Chapter 8 - The Starving Chicken
TW: Descriptions of violence. Blood.
They made their way to the service elevators located in the upper area of Parts And Services. They walked through the door with Roxy's symbol on it and entered her service elevator. Jack pressed a button and the elevator began to move, it was quite a small cabin, being barely able to fit both of them inside.
Silence filled the room until Jack spoke, "Alright, Chica is our target, but how do we capture her exactly?" He asked, Roxy looked up at the ceiling thinking of a plan, "Hmm... Maybe we could somehow lure her?" Jack placed a hand on his chin, considering the idea, "Yeah, It could work, Chica seems to have quite an obsession over food, maybe we could use that to lure her."
Jack noticed Roxy's expression drop a little, "Yeah... She really does have a thing for food..." she said in a strangely sad tone, which got Jack's attention. "You're okay?" He asked, Roxy looked down at him a bit surprised, "You seemed a bit sad when you said that, why?" The boy questioned again. Roxy sighed and avoided his gaze for a moment before speaking, "It's kinda hard to explain... Chica's obsession with food has always hurt her a lot, she's supposed to be a symbol of fitness you know? But her obsession goes against everything she believes. However, she's been getting very good at controlling her impulses for things like trash and pizza, and I was really proud of her for that! But now... It seems like she has completely given in to her obsessions... It hurts seeing her acting this way." She explained with sadness filling her voice, "Damn...It must be rough for her." It was all Jack could really say.
The elevator opened its doors to reveal the back storage of Roxy's room, the duo stepped out of the cabin and made their way into her room. "Back to where everything started." Said Jack while he looked around Roxanne's Room, when he was there earlier that night, he didn't have the chance to observe it in detail, so he decided to explore the room a bit while Roxy tried to fix her messy hair in front of her mirror.
"Alright, listen here kiddo." She said, turning away from the mirror to face Jack. "We need to somehow lure Chica to Rockstar Row so we can bring her to Parts and Services, and there is nothing in this world that Chica loves more than pizza." Jack placed a hand on his chin, "So you want to lure her with pizza? I guess it could work.", Roxy's eyes flashed blue for a moment and Jack felt his FazWatch buzz. "So here's the plan, I pinpointed the location of the kitchen on your FazWatch, all you gotta do is go there and bring some pizza to lure Chica, so then I can knock her out, got it, kid?" "Sounds like a plan." "Great, I'll be waiting for you." Jack was about to leave Roxy's room but stopped midway.
"Something wrong kid?" Roxy asked, Jack turned to face her with a concerned expression, "I need to go alone?" He asked, "Yeah, I need to stay here to knock Chica out, remember?" Jack still seemed unsure, "Roxy... I-I don't think I can do this, what if I encounter Monty or Chica? Or even worse, what if I encounter Vanny?" Roxy sighed, she knelt to his eye level and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, there's no need to be scared, remember that you can call me anytime on your Fazwatch." She said pointing at the device on his wrist, "B-But what if you don't arrive on time? I can't do this without you..." She sighed and looked to the side for a moment, she had to convince him somehow, but how?
An idea suddenly popped into her mind, "Yes you can." She said, facing Jack again. "...What?" "Come on, repeat after me, I can do this." Jack raised a brow, "Huh? What are you doing-" "Come on! Just say it." The boy sighed before speaking, "I... I can do this...?" He said with an uncertain tone, Roxy rolled her eyes, "Oh please, say it louder! I can do this!" "I can do this!" He shouted, sounding a lot more confident now, "Yes! Yes, you can! Do I need to remind you how far you've come? You survived so much, you're very brave Jack, getting a little pizza shouldn't be a problem for you, right champ?" Jack's expression lit up with determination, her pep talk seems to be working, "You're right! I can do this!" He said with confidence, which warmed her heart, "That's right kiddo, now go out there and make me proud." She was about to stand up, but a sudden action from Jack surprised her, he quickly wrapped his arms around her and gave her a quick hug, "Thanks, Roxy." The hug was quick, giving her no reaction time, he quickly rushed out of the room.
