Chapter Three

Pizza Delivery

Freddy could not pass through the shutters, so he promised to meet Gregory by the elevators.

Gregory asked, "Why don't I go with you?"

"It is safer and quicker for you to take this route," Freddy answered. "I am uncertain of the hazards that may have appeared since I was here last."

"Well, okay. I'll meet you by the elevators, then." Gregory ducked under the first pair of shutters but had to crawl under the second leading to the front area. He hesitated at the shutters and then crept forward. He didn't hear Chica's heavy steps, but for all he knew, she could be standing still or something!

He couldn't spot her near the fountain or through the glass windows in the shops. So, he turned around and passed by a photo booth to go to the elevator.

Freddy approached from the stairs.

Gregory pressed the button.

…

He pressed the button again.

…

Gregory sighed and went to the next elevator. This one opened when he pressed the button. Unfortunately, it opened into a dark, empty elevator shaft lined with wires and metal bars. He looked up to see the bottom of the elevator about a story or so above them. He puffed, "Well that stinks. What do you think?"

"I believe this is for the better. The elevators, after lacking basic maintenance for so long, may be unstable. Perhaps we can go through the Utility tunnels back to Rockstar Row. Now that you have that Security Pass, you will have access to the main atrium."

Gregory shrugged. "Eh, fine. Let's just… not run into anyone else, okay?"

"Yes. I agree. Chica has changed so much since I have last seen her, and Sun has become dangerous. I hesitate to meet Roxy and Monty."

Gregory followed Freddy back through the Utility tunnels–including a ridiculous number of stairs–and to Rockstar Row. Gregory hesitated for just a second to be sure he could not hear any shoes or her voice. The shutters on the opposite end of the hall from Freddy's room opened far enough to allow Freddy through.

This hallway was thin and winding. A large, red metal cylinder with a porthole in it sat in one of the corners. The hallway expanded into a room, which was turned into a maze by red velvet ropes. While Gregory ducked under the standing ones and stepped over the broken or fallen ones, Freddy tried his best to weave through them. Unfortunately, the creators of the twisted line did not seem to take Freddy's bulk into consideration and he ended up clipping some and finally toppling a few over.

They passed a desk and decorations. At the end was a grassy scene with a big, cartoon brown bear with a black top hat and bow tie and a funny purple rabbit with a red bowtie. Freddy stopped here. The glow from his baby blue eyes lit up the faded cardboard cut-outs.

Gregory looked at the cut-outs and then back at Freddy. "Is that you and Bonnie?"

"That is a previous version of me," Freddy explained, his gaze never wandering. "It is also a previous version of Bonnie. I miss him, sometimes."

Gregory's gaze softened and he looked at the shutters that would lead to the atrium. "…I'm sorry. Let's get moving, okay? We should probably, um, get out of here."

"Yes, we need to find an exit quickly."

"Do you think we could check out the elevators from this side? Maybe someone left something in the other elevator. That came up to the first floor here, right?"

"Yes, it did. Perhaps there could be something of value."

The shudders opened, revealing a gargantuan… room? Room seemed to diminish it. This place could hold a three-story house with room to move around! A huge attraction sign covered in leaves and grass and a golf club blocked the area to his right. "COME BACK SOON!" was written on the back of it facing another set of shutters to his left. The left wall continued as far as Gregory could see, interrupted by shutters, escalators, and pop-up food stands.

As they made their way to the escalators, Gregory looked over the huge dining area. Rows of tables with party supplies filled most of the space. Some tables lay on their sides, their party decorations on the ground and their tablecloths yanked back with them to lay bare the tables in that row that hadn't fallen over. A grand, half-moon stage sat at the end of the room. Photo booths, kiddie rides, and plants flanked the main dining area. A section of red couches sat at the corner.

Dead S.T.A.F.F. bots with black caps and dead flashlights scattered over the room.

Heavy feet thumped slowly across the ground.

Gregory shut off his flashlight and half-hid behind Freddy.

