Almost Feels Like Home

Chapter Six

It would've been impossible to not notice the car suddenly peeling into the parking lot. Charlie dropped down into the driver's seat as soon as she noticed that it wasn't Mike's car. It sped around the theater and disappeared behind it, to which she peered out to look. Hesitantly, she opened the car door, and started to step out. Before she could even shut the door, she started to hear what sounded like a scream, but it was cut off by the slam of a car door. Then there was silence.

None of it sounded good and all of it sounded suspicious. It was as though Charlie was becoming an unintentional witness to something horrible, and unfortunately nobody was here with her. After only a few moments of contemplating what she was going to do, Charlie started to walk towards the theater. She circled around the side closest to her car, which was the opposite side of where the car had driven but perhaps would give her a safer distance to look from. Soon she was behind the building and staring across towards the now parked car.

Other than what looked like a storage building behind the theater, the back of the theater was clearly just a place to dump garbage. There was a couple of trash cans and a few stacks of cardboard boxes that looked already saturated even though it was only sprinkling. It was also rather dark, with the only light being from an open door on the far side of the theater, which was propped open beside the parked car that had peeled in. She considered calling the police then but wanted to see what was happening first. Charlie started to walk closer to the car and noticed halfway to it that there was someone still inside.

Illuminated in a soft, green light and looking out through the windows was a little girl wearing a helmet. She looked to be scared and closer inspection revealed that she was crying.

"She's one of the victims… She's another kidnapped child!" Charlie realized in horror. Her eyes flickered back to the door and she realized that the kidnapper had to be inside. They could return at any moment. She took a deep breath and inched closer to the door. Inside she could hear running water from somewhere nearby and slowly lifted the doorstop, then inched the door closed. Once it had fully locked into place, she turned her attention to one of the nearby garbage cans, and then proceeded to slowly drag it to block the door.

The girl had noticed her by now and Charlie ran to the car to look inside. She tried the door to unlock it, but it wouldn't open from the outside, and it was evident from how the little girl was trying the locks that it had been set to not lock from the inside either. Somehow the car wouldn't unlock without the keys but getting them would be nearly impossible. She had to improvise.

All it took was a few minutes to look before Charlie found a loose brick. It would be loud, and it wouldn't necessarily be easy, but it was the best chance she had. She removed her jacket and used it to shield her hand and took a firm grip on the brick. She then headed to one of the back windows, beckoning the girl back in warning, and waited until the girl was out of the range of the possible shards. Then she turned her attention on the car window and brought down the brick onto the window. The first blow did nothing. She tried again, harder, and still nothing. A third blow felt a little closer. "Anytime would be great!"

As though listening to her pleading, the fourth blow shattered the window with cracks like spiderwebs. It took another hit to knock the glass out and the brick was then used to knock out the remaining glass from the edges. The noise had drawn attention; Charlie could hear the scooting of the garbage can behind her. It wasn't heavy, so it was only the strange angle keeping the door closed.

"Watch your step," Charlie warned as she helped the girl out. She then pushed her towards the alley. "Now run! I've got a car out front! Run!"

The girl didn't need anymore warning and sprinted past, only hesitating briefly with a cry of panic as the garbage can fell over and the man- the kidnapper- came out. His sunken eyes were transfixed on Charlie and she dully recognized him spitting venom as he rushed for her. He grabbed her arm, his grip hard enough to bruise, and attempted to overpower her. At any other time, this man might've done so, as he was surprisingly powerful in comparison to his thin, lanky appearance, but she was ready to fight back. Charlie responded by swinging out and clocking him in the side of the head with the brick.

This got the kidnapper off. He staggered back with a swear, temple bleeding, as Charlie dropped everything and sprinted after the girl. The girl was almost at the end of the alley and with Charlie sprinting as fast as she was she would soon catch up with her. She tried to mentally plan: get to the car, put in the keys, turn on, pull out, speed down the highway, and call the police once halfway to the city. All they had to do was make it there.

That was until the car suddenly came to life behind her.

"He's going to get her!" Charlie thought in a rush of panic. Her heart was racing as she started to catch up with the girl. She could already see it; he would drive right by, take the girl, and take her off to kill her. Just like he probably had done with the rest of the children. It didn't help when the girl slowed down to look back. "No! Keep running!" Charlie commanded. "Don't look back! Just get to the car!"

