Luke stood in the doorway, clutching his favorite neon green Nerf gun, and pointing his phone at Willy and I.
"You could've knocked," Willy grunted, and, much to my irritance, took his hand off my back.
"Luke, what are you doing here?" I shouted at him, sliding off of Willy. He stood up as soon as I was comfortably off.
"I'm here to rescue you, idiot, while you're over here making love to a-"
"Okay first off, I distinctly recall telling you to stay outta my business, and second off-"
"I got those past those robot freaks, but we gotta move fast. I doubt this'll hold 'em for long," Luke interrupted, waving his Nerf gun.
"Neither of you are going anywhere," Ozzie sneered from the doorway, causing Luke to shriek. He stumbled towards me, falling into my arms. I caught him, trying to resteady him.
"Luke, put the gun down, none of them are gonna hurt you," I sighed, trying to lower Luke's Nerf gun. It was locked on Ozzie, who had disappeared behind the corner again.
"Ah, finally, an opponent with a worthy weapon," Knighty exclaimed, leaping into the doorway with his sword. Luke screamed.
"Luke, these guys aren't what you've heard," I sighed.
"What do you mean, Vic, these things are killing machines possessed by the previous owners. Hasn't anyone told you?" Luke asked. I scoffed.
"Who told you that?"
"Uh, Liv? Dad? Robbie? Chris?" Luke shrugged. I heard a muffled reply come from Luke's phone.
"What are you doing with this?" I asked, grabbing his phone.
"Hey!" Luke exclaimed irritably. Chris was on video chat.
"Vic? You're still alive? Phew, good thing I got screenshots-"
I hung up the phone during Chris's explanation, handing Luke his phone back.
"He helped me get in here, you know," Luke frowned, crossing his arms.
"What you've heard about this place is all wrong, and I promise I'll explain why, but you gotta leave right now," I urged, shoving Luke towards the door.
"No way, I didn't come in here just to walk out without you," Luke argued, pushing back.
"I told Lund and Tex I'd clean this place, so that's what I'm gonna do. It's not any easier with you here, you know," I replied, shoving him forwards.
"You can't possibly think I'm gonna leave you alone with these things? Not after what I learned from Chris," Luke started, turning to face me.
"Chris is an idiot,"
"You're the bigger idiot for wanting to stay here, just look at you!"
I glanced at my arm.
"You look like you've been drug through hell and back," Luke exclaimed.
"Siblings," Willy scoffed.
"These things are talking, Vic," Luke whined, tugging on my arm, "There's so much stuff Chris and Robbie told me about this place, it's bad,"
"Whatever your stupid friends told you is wrong-"
"Did you know about all of it? Has everyone known about what went down here but me?" Luke asked.
"I told you I'd tell you everything if you'd just leave already," I replied. Luke groaned loudly.
"I can't believe it. And you had the audacity to bring me here on my birthday,"
"It's not like I had a choice, I blew your birthday money on a speeding ticket, so Dad forced me to take you here,"
"And you brought me here knowing very well I coulda' died?"
"Are you dead?"
"No, but-"
"Luke, you're acting delusional-"
"Me? You're the one over here trying to act like these things are human," Luke growled, pointing to the other animatronics, who were watching through the door. I opened my mouth to reply, but Arty beat me to it.
"Human, aye?" He started, snaking his way into the room. Luke gasped, aiming his Nerf gun at Arty. I lowered it, rolling my eyes. "It's not the bodies we want, really, it's the souls. Either works though, we ain't picky,"
Luke grabbed my arm, trying to hide from Arty.
"If you want souls, take Vic's," Luke shouted.
"Hey," I scoffed back, shoving him out from behind me in front of Arty. I had beaten Arty in his vent game, so I was hoping his promise to not rip my guts out would hold true for Luke too.
"We're definitely not used to volunteers, but aye, first time for everythin'," Arty snickered.
"None of you are eatin' either of them," Willy joined the conversation.
"Oh c'mon now, you can't tell me you've gone soft all of the sudden," Ozzie whined from the front door.
"I ain't-" Willy started to reply.