Roxy simply stood there surprised, of course, she had been hugged by customers countless times in the past, but something about his hug felt... special. If she was capable of it, she'd be blushing red right now. She finally stood up from her previous knelt position, "Be safe, Jack."
Following the map on his Fazwatch, Jack was on his way back to the Main Atrium, the kitchen seemed to be located in a place called "Salads & Sides". While on his way, Jack made sure to be 100% alert at all times, any little noise was already enough to make him flinch, 'It's funny how defenseless I feel when I'm alone...'
After walking for a while, he finally made it past a gate into the atrium, now he only had to find Salads & Sides, but right after walking into the atrium, the boy heard two familiar voices calling from him in the distance. "Come on out! We are only trying to help!" Shouted Monty, "Your family is worried about you!" Called Chica, 'It seems like I'm not alone here... I can do this.''
He sneaked his way through the atrium, following the directions on his Fazwatch while also making sure to stay away from Chica and Monty, after a while of searching, he finally spotted Salads & Sides, 'There it is!' He thought to himself while he quickly rushed to the place. Upon arriving at the establishment's entrance, he walked through an automatic door into what seemed to be a storage area, due to the darkness of the place, he quickly reached for his flashlight on his backpack and turned it on, he observed the boxes on the shelves for a moment before getting on his tracks again, 'Now let's find this kitchen.'
Meanwhile in Rockstar Row...
Roxanne was pacing anxiously around her room while she nervously hugged herself, 'Is he okay? I shouldn't have let him go alone, should I? What if he hurt himself or even worse?!' Her anxiety grew even more, 'No... I shouldn't be worried, he is capable of handling himself, he'll be fine.' She sat on her couch, a bit exhausted from all that pacing around the room.
Then, another thought popped into her mind... 'Freddy... Where the hell is he?' After Freddy's accident during the performance, he was put on low power and demanded to rest for the night. Is he still in his room? Could he be not affected by the virus, like Roxanne herself? With all those questions in mind, she stepped out of her room to check up on her bear friend.
Upon arriving in his room, she noticed that the curtains were closed so she couldn't peek inside. She walked to the entrance of his room and knocked on the door, "Freddy? Freddy, are you in there?" She asked, but received no response. Being tired of waiting, she opened the door and walked into his room, only to find out it was empty. 'Weird... He isn't here, so he should be hunting Jack like the others right? But we haven't encountered him all night, something is wrong...' She was about to leave the room as confused as she entered, but a strange noise coming from the back storage of Freddy's room made her stop in her tracks. "What is that sound? It sounds like... Static?" She said to herself as she slowly approached the door that led to the back storage, the sound becoming louder as she did so.
The automatic door opened and she stepped inside the room, looking for the source of the sound. Following the static noise, she found an old television laying in the corner of the room. The screen displayed a strange purple-ish static, 'What the fuck is this?', she thought to herself as she approached the television, and after getting close enough to it, the screen glitched and a very familiar face appeared on it... Vanny.
"Hello there Roxanne~" She said with her usual teasing tone, Roxy gasped at the sudden appearance of Vanny, "What the... What the fuck do you want?" Roxy growled, barely able to contain her anger towards the bunny, "Jeez, I know we had a rough start but... Just to let you know, my deal is still up, in the end, we are not so different... We are both thirsty for power..." "Don't you dare compare yourself to me! I swear when I get my hands on you, you will regret ever being born!" Almost as a primal instinct, Roxy flashed her claws and fangs towards Vanny, who rolled her eyes, "My God, why do you have to be so fucking stubborn!? Do you think I'm scared of your little teeth and stupid claws? Ha! You're nothing Roxanne, just a worthless and easily replaceable machine, but the only one here who is stupid enough to not realize that is yourself!"
Roxy growled even louder, "Be careful with your words little bunny, or self I won't be so gentle when I tear you apart!" Vanny laughed, "Yeah, as if you were actually able to do that, I know that beneath all that narcissism and self-praise lies an insecure little wolf who is just afraid of not being enough for others, and Jack knows that as well... He knows about your irregularities." Roxy's expression shifted to a surprised one for a moment, "W-what? What are you talking about?!" Vanny giggled some more before speaking, "Oh yes, he knows about how flawed you and your friends truly are, that's why he doesn't trust you!" Roxy shook her head, "No! You're wrong! Jack trusts me, and I'll make sure you never lay a finger on him or anyone else ever again! You'll pay for what you have done, you evil psycho!"