The car sped up with a squeal of tires against dampened asphalt. As the girl started around the corner and Charlie broke into a fevered sprint. She could hear the girl scream again in fear as the lights-.

Marionette was still on the verge of panic as Mike parked right inside the parking lot of Magictime Theater. He turned off the car and looked around the lot. "I can't see his car. Is that it, over there?" He pointed to one off in the corner and the animatronic shook his head. "No? Then he must've parked somewhere else. Maybe out back. As long as he's here."

"I don't know if he's here," Marionette admitted quietly. "…But I know she is."

They exited the car, Mike grabbed his taser, stuck it on his belt, and approached the front doors. The door was locked, but due to the glass door, Marionette could easily see and teleport through it. Once on the other side he unlocked the door and Mike opened it and let himself in. The moment the door opened, a sharp beeping started to come from an alarm panel by the door. The security guard turned towards the alarm in a panic. "That-!" He was cut off with a loud pop as the panel burst open. A low sizzling followed as the beeping fell silent. "Huh… I didn't know you knew how to bust alarms." He was moderately impressed but only mildly surprised.

"Only the old ones," Marionette remarked. He then looked around at the empty show floor. "She's not far. I can feel her bracelet nearby… Follow me." The Puppet started to lead towards the back of the room and easily maneuvered around the arcade cabinets. He came up on the stage at the back and looked upwards at the animatronics standing motionless. He recognized the characters and was somewhat relieved when he detected no life inside of them. They weren't haunted; that was fortunate. Mike moved to stand beside him and looked around at the animatronics as well.

"I know this is probably the worst time for it, but the Magic Puppet Box is over that way," Mike quipped with a point. "But I'm going to take a random guess and say that Chrissy's somewhere in the back." Marionette nodded in agreement and followed his companion as he lead towards the door into the back hallway. The light was on inside and Mike inched the door open to peer into the hallway. He couldn't hear or see anyone nearby.

Suddenly, Marionette gave a static filled gasp from behind. Without a hitch, Mike drew back into the room and closed the door slightly to shield himself. "What is it? Do you see something?"

"Oh, I see something," Marionette remarked with annoyance. "I see what is literally just an exact copy of me. My goodness, if they weren't so reluctant to make more puppets, I would expect this came right out of Freddy's!" So that was it. Mike smirked the slightest bit, realizing that the Puppet was currently glaring at the 'statue' Security Puppet instead of an actual threat. "Except it has Ennard's faceplates. Because it wasn't already terrible enough, they decided to give it unnecessary Funtime faceplates!"

"Well, at least now we know what would happen if you and Ennard had a baby. Doesn't look nearly as much like hell spawn as I would expect, but I guess he doesn't take much from his daddy," Mike added with a growing smirk that he shot back at the unenthused animatronic. Marionette passed by him and sent him a slight look of annoyance.

"I love that you assume I'm the mother," Marionette murmured back. He then approached the office door and stopped, laying a single hand against it. "…She's this way. She must be inside this room." Without fully checking, he opened the door and rushed into the office, but found nothing inside. The Puppet scanned the room and moved towards the back. Only now did he realize that the bracelet's pulse went further past the room.

"That woman could be in on this too," Mike pointed out. He yanked open the top desk drawer and started to search through. "There's got to be something here… Where are you going?" He looked up as the Puppet turned and started to hurry back out of the office. The security guard followed even with a delay on an answer. "What's going on?"

"She's outside." Marionette passed by the Security Puppet again and headed towards the front door. "She has to be. She was just past that wall."

"What would she be doing-?" Actually, no; Mike didn't want that question answered. He tried again, "Maybe there's a storage shed or garage out back that he's keeping the kids in. It would make sense if he's gathering them up." Better; that implied that they were alive and could still be rescued. They stepped back outside, and Mike followed Marionette around the corner of the theater. He tried to keep believing that they were about to find her, even as the animatronic with his looked only more frantic.