"First Vic, now her punk brother, how many souls are you gonna save?" Ozzie interrupted.
"None of y'all are gonna touch either of them until Vic gets her brother out," Willy replied, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Vic, this is so messed up," Luke whimpered.
"You wanna talk messed up, kid, we'll give you-"
"Arty, quit that right now, you're scaring the poor thing," Sara interrupted Arty, stepping into the room. Luke screamed loudly.
"Ah, the sounds of you feeble, weak humans screaming in terror," Arty continued, "It never gets old,"
"Oh quit your showin' off, stop tryin' to scare the little bugger," Willy replied.
"Yeah, he's cute!" Sara added. Luke's face had gone completely pale.
"How did you get in here?" I asked Luke, hoping I could get him out in a similar fashion.
"Uh, through the roof. I fell through," Luke replied.
"That's gonna be a hearty repair," Willy scoffed.
"We're gonna go back to the hole, and I'm gonna push you back out, and you're gonna go tell Chris to stay out of this, okay? The last thing I need is for any of them to get involved," I explained, meeting Luke's eyes.
"What about Robbie?" He asked back.
"Who on earth is Robbie? If he's one of your little friends, you best be telling him-"
"He's sort of a friend," Luke paused, "I'm trying to help him,"
"Tell him to stop bothering you about this place,"
"Would you two shut up already? I wanna feast on one of y'all's faces," Ozzie ruffled his feathers impatiently.
"It's not like we didn't just eat," Cammy replied.
"Can't any of you hear? I just said none of ya' dorks were gonna lay any of your grubby little fingers on either of them," Willy argued.
"Um, Vic?" Luke asked me, looking up at my eyes.
"What do you want," I sighed, becoming very impatient with Luke's lack of cooperation.
"Speaking of Chris, I may have told him to meet me here if anything went wrong,"
"You did what now?" I asked, flipping Luke around to face me.
"I'm sorry-"
I groaned loudly. If Chris and his friends came in here, there would be mass chaos.
"That's it, at least half of y'all are gonna end up dead," Ozzie growled.
"You've got quite a social circle, girly," Willy sneered. I rubbed my hands over my face painfully.
"They're not my friends," I muttered.
"We didn't think you'd be alive," Luke shrugged.
"It's fine. This is fine," I breathed, "I'm going to tell them I'm okay, and then they'll leave the property, right?"
"Uh, I guess," Luke shrugged.
"You make sure they leave, understand? If they don't get Lund to kick 'em off," I replied.
"Whatever you say. Are you sure you don't wanna come with? Robbie told me-"
"I already told you, I need to stay here for the night. I'm trying to get the Mustang fixed-"
"Oh right, you totaled Dad's car-"
I swiftly pointed Luke towards the exit.
"Go,"
Luke aimed his Nerf gun cautiously at the animatronics, who were still watching.
"Go ahead," Gus smiled, moving out of the doorway. Luke cocked his Nerf gun, taking a few steps forward.
"No need for that, pequeño," Tito spoke, extending his hand forward to reveal Luke's bullets. Luke gasped.
"How did you," He started, checking the barrel of his Nerf gun.
"Not so tough now, is ya'?" Arty sneered.
"Vic?" Luke asked. I rolled my eyes.
"This is your doing. I swear if Chris is out there by the time I get you out I'm gonna throw a fit," I threatened, leading Luke out of the door.
"You better be glad your sister is there for ya'," Ozzie started.
"Going so soon? Awe, I didn't get a chance to play with him," Sara frowned.
"Yeah, come back and play with us sometime soon," Willy teased.
"I'll pass," Luke replied.
Grasping Luke's shoulder, and following his direction, I wove through the tables and chairs, making sure none of the animatronics were going to try and hurt him. I was honestly surprised he had made it to the Super Happy Fun Room alive.
"Here," Luke stopped, pointing to a gaping hole in the ceiling. He had fallen in directly over the ball pit, which was quite convenient. The moon shone brightly in the sky, illuminating the outline of the gap.
