AN: Now updated.
Chapter 5:
"Alya!" Mariette called as she turned the corner with the others, finding her friend standing just around the corner. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Alya assured, regaining control of her nerves. "This little guy startled me is all."
The group turned to see a Bendy cut outstanding in the center of the hallway that hadn't been there before. It smiled innocently at them and there was no sign of how it had gotten there.
"What the?" Henry commented, examining the cut out for any clues. "Who put this here?"
"Do you think this place is legit haunted?" Nino asked in excitement, poking the cut out. "Because that would be pretty sweet."
"If this place is haunted…" Marinette began, looking around nervously and rubbing her arms in fear. "Maybe we should leave before things get worse."
"Don't tell me you're scared," Nino teased, nudging Marinette playfully. "We have to deal with monsters practically every week back home. A ghost should be nothing."
"There's nothing wrong with being cautious," Adrian agreed with Marinette, briefly giving her hand a squeeze. He could understand her worries as this place was starting to creep him out as well. "Maybe it's best if we forget this whole thing and get out of here."
"I'm sure this place isn't actually haunted," Henry assured, putting a comforting hand on Marinette's shoulder. "I'm sure it's just Joey playing a prank on me for leaving. If we look around some more I'm sure we'll find him, but if you really want to go, then we'll leave."
"No, I want to stay," Alya assured, regaining her confidence. "I was just startled is all. I still want to explore some more."
"Me too," Nino agreed easily, putting his arm around the cutout. "It's going to take more than this little guy to scare me away."
"Alright," Henry nodded his head before turning to Adrian and Marinette. "What about you two? If your still uncomfortable, you can wait by the car until we're done. I'm sure it won't take too much longer."
"I'll stay," Adrian and Marinette replied at the same time, both thinking it would be better to be with the others just in case things did turn out badly. Surprised at each other's response, Marinette and Adrian briefly exchanged confused glances.
"That's settled then," Henry said, clapping his hands together and drawing everyone's attention. "We'll keep looking around and even see if we can get the Ink Machine going. Let's head back to the main room. I think I saw an inkwell in that room behind my old desk."
The others nodded and the carefully walked by the cutout and back down the hallway towards the entrance. Like Henry had remembered, they found an inkwell by one of the desks.
"Was that Bendy always like that?" Marinette asked, staring at the drawing on the desk, which was in a jumping pose. "I'm pretty sure it was in a different position when we first came in here."
"I'm sure it's just your imagination," Alya assured, giving her friend a brief one-armed hug. "You're still creeped out by this place after all."
Unable to think of a good argument, Marionette dropped the subject. Finding nothing else useful, the group went further into the studio once more. This time, they went left instead of going right towards the cutout and break room. As went down the hallway, Alya spotted something on a nearby shelf.
"Hey, check this out," Alya called to the others, pulling down the old tape recorder and showing it to everyone.
"Good job Alya," Henry congratulated, taking the tape recorder. "This might have some clues about what happened here."
"So press play already," Nino added eagerly, leaning in. Henry obliged as the others gathered around him. After a brief burst of static, a voice filled the air.
"At this point, I don't get what Joey's plan is for this company. The Animations sure aren't being done on time anymore. And I certainly don't see why we need this machine. It's noisy it's messy. And who needs that much ink anyway?"
"That's Wally Franks," Henry informed, briefly pausing the tape. "He used to be the janitor here."
"Also, get this, Joey had each of us donate something from our workstation." Wally's voice continued. "We put them on these little pedestals in the break room. To help appease the gods, Joey says. Keep things going. I think he's lost his mind, but, hey, he writes the checks. But I tell you what, if one more of these pipes burst, I'm out of here."
"This Joey sounds like a strange dude," Nino commented once the tape was finished.
"He was always a bit eccentric," Henry admitted, putting the tape recorder back on the shelf. "And I guess without me to keep him in check, he might have bone a little overboard with his big ideas."
"While that was interesting, it wasn't as informative as I was hoping," Alya said in slight disappointment. "let's keeping looking."
The group continued down the hallway with Adrian and Marinette hanging in the back. Both were unusually silent as they continued walking, both feeling bad vibes coming from the studio but unable to explain it. They unconsciously drifted close to each other, taking comfort in each other's presence. The others didn't take notice of their discomfort and continued to talk cheerfully as they continued to search for the needed objects.
After searching a while, they were able to the Bendy plushy in the theater room, the book in the new break room, the gear in the ink machine room, and the record in one of the offices. All that was left was the wrench, but they couldn't find in any of the other places they searched. It was decided that it was probably down the hallway behind the cutout. With slight hesitation, the group made their way towards it. To their surprise and slight worry, the cut out was no longer in the hallway. Unable to do anything about it at the moment, the group went down the hallway.
"AAAAAHHH!" This time it was Marinette who screamed and the others were unable to offer any comfort. They were too shocked by the gruesome sight before them. Laying on a slanted table was what appeared to be the corpse of a cartoon wolf. Its head was leaning to the side and its eyes were 'X'ed out like you would see when cartoons die in cartoons. Its chest was cut open and it's ribs pried apart with it's black looking blood staining its clothes and the table.
"Oh god," Henry gasped, leaning against the doorway for support. "Joey, What have you done?"