Vanny laughed maniacally before speaking again, the amount this woman laughed was disturbing, "Who are you calling evil? Me? I'm just trying to have some fun! Aren't you having fun? If there's anyone truly evil here... It's you, Roxanne." Roxy stared at the screen confused, "You looked so much at yourself that you forgot about the others around you, right? All those you've hurt with your harsh words, all those you've bullied to inflate your own ego, you never cared about how any of them felt because as long as you were holding the shiny golden trophy, none of that mattered, am I right? If there is anyone here who needs to pay for what they've done... It's you."
And with that said, the television turned itself off, leaving Roxy alone in that dark room, shocked by the conversation she just had.
Meanwhile, Jack had made his way to a very old-looking elevator. 'This thing seems really unsafe, but it's the only way to the kitchen.' He thought to himself as he entered the elevator and pressed a button. Upon arriving at its destination, the elevator opened its doors and Jack stepped out into another dimly lit hallway with some boxes laying around, but before he could take another step, he felt his Fazwatch buzz, he looked at it expecting a message from Roxy or something but was met with a disturbing sight of purple-ish static covering the entire screen. "What the..." He tapped the screen a few times, confused as to why it was glitching that way when suddenly, the screen glitched one more time, and Vanny's face appeared on it, making the boy jump.
"Hi again Jack, I hope you're having fun~" "Argh! You! What do you want!" Jack shouted at the watch on his wrist. The bunny giggled before speaking, "Oh, I just came to say that, even though you are a weak, stupid and motherless little brat, you're still the player that has survived the most on my game, quite impressive I must say." The boy raised a brow, "W-What? Player? What do you mean? Who were the others?... Wait... The recent cases of disappearances... A-Are you talking about the missing children!?" Vanny nodded, "Bingo!" Jack's eyes widened, "What happened to them?" he asked, uncertain if he wanted to know the answer. "Eh, they didn't last long, let's just say... They couldn't outrun the blade of my knife!" She said before falling into maniacal laughter, Jack felt his stomach twist in disgust, "Y-you sick psycho! Do you think this is funny?" Vanny's laughter slowly faded away and she nodded, "I bet you think you're really smart, I know what you are trying to do, you wanna save them thinking you can stop me, but you fail to realize that I'm in control, so you better stop Jack.. Or else you could get yourself really really hurt." With that said, the Fazwatch glitched one more time, and Vanny's face disappeared, the screen going back to normal.
Jack stood there shocked, how on earth did Vanny know that he was trying to save the animatronics? But he didn't have time to question the situation, he had to keep himself focused on his mission, so he shook his head and kept going. After walking from hallway to hallway, following the directions given on his Fazwatch, he walked past a double set of doors and finally found himself at his desired destination, the kitchen.
"Great, now I only have to somehow find pizza here." He mumbled to himself as he began searching the place. He searched the place from top to bottom, looked in all the cabinets, and still couldn't find a single hint of pizza. "This is a kitchen in a place called literally PIZZAplex! Where's the damn pizza!" He groaned in annoyance to himself, he was starting to get nervous at the lack of pizza that the kitchen had.
But after a bit more searching, he finally found something! Well, not an entire pizza, but only the dough, still better than nothing nonetheless. He took the dough and noticed some machines scattered around the kitchen which seemed to be for toppings and such, Jack had an idea, "I guess I'll have to make the pizza myself... This night keeps getting weirder and weirder."
