Greeting: Rachel and her friends have reached a base of some sorts. What will she get herself into now? Read on to find out.
( Rachel's crew and the Smiths. Around 90 miles from Freddy Fazbear's)
They were above the pit, up on the hill. Both vehicles had stopped and were out of sight. No one would notice them.
Everyone was too focused on what was happening below.
" Jesus Christ. Bless me, oh lord", Nick whispered.
Then, to everyone's surprise, he also asked Allah to bless him. He did the same for every god he knew. He started from Jesus and went all the way to Zeus.
The sight was beyond descriptions.
It could be described but that would never reveal the shock that it awakened in everyone.
The atmosphere, within the bus, was tense and the children stayed still as requested.
The animatronics were very glad that the kids hadn't seen what they were seeing.
In the jeep, Rachel thought that was what the Nazi camps might have looked like back in the Second World War.
She, and everyone else, saw cages. Tons of them.
The pit had different levels to it. The slopes, leading down to the pit, formed stairs that met on the bottom.
Some cages, on the higher levels, were empty but not for long.
" The monsters aren't planning on leaving them there", Rachel thought by herself in the jeep.
Without a doubt, everybody else was thinking about the same thing. That was why they had stopped the kids from looking out.
They knew what those cages were for. Closer to the bottom, the cages were shaking as tiny hands were hitting the bars.
Every single one of those hands belonged to a child.
The cages were full of kids. So much agony and crying. Most were hungry and in pain. It must have been even worse up close.
Monsters were circling the cages and sitting on top of them. There was growling, accompanied by inhuman noises and laughter.
The kids were scared and crying. Some had blocked their ears so the noises would stop.
They were on the last stage of becoming something other than a human. Every time, a child turned into a monster, it was let out of the cage.
There were animatronics in there as well, which Rachel noticed by looking hard enough.
In one of the cages, the tension was rough. An animatronic hyena was comforting the kids. His younger brother was there as well, promising that they would be fine.
" We will make it out, kiddos. We are here, we would never let you get hurt", the younger hyena told a boy.
Their pizzeria was gone but the kids were still with them. Some girl closed her eyes.
" I can't listen to it. Why can't the crying stop? I want out! It hurts", she pleaded.
There was a monster on top of the cage.
" She needs to get out! Help her! Can't you hear her cry?", the older hyena begged the monster.
" Shut up or I'll shut you up! I'm watching the game", it snapped at the hyena.
The pit was horrible. The hyenas tried to get the girl to quiet down but it was impossible. The girl wasn't going to be a human for long.
She had already lost her tiny, innocent mind.
The monsters cheered as the game ended. It was time for another round.
The cage was opened up and a monster pulled both of the hyenas out.
" No! No!", the hyenas were still reaching out for the girl.
The monster put them to the ground.
" Let us back in! She needs us", the older hyena begged.
The beast with red eyes looked at him and then at the girl. The girl had fallen to the ground and the others were staying away.
For a second, the beast had some sort of emotions.
" You love her, don't you? More than anything", the beast asked him.
" Yes! Right now, she needs me", the hyena was panicking.
He tried to go back in but the beast stopped him.
" How about your brother? Do you love him more?", the beast asked him suddenly.
The hyena looked at his young brother.
" No", the brother whispered.
Then the beast picked them up.
" Let's go find out", it said in a creepy tone.
The beast explained the rules to the hyenas as the monsters cheered.
" Game! Game! Game!", they repeated.
Both hyenas were shocked but they had no other choice.
" Fail and you'll find out how frail child bones really are", warned the beast and bit the air loudly.
The kids, in the cage, watched as the hyenas were taken to the bottom. The beast threw them in.
The bottom was lit up like an arena for that is what it was.
" What are they doing to those animatronics?", Ray asked in the bus.
" It's a fight", Doug said, frightened.
The pit itself had a flat sand floor. There was oil on the ground and pieces of animatronics. The hyenas were there, on the sand, wondering what to do.
They were given baseball bats with spikes.
" Brother. We can't do it", the younger hyena was in tears.
His brother had a mean expression on his face.
" You can't but I can. One of us lives. I'll hug Margaret for you", the older hyena shook his head.
" What?", the young hyena asked in shock as his brother attacked him.
The kids were crying and screaming as the monsters cheered.