As he got closer, Marionette could feel the pulse of the bracelet grow. "Chrissy?" he called, unworried if he would be heard by someone else. Rain pelted against and dripped down his mask as he hovered faster. Mike was falling a little behind to keep watch, but the Puppet was unstoppable as he went around another corner and was behind the dark theater. The first thing that hit him was the soft smell of copper. He recognized that grizzly scent and his internal music box tightened inside. The panic was starting to grow as his gaze fell on the dull green light from the abandoned bracelet laying on the concrete.

It had fallen off Chrissy's wrist; there had been a struggle of some kind. He feared raising his head and seeing what lay beyond, because he knew something terrible was waiting for him. Like the bracelet reeled him in, he could feel that something terrible was waiting beyond him. He started to slowly follow the concrete further behind the theater.

"What's that smell?" Mike muttered as he came around the corner hesitantly. It was fainter for him, but the smell was obvious that even he could smell it. "That can't be blood." But it was and they both knew it.

Marionette looked further down past the garbage and boxes to see something laying on the ground only feet away. He could see the deep crimson pooling on the ground as he slowly moved in. The rain couldn't wash away the redness, there was too much, and the smell was becoming overwhelming. It became clear that that the figure on the ground was a body, lying in a mix of fluid and laying alongside the garbage cans. As he got closer he could hear the raspy breaths as it struggled to choke in oxygen through a broken body. It was only barely alive and was fading fast as she bled out onto the concrete.

Marionette hovered over them and stared at his worst fears. He was frozen in place, unable to even react, as he recognized who it was who had been left to die.

It was Charlie.

As the Puppet was standing there motionless, it wasn't long before Mike came to see what he was staring at, and soon saw her as well. He couldn't comprehend how she was here or how she could be so injured. Unlike the striped one, the human was able to recover enough to rush to her side and dropped beside her.

"Charlie?! Charlie, what- what are you doing here?!" He didn't expect an answer once he got a better look at her. She was turned at a strange angle and her limbs didn't look positioned correctly. He had his hands poised over her but withheld from touching her, afraid that he would break something else. "Oh God, you're bleeding everywhere." He just absentmindedly babbled as he tried to figure out what to do. It was only once he looked around and saw seeing tipped trashcans and skid marks on the asphalt that he realized what happened. "She was hit. I can't believe this. It was a car. Somebody hit her."

Marionette snapped out of his idle state and dropped to the cement. He crawled up to the opposite side of her and looking down at her face, which was partially obscured by her hair. "Ch-rlie," his voice sputtered. She was still struggling to breathe, and her eyes were wide open, but they were too out of focus to look at him. He could hear the blood in her lungs just from her rattling breaths and knew she was struggling. He reached out to ghost his fingers over her cheek. "Still -live."

"She won't be for long if we don't do something," Mike said. He frantically yanked off his jacket and draped it over her to block the rain. Then he felt over his pockets and found his phone missing. "Damn it! I left my phone in the car somewhere, or Foxy's- the one time I actually need the thing-!"

Marionette made a strange sort of noise. A low humming vibrated in his chest as he stared down at Charlie with a dim glow in his eyes. He seemed to be back in an unmoving state as he looked down at her.

"Mari..." Mike reached out and put his hand on his shoulder to almost shake him to life. "There's a phone in the office. Go call an ambulance. I'll stay with Charlie." The Puppet didn't move and didn't look away from Charlie. "Marionette," Mike said more firmly, shaking the striped one a bit harder. He kept his voice even to get through to him. "She's still alive. We can still save her. Please, you have to do it."

Marionette finally looked up to Mike. He stared at him blankly for a moment, still humming in his chest, and took in what the man was saying. Pinprick dots darted around as he processed everything that was told to him. Then, without a word, he rose and slowly started to head back around the corner of the building. On the outside he was silent, stoic, and seemed to be too shocked to react beyond going through the motions. On the inside, Marionette was overwhelmed in nothing but sound. Pounding, creaking, static and booming commands pulsing in his mind. Voiceless words commanded him along and reminded him what he needed to do as he went through the motions that he had before.

He entered the arcade as though he was on strings and crossed to the stage. His gaze only briefly went over them before it fell onto something else. The pounding inside grew more intense as he saw what he needed.

Mike had been waiting at Charlie's side, but was becoming concerned at how long it was taking Marionette. He had checked her wrist for a pulse without moving the arm and could feel how faint her pulse was. She was bleeding out, but he couldn't even begin to stem the flow. Even if he tried he only expected that moving her would risk internal injuries. Instead, he moved her hair out of her face and gently pet her head to comfort her.