This was not Chica that wandered. Rather, this was what he recalled Roxanne Wolf to be. He remembered her as a gray wolf with a silver mane, a strip of green hair, and punkish red clothes. Roxy would have matched the description perfectly. Now, the left half of her head caved in, her left ear torn off as well as a good chunk of her chest plate. Bits of her mane and the fur on the tip of her tail fell out. Scratches and flaked or faded paint covered most of her body. The left side of her muzzle warped into a permanent snarl. Her shoulder plate had flattened. As she moved through the atrium, her glowing yellow eyes inspecting her surroundings, she walked with an uneven gate. Her right foot twisted at a weird angle and the shell on her right calf collapsed in on itself. Like Chica, quite a lot of the shell on her arms and one leg was missing.

She snarled to herself, words resembling "intruder" and "little brat" and probably catching him or something.

Gregory crouched low and slunk past her. She stopped and flicked her ear. By that time, Gregory was already up the stairs.

She turned to the stairs. "Freddy? Is that you?"

Freddy made a few weird noises.

"Oh. I should have… it's been a while. Where have you been?"

Gregory found the elevators. A dead S.T.A.F.F. bot lay between them. This one had faded gold paint on its chest and cheeks and an explorer's hat on its head. A fanny pack of exposed maps lined its waist. Gregory stooped down and picked up one of the dark, once-shiny maps.

Gregory checked the map and unfolded the pamphlet. As… helpful as the sparkly, colorful map was, he really would have liked something digital, something like a map on his Fazwatch. At the bottom corner of one of the inner pages stamped a QR code. Gregory tipped his wrist so that the face of his Fazwatch faced the QR code. His Fazwatch beeped. When Gregory checked it, not only did a map appear but so too did the camera systems. The cameras stayed in unusable static, but the unlabeled map, which did not track his position, worked. Neat.

Gregory heard footsteps.

He darted behind the giant, overly intricate map of the mall and peered around the corner.

Roxy paused at the top of the stairs, twitched her remaining ear, and walked down the left part of the carpeted walkway. She stepped over a dead S.T.A.F.F. bot on her way to some place marked with her name.

Gregory walked around it and met Freddy downstairs.

Freddy said, "Roxy is so… angry. Chica told her a child was here, as did Officer Vanessa. Everyone knows you are here, now. They are so angry. I worry about Monty. I worry about them all."

Gregory scuffed the ground with his foot and looked away. "I don't know how to help."

"I understand. I do not expect anything out of you, Gregory. This is a problem far outside of my understanding. What matters now is that you are free. There are two possible exit points that I can recall. The main loading dock is located under the first floor. There is also a fire escape in the third floor Prize Counter. Check your Fazwatch. I will mark both locations on your Fazmap."

Gregory's Fazwatch beeped.

He looked at the watch and scrolled through the different floors. Up on the third floor, a red dot stamped on the outer line of a double circle. In the first basement, a red dot was near that same area.

Well, they were already near Salads and Sides, right?

Gregory shot a quick look around and, as he saw and heard nothing, ran to the end of the room, keeping close to the shops lining the left wall. The door at the end was locked. However, the vent register was missing from the vent on the wall near the floor.

He ducked into the vent and crawled inside.

Freddy said, "I must warn you: when you enter an area where you do not have a locator map signal, I will be unable to reach your location. You can update your map at a security office. Be safe."

"Okay. Will do."

Gregory squirmed through a turn, passing by an inactive fan with a metal cage in front of it. He had to keep his flashlight ahead of himself as none of the lights that lined the vent worked.

He bristled as he heard little clinking and looked back. Behind him, a little rusted metal creature dropped from the hole. Six metal legs held up its rounded body while its two arms held cymbals before it. It lifted its square head, white with pink makeup and a black top hat and black circles for eyes. Its broken, thin rectangular teeth gnashed in its unmoving mouth.

Then, it charged.

Gregory bristled and turned a corner, his flashlight clanging against the vent as he hurried. The vent opened into a small circular room of sorts with a grate for the floor. He could stand on two feet and run for a few steps before diving inside. Its "feet" clicked behind and cymbals clanged as it gained on him.

The vent went down.

Gregory turned over so he pointed his feet down and slid.

The creature stopped at the top of the vent.