" Boring! More oil!", the creatures demanded.
The older hyena hit his brother in the face, which left a painful mark.
The young hyena protected himself against the attacks and fought with might. But he was slow and unwilling to fight.
The older hyena wanted to see the kids live.
Meanwhile, Rachel jumped out of the jeep and ran towards the pit.
" What is she doing?", Ray asked himself and ran out too.
Milla got to Rachel before that.
" Stop, Rachel. You can't help them. That hyena is dead", she told the bunny.
Ray and Milla prevented Rachel from going in.
The young hyena screamed as his chest was hit. The other one loved his brother but the kids came first.
The children watched as their friends, who had always been funny and kind, were killing each other.
The older hyena was going to win. He hit his brother to the ground and mangled his face.
The younger hyena kicked his brother in the face and jumped up.
" I'm sorry", he told his brother.
The monsters were silent, that was tense. The younger hyena acted on self-preservation when he cut his dear brother.
The spikes went deep and oil burst out of the wounds. The younger hyena hit him in the back of the head and the bat got stuck.
The young brother was cruel when he grabbed his brother by the head and twisted it. The older hyena's neck broke and oil burst out of him.
He died with a growl, coming out of his mouth.
" No!", the younger hyena fell to the ground in grief.
The beast came to take him back to his own cage. Two monsters took the corpse and dragged it away.
The hyena returned to the children as a murderer. He had just killed his big brother and the kids had seen it all.
They stayed away from the animatronic who buried his face into his hands. Those kids were not far away from becoming monsters.
The watchers, on the hill, were horrified.
" Monstrous. They are so cruel. We have to help those poor kids", Rachel told Milla.
Ray sighed at that, he hadn't expected anything less.
" Are you nuts, Rachel girl? You have already escaped enough nightmares. Isn't that already too much?", Milla's eyes were wide.
Fritz had opened the window and peeked out.
" It's the animatronic instinct. They can't fight it. They deny it, they deny themselves", he told his shocked daughter.
Milla rolled her eyes and glanced at Ray.
" I want to go too. But it's a suicide", the raccoon told her.
" Only if we get caught. I just want to have a look around. We may find something useful", Rachel replied to him.
Ray raised his eyebrows. Rachel was trying to make herself sound smart and logical.
Truly, she couldn't go by without trying.
" I guess we can go but it will end in another close-call escape", Milla told Rachel who nodded.
" I suggest that we go to Freddy's and get help. They can help us fight this army", she added.
Rachel looked at Milla and realized that it made sense.
" Let's have a look anyway", she gave up on sounding rational.
Ray went to tell Nick about their plan.
" I know I can't stop you", Nick responded.
One kid wanted to come with them but Ray forbid it strictly. No kid could die due to the animatronics' instinct to help those in need.
Doug promised to take care of the kids and Ray thanked him.
It would only be Milla, Rachel and Ray that time.
Doug was more reasonable than Rachel. He focused on protecting the kids that he could protect.
Ray also took the sword with him.
Rachel and Milla waited for Ray to come back and then they started descending. Ray gave the sword to Rachel who put it into a sheath, on her hip.
They went further and further in.
" Rachel is going to get us all killed. She is insane", Milla shook her head, looking at the pit.
" Perhaps but she can't help it. And neither can I. I must help her. She is my friend", Ray told her.
" Oh. You are soft after all", Milla teased Ray a bit.
" Yes. I'm just staying strong so the kids would have someone to trust with their lives", replied Ray.
" They would trust you anyway but whatever", Milla corrected but let it be.
To be honest, Ray felt the same thing as Rachel. There was nothing supernatural about that feeling. They had to go check it out.
They were soft animatronics, not used to leaving someone behind.
They had to check the pit to satisfy their need. The only thing why Doug didn't come was that he trusted his friends to do the job.
Milla cringed after hearing a stone slip from underneath Rachel's foot.
Luckily, the monsters cheered just then. It was unlikely that they would be seen but Milla was paranoid.
The lack of guards showed Milla that the monsters weren't suppose to watch the game. The whole show was for the kids.
The monsters terrified and forced the kids to witness their beloved friends kill each other.
That was the whole point of the game. They were turning kids into monsters.
The monsters enjoyed the game anyway. It was rather funny to Milla. They were like guards, watching hockey during their night shift.