"The paramedics are going to be here any minute," Mike assured her. "My friend Scott was in a full body suit accident, bled out everywhere, and lived. And he lived with nobody knowing how those suits worked! This happens all the time, trust me. They'll get you all cleaned up and drugged up, and you'll be gold." He hoped that the comforts would assure her and help her hang on a few moments longer, and he only stopped when he heard something nearby. He looked over to see Marionette coming back, but something was amiss.

The Puppet was dragging something in its arms. Mike was completely baffled when he realized it was the knock-off puppet animatronic, limp in his grasp, its arms and legs trailing on the concrete.

"What's going? Did you call 911?" Mike asked in confusion. Marionette did not respond and just continued dragging the body. So, Mike strode up to him and grabbed his arm, thinking he would snap him out of it again. "Mari-!" Just from the touch alone it hit him. It filled his mind like the worst headache he had ever had, overwhelming him, and before he released he could hear it from the inside.

"GIVE GIFTS. GIVE LIFE. GIVE GIFTS. GIVE LIFE. GIVE GIFTS. GIVE LIFE. SAVE THEM."

Mike stumbled back and grabbed at his head with one hand. The pain eased quickly, and the voice was gone immediately, but what it meant lingered. He looked at Marionette going through the motions, looked down at the limp animatronic, and knew exactly what was happening. Marionette had not gone to call for help, he had went to get a body for her.

"Wait," Mike choked out. He rushed ahead and blocked Marionette with a raised hand. He didn't touch him though, unwilling to make the mistake again and be hit by the agonizing pain. "She's still alive. She's still got a chance. Before you do… Anything, we need to see if we can get her help."

The Puppet gave a shudder as he hesitated. The tear marks on his mask were brighter, and it was only clear once the purple paint started dripping over his mouth and down onto the Security Puppet that he was soundlessly crying. The dots of light were on Mike, unmoving, unrelenting, and only then did he speak.

"If I wait until she's gone… Then I can't bring her back."

That somber comment was final. As though washing down his hesitance with a cold dose of reality, Mike realized he was right. With that he also realized that there were no other options. There was no more protesting; Mike stepped out of the way and let Marionette continue with his task. The Puppet continued to the fallen woman and lowered down beside her, all while his companion watched. Mike wasn't sure how this would work, with it impossible to put Charlie 'inside' of the Security Puppet, but it was clear that Marionette knew what he was doing.

The Security Puppet was laid alongside Charlie and with the gentlest of motions Marionette draped its arm over her body. She wasn't there enough to realize what was happening, but he pet over her head with soft shushing, trying to comfort her. It seemed to be more for himself than her with how far she was gone. He was still careful with her bleeding body, but from this grave decision it was clear that he didn't believe she could be saved. To Mike's horror he had the same suspicion. He both wanted to watch and knew he had to call for help, along with searching for the children.

The mood had changed. The kidnapping became attempted murder.

With a shaky exhale, Mike watched until Marionette had the Security Puppet nearly wrapped around Charlie. Once the Puppet had returned to petting her head with soft chiming, he knew it was over. This was the full extent of what the Puppet could do. Mike turned around to head inside, only pausing to grab the green bracelet on the way. He maneuvered it onto his own wrist.

Once inside the theater, Mike headed to the office to try the phone, but found the line dead. "Of course," he muttered as he fumbled with the wires and tried repeatedly. It wasn't storming enough to take out the phone lines, so he could only assume that it was either broken or someone cut the wires. "Nothing can be easy," he huffed, slamming the phone in the receiver. "Maybe there's another one." He tried to ignore the inward thoughts of, "Oh dear God, Charlie's going to die because I can't call for help. This can't be happening."

Mike started down the hallway to head towards the other doors. Right when he passed behind where the back of the stage would be, past a thin service door, he heard a creak from the floorboard. He hesitated where he was and tested the floor again. He then thumped his foot down onto it and listened. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like it echoed a bit more than normal flooring would.