After a long and tedious process of applying things like sauce and toppings to the pizza, Jack shoved the pizza into the oven and closed it. He placed both hands on his hips as he watched the oven impatiently, "First I was fighting for my life, now here I am making pizza..." He laughed at the absurdity of the situation. His laugh was interrupted by the oven opening itself, showing an already boxed-up pizza. 'Finally...' He thought to himself as he took the pizza box, 'Now I just need to get back to Roxy and-'
"Who wants candy!" Suddenly called Chica, who was approaching the kitchen, 'Are you kidding me?' Jack was quick and hid behind one of the kitchen counters right when Chica appeared. As Chica began searching for him, Jack made sure to control his breath to not alert her of his location and carefully sneak through the kitchen, in hopes of getting to the exit. He was almost at the kitchen's exit when...
*CLANG* Despite all his carefulness, he accidentally knocked some metallic object to the ground. He didn't have the time to see what had caused the noise, his eyes went wide open as he looked over his shoulder to see that Chica was staring at him. "There you are~" Knowing what would happen next, Jack quickly got up from his stealth position and began running, and Chica began chasing him right after.
He rushed out of the kitchen, holding the pizza box tightly, but despite his efforts of outrunning the animatronic, she had caught up to him and pushed him to the ground. Jack landed hard on the floor, he dropped the box and his glasses flew away from his face, but before he could get up and run, Chica pinned him down on the floor with her foot, making him yelp in pain. "Let me take you to your parents!" The animatronic said while she knelt on top of him, turning him around to face her.
Jack kept squirming and fighting against her grip, but his efforts were useless as he was completely pinned down to the ground by her. "Stay quiet, it'll hurt less this way." The boy ignored her and kept fighting, "Argh! Get off me! Get off me right now!-" Suddenly, he wasn't able to speak anymore, it became hard to breathe, he felt her cold fingers wrap tightly around his throat, his eyes shot open as he realized what she was doing. Chica was strangling him.
His vision began to become blurry and he felt himself slowly passing out as he stared at Chica's glowing purple eyes, glaring down at him, a sickening grin forming on her face, "Shhhh, be quiet chickpea, soon everything will end~" But things only got worse and he felt her nails start to penetrate the skin of his throat, he could feel the blood starting to run down his skin.
His vision began to become black, he could feel death staring at him in the eyes. If he didn't do anything to save himself in the next 5 or 10 seconds, he would die. But no... Jack refused to die, after everything he had gone through, he simply couldn't allow himself to die that way, he couldn't allow himself to fail like that. The will to live burning deep in his soul gave him the strength he didn't even know he had. He curled himself up and using all the strength his body would allow him to use, he kicked Chica right on the face, making her head turn 180 degrees, she instantly backed away with a yelp of pain.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" He yelled as he quickly freed himself of her grip, he picked up his glasses and the box from the ground and began running the fastest he could, without looking back. He kept running until he reached the old elevator, he quickly entered and pressed the button inside, the doors closed and it began to move.
Upon reaching a safe location, Jack dropped to his knees panting, he hugged himself shaking uncontrollably and shocked by what just had happened. "I... I almost died..." He muttered to himself, his voice was shaky and weak. He ran his fingers through his now bruised neck, his throat was still burning in pain from the strangulation and it was a little hard to breathe properly.
The experience of near-death sure was traumatizing, so much so that even Jack, the boy who has been repressing his feelings ever since the night began to keep focus, began to cry fresh tears. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Jack stood up from the ground and stepped outside, he took his glasses off for a moment and wiped his tears away with his sweater.
But before he could take another step, he felt his Fazwatch buzz, he looked at it a bit scared of it being Vanny again, but he sighed in relief when he saw it was just an incoming call from Roxy. He answered the call, "Hi Roxy." He said, trying his best to sound normal, although his voice was still weak, "Thank god you're alive! I have been trying to contact you for a long time! Are you alright kiddo?" She said, expressing true concern in her voice. Jack was about to speak but stopped himself midway, he didn't want to tell her about what happened with Chica, about how he nearly died, he didn't want to appear weak to her or incapable of handling himself, so he decided to lie. "Y-yes, I'm fine... I got the pizza, I'm going back to Rockstar Row." "Good job hotshot! I'm waiting for you." And with that said, Roxy ended the call.
Jack breathed in and out deeply, "I can't break down right now, I need to stay focused, I need to keep going..."
