were wandering until they saw Foxy and I. Then they just stared.

I looked at all of them, my heart pounding in my chest, and raised my hand in a wave. "Hi."

And then I was rushed by all three of the animatronics trying to give me their greeting. Chica reached me first and started to hug me. But for some reason, the animatronics were given super strength, and she was crushing my lungs. Finally, she let go, and Bonnie just gave me a side hug like a shy sixth grader. Then I was under Freddy's gaze.

Although all the animatronics were big, far bigger than a normal human, Freddy was the smallest. Foxy was the tallest of them, followed by Bonnie, then Chica, and finally Freddy. I wonder who came up with that. But nonetheless, me, at my wonderful height of five foot one, was very much smaller than the ones who surrounded me.

It was tight; were they about to change their minds and kill me? "I need some space." Immediately, everyone but Freddy took a huge step back. Freddy held out his hand. "Well, Miss. It's nice to meet you."

I shook his hand. "My name is Lexi."

"Alright then, Lexi. I'm glad there are no hard feelings."

"Um… well… sort of."

"What do you mean?" asked Chica in a warm, motherly voice.

"You all did try to kill me. That um… creats a small trust issue."

"Don' worry, lass. We won' kill ya."

"I believe you that much. I did let you in." I sighed. "But there's more to it. If you were human, you'd understand, but it's hard to repair trust."

They were all strangely silent. Then Bonnie said, "Can we work to fix it, at least?"

They all watched me, waiting for my answer. "I have tonight and tomorrow before I'd have to sign on permanently. I suppose it's worth a shot."

The animatronics cheered, and Foxy picked me up bridal style in his excitement. There was something strange… a twinge in my chest I didn't quite understand as he looked at me, and in the feeling of his metal arms. But he set me down before I could process it anymore.

"What should we do first? Oh! I've got it!" Chica said happily. "Do you want to make pizza with me? You can have some."

I thought of Ben with a smile. "I've already had pizza today. Sorry, Chica."

"Well… tomorrow then."

"Sure." I looked around at the animatronics to see if they had any ideas. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Foxy. "Maybe ye'd like ta come with me to the Cove? I have quite the story in mind ta tell ya."

For some reason, even though he'd scared me half to death and almost caused said death, I felt more comfortable with the animatronic fox. "Sure." I looked to the others. "Then I can see the rest of you after."

"Sounds good." "Sure." "Okey-dokey." After their agreements, I followed Foxy over to the Cove, kind of excited. My older friends who'd been here before the Cove was shut down had told me that Pirate's Cove was their favorite place, and so was the animatronic inside. I could only think in excitement of what would await me as that twinge still remained in my chest.