Ch 7

Split the Soul

"So, Mr... Benson, did you see the assault take place?" The cops had arrived soon after Dan was placed in ICU. Kyle was in the lobby being questioned.

"Um, only the end of it. I got him out of there as fast as I could," Kyle forced a breath, his foot tapping off the tile floors.

"Did you get a good look at the attackers?" the other officer inquired. Kyle shook his head. He was sweating.

"They had masks."

"And the gunk on your coat is...?"

"Oil... I slipped in a puddle of it" Kyle leaned back in his cops looked at their watches and groaned.

"It's 5:00 in the morning. Let's pack up. If you remember anything, then call." The police wandered out to their car and pulled away from the hospital. Kyle watched through the window until they were out of sight. As Kyle looked away, he saw something jump off his car. It was dark and thin. He passed it off as a cat but he had a nagging feeling.

I am bound to the rules of my prison. I can roam at night but must obey the restaurant's instructions come the morning hours... but I'm not in the restaurant am I? I am hunting down my peaceful dreams and I will see that we are free. I saw the man in the window. He was so blind to everything he saw, too focused on the uniformed men leaving.

I hear him breathing from this window. He looks so pained by what we did to him. It's such a shame that it means nothing to me. I am not half the being that I was.

I can't go in there. To much light. It hurts so much be out here. I can't get in but he can.

Kyle walked to the ICU with great discomfort. His head hurt and he felt stressed like he could never imagined. He knew the animatronics were acting a bit off, but this was insanity. They were torturing Dan like it was everyday life. They had to be completely broken yet the originals still worked fine. Even the remains of the new Foxy were trying to kill him. The thing that haunted him was the odor that emanated from them. The old ones always smelled bad, but now the new ones... they smelled even worse. They smelled like death. Kyle knew that there were kids going missing from the news, but... he shook the thought from his head.

He knocked on the door to Dan's room and waited for an answer. Kyle heard nothing and was about to leave when he heard a rasping sound emanate from the room. It wasn't human. It was more like slowly tearing metal.

Kyle burst through the door and stared at the nightmarish scene. Dan was lying there hooked up to all sorts of machines: an IV, a heart monitor and a breathing mask. But what wasn't supposed to be there was something that Kyle knew to be stolen. It was missing for so long and now he was staring right at it. A wretched smell filled the room. Dan's throat was grasped by a large hand covered in faded gold paint.

It's-me-revenge-me-hurt-them-eat-them-it's-me-revenge-he-give-them-gifts-revenge-give-us-life-please-kill-me-kill-them-avenge-us-it's-me-hurt-us-stole-from-me-made-me-left-me-abandoned-me-it's-me-revenge-give-them-gifts-don't-hurt-me-leave-me-alone-I-want-my-mother-revenger-it's-me

Kyle froze. He just stared at the tarnished suit. Its hand gripped Dan's throat, and the other dug deeply into his chest. As Kyle watched the suit's head detached from the body, opening its jaws wide.

Kyle snapped out of the trance and rushed over to the bed. The gold head swerved around and the body faded into dust. Goldy's head screamed a horrible and hollow scream, like a saw cutting through flesh. Kyle shut his eyes tightly and waited to meet the same fate as Jeremy. But it never came. Kyle looked around the room and then to Dan. His throat was slightly bruised but the only marks on his chest was moist redness seeping through the bandages.

Kyle slowly slid down the wall and rested his head in his hands. He was shaking and felt like someone had force fed him cement. He stared out the window at the white faced creature that sat on the sill. Its normal smile had been turned into an impossible scowl. Its static eyes were shaped down into a glare. It placed its hand on the glass and gestured for Kyle to come outside.

Kyle sat there on the floor for a good ten minutes. He hardly breathed or moved. He just stared out the empty window wishing he had a choice in the matter. He finally picked himself up shakily. He felt chilled to the bone even before he got outside.

The rain was coming down hard as Kyle stood in the cold darkness. The sun's rays were unseen from below the buildings and trees. He could see the stars beginning to fade from the sky as it became a dark purple. Kyle heard the sound of small motor and few clicks from behind him.

"Don't scream. Turn around slowly." Kyle heeded the cold tone of the mechanical voice. He looked upwards and saw the marionette perched on the ledge above the hospital door.

"How are you feeling, Kyle? Hire any killers lately?" the robot accused. Kyle lifted up his flashlight with a weak hand and pressed the button. Before the lights went on the puppet snatched it from his hand with a cable.

"You see Kyle, I have my rules. Rule one; don't play with dangerous toys" The animatronic smashed the flashlight's lenses on the hospital wall, showering bits of glass down on Kyle.