Gregory slid down and down, bumping into the sides of the vent as he did so, until he was thrown into a small room with two giant, red fuel tanks.

He landed in a stumble and waved his flashlight over his surroundings. The next room over, just as small, held a table and various posters and a few lockers. A door to a bathroom etched into the wall. The doors on the opposite side led into a room with a couple of chairs and two control consoles lining the walls. What looked like an explosion of wires covered the floors. He spotted an unopened can of Fizzy Faz.

He grimaced at the thought of even touching it and walked to the open metal door, which led onto a thin balcony with a mesh floor. Before him, catwalks wove between two rows of giant vats. He saw a glint of white and, hiding behind the doorway, peered out int the catwalks. His flashlight shut off.

Chica stopped between the rows of vats, surveyed the room, and then continued her heavy walk.

Gregory took a deep, calming breath and slunk to the catwalks. Checking constantly with both his ears and eyes to know Chica's position, he made it to the stairs at the end leading up into an office with a few rows of tables and chairs and tech.

He jumped and slapped a hand over his mouth upon seeing a light, long-eared shape marked by red in the darkness. When he blinked, the figure in the corner of the room vanished. He took a deep breath and kept moving.

Gregory jumped upon hearing something clack. But, when he spun around to face it, nothing was there.

Gregory sped up his walk, though he tried to stay as quiet as possible.

No metal doors blocked his way. He crossed over a metal grate and into a hallway. Across from the empty doorway was another that led into a small security room. Strangely, the opposite door was shut with a few boxes piled on it.

He shook off another illusion of the pale figure and turned on his light. Upon murdering the darkness in the small space where the flashlight's glow bounced off metal surfaces, his heart slowed down and he pushed down the paranoia of seeing the pale creature. He knew what it was, and he knew she wasn't there. He managed to escape her. He was just seeing things.

Gregory looked over the desk and found the Freddy head security card holder.

He touched the nose.

After a slow, long opening, the badge holder reached its apex and Gregory took the badge.

An alarm went off. The computer monitor meekly flickered on in some sort of power saving mode. The door shut.

Chica slammed into the door. "I know you're here!" she called. Her voice turned sweet. "Who wants candy?"

After Sun's attempt to get him to eat, he couldn't even think about candy the same way again.

Gregory raised his Fazwatch. "Freddy, are you there? I'm trapped! Chica found me and there's only one security door!"

"How unfortunate," said Freddy, his voice dragging a little. His voice perked back up, "But I have good news: it looks like you can access the Fazbear online pizza delivery system through that console!"

Gregory recoiled. "What? How is that supposed to help?

"Chica loves pizza!" Freddy answered cheerfully.

Gregory pressed the button in front of the monitor.

Immediately, the computer greeted him. "Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex Quick Delivery Virtual ordering system." Say that ten times fast. "It seems you have qualified to upgrade to a supreme. Additional charges may apply."

The screen became a camera. After a few moments, the camera flickered on. The screen, now flanked by blue grids with an objective marker at the top left, turned on as well. Though darkness enveloped the kitchen, the bot's vision was much lighter, almost as if deep shadow didn't exist for it. The HUD of the S.T.A.F.F. bot took up quite a bit of space, but he could still see through it. A flat circle of dough sat in the bottom of the screen as the bot held it. "You are now in control of one of our highly qualified pizza-making S.T.A.F.F. bots. Follow the instructions on the left side of your screen to force the bot to make your perfect mouth-watering pizza."

The S.T.A.F.F. bot stated, "Let's start with the sauce."

Gregory controlled the bot around the kitchen looking for the sauce machine. He stole a quick glance at the security door. The battery life drained way too fast for his liking. Technically, any draining was too much for his liking, but this fast?! He found the sauce machine and selected it. Chunky, thick sauce spattered over the half-crumbled dough the pizza bot held.

"It is now time for some cheese. Yum."

Commanding himself not to follow the urge to yell at the bot to go faster, he obeyed the directions and looked for cheese. That machine wasn't too far away, thankfully.

Chica called from the door, "Don't worry, you're safe with me."

Like heck I am!

The computer bot suddenly chipped in, "Would you like to take a short survey about your experience?