Rachel got lower one level at a time. She kept her eyes peeled and moved slowly.
They were almost on the level, above the first kid-filled cages.
" Have you seen enough, guys?", asked Milla.
" One more level", Rachel demanded.
Suddenly, a monster, below, looked up at them. All three hid quickly. The monster had heard her.
" I swear I heard something", it muttered.
It was about to alarm the others when Milla appeared next to it.
" You didn't see nor hear anything", she told it and stabbed its neck.
The monster died instantly.
The kids, in the cages beside, didn't react. Rachel and Ray got down quickly.
" That was close", Milla put the corpse down gently.
There were no other monsters on that level. It was weird. That level had cages on it but the level, below, was empty.
Then the levels, filled with monsters, started.
That was as low as Rachel was going. There were kids in cages and some empty ones too.
If only Rachel could snatch one or two of them.
She went beside the cage, to the side away from the pit, and looked at the kids.
" Hello. Can you hear me?", Rachel asked them.
The kids' eyes were wide and they appeared to be insane. Rachel realized that those kids would die soon.
" Are you a ghost? Am I in Heaven now?", one boy asked her in a soft voice.
Then Rachel realized what that level was about.
" I think they have gone crazy. They were incapable of becoming monsters", Ray got it too.
Rachel watched as the boy, without waiting for an answer, looked at the ground again.
If a child didn't become a monster, they were thrown there. Guess some people were too pure for the beasts and the dead.
Rachel was sad for the boy and the others. They were beyond fixing.
Those kids were dead either way. Most of them were skinny and starving.
One was holding a sandwich in her hand. The kids didn't react to anything, they didn't eat. It was a real nightmare.
" This place needs to be burned down. Freddy and I will come back here", Rachel promised herself.
" I will come back to you and save you", Rachel said to the children, in the cage.
Needless to say, the kids didn't possibly even hear it. She guessed that the other cages, on that level, had crazy kids in them as well.
Rachel was so sad that she had found nothing. There was no one to save.
" We came here for nothing. I'm sorry, guys", Rachel fell to her knees.
Ray looked at her sadly but then something got his attention. There was something strange on their left side.
They would have to move clockwise to go to it. Milla and Rachel hadn't noticed it but Ray did.
" Do not get depressed yet. You see that?", Ray got Rachel's attention.
He pointed at it and both Rachel and Milla looked in that direction.
"Is that an animatronic? It could be", Milla peered ahead.
" They're not in a cage. It seems dangerous", Rachel shook her head.
" Well, it's not one of them. It's doing something and it's moving slowly", Ray pointed out.
" Are you sure you want to go?", Milla asked Ray.
" No", Ray shook his head.
" And you, Rachel?", Milla glanced at her.
Rachel shook her head nervously.
Milla nodded.
" Me neither. Let's do it", she let out a sigh.
Rachel and Ray glanced at each other in confusion. Milla snuck towards the animatronic as Rachel and Ray shrugged at one another and followed her.
They stayed quiet and looked at the monsters, below.
There was a kangaroo and a wolf on the arena now. They were fighting with axes.
The kangaroo's ears were gone and she cried in pain. The monsters were waiting for the final strike.
The wolf was winning.
Rachel kept her eyes forward after it got too hard to watch.
The lonely animatronic was cleaning up a cage. They seemed beaten and defeated both physically and mentally.
Rachel got ahead of Milla and looked back at her.
" I want to be the first one to speak to him. You look like a child murderer, sorry to say. Don't want to terrify the poor thing", she told Milla.
Milla rolled her eyes and snorted.
They came to the empty cages and the animatronic kept on doing their thing. It looked like a wolf.
" Hello", Rachel greeted silently.
The wolf didn't answer at first. Were they deaf?
" Go away", the male voice told them.
He had noticed them but didn't care.
" Soon but we wish you'd come with us. I'm Rachel and these are my friends. We are no ghosts. We have come to get you out of here", she told the wolf.
" Get me out? You're wasting your time. I'm already as low as I can be", the wolf said rudely.
" But we can..", Rachel started.
" Go. Away", the wolf insisted.
" You better listen. He has done bad things", a female voice told Rachel.
She turned around and saw a bunny, like her. There was a pink bunny in a cage, behind Rachel.
She had been so silent that all three had missed her completely.