"Alright, let's get you out," I huffed, hauled Luke onto my back. I struggled to lift him on my shoulders, as only one of my arms was fully functional. Luke's treaded shoes didn't help either. He kept putting his feet over the bruised areas, which stung painfully. I grunted, trying to reposition Luke.
"Watching you struggle is almost as entertaining as one of our shows," Gus laughed from behind me. I turned my head painfully to see him sitting in the doorway.
"Out of the way, this I gotta watch," Ozzie spoke, maneuvering over Gus.
"By the looks of things, I'd say you need help," Willy added.
"Yeah," I grunted, trying to propel Luke towards the top.
"If you'd quit squirming, this might be a little bit easier," Luke strained, reaching for the ceiling.
"I'm doing my best, it's not like you're helping me," I shot back.
"There's eight robots waiting for me to fall and die so they can eat me, might as well at least try to get me out," Luke scoffed. Luke's poor foot placement atop my left arm gash made me let go of him. He tumbled atop of me, knocking me to the ground beneath him. I cursed loudly, gripping my arm.
"Vic, that's a swear word!" Luke shouted, pointing at me.
"Oh shut up," I groaned, grasping my arm.
"Here," Willy started, extending his hand down to me. Luke scurried backwards in fear. Breathing heavily, I let Willy help me to my feet.
"I take it you two made amends?" Cammy asked, peering over Gus's shoulder.
"Yeah-"
"They were doing things Dad wouldn't approve of," Luke interrupted, sneering.
"Luke Halifax," I hissed, feeling my face blush.
"Oooooh," Ozzie teased.
"Now just wait a minute, neither of us said anythin', so ya' better keep your fat mouths shut," Willy sneered back.
"I know what they were doin', I know what they were doin'," Arty chanted irritably. I turned to face Luke again.
"Let's try this one more time," I said, grabbing Luke's heel.
"Are 'ya sure you don't need a big, strong guy like Willy to help 'ya out there," Arty teased once more.
"If Vic wants my help, she'll ask-" Willy started.
"He's got them nice big hands for her too," Ozzie laughed.
"Would you two shut up for once?" Willy replied. I scoffed, nearly losing my footing as I gave one last push to help Luke up. FInally, he grasped the edge of the hole, prying himself upward. I helped him, letting him push off my hands for support. I breathed a sigh of relief once he was successfully out of the restaurant.
"Chris? Aaron?" I heard Luke speak. Oh no. "Yeah, she's just fine. She's the one who hung up the videochat,"
"Looks like the fast food delivery is here," Ozzie snickered.
"She's sayin' something about cleaning or the sheriff or something like that. She didn't give me a clear answer," Luke responded to a voice too muffled to perceive. I strained to listen to their conversation, hoping Luke would drive them off like I asked.
"Nah, she says stay away. Vic is a real stickler about this place. I think she just wants to spend more time alone with that weasel,"
"Luke!" I screamed at him. I heard a series of laughs erupt from behind me.
"I can meet you back at your place soon, yeah," Luke laughed to someone. What's he doing hanging out with MY friends?
"Ah, el dulce aguijón del reemplazo," (Ah, the sweet sting of replacement). Tito spoke. I sneered. There was about a minute of silence outside, and I was convinced Luke had left, before hearing him talk again.
"Yeah, I know Robbie. She's not herself right now. I promise I'll make sure she's safe." Luke spoke.
"Luke?" I called to him. There was silence. Not one of my friends was named Robbie. I was familiar with the townspeople too, and none of them were named Robbie either.
"Vic is in danger, I know," Luke continued. Confused, I continued to listen to the fading conversation Luke was having. Eventually, there was nothing but the whistle of the wind through the gap in the roof.
"Who's Robbie?" I spoke to myself.
"How do you keep up with all these boys?" Sara asked.
"I don't know who he is, Luke keeps mentioning him," I replied.
"I'm Robbie," A voice said. I looked around, expecting one of the animatronics to be mocking my confusion. "Stop looking around, silly, I'm in your head right now. The animatronics are lying to you like they lied to the hundreds of people before you, you need to get out, right now, "
What?