"…Basement?... Yeah, there's a basement," Mike decided. Then his eyes widened, "Wait, if there's a basement… Damn, they're here!" He quickened his pace and started to check the doors. The one behind the stage opened into a crawlspace connected to the stage and animatronics' hookup, but there was nothing suspicious waiting there. There were the bathrooms, a storage room, what looked to be a small employee lounge, and only once he got to the back of the hallway did he find the door to the basement. "Jackpot."

The basement was largely unfinished and crammed full of unused decorations, boxed supplies, and broken-down cabinets. Mike had to maneuver around the piled-up stock as he crossed to the other side.

"This place is a dump," Mike muttered. Promptly afterwards, he stepped into a puddle of strange, leaking liquid. He looked down in alarm as he thought it was blood, and the grimaced when he found an unknown fluid leaking out of what looked to be an old soda machine. "Better move quick before it melts through," he muttered as he staggered past.

It was while trying to maneuver past the hoarded stuff in the back that his gaze fell on a door. There was a path opened to it against the wall, which he only realized after climbing over a slumped over, headless Orville the Elephant. He approached the door and looked over it, furrowing his brows, then tried it. It was odd enough that there was a room down here when most of the room was clogged with stuff, let alone that it was locked. Not with a normal lock either; there was an extra padlock on the upper portion of the door keeping it locked closed. He looked over the padlock to make sure it was locked, then listened to the door.

There was silence on the inside, so Mike knocked lightly. In response, he heard what sounded like a voice, along with hushed whispering. "Hello? Anybody in there?" Mike asked. He was rewarded with more hushed shushing. This time he noticed that the voice sounded a little lighter than expected. It sounded like a child. "I'm not that guy. I'm here to help you. Is someone in there?" There was almost what sounded like the beginning of a voice, but it was then hushed again, perhaps physically. It was only now that Mike realized that they were purposefully keeping quiet, because they were scared.

With few options, Mike took off the bracelet and hooked it onto the doorknob. He might've not been able to unlock the door, but he knew that Marionette could. "I'm going to go get help. You're going to be alright," he called in before turning to head towards the stairs. He would get Marionette to unlock the door and stay with Charlie in the meantime. Maybe he could even find his cellphone on his way, because it was becoming clear that while Louise called the police, they weren't taking her advice in coming here. They were probably still searching the streets of Hurricane, looking for someone who wasn't there.

Mike still stopped at the front desk to look as well. There had to be a working phone somewhere in the theater. Yet as he looked behind the desk, he found coins, tokens, rolls of tickets, and garbage, but no phone. "They're definitely in on this. This can't be a coincidence," he muttered. He huffed and dropped his head against the counter with swear. He stayed there for a moment, trying to concoct a plan. The one he started to form involved him trying to drive the kids to Foxy's and then calling the police from there while Marionette stayed with Charlie.

It wasn't the formation of this plan that triggered him to move, but the sound of a car speeding into the parking lot. Mike peered out from over the counter to see a less than impressive car parked in front of the theater. It was parked half-hazard over two or three spaces and a man began to climb out. It was clearly Dave who stepped out of the car and grabbed a shovel out of the trunk. Even though Mike expected for it to be Dave, he was positively dumbstruck, because he hadn't truly thought it could really be Dave.

Mike dropped down behind the counter as Dave let himself in. The man didn't even seem to notice that the door was locked and headed through the arcade towards the back door. At first Mike intended to let him go, so that he could call the authorities and get them to come by, but it the occurred to him that the likelihood was that Dave was heading back to either find Charlie or move the children. While Marionette wouldn't let either happen, Mike wouldn't even give Dave the chance, and stood from behind the counter.

"Well, well. A little late to be creeping around. Isn't it, Old Sport?" Mike mockingly asked. Dave stopped in his path and hesitated a few seconds. Then he slowly started to look back towards the younger man.

"Well, hey there. A little late to be coming to pick up your robot, eh?" Dave inquired as he looked back. He had the slightest bit of a smile, or perhaps a grimace, and something looked the slightest bit odd about how he looked. "Did I interrupt a break-in? Usually a thief doesn't come out and say, "I'm here!" to the security guard." He rested the end of the shovel on the carpet and casually propped himself up with it. "So, what are you doing here?"