" I'm sorry. We have a way out. We only wish to help", Rachel apologized to the bunny.
" It's okay. But you must leave. This is no place for tender souls. We are here to be punished. This is our purgatory", the pink bunny's ears drooped.
The wolf chuckled.
" They won't leave, you pink bunny", he told the bunny.
" That is not my name", the bunny told him.
" I'm sorry. It's Carrie now. To me, you'll be the same pink bunny as always. You're the slave, not me", the wolf said mockingly.
" The pink bunny? The Grayson hill pink bunny?", Milla realized it just then.
" Yes. But now I'm Carrie. My dead friend lives through me now. I adopted her name to honor her. She was sweet and now she's gone", Carrie's ears drooped.
" Sweet words. She was a crazy slut. Don't be sad for her, Rachel or whatever you were", the wolf replied mockingly.
Rachel didn't know what to think. They had found some of Freddy's old buddies..again.
Carrie grinned at the wolf.
" You dare talk about her like that. I saw you and your friends kick her when she was losing her mind. You want me to tell Rachel here what you have done?
What you are?", Carrie was angry.
The wolf chuckled and turned around to look at them, it didn't matter to him.
" Well I know who he is", Milla got mad suddenly.
She drew her sword. Carrie's words had woken something in Milla. She recognized the wolf now that she saw his face.
" Whatever he did doesn't matter. We should rescue both of them and get out of here", Rachel told her.
" You would rescue him? Doesn't that ugly smile reveal it. He's the one everyone's been talking about", Milla grinned.
" I'm beyond flattered", the wolf said joylessly.
" I must say. You look terrible, Okami. But it gives me pleasure to see you like this. An Elder doing slave's work", Milla told Okami.
Rachel recognized the name and so did Ray. When it had come to the escaped animatronics, the news hadn't shut up about Okami.
Rachel had expected someone bigger and more violent.
Okami was torn up and exhausted after the hard work he had done.
" You are him. She's right. I would never rescue you", Rachel was shocked and disgusted.
" Good. I would never let someone like you rescue me. I'm already betrayed and left for dead.
Being saved by weaklings like you is the only thing that can be humiliating anymore", he grinned at her.
After their victory, Milla wondered how Okami could still call them weaklings.
" You can only blame yourself", Milla told him.
" You could have chosen the same side as Luna, Scarlett, Storm and Eclipse, to name a few. This is your purgatory", she added.
Milla already had her sword out but she pointed the blade at Okami.
Rachel looked at Carrie.
" Milla's right. But it's not your purgatory, Carrie. We are going to Freddy's. Come with us", Rachel pleaded, staring into her eyes.
" They'll soon be dead as will you", Okami commented.
" Shut up", Milla put the blade onto his throat.
Rachel ignored that.
" You don't have to be here", Rachel told Carrie whose ears drooped.
" I can't go there. I killed a man. Jennifer Summers will be there and I can't forgive myself. I could have gone with her but I didn't", Carrie weeped silently.
" You can't live here. You're a slave. He deserves it but you don't. You're innocent", Rachel talked some sense into her.
" You don't know what I have done. I have killed kids just like him. I was a warrior once. I was with them", Carrie looked deep into Rachel's eyes.
Rachel glanced at Milla who nodded, it was true.
Rachel started to think about herself and the night guard. She had done bad things but did she deserve to be a slave.
She knew how Carrie felt, easily.
" Did you know what you were doing? Did you do it by yourself or did they manipulate you in some way?", Rachel asked seriously.
Carrie fell silent.
" If so, you are not responsible for doing those things. We all make mistakes, some worse mistakes than others.
The world is ending and we have a bus, full of children. You can help us protect them, Carrie", Rachel appealed to Carrie's sweet side.
It worked in some way. Carrie had changed her name and the world was at an end. She could start a new life.
Fate had offered her a second chance to go to Freddy's.
It was a sign from somebody.
The only question was if she was able to forgive herself. It always came to that.
Can you forgive yourself?
Forgiving someone is hard but it's harder when that someone is you. Carrie thought about it.
Was she able to let go of her bad past and forgive herself?
Farewell: I brought the pink bunny and Okami back. This scene has been in my mind for a long time.
The pink bunny is now named Carrie who was the insane fox earlier in this Act.
See you in the next chapter and: THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE IS TO WRITE.