Another few seconds were spent dispensing shredded green and yellow cheese on the pizza before the bot picked it up again.

"Let's get some delicious meat."

Chica offered, "Let me take you to your parents."

Gregory turned the bot around and searched the metal maze of tables and kitchenware until he found a machine labeled "MEAT" which the S.T.A.F.F. bot used as it put down the pizza. Another few seconds passed as what looked like withered pepperoni sprinkled over the pizza.

"Now it is time for the 'not meat' stuff."

Chica said, "Your family is looking for you."

Gregory sent another nervous glance at the quickly draining door power but kept most of his attention–and then all of it once the bot picked up the pizza–on the screen. The "NOT MEAT" machine stood further in.

"Gregory…" Chica called.

What looked like spam rained down on the pizza. Weirdly, these didn't look half bad. What was it made out of? Plastic?

The bot picked it up. "Time to bake. An oven would be ideal."

The boy pushed the bot onward in search of the oven and stopped upon finding it. The oven slowly opened, accepted the pizza, and then slowly shut. The button didn't take long to press, but that was probably because the oven took its time to cook. Strangely, when the pizza came out, it came out already wrapped in a pizza box with a smiling Freddy face on it.

The computer congratulated, "Delicious! To ensure a safe and timely delivery, our cutting-edge Pizza Tracker allows you to deliver the pizza to your own home or residence. Additional mileage charges may apply."

The banging stopped.

Gregory looked up at the nearly dead battery by the door and then the screen. The S.T.A.F.F. bot turned on its own. Chica now stood beside it. She grabbed the bot, cried "Pizza!" and lunged at the bot's camera, which immediately went to static.

The computer bot went on cheerfully, "Your pizza has been delivered. How would you rate your service? Pick two that apply."

Gregory stepped back. The computer said one more thing before the computer monitor flickered off. The door opened on its own.

He snuck out into the hall and peered out over the catwalk into the kitchen below. Chica ended the bot's struggling.

He turned his back on her and walked through the red and blue door just a few steps away leading down a staircase. Once he was out of sight of the kitchen, he turned his flashlight back on. He paused at the bottom and looked up and down the cluttered hall. To his right, flanking the staircase, was a hall leading to a set of giant double doors back into the kitchen. "EXIT TO DOCKS" was printed above it. Another pair of locked double doors sat behind him opposite of the branching hall.

After a quick breath, he decided to go left rather than into the kitchen.

The cluttered hall grew more cluttered. He passed by an old forklift through a single door leading into the kitchen. Further into the kitchen, a locked blue metal door flanked his right while the double doors at the end also barred his exit.

Gregory hissed to himself and peered through a walkway in the maze of metal cooking appliances. Chica knelt on the ground and tore into a pizza above the pizza bot's body.

Welp. I'm dead.

Gregory edged around the kitchen so that her back was mostly turned to him. Although she would probably be able to see him from the corner of his eye standing in the open in front of the double doors leading back to the security room, she didn't move. Instead, she continued to work on the dwindling amount of pizza in the box.

He hunched over and slunk through the walkway, staying as close to the right wall of machinery as he could. He passed by a food compactor on the way but didn't even glance inside.

Gregory gagged at the smell she gave off.

With Chica's back to him, Gregory opened one of the double doors at the end of the hall just enough to slip through. The door shut behind him with barely a whisper.

The hall led into a cavernous room filled with storage and forklifts. At the end of the room in the brick wall was a metal door. "EXIT" in once-glowing green letters stared at him. Gregory fought back the desire to cheer and ran to the door.

Click.

Gregory raised his Fazwatch. "I found the loading dock, but there's nothing here. There are some big garage doors, but the door won't open."

"Do you see a set of controls?" Freddy prompted.

Gregory looked back. He spotted a desk with a pedestal next to it and approached. "I think so. There's a funny locked box with a badge on it."

"Those are the loading dock controls." Freddy's voice took a sudden, serious turn. "Something is not right. Someone must have changed the permissions. You are going to need a much higher security level to get out that way. Come back to me right away."