"You know exactly why I'm here. Don't play stupid with me," Mike answered. He started to let his fake tone drop for his anger. "Did you really think that you were going to go snatching kids at Freddy's and nobody was going to notice? With your garbage car and your obviousness- I know you're the one behind the missing children." His anger grew, even as he tried to resist the urge to fully unleash it. Unlike the monster behind the last missing children and the last murders, here was a knock-off version of Afton himself. The fact that someone was trying so little only made it so much worse.

"Foxy's," Dave said.

"What about it?" Mike snapped back.

"You said Freddy's. You meant Foxy's," Dave pointed out. Mike hesitated only a moment and in this second the older man broke into a scoff. One that was cut off by a wheeze and a few raspy coughs. "You can't even keep your own story straight! How are you so sure you got mine right?" If anything, his nonchalant behavior was only more infuriating.

"You're disgusting," Mike spat at him. "I know exactly what you did to those kids, and that girl out back- she's got a name and a family! They all do! And here you are repeating what happened back at Freddy's! What kind of a sicko are you?!" He stepped in closer, threateningly, and only froze when he noticed Dave's hands tightening on the shovel. His own hand dropped to his belt and rested against the taser. Though he also noticed something about Dave's face. More specifically, his eyes, which were dilated beyond what they should've been. Even in the darkness something looked off about his eyes. "Are you high?! Oh, it just gets better and better."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dave denied. Yet right afterwards he broke into a weird smile, showing his darkened, yellowed teeth. "You're here saying I did all this and you didn't call the police? I can't tell if you're here out of some sort of hero quest for revenge, or playing detective, or if you're just as messed up as I am. Yeah, you came out of Freddy's, all right. A little young." He chatted just like he had when they last spoke, as though it was nothing at all. As though what was happening was as basic as him losing the keys. "You've seen all of this before."

"Yeah, about twenty minutes ago, when you snatched a girl from the parking lot!" Mike snapped back. "Don't you dare start throwing Freddy's at me when you're pulling the same-!"

Mike was cut off by the rather sudden appearance of Marionette behind Dave. The look on his face was one that Mike couldn't remember ever seeing. Never had Mike seen that amount of hatred, that scowl, nor did he see such aggression and have the Puppet be entirely silent. Marionette didn't make a chime, a static, any tones, and didn't even begin his attacking song for 'popping a weasel'. No, Marionette was deathly silent, and it was clear that this was, so he could sneak up behind Dave. He started to slowly move in towards the oblivious man and for a moment Mike was thrilled. He didn't even question morality; he would gladly help him overtake Dave.

Though that would then mean that Mike would have to justify breaking into the theater. Then the cops would probably think he murdered him, as nobody would believe an animatronic did it- not that Mike would accuse Marionette. Somehow, if Mike did get off without them suspecting his involvement, this would get back to Foxy's and effect the business. It would seem very suspicious if it came out that Mike had broke into the theater, just happened to find out what Dave was doing, and then killed him. Dave would never be charged; nobody would get true closure, and, like Freddy's, nobody would be charged.

Marionette was just about to reach Dave when Mike realized that they were at an impasse.

"Stop!" Mike suddenly called and raised a hand. Marionette hesitated and looked past Dave at Mike, hovering just high enough over him that he could. Dave, meanwhile, raised a brow in slight confusion, but then had a strange facial twitch and seemed to be oblivious. Mike knew he had to act fast and be clever, or he would lose control of the situation. He could just hope that the police were on their way.

"Look, just wait. Let's not do anything rash yet… Let's not play the distraction game, alright?" he offered. He forced his voice to stay even and ignored any anger. "I know about the kids in the basement and you-." Mike paused to tap his wrist, where a watch or bracelet would be. "Are running out of time."

It took a second before Marionette was able to see past his own anger and listen to what Mike was saying. Specifically, with the children being in the basement. While every fiber of him wanted to throw himself onto the wriggling mass of purple that was standing between them, he knew that what Mike was telling him was important. He did need to go for the children and get them to safety, and then, once they were safe, the Purple Man's knock-off would be waiting. Then he could do whatever came naturally, but the children- and Charlie- came first. He would leave Dave to Mike.

In an instant, he vanished. Mike was both relieved and horrified when he was alone with Dave, but he knew this was the right move. His hand brushed closer to his taser as he watched Dave's hands tighten on the shovel handle.

"Alright, Dave, you want to talk Freddy's? Let's talk Freddy's."