"And that inevitably leads to rule two; comply to orders!" The plastic remains of the light were thrown to the ground as the marionette descended.

"W-what do you want m-me to do?" Kyle stuttered. The grin on the robot's face seemed to widen, threatening to engulf the creature's head entirely.

"You are going to forget Dan and get in your truck, drive back to your job and tell us where he is" The puppet grabbed Kyle's shoulder and pushed him towards the vehicle.

"Y-ou're not going to k-kill me?" Kyle quavered as they got in the truck. The animatronic regarded him from the passenger seat.

"I think we can wait till you have the night shift. It will give us plenty of time to finish that question"

Foxy stood outside the restaurant. He stared up and down the roads looking for any sign of the prey that had escaped him.

"Foxy, come back inside. It's 5:30." Foxy turned to see Freddy standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, but I be waiting for the captain to sail back to shore" the red machine growled. Freddy crossed his arms and gave Foxy a sarcastic look.

"If I didn't know you were supposed to sound like that..." he chuckled. Bonnie appeared in the door, as broken as usual.

"Are they back yet?" he asked. Foxy shook his head and the faceless bunny's ears drooped.

"Don't fret, lad. When the bilge rat gets back, I'll tear off his arm and you can keep it" The pirate turned back to look at the open roads. A cheerful look lit up Bonnie's glowing red eyes. He really wish he had his arm back, but he wanted his face more than anything. The only thing was even if Bonnie got his face back, he would never wish to put it back on.

"I'll feel better in a few days," said Bonnie, "Then those toys will get what they deserve: a slow melting." Foxy turned with a pained look in his eyes.

"Not all of them deserve it..." he muttered.

"Oh yeah, we thank your girlfriend. Without her they would still be here!" the purple bunny mocked. Foxy stepped forward to tear him limb from limb but their thoughts were interrupted by what they believed to be an annoyance.

"Hey guys, what's going on!" The bright blue toy rabbit peered over Freddy's shoulder.

"Go away, ye sky blue swab!" screeched Foxy. The three older animatronics glared at the shiny toy robot.

"Please, Bon-bon, leave. We want to enjoy the outdoors while the night is still here," Freddy requested. Toy Bonnie stepped outside with a worried look on his face.

"Sorry, I didn't want to step on your toes. I just wanted to see how you... were..." he powered down before he could finish.

"Well there ye go, the seas are steady," Foxy snickered. Old Bonnie gave The downed robot a kick in the leg.

"Nothing like a heartless pile of junk to keep you angry," he mocked. Bonnie went inside leaving the toy in the cold.

"Should I take this inside?" Freddy inquired. The new ones could never make it outside for long, but the others never cared as long as it shut them up.

"Nay matey, I need some quiet tonight," Foxy looked at the truck slowly approaching and averted his gaze. The beams turned off as it pulled into the lot. A smirk tried to show in Foxy's metal and plastic face.

"I think the meat is home."

Kyle's sat in silence for the whole drive. It was very difficult considering the murderous puppet was blaring children's music over the radio. For the whole trip the puppet wouldn't really sing but would play the songs instead of speaking.

"We're almost there," the robot finally said. Kyle looked awkwardly at the machine that sat in the truck with him.

"W-what do you want m-me to do?" Kyle asked nervously. The marionette switched off the radio.

"You will tell us where the first guard is. And in about five years we get to kill you."

"That's n-not much of a deal," Kyle muttered.

"Hey, be grateful! You get a nice extended life. But if you quit, we'll hunt you down," the robot laughed. The pizzeria pulled into view. There were three animatronics waiting outside. It was the old Foxy and Freddy, as well as the new Bonnie.

"Turn off the headlights!" the puppet hissed. Kyle switched off the high beams and pulled his collar over his face.

The truck stopped in front of the angry red animatronic. It dashed around and tore the driver seat door open. Kyle was yanked out of his truck by the jacket and held above the ground.

"You may not be the scalawag I want, but I'll rip off you arm too!" Foxy growled.

"Aw, put the man down Foxy. We'll kill him later... eventually." The puppet stepped out of the truck. Foxy let go of Kyle's arm and dropped him on the pavement.

"Arr... can I at least break a finger?" Foxy groaned.

"No, we still need him, let's get inside while we still have half an hour." The red pirate shoved Kyle towards the restaurant doors. They were greeted by Freddy and the motionless Toy Bonnie. Kyle was as petrified as the bunny. The three robots dragged him into the pizzeria. As the marionette passed by Bon-bon, he powered up. He stood still emitting various hums and whirs.

"...how you were doing and I wanted to apoli...gize... guys?" The door shut, leaving him outside.

"Aw man. Not again!"