"You got it." Gregory flashed a look around. He decided to run off to the right. The metal security door he got to strangely stayed down. He looked it over and set his hand to the chilly metal. He swiped his card over the door and beside it.

It let out a warbled buzz.

Gregory sighed and turned back the way he came. With another look around to be sure he wasn't missing anything, he ran back. Another forklift and more giant boxes cluttered the space. A chain link fence barred him from going any further left of the bathroom door he now approached.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Gregory turned off the light and hid behind the forklift.

Chica stepped out into the room, her glowing eyes visible in the dark but illuminating nothing past the plastic eyeholes in her face plate. Her head swiveled back and forth. "Come out, come out, wherever you are~!" she cooed. Chica stopped before the bathroom door, sent one last look around the room, and pushed her way inside.

Gregory slunk up to the door. Once he counted three seconds of silence, he walked straight into a locker room. He crept down the aisle past the sinks and open stalls and stopped. He just spotted Chica walking into the door nearest him on the wall just past a laundry basket.

Gregory took the other door.

Rather than toilets and sinks, he stumbled across shower cells. He hurried to get through the winding, tiled hallways lined with lockers and metal racks of toiletries and towels. Eventually, her acrid stench eased so he turned on his flashlight. He passed the occasional laundry basket and a weirdly placed stack of empty paint cans. His light bounced off the dusty tile and metal and plastic.

The tile ended as he emerged into a cement room filled with shelving units. Across the room, he spotted an empty doorway leading to a white-tiled room with a doorway filled with long rubber strips rather than an actual door.

Dead S.T.A.F.F. bots littered the floor. Some had hats, most had mops. There had to be a dozen of them! How many human staff had been here if there were so many bots?

Well, not his problem. Unless they weren't out of battery and were just hibernating and waiting for someone to approach like Freddy. If so, that would be a problem. He could be sneaking out somewhere and accidentally activate one of them. Chica would definitely know where he was, then!

Gregory tottered on his feet before slinking up to one with a mop. He nudged its head with his foot and hopped back.

The mop bot stayed laying face-down on the floor.

Gregory relaxed a little and then went to the nearest one with a security cap and waved his hand in front of it.

The thing stared uselessly at a shelving unit next to them.

Confident, Gregory got up and walked to the first metal door with a green "EXIT" sign above it.

Click.

Undeterred, he tried another… and another… and a fourth? Why were they all locked? Shouldn't exit doors be left open? Wasn't that a fire hazard or something?

Finally, he spotted a gap between two washing machines in the wall of washing machines. With a heavy groan, he stalked through the gap and down the thin hall that took a sudden corner. After passing a miniature bathroom, he came across a turn. Another one of those S.T.A.F.F. bots with orange paint lay on the ground. Map bot lay with its head cocked in Gregory's direction.

He leaned down to pull out one of the maps from the bot's fanny pack.

Gregory screamed upon feeling a hand on his shoulder.

"Gotcha!"

A bright, white light glared in his eyes. Gregory reflexively swung his flashlight. A yelp and a swear came in response and the gloveless hand released him.

The boy darted down the hall the "security guard" occupied. He quickly came across a door leading into a wide room filled with shelving units.

Exhaustion nipped at his legs, but her calls behind him and a light not his own flashing across his path kept him running and taking corners as fast as his legs could go.

He slammed the exit door behind him and dove behind the nearest cardboard box.

The door swung open, and the lady ran straight past him into the second storage area. How many storage areas did a creepy mall basement need?

He slipped through the still open door and crept back in the way he came.

Once he got to the hallway leading back to the laundry room, he stopped. "Freddy?" he asked his Fazwatch. "I think I'm lost. And I just ran into that lady again."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I lost her."

"That is good. Are you in the first-floor basement near the kitchen area?"

"Yeah! Well, I'm by the laundry room, now. This looks like one of the utility tunnels, but there's this big chain link fence blocking it."

"Hmm. Can you get through any of the doors?"

"No. I guess I don't have security clearance or something."

"Oh. I can see you. It is difficult, but I think you may have picked up a security map when you picked up your badge?"

"That would make sense, I guess. I kind of just activated the whole thing when I took it."

"Good. Wait there. I will come find you."